Cavalry.
As
Stuart threatened
Washington, so
Kilpatrick in turn threatened the
Capital of the
South.
He was accompanied by
Colonel Ulric Dahlgren who was to leave him near
Spotsylvania with five hundred picked men, to cross the
James, enter
Richmond on the south side, after liberating the prisoners at
Belle Isle, and unite with
Kilpatrick's main force March 1, 1864.
The latter left
Stevensburg with four thousand cavalry and a battery of horse artillery on the night of Sunday, the 28th of February, crossed the
Rapidan at Ely's Ford, surprised and captured the picket there, and marched rapidly toward
Richmond.
On March 1st the column was within five miles of the city.
Failing to connect with
Dahlgren,
Kilpatrick finally withdrew, but not until he had driven in the force sent to oppose him to the inner lines of the
Richmond defenses.
This was the nearest that any body of Union troops got to
Richmond before its fall.
Colonel Dahlgren met his death upon this raid, and part of his command was captured, the rest escaping to
Kilpatrick, March 2d, at
Tunstall's Station, near
White House.
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Union cavalrymen in Richmond — not until 1865 |
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