Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/469

Rh of "Jeb" Stuart. The cavalry corps was in two divisions, of three brigades each; the First, led by Wade Hampton, of South Carolina; the Second, by Fitz Lee, of Virginia. Fitz Lee's three brigades, commanded by W. H. F. Lee, L. L. Lomax and Williams F. Wickham, were all from Virginia. At the opening of the campaign, Stuart's cavalry held the line of the lower Rapidan and of the lower Rappahannock, guarding Lee's right flank.

Stuart informed Lee of the arrival of Grant's army, on the north bank of the Rapidan, opposite the Germanna and Ely fords, on the 3d of May, and of the crossing of those fords by his advance on the next day. Knowing this, Lee, on the morning of the 4th, issued his usual precautionary orders against the destruction of private property of all kinds, and, at 9 a. m., when the signal officer from Clark's mountain waved that Grant's columns were in motion toward the Confederate right, he gave orders for his army to advance, as prearranged, to meet the Federal movement. Two parallel roads led from his camps toward the Wilderness. Ewell moved, at noonday, across to the Orange turnpike, then followed that eastward, toward "The Wilderness." At the same time two of Hill's divisions marched from Orange Court House, along the plank road, in the same direction. At 11, Longstreet was ordering his advance, under Field, followed by Kershaw, from Gordonsville, across the country, to the same objective point; but he did not get his march under way until 4 of the afternoon, because he was unwilling to take the direct road assigned him by Lee, and waited for permission to take one of his own choosing, which led to delay and later held him from the field of battle at a critical moment. Anderson's division, of Hill's corps, was left to guard the rear.

With the 28,000 men of Hill and Ewell, Lee hastened to the front, his artillery moving with his infantry, to support Stuart, who, in joyful combat, was already fighting back every step of the Federal advance. Lee rode with Hill at the head of the right-hand column, on the Orange plank road, sending message after message to hurry up Longstreet, to support the Confederate right when the battle should be joined.

At the close of the 4th of May, Grant telegraphed, from Germanna ford, to Halleck, chief of staff of the