Rebels at the Gate: Lee and McClellan on the Front Line of a Nation Divided

by W Hunter Lesser

  “It seems to me that one of the grandest achievements of this age is the fact that a million men at the word of command left the battle front, and returned without a halt to the pursuit of peace, casting aside the animosities of the strife, and burying all bitterness.…To my surprise, I have never received so generous a welcome in my life.”

  Old foes climbed mountains, visited battlefields, and rode through the country discussing the war as freely as if they had been comrades in arms. Among them was Ambrose Bierce, the Indiana volunteer so captivated by that land. He had since become a noted author. In the decade before his 1913 disappearance in Mexico, Bierce returned to the “delectable mountains” of his youth. He wrote in a brief memorial of that trip: “[T]he whole region is wild and grand, and if any one of the men who in his golden youth soldiered through its sleepy valleys and over its gracious mountains will revisit it in the hazy season when it is all aflame with the autumn foliage I promise him sentiments that he will willing entertain and emotions that he will care to feel. Among them will be, I fear, a haunting envy of those of his war comrades whose fall and burial in that enchanted land he once bewailed.”723

  Deep in the wilds of the Alleghenies, a forgotten soldier rests. No flowers, banners, or inscriptions honor his name. Only a sliver of rough fieldstone remains.

  On the soil of Virginia they laid him to rest,

  Where the rude winds of Winter will sweep o'er his breast.

  And his comrades will think as deep sighs their breasts rend,

  Of the soldier, their brother and brave and true friend.

  The night watch will pace past his rude lowly grave,

  And think how he died his dear country to save,

  And his heart will in silence a firm resolve form

  To fight till our Union is freed from the storm.724

  NOTES

  In the following notes, the author's last name, the short title of the work, and the page numbers are cited. Full source information on each work is presented alphabetically in the Bibliography section.

  Prelude. The Delectable Mountains

  1. Lee, “The First Step of the War,” 76; Lang, Loyal West Virginia, 2–3; Hall, The Rending of Virginia, 54, 90.

  2. Many primary sources use the capitalized “Western Virginia” in reference to the territory that became West Virginia in 1863. Modern writers have tended to use “western Virginia,” a term easily confused with the western part of modern-day Virginia. For a discussion of the evolution of “western Virginia,” see Moore, A Banner in the Hills, 1–2. Clayton Newell, in Lee vs. McClellan, xiii, ably demonstrates that the Western Virginia actions of 1861 were part of a single campaign. General George McClellan waged it “to secure Western Virginia to the Union.”

  3. Brooks, The Appalachians, 12, 17–18.

  4. Espenshade, Pennsylvania Place Names, 120; Lesser, “Prehistoric Human Settlement,” 231–260; Rice and Brown, West Virginia, 12–13, 15; Callahan, Semi-Centennial History, 14–15.

  5. Rice and Brown, West Virginia, 16; Wayland, The Fairfax Line, 39, 46; Callahan, Semi-Centennial History, 17.

  6. Callahan, History of West Virginia, Old and New, 54–61.

  7. Rice and Brown, West Virginia, 25–28, 30–31.

  8. Callahan, History of West Virginia, Old and New, 81; Rice and Brown, West Virginia, 38–40; Maxwell, History of Randolph County, 183–84.

  9. Withers, Chronicles of Border Warfare, 209–14, 365; Callahan, History of West Virginia, Old and New, 252.

  10. Callahan, Semi-Centennial History, 48–49, 51, 53–54, 68.

  11. Couper, Claudius Crozet, 34, 66; Callahan, Semi-Centennial History, 91–109; Carnes, Centennial History of the Philippi Covered Bridge, 48–56. Claudius Crozet, born in 1789, served as a French officer of artillery under Napoleon Bonaparte and immigrated to America in 1816. He promptly secured an appointment as professor of engineering at the U.S. Military Academy. Building the West Point program almost from scratch, Crozet left in 1823 to become “principal engineer” of Virginia.

  12. Callahan, Semi-Centennial History, 110–25; Summers, The Baltimore and Ohio, 18–19.

  13. Moore, A Banner in the Hills, 2–4, 13–15; Willey, An Inside View, 7 ; Callahan, History of West Virginia, Old and New, 256.

  14. Hall, Rending of Virginia, 77; Moore, A Banner in the Hills, 2; Callahan, History of West Virginia, Old and New, 247; Siviter, Recollections of War and Peace, 84–87.

  15. Callahan, Semi-Centennial History, 126–28, 129n; Ambler, Francis H. Pierpont, 51.

  16. Callahan, Semi-Centennial History, 130–34; Hall, The Rending of Virginia, 34; Wheeling Gazette, April 6, 1830 in Rice and Brown, West Virginia, 96.

  17. Drewry, The Southampton Insurrection, 26–28; Ambler, Sectionalism in Virginia, 185, 191, 199; Callahan, Semi-Centennial History, 136–38.

  18. Ibid., 138–39; Lewis, History of West Virginia, 307–18.

  Chapter 1. A Very God of War

  19. Cox, Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, vol. 1, 9; McClellan, McClellan's Own Story, 20.

  20. McClellan, Report on the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 6; Hall, The Rending of Virginia, 597; Cox, Military Reminiscences, vol. 1, 7.

  21. Reid, Ohio in the War, vol. 1, 32; Sears, George B. McClellan, 66; McClellan, McClellan's Own Story, 40–41.

  22. Cox, Military Reminiscences, vol. 1, 8–9; Sears, George B. McClellan, 68; McClellan, McClellan's Own Story, 41; Reid, Ohio in the War, vol. 1, 275.

  23. Sears, George B. McClellan, 2–4, 7–8, 12–13.

  24. Ibid., 14–15, 21–22.

  25. Ibid., 18, 23–24.

  26. Ibid., 29, 33, 27, 44, 47–48.

  27. Ibid., 51, 58–59, 63–66; Reid, Ohio in the War, vol. 1, 278.

  28. McClellan, Report on the Organization, 6; U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. ser. 1, vol. 51, pt. 1, 333–34 (Hereafter, this multivolume work will be cited as O. R. Unless specified, all references are to Series I); McClellan, McClellan's Own Story, 42–43.

  29. Cox, Military Reminiscences, vol. 1, 10; Reid, Ohio in the War, vol. 1, 33; Sears, The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan, 10.

  30. McClellan, McClellan's Own Story, 39, 42; O. R. ser. 3, pt. 1, 101; McClellan, Report on the Organization, 6–7; O. R. vol. 51, pt. 1, 370.

  31. Ibid., 371; Cox, Military Reminiscences, vol. 1, 22–23.

  32. O. R. vol. 51, pt. 1, 338–39, 369–70; Sears, Civil War Papers of George McClellan, 75.

  33. McClellan, McClellan's Own Story, 42, 44, 46; O. R. vol. 51, pt. 1, 334, 339–40, 342–43, 373–74, 376, 384; Reid, Ohio in the War, vol. 1, 36.

  34. Sears, Civil War Papers of George McClellan, 19; O. R. vol. 51, pt. 1, 377, 379; McClellan, McClellan's Own Story, 47; Sears, George B. McClellan, 73.

  35. Cox, Military Reminiscences, vol. 1, 19; O. R. vol. 51, pt. 1, 371; Pinkerton, The Spy of the Rebellion, vol. 1., 140–41.

  36. McClellan, Report on the Organization, 11; O. R. vol. 51, pt. 1, 375, 381.

  37. Lang, Loyal West Virginia, 9, 137; Reid, Ohio in the War, vol. 1, 45–46.

  38. McClellan, Report on the Organization, 9; Reader, History of the Fifth West Virginia Cavalry, 28; O. R. vol. 2, 630; G.M. Hagans to G.B. McClellan, May 13, 1861, McClellan Papers, in Summers, The Baltimore and Ohio, 70.

  39. Reid, Ohio in the War, vol. 1, 33, 46–47; Sears, Civil War Papers of George McClellan, 24.

  40. O. R. vol. 51, pt. 1, 377–78.

  Chapter 2. Bury It Deep Within the Hills

  41. Hall, Rending of Virginia, 119; Curry, A House Divided, 28–29.

  42. Willey, An Inside View of the Formation of West Virginia, 38–39; Hall, Rending of Virginia, 124, 520.

  43. Willey, An Inside view, 207–10; Hall, Rending of Virginia, 161, 575–77; Dayton, “Address of Honorable Alston Gordon Dayton,” 50.

  44. Ambler, Francis H. Pierpont, 75; Hall, Rending of Virginia, 126; Wheeling Daily Intellig
encer, February 4, 1861 in Curry, A House Divided, 29–30.

  45. Hall, Rending of Virginia, 151, 183, 522–23.

  46. Ibid., 183; Willey, An Inside View, 42–43.

  47. McGregor, The Disruption of Virginia, 176; Siviter, Recollections of War and Peace, 45–46, 49; Hall, Rending of Virginia, 182–83, 523–24, 528–29.

  48. Lewis, How West Virginia Was Made, 15–18, 30–31n; McGregor, Disruption of Virginia, 182–84.

  49. Lewis, How West Virginia Was Made, 32–34.

  50. Cometti and Summers, ed. The 35th State, 297–98; The Parkersburg Gazette, April 25, 1861 in McGregor, Disruption of Virginia, 186n.

  51. McGregor, Disruption, 192; Lewis, How West Virginia Was Made, 35; Maxwell, History of Barbour County, 245–46.

  52. McGregor, Disruption, 187–88.

  53. Hall, Rending of Virginia, 231–34; Lewis, How West Virginia Was Made, 35–41. McGregor, in Disruption 192–93, notes that more than one-third of the delegates were from the district immediately around Wheeling, greatly deceiving reporters as to the mixed sentiments in Western Virginia.

  54. Lewis, How West Virginia Was Made, 44.

  55. Ibid., 48–49.

  56. Ibid., 50–51.

  57. Willey, An Inside View, 181, 188–93; Hall, Rending of Virginia, 563–64, Ambler, Waitman Thomas Willey, 1, 4–5. In nineteenth century America, the Whig party opposed Democrats by advocating protection of industry and limited government power.

  58. Willey, An Inside View, 64.

  59. Lewis, How West Virginia Was Made, 55, 57–58.

  60. Ambler, Francis H. Pierpont, 3–4, 8–9.

  61. Ibid., 17, 28–29, 34, 36–37, 42, 59–60. Originally spelling his name “Pierpoint,” Frank Pierpont became convinced of an old family error and changed the spelling in 1881.

  62. Lewis, How West Virginia Was Made, 59–60.

  63. Hall, Rending of Virginia, 272–73.

  64. Lewis, How West Virginia Was Made, 62–66.

  65. Ambler, Waitman Thomas Willey, 49.

  66. Lewis, How West Virginia Was Made, 66–71; Hall, Rending of Virginia, 270.

  Chapter 3. A Tower of Strength

  67. Dowdey and Manarin, Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee, 10.

  68. Lee, Jr., Recollections and Letters of General Lee, 27–28.

  69. Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, November 2, 1861; Warner, Generals In Blue, 429–31; Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 110.

  70. Freeman, Lee, vol. 1, 294, 636–37. For Freeman's discussion of the accuracy of this exchange, see 437n.

  71. Ibid., 437.

  72. Lee, Jr., Recollections and Letters, 26–27; Freeman, Lee, vol.1, 372, 421, 440; Nagel, The Lees of Virginia, 5.

  73. Lee, Jr., Recollections and Letters, 24–25.

  74. The Alexandria Gazette, April 20, 1861 in Freeman, Lee, vol. 1, 445.

  75. Ibid., 449–50.

  76. Ibid., 2, 9, 463–64; Nagel, The Lees of Virginia, 161, 166, 182.

  77. Freeman, Lee, vol. 1, 466–67; Lee, Jr., Recollections and Letters, 28; O . R. ser. 1, vol. 2, 775–76.

  78. Freeman, Lee, vol.1, 474, 489; Dowdey and Manarin, Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee, 12; O. R. vol. 51, pt. 2, 37, 77, 88; Taylor, Four Years with General Lee, 11.

  79. Dowdey and Manarin, Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee, 12–13.

  80. Warner, Generals In Gray, 179, 184; Dowdey and Manarin, Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee, 15.

  81. Taylor, Four Years with General Lee, 11–12.

  82. Freeman, Lee, vol. 1, 478.

  83. O. R. vol. 2, 784, 792, 797–98, 827; O. R. vol. 51, pt. 2, 55–56; Taylor, Four Years with General Lee, 11; Dowdey and Manarin, Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee, 50–52; Freeman, Lee, vol. 1, 478–79.

  84. Robertson, Stonewall Jackson, 1, 29, 108; O. R. vol. 2, 810, 814, 833.

  85. O. R. vol. 51, pt. 2, 21, 31–32; Summers, The Baltimore and Ohio in the Civil War , 17–18, 56; Callahan, Semi-Centennial History of West Virginia, 120; O. R. vol. 2, 790–91.

  86. Ibid., 788, 827.

  87. Ibid., 802–03, 830, 837–38, 840, 843, 848, 855–57, 884; Armstrong, 25th Virginia Infantry, 219.

  88. O. R. vol. 2, 874.

  Chapter 4. The Girl I Left Behind Me

  89. Hall, Diary of a Confederate Soldier, 11.

  90. Robson, How a One-Legged Rebel Lives, 9, 14; Toney, Privations of a Private, 13; Watkins, “Company Aytch,” 48.

  91. Cammack, Personal Recollections, 5–7; Toney, Privations, 12–13; Hermann, Memoirs of a Volunteer, 8–10.

  92. Toney, Privations, 12–13.

  93. Wood, The War, 21; O. R. vol. 51, pt. 2, 104; Cammack, Personal Recollections, 14–15; Adams, A Post of Honor: The Pryor Letters, 115; Marion Harding Diary, June 13, 1861 in Thacker, French Harding: Civil War Memoirs, 228.

  94. O. R. vol. 51, pt. 2, 67–68; Wallace, Guide to Virginia Military Organizations, 282–40; Clark, Under the Stars and Bars, 10–11.

  95. Thompson, “Bound For Glory,” 17–18.

  96. O. R. vol. 51, pt. 2, 97, 100; Robson, How a One-Legged Rebel Lives, 8–9; A Member of the Bar, Cheat Mountain, 24; Wood, The War, 20.

  97. Wiley, Johnny Reb, 19; Worsham, One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry, 1–2.

  98. Ibid., 8–9; Robson, How a One-Legged Rebel Lives, 9–10.

  99. W.B. Tabb to N.S. Bloggs, June 14, 1861, PC; O. R. vol. 51, pt. 2, 68, 76.

  100. Hermann, Memoirs of a Veteran, 13; Poe, Personal Reminiscences, 3 ; O . R. vol. 51, pt. 2, 99; Freeman, Lee, vol. 1, 497.

  101. A Member of the Bar, Cheat Mountain, 16–17, 23–24; Watkins, “Company Aytch,” 50; Hull, “Recollections,” The Pocahontas Times, March 5, 1908.

  102. O . R. vol. 51, pt. 2, 112; Wood, The War, 18–20; Worsham, One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry, 9.

  103. Ibid., 2, 4; Watkins, “Company Aytch,” 48; Toney, Privations, 14.

  104. Rice, “The Letters of John Barret Pendleton,” 12.

  105. Worsham, One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry, 9–10.

  106. Clayton Wilson to Joe Wyatt, May 29, 1861, PC; Clark, Under the Stars and Bars, 13; Hannaford, The Story of a Regiment, 43; Toney, Privations, 14; Rice, “The Letters of John Barret Pendleton,” 12.

  107. Worsham, One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry, 9,11.

  108. Wood, The War, 20–21; Ruffner, 44th Virginia Infantry, 7.

  109. Worsham, One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry, 3; Wood, The War, 19.

  110. Cammack, Personal Recollections, 16. Cammack's Confederates became Company C of the Thirty-first Virginia Infantry. The Unionists at Clarksburg joined the Third (U.S.) Virginia Infantry.

  111. Wood, The War, 18.

  112. Worsham, One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry, 10; Watkins, “Company Aytch,” 48.

  113. Rice, “The Letters of John Barret Pendleton,” 19; Toney, Privations, 15.

  114. Wiley, Billy Yank, 20–21; Hannaford, The Story of a Regiment, 31; Skidmore, Civil War Journal of Billy Davis, 2–3, 8–10; Cox, Military Reminiscences, vol. 1, 14.

  115. Stevenson, Indiana's Roll of Honor, 14, 20–21; Kepler, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 15.

  116. Wiley, Billy Yank, 21, 37–38, 40; Skidmore, Civil War Journal of Billy Davis, 2; Kepler, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 13–14; Thomson, Seventh Indiana Infantry, 8; Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 16, 38.

  117. Grebner, We Were The Ninth, xii, 4–5, 6, 53, 199, 257n; Reid, Ohio in the War , vol. 1, 875; Warner, Generals In Blue, 294; Cox, Military Reminiscences, vol. 1, 36.

  118. Skidmore, Civil War Journal of Billy Davis, 4, 6; P.R. Galloway to his wife, May 10, 1861, PC; Hannaford, The Story of a Regiment, 41; Kepler, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 17.

  119. Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 41; Skidmore, Civil War Journal of Billy Davis, 6, 7, 19; Ben May to Brother Will, June 10, 1861, PC; Merrill, The Soldier of Indiana, 15–16.

  120. Grebner, We Were The Ninth, 14, 52.

  121. Thomson, Seventh Indiana Infantry, 13; Hannaford, The Story of a Regiment, 42–43; Ben May to Brother Will, May 8, 1861, PC.

  122.
Cincinnati Gazette, April 23, 1861 in Hannaford, The Story of a Regiment, 34; Thomson, Seventh Indiana Infantry, 12.

  123. Skidmore, The Alford Brothers, 30; P.R. Galloway to wife, May 5, 1861, PC; Skidmore, ed., The Civil War Journal of Billy Davis, 26, 28.