Historical. (continued 2)

With this promiscuous following, which at no time exceeded one hundred men, he instituted a long unbroken series of successful strategems, surprises, and night attacks, harassing the communications of the Federal armies, confusing their plans by capturing dispatches, destroying supply trains, subjecting their outposts to the wear and tear of a perpetual skirmish, in short, inflicting all the mischief possible for a small body of cavalry moving rapidly from point to point on the communications of an army.

He believed that by incessant attacks he could compel the enemy either greatly to contract his lines or to reinforce them, both of which would have been of great advantage to the Southern cause. By assuming the aggressive, a rule from which he not once departed, he could force the enemy to guard a hundred points, leaving himself free to select any one of them for attack.

But the theories, purposes, and methods of this peer of partisan leaders is best explained by himself. Simply and unostentatiously, but withal convincingly, expressed, they give to the man and his deeds the unmistakable semblance of fairness and legitimacy. These, together with his masterly defense of partisan warfare, follow in modified and disconnected form:

"The military value of a partisan's work is not measured by the amount of property destroyed, or the number of men killed or captured, but by the number he keeps watching. Every soldier withdrawn from the front to guard the rear of an army is so much taken from its fighting strength.

"I endeavored, as far as I was able, to diminish this aggressive power of the army of the Potomac, by compelling it to keep a large force on the defensive. I assailed its rear, for there was its most vulnerable point. My men had no camps. If they had gone into camp, they would soon have all been captured.... A blow would be struck at a weak or unguarded point, and then a quick retreat. The alarm would spread through the sleeping camp, the long roll would be beaten or the bugles would sound to horse, there would be mounting in hot haste and a rapid pursuit. But the partisans generally got off with their prey. Their pursuers were striking at an invisible foe. I often sent small squads at night to attack and run in the pickets along a line of several miles. Of course, these alarms were very annoying, for no human being knows how sweet sleep is but a soldier. I wanted to use and consume the Northern cavalry in hard work. I have often thought that their fierce hostility to me was more on account of the sleep I made them lose than the number we killed and captured."

"My purpose was to weaken the armies invading Virginia, by harassing their rear. As a line is only as strong as its weakest point, it was necessary for it to be stronger than I was at every point, in order to resist my attacks.... It is just as legitimate to fight an enemy in the rear as in front. The only difference is in the danger. Now, to prevent all these things from being done, heavy detachments must be made to guard against them."

"The line that connects an army with its base of supplies is the heel of Achilles—its most vital and vulnerable point. It is a great achievement in war to compel an enemy to make heavy detachments to guard it...."

"Having no fixed lines to guard or defined territory to hold, it was always my policy to elude the enemy when they came in search of me, and carry the war into their own camps."

"These operations were erratic simply in not being in accordance with the fixed rules taught by the academies; but in all that I did there was a unity of purpose, and a plan which my commanding general understood and approved."

" ... while I conducted war on the theory that the end of it is to secure peace by the destruction of the resources of the enemy, with as small a loss as possible to my own side, there is no authenticated act of mine which is not perfectly in accordance with approved military usage. Grant, Sherman, and Stonewall Jackson had about the same ideas that I had on the subject of war."

Though all his engagements were reported to Stuart till the death of that great cavalry leader, in May, 1864, and afterward to General Robert E. Lee, Mosby was allowed the freedom of untrammeled action in the sense that the operations of his command were left to his individual discretion.

The following militant verses were published in a Southern magazine, soon after the war, and won immediate popularity:

Mosby at Hamilton.

By Madison Cawein.

Battle of Leesburg[32] ("Ball's Bluff"[33]).

"After the first battle of Manassas, Col. Eppa Hunton had been ordered to reoccupy Leesburg with his regiment, the Eighth Virginia. A little later Col. William Barksdale's Thirteenth Mississippi, Col. W.S. Featherstone's Seventeenth Mississippi, a battery, and four companies of cavalry under Col. W.H. Jenifer were sent to the same place, and these were organized into the Seventh Brigade of the Confederate Army of the Potomac, which, early in August, was put under command of Brig.-Gen. Nathan G. Evans, who had been promoted for his brave conduct July 21st. General Beauregard's object in locating this strong force at Leesburg was to guard his left flank from a Federal attack by way of several good roads that led from the fords of the upper Potomac, near that town, directly to his Bull Run encampment; to watch the large Federal force that McClellan had located on the opposite side of the Potomac; to keep up a connection with the Confederate force in the lower Shenandoah Valley by a good turnpike that led from Leesburg across the Blue Ridge, and to save for his army the abundant supplies of the fertile County of Loudoun.

"On the 15th of October (1861) General Banks' division of the Federal army was located at Darnestown, Md., about fifteen miles due east from Leesburg, with detachments at Point of Rocks, Sandy Hook, Williamsport, etc.; while the division of Brig.-Gen. C.P. Stone, composed of six companies of cavalry, three of artillery, and the infantry brigades of Gens. W.A. Gorman and F.W. Lander and Col. E.D. Baker, was located at Poolesville, eight miles north of east from Leesburg. The object in this disposition of so large a force was, not only to guard the right of the big Federal army that General McClellan was gathering at Washington, but especially to cover the important approaches from the northwest to Baltimore and the Federal city, particularly those from the lower Shenandoah Valley and northeastern Piedmont, Virginia.

"On October 19th, McCall's Federal division advanced to Dranesville, on the road to Leesburg and about 15 miles from that place, 'in order to cover the reconnoissance made in all directions the next day;' and later, Smith's Federal division advanced along a parallel road to the west, acting in concert with General McCall, and pushed forward strong parties in the same direction and for the same purpose. About 7 p.m. of the 19th, Stone's advance opened a heavy cannonade on the Confederate positions at Fort Evans, on the Leesburg pike, and at Edwards' Ferry, and at the same time General Evans heard heavy firing in the direction of Dranesville. At midnight General Evans ordered his whole brigade to the front, along the line of Goose Creek, 3 miles southeast of Leesburg, where he had a line of intrenchments, to there await an expected attack from General McCall, the next morning, Sunday, October 20th, as it had been reported that the Federal advance was moving in force from Dranesville toward Leesburg. Evans' scouts captured McCall's courier bearing dispatches to General Meade, directing him to examine the roads leading to Leesburg. The Federal batteries kept up a deliberate fire during the day, but no assault was made.

"On the morning of the 20th the Federal signal officer on Sugar Loaf Mountain, in Maryland, reported 'the enemy have moved away from Leesburg.' This Banks wired to McClellan, whereupon the latter wired to Stone, at Poolesville, that a heavy reconnoissance would be sent out that day, in all directions, from Dranesville, concluding: 'You will keep a good lookout upon Leesburg, to see if this movement has the effect to drive them away. Perhaps a slight demonstration on your part would have the effect to move them.' McClellan desired Stone to make demonstrations from his picket line along the Potomac, but did not intend that he should cross the river, in force, for the purpose of fighting. Late in the day Stone reported that he had made a feint of crossing, and at the same time had started a reconnoissance from Harrison's Island toward Leesburg, when the enemy's pickets retired to intrenchments. That 'slight demonstration' brought on the battle of Ball's Bluff on Monday, October 21st. On the morning of the 21st, McCall retired from Evan's front to his camp at Prospect Hill, 4 miles up the river from the Chain bridge. From his point of observation, at the earthworks called 'Fort Evans,' to the eastward of Leesburg, overlooking the fords at Conrad's and Edwards' ferries and Ball's Bluff, Evans, at 6 a.m. on the 21st, found that the enemy of Stone's division had effected a crossing at Edwards' Ferry and at Ball's Bluff, 4 miles above. He promptly sent four companies from his Mississippi regiments and two companies of cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel W.H. Jenifer to the assistance of Captain Duff, to hold the enemy in check until his plan of attack should be developed. Colonel Jenifer immediately engaged the Federal advance and drove it back toward Ball's Bluff.

"The force that had crossed at Harrison's Island, about midnight of the 20th, was part of the command of Colonel Baker, some 300 men under Col. Charles Devens, of the Fifteenth Massachusetts. Its object was to capture a Confederate camp that had been reported to be about a mile from the river. This force advanced to an open field surrounded by woods, where it halted until it could be joined by a company from the Twentieth Massachusetts, which had been left on the bluff, on the Virginia side, to protect the Federal return. Devens, at daybreak, pushed forward with a few men to reconnoiter, and, in person, went to within sight of Leesburg. Thinking he had not been discovered Devens determined to remain and sent back to his brigade commander, Colonel Baker, for reinforcements. The latter consulted his division commander, General Stone, and obtained permission to either withdraw Devens or to send over reinforcements to him. He promptly directed Devens to hold his position and said that he would support him in person with the rest of his brigade. The boats and flats that had been provided for crossing the Potomac from the Maryland shore to Harrison's Island and from the latter to the Virginia shore were entirely inadequate, and it was nearly noon before Devens' regiment of 625 men was closed up on the Virginia shore.

"Convinced at about 10 a.m. that the main Federal attack would be at Ball's Bluff, four miles northeast of Leesburg, Evans ordered Colonel Hunton with the Eighth Virginia[34] to the support of Colonel Jenifer, directing him to form the line of battle immediately in the rear of Jenifer's command, and that the combined force should then drive the enemy to the river, while he, General Evans, supported the right of the movement with artillery. This movement was made soon after noon and the opposing forces at once became hotly engaged, the Confederates advancing on the Federals, who held a strong position in front of the woods. Learning, at about this time, that an opposing force was gathering on his left and that he would soon be vigorously attacked by a body of infantry that appeared in that direction and by a body of dismounted cavalry that had deployed in his front, and apprehensive of being flanked, Devens retired his regiment to an open space in the woods, in front of the bluff, and prepared to receive an attack. To ascertain about reinforcements Devens went back to the bluff about 2 p.m., where he found Colonel Baker, who directed him to form his regiment on the right of the position that he proposed to occupy, while Baker placed 300 of the Twentieth Massachusetts on the left and advanced in front of these his California regiment, with two guns, supported by two companies of the Fifteenth Massachusetts. At about the same hour General Stone ferried a strong force across the river at Edwards' Ferry to make a demonstration on Evans' right, leaving Colonel Baker in command at Ball's Bluff. Stone then telegraphed to McClellan: 'There has been a sharp firing on the right of our line, and our troops appear to be advancing there under Baker. The left, under Gorman, has advanced its skirmishers nearly one mile, and, if the movement continues successful, will turn the enemy's right.'

"At about 2.30 p.m., General Evans, having the advantage of a concealed, shorter, and inner line, seeing that the enemy was being constantly reinforced, ordered Colonel Burt, with the Eighteenth Mississippi, to attack the Federal left, while Hunton and Jenifer attacked his front, holding the attack at Edwards' Ferry in check by batteries from his intrenchments. As Colonel Burt reached his position, the enemy, concealed in a ravine, opened on him a furious fire, which compelled him to divide his regiment and stop the flank movement that had already begun. At about 3 p.m., Featherstone, with the Seventeenth Mississippi, was sent at a double-quick to support Burt's movement. Evans reports: 'He arrived in twenty minutes and the action became general along my whole line, and was very hot and brisk for more than two hours, the enemy keeping up a constant fire with his batteries on both sides of the river. At about 6 p.m. I saw that my command had driven the enemy to near the banks of the river. I ordered my entire force to charge and drive him into the river. The charge was immediately made by the whole command, and the forces of the enemy were completely routed, and cried out for quarter along his whole line. In this charge the enemy was driven back at the point of the bayonet, and many were killed and wounded by this formidable weapon. In the precipitate retreat of the enemy on the bluffs of the river, many of his troops rushed into the water and were drowned, while many others, in overloading the boats, sunk them and shared the same fate. The rout now, about 7 o'clock, became complete, and the enemy commenced throwing his arms into the river.... At 8 p.m. the enemy surrendered his forces at Ball's Bluff, and the prisoners were marched to Leesburg.'

"During this action, Colonel Barksdale, with nine companies of the Thirteenth Mississippi and six pieces of artillery, was held to oppose Stone's movement from Edwards' Ferry and also as a reserve. After the engagement, Evans withdrew all his brigade to Leesburg, except Barksdale's regiment, which he left in front of Edwards' Ferry.

"Each of the combatants had about 1,700 men engaged in this action. The Confederates had no artillery in the fight, while the Federals had three light guns. Shortly after the action became general, Colonel Baker, passing in front of his command, was killed by a sharpshooter, which so demoralized the Federals that the surviving officers conferred and decided to retreat. This was opposed by Colonel Milton Cogswell, of the Forty-second New York, who had succeeded Colonel Baker in command. He said a retreat down the bluff and across the river was now impossible, and that they must cut their way through the Confederate right to Edwards' Ferry. He promptly gave orders to that effect, and moved to the front, followed by the remnants of his own two companies and a portion of the California regiment, but not by the others. He was quickly driven back and the whole Federal command was forced to the river bluff in great disorder. Just then two companies of the Forty-second New York landed on the Virginia shore. These Colonel Cogswell ordered up the bluff and deployed as skirmishers to cover the Federal retreat, while he advanced to the left with a small party, and was almost immediately captured. Colonel Devens escaped by swimming the river.

"On the morning of the 22nd, Colonel Barksdale informed General Evans that the enemy was still in force at Edwards' Ferry. He was ordered to carefully reconnoiter the Federal position, learn its strength and make attack. This he did, at about 2 p.m., and drove a superior force from an intrenched position to the bank of the river, killing and wounding quite a number of men. At about sundown, the Federals, having been reinforced and holding rifle-pits, Barksdale withdrew to Fort Evans, leaving two companies to watch his front. The enemy recrossed the Potomac during the night. Evans reported his loss, in the thirteen hours of fight, on the 21st, as 36 killed,[35] 117 wounded, and 2 missing, from a force of 1,709. Among the killed was the brave Colonel Burt. The Federal losses were returned at 49 killed, 158 wounded, and 694 missing. General Evans claimed the capture of 710 prisoners, 1,500 stands of arms, 3 cannon and 1 flag.

"Evans called on Longstreet for reinforcements when he reported his battle of the 21st, thinking that 20,000 Federals were in his front. Colonel Jenkins, with the Eighteenth South Carolina cavalry and artillery was dispatched from Centreville in the afternoon of the 22d, and marched toward Leesburg, through mud and a driving rain, until midnight, when the infantry went into bivouac; but Captain C.M. Blackford's cavalry and four guns of the Washington artillery hurried forward all night and came in sight of Leesburg about daylight of the 23d. That morning, finding his men much exhausted, General Evans ordered three of his regiments to fall back to Carter's mill, a strong position on Goose Creek, about 7 miles southwest from Leesburg, and join Jenkins, who had been halted at that place, leaving Barksdale with his regiment, two pieces of artillery and some cavalry, as a rear guard near Leesburg, and Hunton, with his Eighth Virginia and two pieces of artillery, on the south bank of Sycoline Creek, 3 miles from Leesburg, and sending his cavalry well to the front toward Alexandria."

Munford's Fight at Leesburg.[36]

"Having driven Pope's army to a secure position behind the defences of Washington, General Lee turned northward to the Potomac and began the first Maryland campaign.

"While this movement was in progress Stuart covered the front toward Washington. He had learned that an irregular body of cavalry under a certain Captain Means was harassing the citizens in the vicinity of Leesburg, and on the 2d of September (1862) he sent Colonel Munford, with the Second Virginia Cavalry, to that point. On approaching Leesburg, Munford learned that it was occupied by Means' company and that he was supported by about two hundred men under Major Cole, of Maryland. Munford's regiment numbered only about one hundred and sixty men, but, approaching Leesburg by an unexpected direction, he effected a surprise, and after a heavy skirmish completely routed Means' party and pursued him to Waterford, a distance of seven miles. He captured forty-seven prisoners, and killed or wounded twenty."

Battle at Aldie.[37]

"Early on the morning of the 17th of June, 1863, Colonel Munford, with the 2d and 3rd Virginia Cavalry, moved from Upperville through Middleburg, and having established his picket posts east of Aldie, crossed over to Snicker's Gap road and proceeded with these two regiments to procure corn at the house of Franklin Carter, about a mile distant. He expected to encamp that night in the vicinity of Aldie.

"Colonel Williams C. Wickham, with the 1st, 4th, and 5th Virginia Cavalry, the remaining regiments of the brigade, had moved from Piedmont through Middleburg, and was about to place his men in camp at Dover Mills, near Aldie.

"The 5th regiment, Col. Thomas L. Rosser, which arrived some little time after the 1st and 4th, was directed by Colonel Wickham to pass beyond Dover Mills, and select a camp nearer Aldie. In so doing Colonel Rosser encountered the enemy, who was rapidly driving back the pickets established by Colonel Munford.

"The force of the enemy making this attack was the 2d cavalry division, commanded by Gen. D.M. Gregg, and accompanied by Major-General Pleasonton. General Kilpatrick's brigade, consisting of the 2d New York, 1st Massachusetts, 6th Ohio, and 4th New York regiments, supported by the 1st Maine Cavalry from Col. J.J. Gregg's brigade, and by Randol's battery, appears to have done all the fighting. The two other brigades of General Gregg's division were closed up within supporting distance.

"The arrival of Rosser's regiment was most opportune. By an immediate sabre charge he drove back the enemy's advance upon their main body in the town of Aldie. Having relieved the pressure on the pickets, Rosser stationed his sharpshooters, under Capt. R.B. Boston, on the right of the Snickersville road, where a number of haystacks afforded some protection, and held the remainder of his small regiment ready for their support. Colonel Munford, in the meantime, arrived in person and stationed Lieut. William Walton, of the 2d Virginia Cavalry, with the reserve picket, fifteen men, behind a stone wall on the left of the Snickersville road with orders to hold his position against any odds until the 2d and 3d regiments could come to his assistance. In the meantime, and while Colonel Wickham was stationing the 1st and 4th regiments and Breathed's battery to dispute any advance on the Middleburg road, Rosser, single-handed, had met and repulsed two charges which were made upon Captain Boston's squadron; and believing that he could be maintained there with advantage, had ordered Boston to hold his position at all hazards. The result proved that this disposition was unfortunate, for during the subsequent heavy fighting Boston was so far advanced as to be beyond the reach of support and he and his squadron were captured.

"During all this time there was no force on the left of the Snickersville road, except the picket posted by Munford behind the stone wall. Munford, therefore, moved Rosser's regiment and the 4th Virginia Cavalry, with one gun from Breathed's battery, so as to command this road, leaving Colonel Wickham with the rest of the guns and the 1st Virginia Cavalry on the Middleburg road.

"In the meantime the enemy pressed heavily on Lieutenant Walton. He had repulsed two mounted charges, but being outflanked by dismounted men, had been withdrawn about fifty yards behind a house and orchard, in which position he commanded the only opening through which the enemy could attack. Here three distinct charges were met and repulsed in counter-charges by the 5th Virginia Cavalry, by the 3d squadron of the 4th regiment, led by Lieut. A.D. Payne, and by the 2d and 5th squadrons of the same regiment, led by Capt. W.B. Newton. These were the only squadrons of this regiment present at this battle, the 1st and 4th squadrons having been detailed early in the day to accompany General Stuart. In each of these charges the enemy had suffered severely at the hands of Lieutenant Walton's sharpshooters, who poured volleys into their flanks as they passed him in advancing and retiring.

"As Walton's party was, however, evidently small, the enemy determined to dislodge him, and was preparing a considerable force for another attack, when the 2d and 3d Virginia Cavalry reached the field. Two squadrons of sharpshooters were at once dismounted and placed on the left of the road—the squadron from the 2d regiment under Captains Breckinridge and Graves, that from the 3d regiment under Capt. George D. White. Their line was advanced to the stone wall from which Lieutenant Walton had been withdrawn. Colonel Munford now felt that his position was secure against an attack of cavalry, and there was nothing he more desired than that the enemy should wear himself out against it. His flanks were secured by Little River and its tributaries. The enemy must necessarily attack his front. The road by which it was approached was worn, as it ascended the hill, into deep gullies, which compelled an attack in column of fours and prevented the enemy from spreading out his front. Munford's strong party of sharpshooters commanded the road. They were stationed in an enclosed field, with a stone wall in their front, a post and rail fence on their right, and another fence on their left. The fences to the rear were thrown down, so as to give the cavalry access to the field. Munford felt that unless his cavalry failed in their duty, his dismounted men were perfectly secure.

"The 2d Virginia Cavalry, led by Lieut.-Col. J.W. Watts, now charged the advancing enemy, who had penetrated beyond the position of the sharpshooters. The heads of the columns met in the narrow road in a hand-to-hand sabre fight. While this was in progress, Capt. Jesse Irving threw down the fence on the right of the road, and, bringing his squadron to the front, opened fire on the enemy's left flank. Capt. W.W. Tebbs executed a similar movement on the left of the road, while the sharpshooters were all the time firing into the enemy's rear. Their attack was completely broken, and their leading squadron almost destroyed. Another support moved up during the confusion, but was met and repulsed by Colonel Rosser. In this fight Lieutenant-Colonel Watts was wounded and permanently disabled. The command of the 2d regiment devolved on Major Cary Breckinridge, who moved the regiment off to the right to reform, carrying with him Col. Louis P. De Cesnola and the colors of his regiment, the 4th New York Cavalry.

"During all this time Captain Boston, of the 5th Virginia Cavalry, had been holding the haystacks far in advance of his friends, where Colonel Rosser had placed him with such stringent orders. He was beyond the reach even of a recall, but had been doing his utmost to aid in the fight. He was now charged by the 6th Ohio Cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel William Stedman; and after losing three of his officers, including his junior captain, and a third of his men killed and wounded, he surrendered to the odds brought against him.

"The Federal cavalry were determined to carry the position if possible, and another charge was speedily organized. This was met by the 3d Virginia Cavalry, led by Col. T.H. Owens, who took the road, supported on his right by the 2d regiment and on his left by the 5th. The sabre was the weapon used, and the enemy was again driven back. Colonel Munford pronounced this the most spirited charge of the day. Colonel Owens, however, pressed his success too far. He drove the enemy almost to the village of Aldie, where he was charged by a fresh regiment and driven back, losing many of the prisoners he had taken and some of his own men. Major Henry Carrington, of the 3d regiment, was captured at this point. Colonel Munford says in his report:

"'Captain Newton, having rallied his small command and a good many men from other commands, was again ready to relieve Colonel Owens as he fell back, and by a timely charge repelled another effort to flank him. As the enemy came up again the sharpshooters opened upon him with terrible effect from the stone wall, which they had regained, and checked him completely. I do not hesitate to say that I have never seen as many Yankees killed in the same space of ground in any fight I have ever seen or on any battlefield in Virginia that I have been over. We held our ground until ordered by the major-general commanding to retire, and the Yankees had been so severely punished that they did not follow. The sharpshooters of the 5th were mostly captured, this regiment suffering more than any other.'

"Colonel Munford reported the capture of 138 prisoners. The number of killed and wounded is unknown. His own total loss was 119, of which the 5th Virginia Cavalry lost 58, mostly from Captain Boston's squadron."

Duffie at Middleburg.[38]

"On this same afternoon (June 17, 1863) events of considerable importance occurred at Middleburg, where Stuart had established his headquarters for the day.

"Early in the morning Col. A.N. Duffie, with the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry, had crossed the Bull Run Mountain at Thoroughfare Gap. His orders directed him to encamp at Middleburg on the night of the 17th and to proceed the next day toward Noland's Ferry, extending his march to the west as far as Snickersville. These orders seem to have contemplated a somewhat extended scout by this regiment on the left flank of General Gregg's division—-a hazardous movement in the presence of an enterprising enemy. Colonel Duffie reached Thoroughfare Gap at 9.30 a.m. and was somewhat delayed in crossing the mountain by the picket from Chambliss' command. By 11 o'clock, however, he was fairly on his way to Middleburg. At 4 o'clock p.m. he struck the pickets which Stuart had established for his own safety outside the town and drove them in so quickly that Stuart and his staff were compelled to make a retreat more rapid than was consistent with dignity and comfort. Having with him no force adequate to contest the ground with Duffie's regiment, Stuart retired toward Rector's Cross Roads. Munford was notified of his danger, and directed to withdraw from Aldie and Robertson and Chambliss were ordered to move immediately upon Middleburg.

"The only hope for Duffie's regiment now lay in an immediate advance upon Aldie, where he might have created considerable commotion by attacking the rear of the 1st Virginia Cavalry on the Middleburg road. But he did not know this and his orders were positive, requiring him to encamp for the night at Middleburg. He therefore made the best of his situation by dismounting one-half of his regiment behind stone walls and barricades, hoping that he might be able to hold his position until reinforced from Aldie, whither he sent Capt. Frank Allen to make known his situation at brigade headquarters. Captain Allen reached Aldie, after encountering many difficulties, at 9 o'clock p.m. He says in his report:

"'General Kilpatrick informed me that his brigade was so worn out that he could not send any reinforcements to Middleburg, but that he would report the situation of our regiment to General Gregg. Returning, he said that General Gregg had gone to state the facts to General Pleasonton, and directed me to remain at Aldie until he heard from General Pleasonton. I remained, but received no further orders.'"

"Thus Colonel Duffie was left to meet his fate. At 7 o'clock in the evening he was attacked by Robertson's brigade. His men fought bravely and repelled more than one charge before they were driven from the town, retiring by the same road upon which they had advanced. Unfortunately for Duffie this road was now closed by Chambliss' brigade, which surrounded him during the night and captured, early the next morning, the greater part of those who had escaped from Robertson on the previous evening. Colonel Duffie himself escaped capture and reached Centreville early in the afternoon with four of his officers and twenty-seven men. He reports the loss in his regiment at 20 officers and 248 men. This, however, was an exaggeration of the calamity, for other officers besides himself had taken to the woods and succeeded in making their way back to the Federal lines, on the 18th and 19th."

The Sacking of Loudoun.

FEDERAL OPERATIONS AGAINST MOSBY IN LOUDOUN COUNTY.

Mosby's unrelenting aggressiveness caused the Northern generals much annoyance and perplexity. Consequently many ingenious traps were laid for him, but to no purpose. Into some he walked with unsuspecting boldness, though contriving to fight his way to safety again, and usually, in so doing, inflicting greater loss on the enemy than would be sustained by his own command.

These reiterated and, at times, disastrous failures having demonstrated the futility of all covert attempts, General Grant, and later, General Sheridan, felt driven to the adoption of measures that were destined to entail much suffering and loss on the guiltless and non-combatant element of Loudoun's population. Under date of August 16, 1864, Grant despatched the following arbitrary order to General Sheridan:

"If you can possibly spare a division of cavalry, send them through Loudoun County to destroy and carry off the crops, animals, negroes, and all men under fifty years of age capable of bearing arms. In this way you will get many of Mosby's men. All male citizens under fifty can fairly be held as prisoners of war, and not as citizen prisoners. If not already soldiers, they will be made so the moment the rebel army gets hold of them."

Sheridan straightway ordered all the cavalry of the Eighth Illinois, then the best regiment of its kind in the Army of the Potomac, to concentrate at Muddy Branch, preparatory to beginning operations against Mosby in Loudoun County. In his orders to General Auger he told that officer to exterminate as many as he could of "Mosby's gang."

The command broke camp at Muddy Branch August 20, and crossed the Potomac with 650 men, the special object of the scout being, as stated in orders to Major Waite, "to break up and exterminate any bands or parties of Mosby's, White's, or other guerillas which may be met."

Viewed in the light of a communication from Sheridan to Halleck, dated November 26, 1864, this expedition seems not to have been even moderately successful. In it he said: "I will soon commence work on Mosby. Heretofore I have made no attempt to break him up, as I would have employed ten men to his one, and for the reason that I have made a scape-goat of him for the destruction of private rights. Now there is going to be an intense hatred of him in that portion of this Valley, which is nearly a desert. I will soon commence on Loudoun County, and let them know there is a God in Israel...."

In his determination to rid himself of his troublesome enemy, Sheridan, the next day, issued the following orders to Major-General Merritt, commanding the First Cavalry Division:

"You are hereby directed to proceed to-morrow morning at 7 o'clock with the two brigades of your division now in camp to the east side of the Blue Ridge via Ashby's Gap, and operate against the guerillas in the district of country bounded on the south by the line of the Manassas Gap Railroad as far east as White Plains, on the east by the Bull Run range, on the west by the Shenandoah River, and on the north by the Potomac. This section has been the hot-bed of lawless bands, who have, from time to time, depredated upon small parties on the line of army communications, on safeguards left at houses, and on all small parties of our troops. Their real object is plunder and highway robbery. To clear the country of these parties that are bringing destruction upon the innocent as well as their guilty supporters by their cowardly acts, you will consume and destroy all forage and subsistence, burn all barns and mills and their contents, and drive off all stock in the region the boundaries of which are above described. This order must be literally executed, bearing in mind, however, that no dwellings are to be burned and that no personal violence be offered to the citizens. The ultimate results of the guerilla system of warfare is the total destruction of all private rights in the country occupied by such parties. This destruction may as well commence at once, and the responsibility of it must rest upon the authorities at Richmond, who have acknowledged the legitimacy of guerilla bands. The injury done this army by them is very slight. The injury they have indirectly inflicted upon the people and upon the rebel army may be counted by millions. The Reserve Brigade of your division will move to Snickersville on the 29th. Snickersville should be your point of concentration, and the point from which you should operate in destroying toward the Potomac. Four days' subsistence will be taken by the command. Forage can be gathered from the country through which you pass. You will return to your present camp, via Snicker's Gap, on the 5th day."

In addition to Merritt's three brigades, Colonel Stagg was ordered to send out four regiments.

[39]"The Federals separated into three parties, one of which went along the Bloomfield road and down Loudoun in the direction of the Potomac; another passed along the Piedmont pike to Rectortown, Salem, and around to Middleburg, while the main body kept along the turnpike to Aldie, where they struck the Snickersville pike. Thus they scoured the country completely from the Blue Ridge to the Bull Run Mountains.

"From Monday afternoon, November 28th, until Friday morning, December 2nd, they ranged through the beautiful Valley of Loudoun and a portion of Fauquier county, burning and laying waste. They robbed the people of everything they could destroy or carry off-—horses, cows, cattle, sheep, hogs, etc.; killing poultry, insulting women, pillaging houses, and in many cases robbing even the poor negroes.

"They burned all the mills and factories, as well as hay, wheat, corn, straw, and every description of forage. Barns and stables, whether full or empty, were burned.

"At Mrs. Fletcher's (a widow), where the hogs had been killed for her winter's supply of meat, the soldiers made a pile of rails upon which the hogs were placed and burned. They even went to the Poor House and burned and destroyed the supplies provided for the helpless and dependent paupers. On various previous occasions, however, the Alms House had been visited by raiding parties, so that at this time there was but little left, but of that little the larger portion was taken.

"Colonel Mosby did not call the command together, therefore there was no organized resistance, but Rangers managed to save a great deal of live stock for the farmers by driving it off to places of safety."

Home Life During the War.

In Loudoun, as everywhere in every age, the seriousness of war was not fully realized until the volunteer soldiery, following a short season of feverish social gayety, interspersed with dress parades and exhibition drills, had departed for their respective posts. Immediately and with one accord those left behind settled themselves to watch and wait and work and pray for the absent ones and the cause they had so readily championed.

When few slaves were owned by a family the white boys, too young for service in the army, worked with them in the fields, while the girls busied themselves with household duties, though, at times, they, too, labored in the open. In families owning no slaves the old men, cripples, women, and children were forced to shoulder the arduous labors of the farm.

Stern necessity had leveled sexual and worldly distinctions, and manual labor was, at times, performed by all who were in the least physically fitted for it. All classes early became inured to makeshifts and privations, though they managed in some unselfish manner to send, from time to time, great quantities of clothing, meats, and other supplies to the soldiers in the field and their wounded comrades in the army hospitals.

The intense devotion of Loudoun women to the Confederate cause was most irritating to a certain class of Federal officers in the armies that invaded Northern Virginia. They seemed to think that through their military prowess they had conquered entrance into Southern society, but the women repulsed them at every turn and quite effectually checked their presumptuous advances.

The women of all classes played and sang Confederate airs on every occasion, and, though ordered by the military authorities to desist, with consummate daring they usually persisted until a guard of soldiers had been detailed to enforce the order. The Federal officers who acted in a gentlemanly manner toward the non-combatants were accused by their rude fellows and by ruder newspaper correspondents of being "wound round the fingers of the rebel women," who, they were sure, had some cherished object in view.

The women, without question, had much the harder task. The men, in active service in the field, were reasonably sure that their families were safe at home and, in the feverish excitement of war, felt no concern for themselves, while, on the other hand, the women lived in hourly dread of direful news from the front, and, moreover, were burdened with labors and cares more irksome and harassing than had ever been borne by the absent males.

The music and songs that were popular just before and during the war attest the vacillating temper of the people. Joyous airs were at first heard, these growing contemptuous and defiant as the struggle approached, then stirring war songs and hymns of encouragement. But as sorrow followed sorrow until all were stricken; as wounds, sickness, imprisonment, and death of friends and relatives cast an ever-lengthening shadow over the spirits of the people; as hopes were dashed by defeat, and the consciousness came that, perhaps, after all the cause was losing, the iron entered into the souls of the people. The songs became sadder, while in the churches, where the doctrines of faith and good works were earnestly propounded, little else was heard than the soul-comforting hymns and the militant songs of the older churchmen. The promises were, perhaps, more emphasized and a deeply religious feeling prevailed among the home-workers for the cause.

Pierpont's Pretentious Administration.

On December 7, 1863, the legislature of the "Restored Government of Virginia" held its first meeting in the chambers of the city council at Alexandria, which municipality became the seat of a Union administration in the Old Dominion, after Governor Pierpont's removal from Wheeling, W. Va., where, by unqualified political trickery, he and his unauthorized following had effected the establishment of a new Union commonwealth out of the ruins of Confederate Virginia. Six senators were present, representing the counties of Norfolk, Accomac, Fairfax, Alexandria, and Loudoun, and the city of Norfolk. Prince William, Northampton, Alexandria, Loudoun, and Norfolk counties were represented by seven delegates. J. Madison Downey, of Loudoun, was elected speaker of the house of delegates.

This tiny mouth-piece of Virginia Unionists had naturally few important, or even ordinary, questions of legislation to decide. The most important was a provision for the amendment of the State constitution with relation to its bearing on the slavery question. "Everybody," said Governor Pierpont in his message, "loyal or disloyal, concedes that slavery in the State is doomed. Then acting upon this concession, call a convention of loyal delegates, to alter the State constitution in this particular, and declare slavery and involuntary servitude, except for crime, to be forever abolished in the State."

A new constitution which should supercede that of 1851 and express the Union sentiments of the Potomac legislators, was accordingly drafted. Nominations of delegates to the constitutional convention were made in January, 1864. By the terms of the act relative thereto, any voter in the State who had not adhered by word or act to the Confederacy since September 1, 1861, might be chosen a member of the convention; all "loyal" citizens, who had not given aid or comfort to the Confederacy since January 1, 1863, possessed the right to vote.

Elections were held January 22, 1864. Very little interest was manifested by the people, as was evidenced by the ridiculously small vote everywhere polled. Loudoun's nominees, Dr. J.J. Henshaw, J. Madison Downey, and E. R. Giver, were elected by a mere handful of voters.

The convention met at Alexandria February 13, 1864, with fifteen[40] delegates present from twelve counties. Le Roy G. Edwards, of Portsmouth, was elected president and W.J. Cowing, secretary. A number of radical changes in the old constitution, framed by legitimate authority in ante-bellum days, were consummated during the two months' session of this convention.

The Alexandria government held sway very nearly two years. The legislature met for its second session December 5, 1864, and re-elected J. Madison Downey, of Loudoun County, speaker of the house of delegates.

The Pierpont government was not in itself of great importance. Its influence extended to only a dozen counties and three cities and, "under the shadow of bayonets, it was the rule of a few aliens in the midst of a generally hostile population. Men at the time and since have laughed at its legitimist pretenses." It would have been summarily dismissed by the people but for the protection afforded it by the Federal armies. Thus it appears that the "Restored Government of Virginia" was not based upon the consent and approval of the governed. Yet, suited to a policy of expediency and aggression, it was, with quivering and unseemly eagerness, recognized as the legal government of the State by the Lincoln administration.

Emancipation.

A significant event of the war was the issuance by President Lincoln of his celebrated emancipation proclamation. This highly important measure, promulgated on New Year's day, 1863, sounded the death-knell of slavery, an institution that, in the South, had seemed commercially indispensable.

The tidings spread rapidly through Loudoun producing, however, no change in the amicable relations existing between the white and colored races. In all sections of the South some apprehension was at first felt lest the negroes be tempted by Federal rewards to insurrection and the state militias be required to suppress outbreaks.

The people of Loudoun, of course, shared in these early misgivings, but here, as elsewhere, the negroes, as a whole, manifested no outward signs of disaffection. History must record to their credit and praise that while actual warfare was being waged on the soil of Loudoun they quietly awaited the final issue of the fiery struggle.

Entire communities of women and children were left in their charge, while all able-bodied white men were away on the battlefield, and the trust was faithfully kept. Instances of criminal acts were so rare that at this period none are recalled, and while this fidelity is proof of the peaceable character of the negro, it is also evidence for their owners that slavery had produced no personal hostilities between the two races in Loudoun County, and that the treatment of the negro by his owner under the law had been such as to maintain between them personal attachment and mutual confidence. Many negroes accompanied their owners to the seat of war, not to take part in battle, but to serve in semi-military duties without exposure to danger. Some of them marched in Maryland and Pennsylvania with the armies of Lee, voluntarily returning, although they might have remained in the free States without hindrance. They are still proud of the conduct of their race in those days of anxiety and peril.

The proclamation of President Lincoln was regarded in Virginia as a strictly political war measure, designed to place the cause of war distinctly upon the sole question of slavery for an effect to be produced upon foreign countries and with the purpose of making use of negroes as soldiers in the Federal army. The issue of negro freedom had not been distinctly made until this proclamation created it. Hitherto it had been understood that, at the furthest, the Federal authorities would insist only on restriction of slavery to the limits where it already existed and a gradual emancipation upon payment of the value of slaves held at the beginning of the war. But now it was settled that the United States proposed to enforce by arms an instantaneous emancipation without compensation.

Close of the War.

The half-clad and impoverished southern armies, after four years of valiant fighting, were no longer able to withstand the superior numbers that had confronted them with merciless regularity in every important conflict of the war, and, in April, 1865, the struggle ceased with the complete subjugation of the Southland.

All that the States-rights supporters had prophesied would be accomplished if unresisted; all that the Unionists had indignantly denied to be the objects of the war was accomplished: the South was conquered, State sovereignty repudiated, the slaves were freed, and the recognition of negro political equality forced upon the nation.

Neighborhood strifes and animosities had been engendered in every village and hamlet, and in nearly every household mothers wept for the lost darlings asleep in their unmarked graves. The women and children, hearing with a shock of the surrender, experienced a terrible dread of the incoming armies. The women had been enthusiastic for the Confederate cause; their sacrifices had been incalculable, and to many the disappointment and sorrow following defeat were more bitter than death. The soldier had the satisfaction of having fought in the field for his opinions and it was easier for him to abide by the decision of arms.

But the terms of peace had scarcely been signed when the great popular heart of the State swelled with generous and magnanimous rivalry in an effort to repair the past. The soldiers who had fought and striven under the successful banners of the Union came back with no bitterness in their hearts, with no taunts on their lips. The war-worn exiles of the Southern army, long before formal permission had been given by either the State or Federal Government, were summoned home and received with open arms and affectionate greetings by both the Union and States-rights men. The people of the entire State seemed to remember with sorrowful pride the noble men who had died gallantly in the ranks of either army. Over their faults was thrown the mantle of the sweet and soothing charities of the soldier's grave; and, on all sides, there was manifested unstinted admiration for the valor with which they had borne the dangers and privations of the war.

RECONSTRUCTION.

After the Surrender.

If the era of Reconstruction which followed the tragic drama of civil war lacked the fierce element of bloodshed, it was none the less painful and protracted. It was a gloomy period through which the people of Loudoun, in common with other communities of the Southland, were compelled to pass, and there was no appeal and no alternative save submission.

The conditions in the South in this decade were radically different from those in the North. As a result of the war, the markets of the South were destroyed, investments in slaves were lost, and land improvements deteriorated. The close of the war found the planters bankrupt, their credit destroyed, and agriculture and all business paralyzed by lack of working capital. Vast areas of land went out of cultivation, the reported acreage of farm land in all the Southern States was less in 1870 than in 1860, and the total and average values of land everywhere decreased.

The paroled Confederate soldier had returned to his ruined farm and set to work to save his family from extreme want. For him the war had decided two questions—the abolition of slavery, and destruction of State sovereignty. Further than this he did not expect the political effects of the war to extend. He knew that some delay would necessarily attend the restoration of former relations with the central government, but political proscription and humiliation were not anticipated.

No one thought of further opposition to Federal authority; the results of the war were accepted in good faith, and the people meant to abide by the decision of arms. Naturally, there were no profuse expressions of love for the triumphant North, but the people in general manifested an earnest desire to leave the past behind them and to take their places and do their duty as citizens of the new Union. Many persons were disposed to attribute their defeat to the will of the Almighty. Others believed that fate, destiny, or Providence had frowned upon the South, and this state of mind made them the more ready to accept as final the results of the war.

Such was the state of feeling in the first stage, before there was any general understanding of the nature of the questions to be solved or of the conflicting policies. News from the outside world filtered through slowly; while the whole County lay prostrate, breathless, exhausted, resting. Little interest was evinced in public questions; the long strain had been removed, and the future was a problem too bewildering even to be considered yet awhile. The people settled down into a lethargy, seemingly indifferent to the events that were crowding one upon another, and exhibiting little interest in government and politics.

There was a woeful lack of good money in the County and industry was paralyzed. The gold and silver that remained was carefully hoarded, and for months none was in circulation except in the towns. The people had no faith in paper money of any description and thought that greenbacks would become worthless in the same way as had Confederate currency. All sense of values had been lost, which fact may account for the fabulous and fictitious prices obtaining in the South for several years after the war, and the liberality of appropriations of the first legislatures following the surrender.

With many persons there was an almost maddening desire for the things to which they had once been accustomed, the traders and speculators now placing them in tempting array in the long-empty store window.

People owning hundreds of acres of land often were as destitute as the poorest negro. The majority of those having money to invest had bought Confederate securities as a patriotic duty, and in this way much of the specie had been drawn from the County.

Nearly all the grist-mills and manufacturing establishments had been destroyed, mill-dams cut, ponds drained, and railroad depots, bridges, and trestles burned. All farm animals near the track of the armies had been carried away or killed by the soldiers, or seized after the occupation by the troops. Horses, mules, cows, and other domestic animals had almost disappeared except in the secluded districts. Many farmers had to plough with oxen. Farm buildings had been dismantled or burned, houses ruined, fences destroyed, corn, meat, and other food products taken.

In the larger towns, where something had been saved from the wreck of war, the looting by Federal soldiers was shameful. Pianos, curios, pictures, curtains, and other household effects were shipped North by the Federal officers during the early days of the occupation. Gold and silver plate and jewelry were confiscated by the "bummers" who were with every command. Abuses of this kind became so flagrant that the Northern papers condemned the conduct of the soldiers, and several ministers, among them Henry Ward Beecher, rebuked the practice from the pulpit.

The best soldiers of the Federal army had demanded their discharge as soon as fighting was over, and had immediately left for their homes. Those who remained in the service in the State were, with few exceptions, very disorderly and kept the people in terror by their robberies and outrages.

Land was almost worthless, many of the owners having no capital, farm animals, or implements. Labor was disorganized, and its scant product often stolen by roving negroes and other marauders. The planters often found themselves amid a wilderness of land without laborers.

From this general gloom and despair the young people soon partially recovered, and among them there was much social gayety of a quiet sort. For four years the young men and young women had seen little of each other, and there had been comparatively few marriages. Now that they were together again, these nuptials soon became more common than conditions seem to have warranted.

This revival of spirits did not extend to the older people, who were long recovering from the shock of grief, and strain of war, much that had made life worth living being lost to them forever.

Conduct of the Freedmen.

Nearly every slaveholder, returning home after the fall of the Confederacy, assembled his remaining negroes and formally notified them of their freedom, and talked with them concerning its entailed privileges, responsibilities, and limitations. The news had, of course, reached them through other channels, but they had loyally awaited the home-coming of their masters, to whom they looked for a confirmation of the reports. Steady employment at a fixed wage was offered most of them, and, except in the vicinity of the towns and army posts, where they were exposed to alien influences, the negroes usually chose to remain at their work.

Many were satisfied with the old slavery quarters while others, for the taste of freedom that was afforded, established homes of their own at near-by points. There were two things which the negroes of the South felt must be done before they could be entirely free: They must discard their masters' names and leave the old plantations if only for a few days or weeks.

Among the most contented and industrious there was much restlessness and neglect of work. Hunting and fishing and frolics were the order of the day. Nearly every man acquired, in some way, a dog and gun as badges of freedom. It was quite natural that the negroes should want a prolonged holiday for the enjoyment of their new-found freedom; and it is really strange that any of them worked, for there obtained an almost universal impression—the result of the teachings of the negro soldiers and Freedmen's Bureau officials—that the Government would support them in idleness. But in the remote districts this impression was vague. The advice of the old plantation preachers held many to their work, and these did not suffer as did their brothers who flocked to the towns.

Neither master nor freedman knew exactly how to begin anew and it was some time before affairs emerged from the chaotic state into which the war had plunged them. The average planter had little or no faith in free negro labor, yet all who were now able were willing to give it a trial. The more optimistic land-owners believed that the free negro could in time be made an efficient laborer, in which case they were willing to admit that the change might prove beneficial to both races. At first, however, no one knew just how to work the free negro; innumerable plans were devised, many tried, and few adopted.

The new regime differed but little from the old until the fall of 1865, when the Freedmen's Bureau, aided by the negro soldiers and white emissaries, had filled the minds of the credulous ex-slaves with false impressions of the new and glorious condition that lay before them. Then, with the extension of the Bureau and spread of the army posts, many of the negroes became idle, neglected the crops planted in the spring, and moved from their old homes to the towns or wandered aimlessly from place to place.

Upon leaving their homes the blacks collected in gangs at the cross-roads, in the villages and towns, and especially near the military posts. To the negro these ordinary men in blue were beings from another sphere who had brought him freedom, a something he could not exactly comprehend, but which, he was assured, was a delightful state.

Upon the negro women often fell the burden of supporting the children, to which hardship were traceable the then common crimes of fœticide and child murder. The small number of children during the decade of Reconstruction was generally remarked. Negro women began to flock to the towns; how they lived no one can tell; immorality was general among them. The conditions of Reconstruction were unfavorable to honesty and morality among the negroes, both male and female.

Their marriage relations were hardly satisfactory, judged by white standards. The legislatures in 1865-1866 had declared slave marriages binding. The reconstructionists denounced this as a great cruelty and repealed the laws. Marriages were then made to date from the passage of the Reconstruction Acts. As many negro men had had several wives before that date they were relieved from the various penalties of desertion, bigamy, adultery, etc. Some seized the opportunity to desert their wives and children and acquire new help-meets. While much suffering resulted from the desertion, as a rule, the negro mother alone supported the children better than did the father who stayed.

Negro women accepted freedom with even greater seriousness than did the men, and were not always, nor easily, induced to again take up the familiar drudgery of field labor and domestic service. To approximate the ease of their former mistresses, to wear fine clothes and go often to church were their chief ambitions. Negro women had never been as well-mannered, nor, on the whole, as good natured and cheerful as the negro men. Both sexes, during Reconstruction, lost much of their native cheerfulness; the men no longer went singing and shouting to their work in the fields; some of the blacks, especially the women, became impudent and insulting in their bearing toward the whites.

As a result of certain pernicious alien influences there soon developed a tendency to insolent conduct on the part of the younger negro men, who seemed convinced that civil behavior and freedom were incompatible. With some there was a disposition not to submit to the direction of their employers, and the negro's advisers warned him against the "efforts of the white man to enslave" him. Consequently, he very often refused to enter into contracts that called for any assumption of responsibility on his part, and the few agreements to which he became a party had first to be ratified by the Bureau. As he had no knowledge of the obligation of contracts, he usually violated them at pleasure.

The negroes, massed in the towns, lived in deserted and ruined houses or in huts built by themselves of refuse lumber. They were very scantily clothed and their food, often insufficient and badly cooked, if cooked at all, was obtained by begging, stealing, or upon application to the Bureau. Taking from the whites was not considered stealing, but was "Spilin' de Gypshuns."

The health of the negroes was injured during the period 1865-1875. In the towns the standard of living was low, sanitary arrangements were bad, and disease killed large numbers and permanently injured the negro constitution.

Following the military occupation of the State the negroes, young and old, were seized with an overmastering desire for book learning. This seeming thirst for education was not rightly understood at the North; it was, in fact, more a desire to imitate the white master and obtain formerly forbidden privileges than any real yearning due to an understanding of the value of education. The negro hardly knew the significance of the bare word, but the northern people gave him credit for an appreciation not yet altogether true even of whites.

CONCLUSION.

No occurrences of extreme historic value mark the career of Loudoun since the days of Reconstruction, and the seemingly abrupt conclusion to which the reader has now arrived is not thought incompatible with the plan of this work, which in no single instance has contemplated the inclusion of any but the most momentous events. Besides, existing conditions have received protracted mention in the preceding descriptive and statistical departments where appear evidences of the County's present vast wealth and resources, numberless charms and recent marvelous development.