Out of Ammunition at Sulphur Springs A lone Union cavalryman sped away from the front lines through the Virginia countryside towards Warrenton on the afternoon of Oct. 12, 1863. He soon encountered federal provost guards, who ordered him to halt. The cavalryman relayed an urgent request: He and his fellow troopers had come under heavy attack by the enemy and, low on ammunition, they needed help immediately. The provost guards doubted the veracity of the request. They had heard the same story repeatedly that day told by stragglers fleeing advancing Confederates. The provost had turned all of these shirkers away, and they were not going to make an exception now. They denied the request and sent the cavalryman back to the front. The cavalryman had in fact told the truth. Not far away at a ford along the Rappahannock River, more than 70 of his comrades were fighting for their lives. The men belonged to the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry, led by two lieutenants. One of the officers, Lester Phelps, would later note this forgotten skirmish of a little-remembered campaign as one of the most memorable actions in which he participated. Phelps had been promoted to lieutenant just a few months earlier, coincident with the Battle of Gettysburg. The 24-year-old peacetime clerk and the rest of his regiment had performed picket duty during the momentous three-day engagement. After the fight, they pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee's defeated army through Pennsylvania, as Phelps described, "Harassing Lee's flank and rear from Gettysburg to the Potomac." Lee's Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River and returned to Virginia. Phelps and the Eighth eventually followed with the rest of the Army of the Potomac. The armies had emerged from the Gettysburg Campaign greatly reduced in size. Additional losses would further deplete their numbers that summer and early autumn. Lee dispatched two of his divisions and Lt. Gen. James Longstreet to reinforce Gen. Braxton Bragg's understrength Army of Tennessee. Bragg had just won a surprise victory against the Union Army of the Cumberland and its commander, Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, at Chickamauga, Ga., on Sept. Bragg drove the federals into Tennessee and surrounded them at Chattanooga. Army of the Potomac commander Maj. Gen. George G. Meade ordered two of his corps to Chattanooga to break the siege. Lee learned of Meade's order in early October, and characteristically took the offensive. The result was a series of mostly small-scale skirmishes in the vicinity of the Rappahannock, as advance elements of the two weakened armies clashed. One skirmish put Phelps and his command in grave peril. The clash occurred near Sulphur Springs, also known as Warrenton or Fauquier Springs. Once a popular resort for Washingtonians seeking its beneficial waters, it now lay in ruins. A year earlier during the Second Bull Run Campaign, the springs" main hotel had been burned. During the afternoon of Oct. 13, Confederate cavalry advanced toward the springs. Union forces responded by tearing up a nearby bridge across the Rappahannock to slow the enemy advance. The federals ordered in a detachment commanded by Phelps and his close friend, Lt. William A. Daily, to block a ford below the destroyed bridge. They also dispatched an artillery piece, and a smaller detachment from the Eighth in support. The Pennsylvanians grabbed their sabers, revolvers and carbine rifles, and saddled up. Phelps and Daily took the lead and rode rapidly to the ford. Upon arriving, they dismounted, took up a position in rifle pits on the north side of the river, and waited. Meanwhile on the south side of the river Confederate cavalry from Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's command pushed up the Rappahannock. "I made preparations to force the passage of the river at Warrenton Springs," reported the aggressive Stuart. Our dismounted men were thrown forward, supported by a small force of infantry. As the rebels advanced against the Yankees, Stuart received additional support from field guns attached to Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell's corps. The Confederates approached the bridge at about 5 p.m. Stuart ordered the 12th Virginia Cavalry to charge. Phelps and the Pennsylvanians braced for the onslaught. "The charge of this little band of the 12th Virginia was worthy of special praise," Stuart declared. Charging first up to the piers of the bridge, it was discovered that it had been taken up, thus exposing them to a dangerous fire from the enemy on the opposite side. Nothing daunted in purpose, however, they turned about and took the road to the ford below, which they plunged in the face of the enemy's fire without halt or hesitation. Phelps and the others blasted away with their carbines until their ammunition ran critically low. Still the rebels kept on coming. Someone, perhaps Phelps, ordered one of the men to get help. They continued to fire until they ran out of shells. They tossed aside the spent carbines and reached for their revolvers. But it was too late. The Confederates cut them off and captured Phelps, Daily and most of the command. Stuart resumed the advance. As it was nearly dark my first care after crossing was to have the bridge relaid, so that the infantry might cross directly over. It was but the work of a few moments, when the column continued its march to the north side of the Rappahannock. Two days later, the only significant infantry action of Lee's offensive occurred due west of Sulphur Springs at Bristoe Station. The Confederates suffered a defeat and about 1,900 casualties that it could ill afford to lose. The rebel offensive sputtered to a halt a few weeks later. The series of actions later came to be known as the Bristoe Campaign. Although the campaign resulted in no strategic advantage for either side, it was the last time General Lee launched a large scale offensive with his army. The officer in overall command of the Eighth, Maj. Joseph W. Wistar, blamed the provost guard for the capture of Phelps and the rest of the command. They were out of carbine ammunition, and the provost-marshal refused to allow the messenger to pass to the regiment for more, tough provided with a written order stating his business. But the provost marshal, Lt. Frederick William Heslop, refuted the accusation. No person came to me that day with a pass of any description. If a written pass, signed by the proper authority, had been presented to me, I should have passed the bearer. By the time this exchange occurred, Phelps was confined in Libby Prison, along with Daily and the rest of their captured men. They remained there through the winter and suffered severely from the cold and dank conditions. Phelps attempted an escape, probably with Daily on Feb. 9, 1864. They were captured and returned. A few months later, Phelps and Daily were sent to Macon, Ga., and held in Camp Oglethorpe, a prison for officers. They received relatively good treatment, unlike the hellish conditions endured by federal enlisted men sent to nearby Camp Sumter, better known as Andersonville. In late 1864, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman on the "March to the Sea" left a path of destruction through the Georgia heartland - and threatened the security of Camp Oglethorpe. Phelps and other captives were hustled off to South Carolina. Phelps spent the fall in Charleston and Christmas in Columbia. He received a parole and was exchanged in March 1865, bringing his year-and-a-half of captivity to an end. Phelps returned to his regiment with a promotion to captain only a few weeks after Gen. Lee surrendered his army to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. One of Phelps's final assignments in uniform was a stint as provost marshal of Appomattox County. Phelps mustered out with the survivors of his regiment in August 1865 and moved to Connecticut. He settled in the Hartford suburb of Rockville, secured a clerical position in the county court system, and married in 1868. Over the next 35 years, he worked his way to probate court judge. He died of heart disease in 1910 at age 71. His wife and a daughter survived him. Sources: "The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies"; Lester D. Phelps military service record, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C.; Lester D. Phelps pension record, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C.; Application of Lester D. Phelps for the Grand Army of the Republic, New England Civil War Museum, Vernon, Connecticut