CAMP BUTLER, July 13, 1861.
The undersigned respectfully reports that about 3:30 o’clock yesterday afternoon he, according to orders from the commander of the post, left the camp at the head of a patrol, consisting of all the available men of Companies A, B, D, F, G, H, and K, numbering about 200. He sent Companies A and F, under the chief command of Captain Gaebel, as a vanguard, to proceed up the road to the spot where, according to the statement of those returned, the engagement had taken place, and followed with the main body. Having arrived at the farm of Mr. William Lee, he halted there, and dispatched Company D up the road as a connecting link between the vanguard and the main body, and also several smaller troops to search the neighboring woods, fields, and farms. These smaller parties, on their return, reported that they had seen nothing of the enemy, but met some of our own men, whom they brought with them, and from whom further information was obtained in regard to the engagement.
Meanwhile Captain Gaebel advanced up the road, having sent out on either flank smaller parties to search the neighboring woods, fields, farms, &c., without meeting with any sign of the enemy until he came to the spot where a side road branches off from the main road to the right in an angle of about 75°, and from which there is a connection, by a lumber road, with the farm of Mr. Baker Lee, where he found unmistakable traces of a large body of cavalry, which had come down this side road, as it appeared, in full trot, and turned sharp around the corner of the main road, obliterating on it the tracks of the horse-cart which Lieutenant Heringen had taken with him, and which thus far had been visible. Meanwhile several stragglers had been picked up by Captain Gaebel’s men, who confirmed all the former information and his own conclusions, arrived at by the hoof-prints just referred to, as to the place where the engagement had taken place, and he therefore proceeded up the road with all dispatch possible, without, however, neglecting to search carefully the woods, &c., on either side of the road.
Having arrived at the spot pointed out by the stragglers, which is about a hundred yards this side of the opening on which Mr. Nelson Smith’s dwelling-house is situated, he found in the vicinity of a fallen tree, near which Lieutenant Mosebach was said to have been wounded, larger and smaller pools of blood, and other signs of an engagement having taken place there, which extended up the road to the fields and the dwelling-house of Mr. Smith. Captain Gaebel then sent several small pickets into the woods to search them carefully, and commanded Lieutenant Glaubensklee, with about twenty-four men, to Mr. Smith’s farm, leaving the rest of the troops, under the command of Lieutenants Brausen and Hohenhausen, on the main road, after the latter had posted three men about three hundred yards farther up the road, as an outpost against the enemy, the neighing of whose horses was distinctly heard by these men in very close vicinity. Before Lieutenant Glaubensklee had reached Mr. Nelson Smith’s dwelling-house Captain Gaebel had overtaken him, and both now proceeded to examine both the buildings and their inmates. They were kindly received by Mr. Smith and his family, who gave all information they asked for. In the buildings they found nothing suspicious, but on the road, as well as in the field, blood and so on. They then returned to the main road, joined Lieutenant Brausen and his men, and Captain Gaebel now gave a private signal, known only to himself and his men, to gather. The pickets who had searched the woods brought with them a stirrup and a pistol ramrod which they had found in the woods, but reported that they had not been able to discover any dead or wounded.
Captain Gaebel now proceeded on his way home, it being then nearly dark, joined the main body at Mr. William Lee’s farm, and the whole command then returned to the camp, where they arrived about 11 o’clock. From both the local inspection and the information received from those of our own men who have been saved, as well as from Mr. N. Smith and others, it seems that Lieutenant Heringen and the patrol under his command were suddenly attacked by a large body of cavalry from behind, whilst they were at a halt and resting on the spot above mentioned; that the attack was so sudden as to exclude the possibility of a systematic resistance, as a part of the men were scattered after the first volleys had been fired by the enemy, who probably were armed entirely or in part with revolving rifles; that several of our men were wounded, and two probably killed, but that the enemy also must have lost a number of their men. At least eight or ten horses were seen without riders when they proceeded to their camp, which cannot be very far from the place of the engagement, as a loud cheering was distinctly heard at Mr. Smith’s farm soon after the troop had passed there. At the present moment (10.30 a.m.) there are still missing Lieutenants Heringen and Mosebach and twelve privates, in consideration of which the undersigned would respectfully recommend that a flag of truce be sent to the enemy’s encampment, for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, further information, and begs to state that Lieutenant Brausen and Mr. E. Robinson, jr., of New York, have volunteered to go thither as such.
E. KAPFF,
Lieutenant-Colonel Seventh Regiment N. Y. S. V.
Col. J. W. PHELPS, Commander of Post.
[Endorsement.]
CAMP BUTLER, NEWPORT NEWS, VA., July 13, 1861.
This party that was attacked by the enemy went out without imparting to me any knowledge of their designs. The result was in perfect accordance with the spirit of insubordination which they have manifested. The request for a flag of truce is respectfully referred, without my approval, to the major-general commanding the department.
J. W. PHELPS,
Colonel, Commanding.
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 