USA > Virginia > Clarke County > Clarke County > History of Clarke County, Virginia and its connection with the war between the states > Part 17
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companied him, taking part in his campaign against Pope and in the Battle of Cedar Mountain.
About this time a new brigade formation was made by which the 6th Virginia Cavalry, together with the 2nd, 7th, 12th and the 17th Battallion constituted Robert- son's Brigade.
Shortly after the Battle of Cedar Mountain, General Lee concentrated his army near Culpeper Court House, from which point General Stuart made his celebrated raid by way of Warrenton and Auburn on the rear of Pope's army at Catlett's Station, captured Pope's headquarters, his private wardrobe and papers, and a large amount of stores, and several hundred wagons were burned. A member of the Clarke Cavalry became the possessor of a pair of General Pope's boots which he wore with much satisfac- tion for some time thereafter.
From Catlett's Station General Stuart returned by a direct route to Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, where the enemy sought to intercept him. After a heavy cannonade in which some of his men were killed and wounded, Stuart succeeded in re-crossing the Rappahannock and re-joined General Lee's army in Culpeper County. The march to Catlett's Station immediately preceded General Jackson's famous flank movement of Pope's army.
On the 25th day of August, 1862, General Jackson, with his corps well shrouded from view of the enemy by Stuart's Cavalry, crossed the Rappahannock River at Hinson's Mill, and by a forced march reached Salem on the night of that day. On the 26th, passing through Thoroughfare Gap, he struck the railroad at Bristoe Sta- tion, a few miles north of Manassas Junction, where there was known to be an enormous quantity of supplies of all sorts for Pope's army. On the night of the 26th, General Stuart was directed to move on Manassas Junction and if
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possible capture it without giving the enemy an oppor- tunity to put the torch to the supplies there. Taking with him a part of his command, including the Clarke Cavalry, he marched directly upon Manassas Junction, and early on the morning of the 27th, with the assistance of a force under the command of General Trimble, suc- ceeded in capturing the place with the troops stationed there, and all of the supplies that had been concentrated at that point. The Clarke Cavalry participated in this movement, and in the subsequent disposition for meeting Pope on the old battlefield of Manassas. In this battle the Cavalry rendered efficient service, charging and rout- ing that of the enemy and protecting the right flank of General Lee's army.
After the defeat of Pope at Manassas, the command to which the Clarke Cavalry was attached accompanied General Jackson on his flank movement by way of Chan- tilly, having for its purpose getting at the rear of Pope's army between Centreville and Alexandria. While the movement did not succeed in accomplishing this purpose, it inflicted punishment upon the enemy at a fight that oc- curred near Chantilly in which Generals Kearney and Stevens, of the Federal army, were killed.
About this time General Robertson was relieved of the command of the brigade and after the lapse of a few months was succeeded by Col. W. E. Jones, who was made Brig- adier and placed in command of it. The 6th Cavalry did not accompany General Lee on his campaign into Mary- Isnd which terminated at Antietam, but was left behind at Manassas to protect the troops that were engaged in gathering together the arms and other fruits of the vic- tory there, and after this was accomplished they marched to the Shenandoah Valley and joined the army of General Lee in the neighborhood of Charles Town. They contin-
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ued in camp near Charles Town until the army moved across the Blue Ridge on its march to Fredericksburg, and was occupied in picketing very closely the Shenandoah River and the roads leading across the Blue Ridge Moun- tains from the counties of Jefferson and Clarke.
When General Lee withdrew his army from Antictam to the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson, it was sorely in need of rest from its most fatiguing campaign.
General Jackson's troops had marched from the Valley to Monterey, where they defeated Freemont; thence down the Valley fighting the enemy at Front Royal and Winches- ter, to Harper's Ferry; thence up the Valley fighting the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic. It had then marched to Richmond, participating in the seven day's fighting on the Chicahominy; thence they had returned to Gordonsville, marched to Cedar Mountain and defeat- ed Pope, made its flank movement to Manassas, engaged the army of General Pope for three successive days in heavy battle, marched by way of Frederick City to Harper's Ferry; thence to Antietam or Sharpsburg, par- ticipating in the very heavy engagement there. The rest of General Lee's army had made the same march and done the same fighting, except that it had not participated in the campaign with Jackson in the Valley, nor did it par- ticipate in the battle of Cedar Mountain. The result of this strenuous period of marching and fighting had worn the army's strength down to the last degree, and General Lee, desiring to give his army a good long rest in that re- gion of abundance, determined to send General Stuart on an expedition around McClellan's army which was then on the north side of the Potomac River, with its bivouac or camps extending from Williamsport on the west to the present town of Brunswick, then known as Berlin, on the east, with his cavalry massed near Berlin, his idea being
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that when Stuart appeared north of the Potomac River, the enemy's cavalry would be put in immediate pursuit and that by the hurry and prolonged march that it would be compelled to make in pursuit of the elusive Stuart, it would be so broken down as to be unfitted for service for the period of at least a month, a condition that would com- pel McClellan to remain quietly in his camps until his army could be rested for further action.
He accordingly directed General Stuart to take eight- een hundred picked men, six hundred from each of his three brigades, to cross the Potomac a few miles west of Williamsport, march into Pennsylvania as his judgement might direct, gather up as many horses and cattle as he could, and to do such other damage to the public enemy as was in his power and return to Virginia.
Stuart on the 9th of October, marched out with his eighteen hundred men and a battery of four guns, from Darksville, crossing the Potomac before daybreak, and started on his expedition before the enemy learned of his movement. Shortly after he crossed the River a steady down-pour of rain began which lasted for forty-eight hours rendering the usual quiet flow of the Potomac turbid and rapid, filling its channel to the swimming point at most of the ordinary fords. General Stuart issued an address to his troops before leaving Virginia in which he enjoined upon them implicit obedience to orders, the strictest order and sobriety on the march and in bivouac, and informed them that the success of their expedition demanded at their hands coolness, decision and bravery. One-third of his command was ordered to seize horses and other property of the citizens of the United States subject to legal cap- ture, and the remainder was held in reserve for any ser- vice that might be demanded of them. Individual plun- dering was strictly prohibited. The arrest of public of-
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ficers was ordered that they might be held as hostages for citizens of the Confederacy who had been imprisoned by the Federal authorities. This movement was not suc- cessful in its efforts to elude observation, and by an early hour of the morning on which the River was crossed, the Federal officers were aware of it and of the direction the Confederates had taken. As stated above, Mcclellan's Cavalry was on the east flank of his army, distant about forty miles from the point at which General Stuart entered Maryland. They were ordered to make a rapid march from the left to the right flank and reaching the neighbor- hood of Williamsport they were disposed so as to inter- cept Stuart's command on its return, as it was confidently anticipated that he would return by the route taken. General Stuart reached Chambersburg the evening of the 10th of October in a pitiless rain. Placing his artillery so as to command the town, it was called upon for an un- conditional surrender. No resistance was made and the Confederate troops marched into the town and were drawn up on the public square. Colonel McClure, whose home was on the line of march, some time after wrote for publi- cation an account of his observation of the conduct of the men and officers, in which he paid the highest com- pliment to their conduct, declaring that they behaved with entire propriety and would not even enter a house without first asking permission.
General Stuart was confronted now with a very serious problem. He knew that if he returned by the route by which he had come he would encounter Federal cavalry. He had every reason to fear too, that the Potomac River above Williamsport near the foot of the North Mountains would be past fording. On the other hand if he attempted to return to Virginia by the other flank of Mcclellan's army, that is, east of Berlin, the line of march would be
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lengthened by sixty or more miles. After carefully consid- ering the entire situation, General Stuart determined to make the longer march, influenced thereto doubtless by the supposition that the enemy would be looking for him on the route by which he had come, and that if they at- tempted to return to the point from which they had first marched to intercept him, neither horses nor men would be in effective condition by the time they reached his line of march. Leaving Chambersburg at 9 o'clock on the morning of the 11th, he followed the road to Gettysburg until he had crossed the Catoctin Mountain. At Cash- town he turned southward, marched through Fairfield on the road to Emmitsburg. During all this time his de- tachments were busily collecting horses until the Maryland line was reached. There the detachments were called in, orders were issued to disturb no property belonging to the people of Maryland, the command was closed up and the march continued. General Stuart was fortunate in capturing some of the enemy's couriers with dispatches indicating what efforts were being made to intercept him, and thus was enabled to avoid the troops sent out for that purpose. Passing Hyattstown, he proceeded by way of Barnesville, which he reached just after the enemy's cav- alry had vacated it; thence he pushed boldly towards Poolesville. The enemy had a signal station on Sugarloaf Mountain from which, as they could perceive the move- ments of Stuart and his line of march, information was promptly conveyed to the Federal officers.
After passing Barnesville and going about two miles in the direction of Poolesville, he bore to the right, taking a long disused road which conducted him to the public road leading from the Monocacy to Poolesville, which he entered about three miles from the mouth of the Monocacy. When he reached the last named road his command turn-
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ed westward until he reached the farm of Mr. Franklin White. There leaving the public road and taking a pri- vate road through the farm of Mr. White and his neigh- bors, he approached White's ford on the Potomac River, where he found a large body of Federal infantry in posses- sion of the ford, and the situation appeared desperate. Determining to try a little bravado, the officer in command of the advance guard wrote a note to the Federal command- er, stating that General Stuart with his command, was nearby, that successful resistance was hopeless, and de- manding the surrender of the Federal troops. Fifteen minutes was granted for compliance with the demand. The fifteen minutes passed without any sign from the enemy when it was opened upon with artillery and the Confeder- ate regiments ordered to advance. Instead of receiving the fire of the enemy, as was confidently expected, they were seen retreating as rapidly as they could along the tow-path down the river. The crossing of the Potomac was soon effected, and General Stuart's command was again among friends.
The difficulties of this march were inexpressible. The fatigue of the horses and men, the inclement weather, the danger of being intercepted by the enemy, the success- ful moving of the long train of horses that were captured, and keeping the artillery horses up to their duty, combined to create difficulties that were almost insurmountable. The effect upon the enemy's cavalry which had been rapid- ly hurried from Berlin to Williamsport, and then back from Williamsport to Berlin was such as General Lee had anticipated. The enemy's cavalry was completely broken down, and General McClellan was held in his position on the north bank of the Potomac fully a month longer than he would otherwise have remained, thus giving to General
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Lee's army an additional month for necessary rest and re-organization.
An amusing story is told by Major McClellan in his campaign of Stuart's Cavalry of an incident of this ex- pedition. "On the second day's march some hungry cavalrymen approached a house whose male defenders had fled, leaving the women and babies in possession. A polite request for food was met by the somewhat surly reply that there was none in the house. Casting a wolfish glance upon the babies, a lean fellow remarked that he had never been in the habit of eating human flesh, but that he was now hungry enough for anything, and that if he could get nothing else he believed that he would com- promise on one of the babies. It is hardly necessary to say that the mother's heart relented and a bountiful re- past was soon provided.
"Butler's Advance Guard was completely equipped with the boots and shoes of a Mercersburg merchant, who had no suspicion of the character of his liberal customers un- til payment was tendered in the form of a receipt required by General Stuart's orders. One old gentleman who was despoiled of a large sorrel mare which he was driving to a cart, protested that the impressment of horses had been forbidden by orders from Washington. He refused to be convinced that he had fallen into the hands of the rebels, but threatened the vengeance of the General Govern- ment upon those who had disregarded its orders."
CHAPTER XXVII
A FTER the army of General Lee had left the Valley for Fredericksburg, General Jones with his bri- gade was ordered to proceed to the neighbor- hood of Harrisonburg and go into winter quarters, and he was engaged during the following winter in protecting the Valley from the depredations of the enemy who were then in possession of Winchester and the section around it.
In the month of January, 1863, General Jones moved with his brigade across North Mountain to Moorefield in Hardy County, where there was a body of the enemy stationed. The march was a most disagreeable one; dense fog, alternating with heavy cold rain and sleet, filled the mountains throughout the march, which lasted for sev- eral days. When Moorefield was reached, the enemy promptly proceeded to re-enforce the troops at that point and presented a front that caused General Jones to return to his winter quarters near Harrisonburg without accom- complishing the purpose for which the journey was made. He remained quietly in winter quarters until the latter part of April, when he started on an extended march through West Virginia, passing through the North Mountain at Brock's Gap by Moorefield, and thence by way of Green- land Gap to a point on the Cheat River near the cross- ing of that stream by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
When the command reached Moorefield it was dis- covered that the south branch of the Potomac, flushed by heavy spring rains was beyond fording depth at the ford
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by which the road proceeded directly toward New Creek, but it was thought that fording might be accomplished at Petersburg, a point on the River some miles above, and about twelve miles south-westward from Moorefield. The 6th Regiment was accordingly marched by the road to Petersburg to make a test of the question of its being forded. When it arrived on the east bank, an uninviting sight presented itself to the men. The river was very full, the current exceedingly swift and the ford exceedingly rough and rocky. It was evident that fording could be accomplished only with great danger and perhaps with loss of life. Some citizens living nearby volunteered their services, and riding boldly out into the stream, took a po- sition on either side of the fordway so as to indicate the exact line of the ford. The command then marched into the river to find that their worst apprehensions of the dan- ger were more than realized. The water was well up on the saddle skirts and none but the strongest animal could retain his footing. Several of the men, with their horses, were swept down the stream, one of them drowned and the other two narrowly escaped with their lives, being swept by the current within reach of the trees standing on the bank, and being fortunate enough to seize the branches and pull themselves out of the water, they man- aged to reach the shore. About one-half of the regiment succeeded in getting over. The remainder were sent down below to the ford at Old Field, where they swam their horses across, accompanied by the other regiments of the brigade. The command then proceeded by a forced march to Greenland Gap, which it found held by about one hundred and fifty Federal infantry, who because of the delay at Moorefield, had heard of our approach and had prepared for our reception by throwing up breast- works in the narrow gap and occupying some buildings
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that stood by the side of the Turnpike. General Jones was without artillery and the enemy had to be attacked by sharp shooters. A very stubborn resistance was made, resulting in the killing and wounding of one-half dozen or more of the Confederates and the capture of the enemy, two or three of whom were killed in the attack.
The night was a peculiarly beautiful one, a full moon shed its rays upon the mountain and the road by which the command traveled. The air was crisp and frosty, the scenery most romantic and beautiful. The shoes of the horses made music on the turnpike road. All night long the command pressed briskly westward and by sun- rise of the next morning, ascended a steep range of moun- tains bordering Cheat River on the east. The river was reached about 12 o'clock of that day. A picket of two mounted men stood at the bridge spanning the river. Two Confederates mounted on fleet horses were directed to effect their capture, which was speedily done. The command was then about three or four miles up stream from Rowlesburg, where the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad crossed the river over a bridge with long and very high trestling. General Jones was of the opinion that the de- struction of this bridge and trestling would interrupt for a long period of time the use of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad by the Federal Government in the transporta- tion of troops and supplies, and its destruction was the main object he had in view in making the expedition. He carried with him nine kegs of powder to be used in blowing up the bridge and trestling. Having captured the picket as above stated, he at once made his dispositions for at- tacking the town of Rowlesburg. He was unprovided with artillery and his command consisted wholly of cavalry. It was found that from the position at the bridge Rowles- burg could be reached only by a narrow and exceedingly
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steep mountain road that made its way up the eastern slope of Cheat Mountain, and over it to Rowlesburg. Ad- vancing his mounted men along this narrow and steep road, he discovered that the enemy had barricaded it by felling a great number of trees across it, and, be- sides this, had stationed a regiment of infantry at the bar- ricade to oppose its passage. The command was not pro- vided with axes to remove the obstacles, nor was it so armed as to enable it to attack the infantry guard on any- thing like equal terms. Expecting that General Imboden, who had in his command some mounted infantry, would join him at this point on the following day, he withdrew without pressing an attack, went into camp and awaited the arrival of General Imboden. In this, however, he was disappointed. General Imboden was then many miles distant from him and did not unite his forces with him for some days thereafter. The result was that on the fol- lowing morning General Jones abandoned the purpose of attacking Rowlesburg and the destruction of the bridge and trestling, and proceeded westward to Morgantown and thence to Fairmont.
At Morgantown a singular incident occurred. The Monongahela River at that point was spanned by a sus- pension bridge, the only support of which, besides the sus- pension wires, was furnished by its resting on stone piers on either ban : of the stream. The 6;h regiment was or- dered to cross the bridge, and when the head of the column reached the centre of it it inclined downward, thus shortening the direct line of the structure and it slipped from its supports at either end and thus became in reality a suspension bridge hanging in mid air and held up by the steel cables alone. The movement of the horses soon im- parted to the bridge a swinging motion which caused them to stagger and sway from side to side as if they had been
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drunk. It gave a very ludicrous appearance to them and was attended by very grave danger, for if the cables or the wires attaching the bridge to the cables had broken, the command would have been precipitated to the stream some fifty or sixty feet below. The column was at once halted, that portion which had not approached the centre of the bridge was ordered to return to the bank and the rest of the command proceeded to the other side of the river, the bridge maintained its swinging motion and the horses their staggering steps until they had reached firm ground.
At Fairmont the command encountered opposition from a home guard that had been hastily assembled and organ- ized, embracing three hundred men and boys. On the ap- proach of the Confederates they took position along the river at a point that they considered inaccessible to cav- alry, but a bold charge soon dislodged them and they sur- rendered at discretion. An iron bridge spanning the river at Fairmont was broken up. This part of the ob- ject of General Jones' expedition, that is, the destruction of the bridges and trestling along the Baltimore & Ohio at such points as they were able to touch, was very ef- fectually accomplished, except that at Rowlesburg, the destruction of which would have inflicted much more serious injury upon the road than of all the other bridges and trestling put together. From Fairmont, the com- mand marched toward Clarksburg, but finding it held by a large force of the enemy, it skirted to the east and south- ward of that town and moved in the direction of Wirt County on the Kanawha River. Here were the first wells bored for oil in the United states, it being a very rich oil section owned originally by a southern capitalist, but on the breaking out of the war the northern sympathizers drove out the owners and took possession of these wells
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and operated them for their own benefit. Punishment for this outrage was the object of General Jones' expedi- tion to that section. The superstructure over the wells and many tanks of oil were quickly ablaze, flat boats loaded with oil and moored in the river were fired. The tanks and the barrels of oil on the boats quickly exploded under the effect of the heat of the fire, and the oil spread upon the surface of the river for a distance probably of a mile, and this catching fire, there was presented the very remarkable spectacle of a river on fire. This occurred at night and the whole region was lit up by the lurid flames of the burning oil.
From this point General Jones turned his face again toward the Valley, reaching it and going into his old camp near Harrisonburg the latter part of May or first of June. As the command approached the Shenandoah Valley the rumor reached it of the death of Stonewall Jackson, the first intimation it had had of that sad event. Although it came in the shape of a rumor not fully con- firmed, the men spoke of it with bated breath and in awe- struck tones.
The expedition of General Jones had covered the period of a month or more. Its purpose, as above indicated, be- ing to do as much harm as possible to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, to gather and bring into the Confed- erate lines as many beef, cattle and horses as could be secured, and last, but not least, to impress the Federal authorities with the necessity of placing military com- mands at various points in the State to protect that re- gion from a repetition of such visits as had been paid it by General Jones' brigade, thus weakening their force at other points where contact with the Confederate armies was sharp.
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