Nothing saved him from defeat, if not from greater
calamity, but his own coolness and that of his lieutenants, coupled with
the indomitable pluck and intrepidity of his troopers.
In this engagement that brave Georgian Gen. Young, formerly a member of
this House, by a splendid charge with sabers, without carbine or pistol,
repulsed a dangerous and gallant assault on the rear, while Gen. WILLIAM
H.F. LEE, with equal courage and dash, protected the left of the
Confederate position. In this encounter Gen. LEE received a severe
wound, which necessitated his retirement from the field. He was carried
to Hickory Hill, in Hanover County, the home of Gen. Wickham, a near
relative of his wife, and here he was captured and placed in solitary
confinement in Fort Monroe as a hostage, certain officers of the United
States being then held under sentence of death in Libby Prison in
retaliation for the execution of certain Confederate officers in the
West.
Gen. Custis Lee, being then a young unmarried man, on the staff of the
Confederate President, met, under special flag of truce, representatives
of the Government at Washington, and begged to be permitted to take the
place of Gen. WILLIAM H.F. LEE, giving as a reason for the proposed
exchange his desire to save from punishment the innocent wife and
children of his wounded brother.
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