The Valley Campaigns - Chapters V-VIII



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CHAPTER V 
AN INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE. HOSPITALS IN OUR VILLAGE

   THE months following the opening of the war were crowded with activity 
and excitement. Our village was filled with visitors, soldiers, and 
parties passing through on their way to the seat of war. Each day brought 
some new event, some reminder of the struggle into which our country had 
entered. After our two companies had left for the front our citizens were 
busy preparing in many ways for the comforts of the boys in the army. The 
women, - young and old, - organized sewing societies and made clothing and 
other articles for the personal use of the soldier. Cooks were busy 
preparing food supplies, - such as hams, poultry, bread, cakes, and 
pies, - which were packed in boxes and shipped almost daily to the members 
of the companies or to the officers in command. I remember that my mother 
shipped a large box to the Confederate general in command at Manassas, and 
in going over my father's papers I find the following interesting 
correspondence between her and General Bonham. 

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FRONT ROYAL, WARREN COUNTY, VA. 
June 6th, 1861. General M. L. Bonham, 
Commander C. S. A. 

   DEAR SIR: I have the pleasure, upon the part of the ladies of our 
little village, of presenting to you and through you to the gallant 
officers and men under your command, a lot of Virginia cured hams, with 
other substantials of life, which have been prepared; and you will please 
accept as a voluntary contribution to your usual rations, and as 
evidencing our appreciation of the sacrifice you make in coming to the 
assistance of our honored old Commonwealth in this her hour of need. Allow 
us to say that as wives we know how to sympathize with those you have left 
in deep anxiety for their absent husbands; as mothers, our hearts yearn in 
tender love for their young, inexperienced, but chivalrous sons; as 
sisters there is a ceaseless throb for our brothers' care, which knoweth 
not rest, and as ladies, our voices mingle in grateful strains to cheer 
and encourage you to deeds of valor. We know that the race is not to the 
swift nor the battle to the strong; and vain is he who trusteth in the arm 
of flesh. May we, therefore, all look for success to Him who calmeth the 
seas and rideth upon the waves, trusting He may so lead and direct as to 
restore peace to our borders and give separation from our assailants. We 
believe in the justice 

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of our cause and rely on the valor of our men. 

Very respectfully yours, 
ELIZABETH A. ASHBY.


MANASSAS JUNCTION, VA., 
June 6th, 1861. Mrs. Ashby. 

   MY DEAR MADAM: The very acceptable present from the patriotic ladies of 
Front Royal is just received, and will be disposed of according to their 
wishes. 

   Allow me, Madam, to return to the ladies the heartfelt thanks of the 
entire command for their kind consideration, not only in sending us these 
very appropriable good things, but also for their generous sympathy for 
those near and dear ones we have left behind us. Whatever sacrifice we 
make in giving our services to the common cause on the soil of the great 
"Old Dominion" is much lightened by the frank and generous hospitality of 
the citizens of Virginia, - especially the ladies. 

   Accept in behalf of yourself and the ladies you represent our sincere 
wishes for your own and their prosperity and happiness. 

Very truly yours, 
M. L. BONHAM, 
Brig.-Gen. C. S. A.

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   At about this time our village began to be a place for the care of the 
sick and wounded brought by rail from Manassas. When the wounded were but 
a few, the sick men were taken into the homes of the people and cared for 
until restored to health; but as the number of patients grew it soon 
became necessary to establish a hospital for the overflow. 

   Our old Academy building was first pressed into service. Benches and 
desks were removed, and beds were established. It was soon overcrowded, 
however, and the court-house and two of the churches were converted into 
hospitals; and later, owing to the accommodations still being inadequate, 
additional quarters were required. The Confederate Government then began 
to erect three large hospital buildings on lots adjacent to the village, 
in accordance with a plan that provided for a large hospital plant, and 
the work was pushed with vigor. 

   After the first battle of Manassas the arrival of the wounded and sick 
was so large that every bit of available space was utilized. All of our 
people, especially our women, were kept busy looking after the needs of 
this rapidly growing population. 

   Too much cannot be said about the zeal and faithful services of our 
women. They went into the kitchens and prepared dainties, visited the 

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wards and gave personal attention to the sick, looked after beds and 
bedding, and in many ways added to the comfort of the hospital inmates. In 
their patriotism and unselfish service no act of self-sacrifice was 
neglected. But for our women, these sick soldiers would have fared badly; 
for the overcrowding and inefficient hospital service were at times 
deplorable. 

   I well remember the sorrow at the first death in the hospital, - the 
death of a man from a Southern State, who had left a wife and children in 
his far-away home to serve his country. He had been brought from Manassas 
with a severe attack of fever, which carried him off a few days after his 
arrival at the hospital. His funeral and burial were marked by the most 
profound respect. A small military company, on guard duty in the village, 
turned out to give him a military funeral. With fife and drum the company 
marched to the yet unused spot that had been selected for a soldiers' 
cemetery. Our citizens, - men and women, boys and girls, - turned out to 
follow the remains of this poor fellow to the cemetery, his last resting-
place. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the early fall and the 
exercises were made most impressive by the large company that had 
assembled to pay respect to the dead soldier. When the casket was 
deposited in the grave a squad of soldiers fired a salute over the grave 
and paid all 

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the military honors possible on such an occasion. 

   The solemnity and pathos of that first soldier's burial was made most 
striking by comparison with other ceremonies that soon followed. A few 
days later a second death occurred in the hospital. This poor fellow was 
escorted to his grave by a few citizens and a squad of soldiers that fired 
a salute and then retired. Very soon another poor fellow died, and this 
one was buried in the simplest way. 

   As the days came and went deaths followed so rapidly that the new 
cemetery grew and grew till it soon became a city of the dead; indeed, 
God's acre was filled so fast that within a few months over one hundred 
bodies were sleeping under the sod, now consecrated by the devotion of our 
people, - a field not filled with men who lost their lives in battle, but 
who died from disease contracted in camp. As the men were buried, wooden 
head-boards were placed at their graves giving name, date of death, and 
regiment. This care was exercised for a time but later many unknown were 
placed in the ground, - men whom it has never been possible to identify. 
Many of them were from the States further South, North Carolina being 
largely represented. 

   An incident that occurred at this time gave me much distress. In one of 
the hospitals near my 

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home there was a tall, lean, pale-faced boy, not over 18 years of age, - a 
member of the Eleventh North Carolina Regiment, - who had entered the 
hospital as a convalescent from camp fever and was able to take exercise 
in the yard. His delicate and refined features and depressed spirits 
greatly excited the interest of his companions who tried to cheer him up 
by making good-natured fun of his homesickness. However, the poor boy grew 
weaker day by day, then took to his bed, and within a week's time was 
buried. His name was Joseph Hoover, and his grave can be found in the 
soldiers' lot. No doubt his parents and friends have thought of him as 
lying buried on some field of battle among the unknown dead, as do many 
who have long since been forgotten. And speaking of such burials I recall 
that in my own county several hundred men belonging to the Northern and 
Southern armies were so hastily buried where they fell in action that 
their graves were torn open by wild animals and their bones scattered over 
the ground, and are now dissolved in clay by the hand of time. During the 
winter of 1864 I saw a number of graves of this type. Dogs had dug up the 
remains, and there were bones under bushes, under rock piles, or scattered 
all over the ground. These things were all that was left of men who had 
been killed in battle and whose bodies had remained unburied for days 
until 

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some of our citizens had hurriedly covered their remains with dirt and 
stones as best they could. I recall the remains of a poor fellow who was 
mortally wounded in a charge through a deep ravine, filled with loose 
stone and wild brush, under which he had crawled, and there died. His body 
had not been discovered until winter had killed the brush that had 
concealed it. When found his bones were bleaching under the frost of 
winter. Such cases were not unusual. Often bodies were found in wild 
mountain gorges; in the beds of rivers, or in some unfrequented place 
death had come either by sickness or by a wound. These are a few of the 
tragedies of war, - inevitable when men appeal to the use of arms for the 
control of governmental power. 



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CHAPTER VI 
VISIT TO MANASSAS. IN WINTER QUARTERS

   THE first battle of Manassas had been fought with brilliant success to 
the Southern cause. The affairs of the Confederacy were in a most hopeful 
condition. Our people were moved with deepest patriotism and every 
preparation was being made to advance the welfare of the armies now 
defending our rights. Our farmers were busy making and gathering in their 
crops. Every industry was employed in making arms, ammunition, and 
military supplies. Men were being recruited, organized into companies, and 
sent to the front for service. All of these activities indicated that the 
people of the South would make every resistance possible against the 
Federal forces now invading their soil. 

   Our village occupied a strong strategic position and was used as a base 
where supplies were collected from adjacent counties for shipment to 
Manassas, where men were gathered for enlistment and drilled, and where 
the sick and wounded were cared for until ready for service again. So 
crowded were the hospitals at times it became necessary to take many of 
the convalescents into 

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the homes of different families. For weeks at a time every available room 
in my home was occupied by some convalescent soldier. 

   With the opening of the fall months I had to take up regular school 
work. There were, however, too many important events taking place to admit 
of a boy's giving much attention to books and studies. 

   At this time we had the greatest abundance of food supplies and plenty 
of servants to wait on the guests in our home. The home of every family in 
the village and surrounding country was filled to overflowing as was my 
own; for the hospitality of our people knew no limit and their kindness to 
the Confederate soldier, whether sick or well, was unbounded. 

   During the winter months active military operations were suspended and 
the armies were held in winter quarters, where they had only the lighter 
duties to discharge. The boys from our county frequently came home on 
furlough, and our people often made visits to the boys in camp at 
Manassas. Trains leaving the village at an early hour in the morning 
arrived at Manassas by nine or ten o'clock and returned late in the 
afternoon, thus giving visitors some six or eight hours' stay in camp. I 
remember once making this trip in the early fall with my father, mother, 
and a few friends. We carried with us a large box of provisions 

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for the boys in camp and spent the day there with the then happy fellows. 
They were living in tents, but were comfortably fixed, with only light 
duties to perform and experiencing all the pleasures of gay companionship. 
The hardships of military service had not up to this time been felt. We 
passed a most pleasant day in camp with the soldier boys from our county, 
and had a fair view of the life of the soldier. 

   At the time of our visit it was estimated there were some 30,000 troops 
camped in and near Manassas, - a place that had at that time only a few 
hundred actual population. Located at the junction of two railroads, - one 
leading from the Valley of Virginia, and the other from Richmond and 
points south, - with a single-track road extending from Manassas to 
Alexandria and Washington on the Potomac, it had been selected as a 
military post on account of its connections. 

   After the first battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861, the Federal army had 
withdrawn its main force to Washington and the south bank of the Potomac; 
and there were a few outposts between Alexandria and Manassas, the 
intervening territory being held by scouts, raiding parties, and small 
encampments on outpost duty. 

   At Manassas the Confederate army was acting on the defensive. Large 
forts and fortifications had been built, - or were in process of 
building, - 

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and the place had been put in a very strong position for defense. It was 
believed at that time that the Federal line of invasion would follow the 
line of railroad that led through Manassas. While the Confederate troops 
were being gathered and organized at Manassas it was known that large 
Federal forces were assembling in Washington and that preparations on a 
large scale were being made for the invasion of Virginia in the spring. 

   General Geo. B. McClellan had been placed in command of the Federal 
army and he began to forge the weapon that was to play the chief rôle in 
the subjugation of the South. Every resource at the command of the Federal 
Government was brought to bear in the work of preparation and 
organization. It was known that more than 200,000 men, at the command of 
the Federal Government, were in arms at the time. While the North and 
Northwest were pouring in their volunteers to swell the Union army the 
Confederate Government was singularly apathetic. It failed to realize the 
vast importance of the thorough organization and equipment of its military 
forces and allowed the winter of 1861 to pass without making an aggressive 
movement. By holding its forces on the defensive, it allowed the Federal 
armies to remain in camp and perfect their organizations for 

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aggressive movements in the following spring and summer. 

   After the brilliant victory at Manassas the South seemed to develop a 
spirit of overconfidence in her resources, - a confidence that was not 
justified. She magnified her own prowess and minimized that of her enemy. 
Of the Southern generals Beauregard and Stonewall Jackson were in favor of 
an aggressive movement, advocating the invasion of Maryland and an assault 
on Washington. The Confederate authorities decided to remain on the 
defensive and assented to the policy adopted by the Federals. 

   This policy gave the North an abundance of time to prepare for a war of 
gigantic proportions. The South had at the same time the opportunity to 
equip its armies with arms, ammunition, and military supplies from foreign 
countries, as her ports were then open to European countries. The South 
had at that time millions of bales of cotton that could have been shipped 
to England and sold for money that would have given the Confederate 
Government a financial backing sufficient to purchase and outfit a navy, - 
a navy that would have embarrassed that of the Federal Government and 
would have kept the Southern ports open. 

   The theory of the Confederate authorities was that the withholding of 
her cotton would force 

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the European powers to recognize the Confederate Government. This theory 
was adopted in practice, at least; for the Confederate authorities allowed 
the opportunity to pass during the first year of the war and after that 
time it was too late. No one can now say what might have been the 
difference in the result of the war had the Government at Richmond been 
controlled with the same wisdom and sound maxims of business policy as was 
that at Washington. The historian may speculate on such matters, but, in 
the light of facts, the man of common sense can easily see that the South 
owed her defeat to her civil policies, not to her armies. 

   About the 1st of November Stonewall Jackson was promoted to the rank of 
major-general and assigned to the command of the Shenandoah Valley. He 
made his headquarters at Winchester, having with him a force of less than 
5,000 men. The Federal army opposing numbered some 28,000 men, who were 
placed at different points along the Baltimore and Ohio railroad from 
Point of Rocks to Cumberland. General Jackson was alive to the situation 
and kept his forces in action during the greater part of the winter. While 
the Confederate army was stationed at Winchester our village was within 
the Confederate lines, and our people were not disturbed by the fear of 
the enemy. 

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   The winter was full of activity. With four hospitals filled with the 
sick, and many private homes caring for the convalescents, there was 
little time for tranquillity. Everyone seemed to be employed, our women 
giving personal attention to the care of the sick. I cannot claim that 
these serious duties absorbed all the time of our women, - it certainly 
did not monopolize the time of the younger set, for the social life of the 
village was kept in a whirl of excitement by numerous private 
entertainments, dances, and musicales, in which the convalescent soldier, 
the boys at home on furlough, and the young girls were brought together. 
The game of love was played with as much ardor as the game of war. In this 
way the winter months soon rolled around and, with the approach of spring, 
thoughts were turned to other fancies than those of love. 

   It was during the fall and winter of 1861 that the new Confederate bank 
notes began to circulate, and with this new currency came a flood of State 
bank paper, corporation paper, and small shin-plasters, issued in 
denominations of 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents by any individual engaged in 
commercial business. A watchmaker in our village, with a combined capital 
of less than $1,000, issued his notes, made payable at the close of the 
war, and then as opportunities were presented, passed them out in change 
for purchases or for other notes. 

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The capacity of the printing press seemed to be the only limit to the 
issue of this bogus currency. From the Government down to the small 
dealer, paper money was poured out in such abundance as was never before 
witnessed. Money of every description, except in the form of metal, was in 
the freest circulation. Everybody had money and everybody felt rich, - 
even those who had never before known the sensation of having money. Money 
became cheap and everything else grew in value. A few who had property to 
sell accepted this money in payment and converted it into Confederate 
bonds. Small fortunes soon grew in this paper security that had no other 
value than the promise of the newly organized Government back of it. 

   So intense was the spirit of patriotism that many of our well-to-do 
citizens were induced to sell their personal property and invest in 
Confederate bonds. This was one way they had of giving support to a 
Government that based all its credit on the loyalty of its people and none 
upon sound and conservative measures of financial policy. I was present at 
a private discussion between several of our best citizens on the financial 
policy of the Government, in which they expressed the opinion that the 
Government would fall because of its own inefficiency rather than by the 
arms of the enemy. They held that a public credit that had no basis of 
strength 

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other than moral support would crumble under its own weight. Patriotism, 
they claimed, would raise armies and fight battles, but it could not arm, 
clothe, and feed men. During the winter of 1861 it became quite evident to 
men like my father and to other leading citizens, that the Government at 
Richmond was full of weakness and inefficiency. They recognized the 
symptoms of a disease for which they could offer no remedy. However, at 
this time an intense patriotism buoyed them up to hope that conditions 
would improve and that the arms of the South would overbalance the defects 
of the civil administration. 



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CHAPTER VII 
FEDERAL INVASION OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY. BATTLE OF KERNSTOWN. STORMY DAYS

   IN the spring of 1862 it was announced that Manassas would be evacuated 
by the Confederate army, and that the Federal attack would be made by way 
of the Peninsula. The Confederate forces were transferred to the 
Peninsula, with the advanced lines at Williamsburg, Va. After the 
evacuation of Manassas the hospitals in our village were closed, and all 
Government supplies were moved into the interior. Notice was given that 
our people would soon be within the enemy's lines. 

   During the latter part of February General Banks, with an army of some 
40,000 men, crossed the Potomac at Harper's Ferry and began the invasion 
of the Shenandoah Valley. The army at Manassas withdrew to Orange Court 
House on March 8, which left the Confederate lines in the Valley exposed, 
and made it necessary for General Jackson to withdraw to a higher position 
in the Valley. 

   On March 11, 1862, Winchester was evacuated 

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by the Confederates, and on the following day General Shields, with a 
division of 11,000 men, took possession of the place. Jackson then fell 
back to Strasburg and upon Shields' advance he retreated to Woodstock, 
twelve miles further south. The army under Banks consisted of three 
divisions, aggregating about 40,000 men. Two of these divisions had been 
sent to reinforce McClellan, leaving Shields, with over 15,000 men, to 
watch Jackson, with less than 5,000. Shields withdrew from Strasburg to 
Winchester and Jackson followed him as far as Kernstown, about five miles 
south of Winchester, where on March 23rd, he engaged Shields in battle. 

   The battle of Kernstown was bitterly contested, Jackson, - having less 
than 4,000 men opposed to Shields' 9,000, - was forced to retire from the 
field, but he held his men in good order. The battle while a tactical 
defeat was a strategic victory for the Confederates, since it recalled to 
the Valley the troops sent to the aid of McClellan, and relieved the 
pressure that McClellan was making against the Confederate forces on the 
Peninsula. And Jackson, with his small force of some 4,000 men, kept some 
40,000 Federal troops in the Valley, thus preventing a reënforcement of 
McClellan. 

   For the next thirty days Jackson was busily manoeuvering with the 
Federal forces to hold them 

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in the Valley. His army now numbered about 6,000 men, nearly one-half 
being cavalry. On April 30th he went from Elk Run Valley, leaving General 
Ewell, - who had recently joined him, - with 8,000 men, to watch the 
movements of the enemy, east of Harrisonburg, crossed over the Blue Ridge 
into eastern Virginia and then returned by rail to Staunton. After 
reaching Staunton by this indirect route Jackson united his forces with 
those of General Edward Johnson, who had about 2,800 men, and marched west 
along the pike leading from Staunton to McDowell, where the Federal forces 
under General Milroy had been concentrated. On May 8th Jackson attacked 
Milroy and soon won the victory of McDowell, driving the Federal forces 
back into the mountains of West Virginia. 

   On May 12th Jackson returned to the Valley and took position on the 
pike between Staunton and Harrisonburg, where he organized that movement 
that soon went into history as the Valley Campaign, - the most brilliant 
achievement in the War between the States. 

   I must now return to the narrative of events that took place in our 
village while the movements in the Valley were going on. The withdrawal of 
the Confederate forces from Winchester, and the retreat up the Valley 
placed our county within the Federal lines. The hopes of our people were 

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greatly depressed and all fully realized the gravity of the situation. We 
were left to the invasion of the enemy and felt the apprehension that an 
enemy's presence is sure to create. Many of our people had shipped their 
most valuable horses, cattle, and other personal property within the 
Confederate lines, only keeping at home such stock as was needed for 
farming purposes. Stores and business houses were closed, but our farmers 
went on cultivating their crops with as much diligence as conditions would 
permit; for at this stage of the war we did not know what effect an 
invading army would have upon the lives and property of our people, - 
whether all rights would be swept away, or our old men, women, and 
children would be insulted, imprisoned, and maltreated, and our property 
confiscated. At that time some confidence was held in the humanity and 
justice of the Federal Government, which was believed to be conducting its 
war against men in arms and not against non-combatants. All knew that the 
war was for subjugation of the seceding States, a restoration of the 
Union, and the emancipation of the negro. However, the means by which 
these results would be brought about were not fully understood; for at 
that time the bitter experiences of civil war had not been tested. 

   Soon after the Confederate forces were withdrawn from our village, we 
were surprised on the 

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afternoon of March 27th by a raid of Federal cavalry, consisting of one 
company, commanded by Captain David Strother, a Virginian by birth, better 
known under the nom de plume, "Porte Crayon." 

   The company dashed into the village, halted in front of the hotel in 
the Public Square for some fifteen minutes, and after asking a few 
questions, seeming satisfied with their investigation, they turned their 
backs on the crowd that had assembled to see the men who wore the blue. 

   Looking back over these stormy days of war, I recall the fact that 
there were several Union men in our county who took no part in the great 
civil strife, but who used their influence to defend our people, - who 
respected their opinions because they were conscientious and honest, - 
against the cruel spirit of our Northern invaders. They were known to the 
Northern army as Union sympathizers, but as non-combatants; and on all 
occasions they were ready to assist our people in the recovery of property 
that had been taken by the Union army or to intercede for those who had 
been unjustly imprisoned. The services of these Union men were invaluable. 

   In one instance some negroes belonging to one of our prominent citizens 
ran away in the night and took with them a wagon and four horses. They 
were traced to the Federal lines, and their 

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owner, taking with him one of these Union sympathizers, went to the camp, 
made claim to the horses and wagon, and secured their return from General 
Milroy, the officer in command. The negroes were left to their freedom, 
for they were an untrustworthy, unreliable, and sorry crowd. In justice I 
must say that no Union man in our community was either spy or renegade, 
but sought to live peacefully with both sides engaged in a fratricidal 
strife, knowing full well that the passions of men engaged in civil war 
could only be subdued by the survival of the strongest. War has no respect 
for the individual. It has no sympathy for the weak. It seeks only to 
advance the interests of the strong. Those who appeal to its decision must 
accept its results. 

   After this first visit of Federal cavalry our people soon became 
accustomed to the sight of the Federal troops. From day to day small 
bodies of soldiers or raiding parties came to the village. The place 
became a stamping-ground for the men of both armies. One day the 
Confederates came to see us, and the next day the Federals. Between the 
two we were kept in a state of constant excitement, bordering sometimes on 
anxiety, sometimes on hope. 

   During these months the domestic life of the community was filled with 
innumerable disturbances; anxiety, fear, joy, and sorrow found place 

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in every heart. There was not a family that did not have a father, 
brother, son or some other relative in the Confederate army, - relatives 
who had enlisted in different commands located in Virginia or in the 
Western army. All these men were exposed to the dangers and casualties of 
war; and though there was a constant communication by letter between the 
loved ones at home and the absent soldier, the mails were irregular and 
uncertain; days frequently passed before the results of a battle were 
known. 

   The Richmond newspapers were sought eagerly, but items of news were 
often unsatisfactory. The progress of the war was so uncertain, - 
apparently so hopeless, - that the success of our arms seemed clouded in 
doubt. We were now in the enemy's territory; our lives and property were 
exposed to death and confiscation, our homes were open to the insults and 
cruelty of an invading army that was seeking to trample upon our liberties 
and destroy our institutions. The only hope that animated our people was 
the belief that everyone had in the justice of our cause, and in the 
patriotism and valor of our armies. Those unable to take part in the 
military service, - our old men, our women, and the children of tender 
age, - remained firm in spirit and daring in purpose. Willing to endure 
every privation, to make every sacrifice, they sent words of love and 
encouragement to their 

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kindred in arms, inspiring them to deeds of valor and heroism. Our old men 
and boys were busy in the fields with their crops, sewing seed which would 
bear crops for the enemy to gather or destroy. Our women, young and old, 
were busy with the loom, spinning-wheel, and needle, making their own 
apparel or that of their friends in the army. All attempts at 
ornamentation were abandoned: our men were clothed in the plainest woolen 
or cotton fabric, our women, in homespun dresses dyed with the bark or 
root of trees. In food, as in raiment, there was simplicity and 
temperance. 

   As the war continued from year to year these methods adopted in 1862 
were enforced with greater rigidity. 



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CHAPTER VIII 
FEDERAL TROOPS IN THE VILLAGE. THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH

   THOUGH small bodies of Federal troops were frequently seen in Front 
Royal, it was not until May 14, 1862, that a large body of soldiers 
encamped near us. This occurred when the division of General Shields, on 
its retreat from the Upper Valley, passed our way and went into camp for 
several days in the suburbs. As the weather was cold and rainy, and the 
roads were in the worst condition possible for travel, the men were muddy, 
wet, jaded, and looked most miserable. Then, too, they had seen hard 
service in following Stonewall Jackson through his wanderings in the 
Valley. 

   There came to our home at this time a Federal officer, Col. Thos. C. 
McDowell, in command of a Pennsylvania regiment in Shields' Division, who 
asked for quarters for himself and staff. His request was granted and he 
was entertained by my parents with as much courtesy as was possible under 
the existing conditions. My father soon learned that he was a gentleman of 
culture and refinement, a Democrat, and a much dissatisfied 

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soldier. Colonel McDowell soon became very confidential and related his 
history to my father with a frankness that was pathetic. 

   It seems that at the beginning of the war he was editing a Democratic 
paper in a large city in Pennsylvania. Being a Union man and what was 
known as a War Democrat, he had been given a commission as Colonel of a 
regiment of volunteers by the Governor of his State and in this capacity 
he had entered the army. He was a man with a family, one of his sons being 
a lieutenant in his regiment. While a guest in my home he expressed to my 
father his dissatisfaction with the policy of the Federal Government both 
in its purpose and in its conduct of the war. He said he had entered the 
army under the conviction that the war was for the restoration of the 
Union, but he had discovered that its main purpose was to destroy the 
institution of slavery. With the latter purpose he had no sympathy. He 
then told my father that he had decided to resign his commission in the 
army and resume his duties as editor of his paper which was opposed to 
what he conceived to be the policy of the Government. During the few days 
this officer was in our home we became strongly attracted to him, and when 
he left we had no thought of ever seeing him again. Later I will tell of a 
visit he made to our home a few weeks afterward. 

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   General Shields' army remained in camp only two days and then crossed 
the Blue Ridge into eastern Virginia. Shortly after this the First 
Maryland Federal Regiment, under the command of Colonel J. R. Kenly, went 
into camp on a high hill one mile north of our village. It was a large and 
well-organized regiment, made up almost entirely of Maryland men. With the 
regiment was a battery of artillery. Two companies were detached and 
stationed in the village as a guard for the Provost-Marshal, whose office 
was in the hotel. Outposts and pickets were stationed on the main roads 
that led into the village. These Maryland men were well behaved, orderly, 
and kind to our people, and they created a good impression. At this time 
all private property was protected, and, when needed for the use of the 
army, was paid for. The soldiers paid for the small things they wanted, 
such as milk, pies, cakes, and fruit. There was no disposition to rob or 
pillage. Colonel Kenly camped on land owned by an estate of which my 
father was the administrator, and he gave an order on the Government to 
indemnify the estate for the use of grass and other property taken by the 
men of his command. Though the Government never respected his order and 
has never paid for the property the men took, it was not due to any fault 
of Colonel Kenly. He was a gentleman and respected 

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the rights of the citizens; which is more than can be said for the 
Government for which he was fighting. His action indicated that the 
Federal authorities were fighting men in arms and not robbing and 
destroying the property of unarmed citizens. Even the Confederate 
authorities were not at that time more considerate of the rights of our 
citizens than were Colonel Kenly and his men. Had a policy like his been 
adopted during the subsequent years of the war, it is more than probable 
that peace would have been made sooner and without so fearful a waste of 
life and property. 

   It was for the reason that the policy of the Federal Government with 
regard to the people of the South during the last two years of the war was 
so exasperating to the men, women, and even children of that section, that 
no sacrifice was considered too great to make in defense of their lives 
and property. When it became a war of extermination few shrank from the 
hardships inflicted on them; for life and property seemed of less value to 
the Southerners than freedom from tyranny and oppression. 

   And that is why fathers and mothers, wives and sisters, bore their 
sorrow with stoicism when their loved ones fell in battle. Only those who 
lived through the storm of war, - who experienced the hardships and 
sorrows of a brutal and 

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inhuman struggle, - can fully realize the sufferings, the sorrows, and the 
courage of the Southern women, of the old men, and even of children of 
tender age when brought face to face with starvation and death. We will 
never know how many innocent lives were destroyed, what brilliant hopes 
were crushed by the conditions that surrounded the non-combatants, nor how 
many actually perished from disease due to starvation. Even at this late 
day, when I think of that time of war, and recall the many incidents that 
came under my personal notice, I often wonder how so many lived through 
them, - how the spirit of men, women, and children could have endured the 
situation presented to them. 

   But I must not dwell upon these now long-forgotten incidents, for the 
boys of my generation were then too young to bear arms and now should be 
too old to remember the hardships of a struggle that came into their lives 
when the fire and passion of coming manhood were fiercest. We boys were 
everywhere, we saw everything, we grew up in an atmosphere in which human 
suffering and human life were the cards with which men played the game of 
life and chance. To be wounded, to be killed, to die in hospital or in 
home from disease contracted in camp were daily experiences. And if such 
happenings did not come there was no excitement, - nothing to arouse the 
deeper passions, 

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nothing to create an interest in the day's adventure. 

   Each year as the war advanced the boys older than myself, - whose 
companionship I shared, - enlisted in the army; and though still of tender 
age, they made gallant soldiers, doing faithful service in their country's 
cause. One by one these boys were cut down with wounds or killed in 
battle. They were little better than targets for the enemy's bullets, for, 
knowing little of the caution of men experienced in war, they rushed 
wildly into danger and lost their lives from heedless exposure. Of the ten 
boys who were my schoolmates during the winter of 1862-3 four were inmates 
of hospitals and five were killed in battle before the close of the war. 
Four of these boys, who had scarcely passed their sixteenth birthday, 
enlisted during the spring of 1864, and were killed in battle before the 
end of the year. 

   I mention these facts to show the spirit of our people and the 
sacrifices that were made necessary by the fortunes of war; for when 
parents and relatives were willing to give their sons and their dearest 
ones of tender age to the defense of the South the limit of heroic 
sacrifice had been nearly reached. When the surrender came I had scarcely 
reached my sixteenth birthday, yet my father had selected the company and 
the branch of service in which I was to enlist, and a few weeks' 
prolongation 

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of the struggle would have seen me an enlisted soldier, and in all 
probability I would not have lived to write this story. 

   It was a common remark that the Confederate Government had robbed the 
cradle and the grave in its demand for men. The conscript officer had 
raked our country as with a fine-tooth comb, and had left only feeble old 
men and small boys, unfit for military service. In fact, so few men had 
been left to cultivate the soil and care for our women and children that 
our people would have been almost destitute but for our faithful negro men 
and women. When the Federal troops seized our village but few of the 
negroes left their masters. The vast majority consented to remain with 
their owners and work for our people. Only one of my father's negroes ran 
away. Two of our faithful old negroes, Lewis and Susan, took possession of 
our property and rendered an invaluable service. Uncle Lewis cultivated 
the land and took care of what live stock was left us, while Susan managed 
the kitchen, dairy, and poultry. These two old servants were as careful of 
my father's interests as if they owned everything on the place. 

   The persons who charge the Southern people with harshness and brutality 
to the negro slave can have no better answer to their foul slander than 
the behavior of the negro population toward the women and children of 
their masters during the 

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war. Though urged to acts of violence, they remained loyal and kind to the 
people who owned them, protected their lives and property and rendered a 
domestic service that no servile race would have discharged if the bonds 
of servitude had held them. Though free after the first year of the war to 
leave their homes and go North, only a few took advantage of this 
opportunity. Those that remained were as respectful, obedient, and loyal 
as though a war for their liberation was not in progress. In many 
instances these faithful old family servants showed their devotion to the 
people who had raised them, and who, according to the Northern idea, had 
enslaved and maltreated them. 

   The baseness and falseness of this idea was repudiated by the slave 
himself. Thistles do not bear figs, nor does servitude bring love and 
loyalty for the oppressor. If the Southern land was debased by the 
blighting influence of slavery, why was the negro so slow in trying to 
break the shackles? Why, when the opportunity came, did he not rise, with 
brutal passion, and resent the wrongs that had been heaped upon him by his 
master? We know, as a matter of fact, that during the war, with very few 
exceptions, the negroes manifested no violence nor insurrection but were 
submissive, kind, and loyal to the people that were fighting to hold them 
in slavery. Why 

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are these facts as stated? An explanation will be found, I believe, in the 
character and disposition of the negro race; and then, too, the older and 
more intelligent negroes believed that their race was not yet prepared to 
profit by freedom. 

   The negroes were, in the main, a happy and contented people, unwilling 
to assume the responsibilities that their independence would bring them. 
They realized the fact that when brought into an industrial competition 
with the white race they would experience greater hardship than had ever 
been their lot in slavery. They foresaw that several generations must come 
and go before the privileges of freedom would equal those of slavery. The 
results of reconstruction and the present condition of the negro race in 
the South have demonstrated the correctness of these opinions if one is 
willing to investigate the facts, with an open mind. The older negroes 
were the first to experience the bitter fruits of their liberation, while 
the younger generations have, as a race, failed to reach the standard that 
their emancipators had hoped for. 

   It is true that during the progress of the war a large number of 
negroes were enlisted in the Federal army and took sides with the North. 
If we study the influences that led to this service in behalf of the Union 
it will be found that the bounty money, the pay for military service, the 
excitement and display of the soldier's life had 

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more to do with their enlistment than motives of patriotism or a spirit of 
revenge toward the slaveowner of the South. 

   In the Confederate army there were numbers of negro men who served as 
teamsters, orderlies and employees. These negroes were as loyal to the 
South as were those of their race in the service of the North. Had the 
Confederate Government enlisted and armed the negro, there is little doubt 
that he would have made an efficient and courageous soldier in the 
Southern ranks. The policy of the Confederate Government was to keep the 
negro a non-combatant and to make use of his services as a laborer in the 
field or on public works, such as forts and fortifications. Many of the 
negroes remained on the farms and plantations and raised supplies for the 
armies in the field. There were probably two strong considerations which 
led to this policy; the stronger of which was that the negro was valuable 
personal property, and his owner was unwilling to have his life endangered 
by active military service. The slaveowner was willing to expose the life 
of his son to the hazard of war but not his negro. 

   I may illustrate this statement by a case that I know to be true. A 
young Confederate officer, whose father owned a valuable negro man, wrote 
home to his father requesting the use of this negro for his personal 
services. The father refused the 

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son's request, with the very innocent (?) statement that he feared his 
slave might be killed in battle. He did not seem to think that his son's 
life was equally as valuable as that of his negro servant. This was not an 
isolated case if the facts be known. It represents a principle that had 
much to do with the defeat of the Southern cause. It can hardly be a 
surprise why the South went down in disaster when patriotism was often 
shackled by such a narrow policy. Who doubts but that when the States of 
the South announced to the world their withdrawal from the Union, in 
defense of the right of self-government, if they had stated as their 
policy a gradual emancipation of the negro, the Confederate Government 
would have been established upon an enduring basis? Does not the South owe 
her humiliation to the narrow policy of contending for the extension of 
the institution of slavery, - an institution condemned by the almost 
universal sentiment of civilized nations? She stood alone in her 
contention for human slavery, - no doubt honestly and, as she believed, 
for the best interest of the negro race; yet, as the war progressed, she 
had the opportunity to modify her position and to declare for a system of 
gradual emancipation, which would have met all the conditions of her 
political and national independence. 

   Slavery in the South was doomed when the first 

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gun was fired from Fort Sumter. Had the Confederate Government succeeded 
by arms, the gradual emancipation of the negro would have come as surely 
as the night follows the day; for the Southern Confederacy could not have 
held a dominant position among civilized nations, with slavery undermining 
the very life upon which nations live and prosper. 

   In the border States the principles of gradual emancipation grew 
stronger and stronger as the war progressed. With the successful 
establishment of a Confederate Government this principle would have 
prevailed in the border States and would gradually have extended to the 
large slaveholding States. The element of time was only needed to bring 
into force a policy that would have made negro slavery disappear by 
gradual steps as the negro was prepared to exercise the privileges of 
freedom. 

   In the light of results we may vainly speculate on things that might 
have been. The mistakes of rulers and of governments have filled history 
with innumerable crimes. Time must show whether the war between the States 
was worth all it cost in blood and treasure. This claim has been made by 
some of our most distinguished men who took an active part in the bitter 
struggle between the North and the South, - notably by General Grant in 
his "Memoirs." The men of my generation 

Page 90

have not fully assented to this view. We live too near the period of 
reconstruction that followed the war to forget the humiliation that was 
heaped upon the South by the political party that dominated the Federal 
Government for a quarter of a century following the conclusion of peace. 
The four years' bitter struggle with arms does not represent the full 
sufferings of the Southern people in the contest they made to secure their 
political freedom and to establish the civilization of the South upon a 
basis of law and order. She has ever fought for the Anglo-Saxon 
domination, for equal rights, and justice in the government of the nation. 

   We have been told but little of the doings, of the suffering, or of the 
spirit of the old men, the women, and the children who were afflicted by 
the civil or foreign wars in which their fathers, husbands, and brothers 
were involved. 

   The history of the War between the States has been written from many 
points of view, but I have been unable to find a work of personal 
reminiscences which gives pictures of individual acts and actors or a 
story of the inner life of the people who stayed at home and bore the 
sufferings of war without murmur and without weakness of spirit. 

   In the contests between nations and peoples of kindred blood the 
courage and heroism of the people who have remained at home have played an 

Page 91 

important part in the results of war. To the valor of our Colonial 
ancestors we owe the final success of the Revolutionary forces that for 
eight years maintained a struggle for independence, which would not have 
been won but for the patriotism of the men, women, and children at home. 
In our Civil War the vast odds against the South were held in check by the 
Home Guard, - the old men, the women, and the children. They gave hope and 
inspiration to the men in the field, and by their unyielding spirit they 
made the struggle for independence a contest of endurance, - a contest 
that ended only because of complete exhaustion. 

   History has been too silent in its estimate of these quiet forces that 
have had the greatest influence over men in arms, over rulers, and leaders 
of public affairs. When, at the conclusion of the Third Silesian War, 
Frederick the Great, with his five million Prussians, had dissolved the 
coalition of Russia, France, and Austria, with one hundred million 
population, and his country lay prostrate in the dust, all property and 
resources destroyed, cities and villages deserted, there was only one 
pillar of strength left: the invincible spirit and patriotism of the 
people, - a determination to perish or win out in the struggle for 
national life. 

   The men, women, and children in the South were filled with this spirit, 
and I deny that it can 

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be shown that these suffering people at any time weakened in courage, 
valor, or endurance. 

   It can be shown, to the contrary, that they bore their privations and 
hardships at home and urged their friends and loved ones in the army to 
remain faithful to their country's cause. 

   I have tried to tell in this story a few things which our non-combatant 
population in the South did during the four years of strife. The details 
are short and, perhaps, of minor importance but they have a practical 
relation to the events that were going on, if not a positive influence 
over the spirit of the times. The men and women who write the poems and 
songs that inspire a people with a spirit of zeal and patriotism play a 
noble part in the life of nations. It may be said with equal justice that 
the fathers, mothers, wives, and sisters who give life and courage to the 
men who fight battles are powerful influences in determining the actions 
and fates of peoples and nations. All public sentiment is modified and 
molded by the influences of home life and those men who seek to direct the 
life of a people in opposition to these influences are working against 
dangerous odds. The common sense and justice of home thinking is the great 
safeguard of national life and liberty. As our rulers cultivate and 
enlarge the life, spirit, and wisdom of the home to the same extent do 
they 

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advance the cause of good morals and sane government. 

   The social and domestic life of the Southern people was built upon the 
home as its foundation. The home dominated the spirit and influenced 
society, regulated its morals, and erected standards that made a 
civilization of rare virtue, culture, and refinement. The population of 
the South was largely rural. There were no large cities at the beginning 
of the civil war and no great commercial or manufacturing centers. Life on 
the plantation and farm gave health and vigor of mind and body, and 
cultivated a spirit of chivalry and manliness, - a spirit that held woman 
in the highest esteem. It was this aspect of domestic life that gave the 
Confederate soldier daring and confidence in battle, patience under 
privation, and endurance in the long struggle for national independence. 

   The influence of the home was with him in the camp, on the march, in 
battle, in hospital, and in prison. He seldom lost sight of the claims of 
duty, of patriotism, or of home ties and obligations. 

   When disaster came to the Southern cause this same spirit of chivalry, 
of home life, and love of the land's domestic institutions clung to the 
men and women of the South; and during the trying days of reconstruction 
they never wavered in their 

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loyalty to the Anglo-Saxon rule. In the racial struggle between master and 
slave there was no compromise with conditions that threatened to destroy a 
civilization of rare virtue and culture. Step by step the racial 
difficulties were removed and the proper relations between the white man 
and the negro were adjusted. History will grant to the people of the South 
rare patience and forbearance in solving a domestic problem made 
embarrassing by national laws and political animosities. To-day the South 
has come to know her duty to a nation that her forefathers labored to 
establish. She realizes her relation to this national life, the value of 
her influence in national affairs, and her patriotism and loyalty to a 
government that now leads the world in the general uplift of humanity.