USA > Virginia > City of Lynchburg > City of Lynchburg > Historic and heroic Lynchburg > Part 4
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Upon such an occasion as this it would, of course, be impossible, as it would also be unnecessary, for me to go into any extended account of the life and services of General Rodes. And yet I would be derelict were I to fail to use this occasion to recall some of the distinguishing incidents of his career as well as allude to some of the marked traits of his character.
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Robert Emmet Rodes was born in Lynchburg on the twenty- ninth day of March, 1829. He was a son of General David Rodes, a native of Albemarle County, and his mother was a sister of William Tudor Yancey, Esq., well known for many years as a distinguished member of the Lynchburg Bar. His boyhood and youth were spent here, and in 1845 he entered the Virginia Mili- tary Institute, where he graduated with distinction in 1848. After graduation he spent several years in the pursuit of his profession as civil engineer, being engaged extensively in railroad work, and just before the war he was elected Professor of Applied Mechanics in the V. M. I., a position which he nominally held to the day of his death.
When the red lightnings of war began to flash and its deep thunder to roll, betokening the approach of that fearful storm which was to lay waste our fair Southland and leave it in ashes and ruin, his patriotic ardor and warlike spirit, as well as his training as a soldier, prompted him to be among the first to enroll as a soldier of the South. His sword was drawn at the first clash of arms. He was then living in Alabama, where he organized a volunteer com- pany, the Warrior Guard. In May, 1861, his company was ordered to Montgomery, where the Fifth Alabama Regiment was organized, and he was elected its colonel. The next month his strong desire to join the Virginia Army was gratified by an order to proceed to Manassas, where he was attached to Ewell's Brigade, of Van Dorn's Division. In October of the same year, having attracted attention by his zeal, alertness, discipline, and general efficiency, he was made a brigadier-general and took command of a brigade composed principally of Alabama and Mississippi troops, to which was attached the famous battery of light artillery under Captain (afterwards Colonel) Thomas H. Carter, his classmate at the V. M. I.
On May 31, 1862, occurred the famous battle of Seven Pines. Rodes' Brigade, now a part of D. H. Hill's Division, acted under his guidance in a most gallant and efficient manner, successfully assaulting a redoubt defended by nine Napoleon guns, and captur- ing not only the works but General Casey's headquarters. The Napoleons were instantly manned by a detail and turned upon the enemy, together with Carter's battery, which came rapidly up.
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This brilliant attack resulted in heavy loss, General Rodes was himself severely wounded, but notwithstanding this refused to leave the field until the close of the day's operations.
His wound disabled him from active service for nearly a month, but he rejoined his command much sooner than prudence permitted and participated gallantly in the battle of Cold Harbor on June 27, when he again succeeded in carrying a hill defended by cannon, all of which were left in his hands. The excitement and fatigue of this service caused his wound to reopen, with the accompaniment of high fever, and he was unable to again join his brigade until September 6, near Frederick City, Maryland. On the fourteenth of September, 1862, was fought the battle of Boonesboro Gap or South Mountain. In this engagement fell that other noble and brave brigade commander, General Samuel Garland, of Lynchburg, whose name is likewise commemorated in the name of your Camp. Rodes' Brigade, under his command, distinguished itself as usual, and again at Sharpsburg, two days later, where General Rodes received another wound.
For the next several months his time was mainly spent in camp, with occasional excursions and skirmishes. On January 16, 1863, General D. H. Hill being transferred to North Carolina, Rodes assumed command of his division, and on May 1, that year, was commenced that extraordinary flank movement which many esteem the crowning glory of General Jackson's military career. During the greater part of that day and the next, Jackson rode with Rodes at the head of the column in frequent conversation. On the second was fought the great battle of Chancellorsville, where the enemy were routed and put to confusion inferior only to that at Manassas.
The records of history do not show what is said by competent witnesses to be an historic fact, that the cause of the real trouble to the Confederates at Chancellorsville was that General Lee's cavalry was scattered and really surprised. Major-General J. E. B. Stuart and Brigadier-General Fitzhugh Lee had present and under their immediate command but two regiments of cavalry (besides their ubiquitous horse artillery), to guard Jackson's flank in that meteoric march around the right rear of the enemy. The Second Virginia Cavalry, which was organized in Lynchburg, and was the only cavalry regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia,
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until after the first battle of Manassas, and which at Chancellors- ville was under the command of its gallant Colonel (now General) T. T. Munford, was especially detailed to lead this advance, and Jackson said to Rodes, "V. M. I. will be heard from today." And so it was, and so was Lynchburg. General Colston, com- manding the Second Division of Jackson's Corps, supported by A. P. Hill with his division, and Crutchfield, another professor and Jackson's chief of artillery, aided by Carter's Battery, and Moorman's Battery, of Lynchburg, did the work under Jackson's eye.
That night General Jackson received the wounds from which a few days later he died, and General A. P. Hill being temporarily disabled, the command of the corps devolved on General Rodes, who, though only a brigadier-general commanding a division, was the ranking officer present. And now occurred an incident which showed the true greatness of the man.
Major Green Peyton, his intimate and confidential friend, who after the war prepared what is perhaps the most complete biograph- ical sketch of General Rodes that has yet been written, says that while Rodes was making his dispositions for the renewal of the attack next morning at daylight, "Major-General J. E. B. Stuart, in command of the cavalry, rode up and claimed the command of the corps on the ground of seniority. On this occasion Rodes exhibited conspicuously that noble spirit which ever actuated him during life. The Second Corps had just gained a splendid victory, largely attributed to the good conduct of himself and his command. He was looking forward to a no less glorious morrow, when all the fruits of success would be gathered, to be laid by him at the feet of General Lee, as some compensation for the irreparable loss he had sustained. The ambition of this young general was sorely tempted. The command was his by military law, and he was conscious of his power to wield it loyally and well, but his love of country transcended his love of self, and he put the temptation aside.
"Stuart was then in the zenith of his fame, whilst Rodes was comparatively unknown. He feared the effect upon the spirits of the men if it were known that he had asserted his claim against
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Stuart. He yielded the command, and cheerfully put himself under the orders of the latter."
Without attempting to pass upon the question of law involved and certainly without criticism or disparagement of Stuart, that gallant "flower of cavaliers" whose fame fills the world, it seems to me that the comments upon Rodes' behavior in this matter by his friend and biographer are well deserved, and that his action was indeed that of which only a lofty-minded, chivalrous and unselfish patriot could have been capable.
On his deathbed Stonewall Jackson had spoken of General Rodes in terms of highest praise, and General Lee, in a letter to President Davis, called for his promotion, and immediately after the operations around Chancellorsville he was promoted to Major- General, his commission being dated May 2, the day when he had so gallantly won it.
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Soon afterwards began the advance of Lee's army into Penn- sylvania, a movement which culminated at Gettysburg, where the fortunes of the Confederacy reached high water mark, and then began to subside until the tide had ebbed and all had ended in the surrender at Appomattox. General Rodes prepared a most vivid and able report of his operations during the Gettysburg campaign, a paper which reflects the utmost credit upon his skill as a narrator, as well as his patriotism, his love and solicitude for his troops, and his ability as a soldier. Without pausing to mention the details of the march and the incidents which accompanied it, it is necessary to particularly point out the fact that the services rendered by him and the soldiers under his command at Gettysburg were of the most important and efficient character.
When we speak of Gettysburg we too often think of the bloody defeat of the third day's fighting when Pickett's Division made that brilliant charge which history will ever record as one of the most glorious feats of arms that adorns its pages, without remembering, or if remembering, without sufficiently reflecting upon the fact that on the previous two days, and especially the first, there had been fighting of the bravest and most dashing kind, which had resulted in splendid victories for the Confederates, and which, if taken advantage of as they might have been, might have resulted in an entirely different outcome. On that first day of July when the
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Second and Third Army Corps, under Generals Ewell and A. P. Hill so splendidly attacked and routed the enemy, the division commanded by General Rodes rendered most conspicuous and valuable service, and it may be fairly said was mainly responsible for the victory of that occasion. So dashing and effective was the charge of Rodes' Division, that at the moment when Early's Division arrived from York and struck the exposed right flank of the Federals, the vigorous forward movement of Rodes with his entire command caused the enemy to give way in every direction, and rush through the town of Gettysburg in great disorder to the heights beyond. General Ewell's Corps captured over 5,000 prisoners of whom fully half were taken by Rodes, so many indeed that the movements of his division were materially embarrassed.
General Lee, who had come upon the field, was an eye-witness to the attack and charge of Rodes' troops, and sent him a com- plimentary message, saying, "I am proud of your division." So hot was the fighting at some points along the line that in one instance it was observed and noted by several officers in their reports that a part of Iverson's Brigade, of Rodes' Division, lay dead in a distinctly marked line of battle so uniform that it was thought they were lying down in position. General Iverson referred to it as "a line as straight as a dress parade." This brigade suffered terribly, but its shattered remnants, which were rallied and re- organized by a young staff officer, still pressed forward and made under his guidance what General Rodes described as "a dashing and effective charge just in time to be of considerable service." It is a matter of inexpressible pride and satisfaction to me that the young officer who led that charge was another of Lynchburg's valorous sons, whose blood and name I bear, and that he fairly won and justly deserved the honor which was his of being mentioned by General Rodes in his report among those whose conduct was such as to "entitle them to the admiration of brave men and the gratitude of a good people."
In his report of the Battle of Gettysburg General Rodes said: "I cannot close this portion of my report without expressing my pride and admiration of the conduct of the men and officers of this division from the time it left Grace Church until our return to Virginia. Better marching, less straggling, hardships more cheer-
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fully borne, conduct in an enemy's country more commendable, and more generally marked by gentlemanly and soldierly character- istics, and finally, better behavior in battle, than was exhibited by this division during that period has not been, and I believe will never be, exhibited by any other troops in the service. By their conduct at Gettysburg I claim to have won the expression from the General commanding the army, who saw their attack on July 1, 'I am proud of your division.' While I cannot mention all who won distinction during this campaign, it is my duty to record here the name of those officers whose conduct, either from my own observation or from the voluntary testimony of many com- petent witnesses, I know to have been such as to entitle them to the admiration of brave men and to the gratitude of a good people. First among them are Brigadier-Generals Junius Daniel, George Doles, and S. D. Ramsuer, Lieutenant-Colonel T. H. Carter, Captain D. P. Halsey, assistant adjutant-general of Iver- son's Brigade, Colonel D. H. Christie, 23rd North Carolina (who has since died from the wounds he received), and Lieutenant Harvey, Company F, 14th North Carolina, of my division, and Brigadier-General A. C. Jenkins and Major Sweeny, of the cavalry brigade."
To be thus mentioned in this brief, but bright, roll of honor, by that gallant and chivalrous leader who later on was to yield up his life in the same cause, is an honor of which any soldier might be proud, and is like receiving the accolade on the field of battle from the stainless Excalibur of Arthur himself. It is with the greatest pride, therefore, that as the son of one of those brave Confederate officers thus mentioned by General Rodes, I am privileged today to pay this humble tribute to his memory.
From the time of the well-ordered and skillfully managed retreat from Gettysburg back into Virginia, the troops of Rodes Division hardly knew rest until the end of the war. In constant motion and ceaseless fighting, they and their gallant leader rode and tramped from battle to battle, always seeking and finding the foe, and invariably striking him with the force of a thunderbolt.
The history of the command during this period, says Major Peyton, consists of "a series of marches and countermarches- one day in Maryland, the next in Virginia-engaged with Averill's
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Cavalry perpetually, with occasional exercise in destroying the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Some idea may be formed of the active life it led when it is stated that during the summer campaign (of 1864), it was in camp six times at Fisher's Hill, and that Rodes pitched his tent nine different times in identically the same spot at Bunker Hill."
On the eighteenth of September, 1864, Rodes's Division was hurried to Winchester to assist Ramseur in meeting the advance of Sheridan. Rodes arrived on the field at a critical moment, and swept forward at once, carrying all before him.
General Early is credited with having said that this splendid charge by Rodes and his troops saved the Confederate Army that morning. Gordon's Division, which had been forced to give ground, now rallied, and the whole line moved forward, the enemy giving way before it. "At this instant," to again quote Major Peyton, "in the full flush of success, cheering his men on to victory. Rodes was struck in the head by a musket ball, and fell from his horse, never to rise or speak again. From that moment fortune seemed to desert the army of the Valley. The sun of Winchester set in gloom and defeat, and never again rose to victory."
General Francis H. Smith wrote of General Rodes: "As a division general, Major-General Rodes had no superior in the Army of Northern Virginia," and it has been said that if his advice had been followed at the Battle of Lynchburg the whole of Hunter's force might have been captured. In his history of Lynchburg Dr. Christian remarks that "There was a striking similarity between him and General Jackson, and many looked upon General Rodes as the suitable successor to the great leader. He and Jackson were classmates, professors and officers together, and both fell while nobly discharging their duty to their country. Well may Virginia feel proud of noble sons like there." Well indeed may Virginia feel proud, and especially may Lynchburg, his native home, treasure the memory, among her noblest traditions, of one who reflects undying glory on her name.
VI.
THE SECOND VIRGINIA CAVALRY
ADDRESS ACCEPTING THE TABLET AND PEDESTAL IN MILLER PARK, LYNCHBURG, OCTOBER 1, 1913
Sir Commander, Surviving Members of the Second Virginia Cavalry, Veterans, Sons of Veterans and Daughters of the Confederacy, Ladies and Gentlemen :
Owing to the fact that the Mayor, Hon. G. W. Smith, is unwell and the gentleman who was expected to perform this pleasant duty in his stead has found at the last moment that his official duties will not permit him to be present, I have been pressed into service to accept this tablet and pedestal on behalf of the City of Lynchburg. I would that greater opportunity of preparation might have been afforded me, for the occasion is one which deserves the best effort of anyone who might be honored with the privilege. As you have been eloquently reminded, it was upon this spot that on May 15, 1861, a regiment of cavalry, really the first regiment of cavalry that Virginia gave to the Confederate cause, was mustered into service by General Jubal A. Early, and here it was also that after four years of stubborn struggle, of patient suffering and privation, of gallant and glorious battle and conflict, it laid down its arms and furled its colors forever. In April, 1865, having cut through the Federal lines, without surrender at Appomattox, it came to this spot and disbanded, subject to the call of its com- manding officer, a call which, of course, never came. It was at first called "The Radford Rangers," after its first Colonel R. Carleton W. Radford. It fought from the beginning to the end of the war. At the first battle of Manassas one of the captains, Winston Radford, was killed and from then on it was constantly under fire, and lost many of its officers and men. As long as man- kind shall cherish the memory of glorious deeds, so long will the people of the South, turn in grateful remembrance to the history of these men and their compatriots, who shed their blood in as high
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and noble a cause as ever summoned a people to arms. The people of Lynchburg especially may well take pride in the history of this regiment, for many of our foremost citizens were among its mem- bers. It might be considered invidious for me to mention some of their names, for they were many who won renown as members of this band of warriors, some of the most distinguished of whom are with us still, and some of whom have passed to their rest in recent years, but I am sure that all here present will agree that I violate no canon of good taste or propriety when I say that Lynchburg loves to dwell with pride and pleasure upon the thought that her foremost living citizen is with us here today in the person and pres- ence of that chivalrous Confederate Brigadier under whose brilliant leadership the Second Virginia Cavalry performed many of its most notable exploits, the honored and beloved General Thomas T. Munford, who commanded it as Colonel and Brigadier-General to the end of the war. He was elected "Second Colonel" of the regiment at the time of its organization and later succeeded to its command. I think I may be permitted also to give expression to the pride I entertain and cherish in the thought that three of the gallant soldiers of this regiment were men whose name and blood I bear, one of them my honored father (Don P. Halsey ), in whose career as a Confederate soldier I feel that I have an inheritance "incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away," another a brave and loyal cavalier, his brother (Alexander L. Halsey), who gave up his life for his country on the field of battle, and the third that gallant and courtly gentleman who won his title of Major (Stephen P. Halsey), while yet a mere boy, and who, as Com- mander of the Garland Rodes Camp of Confederate Veterans presides over these ceremonies today. As a son, therefore, of this regiment, as well as a citizen of Lynchburg, I take great pride and pleasure in accepting on behalf of the Mayor, the Council and the people of Lynchburg this memorial which today we dedicate to the memory of the Second Virginia Cavalry. Long may it remain here to remind those who may look upon it of the noble and patriotic devotion of the men it commemorates, and may it ever inspire in the beholder the spirit of emulation of their heroic deeds.
VII.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL SAMUEL GARLAND, JR.
PRESENTING HIS PORTRAIT CONFEDERATE BATTLE ABBEY JUNE 19, 1922
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen :
It is a most gracious and pleasant task which has been assigned to me today. I assure you that I consider it a privilege and an honor to have been selected as the mouthpiece of Garland-Rodes Camp of Confederate Veterans of Lynchburg, to present this portrait to our Battle Abbey of that honored and gallant soldier and gentleman whose name is linked with that of the equally gallant Rodes in its name. In doing so I feel that I am justified, as a matter of pride in my own home town, to remark that this is the sixth portrait of one of her citizens to find a place in this honorable company of the great figures of the South in the Civil War. If any other place of equal size can equal this record I am not aware of it, and Lynchburg takes great pride in placing this portrait of General Garland on the walls of the South's Valhalla along with those of Generals Early, Rodes, Dearing, and Munford, and Major John W. Daniel .* We claim too a right to participate in the honor due to Colonel Rawley W. Martin, the heroic soldier and beloved physician, whose portrait bust is here, presented from Chatham, but who when he died had been for many years a citizen of Lynchburg.
Of the career of Brigadier-General Samuel Garland, Jr., time permits only a brief summary at this time. He was born in Lynch- burg, December 16, 1830, and after graduating at the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia, he practiced law in Lynchburg for several years, attaining a high position at the bar for his eloquence and learning. During this period he organized
* Since the presentation of General Garland's portrait several others of Lynchburg soldiers have been presented, among them those of Rev. T. M. Carson, Captain (or Major) Don P. Halsey, and Captain J. C. Featherston.
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and became the first captain of the Lynchburg Home Guard, and when this company with others was organized into the Eleventh Virginia Regiment he became its first colonel. After the battle of Williamsburg, when he was wounded, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. He commanded his brigade at Seven Pines and other battles of importance until on the fourteenth of September, 1862, at the battle of South Mountain, near Boons- boro, Md., he was killed in action. When he fell he was thirty-one years of age. My father, Captain Don P. Halsey, served on his staff, being mentioned by him for gallant conduct at Seven Pines, where he was most severely wounded. In his report of that great battle General Garland said: "My aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Don P. Halsey, having attracted universal applause throughout my entire command by his handsome behavior, was rallying a dis- ordered regiment and leading it forward with their colors in his hand when he received a dangerous wound in the head which will deprive me of his valuable services for a long time to come." I trust I may be pardoned if my filial pride prompts me also to say that when General Garland received his mortal wound, this officer, then Lieutenant Halsey, was the first to reach his side and to receive his dying message: "I am killed, send for the senior colonel." In his report of the Battle of Seven Pines, General D. H. Hill, who was in command of a division that was prom- inently engaged, said: "General Garland when his brigade was not actually engaged reported to me with his aide and adjutant to serve on my staff. In that capacity he rendered the most valuable services and was much exposed. His adjutant, Meem, was killed and his aide, Halsey, severely wounded near me. I had frequent occasion to notice the gallant bearing of these two officers." General Hill was never given to undue praise, and we must take it as the highest of encomiums when in his report of the battle of South Mountain he speaks of General Garland as a "pure, gallant, and accomplished Christian soldier who had no superior and few equals in the service." Again he spoke of him as "the most fear- less man I ever knew, a Christian hero, a ripe scholar and a most accomplished gentleman."
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