The Glory of Dumfries has Parted: A Scrap with Jeb Stuart

The camps of Colonel Charles Candy’s brigade at Dumfries, Virginia seethed as the year closed 1862. Picking up a recent copy of the Baltimore Clipper newspaper, the men were astonished to read the following:

“Disgraceful surrender of Dumfries, Va. By the following named regiments: 5th, 7th, and 66th Ohio regiments and the 12th Illinois Cavalry, commanded by Col. Chas. Candy of the 66th O.V.I. Great cowardice shown by the troops, etc. It is reported in military circles that Dumfries Landing, Va. Was attacked on the 27th ultimo by a Rebel cavalry force. After a few shots being fired on each side, the place was disgracefully surrendered by our forces. Strange to say, our force was composed of Western troops,” it reported. “The report needs confirmation…”

The newspaper report was the purest malarkey. 

“General Henry Slocum, who has his headquarters at Fairfax Courthouse, on hearing the report, immediately ordered a portion of his corps under arms and set forward to recapture the town that Colonel Candy had so disgracefully surrendered,” remembered Sergeant Robert S. Bower of the 7th Ohio. “Judge his surprise on arriving at Dumfries and finding us all snug in camp, spinning yarns, talking over times past and present, and discussing the affairs in our nation. General Slocum arrived at this place on the evening of the 29th. On the morning of the 30th, he ordered a review, after which he made us a short speech in which he  gave us the reports which I have already given. He then said, “I am happy that I have it in my power to contradict the reports gotten up and circulated by the eastern press, and still happier am I to know that those men whom they have tried to injured are Western men who know how to win and how to appreciate a high reputation.” And with that, Slocum puts his troops on the road back to Fairfax, leaving Colonel Candy in command of the post. 

For the story of what really happened at Dumfries on December 27, 1862, a few accounts from the Union soldiers that fought there would be in order.


Wartime CDV of Aaron D. Riker of the 66th Ohio (L.M. Strayer Collection)

Private Aaron Riker of Co. G, soon to be appointed commissary sergeant of the 66th Ohio, recalled Dumfries and the engagement of December 27, 1862 in his journal:

Dumfries had at one time been a large and prosperous town and deserves more than a passing notice. It was settled by emigrants from Scotland, it being the second settlement in Virginia. The town has been twice burned and now numbers about 20 dilapidated houses. The present rebellion has left its mark here and on the country around, the Rebels having destroyed all the fencing together with a number of buildings in and around the town.

This was formerly a county seat, the courthouse still standing. The brick from which it is built was brought here from Scotland and the first bell ever imported to America summoned the people together when Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech against colonial taxation. Within the walls of the court house it was here that Washington spent a portion of his youth. And the house in which Mason Weems, the author of the Life of Washington, lived is still standing.

But the glory of Dumfries has departed and soon it will cease to be a town as none but the poorer class now reside there. Men of capital means having gone to more enterprising towns where they have established themselves in business. While we remained here, our pickets were sometimes annoyed by bushwhackers and very often sutler wagons were captured on the road between there and Alexandria, yet we were allowed to remain in quietude with the exception of an occasional false alarm and the frequent intelligence of the capture of sutler wagons which we attributed to the citizens. Thus, our time passed from the 16th of December until the 27th.

That day we were startled by the booming of cannon at 12 o’clock. While we were at dinner on going out to learn the cause we found the Rebels had a battery planted on a hill overlooking the town and were shelling it. The troops of our command were stationed out of town a half mile on the east and north with the enemy appeared on the west. We had but two pieces of artillery and they were soon placed into position and the fire returned.

In the meantime, the infantry came up and the musketry commenced. The fight lasted until dark and left us in full possession of the field although the enemy outnumbered us three to one. They had four pieces of artillery, yet we repulsed them at every point where they attempted to advance. They retreated in the night and we were not molested anymore by them. Our loss was three killed and a few wounded and one picket post captured with a small guard.



Lieutenant Aaron D. Riker in a postwar cabinet card dating from the 1890s. Riker enlisted as a private in Co. G of the 66th Ohio in October 1861; on January 1, 1862, he was appointed regimental commissary sergeant, a post he held until he was commissioned first lieutenant on April 12, 1865. Riker ended the war in command of Co. E. 

Sergeant Bower continues his account of the fight at Dumfries. “In a few moments, our artillery was sending its compliments to the enemy in the shape of shells which soon dismounted one of their guns and made it so hot for them that they had to change position,” remembered Sergeant Bower of the 7th Ohio. “Their cavalry was then dismounted and advanced to take the camp; but they little thought whom they had to deal with, for they had no sooner come out of the woods in which they were and into range of our boys than they were greeted by a shower of balls that made them recoil in horror. They tried several times to advance and capture our camp but were repulsed in every attempt. They invariably fought on foot, leaving their horses in the rear under cover of the woods. The firing was kept up from 1 p.m. until after dark when, finding themselves unsuccessful, they thought discretion the better part of valor and withdrew their forces under the cover of darkness. The loss in the 7th was one killed, eight wounded, two prisoners and four missing; our total loss in the brigade was three killed, 10 wounded, and 20 missing.”

 

“Colonel Candy was ready to receive Stuart in handsome style, and Stuart’s failure to come to time may be considered as evidence of the popularity of Colonel Candy acquired in Rebel circles on the 27th day of December last. The Rebs must think it hard that they can gobble up a brigadier at Fairfax and can’t whip a colonel here! I think it queer too, but they make “brigs” out of queer stuff nowadays.” ~ Private William A. Brand, Co. G, 66th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

 

          Colonel Charles Candy of the 66th Ohio had command of the brigade encampment at Dumfries; the 5th, 7th, and 66th Ohio regiments all camped together east and north of the village. Candy described the fight at Dumfries in a letter to his wife a few days after the battle.


Colonel Charles Candy, 66th O.V.I.

          About 11 a.m. two of the cavalry patrols reported that several of their party had been captured by the Rebels near this place. I ordered the whole force under arms and at the same time ordered out a strong cavalry force to proceed in that direction and find out the force of the enemy. The order had hardly been received before the enemy opened with a battery of four guns on the town, shelling it and thus endangering the lives of the wives and the children of those fighting against us. I discovered that their force consisted of cavalry with four guns under General Stuart and the two Generals Lee. Our men were placed in the best positions and met them on all sides. They evidently intended to make a dash and crush us but my boys (the 5th, 7th, and gallant 66th) were ready for them and our two guns after a time effectually silenced their four. They then moved to my right with the apparent determination of flanking us but were met at that point by some dismounted cavalry and the 66th Ohio and were repulsed after two attempts to charge. The pickets under command of Colonel William Creighton of the 7th Ohio were charged and the enemy also repulsed at this point. The firing continued until dark with small arms interspersed with an occasional shot from our battery. The enemy remained around us till nearly morning when they left to try someone else as they had discovered that our boys were not of the skedaddling genus they have been in the habit of fighting.

Upon his return to Fairfax, General Slocum showed his appreciation to Candy’s men by ordering the balance of the brigade to join them at Dumfries, the 29th Ohio, 28th and 147th Pennsylvania regiments arriving on December 30th. The next day, Slocum sent even more welcome reinforcements in the form of a paymaster. The Buckeyes hadn’t been paid in more than six months and “we have almost forgotten what change looks like,” recalled Sergeant Bower.

 

Sources:

Letter from Sergeant Robert S. Bower, Co. H, 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Jeffersonian Democrat (Ohio), January 9, 1863, pg. 2

Aaron Riker Journal (M341), George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine, pgs. 57-60

Letter from Colonel Charles Candy, 66th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Urbana Citizen & Gazette (Ohio), January 7, 1863, pg. 3

Quote from Private William A. Brand, Co. G, 66th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Urbana Citizen & Gazette (Ohio), March 19, 1863, pg. 2











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