Part 13

President Lincoln had declared a blockade of the Southern ports as soon as the war had started. The Federal Navy Yard at Norfolk was captured by the Confederates without resistance. The United States ships were only twelve in number at the beginning of the war, but others were quickly constructed. The Confederates hoped to keep the James River open at all times. They needed ships badly, having had no navy to draw upon for ships. When the Federal employees had abandoned the Norfolk Navy Yard, they had sunk a wooden frigate called the "Merrimac." Governor Letcher of Virginia ordered that this ship be raised and be converted into an effective, usable frigate. Lieutenant John M. Brooke, John L. Porter, W. P. Williamson and others planned together for a converted ship. Finally, the hull of the old ship was covered with pine, oak and iron plates from the famous Tredegar Iron Works of Richmond. It was equipped with ten guns and an inexperienced crew under the ex-United States Naval Commander, Franklin Buchanan. This iron-clad vessel was renamed the "Virginia," and it traveled to Hampton Roads to attack the Federal fleet on March 8, 1862. When it first received gunfire from a Federal ship, the shots surprisingly glanced off its sides. The vessel moved very slowly. When at close range, it pierced the "Cumberland" with its iron ram causing it to sink. The next day, much to its surprise, it was matched by a Union ship, the "Monitor," designed by John Ericsson, which was ironclad, smaller, more agile and newly constructed throughout. The ships fired upon each other, but they could not inflict serious damage. The Battle of the "Monitor" and the "Virginia" (formerly "Merrimac") was a draw or indecisive from a victory point of view. However, it is important historically as the first battle of ironclad vessels in the United States. The "Virginia" was later blown up when the Confederates evacuated Norfolk.

On March 23 of the same year, "Stonewall" Jackson became the aggressor and attacked a Union force at Kernstown, near Winchester. However, when one of his brigade became short of ammunition, he had to retreat southward. This battle was the beginning of Jackson's "Valley Campaign."

Beginning on April 5 and continuing for approximately one month, an important siege took place at Yorktown. After a line of fortifications had been erected across the Peninsula from the Warwick River to Yorktown by the Confederate Commander John B. Magruder, General Joseph E. Johnston entrenched his army here. Union General George B. McClellan coming from Fort Monroe besieged the area for weeks and finally mounted his large size guns. With this action, Johnston withdrew since he was not equipped for such heavy fighting. As General Johnston's forces were retreating from Yorktown, they met an advance section of McClellan's army about one mile east of Williamsburg. Johnston was forced to fight at this time because he did not want them to capture his wagon train. Both armies fought valiantly, and neither side could get the advantage of the other. When night came, after a rainy day of fighting, Johnston retreated westward toward Richmond under cover of darkness. Two days later, Union General W. B. Franklin attempted to intercept Johnson on his retreat toward Richmond by landing just south of West Point on the eastern bank of the York River. However, General G. W. Smith came to Johnston's rescue and successfully drove Franklin forces back to the York River in order that Johnston could continue on his way to Richmond.

On May 8, 1862, "Stonewall" Jackson decided to prevent two Union generals, John C. Fremont and Nathaniel P. Banks, from combining their forces. He selected a position on a mountain top near McDowell, a village in Highland County. When Fremont's troops arrived under the leadership of General R. H. Milroy, they rushed up the sides of the mountain, only to be attacked by the Confederate forces under Jackson and driven back to a retreating position.

On May 23, Jackson successfully captured the town of Front Royal located in Warren County--an important area which had been held by Union forces under General Banks. This was a great blow to Banks as well as to his troops who rapidly retreated to Winchester. A unique feature of this battle was that among the opposing forces was the First Maryland Regiment, U. S. A. being attacked by the First Maryland Regiment, C. S. A. (Confederate States of America).

Two days later, Jackson rushed Banks at Winchester and surprised his troops to such an extent that they were routed from the town and driven across the Potomac in panic. Jackson who had been ordered by Lee to strike at Banks unexpectedly and to create the impression that it would be utterly impossible for him to converge with Fremont had carefully and painstakingly carried out such an order. Jackson is considered by many as second in military stature only to Lee himself.

On May 31-June 1, 1862 the Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks took place. The left wing of the Union army under McClellan was attacked by Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston at Fair Oaks Station and Seven Pines, located just east of Richmond. The Confederates won at Seven Pines but were driven back at Fair Oaks. The Battle of Seven Pines was considered indecisive. General Johnston was wounded seriously in this battle, and, at this time, General Robert E. Lee was put in command of the Army of Northern Virginia.

On June 8-9, Jackson was slowly retreating up the Shenandoah Valley when he decided to prevent two Union generals, John C. Fremont and James Shields, from combining forces by checking or holding back Fremont and then attacking Shields. He sent part of his troops under General Richard S. Ewell to attack the forces under Fremont at Cross Keys in Rockingham County. General Ewell defeated the forces of Fremont very badly and kept Fremont's help completely away from Shields. Jackson then led his remaining forces north of Port Republic and encountered Shields there. Bitter fighting followed. Shields was eventually defeated and driven down the Shenandoah Valley. This was the final engagement of the so-called Valley campaign. Jackson had proven himself a great military man who had fought on both sides of the Shenandoah Valley and who had marched approximately 700 miles in seven weeks in almost continuous fighting with one or more of the Federal fighting forces. This campaign included five major engagements: Kernstown, McDowell, Front Royal, Winchester and Port Republic. Jackson suffered defeat only at Kernstown by the Union General James Shields. Jackson then proceeded toward Richmond to prevent General McClellan from entering there.

On June 11, General Lee dispatched General James Ewell Brown ("J. E. B.") Stuart with 1200 cavalry and infantrymen from Richmond to obtain information behind the lines of the enemy concerning the specific position of McClellan. In three days, Stuart and his contingent had courageously ridden completely around the army of McClellan, acquiring much valuable information for General Lee. Only one of Stuart's men was killed during the assignment. Based upon the information furnished by General "J. E. B." Stuart, General Lee decided to advance his army on June 26. The Union forces under General Fitz-John Porter had outposts near Richmond just north of the Chickahominy River in the town of Mechanicsville. Confederate General Ambrose P. Hill successfully occupied Mechanicsville and then continued to attack General Fitz-John Porter's troops along Beaver Dam Creek where he severely defeated them.

From June 26 to July 2, the Seven Days' Battle occurred. This included the fighting at Mechanicsville and at Gaines' Mill. In these two skirmishes, Lee, after severe fighting, drove the right wing of McClellan's army under General Porter across the Chickahominy River. At Glendale, Confederate Generals James Longstreet and Ambrose Hill fought terrific hand-to-hand skirmishes with gun butts and bayonets against the rearguard of the forces under McClellan. At nightfall, the Confederates retreated to Malvern Hill. On the following day, the forces under McClellan set up infantry fire with cannon fire just preceding it at the top of the hill. As the separate Confederate detachments charged up the steep hill, they were literally mowed down by the thousands. McClellan retreated during the night to Harrison's Landing. In spite of these military maneuvers, the army under McClellan was finally forced to retreat at the end of the Seven Days' battle, and Richmond, the "City of Seven Hills," still remained in Confederate control.

On August 9, as Jackson was on his way to encounter the Union General, John Pope, who had started southward, he unexpectedly met Union General Nathaniel P. Banks near Cedar Mountain (later called "Slaughter Mountain"), located just south of Culpeper. Severe fighting resulted, and the forces under Jackson had almost been annihilated when they received reinforcements which pushed the Union forces back. Since the number of casualties was extremely high during this battle, Jackson allowed Banks to bury his dead the following day.

On August 30, the Union troops made a second attempt to capture Manassas. Jackson defeated Union General Pope in the Second Battle of Manassas or Second Battle of Bull Run, after destroying large quantities of his supplies. When the Confederate troops had used all their available ammunition, they used stones until reenforcements under General James Longstreet arrived. These soldiers forced the Union troops under Pope to retreat to Centerville and eventually to Alexandria.

On September 5, 1862, General Lee, believing the time was suitable for invading the North, advanced across the Potomac River into Maryland. As they approached Frederick, they sang and marched to "Maryland, My Maryland" but this gesture did not result in large numbers of Marylanders joining the Confederate armed troops as they had hoped. After Jackson had successfully captured Harper's Ferry, Lee moved his remaining troops to Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Severe fighting with McClellan's troops resulted and the Confederate forces in this area finally were forced to recross the Potomac River into Virginia.

On December 13, the Battle of Fredericksburg took place between Confederate forces under General Lee and Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside. Burnside had supplanted General McClellan. The town itself was used as a battlefield and many of the individual houses were completely destroyed. The city had been evacuated when it was first bombarded by Burnside on December 11. He proceeded to use five pontoon bridges to get his troops across the Rappahannock River. Although this battle resulted in some of the heaviest losses of the war, Burnside with his remaining forces was finally driven back across the Rappahannock River with the Union casualties twice as many as the Confederates.

On March 8, 1863, an unusual incident occurred. At midnight, a group of Confederate raiders, led by Colonel John S. Mosby, made a raid on the Fairfax Court House which had become federally occupied. Noted for its ruthless guerilla actions, this group of raiders then made a daring invasion of the Union lines and continued to the headquarters of Union Brigadier-General Edwin H. Stoughton. After cleverly getting past Stoughton's guards in the middle of the night, Mosby himself quickly captured Stoughton as a choice Confederate prisoner.

On April 30, 1863, the Union army under General Joseph E. Hooker, Burnside's successor, crossed the Rappahannock River again, this time at Chancellorsville, approximately ten miles north of Fredericksburg. "Stonewall" Jackson was in charge of the attack on Hooker at Chancellorsville and his troops were forcing back the troops under Hooker when fate seemed to take a hand. On May 2, "Stonewall" Jackson had ridden beyond his own line of battle and was returning at dusk when he was mistaken for one of the enemy and was fired upon by a group of his own soldiers. He was wounded in the left shoulder, forearm and right hand and had to have his left arm amputated the next day. He was mortally wounded and died on May 10. His death was a great shock to the Confederate forces. General A. P. Hill had also been wounded at Chancellorsville. "J.E.B." Stuart voluntarily took command of the corps originally under Jackson and by his own audacious actions successfully led them in pursuit of the Union forces under Hooker, as Jackson had originally planned. Attacked by troops from the west under Stuart and by forces from the east under Lee, Hooker and his army were finally driven back across the Rappahannock River.

On June 9, the famous Confederate cavalry leader, "J.E.B." Stuart, met in combat the great Union cavalry leader, General Alfred Pleasanton at Brandy Station, near Culpeper. Stuart had been on a scouting trip between the Union forces and Washington, seeking information for the proposed advance of Lee to Gettysburg; Pleasanton had been seeking Confederate information for General George G. Meade, who had succeeded Hooker in command of the Union Army. Both cavalry groups consisted of approximately 10,000 troops each. Excellent horsemanship was displayed in this action with sabers as the chief weapons. Pleasanton and his men inflicted much damage and then left in orderly fashion. Stuart withstood the surprise attack very well and did not retreat in a panic, as might have been expected. Since the Unionists lost more men than did the Confederates in this practically evenly-matched fighting, the Battle of Brandy Station is considered as a notable victory for "J.E.B." Stuart and his men because Pleasanton had a highly skilled group of infantrymen. This battle was the first real cavalry battle of the War between the States. It is considered by many military strategists as the greatest cavalry battle of the nineteenth century. As soon as his battle ended, Stuart made another famous ride directly behind the Federal fighting lines. He was later criticized for this trip, however, because he had not been ordered to make such a trip and was badly needed by Lee at this time to screen planned operations and to keep Lee informed of the activities of Meade and his troops.

From June 13 to June 15, 1863, a second Battle of Winchester occurred. Union General R. H. Milroy was forced to evacuate Winchester and retreat across the Potomac due to the hard fighting of Confederate General Richard S. Ewell whose troops had captured not only valuable cannon and wagons but also approximately 4,000 Union soldiers.

At the beginning of the War between the States, forty western counties of Virginia preferred not to secede from the Union. Consequently, when Virginia joined the Confederacy, a majority of the residents of the western counties voted to secede from Confederate Virginia at a special Wheeling convention. They formed a separate Unionist Virginia government and selected Francis H. Pierpont as their Governor. They had already chosen two United States Representatives from their Virginia government and they proceeded to elect two United States Senators. State officers of the Unionist Virginia government were required to take an oath of allegiance to the federal government. This Pierpont government was accepted by the President of the United States and Congress as the official government of Virginia. Three months later, at a second Wheeling convention, the strong desire on the part of many residents of this area to become a separate state in the Union resulted in Pierpont's calling together his legislature which gave the necessary consent for the creation of an independent state from within the original state of Virginia government boundaries. The new area was first called "Kanawha" but later the name was changed to West Virginia. On June 20, 1863, West Virginia was admitted as the thirty-fifth state to the Union. Although this procedure was apparently illegal and unconstitutional because the United States Constitution provides that no new state can be formed within the jurisdiction of any other state without the consent of the state legislature so involved, President Lincoln and the United States Congress overlooked this technicality because of a need for military and political expediency in wartime. Governor Pierpont and his Unionist government in August 1863 changed the location of his "restored" or "reorganized" government from Wheeling to Alexandria, which he termed the West Virginia capital city at that time. Alexandria maintained this West Virginia capital city status until the end of the war and the residents of Alexandria were forced to live under the provisions of a Pierpont-drafted "state" constitution. Later, Berkeley County and Jefferson County were annexed to West Virginia by November 1863 and became an official part of the state of West Virginia. Eventually, Virginia lost fifty counties altogether to West Virginia, approximately one-third of its total land area, with their human and natural resources as well as their financial support.

After the victories of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Lee decided to cross the Potomac again and invade the north once more. When Lee found out that a large Union force under the command of General George G. Meade, who had replaced General Joseph Hooker, was at Frederick, Maryland, Lee decided to center his forces at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On July 1, 1863, the Confederate forces attacked Meade's forces and made temporary gains. Two days later, three Confederate brigades commanded by General George E. Pickett advanced to the Federal cannon center, now called Cemetery Ridge, where mass slaughter of the Confederates took place. On July 4, the remaining Confederates returned sadly across the Potomac River into Virginia. Approximately two weeks after the Gettysburg defeat, a surprise attack on Wytheville, Virginia, was thwarted by the courageous efforts of Molly Tyres who rode rapidly over forty miles of mountain road between Tazewell and Wytheville to warn the inhabitants of the coming attack. Thus, did Virginians--military and civilian--strive to help the Confederate cause in which they so strongly believed.

On May 5 and 6, 1864 the so-called Battle of the Wilderness was fought in the heavily forested terrain of Spotsylvania County. As General R. S. Ewell was returning his forces from Fredericksburg to Orange, he encountered General Ulysses S. Grant who had become commander of the Union army. At the same time forces under General Ambrose P. Hill encountered the left wing force under Grant which resulted in terrific fighting within the dense woods of the wilderness. As the left wing force under Grant was breaking through the forces under Hill, General James Longstreet approached and forced the Union troops back to Spotsylvania Courthouse, southwest of Fredericksburg. Grant retreated in this direction in an attempt to keep Lee away from Richmond. However, Lee was ahead of Grant. Although Grant tried repeatedly from May 8 to May 18 to break through the Confederate lines at Spotsylvania with exceptionally heavy musketry fire causing thousands of casualties, he was unable to penetrate Lee's lines. Therefore, he moved southward to the North Anna River.

In the meantime, on May 10, when General Philip Sheridan tried to make an unexpected rush on Richmond, "J.E.B." Stuart, with only part of his cavalry, blocked Sheridan's way at Yellow Tavern and saved the Confederate capital. Stuart was mortally wounded by a close pistol shot in this fighting and he died on May 11, 1864 in Richmond. He is considered by many military strategists as the greatest cavalryman in United States history.

On May 15, General Franz Sigel, a Union leader, decided to capture Staunton in order to ruin the communication system there which Lee had used to be kept informed about activities in the Shenandoah Valley. He arrived as far as New Market, in Shenandoah County, when he met Confederate General John C. Breckinridge who had a comparatively small army consisting mostly of young Virginia Military Institute cadets. They showed the benefits of their military training and successfully captured a Union battery. After this had been done, General Breckinridge advanced, defeated Sigel and drove him down the Shenandoah Valley.

On May 23-27, 1864, the North Anna River in Hanover County became the next area of military concentration. General Lee and General Grant were on opposite sides of the river. Although the forces led by Grant were able to cross the river at various intervals, they were unable to penetrate the forces led by Lee. Consequently, Grant turned southwest and proceeded to march to Cold Harbor, approximately ten miles north of Richmond. When Grant arrived at Cold Harbor, he decided to have an all-out offensive against the forces of Lee at this location. His attempt was in vain, however, and he received very heavy losses on June 3. This caused him to retreat to the James River south of Richmond.

On June 11, 1864 there was an important cavalry battle at Trevillians Station, in Louisa County, between Union General Philip Sheridan and Confederate cavalrymen led by Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee. Sheridan had been trying to reach Union General Hunter who was on his way to Lynchburg. After heavy fighting on both sides, Sheridan was defeated and retreated eastward.

In the meantime, after General Grant had found it impossible to penetrate the lines established by Lee north of Richmond, he had crossed the James River south of Richmond and had set up camp on the outskirts of Petersburg. On June 15, 1864, Confederate General Beauregard held the forces under Grant back for three days until reenforcements under Lee arrived. Fighting continued between these two groups until April of the following year. During this siege, the Union forces decided to make a tunnel under the Confederate defenses which surrounded the city of Petersburg and to blow up the fortifications via a mine blast. Some Pennsylvania coal miners in one Union regiment were assigned the task of making the tunnel and laying the mine. On July 30, 1864 the mine was exploded, and the shape of the area after the explosion resembled a huge crater of a volcano. For this reason, this action is often referred to as the Battle of the Crater. Two hundred Confederate soldiers lost their lives due to the explosion. However, as the Union soldiers were ordered to charge up the sides of the recently carved crater, they found them too steep and while they were struggling to get out of the crater, about 4,000 Unionists lost their lives. The Union men could not see from behind the lines and continued to advance according to their orders into the crater until the crater was practically filled with struggling Union soldiers. The remaining Unionists were driven at the point of bayonets out of the crater back to their own lines.

While the Petersburg siege was taking place, Lynchburg became the next objective of the Union forces. When General Jubal Early reached Charlottesville on his mission to block Union General Hunter, he learned that Hunter was heading for Lynchburg, the chief center of supplies of the Army of Northern Virginia and its center of communications. Early's forces in this battle consisted of two extremes in age: very young men cadets from the Virginia Military Institute and older men whose hair locks were so white that they were nicknamed "Silver grays." The fighting lasted from the afternoon of the 17th to the end of the next day when Hunter withdrew unexpectedly to the west. Early pursued him down the Shenandoah Valley and across the Potomac River to the outskirts of the Federal capital. Since Early, however, was not prepared for a fight on Washington, D. C., he returned to Winchester.

At approximately noon, on September 19, 1864, General Early survived a surprise attack by General Sheridan and his forces near Winchester. Early, in a victorious mood, even turned the tables on the attackers and attacked them. Much to his surprise at three o'clock of the same day, Sheridan returned and badly defeated Early, driving him back to Winchester and eventually to a retreat up the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan, whose forces had been savagely attacked by some Confederate guerilla bands, now retaliated by destroying houses, barns and foodstuffs and by capturing or killing livestock. The valley was completely devastated by his destructive campaign.