..............................................................................................................................................
Brawner’s
Schenck had reached an area immediately to the south of the
previous night’s battlefield, but found himself beaten there by John Reynolds.
Marching well out of Confederate fire, Reynolds had come up to the point where Lewis
Lane [Groveton Rd] crossed Young’s Branch just a little before Schenck, coming
down the Turnpike.
With Reynolds already in advance, Schenck asked him to set
up an artillery battery that could put an end to the Confederate fire that was
ripping through his men. Reynolds sent one forward--almost recklessly so--north
of the Turnpike and even the Brawner House, where it opened up fiercely on
Jackson’s massed artillery. To protect it, he sent George Meade’s brigade into
Brawner’s Woods, on either side of the Turnpike.
Reynolds gave Meade the famed Pennsylvania Bucktails (a unit
of elite sharpshooters) to act as skirmishers, and they fanned out to the west
of the woods. They had barely exited it, when two regiments worth of
Confederates opened fire on them. The Confederates had been placed south and
east of the intersection of Pageland Lane and the Warrenton Turnpike [US 29] by
Jubal Early for just such an occasion. The Virginians and Pennsylvanians were
spread out, which gave the crack-shot Bucktails an advantage, but neither side
retreated.
Schenck, meanwhile, moved his brigades south of the turnpike
and just east of Meade’s position in Brawner’s Woods.
Groveton
Hearing the heated fire of the Bucktails, Milroy decided
that he needed to send Schenck assistance. Bailing out Schenck had become
something of a habit for Milroy during their time together in the mountains of
Western Virginia and during Jackson’s Valley campaign, so it’s not surprising
that the pugnacious general consulted no one about his decision.
Splitting his command as soon as it reached Lewis Lane
[Groveton Rd] at Groveton, Milroy sent two regiments south to the Turnpike.
With his other two he decided on a much bolder plan. He would spring them out
of Groveton Woods and rush them north on the Groveton-Sudley Road [Featherbed
Lane] to seize a Confederate battery that was harassing him in that vicinity.
Sudley Springs
Gregg’s South Carolinians had barely had a chance to set up
on the knoll on the unfinished railroad when Kryzanowski’s men came crashing down on them. The first two
regiments had not been well positioned, and were facing all different directions,
which gave the Union men plenty of opportunities to shoot them from every
angle. When the third regiment came up, two of them were able to charge
Kryzanowski’s lead divisions and send them fleeing back towards the line, but
the forward motion opened them up to even more fire in their flanks and rear.
Gregg sent back to the next closest brigade for more
regiments to support.
Gainesville
Longstreet’s Wing hadn’t yet finished marching through the
town, but Stuart’s cavalry had made things too difficult for Buford to remain
in the vicinity. He sent his findings to Ricketts:
Seventeen regiments, one battery, five hundred cavalry passed through Gainesville three quarters of an hour ago, on the Centreville road [Warrenton Turnpike [US 29]]. I think this division should join our forces now engaged at once. Please forward this.
Arriving from Hopewell Gap, Wilcox’s men finally caught up
with the rest of the wing and fell in behind Neighbor Jones’ men.
Manassas Junction
Ricketts’ superior, Irvin McDowell, arrived at Manassas
Junction and found King at Liberia, with Fitz John Porter. King, he learned,
had handed over his division to Hatch, who was under orders to march with
Porter to Gainesville. McDowell was livid, albeit in his own fashion. He
lectured Porter about the chain of command and the mistake of detaching a
division from a higher-ranked general who already knew the field (despite
having been lost the night before). Porter, who had little regard for
McDowell’s abilities, steadily refused to agree.
McDowell had sat down to write a letter of protest to Pope
about the order, when John Gibbon arrived from Centreville with another copy of
the same order. Porter declared it conclusive of Pope’s will, and McDowell
changed his tactics. He suggested to Porter that he order King to march on the
right to Gainesville, which would bring him close enough to Reynolds’ division
on Sigel’s left that Ricketts could bridge the gap, and the whole of the Third
Corps, Army of Virginia would be together. Porter was evasive.
So McDowell wrote another note to Pope, emphasizing his hope
that this was only a temporary arrangement in order to try to draw out a
concession from the commanding general. Meanwhile, he continued to delay Porter
with arguments, since if the Fifth Corps commander gave no orders to King’s
division, there would be no evidence that he was in charge of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment