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Transcriber's Note:

The few minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber's note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.

THE COMANCHES:

A HISTORY OF

C. S. A.

Written by FRANK M. MYERS. Late Capt. Co. A, 35th Va. Cav.

BALTIMORE: KELLY, PIET & CO., PUBLISHERS, 174 and 176 Baltimore Street. 1871.

PREFACE.

Almost all the papers relating to the operations of the "Comanches," whether belonging to the field and staff or to company officers, were lost at the surrender of the army, in consequence of which I have been compelled to draw nearly all that is recorded from my own memory, assisted materially by Col. White, in the account of the "battle of Brandy Station," and of the raids in Fairfax and Loudoun in 1863.

To Mr. John O. Crown I am under obligations for the use of his MSS., giving an account of the operations in the autumn of 1862, and of the last winter of the war, and to Lieuts. J. R. Crown and E. J. Chiswell for much that is interesting in the history of Company B; to the former especially, for a report of his fight with Cole's battalion in Maryland, and of his capture by the same command in 1863.

The lists of killed and wounded for Company B were prepared by Lieut. Chiswell; for Company C, by Capt. Dowdell; for Company E, Lieut. Strickler, and for Company A, by myself.

From Company F, I regret exceedingly that I have not been able to obtain any information whatever.

It is a story altogether of the past, and, as soldiers of the "Lost Cause," we have nothing to do with the efforts of politicians, North or South, to galvanize the Confederacy into spasmodic action, and then cry--

"There's life in the old land yet."

There is no attempt either to conceal or parade the grief we, as Confederate soldiers, felt at the furling of the "conquered banner."

"For though conquered, we adore it, Love the cold, dead hands that bore it."

But while we do love so dearly the battle-flag of "Dixie," we regard it only as the emblem of the "storm-cradled nation that fell," and as the winding-sheet of its dead and buried glory, over whose gloomy tomb the brave, true-hearted men of the southland have raised a monument of noble deeds, which will defy malice, oppression, and time.

We know that the Southern Confederacy is dead, and all its mourning lovers ask is permission to bury their dead reverently.

"Hushed is the roll of the Rebel drum, The sabres are sheathed, and the cannon are dumb, And fate with pitiless hand has furled, The flag that once challenged the gaze of the world."

F. M. MYERS.

LOUDOUN COUNTY. VA., Nov. 27, 1870.

THE COMANCHES.

In commencing the story of the brave deeds performed during the dark days of the great civil war in America by the gallant band known as "White's Battalion," it will be proper to give a short sketch of the man who, as chief of the "Comanches," gave to the Thirty-fifth Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, its existence, and led it through so many campaigns, battles and raids, to occupy a place in the history of the war second to no command of its numbers, and distinguished under the special notice of such men as "Stonewall" Jackson, Richard S. Ewell, J. E. B. Stuart, William E. Jones, Thomas L. Rosser and the gallant Butler of South Carolina; besides receiving the highest encomiums from the greatest cavalry commander since the days when Murat led the squadrons of Napoleon--General Wade Hampton--and of Robert E. Lee, before whose fame the most splendid garlands of glory that wreathe the brows of the noblest men of earth in all time, pale as does the silver moon-beam before the radiant rays of the noon-day sun.

During the war in Kansas, in 1855 or '56, he went to that territory, and joining a company from Missouri, took an active part in the troubles that then threatened to overthrow the pillars of the old Constitution in the terrible maelstrom of abolitionism that afterwards swept away their foundations.

After the Kansas war closed, young White came home, and shortly afterwards bought a farm on the south bank of the Potomac, in Loudoun county, Virginia, where he took up his residence in 1857, and on the 9th of December of the same year married Miss Sarah Elizabeth Gott.

At the first signal of war, given by John Brown at Harper's Ferry, in October, 1859, White was a Corporal in the Loudoun Cavalry, a company then commanded by Capt. Dan. T. Shreve, with which he took part in the scenes of excitement that followed this mad attempt of Northern fanaticism to sweep the twin scourges of fire and blood over the South. At the breaking out of the war in 1861, White was still a member of this company; but owing to a change of its officers, which, to a great extent, damaged its efficiency, he left it and attached himself to the company of Capt. Frank Mason, in Ashby's Legion, with which he served until the autumn of that year, being engaged principally in scouting, much of which he did under the orders of Col. Eppa Hunton, who, during the summer, commanded in Loudoun county. On one of his scouts for Col. Hunton, in Maryland, he captured the first Yankee prisoner of the war in the person of one Costine, of Gen. McCall's staff. When Gen. Evans took command in Leesburg, "Lige White," as he was familiarly known, reported to him, and the night before the fight at Bolivar, the General asked "Lige" "if he didn't want some fun," at the same time informing him that Ashby intended to attack Geary on the following morning; whereupon "Lige" started at 9 o'clock, reaching Ashby's camp just as that commander was marching out to make his demonstration on Harper's Ferry. In this brilliant affair he bore his full share, and when it was over returned on a furlough, to Loudoun, to make necessary arrangements for leaving his family in as comfortable circumstances as possible, while he followed the fortunes of the battle flag of Dixie. Early on the morning of the 21st of October, while driving to Leesburg from Mr. Henry Ball's, in a buggy, with Miss Kate Ball, he heard the firing of the opening fight at Ball's Bluff, and hastily returning to Mr. Ball's, he mounted his horse and reported at once to General Evans for duty.

The General, who was somewhat the worse for whiskey, gruffly asked him what he could do; to which "Lige" replied that he could scout, could carry dispatches, or could go into the ranks and fight. After a few moments of study, Evans exclaimed, "Well, sir, go to the front and fight like hell and damnation;" and "Lige" rode off and reported to Col. Hunton, who was the actual commander in this battle.

The Colonel requested White to remain with him and scout for him during the day; and shortly after, when returning from a scout to the left to learn if the enemy was attempting any movement on the flank, he found fully one-third of the 8th Virginia Regiment in utter rout, caused by a misunderstanding of an order for that part of the regiment, which had been considerably advanced, to retire on the main line, and they taking it to be an order to retreat. With great difficulty the order was explained and the men rallied and brought back to the line, when Col. Hunton ordered an advance of his regiment which vigorously attacked the enemy, driving his whole right wing back to the woods bordering on the bluff, and capturing two brass howitzers, but the left of his line stood firm, and White was ordered by Col. Burt, of the 18th Mississippi, to go into the woods and bring up two companies of his regiment that had been stationed on the extreme right of the Confederate line to guard against a flank attack in that quarter, and form them on the right of the 17th.

As soon as this order had been executed, Col. Burt ordered his regiment to advance, which it did, the Colonel and White riding in rear of the line, and when in about fifty yards of a skirt of timber that grew along a ravine in the old field, the enemy, who till that moment had lain concealed, raised up and poured a most terribly destructive volley into the Mississippi line, by which about one hundred and thirty men were killed and wounded; in fact, by far the largest part of the Confederate loss on that day was caused by this one murderous fire. Col. Burt was mortally wounded by White's side and the latter represents himself as being terribly frightened but untouched, and says the men of the 18th stood unflinchingly in the storm and soon drove the enemy from his position. Col. Burt, who was held on his horse by two of his men, asked White to ride to Col. Jenifer and inform him that he was mortally wounded and must leave the field.

On his return he found Col. Hunton in front of the 18th Regiment instructing its Major to advance through the woods upon the enemy, but the Major objected, saying he did not know the ground; when Hunton said, "Come on, I'll lead you;" to which the Major replied, "No, sir; I can lead my own men, all I want is a guide;" and Col. Hunton turned to White, saying, "Lige, my boy, won't you go with them?" which settled the question of a guide, and "Lige" rode forward in front of the Mississippians, soon finding himself between two fires, the foe in front and friends behind; but the Yankees soon gave way, leaving a splendid brass 24-pounder rifle gun as a trophy to the gallantry of the noble 18th Mississippi. This closed the battle, and Col. Hunton again sent "Lige" on a scout to the left to see what the enemy was doing in that direction. It was now dark and White had not gone far before he was halted by a voice which he knew to belong to a Yankee, and replying in a low tone, "halted;" the man asked who he was; "Lige" answering by asking the same question, and the fellow replied--"I belong to the New York Tammany Regiment." White, still speaking very low, called out excitedly, "You do!" "Come to me, come to me!" and the Yankee advanced close to him with gun at a charge bayonet, when White said to him, "Surrender, or you are a dead man;" at the same time levelling his pistol on him, but the Yankee was pluck, and exclaiming, "Never, to any man!" stepped back to bayonet his foe, and "Lige" at the same moment drew trigger but his pistol missed fire; hastily cocking it again he was just in time, and sent a bullet crashing through the Yankee's brain just as he was in the act of driving his bayonet through him.

Very soon an Irish Captain, a gallant fellow, appeared and called a parley, when the firing ceased and the Captain asked who was in command, to which Capt. William Berkeley replied, "Gen. White," and the Captain at once asked upon what terms his men would be allowed to surrender, and when told they should be treated kindly as prisoners of war, he called them up from their hiding places, saying, "the General assures me you shall be kindly treated; come out and give yourselves up." This had the desired effect and they all came up, to the number of 320, and surrendered to the "brigade of General White."

A few days after this, a recommendation was drawn up and signed by the regimental commanders, asking that White be commissioned in the Regular Army of the Confederate States, for meritorious conduct at the battle of Leesburg. This was approved by Gen. Evans, and cordially endorsed by Gen. Beauregard, but when "Lige" presented it to the Secretary of War, he was informed that no commissions in the Regular Army were being granted then, but that his name should be registered for the first vacancy. This did not suit him and learning that his old friend, Col. Hunton, was in Richmond, called upon him, and was advised by that officer to apply for permission to organize an independent company for service on the border, which he did, and through Col. Hunton's influence succeeded without any difficulty in getting the appointment of Captain in the Provisional Army, with the authority to raise a company as proposed, and he now returned to Leesburg where he opened a recruiting office under very favorable auspices, the militia of the county having been called to that point by Gen. D. H. Hill, to work on the fortifications in course of construction there, and it was natural to suppose that many of them would prefer ranging service on the border to wielding the shovel and the hoe in the breast-works.

Among the first duties required of the company was that of executing an order of Gen. Hill, to collect the delinquent Militia of the 56th Virginia Regiment, and take them to their comrades who were at work on the fortifications around Leesburg, but this was no easy matter, many of them having crossed the Potomac--some to take service in the army of Abraham I, and others to escape doing any kind of military duty in the Confederacy--while a large portion of those who remained were Quakers, who, according to the tenets of their religion, could not perform such duty, and paid their exemption fines.

Another order of the General's required Capt. White to go into south Loudoun and upper Fauquier, and impress into the service all the wagons, teams and negroes that could be spared from that section, and take them to Leesburg.

The execution of this order was entrusted to Henry K. Moore, who, finding the citizens exceeding loth to give over their property to the tender mercies of the C. S. A., took their excuses instead, and returned to camp with sundry promises on the part of the people to send the required articles at a "more convenient season."

On making his report to the Captain, the latter expressed decided disapprobation of that style of executing a military order, and to show what he considered the proper mode, he only allowed Henry and his detail time enough to feed their horses, when he had them in the saddle again, and taking charge of the expedition himself, he sallied forth among the reluctant citizens of the favored region named in Gen. Hill's order. And this time the wagons and contrabands came; but he left a very bitter memory among the people whom he visited, for they were just congratulating themselves that they had so easily escaped the fulfilment of the order which Henry had shown them, when White swooped down upon them and executed it promptly and to the letter.

It was the custom of Capt. White to leave his quarters about dark, on those long winter nights, and striking the Potomac at some one of the fords or ferries along that stream, lie quiet and watch for the Federals to come over, and also to look out for the people, who, loyal to the Lincoln dynasty but traitors to their State, would cross over, some to carry news to the Yankees and return with their blood money to gather more, and some to escape being called into the military service in Virginia.

Not the least however of his care, was to stop the exodus of the negro population who, on the border, were constantly being decoyed by Yankee emissaries away from their masters and their homes.

It was Sunday night and very cold, but a faithful negro had given information to the Captain that a party of his colored brethren had made an arrangement to run away that night, and that some Yankees were to meet them with a boat at the mouth of the Catocton creek.

On getting near the ground the men dismounted and tying their horses, walked to the position, when the Captain placed one man in the bridge over the creek at that place, and posted the others at the boat landing. The one man was to watch for the negroes and give quiet notice of their approach, while the others were to capture the party that brought over the boats.

Unfortunately the reverend gentleman remained with the picket in the bridge, and just when the boats were heard approaching, the poles grating on the river bottom and plainly heard; for the night was too dark to see anything on the water; the contrabands approached the bridge, and, instead of quietly retiring with the information, the picket ordered them to halt, whereupon they commenced to run, and in great excitement the preacher sprang forward, and, firing his piece, called upon them in language far more emphatic than elegant to halt.

At this the boats hastily put back and a volley of bullets from the Yankee side came whizzing over the river, the great signal lights on the Point at the same time beginning to swing to and fro, giving a weird and ghostly gleaming to the wild scene. The Captain and his party at once rushed to the bridge, hoping at least to catch some of the negroes, but they were gone, not even a wounded one left as the result of the preacher's shot.

The company then returned to camp, and that was, I believe, the last, as well as the first, expedition ever made by the parson as a scout.

One night the Captain ordered the company to saddle up, and taking with him his negro boy "Baz," went down near Harper's Ferry, in search of news from "over the water." Here he passed himself and people for Yankees, and had a very pleasant time among the loyal folks of that region; but his information, although very abundant, was not of much value; so after making free with the cherry-bounce, and frightening the little niggers at "old Taps" until their eyes were a great deal too large for their faces, he started "Baz" to a house near the crossing of the Shenandoah, just opposite the town, to try if he couldn't get them to take him over, he representing himself as a runaway, and it being pretty generally understood that the family there was engaged in that business.

It so happened, however, that none of the men were at home, and "Baz" was persuaded by the ladies to wait till morning; but after some time he concluded to put off his trip, and returned to the company, about fifteen of whom were waiting for "Baz"--as part of his programme was to make arrangements for crossing, then return for a couple of friends who were going with him--and he had been so long about it that White, fearing he had got into trouble, or perhaps had turned the thing into earnest and gone over literally, had started to the house and met "Baz" a very short distance from it. His men at once surrounded the cabin, and Ferro, going on the porch, commenced to inquire of the women--who were still standing there--the news, but no sooner did he speak, than, apparently for the first time comprehending the situation, they threw themselves on the floor and began to scream--"Rebels, rebels; oh, my friends, come over here!--come quick!" &c., and the sentinels on the other side fired their muskets. At once the drums commenced to roll and very soon the troops were in line, when White ordered his party to retire, which they did at once; but the women kept on screaming, and the Yankees opened a fire which rendered the retreat of the scouts a very interesting operation until they reached the point where the grade turns the mountain. And thinking they had heard enough for one night they mounted their horses, and going up the Valley to the residence of a good citizen, above Neersville, turned in until morning.

Although returning empty-handed from his scouts, operations of this kind had a good effect on the border, for the reason that they diminished greatly, and at some points stopped the communications entirely, with the other side of the river.

In this manner January and February passed away, but during the latter part of February the business became a great deal more particular, and one Sunday evening the Captain returned to camp from Leesburg with an order to cross Goose Creek and make a scout into Fairfax. Leaving the camp at dark, as usual, the command marched through Leesburg, and on reaching the burnt bridge found the creek very high; in fact, some of the horses had to swim; but all crossed safely, and passing down the pike reached Dranesville, when the Captain turned to the right, and bivouacked his men in the house of a citizen. Here they slept until morning, and continuing the scout, met Lt.-Col. Munford, with a party of the 2d Virginia Cavalry, also on the hunt of the enemy; but nothing came of it, and White returned to his camp, with his men pretty badly used up.

Soon after this, Col. Geary of the 28th Pennsylvania, began to pay attention to the Loudoun side of the river, and needed a great deal of looking after on the part of our scouting company. One day the Captain, with a party, went up to the Loudoun Heights, and from the old blockhouses there, discovered that a pontoon bridge was nearly completed over the Shenandoah, which evidently showed an intention to cross the river. After staying there for an hour or two, in easy gunshot of the workmen, the Captain concluded to go across to the Short Hill and from the Eagle Rock take a look at Sandy Hook and the Rail Road generally. Just as he reached his observatory some of the men looked over at the blockhouses, which they had left a short while ago, and discovered that a detachment of the enemy was in possession of them, having gone up the mountain by one path while White's command was coming down by another. This was decidedly interesting, and the next day the Captain took his boys up to the Short Hill again, to have another look at them.

Pretty soon after reaching the top of the mountain one of the boys saw a man in a blue coat lying behind some rocks, and showing him to the Captain he called upon him to come out and surrender, which he did, and just at that moment one of the boys, farther out on the mountain, slipped from a rock and accidentally discharged his gun. This created quite a panic, the scouts imagining that they were beleaguered by Yankees, and be it known not many of them had ever seen a Yankee except with the Potomac between them.

The trouble was soon over though, and the prisoner, who proved to be a Lieutenant in Co. D, 28th Pennsylvania, explained that he was one of a party that had crossed the hill there on the way to Lovettsville, and by stopping at a house for something to eat he had got behind, and as a consequence fallen into the hands of those whom he termed "guerrillas."

No boy was ever prouder of his first pantaloons than White's boys were of their first prisoner, and rapidly retiring from the mountain they made their best time down the country towards Leesburg, to show him, but great was their astonishment to see the citizens fly from their approach as if they had been a tribe of wild cats.

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