On June 11th J.E.B. Stuart met with General Robert E. Lee, who had just taken command over what would soon be called the Army of Northern Virginia, at the Dabbs House to discuss a reconnaissance in force. The primary goal was to obtain intelligence to guide future operations. Lee wanted information on the Union forces on the peninsula, especially those north of the Chickahominy River, and the road network. Secondary goals would include disrupting communications and destroying or taking Union supplies. Stuart on June 8th had already ordered John Singleton Mosby to take 3 men and scout the Union position near Totopotomoy Creek. Mosby had ascertained that the Union right flank was guarded by only a light cavalry screen. Stuart would bring the 1st and 9th VA Cavalry, the Jefferson Davis Legion, and the Stuart Horse Artillery.

The 1st VA Cavalry was commanded by Colonel Fitzhugh Lee nephew of Robert E. Lee, and the 9th VA by Lee’s son Rooney Lee. The Davis Legion was led by Lieutenant Colonel William Martin. The Horse Artillery had a 12-pound howitzer and a 6-pound English rifle commanded by Lieutenant James Breathed and William McGregor, respectively. Eight companies from the 4th VA were included and were split between the 1st and 9th VA. Stuart added men from the 3rd VA who were natives and familiar with the countryside. He would ride about 80 miles in the next 72 hours.

At 2:00 AM on June 12th General Stuart left his tent located at the Waddell House on the Charles City Road east of Richmond and informed his staff that he wanted everyone in their saddle and ready to ride in ten minutes. They rode to the bivouac site of the 9th VA Cavalry on the Mordecai Farm 4 miles north of Richmond, now the site of the Joseph Bryan Park on Lakeside Avenue. The 1st VA Cavalry was already there from their camp east of Richmond.

Around 5:00 AM General Stuart and 1,200 cavalrymen left the Mordecai farm and passed by the fort below, part of the outer defensive line of Richmond, to begin what would become a ride around McClellan’s Army of the Potomac on the Peninsula.

The column passed through Kilby’s Station (modern day Elmont) on the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Here they were joined by a group of scouts.

Stuart then headed west toward Louisa Court House in order to create the impression that he was headed to the Shenandoah Valley to join “Stonewall” Jackson.

Stuart’s men would camp on Winston’s Farm for the night. The area now is a large solar energy farm. Brigadier General Stuart and Lee’s son Colonel Rooney Lee would spend the night at Hickory Hill, the home of Williams C. Wickham. Wickham, a subordinate of Stuart and the Colonel of the 4th VA Cavalry, was convalescing at home after being wounded at Williamsburg. Rooney Lee was married to Charlotte Wickham who was at Hickory Hill. The home is on private property in Ashland. It is not visible from any road. The original house, a wooden structure, burned and was rebuilt in 1875. The post war home made of brick is pictured below. Colonel Wickham is buried there. A wood-framed office building is also on the property, which is thought to be where in 1863 Rooney Lee was captured while recovering from a wound suffered at Brandy Station.

Stuart’s men approached Hanover Court House but found the 6th US Cavalry there commanded by Captain J. Irvin Gregg. Gregg’s men were passing south through town after a patrol to the north. Unsure of the size of the force he was facing, Stuart sent Colonel Fitzhugh Lee southward to get around and behind the Federals on the Richmond Stage Road (modern day 301). After pausing to allow Lee time to get behind Gregg Stuart headed toward town. The Federals spotted the larger Rebel force and realizing the danger fled down the Richmond Stage Road before Lee could cut them off. Fitz Lee’s men were slowed by the swampy ground near Mechump’s Creek about a mile south of town, shown below- 37.7584070, -77.3643135. Stuart continued south with a squadron of the 9th VA Cavalry in the lead under Lieutenant William Robins.

On May 31st Union Captain William Royall of Company C, 5th U.S. Cavalry was ordered to Old Church with two squadrons from his regiment. Royall had placed pickets on the roads leading south from Hanover Court House. Each day he would send attachments out to reconnoiter the area. Around 11:00 AM on June 13th a detachment from Lieutenant Edward Lieb’s Company F was reconnoitering south of Hanover Court House, near the intersection of River Road with the Richmond Stage Road (shown below), when they observed Confederate pickets advancing toward them. After a few shots were fired Lieb realized he was outmanned and fell back quickly down the River Road. He thought he was facing 2 squadrons of Rebel Cavalry. Due to the nature of the terrain, Lieutenant Lieb did not see the more than 1,000-man force behind them. Leaving a few men behind to watch the route Lieb headed to Haw’s Shop, 5 miles from Old Church, after sending a courier ahead to apprise Captain Royall of the situation.

The Rebels continued south on the Richmond Stage Road until they reached the home of Dr. Thomas Kinney (“The Elms”), here they turned southeast toward Enon Church, stopping along the way at Taliaferro’s Mill to water their horses.

Both Federals and Rebels would be headed toward Haw’s Shop but by different routes. When Lieb arrived at Haw’s Shop there were only a few pickets there. Shortly thereafter one of the scouts left along the route arrived and informed Lieb that there was no sign of the Rebels moving in their direction. What Lieb and the scout didn’t realize was that the Confederates had taken a different road.

It was about 2:00 PM when the courier Lieb had sent arrived at Royall’s headquarters at Old Church. In response Royall sent a messenger back to Haw’s Shop with orders for Lieb to return to camp and ordered 30 men from Company H commanded by Lieutenant William McLean westward to reinforce Lieb, the only men he had available at the time. Lieb upon receipt of the order warned the pickets at Haw’s Shop to remain vigilant and headed with his patrol east back toward Old Church. After about a mile he encountered McLean and his men and the two groups, with McLean’s men in the lead, headed back toward Totopotomoy Creek and their camp at Old Church. Captain Royall was becoming increasingly concerned about the situation and by this time Lieutenant Richard Byrnes and Company C had recently arrived back from picket duty. Royall told Byrnes he was heading west to find Lieb and McLean, and that Byrnes needed to remount his men as soon as possible and catch him along the route.

Meanwhile several pickets from Haw’s Shop, riding frantically, caught up with Lieutenant Lieb not far from Totopotomoy Creek and warned that a large Rebel Cavalry force was advancing rapidly about a quarter mile behind them. McLean’s men were up the road and out of sight, so Lieb sent a courier forward to warn him with orders to then ride on to notify Captain Royall. Lieb placed his men a few hundred yards north of the Creek, at the base of a hill, while Lieutenant William McLean’s men took up position on the southeast side of the creek. What followed was a running battle from Totopotomoy Creek back to Linney’s Corner shown on the map below.

Confederate Lieutenant Robins encountered Lieb and his men just west of the bridge and after a short skirmish the Federals were driven back across the creek, following a charge by Captain Samuel Swann from Company B, where they joined McLean on the east side. The pictures below show the Freeman stone monument and the creek. The pictures of the modern-day creek below are deceiving in that at the time of the Civil War it was 30-feet wide, and the water was chest high with steep banks!

The Rebels waded the creek to the left and right of the bridge and realizing they were about to be flanked on both sides the Federals retreated rapidly toward Old Church. When the Rebels crossed the bridge and continued advancing, they were surprised that the Federals had not burned the bridge and given the terrain, that they had not defended the position more vigorously. They suspected the possibility of an ambush and advanced cautiously, but the Federals were gone. Lieb and McLean had fallen back east to the top of the ridge that rose up from the creek valley where they were joined by Royall and Byrnes’ men. Combined they would have about a hundred men to face Stuart’s 1200 Confederates.

As I continued south down Studley Road at the top of a hill was the marker below. I took pictures here since the marker states that this is the area where the skirmish occurred. Other sources say that the skirmish occurred at Linney’s Corner which is about 0.4 miles further south and is also shown subsequently.

The next two pictures are of the open field seen in the pictures above.

The pictures below are of the field near Linney’s Corner.

When Stuart saw the Federals drawn up in a line around 3:00 PM, he ordered William Latané to move forward with Companies E and F of the 9th VA Cavalry and clear the road. As Captain Latané moved up the wooded ridge he came to a clearing where ahead about a hundred men from the 5th US Cavalry were aligned across the road now commanded by Captain Royall. Both lines charged at each other and in the ensuing clash Latané was killed and Royall badly injured. The outnumbered Federals fell back further south toward Old Church. Captain Latané was the only Confederate killed during Stuart’s ride and five Rebels were wounded. The 5th U.S. Cavalry lost four men killed, 10-12 wounded, and about 35 captured.

Latané, a 29-year-old physician, was a member of the Essex Light Dragoons. His brother Sergeant John Latané brought his body back to the Westwood Plantation where he left it in the care of Mrs. Catherine Brockenbrough for burial. Captain Latané is buried on private property in what was the Summer Hill Plantation (Summer Hill Plantation Cemetery #2). There is a Freeman stone monument in the small cemetery there at 37.70618, -77.25202. His burial was romanticized in an 1864 painting by William Washington shown below.

A little further east down the Studley Road near its intersection with the Mechanicsville Turnpike is the Freeman stone monument below.

Old Church

The two pictures below are the site where Captain William Royall and his 4 companies of the 5th US Cavalry were bivouacked. Stuart’s column led by Colonel Fitzhugh Lee attacked the camp and captured its supplies and a few stragglers.

The sign below is at the Immanuel Episcopal Church

At this point Stuart had fulfilled the reconnaissance part of his mission and he would now decide that rather than retrace his steps back through Hanover Court House that he would continue south and east toward New Kent and ride around the Army of the Potomac. With his main column he headed for Tunstall’s Station along the Richmond and York River Railroad leading to White House Landing, McClellan’s supply base. Along the way he sent two squadrons (Company G, 9th VA Cavalry- Captain Oscar Knight, Company B, 1st VA Cavalry- Captain George Hammon) to Garlick’s Landing on the Waterloo Plantation a Union supply depot on the Pamunkey River- 37.6059038, -77.0928025. There they burned two schooners (Island City, Whitman Phillips) filled with supplies for Porter’s V Corps. The D.A. Berry managed to escape. Quartermaster Sergeant Drowne Potter from the 16th MI was killed here. The Rebels took several prisoners and 300 hundred horses and mules. Garlick’s Landing is shown below.

At Tunstall’s Station they cut telegraph wires and were chopping down trees and placing them over the tracks. A 20-car freight train, the Speedwall, carrying Union officers and wounded soldiers toward White House Landing approached the station. Its engineer, Charles Condell, managed to force the train through the obstructing trees. Private John Biggs from the 6th NY Battery was killed as the Rebels fired at the moving train. Stuart captured two squads of Union infantry without firing a shot. At this point Stuart was only 4-5 miles from White House Landing but decided not to proceed in that direction.

In the early evening on the 13th the column entered Talleysville passing St. Peter’s Church, which in 1862 was on the main road, and a Union hospital with about 150 patients in William Talley’s house. Stuart moved on without interfering with the surgeons and patients there.

War time image below of the same view- the trees and the stairs in front leading upward are no longer there. The image below appeared in the book- The Photographic History of the War in Ten Volumes by Francis T. Miller Editor-in-Chief from the Chapter called Fair Oaks in Sight of Richmond in Part III, page 297. Taylor, Clarke and Hammond have appeared in a previous picture of Sumner’s staff (link). Gabriel Grant was a surgeon in French’s division and a subsequent Medal of Honor recipient.

The sign below is on the grounds of the New Kent Winery.

At the main crossroad near the sign below the Confederates came to Baltimore Store, a commercial establishment, and helped themselves to the stores there. Stuart would rest his men here for about three and a half hours. At midnight they moved on toward the Chickahominy River.

They would have to cross two branches of the Chickahominy River. The river was swollen out of its banks. At the first branch they constructed a crude bridge using wood from a nearby barn which they burned after crossing, preventing the 6th PA cavalry who had been chasing them from using it. The second branch they were able to ford, although they did have to build a bridge to get the artillery across. Stuart then headed toward Charles City. Two members of the 3rd VA Cavalry from New Kent County acted as guides.

Views from the first bridge- 37.4335563, -77.0371031

Views from the second bridge

They stopped briefly at Green Oak the home of Thomas Christian for about 2 hours before Stuart and his staff moved on to Isaac Christian’s home, Woodbury. The Confederate troopers encamped at Buckland, the home of Judge James Wilcox. At Buckland Colonel Fitzhugh Lee was placed in charge with instructions to rest the men until 11:00 PM. Stuart then rode on with a few escorts to Richmond, leaving around 6:00 PM, to report back to General Lee.

Stuart stopped at the home of Richard Rowland for a cup of coffee on the trip back to Richmond, interpreted by the Civil War Trails sign below.

After the brief stop, they set out on the 30-mile trip to Lee’s headquarters at the Dabbs house arriving there before sunrise. During the ride Stuart captured 165 Federals, 200 wagons, 260 horses and mules and burned two ships. The Confederates suffered one man killed and 5 wounded in the process. The Regular Cavalry Reserve, entrusted with protecting the right Union flank, were under the overall command of Stuart’s father-in-law Brigadier General Philip St. George Cooke. He commanded about 500 men with his headquarters near Gaines’ Mill. Cooke was criticized after Stuart’s ride for his lack of a vigorous pursuit. Conflicting orders and intelligence regarding Stuart’s location may have contributed. The following month Cooke was reassigned to administrative duties.

Next- The Second Dabbs House Meeting- June 23, 1862

Sources

Stuart’s Finest Hour: The Ride Around McClellan by John J. Fox III

John Fox III’s driving tour link

Jeb Stuart’s Ride Around the Army of the Potomac, June 12-15, 1862. Blue and Gray Magazine Volume XV, issue 6, 1998.