CHAPTER VITHE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN1862

In the meantime, two of Stuart’s regiments had gained another part of the camp, and an attempt was made to destroy the railroad bridge over Cedar Run. But on account of the heavy rain it was impossible to fire it, and, in the dense darkness, it was equally hard to cut asunder the heavy timbers with the few axes which they found. Therefore, with more than three hundred prisoners and valuable spoils, Stuart retired before daybreak and regained in safety the Confederate lines.

Major Von Borcke gives an interesting incident of their return march. As the troops—wet, cold, and hungry—passed through Warrenton, coffee was served them by a number of young girls. One of the girls recognized among the prisoners General Pope’s quartermaster. He had boasted several days before, when at her father’s house, that he would enter Richmond within a month. She had promptly bet him a bottle of wine that he would not be able to do it, but as he was now a prisoner he would be obliged to enter the city even earlier than he had hoped. She, therefore, asked General Stuart’s permission to offer the quartermaster a bottle of wine from his own captured supplies. The general readily granted her request, and the Yankee prisoner entered good-naturedly into the jest, saying that he would always be willing to drink the health of so charming a person.

In retaliation for the loss of his hat and cloak, General Stuart sent General Pope’s uniform to Richmond where for some days it hung in one of the shop windows, to the delight of the populace who especially disliked Pope on account of his bombast and cruelty. He had boasted that he had come from the West where his soldiers always saw the backs of their enemies, and he had authorized his soldiers to take whatever they wished from the citizens of Virginia, whom he held responsible for damage done by raiding parties of the Confederate army.

Two weeks later, General Stuart wrote his wife that Parson Landstreet, a member of his staff who had been captured by the Federals, brought him a message from General Pope. Pope said that he would send back Stuart’s hat if Stuart would return his coat.

“But,” wrote Stuart, “I have got to see my hat first.”

It was against General Pope that the second Battle of Manassas was fought, August 28, 29, and 30, 1862. General Stuart and his cavalry in the maneuvers preceding the battle, screened the flank march of Jackson’s troops to Grovetown, by which movement they placed themselves between the Federal rear and Washington. It took two days for Jackson’s “foot cavalry” to make this march, and so perfectly did Stuart do his work that as late as August 28, Pope did not know to what place Jackson had marched from Manassas.

In the three days’ battle that followed, the cavalry was ever on the flank of the army, observing the Federals and guarding against attacks. On the morning of August 29, after a sharp skirmish, Stuart met Lee and Longstreet and opened the way for them to advance to the support of Jackson whose forces on the right wing were engaged in unequal and critical combat. Later on the same day, Stuart saw that the Federals were massing in front of Jackson, and with a small detachment of cavalry aided by Pelham and his guns, he gallantly held large forces in check and protected Jackson’s captured wagon train of supplies. On the afternoon of August 30, the cavalry did most effectual service, following the retreating Federals and protecting the exposed Confederate flank against heavy cavalry attacks. During the engagements, the Confederate infantry could not have held its position but for the assistance of the cavalry under the able direction of Stuart.

In these battles, Pope had forces largely superior in number and equipment to Lee’s, but Pope’s losses in killed and wounded were much the heavier. Finally he was forced to retreat toward Washington, leaving in the hands of the Confederates many prisoners as well as captured artillery, arms, and a large amount of stores. The North seemed panic-stricken, as Washington was now directly exposed to the attacks of the Confederates.

General Lee knew, however, that he did not have men enough to take by assault the strong fortifications around Washington, and he, therefore, planned to cross over into Maryland before the Federal army had recovered from its defeat, when its commanders were least expecting him. In order that he might completely mislead them and make it appear that he was beginning a general attack on Washington, he ordered Stuart and his troops to advance toward that city.

In their advance, they engaged in several sharp skirmishes with the Federals, finally driving them from Fairfax Courthouse, where, amid the cheers of the inhabitants, Major Von Borcke planted the beloved Confederate flag on a little common in the center of the village.

The people of this section had been under Federal control for several months and their joy at seeing Stuart and his troops was unbounded. They flocked to the roadside to get a glimpse of the great cavalry leader.

One lady, who had lost two sons in battle, came forward as the troops passed her home and asked permission to kiss the general’s battle flag. She held by the hand her only surviving son, a lad of fifteen years, and declared herself ready if it were needed to give his life too for her country.

On September 5, General Stuart and his forces crossed the Potomac. Four days later, General Lee moved his entire army across the river, encamped at Frederick, Maryland, and sent General Jackson to capture the strongly fortified Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry.

Major Von Borcke, from whoseMemoirs of the Confederate War for Independencewe shall borrow several interesting incidents of this Maryland campaign, tells us that the crossing of the cavalry at White’s Ford was one of the most picturesque scenes of the war. The river is very wide at this point, and its steep banks, rising to the height of sixty feet, are overshadowed by large trees that trail from their branches a perfect network of graceful and luxuriant vines. A sandy island about midstream broke the passage of the horsemen and artillery, and as a column of a thousand troops passed over, the rays of the setting sun made the water look like burnished gold. The hearts of the soldiers crossing the river thrilled at the sound of the familiar and inspiring strains of “Maryland, my Maryland,” which greeted them from the northern bank.

The enthusiasm of the Maryland people at Poolesville, where Stuart first stopped, was boundless. Two young merchants of the village suddenly resolved to enlist in the cavalry and they put up all their goods at auction. The soldiers with the eagerness and carelessness of children cleared out both establishments in less than an hour. Many other recruits were made in this village, all the young men seeming to feel the inspiration of General Stuart’s favorite song,

“If you want to have a good timeJine the cavalry.”

“If you want to have a good time

Jine the cavalry.”

At Urbana, a pretty little village on the road to Frederick, where General Stuart with one division of his forces camped for several days, a most exciting ball was held on the evening of September 8. There were many charming families living in the neighborhood, and General Stuart and his staff decided to give a dance at an old, unused academy located on a hill just outside of the town. The young ladies of the neighborhood willingly lent their help, and evening found the halls of the academy lighted by tallow candles and draped with garlands of roses and with battle flags borrowed from the regiments of the brigades. Music was furnished by the band of a Mississippi regiment. The ball, which had opened to the rousing strains of “Dixie,” was at its height, when a young orderly rushed in and to the accompaniment of distant shots reported that the Federals had driven in the pickets and were attacking the camp.

Wild confusion prevailed. The officers got rapidly to horse and anxious mammas collected their daughters. Upon reaching the scene of action, General Stuart found that the danger had been overestimated and the Federals were already beginning to retreat. In a short while, they had been driven back; and by one o’clock, the staff officers had brought the young ladies back to the academy and the ball had a second and more auspicious opening. Dancing continued until dawn, when some soldiers wounded in the skirmish were brought in, and the ball room was soon converted into a hospital and the fair dancers into willing if inexperienced nurses.

The next day, General Fitz Lee’s brigade was engaged in a skirmish, and the day following Colonel Munford, who was commanding Robertson’s Brigade, had a sharp encounter with Federals at Sugar Loaf Mountain. By Sept. 11, the Federal cavalry was attacking in such force that General Stuart saw that it was necessary to order a retreat toward Frederick. General Fitz Lee commanded the advance; Colonel Munford protected the rear, which as it approached Urbana had a sharp skirmish with the closely-following Federal cavalry. General Stuart and his staff, however, did not tear themselves away from their friends in this hospitable little village until the Union troops were within half a mile of the place and several shells had exploded in the street. From Urbana the cavalry went to Frederick. Many years after the war was over, Mrs. Stuart received a letter from a New York physician, who at the time of the Maryland campaign had just won his title and a position on the staff of one of the Union hospitals in Frederick.

He told about meeting General Stuart and then said, “I wish to bear testimony to the fact that not only myself, but all the friends of the Union cause in Frederick, so far as I could learn, were kindly treated by both officers and private soldiers. I do not remember of a single instance where private property was molested, nor was any taunt, indignity, or insult offered to any person. Whittier’s ‘Barbara Frietchie,’ which has attracted so much attention,—even that is fiction.”

At Frederick, Stuart found that General Lee had already retreated across South Mountain and taken a position at Sharpsburg on Antietam Creek, while Jackson was investing Harper’s Ferry. Look at the map onpage 95and you will see that southwest of Frederick rises a small spur of the Blue Ridge, called Catoctin Mountain on the other side of which is a broad, fertile valley extending for about six miles to the base of South Mountain. On the opposite side of South Mountain is Sharpsburg, and across the same mountain to the south is Harper’s Ferry which Jackson had been ordered to capture before he marched north to join Lee and Longstreet at Sharpsburg.

Now you can see that until Harper’s Ferry fell it was necessary that the cavalry should hinder the advance of the Federal army under McClellan until Jackson could join Lee. This was especially difficult, because an order from General Lee to General D. H. Hill, explaining fully the commanding general’s plans and the location of all his forces, had fallen into the hands of General McClellan and he was advancing a tremendous army toward Sharpsburg as rapidly as possible.

As General McClellan’s forces advanced, General Stuart retreated slowly, contesting every inch of ground. His retreat across Catoctin Mountain was through Braddock’s Gap, along the same road where eighty-seven years before, the young patriot, George Washington, had accompanied General Braddock on the fatal expedition against Fort Duquesne. In this gap, Stuart had a sharp encounter with the Federals. He and Major Von Borcke who was commanding a gun on the height above the pass, narrowly escaped being captured by Federal skirmishers who, under cover of the dense forest, had worked their way around behind the gun.

Another sharp encounter took place on Kittochtan creek at Middletown, half way across the valley, where General Stuart delayed the retreat of his forces so long that they barely escaped capture and reached the foot of South Mountain just in time to protect the two principal passes,—Turner’s Gap which led directly through Boonsboro to Sharpsburg, and Crampton’s Gap which led through Pleasant Valley to Harper’s Ferry.

It was necessary to hold these gaps and delay the enemy until Jackson could capture Harper’s Ferry and unite his division with the remainder of the army under General Lee. A heavy part of this work fell on the cavalry and the artillery. The retreat of Generals Longstreet and Hill, who had held Turner’s Gap until the afternoon of Sept. 14, was covered by General Fitz Lee’s brigade which held the Federals in check at every possible point. There was a sharp encounter at Boonsboro, where, in charging, General W. H. F. Lee was ridden down by his own men and narrowly escaped capture.

At Crampton’s Gap, which led through Pleasant Valley to Harper’s Ferry, Colonel Munford gallantly checked the Federal advance until the evening of Sept. 14, when the troops sent to assist him broke and retreated in bad order through Pleasant Valley. General Stuart had been at Harper’s Ferry conferring with General McLaws; when they heard of the engagement at Crampton’s Gap, both generals rode quickly forward to meet the routed and panic-stricken troops which they rallied and formed into line of battle. The position that they held the next morning was so strong that the advancing Federals hesitated to attack; just as the first shots were being exchanged, the news of the surrender of Harper’s Ferry caused the attacking party to begin a hasty retreat along the road that they had come.

General Stuart at once reported to General Jackson, who requested him to convey the news to General Lee at Sharpsburg. But even now Lee was in great peril. He had with him, on the evening of Sept. 14 when the gaps were stormed, only about 20,000 men; and McClellan’s army of more than 87,000 was advancing rapidly to attack him. Lee had now either to recross the Potomac or to fight a battle north of that river.

He decided to make a stand, and on the night of Sept. 14, drew his army across Antietam creek and took a strong position on a range of hills east of the Hagerstown turnpike. Here he waited for Jackson who, by a forced march, came up in time to take position on the left wing on the morning of September 16. Even when reenforced by Jackson, Lee had a much smaller force than McClellan.

On the evening of Sept. 16, McClellan attacked Jackson’s wing at the left of Lee’s army, but was repulsed. At early dawn the next day, the attack was renewed and the combat raged all day. When night ended the bloody contest, the Confederates not only held their position, but had advanced their lines on a part of the field. During the entire battle, Stuart with his horse artillery and a small cavalry escort had guarded the open hilly space between Jackson’s left and the Potomac river.

General Jackson in his report of this battle said: “This officer (General Stuart) rendered valuable service throughout the day. His bold use of artillery secured for us an important position which, had the enemy possessed, might have commanded our left.”

The next day, Lee waited for McClellan to attack, but no movement came from the hostile camp. Finding out through Stuart’s scouts that large bodies of fresh troops were being sent to McClellan, Lee withdrew that night to the south side of the Potomac, and by eleven o’clock the next morning, he was again ready to give battle should the Federals pursue. He had brought off nearly everything of value, leaving behind only several disabled cannon and some of his wounded.

While Fitz Lee’s and Munford’s troops were left to protect the retreat of the army, Stuart with a small force had gone up the Potomac to Williamsport, hoping to divert the attention of the Federals from the main body of the army and so enable it to cross the river unhindered. This movement was successful, for large Federal forces were sent against him, yet he maintained his position without reenforcements until the night of September 20, when he recrossed the Potomac in safety.

During this short campaign, several interesting incidents occurred. On one occasion, when the Federals were advancing toward Williamsport, a young lady of the town obtained permission to fire a cannon that was about to be discharged. After this, the soldiers always called that cannon “the girl of Williamsport.”

Another time, Major Von Borcke tells us that he accompanied the general on one of his favorite, yet dangerous reconnoitering expeditions outside of the Confederate lines. They tried to keep themselves concealed by the dense undergrowth, but they must have been observed by the pickets, for in a short while Major Von Borcke heard the “little clicking sound that a saber scabbard often makes in knocking against a tree,” and, looking quickly around, he saw a long line of Federal cavalry. A few whispered words to the general were enough; he and his aide put spurs to their horses and once more justified their reputations as expert horsemen, for they were soon hidden by the friendly trees, while their pursuers were firing wildly in vain search for the escaped prey.

There were no serious engagements for the next few weeks and General Lee’s army enjoyed a well deserved rest. The cavalry watched the movements of the Federals and protected the camps from alarms. The cavalry headquarters were delightfully situated near Charlestown on the plantation of Mr. A. S. Dandridge. Because of its beautiful grove of huge oak trees, this plantation was called The Bower. A comfortable old brick mansion crowned the summit of a sloping hill on the sides of which the tents of the camp were located under oak trees. At the foot of the hill wound the sparkling little Opequan river. Here provisions were plentiful once more, and the soldiers enjoyed fishing and hunting the small game,—squirrels, rabbits, and partridges,—that abounded in the nearby woods.

General Stuart had attached to his staff a remarkable young banjo player, Bob Sweeny, who, with the assistance of two fiddlers and Stuart’s mulatto servant Bob who rattled the bones unusually well, furnished music around the camp fire for the men and served also on serenades and at dances given to the officers at the hospitable Dandridge mansion.

General Stuart was very fond of dancing, and when some of the young officers of his staff were occasionally too tired and sleepy to want to join in the fun, he would have them awakened and ordered to attend. Yet they complained that when they did come the general would always get the prettiest girl for his own partner.

But in spite of his joyous, fun-loving disposition, General Stuart was always ready when duty called him. In his book,Christ in the Camp, the Rev. J. William Jones says, “Stuart was an humble and earnest Christian who took Christ as his personal Saviour, lived a stainless life, and died a triumphant death.”

He tells us that General Stuart often came to get his advice in planning services for the soldiers. Once when General Stuart wanted Dr. Jones to recommend a chaplain for the cavalry outposts, the general said, “I do not want a man who is not able to endure hardness as a good soldier. The man who can not endure the hardships and privations of our rough riding and hard service and be in place when needed would be of no earthly use to us and is not wanted at my headquarters.”

On October 8, after a final dance and serenade to the ladies at The Bower, Stuart started out to join the forces that he had ordered to assemble at Darkesville, from which point he was to lead them on the famous “Chambersburg Raid.”

The purpose of this raid, which had been ordered by General Lee, was to march into Pennsylvania and Maryland and to secure information concerning the location of McClellan’s army, and also to secure provisions and horses for the Confederate forces.

Not a soldier of the 1,800 picked cavalrymen from the brigades of Hampton, Fitz Lee, and Robertson or the gunners under Pelham, knew whither they were going or for what purpose. Most of them, however, had been with Stuart on his Chickahominy Raid, and all were content to follow wherever he led.

MAP SHOWING THE ROUTES OF STUART’S CAVALRY IN GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN AND CHAMBERSBURG RAID

In his address to his men at the beginning of the expedition, Stuart said that the enterprise on which they were about to start demanded coolness, decision, and bravery, implicit obedience and the strictest order and sobriety in the camp and on the bivouac, but that with the hearty coöperation of his officers and men he had no doubt of a success which would reflect credit on them in the highest degree.

The men in fine spirits reached the Potomac after dark. The next morning, they crossed the river at McCoy’s Ford, west of McClellan’s army which was posted north of the Potomac between Shepherdstown and Harper’s Ferry. A heavy fog hung over the river valley and hid them from the Federal infantry which had just passed by.

A signal station on Fairview Heights was taken by twenty men detailed for the purpose and then the column passed on toward Mercersburg. By this time, the Federal pickets were aware of the raid; but as there was no large force of cavalry at hand, its progress was unchecked. On and on the little band of horsemen rode until at nightfall they reached Chambersburg in Pennsylvania. As Maryland was regarded as a southern State, nothing belonging to its citizens had been disturbed; but when Pennsylvania was reached, soldiers detached from the commands for that purpose, seized all suitable horses, giving each owner a receipt, so that he could call upon the United States government for payment,—thus forcing the administration at Washington either to help equip the Confederate army or to make its own citizens suffer. Stuart, with his usual gallantry, gave orders that the men should not take the horses of ladies whom they might meet along the highway.

As the command approached Chambersburg on the night of October 10, a cold drizzling rain set in. Two pieces of artillery were posted so as to command the town, and Lieutenant Thomas Lee with nine men was sent into the town to demand its surrender. No resistance was made and the troops were at once marched into the town and drawn up on the public square. Strict discipline was observed and only Federal property was used or destroyed.

During the night, the rain came down in torrents on the weary, hungry Confederates. Surrounded by increasing dangers, Stuart with his staff neither rested nor slept. By that time, cavalry and infantry were on his track and every ford of the Potomac was strongly guarded. At any time, the heavy rains might cause the river to rise and cut off retreat. His only hope was to move boldly and swiftly to a crossing before the water could descend from the mountains and flood the streams. Stuart decided, however, not to return the way he had come, as large forces of Federal cavalry, like hornets, would be awaiting him there. He resolved to make another ride around McClellan’s army and to cross at White’s Ford some distance to the east, so close to the Federals that they would not be looking for him there. The very boldness of the plan was its best guarantee of success and the next morning the general started his men on their dangerous march around the enemy.

STUART’S SWORDFrom Original in Confederate Museum, Richmond, Va.

Colonel A. K. McClure of the PhiladelphiaTimes, then a colonel in the Federal army and a resident of Chambersburg, gives the following account of Stuart as he was preparing to leave Chambersburg: “General Stuart sat on his horse in the center of the town, surrounded by his staff, and his command was coming in from the country in large squads, leading their old horses and riding the new ones which they had found in the stables hereabout. General Stuart is of medium stature, has a keen eye, and wore immense sandy whiskers and mustache. His demeanor to our people is that of a humane soldier. In several instances his soldiers began to take property from stores, but they were arrested by Stuart’s provost guard.”

This evidence as to the discipline of Stuart’s men comes from a Federal officer, and shows fully the control that the general exercised over his command.

The wounded in the Chambersburg hospital were paroled, the telegraph wires were cut, and the ordnance storehouse was blown up by brave Captain M. C. Butler of South Carolina, who now commanded the rear guard. He notified the people near the ordnance storehouse that he was about to set fire to it and then applied a slow fuse. There was a loud explosion and then the flames burst forth. Satisfied that his work was well done, Colonel Butler and his escort set out at a trot to rejoin the command.

STUART’S PISTOLFrom Original in Confederate Museum, Richmond, Va.

STUART’s CARBINEFrom Original in Confederate Museum, Richmond, Va.

On the outskirts of the town, there came galloping up from the rear a young soldier in gray, riding a big black horse. He wore no hat and one boot was gone. He was covered with mud and was soaking wet, for he had come into town with the rear guard about midnight in the darkness and pouring rain. The command had halted for a few hours in a quiet side street and had set out at break of day as the advance guard.

The young soldier’s foot had been hurt, so he dismounted and pulled off his boot, in order to ease the pain. He then concluded to lie down for awhile and perhaps take a nap, for he was very tired. Tying the bridle rein to his foot, he lay down in the pouring rain and went to sleep. When he awoke, it was broad daylight and he was all alone. In the darkness of the cloudy dawn, his comrades had left him sleeping. His big black horse was still tied to his foot, but his hat, his haversack, and one of his boots were gone. Rising quickly, he mounted his horse and was trying to decide which way to go when an old lady raised a window near by and called out, “Sonny, your folks have gone that way.” With a lighter heart he thanked her, and set off at a gallop along the Gettysburg road to which she had pointed. As he sped along, the people called out, “Go it, Johnny! Goodby, Johnny! Hurry, Johnny!” All seemed to be in a good humor over the speedy departure of the Confederates. It was not many minutes before he reached the rear of Butler’s detachment, and was safe.

Soon after the break of day, the advance column under General Fitz Lee started towards Gettysburg, but at Cashtown the column turned south toward Emmitsburg in Maryland. When Stuart arrived at the latter place, the people received him with great joy and the young ladies of the town threw flowers at the troops. But in spite of this hearty welcome, the Confederates could not linger, for they learned that a party of Federals in search of them, had passed only a short time before.

Going in a steady trot without halting, Stuart passed on to the woods of Frederick, and captured a courier with a dispatch from the commander of the party sent out to find him. From this dispatch, he learned the arrangements which had been made to capture him, and learned also that the Federals did not know just where he was.

In the meantime, the Federal cavalry was hurrying to overtake him, but Stuart, aware of his extreme danger, aimed straight for the Potomac. His tired men and horses marched all night, and by dawn on October 13, they reached Hyattstown where a few wagons were captured. On the march, Stuart had learned that a division of five thousand men was guarding the fords in front of him. Knowing that delay would increase his peril, he hastened on in the direction of Poolesville where a body of Federal cavalry was located.

When within two miles of that town, guided by Captain White who was familiar with the region, he turned abruptly through some woods which concealed his movements and gained the road leading to the river about two miles distant. Hardly had the Confederates entered this road when the advance squadron met the head of the Federal column coming from Poolesville. General Stuart, who was at the head of the squadron, ordered a charge and drove the Federals back upon the main body half a mile away. Thinking that Stuart was aiming to cross the strongly-guarded ford at the mouth of the Monocacy river, the Federals, instead of seizing this favorable opportunity to make an advance and crush the Confederate cavalry, waited for their infantry to come up.

In the meanwhile, General Fitz Lee’s sharpshooters leaped from their horses and went forward while one of Pelham’s guns was brought up. Under cover of its fire and screened from view by the ridge upon which it was placed, General Lee’s command moved on by a farm road to White’s Ford.

When General Lee reached White’s Ford, he found a force of two hundred Federal infantry so strongly posted on the steep bank overlooking the ford that a crossing seemed impossible. Infantry in front and cavalry in the rear! Would it be possible to escape from the snare by which they were surrounded? Nothing but boldness and swiftness could save them. General Lee sent a courier to General Stuart who was on the Poolesville road with Pelham’s guns and the skirmishers keeping back Federal troopers until the rear guard should come up.

“I do not believe that the ford can be crossed,” said General Lee.

Stuart replied, “I am occupied in the rear, but the ford must be crossed at all hazards.”

General Lee, therefore, prepared to attack the Federal infantry in its strong position on the bluff. One part of his force was to assail it in front and on the left flank, while a strong body of cavalry endeavored to cross and hold the ford. Lee hoped to be able to get one gun placed on the opposite bank and then to fire on the Federal rear.

While making his hurried preparations, it occurred to General Lee to try a game of “bluff.” Under flag of truce, he sent a note to the Federal commander, saying that General Stuart’s whole command was in his front and needless bloodshed would be avoided if he would surrender. Fifteen minutes was allowed him to consider this demand.

After fifteen minutes’ anxious waiting and no reply, General Fitz Lee opened with his artillery and was preparing to advance his horsemen, when it was seen that the Federals, with flags flying and band playing, were retreating in perfect order down the river.

A wild cheer broke from the Confederates as some of their men rushed across the ford to place a piece of artillery at the top of the steep bank on the Virginia side of the Potomac. Another gun was hurried forward and placed so as to sweep the tow-path and the approaches to the ford, While the long line of cavalrymen and captured horses passed rapidly across to safety. Once more Stuart had slipped through the hands of his enemy.

In the meanwhile, Pelham held the Federals in check until all but the rear guard under Colonel Butler had passed. Then he began to withdraw, making his last stand on the Maryland side of the ford, where he fired up and down the river at the Federal cavalry now advancing in both directions. But the rear guard was still far behind. Major McClellan tells us that General Stuart had sent back four couriers to hurry up Colonel Butler; still he did not come. In this dilemma, Captain Blackford volunteered to find him.

Stuart paused a moment and then extending his hand said, “All right! and if we do not meet again, good-by, old fellow.”

Blackford galloped off and found Butler with his own regiment and the North Carolina detachment and one gun, engaged in delaying the advance of the enemy in the Poolesville road. Blackford rode rapidly toward him and shouted, “General Stuart says, ‘Withdraw at a gallop, or you will be cut off.’”

“But,” replied Butler, with great coolness, “I don’t think I can bring off that gun. The horses can’t move it.”

“Leave the gun and save your men!” replied Blackford.

“Well, we’ll see what can be done,” said Butler, and then he ordered the drivers to make one more effort. That time they were successful. The weary horses pulled the wheels out of the mudhole and the gun went rattling down the road, followed by the tardy but gallant rear guard. The Federal cavalry and artillery were following and infantry was approaching in two directions; but the rear guard slipped through the net, dashed rapidly across the ford, and soon was safe in Virginia.

The joy of the men and their commander at the success of their expedition was unbounded. The Federals were near enough to hear the Confederate cheers that greeted General Stuart as he rode along his lines on the Virginia side.

In the official report of the expedition, Stuart claimed no personal credit, but closed the report by saying, “Believing that the hand of God was clearly manifested in the deliverance of my command from danger and the crowning success attending it, I ascribe to him the praise, the honor, and the glory.”

The march of the Confederate cavalry from Chambersburg is one of the most remarkable in history. In thirty-six hours, the Confederates rode ninety miles, going completely around the Union army. They carried off hundreds of horses, and recrossed the Potomac in the presence of vastly superior forces of the Federals. Only one man was wounded and two stragglers were captured.

GENERAL STUART IN 1862From an original negative by Cooke, the only negative from life that is extant

General Stuart himself, however, suffered a heavy personal loss, for his servant Bob who rattled the bones so well, got separated from the column, with two of the general’s favorite horses, Skylark and Lady Margaret. He wrote his wife that he hoped that they had fallen into the hands of the good secessionists at Emmitsburg, for he could not bear to think of the Federals having his favorite horses.

The horses of the Federal cavalry had been so worn out in pursuit of the wily Stuart that remounts were necessary before the cavalry could again advance into Virginia. The whole North was astonished and indignant that Stuart had again ridden completely around the Union army and had again made his escape.

To the South, Stuart was a peerless hero and he was welcomed with great acclamation. A lady of Baltimore, as a token of her appreciation of his gallantry, sent him a pair of gold spurs. He was very proud of these and in his intimate letters after this, he sometimes signed himself, “K. G. S.”, or “Knight of the Golden Spurs.”

The brief space of two days was all the time given to the men and horses of Stuart’s command to rest and enjoy life at The Bower, before they were again called out to active service. General McClellan had sent two large forces of infantry and cavalry across the river to find out whether General Lee’s army was still in the Valley or whether it had moved east of the Blue Ridge mountains. After several skirmishes with Stuart’s cavalry, these troops retired, convinced that Lee was still in the Valley.

On October 26, McClellan crossed the Potomac and the weather continuing fine, he advanced his entire army to begin an autumn campaign against Lee. A week later, his forces began to advance toward Washington, a little village northwest of Culpeper and near the headwaters of the Rappahannock. This position was desirable because it would give an easy route toward Richmond. General Lee, however, sent Longstreet at once with some of the cavalry to head off the Federals at Culpeper, while Jackson was to remain in the Valley and threaten their rear.

MAJOR JOHN PELHAM

In the meantime, Stuart bade a final farewell to his pleasant camp quarters and his friends at the Dandridge mansion. His force fell slowly back toward Culpeper, contesting every inch of ground against the overwhelming numbers of the Federal cavalry. Sharp encounters took place at Union, Middleburg, and Upperville, in which the artillery under Pelham did wonderfully daring and effective work. In these encounters, the Federals lost nearly twice as many men as did the Confederates, but it was impossible for Stuart’s small forces to hold any permanent ground against the greatly superior numbers now marching against him.

At Ashby’s Gap, General Stuart came near being cut off from his own forces. He had commanded Colonel Rosser to hold this gap while he, accompanied by a few members of his staff, rode across the mountain for a conference with General Jackson. When Stuart returned the next day, after a hard ride over a little-used mountain trail, what was his surprise on reaching a point just above what had been his own camp, to find the place literally swarming with blue-coats.

Rosser had found it necessary to withdraw before the superior numbers of the Federals and his couriers who went to inform Stuart of this fact had missed the general who had returned by a short cut across the mountain. He and his men were indeed in a serious predicament, and had they not found a mountaineer, who knew the trails on the other side of the mountain, there is no telling when or where General Stuart would have joined his command. He was guided safely to Barber’s Cross Roads where his forces had retreated and he made the simple and faithful mountaineer happy with a fifty-dollar note.

On November 10, there was an engagement at Barber’s Cross Roads, and the Confederate cavalry was forced to retreat through Orleans and across the Rappahannock at Waterloo Bridge. That night Stuart received the news of the death of his dear little daughter, Flora. For some time he had known of her serious illness, and the doctor had written that he must come home if he wished to see her, but he knew that his country needed him to hold the Federal cavalry in check.

When the second urgent call reached him on the field of battle near Union, he wrote Mrs. Stuart: “I was at no loss to decide that it was my duty to you and to Flora to remain here. I am entrusted with the conduct of affairs, the issue of which will affect you, her, and the mothers and children of our whole country much more seriously than we can believe.

“If my darling’s case is hopeless, there are ten chances to one that I will get to Lynchburg too late; if she is convalescent, why should my presence be necessary? She was sick nine days before I knew it. Let us trust in the good God who has blessed us so much, that He will spare our child to us, but if it should please Him to take her from us, let us bear it with Christian fortitude and resignation.”

Major Von Borcke, who opened the telegram telling of the child’s death, says that when the general read it he was completely overcome, but that he bore his loss most bravely, especially when Mrs. Stuart came to visit him a few days later at Culpeper.

He never forgot his “little darling” and often talked of her to Von Borcke, who says very prettily: “Light blue flowers recalled her eyes to him; in the glancing sunbeams he caught the golden tinge of her hair, and whenever he saw a child with such eyes and hair he could not help tenderly embracing it. He thought of her on his deathbed, and drawing me to him he whispered, ‘My dear friend, I shall soon be with my little Flora again.’”

Yet such a father could put aside his own feelings when he felt that his country needed him. Duty to God and his country were his watchwords, and this high and unselfish sense of duty and patriotism was the foundation of his greatness both as a man and a soldier.

The cavalry fell back from Waterloo Bridge to join Longstreet at Culpeper, but every day it was engaged in sharp skirmishes with the Federal cavalry. In one of these engagements, General Stuart had an amusing experience that narrowly escaped being a serious one. Major Von Borcke tells us that while his cavalry was being forced back under a very heavy fire, Stuart in endeavoring to make it hold its position, uselessly but according to his custom, exposed his own person on horseback by riding out of the wood into an open field where he and his aide were excellent targets for their enemies. Von Borcke remonstrated, but the general, who could not bear to have the day go against him, curtly said to his young aide, “If it is too hot for you, you can retire.”

Of course, Von Borcke remained in his position at the general’s side, but he did shelter himself from the rain of bullets, behind a convenient tree. From this position, a few moments later he saw Stuart raise his hand quickly to his beloved mustache, one half of which had been neatly cut away by a whistling bullet.

As a result of their heavy and continuous marching, the horses of Stuart’s troops were in bad condition, many of them having sore tongues and a disease known as “grease heel”; in spite of this and the absence of many men who had gone home to procure fresh horses, the services now rendered by the cavalry were invaluable. General Lee said in his report of this campaign that the vigilance, activity, and courage of the cavalry were conspicuous, and to its assistance was due in a great measure the success of some of the army’s most important operations.

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