Slavery and Four Years of War Part 31

It is due to the truth of history to say that none of the movements of Lee's army were known or antic.i.p.ated by Reynolds and his officers, and whatever was done to prevent its success was without previous plan or methods. As late as the evening of the 11th, Reynolds was still with his headquarters at Cheat Mountain Pa.s.s, six miles distant by the nearest route from either camp. On this day Captain Bense was surprised and his entire company taken where posted some three miles from Camp Elk Water, but this capture was not known until the next day. The proximity of Donnelson's command to this camp was also unknown until after it had withdrawn, and Rust's and Anderson's presence on the Staunton pike in rear of Cheat Summit camp was likewise unknown both to Reynolds and Kimball until about the time they commenced to retreat. True, on the 12th, the presence of some force in the mountain between the Union camps became known.

Lieutenant Merrill and his party departed from the valley to the mountain summit on the morning of the 12th entirely ignorant of any movement of the enemy. But both Reynolds and Kimball acted, under the circ.u.mstances, with energy and intelligence. General Reynolds moved his headquarters to Camp Elk Water, the better to direct affairs. On the morning of the 12th of September Kimball started a line of wagons from his camp to the pa.s.s, for the usual supplies, and it was attacked by Rust's command before it had proceeded a mile. This attack was reported to Kimball, who supposed it was made by a small scouting party, but on going to the scene of it with portions of the 25th Ohio, under Colonel Jones, 24th Ohio, under Lieutenant-Colonel Gilbert, and Captains Brooks and Williamson's companies of the 14th Indiana, a body of the enemy supposed to number 2500 was encountered. Kimball, supposing serious work was at hand, ordered the position held until further dispositions could be made to meet the danger. A sharp skirmish ensued, which ended in Rust's troops precipitately retreating from their position on the road under cover of the timber, and becoming so demoralized that they threw away "guns, clothing, and everything that impeded their progress."(10)

Rust's command continued its retreat through the mountains, and at 10 P.M. of the 13th Rust dispatched General Loring that "_The expedition against Cheat Mountain failed_." He indulged in some criticism on his men, denouncing some ("not Arkansians") as cowards.

At the same time General Jackson reported to Loring that he was in possession of the first summit of Cheat Mountain in front of Kimball's position, but only holding it until he should receive orders, meanwhile hoping something would be done in Tygart's valley.

He, however, did nothing more, and soon withdrew to his former camp.(11)

Captain c.o.o.ns of the 14th Indiana was sent on the evening of the 18th from Cheat Mountain summit with 60 men of the 14th Indiana, 24th and 25th Ohio, on a path leading to Elk Water camp, with instruction to take position at the Rosecrans house on Becky's Run.

Kimball, on the 12th, sent 90 men under Captain David J. Higgins, of the 24th Ohio, to relieve Captain c.o.o.ns. In going thither, when about two miles from where Colonel Rust was attacked, Higgins ran unexpectedly into Colonel Anderson's column from Valley Mountain, and engaged it with great spirit. The enemy was thrown into some confusion by this unexpected encounter, but the loss on either side was slight, and when Major Wm. Harrow of Indiana arrived from Kimball's camp with two more companies, and ascertained that Anderson had a brigade in the vicinity, he ordered the Union troops withdrawn to within about one mile of camp.

Captain c.o.o.ns, owing to a heavy rain, darkness, and the difficulty in following the mountain path, did not reach the Rosecrans house until after daybreak of the 12th. He pa.s.sed to the rear of Anderson's brigade as it marched to the pike in rear of Cheat Mountain camp.

When Captain c.o.o.ns reached the Rosecrans house he found evidence of troops having been there recently, and soon discovered smoke and heard the snapping of caps on a mountain spur towards Elk Water camp. He concluded, however, that he was near a Union picket post from that camp, and sent forward five men to ascertain who his neighbors were. As these men ascended the mountain they were fired on and three were shot down, two killed, and the others captured.

They were not challenged. This was Donnelson's command, General Lee and his aide, Colonel Taylor, then being with it. Colonel Savage of Tennessee commanded the troops first encountered. The Confederates advanced, firing wildly. Captain c.o.o.ns' men returned the fire promptly, killed and wounded some, and when they had checked the enemy retired to higher ground to the eastward and took position behind fallen timber. As the enemy approached across the narrow valley, c.o.o.ns made a most gallant resistance and drove back the large force attacking him, but feeling his complete isolation, he finally retired by a trail towards the pike. He had not gone far, however, until he ran into a bunch of the enemy consisting of surgeons, quartermasters, and negroes, who, on being fired into, fled to a main force nearer the pike. This was Anderson's column, and about the time when Major Harrow and Captain Higgins' men were firing on it from the other side.

Thus the several bodies of the enemy, without special design, seemed to be seriously attacked from many directions and became dismayed.

Captain c.o.o.ns withdrew safely, and later found his way to camp.

Rust had failed, and the two other columns having become entangled in the mountains, and not knowing how soon they would again be a.s.sailed, beat a disorderly retreat, and, like Rust's men, threw away overcoats, knapsacks, haversacks, and guns. Lee says he ordered a retreat because the men were short of provisions, as well as on account of Rust's failure. Had Captain c.o.o.ns reached his destination a few hours earlier he would probably have captured Lee and his escort of ten men, who, in the previous night, having lost their way, had to remain unprotected near the Rosecrans house until daybreak. But few prisoners were taken on either side. The columns of Anderson and Donnelson, broken, disheartened, and disorganized, reached Loring in the Valley. There was then and since much contention among Confederate officers as to the causes of this humiliating failure.

On the morning of the 13th, at 3 A.M., Reynolds dispatched Sullivan from the Pa.s.s by the main road, and Colonels Marrow and Moss with parts of the 3d Ohio and 2d Virginia (Union) from Elk Water camp, by the path leading past the Rosecrans house, to cut their way to Cheat Mountain summit, but these columns encountered no enemy, and only found the debris of the three retreating bodies. The real glory of the fighting in the mountains belonged to the intrepid Captain c.o.o.ns, who afterwards became Colonel of his regiment and fell in the battle of the Wilderness.

Both Lee and Loring, deeply chagrined, were reluctant to give up a campaign so hopefully commenced and so comprehensively planned, but thus far so ingloriously executed.

They decided to look for a position on Reynolds' right from which an attack could be made on Elk Water camp in conjunction with a front attack, and accordingly Colonel John A. Washington, escorted by Major W. H. F. Lee (son of General Lee) with his cavalry command, was dispatched to ascertain the character of the country in that direction.

Early on the 12th of September I was sent with a detachment of four companies of the 3d Ohio, as grand-guard at an outpost and for picket duty as well as scouting, to the point of a spur of Rich Mountain near the mouth and to the north of Elk Water, west of the Huntersville pike, and about one mile and a half in advance of the camp. This position covered the Elk Water road from Brady's Gate, the pike, the there narrow valley of the Tygart's, and afforded a good point of observation up the valley towards the enemy. A portion of the time I had under me a section of artillery and other detachments. Here Reynolds determined to first stubbornly resist the approach of the enemy, and consequently I was ordered to construct temporary works. Another detachment was located east of the river with like instructions. On the 12th the enemy pushed back our skirmishers and pickets in the valley and displayed considerable disposition to fight, but as we exchanged some shots and showed our willingness to give battle, no real attack was made.

We noticed that each Confederate officer and soldier had a white _patch_ on his cap or hat. This, as we knew later, was in accordance with Loring's order, to avoid danger of being fired upon by friends.

From the badge, however, we argued that raiding parties were abroad.

In the night of the 12th Loring, during a rain and under cover of darkness, sent a small body to the rear of my position, and thus having gained a position on the spur of the mountain behind and above us, attempted by surprise to drive us out or capture us; but the attack was feebly made and a spirited return fire and a charge scattered the whole force.

Colonel Washington, on the 13th, in endeavoring to get on our right came into Elk Water Valley _via_ Brady's Gate, and descended it with Major Lee's cavalry as escort. A report came to me of cavalry approaching, but knowing the road ran through a narrow gorge and much of the way in the bed of the stream, little danger was apprehended, especially as the road led directly to my position.

A few troops of an Indiana regiment then on picket duty were, however, sent up the Elk Water road a short distance, and a company of the 3d Ohio was dispatched by me along the mountain range skirting the ravine and road, with instruction to gain the rear of the approaching cavalry if possible.

Washington was too eager to give time for such disposition to be carried out; he soon galloped around a curve and came close upon the pickets, Major Lee accompanying him. Sergeant Weiler and three or four others fired upon them as they turned their horses to fly.

Three b.a.l.l.s pa.s.sed through Washington's body near together, coming out from his breast. He fell mortally wounded. Major Lee was unhurt, though his horse was shot. Lee escaped on foot for a short distance and then by mounting Washington's horse.(12)

When reached, Colonel Washington was struggling to rise on his elbow, and, though gasping and dying, he muttered, "_Water_," but when it was brought to his lips from the nearby stream he was dead.

His body was carried to my outpost headquarters, thence later by ambulance to Reynolds' headquarters at camp. Washington's name or initials were on his gauntlet cuffs and upon a napkin in his haversack; these served to identify him. He was richly dressed for a soldier, and for weapons had heavy pistols and a large knife in his belt. He also had a powder-flask, field-gla.s.s, gold-plated spurs, and some small gold coin on his person. His sword, tied to the pommel of his saddle, was carried off by his horse.

On the next day Colonel W. E. Starke, of Louisiana,(13) appeared in front of my position bearing a flag of truce, and a letter addressed to the commanding officer of the United States troops, reading:

"Lt. Col. John A. Washington, my aide-de-camp, while riding yesterday with a small escort, was fired upon by your pickets, and I fear killed. Should such be the case, I request that you shall deliver to me his dead body, or should he be a prisoner in your hands, that I be informed of his condition.

"I have the honor to be your obedient servant, "R. E. Lee, "General Commanding."

Colonel Milo S. Hascall of the 17th Indiana conveyed Washington's body, on the 14th, by ambulance, to Lee's line, and there delivered it to Major Lee.

One of Colonel Washington's pistols was sent by Reynolds to Secretary of War Cameron; the Secretary directed the other one to be presented to Sergeant John J. Weiler, the knife to Corporal Birney, and the gauntlets to private Johnson, all soldiers of the 17th Indiana.

General Reynolds obtained the field-gla.s.s, but subsequently gave it to Colonel Washington's son George. Hascall took possession of the spurs and powder-flask, and Captain George L. Rose, of Reynolds'

staff, retained one or more letters (now in possession of his son, Rev. John T. Rose), through which one or more of the fatal bullets pa.s.sed.

Colonel Washington was buried on his plantation, "Waveland," near Marshall, Fauquier county, Virginia.

Thus early, on his first military campaign, fell John Augustine Washington, born in Jefferson County, Virginia, May 3, 1821, the great-grandson of General Washington's brother, John Augustine Washington, and on his mothers' side a great-grandson of Richard Henry Lee, Virginia's great Revolutionary patriot statesman. He inherited Mount Vernon, but sold it before the war to an a.s.sociation of patriotic ladies, who still own it.

The tragic death of Colonel Washington was a fitting close of the complex plan of campaign, which, though entered upon under most favorable circ.u.mstances, failed fatally in execution in each and all important parts, though Generals Lee and Loring, Colonel Savage, and others of the Confederate officers present with the troops, had seen much real service in the Mexican War, and many of them were educated West Point officers.

Neither Lee or Loring ever made an official report of the campaign, and both for a time were under the shadow of disgrace because of its ineffectiveness.

General Lee was not quite candid with his own army when, on the 14th of September, he announced to it:

"The _forced_ reconnoissance of the enemy's positions, both at Cheat Mountain Pa.s.s and on Valley River, having been completed, and the character of the natural approaches and the nature of the artificial defences exposed, the Army of the Northwest will resume its former position."

In a private letter, however, dated Valley Mountain, September 17, 1861, addressed to Governor John Letcher, Lee speaks of the failure of the campaign with great candor.

"I was very sanguine of taking the enemy's works on last Thursday morning. I had considered the subject well. With great effort, the troops intended for the surprise had reached their destination, having travelled twenty miles of steep rugged mountain paths; and the last day through a terrible storm which lasted all night, and in which they had to stand drenched to the skin in cold rain.

Still their spirits were good. When the morning broke I could see the enemy's tents on Valley River at the point on the Huttonville road just below me. It was a tempting sight. We waited for the attack on Cheat Mountain, which was to be the signal, till 10 A.M.

The men were cleaning their unserviceable arms. But the signal did not come. All chance for a surprise was gone. The provisions of the men had been destroyed the preceding day by the storm. They had had nothing to eat that morning, could not hold out another day, and were obliged to be withdrawn. The attack to come off from the east side failed from the difficulties in the way; the opportunity was lost and our plan discovered. It was a grievous disappointment to me, I a.s.sure you; but for the rain storm I have no doubt it would have succeeded. This, Governor, is for your own eye. Please do not speak of it; we must try again.

"Our greatest loss in the death of our dear friend, Colonel Washington. He and my son were reconnoitering the front of the enemy. They came unawares upon a concealed party, who fired upon them within twenty yards, and the Colonel fell pierced by three shots. My son's horse received three shots, but he escaped on the Colonel's horse.

"His zeal for the cause to which he had devoted himself carried him, I fear, too far."

Lee, finding trouble in the Kanawha country, repaired thither, and on September 21st a.s.sumed immediate direction of the forces there.

A violent quarrel had just then arisen between the fiery Henry A.

Wise and Floyd.

Lee, however, soon returned to Richmond, and though still in favor with his Governor and President Davis, his failure in Western Virginia brought him under a cloud from which he did not emerge until after he succeeded General Joseph E. Johnston on the latter being wounded while in command of the Confederate Army at Seven Pines near Richmond, May, 1862.(14)

The princ.i.p.al part of Reynolds' command a.s.sembled at Cheat Mountain, and, advancing, attacked Jackson in position at Greenbrier, October 3d, but was repulsed. Thereafter active operations ceased in the Cheat and Rich Mountain and Tygart's Valley region.

An unimportant and indecisive affair, hardly above a skirmish, occurred at Scarey Creek, July 17th, between a part of General J.

D. c.o.x's command and forces under Henry A. Wise; the capture of Colonels Norton, Woodruff, and De Villiers, with two or three other officers, being the princ.i.p.al Union loss. No decisive advantage was gained on either side. Carnifax Ferry, on the Gauley River, was a more important affair. It was fought, October 10, 1861, between troops led by Rosecrans and those under Floyd. Floyd was found strongly posted, but was compelled to precipitately retreat across the river and abandon his stores.

The campaign season ended with the Union forces practically in possession of the forty-eight counties, soon to become the State of West Virginia.(15)

A convention held at Wheeling, June 11, 1861, declared the State offices of Virginia vacant by reason of the treason of those who had been chosen to fill them, and it then proceeded to form a regular state government for Virginia, with Francis H. Pierpont for its Governor, maintaining that the people loyal to the Union should speak for the whole State. The Pierpont government was recognized by Congress. This organization, on August 20, 1861, adopted an ordinance "for the formation of a new State out of a portion of the territory of this State." This ordinance was approved by a vote of the people, and, November 26, 1861, a convention a.s.sembled in Wheeling and framed a const.i.tution for the proposed new State. This also was ratified, April, 1862, by the people, 18,862 voting for and 514 against it. The recognized Legislature of Virginia, in order to comply with the Const.i.tution of the United States, May 13, 1862, consented to the creation of a new State out of territory hitherto included in the State of Virginia. The people of the forty-eight counties having thus made the necessary preparation, Congress, December 31, 1862, pa.s.sed an act for the admission of West Virginia into the Union, annexing, however, a condition that her people should first ratify a subst.i.tute for the Seventh Section, Article Eleven of her Const.i.tution, providing that children of slaves born in her limits after July 4, 1863, should be free; that slaves who at that time were under ten years of age should be free at the age of twenty-one; and all slaves over ten and under twenty- one years of age should be free at the age of twenty-five; and no slave should be permitted to come into the State for permanent residence.

March 26, 1863, the slavery emanc.i.p.ation clause was almost unanimously ratified by a vote of the people, and, April 20, 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that West Virginia had complied with all required conditions and was therefore a State in the Union.

The anomalous creation and admission of this new State was justified only by the rebellious times and in aid of the loyal cause. It is the only State carved out of another or other States. It remains a singular fact that the day preceding the final Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation of Lincoln, he approved a law of Congress admitting West Virginia as a slave State (with gradual emanc.i.p.ation) into the Union. The proclamation excepted the counties, commonly then called West Virginia, from its application.

The fruit of the successful occupancy of Western Virginia in 1861 by the Union Army and the consequent failures there in the same year of the Confederate leaders, Lee, Floyd, Wise, and others, was the formation of a new State, thenceforth loyal to the flag and the Const.i.tution.

We now dismiss West Virginia, where we first learned something of war, but in time shall return to it again. I have in this chapter dealt more largely in detail than I intend to do in those to follow, as the reader, if even inexperienced in war, will have by this time learned sufficient to enable him to comprehend much belonging to a great military campaign which is often difficult and sometimes impossible to narrate.

( 1) No order a.s.signing Lee to Western Virginia seems to have been issued, but see Davis to J. E. Johnston of August 1, 1861, _War Records_, vol. v., p. 767.