Wilcox Wharf, Charles City County

June 8, 1897

To the Editor of the Dispatch:

In a bundle of old papers I found the following, clipped from the Richmond Examiner a few days after the battle of Spotsylvania. The article was written after a statement made by me to him, by the late John M. Daniel, the ablest editor and paragraphist of his time. Three days after the battle, when sauntering out from Chimborazo hospital with the freedom of the city in a gray jacket, I went into the Examiner office, to call on my old schoolmate, E.A. Pollard, the historian of the war. Mr. Pollard was not in, but his brother, Rives, was, and he received me very kindly, and asked me to make a statement of what occurred at Todd's Tavern to Mr. Daniel. Of course I was glad to know the great man, whose fame as an editor was all over two continents. Mr. Danniel received me very cordially, and said he was so glad to have an account of the great cavalry battle that had taken place at Todd's Tavern. He said, further, and so published in the closing sentence of his article, that it was unfortunate that the fine service of the cavalry on the front and flank was so often lost sight of in the reports of the great battles that usually followed. Only about half of his article has been preserved. For this I am sorry, as it contained a fine tribute to the cavalry arm of the service, and to Fitz Lee's generalship in the conduct of the three days' fighting to maintain his position against such overwhelming odds.

I will add to General Hundley's interesting account of the battle, and Mr. S.P. Waddill's timely publication of official reports, that it was fought almost entirely with dismounted cavalry. The horses were hardly used or seen at all. Our men by this time had captured good guns and most of them were as well off in this respect as the enemy.

Fitz Lee was in his element. His experienced on the frontier with the Indians, his confidence in himself and in the officers and men of his command, and his cool courage, made him master of the situation. The big forest aided him, and his deception of the enemy as to his numbers was complete.

Wickham was there, and Lomax, and Payne, and Owen, all as brave as Murat and as intrepid. But to the splendid generalship of Fitz Lee the successful holding of the position was mainly due. Our great General had repulsed Grant's assaults on the Wilderness just above us, and now the Federal commander was with superior numbers assaulting, in an effort to turn our right flank, and Fitz Lee was combatting thousands of cavalry and infantry. Had he given way at any period of Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, the battle of Spotsylvania had not been fought.

DID HOLD IT

But he did hold the position. The enemy massed all his forces on Saturday afternoon, and came on with cavalry dismounted, and infantry and artillery. The position of my company was immediately across the public highway leading from Spotsylvania Courthouse to Todd's Tavern. A slight barricade of felled trees had been made. Wickham and Lomax on horseback were near by. There was some confusion, and for the first time apprehension, as I thought, apparent in the manner of our men, some of them falling out. Wickham was talking to Lomax very earnestly about this. Shells were bursting all around them, and minie balls striking like rattling hail against the trees. At this point Fitz Lee came in a gallop to where we were. His voice thundered out, "Wickham, extend the line on the right; Lomax, on the left. Then flying toward the barricade, he leaped it, and rode rapidly down the road in front of us, and toward the enemy. He was alone. He had given the order to wait for them to come up close. But he changed his mind. He had seen with what numbers and vim the enemy was advancing, and he came back up the road at full run, looking like a Centeau on his superb gray mare. He flew back over the barricade, and curbing and turning his steed within forty feet, he cried out, "Go over after them, boys."

His voice was above the din of battle. The two brigades went forward almost in line, and down into the woods, fighting like Comanche Indians. The charge they made and the yell were terrific. The enemy fell back and the brigades resumed their places.

I came out wounded from the woods, and a half mile back had a bed of pine tags. I woke up next morning just at the dawn of day on that Sunday of Spotsylvania, and heard the fighting along the barricade, and wondered if any of my command could survive such an unearthly rattle of small arms and screams of bursting shells, that lasted for two hours or more. His work had been accomplished at that point, and about 7 or 8 o'clock Fitz Lee retired his command through Spotsylvania Courthouse, drawing the enemy into the vortex which General Anderson was making for him.

The world knows what followed. My statement of what happened at Todd's Tavern was necessarily meagre. I have learned much more of it since. It has been a long time since Mr. Daniel wrote it out. But an ever-recurring interest attaches to the "Confederate column", and men who have "souls not dead" will read it for generations to come. And brave, true women of the South will teach their children to know these things that preserve the history of a proud, though mournful period. And so no craven spirit of thrift shall drawn their heart allegiance from the glory of the past and our heroic dead shall have the past and our heroic dead shall have honor.

Isaac R. Christian

Richmond Dispatch

June 20, 1897

p. 3, cols. 1-2

THE FIGHT NEAR SPOTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE

BETWEEN FITZHUGH LEE AND THE ENEMY

From a gentleman (one of the true patriots of the war) who participated and was wounded in the battle near Spotsylvania Court House, we have an intelligent and connected statement of the affair, of which there have been so many different versions.

It appears that the battle opened at Todd's tavern, about a mile and a half above Spotsylvania Court House, and lasted continuously from Thursday to Sunday. The forces on our side were a portion of General Fitzhugh Lee's command, and consisted of Wickham's and Lomax's brigades. The fight opened on Thursday evening, Lomax's brigade engaging the enemy and driving them back some distance. During that night the enemy took a strong position, and on Friday the fight was renewed by Wickham's brigade (Lomax's being held in reserve that day), a little in advance of the ground occupied on the day before. On Friday night the enemy fell back behind Todd's tavern, their advance being posted within a short distance of the building. On Saturday it became the turn of Lomax's brigade to engage the enemy (Wickham's being held in reserve), and the fight opened at an early hour and continued until ten o'clock, when our forces fell back to the old line occupied by them in the fight of the second day. Lomax held his position until evening, when he was forced back by the enemy to the line held by us on the first day, in rear of a barricade across the road formed by the felling of trees. The enemy continued to press us and here General Fitzhugh Lee ordered up Wickham's brigade and threw out skirmishers -- Wickham's brigade deploying the enemy on the right of the road leading from Todd's tavern to Spotsylvania Court House and Lomax's on the left, with General Fitzhugh Lee commanding in person and passing up and down the lines. He was said to be very cool, and gave orders to his men, who had been dismounted for the most part in this fight, owing to the dense forest and thick undergrowth, not to fire until the enemy got within thirty yards of them. "Then" continued he, "take good aim and let them have it and then I want you to go over after them." The enemy continued to advance, when General Fitzhugh Lee gave the order, in a clear distinct voice, "fire." Then ensued a most desperate and stubborn fight, resulting in the enemy being driven back. Our men sensing they had gained the day, gave a yell such as "rebels" only can give - when the federals broke and ran, closely pursued by our men for a distance of half a mile.

After this, on Saturday night, our forces withdrew from the fatigue of battle and the Third Virginia Cavalry were posted as pickets at the barricade for the night. Early Sunday morning the Yankees, strongly reinforced during the night, attacked the Third Virginia cavalry on post, who, before the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, continued to fall back until supports could be brought up. This was quickly done, and the fight raged until seven o'clock, when General Fitzhugh Lee, seeing that his force was too small to resist the enemy, who were in very heavy force, with both cavalry and infantry, began to retire in the direction of Spotsylvania Court House, falling back slowly and contesting every inch of ground. At this critical juncture, about ten o'clock in the morning, a large body of our infantry, under General Anderson, came up and succeeded in repulsing the enemy with great slaughter, as General Lee stated in his official dispatch.

The enemy fought with great stubborness, but he was fighting to carry an important position to open his way to clear to Fredericksburg. He had a very large force - two divisions of cavalry and a brigade of regulars, all under the immediate command of General Sedgwick.

In the fight of Friday and Saturday of General Fitzhugh Lee with the enemy, we captured some sixty prisoners, among whom were five or six officers. They report their loss at some four hundred. Our loss in the same fights was about two hundred and fifty in killed, wounded and missing.

Our officers are said to have displayed the most conspicuous valor in this fight. All along the lines, amid a perfect hail of bullets, they rode cheering our men to victory. While in the act of leading his men with his arm uplifted, Colonel Owens had a finger shot off. Not stopping for this, he deliberately drew his pistol with his other hand and shot the Yankee dead by his side who had just fired on him. There is one instance of individual heroism that deserves to be mentioned. In the thickest of the fight, when our lines were wavering, and the opposing forces were within seventy five yards of each other, a courier dashed in between them and cheered our men in their charge. The name of the brave young man we did not learn.

Daily Richmond Examiner

May 11, 1864

p. 1 col. 4