Battle
At 8 a.m. on May 28, Hampton rode off from Atlee's Station. As more of Grant's infantry crossed the pontoon bridge over the Pamunkey, Gregg led his cavalry division probing west from Hanovertown, searching for Lee, while Torbert's division began to picket along Crump's Creek in the direction of Hanover Court House. Three miles west of Hanovertown, and a mile beyond a large blacksmith shop called Haw's Shop, Gregg's troopers ran into Hampton at Enon Church, finding the Confederate cavalrymen dismounted in a wooded area, hurriedly erecting breastworks made of logs and rails, and well covered by artillery. Davies deployed pickets from the 10th New York Cavalry to Hampton's front, but the 2nd Virginia Cavalry, Hampton's leading element, drove the picket line back. The Confederates deployed in line with Wickham's four Virginia regiments deployed in the woods behind Enon Church, with Rosser's men and the horse artillery to their left. They dug shallow rifle pits and faced them with log and fence-rail breastworks. Because of a swampy tributary of Crump Creek to the north and Mill Creek to the south, it was impossible to turn the position. Hampton viewed the outnumbered Union force and reportedly exclaimed, "We've got the Yankees where we want them now."
Before Hampton could attack, Irvin Gregg's brigade arrived and moved to the right of Davies's men, extending his flank. Two batteries of Union horse artillery set up just west of the Haw house, "Oak Grove". A Confederate mounted charge, followed by dismounted troopers, was repulsed by the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry, but the Pennsylvanians were soon flanked on both sides. Dismounted men from the 1st New Jersey came to their aid and the lines were stabilized. Hampton fed in the green troops of the 4th South Carolina on his right and they met Davies's next charge with a wall of fire. These Confederates carried Enfield rifles, which had firing ranges superior to the carbines carried by the Federal cavalry, killing or wounding 256 men. As Davies rode into the fighting, his saber was cut in half by a Minié ball and his horse's tail was shot off. Union return fire was heavy as well, because the troopers were armed with seven-shot Spencer repeating carbines. One Pennsylvania trooper estimated that the 200 men in his unit fired 18,000 rounds. Their carbines got so hot that from time to time the men had to pause to let them cool.
As Davies's first attack ground to a halt, and the attack of Irvin Gregg's brigade failed to dislodge the Confederates, David Gregg sent for reinforcements from Sheridan, who released two brigades from Torbert's division. Torbert's reserve brigade under Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt extended Gregg's line to the right, thwarting a flanking maneuver attempted by Hampton with Chambliss's newly arrived brigade.
There was plenty of infantry nearby that could have been called for reinforcements, with Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps dug in about one mile to the north. There is no documentary evidence that Sheridan requested such assistance, although he claimed years later in his memoirs that he asked for two brigades from Army of the Potomac commander Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, who supposedly refused the request, claiming that Hancock's men were too "weary."
Torbert's other brigade, under Brig. Gen. George A. Custer, arrived about 4 p.m. Custer's men dismounted and deployed in a long, double-ranked line of battle, as if they were infantrymen. However, Custer inspired his men by staying mounted as he led them forward, waving his hat in full view of the enemy, while his brigade band played Yankee Doodle. Receiving heavy rifle and artillery fire, 41 of the Union cavalrymen fell in the attack, as did Custer's horse—the seventh time the flamboyant general lost a horse during the war. Custer later claimed that his brigades lost cause shop was "greater than in any other engagement of the campaign." Meanwhile, on the northern end of the battle, a Confederate mistakenly identified some dismounted Union cavalrymen as infantry and reported this to Hampton. Concerned that his cavalry command would be isolated and overwhelmed by an infantry attack, Hampton gave the order to begin withdrawing. (Hampton had also just received intelligence from prisoners on the location of two Union corps that had crossed the Pamunkey, which meant that his reconnaissance mission had been successfully completed.)
The Confederate brigades withdrew from north to south. Once Chambliss, Rosser, and Wickham had departed, Rutledge and the 20th Georgia Battalion were uncovered. Custer took advantage of the situation by charging forward, overrunning the Georgians, killing their commander, Lt. Col. John M. Millen, and capturing many of his men. Davies's brigade joined the attack and the remaining Confederate line fell apart into a rout, but by nightfall Hampton's cavalry was safely west of Totopotomoy Creek.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Haw's Shop
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