A Youth's History of the Great Civil War
Van Evrie, Horton & Co., ©1866
Revised edition, ©2006 www.ronie-mooney-encs.us
The views expressed in the following document do not necessarily represent the views of www.ronie-mooney-encs.us. This document, originally published in 1866, has been provided to the public based solely on its potential value as a historical document.
CHAPTER XVIII, CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN VIRGINIA, AND THE BATTLE OF LEESBURG
JUST before the great battle of Manassas, General McClellan had won a brilliant little victory in a battle at Rich Mountain, in Western Virginia, and indeed General MCClellan's whole campaign had been so generally successful that the Northern people looked upon him as altogether the best general on the Northern side. He was called the "Young Napoleon," and there was no end to the praise bestowed upon him, or to the confidence reposed in his generalship. But before he was withdrawn from Western Virginia to take command of the Army of the Potomac, the campaign in the former region was not, for some time, of a very spirited character on either side. After the Confederate General Garnett was so badly defeated by McClellan at Rich Mountain, General Wise, who had a small force in the Kanawha Valley, was obliged to fall back a hundred miles, to Lewisburg, a retreat which he effected rapidly, destroying all the bridges behind him to prevent the pursuit of the enemy.
General Floyd was sent to check the march of Colonel Tyler, who had invaded Western Virginia from Ohio. This Colonel Tyler was familiar with that whole region, having often, in former days, been over it buying furs. The confident abolitionist said he would now "drive a big business in rebel skins." Colonel Tyler himself boasted that he intended to capture Floyd's whole command, and marched rapidly to meet him. An engagement took place near Cross Lanes, at which General Floyd whipped the boasting abolition colonel very badly, capturing all his baggage, including his private wardrobe. The Colonel himself, it is said, was seen flying wildly a good ways ahead of his frightened and retreating command.
But General Floyd's good luck did not last long. His force consisted of less than 2000 men, and he was, a few days after this decisive victory, overtaken by General Rosecrans, with a force of ten regiments of infantry and several batteries of artillery. With this formidable army General Floyd was attacked in his intrenchments. Confident in his superior numbers General Rosecrans at once commenced an assault. But Floyd's men bravely stood their ground from three o'clock in the afternoon until dark. In five tremendous assaults Rosecrans' army had been completely resisted. But when the night fell and put a stop to active fighting, General Floyd withdrew his army across the Gauley River, by means of a hastily built bridge of logs, and made a successful retreat to Big Sewell Mountain, and thence to Meadow Bluff; securing his little army from all danger of being gobbled up by Rosecran's big force. Thus General Rosecrans, besides losing many of his men and several officers, was cheated of a victory of which he felt he was sure.
After the defeat and death of General Garnett at Rich Mountain, General Robert E. Lee was appointed to succeed him. General Lee made preparations as speedily as possible to go to the relief of General Floyd and Gen. Wise, whose small commands were entirely checked by the comparatively large army of General Rosecrans. General Lee's army, in all, numbered about fifteen thousand men. With this force he marched directly to the aid of the Confederate forces in Western Virginia, and also to relieve the people of that region of the outrages inflicted upon them by the presence of the abolition army.
When he reached the points held by Generals Floyd and Wise, he had in his command an army of nearly 20,000 men. He halted in sight of General Rosecrans, and for ten or twelve days offered that general battle. But at last Rosecrans disappeared one night, and retreated over thirty miles to the Gauley River. For some reason General Lee made no pursuit. It was already fall, and the deepening mud and the falling leaves in that mountain region advertised the approach of winter, and also the close of the campaign, for that season, in Western Virginia.
General Lee was withdrawn from this field of operations, and sent to superintend the coast defences of South Carolina and Georgia. There were, during the fall many brilliant skirmishes between detachments of the Federal and Confederate armies, but no great battle. But through all that section, all who did not profess sympathy with the abolition cause, whether men, women or children, were treated with the vilest indignity and outrage wherever they were not protected by the presence of Southern soldiers.
For instance, there was a beautiful little village on the Virginia bank of the Ohio River, called Guyandotte. This place was suspected of having given a welcome to some Confederate cavalry who had been there and left; and when the inhabitants learned that it was the intention of the Lincoln army to destroy the town, they came out, both men and women, waving white flags in token of entire submission; but it was of no avail. The town was murderously assaulted and fired, and not only old men, but women and children might be seen jumping from the windows in wild attempts to escape from the devouring flames. One woman, with a pair of infant twins in her arms, rushed madly out of her burning house into the street, where she was instantly killed by a stray abolition bullet,which penetrated her brain.
While events like these were going on in Western Virginia, McClellan was still busy in recruiting, repairing, and drilling the Army of the Potomac. And Generals Johnston and Beauregard were keeping watch of him from Manassas and its vicinity. In vain, during those long weary months, they tried to provoke another battle. Sometimes they would approach in force almost within cannon shot of Washington. But General McClellan could not as yet be provoked to risk another engagement. The South laughed at him, and the North scolded. But nothing could induce him to allow the Army of the Potomac to move again until he felt prepared for a sure victory.
So the summer and the fall wore away with no startling event to relieve the long and tedious military stagnation of both the Federal and the Confederate Army of the Potomac, except the battle of Leesburg, which occurred near the end of October, 1861. Leesburg was an important position as a key to the rich valley of the Shenandoah. At this place was a force of four regiments of Confederates under Brigadier-General Evans. General Stone had received orders from Washington to cross the Potomac River at Harrison's Island into Virginia. At the same time, Colonel Baker, a member of the United States Congress from Oregon, was despatched to take a command under Stone. Colonel Baker was a violent abolitionist, but he won some distinction in the Mexican war, and was said to be a brave and gallant officer. He was put in command of all the Federal forces on the Virginia side of the Potomac, and ordered by General Stone to dislodge the Confederates from Leesburg.
Colonel Baker's force was four or five times as large as the little Confederate brigade at that place, and the people at Washington waited in confidence to hear that it was entirely gobbled up by Colonel Baker. But alas, it turned out to be another Bull Run affair on a smaller scale. The Confederates fought against such vast odds with a courage that amounted to desperation. Their whole number in the engagement was only 1800, but they fired and yelled and yelled and fired with such rapidity and with such deafening noise as to make it appear to the invaders that their number was ten times greater than it really was.
Colonel Baker's whole army at last gave way, and commenced a stampede down a hill that ended with the river's bank. In vain their gallant leader tried to rally his repulsed and frightened troops. They went pitching, tumbling, rolling down the steep banks. Throwing away their guns and knapsacks, they madly plunged into the river which they had just crossed, flushed with the faith of victory. A large flat-boat loaded with the wounded and dying was swamped, and went to the bottom with its while freight of life. Through all the disastrous fight, Colonel Baker displayed the most daring heroism and courage, and he was shot dead at the head of his troops while vainly trying to rally them to battle. The victory of the Confederates was complete; while the loss of the Federal army was, in killed and wounded, 1,300; 710 taken prisoners, among whom were twenty-two commissioned officers, besides losing 1,500 stand of arms and three pieces of cannon.
This affair at Leesburg produced another bitter disappointment and mortification at Washington, besides the deepest lament for the death of the brave Colonel Baker. So mad was the chagrin that it could only be appeased by some victim, and General Stone was arrested and sent to prison without trial, specification, or charge; and after suffering many weary months of incarceration, he was let out, without even being informed why he was put in. He was ordered, from Washington, to advance across the Potomac into Virginia. That order had proved a great mistake and a great calamity, and it is supposed that poor General Stone was sacrificed in order to fix blame somewhere, so that the public attention would be drawn from the real authors of the mishap at Washington.
An incident occurred at the battle of Leesburg,which serves to illustrate the horrible character of the war, and how great ought to be the punishment of those who brought it upon our country. In the spring of 1861, two brothers in Kentucky who differed in politics parted, one to join the Southern, the other the Northern army. They shook hands, expecting never to meet again. After the battle was over, Howard, who had joined the Southern army, was looking for the bodies of friends who had fallen, when he stumbled over one showing signs of life. "Halloa," said the object, in a husky voice, "Who are you?" "I am a Southerner," said Howard, "you are one of the enemy. The field is ours." "Well, yes, I have some faint recollection of a battle, but all I remember now is much smoke, a great noise, and some one knocking me down with a musket,and then I fell asleep." Howard looked again, and lo! it was his brother Alfred, and he had himself knocked him down in the confusion of the battle.
Return to History of the Great Civil War
RELATED ARTICLES
Battle of Ball's Bluff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Battle of Ball's Bluff, also known as the Battle of Harrison’s Landing or the Battle of Leesburg, took place on October 21, 1861, in Loudoun County, ...
Battle of Leesburg (Ball's Bluff)
This original Civil War Harper's Weekly newspaper features a story and picture of the Battle of Leesburg, known as the Battle of Ball's Bluff.
Major General George McClellan - The Young Napoleon - Union
A biographical sketch of Major General George McClellan and his participation in the American Civil War.
General Rosecrans
Rosecrans was soon appointed Brigadier General in the regular Army and was a ... As Commanding General of the XIV Corps Rosecrans secured a victory at ...
General Stone Arrested
This original Civil War newspaper describes the arrest of General Stone.
Robert Edward Lee Biography
Information about Lee, a respected general officer offered command by both the north and the south.
Confederate General Richard Brooke Garnett
Short Biography of Confederate General Richard Brooke Garnet
