CAMP NEAR MARTINSBURG, VIRGINIA, July 4, 1861.
SIR: I have the honor to report the operations of the first section, one 12-pounder howitzer and one 6-pounder gun, of Light Company F, Fourth Artillery, under my command on the 2nd instant.
The section was attached to Colonel Abercrombie’s brigade, and crossed the Potomac in rear of the advanced infantry about 4.15 a. m. After proceeding some four miles along the road, the infantry being deployed to the right and left, a sharp fire opened upon our right wing from a thick wood. I brought my pieces into battery on high ground to the right of the road, and threw a few rounds of shell and shrapnel into the edge of the wood and at a house near by, from the garden of which some of the rebel fire seemed to proceed. The infantry were at the same time pouring a well-sustained fire into the wood, from which the enemy soon retreated. My section then advanced with the brigade, and was placed in position at several commanding points on either side of the road. Nothing, however, occurred until in the immediate neighborhood of Hainesville. I was advancing on a narrow part of the road in column of pieces, when a company of some seventy-five of the rebels, whom I, from their gray uniform, at first took for Wisconsin troops, opened a very hot fire at the distance of some three hundred yards. I brought my howitzer into battery, and dispersed them with a single canister. At that moment two guns opened fire upon me from a point beyond and some distance to the left.
By this time my 6-pounder was ready for action, and two or three rounds from each piece silenced the fire of the rebel battery. After advancing a short distance beyond the village I was directed to halt, as already the place selected for camp was passed.
During the whole day, the First City Troop, Captain James, accompanied, supported, and protected my section.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
EDW. McK. HUDSON,
Captain, Commanding Section.
Captain D. D. PERKINS, Captain, Commanding Battery.
Sources
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Vol. II. With additions and corrections. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902.
Spirit of '61 