never were the veteran hearts of the men whom lee and stonewall led to victory, so thrilled with triumphant pride as on that morning in september, when the wild refrain of “maryland, my maryland,” echoed from a thousand throats, rolled on the morning breezes over the border, and the ragged men in gray marched through the waters of the old potomac which some of them had made to run red with the life-blood of the invading hosts of yankeeland, who made their boasting advance, at almost the same point the year before, and added the name of ball’s bluff to the list of southern victories.
but none other than those born on the soil of maryland could fully enter into the feelings that filled the heart of our captain when he saw the army that had tramped over the heaps of dead men, strewn from the blue and billowy james to the dashing surges of the potomac, actually marching through the boundary that had, up to this time, been considered the de facto line of separation between the two confederacies, and felt that of a truth the hour had come when another star would blaze in the southern cross, and that star the sign that maryland, by aid of the iron 106legions of the southland, had broken the rod of the blackamoor’s god, and joined, at last, her sisters in their crusade for freedom.
it will avail nothing, however, to revert here to the bitter disappointment which quenched these proud feelings in the hearts of the brave sons of the state of maryland, who had been battling for the cause of southern rights, when they found no responsive greeting from the now pitifully cowed spirit of poor, conquered maryland, and felt that in spite of the hero-blood that had baptized the wreath of glory woven for her queenly brow by such hands as carroll, howard, may, and a thousand others, who, in the days of yore, had made her name so famous, she was now a subjugated thing, too much afraid of the power that had bound the slavish chain upon her very soul, to lift the folded hands from which the tyrant’s fetters had just been so bravely torn, even though upon her own soil the conquering battle-flag of dixie waved high above the bloody northern standard.
through treachery at the council board she had been betrayed into the power of her enemies, and had not enough spirit left to do more than gaze with sad-eyed wonder upon the war-worn soldiers whose mission to their state was to give her people an opportunity to draw their swords in an equal fight for their desecrated altars.
maryland was dumb before her shearers, and 107lamb-like she submitted, while the southern army looked vainly for the lion to awake to glory again.
at frederick city, capt. white fell under the displeasure of general stuart, and was ordered by that commander to return with his company to loudoun county, va., but the captain protested, saying that he was a marylander by birth and had fought as hard as any man for the privilege of fighting once upon the soil of his native state.
the general seemed only to want an excuse to become offended with him, and exclaimed, “do you say you have done as much as any man, for the south?”
“no, sir,” said capt. white, “i did not say that; but i have done my duty to the south as a soldier, so far as my ability extends, as fully as anybody.”
again the general broke out with, “you did say you had done as much as any man.” and the captain replied, “i did not say so.”
thus the quarrel went on, and finally stuart ordered white to go back to loudoun and watch for a flanking force of the enemy expected by way of dranesville, or fairfax c. h., from washington. but white refused to go, saying he would go see gen. lee.
“come on,” said stuart, “i’ll go with you.” and the two proceeded at once to army headquarters. 108arrived there, gen. s. passed in, and white saw that gen. jackson was also there.
gen. lee met white at the door and asked him his business, when the captain replied, “i want to see you, sir.” “very well,” said the general, "just wait a little while and i’ll see you."
pretty soon general jackson came out and approached white, who was walking in front of headquarters, and actually so much excited over what he considered the injustice of gen. stuart, that he was crying.
“stonewall” asked him his difficulty, and was told that stuart wanted to send him back to loudoun, and he didn’t want to go. the general appeared surprised, and remarked, “why, i just heard gen. stuart tell gen. lee that you desired to be sent back, and recommended that it be done.”
at this the captain tried to tell gen. jackson that it was not so, but before he could explain, his feelings so overcame him that he completely choked down and could not say anything.
presently, gen. jackson said, “capt. white, i think i can understand your feelings, for i was once situated just as you are now. during the mexican war i was ordered to the rear just as a battle was about to take place, and i knew of no reason why i should be so unjustly treated; but i obeyed, and it so happened that by doing so i had an opportunity to acquire distinction that i never could have had in front. and captain, my advice 109to you is to obey orders, no matter how unjust they may be. we are poor, short-sighted creatures at best, and in the very thing that seems hardest for us to bear, providence may have hidden a rich blessing for us. go, captain, and obey orders.”
white says he knew gen. jackson was too good a man for him to talk to, and consequently he made no reply. but gen. stuart now came out and calling him to his side said, “capt. white, did you say you was a marylander?” “yes, sir,” said white. “ah!” said the general, "i didn’t know that. gen. lee wants you. go in and see him."
as may be supposed, the captain lost no time in appearing in the presence of the commanding general, and his orders were to scout towards harper’s ferry and report to gen. lee. this meant that for the present he was free from the spite of stuart, and he at once commenced his scout, learning of the condition of affairs about harper’s ferry, and gathering much valuable information; without, however, being required to engage the enemy.
"he had now been joined by the long-expected company of capt. chiswell, and on saturday night, september 12th, the two companies crossed the river into loudoun county, and on sunday evening marched down to waterford, where they bivouacked in the same meeting-house which 110webster had tried so hard to hold against white’s men a few weeks before. here they were joined by lieut. myers, whose detachment had grown into a very respectable company; and the next morning white moved with his squadron towards the river, intending to make an examination of the enemy’s force which was following lee’s army up through maryland.
on the top of catocton mountain, they had a partial view of the cannonading at harper’s ferry, where gen. jackson had penned up gen. miles in the “nose of the tunnel,” just as jo. johnston had declared, in 1861, that he (johnston) would not be caught.
about noon capt. white reached his own farm on the river, and in the bottom, near the ford, discovered a party of yankee infantry and cavalry, which he immediately charged, capturing all the infantry, in number thirty-five, with the lieutenant in command, but the cavalry made their escape over the river. from here the command went to leesburg, from which place a detail from the two companies was made to guard the prisoners, and lieut. myers placed in charge, with orders to deliver the yankees to the provost marshal at winchester, while the captain moved his command back to waterford, where he spent the next day; but on the 17th he received a notice that a force of the enemy was advancing on leesburg from towards washington, which 111caused him to hastily return to leesburg. on arriving there he found the troops preparing to leave the town, but he prevailed on them to remain for a short time at least. the force there consisted of co. a, 6th va. cavalry, under capt. gibson, and about forty mississippi infantry commanded by capt. young, who was the provost marshal of the town. captain white, owing to the rapidity of his march from waterford, did not have more than thirty of his men with him. the force of the enemy was about four hundred cavalry, with four pieces of artillery, under command of gen. kilpatrick, who had come up to see if there was any confederate force in loudoun county.
capt. young, with his infantry, halted on the turnpike above town, and capt. gibson did the same, while capt. white moved his command below leesburg, and found the enemy still advancing, but rather slowly. here he exchanged a few shots with them, and seeing them placing a battery in position he retired through the town and halted near capt. young.
kilpatrick now, in perfect wantonness, and without any warning, opened fire from his artillery upon the town, and the women and children of leesburg only knew that they were to be bombarded when the shrieking shells came crashing through walls and roofs in the centre of their town.
112after awhile a party of cavalry advanced, and the tiring having stopped they marched through and came out on the road near where the little force of confederates were standing, upon which capt. white ordered his men to charge, but just as he was riding forward the infantry fired a volley at the yankees, one ball from which struck him just under the shoulder blade, and lodged under the skin in front of his throat. this unfortunate affair stopped the charge which, had the captain not been wounded, would undoubtedly have routed kilpatrick’s whole force, as citizens on the road reported him and his men to have been very much excited and in great confusion when the party which the infantry had fired on returned at a run from their advance through leesburg. capt. gibson’s men and the infantry of young now retired, and white’s men, bearing their wounded captain, followed them slowly up the turnpike as far as rice’s house, where they left him in charge of boyd barrett, and went an to hamilton, where lieut. myers and his party from winchester met them. myers at once took command of the squadron, and as it was now dark halted for the night in the village, and when morning came marched back to leesburg; shortly after which the captain was moved to colonel vandevanter’s, where he remained for a few days; but the battle of sharpsburg having now been fought and the southern 113army forced back across the potomac, and the border country, in consequence, being overrun with parties of the enemy’s cavalry, it was thought best to move him nearer the mountain, which was done, and for some time he sojourned at mr. humphrey’s, near snickersville, care being taken not to let his whereabouts be known, as the yankees desired nothing better than to get possession of capt. white, the guerrilla, as they called him; in fact, a party of them had come very near capturing him while he was at colonel vandevanter’s, only missing him by having been wrongly informed as to his location, they having gone to mr. washington vandevanter’s instead of the colonel’s. after this lieut. myers established his camp in snicker’s gap, from where he scouted the border to fairfax c. h., under the orders of gen. jackson, and reporting directly to that commander, whose headquarters were in winchester.
some time passed in this manner, the two companies operating actively in loudoun and fairfax, occasionally picking up a few yankees, and to a great extent stopping their incursions in the country, except in large bodies, one of which came near gobbling up the little command. maj. foster, of the quartermaster’s department, had been instructed by gen. stuart to call on lieut. myers for assistance in bringing out a lot of cattle from the lovettsville country, and had fixed upon 114the 16th of october to meet at wheatland for that purpose; but myers, knowing that gen. kenley, with a strong force of infantry, cavalry and artillery, was somewhere near leesburg, thought it best to let the cattle alone for that day. he, however, sent scouts to find where the yankees were, and with about thirty men went to wheatland, according to instructions, where he halted, and threw out pickets.
pretty soon the picket on the waterford road, who happened to be a young soldier (e. h. tavenner) on his first tour of duty, came in and reported the enemy advancing, saying they had came within fifty yards of him and refused to stop when he told them to do so; and being asked why he didn’t fire on them, he replied that he “did try, but his carbine kept snapping, and that was why they got so close to him before he left his post.” the lieutenant concluded that as green a man as that didn’t know a yankee when he saw him, and sending "for the other pickets to come in, trotted off to see for himself, and before getting to the post his picket had occupied, he saw, and heard too, for the advance guard of kenly’s brigade opened fire on him from a turn of the road, and charging upon him at the same time, nearly captured him with dick and sam. grubb and ben. conrad, who came to his assistance; but they were in luck and escaped without injury, or losing any of the command.
115that night, john debutts, with tom. spates and one or two others, captured kenly’s pickets near hillsboro’, and the general marched to harper’s ferry before day.
previous to this, a company commanded by lieut. james anderson, one under capt. john h. grabill, and one under lieut. wood, had reported to lieut. myers, and these with the two companies of white and chiswell, and about fifty men raised by r. b. grubb, formed a battalion which myers did not feel disposed to command. the companies of chiswell and grubb, not being yet organized, and were moreover attached to the old company as a part of it, he could manage very well, but capt. grabill refused to command the whole force and the delicacy myers felt in assuming the command of officers higher in rank than himself, made the matter a very awkward one in the new battalion, but all the officers insisted upon his occupying the position, and he finally did so, and commanded until the 19th of october, when capt. james f. trayhern, whose company, under anderson, was already in camp, came in and assumed the command.
capt. trayhern immediately resolved on an extended scout to find the enemy, and for this purpose ordered all the available force of the battalion then in camp to mount and form for the expedition. the whole force thus called out was about one hundred and thirty, in two squadrons; the 116first, commanded by lieut. myers, was composed of portions of the old company and of chiswell’s and grubb’s men, the marylanders led by sergt. henry sellman, and grubb’s boys by sam. grubb. the second squadron was commanded by capt. grabill, and composed of his own company, that of trayhern under lieut. anderson, and part of the albemarle company.
capt. dick grubb acted as adjutant; and thus organized, the battalion marched out of the mountain, assured by its commander that “he intended to go wherever he heard of yankees across the potomac.” on the 20th, the command halted on the river hills opposite berlin, and looked at the long line of bluejackets on drill on the maryland side of the line, but none had yet been discovered or heard of south of it. about sunset capt. trayhern retired to the old rehoboth church and disbanded his command, in order that the men could get something to eat in the neighborhood for themselves and horses, but gave instructions for all to report at the church by nine o’clock, which they did, and the pickets were duly posted by lieut. myers, who was detailed as officer of the guard for the night; and all, except the guards, unsaddled and went into the church to sleep. about an hour before daylight, myers started out for his last visit to the outposts that night, and on reaching the post at bolington was surprised to find all the pickets missing; and a further examination 117convinced him that the yankees had certainly been down and carried off the whole business—guards, reserve and all. returning to the command, he informed trayhern of the affair, and rode on to the other pickets, whom he found all right, not having heard or seen anything more alarming than cattle during the night. taking his pickets with him, the lieutenant went back to the battalion, and after a consultation, it was resolved by trayhern to follow the enemy, who, according to the testimony of some persons at bolington, had not been gone long, and endeavor to recapture the prisoners; and sending sam. grubb with a squad in advance, the command pushed forward rapidly; but soon met sam. coming back with the information, that lovettsville was full of yankees, and that an infantry force was posted in a piece of woods on the grade, a short distance from town. and here capt. trayhern committed the fatal error of attempting to drive this force from their position, which was all the enemy wished, hoping to keep him occupied until the flanking party from harper’s ferry could gain the rear of the confederates. after a short skirmish, trayhern decided to go back, and on his way, halted for a short time at morrisonville, and then moved on towards hillsborough.
pretty soon he met some of the men from the latter place, who informed him that hillsborough also was occupied by a strong force; and counter-marching, 118the little battalion took the road to wheatland; but on arriving at smith’s, about a mile from that place, firing was heard in front, and soon the advance returned at a gallop, closely pursued by a body of yankee cavalry.
capt. grubb now gave the order “by fours right about,” and the confederates retreated rapidly to maj. geo. l. moore’s gate, where grubb turned the column into the field. all this time the yankees were firing rapidly, and the halt made here in passing the gate enabled them to come up with the battalion, and here a party, with lieut. marlow and sam. grubb, left the command and struck for the mountain. reaching the barn-yard gate at moore’s the yankees were in thirty yards, and lieut. myers, who in the “right about” on the grade had been thrown in rear of the command, found it a difficult matter to get the gate shut and chained again after the command had passed, for the “blue jackets” fired fast at him, but he finally succeeded, and on the hill in the field joined capt. trayhern, who, with captains grabill and grubb assisting him bravely, was endeavoring to rally the men and make a stand until an opening for escape could he made in the post and rail fence, but only twenty men could be got in line. in a few minutes the yankees came through the gate, and about two hundred of them charged the little force on the hill, but received a volley which checked and 119caused them for a moment to retire; but now, notwithstanding the efforts of capt. trayhern, who displayed great gallantry, and of other officers, the men broke and crowded down into the corner of the field, and the yankees coming on again captured twenty-two of them and about thirty horses. they could just as easily have gotten the whole party, but on charging with drawn sabres to about ten yards of the crowd in the corner, and receiving a fire from a few men with pistols, they halted and commenced firing in return. the fence was now broken open, and the confederates began leaping their horses over. here one man was killed and one wounded, but by good horsemanship the others all got clear. the pursuit was continued as far as the mill of mr. caldwell, on the waterford road, and during it a yankee lieutenant, in the attempt to capture lieut. myers, who was poorly mounted, was mortally wounded.
on arriving at camp and counting up the losses, it was found that twenty-three were captured; lycurgus w. bussard, a gallant soldier of the old company, was killed, and jacob h. robertson, also of the old company, badly wounded. the squad that with marlow and sam. grubb escaped to the mountain, came down in the yankee rear at hillsboro, capturing six prisoners, whom they brought out; which with the eight 120killed and wounded in the chase, made the enemy’s loss fourteen.
their whole force consisted of two regiments of cavalry, three of infantry, and a battery of artillery, in all about four thousand; while trayhern’s command, when he met the yankees, did not number more than seventy-five.
gen. geary, who commanded the yankees, felt himself the hero of a most wonderful exploit, and on his return to harper’s ferry arrested and carried with him the rev. s. s. rozzle, but the parson so cut the general’s feathers in his conversation with him, that he was glad to permit him to go home, not even requiring his parole, although if he had asked it mr. rozzle was not the man to give it to such a bombastic bag of gas as geary, who could not look him in the face after talking with him half an hour.
captains trayhern and grabill both lost their horses, and only saved themselves by taking refuge in the top of a cabin which stood near the field, and where they lay until dark undiscovered by the yankees, although many of them were in and around the house for some time.
when capt. trayhern returned to camp, he found his company highly exasperated against him for having, as they said, gotten them into such a trap; and under the excitement of the moment, that high-spirited officer resigned his commission, 121and left the battalion, never to meet it again until the morning after gen. lee surrendered the array of northern virginia.
the command again fell upon lieut. myers, and under instructions from capt. white, he went diligently to work preparing the battalion for organization.
the captain had moved his quarters from mr. humphrey’s to the home of mr. park. shepherd, in clarke county, where his devoted and heroic little wife joined him, and under her care he was soon convalescent.
on the 28th of october, col. bradley t. johnson, (afterwards brigadier-general of the maryland line,) then a. and i. g. on stuart’s staff, came over, and after superintending the organization, mustered white’s battalion regularly into the service.
capt. white was unanimously elected major, and lieut. myers became captain of company a, with barrett, marlow and ben. f. conrad, for his lieutenants.
company b, organized by electing george w. chiswell, captain; joshua r. crown, 1st lieutenant; nich. w. dorsey, 2d lieutenant; and ed. j. chiswell, 2d lieutenant, jr.
company c, elected richard b. grubb, captain; w. flavius dowdell, 1st lieutenant; and sam. e, grubb, 2d lieutenant.
company d, was already organized, being trayhern’s 122old company, and now officered by lieuts. anderson, spangler, and sam. baker.
company e, had capt. grabill, lieut. grubbs, and —— ——, for officers.
there was some difficulty in the case of the other company, which had been organized in albemarle county, under capt. geo. n. ferneyhough, for service in scott’s battalion—and although it was present, under command of lieut. woods, was not mustered in until some months later.
capt. grubb and lieut. anderson were both prisoners, having been captured a week before, in the battle of glenmore.
major white now appointed lieut. crown, adjutant, and capt. j. mort. kilgour, quartermaster. after which, he rode back to mr. shepherd’s again, leaving capt. myers in command, with instructions to look out for the advance of the yankee army, which, under burnside, was about to “on to richmond” again.
besides white’s battalion, there was now stationed in snicker’s gap, a company of the 2d va. cavalry, under capt. tebbs, and a detail from capt. chew’s battery with one 12-pounder howitzer, making a total force of about three hundred men.
about the 1st of november, a heavy body of the enemy’s cavalry, under gen. pleasanton, advanced on the gap, creating no small excitement among the garrison; but as soon as possible, preparations 123were made to dispute possession, and while capt. tebbs held his company, mounted, near the toll-gate, myers dismounted two companies of the battalion under capt. grabill, who was an old infantry officer of the “stonewall brigade,” to operate as sharpshooters on the side of the road, and with the remainder in the saddle, took post near the artillery, which was advanced to within five hundred yards of snickersville.
about this time the yankees dashed into town, and gave a few of white’s men there a lively chase up the road, in which john stephenson was severely wounded. in a few minutes the enemy’s column appeared in the road just above the town, and on the instant, the little howitzer blazed forth its “thus far and no farther,” in the shape of a three-second shell, which exploded precisely in the right place, killing and wounding several men and horses, and causing the remainder to retire in great confusion, which was increased by the fire of grabill’s infantry.
before the gun could be reloaded the yankees were out of range, and the fight over, for gen. pleasanton took up his line of march for the potomac at once. this affair took place on thursday, and on the sunday following, just at sunrise, the yankees were again discovered making for the gap; but this time it appeared that the whole land was covered with infantry, long blue lines of which moved up the mountain; and major white 124having reached the scene of action, ordered the battalion, which, with the howitzer, had taken the same position occupied on thursday, to fall back, and the whole force retired to the river hill. very soon the yankees were on the mountain in heavy force, and hardly noticing the shells from white’s little howitzer, they placed a battery in the gap from which they threw shells clear over his position, and killed men in a. p. hill’s division, a mile beyond the river. white’s men thought it was time to be leaving, but the major held on until dark, when, leaving lieut. dowdell, with company c, to watch the enemy, he crossed the river and encamped for the night.
about noon the next day, dowdell sent a courier over to the major, saying that the yankees had flanked his pickets off their posts on the river hill, and he thought they were coming down the mountain in force. the major called for volunteers to cross the river with him, when about thirty of his men mounted their horses and followed him. reaching the foot of the mountain they met dowdell, with his company, who gave the particulars of the night-watch, and told how the yankee infantry crawled through the bushes around his men, very nearly capturing his party.
the major at once started up the mountain with about ten men, to see for himself the position of the enemy, and when nearly on the top of the river hill, sergeant-major l. b. stephenson and 125capt. myers, who were in the advance, each at the same moment discovered the yankees in the woods on both sides of the road, and not twenty yards distant. they immediately wheeled their horses to retreat, but before they could tell the major what they had seen, the infantry sprang out of the woods and opened a heavy fire which sent the whole party in a hurry down the road, and when about half way met the reserve coming to their assistance.
the enemy was advancing rapidly, and telling his men to cross the river quick, the major formed a rear guard to fight the yankees until the main body could get over; but very soon the heavy masses of blue jackets pouring out of the mountain in front, and on the right, forced him to cross also; and now the most exciting scene of all transpired. most of the men were over, and major white, last of all, was not more than one-third the way across, when a heavy bank of yankee infantry lined the river shore and poured their fire upon that solitary man; but calmly he rode amid the storm, the bullets raining around him and making the water appear as if it was boiling, while his horror-stricken men looked on, expecting each moment to see him fall; but on he came, apparently as cool as if there was not a yankee in five miles, and finally rode out of the river, unscathed.
dense masses of the foe were still rapidly marching 126down the mountain, and just as white got through, the batteries of gen. hill opened from the clarke hills a most horribly destructive fire upon them, as they stood, wedged closely in the small space between the river and the mountain, and from which there was no way of escape, the road being full of troops, batteries and ambulances, all hurrying towards castleman’s ferry. for some time the slaughter was terrible, and all the while not a shot was returned from the yankees; but bye-and-bye an officer appeared with a flag of truce, asking for a cessation of the firing, until they could remove their wounded, and to the surprise of all, gen. hill granted it, although he must have known that ten minutes more of such firing would have forced the enemy to surrender.
shortly after the firing ceased maj. white, with a party of his men, crossed the river again, and found the mountain road literally running with blood, while the dead lay thick along it, and the busy ambulances, as they carried their mangled freight to the rear, left a trail of blood on the ground. the fight was over, for while moving the wounded and dead, the yankees continued to take their sound and live ones back too.
shortly afterwards the following note was received from gen. stuart:
127
“head-quarters, cavalry division,
“november 9th, 1862.}
“major—i am directed by the major-general commanding, to say that he has heard with much pleasure of the successful operations of your command in the actions with the enemy at snicker’s gap, and hopes that it may be a forerunner of still further deeds of daring, skill, and success by your command; and to assure you of his high appreciation of its conduct, and the gallantry and skill of its commander.
“i have the honor to be, major, your obedient servant,
“norman r. fitzhugh,
“major and a. a. gen’l.
“to major e. v. white,
“commanding white’s battalion cavalry.”
for a few days after this affair the battalion lay quietly in camp about a mile from castleman’s ferry, with nothing to do but look at the yankees on the mountain. but one evening it was noticed that a great fire was burning in snicker’s gap and spreading along the ridge on either side, which induced the major to believe that the enemy was leaving; so hastily calling out his command, he crossed the river and advanced into the gap, without meeting any of the blue-coated boys who had been there so recently.
from here he pushed forward to snickersville and learned that the rear guard of burnside’s army had passed there three hours before, and finding a number of sutler wagons following the yankee line of march, white’s boys very quietly took possession of them, and now the battalion divided into several detachments and ranged the 128country nearly all night, arriving in camp shortly before daylight with about twenty wagons loaded with all manner of supplies, and upwards of two hundred prisoners.
the next day the raiding on the enemy’s rear was resumed, and several wagons and prisoners brought in; and about dark the major learned that a yankee train had deposited a quantity of tents and baggage in an old house at neersville. so putting his people in line again, he started for them, and about midnight took quiet possession of exactly the supplies needed by the command for winter quarters, all of which were safely brought away. the same day was marked also by a gallant exploit of four members of company a, which was highly complimented by the major.
the half wild henry simpson, in company with mort. palmer, dave lee and bob ritacor, were at philomont when the 91st pennsylvania infantry passed that place. the wagon train followed close in rear of the regiment and just behind the wagons the commander, col. w. p. wainwright, with some members of his staff, rode leisurely along, when these daring fellows made a dash at the train, cutting out and bringing safely to camp the colonel’s headquarter wagon; the colonel himself narrowly escaping capture by flight.
the last expedition in burnside’s rear was a raid on a camp of sixty infantry at mount gillead, who had been left to guard a quantity of stores 129at that place, and who surrendered after a sharp fight, and these stores composed the richest capture yet made.
the total number of prisoners made in the whole series of operations was about one thousand, and fully two hundred wagons were destroyed and brought out together, besides an immense amount of stores and arms destroyed by the yankees themselves, to keep them from falling into the hands of white’s men.
a considerable number of the men had been taken prisoners during the fall, and although most of them were promptly exchanged under the dix-hill cartel, yet some few were detained and treated by the enemy with great rigor, under a charge of being guerrillas, and the major had done all in his power, through appeals to the confederate authorities, to procure their release by retaliation, and took occasion, on sending the beautiful sword of col. wainwright as a present to gen. jackson, to call that officer’s attention to the matter, which elicited the following reply from “stonewall:”
“head-quarters, v. dist., nov. 15th, 1862.
“major—the beautiful sword with which you have so kindly presented me, and also the other much prized presents, have been received from lt. marlow of your distinguished command. please accept my thanks for them.
“i have watched with great interest your brilliant exploits. your men may well feel proud of having such a leader. press on in your successful career.
130“let your men know that their comrades who are maltreated at fort mchenry are not forgotten. i deem it a solemn duty to protect, as far as god enables me, every patriotic soldier of my command. i regret being driven to retaliation, but the enemy, from time to time, have been warned against their inhumanity. i have directed three federal prisoners, of the rank of captain, to be detained at staunton. i intend to have this outrage of which you complain thoroughly investigated, and not only see that the two men of your company, but also the one belonging to capt. ball’s, are exchanged, and also that indemnification is made for any wrongs which they may have suffered.
“with high esteem, i am, major, very truly your friend,
“t. j. jackson, lt.-general.
“to major e. v. white.”
as an evidence that “stonewall” jackson took no half way measures, and also that he kept his promises, the prisoners referred to were released in about ten days.