4. IV.
That night General Stuart was moving steadily back by the
same route which he had pursued in advancing, and on the next
day he had reached the vicinity of Bucklands.
The army had fallen back, tearing up the road, and General
Stuart now prepared to follow, the campaign having come to an
end. He was not, however, to be permitted to fall back without
molestation, and his command was to be present at the “Buckland
Races.” This comic episode will be briefly described, and
the event related just as it occurred, without embellishment or
exaggeration. General Kilpatrick, commanding the Federal
cavalry, had been very much outraged, it would appear, at the
hasty manner in which Stuart had compelled him to evacuate
Culpeper; and he now felt an ardent desire, before the campaign
ended, to give the great cavalier a “Roland for his Oliver.”
With about 3,000 cavalry he accordingly crossed Bull Run,
following upon Stuart's track as the latter fell back; and soon
he had reached the little village of Bucklands, not far from New
Baltimore.
Stuart had disappeared; but these disappearances of Stuart,
like those of Jackson, were always dangerous. In fact, a ruse
was about to be practised upon General Kilpatrick, who was
known to want caution, and this ruse was of the simplest description.
Stuart had arranged that he should retire before Kilpatrick
as he advanced, until the Federal column was beyond Bucklands—then
Fitz Lee, who had fallen back from Manassas on
the line of the Orange Railroad, would have an opportunity to
fall upon the enemy's flank and rear. The sound of Fitz Lee's
guns would be the signal for Stuart to face about and attack;
Kilpatrick would thus be assailed in front and flank at the same
instant, and the result would probably be satisfactory. This
plan was carried out exactly as Stuart had arranged. General
Kilpatrick reached Bucklands, and is said to have stated while
dining at a house there that “he would not press Stuart so hard,
but he (Stuart) had boasted of driving him (Kilpatrick) out of
Culpeper, and he was going to give him no rest.” It is said
that General Kilpatrick had scarcely uttered this threat when
the roar of artillery was heard upon his left flank, and this was
speedily reëchoed by similar sounds in his front. In fact, General
Fitz Lee had carried out his half of the programme, and
Stuart hastened to do the rest. At the sound of General Lee's
artillery Stuart faced about, formed his command in three
columns, and charged straight upon the enemy's front, while
General Fitz Lee fell upon his flanks. The consequence was a
complete rout of the Federal cavalry, who scattered in every
direction, throwing down their arms as they fled, and the flight
of many, it is said, was not checked until they reached Alexandria.
General Custer's headquarter wagons and papers were
captured—as happened, I believe, to the same officer twice subsequently—and
the pursuing force, under Kilpatrick, gave
Stuart no more trouble as he fell back. This engagement
afforded huge enjoyment to the Southern cavalry, as it was almost
bloodless, and resembled a species of trap into which their opponents
fell. Nothing amuses troops more than this latter circumstance,
and the affair continues to be known among the disbanded
troopers of Stuart, as the “Buckland Races.”
This engagement ended the campaign as far as the cavalry
were concerned, and it was the movements of this arm that I
proposed to outline. These were uniformly successful, while
those of the infantry, from what appeared to be some fatality,
were regularly unsuccessful. While the cavalry drove their
opponents before them at Stone House Mountain, Culpeper
Court-House, Brandy, Warrenton Springs, Bull Run, and Bucklands,
the infantry failed to arrest the enemy at Auburn; were
repulsed at Bristoe with the loss of several guns; and now, on
the Rappahannock, was to occur that ugly affair at the railroad
bridge, in which two brigades of General Lee's army were surprised,
overpowered, and captured almost to a man. Such is the
curiously mingled “warp and woof” of war. It was the Army
of Northern Virginia, led by Ewell and Hill, with General Lee
commanding in person, which sustained these losses, and failed
in the object which the great soldier declared he had in view—
to cut off and fight a pitched battle with General Meade. The
movements of this latter commander entitled him to high praise,
and he exhibited throughout the brief campaign a vigour and
acumen which only belong to the thorough soldier.
Such is an outline of some incidents in this rapid campaign;
this hasty movement backward and forward on the great chessboard
of war. The discursive sketch here laid before the reader
may convey some idea of the occurrences as they actually took
place. From the “official reports” the grave Muse of History
will sum up the results, generalizing upon the importance or
non-importance of the events. This page aims at no generalization
at all, but simply to show how Stuart and Fitz Lee, with
their brave comrades, did the work assigned to them in those
bright October days of 1863.
