July 5, 1861 - Skirmish at Smith's Farm

July 5, 1861

Skirmish at Smith's Farm (or Youngs Mill)

Newport News, Virginia (Warwick)

Maj. Gen. Ben Butler: Union Cavalry (Hammell of Hawkins’s New York Zouaves)

vs.

Gen. John Magruder: 1st Louisiana Battalion

* obscure-but-important Civil War action here - memorialized in the parking lot of a bank

* the first field grade Confederate officer killed during the American Civil War

* not be confused with a different skirmish, also here at Cedar Lane, a week later, but without the aristocratic death. I sincerely hope I'm not conflating them and confusing things here, but they are confusing. Read the link at the end. 

* [Summer 2025] This markers is my penultimate marker in the quest to hit everything from 1861 (Eastern Theatre)

* For context, the First Campaign is raging in West Virginia, and we are approaching First Bull Run.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=203537

Lt. Col. Charles D. Dreux

"In the highest glee”

Close by, on July 5, 1861, 29-year-old Lt. Col. Charles D. Dreux became the first field grade (major or above) Confederate officer killed in action. A New Orleans aristocrat, Dreux organized a company that included the city's most eligible bachelors, many of them teenagers. His company mustered into the 1st Louisiana Battalion who elected Dreux lieutenant colonel. In May, the unit was sent to Virginia. They encamped at Young's Mill and reported to Gen. John Magruder, who commanded the defenses on the Peninsula.

Early in the war, few officers and even fewer soldiers were combat veterans. Massed in large camps, suffering from heat and mosquitoes, the young men grew bored with daily drills and routine. Inspired to prove their manhood and impress young women—and sometimes inspired by liquor—they yearned to fight. In his last letter to his wife, Dreux wrote on June 18, "The boys are delighted with the prospects before them, and we all are in the highest glee."

On July 4, Dreux's men gave him a jug of whiskey at the battalion barbecue, and he gave the men "a most exciting, stirring speech." Dreux learned that Union cavalry patrolled present-day Cedar Lane, and left camp early on July 5 without informing Magruder. In the woods around you, 100 men and a cannon waited here to ambush the Union troopers. As Dreux's men anxiously waited, someone shot a snake, alerting the approaching Union cavalry. Just as Dreux stepped into the road, Union troopers fired, killing him. In the dawn mêlée, the artillery horses bolted, both the Federals and Confederates fled with neither side gaining a clear advantage.

"A gun was fired to our left, on the main road, and was immediately followed by another, and with a short pause, the firing again commenced ... the balls cutting around very near myself and men.” —Confederate Capt. William Collins

Mourned throughout the South as a hero, Dreux was given an enormous funeral in New Orleans on July 16 after his body lay in repose in the mayor’s reception room at City Hall. Late in the afternoon, a long column marched through the streets to St. Louis Cemetery. The participants numbered an estimated 8,000-10,000, including 3,000-4,000 Confederate soldiers and sailors. Theodore Schoenheit, a local orchestra leader and composer, wrote the funeral march and sold the sheet music to benefit Dreux’s widow and orphan.

To listen to Dreux's Funeral March navigate to: http://civil war.travel/trails/audio *

* not really, liars

This delightful source really gets into it. I don't know of any others that do! The author may have even named this skirmish. Thanks,  Spirit of '61!