The route of this column was to have been via Charlottesville, at which point there was no Confederate force, and the country intervening was filled with our reserve artillery and wagon camps. Upon the receipt of the first intelligence of this movement on the evening of the 1st, all trains moving in the direction of the threatened route were diverted. On the 2nd, a force of infantry was dispatched by rail to Charlottesville, but the advance of the enemy operating on this flank was effectually checked before reaching that place by our horse artillery and dismounted cavalry.

The column which moved upon our right, under Adjutant General, was more successful. The entire Confederate cavalry picket stationed at Ely's Ford was captured, and this column of the enemy reached the Virginia Central Railroad, now the Chesapeake and Ohio, before any intelligence was received of its advance. After cutting the railroad, it proceeded towards Richmond. The fate of this column, and especially of that portion of it commanded by Colonel Dahlgren, is well known. The results were most disastrous to the enemy, including the death of that officer and the capture of his orders, exposing the damaging fact of the intention of the enemy to pillage and burn the city and kill the most prominent Confederate officials. 