St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-08-23

MINI d the sn1 to ~st Of dnt a
Stonewall Jack
son surrounded the Union post at Har-
pers Ferry Sept. Ia, 1862 He had 90
600 men. The garrison of Harper IS
Ferry numbered over $4,000 troops of
all arms.
The officers Of the besieged garrison,
as is usual under the circumstances,
were divided in opinion as to what had
best be done to save the post, or at least
to get out of the trap with the men and
their small arms. The commandment,
Colonel Dixon S. Miles, urged on his
part that fighting would simply be a
waste Of life, and that he had no au-
thority to abandon the place, having
been ordered to hold it. What some of
the gallant officers and men under him
thought Of the situation and the duty Of
the hour is told by one of the partici-
pants in the following spirited narra-
tive. The particulars have never before
been made public;
fantry, Colonel George J. Stannard COM
handing, was one of the unfortunate
commands that were surrendered by
Colonel Dixon S. Miles, an old officer
Of the United States army, at Harper's
Ferry, Va, on the morning of Sept. 10,
1862
"The Ninth regiment was mustered
into the United States service July 8,
1862, and in little over two months
its members were paroled prisoners Of
war. The surrender of the Union troops
at Harper's Ferry has been a subject of
much comment since the war. The i'm
becility Of the post commander or his
lack of patriotism was the cause of this
great disaster to the Union arms.
1.-THE Union troops were located on
Bolivar heights, in Harper's Ferry, and
also across the Potomac on Mary land
heights. There were no Union troops
on Loudon heights in Virginia. After a
slight resistance our people on Maryland
heights withdrew to Harper's Ferry,
and the Confederates between the 18th
of September and the morning of the
18th occupied both Maryland and Lou
don heights and completely surrounded
the Union troops. The Ninth Vermont
regiment on the afternoon of Sept. IA,
Sunday, lay on Bolivar heights under
the fire of three batteries At shutdown
of the same day it was sent to REINFORCE
the right of the Union line, which was
formed to the left of the Charleston
pike, and arrived in time to repulse the
advance of A. P. Hills Confederate di-
vision They fired some 20 rounds and
drove back the leading Confederate
brigade. Midnight Saturday, Sept. 10,
Colonel Miles allowed the Union cav
airy to cut its way out of Harper's
Ferry
"The colonel of the Ninth regiment
asked permission to go with the cavalry,
as he and all his men felt that the next
day would see terrible surrender of the
troops left at Harper S Ferry. Miles re-
fused to let the Ninth regiment go-in
fact, he hardly recognized their COM
mander, for on previous occasions STAN
nard had had alterations with him in
regard to the situation before the en-
vironment of Harper's Ferry by the
Confederate forces Stannard had offer
ed to take his regiment on to Loudon
heights and hold them. He also stated
that Maryland heights should be held at
all hazards, and that there was no use
of staying in Harper's Ferry, insisting
in strongest terms that both of these
places must be held or disaster would
follow.
'Stannard also asked permission to
take possession Of the picket line with
his own men and was ready to take his
chances of getting out. Miles became ex-
cited and used very strong language;
swung his saber in the air and ended all
their discussion by saying that he had
been 40 years in the army and did not
care to be lectured to by one who had
been soldier but a few months.
"At daylight on Monday, Sept. 10,
the Confederates opened with artillery
llOlu All QUARTERS anu JI6SS6u forward
their infantry, closing as rapidly as pos
sible, and for two long hours the Ninth
regiment lay in line Of battle under
fire of not less than 80 guns. AS soon as
the rebel batteries got the range on the
regiment Colonel Stannard would
change the position, and in this way the
men were preserved from heavy loss.
about o'clock Colonel Miles gavo
up the contest and rode up to promi-
nent place at the extreme right of Boil
var heights, nearly a mile away from
the troops, and then rode toward the
left along the crest with his staff, way
ing the white flag, When word reached
the soldiers of this regiment that the
white flag had gone up, Colonel Stan
nard jumped up and swore that he
would never surrender without strug-
gle. At his command his men sprang
into line aud rushed at double quick |
down the ravine to the river road and
moved rapidly toward Harper's Ferry.
cat the junction of the rocky road de-