From Bull Run to Appomattox: A Boy's View

by Luther W. Hopkins

Johnston's army a few days after the battle had increased to 40,000. He moved forward and occupied a position near Centerville, and there he wintered. Jackson, however, was detached and sent back to Winchester to guard the valley, and became commander-in-chief of that section. The forces that came down from Leesburg returned to their old position.

During the winter the soldiers were granted frequent furloughs, the militia was disbanded, and I went back home.

But when the birds began heralding the coming of spring there was a call from the Confederate Government not only for the return of all enlisted men to their commands, but for every able-bodied white male citizen between the ages of eighteen and forty-five to enlist.

I started out from Middleburg with Edwin Bailey and several Marylanders, the latter having crossed the Potomac for the purpose of joining the Confederate army. Bailey was already a member of the Eighth Virginia Infantry, and was at home on furlough.

My destination was the Sixth Virginia Cavalry, which was then with Stonewall Jackson in the valley of Virginia. This regiment was in Robinson's brigade, Fitzhugh Lee's division, the whole cavalry force of the army of Northern Virginia being commanded by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. I was on horseback; the others on foot.

It reminded me of the resurrection morn, except the trooping thousands were coming from the top of the ground and not from under it. From hamlet and villa, from the lordly mansion and mountain shack, from across the Potomac, the boys and young men of the South were coming in answer to the call. The Government at Washington had called for half a million; the Government at Richmond had called for every able-bodied son from eighteen to forty-five, and they were coming.

The nearest point at which I could reach the Confederate line was Harrisonburg, Va. All the district between my home and Harrisonburg, and on the line stretching from there south to the James river, and north into West Virginia, had been abandoned to the enemy. Hence, it was necessary for us to move with great caution, to avoid being intercepted by the bluecoats. The little caravan moved up the pike that runs from Alexandria across the Blue Ridge into the valley by the way of Upperville and Paris. When we reached the mountain at Paris we moved along its foot, traveling mostly by night and resting by day, hiding ourselves in the heavy timber that stretched along the slopes of the mountain. We had no trouble procuring food from the little farm houses that we passed. Occasionally we employed a guide, whom we paid. These guides took great pains to magnify the danger that surrounded us, and told us of the narrow escapes of other caravans that had preceded us. This was done in order to draw as large a fee from us as possible. The distance to Harrisonburg was about 100 miles. We finally reached our destination.

During the winter and early spring the North had raised a very large army, splendidly equipped, and placed under the command of Gen. George B. McClellan. This army was taken mostly by boat to a point on the James river, from which point it took up a line of march toward Richmond. McClellan's army was the largest and best equipped that had ever trod American soil.

McClellan was the idol of the North, and there was very little doubt in the minds of the Northern people that when he met the Confederate forces defending Richmond the Capital of the Confederacy would be captured, and the army defending it destroyed or captured.

The Confederate forces gradually fell back before McClellan's army as it advanced along the James river, until the invaders could see the spires of the Confederate Capitol.