Hakenson and Dudding Civil War Site

John Burke Saves General Wade Hampton's Life at Potter's Hill

By Donald Hakenson

While researching the Civil War history of Franconia, Telegraph Road and Lorton, I found a very interesting character, a Confederate scout and spy who operated in our neighborhood during 1861 and early 1862. His name was John Burke. He would obtain the rank of colonel and be forever known as "the spy with the glass eye" because he lost his eye while a youth.

E. Prioleau Henderson, the author of Autobiography of Arab, tells the story of John Burke saving Wade Hampton from an ambuscade on Potter's Hill in the Franconia and Telegraph area. Sometime in January 1862, Colonel Wade Hampton, with detachments from four cavalry companies, and one piece of Capt. S.D. Lee's battery, crossed the Occoquan River, and started via Pohick Church towards Alexandria, in Fairfax County. They had only gotten a few miles beyond the church (Telegraph Road), when they encountered a small body of Union cavalry. The Yankees immediately turned and fled with Hampton in hot pursuit. Hampton pursued them about a mile and a half when they disappeared beyond a small hill (Potter's Hill, approximately where the old Beulah Street crosses over Telegraph Road, leading to Round Hill and a portion of the land owned by the Army Corps of Engineers). During this chase, Hampton, Sergeant Woodward Barnwell and Henderson were well ahead of the rest of the squadron. Just as Hampton and the other two cavalrymen were clearing Potter's Hill to proceed down the valley, a man in gray uniform dashed out from the undergrowth on the left of the road and shouted to Colonel Hampton to halt. The man ran directly in front of the Colonel's horse, begging him for God's sake to stop the pursuit, because they were riding into a regular ambuscade set up for them in the valley at Round Hill. The Confederate informed Hampton that there was a large force of infantry and artillery, besides the cavalry, concealed in the woods at the bottom of the hill. The Texas scout had concealed himself for several hours at that spot, watching the Union troop movements and wondering what they were after. Hampton immediately stopped the pursuit and reformed his squadron on the top of Potter's Hill. Sergeant Barnwell returned after realizing that he was the only trooper charging down the hill. Henderson remarked, "It looked like the Sergeant was going to charge them single-handedly."

The scout was right. The valley was blue with Union cavalry. The enemy kept their infantry and artillery concealed hoping that the Confederate column was forming on Potter's Hill to charge them. When the Union troops saw that the Confederates were not going to enter their trap they started shaking their sabers and cursing at the Confederates. Then both sides started firing at each other. The Union troops were using Sharp's carbines and the Confederates were using pistols. The Union sharpshooters did manage to shoot Corporal Lip. Griffin in the face and one or two others were slightly wounded, in addition to several horses. Colonel Hampton then decided to retreat back across the Occoquan, regretting that he did not have his whole unit.

The scout that ran out of the bushes that day to warn Colonel Hampton was none other than John Burke. If it had not been for Burke's timely warning, many Confederates, including Hampton himself, may have lost their lives at the bottom of Potter's Hill. Hampton went on to glory in the Confederate Cavalry, obtained the rank of Lieutenant General, and returned to South Carolina to live in peace. However, it is very likely that Hampton would never forget his small adventure into the Franconia, Telegraph and Beulah area.

Burke returned to Texas, resumed his lawyer practice in Marshall at the close of the war, and, in 1865, married Miss Jennie Taylor. Colonel Burke died in Jefferson, Texas, in 1872. He left behind his wife, two sons, John and Edmund, and daughter, Alice.

Colonel Burke was just as courageous for his exploits as John Singleton Mosby and Frank Stringfellow, but has been overlooked by Civil War historians.

First Sgt. Wakefield and the Little White Church