Battle
Early on the morning of March 17, 1863, Averell's advance guard reached Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock and found that felled trees and 60 Confederate sharpshooters opposed their crossing. Three attempts to cross were repulsed under heavy fire, delaying the Union advance by over 90 minutes. Averell's chief of staff, Major Samuel E. Chamberlain, eventually forced a crossing led by 20 men of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry. Chamberlain was wounded in the head. Despite the minor casualties in this action, Averell proceeded cautiously, taking over two hours to cross his men over the swiftly running river.
Lee, 10 miles west at Culpeper Court House, was notified of the crossing attempts by 7:30 a.m. Assuming that Averell's target was Brandy Station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, Lee sent his 800 men forward to block the Union advance. They encountered the Union cavalrymen deployed near the C.T. Wheatley house, about 2 miles northwest of Kelly's Ford. Duffié's brigade was positioned on the left in a woodlot, McIntosh's in the center, and Reno's two regiments of regulars on the right, behind a stone fence.
Jeb Stuart also happened to be at Culpeper Court House that day, attending a court-martial. He decided to ride out to witness the battle, taking with him his artillery chief, Maj. John Pelham. They arrived to find that Lee's men were not doing well, outnumbered two to one and facing a well-positioned artillery battery. For the first time in the war a Confederate cavalry regiment (the 2nd Virginia) had fled in the face of a Union charge.
Lee's men advanced with the five regiments in line abreast. The 3rd and 5th Virginia Cavalry regiments, led by sharpshooters, ran along the stone fence with the expectation they would find a gap in it somewhere. Pelham moved forward with Lee's men, and as he waved them through a gate in the fence, a shell exploded over his head, sending a tiny fragment into his brain, mortally wounding him. He died a few hours later. The Confederate advance was repulsed by carbine fire from the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry and shelling from Martin's battery.
On the Union left, Duffié disobeyed Averell's orders to hold his position and ordered a charge. The surprise attack forced Lee to withdraw his men back through the woods to a clearing just behind. Lee counterattacked the advancing Union troopers, but once again had to fall back in the face of superior numbers and artillery. A rout of the Confederate position might have been possible, but Reno did not advance in support of Duffié, maintaining his position as ordered earlier by Averell.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Kelly's Ford
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