Page:A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the Confederate States of America.djvu/32

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OPERATIONS AT HANOVER JUNCTION

forcements from Washington, before he could resume the offensive, or make another of his flank movements to get between General Lees army and Richmond.



HANOVER JUNCTION

OPERATIONS OF EARLY'S DIVISON

The movement of the enemy to get between our army and Richmond had been discovered, and on the afternoon of the 21st, Ewell's corps was put in motion towards Hanover Junction.[1] After turning over to General Hill, the command of his corps, I rode in the direction taken by Ewell's corps, and overtook it, a short time before day on the morning of the 22nd. Hoke's brigade, under Lieutenant Colonel Lewis, this day joined us from Petersburg, and an order was issued, transferring Gordon's brigade, now under the command of Brigadier-General Evans, to Johnson's division, which was placed under the command of General Gordon, who had been made a Major General. This left me in command of three brigades, to wit: Pegram's, Hoke's, and Johnston's, all of which were very much reduced in strength. My Adjutant General, Major Daniel, had been disabled for life by a wound received at the Wilderness, and my Inspector General, Major Samuel Hale, had been mortally wounded at Spotsyivania Court House, on the 12th, while serving with the division and acting with great gallantry during the disorder which ensued after Ewell's line was broken. Both were serious losses to me.

On this day, (the 22nd), we moved to Hanover Junction, and, next day my division was posted on the extreme right, covering a ferry two or three miles below the railroad bridge


  1. Hanover junction is about 22 miles from Richmond, and is at he intersection of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad with the Central Railroad from Richmond west via Gordonsville and Staunton. It is on the direct road from both Spotsylvania Court House and Fredericksburg to Richmond. The North Anna River is north of the Junction about two miles, and the South Anna about three miles south of it. Those two streams unite south of east, and a few miles from the Junction, and form the Pamunkey River.