As it was, he turned quietly and rode back to Munford’s people, who, by this time, were almost in town, and the whole force moved slowly back towards Rectortown. Capt. White halted about a mile from town and watched the enemy, who marched out a short distance and commenced rapid firing from infantry and artillery, but they were too far away to do any damage at all.
Geary magnified this exploit, in the newspapers, into one the of most terrible incidents of the war, reporting that he had surprised the camp of the rebel guerrilla White, which was in a mountain cave, and had captured a great quantity of war material besides about one hundred prisoners.
In the course of Geary’s operations in Loudoun, he reported captures of White’s men to the number of over six hundred, besides the killed and wounded.
After Geary got his command on the railroad, Capt. White, by permission of Col. Munford, made a raid in his rear at Salem, and driving off the guard, took possession of all the baggage of the entire 28th Pennsylvania, which he carried safely off with him; and Col. Munford, soon after, came down on his commissary stores at Piedmont, making a heavy capture of flour and many other articles, as well as some negroes whom the Pennsylvania hero had stolen away from their homes.
In the latter part of April, Munford was ordered to report to his regiment, then lying on the Rappahannock, near the O. and A. R. R., and White went with him, but soon after reaching the camp of the 2d regiment, through Col. Munford’s influence, he was ordered to report to Gen. Ewell, to act on scouting and courier duty for that officer; accordingly, he started at once for his new field of action, and reached Gen. Ewell’s headquarters at Liberty Mills on the 1st of May. Soon after which the division marched to Jackson’s department in the Valley, crossing the Blue-Ridge at Swift Run Gap and establishing camp at Auglebright’s, in whose house Gen. Ewell had his headquarters.
The General was a stern, fierce old soldier, having been an officer of the old army and on duty among the Indians and on the frontier for many years. He was a rigid disciplinarian, and White’s men were a great deal more afraid of him than of Yankees. One of his abominations was to receive "don’t know" for an answer, and before very long every man detailed for duty at the General’s headquarters went with fear and trembling, for there were a great many things which they really did not know, and when asked about them they couldn’t say anything else.
It was an unfortunate time for such greenhorns as White’s people were to go on such duty as this, for the General had reached the Valley just at the moment when Jackson was starting on his McDowell expedition, and without any knowledge of the plans or intentions of his superior, Ewell was compelled to lie still in camp with his little army, while the troops of Banks gathered all around him, and he was rendered extremely cross and impatient thereby; but one day that peerless cavalier, Gen. Ashby, who had been with Jackson, rode up to Ewell’s headquarters, and meeting the General, saluted him and inquired how he did, to which Ewell replied, "I’ve been in hell for three days! been in hell for three days, Gen. Ashby. What’s the news from Jackson?"
Ashby replied, “Gen. Jackson says the Lord has blessed our arms with another glorious victory,” and then proceeded to give him the details of “Stonewall” and his army getting lost among the mountains, but being finally found by the Yankee Generals, Milroy, Schenck and Co., to their great discomfort.
The recital brightened the spirits of our General to such an extent that the boys began to think there might be a warm place somewhere away down in his rugged, iceberg of a heart, and they decided that he wasn’t such a savage old bear after all, but the change didn’t amount to much, and it was finally given up that “old Ewell” didn’t love but one thing on earth, and that one thing was “Friday,” the ugliest, dirtiest and most aggravating and thievish little wretch of an Indian boy in the country.
However, his staff was composed of very clever gentlemen, especially Capt. Brown, his special aid-de-camp, who was very accommodating and pleasant, and all the boys liked him very much. Major Barbour, A. A. General, too, was a favorite; so was Major Snodgrass, the Quartermaster. But some of the Brigadiers were far from being admired; and not one of the men would have acted as courier for Gen. Dick Taylor, if they could have avoided it.