At the Forefront of Lee's Invasion
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At the Forefront of Lee's Invasion

Retribution, Plunder, and Clashing Cultures on Richard S. Ewell's Road to Gettysburg

Robert J. Wynstra

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At the Forefront of Lee's Invasion

Retribution, Plunder, and Clashing Cultures on Richard S. Ewell's Road to Gettysburg

Robert J. Wynstra

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After clearing Virginia's Shenandoah Valley of Federal troops, Gen. Robert E. Lee's bold invasion into the North reached the Maryland shore of the Potomac River on June 15, 1863. A week later, the Confederate infantry crossed into lower Pennsylvania, where they had their first sustained interactions with the civilian population in a solidly pro-Union state. Most of the initial encounters with the people in the lush Cumberland Valley and the neigh- boring parts of the state involved the men from the Army of Northern Virginia's famed Second Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, who led the way as Lee's veteran soldiers advanced north toward their eventual showdown with the Union army at the crossroads town of Gettysburg.

The move to the North lasted for nearly a month and encompassed the major battle at Winchester, Virginia, with more than 5, 000 casualties; five skirmishes with more than 100 men killed, wounded, and captured in each; and several other minor actions. Civilian property losses in the North amounted to several million dollars. The interactions along the way further laid bare the enormous cultural gulf that separated the two sides in the war. As Robert Wynstra explains, Ewell and his top commanders constantly struggled to control the desire among the troops to seek retribution for what they perceived as Federal outrages in the South and to stop the plundering, working to maintain strict discipline in the army and uphold Southern honor.

Despite the yearly flood of books on Gettysburg, the Confederate advance has been largely ignored. Most books devote only a few pages or a single short chapter to that as- pect of the campaign. In this new study, Wynstra draws on an array of primary sources, including rare soldiers' letters and eyewitness accounts published in local newspapers, manuscripts and diaries in small historical societies, and a trove of postwar damage claims from the invasion to fill in this vital gap in the historiography of the campaign.

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1
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“A Fair Opportunity to
Strike a Blow”

The three top leaders in Ewell’s new corps comprised a decidedly mixed group. Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early ranked as the senior division commander. He was born in 1816 and grew up in the hill country of southwestern Virginia. Early graduated from West Point in 1837 and served as a lieutenant in the Third U.S. Artillery during the Second Seminole War (1835–42). Resigning from the army the following year, he returned home and took up the practice of law. Early soon won election to the Virginia legislature, where he served from 1841 to 1843. The former lawmaker then fought during the Mexican War (1846–48) as a major in the First Virginia Volunteers, though he experienced no significant combat.1
Returning to Virginia, Early resumed his law career. As a member of the Whig Party, he vehemently opposed leaving the Union during the fractious 1861 Virginia Secession Convention. But the lawyer’s principled stance quickly changed once Pres. Abraham Lincoln called on the state to provide troops to put down the rebellion in the Deep South. “I at once recognized my duty to abide the decision of my native State, and to defend her soil against invasion,” Early explained years later. When Virginia finally seceded, he tendered his services to the new Confederate army.2
Soon after arriving in camp at Lynchburg, Virginia, Early took over as colonel of the Twenty-Fourth Virginia Infantry. He eventually assumed command of a temporary brigade, which he effectively led during the stunning victory at First Manassas in mid-July. Early was promoted to brigadier general soon afterward to rank from the date of that battle. He continued to lead the brigade during the Peninsula Campaign in the fierce fighting on May 5, 1862, at Williamsburg, Virginia, where he suffered a wound to his shoulder but did not leave the field.3
While Early recovered from that injury, his troops transferred to other units as part of the army-wide reorganization aimed at putting regiments together in single-state brigades, temporarily leaving him without a command of his own. On June 30 Early took over the brigade formerly headed by Brig. Gen. Arnold Elzey. His new command formed part of Major General Ewell’s division in Stonewall Jackson’s Second Corps. Early’s first combat as leader of that brigade came on the following day at Malvern Hill, near the end of Lee’s decisive Seven Days’ Campaign.4
Early once again led those men during the fierce fighting at Cedar Mountain in early August. The division, however, endured a major blow when Ewell sustained a devastating wound to his left leg at Groveton during this run-up engagement to Second Manassas. Early participated in the fighting at Second Manassas under Brig. Gen. Alexander R. Lawton, who had assumed acting command of the division. Early continued to lead the brigade at Sharpsburg on September 17, during which he took over the division late in the day after Lawton was wounded. He remained as its temporary head during the fighting at Fredericksburg in mid-December.5
By early 1863 Early began to vigorously lobby for promotion to permanent command of the division. While no one questioned his fighting abilities, his abrasive manner raised some serious concerns about his fitness for higher command. Prominent staff officer G. Moxley Sorrel complained that Early’s “irritable disposition and biting tongue made him anything but popular.” John S. Wise, the son of the former governor of Virginia, described the general as “eccentric in appearance, in voice, [and] in manner of speech.” He was most put off by his fellow Virginian’s constant swearing and utter disrespect for authority. “His opinions were expressed unreservedly, and he was most emphatic and denunciatory, and startlingly profane,” Wise explained.6
Pvt. James W. Baker from the Thirteenth Virginia echoed the feelings of many in the army when he declared that the general’s “cynicism and wickedness were beyond belief.” Just as bad was Early’s dismissive attitude toward his fellow officers. Brig. Gen. John Brown Gordon, who would later serve under his direct command, recalled that Early “possessed other characteristics peculiarly his own, which were the parents of more or less trouble to him and to those under him: namely, his indisposition to act upon suggestions submitted by subordinates.” None of that criticism seemed to bother General Lee, who affectionately referred to Early as his “bad old man.”7
Despite the brigade commander’s prickly personality, Ewell continued to hold a high opinion of his fighting abilities. “General Early is an excellent officer—ought to be Maj. Genl.,” he wrote to his future wife a couple of months after suffering the amputation of his leg. By then, Early had become so frustrated with his lack of a promotion that he threatened to transfer to the one of the Confederate armies in the West. Ewell soon made it clear that he would willingly step aside in Early’s favor. “When I am fit for duty they may do what they please with me, but I think your claims to the Division, whether length of time or hard service be considered are fully equal, if not superior to mine,” he wrote to Early at the beginning of March.8
Any lingering concerns about the Virginian’s fitness were put aside when Lee promoted Early to major general and head of the division on April 8, 1863, to rank from January 17. His command included four veteran brigades. Brig. Gen. Harry Hays led a brigade of Louisiana troops, nicknamed the “Louisiana Tigers.” Brig. Gen. William “Extra Billy” Smith, who was a former congressman and governor of Virginia, assumed command of Early’s old unit. General Gordon, who was one of the heroes of Sharpsburg, led the lone Georgia regiments in the division. Finally, Brig. Gen. Robert Hoke headed a brigade of North Carolina troops.9
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Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Early commanded the division at Chancellorsville, where his troops took on the task of holding Marye’s Heights around Fredericksburg against a Federal advance. After finally forcing these troops to withdraw, a column from Hooker’s army under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick moved forward against Lee’s rear. The Confederates, however, decisively rebuffed this Federal advance at Salem Church on May 4. Early soon redeemed himself by organizing a counterattack that caused Hooker to pull his battered troops across the Rappahannock two days later. General Hoke suffered a severe wound during the fighting, leaving his brigade under the temporary command of Col. Isaac Avery from the Sixth North Carolina.10
Early’s mixed performance at Chancellorsville apparently did nothing to soften his abrasive personality. “Old Early is the same as ever—neither loving, lovely, or loved,” Col. Clement A. Evans from Gordon’s Brigade quipped to his wife after watching him during a review by General Lee at the end of May. “I rarely hear him spoken well of.” At the same time, Early’s reputation as a hard fighter remained largely unaffected. Although having experienced some problems during the recent battle, he still seemed primed to play a key role in what everyone assumed would be an active campaign into the North during the summer of 1863.11
Unlike Early, Edward “Old Allegheny” Johnson, who headed Stonewall Jackson’s former division, was new to the Army of Northern Virginia. The forty-seven-year-old major general was born in Virginia but grew up in Kentucky. Following his graduation from West Point in 1838, Johnson served as a lieutenant in the Sixth U.S. Infantry. The young officer participated in the campaign against the Seminoles in Florida and later fought under General Scott, earning brevets to captain and major for bravery during the battles around Mexico City. Following the end of that war, he continued to serve in the U.S. Army on the western frontier, rising to the permanent rank of captain.12
In the spring of 1861, Johnson resigned his commission and joined the Confederate army as colonel of the Twelfth Georgia. The regiment saw its first action during Lee’s failed campaign in the mountains of northwestern Virginia during the late summer of 1861. Soon afterward Johnson assumed command of a brigade-sized force that was grandly dubbed the Army of the Northwest. On December 13, Federal troops under Brig. Gen. Robert H. Milroy launched a determined assault on Johnson’s position along the summit of Allegheny Mountain. After a flurry of fierce fighting, the Confederates drove the enemy back in disarray toward their supply base near Cheat Mountain.13
Johnson’s conduct in this stunning victory won high praise from newspapers throughout the South, earning him the nickname “Old Allegheny” for his gallantry. “Col. Edward Johnson, an old army officer, the commandant of the post, behaved with his usual bravery, and was the hero of the fight,” the Richmond Enquirer proclaimed. “The letter before us says ‘Col. Johnson was a whale—he was in the thickest of danger always.’ ” The Macon Telegraph chimed in with the comment that Johnson had “acted most gallantly” during the fighting. According to its colorful account, he boldly led his troops into action “with a musket in one hand and a club in the other.”14
Some of Johnson’s men were just as impressed by what they witnessed during the fighting. Even years later one Virginian in the battle still found his commander’s performance beyond reproach. “I remember how I thought Colonel Johnson must be the most wonderful hero in the world, as I saw him at one point, where his men were hard pressed, snatch a musket in one hand and, swinging a big club in the other, he led his line right up among the enemy, driving them headlong down the mountain, killing and wounding many with the bayonet and capturing a large number of prisoners.”15
But many others had a much different opinion of Johnson’s conduct during the battle. Much of this criticism focused on what they regarded as the colonel’s cruel behavior toward his troops. One soldier complained that Johnson “displayed great bravery but very poor military skill in the handling of his men.” Most troubling were the repeated hard blows that he inflicted on some of the soldiers with his huge walking stick. “Instead of taking a position of observation, he armed himself with a club and mixing himself up with the men went about urging them forward with curses and vaporing of his club,” the veteran grumbled.16
Johnson’s hard-fought victory earned him promotion to brigadier general on February 28, 1862. During the first week of April, his small Army of the Northwest finally moved forward from Allegheny Mountain into the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. On May 6 the troops linked up with Jackson’s Army of the Valley near Staunton. Together they engaged Milroy’s troops two days later along the heights around McDowell. After enduring a furious onslaught, the Confederate forces eventually forced the Federals to withdraw from the field. Johnson remained amid the action at the head of his troops throughout much of the day.17
As darkness approached, Johnson suffered a severe wound that shattered his ankle. Although the injury would require a long period to fully heal, his conduct during the battle made an indelible impression on Jackson. “General Johnson, to whom I had intrusted the management of the troops engaged, proved himself eminently worthy of the confidence reposed in him by the skill, gallantry, and presence of mind which he displayed on the occasion,” the commander declared in his official report. After a period of treatment at Staunton, Johnson moved on to Richmond to finish his recuperation.18
As a bachelor, Johnson spent much of his time at the capital wooing the single women in the highest circles of society. What attracted the most attention, though, were his many physical quirks. “He had an odd habit of falling into a state of incessant winking as soon as he became the least startled or agitated,” Mary Chesnut, whose husband was a top advisor to Pres. Jefferson Davis, wrote in her renowned diary. “In such times he seemed persistently to be winking one eye at you.” She was especially put off by the unique appearance of his skull. “His head is strangely shaped, like a cone or an old-fashioned beehive,” Chesnut remarked. Her friend Sally Buchanan Preston noted, “there are three tiers of it; it is like a pope’s tiara.” Not surprisingly, the general’s amorous advances went unrequited.19
Despite Johnson’s failure to find love, Jackson hoped to have him join his corps once the general was ready to return to duty. The position that he eyed for him was the vacancy that came open in early 1863 when Maj. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill transferred from his division to a command in North Carolina. In February Jackson expressed his strong support for Johnson’s promotion in a letter to Richmond. “Gen. Johnson was with me at the Battle of McDowell, when he so distinguished himself as to make me very desirous of securing his services as one of my division commanders,” he wrote to Confederate secretary of war James A. Seddon.20
While Jackson waited for the opportunity to promote him, Johnson saw his convalescence extend well into the spring. By the time the general was ready to make his return to the army in early May, his prospects for advancement seemed less certain following Jackson’s death. Based on Stonewall’s dying wishes, Lee selected Robert Rodes to take over D. H. Hill’s former division. Luckily for Johnson’s advancement, Brig. Gen. Raleigh Colston’s lackluster performance while temporarily leading Jackson’s former division at Chancellorsville led to his removal, creating a new opening at the top of that command. On May 8 Lee selected Johnson as its permanent head.
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Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Like Johnson, all four of his brigade commanders were new to their positions. Following Chancellorsville, Lee picked Brig. Gen. George H. “Maryland” Steuart to lead Colston’s mixed command of Tar Heels and Virginians. Brig. Gen. John M. Jones succeeded John R. Jones, who had disgraced himself by leaving the field amid the fighting at Chancellorsville. Brig. Gen. James A. Walker assumed leadership of the famed Stonewall Brigade after its commander, Brig. Gen. Frank Paxton, was killed during the battle. Col. Jesse M. Williams from the Second Louisiana temporarily headed the fourth brigade in the absence of Brig. Gen. Francis R. T. Nichols, who on May 3 had suffered a severe wound in the foot.21
Because Johnson was new to the Army of Norther...

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