USA > Virginia > Clarke County > Clarke County > History of Clarke County, Virginia and its connection with the war between the states > Part 20
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was done before the flanking party mentioned above was able to reach a post in the enemy's rear, the result being that such of the enemy as were not killed or captured by McNiell, turned in a headlong run which did not termi- nate until they reached New Creek. This situation pre- sented a dilema. It was fair to presume that all chance was now lost of springing a surprise on the enemy at New Creek Station, as they had undoubtedly been warned by the fleeing raiding party of the approach of the Confed- erate forces, and this in point of fact was done. Another circumstance had occurred in the meanwhile of which Rosser had no information, namely, another raiding party had been started on an expedition toward Moorefield, which learned of the presence of Rosser's force below Moor- field and returned in full retreat to the point from which they had come, but in their anxiety to escape Rosser's men they abandoned the main roads and took a circuitous route through the mountains, thus delaying their return to New Creek until the night of the following day. General Rosser concluded to move on toward New Creek and let events de- termine whether he should attack the enemy in his strong- hold or not. Proceeding down the main road from Moore- field toward Romney until he reached a point a few miles south of Burlington, where a road branching off from the road Rosser was traveling led in the direction of New Creek, he moved his command by a secluded mountain road until he reached a point within six miles of New Creek Station. Here the very grave question was de- bated as to whether or not the attack should be attempt- ed. General Payne, who was always keen for a fight, gave his voice for the attack, and whatever hesitation Gen- eral Rosser may have felt was overcome and it was de- termined to move promptly on the enemy and try the fortunes of war with him. Rosser's command reached
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the road leading from Petersburg to New Creek Station, about four miles from the latter point. A small stream which gave the name to the station meandered along a bold line of hills to the right of the road, which, from the point at which it was entered, ran as straight almost as an arrow into New Creek Station. One of the enemy's forts occupied a hill immediately to the left of the road as the Confederate troops faced the enemy. Another fort occupied a point nearer the railroad and to the right of the public road. Moving down this road from the post occupied by the Confederate column, everything seemed to be perfectly quiet, there being nothing to indicate that the enemy was aware of Rosser's presence. About two miles in the direction of New Creek Station was the enemy's picket. People living in houses along the road who were known to be of strong Union sympathies, looked with complacency and entirely without alarm upon the ad- vance guard of Rosser's men, having no idea that they were not Federal troops. This increased the belief that his arrival was not anticipated by the enemy. Twenty men were selected, all wearing the blue overcoat of the Federal uniform. These were sent a short distance in advance of the column with directions to make no out- ward demonstration, but to ride up on the picket as if they were friends and capture them without firing a shot. The 6th Regiment, headed by the Clarke Cavalry, followed at a short distance behind this group. As the men moved down the road some Federal soldiers were met who were permitted to pass the group in blue coats, which they did, assuming that they were their own men, until they rode into the column dressed in gray a short distance behind, where they were captured and sent to the rear. As the column moved down the road and approached New Creek, it was made more and more apparent that the enemy was
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resting with a sense of entire security and without sus- picion of what awaited them. A Federal wagon train was returning to New Creek by a road that paralled the road on which the Confederates were travelling, and about two hundred and fifty yards distant, but they too, were obviously ignorant of the character of the force that was there in full sight.
These wagon men, when the column had reached a point within two or three hundred yards of the enemy's fort on the left, suddenly woke up to the fact that the men on the turnpike road were Confederates and it was very amusing to see their frantic actions and efforts to hurry their teams into a gallop to escape to New Creek Station. Having reached a point within two or three hundred yards of the fort, the 6th Regiment was ordered to diverge from the road and to charge directly up the steep hill on which the fort was located and to capture it. The cannon pro- truded from the embankment and the sentinels could be seen on their beats as they marched up and down within the fort, but without hesitation the 6th Regiment spurred their horses to the greatest speed that in their condition they could attain, dashed up the hill, entered the fort and in a few minutes hauled down the United States flag that was floating from a staff within its limits. The 8th Regi- ment that followed immediately behind the 6th, was di- rected to pursue the road toward New Creek Station un- til it reached the point where the road that passed the fort in that quarter left the road by which it was travelling, and to take that road and if possible to seize the fort there. This was gallantly done, the fort was captured and a battery of field artillery that was posted within it was secured. By this time the men constituting the garrison at this point who had been in their tents just in the rear of the fort attacked by the 6th Cavalry, were seen tumbling
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out of their tents and hurrying with all possible speed to- ward the Potomac River, which flowed about three hun- dred yards north of the Station. The 6th Regiment, now re-enforced by the rest of the command, except the 8th, set off in full pursuit and soon overhauled the greater number of them. The colonel in command escaped with twenty-five or thirty men into the mountains beyond the river. The victory here was a notable one. Rosser had scarcely more than eight hundred men with him, he had surprised and captured a post garrisoned by at least one thousand infantry , protected by two forts well supplied with artillery. There was also captured here a large amount of supplies of all kinds gathered there for the men of the post and other forces of Federal troops engaged in raiding into the country to the southward. The prisoners were hasti- ly gathered together, horses were put to the field artillery and it was carried off. The heavy guns in the other fort were spiked and Rosser, after remaining until night fall at the Station, took up his march leisurely back to his camp near Timberville, taking with him the booty and prisoners that represented the results of the expedition.
This was one of the most successful of the many ex- peditions of this kind made by the Confederate Cavalry during the war.
Returning to the Valley of Virginia a large part of Rosser's cavalry was furloughed in order that the men might go to their homes and take care of their horses, and recruit themselves for the campaign of the approaching spring. A part of the command, including the Clarke Cavalry, was moved up to a point on the Virginia Central Railroad about eight miles west of Staunton, known as Swope's Depot, where the men went into bivouac, and re- joiced to feel that although their supply of rations was most scanty, and they were ragged and ill-shod, that their
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horses were utterly broken down and without sufficient food, they might count upon a period of rest from their labors. It was the purpose of the enemy, however, to permit no such indulgence.
About the 17th or 18th of December, an expedition left Winchester that had for its object the seizure of Char- lotesville and the destruction of the railroads at that point. One body, and the larger of the two, moved by way of Front Royal, crossing the Blue Ridge at Chester's Gap, and thence by direct road toward Charlottesville. The other moved up the Valley with the view of either occu- pying the attention of Early's small command there or else to cross by one of the Gaps of the Blue Ridge and join the other force at Charlottesville. General Rosser was promptly advised of this movement and moving about three hundred men down the Valley, learned that the enemy had reached a point known as Lacey's Spring on the Valley Turnpike, where he had gone into camp for the night. It was utterly idle to suppose that any impres- sion could be made upon so strong a force as the enemy had by an attack by daylight, and so it was determined to make a night attack upon the enemy while he slept. Accordingly General Payne, with his small body of men, moved to the westward of Lacey's Spring and approach- ing the enemy's camp, as indicated by his fires, when within charging distance, charged among their tents with loud hurrahs, firing their pistols into the tents and at every man who showed himself. This created a perfect pandemonium. The enemy, aroused from his sleep, be- wildered by the noise, frightened by the cracking of the pistols and the carbines, wildly dashed out of their tents in full retreat. This attack could be made, however, at but one point, the enemy's camp extended along the turn- pike for a considerable distance and while the Confed-
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erates were driving pell mell the enemy from one part of the camp, in the farther part the enemy mounted, formed in rank and prepared to deliver battle. For this the Con- federates were in no wise prepared, and having captured a good many prisoners and arms and horses, they quietly withdrew and the next morning the enemy began his re- treat down the Valley and General Payne marched leis- urely back to Swope's Depot to his old quarters. Arriv- ed here, news came of the movement of the enemy , spoken of above, that had crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains at Chester Gap, and which was by this time pressing on towards Charlottesville. At Charlottesville a large body of artillery had been quartered for the winter. It was whol- ly unprotected by infantry or cavalry, and its first inti- natiom of the danger to which they were exposed was on hearing that the enemy were within a short distance of them. The Confederate artillery was well accustomed to fighting without support. The guns were hastily run out upon the hills, placed in position and shotted, and when the enemy came within reach of their fire a furious can- nonade was opened upon him. This reception was evi- dently unlooked for, and doubtless produced in the minds of the enemy the impression that a body of Confederate infantry or cavalry was there to protect so formidable an array of artillery as showed itself upon the hills, so that, after some light skirmishing with the artillery, the whole body turned upon its heels and retired to Winchester, the point from which they had started.
In the meantime, Payne's brigade, learning of the ex- posed condition of the artillery at Charlottesville, was hurried by way of Staunton and Waynesborough across the Blue Ridge Mountain at Swift Run Gap, and had reached a point about twelve or fifteen miles from Char-
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lottesville, when it learned of the enemy's retreat and re- turned to its old camp at Swope's Depot.
In the month of January, with the view of obtaining supplies for the horses and men, General Payne moved his brigade to a point in Rockbridge County, about ten miles southeast from Lexington, and went into quarters there. General Rosser, who was always on the lookout for something striking to do, had learned that a body of the enemy was occupying Beverly, in Pocahontas county, on the banks of Tygert's Valley River, and he conceived the idea that he might repeat the experience he had had at New Creek by marching across the mountains and at- tacking this post. The horses and men were in such con- dition, however, that he was unwilling to make the move- ment without the entire consent of the men. He accord- ingly called for three hundred volunteers to go on the ex- pedition. He soon found he had more volunteers than he wanted, and selecting from them three hundred of the best mounted, he started upon an expedition that had not its parallel in the experiences of the men of either army during the war between the States, in the matter of hard- ships to which the men were subjected. The weather was bitterly cold, the roads, at best difficult and rough and ex- ceedingly hilly, were covered with ice. At points the snow had collected in deep drifts and the cold was so in- tense that scarcely a man who went upon the expedition escaped being badly frost bitten, some even losing their limbs from the effect of the cold. The horses' shoes had not been roughed for such an expedition, and so they slipped on the ice-caked roads, often falling and struggling to regain their feet. Under these circumstances this body of men proceeded with such expedition as it could until it reached a point within striking distance of Beverly. A halt was made until the shades of night had gathered,
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and then moving by an obscure mountain road which con- ducted the command to a point to the west of the enemy's encampment, so as to cut off retreat, the men were dis- mounted and formed in line. Many of them were so stiff with cold that they had to be taken from their horses, their pistols removed from the holster and placed with the cock drawn in their hands. The enemy numbered from eight hundred to a thousand, and the night was dark. Moving in thin line the men pushed forward to the log huts which constituted the enemy's winter quarters, and announced their arrival by seizing the interior guard, bursting open the doors of the huts and rushing in among the sleeping and now terrified enemy. In the darkness some of the enemy escaped, but five hundred and eighty prisoners were captured and brought away by the Con- federates. The captured supplies were burned, and by daybreak the command was ready to take up the return- ing march to its encampment in Rockbridge County. The Confederate casualties were two; Colonel Cooke was wounded in the leg and lost his limb. Private Fontaine Hite, of Frederick County, Va., who had enlisted in the Clarke Cavalry, and who had lost his horse, learning that there was a probable opportunity of remounting himself if he accompanied the expedition, did so afoot, walking the entire distance. Going to the door of one of the huts occupied by the sleeping enemy, he kicked it open and walked in. A soldier, realizing that an attack was made upon the encampment, seized his pistol and firing at Hite gave him a wound from which he died in a few hours.
It is much to be doubted if this movement was a wise one. The condition of the men and their horses when they got back from it was such as to unfit them for ser- vice for a very long time.
On the 7th day of February, 1865, Payne's brigade
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broke up its camp in Rockbridge County and marching down the James River reached Richmond and took a post a few miles east of the city on what is known as the Nine Miles Road. Here they remained until Sheridan, who had succeeded in driving General Early from the Valley, cap- turing many of his men, had approached the north bank of the James River in Nelson County, with the evident purpose of crossing to the south side and destroying the high bridge on the line of the South Side Railroad. The Cavalry camped about Richmond, including the 6th Vir- ginia Regiment, was hurried across the James to this bridge near Farmville to meet the enemy, but Sheridan found the James River greatly swollen from the winter rains, and the citizens living in the neighborhood of the point at which he proposed to cross it, prudently burned all the bridges so that he found himself unable to continue his march toward the high bridge. Turning to the left he marched down the river until he reached a point some miles west of Richmond, then struck across the country leaving Richmond to his right, crossed the Pamunky River and proceeded along its north bank to the White House, pursued by the cavalry, which when it found that he had abandoned his purpose to cross the James, had re- crossed it at Richmond and followed in his track.
There was little further fighting on the part of the cav- alry until Grant began his movement to turn General Lee's right flank and to get into his rear, when it was or- dered to cross the James and take a position on the right of the infantry line to meet the enemy. The beginning of the end had now approached. On the retreat from Petersburg the cavalry was in almost daily contact with the enemy, fighting and marching. At Five Forks, about the 1st of April, it engaged in a very heavy battle with Sheridan's cavalry in which the enemy was driven from the
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field. In this fight William Moore and Treadwell Smith were killed, and Daniel Morgan received a wound which caused his death in the course of a few weeks. The sur- render of General Lee's army on the 9th of April, did not include the cavalry, which was given an opportunity, or took the opportunity to march away and detach itself from the army before the surrender occurred. Many of the men attempted to reach General Johnson's army in North Carolina, others, realizing that the end of the war had come, turned their faces homeward, and so ended their career as soldiers of the Confederacy.
No attempt has been made in the foregoing narrative to describe the life of the men in camp and on the march, or the peculiarity of temperament and disposition of the men of the Clarke Cavalry; nor has it been attempted to speak of their individual daring and exploits. This would make interesting reading, but is foreign to the pur- pose of this article and would swell its volume far beyond the purpose for which it is prepared.
CHAPTER XXIX
COUNTY MEN IN VARIOUS COMMANDS
A LARGE number of men from the county joined companies from other counties. Some were in the different departments of the army as Quar- termaster Commissaries, Doctors, Staff Officers and in command of companies from other counties. We have endeavored to get the names and records of all facts; no doubt some may be overlooked. We have appealed through the county paper for help in this direction and have not received it. If any are omitted, it will not be for want of effort on our part. Each record will be as full as our information will warrant, of every individual as to his line of service and his record in the service.
Lieutenant Col. Fielding H. Calmes, of the 23rd Vir- ginia Cavalry, enlisted at the beginning of the war in the Clarke Cavalry, Co. D., 6th Virginia Cavalry. He was detailed as a scout and while engaged in this duty he formed a company of cavalry, which was placed in the 23rd Virginia Cavalry, commanded by Col. Chas. T. O'Ferrall. As Captain of his Company he was very ac- tive, efficient and gallant. In General Imboden's at- tack on a force of U. S. troops in Charlestown, who were posted in part, in the Court House, he was badly wounded. The attack was successful and a large number of prison- ers captured. Upon his return to his regiment after he had recovered from his wound, he was promoted to Major and later in February, 1865, was made Lieut. Col. In
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April, 1864, Major Calmes, with ninety-seven men, at- tacked a force of 200 in Winchester and drove them pell- mell through the streets of the town and taking their com- mander and thirty-two prisoners. He was taken prisoner later and confined at Camp Chase, Ohio. There were doubtless Clarke men in Major Calmes' Company, but I am unable to get their names.
Dr. Wm. M. Page, Assistant Surgeon U. S. Navy. In the fall of 1861 returned to the South and joined Captain Marshall's Company of cavalry. Was later made Surgeon in Confederate Navy.
Beverly Randolph, killed at Greenwood Depot, Alber- marle County, March 2nd, 1865.
Major John Esten Cooke served on staff of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart and on staff of General Pendleton. Was also inspector of artillery. He achieved distinction as an au- thor of historical novels and his "Virginia" is very fine.
Dr. A. C. Randolph. Surgeon of Cavalry Division.
Dr. R. P. Page, enlisted as private in Nelson Rifles, was made Surgeon of Mahone's Division.
Capt. T. P. Pendleton, Quartermaster Col. McDonald's Cavalry.
Dr. Randolph Kownslar, Surgeon in hospital at Char- lottesville.
Dr. S. S. Neill, surgeon in hospital at Charlottesville.
Dr. Bushrod Taylor, Surgeon of Division.
Major Jno. Morgan, Quartermaster in Tennessee army. Robt. P. Morgan, Quartermaster in Tennessee army. Capt. Benj. Morgan, Quartermaster in Tennessee army.
Capt. A. J. Thompson, Co. B, 52nd Infantry. Wounded at Gettysburg.
R. Powel Page, Rockbridge Battery, and served on staff of Col. Tom Carter, Chief of Artillery under Gen. Early.
Robert Burwell, promoted from Co. C., 2nd Va. Inf., to
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Lieut. Horse Artillery. Mortally wounded Aug. 1st, 1863, died Aug. 21st, 1863.
W. T. Wharton, transferred from Co. C, as Sergeant to Horse artillery.
Col. Thos. H. Carter, a native of Clarke County, a grad- uate of the V. M. Institute, also a graduate of medicine, when the war broke out was living in King William county, where he raised a company of Artillery and was made Capt. Then Major, Lieut. Col., and Col, and commanded the artillery of General Early's army of the Valley in the Fall of 1864. Wounded at the battle of Winchester, Sept. 19th, 1864.
Capt. Wm. P. Carter was living in Miss. when the war broke out but came back to Virginia and was made Orderly Sergeant of the King William Artillery, then 1st Lieut., then Captain. Was desperately wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines, and captured at Spotsylvania Court House, May 12th, 1864, and remained in prison until after the war, then farmed in this his native county. Died in Washington city, Nov. 20th, 1913, aged 77.
Wm. B. Page, son of Judge Jno. E. Page, joined the army in Sept., 1864. Died of typhoid fever in November, same year.
Geo. H. Burwell was first in Co. C; then the Horse Ar- tillery, in 1864. Was made Lieut. in the regular army, after the war, went to Mexico and joined Maximilliam's Army, was made Captain of Artillery and killed Sept., 1866, aged 19 years and 6 months.
Major Beverley Randolph was in the old Navy and Mexican war. Was on Gen. Jos. E. Johnson's staff until Gen'l Johnson was wounded at Seven Pines, then on Gen'l Whiting's staff, then made Ordinance officer, and assign- ed to the Staunton, Va., Post.
N. B. Cooke, promoted to Lieut. of Artillery from Co.
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C, 2nd Va. Inf. Very badly wounded Sept. 26th, 1864. W. T. Kerfoot, wounded near Gettysburg, while courier for Gen. W. E. Jones.
Judson G. Kerfoot, Co. B.
James F. Kerfoot, joined Co. C, 2nd Va. Inf., promoted to Capt. of Scouts.
John B. Glover, Co. K, 2nd Kentucky Inf.
W. H. Carter, Co. I, 23rd Va. cavalry.
Jim Willingham, Co. B, 2nd Va. Inf.
E. A. Colston, Co. D, 2nd Va. Cavalry.
W. A. Castleman, Jr., 17th Va. Inf. Killed Sharpsburg.
Henry Briggs, Warrenton Rifles, 8th Va.
Geo. H. Wright, Co. A, 19th Va. Inf.
Lieut. A. Marshall Monroe, Co. F, 2nd Va. Inf. wound- ed and prisoner.
Frank Willingham, Co. F, 2nd Va.
John Stipe, 5th Va. Inf.
Richard K. Meade, Co. F, 2nd Va. Lost his arm at 1st Manassas, was made Lieut. on Gen. Jackson's staff. Was inspector of cavalry later.
Col. Richard H. Lee, Co. G, 2nd Va. Inf. Wounded at Kernstown, made Lieut. Col. on General Court Martial; Judge of County Court after the war.
Col. O. R. Funston, Col. of 11th Va. Cav.
Lieut. O. R. Funston, Adj. 11th Va. Cav.
Col. J. R. C. Lewis, in command heavy artillery on James river below Richmond. Resigned from U. S. Navy to come south.
Major P. H. Powers, Commissary department.
Major Jno. D. Richardson, Quartermaster 7th Va. Cavalry.
Dr. John P. Smith, Surgeon in the Army and Hospitals.
Col. C. D. Bruce, raised a Battery of Artillery, but was later transferred to Infantry.
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Major Edward McCormick, in Quartermaster De- partment, Lynchburg, Va.
H. L. D. Lewis, on Gen. Maury's staff, at Mobile, Ala. C. L. Deahl, in artillery Co. from Alexandria.
Dr. Chas. A. McCormick, Surgeon in army of Tennessee.
COMPANY K, 11th VIRGINIA CAVALRY
Geo. Chapel
Jos. Green
H. C. Drish
James Dishman
Geo. Grimes
Geo. Smallwood
James Grimes
G. W. Furr
Jas. Moore
A. L. Lloyd
Jos. B. Moore
Jno. L. Longerbeam
J. T. Murphy
Wm. Tomblin
Moses B. Murphy
Snowden Tomblin
Wm. Pyles
Isaiah Writt
Alfred Shell
Frank Willingham
Jno. T. Shafer
David Wood
Henry Stickles
Geo. Thompson
Wm. Thompson
Geo. Lanham
James Tomlin
James Wiley ...
Geo. Willingham
BROOK'S BATTERY-POGUE'S-BATTALION OF ARTILLERY
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