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Chapter 7 The War Begins, 1861–1862 Although Ewell was a Virginian and had owned or rented more than one slave in his life, he was hardly a fire-eater when it came to secession. Like most career military officers, he had many friends in the North and felt a strong allegiance to the United States. Ewell’s ties to his adopted state were stronger than his loyalty to the national government, however, and when Virginia voted itself out of the Union on April 17, 1861, he resigned from the United States Army and accepted a lieutenant colonel’s commission from the State of Virginia. Five weeks later Ewell found himself on outpost duty at Fairfax Court House in northern Virginia. In one of the earliest military actions of the war, a company of U.S. cavalry charged through the town, scattering two of the three Confederate companies he had in his command. Dressed only in a nightshirt, Ewell put himself at the head of the remaining company. When the Federal horsemen returned, the Southerners drove them away with a couple of short-range volleys. Ewell received a minor wound in the fray, making him perhaps the first field officer on either side to be wounded in the war. The skirmish at Fairfax Court House made Ewell famous in Virginia, and on June 17 he was promoted to brigadier general and placed in charge of an infantry brigade. At the First Battle of Manassas, or Bull Run, fought on July 21, Ewell occupied a position at Union Mills on the extreme right flank of the Confederate line. General P. G. T. Beauregard, who commanded the Confederate army in that battle, intended for Ewell to spearhead an assault on the Union army’s left flank. Beauregard’s orders to Ewell miscarried, however, and the commanding general found his own flank turned instead. Although the Confederates rallied from this misfortune and ultimately triumphed, Ewell’s reputation suffered. The army’s new commander, General Joseph E. Johnston, had faith in Ewell’s ability, however, and when he reorganized the army in February 1862, Johnston promoted Ewell to major general and placed him in command of the Reserve Division , formerly belonging to E. Kirby Smith. Ewell had hardly settled into his new position before the army abandoned its winter camp near Centreville, Virginia, and fell back to the Rappahannock River. The War Begins, 1861–1862 166 The Army of the Potomac’s commander, Major General George B. McClellan, did not seriously pursue. Instead, he placed his army upon transports and sailed to Fort Monroe in an effort to capture Richmond from the southeast. Johnston marched to the Peninsula to confront McClellan, leaving Ewell’s division to hold the upper Rappahannock line. Ewell was a fighter and chafed at being left at what appeared to be an inactive front. Nevertheless he did his duty, all the while looking for an opportunity to strike. If Ewell’s military career seemed to be temporarily on hold, his personal life was not. On December 1, 1861, he proposed marriage to his first cousin Lizinka Campbell Brown, whom he had admired since his youth. She accepted his offer. For the prospective groom it was a good match. At age forty-one, Lizinka was perhaps the wealthiest women in Tennessee. She had inherited some fifteen thousand acres of land in the state from her father and brother, as well as another twenty-seven hundred acres of land in Mississippi from her deceased husband, James Percy Brown, plus lots in Nashville, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. Lizinka had two children from her first marriage, a son named Campbell and a daughter named Harriot, familiarly called Hattie. A third child, Percy, had died eight years earlier. At Lizinka’s request, Ewell accepted Campbell onto his staff in 1861. The young man proved valuable as Ewell’s aide-de-camp and later as his assistant adjutant general. Ewell became the father that Brown never knew, and Brown became the son that Ewell never had. 78. Undated Account of Fairfax Court House [R]eforming his men, Col. Ewell awaited the return of the enemy.1 As they re-appeared, being the third appearance in the town, some of our men refused to fire, saying &c Challenged them. Who goes there? Ans. Cavalry. What Cavalry . Answer was given from the pistol of the leader. Our men fired. Several saddles were emptied, Several horses killed, 5 or 6 prisoners were taken & arms & accoutrements.2 There were two...

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