Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-10

fully very critical operations entrusted
to him. Al Boonsboro' General d.
u. Hill had received The furious attack
Of Mcclellan, and was ordered to with
draw In the direction Of Sharpsburg.
! To General Fitz Lee was assigned the
perilous task Of relieving the pickets in
face Of the enemy. Tie work was
done with complete success, and
Afterwards be was assigned to the
same duty at Sharpsburg. Gene
raj Robert Il. Lee had awaited
a second assault from General McClel-
Ian for whole day, when he recrossed
his infantry to the southern bank Of the
Potomac, and the cavalry Of Fitz Lee
again covered the rear. On the morn
ing Of September 10th the army was
over the river, and Fitz Lees brigade
in line of battle faced General McClel-
Ian. II is not necessary to say hat
they did not remain long. Fitz Lee
ordered q parting salute to be fred at
the Federal army, the bugles sounded,
and the brigade crossed to the south
bank Of the Potomac, though it seems
that General Mcclellan might have cut
them to pieces.
For his services in this campaign
General Fitz Lee received supreme re-
ward. OF his brigade, as much or moro
than Of the rest, the commander-in-chief
wrote " Its vigilance, activity, and
courage were conspicuous, and to its
assistance is due in great measure some
Of the most important and delicate OPP
erations of the campaign" In the win
ter of the same year, when the army
bad fallen back to the Rappahannock,
General Fitz Lee took q prominent part
in an attack on the enemy at Dumfries,
and at Falmouth broke through the
Federal outposts and captured one hun
bred and fifty prisoners. 1t was not,
however, until March, 1868, that the
active and determined young officer
showed how hard he could fight and
how much OF the blood Of Light
Horse Harry" ran in his veins.
LEES ATTACK ON AvERILL.
General Averill, preceding Hooker,
crossed the Rappahannock on a grand
reconnaissance with artillery and a
force which was estimated at 5000 ca
valry. Fitz Lee had been posted with
his brigade Of 500 men at the point in
question-Kelly's ford, in the lower
part of Culpeper-and this small force
now received the assault of Averill. A
furious fight followed, which excited
the establishment Of the countrymen
who witnessed it, one Of whom declared
that Lees attack resembled that of "a
small dog jumping at the throat Of a
big one." Some of the bravest southern
officers were killed or wounded, but at
night General Averill gave up his re-
connoissance and crossed the river
again-General Stuart, who had hurried
to Culpeper, telegraphing to the au-
thOrities at Richmond that the enemy'S
dead men and horses strewed the
roads,"
THROUGH TIE WILDERNESS.
The battle of Charlottesville fol-
lowed, and General Fitz Lee marched
with jackson on his flank movement
through the shades Of the Wilderness
to make the perilous assault on the
right of General Hooker. Lees cav
airy completely protected the move
ment of the infantry from observation,
and to this fact was due the wonderful
success Of Jackson's march and subse-
quent attack, which decided in single
hour the Federal campaign. On the
next day the place Of Jackson, who
had fallen, was taken by Stuart. The
Federal army was again attacked and
driven across the Rappahannock-as
result Of which, little more than a
month afterwards Lee was in Pennsyl-
yania.
Stuart had been left in the vicinity
of Manassas to watch the enemy, and
following on Hooker's rear he crossed
into Maryland and made for the Sus-
quehanna. On this long and remarkable
march, in which Fitz Lee was promi-
nent associate of Stuart's, the route
was strewed all over with battles. At
Westminster the Federal cavalry were
attacked and driven, and at Hanover
town an obstinate engagement lasted
nearly all day. Stuart pushed toward
the town, but force of Federal cavalry
came to meet him, driving back his adj
vance and rendering the situation Of
affairs perilous. The writer is able to
testify that Stuart so regarded it from
the orders which he received to get the
artillery instantly into position to check
the heavy lire Of dismounted men ad-
vancing from the town. The fire sue
ceeded in checking for the moment their
advance, when Fitz Lee coming in on
our left made an obstinate attack. The
result was that the Federal cavalry I'M
der command Of General Lees old pu-
pill, Fitzpatrick, was repulsed. A
second advance was not made,
and the southern cavalry moved to
Dover and thence TO Carlisle and Get
tysburg, where, in the great struggles
Of the last days, they encountered the
flower Of the United States cavalry.
Here General Fitz Lee was engaged. as
everywhere, in hand-to-hand fighting
and when the army fell back in the
direction Of the Potomac his brigade,
with others, brought up the rear. Later
in the year the young soldier was COM
misioned major-general and assigned to
the command of a division, after being
highly cOmplimented by General R. E.
Lee.
But the year 1863 was not to end in
peace in spite of Gettysburg, which it
seemed might have glutted for time
the taste for fighting in both armies.
In October General Lee determined to
cross the Upper Rapidan, flank General
Meade, who occupied Culpecer, and
cutting him off from his base "bring
on an engagement with the Federal
army" What ensued was the rapid
and shifting campaign recently chron-
icled in the Times, and it is only neces-
sary here to refer briefly to the part
taken by Fitz Lee in this animated
drama. Left behind to guard the line
of the Rapidan, he remained in position
there until Stuart reached Culpeper
Courthouse, when, hearing the thunder
| of artillery he crossed the Ranidan