Captain Dennis Dailey and the Capture of Hagood’s Brigade at the Battle of Globe Tavern, Part 2: The Attack of Hagood’s Brigade

 

This post is part of a series. The Introduction is here and Part One is here.

After dawn, August 21, 1864, the Army of Northern Virginia executed a poorly coordinated attack against the Union line at Globe Tavern. The Union infantry and artillery easily blunted this rebel assault. However, one Confederate brigade suffered more than the others.

Mahone’s southern-most brigade, the one at the far right of the Confederate line, had the worst luck. Brig. Gen. Johnson Hagood commanded it. It consisted of five regiments from South Carolina and it numbered 741 officers and men altogether. Hagood’s men had been marching since 2 A.M., taking a circuitous route along the Squirrel Level Road, but they didn’t arrive at the front until well after dawn (and after all the other brigades had already gone into the fight). Mahone briefed Hagood, telling him that his brigade held the right flank of the Confederate line. Mahone said that if Hagood advanced steadily eastward, he would find the enemy flank and roll it up. Looking ahead from his brigade’s position along the Vaughn Road, Hagood could see only woods and swamp. Mahone assured him that, once his troops cleared the trees, he would find the enemy only 300 yards further on. Further, Mahone stated, “they are not entrenched.”

Hagood’s brigade began its advance at about 9 A.M. It passed through heavy woods and then it crossed a meandering swamp (now called Cernys Pond). After that, it broke into a clearing. The rebels pushed back a cloud of Union skirmishers, and then, after ascending a small hill, the primary Union line came into view. Of course, Mahone’s prediction did not hold true. Instead of finding an unprotected enemy flank, Hagood beheld a “strongly entrenched line, crowded with men and artillery, extending right and left as far as [I] could see.” Even worse, none of the other brigades from Mahone’s division could be seen. It appeared as if Hagood’s brigade was on its own. Hagood took position on foot behind the 21^st South Carolina. He ordered his men to carry their arms at “Right Shoulder Shift.” With that, his 740 South Carolinians advanced at the double-quick, straight ahead, moving across 250 yards of cleared, level farm fields.

Brig. Gen. Johnson Hagood (seen here) received poor instructions from his division commander, William Mahone.

From their earthworks, the soldiers from the 5^th Corps had an unobstructed view of Hagood’s attack. A 5^th Corps artilleryman recollected, “When near enough for execution, the flank batteries opened first, our infantry hugging the ground closely, the artillery shots passing over their heads, the rebels all the while pressing up nearer as our advanced line fell back on their supports. The ruse worked well. At a given signal the whole line of artillery opened, using up the enemy fearfully.”

A member of Hagood’s brigade staff agreed. The Union small arms and artillery savaged the South Carolinians as they made their run for the earthworks. The staff officer wrote, “Where the dead fell, the living stept; and their levelled bayonets soon sparkled within twenty feet of the line of intrenchments.”

As the South Carolinians approached the enemy works, they descended into a deep moat. Involuntarily, the whole line halted. In front of them, the rebels beheld a 10-foot-wide ditch filled with water from the previous day’s rains. Unable to judge the depth, none of the South Carolinians plunged in. Unable to advance, but unwilling to withdraw, the South Carolinians trained their guns at the 30-foot parapet and fired, doing little, if any, damage to the Union troops. The men of Col. James Gwyn’s 3^rd Brigade, 1^st Division, 5^th Corps confronted the South Carolinians. Having been hammered two days before, Gwyn’s infantry were eager to pay them back.

This Google Maps view depicts the modern topography of the Battle of Globe Tavern. Keep in mind, the modern railroad is on the incorrect side of the Halifax Road. In 1864, it would have been on the east side.

Here, I've crudely drawn in the 1864 positions of the various units. The light blue lines depict the Union earthworks. The dark blue lines depict the Union infantry and artillery positions. The red lines depict Hagood's brigade. The black line depicts the 1864 railroad. Keep in mind, I'm not entirely sure of the order of Hagood's regiments. I'm certain of the placement of the 21st and 25th South Carolina, but the position of the other three regiments in his brigade is speculative.

Hagood’s men were in a pickle. Not only were they trapped in the moat, but they had struck a portion of the Union works that formed a reentry angle. (In ordinary terms, this meant that the rebels faced a concave bend.) A portion of the Union line—Gwyn’s brigade—was in front of them, but another portion of the Union line fired at them from the left. Col. Hofmann’s brigade was on that side of the reentry. Meanwhile, on the right side of Hagood’s line, the Confederates faced a protruding earthwork manned by Capt. Augustus Martin’s Battery C, 3^rd Massachusetts Light Artillery, which swept the position with canister. In this position, the South Carolinians could not hope to stand for long.

To make matters worse, Hagood had lost control of his brigade. From his position behind the 21^st South Carolina, he shouted for his men to redress their line, but no one responded. He recalled, “[I] shouted again and again, [ordering] the command to halt; but the crash and rattle of twelve or fifteen pieces of artillery, and probably 2,500 rifles, which had now opened upon us at close range, drowned [my] voice and the fury of the battle was upon [my] men.”

How did his men get out of this fix? The story continues here.