Augusta County: "Harper's Ferry in 1861," by F. M. Burrows, 1893
Summary: This essay gives a first-hand account of the seizure of Harper's Ferry in 1861 and the subsequent several months stationed there.
FIRST EVENTS OF THE WAR IN VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.
F. M. Burrows, Company B. Thirteenth Virginia Infantry, Fort Worth, Texas: From time to time many articles have been published purporting to give a true history of the early occupancy of Harper's Ferry in 1861, which have been incorrect. One account is that "the first Southern soldiers at Harper's Ferry were about 1,600 Mississippians, who captured the place about the 15th of May." As a high private in the Culpepper Minute Men, I left Culpepper, Va., at 3 A.M., the 18th day of April, 1861, for Harper's Ferry.
These commands of Virginians were sent there: West Augusta Guards, Staunton, Va., sixty men; Louisa Blues, Louisa Court-house, Va., seventy-five men; Montpelier Guards, Orange Court-house, Va., sixty men; Gordonsville Greys, Orange County, Va., fifty men; Monticello Guards, Charlottsville, Va., sixty men; Brandy Rifles, Culpepper County, Va., forty men; Boomerangs, Winchester, Va., forty men; Continental Guards, Charlestown, Va., forty men; Letcher Artillery, Culpepper, Va., thirty-five men; University of Virginia Students, Charlottsville, Va., one hundred and twenty men; Culpepper Minute Men, Culpepper, Va., sixty men. Imboden's Artillery, of four guns, and a full complement of men, followed us on the 18th. The Lanier Guards, of Baltimore, came to us on the 23d, making in all about seven hundred and fifty men, rank and file. We reached Manassas Junction about 8 A. M., took trains for Strausburg, arrived there about 1 P. M., got dinner, which had been prepared by the good ladies, then took up our line of march for Winchester, about eighteen miles distant, arrived in time for a late super, which the good ladies there had literally spread all over town. We boarded a train of box cars at 11 P. M. for Harper's Ferry, via Charleston; arrived at the Ferry just before daybreak on the 19th. Nearly all of us had guns of some kind, except the Letcher Artillery, a company of boys. They were empty-handed, and when the first long roll was sounded it was amusing to see them hurry to their quarters and fortify themselves with sticks and stones. Maj. George A. Wheatley, now a merchant in Austin, Texas, was Captain, and a very young brother of the writer was First Lieutenant.
It will be clearly seen that there were none but Virginians at Harper's Ferry for three weeks or more, save the Baltimoreans and Col. Duncan's Kentuckians, about three hundred strong. The command was a fine one. The Kentuckians were generally men of wealth and refinement, and they were well prepared to care for themselves financially, having their repeating rifles, cow-horn powder flasks, and bullet moulds. The Hon. R. E. Beckham, now District Judge at Fort Worth, was one of the boys from Kentucky who wore the fur cap and long green blouse.
The first soldiers were ordered out by a telegram from Gov. Letcher, direct to the various Captains of the State Militia, dated Richmond, Va., April 17. An extra session of the Legislature passed the ordinance of secession at 2 A. M. on the 17th. When the news reached Capt. Barbour that the troops were marching on Harper's Ferry, he, being in command of the Government's works, abandoned his post and had the buildings fired. The destruction would have been complete but for the timely efforts of the citizens, including workmen in the shops, who, with their small hand engine and a large stationary one belonging to the Government, subdued the flames. It was the little house for this hand engine that John Brown used as a fort in 1859. We reached Harper's Ferry about daylight on the 19th. Our train stopped on a high trestle on the Shenandoah river side. While we were waiting for orders to leave the train some one put twenty or more kegs of powder under the trestle, set a match to the fuse, and ran. One of our men, seeing what had been done, jumped from the train and severed the fuse. Finally we landed in good shape, and made a descent upon the town, not knowing what we would encounter, without one round of ammunition. We took up our quarters in the buildings that remained intact, and in the churches and school-houses. For the first week the citizens were very shy of us, but soon became communicative and delivered to us many hundreds of minie rifles and muskets, and innumerable parts of guns. We found many guns hidden away under floors and between and under mattresses. The machinery, unhurt by the fire, was speedily put in motion, and many of the old employes were set at work and furnished all the commands with the latest and most approved guns.
The first officer in command was Col. Nalle. Then came Col.Jos. E. Johnston, who succeeded him, and who appointed Stonewall Jackson a Colonel. Each of them occupied the mansion on the hill belonging to Maj. D. B. Lucas, U. S. A. Next came Capt. A. P. Hill, of the regular army, who had recently resigned and was made Colonel of the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry.
Our company was quartered in the paint shop, and it was the writer's luck to be detailed with the Hon. John W. Bell, a prominent lawyer of Culpepper, to police and ditch our camp. It was rich indeed to see our near-sighted lawyer handle a spade and hear his comments, such as, "This is a nice business for a lawyer in good standing, a gentleman, and a member of St. Stephen's Church vestry, to be put to ditching the first Sunday in camp!" He is now Judge Bell, a brother of Gov. P. Hansborough Bell, who was a native of Virginia, who landed at Velasco, Texas, in 1836, * * * * and was made Governor of Texas in 1850. He subsequently served in Congress, then married, and settled in North Carolina. As a recognition of his patriotic services, and as an aid to him in his old age, the Twenty-second Texas Legislature, in 1891, voted him a donation of land and a liberal pension.
We remained at Harper's Ferry until about the middle of May, when we were called to arms and made a forced march to Shepherdstown. We were caught in a terrific hail storm in an open field, no possible place for shelter, and it was a question with us whether we would survive the storm or not.
The Lanier Guards, of Baltimore, deserve special mention. George Lanier, of Lanier Bros., wholesale dry goods merchants in Baltimore, equipped and sent off this company to join us at Harper's Ferry. Times were exciting there then. This scheme was adopted to get out of the city in a body: A funeral procession was planned. Loading a coffin with guns, and making preparations for a decent burial, they took carriages and followed the hearse to London Park Cemetery, a few miles west on the Catonsville road. When a safe distance from the city the coffin was opened, and quickly each man was armed and on his way to join the young Confederacy. Many of the Lanier Guards were engaged in the attack on Federal soldiers when they made that memorable march up Pratt street in Baltimore.
About June 27 we were ordered from Harper's Ferry to Winchester, thence on a march to Romney, and thence to New Creek Station, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, where we first smelt gun powder. A small force of Federals held the bridge crossing the north fork of the Potomac river near the station. We surprised them, captured a swivel and a stand of colors, charged the enemy, ran them off, and burned the bridge. A few of us crossed the bridge, followed the retreating enemy a short distance, and upon returning found the bridge on fire, and we on the wrong side of the river. Our only alternative was to wade through a swift, clear, rapid stream fully five feet deep.
After the battles of Bull Run and Manassas it was the writer's privilege to stand picket at the farm-house of a good old Mrs. Taylor, a few miles east of Fairfax Station. It was there I learned the true meaning of the word Manassas, and how it originated. A faithful old negro man belonging to Mrs. Taylor met a neighboring brother, and addressed him about as follows: "Uncle Willis, kin yer tell me how dey got dis name Manassas fur dis place down dar whar dey has all dem big guns?" "I dunno, Brer Ephriam, cep'ing tis we is de man, and dem Yankees whar cum down here is de asses; dats how we gets de name Manasses, I speck."
Bibliographic Information: Source copy consulted: Confederate Veteran, Vol. 1, 1893, p. 103-104
