USA > Virginia > Clarke County > Clarke County > History of Clarke County, Virginia and its connection with the war between the states > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
The fidelity of the negroes who remained at home was also wonderful. When the young master or even other soldiers were in the house, they always knew it and kept the faith put in them perfectly. As an instance ;- A soldier was at a relative's house, when a party of U. S. Cavalry rode up, making escape impossible. The colored people were eating their dinner in the basement. The Yankees instead of searching the house, as they so often did, asked these negroes, through the open window, whether there was not a rebel soldier in the house? They answered "No," that he had "been there but had left." The Soldier a member of the Clarke Cavalry, was stand- ing at that moment in the room above, behind some ladies who were looking out of the window, indeed he could see the cavalry himself, and felt hopeless of the outcome, but the Yankees on getting this answer, moved away and he was safe.
143
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
Many instances of their fidelity could be mentioned. The cheerfulness of the people under such depressing cer- cumstances was remarkable. One old gentleman while his barns were burning sat on his front porch and sang- "Let the Yankees burn as they will, we'll be gay and happy still." Their only ambition seemed to be to help their country's cause and do something for the soldiers who were defending her. As for themselves if they could have something to eat and to wear, they were satisfied. Some day a monument to the noble women and old men who bore so much and so bravely should be built and I hope that the young people who may read this account, and others, may be led to do it.
CHAPTER XVII.
TWO WEEKS UNDER SHERIDAN
D URING the war between the States-1861 1865, my father lived on the farm now owned and oc- cupied by Mr. Ben Foley, about three miles due north from Berryville. Living there back from any of the public highways along which the contending armies often passed, we had been disturbed comparatively little by the Yankees excepting the taking by them of all our horses save one old blind mare and an old horse the Confederates had turned out to die.
Early in the fall of 1864, there we were in fancied se- curity listening to the rattling of the musketry, the sing- ing of the cannon ball, the bursting of the bomb-shells, and the yelling of the soldiers in a battle raging about and around Grind Stone Hill. This battle, I think, was on Saturday evening and as the shades of evening fell there was quite and peace at our home with little thought of what the morrow had in store for us. Sunday morning came, -it was a bright September Sunday, and the sun as usual smiled upon our home of plenty, yea, of abund- ance. To enumerate, we had the two old horses spoken of above, eight milk cows, sixty fine fat sheep, seventy-five or a hundred hogs big and little, and turkeys, geese, and chickens almost without number, three or four hundred bushels of wheat in stack, twenty-five tons of nice hay in the barn, which my father and my younger brother and myself with the aid of Mr. Michael Pope, had garnered,
144
145
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
laboring beyond our strength rather than see it waste in the field, a large crop of corn standing in the field, apple, peach, and damson trees all exceedingly full of luscious fruit, a goodly supply of meat in the meat-house, and quite a number of bee stands.
Thus surrounded by plenty,-for war times a great deal -we were enjoying the quiet of a country Sabbath, when all of a sudden we were aroused by the geese, hens and turkeys flying, screaming and fleeing as if the very deuce was after them.
Out we rushed and for the first time and last we saw a Confederate skirmish line. It extended clear across the farm and rapidly advanced in a northern direction. These men were so close to each other that the fowls had fled pellmell before them. The line never got any fur- ther than the fence that divides the John Locke land from Mr. Ben Foley's. That portion of the farm southwest of the house was literally covered with soldiers, horses and cannon. General Early, Maj. S. J. C. Moore, Col. John Riley and a number of other Confederate officers were in our yard. My mother and sister hastily prepared them a snack which they ate from their hands as they sat on their horses. The soldiers fell upon the fruit upon the trees like a devouring flame, and my father seeing that it would soon be gone asked General Early for a guard and saved much of the fruit,-an act which we all bitterly regretted.
Some of the soldiers advised us to repair to the cellar or quit the premises as the house would likely be leveled to the earth by the death-dealing ball and shell; we could then hear the rattle of the musketry between the skirmish lines not a thousand yards away.
Early had come down the pike from Winchester and turned off at Mr. Martin Gaunt's farm, now owned and occupied by his son John Gaunt, and got as far as our
146
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
place to plant his cannon or, which is more probable, finding the enemy too strong for him retired before night leaving only a skirmish line between us and the Yankees. Monday the skirmish lines fought all around our house; sometimes the Confederates were in our yard and some- times the Yankees. The balls flew thick and fast, many of them striking the house, which being of logs and stone afforded us ample protection. Wehad no cellar. By night we had seen an armed Confederate soldier for the last time. That God has willed it so is the only thing that has ever reconciled the writer to the passing of the Confed- erate Soldier.
During the skirmish on Monday a couple of Confed- erates came to our front gate and asked for something to eat. I was on the front porch and ran in the house to get it. When I came out with it they said, "Don't bring it out here, the balls might hit you." I replied, "they are no more apt to hit me than you," and rushed out with the food but the whistling, singing, and spat of the balls made me only too glad to get back into the house. Late in the evening, when all was quiet and neither a Yankee nor a Confederate was anywhere in sight, brother Doras got upon the fence to survey the surroundings. Scarcely was he up before two bullets came whistling by his head from the direction in which the Confederates had retired, they thinking, no doubt, that he was a Yankee.
By Tuesday the Yankees, realizing that the Confeder- ated were all gone, began to pour in on us to loot and to pillage. We applied to the officers for a guard, but they replied that as our house lay outside of their picket line they could not give us a guard, for Mosby might pick them up.
Language fails me to portray even faintly what we had to take, endure, and suffer for the next two weeks for that
147
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
Godless horde fulfilling to the very letter Sheridan's in- structions to lay waste the Valley so that a crow flying over would have to carry its rations. All day long they would pillage and destroy and at night they would retire within their picket line. One day quite a number were catching chickens when a man in fine uniform evidently an officer, rode up and in a rough and commanding tone ordered them to quit, and he drove them out of the yard. Then he said to my mother, "Madam, these men will return and take all of your chickens, I cannot stay here and keep them away, so you let your two little boys (Doras and myself) catch as many as they can and I will buy them from you." We caught a dozen or so and tying them together handed them up to him, when without saying "thank you" he put spurs to his horse and rode away. When we attempted to eat our meals at the table as usual, they came in the house and took the victuals off the table, dishes and all. We soon discovered that at the rate things were going we would have literally nothing to eat, so at night father, Doras, and I buried a pot of butter, hid jars of preserves in rock piles, buried our meat in the ash heap, carried one barrel of flour out in the field and put it in an old lime kiln and covered it over with rocks, and hid another barrel in a secret closet in an old unoccupied house. Had we not done this I verily believe we would have had to leave the premises in search of something to eat. I saw my father pick scraps of meat out of the soap grease and eat them. We had to prepare and eat our meals at night. During the day we ate on the sly what we could carry in our pocket.
One day a drunken soldier cocked his gun and put it to my father's breast and with an oath said: "If you do not let me put my hand in your pocket I will kill you," at that my father pulled his vest open and said, "I reckon I am as ready to die as you are ready to kill me," just then an-
148
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
other soldier jerked the gun away, and at the same time my sister, now Mrs. Britton, raised a window and threw the wash basin at the drunken soldier hoping, I suppose, thereby to attract his attention. He whirled around and struck at her through the window with his gun, breaking the sash and knocking the broken glass all over her.
By their acts and language, generally, they proved what one of their great generals said and acted, to-wit: "War is hell."
This pillaging, looting, destroying set would have pickets out for fear of Mosby. One day twenty-five or fifty ne- groes, coming after hay on mules, came out of the woods near by in a gallop and with a yell. One of the pickets fired his gun. Pandemonium ensued. Men rushed here and there as if they had suddenly gone mad. Some seized their bridle reins and vainly attempted to pull their horses over the yard fence, a strong plank fence, some threw down their guns and yelled out "I surrender." One poor fellow actually ran against a tree with such force that he tore off one side of his face, making a sickening sight.
Well, God be praised, the end came at last. One morn- ing we found the Yankees had all gone and their camp we found as completely deserted as the Trojans found the Greek camp before the walls of Troy. Then we took a long breath of relief, and pulled ourselves together, and sur- veyed our surroundings. We found we had literally nothing, excepting what we had hid. We had neither horse, cow, sheep, hog, turkey, goose, nor chicken; no hay, no wheat, no corn, no straw, no fodder, nor apples, nor peaches, nor damsons, not even any bees with their honey.
Save for the provisions we had hid and a hundred or so dollars in gold my father had managed to save, starvation would have stared us in the face during the winter of
149
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
1864-65. Not a grain of wheat did we get sowed in the fall of 1864, yet we cut eighty bushels of volunteer wheat in the summer of 1865, through we had plowed not a fur- row. Our Heavenly Father knew we had need of it.
M. W. JONES.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE CLARKE RIFLES
COMPANY "I" 2ND VIRGINIA INFANTRY
O N the 17th of October, 1859, the people of Harper's Ferry were startled in the early morning by meeting armed men at their doors, and finding that during the quiet hours of the night a body of desper- ate men had taken possession of the U. S. Armory and arsenal, and were shooting down any who came in sight. Who these desperate men were and what was their object was soon manifested. Several persons were killed or wounded, some were taken prisoners to the small engine house where this force was collected. It was then dis- covered that the leader was the infamous John Brown, a leader in the fighting in Kansas, the instrument of the fanatical abolitionists of the North in their effort to pre- vent the establishment of slavery in the territory of Kan- sas. He had a few months prior to this time established himself as a farmer and country merchant in the Blue Ridge mountains near Harper's Ferry, and there had gath- ered his men and arms for his effort to arouse the negroes to insurrection against their owners. From this point he had gone up and down the Virginia Valley trying to stir up the negroes to join him in his purpose. The writer re- members very well a singing school teacher, who during the summer and fall preceding his outbreak, had schools at different points in the county. A very innocent man
150
STROTHER H. BOWEN
CAPTAIN, "CLARKE RIFLES" (COMPANY I, SECOND VIRGINIA INFANTRY
151
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
apparently, but his disappearance just before the outbreak of Brown at Harper's Ferry, and the fact that he made it convenient to visit farmers' houses on Sundays while the families were at church, ostensibly to have his washing done, but really to talk with the negroes, convincing every one that he had been an emissary of Brown. Doubtless Brown had assurances from some of the more restless and discontented of the negroes that they would join him, but their hearts failed them, or their good sense prevented them, and so no one responded to his movement. The U. S. Government sent Col. R. E. Lee and the Marines from Washington, under Lieut. Israel Green, whose wife was a Miss Taylor of Berryville, to Harper's Ferry, and the affair was soon ended by the capture of Brown and his party. Some were killed and wounded, the others were placed in the jail at Charlestown and after trial were sentenced and hanged. This affair stirred up the Vir- ginia people and aroused them to the fact that they should prepare for such emergancies. They then saw that there was a faction at the North who would stop at nothing to accomplish their objects and that to be ready to defend their rights, their homes and their liberties, they must arm themselves. Immediately all over the State volunteer companies of soldiers were organized. In Berryville a Company was formed calling themselves the Clarke Guards, under Capt. Strother H. Bowen; Lieuts. Flagg, Ashby and Morgan. They took part in guarding the prison at Charles- town. One of their number preventing the escape of Cooke and Coppie, two of the men under sentence. After the execution of Brown and his men, this company re- turned home and from some disagreement among its offi- cers, was disbanded. A new company was then organized, calling themselves the "Clarke Rifles." Strother H. Bowen was elected Captain, S. J. C. Moore 1st Lieutenant; H. P.
152
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
Deahl 2nd Lieut .; Byrd, 3rd Lieut .; W. T. Milton 1st Sergeant.
They were armed with minie rifles with sword bayonet, a very fine weapon, considered the best then made. The men were uniformed in gray, with high hats having a large pompon or ball instead of plume. The hat was a very heavy and uncomfortable affair, which was soon thrown away when we went into service, and replaced by a light military cap, much more comfortable and suitable. The rifle, too, was found not to be as good as the Springfield minie musket, and was also exchanged for the musket and regulation bayonet. These muskets were got later on, mostly from the enemy, as opportunity offered. The members of the company were from the town and country around, and represented all classes of the people, farmers, merchants, mechanics, lawyers, printers and young boys from the schools. A number of them were from the Blue Ridge Mountain. Most of them were accustomed to the use of a gun or rifle, and were fine shots, a fact which con- tributed very much to the usefulness of the company in active service. The fall and winter of 1860 and '61 were spent in drilling, and the men by the spring of 1861 were tolerably efficient in the drill and the use of their weapons. While we were thus preparing for what all feared must come the country at large was in a state of excitement and un- rest. Several of the Southern States had seceded from the Union. Virginia had elected a convention to consider what her course should be, and although Virginia's people loved the Union and were averse to leaving it, the course of the newly elected President Lincoln and his govern- ment was such as to cause thinking people great anxiety as to the outcome. What was feared suddenly happened. Mr. Lincoln ordered out 75000 troops and called on Vir- ginia for her quota. Immediately the sentiment of all
153
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
changed, and the convention determined to cast the for- tunes of the old Commonwealth with her sister Southern states. Upon this being determined, orders were issued for the volunteer companies of the State to meet and pre- pare for the struggle.
On the morning of the 17th of April, 1861, Captain Bowen received orders to march with his company to Harper's Ferry to aid in its capture. At Harper's Ferry were the U. S. Armory and Arsenal, where were stored large quantities of arms and ammunition, very important for us to have. Messengers were sent hurrying through the county, ordering the members of the company to re- port in uniform and with arms at Berryville by 12 m. of that day, but with singular want of foresight no orders for rations were issued even for the one day. The men gathered promptly, and by 1 o'clock were ready for the march. There were hasty goodbyes, many tears by anx- ious mothers and wives over sons and husbands departing for no one could guess what fate. But among the men, especially the young and thoughtless, all was joy and hi- larity. No idea of the terrible events which were so soon to follow. No idea of the long years of toil and danger entered into their minds. We would soon settle matters and be at home again. We were carried in four-horse wagons furnished by the farmers of the neighborhood, and from the top of what is now Cemetery Hill, we took our departure. On reaching Charlestown we found that the 2nd Regiment, under Col. J. W. Allen, composed of the companies from Jefferson County, had marched to Hall- town, four miles from Harper's Ferry. We pushed on, arriving there about sundown, as did also the Nelson Rifles, a company from Millwood under command of Capt. W. N. Nelson. After a supper of crackers and cheese and very fat middling, we started on the march.
154
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
About two miles from the Ferry we were halted, and for the first time heard the command, afterward to be so fa- miliar, "load at will." That sounded like business. In- tense excitement ensued. Some in their hurry loaded with the ball end of the cartridge foremost, others tore off the powder and left only the ball, all of which gave trouble later. One fellow became deadly sick and had to retire. Fortunately just then a young man of the county who had followed, came up and there in the road they exchanged clothing, the sick man going back home, never to be of any account again. Fear so possessed him that he never rallied, and eventually left the service. But our excite- ment and flurry amounted to nothing. We marched into the Ferry, meeting no one. The U. S. troops there, a company of infantry, after setting fire to the armory, had crossed the bridge and marched to Chambersburg. We arrived on the scene in time to see the burning buildings and no more. We had quarters in the Catholic Church, and during the night arrested a number of citizens, at- tempting to secure guns stolen from the armory. On the next day we entered upon the real life of a soldier, never to be relaxed until that fateful day at Appomattox when, our toils, labors and sacrifices over, we laid down the arms so sanguinely taken up. Officers and men soon found that they had all to learn as to war and its affairs. No one knew how to make a cake of bread or cook a piece of meat, and only one man in the company could make a cup of coffee. I well remember with what curiosity we gathered around Bob Whittington to see him make coffee. At first for a few days we were in a Battallion of the two companies from Clarke under command of Capt. Wm. N. Nelson of Millwood, but soon we were placed in Colonel Allen's regiment, which for a while was called the 1st Virginia. The old 1st Virginia was formed from Richmond com-
155
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
panies and claimed the right to retain their number, which the government conceded to them, although we were the first to organize in the field. We never envied them their name or reputation, as we felt that we were as well drilled, although not as well uniformed, and that we did as good service and we are sure that the 2nd Virginia earned by hard service and gallant fighting as good a name as they. Soldier's life in the main, except in battle, is uneventful. Ours consisted in drilling during the day and being aroused at night by false alarms. When Col. T. J. Jackson took command he went at once to the work of breaking us in, and our days and nights were all full of work and unrest. For some reason from the first, the Clarke Rifles, now Co. "I", 2nd Virginia Vol. Inf., was often put on detached service. We men used to think it was because the Colonel did not like us, but I have thought since it was because he had confidence in our officers and in the men also, that they would do well whatever duty was put upon them. We were soon sent over into Maryland on outpost duty. We were stationed at the School house where Cooke of John Brown fame, taught school. Here we saw the pits where those mysterious boxes were buried which came to John Brown, ostensibly filled with hardware for the store, but really with picks and guns to be used by the negroes in murdering the white people of the land. A mile or two away was the house in which Brown lived and kept his country store. Colonel Jackson was determined that his men should become accustomed to war's alarms. Every few days reports of the approach of the enemy were cir- culated. On one occasion all were ordered out at two o'clock in the morning, sent hurring to different points to take post, but all that happened was the B. & O. train pulling in and aboard was Major Gen. Harney of the U. S. Army on his way to Washington. Lieutenant Moore of
156
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
our company and Captain Marshall of General Jackson's staff arrested him. The old gentleman was sent to Rich- mond, and there released and sent on to Washington. On another evening the enemy was reported advancing from Chambersburg. Lieutenant Moore came hurrying from the Ferry loaded with a box of cartridges. The company was formed, cartridges distributed, orders given to sleep on arms and be ready at a moment's notice to meet the foe. The excitement was intense. One fellow, who was sick, forced himself to join the ranks, but the strain was too great. He fainted and had to be carried away. An- other boy, who proved afterwards to be a very dashing, gallant soldier, fainted at the sight of the first one's top- pling over. This was not fear, as both proved gallant soldiers. The stay on the Maryland mountain was pleas- ant, but could not last. We were ordered to join the Regiment, and the Regiment was ordered to Martinsburg to protect that point. The Clarke Rifles were sent to the Potomac opposite Williamsport to guard the ferry and ford there. There was a company of Maryland troops at Williamsport, but they made no demonstration and we none. There we were joined by two men of the town who came over-Tommy Goheen, a little Irishman, who made a good and faithful soldier, and a loyal citizen of Frederick County after the war. The other, a man named Johnston, was good and true for a long time, but towards the last grew tired and gave up the fight; did not desert to the enemy, but simply quit. A few weeks after this, having left the ford at Williamsport and rejoining the Regiment, we received our fine tents furnished by the county, and made by the ladies of the county. You may be sure we prized them, for they represented to us the love and toil of the dear ones at home. Time was passing delightfully in camp in a fine orchard, when suddenly a strange sound
157
HISTORY OF CLARKE COUNTY
greeted our ears, a very rapid and continued roll of the drums, "The long roll," once heard never forgotten. How every one ran with one accord to one place. "Fall in, fall in, fall in, strike your tents, prepare to march." Alas, the beautiful tents were torn down, nicely piled up to wait for wagons which never came, and there found by the Yankees who in a short time after we marched away, came in and took possession. Never more were we to see them; all the labor and love was wasted. An incompe- tent or ignorant quartermaster had made no provision for what all should have known must come soon. Thence- forward we had tents if we captured them, but mostly we did not have them. In fact we came to think that tents and things of that sort were incumbrances, only to be used by the Yankees and by us sometimes in winter quarters, when there was no marching to do. The regi- ment, now part of the 1st Brigade under command of Brigadier General T. J. Jackson, took position on the pike near the little village of Hainsville, and we were put for the first time in line of battle and saw in the distance the blue coated enemy and the Stars and Stripes floating in the breeze. We were not premitted on this occasion to become engaged. The 5th Virginia and Pendleton's battery had all the fighting to do and won all the honors. The experience was helpful to all, it gave us some idea of what we should have to do, and braced our nerves for that which would surely come to pass. We withdrew through Martinsburg and joined General Johnston's command, and retired to Winchester for a few days. Then we were marched to Darkesville, four miles from Martinsburg, where we lay in line of battle for four days offering battle to the enemy, who declined to come out. When Johnston left Harper's Ferry to put himself in front of Colonel Pat- terson who was at Martinsburg, we marched through
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.