About the 20th of June the army crossed the Blue Ridge, and moved quietly towards the beleaguered capital; but the men did not know any more about their destination than the enemy, who never knew, until his artillery boomed upon McClellan’s flank at Richmond, that Jackson had left the Valley. On arriving at Charlottesville, Capt. White, now entirely recovered from the effects of his wound, rejoined his company, and it now appeared that the little band of scouts and couriers was to be the foundation upon which a larger command was to be built up, for here the news was received that Capt. George W. Chiswell, of Maryland, was on the march from that State with a full company to join White’s Cavalry, and all the boys began to look forward to the time when the irksome duty of waiting upon the Generals and playing telegraph for an army, was to be exchanged for the more congenial and pleasant one of once more scouting on the frontier. Encamped at Charlottesville they had seen a battalion of men commanded by Major John Scott, of Fauquier Co., Va., and organized by that officer to act as Partisan rangers. It seemed that mainly through the influence of Major Scott, a bill had 72been introduced into the Confederate Congress, and which afterwards became a law, authorizing the formation of such bands, and offering premiums in captured property for an independent border warfare upon the outposts and communications of the enemy’s army, and this idea struck the minds of White’s men very forcibly as containing the very principle upon which their company had been formed, and the one they most desired to have applied to their own particular case, and they believed that in strict justice, Capt. White could get the authority under the law to become a Partisan, as soon as his command was large enough to justify it, and all hailed with joyful acclamation the report that Maryland men were coming to join them; in fact the advance guard of the company met them at Charlottesville in the persons of Ed. J. Chiswell, Sam. White, Frank. Williams and Elijah Viers.
Some anecdotes of Gen. Jackson, and the manner in which he was regarded by his men, and the enemy too, were current in the army during this campaign, and were true in idea if not in detail. Before leaving camp at Mount Meridian, an order was issued instructing the men not to tell what or whose troops they were, and to answer all questions on the subject with Gen. Ewell’s abomination, "don’t know," as a precaution against the enemy getting a knowledge of Jackson’s movement from the Valley. One day the General saw 73a soldier crossing a field towards some cherry trees, and as the great abundance of cherries along the route had caused any amount of straggling, he resolved to make an example of this man. So riding up to him he inquired, “What division do you belong to?” "Don’t know," said the soldier. “What brigade?” asked the General; and again the soldier replied, "don’t know." “Well,” asked Jackson, “what regiment do you belong to?” thinking he had now found an answerable question; but again the man replied, "don’t know," and with some asperity of tone the General exclaimed, “What do you know, sir?” when the cute “gray jacket” answered—"I know that old Stonewall ordered me not to know anything, and damned if I ain’t going to stick to it."
The General turned and rode away without a word, smiling at the extremely literal construction of orders which had saved the soldier from the punishment he had meditated for him.
Gen. Jackson got aboard the cars at Louisa C. H., to go to Richmond, and took a seat in the same car in which a Yankee Major, who had been captured among some of the raiding parties on the Rail Road, was being carried also to Richmond.
The Major entered into conversation with the quiet officer, not knowing, of course, who he was talking to, and began explaining to him the absolute certainty of McClellan’s capture of the Confederate 74capital. After listening for some time to the manner in which each division of Lee’s army was tied up by a stronger force from the other side, “Stonewall” ventured the remark, "But suppose Jackson’s army should move from the Valley and strike McClellan in flank and rear while he is engaging Lee in front." “Oh,” said the Major, "there’s no danger of that, Jackson has been badly crippled in his engagements in the Valley, and is now hemmed in closely by Fremont’s army, so that he can’t move." “But,” persisted the Confederate, “suppose he should getaway and come to Richmond.” "No, I say it’s no use to talk about that," said the Major, "for he can’t get away, it is impossible." “Yes,” said the other, “and I say it is possible, for he has already whipped Fremont, and his army will be in front of Richmond in less than twenty-four hours.” The Yankee looked at him a moment, and with an anxious expression asked, “Who are you, sir?” “I am Gen. Jackson,” replied the hero; upon which the Major smacked his hands together exclaiming, “Whipped again, by God!” and at once subsided into silence.
When the army of Jackson reached its position and it was plain to everybody that the time had come for the great battle, the men who had followed “Stonewall” all over the Valley, and had seen his banner wave in triumph on every field, were rendered still more proud of their great 75leader by seeing, about noon on the day of “Cold Harbour,” the men whose names were already encircled with a halo of glorious deeds performed during the war, ride up and report to Gen. Jackson for instruction.
Longstreet, A. P. Hill, Magruder, and Stuart, all acknowledged the solemn soldier as their superior, and took his orders for the day’s work.
That day’s work too was a sad and bloody one, and when night ended the conflict, many were the corpses strewn over the carnage-stained ground, and terrible arose the groans and shrieks of mangled men; but the enemy still held the front and all thought the morning sun must look down on a repetition of the same unchristian work.
Gen. Ewell was found about midnight by the men who were sent to him to relieve the couriers who had passed with him through "Cold Harbour’s" baleful death-fires, lying along his lines, which were drawn close up to the enemy, waiting for some sign to commence anew the work of slaughter; but when daylight broke over the battle lines the men in blue had disappeared, and soon after, Gen. Lee found one of White’s boys and sent him to find Gen. Stuart and take him to the Commander-in-chief.
This conference ended in Stuart posting off to see what had become of the enemy, and it wasn’t long until that enterprising cavalier had found out all about him.
76In the operations which followed, Gen. Ewell moved with his division to Despatch Station, on the York River Rail Road; and as a matter of course White’s cavalry went with him. On their way to that place they passed Yankee camps where the fires were still burning, the camp-kettles of old ham and vegetables, and the coffee, still boiling; while at many of them there were wagon loads, in some instances houses full, of supplies of all kinds on fire; but what created the greatest excitement of all, was a report that the Yankees had poisoned the wells all around their camps by throwing into them the supplies of medicines which their surgeons could not carry away in their hasty retreat.
These rumors grew out of the fact that large quantities of powder and cartridges had been tumbled into some of the wells, and those who drank the water readily imagined it to be poisoned, not only from the taste, but also that several of them were made sick by it; and all threatened summary vengeance on the prisoners, but the true state of the case was soon discovered and the excitement quelled.
On arriving at the Station Gen. Ewell caused the railroad bridge over the Chickahominy to be destroyed and a part of the track torn up, and being now between McClellan and the White House, waited for whatever force might come down the road.
77About 4 o’clock in the afternoon a sound as of an enormous train of cars was heard on the railroad, and every man was on the lookout for something interesting to occur, supposing that the Yankees did not know the road was cut and were attempting to run some trains through, and knowing that if this should be the case they would certainly meet a bloody overthrow at the bridge. The 13th Virginia infantry was lying on the railroad, and White’s boys gathered on the bank of the river, when soon, in the distance, appeared the most singular looking affair any of them had ever seen on a railroad track. It was a train of cars certainly, but high up over the locomotive was built an affair that looked very much like a barn, being made of plank and very long.
The general impression of the men at first sight was that it was a contrivance from which the Yankees could fire at any rebels they might discover, and thus keep the track clear; but there was very little time to think much about it, for the iron-horse, under a full head of steam, was carrying it at a rapid rate towards them, and pretty soon the infernal machine leaped from the track into the Chickahominy, and at the same moment a blaze of fire went up from it that seemed to meet and melt into the blue of the sky, while an explosion, so terrible that men lying on the ground a hundred yards distant were lifted bodily, and in some cases had the blood forced 78from ears and nostrils, broke out on the evening air. Just as soon as they got their senses together White’s boys walked quietly off to their horses, which had been feeding in an oat field a quarter of a mile distant, and concluded they didn’t want to be around when McClellan run his trains to the White House. This curiously contrived affair must have contained three or four tons of powder and artillery ammunition, for shells were exploding constantly from the time the machine blew up until dark, but fortunately did no damage.
The next day Col. Bradley T. Johnson, of the 1st Maryland, (afterward Brigadier General of the Maryland Line,) and Capt. White were prospecting along the river for the enemy, the Colonel having with him a rifle cannon with which he occasionally “felt the woods” on the opposite side, and in the evening elicited a reply from several batteries, whose smoke rolled lazily up through the trees in white, foggy-looking masses, and showed that the “Young Napoleon” still had a line of battle there. During the firing Gen. Ewell, accompanied by White’s company, rode out to Col. Johnson, who showed him the Yankee positions, remarking, at the same time, “and by the way, General, I think I heard the long roll.” By this time the Colonel’s one iron gun was attracting considerable attention from the Yankee artillery, and their shells were flying very 79plentifully around him, when Gen. Ewell turned his horse, and remarking to his escort "we’ll go back now, boys," rode over the hill towards Despatch Station, and in so doing passed in full view of the enemy’s line, who now opened warmly upon him, and just before reaching the woods a heavy shot passed between the General’s head and his horse’s neck, causing the old fellow to make a very sudden backward motion, but he instantly righted up, and noticing that the shot had struck a large pine tree about twenty feet from the ground, and cut it off so clear and sudden that the upper part of it came down perpendicularly and stuck in the ground beside the stump, he exclaimed "wasn’t that beautiful; wasn’t that well done!" but some of the boys remarked afterwards that they didn’t know exactly whether he had reference to his dodge or to the cutting of the tree, and they were afraid to ask him.
On the 30th of June Gen. Jackson’s corps crossed the Chickahominy at Grapevine bridge, and pushing on after the retreating Yankees came up with them at White Oak Swamp, where he had to fight them several hours with his artillery before his army could get over. During the arrangement for this fight Capt. White marched his company along the battle-line with “Old Stonewall,” and after the latter had gotten his seventy guns in position, we halted to watch the result. The enemy was firing constantly, but 80Gen. Jackson made no reply until he had everything arranged to his notion, when he gave the signal to commence firing, and it was soon evident that he was more than a match for the Yankees. While the roar of the guns was waking the echoes of swamp and forest, Gen. Jackson rode along the line, where the shells from the enemy’s batteries were flying the thickest, and, greatly to our wonder, held one hand up as high as his shoulder nearly all the time, but wonder turned to reverence when found that our hero was praying to the God of battles to spare the lives of his men and crown their arms with victory. Before long the bridge over the swamp was uncovered, and Jackson’s infantry went across, capturing several of the enemy’s guns and many prisoners. Here White’s men got into a snap with some of the Pennsylvania Bucktail riflemen, but the Captain led them in a charge, in which they captured a whole set of German-silver wind instruments for a band, and several prisoners, killing and wounding some of the “Bucktails.” They also got a splendid suit of armor belonging to a Colonel, over which they had a great deal of amusement, but in their experiments with the breastplate they learned that it was bullet-proof against Colt’s army revolvers and all the guns they could find, with one exception, and that was the Maynard rifle, which tore a hole in it large enough for a hen’s egg to pass through.
81On the 1st of July we went to Malvern Hill, and the company was busy enough during all of that long and bloody afternoon, carrying dispatches for the several Generals operating in connection with Ewell, and acting as provost guard to stop the soldiers from straggling.
At the close of the battle, which continued until dark, Capt. White took a detail of his men to Gen. Ewell, who had sent for him, and found that officer, in company with Gen. Whiting, lying on the ground to the left of the road, and with the advanced vedettes of the army, conversing in whispers, the enemy being so close that they could not talk in an ordinary tone without being heard by them; and when White and his boys had crawled up to the General, finding him with great difficulty, he sent them back, saying he was going to advance his infantry line pretty soon, and had no scouting to do, as he had found the enemy and they were in his front—so close that he could throw a stone over their line.
White and his men crept back in the same noiseless manner to their horses, where they waited anxiously for the opening fire of the intended advance; but it was not made, or, if made, the Yankees had gone, and the ever-memorable campaign of seven days’ battle around Richmond was at an end; while with it ended the Northern policy of conducting the war according to the established rules of humanity recognized by civilized 82nations, for now McClellan, who had treated the citizens inside of his military lines humanely, and had respected their rights and protected their property, as far as possible, from the usual pillaging that attends the movements of every large army, was to give place to another who had nothing but his brutality to recommend him to the favor of the “greatest and best government the world ever saw,” which was now represented in Washington City by a crew of foul birds of the devil’s own hatching, whose names will make the cheeks of Americans crimson with shame as long as American history is read; and Gen. Pope, from his “headquarters in the saddle,” announced that henceforth the business of his army should be to investigate the color of the coat tails of the rebels, and that the time had arrived when a new era in military tactics should dawn upon the astonished world through the transcendent genius of “John the Pope,” and that under him the battles of Abolitiondom should be fought with fire and sword, according to the most approved rules laid down by the aborigines of North America, with all the improvements which the Spanish greasers of Mexico had been enabled to add from the familiarity of their fathers with the horrible scenes of the infernal inquisition; all of which had been revised and corrected within the sound of Mr. Seward’s little tinkling bell for special use in the Grand Army of “John the Pope,” and the 83world was assured that the war had commenced in earnest; while those whose attention had heretofore been called, by accident, to the career of Mr. Pope, and had formed their opinion therefrom, predicted that women and children would suffer now, for the chosen Sachem of the little-souled Yankee Nation was on the war-path, and the influence of the Northern people in whose hearts the God-given principle of chivalric forbearance towards the weak and helpless had an abiding place, was literally smothered to death in the smoky vengeance which the nigger crusaders had manufactured for crushing the rebellion—“vide” Brownlow, Stevens & Co.