Heroes and spies of the Civil war

Dedication

To the memory of my dear wife, who endured the trials and sufferings of war and the privations and poverty which followed in its wake; from whom I was parted a year at a time; whose home w^as within the enemy's lines, and in a town which changed hands more than a hundred times, often shelled and set afire ; who was often within the sound of the dull thud of artillery, showing that battles were in progress, without being able for weeks after to know whether I was dead or alive ; and who risked all kinds of exposure and danger to come to my side when I was wounded — with loving gratitude I dedicate this little book, my first work during my recovery from an illness that took me down to the border-land between life and death.

The Author.

Contents

Chapter. Page

I. The Escape, 13

11. Operations in the Valley, 29

Introduction

It has been held, and truly, that the man in whose veins are commingled the blood of the pious Puritans of New England and the chivalric Cavalier of the South is the grandest man that God ever made. No higher illustration of that truth can be found than in the lives of some of the men whose deeds of heroism are herein recorded. Some from the North and som.e from the South.

When the first gun was fired at Sumter the reverberation of its shell went around the world, proclaiming that the greatest and bravest people on earth had been rent by the question of States rights and Federal supremacy. We of the South had been educated to believe that our State was first in our hearts and first in our aft'ections and loyalty ; while our brethren of the North, equally honest, equally brave, were taught to regard the Nation and its symbol as supreme. That constituted the irrepressible conflict of which lO HEROICS AND SPIES 01? TB.t CIVIIv WAR.

Mr. Seward spoke. Never was the institution of slavery the cause of the great struggle. It was to reconcile two conflicting ideas and to fuse two antagonistic elements in the hot crucible of war, and make them one people, and the grandest people upon which the sun ever shone.

Many years ago, I remember that in riding through one of the great silent forests of cypress that fringe the banks of the Mississippi River I noticed some score of feet above the earth a white line running all through that forest for miles and miles. Below that line the trunks of those great monarchs of the forest were of one color — above that they were another. The cause, I learned, was that the turbid waters of the Mississippi, when they came down in that immense flood that knows no resisting power, had discolored those trunks. Above they were all fair; below all foul. That was the high-water mark, and we, too, in our generation have seen the high-watej: mark of passion and prejudice, of war and misery. Happily, however, all that is passed, to be seen no more. The fires in that chasm were quenched in brother's blood.

No stranger character came to the surface during the bloody strife of pur inter-state war than the one mysterious foreigner whose

INTRODUCTION. II

varied experiences are interwoven with those of the chivahic men with whom he mingled in camp, march, and field of carnage. That man played a desperate game ; one, indeed, so strange that it is hard to beHeve.

The adventures recounted and the dangerous risks incurred are all truly told, though they may seem stranger than fiction. None of which to the writer seems stranger than the fact that he was shot three times, at short range, with a rifle, and carried across the Rappahannock River for dead, and yet survives to record these strange things.

The author assumes the name of Marr in this little book, and his reason for so doing is that he might thereby avoid the too frequent use of the personal pronoun "I."

Chapter I. The Escape

One gloomy day in February, 1862, a squad of men were hovering around a fire kindled against a great old stump, which served as a good back-log or fire-back for the burning wood. The little group was clad in the rough gray in use by the Southern soldiers, and was composed of a lieutenant, a sergeant, a corporal and four private soldiers. This was a cavalry picket reserve, and to them was committed the duty of preventing the passage along the road of any and every one who might attempt to go through the lines in either direction. This road led from Winchester to Strasburg in the Valley of Virginia, and ran nearly parallel to the great Valley Turnpike, so well known as the ''Great Army Highway."

At the time of our look at this reserve station it is a little after daylight. The opera-

14 hi:roks and spies oi^ the: civiiy war.

tion of frying the bacon rations is for the moment neglected, as the sergeant calls attention to the approach of two men on horseback coming slow^ly from the direction of Winchester, where General Banks was encamped with the Union army. Lieutenant Marr took up his glass and soon observed that one of the two was of his picket post men, and that the other was dressed in blue and was evidently a "Yankee." He ordered his squad to mount and draw up along the roadside.

Soon the two came up to the lieutenant, when Private John Mason, the picket, after saluting his commanding officer, explained that the man w^ith him had come up boldly to within haiHng distance of him and his comrade, and been challenged, made to dismount and surrender, as he could not give the countersign, and that he now turned him over a prisoner. Lieutenant Marr told the prisoner to give an account of himself and why he was found so near the Southern lines.

The captive said that he wished to be sent on to the camp of Gen. Turner Ashby, and to him alone would he state the cause of his voluntary surrender to the picket guard.

As the man was evidently perfectly cool and self-possessed, and would not talk for the enlightenment of the lieutenant, he was or-

THE KSCArE. 15-

dered to dismount from his fine roan horse and to give up any weapons he might have. To the surprise of the squad, he handed over not only a fine sabre, but from the ample breast of his overcoat a pair of beautiful ivory-handled, silver-plated revolvers, that made the eyes as Avell as the mouths of the men water. Finding that though he was not compelled to talk, yet that he must make a complete showing of all his worldly belongings, he took fromi the roll behind his saddle a large package containing medicines and surgical instruments, which he asked to be allowed to turn over to General Ashby; and followed up his request by the offer of his canteen of real brandy and a well-filled purse to the custody of the officer. These last items quite confirmed Lieutenant Marr in his purpose to treat the man kindly and gently.

A few hours later the relief arrived, and Marr, with his men and the mysterious stranger, started up toward General Ashby's camp. AitQr a march of three miles, the camp of the regimental reserve was reached. Lieutenant Marr sent his sergeant, with all but one of the men, to camp. Taking with him Private Mason and the prisoner, he sent to the tent of the colonel in command and asked permission to take the prisoner to General Ashby. An order to this intent was

1 6 he;roe:s and spies o^ the civil war.

handed him, when he, wdth Mason as guard, headed with their prisoner up the Vahey, and after a ride of two hours reached Ashby's headquarters, and dismounting was soon heard, and was ordered to bring in his prisoner. This was done, and the few who were permitted to be present at that meeting will ever remember it. General x\shby stood facing the entrance to the tent — a man seen once, never to be forgotten. In stature five feet ten inches, thick, long black hair; a ruddy face, nearly covered with a long flowing beard of black, which almost hid his bust, and eyes that had at some times the gentle expression of a girl, while when aroused or excited they flashed with a power that all about him felt. He was a cavalier who had the gentlest of voices when calm, yet in battle no sound was able to drown his commands.

The prisoner came forward with a light step and a perfectly serene and rather smiling face. He came up to and saluted General Ashby. The prisoner was a man not over five feet seven inches high, of sHght, sinewy figure, grey eyes, light, close cut hair, dark brown mustache and Vandyke beard. His manner was quick and nervous, his voice, as well as his whole appearance, showed him to be a foreigner, while his English was so

THE ESCAPi:. 17

completely and correctly mastered that, but for the Italian mellowness of his gutturals, he could have been taken for an Englishman. The two men looked at each other intently for a moment in silence, broken by General Ashby saying in rather a gentle, pitying tone, ''please proceed to give an account of yourself." The prisoner said : ''My name is Contre; I am a son of General Contre, of Italy. I came over to the United States out of a spirit of adventure and because I had a love affair that made it desirable that I should see other countries. I tired of New York and of travels in the East, and being a surgeon by profession, I came on to Washington and secured a commission as an assistant surgeon in the U. S. Army. See, I have the insignia of that rank" — showing the surgeon's badge as he spoke. "I had little difficulty in getting into the Federal Army with the letters I had from home, but after getting there I found that my sympathies were wholly with the South. So strong did this become that I was not as guarded as I should have been, — possibly said more than I should have,— and soon I was summoned to the general, who, in the presence of his staff and several surgeons, who were evidently posted as to the proposed interview (and were there, I thought, to enjoy my humihation), severely

1 8 HKROKS AND SPIES OF THK CIVIL WAR.

reprimanded me, and told me that if I was so much in love with the rebels I ought to go to their camp and offer them my valuable services. I made the best defense that I could, and declared that as long as I bore the commission and wore the uniform of the Union, I would be true to both; but as a foreigner I could not feel that devotion to the flag of the Union that was so properly felt by the people of the North, who were as justly proud of their country, as I was of mine. This self humihation did not have the effect I had hoped it would, as the general ordered me put under arrest and said that he would send on a report that would bring me before a court-martial, and, he added, that he hoped I would be shot.

"This result was so harsh that I was extremely chagrined and mad all through. I was marched off to a small house near the building, used as a hospital, and a sentinel was placed before the door. To escape or die was then and there determined on, cost what it might. I waited as quietly as I could until the first guard was relieved and the second got tired, and then when I saw he had his face turned from me, I slid out of the door quietly and slipped off to the stable where the surgeon's horses were kept. Fortunately for me, one of the surgeons of the hospital had ordered that his horse should be ready at eleven o'clock that night, as he had to go to Charlestown, nearly thirty miles north of Winchester. His servant had, as I afterwards learned, put the doctor's case, pistols, and canteen of brandy upon the saddle. An orderly was holding the bridle, and I saw that he mistook me for his superior, for whom he was waiting. I just said,' all right, you wait here until I see Captain Emmett [this was the name of a well-known guard oflicer] and then be ready to go with me.' This took the orderly back to the stable in surprise, and gave rpe the time I wanted. I got into the saddle leisurely and came slowly through Winchester. When near the edge of the town, I found several horses hitched to a yard fence. They were all fine horses and well equipped, whose riders were having a jolly time at a large residence near by. I noticed a nice sabre hanging from the saddle of one horse, and, as I am a good swordsman, I took it along with me.

"I sought now to escape in earnest, and knowing that there was a rnountain road to the west of the great Valley Turnpike that by a longer route led to the Southern hnes, I made for and found that road. I pressed quietly along for five or six miles until I saw a camp in the woods, which I knew to be the

20 HE:R0ES and spies 01^ THK CIVIL WAR.

Federal outpost reserve. I made a detour into the woods long enough to clear the sound of the camp, and bearmg around I came out south of it. But there was yet another risk for me — that was the Federal picket or outlook. He would of course be looking south for trouble, but if there should be two of them a dash by would be dangerous, as those fellows had loaded guns. I did want to escape, but did not want to kill a poor fellow just because he w^as m my way, so I tried another detour to get around the station, and had just succeeded w^hen I heard a clatter of horses' feet in the rear, and then I knew I was not to get off so easily. I put spurs to my horse, which, though tired, was a good one, and found that while I was fairly flying, a few riders seemed rather to have gained upon me. My game was flight as long as my horse would last. I put him to the top of his speed, and could in a little while perceive that not more than two had gained upon me, but they had gained greatly. Another spurt, and over so rough a road that I expected to break my neck, and I found that one of the foremost horsemen was much closer, though the other was farther back.

''Another dash of a mile and I found that my horse had done his best, and that if still pursued I must kill or be killed. Captured

I would not be ! I could now only hear the hoof-beats of one horse, whose bold rider was bent upon my scalp. I could discern him coming like mad ! I saw a large tree near the road side, and I placed it as well as possible between the trooper and myself, and not a moment too soon, as he began to call out 'halt !' and not seeing or hearing me, he fired. I knew that he was an officer as soon as he had discharged his pistol, and then I drew out my sabre and waited. He came within ten feet of me before he saw me, drew his sabre as he checked his horse, and ordered me to surrender, making a lunge at my breast, which I parried. He was hot, and bent on killing me, so I must disable him, and this within a minute or less, as his men would soon come up. I sent his sabre flying from his grasp into the mud, and, as he was no swordsman, soon had him flat on his back in the road. I took his horse by the bridle, turned his head in the direction from which he had come, gave him a prick with the sabre and started him back, and then made such good time that I heard no more of him or his followers. I came towards your pickets, and after a ride of a few miles surrendered to them. I now wish to get an appointment as assistant surgeon in the Confederate Army, or, if not that, an appointmicnt in the line or

22 HE:rOES and SPIE;S O^ the civil WAR.

the staff of some general officer, so that I can avenge my own wrongs w^hile I fight for the South."

General Ashby said, ''Mr. Contre, are yoii such a swordsman that you could unhorse a foe such as you have described, and are you willing to give me a test of your swordsmanship?"

''Certainly; I will be too glad to show you that no man in your army can touch me with his sabre. But, stay. In order to convince you at once, bring in two or three of your best men with the sabre ; I will not hurt them and they cannot touch me with their sabres.''

General Ashby called for two of his best men ; said he would not so underestimate the skill of his men as to set three against one; went over to the open in the rear of his tent, and Contre faced the two, bowed and stood on guard to encourage the two men.

"I am not to harm you," he said, and "you are to try your best to hurt me, even kill me if you can."

Then, whirling his sabre like a flash he sent that of one of the men from his grasp, ten feet away; at the same time he parried the thrust of the other; then stepped back and asked his adversaries to make ready, and they came at him again^ — two men nearly twice his size and warmed up, with the resolve to show him "what Confeds could do." A little distance apart, now on either side, or in front, they cut, slashed, lunged and thrust, but in vain. Quietly, and seemingly without any exertion, he stood, while his sabre whirled about him like a flashing shield of sparkling steel. Soon the two men were tired out with their labor, and drew back, admitting that they were not in the contest.

General Ashby said: "I am satisfied, and will send you on to Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Lieutenant Marr, you can detail such guard as you wish to report to General Jackson with Contre. Treat him kindly and protect him from insult, and report on your return."

Lieutenant Marr told Contre to mount; and with the prisoner between him and Private Mason started for headquarters.

Private Acker, one of the two worn-out contestants with Contre, was laughed at heartily by all his companions as he approached the fire b}" which they were huddled. "You may laugh at me, boys, but if all the d — n Yankees can handle their sabres like that dried-up little cuss, they can take Richmond in a week, for all we can do fighting themi with cold steel. D — n the Yank, you might as well butt your head against a stone wall to hurt him, as to cut at him with a

24 HKR0E:S and SPI£;S of the civil. WAR.

sabre ! None of the rest of you asked to take a hand with him, I notice."

Late that evening, Lieutenant Marr, with his guard and prisoner, reached General Jackson's headquarters. He went forward, stated his mission to the officer in charge of the couriers, and was soon told that the General would see him at once.

Lieutenant Marr had borne orders to and from General Jackson, and knew him well. On one occasion he had been sent by General Ashby to see General Jackson in Staunton at a hotel, and ask for orders. He had on arrival been directed to the door of a room as the one the General was sleeping in. He knocked and heard a "who's there?" He repHed, "A messenger from General Ashby." The response came quckly, ''come in." He tried the door and found it locked. x\gain the voice called, ''come in." He said meekly, "the door is fastened, sir." "No, it is not, come in." The Lieutenant threw his weight against the door, which only creaked; then he heard the General cross the room in his bare feet, and unlock the door. He w^aited for him to get under cover, and then entered cap in hand, and was about to state his mission, when the General stopped him to say, "I hope you will excuse me for being so sure it w^as not locked, as you were entirely right in the matter, sir." Such attention to the feehngs and rights of others, even of subordinates, was characteristic of that great man.

Lieutenant Marr beckoned to Contre and led him, followed by the guard, into the presence of the General, who heard the officer's statement, that General Ashby had sent him. The Lieutenant then moved aside, leaving Contre confronting the man whose name would in the future be known all over the world. Contre was told to make his statement, which he did, very much as he had done to General Ashby. At the close of it General Jackson said, "I will refer your case, through the General of the Army, to the Government, and in the meantime you must not go beyond my camp. I will give you orders upon the commissary and quartermaster for supplies and rations until further orders. For the present I will turn you over to the care of the staff surgeon. Arms will not be allowed you, and you will learn the will of the War Department as soon as I receive orders. Adjutant, see that these orders are duly given."

As soon as they had passed the guard, Contre turned to Lieutenant Marr and said, "That is a great man, that General Jackson; I just felt that he knew all I was going to say

26 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIE WAR.

before I said a word. And now, Lieutenant, I never saw you until to-day, but I hate to part with 3'^ou, as I feel that you are a generous friend."

Indeed, Marr felt a kind of pity when he thought of the lonely condition of this man, thousands of miles from his native Italy; regarded as a traitor by one army and under the ban of suspicion with the other ; without a home or friend on the whole continent of America.

Lieutenant Marr found the w^ay to the surgeon's headquarters, and after explaining that General Jackson had commanded that Contre should be left there, he parted with him, with sincere pity for the young man, who looked so like a boy, and yet who possessed so much self-reliance, and who was so self-contained. After the lapse of two weeks an answer came to the general commanding, saying that the Department had declined to permit Contre to enter the service in any capacity ; that he should not remain with the army, or go nearer than twenty miles of any Confederate outpost, and that this order should be sent to all officers in command of the forces in the field. Otherwise, Contre was to be free to go where he pleased.

He was greatly distressed, and wept because he was not allowed to go to the front and attest his genuine allegiance to his new friends. He went to the town of Woodstock, Shenandoah County, in the Valley, and secured board with a German family, with who n he could converse as fluently as any German. Indeed, while at the surgeon's camo it had been found that he spoke German, Italian, French, and Spanish, as well as English, while his attainments as a surgeon and swordsman were fully proved. As only one old surgeon was left in the town who had not entered the army, Contre let it be known that he w^ould attend the sick, and in a short time had as much practice as he wanted. For many months he observed his parole and would vibrate up and down the valley, as the army moved, keeping up the twenty-mile requirement. He was often cautioned that he would fall into the hands of the Union troops, but would laugh at the idea of capture.

These swayings back and forth of the opposing armies became so frequent, he said, that such repeated movings were too bad for him, and that as he had found a cave in the mountain, only five miles ofif, where he could hide so that the whole Federal Army could not find him, he had made it a comfortable! retreat. This life went on for a few months^' until, through the influence of the Member of Congress from that district, he succeeded

28 HEROKS AND SPIES OE THE CIVIL WAR.

in getting a commission as assistant surgeon in the Confederate Army. He beamed with delight when this came ; he kissed it and carried on with such childlike enthusiasm that an old soldier said that it was equal to a monkey show, and that he could only make such a fool of himself on getting a discharge from the army. Surgeon Contre was attached to the army in the Valley.

CHAPTER 11.

ope;rations in the; vai^ley.

General Jackson, with the bulk of his army, made a raid into West Virginia leaving Major Myers, '^ known as the ''Shenandoah Myers," in command of a small squadron of cavalry, a lot of dismounts, ''Company Q," and such stragglers as could be scraped up. Major Myers secured the detail of Lieutenant Marr to help him organize his mongrel forces, and of Assistant Surgeon Contre, who asked to remain in the Valley, to be as near Marr as possible.

Major Myers, fearing that the raid in West Virginia would, if successful, ecHpse a quiet defense of the Valley, determined to move down to Fisher's Hill, four miles from Strasburg and about twenty from Winchester, and there try to bring the Federal cavalry to follow his scouts up through the narrow defile

*Major Myers was a Pennsylvanian, a furnace owner. He died near New Market, Va, over the high, rocky causeway which winds through the sharp rocks and dense cedars up from the river to the high plain above.

He estabHshed his quarters at Woodstock, and moved his little army of sixty cavalry and 'seventy dismounts, with all kinds of arms, to ambuscade the foe in the narrow, gloomy defile. In this plan he seemed to be most fortunate, for hardly had he placed his improvised infantry in hiding before the outlook from the high hill-top saw a body of cavalry coming from the direction of Winchester, twenty miles north. This elated Major Myers, who was never so happy as when in a fight. He sent his brother, Captain Myers, with the cavalry down the causeway to draw on the enemy and decoy them to follow through the defile, while Capt Neff would command the infantry in ambush; and by special favor he consented that his own staff, consisting of Lieutenant Marr and Assistant Surgeon Contre, might take part with the infantry in the ambush, though the two had only a pistol and sabre each. A large body of the Union forces — General ElHott's cavalry — came in sight, pursuing the little squadron of Captain Myers, who was a jolly, rollicking soldier, who always laughed at a battle as boys do in a ball game. He fell back, skirmishing as he retreated, and was

OPERATIONS IN THE VALLEY. 3 1

Steadily pursued, and when about a mile from the defile, a heavy charge being made upon him as if to cut him off, he retreated with more haste and came back in a sharp trot past the ambuscade, closely followed by a dashing head of the column of the Federal cavalry. The order was for the infantry not to fire until at least a hundred had passed up the gorge, and then to open fire and cut that many off; but owing to the excitement of Doctor Contre, who was at the side of Lieutenant Marr, he first fired, and a little before the order to fire was passed. In an instant there was a sheet of flame, and a score of men and horses went down in the narrow road, while some in desperation went over the steep chff on the lower side of the road. The head of the column, or what was left of it, tried to turn back, only to find the road blocked by fallen horses and men, and themselves to be shot by the infantry behind the bushes.

Contre was like an enraged animal, and killed three troopers with his own pistol, and then stood shouting for the men to kill. A few^ prisoners were taken, and many were killed and woimded. When the Federals retreated to the valley below, and then took their stand about two miles off, but in sight. Major Myers ordered his men to hold the

32 HEROKS AND SPIES OE THE CIVIE WAR.

hill until night and then retreat to Woodstock, and called Lieutenant Marr and Surgeon Centre to return with him to Woodstock, from which place two wagons with rations were to come and meet the men in their retreat. As the Major and his grand staff of two officers had got half way to Woodstock, in turning a sharp bend through a deep cut in the hillside, they saw right before them the head of a column of Yankee cavalry. There was no time for deliberation. Fortunately the surprise was mutual, for it was a minute before the charge was sounded and begun, but that minute was enough. The Major and his staff, three in all, did not wait for orders or results, but dashed into the deep woods down the hill towards the Shenandoah River, only a mile or two away. Bullets followed them hotly, and if no firing had been done, but a prompt pursuit instead, all three must have been killed or captured. As it was, the firing notified the ambuscading Confeds that there was trouble in their rear. It was for that plan to be worked out that General Elliott had waited and followed Captain Myers slowly. This was the truth. General Elliott had sent out a brigade to pass west of Strasburg and to intersect the Valley Pike at Woodstock, well in the Confederate rear; this succeeded, as he with his larger