The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-04-07
"REMINISCENCES OF SECESSION, WAR
AND RECONSTRUCIION

"REMINISCENCES OF SECESSION, VA
| AND RECONSTR UCTON.
| BY LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICHARD TAYLOR
1.-The following advanced sheets fom General Taylor
which will excite des4re to SEQ tho whots work.t
THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA.
The great Valley of Virginia was befor,
US in all its beauty. Fields of wheat spreat
far and wide, interspersed with woodlands
bright in their robes of tender green
Wherever appropriate sites existed, Quain
old mills, with turning heels, were busily
| grinding the previous years harvest, aod
from grove aud eminenee sho we'd comfort
| able homesteads. The soft vernal influence
| shed q languid grace over the scene.
The thestre OF war in this region wal
from Stauoton to the Potomac, one hupdreC
and twenty miles, with an average width
of some twenty five, aud the Blue Ridge
and Allegheny bounded it east and W est
Drained by the Shenandoah with it's nu.
merons all uents, the surface was newhere
fat, but snccession of graceful swells
| occasionally rising into abrupt hills. Rest
ing on limestone the soil was productive
especially of wheat, aud the underlying
rock furnished abundant metal for the con-
struction of roads. Frequent passes or
gaps in the mountains, through which
ed easy access from cast aud west, and, ae
has been stated, pixies were excellent,
thoagh unmetaled roads became heavy
after rains.
But the glory of the Valley is Nassau :
uttin. Rising abruptly from the plain neor
Harrisonburg twenty-five miles north OF
StauDtoD, this lovely mountain extends
fifty miles and as suddenly ends Desr
S.rasburg. Parallel with Blue Ridge and
of equal height, it's eharp peaks have a
holder and more picturesque aspect, while
the abr1ptness Of its slopes gives the ap-
pearauce of greater altitode. Midway of
MaseauutLin o ''gap" atfords communica-
ton between Newmarket and Luray. This
eastern or Luray valley, much narrower
than tho one west of MasssnutSin, ia drain
ed by the eastern branch of the Sheuan-
doah, which, at Front Roy al, at the northern
end of the mountain, is joined by its west
ern nfiuent, whence the united waters flow
north, neAr the base of Blne Ridge, to meet
the Potomac at HerpeI's Ferry.
The Inhabitants of this favored region
were worthy of their Inheritance The
North and South were pecpled by sciops OF
colonial families, and the proud names OF
the "Old Dominion" abounded. In the
central counties of Rockingham and She
nandosh were many desceDdauts of Hes
sians, captured at Trenton and Princeton
during the Revolutionary era. These were
thrifty substantial farmers, and, like their
kinsmen of Pennsylvania, expressed their
opulence in huge barns and fat cattle.
The devotion of all to the Southern cause
was wonderful. Jackson, Valley man by
reason of his residence at Lexington [south
of Stauntop), was their hero and idol. The
women cent husbands, sons, lovers to bat
tie as cheeIfully as to marriage feasts. No
oppression, no deetitution could abste their
zeal. Upon @ march [ was accosted by two
elderly ladies, sisters, who told me they had
secreted large quantity of bacon in well
on their estate, hard by. Federals had
fearing the inoiscretion of their slaves
they had done the work at night with theil
own hands, and now desired to give the
meat to their own people. Wives AM
daughters of millers, whose husbands and
brothers were in arms, worked the mills.
night aud day, to furnish -four to theiI
soldiers. To the last, women would 60 dis
tances to carry the modicum of food be-
tween themselves and starvation to q suf-
feripg Confederate. Should the sons o
Virginia ever commit dishonerable acts
grim indeed will be their reception on tbs
farther shores of Styx. They can expec
no recognition from the mothers thst bor;
thcm.
The year the war closed the Valley wa
ravaged with a cruelty surpassing ths
| inflicted on the Palstiuate two hundred
wears agone. That foul act smirched th
fame of Dubois and Turonre, and publ
| opiaion, IN what has been deemed rude
age, forced an apology from the grant
"nCnarque." Yet wo have seen the re-
port OF Federal General, wherein i
recounted tile many barns, mills, an
other buildings destroyed, concluding
with the assertion that "a crow fiyin
over the Valley muet take Tations wit
him." In the opinion of the admirers q
the officer making this report the achieve
| vhirh ia La viii
"Marengo." Moreover, this sanle Office
(Lieutensut General Sheridan, many yeal
after the close OF the war, denounced sew
eral hundred thousand of his felluw- cit
zens as ''banditti," and solicited permissio
of his Government to deal with them {
such. MAY We rot pause and reffet
whether religion, education, ecience, an
art combined have lessened the brutslit
of man since the days of WRllenstein an
TNyS
SHILOH.
/ Shiloh was q great misfortune. AT e.
| A. Oh