USA > West Virginia > Tucker County > History of Tucker County, West Virginia, from the earliest explorations and settlements to the present time; > Part 24
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Be this as it may, the Rebels failed to check and hold in
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check the Federals, and again started upon a retreat, which now became a rout in every sense of the word. The cannon and baggage were gotten from the field, and the rout began in earnest.
The position that had been taken at Job's Ford was abandoned, and the road was given to the retreating sol- diery. The rain fell in torrents, and the road was almost impassable on account of mud. The footmen straggled along as well as they could, and the tired horses tugged heavily at the ponderous wagons.
When the van of the army reached White Oak, at Jesse Parsons', it met William Harper, who had come that morn- ing from West Union (Aurora). A consultation was at once had with him. He did not think it possible to get the wagons and cannon up Horse Shoe Run, and, therefore, advised the retreat to be made up Mill Run, at St. George. He did not think that the Union forces at West Union would offer material resistance to the army. But, E. Har- per, who was better acquainted with the position of the Union army on Buffalo and along the North-western Pike, and also fearing that forces sent from Barbour would reach St. George in time to cut the army in two, still urged that the Horse Shoe Run road be taken, and it was taken. Wil- liam Harper passed on to the rear of the army, and was at the mouth of the Alum Hill Pass when the front of the Union army came in view. He fired upon them, and they halted, probably thinking that he was a picket and that the whole Rebel army was still at Job's Ford, a mile beyond. This one man checked the Federal army longer than Garnett's four thousand had been able to do; for they fell back be- hind Alum Hill and remained there till the next day.
The story of the retreat of that Rebel army is a sad one
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to relate. It resulted partly from blunders, but is hard to say to whom the blunders were due. However, the Rebels at Rich Mountain must have been defeated sooner or later anyway, for four thousand men could offer but little resist- ance to thirty thousand.
A portion of the Confederate infantry passed round Slip Hill; but the wagons, cannon and the main body of the army crossed the river at Neville's Ford, where they came near drowning some of their men. They passed through the Horse Shoe to Nick's Ford where they recrossed and took the road leading up Horse Shoe Run. The army was halted at Low Gap, and the officers consulted whether it would not be better to fight a battle there. Some of the artillery was wheeled into position on Holbert Hill. The pursuing army failed to put in an appearance. It was in- tended to open fire on them as soon as they came within range.
While halting there, word came that the Union forces were fortifying at the Red House with the intention of cut- ting off retreat by that route. This caused a change in the plans. It now became the object to escape the pursuing army by flight, and cut through the forces at the Red House. The artillery was brought up from the rear, and was sent to the front. Except the cavalry and artillery, there was no longer any warlike spirit in the army. Every man seemed to think only of saving himself. The stores and goods were thrown from the wagons. Mud holes were bridged with tents and blankets. Trunks were broken open and the con- tents scattered in every direction. Barrels of flour and sugar and rice and molasses were rolled from the wagons to be left or broken into by the excited and famishing soldiery. Guns were thrown into the woods, and cartridge boxes were
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flung after them. Clothing was scattered on every side. Boxes of medicine were kicked out of the wagons to be trampled under foot. The soldiers were starving, while stores of provisions were being destroyed. Boxes of crack- ers and biscuits were broken open, and he who could helped himself.
The exposure and the hunger since breaking camp at Rich Mountain had made many of the soldiers sick, and when they could no longer travel they were left to fall into the hands of whomsoever they might or die without atten- tion. There was no room in the wagons for the sick. A boy with his foot shot off got on a cannon and rode there. An officer dismounted and walked in order to let a sick sol- dier ride. The spirit of Southern generosity was not dead -it never dies-but, in that shameful panie, who could attend to anything but himself? There was plenty to keep the soldiers from starving, but no time was taken to deal it out to them. If the retreat had been two years later in the war, when experience in such unpleasant performances was more mature, there probably would not have been a man or a wagon lost. But, it came when it did, and it leaves nothing for the historian to do but to record it as it was.
The horses suffered no less than the men. They toiled at the heavy wagons until they could move them no more. When the men had thrown out the loads, the tired horses could again draw the empty wagons. But they could not long remain empty. The exhausted soldiers, who had fallen by the wayside, struggled to their feet and climbed into the wagons, or, perchance were helped in by comrades, and the wagons were soon overloaded. It was useless to try to get them along. The teamsters cut the harness from the horses, and mounting them, fled. Then the axle-trees were sawed
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in two and the spokes cut from the wheels, and the road was thus blockaded to prevent pursuit. But it also block- aded it against the following Confederates who came up, . and being unable to get their wagons by, had to cut them to pieces and leave them.
Every mile the panic became more deplorable. Soldiers without shoes went hobbling and limping along, their feet cut by the stones, and their tracks marked with blood. William E. Talbott was along, as was M. P. Helmick and many others still living in the county. Few pretended to carry arms. In the front some order was kept, but in the rear the sight beggars description. Some flung themselves by the roadside, and refused to be assisted forward by such of their comrades as were willing and able to assist them. The sick, who could, crawled to houses and lay there till the pursuing cavalry came up and took them prisoner. Some attempted to hide in the woods ; but, when the pur- suit came, it was useless to attempt concealment. Some thought to pass themselves off as citizens and thus escape the Yankees. But their woeful looks and haggard faces told the tale on them.
The rabble extended ten miles. Every mile and every rod was marked with plunder and ruin. When night came on, the scene was worse, if it could have been seen. It was dark and rainy, and the remnants of the once splendid army struggled along the narrow road, not knowing when the guns of the pursuers would roar out on the night. The front, too, began to be demoralized. Reports came that the road at the Red House was held by five thousand Federals which was just ten times the actual number there. The cav- alry (partly excusable from the excitement of that awful night) thought that the army was beset both in front and
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in the rear, and that destruction awaited either an advance or a retreat. From Wotring's, the head of Horse Shoe Run, there was an obscure and rugged path leading across the Backbone Mountain and the head waters of the North Branch and Stony River. This, to the cavalry, seemed the only possible avenue of escape, and it was barely possible. Samuel Porter knew the path and acted as guide. The cay- alry thus left the road, unknown to the main army and the artillery, and crossed the mountain by this path. It is a mystery how that cavalry ever made that march. It was a narrow foot-path, traveled by mountaineers, and led over bluffs, mountains and ravines, and logs and rocks filled it in every part. Besides, the darkness of the night, and the descending torrents of rain lent additional difficulty to the undertaking. Many of the horses were unshod, their shoes having been pulled off in the clefts and crevices of the rocks. The path was a rough one for horses shod with steel and in full strength and spirit ; and it was far worse for these that were hungry, lame and exhausted.
When they got into the wild region about Stony River, they were met by an old woodsman who mistook them for Yankees. He seemed anxious both to gain and to impart information. They saw that he was mistaken and told him such news as they thought he would like to hear. And he in turn told them that he was captain of the Home Guards in that quarter, and that his one hundred men could "bush- whack Rebels to beat the nation."" When they had drawn from him all the information they wanted, they informed him he was in the hands of Rebels. The old fellow's coun- tenance fell; but, seeing that he was a prisoner, he went
* This is on the authority of McClung of Greenbrier County, who was an officer and was present.
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quietly along. Toward morning they came to a tributary of the North Branch, and the horses refused to leave it. They had unshod feet, which were broken and feverish, and they preferred to bathe them in the cool water. But at length they got the horses from the water, and at daylight came into the North-western Pike.
The artillery and the infantry did not know that the cavalry had left the road, but supposed them still in front and that they would give notice of any danger. Thus de- luded, the army, if it can be called an army, advanced, and the artillery was in the very front. S. E. Parsons and William Hebb, who had been taken prisoner during Mc- Chesney's raid, were still prisoners in Garnett's army. Near Wotring's, Parsons determined to attempt an escape. He sprang from the guards, and leaped down a bank. A dozen guns were fired at him, but he escaped unhurt, hatless, and the next morning found himself beyond the Rebel lines. On the evening of the fourteenth of July, five hundred Federals had arrived at the Red House, ready to dispute the road with Garnett's army. They, too, had heard rumors, in common with the Rebels. They heard that Garnett's army, although badly shattered, still had fifteen thousand fighting men. However, they held their ground until the front of the army could be heard advancing, when they started in full retreat toward West Union. The Rebels were near enough to hear them going.
This was after midnight, probably two o'clock in the morn- ing. The North-western Pike was reached at last. But a new danger was threatening them. It was said that a body of Union troops were stationed on the summit of Backbone mountain, ready to hem the Confederates in. A consulta- tion was held, while the soldiers, as fast as they came up,
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flung themselves upon the ground to sleep. There was no other means visible by which the army could be gotten out. It was known that armies were in Oakland, West Union, on Buffalo, and in the rear, and the road across Backbone and the Alleghanies was all that remained open, if it, indeed, was open. It was thought best to send scouts to the top of the mountain, about four miles distant, to see if an enemy was there. In an army of four thousand, only five were found willing to go. They were E. Harper, Garrett John- son, Dr. William Bland, of Weston, and two cavalrymen. They left the Red House about three o'clock in the morning and rode to the top of the mountain. Harper said that he felt more fear while going up that mountain than he ever felt before or since. But no enemy was found, and they re- turned to the Red House and reported that the way was open. This was just at daylight, July 15. The army at once resumed its retreat, and before noon had passed the North Branch bridge, which it burned. From that point it was not pursued. The wrecked army made its way back to the South and was recruited and again placed in service. The Union army made no pursuit after Alum Hill was reached. The troops remained about the country, and detachments went foraging on the trail of the Rebels to pick up strag- glers and plunder ; but no attempt was made to overtake the Rebels. The Union army went to St. George, and thence to Philippi and Belington. Some of those left to take charge of the wagons and plunder were set upon and shot as they were going up Clover Run. This was the largest military movement that ever took place in Tucker County. The others were only raids.
After Garnett's army retreated from the county, the Con- federates had little hold in it. The Unionists kept forces in
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the county, and kept down any manifestation which Rebel citizens might have made. On Dry Fork the guerrilla war- fare between the Home Guards of each side went on una- bated.
In September, 1862, the Federals had squads of men in Tucker. One squad was stationed at Abraham Parsons'. John Imboden had heard of it, and determined to drive them out. With William Harper as guide he struck across the mountains, intending to fall on the Yankees unawares. But Jane Snyder, then a young lady, now the wife of Mart Bennett, saw the Rebels, and, mounting her horse, she gal- loped off down Dry Fork to give the alarm. She reached the Yankee camp just in time to save them ; for, scarcely had she gotten away when the Rebels came up. The Yankees made no stop or stay until they had quit the coun- try. Imboden then returned to the South, and the Yankees returned to the occupation of Tucker.
Capt. William Hall then came to St. George with twenty- nine men, and took up his headquarters in the Court-house. This was in November. Some of the Union citizens of the county sent insulting words to Imboden, taunting him. He at once set out for St. George with some small cannon lashed to the backs of mules. He came down Dry Fork, where there was then only a small path. William Harper was guide. The way was rough, and the progress could not be but slow. One of his mules that carried a cannon slipped over the bank and tumbled a hundred feet, almost into the river. The men followed, and when they took the cannon off, the mule got up and was ready for traveling.
Imboden was aiming for St. George, and was expecting to fall upon the Yankees by surprise. In this he was success- ful. He approached the town just after daylight, and had
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the Union forces surrounded before they knew of the pres- ence of a Rebel. Then a flag of truce was sent in to make a demand for the surrender of the forces. The man who bore the flag was fired upon and wounded in the foot by a sentinel, who then ran to the Court-house and gave the alarm. Immediately there was much excitement among the Yankees. When Hall learned that he was surrounded, he cried : "Boys, take care of your Captain !"
The Rebels who had passed down the river fired a few times in the direction of the Court-house, but without effect. They found Enoch Minear feeding cattle just below town, and took him prisoner and detained him an hour or two.
Meanwhile, negotiations for the surrender of the town were going on. Imboden offered honorable terms and Hall accepted. The Yankees were to be parolled and allowed to depart in peace from the country. On these terms, St. George was surrendered. James Swisher was the only one who escaped. Finding himself some distance from the Court-house when the alarm was given, he took to his lieels and got off. He carried the intelligence to Rowlesburg, where it created no small stir among the soldiers.
Captain Hall's headquarters were in the Clerk's office. He was just sitting down to breakfast when the alarm was given. When the surrender was made, Imboden and his men sat themselves down around the table, and. with char- acteristic Southern hospitality, invited Hall and his fellow- officers to join them at the board and help eat the smoking breakfast. All sectional and national hatred was now for- gotten, and Yankee and Rebel, vanquished and victor, sat side by side and eat to their full satisfaction. Imboden's soldiers joined in with Hall's and all in common sat joking around the camp fires, and cooked and ate breakfast, forget-
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ting that a war of death had so lately raged between them.
When breakfast was done, Hall and his men filed sullenly out of their comfortable quarters in the Court-house, and set forward for Rowlesburg. There came near being a difficulty regarding the shooting at the man who carried the flag of truce. The Rebels demanded that he be given up to be dealt with according to the rules of war. But the Yankees would not do this, and in their turn charged the Rebels with violating the rules of war by advancing with their army under cover of the flag of truce. For, as was claimed, Im- boden was moving his men down the bank of the river while his truce-flag was being carried into the Yankee camp. Both sides seemed to be in the wrong, and they knew it ; and after much parleying and contention, it was agreed that nothing further should be done in the matter, and thus it was hushed. James Myers is now known to be the picket who fired on the flag.
Hall surrendered twenty-nine men. The remainder of his company was not in St. George at the time. The Rebels numbered several hundred. Hall claimed that he had no ammunition, or he would have fought ; but his men had forty rounds of cartridges each.
As Imboden approached town Dr. Solomon Parsons, who lived half mile from town, and who was extreme in his sym- pathy with the North, was down in the field feeding his cattle. He saw the Confederates go by, and suspicioned that they were after him. He fled toward the river, which he waded at the lower end of Wamsley's Island, and climbed the mountain beyond. In a little while he grew uneasy ; and, re-crossing the river, he ascended Dry Run, wading along its bed, for the snow was deep, and aimed his course
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for Cranberry Summit. The Rebels carried away some goods from his store.
When the Rebels had cleared St. George of Union sol- diers, they immediately retreated back the way they came, passing up Dry Fork, and over into Highland County, Vir- ginia. The raid was a dashing one, and was in every way successful to those who planned and executed it. But in the end it worked great harm to the Rebel citizens of Tucker, and to those who were suspected of being in sym- pathy with the South.
When news of the surrender reached Rowlesburg, it pro- duced great commotion there. It was supposed that Im- boden meant to establish himself at St. George, and ar- rangements were at once made to expel him. A large body of troops was sent up to make an attack. When St. George was reached it was found that the Rebels were gone. The Yankees followed up to Abraham Parsons', and plant- ing their cannon there, bombarded the woods, trying to scare the Rebels out, for they affected to believe that Imbo- den was hidden among the neighboring mountains. But, really, at that time, Imboden was on the other side of the Alleghanies.
While the Yankees remained at Abraham Parsons' they were wicked in their depredations, stealing and destroying almost everything they could find. They made raids into the' surrounding country, and stole plunder. It was the most thieving band of soldiers ever in Tucker County. One strippling soldier from Ohio stole a saddle and bridle on Dry Fork, but had failed to get a horse. He came back, lugging his pilfered plunder, and stopped at Parsons'. There was a fine horse in the field, and he concluded that it was good enough for him, and accordingly caught it and was
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going off when he was seen from the house. Parsons was not at home. His daughter Ninn and Job Parsons' daugh- ter Rebecca concluded to capture the horse. They tried to coax the fellow to give it up, and he would not, and they proceeded to take it by force. One of them took the scoun- drel by the neck and hurled him heels over head twenty feet among the sawlogs that lay in the mill yard. His wrath was terrible. The other Yankees raised a great laugh at him and cheered the girls, and that made him madder than ever. He swore fearfully, and vowed that he would have the horse or die on the spot. But the girls led the horse into the yard, and when the determined young Yankee fol- lowed, they caught him and thrashed him. This satisfied him for a while ; but at length he returned to get the horse, and they pounded him again and chased him out of the yard. By this time the Yankees were getting ready to go, and he stood at the gate as though trying to decide whether to make another venture or to give up. He decided to try again, and came up with the grim determination that he would have the horse. They seized him again and gave him an unmerciful wolloping, and he got out of the yard in a hurry. He was whipped, and picking up his saddle, he sneaked off and appeared no more on the arena.
About this time Kellogg came into command of the Union forces in Tucker, and instituted a kind of inquisition, known as the "Assessment." He levied a tax upon all sym- pathizers with the South, and applied the money to pay Dr. Parsons, Enoch Minear and others who had lost property at the hands of the Rebels. The Assessment was a most wicked and shameful affair. The world's history can hardly show tyranny more disgraceful. It is not just to charge it
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to the Union men in general; for, they were far above any- thing of the kind, and had nothing to do with it.
An order was issued to tax Rebel citizens to pay back what Union citizens had lost. The tax was not levied in proportion to the amount of property owned by the party so much as by the intensity of their Southern sympathy. Although, of course, some consideration was taken of the wealth of the individual and the amount which he was able to pay. Thus, W. D. Losh was assessed $8, and had to sell his pants to raise the money. Rufus Maxwell was assessed $80; Nick Parsons, $500; W. R. Parsons, $700; Abraham Parsons, $800, and others in proportion. The order read thus :*
You are hereby notified that, upon an Assessment, you are as- sessed - dollars, to make good the losses of Union men. If you fail to pay in three days, your property will all be confisicated, your house burned and yourself shot.
By order of Brig. Gen. Milroy.
CAPT. KELLOGG, Comg. 123d Ohio.
Nearly all the money was collected and paid over to those who claimed it. When it became known what Kellogg was doing, his superior officers set about undoing his work; for the Union men were too honorable to allow such work to be left alone.
Joseph A. Faris was sent to St. George to stop the collec- tion of the Assessment and to pay back the money where it could be done. He found the Union cause here in a bad condition. The tyrannous proceedings of the past few days had raised a storm of indignation, not only among the Southern men who were made to pay the Assessment, but
* This is from a copy, and it is possible that it contains errors; but it Is believed to be correct in every particular. The copy is furnished by Job W. Parsons, of Rich Mountain.
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also among nearly all the Union men, who had any feelings of manhood and freedom about them. For, be it repeated that the Union party in Tucker County were in no measure, or in a very small measure, guilty of aiding, abetting or countenancing the Assessment business. They hated it as intensely as they hated anything that was bad, and they showed no favors to those who assisted in the matter.
So, when Faris came and it became known that he pro- posed to conduct his proceeding in accordance with the code of honor and not with that of revenge and rancorous hatred, he at once received the sympathy and support of the best and of nearly all of our citizens. In him they recognized a man not to be influenced and led about by bitter ani- mosities. He had a high sense of justice and right ; and no mutterings among his own party or threats or attempts among his enemies could influence him to depart from what was just. In the time of war, and when passion ran at fever heat, he made friends among Unionists and won the respect of the sympathizers of the Confederacy. No one doubted his honor. No one feared that he would take a mean ad- vantage. No one believed that he would indorse any of the infamous proceedings of the past few weeks. Those whose conscience was guilty on account of deeds done, received little comfort from him.
Our people remember him as a man, and not as a war- time leader. If all the military men who came into our county had been such as he, the war would be a forgotten thing with us. He undid what wrong he could, and showed his willingness to undo more. The confidence of our peo- ple underwent a change for the better, as regarded man and man. For, while the Assessment was in progress, only a spark would have sufficed to kindle the flame of war among
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our mountains and valleys, in which citizen would have fought citizen and the rage of revenge would almost have depopulated our country. Had the work gone on a little longer, it is hard to tell at what hour the torch would have been applied to dwellings, and the rifle would have been the arbiter between neighbors. But, the storm passed just in time to prevent the final catastrophe .*
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