After the armies had settled down in the trenches around Petersburg, to
draw breath, my brother Alfred came up to Belair on sick leave. It was
while he was there, near the middle of June 1864, that General Sheridan
projected his raid of some 10,000 cavalry from near Richmond up through
Caroline, Spottsylvania, and Louisa Counties, aiming to join Hunter
in the Valley at Lexington, they say, via Gordonsville, Charlottesville,
and Lynchburg perhaps. But whatever harm he planned at those
places was saved for him by the Confederate cavalry under Hampton and
Fitz Lee moving even with him on his advance and stopping him at
Trevillians Depot, the day after he passed our house, and sending him
back where he came from by a longer but safer and quicker route.
Our first news of this raid came as usual from the negroes passing
between plantations at night. There were constant rumors from them
of "Yankees done bust loose" here and there through the country,
that were unfounded, but this one proved too true. Early one morning
some of them said that some one else had said that the whole country
down about the DeJarnette and Young plantations 8 or 10 miles off was
full of "Yankees" the evening before and that small parties had raided
up within 3 miles of us.
![[prev]](prev.gif)
![[home]](home.gif)
![[next]](next.gif)