The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1867-02-21
From the New York World.
GEN. ASHBY. THE PARTISAN.
VIRGINIA, January, 1867.

VIRGINIA, January, 1867.
In the Valley of Virginia, the glory
of two men outshone that of all Others !;
two figures were taIlest, best beloved,
and to-day are most bitterly mourned.
One was jackson, the other Ashby. The
world knows all about Jackson, but has
little knowledge of Ashby. | was read
ing a stupid book the other day, in
which he was represented as a guerilla
almost as a robber and highWayman.
Such is history when it is written by the
penny-a-liners of the winning side.
Ashby guerilla THAT great, poWe)
full, trained and consummate fighter of
infantry, cavalry and artillery, in the
hardest fought battles of the Valley
campaign! Ashby a robber and high
waymen that soul and perfect mirror
of chivalry! 1t is to drive away these
mists of stupid or malignant scribblers,
that the present writer designs recording
here, the actual truth OF Ashby's char
acter and career. Apart from what he
performed, he was parsonage to whom
attached and still attaches a never dying
interest. His career was all romance
it was as brief. still and evanescent as a
dream-but, after all, it was the man,
Turner Ashby, who was the real attrac
ton. 1t was the man whom the people
of the Shenandoah Valley admired so
passonately, rather than his glorious
record. There was something grander
than the wonderful achievements Of
this soldier, and that WAS the soldier
himself.
Ashby first attracted attention in the
spring of 1862, when Jackson made his
great campaign in the Valley, crushing
one after another, Banks, Milroy,
Shields, Fremont and their associates.
Among che brilliant figures, the hard
fighters, grouped around the man OF
KernstoWn and Port Republic at that
time, Ashby Was perhaps the most no
table and famous. AS the great ma
jority Of my readers never saw the man,
personal outline of him, here in the
beginning of my sketch, may interest.
Even on this soil there are many thOus-
ands who never laid eyes upon that
model cavalier and perfect type of man
hood. He lives in all memories and
hearts, but not in all eyes.
What the men of Jackson saw at the
head at the cavalry from March to June,
1862, was man rather below the middle
height. with an active and vigorous
frame, clad in plain confederate gray.
His brown felt hat was decorated with a
black feather; his uniform was almost
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.; his cavalry boots,
dusty or splashed with mud, came to
the knee and around his waist he wore
sash and plain leather belt, holding
pistol and saber. The face Of this man
Of thirty, or little more, was notice
able. His complexion was as dark as
that Of an Arab, his eyes, of deep rich
brown, sparkled under we'll formed
brows and two-thirds of his face was
covered by a huge black beard and
moustache, the latter curling at the
ends, the former reaching to his breast.
There was thus in the face of the cavalier
something Moorish, and brigandish !; on
it all idea of melo-dramatic parsonage
disappeared, as you pressed his hand,
looked into his eyes, and spoke to him.
The brown eyes, which would flash SUI
perbly in battle, were the softest, and
most friendly in repose; that voice,
which could thrill his men as it rang
like clarion in the charge, was the per-
fiction Of mild courtesy. He was as
simple and as g friendly" as child, in
all his words, movements, and the car
rage of his person. You could see from
his dress, his firm tread, his open and
frank glance, that he was a thorough
soldier Aindeed, he always "looked like
work"-but under the soldier, as plainly
was the gentleman. Such in his plain
costume, with his simple manner and
retiring modesty was Ashby, whose
name and fame, a brave comrade has
truly said, will endure as long as the
mountains and valleys which he de-
Tended.
The merest allusion is all that can be
made, in this place, to the facts of Ash
by's career--history will take them and
set them in its pure gold. Months of
lighting must here be summed up and
dismissed in y few sentences. To look
back to his origin-that always counts
for something-he was the son of a
gentleman of Fauquier, and up to 1861
was only known as hard rider, gay
companion, and the kindest-hearted of
friends. There was absolutely nothing
in the youths character, apparently,