The Valley Campaigns - Chapters XVII-XX



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CHAPTER XVII 
WINTER PLEASURES AND DANGERS

   DURING the fall and winter of 1862 our community was kept in more or 
less commotion by visits from the soldiers of both armies. While the 
Confederate army was in winter camp there were frequent opportunities for 
the boys in gray to visit their homes on furlough. This was especially the 
case after the great defeat of Burnside at Fredericksburg on December 11th 
and 12th. 

   In November, after Stonewall Jackson left the Valley, the Federal 
troops took possession of Winchester and that town became the outpost of 
the Federal army. Frequent raids by the cavalry were made from Winchester 
into the surrounding country and our village was frequently threatened by 
these raiding parties, so we were kept on the lookout, as no one could 
tell when a visit would be made. We then occupied neutral ground between 
the armies, - ground that was open to the pleasure of either. The boys in 
gray, whose home was our village, had to conceal their visits at night; 
during the day, however, they could easily make their escape, for warning 
of the enemy's approach could be easily given in ample 

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time for them to escape. The danger these boys assumed may be illustrated 
by the following incident: 

   One of our boys, whose home was on the main road of travel between our 
place and Winchester, visited his home and spent several nights with his 
family. Early one morning a man dressed in Confederate uniform rode up to 
the house and rushed in before his presence was known. Without ceremony he 
entered a room where the boy in gray was seated talking to his mother. As 
he entered the room the young Confederate took him for one of his 
companions and rose from his seat to offer him a welcome. The Federal 
soldier, seeing the boy, drew his pistol and demanded surrender. The boy 
in gray sprang on him so suddenly that he seized the pistol before it 
could be fired, then he grappled with the Federal soldier. In the tussle 
that ensued the Confederate threw the Federal and had him fixed on the 
floor, while the mother, who was in the room and an eyewitness to the 
struggle, cried out to her boy, "Give it to him, son; give it to him." But 
while the fight was still going on a great commotion was heard in the yard 
and the mother, going to the window to see what the noise meant, found 
that the yard was full of Federal cavalrymen, who were dismounting to 
enter the house. 

   Turning to her son, she told him to surrender, 

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as there was no chance for him to escape. Up to this time he had had the 
advantage, and but for outside aid, would have captured his aggressor. 

   Realizing the situation, he released his hold and allowed the man to 
rise. Though still holding the pistol he told the man that he would 
surrender, and he was soon hurried off to prison. 

   The Federal soldier, - who wore over his blue uniform a Confederate 
gray overcoat that disguised him completely, was what was then known as a 
"Jessie Scout." He had ridden in advance of the raiding party, partly 
disguised as a spy, and had picked up a tartar who would have given him 
serious trouble had not his comrades come to his rescue. 

   This occurrence was not unusual, for our boys in gray, when visiting 
the homes of their friends in the Federal lines or in neutral territory, 
assumed the risks of war and often made trouble for their families, whose 
homes were frequently searched and not infrequently plundered by men who 
claimed to be looking for rebel soldiers, but who were really in search of 
valuable property. 

   On one occasion just after daybreak and before any member of my family, 
except my father, was out of bed a raiding party of Federal cavalry rushed 
up to my home and entered the house, demanding to know whether any rebel 
soldiers were sleeping in the house. My father answered 

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in the negative; but they claimed the right to search the house from 
cellar to garret. 

   Going through every bedroom, closet and hiding-place, and finding no 
evidence of rebel soldiers in the house, they mounted their horses and 
rode away. In one respect they were decent: they took none of our 
property. This is more than can be said of those who came later in the 
war, for our people were often robbed by wandering squads of cavalry, in 
search of plunder rather than of rebels, who did not hesitate to take 
anything they could carry away, - especially silver and articles of food 
and clothing that had any value to them. I will give an illustration. 

   One early morning in the fall of 1864 two Federal cavalrymen rode up to 
the side-yard fence that enclosed my home and asked the servant to call my 
father as they wished to see him. The servant came into the dining-room, 
where the family was eating breakfast, and told my father he was wanted at 
the fence by two soldiers. As the air was chilly my father threw over his 
shoulders a handsome black cloth overcoat that had seen but little 
service. The coat had a peculiar value as it belonged to a young relative 
who had been killed in battle, and after his death his mother had 
presented it to my father, who had not worn it a half-dozen times. 

   I followed my father out to the fence, where 

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the men were seated on their horses. They asked a few questions, then rode 
away, and we thought nothing more of the incident. However, after dark the 
same day two cavalrymen rode up to the same place and called to one of the 
servants in the yard to tell my father to come out to see them. As it was 
dark, we could not tell whether they were the same men we had seen at the 
same place in the morning. Boylike, I went with my father. When we reached 
the fence the spokesman remarked that two of their men had reported to 
General Torbert, - then commanding the raiding party - that they had seen 
a citizen wearing that morning a handsome overcoat, like those worn by 
Federal officers, and that they had been ordered to bring the overcoat to 
his tent, the man with the overcoat, if necessary. 

   My father protested that the coat he had worn that morning was his own, 
that it was a citizen's overcoat and bore no resemblance to a uniform. The 
man insisted that his orders were explicit, that he wanted to see the coat 
to be satisfied as to its character, whereupon my father told me to go to 
the house and bring out the coat. This I did. The man on horseback 
examined it carefully, felt the silk collar and cloth buttons, the silk 
lining and general make-up of the garment. He then coolly remarked: 

   "Yes, this seems to be a citizen's overcoat, but 

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I have positive orders from General Torbert that I must bring the coat to 
his camp." He also had the courtesy (?) to add: "General Torbert 
instructed me to bring the owner of the coat with me, if he did not 
consent to give me the coat. I am satisfied that it will be returned to 
the owner as soon as it has been examined and found to be the coat of a 
citizen." 

   While the discussion was going on the cavalrymen held fast to the coat. 
It was quite dark, General Torbert's camp was over a mile from my home, 
and the only route to it was through dense woods. My father knew well that 
if he undertook the trip on foot he would never reach the General's camp, 
that these men would gallop away from him or murder him on the way. He saw 
they were thieves, if not desperadoes, and that the only thing he could do 
was to submit to the hold-up. After protesting against the brutality of 
the demand, he said: "Take the coat, it is my property, I never expect to 
see it again." The villain, again apologizing for the injustice of General 
Torbert's order, put spurs to his horse and rode away. The men had simply 
lied about General Torbert, had maligned his character, and had disgraced 
the uniform they wore. They had robbed a citizen of his personal property 
when he had no more ability to protect himself than a man who is held up 
by a set of bandits. I felt most 

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keenly for my father, for he experienced the humiliation and indignation 
that every brave spirit feels when personal rights are assailed by brute 
force and when resistance is impossible by reason of the situation. So I 
said to him: 

   "Father, don't worry over this theft. These men are not soldiers but 
thieves who follow the army in uniform to rob and pillage our people. When 
I get old enough to enter the army I will have revenge for this insult." 

   The war was over before I was able to express in act the indignation I 
felt in heart. The loss of the overcoat was of minor importance, - 
insignificant in comparison with other losses we had sustained, - but it 
wounded our deeper feelings, gave us a consciousness of crushed spirit, 
the sense of helplessness, of mortification because of the indignity to 
which we had been subjected. 

   I want to say in this connection as a matter of justice, that such 
experiences as I have here related, while common, were not universal, and 
are, after all, almost inseparable from the nature and consequences of 
civil war. Armies are made up of units, and these units represent the type 
and character of the men who make up the whole. During the first two years 
of the war between the States the Federal army was composed of volunteers 
who represented the best type of citizen of the North and West. The 
officers who were in 

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command were in the majority of cases gentlemen of good standing at home, 
as well as of good breeding. They may not have been the best soldiers, 
because they had not been tried and hardened by active service, but they 
were loyal and true men, who were trying to conduct the war on a high 
ethical basis. 

   The men who entered the Federal Army during the last three years of the 
war were of an entirely different type, being the riffraff of the North, 
foreigners, bounty jumpers, hirelings, substitutes, and negroes, while the 
majority of officers who commanded them had come up from the ranks. Their 
views of warfare had changed with the policy of the Government; for when 
it was found that the South could not be coerced by the force and 
gallantry of arms, - that sterner weapons were required than muskets and 
cannon, - the contest narrowed to the basis of endurance. 

   It was recognized at Washington that the only policy that could win the 
war was to starve and destroy the Confederate forces, - a policy not 
confined to the men in actual arms, but used against old men, women, and 
children in their homes, against life and property, if necessary to the 
subjugation of a high-spirited people. 

   The War between the States kindled bitter animosities, yet all through 
that contest of passion and blood innumerable instances occurred where 

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the warmest friendships were made between friend and foe, where acts of 
kindness were done, where generous hearts were ready to help and to heal 
the wounds and sorrows of individuals and families. Our people have never 
forgotten the kindness that some of the Federal officers and men rendered 
them when they held at bay some of the thieves and cutthroats in the 
Federal army. The generosity and consideration of an enemy can often heal 
the wounds of his adversary, - can, as it were, pour water on coals-of-
fire and drown the flames of passion. This was often the case during the 
first two years of the war. 

   It was only as the war progressed, and as the policy of the Federal 
Government became cruel and barbarous towards the noncombatants of the 
South that the violent hatred of the Southern people was kindled. This 
hatred was not toward individuals but was directed at the political 
leaders and officers that were responsible for the wanton destruction of 
private property and the unnecessary punishment of old men, women and 
children of the South who were within the Federal lines. Our people 
respected such soldiers as McClellan, Meade, Grant, Thomas, McDowell, 
Hancock, and a number of others of that type; but they repudiated and 
denounced the cast of Sherman, Sheridan, Pope, Hunter, Butler, and a 
number of lesser lights, - men that carried fire and 

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sword in both hands and instructed the men under them to steal, destroy, 
and carry away the property of innocent citizens. The barbarity of these 
men is a lasting stain upon a Government that controlled the policies of 
the nation at that time. If such a policy were justifiable then let us bow 
in shame to the authority of a civilization supposed to be founded on 
principles of justice and humanity. 



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CHAPTER XVIII 
BOYISH SPORTS. VISIT TO RICHMOND

   ABOUT the 1st of October our people were relieved of the high tension 
that the spring and summer months had brought because of the presence in 
our neighborhood of the two armies. Months had passed since the boys and 
girls had enjoyed the privileges of school. We were growing up under an 
exciting life that was educational in only one way: it gave instruction in 
observations and experiences that in a measure strengthened character. It 
failed, however, to train the mind in that information that must come from 
books and from the spirit and instruction of the teacher. 

   After a long rest from school about the middle of September, 1862, a 
small private school was opened by a middle-aged gentleman who had been 
raised and educated in our county but who for some years had practiced law 
in a Western State. He was not a trained teacher, but he was a man of good 
sense, education, and character and, above all, a man of good heart. He 
had returned to Virginia to enter the Confederate army, but as the summer 
campaign had almost closed he decided to 

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spend the winter months in teaching school rather than in the idleness of 
camp life. A small building was found for the school. 

   It was divided by a partition, the boys occupying one room, and the 
girls the other. The class was a small one, in which there were more girls 
than boys. In this school I took up the routine work of book study, but I 
cannot say that my work was highly profitable. There were constant 
interruptions, and for days the school had to be closed on account of the 
excitement and disturbances of war, when rumors of raids and actual 
raiding parties made it necessary for our teacher to dismiss the class and 
allow us to go home. 

   Upon one occasion while we were at our desks a body of Federal cavalry 
came into the village before we were aware of its presence. Several 
cavalrymen, with drawn pistols, rode up to the door, called the teacher 
out, and so alarmed the children that a general stampede followed. There 
was not a resumption of school work for several days. Early in the spring 
the Federal cavalry came to our village and encamped there. A few weeks 
later our school broke up, our teacher joined the army, and four of our 
oldest boys, then about 17 years of age, left home for military service. A 
few weeks later two of these boys were wounded in battle and a third was a 
prisoner at Point Lookout, Maryland. During the few 

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months we were at this school many interesting incidents came into my 
life. 

   My home was enlivened by numerous visitors who came and went from day 
to day. I found much pleasure in this company, as also in the winter 
sports of boyhood. In the fall I gathered walnuts and chestnuts, hunted 
birds and rabbits and spent most of the day in outdoor exercise with Uncle 
Lewis and other servants on the farm. We gathered and stored what had been 
left, cut and hauled wood and provided for the comforts of the winter. 
When the snow came I enjoyed the coasting on the hillside and with ice we 
boys had plenty of skating on the ponds and rivers. 

   I had found in one of the old camps several old muskets and had picked 
up many cartridges. I would load these old muskets and practice target 
shooting by the hour, thinking I would some day have to practice shooting 
at the enemy, if the war continued a few years longer. I had in some way 
secured a small toy brass cannon that would fire a Minié bullet with as 
much force as a musket. I mounted it on wheels, and I would take a 
position in front of a hill and fire away at an imaginary enemy until I 
had demolished a target placed in front of a tree several hundred feet 
distant. In this boyhood sport I was often joined by some three or four of 
my companions of about my age. We all owned several old horses and would 

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mount these old animals and play cavalrymen, taking rides into the woods 
and fields, charging, jumping, and running as best we could on our old 
mounts. These were happy days for us, and we did not realize the fate that 
might overtake us as the war progressed. 

   One of my comrades, a lad 16 years of age, - two years my senior, - and 
I were discussing one day what we purposed to do when we entered the army 
and in what branch of the service we would enlist. He was a good rider and 
his father owned a good horse; so he said he would join the cavalry. One 
year later he enlisted in a company in the Laurel Brigade, and in his very 
first engagement was killed in the front rank of his regiment during a 
charge. But for the difference in our ages I probably would have been 
enlisted in the same service with him. 

   These pastimes of a boy living between the lines, growing up under the 
excitement and passion of civil war were the preparatory school in which 
we were being trained for future military service. The rough experiences, 
the daily duties, the excitement, and the perils with which we were 
surrounded were so lightly considered that we treated them as matters of 
course, - as pleasant incidents, as the roughing of an outing, in which we 
were seeking adventure and danger of sport. 

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   The fall and winter had nearly passed by when an event took place in my 
life that offered me much pleasure and useful experience. My father had 
important business with the Confederate Government which called him to 
Richmond, then the capital of the South, and the great center of military 
operations. Richmond had been securely held by the Confederate troops, but 
was still the objective point of attack. It was held by the Federal 
authorities that the backbone of the Confederacy could best be broken by 
the capture of its capital. It was a difficult place to defend, as it was 
open to attack by land and water, and required large forces to protect it. 
It had little strategic value except for its railroad communications and a 
few old armories and flour mills. Its resident population was not over 30,
000 persons. It was simply the capital of Virginia and of the Confederate 
States, and from this point of view it had only a sentimental value, - or 
perhaps was a moral force. 

   When my father proposed to take me to Richmond a great pleasure opened 
up before my vision; for I had lived all my life in a small village and 
had never seen a city larger than Winchester, which had only some 3,000 
population. 

   We left home on the early morning of March 17, 1863, in a two-horse 
spring wagon, with canvas on top and sides. My companions were 

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my father, a young lieutenant in the Confederate army, - who had been home 
on furlough, - and Uncle Lewis, our driver. 

   The day was cold, and a light rain with sleet made the temperature most 
uncomfortable, while the road was muddy and in the worst possible 
condition for travel. We were from early morning until dark going a 
distance of twenty-five miles. When night overtook us we stopped at the 
house of an old gentleman whom my father knew, and who lived on the road 
between Sperryville and Culpeper Court House. After a hearty supper I was 
glad to go to bed and was soon sound asleep. Before daybreak we were up 
and ready to resume our journey. We reached Culpeper Court House about 8 
o'clock in the morning, in time to find accommodations for Uncle Lewis and 
the team while we were in Richmond, and to take the railroad train that 
was to carry us to the Confederate capital. 

   Culpeper Court House was at that time the center of military 
operations, and large bodies of troops were encamped in and around the 
place. It was all bustle and confusion. The Confederate army was posted 
along the right bank of the Rappahannock River, extending from the 
mountain to Fredericksburg, and waiting for the advance of the Federal 
army commanded by General Joe Hooker, better known then as "Fighting 

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Joe Hooker." McClellan had been removed to make place for Burnside, and 
now Burnside had been removed to make place for Hooker. The new commander 
was expected to do great things. He had not yet tested the strength of 
Lee's sword. 

   The train on which we had taken passage was made up of passenger 
coaches and freight cars. It was crowded with soldiers and army attachés 
and weighted down with freight. The locomotive was scarcely equal to the 
work imposed on it and we could not make over 8 or 10 miles an hour. When 
we came to the Rapidan River we found it so high from recent rains that it 
was not deemed safe for the locomotive to cross the bridge. Therefore we 
had to cross on foot and wait on the bank for a train from Orange Court 
House to take us on our journey. 

   It was long after dark when we reached the depot in Richmond. We took a 
bus and were carried to the Exchange and Ballard House, then the leading 
hotel in Richmond and the headquarters of Confederate officers and public 
officials on duty in the capital. 

   The next morning while taking breakfast General This and Colonel That, 
conspicuous in uniform, were seated at the different tables, while 
Senators, Congressmen, and other important personages were at breakfast or 
in the lobby. All this gave a very distinguished air to the company, 

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and being all so new to me it greatly excited my curiosity, and I asked my 
father innumerable questions, many of which he was unable to answer. 

   After breakfast I went with my father to the Governor's mansion and to 
various public buildings where he had business to attend to. Some of these 
buildings were on the capitol grounds and while my father was attending to 
his work I strolled around and saw the Confederate Senate and Congress in 
session, and took in the general situation from a boy's point of view. 
When standing on the portico in front of the capitol I saw several 
distinguished looking citizens talking to a young Confederate officer. My 
curiosity overcame my modesty and I joined the company to hear the general 
topics of conversation. I am only able to recall one subject. The officer 
was so young and boyish looking that one of the gentlemen asked him his 
age. He replied that he was 19, a native of a Southern State, and held the 
rank of colonel of a regiment. Although dressed in the full uniform of a 
colonel, he looked more like a cadet than a man in high authority. I knew 
enough of history at that time to recall that Alexander the Great was in 
full command of the Macedonian army at that early age, and that Napoleon 
was already a distinguished officer when in his teens. This young Southern 
Napoleon was very modest and unassuming. I have often wondered 

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what fate he met with as the war progressed. 

   My father was a very busy man but he showed me as much of Richmond as 
possible. One night the young lieutenant who had accompanied us from home 
took me to the theater. It was my first sight of a place of amusement of 
this character and I recall my excitement and my interest in the play. It 
was a tragedy of some kind, made up of stirring and bloody scenes that 
seemed too real for amusement. It was as much as my companion could do to 
suppress my excitement. I vividly recall one Sunday morning during my 
visit my father took me to services in the Episcopal church that had as 
its rector the distinguished divine, Dr. Minnegerode. 

   After we were seated Mr. Davis, President of the Confederate States, 
walked down the aisle unattended and took a seat in front of the altar. He 
was a regular attendant of St. Paul's church, and his presence usually 
attracted a large congregation. The minister in his prayer prayed for the 
President of the Confederate States and "all others in authority." After 
the close of the service the congregation stood while Mr. Davis walked 
down the aisle, then followed him from the church. This was the only time 
I ever saw Mr. Davis. 

   This visit to Richmond was exceedingly satisfactory to me. I had 
actually seen the capital of 

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the Confederacy, and had observed the scenes behind the seat of war where 
the affairs of the new nation were being directed, where all the policies 
of the Government were organized, and where the hopes of the Southern 
cause were centered. 

   It was evident from the preparations that were being, and had been, 
made for the defense of Richmond that the Confederate authorities had no 
intention of ever abandoning that city as the capital of the Government 
until forced by the might of arms to do so. Richmond had become the center 
for the manufacture and storage of military supplies; it had large 
hospitals and prisons, and had grown by the influx of people who were 
either connected with the Government or had been driven from their homes 
by the fortunes of war and had sought a refuge in this city. If any place 
were safe from the invasion of the enemy, they argued, Richmond was that 
place. Moreover the activity and business life of the city offered 
opportunities for making a living not found in other localities. 

   The cost of living was high, but Confederate money was plentiful and 
could be had in large sums in exchange for anything anyone had to sell. 
One hundred or two hundred dollars a week for board did not come high when 
one dollar in gold was worth from 25 to 50 dollars in Confederate money. 
The lower the value of the 

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paper dollar the higher the value of the commodity it would buy, hence the 
denomination did not regulate values; it was only a basis of exchange. 
Even the soldier in the ranks, who received the low wage in Confederate 
currency, was able to pay the high prices through the unbounded supply 
which came to him in many ways. If he was lucky enough to make a capture 
in battle or to hold up a prisoner with a few silver or gold dollars, he 
reaped a fortune in Confederate money. In 1863 a captured horse would 
bring from $500 to $5000 in Confederate money, and a pair of boots from 
$50 to $200; so the dollar grew cheaper and the article it purchased 
dearer. These were only relative conditions in the nature of the 
transaction, provided the seller and buyer could come to a basis of 
exchange. The vital significance of the situation was what it indicated: 
the rotten and worthless financial policy of the Government and loss of 
respect for civil authority. 



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CHAPTER XIX 
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SOME OF THE LEADERS OF THE '60'S. THE CONFEDERATE 
POLICY AND THE FEDERAL.

   I HAVE often wondered why the Confederate Government did not abandon 
Richmond early in the war and fall back either to Lynchburg, 
Charlottesville, or Danville, where the enemy would be drawn further away 
from its supplies and more exposed to flank movements. During the Third 
Silesian War Frederick the Great abandoned Berlin, his capital, and 
carried his government with him in the field. He was driven from pillar to 
post, defeated here and there, yet he held his ground for over seven years 
until he finally won success for his country. 

   No such policy seemed to guide the Confederate authorities. It was 
simply "hold on to Richmond or go down in disaster." To all appearances 
Richmond was more important to the Confederacy than the cause they were 
fighting for, a policy that has never appealed to my judgment. 

   General Lee, Mr. Davis, and others in authority no doubt knew best what 
to do, but if they were familiar with the history of Frederick during the 

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Silesian war, it is singular that they did not see the wisdom of his 
policy. The Confederate authorities were trying to force a foreign 
recognition of the Confederate Government, first, by withholding cotton, 
and second, by maintaining its dignity through holding the Southern 
capital. If this statement is true, then both policies were wrong. War 
loses its dignity when the enemy has you by the throat and is trying to 
squeeze the life out of you; when that happens the time has come for 
daring and extreme measures, and the only dignified thing to do is to 
force the enemy to release his hold and come back at him in the 
undignified way. Meet him on his own ground, not by parry and thrust, but 
by stabs, cuts, - anyway to overcome him. 

   The Southern people have prided themselves on the self-sacrificing 
efforts they made for their cause. They seemed to think it was better to 
go down in defeat maintaining high standards of chivalry, honor, and a 
pride of noble defense. 

   Did the North take this view of the war? Not by any means. It was 
simply a matter of cold business calculation. She spent her money, hired 
foreign troops, enlisted the negro, robbed and pillaged Southern homes, 
and by every means, - fair or foul, - tried to wear out and destroy her 
enemy. This she finally did. That was the Northern idea of war. "War is 
hell," says General Sherman. 

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In theory and practice he was right. Why the Southern leaders did not take 
this view and fight the devil with his own fire I fail to see. There is no 
humanity in being courteous to an enemy that is trying to take your life. 
The human thing to do is to take his life first and the consequences 
later. 

   Richmond was held until the last; and when Richmond was abandoned the 
Confederacy collapsed. This is about all that can be said. 

   Thousands of lives and millions of money were sacrificed in holding a 
position that could only be defended by large armies. When the Confederate 
army was used up by death and starvation Richmond fell and the few men 
left retreated into the interior. Only a corporal's guard was left to 
maintain the contest, and General Lee - perhaps wisely - made a surrender 
when completely surrounded by the enemy. The heart of this noble man and 
soldier was broken when he gave up the cause he had for four years led in 
battle with a success that has astonished the student of military history. 
General Lee was a great soldier, perhaps among the greatest the world has 
ever known, and he was as great in soul and character as he was in 
military genius. He lacked only one element of strength; he was not a 
great politician and administrator of civil affairs. He deferred to the 
civil authorities and took little or no part in 

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the policies and conduct of the Government. Had he been a dictator, a man 
of the type of Napoleon, of Cromwell, or of Frederick the Great, in all 
probability the fate of the Confederacy would have been different. 

   The President and his whole cabinet would have been overruled, and a 
strong military power would have directed the policy of the Government. 
Had the civil Government been conducted as the armies were handled, few 
mistakes would have been made. Mr. Davis assumed the rôle of statesman and 
soldier. One or the other he might have been. In both capacities he was 
neither fitted by temperament nor hard common sense to measure up to. His 
zeal, loyalty, and devotion to the cause have never been questioned. No 
man tried harder to do his duty as he saw it. No man suffered more from 
the consequences of the war. His blunders were honestly made, but they are 
open to criticism and have received all the consideration to which they 
were entitled. It is not my purpose to open up a discussion upon which 
history has already passed its verdict. 

   Mr. Davis was a pure and upright man. He was a great patriot, but he 
was not a leader for such a cause as the South had espoused. His dignified 
bearing, his flowery oratory, his chivalric nature invested him with an 
importance that he did not possess. He had knowledge, talents, and 

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great personal gifts, but he did not have wisdom. He was preeminently a 
preacher, not a doer of practical and sensible things. His executive 
ability was not far seeing and orderly. His talents were not constructive. 
His knowledge of men was poor and was narrowed by his prejudices. The 
difficulties surrounding him were great, and he failed to grasp the 
details and consequences of passing events. Charles Dickens has said that 
Bishop Laud was the most learned man of his day in England - and the 
biggest fool. He had vast knowledge and no common sense. David Garrick, in 
speaking of Oliver Goldsmith, remarked that he wrote like an angel and 
spoke like poor Poll. General Lee, in commenting on the campaign of 
McClellan, said that he knew every movement he would make because he knew 
his training. These comments upon the characteristics of great men go to 
show that genius and learning are often narrow in their scope, and that 
the possession of great talents in one line of intellectual effort does 
not imply that the individual is thereby qualified for a high order of 
work in another direction. 

   Mr. Davis was gifted in debate and in oratory. He was a power in the 
United States Senate, and in forensic discussion; but as the executive of 
a great revolution he was out of place and he filled the executive chair 
with as much ability as a bank 

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president could lead an army. The Confederate Government needed at its 
head as president a man of great constructive ability, of initiative, of 
large executive talents, and vigorous common sense. Mr. Lincoln possessed 
these gifts to a much larger extent than did Mr. Davis. Had Mr. Lincoln 
been at the head of the Confederate Government, and Mr. Davis president of 
the United States, who doubts the success of the South? 

   As I remember Mr. Davis, - on the only occasion that I saw him, - he 
was rather tall, slender, and erect in stature, distinguished and graceful 
in carriage, and dignified in his bearing and general make-up. His face 
was shaved and his hair, somewhat tinged with gray, was not overabundant. 
His nose was well formed, his eyes piercing, his face thin and drawn with 
care and thought. His appearance did not indicate robust physical health 
but rather a wiry, elastic energy that would endure hard work and exacting 
duty. His countenance indicated refinement, culture, and a spirit of quiet 
force and determination. He looked the type of the minister, the poet, the 
orator, or the philosopher, anything other than the soldier, the great 
executive, the man of detail and fiery energy. 

   In stature and physical build he was the opposite of Lee, of Jackson, 
and of Lincoln. Lee 

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was an Apollo in his physical make-up; Jackson was a homely, ungraceful 
and plain man in his carriage but he was endowed with an activity and 
energy of body and spirit that no labor could break down; Mr. Lincoln was 
a giant in height, with a frame as rugged as it was homely and striking in 
manner and personality. All these great men differed as widely in their 
intellectual and spiritual gifts as they differed in physique. Each 
represented a type, and the distinguished part that each played was 
largely due to his fitness for the work undertaken. Mr. Davis seemed to be 
the only one improperly classed. 

   Greater perhaps than any one of the three men I have mentioned in those 
gifts of mind that stand for the highest intellectual attainments and 
nobility of soul, he needed that power of action and balance of judgment 
so necessary to the great leader of desperate situations. He was not 
preeminently a man of action, of desperate resolution, or of fiery 
passions. His mind was a storehouse of knowledge, of beautiful thought, of 
intense patriotism, of deep conviction, trained to move men by language of 
flowery speech and deep emotion, not by vigorous, daring, and bold 
adventure. 

   America has produced few men who have equaled Mr. Davis in purity and 
nobility of character and in those higher gifts of mind that make 

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great names in history. It is unfortunate for his fame that circumstances 
made him the leader of a great movement that needed different 
characteristics from those which he possessed. 

   Mr. Lincoln was not a man of scholarly education, of wide learning, or 
of great oratorical power, yet he had the genius of common sense, the 
faculty of saying and doing the right thing at the right time. His 
knowledge of men, his clear views of the political situation, his powers 
of leadership were phenomenal. His clear, concise, and patriotic oration 
at Gettysburg placed him in the front rank of the world's great orators. 
Neither Demosthenes nor Cicero, Burke nor Sheridan, Webster nor Clay ever 
touched the hearts of nations as did Mr. Lincoln by his great classic. 

   History has shown that men have been raised up for important occasions. 
Great leaders have been discovered. Circumstances have molded the man for 
the occasion as much as the occasion has molded the man. When the leader 
has not measured up to the occasion he has gone down in disaster. It was 
unfortunate for Mr. Davis that he had in his cabinet but one or two men 
who were really strong and well-trained advisers. The Department of the 
Treasury and the Department of War were badly conducted. The finances of 
the Confederacy, especially, were conducted on the weakest financial 
basis. The credit 

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of the Government was discounted in the very beginning of the war. The 
South had little gold and silver currency, and no mines that yielded these 
precious metals in any quantity. She had, however, a staple product that 
always commanded a ready market. "Cotton was king"; and the Confederate 
Government bought cotton with treasury bonds and currency, hoarded it, and 
then failed to use this great staple to any advantage. During the first 
two years of the war the Southern ports were practically open, and it was 
possible then to have shipped millions of bales of cotton to foreign 
markets in exchange for army supplies or as a basis of credit for future 
use. The opportunity was lost and the Government burned enormous 
quantities to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy. 

   The rapid depreciation of Confederate notes and bonds indicated the 
weakness of the Government and the worthlessness of its credit. 

   The Department of War was about as inefficient as the Department of the 
Treasury. It failed to supply arms, clothes, and food for the men in the 
field, and but for the supplies captured from the Northern armies the 
military resources of the Government would have been exhausted long before 
they were. It is a sad commentary upon the war that the Southern cause was 
so greatly handicapped by the weakness of the 

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civil administration. In the light of the present it is very easy to see 
conditions that were not fully apparent at the time, yet as a small boy I 
heard the criticisms that I have made here expressed by some of our old 
citizens in our village. They saw the drift of things and deplored them, 
yet they were powerless to change conditions. 

   The Legislative Department was as inefficient as the Administrative. 
Both the Senate and Lower House of the Confederate Congress were rank with 
the poison of Bourbonism. Old men, old methods, old manners, and old 
dignities hedged in the thought and actions of men who were unable to see 
the signs of the times and the need of progressive and vigorous measures. 
If there is on the statute books of the Confederate régime one single act 
of legislation that shows an original and up-to-date measure, I have never 
heard of it. The vital questions of the hour, the larger views of 
government, the development of new and bold policies in civil 
administration were lost sight of in the minds of men who were clouded by 
age and blinded by impracticable ideals of patriotism. The cause of the 
South was a desperate one. It needed men bold in courage and 
resourcefulness, keen in thought and action, full of initiative, and 
vigorous in progressiveness. Did the South have these men at the head of 
her civil affairs? Who will answer yes? 



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CHAPTER XX 
THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1863

   DURING the spring of 1863 our village was visited only once by the 
Federal troops. On this occasion a regiment of cavalry came and remained 
in camp one day. It marched into the village on a rainy and foggy morning 
about the last of April, and went into camp in a piece of woods near my 
home. As the men marched up the pike they were wearing rubber blankets 
over their overcoats and looked quite uncomfortable. The roads were muddy, 
and the weather was about as disagreeable as one could experience. After 
passing a short distance in front of my home the regiment turned to the 
right and entered a grove. A halt was made by the column; and while the 
soldiers were on their horses, waiting for orders to move, one or two of 
the men dismounted and stood at rest. 

   There happened to be a number of chickens and turkeys belonging to my 
mother browsing on the grass in a meadow in which they were standing. An 
old gobbler was strutting around with his tail feathers erect and his head 
ornaments displayed to their best advantage to attract the attention of 
the female members of the turkey family. He 

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was very proud of his ornaments and seemed trying to attract attention by 
an occasional "gobble, gobble." One of the soldiers, noticing his antics, 
approached him, and taking a red handkerchief, shook it in the face of the 
gobbler. The old bird at once put up a fight and gave chase. The man 
played with him a few minutes when an idea struck him, and drawing his 
saber, he deliberately cut off the gobbler's head with one stroke. He then 
picked up the old bird and carried it to his horse. In less time than I 
can tell the story the men jumped down from their horses and gave chase to 
the other turkeys and chickens in the field. They ran them down until they 
had killed all that did not make their escape in the weeds and under 
buildings. 

   In a few minutes the order of march was given and the men moved on a 
short distance and then dismounted and went into camp. They had scarcely 
taken the places assigned to them when they rushed down to the barn on our 
place and ripped off all the plank on the sides of the building and 
carried it to their camp to make covering to protect them from the rain, 
as it was still drizzling. Not satisfied with the demolition of the barn 
they took all the hay and grain they could find, and then began to plunder 
the outbuildings in search of anything that would add to their comfort. 
They made a raid on the henhouse 

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and poultry yard, and ran down every fowl that came within their reach. 

   As a forest of weeds and briars had grown up around the garden and barn 
the poultry ran into this retreat and many escaped. 

   While they were engaged in all this plunder several amusing incidents 
occurred that show the low type of men and the mean characters our people 
had to contend with at that time. After all the poultry within reach had 
been dispatched these men discovered a pen of small shoats near the barn. 
The pigs were small but fat, and a good size for a roast. Two of the men 
jumped into the pen and caught one of the pigs that began to squeal. 

   From the house Aunt Susan heard the noise at the pen, and she picked up 
a butcher-knife and ran for the pen as fast as she could go. When she 
reached the place one of the men was climbing over the side with one of 
the shoats, which he had killed, while the other man in the pen was trying 
to catch a pig. Susan jumped into the pen, with the butcher-knife, and, 
with a voluble outpour of profanity, defied the man to take her pig and 
threatened him with the point of the knife, if he did not get out at once 
and let her pigs alone. The fellow quietly climbed out and returned to 
camp with his companion who already had the dead pig. 

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   Susan remained at the pen for a short time to see whether anyone would 
come to steal the pigs. She then returned to the house, and was preparing 
the dinner when a soldier came in the kitchen with an old hen he had 
killed and demanded to know where he could find hot water to scald the 
feathers. Without waiting for an answer, he discovered a large pot on the 
stove and, raising the cover, he plunged the hen in the boiling contents, 
which happened to be soup that Susan was cooking for dinner. 

   The old negress caught the man in the act, and seizing the butcher-
knife, made a dig at him; but fortunately it did not hurt him. He took 
alarm, however, and rushed out of the kitchen as fast as his feet would 
carry him, taking the hen with him. Susan chased him out of the yard and 
called him by some very ugly names, which I will not repeat. She had 
hardly driven this man away and returned to her work in the kitchen when 
she heard a noise in the yard, and going out the door, saw several men 
breaking the door of the smokehouse. They had gotten inside and had begun 
to take the meat when Susan arrived on the scene. 

   In a violent rage she ordered these men out and they quietly departed; 
but as they were leaving one of the men saw a turkey hen seated on her 
nest in a flour barrel. He jerked up the barrel 

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and started to take it with him, but Susan seized the barrel and made him 
let go. The men left at length, and Susan won the day. The old negress 
took the turkey hen in the barrel into the house and kept it there until 
the regiment left. This old turkey hatched a litter of fifteen, every one 
of which Susan raised to adult life, and they gave us a winter's supply. 

   Early the following morning the regiment broke camp and left our 
village. In the short time they were in camp they came near cleaning up 
our home of all articles of food for man and beast. Had it not been for 
Susan, nothing would have been left. This old negress claimed everything 
on the place as her property, and she defied the right of these soldiers 
to take what belonged to her. My father always gave Susan and Lewis the 
privilege of raising with his stock a pig or calf, which he fed and bought 
when it was sold. 

   This he did in consideration of the attention they gave in caring for 
the stock and milking the cows. In addition, my mother gave Susan a small 
interest in the poultry that she managed exclusively, with great success. 
Lewis had as an allowance a small piece of land, on which he raised broom 
corn, tobacco, and melons. During the last two years of the war these old 
negroes practically ran the entire place and raised what food supplies we 
needed. 

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   The morning the regiment of cavalry left their camp they were unable to 
take with them a fine young mare which was so lame that she could not put 
one foot to the ground. I found her and brought her home. With Uncle 
Lewis' assistance I nursed her lame foot until she was able to walk with 
some comfort. We sent her to the farm where she was kept for over a year, 
when a raiding party of Federal cavalry came along and took her and the 
remainder of the horses on the farm, except an unbroken colt that was so 
wild that they could not catch her. This colt was the only horse left us 
at the close of the war. 

   As the armies were passing through our county they frequently left 
their old, lame, and blind horses which our people took care of and made 
useful on the farm. A horse of any value for military purposes was pressed 
into service by one or the other armies, the only difference being that 
the Confederates usually gave a consideration for the animal and the 
Federals took it by force. One day a boy of my age was riding along the 
road when he met unexpectedly a squad of Federal cavalry riding in great 
haste. His horse was an indifferent one, but one of the men dismounted 
from his horse, which was winded and about broken down, took the horse 
that the boy was riding, and left his own horse with the boy. 

   It was a cold-blooded hold-up, but the boy got 

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the advantage as the horse he received soon rested up and turned out to be 
a useful animal. 

   After the experience that I have related we saw no Federal troops until 
after the battle of Gettysburg in July, 1863. We lived rather quietly, so 
far as disturbances from the enemy were concerned, until the summer of 
1864. Our farmers cultivated their land and did the best they could with 
their crops considering the conditions of labor and the poor material they 
had to work with. We had little stock, and, as we were a grazing people, 
our grass lands were idle and overgrown with weeds. The fencing was so 
indifferent that it was difficult to get fields enclosed to raise grain. 

   In the spring of 1863 the Federal outpost was located at Winchester. We 
were practically within the Confederate lines. The military operations 
were removed from the Valley to eastern Virginia. The two great armies 
were facing each other along the banks of the Rappahannock. On April the 
27th the Federal army began its first movement in the third advance on 
Richmond. The Confederate forces were on the alert for this advance and 
were concentrated in the front of Hooker in the country around 
Chancellorsville. On May 1st Hooker had crossed the Rappahannock and had 
attempted, by a flank movement, to get in the rear of Lee's 

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army, assuming that the position of the Confederate forces had not changed 
and that the main body was divided and in a different position to that 
which he subsequently discovered. On May 2d Jackson had moved his corps 
around the right wing of Hooker, and late in the afternoon made an assault 
on the Federals, - an assault that completely routed their forces and 
drove them back. 

   General Howard, with twenty regiments of infantry and six batteries, 
held the right wing of Hooker's army. It was late in the afternoon when 
Stonewall Jackson hurled his entire force against Howard's men and by a 
rapid advance, which was not expected, drove in the Federal pickets in 
confusion and soon had the Federal forces in rapid retreat. 

   The right wing of Hooker's army was completely crushed, and the battle 
of Chancellorsville was won. This was a great victory for the Confederates 
and put a stop to any further advance on Richmond. The victory was dearly 
purchased as it resulted in the wounding and subsequent death of Stonewall 
Jackson. In the impatience of the battle he was in the advance of his 
lines and became separated from the position he should have occupied. In 
the darkness and confusion he and his associates were fired upon, and 
Jackson received three bullet wounds, - one in the right 

Page 235

hand, and two in the left arm, cutting the main artery and fracturing the 
bone below the shoulder. His horse, mad with terror, plunged into the 
woods and an overhanging bough came near unhorsing him. He managed to get 
into the road but be had sustained such a shock in his wounds and loss of 
blood that he fell from his saddle into the arms of one of his attendants. 

   After lingering and suffering greatly from his wounds, Jackson passed 
away on May 10, 1863, and with his death the South lost the greatest 
soldier, next to Lee, that the war produced. History is filled with his 
deeds and with a review of his character. As a military genius the world 
has few men who have reached the position he attained; as a man and 
patriot his name will long live among the great characters of history. His 
general make-up was so extraordinary that he stands in a class almost 
alone among the heroes and soldiers of all ages. It is not pertinent to 
this story to discuss the details of his life, so much better done by his 
biographers and by historians of the war. 

   The battle of Chancellorsville was renewed on the 4th, 5th, and 6th of 
May, and on the evening of the 6th Hooker withdrew his army across the 
Rappahannock and escaped the hands of Lee. The Army of the Potomac 
returned to its old camp along the north bank of the Rappahannock, 

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while the Army of Northern Virginia remained on the defensive and began to 
prepare for the aggressive movement that it made in the latter weeks of 
May when it began the invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania. 

   The battle of Chancellorsville was hardly con- tested and resulted in 
heavy losses to both armies. The Federal loss was over 17,000 men and the 
Confederate loss was over 12,000. The Federal forces numbered some 130,000 
men, and the Confederate forces were less than 70,000. The results were 
great for the South and the hopes of our people were again alive with 
encouragement. The Confederate army was never in better physical 
condition, and its morale was greatly elevated. The men had been seasoned 
and hardened to service, and as success had crowned their efforts they 
began to feel that they were invincible. On the other hand, it was evident 
that their forces were being gradually reduced by losses in battle and new 
recruits were not to be had in large numbers. Whilst the Federal armies 
had met with repeated disasters, and while their numbers had been reduced 
by heavy losses, the resources of the North in men and money were great 
and new men could be enlisted as fast as the armies were depleted. The 
North had shown great determination and persistence in her efforts to 
subdue the South, and there was no apparent 

Page 237

relaxation of these efforts. The policy of the Federal Government had 
changed, and by the recent proclamation by the President of the United 
States, emancipating the negro, the people of the South were brought face 
to face with new conditions. 

   The practical conditions were now reduced to the simple problem of 
endurance. The resources of the South were being exhausted by losses of 
men in battle and by losses of property and territory by the invasion of 
Federal troops. Her vitality and strength were being gradually sapped, 
while the North had hardly felt the losses she had sustained. It was quite 
evident at this time that the hope of foreign intervention was a forlorn 
one, and that no aid could be expected from outside sources. The contest 
was an unequal one, in which the enemy had all the advantage in wealth, in 
men, and in the sentiment of the civilized world. 

   The military achievements of the Confederacy had been marked with 
distinguished success. There was no fault with the men who did the 
fighting. The whole fault was with the policy of the Government at 
Richmond. The South was finally whipped and worn out by her losses in 
battle and destruction of property. Starvation and death brought 
submission and humiliation. In the final estimate she lost her slaves, and 
she lost the government she was trying to establish 

Page 238

on a basis of slavery. The only thing she saved out of the wreck was the 
heroism of her armies. 

   After the victory of Chancellorsville it became evident that the time 
had come for the invasion of the North. It was believed that by 
transferring the operations of the war to Maryland and Pennsylvania the 
people in Virginia would have a rest and the opportunity to cultivate 
crops for the support of the armies and people. By living off of other 
States the army could be fed and cared for at less expense. This was 
probably one of the motives which led Lee to invade Maryland. The moral 
effect of the invasion was also a strong motive. Could a heavy blow be 
given the Federal army on Northern territory, its effect upon the results 
of the war would be highly beneficial. 

   An army operating on the defense and on its own ground has a distinct 
advantage over an army that is making an aggressive campaign; hence 
General Lee assumed a great responsibility when he changed his policy of 
defense to one of invasion of hostile territory. By this act he gave the 
enemy the advantage he had occupied up to this time. He based his hopes of 
success upon the valor and courage of his well-trained men rather than 
upon the number and equipment of his forces. He had calculated to live off 
of the invaded country, and to draw large supplies of clothes and military 
material from the territory 

Page 239

through which he would pass. His previous experience in the Maryland 
campaign of 1862 had taught him that he could not expect large additions 
to his forces from the States he invaded, so that the material advantages 
of the invasion he probably considered of less importance than the moral 
effect. In the light of the results it can not be claimed that the 
Gettysburg campaign was a success from my point of view, but, to the 
contrary, was the high-water mark of the Confederate cause and the first 
great loss of prestige the army under Lee met. After the great contest of 
arms at Gettysburg the Army of Northern Virginia was never the same.