The Confederates Evacuate the Advanced Line, Part II

The order came on the evening of September 27, 1861.  Confederate commander Joseph Johnston worried that his current position left his army exposed and vulnerable.  Unless the government in Richmond was prepared to provide the men and materiel for an offensive action, Johnston saw little value in remaining so far forward.  Gen. James Longstreet also reported on the twenty-seventh that he received information that his advanced position would be attacked by "a very strong force in a few days."  (OR, 1:51:2, 317.)  Perhaps this is all Johnston needed to hear.  Rather than risk a possible engagement along the forward line, the commander sent his men packing.  The Confederates occupying Munson's, Mason's, and Upton's Hills, Falls Church, and other advanced positions were told to fall back towards Fairfax Court House.

The withdrawal played out during the course of the night. According to Longstreet's aide, Tom Goree, "before midnight we had abandoned all the splendid positions (Mason's, Munson's & Upton's Hills) . . . which we held in front of the enemy and in sight of the Potomac & Washington."  (in Cutrer 47.)   The Confederate Army had surrendered the high ground without a fight.

The 17th Virginia was doing duty in Falls Church when the order came. The regiment marched about three miles outside of town and camped for the night, only to return the next day. The 17th finally left the town for Camp Harrison in Fairfax Court House on the twenty-ninth. A couple soldiers posted a note on the gate to The Falls Church addressed to prospective Union occupiers:

Having been resident denizens of Falls Church for some time, we to-day reluctantly evacuate, not because you intimidate by your presence, but only in obedience to military dictation. We leave you a fire to cook potatoes, also to warm by, as the nights are now uncomfortable on account of their chilling influence.  (in Wallace 22.)

Goree wrote that the Confederates regretted leaving the advanced positions, "not only on account of being so pleasantly situated, but we all liked the excitement which our proximity to the Yankees produced."  (in Cutrer 47.)   He wrongly speculated that "the move was a strategic one, made to try and induce the Yankees to make an advance on us and give us battle in an open field."  (in Cutrer 47.) 



"General McClellan Occupying the Confederate Position at Munson's Hill," from a period engraving (courtesy of NYPL Digital Gallery).  The Union commander wasted no time in crossing the Potomac and riding out to the front upon learning that the Confederates had withdrawn from the area around Munson's Hill.

Goree's boss was not far off the mark as to Union intentions. Around the time the Confederates were marching towards Fairfax, Maj. Gen. George McClellan, commander of the Federal Army of the Potomac, ordered Brig. Gen. Israel Richardson to advance from his position around Bailey's Crossroads and seize Munson's and Upton's Hills from the Confederates. Troops from Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell's division were to support the right flank of Richardson's brigade. On September 28, Federal soldiers stormed the empty Confederate works on Munson's and Upton's Hills without a fight. The capture of Mason's Hill soon followed. As McClellan wrote to his wife on September 29, "The moral effect of this advance will be great & it will have a bad influence on the troops of the enemy. They can no longer say that they are flaunting their dirty little flag in my face, & I hope they have taken their last look at [Washington]." (Sears 104.)  The Confederates, meanwhile, had to determine their next move, but the chances for a fall offensive were not looking so good.

Sources
Russel H. Beatie, Army of the Potomac: McClellan Takes Command: September 1861-February 1862(2002); Thomas W. Cutrer, Longstreet's Aide: The Civil War Letters of Thomas J. Goree (1995); Bradley E. Gernand, A Virginia Village Goes to War: Falls Church During the Civil War (2002); James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox (1896); George B. McClellan, McClellan's Own Story (1887); "Munson's Hill Evacuated by the Rebels," New York Times, Sept. 29, 1861; "The Occupation of Mason's Hill," New York Times, Oct. 2, 1861; Stephen W. Sears (ed.), The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan: Selected Correspondence 1860-1865 (1989); Lee A. Wallace, Jr., 17th Virginia Infantry, from the Virginia Regimental History Series (1990); Jeffry D. Wert, General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Solider (1994).

The Forgotten War: Fighting Between the Lines Around Bailey's Crossroads

Earlier this week, I discussed the Confederate capture of Munson's Hill around Bailey's Crossroads in Northern Virginia.  Standing in the Bailey's Crossroads area today, it is difficult to imagine the constant firefighting that erupted here following the Confederate advance.  Nothing remains of the rural landscape, except for an old, forgotten windmill at the intersection of Columbia Pike and VA-7.  And the ground where soldiers marched and died is now occupied by big box stores and apartment buildings.  Only a lone marker recalls the fighting that took place here.

By the end of August 1861, Longstreet's advanced elements at Munson's Hill were dug in only a few miles from the Union position around Hunter's Chapel (now the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Glebe Rd.). Both sides threw out pickets well beyond the main line, which led to numerous encounters. General Jubal Early recalled that "[t]he pickets were constantly skirmishing with those of the enemy." (Early, 48-49.) Longstreet, still struck by the endless series of skirmishes many years later, wrote in his memoirs that "[w]e had frequent little brushes with parties pushed out to reconnoitre." (Longstreet, 59.)


"Munson's Hill, the Advance Post of the Rebel Army on the Potomac," Harper's Weekly, Oct. 5, 1861 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net).  The soldiers in the foreground appear to be Union scouts or pickets.  The Confederate flag atop the earthworks on Munson's Hill is visible in the background.  This engraving was published after the Confederates had abandoned their advanced positions in Northern Virginia.

In the days that followed Longstreet's occupation of  the high ground near Falls Church and Bailey's Crossroads, the small-scale engagements between the two side became particularly heated. The Union Army began to probe the Confederate picket line almost immediately.  Longstreet's aide, Tom Goree, soon wrote to his uncle and sister that "[n]ot a day passes without several skirmishes." (Goree, 40.)

"Bailey's Cross Roads, Advanced Post of the United States Army, Opposite Munson's Hill," Harper's Weekly, Oct. 5, 1861 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net).

Five straight days of action unfolded for the 2nd Michigan on August 28, 1861, when Brig. Gen. Israel Richardson sent Capt. Louis Dillman with 250 men to Bailey's Crossroads to "occupy and hold the same against the encroachments of the enemy's forces in that vicinity."* (Report of Capt. Dillman, OR, 1:5:1, 120.) Arriving at the crossroads from Hunter's Chapel at 11 a.m., Capt. Dillman threw out his pickets. The Confederates quickly opened fire on the soldiers at the crossroads. Skirmishing lasted all day and into the night, only stopping at around 10 p.m.

The next morning, Longstreet's soldiers greeted the Michigan boys with more gunfire.  The Union soldiers were slow to respond, and the Confederates sent a party of around 80 men to turn Dillman's right flank and cut him off from the main body of his regiment.  The Union pickets retreated, but Captain William Humphrey arrived with 40 men and drove the Confederate forces back.  The skirmishing lasted three more days and gradually decreased in intensity.  Casualties for the 2nd Michigan were light.  Dillman reported only one Union soldier as mortally wounded.**

While stationed at Bailey's Crossroads, a couple men of the 2nd Michigan had an opportunity to scout the Confederate position.  As Dillman told Richardson:

Two privates of Company D-J. Austin and P. F. Walworth-straying from camp, passed through the enemy's lines and up to within some forty rods of the rear of their earthwork on Munson's Hill. Seeing two rebels near, they watched their chance, each picked his man, fired, and brought him to the ground. They returned safely to camp. They report seeing about 500 men around the works. There were no tents in sight, but some twelve or fifteen wagons and two pieces of artillery were lying on the back of the hill.  They also report seeing a large number of field officers busy looking over their maps and charts. (OR, 1:5:1, 120.)

The 3rd Michigan was also engaged at Bailey's Crossroads for part of the same time period.  On August 30, Maj. Stephen Champlin of the 3rd Michigan spotted two companies of Confederates marching from Munson's Hill towards the Union picket line to the right of Bailey's Crossroads.  About 100 Confederates hit the Federal pickets, who fell back towards the cover of Dillman's command at the crossroads and a reserve force stationed halfway between Arlington Mill and Bailey's Crossroads along the Columbia Turnpike.***  Champlin took action to reverse the course of the skirmish, using both Dillman's command and soldiers from the 3rd Michigan.  As he reported to Richardson after the battle:

I directed Captain Dillman to march one company of his men on the table-land to his right to a point opposite the enemy in the woods and deploy them as skirmishers, advance them across the road, and engage the enemy on their flank, while I brought up and engaged the enemy's front with the reserve stationed half way to the mill. . . and also with a portion of Capt. [S.A.] Judd's command, stationed near Arlington Mill. The order was executed, and the enemy retreated before the skirmishers, and would not and did not wait an engagement. Our pickets were re-established, and the forces of both sides are again in the same position they respectively occupied this morning. (OR, 1:5:1, 119.)

All told, no Union soldiers were killed, and only one or two were slightly wounded.  Champlain saw the Confederates carrying away three men, who were either dead or wounded.

Today these skirmishes are for the most part forgotten sideshows of the Civil War.  But at the time, all eyes were fixed on Bailey's Crossroads.  As the New York Times reported on August 29, 1861,  "[t]he Washington Star has several rumors of engagements near Bailey's Cross-roads, and from other sources general rumors are current of skirmishes having taken place. There appears, however, to be nothing reliable."  The next day, the Times told readers that "[t]he reported engagements at Bailey's Cross Roads. . . appear, upon investigation, to have been simply affairs of pickets, with little if any bloodshed."  Nevertheless, rumors and speculation still abounded in the anxious capital city.  The paper reported that "[t]he movement is. . . regarded in some quarters as indicative of an immediate advance of our forces. . . ."   Union commander George McClellan, however, was still far from undertaking a major offensive against the Rebels forces in Virginia.

Notes

*Captain Dillman's report to Col. Richardson in the OR indicates that he left Hunter's Chapel on "Thursday, August 28."  However, in 1861, the 28th fell on a Wednesday, so either Dillman got the day of the week, or the date, wrong.  The Atlas to Accompany the Official Records indicates that the 2nd Michigan was in position around Bailey's Crossroads starting on August 28.  (See plate 5.)

A dispatch by a New York Times correspondent dated August 29, 1861 reports that "our picket forces advanced to Bailey's Cross-roads yesterday [August 28], and drove those of the Secessionists a mile and a half beyond, where, it is said the latter have taken possession of a commanding eminence, and are throwing up intrenchments [sic]. There was much firing during the day, but without fatal results."  However, no mention is made of the units engaged on the 28th.  A special dispatch published in the New York Times on August 29, 1861, indicates that an intense, all-day skirmish took place in Bailey's Crossroads involving the 5th Maine, the 37th and 38th New York, and "a New-Jersey regiment." The 2nd Michigan is not mentioned. 

**Owing to the lack of clarity in Dillman's report, his estimates of Confederate losses are a bit confusing.  On one day of fighting, he reported  "6 or 8 killed and wounded," and then noted that the enemy carried off  "some twelve men killed and wounded."  It is uncertain whether the sets of numbers should be added together, or whether the six or eight is to be counted among the twelve.  On another day of fighting, he noted that the Confederates "were seen to carry a number off the field."

***This action appears to be part of the same Confederate flanking movement described in Dillman's report to Richardson and discussed earlier in the post.

Sources

Aside from the OR and New York Times articles cited above, the following sources were useful in compiling this post:

Thomas W. Cutrer, Longstreet's Aide: The Civil War Letters of Thomas J. Goree (1995); Jubal Anderson Early & R.H. Early (ed.), Autobiographical Sketch and Narrative of the War Between the States (1912); Bradley E. Gernand, A Virginia Village Goes to War: Falls Church During the Civil War (2002); James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox (1896); Charles P. Poland, Jr., The Glories of War: Small Battles and Early Heroes of 1861 (2004).

The 17th Virginia at Blackburn's Ford

As many of you, I am looking forward to this week's commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of First Manassas.  I plan to attend several events later in the week, including the commemoration ceremony at Manassas National Battlefield Park on Thursday and the large-scale reenactment on Saturday.  I also hope to visit many of the Manassas-related sites around Prince William County.  I will be taking plenty of pictures and will be sure to report back when the dust settles. 

In the meantime, I would like to take a look at an action that preceded the big show by a few days.  The Battle of Blackburn's Ford occurred 150 years ago today, when Union troops under Col. Israel Richardson clashed along Bull Run with Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. James Longstreet and Col. Jubal Early.  Many authors, including Ethan Rafuse and William Davis, have covered this action in detail as part of their larger studies on the First Manassas Campaign, and I don't plan to discuss the intricacies of the battle here.  However, I'd like to examine a few connections that Blackburn's Ford has to other aspects of Northern Virginia's Civil War history that should be familiar to many readers.

The 17th Virginia Infantry, comprised of volunteers from Alexandria, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William and Warren Counties, was one of the Confederate regiments engaged at Blackburn's Ford.  The 17th Virginia was officially created on June 10, 1861 out of volunteer militia companies from Northern Virginia belonging to what was then called the "Alexandria Battalion."  In April and May 1861, most of these men were stationed at Alexandria and were forced to evacuate the city during the Federal invasion at the end of May.  The Fairfax Rifles became Company D under the command of Captain William Dulany, who had served as Fairfax's delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention.  The Warrenton Rifles were assigned to the regiment as Company K.  This unit was originally under Captain John Q. Marr, the Fauquier delegate to the Virginia Convention, who was killed during a skirmish at Fairfax Court House on June 1.  Montgomery Corse, who once led the Alexandria Battalion, became colonel of the regiment, and George William Brent, who represented Alexandria at the Virginia Convention, served as major.

The 17th Virginia was assigned in mid-June to Col. George Terrett's brigade of the Confederate Army of the Potomac.  Longstreet replaced Terrett at the start of July.  Within a few weeks, the 17th Virginia would face its first test in battle.

General James Longstreet, brigade commander of the 17th Virginia (courtesy of Wikipedia)

On July 18, 1861, a Union division under Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler entered Centreville and discovered that the Confederates had abandoned their defensive position there.  Tyler pushed Col. Richardson's brigade forward to reconnoiter along Bull Run.  Around midday, Federal artillery shells began to fall on Longstreet's men at Blackburn's Ford.  After thirty minutes of artillery fire, Tyler ordered Richardson's infantry to engage the Confederates at the ford, and companies of the 17th Virginia, along with other units, were rapidly thrown into the fray to counter the Federal attack.

Wartime drawing of Blackburn's Ford (courtesy of Library of Virginia)

After beating back soldiers from Massachusetts and New York, Longstreet directed some of his men in the front line to advance across the stream.  According to Corse,  "Company A, Captain [Morton] Marye, was . . . ordered to cross the run and deploy as skirmishers on the opposite bank.  Company C, Captain [George] Head, and Company F, Captain [George] Hamilton, were subsequently ordered to cross also and sustain this movement." (OR, Series 1, Vol. 51, Part 1, pp. 33-34.)  As Longstreet wrote in his official report, "[a] few small parties, under command of Captain Marye, Seventeenth Regiment Virginia Volunteers, who behaved with great gallantry, met parties of the enemy on the other side of the stream with the bayonet, and drove them back."  (OR, Series 1, Vol. 2, Part 1, p. 462.)  Longstreet, however, believed that his men were likely shaken after taking accidental fire in the rear from Jubal Early's troops, who had been brought up in support of his brigade.  Unsure of whether his advanced elements could press the attack, Longstreet finally recalled the 1st and 17th Virginia from the opposite bank.  The 17th Virginia brought back seven prisoners along with their wounded.  Tyler, meanwhile, ordered a withdrawal of his forces from the field.  As Richardson's men retired, artillery dueling between the two sides ensued until about 4 p.m.

Overall, losses were rather modest compared to later battles in the Civil War.  Longstreet reported 63 killed or wounded, while Richardson recorded 83 killed, wounded, or missing.  Corse described the 17th Virginia's casualties in his report on the battle:

I regret to add that Captains Dulany and [Stephen] Presstman were severely wounded whilst at the head of their companies. Captain [Benjamin] Shackelford, commanding Company K, and Lieutenant [Charles] Javins, of Company E, were slightly wounded. Private Thomas R. Sangster, Company A, was killed, and four privates severely and six slightly wounded. (OR, Series 1, Vol. 51, Part 1, p. 34.)

Due to the serious nature of his injuries, Dulany never returned to active service with the 17th Virginia following the battle.  He left the regiment in March 1862, and served as a Judge Advocate for the Marines and Navy.  Dulany tried unsuccessfully to obtain quartermaster or commissary positions in the Confederate Army.  Apparently recovered from his wounds by April 1863, he asked to receive a commission to raise a cavalry company and ride "with Capt. Mosby on our lines in Fauquier, Prince Wm., Fairfax & Loudoun."  (Letter to Sec. of War James Seddon, April 16, 1863.)  Instead of returning to military service, however, Dulany ended up serving the remainder of the war as a member of the Virginia State Senate.

Officers of the 17th Virginia won the praises of their superiors for their performance at Blackburn's Ford.  Longstreet noted that several officers in his brigade, including Corse, Lt. Col. William Munford, and Brent from the 17th Virginia, "displayed more coolness and energy than is usual amongst veterans of the old service."  (OR, Series 1, Vol. 2, Part 1, p. 463.)  He was "particularly indebted to Lieutenant-Colonel Munford and Major Brent, who having a spare moment and seeing my great need of staff officers at a particular juncture, offered their assistance." (OR, Series 1, Vol. 2, Part 1, p. 463.)  Corse also singled out Munford and Brent, among other officers, for their "gallant conduct" where "the fire was hottest." (OR, Series 1, Vol. 51, Part 1, p. 34.)

Soldiers of the 17th Virginia had finally experienced combat, but the remainder of the Manassas Campaign was a bit anticlimactic for the regiment.  The 17th remained around Blackburn's Ford, and engaged only in light skirmishing on July 21, the day of the Battle of First Manassas.  Longstreets's brigade joined in the pursuit of the retreating Federals, but much to Longstreet's consternation, his men were ordered to stop, and then return to their position along Bull Run.  The 17th Virginia may have largely missed First Manassas, but would see much more action over the next four years.

Note on Sources

The following books contain thorough accounts of the Battle of Blackburn's Ford:

William C. Davis, Battle at Bull Run: A History of the First Major Campaign of the Civil War (1977.) and Ethan S. Rafuse, A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and Battle of Manassas (2002).

For more information about the 17th Virginia, see Lee A. Wallace, Jr., 17th Virginia Infantry, Virginia Regimental History Series (1990).

The service record of William Dulany can be found in the Civil War Soldier Service Records collection on footnote.com.