USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > History of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 29
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The second regiment,-the 52d Virginia infantry. This regiment, like the 5th, consisted mainly of Augustians. Two companies, however, were made up of men from Rockbridge. It was officered as follows : Colonel, Jno. B. Baldwin; Lieut .- Colonel, M. G. Harman ; Major, J. D. H. Ross ; Adjutant, John W. Lewis, of Bath (a descendant of the Founder) ; Sur- geon, Livingston Waddell, M. D .; Assistant Surgeon, John Lewis, M. D., of Albemarle (a descendant of the Founder) ; Quartermaster, Geo. M. Coch- ran, jr .; Commissary, B. Christian; Captains of Companies-Wm. Long, E. M. Dabney, J. F. Hottle. J. H. Skinner, Thos. Watkins (Rockbridge),
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Samuel McCune, J. C. Lilley, John H. Humphreys, John Miller (Rock- bridge).
In addition to these, there was another company raised in Augusta, called the Augusta Lee Rifles, of which Robt. D. Lilley was captain. The following were the officers; Lieutenants, C. G. Merritt, J. B. Smith, C. Davis ; Sergeants, C. D. McCoy, D. B. Wilson, H. Marshall, Jno. Hawpe and Wm. Burns ; Corporals, J. B. Wright, J. S. Hawpe, Th. Opie, Jas. Larew; Color-bearer, Jas. Van Lear. It was attached to the 25th regi- ment. Capt. Lilley lost an arm at Ramseur's stampede, near Winches- ter, in the autumn of 1864, having previously been raised to the rank of Brigadier-General. He was at the time commanding Pegram's brigade.
Altogether there were sixteen field officers, natives of Augusta, in the Confederate army.
The writer was engaged, in May, in raising a company to form part of a regiment to be styled the West Augusta Rifles. The following notice, published in the "Staunton Vindicator," in May, 1861, shows when the first drill occurred :
"Col. John L. Peyton is now raising a volunteer company to be called the West Augusta Rifles, to be drilled a la Zouve. He now has some fifty names enrolled, and will soon have sufficient to organize. Those enrolled received their first drill on Wednesday night last .. This promises to be an efficient and useful company, and something new with the military of Virginia."
While thus occupied, he was called to Raleigh, and during a sojourn of a few days there, was not only tendered by the authorities of North Caro- lina a foreign mission, but was urged to accept it by Gov. Clarke, Hon. D, M. Barringer, and the entire privy council. To this was added the solici- tations of ex-Gov. Wm. A. Graham, Gen. Branch and other friends, who pressed his acceptance on the grounds of duty and patriotism. This appoint- ment was accordingly accepted. The Confederate Government placed at his service the man-of-war Nashville, then lying at Charleston, S. C. In this vessel he broke the blockade of Charleston, S. C., in October, 1861, and arrived in England the latter part of the following November .* Mean- while the men recruited for the Rifles joined other companies.
We cannot follow these Augusta companies and regiments through the war, nor enter into the history of that great strife, which forms one of the most memorable epochs in the history of the world. The circumstances of the times, the character of the people, the issues involved, all conspire
*The incidents of the voyage from Charleston to Bermuda, thence over the stormy deep in Winter to the Azores, the capture and burning of the American packet ship " Harvey Birch," the arrival in South- ampton, and some of Colonel Peyton's European experiences and impressions are given in his highly inter- esting and valuable work entitled, "The American Crisis; or, Pages from the Note-Book of a State Agent During the Civil War in America ;" published in two vols 8vo in London in 1865.
THE PUBLISHERS.
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to render it interesting. The majority of the southern people enlisted in it under a belief that all that was dear to them,-liberty, honor and pro- perty,-was involved by an abuse of power and a breach of plighted faith on the part of the north, and by the Federalists for the maintenance at every hazard of the Union and common government founded by our an- cestors, and the existence of which they believed they had the constitu- tional and moral right to preserve at whatever sacrifice of life and treasure. We must however, confine ourselves to events immediately connected with the county-one of the most striking being the battle of Piedmont. BATTLES OF MT. CRAWFORD AND PIEDMONT.
The first movement made against Lynchburg, in May, 1864, miscarried. The second move by the Federal troops against the Virginia and Ten- nessee railroad, and for the occupation of Lynchburg, thereby to cooperate with Gen. Grant against Richmond, commenced 31st of May, 1864. Gen. Hunter was placed in command of the Department of West Virginia, and the commands of Gens. Crook and Averill were reorganized for a simul- taneous advance on Lynchburg, while Gen. Burbridge, in Kentucky, ad- vanced upon extreme Southwest Virginia. The Confederates were unfa- vorably situated to oppose their advances. Gen. Breckenridge, with the only Confederate force of importance west of the Blue Ridge, had been withdrawn to the army of Gen. Lee, leaving nothing but a few small bri- gades of cavalry, about two regiments of infantry, and a small brigade made up of dismounted troops, acting as infantry. To supply the place of Gen. Breckenridge, the little force of Gen. McCausland was sent from Dublin Station to the front of Staunton, and Gen. W. E. Jones was ordered to take all the troops which he could gather in Southwestern Virginia to the same point. Gen. J. accordingly got together all the Confederate troops west of New river, dismounted the cavalry, and moved to Staun- ton. His force was greatly inferior to that of the enemy, but what was wanting in numbers was made up in valor. Meanwhile the Federals were proceeding with their general plan, and Hunter moved from Cedar creek, near Woodstock, early in June, against Staunton. Confederate sharp- shooters harassed his march, and frequently destroyed his communica- tions. He advanced, however, to Harrisonburg, and on leaving that place divided his force into two columns-one of which took the road to Port Republic and the other direct to Staunton. The movement to Port Re- public was a demonstration against the Confederate right, and it encoun- tered a movement of Gen. Jones against the Federal left. At the same time the main body of Federals advanced to the North river, twelve miles from Staunton. A hot engagement ensued at this point, called the battle of Mount Crawford, but the Confederates were forced, by superior num- bers, to fall back and, to avoid Gen. Crook's Federal force, advancing from the west, continued their retreat to Waynesborough. A conflict
30 ±
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also occurred at Piedmont, near New Hope, between the Federal left and the Confederate right, in which the Confederates were overpowered and driven back with severe loss. The following account of this affair was derived from conversations held with several who participated in the en- gagement. The Confederate cavalry, under Imboden, but a handful of veteran troopers, had been falling back before an overwhelming Federal force until the 4th of June. On that day they reached the North river, where they halted, and the ground being favorable, prepared to give bat- tle. Gen. Jones, the Confederate general in command, came up from the south during the night with reinforcements, consisting, principally, of the reserves of Augusta and the adjoining counties-these reserves being, mainly, boys and convalescent soldiers. On the morning of the 5th of June the Federal force advanced upon the Confederate position near Mt. Crawford, and a hot engagement occurred, during which the boys and cripples held their ground and kept back the enemy. Unable to drive the Confederates from the field, the Federal General ordered a flank move- ment. Their long anaconda line was soon seen stretching out to the right and left with a view to envelope the Spartan band in its deadly embrace. Gen. Jones saw no alternative but a retrogade movement, and commenced falling back. When the Confederates reached Piedmont, a hamlet two miles north of New Hope, Gen. Jones halted, and formed his troops in line of battle. The Augusta officers in the force, knowing the country better than the General, urged a further retreat to Mowry's Hill. This was a short distance south of New Hope, and a very strong position, where it was believed a successful defence might be made. The General, however, declined this advice, and kept his ground. The Federal force was soon in the Confederate front, advancing in that cool, dogged and deliberate man- ner so characteristic of the Yankee, and this force was composed almost entirely of native troops. The Confederate cavalry was drawn up ready for battle by Capt. Frank B. Berkeley, of Staunton, acting brigade adju- tant. It was ordered to advance, and did so at a gallop, the blooded horses bounding lightly over ditches, fences and every obstruction. They rushed upon the Federal cavalry like an avalanche, sabering the officers and men and driving them from the field like chaff before the angry winds. As the enemy's cavalry broke and fled the Confederate troopers found themselves confronted by long unbroken lines of Federal infantry, and retired. The Federals continued their dogged advance in line of bat- tle. When a short distance from the Confederate lines, they halted to gather breath, and after a little rest, during which many were shot down, they advanced in the face of a destructive fire, and made a fierce attack on our lines. The Confederates behaved like veterans-the boys emulating the example of their sires, those old heroes who had been so hewed and hacked to pieces during the war that there was now nothing whole about
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them but their hearts. Incredible as it may seem, this force repelled the enemy's attack, driving them back broken and confused, like the waves which dash impotently against the rocks. The Yankees halted at the point from which they made their last advance, stunned and astounded. Not dispirited, however, they closed up their ranks and moved forward a second time-not with Confederate impetuosity, but with the same delibe- rate, sullen determination which belongs to that eminently bull-dog race. They were again driven back with much slaughter. Once more the Yan- kees formed in close order, and a third time advanced to the attack. This time they brought up their reserves. These fresh troops were directed to the weak point in the Confederate lines,-the left wing,-which was deci- mated by a withering fire kept up by these cold-blooded Federals, whose guns seemed never empty, however frequently fired .* The Confederates finding longer resistance impossible, began a retreat-gray-headed crip- ples, one-armed convalescents and young boys retiring slowly, loading and firing as they fell back, and thus preventing a panic and rout. The retreat was continued to Fishersville. The infantry was aided in getting off by the gallant conduct of two young artillery officers, both natives of Augusta, who deserve special mention. These young officers were Lieutenants Carter Berkeley and H. H. Fultz, both in command of sections of Mc- Clenechan's horse artillery of two guns each. When they saw the left wing of Jones' force fall back, heard of the death of Jones himself, and saw the right give way in confusion, they advanced without orders to the front. Here they took up a position with their guns on either side of the highway, opposite the centre of that imperturbable mass of phlegmatic Yankees, which was still advancing with a slow pace and determined air. Acting on their own impulses, Berkeley and Fultz now opened fire on the host in their front, cutting wide gaps in the Federal lines and retarding their advance. The enemy, seeing the desperate conduct of these batte- ries unsupported by infantry, ordered the First New York Cavalry to spike the rebel guns. This fine regiment of Knickerbockers advanced at full speed. As they galloped up the guns plowed wide gaps in their ranks, hurling horses and riders to the ground. This did not stop them. On the troopers came, sabreing men right and left. Reaching the batteries, a free fight occurred over the cannon, but some Confederate sharp-shooters, who lay in ambush, brought down such numbers of horsemen that the regi- ment retreated, or rather those who survived, without carrying out their orders to spike the guns. These well-directed guns continued to scatter death in the Federal ranks, and Imboden coming up with more sharp- shooters, the Federal advance was further delayed. During the time these two batteries, supported by a few hundred Augusta riflemen, kept back the northern host, the Confederate fragments of an army made good its
*Many were armed with Winchester rifles, which fire thirty times before it is necessary to reload.
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retreat without confusion or panic. This object secured, Berkeley and Fultz also retired with the sharp-shooters. The Federals, on reaching the ground so recently occupied by the Confederates, called a halt, buried their dead, lit their camp-fires, and gave up the pursuit until the following morning.
The Confederates from the county of Augusta engaged in this action were Imboden's cavalry ; G. W. Imboden's regiment of infantry-the 18th Virginia ; Harper's Reserves-one company commanded by Jas. C. Mar- quis, composed of boys from sixteen to eighteen years of age; one com- pany commanded by John N. Opie, also composed of boys and old men ; one battery of flying artillery commanded by John H. McClenechan ; one battery of two guns, commanded by Lieut. Carter Berkley; and one of two guns, commanded by H. H. Fultz.
The distinguished Confederate officers killed were: Wm. E. Jones, Gen- eral in command ; Col. Brown, commanding 60th Virginia regiment ; Lieut .- Col. Robt. L. Doyle, Capt. J. M. Templeton.
The list of the killed and wounded in Harper's regiment at the battle was as follows :
Company A-Capt. Hardy-wounded, Lieut. Steinbuck, Lieut. Wright, and D. H. Snyder.
Company B-Killed, Capt. R. L. Doyle, Jno. Meredith ; wounded, Ser- geant Helms, G. F. Myerley, Wm. Cason.
Company C-Killed, Capt. J. M. Templeton ; wounded, Corporal A. H. Lackey, Jas. Welch, A. H. Hanger, Jas. Mitchell.
Company D-Capt. Peck, commanding-none killed; wounded, Wm. J. Rush ; captured, Sam'l Hunter.
Company E-Capt. J. N. Opie; killed, - McKamy ; wounded, - McCormick.
Company F-Capt. Rippetoe-none killed ; wounded, Capt. Rippetoe, A. Staubus, J. Brown.
Company G-Capt. Byrd-none killed; wounded, Lieut. J. A. Syms, Chas. Ridgway, Wm. L. Kyser.
Company H-Capt. Hilbert-killed, Jos. Granitto ; wounded, Robt. Bir- treit, mortally ; Jas. Locker, W. Kerford, W. Reswick, Harmon J. Lohr. Company I-Capt. Bacon-killed, First Serg't W. W. Moore ; wounded, Taylor Coffman, Jos. Baldwin, Chas. Schendle, Thos Walls, Jno. Smith.
Company K-Lieut. Blue in command, who was killed ; wounded, Ser- geant Binford ; captured. Sergeants Taylor and T. Wilson, Jno. Roebuck, J. Williams, P. McCormick, Jno. Henry, Wm. Evans, Jno. Condor, Thos. Bonworth, Thos. Kelly, Jas. Hackett, Hy. Kress, R. W. Goodman and Wm. Kenney.
In this connection, the brief but interesting letter of Thos. L. Doyle, late Principal of the Virginia Institution for the education of the Deaf, Dumb, and of the Blind, at Staunton, will be read with interest :
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HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
INSTITUTION DEAF, DUMB, AND THE BLIND, May 18, 1882.
MY DEAR COLONEL : The main body of the troops that fought the battle of Piedmont (on the Confederate side) marched over from the Val- ley turnpike during the night, between the 4th and 5th of June, crossing the Middle River, I believe, at the ford near the residence of Maj. Walker (deceased).
Imboden's headquarters on the night of June 4th were at Col. Samuel D. Crawford's house (" Bonnie Doon"), four miles below New Hope. The Federal troops came up the Port Republic road, Stahl commanding the cavalry. Frank Imboden, a captain of one of the troops composing the 18th Virginia cavalry (Geo. W. Imboden's regiment), was captured in the turnpike, below Mt. Meridian, during a hand-to-hand contest.
Just before Gen. Jones received his death-wound, he remarked to Capt. Walter K. Martin, his Adjutant-General, that Hunter's army was desper- ately beaten, and he desired McNeill, the partisan, to be ordered to fall upon his rear.
My father, Col. Brown, of the 60th Virginia infantry, and Gen. Jones, were killed very near to each other, and were buried side by side in a grass lot in the hamlet of Piedmont. My father was shot through the head, the ball entering the cheek and coming out at the base of the skull. He was perfectly conscious after receiving this wound-was set against a tree by his men, and was bayonetted by the Yankees when they came up.
Before the army got to New Hope, a scant two miles away, the rout and panic became universal, save among the artillery. The defile of New Hope-a long, straggling village, was choked with broken infantry, re- serves, cavalry, wagons, &c. The enemy's horse were preparing to charge, which accomplished, would have been the ruin of Jones' broken remnant. Several squadrons, with this view, rode out of the woods southeast of the Tunker church, and formed a column, with troop front, to make the charge. Lieut. Carter Berkeley, commanding a section of McClenechan's battery, saw this movement, and promptly tearing down the fence, moved his two pieces into the field to the west of the road and opened upon this cavalry while in the act of forming. Two or three dis- charges ran them off, and active pursuit stopped.
This is about what I told you this morning, but I thought it would be more satisfactory to you to have it in this shape.
Very truly yours,
COL. J. LEWIS PEYTON.
T. J. DOYLE.
P. S .- I lost a brother, Robert M. Doyle, at the second battle of Manas- sas. He was in the seventeenth year of his age, and was one of the color- guard of the 5th regiment.
The Federal loss was 250 killed. Staunton was immediately occu- pied. The woolen factory of Crawford & Young was burnt, the Staunton steam-mill, the steam distillery, Confederate Government workshops, the stables and house used for storing forage, the stables of Trotter and twenty- six coaches, the railway stations, etc. The railway track was destroyed at intervals to Goshen, with the fine bridges at Swoope's, Craigsville, and Go- shen-also the culverts and small bridges East of Staunton they tore up the track to Christian's Creek, bending the rails, and burning the bridges at the creek and at Fishersville. They broke open and plundered the shops
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and stores in Staunton, destroyed the shoe factory and newspaper offices, throwing the type of the " Spectator " into the streets.
On the Ioth of June the consolidated columns of Gen. Hunter marched from Staunton through Middlebrook to Lexington. Three miles from Staunton, on the Middlebrook road, the Confederates, under Gen. Mc- Causland, were posted behind rail breastworks, designed to delay the Federal advance. They were dislodged by the Federals, and driven ahead. Seventeen miles from Staunton the Confederates made a halt and killed a few Federals, when they were dispersed by cavalry. On the 11th the enemy reached Lexington. We cannot follow them further.
SECOND INVASION OF AUGUSTA.
The most energetic steps were taken to meet another invasion of the county, as appears from the following Circular of the Enrolling Officer of the county of Augusta and the Eleventh Conscription District. See the " Vindicator " of Sept. 23d, 1864 :
CIRCULAR NO. 12.
In obedience to Circular No. 20, Bureau of Conscription, Sept. 9, 1864, County Officers and Advisory Boards are required to proceed at once and with unremitting vigor to make a registration of all persons between the ages of sixteen and fifty years in their respective counties. This regis- tration will include all exempts from any cause whatever-detailed con- scripts, detailed soldiers and foreigners. The registration of youths who will attain the age of seventeen during the next twelve months must be accurately made. Local officers and Advisory Boards are impressed with the importance of registration, and they will devote their entire time and attention to the work till completed. The registration must be completed in each county before the Ist day of October, and the papers returned to this office not later than Oct. 5th, 1864.
CHARLES S. PEYTON, Lieut .- Col., Enrolling Officer for Eleventh District of Va.
It was these drastic measures which caused Gen. Grant, when informed of them, to say, with singular phraseology, that the Confederate Govern- ment, in order to uphold its cause, "was robbing both the cradle and the grave."
As the people anticipated from the enemy's movements in the neighbor- hood of Winchester, the Federals advanced, in the month of September, 1864, up the Valley, under Sheridan. His force consisted of the Sixth Federal army corps, 12,000; Nineteenth corps, 9,000; Crooks' corps, 12,000; three divisions of cavalry, 10,000 ; artillery, 2,000 ; with twenty-two batteries of six guns each, or a total force of 45,000 men. Opposed to them was the force under Gens. Early and Breckenridge of 20,000 infantry, with fourteen batteries of artillery of six guns each, and an estimated cav- alry force of 3,000. On the 22d of September was fought the battle of Fishersville, where the Confederates were in position, and from which they retired with a loss of 1,100 prisoners.
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Sheridan pushed on to Staunton, where all the public property was de- stroyed, including the railroad and two factories. Sheridan's cavalry pro- ceeded to Waynesboro for the purpose of destroying the iron railroad bridge there and of burning all the barns and mills in that portion of Au- gusta. In the meantime, the force of Gen. Early had retreated through Brown's Gap, with their wagon trains, but on learning of the operations of the Federal cavalry, Kershaw's division of infantry and Fitzhugh Lee's division of cavalry were ordered to march in their rear and cut off the command of Gen. Torbert, at Waynesboro. The Federal General, how- ever, having ravaged the country with fire, retreated during the night by way of Staunton, and by the celerity of his movements, escaped. Gen. Sheridan reported to Gen. Grant, October 7th, from Woodstock, that " The whole country, from the Blue Ridge to the North Mountain, had been made untenable for a rebel army. I have destroyed over two thou- sand barns filled with wheat, hay, and farming implements ; over seventy mills filled with wheat and flour ; four herds of cattle have been driven be- fore the army, and not less than three thousand sheep have been killed and issued to the troops. A large number of horses have been obtained, a proper estimate of which I cannot now make. Lieut. Jno. R. Meigs, my engineer officer, was murdered beyond Harrisonburg, near Dayton. For this atrocious act, all houses within an area of five miles were burned."
Such was the account given by Sheridan of his operations in Augusta and the Valley. A correspondent, who was with the army, thus describes the scenes of their march :
" The atmosphere, from horizon to horizon has been black with the smoke of a hundred conflagrations, and at night a gleam, brighter and more lurid than sunset, has shot from every verge. The orders have been to destroy all forage in stacks and barns, and to drive the stock before them (the Federal army) for the subsistence of the army. * * Indis- criminating (for with such swift work discrimination is impracticable), re- lentless, merciless, the torch has done its terrible business in the Valley. Few barns and stables have escaped. The gardens and corn-fields have been desolated. The cattle, hogs, sheep, cows, oxen, nearly five thousand in all, have been driven from every farm. The wailing of women and children, mingling with the crackling of flames, has sounded from scores of dwellings. I have seen mothers, weeping over the loss of that which was necessary to their children's lives-setting aside their own-their last cow, their last bit of flour pilfered by stragglers, the last morsel they had
in the world to eat or drink. Young girls, with flushed cheeks, and pale, with tearful, or tearless eyes, have pleaded with and cursed the men whom the necessities of war have forced to burn the dwellings reared by their fathers, and turn them into paupers in a day. The completeness of the desolation is awful. Hundreds of nearly starving people are going North. Our trains are crowded with them. They line the wayside. Hundreds more are coming. Absolute want is in mansions used in other days to extravagant luxury."
The desolation of the Shenandoah Valley was thus sketched at the time :
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" We have conversed with an intelligent friend, who formerly resided at Edinburg, in Shenandoah county, and who has been compelled to bring his family into a more favored locality, to keep them from starving, and he gives a deplorable picture of the sufferings and privations of these un- fortunate people. But a small amount of grain is in possession of the in- habitants, and what little they have it is hardly possible to get ground for want of mills, all having been burned except five or six, in the extent of country of which we speak. In many instances corn has been pounded, baked, and consumed in a rough state, and our informant states that he is familiar with instances where the people have mixed middlings with bran and baked it into bread, in order to stretch the food. Cattle, hogs and sheep have been swept away, and but few horses remain with which to cultivate the ground and raise a crop the present season. It is hard to realize and believe that such a state of things exist, but it is nevertheless fearfully true."
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