The National tribune., 1907-11-14

tuiiiSs H saw uuElt1k I'M three ana ma
/, years service. II was now after
e O'Clock, and the nght was on in earnes
1t consisted Of charges and counter
charges; the rebels Would swarm owe
the fence into the cornfield; Carroll
little handful of mem would hold thei
fire and wait until the enemy was hal
l across the open space, then at the wor
or command would rise, give them
l volley, and then with cold steel woul,
r put the last Johnny over that fence an
under their artillery, when in turn tn
! JohnEies would charge and drive u
pell-meil back to our original line, an
under the protection of our own bat
terry, which would cut lines thru thei
, ranks and hold them,in check until w
would have time to lie down and load
and at the word repeat our tactics O
again putting them thru that wheat an
Ecornfields and over the fence.
Thus the unequal contest ragged 70
i, over five hours: they more than on
time got possession of section or tw
of our battery for short time, an,
with ammunition expended in tn
shades of dusk we fell back in as goo,
order as the nature Of the case woul,
permit.
We left caissOn or two and maybe
gun or two on the field which could no
be got away. Less than three mile
down the Valley we met Ty ier's Obi,
Brigade and bivouacked there. In tn,
morning we returned, with Tyler il
command, only to repeat the perform
ance of the previous days work. but or
a much larger scale. as we had tw,
small brigade:' and Jackson had his en-
tire army across the bridge, which h,
burned to prevent the Pathfinder # the
West from annoying him II he had any
such 'io;ian.
The fact of Fremont remaining al
Cross kavS nnlV Siy miles anf
allowing us to be slaughtered. is con-
| elusive evidence to my mind that he
had ali the fight taken out of him, altho
| one of his batteries came to the hill on
| the north side of the river and gave the
field a fearful shelling, after everybody
except our severely wounded and few
attendants were the sole occupants OF
the battlefield.
AS the second days fight has been
well described by different members OF
Tyier's Buckeye Brigade in The Nation
al Tribune l will add nothing further;
but, In the writer's opinion, had Dick
TaylOr's command, instead of flanking
us as they did at the coal pit been
brought off of the mountain side and
formed in line one-fourth of mile in
our rear, extending from mountain side
to the river. thus entirely surrounding
us, our entire command of two small
brigadeS could have been marched to
Richmond as prisoners of war. as Dick
Taylor's force surely outnumbered ours,
and was not missed from Jacksons
vastly superior force In our front.
The idea suggests itself that Stonewal,
did not want to be burdened with any
more prisoners than he already had, as
he was anxious to reach Lee and pounce
on McClellan's flank and rear, which he
did to a queens taste a few days later
near the Chickahominy.
Tt.ta nd fvo oil ftAa 1,aI faIt
en- back but few miles when we met
another Of Shields's Brigades posted in
line of battle across the road in the
woods. / don't remember whose bri-
gade it was, but the part of the line
struck was the 14th Ind, who furnished
me with cartridges and standing room
in their front rank. . But the Johnnies
came not, and whathhappened to me
never knew, as 1t was blank I'm my
mind from that time on until / found
myself in Mount Pleasant u. S. A. Gem
eral Hospital at Washington, d. c.,
some 20 days later. My object for PEN
ming these rambling remarks is three
fold: First, to show the historian, both
Union and rebel, that they have failed
to chronicle one Of the most fierceiy
contested little engagements, where a
handful Of determined men, less than
1,500, held at bay sfor five hours as
many Of JacksoH's men as could line up
in our front; secondo to show why the
bridge was not burned. and. third, toI
show who saved 1t urbwho the man of
iron nerve was. Some 20 years after
the war I wrote short and condensed
account of the affair at the Port Re-
public Bridge. mailed the same to the
Postmaster at Port Republic, Va, and
asked him IL he knew anyone who could
give me any light on the subject, as I
was very desirous of finding out who
the mysterious horseman was. The
Postmaster had my letter published In |
The Rockingham Register and 1 was
shortly after showsred with letters from !
different ones of Jackson's men, and
with Cne accord they declared the man |
to be none other than the late T. ]. |
Jackson who rode the chestnut sorrel |
horse and saved the bridge. There was
one Jacob Kyger. a Union soldier,
among the correspondents from Port
Republic, who stated that there was
report to the effect that Stonewall |
Jackson had alone Outwitted a mob of
and induced them to put out
The fire already started in the bridge,
but that he never took any stock In the
report until he saw my letter in his
County paper. Space will not permit or
could quote from many others. One q
prisoner in our hands, while at Plains
WILL was SO young that we let him go,
md he said he saw StOnewall making
1is way up thru the wagon park to the
artillery, and saw us beat q hasty re-
reat when opened on by the artillery.
You may be anxious to know who l Il
hink the rider was. On that point my
mind was made up the first time / saw
picture; was sure the rider
vas none other than he who SO coolly,
.leverly and courageously put in an
and impersonated Mellow
.lPs Chief of Staff. While he and a
portion of his staff We're In Port Re-
public and virtually prisoners in our
lands, he turned the tables on us to the /;
xtent of saving the bridge, and by so !
loing saving his army and causing a
continuance of the war from one to twoI
ears, for with Jackson and his army
ut of the way the North had men
nough close at hand to have reinforced ]
dcClellan with enough men to insurel
he fall of Richmond and the defeat of
Iee's army. Il
or all sad words Of tongue or pen,
he saddest are these, it might havei
been"
Lostutter was First Lieutenant in
nan, Of Co. c, was killed at Port Re-
ublic he took command of the COM
any and was promoted to Captain. In {
ny opinion, Col. Sprigg Carroll never l
new the truth OF the affair at the !
ridge, and had he. Carroll. overtaken I
he scouts himself or sent no one to the
len, who had never failed him, think
would have been different.
Lostutter was a good and brave sol I
ier and led a splendid company that J
,st tour Captains, and Lostutter after $
,ard resigned. I have an impression !
hat the phantom of the bridge and the
70 h 1xrt