Page 164 - History of Rockingham Co
P. 164
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
old battle flag, which was hidden under his coat by Lieut. J.
G. H. Miller, 5 and which is still preserved in Rockingham
by his family.
Lieut. Miller commanded the regiment at Appomattox,
now reduced to 8 or 10 muskets. The writer had been put in
command of the 10th, 23d, and 37th regiments. Here ended
the military career of the noble Tenth Virginia. By April
15 we were home again to start life anew.^
We give below Gen. Jackson's own occount of the battle
of Cross Keys and Port Republic, June 8 and 9, 1862, as em-
bodied in his report to the Department Headquarters.
We reached Harrisonburg at an early hour on the morning of the 5th,
and, passing beyond that town, turned towards the east in the direction
of Port Republic. On the 6th, General Ashby took position on the road
between Harrisonburg and Port Republic, and received a spirited charge
from a portion of the enemy's cavalry, which resulted in the repulse of
the enemy, and the capture of Colonel Wyndham and sixty-three others.
Apprehending that the Federals would make a more serious attack,
Ashby called for an infantry support. The brigade of General Geo. H.
Stewart was accordingly ordered forward. In a short time the fifty-
eighth Virginia regiment became engaged with a Pennsylvania regiment
called the Bucktails, when Colonel Johnson, of the first Maryland regi-
ment, coming up in the hottest period of the fire, charged gallantly into
its flank and drove the enemy, with heavy loss, from the field, capturing
Lieutenant Colonel Kane, commanding. In this skirmish our infantry
loss was seventeen (17) killed, fifty (50) wounded, and three missing. In
this affair General Turner Ashby was killed. An oflficial report is not an
appropriate place for more than a passing notice of the distinguished
dead; but the close relation which General Ashby bore to my command
for most of the previous twelve months, will justify me in saying that
as a partisan oflftcer I never knew his superior. His daring was pro-
verbial; his powers of endurance almost incredible; his tone of character
heroic, and his sagacity almost intuitive in divining the purposes and
movements of the enemy.
5. Capt. Miller died at his home in Elkton, June 16, 1889. Upon the
old flag he saved may still be read the names of the following battles:
Manassas No. 1, McDowell, Winchester No. 1, Port Republic, Cold Har-
bor, Malvern Hill, Cedar Run, Manassas No. 2, Chantilly, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, Winchester No. 2, Gettysburg.
<5. Complete muster rolls of the various Rockingham companies are
given in the Appendix, as far as possible.
—141—
old battle flag, which was hidden under his coat by Lieut. J.
G. H. Miller, 5 and which is still preserved in Rockingham
by his family.
Lieut. Miller commanded the regiment at Appomattox,
now reduced to 8 or 10 muskets. The writer had been put in
command of the 10th, 23d, and 37th regiments. Here ended
the military career of the noble Tenth Virginia. By April
15 we were home again to start life anew.^
We give below Gen. Jackson's own occount of the battle
of Cross Keys and Port Republic, June 8 and 9, 1862, as em-
bodied in his report to the Department Headquarters.
We reached Harrisonburg at an early hour on the morning of the 5th,
and, passing beyond that town, turned towards the east in the direction
of Port Republic. On the 6th, General Ashby took position on the road
between Harrisonburg and Port Republic, and received a spirited charge
from a portion of the enemy's cavalry, which resulted in the repulse of
the enemy, and the capture of Colonel Wyndham and sixty-three others.
Apprehending that the Federals would make a more serious attack,
Ashby called for an infantry support. The brigade of General Geo. H.
Stewart was accordingly ordered forward. In a short time the fifty-
eighth Virginia regiment became engaged with a Pennsylvania regiment
called the Bucktails, when Colonel Johnson, of the first Maryland regi-
ment, coming up in the hottest period of the fire, charged gallantly into
its flank and drove the enemy, with heavy loss, from the field, capturing
Lieutenant Colonel Kane, commanding. In this skirmish our infantry
loss was seventeen (17) killed, fifty (50) wounded, and three missing. In
this affair General Turner Ashby was killed. An oflficial report is not an
appropriate place for more than a passing notice of the distinguished
dead; but the close relation which General Ashby bore to my command
for most of the previous twelve months, will justify me in saying that
as a partisan oflftcer I never knew his superior. His daring was pro-
verbial; his powers of endurance almost incredible; his tone of character
heroic, and his sagacity almost intuitive in divining the purposes and
movements of the enemy.
5. Capt. Miller died at his home in Elkton, June 16, 1889. Upon the
old flag he saved may still be read the names of the following battles:
Manassas No. 1, McDowell, Winchester No. 1, Port Republic, Cold Har-
bor, Malvern Hill, Cedar Run, Manassas No. 2, Chantilly, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, Winchester No. 2, Gettysburg.
<5. Complete muster rolls of the various Rockingham companies are
given in the Appendix, as far as possible.
—141—
