Posted on 03/19/2005 2:15:28 PM PST by quidnunc
Insurrections have three times thrust upon Williamsburg armies of occupation. In July 1676, when the town was yet called Middle Plantation, it fell into the power of the rebel Nathaniel Bacon and his men. In June 1781, as the war for American independence neared its dénouement, England's Lord Cornwallis and his troops briefly took over the city. After Yorktown, French troops took up winter residence. Eighty years later, the morning of May 6, 1862, in the War for Southern Independence the first of the Yankees marched in.
It was the end of the Battle of Williamsburg, a clash along an arc of earthen ramparts anchored by Fort Magruder just to the east of town. It was the second year of the national catastrophe of civil war.
A Federal Army commanded by General George B. McClellan was advancing on Richmond, the Confederate capital, and Williamsburg stood in the way. Union columns pushed through the city to pursue the main body of the retreating Southern troops. Thousands of dead and wounded soldiers from the North and from the South lay in and around the town, and another generation of Williamsburg's inhabitants were getting a closer look at what war means.
Confederate forces had been deployed across Virginia's Peninsula since soon after the state seceded in April 1861. At the Peninsula's tip stood Union-held Fort Monroe. As the months passed and the defending forces grew, Williamsburg had filled with sick soldiers. All the churches had been converted to infirmaries to take in those who could not be treated in the military hospitals at the Female Seminary and the College of William and Mary.
In the aftermath of battle, wounded soldiers from both armies were carried for treatment to private homes and the public greens. Casualties were everywhere. An observer at Bruton Parish Church wrote:
-snip-
With its able-bodied men away fighting, it was a city of graybeards, young boys, and rebel women like Harriette Cary, 23, who wrote: "The repudiated Stars and Stripes are now waving over our Town, and humiliated I feel, we bow our heads to Yankee despotism. God grant our Southern Patriots may soon relieve us of this degrading yoke."
-snip-
Busteed also issued an order that read, in part:
To provide against a repetition of the outrage the commanding General directs:
1st,-That all the privileges to all storekeepers in the City of Williamsburg and vicinity to purchase and sell goods are revoked.
2nd,-That all citizens who are willing to take the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States will present themselves to the Provost Marshal of Williamsburg for the purpose of taking such oath on or before April 1st, 1863.
3rd,-That all citizens in the City of Williamsburg and vicinity who are not willing to take the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States, excepting the servants and employees of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of the State of Virginia, will prepare themselves and their families to be placed beyond the lines now occupied by the armed forces of the said Govt. by April 2nd, 1863.
-snip-
Busteed's superior, Major General Dix, countermanded the order within 24 hours, but imposed his own restrictions on the town. It contained these provisions:
1st-No persons will be allowed to go to Williamsburg from any point south of Fort Magruder without taking the oath of allegiance.
2nd-No citizen of Williamsburg will be permitted to go to Yorktown from any point south of Fort Magruder without taking the oath of allegiance.
3rd-No person will be allowed to trade in Williamsburg without taking the oath of allegiance.
Let this be a lesson to today's hippies and peaceniks.
Not sure what the point of this post was, but ... my son having settled in Williamsburg with his bride, I found it a very interesting read.
"Thousands of dead and wounded soldiers from the North and from the South lay in and around the town"
No, the little fracas in Williamsburg was not near as big a battle as the writer would lead you to believe.
By the way, what is the point of this post?
You answered your own question.
A few people here are interested in vignettes about our history and this magazine has them.
The point is that I felt like posting it.
I am obliged to offer no further justification.
I was hunting for the modern-day parallel without a lot of success. Glad to see that wasn't the point.
Take a dead o'possum, don't gut it and roll it in a ball of mud. Dig a hole, fill it full of coals, throw in the o'possum and let it cook for a few hours.
Later, remove from the coals, crack open then hardened mud ball and enjoy the o'possum.
It isn't surprising that Gen. Dix countermanded the order to expel all residents who wouldn't take an oath of allegiance to what the people considered a foreign government. That is not a tactic used by civilized countries waging war, and would have created a tremendous humanitarian catastrophe if applied to all the areas which fell under Union control. That might not have troubled the people of the North but it could have caused Lincoln trouble with the people of Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland, and boosted the pro-secessionist sentiment there, and it might have weighed with the British government, which was toying with the idea of recognizing the Confederacy.
I love Va history. I'll read this more later.
"The point is that I felt like posting it."
My mistake, sorry. When I read your posting under News/Activism, and I couldn't find either, I thought I was missing something.
..somewhat interesting.
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