The Story Of A Connoneer Under Stonewall Jackson - free ebook by Edward Alexander Moore

THE STORY OF A CANNONEER UNDER STONEWALL JACKSON

Jackson General "Stonewall" Jackson...

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CAPT. ROBERT E. LEE, JR., and HON. HENRY ST. GEORGE TUCKER

Fully Illustrated by Portraits NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1907 Copyright, 1907, by...

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ROCKBRIDGE ARTILLERY

Introduction by Capt. Robert E. Lee, Jr Introduction by Henry St. George Tucker Appendix...

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PREFACE

More than thirty years ago, at the solicitation of my kinsman, H. C. McDowell, of Kentucky, I undertook to write a sketch of my war experience. McDowell was a major in the Federal Army during the civil war, and with eleven first cousins, including Gen. Irvin McDowell, fought against the same number of first cousins in the Confederate Army. Various interruptions prevented the completion of my work at that time. More recently, after despairing of the hope that some more capable member of my old co

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INTRODUCTION BY CAPT. ROBERT E. LEE, JR.

The title of this book at once rivets attention and invites perusal, and that perusal does not disappoint expectation. The author was a cannoneer in the historic Rockbridge (Va.) Artillery, which made for itself, from Manassas to Appomattox, a reputation second to none in the Confederate service. No more vivid picture has been presented of the private soldier in camp, on the march, or in action. It was written evidently not with any commercial view, but was an undertaking from a conviction that

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INTRODUCTION BY HENRY ST. GEORGE TUCKER

Between 1740 and 1750 nine brothers by the name of Moore emigrated from the north of Ireland to America. Several of them settled in South Carolina, and of these quite a number participated in the Revolutionary War, several being killed in battle. One of the nine brothers, David by name, came to Virginia and settled in the "Borden Grant," now the northern part of Rockbridge County. There, in 1752, his son, afterward known as Gen. Andrew Moore, was born. His mother was a Miss Evans, of Welsh ances

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WASHINGTON COLLEGE—LEXINGTON—VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE

At the age of eighteen I was a member of the Junior Class at Washington College at Lexington, Virginia, during the session of 1860-61, and with the rest of the students was more interested in the foreshadowings of that ominous period than in the teachings of the professors. Among our number there were a few from the States farther south who seemed to have been born secessionists, while a large majority of the students were decidedly in favor of the Union. Our president, the Rev. Dr. George Junki

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ENTERING THE SERVICE—MY FIRST BATTLE—BATTLE OF KERNSTOWN

Jackson's first engagement took place at Hainesville, near Martinsburg, on July 2, one of the Rockbridge Artillery guns firing the first hostile cannon-shot fired in the Valley of Virginia. This gun is now in the possession of the Virginia Military Institute, and my brother David fired the shot. Before we knew that Jackson was out of the Valley, news came of the battle of First Manassas, in which General Bee conferred upon him and his brigade the soubriquet of "Stonewall," and by so doing likene

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THE RETREAT—CEDAR CREEK—GENERAL ASHBY—SKIRMISHES—McGAHEYSVILLE

The next dawn brought a raw, gloomy Sunday. We found the battery a mile or two from the battlefield, where we lay all day, thinking, of course, the enemy would follow up their victory; but this they showed no inclination to do. On Monday we moved a mile or more toward our old camp—Buchanan. On Tuesday, about noon, we reached Cedar Creek, the scene of one of General Early's battles more than two years afterward, 1864. The creek ran through a narrow defile, and, the bridge having been burned, we c

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SWIFT RUN GAP—REORGANIZATION OF THE BATTERY—WADING IN THE MUD—CROSSING AND RECROSSING THE BLUE RIDGE—BATTLE OF McDOWELL—RETURN TO THE VALLEY

We reached the south branch of the Shenandoah about noon, crossed on a bridge, and that night camped in Swift Run Gap. Our detail was separated from the battery and I, therefore, not with my own mess. We occupied a low, flat piece of ground with a creek alongside and about forty yards from the tent in which I stayed. The prisoners were in a barn a quarter of a mile distant. Here we had most wretched weather, real winter again, rain or snow almost all the time. One night about midnight I was awak

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BRIDGEWATER—LURAY VALLEY—FRONT ROYAL—FOLLOWING GENERAL BANKS—NIGHT MARCH—BATTLE OF WINCHESTER—BANKS'S RETREAT

The next day we who were on foot crossed the Shenandoah on a bridge made of wagons standing side by side, with tongues up-stream, and boards extending from one wagon to another. We reached Bridgewater about four P.M. It was a place of which I had never heard, and a beautiful village it proved to be, buried in trees and flowers. From Bridgewater we went to Harrisonburg, and then on our old familiar and beaten path—the Valley pike to New Market. Thence obliquely to the right, crossing the Massanut

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CAPTURING FEDERAL CAVALRY—CHARLESTOWN—EXTRAORDINARY MARCH

After camping for a day or two about three miles below Winchester we marched again toward Harper's Ferry, thirty miles below. Four of the six guns of the battery were sent in advance with the infantry of the brigade; the other two guns, to one of which I belonged, coming on leisurely in the rear. As we approached Charlestown, seated on the limbers and caissons, we saw three or four of our cavalrymen coming at full speed along a road on our left, which joined the road we were on, making an acute

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GENERAL JACKSON NARROWLY ESCAPES BEING CAPTURED AT PORT REPUBLIC—CONTEST BETWEEN CONFEDERATES AND FEDERALS FOR BRIDGE OVER SHENANDOAH

The College company had as cook a very black negro boy named Pete, who through all this marching had carried, on a baggage-wagon, a small game rooster which he told me had whipped every chicken from Harrisonburg to Winchester and back again. At last he met defeat, and Pete consigned him to the pot, saying, "No chicken dat kin be whipped shall go 'long wid Jackson's headquarters." At Harrisonburg we turned to the left again, but this time obliquely, in the direction of Port Republic, twenty miles

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BATTLE OF PORT REPUBLIC

About sundown we crossed on the bridge, and our wagons joining us we went into bivouac. In times of this kind, when every one is tired, each has to depend on himself to prepare his meal. While I was considering how best and soonest I could get my supper cooked, Bob Lee happened to stop at our fire, and said he would show me a first-rate plan. It was to mix flour and water together into a thin batter, then fry the grease out of bacon, take the meat out of the frying pan and pour the batter in, an

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FROM BROWN'S GAP TO STAUNTON—FROM STAUNTON TO RICHMOND—COLD HARBOR—GENERAL LEE VISITS HIS SON IN THE BATTERY

I had exchanged my brother John as a bedfellow for Walter Packard. Walter was a droll fellow, rather given to arguing, and had a way of enraging his adversary while he kept cool, and, when it suited, could put on great dignity. Immediately following our battery, as we worked our way along a by-road through the foothills toward Brown's Gap, was Gen. Dick Taylor at the head of his Louisiana Brigade. Walter had mounted and was riding on a caisson, contrary to orders recently issued by Jackson. Tayl

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GENERAL JACKSON COMPLIMENTS THE BATTERY—MALVERN HILL—MY VISIT TO RICHMOND

On July 1 we passed near the battlefield known as Frazier's Farm, also fought on June 30 by the divisions of Magruder, Longstreet, and others, and arrived early in the day in front of Malvern Hill. For a mile or more our road ran through a dense body of woods extending to the high range of hills occupied by the enemy. At a point where another road crossed the one on which we had traveled, and where stood two old gate-posts, we were ordered to mount the caissons and limbers and trot on toward the

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FROM RICHMOND TO GORDONSVILLE—BATTLE OF CEDAR RUN—DEATH OF GENERAL WINDER—DESERTERS SHOT—CROSS THE RAPPAHANNOCK

At the conclusion of this sojourn in camp, Jackson's command again took the march and toiled along the line of the Central Railroad toward Gordonsville. I, being sick, was given transportation by rail in a freight-car with a mixture of troops. A week was spent in Louisa County, in the celebrated Green Spring neighborhood, where we fared well. My old mess, numbering seventeen when I joined it, had by this time been greatly reduced. My brother John had gotten a discharge from the army, his office

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CAPTURE OF RAILROAD TRAINS AT MANASSAS JUNCTION—BATTLE WITH TAYLOR'S NEW JERSEY BRIGADE—NIGHT MARCH BY LIGHT OF BURNING CARS

Our halts and opportunities for rest had been and continued to be few and of short duration, traveling steadily on throughout the twenty-four hours. It has been many years since, but how vividly some scenes are recalled, others vague and the order of succession forgotten. After passing through Thoroughfare Gap we moved on toward Manassas Junction, arriving within a mile or two of the place shortly after dawn, when we came upon a sleepy Federal cavalryman mounted on a fine young horse. Lieutenant

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CIRCUITOUS NIGHT MARCH—FIRST DAY OF SECOND MANASSAS—ARRIVAL OF LONGSTREET'S CORPS

Here we halted long enough for a hurried breakfast for men and horses. Sleep did not seem to enter into Jackson's calculations, or time was regarded as too precious to be allowed for it. We were on the move again by noon and approaching the scene of the battle of July, 1861. This was on Thursday, August 26, 1862, and a battle was evidently to open at any moment. In the absence of Henry, our gunner, who was sick and off duty, I was appointed to fill his place. And it was one of the few occasions,

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THE SECOND BATTLE OF MANASSAS—INCIDENTS AND SCENES ON THE BATTLEFIELD

These encounters were the preludes to the great battle for which both sides were preparing, almost two days having already been spent in maneuvering and feeling each other's lines. The afternoon, however, passed quietly with no further collisions worthy of mention. The following day, Saturday, was full of excitement. It was the third and last of this protracted battle, and the last for many a brave soldier in both armies. The shifting of troops began early, our battery changing position several

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BATTLE OF CHANTILLY—LEESBURG—CROSSING THE POTOMAC

After such prolonged marching and such a victory as the second Manassas we hoped for a rest so well earned; at any rate, we imagined that there was no enemy near inclined to give battle; but on Monday, September 1, we were again on the march, which continued far into the night, it being near daylight when we went into park. The latter part of the way I rode on a caisson, seated by a companion, and so entirely overcome with sleep as to be unable to keep my eyes open five seconds at a time, noddin

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MARYLAND—MY DAY IN FREDERICK CITY

We were now in Maryland, September 5, 1862. From accounts generally, and more particularly from the opinions expressed by the Maryland members of our battery, we were in eager anticipation of seeing the whole population rise to receive us with open arms, and our depleted ranks swelled by the younger men, impatient for the opportunity to help to achieve Southern independence. The prospect of what was in store for us when we reached Baltimore, as pictured by our boys from that city, filled our min

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RETURN TO VIRGINIA—INVESTMENT AND CAPTURE OF HARPER'S FERRY

At Harper's Ferry there was a considerable force of the enemy, which place was now evidently the object of the expedition, and which we approached soon after noon on the thirteenth. After the usual delays required in getting troops deployed, our battery was posted on an elevated ridge northwest of Bolivar Heights, the stronghold of the Federals, and confronting their bold array of guns directed toward us. We opened fire and were answered, but without apparent effect on either side. This was late

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INTO MARYLAND AGAIN—BATTLE OF SHARPSBURG—WOUNDED—RETURN TO WINCHESTER—HOME

Half a mile below the town we forded the Potomac for the third time, and by the middle of the afternoon were on the outskirts of Sharpsburg, four miles from the river. On the opposite, or east, side of this village are Antietam creek and valley; a mile from the creek and parallel to it was a heavily wooded mountain. It is not my design to attempt a description of the battle which was fought on this ground on the following day, generally conceded to have been the fiercest of the war, but only to

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RETURN TO ARMY—IN WINTER-QUARTERS NEAR PORT ROYAL

On December 13, 1862, the great first battle of Fredericksburg had been fought, in which four men—Montgomery, McAlpin, Fuller and Beard—in my detachment had been killed, and others wounded, while the second piece, standing close by, did not lose a man. This section of the battery was posted in the flat, east of the railroad. As I was not present in this battle I will insert an account recently given me by Dr. Robert Frazer, a member of the detachment, who was severely wounded at the time: "First

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SECOND BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG—CHANCELLORSVILLE—WOUNDING AND DEATH OF STONEWALL JACKSON

The battle at Kelly's Ford was the forerunner of the crossing of Burnside's army to our side of the river, although this was delayed longer than was expected. In the latter part of April we were roused one morning before dawn to go into position on the fatal hill in the bend of the railroad. The various divisions of the army were already in motion from their winter-quarters, and, as they reached the neighborhood, were deployed in line of battle above and below. The high hills sloping toward the

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OPENING OF CAMPAIGN OF 1863—CROSSING TO THE VALLEY—BATTLE AT WINCHESTER WITH MILROY—CROSSING THE POTOMAC

The indications of another campaign were now not wanting, but what shape it would take caused curious speculation; that is, among those whose duty was only to execute. Longstreet had been recalled from the Virginia Peninsula; Hooker's hosts again lined the Stafford Heights across the Rappahannock. At evening we listened to the music of their bands, at night could see the glow of their camp-fires for miles around. On June 2, Ewell's corps first broke camp, followed in a day or two by Longstreet's

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ON THE WAY TO GETTYSBURG—BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG—RETREAT

Before proceeding farther let us consider briefly the condition of the two armies, and which had the better grounds to hope for success in the great conflict now impending. With the exception of one—Sharpsburg—which was a drawn battle, the Confederates had been victorious in every general engagement up to this time. Scant rations, deprivation, and hardships of every kind had made them tired of the war; and the recent abundance had not only put them in better fighting condition than ever before,

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AT "THE BOWER"—RETURN TO ORANGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA—BLUE RUN CHURCH—BRISTOW STATION—RAPPAHANNOCK BRIDGE—SUPPLEMENTING CAMP RATIONS

To return to my retreat from Gettysburg. The clothes that I wore were all that I now possessed. My blanket, extra wearing apparel, lard, apple-butter, sole-leather, etc., with the wounded, were in the hands of the Federals. Being completely cut off from our army, I set out for Winchester. Near Martinsburg I passed the night sleeping on the ground—my first sleep in sixty hours—and reached Winchester the following day. In a day or two, thinking our army had probably reached the Potomac, I turned b

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BATTLE OF MINE RUN—MARCH TO FREDERICK'S HALL—WINTER-QUARTERS—SOCIAL AFFAIRS—AGAIN TO THE FRONT—NARROW ESCAPE FROM CAPTURE BY GENERAL DAHLGREN—FURLOUGHS—CADETS RETURN FROM NEW MARKET—SPOTTSYLVANIA AND THE WILDERNESS—RETURN TO ARMY AT HANOVER JUNCTION—PANIC AT NIGHT

The movement in which we were next engaged included the battle of Mine Run, which has been designated by a military critic as "a campaign of strategy," an account of which is, therefore, not within my province. The Federals on this occasion did most of the marching and, after crossing the Rapidan at several different fords, were confronted not far from our quarters at Mine Run, in Orange County. After breaking camp our first intimation that a battle was expected was the invariable profusion of p

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SECOND COLD HARBOR—WOUNDED—RETURN HOME—REFUGEEING FROM HUNTER

After spending the following day and night in "Camp Panic," we moved forward early on the morning of June 3 to the field of the memorable second Cold Harbor. Minie-balls were rapping against the trees as we drove through a copse of small timber to occupy a temporary redoubt in the line of breastworks beyond. While the guns halted briefly before driving in to unlimber, I walked forward to see what was in front. The moment I came into view a Minie-ball sung by my head and passed through the clothe

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PERSONAL MENTION OF OFFICERS AND MEN—ROCKBRIDGE ARTILLERY—SECOND ROCKBRIDGE ARTILLERY

As has already been mentioned, the captain under whom the battery was mustered into service was the Rev. Wm. N. Pendleton, rector of the Episcopal Church in Lexington, Virginia, who, after the first battle of Manassas, became chief of artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia. His only son, Alexander S. Pendleton, graduated at Washington College at the age of 18. He entered the army from the University of Virginia at the beginning of the war as lieutenant on General Jackson's staff, and rose th

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THE SECOND ROCKBRIDGE ARTILLERY

The second Rockbridge Artillery Company, organized July 10, 1861, like the first Rockbridge Artillery, was commanded by a clergyman, the Rev. John Miller, of Princeton, New Jersey, as captain. In honor of his wife's sister, Miss Lily McDowell, daughter of Governor McDowell, of Virginia, who furnished in large part the outfit of this company, it was named "McDowell Guards." She also paid a bounty to a youth under military age to serve as her personal representative in this company. Miss McDowell

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OAKLAND—RETURN TO CAMP—OFF DUTY AGAIN—THE RACE FROM NEW MARKET TO FORT GILMORE—ATTACK ON FORT HARRISON—WINTER-QUARTERS ON THE LINES—VISITS TO RICHMOND

The desolation and dejection of the people of Lexington hastened my departure, but before returning to the army I spent two weeks most delightfully at "Oakland," the hospitable home of Mrs. Cocke, in Cumberland County, Virginia. This was the last opportunity I had of enjoying the "old plantation life," the like of which can never again be experienced. It was an ideal life, the comforts and advantages of which only those who followed it could appreciate. Two of Mrs. Cocke's sons, who had passed m

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EVACUATION OF RICHMOND—PASSING THROUGH RICHMOND BY NIGHT—THE RETREAT—BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK—BATTLE OF CUMBERLAND CHURCH

While here, in the midst of our gaiety, came the news of the breaking of our lines near Petersburg, and with this a full comprehension of the fact that the days of the Confederacy were numbered. I was in Richmond on Sunday, April 2, and escorted to church a young lady whose looks and apparel were in perfect keeping with the beautiful spring day. The green-checked silk dress she wore looked as fresh and unspotted as if it had just run the blockade. As the church we attended was not the one at whi

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APPOMATTOX

Another night was now at hand, and while it might be supposed that nothing could be added to intensify the suspense there certainly was nothing to allay it. Although there was little left to destroy, we passed heaps of burning papers, abandoned wagons, etc., along the roadsides. As each new scene or condition in our lives gives rise to some new and corresponding feeling or emotion, our environment at this time was such as to evoke sensations of dread and apprehension hitherto unknown. Moving par

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ROCKBRIDGE ARTILLERY

[The names with a star prefixed are the men from Rockbridge County.] The enrollment of the Rockbridge Artillery began April 19, 1861, and by the 21st the company numbered about seventy men, and was organized by the election of the following officers: Captain, John McCausland; and J. Bowyer Brockenbrough, Wm. McLaughlin and Wm. T. Poague, lieutenants. Captain McCausland soon thereafter was made lieutenant-colonel and ordered to the western part of the State. On the 29th of April the company unani

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