the command of the company now devolved upon lieut. myers, and in a very few days gen. ewell marched his whole division to columbian bridge, about twenty-five miles lower down the river, where he halted for a time, and myers and barrett endeavored to put the business of the company into shape, as there had not been a payroll made off, and only one muster roll since the company had been in the service, but on the 21st of may, general ewell sent for lieut. myers, and giving him a bundle of dispatches, told him to mount the best horse he could find and carry them to general jackson.
now be it known, nobody had heard from that officer for a long while, and the lieutenant naturally desired to ask the question—“where is gen. jackson?” but from former experience was afraid to venture it, and walked disconsolately from headquarters and the presence of the general, without any definite plan whatever in his mind, and sighing with the psalmist for the “wings of a dove,” but major barbour had noticed his elongated visage, and divining his trouble, met him in the yard, where he proceeded to explain to him the road to jackson, but while 49thus engaged, gen. ewell stepped out and exclaimed in his quick, spiteful tone, “lieutenant myers, go to new market and take the turnpike road to harrisonburg; be quick now, i want to see you again to-day.” the lieutenant crossed the massanutten and found some of ashby’s cavalry at new market, who told him jackson was coming down the pike, and a nine mile ride up the valley brought him to the marching army of “stonewall,” and very soon he met a party of officers riding among the infantry, when selecting one whom, for the plainness of his dress, he took for a courier, he asked him to show him gen. jackson, supposing, of course, to have one of the finely dressed officers pointed out to him, but the courier simply replied, “i am gen. jackson; where are you from, sir?” after reading the dispatches, he wrote a few lines to gen. ewell, and cross-questioned the lieutenant a short time, when he sent him back, saying, "i’ll see you at luray to-morrow." on the way back to camp, the lieutenant met gen. ewell on the mountain, and on reaching the river found everything moving towards new market, but this was soon changed, and the troops took the road to luray, where, on the following morning they met gen. jackson and some of his people, and the two generals held a conference, after which ewell pushed forward to front royal, reaching that place about 3 o’clock in the evening of the 23d of may. here they found a force of 50the enemy, and a fierce battle ensued, at the beginning of which gen. ewell ordered lieutenant myers to remain near him with a party of his men, but after capturing kenly’s 1st maryland, and driving the rest of the yankees from town, a force appeared on the river hills and opened a heavy artillery fire upon the confederates, during which the shells howled savagely around the general and his escort, when, looking around, the old fellow broke out on myers with “what do you mean, sir, by making a target of me with these men!” upon which the lieutenant replied, "why, general, you told me to stay near you, and i’m trying to do it." “clear out, sir, clear out,” roared the general, "i didn’t tell you to get all your men killed and me too," and that was the last time they troubled him that day, for the men deemed themselves discharged from further attendance upon him, and pitched in for plunder, every man doing his best to equip himself for service, they being as yet mostly armed with double-barreled guns only, and riding citizen saddles brought with them from home. many of them succeeded in securing sabres and pistols, and nearly all possessed themselves of gum cloths, canteens and other articles of great value to soldiers.
that night the whole force moved across the river on the winchester road, passing, as they did so, the ground where the southern cavalry fought 51so well, and where so many gallant men found bloody deaths in charging the yankee infantry, among them capt. george baxter, of the loudoun cavalry, 6th virginia regiment, capt. george f. sheetz, who was said by many to be a better officer than ashby himself, and capt. fletcher, the gallant commander of ashby’s old company. general ewell, who had been an old cavalry officer, and knew how to appreciate the splendid display of valor, skill and devotion made by ashby’s troops at this point, worthy as it was of the “sons of the sires,” whom light horse harry had led in days as dark and stormy, long ago, and here on the field of front royal added another leaf to the laurel crown, which fame, in “auld lang syne,” had woven for the honor of the cavaliers of the “old dominion,” spoke of this charge as one of the most gallant affairs he had ever witnessed, and no higher praise could be given than to say they fought under the eye of general richard s. ewell, and won his warmest admiration, for, like jackson, he never bestowed it unmerited, and he meant everything he said.
in the bivouac that night the general had his escort near his headquarters, and as his staff did not join him for a long time after, he called upon lieut. barrett to act as a. a. general for him, and kept the lieutenant busily engaged until a late hour in writing dispatches and reports for him, and the next morning he started the company 52on a scouting expedition, in which it was engaged all day, rejoining the general about dark, who was then marching towards winchester with all his force. the weather was raw and chilly, but the night was spent in making reconnoisances and marching for short distances, but no fires were kindled or noises made which might apprise general banks of the proximity of the rebels until about 3 o’clock, when the enemy’s pickets were found by sergt. c. b. barrett, who, with a squad, had been on detail at headquarters, and upon receipt of this information gen. ewell took a company of infantry and stirred up the yankee picket lines by firing on their posts and driving them in. about an hour before daylight one of the couriers brought to gen. ewell a dispatch from “stonewall,” which the writer saw as gen, e. opened it, and it was simply a sheet of paper upon which was delineated the roads, streams, woods, &c., around winchester, and showing the disposition of the enemy’s forces in ewell’s front, as well as jackson’s position on the valley pike, and beneath the plan the words “attack at daylight” were written. no other instructions were needed, and with the dawning of that bright and beautiful sabbath morning in may the regiments moved forward to the battle. for sometime everything went smoothly, and the enemy broke at every point, but by-and-by a large body of them were rallied and placed behind a 53stone fence, where they lay quietly and entirely unperceived by the 21st north carolina infantry, which was moving over that part of the field, and when within twenty or thirty yards the yankees raised up and poured a tremendous volley into their ranks, killing and wounding nearly one-third of the regiment, but the men were promptly rallied by their gallant colonel, who instantly ordered a bayonet charge, which was executed in splendid style, and the enemy retreated in great confusion before the brave north carolinians, but their victory was dearly bought, for col. strickland fell dead at the fence, and his men lay thick around him.
from this time there was no rallying point for banks’ army except the potomac, for just then gen. jackson bursted his column at middletown, and with ashby in their rear they rather flew than ran along the valley pike to the thirty miles distant river; but in one wild scene of disorder and cowardice they raced that distance at such a speed that not even mameluke cavalry, though mounted on arabia’s choicest steeds, could have caught them, and just beyond winchester “old stonewall” halted his infantry and encamped his army.
here white’s company, which had been scattered in squads, scouting and fighting, and acting as escort and body-guards for the different generals, re-united about sunset, and nearly every 54man was completely armed and equipped with sabres, revolvers, and everything necessary to fit them for service, including yankee bridles and halters, and many saddles bearing the letters u. s., which letters also embellished the shoulders of many of their horses and all their blankets.
next morning gen. ewell gave them a box containing twenty new carbines of the “merrill” pattern, which he directed should always be carried by the scouting details, and then ordered lieut. myers to take twenty men and proceed to charlestown to take charge of the government stores at that place, instructing him to take an inventory of everything and send to him in order that he might send wagons to move them.
myers pushed on to charlestown and found a large quantity of stores, arms, and everything needed by an army, which the enemy had abandoned; and sending a messenger to the general with the necessary information, he encamped, and his men were taken by the citizens to their houses and regaled with the best of everything the land could afford. these people had been under yankee rule for more than two months, and the change almost made them wild with joy, so much go that they were ready to worship gen. jackson and his men for relieving them of the hateful presence of their tyrannical conquerors who, during all these weeks, had lorded it over them in the approved yankee style of domination over a helpless 55people and their desolated homes; whence had vanished the glory which their household gods were wont to shed around them, but in spite of it all they were not conquered, and the “quenchless spirits, hushed by force, in dauntless eye burned brightly.”
while white’s cavalrymen were enjoying the good things provided by the tried and true in charlestown, major john shack. green, of the 6th virginia cavalry, rode up with a detachment from his regiment, and proposed to encamp near the town, which was done, and the next morning a scout came in saying the yankees were at halltown and still advancing, upon which major green moved his command down the road, took a position on the right, while myers’ men formed to the left, and sending a little party to the front to look out for the enemy, they waited for events to determine their actions.
in half an hour the advance party was heard skirmishing with the enemy, and soon after a regiment of infantry appeared in the road, about half a mile away, and soon after two other regiments of infantry and one of cavalry appeared, escorting a battery of artillery.
the confederates moved down and skirmished some, but very soon the battery opened fire, and major green retired slowly to a position beyond the town.
myers kept his men in front for sometime, until 56finding that the yankees wouldn’t advance a step with a confederate force of any size in gunshot range, and seeing also the shells from the battery were passing over his position and falling in the town, he fell back to the other end of the town, and in a short time a force of cavalry moved up the road, supported by the infantry and artillery, and set fire to the stores, which were still in the market-house, in the very centre of charlestown, after which they retired rapidly towards harper’s ferry, and myers returned to gen. ewell to inform him that the necessity for sending wagons for the stores of which he had received an inventory, no longer existed, but he met gens. jackson and ewell both marching, with a strong force, on charlestown, and the next morning, after again enjoying the hospitality of the good citizens of charlestown, gen. ewell ordered lieut. myers to dismount his company and find the force and position of the enemy in the direction of halltown.
after moving about a mile, ed. oxley reported that he had found in a wheat field, the frying pans, blankets and other articles of the skirmish line. so halting the command, the lieutenant made a reconnoissance, in which he discovered about, as he thought, two thousand infantry and a regiment of cavalry, on the road, which he reported to the general, and was very much astonished that an advance was not made at once, but after waiting some time, and seeing the enemy retire slowly, he 57resolved to see where they went, and taking ed. wright with him, the pair got into the mill-race which passes into halltown, and hid from view by the high banks and bushes, waded safely to the miller’s house, which is right in town, and going to the upper windows had a full view of all the force there, which did not consist of over six hundred cavalry and a regiment of infantry; and, deeming this information of importance, they returned to gen. ewell and reported; finding both the generals, ewell and jackson, on a hill about half a mile from the town, and on the same position the enemy had occupied in the morning.
the officers both expressed themselves highly pleased with the information and the manner in which it was obtained, but gen. ewell thought it would have been better if the scouts had returned to him immediately on getting it, instead of stopping at the miller’s house to eat a good dinner, which was on the table when they came down stairs; but it was too late then, for they had the dinner, and mentally resolved to do the same thing, when the opportunity presented itself, whether the general liked it or not, but they also resolved, in the same manner, not to tell him next time.
it appeared that general jackson had no intention of making a fight here, but only to demonstrate upon the yankees along the river until he could get his immense quantities of captured 58stores and baggage away from winchester and the railroad, and he now had only a small force of infantry with a battery at halltown.
while lying here watching the enemy, five of them came on the road, in good gunshot of the battery, and annoyed the men there very much, but were themselves perfectly safe, and, at the solicitation of ed. wright and norman smith, lieut. myers went to gen. ewell for permission to go and drive them away, which, for some time, he refused, but finally, on the third application, he rather testily exclaimed, "yes; go on, go on; but you’ll come back faster than you go;" and away went the three with their new carbines to try their luck.
they managed to get a good position unperceived by the sharpshooters, and as only one of them could be seen, and he very imperfectly, it was decided that myers, who was supposed to be the best shot, should fire first, and smith and wright take theirs when the yankees raised up. they were all successful, and left three of the boys lying on the ground, but no sooner had they done so than they found themselves in a perfect hornet’s nest, for two companies of infantry, who had been lying all the while concealed among some trees on the hillside, just beyond the pike, opened a hot fire upon the three scouts, and they being now in an open clover field, had to run for their lives. smith and wright ran to a hollow 59and escaped easily, but myers started directly up the hill to the battery, and being dressed in a new red shirt, had a lively time of it, and would scarcely have escaped at all but for the general opening on them with his artillery; as it was his red shirt got three balls through it, and his fright was well nigh mortal.
this affair brought on a heavy cannonade, which kept up nearly all the afternoon, and when night came the confederates fell back, which they continued to do until they reached winchester again, and the company of white had a long and hard scout to find gen. ewell’s ordnance train, which by some means had got off the road at smithfield; and during this scout they found a box of sabres at stevenson’s depot, which was sent back by a detail for the purpose, and the yankees coming up about this time gave the boys carrying the arms a chase, in which several sabres were lost, but they boasted that all the scabbards were saved.
on reaching the division the train was found to have been in camp all the time, and now the fact that fremont was coming down on one flank, and shields on the other, both moving on lines that would unite them in jackson’s rear, impelled that commander to move up the valley, not thinking it very desirable to form a junction with the generals named so far away from the blue ridge, which was always the great commander’s 60wall of defense under his faith in the great jehovah.
sunday morning, june 1st, 1862, the army reached strasburg, and at this point gen. fremont attempted to flank “stonewall,” but the latter preferred not to be flanked, and to prevent it unlimbered his batteries and after an hour’s conversation by the brazen lips of these interpreters, gen. f. decided that if jackson didn’t want to be flanked, why he wouldn’t do it, and gave up the job, but from now on the yankees closely pressed the rear, and ashby with his cavalry and chew’s battery fought them from every hill.
it was while on this march that col. sir percy wyndham bagged ashby, an exploit by which he hoped to win a brigadier’s commission, and undoubtedly would have done so if he had taken ashby to washington instead of allowing ashby to take him to richmond.
the couriers had extremely severe work on this march up the valley pike, but the army encamped regularly every night, and never for one moment did the march take the appearance of a retreat, for the rear guard always held its positions as long as it was necessary. on arriving at mount jackson, gen. ewell established headquarters, and pitched his tent at the end of the bridge and on the bank of the river, but during the night a tremendous storm of rain came down and the stream raised so rapidly that before headquarters 61knew what was going on it was on an island, with the water rising every moment, and no boat to get out in. everything was soon in confusion, but gen. ewell mounted his old gray horse, “rifle,” and taking the little indian, “friday,” behind him, plunged into the water without coat or hat and swam over to the camp of his cavalry, leaving the staff and wagon to get out as they could, but the company went to their assistance and soon had the whole business moved over.
next morning lieut. barrett was ordered to new market, with a detail from the company, to act as provost guard, and the division lay in camp all day just beyond the town. here the news of the battle of seven pines was received and of the wounding of general johnston, at that time commander-in-chief of the virginia army. there was a great deal of wonder and speculation as to who would succeed him, some thinking beauregard would take command, while many of the men thought our own stonewall was the man for the place, but nobody thought of lee, until in reply to a question on the subject, we heard gen. ewell remark, "no, sir; i don’t know who will be general johnston’s successor, but i shan’t be scared at all if the choice falls on lee." this circulated from camp to camp, and many of the soldiers freely admitted that they would be scared, for they considered that gen. lee’s western virginia 62campaign a failure, and if old scott did say beware of lee on an advance, they were afraid that the change from following the retreating johnston to that of rallying under the banners of the advancing lee wouldn’t be very beneficial to the army or the country, and gen. beauregard always had whipped the yankees without either an advance or a retreat.
these were only some of the many expressions of opinion on the subject of changing commanders, and only for the fact that for a short while they were lying quiet, with nothing to do, the subject would scarcely have had a place in the minds of jackson’s men, for soldiers soon learn to submit blindly to the powers that be, and obey, unquestioningly, the orders of their officers.
“theirs not to reason why,
theirs not to make reply,
theirs but to do and die.”
while halted at new market, an incident occurred which banished all thought of the richmond army from the minds of those who witnessed it, and filled each heart with pride, which claimed virginia as its home, and that was the daring and almost miraculous escape of gen. ashby from the enemy, who attacked him at the bridge on the turnpike and chased him almost to town, killing his celebrated white stallion, but nearly every one of the seven pursuers were killed or wounded by ashby and his single companion, although the 63general had no loads in his pistols and fought entirely with the sabre.
this was the last time we ever saw the great soldier on the war path, for he was killed the next day while leading an infantry regiment in the battle at harrisonburg, (june 5th, 1862), and thus went down in a billow of blood the brilliant star of glory which promised to dazzle the astonished nations with the splendid blaze of chivalric light which now only blazons the fame of the knights of the olden time,
“whose bones are dust, whose swords are rust,
whose souls are with the saints, we trust.”
whatever the world may say of the right or wrong of the “lost cause,” it will never deny that many of those by whom it was upheld, and who crowned its banners with glory in carrying them so gallantly and so far, were inspired by motives as patriotic, as pure and bright as ever burned in the bosom of mortal man. they were brave men; they fought as brave men fight, and died as brave men die. upon a hundred “stormy heights and carnage-covered fields,” they attested their devotion to their cause, and among the truest and bravest of them all, the name of gen. turner ashby shines with a radiant glory that will brighten still as it goes “sounding down the ages,”
“the knightliest of the knightly race,
who since the days of old
have kept the lamp of chivalry
alight in hearts of gold.”
64there was mourning in the camp that night, and every face wore a look of gloom as if in the calamity which had just befallen them, the soldiers felt that a harbinger of still greater desolation had been given them, and when gen. jackson appeared in the morning, all eyes looked eagerly to see how he felt the loss of the great cavalier, but in that calm and steady eye was an inscrutable look, and no man could form an idea of what were the feelings of the commander by the expression of the face that never changed, either in the glory of triumph or the gloom of defeat.
the army lay quiet all day, and the next moved towards port republic, encamping near the old church at cross keys. some of the men became very impatient at the constant and rapid marching, and one of them asked gen. jackson, as he passed along the column, where he was going to fight the yankees. the general, with a half smile, replied, "we’ll fight them in brown’s gap," and the soldiers at once became exceedingly interested in that place, continually asking each other “how far it was to brown’s gap. would the yankees follow them there?” &c., little imagining that the ground upon which they then stood was to be their battle-field for the morrow.
sunday morning, june 8th, broke bright, clear and hot, and by 8 o’clock every one knew that ewell was going to match his division against the advancing columns of fremont, for the cavalry, 65now commanded by col. t. t. munford, slowly retired before the yankee infantry, and gen. ewell’s brigades moved out quietly and formed their battle lines. the scouts and couriers now had plenty of work again, and lieut. barrett, with a part of the company, was ordered to act as provost guard again, while gen. ewell ordered lieut. myers and ed. wright to scout on the right, and let him know when the enemy made any demonstration in that direction. the remainder of the boys were on duty as couriers with the generals. the battle opened with some artillery firing, but pretty soon taylor’s brigade met and whipped a line of yankees that advanced upon ewell’s centre, and all was quiet again for an hour, when elzey’s men became engaged, and at the same time myers and wright discovered a heavy force moving by the flank to ewell’s right. gen. trimble was the first man they met on their return with this important information, and communicating it to him, that officer promptly moved his brigade forward, and attacking the flanking party in flank, they were very soon driven off with heavy loss in men and all their artillery. about the time trimble’s guns opened, general taylor advanced, and for a while the battle raged with great fury, but general trimble’s movement exposed the enemy’s left flank, and they fell back along the whole line.
this ended the battle of cross keys, with the exception of some cannonading on the left about 66sundown, and although some horses of the couriers had been struck, only one of white’s men was touched, and he very slightly, by a bouncing grape shot.
that night they slept upon the battle-field, but with the dawn everything moved rapidly towards port republic, for shields, with his army, was moving up the river, and gen. jackson was going to "fight in brown’s gap" again.
on monday morning “stonewall” crossed the bridge almost alone, and rode into the town, but on his return found a yankee major with two pieces posted at the mouth of the bridge, and, without a moment’s hesitation, rode up to the officer, saying, “turn your guns, sir, turn your guns; the enemy is coming from that direction,” pointing at the same time down the river, and without a question, the unsuspecting major had his pieces wheeled about, in order to command the approach of the enemy, which to him was no enemy at all, and without waiting to explain any further, gen. jackson dashed rapidly across the bridge to his own people, but he had not a moment to spare, for the baffled yankee had his guns going on him before he cleared the bridge.
jackson instantly ordered his artillery up, and very soon the enterprising “boys in blue” were compelled to change their position, thus leaving the bridge open to the confederates, and general jackson’s old division crossed the river, followed 67slowly by that of gen. ewell, with whom white’s cavalry moved.
immediately on reaching the east bank, the line of battle was formed, and the fight commenced, and as soon as everything had crossed the bridge it was fired, cutting off fremont’s army from that of shields, and with it a company of the 6th va. cavalry, which acted as rear guard and was compelled to swim the river.
here was begun and carried through to complete success one of the most brilliant displays of generalship witnessed during the war, or, in fact, in any war of modern times.
“stonewall” had not only eluded the superior force of fremont, but had actually whipped him, almost in cannon shot of his colleague, on the 8th, and now, on the 9th of june, was massing all his troops and crushing the army of that colleague—(gen. shields)—while fremont, with his troops formed in battle-ranks on the hill-sides bordering the shenandoah, was unable to do more than look at the battle and see the army of shields annihilated; while, without a guard, and just in his front, moved the long train composed of all of jackson’s wagons, all of ewell’s and nearly every one of banks’, besides some of his own; and standing still in all the circumstance and panoply of war, the blazing bridge cutting off his last and only means of doing harm to his wily foe, the savage gen. fremont, in pitiful helplessness and vindictive 68vandalism, could only fire his guns upon the empty town of port republic.
by 10 o’clock the battle was over and shields flying down the river with the scattered remnant of his army, which gen. jackson only followed for nine miles when he returned to look after his trains and captures.
the enemy had lost all of his artillery, consisting of about fifteen guns, all of his wagons and a great number of prisoners, besides many killed and wounded, for shields fought with more obstinacy than fremont, although the latter had considerably more force than his adversary—gen. ewell—while shields had an inferior one to the combined troops of jackson and ewell.
the couriers had very warm and exciting work to-day, as is usual on the battle-field, but although many narrow escapes were made not one was wounded, and they captured a full company of ohio infantry.
lieut. myers was sent by gen. jackson, during the heat of the battle, with a dispatch to col. munford to charge, with his cavalry, a battery which was doing heavy execution, and remained with the colonel until the enemy’s lines broke up in full retreat, when he rejoined gen. jackson and kept with him in the nine mile pursuit, which caused him to be the recipient of another scolding from gen. ewell, who informed him that he was no courier for gen. jackson, and that his business 69was to keep his (ewell’s) division supplied with couriers, and to obey his orders and nobody else’s. it is needless to say that the lesson was laid to heart and closely followed thereafter.
the army bivouacked in brown’s gap that night, and the next day the usual rain storm which follows a battle poured down upon them, as they still waited to see and do whatever “old stonewall” might decide upon as best for them; and two days after, the great commander put his people in camp at mount meridian, where, for several very beautiful june days, the troops passed away the time, fishing and bathing in the blue shenandoah, and visiting the wonderful weyer’s cave, while each day a regular detail was made to go to port republic and “make believe” build a bridge as if jackson intended to try another campaign down the valley, when, in reality, he was preparing to march his army to the relief of the confederate capital, which was now closely environed by the magnificent army of mcclellan, and was anxiously waiting the critical moment when the last spadeful of dirt should be thrown, and the “young napoleon” would replace his sappers and miners with the splendid battalions who were to immortalize the name of mcclellan by taking, under his plans and direction, the now world-renowned city of richmond.
white’s company was in splendid condition, the ranks full, the horses thriving and the men all 70armed equal to any cavalry in the army, and all they wanted was for their captain to come up and take command again. while at mount meridian gen. jackson had divine service regularly, and appointed times for praise and thanksgiving to the god of battles who had crowned his arms with victory; while from all around our borders came news of confederate successes, and rumors that foreign nations had recognized the independence of the southern confederacy. so that the future was brilliant with hope and no man in the army would have willingly exchanged his confederate dollars for an equal amount of greenbacks.
