"On July 22, General Rufus King sent Lieut. Col. Judson Kilpatrick, with a mixed force of cavalry and infantry, including a detachment of the 14th Brooklyn, to investigate reports of a Southern force posted near Carmel Church, south of Fredericksburg. After skirmishing with the enemy for several hours on the 23rd, Kilpatrick destroyed the campsite and seven carloads of grain before returning to Fredericksburg.
But with Union attention increasingly focused on Orange, southwest of Fredericksburg, King sent Brig. Gen. John Gibbon with four infantry regiments, including the 2nd and 6th Wisconsin, and four companies of cavalry, from the 2nd New York and 3rd Indiana, to Orange on July 24. King instructed Gibbon to leave the main body of his command behind "as a supporting column," and to push through Orange Court House, "if possible," with only one of his infantry regiments, one squadron of cavalry and one section of artillery. After a long, hot march, Gibbon reached the outskirts of Orange Court House on the 26th, but after several skirmishes with enemy cavalry and with infantry reported to be in force nearby, Gibbon retired on July 27.
Aware of Gibbon's advance, Gen. Samuel Crawford elected to send his own scouting force to Orange on the 26th. Capt. John Kester, 1st New Jersey, with 100 men, pushed enemy pickets aside at Barnett's Ford and splashed across the Rapidan before proceeding to within two miles of Orange Court House. But rather than pushing farther south, Kester also retired, possibly to avoid a friendly fire incident with Gibbon's column…"
Main page
link
Part 3
link
Amicalement
Armand
