with ribbons of red, white, and bine floating from their hair, and small Union flags in their hands, rushed out of a house as we passed, came to the curbstone, and with much laughter waved their flags defiantly in the face of the general. He bowed and raised his hat, and, turning with his quiet smile to his staff, said: “We evidently have no friends in this town.” And this is about the way he would have treated Barbara Frietchie!
Having crossed South Mountain, at Turner’s Gap, the command encamped for the night within a mile of Boonsboro’. Here General Jackson must determine whether he would go on to Williamsport or turn toward Shepherdstown. . . . The next morning, having learned that the Federal troops still occupied Martinsburg, General Jackson took the direct road to Williamsport. He there forded the Potomac, the troops now singing, and the bands playing, “Carry me back to ole Virginny!” . . . The next morning the Confederates entered Martinsburg. . . .
General Jackson lost little time in contemplating his victory [the capture of Harper’s Ferry,described on page 140]. When night came, he started for Shepherdstown with J. ft. Jones and Lawton, leaving directions to MeLaws and Walker to follow the next morning. He left A. P. Hill behind to finish up with Harper’s Ferry. His first order had been to take position at Shepherdstown to cover Lee’s crossing into Virginia, but, whether at his own suggestion or not, the order was changed, and after daylight on the 16th he crossed the Potomac there and joined Longstreet at Sharps-burg. General McClellan had, by that time, nearly all his army in position on the east bank of the Antietam, and General Lee was occupying the irregular range of high ground to the west of it,
MAJOR-GENERAL JESSE L. RENO, U. S. V.
Killed at Fox’s Gap.
POTOMAC AT WHITE’S FORD.
that he was ordered to capture the garrison at Harper’s Ferry, and would cross either at Williamsport or Shepherdstown, as the enemy might or might not withdraw from Martinsburg. I did not then know of General Lee’s order.
The troops being on the march, the general and staff rode rapidly out of town and took the head of the column. Just a few words here in regard to Mr. Whittier’s touching poem, ‘ ‘ Barbara Friet-ehie.” An old woman, by that now immortal name, did live in Frederick in those days, but she never saw General Jackson, and General Jackson never saw “ Barbara Frietehie.” I was with him every minute of the time he was in that city,— he was there only twice,— and nothing like the scene so graphically described by the poet ever happened. Mr. Whittier must have been misinformed as to the incident.*
On the march that day, the captain of the cavalry advance, just ahead, had instructions to let no civilian go to the front, and we entered each village we passed before the inhabitants knew of our coming. In Middletown two very pretty girls,
*With reference to this statement Mr. Whittier said on the 10th of June, 1880: “The poem ,Barbara Friet-ehic ’ was written in good faith. The story was no invention of mine. It came to me from sources which I regarded as entirely reliable; it had been published in newspapers, and had gained public credence in Washington and Maryland before my poem was written. I had no reason to doubt its accuracy then, and I am still constrained to believe that it had foundation in fact. If I thought otherwise, I should not hesitate to express it. I have no pride of authorship to interfere with my allegiance to truth.” Mr. Whittier, writing March 7th, 1888, states that he “ also received letters from several other responsible persons wholly or partially confirming the story, among whom was the late Dorothea L. Dix.”
141
JACKSON’S MEN WADING TI-IE
prayer, and if he had he would doubtless have felt like replying as General Ewell did, when asked at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, if he would permit the usual prayer for President Lincoln—“Certainly;
I’m sure he needs it.”
General Lee believed that Harper’s Ferry would be evacuated as soon as he interposed between it and Washington. But he did not know that Halleek, and not McClellan, held command of it. When he found that it was not evacuated he knew some one had blundered, and took steps to capture the garrison and stores. On Tuesday, the 9th, he issued an order, directing General Jackson to move the next morning, cross the Potomac near Sharps-burg, and envelop Harper’s Ferry on the Virginia side. In the same order he directed General MeLaws to march on Harper’s Ferry by way of Middletown and seize Maryland Heights, and General Walker to cross the Potomac below Harper’s Ferry and take Loudoun Heights, all to be in position on the 12th, except Jackson, who was first to capture, if possible, the troops at Martinsburg.
Early on the 10th Jackson was off. In Frederick he asked for a map of Chambersburg and its vicinity, and made many irrelevant inquiries about roads and localities in the direction of Pennsylvania. To his staff, who knew what little value these inquiries had, his questions only illustrated his well-known motto, “Mystery, mystery is the secret of success.” I was then assistant inspector-general on his staff, and also aide-de-camp. It was my turn this day to be intrusted with the knowledge of his purpose. Having finished this public inquiry, he took me aside, and after asking me about the different fords of the Potomac between Williamsport and Harper’s Ferry, told me
STONEWALL JACKSON IN MARYLAND.
BY HENRY KYD DOUGLAS, COLONEL, C. S. A.
Aide-Ce-Camp on the Staff of General Jackson.
ON the 3d of September, 1862, the Federal army under General Pope having been confounded, General Lee turned his columns toward the Potomac, with Stonewall Jackson in front. On the 5th of September Jackson crossed the Potomac at White’s Ford, a few miles beyond Leesburg. The passage of the river by the troops marching in fours, well closed up, the laughing, shouting, and singing as a brass band in front played “ Maryland, my Maryland,” was a memorable experience. The Marylanders in the corps imparted much of their enthusiasm to the other troops, but we were not long in finding out that if General Lee had hopes that the decimated regiments of his army would be filled by the sons of Maryland he was doomed to a speedy and unqualified disappointment. However, before we had been in Maryland many hours, one enthusiastic citizen presented Jackson with a gigantic gray mare. She was a little heavy and awkward for a war-horse, but as the general’s ‘ ‘ Little Sorrel ” had a few days before been temporarily stolen, the present was a timely one, and he was not disposed to “look a gift horse in the mouth.” Yet the present proved almost a Trojan horse to him, for the next morning when he mounted his new steed, and touched her with his spur, the loyal and undisciplined beast reared straight into the air, and, standing erect for a moment, threw herself backward, horse and rider rolling upon the ground. The general was stunned and severely bruised, and lay upon the ground for some time before he could be removed. He was then placed in an ambulance, where he rode during the day’s march, having turned his command over to his brother-in-law, General D. H. Hill, the officer next in rank.
Early that day the army went into camp near Frederick, and Generals Lee, Longstreet, Jackson, and for a time “ Jeb” Stuart, had their headquarters near one another in Best’s grove. Hither in crowds came the good people of Frederick, especially the ladies, as to a fair. General Jackson, still suffering from his hurt, kept to his tent, busying himself with maps and official papers, and declined to see visitors. Once, however, when he had been called to General Lee’s tent, two young girls waylaid him, paralyzed him with smiles and embraces and questions, and then jumped into their carriage and drove off rapidly, leaving him there, cap in hand, bowing, blushing, and speechless. But once safe in Ms tent he was seen no more that day. The next evening, Sunday, he went into Frederick for the first time to attend church, and there being no service in the Presbyterian Church he went to the German Reformed. As usual he fell asleep, but this time more soundly than was his wont. His head sunk upon his breast, his cap dropped from his hands to the floor, the prayers of the congregation did not disturb him, and only the choir and the deep-toned organ awakened him. Afterward I learned that the minister was credited with much loyalty and courage because he had prayed for the President of the United States in the very presence of Stonewall Jackson. Well, the general did n’t hear the