The Valley campaigns, being the reminiscences of a non-combatant while between the lines in the Shenandoah Valley during the war of the states

Front matter

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The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library.

Preface

In this book the author has attempted to tell a story of the Civil War as related by one who was an eye-witness of the facts. The story is told from the standpoint of a boy, who here gives observations and relates experiences that are not usually recounted by the historian.

The incidents connected with the story are located almost entirely in the Valley of Virginia, — a region that was a picturesque and important theater of military operations during the four years of strife, and that suffered as much from the effects of the war as any section of the South. The trials, sufferings, and privations of the people who remained at home and were non-combatants are presented in this chronicle; as frankly and as truthfully as possible; for the author has tried to be correct in every statement that he has made, and just in every opinion he has expressed and in every criticism he has advanced.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

Preface 7

I The Institution of Slavery . . 11

II

— indeed, no more responsible than he was for the shape of his head or color of his hair. The ownership of slaves involved, as a general rule, as little discomfort as the ownership of domestic animals; and the owner of slaves was consciously no more unkind to these human beings than he was to his horse and dog, which he often valued with a strong affection.

My childhood recollection of the negro slave is associated with many happy incidents, and my relations to him were most cordial and affectionate. With the young negroes of my age I often played and romped; I often worked with them in their easy duties around my home, and at all times found them companionable and respectful. There was a courtesy and kindness between us which was never abused. Negroes owned by the well-to-do and cultured classes of people were, as a rule, handed down by inheritance from parents to children through succeeding generations; and thus, through their long line of connection with these old families, they enjoyed better training in domestic service and were more intelligent and moral than the average negro of the present time.

The good and bad influences that surrounded the slave were more fully illustrated by the character of the owner than by the slave's own disposition. In his natural temperament the negro is usually a happy, indolent, and frivolous character.

THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY 13

fond of his ease, his pleasures, and his appetites. He is easily influenced to do good and as easily led astray by bad associations. He responds readily to kind and generous treatment, and rebels with sullen and concealed passion against unkind and harsh authority, and his resentment is often expressed with violence; hence it was that the slave was alienated from his master, and the master became unjust and unkind to his slave.

Where slaves were owned in large numbers by one individual his rights were often disregarded. He was dealt with as a piece of personal property not much better than the live stock on the plantation. It was this condition that brought odium upon the institution of slavery, All human rights were imperiled by a system that regarded human flesh as an article of barter and trade, — a system that degraded the manhood and humanity of both master and slave. The people who viewed slavery from the distance, who knew but little of its humane and civilizing influences over the negro as a race, took isolated and unusual examples for universal conditions.

In the violence of prejudice and emotion, manufactured by false evidence, the people of the North arraigned the slaveowner as an inhuman tyrant. Totally disregarding his property interests, his constitutional rights, and his just desire to free slavery of its worst forms of servitude, the remote, uninformed Northerner held up the slaveowner before the civilized world as the enemy of a lowly and servile race. No credit was given him for the service he was rendering the negro race through the gradual influences of civilization. The world forgot that the negro had been introduced into this country in a semicivilized or barbarous condition. Uncultured and unskilled, ignorant both of human and divine law, a victim of the lowest forms of superstition, vice, and evil passion, the negro had, by the institution of slavery, — despite all its bad features, — ^been raised to a plane of usefulness, of domestic service, and of happy contentment unknown to him in his natural home.

The negro under slavery was far from being unhappy and discontented. He was, to the contrary, free from care and responsibility. He was well fed, well clothed, well cared for in sickness and in old age. His hardships were usually of his own making, brought on by vice and intemperance, or by his bad temper and unruly disposition. He had it in his power to win the confidence and esteem of his master without absolute servitude or humiliation of spirit. The pride of the negro under slavery was no more debased than that of the child under parental authority. Children have been held in bondage by their parents, and negroes have been treated with cruelty by their masters, as have prisoners of war and inmates of

THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY 15

penal institutions. The ill-treated slave, however, was the exception and not the rule among civilized people. The abuses of slavery were greatly exaggerated by persons who would not see its humane and civilizing influences. Whether the negro in this country has been made better or worse by his emancipation time must show. Had the negro been left in Africa he would have been on a level with his race in that country to-day. There, centuries of isolation have left him a barbarian. Even under the influence of civilization he has developed neither originality nor constructive ability. His administrative talents are of a very low order, hence he has never been able to exercise authority with discretion or skill. Nature has granted him one preeminent gift. He is fitted for domestic service, in which field of usefulness he has become a most efficient and faithful servant.^

Now when it is borne in mind that the responsibility for the introduction of slavery into this country lay as much with the people of the North as with the people of the South, and that the North had prospered as much by the importation and sale of the negro to the slaveowner as

iThe author admits that the idea of ownership of human beings is opposed by the better instincts of our humanity. It was this sentiment that led to the overthrow of an institution that did much to civilize and improve a race so low in the scale as to be classed as barbarians.

the owner had prospered by the negro's service as a laborer in the house and in the field, it can be fully understood how resentment and passion had been kindled in the mind of the slaveowning class against the antislavery agitator in the North. A controversy, beginning almost with the formation of the Federal Union, had grown from decade to decade, with increasing violence. Section had been arrayed against section, until a divided Union was threatened from year to year. It was becoming more and more apparent that the nation could not exist half slave and half free. The question was whether slavery should be abolished or the nation be split asunder. The solution of so grave a question could be determined in only one way. When reason ceases to guide the minds and hearts of a people anarchy is the result, — anarchy, in open protest against unrighteous and dangerous authority.

Chapter II The John Brown Insurrection And Its Effects

My recollections of my early school days are crowded with many incidents of historic interest. It was when I was about eleven years old that the John Brown Insurrection at Harper's Ferry took place. As our village — Front Royal — was less than fifty miles distant from the seat of the insurrection our people were thrown into a state of great excitement. The attempt made by John Brown to arouse the negro and create race antagonism was regarded as a cruel, premeditated assault upon the institution of slavery, — an assault supported by an antislavery sentiment in the North. John Brown and his few associates were regarded as weak and deluded fanatics, harmless in themselves, but representatives of a sect that would stop at no act short of governmental interference. Their whole purpose was regarded by our people as the first step in the direction of an armed assault upon slavery, as a violation of Constitutional rights, and a cruel manoeuver to create distrust and animosity in the mind of the negro toward his master. f

The effect of the John Brown Insurrection is a matter of history. It is not necessary here to relate the results that in a few years followed the Harper's Ferry incident. I wish to show in a brief way the influence it had over the negroes of our community and over the minds of our people. I venture to assert that the institution of slavery, as it existed in our section of Virginia, was based upon as high moral and ethical standards as were possible in a slaveowning community.

Our negro population was about one-half as large as our white population. The negroes were owned largely by our wealthiest and best people. The relations between master and servant were, as a rule, most friendly and cordial. The servant was most obedient and respectful to his master and yielded an affectionate and loyal obedience, simple, childlike, and faithful, while the master's regard for the servant was kind, thoughtful, and often parental. His interest in the slave was not so much one of property as of guardianship and responsibility. The negro had come to him by inheritance, — had been handed down from parent to child for some three or four generations, and there had grown up around this birthright a feeling of growing anxiety and concern for the negro which invested slaveownership with high moral considerations and conscientious convictions. There was an undercurrent of anti-

JOHN BROWN INSURRECTION 19

slavery sentiment among our slaveowners that would have had a wide expression, if a doorway could have been opened for a gradual emancipation. The interests of the slave, his equipment for the right of freedom, his moral and civil position in a slaveowning community, all called for the most, careful thought and consideration. It seemed that neither the time nor the conditions were favorable for a general emancipation, even in our community, and far less so in other communities, where the negro population was large, where the intelligence of the negro was low, and where large industrial interests were involved. With these general views our people rested under a deep sense of responsibility; and they felt that it devolved upon them to adjust a domestic situation and a Constitutional right, without coercion from a section of the country that had no practical experience with slavery, understood none of the conditions involved in the ownership of the negro, and the people of which were moved by fanaticism and political interests in their attempts to destroy the institution.

It was but natural that a people whose moral and legal rights were assailed, should have been aroused to a high sense of indignation by the John Brown Insurrection. The effect was immediate. The slaveowner became resentful and grew determined in his efforts to resist the wrongs that he felt were being heaped on him. He resolved to defend his Constitutional rights with blood and treasure, if necessary. The spirit of rebellion and of secession had their origin in these passions that were kindled in every Southern heart.

The effect of the Brown Insurrection upon the negroes of our community was but transient. A few slaves were moved by the hope of freedom to become restless and turbulent. In a few instances there was a slight degree of insubordination. The worst effect, however, was a feeling of distrust that arose between master and slave, weakening the warm attachment that had previously existed. When the master began to doubt the loyalty of his slave and the slave began to doubt the kindness and confidence of his master a mutual distrust began to express itself. I can recall but one or two open expressions of this distrust, and they were of a trivial character. A few of the more restless of the younger negroes showed a disposition to leave their homes after night and to meet in unfrequented places where, not infrequently, they drank and gambled.

To break up this growing habit of meeting, the young white men of our neighborhood organized a patrol, and at night they visited different places where watches were kept. After the arrest of a few negroes who were away from home without

JOHN BROWN INSURRECTION 21

permission, the negroes soon gave up their night wanderings and remained at home.

The excitement growing out of the John Brown incident soon subsided; but the effect upon our people was made evident in other directions. In our community it was generally believed that the Brown Insurrection was the beginning of more serious political complications, — that secession and civil war would soon be the final solution of the conditions that confronted the slaveowning States.

The principal of the school I attended had received a military education, and soon after the John Brown affair he organized a military company made up of the young men of the county. An armory was secured, and arms and uniforms were provided for the members. Regular drills were held once or twice a week until the company soon became well organized and drilled. These young men and boys of sixteen years of age were being prepared in the lessons of school and in training for military service. We will see that within a year or two they were enlisted in the army of the Confederacy and not a few of them gave up their lives in the service of their State.

These days at school were exciting times for a boy of my age, though I was too young to realize the signs of the times and the results that would soon influence my future life.

The disturbances growing out of the John Brown affair had scarcely subsided before the canvass for the Presidential contest was begun. The three political parties, — Democratic, Whig, and Republican, — soon met in convention and nominated their respective leaders. The Democratic party, split in twain, had two sets of candidates in the field, — Breckinridge and Lane, and Douglas and Johnson, — representing the two factions. Bell and Everit were the nominees of the Whig party, and Lincoln and Hamlin were the nominees of the new Republican party.

Since the Republican party was the avowed enemy of slavery, it was regarded by our people with great alarm and hatred.

The political contest in our section narrowed down to the two factions, — Breckinridge and Lane, and Bell and Everit. My county was largely Democratic, and the sentiment ran strong for that ticket. This sentiment in our school was shown by the number of Democratic badges worn by the boys and a few of the girls. There were a few Whig badges worn by the pupils, one Douglas and Johnson badge, but there was not a single representative of the Republican ticket.

The excitement ran high until the results of the election were made known. When the election of the Republican candidate was announced our people were seized with anxiety and alarm. It was

JOHN BROWN INSURRECTION 23

openly predicted that secession and civil war were inevitable. The political leaders and men of influence in our county at once determined to prepare for the struggle. The military company, previously referred to, began to enlist new members, to get new uniforms and arms, to hold drills and to make every preparation for an active service when it should be called out.

Chapter III

VIRGINIA SECEDES. THE WAR BEGINS

Several months passed before Lincoln and Hamlin were inaugurated. During that time the political feeling was intense. Candidates were brought out for election to a State convention, which was to decide upon the question of the secession of Virginia from the Federal Government. South Carolina and other cotton States had already withdrawn from the Union, and the Confederate Government had been organized, with Mr. Davis as President. The people of Virginia hesitated, deliberating long upon a line of action that would separate her from the Union. My county had elected to the convention a candidate who was committed to secession. In the contest between the two candidates for and against secession, the anti-secession candidate received only two votes, — votes cast by two of our oldest and most respected citizens, men of high intelligence and undoubted patriotism, who held that Virginia should maintain a neutral position and endeavor to check the extreme views held by the North and the South.

This doctrine was soon found to be imprac- 24

VIRGINIA SECEDES 25

ticable; for when Mr. Lincoln called upon the States for troops to suppress the States that had seceded from the Union, Virginia cast her lot with her sister slave States and by vote in convention withdrew from the Union. This act at once put the State upon the defensive and the Civil War was inaugurated.

At that time our village had no communication by wire with the outside world and the announcement of the action of the convention did not reach our community until early in the morning of the following day. The message' was brought by a locomotive that reached the village before sunrise. Well do I remember the long and plaintive whistle of the engine as it roused us from slumber, stirring alarm in every breast. Its approach to the village at this unusual hour was an admonition of the message it bore, — a message from the Governor of Virginia announcing the secession of the State and ordering the captain of the military company to assemble his men with utmost rapidity and proceed at once to Harper's Ferry. Messages were sent out to the homes of the members of the company to meet in the village for immediate service. By ten o'clock all the men, armed and in uniform, were ready to march to the seat of war. Wagons, carriages, and other vehicles were got together to carry these boys to the front at Harper's Ferry, the objective point of military operations. This place was selected as it was located on the northern border of the State line and contained a large arsenal and military stores belonging to the Federal Government.

The assembling of the company, the preparation for leaving home, and the parting with friends and loved ones made a scene which can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. Many of the boys were in high glee, for they regarded the incident as a mere outing for pleasure. Very few realized that some of them were leaving home for the last time and were entering upon a war which would try men's souls, bring infinite sorrow to their dear ones, and disaster on themselves.

In the company that left our village on the morning of April 20, 1861, were ten of my schoolmates, ranging in age from 16 to 20 years. With drum and fife to inspire them, they formed in ranks and marched in column to the suburbs.

Our older citizens, especially those who had sons and relatives in the company, took a more gloomy view of the situation; but few realized that a war of subjugation was being inaugurated by the Federal Government, and that the entire South would become the seat of a civil war which would have few parallels in the history of modern times.

Our people were animated by hope, courage, and patriotism, and they resolved in the beginning

VIRGINIA SECEDES 27

of the struggle to expend every resource in the defense of their institutions and liberties. There was no hesitation in this resolution. They rose en masse to meet a situation that confronted them, and, fired with zeal, they willingly submitted their cause to the God of battle.

These were exciting times that tested to the utmost the spirit of heroism and fortitude. No people ever entered upon a civil war with greater confidence. It was believed that it would be a war of invasion and of attempted subjugation, that every resource of the Federal Government would be used to destroy the institution of slavery, and to force the seceding States back into the Union. Our people fully realized they were outnumbered as to men and greatly overbalanced as to resources, but they relied upon the justice of their cause and upon the courage and patriotism of the entire South to make up for the odds against them.

As Virginia was a border State between the North and the South it was evident that her territory would become the first seat of military operations and that the lines of attack and defense would be drawn along her northern borders. Troops were therefore sent to the front as soon as they could be mustered in. The Governor of Virginia, acting under the authority and will of the people, called all the volunteer militia into active service and at once made a call upon the citizens of the State for new volunteers. All the able-bodied men in the State between the ages of 18 and 45 years were asked to enlist in service.

In my county an infantry company and one cavalry were raised within a few months and were enrolled into service. Volunteers poured in in large numbers and the two companies were organized, officered, and equipped with uniforms and arms. These two companies went into camp near the village, where they were drilled and disciplined under strict military regulations. As many of these men were unable to furnish their own horses and uniforms the county authorities authorized an appropriation from the Treasury of sufficient money to feed and clothe these volunteers. The gray cloth suitable for uniforms was not to be had in our county. My father was selected as the chairman of a committee to purchase this material. To this end he visited a large woolen mill located near Winchester and took me with him. He purchased many yards of gray cloth and gave orders for the early delivery of more.

My father and I returned home. Tailors were employed to cut out the gray cloth for the uniforms of the two companies, — which were, however, all made by the women and girls of our village, aided by some negro women who were trained to do needlework, — and in a few days the two companies appeared in their military outfit.

VIRGINIA SECEDES 29

The infantry company was sent to join the army at Manassas, where it soon performed gallant service in the first great battle of the war. In this fight four of its members were killed and some eight or ten wounded. I shall never forget the sorrow of our people when the death of these four men was announced. It was the first blood lost in battle, and brought home the solemn realization of what war meant.

As to the company of cavalry, the members were, at least, all trained horsemen and owned the best of mounts. Many of these horses had been used in tournaments, — a species of sport that was very popular with the youth of the '6o's, — or had followed the hounds, as was natural in a country where the fox was found in large numbers in the mountain recesses and caverns. Their training had therefore fitted them for cavalry service. This fact gave a great advantage to the Confederate cavalry service during the first two years of the war, and while the men of our cavalry company were well uniformed, their equipment in other respects was extremely defective. All rode the Shafter saddle with iron stirrup, carried their clothing in old-fashioned saddlebags or rolled in bundles strapped in front or behind as best they could, and were armed with old-fashioned single-barreled or double-barreled shotguns or with squirrel rifles. I doubt whether there were a dozen revolvers and cavalry sabers in the entire command, and such as there were were impossible. For example, a cousin of mine, a boy of seventeen, who was a member of this company, had an old single-barreled duelling pistol, which went off with a loud explosion, but could not carry a bullet thirty paces nor hit a barn door at the same distance. I looked on with admiration when I first saw him riding a spirited gray horse, shooting off his old pistol in order to accustom his horse to stand under fire. But the old pistol made such a loud noise that his horse bolted and ran as if his life were in danger. My cousin did not venture to fire the weapon again, and I presume that he soon consigned it to a junk pile, where it belonged ; for it was more dangerous to its owner and his horse than it could possibly have been to the enemy, who might only have been alarmed perhaps by the loud report that it made.

In spite of the character of the arms that our men had to use in the first year of the war, — and in the first engagements they were at a great disadvantage as to weapons, though their better horsemanship and dash made up for some of these defects, — it was not mai^y months before the Confederate cavalry, by capture from the enemy, was fully mounted and equipped with a complete military outfit, — using McClellan saddles, and armed with revolvers, carbines, and sabers manufactured

VIRGINIA SECEDES 31

by the Federal Government. This mode of equipment applied not only to the cavalry but, in a measure, to every branch of service. I * atter of fact that the Federal Govemme ^ plied

arms, ammunition, and military outfit not only to its own troops but also very largely to the armies of the Confederacy. As fast as captures were made the better outfit was substituted for the makeshift of the first days of the War, and, but for such success in acquiring arms, the armies of the Confederacy would have yielded much sooner to the forces against them.

Chapter IV

Although a boy of but twelve years of age at the time of my trip with my father to Winchester, I vividly recall an incident that occurred on that occasion. Among the officers and soldiers awaiting orders who filled Taylor's Hotel, where we were entertained, my father recognized Colonel Turner Ashby, whom he knew well. I shall never forget the impression I there received of that daring and variously estimated military hero.

Colonel Ashby had just dismounted from a magnificent white horse, — a noble animal, subsequently well known to the people of the Valley by his courageous death, — and was standing on the pavement in front of the hotel, holding the bridle rein. The horse was steaming with perspiration from his long travel that morning, but he stood, champing his bit, with head erect, and eyes full of spirit and fire, while his master, calm and erect, seemed absorbed in thought. My father went up to the Colonel, greeted him cordially and introduced me. He took my hand gently and spoke to me most kindly.

At this time Colonel Ashby had but recently 32 been promoted to the rank of Colonel, which promotion gave him command of all the cavalry companies assembled in the Valley. He was just entering upon a career that soon made him an heroic character in the history of the Civil War. Dressed now in Confederate gray, with gilt lace on his sleeves and collar, wearing high top-boots with spurs and a broad-brimmed black felt hat with a long black feather streaming behind, his appearance was striking and attractive. He stood about five feet eight inches in height and probably weighed from 150 to 160 pounds. He was muscular and wiry, rather thin than robust or rugged. His hair and beard were as black as a raven's wing; his eyes were soft and mahogany brown; a long, sweeping mustache concealed his mouth, and a heavy and long beard completely covered his breast. His complexion was dark in keeping with his other colorings. Altogether, he resembled the pictures I have seen of the early Crusaders, — a type unusual among the many men in the army, a type so distinctive that, once observed, it cannot soon be forgotten.

I remember that during the interview he remarked that he had ridden that morning on horseback between 30 and 40 miles, visiting outposts and camps of different companies under his command. Despite that fact, he showed no evidence of fatigue, nor did the gallant horse that bore him !

I afterward learned that it was no uncommon circumstance for him to ride 70 to 80 miles a day, using two mounts. His horses were the best to be had, and they were cared for with a most loving affection by their master. While on that visit to Winchester I heard also for the first time the name of Colonel Jackson, then in charge of the Virginia troops at Harper's Ferry. He was known at that time only as an eccentric professor who knew little of warfare beyond the drilling and disciplining of soldiers. Colonel Jackson was soon promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and given the command of the brigade that subsequently became celebrated as the Stonewall Brigade, — so named because of the title its commander won at the battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861.