Part Taken by the Ninth Virginia Cavalry in Repelling the Dahlgren Raid.
By General R. L. T. Beale.
[We have held this paper with the purpose of publishing it in connection with the full history of the Dahlgren raid, which we have in course of preparation, but we have concluded to give it in the form in which it has been sent by its gallant author].
Near the close of February, a third order was received to report without delay at Hanover Junction for orders. We marched upon this, as we did upon the two previous occasions, sixty miles in twenty-four hours. Reaching the Junction, we found no orders; but learning here that the enemy, under General Kilpatrick, were making a raid upon Richmond, so soon as a supply of ammunition was drawn our march was directed to Taylorsville. At this point, a general officer commanding some infantry informed us the enemy had been repulsed by General Hampton's command, and must retreat towards the Rapidan, and we would probably encounter them near Ashland. To Ashland our march was directed. In some two miles of this point, reliable intelligence was obtained that the main body of the enemy was near Old Church, but that a party of some four hundred had moved upon the road to Hanover Courthouse. Our line of march was now directed to that point, reaching it about dark, only to learn our enemy had passed without halting.
Rest and food for men and horses were now much needed, and the command bivouacked around a church a few hundred yards from Hanover Courthouse. Before our meal of cold bread was over, a prisoner, taken under such suspicious circumstances as to induce the belief that he was a Yankee, was sent in by the picket. He was subjected to a rigid examination by the Colonel, who got from him information not very agreeable. The man had been captured in the morning, and after hard usage, made his escape in the evening from a body of cavalry, which he said was commanded by a Colonel Dahlgren. They had passed in sight of Hanover Courthouse, moving to Indiantown ferry, over the Pamunkey, where about one-fourth of the party crossed the river, the remaining three-fourths moving down the south bank towards Old Church.
