Rebels at the Gate: Lee and McClellan on the Front Line of a Nation Divided
Page 1
Copyright (c) 2004 by W. Hunter Lesser
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lesser, W. Hunter.
Rebels at the gate / by W. Hunter Lesser.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Campaigns. 2. Virginia—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Campaigns. 3. West Virginia—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Campaigns. 4. Virginia—History—Civil
War, 1861–1865. 5. West Virginia—History—Civil War, 1861–1865. I. Title.
E470.2.L48 2004
973.7'3'09755—dc22
2003027656
Printed and bound in the United States of America
QW 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Walt and Ellie, who lit the flame,
and to Leann, who patiently nurtured it.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There is great power in the written word. I have always found that evident when reading a tattered Civil War–era diary or letter. The faded sweep of pencil and ink yields haunting voices from the past—voices that ring with great dramatic power. A journey to the ghost-filled grounds of which they speak may almost bring the dead to life.
It has been my privilege to walk with such ghosts in the preparation of this book. Some of their words have never before been published. All quotations and dialogue from letters, diaries, and other sources have only been modified for clarity, without use of the term “[sic]” to denote quirks in spelling and punctuation. I did not wish to stifle the power and meaning of their words.
Many among the living (and a few now sadly deceased) have generously helped along this journey. While all cannot be named, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the following:
Historians Richard L. Armstrong and Joe Geiger Jr. unselfishly opened their extensive files of manuscripts and printed material from the Western Virginia campaign—material gleaned from myriad libraries and archives that saved me countless hours and miles of travel. Their research skills far overshadow my own, and I owe them both an enormous debt of gratitude. Richard's hospitality included a quiet workspace at his place of employment, the Bath County, Virginia, Sheriff's Department: a holding cell.
Another talented and tireless researcher, Gary Ecelbarger, often shared discoveries while combing the archives for his own book projects. His energy and insight never fail to amaze me. Max Arbogast, an avid student of Robert E. Lee's nadir on Cheat Mountain, shared references, field trips, and ideas about what really happened in that rugged wilderness during 1861.
I am especially indebted to Donald L. Rice, for his trailblazing work on the Western Virginia campaign; and to Jessie Beard Powell, matron of Travellers Repose, for her insights on the Yeager family and the war in their midst. Heartfelt thanks as well to members of the Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation, the Laurel Mountain Reenactment Foundation, Monongahela National Forest, and others engaged in preserving and interpreting sites of the first campaign.
Other authors, historians and friends shared research, manuscripts and inspiration—or led me to “hallowed grounds.” They include William Acree, Randy Allan, Jeffrey Barb, Phyllis and Peter Baxter, Mark E. Bell, Richard Beto, Robert Black, Matthew Burton, Lars Byrne, Steve Chandler, Larry Corley, Jon Csicsila, Steve Cunningham, Reuben Currence, Jeffrey B. Davis, Terry Del Bene, Robert Denton, Robert Duncan, Alta Durden, Julia Elbon, Scott Francis, Carroll M. Garnett, Clarence Geier, Dean Harry, Jack and Janet Isner, Mark Jaeger, Katherine Jourdan, Mike Ledden, Terry Lowry, Kim and Stephen McBride, Stuart McGehee, Tim McKinney, Bill McNeel, Harry Mahoney, Mark Mengele, Martin C. Miller, Paul Mullins, Michael Pauley, Johnnie Pearson, Michael Phillips, Franz Pogge, Gerald Ratliff, Gilbert T. Renaut, Joe and Mary Moore Rieffenberger, Ed Riley, Hugh and Ruth Blackwell Rogers, Robert and Anita Schwartz, R. Wayne Scott, Darrell See, Bill Smedlund, Joy Stalnaker, Matthew Switlik, Gail Tacy, Mark and Diane Tennant, Don Teter, Victor Thacker, William E. Thompson, Darley Ware, Robert Whetsell, Beth A. White, Richard Wolfe, and Eddie Woodward.
The following libraries and archives were generous in sharing their treasures for this story. Without exception, I found their staffs to be marvelously helpful: Alexander Mack Memorial Library; Allegheny Regional Family History Society Library; Bath County (VA) Library; Central West Virginia Genealogy and History Library; Duke University Library; Emory University Library; Georgia Department of Archives and History; Huntington Library; Indiana Historical Society; Indiana State Library; Library of Congress; Lilly Library, Indiana University; Mary Baldwin College Archives; Museum of the Confederacy, Eleanor S. Brockenbrough Library; National Archives; Ohio Historical Society; Randolph County (WV) Historical Society; Shepherd College, George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War; Stanford University Libraries, Department of Special Collections; Tennessee State Library and Archives; University of Virginia Library; Upshur County (WV) Historical Society; Virginia Historical Society; Virginia Military Institute Archives; West Virginia State Archives and West Virginia University Libraries. A special thanks to staff of the Elkins-Randolph County Public Library and Davis and Elkins College Library in my hometown—always willing to summon books from the stacks or find them by interlibrary loan.
I am indebted to author John Waugh, and to my literary agent Mike Hamilburg, both of who have kindly guided me through the mysteries of publishing. Gladys Walker, an accomplished writer who happens to be my aunt, also provided wise counsel. My editors at Sourcebooks, Hillel Black and Laura Kuhn, deserve much praise. Hillel skillfully trimmed the manuscript and added clarity, while making me think I'd somehow done it myself. Laura fine-tuned the result with a sharp eye for detail, and, with the production team at Sourcebooks, brought it to fruition.
Edwin C. Bearss, National Park Service Chief Historian Emeritus, graciously read the manuscript and shared his unmatched insight. I thank him for long ago recognizing the importance of this story.
And finally, I offer very special thanks to my family; all were ever supportive and understood the need for solitude. I cannot properly express my love and gratitude for the contributions they made as their husband, son, brother, and in-law journeyed through the past.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prelude: The Delectable Mountains
Part I. Impending Storm
A Very God of War
Bury It Deep Within the Hills
A Tower of Strength
The Girl I Left Behind Me
McClellan Eyes Virginia
Part II. First Clash of Armies
The Philippi Races
Let This Line be Drawn Between Us
A Dreary-Hearted General
The Whole Earth Seemed to Shake
Death on Jordan's Stormy Banks
Victory on the Wires
Part III. Tempest on the Mo
untaintops
A Fortress in the Clouds
Scouts, Spies, and Bushwhackers
Mud, Measles, and Mutiny
Feuding Generals and Dickering Delegates
The Perfect Roll Down
Robert E. Lee's Forlorn Hope
Mixing Oil and Water
Too Tender of Blood
A Touch of Loyal Thunder and Lightning
Part IV. The Rending of Virginia
The Great Question
Night Clothes and a War Club
Cold as the North Pole
All's Fair in Love and War
Lincoln's Odd Trick
Epilogue: Memories and Ghosts
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
SOME CIVIL WAR “FIRSTS”
IN WESTERN VIRGINIA, 1861
First enlisted man in United States service killed by a Confederate soldier: T. Bailey Brown, May 22, 1861.
First regiment mustered on Southern soil for defense of the Union under President Lincoln's call for troops: First (U.S.) Virginia Infantry, May 23, 1861.
First campaign of the Civil War: Federal troops under General George McClellan invade Virginia, May 27, 1861.
First trains used to carry soldiers to battle on American soil, May, 1861.
First land battle of the Civil War: Philippi, June 3, 1861.
First Federal officer wounded by a Confederate: Colonel Benjamin Kelley, June 3, 1861.
First amputation of the Civil War: James E. Hanger, June 3, 1861.
First Union government restored in a Confederate state: Wheeling, June 20, 1861.
First use of the telegraph by an American army in the field: June 1861.
First general killed in the Civil War: Robert S. Garnett, C.S.A., July 13, 1861.
First time Robert E. Lee leads troops into battle as a commanding general: September 1861.
PRELUDE
THE DELECTABLE
MOUNTAINS
“I see that region as a veritable realm of enchantment; the Alleghenies as the Delectable Mountains. I note again their dim, blue billows, ridge after ridge interminable, beyond purple valleys full of sleep, ‘in which it seemed always afternoon.’ Miles and miles away, where the lift of earth meets the stoop of sky, I discern an imperfection in the tint, a faint graying of the blue above the main range—the smoke of an enemy's camp.”
—Ambrose Bierce
At 4:30 A.M. on the morning of April 12, 1861, a single mortar shell arched through the night sky near Charleston, South Carolina, and burst into flames over the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter. It was the opening shot of an unparalleled war. Thousands of Americans would rush to arms in a dreadful clash of brothers. Few imagined the terrible cost of dividing a nation.
This is the story of the beginning of America's Civil War. The first battles of that war, after Fort Sumter's nearly bloodless fall, were fought on Virginia soil. Virginia was the pivotal state. A message from her borders caused the first gun to be fired at Fort Sumter, and it was a Virginian who declined the honor of igniting that first gun.
Virginia, the “Mother of Presidents,” home to the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, would be home to nearly 60 percent of the conflict. Four anguished years would pass before the war ended on her doorstep, at a rural courthouse called Appomattox.1
But Virginia was also divided. Her internal strife—the agrarian, slave-holding east versus an industrial, free-soil west—mirrored the epic struggle between North and South. Against this backdrop, in the year 1861, Union and Confederate troops waged the war's first campaign.
Embattled Virginia thus became a proving ground. Amid her rugged mountains, a Federal army, led by George B. McClellan, grappled with Confederates directed by Robert E. Lee. Here, in a campaign of notable “firsts,” McClellan won the Union's inaugural victories and rocketed to fame. Here armies and leaders were forged, and future battlefields were determined.
Virginia was a key battleground in 1861. Union forces wrested nearly one-third of her landmass from the Confederacy—along with control of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a vital Northern link. The result was all-important. Union victories in the mountains of Virginia diverted war east to the Shenandoah Valley rather than to the upper Ohio Valley and Midwest. The first campaign profoundly shaped America's Civil War. Yet it was overshadowed by the cataclysmic battles to follow and has been nearly forgotten.
While the soldiers clashed, Virginia Unionists waged an extraordinary political fight, creating a loyal state government to oppose the Confederate one in Richmond. From that contest a new state was born—cleaved from Virginia in a defiant act to sustain the Union. West Virginia's name belies her ancient ties. In the following pages, her territory prior to statehood in 1863 is called by its historic name, “Western Virginia.”2
My involvement with this story began as a youth, fired by the discovery of a dirt-encrusted bullet on the crest of Rich Mountain, scene of a battle that propelled General McClellan to the national stage. A decades-long treasure hunt began as musty manuscripts, diaries, letters, and chronicles were uncovered. From the poignant words of soldiers and civilians, the drama unfolded.
Between the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the Ohio River stands a chain of lofty sentinels known as the Allegheny Mountains. Stretching from Pennsylvania to Virginia, they are among the tallest mountains in the east. Capped by erosion-resistant sandstones, the Alleghenies rise to heights of nearly five thousand feet.
These mountains were sculpted by water, and storms regularly sweep their crests. Rains pelting the western slopes drain north or west into the Ohio River. Water on the eastern slopes—perhaps a few feet away—flows north into the Potomac, making the region a birthplace of rivers.
Along the eastern flank, long, linear peaks overlook the Shenandoah Valley. The Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and Tidewater sections lay farther east. To the west is the trans-Allegheny, a region of deeply eroded hills remarkably alike in elevation, part of an unglaciated plateau that stretches to the Ohio River.
The Alleghenies are a land of transition. Many plant and animal species found here reach their northern or southernmost limits of distribution. Climatically, the highest peaks are like northern New England or eastern Canada, their summits crowned by a remnant forest of spruce and fir, cranberry bogs, and varying or “snowshoe” hares (brown in summer, white in the winter).3
The Alleghenies have been a formidable barrier to human settlement. The name itself may derive from the Delaware Indian term Eleuwi-guneu, meaning “endless” mountains. Native Americans first traversed the region more than ten thousand years ago. They were semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers, and the environment that met their eyes was dramatically unlike today: spruce and pine forests, tundra and grasslands—a legacy of receding glaciers. As the climate warmed, native peoples thrived amid rich hardwood forests, building cultures of increasing complexity. But contact with western explorers ultimately brought disease and warfare that decimated the native populations.
The first European to reach the Alleghenies is unknown. Englishmen Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam explored beyond the Virginia Piedmont in 1671, noting trees marked by earlier visitors. Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia glimpsed the Alleghenies during an expedition from Williamsburg to the Shenandoah Valley in 1716. Spotswood was joined by a band of cavaliers, slaves, Indian guides, and mules laden with casks of choice Virginia wine and champagne. His “Knights of the Golden Horseshoe” merrily toasted their discoveries. The adventure enticed others to come west.
Early settlers breached the forbidding mountains by tracing the Potomac River and its tributaries. To encourage them and contest French expansion in the Ohio Valley, the Colony of Virginia offered one thousand acres to land speculators for each family placed west of the Blue Ridge. Those settlers were not to be resident Virginians; many came from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.4
An English no
bleman, Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, influenced westward expansion. His claim, the Northern Neck Proprietary, encompassed all territory between the headsprings of the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers—more than five million acres. A survey by the Crown in 1746 established Lord Fairfax's southwestern boundary. The party labored over mountains and through nearly impenetrable swamps and laurel thickets to mark the Potomac headspring with the famous “Fairfax Stone.”
Thomas Lewis, chronicler of the expedition, reported that “Never was any poor Creaturs in Such a Condition as we were in nor Ever was a Criminal more glad By having made his Escape out of prison as we were to Get Rid of those Accursed Lorals…” But Lewis also wrote of fine grazing land and magnificent forests, “Exceding well timbred with Such as very Large Spruce pines great multituds of Each and Shugartrees Chery trees the most and finest I ever Saw Some three or four foot Diameter.” Reports like this sparked an influx of settlers to the eastern foot of the Alleghenies by the 1750s. Lord Fairfax began to issue leases; a young surveyor named George Washington laid out many of the tracts.5