[479] on a direct line less than half the distance of the great detour made by the Army of the Potomac, it was not remarkable that, on crossing the Pamunkey, the Confederate force was again encountered, ready to accept the gage of battle. Lee assumed a position in advance of the Chickahominy, covering the Virginia Central and Fredericksburg and Richmond railroads. His line of battle, as thus formed, faced northeastward. This front of opposition compelled dispositions to dislodge the Confederate force before essaying the passage of the Chickahominy. The cavalry was immediately pushed out on the Hanover road, and at a point known as Hawes' Shop, the brigades of Davies, Gregg, and Custer became warmly engaged, on the afternoon of the 28th, with the Confederate cavalry under Fitz Hugh Lee and Hampton. The troopers, as usual, dismounted, and for several hours fought with great obstinacy, and unusually large loss—Sheridan losing upwards of four hundred, and the Confederates nearly double that number. The combat ended, however, in Sheridan's retaining possession of this important junction of roads, which enabled the entire line of the army to be thrown forward in advance of Hawes' Shop. The Confederates retired behind the Tolopotomy.
The region in which the army was now operating revived many reminiscences in the minds of those who had made the Peninsular Campaign under McClellan; for it was at Hawes' Shop that the extreme right of the army then rested, and here that Stuart, in moving from Hanover Courthouse to make his famous raid, first struck McClellan's outposts. Gaines' Mill and Mechanicsville were within an hour's ride; Fair Oaks could be reached in a two hours trot; Richmond was ten miles off, and to those within that city the morning air daily wafted the booming of hostile guns.
Meantime, where Lee had taken up his real vantage ground was uncertain, and, with the view of developing his position, strong reconnoissances by all the corps were next day thrown forward: the Sixth Corps was directed on Hanover Courthouse; the Second Corps on the road from Hawes' Shop towards
