Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-04-24
From the Philadelphia Age.1
"Geary, the Hero of Sniokersyille. ]"

Many, many years ago, there came to the
edge OF the Valley of Virginia family by
the name of Smoker" Whence they came
is not material. There they settled, and in
that locality they impressed their names at
Snlckersylile, Snickcr's Gap, and 'Snicker's
Ferry. Little, did these primitive colonists
dream that, in the lapse of time, with this
musical nomenclature, would be cntwinod the
name Of Geary. Yet SO it is, and in this
fashion
Some time in early life, before lie went to
Kansas, Colonel Geary-for he was simple
Colonel then-had small furnace in Lou
doun county, Virginia, not far from the Point
OF Hocks. Like most iron men of that day
he came to grief. He then, as since, needed
protection. On the breaking cut of the war,
boasting of his knowledge OF the neighbor>
hood41he got commission aud was stationed
with small command of some twelve or fiE-
teen hundred men near Leesburg So long
as the Confederate army held the line around
Manassas, Colonel Geary, whose strategy is
very Fabian, hqgged the Potomac very close
ly But when, in March OF tho noxt year,
they withdrew to confront Mcclellan on the
Peninsula, and Jackson was busy some Fifty
miles off in the Valley, Geary cautiously adj
vanced with cavalry and artillery and Gal.
lantly captured the little town of Upperyillc.
defended by women, children and old men.
his (tor we wish to be accurate in detail)
was ON the 18th of March, 1862. As Com
mander-ih.Chie he took possession, of course,
OF the best house in the village-Mr William
a. Stephenson regardless of the
wishes Of a family of helpless and defenceless
ladies'. From this center there radiaicd for
a month or two a system of vexatious rapine
which will always make tho,nalue Of Geary a
pleasant memory in that viciuage 1t was
Noah Claypole's ''kinchin lay" exactly
jackson, we have said, was in the>ValIey busy
with MiIroy, and Shields, and Banks, aud
thinking no more of Geary and his 200 than
he did OF our Home Guards drilling at the
Academy of Music. Louudon being pretty
much exhausted, ana Lee having ret, eatej
perhaps in anticipation of Geary's advance
nearer Richmond, our "hero" advanced some
seven miles 20 Rectortown, on the Manassas
Railroad. Here our narrative becomes inter-
estlDS. One evening, in April or May, some
htteen or twenty rebel cavalry on q scout
made their appcaranee-probably squad of
young men venturlng to visit their mothers
or sweet hcarts-and were described to Colonel
Geary as the advance of Jackson's army!-
UPPerville was doomed again. and the next
day Geary and his l 200 were back. and ru
NOR says thatcamp kettles and other cetipape
in abundance marked the. line of this rapid
ana mastery fetreat. Still the heroic name
was not yet won. That was to come from
another retrent, for from the days of Keno
phOn retreats make heroes. Napoleon never
was 50 great as when falling back on Paris.
1915. So with Geary. On the Both of
June. 1862, he was at Upperville watching
Stonewall jackson! At this time Jackson
was fighting his great battles on DIcCIeIIan's
right near Richmond, at least a hundred
miles off; but Geary knew it not, Believed it
not, aad on the very day in mention he thun
vile, .s4icfez's Gap and .Saiclscr's Ferly, aud
never paused, dreading the very shadows of
the Blue Ridge, till he put himself, with no
greater loss than few more camp kettles, on
the right bank of the Shenandoah, and thence
to HaEper's Ferry Surely, then, the laurel
for his brow was there gathered surely no
better name is won than 'Geary, the Hero of
SniekersYille %