Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 27, 1864

Bright and pleasant.

We have rumors of heavy fighting yesterday near Staunton, but no authentic accounts.

A dispatch from Gen. R. Taylor says Gen. Forrest had gained a victory at Athens, Ala., capturing some 1500 prisoners, 500 horses, etc. etc.

We still hear the thunder of artillery down the river-the two armies shelling each other, I suppose, as yet at a safe distance. A few more days and the curtain will rise again—Lee and Grant the principal actors in the tragedy!

The President is making patriotic speeches in Alabama and Georgia.

Mr. Hudson, of Alabama, proposes to deliver to the government 5,000,000 pounds of bacon for the same number of pounds cotton, delivered at the same place.

Our cotton agent in Mississippi is authorized by the government here to sell cotton in exposed situations to the enemy's agents for specie, and to buy for Confederate notes.

The funeral expenses of Gen. Morgan the other day amounted to $1500; the Quartermaster-General objects to paying it, and sends the bill to the Secretary for instructions.

The following is a copy of Gen. Lee's indorsement on Lieut.Col. Moseby's report of his operations from the 1st of March to the 11th of September, 1864:

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA,               

September 19th, 1864.

Respectfully forwarded to the Adjutant and Inspector-General for the information of the department. Attention is invited to the activity and skill of Col. Moseby, and the intelligence and courage of the officers and men of his command, as displayed in this report.

 

With the loss of little more than 20 men, he has killed, wounded, and captured, during the period embraced in this report, about 1200 of the enemy, and taken more than 1600 horses and mules, 230 beef cattle, and 85 wagons and ambulances, without counting many smaller operations. The services rendered by Col. Moseby and his command in watching and reporting the enemy's movements have also been of great value. His operations have been highly creditable to himself and his command.

 

R. E. LEE, General.

Official: JOHN BLAIR HOGE,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 293-4

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 28, 1864

Bright; subsequently cloudy and warm rain.

Staunton was entered by the enemy's cavalry on Monday afternoon.

We have no news whatever to-day from any quarter. But the deep booming of cannon is still heard down the river, foreboding an awful conflict soon.

I saw three 10-inch Columbiads at the Petersburg depot to-day; they are going to move them toward Petersburg, I believe.

Gold is thirty for one to-day, and still rising, Forrest's exploit having done nothing to revive confidence in Treasury notes here.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 294

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 30, 1864

Cloudy, and occasional showers.

None of the papers except the Whig were published this morning, the printers, etc. being called out to defend the city. Every device of the military authorities has been employed to put the people here in the ranks. Guards everywhere, on horseback and on foot, in the city and at the suburbs, are arresting pedestrians, who, if they have not passes from Gen. Kemper, are hurried to some of the depots or to the City Square (iron palings), and confined until marched to the field or released. Two of the clerks of the War Department, who went down to the Spottswood Hotel to hear the news, although having the Secretary's own details, were hustled off to a prison on Cary Street to report to Lieut. Bates, who alone could release them. But when they arrived, no Lieut. Bates was there, and they found themselves incarcerated with some five hundred others of all classes and conditions. Here they remained cooped up for an hour, when they espied an officer who knew them, and who had them released.

To-day the guards arrested Judges Reagan and Davis, Postmaster-General and Attorney-General, both members of the cabinet, because neither of them were over fifty years old. Judge Reagan grew angry and stormed a little; but both were released immediately.

Gen. Lee dispatched Gen. Bragg, at 9 P.M. last night, that all the assaults of the enemy on Fort Gilmer had been repulsed, the enemy losing many in killed, and wounded, and prisoners, while our loss was small.

And we have driven the Yankees from Staunton, and have them in full retreat again as far as Harrisonburg.

To-day at 2 P.M. another battle occurred at or near Fort Harrison or Signal Hill, supposed to be an attempt on our part to retake the post.

I never heard more furious shelling, and fear our loss was frightful, provided it was our assault on the enemy's lines. We could see the white smoke, from the observatory, floating along the horizon over the woods and down the river. The melee of sounds was terrific: heavy siege guns (from our steam-rams, probably) mingled with the incessant roar of field artillery. At 3 P.M. all was comparatively quiet, and we await intelligence of the result.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 296-7

Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, April 16, 1865

NEW CREEK, WEST VIRGINIA, April 16, 1865.

DEAR UNCLE:— I am in receipt of yours of the 11th. My mountain expedition is given up. If I go at all from here, it will be directly up the valleys to occupy Staunton. In any event, I think I shall see no more active campaigning.

I have been greatly shocked by the tragedy at Washington. At first it was wholly dark. So unmerited a fate for Lincoln! Such a loss for the country! Such a change! But gradually, consolatory topics suggest themselves. How fortunate that it occurred no sooner! Now the march of events will neither be stopped nor changed. The power of the Nation is in our armies, and they are commanded by such men as Grant, Sherman, and Thomas, instead of McClellan, Hooker, or, etc., etc. Lincoln's fame is safe. He is the Darling of History evermore. His life and achievements give him titles to regard second to those of no other man in ancient or modern times. To these, this tragedy now adds the crown of martyrdom. Sincerely,

R.

S. BIRCHARD.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 575-6

Diary of Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes: Monday, March 6, 1865

Sheridan last Monday with a large cavalry force went towards Staunton, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg to destroy stores and connections with Richmond. Mud and water his chief enemies.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 565

Diary of Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes: Tuesday, March 7, 1865

Sheridan whips Early near Staunton, takes eleven cannon and over one thousand prisoners. "The boy Jube ran away from the subscribers."

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 565

Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Shipp to Major-General Francis H. Smith, July 4, 1864

HEADQUARTERS-CORPS OF CADETS,            

July 4, 1864.

GENERAL: In obedience to General Orders, No. --, headquarters Virginia Military Institute, June 27. 1864, I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the Corps of Cadets under my command in the field from May 11 to June 25, inclusive:

In obedience to orders from Major-General Breckinridge, communicated through you, at 7 a.m. on the morning of May 11 the Corps of Cadets, consisting of a battalion of four companies of infantry and a section of 3-inch rifled guns, took up the line of march for Staunton. The march to Staunton was accomplished in two days. I preceded the column on the second day some hours for the purpose of reporting to General Breckinridge, and was ordered by him to put the Cadets in camp one mile south of Staunton.

On the morning of the 13th I received orders to march at daylight on the road to Harrisonburg, taking position in the column in rear of Echols' brigade. We marched eighteen miles and encamped; moved at daylight on the 14th; marched sixteen miles and encamped.

At 12 o'clock on the night of the 14th received orders to prepare to march immediately, without beat of drum and as noiselessly as possible. We moved from camp at 1.30 o'clock, taking position in the general column in rear of Echols' brigade, being followed by the column of artillery under the command of Major McLaughlin. Having accomplished a distance of six miles and approached the position of the enemy, as indicated by occasional skirmishing with his pickets in front, a halt was called, and we remained on the side of the road two or three hours in the midst of a heavy fall of rain. The general having determined to receive the attack of the enemy, made his dispositions for battle, posting the corps in reserve. He informed me that he did not wish to put the Cadets in if he could avoid it, but that should occasion require it, he would use them very freely. He was also pleased to express his confidence in them, and I  am happy to believe that his expectations were not disappointed, for when the tug of battle came they bore themselves gallantly and well.

The enemy not making the attack as was anticipated, or not advancing as rapidly as was desired, the line was deployed into column and the advance resumed. Here I was informed by one of General Breckinridge's aids that my battalion, together with the battalion of Col. G. M. Edgar, would constitute the reserve, and was instructed to keep the section of artillery with the column, and to take position, after the deployments should have been made, 250 or 300 yards in rear of the front line of battle, and to maintain that distance. Having begun a flank movement to the left, about two miles south of New Market, the nature of the ground was such as to render it impossible that the artillery should continue with the infantry column. I ordered Lieutenant Minge to join the general artillery column in the main road and to report to Major McLaughlin. After that I did not see the section of artillery until near the close of the engagement. Major McLaughlin, under whose command they served, was pleased to speak of the section in such complimentary terms that I was satisfied they had done their duty.

Continuing the advance on the ground to the left of the main road and south of New Market, at 12.30 p.m. we came under the fire of the enemy's batteries. Having advanced a quarter of a mile under the fire we were halted and the column was deployed, the march up to this time having been by flank in column. The ground in front was open, with skirts of woods on the left. Here General Breckinridge sent for me and gave me in person my instructions. The general's plans seem to have undergone some modification. Instead of one line, with a reserve, he formed his infantry in two, artillery in rear and to the right, the cavalry deployed and, guarding the right flank, left flank resting on a stream. Wharton's brigade of infantry constituted the first line; Echols' brigade the second. The battalion of Cadets, brigaded with Echols, was the last battalion but one from the left of the second line, Edgar's battalion being on the left. The lines having been adjusted the order to advance was passed. Wharton's line advanced; Echols' followed at 250 paces in rear. As Wharton's line ascended a knoll it came in full view of the enemy's batteries, which opened a heavy fire, but not having gotten the range, did but little damage. By the time the second gotten line reached the same ground the Yankee gunners had the exact range, and their fire began to tell on our line with fearful accuracy. It was here that Captain Hill and others fell. Great gaps were made through the ranks, but the cadet, true to his discipline, would close in to the center to fill the interval and push steadily forward. The alignment of the battalion under this terrible fire, which strewed the ground with killed and wounded for more than a mile on open ground, would have been creditable even on a field day.

The advance was thus continued until having passed Bushong's house, a mile or more beyond New Market, and still to the left of the main road, the enemy's batteries, at 250 or 300 yards, opened upon us with canister and case-shot, and their long lines of infantry were put into action at the same time. The fire was withering. It seemed impossible that any living creature could escape; and here we sustained our heaviest loss, a great many being wounded and numbers knocked down, stunned, and temporarily disabled. I was here disabled for a time, and the command devolved upon Captain H. A. Wise, Company A. He gallantly pressed onward. We had before this gotten into the front line. Our line took a position behind a line of fence. A brisk fusillade ensued; a shout, a rush, and the day was won. The enemy fled in confusion, leaving killed, wounded, artillery, and prisoners in our hands. Our men pursued in hot haste until it became necessary to halt, draw ammunition, and re-establish the lines for the purpose of driving them from their last position on Rude's Hill, which they held with cavalry and artillery to cover the passage of the river, about a mile in their rear. Our troops charged and took the position without loss. The enemy withdrew, crossed the river, and burnt the bridge.

The engagement closed at 6.30 p.m. The Cadets did their duty, as the long list of casualties will attest. Numerous instances of gallantry might be mentioned, but I have thought it better to refrain from specifying individual cases for fear of making invidious distinctions, or from want of information, withholding praise where it may have been justly merited. It had rained almost incessantly during the battle, and at its termination the Cadets were well-nigh exhausted. Wet, hungry, and many of them shoeless--for they had lost their shoes and socks in the deep mud through which it was necessary to march--they bore their hardships with that uncomplaining resignation which characterizes the true soldier.

The 16th and 17th were devoted to caring for the wounded and the burial of the dead. On the 17th I received an order from General Breckinridge to report to General Imboden, with the request upon the part of General Breckinridge that the corps be relieved from further duty at that time and be ordered back to the Institute. The circumstances of General Imboden's situation were such as to render our detention for a time necessary. We were finally ordered by him to proceed to Staunton without delay, for the purpose of proceeding by rail to Richmond, in obedience to a call of the Secretary of War. Returning, the corps marched into Staunton on the 21st; took the cars on the 22d; reached Richmond on the 23d; were stationed at Camp Lee until the 28th; were then ordered to report to Major-General Ransom: ordered by him to encamp on intermediate line. On the 28th left Camp Lee; took up camp on Carter's farm, on intermediate line, midway between Brook and Meadow Bridge roads; continued in this camp until June 6. On the 6th received orders to return to Lexington; reached Lexington on the 9th; Yankees approached on 10th; drove us out on the 11th; we fell back, taking Lynchburg road: marched to mouth of the North River and went into camp. Next day (Sunday, the 11th) remained in camp until 12 m.; scouts reported enemy advancing; fell back two miles and took a position at a strong pass in the mountains to await the enemy. No enemy came. We were then ordered to Lynchburg; went there; ordered to report to General Vaughn; ordered back to Lexington; reached Lexington on the 25th. Corps furloughed on June 27.*

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 S. SHIPP,                  

Lieutenant-Colonel and Commandant.

Maj. Gen. F. H. SMITH,

Superintendent.

_________________

* Nominal list of casualties (omitted) shows 8 killed and 44 wounded.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 37, Part 1 (Serial No. 70), p. 89-91

Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Sunday, June 5, 1864

From three miles west of Millboro to one mile beyond Goshen; about thirteen to fourteen miles. Rained last night. Our march today impeded by a small body of Rebel cavalry. Rumors of Jackson, McCausland, and General Morgan, all hurrying to Staunton to oppose Hunter or our command. Perhaps both in detail. Bad strategy to propose to unite two forces in the enemy's lines. Struck the Virginia Central one hundred and seventy-five [miles] from Richmond near Goshen. Our route through narrow valleys or canons where a small force can easily hold a large one.

Now (3 P. M.) we are waiting as rear brigade, on a pretty stream, for the leading brigade, Colonel White's, to drive a party of Rebels through a narrow gap on railroad from Millboro to Goshen. They turn the position and we go on. We lose two or three slightly wounded and capture four or five Rebels and wound three others badly. Goshen a pretty place in the mountains. We cross no high mountain today.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 470

Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Tuesday, June 7, 1864

From two miles west of Craig [Craigsville] to within six or eight of Staunton. A fine day. At Pond Gap crossed Central Railroad and over a mountain—a detour which let us into [the] Valley of Virginia, avoiding the Rebel position in Buffalo Gap. A lovely valley, we dine now (12 M.)  on a beautiful farm in this lovely valley — all happy to get here so easily. Reports say Hunter is in Staunton; got there last night. The general (Crook) found a four-leafed clover yesterday. I saw the new moon over my right shoulder. Funny howa man of sense can think for an instant even of such follies.

We crossed the mountain to Summerdean, a little pretty hamlet. Skirmished into Middlebrook, a beautiful country. Supplies are abundant. Hunter flogged the Rebels badly and took Staunton yesterday. Eighteen miles today.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 470-1

Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Wednesday, June 8, 1864

Marched ten miles in a northeast direction to Staunton, a fine town of five thousand inhabitants or so. General Hunter here. He had a good victory.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 471

Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard: Sunday, May 29, 1864

MEADOW BLUFF, May 29, 1864.

Dear UNCLE:— Contrary to my expectation when I wrote you a few days ago, we are still here. We are detained, I suppose, by different causes, but I suspect we shall move soon towards Staunton. We may drift into the army of Grant before a month. My proper brigade is now here and all of it camped in sight of where I now sit, viz., Twenty-third and Thirty-sixth Ohio, Fifth and Thirteenth Virginia. I have seen them all in line today. They form a fine body of troops. We are soon to lose the enlisted men of the Twenty-third who did not become veterans. I think a good many officers will leave at the same time. It is probable that the veterans of the Twelfth will go into the Twenty-third. If so it will make the regiment better and stronger than ever before.

We are not informed how Grant succeeds in getting into Richmond. You know I have always thought he must get the Western Army there before he can whip Lee. It looks a little now as if he might do it without Western help. We shall see,

Sincerely,

R. B. Hayes.

I hear from Lucy that she is settled in a good boarding-house at Chillicothe.

S. Birchard.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 467-8

Major-General Philip H. Sheridan to Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Gant, August 19, 1864 – 10:30 p.m.

CHARLESTOWN, August 19, 1864—10.30 p.m.

Lieutenant-General GRANT:

All the information received to-day shows a large concentration of the enemy at Winchester. I receive constant reports of the passage of troops across to this Valley from Culpeper. I have taken the defensive until their strength is more fully developed. They have made no attempt to pass down the Valley to Martinsburg, which I hold with a small force of cavalry. If they cross the Potomac they expose their rear and I will pitch into them. I destroyed everything that was eatable south of Winchester, and they will have to haul supplies from well up toward Staunton. Our loss at Winchester will be about 200. Guerrillas give me great annoyance, but I am quietly disposing of numbers of them. The enemy appears to be uncertain as to what course to pursue. The intention so far as I can learn was to send a column direct from Culpeper to the Potomac and Early to advance at the same time from Martinsburg. This was frustrated by Early being compelled to fall back and your operations on the north side of the James. I still think that two divisions of infantry have come here and Fitz Lee's cavalry. My force will have to be weakened to supply the place of the 100-days' men serving at Harper's Ferry and in West Virginia. Grover has joined me. I now can calculate on bringing into action about 22,000 or 23,000 infantry and about 8,000 cavalry.

Respectfully,

P. H. SHERIDAN,                

Major-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 43, Part 1 (Serial No. 90), p. 841

Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Thursday, May 26, 1864

. . . Trains arriving; looks like moving on Staunton soon. News from Grant rather favorable.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 466

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Luman Harris Tenney: Monday, September 26, 1864

Marched to Staunton, 3rd Div., Regular brigade 1st and 2nd Div. went to Port Republic.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 131

Major Wilder Dwight, April 26, 1862

camp Near Harrisonburg, April 26, 1862, Saturday.

Rain! rain! rain! March! march! march! What a life! We marched fifteen miles yesterday, in mud and rain, to this point, and got into camp at night in reasonable comfort, but almost without rations, and now we are busy with the miserable interrogatory of what to eat?

Such is our experience. Colonel Andrews is again on detached duty, and, for the past few days, I have been in command. It is impossible to exaggerate the difficulty of taking care of a regiment when the whole Quartermaster and Commissary Departments of the army corps are in such hopeless confusion and debility.

No other army corps has the obstacles to contend against of this kind that we have. At Yorktown they have the sea, and the Western rivers bear supplies as well as gunboats. Here our wagons cannot bring supplies enough to last until they return from a second trip. We shall be driven to forage from the country; and I do not see any system adopted wise enough and prompt enough for that effort. But there is no use in croaking; we shall get out of the woods somehow, I suppose.

Among other short supplies, we are wholly without newspapers since a week ago. What is the news? I hope McClellan is silencing his opponents by silencing the enemy's batteries. That's his best answer.

Well, the first year of my military service expires this week. It has been a busy one. I am willing to enter on another, but I wish I could see the beginning of the end more clearly than I can. We didn't think the Southern Confederacy had a year's life in it a year ago. They have illustrated the power of able and unscrupulous leaders, and we have furnished some hints, at least, of the weakness of feeble and scrupulous leaders. I am in such a trite and moralizing frame of mind that I will spare you any further prosing.

We may go on to Staunton, and we may cross the gap to Gordonsville. We can't stay here much longer, and I hope my next letter may give you some guess at our future.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 240-1

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: June 12, 1864

I am grieved to say that we have had a reverse in the “Valley,” and that General Jones, of the cavalry, has been killed, and his command repulsed. They have fallen back to Waynesborough, leaving Staunton in the hands of the enemy. General Johnston is doing well in Georgia. Oh, that he may use up Sherman entirely! We are getting on well at home; everybody looks as calm as if there were no belligerent armies near.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 280

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: July 6, 1864

COLUMBIA, S. C. — At the Prestons’ Mary was laughing at Mrs. Lyons's complaint — the person from whom we rented rooms in Richmond. She spoke of Molly and Lawrence's deceitfulness. They went about the house quiet as mice while we were at home; or Lawrence sat at the door and sprang to his feet whenever we passed. But when we were out, they sang, laughed, shouted, and danced. If any of the Lyons family passed him, Lawrence kept his seat, with his hat on, too. Mrs. Chesnut had said: “Oh!” so meekly to the whole tirade, and added, “I will see about it.”

Colonel Urquhart and Edmund Rhett dined here; charming men both — no brag, no detraction. Talk is never pleasant where there is either. Our noble Georgian dined here. He says Hampton was the hero of the Yankee rout at Stony Creek.¹ He claims that citizens, militia, and lame soldiers kept the bridge at Staunton and gallantly repulsed Wilson's raiders.

At Mrs. S.'s last night. She came up, saying, “In New Orleans four people never met together without dancing.” Edmund Rhett turned to me: “You shall be pressed into service.” “No, I belong to the reserve corps — too old to volunteer or to be drafted as a conscript.” But I had to go.

My partner in the dance showed his English descent; he took his pleasure sadly. “Oh, Mr. Rhett, at his pleasure, can be a most agreeable companion!” said someone. “I never happened to meet him,” said I, “when he pleased to be otherwise.” With a hot, draggled, old alpaca dress, and those clod-hopping shoes, to tumble slowly and gracefully through the mazes of a July dance was too much for me. “What depresses you so?” he anxiously inquired. “Our carnival of death.” What a blunder to bring us all together here! — a reunion of consumptives to dance and sing until one can almost hear the death-rattle!

_______________

¹ The battle of Stony Creek in Virginia was fought on June 28-29, 1864.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 313-4

1st Lieutenant Charles Fessenden Morse, April 28, 1862

April 28, 1862.

Yesterday, having just completed the usual Sunday inspection, we received an order in hot haste to get ready at once with one day's rations to make a reconnoissance. Our regiment, the Twenty-seventh Indiana, and eight hundred of the Vermont cavalry, formed the party. We went out on the Gordonsville road about nine or ten miles and drove in the rebel pickets, forcing them to display near two thousand cavalry and four regiments of infantry; this showed pretty plainly their position, and our object was accomplished. Jackson has apparently been reinforced by about five thousand troops, and is now in an entrenched position just the other side of the south fork of the Shenandoah, with a bridge between us and them, which has been stuffed full of combustibles ready to burn on our approach. We took two of Ashby's cavalry prisoners, and one of our cavalry was killed.

After a hard twenty-mile walk, we got back to camp about eight P. M. Our division (General Williams's) marched to this place last Thursday, eighteen miles from Newmarket. We are now distant from Staunton twenty-five miles, and from Gordonville sixty-five. The enemy have saved us the trouble of going to the former place by turning off on the Gordonville road. I suppose by this time some of General Fremont's force must be in Staunton.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 55

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw Lowell, September 27, 1864 – 7 a.m.

Staunton, 7 A. M., Sept. 27, 1864.

I didn't tell you what a magnificent spring-wagon I have now, — four stylish white horses and driver to manoeuvre them, — it beats Tyler's red turnout, I think: it's for you to ride out in next winter. In this army (and in the Army of the Potomac) some such affair is a recognized part of a brigade commander's equipment, — general orders always mention a spring-wagon for each headquarters, &c, — so you see we are likely to be very magnificent this winter, — as commanding the Regular Brigade I am expected to indulge in even more luxe than my neighbours, — we shall quite disappoint the world,— shan't we,— with our republican simplicity! I haven't told you either that, the day before yesterday at Luray, I organized a small black boy, bright enough and well brought up; his name is James, but as we have already two of that name about here, I call him Luray, which is quite aristocratic. You can teach him to read and to write this winter, if you have time. The Doctor thinks you would find more satisfaction in him than in your pupils of Vienna.

I wish you could see the splendid country we are in, — we are about one mile beyond Staunton, facing towards the Blue Ridge — we have found out pretty well where the Rebs are, and I have a notion that we shall be getting back pretty soon toward the infantry.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 350-1

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw Lowell, September 30, 1864

Near Mt. Crawford, Sept. 30, 1864.

We did leave Waynesboro' the other afternoon, and in a hurry, — what was left of Early's army came in upon our left flank and came near doing us a mischief, but we got away in the dark and marching all night reached here yesterday evening, — and are safe under the wing of the infantry. Colonel Crowninshield lost "Jim" (his old sorrel, you know, which you used to recognize so often), and in the march lost “Tinker” and the pack-mule which carried his mess things. Mr. Kinny got a slight wound from a spent ball and Lieutenant Woodman had his leg broken, and the ball is still in, making an ugly wound. I had a horse hit, but only slightly, — a Sergeant of the Second Cavalry claims to have saved my life by running in and getting very badly sabred himself.¹

Here we are all safe and comfortable again, however, after a long night's sleep, — to bed at 9, and not up till 6.30.

_______________

¹ On September 26, Wilson's division and Lowell's brigade of the First Division had moved towards Staunton, and made large captures there of arms, equipments, and stores; next day they went to Waynesboro', and, on the 28th, destroyed the railroad bridge over the South Fork of the Shenandoah. In the afternoon they were attacked, and, to avoid being cut off, retired on the main army. September 29, Colonel Lowell was ordered, with his command, to rejoin his division at Cross Keys.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 351-2, 465