The Historic Trail of Our Civil War Soldiers

September 20, 2019 issue of The Doddridge Independent

 

This weekend marks the 155th anniversary of the Battle of Fisher’s Hill near Strasburg, Virginia, which took place on September 22, 1864. To better understand the role that Doddridge County’s Company A, 14th Infantry played in that battle, and other battles in the Shenandoah Valley, I recently attended Civil War Days in Winchester, Virginia. This was a fascinating three-day event in which highly knowledgeable NPS park rangers conducted guided tours of the various battlefields located in the Shenandoah Valley.

 

Visiting those battlefields, standing on the very ground that our Doddridge County ancestors fought on, gave me a much greater appreciation for the conditions and dangers they faced. By sharing with you what I learned there, I hope that you will gain a similar appreciation of Company A and its courageous service in the Valley Campaign of 1864. Many of the 100-plus men in Company A made it back home alive, but at least 23 of them did not. I also want to acknowledge by name many of our soldiers in that Company who died, whether in battle or by disease.

 

Breadbasket of the Confederacy

The Shenandoah Valley stretches about 200 miles from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to Roanoke, Virginia. The large expansive valley is nestled between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Allegheny Mountains to the west. During the Civil War it was referred to as the “Breadbasket of the Confederacy” because of the vast quantity of food it produced for the Southern armies.

 

From the outset of the war, the Shenandoah Valley had been a thorn in the Union's side. Rebel forces there were a constant threat to Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C., all the while keeping Union forces from advancing on Richmond. 

 

Confederate General Stonewall Jackson knew that whoever controlled the strategically located Shenandoah Valley would ultimately control all of Virginia, including the Confederate capital of Richmond. In the summer of 1862, Jackson led a masterful campaign that successfully repelled a Northern invasion of the Valley. 

 

By 1864 General Jubal A. Early’s Southern army still maintained control over that section of Virginia. That summer Union General Ulysses S. Grant ordered the seasoned General Philip Sheridan to take command of the Army of the Shenandoah and drive the Confederate Army out of the Valley once and for all.

 

I will get to the Shenandoah Valley campaign soon, but first I want to tell you how our Doddridge men came to be there in the first place.

 

Organizational Overview

The 14th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was comprised of ten companies of men who resided primarily in Doddridge, Marion, Monongalia, Ohio, Pleasants, Preston, Ritchie, Tyler, and Wood counties. Each Company had 100 soldiers, so a Regiment consisted of 1,000 men. Company A of the 14th Regiment consisted of 100 men almost exclusively from Doddridge County. Once a Regiment was formed, they would then be attached to a Brigade, then to a Division, then to a Corps, and finally to an Army. In order to research the history of a Regiment, it’s important to know which Army, Corps, Division and Brigade it was attached to at any given time. There were several Union Armies fighting in different theaters during the Civil War, but I will be focusing mainly on the Army of West Virginia and the VIII Corps. An Army could consist of up to 80,000 men in Regiments from several states spread out over a very large area, but my focus will be specifically on the service of the 14th W.Va. Infantry Regiment.

 

All the companies that made up a Regiment during the Civil War typically traveled and fought together in the same general area. There were some instances when a company or various soldiers were on detached duty somewhere else, but for the most part Regiments stayed intact. That is important to remember because when I talk about the 14th Regiment, which includes Company A, I am talking about our Doddridge County soldiers. To view a list of the original 100 soldiers of Company A, and those who joined that unit throughout the war to replenish casualties and other losses, go to

https://www.doddridgecountyheritageguild.com/company-a-14th-regiment. 

 

Formed in West Union

In July 1862 one hundred men of what would later become Company A enlisted in West Union, Doddridge County, most likely at the courthouse. Much of the recruiting and organization was done by Chapman Johnson Stuart, who later became Lieutenant Colonel of the 14th Regiment. Two months later Company A joined the nine other companies of the 14th Regiment in Wheeling, where they were initially attached to the Railroad Department. They were soon sent to perform guard duty at Clarksburg and New Creek.

 

Company A experienced its first fatality on November 27, 1862 when David R. Finley from the Canton community died of typhoid fever in a Maryland hospital. According to the American Battlefield Trust, for every three soldiers killed in battle, five more died of disease.

 

Then on January 19, 1863 Joseph N. Thomas from West Union died of typhoid fever at New Creek, Mineral County.

 

In March 1863 the 14th Regiment was attached to the 5th Brigade, 1st Division, 8th Army Corps. The various companies were assigned to guard duty in Clarksburg, New Creek, Romney and Petersburg. 

 

On April 4, 1863 Chapman J. Stuart was discharged from service because of an “adverse report.” According to Stuart's fourth-great nephew Carl A. Hardy, Jr., "My research tells me that he was granted a Special Discharge by the War Department so that he could assume the elected  civil position of the 4th District Circuit Court Judge, seated in West Union, Doddridge County." George W. Taggart was promoted to replace Stuart as Lieutenant Colonel of the 14th.

 

Battle of Greenland Gap

Company A, 14th Regiment saw their first real action at Greenland Gap, Mineral County, W.Va., on April 25, 1863 when Confederate General William “Grumble” Jones led a superior force of 1,500 men through the gap. Waiting for Jones and his troops were soldiers from Company A, 14th W.Va., and a company of the 23rd Illinois Infantry. The following is an excerpt from Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1908) by Frederick H. Dyer. It describes the heroic actions of Company A’s Captain Jacob Smith, who was from the Nutters Fork community.

 

“Many of the company officers performed deeds of heroism that are worthy of record. Capt. Jacob Smith, of Co. A, is deserving a medal for gallantry in the following episode. In the spring of 1863, the captain with his company was ordered to Greenland Gap, W.Va., to reinforce a company of the 23rd Illinois Infantry. The two companies were stationed in two log houses at the cut. The Confederate General Jones, with his command, appeared on the scene. He charged the two companies, and was driven back. He charged again and again, but was as often driven away by the well-directed fire of the two companies, with considerable loss. Jones demanded the surrender. The Illinois captain, who ran short of ammunition, did surrender; he, being the senior officer, ordered Captain Smith to do likewise. But Captain Smith replied, “I have some ammunition left,” and continued to fight. Jones threatened to blow the house to fragments, but Smith was resolute and continued to fight. Under cover of the large chimney, the Confederates approached the house and set it on fire. Still Smith declined to surrender, nor did he until his last cartridge was gone, when the gallant captain and his men left the burning building, now half consumed, stacked arms and gave themselves up as prisoners.” 

 

In that battle, Riley G. Davis of New Milton was shot through the bowels with a musket ball. He later died at a hospital near Greenland Gap. At least 29 men from Company A were captured by the Confederates that day, but were later paroled at City Point, Virginia, a delivery point where paroled prisoners were exchanged. 

 

A Puzzling Death

On May 15, 1864 Pvt. James H. Dennison of New Milton, age 25, died at New Creek, but there is a discrepancy as to the cause and circumstance of his death. According to military documents, James died of typhoid fever at a Regimental hospital. But according to his Lieutenant, Dennison died because of negligent medical care. 

 

In an 1866 deposition, Lt. Elijah Wade testified that on November 15, 1862, James Dennison complained of one of his knees hurting him. Wade took Dennison to the surgeon, but was told that nothing was wrong with him and ordered him back to duty. Dennison remained in pain all winter, sometimes able to perform his duties and other times confined to his tent. Wade took Dennison back to the surgeon on May 1, 1863 because he was still complaining about the pain in his knee. He could move about only with the aid of a cane. Wade took him to the surgeon several times, but was always refused treatment on the grounds that there was nothing wrong with Dennison. Finally the surgeon threatened to report Wade for punishment if he brought Dennison back in for another examination, and Dennison was ordered back to duty. Wade did not make him report for duty, but instead took him back to his tent. Dennison died about 36 hours later. Lt. Wade said that James H. Dennison did not die in the hospital as reported, but rather died in his tent, having received no medical treatment.

 

On June 15, 1863 James M. Nicholson, also from New Milton, died of disease at Convalescent Camp near Alexandria, Virginia after being released as a POW on May 15, 1863. Nicholson had been captured at Greenland Gap.

 

More Casualties for Company A

By the summer of 1863, the war had been going on for over two years. Confederate General Robert E. Lee had won a couple of major battles and was making his way further north. However, shortly after the death of Stonewall Jackson in May 1863, things started looking up for the North. Many believe that the Union's victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July 1863 marked the turning point in the war. But it was far from over, as Company A, 14th W.Va. Infantry, continued to fight and suffer casualties of various sorts.

 

On August 27, 1863, 7th Corporal John J. Allen died of typhoid fever at his home in McClellan District while on medical furlough. 

 

On September 30, 1863 James S. Smith, brother of Captain Jacob Smith, died of dysentery at Romney, Hampshire County, W.Va.

 

On November 16, 1863 Rebels attacked a wagon train in Burlington, Mineral County, W. Va. At least two Union soldiers were killed in that skirmish. Benjamin S. Brown from Central District in Doddridge County was wounded there and discharged from duty because of disability. The following entry appears in his military records, "disability because of depression of right side of chest result of G.S. [gunshot] fracture received in battle." Benjamin died January 9, 1867. His wife was awarded a widow’s pension, but it’s unclear whether his death was a result of his battle wound.

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Wagon Train Attacked

In December 1863, the 14th Regiment was attached to the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division of the Army of West Virginia. On January 1, 1864 a portion of that Army was guarding a wagon train between New Creek and Petersburg when they were attacked by Rebels. An article in the January 8, 1864 issue of The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer described the ensuing skirmish:

 

"THE TRAIN captured by the rebels the other day between New Creek and Petersburg was guarded by one hundred and fifty men… The rebels rushed down from the hillside woods like an avalanche, and the escort fell back to an elevation and contested the possession of mules with what energy they could, but were finally compelled to yield to superior force, and a large proportion of them were doubtless captured. and are now on their way to Richmond. ...

 

"The result of the rebel attack was the capture of a splendid transportation train and seventy-five men."

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Among those captured and taken prisoner to Richmond was 23-year-old Corporal William Willis from near New Milton. William died less than three months later, on March 14, 1864. His military records state that he died of disease while in the hands of the Rebels. 

 

There is much more to tell, but I must now leave you here in January 1864. Next week I will pick up with the Battle of Lynchburg and Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain, as the 14th Regiment gets ready to enter the battlefields of the Shenandoah Valley. But not all went according to plan, as a number of our soldiers were captured by the Rebels and sent to the horrors of the notorious Andersonville Prison, from which some were destined not to return.

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The Historic Trail of Our Civil War Soldiers - Part 2

September 27, 2019 issue of The Doddridge Independent

 

This week I continue my story about Doddridge County’s Company A, 14th W.Va. Infantry and their service in the Civil War. Using excerpts from Regimental field notes, from service records on file at the National Archives, and from diaries of men in other units who served alongside our Company A soldiers, I will attempt to paint a picture of the heroic deeds of our Doddridge County soldiers. 

 

Backtracking just a bit to the Battle of Greenland Gap (Mineral County, W.Va.), which I described for you last week, I want to share with you a diary entry that contains a dramatic account of a perilous situation involving Company A. The focus was actually on one particular soldier, John R. Bogard, who later died at Andersonville Prison and has many descendants still living in Doddridge County.

 

Close Call for John R. Bogard 

On April 25, 1863 a contingent from Company A, with their Captain Jacob Smith of Nutters Fork, was holed up in a log cabin in Mineral County trying to fight off a superior Confederate force. A fire set by the Rebels eventually forced the contingent to abandon the cabin and surrender. The following excerpt from the diary of Pvt. Jesse Tyler Sturm of Company H, 14th W.Va. Infantry, tells of an incident that occurred as Company A was fleeing the cabin:

 

"There was a man in Smith's company, John Bogard by name, who was noted for his courage and impulsive disposition. John was the first man to emerge from the smoke and fire to surrender. As he reached the door, gasping for breath, he was met by a rebel soldier who addressed him thus, ‘Give me that gun you blank blank son of a blank,’ when Bogard said, ‘Well, take it, blank blank you,’ and threw the gun with all his might into the rebel’s face, killing him instantly. The act was seen by no one on account of the smoke.

 

“When General Jones went to receive the surrender, he refused to receive them as prisoners unless Captain Smith produced the identical man that had killed his soldier after the surrender. This Captain Smith could not do, and Bogard would not give himself away, and as most of the guns were thrown back into the fire, the man could not be identified by the gun lying in the churchyard. An unforeseen circumstance came to their relief, however. Jones had been foiled in his attempt to surprise Mulligan and would not dare to attack him. Therefore he had to change his plan. He was now compelled to move rapidly if he succeeded at all, and he, being Cavalry, could not move his infantry prisoners with his command, and he had no men to spare to take them a long distance to the rear and was thus compelled to parole them. Thus Bogard escaped a very close call."

 

Bogard may have avoided certain summary execution, but he was still sent to Richmond, Virginia as a POW. He was paroled a few weeks later at a prisoner exchange and returned to his unit.

 

Court Martial of Simon Cumberledge

Last week I left off in January 1864 when Company A was overrun while guarding a wagon train between New Creek and Petersburg. One Company A soldier who was not at that wagon train was Simon Cumberledge, about whom I found an entry describing his court martial trial on January 26, 1864. This brought to mind a November 1863 entry in Flavius Josephus Ashburn’s diary that I shared with you a few months ago. Flavius said in his diary:

 

“I received a letter from Amaziah stating that Simon Cumberledge had got intoxicated and shot a man and killed him and that he was then in the guard house in Petersburg awaiting his trial. And he requested George Cumberledge to come out there and aid him in procuring his release if possible.”

 

All I was able to glean from Ashburn’s diary was that he and George were not successful in freeing Simon. I knew nothing beyond that. Finding this court martial entry in his service records answered most of my questions.

 

“...he [Simon Cumberledge] was arraigned before a Genl. C.M. [General Court Martial] which convened at Petersburg, W.Va., Jan 25, 1864 and tried for 'murder.'  Specifications in this that ××× did on or about Nov 10, 1863, in Hardy Co. W.Va. willfully shoot, kill and murder George Reed a citizen of said County: found not guilty of murder, but guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to be confined in some military prison for the term of one year and to forfeit all pay for and during his term of confinement. ... the military prison at Wheeling, W.Va. being designated as the place of confinement, where he was received May 2, 1864. He rejoined his company from confinement May 4, 1865.”

 

That prison sentence marked the end of Simon Cumberledge’s participation in the Civil War.

 

Jacob Smith’s Field Notes

Field notes may be described as a military officer’s official diary, providing valuable details of a unit’s day-to-day activities, and giving us a feel for what was done between battles. The following are from the field notes of Company A’s Captain Jacob Smith for March-April 1864. Camp Piatt was located in Kanawha County at Belle, about 15 miles south of Charleston.

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“Camp Piatt, West Virginia

April 2, 1864 marched from Burlington, West Virginia to New Creek, West Virginia, a distance of 14 miles. Same evening proceeded by railroad to Webster, West Virginia, distance of 84 miles. April 21st proceeded by railroad to Parkersburg, West Virginia, distance of 100 miles. April 22nd proceeded by steamboat down the Ohio River and up Kanawha River to Camp Piatt, West Virginia, distance of 144 miles.”

 

On April 17, 1864, Eastburn Davis died in Webster County from an axe wound he received while building a shelter. Eastburn was from Doddridge County's Greenbrier community and was the brother of Riley G. Davis, who was killed in action at Greenland Gap a year earlier.

 

General Crook, VIII Corps

From the spring of 1864 until the close of the war, the 14th W.Va. Infantry Regiment was under the command of General George Crook with the VIII Corps. Crook’s campaign was only one part of Ulysses S. Grant’s plan to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond. After participating in several skirmishes, the 14th Regiment was getting ready to face their first real battle of the Civil War in May 1864 at Cloyd’s Mountain in Pulaski County, Virginia. 

 

The following is taken from Captain Jacob Smith’s May-June 1864 field notes:

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“Marched from Camp Piatt, West Virginia April 30th through to Virginia & Tennessee Railroad and whipped the enemy at Dublin Depot. Burnt the railroad bridge across New River (900 feet long) and marched to Meadow Bluff, West Virginia, distance of 254 miles in 19 days. ..."

 

The phrase “whipped the enemy” is a very understated synopsis of a bloody battle of hand-to-hand combat that ultimately took the lives of several of Captain Smith’s men.

 

Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain

On May 1, 1864 the 2nd Brigade, to which the 14th was attached, marched from Fayetteville to Princeton and pushed a contingent of Confederate Gen. John C. Breckinridge’s army towards Dublin Station in Pulaski, Virginia. From the diary of Jesse Tyler Sturm, Co H, 14th W.Va. Infantry:

 

"We were called upon to make the hardest days march we ever made. We were very heavily loaded, heavier than ever we were after that. We were carrying full camp and cooking outfit, 100 rounds of ammunition, extra suit of clothes, including shoes, and three days rations."

 

The 2nd Brigade was placed on the mountain to the left of the gap. Company H’s Sturm writes:

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"While we were lying in a hollow in the woods and our skirmishers out in front in a heavy skirmish with the enemy we heard footsteps in our rear and saw Gen. Crook's adjutant general approaching our Colonel [Daniel D. Johnson], and these words are ringing in my ears yet: ‘Colonel, the General  directs that you move your regiment forward and open the ball; you shall have support.’ We all rose to our feet, our hearts in our throats, and were ordered 'Forward.' We soon reached our skirmish line and there lay a man I knew belonging to Company A breathing his last. The regiment went forward in splendid style and soon received a withering fire from the enemy's works, but it never checked us for a moment and we were soon right up to the breastworks." 

 

The efforts of the 2nd Brigade on the left and Rutherford B. Hayes’ 1st Brigade on the right allowed the 3rd Brigade to sweep down through the gap and collectively defeat the Rebels. So, as Jacob Smith said, they did whip the enemy, but not without heavy casualties. 

 

The man who Sturm saw “breathing his last” was most likely Grove Tucker from Doddridge County, who died that day from wounds received in battle. Less than two weeks later James O. Duckworth from Greenwood and Richard Weekley from Tyler County died from their wounds. Company H’s Sturm goes on to say:

 

"On the 10th of May we spent in destroying property. We burned acres of cordwood, 9 miles of railroad track and burned vast supplies stored in the warehouses. ...  Ammunition was getting low and rations still lower and having accomplished the object of the expedition we turned back toward our base of supplies. The rebels with a brigade in our front impeded our march as much as possible by cutting timber in our road, etc. etc. The roads became almost impassable from heavy rains, and streams were out of banks. The smaller streams were crossed by one means or another, but when we came to Greenbrier, a formidable stream, we were compelled to camp several days waiting for it to recede. We finally had to throw down some buildings and build a boat to cross the men and wagons. The horses and mules we undertook to swim across, partially succeeding as to the horses, but nearly all the mules were drowned, leaving barely enough to haul our empty wagons to Meadow Bluff, where we got rations and went into camp for a two-week rest and to accumulate rations for expedition into East Virginia with Lynchburg as our objective."

 

Andersonville Prison

At least fourteen soldiers from Company A, 14th W.Va. Infantry, were captured by the Confederates at Cloyd’s Mountain and sent to Andersonville Prison in Georgia. As prisoners of war they endured the most hellish of conditions, from exposure to starvation to disease. John R. Bogard, Uriah B. Duckworth, John Hutson, George M. Morris and John Weekly died at Andersonville Prison from starvation and disease between July and September 1864. All five soldiers are buried at Andersonville National Cemetery.

 

One Andersonville survivor, Amaziah Ashburn, was a physician and a brother of minister Flavius Josephus Ashburn of Piggin Run. The following is a transcription of the eulogy that Amaziah Ashburn delivered in Andersonville Prison in September 1864 for his friend and fellow soldier, George M. Morris. Amaziah also acknowledges three other of his Doddridge County comrades who lost their lives at Andersonville.

 

“To see my best friend, my most beloved prison companion dying in this torturous manner --- dying from the effects of literal starvation, with its intense misery aggravated by the annoyance of swarms of flies and mosquitoes preying upon his sun-blistered flesh until the skin was sloughing in places from his body --- dying a prisoner in an enemy’s land, without a relative near to lend a helping hand, speak a comforting word or shed a sympathizing tear; no mother to smooth his dying pillow…

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“John Hutson also passed triumphantly into the eternal bliss of the great beyond. U. B. [Uriah] Duckworth suffered untold agonies, but abiding steadfastly in the faith, until the summoner announced to him, ‘It is enough, come up higher.’

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“John Weekley winged his flight to the paradise of God, having exemplified his unwavering faith and trust to the last moment.

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“Since these holy men of God have gone from labor to reward, a lonely pallor seems to rest on this gloomy prison, and it appears as though we shall never smile again."

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With heavy losses at Cloyd's Mountain in May 1864, Company A limped back to camp to prepare themselves for the battles that still lay ahead. Next week I’ll tell you about Doddridge County’s heroic contributions to the battles at Lynchburg and Fisher’s Hill and a grueling expedition that left our boys of the 14th Regiment on the brink of starvation.

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The Historic Trail of Our Civil War Soldiers - Part 3

October 4, 2019 issue of The Doddridge Independent

 

Last week I left off on May 9, 1864 at the Union’s victory at Cloyd’s Mountain in Pulaski, Virginia. What remained of Co. A, 14th W.Va. Infantry Regiment and the rest of Gen. Crook’s army fell back to their supply camp at Meadow Bluff in Greenbrier County. Here they awaited further orders from General Ulysses S. Grant. On May 30th they left Meadow Bluff enroute to Eastern Virginia. 

 

Since I am now in the third week of my series about Doddridge County’s Company A, 14th W.Va. Infantry, I want to remind you that I am reporting here only those events that Company A was involved in while under the higher command of Gen. Crook. I’ve drawn on many primary sources to piece their story together, and I will be quoting directly from many of them. 

 

March into Eastern Virginia

By the time Company A left camp on May 30th, their ranks had been reduced from the original 100 recruits to fewer than 50 soldiers fit for service. Fifteen were sick in hospitals in Cumberland, Parkersburg and Charleston, fourteen had been captured at Cloyd’s Mountain and sent to Andersonville, one was a POW in South Carolina, four were either AWOL or had deserted, five had been discharged because of disability, one was on furlough (sick with diabetes), two were on detached duty as a nurse and in the Ambulance Corps at Charleston, one was imprisoned for manslaughter, and twelve were already dead. 

 

Resupplied and rested, Gen. Crook and his men set out from camp, destination Staunton, Virginia. There they would join Gen. David Hunter’s army, which was approaching Staunton from a different direction. 

 

As Hunter’s army was marching toward Staunton, they encountered a Rebel force near Piedmont in Augusta County, Virginia. Hunter sent word to Gen. Crook to come and reinforce him. When Crook received Hunter’s message, his men, including the 14th Regiment, were busy destroying several miles of railroad tracks at Jacksonborough, Va., in an attempt to disrupt Confederate communications and logistics. In his diary, Pvt. Jesse Tyler Sturm of Company H, 14th W.Va. Infantry, described their work as saboteurs: “We were having all sorts of fun heating rails and twisting them around trees.”

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Although Gen. Crook’s army immediately left to reinforce Hunter’s unit, he met with significant setbacks along the way that prevented his troops from reaching Hunter in time to help. Hunter’s unit was engaged in what would come to be called the Battle of Piedmont. The date was June 5, 1864. A highly descriptive account of Crook’s logistical problems appeared in the July 15, 1864 issue of The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer:

 

“Gen. Crook would have been up on time to have rendered good service in the battle between Gen. Hunter and the rebel [William “Grumble”] Jones, but for the miserable, stinking, rotten condition of his transportation. Think of mules, one and two years of age, and colts four only, drawing wagons across ‘mountains without roads, and streams without fords,’ and do not wonder that Gen. Crook was not able to join Hunter in time to capture the whole rebel force under Jones; especially as he was delayed some eleven days at Meadow Bluff for the want even of sucking mules and colts to transport his supplies of provisions and ammunition.”

 

March on Lexington

After the Union’s victory at the Battle of Piedmont, Hunter and Crook’s armies met up in Staunton, where they were joined by Brigadier General William W. Averell’s cavalry unit. This combined force left Staunon on June 6th. Their journey to Lynchburg was later reported in the July 15, 1864 issue of The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer in an item submitted by an unidentified witness:

 

“On the 10th [June] the command left Staunton - General Crook's division taking the Lexington pike by way of Middlebrook, and come upon [Confederate] Gen. McCausland, commanding some 2,000 men, three miles out of town. The skirmishing was very heavy all day, but we marched 24 miles and camped at Brownsburg. We lost 3 killed and 6 wounded, the rebels losing more than three times as many. ...

 

“At 10 a.m. on June 11th, the command arrived opposite Lexington, having marched 12 miles since 5 o'clock. ...

 

“The rebels opened upon us in a spirited manner with both artillery and musketry, which continued for five hours without the least cessation. But when they observed that the 2nd brigade had succeeded in crossing the river on our right, some distance above the town, the rebels beat a hasty retreat, leaving everything in our hands. ...They burnt the bridge over North river on the pike, and fought us from the town, thinking, no doubt, that the ‘principles of civilized warfare’ would prevent us from ‘throwing shell and canister’ amongst them, but we ‘shot it to them’ upon the principles of good gunnery, smashing up their houses, breaking their bones, and driving them from their ‘own dunghills’ of which we took possession at 5 o'clock p.m., and went into camp in sight of Stonewall Jackson's tomb, at the head of which stood a pole stripped by traitors’ hands of the emblem of treason, as we entered the place.”

 

Virginia Military Institute

The next day, June 12th, Hunter and Crook’s men torched the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. Jesse Tyler Sturm describes the encounter in his diary:

 

“The rebel force and the cadets at the institute made a determined stand. It was almost certain death for any of our men to expose themselves owing to the accuracy of the fire of those cadets, who had measured the distance to every exposed position and with their long practice in the use of improved firearms, their aim was unerring. Gen. Hunter, by flank movement, compelled the enemy to evacuate and we took possession without a general battle. We gutted the military school, but did not destroy the building, although by all the rules of War we had a perfect right to, as they had made it a place of offense and defense.”

 

Battle of Lynchburg

The article in the July 15, 1864 issue of The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer goes on to tell us what happened after Crook’s army left Lexington and as they attempted to take Lynchburg.

 

“On the 16th [June], having ascertained that there was nothing serious to be apprehended from Breckinridge just then, we set out at 5 A.M. and arrived at Liberty [Virginia] at 10 o'clock, where we found three hospitals filled with Lee's sick and wounded. Here we pitched into the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, and tore up the track for 12 miles, piling the rails on and across the ties, and burning them when they were worth burning. We burnt a number of culverts and pieces of trestle work, besides several bridges, one of which was upwards of 700 feet long, and camped that night on Wilks' farm, eleven miles from Liberty, on the Fount road, in the direction of Lynchburg. This work of destruction was all done by Crook's division. The rebels destroyed the bridges on every road and built barricades without number, but on we moved.

 

“On the 17th at 5 o'clock Crook's division started, and travelling the Forrest road, came into the main road about 8 miles from Lynchburg precisely at 10:25, hated for the rear to come up. I must here remark, not altogether incidentally, that Crook has the faculty of marching troops more rapidly than any other general within my knowledge. On this march we burnt Forrest depot and committed some other acts of ‘vandalism’ perfectly monstrous in the minds of the rebs. Gen. Hunter came up at 3 p.m. and the command moved off within an hour after his arrival. Here we may say the fighting commenced, for the skirmishing was very heavy indeed. - Crook's division drew the enemy from point to point - from position to position, until he reached his ranks, and from there he was driven after a fierce resistance, leaving in our hands 4 pieces of artillery. But just while things were going along, night come upon us and thus Lynchburg, we all feel, was lost - for all night along the trains were coming in with reinforcements to the enemy, and next morning found us not confronted with 10 or 12 thousand men, made up of granddads and babies, and the mother of Grachi, but with an army of veterans from 30,000 to 40,000 strong.

 

“The next morning we fought them, but it was really in self defence. The day before our last rations were issued, our ammunition was getting scant. The enemy was reported to be missing on our flanks; our supplies were exhausted; and since the hour for the capture of Lynchburg had passed, and there being no equivalent for the risk of a battle with a very largely superior force, General Hunter and Crook thought it proper to retire.”

 

In his diary, Jesse Tyler Sturm paints a sobering picture of the retreat, reflecting in just a few words the grim effects of the defeat on his unit: "We loaded our empty wagon-train (having issued the last rations the night before) with wounded and established a hospital for the seriously hurt and started on our long retreat with a victorious enemy at our heels."

 

After the loss at Lynchburg, Hunter and Crook started their retreat back to basecamp as the enemy chased after them. Anticipating another attack, Gen. Crook’s men were sent to confront the enemy, but mercifully, the Confederates did not attack. The article from The Daily Wheeling Intelligencer reports this last non-engagement in the most heroic of terms:

 

"... Gen. Crook was again ordered to the most dangerous and responsible, but at the same time most honorable and complimentary position; he was sent to the front; proudly he went; more proudly and haughtily still his brave boys followed him. But the enemy made not his appearance.”

 

Although Company A lost no soldiers in the above skirmishes and battles, James H. Russell of New Milton was wounded at the Battle of Lynchburg. He was sent to a hospital in Charleston, where he quickly recovered. He was back with his unit by July to participate in upcoming battles. 

 

And here I must close for now. I had hoped to get a little further in the story, but unfortunately I am out of space. Next week I will pick up at Crook’s retreat from Lynchburg and the grueling march that left his men exhausted and emaciated. Lurking ahead for them was the Battle of Fisher’s Hill, a hard-fought Union victory which would prove to be a fateful engagement for some of Company A’s Doddridge County soldiers.

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The Historic Trail of Our Civil War Soldiers - Part 4

October 11, 2019 issue of The Doddridge Independent

 

This week I pick up after the Civil War’s Battle of Lynchburg on June 18, 1864. Once again I will be relating only those events involving Company A, 14th W.Va. Infantry Regiment, which was comprised almost exclusively of Doddridge County recruits. By the summer of 1864, as part of Gen. George Crook’s VIII Army Corps, the 14th Regiment was sent to the Shenandoah Valley with the mission to wipe out Gen. Jubal Early’s Confederate Army of the Valley. Early’s army had established the Shenandoah Valley as a base from which to run incursions into Washington D.C., Maryland and West Virginia. 

 

Retreat from Lynchburg

After being defeated by the Confederates at Lynchburg, Gen. Crook and his army, including our men from Doddridge County, started their retreat to Meadow Bluff in Greenbrier County, W.Va. As they fled Lynchburg, with the enemy hot on their heels, their rations were extremely low.  After many skirmishes with the rebels, the infantrymen under Crook reached Meadow Bluff, only to find that all the food and ammunition left there under the protection of a volunteer regiment had been stolen by the enemy. Exhausted and emaciated, they abandoned Meadow Bluff and marched 40 miles over mountainous terrain to Gauley Bridge, where they were fully re-supplied. From there they continued their march to Camp Piatt near Belle, W.Va., 15 miles south of Charleston.

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The following is an excerpt from Col. Daniel D. Johnson’s Regimental Report, written on Christmas Day 1864 from Opequon Bridge in Winchester, Virginia, retelling the horrors of that grueling journey. Johnson was himself wounded at Opequon. After the war, he served in the West Virginia State Senate, representing Tyler County.

 

"We were now entering a barren mountainous country almost out of rations in forage and a very limited supply in the country through which we were to pass and we must travel nearly 200 miles before we could reach supplies. The command was without bread for eight days. The suffering endured from hunger and fatigue was intense, yet they bravely met the trial and marched almost continually day and night. There were many poor fellows who laid down by the roadside and died, but the 14th Regt lost none in this way."

 

Harassed by an Implacable Foe

Another account of the ordeal can be found in a July, 1864 issue of the Gallipolis Journal (Ohio), describing the “endurance, courage and heroism” of Crook’s infantry, of which Doddridge County’s Company A was a part:

 

“Gen. Crook left Meadow Bluff [for Lynchburg] with 180,000 rations, less than half the number he should have had. His men marched on foot over 200 miles, participated in several battles and skirmishes and finally when outnumbered at Lynchburg, started on their return, without any supplies whatever. Harrassed by an implacable foe, these brave and gallant men marched steadily forward night and day, without food or rest, under a burning sun, parched with thirst, half naked, many without tents or blankets until they reached the point whence they started a month previous. 

 

“No description can give an adequate idea of the fatigue and suffering of these brave infantry regiments. Many dropped by the wayside from sheer exhaustion and starvation. The accounts furnished us by those who safely got through justify the belief that for terrible suffering from hunger, thirst and fatigue in marching so far on foot, the infantry engaged in this raid have earned a reputation for power of endurance, courage and heroism, unsurpassed in the annals of this war.”

 

Fourth of July at Pomeroy

On July 4th, the 14th W.Va. Infantry Regiment, under the command of Col. Daniel D. Johnson’s 2nd Brigade, left Camp Piatt on a steamer headed for the Shenandoah Valley. The route was a circuitous one. They first traveled up the Kanawha River to Point Pleasant and Gallipolis, where the Kanawha empties into the Ohio River. From there they traveled, again by steamboat, up the Ohio River. Private Jesse Tyler Sturm of Co. H, 14th W.Va. Infantry, describes in his diary what they found upon reaching Pomeroy, Ohio:

 

"The city was in gala attire in honor of the nation's birthday. Buildings were decorated, flags flying and gaily dressed women and children crowded the wharf when they heard a regiment of soldiers had arrived. They brought chicken, pies, cakes, lemonade and all the goodies collected for their celebration dinner. This was an exhibition of patriotism and hospitality that we were entirely unused to. We were reluctant to have our old boat pull away from the wharf."

 

From Pomeroy they traveled up the Ohio River to Parkersburg, W.Va., where they boarded a train on the Northwestern Virginia Railroad and headed by rail to Clarksburg. That stretch of railroad is now known as the North Bend Rail Trail and passes directly through Doddridge County. I have to wonder what our boys from Company A were thinking as they were whisked by their homes and loved ones, after having experienced the horrors of war and not knowing what battles and privations lay ahead in the Confederate stronghold of the Shenandoah Valley. 

 

Lomax Abandons Bunker Hill

The 14th W.Va. Infantry Regiment left Clarksburg and proceeded by rail to Martinsburg in Berkeley County, W.Va., where on July 12, 1864 they joined the other brigades of Gen. Isaac H. Duval’s 2nd Division. However, Confederate Brig. Gen. Lunsford Lomax and his unit of mounted infantry kept them from advancing to Winchester. 

 

Duval’s 2nd Division helped drive Lomax back to Bunker Hill, W.Va., where Lomax took command of a mill race and several buildings in the town. However, Union skirmishers flanked the mill race and the Confederates fled without a fight. 

 

If the name Lunsford Lomax sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve written about him before (https://www.doddridgecountyheritageguild.com/jones-imboden-raid-in-doddridge-cou.) Then a Colonel, Lunsford Lomax with his men of the 11th Virginia Cavalry attacked Smithburg and West Union on May 6, 1863 during the Jones-Imboden raid on the Northwestern Virginia Railroad (later the B&O). That raid proved to be the only military engagement in Doddridge County throughout the Civil War.

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Battle of Carter’s Farm

After leaving Bunker Hill on the Valley Turnpike, the 2nd Division marched south toward Stephenson’s Depot, Virginia. Once there they were confronted by Confederate Gen. Ramseur's Division, which had been encamped at a place called Carter’s Farm, also known as Rutherford’s Farm. Col. Daniel D. Johnson of the 14th Regiment explains the events of that day in his Regimental Report:

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"On the 20th day of July we resumed the march [from Bunker Hill]. Arriving at Stephenson's Depot we found the enemy in our front. The Brigade was formed in line as follows, the 14th and 19th West Va. and 91st and 34th Ohio from right to left in the order named. When within 600 yards of the rebels we charged upon them, completely routing their whole force, capturing 4 pieces of artillery, 250 prisoners and about 1,000 stand of small arms. When it is remembered our little Brigade, Col. (now General) I. H. Duval commanding, only 1,350 men, and that the rebels Division opposed to us, commanded by the rebel General Ramseur, number 5,600 men, and that we charged upon them in their closer position, completely routing them. I think it will not be denied that this is one of the most brilliant victories of the war. ... We fell back that night two miles for water, the Cavalry holding the battlefield. The next morning we marched into Winchester." 

 

In his diary, the 14th Regiment’s Jesse Tyler Sturm tells of the aftermath:

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"In this battle our regiment had taken more prisoners than the regiment numbered before it went into battle. There were more dead rebels in front of my company than we numbered after the battle and that included two rebel generals, for be it remembered that Gen. Lilly died the next day. I saw him a few minutes before he died and sat under the same apple tree with him. He was waiting his turn to have his arm and leg amputated and when the surgeons did so he died." 

 

Second Battle of Kernstown

After their victory at Carter’s Farm, the 2nd Division was sent to Winchester to meet up with the rest of Gen. Crook’s army. On July 24, 1864 Confederate Gen. Jubal Early left Strasburg, Virginia and moved his 14,000 troops toward Winchester, where he hoped to drive Gen. Crook's Union army out of the Shenandoah Valley. Crook had advanced on Winchester with 10,000 soldiers, putting his Army at a serious disadvantage. 

 

After almost an hour of heavy fighting, the Union line collapsed under the might of the much larger Confederate force. Crook's army suffered approximately 1,200 casualties, while Early's had only 600.

 

Death of Lafayette Swiger

There is confusion in the records as to the exact location of the 14th Regiment during the battle. It appears that the various companies within the Regiment were split up prior to the engagement. The one thing we know for sure is that Company A’s Lafayette Swiger, a Doddridge native from Pike Fork, McClellan District, died during or in the immediate aftermath of the Second Battle of Kernstown. The following story, written by Dennis W. Kellison of Winchester, gives us the most plausible explanation of Swiger’s death. Kellison is a distant relative of Lafayette Swiger and has done an immense amount of research on him. Kellison writes:

 

“Sunday, July 24, 1864, dawned hot and sultry. As troops from the 14th West Virginia, part of Colonel Daniel Johnson’s brigade, prepared breakfast in camp on a piece of low ground in Winchester northwest of Bowers Hill, the sound of small arms fire rolled into the Union camp. Whether Private Swiger remained in camp or attended religious services offered by the regiment’s chaplain on the front portico of Willow Lawn near the Valley Pike is uncertain. Throughout the morning what first started as ragged small arms fire from the direction of Kernstown grew into a more consistent fire. Corporal Jesse Tyler Sturm, one of Swiger’s comrades in the 14th, wrote that ‘we heard ominous sounds in the direction of Kernstown… The battle was now plainly nearing us. We were listening to the sermon with one ear and to the battle with the other.’

 

“As Confederate general Jubal Early’s army forced General George Crook’s Army of West Virginia from the field at Kernstown that afternoon and pushed to the southern outskirts of Winchester, the 14th West Virginia was summoned, as one member of the regiment noted, ‘to cover the retreat of our army, who were rapidly giving way all along the line.’ The regiment, originally informed that it would be held in reserve because of the significant losses it suffered at the Battle of Rutherford’s [Carter’s] Farm four days previously, now along with the rest of Johnson’s brigade, had to slow Early’s onslaught. The effort ultimately proved futile. The 14th’s veterans, along with the rest of Crook’s command, retreated ‘first at a quick step, next on a double quick and then almost a run.’ During that retreat a Confederate bullet struck Swiger in the head and killed him....

 

“As Crook’s army retreated north toward Martinsburg, Private Swiger’s body remained on the field. More than likely his body was buried in a mass grave and perhaps later moved to the unknown section in the Winchester National Cemetery. But the final whereabouts of his remains can never be known for certain.”

 

Lafayette Swiger was Company A’s only fatality of the Kernstown engagement, but not its only casualty. Pvt. Lewis M. Dennison of New Milton’s Coldwater community was severely wounded in the neck by a musket ball while guarding the Union’s retreat from Kernstown. He was later able to return to duty and served for the remainder of the war.

 

Repercussions of Kernstown Defeat

The Confederate victory at Kernstown left Crook's army no choice but to flee the Shenandoah Valley, meaning that Gen. Jubal Early was once more free to march on Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.

 

President Abraham Lincoln was now more determined than ever to destroy Early’s Army of the Valley. He vowed to once more push the rebels from the Valley and lay waste to the Confederacy's fertile "bread basket." To this end, he put the entire Shenandoah Valley area, including Company A, 14th W.Va. Infantry, under the command of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Next week we’ll rejoin our Doddridge boys at the first battle of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, the success of which was vital to the outcome of the war. 

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The Historic Trail of Our Civil War Soldiers - Part 5

October 18, 2019 issue of The Doddridge Independent

 

Last week I left off with the Confederate victory at the Second Battle of Kernstown on July 24, 1864. Union forces, including the 14th Regiment of which Doddridge County’s Company A was a part, immediately retreated toward Harpers Ferry, W.Va., allowing Confederate Brig. Gen. John McCausland’s troops to advance on Maryland and Pennsylvania. 

 

Up to this point, civilians and towns had remained relatively safe from invading armies. There appeared to be a mutual understanding that cattle, food and supplies were fair game, but that local residents and their homes were not to be harmed or destroyed. Once in a while, an official’s home or holdings would be torched or ransacked, but never a wide-scale destruction of civilian property.

 

Burning of Chambersburg

But all that changed when McCausland, following Gen. Jubal Early’s orders, torched the entire town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania when its citizens could not pay his ransom of $500,000, or $100,000 in gold. According to Scott C. Patchen, author of Shenandoah Summer, 278 homes and businesses, 98 farm buildings and 173 outbuildings were consumed by flames. “The major part of Chambersburg - its chief wealth and business, its capital and elegance - were laid in ruins. Ten squares of buildings were burned and two thousand human beings were made homeless, and many of them penniless … from this disaster, the majority never recovered.”

 

McCausland’s troops proceeded on to Hancock, Maryland where they continued to harass civilians. They then marched to Cumberland, Maryland, where McCausland once more demanded a ransom from the residents. But before Cumberland could be torched, Union troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Kelley won a tactical battle against the Confederates, saving the town of Cumberland. Through heavy skirmishing McCausland and his troops marched to Romney, W.Va. where they rested for a short while, then continued on to destroy portions of the B&O Railroad and bridges at New Creek in Mineral County. Here McCauland, once more defeated by Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Kelley, was forced to retreat to Moorefield. On August 7, 1864 at the Battle of Moorefield, Union troops under the command of Gen. William Averell forced McCausland and his men to fall back to Virginia. 

 

Lincoln Desperate for Victory

Despite their eventual success against McCausland, at this point in the war, things were generally not going well for President Abraham Lincoln and the Union. With no recent Federal victories and feeling the sting of McCausland’s Confederate raids in Union territory, the war-weary North was losing confidence in Lincoln’s ability to win the war. Fearing he would not be re-elected, Lincoln and his commander of all Union armies, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, devised a three-pronged plan to destroy the Confederacy by decimating their economy and burning their fertile lands.

 

As part of the plan, Grant sent Gen. George Meade’s Army of the Potomac to fight against Confederate Robert E. Lee's army in Richmond. Secondly, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was sent to attack the Confederate army of Tennessee at Georgia. And thirdly, Gen. Philip Sheridan’s army, of which Doddridge County's Company A was a part, was sent to destroy Jubal Early's Confederate army in the Shenandoah Valley. This was essentially a so-called “scorched earth” strategy.  As Grant told Sheridan, “if the war is to continue another year, we want the Shenandoah Valley to remain a barren waste.”

 

Our Doddridge County soldiers of the 14th Regiment did not participate in the earlier fighting at New Creek or Moorefield. Instead they were marching as part of Gen. Crook’s 8th Army Corps enroute to the Shenandoah Valley. The 8th Army Corps joined forces with the 6th and 19th Army Corps, as well as three cavalry divisions, to form Gen. Philip Sheridan’s newly created 39,000-man Army of the Shenandoah. By early August 1864 Sheridan’s army and Confederate Gen. Jubal Early’s army were both ensconced in the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley between Cedar Creek and Fisher’s Hill, near Winchester. Clearly, something had to give.

 

Skirmish on Massanutten Mountain

A prominent geographical feature looming over both armies was the Massanutten Mountain, rising almost 3,000 feet above the valley. The rebels had placed an observation point and signal station there that allowed them to follow the movements of both armies. The tactical advantage of controlling that location was attractive to the Union as well, who sought to secure it for their own use.

 

Col. Daniel D. Johnson of the 14th W.Va. Infantry documented their failed attempt to do so, writing in his Regimental report, "On the 15th day of August the 14th Regt. was ordered to assist in establishing a signal station on the top of Massanutten Mountain. They made the attempt and marched to the top of the mountain and skirmished heavily with the rebels, losing two killed and two wounded. The rebels being a strong force, the regiment was compelled to withdraw."

 

Doddridge County’s Company A, 14th Regiment, participated in this march up Massanutten Mountain. The following is an excerpt from the diary of Jesse Tyler Sturm, who served in Company H of the 14th Regiment:

 

"We got to the top of the mountain in rear of the enemy about 10 o'clock [am]; by that time our water was all gone. We formed our line of battle and moved forward, but soon encountered a heavy line of skirmishers which we drove back. ... It was soon discovered that the  enemy far exceeded us in numbers and that it was not prudent to advance further. ... As we descended the mountain it was so steep in places that we had to hand the wounded from one set of men down to another. Finally after dark we reached a farmhouse at the mountain's base, where we dressed the wounds of the wounded and left them. We crossed the river and the men drank water and vomited and drank more and did the same thing over. About midnight we arrived at our camp more dead than alive. To this day I do not take a drink of water when I am right thirsty but my mind reverts back to Massanutten mountain...  From the mountain top that day I saw a grand sight - two armies in repose. The rebel army occupied the plain north of Strasburg, while Sheridan's force lay just north of Cedar Creek."

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Action at Halltown, Virginia

After the failed attempt to take Massanutten Mountain, Sheridan’s large army fell back to Harpers Ferry in Jefferson County, W.Va. Thanks to the diary of Jesse Tyler Sturm, we know exactly what our Doddridge County men of the 14th were doing at that time:

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“We were enjoying this camp as only men can after our long hard marches in the heat and dust, when one day we heard the long roll beating. I happened to be not far away and when I reached camp the order was to be ready to march at a moment's notice. ... Heavy firing indicated that Early was bearing down upon us with his whole army. We took position in front of Charlestown and went to intrenching. ...  night came on and firing died down, and when it was thoroughly dark we fell back and took a new position with Halltown on the battle line. ...

 

"The next day our brigade, commanded by Gen. Duval, was ordered out on a reconnaissance in force. I always dreaded them; they are generally the hardest kind of fights, with little honor attaching. We are expected to drive in the picket line and all advanced forces and make the enemy uncover his strength along our whole line. It is during this uncovering process we are apt to be roughly handled. We moved out by our left front. Our course lay through a heavy timber to within 500 yards of the enemies main works. ... When we struck the enemy they seemed completely surprised and did not make a strong resistance. We soon drove their skirmishers back and then opened furiously on the brigade. They could not stand it long and fell back to their main works. 

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“Now, as I said, here is where trouble comes in, in a reconnaissance in force. We had to develop the whole line and to do so had to move close enough to their works to draw their fire, and when they opened on us it was with so many guns that we suffered severely before we could get back out of range. As soon as their first cannon was fired the object of our reconnaissance was accomplished; but we could not let loose; hence I say I never learn to like them. ...”

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That day, on August 26, 1864 at Halltown, Company A’s Arnold Childers Snider, 24, from New Milton, was shot through the calf of his left leg with a musket ball. Three days later he was transferred to the US General Hospital in Frederick, Maryland. On October 28 he was transferred to Mower US General Hospital at Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia. From there he was sent to a hospital in Parkersburg, W.Va., where he remained until the end of the war.

 

The intensity of the skirmishes on Massanutten Mountain, and the nature of the 14th’s retreat under fire, were described at length by Jesse Tyler Sturm. Unable to carry all their dead back down the mountain for proper burial, they instead placed several of them in crevices of rock and rolled other rocks over them. Jesse Tyler Sturm continues:

 

“The following day we spent in burying the dead, caring for the wounded and replenishing our ammunition. That day a detail came to our company for two picked men to serve in an independent company to operate against Mosby. The company was to be made up of two from each company until they had 100 men, to be placed under command of Captain [Richard] Blazer of the 91st Ohio."

 

Presumably two men were selected in this manner from Company A to join Captain Blazer's scouts, but I have been able to verify only one of them. Nineteen-year-old Solomon Williams from Doddridge County joined Blazer in his expedition to take down Confederate Ranger John S. Mosby’s men who were disrupting Sheridan’s supply line. I will be writing more about that later in this series. 

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