Day 91. May 30, 1862.
91
Now I know he is crazy….
May Friday 30 1862
Quite cool and a very heavy dew this morning. We found our 4 Brigade on the Road all night. Marched some 3 or 4 miles but did not march much until after 12.o.clock. We passed over some very rough roads last night. The 1st 2 & 3 Brigades marched all night on towards Frountroyal. We haulted after the sun was up and had some breakfast. Which we relished very much although it only consisted of coffee hard crackes and meat… We haulted 1 ½ hour after we marched a short distance and we then took up the line of march. We came along near the market manasses gap Rail Road. We passed Linden Station and we came on to Frount royal where we arrived at 6.oclock this evenning. The C.S. Army had left to day some time the where house we have there was a lot of WS Government stores in was set on fire by the C. Army. The house was burnt down. There was 3 or 4 cars burnt and among them was 1360 stand of Harpers Ferry muskets burnt and tents and some 3 or 400 bussheled corn. Our men rather took them by surprise that is Gen Shields Division. The New Hampshire cavalry made a charge on one Regt of the C.A. and our men took some prisners 135 in all 2 cassions that was left in town some sabers. The Capt Ainsworth* Capt of N. Hampshire cavalry was killed and 7 privates. There was some of the Confederates killed but is not knowen how many. Some of our men were wounded. Our men recaptured Col. Kinly mager of the NH cavalry and 1 agdugant and some 13 others.** It rained quite a shower this afternoon about 3.oclock and this evening we camped near the town the Edge of it. I was up town I saw the prisners. I hope I long that we may soon have this war settled in some way or other as it is a grate destruction to the Life and Property on both sides. The baggage train of the 4 Brigade did not get in to camp they were some 5 miles from this place. We have marched 280 miles since the 29 of April last. We have done some very hard marching within the last mounth and we feel the affects of it. The men have very sore feet
*Journal of the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era: A Publication of Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute Volume IV 2021 Jonathan Noyalas Footnote 27 in piece by Cheyenne Nimes titled “May Peace Soon be Restored: The 1862 Diary of Ephraim Burket, 110th Pennsylvania” P. 52
“This is a reference to Captain William Ainsworth, a native of New Hampshire, who served in the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry. Ainsworth was killed in this fight, struck by eight Confederate bullets.
**IBID, P. 52 Rev. Frederick Denison, regimental historian of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry, noted that the unit “captured 117 Confederates and seized twenty Union prisoners taken by Confederates.”
Note: It’s Memorial Day in 2022 today, so I wrote the kind man named Chad Pedersen who belongs to Ephraim’s old church, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (where EB’s buried) to wish him a good day, let him know about this site in case he was interested, & that since I thought maybe he would play TAPS out back in the graveyard today, I thanked him for that too… He was the one who took the pictures of EB’s grave for Journal of the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era, Vol. 4, which I also posted on this site.
If this isn’t the best thing ever, I don’t know what is; within a couple minutes he wrote back:
Just knowing EB had company today, but to add that he brought EB’s diary entries for the occasion, well, that made me cry. I excitedly told Jonathan Noyalas, the editor of the journal that print’s not dead after all…. I looked on Facebook & found the church & some great memes, plus watched the service today where the minister– I think Drew Baker– led the congregation singing America the Beautiful. Chad goes out there every year:
Following two pics are congregants singing the song:
Here’s an outside shot where EB couldn’t wait to get back to, & a picture the church has on FB from another church:
Various other inside shots:
And other things that caught my eye scrolling for whatever reason:
You can watch Chad playing TAPS on the church’s FB page! Chad played, in both the cemetery & later in the church, Day is Done, Gone the Sun. Last, they played When Johnny Comes Marching Home on the piano. This church takes the day seriously. The men so long gone would have appreciated the remembrance. I don’t know who else in the town commemorated the day or what they did to mark the soldiers’ memory. In this cemetery are 784, at least according to Find a Grave, with 13 Burkets, 4 Pattons, 3 Neffs, 6 Stoners, 106 Flecks. It’s a shame I live so far away, & that my parents never took us here once. Back to the war:
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era James M. McPherson P. 458
“Jackson’s foot cavalry raced southward day and night on May 30 while the bluecoats tarried. On May 30 his force was nearly twice as far from Strasburg as the converging forces of Frémont and Shields. Nothing but a few cavalry stood in the way of the Union pincers. But a strange lethargy seemed to paralyze the northern commanders.’
Note: It’s clear that Hotchkiss already knew in the morning that the north was coming, so there should have been no surprise when Shields descended on them:
Make Me a Map of the Valley: The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson’s Topographer Jedediah Hotchkiss P. 49-50
“Friday, May 30th. McDowell, with 30,000 men, reached Markham Friday, May 30th, and was 3 days passing, having Shields’, King’s and Ord’s Divisions, in that order.
In the morning messengers came informing the General of Shields’ approach towards Front Royal, and of McDowell’s approach towards Berryville and of Banks’ reorganizing his force at Williamsport. The ladies of Charlestown came to pay their respects to the General. We went down to the front and the 5th Va. Regt. was advanced and skirmished with the enemy and we had considerable artillery fighting. I was down to the river where the company on picket, the “Liberty Hall Volunteers,” were enjoying themselves bathing. Got chased by a Yankee cavalryman, and as I had no arms I made good use of my horse. We came back to Maj. W. J. Hawks’ to dinner. After we left the front Gen. C. S. Winder’s troops drove the enemy away from and occupied Bolivar’s Heights, but were compelled to leave them by the enemy’s artillery on the Maryland shore Heights. As we were riding back into Charlestown a Lt. of Cavalry rode up to Gen. Thos. J. Jackson and said: “Don’t you see them going?” He asked, “Are they all going?” The General turned to Col. Abner Smead and said: “Colonel, arrest that man as a spy.” The fellow was much alarmed, but Col. Turner Ashby, soon coming up, got him off by saying that he had not much sense. It commenced raining before noon, and rained very hard. I rode back to Winchester on my horse, the General and some others of the staff came in the cars. I got there first and met a messenger from Co. Z. T. Conner* announcing that the enemy under Shields had driven Col. Z. T. Conner and the 12th Ga. Regt. Out of Front Royal, capturing some of them and the stores, etc. Col. Z. T. Conner showed great want of judgment and was surprised, completely. I sent the messenger across the field and stopped the cars and informed the General of what had happened. As I came into town I met the 12th Georgia coming in from their retreat; those that escaped. Shortly after we got to the hotel it was said the General got a dispatch in these words: “Winchester (such an hour) General: Just arrived, enemy in full pursuit, unless immediately succored all is lost. Yours Conner.”; and it was reported that in the evening the General sent for Col. Z. T. Conner and said: “Colonel, how many men did you have killed, Sir?” “None,” he replied. “How many wounded?” “None, Sir,” said he. “Do you call that much of a fight?”; and the General ordered in him arrest. The enemy crossed some forces over the river at Berry’s Ferry and are reported to be in Berryville tonight. Dangers environs our army.”
*Note: On December 27, 1862, Colonel Conner was found in violation of the 52nd Article of War and ordered dismissed. Major Hawkins somehow squirmed out of punishment. And on P. 357 in In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Ayers says that over 200 men, which would have been one-fifth of the VA. 5th, deserted in 1862.
The Shenandoah Campaign of 1862 Edited by Gary Gallagher P. 127-130
Note: They weren’t actually taken by surprise:
“‘….a prisoner brought in the night before claimed that a Union division of 14,000 men under Gen. James Shields was en route to Front Royal from Fredericksburg. The prisoner, who had been captured with a detachment of troops at Rectortown only eighteen miles east of Front Royal, did not know the locations of Shields’s main body.’”
Note: Guarding Front Royal this morning are a mere 400 troops of the 12th Georgia, known as the “crack unit” of the Confederacy. Townspeople were given one hour’s notice to hit the road out. By 11:30 a.m. Shields’ division were seen on the hills around the town. Citizens headed out northwest toward Winchester.
“‘…a Confederate quartermaster who volunteered to remain in Front Royal burned the depot and the adjacent warehouse containing captured stores valued at $300,000.”
The main body of the 12th Georgia made it over a bridge spanning the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. Although the Georgians attempted to set the span on fire, pursuing Federal horsemen stopped and extinguished the blaze. As Conner’s men began crossing a second bridge, over the North Fork of the river, a small squad of Confederate cavalry galloped onto the span and into the ranks of the retreating infantrymen. The stampeded southern horsemen raised the ire of the Georgians. The cavalrymen had retreated “through ignorance or cowardice,” wrote the 12th Sgt. William L. Robinson.
While the Confederates crowded together on the bridge, Union cavalrymen charged onto and across the span, brandishing sabers and firing pistols and carbines. Sergeant Robinson related that the Georgians “had no orders to fire, the Colonel’s horse having run away with him; but when we found the Yankee cavalry in our line, cutting and slashing with their swords, we waited no longer for orders and fired into them.” The volley killed eight Federals, including their commanding officer, and wounded seven more. Despite these losses, the Federal charge succeeded in scattering the Georgians, killing at least one of them and wounding several others.
General Shields reported capturing 6 officers and 150 enlisted men on May 30, as well as releasing 18 Federal Prisoners.
Those members of the 12th Georgia who avoided being captured in Front Royal or in the subsequent retreat trudged into Winchester on the evening of May 30. Colonel Conner had preceded them into town, arriving around 6:30 P.M. and sending a panicked message to Gen. Richard Ewell stating that the enemy was in close pursuit and that “unless you can throw re-enforcements here by morning all will be gone.” Later that evening Conner went to Jackson’s headquarters at Taylor’s Hotel. Jackson had learned of the Front Royal debacle earlier in the afternoon while on a railroad car en route from Charlestown to Winchester.
Upon entering Stonewall’s office, Conner asked, “Gen. I suppose you have heard of my misfortune at Front Royal?”
“Yes,” Jackson replied.
“Well Gen. I did the best fighting I could,” stated Conner, “but we were overpowered.”
“Col Conner how many men did you have killed?” asked Stonewall.
“I had no men killed Gen.”
“Col Conner do you call that fighting?” was Jackson’s response.
Conner then left the room along with Jackson’s chief commissary officer, Maj. Wells J. Hawks. Turning to Hawks, Conner said, “Major I believe Gen Jackson is crazy.”
Stonewall’s assistant adjutant general, Alexander S. Pendleton, then told Conner, “Col. consider yourself under arrest.”
Conner said to Hawks, “Now I know he is crazy.”
That evening and the next day, several members of Jackson’s staff vented their disgust over the Front Royal debacle. Jedidiah Hotchkiss noted in his diary that Conner showed “great want of judgement and was surprised, completely.” Ordnance officer William Allan wrote that Conner and the 12th Georgia were “not worth a d—n & from all accounts behaved badly.” Quartermaster John A. Harman told his brother that the “affair at Front Royal was a disgraceful one on the part of both Conner and Hawkins” and that Jackson had “arrested both of them for cowardice.”
Jackson agreed with his staff officers about the deportment of Conner and Hawkins. In Stonewall’s official report of the Valley campaign, he blamed Conner for “hastily and improvidently” abandoning Front Royal and losing Federal prisoners, numbers of his own men, and considerable commissary and quartermaster stores. Jackson promptly issued a general order calling for a court-martial of Colonel Conner on two charges: neglect of duty and violation of The 52nd Article, leveled against an officer or soldier “who shall misbehave himself before the enemy, run away, or shamefully abandon any fort, post, or guard which he… may be commanded to defend,” prescribed the death penalty for the guilty party or any punishment that the court-martial found fit. Although the exact charges brought against Maj. Willis Hawkins are not known, Capt. G. Campbell Brown of General Ewell’s staff wrote that the major was charged with cowardice “for ordering his men to lay down their arms and surrender to a very inferior force of Yankee cavalry.”
A bizarre article claimed that the Union seizure of Front Royal was due to one Ed Randolph, an insane man who had killed his wife the preceding fall and surreptitiously guided the Federals into the town.”
Note: He’s tweaking, been up 3 strange days, chain smoking Kents, banging his pimp hat head to psychobilly he put on a loop in the boom box sitting atop his horse saddle. The guy’s cornbread ain’t done in the middle. To show Jackson, the deranged malice from another angle, the bad streak in his blood, his God complex, this is just after New Year’s, 1862: Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson S.C. Gwynne P. 182-183
“The misery continued, unabated. January 7 was, for many of the men, the most horrific noncombat experience of the war. In a fierce north wind, with temperatures hovering in the 10-to-20-degree range, the men, wagons, and horses moved across icy roads frozen hard as a rock and covered with six inches of snow. “It was a desperate time,” wrote acting chief quartermaster Michael Harman. “Sleet, snow, horses falling and braking [sic] their legs; wagons stalled and overturned, soldiers shrieking from painful, frozen wounds.” other accounts described the same horrors. “Men were frozen to death,” wrote John Worsham of the 21st Virginia (Gilham’s regiment). “Others were frozen so badly they never recovered, and rheumatism contracted by many was never gotten rid of. Large numbers were barefooted, having burned their shoes while trying to warm their feet at fires.” Sometimes men waited, shivering in the storm, up to ten hours while the army’s 160-wagon supply train labored past. Men, horses, wagons- everything was slipping, falling. “Limbs were broken as well as guns and swords when a dozen soldiers went down at the same time,” wrote Henry Kyd Douglas. “Horses fell and were killed.” To add to the appalling misery, the men also became infested with lice. The final march was brutal, too, as the ice thawed to a muddy slush and the men plodded forward in a sleeting rain. Many of them were encased in icicles. On January 14, Jackson and his soldiers marched into Romney after two harrowing weeks. They discovered that the seven thousand Union troops and artillery who had occupied the town, alerted to Jackson’s advance, had evacuated and fled north.
Jackson showed no sympathy at all for his troops’ suffering…. He seemed to feel only frustration at the failure of his column to move faster.
P. 191
Under Jackson, it began to look more like grim servitude. Many of the men and officers in Loring’s command thought Jackson was literally crazy. He was, in fact, just slightly ahead of the soldiers’ – and the nations’ – perception of what this pitiless war was all about, and just exactly how much raw suffering and death lay in the path of victory.”
Note: Of the 6k men in arms of the Stonewall Brigade, only 210 were left of them by surrender. 210.
Civil War Weather in Virginia Robert K. Krick P. 57
“The violent storm of May 30 killed at least one Federal soldier, a member of the 44th New York: “During the afternoon occurred a terrific thunder storm, during which lightning struck the tent of Quartermaster Sergeant [Henry C.] Howlett and Sergeant Major [John B.] Web[b]er, instantly killing the former, rendering the latter insensible and igniting and exploding a box of cartridges.”
P. 58
“7a.m. 69; 2p.m. 85; 9p.m. 63. Showers in p.m.”
Terrible Swift Sword Bruce Catton P. 311
“On the night of May 30 a violent rainstorm swept down the valley of the Chickahominy. An impressionable Northern newspaper correspondent wrote that “nature’s artillery rolled and clashed magnificently, as if in stately mockery of the puny efforts of martial men,” and spoke of the “tropical grandeur and sublimity” of the scene. A more matter-of-fact courier on General Johnston’s staff called it simply “the worst night I ever saw.” A Massachusetts officer remarked that the storm caused a flood in “the treacherous Chickahominy, of which it was hard to say at the best of times where its banks were, and of which no man could say today where its banks would be tomorrow.” General Johnston concluded that this storm put McClellan at a grave disadvantage—with the banks flooded, the Army of the Potomac might be unable to use its bridges—and he ordered an attack.
McClellan’s position was awkward. He had two-fifths of his army, the corps of Keyes and Heintzelman, south of the river. Keyes held a mile-wide front from the station of Fair Oaks, on the Richmond & York River Railroad, to the crossroads of Seven Pines, southeast of Fair Oaks; Heintzleman had his two divisions several miles to the rear, guarding the flank at White Oak Swamp and the bridge by which the main road from Williamsburg crossed the Chickahominy. All the rest of the army—McClellan himself, and the corps of Porter, Franklin, and Sumner—was north of the river, the whole position was fifteen miles from flank to flank, and on the wet morning of May 31 it was quite likely that some or even all of the bridges would soon be out of service. Keyes and Heintzelman were temporarily isolated, and Johnston could hit them with vastly superior numbers.”
Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War U.S. Congress 1863 P. 615-616 Appendix to the Testimony of General E.D. Keyes.
“HEADQUARTERS FOURTH CORPS,
June 13, 1862.
Through all of the night of the 30th of May there was raging a storm, the like of which I cannot remember. Torrents of rain drenched the earth. The thunderbolts rolled and fell without intermission, and the heavens flashed with a perpetual blaze of lightning. From their beds of mud and the peltings of this storm, the fourth corps rose to fight the battle of the 31st of May, 1862.”
*Heintzelman: Head of the III Corps of the Army of the Potomac in the Peninsula Campaign. Living Hell: The Dark Side of the Civil War Michael C.C. Adams P. 19: “General Samuel Heintzelman spread-eagled an orderly on an artillery wheel simply for not removing his hat. This caused excruciating pain….”
Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology 1809-1865 Volume III: 1861-1865 C. Percy Powell P. 117
“May 30, 1862: Orders military commission to meet in July for trial of editors who have violated restrictions on publishing news. Sends four telegrams to Gen. McDowell: “(10A.M.) I somewhat apprehend that Frémont’s force, in it’s present condition, may not be quite strong enough in case it comes in collision with the enemy. For this additional reason, I wish you to push forward your column as rapidly as possible. Tell me what number your force reaching Front Royal will amount to…. (12:40 [P.M.]) Your despatch of to-day received, and is satisfactory. Frémont has nominally twenty-two thousand, really about seventeen thousand…. I have a despatch from Frémont this morning, not telling me where he is, but he says ‘Scouts and men from Winchester represent Jacksons [sic] force variously at thirty to sixty thousand. With him Gen. Ewell and [Gen. James] Longstreet [CSA]. ‘The high figures erroneous of course. Do you not know where Longstreet is?… (2½ P.M.) Herewith I send a telegram just received from Gen. Frémont…. you will act [sic] your discretion, taking this information into your calculation…. (9½ P.M.) I send you a despatch just received from Gen. Saxton at Harper’s Ferry– It seems the game is before you. Have sent a copy to Gen. Frémont.’”
it is a grate destruction to the Life and Property on both sides….
“Go to Hell, you Dam Yankee!”
160 years later some still can’t stand it. They want to inch them away a decade here, the next decade there, an inch back, a foot, now a mile, let’s make it five, fifteen, fifty the space separating the parties, their back steps growing so long that by 2100 the North never even got close to their Southern capital; a point of pride, and in fact by 2150 it’s clear Richmond never got taken, no, no fires, no fleeing, not one dead or wounded, not here those damn Yankees ever got in, and in 2200 the South clearly won that unpleasantness, how history got it twisted for a minute, those politically correct historians who told the world the North prevailed of all things, yes, inch ’em back a footfall at a time, that’s how you do it.
.
.
FAIR USE NOTICE. Terms of Use. This non-profit, non-commercial, for educational purposes only website contains copyrighted material for the purpose of teaching, learning, research, study, scholarship, criticism, comment, review, and news reporting, which constitutes the Fair Use of any such copyrighted material as provided for under Section §107 of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.