At Spotsylvania Court House Grant launched major attacks on the 8th, 10th, 12th and 18th all of which were unsuccessful. He tried everything but Lee’s defensive position was too strong. Grant then decided to move around Lee’s right flank as he did after the Battle of the Wilderness hoping at some point to lure Lee into taking the offensive on open ground. This approach had several advantages over attempting to go around Lee’s left flank. It would allow him to target the important Hanover Junction where the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad intersected with the Virginia Central Railroad. The Virginia Central Railroad was an important supply line for Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia from the Shenandoah Valley. At Hanover Junction trains from the valley would head south to Richmond. In addition, it would allow Grant to shorten his supply line through Fredericksburg. Grant was hoping to entice Lee to go on the offensive. He would use Hancock’s II Corps as the bait sending them on a wide eastern arc for Bowling Green about 20 miles away, see map below.

Hancock got on the road at 10:00 PM on May 20th from Anderson’s Mill. The 148th PA was in the lead (Colonel Brooke’s brigade, Barlow’s division). By 12:30 they reached the Massapponax Church at the intersection with the Telegraph Road. Here around 12:30 AM they met their cavalry escort commanded by Brigadier General Alfred Torbert (about 2000 men). They started south at 2:00 AM. Torbert’s men were the only cavalry Sheridan had left behind when he departed on his raid south to Richmond. Here they marched south on the Telegraph Road until they turned east toward Guinea Station. The 5th NY Cavalry were in the lead commanded by Colonel John Hammond.

Torbert reached Guinea Station around 4:00 AM, shortly thereafter a contingent of men he had sent to secure the bridge over the Poni River were ambushed by a group of men from the 9th VA Cavalry. Sargeant Samuel Sortore of Company E of the 5th NY Cavalry was killed and buried on the field (buried Fredericksburg National Cemetery- grave 2506) . Rather than wage a battle over the Guinea Bridge guards were posted on the road to shield Hancock’s passing column. Torbert also left Companies A and B under Captain Theodore Boyce to protect the flank of the Second Corps column at Downer’s Bridge two miles further downstream on the Mattaponi River.

Torbert reached Bowling Green at 7:00 AM. He stopped for breakfast at the Bowling Green Hotel before heading toward Milford Station two hours later, 3 miles away. The pictures below are from Bowling Green.

Sidney King’s mural of the occupation of the town. Sidney King painted several murals of the Overland Campaign.

The Sidney E. King Center which contains many of his paintings is also located on the town green (at the end of this series we’ll have 2 posts showing some o his original paintings at the center).

At Milford Station Torbert’s Cavalry encountered part of a brigade (about 400-500 men, 50 from the 1st VA, Companies A, B, C, E and K from the 11th VA, most of the 7th VA, and an artillery company from Georgia) of Confederate infantry under the temporary overall command of Colonel William Terry (Kemper’s brigade) from Major General George Pickett’s division, now led in the field by Major George Norton. They were being sent north to reinforce Lee from south of Richmond. Due to a shortage of trains only part of the brigade had made it to Milford Station. They detrained here because Guinea Station had been destroyed and they would need to march the remaining 20 miles to Spotsylvania Court House. The rest of Terry’s men and Brigadier General Montgomery Corse’s brigade had yet to arrive. As Torbert approached he initially came under fire from the 1st VA and then were charged by the Captain Thomas Horton’s 11th VA. After finally realizing he was facing an entire corps Major Norton ordered a withdrawal across the Mattaponi. Horton’s men never got the order and were captured (66-75 men). After receiving word of the encounter Lee ordered Wade Hampton’s cavalry division to the area. Confederate reinforcements arrived at Hanover Junction in the form of John Breckinridge’s men from the Shenandoah Valley with four of Pickett’s brigades on the way. Hancock on reaching Milford Station was concerned about Torbert encountering members of Kemper’s brigade and was worried that Pickett’s entire division might be nearby. Far behind enemy lines and facing an unknown sized contingent of infantry Hancock sent word to Grant that he was facing men from Pickett’s division and set about looking for a position to entrench and wait for reinforcements. He found such a position about a mile west of the Mattaponi along a series of hills on Devil’s Three Jump Road.

Shown below is the only surviving piece of Hancock’s line that I am aware of on Devil’s Three Jump Road (38.0033329, -77.399317).

Around 3:00 PM the remainder of Kemper’s brigade and Corse’s brigade arrived in the area, as did General Wade Hampton’s Cavalry division. General Lee had sent Hampton to block Hancock’s path to the Telegraph Road. Hampton persuaded Corse and Norton to help him.

Milford Station is no longer standing. The gallery of images shown below were taken from its wartime location.

Next- Lee Wins the Race to the River