“To Major E. V. White.”
As an evidence that “Stonewall” Jackson took no half way measures, and also that he kept his promises, the prisoners referred to were released in about ten days.
CHAPTER VIII.
The battalion now encamped on the turnpike, about three miles from the river, and near Berryville, and under orders from Gen. W. E. Jones. The Major posted his companies at the fords on the Shenandoah, from Front Royal to Key’s Ferry, to picket. The camp was lumbered up with a great quantity of captured property, having wagons and tents sufficient for three times the number of men; in fact no regiment in either army was better supplied with camp equipage than White’s battalion. On the night of the 28th November, a dispatch was received from Company B, at Berry’s Ferry, saying that the enemy was crossing at that point, and Mr. William Dove, or as he was familiarly known in the command, “Uncle Billy,” the active and efficient wagon-master, went to work loading the wagons, preparatory to a move; but by the time everything was ready, another courier came from Company B, saying the alarm was false. At this time the only force in camp was Company Q, composed, as every old soldier knows, of men who are disabled or on detail.
Company A, which was to play the most conspicuous part in what was about to transpire, was on duty at Castleman’s Ferry, commanded by Lieut. Barrett.
For several days a party of about one hundred Federal cavalry had made regular trips up the Aldie turnpike to Snickersville, thence through the Gap to the river bank, and returning at once as quietly as they came. They never disturbed citizens, and no one knew their object, but all supposed it was nothing farther than to notice the disposition of the Confederates in the Valley, and it is singular that they were permitted to operate in this manner with so much regularity and not be molested; certain it is that no such thing was ever permitted by White afterwards. On the 29th, this party made its appearance at the river as usual, and Barrett’s men, on their first appearance, were not prepared to receive such company; some of them being engaged in fishing, some were boating, and nearly all had their horses unsaddled, so incautious had familiarity with the motions of this particular party of Yankees rendered them; but the visitors seemed to linger on the river bank for a longer time to-day than usual, and Barrett ordered his men to saddle up, at the same time sending a courier to camp to inform Capt. Myers, who was in command there, that the Yankees were at the river, and he thought they intended to cross. He hailed the enemy, and when they replied, asked them “what they wanted,” and invited them to “come over,” to which they answered by telling him “not to be uneasy,” that they “would be over presently,” which the Lieutenant began to think was highly probable, as their number was increasing every moment in a most alarming manner. As soon as possible he had the company mounted, and sending a man down the river to order the guards below him to fall back, he prepared to do the best he could, under the circumstances, to delay the enemy as long as possible, in order to give the men in camp time to get the baggage away, for their intention to accept his invitation to “come over” was rapidly becoming apparent and certain.
It is now time to go to the camp and see what arrangements have been made there for the visitation that will soon be made on the west bank of the Shenandoah.
Thanks to the alarm from Company B, the night before, the wagons were all loaded and ready to move. All the tents had been struck, with the exception of Capt. Grubb’s, who having been sick for some days, and unable to move, resolved to stay in his tent. About twenty-five men were in camp, either entirely dismounted or with broken-down horses. Some were sick, and besides these the number on detail in the quartermaster’s department would make a total of about sixty in all when Lieut. Barrett’s courier arrived.
This man came up very leisurely, and did not report to Capt. Myers at all, but who accidentally saw him, and knowing him to be one of Barrett’s men, asked him the news at the river, when the fellow responded that there were “some Yankees on the other side.”
Myers asked if Barrett thought it was only the usual scout, or if they looked like crossing, and he replied that he "didn’t know." This was all of Lieutenant Barrett’s dispatch that reached the commander, and I have always entertained the opinion that the courier ought to have been court-martialed and shot.