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Battle of Bristoe Station
Battle of Bristoe Station
Other Names: Bristoe, Bristoe Campaign
Location: Prince William County
Campaign: Bristoe Campaign (October-November 1863)
Date(s): October 14, 1863
Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren [US]; Lt. Gen. A.P.
Hill [CS]
Result(s): Union victory
Forces Engaged: Corps
Estimated Casualties: 1,920 total
Introduction:
The Battle of Bristoe Station was fought on October 14, 1863, at Bristoe Station, Virginia, between Union forces under
Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill during the Bristoe Campaign of the American
Civil War. The Union II Corps under Warren was able to surprise and repel the Confederate attack by Hill on the Union rearguard,
resulting in a Union victory.
| Battle of Bristoe Station |
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| Battle of Bristoe Station Historical Marker |
| Civil War Battle of Bristoe Station Map |
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| Bristoe Battlefield Map |
Summary: On October 14, 1863, A.P. Hill’s corps
stumbled upon two corps of the retreating Union army at Bristoe Station and attacked without proper reconnaissance. Union
soldiers of the II Corps, posted behind the Orange & Alexandria Railroad embankment, mauled two brigades of Henry Heth’s
division and captured a battery of artillery. Hill reinforced his line but could make little headway against the determined
defenders. After this victory, the Federals continued their withdrawal to Centreville unmolested. Lee’s Bristoe offensive
sputtered to a premature halt. After minor skirmishing near Manassas and Centreville, the Confederates retired slowly to Rappahannock
River destroying the Orange & Alexandria Railroad as they went. At Bristoe Station, Hill lost standing in the eyes of
Lee, who angrily ordered him to bury his dead and say no more about it.
The following day, as Lee and Hill rode together over the bloody-strewn battlefield,
Hill sought to explain the previous day's misfortunes. Lee listened quietly, the sad expression on his face clearly showing
his disappointment. "Well, well, General," he said, when the younger officer had finished, "bury these poor men and let
us say no more about it."
Background: The Union army was led by Maj. Gen. George
G. Meade, the Confederates by General Robert E. Lee. Lee had stolen a march, passing around Cedar Mountain, the site of a
battle in 1862. This forced Meade to retreat toward Centreville. By withdrawing, Meade prevented Lee from falling on an exposed
flank of the Army of the Potomac. Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, commanding II Corps in Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's absence,
was following V Corps on this retreat. On October 13, the II Corps had an encounter with Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry
near Auburn, Virginia, the First Battle of Auburn, nicknamed "Coffee Hill." (Confederate shells interrupted Federals who were
boiling coffee.) Warren had to push Stuart aside and, at the same time, retreat before the advance of the Confederate corps
of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell. On October 14, as Warren moved toward Bristoe Station, Stuart's cavalry harassed the rear guard
at the Second Battle of Auburn.
| Bristoe Station Civil War Battlefield Map |
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| Battle of Bristoe Station, Virginia, Battlefield |
Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill, leading the Confederate Third Corps, was advancing on
Ewell's left. He reached Bristoe Station on October 14. (The town is variously called Bristoe, Bristow, and Bristo in contemporary
newspapers.) Hill tried to harass the rearguard of V Corps just across Broad Run, but he missed the presence of II Corps just
coming up from Auburn. Seeing Heth's advance, Warren rapidly deployed his forces behind an embankment of the Orange and Alexandria
Railroad near Bristoe Station. The result was a powerful ambush as Hill's corps moved to attack the Federal rear guard across
Broad Run.
Battle: On October 14, 1863, A.P. Hill’s corps
stumbled upon two corps of the retreating Union army at Bristoe Station and attacked without proper reconnaissance. Union
soldiers of the II Corps, posted behind the Orange & Alexandria Railroad embankment, mauled two brigades of Henry Heth’s
division and captured a battery of artillery. Hill reinforced his line but could make little headway against the determined
defenders. After this victory, the Federals continued their withdrawal to Centreville unmolested. Lee’s Bristoe offensive
sputtered to a premature halt. After minor skirmishing near Manassas and Centreville, the Confederates retired slowly to Rappahannock
River destroying the Orange & Alexandria Railroad as they went. At Bristoe Station, Hill lost standing in the eyes of
Lee, who angrily ordered him to bury his dead and say no more about it.
| Bristoe Station Battlefield Map |
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| Battle of Bristoe Station Map |
Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's division moved to attack the V Corps, but it
was redirected to attack the II Corps. Union artillery, including the battery of Capt. R. Bruce Ricketts, opened on the Confederates;
and infantry fire soon was added. Despite this fire, Heth's men briefly secured a foothold in the lines of Col. James E. Mallon
in the second division under Brig. Gen. Alexander S. Webb. The Confederates were driven back, and five guns of a Confederate
battery were captured in a Federal counterattack. Col. Mallon was killed in the fighting. The Confederate division of Maj.
Gen. Richard H. Anderson attacked the lines of Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays's division and also was repelled. Brig. Gen. Carnot
Posey was mortally wounded in that attack. Two of Heth's brigade commanders also were badly wounded.
Union casualties were 540, Confederate about 1,380. Warren, seeing Lt. Gen.
Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps coming up on his left, eventually had to withdraw. Lee is said to have cut off Hill's excuses
for this defeat by saying, "Well, well, general, bury these poor men and let us say no more about it." The Union forces won
the battle, but they had to retreat to Centreville, Virginia, before standing their ground. When they pulled back, starting
on October 18, the Confederates destroyed much of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Meade had to rebuild the railroad when
he reoccupied the area around Bristoe Station. Warren won such reputation as a corps commander that he was given V Corps as
a regular assignment after Hancock returned to the Army of the Potomac in 1864.
| Virginia Battle of Bristoe Station Map |
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| Civil War Battle of Bristoe Station Map |
Analysis: In the autumn of 1863, Gen. Robert E.
Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, with Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill’s III Corps in the lead, pursued Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's
Union army as it withdrew toward Washington. On the afternoon of October 14, Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K.
Warren's II Corps, Meade's rear guard, took a strong defensive position along the railroad embankment to meet an impetuous
attack by elements of Hill's corps from the northwest. The Confederates were repulsed with heavy casualties (about 1,380 to
Warren's 540), including the loss of an unsupported battery
of five guns about 500 yards north. Warren stealthily withdrew after dark to resume his march
to Centerville. About 43 Union
and 137 Confederate dead were buried on the field.
Advance to:
Sources: National Park Service; Civil War Trust online civilwar.org; Freeman, Douglas S. Lee's Lieutenants:
A Study in Command. 3 vols. New York: Scribner, 1946. ISBN 0-684-85979-3; Jordan, David M. Happiness Is Not My Companion:
The Life of General G. K. Warren. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-253-33904-9; Walker, Francis A. History
of the Second Army Corps in the Army of the Potomac. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1886. OCLC 287902026; Henderson, William
D. The Road to Bristoe Station: Campaigning with Lee and Meade, August 1–October 20, 1863. Lynchburg, VA: H. E. Howard,
1987. ISBN 978-0-930919-45-0; Tighe, Adrian G. The Bristoe Campaign: General Lee's Last Strategic Offensive with the Army
of Northern Virginia, October 1863. Xlibris, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4568-8869-5.
Tags: Battle of Bristoe Station Campaign, Detailed
Battlefield History, Maps, General A.P. Hill, Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, Union Confederate Artillery, General Robert
E. Lee, American Civil War in Virginia, Picture and Photograph of Artillery Duel.
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