Skirmish at New Market Bridge December 1861 III- Postscript

 From the New York Times of March 2, 1862

MISCELLANEOUS REBELLION NEWS.; AFFAIRS AT FORT MONROE.

Correspondence of the Philadelphia Ledger.

NEWPORT's NEWS, VA., Sunday, Feb. 23, 1862.

The French Emperor seems resolved to secure proper respect for his Government in our waters. To the vessels already lying in Hampton Roads -- the Pomone and the Catanet -- another, bearing the flag of the Empire, has been added -- making altogether an armament of thirty-eight guns. The officers in command on these vessels bear themselves with characteristic politeness, and there is no want of salutes and other naval courtesies on every occasion allowing them.

The Roanoke, whose disability has not yet been repaired, is coolly laying for the Merrimac, which is reported fully ready for active service and very anxious to get out of Norfolk harbor. She is completely iron-clad, but so clumsily that her decks are merely above water. A queer experiment has been tested, I believe satisfactorily, on the Roanoke, for the benefit of the resurrected Merrimac. The object was to determine whether an anchor could be thrown from the mainmast upon a vessel alongside, and the intention is to run, by the aid of a tug, upon the secession steamer, when she makes her long-looked-for appearance, and introduce her to the bottom of the James River sans ceremonie(sic).

What all reconnaissance and scouting has failed to resolve, has at length, accidentally, as you have doubtless learned, been made evident -- the actual nature and strength of the works at Big Bethel. A party from Newport's News, with a flag of truce, was lost among the roads in that neighborhood a few days ago, and instead of approaching the place in front, blindfolded, they positively stumbled into the redoubted position with their eyes wide open, having in their wanderings got to its rear. It appears to have always been a very incomplete affair, consisting, in all, of three parallel intrenchments, directly beyond each other, with their accompanying earthworks, without any flank trenching worthy the name. But the strength of the place consisted of an almost impassable swamp, between the battery and the ground on which the First New-York Regiment deployed, with the idea of storming the works, an the 10th of June, 1861, immediately before all self-possession departed from the commanding General.

"Let by-gones be by-gones." Whatever Big Bethel was on that unfortunate day, it is certainly a pitiable sight now, dismantled, not containing a single piece of ordnance, and with its hundred miserable and woe-begone occupants, wan with sickness and privation, and wretched in the hopelessness of their cause, defeat echoing in their ears from every direction. You will regret, of course, to learn that the ancient edifice from which we have the title "Big Bethel," the great and venerable church in which the picus sires of "degenerate sons" delighted -- lists been destroyed. It had been transformed into a sort of barracks by the rebels, and not the ghost of sanctity lingered, but was dispelled by the odious rascals. It was the Pennsylvania Eleventh Cavalry that did the business for it. When Gen. MANSFIELD issued orders retaliatory for acts of incendiarism committed by the enemy, they drove the Secessionists like chaff before them, compelling their exit just at meal-time, when they had their beefsteak frying on the stove -- a state of things which must have added inconceivably to their distress. From the conflagration of the building nothing was saved but the builder's account-book, a portion of which is in the hands of a private of Company L, and which is a quaint relic, containing debits and credits concerning worthy masons and carpenters dating in the last century. The Secessionists had been using it to express their whims, and in a blank place was freshly written, "Miss Dolly Carter, of Kentucky, the belle of the Southwest;" and coupled with it, no doubt by the faint-hearted lover himself: "Brig.-Gen. Walter R. Tally, New-Kent troops." By the same hand also was inscribed: "The New-Kent Light Horse Dragoons are spoiling for a fight with the Mounted Dutchmen" -- obviously referring to the Pennsylvania Cavalry, which did not let them "spoil" long; and again, "The New-Kent Light Horse -- the TERROR of the Yankee Pups." This, in connection with the unceremonious flight of the "Terror" upon the advent of the identical "Mounted Dutchmen" and "Yankee Pups," is very good of the Brigadier-General -- also, of the "New-Kent Light Horse." By the way, the Eleventh, which has been at Old Point (Camp Hamilton) over two months now, has done yeoman service in this quarter, in hunting out and chasing the rebels away. It consists of twelve companies, and is a full regiment. The Colonel, a brave soldier and a true patriot -- JOSIAH HALLAN* -- is a Philadelphian, though his troops are from all parts of the State. In fact, found a whole company of Pittsburghers and Western Pennsylvania men, (among them, Company L, Capt. LOOMIS and Lieut. MAHON,) and quite a number of Ohioans. The health of the inch has been bad, owing to exposures, and in the short space of six months over thirty deaths from disease have occurred. Only yesterday, a member of Company K was carried to his last home, a victim of typhoid.

The aforementioned Walter R. Tally, was in fact Walter Richard Talley, 18, son of William C. Talley. Enlisting in June of 1861 he would serve until Appomattox attaining the rank not of Brigadier General but Corporal. He died in 1906 at the Soldiers Home Robert E. Lee Camp in Richmond.

*This is none other than Joisah Harlan, the famous Prince of Ghor

 

New Pages- New Rosters

You will see on the left, as part of an ongoing program, links to pages with rosters of the New Kent Cavalry (Co. F, 3rd Virginia Cavalry) and the Barhamsville Greys ( Co. B, 53rd Virginia Infantry).


Here are the direct links


Barhamsville Greys


New Kent Cavalry

The Chaplain and the Captain

The Rev. James Junius Marks, D.D.(1809-1899) was a chaplain in the Union Army from August 1861 until resigning because of ill health just before Christmas 1862.* He served first with the 12th Pennsylvania, and then in the field with the 63rd Pennsylvania during the Peninsula Campaign. The below is from his 1864 account of his Peninsula experiences.

During the afternoon we were at work removing the stores of provisions from the railroad track to the hospital. I had all the nurses engaged in bearing these across the fields on their backs and on stretchers, and in various ways we were securing what had been spared for us.

During one of these trips we observed a company of horsemen riding swiftly towards us. When they approached within fifty yards of us, I saw the young men around the captain throw the strap of their carbines over their shoulders placing their guns over the pommel of their saddles cock them and moving slowly they drew near. I thought the action was strange and threatening and commanded the men to drop their loads and sit down on the grass. I advanced in front. When the captain came within ten paces of us, I saw him turn and wave his hand to his followers. They uncocked their pieces, threw the strap over the neck, and came up to us.

The leader bowed and introduced himself as Captain Taylor, of New Kent, and the commander of a company in the celebrated Stuart cavalry. He was much of a gentleman, asked me when we were taken prisoners? how we were treated? how many sick we had? After he had satisfied himself, he asked me if I was not a chaplain. I replied that I was. 

"I thought so," said he. "Do you know Chaplain Sloan?"

I told him I did not. (I subsequently saw Mr. Sloan at Harrison's Landing.)

"Mr. Sloan," said he,"once preached for us at New Kent; we thought a great deal of him. My mother and myself and wife were members of his church. These young men said he were all students in the classical school he superintended at New Kent. He was a very valuable and useful man amongst us. At the commencement of the war he left us and went, as we understood, to Philadelphia. But we afterwards heard that he had become a chaplain in your army, and we all took a solemn vow that wherever we should meet him we would shoot him; and when we first saw you we supposed that you were Mr Sloan, and you may have observed the young men cocking their guns; this was when we took you for him. And now," said he, "I am very glad that you are not Mr. Sloan, for it would have troubled me all my life to have shot him." I told him my pleasure at not being Mr. Sloan was fully equal to his in not finding him.

He then went on conversing, with the manner of one who had thrown a mighty load off his soul. He evidently did not relish the thought of being the murderer of Mr. Sloan, and sincerely hoped that he might never come in their way. He then told me that he had left his family, mother, wife, and children, at New Kent; and the families of most of the men about him were in that same neighborhood, and that their anxiety had been intense when our army advanced to New Kent. "But," said he, we have been fifteen times in your rear and know all that was done by your troops; and to your credit I must say that your men behaved well. They did not rob the families nor molest them, and I have not heard of a single case of violence. We have heard, indeed, of your taking pigs, turkeys, and chickens; this is what is to be looked for in an army; but we have not heard of a single case of violence or insult to families; that speaks loudly for the discipline of your army."

I told him "I thanked him for that drop of comfort. I knew that the officers aimed to restrain the troops, but sometimes men broke over all discipline."

"Your men," said he, behave well, but don't fight like our men."

"Pray, captain," said I, "where did your men show any superiority to ours?"

"Why, I think in battle fought and nowhere more than at Williamsburg. We fought you with our rear guard we had no expectation of being able to do more than hold you in check until the main body of our forces were out of harm's way. But when your generals were so easily checked this emboldened us to hurry back reinforcements and attempt greater things and I do believe that if we had resolved to make a final stand at Williamsburg we could have bound you there another month and then the heat and fever would have finished the work we began."

"Captain," I replied, "you know that the battle of Williamsburg was mainly fought by one division, General Hooker's. Generals Kearney and Hancock rendered very essential aid, but it was almost night when they reached the field. We had not so many men in that battle as you had, and yours were all the advantages of position, intrenchments, and strong earthworks and we had to debouch into the fields in your front, over a narrow neck of land. You had every advantage that men should ask; the storm was drenching and disheartening; our artillery was engulfed in the mud; yet, notwithstanding all these things, General Hooker, with the aid of three or four regiments of General Kearney's, held his position for five hours, until, by a flank movement of General Hancock, you were driven from the field. In the strength of your intrenchments you ought to have held out against fifty thousand men."

"Well," said he, "we have thought that one of our men was equal to four of yours: that may have been slightly too large; do you not think, in all honesty, doctor, that our men are greatly superior to yours in military qualities?"

"No," said I, "our men are fully equal to yours, and in many respects superior. We are cooler, will endure more, suffer greater hardships, and fight more unflinchingly than yours."  

"Well," said he, smiling, "you have never shown those qualities yet; but I hope, for the honor of the American name, you may in the future. We have had several battles on the Peninsula: in which of these do you think you were victorious?"

"Were you at Savage Station last night, captain, in the battle.?"

"No, we were on the left. But what of it?"

"Why, simply this: that you were most thoroughly whipped, and if you had been there at the conclusion of the firing you would have seen our columns standing where they did at the commencement of the fight; and of your men, there was not one in the open fields, and all your artillery was removed or silenced.'

"And how many men do you suppose General Jackson brought into action?"

"I do not know, certainly, but suppose from forty to fifty thousand.- Well, sir, we had but twenty thousand, all told; and men who have been under arms for twenty-five days, who, during all this time, were enduring the severest toil and exhausting duties, and yet they repulsed twice their number of fresh troops; and in the engagement of last night your men pursued their usual tactics: they crept into ravines, hid behind fences, and skulked like Indians into forests. No captain you have asked my opinion and I have given it to you. Your men, as a general thing are not equal to ours."

He laughed, and said: "Doctor, I have provoked this; we will not be likely to agree, but I don't think less of you for answering and defending your soldiers with spirit. But do you not think that your cause is fatally defeated and the independence of the South certain? We have just come up from the left of your army; we consider the escape of General McClellan hopeless. We have seventy thousand in your rear, and fully as many in front; and entangled in the forest and swamp, how can you escape? It was understood when we left that General McClellan had sent an aid to General Lee, to arrange the surrender of his entire army."

"you may believe it, but I will not; if twenty thousand men could beat back your army last night, I feel sure that seventy thousand will do more than that to-day."

"Well," said he, "there are some things which even brave men cannot do; you cannot drag your cannon through swamps; you cannot move your trains through forests so deep and dark that the light of the sun never reaches the earth; you cannot bridge rivers in the face of a powerful and victorious enemy; we know all this country well, and I assure you the escape of your army is impossible."

"Well, captain, you will find that when you press such men as ours to the wall, they will defend themselves with a desperation which will end in your defeat. Even now, the roar of the battle is the proof that we still have an army."

In the meantime the men on both sides had become quite familiar, and were fully exchanging views. The captain bade me good-bye, and hoped we might meet in better times.

-The Peninsular Campaign in Virginia, or, Incidents and scenes on the battle-fields and in Richmond James Junius Marks
J. B. Lippincott & co., 1864

*Biographical information in Under the Red Patch: Story of the Sixty Third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1864 by Gilbert Adams Hays.


Next- Who Was Sloan?
 

"Will meet in conclave at Soldiers' Rest Landing"

location of Soldiers Rest Landing, New Kent.

A NOVEL REUNION

Chickahominy Indians and Their Descendants to Meet In Conclave.

Charles City County, May 29, 1900.

To the Editor of the Dispatch: The "Pamunkey Tribe" of Indians and their relations scattered through New Kent and Charles City will meet in conclave at Soldiers' Rest Landing, on the Chickahominy River, on Tuesday, the 5th of.June, in grand conclave, and give a barbacue of good things, from the water and land for which that historic section is famed.

The location is about the spot where Captain John Smith was captured by the indians so long ago. According to tradition, there are a great many places along the Chicahominy where the redoubtable Captain was caught. But this seems to be the locality for two reasons. First because it is near the head of navigation, and second, the sunken grounds just above are as good for Captain Smith to have been caught in as any other sunken grounds anywhere.

Of course, we have seen other places where he was captured. Mark Twain standing and peeping at the grave of Noah, his distinguished kinsman, said he knew it was the old man's grave because, he had seen it in so many other places in the East. 

The Pamunkeys, they say will  make this an interesting occasion. The public are invited, and invitations have been extended to Hons. Manly H. Barnes and L. M. Nance, and Judge Isaac Christian to address the conclave. The chief of the Pamunkeys, with his retinue from the Indian reservation of the Pamunkey river, will be there.

Confederate veterans  of the Charles City Cavalry and Infantry are invited to be present at Charles City Courthouse on June court-day to complete the organization of the Harrison Howard Camp of Confederate Veterans, and it is earnestly hoped that the old veterans will all come who can.

All soldiers, from the county who are in any command are included in this invitation. It is suggested that the cornerstone of the monument to the Confederate dead, erected by the Daughters or the Confederacy, will be laid in the  court-yard here sometime in July. They  have not yet decided, however.

-Richmond Dispatch, 31 May, 1900

M. H. Barnes, New Kent Commonwealth Attorney

March Comes in Like a Lion- Timberlake, Young and Old.

Tuesday morning...March 15, 1864.

from the Peninsula — Kilpatrick attempting to go back by the Rappahannock.

. . .

On their route down from Richmond, after the failure of the raid, Kilpatrick's men acted in a most barbarous manner to the inoffensive and helpless people of New Kent and James City. From the Cross Roads in New Kent, where the vandals entered the stage road, down to Barhamsville, in the same county, they burnt and pillaged nearly every house. At Barhamsville, they destroyed the barn of Nelson Timberlake, burning all his corn and fodder, and stole every pound of his meat. A Mr. James Taylor, who remonstrated with them for their outrages, was knocked down, and beaten until he became insensible. Other citizens were most outrageously treated.

-The Daily Dispatch: March 15, 1864

Map of New Kent, Charles City, James City and York counties.Gilmer collection

The map above gives you an idea of the area of easternmost New Kent in 1864; I've underlined the Timberlake and Taylor homesteads with blue lines. James R. Taylor was a farmer owning some 200 acres near the church at Barhamsville. I know rather more about Thomas Nelson Timberlake. A merchant and former postmaster of Barhamsville, the owner of  some 250 acres and 14 adult slaves, he was approximately 62 in 1864. At least one of his sons was in the Confederate army at the time(the plethora of "James Timberlake"s make things confusing.) James P. Timberlake had enlisted as a private in the Co. F, Third Virginia Cavalry in  May 1862, presumably at the age of 17, and served in that unit until March 1864. I do not know what brought him to New Kent in the winter of 1863-64, but he is listed in Union records as being captured by "Kilpatrick's cavalry" on March 2, 1864 at New Kent Courthouse.  It being winter and the time that Nineteenth Century armies would theoretically have been in camp he was perhaps on furlough. The records of the Confederate army list him as being "in hands of enemy since 15, Jan 1864." Whatever the date, young James Timberlake would spend the next year in Union prison camps before being exchanged in February 1865.