A violent snow-storm was raging as they passed through Manassa Gap, but it was no hindrance to them now; in fact, they were glad of it, for it served to prevent scouting parties of Yankees from coming out, and also shut other avenues through which news of them might have been communicated to the enemy; and the little band of “Comanches” felt very much like fugitives, for what they had seen and experienced in the Valley, had impressed upon them, to a considerable extent, the belief that the “starry cross” was being enveloped in the gloom of annihilation, and the fact that their Government was unable to support them, had tamed their spirits wonderfully.
When they entered their paradise, for such Loudoun county seemed to them, they found that the fire-fiends had been to work there too, but not to the same extent they had practiced their inhuman desolation on the Shenandoah; and now they were glad that the “Quaker settlements” and “Dutch corner” of this county, were full of men loyal to Yankee land, for, as the burning devils began their work among the Union men first, it brought such influential remonstrances to the powers that were, that the destruction was partially averted; and then the gallant Mosby, with his partizans in the mountains, had a most salutary effect in preventing the burners from wandering too far from their line of march and too near the mountains which run through this region. So that badly damaged though they were, the people of Loudoun were far more removed from the want of provisions that fell heavily upon their neighbors over the Blue Ridge, and the soldiers, whose homes were here, found themselves in the midst of what seemed to them an endless abundance.
The men whose homes were in Albemarle, were far the most fortunate though, for, with an abundance of rations and forage, they were entirely free from any fear of the enemy’s raiding parties, while Company E, in Page and Shenandoah and Warren, were not only in a destitute country, but in nightly danger of being “gobbled up” by the scouting bands sent out by Sheridan’s army in the “lower Valley,” but they betook themselves to the mountains and the “Little Foot Valley,” or Powell’s Foot, as it is sometimes called, and enjoyed themselves as only men can do who have continual danger to add zest to their enjoyment of home and rest.
Of how the winter passed away, each individual had a different story to tell, and it would be impossible to give them all in the history of the battalion; but of two or three incidents that kept the men from forgetting they were still soldiers, we must tell the history.
The three Companies, A, B and C, were scattered through Loudoun and Fairfax counties, nominally under the command of Captain Myers, Co. A, who held weekly meetings of his squadron at various points, but apart from the meetings the men were under no restrictions or control except such as the necessity for watching the Yankees and keeping out of the way of their scouting parties imposed.
Company B staid, for the most part, in the mountain near Hughesville and Leesburg, but Lieut. Chiswell had his headquarters near the Potomac, and learning of a Yankee camp on the Maryland side, at Edwards’ Ferry, he concluded to attempt a raid on their horses, and early in February he got twenty-two of his men together, started from Mrs. Mavin’s mill about 8 o’clock at night, leaving their horses on the Virginia side. They crossed the river on the ice, about three-quarters of a mile below the Ferry, and coming out on the road made as good time as possible for the camp, but when within one hundred yards of it were called upon by two vedettes to halt. This brought on some firing, and without waiting a moment for the Yankees to get ready, the Lieutenant and his men, giving the customary yell, and keeping it up, charged at a double-quick into the camp. The Yankees had not yet gone to bed, and rushed to see what was coming, but one glance was sufficient for them it seems, for Lieut. Chiswell says they could not have disappeared any quicker than they did if the ground had opened beneath them and swallowed them, but there was one exception, for one man (a soldier he was) tried his utmost to fire his carbine, but it refused to go off, and he was captured in the attempt to defend his camp; he and one other were wounded, and one prisoner taken, and as soon as the camp was cleared Lieut. Chiswell and some of his men hunted up and secured fourteen good horses and rigging, the property of the 1st Delaware Cavalry. While this was being done another party paid a visit to a store near by, and Lieut. C. says, that considering the fact of their having no light, he thinks they made a very fair selection of goods.
After arranging matters to their notion the raiders returned to the Virginia side with their spoils, bringing their one prisoner along, but as soon as they got over the question arose “What will we do with him?” and as none of the party was willing to escort the gentleman to Richmond, which was the only place they could take him, they proposed to him that if he would trade shoes with one of the captors, who was bad off in that line, they would release him unconditionally, a proposition which he eagerly accepted, and lost no time in consummating the trade.
About Christmas a Federal brigade, commanded by General Deven, had established itself in winter quarters near Lovettsville, in Loudoun county, with its right wing protected by the Short Hill and its left resting on the turnpike, near the Berlin Ferry on the Potomac; and during the time they were there these troops had treated the inhabitants of the country through which they scouted and foraged with far more courtesy and consideration than was the custom of Federal soldiers south of the Potomac. It is true that buildings in the vicinity of their camps were in many instances stripped of their planking to be used for the more comfortable fitting up of the soldiers quarters, but as a general thing Deven showed that his warfare was not upon helpless citizens, whose persons and property were entirely at his mercy, and in this respect proved himself an exception to the majority of commanding officers in the abolition crusade upon the South, who only limited their license to the extent of their power. And this forbearance on the part of Gen. Deven was all the more remarkable from the fact that the indomitable Mobberly, in company with a few others whose homes and sweethearts were in the Federal lines, made almost nightly attacks upon the pickets, and some nights this rough-riding scout with his little band would commence at one end of the chain and make the entire circuit of the camps, driving in every picket on the line, and keeping the regiments under arms the whole night. It is easy to imagine what a visitation of wrath this would have brought upon the citizens in his power, from Sir “Headquarters-in-the-Saddle,” although they were as innocent of any complicity in or knowledge of these forays as the silent tenants of the graveyard, and because Gen. Deven looked upon them with the judgment of the true soldier in an enemy’s country, and acted like a soldier and not a barbarian, the people respected him; but when his scouting parties went through the country piloted by Means’ men, hen-roosts, milk-houses and ladies’ wardrobes were invaded in the most approved style of genuine Yankee warfare, as was invariably the case when the “Independent Loudoun Rangers” went out on the war-path, and no dread of Mosby or White sharpened their consciences.
This much for General Deven and his men.
In February, 1865, Colonel White came to Loudoun and taking a view of the situation, resolved to try a raid into the Federal camp.