by Unknown
The young captain nodded and took off his sabre. “We surrender.”
I nodded, “That was wise captain.” I risked a lie. “The rest of my brigade is already at Hagerstown. You would have all been slaughtered.” I could see that it made him feel better. “Sergeant Jones, collect the weapons. Captain, if you would like to begin to have your men march south.”
As they began to organise themselves I turned to Sergeant Ritchie. “Take two men and head down the road. I wouldn’t want the general to begin firing on these men because of their blue uniform.”
I dismounted and led Copper so that I could talk to the captain. His look told me that he appreciated not having to look up at me. He gave a rueful smile. “Are you the one who escaped the other day? The one who held that girl hostage?”
I nodded, “I am not proud of that but I did not relish the prospect of a prison. I have seen what they look like and it does not appeal.”
“And yet you would send me there.”
“As an officer you may be exchanged.”
“There is no honour in that sir. These boys are from my home town. I will share what they endure.”
“They are noble sentiments and I applaud you for them.”
He looked at my badges. “I do not recognise your regiment sir.”
“We are the 1st Virginia Scouts. I am Captain Jack Hogan.”
He suddenly looked around at the sergeant who shook his head. “You boys are worth money.” I must have looked puzzled. “You know there is a price on your head sir.”
I looked at the grizzled veteran. “No sergeant, I did not.”
“Yup. Some Irish boys have put a bounty on you and a couple of other officers; Murphy and Bosworth.”
I said absent mindedly, “Boswell.”
“Yes sir, that is the fellow; seems you hung his cousin or brother or some such.” He paused, “Did you?”
“Yes, after a court martial. He was one of a couple of spies. They had betrayed us and many fine men were killed.”
“It doesn’t seem to make much difference. They are looking for you.”
The captain nodded. “I would avoid the area around York sir; it is where they are based. I have heard that they are almost savages. My men are all Pennsylvanian men but these Irishmen are from New York and Boston. They are different to the rest of us.”
“I thank you for your concern but as I am Irish myself I think I know what to expect.”
The colonel leading the 13th Virginia was delighted to see us. “We thought we were the first ones to liberate Pennsylvania. It is good to see you boys here. If you escort these prisoners back to Williamsport you will find the rest of your regiment.”
“Sir we have some ammunition and food. We captured a farm. Corporal MacKay, show the colonel where it is.”
He doffed his hat, “Thank you sir. My men will be grateful for that. Rations have been mighty short.”
“You are welcome.” I turned to the corporal and said quietly. “Show the colonel the food first and then load all the Colt and carbine ammunition on the horses. I think our troop earned that.”
He grinned. “Yes sir!”
A little louder I said, for the colonel’s benefit, “Bring the boys and the horses back to Williamsport when you have done that.”
It was only four miles or so and I was looking forward to seeing Dago and the others. We found ourselves swimming against the tide that was General Early’s Corps. Many of the regiments made disparaging remarks about the blue coated soldiers. I began to feel sorry for the captain and his men. I knew that in his position I would not have surrendered. My men and I would have fought on and sought an escape. Perhaps it was the way we hade evolved. The provost marshal at the bridge gratefully took charge of the prisoners.
“Good luck, captain.”
“And to you, Captain Hogan. Now that I know who you are I am grateful that I will just be a prisoner and will not have the mad Irish hunting me.”
After ensuring that we had taken the best of the weapons and the ammunition we handed the rest over to the quartermaster and sought our comrades. We were directed to a large barn on the edge of town. I was pleased to see Danny and Harry were there already. They greeted me warmly. Sergeant James came over to take Copper and I was pleased to see the stripe had been returned.
“How is the wound, Carlton?”
“All healed sir. I am a little slower at the moment but that will change. I’ll look after Copper for you.”
Harry gave me a glass of whiskey. “It seems the garrison here ran away and left their booze. Cheers.”
“Cheers.” I swallowed a healthy mouthful of fiery liquid. “Had much success?”
“Captured some horses and some powder. And you?”
I told them of the train and the capture of the soldiers. “You have done well.” Danny nodded his approval. “As the colonel wasn’t here I gave Sergeant Ritchie his stripe back. I think the colonel will have forgotten that now.“
“Have we any orders yet sir?
“No. I think they are waiting for the colonel to return.”
“The captain I captured told me that there is a price on our heads from those Irish boys who killed our troopers.”
He nodded as though it was not news, “We’ll have to do something about that. The lads are upset and they might not have their minds on the job.”
I shook my head, “We can’t go off hunting them sir. That would be madness.”
“No but if we know where they are then who knows what can happen in a battle?”
Danny was an Irishman through and through. He could forgive and forget but not when there was a feud. “Anyway it is unlikely that we will see them. They are based at York and that is over sixty miles away.”
“You never know, Jack.”
When the colonel arrived with the rest of his troop they had been knocked about a little. “We ran into a regiment of Pennsylvania cavalry and they chased us every which way. We lost some good men.”
We told him of our achievements and he seemed genuinely pleased. “I don’t think we will be here too long. The whole army is heading north. General Lee wants to give the northerners a taste of war. I had better get to headquarters and find out what our next role will be.”
After he had gone, along with Danny, I turned to Dago. “It seems he is a little more like his old self.”
“You know how it is; you forget what war is like. We have never stopped since we joined up. I am not sure that we could stop being soldiers, even if we wanted to.”
“I know what you mean.” It worried me that we took stealing and killing as normal. What would we do when the war ended? If General Lee succeeded and forced a peace on the north then we would go back to being ordinary citizens again. Could I go back to the house in Charleston? I had barely spent a night there. What would I do? Then I remembered Caitlin. I still had that promise to keep. I would find my sister and then work out what to do when peace broke out.
When the colonel returned we found that would not happen too soon. “Well it seems we have to do another job for General Lee. He wants us to find Stuart and give him some orders. We are heading back to Leesburg.”
The depleted regiment left before dawn the next day. It was almost a repeat of the ride to Williamsport. We passed every Corps in the army as they headed north and we wondered if we would even see any Yankees.
Colonel Boswell told us that Stuart and his Corps was heading for Frederick. I had looked at the map and saw that we would have the army and the cavalry converging. It was a good plan. Unfortunately the northerners were not cooperating. When we reached Leesburg there were Union infantry there. They too were marching north. We were grateful that they had no cavalry or it would have made life difficult. We kept away from the roads and used the trails through the woods and fields.
We headed for Manassas Junction. We could then swing back around the Union forces and join up with General Stuart there. Once again we ran into an immovable object; a Union division heading north. We had crossed the P
otomac over one of the islands. We knew the area well; or at least the veterans did. It had been close to here that I had had to cut a man’s throat for the first time. That seemed a lifetime ago now.
We hid in the woods overlooking Middleburg where the Union forces were gathering. Colonel Boswell held an officer’s conference. “I do not think that General Stuart can be north of Middleburg. We will have to cross the pike and continue south to find him.”
Danny looked down at the map held in the colonel’s hand. “How do we get almost two hundred men through the Union lines sir? There must be five thousand men down there.”
No-one had an answer. I was idly turning my black slouch hat in my hands. My kepi was still somewhere in the woods near to Hagerstown. I suddenly smiled. Harry looked at me, “What the hell is the smile for?”
“Let’s just do it like we did when we were the Wildcats.” They looked at me as though I was mad. “If we were still Rangers we would slip through at night. If we were questioned then we would pretend to be Yankees. Why can’t we do that?”
“Because Jackie Boy , there are five thousand men we have to pass.”
“No major, not at night. They would have a few cavalry vedettes out and this far from the front they won’t expect a regiment to be passing through.”
The colonel smiled, “I like the idea but I don’t think that we could slip all the regiment through without someone becoming suspicious.”
He was probably right. I had another inspiration . “The n why don’t we use a sucker punch sir. Make them notice a small group of men . They will chase them and then the larger group could go through.”
Harry nodded, “That would work. They would send the cavalry after those and leave great gaps. It would be possible sir.”
“It sounds like a suicide mission to me, Jack.”
“No sir. Give me ten good men and we can do it.” I pointed at the map. If you and the regiment are to the east of the town I will cause a ruckus to the west. When they ride to find out what is happening then you slip through. We know the roads around here like the back of our hands. We would meet you at Manassas Junction.”
I could see the colonel’s dilemma. He did not want to risk losing us and yet there was no other way without losing the whole regiment. Eventually he nodded. “Pick your men. When will you do it?”
The sun was setting in the west and I said, “Now! It seems as good a time as any.”
I chose Sergeant Ritchie, Sergeant Jones and eight men who had just been with me. I would have taken Irish but I knew that the colonel needed him. There were no goodbyes. If we didn’t see each other again then they would remember me and what I had done. It was the way we were. They would raise their glasses to toast me and share out the belongings I had left. We headed out just a short time before the colonel. He and the rest of the regiment had a shorter journey. As we waited in the undergrowth just half a mile from the town I explained my plan.
“We will ride slowly towards the Main Street. I intend to erupt in the middle of the town. I want them to look everywhere for us. We will head south once we are through.” I paused so that they would all hear my words. “We cannot stop for wounded. Keep going and keep firing once we start. We know the effect that has on the enemy.”
They grinned back at me. They were all ready for the excitement of another madcap run. None of us thought we would die. I had learned that they thought I was so lucky that they, too, might be invincible. I never felt invincible. I just knew that if you pushed it to the limit you had a better chance of surviving.
We waited until the cavalry patrol had moved west and then rode directly towards the town.
“Follow me then and keep your pistols ready.”
I knew just how good they were on a horse; all of us could ride with just our knees if needs be. We rode through the poorer houses which led to Main Street. Once we reached Main Street, I halted us next to a large store and peered down the street. There were only a few people taking the night air. I took a deep breath and led them across the street. The main Union camp was to the south of the town. So far we had been lucky and had remained unseen. Our luck ran out as two soldiers came from a building to our right. I suspect they were going for a call of nature. They could not miss our uniforms; my Union slouch hat would not fool them. One reached in his belt for his gun as the other shouted a warning. My two sergeants shot them both.
“Right boys! Let’s give them hell!” Giving the rebel yell, we launched our horses forwards. My plan had always been to ride through their camp causing as much confusion as possible and that had not changed.
The camp was well laid out and there was a wide avenue between the tents. We rode straight down it in two lines. Soldiers appeared from the tents in a confused state. We kept firing as we rode through their camp. I heard their bugle sound and hoped that the colonel would hear it. That was his chance to cross their lines unopposed. Any firing would be confused with our charge. One of my guns emptied and I drew a second. A soldier, dressed in just his pants rushed from his tent screaming at me. He had his rifle with a bayonet on the end. I fired when the end of the bayonet was less than a hand span from my gun. His face disappeared.
I could hear my men yelling and firing behind me. I knew from experience that we appeared to be more men than we actually were. I saw the end of the line of tents ahead. There was a wooden fence. I yelled, “Fence coming up! Be ready to jump.”
Copper sailed over it and landed in the field on the other side. I slowed my horse down and watched as the others leapt to safety. Only six men followed me. The two sergeants were safe but we had lost s trooper. They had made the sacrifice to save the rest of the regiment. It was our way. This was no time to rest on our laurels. We were not out of the woods yet.
“Keep heading south!”
We galloped across the field. I could hear the bugle calls behind me and recognised the cavalry one. They were sending horsemen after us. I spied a road to the south and we headed for it. Once we made the metalled surface I led us east. I kept scanning ahead of me. I was looking for a good place to ambush our pursuers. I saw, just ahead, some bushes next to the stone wall. I held my hand left and we wheeled behind it.
“Stay on your horses and reload. When they come down the road give them everything we have got.”
I heard the hooves as the cavalry thundered after us. We barely had time to reload. As they galloped before us we opened fire. It was point blank range the first eight riders were thrown from their horses. Some were shot others fell as their horses reared in panic at the sudden fusillade.
“Ride!”
Sergeant Jones led the men as they rode parallel to the pike. One braver horseman leapt the wall and landed close to me. He had his sabre out and slashed at me. I blocked his sword with my pistol and leaned Copper into his horse. The wall was quite close and the horse stumbled. I fired blindly and the ball struck his leg and went into the horse’s side. Horse and rider crashed in a heap. Our pursuers had the better surface and were now gaining on us. We needed to move away from the road. The problem was that turning too far left meant heading towards Middleburg. I saw the hills rising ahead.
“Sergeant Jones, head for the hills.”
Almost as one man we wheeled left towards the distant shadow that was the safety of the mountains. It took our pursuers a few yards to realise what we had done and then they had to waste time clearing the stone wall. We had our lead again but they were on fresher horses. It was a race. We had to reach the safety of the forest and the hills before they caught us.
The shadows and the poor light aided us as we headed away from the northerners. None of us risked turning to fire; we just lay low over our horses’ manes and we trusted to their endurance. The trees seemed to be further away than they had ever been. Copper faltered a little on a piece of uneven ground and I slowed down a little. I did not want to be afoot. I was relieved to see the first of the scrubby trees appear before me. As I turned around one I glanced to my right. Our pursuers were a good
half a mile away. We now had a chance.
Sergeant Jones had an old head on his able shoulders and he took us diagonally across the slope. Although it enabled the enemy to close with us it meant that we conserved our horses whilst tiring out those chasing us. There were now just twenty men pursuing us and we would soon be in a position to turn and fight. If they thought that we were afraid of a fight then they were wrong. We just needed better odds.
Sergeant Jones found a trail which headed to our left. It was perfect. We were now closing with the cavalry even though we were still moving up the slope. Two of the troopers decided to try the slope with their horses. They slowed almost to a walk and Sergeant Ritchie and Trooper White fired at them. They hit one and the other fell off his horse as he tried to take out his gun. The rest followed our tail and we began to lengthen our lead again. I knew that Copper was struggling and I hoped that Sergeant Jones would find somewhere soon.
We were almost at the top and we found a spot where they had been logging. The sergeant didn’t need orders to choose this as our last stand. We threw ourselves from our horses and knelt behind the logs. The column hurtled to their doom as they crashed into our ambush. We only had six guns but they were Colts. The first riders fell without even seeing us and then they too dismounted and lay down behind the trees below us.
“Secure the horses and bring our carbines Trooper White.”
We kept popping away with our pistols although the range was extreme. It would take a brave man to cross that killing ground. When we had our carbines firing then the tide turned in our favour. They were below us and their cover was not as good as ours. We did not kill any more men but I knew we were hitting them from their cries. Their balls thudded into the thick logs behind which we sheltered. Pieces of wood splintered and flew at them. A splinter travelling at speed can give a nasty wound. I saw the first light of dawn peeping over the ridge to the east of us. It would soon be possible to count our enemies.
“How are we for ammunition?”
They all shouted their answers.
“Ten.”
Twelve.”