Major Gibson, in accounting for his disaster, says that his men being armed with carbines alone were “unable to engage in a melee successfully with an enemy armed with at least two revolvers to the man; also, I didn’t know of the attack until I observed the rear guard coming in at full flight, mixed up with and pursued by the enemy.” He concluded his report by asking for a “court of inquiry at the earliest practicable moment.”
Colonel George Taylor Denison, who long held a leading commission as a Canadian Cavalry officer, in his book on “Modern Cavalry,” describes the results of this battle as one of the most remarkable in the history of cavalry warfare. He asserts the fight of Mosby’s men at Mt. Carmel Church demonstrated the superiority of the pistol and revolver above all other weapons in cavalry combat, when these are in the hands of men who know how to use them.
The Confederates pursued the fleeing foe right up to the Shenandoah River. With his limited force Major Richards deemed it unwise to cross that stream. He marched back with his followers over the Blue Ridge Mountains to Paris, a little town in the northernmost part of Fauquier County. In this immediate neighborhood, and about Upperville, there had been many engagements between cavalry on both sides. Some of the severest cavalry fighting of the war occurred in this vicinity a few days after the Battle of Fleetwood Hill. Stuart and Pleasanton were for three days in contact about Upperville, Middleburg and Aldie, but none of these, considering the number engaged, were so brilliant as this conflict between Major Gibson and Major Richards. Only two Confederates were wounded and none killed. This gallant fight was complimented by General Lee in a dispatch to the War Department.
As the Federals left the home of Major Richards’ father, they took with them his uniform and his other trappings. When he emerged from the trap door there was nothing left for him to wear. The Federal soldiers had taken everything that they could lay their hands upon, hoping thereby to make the Major ride thereafter with a limited wardrobe. They wished also to exhibit them as a trophy won from Mosby’s men.
Searching around, Major Richards found an old-fashioned, high top, black felt hat, badly worn and with many holes around the brim. He managed to secure a suit of brown Kentucky jeans and a pair of laborer’s boots which had been discarded by some farm hand. Lacking an overcoat, his mother pinned her woolen shawl about his shoulders. It was not a very attractive garb. It might have served in a pinch for an infantryman, but it did not sit well upon a dashing cavalryman.
When Richards’ command reached Paris the Federal prisoners had been corralled in an old blacksmith shop. While resting there the Confederate commander was informed that one of the prisoners desired to speak with him. When Major Richards arrived at the blacksmith shop, the courier indicated a handsomely dressed young officer as the one who had sent the message seeking an interview. The Confederate commander asked why he had been sent for. The Federal officer, surprised at the appearance of the Confederate, not then twenty-one years of age, said to Major Richards: “I desire to speak to the commanding officer.” Major Richards, in his pride of achievement, forgot the sorry appearance he was making in the cast-off clothing of the farm hand, and calmly looking the Federal in the eye, he said to him: “I am the commanding officer.” The lieutenant, amazed, gazed carefully at the stripling, so grotesquely clad. He was too astounded to be able to speak. Waiting a brief time, Major Richards, in order to relieve the embarrassment, said, “Well, what is it you want?” The Federal lieutenant then informed the major that there was a captain among the prisoners who was severely wounded, and he wished to know if he could not be properly cared for. The solicitude of the wounded man’s comrade appealed to the finer sentiments of the Confederate. Learning the name of the Federal captain, he directed him to be paroled and removed to the village hotel and placed under the care of the neighborhood physician, and directed that the bills for medical attention and board be sent to him for payment.
After this preliminary had been arranged, Major Richards turned to the lieutenant and said, “I notice you are wearing a staff officer’s uniform;” to which response was made: “Yes, I am a lieutenant on General Merritt’s staff.” Then the Confederate commander asked, “How did you happen to be in this command?” The Federal replied that he had been sent with the orders under which Major Gibson was to make this raid, and he asked General Merritt to permit him to go along just for the fun of it; to which the Confederate replied: “I hope, Lieutenant, you have enjoyed it more than your surroundings seem to indicate.”
The wounded officer was Captain Duff, who had commanded the rear guard. He speedily recovered and was permitted to return to his home. In later years when statements were made that Mosby had mistreated his prisoners, the grateful captain made a vigorous defense of Mosby and his men, and extolled both their humanity and their mercy.
Chapter XVIII
MORGAN’S CHRISTMAS RAID, DECEMBER 22,
1862, TO JANUARY 2, 1863
The distance between Nashville and Murfreesboro is thirty miles. For sixty days after assuming command of the Federal forces at Nashville, General Rosecrans was making his preparations to advance south. The Confederate Army was at Murfreesboro. The center, under General Leonidas Polk, around the town; the right wing, under General McCown, at Readyville, ten miles east of Murfreesboro; and the left wing at Triune and Eaglesville, under General W. J. Hardee, ten miles west of Murfreesboro. These comprised the entire Confederate Army called the “Army of Tennessee.” It was in front of the Federal forces, styled the “Army of the Cumberland,” and covered the lines around Murfreesboro.