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182 The American Civil Warhe had the advance at a portentous moment
on 14 October.
Unfortunately, Hill displayed more dash
than judgment. Without reconnoitering the
position, he threw two brigades of North
Carolinians at a Union force ensconced
behind a railroad embankment at Bristoe
Station. The Northerners proved to be the
entire Federal II Corps, veteran and
unmovable. The Carolinians fell in windrows
without any hope of success, losing about
1,400 men in a short interval. The Federal
II Corps then withdrew unmolested. Lee
conveyed his sad reaction to Hill in a
typically restrained rebuke. As the two
generals rode across the scene and Hill
sought to explain how the disaster unfolded,
Lee said quietly: 'Well, well, General, bury
these poor men and let us say no more
about it.'
Three weeks after Bristoe Station, the
Federals inflicted another minor disaster on
Lee's army. Confederates in Virginia were
accustomed to achieving most of their goals,
and had never been driven from a fixed,
well-defended position. When Lee fell back
across the Rappahannock river in the
aftermath of Bristoe Station, he incautiously
left a tête-de-pont on the river's north bank at
Rappahannock Station. A reliable brigade of
Louisiana infantry occupied strong
entrenchments north of the river, and
artillery posted on the south bank offered
supporting fire. When General Jubal A. Early,
commanding the Confederates in the vicinity,
noticed enemy strength concentrating
nearby, he sent another brigade of infantry
across to support the Louisianians.
Both brigades were doomed. Union
General John Sedgwick closed in on the
position with his VI Corps on 7 November
- A bright young West Point graduate
(he had just turned 24), Colonel Emory
Upton, led the advance with determination
and swept over the works. Outflanked
Confederates raced for safety across the
pontoon bridges that connected the
bridgehead with the southern bank. Only by
means of a daring exploit were the
Southerners able to cut loose the pontoon
The youthful Emory Upton had much to do with
the striking Federal success at Rappahannock Station.
He would be heard from again at Spotsylvania Court
House and Cold Harbor and after the war would
play a central role in the reorganization of the
United States Army. (Public domain)bridges and put the river between themselves
and the victorious enemy. The Federals had
inflicted about 2,000 casualties, most of
them in the form of prisoners. The youthful
Upton would be heard from again with
another daring attack the following May, and
then as a leader in reorganizing the United
States Army after the war.
With the Rappahannock line breached,
Meade could move into the excellent
bivouac country south of that river and
north of the Rapidan. For the next six
months, the Rapidan river would constitute
the military frontier in Virginia. (The river