Diary of Judith W. McGuire: May 27, 1862

General Jackson's career going on gloriously. After defeating Millroy, and Fremont's advance in the Valley, and driving them back in confusion, so that nothing was to be feared from his threatened union with Banks, he pursued the enemy as far as Franklin, Pendleton County. Then returning, he marched on rapidly, captured Front Royal on the 23d, chasing the enemy through it at more than double-quick. Still pressing hard upon Banks, he gave him no rest night nor day, piercing his main column while retreating from Strasburg to Winchester — the “rear part retreating towards Strasburg. On Sunday, 25th, the other part was routed at Winchester. At last accounts, Brigadier-General George H. Stuart was pursuing them with cavalry and artillery, and capturing many.” I quote from the General's own telegram, dated Winchester, May 26th. And now, notwithstanding our condition in Richmond, our hearts and voices are attuned to praise, and our pagans are more loud and bright in contrast to our late distressing trials.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 117

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: May 28, 1862 – After Dark

Phil returned with the carriage; Mr. P. went on to Winchester in an ambulance. Phil heard a gentleman say to him, just as he was stepping into the ambulance, that he was just from Winchester, and Frank was not so ill as he might expect to find him. This is some alleviation of the suspense. Heard today of a son of Dr. Breckenridge's being killed at Shiloh; also, a cousin of Mr. P. being desperately wounded. Two dead soldiers passed through Lexington today. Last week eight dead bodies passed through. We are getting so used to these things, that they cease to excite any attention. Jackson has gained a great success, and the papers ring with eulogiums on “old Stonewall” as they delight to call him. We have heard today of five Lexington boys being wounded at Winchester; Frank P. the only one seriously so.

Miss Magdalen Reid tells me that in buying groceries to begin housekeeping, she paid 45 cents for brown sugar, $1 per lb. for coffee, and $4.50 for tea! The coarsest domestic cotton I ever saw — such as very few servants would be willing to wear, I can only get for 75 cents per yard. Calico, when it can be had at all, is the same price. These records will be interesting for reference hereafter.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 142

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: June 6, 1862

Letter from Rob giving a description of a cavalry charge on two of their companies, before he reached Winchester, and then of their march through Winchester. Short but graphic, and Father thinks of having it printed as being interesting. All the account of brave deeds, bayonet charges, calmly receiving the fire of the enemy and withholding their own, and all the stirring accounts of courageous men, make one so long to be with them. I should of all things enjoy a forlorn hope (I think). Well put in, I suppose, but still I really do think so, for I'm not an atom afraid of death and the enthusiasm of the moment would be sublime. An immense body of brave men is grand and I would give anything to be one of them. I cannot express what a sense of admiration and delight fills my soul when I think of the noble fellows advancing, retreating, charging and dying, just how, when and where they are ordered. God bless them! Mother says she hates to hear me talk so, but I think one loses sight of the wounds and suffering, both of the enemy and one's own force, in thinking of the sublime whole, the grand forward movement of thousands of men marching “into the jaws of death,” calmly and coolly. God bless them! I say again. I saw today the report of a Lieutenant in the First Massachusetts expelled for cowardice in the face of the enemy. Such a thing I cannot understand. I should think a man would be afraid to be a coward in front of his men, all looking to him for example. I should think he'd go and shoot himself. I remember hearing it said that . . . would never have been taken prisoner if he had behaved well. And then, think of a man, with consciousness of such conduct, daring to come home and show his face in Boston! Bah! Perhaps he did behave well after all, though.

SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 28-9

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: May 29, 1862

First letter from Rob since the battle. “Quite a fight” he calls it. A bullet struck his watch and made a dent in it, else his stomach would have received it. As it was, his thigh was bruised. The papers give an account of very severe fighting, fatiguing and harassing. The Second behaved very well and covered the retreat. Dear fellows!

SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 27-8

The Battle of Winchester

Gen. Shields says in his official report of this battle:

The killed and wounded in this engagement can not even yet be accurately ascertained. Indeed my command has been so over worked, that it has had but little time to ascertain anything. The killed as reported, are one hundred and three, among them we have to deplore the loss of the brave Col. Murry, of the eighty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers, who fell at the head of his [regiment] while gallantly leading it in the face of the enemy. The wounded are four hundred and forty-one, and the missing at twenty-four. The enemy’s loss is more difficult to ascertain than our own. Two hundred and seventy were found dead on the battle-field. Forty were buried by the inhabitants of the adjacent village, and by a calculation of the number of graves found on both sides of the valley road between here and Strasburg, their loss in killed must have been 500, and wounded 1,000. The proportion between the killed and wounded of the enemy shows the closeness and terrible destructiveness of our fire, nearly half the wounds being fatal. The enemy admit a loss of between 1,000 and 1,500 killed and wounded. Our force in infantry, cavalry, and artillery, did not exceed 7,000. That of the enemy must have exceeded 11,000. Jackson, who commanded on the field, had, in addition to his own stone wall brigade, Smith’s, Garnett’s, and Longstreet’s brigades. Generals Smith and Garnett were here in person.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, April 26, 1862, p. 2

A correspondent, giving an account of the battle of Winchester, says:

‘Among the acts of chivalry performed on the field was one by private Graham, of the 84th Pennsylvania. He carried the regimental standard. The left hand, which held it, was shot off, but before the Star Spangled Banner fell to the ground, he grasped it in the remaining hand and held it triumphantly. The right arm was next disabled, but before the colors fell he was killed by the third ball. He was a native of the Emerald Isle.'

– Published in The Appleton Crescent, Appleton, Wisconsin, Saturday, April 26, 1862

The Battle Of Winchester

Secretary Seward Visited Winchester on the 28th of last month. A splendid reception was given him and the party which accompanied him. Speaking of the bravery of officers and the gallantry of the troops, a correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette says:

The real hero of the day, however, was Col. E. B. Tyler, commanding our Third Brigade. It was he who led the storming party on our right. He told his men to “remember Cross lanes, and shoot low.” And well did they do their duty. Truly, Cross Lanes has been revenged in the battle of Winchester.

Speaking of the loss, he says:

Our total loss will amount to about 100 killed and 400 wounded. Many of the wounds, however, are slight. The rebel loss is about 1,000 killed, wounded and prisoners.

Gen. Shields is speedily recovering from his wound.

What will the slanderous Chaplain Brown who deserted the 7th regiment because he thought Col. Tyler was a coward say to his noble conduct at Winchester? We knew Col. Tyler would prove this man a liar and a slanderer.

– Published in The Athens Messenger, Athens, Ohio, Thursday, April 10, 1862