HISTORY

* I* f* n
md |[a^s. Jyjimat of :|nfan!rg:

THIRD PAPER.

DELIVERED BY

GEORGE H. GORDON,
MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS AND COLONEL SECOND MASS. REGIMENT OF
INFANTRY IN THE LATE WAR,

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SECOND MASS. INFANTRY
ASSOCI.A.TION, ON MAY 11,1875.

BOSTON:
ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 34 SCHOOL STREET.
1875-

COFYHIGHT.
GEORGE H. GORDON.
A. D. 187s.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.
President's order for advance of Army of Potomac — March of Second
Massachusetts through Frederick to take cars for Harper's Ferry —
Condition of Harper's Ferry — Armed Reconnaissance to Charles
town, Va. — Gen. McClellan at Charlestown — Duty in and around
Charlestown — Sentiments of the people — March at night to save a
loyal Maryland regiment — Composition and number of our troops
concentrated around Charlestown — Destination — March of my
Brigade to Berryville — Attack upon a threshing-machine — Enemy
abandons Winchester-^ False alarm — Night march — Stonewall
Jackson's feelings upon retiring from Winchester without a fight —
Foraging — Our troops punished for it — Rations — Fortifications
about Winchester — Second Regiment in new brigade — March of
Fifth Corps (Banks) for Centreville — March arrested — Battle of
Kernstown — Appearance of battle-field — Vengeance of a Vir
ginian — Enemy's line of battle — Attack upon enemy's line —
Numbers engaged — Gen. Shields's stratagem — Johnston's instruc
tions to Jackson — Jackson's retreat — Ferocious German — Stras
burg — McClellan's instructions to Banks — Second campaign —
Strasburg to Woodstock — Skirmish — Edenburg — Artillery fight
— Ashby's exploits — Cart-horse for Aid — Picket stalking — My
horse, his life and death 

CHAPTER IV.
Life at Edenburg — Jim and Stephen — Religious services — March from
Edenburg — Ashby with his white horse — Mount Jackson — The
flanking column — Dunning's Brigade — Crossing the Shenandoah
— Views at New Market — Virginia House (entrance to) — Brigade
Headquarters — Protection to mistress of house — Freeing slaves —
Sufferings of families of Southern soldiers — March to Harrisonburg
—Jackson retreats across South Fork of Shenandoah — Bitterness of
Southern women — Views of Administration upon the close of the
war — Marriage of officer of Second Massachusetts to a Virginian

IV CONTENTS.
— Prices of food in 1862 in Valley — Brokerage business — Green
backs for Confederate money — Council of war — Orders to return
to Strasburg — Slave woman Peggy — Alarm — Orders to cross the
Gap of Massanutten Mountain at New Market — Sunrise from the
mountain- top — No fight — New Market again — Telegraph oper
ators as a guard — Orders from a clerk — Return to Strasburg —
Occupation there  • • A5~^
CHAPTER V.
Confederate Gen. Johnston's instructions to Jackson and Ewell — Ewell
ordered to march at once for Gordonsville — Jackson countermands
.this and orders combined movement against Banks — Why Jackson
fought Milroy at McDowell — Johnston planned Jackson's move
ments — Jackson as an executive officer — Action of the War
Department in leaving Banks with 4,000 to fight Jackson with
20,000 — Where Jackson planned his campaign — Direction in
which he moved — Strength and composition of forces — Front
Royal — Col. Kenly's fight and destruction — First report that
reached Strasburg — What Banks did and did not — My first in
terview with him — My second — What he said — Appearance of
town at night — My brigade prepared to march — What Banks did
and what he officially reported he did — At 11 A. M. ofthe 24th May
Banks determines to remain at Strasburg — Immediately after 1 1
A. M. Banks determines to leave Strasburg — Letter to me from
Banks — Information by letter that the enemy has cut us off — Why
Jackson did not interpose his army between us and Winchester —
Description of Une joining Strasburg, Front Royal, and Winchester
— Movement of enemy upon Strasburg and Winchester — Stuart's
cavalry attack at Newton — Our flight from Strasburg — Appear
ance of column as it reached Cedar Creek — Banks's admission —
Head of column reached Middletown — Skirmish with enemy's
cavalry — Donelly's Brigade and a wagon-train enter Winchester
early in afternoon of 24th — Sound of cannon heard in rear —
My Brigade between Middletown and Newtown — Fugitives and
their story — Enemy cuts off rear-guard — Forms new rear-guard —
Gen. Banks appears — Another rear-guard — I assume command —
Wagons wrecked — Enemy attacked and driven from Newtown —
Jackson's strategy — His army encounters our cavalry at Middletown
— The result — Fancy sketches by Cooke and Dabney — Gen. Hatch
commanding our cavalry — Turns towards Strasburg and opens fire
upon Jackson — Cedar Creek Bridge burned by our troops — Gen.
Hatch escapes through the hills to the West — Where and when
our cavalry returned to us — Gen. Jackson discovers that Banks's
main column has eluded his attack — He pursues to Newtown —
Condition of our wagons on the road from Middletown to Newtown
— With my brigade, I hold Newtown till night — Gen. Hatch appears
there — Capture of a rebel surgeon — Commissary whiskey — What

CONTENTS. V
the surgeon reveals — Preparation for withdrawal from Newtown —
Order of march — Second Massachusetts as rear-guard — Why
Jackson allowed us to hold Newtown for so many hours — Jackson
enters Newtown with rejoicing — Ruins at the burning wagons —
Bartonville — Enemy attack rear-guard ^ March resumed — Head
of column reaches Winchester — Col. Andrews- arrives at Kerns
town — Rear-guard again attacked by enemy — I return to meet the
regiment at Kernstown — Enemy captures Dr. Leland and the
wounded — The Second arrives at Winchester — Gen. Banks in
Winchester and my conference with him — Gen. Williams in com
fortable quarters — Aroused by report of enemy advancing — Flying
visit to Banks «« rff«fe to battle-field  'jo-ll^
CHAPTER VI.
Description of country around Winchester — Formation of my line of
battle — Length of enemy's line and of mine compared — Jackson
opens the battle by a movement against my pickets — Dabney's
piety — Second Mass. Regiment moves to position under a hot fire
from artillery — Skirmishers from Second behind ¦ Stonewall drive
enemy's gunners away from their guns — Attempt to knock down
wall with solid shot — Jackson's precautions to keep us from charging
his batteries — Col. Donelly's fight with Ewell — Jaclcson's prepara
tions to assault with his whole command — Advance of Taylor's
Brigade on my right and front — The advance aesthetically consid
ered — Attempt to resist Taylor — Jackson views the scene — We
are overwhelmed — The enemy crowd us back to town — The Sec
ond Massachusetts and Third Wisconsin stop to deliver one more
fire — We enter the streets — Col. Andrews retreats at first in confor
mity with the regulations, but finally sacrifices the tactics — The re
treat through the mainstreet in Winchester described— Gen. Jackson
attempts to cheer — Jackson's infantry follow as far as Bunker HiU —
Ashby continues to Martinsburg — Stewart's cavalry .make no pur-
syit — Reason why — We reach the Potomac — Scene described
— Hbw and when we crossed — Banks's Official Report of the
retreat — What Banks did know, and what he reported he knew con
trasted — Our fight and retreat reviewed — When Jackson reached
the river — Banks's Official Report o£ losses — Losses in Second
Mass. — Enemy's account of his captures — Gen. Banks expresses
his indignation through Associated Press — Confederate Gen. J. E.
Johnston's account of captures on our retreat — Northern stories
of outrage by Southern army contradicted — Confirmation of num
bers of Jackson's army — Gov. Andrew's proclamation, how caused
 Major Copeland's proclamation, and what came of it — Excite
ment in other States — Banks assigns a full brigadier to conimand
of my brigade — Banks's order — Recommendation signed by, gen
eral officers for my promotion — Despatch from Secretary of War
to Gov. Andrew, that Col. Gordon wUl be promoted — Interview

Yl CONTENTS.
with the President of the United States in fall of 1861 — Reasons
given why the recommendation of delegation in Congress in Massa
chusetts for my promotion were unheeded — Gov. Andrew's pro
test^ Gov. Andrew's congratulation upon my promotion — Com
missioned as Brigadier General of Volunteers — Ordered to report
to Banks — Banks's order to report to Secretary of War — Secretary
of War's peremptory order to Banks to place me in command of
my old brigade and relieve Gen. Green  116-145
CHAPTER VII.
Harper's Ferry — Appearance of our old camp on Maryland Heights —
Brigade near Front Royal — Congratulations by officers of Second
Massachusetts upon my promotion — Gen. Pope placed in commancj
of new army, called Army of Virginia — Corps of that army and
commanders — Field of operations of this, army — McClellan re
fuses to confer with Pope — Halleck Commander-in-Chief —
Strength of Pope's army — News of disaster to McClellan — Use
to be made after disaster of Army of Virginia — March of Banks's
Corps across the Blue Ridge — Base of operations — Effect of our
appearance upon the people and their property — Gen. Banks re
turns from Washington — He speaks at his mess-table of alarm in
our capital — Copeland hears him — Sends in secret cipher sub
stance of Banks's remarks to Boston editor — Despatch stopped and
deciphered in Washington — Shown to the President — Copeland
dismissed, and first apprised of itin a newspaper paragraph — My
interview with Banks (after his return from Washington) described
— Camp near Warrenton — Recovery of my stolen horse, and how
it was done — Enemy arrive at Gordonsville — Camp at Little Wash
ington — Position of corps on base — Scenery — Destruction —
Drills — My miUtary family — Pope's orders — Pope's presence —
Pope's review — Colonel of theTwenty-Seventh Indiana, Capt. Bold-
wig and Mr. Pickwick — Our army begins its march for Culpepper
Court House — Heat and dust — Sickness and death — Diarrhoea
and dirt — Sickness in the Second Massachusetts — Capt. Goodwin
refused leave of absence — Pope's disposition of his army — Order
to Banks and Sigel on the 8th of August to march on Culpepper —
To Rickett's Division to move beyond Culpepper — Our march —
Jagkson's march to attack Pope — Pope's knowledge of Jackson's
movements — Sigel asks what road he shall take to Culpepper —
Crawford's Brigade at Cedar Creek supporting the cavalry — August
gth, Banks's Corps sent forward to Crawford's position — Gen. Rob
erts, Pope's chief-of-staff, places Banks's Corps in position at Cedar
Creek — Orders my brigade to-the right on a hill — Description
of the country around, including the battle-field of Cedar Mountain
— Description of our position on extreme right — Banks's effective
force as reported to Pope and his force as reported to Committee on
Conduct of the War, and what it really was on the gth of August —
he manner in which my brigade was disposed .... 146-168

CONTENTS. Vll

CHAPTER VIII.

Jackson moves his infantry forward into the fight — Movements of our
cavalry — Enemy's force on the mountain — Winder's batteries in
the road — How Jackson's whole force was disposed while the ar
tillery combat was going on — Banks's first forward movement, and
what he made it for — How he intended to accomplish his purposes
— His despatch to Pope — Crawford persuades Banks to make his
movement with a brigade — Orders from Banks at five o'clock —
Third Wisconsin skirmisher^, ordered by Crawford to join his brig
ade — Col. Ruger protests -r- Banks orders the movement neverthe
less — Exact position of the enemy's line of battle — Position and
numbers of our line confronting it — Reserves of the two armies com
pared — Description of the movement of regiments of Crawford's
Brigade against the enemy and its effect — Banks now threw forward
the whole of his corps except my brigade and the Tenth Maine —
Southem description of the charge — Loss in the enemy' brigades,
which checked our pursuit — History of the Tenth Maine, its
position during the assault, and what was seen by its officers —
Banks orders the Tenth Maine to advance alone against the enemy —
They advance and fall back — Gen. Banks sends one of his staff to
arrest the backward movement — Col. Pelouse, the staff-officer,
takes command of the regiment — Is soon wounded and retires —
Then what happened to the Tenth Maine — Where they were when
my brigade came into action — Gen. Williams's signal to me —
Movements of my brigade in obedience to his orders — What I
found when I got 'up to tbe line of the wood bounding the wheat-
field — Where I found Crawford — My line of battle formed — Col.
Andrews sees nothing to fire at  l6g-i85
CHAPTER IX.
Movements of enemy at time my brigade was ordered into action —
What I found on my front — What Col. Colgrove thought he
saw — " We are firing on our own men " — How I proved to the
contrary — The Twenty-Seventh Indiana breaks to the rear in con
fusion — The Second Massachusetts stands steady — A brigade of
the enemy gains our rear — First seen in column of companies behind
our right flank — Fire opened and its effect — Capt. Russell and
Major Savage — Col. Andrews's horse wounded — My horse breaks
through the timber— Of my brigade I could rally only from thirty
to fifty men — Second Massachusetts marched in good order by Col.
Andrews out of the woods— Return to the cottage —Change in its
condition — Dead and wounded — Order from Gen. Williams to fall
back— Did not obey it — Order from Gen. Banks to faU back —
Pope and Banks together in the road — Report to them in person —
Pope's arrival on the field, and how he came there — Incidents of

•vrill CONTENTS.
his ride — My interview with Pope and Banks — The'former gives
orders for my brigade to take position — Pope denies that he ordered
Banks to fight the battle — Banks silent — Orders received during
the fight from Banks to charge across the wheat-field — Banks de
nies, that he gave such orders — Order through Major Perkins to
Col. Andrews to charge across the same field with the Second Mas
sachusetts — ' Perkins afterwards admits that such an order was given
by mistake — Andrews refers to me — He is ordered not to obey —
Banks's order to me discussed — Banks's gefneral movements con
sidered — Final charge of Jackson's army — My movements in exe
cuting Pope's orders — Relieved by Gen. Tower of Rickett's Di
vision — Fired into by enemy in attemping to take up position des
ignated by Pope — Twelfth Massachusetts engaged — Capt. Shurtleff
killed — Pope and his staff' during this engagement, what happened
to them and what they did — Accident to Banks's opposing batter
ies — Danger from our own — Move to the rear — We meet Sigel
and his corps — Sigel confronts the Second Mass. Regiment —
Pope orders me to return to the wood from which we have been fired
on — I return as near as possible — The enemy enter our lines
while seeking their regiments — Clark, Banks's aid, endeavors to
find the enemy — Pope and his general officers sitting under a tree —
The enemy opens fire — Effect thereof — My command ordered to
the rear — Why Jackson did not attack on the loth — Our line
of battle on the loth — Flag of truce on the nth — Battle-field
and its appearance — Losses in my brigade — Losses in the Sec
ond Mass. Regiment — Forces compared — Proof that Jackson
was unwilling to meet us with equal numbers — Jackson accom
plished nothing by his victory — A few words upon Banks's pretence
that he only resisted an attack by the enemy  186-213
CHAPTER X.
Was Banks ordered to fight the battle of Cedar Mountain ? — Pope's
plans — What were they ? — Did Pope communicate his plans to
Banks ? — How were they communicated ? — Proof that Banks did
understand Pope's orders — Gen. Roberts's testimony before the
McDowell Court of Inquiry — What Banks must have answered if
he had been interrogated before the fight or immediately after the
battle — How Banks justifies himself — How some of his friends
justify him — Fallacies — Pope's severity — The management of the
battle criticised — Banks reported that he was driving the enemy —
Crawford's attempt to justify Banks — Banks reflects upon my
brigade — What would have happened had Williams moved his
whole division simultaneously to the assault — Banks must be
answered — Our return to Culpepper and hurried movement
towards Washington — Reflections  214-231

CHAPTER III.
I CLOSED my last paper with the President's order for
a movement of the army against the enemy on Washing
ton's Birthday. It has been urged that this seeming inter
ference with the plans of McClellan was due to the fact
that that officer did not seem to appreciate the value of
time in its relation to national finances, and to a Demo
cratic form of Government ; also that further delay involved
national despondency, — a tax levied upon the people for an
immense debt which had borne no fruit in victories ; distrust ;
a great fall in national stocks ; and a possible if not probable
foreign intervention. Therefore the President's Order, No.
I, issued against McClellan's protest, peremptorily com
manded an advance at all points on the 23d of February.
McClellan was placed at the head of the Army of the
Potomac, and soon ceased to be commander-in-chief of the
armies of the United States.
It was very parly in the morning of the 27th of February,
1862, when I marched our regiment through the streets
of Frederick, in Maryland, to take the cars for Harper's
Ferry. As our band aroused the town, young ladies, hur
riedly dressed, waved handkerchiefs from windows, and, iri
some cases with tears ill repressed, uttered a trembling
good-by. Though their hearts were full of anticipations,
hopeful and fearful, their heroism was magnificent. While
there was solicitude for suffering that must come, there
was no flinching. I saw a sister, sending a brother to
fight against her husband ; I saw a father, armed to fight
against his sons. All were heroes, and all seemed proud

that they could do something to crush the "accursed Re
bellion." A Maryland regiment, raised principally in Fred
erick, as a home guard, choosing its own duty, volunteered
to go with us to the field. Its colonel was one of the
most prominent men in the city.
When we arrived at Harper's Ferry, we found the, place
more wrecked and ruined than when we last saw it in July
of 1 86 1. Blackened walls met the eye at every turn;
there was no life in the town. Now and then we saw a
prowling inhabitant stealing around, — the ghost of a former
life. Our passage in the cars had been so tedious, through
interminable delays, that we were glad enough to cross
the pontoon bridge, laid down by the engineers for this
invasion, even into that town of desolation. A good old
negro woman, frightened to death at first, aided the com
manding officer of our regiment in getting supper in one
of the few houses left. Here, while a bright fire, made
from the palings of an adjoining fence, burned in an
open fire-place, the good old aunty, keeper of the house,
turned out bedding for the night, and made herself gen
erally useful, as well as amusing in her talk of the
"seceshers," as she called them, who were here only last
Sunday, praying that the river might rise " to keep the
Yankees out." How she laughed as she told us that
she saw our men, whom she Called Indians, lying down
on their backs on the other side of the river, to load
and fire at the "secesh," here. And "she is glad of it,"
she says ; she wants the Yankees to whip the secesh, and
will laugh long and loud again, " if you 'se able to do it."
We found Gen. McClellan here, with a large staff,, giving
personal supervision to this, the first movement of his
army on its momentous mission.
Before nightfall, an armed reconnoissance, to consist of
the Second Massachusetts and the Third Wisconsin Regi
ments, two sections of the First New York Battery, and four

squadrons of the First Michigan Cavalry, the whole to be
commanded by -the colonel of our regiment, was ordered
" to move as soon after daylight as possible " in the direction
of Charlestown, and explore the roads diverging south and
west from the town. When the sergeant-major of the
Second came around and notified company commanders to
be ready, it was four o'clock in the morning. Without a
struggle, officers and men threw themselves from hard board
floors into the open air, washed their faces in a brook,
snatched some kind of a breakfast, which they were an
hour in getting, and took their places at daylight in good
style, in advance with rifles loaded. In advance of the
infantry went the cavalry, and following them, supported
by a rear-guard, came the artillery, "all ready to talk the
right kind of music," as one of our officers said. With
skirmishers thrown out on the flanks, the column made its
eight miles to Charlestown, taking the town by surprise.
Some few negroes gazed at us from the by-ways, and a few
poor whites looked listlessly on, but none hailed our coming.
Leaving the infantry to follow as we approached the town, I
charged through at the head of three squadrons of cavalry,
only to drive a pitiful twenty of the enemy's cavalry out. We
arrived at twelve o'clock at noon. While making, with a com
pany of cavalry, an examination of the roads, I came upon
Gen. McClellan, and his whole staff, native and foreign. • It
appeared that my advance had been to clear the way for his
military examination of the country, and the disposal of his
forces for the grand oncoming movement. Gen. McClellan
having been my classmate at West Point, we had a pleasant
and familiar conversation for an hour or more.
After returning to the town it was determined to occupy
and hold Charlestown ; so I was ordered to send back for my
knapsacks, wagons, and the company property. Regarding our
regiment approvingly as he passed (so some of our young offi
cers thought). Gen. McClellan rode rapidly to Harper's Ferry

and thence by special train to Washington. From some words
dropped at this interview, while looking over, his maps, I was
persuaded that I was right, and that this was the beginning of
the movement of tKe Army of the Potomac. Hardly had the
order to remain in town become known, when the men began
to forage, somewhat. Several pigs that were "running around
loose, as it was termed, were shot, while many a duck and
chicken went into the men's haversacks for supper. Some of .
you will remember that it was at Charlestown, and at this
time, when Major Dwight ordered a stop put t6 foraging in the
Second, — after he had seen all the men of his regiment
thoroughly provided for. There was great exhilaration among
the young officers of our regiment over the novelty of being
followed around by trusty men to knock down anybody who
objected to their taking ways, and there was much enjoy
ment and good feeding with us for a time. A portion of two
wagon-loads of flour, captured on our march, fell to the Second,
and was cooked, too, with some of their own roosters, by nice
old ladies, who were violent secessionists when they were not
scared out of their wits.
Until the 9th of March, while troops were being collected
for an onward movement upon Winchester, we had many
stampedes, and can recall pleasant campaign experiences.
Our regiment had ' rejoined Gen. Abercrombie's Brigade, from
which, as I have ' said, we were detached for this movement,
and we again occupied the ground that we encamped on in
July of the preceding year, when under Patterson. In this place,
always a hot-bed ^of sedition, it must have seenied strange to
see many thousand loyal soldiers quartered, and the ^National
colors waving over the town. Here was the field .where John
Brown's eyes fell for the last time upon the " fine country "
around him ; the old fence, and stump where it was believed
he was executed. . The stump had been freely chipped for
mementoes. On Sunday, for the first time in many months,
we had religious services under a roof. . The bell on the old

court-house, which called the people to arms to resist John
Brown, now tolled the call to church. Our chaplain preached
a moving sermon. Quite different scenes had that old court
house witnessed the past week, from those of two years ago,
when the walls, that listened to John Brown's death-sen
tence, now echoed back, " Glory hallelujah, his soul is march
ing on."
Secrecy was to characterize our movements. An associated
press reporter would have laid himself out on the occupation
of Charlestown, arid the presence of Gen. McClellan, but that
he was not allowed to send a single word that had not been
supervised by the commanding general.
Here in Charlestown we stumbled across a good Union cit
izen, whom we had met in July of 1861. It is amusing, now,
to note liow eagerly then we hung on such stuff as this : " He
predicts that the rebels will fall back from Winchester, and he
doubts very much whether they will attempt to hold Manassas.
He thinks they will go South and make their last stand there,
if indeed they ' stand anywhere ' ; that they are getting no
recruits, and can get none ; that they are poorly armed, have
poor ammunition. Only assure the country," said he, " of your
ability to protect the people in the expression of their opinions,
and they will immediately declare for the Union." In this I
doubt not there was a grain of truth, and' possibly a grain in
the following : " Since your entrance into Charlestown, now only
three days, I have heard great change in the sentiments of
some, that formerly made use of strong secession language,
and I have been much surprised at it."
This was so cheerful that I thought I might venture to
test the strength of Union feeling by sending Major Dwight
to find rooms for Gen. Abercrombie, our brigade commander.
Knocking at a promising-looking house, he was greeted by a
sharp-visaged woman, who called out to him from an upper
window, — "^
" Go away, I won't have anything to do with you."

8
" Won't you come to the door, and let me talk with you ? "
urged the major, blandly smiling.
The door was opened just a crack.
"Couldn't you open the door wider," inquired the major
" and so avoid a draft ? "
" I 'm a lone woman. I am a lady, and I am a secessionist ;
and I hope you will lose the next battle you fight, and I just
as lief tell you so as not. I hope I am a Christian, but I hope
you will get whipped."
Through the crack of the door came this impetuous torrent
of words, until the flow was checked in a downright cry.
Major Dwight was embarrassed, but overcame it by pro
ceeding to business.
" I want a room," said he, " for Gen. Abercrombie, and he
will protect you."
Still the woman refused.
Then the major, with soothing words, mollified the good
woman, and soon received the assurance that she would take
the general, but she would tell him she " hoped he would he;
whipped in the next battle he fought," which seemed to afford
her so much relief that she at last agreed to board the general;
and later, so we learned from one of the staff, began to deliver
herself of sentiments favorable to the Union.
Thus we crowded in upon the people, taking their houses,
horses, furniture, and live stock. Of mariy feathered bipeds,
confiding pigs, and stately geese that were seen upon our
entrance, alas ! not one survived, The efforts of the people
to bear these woes with Christian resignation were sometimes
ludicrous. " I hope I 'm a Christian, and if my enemy hungers
I '11 feed him," furnished wonderful consolation to a good
woman, who hurled it at me, because I gave her no encourage
ment for her losses. We found the females here much more
violent than the males, but perhaps this was only from the
female habit of not suppressing their feelings. The women took
malicious pleasure in expressing to our officers their senti-

9
ments of hatred to "your" president and to "your'' government,
and no amount of swearing induced them to believe in our
recent victories at Henry, Mill Springs, and Donelson. We
found some difficulty, too, in trading with our treasury notes,
especially with the lower classes ; but when they found it was
that or nothing, they took them eagerly. The thin, fiimsy-
looking currency, issued by the Confederate States, as well
as by their municipal corporations, was exchanged among the
people with confidence in its value, although I observed that
the knowing ones used it, to buy lands of the foolish.
Many of our regiment can recall the guard duty, on picket
or with the batteries, performed during our occupancy of
Charlestown; can recall the huts, thatched with alternate
layers of corn-stalks and rails, which afforded shelter from
storms of snow and rain ; the fenceless fields, where hungry
cattle homeless wandered, treading down the stalks with
corn unplucked and wheat unthreshed ; the pigs, hauled
out from burrows under wheat-stacks, and then despatched by
swords in unpractised hands, and so untimely cut off in their
prime, to satisfy a craving for pork-chops ; the excitement and
glorious fun of the enemy being near, to startle from the
warmth of huge fires, and give perhaps a skirmish before
morning. On all these memories I but touch, that I may
recall to mind that the citizens of Charlestown were quite will
ing if not anxious to appeal to the officers for protection
against the swarms of foragers who invaded their spring
houses and their cellars for food. As the army increased in
numbers, our camps were pitched on the outskirts of the town,
where I selected as my headquarters the yard or park which
enclosed a gentleman's house.
The man's name was Kennedy, and he was supposed to
have some Union proclivities, as well as a house full of females
and slaves. The inmates were so much surprised to see a
regiment of infantry file into their yard, and locate tents and
baggage in front of the old family mansion, that there was

10
an immediate appeal to Gen. Banks, who " thought I better
move," which I did, first however calling upon the family to
assure them, that I thought my protection was more valuable,
than my presence was annoying. - *
The old lady of the house was full of apologies for her con
duct in locking the door, and flying to the bedroom in the
upper story, as I entered with the regiment. Notwithstanding
she " had heard " that I had " the best regiment in the United
States service, and the best disciplined," she was alarmed,
she said ; but she would be gratified if I would take a bed
in her house, which ,1, declined, and slept in camp where
water froze, and where breakfast in the open air was cool and
invigorating. "
Again, I met here one of my old friends of the Patterson
campaign, a Mr. James L. Ranson (I strongly suspect it was
his slave that I was ordered in i86i to catch and return from
Harper's Ferry), who, in a polite, note, begged the favor of my
protection for his family, consisting of Mrs. Ranson in delicate
health, his daughter and her child, and himself their sole pro
tector. " Recalling " (the note continued) " our brief inter
view last summer, at Harper's Ferry, I congratulate myself in
appealing to one who so favorably 'impressed me upon that
occasion." Hovering over a stove in my tent on the night of the 6th of
March, — it was bitter cold, — I wore away the evening until
late, iri a vain effort to read by a wretched candle stuck in a
splinter of wood for a stand ; and then, with a sense of uneasi
ness, a presage that some disagreeable duty was impending,
I invoked slumber, though in vain, for hardly had I lost myself,
when an orderly, galloping through my camp, halted at my
tent, with " despatches for Col. Gordon."
With matches ready, I struck a light and read as follows : —
Gen. Abercrombie will put his brigade immediately under arms, and will order
the Second Massachusetts and Sixteenth Indiana Volunteers to move cautiously
down the Berryville road to such a point as may be indicated by an aide-de-camp

11
who wUl be sent out from these headquarters. Two squadrons of cavalry and
two sections of artUlery wUl report to Col. George H. Gordon, who will command
the entire force, subject to further orders from these headquarters. Let not a
moment be lost. By command of
Maj.-Genl. Banks.
R. Morris Copeland,
Maj. Vols., A. A. G.
Col. Gordon wUl comply with the above order.
By command of
Genl. Abercrombie.
Geo. B. Drake, A. A. G.
In a moment, I had shivered into my shoes, -ordered my
horse, aroused our regiment, met the staff-officelr, received
the report that artillery and cavalry were ready; and off I
started by the uncertain light of the stars. Soon the long
column unwound itself in the road, and we proceeded on at a
rapid pace. Now it was, for the first time, that I learned our
destination. Our friends, the Maryland regiment. Col. Maulsby
commanding, had been stationed as a guard at a ferry on the
Shenandoah, between four and five miles from Charlestown to
the southeast. During ' the day. Col. Maulsby had beeu
threatened by the enemy's cavalry, and had asked for rein
forcements, which were not furnished. Between twelve and
one o'clock, A. M., of the 7th, a frightened teamster came flying
from their camp to Banks's headquarters, crying out that the
loyal Maryland regiment had been cut to pieces. Twelve
hundred cavalry, he said, had attacked them.
My route for a short distance was along a good paved road ;
but soon turning to the left, upon a dirt road, the mud and
obstructions rendered it impossible to proceed farther by
night. Halting by the roadside, I threw out pickets to the
fro^t, and directing the men to make themselves comfortable,
fires soon blazed along our line from fuel furnished by adjoin
ing fence-rails. While awaiting daylight, I extracted from

12
the frightened teamster, whom I had brought along as guide,
the following story of the disaster that had overtaken Col.
Maulsby : —
" When the twelve hundred cavalry of the enemy made the
attack on us, I heard the first shots fired, and then heard
the officers say, ' Turn out, boys, the enemy is upon you.' "
Throwing himself down in a hollow, this frightened teamster
remained concealed, until he thought all the enemy had passed,
when he arose to find, " that all his mules had broken away."
As fast as his legs could carry him, he ran through fields,
trembling with fear, spreading the report to our own pickets ;
who, many of them, with the fugitive teamster, came crowding
into Charlestown.
" Did you see the enemy's cavalry .' " I asked.
" I saw the Maryland men run, and heard the firing ; and
then I thought it time to take care of myself," he replied.
" But did you see any of the enemy .? " I urged,
" No ; but I was told there were twelve hundred."
" Did you see any one killed .-• "
" No, sir. I laid low until they passed me, and then I ran
here through the fields."
" Can it be possible that this story is all of your own imag-
iriing } " I inquired.
"No, indeed, sir; I 'm sure the camp is taken," he answered.
The duty I was to perform, was to capture, if possible, the
captors, and, if not, to bring back reliable information.
At daylight I resumed the march. We were but four miles
from our destination. As we approached the river, I came sud
denly upon five or six men of the Maryland regiment, as they
were crawling out of a hole that led from a barn-loft. These
men confirmed the story of the teamster, saying that their regi
ment had been cut to pieces. Sweeping them in with my
encircling line of skirmishers, I moved rapidly for the bqjt of
woods in front of the ferry, where had been the encampment
of the regiment. Near by was a small village, in which I

13
saw the gleaming of bayonets, and troops apparently falling
back, but with my glass I could not make out their colors nor
their uniforms, so I threw out an entire company of skirmish
ers, and ordered up the artillery ; but hardly had I made
preparations for a fight, when one of my cavalry scouts came
galloping back, saying, " Those are men of the Maryland regi
ment." Passing them, therefore, I directed my column for
the camp, and soon came upon sentinels, whom recognizing
by their uniform as of the Maryland regiment, I inquired
if there had been a fight, and was promptly answered that
there had not. Turning to my frightened teamster, who
stood near, I asked him what this meant. " Have you not
had firing ? " he asked a sentinel, without directly address
ing himself to me. " Yes : we made a mistake last night,
and our men just fired into our cavalry pickets, but didn't
hurt anybody. Only a horse — perhaps a man — was wounded,"
he replied.
" Is this all > " I asked.
" That is all ! " replied the sentinel.
" I ought to tie you to the tail of my horse, and drag you,
as a coward, back to Charlestown [ " I said to the now pallid
teamster by my side.
" Well, there was firing ! " he stammered out.
" And as soon as you heard it, you' ran, like a great lout, five
miles to Charlestown, and with your false reports have caused
three thousand infantry, two sections of artillery, and two
squadrons of cavalry, to be trailed out on this useless march ! "
After breakfasting with the officers, I returned again to my
camp, which I reached at ten A. M., having been absent about
twelve hours.
Information having been received that the enemy had
abandoned his batteries on the lower Potomac, and was pre
paring to abandon Manassas, our corps, "pursuant to directions
received -from Washington," was ordered to move at seven
o'clock, A. M., of the loth of MarcL

14
While Congress had been sitting in judgment upon McClel
lan, condemning his policy and his plans, discussing his move
ments and misapprehending hjs motives, as if it had become
a body of misrepresentatives with the single purpose of decry
ing the commander of the Army of the Potomac, Gen. McClel
lan had been carefully and methodically preparing his vast
army for the field.
I have referred to the onward movement ordered by the
President on the 22d of February last, with Gen. McClellan in
command of the grand army of the Potomac, organized into its
several divisionary corps, under McDowell, Sumner, Heintzle-
man, Keyes, and Banks. Halleck was in charge of a department
at the West, and Fremont in charge of the mountain depart
ment. It is with Banks's corps that bur interest lies. While
the others were to move on their devious way up the Peninsula
to Yorktown, Williamsburg, the Chickahominy, and the James,
we were to move up the valley of the Shenandoah, closing this
gateway to the enemy. Our force was as follows : We had
the brigades that wintered with us at Frederick, commanded
by Generals Hamilton, Williams, and Abercrombie. This
force was increased by the , division formerly commanded by
Gen. Charles P. Stone, at Poolsville, and consisted of three
brigades, commanded by Generals Gorman, Burns, and Dana.
Only the first two were with us, and these were commanded
by Gen. Sedgwick, to whom, after Stone's removal and incar
ceration, the division was assigned. We had also a force of
some six thousand men, commanded by Gen. Shields, formerly
Lander's force, which was ordered to report to Banks. Then
there were about fourteen hundred men, commanded by Col.
Geary, not serving with any brigade. This made up the whole
of Banks's command. The use to be made of it, was primarily
the capture of Winchester. It was reported, and we believed,
that Gen. (Stonewall) Jackson, with from seven to eleven
thousand men, awaited us behind those fortified walls. What
ever may have been Jackson's force, we knew he could increase

15
it from Manassas, or farther south. The disposition of our
command was as follows. While our brigade moved on and
to Charlestown from Harper's Ferry, Gen. Williams with
my old Darnstown brigade moved from Hancock through
Martinsburg to Bunker Hill (our old position under Patter
son). Gen. Hamilton passing through Charlestown stopped at
Smithfield, midway between Charlestown and Bunker Hill.
Gen. Shields halted at Martinsburg and Gen. Sedgwick at
Charlestown. Our route was first south from Charlestown to Berryville,
fourteen and one half miles, then due west to Winchester,
about ten and one half miles. Gen. Williams was only fourteen
miles away, and Hamilton about the same. On the morning
of the I Gth of March, Gen.  at 7 o'clock started with
his brigade to make a reconnoissance to Berryville : we were
to follow, and were ready. At 12 m. a mounted messenger
from Gen.  came tearing into camp, asking for reinforce
ments. Our brigade was instantly put in motion. Without
adventure We encamped about sundown within one mile of
Berryville ; Gen.  was there before us, and without oppo
sition, although not without z. fight. While riding in advance,
the commanding general saw, as he thought, preparations to
oppose his march. On a distant hill, surrounded with horse
men, a devilish invention met his gaze. " What is it .' " he
asked in vain. "Are these three men on horseback the
t
advance of legions } Bring up the field-batteries ! " he cried
aloud. Pointing, like Napoleon to the British squares at
Waterloo, he shouted, " Our pathway lies there." So Gen.
 hurled his shot and shell at this obstacle to his progress.
Off scampered the three horsemen ; down from his perch
scrambled and scud the driver of a threshing-machine, for
this was the harmless implement that filled the soul of
Gen.  with direful purpose. To camp that afternoon there
came an old farmer to inquire why they fired at him. "Ac- ,
cording to the proclamation," said he, " you did n't come to

16
destroy property or interfere with citizens peaceably following
their avocations ; and certainly there was nothing rebellious in
threshing wheat*
There were no signs of Union feeling on our route, save in a
single house in a mean, poverty-stricken little collection of
houses, by which our road ran, and here we found three or four
young women and children lustily waving handkerchiefs, while
a small boy held up conspicuously a Union flag, whose diminu
tive proportions could be embraced in two inches by three. .
The inmates of this house seemed reckless in their determina
tion to brave all danger ; indeed, had they been Northern men
they could not have expressed more joy, although the judgment
hereafter, if we did not sustain ourselves, no doubt caused
some repression of feeling. The Second Regiment, with the
rest of our brigade, bivouacked on Monday night, the loth
of March, in the woods near Berryville. With straw from
farmers' stacks, we added to the warmth of our single blanket ;
with rails from farmers' fences we managed to moderate an
atmosphere that was near the freezing-point. Bright and
early in the morning of the nth, our cavalry, moving for
ward for Winchester, encountered the enemy's cavalry, made
prisoners of three, and chased the rest to within three or four
miles of the town itself.
Gen. Gorman now began to make arrangements for an
armed reconnoissance, in force, towards ?Winchestei:. This, he
wished me to command, but somehow or other the day passed
and nothing was done. We were awaiting the arrival pf
Gen. Banks. I rode around the town, out on the Winchester
road, and saw that ample arrangements for guards and a
defence had been made. There were no alarms and no change
during the day. The next morning, the 12th of March, just
after a long interview with a clergyman of Berryville, a Union
man, who had been giving me a plan of the works around
I ,  _^_^
* This is no fiction : the story was common talk, when we reached Berryville.

17
Winchester, which I had committed to paper, news came that
last night (Tuesday) the enemy fled from the town, and that our
force from Bunker Hill (Gen. Williams) had entered. It was
true. The Winchester that we had looked at in July of 1861,
from this same Bunker Hill, had now been entered from Bunker
Hill. The Winchester we had hoped to gain by Berryville, in
1 86 [, when Patterson implored his militia to march to its attack,
we were now about entering from Berryville. I galloped to
the town with a staff-officer in anticipation of our march
there on the morrow; found everything quiet and peace
able ; and fancied perhaps there was some Union feeling.
Some Northern men were there, said to be from Milford,
Mass., who told me of the flight of the enemy. When I
returned to Berryville, it was dark ; the ride had been weari
some. I was indulging in thoughts of a good supper and
sleep ; but my reverie was rudely broken, by the sight of bat
teries and brigades en route to Winchester. Berryville had
been plunged into commotion by the report that a fierce battle
was raging in that town. In vain I urged that I had just come
from there, had found and left no enemy in sight or sound ;
that marriage bells were not more peaceful than was Win
chester. It was all in vain. On streamed the columns of
infantry. On rolled the batteries and the caissons, while the
wheels jarred and cracked against the axles, and on lumbered
the baggage-wagons and the camp-followers. Still onward,
tramp, tramp, for the severe fight at Winchester, though not a
sound of fighting we heard. In the darkness all was quiet,
save the subdued noise of our own senseless march. At about
twelve o'clock at night, two or three miles from the peaceable
town, I laid down in the woods again, to bivouac in cold
and in hunger, with a disgust, deep and undefinable, to awake,
however, on the morning of the 13 th, with all discomforts
vanished, and our fatigues forgotten.
The feelings that agitated Gen. Jackson, as our columns
approached the town from the north and east, have, since his
3

18
death, been given to the world. This noted commander was
moved with doubts and perplexities. Now he was ready to
hazard everything to make goed his promise to the people of
Winchester that the " Yankees " should not enter their town ;
and then, more prudent considerations prevailing, he would
resolve to retire, only again to reconsider, with renewed
agitation.* On the night of the nth of March, Jackson entered the
house of a Rev. Mr. Graham, of Winchester, with whose
family he was intimate. Here he called for a Bible, read
aloud, and prayed with the family. Then suddenly rising,
he said, " I will never leave Winchester without a fight, never,
never!" He stood looking at his astonished auditors a
moment, and then, his excitement disappearing, his sword was
driven back with a ringing clash into its scabbard,f and in
tones of profound discouragement he said, " No, I cannot sac
rifice my men. I intended to attack the enemy on the Mar
tinsburg road, but they are approaching on the flanks, too,
and would surround me. I cannot sacrifice my men, I must
fall back ; " and so he fell back to Mount Jackson, forty-five
miles from Winchester.
About two miles from town, the camp of our regiment was
located. Then came days of cold, with huge fires in front
of tents; and days of sunshine and heat, when the blue
birds and the robins sang, and days when the air was filled

•Life of Gen. (Stonewall) Jackson, by Esten Cooke, p. io6.
t Oliver Cromwell 1 Farmer Cromwell ! Lord of the fens I The slovenly,
ungainly member for Huntingdon ! the man of massive^forehead, swift, glancing
eye, and firm-set lips, who had a habit of suddenly grasping the hilt of his sword
with firmness, as if there in his mind lay the true argument, or, at all events,
which would, all others failing, assuredly prevail ! Oliver Cromwell, who, at
Naseby Field, passed the words, " Peace and Hope," along his line as the tri
umphant psalm pealed forth, when the swords of the Ironsides flashed in the
sun I Oliver Cromwell, who in piercing tones, bade his Ironsides charge home
" in the name ofthe Most High God " ! This Cromwell has had through near one
hundred and fifty years no better or truer prototype than " Stonewall " Jackson.

19
with flocks of unsightly ravens hovering over fields, noisome
with the carcasses of dead horses. Here, too, were felt
such cravings for poultry, that the feathered tribe became
almost extinct. The peacock was caught by his magnificent
tail, by vandal hands, and roasted like any common bird. The
officers shut their eyes whenever a rooster crowed ; for Gen.
Abercrombie, commanding the brigade, had given strict orders
to punish all detected foragers. This was hard, for Abercrom
bie ate secession chickens ; but he paid for them, it was said.
So did the forager of a line officer's mess pay for a calf, he
coveted, or attempted to pay for it, but the farmer would not
sell. Federal money was offered ; then Confederate, but the
owner still refused.
" The officers have nothing to eat," said the man.
" Let them starve, then," replied the farmer.
" Not so," said the man, as he levelled, his musket, and shot
the calf.
A General Staff-Officer — an unhallowed quarter-master
— did not shut his eyes ; and thus it was that the whole
force of the North was employed to punish the destroyer of
calves, to the satisfaction of the destroyers of country;
'for the former was punished by imprisonment, and the latter
encouraged to deny food to his enemy. Still, I doubt not, our
men survived ; for I find, upon referring to that period, that
our regiment arrived in camp at Winchester at two p. m., and
at five P.M. some of the companies had built brick ovens,
from which there came forth fresh bread, to make more pala
table the baked beans and mutton-chops which graced the
line officers' mess tables. Such were sometimes rations.
The great fortifications, of which we had heard,' surround
ing Winchester, proved to be of no moment. One could have
jumped over them as easily as Remus over the walls of Rome.
Much dissatisfaction was expressed in our regiment that Jack
son was permitted to get away from Winchester without a fight,
and but little heed paid to my assurances that this chieftain

20
would be apt, before the war closed, to give us an entertain
ment up to the utmost of our aspirations.
It was about this time that the appearance of our first
" Monitor " off James River, so providential as it seemed,
moved the fears of some of us that the end was about coming,
and that, with the flight of Jackson, our last chance for a
fight was gone. Though the country might not be restored
in July of 1862, there was no doubt the war would be
over then, said those whom neither reason or reproach could
reach. When Gen. McClellan's order of movement and strong
appeal to his army appeared, we learned of the disposition
to be made of our corps. Again the destiny of the Second
Regiment gave it a new brigade commander; one that
shared with it all the eventful scenes, with the attendant
joys and sorrows, that so largely entered into the year of 1862.
We were to be no more to Gen. Abercrombie. Gen. Hamil
ton was, by order of Gen. McClellan, transferred to another
corps in his army, and our regiment transferred to the brigade
lately commanded by Hamilton. As senior colonel, I thus
became the commander of a brigade which, then for the first
time united, remained unbroken during the remainder of the
war, — a brigade with a common history and a common
glory. When the achievements of any portion of that organization
are spoken, deeds are declared in whose fame all share. The
Second Massachusetts, the Third Wisconsiri, arid the Twenty-
Seventh Indiana Regiments, made up, substantially, the
brigade that fell to my command.
From Winchester, Gen. Sedgwick, with his Division, was
transferred to another corps in the Army of the Potomac.
We now enter upon our second movement, of which the
advance upon Winchester was the first in McClellan's plans.
Williams's Division of the Fifth Corps was ordered to proceed,
via Berryville, through Snicker's Gap to Centreville, while

21
Shields, with his division of abdut six thousand men, was to
remain at Winchester. Our division of three brigades moved
very early in the morning of the 22d for its destination. At
night my brigade encamped at Berryville, and the next night
we were at Snicker's Gap. Ignorant of the events transpiring
in our rear, I was awakened on the morning of the 24th of
March by despatches coming thick and fast, calUng me back
to Winchester. "We have heard cannon at intervals, hear
them now,'' wrote Major Crane, of the Third Wisconsin, at half-
past six of the day before ; and so, as I read the orders sent me
at ten ininutes past six p. m. from Gen. Williams to return at
once to Berryville, I exclaimed, " There are Major Crane's can
non." " Push on to Winchester," continued the orders, " if on
your arrival at Berr)rville you hear the sound of large guns,
giving an indication of an action in progress at the former
place." Rapidly we retraced our steps. Six companies of our
regiment had encamped for the night at the ferry across the
Shenandoah. The bridge had broken down and delayed them.
These were turned back to Berryville by orders from Gen.
Williams. " Leave two regiments, with one section of artil-
leryj at Berryville, and move the remainder of your command
from three to five miles from there unless you hear firing at
Winchester, in which event leave but one regiment and one
section of artillery, and push on for Winchester," came to me
through a flying orderly at eight o'clock ; and still following
upon the heels of the former came another, to say that
Gen. Banks had returned ¦ (from Harper's Ferry), that my
brigade would proceed immediately to Winchester. Scarcely
had I digested this, when out of the thick dust loomed up
another orderly, galloping as if for life, and I read, from the
headquarters of the Fifth Army Corps to Col. George H.
Gordon : " Send forward your battery with all possible de
spatch." And still the cry was, " On they come " ; as yet again
the orders came, " Send back the ordnance train with all
possible despatch " ; and " Send forward to Gen. Abercrombie

22
to return with all his trains to Winchester " ; and " Gen.
Williams expects you to leave one regiment at Berryville, with
one section of artillery ; and Col. Andrews " hopes I will leave
some other force to guard the bridge arid ordriance train, and
send Capt. Abbott's company to report" to him,
From the multitude of despatches and orders that poured
fast and furious upon me, it was evident that a battle was
imminent ; and that I was expected to push on to be in time
to take a hand. It was late in the evening when I reached
Winchester : I had done two days'^ work in one, — had
marched twenty-six miles. Banks was at Middletown. There
had been a fight; Shields's Division had whipped Jackson,
who was now being pursued by Banks, and the urgent calls
upon me were to aid in the pursuit. I sent a messenger to
Banks (twelve miles) to announce my arrival, and he, on the
morning of the 25th, ordered me to report to him at Stras
burg. It was apparent the fight with Jackson was not to be
renewed at once. There was still a little daylight left, as,
with my staff, I rode into Winchester in the evening of the
24th ; and I improved it, to ride with my aid over the field, on
which we had gained a decided victory. The wounded of both
sides had been removed ; but the dead still lay where they fell.
Along the enemy's lines the ground was covered with them.
The coming shades of twilight in the thick woods rendered
everything obscure. To a novice the scene was awful. As
they were when stricken, so in death th'e dead remained : the
clenched hand, the uplifted arm, the effort to stanch a bleed
ing limb, the solitude, the dreary light — it was a picture I
cannot forget, and yet to add to its horror, amidst this
deathly silence, I heard a voice invoking curses on the dead.
Peering into the darkness, I saw a man on horseback, slowly
moving towards me, with head bowed low, gazing sternly into
the upturned ghastly faces, while angry denunciations fell
from his lips, as without pity in his heart he rejoiced in this
carnival of death.

23
The bitterness of his crips filled me with horror. Who was
he that had no sorrow for a scene like that ? Nearer came the
rider, near enough for recognition. It was a son of Virginia,
here upon the soil of his native Statp, cursing with all the bit
terness of his heart his dead kinsman at his feet : a loyal
Virginian, who had been driven from home, wife, and children ;
who had seen his aged father driven out of his house to die, —
driven out by those who had plunged the nation into war,
a man maddened by outrages and gloating over this terrible
retribution, and plunging yet deeper in that gloom of horrors
as if his vengeance could not be repaid.
The history of the preceding two days began on the very
day that we left Winchester for our march to Centreville,
when the enemy, under command of " Stonewall " Jackson,
showed themselves in the edge of the woods that skirt the town
on the southern side. From here shells were thrown at our
pickets, and our artillery replied, but Gen. Shields paid but
little attention to this demonstration, though he gave personal
attention to directing his artillery, until his arm was fractured by
a fragment of a shell. Sunday the 23d the artillery firing was
recommenced about noon ; but so little'was thought of it that
Gen. Banks, between one and two P. m., left to go to Harper's
Ferry on public business. At four p. m., the enemy's infantry
made their appearance, and formed in line of battle, about three
miles from the town. This pounding of artillery was what
Major Crane heard when he sent me his note. Now the scene
changed. The troops of Shields's Division, under their re
spective colonels, turned eagerly to greet Jackson, who had
marched swiftly upon the town. Brigadier-General (so act
ing) Kimball was in command.
The battle of Kernstown, as the enemy named it, was fought
near the eastern declivity of the little North Mountain, not far
from the spot where the Opecquan takes its rise. The enemy's
line followed the crest of the hills that lie south of the town,
and on the west of the pike leading to Strasburg. On the

24
eastern side of this road, crowning a wooded knoll, the enemy
had posted a battery. Jackson's centre was covered by a
stone wall ; his left flank was covered by a growth of thick
small timber, into which it extended ; his right, by the battery
and by timber. The action commenced, as usual, with inter
changes of shots from opposing artillery. Then our men
moved to turn the enemy on his left flank. Behind a growth
of timber, in front of the enemy's stone wall, our infantry
gained a vantage-ground unperceived. ^rom there, by the
right, our troops were obliged to march across an open field to
turn the line hidden in the undergrowth. But it was done.
Bravely did some Ohio regiments charge up to, and into, this
cover ; unmoved by the rebel fire, unterrified by the rebel yell.
In vain did Jackson implore his men to stand ; in vain address
them as " my brave boys," and in vain cry out " give them one
more round." He saw his left flank forced back upon his cen
tre, and our troops sweeping over the stone wall, driving his left
farther into the woods, capturing his cannon, and many prison
ers. So while his force was retreating in disorder, Jackson
turned, thoroughly beaten, towards Strasburg.*
Jackson had promised the people of Winchester that he
would return to them. This time he failed to keep his word.
His dead, dying, and wounded were left to our care. Too
much praise cannot be awarded the men for their courage,
especially the Ohio troops. It was pluck, more thau leader
ship, iri this action. The thickets were cut up into slivers by
the storm of bullets poured in by them from the open field
over which they passed to the assault.
That Jackson was deceived in the number of our troops
?Jackson blamed Gen. R. B. Garnett, of whom he says in his official report :
*' Though our troops were fighting under great disadvantage, I regret that Gen.
Garnett gave orders to fall back, as otherwise the enemy's advance would have
been retarded, and other regiments brought up. Col. John Campbell was rapidly
advancing with his regiment, but night, and an indisposition of the enemy to
press further, had terminated the battle, which commenced at four o'clock, P. m."

25
in front of Winchester, is admitted by Southern writers,*
and that he intended to deceive him, was always claimed by
Gen. Shields. It was part of his feint to move forward to
Strasburg on the 19th of March, and retreat rapidly again,
passing through Winchester, after three brigades of Banks's
Corps had marched for Centreville.f And this was his
movement. Gen. Shields dwelt with unfeigned delight upon his " strata
gem " in placing his force in a secluded position two miles from
Winchester upon the Martinsburg road, to give the inhabitants
an impression that the main part of his army had left, and
that nothing remained but a few regiments to garrison the
place. He knew that the people would convey false informa
tion to Jackson at New Market, as indeed they did — Jackson
turned instantly in pursuit. On the 22d, when Ashby drove
in Shields's pickets, he discovered only what he supposed to
be a single brigade. On the 23d, when Jackson attacked, he
soon found he had caught a " tartar." His force of 4,000 was
opposed, not to 2,000 less than his own, but to the whole
of Shields's Division of 6,750 infantry, cavalry, and artillery,
and no more. J There is no evidence that Jackson contem
plated the result that followed, although some writers claim
unforeseen consequences, when favorable, as results of well-laid
plans. Southern writers, while speaking openly of Jackson's
not' doubting that he could crush the four regiments at Win-
* " I heard that the enemy's infantry force at Winchester did not exceed four
regiments. A large Federal force was leaving the valley, and had already reached
Castleton's Ferry on the Sheaiindoah." — yac&son's Official Ref ort. Battle of
Kernstown. t " On the preceding Friday evening, despatches from Col. Turner Ashby were
received, stating that the enemy had evacuated Strasburg." — Jackson's Report.
X If Shields had remained at Strasbuirg, the history of Banks's retreat would
never have been written. My brigade would have followed the others of the
division, and all would have reported to McDowell in front of Fredericksburg.
As it was, only Abercrombie got away, and him we saw no more. In this
event Lee would probably have found enough to engage his attention, without
sending Jackson on the rampage through the valley.
4

26
Chester,* further affirm that this battle brought upon him a
great deal of censure ; for it was a fierce and frightful engage
ment, in which he lost nearly twenty per cent of his force in
a very few hours of conflict. One of his officers at this time
said of him that he was " cussed by every one " ; " and it
must be confessed," says Pollard,f " in this instance, at least,
the great commander had been entrapped by the enemy." J
Again, on the other side, it is claimed, that " this was not a
blind, heedless assault ; that it was not a blunder or an acci-

* Life of Stonewall Jackson, by John Esten Cooke, page 109.
t Pollard's " Lost Cause," pp. 264, 265.
t The recent narrative of Gen. Johnston, of the Confederate service, confirms
these views. He says .• " After it became evident that the valley was to be in
vaded by an army too strong to be encountered by Jackson's Division, that ofiicer
was instructed to endeavor to employ the invaders in the valley, but without
exposing himself to the danger of defeat, by keeping so near the enemy as to
prevent him from mjiking any considerable detachment to support McClellan, but
not so near that he might be compelled to fight. Under these instructions, when
Banks, approaching with a Federal force greatly superior to his own, was within
four miles of Winchester, Jackson, on March 12, fell slowly back to Strasburg,
eighteen miles in two days, remaining there undisturbed until the sixteenth, when,
finding that the Federal army was again advancing, he fell back to Mount Jack
son, twenty-four miles, his adversary halting at Strasburg. I received these
reports on the nineteenth, and suggested that his distance was too great from the
Federal army for objects in view. On the twenty-first he acknowledged this, and
said that he was about to move his headquarters to Woodstock, twelve miles from
the enemy's camp. At about half-past six A. M., on the twenty-third, at Strasburg,
he expressed a hope that he should be near Winchester that afternoon ; and at
ten o'clock thfit night he wrote in his brief manner that he attacked the Federal
army at four P. M., and was repulsed by it at dark. He gave his force as three
thousand and eighty-seven infantry, two hundred and ninety cavalry, and twenty-
seven pieces of artillery ; and his loss at eighty killed, three hundred and forty-
two wounded, and two hundred and thirty prisoners." — Narrative of Military
Operations directed during the Late War between the States. By Joseph E. Johnston ,
Generdi^C. S. A., 1874,//. 106, 107.
[Note. — It would seem that not only was Jackson deceived by Shields, but
that a gentle reminder from Johnston that the former was too far from his enemy
may have irritated Jackson to make his ill-judged movement. We find, too, that
Johnston instructed Jackson to keep the Federals in the valley, all of which has
been claimed for Jackson. — Author.]

27
dent, but the result of calculation and design : to wit, the
retention of the Federal forces in the valley." *
"It was not until he was actually engaged with the
enemy that he found their force numbered ii,ooo men,"t is
a Southern statement, falsely made, to excuse a defeat, and
yet containing an undeniable admission that, if Jackson had
known our force was superior in numbers to his own, he
would not have attacked us. J
When the enemy fled, their flight was rapid, and, as
described by the fugitives, fatiguing, — Jackson forcing his
men along the valley pike all night, pushed on through
Strasburg,§ and did not rest until far enough towards Char
lottesville to be secured against a rapid pursuit.
As narrated, I proceeded on the morning of the 25th to
unite my forces with the advance, under Banks. Every
where, there were signs of a hasty retreat. To hinder pursuit,
bridges had been destroyed by the fugitives ; whether over
pike or railroad, they were doomed. We found some dead
and wounded in houses along the road, and in a miserable
hut there laid a poor fellow, a wounded rebel, hit so hard by
a shell, that his arm had been amputated, his right leg badly
lacerated in twelve places, and his left badly torn. Before
deserting him, a surgeon had amputated the arm, but the leg,
having received no attention, when we arrived mortification
* " I feel justified in saying that, though the field is in possession ofthe enemy,
the most essential fruits of the battle are ours." — jfackson's Official Report, Battle
of Kernstown.
t Cooke's Life of Jackson.
X The number of troops present in the jSeld, available for the fight, in Jackson's
army, was : "Infantry, 3,087 ; ArtiUery, 27 guns; and Ashby's Cavalry." — Jack
son's Official Report. ^
From the same source we find Jackson admitted a loss of kUled, wounded,
and missing, of 701 ; of which 46 were ofiicers. In addition to this. Shields '
claims to have captured 2 guns, 4 caissons, and 1,000 small arms.
Ou loss was (from Shields's official report), in killed and wounded, 504.
§ Battle-fields of tjie South, vol. i, Ashton's letter, page 324.

28
had set in. All we could do was to make him as comfortable
as possible, and leave him to die.
Though the reality of this retreat was bad enough, the papers
of the day indulged in flights of fancy that if possible put to
shame a rebel pen. No one ever saw the " nine wagon-loads
of the enemy's dead upon the road," nor did they exist,
although our papers so reported. A German aid to Gen.
Shields performed marvels of gallantry — so he said ; three
rebel horsemen, if not six, being in turn killed by sword and
pistol by his single hand. A bullet-hole through his cap he
showed me in proof of his escape in this deadly encounter, a
satirical sketch of which was made for " Harper's Weekly,"
representing this ferocious German in the act of transfixing
two rebel cavalrymen, while a third in rear, with jaws agape
at such wonders, received the point in his mouth. The
tables of our laughter were turned when this sketch appeared,
solemnly representing a swordsman transfixing two only. The
sword had been rubbed out beyond the second, and thus the
sketch was sent and published as a true delineation.*
On the evening of the 26th of MarcH, my tired brigade
laid down their knapsacks in the town of Strasburg. The
effect of our victory we perceived in strong professions of love
for the Union, expressed by men of intelligence, in the towns
along our route. We heard many confessions of regret and
accusations of deception against Southern leaders by people
here who affirmed their belief, that upon our coming, their
property would be taken, their houses destroyed, and them
selves made prisoners. I slept the first night of my arrival in
Strasburg in the house of a fine-looking and cheery old gentle
man, who said to me, that, when he first saw our troops coming
down the hill into town, he was firmly convinced that he would
be killed or made prisoner, and that he could not express his
astonishment and delight at our treatment of the people ;
*The German had borrowed it of the artist, and sent it, stripped of its
ludicrous elements, to the publisher.

29
adding that such information as he could now impart would
cause hundreds of men to return to their allegiance.
These confessions, coming on the heels of our decisive vic
tory, filled us with enthusiasm, gave tone to our feelings, and
made our hearts bound with delight at the thought of carrying
onward the old flag, though our marches might be in days and
nights of travel, in hunger, privation, and death. As the
superb scenery of the valley opened before us in the sparkling
waters of the Shenandoah, winding between the Blue Ridge
and its parallel ranges ; in the trees of cedar and pine that
lined its banks ; in the rolling surfaces of the valley, peacefully
resting by the mountain-side, and occupied by rich fields and
quiet farms, there was no foreshadowing of the terror, the des
olation and death, that were to follow.
On the day after our arrival, we were thrown forward
through the town towards Woodstock to a camp back from
the road concealed behind Round Hill, in front of which was
Col. Sullivan, of Shields's brigade, and, for some purpose
of offence, beyond Col. Sullivan was Jackson. Now Jackson
was constantly stirring up Sullivan, and Sullivan was as con
stantly stirring up my brigade at Round Hill. The enemy
seemed to be always advancing. Bits of paper announcing
it in hurried though laconic style fioated through camp, until
How is Sullivan ? became a popular inquiry. The enemy
were constantly in readiness to move, said our spies, but in
which direction was the conundrum of the hour. When we
pursued towards Strasburg, Ashby made a display of his
artillery, fired a few shots, and retreated ; and in this manner
we had chased him about four miles beyond the town. When
we halted, Jackson halted. Our pickets were about a mile
beyond our camp : they were up to Tom's Brook, as it was
called. About a mile beyond the brook I could see the
enemy's cavalry. Sometimes the enemy amused himself
by throwing shells at our pickets, when they were a little
too venturesome ; but beyond a feeble show of strength

30
and ugliness, nothing transpired to disturb the dulness of
camp. It was on the first of April that Banks received from Gen.
McClellan a new plan of operations. Up to this point Jackson
had planned our campaign. Now we were to plan Jackson's.
From the steamer "Commodore" as his headquarters, on
the 1st of April Gen. McClellan addressed to Gen. Banks, com
manding the Fifth Corps, a communication, in which he
affirmed that the change in affairs in the valley of the Shenan
doah rendered necessary a departure "froiri the plan we some
days since agreed upon." Assuming that Banks had a force
sufficiently ample to drive Jackson before him, provided the
latter was not largely reinforced, and that the former might find
it impossible to detaCh anything towards Manassas for some
days, probably not until the operations of the main army had
drawn all the rebels towards Richmond, Banks was ordered,
as the most important thing he could do at present, to throw
Jackson well back, and then to assume such a position as to
prevent his return. When railway communications were re
established, McClellan thought it would be advisable to move
on Staunton ; " which would require a force of twenty-five or
thirty thousand men, and should be mainly coincident with
my own movement on Richmond, at all events not so long
before as to enable the rebels to combine against you, perhaps
with smaller force after the main battle near Richmond."
Thus began our second campaign. Up and along the
North Fork of the Shenandoah we moved out on the 2d of
April, in pursuit of Gen. Jackson's army. My brigade with
cavalry and artillery was ordered to take the advance.
As our sturdy columns, with bayonets glistening in the sun
light, moved out upon the main road to form on that bright
April morning for an eventful campaign, I was never more
impressed with the march of a column of troops, moving
forward for the accomplishment of a determined purpose. As
the long lines conform in graceful curves to the undulations

31
of the earth, they seem, with their solid tread, like a symbol
of irresistible force centred in the immovable rocks beneath.
I know of nothing like it in nature. The columns pass,
leaving scarce a trace of motion; and lo ! what changes are
wrought. Forms and customs, laws and religions, property
and possessions, all give way before this mysterious power.
In view of such scenes I have often felt the sternness of this
reality. Here indeed is the inevitable. It is born of destiny.
Hardly had we passed Tom's Brook, where our advance
guard had been stationed, when we came in sight ofthe enemy's
cavalry pickets. Saluting them with a shot or two from my bat
tery (" Cothran's Parrotts "), I moved rapidly towards Wood
stock. As we were descending the hill which brought us into
this picturesque little town, bang went a gun, and a shell whizzed
about ten feet over our heads (I won't be accurate about the
feet), grazing the neck of Col. Brodhead's horse,* and striking
the road a few feet in front of a company of the Second Mas
sachusetts Regiment. Fortunately the shell did not explode.
Perhaps a minute passed, when there arose a puff of smoke,
then a report, and a shell screamed along the road ; but this,
like its predecessor, did not burst Cothran's battery was
close behind. At a spanking gallop his horses came up, his
guns were unlimbered, and we gave them a dozen to their
four ; which not liking they retired with their artillery, and
threw forward some of their skirmishers (probably dismounted
cavalry). To meet them I ordered Lieut.-Col. Andrews to deploy the
Second Massachusetts, and move over them ; which was done
rapidly, with but few casualties. Without a halt we pushed
on for Edenburg, which is about five miles from Woodstock.
At every hill we got some shells, but paid them back with
interest. These jagged pieces of iron whirring around one's
«
ears gave a new sensation to our men. " If there is anything
*The colonel commanded the cavalry force attached to my column.

32
that can scare a man," said one of the best of the officers of
the Second, " it is a shell ; and I 've seen precious few who
are not scared." As we approached Edenburg, the scenes
at Woodstock were repeated ; but here the enemy's infantry
snarled at us. Deploying the Second Massachusetts as skir
mishers, they advanced handsomely towards the town. Bullets
fell thick around them ; but they moved forward without hesi
tation. At Edenburg, Stony Creek, a deep and rapid stream
running easterly across the pike and railroad, empties into the
North Fork of the Shenandoah. The place was favorable for
a stand, and it looked for a time as if the enemy were deter
mined to make one there. Retreating, however, across the
creek, Jackson burned both the pike and railroad bridges in
his flight, and then placed his cavalry and artillery, on a com
manding ridge on the south side of the creek, confronting us
on the northern side. The enemy's batteries, posted about
three fourths of a mile from us, exchanged continual shots with
our Parrott's. Our guns, cleverly concealed just over the brow
of a hill, did good execution without loss of men or horses.
Beneath the hill, resting from their fatiguing march of a good
sixteen miles, were my infantry. The enemy's guns, answer
ing our fire, sent shells merrily around our heads : but the men
had got somewhat used to the sound, and munched their cold
rations with indifference, and kept on too ; all but one poor
fellow, a private of my Twenty-Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment,
who would have continued to masticate his hard bread, but,
alas ! a ragged piece of iron severed the back of his head from
the front, as cleverly as if a knife had passed through. The
crowd around him was great, the commotion noticeable ; but
no one else was hit. It was determined to remain at Eden
burg for several days ; so before sunset the line of the creek
swarmed with our pickets. Our men tumbled down in their
designated encampments, unmindful of the sharp reports of
hostile muskets or the deeper base of answering artillery.
Through the day we had been fighting Ashby, with his cavalry

33
and horse artillery, — the rear-guard of Jackson's army.
Ashby's cavalry force numbered about one thousand, and,
as cavalry, were greatly superior to ours. In reply to some
orders I had given, my cavalry commander replied, "I can't
catch thera, sir ; they leap the fences and walls like deer : nei
ther our men or horses are so trained." And this was true ;
although, before the war was much older, we could give them
odds and beat them. Ashby was as cool and brave as he was
experienced. I think our men had a kind of admiration for
the man, as he sat unmoved upon his horse, and let our men
pepper away at him, as if he enjoyed it. In Southern histories
the writers never tired in praising Ashby. The more absurd
the stories, the more credible they were to Southern admirers,
who gloated over such Munchausenisms as that, when our
troops entered Winchester, Ashby, on his white horse, at
some conspicuous point in the town, alone awaited our
advance. There he sat, motionless, until almost approached ;
when, with a defiant wave, he galloped rapidly away, killing
one, and lifting by the coat-collar from his horse to Ashby's
own, and so bearing him off, the other of two of our cavalry
men sent around to intercept him.
During the day's march I had my first experience of the
part the blacks were to render us in this war. Entering a
collection of poor negro huts during one of my halts, I was
handed, by some of the colored people, two letters addressed
to Gen. Banks ; which proved to be from a white man calling
himself a spy, and giving information of importance. If this
was a ruse, it revealed that there was no surer way to get
information adverse to the enemy into our hands than to
intrust it to such messengers. In another instance, sorrow
ful complaints made to me proved that the colored people
would be called for by the rebel armies to assist them to the
extent of their capacity. Near our bivouac, there was a poor
hut; its occupant a neat-looking free negro woman. She
came to speak to me ; not to complain, but to say, in a weary,
5

34
discouraged way, that the enemy had taken her two sons
away from her, one of them a poor cripple, who with a wagon
and two poor "bones" (horses) earned the pittance upon
which she lived. He was taken to haul off sick soldiers of
Jackson's army. " I shall never see him again," mourned the
poor mother, as she, looked eagerly in my face for consolation,
which I could only feel would be hers through that God who
is love, though it was to come to this poor woman in this
lowly cabin through a great sorrow, to open at last into a
path of freedom and of joy.
Our stay at Edenburg was a continuous season of artillery-
brawling and picket-stalking. We had some severe lessons
before we learned to creep up on our game, like our more
experienced friends on the other side of the creek. It was
not five minutes after one of my staff had entered and
examined a piece of woods on the outskirts of our camps,
before the enemy's sharp-shooters fired upon and killed some
of my men going through the same piece for water. Com
pany H, of our regiment, was sent to dislodge them. While
they were crawling up towards the bank, pushing their guns
before them, and eagerly peering ahead for a shot, I could see
with my glass the rebel hunters dodging low along the walls,
or creeping carefully behind the bushes, to gain a sheltered
spot in an unlooked-for cover, and then, a musket cracked
and a lively rattle followed, mingled with answering growls
of artillery. The creek that separated us from the enemy
was not more than ten yards in width. On its banks on
either side were houses. Back from the river about one fourth
of a mile there was a thick wood, in which the enemy con
cealed his batteries until he chose to stir us up-, when he
would sneak up behind the cover, open upon us at an unex
pected moment, and retreat rapidly when we replied. The fire
from the artillery, and the skirmishing between the pickets,
though continuous, was wonderfully free from casualties. On
one of our afternoons at this spot, I had just arisen from the

35
rough camp-table, that served us for our meals, when hissing
and crashing came the enemy's shells over towards our bat
tery. Instantly I heard the cheerful boom of ours in reply ;
and then, as the enemy's demonstration was a little more
spiteful than usual, I got the brigade under arms. There was
no harm done ; but it took at least a dozen shots from our
guns to make the rebels move off.
The brigade, after some little delay, went into camp again ;
and the occasion, though one of no moment to the troops,
proved a trial to my aid, who, having just procured a horse out
of the government train, must needs try his martial ardor. The
horse was a good-natured, stupid, slow old beast, and, mated
with another, was very well ; but, alone, he turned out " a bad
lot." He did n't mind spurs, ran into every man he met, caus
ing much profanity, and was especially obdurate when my aid
(an officer of the Second Massachusetts) particularly desired
to appear in the role of an equestrian warrior. So here, one
regiment having been formed, and the Second Massachusetts
coming up, before which of all others the officer felt a parr
donable pride in appearing in most gallant style, his plebeian
charger could not be entreated out of a walk. Now any
horseman knows that for a military chieftain, a gallop is the
thing, — a light, airy, arched-neck gallop, a spirited intimation
of reserved force, with champing bit and nostrils dilated,
and eye flashing and ear pointed, as reminders of what you
may get if you want it. It was something like this that my aid
essayed, when lo ! his beast struck a dead, solemn, limpid walk.
Spurs were dug into him, by exasperated heels, until the
beast struck a trot that any six-mule team might have envied,
jolting the aid a foot from his saddle at every step. This
was the only response, and *it caused derisive laughter from
concealed lookers-on.' The continued bumping, and the
consciousness of being a merited object of mirth, naturally
¦ increased this officer's ire ; and it was vented in renewed dig
ging of spurs, until the animal, in sheer desperation at being

36
held in tightly ahead, and sharply urged astern, bumped into
the drum major of our regiment and nearly knocked him down,
at which the smile was louder than allowed by the regulations.
" He does n't mind shells, either, half as much as I do," said the
perturbed aid, as he eyed the sorry beast askance while he
dwelt upon his vices ; " in fact," he added, " I should like to
see the devil himself make him shy. When those shells were
coming over at Woodstock, making a perfectly infernal noise,
and other horses were on the rampage, there stood this beast
as quiet as if in a stable. Even when I saw a shell fired, and
tried the protection of a friendly tree, he would n't stir a peg
faster than usual ; and the shell burst long before I got him
there. But he has one virtue ; I can leave him anywhere, and
he will stand till doomsday." As I, too, had just secured a
new horse, one belonging to an officer of Ashby's cavalry,
captured by one of our skirmishers as we entered Woodstock,
I was anxious to try his mettle. The contrast between my
aid's horse and mine only served to make more conspicuous the
shortcomings of the former. My horse would take a six-rail
fence beautifully. After bounding over I often turned to look
back, and call out, " Come along, don't stop for that," at which
my aid's big farm plough-horse would come up, run square into
the fence, bump his knees, sneeze, turn around, and stand,
firmly courting death rather than attempt the fence. " But if
there are only four rails, now," cries out the aid, " he will
take that." — " Orderly, take down two of those rails. Now,
captain, take a fair start, let him out ! " Down came the
captain with pace growing slower and slower, until he reached
the fence ; when the horse halted, gravely counted the rails,
quietly raised himself on end, put his fore feet over, gave him
self an unearthly hitch with his hind legs, and landed on the
other side with a pair of barked shins, then sneezed again as
if he fancied he was a gay courser. The effect of this school
of jumping is hard on the rider, who generally performs un
heard of gymnastics in the air, and comes down on the pom-

37
mei of his saddle, to the great detriment of his pantaloons ;
t-hough there is some fun in it, and more excitement.
I have described the animal transferred from cart to cavalier
duty, and how the change became him. I trust I shall neither
weary your patience, nor devote too many of these pages to
horses, if I now briefly describe the magnificent animal that
fell to my lot. In doing this I must anticipate, must refer to
many scenes that do not come within the province of these
pages to relate, and must with his life speak of his death,
which took place long after the war had ended.
It was after we had driven off Ashby's guns, and when the
Second Massachusetts, deployed as skirmishers, were sweep
ing through Woodstock, that a skirmisher of the Second came
suddenly upon a negro, leading a horse out of a stable in the
town. " Halloo," says the skirmisher, " where are you going with
that horse ? "
"Don't stop me," replied the negro; "dis is my marster's
best horse, and I 'm taking him to him."
" Where is your master ? "
" Why, dare he is, sir, wid Marse Ashby's cavalry ; dare, sir,
on de hill yonder.''
" Well, you can't go there with the horse. I '11 take care of
him ; hand him over," replied the soldier.
And so the horse, saddled and bridled, was passing by me
to the rear, when I learned the facts of his capture. Directing
the soldier to bring him to me after the fight was over, we
moved on, and, as related, sent " Marse Ashby '' and his cav
alry whirling up the valley.
Having occasion towards night to visit General Banks at
his headquarters, distant about three miles, I called for this
horse, jumped on his back, and let him take his own gait.
Though it was a still night, I found from the way in which
the air was rushing past my face that my horse must be going
at great speed ; and this impression was strengthened by

38
hearing behind me the rapid gallop of a horse, attempting in
vain to pass. Presently I heard exclamations from the rider,
" Jerusalem ! " then sounds of urging to greater speed, until
my pursuer was on a run. My horse had not broken his gait,
which was a singular mixture of a trot and a pace ; for although
he moved his legs on one side of his body together (the char
acteristic of a pace), yet his fore feet were thrown out with
such a proud and lofty shock that it bore every semblance to
a trot. I pulled up my horse to a slower gait, when in a
moment my pursuer was by my side, exclaiming, —
" Mister, what sort of a horse do you call that .' "
" Why, — a very good horse, is he not .' "
" Good horse ! " (with emphasis) " I call my horse a good
horse, and I have been on the tight run to catch you and
could n't do it, and you only trotting."
The man belonged to a New York cavalry regiment, so he
told me, was a private, and on duty as orderly, carrying de
spatches to Gen. Banks. It was very amusing to see his look
of astonishment and hear his delicate apology as he found he
had been chasing a colonel of infantry in the dark — but, " I
do think that horse is a stunner," he still insisted.
I next tried the horse with those of our cavalry, and found
he beat them all in leaping ; indeed. Gen, Hatch, commanding
the cavalry, acknowledged there was no horse in his command
that could compete with him. His jump was not a flying
leap, it was really a jump. He approached the fence or bar
slowly, and preferred to do so at a walk, then slowly rising on
his hind legs threw over his fore feet, following with the rest
of his body with a muscular energy that would unseat a care
less rider. I found I could travel across the country without
stopping to take down fences. I have often seen our pickets
stare with amazement as I galloped towards them, taking all
the fences in my path. I never lowered anything but the rid
ing-rail of a Virginia fence, and I did that for my own com
fort, though I think the horse would have gone over it with

39
urging. It was not long before general attention was attracted
to my horse. One could not see without admiring him. His
weight was over eleven hundred, and his height in proportion
to his weight. His nostril wa# of enormous size ; his ear
was large, but well-made and expressive ; his tail was hand
some and full ;¦ his mane soft but not thick, though slightly
flowing ; his color was a dark bay, with a black streak running
from his mane along his back to the roots of his tail. In
repose he was quiet ; but mount him, and witness the change.
Then his neck arched, his immense nostril dilated, his teeth
impatiently champed the heavy cavalry bit ; every nerve was
strung for instant and intense action. You felt in every fibre
of your body that mass of muscle and of nerve, and you knew
that there was strength, will, and courage that could be broken
only with his life. It was a hard day's work you would have,
if you were restless and impatient when you mounted for your
d.ay's march. So finely-strung was this horse, that an ap
proach to composure was only possible when the rider was
calm. After our fight with Jackson at Winchester, we were
ordered to cross the Blue Ridge, to join Pope for his cam
paign. On our first day's march we passed the house where
" Ashby " (so I had named the horse) was raised. My quar
termaster had a nice eye for a horse, and had made up his
mind that mine was a prize. " If you want to get rid of that
horse," he had once or twice insinuated, " I should be willing
to take him off your hands ; " but meeting no encouragement,
he finally admitted that he knew more about the animal than
I did, and he would point out the horse's old home when we
came to it. It was a charming little old house on the summit
of the Blue Ridge, with a view away off in the valley towards
the' Potomac. There were trees to shade from the hot sun ;
there were green fields and fresh breezes, everything favorable
to the nurture of such a horse.
There was an old negro at the house, and he, I knew, could

40
tell me something of my capture ; but I preferred to let this
old servant make the discovery if he could. So I ordered all
the horses of my staff, with some others, to be tied together
in the woods, and then, calling to the negro, I asked him if
any one from that house had gone away into Ashby's cavalry.
" Oh, yes," he replied, " Marse John, he 's gone with Marse
Ashby." " Did he take a horse with him from here ? "
" Oh, yes, he took a horse from dis house."
" Do you know the horse ? "
" Do I know him ? Oh, yes, I raised him,"
" Is he a good horse ? "
" Yes, indeed, marssa, he's good horse ; he's son of de old
horse, but he ain't quite ekle to him — no. No horse is ekle
to him."
" Why not .? "
" Why not ! why, dat ole horse, he once run sixty mile in
sixty minutes, and dis horse could n't do dat ; no, he could n't
do dat."
" Look around here in the woods among these horses, and
see if you see one that looks like the horse Marse John rode
away," I said.
In a moment the darky's eyes opened as large as saucers.
He had unerringly raade straight for Ashby.
" Where you don get dat horse ? " he exclaimed, as he
fondled his old favorite. " Is Marse John dead .¦• "
" No," I replied, " but we have captured his horse — away
in the valley at Woodstock."
" Youse hev got mighty good horse, den ; dat 's trufe."
That the horse was of famous breed, and that he was then
old (how old I could not ascertain), was all the reliable infor
mation I could get.
But from the day of his capture until the close of the war
that horse was my inseparable companion. Nothing could
tire him or break his spirits. For days and nights in Pope's

41
campaign neither bridle nor saddle was removed, and all he
ate was by hasty snatches at grass or musty hay ; and yet he
carae into Alexandria with a proud step and an unbroken
courage, ready for the Maryland campaign.
I have never known such a horse ; I never expect to know
one like him. Every moraent a raanifestation of power and
gameness, fearless in his sweeping gallop, unmoved by the din
of battle, his mettle inspired courage. He seemed to invite
the thunders of war, and he never shrunk from the sound. In
winter hardly sheltered from snow and ice, in summer exposed
to the sun and rain, he bore his part in the campaigns of
the war with a nerve and bearing* that attracted the admira
tion of the array.
He was with rae for eight months on a wretched sand-bar
off Charleston during Gillmore's operations ; he was with me
in Florida ; I carried him by sea to New Orleans, and thence
up the Mississippi in July, where on transports he was borne
around, and buffeted from place to place — now at Memphis,
then at Arkansas, up the White River, at Vicksburg, and
back again at New Orleans, then Mobile Bay, and on that
malarious shore, until again transferred by sea to the Army
of the Potomac, there to remain until the war closed, when I
brought him to a quiet country home within twenty miles of
Boston. In a comfortable stable with a box stall, with every provision
made for his comfort, old Ashby has passed a tranquil life.
In his peaceful home, and with kind treatment, his disposition
became gentler, and his response to caresses, never decided,
was not so haughtily returned. I doubt if Ashby had ever
been in harness, until I clothed his limbs in such ignoble bonds.
He resisted stoutly and manfully at first, but at last, when
an appeal to his reason was made, submitted, and behaved
well if kindly and quietly treated. Pn this, as in everything
about this horse, one could accomplish anything through
reason — only appeal to his reasoning faculties. He had a
6

42
large brain, and could understand when appealed to. He
could not be driven by blows. In our twelve years' compan
ionship I never struck him a blow. Nothing would have
tempted rae to show passion, or to attempt to reach him but
through reason and love. Therefore I always secured his best
services, for they were never given from fear. For the nine
years that have passed since the war closed, my pleasure and
my joy have been greatly increased whenever I could con
tribute to the comfort or the wants of my faithful friend.
To let him run in the field in summer, to lead him to the
choicest bits of grass in the spring, to respond to his begging
neigh when I came towards hini iri my daily visits, to pick up
the choicest apples to be taken frora my hand,^- all these inter
changes of mutual respect and affection added to my pleasure
in life.
I have written these lines to tell of my faithful horse,
though he has at last met that death which, on the battle-field
or the ocean, in the chill of winter or the heat of summer, seemed
long ago inevitable. Despite shelter and tenderest care and
most nutritious food, he now sleeps under the green sod in the
orchard where he has so raany times played without restraint,
in sight of the home that has so gently cared for him, of the
stable that has so warmly sheltered him, and under the apple-
trees whose food he has so often eaten, and whose blossoms
whiten his grave On Monday, the eighteenth of May, 1874,
I was aroused early in the morning with the information that
ray poor old horse was in great pain, and would not eat. I lost
not a moment in applying remedies, sending in the meanwhile
for one more skilled.
Everything was tried, but nothing seemed to lessen the pain
in the stomach. There was the seat of pain. Beseechingly
would this intelligent animal look, first at one side, and then
at the other,- and then at us, appealing for help. In vain did
he gallop wherever he inclined, trying one road and then
another, the pasture and the field, and equally in vain rolling

43
and struggling, rising and lying down. The disease advanced
with a force that defied us. Early in the afternoon it became
evident the noble animal raust die. He was lying down in
the soft grass, sorae distance frora the house, only occasionally
lifting his head in an uneasy manner, as a sick child might
toss himself in bed. All but myself had gone and left him.
As I saw this splendid frame stretched helplessly on the earth,
so exhausted by the agony he had suffered that he could but
feebly lift his head ; as I saw that bright eye half closed, and
heard the quick breath as it came through that great nostril ;
as I saw my friend, my companion of so many years, so help
less before me, strength gone, muscles soft and feeble ; as the
memory of all this dear companion had been came over rae, I
shed such tears as I thought never to shed again. Kneeling
by him I stroked his face, and then gently raising his head
coaxed him to attempt to rise. The rain was beginning to
fall, and I wished to shelter him, and also that he raight
breathe his last in the old stable where he had stood so long.
Putting forth all his dying force, and obedient to a call that he
knew had never been made but in love, he staggered to his
feet. Gently I led him, tottering and reeling, to his stable,'
where a soft bed had been prepared. I covered him with
blankets, to retain as long as possible the ebbing life. It was
now two o'clock. I doubt if there was much pain then ; the
disease, or narcotics, seemed to stupefy him ; now and then he
would still look around at his side, as if there in his stomach
where it had begun, there the disease still remained.
For seven hours " Ashby " hardly moved from the spot
where I had placed him in his stall ; there was but little rest
lessness, though his breathing became more rapid and labored,
and this increased as the night came on. My last effort to
save hira was in rubbing his legs with raustard, and applying
bandages ; but this gave no relief. His breath carae shorter
and shorter, his head dropped lower and lower, and at a
quarter before nine at night he fell dead upon the floor. I

44
heard the rattle of death in his throat, as tenderly I closed
his eyes ; then, turning from him, gently, lovingly, I said,
" My poor old friend, my dear old companion, I have tried to
be as faithful to you, as you have been true and constant to
me."

45

CHAPTER IV.
At Edenburg the weather was sometimes like our own
New England in June, when the air is warm and hazy, and
the leaves, rustle with a dreamy melody, and birds are exu
berant with song. But hardly had we begun to feel in har
mony with sunny days and blooming peach-trees and warm
showers, before a change would corae, as bitter as the hatred
ofthe woraen of Virginia ; the ground covered with snow, the
air thick with hail, and the distant mountains hidden in the
chilling and frozen atmosphere. Our shivering sentinels on
the outer lines met at times the gaze of half-frozen horsemen
of the enemy, peering through the mist as if to see what the
" Yankees " had been doing within the last twenty-four hours.
It was hard to believe we were in the sunny South, for there
was never raore marrow-penetrating weather at the North.
Life, entered upon at Edenburg under the excitement of a
fight, became monotonous. Tents began to take in that
fulness of equipment only accumulated by time ; and comforts
began to show themselves, in thick layers of pine boughs,
which served for both bed and carpet. For myself, an ordi
nary camp-stool was devoted to official use as my table ; while
boot-leggings, gauntlets, sword, field and spy glass, candle,
matches, hair and tooth brush, looking-glass, carpet-bag, box,
india-rubber cloak, wash-basin and pail, with sundry old
newspapers in a pile, lay in confusion upon the ground. Six
stones in a circle enclosed the dead ashes that sometimes sup
plied heat, although I usually relied upon a fire of logs in
front of my tent, which generally smoked the inside suffi-

46
ciently. If one inquires whence came articles of comfort,
I will answer them according to the reply I received from an
officer of my staff. " Why, you see, sir, my boy Jim is a very ,
good servant, and has a faculty.of7?K^z«!^ whatever is wanted.
I wanted a surcingle for ray horse, — Jim found one in the
woods ; same with a drinking-cup, two chairs, and various
other little things. He now is in search of a ham, a frying-
pan, and a tea-kettle. I have n't a doubt he will find them in
the woods." Well, there was novelty in the life, and good
cheer at night around the camp-fires, while scenes and inci
dents of the day were related. I recall the brightly gleaming
face of our chaplain, with the firelight glancing from his spec
tacles. I hear his jolly laugh, as his rotund form seems to
swell with very comfort before the blaze ; I hear again my
horse's uneasy tramp behind my tent, chided with the vocif
erous Whoa ! of ray groom ; again the bands of distant regi
ments playing merrily at their evening hours, the men chaff
ing in their tents ; and the voice of our indefatigable Stephen,
who, announcing " Supper is ready, sir ! " invites us into a
bower of pines where he repeats night after night the same
bill, — of tea, strong enough to whip a " Monitor," ham,
tongue, and bread, perhaps toast.
On Sundays the religious services by our chaplain came to
us with a new meaning. We had seen death enough then to
call attention to our own mortality ; and the raen and officers
were more attentive on Sundays than at Winchester, and
listened to beautiful selections read by the chaplain in a clear
voice, from an Episcopal prayer-book. The band played, and
sang, too, some of the old-tirae tunes ; and many p'erceived
that a gap in their existence, which they had long felt without
knowing what it was, had been filled. But our days at Eden
burg were soon to be of the past. Jackson's main force was
not very near us ; they were some eight miles away, at Mount
Jackson, and ready to run when we approached. It was Jack
son's faithful officer, Ashby, against whom our fourteen guns

47
had been daily pouring forth their torrents of fire, — against
his guns of shorter range, English ammunition, and shells
that did not always burst.
On the seventeenth of April, when the joyful news came to
move forward in pursuit of Jackson, it was received with cheers
of delight. The objective point was New Market, fifteen
miles farther southward on the pike. If the enemy were dis
posed to give battle, there were some strong positions on our
route. The military problem, therefore, was to turn them
with one column, while another moved forward. Mill Creek,
at Mount Jackson, like Stony Creek, at Edenburg, rises in the
range of mountains bounding the valley on the west, flows at
right angles to the pike, crosses it, and empties into the North
Fork of the Shenandoah. On the south side of the creek, a
few hundred yards from the bridge, rises the commanding
hill, called Mount Jackson. The pike passes through the flat
bottom-land, south of the creek, before it winds over the hill.
The summit not only commands all the approaches, but,
if held, makes the crossing of the pike and bridge at the
creek an exceedingly difficult operation, exposing an attack
ing force along the narrow, uncovered roadway to a destruc
tive fire. At four o'clock in the morning, our whole command
moved across the creek at Edenburg, forward for Mount Jack
son. The leading column, commanded by Gen. Shields, and
comprising his division, was formed at midnight, and crossed the
creek before daylight, hoping to take the enemy by surprise.
Gen. Williams commanded the reserve, which was made up of'
his division, in which was my brigade, and, of course, our
regiment. From Edenburg to the westward, a dirt road, called
the middle, runs (at a varying distance from one mile to two)
nearly parallel to the pike, with which it unites at Harrison
burg. When Shields advanced, a small force, as a flanking
column (should the enemy stand before reaching Mount Jack
son), moved on this middle road to join the main body at that
place. As the enemy knew as Well as we what we were about.

48
it was no surprise to us, that, when the advance reached the
place where the enemy's pickets had been posted, nothing but
expiring camp-fires were found.
The negroes told our men that the rebels had moved off",
but a short time before we carae up. We followed after thera,
one mile in rear of Shields, until the hot sun beat down
upon our troops, and the dust covered them, and their knap
sacks became a burden. When it became a certainty that
Jackson would not meet us this side of Mount Jackson, we
proceeded more leisurely. As usual, Ashby put his guns in
position once or twice on a wooded hill, and sent his shells
howling over us, but he did no harm. Our batteries replied,
and Ashby moved "on. Thus we proceeded until the bridge
across the creek at Mount Jackson was reached, where there
was some heavy skirraishing. Ashby with his white horse
was conspicuous, in an atterapt to burn the bridge, and we
in an attempt to save it, and we succeeded; our cavalry
dashed over, and extinguished the flames. The enemy now
retired behind the hill at Mount Jackson, and our troops
were drawn up in line of battle on the north side of the
creek. Some of the enemy's forces were distinctly visible
on the summit of the hill. We had come up with Jackson's
main command. Would he fight here ? It was thought he
might : so a flanking column was again organized, to pro
ceed along the north side of the creek to the middle road,
then turning south to follow it to New Market ; thus turning
Mount Jackson, Rude's Hill, and all other strong positions
on the road. The turning column comprised two brigades,
one -of Shields's Division, commanded by Col. Dunning, and
my brigade. With orders to attack Jackson in rear or join the
main column if he had fled, I moved off at noon accompanied
by signal officers, to keep up a constant coramunication with
the main column. The sun was then pouring down a blasting
heat, the raen were tired already from their early start, and the
road was a succession of quagmires and stone ledges. The

49
column kept pretty well up until we made our first halt, which
was when we struck the middle road, about a mile and a
half from the pike. Here we found a house, rather pretentious
for the country, with a cupola, affording our signal officers an
extensive view ; and across the road a store, which with
the house was owned by one Rinker. As a Virginian,
Rinker did not invite us to partake of his hospitality,: both
house and store were closed. While we rested, some of our
men, becoming too inquisitive, broke the fastenings to the
store, and began to levy upon straw hats for the summer cam
paign. I had observed the unhappy Rinker flitting uneasily
around, and was not unaware of his mingled emotions of rage,
fear, and cupidity. The man had objected to the signal offi
cers using his cupola, and had borne himself as one defiant
before his enemy ; but this breaking into his store unmanned
him in a moraent, and he begged for ray interposition. I pitied
hira, and restored some of his property ; although enough was
retained to punish what'I then thought was one of the most
pestilent rebels that ever cursed the Yankees. What became
of Rinker and his store, during the campaigns that followed
in the valley, I leave to the imagination to conceive. At about
forty minutes after two, I recJeived a note from my assistant
adjutant-general, whom I had sent forward to communicate
with Col. Dunning, that that officer, with four regiments,
two batteries, and one squadron, was about two and a half or
three miles in advance ; that he was ordered to proceed to
New Market that night, and would like to have rae keep
within one mile of him.
Although Dunning's brigade went ahead, it was largely in
the rear. His men began to drop out shortly after leaving
Mount Jackson ; and frora there to New Market they were
scattered along the road singly and in twenties. They dropped
down anywhere, and at once were fast asleep. It would not be
an exaggeration to say that there were one thousand stragglers
on that raarcl of eleven or twelve miles ; there was a complete

50
chain of them. To be sure the road was of the worst descrip
tion ; it was a succession of clayey sloughs, with deep mud
alternating with rocky hills. There were creeks to be forded,
in which the water came up to th.e men's knees ; so that
shoes, originally bad, were rendered so useless by alternate
drying and soaking, that many of our own men marched
along on that weary day in an oppressive heat in their stocking
feet. The prospect of a fight was exciting, and our brigade
listened eagerly for sounds from the few left in Dunning's
brigade. Still we plodded on until dark ; every one com
pletely exhausted ; I had been in the saddle from 4 A. M.
until 9 p. M. We were within two miles of New Market,
and well in rear of Rude's Hill and all other threatening posi
tions, when the column halted, and the men fell asleep as soon
as they touched the ground. In the morning we learned
that Shields had, the night before, passed through the town,
and gone four miles beyond it ; that Jackson had made no
stand at Rude's Hill, but that at teii o'clock, two hours at
least before we began our grand flank movement, he had
passed through New Market, which is four miles farther
south than the point to be turned by our flanking raarch.
There was then nothing for us to do but join the raain col
umn by a diverging dirt road, which, first crossing the Shen
andoah at a ford, led us into the raain pike at the town. After
a scanty breakfast, the river was reached, the passage effected,
and afterwards described as follows : — *
"The passage of the Shenandoah was a ludicrous sight.
The river was very swift, waist-deep, and very rocky ; the
Massachusetts men generally held up their coat-skirts, and
went in as they were ; the Indiana boys went in in a uniform
of boots, shirt and coat carefully tucked up to be out of the
water. An individual is a funny-enough-looking spectacle in
such a dress, or rather undress, but a whole regiment, officers
* Lieut. H. B. Scott, Second Massachusetts Regiment, A. D. C,

51
and men alike the same, makes a sight that is quite overpow
ering. Every one came over safely, but a few guns were lost.
The current was so strong that it took the legs out from under
several of the men, and gave them a good washing, an opera
tion that long abstinence rendered sadly necessary."
Having forded the Shenandoah safely, we marched through
New Market, and went into camp just beyond the town. The
resistance we had met was weak, weaker than we expected,
and was a disappointment, both to our own men and the rebel
inhabitants of the valley, who, as yet, had no cause to praise
Jackson for the results of the battle of Kernstown, or for
retaining our forces in the valley, if that was his motive.
From Harper's Ferry to New Market' I have thus given a
faithful narrative of the opposition we encountered from Gen
eral Jackson and his army. At Charlestqwn, at Winchester,
and at Strasburg we had heard extravagant stories of the
great resistance we were to meet. It was always at some point
farther on. At New Market we heard that Jackson had left
the valley. What this signified we found out afterward^ ; but
of what had transpired one raay well imagine our feelings in
reading that " Jackson then crept along in the days succeed
ing Kernstown, like a wounded wolf, but turning every
moment to snap at his pursuers, and offer battle if they
pressed on him." *
Though the valley from Strasburg had at every step
developed new beauties, the scene at New Market impressed
me that this was one of the most lovely valleys I had seen.
Such rich slopes and green fields, magnificent vales and ,grand
mountains, ever in sight as we followed the North Fork of the
Shenandoah — they were not only entirely beyond my descrip
tive powers, but were enough to transport rae with ecstasy.
At New Market we found peach-trees that had been in
bloora since the loth of April; and fields, too, green with a
* Cooke's Life of Stonewall Jackson, p. 126.

52
magnificent growth of wheat. Just south ofthe village, on the
banks of Smith's Creek, at the foot of the Massanutten range
of mountains, and near where a road crosses through a gap to
the valley through which runs the South Fork of the Shenan
doah, I encamped ray brigade in the raiddle of an immense
wheat-field, off our main road perhaps one third of a mile.
On this road and in front of my encampment was a brick
house, somewhat pretentious in size and finish. It surprised
me that access to the house from the main road was effected
only through an extensive cattle-yard, but upon further inves
tigation I found the front door at the back side of the house.
The back was formerly the front side, I was told ; but raany
years ago the road was relocated, so that it ran by the back
side and through the cow-yard ; and, although the owner had
been constantly intending to relocate the cow-yard, he had
never accoraplished it.
The house was owned by a man who was then away in the
rebel service, with Jackson, as a quarter-master : but he had
left to our protection his wife and three or four children ;
an old gentleman, a relative, once a practising physician, about
eighty years of age ; and a large family of negroes. Such
was the human portion of the estate. Of cattle and horses,
two of the former and one of the latter had been left by
the Confederate quarter-master. The estate, I was told, com
prised some fifteen hundred acres, much of it then covered
with a rich growth of wheat, destined, aks ! never to be
gathered. The day after my arrival, I received rather a polite
invitation from the wife of our rebel quarter-master to make
her house my headquarters ; the request was pressing, if
not imploring. With over three thousand armed men —
enemies they were considered — s\varming around the prera-
ises of this defenceless woraan, I easily understood this appeal
for protection. I found the poor woraan trerabling in her
bedroom, surrounded by her three boys, the eldest about
fifteen and the youngest about five. It was in vain that she

53
attempted to repress her tears, as she told me of harsh treat
ment by our troops as she sought in vain to prevent the old
family horse from being taken away by a trooper of the cavalry
arm. Her eldest boy, too, was choking down his grief, as if
pride was battling with sorrow. Proud Virginians, never
before humbled ; lords and masters of domain and slaves,
their word the law ; I sympathized with them in their sor
rows, ordered the old horse to be returned to the old uncle,
and not only gave assurance that I would protect them from
further insult, but also that every wish in relation to the house
should be carried out. To the poor . woman, I offered myself
as a protector, in the absence of a husband who had fled, and
left her at our mercy.
To comply with the wishes of the family, since no military
requirement would suffer thereby, seemed my best course ;
so I installed myself and staff in the house, and enjoyed, dur
ing the few cheerless days we remained, the warmth of a huge
fire of logs.
The sky, which had looked so tenderly upon us on the day
of our arrival, was now covered with angry clouds, the sun
was obscured, and we remained inactive under the chill of a
snow-storm. Enjoyment out-of-doors was impossible ; while
entertainment within was confined to the study of a coarse
print of George Washington, in which, upon such an occasion,
the Father of his Country looked uncoraraonly placid. An
old piano, some ancient novels, a few books of old operas,
prints of French republican heroes in childhood, — all were
tried in vain : we fell back upon the old doctor. This old
gentleman of eighty insisted upon it we had brought Northern
storms with us ; all of which he lamented as he saw the white
snow-flakes nestling so gently within and around the blossoms
of his peach-trees. Such a good-natured old gentleman as he
was, it was impossible to get angry with him, as he insisted
upon it, with a good-natured smile, that McClellan would be
whipped on the peninsula ; that he hoped for it, and did not

54
for a moment doubt it. But, though under my protection,
I was sorry sometimes to see the " grira-visaged front of war"
overspread the face of our otherwise kind hostess ; for she was
very rebellious, as one might well imagine. I think it quite
possible she objected to a little entertainment I gave the
negroes. It was this. Never doubting from the outset that it
was the right, as well as duty, of our armies to declare to all
the Southern slaves we found around us that they were forever
free, I sent word to all the negroes that had called ray hostess
mistress to come, at a certain hour, into my office, the best
parlor of my rebel quarter-master. I think a few outsiders
joined thera, for the line extended across the room, and there
were raore than I remembered to have seen around the place.
What a sight ! what an hour ! Steadfastly, though in apathy,
this motley gang of dark and ragged creatures gazed at me in
wonder. The gray-haired uncle, the wrinkled auntie, the young,
the middle-aged, there they were, to hear frora my lips the word
their too-long-enslaved faculties could hardly appreciate, " I
have sent for you," I said, " to tell you that from to-day, for all
your lives, you are free. You belong to no one, you need
work for no one, unless you wish." I paused, and waited ; but
there was no movement, not a word in reply. " Wherever," I
continued, " our armies go, we shall set all the slaves free ; and,
now that we are here, you are forever hereafter your own
masters." Still, not a word was uttered ; but, instead thereof,
there was an anxious, earnest, painful look of inquiry, as if
the mind could not grasp the subject, " Can you say nothing,"
I asked, " can you do nothing, to show that you are glad 1 Can't
you even turn a summersault in reply ? " For a moment there
was hesitation ; and then, from the gray-haired old darky at
the end to one younger and raore agile, " Go ober, George."
In the most solemn and matter-of-fact rendering of obedience
to an order, down went " George's " head on the carpet, and
over he flopped with an awkward thud. This was all ; and
thus, with senses dull to all it meant, the line filed out, each

55
heart beating with some undefined sensation, as if a great joy
were coming.
Truly, the hour of the negro's triumph had come at last.
They had seen their master's glance of scorn at the threatened
invasion ; they had trembled before his imperious will, and, in
their ignorance, .they had come to feel that none could with
stand hira. No wonder they could not take it in. Here, in
the very horae of their toils, they had seen the lordly slave
owner fleeing before the strong arm of a Northern force ; they
had seen those of whom they had heard nought but scoffs
and jeers moving with their solid columns in terrible retribution
over the blue ridges of their mountain confines, across the green
fields in the valleys of the Shenandoah, into the homes of their
masters, sitting as masters at their firesides, eating as masters
at their tables, protecting their wives and their children. Truly
might the slave see the hour of his deliverance, and know that
the hand of God was moving manifestly upon the waters. Since
that day, the light tread of our column gave place to a heavier
tramp. Year after year, the iron hoof of war ploughed up that
beautiful valley, until desolation marked it for its own. If the
poor woman who was then sitting at the head of a table which
was surrounded by myself and my staff still lives, she will
remeraber that, in those early days of 1862, I said to her,
" Your people are mad ; they are raising a storm that will not
subside. To-day we are taking your food and your cattle ; but
to-moruow, so far does the living force of powerful armies
outrun our realizations, to-morrow it may be your homes."
Let the blackened walls of the houses of the Shenandoah
valley be my witness. But what had become of Jackson ?
We had rumors that he had turned off frora the valley of
the North Fork, and was soraewhere in the ridges of the Blue
Mountains, to the eastward, and in communication with Lee
around Richmond. The whole of the valley gave evidence of
his ruthless flight. Bridges burnt to impede our pursuit, was
a greater injury to the industry of the inhabitants than to us :

56
it might retard, but it did not bar, our progress'. I was aston
ished at the evidence of forced service, required by the enemy
from the citizens of this valley ; the mountains were filled
with Virginians escaping from forced levies. Wandering sadly
along by the side of the creek, near my encampment at New
Market, I saw a poor white woraan, followed .by her children,
— five little girls and a boy. In her arras she carried a baby ;
and, behind her children, followed the faithful dog. To my
question, she answered that she was going to her sick brother.
Her home was in the mountains ; but, her husband having
been driven from his horae by some of Jackson's men, who
were forcing recruits into his service, she could not live there
without his help. "As soon as you corae here to protect him,"
said the woman, " he has promised to return home. What
would I not give to see hira ! "
On the 25th of April, on Friday, we again moved with our
whole force onward up the valley. Along by the base of the
Massanutten range of mountains on our left, leaving our old
friend the Shenandoah to the west, in which .direction it runs
to its sources in the North Mountains, we followed Smith's
Creek until we reached Harrisonburg ; and there we encamped.
We were eighteen miles frora New Market, and about eighty
frora Winchester, At Harrisonburg we found that Jackson
had changed his course. Having left the valley of the North
Fork he had turned southeasterly, taking the main pike which
runs in that direction to Gordonsville, distant about forty
miles. At Gordonsville there was rail communication with
Staunton, Richmond, and Alexandria. But Jackson had as
usual encamped about twenty miles from us, and was now in
the valley of the North Fork of the Shenandoah to the east of
our mountain range, and on the east side of the Shenandoah,
where the Gordonsville pike crosses that stream by a long cov
ered bridge. While holding Harrisonburg with our cavalry
and an advanced guard of infantry, we turned to follow him.
For a few days our operations were confined to the usual

57
skirmish with Jackson's rear-guard : we advanced, they re
treated ; and we followed them through the classic shades of
Keezle and Magaughey towns to the east, around the base of
the peaked mountain where the two valleys of the Shenandoah
flow into one, along the pike to the bridge over the North Fork
of the Shenandoah at Penn's Ferry, a distance of twenty miles
from our main encampment at Harrisonburg. At this point
Jackson, determined to burn the bridge if we attempted to
cross, had lined it with light kindling-wood, to ignite at the
touch. As along the valley, so here, there was constant
picket-firing. During ray only visit to the extreme out
post, where the Twenty-Eighth Regiment under Col. Donelly
was stationed, I saw one of his men, who had been shot at
his post by some expert and reraorseless rebel hunter, lying
dead at the station. Once, however, the enemy, failing to
make the bridge in time, were overtaken by our cavalry,
and prisoners were brought into Harrisonburg, With
General Hatch coraraanding the cavalry, I rode in ; the
prisoners following in our rear. One of the rebel officers,
being greatly annoyed at the triumphant tones of our men,
turned to rebuke them, at which the storm began to rage with
such violence that. I was compelled to order the prisoner to
maintain silence.
While ray brigade was encamped in the field, I made my
own headquarters within the house, where dwelt the owner of
the domain. She was an elderly matron of very strong seces
sion proclivities, and given to lamentation over the destruc
tion which three thousand soldiers brought to her fields.
There were no fences left to divide tillage from pasture,
or grain-fields from roads. When her complaints were
loudest, I informed her of the capture of New Orleans, of
which we had just heard through the war department ; then
enlightened her as to the condition of slave property, and that
no restraint could be used if her slaves chose to leave her
and follow us. Sometimes her replies were acrimonious.

58
sometimes pitiful. Indeed, who could help feeling something
akin to pity for these poor people, bending under the power of
their conquerers. But with pity came also exultation, for scarcely
a day passed that some stronghold was not wrested frora trai
tors. All along our sea-coast, all along our inland rivers, at New
Orleans, and in many places along the course of that mighty
river the Mississippi, floated the old flag. The reduction of
Yorktown we looked upon as an assured fact, so of Corinth,
The army and the country gave thanks to God that the end
seemed so near ; and a mightier feeling of exultation came over
us, that questions which had troubled the country beyond endur
ance, questions which the wisest and best in our land could
not solve, were now at rest forever — slavery dead beyond
restitution, and the insufferable arrogance and conceit of the
Southern people being whipped out of thera. Here was a
strong Northern army holding forcible possession of their
lands and of their mansions, replying to their complaints that
they would have it so, would have us come from the North to
free their slaves, take their cattle, and reply to their com
plaints by the question, "Do you like it?" and offer the conso
lation that the morrow raight bring forth a greater sorrow,
even a forfeiture of their lives and lands. " .Oh, anything to end
this war ! " was again and again the wailing reply. " Will you
advise the laying down of arms, and submission, to end it?" Then
the flush of anger carae, and the graceless temper cried, " No !
jrather war to the bitter end than that.'' " Then the question
becomes not one of secession, but subjugation," I answered.
" We are determined to whip, yes, subjugate you, if we must !
and perhaps the strength we put forth, the courage we display,
will make the South more willing to live with a people you
once affected to despise, but whom now you will find as brave
as yourselves. The end may not be yet, may not be until
your towns and cities are deserted save by woraen and old
men, not until all your property is destroyed by the passage of
armies, not until your communications are broken up, your

59
bridges and roads obliterated, not until your country is flooded
with a worthless currency, not until your children, even, are
pressed into service, until every mother has an aching heart,
and every household an absent son. We can now make
peace with you upon such terms that both North and South
can mutually rejoice, and there will then come a celebration,
the like of which our country has never seen ; but, as it is, we
must press on. Let your achievements be never so heroic, ours
shall adorn the page of history with as proud successes, while
the inspiration of our mothers, sisters, and homes shall equally
with yours swell our hearts and nerve our arms with courage."
While the main body of the Fifth Army Corps was at Harri
sonburg, Gen. Banks made his headquarters at New Market
Crossing the Massanutten range of mountains at a gap of
that name, a wide road leads from the North Fork valley of the
Shenandoah eastwardly over the mountain into the valley of
the South Fork, affording Jackson a splendid opportunity, if we
were unguarded, of taking us in rear. This gap-road, just
before leaving the raountain on the eastern side, diverges into
two branches, one of which crosses the South Fork of the Shen
andoah at Columbia Bridge, the other ati Massanutten town and
thence to Luray. To guard this iraportant road. Col. Sullivan,
of Shields's Division, had been left at Colurabia Bridge,
About the ist of May, Sullivan informed Banks that a
deserter at Columbia Bridge reported that on the 30th of
April Jackson moved with his whole force towards Harrison
burg ; and then, he believed, he returned and marched towards
Port Republic. The deserter estimated his whole force to be
about fifteen thousand men, composed of twelve or fifteen
regiments, coramanded by Jackson, Taliaferro, Winder, and
Ewell, and added that Jackson expected additional reinforce
ments. That Col. Sullivan was in the same state of excite
ment as when at Strasburg, was apparent from a despatch
received from hira, dated at Columbia Bridge at 2.25 p. m.,
addressed by signal to Gen, Banks, announcing that " rebels

60
drove in my pickets at Burnt Bridge and on Gordonsville road,
started out reinforcements and am now driving them, will
report fully." Burnt Bridge lies south of Columbia Bridge,
over which the road to Gordonsville and Richmond crosses.
the Shenandoah. Fearing that we would not fall into the
little trap of moving to Staunton, against which McClellan
warned Banks, it raight be that Jackson was trying all
approaches to our rear, believing he would not have the
opportunity to crush us with reinforceraents in his own good
time. With the pass across the mountain well guarded, with
our advance at least sixteen and a half railes southeast of Har
risonburg, up to the Shenandoah at Conrad's Store, we were
holding Jackson at arra's-length. What now was to be done ?
How would higher powers raove in the concentration that
would force the yet lingering life of rebeldora out of its ugly
body ? It seemed as if the gloom and uncertainty, that had so
recently covered everything as with a pall, was being dispelled.
Every day deserters came to us in their gray uniforms to say
that not more than half of Jackson's army would fight ; that they
were worn out with service, and had no idea of the cause nor
the object of the war.; also that the privates of Jackson's
array had heard of but a single victory gained by us, that of
Fort Donelson ; and this " one of their boys accidentally saw
in a newspaper." At this time, too, the administration in
divers ways gave out that the end was nigh ; that the services
of our troops would be required but for two or three months
longer. An Indiana regiment, offered, and enlisted but for
one year, the government were unwilling to accept, and
wished to muster it out at once ; but finally declared that
they were willing to keep it for sixty or ninety days longer,
for that was as long, it was said, as the government would
want any troops ; and this from Secretary Stanton, " When
Yorktown falls, the end has come," was the cry^ I think. the
feeling that he had better strike now, while he was here, sug-i
gested to one of the officers of the Second Massachusetts to

61
call upon rae upon "very iraportant business," as he said ;
which was, that he was engaged to be married to a young lady
in Winchester, and wished a leave of absence for six days
that he might go back and be married. He had met his love
for the first time at a house in that town, where I had sent him
in command of a guard. He went, he saw, was conquered ;
he a Yankee, she a Virginian ; he Union, she a rebel, I
gave this officer a leave of absence, and he was married.
It was said at this time in the regiment that I had prophesied
for the coming 19th of July, that I would march Ihe Second
Regiment up State Street in Boston ; and in a letter stating
the prophecy, I added, " Verily, it looks so."
Whether on the main, the middle, or the back road of that
lovely Shenandoah -valley, rich with its green fields stretching
off for miles and miles ; wherever our foragers wandered, we
were the first to cull dainties from rich farms, then looking very
unlike the starvation and misery which afterwards befell the
people. While we were at Harrisonburg, purchases were made
of two chickens, two ducks, one turkey, two dozen eggs, and
three pounds of butter, all for ^1.50 in specie, which was then
equal to ^5.00 in rebel money. At the sight of silver and gold,
the eyes of the farmers opened wide, and they clutched our sil
ver quarters, as a drowning man a straw ; for they had not
seen any silver, they said, since April of 1861. And yet their
foolish pride and faith, or something worse, made this people-
contend that their shinplasters were as good as our green
backs,, and not only profess it, but act up to it, to the manifest
advantage of one rather smart officer, who bought a twenty-
dollar confederate note for twelve dollars in silver, and then
exchanged it with an eager secessionist in town for a twenty-
dollar bill in our currency. The sutlers realized great
profits from this traffic ; while some of them added horse
stealing to the business, and so contrived to keep the wolf
from the door for a while, though there is but little doubt
that Ashby and Moseby finally got even with the sutlers.

62
and restored more to Virginia than she lost. It was a cause
of complaint among some of our officers that I always paid
" every one of these secesh " for what I took from them ;
though it was declared that I more than corapensated for it
by setting free every darky I came across.
While our occupation of Harrisonburg was drawing to a
close, information was received from the secretary of war that
" Yorktown had been evacuated," " Let the boys yell," wrote
Gen. Williams to me, in a note announcing this news ; and
this note A^as followed by another "that there are strong
rumors about Richmond."
Sunday came, the 4th of May, and brought Gen. Banks
unexpectedly to the front. He came to call together the
general officers of his command, to discuss the practicability
and wisdom ofa movement against Jackson, Hardly, however,
had the subject been broached, when a despatch from the sec
retary of war quenched the rising flame.- We (Williams's Di
vision with all the cavalry and artillery) were ordered to return
to Strasburg, \irhile Shields with his Division was ordered to
cross the Blue Ridge, and join McDowell at Fredericksburg.
The change was to take place immediately ; we were to move
at daylight on the return to New Market, The glories of a
campaign in the valley, so full of promise, were fading.
During the day and night of Sunday, preparations for the
return were made. On Monday morning, some movement of
the enemy, probably following up our rear-guard, as it was
withdrawn from the outpost and picket stations, gave rise to
a rumor that Jackson was drawing near for a fight. Gen.
Williams wrote me a few hurried words confirming the report. *
As absurd as I then believed the rumor, unless Jackson
had dropped down upon us from the clouds, I got my brigade
in readiness for a movement ; which turned out to be for
* CoL, Gordon, — It is reported that Jackson is within three miles. Have
your command ready for orders. A. Williams, B. G.

63
marching, and not fighting. The unusual bustle which
attended the preparation, however, affected the occupants of
my headquarters differently. No doubt my splenetic land
lady was overjoyed at the prospect of our departure ; though
she was, and had been ever since our arrival, apprehensive
of the effect upon her slaves. A more miserable, watery,
unhealthy cellar, than the half-underground basement where
I had often seen an unhappy slave woman, I had not before
encountered. So sickly and feeble seemed this unhappy
creature, though she was young, scarcely over thirty, that
I had spoken kindly, and encouraged her to leave such a
home. Although she replied that she should go when we
left, I thought no more of her until the confusion of our
departure, when " Peggy " carae to say, —
" I 'm gwine wid ye."
" Very well," I replied, " come along,"
" No, but I can't go widout my chile," she answered.
" Then bring it with you."
" I can't, I hab n't got her."
" Where is she .? "
" Ober dar at Miss  , she hab her."
" Go and get her, then, if you have time."
" She won't gib her up to me."
" What shall I do .' I have no time now to send."
" You jes gib me a writin', an' I '11 go wid it."
" That won't do you any good ; our troops are all leaving
here ; the people won't raind our writings."
" Yase, it will," insisted Peggy, " you jes gib me writin'."
Persuaded by her importunity, I scrawled off and signed
with my name and official rank an order to Miss  to
deliver over immediately one colored child, the daughter
of said Peggy ; and this on the pains and perils of dis
obedience. Then Peggy passed out of my mind ; for new
rumors came that Jackson was about attempting to seize
the gap-road across the mountains, which connects the two

64
valleys at New Market, the road where Col. Sullivan's pickets
were attacked on the Gordonsville pike. While our columns
were hurrying along the rOad, my eyes fell upon ray Peggy,
keeping up with the artillery, the wagons, and the columns
of infantry, and bearing on her shoulders the brightest and
most sparkling little pickaninny that was ever born to woman
of African descent. I was surprised, and when I saw the
mother's happiness delighted. With the child (given to her
without any hesitation, she said), and a large bundle, about
the size of the one that the fugitive slave woman was for
merly represented in pictorial advertisements in Southern
papers as bearing, when she " ran away from the subscriber,"
she was fleeing frora slavery, clinging to our guns and to
the columns of our infantry for protection. Telling her to
come to my camp, when we halted for the night (she assured
me she could keep up), I rode on pondering on the amazing
changes which time works in the field of human events ; upon
the fleeing fugitive, hiding in swamps and tracked by blood
hounds, to the fugitive fearless in the presence ofi: en thou
sand bayonets, glistening in the arms of ten thousand hated
abolitionists : for this was what we practically had becorae. I
did not see Peggy again for two or three days ; for hardly
had we arrived at New Market, hoping to raake up for the
want of rest of Sunday night, and the exhausting march of
twenty miles on Monday, when, the- fright at headquarters
continuing, we were ordered to tear away from the prospect
of comfortable beds, and 'move out in the darkness, ascend
the mountain, and cross to the valley of the North Fork of
the Shenandoah, on the eastern side of the range.
When Major Copeland brought the order frora Gen, Banks,
he inspired the officers of the Second Massachusetts Regi-
raent to throw off fatigue by promising a battle surely in the
morning ; and he also gave me the information in writing that
it was reported that Jackson had divided his force and had five
thousand raen this side the river (I suppose he referred to the

65
•
Luray valley), and six thousand raen the other, which " if so,"
adds Copeland, "one party raay be destroyed by a tiraely
movement." I left Banks's headquarters in New Market at twelve at night,
with no more information of the purposes and probabilities
of this raarch than when I entered, and with my weary col
umn reached the top of the raountain at sunrise on the 6th of
May. Here I halted for a moment to refresh the troops with
the marvellous beauty of the scene. In the golden light we
saw far below us in the valley the apple, peach, and cherry
trees in full bloora ; the rich green of the growing wheat,
the green grass, and the lovely tints of the new verdure of
the forest trees. My horse crushed the most beautiful vio
lets, growing in clusters on hillside, in footpath, and by
many mountain streams which flowed onward to swell the
Shenandoah at our feet. Without long delay we pushed
on for the foot of the mountain on the other (eastern) side,
where we were promised a sight of the enemy. We reached
the end of our long and toilsome night march to find that it
was a false alarm, — no enemy, no prospect of any fight. So
we fell down to deep slumbers ; I had not closed my eyes for
two nights. Here I published to my brigade the news of the
evacuation of Yorktown. The men cheered on the sides of
that magnificent old mountain with such vociferous shouts,
that the echo raust have rolled through the valley, rever
berating from the Blue Ridge, and answered back again from
the to'ps of the higher ranges over which we had climbed.
Save that I here tied a sutler to a tree, and confiscated all his
stock for selling liquor to my men, I accomplished nothing
that tended to a result.
On the 8th of May, returning from the raountain, we again
pitched our tents in New Market ; and I do not recall more
sleepy and dreamy hours than for a few days were passed
here, while awaiting the order to return to Strasburg,
The official report of the evacuation by the enemy of
9

66 •
Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., we received on Sunday, the
nth of May, the anniversary of the day on which the Second
Massachusetts Regiment was mustered into the service of the
United States for three years or the war.
New Ori'eans, Norfolk, Portsraouth, and Yorktown snatched
frora the rebel grasp, we counted as surely upon Richmond to
follow ; and so, in noisy demonstrations with the bands, we
celebrated our anniversary, saddened only by the reflection.
that to us had fallen the ignoble task of holding Strasburg for
the protection of the valley.
On the 13th of May Williams's Division re-entered Stras
burg, ' The roads, the bridges, the scenes, and the people
were little changed ; but the contrast between the advancing
and retreating march was most noticeable. Now there was
no pursuit, no ubiquitous Ashby : it was a dull, tame, dead
level of safety. The important bridge over the creek at
Mount Jackson, which, in fight, and in flight on our advance,
Ashby had attempted to destroy, and which it was necessary
to preserve to carry us from New Market to the rear, was
saved to us, somewhat, by two telegraphic operators armed
with two sabres and three revolvers,* and somewhat by the
absence of the enemy. Although I made haste to relieve
the gallant operators from their voluntary guard duty, I do
not remember what message I sent to Gen. Banks's assistant
• From Mount Jackson, May 10, 1862,
To Maj.-Gen, N. P. Banks :
All the guards have been withdrawn from this place, and the bridge near here.
As we would not like to see the bridge destroyed, and especially at this time, we
have assumed command, and mustered all the force we can, consisting in all of
five men, and will do the best we can to protect it with this small squad, who
are armed with two sabres and three revolvers.
We are very respectfully yours,
Hall & Lounsburg,
Government operators.

67
adjutant-general's clerk, by whom I was requested to make a
report* In the raiddle of a vast clover-field just on the outskirts of
the town, our regiment with the others of ray brigade were ^
encamped. By orders from Washington, we were to fortify
Strasburg ; f therefore we did the best we could to throw up
an incomplete field-work upon a hill in the middle of the
town, and a long line of simple breastworks in the southerly
part. From the 13th to the 23d of May this not too exciting task
furnished, with speculations upon the fall of Richmond, the
whole staple of amusement. Again there was much grum
bling and dissatisfaction among the officers of our regiment ;
and here it culminated in a letter from them to the secretary
of war, asking to be transferred to a more active field %
Major Scott, of Col. Murphy's Twenty-Ninth Pennsylvania

* Headquarters Department Shenandoah, \
* New Market, Va., May 10, 1862, \
Please report by bearer if the two companies detaUed have been sent from
your command. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R, Morris Copeland,
Maj. Vols, and Act. Adjt. Gen.
per Whittemore, clerk.
t Why the government should have treated Front Royal as an outpost and
Strasburg as the main place to be defended, it is impossible to explain. Invited
by Gen. Banks, upon his accession to Patterson's command, to come to him at
any and all times with such suggestions upon miUtary affairs as I might wish to
make, I took the liberty of advising him to move his main force to Front
Royal, and thus, holding a pass over the Blue Ridge, so place himself upon his
line of communications that his small force could not be surrounded by a larger
one of the enemy. I besought him to apply for a change of orders to enable him
to do this, and Major Perkins, his adjutant-general, joined me in my interces
sions, but Banks was immovable.
X A reply to this letter, received after Jackson had driven our regiment out of
the vaUey, declared that the exigencies of the service required the writers to
remain at Strasburg {within the valley).

68
Regiraent, suppressed his perturbed spirits, and spent much of
his pay, in presents as testimonials to officers who met his
approbation. Not content with having given superb swords
to Generals Banks and Hamilton, and to Major Copeland, the
'former's assistant adjutant-general, he now bent his energies
towards a gift for the colonel of the Second Massachusetts,
his then brigade commander ; which, alas ! never came to frui
tion, for Jackson soon made us think of other things. But
we were acting without foreknowledge, and ' so gathered such
comforts as were at hand. Peggy, my faithful negro woman,
duly installed as cook, gave more satisfaction for money paid
than any of our compromises. Following on with the bright-
eyed little " Topsy,'' she had come to me at New Market to
remain until I could transfer her Bostonward.
With direct rail communication with Washington, Strasburg
began to take on an air of gayety. A travelling theatrical com
pany furnished us with amusement. Sutlers and traders, by
day and by night overrun with custom, furnished us with
supplies. The amount of public property at Strasburg was
enormous. Since we had first passed through it, a bountiful
government had piled up stores for clothing, feeding, moving,
healing, and killing, until the warerooms positively groaned
with the burden. Here, too, had been deposited, as in a safe
depot, all the superfiuous transportation which Shields had
abandoned. In brigade drills, labor upon the field-works and defensive
lines, and in rebuilding the bridges upon the railroads, the
days wore on without incident or excitement, until the time
came to look again after our old antagonist Jackson, whora
we left on the eastern bank of the South Fork of the Shenan
doah, about^ sixteen and a half miles from Harrisonburg,
at the entrance of a long covered wooden bridge, prepared for
burning at a moment's notice. Everything there betokened
flight. Banks was so far deceived, that he had, in informing
the department of his advance to Harrisonburg, announced

69
" that the rebel Gen. Jackson has abandoned the valley of
Virginia permanently, and now is en route for Gordonsville
by the way of the mountains." The bridge where Banks
left Jackson is on the direct road from Gordonsville to Har
risonburg. From Gordonsville to Richmond by rail is about
sixty-two and a half miles, or three hours ; while frora Gor
donsville to the bridge, by a good pike road across the Blue
Ridge Mountains, through the Swift Run Gap, is but about
thirty miles.

70

CHAPTER V,
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the whole force of
the enemy between Fredericksburg and Richraond, was era-
ployed in preventing any movement by Gen. McDowell to aid
Gen. McClellan before Richmond. When Jackson fell back
before our column. Gen. Ewell, of the Confederate Army,
who had been hovering around Fredericksburg watching
"McDowell, was sent to Swift Run Gap.* Jackson found him
there, when he crossed the South Fork of the Shenandoah, as
related The instructions given to both Jackson and Ewell were, f
" if Gen. Banks joins McDowell at Fredericksburg, march
instantly, by Gordonsville, and join Anderson | in front of
Fredericksburg ; but, if Banks reraains in the valley, fight
him there immediately." §
On the 5th of May, as narrated, one division of Banks's
corps (Shields's) did start to join Gen. McDowell ; but whether
* Maj.-Gen. Ewell was left with his division, and a regiment of cavalry, in
observation on the upper Rappahannock. Gen. Jackson was left in the valley
to oppose greatly superior forces, authorized to call Ewell's Division to his
assistance, if necessary, and Ewell to comply with such a call ; Maj.-Gen Smith
to have a mixed force, equal to a brigade, in front of Fredericksburg — Narra
tive of Military Operations directed during the late War between the States. By
Joseph E. Johnston, General C. S. A., 1874,/. no.
Ewell's Division is given as numbering 10,000 men in " Battle-Fields of the
South," p. 324.
t Dabney, pp. 85, 86.
X Jefferson Davis had placed the Confederate Brigadier-General Anderson with
9,000 men to observe McDowell's corps. — Johnston's Narrative, p. 128,
§ Dabney, pp. 85, 86.

71

this was known to Johnston or to Jackson before the latter
marched to the place called MacDowell to attack Milroy, is
uncertain ; but it is true, that during Jackson's absence,
orders came frora Joseph E. Johnston to Ewell, to march at
once for Gordonsville, Shields's raovement caused these
orders. In following Jackson, it will be found impossible to con
nect the information, communicated by the deserter to Col.
Sullivan on the ist of May,* with the march raade by him
to attack Milroy at MacDoweU. It will be remembered that
although pur force left Harrisonburg on the 5th of May, to
return to Strasburg, Jackson did not start to attack Milroy
until the 12th. On the 15 th he reached MacDowell at 9
A. Ji., having made seventy miles in three days. At 2 p. m. he
attacked and drove Milroy towards Franklin, to which place
the next day he pursued him forty miles farther. Here he
remained two days, or until the morning ofthe i8th, when he
returned to Mount Crawford,f eight miles from Harrisonburg
on the Staunton pike, to find that Banks had fallen back from
Harrisonburg to Strasburg. Jackson's return to Mount Craw
ford could not have been earlier than the 20th of May. We
had then been in Strasburg seven days.
Mossy Creek is two days' march from New Market, Jack
son notified Ewell of his desire to meet him at a designated
place on this creek. They met, and Ewell was then told
by Jackson, that he was hastening back to effect a junc
tion with him near Harrisonburg, to assail Banks. J Ewell
* " Gen- Jackson, with a force of about 15,000 men, composed of twelve or fif
teen regiments under Jackson, Taliaferro, Winder, and Ewell, marched towards
Harrisonburg, and then returned and marched towards Port RepubUc." •
t Battle-Fields ofthe South, Ashton's letter, p. 324,
X " Generals Jackson and EweU, the former commanding as senior officer, were
then opposing Banks in the valley of the Shenandoah, still under my direction.
On leaving the Rapidan, I had requested Generals Jackson arid Ewell to send
their letters to me through the adjutant-general's office. These papers must
have been acted upon in Richmond; for none were ever forwarded to me until the

72
informed Jackson of his orders to move at once to Gordons
ville, but added that, notwithstanding this, if he, Jackson, as
ranking major-general, would order it, he would remain.*
Jackson did order it, and the junction of these two armies took
place on the 20th of May. Ewell had marched his command
from Elk River valley to meet Jackson.
We have seen that the battle of Kernstown was fought by
Jackson, because he. was deceived as to the strength of
Shields's Division, and because of the intimation sent him by
Gen. Johnston, f Now let us inquire why he fought the battle
of MacDowell. The most probable reason is, that." Jackson
received information from a Col. Johnson of Georgia, com
manding at MacDowell, that Blenker and Milroy with a Dutch
division were advancing eastward to western Virginia, and
that his small force of 1,500 men was falling back before
them." % This is confirmed by another writer, § who says :
" Forced back to the Blue Ridge by the heavy columns in his
front, he now saw approaching him from the western moun
tains another army, under Milroy, from which he feared the
loss of Staunton." Considering these matters in connection
with his asking instructions of Gen. Johnston as to his further
movements in relation to Banks, || we may judge whether all
that Jackson achieved in the valley was part of any particular
plan of aggression, " originating with him to drive the Federal
forces from the valley," ^ or whether it can be said of his opera-
army had reached the neighborhood of the Chickahominy. Then one from Gen.
Jackson, written soon after his return firom McDowell, was delivered to me. In
it he described the position of the Federal army near Strasburg, and asked
instructions. These were given at once, and were to advance and attagk, unless
he found the enemy too strongly intrenched." — Narrative of Military Operations,
by Joseph E. Johnston, General C. S. A., 1874, /, 129.
* Dabney, pp. 85, 86.
t See ante.
X Battle-Fields of the South, p. 324.
§ Cooke's Life of Jackson, p. 129.
II See ante, Johnston's instructions to Jackson.
IT Cooke's Life, p. 119.

73
tions "on this grand theatre in the spring of 1862, that he
will be mainly estimated in that hereafter, which suras up and
passes judgment on all human events, without fear, favor, or
the prejudices of the contemporary." * We are, too, now ena
bled to judge' how much truth there is in a criticism by Pollard,
who says of Jackson's movements, " By his own judgment,
and at the instance of his own military instinct, Jackson deter
mined to act on the aggressive, and essay the extraordinary
task of driving the Yankees from the valley ; to dash at Fre
mont's advance west of Staunton, and then turn upon Banks
and drive him into Maryland." f
We need not pursue this subject furtlier. To whomsoever
belongs the credit of originating the campaign in the valley,
in 1862, whether to Johnston or to Jackson, no one will deny
to the latter the highest praise for an executive ability, rare
among the most noted soldiers of this or any other age. In
this, at least, Jackson is secure.
But now Gen. Jackson was ordered to fight Banks — all that
was left of him ; and, as less than one half of that officer's
command was left, Jackson, as we have seen, took upon him
self the responsibility of retaining Ewell to fight that half,
although Johnston had ordered the latter to join Anderson, via
Gordonsville, to fight the half that had moved to strengthen
McDowell. When Jackson reached New Market, which was on the
20th of May, he was there joined by Ewell with his 10,000
men. " It was from this point that the campaign against the
enemy was commenced ; " % from this point that the orders
of Gen. Johnston were to be carried out, and the united
Confederate force of over 20,000 were to be precipitated
upon less than 4,000 men in Banks's corps. § Our force of
* Cooke's Life, p. lOO.
t PoUard's Southern History, vol. ii, p. 35.
X Cooke's Life, p. 141.
§ Banks's Official Report.
10

74
1 1, ooo, while at Harrisonburg, had been thus reduced, to meet
a corabined array of the eneray, against which with the larger
number we could not have coped ; a combined army from
which McClellan feared disaster, should we proceed too far
south until his raoveraents before Richmond should draw off
the enemy ; an array only too anxious to meet us, * even
before the War Department so suddenly scattered the coun
cil at Harrisonburg on that Sunday, on the 4th of May. Oh,
happy War Department !
The plan of Jackson's campaign against Banks's comraand
at Strasburg was wise, but its execution was feeble ; and in the
results that ought to have been achieved it was a failure.
As related, the campaign began at New Market, to which
point Ewell had sent Gen. Taylor '^rith his brigade, as the
advance ofthe former's division. On the morning of the 21st
of May, Gen. Jackson, with his own command and Taylor's
brigade, crossed the Massanutten gap, and encamped at Luray,
in the valley of the South Fork of the Shenandoah, there or
in that neighborhood uniting his own force with Ewell's,
Of this movement Banks was ignorant ; for when we aban
doned New Market Ashby occupied it, and posted scouts
as far as Strasburg, so that the valley was closed and every
movement effectually screened, f
Although Jackson made every preparation for rapid marches,
leaving behind him even the knapsacks of his men, he made
only twelve miles the first day, — one half of which were
passed in crossing the gap road over the mountain. The next
day, however, the united force moved forward, making a march
which carried the advance under Ewell to within ten miles of
Front Royal ; and this so secretly that not a single inhabitant
suspected Jackson's presence. |
* It was now hoped by all that Banks would leave the road, push on through
Harrisonburg, and attack us. Battle-Fields of the South, p. 324.
t Dabney, p. 90.
X Cooke, p, 141,

75
On the 23d of May the whole of Jackson's army, con
sisting, according to Southern accounts, of about sixteen
thousand effective infantry and forty field guns,* with three
regiments of cavalry, was within twelve railes of our principal
outpost at Front Royal. The whole of our feeble comraand
on this sarae Friday morning, at Strasburg and stretched
along the railroad towards and at Front Royal, was one divis
ion of two brigades | of infantry at Strasburg, comraanded by
Brigadier-General A. S. Williams, numbering less than thirty-
six hundred men present for duty. J My own brigade com
prised the regiments given below,§ and nurabered in all 2,101.
There were also at Strasburg of cavalry 800,, and of artillery
ten Parrott guns and six sraooth-bore field-pieces. At P'ront
Royal there were in all not to exceed nine hundred men. ||
Along the road nearer Strasburg, and already counted in
* Gen. Jackson's own division comprised brigades of Winder, Campbell, and
Taliaferro ; Ewell's division comprised brigades of Taylor, Trimble, Elzey, and
Stewart; Brigadier-General Stewart's brigade comprised First Maryland' Regi
ment of Infantry and Brockenborough s battery ; Cavalry regiments of Ashby,
Mumford, and Flournoy, with eight battalions of artillery. (Dabney, p. 90.)
t The first brigade commanded by Col. Donelly of the Twenty-eighth New
York. The second commanded by Col. George H. Gordon, of the Second
Massachusetts. X See Gen. WUliams's report. Officers. Enlisted Men.
§ Second Massachusetts  27 580
Third Wisconsin  24 550
Twenty-Seventh Indiana  20 431
Twenty-Ninth Pennsylvania (8 Cos.) . . 17 452
88 2,013 Total, 2,101
II Eight companies First Maryland Regiment, 775 men ; two companies Twenty-
Ninth Pennsylvania, Lieut.-Col. Perham commanding; Fifth New York, two
companies, Ira Harris's cavalry (100 men) ; one section of artillery, Knapp's
Battery, Lieut. Atwell, 38 men ; Capt. Mapes's Pioneer Corps, 56 men (engaged
in reconstructing bridges) ; total under command of Col. Kenly, of the First
Maryland, scarcely 1,000 men, — did not exceed 900 men. — Banks's Report.

76
the total, there were three companies from my brigade : Capt,
H, Russell, of the Second Massachusetts, at the bridge just out
of Strasburg ; one company of the Twenty-Seventh Indiana,
and one of the Third Wisconsin, both about five railes out
from the town.
So far as the concealment of Jackson's raarch was one of
his raain purposes, it was most effective. This is claimed by
Southern writers * to have been one of his raain reasons for
planning his attack between Front Royal and .Strasburg ;
although it is said others of weight were, to avoid our fortifica
tions, and ensure the issuing of Banks from them 'to save his
comraunications with eastern Virginia. That Jackson got
fairly upon Banks's flank without his knowledge, the latter
admits, f
Col. John R. Kenly, commanding the First Maryland
(Union) Regiment of infantry, with the force already men
tioned, had been sent from Strasburg in pursuance of "orders
from the War Department, on the i6th of May, to protect
the town- of Front Royal and the railroads and bridges
between that town and Strasburg. By the road the dis
tance between these towns is about fourteen miles. The
picturesque town of Front Royal nestles at the foot of high
hills, which tower abruptly above it on almost every side.
To the east runs the Blue Ridge, over whose summits, by
winding and steep pathways, roads lead through the gaps
known as Chester and Manassas into the valleys of East
ern Virginia. About one mile and a half north of Front
Royal, in a direct line with Winchester, the two branches
of the Shenandoah unite into the single stream that pours
its waters into the Potoraac at Harper's Ferry. The pike
* Dabney, p. 91.
t On the 23d of May, it was discovered that the whole force of the enemy was
in movement down the valley of the Shenandoah, between the Massanutten range
of mountains and the Blue Ridge, and in close proximity to the town (Front
Royal). — Banks's Official Report.

77
road from Front Royal to Winchester crosses both Forks
of the river, — the South Fork at a distance of one mile
and a quarter frora the town, the North Fork about one mile
farther on. At the two Forks there were two bridges stand
ing. Col. Kenly had pitched his camp north of and about
half a mile from the town, in a lovely valley, in which, on the
morning qf the 23d of May, there was no token of the
impending storm. Trees of richest verdure were bathed in
the morning sun, and fields sparkled with dew-drops shining
amidst luxuriant grasses. Everything around seemed more
in harmony with life and peace than with bloodshed and
death. At two o'clock in the afternoon two companies of
infantry were on duty as advanced guard upon the roads
leading south and west from Front Royal ; at the bridges,
and along the railroad for about five miles towards Strasburg,
guards had also been stationed. Suddenly, and without the
slightest warning, Jackson's advance was upon them.
On the 22d of May, at night, we left the enemy's advance,
under Ewell, in bivouac on the road that runs up the eastern
bank of the South Fork of the Shenandoah frora Luray, and
only ten miles from Front Royal. To conduct his march so
secretly that the descent of his columns would give Kenly
the first knowledge of his approach, Jackson, in the morn
ing, diverged from the well-travelled highway that leads
from Luray to Front Royal, and by a steep and narrow
footpath gained the wooded hills to the east. Thence
descending, it was Jackson's purpose to cut Kenly off from
flight across the passes of the Blue Ridge towards Wash
ington, while Ashby's cavalry, with Flournoy, crossing the
South Fork of the Shenandoah, moved to intercept the flight
of the little band to the west towards Strasburg. Ashby
directed his march as far to the west as Buckton, where there
was a bridge and some fortifications, occupied by the two
companies from my brigade, while Flournoy's movements
were between Buckton and Front Royal.

78
Before the pickets at Front Royal had been fairly dispersed.
Col. Kenly had formed his comraand on the crest of a hill
about a mile north of the town and in rear of his camp.
Here was his whole disposable force of about nine hundred
men and two pieces of artillery ; and here he calmly awaited
.the onset of the vastly superior force of the enemy. In his front
the ground was level ; his guns comraanded the approaches.
The eneray advanced cautiously, and were received with
shells from Knapp's Battery. With a grim humor Jackson
selected a rebel Maryland Regiment to attack the loyal
Marylanders. Supported by cavalry, who were in turn sus
tained by Taylor's Brigade of Infantry and two battalions of
Louisiana Tigers under Major Wheat, an attempt was made
to turn both of Kenly's flanks, while the Maryland Rebel
Regiment advanced to make the attack in front. Against
such odds there was no hope. Setting fire to his camp, Kenly
now retreated to the first bridge, closely followed by the rebel
Maryland, the Louisiana Battalions, and cavalry. Here a stand
was made, but the overwhelming numbers of the enemy
pushed on, captured the bridge uninjured, and drove our forces
a mile farther to the bridge over the North Fork of the river.
Again a stand was made with an unsuccessful atterapt to burn
the bridge, but Kenly was once more forced back on the road
towards Winchester. About a mile from this second bridge
the road runs over a coraraanding eminence, on the right
of the turnpike. There Kenly determined to fight. When
the enemy appeared he opened on them with his two guns ;
but the enemy's infantry and skirmishers attacked hira
in front, while the rebel cavalry, crossing to the left, turned
his position, and he fell back. It was from here that Kenly
dispatched couriers to Gen. Banks, — some of whom got
through, as will appear, Kenly now marched up the road in
such excellent order that his enemies viewed him with
admiration. Reaching a favorable position his guns were
posted, and again the roar and rattle of his artillery fell about

79
Jackson's ears, who is reported to have groaned out aloud,
" Oh, that my guns were here ! "
By this time the enemy's cavalry, who had been fighting
and capturing prisoners all along the railroad from Front
Royal to Buckton, came upon the stricken band. This cav
alry force appeared on the Winchester road, and above
Kenly, who had now been driven back as far as Cedarville,
which is five miles north of Front Royal, oh the Win
chester road. Here Kenly formed a line of battle with
his own regiment, the two companies of the Twenty-Ninth
Pennsylvania, his artillery, anH a few cavalry. Now Jackson
ordered the new cavalry force under Flournoy to charge.
It is claimed that Kenly's line was somewhat broken before
Jackson gave this order, and that Kenly, when he saw the
necessity of obstructing the cavalry, ordered his command to
form over a fence in a wheat-field (an orchard, the rebels
call it). This was done, and then the enemy's cavalry was
upon them. Successive discharges were . poured into the
enemy from Kenly's right and left wings, but in vain. Artil
lery and cavalry were mingled together, sabres waved over the
heads of the dooraed loyalists from Maryland, and the word
"Surrender!" passed from every mouth. It was finished.
Save an insignificant number of men, and one piece of artil
lery, which was carried to within five miles of Winchester and
there abandoned, the whole of Kenly's command was killed
or captured. The fight, which had begun at 2 p. M., lasted
until dark. While these scenes were transpiring, Ashby, with
his cavalry, had attacked and dispersed' the two companies at
Buckton and had torn up the railroad track. Then night came,
and all around the Shenandoah, at Front Royal, and on the
road to Cedarville, there were corpses of brave men, recently
strong in life; and there were wounded, moaning in their
agony, unprotected from the rain that fell in torrents ; while
an exulting foe of at least twenty thousand men turned their
eyes towards Strasburg for the larger game of the morrow.

80
At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 23d not one word
of the capture of Kenly had reached us at Strasburg. The
~day was intensely hot and the air positively stifling under
canvas. A general languor was raanifeste^ in the drowsy
way in which the sentinels dawdled along their posts, or in the
aimless, sleepy air in which the troops addressed themselves
to such amusements as were suggested by time and place.
Suddenly a rtiounted orderly, dashing violently up to my tent
and inquiring for Gen. Banks in an eager tone, aroused a spark
of life in the lifeless scene. Gen,^ Hatch of the cavalry was
sitting by my side, speculating upon our probable movements
and fate, as the orderly rode rapidly away without revealing
his message. " This man, I think, may have news that will
solve our doubts," I said to Hatch ; " I believe he brings news
of an attack upon our outposts," *
In less than twp hours Strasburg was aroused. On the road
towards Front Royal, Banks sent his troops, with the vain
purpose, perhaps, of seeming to act, or, it may be, that with a
single regiment of infantry he might recover what he had lost.
The Third Wisconsin Regiment I had hardly sent, by verbal
orders, to the assistance of Col. Kenly, when Banks directed
me to 'add to it a battery.f Then there came a lull, and many
anxious inquiries : " What is it ? " " Is it Stonewall Jackson
or only ' a cavalry raid .' ' " was often asked, to be as often
asked again. Soon, however, it was known that Kenly had
been attacked at Front Royal ; that when the messenger left,
the fight was in progress ; and hardly had this been announced
* For some days, from the heights around Strasburg, we had seen the sun
reflected from tents, at the Swift Run Gap of the Blue Ridge, whose increasing
numbers indicated reinforcements to the enemy. t Strasburg, 5.45 p, m., 23d May,
Col. Gordon,
Commanding Brigade, etc. etc. :
Sir, — You will direct a section of the battery nearest your command to move
with your regiment. N. P. Banks, M, G. C.

81
when an orderly, rushing with haste through the town, cried
out that the second bridge had been attacked,*
Daylight melted into night, stars twinkled in the heavens,
lights glistened from the windows of houses in the town or
shed a murky glare through canvas in the camps ; and no
movement was made by Banks indicating that he had received
any information of the strength of the enemy or the purposes
they contemplated ; nothing done towards sending away to
Winchester any of the immense quantities of public stores
collected at Strasburg ; no movement made to place our sick
in safety; nothing that indicated any intention by Banks of
changing his position by reason of anything that had come
from the attack on Kenly at Front Royal, Indeed, it did not
seem as if Banks interpreted this attack to signify aught of
future or further movements by the enemy ; or that it revealed
that he was acting with any force larger than he had exhibited
in brushing away our outposts ; or even that it betokened any
purpose to cut us off from Winchester, and capture our com
raand and material. I was so fully impressed, however, with
Jackson's purposes, as they were afterwards revealed, that as
soon as night set in I sought Banks at his headquarters, and
labored long to impress upon him what I thought a duty, — to
wit, his immediate retreat under cover of the darkness to
wards Winchester, carrying his sick and all supplies that he
could transport, and destroying the remainder. On the sole
ground that thus a superior force could not cut the only line
of communications left open to him, did I urge it. I en
deavored to impress upon Banks the probability of the vastly
superior numbers of the enemy, as manifested in the increased
* Six miles from Strasburg is Buckton Station. When Jackson's infantry
was engaged at Front Royal, Ashby's cavalry, fording the Forks of the Shenan
doah, swept westward as far as the posts where the two compaines ofthe Second
Massachusetts and Third Wisconsin were stationed. Here a brisk fight took
place, and our troops were overpowered, though not without a severe loss to the
enemy. 11

82
size of his camp on the Blue Ridgd Even if it should turn
out that I had overestimated his numbers, we should be in a
better position, I urged, to fight at Winchester than at Stras
burg : our enemy would then be in our front and not in our
rear, I failed to accomplish my purpose. Notwithstanding
all my solicitations and entreaties. Banks persistently refused
to move, ever repeating, "I must develop the force of the
enemy." No argument, no reply to my arguments could sup
press this monotonous utterance. Banks seemed brooding
over thoughts he did not reveal; he was spiritless and de
jected. His mood depressed me, and I hastened to return
to my comraand. At about ten o'clock at night I received
a note, containing instructions sent to Col. Ruger of the Third
Wisconsin,* frora which I inferred that possibly Banks had
obtained further inforraation, and that now I raight press my
views with better success.
First I called upon Major Perkins, the chief of Gen.' Banks's
staff. Finding that my suspicions of the strength and pur
poses of the enemy were shared by him, I asked Perkins
if he agreed with me in the advice I had given. Replying
that he did, I asked him if he had urged Banks to move with
out delay. He said he had, but without effect; and he
begged me to endeavor once more to persuade Gen. Banks.
So I sought our commander, and again, with some warmth
and not a little indignation, used every arguraent I could,
to raove hira to make instant preparation to Idave Stras
burg and put himself in a true position. It is not a retreat, I
urged, but a true military movement to save yourself from
being cut off ; to prevent stores and sick from falling into the
hands of the enemy, * Headquarters, 9.45 p. m.
Col. Gordon :
Sir, — I sent a note about an hour ago to Col. Ruger to halt If at or beyond
Buckton to fall back, if necessary, to a position where he would not run any risk
of being cut off I send the two wagons back.
Yours, etc, D, S, Perkins, Major, etc.

83
Moved with an unusual fire. Gen. Banks, who had raet all
my arguments with the single reply, " I must develop the force
of the enemy," now rising excitedly from his seat, with much
warmth and in loud tones exclaimed, " By God, sir, I will not
retreat ! We have more to fear, sir, from the opinions of our
friends than the bayonets of our enemies."
The thought, so long the subject of his meditation, was at
last out. Gen. Banks was afraid of being thought afraid. I
rose to take my leave, replying, " This, sir, is not a military
ground for occupying a false position ; and. Gen. Banks," I
added, " I shall now return to my brigade and prepare it for
an instantaneous movement, for I am convinced that at last
you will raove suddenly. At a raoraent's notice you will find
me ready. I shall strike all my tents, pack my wagons, hitch
up my artillery horses, and hold myself in readiness to form
line of battle. I have to request that you will send me word
if anything new transpires."
It was eleven o'clock at night when I left him. As I
returned through the town, I could not perceive that anybody
was troubled with anticipations for the morrow. The sutlers
were driving sharp bargains with those who had escaped from
or were not amenable to military discipline; the strolling
players were moving crowds to noisy laughter in their
canvas booth, through which the lights gleamed, and the
music sounded with startling shrillness. I thought, as I
turned towards ray camp. How unconscious all are of the
drama Jackson is preparing for us, and what merriment the
morning will reveal !
As my troops were aroused frora their slurabers a low
raurmur ran through camp, followed by the louder noise of
packing camp equipage and baggage, the harnessing of artil
lery horses, and hitching up of trains. We were ready for
action. But the night sped on ; silence fell upon the town,
and sluraber was as deep that night in Strasburg as if without
there was no cause for watchfulness. My brigade, however.

84
found little comfort sitting around dismal camp-fires, reduced
to expiring embers by the falling rain. Unsheltered and
unprotected, in a damp clover-field, the morning dawned upon
a cheerless group. Some unimportant steps had been taken for
the security of the sick and for the safety of public property.
I had ordered my brigade and regimental trains forward to
Winchester, and they were saved. After three o'clock in the
morning Banks had sent off some ambulances with sick and
disabled ; and this was all.
The certainty of demonstration which Banks seemed to
require to develop the numbers of Jackson's force, he evi
dently did not secure during the night nor long after daylight
on the morning of the 24th ; nor was he on that morning any
more convinced of the prudence of ray advice of the night
before, — to remove all the public property to a place of safety,
and take a better position, so that if perchance the enemy
were present in overwhelming numbers, he could save his
comraand and material. As a very small part of Jackson's
force took part in the affair with Kenly at Front Royal, it is
possible that the reports of Kenly's messengers convinced
Banks that all they saw was all there were.* If this were
true, to act during all that night, and far into the forenoon
of the next day, as if Jackson was engaged in a cavalry raid,
was an error of judgment unpardonable in a commander.
When did Banks come to a different conclusion, and act ac
cordingly? This is an important question.
In his official report of the affair Banks declares that " before
three o'clock on the morning of the 24th," about four hours
after I left him at night, he had information that the enemy,
15,000 or 20,000 strong, was advancing upon Winchester ; that
more were threatening ; " that to remain at Strasburg was
to be surrounded," and "that to attack the enemy in such
overwhelming force could only result in certain destruction."
* Banks in his official report says this fighting was mostly done by the enemy's
cavalry, and that this force is estimated at 8,000 men.

85
" It was, therefore, determined to enter the lists with the
enemy in a race or a battle [as he should choose] for the
possession of Winchester, — the key of the valley, and for us
the position of safety." * The report then continuing, as
giving the narrative in the order of occurrence, says : " At
three o'clock, A. m., on the 24th instant, the reinforcements
sent to Kenly were ordered to return, several hundred disabled
men left in our charge by Shields's division were put upon the
march, and our wagon train ordered forward to Winchester
under escort of cavalry and infantry. Gen. Hatch, with nearly
our whole force of cavalry and six pieces of artillery, was charged
with the protection of the rear of our column and the destruc
tion of any stores for which transportation was not provided,
with instructions to remain in front of the town as long as
possible, and hold the enemy in check, — our expectations of
attack being in that direction. All these orders were executed
with incredible celerity, and soon after nine o'clock f the col
umn was on the march. Col. Donelly in front. Col. Gordon in
the centre, and Gen. Hatch in the rear." J
When I besought Banks, at 1 1 p. m. of the 23d, to start then
for Winchester, he replied that he would not retreat, repeating
with an oath his fear of public opinion. At 3 a. m. of the 24th
(he says in his official report) he was convinced that Winches
ter was for " us the key of the valley," " the position of safety."
On the 31st of May, when Banks made that report, he wrote
with a full knowledge and a lively experience of all that
had transpired ; he wrote as he would have acted had he
known on that night of the 23d what he knew, when he
wrote on the day of the 31st of May, 1862: but he did not
write the truth, as I will now proceed to demonstrate. It is
true that after I left Banks on the night of the 23d, he did
determine to send some of his sick to Winchester, and
* See Banks's Official Report, Moore's Reb. Record, Vol. IX.
t It was eleven.
X See Banks's Official Report, Moore's Reb. Record, Vol. IX.

86
it is true that they did start some time after three o'clock
on the morning of the 24th ; but that is all that was done
to save our supplies or to meet the enemy. Instead of our
wagon train being ordered forward to Winchester at 3 A. m.
of the 24th, it was not ordered forward until nearly eleven
o'clock of that day, eight hours later. Instead of Gen. Banks,
at three o'clock in the morning, resolving that to remain at
Strasburg was to be surrounded, at between ten and eleven
o'clock in the morning, after more than twelve hours of reflec
tion, he had determined to remain at Strasburg, and only
changed his mind when news came to him that his sick in
ambulances had been attacked en route to Winchester. So,
with Gen. Hatch as rear-guard, and ordering forward the
trains, the " incredible celerity " was between 9 and 1 1 a. m.,
and not between 3 A. m. and ir. Let us return, and move
forward with events.
After daylight of the 24th we remained inactive until
between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning, at which
time I received the following note frora Gen. Banks : —
Headquarters Department of Shenandoah, j
Strasburg, Va., May 24, '62, J
Col. Geo. H. Gordon,
Commanding Brigade :
Sir, — Our information this morning shows that the enemy returned to Front
Royal last night, and will not, now at least, attempt our rear. Our force wUl
remain in Strasburg, therefore, until further orders.
Our trains wUl be sent to the rear except those necessary for supplies, and the
depots established at some other point.
You will make your men as comfortable as our circumstances will permit.
The brigade trains will be sent back for supplies. The Secretary and Assistant
Secretary of War both telegraph that ample reinforcements will be sent. You
will give such orders a^ may be necessary for your command.
Respectfully yours, etc., N, P. Banks, M. G C, etc.
That even Banks could be so deceived filled me with amaze
ment as unspeakable as the perplexity which overcame me

87
when I discovered that, six days later. Banks officially reported
that before three o'clock on the raorning of the 24th, he raade
up his raind "that to reraain at Strasburg was 'to be sur
rounded ' " ; and now, seven hours later, here was an order to
"remain at Strasburg," and "be surrounded""! Ah, no! for
hardly had I contemptuously thrust the foregoing letter into
my pocket, when an orderly, galloping furiously to my side,
delivered a note in pencil, of which the following is a copy
[the italics are mine] : —
Colonel, — Orders have just been received for the division to move at once
towards Middletown, takirg such steps to oppose the enemy (reported to be on
the road between Front Royal and Middletown) as to Gen. Williams may seem
proper. The general is absent, but I have sent for him. Would it not be well
to have the Third Brigade ready to debouch on the pike ?
Cothran's Battery is on the hill behind us awaiting your orders: will you notify
him ? Reports from Front Royal confirm Kenly's death, and the cutting up of
the First Maryland. Respectfully yours,
Wm. D. Wilkins, Capt. and A. A. G.
Turning now to Jackson's army, it belongs to this history to
follow their raoveraents, and discover why they did not sur
round us at Strasburg before daylight of the 24th of May.
Had Jackson raoved all night of the 23d, as he intended,* the
raorning of May 24 would have dawned upon his army sur
rounding Banks in Strasburg. An untoward event, a blun
der, says a Southern writer, delayed Jackson's march ;t it was
that the main body of his comraarid diverged to the right by
the steep and narrow by-path taken by the advance when they
gained the Gooney Manor Road (the road frora the Blue Hills)
to precipitate theraselves the more sud3enly upon Kenly.
It was not Jackson's intention to use his whole 20,000 to
crush Kenly's 1,000 ; so when he found that the latter's
pickets were driven in, he told one of his orderlies, a cavalry
man, to direct the rear brigades to avoid the circuitous path
* Cooke, p, 144. t Dabney, p, 94,

88
taken by the First Maryland and Wheat's Battalion, and
move for Front Royal by the direct and shorter route. This
boy orderly, as he is called, started upon his errand ; but
ere he had reached the column, the sound of Kenly's artil
lery broke upon his ears ; when, thinking only of hiding
from the dreadful sound, he turned his horse's head home
ward, and was seen no more. And thus it was that all of
Jackson's infantry toiled over the hills through the steep
and narrow pathway, guided by the footsteps of the attack
ing column in making the useless circuit. It was night
before these troops reached the village of Front Royal, and
then so fatigued, that they laid down to rest instead of pursu
ing the enemy.
Well was it for us that the " pastures green " of a Virginia
farm were more seductive to the boy orderly than the sound
of Kenly's artillery I Thus it was that the night of May 23
left us without disturbance, and that the hours of the 24th
were not cut short soon after sunrise.
This delay on the part of Jackson gave, I think, confidence
to Banks that his judgment was sound, and that it was not
the intention of the enemy to interfere with us.
Strasburg, Front Royal, and Winchester, joined by irregu
lar lines, form a triangular figure, closely resembling the letter
A; Winchester at the vertex forms with Strasburg and
Front Royal the western and eastern sides of the figure.
When Jackson's troops, ignorantly following the footsteps
of the advance, floundered into Front Royal at night, they
threw themselves exhausted on the ground, and remained
there until morning. At Cedarville, four and a half railes
farther north, was the cavalry and infantry that had captured
Kenly. At the first dawn on the 24th, Jackson's coluran was
in raotion.* Gen. Geo. H. Stewart, with the Second and
* Cooke, p. 144.

89
Sixth Virginia Cavalry, moved northward to Newtown, a dis
tance of ten miles ; Gen. Ewell, with Trirable's Brigade, the
First Maryland Regiment, Courtney's and Brockenbrough's
Batteries, was ordered to raove to Winchester, on the raain
Front Royal turnpike a distance of nineteen railes ; while
Jackson in person, in coraraand of the raain body of his army,
proceeded in the direction of Middletown,* which is distant
from Front Royal twelve miles. Stewart's orders were to
strike the Winchester road at the village of Newtown, and to
observe the raoveraents of the enemy at that point ; Ewell
, was directed to observe appearances of the enemy's retreat
and be prepared to strike him in flank; while Jackson, re
serving to himself the raain body of his army, after reaching
Cedarville moved by a cross-road towards Middletown. Ashby
moved in Jackson's front with batteries, and covered his left
to prevent any attempt on Banks's part to retreat to Front
Royal. All the detachments of Jackson's army were in easy
communication, and could have been rapidly concentrated at
Strasburg or Winchester or. at any intermediate point.
Before Jackson's main body was fairly in raotion. Gen.
Stewart had already sent news f of his arrival at Newtown,
and that he had there captured a number of ambulances, with
prisoners and medical stores, and found evident signs of a gen
eral retreat upon Winchester. This was the second attack upon
Banks's coraraand, and was so significant as to make it plain,
even to Gen. Banks, that the enemy had not "returned to
Strasburg," and not only would, but even now were, " attempt
ing our rear." As soon as refugees flying from Stewart's
attack brought us the news at Strasburg, the order sent me in
pencil from Gen. Williams, adjutant-general, was received, and
" Banks's retreat" becarae a reality.:]:
* Dabney, p. 94. Johnston's Narrative, p. 129.
t Dabney, p. 98.
X Upon comparing the time of Stewart's attack, the distance from Newtown to
Strasburg, and the hour we started from Strasburg, this will be apparent, Start-
12

90
We may now proceed with our own column. As soon as
ordered, our raovement was instantaneous. It was eleven
o'clock in the morning.* The two brigades of infantry were
in the order of march indicated. Col. Donelly in front, myself
in rear ; and Gen. Hatch with cavalry, as rear-guard, instructed
then, but too late, to do what Banks says in his report he had
ordered done at 3 A. m. Our course was directly for Win
chester, the distance eighteen miles. Fortunately for us, the
day was cool and misty. We had cleared the town and
reached Cedar Creek, about two miles out, when signs of
excitement and panic were apparent. Frightened teamsters
came thundering back towards Strasburg, urging their mules
at a gallop, — sorae as if to gain the town we had left fpr new
loads of stores, others as ff in a frenzy of fright to escape
from the front. Here too I met, in woful plight, the theatri
cal company, so gay the night before, but now how crest-fallen !
There were actors, male and female, with their canvas theatre,
looking inquiringly yet despairingly into the face of every pass
ing officer, as ff, in this hopeless maze, there alone could hope
be found. In the midst of all this confusion there came gal
loping rapidly back a staff-officer frora Banks, crying, "The
enemy is upon us ! " and without stop, keeping on to hurry up
my battery, which went at double-quick, while we followed .
three or four miles farther, until we carae to where there was
a halted wagon-train. Here two or three wagon-masters were
striking the stampeded wagoners right and left with their heavy
cowhide whips, interspersing oaths more forcible than solemn
to drive them back to their duty. The cry was then that the

ing at three o'clock, our sick and teamsters would have reached Newtown, distant
twelve miles, at between 6 and 7 A. M. Stewart, with his cavalry, starting from
Cedarville at daylight, would have moved over his ten miles by six or seven
o'clock, and the refugees would have returned to Strasburg, twelve miles, in about
three and a half or four hours, or by eleven o'clock, A. M.
* Quint, Boston Traveler, May, 1862. Col. Andrews' Report, Vol, IX, Moore's
Reb. Record.

91
rebel cavalry had come down on the train, so there had been
a regular stampede. Gen. Banks was now on the alert, and
well he might be. Before him was a confused mob of terror-
stricken teamsters, intermingled with infantry and artillery,
and behind him, volumes of smoke and flame arising from the
town, announcing the destruction of that property which the
night before might have been removed to a place of safety.
At .last he seems to have been convinced of his error, for as
he was hurrying along the roadway, he turned to one of his
staff, with a " countenance grave but resolute," as we are
informed, and said, " It seems we have made a mistake." *
The head of the column now moved forward, and reached
Middletown, six miles from Strasburg, without interruption.
None of the eneray were found in the town, although three
hundred had been seen there, f Skirmishers frora the Forty-
Sixth Pennsylvania were sent into the woods on the right, and
they discovered five companies of the enemy's cavalry in rear
of the woods. Banks directed the artillery to open fire, and
the enemy retreated ; then the Twenty-Eighth New York was
brought up, and under a heavy fire of infantry and artillery
the five companies of cavalry were driven back more than two
miles from the pike, at which point Col. Donelly, command-
* In a paper published in " Harper's Monthly " for March, 1867, ^r. Strother, of
Virginia, has given his " Recollections ofa Campaign in Virginia." Strother, who
was attached to Banks's staff in the valley campaign, makes it appear in this paper
that he derided the reports of the number of Jackson's army with such effect that
it influenced Banks's conduct. Thus Strother endeavors to shield the latter, and
relates the following occurrence, when he was riding away from the smoking
ruins of Strasburg to the sound of the cannon of the army of Jackson. " I was
mortified at the failure of my judgment, and filled with self-reproach that obsti
nate and open expressed disbelief in the danger might have had some influence
in delaying a movement upon which the safety of our army depended. Banks's
countenance was grave and resolute ; as I rode towards him, he observed, " It
seems we have made a mistake." I said, " It seems so indeed."
When Banks made his ofiicial report, he forgot that he had made this remark ;
he forgot, too, that note, that we would " remain at Strasburg."
t Banks's Report.

92
ing the brigade, was informed by a citizen that 4,000 men were
in the woods beyond.* Gen. Banks attributes the safety of
his coluran to what he calls this episode ; for had the enemy
" vigorously attacked the train," he says, " while at the head of
the column, it would have been thrown into such dire con
fusion as to have raade the successful continuation of our
raarch impossible." Undoubtedly ! but why did not the enemy
vigorously attack the train .' Simply because the sraall force
of cavalry which Banks raet was the rebel Gen. Geo. H.
Stewart's Second and Sixth Virginia Cavalry, which, having
destroyed the ambulance-train at Newtown, had been down
the road towards Middletown, and was watching the route
from the woods on the right where Donelly's skirmishers
found them. '
There were, no doubt, " 4,000 men in the woods beyond,"
but they were many miles beyond. It was Ewell's force, con
sisting, as stated, of Trimble's Brigade and the First Maryland
Regiment, with two batteries. If this column moved at day
light, as ordered, it had made, between 10 and iia. m., eleven
miles at least, and would have reached the toll-gate on the Front
Royal road to Winchester, opposite Newtown and about five
miles frora it. Ewell was hurrying forward to Winchester to
cut off our retreat from that place as well as to capture all
the public property there ; and for this he was using the ut
most expedition, and had no time to make cross-cut diversions
with l^is infantry over to the Strasburg pike, to Winchester,
and he did not raake any ; nor did any one but Stewart, with
his small cavalry force, — for I shall show, that until after dark
that night, the road was open from Newtown to Winchester.
After Donelly's affair with Stewart's cavalry, the latter
were heard of no more that day. As Stewart was attached
to Ewell's force, f it is raore than probable that he joined
* Banks's Report.
t See Stewart's refusal to obey Jackson's order to follow our retreat, on the
ground that only from Ewell would he receive orders. — Post.

93
his column, and moved on Winchester content to watch the
avenues of our escape to the east, and awaiting the move
ments of Jackson, whom he knew was hurrying with almost
the whole of his large army to crush us on the route we were
taking. It was not wise to attribute our safety to Donelly's attack
upon less than i,ooo of the 20,000 that were pushing upon
us in every direction; yet it would be unfair to Banks to
deny that, when he wrote his report, he sincerely believed
that this little skirmish of "one killed and nine wounded"
saved his whole column.
Pending this contest. Banks* ordered " Col. Brodhead, of the
First Michigan Cavalry, to advance and if possible cut his
way through, and occupy Winchester" Finding no enemy
in his path, the Colonel went without opposition to the town.
This is conclusive that the attack to be made upon Banks's
column in retreat was not made at the head of the column ;
and that this affair was of no moraent in deciding the fortunes
of the day.
When the first rumors from the teamsters came to us,
filled with apprehension that he had permitted Jackson to
throw his whole army between him and Strasburg, and fearing
that he would be obliged to return. Banks directed Capt.
Abert, of the topographical engineers on his staff, to turn
back with his body-guard f and foil the enemy's pursuit, by
preparing Cedar Creek Bridge for the flames. While they
returned on their mission % the column pushed forward. We
had been detained about an hour.
Donelly's Brigade and a wagon-train entered Winchester
early in the afternoon of the 24th of May, without sight or
sound of an enemy; but our fate was different, and was as
* Banks's Report.
t A red-uniformed company from PhUadelphia, caUing themselves Zouaves
d' Afrique. X Banks's Report,

94
follows : Notwithstanding the confusion,* we pushed on, with
out much hinderance or delay, with orders to move towards
Newtown en route to Winchester, to check an approach of
the enemy in that direction. The train that preceded as well
as that which followed us was immense. The distance to
Middletown from Strasburg is six miles. When the wagons
were straightened out, after Donelly's skirmish, the line was
continuous for this distance, and was continually lengthening,
as wagons » emerged from Strasburg to fill the spaces of the
line, still extending.
It was nearly one o'clock in the afternoon when my brigade
passed through Middletown. There was no enemy there, but
between Middletown and Newtown the ominous sound of can
non was heard in our rear. Quickly there came more reports
of artillery, and then single troopers from the cavalry, riding
rapidly towards Winchester, and halting, as they came up with
the head of my brigade, only long enough to cry out that
Jackson had attacked our rear, had cut our train in two, and in
short was having the thing pretty much his own way. I
made the same reply to one and all of these panic-stricken
cavalrymen, " Go and tell Gen. Banks what you have seen."
They obeyed, passing forward to the head of the column.
Shortly, however, the number of fugitives increased, the roar
of artillery was continuous, and reports from the rear more
appalling. At length Newtown was reached, and here we
found the dead body of one of Shields's men killed in Stew
art's daylight attack upon our ambulances and sick. The
man had been discharged from the hospital, and was march
ing along with the ambulances, unarmed, when he was shot
through the head.
I had passed through the village, when a report reached me
that the enemy had come in between ray own brigade and
the rear-guard, that they had captured raany wagons and were
now in pursuit. I instantly forraed a new rear-guard of the
* Wagons ordered to the rear, Stewart's attack with cavalry. i

95
Twenty-Seventh Indiana Regiment, and two sections of artil
lery. " Keep the enemy back, and protect all the train that 's
left," were my instructions, as I pushed on, until Bartonville,
a little town about one mile and a half frora Newtown, was
reached. Here reports carae to me that the enemy had
planted a battery in the middle of the road, and having cut
off all coraraunication with the rear-guard of cavalry, were
firing into the rear of my column.
It was now between 2 and 3 p, m. We were but five and
a half miles from Winchester. At this point and time •
Gen. Banks made his appearance. Following him came the
Twenty-Eighth New York Regiment, conducted thus far
under orders to - report to Gen. Hatch if practicable. Gen.
Banks also directed rae to order the Second Massachusetts
Regiment to the rear, and gave orders hiraself for two sec
tions of artillery attached to my brigade to proceed in the
same direction. Lieut.-Col. Andrews directed the men of
the Second to remove their knapsacks, for they were much
fatigued with the raarch over a dry and dusty road. This was
done, and then the regiraent turned its face rearward ; so did
the artillery, — a section of Best's Battery under Lieut. Gush
ing. While this force was raoving out, the wagons in advance
of my brigade got into a condition of inextricable confusion,
from which I saw Banks for a moment attempting personally
to disengage thera, with the assistance of ray aid, Lieut. Scott
of the Second, whora he requested to keep the wagons raov
ing until they got out of the snarl. These orders given. Banks
turned away, and rode forward to the head of the column.
There was thus a new rear-guard constituted, — the Second
Massachusetts, the Twenty-Eighth New York, and the Twenty-
Seventh Indiana Regiment, then in rear. Two of these regi
ments were from my brigade, and the battery was mine.
There were also two of my regiments left with the main col
umn, the Third Wisconsin and the Twenty-Ninth Pennsyl
vania, and these were moving rapidly on towards Winchester.

96
Which half should I join ? No orders had been given to me.
Knowing that Banks had ordered the Twenty-Eighth New
York to report to Gen. Hatch of the cavalry, I assumed that
he intended the remainder of the force so to report. I knew
that Gen. Hatch could not be found ; that he was somewhere
near Strasburg, or escaping through the passes of the North
Mountain to rejoin us. So I determined to assume comraand,
and without a raoraent's hesitation turned to attack the enemy,
and do what I could in rescuing the rear-guard and the baggage.
Near the outskirts of the straggling little village of New
town, I found sorae confusion in the train, and saw six or seven
wagons that had been overturned and abandoned I found
unhappy mules, helplessly tied down by the pressure of
fallen teanis, appealing so beseechingly for aid that I halted
long enough to free them all. Around there were signs of
panic and confusion. Here in advance I found Col. Colgrove,
holding his. little regiment of four hundred and thirty-one men
(the Twenty-Seventh Indiana) stanchly in line of battle, while
his artillery was firing upon the enemy's cavalry showing
themselves in the woods on our left. The colonel reported
that the enemy, with infantry and artillery, were in the town.
I determined to attack and drive ihem. out. The Second
Massachusetts being called upon to take the brunt of it, the
regiment, with skirmishers thrown out, moved forward, sup
ported by the Twenty-Eighth New York and a section of
Best's Battery. As Companies A and C, Capts. Abbott and
Cogswell, moved forward through the main street, followed by
supporting corapanies of the regiment, the enemy, posted in
the streets, opened upon them with their artillery a strong
and well-directed fire. Moving forward the Twenty-Seventh
Indiana to their support, I sent in with this regiment two
sections of Cothran's Parrotts to show the same old teeth that
had so many times proved fatal to their antagonists. As
we advanced the enemy fell back from the town and planted
their guns on the heights beyond, where they held out obsti-

97
nately. The advance of my little column, with the Second
Massachusetts leading off, and the shells bursting square over
our regiraent, was not so ranch of an experience in warfare as
afterwards befell us ; but if we had known the immense supe
riority of the force in our front, on our flanks, and pressing to
our rear, we should be obliged to admit that it was among our
boldest. While Best's and Cothran's Batteries were replying
to the enemy's shells that burst close enough to be endured,
while the Second Massachusetts were firing occasional volleys,
and dropping shots were heard on the left by Capt. Abbott's
Company, let us step over and look into the enemy's camp.
As the plan of Jackson's attack, it will be remembered, con
templated nothing less than the capture of our whole com
mand, his dispositions were raade accordingly. Taking upon
himself the task of shutting up Banks in Strasburg, Jackson
expected to cut the Winchester road before we could pass it
at Middletown. Recalling the condition of fatigue in which
his troops entered Front Royal on the night of the 23d, it will
be remerabered why Jackson was obliged to defer his march
until daylight of the 24th, when, with his whole army, save the
forces under Stewart and Ewell, — that is, with at least five
brigades of infantry from his own division and Ewell's, and
all of Ashby's cavalry, and with forty field-guns less the two
batteries that had followed Ewell, — he advanced upon
Middletown. The distance was twelve miles. With no opposition, save
that near the town, he opened with his artillery upon a small
body of our cavalry sent out by Gen. Hatch to observe him,
— the little village came in view across the broad and level
fields. It was then between one and two in the afternoon.
As his columns moved up in view of the main street they
saw it " canopied with a vast cloud of gray dust, and crowded
beneath, as far as the eye could reach, with a column of
troops.* • Dabney, p, 99.
13

98
The troops were our cavalry, under comraand of Gen.
Hatch, proceeding to join the head of the column, because
of an order frora Banks when he thought the enemy were
between hira and Winchester. Leaving at Strasburg six
companies of the Fifth New York Cavalry and six com
panies of the First Vermont Cavalry to cover our rear
and destroy stores that could not be carried away, Gen.
Hatch, at the head of his column, arrived at Middletown
in time to witness the enemy swarming upon his right, from
the hillsides. In an instant two batteries of the enemy's
artillery dashed forward to a commanding position at a
gallop. Ashby, at the head of his cavalry, threw himself
forward on the right ; while Taylor, throwing forward the
first regiment o'f his brigade into line, advanced at double-
quick to the centre of the village. Then the artillery roared,
the shells burst, and the fragments howled ; Taylor's in
fantry poured terrific volleys into the confused mass that
filled the streets ; and Ashby, swooping down, took advantage
of this confusion to dash with sword and pistol among the
overwhelmed troopers ; while all along the ridges, the rest of
Jackson's overpowering numbers were pressing onward.
Gen. Hatch's whole cavalry command, not numbering
over nine hundred men,* was lessened by the companies
left as rear-guard, and those at the front with Banks, —
truly an unequal contest, and one which, not even for a
moment, did our cavalry undertake. That under such circum
stances they broke in disorder and scattered over the adja
cent fields is undoubtedly true ; but that the way was encum
bered with dying horses and men ; that at every furious
volley from the enemy, our cavalry seemed to melt in scores
frora their saddles, while the frantic, riderless horses rushed
up and down, trarapling the wounded wretches into the
dust ; or that cavalryraen fell from their horses before they
were struck, and squatted behind stone fences and surren-
* Banks's Report.

99
dered at first challenge, as reported in Southern histories,*
is a picture of Southern fancy as imaginative as that " Ashby
alone charged five hundred Yankee cavalry, dashed through
their line, and firing his pistol right and left, wheeled about
and summoned them to surrender, taking thirty in this way
in one instance, being all who heard his voice," — all of which
was reported as a fact by " a gentleman of character and
veracity." f It is as true as that " Banks, after he retreated
to Winchester, took the cars for Harper's Ferry, shedding
tears, and declaring that he had been sacrificed by his Govern
ment," which is solemnly written in Southern history. %
Notwithstanding Gen. Jackson in his report says that the
turnpike, which had just before teemed with life, presented
such an appalling spectacle of carnage, destruction, and demor
alization, he avers that he captured only " about two hundred
prisoners, with their horses and equipages, and that the
great body of the Federal cavalry made good their retreat."
While numbers of our cavalry made their way across the
fields to the westward of the pike, Gen. Hatch, with a still
larger body, turned back towards Strasburg with his six
pieces of artillery. With this force, after gaining an advan
tageous site, he opened a rapid fire upon the enemy. Doubt
ful whether Banks's main force was yet in rear or had passed
through Middletown, Jackson turned to attack Hatch, im
pressed with the belief that the latter was attempting to
force a passage through his lines. With Taylor's Brigade
formed in line south of the village, Jackson brought up his
guns, supported them by Campbell's Brigade, and replied to
the fire of Hatch's guns. After a short skirmish, a column
of flame and smoke was seen arising from the bridge over
Cedar Creek. The Zouaves d' Afrique, having been attacked

* Cooke's Life of Jackson, p. 146. Dabney's Life of Jackson, p, 99.
t Cooke's Life of Jackson, p. 146.
} Cooke's Life of Jackson, p. 146.

100
by the part of Jackson's force that had swept southward,
had fired the bridge and retreated to Strasburg. Then
Hatch, convinced of the uselessness of the effort to cut his
way through the enemy, turned to the left' with his artillery,
and made his way by narrow and obscure roads westward and
northward, to effect, if possible, a junction with the main
column. Six companies of the Fifth New York Cavalry and
six of the First Vermont Cavalry, after repeated efforts to
join the column, fell back to Strasburg.
The subsequent history of this force we may as well give
here. The six corapanies of the Fifth New York Cavalry,
under Col. De Forest, carae into our lines via Hancock, at
Clear Spring, north of the Potoraac, bringing with them
thirty-two wagons and many stragglers ; the Zouaves joined
us at Williarasport ; the Fifth Vermont joined the column at
Winchester, with six pieces of artillery, in time for the fight ;
and Gen. Hatch joined us in a few hours, as will appear.
Major Collins of the cavalry, with three companies, attempted
after dusk to proceed up the road towards Middletown, intend
ing to turn off where the main body under Hatch left the
pike ; but mistaking the point, he dashed upon a barricade of
wagons, and was received by the enemy with a tempestuous
fire of infantry and artillery, from which he suffered griev
ously. This disposes of the entire force which was cut off
from our column when Jackson struck us at Middletown.
If it was not apparent at this time to Gen. Stonewall Jack
son that his game was not on that hunt, it was not for lack of
evidence of tha:t fact. The citizens of Middletown " informed
Jackson that dense columns of infantry, trains of artillery, and
long lines of baggage-wagons had been passing through there
from Strasburg since early raorning." * Indeed, there was
better evidence of this fact ; for upon casting his eyes north
ward, our wagons were seen as he first entered the town,
disappearing in the distance towards Winchester, f
* Cooke, p. 146. t Dabney, p. 99.

101
As bitter as Jackson's disappointment may have been at
this time, at the utter failure of his plans, he did not pause for
a raoment to bewail his fate in either prayers or sighs, but
turning to Ashby, and ordering him to pursue with his cavalry,
artillery, and Taylor's brigade of infantry, he turned his own
face towards Winchester, and with the Stonewall Brigade in
front, advanced with his whole army towards Newtown.*
For a description of the six miles between Middletown
and Newtown, we must rely upon the enemy. That their nar
rative is unhappily too strongly founded on facts of our own
knowledge, we raust admit. The six miles of wagons that
were strung along the road, when, between eleven and twelve
o'clock, Banks had his first skirmish with Stewart's cavalry,
had followed on at the rear of my brigade, so that when I
reached Newtown they were mainly scattered from Mid
dletown to that place. But the raanner of it is given
as follows : " The deserted wagon-train of the enemy was
found standing in many cases with horses attached, and occu-
pying the road for a mile." f " The whole road was strewn
with broken-down wagons, guns, knapsacks, oil-cloths, and
accoutrements of every description." J When the unarmed
and unescorted teamsters saw our cavalry scattered to the
four winds at a breath by Jackson's sudden attack at Middle-
town, there is not much doubt that all of thera made off
without any retarding attachments of wagons; and as little,
when Ashby came up with the rear of our trains, and opened
fire with his batteries all along the turnpike, that the first
confusion was like a saint's rest to the last. "A shell or
round shot would strike one of the wagons and overturn it,
and before those behind could stop their headway, they
would crash into the ruins of the first, then others would tum
ble in, so as to block up the road completely." § Thus did

* Dabney's Life of Jackson, p. 99. t Dabney, p. 99.
X Cooke's Life of Jackson, p. 146. § Cooke, p. 146.

102
Ashby's cavalry thunder down on the defenceless wagons
lining the road between Middletown and Newtown.
It was this contest I had heard. The fugitives from this
unequal combat of cavalry, artillery, and Jackson's infantry,
with our cavalry and six miles of teamsters, were those who
had been sent by me to pour into the ears of Banks the
story of our disaster, the crime of our wretched halt at Stras
burg during the preceding night. It was this General Stone
wall Jackson at the head of his array that I was now con
fronting at Newtown.
The time occupied in returning to Newtown from Barton
ville,* and driving the eneray out of the town, brings this
narrative up to nearly four o'clock in the afternoon. Four
o'clock, five, six, seven, and eight at night, found us still
holding the town. The fight had settled into an artillery
combat, and to this there was no cessation. Again and
again, a pause for a few moments gave me hope that I had
silenced the enemy's guns; but again and again their fire
was spitefully resumed. For hours I held no coraraunication
with Gen. Banks, had not seen or heard from him since we
left Bartonville. I looked upon my position as most perilous :
my force was small, could cover only a small front. How
long before I should be surrounded, cut off from Winchester,
and captured !
It was after sunset, when, in the growing twilight, I saw,
to my joy, Gen. Hatch approaching. In a few words he
acquainted me with his escape. He had come in by a cir
cuitous road to the left, ¦ bringing with him the greater part
of his cavalry, which was then safe at Winchester, but all
his baggage had been captured. Gen. Hatch confirraed ray
fears of the nurabers of the eneray; he told rae that they
had set upon him in strong force ; that they had taken
a portion of the rear of our train, and such stores as
* So called on the Government map of our operations in the valley.

103
were left at Cedar Creek, and such forces as had not haply
escaped. Gen. Hatch also dwelt with much feeling upon
the mistake made by Capt. Collins of the cavalry in char
ging upon the enemy's barricade ; his losses were mourned
with more than ordinary expressions of sorrow. The com
mand of the rear properly belonged to Gen. Hatch, for two
reasons : it had been assigned to him by Gen. Banks ; and he
was my senior in rank. I tendered to him the command, but
with much courtesy the general replied that he could not do
better than I was doing, and he should decline to take it.
Of course I assented, and Gen. Hatch, after leaving with rae
six companies of the cavalry that attended him, left with his
staff for W^inchester. Throwing the cavalry well but on my
flanks, I continued the fight.
It was sometime after sunset, near eight o'clock, when
an unexpected visitor came into my lines, and was brought
before me. It was one of Jackson's medical officers, a sur
geon attached to one of our enemy's Maryland batteries.
While raore than half drunk, probably on our liquor found in
the captured wagons, the non-combatant surgeon stumbled
into one of my batteries, supposing it to be his own. Not too
much intoxicated to recognize the blue uniform of the
Federal troops, and with wits quickened by danger, ' he
demanded with admirable coolness the surrender of the first
man he confronted.
" Surrender ! " replied the burly sergeant. " Who are you ? "
" I am a Confederate officer," replied the man.
" I guess you 'd better surrender yourself, then," was the
retort, with a revolver presented at the surgeon's head.
Without more ado he was detained in the heavy grasp of
his captor, and brought before me. Our commissary whiskey
had so cheered his spirits that our captive was without pru
dence. In a word, he let out that our position was most
perilous. " What are you doing here .' " he asked.

104
" Don't you see," I replied, " what we are doing .' "
" Why," exclaimed my inebriated prisoner, " you 'd better get
out of this. We are all around you ! "
Glimpses of sobriety followed a partial shock, as he realized
his situation, and he mingled exclamations of surprise, regret,
and self-condemnation with a caution to treat him well ; " for,"
said he, "you will all be in the same condition as myself
before morning."
" You have no idea of our force," he added ; " they are all
around you, and will have every one of you, and Winchester,
too, if not to-night, certainly in the morning."
" What are the numbers of your forces ? " I asked.
" From 20,000 to 40,000 men, under the command of Gen
erals Jackson, Ewell, and Johnston, with Gen. Jackson as
commander-in-chief," was his reply.
I could not doubt that the enemy were making their way
slowly around us, — were even so near that they could easily
stray into my lines for their own. I had driven them frora
Newtown, and held it for nearly four hours ; all our trains
in advance were secure and in Winchester ; Gen. Hatch and
his rear-guard, save those captured or in flight over the
raountains to the west, were safe ; and ample time had been
afforded Gen. Banks to remove all the public property in
Winchester or destroy it. . All that I could do was done, and
I determined to withdraw.* My dispositions were soon made.
* It is pleasant to find Southern writers confirming all I have here claimed to
have accomplished. " They brought up four pieces of artillery and planted them
in the outskirts of the town, opening a furious fire upon the Confederate bat
teries. . , , Jackson hastened to the front, and when he arrived at Newtown
found Poague with two guns engaged in a hot combat with the Federal artiUery,
which continued to check his further advance until dark. . . , At nightfall
the Federal artillery, which had held the Confederate advance in check at New
town, retired from the field, and Jackson determined to push on after Banks to
Winchester." — Cooke's Life of Jackson, pp. 147, 148.
" The rifled guns of Poague were immediately placed in position, upon arriving
near Newtown, on an opposing eminence, and replied to the Federal batteries on

105
The Second Massachusetts I ordered to cover our raarch ;
the Twenty-Seventh Indiana I directed to burn the disabled
wagons, distribute among the men all the clothing and mate
rial they could carry, and haul in by hand such wagons as
.were whole, if the animals I had sent for did not arrive.
With cavalry and one section of artillery, followed by the
Twenty-Eighth New York Regiment and the Twenty-Seventh
Indiana, I prepared to move forward in the darkness upon
my raarch of about five and a half miles to Winchester,
not knowing at what moment I should be intercepted
from the many roads that were open to the enemy. To
aid Lieut.-Col. Andrews, in command of the rear-guard, I
strengthened him with cavalry and one section of artillery.
There was delay in withdrawing, but we got off well and with
a compact column. How we progressed will follow after we
have seen why we were allowed by Jackson to hold his
immensely superior numbers in check for so many hours
at Newtown.
Ashby's cavalry, Taylor's Brigade of infantry, and a rified
battery of six guns we left at Middletown, as advance-guard
to the force, commanded by Gen. Jackson in person, that
was starting in pursuit of our retreating wagon- train.
To Newtown, as we have said, it was six miles ; the hour
was between two and three. Although- a wagon-train of six
miles is not usually a formidable opponent to such a command,
in this case, according to Southern writers, it proved a very
devil in their path ; for after Poague's guns had bowled down
wagons enough, the whole Southern army became at once
intent only on pillage. In vain did Ashby attempt to rally
thera, to push on after the disordered baggage-wagons : they
would neither hear nor obey, but scattered in pursuit, not
of the enemy, but of plunder; and thus Ashby was obliged
to arrest the pursuit. " Alas ! " groans the Southern his-
the right of the village with effect ; but it was sundown before they were dis
lodged and the pursuit resumed." — Dabney, p. xoi.
U

106
torian, with agony soraewhat allayed by the "curious ineffi
ciency of discipline in the Confederacy,"* "the firing had
not ceased in the first onset upon Federal cavalry at Mid
dletown before some of Ashby's men might have been seen,
like horse-thieves, seizing two or three captured horses, and
raaking off with thera across the fields, and not stopping until
they had carried their illegal booty to their homes, in some
instances two or three days' marches." f
¦ The artillery of Poague had, however, resisting the allure
ments of plunder, pushed on ahead, and arrived near Newtown
without any species of support. J
We may now follow the course of our column to Winches
ter. The silence of our guns had hardly given warning to the
enemy of our withdrawal, when the growing darkness was
illuminated by our burning wagons, which, lighting up the
surrounding country, shed a lurid glare even up to the streets
of Newtown itself All that had not been removed were
destroyed. As Jackson, at the head of, his column, rode
through the streets of Newtown, the people gave him the
welcome of a conqueror. "They illuminated their houses;
they embraced the soldiers; and bringing into the streets
bread, meat, pickles, pies, and everything they could raise,
they forced them upon their half-starved soldiers. , , ,
They were crazy with joy at the sight of the gray uniforms." §
Truly, a striking contrast this to the lifeless desertion that
reigned during our occupancy.
As the red light of our burning wagons mingled with the
cheerful illumination of the town, we heard the resounding
* Dabney's Life of Jackson, p. 102.
t Cooke's Life of Stonewall Jackson, p. 147.
X Gen. Jackson was disappointed to find his artillery unattended and wholly
unsupported by his cavalry. "This misconduct nearly prevented him from
securing the fruits of all his marching and fighting." — Dabney.
" He was much displeased with Ashby, with whom he had many hot words."
— Cooke, p. 148,
§ Cooke, p, 148.

107
cheers of our enemies, who moved rapidly on to find the
coveted stores reduced to blazing wagons * and pontoon boats,
blackened heaps of rice, beef and bread intermingled with
bands and bars of glowing iron, f Jackson raade no halt in
his march ; but at the head of his column, without a moment's
pause for food or sleep, with a small advance-guard of cavalry,
he pushed on, to prevent, if possible, our occupancy of a range
of hills to the south and west of the town of Winchester,
which would comraand his approaches. | The night was
calm, but dark. Pursuers and pursued had passed over the
half-mile to Bartonville, and reached the creek which crosses
the road south of the town, when the enemy, with their cora-
raander at their head, was upon us.
Lieut.-Col. Andrews had thrown out as his rear-guard
three companies of the Second, Captains Abbott and Cogs
well, with a third company. Captain Williams, as flankers.
At a short distance in advance were the remaining com
panies of the regiment, and before them artillery, infantry,
and cavalry, as described. The rear-guard was on the south
side of the creek. In this posture of affairs, Jackson with
his escort came unconsciously almost up to them. He was
received by Major Dwight, who commanded the rear, by
a volley delivered at short range with perfect coolness and
great effect. Major Dwight's formation was judicious : Capt.
Abbott commanded one platoon, posted on one side of the
road ; Capt. Cogswell another, on the other side ; while in
the centre were two platoons from these companies formed
in square, under command of Lieut. Grafton. The effect
* I burned the seven or eight wagons which had been overthrown, and could
not be transported for want of animals. — Gordon's Report.
t Cooke says, p. 148, " Beyond Newtown the spectacle along the roads was even
more striking than that presented near Middletown. Hundreds of abandoned,
overturned, or burning wagons, filled with stores of every description, were en
countered by the troops.
See also Dabney, p. 102.
X Dabney, p. 104.

108
of this fire was such a surprise to the enemy that Jackson's
cavalry escort, upon whom it fell, drew rein, wavered for a
moment, and fell back out of range. Then carae a single
shell from the enemy's battery, which was replied to by
another volley from the rear-guard, delivered without seeing
the enemy.
Col. Andrews now changed the rear-guard, supplying their
places with Company I, Capt. Underwood, and Co. D, Capt-
Savage, as flankers. The remainder of the regiment then
moved on to where theiv knapsacks had been deposited, while
.the new rear-guard was stationed on the north side of the
creek. By this time Jackson had again brought up his
cavalry escort, and coramanded, in crisp, sharp tones, over
heard by our raen, " Charge them ! Charge them 1 " Advan
cing, but unsteadily, for a httle space, they came again in good
range of Company I, and were received by Capt. Underwood
with a hot fire, delivered, like the first, with perfect coolness,
upon which a second tirae they turned, and fled past Gen.
Jackson himself, carrying hira and his attendants along with
them,* and riding down several cannoneers, who had been
brought up to their support, thus leaving Jackson with his
staff alone in the road.f Towering with indignation, Jackson
turned to the officer next him exclaiming, " Shameful ! " .then
added, " Did you see any one struck, sir ? Did you see any
body struck ? Surely they need not have run, at least until
they were hurt ! "
Jackson then called up a Virginia regiment, the Thirty-
Third Infantry, Col. Neff, and sent it in to attack Co. I.
Advancing abreast of Jackson's column, the infantry threw
out skirraishers, who were soon engaged with Capt. Under
wood. The skirmish lasted about ten minutes, and was very
severe, but it was sustained and replied to by Corapany I
in a most creditable manner. The heat of this engage
ment caused Col. Andrews to send forward, in support of
* Dabney, p. 103. t Dabney, pp. 103, 104.

109
this Company on the right and left, platoons from Compa
nies B and C, Captains Cogswell and Williams. The increased
fire produced a marked effect upon the enemy, but it did not
destroy him. In the few minutes of the fight our loss was
severe. When the raen had all taken their knapsacks, the
raarch of the rear-guard was resumed, and Jackson's col
umn for a tirae saved frora further " insult," as his historian
called it. So pertinacious was our stand here that the enemy
admit that they brought up three regiments of the Stonewall
Brigade, the Twenty-Seventh, Second, and Fifth Virginia
Regiments, and that the affair grew to the dimensions of a
night combat before we gave way.*
Necessary delays in burning the wagons and abandoned
* Dabney, p. 104.
An officer of the Second Massachusetts Regiment, Major Francis, places the
fighting part of the rear-guard nearly as I have given it, but he says that Com
panies A and C formed square after the skirmishers had rallied, — the former one
hundred feet from the road on the eastern side, and the latter the same distance
on the western side. When the rebel cavalry came down, he says, " Both com
panies could plainly see them, though not visible themselves. A treacherous gun
fired by one of our men in the road prevented our companies from doing the
execution they otherwise would. This one shot brought the cavalry to a halt, at
the top of the small hill south of the bridge, and it was time for Companies A
and C to fire, if at all, and they each fired one volley, which sent the rebels flying
back over the hill, and all was quiet for the space of half an hour or more.
Both companies were now placed- in the road, and here a prisoner was captured.
He came down the road thinking we were Confederates, but upon discovering
his mistake tried to pass himself off' as belonging to a New York Regiment, and
then confessed that he belonged to a Virginia Regiment. He was then put
under a guard of two men from Company A. Soon afterwards Companies A
and C were relieved by Company I, which took up a position across the road on
the northerly side of the creek close to the bridge, and he thinks Company D
deployed as skirmishers on both sides of the road. While the rear-guard was in
this position, and the other companies getting their knapsacks, a second attack
was made by the enemy, but this time it was with infantry skirmishers. The
firing was sharp, but we maintained our position." There was some confusion
here : our own cavalry rode into us, and the prisoner took advantage of it, and
tried to escape, but was promptly shot dead by private Huntley, of Company A,
one of the guard. Major Francis's horse was wounded in this last attack, two
slight wounds by buckshot.

110
property, and recovering the knapsacks, had caused the head
of my column to advance faster than the rear-guard ; so that
when I heard the single gun followed by volleys of infantry,
I sent to inquire as to the force attacking, and received the
reply from Col. Andrews that he was somewhat annoyed with
skirraishing cavalry. I sent back the two companies of our
cavalry which I had retained, and a section of Best's Battery,
with instructions to give the enemy a heavy fire of grape if
they closed upon the rear. This pressure did not allay ray
apprehension for the safety of my column ; for although there
were many roads through which, in the darkness, the enemy
could pass unperceived between my coraraand and Winches
ter, the raost threatening, and the one from which I was most
fearful, was that in which both roads, on which the enemy
were marching, converged at Winchester. Either there, of
on a road which joined the pike east of Kernstown, my
information led rae to believe the eneray would make this
attempt. Feeling that Col. Andrews had been sufficently rein
forced, I pressed on with the Twenty-Seventh Indiana and
Twenty-Eighth New York, arriving at the outskirts of Win
chester between eleven and twelve o'clock at night. The
road was then clear. I had hardly selected a bivouac for the
regiments of my brigade, when a messenger from the rear
announced that Col. Andrews was in want of ambulances.
Sending my aid, Lieut. Scott, in search of them, I seated
myself by a few embers by the roadside and waited impatiently
for Col. Andrews's arrival. Frequent reports from that officer
had advised me since his skirmish at Bartonville, of his good
progress ; but that progress was slow. He was impeded by
his wounded, who were being transported on gun-carriages,
and by the necessity of keeping his skirraishers well out to
his rear and on his flanks. In this manner Col. Andrews
reached Kernstown, two and a half miles from Winchester,
without further molestation. Here he determined to con-

Ill
vey his wounded no further on gun-carriages, but await the
arrival of the arabulances. And here again the regiment
was overtaken by the enemy.
The rear-guard was, as it had been, under command of
Major Dwight, the remainder of the regiment in coluran in
the road, and the wounded just transported into a brick
house to be used as a hospital. Impatient at the delay, I
returned to Kernstown with a single orderly, and carae
up to our regiment at about one o'clock at night. Rather
a severe skirmish was then going on between Captain Under
wood's company, then rear-guard, and the enemy. The
darkness of the night concealed the foe, while our column,
formed in the middle of the road, offered a good mark.
As the eneray approached they were greeted with a warm
fire upon their right, left, and front, from the rifles of the
Second.* The halt here was short, as delay was dangerous. To wait
longer for ambulances would have been folly, so the march was
resumed ; but we were obliged to leave our wounded in the
hands of the enemy, and with thera Dr. Leland, surgeon of
the Second. The remaining two and a half miles to the
outskirts of Winchester were made without molestation. It
was two o'clock in the morning of the 25th of May when,
with the other regiments of ray command, the Second sank
down to rest just outside the town. Our loss during the night
had been three killed and seventeen wounded in the Second
Massachusetts alone. Without fires and without food, or so
little that it served to tempt, not satisfy the appetite, the
troops, overcome with fatigue, fell asleep where they were
halted, — all except Captain Cogswell, who was ordered, with
* We have, in the histories we have quoted, strong admissions of the plucky
fight made here by our regiment, in that we attacked Jackson with great gal
lantry, our fire appearing dancing along the top of the walls (stone walls),
accompanied by the sharp explosion of the rifies, and the buUets whistling up
the road. (See Dabney, p, 102.)

112
his company, upon outpost duty. It was with regret that I
was compelled to hurry the regiment off from Kernstown,
leaving in the hands of the enemy those of their wounded
comrades whora they had supported while so faithfully guard
ing the rear of ray colunra.
I had sent my aid for arabulances as I have said, and
he had, in the night, found three full of wounded, which
he had taken to the hospitals, emptied, sent off, and then
searched for more ; but one surgeon sent him to another, who
referred him to a third, with as much interest as if he were in
search of forage for his horse. Finally, he sought for Gen.
Banks, but could not find him ; then he came across Gen.
Shields's surgeons, but they had no appliances for any one but
Gen. Shields's sick. Then he searched unknown places, and
found an ambulance, but the driver was afraid to go back,
so my aid procured a soldier to drive, and came to where
I had been, to find that I had become anxious at the non
appearance of the Second, and had gone out to meet it. Fol
lowing with his single ambulance, he got well out beyond the
pickets ; but finding that the regiment was still farther out
how much he could not imagine, he returned again to town. *
We had thus reached Winchester. From between two and
three o'clock in the afternoon of the 24th, to between two and
three o'clock in the morning of the 25 th, we had held back the
enemy. Though we could not cut through their columns, we
had not only snatched from them much valuable property that
they were just ready to grasp, but had so delayed their march
that ample tirae had been afforded Banks to remove all the
public property in town to a place of safety, and take such
measures for the future as sound judgment should dictate.
I determined to hunt up Gen. Banks, and give him such
facts as the experiences I have related revealed. With-
* Lieut. Francis, then acting as regimental quartermaster, had been more
fortunate, and met the regiment with half a dozen ambulances, but the wounded
had been captured.

113
out much difficulty I found the house he occupied in town.
He was in a bedroom, but had not retired ; before him was a
bathing-tub, giving evidence that he had found time to enjoy
that luxury. To confirm, so far as he would reveal, ray own
belief in the force of the enemy, and that they would attack
at daylight with a force that could overwhelm us at once, I
brought with me my once inebriated surgeon, now, however,
completely sobered. In a few words I told Banks all that
had befallen us, urging that this afforded confirmation
of the belief I had expressed to him the preceding night at
Strasburg, and then bringing forward my prisoner, I pre
sented him as a man who, if he would speak at all, would tell
the truth. I appealed to him. He replied that, filled with
regret as he was at the circumstances of his capture, we
could hardly expect him to reveal the number of Gen, Jack
son's array ; still he would say that he believed his force to be
greatly superior to ours, and further that it was Gen. Jack
son's intention to attack us at daylight, that is, he did not
doubt such was his intention ; and then, said he, with a show
of huraor, " If you can whip hira, he won't whip you." If ray
own assertions, backed up by ray prisoner, raade any irapres-
sion on Gen. Banks, I did not perceive it. To my appeal that
now, even at this hour, all the public property in the town
should be sent forward to the other side of the Potomac,
and preparations made to retire in proper order, before the
tremendous odds against us, destroying public property that
could not be transported. Banks preserved the same stolid
front, the same or a more unintelligible silence than had
met rae at Strasburg. Inforraing hira, if he asked rae, of
the position of ray brigade, I withdrew without a word from
him of his plans.
Gen. Williams, commanding our division, was calmly sleep
ing in the principal hotel in Winchester. It requfred loud
calls, added to the sound of my cavalry boots and spurs, as I
stalked heavily along the halls in search of his room, to bring
16

114
him at last to the door of his apartment, where, as his red
face bearaed above his long flannel night-shirt, he was a
spectacle to behold. To advise him of the situation, to
represent how uncomfortable his interview with Gen. (Stone
wall) Jackson would be in such apparel, was the work of a
moment. Other brigadier-generals, unattached to any com
mand, — Greene and Crawford, — in night array, had listened
to my interview with Williams ; but under the circumstances
these gentlemen were men of leisure. It was still dark,
though near daylight, when I turned from the hotel, and
sought my old Winchester quarters, if haply I might seize
a few moments' rest, the first in forty-eight hours.
I found the place my aid had selected for a very temporary
headquarters, and threw myself upon a bed without removing
an article of clothing ; but hardly had I touched the blankets
when there came to ray ears the sound of a horse's gallop,
drawing nearer and nearer, until it ceased at ray door. The
rider was Major Dwight, and his greeting, " Colonel, the pick
ets are falling back ! the enemy is advancing ! " It was four
o'clock in the morning.
Gen. Jackson closely followed up from Kernstown my
retiring column. Not until he had advanced so far that the
coveted heights were within his easy grasp did he halt, and
then, allowing the raain body of his array to lie down upon the
roadside for an hour's sleep, he pushed forward hisi skirmish
ers, who, although drenched with the dew, waded through
the rank fields of clover and wheat, and stumbled across
ditches in the darkness * until they encountered ray outlying
line of pickets, with whom for an hour they kept up a con
stant fire. Although through all the fatigue of the two days
through which our regiraent had passed, Capt. Cogswell raain-
tained stoutly through the remainder of the night his unequal
combat Vith the enemy's skirmishers, holding thera on his
front at bay. . But not ranch to be envied were those com-
* Dabney, p. 104.

115
panics of my brigade who, during, that brief hour, were allowed
tarest. The constant firing at the outposts ; the weary march
of over twenty miles, prolonged through fifteen hours, and the
fight of one of them, the Second, from 3 P. m. until 2 A. m. of
the next day ; the coldness of the night, and the want of
shelter and blankets, corabined to raake sleep almost impos
sible. " Yes, I will be there instantly," I replied to Major Dwight,
as I jumped from my blankets and threw myself into the sad
dle. Galloping rapidly to Banks's headquarters, I rushed into
his bedroom, and exclaimed, " Gen. Banks, the question of
. what is to be done has now settled itself. The enemy, now
moving in force, has almost reached the town. I shall put my
brigade instantly in line of battle upon the heights I now
occupy. If you have any orders to give, you will find me
there to receive them." Banks replied, " Yes, sir." Was he
thinking, I wondered, of the opinions of his friends, or of the
bayonets beyond the dark crests of the hills ; where for raore
than an hour, in the early dawn, without a cloak to protect
him from the chilling dews, standing as a sentinel at the
head of his coluran, listening to every sound from his front,
looking at the figures of the Federal skirmishers as on the
hill-tops they stood out in distinct relief against the faint
blush of the morning sky, was the figure of Stonewall Jackson.
In a quiet under-tone the word " Forward ! " had now fallen from
his lips, was passed onward down his columns, and his hosts
arising from their short slurabers, chill and stiff with the cold
night damps, were advancing to battle.* Ere the word was
given, a dispatch from Ewell announced that he too was
ready ; that early in the night he had reached a position three
miles from the town, on Jackson's right, and that his pickets
were yet one mile in advance, f
* Dabney, p. 104. t Cooke, p. 149.

116

CHAPTER VL
On the north and west, within about one third of a mile
from the town, a commanding ridge partially surrounds
Winchester, and extends southwesterly parallel to the pike-
road to Strasburg. South of the town the country is broken ¦
up into hills, which reach to within a mile of Kernstown.
As you stand on the southern end of the ridge, facing south
ward, there is on your left the turnpike gradually, surmounting
a gentle ascent, in your front a valley, and beyond, the crest
of a higher ridge, perhaps four hundred yards distant. Turn
to your right and look up the valley, and you will see that it
leads to the summit of a hill to the west, of about the height
of the ridge on which you stand, but lower than the one
beyond the valley, and, perhaps, a hundred yards from you.
When I arrived at the* spot where the regiments of my
brigade had dropped down to sleep, I found them forming
in line in the valley I have described. Posting my battery
of Parrotts (six guns, under command of Lieut. Peabody) on
the bluff end of the ridge, I moved my brigade up the val
ley, and occupied the summit of the hill to the right and a
little farther to the front, with the Second Massachusetts
Regiment ; next came the Third Wisconsin, farther down
the ravine the Twenty-Ninth Pennsylvania, and on the left
the Twenty-Seventh Indiana. Before us, just over the crest
of the hill opposite, was the eneray, but they could not show
theraselves without being in sight and range of ray cora-
marld. From one and a half to two miles on my left, on the
Front Royal road, Ew'ell was confronted by Donelly's Brigade

117
of three regiments, the Twenty-Eighth New York, Fifth
Connecticut, Forty-Sixth Pennsylvania, and Best's United
States Battery of six smooth-bore brass pieces, under cora-
mand of Lieut. Crosby. The country in front of Donelly
on the south and east is almost level.
From this description it will be seen that, with Winchester
as a centre, we occupied at daylight of the 25th a portion of
an arc the whole of which was at least two and a half miles
in length, or 4,400 yards. We could with our command
occupy only 1,750 yards of the 4,400 ; for 3,500 men in two
ranks will cover no more. In other words, we could extend
over a little raore than one third of our front. With i6,coo
infantry in tiJvo ranks in line of battle, the enemy could not
only encircle our entire front, hut extend beyond our right
and left fianks 1,800 yards, or forty morfe than a mile. With
my brigade and Donelly's we could occupy only the flanks of
our line ; the centre was unprotected, except by a fire from
Best's Battery, which was so posted as to bear upon either
flank of the enemy's line.
My picket line, which had occupied the summit of the
hill opposite our position, had been driven back upon the
main body just before my arrival. Gen. Jackson had hoped
to seize those hills, before daylight warned us of his pres
ence;* but if the detention of the previous day did not
show the futility of such a wish, the strong line of pickets
that confronted him must have been more convincing.
Jackson, looking upon this position as the key-point upon
the field, and determining to possess it, threw forward,
after a careful examination of a few moments, a brigade
of infantry, under Gen. Winder, — the Stonewall Brigade, —
and strengthening this on its right with the Fifth Virginia
Regiment, he threw this force, larger than ray whole com
mand, against ray pickets on his front. This was the con
test that aroused me frora an attempt to secure a moment's
* Cooke's Life of Jackson, p. 149.

118
sleep. Of course my pickets gave way, and when I reached,
the ground the enemy were in possession of their coveted
prize, — the hill beyond the ravine, in front of my battery
and my line of infantry.
"That the enemy did not post their powerful artillery upon
the foremost of these heights, supported by their main force,
was," ejaculates the pious Dabney,* " due to the will of
God." To which I reply that it was due to the will of the
War Department, which deprived us of the requisite numbers
of troops to hold any position against the overwhelming force
in our front. i
To continue: As soon as Jackson got possession of this
hill, he advanced there, just below its crest, a strong detach
ment of artillery, composed of the batteries of Poague, Car
penter, and Cutshaw, and these he supported with two
brigades of infantry, the Stonewall Brigade and that of Gen,
John A. Campbell.
As the Second Regiment moved up on the right of the
line to the crest of the hill, the enemy opened upon it with
grape ; but this did not disconcert or cause it to waver ;
steadily it moved on and took up its position. Col. An
drews then threw out to his right and front his right com
pany, commanded by Capt. Savage, as a covering skirmish-
line. Soon, however, this company was sent forward to a
stone wall a few rods in advance.
It was now five o'clock in the morning. As my eye fell
on the enemy's columns, under Winder, moving up in support
of their batteries, I ordered my gunners to fire upon them ;
and at the same time Capt. Savage, finding the enemy's artil
lery within good range from his stone wall, opened upon their
gunners. Now, Col. Andrews strengthened Capt. Savage by
Capt. Gary's Company.
While the fire frora ray ba.ttery was incessant and effective,
the two companies of the Second behind the wall poured an
* Dabney's Life of Jackson, p. 104.

, 119
annoying fire into the enemy's gunners, and the two right
companies of the regiment added to the effect by firing
volleys at their battery. The effect of our artillery fire was to
drive the enemy's columns back over the crest of the hill,
where they had for a moraent vauntingly showed thera
selves, and to cause one of their guns to be abandoned by
their cannoneers. From five until almost seven o'clock in
the morning, a fire of shell, round shot, and canister was
poured forth upon my command,' frora which nothing saved
us but the accurate aim of our raen of the Second, who
frora behind the stone wall and the crest of the hill drove
.the enemy's gunners under cover so that their firing was
wild. The Southern account of this two hours of the fight bears
testimony to the pluck with which we responded to our
enemy's challenge.* Gen. Jackson, it seems, had been an
observer of our movement's. He is described as having
ridden forward with two field-officers, Campbell and another,
to the very crest of the hill, and amidst a perfect shower of
balls observed the position. It is said that though both the
officers beside him were speedily wounded, he sat calmly on
his horse until he had satisfied hiraself of our dispositions.
He saw, it is said, ray battery, as I was posting it on the edge
of the ridge ; he saw, nearer to his left front. Captains Cary
and Savage just seizing a position behind an oblique stone
fence ; and he saw these gallant fellows pouring a galling fire
upon his gunners that struck down many men and horses.
He saw his battery, sometimes almost silenced, holding
well up to punishment, until Winder ordered it to change
front to the left and bring part of their guns to bear with'
solid shot, to shatter the wall, behind which were the two
* This part of the contest is spoken of as a " fierce cannonade, intermingled
with a sharp, rattling fire of rifie-men," the smoke of which " melted away into
the silvery veil of May dews, exhaled by the beams of the rising sun." (See
Dabney's Life of Jackson, p. 104.)

120
companies of the Second. With solid shot crashing into
and over them, and with canister raking them. Gen. Jackson
found that not one inch could he raake Savage or Cary turn
back, although Cary was knocked over by a flying stone, hit
¦ by a shell that killed a raan by his side.
As Jackson looked upon the scene, it is represented that
he did not doubt that the eneray would atterapt to drive his
artillery from this vital position and occupy it with their own ;
and so turning to Col. Neff, coraraanding the Thirty-Third
Virginia Infantry, then supporting Carpenter's Battery, he
asked him, —
" Colonel, where is your regiraent posted ? "
" Here," he replied.
" I expect," answered Jackson, " the eneray to bring artillery
to this hill : they must not do it. If they atterapt to come,
charge them with the bayonet." *
Then after this survey, leaving two more of his batteries
to reply to my single one, Jackson, glancing again at the
scene, planned his attack and turned to his command.f
* Dabney relates this incident as of such powerful cast, that he uses the words
"strident voice " and " blood tingle" to convey its effect, (See Dabney's Life
of Jackson, p. 104.)
t There is still another account of the forward movement of the enemy to the
hill upon which our pickets were stationed, of their reception by my brigade,
and of Jackson's observation of the scene: " When the Fifth Virginia was thrown
forward as skirmishers in advance of Winder's Brigade, which was deployed in
line of battle, a rush was made for the hUl, and they [our three or four com
panies on picket duty] recoiled before the Confederate fire, and the Southern
troops, uttering loud cheers, gained the crest and were in possession of the hill.
Prompt measures were then taken to improve this advantage, and open the at-
_ tack with an energy which should give the Federal forces no time to prepare.
They had hastily opened with a battery directly in front, and to dislodge these
guns. Carpenter's and Cutshaw's Batteries, with two Parrott guns from the Rock
bridge Artillery, were rapidly placed in position and opened fire. The Rattle
speedUy commenced in good earnest. It was absolutely necessary, if the Federal
forces expected to hold the town of Winchester, that the Confederates should be
dislodged from their commanding position, and a body of Federal sharp- shooters
was promptly thrown forward to feel Jackson's left, and drive him, if possible.

121
Turning now to the southeastern part of the town, the left
of our line of battle, we find Col. Donelly confronting Ewell.
Having reached his position within two miles of Winchester
at ten o'clock the preceding evening, Ewell at dawn had
continued his march until he confronted our outlying pickets.
This command consisted, as will be remembered, of a North
Carolina brigade, under Gen. Trimble, the First Maryland
Regiment, and two batteries, Courtney's and Brockenbroiigh's,
As Ewell advanced his brigade, the left regiraent, under cora
raand of Col. Kirkland, encountered Donelly's Brigade in line,
from the hill. [So the enemy seems to have interpreted the movements of Cap
tains Savage and Cary.] At the same moment another Federal battery began to
thunder on the left, and a dangerous enfilade fire was poured upon the Southern
lines. This advance of infantry and the fire of the new battery was promptly
responded to by Jackson. The battery in his front had been reduced to silence,
and his guns were now turned upon the enemy's sharp-shooters, who hastUy
retreated behind a heavy stone fence that protected them. From this excellent
position they opened a galling and destructive fire on the cannoneers and horses
attached to the Confederate batteries, which were now engaged hotly on the left.
The combined fire of sharp-shooters and artillery was so heavy that Capt,
Poague, who was most exposed to the enemy, was compelled to change position in
the midst of a storm of balls. He rapidly withdrew his guns, moved to the left
and rear, and again taking position, poured a determined fire upon the enfilad
ing batteries of the enemy. The Federal sharp-shooters continued to fire from
their position behind the stone wall with = precision which was galling and
dangerous in the extreme. No one could mount to the crest of the hill without
hearing the sudden report of their excellent long-range guns, succeeded by the
whistling of balls near his person. Col. Campbell, commanding the Second
Brigade of Jackson's division, went up to the summit to reconnoitre, and was giv
ing' some directions to Col. Patton, the senior officer under him, when a ball
pierced his arm and breast, and he was borne from the field, leaving Patton in
command. To drive out these persistent and accurate marksmen, Capt. Poague
threw several soUd shot at the wall which protected them, but in spite of the mis
siles and crashing stones around them, the line of sharp-shooters still gallantly
held their position." — Cooke's Life of Jackson, p. 149.
[Note. — The battery upon which Dabney says " Carpenter and Cutshaw also
kept up so spirited a contest with the batteries in the direction of the town as to
sUence their fire,'' was Best's smooth-bore battery, which alone, near the Stras
burg pike and to my left, formed the centre of our line of battle. The battery
which Cooke says began to thunder on Jackson's left with a dangerous enfilading
fire was my battery of Parrotts. — Author.]

122
covered by a stone wall. Donelly's fire was terrific. We
claira that Kirkland's regiment was nearly destroyed. The
eneray adrait that all the field-officers were wounded, and that
the " gallant regiment was obliged to recoil " * (run away).
Ewell then sent in the Twenty-First Georgia Regiment,
Approaching with caution, its fate was better than that of its
predecessor ; but yet Donelly was not routed nor in danger
of it, either frora that mode of attack or from any other that
the small force Jackson had given Ewell could make. Seeing
this, Trimble suggested throwing forward the right and turn
ing Donelly's flank. It was done, and the enemy claira that
Donelly, who had been driven frora his cover by the Georgia
regiment, now gave way entirely, f In his report Gen. Banks
thinks that Trimble's flank movement was abandoned, because
Gen. Williams, our division commander, seeing the movement,
sent a detachment of cavalry to intercept it. |
Could Donelly have held Ewell back.-* It is more than
probable, if there had been no other force confronting us.
Did Jackson's movements on ray flank, by causing rae to with
draw, compel Donelly to retire .-' It is quite probable : Banks
so writes in his report. Why then did I withdraw ? To answer
* Dabney, p. 109.
t " Meanwhile Ewell had not been idle. As soon as Jackson's guns were
heard on the left, he rapidly advanced towards the southeast side of the town,
and became engaged with the enemy, who were posted on the hills, and in the
farm-houses which here dot the rolling landscape. The Twenty-First North
Carolina and Twenty-First Georgia attacked and drove back the advanced
force of the enemy, and Ewell pushed rapidly forward. But here, as on the left,
one of these obstinate stone walls which appear so often in the narrative of bat
tles in the valley, offered its bristling front to his- purpose. The Federal sharp
shooters lined it, and resting their guns on the top poured into the ranks of the
Twenty-First North Carolina, which were in advance, so destructive a fire, that
they were forced to fall back with heavy loss. This success was, however, brief;
taking the place of the repulsed regiment, the Twenty-First Georgia made a de
termined charge, the enemy wefe driven from their cover, and the main body of
Ewell's forces, which had been arrested by this obstacle, swept forward amidst
the thunders of artillery to the assault" — Cooke, p. 153.
X Banks's Report.

123
this, I resume my narrative. For two hours the Stonewall
Brigade (Jackson's own, under Gen. Winder) with Carpenter's
and Taliaferro's Brigades, and three batteries, had been held
in check on the heights opposite by the rifles of the Second
Massachusetts and by the battery of six Parrotts on our flank.
During this time the roar (of artillery and infantry on our left
before Donelly was continuous. And now Gen. Jackson,
thinking the battle had reached a critical stage,* determined
to strike a final blow. For this purpose he ordered forward
one of his reserve brigades, the one commanded by Gen.
Taylor. This, with Elsey's Brigade, was in reserve behind
the mill-house on the turnpike, about three fourths of a mile
from town. Burning with eagerness, Jackson's impatience
outstripped the speed of his messenger, and he rode rapidly
to meet it ; then conducting it by a hollow way in rear of the
two brigades before us, he gained the cover of a wood to our
right, and here directing its rapid formation in line of battle
with the left regiments, thrown forward f to gain our rear, he
was ready for his assault.
The moment the enemy began to emerge from the woods,
Col. Andrews, through Major Dwight, reported to me that he
could see them advancing in line of battle directly upon our
right fiank. Receiving this message wTiile opposite the centre
of my brigade hne, I dashed up to the head of our regiment,
jumped from my horse, and with Col. Andrews crawled for
ward to the crest of the hill, just behind which our regiment
was in line. On any day in spring the view from that summit
would have been most fascinating. There to the south and
west were a cluster of beautiful hills, commanding the town,
and covered with luxurious clover and pasturage, with here and
there a forest grove crowning the eminences. Everywhere
the fields were enclosed with fences and stonewalls. The ver
dure of the forest trees, the rich green ofthe grasses, the
blue sky overhead, and the soft beams of the morning sun-
* Dabney, pp. io8, 109. t Dabney, pp. 104-109.

124
light, lent all their beauties to adorn the picture. But to
all that Nature offered, raan had added his touch to starap
forever the scene upon ray raind. There, just below us, in
good rifle-range," preceded by swarms of skirmishers, regi
ment after regiment of the enemy were raoving in good
order steadily but rapidly up the hill* Farther south, cora-
ing from the direction of the Strasburg pike, and gallop
ing across the fields, I saw a new battery urged forward to a
new position to support this attack ; while nearer my centre,
the crest of the hill was wreathed with the smoke of the
three batteries that for two hours had tried, in vain, to drive
us from our position. There was no tirae to linger. In an
instant I again mounted my horse ; ordered the Twenty-
Ninth Pennsylvania and the Twenty-Seventh Indiana to move
by flank on the run and extend to the right 'of the Second, at
the same time directing a section of my battery to the front,
where the guns could bear upon the enemy's columns. But
at this tirae a shell killed one man and three horses, so that
the guns were pulled up by hand, and progress was necessa
rily slow. Before the arrival of these regiments the Second
had opened upon the eneray a heavy fire of rausketry, which
was taken up and continued by the new regiraents as they
came into position. Although the enemy claim that their
flanking column was greeted with a shower of shells and rifle-
* This was Taylor's Brigade, numbering 4,000 men (about five hundred more
than the whole of Banks's army), as appears from the following letter to me from
(Jen. Geo. L. Andrews, my former lieutenant-colonel : —
" West Point, N. Y., June 14, 1875,
" Dear General, — . , , After the surrender at Meridian, on the borders of
Alabama and Mississippi, where I went to receive the parole of General Taylor's
army, I had a conversation with the latter about the Winchester fight. In the
course of it, I said that if we could have opposed his whole brigade with a battery,
and reserved the infantry fire longer, I thought we might have checked him.
" He replied in substance that no doubt we should have hurt them a good
deal, but he thought we could not have stopped him ; adding, ' I had 4,000 men
in that brigade.' "

125
balls, it is true to history to state that when the Twenty-
Ninth Pennsylvania and Twenty-Seventh Indiana reached
their position, they were imperfectly formed ; their fire was
hasty and less effective than it should have been. At all
events, the fire did not check the advance of the enemy,
who, somewhat favored by the ground, formed his lines with
the accuracy of a parade.
When Jackson saw Taylor in motion, he galloped along the
rear of his line to the centre, and ordered a general advance ;
then again moving to the hill where Carpenter's Battery was
firing upon our lines, the same from which he had exposed
himself at the beginning, he is represented as mounting it
with an air of eager caution, and peering like a deer-stalker
over its sumrait as soon as his eyes reached its level.* What
Jackson saw ought to have encouraged hira ; for now, looking
down upon the steady movement of Taylor (despite the fire
we poured into him), he saw the Twenty-Ninth and Twenty-
Seventh of ray brigade break into disorder and begin to fall
to the rear ; he saw the Second holding on for a moraent,
then turn, and we were in retreat, f
" I can't help it," replied Col. Andrews, as I rode hastily
up to him with the question, " Why are you falling back .' "
It was true. With his right uncovered it would have been
madness to reraain. " Move in order, then, and retreat
steadily," I replied, giving the same caution to the Third
* Dabney, p. 109,
t Gen. Andrews says, in letter of June 14th referred to, " The fire of the two
regiments (Twenty-Seventh Indiana and Twenty-Ninth. Pennsylvania), opened at
first at too great a distance from the enemy, suddenly ceased; the men broke ranks
and fell to the rear. I now gave the command to the Second Massachusetts, ' By
company, right wheel, march ! ' intending to deploy forward and support what was
left of the line opposed to the enemy ; but I soon saw that there was nothing left
in line to oppose the enemy. The Twenty-Ninth Pennsylvania had partially rallied
in a line oblique to the front of the Second Massachusetts, before the wheel into
column, having their backs turned towards us. The Second Massachusetts being
now in column of companies, I moved it to the rear towards the town by the
right of companies, the organization being perfectly preserved."

126
Wisconsin, as it too turned. The scene unfolded to Jack
son was one in which two regiments were retiring, some
what in disorder, down the hill towards the town ; another,
the Second Massachusetts, was breaking to the rear in col
umns of companies as quietly and orderly as if on parade ;
while the fourth and last, the Third Wisconsin, with line of
battle forraed to the rear by an about face, was moving leis
urely in retreat. Seeing this, Jackson, setting spurs to his
horse, bounded upon the crest, and shouted to the officers
nearest to hira, " Forward after the enemy I " Then, on right,
left, and centre, they swarmed in pursuit. There in front
were the Stonewall, Carpenter's, and Taliaferro's Brigades ;
to my right was Taylor's Brigade ; and hurrying up from
the reserve was Elsey's, — all in pursuit of my four regiments,
who were now in full retreat for the town.*
On right, left, and centre, immensely superior columns of
the enemy were pressing upon my brigade, which numbered
at the beginning of the fight, all told, exactly 2,ioi infantry
and one battery. Not another man was available. There
was no support between us and the Potomac, f Above the
surrounding crests surged the enemy, who opened upon us a
sharp and withering fire of musketry. A storm of bullets
from the hill where we had so long confronted the main body
of Jackson's forces crossed their fire with that from Taylor's
Brigade now on the crest in our rear. Above the din of mus
ketry, a yell of triumph rose from the- endless columns that
seemed to gird the town. My troops were not dismayed,
though many had fallen. We had not yet gained the cover
of the streets, and sorae of ray brigade, notably the Second
* Dabney, p. 109.
t During our whole fight the Tenth Maine Regiment, on duty as a provost-
guard at Winchester, was aUowed to perform this duty. If Banks knew they
were in to« a, he did not call upon them. It is claimed that they were held in
reserve ; but it is manifest that if, in that battle of Winchester, it was proper
to hold any troops in reserve, there was no lack of occasion to call upon them ;
and this was not done. See Maine in the War, p. 229.

127
Massachusetts and Third Wisconsin, disdained to do so until
again they had turned in defiance upon the foe.* In full
sight of Jackson and his army, the Second kept its formation,
and delivered its fire, while three companies of the Third
Wisconsin, frora behind a stone wall, emptied their muskets
into the faces of the advancing lines.
Not until my acting adjutant's f horse was shot dead by my
side, not until my aid returned to reply that he had given my
message to Gen. Banks that my right had been turned, and I
was falling back, did I, with the last of my command, leave
the field and turn into the streets of Winchester. We had
made our last stand, and though driven after a three hours'
fight, in such a retreat there was nothing of shame. There
were but fifteen rounds of ammunition left for ray battery ;
and there was no aramunition-train from which to replenish
the cartridge-boxes of the infantry. All this, if there were
no other reasons for turning when we did ; but there was
another, even this : a delay of a few minutes from the time
the Twenty-Ninth Pennsylvania and Twenty-Seventh Indiana
broke to the rear from the right would have caused our cap
ture or destruction. It was officially reported $ that an order
to these regiments to fall back was given. If so, it was with
out authority. I feel sure none was ever given ; but in view of
the results, I cannot condemn the want of discipline that
caused it.
* It was about this time that Lieut. Crowninshield was wounded. Says Capt.
Comey, of the Second Massachusetts Regiment, in a letter of April 24, 1875 :
" The right of the column had nearly reached a street on the outskirts of the town
when Crowninshield was hit, and cried out, ' I am shot ! Do not leave me! ' Imme
diately we left the ranks and went to his assistance ; found him trying to rise from
the ground. Together we strove to reach the town, — had but little hopes of
doing so, as the rebels were closing in on all sides but one. Sergt. McDowell
came to our assistance, and picking Crowninshield up, we hurried him to one of
the main streets, and placing him in an ambulance, he started for a. safe place.
The driver of the amljulance at one time was going to cut the traces and leave,
but Crowninshield's revolver persuaded him to stand by."
t Lieut. Charles P. Horton, of the Second Massachusetts.
I Banks's Report.

128
As my troops faded away into the streets of Winchester,
the scene, as painted in colored sketches by the imaginative
Dabney, * is represented as the most imposing sight that
ever greeted the eyes of a victorious captain. " Far to the
east," he says, ," the advancing lines of Ewell rolled forward,
concealed in waves of white smoke from their volleys of mus
ketry, as they were rapidly passing the suburbs of the town.
On the west, the long and glittering lines of Taylor, after one
thundering discharge, were sweeping at a bayonet charge up
the reverse of the hills with irresistible momentum. Nearer
the general (Jackson) came the Stonewall Brigade, with the
gallant Twenty-Third Virginia, who 'sprung from their lairs,t
and rushed panting down the hillsides. Between him (Jack
son) and the town the enemy were everywhere breaking away
frora the walls and fences, behind which they had sheltered
themselves, at first with some semblance of order, but then
dissolving into a vast confusion, in which the infantry, mounted
officers, and artillery crowded and surged through the streets."
Vast "confusion ! Our artillery and infantry moved through
the town in as good order as the crowded condition of the
streets would permit. The Second Massachusetts Regiment,
marching in order, passed through the lower part of the sub
urbs, and forraed in line by Lieut.-Col. Andrews with perfect
steadiness and regularity, in order to change the position of
certain companies | that they might be, if the fight were to
be continued, in the order provided for by the regulations. To
do this, he threw out his guides to secure a good alignment,
A hot fire of grape and shell from the enemy's batteries close
* P. 109.
t " Lairs " is good,
X In Gen. Andrews's letter, of June 14, he says, " I supposed the struggle might
be renewed in the town itself, as I saw some troops apparently disposed to make
a stand in one of the streets of the town. It was in one of the streets that I halted
the regiment and rectified the position of some of the companies that had got
out of place in filing into the narrow streets. Soon finding, however, that every
thing was in full retreat, I marched off the regiment."

129
to the town, the near approach of the cavalry, and the victo
rious cheers of their infantry about his ears, induced Col,
Andrews to folldw the retreating column, even though he
sacrificed some paragraphs of the tactics. The Second, the
last regiment to leave the town, followed the line of the rail
road, which for some miles runs parallel to the road from Win
chester, to Martinsburg, and joined the main body of Banks's
column a few miles, out ; but the enemy were so close upon
them that Major Dwight fell into their hands. He could have
escaped but for his sympathy with a wounded man, whom he
aided into a house.*
Return now to the main street, through which, towards
Martinsburg, moved the raain coluran of our troops. An
eager enemy was close upon us ; there was no time for any
arrangement or defence. Pursuers and , pursued were swal
lowed from view, and the rout roared through every street
with rattling rifle-shots and ringing cheers f frora the enemy.
In the main street I found myself, with my staff, in rear of
a battery. All around and in front, there was a confused
mob. At the windows and on the piazzas there were more
* After Major Dwight's capture, a very quiet and peaceable aff'air (given by
Quint in " Secpnd Massachusetts Record "), the major remained in Winchester,
and of course was not inactive. He visited the scene of our fight, reviewed our
position, comforted the wounded, and buried our dead. For some required con
veniences Major Dwight was compelled to appeal to Gen. Jackson, of whom the
major had often heard me speak as an old friend and classmate, as well as asso
ciate in our Mexican War, It was urged by Major Dwight, in his appeal to
Stonewall Jackson, that he was a major in the Second Massachusetts Regiment,
commanded by Col, Gordon, of Massachusetts, " who is, I believe," said the
major, " an old friend of yours."
" Friend of mine, sir ? " repUed " old Jack." " He was, sir, once a fi-iend."
Major Dwight retired, his request unheeded. As I write these lines, the name
of " T. J. Jackson, of Virginia," confronts me from a sheet filled with the auto
graphs of my classmates at the Military Academy at West Point, reminding
me of that boy companion to whom the dawn of life was as serious as its close, ^
that honest, dear " old Jack," who as Lieut.-Gen (Stonewall) Jackson remem
bered me, in 1S62, no longer as a friend. — Author.
t Dabney, p, 104.
17

130
men than I had ever before seen in the town. Women,
too, were there, well dressed, rushing to their doors and
windows with unrepressed expressions of joy at. our defeat.
Besides soldiers, horses, and batteries, there were men,
women, and children in the streets, each making frantic
efforts to get out of the way. Amidst the crack of rifle-shots
and the bursting of shells ; * through the fire of musketry and
pistol-shots, which killed raany of our raen in the street ; and
worse than all, under the hurailiation of jeers and taunting
glances of defiance frora young and old, male and female, we
at length came out of the town upon the ijorth, on the Mar
tinsburg road, where a long column of baggage-wagons, divis
ion, brigade, and regimental, were making their way in fair
order towards the Potoraac. Gen. Jackson was in possession
of Winchester. Greeted with every deraonstration of affec
tion by the inhabitants, Jackson is represented as, for the first
and only time in his life, tearing a greasy, faded old forage"
cap from his head, swinging it in the air, and attempting to
cheer ; then, with his face inflamed with towering passion
and triumph, galloping amidst the foremost of his pursuers
and urging them upon the enemy,"
With all the baggage that we had saved from Strasburg,
and with all that we had added at Winchester, leaving behind
us the sick, the dying, the dead, and many prisoners, we
moved rapidly northward for Williarasport to cross the Poto
mac, As we gained the hill north of the town, I turned
to look back upon the ridge of which I have spoken as
almost s.urrounding Winchester, The entire crest for three
parts of this vast circumference was covered with the enemy.
Now, for the first time, I saw Gen, Banks raaking a feeble
effort to arrest the troops, and uttering some words about
promised reinforceraents. Turning his eyes backward I
think there was no doubt in his own raind that the enemy
had developed his force to him, — thus reversing the necessity
* One of which burst close to us, nearly demolishing a house.

131
with which Gen. Banks had raet my most urgent appeals on
the night of the 23d of May, — " I must develop the force of.
the enemy." Gen. Banks had made no provision for a retreat,
evidently believing that, with his inferior force, he should com
ply with his telegram to the War Department, sent the day
before, and return to Strasburg. * Why, encumbered as we
were with baggage and wagons and all the material that
hours before should have been sent away, we were not de
stroyed, must be answered by those who claira that, on this
occasion, Jackson exhibited the highest order of military
talent. The pursuit was feeble ^n the extreme. Jackson with his
whole force followed us to Bunker Hill, thirteen miles, but
finding that he could not flank or cut us off, he halted his in
fantry and gave up the pursuit to Ashby, the untiring, who
continued it with his battery and cavalry, sending shells, round
shot, and grape into our rear, with destruction to some bat
tery-horses and a few men ; but even this was stopped at
Martinsburg. After twenty-four miles of mounted pursuit of
foot- men, even Ashby was tired. Where was Stewart with
his three cavalry regiments, Ashby's, Mumford's, and Flour
noy's, to oppose Gen. Hatch with less than one (he had, as it
will be remembered, less than nine hundred men at Strasburg),
Undoubtedly, a feeble pursuit by cavalry was made on the
Bery ville road and on the' railroad, where broken parts of our
command were seeking to raake their way to Harper's Ferry :
many stragglers, and men wearied from long marching, fasting,
and fighting, also the wounded " who had sunk on the ground
overpowered,"- — many such were picked up by the enemy's
cavalry ; but what else .¦" What, that any commander of even
ordinary ability would have done, under similar circumstances ?.
* Such a telegram was in the hands of the Committee on the Conduct of the
War, and an explanation asked of a witness who was attempting to show that
Banks knew before he left Strasburg, the number of Jackson's forces. When
Banks in his official report said he did knowthe number, he forgot this telegram.

132
Feeling the necessity of defending him, Dabney or Cooke,
or both of them, aver that Gen. Jackson ordered Gen. Stewart
to follow with his cavalry, and capture us, even as Flournoy
had ridden down and captured Kenly on the 23d in his
attempt at escape ; and Stewart would , not obey, because he
was under the imraediate coraraand of Ewell, from whom he
had received no orders. What man of military fame would
not blush at such an excuse I It is with amazement that I,
even now, recall that retreat from Winchester, Encumbered
with baggage, a wearied, defeated, overworked, and despond
ing force plods on its foot-march for fifty-four miles to the
Potomac, receiving a constant fire of artillery in its rear for
twenty-four .miles, and is permitted to cross, its . material and
its troops occupying in so doing until ten o'clock of the next
day ; and this without an attempt to waylay, to flank, or to
surprise it with a cavalry force in numbers quite equal to if
not exceeding one half of all Banks's command.
It was eleven o'clock at night when the last of our column
reached the banks of the Potomac, opposite Wilhamsport,
Our men tumbled down upon the grass and slept until 2 a, m,
of the 26th, when we were aroused to begin the passage of
the river. The scene before crossing seems to have struck
Gen, Banks * as " of the most animating and exciting descrip
tion." " A thousand camp-fifes," he says, " were burning on
the hillsides, a thousand carriages of every description were
crowded on the banks ; and the broad river rolled between the
exhausted troops and their coveted rest.", The appliances for-
crossing -yvere most inadequate. It was a raercy that Jackson's
unwilling cavalry and too tired infantry did not follow us up ;
it was a crime not to be forgiven that our passage of that
river depended upon such contingei;icies. For the passage
of the " thousand wagons " (if there were a thousand) by the
" thousand camp-fires " f there was a single ferry, and over
this the ammunition-wagons had precedence. In the ford,
* Banks's Report, f One wagon to each fir^,

133
too deep for safety, many hapless mules were drowned and
many wagons lost. Only a few strong animals got through.
Some of the pontoon-boats, saved from the burning, luckily
were found in our wagons, and with these, the ferry, and the
ford, some in one way and some in another, all got safely to
land. At midday of the i6th the last of our coramand had
crossed, and there were "never more grateful hearts in the
sarae nuraber of men," says Banks, * " than when we stood on
the opposite shore." I certainly can speak for one grateful
heart, that of my colored woman Peggy, who with her child I
passed among the first across the swollen river to a land of
freedom. Across the Potomac ! Yes, we were again where, in July of
the preceding year, we had made our raarch so gayly into
Virginia, One raore campaign was ended. There was now
left from Banks's command on Virginia soil a feeble rear-guard
of four corapanies from the Second Massachusetts and Third
Wisconsin of my brigade.
The purposes and plans that atiimated Gen. Banks during
this retreat were revealed to the world on the thirty-first day
of May, 1862 (six days after the events here narrated had
occurred), in his Official Report. In this paper I not only
learned for the first time what his plans were (if he had any)
at our conference in Winchester, but I further found out that
before three o'clock in the morning of the preceding day, the
24th, while at Strasburg, he knew all about " the extraordinary
force of the enemy," and fully appreciated that " to attack him,
he being in such overwhelming force, could only result in cer
tain destruction," and that " it was apparent that the enemy's
troops, embracing at least 25,000 to 30,000 raen, were close
upon us." Now, with all this information and belief. Banks
had arrived at Winchester, had heard all my statements in
confirmation of his own opinions, had questioned my prisoner,
had heard from, all classes, — secessionists. Union men, refu-
* Banks's Report.

134
gees, fugitives, and prisoners, until as he says his " suspense
was relieved, for all agreed that the enemy's force at or near
Winchester was overwhelming, ranging from 25,000 to 30,000
men." With all this information, and conclusions based upon
such incontrovertible testimony, Banks states in his Official
Report that then and there at Winchester, he "determined
to test the substance and strength of the enemy by actual
collision," Everything was confirmed at Winchester that was known
at Strasburg of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and
yet Banks " determined to test by actual collision the sub
stance and strength of the enemy " ; to attack an enemy
known to be "in such overwhelming force that our attack
could only result in certain destrilction " — to ourselves.
And therefore upon his arrival at Winchester, Banks sent
off his telegram to the War Department that he would return
to Strasburg the next day.*
In conclusion, I may say that it was not until the scenes of
that march from Strasburg had been carefully reviewed, not
until the terrible fatigue, the heat and dust, the rack and
roar of battle, the feared attacks of cavalry hovering around
the long miles before us, the wide and dangerous river in
our path, and the panic-stricken crowd of fugitives ; not until
these were over could we fairly estimate our achievements.
From the 24th of May, at eleven o'clock, a. m., until near
midnight of the 25th, my brigade had marched frora Stras
burg to Williarasport, a distance of fifty-four miles. To this,
two miles more should be added to the march of the Second
Massachusetts, on its return frora Bartonville to Newtown,
where we turned upon Jackson. Without sleep on the night of
the 23d, the brigade marched the next day eighteen miles to
Winchester, On this same day the Second Massachusetts not
only marched farther than any other regiment of the brigade,
but from three o'clock, p. m., until two o'clock of the next day,
* Alas for history when made up from Official Reports !

135
it was engaged in an almost continuous skirmish with the
enemy, holding back alone, in the most plucky manner, as
narrated, the head of Jackson's army, materially defeating his
plans, and giving ample opportunity, which might have been
availed of, to reraove much government property, that was
destroyed or captured. And on the 25 th, after two hours'
rest, my brigade raaintained its unequal contest for .three
hours against almost the whole of Jackson's army. In this
the principal share of the fighting in the infantry fell to
the Second Massachusetts. It was entirely due to this regi
ment that Jackson was unable to, or at any rate did not, seize
the crests of the hill frora which he had driven our pickets,*
and render untenable the heights from which we at last fell
back into the town. After their three hours' fight, my
brigade marched thirty-six miles in about twelve hours.
On the evening of the same day in which we crossed the
Potoraac, Jackson's army, prostrated with fatigue and helpless
as children, reached the vicinity of Williarasport. They had
been overworked by their great commander, and to this we
owed our safety.
There reraains to consider our losses in this retreat, —
first of raen, second of material.
Banks, in his Official Report of Losses on the 24th and
25th, gives as total killed, 38 ; wounded, 155 ; rnissing, 711 ;
total, 904 ; he thinks the number of killed and wounded raay
be larger than this, while many missing may return, but that
the aggregate will not be changed.f
- Lieut.-Col. Andrews reports the loss in the Second Massa
chusetts Regiment on the 25th, as 7 killed and 28 wounded ;
among the latter are included two commissioned officers, Capt.
* Major Dwight, while on parole at home, saw a Confederate captain at Fort
Warren, taken at Cross Keyes. This captain said to Dwight, " I have been in
every battle in Virginia since Bull Run, an<y! never was under such a fire as that
of the Second Massachusetts at Winchester."
. t To our own force, as enumerated, should be added five companies of Mary
land cavalry that were stationed. at Winchester.

136
Mudge and Second Lieut, Crowninshield, He also reports
131 missing, " though many are coming in daily, having been
compelled to halt frora exhaustion, and after recovery finding
their way in by different routes," On the 24th, Lieut.-Col.
Andrews reports his total loss to have been 3 killed and 17
wounded. Banks also reports that there were 189 men of
Williams's Division sick in hospital at Strasburg, and that 125
of them were left in the hospital at Winchester and 64 not
removed frora Strasburg, — left there with two surgeons and
attendants. At Winchester, Dr. Stone of the Second was
left in charge. In addition to these surgeons, there were 8
others who fell into the enemy's hands. Gen, Shields, whert
he marched for Fredericksburg, left 1,000 sick and disabled
men at Strasburg. Banks says, " Surgeon King, division
surgeon, exhibits the disposition of thera," but does not say
what it was.
Of material. Banks states, " All our guns were saved. Our
wagon-train consisted of nearly five hundred wagons, of which
number fifty-five were lost. They were not, with few excep
tions, abandoned to the enemy, but were burned * upon the
road. Nearly all of our supplies were thus saved," But the
stores at Front Royal, of which he " had no knowledge until "
his visit to that post on the 21st inst, " and those at Win
chester, of which a considerable portion was destroyed by
our troops," are not embraced in this statement. Quint f says,
" A wagon-train eight miles long lost only fifty wagons, and we
brought off all our artillery, losing only one caisson,"
The enemy's account of his captures is put with force:
" The complete success of our efforts can never be known.
We have captured thousands of prisoners, killed and wounded

* I never heard of any wagons burned upon the road but the nine I destroyed
near Newtown. I never heard of ouiyecapture of the six miles of wagons, taken
by the enemy between Strasburg and Middletown. — Author,
t Chaplain Second Massachusetts, in " Record of Second Massachusetts
Infantry."

137
hundreds more, seized miles of baggage-wagons, immense
stores of every imaginable description, together with many
cannon, thousands of small arms, ammunition by hundreds of
tons, medicines, and public documents of value, thousands
of shoes, and have burned millions of property for want of
transportation."* Says another Southern writer, " Banks had
abandoned at Winchester all his comraissary and ordnance
stores; he had left in our hands 4,0Q0 prisoners, and stores
amounting to millions of dollars." f
Our own papers reported our losses as very heavy.
This excited Banks, who sent on the 31st of May, through
the Associated Press, from Williarasport, a despatch that
" Great regret and some indignation is felt here, that
exaggerated and unauthorized and unfounded statements
of losses of public property sustained by our retreat from
Strasburg and Winchester have found publicity through
papers at a distance. At present the figures cannot be
accurately ascertained ; but the heaviest losses are known
to be very light compared with the amounts exposed to cap
ture or abandonment by such a rapid retreat as it was nec
essary to perform."
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, in his order of May 29, 1862,
announcing another brilliant victory by the combined divisions
of Major-Generals Jackson and Ewell, constituting a portion
of this army, over Gen. Banks at Front Royal, Middletown, and
Winchester, declares " that several thousands of prisoners %
were captured, and an immense quantity of ammunition and
stores of every description." § Among other captures the
enemy claimed to have taken a large amount of baggage at
Cedar Creek, with all the knapsacks of the Zouaves.
* Ashton's Letter from Battle-Fields of the South, p. 324.
t Pollard's Lost Cause.
X In Johnston's Narrative he puts the prisoners at 2,000 [probably nearly cor
rect — Author']. See Narrative of Military Operations, by J oseph E. Johnston,
Gen. C. S. A., 1874, p. 129.
§ Richmond Examiner of June 5, 1862.
18

138
The original reports of this retreat, my own among the
number, attributed many cold-blooded atrocities to the eneray.
In the exciteraent of such a retreat, and thus early in the war,
it was not strange that we put faith in iraprobable stories, I
have before rae the account of one of the theatrical corapany,
whom I met in flight at Strasburg, He got through to Win
chester, slept through the fight there, and was captured. Taken
for a Southerner, which he was by birth, he volunteered to drive
'Ashby to Martinsburg in an ambulance : Ashby, it appears,
was wounded at Front Royal in the shoulder, and could not
mount a horse. Following in the rear of our retreating array
amid cannonading and dust, he saw nothing of the reported
cruelties, but upon one occasion was directed by Ashby to see
if one of our men lying by the road-side was alive. He was
of the Tenth Maine, — was dead. " Carry hira over into the
adjoining field to prevent rautilation by animals," was Ashby's
orders. It does not come within the scope of this narrative to fol
low the fortunes of the enemy under Stonewall Jackson fur
ther than to say generally, that for one week he held high
carnival all along the Potomac. He concentrated his troops
in and around Charlestown ; he atterapted with his infantry to
ford the Potomac two railes above the railroad bridge at Har
per's Ferry, and was driven back by our shells, fired from bat
teries established where we first pitched our encampment in
July of 1861; he ascended Loudon Heights between the
Shenandoah and the Potomac, but was driven off by our guns
from across the river. Information of the numbers of Stone
wall Jackson's forces given by observers during his occupation
of towns between Winchester and Martinsburg, shows that we
had not exaggerated his strength. Ewell's Division, consist
ing of Taylor's Brigade, 5,000, Johnson's, 4,000, and Trirable's,
4,000, was estimated at 13,000. Jackson's own immediate
column was given as 9,000 or 10,000. The lowest estimate
placed the combined strength of the enemy at 20,cfoo. In

139
the pursuit of Shields and Fremont, the battles of Cross
Keyes and Port Republic, the march of Jackson to unite with
the Array of Virginia, we did not participate ; therefore I
leave them with no other allusion. On the 31st of May, the
enemy at Bunker Hill, Martinsburg, and Charlestown were
apprised that Fremont from the west and McDowell from the
east were closing in upon his rear. In one week after our
fight at Winchester, Jackson, with his whole army, turned
southward in flight.
The effect of our retreat upon the country was startling.
Here in Massachusetts the people were aroused by a proc
lamation. Hardly had "the thousand camp-fires" begun
to glow around " the thousand wagons upon the banks of the
Potomac," at eleven o'clock at night ofthe 2Sth of May, when
Gov. Andrew at Boston penned the last wbrds of a proclama
tion, calling upon Massachusetts to rise once more for the
rescue and defence of the capital. The whole active militia
of Massachusetts were sumraoned to report on Boston Com
raon " to-morrow," from thence to " oppose with fiery zeal and
courageous patriotism the march of the foe." * The next day
the public was again excited by an appeal from Major R.
Morris Copeland, Banks's adjutant-general, who happened to
be in Boston during the fight. Copeland blamed the War
Department for leaving Banks defenceless.!
* This was dated the 25th of May, Sunday evening, at eleven o'clock.
t This appeal came out in the " Boston Daily Advertiser," of which C. F. Dun
bar was then editor, on the 26th of May, 1862. As soon as it came to his notice.
Banks, in a telegram to Dunbar, offered up Copeland as a propitiatory sacrifice,
as follows : — "¦Williamsburg, Md., June 2, 1862.
"To Mr. C. F. Dunbar,
"Boston, Mass,
"Major Copeland should secure some position in the Massachusetts Regiments
cf equal rank to that he now holds. It is not consistent that he should return to
his post here after his proclamation in Boston. Please convey to him this infor
mation. " N, P, Banks, M. G, C."
See Statement of R. M. Copeland, p. 17,

140
" The hands that hold the pen, the ruler, and the hammer
were made in tliese days," says Copeland, " for better things.'*
" Seize the musket and the sabre ! " he continues. But
alas for Copeland I that he should have told the country
to blame the Secretary of War for our retreat ; for this was
given by the President as one of the reasons * why Cope
land's hands, during the remainder of the war, held nothing
raore belligerent than " the pen, the ruler, and the hararaer." f
In other States the excitement was scarcely less intense than
in Massachusetts. New York sent her Eleventh Regiment of
State Militia. They arrived at Harper's Ferry on the 30th of
May, and refused to be sworn into the service of the United
States unless they could dictate terms, which were, that
they should go to Washington and be placed in a camp of
instruction. This being refused by officers of the United
States army, the whole regiment marched over to Sandy
Hook, where they slept upon it, with the result that eight
corapanies took the oath, one asked for further time, and one
started for home.
On the 28th of May, Gen. Banks thought it his duty to
assign a full brigadier-general to the comraand of my bri
gade, and make the War Department responsible for the
change. For this he selected Gen. Greene, one of the two
* After Copeland's dismissal from the army, ih August, 1862, he sought an
interview with Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, at which
the following occurred : —
" The President replied, ' Well, sir, I know something about your case, and I '11
tell you what I know. You 're the man who went to Boston about the time Jack
son broke through at Front Royal, and wrote letters and editorials abusing the
administration, and made speeches, and did all that you could to make a fuss.' " —
Statement of R, M, Copeland, p, 30,
" And then the President replied, ' Well, I did not know you were dismissed,
I never saw the order, that I know of, until to-day, though of course it has been
laid before me and received my official sanction,' " — Statement of R. M. Copeland,
p. 32.
t See a letter vindicating Secretary Stanton, written by Horatio Woodman,
Esq., in "Boston DaUy Transcript" of June 2, 1862, supposed to haye been
inspired by Gov, Andrew.

141
supernumerary brigadiers who had accompanied us from
Strasburg. In his order Gen. Banks takes especial care to
speak in praise * of the part taken by my brigade during the
retreat. Without the services rendered by my own Second
Regiraent, I could not have been coraraended.
• Headquarters Department of the Shenandoah, i
WiLLiAMSPORT, Md., May 28, 1862, J
General Order, No. 26.
I. Brig.-Gen. Geo. S. Greene, U, S. A., having reported for duty at these
headquarters in accordance with the orders of the War Department, is assigned
to the command of the Third Brigade, Gen. A. S. Williams's Division, and will
relieve Col. Geo. H. Gordon, Second Massachusetts Volunteers, who on, being
relieved will assume command of his regiment.
II. In announcing this change in the organization of the Third Brigade, under
the general direction of the Department of War, the commanding general desires
to express his unqualified approval of the manner in which Col. Geo. H. Gordon
has discharged the duties of brigade-commander. In organization, discipline,
instruction, and equipment he has maintained and elevated the standard of his com
mand. In the execution of his orders, often, from the extreme necessities of our
position and the great reduction of our forces, sudden and difiieult, he has been
prompt and successful, exhibiting on all occasions the qualities of a prompt and
patriotic officer.
The commanding general has also the pleasure of expressing his approval of
the manner in which the Third Brigade and its commander discharged most
important duties on the march from Strasburg, on the 24th inst., in the affair with
the enemy, as the rear -guard of the column, on the evening of the same day,
which contributed so much to the safety of the command, and in the engagement
of the twenty-fifth at Winchester, Virginia. He has the strongest confidence
that its distinguished character and reputation will be maintained hereafter.
.The commanding general commends to the just consideration of the brigade its
new commander, Gen. Geo. S. Greene, as an officer of large experience and dis
tinguished character. By command of
Major-General N. p. Banks.
D. D. Perkins, Major and A. A. A. Gen,
By command of
Gen, a. S. Williams,
Wm, D, Wilkins, Capt. A. A. G.\
Official, S. E. PiTTMAN, xst. Lieut, and A. D. C.

142
On the 31st of May a paper was handed me by Gen. Hatch*
signed by all the officers of rank who were cognizant of or had
participated in the events ofthe 24th and 25 th of -May. This
paper, containing most flattering references to our brigade,
was the more acceptable, as without any knowledge what
ever of it or its contents, it was presented to rae with all the
naraes it now bears, save that of Brig-Gen. Crawford, which
was placed there afterwards. My own regiment shares with
me in the not fulsome but discriminating praise bestowed,
and again my heart speaks its thankfulness to the Second.
The feeling among the troop/s themselves, as indicating their
opinion of the part taken by our regiment, is here recorded
as of more worth than any praise bestowed upon lis by others.
The 31st of May found Mr. Dwight, of Boston, the brother
of our captured major, at our camp en route through Martins
burg to Winchester, to learn his brother's fate. Col. DeFor
est, then in command at Martinsburg, was ordered by Gen,
Hatch to send with Mr. Dwight an escort often men, — "men
wljo can remember what they see of the enemy and his
* WILLIAMSPORT, Md., May 31, 1862,
To THE Hon, Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War.
The undersigned officers of the army, serving in the Department bf the Shen
andoah, take great pleasure in recommending for the appointment of brigadier-
general, Col. George H. Gordon, commanding Second Massachusetts Regiment
Col. Gordon has for the last three months filled the position asked for him,
having been in command of the Third Brigade of Williams's Division. The high
state of discipline attained by his brigade, together with its admirable drill, have
proved his competency for the position.
The appointment is more particularly asked as a reward for the military skill
and good conduct shown by him at the battle of Winchester on Sunday last, and
throughout the retreat from Strasburg to this place,
A, S, Williams, .S«;f-G^«, , N.P.Banks,
Comd'g 1st Division. M, G. C.
John P, Hatch, Geo. S, Greene,
Brig-Gen. Cav'y. Brig- Gen. U. S. V.
S. W. Crawford,
Brig-Gen. V. S. V.

143
strength," " Let them raove," said the order, " with a white
flag twenty yards in advance of the main body, and waving
the flag, wait. to be recognized by the enemy's pickets."*
A telegrara from the Secretary of War, that my promotion
from colonel to brigadier-general "could no longer be de
ferred," was sent immediately after our arrival at Williams-
port to Gov. Andrew of Massachusetts. This final act con
nected with the days of the 24th and 25 th of May requires
explanation. In July of 1 86 1 it came to ray knowledge that the congres
sional delegation frora Massachusetts had recommended my
promotion. The President of the United States in a personal
interview informed me that the reason why he did not heed
this recommendation was because "the governor of your
State protests against it." Mr. Lincoln, at the time of
making this reply, held in his hand a paper, frora which he
assumed to read the protest.
On the 4th of June, 1862, Gov. Andrew, in acknowledging
my application for two surgeons, and informing me that he has
sent Doctors Heath and Davis, adds, " Permit me in closing
to congratulate you. Colonel, upon your nomination for promo
tion to the rank of brigadier-general, and also upon the bril
liant success achieved by the withdrawal of our forces, with so
little loss, from the heart of the enemy's country and against a
force so completely overwhelming."
On the 10th of June Gen. Banks's corps recrossed the river
at Williarasport, raoved through Martinsburg and Winches
ter, over historic ground, and went into camp at Bartonville,
where the Second had so ably arrested Jackson's march in
the night of the 24th of May,
On the I2th of June, at Washington, my coramission as
* How our major escaped from captivity without aid from his brother, has been
told too many times to repeat. On the 21st of June a despatch came to me,
"Dwight is safe, prisoner at Winchester."
(Signed) F. d'HAUTEViLLE,

ri44
brigadier-general of volunteers was handed me, accompanied
with an order from the Secretary of War to " report imme
diately for duty to Gen. Banks, wherever he raight be found,"
and this proved to be at Winchester, where I arrived the
next night to learn from hira that he could not reraove the
brigadier-general commanding my brigade without a special
order from the Secretary of War.* The next day, there
fore, I returned to Washington, carrying with me on her
way. to her new home, my negro woman Peggy and her child.
Before I could purchase tickets for the woman I was compelled
to give a bond to save the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Balti
more Railroad harmless from any lawful claims that might be
hereafter brought against it by the owner of this colored
property, I readily gave my bond, secured the tickets, placed
the bewildered woman and child in charge of a faithful express
man, and soon heard of their safe arrival at the North, where,
since then, they have in prosperity continued.
On the 1 8th, of June the Secretary of War specifically
assigned me to the command of ray old brigade;! ^.nd
on the 22d, after a fruitless effort on the preceding day by
rail via Manassas, to reach Front Royal, to which place my
command had moved from Bartonville, I shook the dust of
Washington from my feet, not to return to it again for two
months, when, as part of a wrecked and broken army, we
* Winchester, Va., June 15. Brig.-Gen. Gordon will proceed at once to
Washington, and report to the Secretary of War for further orders.
By command of N. p. Banks, M. G. C.
t War Department, Adjt-Gen.'s Office, 1
Washington, June 18, 1862. 5
Special Orders, No. 138.
9th. Brig.-Gen. Geo. H. Gordon, U. S. Vols., is assigned to duty in the
Department of the Shenandoah, to take command of the' brigade now under
Brig-Gen. Greene, and wUl report in person to Major-Gen. Banks.
By order of the Secretary of War. L. Thomas, Adjt.-Ceneral.

145
made our way across the Potomac to fight under McClellan
at Antietam for the safety of Maryland and the North. Be
fore leaving Washington, I enlightened the Committee on the
Conduct of the War upon the subject of Union guards over
enemy's property, upon which political soldiers were much
exercised.

19

146

CHAPTER VII.
Bearing pfereraptory orders to Gen, Banks, I took the
route by Harper's Ferry, delaying there for an hour to stray
up to our old encampment on Maryland Heights, The camp
ground had been converted into a flourishing wheat-field,
in which the green bushes that once formed our shelter now
lay in withered and unsightly heaps, testifying to the not too-
energetic efforts of the phlegmatic proprietor, the good old
Dutchman, Unseld, from whom I received a cheerful and
hearty welcome. Without pausing to moralize upon the
events which our former bivouac recalled, and too hurried to
hear any of the long stories which our old host delighted in
telling in slow and measured tones, I recrossed to Harper's
Ferry, where, taking cars for Winchester, I reached my com
mand on the 25th of June.
My camp was located on the Front Royal and Winchester
road, sorae seven or eight miles north of the former town,
where we could watch the crossings of the Shenandoah, The
officers of our regiment took the occasion of my arrival to
offer their congratulations upon my promotion. In full
uniform, but without other display, they came forward to my
tent, led by Capt, Cary, who, in behalf of all, in quiet but
feeling words, expressed for himself and others gratitude at
my return, I replied very briefly, — there was no occasion for
much speaking: every one knew how glad I was to come
back, and how I had labored to overcome plans (if there
were any) for my removal to another army. There was not
an officer or private of the Second Regiment who did not

147
know, without assurance of mine, that my nearest, dearest,
and, strongest tie was just theraselves ; they knew it then,
they know it now, and if they do not die in that conviction
it will be because they will never die at all. Alas ! how
soon the kind voices, the sparkling eyes, the generous and
raanly hearts that expressed so ranch sympathy in my pros
perity, were to be hushed and lifeless on the fatal field of
Cedar Mountain, towards which, over the Blue Ridge, we were
soon to move, unconscious of the impending doom I
It was while Gen. Banks's headquarters were at Middle-
town, and we were in camp near Front Royal, that we
heard of the President's order of the 26th of June, 1862,
gathering up all the stray and loose armies within the theatre
of our operations, and placing in command John Pope, of the
United States Engineers, with the rank of major-general,
I well remember the day when this order came to my head
quarters. An intense heat was followed by a terrific storm,
in which heavy clouds, obscuring the sun, spread over the
landscape an unnatural gloom; The lightning flashed, and
the thunder roared in incessant peals, — a fitting prelude to
almost any following tragedy. It was for us, at the beginning
of our new campaign, a storm of ill omen, foreboding and
portending dire ills. Whatever the future might be, we now,
however, addressed ourselves to instant preparation for an
active and important duty.
The three corps of the new army were to be commanded
by Generals McDowell, Banks, and Fremont, Our corps>
no longer the Fifth of the Army of the Potomac, was to be
known as the Second of the Army of Virginia, and was to
be comraanded by Gen, Banks, Pope, at the date of this pro-
raotion, was Fremont's junior in rank, — a fact which the latter
considered so offensive to his dignity that he refused to take
the command assigned him ; therefore, Sigel was substituted,
and Fremont retired, carrying with him all but our regrets.
Gen. Pope's department covered the region which holds.

148
past of the Blue Ridge, the great battle-fields of the war.
The troops were organized and posted to cover the city of
Washington from any attack in the direction of Richmond ;
to assure the safety of the Shenandoah Valley; and to
operate upon the enemy's lines of communication in the
direction of Gordonsville, thus hoping to draw a considerable
force of the enemy from Richmond to the relief of the Army
of the Potomac*
It is affirmed by Pope, and established by many facts that
form the groundwork of the history of that period, that
McClellan's refusal to correspond with Pope, or to unite with
hira in the execution of his plans, caused his reraoval from
the chief comraand of all the armies of the United States,
and the substitution of Gen. Halleck as comraander-in-chief.
The strength of the three corps comraanded by Pope, was
as follows: Sigel's Corps was reported as 11,500 strong;
Banks's Corps as 14,500, although in reality it numbered only
about 8,000; and McDowell's Corps was given as 18,400,
— a grand total of 38,000, to which add for cavalry about
5,ooo.t July came, to find us quiet in our camp, with Banks in
Washington ; from whence, on the 2d, he telegraphed to his
assistant adjutant-general to be in readiness to march. On
the 5th, despite holding back and suppression by the War
Department, we knew that the Army of the Potomac was
driven back to Harrison's Landing, and that its struggles for
Richmond had, for a time, ended. This adversity caused such
a departure from the plan Pope had formed, that ' it was now,
not how to aid the Army of the Potoraac in the capture
of Richmond, but how to unite the two armies to save the
national capital and provide for a further prosecution of
the attack upon Richmond. After consideration, it was de
termined to use the Army of Virginia mainly, while covering
the front at Washington and securing the valley of the
• Pope's Official Report. t Pope's Official Report

149
Shenandoah, in forcing such heavy detachments from the
main force of the enemy as to enable the Army of the
Potomac to withdraw frora its position at Harrison's Land
ing, and take shipping for Aquia Creek or Alexandria,* and
so to embarrass the enemy, should he raove northward, as
to give all tirae possible for the Army of the Potomac to
arrive behind the Rappahannock.!
On the 6th of July, with our part in the coming tragedy not
yet revealed, we took up our line of march, halting the first
night one mile south of the town of Front Royal ; and the next
day crossed the Blue Ridge at Chester Gap, to begin our
campaign within the region bounded by those mountains and
the sea. We rested at night in a pleasant woods, just before
reaching the little town of Flint Hill, where I had an ami
cable discussion with a Virginian upon secession a Consti
tutional right. On the 8th we encamped near Amissville,
from whence, after a short day's march, I pitched my tent in
the frontdoor-yard of an unwilling host on the Warrenton road.
Our camps generally were established in the neighborhood
of quiet farms, which we occupied and overran, until we
became a great, unnatural plague to the people. We filled
their woods with our tents, we killed their sheep and calves,
and substituted, for the "drowsy tinkling of their lowing
herds," the beating drum, the ear-piercing fife, and all the
loud alarum of war. My sympathies were often touched as
our cold-eyed commissary seized the cattle, as they were mov
ing from their quiet folds in the early morning to their well-
known pastures, and doomed them to the shambles for our
troops. We were beginning to live upon the country.
* The general-in-chief, accompanied by Gen. Burnside, who had come from
North Carolina to Fortress Monroe with his army, visited Gen. McClellan at
Harrison's Bar. The question of the withdrawal of that army was submitted to
a council of officers, and, against the wishes and protests of McClellan, was de
termined upon. It was to be removed at once to Fredericksburg. See Report
of Congressional Committee, Operations of Army of the Potomac, p. 13.
t Pope's Official Report,

150
When Gen. Banks, on the Jth of July, returned from Wash
ington he was despondent. At his mess-table the next morn
ing, in the presence of some eight officers and their servants,
with an indiscretion unusual to hira, he spoke of rumors afloat
in Washington of disaster to McClellan, and fears of the cap
ture of his whole coramand. He said that the President was
believed to be much alarmed and uncertain what to do, and
that some one commander should be placed in charge of the
War Department and the array in the field.* The relation
of such matters was too much for one of Banks's listeners, the
unlucky Major Copeland, who, despite the teleg'ram for his
reraoval after the unfortunate proclamation, was here again
with Banks, temporarily abiding until service could be secured
with Gen, Hunter in the Southern Department! Copeland,
listening to the promptings of the evil one, believed that now
was the time for hira to make the United States Government
abandon conservatisra, as he called it ; $ so he deterrained to
take the first step, and send a dispatch in secret cipher to his
friend Dunbar of the " Boston Daily Advettiser," § which
should not only accomplish that result, but perhaps effect
changes in Washington that might restore his status with
officials in the War Department.
The despatch II was sent, and Copeland's doom was sealed.
Within a few days, while preparing to sail from New York for
* Pamphlet Statement of R. Morris Copeland, formerly assistant adjutant-gen
eral to Banks, p. 21.
t On the 2d of July Banks telegraphed Copeland from Washington, " There is
nothing to communicate upon affairs South. Have received your despatches.
The secretary will assign you to Gen. Hunter. Put our force into condition to
move as soon as possible. WiU send you word when I return, think to-morrow.
" N. P, Banks, M. G. C"
J Copeland's Pamphlet Statement, p. 22,
§ Copeland's Statement, p. 22.
II " Gen. Banks returned. McClellan, defeated and liable to be captured, the
President, alarmed and uncertain what to do, urge that ' a strong man be placed
at the head of affairs, and troops be sent rapidly forward from west.' " — Cope
land's Statement, p. 23.

M

151
the Southern Department, he read in a New York paper that
he was dismissed frora the United States Service. The only
reasons for this ever given hira by the President were founded
upon the proclamation and despatch.*
My own experience with Banks, in an interview after his
return from Washington, in which I labored hard to get some
hope out of our heavy despair from disastrous reports, was so
intensely satisfactory that I cannot forbear giving it in this
history. It was on the evening of the 5 th of July, the day Banks
arrived at the headquarters of his corps, that I rode to his
tent, disraounted, and engaged with our austere chieftain in
the following animated conversation : —
" What information have you brought back to us. General .' "
" None, sir.''
" Nothing of this sad affair of Gen. McClellan's, — this rumor
of his defeat .? "
" Nothing, sir."
" Nothing of the purposes of the Administration in such an
event t "
" Nothing; sir."
" Nothing, sir ? Nothing ! Nothing ! Can you, under these
circumstances of our excessive anxiety and desire to know
something, can you not repeat something.' Surely the Ad
ministration must have some plans."
* " Continued the President, ' I don't know what the charges are, but I do
know that you sent a most improper and malicious telegram in cipher to a
Boston editor, which no officer had a right to do, saying I was scared, McClellan
was to be captured, and we were all going to ruin. You thought you were
very sharp, and put it into some kind of a cipher you made up ; but we 've got
some very cute fellows in the telegraph office, and one of them found it out and
sent it to me to read, and I could see plainly enough that you belonged to that
class of men who are trying to make all the mischief for the Government that
they can. Fact is, I believe you want to help run this Government, and because
you don't get as much notice as you think you deserve, you are trying to make
trouble.'" — Statement of R. M. Copeland, p. 32.
[Note. — As Copeland was formerly quartermaster of the Second Regiment,
this extract is part of the history I am following. — Author.]

152
With a great oath Banks broke his silence : " By God, sir,
without honest raen this country will be ruined, sir ! " * Gen.
Banks delivered this irrefutable sentiraent to the intense sat
isfaction of — himself
At the camp near Warrenton (we raoved there on the 8th)
we sent to Alexander such superfluities as baggage and tentsy
for we were not only to live on the country, but were to sleep
on it unsheltered, and clothe ourselves as might be. But thfe
men were in good spirits, and soon threw off all depression,
even if they had felt any, because of the defeat of the Army
of the Potomac,
One of the memorable incidents that occurred at this
camp was the recovery of a horse that had been stolen from
me by some of the New York cavalrymen, on the morning
we crossed the river at Williamsport on our retreat before
Jackson's .array. The animal, noticeable for his flowing
mane and tail and for his rich color, a mahogany bay, dis
appeared a few minutes after my servant had tied him to a
fence on the Maryland side of the Potomac at Williamsport.
There was a house near the fence occupied by a sergeant or
two of the New York cavalry, but they had seen nothing of
such a horse, they told my man, repeating their denial to me
with an honest touch of incipient indignation at my cross-
examination. It was certain the horse had not strayed off,
* " Marcellvs. How is 't, my noble lord ?
" Horatio. What news, my lord
" Hamlet, Oh, wonderful !
" HoK. Good my lord, tell it.
" Ham, No ; you will reveal it.
" Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven !
" Mar. Nor I, my lord.
" Ham, How say you then : would heart of man once think it >
— But you '11 be secret ?
" Hor. Mar. Ay, by heaven, my lord !
" Ham, There 's ne'er a vUlain dwelling in all Denmark
But he 's an arrant knave,
— Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act i, Scene 5,

153
nor had he coramitted suicide in the river, nor would any citi
zen of Williamsport, under the circumstances, have dared to
steal him.
All search proving vain, I sought Gen. Hatch, who invited
me to attend with him, in the afternoon, a . review of his
cavalry, " where," he suggested, " in riding between the open
ranks, you will see your horse if he is there ; and if he is
not, he. will be found, if t^ken by any of my cavalry raeri,
among the horses left in camp, and there your groom can look
during the review." — " Good ! " I replied, " that is the thing.
I '11 find him,"
After the review I rode along the ranks, seemingly criti
cising the troops, but really looking for the horse-thief
Returned to the reviewing officer's position, when the order
" Rest ! " was given, the cavalry command gave me three
rousing cheers.
" That 's for your accusing them of stealing your horse,"
said Hatch, laughing.
How the fellow that did steal that horse must have smiled !
for the horse was there, but I could not recognize him. After
a few days I gave him up.
On a lazy afternoon of the 13th of July, on Sunday, at
this camp near Warrenton, my groom. Fuller, came to me,
excitedly saying, —
" General, I have found your horse."
" When, where, and how ? " I asked.
" Ridden by a private in the New York cavalry.'.'
In a few minutes, in charge of ray guard, the private ap
peared riding a horse with ragged raane and tail, — a gaunt,
dejected animal, upon whose fiank was stamped or branded
the letter " A," thus denoting a public animal belonging to
" A " Corapany of a cavalry regiraent,
" Do you raean to tell rae that is my horse .' " I said to
Fuller, as he" and the private and the guard awaited in silence
my decision. 20

154
" I think S.O. sir," replied Fuller.
" Think so .-• By what token } Wherein do you see any
thing like my bright-colored horse, his thick mane and wav
ing tail, his spirit — anything ! Tell me, where do, you see it ? "
Looking down doggedly, as if indignant at a suspicion thqit
he could, through a mistake, have originated this scene, Ful-
lei: lifted the animal's fore-leg, looked intently at the shoe,
dropped the foot, struck a defiant attitude, and exclaimed, —
" It 's your boss, sir ! "
" Well, by Jove ! so it is, or the remains of him," I ex
claimed, after a critical examination.
Then followed a scene.
The private and the sergeant, the one who denied at the
house in Williamsport any knowledge of the horse (and I
have every reason to believe the captain of the company to
which these worthies were attached), were accomplices in
the theft ; they were members of a gang of horse-thieves.
When this fine-looking animal was espied tied; to the fence
in Williamsport, while Fuller was trying to get some break
fast after his long fast, it was the work of a moment to
lead him to a secluded spot, and there to crop and notch
his mane as if mules had fed on it ; to dock and thin his
tail' until there was no waving curl about it ; and then with
sharp-pointed scissors . to finish the work, by cutting the
letter A in the hair on his flank. One without experience
cannot conceive the transformation thus effected. Add
to this the rough riding of a cavalry-trooper from the 26th
of May to the 13th of July, and gauntness, lack, of fire,
and dulness of coat complete the disguise.
After seeing the letter A of appropriate dimensions cut
out of the shock of hair on the head of the private, I sent
him away under guard, with the good intentions I enter
tained concerning the captain and sergeant, dissipated, in the
crowding events that thickened and darkened -until Pope's
campaign was at an end.

155
In carrying out the plans already referred to. Pope had
ordered Gen. King of McDowell's Corps, at Fredericksburg,
to send forward detachments of his cavalry to break up and
destroy the Virginia Central Railroad, and at the same time,
with a view of destroying the enemy's communications by
rail in the direction of Gordonsville, Banks was, on the 14th
of July, ordered to send an infantry brigade with all his
cavalry to Culpepper Court House, from whence the cavalry
were to take possession of Gordonsville and destroy the rail
road for ten or fifteen miles east, while another detachment
was to move on Charlottesville, destroy a railroad bridge there,
and break up communications. But on the 17th of July,
Banks reported that Gen. Hatch, commanding the cavalry,
had started on his raarch with ' infantry, artillery, and train-
wagons, and had at that date succeeded in getting no farther
than Madison Court House. The arrival of the enemy at
Gordonsville on the i6th of July rendered the contemplated
movement impossible.
On the 19th of July we had moved our camp to Little Wash
ington, a small town east of the Blue Ridge, on a line from
Luray to Warrenton. The following are the points our army
occupied on this line, which was in length thirty and one third
miles. The two divisions of the Second Corps were at Wash
ington. Gen. Sigel with the First Corps was at Luray, and
Gen. McDowell with the Third Corps at Warrenton. We were
concentrating on this base. There, in that summer season,
scenes of rural loveliness became desolate and unsightly by
the occupation and destruction that ever marks the devasta
tion of armies. From my tent I could see on the west, the
wondrous beauty, famous in Virginia scenery, of the Blue
Ridge ; and towards the south a rolling country from which,
on many fields, the grain, carefully shocked up upon our
arrival, had all been appropriated by our soldiers as straw
for bedding. - Tents whitened the hills, and thousands of men
were wandering around, knowing no man as owner of field,

156
forage, or domain. Frora the hill we could look for thirty
railes towards Richraond,- the bourn of all our hopes and
many of our bodies.
The remaining days of July were passed in drills, brigade
and regimental ; and when the latter. Col. Andrews (who had
received full promotion to the command of our regiment)
practised his raen in aiming, to enable thera to do better than
at Winchester, when not one of the enemy could show him
self with impunity at a thousand yards. My military family
consisted of officers taken from the Second Massachusetts
Regiment. This was due to the kindness of the Secretary of
War, who promoted at my request, to the rank of cap
tains, Lieut, H. B. Scott as assistant adjutant-general, Lieut.
Wheaton as commissary of subsistence, and Lieut. M. M,
Hawes as quarterraaster ; Lieut. Robert G. Shaw, who subse
quently, as colonel of the First Massachusetts Colored Regi
ment, was killed at Fort Wagner, served as an aid on my staff.
Although Gen. Pope was at Washington, in the District of
Columbia, we began to receive at Little Washington, through
the newspapers, furious orders, intended to inflame his army
with zeal : " No lines of retreat," " No bases of supply,"
" Live upon the country," " We have always seen the backs
of our enemy," " Discard your false notions," etc. etc.*
We knew well enough that this was a fiing at the com
mander of the Army of the Potomac, and was intended to
please the Chandlers and such-like war-horses of the Admin-
* On the 14th of July, 1862, Gen. Pope issued the following order to the offi
cers and soldiers of the Army of Virginia : . —
, , . " I have spent two weeks in learning your whereabouts. I have come
from the west, where we have always seen the, backs of our enemies. Dismiss
from your minds certain phrases I hear constantly, — of taking strong positions and
holding them, of lines of retreat, and bases of supplies. Let us discard such ideas.
The strongest position a soldier should desire to occupy is one from which he
can most easily advance upon the enemy. Let us study possible lines of retreat
of our opponents, and leave our own to take care of themselves. Let us look
before and not behind. Success and glory are in the advance,"

157
istration, who were then comparing McClellan to an old
woman with a broom.
Although the newspapers laughed at Pope, and criticised
his Falstaffian pretences, and dubbed him five-cent Pope ;* and
although every man in ,his army wondered if he were not a
weak and silly raan ; there were none who fell away in fervor
or determination to do all that mortals could to retrieve the
losses sustained by the Army of the Potomac, be it under Pope
ox the Devil himself. On the 29th of July, we were favored with
the actual presence of the commander-in-chief of the Army of
Virginia. He had come to take up his abode with us. As
recorded at that time by an observing officer of my staff, the
following description of Gen. Pope may serve to "recall him
to your minds : " Pope is a thick-set raan, of an unpleasant
expression, of about fifty years of age, average height, thick,
bushy black whiskers, and wears spectacles." The savage
orders ishat had preceded our commander created an intense
curiosity to actually look upon him, and we were gratified on
the 3d of August, for he came to inspect the troops of our
corps in a review. Upon this raoraentous occasion, which had
been preceded by raany drills, in sorae of which Gen. Banks
attempted and performed creditably division raoveraents, we
were anxious to excel, as we knew we ought, and so were
ready long before the arrival of the Pope, and long after the
time assigned in orders. " Napoleon did not fail to keep his "
appointments to review his troops," said a critical officer,
somewhat melted by the heat. " Nor did Wellington," was the
* Headquarters Army of Virginia, 1
Washington, July 26, 1862. )
Capt. Samuel L. Harrison, of the Ninety-Fifth Regiment of New York Volun
teers, is reported by his commanding general as having deserted his company on
the 2ist of the month, and gone to New York. A reward of five cents is offered
for his apprehension. By order of Maj-Gen. Pope.
Geo. D. Ruggles, Chief of Staff.

158
amiable reply of another. Further comparison was checked-
by a rising cloud of dust, within which Pope and a numerous
staff drew rein, while the cannon roared, the drums sounded,
and the horses pranced or cavorted so vigorously that it took
about ten minutes to quiet their demonstrations of admira
tion for Pope. Then the review began in coluran of brigades,
of which mine was the last.
As the General rode in turn in front of each brigade, he
was to be received by each regiment in the orthodox style
of the regulation, — three ruffles from the drum, the raarch,
the colors drooped, and a present arras. Now when Pope
was receiving these regulation tokens of respect from the
left regiment of the brigade in ray front, what did that incor
rigible Twenty-Seventh Indiana, on the left of ray line, do,
but put the whole paragraph of ruffles, marches, and droops
in, and all in the wrong place; the colonel commanding
looking on meanwhile as blandly as did Pickwick when he
awoke in the pound as a trespasser upon the lands of the
fierce Capt. Boldwig, My feelings were indescribable. I
fancied Pope looked like Capt. Boldwig, when that worthy
discovered the handbarrow and heard the words "cold
punch " muttered as his baptismal name by the unhappy
Pickwick; at all events, we knew that we had lost what
otherwise would have been an easy victory.
There was no reserve about Gen. Pope ; he " let out " in
censure with- such vigor, that if words" had been missiles our
army would never have failed for want of ammunition. In
a long talk with me at his headquarters on the 5 th of
August, he attributed our want of success at Richmond to
misraanageraent by McClellan, for whora he seemed to enter
tain a bitter hatred, which might have pleased the Adminis
tration, but found little favor with us.
I think Gen. Pope's freedom of speech infected his com
mand with a general mania for discussing men and measures.
It was not an uncomraon event for generals ahd colonels

159
to meet at my tent, and express their views in words stronger
than those generally used in war councils, — " cuss words " of
such vigor, when they fell from the lips of our division com
mander, that all were appalled into silence, save Col. Knipe
of the Forty-Sixth Pennsylvania, and when he began, Wil
liams was silent. Ordinary words being totally inadequate to
express one's feelings, swearing became an epidemic.
While here in our camp at Little Washington, we heard of
the promotion of Capt. Underwood, of Company I, to the rank
of major in a new Massachusetts regiment. Perhaps, had this
officer encountered Stonewall Jackson, he might have ad
dressed with hearty thanks the one who, when he drove us
out the valley, did not make Underwood unhappy, since it
seeraed there were raore compensations for Jackson's acts
in Massachusetts than he ever dreamed of.
On the 6th of August the Array of Virginia began its
raarch for Culpepper Court House. Gen. Pope's main purpose
in thus moving forward was not to fight. His instructions
required him to be very careful not to allow the enemy to
interpose between him and Fredericksburg, to which point
the forces from the Peninsula were to be brought ; and it was
to cover the Army of the Potomac that we were now in motion,
following up with our corps a brigade of Williams's Division
that had moved frora Culpepper on the 4th to support the
cavalry. The day was hot, the roads were dusty ; and when
the men of my brigade came into bivouac at Woodville, some
ten miles from where we started in the morning, they were
so tired that they wilted away in a merciless manner, until
the sun had turned his hot face towards another quarter of
, the world, when a cooler and raore refreshing atmosphere
replaced the fierce heat of the day. Then the crickets
began to sing, and all the soothing sounds of night hushed
our senses to such sweet repose that our men entered upon
the next day's march with refreshed spirits.
Our march on the 7th was short, but a very tiresome one.

160
Gen. Augur's Division of our corps encaraped in advance of
us the night before, and thus claimed the right of precedence.
It was my wish to raove at three o'clock, A. m., and thus com
plete our work before the heat began ; but Augur did not get
off until eight o'clock, as this was the tirae designated in one of
Pope's long orders. When we were off, and had proceeded
about ten rods to a corner, we found the rear of Augur's bag
gage-trains at a halt. After waiting fifteen minutes, we pushed
the train one side and went on a quarter of a mile farther, until
we carae to another train standing still in the road. The sun
by this tirae was pouring down -so hot and fierce upon us that I
put all ray men in the woods, unhitched all my horses, and
gave a general rest until twelve at noon, when, the road being
clear, I pushed on. It was then the hottest part of the day-
Clouds of dust hung over us, there was not a breath of air,
and the road was like a furnace. We did get over the six
miles that raade that day's raarch, but many of our men fell
out frora weakness. Diarrhoea was more prevalent than usual.
The atmosphere of our camp while we were at Little Wash
ington was like that of a pest-house, from the number of dead
animals lying about. In Augur's Division of our corps, two
entire regiments had been sent to the hospital. In the Sixtieth
New Yo.rk, men died eight and ten a day. In a single day
from that regiment two commissioned officers were buried.
The drum and fife, constantly sounding the dead raarch, raade
the evenings seera sad and solemn. If we were not conform
ing to Pope's order to live on the country, we were doing
the next thing to it, — we were dying on it. Gen. Augur's
Division was raade up of troops whose officers had little or
no experience in discipline or hygiene. The men ate every
miserable, crabbed green apple they came across, and, in
short, so violated every sanitary regulation that it was no
wonder typhoid fever marked them for its own. We suffered
in the Second Regiment, but in a less degree. Poor Capt.
Goodwin, having been sick for nearly two months, applied at

HU
at Little Washington for a leave of absence ; but was answered,
it is said, that if he was as sick as he represented, he had
bettef resign.
On the 7,th, Pope's army, a force numbering about 28,000
men, had assembled along the turnpike from Sperryville to
Culpepper. King's Division of McDowell's Corps was still at
Fredericksburg, on the Lower Rappahannock, but Rickett's
Division arrived at Culpepper on the 7th from Waterloo
Bridge. Pope's cavalry was distributed as follows : Gen.
Buford, who had relieved Hatch, was, with five regiments,
posted at Madison Court House, with his pickets along the
line of the Rapidan from Barnett's Ford as far west as the
Blue Ridge. These were supported by a brigade of infantry
and a battery of artillery from Sigel's Corps, stationed
where the road from Madison Court House to Sperry
ville crosses Robertson's River. Gen. Bayard, with four regi
ments of cavalry, was near Rapidan Station, the point where
the Orange and Alexandria Railroad crosses Rapidan River,
with his pickets extended east to Raccoon Ford and connect
ing with Buford at Barnett's Ford. The Rapidan was fined
with cavalry pickets from Raccoon Ford to the forks of the
Rappahannock above Falmouth, and in addition thereto, on the
top of Thoroughfare Mountain, about half-way between Bayard
and Buford, there was a signal station, which overlooked the
whole country as far south as Orange Court House.*
On the morning of the 8th, Pope, who had in person arrived
at Culpepper Court House, sent word to Banks to raove his
corps to that town, and at the same time notified Sigel at
Sperryville, to which place he had marched from Luray, to
raove to the same point. The other important orders given
by Pope this day were to Crawford to move forward and sup
port Gen. Bayard,t in holding the enemy in check, and an
,  .  —  1 
* Pope'^ Report.
t I received reports from Gen. Bayard, that the enemy was advancing upon
him, and his cavalry forced to retire. (See Pope's Report.)
21

162
order to Gen, Ricketts, of McDowell's Corps, to raove his
division of three brigades two and a half or three miles south
of Culpepper Court House, All these movements, save
Sigel's, were executed as ordered.
It was two o'clock on the afternoon of the 8th when our
corps received its orders. Tents, all we had, were struck, and
we were ready ; but Geary's Brigade was before us, and
making such slow progress that we. were delayed in a burning
sun .three hours before we got off, and then it was not much
better, — a few steps forward, then a halt ; .then on, again to
stop, raotion alternating with rest and rest with motion. Our
tired troops were more fatigued than if they had made a
march of twice the distance. It was eleven o'clock at night
when our division arrived at Culpepper, having made eight
miles in eight hours.
Why Gen. Pope was hurrying his forces into and around
Culpepper Court House will appear from a review of the
movements of the eneray. On the 19th of July, Jackson,
with two divisions of troops, comraanded by Winder and
Ewell, arrived near Gordonsville. Gen. Lee thought that
important railroad place was in danger ; and from what we
have seen of the instructions given by Pope to Banks at
Warrenton, well might he have thought so. Jackson, finding
Pope strong in numbers, asked for reinforcements, and the
whole of A. P. Hill's Division was added to his army.
On the 7th of August, Jackson moved his three divisions
of troops from their respective encampments near Gordons
ville, in the direction of Culpepper, His motive, as he says,
was not to attack Pope's whole army, but only that part of
it which he had been informed was at Culpepper,* and this
part, "through the blessing of Providence," he hoped to
defeat. This force, as we have shown, was Rickett's Divis
ion, Crawford's Brigade of Banks's Corps, and Gen. Bayard,
who had beeii stationed, on the Rapidan, at Barnett's Ford,
* Jackson's Official Report,

163
about fifteen miles from Culpepper, with four regiments of
cavalry. Ample inforraation was conveyed to Pope on the 7th,
that Jackson was moving to attack hira, and not only to
attack, but the strength of his cavalry, infantry, and artil
lery was known or ought to have been. What did Pope
know ? On the 7th, while he was at Sperryville* inspecting
Sigel's Corps, he was inforraed that the enemy was crossing
the Rapidan at several points between the railroad-crossing
of that river and Liberty Mills. Rightly divining the enerayis
purposes, so it seems, Pope left Sperryville at four o'clock in
the afternoon, and proceeded in person to Culpepper Court
House, arriving there (a distance of twenty miles) on the 8th,
as we have said.
In the raean tirae, Jackson, with his columns, was pushing
our cavalry back, and Buford and Bayard were constantly
sending Pope word to that effect, — the latter that he was
falling back in the direction of Culpepper Court House, and
the former that the enemy were advancing in heavy force
upon, Madison Court House. A glance at the map will show
that these two forces could have had but one objective point,
and that was Culpepper. If all the enemy were at Madison
Court House, it might be doubted ; but with Bayard's report
that he was falling back on Culpepper, and the enemy fol
lowing hira, it was no longer doubtful. But during all day
of the 8th Pope says he did consider it doubtful whether the
enemy's movements were in the direction of Madison Court
House and Culpepp.er, so he -determined to keep himself
between the enemy and the lower fords of the Rappahan
nock ; in other words, he determined to hold on to Culpepper ;
and this was wise^ Therefore on the 8th he sent Crawford
with his brigade tq support Bayard, and to assist him iri deter
mining the movements and forces of the enemy. Sigel did
not obey his orders to raarch at once from Sperryville to
* I quote from Pope's Official Report.

164
Culpepper, but to Pope's surprise returned in reply a note,
which, dated at the former place at 6.30 p. m., and received
after night, asked by what road he should march to Cul
pepper Court House. " There was but one, and that a broad
stone turnpike, between these points," says Pope ; " how could
he entertain any doubt as to the road i"'" And then Pope adds
that this doubt delayed the arrival of his corps several hours,
and rendered it impracticable for it to be pushed to the front,
as he had designed, on the afternoon of the next day.
, The morning of the 9th of August found Jackson, with his
whole force, pursuing his way northerly on Bayard's line of
retreat towards Culpepper. Crawford's Brigade then occupied
a strong position north of Cedar Creek, with Bayard's cavalry
in his front.
It was nearly ten o'clock on that morning, when, under the
heat of an overpowering sun, our corps raoved at a quick pace
and with few halts (under orders which will be referred to
hereafter) from Culpepper Court House over a shadeless,
waterless road. We soon came to where Rickett's Division,
of three brigades of McDowell's Corps, was watching the road
which turns off from the Orange Court House and Culpepper
road to Madison Court House. These troops were stripped '
of harness, and taking their ease under shelter tents. We
passed them and pushed onward until, in our regiment, one
recruit fell dead from exhaustion, and many veterans of a year
were disabled; onward for about five railes, until before us,
high in air, rose Slaughter Mountain,* bearing southwest from
Crawford's Brigade, which was drawn up in line of battle.
When I arrived at Cedar Creek, though all was quiet, I felt
in the air the consciousness of an impending battle. The
cavalry were still in our front, but not far; Crawford's skir
mishers -were deployed through the woods ; and there was
Gen. Roberts, a staff-officer sent by Pope to designate the
ground Banks was to hold, and to give him instructions. It
* We call it Cedar Mountain.

165
was about twelve o'clock at noon when I approached Roberts,
as he was pointing out positions for the troops. Off to the
right of the road upon which we had been marching, I saw
a strong position on the crest of a hill, in front of which
the land was clear, and fell off by a gentle descent to Cedar
Creek " That should be held by our right," I said to Gen.
Roberts; "shall I take it.?" — "Yes," he replied, "do so."
I moved my brigade there immediately. The distance frora
where Roberts then stood in the road to this position was
about three fourths of a mile. When Banks came up, he said
to Gen. Roberts, " Gen. Pope said you would indicate the line
I am to occupy." — " I have been over this ground thoroughly,"
replied Roberts, " and I believe this line," meaning the one
which Crawford's Brigade then held, " is the best that can be
taken." — " In this opinion I concurred with him," says Banks,*
and placed my comraand there." <
As you approach Cedar Creek, going south from Culpepper
to Orange Court House, a gentle descent for half a mile leads
to the low ground, through which the .creek winds in a north
westerly and southeasterly course. As the road approaches
the ridge from which the descent begins, a thick wood skirts
it on either side for some four hundred yards. Turn to the
north, and, leaving the road, follow the ridge for about twelve
hundred yards, and you corae to a house, with thick forest trees
on the north and west. Here my brigade was stationed ; it
was the extreme right of our line of battle, and was the exact
position designated by Gen. Roberts.
Return to the road, cross the creek, go on for nine hundred
yards frora it, and you will have passed a rise and crossed a
plateau which is four hundred yards in depth. Just beyond
the plateau, there was, on your left, on the 9th of August,
1862, a corn-field, and on your right, a growth of tiraber,
which, touching the road at a- point, widened out as it ex
tended back, until in front of my station it was from four to
* Testimony before referred to, by Banks,

166
six hundred yards deep. In front of this timber there was a
stubble-field, bounded on the opposite side by thick woods.
This stubble or wheat field, cut out as it were from the forest,
was somewhat in the form of a parallelogram, of which the
two sides, at right angles to the road, were about eight
hundred yards in length. One of the short sides of the field
rested on the road, and was about six hundred yards long;
while the other, skirted by brushwood the height of a man's
head, was only about four hundred yards. Clearing the corn
field, which was of the same width on the road as the wheat-
field, there was on your left a ridgy plain or pasture, which
continued for a third of a mile, and then the timber ,began.
On your right the timber lined the road as soon as you cleared
the wheat-field, and continued for nearly a mile. The corn
field and the plain extend away towards the base of Cedar
Mountain. From where the road divides the corn and wheat
field to the base of the mountain it is about a mile, and it is
the same distance to the base from where the wood again
skirts both sides of the road. Going towards the Rapidan,
from the crossing of the creek to the limit of the road I have
described, the distance is not over two railes. From the
position occupied by ray brigade to the same crossing of the
creek is, as stated, about twelve hundred yards, and to Cedar
Mountain about two miles. I have endeavored to depict
without tedious details the face of the country, that the
movements of the troops may be intelligible, and that we may
form an accurate judgment of the progress of the battle.
Gen. Roberts crossed Cedar Creek with Augur's Division of
Banks's Corps, and formed it in line on and towards the rear
of the plateau; Geary's Brigade,, forming the right of this
division, rested on the road; then in line came Prince's
Brigade, and on the extreme left, thrown back, was Green's
Brigade, which, reduced by detachments, numbered only four
hundred and fifty-seven men. It was stationed here to sup
port a battery. On the right of the road and covered by the

167
wood that skirted the wheat-field was Crawford's Brigade,
moved there by Roberts in the morning from the wood on
the ridge on the Culpepper side of the creek. In front of our
troops, with an unobstructed fire over the corn-field and plain,
and themselves commanded by the mountain, were our bat
teries. On the crest of the hill, where the Second Massachusetts
with the other regiments of my brigade were stationed, I have
spoken of a little cottage. A pretty picture it was, with its
green turf enclosed by a fence, and behind, almost touching
it, an inviting grove of forest trees. This cottage, occupied
by women and children, was the central figure, about which
clustered the infantry and artillery of ray brigade. As
out of that impending war-cloud we swarmed around this
peaceful home, the women and children were startled at the
strange and unusual sight. Nervously they asked me what
they should do, and without waiting for a reply, again and
again they inquired ; and when told to move away at once,
they paid no heed to my words. My position was a very
strong one. I do not think Banks knew its capabilities for a
defence ; at all events, he did not think the right of his line of
sufficient importance to visit it, either before or during the
battle. I am sure he did not know where we were.*
Although the consolidated reportf of Banks's Corps, sent
into Pope some days previous to the 9th of August, exhibited
an effective force of something over 14,000 men, made up of
* This is fully confirmed by the chaplain of the Second Massachusetts, who,
in an interview with Banks at Culpepper Court House, after the battle, when
Banks accused my brigade of tardiness in going into the fight, replied that I
" ran in." " Then why did he not get in with Crawford, or to support Craw
ford ? " asked Banks. " Why, he was nowhere near Crawford," replied the
chaplain. " Where was he, then .' " asked the commander of the corps. " Upon
the hill, near the cottage," replied the chaplain. " Who put him there ? " asked
the commander. " Gen. Roberts, Pope's chief-of-staff," was the answer. " I did
not know it," said Banks. " I thought he was just behind the woods, on Craw
ford's right."
t Pope's Official Report,"

168
infantry, 13,343, artillery, 1,224, cavalry, 4,104, total, 18,671,
less infantry and artillery left at Front Royal and Winchester,
3,500; in his Official Report Pope distinctly states that it
appeared after the battle, that when Banks led his forces to
the front he had in all not more than 8,000 men,* and that
this discrepancy has never been explained, although " I
have frequently called his attention to it ; and I do not
yet understand," writes Pope, " how Gen. Banks could have
been so greatly mistaken as to the forces under his immediate
command." Gen. Banks, in 1864, testified under oath that
he had but about 6,000 men on the 9th of August, 1862, and
before he concluded his testimony, he put his force at 5,000
and that of the enemy at 25,000.! My own brigade com
prised less than 1,500 infantry. The Second Massachusetts,
all told, commissioned and non-commissioned, nurabered, as
near as ever will be known, 497.
It was about twelve at noon when I raade the following
disposition of ray infantry and batteries. On my right, skir
mishers from the Twenty-Seventh Indiana penetrated the
woods ; in my front, over Cedar Creek, in the timber upon the
edge of the stubble-field, six companies of the Third Wiscon
sin Regiment were deployed ; while in the wood directly be
hind the cottage, to the north, ray own Second Regiment was
ready to respond to my call. My two batteries covered the
hill, the valley, and the hillside fringed with its dark lining of
thick forest trees. Beyond Was the bloody wheat-field, over
which, though we did not know it then, the old reaper. Death,
was hovering to gather up a raore precious harvest than was
promised in the sheaves of grain that dotted the ground.
* Banks's force in the field was officially stated as 6,289 infantry and artillery,
with 30 guns, and a brigade of cavalry, approximately stated as 1,000 or 1,200,
making an aggregate force of nearly 7,500 men of all arms. Pope's Official
Report declares that it did not exceed 8,000.
t Testimony of Banks before Committee on Conduct of the War, Decem
ber 14, 1864, p. 44, vol. 3,

169

CHAPTER VIII.
While our troops were forming, Gen. Jackson was silently
advancing. His leading division of three brigades was com
manded by Gen. Ewell, our old antagonist at Winchester.
Gen. Early commanded the foremost brigade of this division,
and was therefore the- first of all the enemy's infantry to
encounter our cavalry under Bayard. In the morning the
enemy's artillery opened on our cavalry, before Roberts had
crossed Cedar Creek with infantry; but Knapp's Battery
replied, and the enemy withdrew. After the main body of
our infantry had crossed the creek and taken up the line
designated. Bayard formed his line on a ridge in the plain
that held the corn-field, and about two thirds of a mile in
advance of the infantry. In this position he received for a
time the enemy's fire frorii his field-guns, and then fell back,
but in a few minutes advanced again to the ridge.
As Early came up with his skirmishers, he scoured the woods
on our left, of the road beyond the plain, but found no enemy
until he came in sight of the ridge, where, formed in daring
array, he saw the fearless Bayard. Early then passed a short
distance to his right of the road, and Bayard fell back before
him to the crest of a second hill, which was in front of the
rise or plateau containing our batteries and the infantry of
Augur's Division. Although a large number of our cavalry
remained in the wheat and corn field, many retired even to the
creek, across which they came in a half-disordered state, as if
some resistless power were brushing thera back. At this time
our batteries opened, and Early withdrew to a slight depres-
22

170
sion behind the crest of the foremost ridge between the wood
and the corn-field. Here he brought up four guns and
engaged our batteries. As yet none of our infantry were
visible in his front.
Hardly had Early taken up his position, when suddenly
the two remaining brigades of Ewell's Division appeared
on the northwest face of the mountain, at an elevation sev
eral hundred feet above the plain, where the whole scene of
action was unfolded beneath thera. Here, two batteries,
placed in position by Ewell, hurled shells upon our guns
without molestation, as the enemy claim.
Winder now advanced his division along the Culpepper
road as far as Early's left. His batteries were placed in eche
lon along the road, and his infantry stationed as follows :
Campbell's* Brigade was in the woods fronting the wheat-field
and opposite Crawford's, which was concealeji by the woods
on our side of the same field ; Taliaferro's Brigade was drawn
up parallel to and facing the road, in rear of the batteries ;
while Winder's or the Stonewall Brigade was in reserve ;
Hill's Division of six brigades was still farther to the rear, but
within supporting distance.
The fire from opposing batteries had been gradually grow
ing warmer until about 3 p. m., wlien it perceptibly increased.
Although the enemy's guns seemed to have the advantage
of the highest ground, our artillery practice was admirable.
Indeed it was so on both sides. From where my brigade was
stationed we could see our shells bursting in every direction
over the enemy, Frora the plateau near the corn-field we
answered the enemy from his lofty station on Cedar Mountain,
from Early's right, and from Winder's Brigade in the Cul
pepper road, just beyond the wheat-field. On our right my
guns covered the wood in our front, and though silent, were
ready to take part in the tragedy unfolding before us.
Between three and four o'clock, with a view of attacking,
* Commanded by Garnett.

171
Banks moved forward his whole line (excepting my brigade)
about four hundred yards, saying to Gen. Roberts, Pope's
chief-of-staff, that he thought he " should attack their batteries
before night," that he did not " believe the enemy was in con
siderable force yet," that " his men were in the best fighting
condition," and that he " believed he could carry the field."
So far, there had been no opposition to our advance, and this,
perhaps, caused Banks to believe that he was frightening
Jackson. A battalion from the Eighth and Twelfth Regulars,
under Capt, Pitcher, from Prince's Brigade, had advanced on
our left through the corn to within thirty yards of the
enemy's line, where, despite grape, canister, and musketry,
they maintained their position until their commander and
nearly all the company-officers were killed or disabled, until,
indeed, the general advance of their brigade. Before five
o'clock Banks had determined on a new aggressive raove-
raent. It was to attack the eneray with two regiments, one
from the left and another frora the right of his line of battle.
It was a remarkable movement. We have the official cor
respondence from Banks to Pope, announcing what had been
done and what was to follow.*
"I have ordered a regiment from the right" (said Banks in-
his dispatch) " to advance." Crawford, peering across the
wheat-field into the dark forest beyond, over which the smoke
of Winder's batteries hung in thick clouds, aided Banks in giv
ing form to the shapeless plans which had flitted through the
latter's brain. Banks would have attempted with one regiment
* August 9, 1862, 4.50 p, m.
To Col, Ruggles, Chief-of Staff: —
About four o'clock shots were exchanged with the skirmishers. Artillery opened
fire on both sides in a few moments. One regiment of rebel infantry advancing,
now deployed as skirmishers. I have ordered a regiment from the right (Wil
liams's Division) and one from the left (Augur's) to advance on the left and in
front. S P. M. — They are now approaching each other.

172
the capture of the enemy's batteries in the Culpepper road,
had not Crawford persuaded him to increase his force to a
brigade.* At five o'clock in the afternoon Crawford w'as
ordered to advance through the woods, preparatory to an
attack upon the enemy's left flank.
Col. Ruger, coraraanding the six companies of the Third
Wisconsin Regiraent of my Brigade, had swept with his skir
mishers through the woods between my position and the wheat-
field, without finding the enemy, when Gen. Williams received
orders from Banks to send these companies to report to Craw
ford. Before Williams received this order, Crawford himself,
in violation of military law or etiquette, had ordered the
Wisconsin companies to join his troops then filing into the
woods for the general charge which Banks contemplated mak
ing all along his line. To Crawford's unlawful order Ruger
replied that he was momentarily expecting orders from Gen,
Gordon, his brigade-commander, and suggested that before
taking his regiment from the brigade it would be better to
have superior authority ; f at the sarae time he advanced his
command towards Crawford's right. Cra-wford's appeal to
Banks was answered through an order to Williams, commu
nicated to me ; and thus six companies of the Third Wis
consin Regiment were detached from my brigade and placed
on the right of Crawford's line.
As Crawford's Brigade, comprising the Fifth Connecticut,
Twenty-Eighth New York, Forty-Sixth Pennsylvania, and
Tenth Maine, will now claim our closest attention, we will
cross over to the other side and look again upon our enemy's
line of battle.
In front of the two brigades of Prince and Geary of Augur's
Division was Early, reinforced by Thomas's Brigade of A. P.
* " ' The enemy's line begins to appear here,' says Crawford to Banks; ' I must
have more force.' I sent him a brigade." — Banks before Committee on Conduct
.eftke War.
t Wisconsin in the War, p. 253.

173
Hill's Division, with their right resting on a clump of cedars
and supported there by four batteries. This portion of the
enemy's line extended to within half a mile of the mountain,
upon the face of which and bearing upon the field were the
two remaining brigades of Ewell with more batteries. Here,
therefore, were four brigades opposed to two on the left of
our line, with the further advantage that two of the four were
in an almost unassailable position, and were supported by bat
teries having a plunging fire upon us. In the road and opposite
our right was stationed Winder's Division of three brigades,
one of which, the Second (Campbell's), commanded by Col.
Garnett, was in line in the woods on the edge of the wheat-
field and immediately opposite Crawford. Then came Tal
iaferro's Brigade, which closed the gap between Early's left
and .Garnett's right. The remaining brigade of Winder's Di
vision, the Stonewall, was in reserve, as also were five of the
six brigades of Hill's Division, which were successively forraed
on the enemy's left of the road. Winder's reserve brigade
was formed a little to the left of Branch, who was followed by
Archer, Pender, Stafford, and Field.*
On our left we had two brigades preparing to charge
through the corn-field upon three brigadesf and four batteries
in their front, while two brigades and more batteries of the
enemy were ready to spring from the mountain-side upon their
flank. On our right a single brigade confronted the enemy's
left ; but here the eneray had only a single brigade in line of
battle. Our three brigades confronted six of the enemy's with
the advantage to the latter of receiving our attack in posi
tions strengthened by numerous batteries. These were the
lines. Now let us look at the reserves. On our side, on the
extreme right, there yet remained my brigade of two regi
ments and the four companies of the Third Wisconsin that
had not then been engaged; besides which there was the
* A. p. Hill's Report. t Thomas, Early, Taliaferro.

174
Tenth Maine (our old Winchester associate), which for some
unaccountable reason had been dropped out of Crawford's
line when the regiments of his brigade moved forward, and
was .now destined, as we shall see, to wrestle alone with the
enemy in a vain effort to retrieve the fortunes of the day.'
On the left of our line there was absolutely no reserve : so
that against the six entire brigades of the enemy held in
reserve we could throw barely four small regiraents ; * in
numbers we could oppose the enemy's 8,000 by not over
2,500 men.
This was the military disposition made by Banks for an
assault along his whole line, over the corn and wheat field ; —
these the numbers which he hurled against six entire and
fresh brigades of the enemy, comprising at least twenty-four
regiments, with six brigades in reserve.
We left the regiments of Crawford's Brigade filing into the
woods. At about half-past five, these troops, in long line,
with the six companies of my Third Wisconsin upon the right
flank, burst with loud cries from the woods, swept like a tor
rent across the wheat-field, were arrested for a moraent by a
high rail-fence in the edge of the tiraber, and then disappeared
in the thick forest, bearing before them the enemy's Second
Brigade of Winder's Division, — broken, thrown back in
masses from front to rear, and intermingled with their assail
ants. The storm burst suddenly upon the enemy. It came
while they were deciding that there was no hostile infantry
in their front, and gave them barely time to open fire. The
enemy's line extending farther to our right than our own,
the companies of the Wisconsin regiment received a deadly
fire, which soon reached their rear but did not stop them.
Unshrinkingly they dashed on, although the farther they'
advanced, the more withering the fire became At last, with a
loss of eighty killed and wounded out of the two hundred and

* The Second Massachusetts, Twenty-Seventh Indiana, and four companies
Third Wisconsin, of my brigade, and the Tenth Maine.

175
sixty-seven that charged across the field, they fell back into
the woods, to be re-formed and again to advance, as will
appear hereafter.
While this attack was in progress. Banks threw forward his
two brigades on the left of the Culpepper road.* Prince on
the extrerae left moved his infantry against the right and
front of Early's line, but without effect. Early stood " Hke a
rampart," says the Southern historian, and " hurled back all
efforts made against him." Geary's advance through the
corn-field, with his right along the Culpepper road, uniting
with the regiments assaulting across the wheat-field, forced
back the enemy's line in their front and threw them in such
confusion that if there had been no reserve to the enemy, and no
brigades on Cedar Mountain to rush in and take Prince in flank
and rear, and if T had been ordered to move forward simulta
neously with my brigade as a support, the chances are that we
would have whipped Jackson,
But notwithstanding the' defiance with which our fellows
braved death in that heroic charge, the destiny of overpower
ing numbers was against us. Campbell'sf Brigade had been
thrown, helpless and confused, into a disordered raass, over
which, with cries of exultation, our troops poured, while field
and woods were filled with clamor and horrid rout, — poured like
an all-destroying torrent, until the left of Jackson's line was
turned and its rear gained. Then, while the left of Taliaferro's
• Brigade gave way, Geary's blows upon its right and upon the
left of Early began to tell.:]: As Campbell had been over
thrown, so next was Taliaferro, and then came the left of
Early's Brigade, which, first wavering, then fell back, until,
on both sides of the road, a vast irruption had been made.

* ".Simultaneously with Crawford's advance, Geary in centre and Prince on
left moved against the enemy with vigor." — Strother, in harper's Monthly for
August, 1871. ,
t Commanded by Garnett.
X Almost the language used by Dabney and Cooke in their histories.

176
which involved the whole of the enemy's line even as far
towards the right as one half of the latter brigade.*
That this success was achieved without a desperate resist
ance, Southern writers will not admit. It is claimed that the
Twenty-First Virginia, which was on the extreme right of the
left brigade, " fought like lions, until the invading lines had
penetrated within twenty yards of their rear," and that, owing
to the " terrific din of the musketry, the smoke, and the dense
foliage," this short distance only intervened when the foe was
for the first time seen. Then, says the Southern historian,!
" the orders of the officers were unheeded amid the vast uproar
and shouts of the assailants. Col. CampbeU was slain, but the
survivors of the Second Brigade fought on without rank or
method, with bayonet-thrust and musket clubbed, until borne
back, like angry foam on mighty waves, towards the high road."
Though the right of Early's Brigade still stood unmoved, we
were gaining the rear of the enemy's line in the open field,
when Jackson called upon his reserves. He threw forward
the old Stonewall Brigade of Winder's Division, with Branch's
of Hill's Division, and these, with the newly-forraed lines of
those that had been broken, arrested our progress, and com
pelled our hitherto victorious troops to fly back through the
bloody timber over the fatal wheat and corn fields. Jackson
saysf the two brigades of his reserves "drove our troops
back with terrible slaughter," while Hill J says, " The pursuit
was checked and the enemy driven back."
But to Dabney must we turn for Jackson's achievements in
heroic measure. As contrasting the laconic despatch of Jack
son himself, frora the actual field of his prowess, with the
gorgeous word-painting of his Boswellian Dabney, the quota
tion is pertinent : —
* That the enemy's lines were thus forced back by the regiments of Crawford's
Brigade alone, as claimed by Major Gould, in the History of the Tenth Maine,
is utterly without foundation. — Author.
t Dabney.
X Official Reports, Gens. Jackson and Hill, Moore's Rebellion Record,

177
" It was at this fearful moraent that the genius of the storm
reared his head amidst the tumultuous billows, and in an
instant the threatening tide was turned. Jackson appeared in
the mad torrent of the highway, his figure instinct with maj-
,esty, and his face flaming with the inspiration of battle. He
ordered Winder's batteries to be instantly withdrawn, to pro
tect them from capture, issued his summons for his reserves,
drew his own sabre for the first time in the war, and shouted to
his broken troops, with a voice which pealed higher than the
roar of battle, ' Rally, brave raen, and press forward ! Your
general will lead you. Jackson will lead you. Follow rae ! '
Fugitives, with a general sharae, gathered around their adored
general, who, rushing with a few score of them to the front,
placed them behind .the fence which bordered the roadside, and
received the pursuers with a deadly volley. They recoiled in
surprise, while officers of every grade, catching the general
fervor of their commander, flew among their men, and in a
moment restored the failing battle. Fragments of Early and
Taliaferro returned to their places, forming around that heroic
nucleus, the Thirteenth Virginia, and swept the field clear of
the enemy. The Stonewall Brigade had already come up and
changed the tide of battle in the bloody woodlands ; for some
of the regiments, sweeping far around to the left through the
field of brushwood, had taken the Federalists in turn upon their
flank, and were driving them back with a fearful slaughter
into the stubble-field. Scarcely was this Titanic blow delivered
when the fine brigade of Branch, from the division of A. P.
Hill, hardly allowing itself time to form, rushed forward to
second them and complete the repulse. The Federal com
mander now brought forward a magnificent column of cavalry,
and hurled it along the highway full against the Confederate
centre. No cannon was there to ravage their ranks ; but as
they pressed back the line for a little space, the infantry of
Branch closed in upon their right, Taliaferro and Early upon
their left, and opened fire, when it fled to the rear, scattered
23

178
and dissipated. So Jackson delivered blow after blow upon
his insulted left wing."
It was between half-past flve and six o'clock when our
assault was raade. Although at least one half of Banks's
command must have succeeded in gaining the enemy's rear,
in the Stonewall Brigade, which, with Branch's, has received
the praise of checking our pursuit, the loss was light, being
only ten killed and fifteen wounded.
It now becomes necessary to take up the history of the
Tenth Maine, which, for some unaccountable reason as I
have said, was dropped out of Crawford's Brigade when the
charge was made. After a little delay it was moved into
the woods in its front by one of Banks's staff-officers ; or
dered to halt and lie down, with its left resting near the
road; where a United States battery, under Capt. Best, was
receiving two for every one of its solid compliments sent
the efiemy. In the road and near the regiment was Banks
and staff.
From where the Tenth Maine were stationed, a movement
of troops on the enemy's side was perceived ; and Banks's
reply, when this was pointed out to him, — " Thank you, sir ;
this is provided for," was heard, although it was soon found
that Banks was simply indulging in tragic metaphor, and had
not provided for that or anything else. And from this point
shells and shot could be seen coming faster and faster from
Ewell's batteries on Cedar Mountain ; from Early's right,
near the clump of cedars ; from Winder in the road, and from
every point in the more than a mile of circumference occu
pied by the enemy. While the Tenth Maine were lying in
these woods, the battle began with the crash, which came to
our ears as we rested on the right, awaiting orders from Gen.
Williams ; began in volleys so terrible that the sound of artillery
was unnoticed or a relief. From where the Tenth Maine were,
the enemy could be seen planting new batteries, nearer and
nearer to ours, over there on the plateau from whence our

179
guns had not been raoved during the day. Then Geary's
skirmishers came into view, following up those of the enemy
who were retiring through the corn-field ; while riderless horses
were running around between opposing fires. The roar that
met the assault of our troops as the new brigades of the
eneray turned upon them, was borne to the ears of the Tenth
Maine, as they laid there idle in ihe northern edge of the
woods, their hearts beating with an excitement and an appre
hension which one must feel, to depict. One of the officers *
of this regiment went forward through the woods and saw part
of Geary's Brigade of Ohio troops in the road advancing by
flank. Before this officer was the wheat-field, the shocks, and
the opposite belt, as described. The firing was then still
farther to the front, but out of sight.
When the assault we have described had been checked, and
our troops were being drived back in confusion. Major Per
kins, of Banks's staff, ordered Col. Beal, coraraanding the
Tenth Maine, to advance through the woods,t telling him
it was Ban'Ks's order. Accordingly his regiment raoved out
into the wheat-field, first passing down a slight hill, then over
a ridge at right angles to the road, then down again. Col.
Beal knew only that his brigade was far ahead, not in sight,
and he was told that an Ohio regiment on the left of the road
was also advancing. The prospect that confronted the regi
ment as they entered upon this murderous pathway was
this : The distance from the woods to those opposite was less
than six hundred yards ; in the edge of the woods the enemy's
musketry was both heard and seen ; the Ohio troops
(Geary's Brigade) were retreating along the road slowly, turn
ing often to fire upon the increasing nurabers of the eneray.
Yet the Tenth Maine pressed on until they came to the ridge
which has been described. Then they saw the remnant of
their brigade coming back to their right, leaving a clear way
* Major Gould. See History of Tenth Maine in the War.
t Col. Beal, in the History of Tenth Maine in the War,

180
for them to fire. The enemy now rapidly filled the woods
in their front and opened on the Maine regiment, who
pressed on, though the fire was most murderous, until they
found themselves the only regiment visible on the field.
The woods opposite was still filling up with the enemy ;
the fugitive officers and raen of their brigade were return
ing singly and in squads? calling out to the colonel as they
passed, that there were too raany of thera for hira to handle.
Alone, of all that had preceded, with brigade after brigade
of the enemy pouring into the thick forest in their front, sur
rounded with the broken and defeated fragments that dis
heartened them by their cries, this plucky regiment "gave
three cheers, in that narrow valley of death, between those
belts of timber." * No wonder that Col. Beal, who had re
ceived no other order than to advance through the woods,
was " strongly impressed with the conviction that Banks
could not expect his single regiment to advance unsupported
upon the whole of Jackson's army." But he was mistaken ;
for no sooner had Col. Beal, with a view of regaining the
woods to continue the fight under such cover as the enemy
had, and such as it was proper for hira to seek, faced his
regiment about and raoved a few steps, than Banks, who saw
that Col. Beal was not advancing, asked Major Pelouse, his
adjutant-general, " why that regiraent did not advance," and
ordered hira to " direct it to do so." f Major Pelouse gal
loped forward and delivered the order, saying that Banks
" forbade this backward movement." Col. Beal persisted, and
the regiment kept on. A furious altercation, with angry
gesticulations, arose, during which Major Pelouse proceeded
to the rear of the regimental colors and ordered the regiment
to advance, crying out in loud tones that " Sigel was in the
rear," or "was coming," and also informing Col. Beal that
Banks "wished him to know that there was only a small
* Major Gould, Tenth Maine.
t Major Pelouse to Major Gould (letter), in History ofthe Tenth Maine,

181
force of the enemy in front of him." Major Pelouse was
with the regiment five minutes, when he was disabled, and
then Col. Beal placed his command behind the ridge to
secure so much of protection.
It was while fighting behind this ridge, "and when they had
not been firing long," that skirmishers from the Second
Massachusetts Regiment were seen to the right, on • a
run,* followed by the regiment and the remainder of the
brigade. The time then, says Major Gould, was about sunset,
and the enemy's fire so severe that soon the line of the Tenth
Maine began to melt away. The enemy's skirmishers could
be seen, darting around in the woods on the right of this regi
ment ; also the front of the enemy's line, at least three times
longer than that of the Tenth Maine was visible, t and there
was a fiank fire from the Culpepper road on their left, where
the Ohio troops under Geary had been driven back, and this
fire' crossed at right angles that from the woods opposite — the
one into which my brigade had just come and formed in line of
battle. For a description of the " huge gaps " and dreadful car
nage; of the reeling and plunging of the wounded, the shock
of the falling of the dead ; the excitement of the men, the con
ceivable and inconceivable positions they took in loading, their
swearing and jibing at the eneray, intermingled with the din
of musketry, while the bright sunset streamed in their "eyes
over the dark and smoky woods which covered the superior
numbers of the foe and greatly gave them the advantage ;
and for an account of the charge of Federal cavalry $ with
which Banks sought to retrieve his fortunes, and which the
grandiloquent Dabney speaks of as "a magnificent column
* Major Gould, in Tenth Maine.
t History of Maine in the War.
X " Some one sent a very small force of cavalry into the Hell we had just left :
we won't criticise it. They charged down the Orange Court House road, and
without stopping to say or do much, they turned around and came back, leaving
a number of dead horses on the field. The eiiemy said it was a plucky act." —
Major Could, in Tenth Maine in the War.

182
of cavalry," reference is made to the full details in Major
Gould's history. ,
The events that transpired here serve to fix for us the fact,
that when I came up with my brigade the Tenth Maine was
contending alone with the whole reinforcements (at least
three brigades) that Jackson had thrown in to sustain his left ;
they show, too, not only the severity of the fire of the enemy
from the protection of the woods, but that their advance along
the Culpepper road enabled them to deliver a flank fire down
the whole length of the wheat-field. As my brigade appeared,
the Tenth Maine fell back into the woods, passed through
thera, and retired from the action. The time they were under
fire behind the ridge is variously estimated frora thirty min
utes to five ; * their loss was one hundred and seventy killed
and wounded. Our position, as given by Major Gould, was a
little to the rear of that regiment and about three hundred
yards to its right.
Now we are prepared to examine the details of our own
movements. We have seen the condition of Banks's line when
skirmishers from the Second Massachusetts of my brigade
were seen coming into action, and we can, from the official
reports of Jackson and Branch, Archer and Pender, know
exactly the force of the enemy that confronted us.
It' was about half -past five o'clock in the afternoon, when
Gen. Williams, our division commander, sent rae an order to
observe him^ and when he made a signal by waving his hand
kerchief to throw forward my whole command to support
Crawford. Gen. Williams with his staff, was on the hillside,
in rear of the woods through which Crawford's Brigade had
passed; he was plainly in sight from where I stood. That
there raight be no delay, I withdrew my command frora the
wood to the rear and flank of my position ; forraed ray
brigade-line ; then fixed my field-glass upon Gen. Williams
and awaited his summons. Moments passed ; the fire of the
* Major Gould thinks the latter most probable.

183
artillery, now falling off for a moment and again resumed,
mingled with the pitiless crash of musketry that rose frora
the assaulting column I was to support, — and yet no signal ;
but instead thereof a messenger dashing up from Gen. Banks,
the first from him that day : " Gen. Banks directs that you
send the Second Massachusetts Regiraent down the pike to
hira." Before I could do raore than give the order, before the
regiment could take a step on its course, a horseman, spur
ring in furious haste, dashed to my side. It was Capt. Pitt-
man, aid to Gen. Williams : " Gen. Williams directs you to
move your whole command to the support of Gen. Craw
ford." If Gen. Williams had waved his handkerchief (engaged in
moving the Second Regiment in compliance with Banks's
order), I did not see him ; but the delay was only momentary.
The Second sprang forward ; so did the remaining companies
of the Third Wisconsin ; so did the Twenty-Seventh Indiana.
It was now a little before six o'clock. The rattle and roar of
musketry had given place to a dreadful, an ominous silence.
A thick smoke curling through the tree-tops, as it arose in
clouds from corn and wheat fields, marked the place to
which we were ordered, the place where the narrow valley
was strewn with dead. " Double-quick ! " I gave the order,
and my brigade responded. Down the slope from Brown's
house at a run, through the marshy land at its base, over
Cedar Creek to the steep hill and up its sides into the
woods, I pressed ray troops with -speed unabated, despite
remonstrances from some of the officers that the men could
not hold out at this pace. At the edge of the woods I rallied
and gathered up the six companies of the Third Wisconsin,
part of the broken fragments of Crawford's Brigade, a second
time to be baptized in the fiery flood of Cedar Mountain. So
we went until we had penetrated the woods, and stood in line
of battle on the very edge of the wheat-field. We had come
at topraost speed to support Crawford, but his whole line had

184
raelte.d away. We had corae to sustain, but we reraained alone
to bear the brunt of the fight, ourselves unsupported. The
whole distance we had passed over, in an incredibly short
period of time, was about one thousand five hundred yards, of
which nearly four hundred* was through the woods.
When I gained the timber I looked for Crawford's regiments,
but so broken had they been by their repulse that I could
find, of all, only what remained of the six Wisconsin cora
panics. Of the Twenty-Eighth New York, the Fifth Connec
ticut, or the Forty-Sixth Pennsylvanig., not a vestige met ray
eyes. There was, however, one relic of Crawford's Brigade,
and 'that was Crawford himself. I saw him back in the woods
sitting quietly on his horse, with a musket across his saddle,
although at about this time the only regiment of .his brigade
then in action, the Tenth Maine, was out in the wheat-field
where an officer from Banks's staff was then or had been
urging it forward. As soon as the firing upon ray line
began, Crawford disappeared, and this was about the tirae
the Tenth Maine fell back, thus making the last appearance
of Crawford and his brigade simultaneous with our first
movement upon the scene.
My line of battle was quickly formed, — the Second on the
left, then the Twenty-Seventh Indiana, and on the right the
Third Wisconsin. From the edge of the wood we looked
across the wheat-field, not over four hundred yards, at the
long lines of the enemy, who, having now advanced into
cleared ground, opened upon us a heavy fire, which was
immediately responded to by the Twenty-Seventh Indiana
and Third Wisconsin Regiments.
As I rode up to the Second Massachusetts, I was amazed
that no firing was going on. There sat Col. Andrews, rather
complacently, on the left flank of his regiment, and in line
with it. " Why don't you qrder your men to fire ? " I shouted.
" Don't see anything to fire at," was the cool response. " Move
* Col. Colgrove, ofthe Twenty-Seventh Indiana, puts it at two hundred.

185
by the right flank and join on with the Twenty-Seventh, and
you will soon find enough to fire at," I replied. The regiraent
was moved where the field was a little more exposed to Col.
Andrews's vision, and I heard no further complaint that he
could find " nothing to fire at."

24

186

CHAPTER IX.
From the most authentic sources * we now know the move
ments of the enemy at the time I was ordered into action. In
addition to the reserve brigade of Winder's Division, and
Branch's Brigade of A. P. Hill's Division, both of which had
united with the restored fragments of the two that had been
driven back by Banks's assault as described. Gen. Jackson
threw two fresh brigades, those of Archer and Pender of Hill's
Division, into the woods opposite the wheat-field, not only
extending them far to the left, but ordering them also to throw
their left continually forward and attack the enemy in the
opposite woods. Before the two brigades of Archer and
Pender were added to this force, the Third or Stonewall
Brigade of Winder's Division, on the left of Branch, was pro
longed so far into the timber that its fire took the repulsed
regiments in flank as they were retreating across the wheat-
field, after which, in connection with Branch's, the two brig
ades poured a united fire into the Tenth Maine, until, as
related, it was driven back into the woods.
In the woods upon which Jackson now directed his attack,
nothing but my three small regiments was left to confront not
less than fivef entire brigades of the enemy, of which four
* Official Report, Battle of Cedar Mountain, by Lieut-Gen. Jackson, Generals
Hill, Archer, Pender, and others. (See also Dabney's History.)
t Brigades of Branch, Archer, and Pender' of Hill's Division, the Stonewall
Brigade and Taliaferro's, with what was left of Garnett's, of Jackson's own
division.

187
were in line when we came upon the field, and one reaching
far around to envelop our right. Of the ten brigades
which Jackson threw (out of the twelve in his .array) * into
the fight at Cedar Mountain, one half of thera awaited our
attack on the right of the road across that deadly wheat-field.
My force was less than 1,500 men ; the enemy's could not have
fallen short of 8,000 out of his whole force, of from 20,000 to
25,000 men. It will be seen that the woods opposite must
have been literally packed with the enemy, and that they must
have extended far beyond our right to have enabled even one
third of them to have got to the front.
This was the situation, as we alone, of all Banks's Corps,
when the light was growing dim on that fatal August night,
opened fire from the right of the road on the long lines of
Archer's Brigade, as they, disdaining cover, stood boldly out
amid the wheat-stacks in front of the timber. As may be im
agined, our position was an exposed one. It is almost in vain
to atterapt to convey an impression of the fierceness of that
fire ; there was no intermission ; the crackling of musketry
was incessant. To Col. Colgrove, commanding the Twenty-
Seventh Indiana, on the right of the Second Massachusetts,
the enemy seeraed to be all around him, in his front, on his
right, in a dense growth of underbrush, and on his left, in line
extending nearly across the wheat-field. From front and flank,
direct and cross, came this terrible fire upon the Twenty-
Seventh Indiana. Then signs of panic began to show them
selves in this regiment. " We are firing upon our own men !"
cried those who saw, in the wooded thicket at the end of the
wheat-field, large bodies of troops endeavoring to approach,
under cover, nearer to our flank. " We are firing upon our
own raen ! " shouted Col. Colgrove to me, as he pointed to
what seemed to him to be the blue uniforras of our troops in
the dense brushwood on our right. " We have no men there,"
I replied, " the enemy is there. Order your men to open fire
* Stafford's and Fields's, of Hill's Division, were not engaged at all.

188
upon them." * The colonel still hesitating, to convince him of
his error I rode forward to the right of his regiment, up to
the fence that skirted the brushwood, and was received with
a fire that settled the matter at once.f Then the firing of
the enemy became heavier along our whole line, and the
Twenty-Seventh Indiana, after giving raany syrriptoms of
disorder, broke, and fled through the woods to the open
ground, a distance which Col. Colgrove gives as two hundred
yards. The fortunes of the Third Wisconsin were involved with
those of the Twenty-Seventh. This regiment, on the
extreme right of my line, stood, with six of its corapanies,
bearing, for a second tirae within an hour, this baptism of
blood. When the Twenty-Seventh fell back I could not cen
sure because the Third Wisconsin did not stand. I know
of no other regiment in Banks's entire corps that twice
on that day, in different brigades and in different parts of
the field, stood so unflinchingly before numbers and firfe so
overwhelming. And how was it with the officers and men of the Second
Massachusetts ? Before thera, top, appeared the eneray, with
his long lines far outflanking the right of our brigade, and
pouring upon them a hail-storm of musketry from lines open
and concealed. Steady ! they replied to the enemy's fire, in
the face of the continual flashing of muskets, — an undimin
ished flame, — from which bullets hissed with sound raore
terrible than ever heard by them before.- They also saw,
unmoved, the enemy advancing in line, throwing forward his
left as ordered, and thus approaching obliquely their right
flank; and they received him with a fire so severe that his
* The Indiana Regiment had almost ceased firing, the colonel giving this as
an excuse.
t " I saw you on the right of my regiment ride forward to the fence, and imme
diately a very heavy fire was opened upon that part of the line by the enemy,
upon you. I cannot conceive how you possibly escaped it without injury." — Cal.
Colgrove's Official Report, Battle of Cedar Mountain.

189
shattered line could easily have been driven back,* had this
been aH. The Second stood there for some tirae, of all ray
brigade alone, for t^e right regiraents had fallen back. Of
course, when they, too, would be compeHed to retire was only
a question of moments ; but the moment had not yet come,
and it was not anticipated.
The Twenty-Seventh Indiana, which had retreated through
the woods, was raHied, re-formed.f and moved to the right
of the Second Massachusetts, where again it opened fire
upon the enemy. By this time, Pender with his brigade,
who until now had kept carefully out of sight, had gained
our rear. In the confusion, the roar and smoke, this force
was not seen until after they had reached our side of the
¦fence, and were within twenty paces of the right of Col. Col
grove's regiment J and a little in rear of our line. As they
were marching deliberately towards us in columns of compa
nies, the commander of the Twenty-Seventh Indiana saw them,
and shouted instantly to his men to face and file to the right,
but he was obeyed by his right company only. The enemy
halted, wheeled into line, opened fire with that portion of his
front that could reach us, and threw forward the remainder of
his brigade full upon our flank and rear.§ But the Twenty-
Seventh Indiana had again fled, leaving exposed to this new
attack the flank and rear of the Second Massachusetts. On
the extreme right of the Second was brave Capt. Goodwin,
fighting Co. K raost valiantly and fearlessly ; and in front
» Ifwas here that Archer's Brigade received such a severe punishment from the
Second Massachusetts. His losses were reported as very heavy. See Jackson's,
Hill's, and Archer's Official Reports. Vol. IX, Moore's " Rebel Records."
t " In rallying and re-forming the regiment at this point, and indeed during the
whole action, I was aided by yourself and your staff, and particularly by Capt.
Scott, your assistant adjutant-general, whose energy and bravery it is impossible
to commend too highly." — Col. Colgrove's Official Report, Battle of Cedar Moun
tain, to Gjen. Geo. H. Gordon.
X Col. Colgrove's Report.
§ When Pender's Brigade raade its final charge, it was so much in our rear that
its loss from our fire was only fifteen in all. (See Jackson's Official Report.)

190
was Capt. Abbott with his company, in the open field, where,
upon our arrival, he had deployed his skirraishers, who were
lyingdown and firing upon the enemy.
Now, in front and on flank, full and fierce the storm
tore through and around us. The crash was terrific; it
was indescribable. Capt. Goodwin fell dead, and with him
over twenty of his men ; fifteen more were missing. Major
Savage, opposite the right and rear, in the very face of this
deadly blast, feU grievously wounded, while his horse was shot
dead upon the spot. I will not here name the dead, as I
shall refer to thera where, under a flag of truce, we were
permitted to recover their bodies. But as I am speaking of
that terrible, that dreadful and remorseless fire, that came
like a whirlwind, and licked up with its fiery blast raore lives
than were lost to our regiment and my brigade in any bat
tle of the war, I may upon this occasion be permitted to
recall the name of one of our nuraber, who, in the raidst of all
this carnage, in the very face and front of the eneray' s fire, and
almost within reach of their guns, himself un wounded, placed
his own body and his own frail life between his friend and the
enemy. Major Savage and Capt. Henry S. Russell were cap
tured together; the former, lingering for a few weeks, died at
Charlottesville, but the latter we greet rejoicingly as among
the survivors of the officers of our regiment.*
Flesh and blood could stand no longer; the last attack
had been raade ; and now we, too, were driven the last from
* Nowhere can I find more fitting words to apply ^o this knightly act thali those
used by the aged father of Major Savage, under date of August 20, 1862, in reply
to my letter of sympathy. " Much satisfaction," he says, " is derived bjf a parent
from the proof of sympathy with the misfortunes of a child, expressed by his
nearest companions, and it will seldom happen that more affectionate regard is
shown by his fellow-officers to any one than my only son gained from those o£
your original regiment. Such evidence weighs more than is always furnished
abundantly for mere courage, because bravery belongs to most of our race, and
the want of it is a disgrace ; but the overflow of genial sentiment is not an indis
pensable requisite of the most valued and honorable servant ofthe public, and in
p -iiportion to its rarity should be admired as a heavenly grace."

191
the field. 'While Col. Andrews was endeavoring to rally his
regiment, his horse received two balls, one in the shoulder
and one in the neck, the effect of which, the colonel says, was
" to send him plunging araong the branches and undergrowth
and to bewilder his rider." My own horse, when that fire
came, shook for a moraent with terror, then bore me despite
my win through the underbrush and woods to the left of the
line of my brigade.
It was about half -past six o'clock in the evening, when, in
the comparty of from thirty to fifty men (principally of the
Wisconsin and Indiana regiments) whom I had raHied, I
found myself out of the timber on its edge, at the foot of
the hill up which we had scrambled, and not three hundred
yards from the fatal field. The horror with which at first I
contemplated the possibility that these were all that remained
was soon relieved by the sight of the Second Massachusetts,
led by Col. Andrews, emerging from the woods, farther towards
the centre of our line than he went in, and moving, all that
were not dead, wounded, or captured, in perfect order to the
rear. I directed my shattered and broken comraand towards
the point frora whence, scarce an hour before, we had started.
We arrived after dark, to sink down exhausted upon the
ground. But what a change since our departure ! The cot
tage, the yard, the grounds around were filled with our dead
and' dying. All who could be recovered frora Crawford's
Brigade, as well as all from mine, were here. My bat
teries were in position, as when I had left thera, but there
was nothing else to resist the raomentarily expected forward
movement of the enemy. In the midst of much confusion,
a staff-officer from Gen. Williaras brought rae an order to fall
back. But little did Gen. Williams know what I should have
to abandon. I sent one of my staff to inform him. It was
quite dark, and my pickets were extended to the front. Soon
a message was received from Gen. Banks ordering me to fall
back. On my way to enlighten hira (he was near the

192
centre of our line on the pike) upon the condition of things
around my station, I encountered one Clark, an aid of the
general, who repeated to me an order from Banks to leave ray
present -position when I should be relieved by troops frora
McDowell's Corps, and take up a position in the centre of
our line. Replying that I would see Banks in person, I
groped ray way forward, and soon came upon Major-Generals
Pope and Banks, standing together in the road nearly two
railes in rear of the wheat-field, and about one mile on the
Culpepper side, from Cedar Creek.
Gen. Pope had at last arrived on the field, and the following
will explain how he happened there : —
The boom of artillery that echoed back to Culpepper Court
House in the morning, and continued at intervals until it
broke out into the heavy cannonade which I have described,
raade it at last no longer doubtful to Pope, and some officers
of his staff, that a battle between our corps and Jackson's
army was impending or in progress. Until four o'clock in the
afternoon Pope sat quietly reading and smoking, at his tent-
door in Culpepper. At this hour, as peal after peal from our
artillery fell upon his ears, he sprang into his saddle, and
calling upon his staff to follow, galloped rapidly through
the village in the direction of Cedar Mountain, followed by
glances of terror from the citizens, who, during the day, had
listened with anxiety to the combat. Gen. McDowell, who
accorapanied Pope, gave to Rickett's Division of his corps, as
he carae up to it, orders to form and move forward iraraedi-
ately. As Pope neared the battle-field, the cannonade becom
ing more and raore furious, the troops of McDowell were
pushed on through road and fields in separate colurans and
with increased rapidity. Soon a column of wounded with
assistants was met, sorae pn foot, some on horseback or in
ambulances, whora Pope's staff, mistaking for stragglers, val
iantly set upon, and thus endeavored for a time to force back
men, whose bloody bandages and stout countenances ahd

193
arms, to which they still clung, denoted, upon a closer inspec
tion, that there were no cowards among them. And now the
sound of cannon ceased, and that piteous roll of musketry
which I have described, was borne to Pope's ears, " while the
long procession of bandaged and bloody soldiers and dripping
ambulances continued." * Then came silence, for Banks had
been overpowered.
Alone, or attended by a single aid, in the twilight after our
defeat, Banks encountered Pope. They raet only a few rain-
utes before I came upon them as I have narrated. Gen. Pope
briefly inquired of rae as to the condition of ray command,
" I do not think I have now," I said, " more than three or four
hundred troops together ; we have been very much cut up."
" General Gordon," Gen. Pope replied, " you will move as soon
as relieved to the right of the pike and form the centre of a
new line of battle. I don't expect much of your troops to
morrow, but you will make a show and can support a battery.
You will not have much to do. / shall have twenty thousand
fresh troops to-morrow m.oriting."
This was the first appearance of the major-general com
manding the Army of Virginia upon the disastrous battle
field of Cedar Mountain. He had corae, when disaster could
not be averted, to talk of his twenty thousand fresh troops, all
of whora had been available to give us the victory, — at least,
save us frora defeat; he had corae to propose supporting
a battery with my brigade on the morrow, and I was angry
withal. In an instant I rejoined, "General Pope, this bat
tle should not have been fought, sir!" To which Pope as
-promptly replied, "I never ordered it fought, sir." And to
this Gen. Banks made no reply, no retort or remonstrance,
though he was standing by Pope's side.
Then turning to Banks, full of indignation at the crime, the
blunder, of the battle, I exclaimed, " General Banks, I diso
beyed your order, received during the fight "
* Strother, in Harper's Monthly.
25

194
" What was it, sir ? " replied Banks*
" An order brought by an officer, purporting to come from
you, to charge across the field, where my troops were then
fighting." " I never sent you such an order," retorted Banks.
" I am glad to know it," I replied ; " it would have resulted
in our total destruction."
So important an order, and so direct a denial, demand that
the circumstances attending its reception should be given in
fuU. When Major Pelouse was attempting to move the Tenth
Maine forward in the wheat-field, it will be reraembered that
an officer passed him, saying he had orders for Gordon's
Brigade,* then on the right.
In the midst of the struggle of my brigade with the eneray,
an officer, representing hiraself* as sent by Banks, coraing
through the woods, rode up to me, saying, " General Banks
wishes you to charge across that field." With what had
transpired already in my front, the astonishment this order
caused may well be conceived.
" What field .' " I asked in amazement.
" I don't know," was the reply, " I suppose this field."
"Well, sir," I retorted, "'suppose' won't do at such a time
as this. Go back to General Banks and get explicit instruc
tions as to what field he wishes me to charge over."
The officer (I had never seen him before) disappeared, and
before he could have reported to Banks, the enemy solved all
doubts as to where our coraraander wished me to charge, by
doing all the charging himself, and gaining the flank and rear
of my three regiments, with his five brigades. Into the open
arms of the eneray, had I obeyed the order, I should most cer
tainly have entered.
But other orders, unauthorized and fatal, uselessly fatal if
obeyed, given to regiments of my brigade during that half
*' Col, Pelouse, letter to Major Gould, in Tenth Maine in the War,

195
hour of battle, swell into most unseemly proportions the huge
blunders committed at Cedar Mountain.
While the enemy's fire was at its hottest. Major Perkins,
of Banks's staff, coming from the wooded cover, rode up to
Col. Andrews with an order to charge, with the Second Mas
sachusetts, across the field. "In utter astonishment atsuch
an order," writes Col. Andrews to rae in a recent letter, " I
exclaimed, ' Why, it wiU be the destruction of the regiment and
will do no good ! ' Major Perkins (who was an educated
soldier) made no reply, but shrugged his shoulders in a sig
nificant-manner. Determined not to subject the regiment
to such wanton destruction if I could avoid it, I reported
to you, and you told me I need not obey the order. I met
Major Perkins a day or two after, and he said to me he sup
posed I blamed him very much for bringing me such an order,
but it was sent by signal,, and, he had since found, under a
misapprehension,* it having been forgotten that the regiraent
had been sent to the right instead of the centre, as first
ordered." It is somewhat of an explanation that Major Perkins, while
on the extreme right of our line of battle, in giving an order
to one of my regiments that he did not communicate through
me, imparted in an automatic way what was received by
signal ; but as an explanation, it is wholly inadequate to clear
up why Major Perkins did not hiraself discover the error, and
not put upon me the responsibility. Perkins knew, not<only
that Col. Andrews could not have made that movement with
out my orders, but that such a movement would have resulted
in a most direful disaster ; he knew, moreover, that Banks did
not know where we were.
Most important is it here to consider whether Banks sent
me the order imputed to him. I do not think it admits of
doubt. Who would have taken such responsibility ? Not the
officer who brought me the order : I charged him with it in
* Col, Andrews's statement. Letter of June 14, 1875.

196
the presence and hearing of Banks a few days after, and he
strongly and indignantly reiterated that he received the order
from Gen. Banks ! And Banks made no reply.
If we seek for a solution in some of the well-proven facts
of that battle, we shall find a management so inexplicable
that the directions given me, and received by Col. Andrews,
can be taken only as fitting parts of this abortive effort. Did
not Banks, at five o'clock in the afternoon, in sending his last
despatch from the field, speak of the skirmishers approach
ing each other, without indicating that he expected a gen
eral engagement, and without asking for any assistance ; *
although at four o'clock the cannonade which reached Pope's
ears in Culpepper was so heavy and continuous that he
feared a general engagement was going on, and so hurried
forward.? Had not Banks, with an estimate of 6,000 troops
as his own strength, undertaken to whip Jackson's 25,000
under an impression that he could carry the field ? Had
he not, in entire ignorance of the numbers in his front,
precipitated Geary's and Crawford's Brigades, and six com
panies of my Third Wisconsin Regiment, against two whole
brigades in position, and five of HiH's Division in reserve ?
Then had he not, when everything combined to inform him
of the many thousands more than his own that were before
him, attempted to whip them with the Tenth Maine, single-
handed, on his right > And when the enemy had poured into
the woods in my front a brigade for each one of my smaH
regiments, and two to spare, why should Banks, so long as
he "feared the opinions of his friends'' (as he conceived them)
more than " the bayonets of his enemies," have hesitated to
send me the order I received ?
There reraains to tell, that when Jackson swung his forces
around my brigade, he at the same time ordered Taliaferro's
brigade to charge bearing towards their right (the position
of the field of Indian corn), against our left and in front of
* Pope under oath before the McDowell Court of Inquiry.

197
Early's Brigade. At this time Gen. Prince, in ignorance of
what had transpired, was riding to where Geary had been, to
find out what had become of Banks's corps. In this laudable
pursuit his bridle was suddenly seized, and himself summoned
to surrender. He was captured when surrounded by the
enemy, who were silently moving over the ground lately
occupied by Geary, and enveloping his own troops, whom he
could not warn of their danger, though his officers soon dis
covered it, and fell back, but not until four hundred of them
were captured.*
There are yet two brigades of the enemy to account for :
those of Ewell's Division, which remained inactive upon the
face of the mountain through the scenes we have described.
Kept back from advancing by the incessant fire of their own
batteries, which swept the valley through which they raUst
pass,! they now advanced upon the right, to turn the left
flank of our line, but found we were in full retreat.
The battle was over. On our left. Gen. Prince was a pris
oner. Generals Geary and Augur wounded ; not a general offi
cer left of those who formed that part of our line of battle. In
the centre, out of a brigade numbering about 1,467 men,
nearly every field-officer on the ground, and about half the
company-officers and men, were killed or wounded.:):
Upon receiving Pope's orders, I returned to my brigade,
and directed commanders to move out their regiments, while
I proceeded to point out to Gen. Tower, of Rickett's Division,
who had now come up to relieve me, the exact position I had
held for so raany hours. Although it was then after daylight,
a bright raoon raade objects sufficiently prominent to enable
me to discover that the enemy's pickets had greatly advanced
towards the woods north of the creek on the Culpepper road,
and that our own were falling back. I could also see that the
enemy had moved his batteries to the positions occupied dur
ing the fight by our own. My description of positions to Gen.
* Dabney. t Jackson's Report. J Strother.

198
Tower concluded, ambulances sent with my command and
scouts taken from my own escort recalled, I was ready to leave ;
but to ray. surprise my comraand did not join me where I had
ordered : they had taken a shorter way to the pike, where they
expected to meet me. Upon approaching the road, in mov
ing with ray staff to select our position, I perceived that our
cavalry, which previously had been in line between the woods
I was ordered to occupy and Cedar Creek, had now passed
through the woods and were in line behind it on the Culpepper
side, having fallen back before the approach of the eneray.
As ray orders from Pope were imperative, I headed my
somewhat numerous retinue of staff-officers and orderlies
(accompanied by Gen. Williams, who with his staff had joined
me) for the woods, which I was about entering, when a hot fire,
from what sounded like a regiment, was poured into our raidst.
In the darkness, aira was so uncertain that no greater damage
foHowed than the kiHing of one of my orderlies, whHe Gen.
Wniiams, myself, and our respective staffs were warned in
time to escape inevitable capture. Moving quickly to the
rear of the cavalry, I there found the Twelfth Massachusetts
regiment drawn up in line I halted for a moment to speak
to its commander, when again the enemy opened fire, with
more fatal effect; Capt. Shurtleff of the Twelfth faHing dead
with a buHet through his heart. This regiment returned the
enemy's fire with vigor.
We will turn again to Pope. Believing that he could form
his new line of battle in the woods I had just tried in vain to
enter. Gen. Pope, with McDowell and Banks, their staffs and
escorts, had, before my arrival, dismounted and seated them
selves behind the shelter of a rocky ledge which rose to a gentle
eminence. In the woods or through them, or somewhere
towards Cedar Mountain, there had been heard at intervals a,
dropping fire of musketry, with occasional voHeys and now and
then a single shell. Sometimes a flight of shells, in coursing
over the heads of Pope and his officers, had rendered night

199
hideous with their screams. The situation was picturesque,
alraost romantic — "As romantic as hell,"* one of the staff
ventured to remark, as attention was called to a full moon
which disclosed the dark shadows of the woods and threw a
dreamy light over the landscape. Three quarters of an hour
passed ; the moon had become obscured ; stragglers and even
Organized corapanies seen in the moonlight moving from
the woods and through the fields, to the rear along the Cul
pepper road, had dwindled into a dribbling stream. The fire
from the batteries had ceased, when the cavalry (I found in
my rear) emerged frora the woods, and halted not over forty
yards from where Pope and his general officers were reclining.
When the fire broke out upon myself. Gen. Williams, and our
staffs, and was continued upon the cavalry and the Twelfth
Massachusetts, the bullets hissed through the bushes, sparkled
in the darkness as they struck the flinty road, or singing
through the tree-tops, covered Pope, and his officers with
leaves and twigs. The effect upon the conclave of romantic
officers was as follows : Pope's party of officers^ staff, and es--
corts, numbering in all one hundred, rose suddenly to their
feet, whHe the cavalry with pistols returned the enemy's fire
in a continuous fusilade. Mounting with undue gravity, the
commander of the Army of Virginia and his officers moved to
the rear at a trot, which soon broke into a gallop, whUe the
Twelfth Massachusetts, which was lying as I have said in
rear of the cavalry, on a sHght elevation, rose and opened
fire as I have described.!
It was sufficiently apparent that the enemy were in pos
session of the wood I .had been ordered to hold. It was a
change of Pope's programme made by the enemy since I had
received Pope's orders. The only accident that had happened
to the party of general officers or their staffs was a severe
contusion suffered by Banks, who was struck by the forefoot
* Strother is responsible for the story, not the comparison. .
t Strother gives these facts from his experience as one of Pope's staff officers.

200
of an orderly's horse as the aniraal reared frora fright. ' The
rider of the horse, it was said, was killed.
In the darkness and confusion, I had not been able to find
my command. The two regiments that were to join me at
the pike were not to be seen. I pushed to the rear in
search, and soon came up with the Second Massachusetts
and Twenty-Seventh Indiana, but the Third Wisconsin was
not in sight. While groping around to find it, the eneray
advanced his batteries to the position we had just vacated,
and sent a shower of shot and shell at short range, that
shook our ears and the earth itself with the noise. To add- to
this confusion, a battery of ours, sorae half mde to the rear,
opened upon the eneray's guns with such malevolent satisfac
tion that its shells for a few moments threatened to destroy
what little life the enemy's guns raight leave in our bodies.
Plurap in our raidst came the friendly shells ; one exploding
so nearly under my hofse that I have never been able to tell
whether it was to the right or left of a plumb-line through
his beHy. " Stop him ! Stop that d — d ass ! " with expletives
stronger than refined, greeted this ambitious artHlerist, who
seemed bent, like the Irishman at Donnybrook Fair, to hit
the first head he saw ; and he was stopped by one of Pope's
staff-officers before he had destroyed the commanding gen
eral of the Army of Virginia.
Hardly had the enemy opened with his battery when two
Maine Batteries * of Rickett's Division sent their compli
ments in such furious earnest and with such accurate aim,
that the enemy retreated with a loss of nearly all his horses
and raany of his men. We found them where they fell when
Jackson retreated.
While batteries were still passing farther to the rear, accora
panied by straggling regiraents of infantry and cavalry, I dis
covered Gen. Williams, commanding our division, by ray side.
I asked him whether, in view of the probable formation of a
 *  * The Second and Fifth Maine.

201
new line of battle, I better raove a little farther to the rear.
To this he assented.
With the Second Massachusetts Regiment leading, followed
by all that I could gather of my brigade, I had proceeded
but a short distance when, out of the darkness of the night,
I heard a voice scolding at the retreating troops which pre
ceded me. " Where are you going ? Halt, I wiH report
you ! Halt, I say ! " etc. etc., was uttered with an accent
not English, and with a volubility quite foreign. In the midst
of his vehement exclamations, whom should the speaker
next encounter but Col. Andrews, at the head of the Second
Massachusetts Regirhent. Him, therefore, the voice ad
dressed with the sarae energy and almost in the same words
used to others, ending with the threat of a report. Evidently
the speaker fancied the whole army was going to the rear,
and his duty it was to save it from disgrace. I doubt if Col.
Andrews ever received such a blessing in a few moments in
his life. It seemed to stagger him. I heard it, and rode for
ward, to find Andrews's march impeded by a little man, sur
rounded with a large staff. It was near midnight, and too
dark to distinguish the person or rank of the speaker.
" Who are you," I angrily exclaimed, " who uses such lan
guage to this regiment, or any officer belonging to- it ? "
" Who am I ? " slowly and emphatically uttered the voice.
" Yes ! Who are you ? What is your name .' "
" My name .'' " again spoke the voice, in measured tones,
" Yes ; your name, — if you have a name ! Who are you ? "
" I am General Sigel ! " was the reply, with an emphasis as
crushing as could be extracted from these words.
" You are General Sigel, are you ? Well, General Sigel, you
cannot address yourself to troops that I coramand, in this
raanner. This regiment is the Second Massachusetts, a regi
ment that never retreats until ordered. It is just out of the
fiffht, has suffered a terrible loss in officers and raen, and is now
raoving under orders to the rear to take up a new position."
26

202
«
In an instant Sigel, with softened , tones, made the amende
honorable. He had seen, he said, so many going to the rear,
that he thought aH were moving without orders. With raany
apologies be raoved forward with his corps of fresh troops,
whose presence a few hours earlier would have saved our
corps, perhaps given us the victory.
And here we raay pause in our narrative to ask, — Why,
when Jackson threw from 20,000 to 25,000 troops upon our
corps, Sigel was not there to help us .¦"
Impressed by the furious cannonade with the belief that
Banks might be about to fight alone the battle he intended to
fight with the t^ree corps of his army, we have narrated that
Gen. Pope hurried, with McDowell's force, to the front. About
the tirae Pope* left Culpepper, Gen. Sigel, with his staff,
entered it to report to him. The troops of this comraand,
said to be much jaded by the heit and fatigue, were not yet
in town.
It will be remembered that on the 8th Sigel received orders
from Pope to march immediately from SperryvHle to Culpep-i
per, a distance of about twenty miles. Instead of obeying
these orders, he sent a note (which the latter received
after night on the 8th), dated at Sperryville at 6.30 P. m.,
asking by what road he should march to Culpepper Court
House. This delay of Sigel's detained him until too late
for the action, — "delayed him," as Pope says, f "by the
singular uncertainty of what -road he ought to pursue."
Nor was this all. At this vital hour, at four o'clock in the
afternoon of the 9th of August, Sigel's Corps had not yet
arrived at Culpepper, and worse than that, when it did
arrive, the men were hungry as well as jaded, for they were
without rations. " I had given notice," says Pope, " that the
whole Array of -Virginia should always be ready to raove at
the shortest notice, and should habitually keep two days'
rations in their haversack " ; and this Pope seeras to have
* Pope's Report. t Pope's Official Report.

203
thought sufficient to assure, beyond peradventure, the arri
val of Sigel at Culpepper with food at aH events on the day
of the battle of Cedar Mountain, But not so Sigel, His
corps had not a cracker nor a ration of pork ; and his men
could not march without thera. So provisions were procured
frora McDowell's command and cooked at Culpepper Court
House. WhHe Sigel's Corps, between four and five o'clock
in the afternoon, were getting their dinners to be in readi
ness to move forward between five and seven miles to aid in
fighting the battle Pope intended to fight with his whole
army, the principal events which I have recorded were trans
piring. " It was intended," testifies McDowell, in the Court
of Inquiry, where Sigel brought charges against him for not
supporting Banks, — " it was intended that Sigel should follow
and support Banks, and Sigel did not do so because of unnec
essary delay in marching to Culpepper." But at last Sigel
had found his road, and we had found Sigel, Had he moved
when ordered, there would have been a very different history
of the fight of Cedar Mountain. It is not probable that
Banks would have assaulted' Jackson's army at all, at least not
single-handed and alone.
We left Pope, McDowell, and Banks, their staffs and escorts,
making rapid time to the rear, whHe, from the woods where I
was ordered to take up a position, the enemy poured into us
a heavy fire of musketry. After my interview with Sigel, I
halted my command about where I supposed a new line of
battle would be formed by fresh troops and the remnant of
Banks's Corp§, when Pope suddenly came upon us.
" General, you have mistaken your position," he said. •
" I have not taken the one you designated, because the
enemy in large force occupy it," I replied.
" You are mistaken," said Pope ; " those are our own troops."
" No, sir," I urged, " I was there but just now, and we
were fired at, by infantry, from the woods where you ordered
me."

204
Again insisted Pope, " It is not so."
" Of course, then," I replied, " I wiH move there now, or as
near there as I can, if you wish it,"
" Do so,'' was the order.
Facing about, I moved my dirainutive column, that some
how or other had dwindled to less than two hundred men,
over the ground from whence the- whole of Banks's Corps had
retreated. On my right, our troops, under Gen. Tower, stUl
held their strong point at Brown's cottage, and held it through
the night, as I had raaintained it through the day, unraolested ;
but on my left and front I was alone. When within a reason
able distance of the woods I halted. Pope, with Banks, Mc-
DoweH, and Sigel, had ¦ followed me, and now disraounted,
were sitting under a tree by the road-side. It was after twelve
at night.
An exaraination at the front convinced me of the truth of
more than I had asserted to Pope, and I went to him_ to report
that, save my small guard, there was nothing between him and
the whole of Jackson's army.
" Not so," replied Pope. " Genicrals Green and Prince are
there with their comraands."
I denied it, affirming that they had fallen far back to the
rear long before.
But Pope was persistent, and would not believe that I, alone
of all Banks's Corps, was in his front. Soon, however, many
members of the Seventh Virginia Cavalry, groping about in
the dark, began to make inquiries at my principal picket sta
tion whether we could inform them where their regiraent was.
Some dozen or so of them were thus sHently taken into our
arras, and immediately sent back to Pope,
Then again I sought the general commanding, and urged as
confirming proof of my stateraent that we were alone, the fact
that the enemy, unmolested, were wandering around in our front,
" But Col, Clark [Banks's detective aid[ says Green and
Prince are there on our left," urged Pope.

205
" Won't you send hira out to find them ? " I replied.
" Yes," replied Pope. " Give him an escort and let hira go."
Clark, whose inforraation was generally in the inverse ratio
of his assumption, went doubtingly forth with a large escort ;
but he had not proceeded fifty yards across the pike towards
my left, when he was met by a sharp musketry fire from the
enemy's skirmish line. Turaultuously Clark returned, followed
by the troops. The bullets pattered with such effect against
the trees and fence-rails beneath which Pope and his generals
were reposing, that a second time the whole body of officers
and followers moved in an incredibly short time to the rear.
It was rather a long chase before I could catch Pope, but
when I did, I asked him if he was now satisfied of the truth
of my assertions.
" Remove your raen to the rear," replied Pope, who then
with McDowell addressed hiraself to the work of forming a
new line of battle (which about daylight was effected with fresh
troops) for a resumption of our fight, which did not take place.
From where Gen. Jackson rested after his movement for
ward upon Banks's line, to where he halted again in doubt, the
distance was one mHe and a half It was the intention of
the enemy " to reach Culpepper that night " ; but the vigorous
attack upon , his battery,* the report of his " most reliable
scout that the enemy was but a few hundred yards in advance,"
and the additional fact that Col. " Jones, of the Seventh Vir
ginia Cavalry, reported that he had learned from sorae prisoners
he had taken, that Federal reinforcements had arrived,"
induced Jackson to think it "prudent to halt"!
It was not until morning that Jackson added to this prudent
resolve yet another, which was, not to fight Pope again on
that ground. He gives as his reason " that he was convinced
* The enemy admit in Official Reports that the battery which opene d upon us
at midnight was silenced, causing Capt. Pegram severe loss and compelling him
to withdraw.
t Jackson's Report.

206
that Pope would have 60,000 men before he could resume." *
When we consider that the whole force Pope could have had
on the raorning of the loth was all on the ground before twelve
at midnight ofthe 9th ; that this was sufficient to make Jack
son doubt and waver ; and that with the addition of only King's
Division of McDowell's Corps, it was sufficient to make
Jackson retreat across the Rapidan on the night of the 1 1 th,
who can repress their indignation that this force was not
united against Jackson on the 9th ? There is not a shadow of
a doubt that it might have been. Why was Banks's Corps of
6,000 or 7,000 men allowed to stand mangled and bleeding
in a useless assault against Jackson's entire army pf at least
20,oco able-bodied and fresh troops ?
Pope answers, " Banks was not ordered to fight that battle,
was not expected to fight it, until I could bring up the force
which Jackson admits would haye been too strong for him to
have encountered." Banks answers with a denial of Pope's
statements. I will endeavor to show, before I close, which of
these conflicting statements is the true one.
When the sun rose on the morning of the loth of August,
our army held a new line of battle alraost two miles in rear of
the woods into which the enemy had passed during the night
Sigel, his corps strongly posted in the woods, with a wide
space of open ground in its front, was on the left, while Rick
etts, withdrawn from our old position to a corner of timber,
and behind ridges, held the right of the line. The whole effec
tive force thus in line is officially stated at 20,000 artiHery and
infantry, and about 2,000 cavalry.f This is exclusive, of
Banks's Corps which had been sent by Pope about two
miles farther to the rear, with orders to Gen. Williams,
who had succeeded to the command, to put it rapidly in
condition for service. The day was intensely hot ; hour after
hour passed, and the silence continued unbroken, whHe, in
compact lines, our troops reraained in constant readiness,
* Dabney. t Pope's Official Report.

207
Early in the day or during the night of the gth Jackson
had withdrawn his lines back towards Cedar Mountain. The
loth passed; our dead were unburied, and our wounded were
lying where they feH, all through the wheat and the corn field
and in the surrounding forest.
Jackson did not attack Pope, and we have his reason : he
was afraid of his numbers. Pope did not attack Jackson, and
we have his reason : his " troops were too much fatigued to
renew the action." * But Pope's true reason for delay was that
King might come up with the other division of McDowell's
Corps. King arrived on the evening of the nth, and Pope
" raade up his mind, though his force barely equalled Jack
son's, to fall upon the eneray on the 1 2th." f Many such
resolutions have been frustrated by the enemy not waiting
to be fallen upon. So Jackson. He fled on the evening of
the I Ith, leaving many of his dead and wounded on the field
and along the road from Cedar Mountain to Orange Court
House.l On the raorning of that day. Pope sent, by flag of truce,
for permission to recover the wounded and bury the dead.
This was grafted ; and thus we were permitted, by those over
whom, according to Halleck's despatch || to Pope, we had won
a hard-earned and brilliant success, to succor our wounded,
to recover our dead. All day of the nth, the rank and file
of the two armies met and talked, between hostile lines,
without passion or resentment. On our left the corn-field
was only sprinkled with dead, but on the wheat-field, and in
the woods into which our regiments charged and by the fence
* Pope's Official Report.
t Pope's Official Report.
X " When Jackson went tumbling across the Rapidan, under cover of night,
abandoning many wounded and stragglers by the way, and barely saving his bag
gage ; calling for reinforcements, and thanking the Lord for the victory in the
same breath ; we are at a loss to imagine the grounds for his pious gratitude." —
Strother' s Recollections of a Virginia Campaign.
II Halleck's order to Pope, War Department, August 14, 1862.

208
where ray brigade fought in line of battle, there were ghastly
pHes of dead, with here and there a living sufferer, who had
drawn his painful breath through raore than thirty-six hours
of exposure. The severest loss fell to the Second. The
mortality among the officers was unusually heavy. One
writer attributes this to their conspicuous dress, making them
a mark for the enemy's sharp-shooters ; but it can be better
and more satisfactorily accounted for by the habit which our
regiraent had acquii;ed of standing steadily where and when it
was ordered, despite all attacks made upon it, even though,
as at Cedar Mountain, it was overwhelmed on its front, fiank,
and rear.
Our total loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners in the Sec
ond Regiment was one hundred and seventy-four, — thirty-five
per cent of all engaged. Out of the whole loss, but fifteen
were prisoners unwounded. Twelve officers and one hun
dred and forty-seven non-commissioned officers and privates
were kiHed and wounded out of the Second alone, and of this
number, six of the officers and fifty-two of the non-commis
sioned officers and privates were instantly kiHed or mortally
wounded.* Surrounded by many of their raen killed in the
action, I saw dead upon the field, Captains Cary, Goodwin,
Abbott, Williams, and Lieut. Perkins. Major Savage had
been removed, to die at Charlottesville.
Never in the entire history of the Second Massachusetts
Regiment, has its percentage of loss been so great. Not at
Winchester, Antietam, Chancellorsville, not at Gettysburg,
Resacca, the Atlanta campaign, or in the march to the sea,
was the sacrifice so large. In ray whole brigade, nuraber-
* I can add nothing to Col. Andrews's letter, written after the battle, in which
he said, "Tell the friends of the regiment that it has fully sustained its reputa
tion, having fought bravely and with great coolness until forced back by the
overwhelming numbers of the enemy, losing of all it carried into action two
thirds of its officers and more than one third of its non-commissioned officers
and privates.'' For a complete list of all the wounded and prisoners, see Quint's
Record of Second Massachusetts Regiment,

209
ing less than 1,500 men,, the loss in kiHed, wounded, and
prisoners was four hundred and sixty-six, — over thirty in
every hundred of my command.
Jackson had won a complete victory. How, indeed, could
it be otherwise ? , Place the figures of the force I have given
for Banks's Corps against the twelve brigades of Jackson's
three divisions, against the 25,000 men of aH'arms which met
the charge of our 7,500 men,* and can there be a doubt how
such, a contest would terminate .¦' Even Dabney, Jackson's
Boswell, admits in his history of this action that Jackson had
20,000 men engaged, but he p.uts our force at 32,000 "engaged
in the battle."f Claims for Jackson's prowess, based upon siich
figures, are grounded on air. Jackson admits a loss in killed
and wounded of 1,314, and claims to have caused us a loss of
twice that number.^
" Jackson thought," says Dabney, " that Cedar Mountain was
his raost successful battle;" § Had Jackson known that
he was fighting none other than Banks's Corps, would he
have thought this battle so successful ? Who shall say .''
Jackson was fallible, and oftentiraes too stubborn to know
or admit the truth. In his Official Report, he feels obliged to
defend himself for not attacking, on the loth, the army he
thpught he had whipped on the gth, by assuming that Pope
had received reinforcements, which, Dabney says, Jackson
"¦ The force under Jackson, according to our most authentic information, was
27,000 men of all arms and sixty guns, of which about 25,000 men were present
in the action. Banks's force is officially stated at 6,289 "^^n, with thirty guns and
a brigade of cavalry, total, 7,500 men of all arms. See Strother's Recollections
of Virginia Campaign.
t Dabney's Life of Jackson.
X " We captured four hundred prisoners, 5,302 small arms, one twelve-pounder
Napoleon and its caisson, with two other caissons and a limber." — Jackson's
¦ Report. § " This field was remarkable for the narrowness of its front : a mile in width
embracing the whole ground upon which centre and left wing had wrestled for
half a day against jo.ooo men, a number which would make a line of battle six
miles long." — I)abney.^ 27

210
placed as high as 60,000. Jackson himself says that he fled
on the I Ith "to avoid being attacked by vastly superior forces
in front."
The evidence we have given is conclusive that although
Jackson shrank from an encounter with Pppe when the two
armies were evenly matched, his historians, clamorous in their
falsehoods of the numbers overpowered, deraanded that Cedar
Mountain should be emblazoned on Jackson's shield. But
the miHs of Time at last grind out the truth, and before Dab
ney had exhausted even his endless vocabulary in coining
loud-sounding words of praise, l^e felt obliged to defend Jack
son, not only for retreating, but even for fighting where he
did. The reinforcements which caused Jackson to retreat were
not present with Pope's array on the loth, when the former
refused to renew the fight ; and when they came up, on the i ith,
they gave us, as we have shown (King's Division only), a force
no larger than Jackson's. Yet this made him retreat. Of the
figlit at Cedar Mountain, Dabney says, "Jackson meant to
have fought at Culpepper Court House on the 8th. Had he
done so, his victory would have been so much more complete
as to sHence every charge of fruitlessness ; for we have seen
that the supports which saved Pope from destruction only
arrived at nightfall on the 9th."
To silence such criticism, to show what would have happened
had something not interposed of which we are not informed,
it is sufficient to refer to what we have said of Pope's dis
positions on the 8th. Had Jackson marched to Culpepper
Court House on that day, he would not only have saved Pope
much tirae in concentration, but he would have met, in addi
tion to Banks's Corps, the whole of Rickett's Division, and we
may believe Sigel would have found a road upon which he
could have arrived in time.
Jackson's battle of Cedar Mountain cannot be defended.
It accomplished no purpose, it established no desirable end.

211
In three days from the time the last gun was fired our cavalry
pickets were re-established upon the Rapidan.
In concluding this chapter, it seems proper to offer the fol
lowing criticism upon the plan of this battle, and the causes
which led to the pecuhar efforts put forth. In Banks's testi
mony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, he
attempts to exculpate himself for attacking the enemy, by try
ing to make it appear that the enemy were coming down to
attack him. He had seen the movement of Ewell's remaining
regiments to the mountain-side, and the brigade of Thomas, of
Hill's Division, reinforcing Early ; and, in his own language,
he "had gone^down to the front with some officers, and been
impressed with the idea that while they were moving on the
other side (the left), they were coming down on the right,"
that is, across the wheat-field and through the woods, behind
which all of WHliams's Division were concealed. If Jackson
ever thought of turning our right, it was not while Crawford
and Banks were peering through the woods and trying to guess
what was behind them.
The eneray could not have crossed that wheat-field and
attacked Crawford without exposing their flank and rear to an
attack from ray whole brigade of infantry and batteries, nor
could they have atterapted it, without full warning to me frora
my skiimishers, who filled the woods in front of Crawford's
right. " Turning our right ! "' It would not have been attempted
at that stage of the battle ; or if it had, to swing his whole line
backward on my position, as on a pivot, and cover his left by
the woods on the ridge, on the northern side of Cedar Creek,
where Crawford was the evening before, when we were sent
out to estabHsh ourselves at Crawford's position, would have
been Banks's true movement to repel such an attack. As proof
of this, I may refer to the fact that the remnantof Banks's
Corps feH back behind a Hne of battle thus posted, when Pope
came up, and with new troops estabhshed a new line, the right

212
of which was at the position I had occupied until I was
ordered forward to the stubble-field.*
Our right never was attacked, it was too strong ; but alas !
it was too evident that Banks did not know where the right of
his line was. With all these facts (which cannot be disputed)
before us, I read, with the same amazement that fills me when
ever I investigate any of Banks's military efforts, that " the
enemy had massed his forces on our right, and was moving
forward and begun an attack upon us. My force encountered
him about five o'clock, which is the usual time for thera to
make an attack. They made a desperate attack on our right :
of course we had to strengthen that with all our force."! Now
every one but Banks and Crawford knows that the enemy
made, at this time (five o'clock), no attack at all on our right,
the right of our line. If Banks had not sent four regiments
over the wheat-field to attack Jackson, and then sent me from
the right over half a mile to the front, after the eneray had used
up these regiments, then this whole force would have been
saved to meet Jackson's attack, if he had made one ; and had
it been upon the right, we could have held the enemy at bay
until night or McDoweH and Sigel had come. There is no
room for controversy here : the weak and unhappy confer
ence with Crawford is marked with blunders, which would be
comedies if they were not crimes.
Bearing in mind that Banks raoved his line forward at
lea'st four hundred yards frora where Roberts stationed hira',
before he " sent Crawford a brigade " ; that Crawford's regi
ments advanced six hundred yards in crossing the stubble-
field before they entered the woods, and then that they totally
surprised the enemy, driving him back some hundreds of
* This was the position I surrendered after dark to Gen. Tower, of Rickett's
Division. t Banks's testimony, Report of Committee on Conduct of the War, p. 44,
Vol. III.
Note. — The whole of Banks's testimony, as to a. probable attack upon him
when he resolved to attack the enemy, is an afterthought. — Author.

213
yards farther, and almost capturing Winder's Battery, — the
very thing which Banks told Roberts he thought he could do
and should do, — we are forced to the conclusion that Banks,
instead of fearing an attack, was determined to make one,
because he thought he " could carry the field," and did not
believe the enemy were there in force ; and that for this pur-
'pose he advanced his troops until the regiments of Craw
ford's Brigade, when repulsed, were at least one mile from
the position assigned him (Banks). Whether Jackson would
or would not have attacked us is not the question. For
Banks to give in sworn testimony, as he has, that the enemy
" made a desperate attack upon our right," and that, Crawford
was thrown forward to repel it, is to pervert history ; it is
to substitute, with forraal solemnity, fiction for fact.

214

CHAPTER X,
" General Banks was neither ordered nor expected to
attack the enemy," says Gen. Pope. " I was both ordered and
expected to attack the enemy," replies Gen. Banks. ,
Let us briefly examine the testimony. What were Gen.
Pope's purposes and plans when he sent Banks's Corps for
ward on the morning of the 9th .'' There can be no doubt that
he did not authorize or expect it to attack, single-handed, the
whole of Jackson's army. Says Pope in his Official Report of
that action, " My chief-of-staff. Gen, Roberts, whora I sent
forward early on the 9th to report to Banks and to advise
freely with hira as to operations of his corps, as well as
Banks himself, were both fully advised of ray wishes-; that
I desired Banks raerely to keep the enemy in check by
occupying a strong position in his front until the whole dis
posable force of my command should be concentrated in the
neighborhood." Gen. Pope addressed, Jan. 12, 1865, a letter to the Chair
man of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, replying
to testimony which Banks, in the absence of Pope and all
others who had any interes in denying the statements there
made, had volunteered before that committee. These ex parte
statements were made at Washington, Dec. 14, 1864.
In Gen. Pope's letter, which may be found in the second
volume of the comraittee's report, he says, " To raake sure
there could be no mistakes of my orders and intentions, at
9.30 A. M. I sent Gen. Roberts with full and precise orders
that he (Banks) should take up a strong position near where

215
Crawford's Brigade of his corps was posted, and if the enemy
advanced upon him, that he (Banks) should push his skir
mishers well to the front, and attack the enemy with thera ;
explaining fully that the object was to keep back the enemy
until Sigel's Corps and Rickett's Division could be concen
trated and brought forward to his support. Roberts was
)directed to remain with Banks untH further orders, and he
accordingly did reraain with him until I reached the field in
person just before dark.* The objects I had in view were so
plain that no raHitary raan could faH to see it. Roberts was
authorized to coramunicate them to Banks and every one else.
I conferred freely with McDoweU about it, and refer to his
Official Report in corroboration."
And again, in the same letter: "The object in sending
Banks's Corps to the front to take and hold a strong position
against the advancing enemy until Sigel's Corps and Rick
ett's Division could be united in his rear, was so plain and so
clearly understood by every man of ordinary intelligence, that
I find it impossible to believe Banks did not understand it.
It is clear to me that he did understand it."
And yet again, before the McDoweH Court of Inquiry, Pope
swears, " On the morning of August 9th, in a personal inter
view at my headquarters at Culpepper, I gave Banks instruc
tions. I told him if the enemy advanced to attack him, he
should push his skirmishers well to the front, and notify me
immediately, it being my wish to gain aH the time possible to
concentrate our forces at Culpepper Court House."
It would seem as if there could be no doubt of Pope's in
tentions : let us see if there is any doubt that he communi
cated them to Banks,
First, we have the above verbal coraraunication frora Pope
to Banks, which, if correctly given, and it is sworn to, seeras
to raake it clear that Banks was not ordered to attack Jackson,
save with his skirmishers. * It was after dark.

216
Second, the order communicated at 9.45 in the morning
of the 9th of August by Col. Lewis Marshal, Pope's adjutant-
general, and reduced to writing by Major L. H. Pelouse,
Banks's adjutant-general. This verbal order, as given by
Banks before the committee, agrees in substance with Major
Pelouse's version comraunicated to rae under date of April 7,
1875, in reply to my letter, asking for the exact words. His
answer is as follows : — Washington, D. C, April 7, 1875.
Gen. Geo. H. Gordon,
No, 7 Court Square, Boston,
My Dear General, — In reply to yours of the 2d in.st., I will state that I have
examined my retained papers, and found a true copy of the verbal orders de
livered by Col. L. H. Marshal to Gen. Banks on the morning of the day of the
battle of Cedar Mountain, as follows : — " Culpepper, 9.45 a. m., Aug, 9, '62.
" From Col. Lewis Marshal.
" Gen. Banks to move to the front immediately, assume command of all forces
in the front, deploy his skirmishers if the enemy advances and attack him im
mediately as he approaches, and be reinforced from here."
I am, General, truly yours, L. H, Pelouse,
Though Pope denies "that he sent Banks this order, I do not
think the different version which Col. Marshal gave of it
from memory, Dec. 26, 1864, embodied in Pope's letter to the
committee, should be allowed to weigh against Major Pelouse's
statement, based as it is upon words taken as they fell from
Col. Marshal's lips when he coraraunicated it. I therefore
believe that Banks received this order from Pope.
Third, the orders communicated to Banks through Roberts,
Pope's chief-of-staff, now available to us in the form of sworn
testimony before the McDowell Court of Inquiry : —
Gen. Roberts testifies, " Early in the morning of the 9th of
August I was sent to the front of the army with directions,
when Banks should reach a position where the night before I
had posted Crawford's Brigade, that I should show to Banks

217
positions for him to take to hold the enemy in check if he
attempted to advance towards Culpepper. I had been to the
front on the 7th and 8th, and had reported to Pope my impres
sions that a large force of Gen. Jackson's would be at Cedar
Mountain, or near there, on the 9th. . . . Gen, Pope au
thorized me,, before going to the front, to give any orders in
his name in relation to holding the enemy there until his (Pope's)
forces could come up, to any of the officers that might be in
the field senior to rae. I understood his object was to hold
the enemy in check there that day, andnot to attack untH the
other troops of his coramand should arrive and join General
Banks." *
And again : " When I first came on the field, I met and
went to the front with him (Banks), showing him positions
where the enemy had batteries already posted, and showed
him positions which his corps should take, to their advantage,
and hold these positions, as I thought, if attacked. / then told
him that General Pope wanted him to hold the enemy in check
there until Sigel's forces could be brought up, which were
expected that day, and all his other forces united to fight Jack-
son's forces!' f
In the light of the subsequent orders from Pope, communi
cated through Gen. Roberts to Banks while on the field, can
the latter defend his interpretation of the written order,
received through Col. Marshall in Culpepper at 9.45 in the
morning, — his interpretation given to the committee, " that
he was ordered to attack Jackson's army with his corps " 1 If
that written order and Pope's verbal instructions to Banks,
and the information which a corps commander ought to have
of the intentions of the commanding general, and which the
latter says Banks did have, — if these were not enough to
instruct him as to his duty, could he not comprehend Gen.
* Testimony, Gen. B. S. Roberts, McDowell Court of Inquiry, Battle of
Cedar Mountain, p. 51.
t The italics are mine. — Author.
28

218
Roberts's orders ? I say nothing now of the exercise of that
prudence which the most inexperienced of men, intrusted
with the lives of his fellow-creatures, is bound to employ ;
I ask only. Did Banks know what he was ordered to do ?
Of this there is no doubt. The answer is plain, the proof
irrefutable. It is found in the conferences, whHe on the
field, between Banks and Roljerts, and in the subseqiient
action of Banks, and the reasons he gave for such action ; it
is found in the words that fell from Banks's lips in his sworn
testimony before the committee, when he says that " within
an hour from 9.45 A. M. (the date of the order frora Col. Mar
shall), as his troops were on the raarph, he left the head of his
column, went to Pope's headquarters, and asked him if he had
any other orders, to which he said, ' I have sent an officer
acquainted with the country, who will designate the ground
you are to hold, and wHl give you any instructions he may
deem necessary'"; and if this is not enough to show, that
Roberts was authorized to act for Pope, and that Banks was to
hold a position, and that Roberts would show him the one he
was to holdj we have the additional evidence, given by Banks
himself before the comraittee, once before quoted, that
upon his arrival at the field he " (I) saw Gen. Roberts, told
him General Pope said he would indicate the line I was to
occupy. Said he, 'I have been over this ground thoroughly,
and I believe this line [meaning the one which Crawford's
Brigade then held] is the best that can be taken.' I con
curred with him, and placed ray command of about 6,000 men
there." Can any one doubt what would have been Banks's reply at
that time to the question, "Are you ordered, sir, to advance
your whole line frora this position and attack the enemy.-'"
Would it not have been, " No, sir ; ray orders, reduced to writ
ing from Gen. Pope through Col. MarshaH, are to attack the
enemy with my skirmishers, if he advances, and send for
reinforcements. These orders were repeated to me by Gen.

219
Pope an hour later in a personal interview at his headquarters,
in which, after telling me of his desire to concentrate his forces
before fighting, he said he had sent an officer to designate the
ground I ara to hold, and also to give me instructions ; and
this line where I am now stationed has been designated by
Gen. Pope's chief-of-staff as the one I am to, hold " ?
If, then, after his attack and defeat, at the time I addressed
Pope in Banks's presence with " This battle should not have
been fought, sir," Banks had attempted to defend himself,
what would he have uttered ? Could he have replied, " I was
to obey General Roberts, your chief-of-staff. General Pope !
and he ordered rae to leave ray strong position and attack the
eneray " }
Turning to the sworn testimony of Gen. Roberts, given
before the McDowell Court of Inquiry, we find the following
as his answer to this question from the court : —
" Question. Was the battle of Cedar Mountain brought on
by Banks or the enemy }
"Answer, In the early part of the day the artillery battle
was brought on by the enemy's batteries opening from new
positions on Crawford's artillery. I had been directed by
Gen. Pope to send information to him hourly of what was
going on, and I had expressed my opinion about three o'clock
in the afternoon to Banks that Jackson had arrived. The
forces were very large. Gen. Banks expressed a different
opinion, saying that he thought he should attack the batteries
before night, I stated to Banks then my reasons for believing '
that an attack would be dangerous, that I was convinced that
the batteries on Cedar or Slaughter Mountains were supported
by heavy forces of infantry massed in the woods. He expressed
a different opinion ; he told me he believed he could carry the
field ; his men were in the best fighting condition and that he
should undertake it.
" Question. Why did Banks advance to make a division
movement upon the enemy, without aid of McDowell's troops .?

220
"Answer. After Banks was in position I went to the
extreme right (position of Gordon's Brigade), and was gone
an hour or raore. On returning I found Banks had advanced
his lines in order of battle considerably towards the enemy,
so that very sharp rausketry firing had already commenced.
It was about 3.30 p. m. I expressed my opinion that the
enemy was in very large force, and massed in the woods on
his right. Banks replied that he did not believe the enemy
was in any considerable force yet, and said he had resolved
to attack their batteries or to attack their main force. It was
either one or the other. I imraediately sent a dispatch to
Gen. Pope (I think my dispatch was dated 4.30 p. m.), telling
him that a general battle would be fought before night, and
that it was of the utmost importance, in my opinion, that Gen.
McDowell's Corps should be at once sent to the field."
With such testimony of the instructions given by Roberts
to Banks on the field, surely Pope would have replied,
" General Roberts gave you no order to attack, but on the
contrary endeavored to dissuade you frora so doing."
"Well, sir," Banks might have retorted, in the language
used by him before the committee, " General Roberts, when
he indicated the position, said to rae, in a tone that was
hardly proper for one officer to use to another, 'There raust
be no backing out this day.' He said this to rae from six
to twelve times. I raade no reply to hira at aH, but I felt
it keenly, because I knew that my command did not want to
back out. We had backed out enough. He repeated this
declaration a great raany times, — 'There must be no back
ing out this day.' At the crisis of the battle he left."
Had Gen. Pope then asked, " Did you think this justified
you in disobeying ray orders 1 "
" I was a- little desperate, because I supposed that General
Pope thought we did not want to fight," Banks swore before
the committee, and might, therefore, have returned it for an
answer.

221
And had Pope continued, " Did you think your desperation
justified you in precipitating a force, which you number as
6,000, upon an enemy whose strength you now affirm to have
been 23,000, when, by waiting a few hours, I could have
brought up a fresh corps and a division to your aid .' "
" I did n't know the enemy was in force, and I sent to you
(Pope) every hour information of what was transpiring," Banks
swore before the comraittee, and might, therefore, have replied.
Gen. Pope,'s retort, in this attempt to put the responsibility
of Banks's conduct upon him, maybe found in , his Official
Report, as follows : —
" He (Banks) was in easy communication with me all day,
and all day I received regular reports from him, and he on
every occasion expressed the belief that the eneray did not
intend to attack him, and he at no time intimated to me that
he intended to attack the enemy. At no time did he ask for
reinforcements, nor intimate that he needed them. , His last
report, at 4.50 p. m., announced the artillery firing, that shots
were exchanged by skirmishers, and that, at 5 p. m., opposing
skirmishers were now approaching each other.* This was the
last despatch from Banks, and before I received it I was half
way to the field with Rickett's Division, believing, frora rapid
artiHery firing, that an engagement was going on or might be
brought on."
What excuse, then, is left for Banks .'' This is what he offers,
— all there is to offer ; and it only adds to our heavy grief
(without justifying him), that either to add the warrior's to the
politician's fame, or to retrieve at Cedar Mountain what, in
his ignorance. Banks fancied he had lost at Winchester, such
sacrifices should have been made.
A writer, once on Banks's staff,! echoes him in these
words : " There was another motive underlying and probably
controHing Banks's judgment : neither he nor the troops under
* See ante.
t Strother, in Harper's Monthly for August, 1867.

222
his coramand were at all satisfied with the verdict of an exact
ing and ungenerous public upon the actions in the valley of the
Shenandoah; they felt the injustice of that judgment, which,
without regard to circumstances or contingencies, accepted
success as the only test of merit, and were burning for an
opportunity to wipe away unmerited opprobrium. They were,
consequently, in no mood to discuss discretionary forms or
prudential suggestions, and upon the first explicit order to
attack they burst upon the foe with a valor so splendid and
devoted that cavHHng criticism is silenced in admiration, and
History will mark the day of Cedar Mountain as one of the
proudest upon her Hlustrious record." In Banks's words to
the committee, "Our' troops never fought better; they had
been retreating up to that time and panted for a fight. Alex
ander's troops never fought better."
In these lines, all but praise for the fighting is balderdash
and nonsense. But one of the five brigades constituting
Banks's Corps at Cedar Mountain, and a part of another,
composed the force that fought against the overwhelming
numbers of the enemy in the valley of the Shenandoah.
Our conduct in that fight everywhere met, as it merited, pub
lic approbation. The troops, therefore, that were with Banks
did not " burn to wipe away unmerited opprobrium," But did
Banks burn for fame, and did he seek, by throwing his troops
against the bayonets of Jackson's army at Cedar Mountain,
to wipe out an opprobrium which, he imagined his friends
might feel for ^ him because h'e did not achieve impossibHities
at Winchester .' This is ranch more probable. AH of this
rubbish, as well as Banks's defence for fighting this battle, was
an afterthought. Banks was ignorant of the numbers of the
enemy in his front ; he hoped to win, but he lost ; then he set
about finding excuses, and they are such that it had been
better for hira to have been irapaled on the " bayonets of his
eneraies," than to have subraitted them to the world.
Says Pope, " I regret that Banks thought it expedient to

223
depart from my instructions. He left the strong position
which he had taken up, and advanced two miles to assault the
eneray, believing they were not in considerable force, and
that he would be able to crush their advance before their
raain body could come up. He accordingly threw forward his
whole corps into action against superior forces of the enemy,
strongly posted and sheltered by woods and ridges. His
advance led "him over the open ground, which was every
where swept by the fire of the enemy concealed in woods and
ravines beyond." *
On the 13th of August, only four days'after the action. Gen.
Pope telegraphed to HaHeck precisely what is stated in this
quotation from the former's Official Report, and this. Pope says,
" Banks must have seen, for it was published in aH' the news
papers ; and now," adds Pope, " at the end of two years, while
he is on leave of absence. Gen. Banks procures himself and
one or two of his staff-officers, to be taken before your com
raittee in relation to verbal orders which he says he received
early in the raorning of the 9th of August, 1862, before his
corps had ever gone to the front. He seems to have inter
preted this alleged order in the light of afterthought, with
out alluding to other orders received. ... I leave your
comraittee to characterize such transaction as it raerits." f
And again says Pope in the same letter, " Banks's interpreta
tion of my orders is an afterthought, ingenious, but not cred
itable to his judgment, is. absurd, and on its face is a contra
diction, and requires strong personal motives to understand it
as Banks says he did." This is in reply to Banks's testimony,
in which he says, " This battle was fought under orders. I
am sorry Gen. Pope says it was not."
There can be no other conclusion in 'disinterested minds,
than that Banks, knowing he was not ordered to attack, ran
the risk, hoping for a victory, which he beheved would silence
* Pope's Official Report.
t Pope's letter to Chairman of Committee, Jan. 12, 1865.

224
criticism. As he faHed, he has endeavored to impute to others
the fault which belongs to him.
One word more may be added to the manner in which
Banks fought that battle, — " his remarkable arrangement,"
as Pope calls it. To enlighten the committee upon this
point. Gen. Pope wished a number of officers to be caHed,
whose names he gives, my own among the number. My
testimony is found in these pages. Others "have spoken.
Says Strother in his " Recollections of a "Virginia Campaign,"
before referred to : "A Confederate officer said to me, 'Your
attack under the circumstances was rash and meaningless.' "
And again, " With his feeble column," * says the same
writer, " Banks advanced upon an eneray 25,000 strong, judi
ciously posted, and assailed him with a fury which, for a
brief moment, seemed about to triumph over all odds and
advantages, but which, without support or reserves, presently
expended itself and fell back frora the unequal contest ex
hausted and irapotent."
Says an officer f of the Tenth Maine, in his history of that
regiment at Cedar Mountain, " The fact still remains, that it
was a shockingly mismanaged battle, and every man of us
knows now, what Gen. Gordon and Col. Beals believed then,
that the woods was our best position. The eneray poured
regiment after regiraent upon our lines. Gen. Banks evi
dently had no idea of the immense number of rebels in his
front. They had a continuous line frora the road up to Gor
don's right, which they overlapped so far that it would seem
as if Pender's (rebel) Brigade was out of musket-range."
As further evidence of Banks's ignorance of the field, the
forces, and the management of his troops, we find in Gen.
Pope's letter to the comraittee, that when he was hastening to
the field, " supposing of course that the enemy had attacked
* Officially stated at 7,500 men of all arms, of which infantry and artillery num
bered only 6,289.
t Major Gould.

225
Banks, and that he was stHl holding his position, I received,
when near the field, word frora him that he was driving the
enemy, which information I at once comraunicated to Rick
ett's Division." Instead of a victorious Banks, Pope found a
thoroughly whipped and beaten corps, — not demoralized, it is
true : no route, no panic. " Sullen and defiant they retired,"
says Strother, " leaving nothing on the field but their dead, the
graver cases of wounded, a couple of empty caissons, of which
the horses had been kiHed, and a 'disabled gun spiked and
overthrown," Of the engagement. Pope says in his Official Report, " Not
withstanding these disadvantages [all the mistakes enumer
ated in this paper, that means] his (Banks's) corps gallantly
responded to his orders, and assailed the enemy with great
fury and determination. The action lasted about an hour
and a half, and during that tirae our forces suffered heavy
loss,* and were gradually driven back to their former position,
at which point Ricketts came up." And again, " The Massachu
setts t regiraents behaved with especial gallantry, and although
I regret that Banks thought it expedient to depart from my
instructions, it gives me pleasure to bear testimony to his
gallant and intrepid conduct." And again, " Williams, Geary,
Augur, Caroll, Gordon, Crawford, and Green behaved with
distinguished gallantry."
It 'may be asked why, after the severe language we have
quoted from Pope, upon Banks's disobedience of his orders,
there should have been so much mildness about it in Pope's
first despatches to Halleck and in the former's Official Report
upon this subject. Pope has answered the question, in his
letter to the committee, saying, " I endeavored in my Official
Report to avoid the censure justly chargeable upon Banks for
his management of that battle, though I was warned at the
* Officially given as i,66i killed and wounded, and 732 missing, — total, 2,393.
Enemy, 1,300 killed and wounded. ,
t There was but one, the Second.
29

226
tirae, by officers of high rank, that it was misplaced gener
osity, and that my forbearance would assuredly be used
against me therefor. I did not beheve it possible, and felt
disposed to deal with Banks with the utmost tenderness " ;
. . . but frora the course he has pursued, it is now due
that the whole subject should be fully and fairly presented
to the country, and the measure of praise or censure be cor
rectly fixed upon the parties concerned."
To give Banks all the measure of praise we can, I am willing
to admit to this paper the following from Crawford,* in his
attempt to defend Banks against Pope : " My positive orders
were, when ordered out of Culpepper on the 8th, to resist
the approach of the enemy at all hazards, and this with one
brigade of infantry, two batteries, and Bayard's cavalry." It
is apparent that this order does not justify Banks dirfectly
nor inferentially : for on the 8th, Jackson's army was not at
Cedar Mountain ; on the 8th, Banks had not gone to the front
with orders to hold a position and be reinforced if attacked,
nor had Roberts, as Pope's chief-of-staff, imparted to Banks
the instructions given to him on the gth. That Crawford,
who says he was to resist the approach of the eneray on the
8th, should think and urge that Banks was therefore justified
on the 9th in assuraing the offensive, and attacking an eneray
whom he believed not to be in full force, contrary to the
expectations of the commander-in-chief, who had ordered him
to act on the defensive and hold the enemy in check untH the
army could be concentrated, will not occasion coraraent or cre
ate surprise araong the survivors of the Array of the Potomac,
The battle of Cedar Mountain was quickly known to the
public through correspondents from the field, through private
letters and Pope's despatches. Everywhere there was praise
for the fighting, and it was deserved. As was to be expected,
a few newspaper-generals puffed theraselves at the expense of
others. Banks, as usual, sought salvation through condemna-
* Letter from Cravrford to Major Gould, in Tenth Maine in the War,

227
tion. Conceive my astonishment at the announcement in our
first paper from the North, that " Gen. Banks attributed his
loss of the battle, of Cedar Mountain to Gen. Gordon's faHure
to obey his orders." The moment I saw this article I carried
it to Banks's headquarters.
" General Banks, I do not know that you are responsible
for this : newspaper correspondents publish much that is not
authentic. Did you authorize it ? " handing him the paper.
Banks looked at the paper, and returned it, remarking,
" 'T is true, sir, I did say I thought you were late in getting
into action at Cedar Mountain."
" Ah ! did you .'' I ara very glad, then, that this has becorae
known to rae now, whHe the evidence is at hand to show the
absolute falseness of such a charge. Will you reraain in your
room, sir, for fifteen minutes .' "
" I will," repUed Banks.
Galloping rapidly to the headquarters of Gen. Williaras, I
greeted him with a brief extract from my conversation with
Banks, the purport of which was that the latter accused me of
not moving into the fight when ordered.
" Did he say that ? " asked WilHams.
" He did."
"Why  , * you ran into the fight the moraent you
received the order," uttered Williams in a breath.
" I know it," I responded.
" I waved ray handkerchief," continued WiHiaras, " and at
the same time told Pittman to gaHop to you with the order to
move forward and support Crawford."
" I know it, and I was ready, and raoved .instantly at the
double-quick ; and that is what I want you to go and tell
Banks," I replied,
" I '11 send Pittman," answered WHliams.
" I prefer you should go," I urged. " It was your order I
obeyed." * This dash will be understood by those who know Williams.

228
But WiHiams for some reason or other did not seem to wish
to meet Banks upon this subject, and ended the matter by
calling Pittman, and directing him to return with me and tell
Banks what he saw.
With Pittman, I again sought Banks, whom I addressed as
follows : —
"General Banks, I have seen General Williams, who, as
division commander, gave me the order to move my brigade
to Crawford's support. General WiHiams knows and acknowl
edges that I obeyed the instant I received the order ; he saw
me run my troops into the fight ; and he prefers, instead of
coming himself to tell you this, to send Captain Pittman, his
aid, who has all the information that he has."
"Yes!" said the Captain; "General Banks, I carried
General Gordon the order to move forward his brigade into
action. He moved instantly on the double-quick ; when I
returned to Gen. WiHiams I said, See how quick General
Gordon has got into the fight."*
" I ara very glad to hear it," was Banks's reply.
" Then, sir," I said, " I presume you wiH correct the false
mpression you have given,"
Banks muttered that he would ; at least such ' was my
understanding as I left him.
But not only did Banks faH to correct, then what he knew
to be false, but he has repeated the untruth, until impressed
upon some of his foHowers, they too have spread the report.
Even Crawford has repeated it, in a letter in Gould's " His
tory of the Tenth Maine," but with added blunders and mis
statements. ,
If 1 repeat here what will be found in another part of
this paper, namely, that my command moved to support
Crawford the instant the order was given, it being then in
perfect readiness ; that human effort could not have trans-
* I presume by the time Pittman had returned to Williams, I must have disap
peared in the woods skirting the wheat-field. My men arrived there quite blown.

229
feri-ed it with more celerity to the edge of the field, across
which and on our fiank thare was a larger force than was
assaHed by the regiraents of Crawford's Brigade ; that some
hundreds of yards before I got to this field, the assault I was
to support had faHed, and the assaulting troops were retiring
far to my left ; that I picked up the broken corapanies of my
Third Wisconsin Regiment, who had been in the assault, and
carried them again into the fight ; and finally that Crawford
(who complains that I did not support him) was found and
raarked by rae as being alone in the woods quite a distance
from the front, to which we were hastening, while the single
regiraent of his own brigade, that Banks had sent against
Jackson's reserves, after manfully fighting in the open field,
was about retiring into the woods : if I repeat this again here
and in this connection, it is that I may chaHenge proof to the
contrary. There is a mystery, which perhaps- Gen. Williams can
explain. I was to support Crawford when WiHiams gave me
the signal, and WHliams did not give me the signal until the
assault had been made and repulsed ; but had it been other
wise, we now see that the two small regiments and four com
panies I should have added to the assaulting coluran would
have been nothing to the six brigades of the eneray in reserve
— could not have given us the victory; and that Banks knows
now : possibly Crawford understands it.
The fight we made against the overpowering numbers of the
eneray was far more useful to Pope's army in the events that
foHowed the night than had we been ordered up in time, to
dash ourselves, with Crawford's Brigade, uselessly against
those, of Winder's and Hill's Division. This is the first time
I have publicly noticed this accusation by Banks : and should
not now (believing it unworthy of notice) but for the part it
bears in our history. In dismissing it, I should add that Banks
affirms that he sent me " half a dozen times" an order to move
to support Crawford. In his behalf I think it should be stated

230
that Gen. Banks honestly thinks that if he sent me such orders,
I am entirely responsible whether I received them or not. Did
he send them .? . I challenge him to name a person other than
Gen. WUliams's aid, who brought me an order to move to
Crawford's support on the 9th of August, 1862, It cannot be
done, it never has been ; and the accusation of not moving
when ordered, finally substituted " for not moving quickly as
first reported, raust be regarded as an unworthy effort to
escape raerited censure. And in Crawford's behalf, there
should be urged in extenuation his inexperience in the duties
of a general officer.*
In conclusion, there can be among intelligent men, araong
fair-minded men, but one opinion ofthe disaster, of -the crime
of Cedar Mountain. Censure and condemnation must fall
upon the commander who, in the presence of all that trans
pired in his front from the morning of the 9th of August
until his final fatal assault upon the enemy, made that assault,
with the knowledge that in his rear, a distance of less than
three miles, there was a whole division of troops, resting
leisurely by the road-side, that he could have for the ask
ing ; and if that was not enough, a corps, that had probably
found the road to Culpepper, could be added. When Banks,
with this knowledge, plunged into that abyss of horrors with
out calling for these reinforceraents, he committed a blunder
that even a politician might shudder at, — a crime that he
cannot transfer' to Pope.
On the nth of August we returned to the sarae spot, near
Culpepper, from whence, on the 9th, we went out to fight the
battle of Cedar Mountain, After a few days (on the 14th),
my brigade, with reduced numbers, moved out of Culpepper,
* Crawford, who a short time before the war was a physician from Pennsylvania,
happened to be attached to the garrison that occupied Fort Sumter during the
bombardment. Though a non-combatant, Dr. Crawford became somewhat
notori-jus, at a period when an excited public placed a false value upon every
exposure, however involuntary, in defence of the flag. This accident, however,
gave success to Crawford's efforts for a brigadier-general's appointment.

231
hurrying to confront the march of Lee's victorious army.
From the Peninsula and frora North Carolina new divisions
and corps were raarching to our aid. The rausic of the
band of the Second echoed as gayly through the streets,
as we turned our backs on the town, as if no lives had
been extinguished in our regiment, and no grief pressed
heavily on our hearts. We marched onward to Alexandria,
to the grave of the Army of Virginia.
I have endeavored to portray to you, frora my own notes
written on the field, from my own memory of what I saw and.
did, from contemporaneous papers and from official reports
the facts that make up the battle of Cedar Mountain. In
carefully and candidly dealiflg with all these facts, I have so
endeavored to enlighten you, as I would the world, upon the
matters herein set forth, that truth, which is said to be
mighty, shall at last prevail.