Journey to Armageddon: A Comprehensive Narrative of Military Operations in the Eastern Armies 10 June to 30 June – 1863

By Kevin A. Campbell

The information about the book is not available as of this time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664189447

Kevin A. Campbell

N/A

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Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Campbell.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/26/2021

Xlibris

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Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Book VI — The Gray Tide Crests

19   Virginia’s Wayward Son

20   Lee Crosses the Line

21   Reynolds Takes the Advance

22   An Army Reunited

23   Carlisle

24   The Spires of Harrisburg

25   Early Heads for the Susquehanna

26   York

27   Wrightsville

28   Joe Hooker Loses an Army

29   Lee Changes Course

30   Meade Charts a Course

31   The Road to Hanover

32   Blood in the Streets

33   Stuart Rides On

34   March to Destiny

35   Meade Takes Control

36   John Buford Picks a Battlefield

Epilogue         The Eve of Armageddon

Appendix A – Order of Battle of the Union and Confederate Forces During the Engagements in Maryland & Southern Pennsylvania-26 to 30 June 1863

Appendix B – Organization of The Department of the Susquehanna – 30 June

Appendix C – Strengths and Casualties of the Union and Confederate Forces During the Engagements in Maryland & Southern Pennsylvania-26 to 30 June 1863

Abbreviations

Bibliography

Illustrations

MAPS

Jeb Stuart’s Ride – Phase I

Jeb Stuart’s Ride – Phase II

Jeb Stuart’s Ride – Phase III

Jeb Stuart’s Ride – Phase IV

Jeb Stuart’s Ride – Phase V

Jeb Stuart’s Ride – Phase V

The Federals Move

Edward’s Ferry – Phase

Edward’s Ferry – Phase II

Edward’s Ferry – Phase III

Edward’s Ferry – Phase IV

Edward’s Ferry – Phase V

Edward’s Ferry – Phase VI

Edward’s Ferry – Phase VI

Edward’s Ferry – Phase VIII

Edward’s Ferry – Phase IX

The Rebels Raid Pennsylvania – 26 June

The Rebels Raid Pennsylvania – 27 June

The Rebels Raid Pennsylvania – 28 June

The Rebels Raid Pennsylvania – 28 June

Meade Takes Over – 28 June

Skirmish at Marsh Creek

Skirmish at the Witmer Farm – Phase I

Skirmish at the Witmer Farm – Phase II

Engagement at Wrightsville – Phase I

Engagement at Wrightsville – Phase II

Jenkins Moves on Harrisburg – Phase I

Jenkins Moves on Harrisburg – Phase II

Lee Moves to Battle – 29 June

Meade Moves Northeast

Skirmish at Westminster – Phase I

Skirmish at Westminster – Phase II

Skirmish at Westminster – Phase III

Lee Moves to Battle – 30 June

Meade Crosses the Line – 30 June

Jeb Stuart’s Ride – Phase VII

Battle of Hanover – Phase I

Battle of Hanover – Phase II

Battle of Hanover – Phase III

Battle of Hanover – Phase IV

Battle of Hanover – Phase V

Schwartz Schoolhouse – Phase I

Schwartz Schoolhouse – Phase II

Battle of Hanover – Phase VI

Skirmish at Sporting Hill – Phase I

Skirmish at Sporting Hill – Phase II

PHOTOS

First Lieutenant Theodore S. Garnett

Winfield Scott Hancock

Fairfax Court House

Major Seth Pierre Remington

General Samuel Cooper

General Fitzhugh Lee

Rowser’s Ford

Seneca Creek Aqueduct C & O Canal

C & O Canal, Lock 24

Captain John Esten Cooke

Captain Henry Page

General Montgomery C. Meigs

Brigadier General Rufus Ingalls

General William Mahone

Francis Milton Kennedy

Colonel Willian C. Oates

Colonel William R. Aylett

Lee and Hill at Chambersburg

General Isaac Trimble

General Oliver O. Howard

General Seth Williams

Brigadier General Joseph Tarr Copeland

Colonel R. Butler Price

Colonel Othniel De Forest

Captain James H. Kidd

Colonel William D. Mann

Colonel Leopold von Gilsa

Brigadier General Adolph von Steinwehr

Monocacy River Aqueduct

Mouth of the Monocacy River

General Samuel W. Crawford

Colonel William McCandless

Colonel Joseph Washington Fisher

General John Potts Slough

General Henry Lockwood

Colonel John H. Ketcham

Major General William H. French

Brigadier General Alexander Hays

General Henry Slocum

Mouth of Goose Creek

Upstream Exit of Lock 25, C & O Canal

Brigadier General Robert O. Tyler

Colonel Charles R. Coster

Major General Dan Sickles

Colonel Patrick H. O’Rorke

Elisha Hunt Rhodes

Nathaniel Edward Harris

Captain Daniel H. Hastings

Captain Jedediah Hotchkiss

Major Henry Kyd Douglas

Major John A. Harman

Brigadier General Napoleon J. T. Dana

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Coppée

Captain Marcus A. Reno

Colonel William Everdell

Peace Church

Brigadier General John Gordon

Brigadier General Harry T. Hays

Colonel Isaac E. Avery

Thaddeus Stevens

Chambersburg Pike and Hilltown Road

Elizabeth Thorn Statue

The Witmer Farmhouse

Field south of the Witmer Farm

Henry Wirt Shriver

Doctor William K. Zieber

Daniel E. Trone

Hanover Junction

Platform at Hanover Junction

General Jubal Early

South George Street, York, PA

Arthur Briggs Farquhar

Colonel George Hay

Colonel Clement Evans

William Extra Billy Smith

Colonel Jacob G. Frick

Kreutz Creek

The J. H. Huber House

Major Granville Haller

Major General Darius N. Couch

Burning of the Columbia Wrightsville Bridge

The Wrightsville House

Remainder of the Wrightsville Bridge

Captain Albert M. Hunter

Major General Dan Butterfield

General Joseph Hooker

Colonel James A. Hardie

General Gouverneur K. Warren

President Abraham Lincoln

Edwin M. Stanton

Second Lieutenant Edward R. Geary

Lieutenant Colonel Charles W. Asmussen

General George Gordon Meade

Brigadier General Alexander Stewart Webb

Brigadier General Romeyn B. Ayres

Major General George Sykes

Colonel Hannibal Day

General Julius Stahel

Captain James M. Robertson

General David M Gregg

Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick

General John Buford

Brigadier General George A. Custer

Henry Harrison

Captain James Power Smith

General Albert Jenkins

General Harry Heth

Colonel Henry K. Burgwyn

Cashtown Inn

David Wyatt Aiken

Colonel Eppa Hunton

General Henry J. Hunt

Brigadier General Andrew A. Humphreys

Major James Cornell Biddle

Captain George G. Meade

Big Pipe Creek near Union Mill

John F. Reynolds

Brigadier General Solomon Meredith

Saint Joseph’s Academy

Mount Saint Mary’s College

Brigadier General George S. Greene

Brigadier General Horatio G. Wright

Provost Marshal General Marsena R. Patrick

Colonel John B. McIntosh

Colonel Pennock Huey

Colonel John Gregg

Captain Noah Jones

Lieutenant Samuel Sherer Elder

Colonel Russel A. Alger

Brigadier General Wesley Merritt

Colonel George P. Fisher

Odd Fellows Hall

Captain Charles Corbit

Westminster Main Street

Grave of Lieutenant John W. Murray

Andrew K. Shriver

Sarah Catherine Shriver

The Andrew Shriver House

The Gristmill at Union Mills

Colonel Nathaniel Richmond

Lieutenant Colonel Addison W. Preston

Major John Hammond

Lieutenant Colonel William P. Brinton

Colonel Charles Town

Colonel John Chambliss

Colonel Richard L. T. Beale

Lieutenant Colonel William H. F. Payne

Colonel James Lucius Davis

Captain William A. Graham

The Josiah Gitt farm

Kitzmiller’s Mill

Jacob Wirt Residence

Broadway St., Hanover Pennsylvania

Toward Abbottstown and York Streets

Abbottstown St., Hanover, Pennsylvania

Second Lieutenant Henry C. Potter

Winebrenner Tannery

The Hanover Commons

Chaplain Louis N. Boudrye

Major Amos H. White

Sergeant Thomas Burke

Edward F. Parker Little Ed

First Lieutenant Eugene Dumont Dimmick

Colonel George Gray

Lieutenant Colonel Ebenezer Gould

Major Luther S. Trowbridge

Lieutenant Colonel Allyne C. Litchfield

Central Hotel, Hanover, Pennsylvania

Pierce Manning Butler Young

Henry Winebrenner Home

Wade Hampton``

Brigadier General James J. Pettigrew

Brigadier General John Ewen

Colonel Lloyd Aspinwall

Lieutenant Rufus King Jr.

Captain Asa Bird Gardiner

Major James F. Cox

Colonel Charles Roome

Landis Battery at Sporting Hill

Brigadier General Herman Haupt

Major General John Sedgwick

Brigadier General John W. Geary

Captain Charles Treichel

Major John L. Beveridge

Toms Creek

The Eagle Hotel

Colonel George H. Chapmen

Major William E. Beardsley

Colonel William Sackett

Colonel Josiah H. Kellogg

Gettysburg’s Lutheran Seminary

Moritz Tavern

Oliver O. Howard

This work is dedicated to my father

Richard A. Campbell

Who allowed me to make my own decisions

and was always there to help pick up the

pieces when I made a poor one.

Preface

A few years ago, during one of our country’s heated presidential campaigns, I heard a supporter of one of the candidates utter the following words; "[W]e are going to have to change our conversation; we’re going to have to change our traditions, our history; we’re going to have to move into a different place as a nation… My jaw almost hit the floor. How can one change…, our history?" Hasn’t history already happened? Unless someone had taken H. G. Wells’ wish to heart and invented a time machine there is no way to change history. Today, I often wonder if I am seeing this proposal being played out in the removal and vandalization of monuments and tributes to our historical figures in an effort to follow through on such nonsense. Do we, as a nation, have sad and immoral events and customs in our past that are no longer acceptable and are no longer practiced? Yes, we do. But to try and erase them from the story that is our nation sets the stage for our society to repeat those offences. We, as a people, must never forget where we have come from, even though that place may have been deemed unethical, dark, or, in today’s society, unacceptable. This entire set of volumes which I intend to develop, if the Lord allows me to keep taking in oxygen long enough, is my effort in documenting a piece of that history. No matter how many tributes to our revered historical figures that politicians and special interest groups determine are no longer acceptable, their deeds and memory will continue on in my work.

Today, the average individual, when thinking of America’s Civil War, is typically of the opinion that the conflict was a series of high-profile battles interspersed between long periods of maneuvering, inactivity and boredom. They believe battles like Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Chickamauga, Shiloh, Vicksburg and Gettysburg were the events that ultimately decided the war’s outcome. Generally, these are the happenings that are primary in the minds of the American people today. We can travel to those battlefields and visit the sites which decided the fate of a nation. We can step inside the Dunker Church at Antietam, walk along the railroad cut at Second Bull Run, or stand where Armistead and his Virginians came over the stone wall at Gettysburg. All these places have meaning to those who visit the sites of the massive battles that cost the young country so much blood. They are foremost in the lexicon of the Civil War and nearly all Americans who have taken the time to learn at least a smidgen of Civil War history know of them.

However, what most Americans do not realize, or understand, is that the war did not simply consist of a collection of massive battles waged by juggernaut armies. No, the American Civil War was a continuous event that affected the lives of many Americans on a daily basis. It consisted of tens of thousands of minor events, engagements and incidents, many of which were never recorded and are lost to history, which brought the war home to nearly everyone’s doorstep. Many of these incidents were no more than small groups of antagonists bumping into one another as they rode from place to place. Others were simple interactions between soldiers and civilians. Although they may seem unimportant to the layman, they are nonetheless as significant as the battles themselves for they provide a deeper understanding of how and why the armies meet at Gettysburg or on other major battlefields. The course which led the combatants to their encounter in southern Pennsylvania was dictated, and in many cases defined, by the minor events and decisions made during the preceding days.

Today when America goes to war it is in a far-off land and typically only effects those who have family members in the military or whoever should happen to turn their flat screen to a cable news program. This was not the case during America’s Civil War. The war was an event which defined the lives of citizens, both North and South, for not only the four long bloody years it lasted, but, for the families of the veterans, for the rest of their lives.

Volume Layout and Linear Timing

This volume of my work on the Gettysburg Campaign chronicles the decisions and events of the campaign which occurred during the period between 10 and 30 June 1863. While some events take place outside of this time frame, they are generally required to establish a level of understanding regarding pertinent events or individuals. However, excluded from this volume is coverage of the Battle of Second Winchester which received its treatment within Volume II of this work.

When I began this project in 2008 it was my intention to develop nine general volumes covering various aspects of the Gettysburg Campaign. I envisioned each printed volume containing two books, each of which would be presented in the general order in which the campaign and battle unfolded. I was able to accomplish this with the first two volumes of this work. However, it quickly became apparent as I developed the copy for the third, that keeping the two books to be included to a size that would allow them to be printed within one volume was not going to be achievable. I simply had more information I wished to present than could be contained in one volume. I therefore, early on, determined that there was a real possibility that Volume III would need to be broken into two parts. This is what has indeed been done to keep the size of the individual publications manageable. I felt it was better to develop the work which I had envisioned rather than water down the material to keep it to a practicable size for a single publication. I have chosen to divide the work with each part containing one of the two books which were to originally be included in my conceptually, single volume format. Therefore, the publication you now hold is approximately half of Journey to Armageddon. It contains Book VI of my work, The Gray Tide Crests. The first half, which was published in 2019, contains Book V, The Passage of the Hosts.

Taking into consideration the Gettysburg Campaign occurred over a vast geographical area, it rapidly became clear that to address the events from 10 to 30 June in a purely linear fashion would be unrealistic and difficult for the reader to follow. Therefore, I have chosen to break the campaign up into manageable time segments with the major events receiving individual treatments. A rough breakdown of these segment is as follows: 10 to 18 June; 19 to 24 June; 25 to 27 June; 28 June; 29 June; and 30 June. This breakdown is generally maintained but there are a few instances in the narrative where this division is not adhered to for flow purposes or to complete the discussion of an event which may bleed over into another partition.

Interspersed between these basic time frames, at their appropriate points, will be the major events of the campaign. These will include the cavalry battles in the Loudoun Valley, which appeared in Part I of this volume, Ewell’s move on Harrisburg, Early’s expedition to the Susquehanna River and the Battle of Hanover.

In the first three publications in this series, I created my own maps to accompany those volumes. These efforts, while they have been fruitful, have also taken a significant period of time. Therefore, for this publication I have chosen, where practical, to utilize period maps as a basis for the cartography. This has saved significant time in the development of this work and, hopefully, will improve the usability of the cartography.

Purpose of this Work

The purpose of Volume III of this work is to document the Gettysburg Campaign from 10 June to 30 June independent of the events which occurred near Winchester Virginia from 12 June to 16 June. The previous volumes of this series addressed the character and persona of the participants, the preliminary events of the campaign and the battles of Brandy Station and Second Winchester. The author anticipates nine volumes within this series but has discovered that to limit oneself to such a restriction is probably a somewhat whimsical notion. The general topics of each proposed volume are as follows:

Kevin A Campbell

2021

Acknowledgements

The list of individuals and entities that have aided me and contributed in the creation of the second half of Journey to Armageddon is too long to fully present here. There are a few, however, that deserve to be part of the attaboy list and called out as having provided significant assistance. Anyone who I neglect to recognize, you know who you are. Thanks for your encouragement, support and aid.

I would like to thank the former and current curators of the Doubleday Inn. When I began my pilgrimages to Gettysburg and the surrounding area, Todd and Christine Thomas hosted me at the Doubleday. It was my home away from home and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their friendship and hospitality. Christine and Todd sold the inn to new innkeepers Greg and Sue Rosensteel in January of 2018. The Rosensteel family has a storied history in the Gettysburg area. It was a pleasure to meet both Greg and Sue a few months after they took over the inn. I visited them once again in the fall of 2019. It is safe to say that the Doubleday Inn remains in good hands. I would recommend that visitors to the Gettysburg area make arrangements to partake in the Rosensteel’s hospitality.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my friend, fellow writer and Civil War aficionado, Scott Mingus. Scott has taken a sincere interest in my work and I appreciate the support and enthusiasm he has expressed regarding my effort. In addition to him providing moral support, Scott has also assisted me with editorial work and in fact has read every word of this manuscript. He has provided not only editing assistance but, being an expert on the Gettysburg Campaign and the doings in Pennsylvania’s York and Adams Counties during the summer of 1863, has offered insight and instilled in me an understanding of the histography of the region. I would also like to thank Scott for providing and allowing me to reference a copy of his consolidated listing of Civil War damage claims filed in York County. His efforts in assisting me are greatly appreciated. I only wish I resided closer to the eastern portion of the country so that I could attend more of his talks on the events of the war and partake in his willingness to share his knowledge with others. I would also like to thank Scott for providing his photo of the Henry Winebrenner home. On my most recent trip to the Gettysburg area, I intended to take my own photograph but while in Hanover it slipped my mind. Scott graciously allowed me to utilize the one from his collection.

Appreciation is also due to John R. McGrew and Wendy Bish-McGrew who helped me locate a number of photographs within the holdings of the Pennsylvania Room at the Guthrie Memorial Library in Hanover. Wendy pulled photos of nearly everything I asked to see and John provided a plethora of informational tidbits. Unfortunately, the remaining components of Daniel Trone’s telegraph, which I intended to photograph, are no longer among the Pennsylvania Room’s holdings. Wendy also informed me of her family’s connection to the original owners of the Union Mills site, the Bankerds, who were eventually forced to cede the property to the Shriver family.¹

Once again, I would like to express my cordial appreciation to John Heiser and all the incredibly helpful individuals at the Gettysburg National Military Park Library. I have visited the library a number of times over the past ten years. These visits provided me the opportunity to gather significant first-hand accounts of not only the movements of the two armies to Gettysburg, which this volume covers, but of the battle itself. Being provided access to the vast resources at the library, and in particular the vertical files, has contributed to the betterment of this work. Additionally, it has allowed me to greatly expand my own files in relation to the campaign and battle. The as yet unwritten volumes in this series will greatly benefit from these documents. John has since retired from his position with the Park Service and I wish him success in any and all future endeavors. Thank you for putting up with my requests to review the library’s holdings and good luck in your retirement.

During the search for photos for this portion of Journey to Armageddon I spent a good deal of time looking for one of the Peace Church near Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Captain Wiley H. Griffin unlimbered his Baltimore Light Artillery during General Albert Jenkins’ movement to reconnoiter the approaches to Harrisburg in and near the churchyard. My search had been in vain until one day, during a trip to the Gettysburg area, I stopped by Jim Schmick’s fine Civil War bookshop in Mechanicsburg. I mentioned to him my desire to find a photo of the church and my lack of success. As luck would have it, Jim had a photo and offered to send me a copy and all it would cost me would be a photo credit. Sure enough, two weeks after returning home, a copy of a photo of the Peace Church appeared in my email. Thanks, Jim, for the photo and the opportunity to bend your ear for a while at your shop.

I would also like to thank Robert J. Wynstra who provided me with additional primary account material regarding Ewell’s march up the Cumberland Valley and the Second Corps’ occupation of Carlisle. Robert cordially volunteered his material and provided me links to additional sources to which I was not privy. I was unable to utilize all of the material he provided but the accounts which made their way into the narrative have improved that particular portion of the work. For greater coverage of Ewell’s march down the valley, I would suggest his fine work, At the Forefront of Lee’s Invasion.

Thanks are due the United State Army Heritage and Education Center staff for the assistance they have provided me on my various trips to the archive. They are always pleasant and ready to help when asked.

During the spring of 2021 I sent a copy of the second part of Journey to Armageddon to my brother, Kyle. As with the first stanza, he reviewed the manuscript and found a number of typographical and grammatical errors. I greatly appreciate his assistance, interest and thoughts.

Appreciation is due to my late parents Richard and Vickie. I have come to understand, based on various aches and pains and a perceived swifter passage of time that there are fewer days ahead than behind. I miss you greatly and take comfort in the fact that when my day comes, and I am called home, I will see you again.

Again, I would like to express heartfelt thanks to my wife Susan. She has put up with my isolation and seemingly brainless inability to recall things important to her while my mind wanders back and forth from being an author and writer, holding down a fulltime job and being a husband and supporter of her wishes and needs. She works hard at all her endeavors and the things she loves as well as keeping me on a correct life path. Although sometimes it seems I overlook her efforts and concerns, I appreciate her more than she knows. Love you.

I also wish to thank the resolute historians who documented the events and the soldiers’ experiences, the editors who skillfully polished their work and the dogged documenters who gathered and organized the records. I wish to thank them for the overabundance of data and mountains of primary and secondary, published and unpublished sources from which this manuscript was created. The time spent on this project and the experiences it has provided me have been some of the richest events of my life.

Lastly, I would like to express my appreciation to all the gallant soldiers who endured the hardships. These men set aside their lives to march off to experience the adversities of war because they all felt, both North and South, that it was the correct thing to do and their cause was just. Long marches through blistering sun, in some instances, robbed them of their futures. The whirlwind of battle sent even more of those brave men to meet their God while the aftermath of those battles claimed a great deal more. Nearly eighty years after the War of the Rebellion came to its conclusion, another famous American military man, General George S. Patton Jr., summed up the bravery of the American fighting man. His comments, while aimed at the courageous men who went to war in the 1940s can also be applied to the men who served during the Civil War. It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

Thanks to all.

Kevin A. Campbell

2021

Foreword

During the month of June in the year 1863, 175,000 men put their tired and worn feet upon the dusty roads of Virginia. They were headed for the Potomac River. These men, the members of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and Joseph Hooker’s Army of the Potomac, were bound for a rendezvous of epic proportions at Gettysburg in southern Pennsylvania. The adversaries knew there was a fight in their future. But, as the coming battle and its aftermath were of growing concern in the minds of the men, the days needed to reach their rendezvous were just ahead. These days would be filled with hardships of a different nature. Author Kevin Campbell discusses these adversities and more in this second installment of Journey to Armageddon.

In the second part of his work, the author discusses not only the difficulties of the campaign but the encounters that occurred as the two armies marched across southern Pennsylvania and Maryland toward their bloody encounter at Gettysburg. He discusses the engagements between Lee’s hardened veterans and the upstart militia of Major General Darius N. Couch’s Department of the Susquehanna. Citizens from towns such as Carlisle, McConnellsburg, Wrightsville and Hanover, who had generally remained oblivious of the hard hand of war, saw the conflict brought to their door steps. Even the town of Gettysburg was not spared, as elements of Richard S. Ewell’s Second Corps, the lamented Stonewall Jackson’s old command, raided the town five days before the inauguration of the epic battle. The particulars of General Jeb Stuart’s ill-fated cavalry excursion, which deprived Lee of his eyes and ears during the campaign’s most critical time, are also reviewed in detail. These names, places and event, have been injected into the histography of the Gettysburg Campaign by the brave riders and foot soldiers who journeyed to and fought in and around the southern Pennsylvania town.

As the men of the Army of the Potomac made their way across their namesake river that June, most knew that the time for spilling blood was approaching. The days consisted of long marches through summertime temperatures while dressed in woolen uniforms and carrying thirty to forty pounds of soldiering paraphernalia. Those who could not keep up fell behind. Many would not reach their unit’s campsite until the middle of the night. While the days were filled with dust, extreme temperatures, heatstroke and other physical hardships, hours of darkness were accompanied by little sleep. Those who straggled into camp in the middle of the night would collapse into slumber, only to be awakened two or three hours later to once again endure the heat and dust of the march, having not sufficiently recovered from their previous day’s tramp. When the sun and heat dissipated, they were usually replaced by rain and mud, the latter attaching itself to every part of a marching soldiers’ feet and legs. Scant rations and little water often made each day’s journey even more difficult.

As the blue-clad boys made their way across Maryland and into southern Pennsylvania, ahead of them lay the target of their advance, Lee’s gray-backed boys of the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee’s men were not only scouring the countryside to feed the Southern war effort, they were now threatening the Keystone State’s capital of Harrisburg. Lee’s men had every reason to be confident that their current adventure would bring the fruits of victory. After all, their commanding general had achieved success against great odds in nearly every campaign his army had waged. There was no reason to believe that the man who was once called Granny Lee would not do so once more.

The story of these hardy men and the events of their existence is a significant element within the story of the Gettysburg Campaign which author Kevin Campbell tells in a strong prose. His invigorating and personal style, interlaced with the personal accounts of the participants makes for an engrossing and authoritative narrative. Most historians who write of the great crusade gloss over these events in favor of the more prominent proceedings in and around Gettysburg during the first three days of July, 1863. But the days spent by the officers and soldiers marching northward, and their commander’s efforts in guiding their respective armies along their paths to Gettysburg, were difficult in their own right. Campbell documents the events of these long-gone trying days during which men drove themselves to the limits of their physical endurance, and in some instances, beyond those limits, paying for their exertions with their lives. The reader will develop a new appreciation for the fighting man of America’s defining conflict by absorbing the stories which Campbell relates within the pages of the second installment of the third volume in his Gettysburg series.

Campbell has made a supreme effort in allowing the men who experienced these hardships to relay them in their own words to the reader. There are no better qualified individuals to tell these human-interest stories than the men who lived through them. He utilizes these reminiscences to follow Lee’s Confederates across the Mason-Dixon Line, opening up the North to the vanguard of the invasion. He utilizes extensive Federal accounts to track Joseph Hooker’s, and subsequently George Meade’s, army from the banks of the Potomac and on through Maryland to its encounter with Lee’s legions at Gettysburg.

The story of these 175,000 men as they marched to their meeting in southern Pennsylvania is one which has not been completely told and, in truth, is too voluminous to be entirely presented in a single work. While the documentation of the battle has been told, retold and will be voiced once again by its participants in the pages of the future volumes of this work, the experiences of the soldiers while making their way to Gettysburg were nonetheless real for them. These stories are inspirational in their own right and are presented in Kevin Campbell’s Journey to Armageddon, providing Civil War and Gettysburg enthusiasts with a clearer picture of the full scope of a Civil War campaign.

Elan Valorous

May 2021

Maps

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Journey to Armageddon

Part 2

"Use your fear… it can take you to the place

where you store your courage."

Amelia Earhart

Book VI

The Gray Tide Crests

Chapter XIX

Virginia’s Wayward Son

"The main body of Hooker’s army

has gone towards Leesburg…"²

Major General Jeb Stuart to

Adjutant General Samuel Cooper

27 June 1863

Jeb Stuart’s column of cavaliers moved through the darkness of the Virginia countryside. By the early morning hours of 25 June, the procession was ascending the western flank of the Bull Run Mountains. Approaching Glasscock’s Gap, a couple of miles south of Thoroughfare Gap, the Rebels brushed aside a Federal picket post and moved in the direction of Haymarket. Stuart noted that his troopers pierced the mountain without serious difficulty. Everything seemed to be going well until the column approached Haymarket. Here the riders encountered their first obstacle of the excursion. Stuart’s aide-de-camp, First Lieutenant Theodore S. Garnett, remembered that as dawn was breaking the column was nearing Buckland on the eastern slope of the mountain. The nineteen-year-old noted that [a]cross the plain, to our left, were the white tops of an immense wagon train, which, at the distance of two or three miles, presented the appearance of a huge flock of sheep. Captain William Blackford noted that Stuart expected to move eastward through Haymarket and thence direct to Fairfax C. H. but at Haymarket, early in the first day’s march, he found Hancock’s corps on the march occupying the road he wished to cross for many miles each way. Stuart remembered that Hancock had interspersed his trains with his infantry.³

The Rebel cavalier’s route was effectively blocked by the tramping Federals. Garnett original believed that the wagon train was the object of our movement. Continuing, the aide noted [w]e moved cautiously on toward the train, and when near enough to attack, it was discovered that it was guarded by at least a division of infantry. As the Rebels neared, the Yankees noted their approach and, according to Garnett, took up the whip and spur and were moving off as fast as possible with the infantry spread out on the train’s flank. Staff officer John Esten Cooke, Stuart’s ordnance chief, recalled later that Stuart intended to trap any Federals who may have been lingering in the gorge of Thoroughfare Gap. He never expected, however, to find a full Federal corps, with its trains, marching away from the gap blocking his path.⁴

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First Lieutenant Theodore S. Garnett served as an aide-de-camp on General Stuart’s staff. University of Virginia; Its History, Influence, Equipment and Characteristics

Captain John E. Cooke was an educated man, being a writer by trade. He was born on 3 November 1830 at Ambler’s Hill in Winchester, Virginia. His father was a lawyer and had assisted in the writing of a new constitution for the state in 1829. Although John had received the education of a lawyer and intended to enter the University of Virginia, financial difficulties kept him from enrolling. He turned to writing and by the outbreak of the war had already published a number of manuscripts. Cooke joined the Richmond Howitzers during the latter half of the 1850s and went with the unit when it was sent to Harpers Ferry to squash John Brown’s insurrection in 1859. He left the Howitzers early in January 1862, and a short time later was employed by Stuart as a volunteer aide. He soon joined Stuart’s staff as ordnance officer.⁵

Although it had been made clear to Stuart that time was a luxury he did not possess, he could not resist his nature. The aggressive cavalier could not pass up the opportunity to lob a few artillery rounds toward the enemy. Finding a position from which to unlimber his guns, Stuart ordered up Breathed’s battery and instructed his cannon to commence firing. He reported that his guns opened with effect, scattering men, wagons, and horses in wild confusion… One of the rounds struck a caisson and disabled it, forcing the Federals to abandon it along the road. Cooke noted that Stuart seemed as giddy as a school girl at the precision of the caisson-disabling shot.⁶

This ‘good shot’ highly delighted the General, who turned round laughing, and called attention to the accuracy of the fire. The individual addressed laughed in response, but replied, ‘Look out, though; they are going to enfilade you from that hill on the right, General.’ ‘Oh! I reckon not,’ responded the General; but he had scarcely spoken when a puff of white smoke rose from the wooded knoll in question, and a shot screamed by, just grazing the top of one of our caissons near the guns. This was followed by another and another; the enemy were seen hastily forming line, and advancing sharpshooters; whereupon Stuart ordered back his guns, and dismounted cavalry to meet them.⁷

Lieutenant Garnett recalled paying our respects to them…, by running up a battery of horse artillery and blowing up a caisson for them, killing some of their horses and making their exit as unpleasant as possible.⁸

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Near Haymarket, Stuart’s path was blocked by the Federal army’s Second Corps under General Winfield Scott Hancock. LOC

Stuart, understanding that he could not afford to get into a scrap with an entire Federal corps, after capturing a few prisoners, pulled back. Pulling out his writing utensils, Stuart quickly wrote out a personal communication to his commander informing him of his encounter with Hancock. He handed it to a courier and sent the man off to find General Lee. As Hancock had the right of way on my road, Stuart retreated. He ordered his brigade under Fitz Lee to ride to Gainesville, reconnoiter the area and look for an alternate route, while the remainder of his column turned out their horses to graze. He then moved back to Buckland Mills to deceive the enemy. Blackford noted that the column had to wait most of the morning for them [Hancock] to pass, and then by a detour he [Stuart] passed around their rear and by a more circuitous route pushed on…⁹

As a copy of Stuart’s message to Lee has never been found, it is impossible to know exactly what was contained in its wording. According to John S. Mosby, the message did manage to reach Lee’s headquarters, implying the Lee was aware that the Federal army was moving northward.

"As Hancock was on Hooker’s extreme left it indicated that his whole army was marching to the Potomac. The courier traveled inside our lines and could not have been intercepted. General Lee must have received the letter about Williamsport the next day, as there was a line of relay couriers to his headquarters. It is therefore a reflection on General Lee to suppose that he was surprised when he heard that Hooker had crossed the Potomac."¹⁰

Mosby’s statement is somewhat hypocritical. He constantly operated inside the Federal lines and as few as eight days earlier had captured Federal couriers with important papers near Aldie, which at the time was inside the Federal lines. To now make the assumption that a Federal patrol could not be operating inside Rebel lines, a task he continuously preformed, in an effort to shift blame to Lee, extinguishes his credibility on the issue. In addition, he makes two assumptions that have little to no viability. The first is that the movement of Hancock’s corps was an indication that Hooker’s whole army was in motion. While at the time this was the case, Mosby really had no way of knowing that the movement of one corps meant that the other six were also on the move. He seems to be depending on hindsight. The other was his assumption that because the courier was operating inside Rebel lines, he had made it to Lee’s headquarters uninterrupted. These two assumptions place doubt on Mosby’s assertion that Stuart’s 25 June message to Lee got through.

Another Stuart defender, Henry McClellan, took a different, more accurate stance regarding Stuart’s 25 June message. This information, he wrote later, was at once started to General Lee by a courier bearing a dispatch written by General Stuart himself. It is plain from General Lee’s report that this messenger did not reach him; and unfortunately, the dispatch was not duplicated. Had it reached General Lee, the movement of Hancock’s corps would, of itself, have gone far to disclose to him the intentions of the enemy as to the place where a passage of the Potomac was about to be effected. Why this communication was not duplicated and inserted into Stuart’s order book or sent with the use of more than one courier is puzzling. If those involved did indeed, at that time, understand its criticality, it should have been recorded and duplicated. McClellan’s statement, under scrutiny, fails to live up to his opinion of its importance. To assume that Hancock’s movements indicated that a passage of the Potomac was about to occur, like Mosby’s statement, seems to benefit from retrospection. The fact that Hancock was indeed headed for the river does not validate McClellan’s point, as his account was written many years after the war.¹¹

It is possible that one or more of the Federal prisoners captured during the encounter provided information which indicated Hancock was headed for the river but no one seems to have recorded this occurred. Stuart, in his report, does not note that he was of the opinion that Hancock’s movement indicated he was about to cross the river. He only states that he sent a dispatch to General Lee concerning Hancock’s movement… In addition, if Stuart did indeed understand, at the time, that Hancock was headed for the river, why did he not send off additional messengers as he had plenty of time to do so while his command was halted near Buckland Mills?¹²

Stuart Rides On

Finding an entire Federal corps blocking his path was a shock to Stuart. Mosby’s latest intelligence placed the elements of Hooker’s army farther to the north in the vicinity of Centreville and Fairfax Court House. He would be forced to remain stationary for the balance of the morning to allow the enemy to pass before he could continue. When able to move, he rode off to Buckland Mills and established his bivouac for the night. Once in camp, the skies opened up and rain pelted down, drenching the cavalrymen. That night was rainy and disagreeable, Lieutenant George W. Beale of the 9th Virginia wrote his mother, and we spent it without shelters or fires.¹³

The general and his staff were invited to spend the evening under the cover of a nearby mansion, where they took their supper. Cooke recalled the evening meal.

"That supper is one of the pleasant memories the present writer has of the late war. How the good companions laughed and devoured the viands of the hospitable host! How the beautiful girls of the family stood with mock submission, servant-wise, behind the chairs, and waited on the guests with their sweetest smiles, until that reversal of all the laws of the universe became a perfect comedy, and ended in an eclat of laughter! General and staff waited in turn on the waiters; and when the tired troopers fell asleep on the floor of the portico, it is certain that a number of bright eyes shone in their dreams. Such is the occasional comedy which lights up the tragedy of war."

After the gay supper, while the general’s entourage took advantage of the accommodations, Stuart, as per his custom, continued sharing the experiences of his troopers. Cooke noted that the general, as he had the night before, braved the rain, sleeping under a tree near the mansion.¹⁴

Stuart now had a decision to make that would have far-reaching consequences for the Rebel invasion. His encounter with Hancock made it impractical to effort the path he originally intended to take toward the Potomac River. He now had two choices. The first was to backtrack along his advance of the previous morning, cross the Blue Ridge, and move northward. This meant that he would be crossing the Potomac above Harpers Ferry in the general vicinity of where Lee and the army had entered Maryland. Taking this path meant that Stuart would have to cover well over 100 miles, much of the distance along poor roads, to reach Ewell’s right flank. Such an effort would probably take at least four days. He could not have hoped to reach Shepherdstown with his artillery earlier than the evening of the 27th, Major McClellan noted, and he would have been more than fortunate could he have occupied the passes of South Mountain on the 28th. Continuing, McClellan maintained, [h]e would even then have been at least thirty miles from Gettysburg, and twice that distance from York.¹⁵

Stuart’s other choice was to swing farther to the east and continue on his course around Hooker’s army, extending his line of march. For the flamboyant cavalier, it may not have been that difficult of a decision. McClellan noted that as Stuart’s orders from Lee instructed him to take the most expeditious rout to Ewell’s right, remaining east of the mountains was the only course of action left to the general. In defense of his chieftain, McClellan hypothesized that when considering the time and difficulties which would be encountered moving west of the mountains, Stuart’s only option was to maintaining his current direction. In addition, Stuart realized that his planned path, which was developed based on information provided by Mosby, could not be followed. To carry out my original design of passing west of Centreville, the general noted, would have involved so much detention, on account of the presence of the enemy, that I determined to cross Bull Run lower down, and strike through Fairfax for the Potomac the next day. Stuart did not note in his report whether riding back in the direction he had come ever crossed his mind. It probably took him little time to make his determination if it had. The ride around Hooker would continue.¹⁶

At Buckland Mills, Stuart made another decision that had a significant effect on the timing of his movement. Expecting to rendezvous with John Mosby, the cavalry commander made the decision to postpone his movement. For about ten hours, the cavaliers loitered around Buckland Mills waiting for Mosby to show up. Unfortunately, the ranger and his riders never arrived. He had heard the artillery fire that morning. As the artillery fire had ceased in the morning, the he noted, I concluded that he [Stuart] had gone back and I did the same. Mosby returned from the direction he had come and was lost to Stuart’s effort. The time the general spent waiting for his guide to arrive would be sorely missed and he would never make it up.¹⁷

The Affair at Fairfax

On the morning of 26 June, the Rebels broke up their camp near Buckland Mills and headed south toward Greenwich. The column then turned eastward toward Bristoe Station, moving toward a path farther to the east than they had previously planned. They rode on to Brentsville, crossed Cedar Run, and headed for Wolf Run Shoals on the Occoquan. The ride was excessively hard on many of the horses and a number of them gave out along the way. To make things worse, there was little forage for the animals and the column had to stop to allow the steeds to graze. One Virginia cavalier noted that the countryside offered poor grazing for horses, this being miserably poor country & the armies having entirely consumed it. Stuart noticed the issue with the horses as well. [We] had to halt again in order to graze our horses, which hard marching without grain was fast breaking them down. Unlike the previous day, the Rebel riders manage to avoid contact with any Northerners. No enemy disturbed our march, recalled Lieutenant Garnett, and the only attack we made was upon some cherry trees which were along the road. He noted the rich, ripe fruit was easy to reach, the trees being so loaded that the branches were hanging down close to the ground. That night, the column halted at Maple Valley, a small hamlet along the road to the Occoquan. Pickets were sent out and the troopers settled in for their second night along the road to Ewell’s flank.¹⁸

The following day would be rather eventful for a few members of Stuart’s staff and some of Wade Hampton’s troopers. The day started quiet and the column pushed on from Maple Valley to Wolf Run Shoals, where it crossed the Occoquan. According to Lieutenant George Beale, the 9th Virginia started very early Saturday morning. The reports which had been received indicating that the enemy had abandoned the fortification there were correct and the Rebel riders had no difficulty in navigating the creek. After crossing, Stuart instructed Fitz Lee to move out to the east of the main column and march to Burkes Station along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Stuart would take Hampton’s and Chambliss’ brigades toward Fairfax Station, a point about three miles farther up the line to the west The advance pushed on through the wild and desolate locality, swarming with abandoned cabins and army debris, noted a member of Stuart’s staff.¹⁹

Once at the station, three members of Stuart’s staff, McClellan, John Cooke and Major Andrew R. Venable, decided that, as their horses were in need of new shoes, they would go in search of a blacksmith. With a fourth member, a young courier, joining the party, the group departed the station and headed east.²⁰

Venable had joined Stuart’s staff on 5 May 1863, eleven days before Major McClellan. He was thirty-years-old when Stuart’s column rode off toward Glasscock’s Gap. The son of a planter, he was born in Prince Edward County in 1832 and entered Hampden Sidney College in 1849, graduating in 1852. He left the plantation life behind and went to Missouri where he became good friends with his future commander, Jeb Stuart. Stuart, at the time, was stationed at the Jefferson Barracks with his regiment, the 1st U.S. Cavalry. Venable entered the business world while in Missouri and became very successful. When the war broke out, he quickly returned home and joined the 3rd Battery of the Richmond Howitzers. He eventually left the howitzers in favor of the 1st Virginia Artillery. Venable spent the first half of the war preforming various duties but his fortunes changed during the fighting at Chancellorsville. During the battle, he encountered Stuart, who had just taken over for the wounded Jackson. The general was in need of a courier and Venable volunteered. Three days later, he was a member of Stuart’s staff.²¹

Venable and his companions, about a half mile from the station, found a blacksmith shop at which they stopped. The Rebels soon discovered that they were to receive more than just shoes for the steeds.

He was a friend of the gray, prompt and courteous, and soon was busy at the hoofs of the horses; his good wife meanwhile getting breakfast for the party. It was speedily served, and consisted of every delicacy - bread of all descriptions, fresh butter, yellow cream, sweetmeats, real coffee, then an extreme luxury, and some cherry pies, which caused the wandering staff officers to break forth into exclamations of rapture. A heavy attack was made upon all, and our ‘bluebird’ friends themselves, fond as they are said to be of the edible, could not have surpassed the devotion exhibited toward the cherry pies. At the end of the repast one of the party, in the enthusiasm of the moment, piled up several pieces of the pie, drew out his purse, and determined to carry off the whole for future consumption; whereat a friendly contest occurred between himself and the excellent dame, who could not be induced to receive pay from any member of the party for her entertainment. She had never charged a Confederate soldier a cent, and never meant to.²²

Before the staff officers could gather up their cherry pies, a commotion arose outside. The men exited the house to discover a group of riders approaching, their leader clad in blue.

Look out, there are the Yankees! Venable exclaimed.

Cooke also saw the Federals coming but as they were riding hard, he was not as concerned. They are running by, he noted, they won’t stop. As his horse had not yet received its new shoes, he decided he was going to wait to have the shoes put on… Turning to Venable, Cooke asked [w]hat are you going to do?

Cooke’s act of defiance was not common to the remainder of the party. I am going to put the bridle on my horse! Venable cried. McClellan and the courier also decided not to stick around to see what would happen. Even as Cooke was making his defying statement, the others in the party scattered. Major V[enable] galloping to the right, Major Mc[lellan] to the left with the courier²³

Cooke’s boldness lasted only a few moments. When he realized the party was being hemmed in by a second group of Yankees, he decided it was time to go. He quickly rode off without the new shoe for his horse.

Another party of blue-coats were rushing at full gallop toward the house from above. Shots suddenly resounded. ‘Hi! hi! halt!’ followed; and I had just time to mount and pass at full speed across the front of the party, pursued by more shots and ‘hi-hi’s!’ Admire, reader, the spectacle of the stampeded staff officers! My friend in front resembled the worthy Gilpin, with a pistol holster for the jug - his horse’s tail ‘floating free,’ and every nail in the hind shoes of the animal visible as he darted headlong toward the protecting woods! We plunged through a swamp, jumped fences and fallen trees, and reaching the forest-cover, penetrated a thicket, and stopped to listen. The shouts died away; no sound of hoofs came, and doubling back, we came again to the station to find the meaning of everything.²⁴

Back at the station, Stuart and his staff were quietly lounging about, the bits out of our horses’ mouths while they regaled themselves on the captured oats they had found near the station. They had no idea that the enemy was nearby. According to Lieutenant Garnett, no one thought the Yankees were any closer than Fairfax Court House along the Little River Turnpike, about three miles away. When the shooting started, there were no more than fifteen to twenty Southern troopers in advance of the station. It was not long before these men came riding back out of the woods, stopping from time to time to return fire. The lack of knowledge regarding the number of Federals before them caused a good deal of nervousness within Stuart’s entourage.²⁵

Major McClellan and his group of horseshoe-seeking staff officers did manage to make good their escape. Venable, although he was chased by a group of the enemy, before he could be overhauled, found Colonel Munford and some of his troopers. When Stuart was informed of the predicament McClellan and his group found themselves in, he was not too concerned. The general chuckled and quipped that the group was too intelligent to be caught! Stuart had a second laugh