Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-10-19
Written for the Herald.l
RecelIections Of KearneysVille.
By JAMES A. Scorr.

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, between
Martinsburg and Harper's Ferry,
where the turnpike from Shepherds
town on the Potomac to Charles Town,
the county seat of Jefferson County,
crosses the railroad. 1t is about five
miles from the former, and seven or
eight miles from the latter place, if l
recollect Alright. 1t was an important
point in the beginning of the war, as
this turnpike was one of the great ar
teries of travel from the Potomac
| River into the region of the Shenan-
doah Valley. AS lookout on the
movements of the enemy and a guard
for the protection of the railroad were
necessary at this point, Coles Caval-
ry was stationed here early in 1862
and held the position until compelled
to leave the Valley in Banks's cele-
brate1 retreat. We did not stand
upon the order of our going then, but
think we sustained but little loss in
the way of war material or other Gov
eminent property. Upon reoccupa-
ton of the Valley by the Government
forces Coles Cavalry returned~ again
to this place and held it until once
more driven away by a general adj
vance of the enemy later on, when we
did not leave with so much dignity as
we did at first, but were compelled to
burn our handsome Sibley tents and
much other property to prevent them
falling into the hands of the Confed-
crates, whose missiles began to whis-
tie and shrek around US before we
even got that accomplished.
This narrative is written not so
much to describe military movements
and struggles as to give incidents and
recollections of camp life at Kearneys-
vile.
Our camp was situated on a gently
rising wooded knoll between the rail
road and turnpike and near to both
An abattis was formed by telling trees
In circle around the camp and dis
posing of their branches in such a
way as to form a serious obstacle to
the dash o. an enemy upon the camp.
l
The Sibley tents, with which we were
supplied, were large and comfortable
and capable of accommodating doz-
en- men each, and sheet iron stoves ac-
companied the tents for winter use.
The men of our command were in
general men of more intelligence and
spirit than the makeup of most mill
tafy bodies, being mostly farmers
sons and from the country. They
were a lively set and always on the
alert for all the ''fun" that was to be
got out of the situation. Some, how
ever, were rather unrehned and rough,
and very few had an inordinate APP
petite for strong waters" but on
the whole they were lot of men of
which their officers might be proud
Soon after our encampment here a
medical officer was assigned to the
battalion with the rank of assistant
surgeon. He was young man but
recently graduated from a medical
college. He was disposed to be pious
and was very attentive to his religious
duties. He had daily devotions in
his tent, but they were often sadly
interfered with by ~sons of Belial" of
the command. During his perform
ance of them there seemed to he a
greatly increased number of growing
ROSTERS, b-a-a-ing sheep, believing
cattle, barking dogs, and yowling
cats abont But the doctor was for
bearing and bore all the annoyances
with Christian resignation until most
Of his tormentors became ashamed
of themselves and regarded him with
increased respect He rem aimed with
the battalion during its three years
service.
At some distance from the camp
and on all sides of it picket posts were
established Sometimes during the
nights our pickets were fired upon,
and as there was no organized Con-
federate force in the immediate region
the inference was that these con-
ten1ptible would-be assassins were
disloyal citizens of the vicinity, who
acted as guerillas at night and as
peaceable -combatsints in the day
time. We adopted plan to surprise
these individuals, and perhaps to
make some of them die surprised, il
it worked right. 1t was always be-
tween midnight and morning that
the videttes were fired upon, and the
plan we adopted to circumvent these
gentry was for six men to quietly
steal out on foot in the darkness a
hundred yards or so in advance of the
vidette on each picket post (who were
always mounted), conceal themselves
by lying prone on the ground inside
fence or in the bushes, their rifles
loaded and cooked. Thus they would
remain till just before daybreak and
then return to camp. The curious
thing about the situation was tina,
when we were thus prepared for these
prowiers they never made their ap
pearance, and the pickets were unmo
Tested. We tried to mislead them BY
performing kind of interrnittentser
vice of this kind-that is, not going
out every night-but it made no diff
fereuce. They seemed to know al
about our movements, and, of course
were kept informed by some of thu
Union citizens close to camp, wht
themselves may have gone ION duty
occasionally. However, none of ou
pickets were ever wounded by thei
a.xJ +I,ax, o..1., .a,x,,I - 1yoo,