Battle of Fairfax Court House (June 1863)

The Battle of Fairfax Court House (June 1863) was fought during the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War between two cavalry detachments from the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by General Joseph Hooker, and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee.

The Confederate cavalry leader General J.E.B. Stuart was keen to restore his prestige after two humiliating encounters with Union cavalry, and as the main body crossed the Potomac into Maryland, he received permission to detach three brigades and ride around the entire Union army to gather supplies and intelligence, and damage lines of communication.

At Fairfax Court House, Virginia, on 27 June, one of Stuart’s brigades, led by Brigadier General Wade Hampton, was surprised by a small detachment of the 11th New York Cavalry under Major Remington, which initially drove them into the woods, but were so heavily outnumbered that they had to retreat. Although technically a Confederate win, this small engagement had a major impact on the outcome of Gettysburg, since it delayed Stuart’s arrival, depriving Lee of essential knowledge of the enemy’s whereabouts.

Background

Plan to invade the North

On the night of May 5–6, 1863, after the Army of the Potomac commanded by Major General Joseph Hooker had been defeated at the Battle of Chancellorsville (April 30, 1863 to May 6, 1863), in Spotsylvania County, Virginia by the General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, Hooker withdrew his forces to positions north of the Rappahannock River, mainly in the vicinity of Falmouth, Virginia. Lee's army remained just to the south of the Rappahannock in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area after the battle.

Meanwhile, in Mississippi, Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant was closing in on a Confederate army at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Loss of Vicksburg would give the Union control of the Mississippi River and effectively cut off Confederate territory west of the Mississippi from the rest of the Confederacy. Leaders of the Confederate government, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate States Secretary of War James A. Seddon wanted to relieve the pressure on Vicksburg, possibly by sending reinforcements from Virginia to Mississippi or to Tennessee in order to divert attention of Union forces from Vicksburg.

In meetings with Davis and Seddon from May 14, 1863 to May 17, 1863 and on May 26, 1863, Lee proposed to relieve the pressure in Mississippi by diverting Union Army attention to an invasion of the North from Virginia.Coddington, 1968, pp. 7–9.McPherson, 1988, p. 647. This also would spare Virginia from further campaigning that summer, allow the Army of Northern Virginia to live off the land in the North and to threaten major cities, such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., in order to weaken Northern support for the war and possibly even to obtain foreign recognition of the Confederacy. Davis and Seddon, along with Davis's entire cabinet, except Postmaster-General John Reagan of Texas, agreed upon Lee's plan at these meetings.Coddington, 1968, p. 7 However, further correspondence was exchanged, which made it appear to some later historians that Davis's full approval did not come until May 31. On the other hand, historian Stephen W. Sears states that the further correspondence only concerned Lee's difficulty with D. H. Hill concerning reinforcements and not the plan to invade the North and that Lee began to get his force ready to move north on May 17.

Lee completed a reorganization of his army by June 1, 1863 and began preparations to move to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and then into Maryland and Pennsylvania. By June 2, 1863, Lee had intelligence that Union forces along the Virginia coast and on the Virginia Peninsula were not contemplating a move against Richmond, Virginia, the Confederacy's capital and that Hooker was not prepared to make another strike across the Rappahannock.Coddington, 1968, p. 51.

Beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign

The Confederate Gettysburg Campaign began on June 3, 1863 with the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, under its new commander, Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell, moving northwest from the Fredericksburg area to Culpeper Court House, Virginia. By the next day, Hooker learned of the Confederate movement but did not know whether Lee was attempting to move north or to attack Hooker's right flank or whether the Confederates were moving their infantry or just cavalry. Hooker proposed to attack Lieutenant General A. P. Hill's Third Corps at Fredericksburg but President Abraham Lincoln and Union Army General-in-Chief Henry Halleck thought that the plan was too risky and would enable Lee to turn his force at Culpeper to attack Hooker's flank, possibly while Hooker's men were engaged in crossing the Rappahannock.Coddington, 1968 p. 53. Hooker gave up the idea.

On June 6, 1863, Union Brigadier General John Buford informed Hooker that Lee's "movable" force, consisting of six brigades of cavalry, was at Culpeper.Coddington, 1968, p. 54. Buford did not know about the presence of Ewell's Second Corps and two of James Longstreet's First Corps divisions at Culpeper.

Battle of Brandy Station

On June 7, acting on Buford's intelligence, Hooker ordered Major General Alfred Pleasonton to take his entire cavalry corps and 3,000 infantrymen, a combined force of about 11,000 men including artillerymen, across the Rappahannock River near Brandy Station, Virginia and "disperse and destroy" the Confederate force at Culpeper. At dawn on June 9, 1863, Pleasonton's force, divided into two wings commanded by Brigadier General John Buford and Brigadier General David McMurtrie Gregg, crossed the Rappahannock at Beverly Ford and Kelly's Ford, about apart.Coddington, 1968, p. 55. They planned to unite at Brandy Station about from Beverly Ford and from Kelly's Ford and then to move west to Culpeper. Buford's wing drove the Confederate pickets from Beverly Ford and surprised the Confederate cavalry camped nearby around Fleetwood Hill, where Stuart had his headquarters, and Brandy Station. The Battle of Brandy Station, the largest cavalry battle of the war, continued until late afternoon with the Confederates ultimately holding Fleetwood Hill.Coddington, 1968, p. 58. With Confederate infantry approaching the area, Pleasonton made an orderly withdrawal across the Rappahannock. Stuart called the battle a victory but he was subjected to criticism for being surprised and for the losses inflicted on his men by Pleasonton's force. To Stuart's chagrin, for the first time in the war, the Union cavalry came out of a battle with the Confederate cavalry on roughly even terms.

Troop movements and cavalry actions

Between June 9 and June 15, 1863, Lee contended with Davis and Seddon, and with the commander of Confederate forces in North Carolina and Southeast Virginia, Major General Daniel Harvey Hill, about the number and veteran status of the units to be left behind to guard Richmond and the coastal areas of Virginia and North Carolina. On June 15, Lee began to concentrate his entire army for the offensive.Coddington, 1968, p. 69. He had already ordered Ewell to proceed with the Second Corp to the Shenandoah Valley on June 10.

After the Battle of Brandy Station, Hooker was persuaded by Pleasonton that Confederate infantry were at Culpeper and began to move his corps to the west, eventually spreading the Army of the Potomac over a line from Fredericksburg to Beverly Ford. On June 13, Hooker heard that the First Corps and Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia were headed toward the Shenandoah Valley. On June 14, he ordered the right wing of his army to concentrate at Manassas Junction, Virginia and the left wing to go to Dumfries, Virginia after withdrawing government property from depots north of Fredericksburg, especially the base at Aquia Creek. Hooker moved his headquarters to Dumfries and then to Fairfax Station and then to Fairfax Court House.Coddington, 1968, p. 74.Rafuse, Ethan S. ''Robert E. Lee and The Fall of the Confederacy, 1863-1865''. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2008; Paperback edition, 2009. . p. 51. By leaving the Fredericksburg line, Hooker enabled Lee to order Hill to go to Culpeper and Longstreet to proceed to the Shenandoah Valley without concern that Hooker would try to cross the Rappahannock and make a strike toward Richmond.

Two Confederate cavalry brigades under William E. Jones ("Grumble" Jones) and Wade Hampton III screened the movement of A. P. Hill's Corps to Culpeper. The Confederate and Union forces, mostly cavalry, fought daily in the Loudoun Valley area between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Bull Run Mountains during the week after June 17, 1863 as the two armies tried to learn each other's positions and movements or to prevent their opposition from gathering such information about their own forces. Although the Confederates kept the Union cavalry east of the Blue Ridge, Pleasanton and Gregg concluded that only Confederate cavalry was east of the Blue Ridge when in fact Longstreet's corps was spread out east of the mountains for some days that week.Coddington, 1968, p. 79.

Battle of Upperville

With Hooker's permission, on June 21, Pleasonton left two infantry brigades at Middleburg to guard his line of communications and took five cavalry brigades and Colonel (United States) Strong Vincent's infantry brigade to attack Stuart's five cavalry brigades near Upperville, Virginia. At the Battle of Upperville, Pleasonton's force drove Stuart's five brigades from the town and into Ashby's Gap. Pleasonton was satisfied with this result and did not try to push Stuart across the mountains. Stuart had kept Pleasonton from finding the Confederate infantry. Near nightfall, however, Brigadier General John Buford's scouts rode up a nearby ridge and spied Confederate infantry camps in the Shenandoah Valley.Longacre, Edward G. ''The Cavalry at Gettysburg: A Tactical Study of Mounted Operations during the Civil War's Pivotal Campaign, 9 June–14 July 1863''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986. . p. 132. The minor Union victory at Upperville which resulted in the capture of one or two Confederate artillery pieces and about 250 Confederate prisoners also resulted in gathering some useful intelligence about the disposition of part of Lee's infantry The action also delayed the march of two infantry divisions of Lee's army in order for the Confederates to be sure to hold Ashby's Gap and to have a force available at Shepherdstown, West Virginia if Union troops moved toward the Shenandoah Valley and were able to break through. Stuart again came in for criticism in Southern newspapers for being surprised and defeated at Upperville.

Lee soon learned that Pleasonton had withdrawn to Aldie, Virginia. He then knew he could leave the heavily reinforced positions in Virginia and hasten his movement into Maryland and Pennsylvania.Coddington, 1968, p. 107. Ewell's corps, with Albert G. Jenkins's cavalry brigade were to march toward the Susquehanna River to gather food and supplies.Coddington, 1968, p. 106. Lee ordered Brigadier General John D. Imboden to lead his cavalry brigade across the Potomac to join Ewell's corps if opportunity offered, but Imboden decided he did not have that opportunity and stayed behind.

Beginning of Stuart's ride

Stuart now sought to take a useful role in the campaign and perhaps, according to some historians, to redeem his reputation and to secure the glory of another ride around the Union Army. On June 22, Lee gave Stuart discretionary orders for his movement to Pennsylvania with the important point being: "If you find that he he enemyis moving northward, and that two brigades can guard the Blue Ridge and take care of your rear, you can move with the other three into Maryland, and take position on General Ewell's right."Rhodes, Charles Dudley
''History of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac''
Kansas City, MO: Hudson-Kimberly Publishing Co., 1900. . Retrieved June 27, 2013. p. 53. Lee wrote to Stuart again on June 23 in an apparent effort to clarify his orders as follows: "You will, however, be able to judge whether you can pass around their Army without hindrance, doing them all the damage you can, and cross the river east of the mountains. In either case, after crossing the river, you must move on and feel the right of Ewell's troops." Lee's orders did not give Stuart a specific route to follow.Longacre, 1986, p. 150. Confederate Colonel Edward Porter Alexander, chief of artillery of Longstreet's corps, stated "Stuart made to Lee a very unwise proposition, which Lee more unwisely entertained."

Major John S. Mosby, scouting for Stuart with a small group of partisan rangers, told Stuart that Stuart could cut through the separated Union corps, cross the Potomac at Seneca Ford, northwest of Washington, D.C., and disrupt Hooker's communications and supplies, possibly even divert his army toward the defense of Washington.Coddington, 1968, p. 109. Stuart was eager to restore his reputation after being surprised and evenly fought at Brandy Station and Upperville. After Mosby reported that Hooker did not seem to be moving, on June 24 Stuart used the discretion in his orders to follow Mosby's advice and attempt to ride through and around the Union Army and, as he said thereafter, to meet Ewell at York, Pennsylvania. Historian Edwin B. Coddington said the directive to damage the Union forces on the way was an invitation to delay.Coddington, 1968, p. 111. Taking his three most experienced brigades under Brigadier Generals Wade Hampton, III and Fitzhugh Lee and Colonel John R. Chambliss, Jr. in temporary command of W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee's brigade because Lee had been wounded, Stuart left the brigades of Brigadier Generals Beverly Robertson and "Grumble" Jones with all but one of his artillery batteries to guard the mountain passes and to catch up with the infantry after the Union forces had departed.

After spending June 24 in preparation and concentrating his forces at Salem, now Marshall, Virginia, Stuart started for Haymarket, Virginia by way of Glasscock Gap in the Bull Run Mountains on June 25.Coddington, 1968, p. 112. Before reaching his objective, Stuart ran into Union Major General Winfield Scott Hancock's II corps. Stuart fired a few artillery shells, then withdrew, sent Fitzhugh Lee's brigade to Gainesville, Virginia and stopped at Buckland, Virginia with his other two brigades in order to allow his horses to graze as they had no forage. The incident with Hancock's corps prevented Stuart from meeting again with Mosby. Instead of turning back to catch up with the infantry as quickly as possible, Stuart waited for Mosby for ten hours on June 26, then marched for and again grazed his horses near Wolf Run Shoals on the Occoquan River before moving on toward Fairfax Station early on June 27.Coddington, 1968, p. 113.

Battle

Reconnaissance of the 11th New York Cavalry

On June 26, 1863, the U.S. War Department ordered Colonel James B. Swain of the 11th Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry ("Scott's 900"), which was part of the XXII Corps of the Union Army stationed in the Washington, D.C. defenses, to send a squad of troops to scout in the vicinity of Centreville, Virginia and to guard any remaining army supplies at Fairfax Court House.Dagwell, George A. Chapter VIII: ''The Fairfax Fight'' in Smith, Thomas West
''The Story of a Cavalry Regiment: "Scott's 900" Eleventh New York Cavalry: From the St. Lawrence River to the Gulf of Mexico, 1861–1865''
Chicago: The Veterans Association of the Regiment, 1897. . Retrieved June 26, 2013. p. 76. Swain sent the regiment's B and C companies, 82 enlisted men and Captain Alexander G. Campbell, First Lieutenant Albert B. Holmes, Second Lieutenant Augustus B. Hazelton, and First Lieutenant George A. Dagwell, under the command of Major Seth Pierre Remington, on the mission.Hartwell, Charles A
Chapter VIII (part): ''The Fairfax Fight''
in Smith, Thomas West
''The Story of a Cavalry Regiment: "Scott's 900" Eleventh New York Cavalry: From the St. Lawrence River to the Gulf of Mexico, 1861–1865''
Chicago: The Veterans Association of the Regiment, 1897. . Retrieved June 26, 2013. p. 85.O'Neill, Robert F. ''Chasing Jeb Stuart and John Mosby: The Union Cavalry in Northern Virginia from Second Manassas to Gettysburg''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2012. . p. 243. The detachment left the same afternoon and by 10:00 p.m., the troops were camped at Fairfax Court House which the Union Army had left the day before. Fires of coffee and bacon from the Union Army depot were burning when the squad arrived and the men saw what they decided must be local citizens examining the area and scavenging during the night.

The fighting begins

Early on June 27, 1863, the New York troops left for Centreville.Dagwell, 1897, p. 77. They watered their horses at a small stream crossing the road just outside Fairfax Court House, which would be the scene of some action when they returned. Upon their arrival at Centreville, about 10:00 a.m., they found some Union Army hospital supplies which they inventoried and put in the care of a local storekeeper. The soldiers thought they had seen mounted men in the woods in the direction of Fairfax Station.

When they started their return trip, the cavalrymen came under fire from the woods about three miles from Fairfax Court House. Major Remington sent two squads of four dismounted men into the woods to investigate. One of the men's horses bolted and started to run toward Fairfax Court House. Lt. Dagwell pursued the runaway horse and met the advanced guard of four men of the detachment just outside their old camp where they found citizens loading wagons with everything of value that had not been removed or burned by the Union Army in their move north. As Lt. Dagwell found the horse entering the courtyard of the courthouse, he saw that the yard was filled with what he estimated to be about 65 Confederate troops.O'Neill, 2012, p. 244. Believing the Confederates must be some of Major John S. Mosby's partisans, Dagwell turned his horse and fled as the Confederates fired at him.

When Lt. Dagwell returned to the area of the stream crossing the road into town and the rest of the New York troops came up, they found Confederates were drawn up in line in the woods up a ravine across the stream outside of town.Dagwell, 1897, p. 78. Dagwell's company, under fire but with no one hit, charged the Confederates, sending them retreating down the road to Fairfax Station. Dagwell, Holmes and a few troops pursued the last of the fleeing Confederates, killing one and capturing a few others.

Pursuit toward Fairfax Station

About one-half mile east of Fairfax Station, Stuart's staff officers, Major Andrew Reid Venable, Major Henry B. McClellan and Captain John Esten Cooke along with a courier, were eating breakfast at the house of a blacksmith who was shoeing their horses.Wittenberg, 2006, p. 11. They were disturbed by some of the 11th New York cavalrymen running by on the road. Cooke did not immediately flee because he wanted to have his horses shoed but when a second group from the 11th New York Cavalry approached, Cooke barely escaped.

Continuing his pursuit, Dagwell came to the crest of a hill near Fairfax Station where the road led down to Fairfax Station and where a few Union troops who had outpaced him had halted. They saw what Dagwell estimated was "at least" 2,000 Confederate troops and an artillery battery. The New Yorkers had come upon Stuart's force on their way north. Dagwell then realized that the small force they had driven from Fairfax Court House was not a group of Mosby's men but the advance guard of at least an entire Confederate brigade.Dagwell, 1897, p. 81.

Dagwell sent a soldier with the freshest-looking horse back to tell Remington of the situation and that he and the eight men with him would return as soon as their horses could recover from their just completed pursuit. Dagwell and his eight men had to rest their horses but Dagwell could see the Confederates mounting up only about six hundred yards from his small squad.

Action near Fairfax Station

Before the Confederates could approach Dagwell and his men, Major Remington appeared with the rest of the detachment. When informed of the situation, Remington did not try to flee but ordered his men in line at the crest of the hill where Dagwell had viewed the 2,000-man Confederate force. Meanwhile, Stuart had heard about the encounter with his staff officers and ordered Brigadier General Wade Hampton III to bring up the lead regiment quickly to meet the threat.Wittenberg, 2006, p. 12. The advance unit of the Confederates, the 1st North Carolina Cavalry, then came over the hill and moved to within 30 yards of the Union line but did not move further forward despite orders which Dagwell could hear. When the Union troops did not surrender after about 15 seconds, the opposing forces began to shoot at each other.Dagwell, 1897, p. 82.

Major Remington then ordered his squad to charge the Confederate force, which Dagwell had just told him must be an entire brigade of Confederate cavalry and had correctly estimated as being a minimum of 2,000 men.O'Neill, 2012. p. 245.Wittenberg, 2006, p. 13. The advance Confederates broke into the woods and Dagwell followed, only to soon find that he was alone. When he came out to the point the New Yorkers had formed their line, he found only five Union men but also saw several dead and wounded Confederates, including a dead Confederate major beside the road. Major John H. Whitaker, commander of the 1st North Carolina Cavalry was killed during the action.Longacre, 1986, p. 153.O'Neill, 2012, p. 246. Sergeant Charles A. Hartwell stated that the New Yorkers killed 5 Confederates and took 14 prisoners in the initial action. Hartwell soon found himself with about a dozen men, including Major Remington, cut off from the other Union troops. Remington and a few others, including Sergeant H. O. Morris, in the face of overwhelming numbers, had retreated from the nearby hill to which Remington had moved most of the men after their initial charge.Morris, 1897, p. 89. When he saw the Union movement, Hampton thought they were trying to position themselves to attack the rear of his force and sent a squadron to outflank them, virtually surrounding the majority of the Union men.Wittenberg, 2006, p. 15. Sergeant Morris shot a Confederate officer who assaulted Major Remington during the melee that ensued during the fight for escape of the New Yorkers not trapped on the hill.Wittenberg, p. 2006, p. 16.

After desperate fighting with pistols and sabers, Remington determined the situation was hopeless and ordered the men with him to withdraw.Hartwell, 1897, p. 86. Remington, Captain Campbell and 9 men including Sergeant Hartwell escaped along the railroad to a road that led to Annandale, Virginia

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