-
Chapter 3: March to Winchester
- The University of Alabama Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Chapter 3 March to Winchester It was late in July when the three Lieutenants arrived at Rocky Mount, the County seat of Franklin.We had great difficulty in finding the absentees , as they were scattered in different parts of that mountainous country and would hide in the thickets.They had very little relish for service in the Army. Most of the good men of that section had volunteered at the beginning of the War.These whom we sought had been drafted when the Militia was called out.After seeing a few and directing them to report on a certain day at the railroad depot at Big Lick, twenty-eight miles from Rocky Mount, I was selected to meet and conduct them to Richmond. I went to the depot; not one of them appeared.We had no means of taking care of them, hence had to rely on their promise to report.I returned to Rocky Mount.That little village was then quite inaccessible,the roads leading to it were bad,and it was considered a good point for refugees from the theater of the War. Ex-Governor Henry A.Wise had rented a commodious and comfortable house there for his family, while he commanded a Brigade in the western part of the State. His sons, Henry A. and John S., then young, were there.The former, as a student of Divinity; the latter, a youth of about sixteen, spent a good deal of his time at our quarters.We found him very agreeable and interesting. Hughes Dillard, a prominent lawyer , lived in a very pretty cottage on the main street opposite to our quarters. John S.Wise knew the family very well and invited me to go with him to make a call.I accepted and found Mr.Dillard,his wife,and three daughters, very charming people. The young ladies were Miss Bettie, Miss Mattie, and Miss Pattie.There were also three young sons. Miss Mattie pleased me very much and when they left one morning 18 Chapter 3 early for Henry County, where they intended to spend the balance of the season, I found Rocky Mount a rather lonesome place.About that time also came the news of Jackson’s movement against Pope’sArmy in Culpepper County and then the evacuation of the James River Peninsula by McClellan’s Army, and I determined to apply for an order to return to my Regiment.The request was granted and I bid adieu to my two comrades, and set out for Richmond. By the same conveyance John S.Wise left to enter as a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington,Va. I arrived in due time at Richmond and, after making some necessary purchases, I took the railroad train for Rapidan Station on the road to Alexandria.We arrived in the afternoon.The railroad from that point to Manassas was not in running order.The two Armies had been disputing for its use and it was badly torn up. General Lee’s Army, after driving Pope’s Army back to the entrenchment near Washington, had crossed the Potomac and was in Maryland.An order was issued for officers and men returning to the Army of General Lee, then known as the Army of Northern Virginia, to proceed to Winchester and await further orders. I left my valise with other baggage piled there on the bank of the river, and drew rations, consisting of raw bacon, cooked lamb, and bread.When I met Lieut. LewisWhite, of the Cavalry, as we had to walk to Winchester about seventy miles, he proposed that we should make the journey together. I accepted and found him a very agreeable companion.It took us four days to make the march.The first day we walked along the railroad to Culpepper Court House, meeting on the way a good many Federal prisoners, some with red Zouave trousers. It seemed very queer, we passed close to them, neither side made any remarks.We learned afterwards that they were permitted to go that way as prisoners under parole to report themselves to the authorities at Richmond. Sometimes we would find Army wagons going in our direction and would get them to carry us a few miles. At night we stopped with friendly country people.We crossed the Blue Ridge at Chester Gap and spent one night at Front Royal. On the fourth afternoon we arrived at Parkin’s Mill, five miles fromWinchester , about the 10th of September.There...