Beefsteak Raid

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict = Beefsteak Raid
partof = the American Civil War


caption =
date = 14–17 September 1864
place = Northern Virginia
territory =
result = Confederate victory, 2,468 cattle captured
status =
combatant1 = flagicon|USA|1863 United States (Union)
combatant2 = flagicon|CSA|1863 CSA (Confederacy)
combatant3 =
commander1 =
commander2 = Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton
commander3 =
strength1 =
strength2 = 3,000
strength3 =
casualties1 = 304 captured
casualties2 = 10 killed, 47 wounded, 4 missing
casualties3 =
notes = The Beefsteak Raid was a Confederate cavalry raid that took place in September 1864 in Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. Confederate Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton led a force of 3,000 troopers on what was to become a 100-mile ride in order to acquire cows that were intended for the consumption of the Union army (which was laying siege to Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia).

Always lacking in war needs, the Confederate forces that were defending the capital of Richmond were beginning to run out of food. A report by General Robert E. Lee on August 22, 1864, stated that corn to feed the Southern soldiers was exhausted. [Bakeless, John. "Spies of the Confederacy" (Courier Dover Publications, 1997) pg. 342.] A scout, Sergent George D. Shadburne, informed General Hampton on September 5, 1864, that there were 3,000 cattle behind Union lines, located on the James River at Coggin's Point, five miles away from Ulysses S. Grant's headquarters, that were lightly defended, with only 120 Union soldiers and thirty civilians. Sensing an opportunity to increase the army's food stores, Hampton arranged for 3,000 troops to follow him. Some of these troops included "several certified Texas cattle thieves". [Ackerman, Robert. "Wade Hampton III" (University of South Carolina Press, 2007) pg.67] [" [http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMNM3 Cattle (Beefsteak) Raid] " Waymarking.com] [" [http://www.wadehamptoncamp.org/hist-bs.html Wade Hampton and the Great Beefsteak Raid] " Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton Camp No. 273, Sons of Confederate Veterans]

Hampton led his men to the south of the cities, behind Union lines, on September 14. He chose to cross where the Cook's Bridge over the Blackwater River once stood, knowing that an attack from there would be unexpected. He had some engineers reconstruct the bridge. On the morning of September 16, at 5:00 a.m., Hampton's force attacked with a three-prong strike, with the center being where the cattle were. Hampton's force captured more than two thousand cattle, along with eleven wagons and 304 prisoners, leading them back to the Confederate lines at 9:00 a.m. on September 17. The total loss for the Confederates, who saw some opposition, was 10 killed, 47 wounded, and 4 missing. The official count of cattle successfully reaching the Confederates for food was 2,468. [Ackerman pg.68] [" [http://www.wadehamptoncamp.org/hist-bs.html Wade Hampton and the Great Beefsteak Raid] " Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton Camp No. 273, Sons of Confederate Veterans]

There was so much beef available that Confederate sentries would sometimes offer it in trade to Union sentries in exchange for certain luxury items that the Federal soldiers had plenty of, but the Confederates lacked. [Bakeless pg. 342.]

Abraham Lincoln called the raid "the slickest piece of cattle-stealing" he ever heard of. [Ackerman pg.68] General Lee's adjutant Walter H. Taylor said it made up for the loss of the Weldon Railroad, a claim historians consider to be overstated. [Taylor, Walter. "Lee's Adjutant: The Wartime Letters of Colonel Walter Herron Taylor, 1862-1865" (Univ of South Carolina Press, 1994) pg. 193, 295.]

References