General Turner Ashby, the centaur of the South

Preface

The writer has essayed this sketch of General Turner Ashby at t instance of some of his men, and in accordance with his own desire. If he has " hewed to the line, letting chips fall where they would," it has been done in the interest of long delayed justice. He makes his acknowledgments to Colonel R. Preston Chew, Major John W. Carter, Drs. West and Settle for valuable letters and information. To Miss Kate E. Carter for the picture of General Ashby on the white horse. To J. P. West, Abner Rector and others for information, facts and incidents. To Mr. H. E. Adams for Henderson's Last Edition or Impression of General Jackson's Life. He is also indebted to ** Destruction and Reconstruction," to Henderson's and Cooke's Lives of Jackson, to " Ashby and His Compeers " by the Rev. Mr. Averitt, to Mr. Jno. St. C. Brooks for valuable assistance, to C. G. Lee for courtesies relating to the half-tones, and to the Rev. J. Wm. Jones, D. D., for his valued introduction.

This sketch is based first on the United States Official War Records of Confederate and Federal vi Preface

forces, supplemented with references from the histories named and the best living testimony. If the writer has succeeded in doing justice to the first most brilliant actor of the war of 1861-5, he will be fully compensated for all the research this sketch has imposed.

CLARENCE THOMAS.

" Rutledge,** near Middleburg, Loudoun County, Virginia, June, 1907.

Introduction

Turner Ashby, " the Knight of the Valley." was unquestionably one of the most romantic characters of the war.

Like Nathan Bedford Forrest, John B. Gordon, Stirling Price, Wade Hampton, John H. Morgan, and others who, never having received a military education, yet rose to high rank, and wide reputation. Turner Ashby left the quiet pursuits of civil life and became one of the most distinguished soldiers who made our great struggle for constitutional freedom.

He had been widely known in Northern Virginia as a high-toned gentleman, a superb rider, and a successful contestant at the tournaments of his day, and had raised a volunteer cavalry company, of which he had been made captain, which did important service in the John Brown raid.

He was, as were a large majority of our Virginia people, an ardent Union man, warmly in favor of doing everything possible to preserve the Union, and the Constitution which our fathers made. But when Mr. Lincoln, in violation of the Constitution and his oath to support it, called for seventy-five thousand men to coerce sovereign states who had simply exercised their " Godgiven right of self-government,'* and called on Virginia to furnish her quota, brave old John Letcher,

ix

Introduction the Governor of the State, replied : " You can get no troops from Virginia for any such wicked purpose. * * * You have chosen to inaugurate civil war,*' the Virginia Convention, then in session, passed on the seventeenth day of April, 1861, an ordinance of secession withdrawing the Old Dominion from the Union, and resuming the powers she had expressly ** reserved " when she originally ratified the Constitution, and joined the ** Republic of Republics."

It was, of course, well known that in this unholy war which Abraham Lincoln and his coadjutors had inaugurated, Virginia had barred her breast to the coming storm — that she was to be " the Flanders of the War " — that her soil was to be the first overrun — and that her sons and daughters were to be the greatest sufferers. And yet her people did not hesitate. Colonel John B. Baldwin, the able leader of the Union party in the Virginia Convention, expressed the general sentiment of our people when, in reply to a letter from a friend at the North asking ** What are the Union men of Virginia going to do now?'* he wrote: ** We have no * Union ' men in Virginia now, but those who were * Union men ' will stand to their guns, and make a fight which will shine out on the page of history as an example of what a brave people can do after exhausting every means of pacification." And so Robert

Introduction xi

Edward Lee, and Joseph E. Johnston, and Stonewall Jackson, and J. E. B. Stuart, and A. P. Hill, and Jubal A. Early, and R. S. Ewell, and Fitz. Lee, and W. H. F. Lee, and thousands of others of our bravest and best, rallied to the defence of our homes and firesides.

There could be no doubt as to where Turner Ashby would stand in this crisis of his State's history. He was a lineal descendant of Captain Jack Ashby of the Revolution, and others of his forefathers had fought for liberty in the days of the Revolution. He was a Virginian of the Virginians, and when his State was invaded he did not hesitate to rally his company and meet the enemy on the frontier.

His name and deeds soon became household words in the Valley, and in Virginia, and he was steadily promoted until he became Brigadier- General, and had before him higher promotion and wider fame when he fell at the post of duty.

There can be but little doubt that had he lived he would have been universally recognized as one of the very ablest of our patriotic leaders.

I have read with deep interest this sketch of the career of Ashby which Mr. Thomas has given us, and commend it as a valuable contribution to our Confederate history.

He pictures with graphic pen the life of this valiant knight, brings out the salient points of his xii Introduction conduct as a soldier, and shows that he was not merely a brilliant partisan but a man who was able to command armies, and every way worthy to be " Jackson's right arm," and his probable successor in command of the Valley District. He produces historical matter, official and personal, relating to Ashby, never before published.

The sons and daughters of the Confederacy should never be allowed to forget the patriotic heroism of their fathers, and the great struggle they made against ** overwhelming numbers and resources," and among the ablest leaders of our Southland they should put high up on the roll TURNER ASHBY. This book, therefore, should be in every library.

J. Wm. Jones.

Richmond, Va.

Chapter I. UPPERVILLE 1859

** Declare, O Muse ! in what ill-fated hour. Sprung the fierce strife, from what offended power " ?

—Iliad.

Four miles east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in the Old Dominion, where the counties of Fauquier and Loudoun mingle their rich life of grain and blue grass, hill and meadow, is located the picturesque village of Upperville.

This section, southern Loudoun and northern Fauquier, form the heart of the blue grass region of Virginia, where the cattle graze upon a thousand hills. Large grazing lands naturally produce large estates and mansions with corresponding equipments; and the Almighty from the beginning had set the crown of grandeur and beauty upon the landscape.

From the big poplar on the mountain at Ashby's Gap the Capitol at Washington can be seen with a glass, presenting in bas-relief Virginia and Maryland standing guard over the flowing river that unites and divides them. From Mc- Kenister's Hill, the nearer view, the scenes are cut more in cameo in their picturesque loveliness.

When a child wandering over these dear familiar haunts, the mountain horn made music to his ear as the distant echoes fell ** o'er cliff and scar," hill and vale. These views from the grand battlements of nature have their similitude only in the outlook which incited the challenge of the Evil Spirit to the Divine Man to fall down and worship him.

In this enlightened civilization of rural endeavor the cunning hand of the money-king had neither part nor lot. There were none exceedingly rich and none extremely poor. The poor man's rights were jealously guarded, and his children quietly educated without cost to him at the schools by and with his more fortunate neighbor. The social fabric was " sui generis." Each house had its traditions, its servants, its social status and its horses. These horses were noted throughout the country, especially the Telegraph and Oregon. The prevailing colors were bay in Telegraph and sorrel in Oregon. Their natural gifts were cultivated by fine training. They could go sixty miles a day with more ease to the rider than a crosscountry saddler can go ten miles to-day.

Fox hunting was an all-day sport, the rider and horse taking stone fence and stream close upon the heels of the dogs. It is not only difficult but impossible to explain to the Northern and Western man the affectionate regard which united master and servant. The servant had not a care, and, with exceptions, light work. Everything was provided for him, and he was not only content but happy. The young servant united in the games of the day with his young master, and if the play became rough and the servant was hurt the master was called up and chastised. After night-fall was the happy time when the quarter rang with song, trombones or banjo. Just before bed-time silence fell upon the merry-makers, and the older servants would begin ghost stories. After a while the youngster would get excited, the goose flesh rising more and more, and when he could stand no more the " black mammy " would grab her charge and scurry for the back door of the big house, and the child would break for his mother's arms. The youths were first taught to ride, shoot.

and speak the truth, basic principles of their future training.

In the village was located a noted private school under the charge of an Irish gentleman ^ who prepared students for the University of Virginia and the Virginia Military Institute. This school bore a high reputation, and had scholars from every Southern State.

In the country the dinner party was the social attraction. In the village, the dance, the handed tea or supper. In the country the gentlemen rode to the hounds or followed the setter and pointer after Bob White. In the town they played football, bandy or fives, and the boys round town and marbles. The girls were taught by teachers in their homes, and generally finished at some polite school of the State or adjoining State. At stated periods the large old carriage, holding an indefinite number with box seat. Uncle Harry handling the ribbons over a sleek pair, was brought into use. On these occasions the family paid visits to friends and relatives at some distance for weeks at a time. Uncle Harry, arrayed in his beaver and broad cloth, became the proud guar-

1 Captain Armstrong, killed in the Confederate Army.

dian of the mistress and her children. Every house that received, and a majority did, had apple jack or Bourbon set out on the mahogany. The glasses and cut loaf were there, too, with the mint. The social hour was held always before dinner. No gentlemen drank after that meal. The social glass was confined to the older gentlemen.

" Then pleasure took up the glass of time And turned it in his glowing hands. Every moment lightly shaken Ran itself in golden sands."

It was a rare thing to see a *' tipsy " gentleman, and if he could not " toe the mark " he was at once taken to his room. It was deemed ungallant to associate with ladies or be seen upon the streets in such a state, as it was also thought discourteous to smoke while riding or walking with them. A lady's name was never mentioned in public except to inquire after her health. In print her name was only mentioned twice, at her nuptials and at her demise. It is true gentlemen did not wear swords, but the derringer, duelling, and Colt's pistols were prevalent, and the gentleman was an expert shot. Personal difficulties were not redressed in courts of law. The principals and friends had recourse to another court. If the amende honorable was not made and accepted, seconds and pistols became arbiters.

Among the current papers were the Washington, Baltimore, New York, Richmond, and Alexandria press. In literature, Poe, Bryant, Longfellow, Scott, Byron, and Shakespeare, also Macaulay, and Gibbon. The Literary Messenger, Harper's Magazine, and the English periodicals, Blackwood's and Edinburgh Review. Lord Macaulay, who soon afterwards passed away, had left the lion's paw of his genius upon history and literature. To this purest English writer many a Southern gentleman is indebted directly or indirectly for the royal pathway of the classics. In the midst of this enlightened atmosphere there grew up harmonious and happy relations between all classes and conditions of the community.

The inalienable rights of man were open and free as the mountain air he breathed, and all had a ** fair chance for the white alley."

Black slavery becomes an idyl when contrasted with the white bondage of the industrial tyranny and monopoly of to-day. The fight is now no longer for the ideal and larger life, but for a higher scale of dollars on one side, and on the other the harder struggle to keep the wolf from the door.

" The Painterskin " (Panther Skin) flecked its spots in the sunlight as it fretted and fumed along its banks to Green Garden. The carnival of Indian Summer burning from her mountain altars cast a dreamy splendor over field and stream, church and spire. Into the village from every direction and all roads the crowds flocked in all conceivable conveyances. By noon the streets and houses were packed with ladies and gentlemen, dressed in all the bravery of a gala day. The young gentlemen were booted and spurred like the knights of old, when the tournament in the days of chivalry was the ** handmaiden of Christianity." Each knight upon his Telegraph or Oregon charger wore the colors of some fair maid, and each fair maid blushed with hope for the crown of beauty. The knights of Blue Ridge, Piedmont, Ivanhoe and many other curled darlings of fortune were there. The straight, hard riders at fence and ditch were there. " The glass of fashion and the mold of form," in woman, man and steed were there. Venus was also there, and, as the Graces unloosed her quiver, the malignant Elf for once was not there. The judges take the stand, and the herald calls the list of knights. The rings swung from the arms of three poles in line are up. To take with the lance each ring in three successive rides is the highest goal. The charge to the knights is delivered, and the herald calls the knights separately, as each enters the lists through the thirty odd names. Piedmont wins six, Ivanhoe seven, and Blue Ridge eight.

Apparently Blue Ridge has won the prize, and expectancy looks from each face and beats in every heart. The judges read over the program again, and order the herald to announce ** One knight has not yet ridden." Excitement now flutters fans and stirs to murmurs, then breaks into. He comes! He comes! The Knight of the Black Plume. The stranger asks, Who is he? The answer is too surely reflected in each knight's face, for their hearts have gone down into their boots. The Knight of the Black Plume, mounted upon a stallion as black as his own beard, sits without regalia motionless as a picturesque Andelusian. With the touch of the hand on the bridle-reins, rider and steed dash for the rings, taking all three times. Then without saddle and bridle takes all the rings again. Applause and cheer follow fast and follow faster as the magnanimous cavalier bows to the Knight of Blue Ridge and resigns the crown of love and beauty. That day ** the bridal of the earth and sky " first rang out the " Rebel Yell " over mountain, field and stream, the echoes of which, from Manassas to Appomattox, was the victor's paean or his comrades' requiem. To this feast of chivalry the malignant Elf flew at last, whispering murder, arson, John Brown, Harper's Ferry! The black-plumed knight bridles and saddles his horse. He is no longer a parlor knight, but a soldier giving orders for his volunteer cavalry company to meet him at Harper's Ferry. Then Turner Ashby rides away to The Craggs, his mountain home.

Chapter II. JOHN BROWN'S RAID

Turner Ashby was born at Rose Bank, Fauquier County, Virginia, the twenty-third day of October, 1828. He was the third of six children. His younger brother, Richard, was bom October 2, 1831. Both brothers were unmarried. Their father. Colonel Turner Ashby, married Miss Dorothy Green of Rappahannock County, Virginia, the daughter of James and Elizabeth Green. Colonel Turner Ashby was an officer in the War of 1812. They were also descendants of Revolutionary stock. General Turner Ashby was educated in the private schools which before the war abounded throughout the State. His marked characteristics were, as a youth, generosity, modesty, daring and a passion for horses. He was universally acknowledged to be the most perfect horseman of all the fine riders of Northern Virginia. When in the vicissitudes of business Rose Bank was sold, he bought The Craggs at Markham, Fauquier County, Virginia, a few miles away from his old roof tree. At The Craggs he lived till the beginning of the war and owned it till his death. When Virginia called Ashby to her defence, as we ride with him, we will see how he kept her commandments and bore her court of arms ** sic semper tyrannis " amid shot and shell upon the red storm of battle. The shock of the John Brown raid into Virginia ends the golden era of the Southern civilization, never again to be reproduced by any other people. Ashby, gathering his men as he rode to Harper's Ferry, promptly arrived on the ground. His principal duty there was picket and outpost work. After the capture of Brown and his emissaries, the government of Virginia had them transferred to the jail of Charlestown, the beautiful county seat of Jefferson County. Later they were tried according to the laws of the State, condemned and executed upon the scaffold. As an incident of the trial of Cooke, Senator Voorhees defended him in a brilliant and eloquent appeal. The reader of that speech will look in vain for justification of his client. He dwelt upon his youth and inexperience, and that he had been used as a tool of the older plotters of insurrection, arson and murder. His only plea was for mercy with the extenuating circumstances noted.

A great fear fell upon the people, and men went about with bated breath. Shotguns, flint lock muskets and some Hall's rifles were brought out and cleaned up. A patrol was formed for every neighborhood, and a slave for the first time was required to have a pass from his master, before he could leave his home after nightfall. The fear was not that the North would then invade the South, though this was done some eighteen months later; but that the colored race would rise in a general massacre. We agree with Ashby that this was the beginning of the war; but it is well known that he was opposed to secession as long as it could honorably be avoided. Ashby, after the executions at Charlestown, returned with his volunteer cavalry company to his home.

Harper's Magazine had a very large circulation in Northern Virginia at this time, and by far the finest picture of Ashby extant was found in its pages. It was taken upon the famous white horse. Harper's Magazine, however, was dropped like a coal of fire. At Harper's Ferry for the first time Ashby met Lee, Jackson, and Stuart. These four representative men of the South drew capital prizes in the lottery of fate when times tried men's souls. Three of these in the prowess of their genius went down at the banquet of death where " the grape was lead and the wine was blood." The fourth lived to the close and after the war, to challenge the admiration of mankind, as the greatest soldier and the most perfect citizen, and, like Socrates, died obedient unto law. The experience gained at Harper's Ferry stood Ashby well in hand when, eighteen months later, he arrived there at the first call to arms. He was doing duty and tenting on the camp ground. In 1 860 Ashby 's company, in recognition of his services at Harper's Ferry and their regard for him, presented him with a silver service. An uncle of the writer, then a member of his company, was selected to present it. He offered the service, in a few remarks testifying their esteem. Ashby, in trying to return thanks, broke down and could only bow his acknowledgments. And thus waited this modest country gentleman in his hospitable home to become one of Virginia's noblest sacrifices. This section of Virginia produced two of the most heroic figures of those heroic times. The subject of this sketch lived not far from Upperville, the home of General Lewis A. Armistead, the foremost figure in Pickett's great charge at Gettysburg. These gentlemen were warm friends, and in their association in 1859-60 hoped for the best, but were fearful of the coming storm. Armistead fell inside the works at Gettysburg, the farthest point reached by any troops. While dying he said to a Federal officer, ** You can't whip men who can live and fight on this, parched corn."

Chapter III. BEGINNING OF THE WAR

To discuss secession in this sketch would be both trite and academic. A few lines will suffice I to show where Virginia stood on this momentous question. On the fourteenth day of April, 1 86 1 , the President of the United States issued his call I for seventy-five thousand troops with which to j coerce the seceding Southern States. Virginia I was included in this call for her quota. Up to I this time the Constitutional Convention, assembled I at Richmond, refused to secede by a large majority. Three days after the call for troops, Virginia left the Union by an almost unanimous vote. I Colonel R. E. Lee was chosen at once by the convention as the commander-in-chief of all the Virginia forces, with the rank of major-general. Why did the State of Virginia delay so long in her action? Because she loved peace, and wished to exhaust every means in her power, through her commissioners repeatedly sent to Washington to avoid war. Then why did she in three days make her decision? Under the call for troops she either had to make war on her sister Southern States or do battle for and with them. She did not hesitate to accept the gage, though she v/ell knew her bosom would bear the wounds and scars, the hoof-beats and ruin of the greatest revolution of modern history. The cause of war was in principle States' Rights. The States' Rights of those times is the home rule of these times. The States' Rights or home rule of these times has almost belted the globe. Yet in the United States, its birth place, it has become a rare exotic.

Beware, lest centralization, in sapping liberty, engender not a greater revolution than secession. Lord Macaulay, in writing about this country, said the time might come when our " civilization would destroy liberty or our liberty destroy civilization." We say, in leaving this subject, let those without sin against the Constitution cast the first stone at the South. As soon as the wire flashed the news that Virginia had been forced from the Union to which she had given so much and done so much to create, Ashby called his men together and proceeded at once to the border at Harper's Ferry. He arrived in time to see the arsenal go up in smoke by the order of the United States Government. After consultation with General Harper, commanding the militia at Harper's Ferry, Ashby with his company, some infantry and artillery, proceeded lower down the Potomac River to the Point of Rocks to guard that bridge. He held this point also as a connecting link between Harper's Ferry and Leesburg, where Colonel Eppa Hunton was organizing the Eighth Virginia Regiment of Volunteers and commanding at that point. As the Eighth Virginia Regiment was recruited from the same \ class of men and same section of Virginia as those I who followed Ashby, who was reporting to Colonel Hunton on the one side at this time, the writer deems it appropriate to make a short reference to it. From first Manassas to Appomattox it bore a gallant part in all the battles under General J. E. Johnston and General Lee in Virginia. After the battle of Ball's Bluff, near Leesburg, Virginia, it was called the "Bloody Eighth" for its stubborn resistance against heavy odds, and routing the enemy after sundown with the bayonet. In the seven days' battles around Richmond it proved its metal again, and at Gaines' Mill, and as a part of Pickett's Division, helped to storm and capture Porter's gun behind three lines of breastworks and heavily supported by infantry and artillery.

At Gettysburg/ under the bold and dashing Pickett, it lost one hundred and ninety men out of two hundred that started with the charging column. After Gettysburg, Colonel Hunton was promoted to command the old brigade with the rank of brigadier-general. From this time to the close of the war the Eighth Virginia was also known as the Berkeley Regiment. The four Berkeley brothers at the same time were the field officers and a captain. Colonel Norborne Berkeley, Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund Berkeley, Major William N. Berkeley and Captain Charles F. Berkeley. It is a remarkable fact that all these brothers were wounded and captured, but lived through the war. We would like to dwell upon many other brave officers and men of this regiment, but it would be irrelevant. Its officers and men will challenge comparison with any others in the great army of Northern Virginia. The

1 General Eppa Hunton, Colonels Berkeley, Adjutant T. B. Hutchison, Captains A. E. Mathews and John Gray, Lieutenant Ben. Hutchison and brother, and Captain J. R. Hutchison.

GENERAL R. E. LEE

Leesburg company of infantry belonged to the Seventeenth Virginia Regiment, and that splendid command had no more distinguished company than the one from Leesburg. At the Point of Rocks many brave sons of Maryland joined Ashby and were incorporated into Company G, in the formation of the Seventh Virginia Cavalry, first commanded by Colonel Angus McDonald, then Ashby. Colonel McDonald was over the age limit at the beginning of the war, but his ardor and courage brooked no obstacle. Later, owing to physical infirmities, he was transferred to another branch of the service.

The following extracts from Lieutenant-Colonel Deas, A. G., of May 21st and 23rd, 1861 , show how Ashby, from the start, commanded important posts with infantry, artillery, and cavalry.

** On Sunday, the nineteenth instant, in the evening, I visited the position opposite the Point of Rocks, distant twelve miles from this point (Harper's Ferry), where Captain Ashby of the Virginia Cavalry, an excellent officer, is stationed, with two companies of cavalry, six pieces of light artillery and a company of rifle men, together with some men of Maryland only a part of whom are armed. His cavalry is employed in active reconnoisance of the surrounding country, and his artillery has complete command of the bridge crossing the Potomac, the piers of which are mined and can be instantly destroyed in case of necessity ; in addition to which he holds possession of the road at the Point of Rocks in such a manner as to prevent the passage of a train."

As showing the importance of the position selected by Captain Ashby, without commission, Lieut.-Col. Deas reports again to the War Department :

" There are six guns with Captain Imboden's company at Point of Rocks. At this place Captain Ashby is stationed with two companies of cavalry and two hundred infantry, his total force amounting to four hundred men, one hundred and thirty-three horses and six guns. His cavalry covers the country for twenty miles to his rear. * * * I am quite confident v/ith the vigilance which is exercised by Captain Ashby no enemy can pass the point which he is directed to observe.

A little later General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding at Harper's Ferry, reports on Captain /Ashby to the War Department: ** Captain Ashby, commanding near Point of Rocks, was instructed by my predecessor to break the railroad whenever he found such a means necessary for his defense. These instructions were repeated by , me. Captain Ashby reported this morning, that j in consequence of intelligence just received, he ] is about to throw a mass of rock upon it by blast- \ mg.

I Again, General Lee writing to General Johnston on May 30, 1 861 , endorses the military judgment as displayed by Ashby in holding the Point of Rocks as an outpost and connecting link between Leesburg and Harper's Ferry.

** Colonel Eppa Hunton, commanding at Leesburg, has been ordered to have an outpost at Drainsville. * * * He is to inform you of any iQ. R. Series i, Vol. 2, page 861. Ibid 868. 20. R. Series i, Vol. 2, page 881.

movement of the United States troops in the direction of Leesburg tending to threaten your rear through Captain Ashby of the Cavalry at the Point of Rocks.'* ^

Ashby had not received a military education, but his soldierly nature had seized upon this as the vital point on the border. The judgment of Ashby was further endorsed, as we have seen, by reinforcements being added to his original command at the Point of Rocks. At this time General Joseph E. Johnston ordered Ashby to report to Colonel J. E. B. Stuart under Johnston at Harper's Ferry. At the same time Ashby had already been ordered by Colonel McDonald to report to his own regiment, the 7th Virginia. Ashby calls the attention of General Johnston in refusing to obey his orders to two facts: First, that Colonel McDonald had already ordered him to report to his own regiment. Secondly, that the Governor of Virginia had expressly provided that the troops of the State when mustered in to the service of the Confederate States should preserve their ** regimental organization." The following