Virginia Military Institute. The Flag Raising. Growing War Spirit.
The growing discontent and excitement in 1860 and the early part of
1861 will ever be remembered by those who passed through that period.
At and before this time I, then in my teens, was a cadet at the
Virginia Military Institute located at Lexington, Virginia.
For some years prior to this, the questions of political difference
between the sections of the United States designated as North and South
had been discussed in Congress and on the hustings with increasing
acrimony and divergence. The two great political parties, Democrat
and Whig, had long been contestants for political supremacy, but in
1860 the Republican party, theretofore greatly inferior in numbers and
strength to either of the others, elected Abraham Lincoln sixteenth
President of the United States. This was attributed to a division in
the Democratic party and the nomination of candidates by each of its
two factions. This triumph of the Republican party increased anxiety
and apprehension in the people of the South as to their institutions
and rights.
Then followed the assembling of the National Congress on the first
Monday in December; the secession of South Carolina, December 20th,
1860; of Alabama, January 11th, 1861; of Georgia, January 19th;
Louisiana, January 26th; Texas, February 1st; the evacuation of Fort
Sumpter by the Federals, April 14th; the call by Lincoln for troops to
coerce the seceded States April 15th; the secession of Virginia, April
17th; of Arkansas, May 6th; of North Carolina, May 20th; of Tennessee,
June 24th; and by acts of the Provisional Congress Missouri was
admitted as a member of the Confederate States of America, August 20th;
and Kentucky on December 10th,--and of these States the new nation was
organized.
Leaders in the field and not on the forum were now being considered and
looked to. Sons of the South who had been trained at West Point and a
long list of trained soldiers from the Virginia Military Institute, as
well as its professors, educated and trained in the science of war,
were justly of first consideration. Many of these and many laymen,
as well as many members of the then corps of cadets, won enviable
distinction in the four ensuing years. The V. M. I., the West Point of
the South, now disclosed its inestimable worth to the new nation born
at Montgomery, February 18th, 1861. It may be of interest to relate
here an incident which disclosed in advance a military chieftain
of whom but little was known until the opportunity came for him to
discover his merit. Men before this period who had filled mediocre
places, began to burst forth in new light as opportunity came. An
incident of one, then a quiet V. M. I. professor, now known to history
and the world, is worth preserving. It occurred in March, 1861, at
Lexington.
The secession of Virginia had not then occurred, but the step was being
hotly contested on the hustings between opposing parties. The corps of
cadets was almost unanimous for, and the county of Rockbridge and the
town of Lexington at the time overwhelmingly against, secession.
Lexington was the home of honest John Letcher, then Governor of the
State, whose potent influence was understood to have thus molded public
sentiment. The secessionists were enthusiastic and intolerant, the
unionists sedate and determined. The war spirit had grown rapidly and
had spread to all classes. Members of the corps were almost daily
hoisting on barracks secession flags which were promptly taken down
by order of the Institute authorities, such evidences of sentiment
thus displayed on a State Institution not being permissible while the
State was yet a member of the Union. At this time a fine volunteer
company composed of young men of Lexington and vicinity, with Capt.
Sam Letcher, brother of the Governor, at its head, was being regularly
drilled on Saturdays of each week.
The war spirit had now grown so intense that but a spark was needed to
set its smouldering fires into a consuming flame. To emphasize their
sentiments, the opposing parties without concert or understanding,
conceived the plan of raising flags; one the stars and bars, the other
the stars and stripes. The following Saturday was chosen as the day.
Due advertisement had been given by both parties. This brought large
numbers of people to town, most of whom came provided with such arms
as the husbandman of that day had. The number of unionists was more
than four times greater than the number of secessionists. The latter
soon ran up their flag in the court house yard, addresses followed and
the small crowd, including the corps of cadets, was about to disperse
to their homes, and the corps to barracks, when the unionists began
raising their flag pole some distance up and in the middle of Main
street. From some defect the pole broke and fell, at which the corps
vociferously gave vent to expressions of joy, and later returned to
barracks more than half a mile away, leaving, however, some three or
four of its number behind.
On reaching barracks dinner roll call and the march to and from dinner
followed. As ranks were broken on our return from dinner, one of our
number who had remained uptown came in breathless haste and announced
that House Mountain men had fallen on some of the cadets uptown and
killed them. House Mountain is situate some ten or a dozen miles from
Lexington, and at and in the vicinity of its base were homes of a good
class of people. They were understood at that time to be extremely
pro-Union. This information thus given was the needed match to set in
flame the pent-up feeling for war. Without a word every member of the
corps rushed to his room, seized his musket, cartridge box, bayonet
and scabbard and accoutered himself as he ran down the stoops to
the front of barracks, thence down the near way to the foot of Main
street near the Letcher residence. Colonel (afterwards General) Smith,
superintendent and ranking officer of the Institute, intercepted and
tried to turn us back, but his efforts were in vain. On we sped until
we reached Main street. Here Cadet Captain Galloway called out, "Form
battalion." This we proceeded to do. All had loaded their muskets and
fixed bayonets as they proceeded hither.
While battalion was forming Major John McCausland (then a
sub-professor and afterwards a brilliant Confederate brigadier general)
appeared in front of the battalion and said, "Young men, form and I
will lead you up." Col. Smith had now arrived and began to urge our
return to barracks. R. McCulloch, of the corps, called to McCausland to
lead us on. He replied that his superior officer (Colonel Smith) was in
command. Meanwhile the unionists who had realized the situation were
but a short distance up the street, preparing for the shock of battle
which seemed so imminent. The entreaties to return to barracks and the
formation into battalion went on. There stood one hundred and eighty
manly youths, armed and equipped and eager for the fray, awaiting the
command forward. They were of the very flower of the South. A little
later on many of them won marked distinction, boys as they were in
armies the soldiers of which for gallantry and endurance have never
been excelled in the history of the world.
At this time, Mr. Massey who had won our confidence in his remarks
at the flag raising earlier in the day and Maj. R. E. Colston, a
professor in the V. M. I. and afterwards a gallant Confederate
brigadier-general, galloped up and joined in the appeal for our return
to barracks. Meanwhile a greater than any arrived, tall, sinewy,
well-formed, a slight stoop in the shoulders, large feet and hands,
retreating forehead, blue-grey eyes, straight nose, strong mouth and
chin held well to the front, in measured gait, Major Thomas Jonathan
Jackson walked up and down before the battalion which he viewed
closely, then looked at the surroundings and position of the opposing
forces. He uttered no word, but his movements grew more animated each
moment, his stature straightened and grew taller and bigger, and his
merit was apparent to all and made him the central figure. Still the
formation of battalion went on. A leader who would take command was
only needed, while but two or three hundred yards up the street the
volunteer company of a hundred young men well-officered, armed and
equipped were drawn up across the street in battle array, supported
by five times their number of the citizens of the town and county,
armed with shotguns, rifles and pistols. This warlike scene which had
been gathering like a storm cloud during the morning had alarmed the
peace-loving citizens and hence an impromptu delegation came forth to
intercede for peace and prevent a bloody tragedy which seemed about to
occur. These intercessions prevailed, and the corps broke ranks and
returned to barracks, discharging their loaded guns as they went.
As soon as we reached barracks, we were summoned by the familiar drum
beat to Colonel Smith's section room where we found Colonels Smith
and Preston and Mr. Massey on, and Major Jackson near to, but off the
rostrum. Colonel Smith proceeded at once to excoriate the corps for its
insubordinate conduct. Preston, then Massey, responded pacifically
to our call. Last but not least, Major Jackson was called. I remember
the scene as if enacted but yesterday. True soldier as he was, Jackson
hesitated until Colonel Smith, his superior in rank, asked him to
speak. At once he mounted the rostrum and faced his audience. His erect
figure, flashing eye, energetic expression, short, quick and to the
point, disclosed to the commonest mind a leader of merit. He said,
"Military men make short speeches, and as for myself I am no hand at
speaking anyhow. The time for war has not yet come, but it will come
and that soon, and when it does come my advice is to draw the sword and
throw away the scabbard." The personality of the speaker, the force
of these simple words thus uttered, elicited a response of approval
I never heard surpassed, except by the Confederate yell often heard
on the battlefield a little later on. This simple speech and manner
of Jackson established in the minds of his audience the belief that
he was a leader upon whose loyalty and courage we could rely. How
strange it was that this quiet professor who had performed his every
duty, monotonous in its regularity, should with a bound leap into
view and establish in the minds of his audience that he possessed the
qualifications of a brilliant and dashing leader. This was a revelation
to his friends and acquaintances, and the estimate of him then formed
was shown to be correct by after developments.
It was at the V. M. I. that I first came to know its superintendent and
professors, including Jackson. Of the corps of cadets there were young
men and boys, representing every state of the South and some of the
States of the North. The corps was considered to be one of the finest
the institution had ever had. Jackson, ever faithful to duty, now
manifested great interest in the political conditions of the country
and what they portended. He was instructor in artillery tactics,
his favorite arm of the service. He now pushed work, giving great
attention to the practical part. Drilling, limbering and unlimbering,
target practice and the work incident thereto were very trying to boys
in their teens in the hot spring sun, but neither heat nor cold had any
terrors for Jackson when duty or the accomplishment of a purpose were
involved.
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