USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, with reminiscences illustrative of the vicissitudes of its pioneer settlers (A Supplement) > Part 30
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Monday, May 4 .- A telegraphic rumor this morning that Jackson had defeated the enemy at Port Royal, capturing 5,000 of them. * * After night the railroad train brought the report that the Yankee army had been driven seven miles beyond the Rappahannock, that our army was occupying the camp of the enemy, that we had taken 10,000 prisoners, and that General Jackson was wounded, one person said severely, others said slightly.
Tuesday, May 5 .- While we were enjoying the good news received
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last night, a dispatch came this morning stating that 12,000 Yankees, cavalry and artillery, under General Stoneham [Stoneman], were in Louisa county on their way to the James river canal. It is said that this, division, as they came on last week, took our cavalry entirely by sur- prise, capturing 2,000 of them, and scattering the remainder; that Fitz- hugh Lee with 500 men followed them, and fought them while they were breaking up the railroad, but having such superiority of numbers they were able to brush Lee off and go on with their work. *
* General R. E. Lee states in his official dispatch that he gained a great victory, but says that General Jackson was severely wounded. Another account says he was wounded in the arm, and did not leave the field. Some members of the Fifth regiment, wounded in the recent battle, arrived this evening.
Wednesday night, May 6 .- Very few additional particulars in regard to the recent great battle-chiefly repetitions of the statement that we gained a decided victory. But General Jackson has lost his arm, the injury being so serious as to render amputation necessary.
Thursday night, May 7 .- A man from Harrisonburg stated this morn- ing that the Yankees were coming up the Valley. As the telegraph made no such report, it was considered an idle rumor. But after dark an army surgeon arrived with the sick soldiers from the Harrisonburg hospital. He said the road between Harrisonburg and Staunton was full of people, with their cattle, &c., flying before the Yankees supposed to be coming. We have a force of 800 men below Harrisonburg. Afterwards I learned that a telegraphic dispatch had been received, stating that 2,100 of the enemy were nine miles below Harrisonburg.
Monday, May 11 .- A report of General Jackson's death was current this morning, but most persons hoped it was not true. Between I and 2 o'clock, however, the telegraph operator stepped into the room where I was writing, and handed me a dispatch from the War Department at Richmond, to be forwarded to Lexington by express, announcing the fact. There is universal lamentation in this community. It is like "the mourning at Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddon," when King Josiah was slain.
Wednesday night, May 13 .- Persons from Shenandoah give some par- ticulars of the recent advance of the enemy through that county. They were about 2,000 in number, and came only a mile this side of New Market. All accounts state that they were very timid, and suddenly hurried back upon receiving some intelligence by courier from Win- chester, the officers not waiting to eat the dinner that was preparing. * * The slain have been arriving ever since the battle, as well as the wounded.
Wednesday night, May 20 .- General Jenkins's brigade of cavalry is collecting at Staunton, and an inspection takes place to-morrow near town. Jenkins is to command in the Valley, Jones, and perhaps Imbo- den, having been ordered to join Lee.
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Saturday, May 23 .- The expedition to northwest Virginia brought off about 3,000 cattle, it is said.
Wednesday, May 27 .-* * About sixty women and children from northwestern Virginia arrived in town last night. They were sent off by the Federal authorities for sympathizing with the South, and were allowed to bring only necessary wearing apparel and $100 each.
Saturday night, June 6 .- No railroad train from Richmond this even- ing. Reason not given, but it is presumed that General Lee's army is moving. It is believed that Lee is advancing north of the Rappalian- nock.
Saturday night, June 13 .- Rumored this evening that General Ewell's corps was near Winchester, en route for Pennsylvania.
Tuesday night, June 16 .- Passengers by stage from Winchester report that General Ewell has captured a large number of Yankees at that place. * * It is evident from the large quantity of ordnance and other stores coming to Staunton, that the Valley will be the scene of protracted operations.
June 17 .- We learn from Winchester that our army has crossed the Potomac at three points. All the Federals at Winchester, except Mill- roy and his body-guard, were captured. The number is given as five thousand.
Friday night, June 19 .- Staunton is again a great thoroughfare for the army-many soldiers passing through town to join their various com- mands.
Monday night, June 22 .- About 10 o'clock this morning upwards of sixteen hundred Yankees, taken at Winchester, arrived. They were guarded by the Fifty-eighth Virginia infantry. *
* The prisoners were much better clothed than the Confederates who guarded them. They were immediately put aboard a railroad train, which started for Richmond in the evening. * * Large numbers of our soldiers have been passing through town for several days past, coming from the east by railroad, and going down the Valley on foot.
Tuesday night, June 23 .- Nineteen hundred more Yankee prisoners were brought up to the vicinity of town to-day, and a part of them sent off to Richmond by railroad this evening.
June 24 .- The guard of the prisoners-a North Carolina regiment- although generally dirty, and some of them ragged, looked stouter and more hardy than the Yankees. Several of our poor fellows were bare- footed.
June 25 .- A number of female Northern camp followers have been brought up from Winchester and sent to Richmond to be passed beyond our lines.
June 26 .- The whole number of prisoners who have arrived here this week is 4,321, including forty-five women and children.
Tuesday night, June 30 .- The main body of our cavalry under Stuart, has been fighting constantly on the Virginia side of the Potomac. *
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Wagon trains going from Staunton to Winchester are now required to be guarded. A train is waiting till a guard of five hundred men can be formed of convalescent soldiers.
July 4 .- A number of wagons loaded with hardware, stationery, etc., purchased by our quartermasters in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, ar- rived to-day. Northern merchants have been excluded for so long from the Southern market that they are way behind the times in regard to prices. For example, hand-saw files, which sell here at $3 each, they sold to our quartermaster at 25 cents, Confederate currency.
July 7 .- The atmosphere seemed full of exciting rumors yesterday. Great battles at or near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, were reported.
Wednesday, July 8 .- The following is given as a specimen of the current reports during the war : *
* Later in the day, Towers came into my room, with a glowing face, to tell that Mr. Phillips told him that Judge Thompson told him that Stump (telegraph operator) told him that in a battle on Sunday we had a glorious victory, some forty thou- sand to sixty thousand of the enemy laying down their arms. George E. Price went to the telegraph office to inquire about the matter, and reported on his return that Stump said the news must have come by some other line. Next, Major Tate came in-David S. Young had just told him that Judge Thompson said, etc. Then Major Bell informed me that Stump denied having authorized any such report. Coming home to dinner, I encountered Mr. Michie and John B. Baldwin. Mr. Michie had seen McGuffin, etc. Baldwin said he had seen Judge Thompson, who had given him the news in full. Mr. Michie believed the report- he was determined to believe it. Stump, he said, had communicated to Judge Thompson confidentially what he had no liberty to divulge, and was now endeavoring to repair damages by his denials, while the Judge was relating the news in strict confidence to everybody he met.
Thursday night, July. 9 .- Blue! blue! The Richmond newspapers of this morning publish a dispatch from General Johnston, dated Jackson, Mississippi, July 7th, stating that the garrison of Vicksburg capitulated on the 4th.
Friday, July 10 .- Soldiers wounded at the battle of Gettysburg give fearful accounts of the slaughter of our army. Pickett's division anni- hilated. Many persons known to us were killed. A disastrous affair. The news received by us is, however, in many respects unintelligible. As far as we now see the tide is running fearfully against us. The road leading into town from Winchester is lined with wounded soldiers coming up from the battlefield. * * It is a sad sight to see so many poor fellows dragging themselves along to get nearer home. They are of course those who are comparatively slightly wounded.
July 11 .- Wounded soldiers have come into town to-day in a con- stant stream; some of them in vehicles and some on horseback, but most on foot. Many of them are without shoes.
July 12 .- The stream of wounded men arriving has been uninter-
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rupted, and not a third part of those disabled has arrived yet. It is now said that comparatively few were killed.
By the 16th, General Lee's army was back on this side the Potomac. On the 18th, nearly four thousand prisoners were brought in. On the 20th, a long train of ambulances loaded with wounded or sick men arrived.
July 25 .- Crowds of sick and wounded soldiers have been arriving in ambulances, wagons, and on foot; and many of the inhabitants of the lower Valley, with all the property they could bring off.
General Lee had left the Valley and gone east of the Blue Ridge.
July 28 .- Wounded and sick soldiers and refugees still coming in.
Monday night, August 24 .- I was aroused at 5 o'clock this morning and informed that the Yankees were at Buffalo Gap, ten miles from town. Was surprised upon going down street to find everything quiet. As the day advanced, the convalescent patients in the hospitals were armed, the citizens formed companies, and Imboden's command-said to be 1,000 men-came up from their camp three miles below town. Cannon were planted on the hill west of town, and other defensive preparations were made. Towards 10 o'clock most persons concluded that no enemy was near. People from Buffalo Gap had heard nothing of the Yankees till they came to town, and a man from Highland re- ported that they had gone towards Pocahontas. Afterwards scouts came in and reported that no Yankees were near Buffalo Gap.
Thursday, August 27 .- On Tuesday we heard that the Yankee raid- ers, from 4,000 to 5,000, had driven Colonel Jackson across the Warm Springs mountain, that he was retreating to Millborough, and that Staunton was threatened again. We next heard that the Yankees were "going back," and that Jackson was " after them."
Wednesday night, September 30 .- On Monday last (court day) General Smith, ex-Governor and Governor elect, and Senator Wigfall, of Texas, addressed the people of this county on their duty at this crisis. The people "resolved " that they would sell produce at the rates fixed by the government to all consumers.
In September, peaches were abundant and sold at $23 to $25 a bushel.
Tuesday night, October 15 .- I have been engaged for several days past in the great work of having a suit of clothes made. My wife bought the cloth several weeks ago at the factory near town. It is gray jeans, and cost $10 a yard, but similar cloth sells now at $14. Four yards of unbleached cotton cloth were furnished by my wife (where
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from I know not) for pockets, sleeve-lining, &c. She also produced a piece of black alpaca, which her brother had worn as a cravat, for skirt and back lining. I bought two yards of osnaburg, at $2.50 a yard, and have engaged buttons from the manufacturers in town. The Lush- baughs turn buttons out of maple wood. The suit will cost from $130 to $150.
The Augusta "Raid Guard," otherwise called Home Guard, were summoned to the Shenandoah mountain November 12, as the enemy was supposed to be advancing. The various com- panies were organized as a regiment on the 11th-John B. Bald- win, Colonel; Kenton Harper, Lieutenant-Colonel ; J. M. Mc- Cue, Major ; Dr. J. Alexander Waddell, Surgeon ; C. R. Mason, Quartermaster ; N. P. Catlett, Commissary, and J. C. Marquiss, Adjutant.
Friday, November 13 .- Seven or eight companies of the Raid Guard were on parade to-day. It was encouraging to see that we had so many men left. They are mounted infantry, except a company of artillery raised in town.
The alarm of invasion proved unfounded, and the companies were dismissed for the time. The price of flour had risen to $80 a barrel on November 16.
Saturday night, November 21 .- There is a general feeling that the war will be interminable. All round the horizon there is not a glimmer of light. Yet the war does not weigh as heavily on the spirits of the peo- ple as it did for many months after it began. The recollection of the security and abundance formerly enjoyed seems like a dream. I picture to myself the scenes in our streets three years ago-piles of boxes be- fore every store door, shelves and counters within filled and piled up with goods ; merchants begging customers to buy; groceries running over with molasses, sugar, coffee, tea, cheese, fish, etc .; confectioners making the most tempting display of fruits, candies and cakes ; wagons loaded with country produce calling at every house, and farmers earn- estly inquiring who wished to purchase flour, corn, potatoes, beef, pork, apples. Now the stores-still so-called by courtesy-will furnish you thread, buttons, pins and other light articles which have " run the block- ade," cotton cloth of Southern manufacture (at $3.75 a yard), vessels made of clay instead of glass or chinaware, and occasionally a few yards of calico or linsey ; the confectioners' saloons are like "banquet halls deserted," and you will be lucky if by dint of entreaty, and as a special favor, a farmer will sell you a barrel of flour or a few bushels of corn. In consequence of this state of affairs, each family manufactures
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and produces its own supplies, as far as possible. People are willing to pay any price in "currency " for what they need; "money " is plentiful, but alas ! it cannot be used as food or clothing.
But I discover no change in female attire ; most of the ladies seem to "dress " quite as much as formerly. How this happens I do not know. Perhaps woman's ingenuity : "Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new." But from the sensation caused by a new bonnet at church I suppose the sex do feel the pressure of the times in regard to fashions. Men dress in homespun or in broadcloth of antique cut, without regard to style. Our ladies, however, are just as eager as formerly for the "fashions " from Philadelphia and New York. Every now and then some female comes "through the lines," and the patterns of her bon- net, cloak and dress are speedily adopted by the whole sex. As apropos to this, see No. 277 of the Spectator. In the time of Queen Anne, French fashions were imported into England by means of dolls dressed in the latest styles, and during the hottest period of the war between the two countries the dolls continued to come.
November 29 .- Flour is up to $95 a barrel. At this rate of deprecia- tion we shall soon have no currency at all, as the money we have will buy nothing. Many persons, however, have no more of the depreciated currency than they formerly had of good money.
November 30 .- It is reported that the loss of men from this county, killed and wounded, in the late fight on the Rappahannock, was one hundred and fifty.
Friday night, December 11 .- Another raid reported. The Home Guard called out.
The Home Guard went to the Shenandoah mountain to meet the enemy on the 13th. During the night of the 13th, there were wild reports from various quarters. It was said that Imboden had been skirmishing with the enemy at the Shenandoah moun- tain, and that Echols had been driven back from Lewisburg. On the 15th, several railroad trains filled with soldiers, under General Early, arrived from the east, and went through to Buffalo Gap, and General Fitz. Lee's cavalry was in the vicinity of town.
December 17 .- When I awoke this morning, it was raining hard, and the trees were covered with ice. I wondered how it was possible for human beings to endure long-continued exposure to such weather. * * At 10 o'clock, Lee's division of cavalry passed through town, and went up the Greenville road. None of them knew where they were going. The men were dripping wet, but seemed in fine spirits. The horses generally are in good condition. The Home Guard returned to-day, having been dismissed to assemble again at a minute's warning.
December 18 .- All the troops returned from Buffalo Gap last night,
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in the rain. They were marched two miles from town on the Greenville road, and spent the night without shelter. * * During the morning, we learned that part of the troops were to go to Millborough to inter- cept Averill. At 1 o'clock, Thomas's brigade was marched to the depot, to meet a railroad train, which, however, did not arrive till after dark. * * As soon as the men found they would not start immedi- ately, they had blazing fires in the open space between the American hotel and the depot * * The crowds of dusky, clay-soiled and smoke-begrimed men gathered in the dark around the fires, cooking their rations as best they could, was a picturesque scene.
On Saturday, the 19th, there was a rumor that a Federal force was coming up the Valley, and was near Harrisonburg. After ten o'clock that night a cannon was fired on one of the hills in town to summon the Home Guard of the county. In a short time the regular troops arrived from their camp, and were marched out towards Harrisonburg. " The soldiers seemed to be in high spirits, calling for the Home Guard, and cracking jokes at one another as they passed along."
The Home Guard started Sunday evening, the 20th, and being mounted, they overtook and out-stripped the regular infantry. The Federal force at Harrisonburg, hearing of the approach of the Confederates, hurriedly retreated, and there was a lively race to New Market. From that point the Guard returned home, General Early with his troops moving down in the direction of Woodstock.
The portion of the diary from January I to June 5, 1864, was lost-most probably destroyed, having been in a house burnt by a party of Federal soldiers. In February, 1864, it was officially reported that two hundred soldiers of the Stonewall brigade were without shoes.
CHAPTER XVI.
-
FOURTH YEAR OF THE WAR-1864-'5.
The writer recalls no local event of special interest from Janu- ary I to June 5, 1864. In the month of May the battles of the Wilderness, or Spotsylvania Courthouse, between Generals Grant and Lee, occurred. Colonel James H. Skinner, commanding the Fifty-second regiment, was severely wounded and permanently disabled on the 12th at Spotsylvania Courthouse. On the 15th of the same month General Breckenridge defeated a considerable Federal force at New Market, many Augusta people participating in the battle.
No resident of Staunton then living and over the age of in- fancy will ever forget Sunday, June 5, 1864. For a week or more we had heard that a Federal force under General Hunter was coming up the Valley, and that Generals Crook and Averill were pressing in from the west with another large force. Imbo- den, with two skeleton regiments and a company of artillery, was in the Valley, while McCausland and Jackson, each with a small force, were between Staunton and Crook and Averill. The re- serves (men over forty-five and boys under seventeen years of age) were also with Imboden; and during the previous week all the men in the county able to bear arms-detailed workmen, farmers, etc .- were hastily collected and formed into companies, and joined him at North river, near Mount Crawford. On Thursday and Friday troops arrived from the southwest under General William E. Jones, probably twenty-five hundred men. General Jones joined the force at North river on Saturday morn- ing and assumed command. The enemy finding our men strongly posted and intrenched, moved toward Port Republic
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and crossed North river to the Augusta side. During Saturday night our army fell back to a point between New Hope and Mount Meridian, near the village of Piedmont. Skirmishing began early on Sunday morning.
From eight or nine o'clock in the morning till three in the afternoon, many citizens of Staunton were on the hills observing the smoke arising from the battlefield. For several hours no one of them imagined that a battle was in progress only eleven or twelve miles off, but the smoke was supposed to arise from the conflagration of mills and barns burnt by the enemy. We had often heard the reports of cannon from below Richmond, but the noise of the battle of Piedmont did not reach our ears till quite late in the day, when a few explosions of cannon were indis- tinctly heard.
In the meanwhile, diligent preparations for departure in case of disaster were going on at the various government depots and offices. Railroad trains and wagons were loaded up, and all hands connected with the quartermaster and commissary de- partments were ready to start at a moment's warning. Informa- tion of the battle was received by mid-day, but our people were generally hopeful, especially as persons recently observing on the hill-tops reported that the smoke was receding, showing, as they thought, that our men were driving the enemy back. Late in the afternoon, however, the writer learned the result of the battle from the excited remark of a citizen: 56 " General Jones is killed and our army is routed !" Such was the intelligence from the field.
The army wagon trains and many citizens immediately left town, going up the Greenville road and crossing the Blue Ridge into Nelson county at Tye River Gap.
It is not proposed to give here an account of the battle. The Augusta men, hasty levies as they were, are said to have ac- quitted themselves with marked gallantry. One wing of the enemy was repulsed, but the other overwhelmed the Confederate force opposed to it, and the men not killed or captured came pell-mell into Staunton Sunday night. The county had to mourn the loss of several esteemed citizens, and many more were seri- ously wounded. Robert L. Doyle, acting as captain, Harvey
56 William B. Kayser, Esq.
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Bear and John W. Meredith were killed on the field. The more experienced soldiers said the raw troops did not know when they were whipped, and kept on fighting when they should have re- treated. But nearly every man of them was, to some extent, a trained soldier. Brigadier-General Vaughan succeeded to the command of the defeated army, and drew off to the Blue Ridge at Rockfish Gap.
Sunday night passed away at Staunton without incident. On Monday, June 6, the Federal troops entered the town. Very few men were left in town, but many Confederate soldiers, absent from their commands, lingered till the last moment. One daring youth, when exhorted to make his escape, declared his purpose to remain till he could capture a horse. And he actually accom- plished his purpose. Almost in the presence of a large body of Federal cavalry, he singled out a man in advance, and pre- senting his gun ordered him to dismount. Leaping into the saddle, he made his way with horse and prisoner to Waynes- borough, where he joined his command.
From a letter written at Staunton, by a lady, on the 6th and several subsequent days, we make the following extracts. After describing the alarm in her family on the entrance of the Federal troops, the writer says: "We got through the remainder of the day and the night without much alarm and without being much annoyed, except by so many Yankees coming to the hydrant for water and to the kitchen for food. Tuesday morning early, the burning commenced-railroad depot, steam mills, government workshops, Trotter's shops and stages, woollen
factory, Garber's mills, etc. * He (General Hunter) agreed that the workshops should not be burnt, if the citizens would bind themselves to pull them down, which they did; but still the fire was applied, without notice having been given. All the interior of the shoe factory was destroyed. It must have been ludicrous to see Mrs. - flying across the street, axe in hand, to assist in the work of destruction, and thus escape the danger of fire.
" After the houses were consumed, the Yankees began to pack up for a move, and we could hear them saying to one another, 'bad news!' but could not quite learn what, until it leaked out that there was a report of the capture of their wagon train. Before they began to pack up, some of the houses were searched
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