The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Battle for Front Royal (Spring, 1862) - May 25th, 2005

America's Civil War Magazine | January 2000 | Gary Schreckengost

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

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Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

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Front Royal:
Key to the Valley

The pretty little town of Front Royal, in the Shenandoah Valley, had a strategic value that belied its size. As Stonewall Jackson knew, it was the key to the valley, the state of Virginia and the war itself.

If this valley is lost, Virginia is lost," insisted Confederate Major General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson in early 1862, speaking of the strategically and agriculturally vital Shenandoah Valley. And if Virginia was lost, so too was the Confederacy. The key to the valley, and thus to the Confederacy, was the huge Massanutten Mountain, which bisected much of the valley, and the key to Massanutten was the sleepy little hamlet of Front Royal. Whoever controlled Front Royal controlled, to a great degree, the outcome of the war.

Front Royal, in the northern reaches of the Shenandoah Valley, had a strategic importance that belied its small size. A mile and a half north of the town, the North and South forks of the Shenandoah River united to become one stream. Also nearby was the Manassas Gap Railroad, which passed over the South Fork on a 450-foot-high wooden trestle. Unfortunately, Front Royal was virtually indefensible. High mountain peaks commanded the terrain from three directions. Gaps in the mountains also presented dangers--a swift-moving foe could pop through them at any time to seize the town. Jackson, a prewar resident of the Shenandoah town of Lexington, Va., knew that Front Royal could not be held. He also knew that the Yankees would try.


Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

In the early spring of 1862, Confederate forces in Virginia braced themselves for a renewed Federal push into their territory. This time the offensive would manifest itself in the Peninsula campaign orchestrated by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan. His main strike force, five corps from the newly organized Army of the Potomac--about 100,000 men in all--steamed down the Chesapeake from Alexandria, Va., to Fort Monroe, Va., and was to march up the peninsula between the York and James rivers to attack Richmond from the south and east. On March 11 President Abraham Lincoln had relieved McClellan as Union general-in-chief so that the general could better concentrate on the peninsula operation, and in the interim Washington coordinated the operations of the Union armies. Elsewhere in Virginia, plans called for Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell's 40,000-man corps in Fredericksburg to assist McClellan's force by threatening Richmond from the north; Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont's army, 15,000 strong, was to begin operations in the forested Allegheny Mountains; and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks' 20,000-man army would operate in the Shenandoah Valley to prevent Confederate forces there from either reinforcing the Richmond defenders or driving north toward the Union capital. If all went as planned, the rebellion would be crushed by Christmas 1862.


Col. John R. Kenly

To counter the winter Union buildup, Confederate President Jefferson Davis had finally acquiesced to General Joseph E. Johnston's pleadings to merge the disparate military departments of the Northwest, the Valley, the Potomac, the Aquia, the Peninsula and Norfolk into one department, the Department of Northern Virginia, and place it under Johnston's command. With this new unified department--120,000 men in all--Johnston believed that he could not only drive the 150,000 Federals back across the Potomac but also set the stage for future offensive operations north of that river.

To facilitate his eventual counterstroke, protect Fredericksburg and Richmond and better unify his command, Johnston judiciously decided to pull the old Confederate Army of the Potomac back 25 miles from Manassas to the south side of the Rappahannock River. He did, however, keep one reinforced division in the Shenandoah Valley--Stonewall Jackson's.

On Sunday, March 9, 1862, in accordance with Johnston's orders, the Confederate encampment at Centerville was once again abandoned, and the men marched south and crossed the rain-swollen Rappahannock into Culpeper and Orange counties. By early April, as the Federals' intentions became clearer, Johnston decided to move the bulk of his army farther south, closer to the Confederate capital, leaving only Maj. Gen. Richard Ewell's division behind to guard the Rappahannock line.


Maj. Gen. Richard Ewell

Stonewall Jackson, meanwhile, had upset Union plans. On March 23 at Kernstown, Va., he had attacked Banks' army. Although Jackson was defeated, Lincoln believed the Confederate general's division was still a threat, and he ordered McDowell's force, which was to reinforce McClellan near Richmond, to re-main in place so that it could defend Washington if needed. Johnston countered by ordering Ewell to march west into the Shenandoah Valley with Colonel Thomas Munford's 2nd Virginia Cavalry and Colonel Thomas Flournoy's 6th Virginia Cavalry to reinforce Jackson's grandly named Army of the Valley--a single large division--which was busily holding off five invading Federal divisions under Banks and Frémont.

Jackson's division was arguably one of the best in the Confederate Army. It consisted of 12 regiments of infantry--11 from Virginia and one from Maryland--and six batteries of artillery. Many of its soldiers were already veterans who had "seen the elephant" at the battles of First Manassas, Kernstown and Romney. Ewell's division was equally impressive, consisting of six Virginia regiments, four Louisiana regiments and one each from North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Ewell also possessed the famed Louisiana Special Battalion from the docks of New Orleans, Major Roberdeau Wheat's much-feared Tiger Zouaves.



When Ewell's division moved out of its encampment on April 18 to join Jackson in the valley, the men had to march in a steady, soaking rain, sometimes coupled with sleet or wet snow. Freezing precipitation continued to torture them for the next 10 days. Louisianian T.A. Tooke remarked: "We have [done] nothing but march, march, march, and halt and sleep in wet blankets and mud. I thought that I [knew] something about soldiering, but I find that I had never soldiered it this way."

On Wednesday evening, April 30, Ewell's division crossed over the Blue Ridge through Swift Run Gap and marched into Jackson's camp at Conrad's Store. While the exhausted men established their bivouac sites in the dark, Ewell met with his new commander.

Jackson informed Ewell that he planned to march his own division 50 miles to the west, through Keezletown and Harrisonburg, to the hamlet of McDowell at the foot of the Alleghenies. He fully intended, he said, to drive Frémont out of the valley. In the meantime, Ewell's division, reinforced by Munford's and Flournoy's cavalries, was to hold Banks in check by preventing his army from taking Staunton (from either the east or west side of Massanutten Mountain) or, per Johnston's instructions, by discouraging him from sending reinforcements east over the Blue Ridge Mountains to support McClellan's siege of Richmond.



When Jackson marched his division out of Conrad's Store the next morning, May 1, Ewell was left to his own devices. At the time, unbeknown to Ewell, Banks' army consisted of only one two-brigade division under Brig. Gen. Alpheus Williams and some assorted cavalry. The Federals in the valley were so reduced because soon after Banks had taken Winchester in March, he was ordered by his commander in chief, Abraham Lincoln, to send two of his three divisions, those of Brig. Gens. John Sedgwick and James Shields, east by rail to reinforce McDowell at Manassas. McDowell was then to support McClellan on the peninsula. Williams' lone division, now Banks' entire army, was therefore spread thin throughout the northern reaches of the Shenandoah Valley, from Winchester to Strasburg in the west, and from Columbia Bridge to Front Royal in the east. The army's wide dispersal, however, did not mask its relative weakness.

Over the next month, while Jackson marched west to drive Frémont back over the Alleghenies, Ewell established several outposts north of Conrad's Store and sent numerous patrols down both sides of Massanutten to ascertain the whereabouts, strength and intentions of Banks' army as best he could. On May 7, one of these patrols, led by Major Wheat, ran into elements of Banks' army just south of Columbia Bridge at the hamlet of Somerville in the Luray valley. Wheat's force consisted of his battalion of Zouaves, a company from the 9th Louisiana, two cavalry companies from Flournoy's 6th Virginia and one cannon.


Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks

As Wheat's men approached the South Fork of the Shenandoah River just north of Somerville, they were surprised and driven back by Colonel Robert Foster's 13th Indiana Volunteers and a company from the 1st Vermont Cavalry. In the early phase of the skirmish, known as the Battle of Somerville Heights, the Federals were able to push Wheat's forces back two miles to Dogtown, where the Zouave Tigers and others were reinforced by Colonel Harry Hays' 7th Louisiana. Once assembled, Hays and Wheat counterattacked and pushed the now outnumbered Federals back to Columbia Bridge, their starting point. Although the Special Battalion surprisingly listed no casualties in the engagement, the 7th Louisiana lost two dead, four wounded and one deserter, said to be a "crazy Greek."

[SAMWolf]

The next day, May 8, Jackson defeated the vanguard of Frémont's army, Brig. Gen. Robert Milroy's brigade, at the Battle of McDowell and forced it to retreat west to Franklin, Frémont's headquarters. Content with Frémont's subsequent inaction, Jackson informed Ewell on May 10 that he intended to march back into the Shenandoah Valley and go after Banks in accordance with Johnston's wishes.


Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell

On the 18th, Jackson and Ewell met at Mount Solon, about 12 miles southwest of Harrisonburg, to formulate a course of action. They decided to hit Banks' outpost at Front Royal, on the eastern side of Massanutten, between the South Fork and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Manassas Gap Railroad ran through the area, and it was this line that Banks was using to shift his army, most recently Shields' division, to McDowell, who had now taken Fredericksburg in his supporting drive to capture Richmond. If Jackson captured Front Royal, Banks would not only be cut off from McDowell, but his fortified position at Strasburg would also be turned.



With the general strategy worked out, Jackson cut the orders to unify his army. His own division would march down the macadamized Valley Pike through Harrisonburg and along the western side of Massanutten to New Market. Ewell's division, on the eastern side of the river, would march to Luray. To help deceive the enemy into thinking that Jackson actually intended to attack Strasburg, on the western side of Massanutten Mountain, Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor's brigade was detached from Ewell and ordered to march west, over Massanutten through Keezletown, and on to Harrisonburg. From there it headed north down the graveled pike, and after marching 26 miles it pulled into New Market, linking up with Jackson on the evening of May 20.


Brig. General.James Shields

When the Louisianians marched into the encampment, the men of Jackson's division, though worn out by their recent campaign, stood beside the road to catch a glimpse of the famed Tigers, with their distinctive blue-and-white-striped cotton pantaloons, grayish-brown Zouave jackets with red trim, red flannel skull caps and accurate Mississippi rifles. They were quite a sight one man remembered, "stepping jauntingly as if on parade...not a straggler, but every man in his place, though it had marched twenty miles and more, in open column with arms at right shoulder shift." Artilleryman George Neese of Chew's Horse Artillery recalled: "I for the first time saw some of the much talked about Tigers....They looked courageous and daringly fearless."


Federal Army Entering Front Royal.
Edwin Forbes.

Once the Tigers and others had marched past Jackson's division, Taylor ordered them to halt, stack arms and break ranks to establish a bivouac. As they did so, he sought out Jackson for further instructions. Finding his new commanding general perched atop a rail fence overlooking the field that the Louisianians were in the process of occupying, Taylor walked up to Jackson, crisply saluted and declared his name and rank. Jackson slowly looked up, peering from beneath his trademark visored cap, and asked Taylor how far his brigade had marched that day.

"Keezletown Road, six and twenty miles," Taylor proudly replied.

"You seem to have no stragglers," Jackson noted.

"Never allow straggling," Taylor said.

"You must teach my people; they straggle badly," Jackson concluded with a pained grimace.

Just then, the brigade band started to play, and some Creoles from the 8th Louisiana began playing a waltz. Watching from his fence post, Jackson murmured disapprovingly to Taylor, "Thoughtless fellows for such serious work." Taylor assured the no-nonsense Presbyterian that his bayou-bred Louisianians were well up to the task at hand. He then politely excused himself to rejoin his brigade, quickly putting a damper on the festivities.



The next day, May 21, Jackson placed the Louisiana Brigade on the point of his army to link up with Ewell's division, which was already on the other side of Massanutten Mountain. With Wheat's Tigers in the van setting the pace as skirmishers, the Army of the Valley marched northeast toward Luray, the designated assembly point. Jackson adopted Taylor's technique of marching for 50 minutes and resting for 10. Private Neese remembered, "The troops are all in light marching order, having left all their surplus baggage, even their knapsacks, at New Market, and as the Romans of old used to say of the gladiators, they are stripped for fight." By evening, Jackson had united with Ewell near Luray, creating a force of 16,000 men to take on Banks' 7,500.

On May 22, the newly constituted army continued its journey down the valley toward Front Royal, with the Tigers and the rest of the Louisiana Brigade again leading the march. The men trudged for hours through a soaking rain and ankle-deep mud, and their exhaustion increased. "Almost tired to death," one soldier remembered. Jackson camped that evening within 10 miles of Front Royal, the army's first objective. Before the men were allowed to sleep, however, they were ordered to polish their rust-encrusted weapons, which was a sure sign of an upcoming battle.



During the next day's march, Jackson learned that a large portion of the Federal garrison at Front Royal consisted of Colonel John Reese Kenly's 1st Maryland Regiment (U.S.). He therefore placed his own Marylanders--Colonel Bradley Johnson's battalion of expatriates from Elzey's Brigade, the 1st Maryland Volunteers--in the front of Wheat's battalion, to let them have a crack at the Maryland Yankees first. Jackson planned to use the men to take Front Royal from the south, up the east side of the South Fork of the Shenandoah, while his cavalry rode up the west side to cut the Federals' communication lines to Strasburg. When the infantry drove the Federals out of Front Royal, the cavalry would then circle around from the north and west to slam the trap shut.

[SAMWolf]

In order to avoid the Union picket posts on the main road south of Front Royal, Jackson chose to march his men up a steep, winding path, called Snake Road by the locals, about a mile south of the town. Soon after 1 p.m., Johnson's Marylanders, no doubt exhausted after their climb, crested the last wooded hill that led into Front Royal and drove out a nest of Federals who were quietly resting at the head of Snake Road. After a few minutes of skirmishing, the Confederates were met by a "rather well-looking woman," the famous Southern spy Belle Boyd, a citizen of Front Royal, who was drawn by the fire and who extolled the men to "charge right down and [you will] catch them all." Believing Boyd's story, Jackson ordered Johnson, Wheat and Taylor to do just that while he brought up the rest of his army.


Belle Boyd ca.1890

Front Royal was less than a mile to their front. Another half mile or so beyond the hamlet, up the main road atop Richardson's Hill, was Kenly's main camp. Beyond that was the confluence of the North and South forks of the Shenandoah River. A bridge spanned each fork, and a viaduct of the Manassas Gap Railroad crossed the South Fork and headed west to Strasburg, where Banks' headquarters was located. The Federal garrison at Front Royal consisted of 16 companies of infantry--nine from the 1st Maryland, three from the 2nd Massachusetts, two from the 29th Pennsylvania and one each from the 3rd Wisconsin and the 27th Indiana. They were supported by two companies of New York cavalry, a section of guns from the Pennsylvania Light Artillery and a company of engineers. All told, there were about 1,100 Federal soldiers in and around the town.

The Marylanders and the Tigers were ordered to drive down the hill and storm Front Royal while Taylor brought up the rest of his brigade. Wheat, excited by the order and no doubt wanting to vindicate himself after Somerville, charged down the left side of the road and was the first Confederate to enter the town. He "shot by like a rocket," Colonel Johnson reported. "His red cap gleaming, revolver in hand, and got in first, throwing his shots right and left." Lucy Rebecca Buck, the daughter of a respected landowner in Front Royal, remembered the initial clash between Federal and Confederate forces at Front Royal: "Going to the door we saw the Yankees scampering over the meadow below our house....By this time some scattered parties of Confederate infantry came up and charged their ranks, after firing one volley they wheeled about--every man for himself they scampered out of town like a flock of sheep--such an undignified exodus was never witnessed before."


Kyd Douglas

Once the Federals were driven from Front Royal, Wheat and Johnson, supported by the 6th Louisiana, ordered their men to head for the main Federal camp, located on a commanding hill north of the town. As the emboldened Confederates approached a ridgeline that fronted Richardson's Hill, however, they were forced to the ground by two Parrott rifles and several companies of infantry firing down from the fortified encampment.

Wheat ordered his Tigers to take cover around Rose Hill Manor, a large brick-and-wood structure about 250 yards to the right front of the Federal line, where, according to Lucy Buck, "a good deal of fighting was done." Before long, Jackson himself arrived on the scene with Captain James Carrington's Charlottesville Artillery and posted it atop a hill to Wheat's right rear. With Wheat's Tigers and Johnson's Marylanders pinned down, General Taylor recommended a double envelopment. While Wheat's and Johnson's men continued to fix Kenly's position in front and Carrington's battery provided support, Taylor pointed out, he could sweep his 7th, 8th and 9th Louisiana regiments to the far right, past Johnson's Marylanders, and cross the relatively unguarded railroad trestle that spanned the South Fork, getting in Kenly's rear. As they did so, Colonel Isaac G. Seymour's 6th Louisiana Regiment would sweep to the left, making a dash for the South Fork Bridge immediately behind Kenly's camp and drawing the Federals' fire. Without hesitation, and no doubt impressed by the Louisianian's enterprise, Jackson nodded in approval, and Taylor launched his first major attack of the war.



From his hilltop bastion, Kenly watched helplessly as the Pelican Staters worked their way around his position. He decided to order his men to torch the camp and retreat across both branches of the Shenandoah before they were completely cut off. Once across the North Branch, Kenly ordered the bridge burned and established a new line along the riverbank, anchored by the precipitous Guard Hill, to hold back the enemy as long as possible while he alerted Banks to the threat.

On the heels of Kenly's retreating Federals, Johnson's Marylanders charged up Richardson's Hill and through the burning camp, snagging a few prisoners and crossing over the South Fork Bridge. Advancing another 400 yards up the road, they were stopped cold by Kenly's new line atop Guard Hill and by the burning North Fork Bridge. They were soon joined by Taylor and his Louisiana regiments, who were just crossing the South Fork.

With the low-lying North Fork Bridge on fire, overlooked by Federal artillery posted atop Guard Hill, and with no sign of reinforcements, Taylor rode back to meet with Jackson, who had just crossed the South Fork Bridge. Surveying the scene, Jackson resolved to continue the attack. He would march across the North Fork Bridge--burning or not--and drive the enemy into the ground.



Fortuitously, at that moment, Wheat was slowly escorting his desperadoes through the destroyed Federal camp and across the South Fork Bridge. Jackson determined to use the Tigers to lead the attack and ordered them to pass through the Marylanders and take the burning bridge.

Ewell's adjutant, Captain Campbell Brown, remembered: "I shall never forget the style in which Wheat's Battalion passed us as we stood on the road. [Wheat] was riding full gallop, yelling at the top of his voice; his big sergeant-major running at top speed just after him, calling upon the men to come on; and they strung out according to their speed and 'stomach for the fight,' following after, all running; all yelling; all looking like fight. Their peculiar Zouave dress, light striped, baggy pants, bronzed and desperate faces and wild excitement made up a glorious picture. Wheat himself looked in a fight as handsome as any man I ever saw."

With Wheat in the lead, the Tigers descended the road toward the river's edge, stormed across the bridge through the flames, and secured the other side in the face of the enemy's desperate fire. The Tigers were soon joined by Taylor and the remainder of the Louisiana Brigade, who quickly put out the blaze. The span was saved, "but it was rather a near thing," Taylor later recalled. "My horse and clothing were scorched, and many men burned their hands severely while throwing brands into the river."



With the North Fork Bridge now in Confederate hands, Jackson ordered Johnson's Marylanders and Taylor's Louisianians to push up the road and through the wooded gap to dislodge the Federals. In the meantime, Colonel Flournoy's 6th Virginia Cavalry attacked the Federals from the rear, unhinged their line and forced them to retreat farther up the road toward Winchester. "The pursuit begun was kept up vigorously," Jackson's aide, Lieutenant Henry Kyd Douglas, remembered. "There was much handsome work done by Flournoy's cavalry, with good results." By late afternoon, the mounted Virginians ran down what was left of Kenly's doomed command near Cedarville, capturing the whole lot, including the regiment's colors and the colonel himself.

While the cavalry and the 1st Maryland pursued Kenly, the New Orleans Tigers were recuperating along the shady banks of the North Fork when they heard a train whistle coming from the direction of Manassas Gap. Earlier in the day, Flournoy's cavalry had cut the telegraph lines between Strasburg and Manassas, and the engineer of the Federal train, which consisted of two locomotives, three passenger and 50 freight cars, apparently had no idea that the town had been filibustered by Jackson's army.

Sensing an opportunity for more glory for his men, Wheat quickly roused his Tigers up from their late-afternoon snooze and ordered them to charge the mov-ing train. Swarming up the embankment and across the flat land, the Tigers hopped aboard the locomotive, threw its wholly surprised driver to the ground, and brought the train to a stop. When the former wharf rats opened the cars, they were pleasantly surprised to find more than $300,000 worth of commissary and quartermaster stores packed inside.

Additional Sources:

www.batteryb.com
www.dentistry.com
www.webbgarrison.com
www.frontroyalbattle.us
www.mortkunstler.com

[SAMWolf]

All told, the battle for Front Royal cost Banks about 900 casualties--750 prisoners, 32 killed and 122 wounded--and Jackson only 36, mostly from Flournoy's cavalry. With Front Royal saved, Jackson was able to turn Banks from his position at Strasburg, hit him at Middletown and push him out of Winchester, thus recapturing, for the time being, the Shenandoah Valley.

Lincoln's reaction was to send McDowell's force after Jackson, thus ending any chances of its supporting McClellan at Richmond. Deprived of reinforcements, McClellan's drive toward Richmond ground to a halt, and the Union's best chance of ending the war with a quick, decisive victory was lost. In more ways than one, Front Royal had indeed been the key.

[SAMWolf]

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[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-Gram.

[Wneighbor]

~rubbing hands together~

Woo Hoo!!! A good Confederate story!

JOHNNY REB
Johnny Horton

You fought all the way Johnny Reb Johnny Reb
You fought all the way Johnny Reb

Saw you a marchin' with Robert E Lee
You held your head high tryin' to win the victory
You fought for your folks but you didn't die in vain
Even though you lost they speak highly of your name
Cause you fought all the way Johnny Reb Johnny Reb
You fought all the way Johnny Reb

I heard your teeth chatter from the cold outside
Saw the bullets open up the wounds in your side
I saw the young boys as they began to fall
You had tears in your eyes cause you couldn't help at all
But you fought all the way Johnny Reb Johnny Reb
You fought all the way Johnny Reb

I saw General Lee raise a sabre in his hand
Heard the cannons roar as you made your last stand
You marched into battle with the Grey and the Red
When the cannon smoke cleared it took days to count the dead
Cause you fought all the way Johnny Reb Johnny Reb
You fought all the way Johnny Reb

When Honest Abe heard the news about your fall
The folks thought he'd call a great victory ball
But he asked the band to play the song Dixie
For you Johnny Reb and all that you believed
Cause you fought all the way Johnny Reb Johnny Reb
You fought all the way Johnny Reb
(Yeah) You fought all the way Johnny Reb Johnny Reb
You fought all the way Johnny Reb
You foughtall the way Johnny Reb Johnny Reb
(Yeah) You fought all the way Johnny Reb

_________________

Okay Sam, you really knew that was coming didn't you? :-)

[Wneighbor]

Morning P.E.

That Flag-O-Gram looks a bit on the chilly side. I'd be willing to give them 2 of the degrees from WF today.

[Iris7]

Although Front Royal had so rattled Lincoln, convincing him that the Confederates would take Washington unless about 70,000 troops were there to defend it and so not with McClellan, thereby perhaps losing the Seven Days, I am yet more impressed by the events of June 8-9 than by those of May 23.

I refer, of course, to the engagements called Cross Keys and Port Royal. Years ago I spent some time on these battles, and remain convinced that, as far as I know, no counter attack has been more correctly timed and executed. Rommel never did anything as remarkable, and Rommel probably had the best intuitive understanding of his time.

Two large Federal forces advanced on Jackson, one on each side of Massanutten Mountain. Federal cohesion, timing, started to fail - a large mountain in the way, remember - and Jackson defeated the eastern, smaller one, then moved his people and engaged the larger Federal force, driving it north in disarray. He was outnumbered sizably, and had to march very quickly to make the thing work, had to time it exactly, and the whole thing, nearly, was at night. Jackson had no real reconnaissance, at least by my standards. He did the whole thing by insight and intuition. Uncanny.

A very strange man, extremely out of the common run. Perhaps he could see the future some. Could be, really.

[Iris7]

SOB, Port Republic, not Royal. Thinking of Front Royal, I guess. Too late at night, I guess. Sorry, all.

[Iris7]

Can't find anything really good on this, but this is not bad:


Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign: March-June 1862 :
Cross Keys, Virginia (VA105) , Rockingham County, June 8, 1862

Donald C. Pfanz

The battle of Cross Keys is perhaps the least famous of the many battles fought by CS Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's troops in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign. However, the victory secured by Confederate troops there on June 8 was important because it set the stage for Jackson's victory at Port Republic one day later. Taken together, Cross Keys and Port Republic marked the climax of a campaign that is considered a military masterpiece.

Cross Keys was among the last of a series of victories won by Jackson in the Valley that spring. With an army of just 17,000 men he had defeated Union detachments at McDowell, Front Royal, and Winchester and pushed his confounded opponents back to the Potomac River. Though substantially outnumbered by the Union armies that all but surrounded him, Jackson skillfully used the Valley's terrain to keep his opponents apart and struck the scattered components of the Union army before they could unite against him.

Such was the strategy he used at Cross Keys. After his victory at Winchester on May 25, Jackson advanced his army to Harpers Ferry on the Potomac River, while Federal troops led by US Major General John C. Frémont and US Brigadier General James Shields converged on the town of Strasburg in an attempt to cut Jackson off and destroy his small army. Jackson's "foot cavalry" marched more than forty miles in thirty-six hours to elude their trap. The Confederates then retreated up the Shenandoah Valley toward Harrisonburg, pursued by Frémont, while Shields moved by a parallel route up the Luray (or Page) Valley, which lies a few miles to the east. In a skirmish near Harrisonburg on June 6, Jackson's cavalry commander, CS Brigadier General Turner Ashby, was killed.

Jackson ordered CS Major General Richard S. Ewell to hold back Frémont. Ewell was a career soldier who had previously served at posts on the Plains and in the Southwest desert, where, he claimed, he "had learned all about commanding fifty United States dragoons and forgotten everything else." The Virginian proved he could handle a division as well as he did a company. On the day of the battle he had about 5,000 men, divided into three infantry brigades commanded by CS Brigadier Generals Arnold Elzey, George H. Steuart, and Isaac R. Trimble, and four batteries of artillery.

Ewell decided to block Frémont's progress at Cross Keys, a rural tavern located seven miles southeast of Harrisonburg. He placed his division in line of battle astride the Port Republic Road on a high, wooded ridge one mile south of the tavern. A shallow stream rippled across his front. In the center of the line, facing open fields, he massed his artillery, supported by Elzey's Brigade. He posted Steuart's and Trimble's Brigades in the woods to his left and right, with Trimble's Brigade, on the right, slightly advanced.

The battle opened at 9:00 a.m. when Frémont, pushing down the Port Republic Road, collided with Confederate pickets at Union Church near the tavern. The skirmishers fell back stubbornly, allowing Ewell time to complete his defensive arrangements. Finding the Confederates in force, Frémont brought forward his artillery to the hills opposite Ewell's position and engaged the Confederates in an artillery duel, at the same time deploying his infantry in line of battle southeast of the Keezletown Road. Altogether he had about 10,500 men, divided into six brigades of infantry, one brigade of cavalry, and ten batteries of artillery. Commanding his infantry brigades were US Brigadier Generals Julius Stahel, Henry Bohlen, Robert H. Milroy, Robert C. Schenck, and US Colonels John A. Koltes and Gustave P. Cluseret.

Frémont made a cursory reconnaissance of the battlefield and judged Ewell's right to be the strategic flank. If he could successfully assail that flank, he could block Ewell's line of retreat and perhaps destroy the Confederate force. He accordingly ordered Stahel's brigade forward into the woods east of the Port Republic Road at 11:00 a.m., supported by Bohlen. Stahel soon encountered a line of Confederate skirmishers which he pursued through the woods and across a wheatfield toward the main Confederate line. Trimble's Brigade lay concealed behind a fence at the far edge of that field. Trimble allowed Stahel's men to approach within fifty yards of his line, then unleashed a savage volley.

Stahel's men fell back across the field in confusion. When they failed to renew the advance, Trimble seized the initiative and ordered his troops forward. Leaving two regiments in line behind the fence to hold the Union soldiers' attention, he led the 15th Alabama Volunteers up a nearby ravine to a position opposite Stahel's left flank. At Trimble's command, the Alabamians fell upon their unsuspecting foes and forced them back on Bohlen's brigade, which was advancing to their relief. Reinforced by two regiments from Elzey's Brigade, Trimble continued the attack, driving the Union troops back toward the Keezletown Road.

While Stahel and Bohlen were giving ground in the face of Trimble's spirited attacks on the left, Union brigades on the center and right moved forward. Cluseret and Milroy advanced through the woods west of the Port Republic Road and made feeble attacks against Ewell's center. Schenck's brigade meanwhile moved up on Milroy's right in an attempt to turn the left flank of the Confederate line. Ewell took steps to meet this threat. Early in the afternoon Jackson had reinforced him with the brigades of CS Colonel John M. Patton and CS Brigadier General Richard Taylor, and Ewell now hurried portions of these commands to support Steuart's brigade on his left. They were not needed. Before Schenck could launch his attack, Frémont, shaken by Stahel's repulse, ordered the Union army to withdraw to a new defensive line along the Keezletown Road. Ewell then advanced the wings of his army to occupy the ground held by Frémont during the battle. Trimble, feisty as ever, implored Ewell to attack the new Union position, but his commander wisely chose to break off the action.

The Union army lost 684 men in the contest; the Confederates, 288. That night Ewell quietly withdrew most of his men from Frémont's front and marched to Port Republic, where he arrived in time to turn the tide of battle in Jackson's favor the next day. Frémont took up pursuit early the next morning, marching over the ridge held by Ewell in the previous day's fight. As his troops tramped over the crest and down the opposite slope, they passed a Confederate field hospital located in a white frame church. By then Jackson and Ewell were engaged in battle with Shields at Port Republic. The sound of the fighting swelled on the wind as Frémont's men passed the church. In the distance they saw a column of black smoke, where Ewell's rear guard had set the North River bridge aflame. Unable to cross the river, Frémont's men looked on helplessly as Jackson and Ewell pursued Shields's defeated force toward Conrad's Store.

Estimated Casualties: 684 US, 288 CS

Cross Keys battlefield is southeast of Harrisonburg on Route 276, 2.5 miles south of Route 33. Seventy acres of the historic battlefield are owned by the Lee-Jackson Foundation and are open to the public with prior permission (P.O. Box 8121, Charlottesville, VA 22906).

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[alfa6]

Good Morning Bump for the Foxhole

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on May 25:
1494 Jacopo Pontormo II Italy, painter (Sepulture of Christ)
1550 Camillus de Lellis Italian soldier/monastery founder/saint
1729 Jean de Neufville Dutch/US merchant (started 4th English war)
1803 Ralph Waldo Emerson US, essayist/philosopher (Concord Hymn)
1847 John Alexander Dowie [Elijah the Restorer], US, evangelist
1852 Louis Franchet d'Espèrey [Desperate Frankey], Fren marshal (WWI)
1865 John Raleigh Mott organizer (YMCA, Nobel 1946)
1865 Pieter Zeeman Dutch physicist (Zeeman effect, Nobel 1902)
1878 Bill "Bojangles" Robinson actor (Stormy Weather, Little Colonel)
1879 W Maxwell Aitken lord Beaverbrook Canada/English banker
1886 Philip Murray founded Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
1889 Igor Sikorsky developed a working helicopter
1892 Josip Broz Tito Kumrovec, Austria-Hungary (now Croatia), leader of Yugoslavia (1945-80)
1898 Bennett Cerf publisher (Random House) panelist (What's My Line)
1898 Gene Tunney world heavyweight boxing champion (1926-30)
1907 Rachel Carson conservationist/writer (silent springs)
1908 David Lean British director (Lawrence of Arabia)
1912 Eddie Maxwell singer (Yes We Have No Bananas)
1913 Joseph Peter Grace businessman (Grace Commission)
1917 Theodore Hesburgh ex-president of Notre Dame
1918 Claude Akins Nelson GA, actor (BJ & Bear, Movin' On, Lobo)
1926 Miles Davis Alton IL, jazz trumpeter (Miles Ahead)
1927 Robert Ludlum New York NY, spy novelist (Bourne Identity)
1929 Beverly Sills [Belle "Bubbles" Miriam Silverman], Brooklyn NY, soprano
1932 Georgi Mikhailovich Grechko USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 17, 26, T-14)
1936 Tom T Hall Olive Hill KY, country singer/writer (Harper Valley PTA, I like Beer)
1939 Dixie [Virginia] Carter McLemoresville TN, actress (Designing Women, Edge of Night)
1939 Ian McKellen England, actor (Lord of the Rings: Gandalf, Scarlet Pimpernel)
1943 Leslie Uggams New York NY, singer/actress (Leslie Uggams Show, Roots)
1944 Frank Oz, puppeteer (Sesame St, Muppet Show)
1947 Jessi Colter [Miriam Johnson] Phoenix, country singer (I'm Not Lisa)
1947 Karen Valentine Santa Rosa CA, actress (Love American Style, Room 222)
1955 Connie Selleca Bronx NY, actress (Hotel, Captain America II)
1969 Anne Heche Aurora OH, actress (Donnie Brasco, Juror, Volcano)

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Deaths which occurred on May 25:
0615 Boniface IV Pope (608-15), dies
0709 Aldhelmus of Ealdhelm England, abbot/bishop/poet/saint, dies at about 69
0946 Edmund the Older king of Wessex/England (939-46), dies
1085 Gregory VII [Ildebrando] Pope (1073-85), dies
1125 Hendrik V last Salische German king, dies
1261 Alexander IV [Rinaldo dei conti di Segni] Pope (1254-61), dies
1555 Gemma Frisius Frisian geographer/astronomer, dies at 46
1895 Ahmed Djevdet Pasja Turkish minister of Justice, dies at 73
1926 Symon Petlyura leader of Ukraine (pogroms), assassinated at 47
1946 Patty Smith Hill songwriter (Happy Birthday To You), dies at 78
1954 Robert Capa (40), war photographer for Life Mag., was accidentally killed in Vietnam when he stepped on a land mine.
1965 Sonny Boy Williamson [Aleck Miller] blues player, dies at 65
1971 Jo Etha Collier young black woman killed by 3 whites in Drew MS
1981 Roy James Brown rocker (Good rockin' tonight), dies of a heart attack at 55
1982 Larry J Blake character actor (Earth vs the Flying Saucers), dies at 68
1990 Vic Tayback actor (Mel-Alice), dies of a heart attack at 60
1992 Nancy Walker actress (Ida Morgenstein-Rhoda), dies of cancer at 71
1992 Philip C Habib US diplomat (Middle-East/Asia), dies at 72
1992 Viktor Grishin hardline soviet communist, dies at 78, dies
1996 Buck dog (Married with Children), dies at 13

---

GWOT Casualties

Iraq
25-May-2003 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Private David Evans Jr. Ad Diwaniyah Non-hostile - ordnance accident

25-May-2004 5 | US: 5 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Kevin F. Sheehan Iskandariyah (FOB Kalsu) Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
US Specialist Alan N. Bean Jr. Iskandariyah (FOB Kalsu) Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
US Private 1st Class Daniel Paul Unger Iskandariyah (FOB Kalsu) Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
US Private 1st Class Richard H. Rosas Fallujah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Private 1st Class James P. Lambert Fallujah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack


Afghanistan
A Good Day

http://icasualties.org/oif/
Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White

---

On this day...
0585 BC 1st known prediction of a solar eclipse ()clipse occurred during the war between the Lydians and the Medians. The event caused both sides to stop military action and sign for peace.)
1085 King Alfonso VI of Castily/León occupy Toledo on Moren
1241 1st attack on Jewish community of Frankfort-on-the-Main Germany
1632 Albrecht von Wallenstein recaptures Prague on Saksen
1659 Richard Cromwell resigns as English Lord Protector
1660 English King Charles II lands in Dover
1720 "Le Grand St Antoine" reaches Marseille, plague kills 80,000
1721 John Copson becomes America's 1st insurance agent
1784 Jews are expelled from Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek
1787 Constitutional convention opens at Philadelphia, George Washington presiding
1793 Father Stephen Theodore Badin is 1st US Roman Catholic priest ordained
1810 Argentina declares independence from Napoleonic Spain (National Day)
1812 Earthquake destroys Caracas Venezuela
1825 American Unitarian Association founded
1844 1st telegraphed news dispatch is published in Baltimore Patriot

1861 John Merryman is arrested under suspension of writ of habeas corpus it later sparks a supreme court decision protecting the writ

1862 Battle of Winchester VA
1863 Federal authorities in Tennessee turn over former Ohio congressman Clement L. Vallandigham to the Confederates. President Abraham Lincoln had changed his sentence to banishment from the United States after his conviction of expressing alleged pro-Confederate sentiments
1864 Battle of New Hope Church GA
1870 Irish Fenians raid Eccles Hill, Québec
1876 1st tie in National League history (Athletics & Louisville, 2-2 in 14)
1878 Gilbert & Sullivans opera "HMS Pinafore" premieres in London
1887 Gas lamp at Paris Opera catches fire; 200 die
1895 Oscar Wilde sentenced to 2 years hard labor for being a sodomite
1898 1st US troop transport to Manila leaves San Fransisco
1900 Eyre M Shaw, 78, becomes oldest gold medalist in the Olympics
1911 Revolution in México overthrows President José Porfirio Diaz
1914 British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule
1915 2nd Battle of Ypres ends with 105,000 casualties
1919 Casey Stengel releases a sparrow from under his baseball cap
1922 Babe Ruth suspended 1 day & fined $200 for throwing dirt on an umpire
1923 Britain recognizes Transjordan with Abdullah as its leader
1927 Henry Ford stops producing Model T car (begins Model A)
1935 Jesse Owens equals or breaks 6 world records in one hour
1937 1st airmail letter to circle the globe returns to New York
1939 Carl Storck becomes the 2nd NFL president
1940 German troops conquer Boulogne
1941 5,000 drown in a storm at Ganges Delta region in India
1941 Ted Williams raises his batting average over .400 for 1st time in 1941
1943 Riot at Mobile AL shipyard over upgrading 12 black workers
1943 Trident conference in Washington DC (operation plan '43 against Japan)
1944 Partisan leader Tito escapes Germans surrounding Bosnia
1945 Arther C Clark proposes relay satellites in geosynchronous orbit
1946 Abdullah ibn Hussein becomes king of Jordan
1946 Jordan gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1947 Coal dust explosion rocks Centralia Coal Company's Mine #5 killing 111
1949 Chinese Red army occupies Shanghai
1951 New York Giant Willie Mays 1st major league game (goes 0 for 5)
1953 1st atomic cannon electronically fired, Frenchman Flat NV
1953 1st non-commercial educational television station-Houston TX
1955 Series of 19 twisters destroy Udall KS & most of Blackwell OK
1956 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Haurietis aquas
1959 Supreme Court rules that Louisiana prohibiting black-white boxing is unconstitutional

1961 JFK sets goal of putting a man on Moon before the end of decade

1961 NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 32,770 meters
1962 Isley Brothers release "Twist & Shout"
1962 US unions AFL-CIO starts campaign for 35-hour work week
1963 Organization for African Unity formed by Chad, Mauritania & Zambia
1964 Supreme Court rules closing schools to avoid desegregation unconstitut
1965 Muhammad Ali KOs Sonny Liston in 1st round for heavyweight boxing title
1967 John Lennon takes delivery of his psychedelic painted Rolls Royce
1968 "Unicorn" by The Irish Rovers hits #7
1968 Rolling Stones release "Jumping Jack Flash"
1969 "Midnight Cowboy" released with an X rating
1969 Sudanese government is overthrown in a military coup
1973 Argentine Peronist Hector Cámpora installed as president
1973 US launches 1st Skylab; crew Kerwin, Conrad, Weitz
1977 "Brady Bunch Hour" last airs on ABC-TV
1978 "Star Wars" released
1979 American Airlines DC-10 crashes in Chicago killing 275
1979 Israel begins to return Sinai to Egypt
1981 Daniel Goodwin, scales outside of Chicago's Sears Tower in 7 hours (hint: the elavator is quicker and easier)
1983 "Return of the Jedi" (Star Wars 3) released
1983 1st National Missing Children's Day is proclaimed
1983 Kirk Gibson (Tigers) & Jorge Orta (Blue Jays) hit inside park homeruns
1985 Cyclone ravages Bangladesh; 11,000 killed
1986 95-year-old woman scores a hole-in-one in Florida
1986 Hands Across America - 7 million people hold hands from California to New York (Well that really worked good, now we have no more hunger or homelessness. What should we hold hands for next?)
1986 Kansas City Royal George Brett gets his 2,000th hit
1989 Mikhail Gorbachev elected Executive President in the Soviet Union
1991 Israel evacuates 14,000 Ethiopian Jews
1992 Jay Leno becomes permanent host of "The Tonight Show"
1992 New York Yankees score 9 runs before 1st out in 8th inning, beat Milwaukee Brewers 13-7
1996 Jennifer Maria Holsten, 18, crowned Miss Filipino-American
1997 Minnesota Twins retire Kirby Puckett's uniform
1997 Todd & Mel Stottlemyre become 1st father & son to win 100 games
1997 Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, marking 41 years and 10 months of service.
1997 Poland adopts a new constitution to replace the 1952 communist-era charter. It is committed a market economy, private ownership, personal freedoms and civilian control of the military
1998 Aramaic language reported dying out

---

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Argentina : Day of the May Revolution/National Day (1810)
Chad, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Zambia : African Freedom/Unity Day
Jordan : Independence Day/Arab Renaissance Day (1946)
Lybia, Sudan : Sudan National Day/May Revolution Day (1969)
Yugoslavia : Day of Youth
Poppy Week (Day 4)
National Tap Dance Day
National Tavern Month

---

Religious Observances
Anglican : Deposition of St Aldelmus, bishop/confessor
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Urban I, pope (222-230), martyr
-BC- Buddhist-Hong Kong : Buddha's Birthday
Anglican, Roman Catholic : Memorial of Bede the Venerable, priest, monk of Jarrow (optional)
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Gregory VII, pope [1073-85], confessor (optional)
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi, virgin
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Madeleine Sophie Barat, virgin

---

Religious History
1085 Alfonso VI of Castile captured Toledo, Spain, and brought the Moorish center of science into Christian hands.
1521 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V pronounced Martin Luther an outlaw and heretic for refusing to recant his teachings while at the Diet of Worms (held the previous month).
1793 Stephen T. Badin, 25, was ordained in Baltimore, MD ÀÀ the first Catholic priest to be ordained in the newly independent United States of America. Badin afterward served as a frontier missionary, and played a key role in establishing Catholicism in Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee during the early nineteenth century.
1824 The American Sunday School Union was established in Philadelphia. It pledged itself: (1) to circulate appropriate literature in every part of the land; (2) to secure a unity of evangelistic effort; and (3) to plant a Sunday School wherever there was a population.
1876 The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland (org. 1743) united with the Free Church of Scotland (org. 1843) to form the new Free Church of Scotland. (In 1929 the Free Church merged with the Mother Church, afterward retaining the name Church of Scotland.)

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

---

Thought for the day :
"Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it"

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning FOXHOLE!

[Valin]

Good morning. Yes it is. The sky is such a nice calming shade of gray, much better than that nasty blue.

[Soaring Feather]

Oh, yes, we have New York
gray no skies of blue
gray goes with cool temps
and heating devices, too.

A New york day, gray,
and cool, makes ya wanna
stay wrapped in heavy blankets
the color blue.

[Valin]

We had the nasty old sun out yesterday, that was day 4 this month.

[Leg Olam]

FYI- In case anyone wonders about Wheat's Tiger Zouaves here is some info.

Persona of the Tiger Rifles

The following are quotes about the 1st Louisiana Special Battalion. While these quotes are about the Battalion (unless otherwise noted) they also give a feeling about the men that made up the Tiger Rifles. All quotes, except as noted, were drawn from 1st Louisiana Special Battalion CSA, a detailed compendium of stories, anecdotes, and literary references, compiled by Susan Hikida.

19 April 1861: " A company called the Tiger Rifles has been formed under the following named officers: Captain Alexander White … This company already numbers 72 privates, and will receive recruits daily at 29 Front Levee, between Gravier and Poydras Streets. " {New Orleans Daily Crescent}
24-25 June 1861: " These men were a hard lot, and when they reached the camp at Manassas on freight car was pretty nearly full of men under arrest for disorderly conduct, drunkenness, etc., most of whom were bucked and gagged as some my men reported who were at the station when they arrived. " {Withers, Robert Enoch, Autobiography of an Octogenarian, 1907}
21 July 1861: " Permit me to add, further, that the Thirty-eighth New York was distinguished for its steadiness in ranks, and for gallantly repelling a charge made upon it by the New Orleans Tigers. The zouaves, though broken as a regiment, did good service, under my own eyes, in the woods, and detachments of them joined other regiments in the fight. " (Report of. Colonel O.B.Willcox, First Michigan Infantry, commanding Second Brigade, Third Division. O.R's)
22 July 1861: Captain White challenges Lieutenant George M. McClausland (aide to Ewell) to a duel. The weapons of choice are Mississippi Rifles; the distance is "short range." Capt. White fires first, wounding Lt. McClausland. Lt. McClausland does not get a shot off. {Roden, J.B., Trip from New Orleans to Louisville in 1861, Confederate Veteran 1910 (pg. 237)}
10 August 1861: A drunken brawl breaks out among members of Wheat's Tigers and residents of the town of Lynchburg, Virginia. {Lynchburg Virginian, 12 August 1861}
September 1861: Lt. Colonel Charles de Choiseul (7th La.) is placed in command of Wheat's Battalion. " I have become a 'Tiger' - Don't start. I am the victim of circumstances, not of my own will. Whether the Tigers will devoure me, or whether I will succeed in taming them, remains to be seen. What is more likely, is that they will remain in their high state of undiscipline. For the officers, at least the majority of them, are worse than the men. " {Letter, Charles de Choiseul to Emma Louise Walton, September 5, 1861}
November 1861: The Tigers share their whiskey with members of the 21st Georgia Volunteers, but the Georgians takes off with the Tiger's bottle, and a fight breaks out. {Nesbit, James Cooper, Four Years on the Firing Line, 1914}
28 November 1861: Several Tigers are ordered confined to the guardhouse for brawling. A small group of drunken comrades attacked the guard in an attempt to liberate the prisoners and an officer is struck (Ed. - Col. Harry Hays of the 7th La.). Privates Michael O'Brien and Dennis Corcoran admit to being the ringleaders of the attack (Ed. - Both are members of the Tiger Rifles). {Harrold, James A., Surgeons of the Confederacy, Confederate Veteran (May 1932) Pg. 173}
28 November 1861: " Major Bob Wheat's famous battalion of New Orleans 'Tigers' - (composed of the dregs of that great city, and certainly not ill named, for a more fierce, ruffianly, ferocious set of desperadoes are rarely assembled in a civilized country) were camped near the village, and were terror to the neighborhood: even their own officers could not always restrain them, was said to have to use his pistols now and then to quiet some outbreak. " {Hamilton, J. D. de Roulhac, ed., The Papers of Randolph Abbot Shotwell, Volume 1, 1929}
9 December 1861: " The doomed men (Ed. - Pvts. O'Brien and Corcoran) maintained a remarkable coolness, never flinching when the priest bad them farewell and stepped aside, never flinching when at the curt word of command twenty-four muskets came up to a direct level, never flinching when again the command rings out 'Aim!' Nor was there a sound - for had covered my eyes - when amid the painful silence came the word 'Fire!' and was drowned in the crashing volley that ensued. Both men fell forward riddled with bullets. Death was instantaneous. " {Hamilton, J. D. de Roulhac, ed., The Papers of Randolph Abbot Shotwell, Volume 1, 1929}
March 1862: Some of the Tigers take refuge in a church during a storm. " After a time a vulgar song was sung by some soldier, and received with such laughter that his example seemed on the point of being followed by other, when I wad (sic was) thoroughly surprised to see Tom Jennings (Ed.--This person was thought to be the famous prize fighter and supposed Battalion Sergeant Major, however, this is untrue, as no Tom Jennings was ever recorded in such a position) rise in the pulpit and address the riotous assembly… 'See here boys! I am just as bad as any of you, I know. But this is a church and I'll be damned if it's right to sing any of your smutty songs in here, and it's got to be stopped.' It was stopped too. Either tender consciences or Tom's reputation and influence was effective at once, and soon we all dropped off to sleep. " {Henderson, Henry E., Yankee in Gray: The Civil War Memoirs of Henry E. Henderson With a Selection of His Wartime Letters, (Ed. Note - Henderson served in the 9th Louisiana)}
20 May 1862: " Jackson's men, by the thousands, had gathered on either side of the road to see us pass. Indeed, it was a martial sight, and no man with a spark of sacred fire in his heart but would have striven hard to prove worthy of such a command. " {Taylor, Richard, Destruction and Reconstruction, Personal Experiences of the Late War, 1879}
23 May 1862: " I shall never forget the style in which Wheat's Battalion passed us … Their peculiar Zouave dress, light stripped, baggy pants, bronzed & desperate faces & wild excitement made up a glorious picture. " {Cambell Brown, quoted in Jones, Terry, Wheat's Tigers, Pg. 57}
24 May 1862: " The Tigers saw the Yankee captain when he jumped into the field. They opened fire on him with their long-range rifles. I saw him fall soon after, and heard some of the Tigers say, ' That will do him. Fire at the others in the road. ' It was fun for the Tigers to fight cavalry, but it looked a shame to shoot down the lone Yankee captain as he was vainly trying to rally his men to defend the running remnant of Banks' army, but alas! such is war. " {Neese, George M., Three Years in the Confederate Horse Artillery, 1911}
9 June 1862: " … So Major Wheat of the Louisiana Tigers cut horses throats or shot them so as to keep the enemy from carrying guns off before we could make another attack. … Major Wheat was as bloody as a butcher, having cut some of the horses throats with his knife. " {Buck, Samuel D., With the Old Confeds: Actual Experiences of a Captain of the Line, 1925}
27 June 1862: " When the General approached (Ed. - Jackson) he (Ed - Wheat) rode up to him, with uncovered head, and almost bluntly said. ' General, we about to get into a hot fight and it is likely many of use many be killed, I want to ask you for myself and my Louisianans not to expose yourself so unnecessarily as you often do. What will become of us, down here in these swamps, if anything happens to you, and what will become of our country! General, let us do the fighting. Just let me tell them that you promised not to expose yourself and then they'll fight like - er - ah Tigers. ' " {Douglas, Henry Kyd, I Rode With Stonewall, 1940}

Quite an outfit!

Lee

[The Mayor]

May 25, 2005

Frustrating Promises

Read:
Psalm 37:1-24

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. -Psalm 37:4

Bible In One Year: Psalm 133-135

Do any Bible promises frustrate you? Some people say that Psalm 37:4 is a guarantee that you'll get whatever you want-a spouse, a job, money. This has made me wonder at times, Why don't I have what I want?

When a promise frustrates us because it seems that God is not fulfilling it, maybe it's because we don't understand what the verse really means. Here are three suggestions to help, using Psalm 37 as an example:

Consider the context. Psalm 37 is telling us not to worry or be envious of the wicked. Our focus is not to be on what they have, nor on what they seem to be getting away with (vv.12-13). Instead, we are commanded to trust and delight in the Lord (vv.3-4).

Consider other verses. We're taught in 1 John 5:14 that our requests need to be according to God's will for us. Other Scriptures on the same topic can give us a balance.

Consult a Bible commentary. In The Treasury of David, C. H. Spurgeon says this about verse 4: "[Those] who delight in God desire or ask for nothing but what will please God." Doing a little deeper study can help us understand frustrating Bible verses like this one.

As we learn to delight in the Lord, His desires will become our own and He will grant them. -Anne Cetas

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God. -Carter

You can't break God's promises by leaning on them.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
How Does God Keep His Promises?

[SAMWolf]

Morning All.

Running late for the Chamber Meeting this morning ARRRRRGH!!

[stand watie]

IN MEMORIUM of our DIXIE HERO-MARTYRS!

THIRTEEN GUN SALUTE!

free dixie HUGS,sw

[Iris7]

Good morning, SAM, and all Foxhole troopers,

Sorry to poop out so severely last night. Please let me continue with the story. A synopsis of events thus far:

On June 8 the Confederates engaged the western wing of the Federal force under Fremont at Cross Keys. CSA forces under Ewell defeated Fremont and then withdrew successfully, rejoining the main body. Fremont got his mess cleaned up and advanced briskly in pursuit of Ewell, but Fremont had been delayed nearly 24 hours. When Fremont arrived at the South Fork of the Potomac he could not cross as the only practical bridge had been burned behind Ewell's rapidly marching troops. As a result Fremont's force could not take part in that part of the battle known as Port Republic.

We covered this phase of the battle last night. Now that my mind is working again, let us continue.

A cut and paste:

Tyler had a strong brigade of 3,500, Jackson roughly 6,000 men.

The Union lost around 1,000 men, Jackson about 600.

Jackson’s situation was what it had been a lot lately: he was between two enemy forces but by moving faster he still had the advantage. He’d detached Ewell to hold off Frémont while concentrating the bulk of his own men at Port Republic to attack Shields’ advance guard.

Jackson concentrated his forces east of the South Fork of the Shenandoah against the two isolated brigades (Tyler and Carroll) of Shields’ division, with Tyler in charge of the detachment. The Confederates crossed downriver and advanced unopposed until they found the Union pickets. Then it began in earnest.

Tyler had two weak brigades, but they fought hard indeed, and had very effective flanking artillery support. For a long while the situation was in doubt, then downright dire. Tyler was holding strong and Jackson’s own division, now under Winder, was making no headway while suffering heavily under the artillery lash. Jackson was moving reinforcements to clear away the Union guns, but needed time. Winder’s men staved off one Union attack by charging first, but that only brought them where the guns could hit them harder. Finally even the Stonewall Brigade could take it no longer and broke for the rear. But before Tyler could exploit the opening the reserves filled the line.

Then the flank attack hit the Union guns. Richard Taylor’s Louisianans had to charge three times, and paid heavily, but they overran the key battery. Tyler tried to pivot and counterattack up the hill, but three things happened. Taylor turned the guns around and shelled the Union infantry; a second reserve brigade arrived; and Jackson ordered a charge. The tables had been turned. From having solid flanks and numerical parity, the Union troops were faced by three strong brigades of infantry, had open flanks, and were getting hammered by their own guns.

It was enough, but Tyler’s men held their nerve long enough to get away. Jackson’s cavalry rounded up about 500 stragglers, but didn’t stand a chance of routing the whole column.

Frémont finally turned up, more because Jackson had withdrawn the troops blocking him than because he attacked. But when he arrived he found the river bridge burned and all he could do was unlimber his artillery and open fire. What he was shooting at was ambulances retrieving Federal wounded (Jackson had his own men rescued first) and Jackson ordered them recalled rather than risk any of his men.

Before the day was over Jackson marched away to Brown’s Gap. The next morning he was there, in a strong position against attacks from either Frémont or McDowell’s whole force, and also near the rail line to Richmond. Because neither Union force advanced (both were actually ordered to fall back) Jackson was now free to move east to Richmond and join Lee for the Seven Days’ Battles.

---

Stonewall's people had just defeated a superior force using interior lines and flawless maneuver.

The Federals fought well, stubbornly, intelligently, and bravely, but had to retreat. Lincoln ordered Fremont to retreat further, into the Winchester area, in order to shield Washington DC from attack through the Valley.

A full scale Federal attempt to gain control of the Valley, with excellent troops, had been soundly defeated by a smaller Confederate force.

Now, here is my point. Anyone think this gem happened by accident? No, of course not. Jackson made this happen. I think Stonewall had the whole thing in mind weeks, months, before. Much too exact a use of terrain, roads, bridges, time, and distance to be anything but planned. The accuracy and exactness of Confederate operations I find marvelous.

Why do I believe this? Well, folks, SAM's story about Front Royal sent me off, because Front Royal and Port Republic were PART OF THE OVERALL PLAN. Those two weeks demoralized the Federals not in the field but in Washington, and so took some of McClellan's pressure off of Lee, and so setting up the resounding Federal defeat at the Seven Days.

Something so perfect in military affairs happened by accident???? It is to laugh.

---

Notice that the Tiger's charges up the hill (hill is named Coaling) made the Federal defeat possible. Taylor's men made General Jackson's plans happen there and then. Taking that hill was necessary for the Valley Campaign success. You need real men in contact with the enemy, men who will follow orders without explanations (good grief, make a debating society out of military operations? Calling the Fat Drunk Teddy Kennedy! Pelosi! Dean! "Wait, wait, someone might get hurt!!!") at least as much as you need brilliant generals.

[snippy_about_it]

First in! I'm impressed.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Wneighbor.

[snippy_about_it]

Like your tagline.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Aeronaut.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning alfa6.

[Iris7]

I hope you will accept my enthusiasm for the Valley Campaign. Never have had an audience before for this story, so dear to my heart.

This part is a bit long and technical in places, but really quite good. It is from ehistory.com, a useful resource, recommended. You might try http://www.ehistory.com/world/WarView.cfm?WID=2

---

5. CROSS KEYS (8 June 1862)

County: Rockingham, VA

General Location: South of rtes. 659 and 276, crossroads of Cross Keys, including the village of Port Republic

Size of Study/Core Areas: 5,450/2,153 acres

GIS Integrity of Study/Core Areas: 94/94 percent; Good/Good

Field Assessment of Study Area Integrity: Good

USGS Quadrants: Harrisonburg, Grottoes

Select to view a summary of 1991 LAND USE / LAND COVER

Campaign: Jackson's Valley Campaign

Principal Commanders: [c] Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, Brig. Gen. Richard Ewell, Brig. Gen. Isaac Trimble; [u] Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont

Forces Engaged: [c] Three of four brigades of Ewell's division (Trimble, Elzey, Steuart) and Patton's brigade, about 8,500 engaged; [u] Blenker's infantry division (three brigades), three attached brigades (Cluseret, Milroy, Schenck), Bayard's cavalry, and nine batteries, about 11,500 men

Total Casualties: [c] 287 (42k/230w/15m); [u] 664 (114k/443w/127m)

Significance: The battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic were the decisive victories of Maj. Gen. Thomas J. ``Stonewall'' Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign. At Cross Keys, one of Jackson's divisions beat back the army of Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont approaching from Harrisonburg, while elements of a second division held back the vanguard of Brig. Gen. James Shields' division advancing toward Port Republic on the Luray Road. During the night of 8-9 June, Jackson withdrew from in front of Fremont and at dawn attacked two of Shields's four brigades (commanded by Brig. Gen. E. B. Tyler), precipitating the battle of Port Republic. Fremont reached the vicinity too late to aid Tyler, who was badly beaten. With the retreat of both US armies, Jackson was freed to join the CS army commanded by General Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days' Battles against McClellan's army before Richmond.

In addition to its importance in Jackson's overall strategy of defeating two separated armies in detail, Cross Keys provides interesting lessons at the tactical level. By deft maneuver and clever use of the terrain, Confederate Brig. Gen. Isaac Trimble shattered a larger US force and stalled Fr‚mont's attack. The ground where this tactical action occurred is pristine and enables understanding of this phase of the conflict.

Description of the Battle

Prelude: The hamlet of Port Republic lies on a neck of land between the North and South rivers at the point where they conjoin. On 6-7 June 1862, the army of Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, numbering about 16,000, bivouacked north of Port Republic, Ewell's division along the banks of Mill Creek near Goods Mill, and Winder's division on the north bank of North River near the bridge. One regiment (15AL) was left to block the roads at Union Church. Jackson's headquarters were in Madison Hall, the home of Dr. Kemper, at Port Republic. The army trains were parked nearby.

Two US columns converged on Jackson's position. The army of Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont, about 15,000 strong, moved south on the Valley Pike and reached the vicinity of Harrisonburg on 6 June. The division of General Shields, about 10,000 strong, advanced south from Front Royal in the Luray (Page) Valley, but was badly strung out because of the muddy Luray Road. At Port Republic, Jackson possessed the last intact bridge on the North River and the fords on the South River by which Fremont and Shields could unite. Jackson determined to check Fremont's advance at Mill Creek, while meeting Shields on the east bank of the North Fork. A CS signal station on Massanutten monitored US progress.

Phase One. Skirmishing at Cross Keys Tavern: Late in the day on 7 June, Fremont's advance guard encountered Jackson's pickets near Cross Keys Tavern. A few shots were fired and the US cavalry fell back onto their main body, which was approaching. Darkness prevented further developments.

Phase Two. Surprise Raid on Port Republic: Colonel Samuel Carroll at the head of a regiment of cavalry, supported by a battery and a brigade of infantry, was sent ahead by Shields to secure the North River Bridge at Port Republic. Shortly after dawn (8 June), Carroll scattered the CS pickets, forded the South River, and dashed into Port Republic. Jackson and his staff raced down the main street from headquarters and across the bridge, narrowly eluding capture (two members of his staff were captured). Carroll deployed one gun aimed at the bridge and brought up another. Jackson directed the defense, ordering Poague's battery to unlimber on the north bank. Carrington brought up a gun from the vicinity of Madison Hall to rake the Main St. The 37VA Infantry charged across the bridge to drive the US cavalry out of the town. Carroll retreated in confusion, losing his two guns, before his infantry could come within range. Three CS batteries unlimbered on the bluffs east of Port Republic on the north bank of the South Fork and fired on the retreating Federals. Carroll retired several miles north on the Luray Road. Jackson stationed Taliaferro's brigade in Port Republic and positioned the Stonewall Brigade near Bogota with the artillery to prevent any further surprises.

Phase Three. US Deployment: Meanwhile, Fremont, with Cluseret's brigade in the lead, renewed his advance from the vicinity of Harrisonburg. After driving away the CS skirmishers, Cluseret reached and deployed his right flank along the Keezletown Road near Union Church. One by one, the US brigades came into line: Schenck on Cluseret's right, Milroy on his left, and Stahel on the far left, his left flank near Congers Creek. Bohlen's and Koltes' brigades were held in reserve near the center of the line. A regiment of US cavalry moved south on the road to secure the right flank. Batteries were brought to the front.

Phase Four. CS Deployment: Gen. Richard Ewell deployed his infantry division (CS) behind Mill Creek, Trimble's brigade on the right across the Port Republic Road, Elzey's in the center along the high bluffs. Ewell concentrated his artillery (4 batteries) at the center of the line. As US troops deployed along Keezletown Road, Trimble advanced his brigade a quarter of a mile to Victory Hill and deployed Courtenay's (Latimer's) battery on a hill to his left supported by the 21NC Regiment. The 15AL, which had been skirmishing near Union Church, rejoined the brigade. Trimble held his regiments out of sight behind the crest of the hill.

Phase Five. US Attack and Repulse: Fr‚mont determined to advance his battle line with the evident intention of developing the CS position, assumed to be behind Mill Creek. This maneuver required an elaborate right wheel. Stahel's brigade on the far left had the farthest distance to cover and advanced first. Milroy moved forward on Stahel's right and rear. US batteries were advanced with infantry lines south of Keezletown Road and engaged CS batteries. Stahel appeared oblivious to Trimble's advanced position. His battle line passed down into the valley, crossed the run, and began climbing Victory Hill. At a distance of ``sixty paces,'' Trimble's infantry stood up and delivered a devastating volley. Stahel's brigade recoiled in confusion with heavy casualties. The Union brigade regrouped on the height opposite Victory Hill but made no effort to renew their assault.

Phase Six. Trimble's Flanking Attacks: Stahel did not renew his attack but brought up a battery (Buell's) to support his position. Trimble moved the 15AL by the right flank and up a ravine to get on the battery's left. In the meantime, Ewell sent two regiments (13VA and 25VA) along the ridge to Trimble's right, attracting a severe fire from the US battery. With a shout, the 15AL emerged from their ravine and began to climb the hill toward the battery, precipitating a mel‚e. Trimble advanced his other two regiments (16MS on left and 21GA on right) from their position on Victory Hill, forcing back the US line. The US battery limbered hastily and withdrew, saving its guns. A US regiment counter-attacked briefly striking the left flank of the 16MS but was forced back in desperate fighting.

Phase Seven. US Withdrawal to Keezletown Road: Trimble continued advancing up the ravine on the CS right, outflanking successive US positions. In the meantime, Milroy advanced on Stahel's right supported by artillery. Milroy's line came within rifle-musket range of the CS center behind Mill Creek and opened fire. US batteries continued to engage CS batteries in an artillery duel. Bohlen advanced on the far US left to stiffen Stahel's crumbling defense. Milroy's left flank was endangered by Stahel's retreat, and Fr‚mont ordered him to withdraw. Jackson brought Taylor's brigade forward to support Ewell if needed, but Taylor remained in reserve on the Port Republic Road near the Dunker Church.

Phase Eight. US Attacks on the Right: Seemingly paralyzed by the decimation of Stahel's brigade on his left, Fr‚mont was unable to mount a coordinated attack. He ordered Schenck's brigade forward to find the CS left flank south of Union Church. Ewell reinforced his left with elements of Elzey's brigade. Severe firing erupted along the line but quickly died down. CS brigadiers Elzey and Steuart were wounded in this exchange. Fr‚mont withdrew his force to Keezletown Road, placing his artillery on the heights to his rear (Oak Ridge). Artillery firing continued. At dusk, Trimble pushed his battle line forward to within a quarter mile of the US position, anticipating a night assault. CS accounts describe the US soldiers going into camp, lighting fires and making coffee. Ewell ordered Trimble to withdraw without making the attack.

---

PORT REPUBLIC (9 June 1862)

County: Rockingham, VA

General Location: N. of rte. 659, S. of rte. 708, between South Fork Shenandoah and state rte. 340. Village of Port Republic

Size of Study/Core Areas: 4,936/2,145 acres

GIS Integrity of Study/Core Areas: 94/98 percent; Good/Good

Field Assessment of Study Area Integrity: Good

USGS Quadrants: Grottoes

Select to view a summary of 1991 LAND USE / LAND COVER

Campaign: Jackson's Valley Campaign

Principal Commanders: [c] Maj. Gen. T. J. ``Stonewall'' Jackson; [u] Brig. Gen. E. B. Tyler

Forces Engaged: [c] Jackson's and Ewell's divisions, about 6,000 engaged; [u] Two brigades of Shields's division (Tyler and Carroll), about 3,500

Casualties: [c] 816 (88k/535w/34m); [u] 1,002 (67k/361w/574m&c)

Significance: The battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic were the culmination of ``Stonewall'' Jackson's Valley Campaign in which Jackson maneuvered to defeat superior Union forces by surprise, swift marching, and concentration of force. In May and June, Jackson's Army of the Valley, which never exceeded 17,000 men, inflicted more than 7,000 casualties on his opponents at a cost of only 2,500 of his own men, and tied up Union forces three times its strength. Jackson's victories infused new hope in the Confederate cause and contributed to the defeat of McClellan's campaign against Richmond. The battle of Port Republic was a fierce contest between two equally determined foes and was the most costly battle fought by the Army of the Valley during its campaign. At its conclusion, Union forces withdrew down the Valley, freeing Jackson's command to go to the aid of the CS army facing Maj. Gen. George McClellan's army in front of Richmond.

Description of the Battle

Phase One. Dispositions of the Armies: During the night of 8-9 June 1862, Winder's ``Stonewall'' Brigade was withdrawn from its forward position near Bogota and rejoined Jackson's division at Port Republic. CS pioneers built a bridge of wagons across the South River at Port Republic. Winder's brigade was assigned the task of spearheading the assault against US forces south of the river. Trimble's brigade and elements of Patton's were left to delay Fr‚mont's forces at Cross Keys, while the rest of Ewell's division marched to Port Republic to be in position to support Winder's attack.

Phase Two. US Deployment: Brig. Gen. E. B. Tyler's brigade joined Col. Samuel Carroll's brigade north of Lewiston on the Luray Road. The rest of Shields's division was strung out along the muddy roads back to Luray. General Tyler, in command on the field, advanced at dawn of 9 June to the vicinity of Lewiston. He anchored the left of his line on a battery positioned on the Lewiston Coaling, extending his infantry west along Lewiston Lane (present day rte. 708) to the South Fork near the site of Lewis' Mill. The right and center were supported by artillery (16 guns in all).

Phase Three. CS Advance on the Left and Center: Winder's brigade crossed the river by 0500 hours and deployed to attack east across the bottomland. Winder sent two regiments (2VA and 4VA) into the woods to flank the US line and assault the Coaling. When the main CS battle line advanced, it came under heavy fire from the US artillery and was soon pinned down. CS batteries were brought forward onto the plain but were outgunned and forced to seek safer positions. Ewell's brigades were hurried forward to cross the river. Seeing the strength of the US artillery at the Coaling, Jackson sent Taylor's brigade to the right into the woods to support the flanking column that was attempting to advance through the thick underbrush.

Phase Four. US Counterattack: Winder's brigade renewed its assault on the US right and center, taking heavy casualties. General Tyler moved two regiments from the Coaling to his right and launched a counterattack, driving CS forces back nearly half a mile. While this was occurring, the first CS regiments probed the defenses of the Coaling but were repulsed.

Phase Five. Fighting at the Coaling: Finding resistance more fierce than anticipated, Jackson ordered the last of Ewell's forces still north of Port Republic to cross the rivers and burn the North Fork bridge. These reinforcements began to reach Winder, strengthening his line and stopping the US counterattack. Taylor's brigade reached a position in the woods across from the Coaling and launched a fierce attack, which carried the hill, capturing five guns. Tyler immediately responded with a counterattack, using his reserves. These regiments, in hand-to- hand fighting, retook the position. Taylor shifted a regiment to the far right to outflank the US battle line. The CS attack again surged forward to capture the Coaling. Five captured guns were turned against the rest of the Union line. With the loss of the Coaling, the Union position along Lewiston Lane became untenable, and Tyler ordered a withdrawal about 1030 hours. Jackson ordered a general advance.

Phase Six. Tyler's Retreat/Fremont's Advance: Taliaferro's fresh CS brigade arrived from Port Republic and pressed the retreating Federals for several miles north along the Luray Road, taking several hundred prisoners. The Confederate army was left in possession of the field. Shortly after noon, Fremont's army began to deploy on the north bank of the South Fork, too late to aid Tyler's defeated command. Fremont deployed artillery on the high bluffs to harass the CS forces. Jackson gradually withdrew along a narrow road through the woods and concentrated his army in the vicinity of Mt. Vernon Furnace. Jackson expected Fremont to cross the river and attack him on the following day, but during the night Fremont withdrew toward Harrisonburg.

[Iris7]

Posted some Port Republic material showing the central importance the Tiger's assault on the Coaling, the center of gravity of the battle and utterly necessary. Without their gallantry the Valley Campaign would not be the gem it is.

[Professional Engineer]

LOL. I was up late baking bread!

Msdrby fell asleep before the dough was punched down the first time. I did the whole rise, punch down, rise again, shape, bake, smell the odors thing while she slept.

[Iris7]

Perhaps I should mention that the Federals had about 25,000 troops engaged at Cross Keys - Port Republic, while the Confederates had maybe 10,000 - 12,000.

Also notice that the Confederates were marching ten to fifteen hours a day and fighting battles during their time off.

There were some men in those days.

Some men nowadays, naturally. Check out Hill 861A, a place called Alpha 1. Can't find anything that does them justice. Best I can find:

---

The Alpha l outpost was a well-prepared defensive position. The hill itself was quite steep on all but the northwest slope. It was ringed by multiple layers of barbed wire on the slopes and, at the crest, a trench network which included a number of sandbagged bunkers.

At 0415 8 February, in heavy fog and near-total darkness, the North Vietnamese struck the outpost, laying down a heavy and accurate mortar barrage that covered the hilltop for three to four minutes. Enemy infantry followed close on the heels of the mortar fire, attacking from the northwest.

The North Vietnamese assault troops threw canvas over the outpost's protective barbed wire and rolled over it. Almost immediately, enemy soldiers swarmed into the inner perimeter. Lieutenant Roach tried to stem the breakthrough almost singlehandedly, killing several of the enemy with his rifle and attempting to rally the troops on the perimeter. While able to pull one of the badly wounded Marines to relative safety, he died in a hail of automatic weapons fire. The enemy had successfully captured half of the hilltop, while the remnants of the platoon attempted to regroup, especially in the southeastern portion of the outpost.

While the defenders of the Alpha l outpost fought desperate hand-to-hand encounters in the trenchlines, sometimes swinging entrenching tools or five-gallon water cans, the rest of the battalion endured persistent and heavy shelling, apparently intended by the NVA to prevent the dispatch of reinforcements. Nonetheless, the battalion's mortar crews braved the incoming rounds to fire in support of Alpha l.

On the hill, about 30 Marine survivors gathered in the southern portion of the trench network and used sandbags to wall off their part of the trench from the enemy. Some of their weapons were damaged or destroyed, ammunition was scarce, and many of the men were wounded. The North Vietnamese did not rush them, but instead contented themselves with showering great numbers of grenades on the Marines. One survivor later recounted, ". . .they continued throwing 25 or 30 grenades every 4 or 5 minutes. It was unbelievable how many . . . grenades they had actually transported into battle."

At 0740, the commanding officer of Company A, Captain Henry J. M. Radcliffe, gathered up his 2d Platoon and went to the rescue of the outpost. The relief force fought its way to the base of the hill in 25 minutes. There, Radcliffe directed an air strike on the North Vietnamese, then led his Marines in a frontal assault which forced the enemy off the hill and directly into the fire of the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. Companies B and D joined the 106mm recoilless rifles and a tank in cutting down the retreating enemy troops. By 1100, the battle was over and the charred and blasted remains of the outpost were again in Marine hands.

Alpha l Marines had paid a high price. Worse than the utter destruction of their position, casualties numbered 24 dead and 27 wounded. Over 150 North Vietnamese bodies littered the hill and many more may have died. Additionally, the Marines captured much enemy equipment, including 13 machine guns, an indication that the North Vietnamese fled the battlefield in disorder.

Although the hill was once more under friendly control and evidence suggested that the Communist forces had suffered a defeat, Colonel Lownds ordered the outpost abandoned. Captain Radcliffe and his men withdrew to the battalion perimeter.

In the four days from 5 February through 8 February, the North Vietnamese launched three major assaults on positions in the Khe Sanh complex, succeeding only at Lang Vei. The battles for Hill 861A and the Alpha l outpost, though desperate and bloody for the Marines, had ended as stinging defeats for the Communist forces.

---

As I recollect there were 27 Marines alive at Alpha 1, none unwounded. Not mentioned in the previous account is that these twenty seven cleared their base of NVA troops before their relief arrived.

The operation was a Rork's Drift. Better.

The lads should have all been awarded the Navy Cross, at least.

In those days if no officers were present (having been killed) then no medals. Makes me angry. So I sing their song.

[Iris7]

Good afternoon, Snippy.

I really got excited about this thread today. Seems I am either up or down. Sigh.

Thanks for the tagline compliment, but I am just quoting a better man.

I see the stuff I put into the Foxhole, and I look bloody minded even to myself. I am not easy going, I guess, but I don't think I am bloody minded. I am not fond of war. I cannot express the emotion.

Another quote, from another better man,

"It is good that war is so terrible," said Robert Edward Lee, "else we should grow too fond of it."

Exactly so.

[Professional Engineer]

1918 Claude Akins Nelson GA, actor (BJ & Bear, Movin' On, Lobo)

Better quit lollygaging. Moose and Benji will catch up.

[Professional Engineer]

Hi miss Feather

[Professional Engineer]

That Flag-O-Gram looks a bit on the chilly side. I'd be willing to give them 2 of the degrees from WF today.

Don't you think that fine ship would look out of place slipping through desert sands?

[stand watie]

a rousing REBEL YELL to YOU!

free dixie HUGS,sw

[snippy_about_it]

and I look bloody minded even to myself. I am not easy going, I guess, but I don't think I am bloody minded.

You worry too much. I think we understand you better than you think, and we think very highly of you. ;-)

[Wneighbor]

Don't you think that fine ship would look out of place slipping through desert sands?

I only said TWO degrees. Somehow I doubt that they would even notice that much of a warm spell from the looks of that photo! hehehe... and WF was at 98 yesterday... I was just bringing us down to 96 - only a bit below body temp. You know I do not mind the heat.

Matter of fact, we had lots of rain and it was chilly to me today. About 2PM the sun finally came out. Of course now - it's a steaming sauna. But I went outside and pulled osme weeds in one of the flower beds. LOL It felt good!

[Professional Engineer]

[snippy_about_it]

Good for you and lucky for Peanut Gallery!

[Wneighbor]

Howdy. Thanks for all this added informaion. That was also really a good read.

[Wneighbor]

I did NOT do that!!!

LOL

Okay, I'll keep my degrees. I haven't minded 'em yet really.

Just pray my next job ain't in Houston okay? I don't like breathing hot water.

[Wneighbor]

Good morning Wneighbor.

Just reading through thead!

Afternoon Snippy!

And by the way, thanks for those prayers over my knee. After 7 - 1/2 months of being told "bed rest", "stay off your feet", "don't do anything strenuous", my doctor finally gave me leave yesterday to start trying to walk 1/4 to 1/2 mile a day. I love it! I walked somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 this morning and it was great just to get out and do it. Never mind that I stumbled and was really slow and limping, muscles started quivering halfway through my planned route. I feel un-naturally FREE over this! LOL

In perspective, this time last year I could have loaded up a backpack for days in the wilderness and hiked myself over whatever terrain I'd have liked. This injured state has been totally foreign to me!

[GailA]

Good evening, it's been a beautiful day here today. More of the same for the rest of the week is expected.

[Professional Engineer]

Just pray my next job ain't in Houston okay? I don't like breathing hot water.

ROFLOL. But, but, Houston is such a pretty place.

/sarc

[Wneighbor]

I really got excited about this thread today.

Judging from the fascinating stuff you posted I am glad you got excited!

I see the stuff I put into the Foxhole, and I look bloody minded even to myself.

I don't think so. I have been accused of being a war lover... but in reality I am a freedom lover and I know that requires the blood of patriots from time to time. Just that.

[Wneighbor]

But, but, Houston is such a pretty place.

Where's that puking smiley graphic? I put it somewhere! :-)

[Professional Engineer]

A couple of weeks ago, a Houston FReeper came into a Texas Tech thread, and made comments about Lubbock being a terrible place. I just about died laughing.