Tempest At Ox Hill: The Battle Of Chantilly

by David A. Welker

Every Civil War buff has heard of the Battle of Chantilly, the bloody 1862 engagement fought in a driving rainstorm only twenty miles from Washington that claimed the lives of two of the Union's most promising generals. Yet few have known the full story of courage and human drama because no one has ever produced a lively and historically accurate account of the battle-until now. Tempest at Ox Hill compellingly evokes this pivotal battle of the war, in which the Union army faced annihilation after Robert E. Lee's overwhelming victory at Second Bull Run. At Chantilly, Virginia, on September 1, 1862, a small Union rearguard faced down some of Lee's best generals. The retreating main Union army, and Washington, were saved, but at a frightening human cost, including the deaths of two Union generals -- the promising Isaac Stevens and the dashing Philip Kearny, a Mexican War veteran who had also served with Napoleon III's imperial guard. And around these two Union generals lay nearly twelve hundred American soldiers, both blue and gray, dead fighting for their chosen cause. Tempest at Ox Hill captures the moment, the courage, and the carnage unforgettably.

Genres: Civil War, American Civil War, Military Fiction

279 pages, Hardcover

First published May 18, 2001

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tempest At Ox Hill: The Battle Of Chantilly gets 4 Stars. It is easy to see why this battle is overlooked, squeezed between Second Bull Run and Antietam. The book description is wrong, I’m sure many Civil War buffs have not heard of this battle. I just went to the National Park Service Civil War battle timeline and this battle is not even mentioned! Yet it had a significant impact on the course of the war, even if it didn’t feature the terrible casualty count of the coming battle at Antietam. The deaths of two excellent Union generals are recounted-both men forgot their roles as commanders and went forward to heroic, if wasted, fatal efforts. Jeb Stuart fails here as he will again at Gettysburg, leaving the Confederate army without timely reconnaissance. An excellent book marred by the lack of maps. The maps included are not very helpful. Still, a must read for the serious Civil War reader.

Always inspiring to hear about brave men in battle. Here is one account of a brave Union officer and a similar Confederate soldier. Capt Stevens, son of BG Stevens, was sent by his father to secure a field and house in the middle of the battlefield:

One such target was Captain Stevens himself. ”I rode up the railroad embankment to observe," recalled Hazard, ”and while standing there saw a rebel soldier at some distance helping a wounded comrade off the field, with one arm around his waist. Seeing a mounted officer on the embankment, he took his arm from the comrade’s support, deliberately aimed his piece, and fired.” Hazard knew he was the target but could do nothing before the Rebel’s gunshot rang out. ”. . . [A]t that instant, the bullet passed through the rim of my hat, inflicting a sharp rap on the head, which made me tingle and ache for some time.” Seeing their commander come under fire, Hazard’s Highlanders responded, but to no avail, ”[t]wenty muskets were fired at him in return, without effect, and with perfect deliberation he shifted his musket to his left hand, clasped his right arm again around his comrade’s waist and helped him slowly back until they disappeared in a field of corn behind them.”

Another anecdote from the battlefield:

While the Highlanders clung to their position on the northern edge of the orchard, some of the luckier men in the line’s left found themselves with an unexpected bounty hanging over their heads. Looking up they could see the apple trees laden with nearly ripe fruit which caused many of the men to begin scheming to get some for himself. But all knew that to stand and reach the apples would risk certain death. Still, they had to have some of that rarely gotten treat hanging just beyond reach and it occurred to the more enterprising skirmishers to shake the trees and force the fruit to the ground. If they could not go to the apples, they reasoned, the apples would have to come to them. “We found, however,” wrote Private Todd, "that shaking the trees brought more than the fruit; it told the enemy . . . just where we were, and their bullets rained into the orchard, severing twigs and bringing down as many apples as we cared to pick up.” But their harvest carried a high price for some of the men: “Several of our men were hit while engaged in this occupation; they fell as did Mother Eve, victims of their desire for forbidden fruit.”

[Pj · Rating 3 out of 5]

over all a good read, especially considering this is only the second book that I know of that actually deals with this battle. Ox Hill or Chantilly is normally rolled up into the end of the 2nd Manassas Campaign or is the start of Lee's first northern invasion.

David Welker provides some good background going into the battle and in general gives both sides equal time in his book. However; It is in his conclusions at the end of the book where I can draw any criticism with his research. While the research appeared to have been done for the book, David Welker brings up a point or two that need to be addressed. His first point, is that he brings forward a theory that General Lee used this battle, in particular, Jackson having to go on the defense, as a means for Lee to be able say to Richmond, 'hey look I tried to bring the Yankees back out to fight and they didn't so I am invading Maryland, which is what I wanted to do anyway'. This completely goes against all that is known and written about Lee, before, during and after the war, that he would sink so low as make a token effort to do something in an effort to make himself look good. Lee sent Jackson out with the mission to get around the flank of Pope's Army and to get between Pope's Army and Washington, DC in the area around the Fairfax County Court House in order to be able to continue to fight Pope before he could enter Washington, DC. Now it is unclear on what exactly Lee's plan was had Jackson been successful in getting between Pope and Washington, DC.
Another point that David Welker brings up is that JEB Stuart should be guilty of dereliction of duty on two (2) counts; firing pot shots at the Union forces near Jermantown on August 31st and NOT giving Jackson some vital intelligence concerning enemy troop dispositions. Stuart taking potshots is non player, it was reported to Pope who discounted it. YES, Stuart should have either himself or have sent someone to Jackson with the report of enemy troop movements much sooner. What Stuart is really guilty of is not keeping more of his men in the saddle the night of August 31st and throughout the day and night of September 1st, looking for the main body of the Union army. The last main point David Welker seems to over look in his conclusions is the effect of the weather on September 1st, the effect of Jackson's men having fought three battles in as many days with no rest in between, the fact that had the battle of 2nd Manassas no sooner ended then Jackson and his Corps were barely given time to replenish their cartridge boxes and a small rest and were sent out to possibly do battle again and all of this without much rest, food, water and having to reorganize units due to losses. What the reader should really take with them from reading this book or going over the battle is this is one of the very times that Union Generals, especially at the Division level or lower, took initiative and attacked the Army of Northern Virginia

[Kosar7480 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a nice summary of the overlooked battle most notable for the unnecessary deaths of two fairly well-known Union generals. The author did a nice job detailing the movements leading up to the engagement, the tactical ebb and flow of the battle, - with ample maps, always essential for me - and the aftermath. He also effectively placed the battle into context of the Second Manassas Campaign and showed how it directly led into the Maryland Campaign shortly after. I also appreciated the chapter that served as dual biographies of Phil Kearney and Isaac Stevens since full length biographies of both leaders are largely non-existent. With their career trajectories, it is interesting to speculate what both men could have achieved in the subsequent years of the war had they not perished here.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good description of an often overlooked battle. The book begins as somewhat of a brief biography of the two generals Isaac Stevens and Philip Kearny that would eventually fall in battle. Both men would fall in similar fashion, riding to the front and exposing themselves to what proved to be mortal danger. Whether or not these actions were justified in their roles at commanders on the field is of course up for debate, but they were daring acts nonetheless. The fighting featured charge and counter-charge, bad weather and rain, units being disoriented in the woods and of course two killed Union generals. The author also describes the sad plight of the Chantilly battlefield, and what little has remained preserved.

[W Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid history of the Battle of Chantilly.

[R B · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative book about a much ignored battle. Could have done without the last chapter "Who won the Battle of Chantilly?" . Also the first hand accounts are heavy on the Union side. Liked to have heard more from Johnny Reb.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first complete telling of the aftermath of Second Bull Run. The book is a bit dry; Welker is not a master with prose and his occasional poetic asides fail. Yet, the research is good and the analysis is fair.