News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-01-28
= - q q q Z, q -

Federal force evacuated on his ap-
proach. This force retreated to Har.
pers Ferry, crowding the place and
Gripping rather than helping the de-
Tense.
While Jackson planted his guns to
cover the pentup citadel on the Vir-
ginia side of the Potomac, Lee sent an
other column to invest the fortress
from the Maryland side and thus the
garrison was caught between two
fires. The Federal commandment Of
Harpers Ferry, Colonel Dixon S.
Miles, made the mistake of withdraw
ing that part of the garrison which
held the heights on the Maryland
bluffs from their trenches and this left
his garrison in a valley with enemies
on the heights all around the fortress.
With the troops out of Martinsburg
added to the original garrison, there
were over 10000 Federal soldiers coop
ed up on a narrow, low lying peninsu-
la formed by the junction of the Po-
tomac and Shenandoah rivers. Jack
son aimed at a clean capture of the
Federal post and therefore waited until
it was completely surrounded before
bringing on a crisis. When he learned
by signal across the river that a sup
porting force led by General McLaws
was in possession of the Maryland
heights, he signaled to his division
leaders the following dispatch: liar
pers Ferry is now completely invested.
l shall summon it's commander to sur
render. Should he refuse l will give
him tWenty-four hours to remove nom
combatants and then carry the place
by assault. Do not fire unless forced
to-"
Even with the army signals and
field telegraph in use forty years ago
the commanders fought more or less in
q fog. Jackson and his generals while
investing Harpers Ferry knew moth
ing of what Lee was doing meanwhile.
They knew that he had sent McLaws
up on the Maryland side of the Poto,
mac to help capture the Federal post,
but nothing further of him nor of any
enemy on the Maryland shore. About
noon on Sunday, the 18th of Sep
TENDER, the Confederate general in
command on the line fartheSt down
the river General ]. G. Walker, heard
firing away off on his right in the di-
rectiOn of South mountain, difficult
barrier north of Frederick, where Lee
was supposed to be resting his army.
Walker reported this to Jackson and
asked permission to open his guns upon
Harpers Ferry. Jackson replied that
the firing was doubtless cavalry Skin
mtsh, and refused to allow the guns to
open. Walker then determined to be
forced" to fire according to the letter
Of Jackson's orders. He placed two
North Carolina regiments in full view
Of the Federal artillery on the Vir-
ginia heights and quickly drew their
fire. This was answered by his own
batteries.
Walkers initiative was followed by
other generals, and all that Sunday
afternoon, while McClellans troops
were storming the passes of South
mountain to cut their way through
and relieve Harpers Ferry, the duel of
the cannon sent laundering echoes up
and down the valley and across the
Maryland hills.
Night stopped the rain of iron on the
14th. Inside the Federal lines every
thing looked hopeless. Two cavalry
colonies asked permission to ride out
of the trap with their troopers and
were allowed to sally forth after dark.
These were the only members of the
garrison to escape. The plan of escape
for the cavalry had been preached the
evening of the 18th, before Il shot had
been fired, by Colonel B. f. Davis of
the Eighth New York. The Twelfth
Illinois. under Colonel Arno Voss,
joined fortune with the New York
troopers and after dark on the 18th
the little column crossed into Mary
land and made its way through the
corps Of General Longstreet, which
was then moving toward the Potomac
from the interior of Maryland.
The sound of battle off in the direc-
ton of South Mountain up to dark of
the 18th warned Jackson that no time
was left for parley. The enemy was
coming nearer and nearer to the be-
leaguered fortress. At daylight on the
18th he opened with fifty guns. The
fire swept the Federal lines front and
rear. A heavy fog obscured the view
Of Walkers artillerists on Loudon
heights, but they pounded away at the
range fixed the day before. The Fed
eral gunners fired with spirit on the
start, but after time their shots be-
came feeble and at 8 o'clock a. m.
ceased altogether. At that hour Colo
mel Dixon S. Miles, after consulting his
officers, waved the white flag.
Many of the Confederate gunners on
the distant heights could not see the
signal of surrender and continued to
hurl their missiles into the beleaguered
camps. Even while waving the flag
Colonel Miles was struck with the
fragment of a shell and died next day
from the wound. 1t is said by General
julius White of the garrison that Miles
intended the white flag as a sign for
truce pending negotiations. He hourly
expected to hear the guns of Mcclellan
laundering in the rear of McLaws on
Maryland heights, for he had dis
patched a courier to the general stat
ing that he could not hold out longer