The soldiers of Colonel White found their new Brigadier to be a
handsome, soldierly-looking man, very different in manner, language
and appearance from Gen. Jones, though not a whit behind that
officer in the maintenance of discipline in his brigade; but it did
not take them long to find that he was a genial, warm-hearted
gentleman, and they respected and loved him accordingly. For several
days there was very little done beyond some scouting along the
Rappahannock, and an inspection or two by Gen. Rosser, but about the
middle of November the brigade was ordered to join the division on
the historic plains of Brandy Station, where Gen. Stuart purposed
holding another of his “spread-eagle” grand reviews, which did no
good except to give Yankee spies an opportunity to count the exact
number of cavalry attached to the Army of Northern Virginia, and to
display the foppishness of Stuart, who rode along his war-torn lines
with a multitude of bouquets, which fair hands had presented to him,
fastened in his hat and coat.
After the review, Gen. Rosser encamped his brigade at Hamilton’s
Crossing, on the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Rail Road,
about eight miles from Fredericksburg, where it remained very
quietly for several days, except on one occasion, when Gen. Hampton
desired to see what the enemy meant by establishing a camp at
Stephensburg, a little town in Culpeper, and in order to find out,
he took a detail from his several brigades, and crossing the river
at Ely’s ford with about three hundred men, attacked the camp at
daylight, completely routing the enemy and taking a considerable
number of prisoners, together with all their tents and baggage. In
this affair the 7th regiment led the charge, supported by White’s
battalion, and the two commands did all the fighting, which was not
much, for the enemy fled as soon as they could get away.
On the 27th of November, Gen. Meade’s army effected a crossing to
the south side of the river at Germania ford, and the cavalry were
kept busy, night and day, watching his movements, but Gen. Rosser
did not confine himself to watching alone, for on passing
Spottsylvania C. H., he sent Lieut. Conrad, with Town H.
Vandevanter, “Jack” Dove and Ed. Poland, to find the force and
position of the enemy, with orders to report to him at Todd’s
Tavern, and at the same time put Col. White in front with his
battalion, and marched as rapidly as possible towards the plank
road. On arriving at Todd’s Tavern, about midnight, and hearing
nothing from Conrad, the General sent Capt. Myers out alone on one
road, and Sergt. Everhart with a squad on another, telling them to
find the Yankees and report as soon as they possibly could. Both of
these scouts found the enemy very soon, and returned, and Col.
White, in his ranging around through the pines, came upon a large
cavalry camp not over a mile from the General’s headquarters. About
an hour before day the Yankees were discovered on the road leading
from Todd’s Tavern to the plank road, and soon after it was
ascertained that their wagon train was on the plank road. At
daylight all the Yankees moved off towards Chancellorsville, and
Gen. Rosser started his brigade for the train, which he cut exactly
in two, bringing out eighteen ambulances and about one hundred
wagons and teams, besides setting fire to a large number of wagons
that had passed the side road too far to turn off, and as it was
soon discovered that some of the burning wagons were loaded with
ammunition, the raid terminated suddenly.
Lieut. Conrad and his party came in about sunrise, having gotten in
among the Yankees and staid there all night, not knowing the
country, and were very nearly being captured several times. They
fought out of one difficulty with the 1st Jersey Cavalry, and
passing on, charged and captured some prisoners from another
regiment, finally coming out at the Court-house, where they had
started from in the evening. When Conrad came up to Rosser in the
morning the General asked him why he didn’t report the night before,
according to orders, but when the Lieutenant explained to him that
he had got into a place where he couldn’t report to anybody but Gen.
Meade’s people, he excused him.
On the morning of the 29th, Rosser marched his command to Parker’s
Store, on the plank road, and found the enemy encamped there, when
he at once opened the fight, by charging them, with the 7th
regiment, which drove them from their camps, and in the chase many
prisoners were taken, but heavy reinforcements came up and the fight
was obstinate and severe for two hours. At one time a strong force
of the enemy’s dismounted men took position on Rosser’s left, at a
high bank of the Rail Road, with their flanks protected by swamps,
heavy timber, and dense undergrowth. This force General Rosser
ordered Col. White to charge, which he did, the battalion going into
it in gallant style, and not only driving more than three times
their number from the Rail Road, but pressing them through the thick
timber until the marsh became too soft for their horses to go
farther, when the men were rallied and reformed, and on reaching the
plank road the balance of the brigade was found hotly engaged with a
greatly superior force, and being forced back over the Rail Road.
Here again the battalion charged just in time to save the brigade
from rout, and all together drove the Yankees clear of the road.
When the battle was over the Colonel reported to Gen. Rosser how he
had “unjointed” the Yankees, and the General gave the battalion the
name of “Comanches,” which stuck to them during the remainder of the
war.
On the night of the 30th, Meade went back to his own side of the
river so quietly that it was almost daylight before the movement was
discovered, but as soon as Gen. Stuart found they were on the move
he ordered all his cavalry forward, and harassed their rear-guard
severely.
The battalion, with the exception of Co. A, now returned to their
old camp near Hamilton’s Crossing, and found the quartermaster’s
department moved for safety towards Richmond, in consequence of
which neither rations nor forage was issued for several days, and
both men and horses suffered for the necessaries of life.
Company A was detailed to picket on the river at Gold Mine, Ely’s,
Germania, Banks’, and United States fords, and this, too, in the
country that had been devastated by the great battle of
Chancellorsville, so that they suffered more for supplies than the
others, but they opened negotiations with the Yankees on the other
side of the river, by which much trading of tobacco for coffee and
crackers was effected, and the blue and gray pickets would mount
their horses and meet in the middle of the river, where they would
confer in as friendly a manner as near neighbors generally do.
White’s battalion was very poorly prepared for a winter campaign, or
even for winter quarters, and seeing that there was not much
prospect for improvement the men became very much dissatisfied.
All their tents had been stored near Mount Crawford, in the Valley,
at the time of General Jones’ march to Brandy Station, and in the
preparation for the Pennsylvania campaign, General Lee had cut
transportation so low that only one wagon for baggage was allowed to
the battalion, in consequence of which, a great quantity of it was
stored for safety at Flint Hill, and fully expecting to find that as
they had left it, the men had come out from their homes with almost
nothing except what they wore; but on reaching Flint Hill they found
that the people around that country had appropriated everything of
value, only leaving for the depositors a few camp kettles, with the
bottoms knocked out, and some scraps of leather that had formerly
been valises.
As an evidence that citizens had stolen the property, Lieut. Conrad
found one of his shirts on the person of an old citizen, who stoutly
swore that the shirt was always his, but the Lieutenant proved his
claim and made the gentleman “come out of it.”
The men clung to the hope that the brigade would be sent to the
Valley, but after the last advance and retreat of Gen. Meade, their
camp appeared to be permanently established and their hope died. The
Colonel used every means in his power to procure from the government
the much needed supply of clothing, but notwithstanding the
battalion had never received anything of the kind from that source,
nor even drawn the commutation allowed in lieu thereof, under the
law, he only succeeded after many trials in getting about one-fourth
the necessary quantity, and as a consequence much discomfort, and in
many cases actual suffering prevailed during the cold December of
1863.
Under such circumstances as these, the spirit of discontent
culminated in the Loudoun companies, and on the night of the 14th,
about sixty of A and C took a regular “French leave” and went home,
determined to supply themselves with winter clothing, no matter what
might be the consequences of their desertion, and we will there
leave them for a time, in order to tell of an event that had a
brightening effect upon the heart of every man in the Ashby brigade,
which was an order for General Rosser to march his command to the
Valley.
On the night of the 18th December, the brigade crossed the
Rappahannock at Fredericksburg and moved to Stafford C. H., where it
encamped until morning, when the march was resumed, and all day
long, through a drenching rain, the Valley men travelled on without
a halt until about 11 o’clock at night, when they reached a
fortified camp of the enemy at Sangster Station, on the Manassas Gap
Rail Road, about twenty miles from Alexandria. Capt. Dan. Hatcher,
with his squadron, (1st of 7th Regiment,) immediately charged
through a stream of water and over the Rail Road bank, gaining the
enemy’s rear, but was met by such a heavy force in the breastworks
that he was unable to return, and the 11th Regiment dashed forward
in a wild, reckless charge, which forced the Yankees to surrender,
and released Hatcher and his boys from their perilous position.
The command marched on from Sangster as rapidly as possible, and on
reaching Bull Run, about two miles from Centreville, found that
stream almost impassable from the continuous rain which had been
pouring down for nearly twenty-four hours, and with the greatest
difficulty the crossing was effected, but just when the rear guard
reached the stream a party of Yankees came down from Centreville,
which produced a panic, and in the confusion some of White’s men
were knocked from their horses into the stream. The night was
excessively dark, and the country totally unknown to the men, and as
the head of the column had waited for nothing, but marched quickly
on as soon as the swollen stream was passed, the panic was increased
by the fast riding of those who got across, and when Col. White got
his men over there was no sign of the brigade nor any indication of
the route it had taken, while the firing in the rear showed that the
Yankees were coming up.
The Colonel sent a courier to the General for assistance and on
reaching the turnpike found the 12th regiment waiting for him, and
order being now restored the command marched quietly on; but the
wind had sprung up keen and cold from the northwest, causing the
rain to freeze as it fell, and almost depriving the men of the power
to keep their saddles, so intense was the cold, but as best they
could the dismal march was continued, and at daylight the command
reached Middleburg, in Loudoun county, and pushing on to Upperville
halted to feed and rest, having traveled over ninety miles during
twenty-four hours, with no halt except at Sangster, where one man
was killed, and several wounded in the 7th and 11th regiments, and
about two hundred Yankees killed, wounded, and captured.
When the brigade reached Upperville the run-away boys from the
battalion, who had come by way of Greene county and Luray Valley,
were just coming in, and not wishing to risk so much to get home and
be met and arrested by their command at the door, they had to go
back into the mountain and wait awhile; so that those who came
around with the brigade got home earlier than they who had been on
the road four days longer.
Many hardships were experienced in reaching the Valley, even when so
near it, because the Shenandoah was too full to cross with safety,
and the General marched to a ford above Swift Run Gap before he
could get his people over, and after this came down the Valley to
Mount Jackson, where he encamped, in the coldest weather, for about
a week, when he set out for a raid in the Moorfield Valley and on
the B. & O. Railroad, but owing to the extremely bad roads and
intensely cold weather his command was unable to execute the
General’s plans, and he returned to camp with the fruits of some
slight successes, including a number of prisoners and a few wagons,
captured near Burlington, and with many of his men frost-bitten,
some of them badly. The camp was now at Timberville, in Shenandoah
county, and here the Colonel exerted himself to induce the deserters
from Co.’s A and C to return to the battalion. These men had been
told that it was the intention of the officers to arrest and bring
them before a general court martial that would certainly sentence
some of them to be shot, and when Col. White sent a messenger to
them entreating them to return to their duty, they returned for
answer that they were willing and anxious to do so, and had no idea
of escaping punishment, but that they would never come back if there
was a prospect of any of them being shot, and that if the Colonel
would send Captain Myers to them with an assurance that they should
not go before a court martial that had power to inflict the death
penalty, they would all return with him; and accordingly, Capt. M.
was detailed to proceed to Loudoun and Fairfax counties to gather up
the deserters, which he did, reaching camp a few days after the
brigade had started out on what was familiarly known as the
"Patterson’s Creek raid."
The facts of this expedition have been principally obtained from
Messrs. T. H. Vandevanter, Co. A, White’s Battalion, and Jas. T.
Robinson, 12th Virginia Cavalry, who were couriers for Gen. Rosser,
and from Lieut. Conrad and Sergt. E. L. Bennett, of Co. A.
The command moved from camp to Moorfield about the 25th of January,
1864, where it remained until Gen. Early, with a brigade of infantry
and battery of artillery, came over, when it was resolved to attempt
the capture of Petersburg, where a strong force of the enemy was
reported to be located, and in pursuance of this plan Gen. Early
marched up the right bank of the South Branch while Rosser, with his
cavalry and one piece of artillery, crossed the river at Moorfield
and gained the rear of Petersburg; but on reaching the top of the
mountain and getting a view of the road leading to New Creek it was
discovered that a long train of wagons, guarded by about 1,000
infantry, was quietly moving along towards Petersburg, and as such
game was far more to Rosser’s notion than laying siege to a town, he
prepared to “come down on it” (to use a familiar expression of the
General’s).
His first step was to throw a few shells into the head of the train,
which brought it to a full stop, and then to charge upon it with his
“people,” an operation which was entirely successful, and the whole
train of ninety wagons and teams was captured, together with about
two hundred of the guards, which were all the troopers could catch,
as the others made such fast time to the mountain that it was given
up to be folly to attempt their capture.
The train was carrying fifteen days’ rations to the garrison at
Petersburg, but there were also some sutler wagons along filled with
the dainties and delicacies that these traveling merchants bartered
to the soldiers for their pay, and Rosser’s men had a “roaring
night” of it.
The first squadron of the battalion, under Lieut. Conrad, was sent
forward to drive a party of the enemy from Ridgeville, which was
done in the same gallant style that characterized all the
performances of Conrad, and the brigade moved forward in the morning
to Petersburg, but found that the enemy had evacuated it by a
mountain road during the night, and that Gen. Early was gone back to
Moorfield, whither the captured wagons and Yankees had been sent,
and now Gen. Rosser turned his column towards Patterson’s Creek,
sending Lieut. Conrad forward with twenty-seven men as advance
guard. On arriving at Franklin, Conrad says, they “took on wood and
water,” in other words, got a drink or two of whiskey all around,
and here “Jim” Robinson came up with an order from Gen. Rosser to
Lieut. Conrad, the substance of which was, "Go ahead to Patterson’s
Creek and run over every thing you come to," to which Conrad
replied, "All right; I’ll do it;" and sending out his advance guard,
composed of Robinson, Mobberly, H. C. Sellman, Bicksler, and
Douglass, he moved forward briskly on his reckless mission.
Just here it is necessary to briefly call attention to Major Harry
Gilmor’s statement of this affair, in his “Four Years in the
Saddle,” by way of making a correction. The Major says, that by Gen.
Rosser’s order he commanded White’s first squadron in the attack on
Patterson’s Creek Station, but Lieut. Conrad and his men say that he
did no such thing. Conrad says that Gilmor came to him on the road
saying that Gen. Rosser had sent him there to get a detail of eight
men to go with him to procure artillery horses, and Conrad refused
positively to let him have a man until he had got through with his
business, which he told him was to whip the Yankees at Patterson’s
Creek, when Gilmor remarked, "Very well; come on, and I’ll lead
you;" to which Conrad replied, "No you won’t! You nor no other
damned man can lead me and my men now;" and ordered his command
forward again, and coming in sight of the Station the advance squad
was discovered charging the Yankee vedettes, when Conrad ordered his
whole party to charge, but Gilmor exclaimed, "Hold on, Lieutenant;
you don’t know what’s there!" “No!” said Conrad, "and we don’t care
a damn! Forward, boys! Charge them!" and dashing in among the
blue-jackets they made quick work of it, killing four, wounding six,
and capturing forty-two of the fifty-two infantry soldiers stationed
there.
Soon after this, Gen. Rosser rode up and asked hastily, “Where are
the Yankees?” To which Conrad’s men replied, “Here are the
_prisoners_.”
Lieut. Conrad says, that there were desperate attempts on the part
of some of the men to burn a large brick water tank at the Station,
while others set fire to the Rail Road bridge and tried to learn how
often they could ride over it on a hand car before it fell in, but
the main body engaged in securing the plunder, of which there was a
great quantity.
After damaging the Rail Road as much as possible and securing all
the plunder and prisoners, the column turned towards home, but on
reaching the graded road from New Creek to Romney, some scouts
reported to Gen. Rosser that Kelly was advancing with five regiments
of mounted infantry to cut him off, while other scouts reported that
Averill, with his command, had reached Burlington.
The situation was not very pleasant now and Rosser turned back, but
he soon struck a new mountain road, and ordering White to take the
front, pushed rapidly forward, coming out on the grade about four
miles east of Burlington, and here Lieut. Conrad and John
Stephenson, who had been scouting, reported the road barricaded and
camp-fires in front. Col. White advanced cautiously to the
barricade, and finding no enemy there he approached the camp-fires,
but they, too, were deserted, and he soon learned that Averill had
marched from them only half an hour before, under the impression
that Rosser was marching on Cumberland. This left the road clear,
and now the raiders moved quietly along once more, and took with
them a large drove of cattle, marching until late in the night, when
the General halted his people, but had them moving again by dawn.
The Yankees soon learned that their game had slipped them and turned
to follow, but all the circumstances in the case showed that they
didn’t care to overtake them, and Averill’s march from Burlington
was evidently made to avoid contact with Rosser, for he simply moved
out of the road and when the rebel brigade had passed he quietly
fell in the rear and made no sign of attack until Rosser reached
Moorfield, when he drove in the Confederate pickets, but refused
most positively to touch the tempting bait by which General Rosser
tried to entice him in reach of Early’s infantry, who were still at
this place. Averill’s infantry came to the support of his cavalry,
but no inducement could make them do anything but skirmish, and
finally Rosser ordered Col. White to charge them, but recalled the
order just as the battalion was ready to start, and now
everything—the ninety wagons, three hundred cattle, and two hundred
and fifty prisoners—being safely moving on the road to the Valley,
Gen. Rosser wheeled his brigade into marching column, and followed
“Old Jubal,” leaving White in the rear to amuse Gen. Averill. As
soon as he was gone, the Yankees charged into town and chased a few
vedettes some distance up the road, but Lieut. Conrad with a party
met and drove them back.
While retiring slowly towards the mountain the Colonel had his horse
killed dead by a sharpshooter, fully one thousand yards distant, and
he would have been captured by a party of the enemy that advanced up
the road, at the moment, only for the devotion of J. Clendenning, of
Co. C, who dismounted and gave him his horse.
This, and the horse of John Stephenson killed in the charge at
Patterson’s Creek, was all the loss sustained by the battalion
during the raid, and I believe not a man in the whole brigade was
injured, otherwise than by taking on a little too much “wood and
water” occasionally.
The battalion reached camp on the 5th of February, and on the 6th
the first squadron, now under Capt. Myers, was ordered to Brock’s
Gap on picket, where it remained for three weeks, during which time
the brigade marched to a camp near Weyer’s Cave, where the Colonel
organized a court-martial for the trial of the deserters, and on the
return of the first squadron, Company A, now having about
eighty-five men, placed seventy-seven of them under arrest for
absence without leave, while Co. C had all her boys, but about a
dozen, in the same predicament; but the court worked fast, and soon
had them all released on double duty for a month, and for a few days
only two incidents broke the monotony of the camp; the first being a
grand horse race, and the second a grand speech from Capt. J. Mort.
Kilgour, to the brigade, on the origin and ultimate results of the
war; in which he located the origin in the “rule or ruin” spirit
that made the Puritans desolate England in the days of Cromwell, and
who, on the overthrow of their power there by the death of their
leader, emigrated to America; and with prophetic finger he raised
the curtain from the future and showed its ultimate results to be
the abolition of negro slavery and the Christianization of Africa.
On the 29th of February a report reached the General, about 9
o’clock at night, that a grand raid on Richmond, under Kilpatrick
and Dahlgren, was in progress, and hastily calling out his “people,”
Rosser marched all night through a freezing rain, over the mountain
to Charlottesville, reaching that place about noon, March 1st.
As the part taken by Rosser’s brigade in this most intolerable
piece of audacious foolishness, on both sides, was of little
importance, I shall merely give a brief journal of the marching
and counter-marching from the outset.
March 2d.—Marched from Charlottesville, by Gordonsville, and
encamped near Orange Springs about 10 o’clock, P. M. Got corn, per
M. G. Hatcher, from Gen. Lee’s headquarters.
March 3d.—Left camp early, and wound around on a very cold trail
after Kilpatrick. Halted 8 miles from Spottsylvania C. H., about 3
o’clock, to feed. Mounted at sunset and traveled all night, reaching
Hanover Junction at 9 o’clock A. M., March 4th, and at 3 o’clock
moved down to 6 miles of Richmond. Raining very hard, and nobody
knows where Kilpatrick is.
March 5th.—Lying in camp all day and the rain pouring down. Drew
three days rations of corn meal and bacon—about enough for three
meals.
March 6th.—Still in camp. Four orders to saddle up and move, and
four countermands. Plenty of horse feed, by stealing a little.
Monday, March 7th.—Moved out this morning on the road to the Valley,
passing up the Rail Road by Beaverdam to Bumpas Station, 16 miles
below Louisa C. H., and encamped. Yanks have burned all the Rail
Road wood and buildings at Beaverdam, and tore up the rails.
March 8th.—Nothing to eat, and raining fast. Marched to Louisa C. H.
and laid over. Still no rations.
March 9th.—Came to Gordonsville and camped. Drew some mule meat and
hard-tack about four o’clock—first rations since 7th.
March 10th.—Lying in camp all day near the nastiest and meanest hole
in the Southern Confederacy, to wit: Gordonsville. Found a grocery
store and bought it out. Cheese, $10 per pound. Butter, $10. Ground
Peas, $1.50 per quart. Tobacco, $5 per plug. Lead pencils, $3 each.
March 11th.—Still at this sweet-scented little place waiting for
something to turn up, which it did, about 4 P. M., in the shape of
an old, long-legged, razor-backed, slab-sided, black sow, poorer
than Pharaoh’s kine, and the last one left in the county, but we
killed and eat her, and the only meat we’ve had since the mule gave
out.
March 12th.—Left camp at sunrise, and marched by Orange Springs to
plank road, thence by the | old familiar Parker’s Store to
Chancellorsville, and encamped upon the famous battle-field.
March 13th.—Marched at sunrise, and to-night went into the same old
camp at Gordonsville.
March 14th.—In camp at Gordonsville. No rations.
March 15th.—In camp at Gordonsville. More mule.
March 16th.—Marched through Charlottesville and camped. Weather cold
as Christmas.
March 17th.—Moved early by Hillsboro’, Afton, Brown’s Gap, to
Waynesborough.
March 18th.—Marched at sunrise through Greenville to camp near
Brownsburg, and the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren campaign is ended; the
Yankee nation is indelibly disgraced by the objects of the
expedition, and Stuart’s laurels wilted by his failure to annihilate
the whole party.
On the 31st of March the battalion moved its camp, passing Lexington
and halting at a superb place for a camp about eight miles from the
Natural Bridge, and now the men prepared for winter quarters at
last, when the winter was almost over, but as they were always
hungry it may well be imagined that their enjoyment was limited. The
ration was reduced, by Gen. Lee’s order, to a quarter of a pound of
meat and one pound of meal per day, and this _always_ fell short by
our Quartermaster’s scales; nor did the horses fare better, for with
no hay at all they only got seven ears of corn a day; and the
Southern soldiers often seriously doubted if the Revolutionary
Fathers could show a record of greater privations than they endured.
If the old Continentals were often without shoes many a barefoot
Confederate could say “so am I;” and if the Continentals often
suffered for food, the Confederates could point to many harassing
scenes when, as Captain Grubb said of Brandy Station, “they fought
all day before breakfast and went on picket all night before
supper;” and although there were often heard complaints bitter and
loud from the poorly-clad, ill-fed, and bad-sheltered soldiers of
Dixie, it is doubtful if the Continentals themselves in their dark
hours evinced greater fortitude, endurance, and devotion, than they;
and the history of the war that _shall_ be written fairly when the
clouds of prejudice and passion, that now hide the fame of the
Confederates, have blown away, will show before God and the true
world a picture of unselfish patriotism as bright as ever crowned
victory with glory or lighted the gloom of defeat with honor, but
such thoughts as these have no true place in this history, and only
show that the clouds are still unbroken.
The month of April, 1864, was passed very pleasantly,
notwithstanding the privations that naturally fall to the lot of men
who support an impoverished cause; and when, on the 27th, the
baggage accumulated during the winter was stored away at
Waynesborough, the soldiers felt that in the approaching campaign
the question of independence or subjection would be decided, and
they prepared for it with hopeful hearts, for they believed their
cause was just, and their faith in Gen. Lee was unbounded.
White had moved from his Lexington camp on the 25th, to the
Saltpetre works, near Waynesborough, where the battalion remained
until the 1st day of May, when the brigade was ordered to cross the
mountain and join the army on the Rappahannock, but just before
marching Co. D was disbanded and its members became absorbed by the
other companies.
The reason of this was that it had no officers and very few men for
duty, and all who remained earnestly desired to disband.
The command moved quietly over the Blue Ridge into Greene county,
and learned that Gen. Grant’s army was crossing the river, and that
Gen. Lee was preparing everything for the inevitable meeting with
the foe, and strange enough there were no murmurs now, as in all
such movements, from the men of Rosser’s brigade, about leaving the
bright Shenandoah Valley, for they seemed to have learned from the
experience that they were soldiers, subject to the powers that be,
and whether they approved or not they _must_ obey orders.
On the march an incident occurred in Co. F, of the battalion, which,
although condemned generally at the time, proved to be highly
beneficial in its results. This company had been without an actual
commanding officer during almost the whole time of its connection
with the battalion, until the promotion of Capt. French, and he had
found it an extremely difficult task to bring many of the men into
any sort of subjection to discipline. On the night of the first
encampment in Greene county, the Captain had given positive orders
that no man should leave the camp without permission, but so far
from the order being obeyed, it was hardly spoken before some of his
men were gone, and remained out all night. In the morning, as they
returned, Capt. French met one of them and inquired where he had
been, to which the soldier replied, “Out in the country to stay all
night.” “Did you not hear my order last night?” asked the Captain.
"Yes, but I don’t mind orders when I want to go anywhere," was the
answer; but it was scarcely given before the Captain’s sabre came
down on his head, and the man fell badly hurt. This created great
excitement in the company, and while most of them joined in a
petition to the Captain to resign, some of them threatened him with
personal violence; but when he heard of it he came out among the men
alone, and proposed to give any or all of them the satisfaction they
required, and awed by his fearless manner, all of them to a man
submitted the case without a trial, and ever afterwards Capt.
French’s orders were law in Co. F, and as has been stated, from
being a very inefficient company, he raised it to the position of a
first-class one for its numbers, but he never used his sabre on his
own men afterwards.
On the evening of May 4th, the “Comanches” encamped in the pines on
the Cataupin road, near the right of Gen. Lee’s army, and about six
miles from Orange C. H.