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John Esten Cooke, Wearing of the Gray: Being Personal Portraits, Scenes, and Adventures of War., Jackson's death-wound. (search)
vantages to the Federal troops that an assault there was impossible, and the result of the consultation was the adoption of Jackson's suggestion to attack the enemy's right. Every preparation was made that night, and on the morning of May second, Jackson set out with Hill's, Rodes's, and Colston's divisions, in all about twenty-two thousand men, to accomplish his undertaking. Chancellorsville was a single brick house of large dimensions, situated on the plank-road from Fredericksburg to Orange, and all around it were the thickets of the country known as the Wilderness. In this tangled undergrowth the Federal works had been thrown up, and such was the denseness of the woods that a column moving a mile or two to the south was not apt to be seen. Jackson calculated upon this, but fortune seemed against him. At the Catherine Furnace, a mile or two from the Federal line, his march was discovered, and a hot attack was made on his rear-guard as he moved past. All seemed now discovered
John Esten Cooke, Wearing of the Gray: Being Personal Portraits, Scenes, and Adventures of War., Corporal Shabrach. (search)
usiness connected with the Quartermaster's Department of our regiment, and I will describe for your instruction the passport office, and the way you get a passport. I thought at first I would not need one, because my orders were approved by several high officers, and last by Major Taylor, Adjutant-General of the army, by command of General Lee, and nobody had demanded any other evidence of my right to travel before I reached Richmond. Uncle Robert will not allow his provost-marshals at Orange or Gordonsville to deny his sign-manual, and I was under the mistaken impression that I could enjoy the luxury of taking back a lot of shoes and blankets to the Quattlebum Rifles, without getting a permit on brown paper from some Major or Captain in Richmond. I accordingly went to the cars, and on presenting my orders to the melancholy young man with the musket and bayonet, posted there, found his musket drop across the door. When I asked him what that meant, he shook his head and said I h
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The Morale of General Lee's army. (search)
hteousness. The man of God is interrupted by the shrill whistle of the iron horse — the train dashes up to the depot, all are soon aboard, and, amid the waving of handkerchiefs, the cheers of the multitude, and the suppressed sobs of anxious mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, those noble men go forth at the bidding of the sovereign power of their loved and honored State. At Gordonsville they are joined by companies from Staunton, Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia; and Orange, Culpepper, and other counties along the route swell their numbers as they hasten to the capture of Harper's Ferry, and the defense of the border. The call of Virginia now echoes through the land, and from seaboard to mountain valley the tramp of her sons is heard. Maryland, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and distant Texas, catch the sound-her sons in every clime heed the call of their mother State; and these rush
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), On the field of Fredericksburg. (search)
but the sequel of it is horrible. The battle, the charging column, is grand, sublime. The field after the action and the reaction is the spectacle which harrows up the soul. Marye's Hill was the focus of the strife. It rises in the rear of Fredericksburg, a stone's throw beyond the canal, which runs along the western border of the city. The ascent is not very abrupt. A brick house stands on the hillside, whence you may overlook Fredericksburg, and all the circumjacent country. The Orange plank road ascends the hill on the right-hand side of the house, the telegraph road on the left. A sharp rise of ground, at the foot of the heights, afforded a cover for the formation of troops. Above Marye's Hill is an elevated plateau, which commands it. The hill is part of a long, bold ridge, on which the declivity leans, stretching from Falmouth to Massoponax creek, six miles. Its summit was shaggy and rough with the earthworks of the Confederates, and was crowned with their artillery
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), Life in Pennsylvania. (search)
felt truth, rather than a mere sentiment. In a letter written to me by General Lee, in January, 1864, he says: Had I taken your advice at Gettysburg, instead of pursuing the course I did, how different all might have been. Captain T. J. Gorie, of Houston, Texas, a gentleman of high position and undoubted integrity, writes to me upon this same point as follows: Another important circumstance which I distinctly remember was in the winter of 1864, when you sent me from East Tennessee to Orange Court-House with dispatches for General Lee. Upon my arrival there, General Lee asked me in his tent, where he was alone with two or three Northern papers on his table. He remarked that he had just been reading the Northern official report of the battle of Gettysburg; that he had become satisfied, from reading those reports that, if he had permitted you to carry out your plans on the third day, instead of making the attack on Cemetery Hill, we would have been successful. I cannot see, as has be
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), Lee and Grant in the Wilderness. (search)
Rapidan, General Lee's troops --A. P. Hill's Corps — extended up the river as far as Liberty mills, six miles above Orange Court-House; Ewell's Corps on the right, below Clarke's Mountain, which was eight miles from Orange; Longstreet, after his retuOrange; Longstreet, after his return from East Tennessee, remained near Gordonsville, eight miles in rear. In general, while on the Rapidan, the troops were not regularly and well supplied with good and sufficient rations, nor was their clothing of the best; their morale was, nevertge of the camp, three days cooked rations, thus putting an end to all suspense. The Rapidan flows within a mile of Orange Court-House, runs little south of east, and empties into the Rappahannock eight miles above Fredericksburg. Two roads, the old pike and plank, connect Orange Court-House and Fredericksburg; they diverge at the Court-House, the first runs between the latter and the Rapidan, somewhat parallel, but at times two and a half miles or more apart; come together near Chancellorsvill
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The Black Horse cavalry. (search)
The effort of Kilpatrick to detain Stuart was foiled by this fight, and he moved on to Carlisle barracks, which, with his artillery, he set on fire. From Carlisle the Southern cavalry marched to Gettysburg, and took position on Lee's left, near Huntersville. They took part in the battle on the memorable 3d of July, 1863, in which the Southern Confederacy received its death wound. Upon Meade's advance into Virginia, Lee retired to the south bank of the Rapidan, with headquarters at Orange Court-House, where he remained until October 11th. He then determined to assume the offensive. With this intent he ordered General Fitz Lee, with whom the Black Horse was serving, to cross the Rapidan at Raccoon and Morton's fords, where he found himself face to face with Buford's cavalry division. In the fight which ensued, the Black Horse lost some of its bravest men, and the Fourth Virginia two of its most gallant officers. This spirited attack, combined with an attack by General Lomax's
Robert Lewis Dabney, Life and Commands of Lieutenand- General Thomas J. Jackson, Chapter 9: General view of the campaigns of 1862. (search)
great Valley Turnpike (a paved road which extends from the Potomac continuously to the extremity of Southwestern Virginia). It is also the terminus of the Turnpike to Parkersburg, in Northwest Virginia, and the focus of a number of important highways. Its possession decided that of the whole interior of the State, and of another avenue, the Central Railroad, leading to Richmond from its western side. As this road, on its way to the capital, passes by Gordonsville, the intersection of the Orange and Alexandria road, on which General Johnston now depended as his sole line of communications, its possession by the Federalists would at once endanger that line, and compel him to seek a position still more interior. Moreover, Eastern Virginia, south of Gordonsville, was the great tobacco-planting region, and consequently, yielded no large supplies for the capital or armies. The great central counties, to which Staunton was the key, were the granary of the Commonwealth. There was, then,
Robert Lewis Dabney, Life and Commands of Lieutenand- General Thomas J. Jackson, Chapter 15: Cedar Run. (search)
sent to join him. This fine body of troops continued henceforth to be a part of his-corps. On the 2nd of August, the Federal cavalry occupied the village at Orange Court House, when Colonel William E. Jones, the comrade of Jackson at West Point, commanding the 7th Virginia cavalry, attacked them in front and flank while crowded inhey withdrew across the river. This affair occurred ten miles north of Gordonsville. Pope's infantry paused in the county of Culpepper, which lies over against Orange, across the Rapid Ann. He indiscreetly extended his army a few miles in rear of that stream, upon a very wide front, while some of the troops designed to serve un his inadequate force upon it. Hence, on the 7th of August, he gave orders to his three divisions to move toward Culpepper, and to encamp on that night near Orange Court House. It was on this occasion that the striking witness was borne by his African servant, Jim, to his devout habits, which was so currently (and correctly) r
Robert Lewis Dabney, Life and Commands of Lieutenand- General Thomas J. Jackson, Chapter 16: second Manassa's. (search)
ven brings its stations near the Rappahannock, nearer to it than at the Court House. Thus the Confederates, without exposing their own communications, had it in their power to strike those of Pope at Brandy Station by a march shorter than that which would fetch the Federal advance back to that place. So obvious an advantage could not escape any one except the doughty Pope. Jackson of course seized it upon the instant. Upon an elevated hill which is called Clarke's Mountain, east of Orange Court House, he had established a signal station. From this lofty lookout, all the course of the Rapid Ann and the plains of Culpepper, white with the enemy's tents toward Madison, were visible. As soon, therefore, as the troops from Richmond began to arrive, General Jackson left Gordonsville, and on the 15th of August, marched to the eastern base of Clarke's Mountain, where he carefully masked his forces near the fords of the Rapid Ann. His signal officer upon the peak above, reported to him t
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