by Jim Surkamp on September 3, 2016 in Jefferson County
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Researched, written and produced by Jim Surkamp
VIDEO: The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Part 3 TRT: 14:08/26:14 (incl. Credits). Click Here.
The Humble Harvest and Eternal Voices – October, 1862 – Jefferson County, West Virginia.
After a Great Battle.
But just as she passed the window best seen by the Sharpshooters, a gust of wind blew her skirts and a curtain aside. Shots immediately announced that the light had been seen.
I asked how the child had been killed. A reply given was, in substance, the same as the old man’s. With both hands, she slowly and solemnly raised the blood stained cover off the little breast, saying in sobs as she did so, “Just look here.”
Deeds of valor are no longer dreams gone by. We live in knightly days; our men are dauntless men. Will there ever be one to write the life of the common soldier?
The regiment had not lost a man to be sure, but had seen a genuine fight, heard the scream of the shells and seen a caisson blowing up and men knocked over.
”Well, you are from the Old Sod, ain’t you?” My reply was simply, ”Yes, sir.”
Last night it rained for an hour or so. I put the ground in fine order for seeding I sent the wagon to Mr. Moore and 27 bushels by measure. The day was fine for seeding. No military to be seen on our side of the hill.
Wednesday, October 15th Pa is becoming rather tired of our South Carolina soldier. Thinks he is sufficiently well to leave.
And I enjoyed the ride home the more for being fortunate enough – firing from my horses back with my revolver – to kill a grey squirrel, which, as our mess arrangements had been thrown into utter disorder by the events was gladly welcomed the same evening on our dinner table.
October 14th – Tuesday Weather: cloudy generally all day.
That day in Charlestown, Mrs. Margaret Cameron, a relic of the late Samuel Cameron, in the 66th year of her age, died of consumption.
Wednesday, October 15th:
Pa is becoming rather tired of our South Carolina soldier. Thinks he is sufficiently well to leave. By some means, managed to put him to apple-gathering today. I think he took the hint and will leave tomorrow.
October 15th – Wednesday. Weather: cloudy. A Skirmish at Charlestown, Va. – First Blood, First Impressions, And a once freed man escapes his butternut captors.
Mulholland remembered:
On the evening of October 15th orders were received to march at daybreak next morning on a reconnaissance down the Shenandoah Valley to Charlestown.
What an evening of pleasurable excitement with a dash of anxiety it was! Men sat around the camp fires later than usual and talked of the morrow; or rolled up in their blankets, dozed and dreamed of the anticipated fight, for all knew that there would be a meeting of some kind, as a Confederate force was within a few miles. Candles flickered all over the camp where others were writing letters home, thinking maybe that that would be their last night on earth. Some packed their knapsacks and were all ready to march hours before the dawn. No doubt many never slept at all but sat by the smoldering embers of the camp fire in quiet thought, gazing at the dark mountains or listening to the wash of the Shenandoah’s waters. One can hardly imagine a moment so full of subdued excitement, anticipative hope, fear, sadness, pleasure and all the emotions that human nature is subject to as the eve of a young soldier’s first battle, and as the stars looked down on the calm, still night at Harper’s Ferry they shone on many a beating though brave young heart; and on the morning of that eventful day when the new soldiers were to hear the whistle of the first hostile bullet, no reveille was necessary to call them to arms. Every man was ready long before the time to move.
Private McCarter’s infantry was ordered to march. He wrote: On the night of the 15th, orders were received for the Irish Brigade to march next morning to Charlestown, a small town about six or seven miles distant. We were to move on the Harpers Ferry Pike, our purpose to drive a large force of the enemy, said to number 3,000, out of the town. These men had taken possession of the town only one day previous to our arrival on Bolivar Heights.
October 16th – Thursday Weather: rain late in the day.
McCarter continues:
The road over which my route lay to (Charlestown) was then in a worse condition than it had ever been before. This had been caused by recent rain storms, so common in Virginia, together with being cut up into ruts and gullies by the passage of hundreds of batteries of artillery, Rebel and Union, as well as large bodies of cavalry and infantry of both armies. Nothing but mud, knee-deep, was to be found anywhere in or around Harper’s Ferry for many miles. And it was “Virginia mud,” red, sticky, thick and staining, hard to remove when dry. However, a cavalry horse was set apart for my use. But not being much of a horseman and my route to the town being a constant jam from morning to night of moving bodies of troops arriving from other parts, I preferred Shank’s mare to the animal appointed to carry me.
That very day Charles Henry Trueman, a freed African American from Fayette County, Pennsylvania – but forced into slavery after being captured in May at Strasburg, Virginia as Federal General Banks’ army was hastily retreating the Valley – he was with the opposing Confederate cavalry at their nearby camp – encamped south west from Charlestown. For weeks Trueman pretended to be illiterate and was therefore given many written, sensitive messages to deliver to the different commands. Of course he studied the messages adding that to what he saw and overheard. So when his moment soon came to escape over to the Federal lines fighting at Charles town he had much to share.
A New York Times reporter met Trueman there and listened to him and concluded in his newspaper’s October 22nd edition:
(Trueman) betrays such unusual intelligence and his statements correspond nearly with what I have previously learned. The following July Trueman enlisted into Company H of the 6th U.S. Colored Troops Infantry.
As the regiments advanced towards Charlestown that autumn day, Mulholland wrote:
Summer lingered late that year. Stacks of hay not yet gathered into the barns were still in the fields. The meadows were yellow with goldenrod, and the regiments’ line was formed in a field still green with rich clover. Ah, how beautiful that bright October morning when for the first time the command formed line to meet the enemy. Every face in the ranks beaming with patriotism, courage, enthusiasm and hope in that long line of young men, the best of the land, men who had risked their precious lives in defense of their country. The calm bravery with which they swept over the flowered fields on that Autumn morning was indicative of what was to be expected on many other and bloodier fields.
The overall Federal Commander Winfield Hancock reported later:
On the 16th instant, in obedience to instructions, I marched toward Charlestown, Va., with my division and 1,500 men of other divisions,
under command of Col. W. R. Lee, of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteers,
and a force of cavalry, with a battery of four guns (horse artillery), Colonel Devin being in command thereof. . . .
POSTS:
(1) POST – The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Pt. 1 2753 words. (Repost from 5.17.2016)
(2) POST – The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Pt. 2. 3275 words.
(3) POST – The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Pt. 3. 2933 words.
(4) POST – The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Pt. 4. 5470 words.
(5) POST – The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Pt. 5 – Conclusion. 10,449 words.
VIDEOS:
UPDATED: The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Pt. 5 – Conclusion TRT: 29:00/53:34 (incl. Credits). Click Here.
The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Part 4 – Skirmish TRT: 23:35/33:48 (incl. Credits). Click Here.
The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Part 3 TRT: 14:08/26:14 (incl. Credits). Click Here.
The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Part 2 TRT: 21:48/27:40 (incl. Credits). Click Here.
The Humble Harvest, Eternal Voices – Part 1. TRT: 17:25/21:14 (incl. Credits). Click Here.
References:
Charles Aglionby Papers and Civil War Diary, Volume 2 – Jefferson County Museum, Charles Town, WV.
Ambler, Anne W. (1971). “Diary of Anne Madison Willis Ambler (1836-1888): A Civil War Experience.” (submitted by her granddaughter, Anne Madison Ambler Baylor – Mrs. Robert Garnet Baylor). Magazine of the Historical Society of Jefferson County.” Vol. Volume XXXVII. Charles Town, WV: Jefferson County Historical Society, p. 29.
Ames, Mary Clemmer. (1872). “Eirene or A Woman’s Right.” G. P. Putnam & Sons: New York, NY. pp. 155-178.
Ames, Mary C. (1872). “Eirene, Or A Woman’s Right.” New York, NY: G. P. Putnam & Sons. googlebooks.com 5 February 2003 Web. 5 March 2016. pp. 155-177.
Chew, Roger P. (1911). “Military Operations in Jefferson County, Virginia (and West Va.) 1861-1865.” [s.l.]: Charles Town, WV: published by authority of Jefferson County Camp, U.C.V. [by] Farmers Advocate Printing. pp. 36-37. archive.org 26 October 2004 Web. 20 June 2016.
Marmion, Annie P. (1959).”Under Fire: An Experience in the Civil War.” William V. Marmion, Jr. editor. self-published.
McCarter, William. (1996). “My Life in the Irish Brigade – The Civil War Memoirs of Private William McCarter, 116th Pensylvania Infantry.” edited by Kevin E. O’Brien. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books Group. googlebooks.com 5 February 2003 Web. 5 March 2016.
Mulholland, St. Clair Augustin. (1899). “The story of the 116th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry. War of secession, 1862-1865.” [Philadelphia, F. McManus, jr., & co.]. archive.org 26 October 2004 Web. 20 June 2016.
Charles Henry Trueman – The New York Times, October 22, 1862 nytimes.com 12 November 1996 Web. 20 June 2016.
FROM BOLIVAR HEIGHTS.; The Story of a Free Negro–His Estimate of the Rebel Strength–Gen. Stuart’s Raid-Rebel Fears and Feelings.Published: October 22, 1862, The New York Times, October 22, 1862 nytimes.com 12 November 1996 Web. 20 June 2016.
New York Times Report No. 2: (NOTE ?? question marks in the text are in the reproduced digitized version at nytimes.org).
The Official Record of the War of the Rebellion Report of W. Hancock, Chapter XIX, Official Record, Series I, Part 2, Vol. 19. Hancock, Caldwell, Zook, Munford reports. pp. 91-97.
Charles Henry Trueman –
Census Records at ancestry.com 28 October 1996 Web. 20 June 2016:
wvgeohistory.org 5 October 2010 Web. 20 June 2016 (Map Gallery):
fold3.com 16 September 2011 Web 20 June 2016:
1860 Census, Jefferson County, Charlestown, Va., 162.,
(NOTE: Camerons lived at Lot 15 in Charles Town owned by Levi C. Cordell in 1860 – Jefferson County Courthouse, Charles Town, WV.)
Cameron, Margaret (b. ~1797); Cameron, John W (b. ~1825);
U.S. Colored Troops Service for Charles Henry Trueman;
Service Record of William Raymond Lee 20th Massachusetts Infantry regiment.
findagrave.org 2 February 2001 Web. 20 June 2016:
William Raymond Lee (Aug. 15, 1807-December 26, 1891)
Margaret Curran Cameron (1797-1862) – Edge Hill Cemetery, Charles Town, WV.
Image Credits – Includes images from the corresponding video:
(For Marmion, Mulholland and McCarter, see “References”)
Mary Ames – frontispiece – “From a New England Woman’s Diary in Dixie in 1865.”
docsouth.unc.edu 19 January 2001 Web. 20 June 2016.
Annie Marmion from book’s frontispiece.
St. Clair Mulholland – courtesy of the US Army HEC, Carlisle, PA.
William McCarter – from book’s frontispiece: googlebooks.com 5 February 2003 Web. 5 March 2016.
Charles Aglionby – from Vol. 2, Aglionby Papers, Jefferson County Museum – Charles Town, WV.
Semblance of Anne Madison Willis Ambler – Thomas Faed – “Lady Writing a Letter”
detail, Thomas F. Meagher The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Heros Von Borcke – Uploaded by bruceyrock632
fold3.com 16 September 2011 Web 20 June 2016.
George Neese – vagenweb.org/shenandoah 7 August 2008 Web. 20 June 2016.
Gen. Nathaniel Banks wearing a hat.
sparedshared9.wordpress.com 25 September 2015 Web. 20 June 2016.
findagrave.org 2 February 2001 Web. 20 June 2016:
Edge Hill Cemetery, Charles Town, WV – photo added by B. Kemp Bell.
The Library of Congress loc.gov 16 June 1997 Web. 20 June 2016:
(extreme detail. soldier in rear, right background) A lone grave on battle-field of Antietam loc.gov 14 September 2015 Web. 10 May 2016.
Map of Jefferson County, Virginia by Howell Brown, 1852;
[African American men tending a horse]
1 photographic print on carte de visite mount : albumen ; 10 x 6.5 cm. | Photograph shows two African American men, probably servants, standing in the foreground; six soldiers standing on the front porch of a building in the background. Contributor: Brady, Mathew, Date: 1862. Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs
“Stuck in the Mud, A flank march across country during a thunder shower” Edwin Forbes, copper plate etching, 1876, detail
A pontoon wagon with boat stuck fast in a slough. A regiment of infantry is pulling on a rope attached to the head of the team, trying to drag them to firmer ground.
From Edwin Forbes, Life Studies of the Great Army, A Historical Work of Art in Copper-Plate Etching …(New York: Edwin Forbes, 1876), plate 19.
hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu 19 October 2009 Web. 20 June 2016.
wikipedia.org 27 November 2002 Web. 20 June 2016:
Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign;
wikigallery.org 4 May 2009 Web. 20 June 2016:
Thomas Faed – Lady Writing a Letter, date unknown.
wikimedia.org 24 June 2003 Web. 20 June 2016:
New York Times logo
Winslow Homer – Camp Fire, 1880 (metmusum.org).
Illustration for poem “The Picket Guard“, p. 90., by N. C. Wyeth (illus.) and Matthews, Bander (ed.), Date: 1922 from “Poems of American Patriotism.” New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. gutenberg.org 4 April 1997 Web. 20 June 2016.
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 10 May 2016:
John Ottis Adams – The Closing of an Autumn Day, 1901;
Jervis McEntee – A Misty Day, November, date unknown;
Jervis McEntee – Gathering Autumn Leaves, Date unknown;
Winslow Homer – The Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, 1863;
(detail) Winslow Homer – Home Sweet Home, circa 1863;
Winslow Homer – On Guard, 1864;
Jerome Thompson – Apple Gathering, 1856;
Eastman Johnson – The Lord is My Shepherd, circa 1863;
Eastman Johnson – Self Portrait, circa 1860;
Eastman Johnson – Man with Scythe, 1868;
Thomas Moran – Slave Hunt, Dismal Swamp, Virginia, 1862;
Sisley, Alfred – Field of Clover, 1874.
Winslow Homer – Painting, Autumn Tree Tops, 1873
collection.cooperhewitt.org – 9 December 2014 Web. 20 June 2016.
James River & Kanawha Canal November 1856
Drawings of David Hunter Strother. images.lib.wvu.edu 18 October 2012 Web. 20 June 2016.
ebooks.library.cornell.edu 28 August 2004 Web. 20 June 2016:
p. 290 – Writing home:
Strother, David H., “Personal Recollections of the Civil War.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. New York, NY: Harper and Bros. Volume 36, Issue: 213, (February, 1868).
p. 827 – thunderstorm, hands in sky:
Crayon, Porte (Strother, D. H.). “The Mountains – VIII.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. Volume 47 Issue: 282 (November, 1873).
p. 24 – around a campfire, man with pipe silhouette:
A Virginian (Strother, D. H.). “Virginian Canaan.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. New York, NY: Harper and Bros. Volume 8, Issue: 43, (December, 1853).
p. 300 – the wagoner:
Strother, David H., “Virginia Illustrated.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, New York, NY: Harper and Bros. Volume 10, Issue: 57, (Feb., 1855). pp. 289-310.
p. 705 – man sleeping:
Carpenter, Horace. “Plain Living at Johnson’s island Described by a Confederate officer.” The Century. Vol. 41 Issue 5. March, 1891.
http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=cent;cc=cent;rgn=full%20text;idno=cent0041-5;didno=cent0041-5;view=image;seq=0715;node=cent0041-5%3A8
wvhistoryonview.org 9 October 2010 Web. 20 June 2016; by Biscoe, Thomas, and Walter:
Halltown Ridge, W. Va. With Ruin on Left, Looking Southwest 1884/08/02;
Bolivar Heights and Gap of Harper’s Ferry, W. Va. 1884/08/02;
Harper’s Ferry from Bolivar Heights 1884/08/02;
Harper’s Ferry Gap – 1884/08/02;
Halltown a Few Miles Southwest from Harpers Ferry, W. Va., 1884/08/02;
digitalcollections.baylor.edu 18 February 2012 Web. 20 June 2016:
Military map showing the topographical features of the country adjacent to Harper’s Ferry, Va. including Maryland, Loudoun and Bolivar Heights, and portions of South and Short Mountains, with the positions of the defensive works, also the Junction of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.
archive.org 26 October 2004 Web. 20 June 2016:
Winfield Hancock, from Mulholland, St. Clair Augustin. (1899). “The story of the 116th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry. War of secession, 1862-1865.” [Philadelphia, F. McManus, jr., & co.].
p. 128.
“Battles and Leaders. Vol. 1.” (1887). Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buel (Ed.). New York, NY: Century Co.
p. 419 – McAllister’s Battery at Fort Donelson.
“Battles and Leaders. Vol. 2.” (1887). Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buel (Ed.). New York, NY: Century Co.
p. 504 – supper after a hard march;
p. 561 – eating corn;
p. 576 – haystacks, view from Turner’s Gap.
collection1.libraries.psu.edu 21 May 2006 Web. 20 June 2016. (Edwin Forbes drawings and etchings taken from ‘Life Studies of the Great Army’ series, documenting military life in the Army of the Potomac.” – 1876:
Title The Newspaper Correspondent
Description Etching created by Edwin Forbes as a part of his ‘Life Studies of the Great Army’ series, documenting military life in the Army of the Potomac.
Creator Forbes, Edwin, 1839-1895
Date Original 1876
Title Newspapers in Camp
Description Etching created by Edwin Forbes as a part of his ‘Life Studies of the Great Army’ series, documenting military life in the Army of the Potomac.
Creator Forbes, Edwin, 1839-1895
Date Original 1876
Title Going into Action
Description Etching created by Edwin Forbes as a part of his ‘Life Studies of the Great Army’ series, documenting military life in the Army of the Potomac.
Creator Forbes, Edwin, 1839-1895
Date Original 1876
“Stuck in the Mud,” Edwin Forbes, copper plate etching, 1876, detail
A pontoon wagon with boat stuck fast in a slough. A regiment of infantry is pulling on a rope attached to the head of the team, trying to drag them to firmer ground. From Edwin Forbes, Life Studies of the Great Army, A Historical Work of Art in Copper-Plate Etching …(New York: Edwin Forbes, 1876), plate 19. hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu 19 October 2009 Web. 20 June 2016.