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 THE JAMES VERNER SCAIFE 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CIVIL WAR LITERATURE 
 
 THE GIFT OP 
 
 JAMES VERNER SCAIFE 
 
 CLASS OF IB89 
 
 1919 
 
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 Heroes and 8JB'S»„St„,.te,,?.iSLl!in^^ °* 
 
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 3 1924 032 376 109 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032376109 
 
HEROES AND SPIES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CIVIL WAR 
 
^jAN Ar«-*-*»'ii^/^/x.«*< 
 
HEROES AND SPIES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CIVIL WAR 
 
 BY 
 
 DAVID HUMPHREYS 
 
 Of the original "Stonewall" Brigade, and later 
 Captain in Ashby's Cavalry. 
 
 New York and Washington 
 
 The Neale Publishing Company 
 
 M C M I I 1 
 
 9- 
 
% 
 
 0^ 
 
 A.3?4'^=)4 
 
 Copyright, igoj 
 By The Neale Publishins Company 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 To the memory of my dear wife, who en- 
 dured the trials and sufferings of war and the 
 privations and poverty which followed in its 
 wake; from whom I was parted a year at a 
 time; whose home was within the enemy's 
 lines, and in a town which changed hands 
 more than a hundred times, often shelled and 
 set afire; who was often within the sound of 
 the dull thud of artillery, showing that battles 
 were in progress, without being able for 
 weeks after to know whether I was dead or 
 alive; and who risked all kinds of exposure 
 and danger to come to my side when I was 
 wounded — with loving gratitude I dedicate 
 this little book, my first work during my re- 
 covery from an illness that took me down to 
 the border-land between life and death. 
 
 The Author. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter. Page 
 
 I. The Escape, 13 
 
 11. Operations in the Valley, 29 
 
 III. Strange Experiences, 45 
 
 IV. As Told by the Camp-fire, .... 55 
 V. More Camp-fire Tales, 70 
 
 VI. Risky Business — More Stories, 86 
 
 VII. A Banquet and Other Things, 115 
 
 VIII. Fun, Fighting and Facts, 120 
 
 IX. The Closing of Contre's Career, 146 
 X. The Wilderness— First Conflict 
 
 with General Grant, 168 
 
 XI. Beginning of the End, 182 
 
 XII. Some Reminiscences, 193 
 
 XIII. Cavalry vs. Infantry — Stonewall 
 
 Jackson, 206 
 
 XIV. Summary — The End 212 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It has been held, and truly, that the man 
 in whose veins are commingled the blood of 
 the pious Puritans of New England and the 
 chivalric Cavalier of the South is the grand- 
 est man that God ever made. No higher il- 
 lustration of that truth can be found than in 
 the lives of some of the men whose deeds of 
 heroism are herein recorded. Some from 
 the North and some from the South. 
 
 When the first gun was fired at Sumter the 
 reverberation of its shell went around the 
 world, proclaiming that the greatest and 
 bravest people on earth had been rent by the 
 question of States rights and Federal su- 
 premacy. We of the South had been educat- 
 ed to beHeve that our State was first in our 
 hearts and first in our affections and loyalty; 
 while our brethren of the North, equally 
 honest, equally brave, were taught to regard 
 the Nation and its symbol as supreme. That 
 constituted the irrepressible conflict of which 
 
10 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 Mr. Seward spoke. Never was the institu- 
 tion' of slavery the cause of the great strug- 
 gle. It was to reconcile two conflicting ideas 
 and to fuse two antagonistic elements in the 
 hot crucible of war, and make them one peo- 
 ple, and the grandest people upon which the 
 sun ever shone. 
 
 Many years ago, I remember that in riding 
 through one of the great silent forests of 
 ■cypress that fringe the banks of the Missis- 
 sippi River I noticed some score of feet above 
 the earth a white line running all through 
 that forest for miles and miles. Below that 
 line the trunks of those great monarchs of 
 the forest were of one color — above that 
 they were another. The cause, I learned, 
 ■was that the turbid waters of the Mississippi, 
 when they came down in that immense flood 
 that knows no resisting power, had discolor- 
 ed those trunks. Above they were all fair; 
 below all foul. That was the high-water 
 mark, and we, too, in our generation have 
 seen the high-water mark of passion and prej- 
 udice, of war and misery. Happily, however, 
 all that is passed, to be seen no more. The 
 fires in that chasm were quenched in brother's 
 blood. 
 
 No stranger character came to the surface 
 during the bloody strife of our inter-state war 
 than the one mysterious foreigner whose 
 
INTRODUCTION,. 1 1 
 
 varied experiences are interwoven with those 
 of the chivalric men with whom he mingled 
 in camp, march, and field of carnage. That 
 man played a desperate game ; one, indeed; so 
 strange that it is hard to believe. 
 
 . The adventures recounted and the danger- 
 ous risks incurred are all truly told, though 
 they may seem stranger than fiction. None 
 of which to the writer seems stranger than 
 the fact that he was shot three times, at short 
 range, with a rifle, and carried across the 
 Rappahannock River for dead, and yet sur- 
 vives to record these strange things. 
 
 The author assumes the name of Marr in 
 this little book, and his reason for so doing 
 is that he might thereby avoid the too fre- 
 quent use of the personal pronoun "I." 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ESCAPE. 
 
 One gloomy day in February, 1862, a 
 squad of men were hovering around a fire 
 kindled against a great old stump, which 
 served as a good back-log or fire-back for the 
 burning wood. The little group was clad in 
 the rough gray in use by the Southern sol- 
 diers, and was composed of a lieutenant, a 
 sergeant, a corporal and four private soldiers. 
 This was a cavalry picket reserve, and to 
 them was committed the duty of preventing 
 the passage along the road of any and every 
 one who might attempt, to go through the 
 lines in either direction. This road led from 
 Winchester to Strasburg in the Valley of Vir- 
 ginia, and ran nearly parallel to the great Val- 
 ley Turnpike, so well known as the "Great 
 Army Highway." 
 
 At the time of our look at this reserve sta- 
 tion it is a little after daylight. The opera- 
 
14 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 tion of frying the bacon rations is for the 
 moment neglected, as the sergeant calls at- 
 tention to the approach of two men on horse- 
 back coming slowly from the direction of 
 Winchester, where General Banks was en- 
 camped with the Union army. Lieutenant 
 Marr took up his glass and soon observed 
 that one of the two was of his picket post 
 men, and that the other was dressed in blue 
 and was evidently a "Yankee." He ordered 
 his squad to mount and draw up along the 
 roadside. 
 
 Soon the two came up to the lieutenant, 
 when Private John Mason, the picket, after 
 saluting his commanding officer, explained 
 that the man with him had come up boldly 
 to within hailing distance of him and his com- 
 rade, and been challenged, made to dismount 
 and surrender, as he could not give the coun- 
 tersign, and that he now turned him over a 
 prisoner. Lieutenant Marr told the prisoner 
 to give an account of himself and why he was 
 found so near the Southern lines. 
 
 The captive said that he wished to be sent 
 on to the camp of Gen. Turner Ashby, and to 
 him alone would he state the cause of his 
 voluntary surrender to the picket guard. 
 
 ^s the man was evidently perfectly cool 
 and self-possessed, and would not talk for the 
 enlightenment of the lieutenant, he was or- 
 
THE ESCAPE. 15 
 
 dered to dismount from his fine roan horse 
 and to give up any weapons he might have^ 
 To the surprise of the squad, he handed over 
 not only a fine sabre, but from the ample 
 breast of his overcoat a pair of beautiful 
 ivory-handled, silver-plated revolvers, that 
 made the eyes as v^^ell as the mouths of the 
 men water. Finding that though he was not 
 compelled to talk, yet that he must make a 
 complete showing of all his worldly belong- 
 ings, he took from the roll behind his saddle 
 a large package containing medicines and sur- 
 gical instruments, which he asked to be al- 
 lowed to ttirn over to General Ashby; and 
 followed up his request by the ofifer of his 
 canteen of real brandy and a well-filled purse 
 to the custody of the officer. These last 
 items quite confirmed Lieutenant Marr in his 
 purpose to treat the man kindly and gently. 
 
 A few hours later the relief arrived, and 
 Marr, with hjs men and the mysterious 
 stranger, started up toward General Ashby's 
 camp. After a march of three miles, the 
 camp of the regimental reserve was reached. 
 Lieutenant Marr sent his sergeant, with all 
 but one of the men, to camp. Taking with 
 him Private Mason and the prisoner, he sent 
 to the tent of the colonel in command and 
 asked permission to take the prisoner to Gen- 
 eral Ashby. An order to this intent was 
 
1 6 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 handed him, when he, with Mason as guard, 
 headed with their prisoner up the Valley, and 
 after a ride of two hours reached Ashby's 
 headquarters, and dismounting was soon 
 heard, and was ordered to bring in his prison- 
 er. This was done, and the few who were 
 permitted to be present at that meeting will 
 ever remember it. General Ashby stood fac- 
 ing the entrance to the tent — a man seen 
 once, never to be forgotten. In stature five 
 feet ten inches, thick, long black hair; a 
 ruddy face, nearly covered with a long flow- 
 ing beard of black, which almost hid his bust, 
 and eyes that had at some times the gentle 
 expression of a girl, while when aroused or 
 excited they flashed with a power that all 
 about him felt. He was a cavalier who had 
 the gentlest of voices when calm, yet in bat- 
 tle no sound was able to drown his com- 
 mands. 
 
 The prisoner came forward with a light 
 step and a perfectly serene and rather smil- 
 ing face. He came up to and saluted Gen- 
 eral Ashby. The prisoner was a man not 
 over five feet seven inches high, of slight, 
 sinewy figure, grey eyes, light, close cut hair, 
 dark brown mustache and Vandyke beard. 
 His manner was quick and nervous, his voice, 
 as well as his whole appearance, showed him 
 to be a foreigner, while his English was so 
 
THE ESCAPE. 17 
 
 completely and correctly mastered that, but 
 for the Italian mellowness of his gutturals, 
 he could have been taken for an Englishman. 
 The two men looked at each other intently 
 for a moment in silence, broken by General 
 Ashby saying in rather a gentle, pitying tone, 
 "please proceed to give an account of your- 
 self." The prisoner said : "My name is Con- 
 tra; I am a son of General Contre, of Italy. 
 I came over to the United States out of a 
 spirit of adventure and because I had a love 
 affair that made it desirable that I should see 
 other countries. I tired of New York and of 
 travels in the East, and being a surgeon by 
 profession, I came on to Washington and se- 
 cured a commission as an assistant surgeon 
 in the U. S. Army. See, I have the insignia 
 of that rank" — showing the surgeon's badge 
 as he spoke. "I had little difficulty in get- 
 ting into the Federal Army with the letters 
 I had from home, but after getting there I 
 found that my sympathies were wholly with 
 the South. So strong did this become that 
 I was not as guarded as I should have been, 
 — possibly said more than I should have, — 
 and soon I was summoned to the general, 
 who, in the presence of his staff and several 
 surgeons, who were evidently posted as to 
 the proposed interview (and were there, I 
 thought, to enjoy my humiliation), severely 
 a 
 
1 8 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIIv WAR. 
 
 reprimanded me, and told me that if I was 
 so much in love with the rebels I ought to 
 go to their camp and offer them my valuable 
 services. I made the best defense that I 
 could, and declared that as long as I bore 
 the commission and wore the uniform of the 
 Union, I would be true to both; but as a 
 foreigner I could not feel that devotion to the 
 flag of the Union that was so properly felt 
 by the people of the North, who were as just- 
 ly proud of their country, as I was of mine. 
 This self humiliation did not have the effect 
 I had hoped it would, as the general ordered 
 me put under arrest and said that he would 
 send on a report that would bring me before 
 a court-martial, and, he added, that he hoped 
 I would be shot. 
 
 "This result was so harsh that I was ex- 
 tremely chagrined and mad all through. I 
 was marched off to a small house near the 
 building, used as a hospital, and a sentinel 
 was placed before the door. To escape or 
 die was then and there determined on, cost 
 what it might. I waited as quietly as I could 
 until the first guard was relieved and the sec- 
 ond got tired, and then when I saw he had 
 his face turned from me, I slid out of the 
 door quietly and slipped off to the stable 
 where the surgeon's horses were kept. For- 
 tunately for me, one of the surgeons of the 
 
THE ESCAPE. 19 
 
 hospital had ordered that his horse should be 
 ready at eleven o'clock that night, as he had 
 to go to Charlestown, nearly thirty miles 
 north of Winchester. His servant had, as I 
 afterwards learned, put the doctor's case, pis- 
 tols, and canteen of brandy upon the saddle. 
 An orderly was holding the bridle, and I saw 
 that he mistook me for his superior, for 
 whom he was waiting. , I just said,' all right, 
 you wait here 'until I see Captain Emmett 
 [this was the name of a well-known guard 
 officer] and then be ready to go with me.' 
 This took the orderly back to the stable in 
 surprise, and gave me the time I wanted. I 
 got into the saddle leisurely and came slowly 
 through Winchester. When near the edge 
 of the town, I found several horses hitched 
 to a yard fence. They were all fine horses 
 and well equipped, whose riders were having 
 a jolly time at a large residence near by. I 
 noticed a nice sabre hanging from the saddle 
 of one horse, and, as I am a good swordsman, 
 I took it along with me. 
 
 "I sought now to escape in earnest, and 
 knowing that there was a mountain road to 
 the west of the great Valley Turnpike that 
 by a longer route led to the Southern lines, 
 I made for and found that road. I pressed 
 quietly along for five or six miles until I saw 
 a camp in the woods, which I knew to be the 
 
20 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 Federal outpost reserve. I made a detour 
 into the woods long enough to clear the 
 sound of the camp, and bearing around I 
 came out south of it. But there was yet 
 another risk for me — that was the Federal 
 picket or outlook. He would of course be 
 looking- south for trouble, but if there should 
 be two of them a dash by would be danger- 
 ous, as those fellows had loaded guns. I did 
 want to escape, but did not want to kill a 
 poor fellow just because he was in my way, 
 so I tried another detour to get around the 
 station, and had just succeeded when I heard 
 a clatter of horses' feet in the rear, and then 
 I knew I was not to get off so easily. I put 
 spurs to my horse, which, though tired, was 
 a good one, and found that while I was fairly 
 flying, a few riders seemed rather to have 
 gained upon me. My game was flight as 
 long as my horse would last. I put him to 
 the top of his speed, and could in a little while 
 perceive that not more than two had gained 
 upon me, but they had gained greatly. 
 Another spurt, and over so rough a road that 
 I expected to break my neck, and I found 
 that one of the foremost horsemen was much 
 closer, though the other was farther back. 
 
 "Another dash of a mile and I found that 
 my horse had done his best, and that if still 
 pursued I must kill or be killed. Captured 
 
THE ESCAPE. 21 
 
 I would not be! I could now only hear the 
 hoof-beats of one horse, whose bold rider 
 was bent upon my scalp. I could discern him 
 coming like mad! I saw a large tree near 
 the road side, and I placed it as well as possi- 
 ble between the trooper and myself, and not 
 a moment too soon, as he began to call out 
 'halt !' and not seeing or hearing me, he fired. 
 I knew that he was an ofificer as soon as he 
 had discharged his pistol, and then I drew 
 out my sabre and waited. He came within 
 ten feet of me before he saw me, drew his 
 sabre as he checked his horse, and ordered 
 me to surrender, making a lunge at my 
 breast, which I parried. He was hot, and 
 bent on killing me, so I must disable him, 
 and this within a minute or less, as his men 
 would soon come up. I sent his sabre flying 
 from his grasp into the mud, and, as he was 
 no swordsman, soon had him flat on his back 
 in the road. I took his horse by the bridle, 
 turned his head in the direction from which 
 he had come, gave him a prick with the sabre 
 and started him back, and then made such 
 good time that I heard no more of him or his 
 followers. I came towards your pickets, and 
 after a ride of a few miles surrendered to 
 them. I now wish to get an appointment as 
 assistant surgeon in the Confederate Army, 
 or, if not that, an appointment in the line or 
 
22 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 the staff of some general officer, so that I can 
 avenge my own wrongs while I fight for the 
 South." 
 
 General Ashby said, "Mr. Centre, are you 
 such a swordsman that you could unhorse a 
 foe such as you have described, and are you 
 willing to give me a test of your swordsman- 
 ship?" 
 
 "Certainly ; I will be too glad to show you 
 that no man in your army can touch me with 
 his sabre. But, stay. In order to convince 
 you at once, bring in two or three of your 
 best men with the sabre; I will not hurt them 
 and they cannot touch me with their sabres.' ' 
 
 General Ashby called for two of his best 
 men ; said he would not so underestimate the 
 skill of his men as to set three against one; 
 went over to the open in the rear of his tent, 
 and Contre faced the two, bowed and stood 
 on guard to encourage the two men. 
 
 "I am not to harm you," he said, and "you 
 are to try your best to hurt me, even kill me 
 if you can." 
 
 Then, whirling his sabre like a flash he sent 
 that of one of the men from his grasp, ten 
 feet away; at the same time he parried the 
 thrust of the other; then stepped back and 
 asked his adversaries to make ready, and they 
 came at him again — two men nearly twice his 
 size and warmed up, with the resolve to show 
 
THE ESCAPE. 23 
 
 him "what Confeds could do." A little dis^ 
 tance apart, now on either side, or in front, 
 they cut, slashed, lunged and thrust, but in 
 vain. Quietly, and seemingly without any 
 exertion, he stood, while his sabre whirled 
 about him like a flashing shield of sparkling 
 steel. Soon the two men were tired out with 
 their labor, and drew back, admitting that 
 they were not in the contest. 
 
 General Ashby said: "I am satisfied, and 
 will send you on to Gen. Stonewall Jackson. 
 Lieutenant Marr, you can detail, such guard 
 as you wish to report to General Jackson with 
 Contre. Treat him kindly and protect him 
 from insult, and report on your return." 
 
 Lieutenant Marr told Contre to mount; 
 and with the prisoner between him and Pri- 
 vate Mason started for headquarters. 
 
 Private Acker, one of the two worn-out 
 contestants with Contre, was laughed at 
 heartily by all his companions as he approach- 
 ed the fire by which they were huddled. 
 "You may laugh at me, boys, but if all the 
 d — n Yankees can handle their sabres like 
 that dried-up little cuss, they can take Rich- 
 mond in a week, for all we can do fighting 
 them with cold steel. D^n the Yank, you 
 might as well butt your head against a stone 
 ■v(rall to hurt him, as to cut at him with a 
 
24 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 sabre! None of the rest of you asked to 
 take a hand with him, I notice." 
 
 Late that evening, Lieutenant Marr, with 
 his guard and prisoner, reached General 
 Jackson's headquarters. He went forward, 
 stated his mission to the officer in charge of 
 the couriers, and was soon told that the Gen- 
 eral would see him at once. 
 
 Lieutenant Marr had borne orders to and 
 from General Jackson, and knew him well. 
 On one occasion he had been sent by General 
 Ashby to see General Jackson in Staunton at 
 a hotel, and ask for orders. He had on ar- 
 rival been directed to the door of a room as 
 the one the General was sleeping in. He 
 knocked and heard a "who's there?" He re- 
 pHed, "A messenger from General Ashby." 
 The response came quckly, "come in." He 
 tried the door and found it locked. Again 
 the voice called, "come\in." He said meekly, 
 "the door is fastened, sir." "No, it is not, 
 come in." The Lieutenant threw his weight 
 against the door, which only creaked; then 
 he heard the General cross the room in his 
 bare feet, and unlock the door. He waited 
 for him to get under cover, and then entered 
 cap in hand, and was about to state his mis- 
 sion, when the General stopped him to say, 
 "I hope you will excuse me for being so sure 
 it was not locked, as you were entirely right 
 
THE ESCAPE. 25 
 
 in the matter, sir." Such attention to the 
 feelings and rights of others, even of sub- 
 ordinates, was chalracteristic of that great 
 man. 
 
 Lieutenant Mafr beckoned to Contre and 
 led him, followed by the guard, into the pres- 
 ence of the General, who heard the officer's 
 statement, that General Ashby had sent him. 
 The Lieutenant then moved aside, leaving 
 Contre confronting the man whose name 
 would in the future be known all over the 
 world. Contre was told to make his state- 
 ment, which he did, very much as he had 
 done to General Ashby. At the close of it 
 General Jackson said, "I will refer your case, 
 through the General of the Army, to the Gov- 
 ernment, and in the meantime you must not 
 go beyond my camp. I will give you orders 
 upon the commissary and quartermaster for 
 supplies and rations until further orders. 
 For the present I will turn you over to the 
 care of the stafif surgeon. Arms will not be 
 allowed you, and you will learn the will of 
 the War Department as soon as I receive 
 orders. Adjutant, see that these orders are 
 duly given." 
 
 As soon as they had passed the guard, 
 Contre turned to Lieutenant Marr and said, 
 "That is a great m^n, that General Jackson; 
 I just felt that he knew all I was going to say 
 
26 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVII< WAR. 
 
 before I said a word. And now, Lieutenant, 
 I never saw you until to-day, but I hate to 
 part with you, as I feel that you are a gener- 
 ous friend." 
 
 Indeed, Marr felt a kind of pity when he 
 thought of the lonely condition of this man, 
 thousands of miles from his native Italy ; re- 
 garded as a traitor by one army and under 
 the ban of suspicion with the other ; without 
 a home or friend on the whole continent of 
 America. 
 
 Lieutenant Marr found the way to the sur- 
 geon's headquarters, and after explaining 
 that General Jackson had commanded that 
 Contre should be left there, he parted with 
 him, with sincere pity for the young man, 
 who looked so like a boy, and yet who pos- 
 sessed so much self-reliance, and who was so 
 self-contained. After the lapse of two weeks 
 an answer came to the general commanding, 
 saying that the Department had declined to 
 permit Contre to enter the service in any 
 capacity ; that he should not remain with the 
 army, or go nearer than twenty miles of any 
 Confederate outpost, and that this order 
 should be sent to all ofiBcers in command of 
 the forces in the field. Otherwise, Contre 
 was to be free to go where he pleased. 
 
 He was greatly distressed, and wept be- 
 cause he was not allowed to go to the front 
 
TH5 ESCAPE. 27 
 
 I 
 
 and attest his genuine allegiance to his new 
 friends. He went to the town of Wood- 
 stock, Shenandoah County, in the Valley, and 
 secured board with a German family, with 
 whom he could converse as fluently as any 
 German. Indeed, while at the surgeon's 
 camp it had been found that he spoke Ger- 
 man, Italian, French, and Spanish, as well as 
 English, while his attainments as a surgeon 
 and swordsman were fully proved. As only 
 one old surgeon was left in the town who had 
 not entered the army. Centre let it be known 
 that he would attend the sick, and in a short 
 time had as much practice as he wanted. Fo'r 
 many months he observed his parole and 
 would vibrate up and down the valley, as the 
 army moved, keeping up the twenty-mile, re- 
 quirement. He was often cautioned that he 
 would fall into the hands of the Union troops, 
 but would laugh at the idea of capture. 
 
 These swayings back and forth of the op- 
 posing armies became so frequent, he said, 
 that such repeated movings were too bad for 
 him, and that as he had found a cave in the 
 mountain, only five miles off, where he could 
 hide so that the whole Federal Army could 
 not find him, he had made it a comfortable 
 retreat. This life went on for a few months, 
 until, through the influence of the Member 
 of Congress from that district, he succeeded 
 
28 HERODS AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 in getting a commission as assistant surgeon 
 in the Confederate Army. He beamed with 
 delight when this came ; he kissed it and car- 
 ried on with such childlike enthusiasm that 
 an old soldier said that it was equal to a 
 monkey show, and that he could only make 
 such a fool of himself on getting a discharge 
 from the army. Surgeon Contre was at- 
 tached to the army in the Valley. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE VAI,I,H;y. 
 
 General Jackson, with the bulk of his army, 
 made a raid into West Virginia leaving Major 
 Myers,* known as the "Shenandoah Myers," 
 in command of a small squadron of cavalry, 
 a lot of dismounts, "Company Q," and such 
 stragglers as could be scraped up. Major 
 Myers secured the detail of Lieutenant Marr 
 to help him organize his mongrel forces, and 
 of Assistant Surgeon Contre, who asked to 
 remain in the Valley, to be as near Marr as 
 possible. 
 
 Major Myers, fearing that the raid in West 
 Virginia would, if successful, eclipse a quiet 
 defense of the Valley, determined to move 
 down to Fisher's Hill, four miles from Stras- 
 burg and about twenty from Winchester, and 
 there try to bring the Federal cavalry to fol- 
 low his scouts up through the narrow defile 
 
 *Major Myers -was a Pennsylvanian, a furnace owner. He 
 died near New Market, Va. 
 
30 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIE WAR. 
 
 over the high, rocky causeway which winds 
 through the sharp rocks and dense cedars 
 up from the river to the high plain above. 
 
 He established his quarters at Woodstock, 
 and moved his little army of sixty cavalry and 
 seventy dismounts, with all kinds of arms, to 
 ambuscade the foe in the narrow, gloomy de- 
 file. In this plan he seemed to be most for- 
 tunate, for hardly had he placed his impro- 
 vised infantry in hiding before the outlook 
 from the high hill-top saw a body of cavalry 
 coming from the direction of Winchester, 
 twenty miles north. This elated Major My- 
 ers, who was never so happy as when in a 
 fight. He sent his brother, Captain Myers, 
 with the cavalry down the causeway to draw 
 on the enemy and decoy them to follow 
 through the defile, while Capt Neff would 
 command the infantry in ambush; and by 
 special favor he consented that his own staff, 
 consisting of L,ieutenant Marr and Assistant 
 Surgeon Contre, might take part with the 
 infantry in the ambush, though the two had 
 only a pistol and sabre each. A large body 
 of the Union forces — General Elliott's cav- 
 alry — came in sight, pursuing the little 
 squadron of Captain Myers, who was a jolly, 
 rollicking soldier, who always laughed at a 
 battle as boys do in a ball game. He fell 
 back, skirmishing as he retreated, and was 
 
OPERATIONS IN tHE VALI,EY. 3 1 
 
 steadily pursued, and when about a mile from 
 the defile, a heavy charge being made upon 
 him as if to cut him off, he retreated with 
 more haste and came back in a sharp trot past 
 the ambuscade, closely followed by a dash- 
 ing head of the column of the Federal cav- 
 alry. The order was for the infantry not to 
 fire until at least a hundred had passed up 
 the gorge, and then to open fire and cut that 
 many off; but owing to the excitement of 
 Doctor Contre, who was at the side of Lieu- 
 tenant Marr, he first fired, and a little be- 
 fore the order to fire was passed. In an in- 
 stant there was a sheet of flame, and a score 
 of men and horses went down in the narrow 
 road, while some in desperation went over 
 the steep cliff on the lower side of the road. 
 The head of the column, or what was left of 
 it, tried to turn back, only to find the road 
 blocked by fallen horses and men, and them- 
 selves to be shot by the infantry behind the 
 bushes. 
 
 Contre was like an enraged animal, and 
 killed three troopers with his own pistol, and 
 then stood shouting for the men to kill. A 
 few prisoners were taken, and many were 
 killed and wounded. When the Federals re- 
 treated to the valley below, and then took 
 their stand about twd miles off, but in sight. 
 Major Myers ordered his men to hold the 
 
32 HfiROSS AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 hill until night and then retreat to Wood- 
 stock, and called Lieutenant Marr and Sur- 
 geon Contre to return with him to Wood- 
 stock, from which place two wagons with ra- 
 tions were to come and meet the men in their 
 retreat. As the Major and his grand staff 
 of two ofificers had got half way to Wood- 
 stock, in turning a sharp bend through a 
 deep cut in the hillside, they saw right be- 
 fore them the head of a column of Yankee 
 cavalry. There was no time for deliberation. 
 Fortunately the surprise was mutual, for it 
 was a minute before the charge was sounded 
 and begun, but that minute was enough. 
 The Major and his staff, three in all, did not 
 wait for orders or results, but dashed into 
 the deep woods down the hill towards the 
 Shenandoah River, only a mile or two away. 
 Bullets followed them hotly, and if no firing 
 had been done, but a prompt pursuit instead, 
 all three must have been killed or captured. 
 As it was, the firing notified the ambuscading 
 Confeds that there was trouble in their rear. 
 It was for that plan to be worked out that 
 General Elliott had waited and followed Cap- 
 tain Myers slowly. This was the truth. 
 General Elliott had sent out a brigade to pass 
 west of Strasburg and to intersect the Valley 
 Pike at Woodstock, well in the Confederate 
 rear; this succeeded, as he with his larger 
 
OPERATIONS IN THE VAI^LEY. 33 
 
 force had come slowly up the main road tow- 
 ards Strasburg, which he reached in time to 
 fall into the ambush before his flanking party 
 could reach Woodstock and move down to 
 take the Confederates in the rear, at Fisher's 
 Hill, according to his concerted plan. It is 
 generally the case in flank movements of this 
 kind that one or the other of the parts or 
 columns gets to the meeting point too late to 
 accomplish much. 
 
 The Confederates who had taken part in 
 the battle at Fisher's Hill, having heard the 
 firing of the Union cavalry at the Major and 
 his miniature stafif, took the hint and re- 
 treated to the river, where they forded out 
 to a wooded island which had already been 
 reached by the Major and his staff. No pur- 
 suit being made, a man was sent up a tall tree 
 to observe, as a good view of the Valley be- 
 low Strasburg could be had from that vant- 
 age. As the rear of General Elliott^s column 
 could be seen returning towards Winchester, 
 the Major called up his forces and moved 
 back to the mainland; crossed over to the 
 Valley Pike and marched to Woodstock, to 
 find that the Federal flanking party had cap- 
 tured and burned his supplies at that place, 
 and following the wagons with rations down 
 towards Fisher's Hill, had burned them, and 
 after such complete success they had found 
 3 
 
34 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIE WAR. 
 
 a negro of whom they sought to learn the 
 extent of the force at Fisher's Hill. In his 
 attempt to give the information sought, be- 
 ing badly scared and so inclined to tell as 
 much as possible that would be valued, he 
 said that the troops down there were mov- 
 ing into the Valley from Richmond. Upon 
 this vague guess or big-eyed statement, the 
 officer in command of the Federal flanking 
 party concluded that he had better retreat 
 by the same road that he had come. This he 
 did and went some ten miles around to the 
 west of Strasburg, when he could have gone 
 by a three-mile march through Strasburg and 
 joined General ElHott. 
 
 The loss to the Union cavalry by the am- 
 buscade was about fifteen killed and a score 
 or two wounded, while two slight wounds 
 was all the damage inflicted on the Johnny 
 Rebs, outside of the destruction of their 
 suppHes. 
 
 That night, after the, .pickets were ra- 
 tioned and posted, the people brought out 
 from their scanty supplies food to the little 
 army; after which the boys, wearied and 
 sore, lay down where they could rest for 
 marches or battles that a soldier's fortune 
 might bring on the morrow. No man sleeps 
 more soundly or is less disturbed by dreams 
 or fears than the soldier after a day of hard 
 
OPERATIONS IN THE VALLEY. 35 
 
 marching or stubborn battle. His faith is 
 in God and his commanding general, and as 
 he feels no responsibility, he is not disturbed 
 by the serise of care or anxiety which so often 
 prevents sleep when one has a soft bed and 
 no soldier calls to answeri 
 
 Now if the brave Major Myers loved any 
 one thing, after his family,' more than a skir- 
 mish, it was a well-cooked meal ; or, if circum- 
 stances stood in the way of the cooking, 
 then the meal as it could be had. He was 
 always ready and anxious to fight or eat.. On 
 this night a store-keeper, the only one left 
 in this war-impoverished place, invited the 
 Major to make his quarters in the store, 
 which consisted of a room as bare of goods 
 as the street. As there was a counter and a 
 dry floor to sleep on, and a stove for heating, 
 on which a ration could be cooked, it suited 
 the Major well, especially as one of the citi- 
 zens brought him a jug of milk, a lot of fresh 
 sausage and enough bread for a dozen men. 
 The Major not only jumped at this good for- 
 tune, but offered a toast — "Here's to the 
 foremost citizen of Woodstock, for he was 
 the first to bring us a supper." 
 
 In addition to the staff — consisting of 
 Lieutenant Marr and Assistant Surgeon 
 Contre — Captain Myers, Mr. Charles Wag- 
 ner, of Maryland, and one or two. others were 
 
•36 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 asked to share the Major's quarters and sup- 
 per. While eating to the full had made rnost 
 of these tired men betake themselves to 
 isleep, it seemed not to have that effect upon 
 at least two of them — Lieutenant Marr and 
 Surgeon Centre. There was some strange 
 fascination felt by the Lieutenant for the 
 Italian, and yet he not only did not like him, 
 but could not answer his own inquiry why 
 he did not. He liked to hear him talk, and as 
 constantly as possible practiced the sabre 
 exercise with him. Contre sought the com- 
 panionship of Marr, would teach him by the 
 hour, and seemed never to tire of his pres- 
 ence. 
 
 On this night the Lieutenant, being near 
 Contre, said to him : 
 
 "I want to know if you feel, after killing 
 the three men to-day, that it was just exactly 
 the thing for you to do, as you could hardly 
 be said to be in the line of duty in killing 
 men, while your position in the army calls 
 only for healing and curing; and then to- 
 day you were a volunteer in the fullest sense. 
 I ask whether you feel any compunction (as 
 I do, a man in the direct linp of duty, when 
 it has been my ill fortune, as I consider it) 
 to have killed a fellow man even in the heat 
 of battle?" 
 
OPERATIONS IN THE VAI<I<EY. 37 
 
 "Lieutenant," answered Centre, "nothing 
 pleases me so much as to kill a Yankee, and 
 I found to-day that I not only loved surgery, 
 but enjoyed more the making of wounds 
 than the healing of them. No, I do not mind 
 killing those men this morning — am only 
 sorry that I could not destroy them all with 
 my own hand." 
 
 "On my part," returned Marr, "I cannot 
 bear to think of the first man I ever shot; 
 am thankful that I was compelled to shoot 
 him, and that he fairly forfeited his life by 
 his base conduct." 
 
 "Well," said Contre, "while I cannot un- 
 derstand your tenderness, I would like to 
 hear about that fellow you plugged and now 
 cry over." 
 
 "I do not say that I cry over it, but as I 
 was taught to believe in the Christian re- 
 ligion and the Bible, I know that the taking 
 of life, especially human life, is a very serious 
 act, a grave act; and if not fully justifiable, 
 a criminal act as well. Contre, do you be- 
 lieve that the Bible contains the word of 
 God?" asked Marr, as he gazed in the dim 
 light at the doctor, like a man who was hun- 
 gry for an answer to a question upon which 
 much depended. 
 
 The Doctor hesitated for a while, and then 
 answered: "I do not believe it as you do. 
 
38 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 I admire it, as you all say in English, but it 
 has no influence over me or my actions, and 
 hence does not arraign me for them." 
 
 The Lieutenant mused in silence for a min- 
 ute, when the barrier between Contre and 
 himself became clear to his mind. He be- 
 Heved in God and conscience, while this man 
 did not. This was the gulf that made abso- 
 lute confidence impossible, knowing which 
 he could better gauge the Doctor and under- 
 stand his secret repugnance to him, not- 
 withstanding the latter's exuberant devotion. 
 
 "Lieutenant," said Contre, "surely you are 
 not going to sleep without telling me about 
 the first bad case, as the doctors say — I 
 mean the fellow you had to kill." 
 
 "No, Contre," said Marr, "I will tell you, 
 though I never think of it without regret 
 and never will. It was this way: We had 
 been having a sharp little fight and had driven 
 in the Yankee cavalry. The enemy had 
 thrown out an infantry skirmish line in their 
 and our front, and they were advanced, as 
 I noticed, much farther from the line of bat- 
 tle they had formed than I ever saw on any 
 other occasion. General Stuart came up to 
 our regiment and was much interested in 
 watching the enemy. Presently, turning to 
 the colonel, he motioned him nearer, said 
 something I did not hear, and then turning 
 
OPERATIONS IN THIi VALI,i;y. 39 
 
 towards my company, in front of which he 
 happened to be, and addressing me, he said, 
 'Take your company and bring me those 
 skirmishers.' This was a dangerous duty, 
 as we had not only the skirmish, line to deal 
 with, but that other darker and heavier line 
 of battle behind them. But soldiers are not 
 to question at all, or even to think too much ; 
 so I gave the needed orders to forward and 
 deploy, first to trot sharply; and as soon as 
 the ground was half passed, the charge was 
 given and away we went in pretty good line 
 and in quick time, deploying as we went, so 
 that each trooper could have his particular 
 man to capture. As we approached they 
 rallied right and left upon the central man, 
 and executed beautifully the movement that 
 brought three men together as 'guard against 
 cavalry.' In a minute we were upon them 
 and they had surrendered without a shot, 
 though their officers were begging them to 
 fire. I found that the man that I had come 
 up to was the rallying center, and that three 
 instead of one confronted me. I held my 
 pistol towards them and ordered them to 
 throw down their guns. Two of them obeyed, 
 while the third grounded his, holding on to 
 the barrel, but all held up their hands in sur- 
 render. I was in the act of returning my 
 pistol to the holster, when by a quick move- 
 
40 HEROeS AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 ment the fellow picked up his gun and, with- 
 out stopping to aim, fired at me. In his haste, 
 and owing to a slight turn of my horse, the 
 flash and charge passed between my body 
 and my horse's head. Without an instant's 
 delay, as the pistol was yet in my hand, I fired 
 at him. It being nearly dark, I could see 
 the flash strike him in the breast. He fell 
 dead; and as there was no time to lose, I 
 motioned the other two men to run back to 
 our line with the rest of their captured, which 
 they did. Their troops retired, and I went 
 forward a little later to see the poor fellow 
 who had forfeited his life by perfidy, and yet 
 whom I was sorry for killing." 
 
 "Well, if that is all the sin with which you 
 have to reproach yourself. Lieutenant," re- 
 turned Centre, "you need not fear being 
 kept out of your happy hunting grounds 
 after the war is over. I think that you did 
 the very best thing, except that you should 
 have shot all three of the rascals and not 
 have left the story incomplete. You are too 
 like a woman, tender of others and hard on 
 yourself; that is all wrong." 
 
 "No, Centre, I am not wrong; man can- 
 not create life or recall it, and he has no right 
 to take it except as forced by duty to so- 
 ciety. Now I remember that Lieut. Col. 
 Thomas Marshall, Capt. Jack Eastham and 
 Capt. Hillary Magruder, three of the brav- 
 
OPERATIONS IN THE VALLEY. 4 1 
 
 est men I know in this army, were speaking' 
 with me about this unpleasant sensation at 
 the recollection of having killed men in com- 
 bat, even where it was 'kill or be killed,' and 
 they agree with me. But it is now very late, 
 and if we do not go to sleep the Major will 
 soon want his breakfast." 
 
 The next morning, when Lieutenant Marr 
 was sitting alone and looking rather blue, the 
 Doctor came up and said : "Lieutenant, you 
 seem rather despondent this morning, when 
 you should be bright. Of course I do not 
 wish to force myself into your confidence, 
 but if I could help to drive away your clouds 
 I would like to try and handle the job." 
 
 "O, thank you. Doctor, but you can't help 
 me in the least, though you may think differ- 
 ently," answered Lieutenant Marr. "I will 
 tell you that I have not heard from my wife 
 and child for many weeks, nor seen them for 
 a year, and when not actively at work I get 
 discouraged a little. I write, but it is rarely 
 the case that my letters get through, and 
 answers have a still harder time in getting to 
 me ; the last one I had was brought by a 
 man from Harper's Ferry and delivered to 
 our picket just as I was going the rounds of 
 the pickets on my line, and I came up to the 
 picket at the same time the man did bearing 
 the letter for me. That was strange and 
 wouldn't happen again in a year." 
 
42 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 "But, Lieutenant," said Contra, "if you are 
 anxious and want to write to your wife and 
 get an answer soon, you just put it up by this 
 evening, and in a week I will get you an ans- 
 wer. Just trust me, and I will see that your 
 letter goes through and that the answer 
 comes all right." 
 
 "You are very kind, Doctor, but I am not 
 willing that you should put yourself in danger 
 or to inconvenience for me, and as the dis- 
 tance is nearly one hundred miles, and be- 
 yond the enemy's lines, you don't know the 
 danger that may attend the fulfilment of your 
 kind offer ; you may be kind and rash enough 
 to attempt risk that would not be justified 
 by the end to be accomplished." 
 
 "You need not consider my risk; write 
 your letter, and say in it that the answer is 
 to be written at once and delivered to the 
 person who hands your letter to the one for 
 whom it is intended, and see if I don't man- 
 age the rest for you, so that within ten days 
 you will get an answer." 
 
 "Doctor, if you will assure me that you 
 will incur no risk in the matter, and let me 
 bear the full cost, I will accept your offer and 
 will go now and write, and will hand you the 
 letter in an hour; and while! do not see how 
 you can make good your word, I leave the 
 how to you." 
 
OPERATIONS IN THB VAI,I,EY. 43 
 
 "All right, I will take it to-night to a man 
 who will convey it for me, and as he is under 
 great obligations to me, there will be no 
 expense." 
 
 "Doctor, I accept your offer with thanks, 
 and if we can both get permission to leave 
 the camp, I would like you to take me to the 
 cave you found near here." 
 
 "I will take you at some other time, when 
 we are nearer New Market, as it is easier to 
 get to it from that place than from here." 
 
 "Your time will suit me. I will see you 
 to-night." 
 
 The letter was written and handed to the 
 Doctor, and in nine days Lieutenant Marr 
 received a reply. "This is strange," he said 
 to himself, "but I won't look a gift horse in 
 the mouth." 
 
 Extract from my wife's letter: 
 
 "I have your letter dated at Woodstock, 
 and the way I got it almost frightened me to 
 death. This morning a regiment of Union 
 cavalry passed through town, having come 
 up from Harper's Ferry. They went up the 
 Smithfield Road only a little way and stopped 
 there. A little while later two Federals rode 
 back and up to our house and knocked. 
 Sarah invited them in; only one came; he 
 asked to see me. When I heard that he 
 wished to see me, remembering that many 
 
44 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 arrests had been made lately, my strength 
 just left me; but fortunately brother had 
 come in an hour before, so I made him go 
 down with me, though he was sick. The of- 
 ficer, for such I found him to be, was very 
 much of a gentleman, rose up, and handed 
 me your letter. Seeing that I was so fright- 
 ened, he said, 'Madam, I have been sent from 
 Harper's Ferry to bring you this letter, and 
 am ordered to say that if you wish to send a 
 reply to your husband, and will have it writ- 
 ten before 5 o'clock this evening, I will call 
 for it, and that it will be delivered to him just 
 exactly as you write it, and that if you wish 
 at any time to send a letter to him, and will 
 enclose it in an envelope addressed to the 
 commanding officer at Harper's Ferry, it will 
 be sent to him through our lines without de- 
 lay or inspection — on condition that it is ad- 
 dressed to no one but your husband.' I 
 thanked him; but what a strange thing it 
 was to have a regiment of Union cavalry 
 march up here to bring me a letter and take 
 back the answer, waiting for me to write it. 
 I remember your saying, so often used, 'wait 
 and see.' Our neighbors will be crazy to 
 know what it all means. I am sure I can't 
 tell. The officer said that all he knew was 
 the order, which he had stated and obeyed." 
 I say the same to the reader, "Wait and 
 see. 
 
CHAPTER, III. 
 
 STRANGE EXPERIENCBS. 
 
 A few days later, when the Major, with his 
 command, had fallen back to Harrisonburg, 
 he called Captain Eastham, Captain Myers, 
 and Lieutenant Marr to consider a plan sug- 
 gested by a scout just returned from Win- 
 chester, where General Milroy was in com- 
 mand, occupying the home of Mr. Lloyd 
 Logan as headquarters. The suggestion was 
 to make a raid so as to reach the neighbor- 
 hood of Winchester at night, make a sudden 
 dash with fifty mounted picked men, rush 
 into the Logan house, seize General Milroy 
 and bring him on as a hostage. There was a 
 very minute plat, showing the approach that 
 was selected, and giving the number and lo- 
 cation of each picket or guard, not only 
 around or in the town, but a diagram of the 
 house showing the guard positions in the 
 house itself. The scout was questioned as to 
 
46 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIE WAR. 
 
 all the particulars and every item of the pro- 
 posed program was fully canvassed. After 
 which, by unanimous vote, it was decided to 
 ask the approval and permission of the com- 
 manding general to make the raid. Just then 
 Doctor Contre was heard without, and the 
 Major said that as he had been for a time 
 with the troops in Winchester, he might be 
 able to add some valuable suggestions, and 
 he was brought in. He was delighted with 
 the plan, and said that he must be of the 
 party, however large or small. As it might 
 be some days before permission to make the 
 attempt at capture could be had, the Doctor 
 urged that the little force in the Valley be 
 moved down nearer Winchester, so as to 
 pave time that would be spent in making a 
 long march after the permit came. This was 
 disapproved, on the ground that any advance 
 might cause greater precautions to prevent 
 attack. 
 
 It was decided that a close study should 
 be made, not only by the officers, but before 
 the raid was made each man should be taught 
 and trained in the part he was to take in each 
 and every step of the proceeding; and that 
 two or more should be detailed for each 
 duty, so that in the event of the death or 
 wounding of one man, others would be 
 posted in the duty expected of him. No 
 
STRANGE EXPERIENCES. 47 
 
 better or more carefully concocted plan was 
 ever laid, or more closely studied, and it was 
 the object of the deepest concern for the 
 next five days. Conversation upon the sub- 
 ject, even between the officers who were in 
 the secret, was disallowed. 
 
 At the end of the fifth day permission to 
 make the raid to Winchester reached Major 
 Myers' headquarters. His little council was 
 called, and it was determined to pick ten men^ 
 bind them on oath to secrecy, explain to 
 them the diagram of the Logan house, with- 
 out showing them what house or in what 
 town it was, and post each one thoroughly as 
 to the part he was to perform. Capt. Jack- 
 son Eastham was to command this house 
 detail, while the work of shoeing the horses 
 and getting ready arms and accoutrements 
 was pushed vigorously. 
 
 A scout was sent out to meet an agent in 
 Winchester, who would let him know from 
 a personal visit made that day to the Logan 
 house whether any change had been made 
 in the guard arrangements. As soon as the 
 scout received information of any unusual 
 change being made, or that all was quiet, he 
 was to slip out and meet the raiding party 
 at a point about fifteen miles south of Win- 
 chester, so that it could then be determined 
 whether to march on to Winchester or aban- 
 
-48 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIE WAR. 
 
 don the project, as the information might 
 show to be best. 
 
 Capt. John Myers was put in command of 
 the cavalry; Captain Eastham of the house 
 detail of twenty men ; while Surgeon Contre 
 and Lieutenant Marr were to compose the 
 staff of the Major and be ready to relieve the 
 others if emergency required. Early in the 
 morning, after the scout had been sent two 
 days ahead, the execution of the desperate 
 plan to enter a town surrounded by twenty 
 thousand well-trained soldiers and carry off 
 the Commanding General was begun. 
 
 Such raids were becoming quite the fash- 
 ion. Stuart was the great ranking raider; 
 then Mosby; Capt. George Baylor and Gen- 
 eral Imboden had each exemplified the bold- 
 ness and dash of the Confederate cavalier, 
 each having conducted to successful issue 
 plans that for very boldness seemed impos- 
 sible of conception, much less execution. 
 
 Down in a hollow, under the shadow of a 
 thick copse of pines, at night, the raiders 
 ■waited the coming of the daring scout. The 
 look-out heard his approach, gave and re- 
 ceived answer to the signal agreed upon, and 
 he was soon in conference with the officers, 
 who were much chagrined to learn that the 
 plan was evidently known, or that some at- 
 tack was suspected from some quarter, as 
 
STRANGE BXPBRIENCES. 49 
 
 not only had all pickets and camp guards 
 been doubled that day, but orders had been 
 given the troops to sleep upon their arms; 
 while a heavy detail had been made to so 
 guard the Logan house as to make it impos- 
 sible for any attack upon it to succeed. As 
 the nearness of Baylor and Mosby made it 
 possible that these unusual means had been 
 adopted by General Milroy to preclude the 
 possibility of capture by them, Major Myers 
 attributed the precaution taken to that cause, 
 and with a feeling of deep disappointment 
 he ordered the little command to retrace its 
 march, camped near Strasburg, and moved 
 back to Harrisonburg the next day. 
 
 As the command of Major Myers was only 
 a temporary one, made up of fragments of 
 several arms of the service, to protect the 
 upper valley during General Jackson's ab- 
 sence in other sections, an order was sent 
 for the Major, Captain Myers, Captain East- 
 ham, and Lieutenant Marr to rejoin their 
 commands, while Surgeon Centre was order- 
 ed to report to the Surgeon-in-Chief of the 
 Afmy for duty, and thus by one of the 
 constant changes of war, all but the sur- 
 geon were called to the eastern section of 
 Virginia to take their part in the horse 
 and artillery arrny of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart. 
 The battle of Cedar Mountain was fought. 
 
50 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 followed soon by that of Manassas, and 
 the advance into Maryland by the Confeder- 
 ate Army, and their capture of Harper's 
 Ferry, with eleven thousand men and seventy 
 pieces of cannon. The battle of Sharpsburg, 
 or Antietam, concluded that movement, after, 
 which Gen. Robert E. Lee re-crossed the Po- 
 tomac, followed to that river slowly by Gen- 
 eral McClellan. As the Confederate general 
 was encumbered with many men too severely 
 wounded to be moved across the river, a 
 hospital was established, and a corps of sur- 
 geons was detailed to remain and render the 
 service needful in the condition existing. 
 Among those thus detailed was Surgeon 
 Contre. When this was made known to his 
 former companions of the "Myers army," as 
 it was called by its own members, it was pre- 
 dicted on all hands that Contre could not 
 regulate his tongue so as to keep out of 
 trouble. They were right, it seems, for in 
 less than a week they heard that he had been 
 arrested and thrown into prison for intem- 
 perate and even abusive language about the 
 ofificers and soldiers, indeed of every person 
 and thing pertaining to the Union Army or 
 the Union itself. No more was heard from 
 him for two or three weeks, when, all unex- 
 pectedly, he turned up at the camp of Col. 
 Richard Dulany of the Seventh Virginia Cav- 
 
STRANCe SXPBRIENCES. 5 1 
 
 airy, to which his old companions of the 
 "Myers army" belonged. He was an inter- 
 esting visitor, and told of his arrest for swear- 
 ing at some of the Federal soldiers, who 
 angered him greatly. He protested that as 
 a Confederate surgeon left to attend the 
 wounded he was not liable to arrest, but in 
 spite of his protestations he was at first kept 
 under guard, and then sent to Point Look- 
 out, though not put into prison there, but 
 kept under guard awaiting action by the War 
 Department upon his case, which at last be- 
 gan to look less trivial than he had at first 
 thought. He said that the more he studied 
 about it, the more strongly he was impressed 
 with the idea that the best thing was not only 
 to enter a plea of alibi, but to make that plea 
 good by running off ; so he took up the role 
 in which he had such signal success before, 
 and having overheard the countersign for 
 that night, he boldly held five twenty-dollar 
 gold pieces in his hand so that the guard 
 could see them ; played them from one hand 
 to the other, and when the guard passed a 
 little nearer than he had before he said that 
 he took that for a consent to accept the 
 money and let him go. He slipped it to him, 
 gave the countersign in passing the outer 
 guards, and trudged on to Washington, 
 where he went to the house of a friend very 
 
52 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 near to the residence of the Italian Minister. 
 This friend supplied all his needs, kept him 
 for nearly two weeks, and then sent him off 
 well provided with money. 
 
 He started at night, and went up the Po- 
 tomac River till near a ford, to which he had 
 been directed, and to his horror learned that 
 it was picketed by the Federals. It was too 
 late to turn back, as he had been discovered ; 
 nor was there much time for consideration. 
 As there was only one man on the post, he 
 determined to go up as close as he could and 
 then dismount, surrender, and explain to the 
 picket that he wanted to see his best girl on 
 the other side, and that he would come back 
 in one hour, bringing her back behind him. 
 As a pledge of his honesty of purpose he of- 
 fered to leave a hundred dollar bill with the 
 picket, and was to get it back when he re- 
 turned on his way home. 
 
 This plan went well with the picket, who 
 eagerly took the money as a pledge, and told 
 him to go ahead and be sure to get back in 
 an hour, as he would be relieved and a new 
 man would be on duty. He started in, but 
 had gone only about half way across the shal- 
 low ford when the ofiScer in command of 
 that part of the picket line came up to the 
 post, and hearing a man riding through the 
 shallow rocky bed of the river, supposed that 
 
STRANGE EXPBRIBNCES. ' 53 
 
 the rider was coming towards them. He 
 ordered the guard to halt him. The guard 
 called upon him to halt, but as he did not 
 heed, and it being too dark for the officer 
 to see that the rider had been going towards 
 the Virginia side of the river, he, after listen- 
 ing for a moment, found that the rider was 
 going from them and had not halted. He 
 naturally thought that the command to halt 
 had caused him to turn back towards the 
 Virginia shore, and so ordered the guard to 
 fire. That quickened the pace of the doc- 
 tor, and he knew that no amount of parleying 
 could do him any good; besides which he 
 had felt that the aim of the guard had been 
 too true, and had cut through his upper left 
 arm, making an ugly flesh wound. Several 
 other shots were fired, but as he had gained 
 the shore and was anxious to stay the loss 
 of blood, he put the heavy trees on the bank 
 of the stream between himself and the un- 
 welcome attentions of the guard, and rode 
 for dear life towards Leesburg. His trials 
 were not quite over yet, for as he rode rap- 
 idly up the turnpike towards the town he 
 heard from a clump of bushes the call "Halt !" 
 Then he felt that he must take the chances, 
 and if it was a Federal force, do the best that 
 circumstances would allow after he had sur- 
 rendered. And if it chanced to be a Confed- 
 
54 HEROBS AND SPIES OF THE CIVIE WAR. 
 
 erate force he would explain his case and be 
 sent to his friends. 
 
 It turned out that Colonel Mosby was ex- 
 ecuting one of his menaces at one section in 
 order to strike another,which was so char- 
 acteristic of the great partisan chieftain, and 
 he had a picket out to avoid a rear lick. This 
 was the obstacle against which the surgeon 
 had run. He said he never before felt so 
 much like singing a doxology such as he had 
 heard in Confederate camp services. There 
 was the Doctor, bandaged up, quite pale, but 
 in other respects as good as new, and "worth 
 a dozen dead Indians," as the Major said. Of 
 course he would not be fit for duty for a 
 while, nor allowed to again enter the service 
 or bear arms until his case had been made 
 the subject of negotiations or he had been 
 regularly exchanged. 
 
 "Lieutenant Marr," said Centre, "if you 
 will permit me, I would like to stay with you 
 until I find out what I am to do, and will 
 hustle around for good rations while I am 
 with you, to pay you for your trouble, if you 
 will take me in. I have money that will buy 
 good things, if any are to b,e had in this 
 country." 
 
 "All right. Doctor," returned Marr, "I have 
 only a place by my fire, and a share of what- 
 ever we can get to oflfer, but to them you are 
 welcome." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AS TOU) BY THE CAMP-FIRE. 
 
 That night, after the duties of the day were 
 all done and the sleeping men lay around the 
 dying camp fires, the Doctor said: 
 
 "Now, Lieutenant, I have told you all 
 about my foolish talkativeness and escape, 
 and I want to hear what adventures you have 
 met with. While we sit here and smoke, tell 
 me about anything unusual that has happen- 
 ed since I saw you last." 
 
 "I have met two or three little out-of-the- 
 |way experiences, but fear they are so far 
 ecHpTsed by your own that you will not care 
 to hear or take interest in them," answered 
 Lieutenant Marr. 
 
 "Now you can't get ofif that way ; I am not 
 going to be cheated out of the tale you can 
 tell of those extras, so go on with the story," 
 rejoined Contre. 
 
 "If you will have them, I will give them 
 to you for what they are worth," said Marr. 
 
56 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 "Ten days before the second Manassas, Gen- 
 eral Stuart sent me up to a place called Wa- 
 terloo Bridge, across the Upper Rappahan- 
 nock River, with my company, with instruc- 
 tions to hold that bridge while I had a man 
 left. This was all easy enough as long as 
 nothing but a weak picket force held the 
 other end, but when a regiment of Federal 
 infantry were seen heading for it, there 
 seemed every chance of not bringing oft any 
 live men. As soon as I got to the post at 
 the south end of the bridge, I sent a detail of 
 men back to a farm house on the hill and 
 made them bring down the wagons and carts 
 which was done, and with a few shovels we 
 began to throw up dirt just as fast as the 
 shovels could be worked. This, with some 
 logs and a few rails, enabled us to make up 
 a nice breast-work, with pits in its rear. In 
 the meantime we were fighting the pickets 
 and using every chip or sod that would help 
 our defense; we finished none too soon,- as 
 in a minute we were notified that quite a 
 number of folks wanted not only one, but 
 both ends of that bridge, as a hot volley was 
 fired at us ; but thanks to our works, the fire 
 proved nearly harmless. It was followed by 
 five men bearing pots of burning pitch or 
 oil. So sudden was the attempt that they 
 got almost to the middle of the bridge be- 
 
AS TOLD BY THE CAMP-FIRE. 57 
 
 fore we made out their purpose; but when 
 we did I ordered ten men to fire, and only- 
 one of their poor fellows ran back, and he 
 was badly wounded. Another, and then a 
 third of these foolish eflforts were made, be- 
 fore the fool in command over there realized 
 that he could not burn a wet bridge in easy 
 range of sixty of the best riflemen in the 
 Confederate Army. 
 
 "If he had charged, of course we, with our 
 little squad, would have been killed or swept 
 away; but he relied upon shooting his am- 
 munition into our old carts and earthworks, 
 till a courier came up at a rapid gate, and in- 
 stantly I saw that they were falling back. 
 The fact was that Company A of our Seventh 
 had captured the ford at the Fauquier 
 Springs and turned the flank of the party in 
 our front, which took away all their desire 
 for the 'Waterloo Bridge.' 
 
 "The other occasion, or incident, was after 
 General Jackson, with sixteen thousand men, 
 inclusive of General Stuart's cavalry and the 
 horse artillery, had captured Manassas in the 
 rear of General Pope, which took place at 
 daybreak after a long forced march. I re- 
 ceived an order from Colonel Dulaney to re- 
 port with one hundred men to General 
 Stuart, and was informed by our adjutant 
 that General Jackson had sent an order to 
 
58 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 General Stuart, asking for an 'officer who 
 did not use liquor at all.' General Stuart 
 sent the order to our brigadier, who sent it 
 to Colonel Dulaney. He named me in his 
 order, and if the same requirement had been 
 exacted as to the men of the detail, it could 
 not have been obeyed, as very few soldiers 
 declined liquor if shoved at them. 
 
 "I called out the men; found out where 
 General Jackson was, and told him why I 
 came. 
 
 " 'Do you ever use liquor?' he said. 
 
 " 'No,' I answered. 
 
 " 'Not under any circumstances ?' he asked. 
 
 "I answered that if to keep sober was what 
 he wanted, I could fill the bill. He mounted, 
 told me to follow him, and rode a few hun- 
 dred yards from where his stai? were huddled 
 around the fire, then halted and pointed to 
 a large warehouse, saying: "You see that 
 large building? In it is stored a very large 
 quantity of liquors. You take your command 
 there, take as many of the prisoners as you 
 need ; make them roll barrels of bread down 
 to that point of the railroad crossing, so that 
 my men can get bread, and then destroy 
 every drop of the liquor. No man is to have 
 a particle ; this ord^r is of the first import- 
 ance, as I fear that liquor more than Gen- 
 eral Pope's army.' 
 
AS TOI,D BY THE CAMP-FIRE. ^^ 
 
 " 'I will execute your order,' I said, and 
 saluted. 
 
 "He started to ride back, when I called 
 out, 'General, suppose that some officer of 
 high rank should arrest me in order to get 
 ^t the liquor.' 
 
 "He looked at me with a serious earnest- 
 ness I shall never forget, and said, 'You are 
 not subject to arrest to-day, except upon my 
 written order; now do your duty.' 
 
 "I marched up to the warehouse, which I 
 found full of valuable stores and hospital sup- 
 plies, cordials, brandy, and fruit of all kinds, 
 as well as canned meats and vegetables, with 
 jellies and wines almost without limit. A lot 
 of prisoners, under guard, were put to moving 
 the bread and eatables down to the place des- 
 ignated by the General. Five men were sta- 
 tioned at each of the large doors, with orders 
 neither to enter nor permit any one else to 
 enter the warehouse, no matter who he might 
 be. Everything went on quietly for a while, 
 though I was very uneasy in view of the 
 great temptation of the men who were de- 
 tailed to spill the liquor through the floor of 
 the house. After a few hours I was called to 
 one of the doors by the corporal in charge 
 there. I found a brigadier general, with his 
 staff, on their horses and dignity, feeling 
 very much ofifended because my men had 
 
60 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 refused them permission to enter, or bring 
 them the Hquor demanded. I told them of 
 my orders, and that it was impossible to ac- 
 commodate them, but that I would give them 
 any eatables that the building contained. 
 At this the general raved, and swore that he 
 would have the liquor or die ! I told him that 
 he could not have the liquor, and that if he 
 tried to force his way in he would die very 
 soon. P, but he was hot then! Asked my 
 name, rank, and regiment, all of which I gave 
 him with due meekness. 
 
 "He then said, 'I will arrest you for your 
 conduct to a superior officer !' He turned to 
 his stafif as if he would dismount to make the 
 threat good. 
 
 "I ordered my men to level their rifles and 
 make ready. Then he tried coaxing, but 
 made no headway, and soon got mad again. 
 
 "I seriously expected to have to disable 
 them, when I saw Gen. A. P. Hill galloping 
 toward the warehouse. He came up, and I 
 told him that General Jackson had put me 
 there, and of my orders. He turned to the 
 brigadier and spoke very sharply, upon which 
 the fellow, with his staff, rode of?. 
 
 "General Hill asked if my orders embraced 
 the burning of the building. I told him that 
 I had no orders to burn the building. He 
 said it should be done, and it was burned. 
 
AS TOLD BY THE CAMP-FIRE. 6 1 
 
 No man got any liquor out of that house, 
 though other buildings contained sutler's 
 stocks, and among them small quantities oi 
 hquors, which the soldiers were permitted 
 to 'fisticate,' much to their gratification. 
 
 "Now, Doctor, I have told you about all 
 of personal interest to me that has taken 
 place since we parted; let us turn in for the 
 night, and in the morning we will hear some 
 more of your adventures." 
 
 After breakfast next morning, Captain 
 Magruder and Lieutenant Marr had a hearty 
 laugh over a squabble they overheard among 
 the men at the fire nearest their camp. 
 
 It seems that one John Miller, finding that 
 all the trees near were in use, a horse being 
 haltered to each, had untied one of the horses 
 from a convenient sapHng and then tied his 
 own horse in its place. The owner of the 
 loose horse, Henry Oaks, finding out whose 
 horse had been put in the place of his, came 
 up to the fire where Miller stood, and said 
 with great deliberation, "John Miller, you 
 took my tree, and the next time you hitch 
 my horse loose, I will hitch your horse 
 loose." 
 
 This put all in good humor, and the Doc- 
 tor coming up, Marr asked him if Captain 
 Magruder had ever told him about the first 
 capture of Warrenton, Va., by the Federal 
 
62 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 raiders. He said "No," and at once beset the 
 Captain to tell him about it. Magruder ac- 
 quiesced as follows : "When war was first 
 declared all the towns and villages formed 
 companies of home guards, who were to pro- 
 tect them against the Federal armies. War- 
 renton formed quite a good sized company. 
 They elected officers and went to drilling. 
 Amongst the rnembers was a long-bearded, 
 tall, fine looking Presbyterian preacher, 
 
 Mr. P . It could be said pretty truly 
 
 of him that he belonged to the church mili- 
 tant, as he had been for secession and carried 
 himself more like a soldier than a clergyman. 
 This home guard was instructed as to the 
 position assigned each, should the Union 
 troops be so rash as to attempt to tackle the 
 home guards, and all felt that they were se- 
 cure. Time wore on, until one night a raid- 
 ing party of about one hundred Federals 
 marched unexpectedly into the town and 
 were having things their own way, when the 
 people awoke to the fact that 'the Greeks 
 were at their doors.' Of course every- 
 body was scared, and no wonder, for not a 
 move was heard from the home guards, nor 
 was a single one of them to be found ; prob- 
 ably because there was no one to lead off or 
 rally them. 
 
AS TOU) BY TH^ CAMP-FIRE. 63 
 
 "The next day, after the troops were gone 
 and the gallant guard had got back home, 
 the funny part of the thing came out. Rev- 
 erend P had been captain of the guards, 
 
 and next to him in command was a hot- 
 headed fellow, who, being a little lame, was 
 only prevented from going with the volun- 
 teers by that fact. His name we will call 
 
 H . He gave the following account of 
 
 his part in the orderly retreat made by each 
 man for himself. He said that when he heard 
 the firing he ran across lots and climbed as 
 many fences, and as high fences, as he came 
 to ; that he was a mile from town when he 
 lay down in the grass at the bottom of a 
 fence to await the result of his strategical 
 movements; and after lying there for over 
 two hours, he thought he would venture to 
 sit up. As he executed this movement he 
 heard, and what was more terrible, he saw 
 a fierce-looking man jump down not ten feet 
 from him. As soon as he could get his voice 
 
 he cried out, 'I surrender!' Captain P 
 
 was the man who jumped off the fence, and 
 called out to him, 'Don't shoot!' and there 
 they were, like two ninnies — one trying to 
 surrender and the other begging him not to 
 shoot. These men were brave, but had just 
 been panic-stricken. 
 
64 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 "That County of Fauquier," Captain Ma- 
 gruder concluded, "furnished the Ashby 
 brothers. Turner and Richard, each of whom 
 died at the front; Captain Sheets, killed at 
 Buckton Station; the gallant Dan Hatcher; 
 Ithe Brents and Paynes; and Lieut. Orlando 
 Smith, who was shot at the same time Lieu- 
 tenant Marr was wounded in the Wilderness ; 
 and a host of other brave men; but a panic 
 cannot be either measured or accounted for." 
 
 "Yes, that is true," said Lieutenant Marr. 
 "You remember. Captain, that the night we 
 pursued General Banks into Winchester, as 
 the victorious troops were marching along 
 the pike lighted by the burning wagons of 
 'the commissary,' as we called General 
 Banks, how the 33rd Virginia, as brave a 
 regiment as ever fired a gun, had come up to 
 two burning wagons, and were in high glee, 
 when suddenly some shells in the wagon ex- 
 ploded. Instantly the men ran in every di- 
 rection, yet next day, strange to say, each 
 man said that he was not with that part 
 of the regiment that ran away. As the ex- 
 plosion made it darker for a while, they all 
 got back without being seen." 
 
 "Now, Lieutenant Marr," said Captain 
 Magruder, "as you have made me tell the 
 Doctor the home-guard story, you tell us 
 about that raid you made across the Rappa- 
 
AS TOLD BY THE CAMP-FIRE. 65 
 
 hannock River on that horse-stealing expe- 
 dition. The truth is, Doctor, Marr don't 
 hke to attend to a horse, and would rather 
 risk being shot trying to get a' fat horse than 
 to keep his own fat." 
 
 "No, Doctor, that is not the case," re- 
 joined Marr; "for while I have five I don't 
 get feed enough for one. You shall judge 
 when I tell you that our company was nearly 
 disabled from constant marching and fight- 
 ing, when we were sent down to act as a 
 reserve force to the company on duty guard- 
 ing the few crossings of the Rappahannock 
 River. And as our horses were so thin and 
 forage so scarce, quite a number of the men 
 begged to go home to the Valley, and 
 pledged that if furloughed they would bring 
 back fresh horses. I knew Gen. D. O. 
 Funsten, of Clarke County, Va., very well. 
 He was in command of the brigade. I got 
 Lieut. Col. Thomas Marshall, our daring little 
 lieutenant colonel, to go with me to General 
 F. and ask permission to take fifty men, ford 
 the river and capture the horses on the other 
 side. This permission was granted, with the 
 admonition not to bring on a battle if pos- 
 sible to avoid it. That very morning one of 
 my men had a visit from a young cousin of 
 his who had slipped through the lines, and 
 near whose home the Federal reserve was 
 5 
 
66 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIE WAR. 
 
 encamped in the woods about a mile from 
 the river. He agreed to pilot us, as he knew 
 every foot of the way, even on the darkest 
 night. All hands were soon ready. The 
 raid was to be made on foot, each man to 
 carry a pistol, no gun or sabre; the pistol 
 to be kept dry even if the man drowned, and 
 not a word was to be spoken by any one, ex- 
 cept by the guide or the officer in command, 
 from the time we left camp until we returned 
 to our side of the river. The night was dark, 
 and with a misty rain falling was so cold that 
 ;io amount of clothing would warm a man. 
 
 "We entered the water as quietly as we 
 could in the darkest shadow of the ford, and 
 slowly felt our way, nearly frozen by the cold, 
 dark water. The place was a blind ford and 
 was not as closely guarded as those better 
 known. My teeth chattered so I thought 
 that the pickets would surely be alarmed and 
 detect our design. The men had all been 
 instructed to stoop when in shallow water, 
 of which we found little, and only stand erect 
 when the water would cover the body in that 
 position; the head and the pistol only must 
 be above the water. At that point the river 
 bed was very wide but fairly smooth, but, oh, 
 it was cold enough to freeze the marrow in 
 our bones, that December night ! At last we 
 got over, and got down on all fours, and then 
 
AS TOUD BY THE CAMP-FIRE;. 67 
 
 crawled for nearly half a mile, so that we 
 might not be seen by the pickers on either 
 side of us, between two of whom we passed. 
 We kept tip this infantile progress until we 
 came to a ditch that had little water in it, and 
 was deep enough to conceal us pretty well. 
 We followed the guide, single file, up this 
 ditch until we came to a piece of dark timber, 
 when we could stand up for the first time in 
 safety. As to keep together in the dark and 
 not speak was a difficulty, we overcame it 
 by the use of a thick twine string which each 
 man held with his left hand, holding his pistol 
 with his right; and so we marched 'end on,' 
 as our guide called our new movement. It 
 worked well, and kept us together in the 
 pitchy darkness of that terrible night. 
 
 "It was about one o'clock in the morning 
 when we came in sight of the log fire of the 
 folks we had come to visit from over the way. 
 They were down in a hollow, or very low 
 place, pretty well shut in by brush, by which 
 we knew that hiding was their game. We 
 could not form a line of battle, nor surround 
 the men lying about the fire, as the bushes 
 prevented, so we had to attack 'end-on.' The 
 guide alone stopped, and we stole by him as 
 cautiously as possible. Only one man was 
 found sitting up, and he was an officer and 
 asleep. My idea was to seize him and quietly 
 
68 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 wake one at a time, secure the horses and 
 ride out; but a camp guard who was posted 
 only about fifty yards from the fire saw me 
 as the first man to come between him and 
 the blaze. Then he sang out m a loud, 
 scared voice: 'Who goes there?' This 
 awakened the sleeping officer, who, as quick 
 as a wink, shot at me across the fire. I re- 
 turned his courtesy in kind, and at that 
 moment felt a blow in the small part of my 
 back — then all became dark and down I went. 
 
 "Lieutenant Orlando Smith was next in 
 command, and carried out the plan splen- 
 didly, securing at least a good horse for each 
 man, and an extra few upon which his prison- 
 ers were mounted by the light of the fire; 
 but they all dropped off in the dark Woods 
 through which the retreat had to be made, 
 and when our party got to the river not a 
 prisoner did they have, though they were 
 badly scattered and demoralized. 
 
 "As for me, at first I lost consciousness 
 and knew nothing of the victor's joy. A pain, 
 a sharp report, and darkness, and all was ap- 
 parently over with me. As I learned after- 
 ward, one of my men — William Minnick, a 
 bold and terrible man in battle, who was from 
 Brock's Gap, Rockingham County, a fine 
 specimen of the man and soldier — resolved 
 that I should not be left, even if I was dead. 
 
AS TOI,D BY THE CAMP-FIRE. 69 
 
 So he laid me in front of him across his horse, 
 and with the help of others came on in that 
 way, till in crossing the river my hands, head, 
 and feet reached into the water; this some- 
 what revived me, when they set me upright 
 and thus brought me over ; then they got up 
 a stretcher of halter straps, two rails, and 
 some coats, and brought me thus to camp. 
 My life was despaired of by the surgeon for 
 a while, biit though my clothes were cut 
 through and a large contusion made upon 
 my backbone, the bone was not broken, nor 
 did the predicted paralysis take place. That 
 is the end of the story, and came near being 
 the end of me." 
 
 "Now, Lieutenant, you have heard that 'a 
 man who is born to be hanged won't be 
 drowned,' " said Captain Magruder. "That 
 may be the reason why that fellow who blew 
 off the top of your hat did not hit, as the doc- 
 tor says, 'higher down.' " 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 MORE CAMP-FIRg TAI,ES. 
 
 The Laurel Brigade was, a few months 
 Jater, encamped between New Market and 
 Harrisonburg, in their beloved Valley, from 
 :which most of the men of the Seventh, and 
 many of the other regiments, had volunteer- 
 ed. Doctor Contre had been a large part of 
 ^is time in Richmond, trying to get the War 
 ^Department to effect an exchange for him, 
 so that he could get bact into the service; 
 he was of so active and restless a nature thdt 
 he could not repress that overflowing ac- 
 tivity of his energy, for which reason Marr 
 told him that he was all right as long as he 
 was in motion, but would spoil if kept still 
 like water. It was rumored that while in 
 Richmond, with his wounded arm yet in a 
 sling, and looking pale and intellectual, he 
 had met with a wound of a different kind. 
 He had met there one of Richmond's beau- 
 ties, a Miss Sanders, and had been so fasci- 
 
MORE CAMP-FIRB TAI^S. 7 I 
 
 nated that much of his time had been spent, 
 first in getting an introduction, and later in 
 following up the siege upon which he was 
 now bent. This his old friends in the Seventh 
 had only by hearsay, which is not always re- 
 Hable; and in time of war it is not safe to 
 believe anything you don't know to be ab- 
 solutely true. 
 
 Doctor Contre turned up at camp one fine 
 crisp day in December and dropped in on 
 Magruder and Marr as they came off the 
 morning drill. He was warmly welcomed, 
 and he announced that he would billet him- 
 self upon them for a while, as he was com- 
 pelled to wait until the Department had set- 
 tled his status. He said that in order to 
 show his recollection of them in his absence 
 he had bought a trunk in Richmond and filled 
 it with such luxuries as they did not often 
 taste. He asked that they send a man over 
 to the station to get the reply to a telegram 
 that he had wired to Staunton to ftnow why 
 the trunk had not reached New Market, as 
 it should. A man was sent and returned in 
 an hour, to say that the stage had not 
 brought the trunk; but he brought a dis- 
 patch from • the quartermaster at S 
 
 saying, "Have sent your trunk by A. M. 
 Bulance to New Market." No one knew 
 who this Bulance could be, and all began to 
 
72 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 fear that the good things had been confis- 
 cated, as they often were, by the couriers. 
 The Doctor raved, and the good Major, who 
 had been told that he would be expected to 
 help out with the eatables, and had consented 
 without the least persuasion, proposed that 
 we all go on a search, and never stop till we 
 got the contents of that trunk. When all 
 were about to adopt this vigorous method 
 for finding the good things, and the camp 
 had been stirred up over it. Captain Ma- 
 gruder picked up the dispatch, and laughed 
 out as he saw that the trunk had been sent 
 by the ambulance of the regiment that day 
 to their quarters. This put all in a good hu- 
 mor once more and pleased the Major to 
 such a degree that he started some men out 
 to meet Mr. "A. M. Bulance," and escort his 
 charge into camp. When the good things ar- 
 rived and he found boneless turkey, lobsters, 
 oysters, corn, tomatoes, clams, sardines, cof- 
 fee, tea, prunes, brandy peaches, cordial and 
 wine, it was just too much for poor hungry 
 men who had been so long without a full 
 meal ! They did not know how hungry they 
 were for things not on the Confederacy's bill 
 of fare! They all had a jolly dinner, which 
 lasted well into the night; and when the 
 dozen of well-fed ofificers parted for the night 
 
MORE CAMP-FIRB TAI^S. 73 
 
 it was with a consciousness that each had 
 done his best. 
 
 Magruder,.Marr, and the Doctor were left 
 at the fireside for one of the long talks they 
 usually indulged in when together. The 
 Lieutenant was asked to tell about the last 
 two scouts he had made by the orders of 
 Gen. William E. Jones, yvho was in command 
 of Laurel Brigade. General Jones was fa- 
 miliarly called "Citizen Jones," as he never 
 wore a uniform. Generally, in warm weather, 
 he went in his shirt sleeves, his coat tied on 
 behind his saddle, and the brown and faded 
 back of his vest the most conspicuous thing 
 about him, except his bravery first, and his 
 profanity next — qualities in which he had few 
 equals, and no superiors, in the army. This 
 old brigade, organized by the lamented Gen. 
 Turner Ashby, afterward commanded in turn 
 by Robertson, Jones, and Rosser, made a his- 
 tory for itself of daring deeds and great re- 
 sults. All of its commanders but Rosser 
 were killed in the forefront of battle. Rosser, 
 one of the finest cavalry officers developed 
 by the inter-state war, yet survives to be 
 beaten in the scramble for political prefer- 
 ment. Rosser had a fashion of calling too 
 often on "our good friend, the en^my," as 
 Gen. R. E. Lee called the Federals. No mat- 
 ter how far from Rosser the nearest camp of 
 
74 HBROES AND SPIBS OF THB CIVIL WAR. 
 
 the enemy might be, nor how well fortified, 
 Rosser was sure to make a raid upon him, and 
 was nearly always successful; even to the 
 capture of New Creek, a perfect Mountain 
 Gibraltar, virithout the loss of a man. 
 
 "Now, Lieutenant, let us have the account 
 of the two scouting parties you led since I 
 was here last," said the Doctor. 
 
 "The first one came out of the way the 
 distillers treated 'Old Citizen Jones,' after he 
 had dealt so leniently with them," began 
 the Lieutenant. "Complaint had come to 
 the General that the stills were using up all 
 the grain, so that the people, as well as the 
 army, were likely to sufifer from the scarcity 
 and price of grain. The General ordered 
 them to stop the distilling of grain, but they 
 did not mind the order. He then ordered 
 them to bring in all the 'still caps' and store 
 them under guard in Staunton. They obey- 
 ed, brought in the copper caps, but made 
 others of wood, and went on with the manu- 
 facture. This made the General mad, and 
 he swore like the army in Flanders. He sent 
 a courier for me, and when I answered his 
 summons, he told me the history of his ef- 
 {forts to control the matter, and said 'Lieu- 
 tenant, you pick out twenty good men, go 
 all through the' mountains, sieze and destroy 
 every still house, spill the liquor and cut up 
 
MORE CAMP-:fIRE TALES. 75 
 
 the stills, and if you are resisted hang the 
 stiller; I mean that veiry thing!' We had 
 sharp fighting to capture some of them, and 
 several of my men were slightly wounded. 
 
 "At one place we had more trouble and 
 fighting than anywhere else, the women tak- 
 ing part in its defense. We had gone to, 
 work to cut and burn, when I n6ticed a large, 
 strong-looking woman running down to- 
 wards us from the hut on the hill, with a 
 large horse bucket in her hand, and a white 
 bandage around her head. She ran up to me 
 and said, 'Sir, won't you please let me have a 
 little Hquor for my headache ? It is the only 
 thing that does me any good.' I declined to 
 approve the prescription, whereupon she fell 
 to cursing me. 
 
 "The other adventure was when we were 
 down in Berkley County, near Martinsburg. 
 The General called me to go to his camp, and 
 showed me a note from Mrs. Charles J. 
 Faulkner, of Martinsburg, saying that a man 
 named Mericle, who professed to be a ped- 
 ler, was a spy, and that he was in the habit 
 of crossing the Potomac River near there 
 iwith goods, and returning with all the infor- 
 mation he could gather about our army. She 
 gave particulars of the way in which she 
 thought he could be caught. The General 
 said to me, 'You go down there and take 
 
76 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 that man Mericle.' We went down, watch- 
 ed along the river, and at daybreak Mericle 
 came over in a one-horse wagon, with quite 
 a lot of goods and some letters that would 
 have proved very valuable to General Jones. 
 And the strangest thing was that the outside 
 letter of the parcel was addressed to Dr. Lou 
 Lile Contre, I suppose from the Italian Em- 
 bassy. I told a sergeant to ride in front and 
 told Mericle to follow with his wagon until 
 he had crossed a little stream that was just 
 ahead. When he reached the other side of 
 this stream, I asked the sergeant for the let- 
 ters, and he said they were in his coat pocket, 
 but found that the whole lot had run through 
 a great hole in his pocket, gone into the 
 stream and were lost. I was much provoked 
 at this, and ordered the sergeant to take a 
 man with him and take Mericle with his 
 wagon to the rear to General Jones, while I 
 went to see where the Federal force was, and 
 was greatly worried to find when I got to 
 camp the horse and wagon, but' no Mericle. 
 It seems that the foolish sergeant, in place 
 of making his guard ride behind the wagon, 
 took him with him in front, and on coming 
 to a narrow road down a steep hill the fellow 
 had jumped out behind, and the horse just 
 followed those foolish guards. 
 
MORE CAMP-FIRE TALES. 77 
 
 "Now, Captain, it is your turn to tell us- 
 your experience on your last scout, and then, 
 we will have the Doctor tell us about that 
 campaign he is prosecuting in Richmond." 
 
 Captain Magruder said : "My story will be- 
 a short one^ I had left my men at the ford,, 
 up on the Madison River, and started out 
 alone to see a lady friend who lived about 
 three miles beyond our lines, and about the- 
 same distance this side of the Federal lines. 
 I know that I had no business to run that 
 risk, as the Sammies came out every day, but 
 I went. 
 
 "As it was raining lightly, I put my gum 
 cloth on, and then no one could tell which, 
 army I belonged to, as the gum cloth cover- 
 ed all my dress but my boots. I had gone a 
 little over a mile when I came in sight of 
 some kind of a group of men and horses; 
 I had just come around a sharp curve in the 
 road, and was right on them. There was 
 one man on a horse, holding two other horses 
 by their bridles ; two men were up a cherry 
 tree eating cherries. As soon as I took in 
 the situation, I took out my pistol, held it 
 under my oil cloth and did not check my pace- 
 nor seem in the least concerned about them. 
 I kept my eye on the fellow holding the 
 horses, to see that he did not touch his car- 
 bine, till I got close enough to touch; them 
 
78 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIE WAR. 
 
 I put the pistol in his face and told him to 
 hold up his hands. This he did as well as he 
 could with the bridles in his hands. I then 
 said, 'you move your hands and I'll shoot 
 you.' By this time the two up the tree had 
 started to come down. I called out, 'none of 
 that, you stay up there, or I'll bring you down 
 another way !' 
 
 "I reached and took all the carbines, hung 
 them on the saddle of one horse, and then 
 made the two men come down, one at a time. 
 The first one I made mount behind the man 
 who had held the horses, then the other fel- 
 low had to come down and get on the horse 
 that had no carbine on its saddle. I made 
 them each hold the bridle of the other's 
 horse, and not that of the horse he rode. 
 I mounted the horse that carried the arms, 
 and then gave the prisoners to understand 
 that if they spoke or tried to escape, I would 
 shoot all three. We turned about and rode 
 in a trot for the ford, where my men were, and 
 arrived with all three prisoners, three guns 
 and three horses, though I did not get to see 
 my lady friend. And now. Doctor, we will 
 listen while you tell us about that capture in 
 Richmond." 
 
 "O, that don't count, as nothing has been 
 determined. But this I will promise: I will 
 bring her on a visit to your camp." 
 
MORS CAMP-FIRB TAIjes. 79 
 
 Captain Magruder was then importuned 
 for a story, and told the following interesting 
 tale: 
 
 "As you all know, General Rosser made 
 two raids out to the Moorefield and Peters- 
 burg Valleys. On the first of these raids, 
 after reaching the main road from New Creek 
 to Petersburg, we turned northward and en- 
 camped within three miles of the Federal 
 force, which was much larger than ours, and 
 directly in whose route we had planted our- 
 selves. The mercury was thirty degrees be- 
 low zero, the road a mass of ice, and the 
 whole mountain encrusted with frozen snow. 
 We had enough fuel and used it without 
 stint, as almost constant effort was required 
 to keep from freezing. To keep warm in the 
 teeth of such a bitter night was the chief end 
 of man. My men had just taken possession of 
 a huge dry log, four feet thick, and built a fire 
 against it that promised as much comfort as 
 |was possible, when an orderly came up to me 
 with an order from the General, saying that 
 he wanted an officer and ten men to make a 
 scout to the westward of the camp of the 
 enemy, and see if there was a country road 
 that led to a ford which could be used in or- 
 der to get well to the rear of the enemy. 
 The General said that as all the men had been 
 worked so hard and exposed both day and 
 
8o HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 night, he would not make any detail; but 
 that he would be greatly gratified if men 
 enough would volunteer. The service was 
 very important and the information was want- 
 ed at once. 
 
 "I called the men to me in an informal way 
 about the fire and said that I was ^oing 
 either with those who would volunteer, or 
 alone, if no one else was willing to go. Every 
 man in the squadron offered as with one 
 voice. I made them draw lots, and soon we 
 were in the saddle. We had minute direc- 
 tions, which fortunately I g^ve to the ser- 
 geant of the squad. 
 
 "We started, and after goinof about half a 
 mile we found ourselves on a ridge, from 
 which we could see distinctly the fires of the 
 enemy's camp as well as our own. We pass- 
 ed down the side of this ridge to a little valley 
 between two ridges. While down there we 
 could not see the fires of either side. Just 
 then my stirrup broke, and I halted to fix it. 
 I told the sergeant to go on with the men 
 slowly and quietly and that I would overtake 
 them soon. While I had the saddle girth 
 loose, my horse turned fool and got so im- 
 patient for the others that he made a sud- 
 den start, threw the saddle blankets into the 
 road and capered all over the place. At last 
 I got him quieted, and he seemed to have 
 
MORS camp-fire; tai^s. 8r 
 
 determined not to bother any further about 
 the others. I mounted, looked around, could 
 see no familiar points; listened, but could 
 hear nothing but the sharp cold wind whist- 
 ling through the dreary hills. I was lost! 
 My horse had spun around so much as to 
 cause me to lose my reckoning. I felt sure 
 that the sergeant would retrace his steps 
 when he found that I did not follow, and wait- 
 ed an hour for his return. It was too cold 
 and useless to stand still, so I thought I 
 would go — but where? I could from either 
 ridge see the two lines of fires. To ride up 
 to one would be all right, but if it should be 
 the wrong one, what then? I realized a 
 sense of utter loneness that surprised me. 
 I thought of the intuition said to be possessed 
 by the horse, and the idea of just giving him 
 the rein and trusting in God to direct took 
 strong possession of me. I thought I would 
 test the plan, and found that if I headed him 
 one way he would go in that direction, and 
 vice versa. So it was evident that he was as 
 badly lost as I. Indeed, he seemed to trem- 
 ble and fear as though he knew the situation. 
 At last, being nearly dead with cold, I made 
 up my mind that I would ride toward the 
 line where I noticed a much brighter fire than 
 at any other place on either of the two ranges 
 of fires, for it was now late, and I believed 
 
82 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIIv WAR. 
 
 that big black log was doing the beacon-light 
 business. So I held my pistol ready and rode 
 boldly up to the picket ; was halted, gave our 
 countersign, and was ready to shoot and run 
 if I turned out to be in the wrong camp. I 
 was right! That big log we left burning 
 brightly when we moved back to the Valley 
 the next day. I shall never envy any one 
 who gets lost between the lines." 
 
 Captain Magruder was thanked warmly 
 for his interesting narrative, and then the 
 chaplain, Rev. Theodore Carson, gave the 
 following pathetic story: 
 
 "On the evening of the second day of one 
 of the greatest battles which has marked the 
 mighty struggle between the North and the 
 South, after the grassy plain had been fought 
 over by the contending lines of infantry, and 
 was thickly strewn with dead and wounded 
 men, dismantled guns, broken-down ammuni- 
 tion wagons, discarded muskets, and other 
 evidences of the heat of the contest that had 
 swept over the pretty green sward and con- 
 verted it into a field of blood and carnage — 
 about four o'clock in the evening, an order 
 was sent to the general in command of the 
 cavalry and horse artillery, Stuart, to press 
 forward and convert the slow retreat of the 
 enemy into a rout. 
 
MORE CAMP-FIRE TALES. 83 
 
 "Quickly the bugles sounded the advance, 
 which, beginning with a trot, soon became a 
 gallop, till much of the field had been cross- 
 ed; then, as the lines of the foe came into 
 sight, the grand charge began — five thousand 
 horsemen, with sabres flashing in the summer 
 sun, the troops yelling, the artillery thunder- 
 ing along over the dead and dying, the earth 
 fairly trembling under the hoofs and wheels 
 of the vast host, as it swept on up the slope 
 of the ridge upon which the guns of the 
 enemy were posted, and which were belch- 
 ing out their sheets of fire and hail of iron 
 right into the face of the coming squadrons, 
 who with a mad yell, and whirling sabres, 
 soon cut down or captured the gunners who 
 could not escape, and broke the fines of their 
 support. A wild stampede followed, which 
 was soon converted into a confused flight, 
 each moment worse confounded by their own 
 captured guns as well as ours turned upon 
 them as they fled over the southern plain. It 
 was in this grand an|l resistless charge that 
 for an instant, as I passed near a little mound 
 of earth which had been thrown out of a drain, 
 I noticed stretched upon it a wounded sol- 
 dier, a mere boy. He lay upon his back, and. 
 was holding up a little book with both hands. 
 Time only was there for one glance at the 
 poor fellow, but it was long enough to show 
 
84 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 that he had fought his last battle and that 
 soon his Hfe would be gone. His gaze was 
 fixed on that open book. For him the boom 
 of cannon, the roar of musketry, the shouts 
 of the victor, and the flight of the vanquish- 
 ed had no voice that could engage his soul, 
 now holding its last earthly communion with 
 the Crucified One through the word of that 
 book. 
 
 "Never while I live will I forget that one 
 glance of the dying boy, and the evident ab- 
 sorption of his whole soul — not in the great 
 scenes enacted about him, but in the words 
 of Jesus. He was some mother's boy, who, 
 when he left home for the last time, had been 
 given by her that little book. She would 
 watch for his return in vain; soon his body 
 would be buried in the shallow trench with 
 many others, but it was with his mother's 
 God and of his heavenly home he then com- 
 muned. We know that only one book of all 
 the libraries of earth could have had a mes- 
 sage for that soul, when the grandest and 
 most awful scenes of earth could no longer 
 have any interest for one who was about to 
 join in the exultant song of victory with the 
 bright convoy bf angels who issued forth 
 from the gates to welcome him into the rest 
 which remaineth 'over the river tmder the 
 shade of the trees.' " 
 
MORE CAMP-FIRE TALES. 85 
 
 Lieutenant Marr was then coaxed by the 
 Doctor, who seemed never to tire of personal 
 reminiscences, to tell of the swap on the 
 picket line. 
 
 "One dark, murky morning," said Marr, 
 "I was going the rounds of my part of the 
 picket line, when on breaking through a 
 thicket of swamp, well down on the flat bank 
 of the Rappahannock River, which was then 
 our outer line, just where I expected to find 
 myself within a few feet of the 'Man in Gray,' 
 to my great surprise I ran in front of a 
 Yankee soldier on post where my man should 
 have been. The fellow saluted, and to my 
 demand to know what he was doing there, 
 he pointed across the river, where, sure 
 enough, I saw Alvin Horn, of my own com- 
 pany. Just then he secured a partly-filled 
 bag from a trooper and rode across the ford 
 to where I was. The Federal then stated 
 that they were only trading cofifee for to- 
 bacco, and meant no harm. Of course I 
 scolded, and explained that, for a time, he 
 did duty in the enemy's service, but did not 
 prefer charges, as his act, so innocent in pur- 
 pose, would have been punished with death." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. 
 
 A few days later, Colonel Dulany, then in 
 command of the Seventh, issued a call for 
 all of the commissioned officers of the regi- 
 ment to meet at his headquarters ; and when 
 they were assembled he stated that Surgeon 
 Contre was well enough and willing to teach 
 the use of the sabre if a sufficient number 
 could be gotten. That as Doctor Contre 
 would charge nothing, it would be a good op- 
 portunity for the officers to acquire profici- 
 ency and then instruct the non-commissioned 
 officers, after which they could teach the men. 
 All but a few of the officers agreed to take 
 lessons whenever Doctor Contre was strong 
 enough. And for the next few weeks, not 
 only the officers, but many of the men, were 
 hard at work with the sabre from morning 
 until night when not on other duty or drill- 
 ing. 
 
 After all had come back into camp and 
 Captain Magruder, Captain Myers, Lieu- 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. 87 
 
 tenant Marr, and Surgeon Centre were again 
 huddled around the large fire that was need- 
 ful to make living out of doors possible, the 
 Doctor said : 
 
 "Now we want the Lieutenant to tell us all 
 about that last mission on which he went for 
 General Jones, when he resigned so mysteri- 
 ously and was so quickly back and so prompt- 
 ly reelected. I have before had only an ink- 
 ling of the intended trip. Come, let us have 
 the story in full by all means." 
 
 "Well," said Marr, "here it is. One 
 evening, after a heavy fall of snow and a cold 
 snap had set in, General Jones' orderly came 
 to me with a message to come to his quarters 
 and remain till morning. Of course I at 
 once started for the General's tent, reaching 
 headquarters about ten o'clock. Upon being 
 ushered into his presence the General said, 
 'Marr, I want a long talk with you, and if 
 you have had your supper, take ofif as much of 
 your clothing as you like and take those two 
 robes and make your bed there, so that we 
 peed not talk loud.' I did as I was told, and 
 when I was comfortable the General con- 
 tinued : 'Now if you do not wish to perform 
 the service I will indicate, just decline it, as it 
 is an extra hazardous duty, and should never 
 be exacted of any soldier. I wish to find 
 out with absolutely accuracy what the Fed- 
 
88 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 eral force is now at Harper's Ferry, and 
 the names of the officers and whose brigades 
 are there. In other words, I must know 
 what their strength is at that point. We are 
 planning a raid west of that place, and do not 
 want to stir them up by a scout movement in 
 that direction, so some one must take his 
 life in hand and go there, knowing that if 
 caught it might go hard with him.' 
 
 "'General,' I said, 'tell me your plan; 
 what means you wotild suggest, and to what 
 measures you would resort if your man was 
 caught.' 
 
 " 'I have thought the matter over, and I 
 would like to have you undertake the task,' 
 said the General, 'resigning your commission 
 in the army to-morrow morning. I will see 
 that it is accepted and that a discharge from 
 the service is signed by General Jackson. 
 Change your clothes and go as a spy, and 
 not as a scout. Don't get caught, but if you 
 are caught and they want to condemn you, 
 they shall be notified that an officer of high 
 rank, now in our hands, shall have the same 
 fate meted out to you. He is a near rela- 
 tive of the Secretary of State of Mr. L,incoIn's 
 Cabinet, and I have reason to know that he 
 shall not escape before you get back, or live 
 an hour longer than you do. They would 
 not allow that man to be executed for a regi- 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. 89 
 
 ment of men, as his friends have great power. 
 When you return you shall be reelected to 
 your present position, or, if you prefer it, 
 shall have promotion. All I tell and promise 
 you is with the knowledge of General Jack- 
 son, and will be confirmed by him. You shall 
 have as much money as will pay your ex- 
 penses. I know that you would spurn the 
 offer of more. Much depends upon the 
 movement now about to be made, and you 
 can get the information we want and must 
 have.' 
 
 " 'General,' I said, 'you wish me to stay 
 with you to-night; I'll do so, and let you 
 know my answer in the morning.' 
 
 "I slept none that night, as the undertak- 
 ing bristled with difficulties, danger, and pos- 
 sibly a felon's death. However, in the morn- 
 ing when the General came out he found me 
 ahead of him. We had breakfast, and then 
 I said: 'Make your arrangements, I will go 
 and get you the information you wish.' 
 
 "He looked at me intently, and said, 'have 
 you thought of wife and child ?' 
 
 " 'Yes, sir ;' I said ; 'I don't think any new 
 phase of the matter can be presented to my 
 mind.' 
 
 "I wrote my resignation and took it to 
 Captain Magruder. It was dispatched to 
 
go HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 General Jackson and duly accepted, and was 
 read two days later to the command. 
 
 "I made myself a citizen, rode to New 
 Market, and went on foot from thence to the 
 Massanutton Mountain. Snow covered the 
 ground eight inches deep. On reaching the 
 mountain I toolc the road that followed the 
 river at its base, and traveled on it all day, 
 and stayed that night in a cabin about fifteen 
 miles from New Market. Early next day I 
 turned my back upon Strasburg and crossed 
 over to the main ridge of the Blue Ridge, 
 followed its base and the Shenandoah River 
 to Castleman's Ferry, and stayed at night in 
 a hut with a charcoal-getter; kept on next 
 morning to 'The Rocks,' nine miles from 
 Charlestown, in Jefferson County, Va. It 
 was late in the day, and though I knew the 
 country perfectly, as scouting parties were 
 passing in sight most of the time, I stuck to 
 the woods and ravines till within three miles 
 of town ; and as it was then dusk, and I heard 
 a regiment of Federals going along in the 
 main road to Charlestown, I let them pass 
 and trudged along in the rear. They went 
 on through and I hid myself in a hay stack 
 until near midnight, and then entering the 
 town, went to my own house, where, after 
 hard work, I succeeded in getting the color- 
 ed servant woman awake and duly impressed 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. 9 1 
 
 with the importance of secrecy. She ex- 
 plained the situation to my wife, who was 
 greatly excited and alarmed. 
 
 "I explained to the servant that I was there 
 on business that would not only cause my 
 arrest, but death, if my presence became 
 known; that she must excuse me for not al- 
 lowing her out of our presence while I was 
 there ; and that if I was caught her life would 
 pay the penalty, as well as my own, as she 
 filone could betray me. She swore not to 
 speak to any one but my wife and myself 
 while I was there, and while she faithfully ob- 
 served the caution, I did very narrowly es- 
 cape capture through a different source. 
 
 "My wife got a Mrs. Campbell to send my 
 brother-in-law to me, he being a physician 
 who was an old friend and school mate of the 
 Surgeon-in-Chief of the Army at Harper's 
 Ferry, and with whom he often dined, hav- 
 ing a free pass into the lines. He undertook 
 to go to Harper's Ferry, eight miles distant, 
 and get me the full and exact information re- 
 quired. This he did, and while he was ob- 
 taining me these facts, the town in which I 
 was concealed was thoroughly searched by 
 a Federal regiment. I could see them hunt- 
 ing through the jail and other public build- 
 ings from my hiding place. They said they 
 had just received information that Rebel spies 
 
92 HBROES AND SPIES OF THfi CIVII, WAR. 
 
 were in town. That night at ten o'clock I 
 left on foot, with a new saddle on my back; 
 walked to my father's house, then in the keep- 
 ing of trusty negroes, who had my best horse 
 fat and ready for me. Those negroes never 
 left my father's service, but remained till his 
 death, and then hung about the old neigh- 
 borhood as long as they lived. 
 
 "I parted with those honest old servants 
 with great regret at midnight. As I found 
 scouts on all roads, I determined to cross 
 the Shenandoah River if possible, in order to 
 get out of the Valley, now like a nest of en- 
 raged hornets. And so, over fields and 
 through woods I went for twenty miles to 
 the River, and at the edge of a dense woods 
 to the home of an old laborer who had work- 
 ed many years for my father. I reached his 
 house a little before light, aroused the old 
 man and made myself known to him, and told 
 him that I must cross. He said that it was, 
 humanly speaking, impossible, as the river, 
 full to the banks with drift logs and rails, was 
 running so as to sink any boat or rider. He 
 made me come in, called up his wife, who was 
 both glad and scared, as the Federals were 
 there every day. They had taken all the 
 boats, or broken them up, except their little 
 skifif, which was hid in a ditch in the woods. 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. 93 
 
 "She got US a nice breakfast, when we all 
 knelt down and the old man prayed for God's 
 blessing and guidance, that he might know 
 and be able to do his duty. He prayed for 
 Generals Lee, Jackson, all the neighbors, and 
 then for me. That was an earnest, heartfelt 
 prayer. Then he arose, took my hand, and 
 said, 'If you can risk your life for the cause 
 every day and on such an errand, surely I can 
 put the rest of my old life upon the altar of 
 my country once. I will take you over if 
 God wills.' 
 
 "We went up the ditch, in and out of the 
 rank bushes, and He led me down to his' little 
 boat. We got in, I untied one side of the 
 bridle, holding fast to the othei", put .the sad- 
 dle into the boat, talked to my beautiful 
 horse, who had more sense than most peo- 
 ple ; the boat was pushed out, the horse fol- 
 lowing, dodging the logs and drift as if he un- 
 derstood the importance of that crossing. 
 With all the efforts that the old man and I 
 could make, we were forced to go down over 
 a half mile to effect a landing on the other 
 side, which we did. Then we worked the 
 boat up close to the shore. Then the old 
 man started back. I watched him with in- 
 tense interest until I saw him land safely on 
 the other side and into the old lady's arms, 
 as she had waited, watched, and, I am sure,. 
 
94 HgROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 prayed till we were over the perils of that 
 venture. 
 
 "I waived them a good-by, and have never 
 seen them since, nor can I, until we all 'pass 
 over the river and rest under the shade of the 
 trees.' I reached General Jones' camp the 
 next morning at daylight and was warmly 
 welcomed by all; was reelected to my old 
 position and offered promotion. My report 
 was wired to General Jackson, who threaten- 
 ed Harper's Ferry, while a demonstration 
 was made by General Imboden, Capt. George 
 Baylor, and Colonel Mosby upon Cumber- 
 land, DufRelds, Martinsburg, and New Creek, 
 in order to necessitate reinforcements to be 
 sent along the line of the B. & O. R. R., and 
 thus prevent the concentration towards 
 Richmond." 
 
 "Well told," said Captain Magruder. 
 "Now, I am willing to go wherever I ought 
 to go, wearing my uniform, but would not 
 go on duty within the enemy's lines in the 
 dress of a citizen for anybody." 
 
 The Lieutenant held that when a man vol- 
 unteered as a patriot he did so to perform 
 whatever duty was asked of him by the officer 
 in command, who was to be the judge of 
 what the man should do in rendering service, 
 even to the sacrifice of life, if for the good 
 of the country the officer thought this nee- 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. 95 
 
 essary; but he insisted that a mercenary or 
 hired soldier, or one fighting for an aHen 
 catise, was not justified in acting the part of 
 fi spy, as he could only do this out of selfish- 
 ness, and not as an offering made in behalf 
 of his native land. 
 
 Captain Magruder thought the point well 
 taken, and said, "Now the Doctor, being an 
 Italian and not an American, would not be 
 justified in rendering such service; even 
 though he did so out of love of adventure 
 or out of kindness to an officer." 
 
 The Doctor maintained that the distinction 
 was too fine, and that soldiers of fortune 
 should have as wide scope for their oppor- 
 tunities as any one else; and that the ties 
 growing out of the adoption of a country 
 were nearly as strong as those of one's na- 
 tive land, and that it all depended upon the 
 constitution of the man to whom the chance 
 came. 
 
 Lieutenant Marr, after some urging, con- 
 sented to tell about Jerry, the Trumpeter, 
 and his pet mule, but insisted that it be after 
 Captain Magruder had told the story of Gen- 
 eral Lomax and the infantryman. 
 
 "One day," the Captain said, "General 
 Lomax, a daring cavalry officer, who was 
 more fond of dash than he was of dress, was 
 riding along a road that ran through an in- 
 
96 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 fantry encampment, and, as he passed, a big^ 
 soldier climbed upon the rail fence, and notic- 
 ing the General, who appeared to be a pri- 
 vate soldier, thought he would have some 
 fun at his expense, and began the song 
 much in use in the army and varied to suit 
 the circumstances. This time it was: 
 
 " 'If you want to do hard fighting, 
 
 Join in the Infantry; 
 If you want to have a lousy time, 
 Join in the Cavalry!' 
 with the chorus : 
 
 " 'O, the butter-milk rangers. 
 How they do get away from the Yan- 
 kees r 
 
 "This was too much for the General, wha 
 jumped off his horse, pulled the man off the 
 fence and wiped the ground with him, while 
 his companions stood by and saw that the 
 horseman had fair play. When they found 
 out who he was, they were full of apologies, 
 which Lomax accepted. 
 
 Lomax was a fighter, and at Sharpsburg 
 had his boots off when the bugle sounded 
 'Boots and saddles, the enemy approaching- 
 rapidly!' The General's boots were very 
 tight and wet, in consequence of which he 
 could not get them on. He struggled, with. 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — more; STORll^S. t,^ 
 
 the aid of his servant, but with no success. 
 Finally, getting desperate, he mounted in his 
 stockings and rode to the front, went into the 
 battle, and personally captured a war corre- 
 spondent of a leading New York paper, who 
 said through his paper that even Confederate 
 officers wore no boots, as he was captured by 
 a bare-foot one." 
 
 "Now, Lieutenant let us have the story of 
 'Jerry and the Mule,' " said the Doctor. 
 
 "Now, Doctor," answered Marr, "con- 
 sidering how slow you are to tell us about 
 that Richmond case of yours, or to show me 
 that cave near here that you used to hide in 
 when the Bluecoats came up to Woodstock, 
 and which I beheve you go to explore when- 
 ever you get a day oflE, you exact stories of 
 us pretty freely. I am, willing to wait until 
 the beauty surrenders, and expect you to go 
 halves in the profits of that cave after this 
 cruel war is over. But about 'J^rry and the 
 Mule.' 
 
 "The day before the disastrous battle of 
 Bristow Station, where Gen. A. P. Hill fell 
 into a trap set for him by the Yanks and got 
 badly used up. General Stuart sent General 
 Lomax to hold a road about ten miles from 
 Warrenton, while he would cross that road 
 and try to delay the march of General Meade, 
 whose troops were rapidly going through the 
 7 
 
98 HBROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 parallel road towards Bristow and Manassas. 
 It seems that these two roads, though parallel 
 at the point at which we intersected them, 
 did really converge about two miles above 
 that point and united again two miles lower 
 down, leaving a piece of land about a half a 
 mile wide and four miles long running to a 
 point at each end between the two roads, 
 shaped like a pair of tongs. 
 
 "General Stuart took about fifteen hundred 
 cavalry and two batteries to delay or prevent 
 the forces of General Meade from using the 
 first road, and ordered General Lomax, with 
 one thousand men, to hold it while he held 
 the road farthest from Warrenton, both of 
 which roads General Meade would want to 
 retreat by. We skirmished for several 
 hours, delaying the enemy as much as possi- 
 ble ; but the pressure became too heavy, and 
 night having come, General Stuart ordered 
 the force to fall back towards Warrenton, 
 but soon found that General Lomax had re- 
 tired, leaving the road behind us open to 
 General Meade, and that a Federal column 
 was quietly bivouacked behind us in the road 
 Lomax was left to guard. 
 
 "As the Federals were passing in a steady 
 stream down the road Stuart had just left, 
 he was thus enclosed on all sides, with only 
 the space of a mile between the roads now 
 
RISKY BUSINESS MORE STORIES. 99 
 
 filled with twenty thousand infantry. There 
 was but one thing to do, and this was to hide 
 in the pine thicket that covered the little 
 ground he had, and trust that the Federals 
 did not know that he was there. Word was 
 passed that no noise or fire was to be made, 
 and the six guns and all the horses were 
 bunched up in the dense part of the thicket. 
 Pickets were placed all around the hidden 
 bivouac ; no one spoke above a whisper, and 
 the horses seemed to think that they must 
 be quiet too. One of the men said that he 
 could hear the Federals pouring out oats for 
 their horses. Surely hundreds of them CQ;\ld 
 be seen and plainly heard around the fires 
 they made of the fence rails, while we were 
 in the dark pines. I was put with my squad- 
 ron on picket ; not to challenge any one, but 
 whenever a bluecoat strayed too near our 
 pickets we would just quietly take him 
 prisoner and put him with our men in the 
 midst of the thicket. We captured an aide 
 of General Meade, who tried to pass across 
 from one road to the parallel one. As he 
 knew the situation, we took him up to Gen- 
 eral Stuart, who greeted him kindly, and 
 when he asked General Stuart which was the 
 prisoner, the General or himself, the General 
 laughed. 
 
100 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 "The aide said, 'General, if you will allow 
 me to sup with you, I will have you to break- 
 fast with me in the morning.' 
 
 "This was a serious, but very likely cour- 
 tesy. That night General Stuart sent out 
 five men, who volunteered to pass through 
 the Federal camp and carry to General Lee 
 this message : 'Send some of your people to 
 help us before dayhght, or I will be on my 
 way to Washington under command of Gen- 
 eral Meade.' 
 
 "Lieutenant Bushrod Washington, J. D. 
 Keerl, and James N. Gallaher, were three of 
 the five messengers, and, singularly, all got 
 through safely, but really too late to help us. 
 As I was quietly stealing along from one of 
 my pickets to another, I came upon Jerry, 
 the bugler, sitting on a log, crying. Know- 
 ing him to be a fearless man in battle, I could 
 not account for his tears, and said in a whis- 
 per, 'Jerry, what is the matter with you? 
 We may get out, and if not, a soldier's fate 
 awaits us.' 
 
 " 'I know that. Lieutenant, and I don't 
 care what they do with me; I don't fear to 
 die or go to prison.' 
 
 " 'Well then, Jerry, I asked, what is the 
 matter?' 
 
 "Bursting out in a flood of tears, he said, 
 'Oh, if I could only take my dear mule by the 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. lOI 
 
 tail and sling it out of here, they might do 
 what they d — n please with me !' 
 
 "As morning approached, we lost all hope 
 of help from General Lee, as his troops were 
 too far ofif to relieve us. So General Stuart 
 had the six guns brought up to face the 
 Federals that were in direct line between us 
 and General Lee's troops. They were load- 
 ed with grape, canister, and short shells. 
 The troops were to be all in the saddle, ex- 
 cept my squadron, who were dismounted, 
 with carbines, to fire upon the nearest line 
 of infantry, and then, if possible, to mount 
 and form the rear guard of the column in its 
 bold dash for freedom. In fact, I saw that 
 this meant that my squadron was to be sacri- 
 ficed for the good of the rest. I then realiz- 
 ed how Jerry felt, and determined to sling 
 that squadron out of that fix. All was ready, 
 and just as the darkness began to lighten, the 
 column was brought up behind the guns and 
 made ready to charge at the word of com- 
 mand. Soon we heard the drums of the 
 Federals beat for roll call, while it was not 
 yet light. We heard one order after another 
 given, and then the teams were hitched up 
 and their artillery ordered to move. It was 
 found that owing to the softness of the 'black- 
 jack' soil, their guns and wagons had sunk to 
 
I02 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 the axles, while where we were was hard 
 sand. 
 
 "We heard the officers order the men to 
 stack arms and help lift the guns and wagons 
 out of the mire. They gathered thick by and 
 crowded about the teams, straining, yelling, 
 and cursing, when all at once our guns were 
 turned loose, making havoc with the enemy, 
 and of all the confusion worse confounded 
 that ever was seen, that excelled! It was a 
 perfect surprise. Men and teams scattered 
 and ran over each other and in every direc- 
 tion. Just then the order to march was 
 given, the bugles all sounded the charge. On 
 went, in a mad gallop, fifteen hundred cav- 
 alry, who came out of the bushes as suddenly 
 as if out of the sky. For a mile over the 
 pretty plain could be seen men running in 
 the greatest panic. Knowing that there was 
 no more use for skirmishing, I had kept our 
 led horses well closed up, and we fell in rear 
 of our mad riders and came out about as well 
 as the balance. Jerry and his mule got 
 through, and he said that he would never risk 
 it again, but send it home out of danger." 
 
 Captain Magruder then told about the 
 scene at Orange Court-House, when General 
 Jones took the Seventh and Twelfth down 
 there from Gordonsville, having heard that 
 the Bluecoats were moving that way. "I 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. 103 
 
 found it true," he said, "for as the head of our 
 column entered the town from the south, 
 they came to the edge of the town on the 
 north, and the two forces met in the streets, 
 hand-to-hand fighting. The Confederates 
 forced the Federals back, till all at once a 
 panic was made in the rear of our columns, 
 caused by the fact that the Federal com- 
 mander had that morning expected that we 
 would come down and engage his main 
 column, and had sent a brigade to come into 
 town behind us — ^which they did at a very 
 inconvenient time for us. They scattered 
 one-third of our men in the rear, while those 
 in front did not know what was the matter 
 in the rear, and drove their lines out of the 
 town. Then if the Federals in our rear had 
 but used their advantage, we would have 
 been badly cut up; they got panic-stricken 
 at some fancied danger, and bolted out 
 through a cross street, and rode ofif as fast as 
 possible. 
 
 "General Jones said afterwards, 'that half 
 of his men charged and half discharged.' 
 
 "On the grounds about the residence of 
 Colonel Willis, in the south side of the town, 
 on a hill, many of our scattered men gather- 
 ed. Seeing which, General Jones ordered 
 me to take a squad and bring the men down 
 into town and reorganize them. He ordered 
 
104 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 the killing then and there of any man who 
 failed to obey the order. As I approached 
 ,the house about fifty men were standing in 
 front of it. On the porch there stood a pret- 
 ty and noble looking girl, Miss Willis, who 
 iwas urging the men to go to their command 
 and do their duty. As I came up, I heard 
 her say, 'Oh, I wish I was a man!' when one 
 pld fellow, who had been down in the fire, 
 said, 'Yes, Miss, and if you was, you would 
 wish you was a gal again mouty soon !' 
 
 "This brought down the house, and I 
 brought down the men." 
 
 Major Myers was urged to tell about the 
 trick that he played on General Elliott, but 
 insisted that Lieutenant Marr should tell it 
 for him, as he could not do the subject jus- 
 tice. 
 
 Marr said: 
 
 "General Jones took his brigade down from 
 Strasburg to Winchester to see where the 
 Yanks were, and found General Elliott, with 
 five thousand men, near Berryville, in Clarke 
 County. We met their cavalry four miles 
 out of Berryville and charged them, took 
 them along pretty lively, until we pushed 
 them into a grove near town, where we 
 found ourselves looking into the grim - 
 mouths of six guns, shotted with grape and 
 canister, and not more than two hundred and 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. I05 
 
 fifty yards away from us. As they had a 
 heavy infantry support, there wa!s but one 
 thing to do, and that was to get out as soon 
 as possible. If their gunners had been cool 
 and aimed low, this story would not have 
 been told; but they let fly their charges and 
 limbered to the rear. Their shot went over 
 our heads, and the only men they hurt was by 
 the falling of limbs upon us. We did not 
 hang around there to see what they would 
 do. They retreated towards Charlestown, 
 and we fell back to Winchester. 
 
 "The next day Major Myers, with his 
 brother, Capt. John Myers, and I, with twen- 
 ty men, were sent down toward Berryville, 
 while the rest of the brigade moved up to- 
 wards Strasburg, eighteen miles south. 
 
 "We found the Federals early in the morn- 
 ing, about ten miles north of, and advancing 
 upon, Winchester. We drove in their scouts 
 and received the compliment of being shelled 
 until we had sullenly fallen back to within 
 five miles of Winchester, when, much to our 
 surprise, a flag of truce was signaled. We, 
 that is to say. Captain Myers and I, with a 
 sergeant, went forward to receive the com- 
 munication, which turned out to be a demand 
 upon the general in command to surrender 
 the town of Winchester. Our reply was that 
 we must have an hour to forward the de- 
 
Io6 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 mand to the general. This was accorded, 
 and when the time was up Major Myers re- 
 sponded that it was then eleven o'clock A. 
 M., and that the place would not be given up 
 till 4 P. M., and the terms must be accepted 
 or declined at once. They were accepted. 
 Whereupon, leaving only a picket of three 
 men, we went into Winchester, had a grand 
 good-by dinner, finished it by three o'clock; 
 our pickets came in, and by 4 P. M. we were 
 two miles from town on our way to Stras- 
 burg, when General Elliott sent a colonel at 
 the head of a squadron into town to notify 
 us that the time was up. Major Myers left 
 a note saying that he had enjoyed his dinner 
 all the more becattse he had kept five thou- 
 sand of the enemy waiting in the road for him 
 to finish eating. As soon as we got there. 
 General Rosser took us through the Allegany 
 Mountains on a raid. 
 
 "We started during a very cold spell, with 
 three days rations, which most of us ate be- 
 fore we started, and by night reached the 
 mountains, with snow falling. We rested in 
 the snow after a march of thirty miles, and 
 waited for morning ; when, cold and hungry, 
 we took up our march over the white ridge. 
 About four o'clock we came down into the 
 Moorfield Valley, to see in front of us a 
 Federal train, heavily guarded, on its way to 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. I07 
 
 the town of Petersburg, W. Va., with sup- 
 phes. We charged, and soon had that whole 
 train, and pretty much of the whole guard in 
 charge of it. We feasted on the good things, 
 and after a forced march and great sufifer- 
 ing, we retraced our way to Harrisonburg, 
 with the hope that we would have a long rest. 
 But this was not to be allowed us, as in a few 
 days the Federal General, Milligan, who was 
 in command of the Union troops at New 
 Creek, and who had sent out the train we 
 had just captured, sent a flag of truce to Gen- 
 eral Rosser, who had been an old school- 
 mate, saying that upon a certain day he would 
 send another train over the same road 'that 
 all hell couldn't take.' General Rosser sent 
 back word that he could do what 'all hell' 
 could not, and at once we began to get ready 
 for that expected train. The weather be- 
 came colder; the roads slippery, and for the 
 most part, impassable; but that train must 
 be captured. At the right time we started, 
 and stayed in the snow one of the coldest 
 nights ever known in those mountains. We 
 dragged one little gun of Colonel Chew's old 
 battery along with us by hand up the steep 
 slopes of the mountains, and when we got to 
 the top of the ridge we found that General 
 MilHgan had sent men up the western slop^ 
 literally dug up and destroyed the whole road 
 
Io8 HEROfiS AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 for nearly five miles from its crest to its base, 
 and had felled all the trees along the road, 
 so that it did seem impossible to get down 
 into the valley on the west. We let the gun 
 and a little ammunition down by ropes, scat- 
 tered down the side of that cold mountain 
 where there was no road, and got into the 
 valley as best we could about three o'clock in 
 the evening. 
 
 "We saw that the coveted train was ap- 
 proaching ; eleven hundred and sixty-nine in- 
 fantry and a squadron of cavalry composed 
 the escort, while we did not have over six 
 hundred horsemen, nearly one-third of whom 
 were dismounted having failed to get their 
 horses over, and many disabled from expos- 
 ure in that intense cold- Only a few over 
 half of our men got over the mountain in 
 time to be of any use, but the rest were dis- 
 mounted and moved up into the line of bat- 
 tle in front of that formed by the Federal 
 infantry, only a narrow field lying between 
 the two confronting forces, and that train 
 parked in sight, one hundred and three 
 wagons and three ambulances — the paymas- 
 ter being along with nearly a quarter of a 
 million dollars in one of the ambulances. 
 The two lines of men stood there, both hav- 
 ing orders not to fire. We were waiting for 
 two things — one was a company of cavalry 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. 109 
 
 sent to threaten their rear, the other to get 
 our gun in position unseen. 
 
 "The bluecoats began to think that we 
 were waiting for night, to steal off, for they 
 called out to us to 'come and take the train.' 
 They were behind a rail fence, in line, and 
 made a fine' show compared with our little 
 force; yet there we stood for an hour or 
 more. One big fellow, a sergeant, got over 
 the fence on the side next to us, and called 
 to us to come and get the train, and was 
 cheered by his people. This encouraged 
 him; he turned his back towards us, and 
 showed us his seat of dishonor. For this he 
 was cheered more lustily by his men. But just 
 jat this instant the joke was turned ; the gun 
 was ready, and out of a clump of bushes on 
 a hill in the rear there came a flash, a roar, 
 and the scream of a rifle shell which flew in 
 a line with the petition of that of the bold 
 sergeant, and striking the fence where he 
 had climbed over it, exploded and sent men 
 and rails flying through the air, and spread- 
 ing panic around. The teamsters cut loose 
 their horses to escape upon them; the scat- 
 tered men ran pell-mell to the -rear, our cav- 
 alry charged, the flying men took to the 
 bushes and hills. Of the bold sergeant we 
 heard no more, as he retired in disorder. We 
 got all of the wagons and two of the am- 
 
no HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 bulances ; the other was that of the paymas- 
 ter, who, with his guard on fine horses, had 
 evidently, like General Santa Anna 'started 
 first,' for he could not be caught, though pur- 
 sued five miles by two men. Captain Vandiver 
 and myself. 
 
 "We got nearly all the horses that had not 
 run away with their riders, and brought out 
 supplies such as we could carry; but nearly 
 all the wagons were burned, as the road could 
 not be passed by wheeled vehicles. We tried 
 it, but lost those we tried to bring out. That 
 ended our hard march for a while." 
 
 Captain Magruder told of his first case 
 while he was yet a student in the office of 
 the physician with whom he had read medi- 
 cine. He said that during the absence of the 
 doctor, two women from the mountains came 
 in, bringing with them a great, gawky, over- 
 grown boy, as green as he was big, and he 
 looked weak. Magruder, resolved to repre- 
 sent the doctor, asked what the disease was, 
 looked at his tongue, felt his pulse and took 
 his temperature. He then asked what they 
 had been doing for him. They said that he 
 was "liver grown," and they had been rub- 
 bing him with "goose grease." Seeing there 
 was very little the matter with him, he told 
 them to put red pepper in the goose grease 
 and he would get well. They went, and to 
 
RISKY BUSINESS MORE STORIES. 1 1 1 
 
 his consternation returned two weeks later, 
 when the doctor was in, met him and report- 
 ed that the boy was well, much to Magruder's 
 relief, for he feared the fellow was dead. 
 
 Dr. John D. Starry, our regimental sur- 
 geon, insisted that Lieutenant Marr tell the 
 circle about the' fire-eating gambler's experi- 
 ence at the first battle of Manassas. 
 
 "There was a man in my county before the 
 war," said Lieutenant Marr, "who was a 
 gambler by profession and a bully by nature. 
 By the time he was twenty-five years old he 
 had carved up two men over cards, with his 
 bowie, and wounded one with a pistol, all for 
 some fancied insult. He was considered to 
 be a dangerous man, and was avoided by 
 those who knew him and did not wish to die 
 before their time. 
 
 "When the war broke out and we learned 
 that he was made captajn of a company of 
 brave but rough men, we all felt sorry for 
 
 the Yankees, and one said that Captain C 
 
 would live on raw or roast Yankee. Another 
 thought that the Federals would lay down 
 their arms when they heard that news, and 
 so end the war. Strange to say, they either 
 did not know the facts, or failed to give them 
 due weight. At the first battle of Manassas, 
 the brigade, henceforth to be known as the 
 'Stonewall Brig^ade,' was put in position on 
 
112 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE ClVII, WAR. 
 
 the edge of a pine thicket in front of General 
 McDowell's whole army, and ordered not to 
 fire, but to crouch down in the pines and take 
 the consequences till further orders. Bul- 
 lets were flying through the valley, cutting 
 off leaves, twigs, and our men. I noticed the 
 
 desperate Captain C in rear of his 
 
 company, which was on the left of mine. 
 Just then a shell about the size of a dinner 
 pot fell near and behind us, plowing up a 
 great trench and throwing a cart load of dirt 
 
 jnto the air. I did not notice Captain C 
 
 again, but learned that when that shell burst 
 he threw down his sword and ran all the way 
 to the 'junction,' five miles distant. General 
 Jackson was induced not to court-martial 
 him, but a child could tweak his nose without 
 fear from that time." 
 
 Captain Magruder then told of the joke 
 we had on the gallant Major, then Capt. Dan. 
 Hatcher, of Company A, of the Seventh, the 
 successor of Captain Sheets, who was killed 
 at Buckton Station, and who had succeeded 
 the lamented Captain, afterwards General, 
 Turner Ashby. 
 
 "When, after the battle of Cedar Moun- 
 tain," said Captain Magruder, "General Lee 
 was preparing to advance upon General 
 Meade, then at Culpeper Court-House, he 
 gave orders that not a soul was to be allowed 
 
RISKY BUSINESS — MORE STORIES. I13 
 
 to cross the river in his front, even with a 
 written permit. This meant business of the 
 gravest sort. 
 
 "Capt. Dan. Hatcher was called by one 
 of his sergeants to see a lady who was at the 
 river pleading to be allowed to cross. She 
 said that the day before she had left at her 
 home her five small children, two of whom 
 were sick, had come oyer for her mother, who 
 was too ill to go back with her, and that she 
 ought to be permitted to go home to her lit- 
 tle ones, as there was no grown person with 
 jthem. She was a woman of fine, command- 
 ing appearance, was pretty, and being flushed 
 by excitement as she pointed across the river, 
 she made a case so strong that Captain 
 Hatcher, who would not have minded a 
 frowning battery, was quite captured by sym- 
 pathy for the earnest and eloquent woman. 
 When she knelt down before him in tears, he 
 gave in, and let her cross the river. That 
 night she was at General Meade's headquar- 
 ters and his army was in full retreat. 
 
 "General Lee made a great efifort to find 
 out who had crossed, but no one would re- 
 port the Captain, as it was too late then, as 
 the mischief was done. Captain Hatcher 
 said that thereafter the Archangel Gabriel 
 should not pass his lines ; that he would say, 
 as Gen. Wm. E. Jones did to a lady who 
 
 8 
 
114 HEROES AND SPIBS OF THE Civil, WAR. 
 
 knelt to him and said, 'I will die if you do not 
 let me cross the river,' 'Madame, I am sorry, 
 but / can have you buried, while I cannot let 
 you cross my lines.' " 
 
 Lieutenant Marr, in speaking to the chap- 
 lain, Rev. Theo. Carson, said that some of 
 the noblest and bravest men in the Southern 
 army were men like Gen. Leonidas Polk and 
 General Pendleton, who were educated for 
 the ministry but who were fighting in the 
 front. And he told of the last sermon 
 preached by the Reverend Pugh, of Warren- 
 ton, before he left the pulpit for the artillery 
 camp, where he made a splendid record. 
 
 "General Joe Johnston's army was on the 
 retreat from Centerville to Gordonsville in 
 1862. Mr. Pugh gave his people to under- 
 stand that he would not preach after that 
 Sunday. He had a crowded house, and at 
 the close of the sermon urged that every 
 man should enlist in the service, using all the 
 arguments possible, and wound up by say- 
 ing, 'You may not be a strong man, you may 
 be only half a man, but you will stop a bullet 
 just as well as a better man. Now follow niy 
 my example and report for duty.' " 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A BANQUET AND OTHER THINGS. 
 
 We all took special care to bestow as much 
 attention on Centre as possible, as it was 
 through his golden help alone that we could 
 hope for a layout that was to be more than 
 dreamed of in the Confederacy by soldiers. 
 Our regimental surgeon. Starry, and Chap- 
 lain Carson, never took any fancy to Contre, 
 indeed did not like him. But in an army, or 
 even in a small command, as well as a large 
 community, one finds uncongenial spirits, as 
 well as those to whom your soul goes forth 
 in kindly feeling. 
 
 Not long after getting into our quarters, 
 he made another trip to Richmond, for the 
 ostensible purpose of trying to expedite his 
 discharge, so that he could go on duty, 
 though we suspected that he had other rea- 
 sons for spending his time there pretty fully. 
 Of course one could not know, for whenever 
 we said anything about his mysterious move- 
 
H6 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 ments he showed some of his Italian bad 
 temper, while he was ever ready to enjoy 
 iun at the expense of other people. 
 
 We knew that we would soon be sent over 
 the Blue Ridge to operate there, and we de- 
 termined to have a soldier banquet on rather 
 a larger scale than we had before dared to at- 
 tempt, as it was probably the last time we 
 would ever be together, the outlook being 
 for a hard and bloody campaign. Food was 
 so scarce and our Confederate money so plen- 
 tiful that the people who had good things 
 would not sell them for Confederate money. 
 So we just took Contre to one side and told 
 him that he was the only man that could help 
 us out of our dilemma. We knew he had gold 
 and that he could get more, and we could not, 
 and we assessed him one hundred and twenty- 
 five dollars that were dollars sure enough ! 
 He seemed to wriggle at first, but after some 
 persuasion he said that the banquet should 
 be a success, and he counted us down fifteen 
 ten-dollar gold pieces, with which to make 
 merry, and we did so. 
 
 When we invited the Major, and told him 
 that we had in gold the equivalent of ten 
 thousand dollars of our money with which 
 to buy the "eatingses," as he called them, he 
 laughed all over, as was his habit when he en- 
 joyed anything, and said that the General 
 
A BANQUET AND OTHER THINGS. I17 
 
 ought to send a flag of truce, asking a sus- 
 pension of hostilities until the feast was over. 
 But if this was not possible, we might be 
 moved from the front and another command 
 put on duty. 
 
 We sent out our rangers and bought up all 
 the turkeys, fat pigs, geese, ducks, chickens 
 and vegetables. Had real coffee, white sug- 
 ar, and tea, and for all those who liked 
 them, home-made wines and cider ad libitum. 
 We determined that it would not do to have 
 such a feast in the midst of a lot of half- 
 starved soldiers in camp, so in order to 
 heighten our enjoyment, we bought and gave 
 two beeves and some fat hogs to the men to 
 make a feast for themselves at the same time. 
 We secured an old school house a few miles 
 in our rear, and then spread our feast, and it 
 was a grand one indeed. 
 
 We had as honored guests Lieut. Col. 
 Thos. Marshall, Adjutant McCarty, Chap- 
 lain Theodore Carson, who was not only a 
 good preacher, but a whole-souled, good 
 fellow; Doctor John D. Starry, of Charles- 
 town, surgeon of the Seventh, Lieutenant 
 Vandiver, Capt. John Myers, Lieut. Clarence 
 Whiting, of Fauquier, gallant Dan. Hatcher, 
 and Lieut. Orlando Smith, a Headly Vickers 
 as a Christian soldier; and some of the men 
 who were congenial spirits. 
 
Il8 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 It was one peculiarity of the Confederate 
 Army that in the ranks many privates were 
 found who were men of weahh and had been 
 accustomed to luxury — men of great intel- 
 lectual attainments and men of refinement, 
 and often greatly superior to their officers. 
 The author knew many finely educated men 
 who would gracefully perform the most 
 menial duties out of patriotic motives, who 
 had been waited upon all their lives. And 
 well does he remember seeing a descendant 
 of General Washington's brother, himself a 
 large landed proprietor, on police duty, 
 sweeping the manure dropped in the camp 
 by the horses. It was this spirit, coupled 
 with the encouragement of the noblest wo- 
 men that ever lived, that made the South 
 conquerable only when completely bled to 
 death. In the hospital in Staunton, Va., (the 
 Blind Asylum used for that purpose), the 
 writer has seen, while lying wounded there, 
 the noble women of Staunton bring not only 
 their luxuries, but take all their own linen 
 clothes and scrape them up into lint for the 
 wounds of the poor fellows who filled the 
 place with over twelve hundred sufferers. 
 The ladies from the Stuart, Orpie, Baldwin, 
 Harmon, and other leading families vied with 
 each other in doing good to their "wounded 
 boys," as they called us all; while the good 
 
A BANQUET AND OTHER THINGS. 1 1 9 
 
 women and girls of the lower valley saw to it 
 that our wants were supplied by running the 
 blockade to Baltimore, and bringing out, un- 
 der their skirts, hats and other scarce things 
 ■for the soldiers." But whenever the girls got 
 their eyes on a man they thought ought to 
 join the army, and who was backward in com- 
 ing forward, they would send him a hoop- 
 skirt and a night-cap, with a ruffle around it, 
 and request him to "try that, and if it did not 
 become him, then to put on a suit of gray." 
 That brought him to camp without stopping 
 to say good-by to his best girl. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FUN, FIGHTING AND FACTS. 
 
 In Winchester the women were so glad 
 to meet the returning Confederates that our 
 men had to cease firing as we rode through 
 the town in pursuit of General Banks' flying 
 troops, for fear of kiUing the women who 
 ran into the streets to kiss and load us with 
 whatever might please in the way of their 
 few remaining luxuries. The Brents, Rileys, 
 Baldwins, Conrads, Hollidays, Williamses, 
 Bartons, Carsons, and indeed the devoted 
 ladies of the whole place, for their own safety 
 laid aside their feminine fears and were ready 
 to almost worship the wearers of the gray 
 jackets, while instances of the bravery of 
 other women were noted. 
 
 Mrs. Colonel Warren, sister of Captain 
 Magruder, and whose husband and five 
 brothers were killed, lived on a farm with her 
 four small children, unprotected by any man. 
 Being near Harrisonburg and near the great 
 Valley Road, she was often threatened, and 
 
PUN, FIGHTING AND I^ACTS. 121 
 
 entrance to her home attempted at night. 
 She kept a loaded revolver, and would often 
 fire upon any one who threatened' trouble, 
 and did wound one man, after which such 
 visitors became more scarce. 
 
 Miss Beale, a sister of John Y. Beale, who 
 was hanged as a spy, a schoolmate of the 
 writer and one of the noblest spirits that God 
 ever created, was called upon by a squad of 
 Federal infantry with an order to search the 
 house. She politely took them all through 
 the house; they looked in trunks and clos- 
 ets, in beds, and even in band-boxes, and 
 found that none but ladies were in the house. 
 One lingered at the head of a long flight of 
 stairs that led down into the inside entry, and 
 as she was showing him out that way he in- 
 sulted her. Her quick Southern blood boiled 
 over; on the instant, his face being toward 
 her, she bounded against him with all her 
 might so suddenly that backwards he went 
 down the steps, while she saved herself by 
 holding on to the latch of the door. He was 
 taken up seriously crippled and moved to the 
 hospital, where he died. To his honor it can 
 be said that when General Hancock heard of 
 it and was urged to have her arrested he said, 
 "No! I glory in the spirit of that girl, and 
 will have any man shot who will ofifer such an 
 indignity to any defenseless woman." 
 
122 HEROES AND SPIKS OF THE ClVIt WAR. 
 
 As Captain Magruder and Surgeon Centre 
 were returning from Staunton to camp, they 
 talked of the great change that war made in 
 men, or rather the efifect of developing the 
 natural tendency to disregard the rights of 
 others, and to steal when there was little 
 value or use, if any, in the thing stolen. Marr 
 illustrated by telling of a Union soldier who 
 stole from a farm house in Orange County 
 a guano sieve, or sifter, five feet long, two 
 feet wide, and that weighed seventy-eight 
 pounds, and which he put down after carry- 
 ing it for half a mile. He also said that when 
 the Confederates were passing through 
 Chambersburg, Pa., and his regiment was 
 halted in the road on the edge of the town, 
 about 9 o'clock P. M., his attention was at- 
 tracted by seeing a strange looking object 
 on the other side of a board fence that en- 
 closed a lot adjoining the road. It was a 
 large white object and was moving slowly 
 towards the spot where he was. While 
 watching to see what strange creature this 
 was, his horse made a slight jump to one side 
 and became very restless. Nearby he heard 
 the buzz of a bee, and called out "who goes 
 there," in a suppressed stage whisper a man 
 said, "It is me. I've got a bee gum under 
 this sheet ; there is one more if you want it." 
 
FUN, I'IGHTING AND FACTS. 1 23 
 
 "If there was anything I did not want just 
 then," said Marr, "it was a bee-gum." 
 
 On another occasion, being gathered 
 about our mess fire, Contre said, "As we 
 have neither books, paper, nor lights, let us 
 have some stories, Captain Magruder." 
 
 "All right, Doctor, but you must tell us 
 your experiences; you make Marr and me 
 furnish all the stock. Now I'll tell you about 
 the charge led by Stonewall. It was about 
 seven o'clock of the morning after our cap- 
 ture of Buckton Station and Port Republic, 
 when we learned that General Banks was in 
 full retreat from Strasburg to Winchester, 
 that General Jackson put himself at the head 
 of about two hundred of our brigade and 
 went across to the high ridge that runs par- 
 allel to the great Valley Pike; from that 
 ridge we could see the great bulk of General 
 Banks' army, infantry, artillery, cavalry and 
 supply trains, pouring like a torrent down 
 that road, all trying to make the best possible 
 time in the efifort to reach Winchester with- 
 out being cut off. General Jackson stopped 
 on the top of the hill and beckoned General 
 Ashby there, then pointed down the little 
 narrow, rocky, red-clay road that, shut in 
 by stonefences, led down to the main turn- 
 pike. A few^ words were exchanged by these 
 gallant men, each doomed to die for the 
 
124 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 cause so dear to him, and both to be shot by 
 their own men. I noticed that General 
 Jackson pulled his tight-fitting skull cap over 
 his head and eyes, then without a word he 
 stuck spurs to 'Old Sorrel,' and galloped 
 down the rough, rocky way as though he was 
 trying to break his neck. 
 
 "Neither Ashby nor Ashby's men were 
 the kind to look on at such a charge, and 
 down the hill they went pellmell, yelling as 
 if crazy. Across the mouth of this lane, at 
 its intersection with the main road, was 
 posted the Twelfth Michigan Cavalry, a regi- 
 ment the boast of their State, all mounted by 
 the State on blooded horses ; and three bat- 
 teries, supported by two brigades of infantry 
 were so located as to enfilade the lane; but 
 all the troops in General Banks' army could 
 not resist that charge. The crack Michigan 
 regiment had over two hundred saddles emp- 
 tied by that shock, the rest rode over and 
 panicked the teamsters; most of the teams 
 and artillery went towards Winchester, run- 
 ning over or through all troops in their way. 
 About four thousand of General Banks' col- 
 umn, thus cut ofif from the main body, had to 
 take to the mountains and strike across 
 towards Cumberland. Many of them were 
 so demoralized as never to be fit for service 
 again. 
 
FUN, FIGHTING AND FACTS. 125 
 
 "Now, Lieutenant Marr, you must tell us a 
 story, for Contre either don't know any or 
 is ashamed of such as he does know," said 
 Captain Magruder. 
 
 "If I must, I think I will give you an ac- 
 count of a funny little incident that occurred 
 at first Manassas," said Marr. "I was a pri- 
 vate in that command when it was gathered 
 at Harper's Ferry, where Major T. J. Jack- 
 son (afterwards known as 'Stonewall Jack- 
 son') was sent to take command and organ- 
 ize the forces. His brigade was formed then 
 and he took command of it, having been su- 
 perseded in command of the general force 
 there by that able strategist, Gen. Joseph E. 
 Johnston. He marched us back and forth 
 every day, and at least half of every night, 
 of which we afterwards saw the benefit. In- 
 deed a committee of prominent men from 
 the lower valley went to Richmond and repre- 
 sented to President Davis that Jackson was 
 unfit to command gentlemen, and was killing 
 up their sons by hard and useless marching, 
 and urged his removal and the substitution 
 of a better man. Suddenly the call came for 
 General J. E. Johnston to hasten to the help 
 of General Beauregard, then in command at 
 Manassas. Jackson's brigade having been 
 well hardened by his hard drills and marches, 
 took the lead, and was really the only part 
 
126 HEROES AND SPIES O? THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 of Johnston's army to get there in time to go 
 into the battle as an organization, and but 
 for its presence defeat would have been cer- 
 tain for the Confederates. I belonged to 
 Company G, of the Second Virginia Infantry. 
 There was a member of the same company, 
 
 S by name ; he was a Northern man, 
 
 a regular 'down-easter.' He took no interest 
 in the cause of the South, as he had never 
 .looked upon Virginia as his home. He was 
 not spoiling for a fight ; in fact, he was badly 
 scared, as many a good fellow was that day. 
 Our position was in the edge of a pine thick- 
 et, facing toward the Lewis and Henry 
 houses, with a mass of 30,000 of General 
 McDowell's army in our front. Our orders 
 were not to fire, just to crouch down in the 
 leaves and take the fire, as we only had 3,300 
 men. This we did for four hours, though 
 we fully expected an order to advance or 
 charge. 
 
 "S said, 'Now boys, I want you all 
 
 to bear me witness and understand that when 
 the order comes to advance I shall not be 
 able to move, as I have sprained my ankle,' 
 and then he groaned aloud that he should 
 be disabled at such a time. A little later our 
 artillery was so raked by the enemy's guns 
 that it was removed nearly a quarter of a 
 mile to the rear to a ridge. Then it became 
 
FUNj IflGHTING AND PACTS. 1 27 
 
 necessary for us to be stationed farther back, 
 as we were flanked. The order was given and 
 it was explained that we would fall back 
 through the thicket and form a new line in 
 the rear. The pines prevented any retire- 
 ment as an organization. 
 
 "When I got back to the new line I saw 
 
 S , and said, 'How did you get back 
 
 here so soon, with your sprained ankle?' 
 
 "He said, 'O, I declare I forgot I had any 
 ankle when I heard the order to fall back !' " 
 
 Captain Magruder said: 
 
 "That S 's story reminds me of the 
 
 old Dutch Union soldier we captured near 
 Middletown. The company was composed 
 largely of Dutchmen who had not been very 
 many months in this country, and who spoke 
 English very imperfectly. When asked to 
 what part of the army he belonged, he said : 
 T fights mit Seigel.' 
 
 "We found the old fellow pretty talkative, 
 not in the least disturbed at having been 
 captured. We got around him and induced 
 him to tell us about his enlistment and ex- 
 perience in the Federal Army, and I will tell 
 you it in his own language : 
 
 " 'Vel, we comes by Nu Yorrick, and den 
 the mans say dere so much as never vas 
 mooney for to go to der war. Me and my 
 'prodder see by the offis as two mans vanted, 
 
I 28 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 vat dey gall yubstitoots ; dat ish to go right 
 in hish place, and say he gib more as three 
 hunder tollars. Dat vas so better as goot, 
 an my prodder he say, "Hans, lets we drade 
 wif dese fellers." Veil I say "Ya," and ve 
 comes to a high blace, all govered mit vlags 
 and dey beete the drum; ve shoost goes in 
 mit de osifer; he made we bofe dake off our 
 close and put on the soger close, and in tree 
 days ve coom by de garrs to Vashington vere 
 ve drill all the days; and den dey zend us 
 to Cumberland, den day say Shacksen he 
 gone, an dey put us on garrs and dravels us 
 to Sharlton; dey zay, Shacksen he at Vin- 
 chester, and ven ve cooms to Vinchester, and 
 ven ve git dere, some mans dey cooms runs 
 in de gamp and zay, "Shacksen cooms, 
 Schacksen he cooms," and den ve shoost hav 
 to go all de vay pack, and den all you uns 
 cooms and zay, "You shoost but down dem 
 guns," and Shacksen he shoost got us all.' 
 And the old fellow would 'Ya, ya' as if he 
 thought himself fortunate to have been cap- 
 tured." 
 
 Marr then told of the trick some of the 
 men of his company played upon him the 
 night of the last day's battle at Gettysburg. 
 He said: 
 
 "We had been fighting heavy odds all day ; 
 the part of the field where we fought was 
 
PUN^ FIGHTING AND FACTS. 1 29 
 
 called Fairfield, which was for the time 
 about as inappropriate a name as could have 
 been found. Our one brigade was pitted all 
 day against three brigades of the Bluecoats, 
 by the absence of General Stuart with the 
 bulk of his cavalry and the horse artillery. 
 We were overmatched, and were all glad when 
 we found that the blue riders were content to 
 rest and allow us to rest. Indeed that was 
 all the night brought us, as our commissary 
 department had lost itself as well as us. My 
 horse having been shot in the charge made 
 that evening, which gave me a pretty hard 
 fall and left me sore as well as worn out, I 
 lay down to enjoy a little exemption from 
 the sadness and gloom which the heavy loss 
 and fatal repulse our army had met with that 
 day cast over us. Sorrow and fatigue soon 
 did their work, and I slept the sleep of the 
 worn-out man, when I was startled about 
 two o'clock by being shaken and called loudly 
 by Minnick and Moore, two men of my com- 
 pany, who explained that after we had lain 
 down without food that they and others of 
 the men could not sleep for hunger; that 
 they got up and went three miles off to a 
 house and bought sixteen ducks, two pieces 
 of pork and enough bread and vegetables 
 to feed our whole company. They had 
 bought two large kettles and had supper and 
 
130 HEROfiS AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 hot duck soup ready, and I must go with 
 them. I went, and no more hungry or ap- 
 preciative set of men ever feasted on a more 
 hearty supper of duck soup. Indeed, I might 
 say breakfast too, for we had just eaten when 
 a little after four o'clock we received orders 
 to mount quietly and march to a point where 
 the Federal cavalry were trying to cut off our 
 retreating train. 
 
 "That day Captain Brown, of the Sixth 
 Virginia, on his way to rejoin his command, 
 had come up and proposed that we should 
 ride to the top of a high hill from which we 
 could see the infantry battle then raging be- 
 tween the Blue and the Gray. I declined to 
 go, as we were only having a little lull in our 
 own fight, and I thought the right place for 
 a soldier was in his own command. 
 
 "The Captain did not relish my refusal to 
 go half a mile off to see a fight when we saw 
 one nearly every day. I went over to my 
 station, and soon we were hotly engaged for 
 some hours. After which some one spoke 
 of 'poor Captain Brown.' I asked why they 
 said 'poor Captain Brown,' and learned that 
 when he left me he rode to the top of the 
 hill, to which he had invited me to accom- 
 pany him, and that just as he reached that 
 point, a round shot took his head clear off. 
 
fVNj FIGHTING AND FACTS. 131 
 
 "The next day I overheard one of our men 
 tell another how they had gotten the ducks 
 for supper; that they must not let me know 
 it, but they had tried to buy them in vain, 
 and only then had they taken their sabres 
 and decapitated them and 'impressed them 
 into the service.' The other food materials 
 used in the supper were 'impressed into the 
 service' also. As I had prevented the seiz- 
 ure of supplies, in accordance with General 
 Lee's orders, the men got the food they must 
 have by strategy. I often heard men talk 
 after that about what good soup Pennsyl- 
 vania ducks made, if the ducks were only 
 taken as a military necessity." 
 
 News began to pass from one to another 
 that an order had come calling us over to 
 Gordonsville, sputh of which a part of Gen- 
 eral R. E. Lee's army was encamped. And 
 sure enough, at dress parade the order was 
 read, the useless feature of which was "that 
 we were to cook three days' rations," while 
 we only had issued to us enough wormy 
 hard-tack to last us one day. This needed 
 no cooking, unless it was to make the worms 
 more digestible. The next day we crossed 
 the mountains, and two days later moved 
 down to Orange Court-House. Captain 
 Magruder and Lieutenant Marr were sent 
 with a squadron to guard a ford on the Madi- 
 
132 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 son River, which the Yankees seemed to 
 have a hankering after. They were keeping 
 a sharp watch and a double guard upon it, 
 when one clear morning, just at sunrise they 
 heard the firing of their pickets, and hurried 
 with the squadron to reinforce them. 
 
 They made it as hot as possible for them ; 
 but to prevent their passage was impos- 
 sible, as the Federals had three brigades of 
 cavalry and one of infantry, and were com- 
 ing to see them anyhow. They fell back, , 
 skirmishing as best they could with them as 
 they came, until they got to a very thick pine 
 woods, heavy with undergrowth, into which 
 they. rode to let the enemy pass. After he 
 had gone by. Captain Magruder went out to 
 the road in their rear, picked up and made 
 prisoner an aide of the general in command 
 of the expedition, and brought him, greatly 
 to his surprise, into the bushes. Lieutenant 
 Marr says : "I then went to see whether they 
 were heading towards Orange Court-House 
 or not, and had moved cautiously up the road 
 to get a clearer view of their route, when 
 suddenly a squadron of their cavalry that had 
 been concealed in the woods came rushing 
 towards me. I turned about and made for 
 the spot where I had left Captain Magruder 
 with our squadron, and was within half a 
 mile of their position when I heard quick. 
 
FUN, FIGHTING AND FACTS. 1 33 
 
 sharp firing, just where I had left them. I 
 turned off slightly, came within sight of the 
 spot, and could hear the firing of the pur- 
 suer§ of my squadron, and what was of more 
 imminent personal concern, saw that the 
 squadron in pursuit of me were not disposed 
 to slacken their pace. It looked very blue 
 for me. A hundred mounted riflemen in pur- 
 suit and four brigades of the enemy scattered 
 in front of me. My hope lay in not being hit, 
 so, deflecting towards the town, now about 
 twelve miles distant, I rode through the 
 thicket and bushes as much as possible, so 
 as to shake them off, as they seemed more 
 than oi-dinarily bent upon my capture. 
 
 "Having been a prisoner once, I deter- 
 mined to make my escape. I rode one of the 
 fleetest horses in the brigade, celebrated for 
 its fine stock. I soon came to some old 
 fields that had been fenced once, but were 
 now grown up with scrub pine, tall enough 
 to hide a man on horseback. Through these 
 and over fence after fence I went, and yet 
 could see my foes, who kept a constant fire 
 at me. I saw ahead of me from a hill a mill- 
 pond spread out in the little valley below, 
 and that the road made a long course to the 
 northward to cross above the pond, so, bend- 
 ing my way to the south, I made for the cen- 
 ter of the pond after jumping the highest 
 
134 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 and strongest fence I had encountered in the 
 ride down the steep hill. Through the 
 bushes I went, and plunged into the pond, 
 which was deep even at the shore, and over 
 horse deep towards its center. The strong 
 fence on the hill had, as I hoped, balked the 
 enemy for a little time, though they kept up 
 their firing. I had gained a little by the 
 fence, but lost time in the deep water; but 
 through I went, the noble horse seeming to 
 know that he was going for life. I gained 
 the far side and plunged into the thick for- 
 est that came down to the water's edge, and 
 then I could see that my followers were at 
 last convinced that they had better give up 
 the chase. 
 
 "I came to a house half an hour after hear- 
 ing the bugle call the Bluecoats that had fol- 
 lowed me off the chase ; there fed my horse, 
 and then, guided by the sound of hot firing, 
 rode on to where the fight seemed to be 
 most earnest, and came up to my own bri- 
 gade, hard' at it with a force that had crossed 
 in the morning in their front; and not long 
 after I rejoined my command." 
 
 About this time a courier rode up to Gen- 
 eral Stuart and told him that three other 
 brigades of the enemy, that had crossed at 
 the ford five miles further north, were then 
 coming up squarely in his rear and had al- 
 
Sun, FtGHi'iNe AiiD FACT^g. 135 
 
 ready engaged some of his men. This meant 
 that we were enclosed by two greatly su- 
 perior forces converging upon us. General 
 Stuart placed the guns of Chew's battery in 
 the road, so that two pointed to the north 
 and two south, and in this queer position 
 they were served just as fast as they could 
 be handled, but even this did not drive back 
 either of their lines. Stuart determined to 
 break through the line that lay between him 
 and the Court-House, and which had made 
 itself secure by a heavy breast-work of fence 
 rails; as to fight two lines of battle not 
 over half a mile apart, and he between them, 
 could not be done, so he ordered Captain 
 Magruder to get together as many men as 
 he could and make a desperate charge upon 
 the line that had cut us off, and if that failed 
 he would be cut to pieces. 
 
 Already our troops were much disorgan- 
 ized, as they saw the situation and knew that 
 we were beaten. Captain Magruder, with 
 Lieutenant Marr, called out to the men to 
 follow, and side by side they headed for the 
 enemy's breastworks right through the thin 
 pine woods ; hurled their force upon the hos- 
 tile line, which, with one terrific volley, emp- 
 tied many of our saddles and then they broke ; 
 we sabred them as they fled to their ap- 
 
136 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 preaching forces, which enabled us to get 
 our out guns, and made them draw off. 
 
 The victory at the battle of Jack's Shop 
 was ours. General Lee then formed a divis- 
 ion of his troops and escorted the enemy 
 back over the river whence he came. True, 
 that victory was dearly bought by us ! Lieu- 
 tenant Marr had lost his dearest friend, Cap- 
 tain Magruder, who was killed at his side, 
 with three minnie bullets in his chest in a tri- 
 angle that could be covered with the palm 
 of the hand. He must have been dead be- 
 fore he fell, as not less than two balls had 
 pierced his heart. Strong men wept like 
 children as he was brought out and carried 
 to the house of his father, his childhood's 
 home, which was in sight of the spot where 
 he fell. 
 
 Marr mourned the loss of a friend with 
 whom he had lived in such close relation- 
 ship, and could say that notwithstanding all 
 the trials of temper peculiar to war and its 
 privations, not an unkind word or thought 
 had ever disturbed the love and confidence 
 that he and Magruder had for each other. 
 He was detailed to take the body to his he- 
 roic old father, and assist in the last rites 
 that we sadly observe as all we can do for our 
 loved and lost ones. He took the effects of 
 his dead friend, except his Bible, which he 
 
FUN, FIGHTING AND FACTS. 1 37 
 
 found had been presented by Miss Nora 
 Bankhead to the Captain. This he sent by 
 a courier to her, with a messgige of the death 
 of h,er and his own loved friend, only to re- 
 ceive back the Bible with the request that he 
 would accept it not only from her, but as 
 from them both. Of course it was precious 
 to him and was laid up as a valued treasure. 
 
 Not long after this battle the Federal force 
 was thrown forward across the Rappahan- 
 nock River, and General Stuart engaged him 
 near Brandy Station, on the John Minor 
 Botts farm, a splendid, gently sloping plain, 
 just a charming place for a battle. 
 
 The Federals were in great force. Gen- 
 eral Meade's whole cavalry and a division of 
 infantry being engaged, while Stuart had no 
 infantry and only half as much cavalry as he 
 had to meet. The forces became greatly 
 scattered in the fight, and different com- 
 mands badly mixed up. The Federals broke 
 through one part of our line and drove ofif 
 one of Stuart's regiments, following them 
 nearly a mile to the rear. The gap was not 
 closed, as Confederates did not rely much 
 upon organization, but fighting went on all 
 around, each one pitching in where he could 
 see a foe to strike. 
 
 Captain Marr saw a bluecoated cavalryman 
 driving a Confederate afoot before him, a 
 
138 HEROBS AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 prisoner, and made for him. Coming upon 
 him he reversed the order, made the Federal 
 dismount and trot back, while the Confeder- 
 ate did the driving vi^ith the other fellow's 
 horse and gun. This he evidently enjoyed 
 none the less because the tables had been 
 turned so unexpectedly. 
 
 Captain Marr then heard a loud call, and, 
 looking around, saw General Stuart in the 
 main road facing up our rear, having his 
 sabre drawn, the cause of which Marr soon 
 saw to be the approach of nine Federal cav- 
 alrymen, who had gone clear through our 
 lines, and were now trying to get back to 
 their own side, when they found General 
 Stuart in their pathway, with a look of such 
 determination and defiance as plainly showed 
 that all of them would not be allowed to 
 pass. In a moment Marr was at his side, 
 and seeing this, all nine of them threw up 
 their hands and surrendered. General Stuart 
 said, "Old fellow, if you had not come in time 
 I would have had trouble with these lusty 
 fellows. Please take them back and turn 
 them over to the first laggard you find ; there 
 is a lot of them who ought to be here. Bring 
 up as many as you can, as we have got to 
 ferry these Yanks over the river in time for 
 supper." 
 
^VN, iflGHTiNG AND ^ACfS. 1 39 
 
 As the summer of this year wore along, 
 the cavalry were kept busy marching, fight- 
 ing, and guarding the movements of the in- 
 fantry. On one occasion, former Lieutenant, 
 now Captain, Marr, was ordered to take his 
 squadron and march to the old Chancellors- 
 ville House, scout over that section and 
 picket Ely's and the United States Fords in 
 the rear of the Chancellorsville field. 
 In telling about the movement, he says : 
 "I started, marched all day, and entered 
 the dense and gloomy wilderness after dark, 
 with a heavy black storm coming up rapidly, 
 which soon made it so dark that further pro- 
 gress was impossible, and as the horses were 
 falling down every few minutes, or getting 
 into holes, I determined to dismount, make 
 the horses fast to the trees, wait for the 
 storm to abate and the moon to rise, which 
 would be at one or two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing. Fire was out of the question, as heavy 
 rains had soaked all the wood that might 
 otherwise have been dry; that is, if anything 
 ever gets dry in that swamp, which is at its 
 best one of the most dismal places on earth. 
 So, tired out, we lay down to get such rest 
 as only a weary soldier can. I noticed the 
 strange behavior of our horses, which seem- 
 ed to be scared at something, and would 
 snort and try to break loose. Late in the 
 
140 HEROBS AND SPIES O? THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 night the storm broke away, the rain ceased, 
 and the moon came out. I had not slept, be- 
 ing wet thoroughly, but, on turning over, a 
 bright ray of moonlight fell full on the face 
 of a bleached skeleton right before me. I 
 arose to find that we had bivouacked where 
 the spot was full of half-dug graves and half- 
 buried bodies, and that our horses, on step- 
 ing into these holes and even getting their 
 feet entangled among the bones, had not 
 relished the place that had been made their 
 camp." 
 
 The summer had 'now been spent in the 
 swaying back and forth of the army, which, 
 like a great pendulum, had at one time been 
 into the heart of Virginia, and at another time 
 in Pennsylvania ; had been marched and coun- 
 ter-marched, leaving a broad trail of blood 
 and ruin in its wake, and was now hoping for 
 a winter's rest. 
 
 General Ashby had been killed at Port Re- 
 public; General Jackson had fallen at Chan- 
 cellorsville. Hard times were settling down 
 upon the Southland, and wise men began to 
 realize that the South was being worn to a 
 frazzle ; death in every command was getting 
 to be of daily occurrence, as no day passed 
 without a cavalry skirmish, and often heavy 
 fighting. Major Myers was put in command 
 of the skirmishers of the Laurel Brigade, and 
 
FUN, FIGHTING AND FACTS. 141 
 
 his affection for Captain Marr was so strong 
 that he must always have him with his com- 
 pany, as, the Major said, "they were such 
 good marksmen." Thpy were all men who 
 had been raised in the mountains of Rocking- 
 ham and Shenandoah Counties. Not one of 
 them would shoot a squirrel or plover ex- 
 cept through its head, and that they would 
 never miSs. They were all armed with rifles 
 and always shot to hit, and were splendid 
 soldiers. 
 
 Often Captain Marr would gladly have 
 preferred some other expression of the Ma- 
 jor's regard, but it was only for him to ac- 
 cept the honor as it was intended, and go 
 whenever the Major could get up an excuse 
 for a skirmish. Indeed, the boys said that he 
 could not sleep without a full meal or a fight, 
 and as it was easier to get the fight, it fol- 
 lowed that he kept them at it nearly all the 
 time. One morning Captain Marr was or- 
 dered to take twenty picked men and go to 
 the river and engage the enemy until the 
 regiment could come up; but was told that 
 an engagement of general character was to 
 be avoided if possible, therefore the regi- 
 ment would be held back. Upon reaching a 
 point near the river, he found that the Fed- 
 erals were on his side of the stream, a bri- 
 gade or more strong, and that a squadron 
 
142 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII/ WAR. 
 
 were advancing towards him with their line of 
 sharpshooters in front. He said that when 
 the detail of two men from each of the ten 
 companies called for had presented them- 
 selves and were undergoing inspection has- 
 tily, he came to one man named Giles, of 
 Company C, who said to him as he handed 
 the officer his rifle, "Captain, please don't 
 take me." He knew the man personally, 
 knew that he was brave, and struck by the 
 mournfulness in his tone, he at once called 
 for another man. When he was furnished, he 
 went forward, and the skirmish lasted nearly 
 all day. Several of his men were wounded, 
 but none killed, and when he returned to the 
 regim.ent on the other side of the high hill 
 behind which the troops were collected and 
 came to the command, he found a detail 
 burying a man. He asked who it was, and 
 learned that it was the body of Giles, of Com- 
 pany C, who had been excused by him in the 
 morning, and that he had said he had a pre- 
 monition that he would be killed that day, 
 and had asked to be let ofif, and while lying 
 on his side, with his back towards the direc- 
 tion of the skirmishers, and while in the act 
 of telling his messmates of it, a bullet had 
 struck the back of his head and knocked his 
 brains into the faces of the men with whom 
 he was talking. The supposition was that a 
 
iVN, FIGHTING AND I^ACTS. I43 
 
 ball from one of the long-range guns fired 
 at Captain Marr's party had struck high; 
 struck the under side of a limb of a great oak 
 tree on the hill and then deflected down in 
 the direction of the men, and so fulfilled his 
 premonition. 
 
 Strange incidents are numerous to the 
 careful observer at all times, and especially 
 in times of war. Captain Marr says that he 
 has seen men die from a mere scratch. One 
 of his men, Isaac Acker by name, up to the 
 third year of the war had not been in a bat- 
 tle, and he believed that if ever he went into 
 one he would surely be killed. Captain Marr 
 thought that the time had come, owing to 
 the loss of men, when Acker should take his 
 part in the fighting, so he made him ride by 
 his side at the battle of Cedar Mountain, and 
 when the command to charge was given, he 
 pricked the mettled horse of Acker with his 
 sabre and ordered the man forward at his 
 side. They went in together, but poor Acker 
 was killed by the first volley, and the Cap- 
 tain regretted that he had not exempted the 
 poor fellow from that charge, though it was 
 his duty to see that all his men did their 
 best. He always thought this man a moral 
 coward. The same man had a brother, a 
 large, fine and brave soldier, who in charges 
 would ride up to the front man of the enemy 
 
144 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 and plunge his sabre through him, evidently 
 not knowing what fear meant; and yet any 
 one could take a dead snake, a toad, or a cat 
 and chase him out of the camp; and if he 
 were pursued too close, he would go into 
 convulsions; so we had to stop the fun the 
 boys had at his expense by giving notice, 
 with the consent of the general commanding, 
 that he would kill on the spot any that would 
 try to frighten him. 
 
 In one of the skirmishes at Brandy Station, 
 Captain Marr charged a squadron of the Fed- 
 erals, drove them back upon their line of bat- 
 tle where the Eighth Illinois Cavalry was 
 posted, and tried to capture a man who 
 had been unhorsed. He had the man in a 
 trot to bring him out, when a trooper fired 
 at him ; he felt a sharp pain and a blow in his 
 side. He started out through the pines at a 
 gallop, but as he went he noticed a Federal 
 soldier riding alongside of him, keeping up 
 with him, but not paying any attention to 
 him. As Captain Marr felt sick from the 
 shot in his side, he had as much as he could 
 do to avoid being dashed against the trees 
 as he rode through the timber; but when he 
 got to his men and reined up his horse, the 
 Federal trooper's horse also stopped. Men 
 secured his rein and then saw that the man 
 was dead and had strapped himself to the 
 
FUN, FIGHTING AND FACTS. 1 45 
 
 saddle before he was killed. His horse had 
 gone along with that of Captain Marr of its 
 own volition. Captain Marr looked like a 
 dead man when the surgeon came and found 
 that the bullet of the Eighth Illinois trooper 
 had struck him on the plate of his sabre belt 
 — ^which was a very thick and pretty one, cap- 
 tured at Manassas, and had belonged to a 
 Federal general. The ball had gone partially 
 through the plate and stuck fast in it, so that 
 it could not be moved either way ; the wound 
 from the blow was an ugly one. 
 
 One day near Culpeper Court-House, 
 while Colonel Dulany, Colonel Marshall, Ma- 
 jor Myers, and several other ofificers were 
 observing the movements of the enemy, a 
 shot was fired at them by a sharpshooter 
 fully a mile off. The ball struck Captain 
 Kuykendal, of the Seventh Virginia Cavalry, 
 on his sabre plate with a thud that could be 
 heard many feet away. It doubled the Cap- 
 tain up into such a knot that he had to be 
 carried of? the field ; it indented, but did not 
 penetrate the plate. 
 
 The summer of '63 had passed, and the 
 Laurel Brigade was ordered to FalHng 
 Spring, in Rockbridge County, Virginia, to 
 recruit and fill up its ranks for the spring 
 campaign, and went into real winter quarters 
 during the last days of January. 
 10 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE CLOSING OP CONTRE'S CAREER. 
 
 About the loth of February, Doctor Con- 
 tre came to our Rockbridge County Camp, 
 saying that as he had a little time on his 
 hands he had come to stay with his old friends 
 for a week, and asked Marr to let him share 
 his tent and bed for that time, which was 
 readily agreed to. 
 
 That night Marr overheard Contre talk- 
 ing in his sleep. Twice he said "fifty thou- 
 sand in gold," and then he said "the Cave," 
 then "Port Republic," then "Annie." Marr 
 shook him, and was about to go to sleep, 
 when he heard Contre repeat the words 
 "fifty thousand in gold," "Annie." The next 
 morning Marr, who had been sleeplessly 
 thinking over Contre's sleep talk and its pos- 
 sible meaning, and who had not slept him- 
 self, thought that he had made a discovery, 
 and said in a rather abrupt manner to the 
 Doctor, "We are alone, and you ought to 
 tell me of your dream of last night, for you 
 
ran ci,osiNG OF contke's career. 147 
 
 talked in your sleep." The Doctor became 
 greatly confused, and Marr thought rather 
 mad ; he was very particular to find out what 
 he had said ; begged Marr to tell him all that 
 he had said. Marr said : "You talked pretty 
 freely about Annie, and as you have never 
 mentioned her name to me while awake, of 
 course I got into the secret." He was very 
 importunate to learn whether he had spoken 
 about anything else. Not discovering that he 
 had, he said, "I will tell you all about the girl, 
 but not now." That day when our mail came 
 in from Richmond Contre went to Marr and 
 said: "I cannot spend longer time with you 
 now. Must go to Richmond at once," and he 
 left. Suspicion of Contre had taken deep hold 
 upon Marr, and as part of the sleep talk had 
 good foundation, he felt that there was a 
 "nigger in the wood pile." 
 
 The next day Col. Thos. Marshall secured 
 him a furlough of a week and a pass to Rich- 
 mond. 
 
 On arrival, said Marr: "I went to Col. 
 A. R. Boteler, formerly of Stonewall Jack- 
 son's stafif, and said, 'Colonel, I want to see 
 President Davis, and just as soon as possible.' 
 He replied, 'It is a pretty hard thing to ask. 
 Mr. Davis works day and night, and can be 
 seen only when the public interest requires 
 it.' I said, 'Colonel, I must see him, and you 
 
148 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 can say that the public good alone is my mo- 
 tive.' In an hour he came to me at the 
 Spottswood Hotel and said, 'Come with me, 
 but this is not for any personal privilege to 
 be asked.' We were ushered into a waiting- 
 room, and in a little while I was called for and 
 introduced to - President Davis. Colonel 
 Boteler left, as did the only attendant of the 
 President. I said, 'Mr. President, there is 
 a young Confederate surgeon by the name of 
 Contre. If you will allow me, I think I can 
 convince you that he is a Federal spy, of no 
 ordinary ability. I have no absolute proof, 
 but such a chain of circumstantial evidence 
 that his mission can be clearly shown up.' 
 Mr. Davis heard me through, my statement 
 closing with the talk overheard in sleep. He 
 studied for a while, then handed me two 
 cards, saying: 'Take this one to the Secre- 
 tary of War, he will see you; tell him just 
 what you have said to me. The other card 
 will admit you to my residence at eleven 
 o'clock to-night. Say nothing to any one 
 else upon this matter.' 
 
 "I went to the office of the War Secretary, 
 James A. Sedden, who received me promptly, 
 listened carefully, and then said: 'Doctor Con- 
 tre is known to many of the officials of the 
 Government, and I caution you to be care- 
 ful in your statements.' That night I went 
 
THE cr,osiNG OP contre's career. 149 
 
 to the President's mansion; found there be- 
 sides Mr. Davis, the Secretary of Wa;r ; Sec- 
 retary of the Navy, Mr. Mallory, and a man 
 dressed in plain clothes, whose name was not 
 mentioned during the long interview. After 
 I had made my statement in full, with the 
 criminating circumstances, Mr. Davis turned 
 to the Secretary of the Navy and said, 'Mal- 
 lory, I believe you have stood sponsor for 
 Contre, what do you think of Captain Marr's 
 story?' 'Mr. President,' said Mr. Mallory, 
 'Contre has secured me direct and correct 
 information of the plans and movements of 
 the enemy, and at the risk of his life, and 
 now, while I think that Captain Marr has cer- 
 tainly told us remarkable things, we cannot 
 act hastily with one who has so much in his 
 favor. I suggest that we have Contre closely 
 watched, and if there is anything wrong with 
 him we will soon know it. He is to be mar- 
 ried to a Richmond girl soon.' 
 
 "All arose as if to leave, when I said, 'Mr. 
 President, may I say one thing more?' 
 'Yes,' he said. I then said, 'Mr. President, 
 Contre ran no risk in getting such informa- 
 tion as he has brought to you. He did take 
 out facts of great importance to the enemy, 
 and was stuffed with just such information as 
 could be provided against by subsequent- 
 changes. And as for watching him, he is 
 
ISO HEROES AND SPIES OS THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 more than a match for all the detective force 
 of the Government.' At this all looked to- 
 wards the man present in business suit. He 
 looked red, and rather confused. Mr. Davis 
 bowed to me, whereupon I left, but could not 
 fail to notice that they all looked puzzled as 
 Mr. Davis said, 'Wait and see.' 
 
 "After leaving the President and nearing 
 my hotel, I heard my name called, and look- 
 ing up, saw Doctor Contre, who was greatly 
 surprised at seeing me, and manifested a 
 great desire to know what brought me to 
 Richmond. I declined to tell him then, as 
 I wished to pump him fully. Just said that 
 
 I was in a hurry to see a friend I had not seen 
 for a long time. He said, 'I am very busy 
 myself, and will be to-morrow, but want you 
 to take supper with me to-morrow night at 
 
 II o'clock,' and handed me a card with the 
 name and number of house of Elizabeth L,. 
 Van Lew, south side of Grace Street, saying 
 that he had his room and supplies there, and 
 that he wanted to introduce me to a dear 
 friend of his. 
 
 "I accepted his invitation, but knowing 
 how smart he was, and that he already knew, 
 or soon would know, that I had tried to ef- 
 fect his arrest, I made up my mind to watch 
 him and never for a moment allow him the 
 drop on me. I looked up the location of 
 
THE CWSING OF CONTRE's CAREER. 15 1 
 
 Miss Van Lew's house, and found that it was 
 a good mile from the Spottswood ; occupied 
 a whole square and was dark and dreary look- 
 ing. I had met my old friend and soldier of 
 the Stonewall Brigade, Capt. George W. Bay- 
 lor, in Richmond, and asked him to go with 
 me and see what those fellows were up to, 
 telling him enough to put him on guard. He 
 was the very man to be equal to any emer- 
 gency, and it was fortunate for me that I 
 could have him with me. I posted him to sit 
 on the opposite side of the table if possible 
 from me, and to watch any one passing be- 
 hind me, and told him that I would do the 
 same for him. Advised him to take his pis- 
 tol along. 
 
 "At the time appointed, we went ; found it 
 to be a long, dark walk, and very lonely about 
 the house. On our arrival the Doctor came 
 to the door, and was much surprised at find- 
 ing another person with me. I told him that 
 I wanted to be with Baylor as much as pos- 
 sible, and had taken the liberty to bring him 
 along, and introduced him as one of the 
 coolest and bravest men of our army. The 
 Doctor said, 'I hardly knew you in that fine 
 uniform, never having seen you wear it.' I 
 said 'No, I bought it two years ago, but with 
 the life I lead a decent dress is out of the 
 question.' 'And what a beautiful pistol you 
 
152 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAK. 
 
 have here.' 'Yes, I received that as a pres- 
 ent from a captured Federal officer, and as 
 for Captain Baylor, he would take cold with- 
 out his pistol, he carries it so constantly.' 
 
 "He escorted us into another room, con- 
 taining a full-spread table of such luxuries 
 as I saw but seldom. There we met a long- 
 haired, very dark-visaged man, who, though 
 good looking, yet had a sinister expression 
 that was very noticeable. As the Doctor in- 
 troduced him he handed me his card, saying 
 that as his name was unusual he would leave 
 me his card. The name read 'C. Orizie Lugo 
 de Anby, of New York.' After we were seat- 
 ed and had eaten for a little while, another 
 dark-looking foreigner entered, who did not 
 take a seat at the table, but after being in- 
 troduced he spoke a few words in Italian, and 
 then left us. His name seemed to be Prus- 
 sian ; neither of us could recall it. He was a 
 very large and ugly-looking man, and while 
 the Doctor said he was a grand man, he was 
 not attractive to me, and in the absence of 
 Baylor I should not have wished to be there. 
 
 "The Doctor observed that my coming to 
 Richmond must have been unexpected, as I 
 had not told him of my coming when he left 
 me in camp, and that a friend of his saw me 
 at the War Department; so I disarmed his 
 suspicion by saying that seven months pre- 
 
THE CLOSING OF CONTRE'S CAREER. 153 
 
 vious, after a competitive examination of of- 
 ficers in my brigade, I had been recommend- 
 ed for . promotion, to be jumped over the 
 heads of the ist and 2d lieutenants in my 
 company; that the paper had passed along 
 to the War Department, and there seemed 
 to have been lost. My old friend. Colonel 
 John Blair Hoge, had found the paper, and 
 I went to the Department in connection with 
 this matter. This seemed to lull his suspi- 
 cions as to my visit to Richmond. 
 
 "I changed the subject, and suddenly asked 
 the Doctor as to the best way to get gold 
 through the lines, as he seemed never to 
 ' have had any scarcity of that kind of cur- 
 rency. He was evidently confused for a mo- 
 ment, and said that the Italian Embassy had 
 an arrangement by which he could get coin 
 remittances. I then said, 'Doctor, where is 
 that cave you frequented so much; was it 
 near Port Republic?' He was ill at ease under 
 my questioning, and for the first time since 
 we first met could not readily answer a ques- 
 tion. He reddened up, and finally said that 
 it was not near Port Republic, but on the 
 western side of the Valley. The way he said 
 it convinced us both that he had lied, and 
 when we arose to go he did not gush over 
 us, but he asked me if I could not ride out 
 about five miles from the city the next night 
 
154 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 to see a friend of his ; that Miss Annie would 
 be there, and he would have a carriage near- 
 by about nine o'clock. I declined this invi- 
 tation, as I thought I saw through his design. 
 
 The next morning, as I stood waiting for 
 the little wood-burning engine to back up to 
 the train of two shabby looking cars, as the 
 first step of my return, a young man came to 
 me and said: 'President Davis sent me to 
 say that you should come to his ofi&ce exact- 
 ly at II o'clock this morning. You saw me 
 when you came with Colonel Boteler.' I re- 
 turned to the hotel, left my small package, 
 and at the time appointed presented myself 
 and was at once admitted. The young man 
 showed me in and retired. 
 
 "Mr. Davis said : 'Captain, I have thought 
 much of your story and of your suspicions 
 of Doctor Contre. I want you to speak with 
 perfect freedom and tell me what plan you 
 suggest. Don't hesitate.' 
 
 " 'Mr. President,' I said, 'my plan is to have 
 authority to bring a detail of ten men of my 
 company to Richmond, and inside of forty- 
 eight hours have in hand-cuffs the most ac- 
 complished spy ever on the American conti- 
 nent, with his whole outfit ; with the convic- 
 tion that if this is not done speedily some of 
 us will wear handcuffs when he succeeds in 
 betraying us all.' 
 
THE CLOSING OP CONTRE'S CAREER. 155 
 
 "Mr. Davis answered: 'Remember that 
 you have no proof; that this man has not 
 only the friendship of men in the cabinet, but 
 credentials of his entire reliability from some 
 of the best friends we have beyond the lines, 
 and that he has even rendered valuable in- 
 formation to our secret service. Suppose 
 you were authorized to bring your detail here 
 and secure some proof of your suspicions. 
 Could that be done ?' 
 
 "I said, 'Mr. President, the time for watch- 
 ing that man has gone by; he has been in 
 successful communication with the Federal 
 War Department three years, and he has suc- 
 ceeded in getting his plans so well laid, his 
 organized force to work so actively and ef- 
 fectually, that your call for me to go to Mr. 
 Sedden's office, and your summons to me to 
 come here, are known to him.' 
 
 "The President continued silent so long 
 that I felt not a little embarrassed, and said, 
 'Do you wish me to go, sir?' He said, 'Not 
 yet,' and was silent, and evidently troubled. 
 He then said, 'you would not wish to come 
 here and watch for proofs of this man.' I 
 answered, 'I will obey your orders, of course, 
 but it will only result in Contre leaving or 
 killing himself, for he will never be arrested 
 in any ordinary way. Mr. President, if my 
 
156 HBEOES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 plan is not authorized, just order me to my 
 command.' 
 
 "After another period of silence, he said: 
 'The Cabinet meets at one o'clock, and if you 
 receive no orders by seven o'clock to-mor- 
 row morning, just return to your command. 
 If your plan is authorized and you succeed, 
 I will promote you to the rank of colonel.' 
 
 "I thanked him, but said, 'I do not want 
 promotion, I would rather break up that nest 
 than to be made a general. Contre will 
 never be arrested.' 
 
 "The President had a dreamy look as I 
 left, impressed with the conviction that trials 
 were wearing him away, and that his old-time 
 fire had faded under incessant care. Little 
 did I think that the next time I saw him he 
 would be wearing handcuflfs in Fortress Mon- 
 roe, and like his great General, Robert E. 
 Lee, mourn in silence the Lost Cause. 
 
 "I spent the day quietly at my hotel, but 
 went out that night to the only eating-house 
 in Richmond for a good supper, if Confeder- 
 ate money would buy one. It was about ten 
 o'clock; I was ushered into a small room, 
 divided from the adjoining one by a partly- 
 closed sliding door, and a curtain heavy 
 enough to prevent any one from seeing from 
 one side into the other. I had been there 
 about half an hour, when a gentleman and 
 
THE CLOSING OF CONTRE'S CAREER. 157 
 
 lady were ushered into the one next mine. 
 I was eating quietly, and could not help hear- 
 ing much that they said. I knew the man's 
 voice as soon as I heard it. It was that of 
 Contre. Among much that I heard was an 
 inquiry as to how he could leave the Con- 
 federacy, and whether he was certain they 
 could get through the lines. His response 
 was the important part. It was, 'we can go 
 throtigh to New York just when I choose; 
 my work will be done here, and the Con- 
 federate Government can have a lock of my 
 hair to keep. The end is getting pretty 
 close, and with you and a fortune, Italy will 
 suit us.' Just then the waiter came in to see 
 if I wanted anything, and until I left they 
 only spoke in low whispers. 
 
 "I slept none that night, knowing that Cun- 
 tre would succeed in his schemes up to the 
 end of the Confederacy, which he was surely 
 helping to bring about." 
 
 During the latter part of March, 1864, the 
 following item appeared in the Richmond In- 
 quirer, which was not startling to Captain 
 Marr, but to all the other living members 
 of the little coterie who had known Contre so 
 well in camp. It read as follows: 
 
 "March 17th, 1864. License was issued to 
 Lewis G. Contre, aged 26, Captain C. S. A., 
 born Venice, Italy, residing in Shenandoah 
 
158 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 County, Virginia, son of Eduardo and Elnora 
 Centre; to marry Virginia M. Sanders, 
 daughter of George M. and Annie J. Sanders, 
 aged 23, born in Grafshill, Kentucky, resid- 
 ing in Richmond. Marriage performed 
 March 17, 1864, by J. M. McGill, Catholic 
 Bishop of Richmond." 
 
 Not many days after this, the Doctor and 
 his accompHshed bride reached Lexington. 
 They were called upon by General Rosser 
 and many other officers ; Captain Marr being 
 absent on a scout, did not see them. After 
 their departure from Richmond, the com- 
 mand awaited orders to the front. Contre 
 made flying trips, as he sometimes did, to the 
 neighborhoods of Woodstock and Port Re- 
 public, the nature of which no one knew or 
 thought of inquiring about, as his wife was 
 from the County of Shenandoah. None of 
 those in the field or in the hospital ever knew 
 why he traveled about so much between Rich- 
 mond and the Valley. All of this deepened 
 Marr's conviction that he was a smart rascal. 
 
 There began to be in Richmond rather 
 ominous inquiry as to what he was doing 
 there. He was seen but little on the streets, 
 and as gaiety in Richmond, by common con- 
 sent, was deemed out of place, the times 
 being so hard, very few parties or balls were 
 given or attended by society people. The 
 
THB CI,OSING OF CONTRE'S CAREER. 1 59 
 
 purchasing power of Confederate money was 
 so small, the necessities of Hfe in the market 
 selling at prices beyond any heretofore 
 known or heard of, the people all stinted 
 themselves to the utmost degree, which fact 
 made social gatherings impossible. Indeed, 
 the author remembers hearing during the fall 
 of '64 one of the most prominent lawyers in 
 Virginia, whom he met in Richmond, a man 
 who had been raised and lived in luxury all 
 his life prior to the war, say that he had just 
 passed by a show window, in which there 
 were exposed for sale a few luscious looking 
 apples; as they were marked $10 apiece, of 
 course he did not buy them, but he had 
 whined for them like an old dog would for 
 a bone. 
 
 Another light was a Httle later on thrown 
 upon the pathway of Dr. Centre, not only as 
 to the then present, but, retrospectively, as 
 to the few years just then passed. That 
 light came from the following startling news 
 from the Richmond Inquirer and other papers : 
 
 Richmond Inquirer, April 19th, 1864. 
 
 "Arrest of an alleged spy; important papers 
 found upon him." 
 
 "A dashing young fellow, calling himself 
 Dr. Lugo, who has recently cut quite a figure 
 in fashionable and official circles in this city, 
 was arrested on Saturday morning last, in 
 
x6o HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 Tappahannock, Essex County, while en route 
 to the North, with lots of plans and draw- 
 ings of bright particular spots in the Con- 
 federacy, and doubtless a memory well stuff- 
 ed with the latest 'semi-official' information 
 relating to the movements of the Confederate 
 troops. The arrest was made by detective 
 John Reece, who, with others of the Con- 
 federate Police Department, had for some 
 time past been in close and anxious pursuit 
 of him. He had successfully evaded the 
 maneuvers and combinations of the whole de- 
 partment, begun about three weeks ago, 
 when suspicion first fell upon him, and the 
 department very naturally felt pretty sore 
 about it. On Friday night last, about ten 
 o'clock, Detective Reece set out on horse- 
 back for Essex County, fell in with a member 
 of the Maryland Line, who volunteered for a 
 'little scout,' and took him along to Tappa- 
 hannock. Here they encountered on the fol- 
 lowing morning the identical Dr. Lugo, on 
 his way to the ferry, and although the officer 
 had never seen him before in his life, he re- 
 lied on his 'points,' and took him prisoner. 
 Dr. Lugo attempted to get away, and played 
 very indignant, but the cool assurance on the 
 part of Reece and his friend that he would 
 get shot certain if he did not submit, soon 
 settled him, and he accompanied them back 
 
THE CLOSING OP CONTRE'S CAREER. l6l 
 
 to Sandy's Hotel, the Exchange of Tappa- 
 hannock. He was then taken to a private 
 room, where he was quietly informed that 
 it was 'the fate of war' that he should be 
 stripped ; and stripped he was, in spite of his 
 protests and the most magnificent indigna- 
 tion. In the midst of this display he alluded 
 to his high and well-known character in the 
 City of Richmond, acquaintance with the 
 President, Secretary of War, Secretary of 
 the Navy, and sundry other dignitaries he 
 had visited while here. 
 
 "In his pockets were found various papers, 
 in which he is represented as a Prussian, 
 though it seems he is an Italian ; a small card 
 bearing the name of a Member of Congress, 
 who had innocently vouched for him to get 
 a passport in the days of his glory, also a 
 card of a young Confederate captain, whose 
 name is suppressed by request, but who is 
 thought to be the head of the gang in whose 
 society he had passed some time in Rich- 
 mond, and at whose fashionable wedding 
 some time ago he is said to have figured. 
 Then there was a small bundle of papers, 
 about six inches long and two and a half 
 in breadth, containing drawings of different 
 rivers, showing where certain torpedoes were 
 placed ; a paper containing the names and de- 
 scriptions of all the different batteries and 
 11 
 
1 62 HEROSS AND SPIB6 OF THg civil, WAR. 
 
 points of Charleston Harbor, and then an 
 elaborate drawing of some other work or 
 works, the meaning of which he did not ex- 
 plain, and the officers could not make out. 
 
 "There was also a sheet of paper, with the 
 heading in print, 'War Department, Confeder- 
 ate States of America.' At the bottom of the 
 page was the signature, 'J^^i^s A. Sedden, 
 Secretary of War.' The intermediate space 
 was blank; had evidently contained writing, 
 but it was erased by some chemical process. 
 Reece accused him of this, but he denied it, 
 and said that he had only obtained the name 
 to get a lithograph of it. 'That is a poor 
 excuse,' said Reece. 
 
 "The paper he produced upon being ar- 
 rested was a pass from the Secretary of the 
 Navy, giving him permission to pass at will 
 in all parts of the Confederacy. The officer 
 found upon him also, a pass to cross the lines, 
 one of the kind usually used for that purpose. 
 
 "The search being over, and the Doctor's 
 toilet rearranged, he was taken to King Wil- 
 liam Court-House, where he was furnished 
 with comfortable lodgings, and on Sunday 
 was brought to Richmond. He is now in 
 Castle Thunder, awaiting examination. Lugo 
 is apparently about twenty-four years of age ; 
 is slender, but well built, and of free and pre- 
 possessing deportment." 
 
THfi CI,OSING OF CONTRE'S CAREER. 1 63 
 
 Richmond Inquirer, April 22d, 1864. 
 
 "SPY ARRBSTBD. 
 
 "Lynchburg, April 19th. — ^A Yankee spy, 
 under the assumed name of Sterling King, 
 who is believed to be the comrade of Dr. 
 Lugo, who was arrested in Tappahannock, 
 has been arrested at Marion, Va., and recog- 
 nized by returning prisoners from Camp 
 Douglas as a Yankee detective from Chicago. 
 When arrested he represented himself as 
 colonel of the 2d Virginia Cavalry." 
 
 Richmond Dispatch, April 19th, 1864. 
 
 "SPY ARRBSTBD. 
 
 "On the night of the 31st of December, 
 1863, a good-looking, dark-eyed, long-haired 
 young man, of pleasing address, arrived at 
 the Ballard House in this city, and registered 
 himself as "C. Orizie Lugo de Anby, New 
 York." Immediately on his arrival he ex- 
 pressed great anxiety to see President Davis 
 at once, and, being furnished with his address, 
 went out of the hotel as if to visit him. He 
 stayed at the hotel for several weeks, excit- 
 ing no suspicion during his stay, making the 
 acquaintance of several of the guests, and 
 settling his bill on leaving. How he employ- 
 ed himself while; here is not fully known, but 
 
164 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII< WAR. 
 
 it is said that he managed in some way to ac- 
 quire the confidence of the Secretary of the 
 Navy, and in consequence enjoyed many 
 facilities for making observations around the 
 city and along the James River, to and be- 
 low Drewry's Bluflf. When he left the Ball- 
 ard House it was with the avowed purpose 
 of going to Wilmington. After his depart- 
 ure nothing was heard of him until about the 
 first of March, when the Hon. A. R. Boteler, 
 with whom he had scraped an acquaintance 
 at the Ballard House, received a telegram 
 from him dated Wilmington, N. C, stating 
 that he had been robbed of every cent he had 
 in the world. In a few days after the date 
 of this telegram he reappeared at the Ballard 
 House, this time registering himself as 
 'Roezle Lugo, M. D., Wilmington.' He 
 stayed at the hotel until the 23d of March, 
 and then disappeared without paying his bill, 
 which amounted to $552. The detectives 
 were put on the lookout for him, but could 
 hear nothing of him, except that he had been 
 last seen to go into a boarding-house on the 
 corner of 8th and Marshall Streets. 
 
 "Last Saturday morning, Detective John 
 Reece, being in Tappahannock, Essex Coun- 
 ty, recognized the absconding debtor of the 
 Ballard House in the person of one of three 
 men who were just in the act of crossing the 
 
THE CW)SING OF CONTRE'S CAREBR. I ©5 
 
 Rappahannock River on their way North. 
 Reece stopped the party and spoke to Lugo 
 as Doctor, and asked him for his passport. 
 Lugo produced the passport of Mr. Mallory, 
 Secretary of the Navy, but Reece telling him 
 that that would not answer, took him into 
 custody. Lugo professed astonishment and 
 indignation, and put on a great many airs, 
 but all to no purpose. Reece took him to a 
 room in the hotel in the place and searched 
 him, and found on his person charts of 
 Charleston Harbor, Wilmington and, Rich- 
 mond, and their defenses, and maps of all the 
 rivers between the Rappahannock and Wil- 
 mington in which we have torpedoes, with 
 the exact locations of the torpedoes, their 
 size, &c. Reece, appreciating that he had 
 made an important capture, lost no time in 
 bringing him to this city, where he arrived 
 on Sunday evening. Lugo was committed 
 to Castle Thunder to be examined as a spy. 
 
 "We omitted to state that when he levant- 
 ed from the Ballard House, he left behind 
 him a valise, containing some old clothes and 
 a galvanic battery." 
 
 After it became certain that Doctor Con- 
 tre had made his escape into the enemy's 
 lines, and had taken with him all his wife's 
 jewels, it became evident that he had been 
 agent of the United States Secret Service, 
 
1 66 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 and the head devil of all the whole organ- 
 ized system which, from the early days of the 
 war up to near its close, had successfully 
 frustrated the well-laid plans of the Confeder- 
 ate Government and officers. 
 
 Contre's first appearance in the Southern 
 lines ; his killing Yankee soldiers at the battle 
 of Fisher's Hill; his claim to have been im- 
 prisoned by the Federals when left with our 
 wounded men ; his claim to have escaped from 
 Point Lookout ; to have been wounded in his 
 flight to Virginia in crossing the Potomac; 
 the large quantity of gold he always had ; his 
 ability to get letters through the lines; his 
 frequent visits to a cave near Port Republic 
 (since discovered), where it is thought he met 
 his secret agents ; his intimacy with a certain 
 family in Richmond, which was always re- 
 garded with suspicion; his smart arrange- 
 ment for keeping off duty by getting his ex- 
 change prevented, which afforded him time 
 and opportunity to run about at will; his 
 frustration of our plan to abduct General Mil- 
 roy at Winchester — all proved conclusively 
 to Captain Marr that he had sheltered a con- 
 summate villian, shared his bed and food with 
 him, and by his friendship protected him from 
 suspicion, and had been rewarded by an at- 
 tempt on the part of Contre to effect his 
 (Marr's) capture when he went to Charles, 
 
tut ciLosiNcJ o:^ conYre's CA&ttti., 167 
 
 Town in citizen's clothes for Gen. Wm. E. 
 Jones. 
 
 It was sad to realize that President Davis 
 had been told all this, and more, and that 
 Contre had planned so cunningly, and so com- 
 pletely deceived the members of the Govern- 
 ment that Mr. Davis feared to sanction his 
 arrest, even after he had been convinced that 
 he was a spy. 
 
 There was a conviction in the mind of the 
 people of Richmond who had personal knowl- 
 edge of Contre and the beautiful Miss Vir- 
 ginia Sanders who become his wife, and who 
 was deserted by him, that with Contre in his 
 flight went "the Miss Annie," who in some 
 way evidently was dearer to him than was the 
 beautiful but deserted wife. The double life 
 seems thus to have been the usual course 
 with this fully equipped and skilful villian. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THB WII,DERNESS — FIRST CONDUCT WITH GBNER^ 
 GRANT. 
 
 As Rockbridge County had not suffered 
 from the depredations of the enemy as much 
 as some other portions of the country, and 
 possessed such a generous and hospitable 
 population, the command fared better for the 
 little while it remained than it did usually. 
 Many evenings were spent in Colonel Dul- 
 any's tent to tell and listen to stories, study 
 cavalry tactics, and listen to Lieut. Col. 
 Marshall read appropriate selections from 
 various authors. He was remarkably effec- 
 tive in elocution. These pleasant gather- 
 ings, when broken up by the shock of armies 
 were never to return, until the great day 
 when wars will be no more. 
 
 The days went by quickly, marked with a 
 grand effort to bring the command up to the 
 highest state of efficiency. On May ist the 
 Laurel brigade was ordered to the front ; this 
 meant to move to the neighborhood of Chan- 
 
THE WILDERNESS. 169 
 
 cellorsville. That country was so impoverish- 
 ed that nothing but lizards, whip-poor-wills, 
 snakes and buzzards could live (it was natur- 
 ally a poor country), and the armies had taken 
 up what little substance there was, as a dry 
 sponge could take up a drop of water. 
 
 On the way over the Blue Ridge Moun- 
 tains, and twice at other points, the com- 
 manding general was ordered to move as fast 
 as he could, as General Grant was about to 
 move over to the south side of the river in 
 force. General Lee wanted every man to 
 be on hand for the first clash with General 
 Grant, who had nearly two hundred thou- 
 sand men, while General Lee could not mus- 
 ter over fifty thousand men of all arms — 
 of infantry, thirty-eight thousand ; cavalry 
 and artillery, say twelve thousand. 
 
 The brigade commander found orders from 
 General Stuart to take the plank road in front 
 of Pickett's Division and delay the approach 
 of Grant's cavalry as long as possible, in or- 
 der to allow General Pickett's troops to come 
 up and prevent the flanking of Ewell by the 
 protrusion of General Grant's right. This 
 sounded all right, but it meant hard fighting. 
 Early in the morning the Seventh Cavalry of 
 Virginia, led by General Rosser, moved down 
 near the river and ascertained that General 
 Grant was pouring his troops across at the 
 
I70 HEROSS AND SPIfiS OP Tag CIVII/ WAR. 
 
 United States Ford and over pontoons. 
 Learning that a cavalry scouting party had 
 passed him going up a blind road parallel to 
 the plank road, General Rosser sent a squad- 
 ron over to hold that road against the return 
 of their scouts, and by a circuit through the 
 bushes came out lower down the plank road 
 and fell upon the ammunition train of the 
 Twelfth Corps of General Grant's army, cut 
 loose mules, cut down wagons, upset ambu- 
 lances, and soon had the road well obstructed. 
 
 Captain Marr fired his pistol into one wag- 
 on and set it on fire, and it soon blew up. 
 He then tried it upon another, and much to 
 his surprise a big infantryman, who had taken 
 refuge there, jumped out, thinking he had 
 been shot, and ran down the road bellowing 
 that he was killed. 
 
 Soon the head of a section of the Twelfth 
 Federal Corps came up at double quick and 
 made it too hot for General Rosser. This 
 checked the onward march of General Grant 
 on that road. They were ordered to halt; 
 we fell back, and in an hour were attacked by 
 the cavalry of the enemy. General Rosser 
 was ordered to detain the enemy in his front 
 as long as possible, and if driven back to re- 
 treat as slowly as practicable, as General 
 Longstreet was not on time, owing to the 
 distance he had to march at short notice. 
 
THE WII<DBRNSSS. 171 
 
 Rosser could make a fighting front in the 
 road as well and as often with a small force 
 as the Federal commander could with his 
 larger one ; and to fight anywhere except in 
 the road was impracticable, owing to the 
 swampy character of the country. At it they 
 went, hammer and tongs, and kept it up all 
 day; not one foot could the Federals ad- 
 vance, and whenever a flank movement could 
 be threatened, General Rosser employed it, 
 and thus toward evening drove in the Federal 
 cavalry. The day was a bloody one, dead 
 and dying men and horses obstructing the 
 road in many places for two miles or more. 
 
 About four o'clock in the evening. General 
 Rosser ordered preparations for a determin- 
 ed charge to close the day with a gain of 
 ground. The first squadron of the Seventh 
 Virginia was put in front, with Captain Marr 
 in command, and Lieutenant Orlando Smith 
 of Company A of the same regiment at his 
 side. The charge was sounded, the first 
 squadron went at it finely, well backed up by 
 the other squadrons, properly spaced. The 
 clash came in earnest, as with drawn sabres 
 the Seventh rode into and then, over the 
 mass of the enemy, who stood the charge 
 unusually well; but that rush was too much 
 for them. The Federals broke, and once 
 getting started, went for over a mile pell- 
 
172 HEROES AND SPIES O^ THE Civile WAR. 
 
 mell, down that road, almost filling it with 
 wounded, dead, and downed men and horses. 
 Such a dust and smoke, too, completely ob- 
 scured the little light that could penetrate 
 that dismal wood at that time of day. Sud- 
 denly the Federals parted, turned to the left 
 by a new road they had constructed, moved 
 to the rear of well but hastily constructed 
 breastworks, and left the Confederates con- 
 fronted by the Twelfth corps behind this wall 
 of logs, rails and earth, ten feet high, and, as 
 against cavalry a pretty thorough obstruc- 
 tion, from behind which the attacking party 
 could be shot as they came to the front. It 
 was a complete death-trap. Behind this bar- 
 ricade there was as large a body of infantry 
 as could be accommodated, while on the 
 crest of a sharp hill in their rear six guns 
 were trained upon the road approaching the 
 barricade from the front. 
 
 As soon as their cavalry had inclined to 
 the left and filed past, the infantry, uncover- 
 ing the head of our column, fired by platoon, 
 right into the faces of the Confederates. So 
 near and numerous was the infantry that the 
 force of the flashes from their muskets was 
 plainly felt by both men and horses. Re- 
 treat for the Confederates was impossible, as 
 in so long a headlong chase the road was 
 literally jammed for two miles behind. It 
 
THE WILD^NESS. 173 
 
 was perfectly straight for that distance. The 
 capture of that position or the death of all 
 hands was the only option left to us. In five 
 minutes every Confederate would be fiat in 
 the dust. No one could escape. The first 
 volley mowed down all the men who were 
 in front. They fell fighting. Men were fall- 
 ing so fast they could not come up as fast 
 as they could be killed or wounded. Lieu- 
 tenant Sm.ith (a gallant man fighting there 
 with an unexpired furlough in his pocket) 
 was ordered to lead the men out through 
 the new road, followed by the Federal cav- 
 alry, and so flank the ambushing force. He 
 attempted this, but before he could execute 
 the order or find men to lead, both he and 
 his horse were shot. His horse reared up at 
 the side of Captain Marr, and was about to 
 fall across the head of his horse, when Marr 
 made a slight move out of the way, and then 
 received upon the wrist of his left arm a bul- 
 let, aimed at his heart, which tore through 
 the arm, crushing through the bone, ripped 
 its way across his breast, plowing the clothes 
 in a rugged trail, and, under the right arm, 
 that was then employed in firing the pistol, 
 passed out, tearing that sleeve. 
 
 Captain John Myers came up and executed 
 the order to flank; and, strange to say, the 
 Yankees broke without ever firing a shot 
 
174 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 from their cannon, which would have cut 
 lanes through the Confederates strung out 
 along that road for two miles. Captain 
 Marr's horse being shot, he and Lieutenant 
 Smith, dear friends in life, were carried as 
 tenderly back to the rear as a corduroy road 
 would allow, passing Pickett's Division on its 
 way to the front. The Seventh lost that day 
 in killed and wounded, prisoners and missing, 
 over one-fourth of the men it carried into the 
 battle, with the bloody Sixth and Twelfth yet 
 to come. 
 
 Captain Marr was supported by two slight- 
 ly wounded men to Verdiersville, where the 
 hospital had been established, clean and nice 
 in the morning, but as bloody as any old 
 slaughter house by night. All that night the 
 wounded were being hauled in, and in order 
 to make way for more, an ambulance train 
 was started to take the wounded to Culpeper 
 Court-House, over one of the worst roads 
 in America. 
 
 Captain Marr will now tell his own story. 
 He says : 
 
 "On the evening of the 6th, after heavy 
 firing had been kept up without interval, or- 
 ders came urging the removal to the rear 
 of all wounded men who could be moved. 
 This included me. I had been fighting for 
 my arm in the hospital, by giving the sur- 
 
THE WILDERNBSS. 1 75 
 
 geons to know that their decision to cut it 
 off would be attended with the death of the 
 first man who tried it, or attempted to give 
 me chloroform. 
 
 "This obstacle in the way of carrying out 
 their diagnosis proved sufificiently strong to 
 induce them to put me in an ambulance, with 
 a poor fellow from the Eleventh regiment, 
 who was not worse wounded than I, but 
 whose leg had been cut off according to or- 
 der. During our awful ride over the rough 
 road my cornpanion bled so freely that he 
 sunk, and was taken out dead at the next 
 station, to be buried, and another put in his 
 place with me in the ambulance. When we 
 reached Culpeper Court-House he too was 
 dead. All the time wounded men were con- 
 verging there to be taken off by the poorly 
 furnished railroad. Three thousand men, — 
 some of the Gray and some of the Blue, — 
 wounded in nearly all conceivable forms, 
 were dumped out in the field and space 
 around the big station. There we lay all that 
 night, the air filled with suppressed groans 
 and prayer. Every hour souls were passing 
 into eternity from that group lying there on 
 the bare ground, awaiting the coming of a 
 train that could not carry off the wounded as 
 fast as they accumulated from the battlefield, 
 where two hundred thousand men were kill- 
 
176 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 ing and crippling each other. And that is 
 war, war .that can only prove which is the 
 stronger, and not which is right ! 
 
 "A committee from Richmond, among 
 whom were the Rev. Dr. Lansing Burroughs, 
 Rev. M. D. Hoge, and other leading pastors 
 of the city, had come down and established 
 a kitchen, at which soup and cofifee were 
 made, and all night and all day they carried 
 camp kettles of soup, coffee, and cool water 
 for the wounded, weak, and fevered men. 
 There was no difference shown between the 
 Northern and Southern men when sick or 
 wounded. Every once in a while they would 
 say, 'he has gone, we can do nothing more 
 for him.' With some they were asked to 
 pray ; from others they were charged to bear 
 last messages to surviving friends. 
 
 "Surely if the angels of mercy looked 
 down on those good men they saw the like- 
 ness to themselves, as well as to him, of 
 whom it is said, 'He wept with them that 
 wept and mourned with them that mourned.' 
 
 "The next day, about four P. M., I was 
 put into a car packed with as many as it 
 could hold, and the part of a train as heavy 
 as the little engine fired with wood, could 
 draw, and taken to Gordonsville, where I, 
 with a few others, intended for the Staun- 
 ton Hospital, were taken out and laid on 
 
THE WILDERNESS. 177 
 
 the platform until the next train came 
 from Richmond on its way to Staunton. 
 Late the next morning we were put on a 
 train, and about five o'clock in the evening 
 reached our destination, where the people 
 had turned out to help the wounded in any 
 way, and made so much over them, calling 
 them fond names and urging kind attention 
 upon them to such a degree as to almost 
 make them feel that it was an honor to be 
 wounded, or to die, if required to, for such 
 people. I shall never forget a mug of wine 
 that was handed me by an old friend from 
 Charles Town, Mr. Newton Sadler. I had 
 lost nearly all the blood I had in my body; 
 was so weak that I could not move my limbs 
 or hands, and that home-made weak wine just 
 seemed to bring me to life. I was taken to 
 the Hospital that had formerly been 
 used as the Asylum for the Blind, as it is 
 now, and found an old school-mate as slir- 
 geon in charge, Dr. Thomas L. Opie, and a 
 number of old companions-in-arms. All of 
 us were too badly wounded to be out of bed, 
 and therefore we could not see each other 
 until we had been patched up. 
 
 "I stayed only ten days at the Staunton 
 Hospital, when an old friend from Lexington 
 came and took me to his home, and was nurs- 
 ing me into life again, attended by Dr. Hugh 
 12 i' . I 
 
178 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 McGuire, father of Dr. Hunter McGuire, 
 when General Averill, the Federal cavalry 
 leader, took it into his head to go to Lynch- 
 burg via Lexington. This made it necessary 
 for me to go elsewhere. I was mounted 
 upon a rough, stumbling horse, and struck 
 out for the Peaks of Otter, sure that the 
 .raiders would never go that way; but they 
 did, and after reaching the ridge I turned 
 aside into the bushes to accept my fate, as I 
 could go no further, my crushed arm nearly 
 killing me. Pushing through the pines we 
 came upon a little farm, only half a mile from 
 the main road, where we stopped until we 
 could safely leave its kindly shelter. I later 
 returned to Lexington and was put on post 
 duty there. 
 
 "One of the most ludicrous things that I 
 witnessed during the war occurred at the 
 Presbyterian church at Harrisonburg, Va., 
 during one of the many retreats made by the 
 Confederates. One gloomy Sunday morn- 
 ing, as our troops were marching through 
 the town towards Staunton, I obtained per- 
 mission to attend church. The Rev. D. C. 
 Irwin was the pastor, and the place was 
 pleasantly warm and well filled. After the 
 opening hymn, the minister left the pulpit 
 and passed back to the last seat, and there 
 entered into a close, earnest talk with a large, 
 
THE WILDERNESS. 179 
 
 bulky-looking, red-faced man, who seemed to 
 be very unwilling to yield to Mr. Irwin's im- 
 portunity; but at last he consented, rose up 
 and slowly preceded Reverend Irwin to the 
 desk. Then it was that the manner of his 
 dress became evident. His face was very red 
 and he looked hot, and his hair was quite 
 bushy; he wore a blue shirt, too large for 
 him, which was fastened in front by one large 
 white horn button and one army brass but- 
 ton. His pantaloons were as much too small 
 as his blue shirt was too large. They were 
 held up by white suspenders fastened over 
 his shoulders, and as he wore no vest, coat, 
 or gown, his suspenders were in full sight. 
 I could but recall the great actor. Burton, in 
 his role of 'the Biggest Boy in School,' as I 
 looked, and nearly every one laughed at the 
 appearance of the good and great Dr. Lan- 
 sing Burroughs; not only one of the fore- 
 most Baptists, but one of the ablest men of 
 his day, measuring him in or out of the 
 church. He said that he did not wonder that 
 the people laughed at the figure he cut. 
 Then he explained that his clothes were 
 stolen during the stampede out of Winches- 
 ter, and that he had to wear just what he 
 could get, without regard to appearances. 
 
 "His subject was the 'Sovereignty of God,' 
 and people soon forgot all about his dress, 
 
l8o HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 and those in the rear portion of the church 
 left their seats and crowded towards the 
 front, with their mouths open, all leaning for- 
 iivard as if fearing to lose a word of that ser- 
 mon. It was grand, and at its close people 
 crowded about Dr. Burroughs and ofifered 
 not only the best, but all they had. 
 
 "But it was while lying out with thousands 
 of other wounded men the night after the 
 Battle of the Wilderness, that I saw this 
 grand old man at his best, with Dr. Hoge, 
 Dr. Minnegerode, and other like messengers 
 of mercy as they went about ministering to 
 our necessities. Our heroic ministers were 
 not all filling with high Christian courage the 
 position of chaplains of commands in the 
 field, as were Dr. A. C. Hopkins, of the 
 Stonewall Brigade; Dr. Tucker Lacy, Dr. 
 Dabney, and Dr. Jones, the biographer of 
 Stonewall; but many of them suffered for 
 conscience sake, as for instance. Dr. G. D. 
 Armstrong, of Norfolk, who bore alone the 
 cruelties inflicted by Gen. B. F. Butler, whose 
 cowardly nature exulted in persecuting the 
 defenseless and keeping well out of reach of 
 armed men. 
 
 "The story of Dr. Burroughs reminds me 
 of one told on the Rev. James Baber, a very 
 large man, who was a man of great learning 
 and humble piety, but was both eccentric 
 
THE WILDERNESS. i8i 
 
 and absent-minded. On one occasion he 
 attended the sale of household effects of a 
 neighbor who lived three miles from him. 
 At this sale he bought two five-gallon demi- 
 johns, tied the handles of the two together 
 with a large red handkerchief and threw them 
 across his horse, then mounted between 
 them. On his way home he called at the 
 house of a lady parishioner, who saw him as 
 he approached the house and was ready to 
 greet him with, 'Well, Mr. Baber, you will 
 scandalize the whole church; you, a minis- 
 ter, to be stuck up on that horse between two 
 five-gallon panniers.' As soon as she had 
 paused, the meek and guileless old man said, 
 'Madam, it is this way: My wife has some 
 loose feathers at home in the attic and she 
 asked me to get something to hold them in, 
 and these will keep them so nicely.' Poor 
 old man; he was the most learned man in 
 the county, and yet bought bottles in which 
 to store feathers !" 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 BEGINNING OF THE END. 
 
 The peculiar style of dress and the negli- 
 gee appearance of Gen. Wm. E. Jones gave 
 rise to a good many funny things about him, 
 yet no one doubted his coolness, bravery, or 
 generalship. On one occasion, near his 
 camp in Culpeper County, he had walked 
 about a half a mile from his camp to a spring 
 of nice clear water, and, as usual, in his shirt 
 sleeves. On reaching the spring, which was 
 on the edge of a pine copse, he lay down 
 flat upon his face, with his mouth in the wa- 
 ter, to take a good drink, with ease and com- 
 fort. While in this position he saw mirrored 
 in the clear surface not only his own face and 
 form, but the reflection also of a Yankee sol- 
 dier, with a drawn carbine, waiting to capture 
 him when he was done drinking. Almost in- 
 stantly he got up from his position, slipped 
 out his pistol unseen, and with a sudden 
 spring was standing with his cocked pistol 
 
BEGINNING OP THB; gND. 183 
 
 covering the Yankee, who said, in a subdued 
 tone, "you are my prisoner." "No," said 
 the General, who was as strong and active as 
 a panther, turning the carbine aside with 
 his left arm as he pushed his pistol in the fel- 
 low's face, "you are my prisoner," and he 
 was. 
 
 Captain Marr gave the following account 
 of an incident that occurred near Culpeper 
 Court-House: "The sound of a pistol shot 
 was heard from the center of a group of men ; 
 one of them was seen to fall, the blood spurt- 
 ing in the air from a wound in his neck, 
 which showed that the main artery had been 
 torn. Two brigade surgeons came up imme- 
 diately, examined the man and pronounced 
 him dead. They went ofif, saying that they 
 would order an ambulance to take him to 
 camp. The instant they started off. Captain 
 Magruder — ^who though a line officer, was a 
 surgeon by profession — stepped quickly to 
 the man, drew out a metal case of instruments, 
 caught the ragged end of the artery and 
 stuffed it with cotton. This he did quickly, 
 as the blood had almost ceased to flow. He 
 then called on men to rub and slap the hands, 
 feet, and legs of the man. What liquor could 
 be found was given either internally or rub- 
 bed, and yet he was cold, with every indica- 
 tion of death. So apparent had this become 
 
184 HKROES AND SPIBS OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 that the men who at first helped to rub him 
 said, 'it will do no good, it is better to let 
 him alone.' I thought they were right, but 
 Captain Magruder felt the man's heart, and 
 then said, 'Men, if you will only help me, this 
 man may live.' All fell to work now in earn- 
 est to have a share in bringing a dead man 
 to life. Magruder said, 'work hard and 
 watch!' Sure enough a slight twitching 
 about the eyes and mouth was soon noticed. 
 This became more and more pronounced; 
 then it grew into decided contractions, or 
 contortions, of the body and arms, and pres- 
 ently he began to struggle, until he had to 
 be held by strong men. Magruder gave him 
 some remedies, bandaged his neck, and had 
 him put into the ambulance, sent first to 
 camp and then to the hospital. I did not see 
 him again for quite a while, until one day, 
 some two months later, I noticed a man with 
 his head very much on one side coming 
 towards the camp, and when he reached it 
 I saw that it was Jake Turner, alive and well, 
 but with his head canted very much to one 
 side. Though feeble, yet he had come back 
 to camp with a heart full of gratitude. He 
 said he knew that he was now not fit to do 
 duty as a soldier ; that his country did not ex- 
 pect further service of him, but that he desir- 
 ed to stay with the old command in order to 
 
BEGINNING OP THE END. 1 85 
 
 devote himself to Captain Magruder and to 
 die for him if he got a chance. He served 
 him in every possible way, but the service 
 was a short one, for not long after this his 
 benefactor was killed at the battle of Jack's 
 Shop. Poor Jake Turner was almost broken 
 hearted at the death of his benefactor; he 
 stayed by the body while it was above 
 ground, helped to bury it, took a lock of his 
 hair, and went home a sincere mourner if 
 ever there was one." 
 
 The retreat of the Confederate army 
 through Hagerstown, Md., served to ex- 
 hibit the great difference in the number and 
 conduct of our friends in times of prosperity 
 and adversity. When our troops entered 
 Hagerstown, as we marched toward the bat- 
 tlefield of Gettysburg, the people greeted us 
 gladly, sang "My Maryland" and "Dixie;" 
 brought out pies and lots of other good 
 things. They couldn't do enough for the 
 Confed. We went, we saw, and were beaten, 
 and on the retreat, before we reached the 
 limits of Hagerstown, I was put with a 
 squadron to cover the retreat, to bring ofiE 
 stragglers, force men along, and keep the 
 advance of the Federals back as much as pos- 
 sible. As we entered the town, retiring 
 slowly, and disputing each foot of ground, I 
 hoped that we should be somewhat sheltered 
 
1 86 HEROES AND SPIES Olf fHE CIVII/ WAR. 
 
 by the buildings from flankers, and have some 
 comfort from those who had so gladly re- 
 ceived us of late on our forward march. But 
 never was a man more wofully disappointed, 
 for not a smile did I see except of derision, 
 nor a word that was not a taunt or threat. 
 We had hardly entered the better part of the 
 town before we were fired upon from win- 
 dows, housetops, and board fences, and from 
 all directions, with all kinds of shot, and even 
 stones were hurled at us from roofs. I never 
 since have heard the name of the place with- 
 out remembering our farewell salute from 
 the people, though I charitably hoped that 
 some of our salutations were bestowed by 
 soldiers concealed there in the houses. 
 
 Captain Marr says that while in Lexing- 
 ton on post service he had time to notice the 
 increasing evidences of exhaustion manifest- 
 ing, as they did, the nearer approach of the 
 end. The little groups of homeless refugees, 
 wounded soldiers, and citizens of the town 
 would meet and talk over the changes in the 
 situation which went on from day to day, 
 often trying to comfort each other with the 
 assurance that as their cause was just and in 
 the hands of such good men it would scarcely 
 be permitted to fail. The people there had 
 seen or felt but little of war by personal ex- 
 perience with the Bluecoats among them 
 
BEGINNING OF THE END. 1 87 
 
 long or often. Only once did they reach or 
 enter the town, and that was on a raid made 
 by General Averill, with his magnificently ap- 
 pointed division of cavalry, with which he 
 passed through the town over the Peaks of 
 Otter to Lynchburg, where he was ignomin- 
 iously defeated by Gen. Jubal Early. On 
 this invasion he carried out the inhuman war- 
 fare of the torch. One of the meanest things 
 that I think was done during the whole war 
 on either side was at the time of this raid. 
 Old Dr. William S. White, who was the pas- 
 tor of the church of which General Jackson 
 was a deacon, was a large man, and being a 
 great cripple could not walk without 
 crutches. He could walk only a few steps 
 with their help. His church was about eight 
 blocks from his dwelling. He had to ride to 
 and fro from his church and home. He had 
 a sober, staid horse, so well trained that he 
 had come to know just what was expected of 
 him, so that he had to be let alone only, and 
 as soon as he found out where the Doctor 
 wished to go he would take him there and 
 back safely. 
 
 On Sunday morning, after he had been 
 saddled and bridled by the servant, he would 
 leave the stable, go arovmd to the front door, 
 sidle up to the steps from which the Doctor 
 was in the habit of mounting, then keep per- 
 
1 88 HEROES AND SPIES OE THE civil/ WAR. 
 
 fectly quiet until his master was seated in 
 the saddle and had arranged his crutches, and 
 only at the signal always used would he move 
 on to the church. On arriving there he would 
 place himself near the side entrance, remain 
 perfectly still until the Doctor had dis- 
 mounted and entered the church, when he 
 would pass around to the rear and enter the 
 shed placed there for his comfort. There he 
 would remain until the organ struck up the 
 last hymn. He would then sidle up to the 
 little platform at which he had left the Doc- 
 tor, wait until he was comfortably seated in 
 the saddle and then take him home. 
 
 When Generals Hunter and Averill re- 
 treated through Lexington they took this 
 old preacher's horse. The citizens were very 
 indignant; begged that this horse might be 
 left; offered to pay any amount at which 
 they chose to value him if they would only 
 spare him to this infirm and helpless old min- 
 ister. 
 
 By order of the Federal general the mili- 
 tary institute at this place was burned, for 
 which there was probably some justification, 
 as the cadet corps from this school had in 
 the battle of New Market routed thrice their 
 number of Federal soldiers. 
 
 On post duty soldiers, during these times, 
 fared very little, if any, better than when at 
 
BEGINNING OF THE END. 1 89 
 
 the froat. Requisitions could be made for 
 a great variety of things, the value of which 
 was reckoned up by the commissary and all 
 paid in rice. That is, enough of this "swamp 
 seed," as it is called by sailors, was doled out 
 to sustain life at a pretty low ebb. A citizen 
 in market fared but little better, as he would 
 use his basket to carry the money and bring 
 the supplies home in his hand ; a Jag of about 
 one third of a cord of green, wet wood sold 
 for five hundred dollars, while butter sold 
 at ten cents in gold, or thirty-five dollars a 
 pound in new issue. 
 
 Captain Marr says that while quartered at 
 the house of his old friend S. J. Campbell, of 
 Lexington, and while experiencing the de- 
 lightful sensation of restoration to life and 
 strength, after having been on the border 
 land that so narrowly divides life from death, 
 he had seen the Divine work of Nature as 
 she built up the wasted members and rein- 
 forced the slow and feeble currents of life by 
 her gently invigorating influences collected 
 from all the elements of her domain. There 
 he was accustomed to meet a little bevy of 
 congenial spirits daily as they discussed the 
 issues of the day. Among these men were 
 Doctor McGuire, Judge Brockenborrough, 
 Rev. Wm. Northern, of the Episcopal 
 Church, and old Dr. Wm. S. White. These 
 
igo HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 would help the wounded soldier during the 
 tedium of restoration. He says that some 
 of the sweetest visits ever made him at this 
 time were those of Mrs. Margaret J. Preston, 
 the poetess of Virginia. 
 
 Of many literary women it can be truth- 
 fully said, "she is all genius, she is an unnat- 
 ural woman, or she is a failure in all but ht- 
 erature ;" none of these could be said of Mrs. 
 Preston. As wife, mother, friend, neighbor, 
 and indeed in every possible relation of life, 
 she filled that relationship with a natural ease 
 and a gentle grace which proved that, in her 
 case, the genius of the poetess had not 
 spoiled the sweetness and grace of a well- 
 rounded womanhood, or dimmed the lustre 
 of a symmetrical Christian character. When 
 all women attain to her standard and all men 
 become worthy of the women, then the world 
 will be called to glory. Mrs. Preston pre- 
 sented the wife of Captain Marr with one 
 of the proof copies of her beautiful poem 
 "Beechenbrook," saying that her husband 
 and her hero were alike in their war expe- 
 riences. The edition of this work was de- 
 stroyed by the burning of Richmond. 
 
 While convalescing at the home of this 
 Lexington friend. Captain Marr says that he 
 could see plainly from his window the grave 
 of Stonewall Jackson, and the small Confed- 
 
BEGINNING OF THE END. I9I 
 
 erate flag which floated over it, which was 
 furnished by a citizen of England, at whose 
 request it was kept floating and for which 
 purpose he furnished the flag. 
 
 On the last march, as General Jubal Early 
 passed through Lexington from Lynchburg, 
 it was ordered that the Stonewall Brigade 
 should march through the cemetery and pass 
 the grave, then countermarch and file out to 
 the main street. What a sad sight, and yet 
 sadder story, did that visit of the old brigade 
 suggest to Captain Marr, who remembered 
 as though it were only yesterday that this 
 famous command had taken into battle at 
 First Manassas thirty-three hundred bright 
 muskets, and that now the old Commander's 
 grave was being seen for the last time by the 
 sad remnant of that once grand brigade re- 
 duced, as it was, to two hundred and forty- 
 nine worn out, ragged, and often half-starved 
 men. That old command had made not only 
 a name that will never die, but a history that 
 will be taken as the standard of military prow- 
 ess by many yet unborn generations. 
 
 Over the mountains and valleys of Virgin- 
 ia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, 
 and the District of Columbia they had march- 
 ed and fought, leaving a trail with their 
 bloody graves. With pride, mingled and hal- 
 lowed to sadness, he saw once more the few 
 
192 HBROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 that remained of a command to whose first 
 roll call he had answered, and which had been 
 baptized in blood by General Bee just before 
 his death on the baptismal battlefield, be- 
 stowing upon it and its immortal leader a 
 name that will go ringing down the ages as 
 a synonym of military glory and consecration 
 to the right. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SOME REMINISCENCES. 
 
 When the call came in April, 1861, for the 
 men of Virginia to report at Harper's Ferry 
 to join the army gathering there, the volun- 
 teer company known as "The Botts Greys," 
 of Charles Town, in the Valley of Virginia, 
 was among the first to report. The company, 
 like many others, was composed of men who 
 were all well-to-do, and many of them 
 wealthy. They naturally thought to take 
 into army life as many comforts as possible. 
 Two wagons were built adapted to carry the 
 belongings of the members, in addition to 
 such transportation as the Quartermaster 
 might furnish. They were up-to-date, and 
 contained arrangements for each mess to 
 have its own chest, cots, utensils and a trunk 
 for each man. Quite a number of servants 
 to black boots, attend to the washing and 
 cooking, were taken along. We were all 
 proud of our equipment, and expected to do 
 
 13 
 
194 hbroes and spies op the civii, war. 
 
 "genteel fighting" only. We were organized 
 as Company G of the 2d Virginia Infantry, 
 and 1st Brigade, of which Major Thomas J. 
 Jackson was made brigadier general. He 
 took his brigade to Falling Waters on the 
 Potomac River, directly opposite, and as 
 near General Patterson, with his Federal 
 army as possible. Then he drilled us inces- 
 santly, as if he was trying to see how many 
 of us he could kill before we ever got sight 
 of the enemy ! After some weeks of this pre- 
 paratory employment. General Patterson 
 concluded to send over a portion of his force 
 — about five times as many as we had — and 
 see what we were about. We were drawn 
 up in line of battle, and hoped that we were 
 at last to have a chance at the Yankees, no 
 matter how many there might be; but 
 greatly to our chagrin. General Jackson kept 
 moving us back from one position to another 
 until our wagons were unprotected, and the 
 Yankees got them all. Oh, how mad we 
 were, when we heard them cheering in ex- 
 ultation over their capture! Many curses 
 loud and deep we uttered at the failure of 
 our general to have our belongings put out 
 <3f harrr>s way. Our county people were very 
 indignant and denounced General Jackson. 
 The County Court of Jefferson County con- 
 vened, appropriated several thousands of dol- 
 
SOME REMINISCENCES. I95 
 
 lars, and called together the women to make 
 tents for us. This was done in great haste, 
 and soon we were well supplied with them, 
 and also began the accumulation of such 
 other things as we thought we needed. After 
 we got our tents all up, and a nice encamp- 
 ment established, General Jackson marched 
 us all one night about twenty miles in the di- 
 rection of Winchester. Our tents, we learn- 
 ed, were stored somewhere, but where we 
 never found out; but one thing we did find 
 out, that is, that General Jackson considered 
 a gum cloth, a blanket, a tooth-brush and 
 forty rounds of cartridges as the full equip- 
 ment for a gentleman soldier. 
 
 The strangest thing, though, I ever knew 
 General Jackson to do, was while we of his 
 brigade were encamped at Centreville, Va. 
 He had upon his staff Thomas Marshall and 
 Lieut. Frank P. Jones, two men who seemed 
 to be eminently suited to the General, as they 
 both were men under middle age, both Chris- 
 tians, and seemingly attentive to every or- 
 der. One day, entirely unexpectedly, each 
 of these men was handed a letter in General 
 Jackson's handwriting in which he was re- 
 quested to write to the person named therein 
 asking the recipient to accept the position 
 upon the General's staff then held by him- 
 self. Of course these letters were written 
 
196 HBROBS AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 and handed to the General, accompanied by 
 the resignations of the writers ; both of which 
 the General accepted promptly, without of- 
 fering a single word of explanation. 
 
 When his brigade was drawn up in line of 
 battle at Manassas, and the enemy were find- 
 ing our range pretty accurately and sending 
 quite a variety of shot our way, I noticed the 
 approach of three men on horseback directly 
 in the rear of our line, one of whom called to 
 us to open space for them to pass through to- 
 wards the enemy. This was done, and they 
 rode along our front, fully exposed for half 
 a mile, in order to get a good observation of 
 the enemy's position. President Davis and 
 Generals Jackson and Beauregard were the 
 three men. It was surprising that none of 
 the three were seriously hurt, though Gen- 
 eral Jackson was shot in the hand at the time. 
 
 During the battle of Cedar Mountain, Gen. 
 Wm. E. Jones sent me to ask permission for 
 him to make a flank movement to the rear 
 of the enemy's right flank. When I found 
 General Jackson he was entirely alone, sit- 
 ting on the ground at the root of, and leaning 
 against a small tree. He was holding his 
 horse by the bridle ; had his eyes shut, while 
 his lips moved. He did not notice me for 
 some time; while the battle raged Jackson 
 prayed ! 
 
SOME REMINISCENCES. 197 
 
 Stonewall Jackson was a great believer in 
 celerity of movement, and held that it was 
 possible for the South to off-set the great 
 disparity of numbers which the North with 
 the open market of the world to draw 
 upon, both for men and material, had over 
 her, by having a few small baggageless 
 armies that could cover twice the distance 
 in a day required by heavy divisions. 
 
 I had it from Col. A. R. Boteler, a member 
 of his staff, that at five different times Gen- 
 eral Jackson forwarded by him this propo- 
 sition, without change, and that the first time 
 was while he was only a brigade commander ; 
 "Give me forty thousand men; I will take 
 Harrisburg, Pa., and end the war." Colonel 
 Boteler says that the first three times the 
 proposition was rather sneered at, and that 
 the last two times it was considered, with the 
 conclusion that the men could not be raised. 
 
 No one else has yet seen, as he evidently 
 did, the strategical value of Harrisburg. The 
 author believes that with that force in his 
 hands at any time during the first two years 
 of that war, he would have compelled the 
 keeping of a quarter of a million of men to 
 guard Washington, Baltimore, Harrisburg, 
 Philadelphia, and the railroads constituting 
 their line of communication and supplies. 
 The war would have been made so unpopular 
 
198 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 in Maryland and Pennsylvania, that it would 
 have been impossible for Federal armies 
 to have marched South, w^hile the Southern 
 armies would have used pack trains for trans- 
 porting ammunition, and light horse ar- 
 tillery, with no wagons; and subsisted on 
 Northern soil entirely. This was Jackson's 
 plan, and its adoption would have made a 
 far different history; while the wholesale 
 devastation of the South would never have 
 been accomplished. His would have been 
 an aggressive warfare from start to finish. 
 All the victories he did achieve were won by 
 rapid marches and unlooked-for attacks. 
 
 The victory of First Manassas should have 
 belonged to General McDowell, as he had 
 out-generaled Beauregard, and had the bulk 
 of the Federal army at Stone Bridge, nearer 
 the Junction by two miles, than was the po- 
 sition held by the Southern general, who ex- 
 pected McDowell to attack just where he had 
 the Friday before, when the battle of Bull 
 Run, as Southerners call it, was fought. 
 That error of General Beauregard's caused 
 the cutting up of the brigades of Generals 
 Bee and Bartow before the brigade of Gen- 
 eral Jackson could get there, having to dou- 
 ble-quick, as he did, nearly five miles, and 
 then endure the fire of the most and best of 
 McDowell's army for nearly four hours. This 
 
SomS RifiMiNiSc^NCES. i§$ 
 
 position Jackson held until nearly four 
 o'clock, when three of his regiments charged 
 out in front, breaking the center of General 
 McDowell's line. Just at this time, too, an 
 unexpected thing occurred, which settled 
 the day. 
 
 General Kirby Smith, with about fifteen 
 hundred men, mostly Marylanders, was hav- 
 ing his command conveyed by railroad to the 
 junction, which was General Beauregard's 
 base. Hearing the roar of our battle, and 
 knowing that if he went on toward the junc- 
 tion he would get farther away from the field 
 of contest, he stopped the train at the nearest 
 point, and guided by the sound, attempted 
 to join us, but, fortunately for us, came out 
 of the woods upon the flank of McDowell's 
 army, pretty well to their rear. They seeing 
 this, thought it a trap, threw down their mus- 
 kets, cut loose the horses from their guns 
 and converted their whole army into a fleeing 
 mob. From the crest of a high hill I could 
 see a vast multitude all flying for dear life,, 
 scattered for three miles in width, and as far 
 as the eye could see looking North. 
 
 One of the most prominent lawyers in Vir- 
 ginia was the Hon. T. C. Green, member of 
 the Confederate Congress representing the 
 lower district of the Valley of Virginia. He 
 was a private in the 2d Virginia Regiment of 
 
200 HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 Infantry ; was exceedingly bitter, and longed 
 for a chance to meet the Federals. While 
 he attended to his duties in Congress faith- 
 fully, he always turned up in camp just before 
 a battle. He was always a very absent- 
 minded man; had often been known to in- 
 vite company to dine with him and then to 
 go off and dine elsewhere. At the First Bat- 
 tle of Manassas he said that he wanted to kill 
 a Federal for each cartridge he had ; that isy 
 if he was not killed himself. After the battle 
 was over he boasted and rejoiced that he had 
 killed quite a number before his musket got 
 something the matter with it, so that the 
 cartridges would not go down into the bar- 
 rel, and said that but for that misfortune he 
 would have killed as many more. He fully 
 believed this, and asked a fellow soldier to 
 see what the matter was with his gun. He 
 did so, and found, greatly to the mortifica- 
 tion of Green, that his gun had not been dis- 
 charged at all, but that all the cartridges were 
 fast in the barrel, though he had fought hard 
 all morning. The boys never let him forget 
 that joke, although he went through many 
 other battles and did execution in all of 
 them. 
 
 The following incident was related by Cap- 
 tain Marr, as having occurred down on the 
 Rappahannock River. 
 
SOMB REMINISCENCES. 20I 
 
 "It had been storming all day, the wind 
 blowing at a furious rate; the night came 
 down dark and cold, with a cutting wind that 
 drove the stinging rain into the flesh like 
 particles of ice or steel. Our brigade was 
 back of the Minor Botts house, while our 
 pickets were not half a mile from those of 
 the enemy — both lines being south of the 
 Rappahannock River. On this dark night 
 we could all feel the difficulty of maintaining 
 our lines, as it was absolutely so dark that we 
 could see nothing; nor was it possible to 
 keep any definite idea of the points of the 
 compass or the direction of the camp. I 
 went to the colonel and told him that picket- 
 ing afforded no protection, but that in such 
 a night it only exposed the men. He thought 
 as I did, but felt that whatever the conse- 
 quences might be he would not relax any 
 measure of discipline ; so I took the men out 
 to what I supposed would be their posts, or 
 the right location for each of them, and left 
 them. And in order to keep, if possible, a 
 correct idea of their whereabouts, I deter- 
 mined to spend a whole night, or while the 
 storm lasted, in an effort to keep them in 
 place. 
 
 "The storm grew blacker and the wind 
 blew more violently than ever, and made the 
 most mournful sound I had ever heard, 
 while the darkness became so dense that I 
 
202 HBROSS and spies O^ ThS civil, WAR. 
 
 could not see my horse's head. No relief 
 could be had. The way we had come it 
 was impossible to find. I realized that each 
 man was 'in for it' just where he was, but 
 made an effort to find some one man of the 
 line under my charge. I made up my mind 
 where I thought was the proper direction to 
 find the first man and started in that direc- 
 tion. I had no means of knowing how far I 
 had traveled until I butted up against a horse- 
 man and horse, so as to nearly knock him and 
 myself over. Then I shouted to him to know 
 who he was, in an effort to be heard above 
 that terrible storm. His response was that he 
 was a Federal picket, and was almost dead 
 with cold. No man could handle either gun or 
 pistol in such a storm. The poor fellow said 
 if he could only find either camp he would 
 go to it. I made him understand who I was, 
 and that I could not find my own men. He 
 begfged that I would not leave him; and in- 
 deed I felt pretty much as he did, the need of 
 companionship so greatly, in the teeth of that 
 darkness and hurricane, that the fact that we 
 were enemies was lost sight of. There we 
 waited just for the comfort we had in touch- 
 ing each other, and because, like two men on 
 a cake of ice at sea, there was no place to go. 
 There we stayed until three more miserable 
 hours had passed ; the wind had shifted from 
 the north; the moon came struggling up. 
 
SOME REMINISCENCES. 203 
 
 Then we began to find out where we were. I 
 had spent about four as uncomfortable hours 
 as ever fell to the lot of a soldier on the ene- 
 my's picket line. 
 
 "We parted as good friends, without the 
 slightest idea in the mind of either of cap- 
 turing the other. , Common suffering out in 
 that terrible night had cemented a friendship 
 that lifted us both for the time above the 
 level of enmity. 
 
 "Indeed, it made me glad to know that 
 picket firing had been discontinued for some 
 time, for I would not like to know that men 
 so inclined to be kind to each other should 
 be expected to shoot each other down, not 
 in the heat of battle, but in cold blood, and 
 yet I know that in such a war as we were 
 waging, where men of the same blood, speak- 
 ing the same language and having the same 
 history or antecedents, were opposed,, that 
 unless they were induced to fire upon each 
 other with occasional fatal results they would 
 soon become so friendly that all the plans 
 and movements of each side would be made 
 known to the other. In other words, that the 
 rigor and asperity of war has its uses. 
 
 When Lieut. Col. Thomas Marshall's death 
 was known, the whole Army of the Valley 
 felt that another good man had fallen. His 
 death cast a gloom over all who knew him or 
 had heard of him. He was a gratid, Chris- 
 
204 HgROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 tian cavalier. Like the great Stonewall 
 Jackson, he showed to great disadvantage 
 when on horseback, while like Jackson, his 
 great Christian heroism and devotion to God 
 and his country went hand in hand. This ac- 
 count of him was given by one who esteemed 
 his friendship and companionship as among 
 the greatest privileges of his life: 
 
 "I have seen Col. Thomas Marshall look- 
 ing more Hke a tradesman on horseback for 
 the first time in his life than hke a bold 
 Southern rider. In the morning when he had 
 been too hurried to get through his person- 
 al devotional exercises before it was time to 
 mount, I have seen him get down by the 
 roadside, near a stump or log, and finish his 
 morning prayer in the presence of the whole 
 brigade the first time we stopped long 
 enough. The first time I ever saw this, he 
 must have heard the sneers and profane jests 
 caused by the sight. He had just been as- 
 signed to our regiment then, and our men did 
 not know him. A few days afterwards he went 
 into a fight; Col. Marshall led the charge, 
 and penetrated into the enemy's ranks far- 
 ther than any one else, and while he was a 
 poor swordsman, he stayed among them. 
 They had unhorsed him and beaten him over 
 the head and shoulders with their sabres, un- 
 til they were forced to retreat under pressure 
 from our men. 
 
SOME REMINISCENCES. 20S 
 
 "From that time when Marshall knelt down 
 to pray no one spoke or made a noise while 
 he was at his devotions, and I have seen a 
 score of Godless men remove their hats and 
 keep silence until his prayers were ended. 
 
 "He had a strange presentiment, or pre- 
 monition, of his death, which occurred in a 
 battle in which his command was engaged 
 in the Valley. He had always said that he 
 hoped — and I expect prayed — that he might 
 not be shot in the back. 
 
 "Up to the day on which he was killed, he 
 had not made his will or given any special 
 instructions to his servant about his body or 
 effects, but on the morning of that sad day 
 he did both ; telling the servant which road to 
 pursue in taking his horses home and in send- 
 ing messages. He was killed on the retreat 
 of his command, and twice turned about arid 
 faced the approaching line of the enemy. 
 Again he was urged to retreat and again 
 turned his back to his foes, and in that mo- 
 ment fell mortally wounded, was brought off 
 and soon died. His was one of the brightest 
 Christian characters that adorned the ranks 
 of the Southern army, in which was found 
 many men, who like Lee and Jackson exhib- 
 ited in their lives under the most trying con- 
 ditions the beauty and the glory of the gos- 
 pel of Christ." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CAVALRY VS. INFANTRY — STONEWAI.I, JACKSON. 
 
 There was always a sort of jealousy of 
 the cavalry felt, and on every opportunity 
 expressed, by the infantry, which grew 
 out of the fact that the cavalrymen were 
 better clothed and fed than they. Of course 
 this was true, for the rider could take 
 better care of his clothes, and as he was most 
 of the time away from the bulk of the army, 
 he could forage better; yet he was nearer 
 the lines of the enemy, and consequently 
 oftener in collision. Indeed, the writer has 
 seen and taken part in thirty hard battles in 
 as many consecutive days. If measured by 
 the quality of courage, the cavalryman of the 
 army of Northern Virginia was in no degree 
 inferior to the best infantry the world ever 
 saw. 
 
 To know General Lee's estimate of cav- 
 alry, see report to Secretary of War. The 
 Richmond Dispatch of May 7th says, in an ex- 
 
CAVALRY VS. INFANTRY. 207 
 
 tract from General Lee's Report to the Sec- 
 retary of War, dated May sth, 1864, at 
 Headquarters Army Northern Virginia: 
 
 "The enemy crossed the Rapidan at Ely's 
 and Germania Ford. Two corps of this army 
 moved to oppose him ; Ewell by the old turn- 
 pike, and Hill by the plank road. They ar- 
 rived this morning in close proximity to the 
 enemy's line of march. A strong attack was 
 made upon Ewell, who repulsed it, capturing 
 many prisoners and a few pieces of artillery. 
 The enemy subsequently concerted upon 
 General Hill, who, with Heth and Wilcox's 
 Divisions, successfully resisted repeated and 
 desperate assaults. A large force of Cav- 
 alry and Artillery on our right was driven 
 back by Rosser's Brigade. By the blessing 
 of God we maintained position against every 
 effort until night, when the contest closed. 
 I have to mourn the loss of many brave offi- 
 cers and men. The gallant Brigadier Gen- 
 eral J. M. Jones was killed, and Brigadier 
 General Stafford I fear mortally wounded 
 while leading his command with conspicuous 
 valor. 
 
 "Signed 
 
 "R. E. LEE, General" 
 
 To a very large extent Stuart's cavalry 
 fought with rifles as infantry, and were often 
 
208 H^ROBS AND SPIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 pitted against an equal or even superior in- 
 fantry force of th^ enemy. I give one rea- 
 son for my belief that it requires a brave 
 man to make a good cavalry soldier, when 
 one not so brave may make a good infantry 
 man. I say this after having done service 
 in both branches — in the Stonewall Brigade 
 until after the First Manassas (where Jack- 
 son was crowned "Stonewall"), and the rest 
 of the time until near the close of the war in 
 the Laurel Brigade of cavalry. Therefore I 
 cannot be accused of having a bias either way. 
 A man in the cavalry can sometimes avoid 
 danger or shirk a fight, while in infantry a 
 man is more of a machine and has to go with 
 the line. Cavalry that fight must be impelled 
 by pride, patriotism, or personal courage. A 
 good infantry soldier may not possess any one 
 of these qualities to any great degree. Only 
 one other test that is just can be employed 
 to settle and refute the absurd statement 
 that the cavalry did not fight like the in- 
 fantry, that is to measure the service ren- 
 dered and the duty done by the casualties. 
 I have applied this test to quite a number of 
 organizations of the two different arms which 
 carried about the same number of men into 
 the war, and compared the number left at 
 the close, and every such comparison serves 
 to show that neither has any good grounds 
 
CAVALRY VS. INFANTRY. 209 
 
 founded upon facts to conclude that that arm 
 in which he belonged held any superiority 
 over the other. It is true that a charge by a 
 well-disciplined line of infantry is a grand 
 sight, and that results are decisive and soon 
 follow the shock of such a clash. Infantry 
 are fought as a mass, while with cavalry there 
 is more individuality. Neither should ever 
 try to disparage or belittle the value of the 
 other; for it may be said of nearly all Con- 
 federate soldiers, "They were true to the last 
 of their blood and their breath, and would, 
 like reapers, descend to the harvest of death." 
 But rather let all Confederates remember 
 that they both, yea all, had in every battle 
 to fight odds so very great that the other par- 
 ty often found it necessary to falsify the truth 
 in giving a statement of the numbers pres- 
 ent on each side in every battle. As for in- 
 stance, Gettysburg, where General Lee had 
 less than sixty thousand of all arms, while the 
 Federals numbered over one hundred thou- 
 sand. Hence it required the straining of the 
 last nerve and the greatest effort of every 
 man to gain a victory, and then the Confed- 
 erates were so exhausted that they could 
 not gather the results nor make the strategic 
 movements rendered expedient or possible 
 by a battle. 
 
 14 
 
2IO HEROES AND SPIES OF THE CIVII, WAR. 
 
 With anything Hke an equal army in num- 
 bers, Lee and Jackson would have made a 
 history very far different from that taught in 
 some of the schools of to-day. 
 
 Early during the war General Jackson de- 
 clared that he did not intend to waste his men 
 against the breastworks of the enemy. To 
 this he adhered, for only once during his life 
 did he march up to the enemy in front and 
 give him battle. That was at Kernstown. 
 That battle was delivered under the positive 
 order from General Lee to attack atthe ear- 
 liest possible moment in order to prevent the 
 troops at Winchester from being sent to 
 reinforce the Federal army in eastern Vir- 
 ginia. On every other occasion he flanked 
 around and turned up on the wrong side of 
 the enemy's fortifications, and that usually 
 "settled the hash" of the other fellow. In 
 order to the more effectually flank the enemy 
 he would fall back so as to swing around 
 unseen. That fact or custom inspired a mes- 
 sage intercepted by General Stuart and a 
 small portion of his Cavalry, who went around 
 on a raid behind General Pope's army, cut the 
 wires and took a message sent by General 
 Halleck to General Pope. From the message 
 taken by the Confederates it appeared that 
 General Pope had wired Halleck (then Sec- 
 retary of War) : "I have Jackson in full re- 
 
CAVAUIY vs. INFANTRY. 211 
 
 treat." The answer captured read thus (Hal- 
 leck to General Pope): "General, beware of 
 Jackson's retreats; they are more to be 
 feared than his advances." General Pope did 
 not get that warning, but he was so self-con- 
 ceited that he would not have regarded it 
 if he had. The fact is, that Jackson was just 
 then sweeping around to come up in his rear 
 at the "Junction," as Manassas was called; 
 right in the rear of poor vain Pope, who was 
 never fit to command an army. 
 
 The next day, when asked about General 
 Pope's whereabouts, Mr. Lincoln said, "he 
 has climbed up a pole and pulled the pole up 
 after him," General Lee is quoted as hav- 
 ing said of him, when he read Pope's bom- 
 bastic general orders, dated from headquar- 
 ters in the saddle, "that the location was 
 properly described, as General Pope's brains 
 were really in the saddle." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SUMMARY — ^THE END. 
 
 Generals came and generals went; indeed 
 until General Grant, who was a great man, 
 came to the command of the Federal Army, 
 when the Confederacy was bled to death and 
 had no men with which to fill the wide gaps 
 formed in her lines, a Federal general would 
 last on the average about four months — 
 they wore out so fast. Meade was the only 
 predecessor of Grant who did not overesti- 
 mate his ability or underestimate General 
 Lee's wonderful ability; in consequence of 
 which fact General Meade was not used up 
 in a few months like the others. Given one 
 half the number and one fourth the other 
 resources of the Union Government and ar- 
 mies, even without a navy, and the Confed- 
 eracy would have gained its independence. 
 
 Men, meat, and money were the absent 
 elements from the firing of the first gun at 
 Sumter up to the last one at Appomattox. I 
 
SUMMARY — tun SND. 213 
 
 never shall forget the sullen determination 
 with which General Lee, who had been hero 
 enough to look over the hard-fought battle- 
 field of Gettysburg and say "it was all my 
 fault," the next day offered battle near 
 Hagerstown, which was declined by the Fed- 
 eral commander, which we all regretted, as 
 we wanted to get even. Nor shall I forget 
 the wetting we got in swimming our horses 
 across the swollen Potomac as we came back 
 to old Virginia. Equally wise were they in 
 not spoiling for a fight after the Confederates 
 were all over on the south side. 
 
 Meade and McClellan were two of the best 
 Generals the Federals developed during that 
 war. Grant was a great general and so was 
 Sherman, but they had the advantage of hav- 
 ing come upon the field after the exhaustion 
 of the Confederacy, when they had to con- 
 tend only with skirmish lines where there 
 would formerly have been lines of battle. 
 
 The naval battle in Hampton Roads in 
 1862 gave the Confederates great hope and 
 led them to build largely upon the prospect 
 of carrying the war to the coast cities of the 
 North. I give here a full and accurate ac- 
 count of the Virginia, which is vouched for 
 by an intelligent officer on board of that ves- 
 sel. Captain E. V. White, who was engineer 
 on board during the battle, and was entirely 
 
214 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIV1I< WAR. 
 
 familiar with the building, battle, and entire 
 record of this vessel. 
 
 The Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Va., was 
 burned, the vessels burned and sunk and the 
 place evacuated by the Federals April 19, 
 1 86 1. The steam frigate Merrimac was, like 
 the other vessels, burned to the waters edge. 
 The Confederates took possession of the 
 place, raised the hull of the Merrimac, 
 and constructed upon her a plated and 
 strongly-protected upper works, so thick 
 and ingeniously arranged as to make her in- 
 vulnerable, while they equipped her for a 
 ram, with a steel prow, and armed her with a 
 battery that at short range would sink any 
 United States vessel afloat. Captain Buchan- 
 an was given command of this strange craft, 
 with Lieut. Ap. Catesby Jones second officer. 
 On the 8th of March, 1862, the vessel, now 
 re-named the Virginia left her anchorage and 
 went down to tender battle to the Federal 
 fleet lying in Hampton Roads. She encoun- 
 tered and sunk the Cumberland, blew up the 
 Congress, and dispersed the rest of the fleet, 
 which took refuge under the guns at Fort- 
 ress Monroe, or ran out to sea. The Virginia 
 drew twenty-four feet of water and could not 
 follow the fleet, the largest vessel of which 
 only drew fourteen feet of water, which fact 
 enabled any of them to escape. Victory was 
 
SUMMARY — THE BND. 2 15 
 
 with the Confederates, but at a dearly bought 
 price. Captain Buchanan was seriously 
 wounded, as well as a number of his men, and 
 in using her ram the Virginia lost her sharp 
 steel prow. This disabled her for use as a 
 ram. Lieutenant Jones took command, took 
 her up to Portsmouth, had her prow hurriedly 
 repaired, and on the following day went 
 down and made another visit to the Federals. 
 The night previous the Ericsson Monitor, a 
 turreted iron-clad, had reached Fortress Mon- 
 roe, and to her the Virginia turned her at- 
 tention. These two vessels, each carrying 
 the hopes of her people, met; each found 
 that her shot did not disable the other, and 
 then the use of the ram was resorted to by 
 Lieutenant Jones, and but for her timely es- 
 cape by getting into shallow water, into which 
 the Virginia could not float, the Monitor 
 would have been sunk, as the Virginia was 
 too heavy for her, and tried to run her down. 
 All the lighter craft stood out for the open 
 sea, keeping the fate of the Cumberland and 
 the Congress before their eyes. 
 
 As no vessel on the Federal side would 
 meet and fight her, she was taken back to 
 Portsmouth, but subsequently went again to 
 the Roads, and offered battle to everything 
 in sight, but there was nothing down there 
 willing to meet her. May loth orders were 
 
2l6 HBROES AND spies Oif THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 sent from Richmond to bring the Virginia to 
 that city, but when its execution was attempt- 
 ed it was found when her ballast was taken 
 out it left a wide belt of unprotected sides 
 exposed, so that any ordinary guns could 
 sink her, and that even then there .was not 
 water in the James River sufificient to enable 
 her to go up far enough to be of any use, so 
 she was blown up by Lieutenant Jones on 
 May nth, 1862 (Sunday), and not destroyed 
 by the Monitor, as was claimed by many of 
 the newspapers of New York and other lead- 
 ing cities in order to alleviate the fears of 
 people who had property exposed to possible 
 bombardment. It is told that many of the 
 wealthy men of Northern cities beset Mr. 
 Lincoln by wire and also by committees to 
 protect their property against a possible dash 
 of the Virginia. He replied, "I have no ves- 
 sels, or means at my disposal, with which to 
 furnish you protection," and emphasized the 
 want of means. They were in no mood to be 
 put off, and they begged Mr. Lincoln to give 
 them some assurance that they should not be 
 bombarded. 
 
 He became worried at their scare and im- 
 portunity, and made a characteristic reply, 
 saying, "Gentlemen, if I had command of as 
 much money as you are worth, I would have 
 
SUMMARY — ^THE END. 217 
 
 built a vessel for the protection of my coun- 
 try and property." 
 
 The Monitor was built as a private enter- 
 prise, and only bought by the Government 
 after the necessity for such a craft was shown 
 by the debut of the Virginia. 
 
 No Federal soldier, sailor, or vessel of any 
 size was within five miles of the Virginia 
 when she was blown up by her own com- 
 mander. That history may not be falsified, 
 this fact ought to be insisted upon by the 
 children of a generation that made some of 
 the most gallant fights, on both land and wa- 
 ter, of which the world has ever heard, and 
 whose cause was lost beecause God willed 
 that slavery should be forever abolished and 
 the two peoples fused by the fires of war into 
 one nation. 
 
 An incident growing out of the most stag- 
 gering blow the South ever encountered, 
 that is, the mortal wounding of Stonewall 
 Jackson, must not be passed by in this his- 
 torical record. When Jackson fell the mem- 
 bers of his staff tried to carry him out, as not 
 only were his own men firing upon him, but 
 the enemy was approaching, and, guided by 
 the fire of the Southern men, were sweeping 
 the road with a leaden hail. One of the men 
 who was helping to carry the stretcher upon 
 which the General lay was wounded and 
 
2l8 HEROES AND SPIfiS OF TtiE ClVlI, WAR. 
 
 dropped the stretcher, which caused the Gen- 
 eral to fall heavily; seeing which, the Rev. 
 James P. Smith, chaplain on Jackson's staff, 
 finding that the General would in all likeli- 
 hood be shot again, laid down against, and 
 close beside, the body of the General, so as to 
 protect with his own body that of his fallen 
 chief, and so continued to protect him until 
 he could be removed. 
 
 Captain Marr relates the following in re- 
 lation to General Wade Hampton : 
 
 "One morning while the Seventh was in 
 camp about ten miles south of the Madison 
 River, we learned that the Federals had 
 thrown a force of cavalry over to the south- 
 ern side the day before. We were ordered 
 down to look into the matter. We started 
 before daylight, on a dark, drizzly day. My 
 squadron was in front, and was ordered to 
 go along as quietly as possible, to surprise 
 and capture their outpost if possible without 
 alarming their support, until close enough, 
 and then to charge them suddenly so as to 
 create a panic about the time they would be 
 getting their breakfast. We knew that Gen. 
 Wade Hampton, with part of his command, 
 was encamped west of our regiment about 
 eight miles from us and the same distance 
 from the river, guarding the upper, while we 
 guarded the lower part, of that stream ; but 
 
SUMMARY — THE fiND. itg 
 
 we had no reason to expect any of Hamp- 
 ton's men to be in our front. When we had 
 almost reached the place where we expected 
 to find and pounce upon the Federal' picket, 
 where the road lay through a bushy wood 
 with a low fence and deep ditch on its left 
 side, the four men in front, with their sabres 
 drawn, were surprised to see a fine-looking 
 officer jump his horse over both the fence 
 and ditch and land in the road directly before 
 and only a few feet from them. He was as 
 much surprised as we, and promptly held up 
 his right hand in token of surrender, as he 
 thought we were Federals, as we were all 
 wearing rubber cloth against the rain, and 
 looked like them. We all enjoyed the inci- 
 dent greatly when we found that our captive 
 was none other than Gen. Wade Hampton, 
 who had started with his staff to go to our 
 camp, left them nearly a mile behind him, 
 and had jumped his fine horse over every 
 obstacle in his way, and came out into that 
 road dangerously near the enemy, as only a 
 half a mile further on we captured the Fed- 
 eral pickets, charged their camp, and made a 
 big haul of prisoners and horses." 
 
 General Hampton was a fine soldier, a 
 grand looking man, a splendid cavalry officer. 
 That old State never produced a better man 
 or soldier, and that is saying much. A re- 
 
220 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 markable illustration of the bravery of the 
 men of North Carolina I witnessed at Chan- 
 cellorsville, where I counted one hundred 
 and forty-nine dead North Carolinians within 
 a radius of fifty feet from the center of a little 
 pine opening. This was a battle than which 
 few if any have been more bloody. Trees as 
 large as the body of an ordinary man were 
 cut of? and cut into splinters of every size 
 by minie bullets. No artillery at all was used 
 in that portion of the field. I could not find 
 a rod as large as a man's finger that had not 
 been struck one or more times, and indeed 
 if a rabbit had remained all the time in any 
 one place during that battle it would have 
 been killed. Twelve thousand muskets were 
 gathered from the field as an evidence of the 
 work done there. That any man survived 
 was owing to God's protection and the fact 
 that the men were moving about all the time. 
 When the news first reached Lexington of 
 the surrender of the Army of Northern Vir- 
 ginia, gloom and sadness settled down over 
 all. Even the sun seemed to shine with a 
 sickly glare and the green fields to have lost 
 all their freshness and beauty. Men and wo- 
 men wept bitterly, while all could reahze the 
 anguish and disappointment that filled the 
 great heart of Lee and the little band of his 
 devoted followers, the remnant of the once 
 
SUMMARY — THB BND. 221 
 
 terrible host the sound of whose tread hafl 
 filled the cities of the North with panic, and 
 whose yell had become the signal and pre- 
 cjirser of victory — now melted away to a 
 bare eight thousand ragged, half-starved 
 men, who had surrendered to the greatest 
 and most magnanimous of the Federal gen- 
 erals. The Southern States, cities, towns 
 and counties had each contributed their quo- 
 ta to the insatiable demands of war, until in 
 many of them a man or boy capable of bear- 
 ing arms or of rendering military service was 
 not to be found at home ; while the products 
 of the earth had been either consumed or 
 destroyed so completely that, as was said by 
 General Sheridan, in speaking of the Valley 
 of Virginia, that he had so devastated it that 
 a crow flying over it would have to carry his 
 rations ! The spirit of sacrifice was universal. 
 The author remembers having been impor- 
 tuned by the farmers of the Moorefield Val- 
 ley to burn all their crops that we could not 
 carry off, in order to keep them out of the 
 hands of the Federals. 
 
 In some instances a few men, chiefly in the 
 cities, took refuge from the conscript offi- 
 cers by pleading that they were needed at 
 home, and succeeded in escaping service by 
 alleging that they were druggists or follow- 
 ing some calling which prevented their en- 
 
222 HEROES AND SPIES OP THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 tering the army. In this way the cowardly, 
 skins of some were shielded, some of whom 
 survived to be war men in time of peace, as 
 they had been peace men in time of war. 
 Often these men were among those who had 
 been members of volunteer regiments who 
 had held commissions as military officers, but 
 who, when war came, became convinced of 
 the weakness of their constitutions or cour- 
 age. 
 
 Would that it were within the range of 
 this little work for the author to name there- 
 in families even conspicuous in a marked de- 
 gree for the sacrifices made by them in send- 
 ing their sons freely at their country's call, 
 but this is impossible. 
 
 At the close of the war an efifort was made 
 to collect the scattered boties of all the Con- 
 federates that had been hastily buried near 
 where they fell, and to reinter them in ceme- 
 teries in the writer's native county of Jeffer- 
 son, now a part of West Virginia. Nine men 
 began the work by a determination to dis- 
 inter first the remains of General Turner Ash- 
 by from Charlottesville, Va., and to take them 
 to Charles Town. This they did, and then in 
 solemn funeral procession, with a guard com- 
 posed of men who had followed him in all of 
 his campaigns as an escort to take the re- 
 mains by hearse drawn by six white horses, 
 
SUMMARY THE END. 223 
 
 attended by a mounted cavalcade, to Win- 
 chester, over a road upon vi^hich he had pick- 
 eted and skirmished an hundred times. With 
 solemn pageant he was buried in Winchester, 
 Lieut. Col. Marshall's bones being brought 
 and buried at the same time. That to some 
 of his old soldiers was the last time they 
 would ever wear the garb so well known as 
 Confederate Gray. The actors in this scene, 
 encouraged by their success in the discharge 
 of this pious duty, made one further effort to 
 pay the last possible tribute to their fallen 
 comrades, and succeeded in collecting at 
 Edgehill Cemetery, in Charles Town, the 
 body of every Confederate soldier who fell 
 in that county, and marked their graves so 
 that annually they could be strewn with flow- 
 ers and their heroic deeds be repeated from 
 sire to son. 
 
 So fully and well was this work done that 
 the author has known instances in which 
 friends have come up from the remote sec- 
 tions of the South, and on learning that their 
 loved ones were buried there and found them 
 so well guarded and cared for, that they 
 would not remove them, saying that they 
 could hot rest in the midst of truer friends if 
 buried in the homes of their own childhood. 
 Could there be a grander tribute to our de- 
 votion ? 
 
'■•• 
 
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