St. Peter's or Horsehead? Is the Stage Route the Answer?

[Rick Smith]

Laurie,

You are most welcome. I have always been a strong proponent of General Tidwell's view of things.

There may have been more than one skirmish, but certainly there was one near Charlotte Hall & Mechanicsville. In his after action report, Captain Buckley states that he had skirmished with a Confederate force near Mechanicsville the evening of April 15 and had lost one man, but that he had taken one of the enemy prisoner. He states plainly in his report that the Confederate force was under the command of Captain Garland Smith. Most likely, Buckley got Smith's name from his prisoner.

There is another report from a Lt. O'Brien who states that Buckley had arrived at the government farms on the night of April 15, and that he had skirmished with a "portion of Mosby's men under Captain Garland Smith, just on the edge of the farms."

I believe that the government farms referred to were located on confiscated property owned by the Sothrons, who had left for Virginia after Colonel Sothron had shot a yankee Lieutenant in command of some U. S. Colored troops when they made a "visit" to his place to recruit slaves for the Union army. The farms were used to grow vegetables for Point Lookout. This is near where the skirmish took place, not at the government farms at Benedict. The Charlotte Hall connection comes from Colonel Sothron having been the head master at Charlotte Hall Military Academy.

I do not know for sure, but my belief is that there were not two skirmishes, but only one, and it took place close to Mechanicsville.