CHAPTER IX.
Sullenly, as the foe advanced, we fell back in the direction of Port Republic, determined, when attacked by Fremont’s overwhelming army, to fight to the last man. At length we halted at Cross Keys, and made preparations to pass our wagons and prisoners over the crazy old bridge, which afforded us the only means of escaping the destruction which threatened us. Therefore, forming his army in line of battle on the morning of the 8th of June, to keep Fremont in check, Jackson moved his prisoners upon the bridge, but scarcely had the first of them crossed when they were surprised by a squadron of Shields’ cavalry, that dashed into the town of Port Republic, and who speedily captured the guard and released the prisoners. Indeed, General Jackson himself narrowly escaped. Hastening back, however, he brought forward a body of cavalry, and charging them in turn recaptured not only all he had lost, but many of the enemy beside. From the prisoners he learned that Shields was rapidly approaching with a large force from McDowell’s army, and they expressed themselves confident that we would be crushed between him and Fremont.
Things looked gloomy enough, it was true, but such was the confidence of the troops in Jackson that our situation caused little or no uneasiness. Quickly detaching his own division from the line of battle he had formed in front of Fremont, he placed it in position to hold Shields in check, and at the same time cover the passage of the bridge, whilst Ewell, with his little division of five thousand men, was to fight Fremont’s twenty-five thousand. Thus when the battle commenced the Confederate lines presented the singular spectacle of two armies standing back to back, facing a foe in front and rear, and but three miles apart.
About ten o’clock the enemy moved to the attack upon Ewell in beautiful order, and first struck his left, which was barely a skirmish line of the First Maryland supporting Griffin’s Baltimore Battery. On came the enemy until they had arrived within a hundred yards of us, when the deadly fire from our Mississippi rifles and the grape and canister from Griffin drove them back in confusion. Again they advanced and took position about three hundred yards distant, when they opened upon us a most terrible fire from the Belgium gun. Fortunately we were posted in a skirt of woods, and were well protected from their fire. For hours this desperate conflict continued, the enemy making repeated attempts to penetrate our line, but every assault was repelled with heavy loss to the assailants. And during those precious hours Jackson was accomplishing his purpose of passing his trains and provisions over the old bridge.
All day long Ewell fought on with the same troops and held the same line of battle, for there were none to relieve those first put in, and these the enemy were unable to drive one foot. The odds were fearful indeed—five to one; but we were desperate men, fighting for our lives and liberties. At length relief came to us in the declining day; and how anxiously, we watched the sun go down that evening, for we were well nigh worn out from seven hour’s incessant fighting. At dark the firing almost entirely ceased, and we still held the ground we did in the morning, and Jackson’s trains were safely over the river.
The loss of the First Maryland in this engagement was severe, although we fought mostly under cover of the woods, but so terrible was the enemy’s fire that it was almost impossible to expose for an instant any part of the body without being struck. It is strange to say not a single man was killed outright, though we had more than thirty wounded out of one hundred and seventy-five men; several of whom, however, afterwards died. In this fight General George H. Steuart, who was in command of the Maryland line, was desperately wounded in the breast by a grape shot, and General Elzey, who commanded the left, was wounded in the leg.
Late that night, leaving our fires brightly burning to deceive the enemy, we stealthily moved from before them and commenced to cross the bridge, and by daylight the last man had reached the longed-for shore, and Jackson was safe. As the last foot left it, the bridge was fired in many places, and having been filled with combustible material, was almost instantly enveloped in flames. Great indeed must have been the surprise and chagrin of the “great explorer,” as at daylight he beheld the lurid flames and dense black smoke that ascended high up to heaven, and heralded to him the escape of the wily foe he had believed inextricably within his toils.
But our work was not yet done; for six thousand men and a battery of artillery of Shields’ command, under General Tyler, held a strong position right in our path, and must be disposed of. They had been silent spectators of the passage of the bridge, never offering to molest us in the least, and Jackson had refrained from attacking them until he had escaped from his more powerful antagonist. But now they must be got rid of, and for that purpose General Dick Taylor and his Louisiana and two Virginia brigades were moved down the river side, and a vigorous attack made upon the enemy’s position. They were repulsed, however, with heavy loss, but a second attempt proved more successful, and the enemy was driven from his position with terrible slaughter, and the battery captured. In this engagement, which was of but two hours’ duration, the enemy lost over two thousand in killed and wounded, besides nearly a thousand prisoners.
During the latter part of the battle of Port Republic Fremont’s army remained drawn up on the opposite bank of the river, unable to render any assistance to the unfortunate Tyler, and to whose destruction they were silent spectators. The battle over though, and whilst the Confederates were burying the dead and succoring the wounded of both sides, the brutal Fremont, wild with disappointment, opened his batteries upon the ambulance and burial parties, which fire killed many of his own wounded people, and compelled us to leave the balance on the field uncared for, and his dead unburied.
The battle of Port Republic closed Jackson’s Valley Campaign, for Fremont finding it useless to attempt to cope with his wily antagonist in his mountain fastness, retired in the direction of Winchester.
Never in his previous or subsequent campaigns did Jackson’s military genius and daring show to greater advantage than in this of the Valley of Virginia. In less than six weeks he had beaten the army of Milroy, destroyed that of Banks, baffled that of Fremont, and annihilated that of Tyler, and all with less than twelve thousand men; besides capturing from the enemy millions worth of stores, &c.
From General Ewell’s official report of the Valley Campaign we take the following highly complimentary extract:
“The history of the Maryland regiment, gallantly commanded by Colonel Bradley T. Johnson during the campaign of the Valley, would be the history of every action from Front Royal to Cross Keys. On the 6th, near Harrisonburg, the Fifty-Eighth Virginia Regiment was engaged with the Pennsylvania “Bucktails,” the fighting being close and bloody. Colonel Johnson came up with his regiment in the hottest period, and by a dashing charge in flank drove the enemy off with heavy loss, capturing Lieutenant-Colonel Kane, commanding. In commemoration of this gallant conduct I ordered one of the captured “Bucktails” to be appended as a trophy to their flag. The action is worthy of acknowledgment from a higher source, more particularly as they avenged the death of the gallant General Ashby who fell at the same time. Four color bearers were shot down in succession, but each time the colors were caught before reaching the ground, and were finally borne by Corporal Daniel Shanks to the close of the action.
“On the 8th instant at Cross Keys they were opposed to three of the enemy’s regiments in succession.”
General Jackson, also, in his official report of the Valley Campaign, thus speaks of the First Maryland’s participation in the battle of Harrisonburg:
“Apprehending that the Federals would make a more serious attack, Ashby called for an infantry support. The brigade of General George H. Steuart was accordingly ordered forward. In a short time the Fifty-Eighth Virginia Regiment became engaged with a Pennsylvania Regiment called the Bucktails, when Colonel Johnson of the First Maryland Regiment coming up in the hottest period of the fire, charged gallantly into its flank, and drove the enemy with heavy loss from the field, capturing Lieutenant-Colonel Kane, commanding. In this skirmish our infantry loss was seventeen killed, fifty wounded and three missing. In this affair General Turner Ashby was killed. An official report is not an appropriate place for more than a passing notice of the distinguished dead; but the close relation which General Ashby bore to my command for most of the past twelve months will justify me in saying that as a partisan officer I never knew his superior. His daring was proverbial; his power of endurance almost incredible; his tone of character heroic, and his sagacity almost intuitive in divining the purpose and movement of the enemy.”