Horror at Haw’s Shop

By Carl Sell · Originally published May 2021 · p. 16

Seventeen days after the mortal wounding of Confederate Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart at Yellow Tavern, the man who apparently fired the fatal shot at Stuart was himself mortally wounded at Haw’s Shop, about 15 miles away as the crow flies. Thirty-eight-year-old Private John Huff of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry was shot in the head during a seven-hour cavalry fight, mostly by dismounted troopers.

Private John Huff’s headstone. Willow Grove Cemetery, Armada, Macomb County, Michigan. During the same battle at Haw’s Shop on May 28, 1864, 19-yearold Private Henry St. George Tucker Brooke of the Second Virginia Cavalry was wounded in the left thigh for the second time in four days, captured, treated, and then left behind by Union surgeons who decided not to amputate because it would kill him. Huff was retreating on foot at Yellow Tavern when Stuart rode toward him. According to reports, Huff turned, fired his pistol, and hit the Confederate leader in the stomach. Stuart was assisted from the saddle by aides and taken to the Richmond home of his brother-in-law, Dr. Charles Brewer, where he died the following evening. Union Brigadier General George Custer said he had investigated the incident and was confident that Huff shot Stuart. After the battle at Yellow Tavern, where Stuart intercepted a raid toward Richmond by Union Major General Philip Sheridan, the Union cavalry broke off the engagement because of a lack of supplies and reports that Confederate reserves were moving up to defend Richmond. The Federals moved toward their bases on the lower James River to resupply before returning to the Army of the Potomac, which was then advancing toward Cold Harbor. Major General Fitzhugh Lee kept his cavalrymen close to Richmond on the James, and then rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia in defending the city on its north and east. General Robert E. Lee had kept the Yankees at bay on the North Anna River and earlier bloody battles at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. Both armies were now headed toward a bloody Union attack against entrenched Confederates at Cold Harbor. Haw’s Shop was a machine shop owned by John Haw, was about five miles from Cold Harbor. The community around the shop included two churches, a school, and several residences. Nearby was Dundee Plantation, where Stuart often visited his favorite cousin, Nannie, her sisters, and friends before the war. The combatants fought dismounted because the area was too wooded for cavalry charges. Union cavalry General David Gregg’s Division included brigades led by Custer, Colonel J. Irvin Gregg, and Brigadier General Henry E. Davis. The Confederate units were composed of brigades led by Brigadier Generals Williams C. Wickham, Thomas L. Rosser, and Mathew Calbraith Butler. The latter unit had just arrived from South Carolina and was heading into its first combat. Armed with muzzle loaders, they suffered heavy losses fighting against Yankees with seven-shot Spencer repeating rifles. The Charleston Light Dragoons lost twenty-one of forty-seven men, only one of whom was taken prisoner. Custer, in his battle report, said that his brigade’s loss at Haw’s Shop was greater than in any other engagement during the campaign. Both sides thought they were outnumbered.The NewYork Herald said that “three of our brigades had whipped their whole corps.” The Charleston Daily Courier said the Confederates were outnumbered five to one.

Private Henry St. George Tucker Brooke. Courtesy Find A Grave. Brooke was released in May and became a teacher and lawyer in Salem and Roanoke County. He also was a professor of law at West Virginia University from 1878 to 1909. He died May 19, 1914 and is buried in the Zion Episcopal Churchyard in Charles Town, W.V. The Haws had four sons away from home fighting for the Confederacy. Three were members of the Fifteenth Virginia Infantry; the fourth served with the Confederate Ordnance Department in Richmond and was called out with militia on several occasions when the city was threatened. George Pittman Haw, a lieutenant who lost an arm and was captured at Sharpsburg, and John Hugh Haw, who contracted typhoid during the war, were twins. William Haw was both wounded at Drewry’s Bluff and appointed sergeant May 5, 1864. Joseph Richardson Haw worked for the Ordnance Department throughout the war and went to Danville with other government employees with President Jefferson Davis in April 1865. He continued on with the Davis party through the Carolinas before being paroled at

Union strength was reported at 4,500 and the Confederates at 4,000. Both no doubt were less because of the hard riding and fighting during the Overland Campaign. Union casualties were 256 in Gregg’s Division and 41 in Custer’s Brigade. Union troops reported they buried 187 Confederates, captured 80 South Carolinians, and recovered 40 to 50 wounded men. Overall, loses were almost equal, each just below 400. Huff was an itinerant carpenter born in 1816 in Ontario, Canada, near its border with the United States. He married Abigail B. Culver Huff from Niagara County, N.Y., and they migrated to Michigan. The couple had five children, the last of whom was only two years old when Huff joined the United States Sharpshooters in October 1861. He was wounded in early 1863 and discharged, but recovered and joined the Fifth Michigan in January 1864. After being wounded, Huff was taken to a military hospital for several weeks, and then sent home by train to Michigan. He died June 23, 1864, 25 days after being shot at Haw’s Shop. He is buried in Armada Cemetery, Macomb County, Mich. His wife, Abigail B. Culver Huff, moved to California and lived until age 78 in 1902. The Huff’s first born, Henry Clinton Huff (1842–1917), also was a Civil War veteran. Ironically, Brooke was sitting on his horse talking to a lieutenant when he was struck. After Fitz Lee broke off the engagement because of concerns about the presence of nearby infantry, Brooke was captured and taken to the Haw house, Oak Grove. After the Union troopers departed, taking their own wounded, John Haw III, his wife, Mary Austin, and daughter, Mary Jane, emerged from the cellar and carried Brooke inside. Union surgeons, who had been using the upper part of the house as a hospital during the battle, returned the next day, and removed the ball from Brooke’s thigh. He stayed there for three months, recovering from the wound. The Haws counted 44 dead horses in their yard; most of them part of a horse artillery battery that had been positioned there. “The flies ate the horses, the chickens ate the flies and we ate the chickens,” Brooke wrote in his autobiography. He later was taken to a Richmond hospital where he remained until he was captured April 3, 1865 and sent to Point Lookout.

Washington, Ga., in late May. George earned a law degree from Washington College in Lexington, Va., in 1867, and considered his diploma signed by President Robert E. Lee as his most valued possession. He served as Commonwealth’s Attorney for Hanover County. John Hugh and William bought and refurbished a Pamunkey River mill that had been burned by Sheridan and later became farmers. Joseph graduated from what now is Virginia Tech in 1876 with a degree in Agriculture and Mechanics. He worked for railroads before joining the United States Army Quartermaster Department at Fort Monroe. His son, Joseph C. Haw, was a 1915 graduate of the United States Military Academy. Carl Sell has written two books about his ancestors who survived Pickett’s Charge and another about Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart for the benefit of the Stuart-Mosby Historical Society. He also is a contributor to the Civil War News. Contact Carl at [email protected] or 703-971-4716.