Download stuart`s ride - Richmond Discoveries

S T UA RT ’ S R I DE
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Passing through the Lines
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P E N I N S U L A
CivilWarTrails.org
C A M P A I G N
In May 1862, Union Gen. George B. McClellan led the Army of the Potomac up the Peninsula to the gates of Richmond. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Army of
Northern Virginia in June and began planning a counterattack. On June 12, Gen. J.E.B. Stuart led 1,200 cavalrymen on a daring 3-day reconnaissance and discovered that the Union right
flank was unsecured. Stuart’s “Ride around McClellan” gave Lee the vital information he needed to launch the offensive known as the Seven Days’ Battles on June 26.
The fortifications directly in front of you are part of the outer defensive line
that protected the Confederate capital of Richmond. At 5 A.M. on June 12,
1862, Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart and 1,200 cavalrymen, including several
Gen. J.E.B. Stuart
Gen. Robert E. Lee
who knew the local roads, left their camps on the Mordecai and Young farms
Courtesy Library of Congress
Courtesy Library of Congress
just behind you and passed through the line here. The newly appointed Confederate commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee, had ordered Stuart’s cavalry to probe
the Federal army for weaknesses and to locate the positions of the Union
★ You Are
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flanks. Riding north on the Brook Turnpike (to your right), the column passed
through the outer defenses at this point to begin what became Stuart’s
famed ride that circled Union Gen.
STUART’S RIDE ROUTE
George B. McClellan’s army.
In the spring of 1862, before
Lee’s counterattack, Confederate engi- Richmond defenses, 1862, showing Brook Road
fortification – Courtesy Library of Congress
neer Maj. Walter H. Stevens strengthened Richmond’s fortifications, largely with slave labor. Lee utilized the terrain and the strong earthworks to reduce the number of soldiers needed to protect the city at any given location and to free more men for combat. The lines
were attacked and abandoned to the Federal army three times during the war.
Stuart’s love of music was legendary. Musicians
often accompanied Stuart both on the march
and in camp. Reportedly, on June 12, 1862,
infantrymen watching Stuart’s riders leave these
outer defenses asked how long they would be
gone. Quoting a popular song of the time, “Kathleen Mavourneen,” Stuart responded, “It may be
for years, and it may be forever.” The rest of the
column soon joined in. Songs written to glorify
the exploits of Stuart’s 1862 raids soon appeared,
including “Jine the Cavalry” and “Riding a
Raid.” Richmond artist Ernest Crehen and publisher J. W. Randolph created the lithograph
cover for the sheet music for the latter song.
646
AS HL AND
Hanover
Tavern
1
623
95
301
33
250
64
295
625
Meadow
Farm Museum
You Are
Here
Enon
Church
Yellow Tavern
(J.E.B. Stuart
Monument)
Totopotomoy
Creek
Polegreen
Church
Old Church
Bethesda Church
360
PA
606
Cold Harbor
Old Cold Harbor
Crossroads
Gaines‘ Dispatch
Mill
Station
Beaver Dam
Creek
RI CH MON D
360
Haw’s
Shop
Dabbs
House
M
UN
KEY
RIV
ER
Baltimore Store
(New Kent Winery)
33
60
155
Long
Bridge
White Oak
Swamp
5
295
Deep Bottom
(Landing)
Glendale
Malvern
Hill
95
Stuart’s Ride Site
Other Civil War Trails Site
New Kent C.H.
64
Seven
Pines
1
301
CH
60
IC
106
Safe among
Friends and Family
(Bethany Church)
K
AH
OM
Samaria
Church
Rowland’s
(Edgewood)
INY
RI
Charles
City C.H.
Shirley
Harrison’s
Landing
Westover
JAMES RIVER
HO PE WELL
VE
Wilcox’s
Landing
R
Sherwood
Forest
5
Courtesy Museum of the Confederacy