On hearing my report the lieutenant said, “Don’t you think we can capture them?” Here was no “taking counsel of fear”—fifteen against fifteen hundred. I said I thought we could if we all would swear to go through or die, but there was some murmured objection with a few of our men, and one, a gallant fellow, afterwards killed in Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg, said the scheme was too utterly rash for consideration and he would not agree to it. It was then agreed that I should mount the captured horse, ride to the Eighth Virginia and ask them to come over and help us. Reaching their bivouac I found that Colonel Hunton, who had gotten up from his sickbed to be with his men in the battle, had retired to a house in town, leaving Lieutenant-Colonel Tebbs in command, and upon stating the situation to him and asking for the regiment, he said the men were so worn out with the exertions of the day that he would not order them for the expedition, but that if any chose to volunteer for it they might go.
Upon hearing this Captains Wm. N. and Edmund Berkeley; Lieutenants R. H. Tyler, L. B. Stephenson, and Robt. Cue; Sergeants F. Wilson, J. O. Adams, and ........ Gochenauer; Corporals B. Hurst, W. Fletcher, B. Hutchinson, Wm. Thomas; Privates A. S. Adams, J. W. Adams, F. A. Boyer, L. Chinn, G. Crell, R. S. Downs, W. Donnelly, G. Insor, C. R. Griffin, John George, D. L. Hixon, T. W. Hutchinson, J. F. Ish, R. I. Smith, W. C. Thomas, J. W. Tavenner, J. M. McVeigh, L. W. Luckett, M. H. Luckett, A. M. O’Baunon, Rev. Chas. F. Linthecuin, R. O. Carter, Geo. Roach, E. Nalls, Howard Trussell, D. Rouke, T. E. Tavenner, P. Gochenauer, F. Tinsman, T. H. Denton, T. Kdwiell, C. Fox, V. R. Costello, Will Moore, J. Ellis, Wm. McCarty, J. M. McClannehan, F. Herrington, R. Julian, and C. D. Luckett—in all fifty-two—came forward promptly, saying, “We will follow you.”
Moving back rapidly to Berkeley, we found he had come up on the Bluff, and as not a man among us except myself knew a foot of the ground, they unanimously made me their leader, and I placed Lieutenant Berkeley, with his original squad of a dozen, ON the bluff, to wait until the balance opened fire UNDER it, when he was to open rapidly, making all the noise possible and shouting every order and command he could think of.
The remainder of the party descended the bluff to the beach or shore, and when near the landing we heard the boat returning from the island. How many trips it had made in my absence I do not know, but the number of men on shore had very perceptibly diminished. Here I halted my little army, and having witnessed the confusion among the Federals at a previous landing, I instructed my men to wait until the boat reached the shore. As it came to land we moved forward, and when nearly up with them I called for a surrender, but receiving no reply I ordered “Fire!” and our guns blazed into them. There was a general stampede of those who were able, a large number of them jumping into the river, while some ran along the shore above.
All their officers who could do so had left these poor fellows to their fate some time before, except one, a gallant Irish captain of the California regiment, who had swum over to the island to try for some way to get his men over, but failing in that had swum the river back again to share the fate of his company. I think his name was O’Meara,[13] and he deserves the Medal of Honor. This brave gentleman called out, as a last resort in the wreck and confusion, “We surrender, who is in command?” Captain W. N. Berkeley replied, “General White,” and the Captain asked, “General White, what terms will you give us?”
My unofficial promotions this day had been much too rapid for my scant military knowledge, and for want of a more professional answer I replied, “The terms of war, sir;” which seemed to suit the captain, for his clear voice called, “Men, General White gives us the terms of war; come out of the river and surrender,” which they did, and then the brave fellow went up the river and brought back a number who had been in hiding there. When gathering them all together, he marched them up the bluff to the plateau where he formed them in line, and handed over to our charge three hundred and twenty-five prisoners, with many arms, ammunition, etc.
My untutored form of expressing terms granted may have seemed awkward to the better technically informed soldiers present, but I still think my proposition was as much to the point as that of “Stonewall” Jackson at Harpers Ferry or General Grant’s at Fort Donelson, to wit, “Unconditional surrender, sir.”
In regard to this night capture, the official reports of some officers, as published, are so misleading and inaccurate that I feel obliged to call attention to them, and especially that of Lieutenant-Colonel John McGuirk, Seventeenth Mississippi, found in Vol. V., Series 1, page 362, Official Records, which I would be glad for all who may see this little story, to read it, it being too voluminous to incorporate in this.
However, some allowance should be made for him, as we learn from his report that he was suffering under excessive fatigue, having been fifty-three hours in the saddle, breaking down one horse, having immediate supervision of all operations from Smart’s Mill to Edward’s Ferry during both days, taking many prisoners, guarding the battlefield all night, ending up on the night of 22d by having his last horse fall with and upon him, in Leesburg, producing a shock so serious that he was unable to remount without help, and finally having to be assisted from his horse and put to bed, with the heavy duty of having to prepare his report, so that General Evans might know just WHAT had been done and WHO did it, coming upon him before he had fully recovered. In view of all these things, we must admit that he made quite an interesting report, in which he says that “Mr. E. White, of Ashby’s Cavalry, entered the field with two companies of the Eighth Virginia and I joined my forces to his,” etc.
To vindicate the truth of history I here emphatically declare that there were no soldiers engaged in that capture—the greatest of the day—but those of the Eighth Virginia, except myself, who, at that time, belonged to Captain Mason’s company of Ashby’s Legion. I say this because it is the truth and that Lieut. Charles Berkeley, with the gallant band of the Eighth Virginia, who joined him in the enterprise, shall have the credit that belonged to them, Colonel Featherstone and Lieutenant Colonel McGuirk to the contrary notwithstanding, but I am well assured that Featherstone’s report is based upon McGuirk.