One Brigade Alone

Brigadier General James H. Ledlie’s brigade was the first unit of the Union Ninth Corps to cross the North Anna. His 1,500 infantrymen were ready to advance by 3:00 p.m. despite having been soaked up to their armpits while crossing the river. Ledlie had commanded the brigade for only seven days and had obtained little knowledge of his men, and he was dreadfully drunk from consuming a large amount of whiskey when he led them into battle. As he approached the Confederate trenches in this area, he ordered one of his regiments to test the Confederate line. The 35th Massachusetts advanced into what was then an open field but was easily routed, and the survivors hurriedly returned to the relative safety of Ledlie’s main battle line. Captain John Anderson of the 57th Massachusetts Infantry later wrote that Ledlie showed an artificial courage known throughout the army as "Dutch courage," enough to sustain him through the ordeal but not of an enduring kind.

Virginia · United States