June 13, 1862 - Peninsula Campaign: Stuart's Ride - Cavalry Action at Linney's
June 13, 1862
Stuart's Ride
Old Church, Virginia, in Hanover County
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| I'll circle back for one of those "Stuart's Ride" markers. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=15886 |
“The Old Church”
Erected on this spot in 1753
Established originally on the Pamunkey River prior to 1684
Subsequently moved to the village of “Old Church” and rebuilt in 1718
The Rev. Patrick Henry officiated 1737-1777
Erected 1932 by Hanover Branch, Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=61876 |
Stuart's Ride
Old Church
— 1862 Peninsula Campaign —
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 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.
To your left is Immanuel Episcopal Church. On June 13, 1862, after running clashes with Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalrymen between Haw’s Shop and Linney’s Corner, the 5th U.S. Cavalry retreated here to Old Church, where it had camped. Stuart was close on its heels. Confederate Col. Fitzhugh Lee, who had served in the regiment before the war, commanded the 1st Virginia Cavalry. When he learned that his former unit was here, he asked Stuart for the privilege of leading the attack. Lee quickly drove off the 5th and captured the wrecked camp with its abundant supplies and a few stragglers. Lee joked with the prisoners, many of whom recognized their former comrade. One observer noted that “It was difficult to believe that the Union prisoners and the dashing young colonel represented opposing armies mustered to slaughter each other.”
As Stuart and the rest of the column arrived at Old Church, residents emerged from their houses with food and drink for the grateful troopers. Stuart decided to continue east rather than retrace his steps back toward Hanover Court House, assuming that Federal reinforcements probably blocked that route. Just seven miles ahead was also the tempting target of Tunstall’s Station astride Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s supply line to White House Landing. Behind Stuart, his father-in-law, Union cavalry commander Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, was left literally in the dust as his forces pursued the Confederates.
(sidebar)
The house across the street [not pictured], somewhat altered from its appearance in this 1912 photograph, was called Wicker’s Hotel and Tavern during the war. Owners Bentley and Elizabeth Wicker lost two sons in the conflict, and Bentley Wicker drowned himself in despair in May 1865.
Immanuel Episcopal Church was founded on the Pamunkey River in 1684. A new building constructed here in 1853 replaced the “old church” (ca. 1718) for which the community is named. The new church was remodeled in 1881 in the Gothic Revival style.
(sidebar)
Gen. Philip St. George Cooke was a West Point graduate and Stuart’s commanding officer on the frontier in pre-war Kansas. It was there that Stuart met and married Cooke’s daughter Flora. Stuart much admired his father-in-law, and the young couple named their first-born son Phillip in his honor. When Cooke, a native Virginian, remained loyal to the Union against the wishes of the rest of the family, Stuart in disgust changed his son’s name to J.E.B. Stuart, Jr.
(captions)
Gen. J.E.B. Stuart Courtesy Library of Congress
Gen. Fitzhugh Lee Courtesy Library of Congress
(Wicker Hotel) Courtesy Amanda T. Pendleton
Gen. Philip St. George Cooke Courtesy U.S. Army Military History Institute
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Speaking of suicides in 1865 (in this area!), here's a real treat, right around the block!
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=22364 |
Edmund Ruffin's Grave
Here at Marlbourne is the grave of Edmund Ruffin (1794-1865), one of the leading American agriculturists of the 19th century. He published and edited the Farmer's Register, an agricultural journal, for several years. In 1843, Ruffin moved to Marlbourne, where he performed many experiments to maintain the fertility of the soil using marl (a natural deposit of calcium carbonate) as fertilizer, resulting in increased crop yields. An ardent secessionist, he fired one of the first shots at Fort Sumter on 13 April 1861, and kept detailed journals documenting events during the Civil War. Despondent over the South's defeat, he committed suicide in June 1865.
Erected 2000 by Department of Historic Resources.
(Marker Number O-24.)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=14240 |
Stuart’s Ride
Around McClellan’s Army
One-quarter mile to the Northwest, at Linney’s, “Jeb” Stuart’s cavalry met and charged the Federals in the raid undertaken June 12-14, 1862, to discover the Federal line of communication. There fell Captain Wm. Latané.
Erected by Battlefield Markers Association.
(Marker Number 32.)
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June 13, 1862
Cavalry Action at Linney's
near Studley, Virginia, in Hanover County
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=15846 |
Cavalry Action At Linney's
During Confederate Brig. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's intelligence gathering "Ride Around McClellan," a skirmish ensued atop this hill on 13 June 1862 when several companies of the 9th Virginia Cavalry collided with the 5th United States Cavalry. Stuart's men carried the position and continued south into the rear of the Union army, but Capt. William Latané was killed in the brief, close-quarters fight. Latané, the only Confederate killed during the raid, is interred north of here at Summer Hill. William D. Washington memorialized the burial ceremony in his 1864 painting The Burial of Latané, which became a southern icon.
Erected 2002 by Department of Historic Resources.
(Marker Number O-63.)
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