USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 37
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THIRD CAVALRY.
George H. Chapman appointed Major. About the same time four new companies were joined to the same organization, making the regiment ten companies strong, and were sent to Kentucky. In the winter of 1862 two more companies were joined to the regiment, and subsequently were ordered to the western army. The six companies which were sent to the Army of the Potomac were never increased in number, so that their military history is entirely distinct from that portion of the regiment which joined and continued to serve in the western army. For all practical purposes the six com- panies serving with the Army of the Potomac were regarded as a regiment, and did the work of a regiment. The enlisted men being mounted on their own horses, which were much superior to those furnished by the Government, the battalion was generally able to turn out as many "mounted men for duty" as the full regiments with which it performed service.
During the winter of 1861-62, the battalion remained attached to the division of General Hooker, and performed duty along the Potomac river, from Budd's Ferry to Point Lookout. There had, previous to December of this winter, been a considerable contraband travel and traffic between the southern part of Maryland and Virginia, and in the early part of December Major Chapman was sent to St. Mary's county, Maryland, in command of three companies of his regiment, with orders to break up this contraband intercourse. A good many arrests were made, a number of boats and a quantity of contraband goods were captured, and the work was suc- cessfully accomplished.
The duties devolving upon the Third cavalry during this winter's service were of a delicate nature, but were discharged in such manner as to call forth the commendation of superior officers. Under date of December 20, 1861, the Adjutant General of General Hooker's staff wrote to Major Chapman as follows: "The General directs me to express to you his great satisfaction for the intelligent and zealous manner with which you and your command have discharged the duties intrusted to you. The attention of the Major General com- manding has been called to this subject, whose commendation you also merit, and will without doubt receive."
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Subsequently the following extracts were furnished the command for their information, and could not but have given the officers and men much satisfaction:
[ Copy.]
" HEADQUARTERS HOOKER'S DIVISION, Camp Baker, Lower Potomac, Maryland, December 20, 1861.
" Brigadier General S. Williams, Adjutant General Army of the Potomac:
" GENERAL-The intelligence, energy and good conduct displayed by Major Chapman and his command in the service in which they are engaged merit and will receive my com- mendation. The Third Indiana cavalry have been on the wing almost all the time since they joined me, singly and in bodies, and I have yet to learn of their first irregularity.
" The conduct of the enlisted men is as exemplary in the absence of authority as it is when present. It seems no example, no temptation, can lead them astray.
Very respectfully, &c, Jos. HOOKER,
Brigadier General Commanding Division."
[ Copy.]
"HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Washington, December 21, 1861.
" GENERAL-Iam directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th instant. The General [McClellan] heartily commends the conduct of Major Chapman, and is also glad to learn of the good behavior of the Third Indiana cavalry.
" I am, General, &c., S. WILLIAMS, "Assistant Adjutant General."
441
THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA.
"There were hills which garnished their proud heights with stately trees; humble valleys, whose base estate seemed comforted with the refreshing of silver rivers; meadows enameled with all sorts of eye-pleasing flowers; thickets which, being lined with the most pleasant shade, were witnessed so to by the cheerful disposition of many well-tuned birds."-Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia.
"They closed full fast on every side, No slackness there was found; And many a gallant gentleman Lay gasping on the ground."
-Chevy Chase.
ALTHOUGH "West Virginia is the true keystone of the Union arch," it was in effect given up by the Confederates after the first winter of the war, and the line of defence was withdrawn to the Valley, for which they struggled with a deathless courage. The Valley of Virginia is the fairest part of the Old Dominion. The almost inaccessible heights of the Alleghanies bound one side, the gentle slopes of the Blue Ridge the other. Deep and rapid rivers cut their way straight toward the North, or through the mountains to the plains of the East and the West. The James has its rise here, the Kanawha and the Potomac. The Shenandoah stretches its whole length at the feet of the Blue Ridge. Lost river, after working a channel among rocks, sinks into the ground, then mysteriously comes to light again. Cedar Run is spanned by an arch, which is probably the remnant of some vast cave. Countless caverns perforate the rocks.
Setting aside its shape and its situation, its rocks and its pcaks, which make it as strong as a walled city lined with fortresses and guarded by stupendous towers, on other grounds the Valley of Virginia is well worth contention. It was very beautiful when peace blessed the country, adorned as it was
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
with a happy succession of rich farms and blooming gardens, of lively watering places and hospitable homes. The finest wheat fields in the world extended from New Creek far away in the direction of Fredericksburg. They were not only almost limitless in extent, but bore the crowded and bent heads which delight the eyes of the husbandman. In their season, apples and pears, peaches and plums reddened wide spread orchards; and bees, humming in the fields, gathered a store of sweets for every farm-house.
Once the Valley was known as the seat of a warm and generous loyalty. Before the Revolution, when the ports of Boston were closed, her commerce stopped, and her people threatened with starvation, the fertile farms along the Shenan- doah poured out their treasures for her relief. In honor of New England and of the National cause, a Lexington grew up on the slopes of the mountains, a Bunker Hill not far from the Potomac, and near the Shenandoah a Charlestown, from which, in a later, degenerate time, John Brown cast his last look, as he exclaimed, "How beautiful are the grain fields!"
The features of nature remain unchanged. The Valley is now as wildly beautiful as it was before the incoming of civ- ilization, except that here and there on the green sward, or beside the clear stream, stands a blackened ruin. But the loyal generosity vanished long ago, and peace and seclusion during five years were exiles from a spot in which war raged like a fierce tide pent up in a narrow bay, or like a storm on a mountain lake.
As early as the first of May, before the Virginia vote on secession had been taken, the Government of the Confed- eracy sent a force, called an Army of Occupation, into the Valley, under the command of Colonel T. J. Jackson, for- merly a professor in the military college at Lexington. Colonel Jackson, in spite of an eccentrie and narrow mind, an angular and abstracted manner, a solemn affectation of mystery, and a habit of muttering to himself, which made his pupils call him "Old Tom" before he was thirty, was a man of singular power, and as he became known he proved to be of more value to the Confederate cause than an army of ten thousand.
443
STONEWALL JACKSON.
In his devotion to a purpose there was an earnestness and an intensity which shamed triflers, and which, sometimes uncon- sciously on his own part, and almost unconsciously on theirs, stole into their minds and woke in them a real life. His piety and his minute observance of religious forms made people believe in him. He believed in himself, and where he could not win men, he conscientiously bent them with an iron res- olution to the accomplishment of his purposes. He is de- scribed by an admirer as having "a rough mouth, an iron jaw, and nostrils as big as a horse's;" another completes the features of his face with yellowish gray eyes, which were as keen as a hawk's, and a nose in its sharpness not unlike the beak of a bird of prey. So much of a description is due to one who, more than any other individual, except General Lee, threw around secession a brightness which, like the moon's halo, was made of clouds.
Colonel Jackson went down the Valley to Harper's Ferry, and took possession, a small company of United States troops retiring before him, and leaving the arsenal and the Govern- ment buildings in flames. So it was that the first literal fires kindled by the war were in the mouth of the Virginia Valley.
In a short time Colonel Joseph E. Johnston took command at Harper's Ferry. When Colonel Wallace, with the Elev- enth Indiana, appeared at Cumberland, and drove the Rebels from Romney, Johnston retired from a point which was strong only in appearance to Winchester, which, as the center of eight or ten important roads, and of a rich rolling country, was one of the chief towns, and the real key of the Valley, as circumstances afterwards proved, for from that day it was kept turning in the lock by loyal and disloyal hands alter- nately. First, however, he put the finishing stroke to the once lovely village of Harper's Ferry by burning the superb bridge over the Potomac.
While in preparation for the battle of Bull Run, General Patterson danced, clumsily enough, at the mouth of the Valley, now at Bunker Hill, now at Charlestown and now at Harper's Ferry. Colonel Johnston, assisted by his able subordinates, Stuart, Pendleton and Jackson, made his way to Manassas, and gave effective help to Beauregard. In
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
October Jackson, promoted to the position of General, re- turned and took command of the troops in and around Win- chester. He lost no time in organizing and instructing his raw soldiers, and soon had under his command a disciplined army.
General Kelly, a loyal Virginian, the same that was wounded in the rout of the Rebels at Phillippi, and after him General Lander, had command of a line of troops which ran along the Potomac, from the Alleghanies to the Blue Ridge, and which reached into the interior as far as Romney. The center of this line was at Cumberland, which General Kelly made his headquarters, and the left was twenty-seven miles east of Cumberland, at Hancock and Bath. In the middle of winter Kelly was reinforced by the addition of the Sev- enth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Indiana regiments to the Virginia and Ohio troops which had, until that time, com- posed his eommand.
The Seventh, under Colonel Gavin, who succeded Dumont on the promotion of the latter, left West Virginia the last of November, and during the following three weeks repaired forty-eight miles of railroad, making the bridges and putting up the wires included in that extent of road. It was placed on guard midway between Cumberland and Romney, in the beautiful but disloyal village of Springfield, which it reformed externally by raising a Union flag on a seeession pole in the public square. The Seventh was in Colonel Tyler's brigade.
The Thirteenth left Beverly in the middle of December. marched seventy-five miles in mud nearly knee-deep, and reached Green Spring Run in four days. From Green Spring Run the regiment went to Sir John's Run, from which place, immediately on its arrival, it made a hasty exit. The Four- teenth left West Virginia at the same time, and went directly to Romney. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth were at first brigaded together under Colonel Kimball. Shortly afterwards Colonel Sullivan was made a brigade commander, and the Thirteenth was included for a short time in his command. In the spring Kimball and Sullivan were promoted Brigadier- Generals. The former was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Harrow, the latter by Lieutenant-Colonel Foster.
445
FORECAST OF THE CAMPAIGN.
To figure great things by small, the Valley of Virginia, from January to June of 1862, was a stage, and all the sol- diers there were players. The curtain is drawn on the first day of the year, a mild, open winter day. Jackson sweeps round from Winchester to Romney, driving his enemy like chaff before the wind, but failing in the great object of his expedition. In the same act Lander and Banks force back all the Rebel outposts, and drive Jackson from Winchester and beyond Strasburg.
In the second act Jackson turns upon his pursuers, and on a fair Sunday morning, on the heights of Winchester, is beaten by them in a fiery battle.
In the third act Jackson flies the whole length of the Val- ley, and Banks pursues with one portion of his force, while another portion is withdrawn to the all devouring Army of the Potomac. Fremont's advance hastens towards Banks, and the important town of Staunton is almost at the mercy of the Federal Army.
In the fourth act Jackson masses such an army as the mountains never before saw, and sweeps the Valley clean of Union troops.
Last act of all "that ends this strange eventful history," Jackson stands on the Potomac and casts his baffled eye beyond; he makes vain attempts to cross the narrow stream, but he never enters the land he had promised himself; and he turns, hunted by foes from every quarter, again toward his protecting moutains. At Cross Keys he is forced to fight, and at Port Republic he turns from his course to beat back the brave but unwise advance of Shields. After the two battles, he sweeps gradually off over the mountains, and the Union troops melt away into the Army of the Potomac, all but the thousands who, with wounds from the battles and with bruises and axhaustion from the long and hurried marches, are laid up in the hospitals.
In every act of this wonderful drama are Indiana troops. In the first are the Seventh, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Twenty- Seventh, Twelfth and Sixteenth regiments. In the second and third acts are the Seventh, Thirteenth and Fourteenth. In the fourth, the Twenty-Seventh and General Milroy. In
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the fifth act all that were in any of the preceding, except the Twelfth and Sixteenth, and, in addition, the Indiana escort of General Fremont, whose duties are not few nor light, and the Third cavalry.
Preparatory to his first attempt at clearing out the Valley of Union troops, General Jackson ordered a force of three thousand, which was stationed at Moorefield, and two others, which together numbered eight thousand, and which were at Winchester and Blue's Gap, to advance under General Loring slowly towards Romney from the south and east, while he, moving as swiftly as it was possible for infantry to march, should scatter or capture the troops on the eastern end of Kelley's line, cut off the railroad, deprive Cumberland of its supplies, and come down upon Romney from the north.
The third day of General Jackson's march a piercing wind rose, and rain, snow, sleet, hail fell by turns, or altogether during many hours, but he marched on, although some of his men froze to death, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the scattered Union forces fly before him. The Thirteenth Indiana had not fairly left the cars at Sir John's Run when it was forced to join in the flight. The country people also fled, many of them on foot, with their little ones, and such of their property as they could carry. Thus burdened they waded the freezing river, although they knew not where to look for shelter on the northern bank.
While General Jackson proceeded thus rapidly, carrying all before him, General Loring leisurely marched towards Blue's Gap, a pass through one of the short but lofty and rugged ranges which break the level of the great valley. Before he reached his destination, Colonel Dunning of the Fifth Ohio, led an expedition from Romney against the Con- federates already at that point. His number was twenty-five hundred, and included a detachment of the Fourteenth Indiana under Lieutenant-Colonel Mahan. Colonel Dunning started at midnight, and, though the night was radiantly clear, would have reached the Confederate camp without discovery, if his men had not unexpectedly set up a shout, which gave warning of their approach. The Confederates, however, were driven out, and Colonel Dunning returned to Romney, which he
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UNION FORCES DRIVEN BACK.
found all astir with the tidings of General Jackson's approach, and with preparations, made under the direction of General Lander, for an immediate retreat. His men had marched thirty-two miles in seventeen hours, but not a moment could now be allowed for rest.
General Jackson's left wing was but six miles south of Romney; his center was already at Blue's Gap, the expelled force, accompanied by Loring with his troops from Winches- ter, having re-entered the pass as soon as Dunning's back was turned; and his right had reached a point twelve miles east of Springfield. Romney was, in consequence, almost sur- rounded, and Jackson's project almost executed. His entire force was twenty thousand. General Lander, who had but four thousand five hundred at Romney, had no alternative, and no hope except in extreme rapidity, for which his troops, even those who had just returned from Blue's Gap, were better prepared than Jackson's. He sent off the sick and the stores under a strong guard, and followed with his rear at midnight. The snow had melted under a heavy rain, and the roads were in the worst condition. At dawn he reached Springfield, where he found the Seventh Indiana, as yet undisturbed, guarding four roads and seven fords. This reg- iment was without artillery, and without camp equipage, which had all been sent away the day before; it was also fatigued, having just returned from a purposeless expedition to Green Spring, where it had spent a bitter cold night hud- dled up in hog cars.
The new comers slept two hours on the ground, then con- tinued their retreat, leaving the Seventh entirely isolated. Two days elapsed before Jackson entered Springfield, and in that time the Seventh retired, following Lander toward Cum- berland. Instead of pursuing, the Confederate General con- tinued the direct course to Romney, where, in obedience to orders from his Government, he left General Loring in com- mand. Less than nothing was accomplished in this expedition, although for a moment it promised every success. Confed- erate authorities ascribe the failure to the fact that the Gov- ernment did not yet know of what stuff the old professor was made.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
During the next few weeks General Lander conducted a series of reconnoissances, which resulted in the withdrawal to Winchester of the whole of Jackson's army. The only resistance was at Bloomery Gap. Lander, having made a bridge one hundred and eighty feet long at the dead of night over the Great Cacapon, where it is crossed by an unfre- quented mountain road, led two colums, each preceded by a body of cavalry, with such rapidity that they appeared at the pass unexpectedly. His infantry, among which were the three Indiana regiments, built the bridge and bore the hardships of a march through the deep snow without rest or sustenance, but on the approach to the pass it was in the rear, and the cavalry should have made the attack. The horsemen, how- ever, showed symptoms of fear, hesitated, held back, and were on the point of running, when General Lander, who knew no such word as fail, spurring to the front, made the onset almost alone. Inspired by his example, the cavalry recovered courage, seconded him, and captured almost the whole Rebel force.
Shortly after this brilliant dash, General Lander applied for leave of absence, in order to rest from military duties. His application had not yet received attention, when he was called away by that Commander "in whose war there is no discharge." He died while almost in the act of making another midnight attack. Many a better man could have been better spared than General Lander. He offered his scr- vices to General Scott as soon as it was known that the South had determined to resort to the sword, "in any capacity, at any time and for any duty." He had been nobly and ably ยท faithful, and now he was greatly missed and truly mourned.
In the latter part of February, General Banks advanced up the Potomac, taking possession of Harper's Ferry, Charles- town, Martinsburg and Bunker Hill, and moving on towards Winchester. Colonel Ashby, with a large cavalry force, guarded General Jackson's rear, and tantalized the Union troops by cunningly keeping himself just beyond their grasp, yet within their sight. Twelve miles from Winchester Gen- eral Banks awaited the arrival of General Lander's, now General Shields' division, and directed it on its arrival to
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UNION FORCES ADVANCED.
proceed with another division round by Berryville, in order to intercept General Jackson should he retreat. When the advance was resumed, the Twelfth Indiana and Thirteenth Massachusetts led the van on the direct route. Four miles from Winchester, near night, the enemy seemed preparing to dispute their advance, and line of battle was formed, the Twelfth having the post of honor, but no further demonstra- tion was made. Long before day the troops were roused and led on slowly. The fire of artillery was expected, and the spectacle of Confederate troops and Confederate flags was anxiously looked for, but no sound was heard, no enemy was seen, and with the morning rays glancing on their bay- onets, the morning air ringing with the notes of the "Star Spangled Banner," they entered Winchester. Colonel Ashby had just galloped through the streets shouting for the South- ern Confederacy, but he was already beyond pursuit. Four hours later the left wing of General Banks' army arrived, but without having met Jackson, who went directly south along the Strasburg road.
The first act of the National authorities on taking posses- sion was the publication of the usual order forbidding depre- dations. The National banner soon waved from every noticeable point, and with especial grace from the house of Mason, the Confederate commissioner to England.
The general object to which Banks was ordered to devote himself was the protection of the line of the Potomac and Washington, and the rebuilding of the railway from Wash- ington to the Shenandoah. He accordingly began to send troops to the vicinity of Manassas. The Sixteenth Indiana, one of the first regiments to be sent forward, built a bridge over the Shenandoah, at Snicker's Gap, in forty-eight hours, and while engaged in the work captured several men belong- ing to Jackson's army. The Twelfth regiment followed the Sixteenth, and with the brigade crossed the mountains and reached Aldie. General Banks sent a second division down the valley to proceed by the northern route.
Meantime General Shields followed General Jackson, in order to ascertain his numbers, and, if it could be done to advantage, to force him to fight. At Mount Jackson he found
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
the Confederate General strongly posted, and within support- ing distance of a large force under General Johnson. He accordingly fell back to Winchester, making the whole march of nearly thirty miles in one day. His troops were in fine spirits, and formed their encampments on the heights south of Winchester with joyful anticipations of continued success.
Colonel Ashby, who followed Shields, discovered that General Banks was rapidly sending troops out of the valley, and, construing the movement into an intention to withdraw the entire corps, so reported to General Jackson, who lost not a moment in seizing the opportunity for striking a telling blow. He returned immediately towards the North, and reached the vicinity of Kernstown on the 21st and 22d of March. On the evening of the 22d, Colonel Ashby drove in the Union pickets, and, in an active skirmish which ensued, wounded General Shields, who had, in consequence, to be carried to the rear, four miles. The report of scouts that no enemy but Ashby was in front did not entirely satisfy either Shields or Kimball, who took the place of Shields in the field, and they made arrangements to prevent a surprise.
At Winchester, as has been mentioned, a number of much traveled routes converge. Of these the most important south- ern roads are the Strasburg, which runs directly south, and the Cedar Creek and the Front Royal roads, which bend, the first towards the west, the second towards the east. Kerns- town is on the Strasburg road, two or three miles south of Winchester. The ground between the Strasburg and Cedar Creek roads rises and falls like great irregular waves. A road runs from Winchester to Romney, directly west, and another runs directly east to Berryville. On the top of a hill near Kernstown, and west of the Strasburg road, Colonel Kimball placed three batteries, and on the interior or northern slope of the same hill he planted a fourth, with a large infantry and a small cavalry force. He stretched his infantry line, which consisted of his own brigade, about a half mile beyond the Strasburg road. Behind Kimball's brigade, in a longer and thinner line, Sullivan's reached from the Romney to the Berryville road, his center resting near the Strasburg toll-gate. Still behind, north of Winchester, and within its encamp-
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