Volume 15 , Issue 3

History of Rockbridge County, Virginia - War of 1861

In chapter XIV of Oren F. Morton's book on History of Rockbridge County, Virginia we learn about the war years in Rockbridge county. When the news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Washington, president Lincoln called upon Virginia for 2340 men as her quota for enforcing Federal jurisdiction in the seceded territory. The dat of the proclamation was April 17, 1861.

Governor Letcher gave a prompt refusal as his reply. The reply of the state was the passage by the state convention of an ordinance of secession. The news of these events reached Lexington the morning of Saturday, April 10, 1861, and the county found itself ushered into war. 1340 engagements would be fought in the Virginians, more than 600,000 American soldiers would lose their lives, and that 400,000 others would be more or less crippled for life.

Of the four presidential candidates of the preceding year, Lincoln was looked upon as an enemy; Buchanan as a dishonest coward/ Breckenridge as a man who truckled to Kentucky Unionism. Bell was a passive spectator, yet gave his assent to the confederate movement, and his followers in the gulf states were active in its behalf.

The situation between the free and the slave states had been tense an entire decade. Colonel Smith and several others of the faculty of the Virginia Military Institute, and nearly 100 of their cadets had formed part of the armed force of 1500 men that was assembled at Charlestown in the fall of 1859 to prevent any attempt to rescue John Brown. It was colonel Smith himself who superintended the execution of Brown. A year earlier than this, he had been given orders under secrecy to double the guard of the arsenal, since there was a supposed plot to arm the negroes at the pews Iron Works near Lexington and set in motion a servile war.

On Sunday, April 21st, the governor ordered Major Jackson to take a number of cadets to Richmond to act as drill sergeants at Camp lee, and on Monday the order was complied with. On Saturday an order had come for the volunteer companies of Rockbridge to turn out. At one o'clock p.m., on a date given as Sunday, but which was probably Monday, the Rockbridge Rifles, 103 strong, started from lexington. The Reverend Mr. Tibbs and the venerable Doctor McFarland gave them a benediction, all heads being uncovered and all eyes moistened with tears. Doctor White pronounced the benediction at the departure of the two companies of Rockbridge Dragoons, each about sixty strong. The destination of these commands was Harper's Ferry.

The officers of the Rifles were these: Captain, S. H. Letcher; First Lieutenant, E. F. paxton; Second Lieutenant, J. K. Edmondson; Third Lieutenant, W. W. Lewis; Fourth Lieutenant, D. L. Hopkins; Orderly sergeant, J. C. Boude. The following were the officers of the First Dragoons: M. X. White, Captain; J. S. Cumins, First Lieutenant; Charles Jordan, Second Lieutenant; M. Burks, Third Lieutenant; J. W. Moore, Orderly Sergeant. J. R. McNutt was Captain of the Second Dragoons, R. McChesney was First Lieutenant, and John Gibson was Third Lieutenant.

The following organizations were furnished by this county to the Confederate service: two batteries of artillery, four companies of cavalry, seven companies of infantry, a company of rangers, senior and junior reserves to the number of ninety, and 206 men on miscellaneous duty, making a total of 2343. Of these, 250 were killed in battle, 169 died in service, and 463 others were wounded, making a total in casualties of 882, or 37.3 per cent/ almost precisely three men out of eight. Included in this number were 288 men of other counties who enlisted in the Rockbridge organizations. Other statements place the number of Rockbridge men at 2154.

The Rockbridge commands were in the Virginia campaigns, and most of them were in many battles. The first to respond was the Rockbridge Rifles, which was organized November 17, 1859, immediately after the John Brown affair. It was first assigned tot he 5th Virginia, but was soon transferred to the 4th, and just after First Manassas, in which it lost fifteen men, to the 27th. It was in twenty-four engagements, Falling Waters being the first and Appomattox the last, where it surrendered thirty-three men. It had contained in all 140 men, and the preceding casualties were fifty-six. This company was often employed in Sharp-shooting service.

The Rockbridge Battery marched from Lexington, May 10, 1861, with about 70 men and two small six-pounders from the Institute. Two other guns were given to it at Harpers's Ferry. One of its guns wa all the Confederate artillery in the affair at Falling Waters, and its fire was very accurate and effective. This command had the reputation of being one of the best in the Army of Northern Virginia, and at notice did it lack for recruits. Of it membership 45 were commissioned as officers and assigned to other companies. John McCausland, its first captain, rose to the rank of major-general. The command was in 21 battles and sustained 147 casualties, yet surrendered 96 men at Appomattox.

The First Dragoons were organized at Fancy Hill May 16, 1859, by Captain L. V. Davidson.

The Liberty hall Volunteers, Company I of the 4th Virginia Infantry, were organized at Washington College and served in the Stonewall Brigade. The company was in 32 battles and lost 146 men, one of whom, A. B. Ramsay, was wounded on four different occasions. At First Kernstown the Volunteers were almost annihilated. At Sharpsburg they lost three out of the five who were engaged. AT Chancellorsville they lost nineteen out of twenty-eight, and after the engagement of May 12, 1864, at Spottsylvania, only two men were left.

Company H of the 25th Virginia Infantry, organized at Wilson's Springs, won fame as good marksmen and hard fighters. In the battle of McDowell, it lost twenty men out of thirty-five, every commissioned officer being put out of action.

The Rockbridge Greys of the Stonewall Brigade came principally from within a radius of five miles around Buffalo Forge. They were armed at the start with the very light cadet musket, but later with the Enfield. Their first battle was First Manassas, where they lost nineteen men out of sixty-four.

company E of the 52nd Virginia Infantry was composed entirely of Rockbridge men front he 8th and 144th regiments of the militia. It was organized at Staunton, August 1, 1861, upon the disbanding of the militia organization. It fought under Jackson and was win fourteen battles, losing fifty-two men.

Company G of the 58th Virginia was mustered in at Staunton, also on August 1, 1861. All but about nine of its members were from Kerr's Creek. This company served under General Edward Johnson in Pocahontas and Highland, and was in the battle of McDowell. Thenceforward it was in Jackson's corps. Its leading engagements were twenty-three, and it numbered sixty men at Appomattox.

Company G of the 14th Cavalry, organized in 1862, included nineteen men from Rockbridge county, twelve of whom were original members of the Greys.

Company C of the same cavalry regiment was organized in 1862, and was largely made up of men who had already served in the Rockbridge Second Dragoons and the Churchville Cavalry. It was larger than the army regulations permitted, and a portion was formed into Company H.

For more than three years Rockbridge was not penetrated by any Federal column. yet as early as the June of the first year of the war there was a wild rumor that a force of Federal cavalry was on its way from Ohio to destroy the Virginia Military Institute. There were then no hostile troops nearer than the vicinity of the Ohio river, and still the report was enough to bring out about 120 men at Brownsburg and fifty-five at J. W. Youell's on Walker's Creek. July brought anxious moments. men from Rockbridge county fought at Falling Waters, the opening engagement in the Shenandoah, at Rich Mountain, where the first serious fighting took place in West Virginia, and at First Manassas, where twelve Rockbridge men were killed and thirty six wounded. During the remaining months of 1861 there was but slight military activity in the Virginias.

It was the opening of May, 1862, the army of Banks, nearly 20,000 strong, was lying at Harrisonburg, only forty miles front he Rockbridge line, and Staunton was threatened. The cadets were called out to aid in the successful repelling of the Federal advance,a nd after the battle of rot Republic on June 9th, the county was relieved of further apprehension for some months. The field crops were good, both in 1861 and 1862. But the depreciation already creeping into the Confederate currency was reflected in the rise of the private soldier's pay to $15 a month.

The principal threats to the county were from the Federal cavalry under General Averill. The first of these raids was late in August, 1863. Averill left Winchester the 5th of that month and reached Callaghan Station near covington twenty days later, after destroying the saltpeter works along his route. colonel W. L. Jackson had 900 men at Millboro, and intended to make a stand at Panther Gap. Two companies of cadets and one company of home guards marched to Goshen, but as Verill did not turn eastward, the reenforcement returned to Lexington after an absence of two days.

More next week on the history of Rockbridge county, Virginia during the war of 1861.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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