Whatever happened to Joshua O. Johns?

On April 9, 1865, Pvt. Joshua O. Johns rode into the village of Appomattox Court House. He was one of three Confederates on the grounds of the McLean home as Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. Johns held the horses, his, Lee's favorite mount Traveler, and that of Col. Charles Marshall, as the details were worked out. Following the surrender, Johns rode out of the village, and pretty much out of the pages of history. What happened to Johns after the war?

Joshua O. Johns was a member of Company C, 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry. His compiled service record from the National Archives is really short. It states he joined the Battalion on December 21, 1863, at Orange Court House. He was present in September and October 1864 and November and December 1864. On April 9, 1865, Johns was paroled at Appomattox Court House.

It appears that Joshua Johns was born in Mississippi, and then enlisted on July 11, 1861, at Camp Perkins, Virginia, in Company E, 8th Louisiana Infantry. He was present or accounted for (sometimes sick) until January-February 1862, when he was "Detailed as Courier for Genl. Jackson." In August 1863, that detail changed to "Courier for General Ewell." Johns was reported present in September-October 1863. Was he back with the 8th Louisiana Infantry? The next card in his file states that on December 11, 1863, he was  "Transferred... to Capt. Taylor Co. C. Bat of S. G., and C. [Scouts, Guides, and Couriers]". Who is Captain Taylor? Yet another card, this time stating that he was 23 years old when he enlisted, that he was born in Mississippi, and living near Winnsboro, Louisiana, adds that he was "Transferred to Richardsons Batt. of Cavalry Dec 1863." Johns was captured on May 2, 1863, sent to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D. C., and paroled in June 10, 1863. It also appears that when he was captured, he was also wounded - "Flesh R. side of scalp battle minie..." On the hospital card it sates "Rank: Courier, Co. For Stonewall Jackson." Many believe he was with Jackson the night he was wounded.

The grave of Joshua O. Johns in Mississippi? 

Looking at the 1860 US census, there is a Joshua Johns, age 22, living with the R. J. Pricket family in Franklin County, Louisiana.  This Johns was born in Mississippi, is unmarried, an overseer, and quite wealthy: $2,400  in real estate and $13,475 in his personal estate (probably a slave owner, but I've not researched that out yet).

Looking at the 1870 census, there is Joshua O. Johns, Franklin County, Louisiana. He is 26 years old, a farmer with $100 real estate and $369 in his personal estate, and he is now married to Susannah E., who is 27 years old.

In 1880, it appears that Johns has returned to Mississippi. He is (I believe) listed as living in Meadville, Franklin County, age 47, and married to Sousanna Johns. He is listed as J. O. Johns, and as a farmer. There is a black man living with them as a servant. (First name Harry?, last name Beal.) The 1880 census states he was born in Mississippi, his father was born in Alabama, and his mother was born in Mississippi.

Rooting around on ancestry (I don't usually trust ancestry), I find a Joshua Oliver Johns, born 1834 in Wilkinson, Mississippi. His mother was Rebecca Harriet Wilkinson and his father was James Johns. Joshua married Susannah E. McDaniel.

Looking at newspapers, there was a J. O. Johns appointed the first sheriff of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 1891. (Hattiesburg American January 31, 1982.) As an aside, there was a decision rendered by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1883 - J. O. Johns v. John McDaniel. It seems that Johns was leasing property from McDaniels (in Franklin County) since 1867 and was later kicked off that property. (Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of Mississippi, Vol. 60, page 486-7). (It also appears this case first started in 1872)

I lose track of Joshua O. Jones about 1890 - no 1890 census, and I can't not find him in the 1900 census, or beyond. I also do not see a pension application for him. There is a J. O. Johns buried in the Oaklawn Cemetery in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The stone has no dates, and I cannot find a wife nearby.

So did Joshua O. Johns, private, Company C, 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry return to Mississippi after the war, get married, and lease land in Franklin County? Did he marry Susannah McDaniel, and then get into a legal battle with a member of the McDaniel family? Did Johns lose his land and move to Hattiesburg where he became chief of police? Is he buried in Oaklawn Cemetery in Hattiesburg? Got any details you can add?

Who Rode with Lee at Appomattox?

Lee, Marshall, and Johns. 

   I'm not sure of the source of this scene that is floating around in my head. Maybe it is a painting, or some clip from a movie or show (Civil War Journal?). It shows General Lee at Appomattox, with an officer and courier in tow, leaving the McLean house. Lee we all recognize. But who were the others?

   The common story is that Lee was accompied by Col. Charles Marshall, of his staff, and Sgt. George W. Tucker, A. P. Hill's former chief of couriers. That is the way that Charles Marshall wrote the story many years after the war, and it is a story often repeated. Charles Marshall was present, and why shouldn't his account have credence? But maybe the years were catching up to Marshall when he wrote. There is no doubt that Lee was present, as was Marshall, but what about that courier?

   Marshall writes that "early on the morning of April 9, General Lee... directed me to come with him and go down on the Lynchburg road to meet General Grant... An orderly by the name of Tucker, a soldier from Maryland and one of the bravest men that ever fought,--he was with A. P. Hill when he was killed and brought Hill's horse off... accompanied us. The flag of truce was a white handkerchief, and Tucker road ahead of us carrying it." The three rode ahead, passing through the Confederate battle and skirmish lines. They eventually rode to the Federal skirmish line and halted. "As soon as Tucker was halted, General Lee directed me to go forward and seek the Federal commanding officer," Marshall wrote. For the next four paragraphs there is a discussion between Marshall and a couple of different Federal officers. After agreeing to a suspension of hostilities, Lee heard artillery, mounted, and rode  toward the sound of the guns. Arriving at the section of the lines where Fitz Lee was in command, Lee ordered them to cease firing.  Lee then retired to an apple orchard to await word from Grant. An hour later, word arrived that Grant was on his way. Marshall continues: "General Lee... at last called me and told me to get ready to go with him... I mounted my horse and we started off - General Lee, Colonel Babcock, Colonel Babcock's orderly, one of our orderlies, and myself." Notice that this time, Marshall does not use Tucker's name, simply, "one of our orderlies." (268)

   Freeman, in volume four of his biography of Lee, picks up this story. The party heading to see Grant is composed of Col. Walter Taylor, Charles Marshall, George Tucker, and Lee. This is based upon a letter that William H. Palmer wrote to Taylor on June 24, 1911. Palmer was on Hill's staff until the latter's death, and was now serving under Longstreet. (124)  Later that morning, while still waiting for word from Grant, Taylor was sent with a Federal Assistant Adjutant General with a message. When word arrived from Grant, according to Freeman, Lee, Marshall, and Tucker set off. (133, using Marshall as his reference.) Then, according to Freeman, Marshall and an orderly rode off to Appomattox to find a place suitable for a meeting. When the McLean house was selected, Marshall sent the orderly back to inform and guide Lee. (134) Eventually, Grant showed up, and the terms were worked out.

   Then Freeman turned to an account by George A. Forsyth, a Federal general and witness to the proceedings at Appomattox, who published his account in April 1898. Forsyth recalled seeing "a soldierly looking orderly in a tattered gray uniform, holding three horses..." (708) Eventually, Lee emerged from the McLean parlor. According to Forsyth, Lee, not seeing his horse, called out "Orderly! Orderly! "Here, General, here," was the quick response. The alert young soldier was holding the General's horse near the side of the house..." (710)  Forsyth never mentions the name of the "orderly," or courier.

McLean House 

   Was it Sgt. George W. Tucker? Probably not, or, probably not by the time they arrived at the court house. On April 14, 1865, the New York Daily Herald  ran an account of the surrender proceedings. This account was written and published thirty years before the others. According to this account, "General Lee was accompanied only by Colonel Marshall... at present an aid-de-camp on his staff, and Orderly Johns, who has served him in that capacity for fourteen months." There is only one member of the 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry with the last name of Johns: Joshua O. Johns.  While he did not officially join the 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry until December 1863, he was reportedly with Jackson, and wounded by the same volley that mortally wounded the General on May 3, 1863, at Chancellorsville. He also surrendered at Appomattox. Lewis B. Ellis, also a member of the 39th Battalion, wrote another account in 1876. In his article, Ellis is refuting the idea that Lee surrendered under an apple tree. Instead, Lee was in the apple orchard awaiting word from Grant. When word arrived, Lee "called for his horse, and attended by Col. W. H. Taylor and Special Courier Johns, rode away in the direction of Appomattox Court house. He returned in about two hours and told us he had surrendered. I was a courier on duty with him at the time." (The Coffeyville Weekly Journal March 11, 1876)

   My two cents’ worth on who rode with Lee: When the group started off the first time on the morning of April 9, 1865, the party consisted of Lee, Marshall, and Tucker. At some point after returning from the first attempt to meet Grant, Tucker is ordered away. On setting out a second time, Tucker is not present, and Johns carries the white flag through the lines. Marshall mentions Tucker by name in the first attempt, but does not in the second ride to Appomattox. We know that other officers were present, like Colonel Taylor, at various times, and it is likely that other couriers were milling around.

Sources: Maurice,  An Aide-De-Camp of Lee (The writings of Charles Marshall. The Appomattox piece was originally published in 1894)

Freeman, R. E. Lee, Volume 4 (1935)

Forsyth, Harper's Magazine, Volume 96, 1898

New York Daily Herald   April 14, 1865

The Coffeyville Weekly Journal March 11, 1876

Stonewall Jackson's Requiem

Attending church services was one of the activities Confederate soldiers could choose to break the monotony of their day-to-day lives. At the peak of the revivals in the Army of Northern Virginia (and to an extent, the Army of Tennessee), soldiers could attend services almost every evening (and probably twice on Sunday).  There were never enough chaplains or colporteurs to meet the needs of the soldiers. Truly, the harvest was great, and the workers few.

Not long ago, I began wondering what messages were being delivered about the time of Stonewall Jackson's mortal wounding. He was mistakenly shot by his own troops during the night of May 2, 1863. As the army was fighting the battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, there were no church services held in Confederate camps. Many of the chaplains were busy at various field hospitals. The next church service was held on May 10. We, of course, know that Jackson only had hours to live.

J. K. Hitner, a member of the Rockbridge Artillery, wrote a "Brief Compend[ium] of the Religious History of the Rockbridge Artillery." It appeared in Jones's Christ in the Camp: "It was the first quiet Sabbath after the battles [Chancellorsville and Second Fredericksburg]--Sabbath, May 10. The services were conducted by Rev. B. T. Lacy, who preached from the text, "All things work together for good to those that love God," etc.: Rom. viii. The attendance was very large--between 2,500 and 3,000--consisting of privates and officers of all grades, from General Lee down. I never witnessed such thoughtfulness and seriousness depicted on the face of any auditors. The preacher stated this was General Jackson's favorite text--then unfolded the doctrine and the peculiar comfort to be derived from it by those who were truly children of God. At the same time, the condition of General Jackson was very critical, and the men seemed to feel that much depended on his recovery. At the conclusion of the sermon, Mr. Lacy stated that it might be God's will to spare his life in answer to our prayers, and called upon all to join him in an earnest petition to the throne of grace that God would be pleased to spare him to us. I heard many broken utterances and ejaculations during the prayer, and some declared they tried to pray then, while they thought they had never tried to pray in earnest before. Deep and solemn earnestness appeared written on every countenance. At the conclusion, an impressive pause followed; then the preacher said a few words in application of the text--that if would be all for the best, whatever God would determine in reference to the event; and then the crowd quietly dispersed to their camps, ever to retain in their memories this impressive proceeding." (484)

Lexington Presbyterian Church

Jones adds that once the service concluded, Lee and Lacy met privately about Jackson's condition. Lacy had left Jackson's deathbed to lead the service. Lee inquired about Jackson's condition, and being told that Jackson would probably not live through the day, Lee exclaimed, "Oh! sir, he must not die. Surely God will not visit us with such a calamity. If I have ever prayed in my life I have pleaded with the Lord that Jackson might be spared to us." "And then his heart swelled with emotion too deep for utterance, and he turned away to weep like a child." (75-76)

Jedediah Hotchkiss, Jackson's topographical engineer, makes mention of the sermon in his diary, but did not seem to be present. However, he did attend service the following Sunday. Lacy was again present, and "preached the funeral sermon for General Jackson." Lacy's sermon was based on 2 Timothy 4:7-8: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." Hotchkiss goes on to add: "The audience was large, but it looked strange not to see the earnest face of General Jackson there..."(Make me a Map of the Valley, 144, 146)

Francis Kennedy, chaplain of the 28th North Carolina Troops, also preached both on May 10 and May 17. Members of Lane's brigade, to which Kennedy belonged, had been the troops who mistakenly mortally wounded their beloved Stonewall Jackson. The pain they felt was undoubtedly as great as that expressed by Lee. On May 10, Kennedy selected Psalms 103:2 as his text: " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:" The following Sunday, May 17th, he selected Ecclesiastes 8:11: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Unfortunately, Kennedy, a Methodist, does not elaborate upon the passages.

Last Tribute of Respect - Mort Kunstler

Turning toward Jackson's "official" funerals, we can examine the passages used at services where Jackson's remains were present. At a private service inside the Virginia Governor's mansion on May 13, the Rev. Thomas V. Moore, pastor of Richmond's First Presbyterian Church, used Isaiah 2:22: "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Robertson, Stonewall Jackson, 758) Jackson's funeral train was soon on its way to the Shenandoah Valley. That evening, the train stopped in Lynchburg and a service was held in the First Presbyterian Church. Dr. James B. Ramsey officiated, and Miss Massey sang "Come, Ye Desolate." (Robertson, Stonewall Jackson, 759) On Thursday, the party boarded a canal boat and began traveling toward Lexington. On arriving, Jackson's remains were transported to the Virginia Military Institute and placed in his old classroom. On May 15, Jackson was taken to the Presbyterian Church, where Dr. William S. White preached on I Corinthians 15:26: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." (Robertson, Stonewall Jackson, 761) Then, White read a letter that Jackson had written to him on the death of his son, killed fighting at Second Manassas: "The death of your noble son and my much esteemed friend... must have been a severe blow to you, yet we have the sweet assurance that, whilst we mourn his loss to the country, to the church, and to ourselves, all has been gained for him... That inconceivable glory to which we are looking forward is already his..." (Chambers, Stonewall Jackson, 2:457)

There are undoubtedly other passages used by other chaplains in the army. It would also be interesting to see what passages pastors of churches across the South were using on May 17. Did they mention the death of Jackson? Always something more to research....

(All Scripture passages used come from the Authorized Version[sometimes referred to as the King James Version].)

"A Little Touch of Stonewall in the Night"?

   One of the most powerful scenes in the plays of Shakespeare occurs in Henry V, in which Good King Harry ditches his kingly garments, throws on an old cloak, and walks among his soldiers on the eve of battle.  In disguise, he asks them their thoughts on victory and mere survival in the upcoming fight.  

   Did Stonewall Jackson ever do the same? Maybe....

   

Stonewall Jackson - Mort Kunstler 

   First, it is important to understand that generals were not all that accessible to their men. A soldier could just not wander up to Jackson, or Longstreet, or Hill, and sit down for a chat. Staff officers usually tried to shield their commanders from those around them. So, seeing Jackson or one of the others was a treat, something soldiers usually remembered. They also cheered their generals lustily when they did see them. Hence, during Jackson's march around Hooker's flank at Chancellorsville, Jackson's men were told not to cheer, lest the surprise be given away. But did Jackson ever steal into camp unawares?

   Recently, while working in the Library of Virginia, I came across a story. A Confederate soldier was sitting in the rain, at night, with compatriots, gazing longingly up at a house with light streaming through the windows. The soldier said something to the effect of, "I wish I was a general and out of the rain." Out of the darkness came another voice, "Boys, Jackson is right here with you." (Sorry, I did not copy the source.)

   I found another reference, this time from a Union soldier. While not complimentary, and written by a Union soldier, there might be some truth in the article. It appeared in the New York Times September 8, 1862: "Returning to the first field, mentioned above, the visitors were surrounded by a motley group of human beings, gaunt in their appearance, ill armed and clad, who eagerly questioned all who would listen to them about the affairs of the Government. Among the number was the guerrilla chief, Jackson, disguised in the habiliment of a private soldier. This was not the first disguise Jackson has donned to the nonce; for while returning towards Richmond from the pursuit of Gen. Banks, and at a time when he expected to be cut off by Gen. Shields, he disguised himself in citizen's attire, and actually performed the duties of a wagon-master for several days, to avoid being recognized if taken prisoner. This fact I have from one of our officers who was a prisoner, and with him at the time. Nearly all of the rebel officers present wore the uniform of private soldiers, and wore no mark whatever to show their rank."

   This passage has some interesting items to unpack. Many of the Confederate high command left their dress uniforms back in the wagons. A. P. Hill had his famous red battle shirt, R. E. Lee was often spotted wearing a colonel's uniform. Bryan Grimes's coat had no rank on it at all. Flipping through Echoes of Glory: Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy on can see several short depot-style jackets worn by company and field grade officers. It is not so much of a disguise that these officers were wearing, but simple, fabric-saving jackets that preserved their dress uniforms for special occasions, much as modern military fatigues are worn. Furthermore, I do not believe Jackson donned civilian garb and attempted to pass off as a teamster. Jackson was not Grant when it came to horsemanship. Many have written that he always rode looking like he was getting ready to fall out of the saddle at any moment. Some even thought he was under the influence of strong drink because he was such a poor rider.

   There are other accounts (fanticiful?) of Jackson donning other clothes and stealing into the Federal lines. Another story came from a hospital matron near Frederick, Maryland. She reported being visited by a civilian with a "keen eye seeming to take in everything." She checked, and reported he was "Dr. George," a veteran of the Crimean War. However, she believed Dr. George was really Stonewall Jackson "In disguise," who often went into Federal camps "and so acquaints himself with what is going on." (Greene, Whatever you Resolve to Be, xv)

   There are probably other accounts out there of Jackson moving among the troops or even the enemy wearing some sort of disguise. Many probably mistook his simple, shabby dress (at least until he was presented a new uniform by J. E. B. Stuart) as an attempt to blend in. He probably could have cared less.  As his legend took on a life of its own, whatever the true accounts were, they became embellished until perhaps, like Prince Hal, Stonewall, and the truth of his actions, were blurred with fiction.

Does "little history" matter?

Toe River Valley during the War

   This was the topic of my facebook live program this past Sunday evening: does "little history'"matter? Lately, I've been tracing this story from a neighboring county. As the local story goes, during the war, a group of "Indians" crossed over the Tennessee border into the Toe River Valley area of North Carolina. Their mission was to look for and detain deserters. They were camped on the Nolichucky River, or, along the North Toe River.

   So, this group was sent into the Toe River Valley to look for deserters (and there were a fair number of deserters and dissidents hiding out in the area). As the story goes, someone alerted the local home guard that a group of Union soldiers was camped in the area. The home guard took up a position and attacked the camp, killing three and mortally wounding four. One version of the story has dead bodies floating down the Nolichucky River. Another story has the Natives being buried by local people.

   In the existing literature, I see nothing to back up any of this story: nothing in Volume 16 of the North Carolina Troop book series, nothing in Crow's Storm in the Mountains, nothing in period letters or newspaper accounts. It could be that this story is simply folklore, a ghost story. Of course, I often state that in every piece of folklore resides some piece of truth.

Thomas's Legion fighting the 14th Illinois in 1864

   We know that at times, the Cherokee of Thomas's Legion roamed the mountainsides. In January 1863, following the salt raid in the town of Marshall, North Carolina, portions of Thomas's command were sent with other Confederate troops to the Shelton Laurel area to respond to the events in Marshall. At the same time, Thomas himself was ordered to take "200 whites and Indians of his legion, is operating in Madison, and will go into Haywood Jackson, and Cherokee Counties, North Carolina, and Clay County, Georgia, with orders to arrest all deserters and recusant conscripts and all tories who have been engaged in unlawful practices on the Tennessee line of the mountains...."   (OR ser 1, vol. 18, 810-811.) Dan Ellis, the Union guide, reported in May 1863 that Carter County was full of Indians. (Ellis, Thrilling Adventures, 147) Part of Thomas's Legion was back in the Laurel community of Madison County in January 1864, looking for outliers and deserters. (NC Troops, Volume 16, 145-146) These stories alone place the Cherokee right on the border of the Toe River Valley.

   Will I ever be able to prove this story? Maybe... Probably not... But back to my original question: does little history matter? This is not Gettysburg, or Chickamauga. A huge percent of those reading this will have never heard of this story, and many of you will not even be familiar with the Toe River Valley.  For those who might have been killed, and their families back at home, this little piece of the war was just as important in their lives as Gettysburg or Chickamauga, a place many of them never heard of until some story of those great battles filtered back into their communities.

   To answer my own question, yes, "little history" does matter.

Who rode with Venable to find Stuart at Gettysburg?

Veterans left us a great deal of information about the events in which they participated during the war. At times though, they skipped over small details that seem to haunt us as we try to tell their stories. Such is the case of Charles Venable, and the search for Gen. J. E. B. Stuart on July 2, 1863.

Charles Venable 

A brief summary: Stuart is off riding around the Army of the Potomac. Stuart is supposed to link up with Gen. Richard Ewell, but cannot quite find him.  So, Stuart sends Andrew R. Venable to look for Ewell.

In 1907, Venable writes Col. John S. Mosby about the events: "Dear Sir: On the Gettysburg campaign General Stuart's command arrived at Dover, Penn., during the night of June 30th, 1863, where, learning that General Early's command was marching towards Gettysburg, I was directed by General Stuart to take a detachment of thirty mounted men and go in the direction pursued by General Early, to learn the purpose of General Lee. I left Dover before daylight of July 1 with the detachment of thirty men and, after skirmishing all day with a regiment which was pursing us from Dover, we overtook General Early about 4 P.m., just approaching Gettysburg, where upon my arrival I reported to General Lee, and found him on the hill west of Gettysburg. On making my report, he ordered a squadron of cavalry to go in search of General Stuart at once." (Mosby, Stuart's Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign, 184-185)

JEB Stuart

So just which squadron of cavalry rode with Venable to find Stuart? When Stuart sets out on his raid, he takes three brigades of cavalry with him (W. H. F. Lee's brigades, under John Chambliss; Fitzhugh Lee's brigade, and Wade Hampton's brigade). Robert E. Lee is left with four cavalry brigades (John D. Imboden's brigade, Albert G. Jenkins' brigade, Beverly Robertson's brigade, and Grumble Jones' brigade). Lee has 12 regiments, plus McNeill's Rangers, at his disposal. Of course, we know that Lee does not utilize the cavalry he has at hand. That's why Heth's men blindly stumble into the Federals at Gettysburg on June 30/July 1.

Back to my question: just who does Lee send with Venable? Could it be portions of the 39th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry? Maybe. Eric Wittenberg and J. D. Petruzzi, in their book Plenty of Blame to Go Around advance that as a possibility (good read, by the way). However, no one in the 39th Battalion actually says that. Records are sparse. Franklin Walters writes his company was on picket duty behind the lines. Sergeant Martin V. Gander (Company C) recalled that he "placed four guards around the old stone house on the hill, the personal headquarters of Gen. Lee the evening of July 1, 1863." Members of Company A reported that they were detailed to accompany the engineers as they mapped the surrounding roads. How many men are even in a squadron? Four? Two companies?

Was it a part of Mosby's command? Or the Comanches? Maybe in this morass of books and articles on my desk there is an answer...

Peering into the headquarters of the ANV

Lee's bed, table, and camp chest. (Museum of the Confederacy) 

   For several weeks, I was reading deeply into the history of the cavalry branch of the Army of Northern Virginia. I am writing a history of a cavalry battalion attached to that command. However, I have discovered that my focus needed to shift. Lately, I've been reading more on the headquarters staff of the ANV. They were the men who came into daily contact with the 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry.  There are a couple of good books on staff operations: Bartholomees's Buff Facings and Gilt Buttons comes to mind. Most of my reading has been more focused on the letters of staff officers - Walter Taylor, Thomas Goree, and Jedediah Hotchkiss, just to name a few.

   Given the number of men involved in the Army of Northern Virginia, there are surprisingly few accounts of what those headquarters actually looked like. Well, maybe it is not that surprising. The common soldier in the ranks, and his regimental or brigade commander, would seldom see the headquarters complex. They were busy with their daily routines, and Lee's staff went to great lengths to keep Lee from their gaze. We are left with a few descriptions of what the ANV headquarters looked like.

   In late 1862, between the Maryland Campaign and the battle of Fredericksburg, a British observer painted this picture of HQ. It originally appears in Blackwood's monthly, and at the first of 1863, in several British newspapers:

   "Lee's head-quarters (at Winchester) consisted of about seven or eight pole tents, pitched with their backs to a stake fence, upon a piece of ground so rocky that it was unpleasant to ride over it: its only recommendation being a little stream of good water which flowed close by the general's tents. In front of the tents were some three or four wheeled wagons, drawn up without any regularity, and a number of horses roamed loose about the field. The servants, who were of course slaves, and the mounted soldiers called 'couriers,' who always accompany each general of division in the field, were unprovided with tents, and slept in or under the wagons... The staff are crowded together two or three in a tent; none of them are allowed to carry more baggage than a small box each, and his own kit is but very little larger. Each one who approaches him does so with marked respect, although there is none of that bowing and flourishing of forage caps which occurs in the presence of European generals..." (Birmingham Daily Post January 1, 1863)

Shadow of '64 (John Paul Strain) 

Walter Taylor, one of Lee's most trusted staff officers, left this description of headquarters after the battle of Fredericksburg, in his biography of Lee, published in 1906: "The headquarters camp of General Lee was never of such a character as to proclaim its importance. An unpretentious arrangement of five or six army-tens, one or two wagons for transporting equipage and personal effects, with no display of bunting, and no parade of sentinels or guards, only a few orderlies, was all there was of it. General Lee persistently refused to occupy a house, and was content with an ordinary wall-tent, but little, if any, larger than those about it." (Taylor,  General Lee, his campaigns in Virginia, 156)

   Francis Dawson, a member of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's staff, disagreed with Taylor about the lack of bunting being displayed. He wrote after the war that there "was no pomp or circumstance about [Lee's] headquarters, and no sign of rank of the occupant, other than the Confederate flag displayed in front of the tent of Colonel Taylor."

   John Esten Cooke, in his biography of General Lee, wrote that ANV headquarters in the fall and winter of 1863, was "in a wood on the southern slope of the spur called Clarke's Mountain, a few miles east of Orange Court House. . . . Here his tents had been pitched, in a cleared space amid pines and cedars; and the ingenuity of the 'couriers,' as messengers and orderlies were called in the Southern army, had fashioned alleys and walks leading to the various tents, the tent of the commanding general occupying the centre." (Cooke, A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee, 371)

   An unknown newspaper correspondent wrote sometime in the fall of the 1863: "I rode over yesterday to Gen. Lee's headquarters, which consisted of cloth tents pitched in a grove of oaks, surrounding an old meeting house. I found Gen. Lee sitting by a log fire at the mouth of his tent, with one of his aides, enjoying a social conversation over a late Federal newspaper." (The Times-Picayune November 26, 1863 [originally from the Raleigh Progress])

   There are many cases of Lee being offered a house to use. Early in the war, he often refused. Even the famous Lee's Headquarters House at Gettysburg appears only to have been used for meetings. Lee's tent was pitched across the street. However, after Gettysburg, when Lee's health began to decline, he did use a house from time to time.

Lee's HQ in Petersburg 

   At times, there appears to not even be a tent. At Appomattox, as Lee met with Longstreet, Gordon, and Fitzhugh Lee, a soldier recalled that "Lee's headquarters were then [in] a little field close by the edge of a piece of woods; no house was near, nor were the headquarters tents pitched. The army commanders bivouacked in the open air. There was a large fire of long logs burning." (Staunton Spectator November 9, 1887) Another soldier, bearing a dispatch to Lee's Appomattox Headquarters, wrote: "Finally we found two ambulances and two rail fires. Gen. Longstreet was at the first one... At the next fire was Gen. R. E. Lee lying down on an oil cloth and a blanket. I do not know whether he was asleep or not, but at our approach he rose to a sitting posture, and the firelight fell on his face." (The Owensboro Messenger August 15, 1885)

   Are there other accounts of Lee's headquarters out there? Probably. I'm continuing to search...

Confederate Courier Service

Col. Walter Taylor

For the past few days, I've been reading through Lee's Adjutant: The Wartime Letters of Colonel Walter Herron Taylor, 1861-1865 (edited by R. Lockwood Tower). Taylor served on the staff of Robert E. Lee throughout the war. The letters were written (mostly) to his sister and his fiancée. There is much good information in these letters, although from time to time, Taylor writes that he will not bore his loved ones with military matters (I wish he had bored them more!).

Taylor writes on May 22, 1864, to his fiancée Bettie that her letters to him could be dropped off at the Adjutant General's office: "a courier comes up from the Adjt Gnls office & can always deliver my letters safely." (161) My question is this: who were these couriers? Were they members of the 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, or where they assigned to Gen. Samuel Cooper?

This leads to a larger discussion about communication between the authorities in Richmond and the Confederate armies in the field. For now, we will focus on the Army of Northern Virginia. Confederate commands in Georgia, or further west, are a different matter we will look at in the future. Lee's army was close enough to Richmond to be in direct communication.  Lee frequently visited Richmond, conferring with Davis about military matters. At the same time, Lee was connected to Richmond via the telegraph. While this is a somewhat grey area in scholarship, it seems that when in stationary or winter camp, dispatches would arrive via the wire. There are several members of the 39th Batt. VA Cav. that state they did duty in the telegraph office, delivering those messages to the commanding general. Speculation on my part: the telegraph office was probably located at the closest railroad depot. An officer or clerk would be present, transcribe the message, and give it to a courier to deliver to headquarters.

Telegraph lines, however, could be tapped. Mosby's Rangers did it several times during the War. Important documents undoubtedly were sent by courier to Lee's command. Taylor's letter leads me to believe that the courier service was regular. Of course, he is writing in the midst of the Overland Campaign, when regular telegraphic communications might have been interrupted. Probably one of the most famous was the telegraph that Lee sent the War Department in April 1865, telling the president that Richmond and Petersburg had to be abandoned.

Confederate scout

Who were these couriers delivering messages and dispatches between the Adjutant General's office and Lee's Headquarters? At this point, I really don't know. I do know that couriers were a vital part of army operations, relaying orders and intelligence not only on the battlefield, but during downtimes as well. From my research so far, it would appear that delivering messages was the prime occupation of the 39th Batt. VA Cav. Of course, many men from traditional regiments were employed as aides and couriers during the war. Brig. Gen. James H. Lane used two of his brothers in this role. One brother was killed at Chancellorsville and the other at Spotsylvania Court House.

PS: on September 4, 1861, the Oneida Independent Cavalry Company was mustered into service under the command of Capt. Daniel P. Mann. The company was from New York. They served as escorts, did guard duty, and provided couriers for the Army of the Potomac. They were discharged and mustered out of service on June 13, 1865. This would be the Federal equivalent of the 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry.  

Following along with McNeill's Rangers

   As many of you know, I've been reading a great deal about Confederate cavalry in the east in preparation for my own history of the 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry. Recently, I picked up Steve French's Phantoms of the South Fork. French's work covers the partisan war in the lower Shenandoah Valley and in Hardy County, and surrounding counties in West Virginia. McNeill's Rangers were originally under the command of John H. McNeill, until his mortal wounding in November 1864. Command then passed to his son, Jesse McNeill, who held sway until the end of the war.

   McNeill's Rangers was only one of two partisan bands to escape the purge by the Confederate government in February 1864. Mosby's Rangers was the other group that survived. The authorities believed that partisan groups caused more damage than good and rolled many of them into regular regiments, much to their chagrin. In many cases, the partisan war was personal: soldiers were literally fighting in and around their own homes, and at times, were fighting their own neighbors. Their most effective work was to ambush supply trains destined for far-flung Federal outposts, depriving Federal soldiers of supplies. At other times, they waylaid small detachments of cavalry soldiers and, later in the war, trains. Often, the partisan groups would rob civilians as well. The comparisons to some of my own work with the partisan war in the mountains of Western North Carolina and East Tennessee are uncanny, although the Federal and Confederate actions were more organized in the area where McNeill's men were fighting.

   Quite possibly, the most famous episode for McNeill's Rangers was the night in February 1865 when the Rangers stole into Cumberland, Maryland, and captured Maj. Gen. George Cook and Brig. Gen. Benjamin Kelly.

   Overall, the book is a good read, although at times I had trouble keeping up with names. The FPhantoms of the South Fork is a good addition to your library.

ederal forces in the area trying to combat McNeill and other partisan groups changed frequently. It could also use better maps. French's research is impressive. If you are interested in books about fringe Confederate units,

Carrying Jackson's Flag

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post asking about who carried Robert E. Lee's headquarters' flag during the war. The short answer was "whoever was assigned to Lee's courier group for a given day of campaign."

In the discussion that followed, it was suggested that headquarters' flags were not carried on the field, but used to mark the various camps of the army's top brass. In the earlier post, I included a story of Jackson's headquarters flag being used during the Seven Days campaign. Here is the previous story:

 In 1931, J. Churchill Cooke, 4th Virginia Cavalry, left us this reminiscence: "My company, the Hanover Troop, was an old organization in existence many years before the war... The company was composed of men from all parts of the county, many of them from that part of the county where several battles were fought. Before Jackson reached Mechanicsville, all of the men of my company were assigned to different generals as guides, scouts, and couriers. The captain of my company rode up to me with a flag and said: "Sergeant, as you are from the upper part of the county and don't know this part, I can't assign you to any of the generals, but here is Jackson's headquarters flag, which I shall give you to carry.' I took the flag and said I hoped I would not disgrace it. I reported to General Jackson as his flag bearer. He sent me word not to stay very close to him, only keep him in sight, which instructions I tried to comply with. I was with Jackson and in sight of him during the Seven Days." (Confederate Veteran Vol. 38, 248)

Recently, as I was reading Blackford's Letters from Lee's Army, I came across another story. This one dates to the time after the battle of Cedar Mountain, probably at the beginning of the Second Manassas battle. Blackford was serving as a courier and was attached to Jackson's staff. Blackford writes: "While moving on the crest of the hill a solid shot from the enemy's battery passed through the horse of my sergeant Bob Isbell, who was carrying General Jackson's battle flag, the same flag he had waved at Slaughter Mountain. The horse fell over perfectly dead; it was between me and the General, its head lapping on the General's horse and its rump on mine..." (117) 

Jackson is With You by Don Troiani 

To backtrack just a little, at Cedar Mountain, Jackson was trying to rally his broken left. In the midst of the battle, he seized the colors of a nearby regiment (possibly the 21st Virginia), and cried "Jackson is with you!" A couple of thoughts: where were Jackson's flag and flag bearer during the time? Is the flag the one that Bob Isbell is carrying? On the other hand, Jackson probably grabbed the regimental flag, trying to rally that particular regiment.

Given the date, I assume Bob Isbell (Robert B. Isbell, Co. B, 2nd Virginia Cavalry) is carrying a First National Flag. I would surely like to know where that flag is...

Reading about the ANV Cavalry

Since taking on the 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry project, I decided that I needed to immerse myself in the history of the cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia. So for the past seven or eight weeks, all I have read has been tied to that fabled group of cavaliers. My exposure in the past has been limited to Burke Davis's JEB Stuart: The Last Cavalier, which I read when I was young, Fighting for General Lee: Confederate General Rufus Barringer and the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade, Thomas' Wade Hampton's Iron Scouts, and whatever I picked up while reading Freeman's Lee's Lieutenants, Glatthaar's General Lee's Army, or the numerous books on various battles fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Looking through the bibliography of Longacre's Lee's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of Northern Virginia, it is quite clear that there are quite a few accounts written by the cavalrymen themselves. Those accounts are always the most important. I enjoy hearing from the soldiers themselves. Blackford's Letters from Lee's Army is a fantastic account from a member of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry. About half way through the war, Blackford transferred to staff duties under Longstreet, so his accounts on cavalry operations are limited (But an interesting book none the less).

On my too-read list are Myers' The Comanches: A History of White's Battalion, Virginia Cavalry; McDonald's A History of the Laurel Brigade; Keen-Mewborn's 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry; French's Phantoms of the South Fork: Captain McNeill and His Rangers; Trout's with Pen and Saber: The Letters and Diaries of JEB Stuart's Staff Officers; and maybe Werts' Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. As you can see, there is a mixture of old and new titles in this list. I'm sure I'll probably add a title or two before it is all over. 

So, what are some of your favorite books on the mounted arm in the Army of Northern Virginia?

Who carried Robert E. Lee's flag?

 Earlier this week, I asked this question on my facebook page: who carried Robert E. Lee's headquarters flag? The short answer would be, after November 1862, it was a member of Company C, 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry. So far, the name of the soldier(s) eludes me and my efforts to discover it.

This however, leads to a larger question about Confederate generals and their headquarters flags. Did all Confederate generals have one? How many survive? Were they uniform or did the style vary from general to general?

Robert E Lee's first HQ flag 

The surviving headquarters flag of Robert E. Lee is probably the most famous. According to the research of the former Museum of the Confederacy (now the American Civil War Center), this flag was used by Lee from 1862  to 1863. It is unknown when he acquired this flag (believed to have been made by his wife), but we can assume it was after June 1862 when he was tapped to replace the wounded Joseph E. Johnston. He used this flag through the battle of Gettysburg. Sometime in late 1863 or early 1864, Lee replaced this headquarters flag with a Second National. At the end of the war, the Second National was cut up, instead of being surrendered. As an interesting aside, Lee's first headquarters flag was boxed up in the final days of the war and sent to Charlotte with other papers. It was found by a Government official and removed before the other papers and flags were turned over to the Federals.

Looking beyond R. E. Lee, there are the famous silk ANV-pattern flags made by the Cary sisters of Baltimore, Maryland, and presented to generals Joseph E. Johnston, Earl Van Dorn, and PGT Beauregard in the fall of 1861. Other Confederate generals who used traditional ANV battle flags as headquarters flags include Edmund Kirby Smith, Arnold Elzey, Fitzhugh Lee, and Joseph B. Kershaw. James H. Lane makes mention of surrendering his headquarters flag at Appomattox, but just what this flag looked like is unknown. The North Carolina Museum of History has the battle flag-style headquarters flags of Rufus Barringer and Bryan Grimes.

Robert F. Hoke's HQ flag

Several Confederate generals adopted Second Nationals after its adoption in May 1863. Robert E. Lee's Second National has already been mentioned, and several pieces of the flag reside at the American Civil War Museum. The Museum also has the Second National headquarters flags of JEB Stuart, Simon B. Buckner, and Jubal Early. A Second National Confederate flag, possibly the first one ever made, was draped over the casket of Stonewall Jackson following his death on May 10, 1863. The North Carolina Museum of History has Robert F. Hoke's Second National

Daniel H. Maury's HQ flag

There were variants, of course (we are talking about Confederates, right?). Samuel French supposedly used a captured V Corps Headquarters flag for his own headquarters. William L. Jackson used a variant of a Second National.  Lawrence O. Branch used a First National. Dabney H. Maury had a flag with a white border, red field, white Christian cross, and stars.

Lawrence O. Branch's HQ flag. 

Back to my original question: was there someone on staff whose job it was to carry the headquarters' flag? Maybe, but probably not.  In 1931, J. Churchill Cooke, 4th Virginia Cavalry, left us this reminiscence: "My company, the Hanover Troop, was an old organization in existence many years before the war... The company was composed of men from all parts of the county, many of them from that part of the county where several battles were fought. Before Jackson reached Mechanicsville, all of the men of my company were assigned to different generals as guides, scouts, and couriers. The captain of my company rode up to me with a flag and said: "Sergeant, as you are from the upper part of the county and don't know this part, I can't assign you to any of the generals, but here is Jackson's headquarters flag, which I shall give you to carry.' I took the flag and said I hoped I would not disgrace it. I reported to General Jackson as his flag bearer. He sent me word not to stay very close to him, only keep him in sight, which instructions I tried to comply with. I was with Jackson and in sight of him during the Seven Days." (Confederate Veteran Vol. 38, 248)

Company C, 39th Battalion Virginia Cavalry was assigned to Lee as his personal company of scouts, guides, and couriers. However, it appears that portions of the company rotated in and out every day. A detail of men would report for duty. It is my belief that if Lee needed to go someplace with his headquarters flag, a member of the day's detail was assigned to bear it. It would be feasible to say every member of the company might have carried one of those flags during the war.

Captured Federal flags apart of materials surrendered in Charlotte

   A couple of weeks ago, I wrote on the captured CS papers in Charlotte at the end of the war. You can catch that article here. What was captured, and what was lost, is a topic that occupies my mind from time to time. I kind of side with Joe Johnston - more of this should have been preserved for history! Johnston wrote to Maj. Gen. John Schofield on May 8, 1865: "It has just been reported to me that the archives of the War Department of the Confederate States are here. As they will furnish valuable materials for history, I am anxious for their preservation, and doubt not that you are too. For that object I am ready to deliver them to the officer you may direct to receive them." (OR 47, 3:443)

   In that lot of 81 or 83 boxes (different accounts) are "5 boxes, marked captured flags." (OR 47, 3: 534) Of course, we don't know the size of these boxes. There were boxes "of various sizes, from an ammunition box to a large clothing chest... They were also of all shapes. Some of them are rifle boxes, and many of them resemble the ordinary army mess chest." (OR 47, 3:497).

   If a Confederate soldier captured a flag in battle, then it was usually sent further up the chain of command, and eventually forwarded to Richmond and the War Department. An interesting article appeared in the Richmond Enquirer in November 6, 1863 (possibly from the Atlanta Appeal). The article stated that "Lieut. Hugh Farley, of General Kershaw's staff, who, for his gallantry in the battle of Chickamauga, was detached, with four other kindred spirits from various divisions of the army, to carry the twenty-five captured flags to Richmond, has returned. But he gave an account of the mission which ought to put to blush every man connected with the department to which the embassy was sent.- He states that on arriving at the capital, the flags were taken, tumbled into a wagon driven by a negro to headquarters, and there, without ceremony--without even a recognition of the grave men who had borne them from the field-they were turned over to the clerks of the War Department like so many pieces of flannel." The rest of the article goes on to lambast the "well fed" clerks and government officials in Richmond. (November 6, 1863.)

   A delegation accompanying the flags appears to have been the standard operating procedure, at least through 1863. An order from Ewell, issued on June 15, 1863, stated that, "The garrison flag, captured by Maj. General Early's division, will be sent to Richmond by a detail to be made by Maj. Gen. Early." (Richmond Dispatch July 1. 1863). I presume this was a flag captured in Winchester.

    An interesting article from the Desert News (Salt Lake City), but probably cobbled together from another newspaper, stated that the "rebels claimed that they had 239 of our flags." (March 15, 1865.) One little piece came from the Wilmington Herald, May 22, 1865. The article was discussing the captured boxes that had recently passed through Raleigh. In the lots were "four boxes marked captured flags'-two of them 1863. These contain the battle flags captured from regiments in the Union army, and their recovery will undoubtedly be an immense satisfaction to those interested. The battle flags lost by the national forces at Chickamauga and the few lost during the Gettysburg campaign are among the most prominent." (May 22, 1865) There might be a list somewhere of these captured flags.

Flag of 17th Michigan captured by 37th NC 

   One of the flags I believe in the lot turned over to US forces in Charlotte belonged to the 17th Michigan Infantry. It was captured on May 12, 1864, at Spotsylvania Court House by Lt. James M. Grimsley, 37th North Carolina. Billy Mahone tried to claim that this flag was captured by one his men, and not by a member of Lane's brigade. According to sworn statements, Lieut. Grimsley, with twenty or thirty of his regiment, met with a yankee color Sergeant and some half dozen other yankees; that Lieut. G. demanded their surrender to which the Sergeant replied, "certainly Lieutenant, but as I have carried the colors so long, please let me carry them to the rear;' that Lieut. G[rimsley] consented, directing some of his men to take charge of them and keep a sharp lookout upon them. Corporal Plummer in addition, and just here, testified that at that time the yankee Sergeant took off the oil cloth cover which belonged to the flag, and which he had tied around his waist, and also the staff pouch now used in the 37th N. C. T. and gave them to him.... Grimsley with his men conducted the party to the rear with the colors. Just before getting to the edge of the woods, Lieut. Grimsley probably desirous of carrying  his capture himself into the lines, told the Sergeant to hand the flag over to him, which he did." (Our Living and Our Dead January 21, 1874)

   C. S. Venable, Lee's A. D. C., signed a note on May 13, 1864, acknowledging the captured flags had arrived at headquarters.

      The 17th Michigan's flag was presumably sent to Richmond, and when the Confederate capital was abandoned, boxed up and sent via rail to Charlotte, where it was turned over to Federal forces in early May 1865. From there, it was sent to Washington, D. C., with the other boxes from the War Department.

   A couple of weeks ago, I was talking (emailing) with Mat VanAcker about the flag of the 17th Michigan. He works with the Save the Flags program at the Michigan State Capital. I believe that the flag of the 17th Michigan was issued not long after the regiment was mustered into service in 1862. There are battle honors painted on the flag, including Antietam, Vicksburg, and East Tennessee. Mr. VanAcker cannot quite confirm when the flag was turned back over to the state of Michigan, but it was possibly on July 4, 1866, when the veterans of other Michigan regiments presented their flags brought home to the state at a ceremony in Detroit. However, it appears that veterans of the 17th Michigan worked quickly. Usually, it took years and copious amounts of paperwork for veterans to retrieve those flags captured during the war. (Would this not be a treasure trove to find?)  Thanks to the conflict between Mahone and Lane regarding the capture of this flag, we know more about its journey on May 12, 1864. It would be an interesting story to find out more about its capture from the Federal side.

   Those four or five boxes of captured US flags, turned over to Federal forces in May 1865,  make up just one more little part of the war on a much grander scale.

A Refugee Crisis

When we think of refugees during the War years, Vicksburg always comes to mind. Residents in the besieged city were forced out of their homes, living in caves dug into the hillsides about the river town. The often told stories include civilians who lived on rats, dogs, cats, birds and mules, just trying to survive.

Yet the stories of refugees is far greater that just those told about the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River in Vicksburg. The War produced hundreds of thousands of refugees across the South (an estimated 200,000 in Virginia alone). The could be found coming from small towns, like Winston, North Carolina, the first town burned by Federal troops (February 1862). Larger locations, like Atlanta and Columbia, were put to the torch, while other areas were shelled so extensively there civilian populations chose to flee. Charleston and Petersburg come to mind.

There were of course, the more famous Southern refugees, like Mary Chesnut, Varina Davis, and the family of Leonidas Polk. Refugees were not confined to women either: North Carolina governor Zebulon Baird Vance became a refugee at war's end. He fled to Statesville, living not far from the Confederate Senator from Tennessee, Landon Carter Haynes, who became a refugee much earlier.

The war touching places was not confined to these larger districts: it came to the rural areas as well. Arizona Houston recalled that when Kirk's raiders passed through the North Toe River Valley area of present-day Avery County, North Carolina, her mother was forced to relocate to her parents house after losing everything they owned. Col. John B. Palmer's (58th NC) home, and possible another residents, were burned during the same raid. The raiders took everything they had. In neighboring Yancey County, the home of Melchizedek Chandler was robbed and his wife threatened with hanging. When Chandler returned, he abandoned his home and moved closer to the relative safety of Burnsville. One county further west, in the Laurel community of Madison County, came the story of Confederate soldiers forcing some families into one single home, and then torching the others.

Technically, unless the former owners agreed to keep their former slaves on as hired hands at the end of the war, 3.6 million slaves became refugees, with no place to go, no house to live, no jobs, and with very limited (marketable) skills. There were Unionist displaced as well, like the families of Andrew Johnson, Horace Maynard, and William G. Brownlow. They were escorted from the Confederate controlled East Tennessee and sent packing up north.

What got me to thinking along these lines was a recent reading of Letters from Lee's Army, by Susan Leigh Blackford and Charles Minor Blackford. Blackford commanded a cavalry company early in the war, and then served as an assistant judge advocate on Longstreet's staff. While these letters are very edited (much like Mary Chesnut's Diary), they contain some fantastic description of life during the war. On July 11, 1864, Blackford writes from Petersburg:

We are camped just outside of town... The whole country around here is filled with refugees from Petersburg in any kind of shelter, many in tents. Mr. Watkins is about a mile from here in a barn. His party consists of his wife and himself, Mrs. Hall, Miss Cary and all the children. They sleep on the barn floor.... Every yard for miles around here is filled with tents and little shelters made of pine boards, in which whole families are packed; many of these people [are] of some means and all of great respectability. There must be great suffering." (266)

Yael Sternhell argues that the massive amount of refugees the war created remade the South's social landscape. The War "challenged the laws and customs that governed movement in the antebellum years and subverted structures of power that determined which Southerners had the right to move at will and which did not." (Routes of War, 7) I would argue that scarcely any family in the South was not affected by the refugee crisis the war produced. They knew of people displaced by the war, took in people displaced by the war, or became refugees themselves. Those people that Blackford encounter living in tents, barns, and shanties outside of peoples in June 1864 were just a fraction of those dislodged during the 1860s.

Longstreet in western North Carolina

In late fall of 1863, Longstreet moved his command toward Knoxville, attempting to drive Federal forces out of the city and to restore the rail link to Virginia. The high water mark of the campaign was the failed Confederate attempt to take Fort Sanders on November 29, 1863. Following the battle of Beans Station (December 4), Longstreet's men went into winter quarters in and around Rogersville and Morristown.

Longstreet's men complained mightily about their poor provisions that winter. A private in the Fifteenth Alabama recalled that: "The winter of '63-64 at Morristown, Tenn., was peculiarly hard. We had no huts, rations were scant and poor, as were blankets, clothing and shoes. We did not get a mail for three months. Plug tobacco could not be had..."  Some supplies were brought via rail to Bristol, or, when the railroad was in repair, a little further south.

James Longstreet

Longstreet also sent out foraging parties to scour the area for food and forage. While many of their scouts were confined to East Tennessee, it seems that on a few occasions, Longstreet's men ventured into western North Carolina. Wilkes County's Calvin Cowles wrote Governor Vance on April 4, 1864, that Longstreet's men had "come down through McDowell, Burke & Caldwell [Counties] & have nearly consumed all the grain they could pick up... What are poor day laborers to do for bread when every crib in the land is depleted to the lowest possible standard... I see a dark day ahead for the poor sons of toil and in fact for us all unless some unforseen good luck should happen." (UNC-Chapel Hill)  A local Caldwell County historian wrote after the war that the Ninth Georgia Battalion was encamped next to the mill in the Patterson Community of Caldwell County. (Hickerson, Echoes of Happy Valley, 101)

James H. Greenlee, a McDowell County resident, noted the arrival of Longstreet's men in February 1864. He noted on February 23 that seventy or eighty "soldiers from Longstreets army here hunting up cattle[.]" The next day, they were still around, "washing there cloths and mending their shoes." On March 20, Greenlee wrote that there were "48 wagons from the army" getting their feed. (UNC-CHapel Hill) Governor Vance complained in a letter to Secretary of War James Seddon on March 21, 1864, about elements of Jenkins's cavalry in "about twenty counties" impressing food and forage. "I complain," Vance wrote, "that a large body of broken-down cavalry horses are in North Carolina, eating up the substance of the people in a region desolated by drought and reduced to the verge of starvation..." Seddon wrote Vance back on March 26: "I regret to learn from your letter of the 21st--inst. of the necessity for the impressments of corn in Burke County, N.C., to sustain the Artillery horses of Genl. Longstreet's command..." (North Carolina Civil War Documentary, 199-203) Longstreet's command pulled out of east Tennessee toward the end of April, and presumably took his foragers with him.

It would be great to know more about the activities of Longstreet's men in western North Carolina. Did they come down the French Broad River route, and into Asheville, and then scout east? Or, how about the route over Roan Mountain, into the North Toe River Valley, and then into Caldwell, McDowell, and Burke Counties? Maybe if we could find those fifty letters that local citizens wrote to Vance, complaining of the recent Confederate arrivals, we could learn more about the visit of these soldiers in western North Carolina.