Michaela Hipps
U.S. 121
December 3, 2014
 In June of 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant of the
Union army and General Robert E. Lee had fought
many battles against each other, and Grant was
closing in on Lee’s army.
 Lee’s victory against Grant’s army in Petersburg
depended upon the supplies from the west and the
south that he got from the Southside and
Richmond-Danville railroads.
 Grant knew that if he was able to destroy the
supply lines, then he would be able to defeat Lee’s
Army.
General U. S. Grant
http://jenschoeller.us/webi1711/final/index.html
General Robert E. Lee
http://ziegfeldfollies.deviantart.com/art/Robert-E-Lee-382975321
 Grant had sent General James H. Wilson on a
cavalry raid from Petersburg to Danville with the
sole purpose of destroying the Southside and
Richmond-Danville Railroads.
 Wilson’s cavalry was made up of his own Third
Division from the army of Potomac’s Cavalry and
Brigadier General August V. Kautz’s division from
the Army of the James.
 They were destroying telegraph lines, station
houses, trains, and sixty miles of track during the
first three days of the raid.
 Captain Benjamin J. Farinholt was stationed at
Staunton River Bridge with the duty of protecting
the bridge.
 On June 23rd, 1864, at approximately 10p.m.,
Captain Farinholt had received a dispatch from
General Robert E. Lee. The dispatch warned
Farinholt of the approaching Union forces and
that he needed to make every effort to defend the
bridge.
Gen. James H. Wilson
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/topics/civil-war-reconstruction-1861-1877
General August Kautz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson-Kautz_Raid
 Captain Farinholt had every intention of obeying
the General’s orders however, Farinholt was badly
outnumbered and there were no reinforcement
Confederate regulars coming to help him.
 Farinholt sent out courtiers to the surrounding
counties of Halifax, Mecklenburg, and Charlotte in
order to rally up male citizens to defend their home
land.
 Of those called from Halifax county, Colonel
Coleman had answered the call. Although the
Colonel was recovering from a severe head wound,
he was able to rally up men and boys alike in
Halifax.
 On the morning of June 25, 1864, Captain
Farinholt had reported that he had received
Confederate reinforcements of 150 men, and he
had 492 local residents that were not experienced
in live-action combat. Along with the men that he
already had stationed at Staunton River Bridge,
he had a grand total of 938 men.
 Although this number is very small, the fact that
Captain Farinholt was able to get quite a
significant number of citizens to help him fight is
quite astonishing.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=benjamin%20james%20farinholt&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB0
&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.petersburgsiege.org%2Fwilson.htm&ei=hoZ_VOv3CMOVNp_BgbgC&bvm=bv.80642063,d.eXY&psig=A
FQjCNHk3HVUAPa8XwIXi7-RY29z5mpxpQ&ust=1417730052475493
 Although Captain Farinholt did not have an
incredible amount of men to defeat the Union
force, he was able to use a very wise military tactic
to make it seem that he was getting many more
troops than what he actually was.
 The train that was transporting the Confederate
regulars from Danville to Captain Farinholt was
used as a deception feature.
 Farinholt had the train continue to run back and
forth all night prior to the day of the battle in
order to give the illusion that he had a large
number of troops coming in to defend the
Staunton River Bridge.
 A key example of how Farinholt’s deception plan
worked was when General Wilson was using a
woman’s plantation for his Union headquarters
and field hospital during the battle, it is said that
she had told the General that there were
approximately 10,000 Confederate troops ready to
defend the Staunton Bridge.
 General Wilson was astonished at this new
information because he thought that he could just
destroy the bridge with little effort involved
whatsoever.
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-7496822-staunton-river-bridge.php
 At about 3:45p.m., Farinholt reported that he had
seen the Union army and he was the first one to
take aim and fire.
 The Union army then fired heavily where Captain
Farinholt had his men stationed. Some of the
younger boys were crying, and on top of that
complication, some of the Confederate cannons
were back-firing and hurting their own troops
rather than the enemy’s.
 However the Confederates pulled through and
were ready to attack.
 General Wilson had sent Kautz’s men of 1,500 in a
group of two brigades in order to destroy the
bridge and get past the Confederates.
 Kautz and his men had used a type of drainage
ditch for protection against the Confederate fire.
When the time was right, Kautz’s men charged,
but to their surprise, they were met with heavy
Confederate fire from soldiers that were out of
Union view. Kautz ordered his men to retreat back
to the drainage ditch.
 Kautz would try this two more times meeting the
same results as before.
 General Kautz wanted to try to attack the
Confederates for the fourth and final time, and so as
he was about to go for the final attack, General W.H.F.
Lee, a relative to Robert E. Lee, had struck the rear
guard of the Union.
 Kautz realized that the bridge was not going to be
taken that day, so he ordered his men to retreat. They
retreated all the way to Ream’s Station being pursued
by W.H.F. Lee. At Ream’s Station, Wilson and Kautz
burned their supplies, spiked his cannons, and fled to
a swamp in order to not be taken by Confederate
forces.
 This marked the end of the battle and Wilson’s Raid.
 As with any war, there are casualties, Fariholt
estimated the Union losses to be around 250-300,
however General Kautz estimated the loss to be
around 60 men and 30 wounded.
 The Confederate losses were of 10 killed and 42
wounded.
 Although the fact the Confederates were highly
outnumbered, they managed to break through and
persevere with what they had.
 If Captain Farinholt had not been able to defeat
the Union army, General Robert E. Lee would not
have been able to get supplies to his troops, which
would have resulted with General Lee’s army not
being able to carry on during the war, and the
ultimate defeat of the Confederate forces.
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Battle-of-Staunton-River-Bridge
 Staunton River State Park Battlefield Site
Museum; Cullen, Virginia; accessed on 23
November 2014
 Captain Grey Eanes, Wilson-Kautz Raid Battle
for Staunton Rover Bridge (Lynchburg: H.E.
Howard, Inc., 1999), page 1
 “The Battle of Staunton River Bridge,” available
from
http://www.stauntonriverbattlefield.org/history.ht
ml; accessed 13 November 2014