We got the horse shod with some delay, and after refreshing
the animals with corn and ourselves with bacon, we effected a'start at 8.15
A.M. We experienced considerable difficulty in carrying my small saddle-bags
and knapsack, on account of the state of our horses' backs. Mine was not very
bad, but that of Norris was in a horrid state. We had not travelled more than a
few miles when the latter animal cast a shoe, which took us an hour to replace
at a village called Sperryville. The country is really magnificent, but as it
has supported two large armies for two years, it is now completely cleaned out.
It is almost uncultivated, and no animals are grazing where there used to be
hundreds. All fences have been destroyed, and numberless farms burnt, the
chimneys alone left standing. It is difficult to depict and impossible to
exaggerate the sufferings which this part of Virginia has undergone. But the
ravages of war have not been able to destroy the beauties of nature — the
verdure is charming, the trees magnificent, the country undulating, and the
Blue Ridge mountains form the background.
Being Sunday, we met about thirty negroes going to church,
wonderfully smartly dressed, some (both male and female) riding on horseback,
and others in waggons; but Mr Norris informs me that two years ago we should
have numbered them by hundreds. We soon began to catch up the sick and
brokendown men of the army, but not in great numbers; most of them were well
shod, though I saw two without shoes.
After crossing a gap in the Blue Bidge range, we reached
Front Royal at 5 P.M., and we were now in the well-known Shenandoah Valley — the
scene of Jackson's celebrated campaigns. Front Royal is a pretty little place,
and was the theatre of one of the earliest fights in the war, which was
commenced by a Maryland regiment of Confederates, who, as Mr Norris observed, “jumped
on to” a Federal regiment from the same State, and “whipped it badly.” Since
that time the village has changed hands continually, and was visited by the
Federals only a few days previous to Ewell's rapid advance ten days ago.
After immense trouble we procured a feed of corn for the
horses, and, to Mr Norris's astonishment, I was impudent enough to get food for
ourselves by appealing to the kind feelings of two good-looking female citizens
of Front Royal, who, during our supper, entertained us by stories of the manner
they annoyed the Northern soldiers by disagreeable allusions to “Stonewall”
Jackson.
We started again at 6.30, and crossed two branches of the
Shenandoah River, a broad and rapid stream. Both the railway and carriage
bridges having been destroyed, we had to ford it; and as the water was deep, we
were only just able to accomplish the passage. The soldiers, of whom there were
a number with us, took off their trousers, and held their rifles and ammunition
above their heads. Soon afterwards our horses became very leg-weary; for
although the weather had been cool, the roads were muddy and hard upon them. At
8.30 we came up with Pender's Division encamped on the sides of hills,
illuminated with innumerable camp-fires, which looked very picturesque. After
passing through about two miles of bivouacs, we begged for shelter in the
hayloft of a Mr Mason: we turned our horses into a field, and found our hayloft
most luxurious after forty-six miles’ ride at a foot's pace.
Stonewall Jackson is considered a regular demigod in this
country.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 226-9
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