The Portland daily press., 1900-09-06

Stuart had called for assistance from
the infantry at Culpepper as soon as he
found Gregg had Outt1anked him, not
Wlthstanding his largely superior force
Of cavalry. They began to srun them up
in cars before noon, and the first train
load were run off the track, by the Union
troops turning the switch at the Station,
In addition, two divisions of Longstreet's
corps were reported to be advancing by
road directly to Fleetwood.
1t was getting late in the day, nearly
five O'Clock, and the battle had been rag
ing continuously since daylight. Pleas
anton had no object in pushing the enem y
farther, His mission was accomplished.
He directed the withdrawal of the troops
and return to the fOrds. The enemy
making no opposition, they moved aleis-
urely down, recrOssed and returned to
their old camp,
Prisoners taken that day stated chat
Stuart's force at the review was fifteen
thousand men. Pleasan6On claims Stuart
had twelve thousand in the tight.
Stuart assistant adjutant general adj
mits that he had between twenty and
thirty guns,
Duties division, after crossing the ford
made detour to Stevensburg, to come
IN on the enemy's right at Culpsper, and
did not arrive on the field at Brandy
Station until the battle was over. There
fore Gregg fought Stuart's whole force
with his one division. According to
figures of General Gregg, Pleasanton' IS
whole force consisted of nine thousand
men, including ainfantry sand batteries.
The infantry were stationed along the
roads at and from the fOrds, to cover the
lines of retreat. For some reason the bat
teries did not reach the field in time to
be of service.
From the most reliable information to
be obtained, it seems certain Stuart out
numbered Pleasanton two to one,
PleasanGOn accomplished his object, OBJ
tanning all the information needed to
enable Hooker to thwart Lees plans. He
also gave Stuart such drubbing, and so
crippled and demoralized him he did not
recover from 1t during the campaign,
| ana never regained his former prestige
Even the Southern papers admitted
Stuart was OutmanOeuvered and out
fought The following is from Rich
mOnd paper of the eleventh two days
after the battle being the same paper that
published such oOntemptuous articles
about the Yankees astride horses in 1861,
! before referred to: 1.-The plumbers OF such
weak headed and vain officers only en-
courage the enemy to Overrun and de-
vastate our country with a cavalry which
iszdaily learning to desplse the mounted
troops OF the COnfederacy. The surprise
was the most complete that has yet Oc-
Cured"
In concluding his paper Capt. Ford
pointed out that when the general order
was issued authorizing regiments to. in
scribe on their battle flags the engage
ments in which they had participated, 1t
was found that the First Maine Cavalry
was entitled to have more battles in
scribed upon It's banners than any other
regiment in the army, regular or volun-
teer.
Capt. Ford presented the paper in an
admirable manner and at the conclusion
of its reading he was given a hearty
round OF applause. After the reading of
the paper, Major II. S. Burrage, Major
S. W. Thaxter, General John Marshall
Brown and Capt. Carter each spoke brief
~, referring to the battle at Brandy sta
ton and Beverly Ford. Each of the
speakers paid Capt. Ford glowing COM
pliments for his ably written and graph
ic description of the battle, presented with
out error from the memory Of Capt. Ford.
At the conclusion of the remarks OF the
above named companions vote OF
thanks was extended Capt. Ford for the
preparation and reading of his able paper,
and he was requested to furnish a copy
of the same TO be filed in the archives of
the commandery.