The New York Times from the Peninsula, 1862- Pt. I

I have collected a few of the New York Times reports from the Peninsula in 1862 which touch upon New Kent specifically, starting with the below . . .

Prince Robert Philippe Louis Eugène Ferdinand of Orléans, Duke of Chartres

 GEN. McCLELLAN'S ADVANCE.; Our Army Advancing Capture of a Rebel Battery Union Feeling White Flags Abundant Beautiful Weather The Country Beyond Williamsburgh Gen. McClellan and his Staff The Local Feeling The Rebel Retreat.

BERNA ORDINARY,* Va., May 9, 1862 -- 1 P.M.

Gen. KEYES has advanced his headquarters today twelve miles beyond Williamsburg, on the road toward New-Kent Court-house which now lies 15 or 16 miles beyond him. His corps is in the advance, the Second Rhode Island and the Sixty-eighth Pennsylvania being ported over the Chickahominy, near its month, 10 or 15 miles beyond us, with STONEMAN's Cavalry. The rebels are to make no stand here, as was reported, but continue their rapid flight toward Richmond: The report now is that they are to make their stand 10 miles this side of that city.

The Second Rhode Island came up with a battery of four guns, supported by infantry, stationed at one of the fords of the Chickahominy. to dispute their passage. Without standing on etiquette, the brave Rhode Islanders delivered their fire and charged bayonet, putting the confederates to instant route, many of them throwing away their muskets and running as though the which army of the Potomac was after them.

A hospital has been established on the James River opposite Williamsburgh, where some 500 of those wounded in the engagement of Monday have been removed. Yesterday a Confederate vessel, supposed to be the Merrimac, was seen within one or two miles of the place going up toward Richmond:

For six miles beyond Williamsburgh the country was heavily wooded, then we came upon a fine open country, with farms magnificent for size, producing wheat and corn, with some tobacco, though the land is now given up almost entirely to the former staples. The wheat fields are already green with blades ten or a dozen inches high, and present a beautiful sight as they wave in the sun. Streams are plenty, and our soldiers find an abundance of good water.

The country rises gradually, and over the Chickahominy we came upon the level country between that and Richmond. It is an inviting region and shows fewer marks of the ravages of war than any section we have yet come upon. The fences are standing in good order; the houses, as a general thing, occupied and undisturbed. Provisions Abundant, and plenty seems to prevail.

BARBOURSVILLE †, Va., Saturday -- 2 P.M.

At this point we are within five miles of West Point, as I am told by one of Cen. PORTER's aids, who has just come up front there. Gen. PORTER's troops have not got on their way inland, but must be shortly, as our army is rapidly concentrating around Richmond. Gen. MCCLELLAN came up this morning as far as the house of a Dr. JONES¹, just beyond Barboursville, where I am now writing. He remained here for an hour or two, the [???] of his Staff entertaining themselves with [???] intelligent young ladies belonging to the doctor [???]. The scene about the house as I entered [???] for a painter. At one side of the [???] "Little Corporal" stood, in the sun, [???] by several of his Generals, members of his Staff, the Prince De JOINVILLE, in citizen's [???], and a huge fur cap, being [???] among them, sauntering about with his hands in his breeches pockets. On the steps and the porch was a similar group of notables taking their ease at their noonday halt. In the hall [???] several gathered in a little group about several [???] standing in a side doorway, and conversing with great animation, receiving and imparting new [???] prevailing in the two sections toward each other. Among those here were three young [???] officers, and the Duc De CHATRES, whose younger brother came in while we were waiting, hot and [???] a long ride he had taken with a message from Gen. MCCLELLAN. I saw the young nobleman driving about in hot haste during the fight of Monday, so it would appear that he is a useful, as well as an ornamental, member of the General's Staff. Your correspondent [???] himself with his own seedy condition by the discovery that this scion of royalty was in an even more dilapidated condition as to wardrobe.

What I learn of local feeling, thus far, in my journeying into Virginia, increases my hope of a peaceful restoration of this State to the Union, when we shall have driven the Confederates away from her borders. State pride and local feeling is strong; but there appears to be little bitterness of feeling toward the North, except such as is engendered by an entire misapprehension of the purpose and animus of this war. Nothing will do so much to remove this misapprehension as intercourse with Northerners in the person of the officers of our army. The ladies in the family, as the result of to-day's conversation with our officers, tell me that they have either been greatly misled us to the sentiments and feelings of the North, or the gentlemen of Gen. MCCLELLAN staff cannot be true representatives of Northern opinion.

I have seen reason to somewhat modify my first opinion of the demoralization of the Southern army, based upon such hasty statements as I received from others. Their retreat, as a whole, seems to have been conducted in the masterly manner for which JOHNSTON has distinguished himself. Near Williamsburgh, there were many evidences of the hasty flight of the rear guard, in deserted artillery, mumtions of war, as well as in the knapsacks, tents, wagons and other things strewing the way. But to-day there are no signs of anything but deliberation, the roads being so much better as to enable the army trains to pass without difficulty.

I learn here that JOHNSTON and MAGRUDER separated at Barboursville, one taking the right and the other the left. It is provable that Gen. FRANKLIN was attacked by the advance guard of JOHNSTON at West Point, as he must have been very near them in passing. They expected another fight on Monday. being determined to make a stand to delay our progress, and their scouts reporting our troops to be rapidly advancing upon them. As we did not come they continued on their way without stopping for us.

I have omitted to mention before, that on Thursday last,Gen. KLEIN, of Gen. CASEY's Division, made a reconnoissance with two squadrons of Sixth Cavalry, Capts. HAMILTON and GUY, and a section of artillery. He advanced to York River, where he found a good landing fix miles from Williamsburgh. Four prisoners were taken. Many of the inhabitants subsequently came to his headquarters, demanding protection for themselves and property, including, in some cases, negroes; but such of the latter as wished to go down the peninsula were not molested, their owners being left to the civil authorities for the recovery of this species of "portable property."

-New York Times, May 15, 1862


*- Burnt Ordinary


†- I'm assuming "Barhamsville."


¹ Dr. Jones lived about a mile west of Barhamsville

Story of a Trooper V- Farmer Martin and the French Nobility

I return after an absence to the story of Francis Colburn Adams in New Kent . . .

"On the morning of the 9th, we got news that General McClellan had reached Roper's church¹, about nine miles across country, and established his headquarters.

Communication was thus opened between our right and centre; and Generals Franklin and Porter, with several members of their staffs, rode over to General McClellan's headquarters, and held an interview with him.Slocum's brigade moved out about three miles to a stumpy, new clearing, called the cross-roads, and encamped. Stoneman, with his flying column of cavalry, and General Sprague², passed up about four miles south of us, and had a skirmish with the enemy's rearguard, but, as usual, without inflicting any serious injury on him. Under the belief that he could do something of , real value if he had infantry to support his cavalry, Stoneman had obtained an order on our division for two regiments, which were sent to him from the Jersey Brigade. It was surprising to see how much opposition this order excited among some of our brigadier generals, who prevailed upon General McClellan to rescind the order and send the infantry back to their brigade. The rest of the day was spent at Eltham, landing cattle, supplies, and cavalry, the last being very slow in getting up. Indeed, it was almost impossible to tell why this cavalry should have been sent from Yorktown by water, subject to all the expense and delay of embarking and discharging, as well as cost of transports, when a good road was open all the way up,and fields of clover a foot deep.

The first supply train from Yorktown came through in charge of Alex, our Irish Lieutenant, who had been selected for the duty. The gunboat we had sent up the  Pamunky reached Cumberland landing early on the morning of the 10th, having passed a number of sunken vessels, and removed a variety of obstructions placed in the channel by the rebels. A good, safe channel, with ten and even eleven feet of water, was, however, found and marked out up to the landing, which was at Tooler's³ plantation, a vast open plain, affording magnificent advantages for encamping the whole army. A high ridge, on which the plantation house stood, overlooked an immense extent of country, and gave the spectator a view which, for picturesqueness, I have rarely seen excelled. A pale mist hung over the hill, and a camp with three or four white tents was dimly seen from the deck of the gunboat, pitched a few yards in front of the plantation house. As the mist lifted, the shadowy figures of the camp guards stood out in clear relief. The question was whether they were the enemy or our men. A glass was brought into use, and the blue overcoats decided the question. It was Stoneman's camp. He had halted his flying column, and was waiting for the infantry to move up. He had lost, it was reported, several of his men in an affair with the enemy near New Kent Court-House, the evening before.

Colonel Alexander, Captain Arnold, and several others landed and made their way to the camp, but with the exception of the guards, everything appeared in undisturbed slumber. While, however, the Colonel was making inquiry of the guard as to where he could find General Stoneman, a small-sized head protruded from one of the tents, and a somewhat husky voice inquired who the strangers were. The head and voice were General Sprague's. The General seemed somewhat confused, and could not exactly understand that the flying column had been overtaken by a gunboat.  The strangers soon had a pleasant greeting with General  Stoneman, who gave them an account of some skirmishing had with the enemy on his way up. They now made an examination of the ground in the vicinity, and in the direction of New Kent Court-House, procured correct information concerning the roads, and returning to the gunboat proceeded back to Eltham to report the success of their expedition. All the light draught vessels of our fleet could ascend the crooked Pamunky to Cumberland Landing, and on this being reported to General McClellan, it was at once determined to establish our depot of supplies there.

On the morning of the 10th another brigade of our division moved over to the cross-roads I have before mentioned, and encamped in the stumpy fields and on the wooded hills. In the afternoon General Franklin and his staff rode out and met General McClellan and several members of his staff at Slocum's headquarters, where they were very handsomely entertained. Accompanying the General was his favorite aid, Colonel Sweitzer, the Duke de Chartres, Count de Paris, and the Prince de Joinville, whose agreeable manners always added a charm to the company he was in. A very pretty and intelligent boy, belonging to a poor family in the neighborhood, who had been in Richmond about a week before, was brought into headquarters and introduced to General McClellan, who questioned him as to what he knew about the rebel capital. What he had to tell, however, was based only on rumor. "There was great excitement when I left, "he said, " and it was reported that Mr. Jefferson Davis had left the big stone house, and done gone out of Richmond."

It was here that General McClellan brought us the news of the evacuation of Norfolk and destruction of the phantom terror of our navy, the Merrimac⁴, which news was received with an outburst of rejoicing that made the very woods echo. When it became known to the soldiers that General McClellan was in camp, they manifested the wildest enthusiasm, broke away from all restraint, and cheered for him in their loudest strains. When, on taking his departure, he rode through the camps, they gathered about him in crowds, impeded his progress, threw up their caps, and made the very air ring with their shouts of joy. It was the most natural outburst of affection for the chief they loved I had seen the soldiers manifest.

The afternoon was warm and pleasant, and after the General had taken leave of us Captain Jackson and myself rode out about five miles in the direction of New Kent Court-House, over a road finely shaded with trees and bordered with flowering shrubs. On our return we stopped at the farm of one William Martin, an honest-hearted farmer, whose house stood about half a mile from the road, and where we found a hearty welcome, and were entertained with new milk and muffins. Farmer Martin gave us ample proof that he had always been a good Union man, and had, with many others in his neighborhood, struggled hard against the men who carried Virginia into rebellion. There was something so sincere, so kindly about the man and his wife, who seemed a very model of goodness, as to make us forget that we were in an enemy's country. He was not one of the rich, opulent planters, owning a hundred slaves, and therefore hating the Union that afforded them protection. They were to be found on the rich bottom lands adjoining the river, where wealth seemed to give greater force and bitterness to treason. Martin lived on what was called the ordinary upland, several miles away from the river, where the people were less educated and wealthy, but among whom I noticed a strong love for the Union and a more kindly treatment of our soldiers. Martin's farm comprised about five hundred acres; three hundred of it finely wooded with oaks and chestnut, the balance of it under that very ordinary kind of cultivation which has been followed in Virginia for at least a century. The farming implements here were of the rudest kind, and I could not suppress a feeling of regret that all these fine lands should remain unproductive for want of a little of that science and energy which has done so much for the advancement of agriculture in the North and West. Martin had but a few slaves, and cultivated his soil chiefly with free labor. We returned to Eltham that night at a rapid pace, and Captain Jackson's fine horse fell dead a few minutes after we reached headquarters.

Early the next morning we moved with the remainder of the division, and established our headquarters about a mile beyond the cross-roads. On the 12th I went out with the provost marshal and a company of cavalry to post guards along the road to protect property. In one house we found an aged mother and her only daughter, a young woman of eighteen, with an infant in her arms, the father, their only support, having been conscripted into the rebel army. A more terrible picture of poverty and distress could scarcely be presented. In another house were two young girls, and an aged, infirm father, the two brothers who worked the little farm having fallen victims to the inexorable conscription officer. The house of the sheriff or tax collector of the county⁵ was deserted, its furniture broken, and its floors strewn a foot deep with papers, old books, and manuscripts. Three or four old negroes still remained in the cabins, and told us this destruction was the work of some of our soldiers, who had passed that way the day before, and learned that their master was an arrant rebel.

On returning, I took four cavalrymen and stopped at Martin's house, to protect his property while the army marched up on the next morning. During the day I observed that he exhibited considerable anxiety of mind about something. He at length disclosed to me the cause of it. The wife of a Major Jones⁶, who was in the rebel army, had been frightened from her house on the banks of the Pamunky by the shells of our gunboats, and leaving in a state of great distress, had made her way through the woods, found sought shelter under his roof. The poor woman was now secreted in one of his garrets — a fact he considered it his duty to disclose to me, especially as he bad been assured that the distressed and innocent would receive protection and be treated with kindness. Assured of protection and kind treatment, she came trembling from her hiding  place, but in a state of nervous excitement enough to awake the tenderest sympathies of one's heart. She was a timid, delicate little woman, of refined manners and evident good family. The depth of her distress was increased by the fact that she was soon to give birth to a child, and her home had been made desolate by her own negroes, several of whom had threatened her life. My efforts to relieve her mind of all apprehension of personal danger failed to remove the intense nervous excitement under which she was laboring. She thanked me, however, in the most tender manner for my offer of protection, deplored the war that had brought this misery upon her, and with tears sealed the sincerity of what she said.

I sent this trembling woman to her home in charge of a guard, but it was not the home she left. The negroes had held high festival in its halls for several days, and the scene of destruction which everywhere met the eye showed how regardless they had been of the value of property.

I could not help feeling how thankful we ought to be that our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, lived beyond this terror of war, where peace reigns.And yet the aching head and sorrowing heart of this poor woman is as a feather when compared with the accumulation of woe war brings on the people into whose country it is carried."

1. Ropers Church lay approximately a mile due west of Barhamsville.
 
2. William Sprague, Brigadier General and the "Boy Governor" of Rhode Island, was on the Peninsula in an unofficial capacity, looking after the interests of Rhode Island's troops and acting as the President's ears on McClellan's staff.

3. Cumberland the Property of Henry Toler.

4. The CSS Virginia , still called Merrimac by many in the North and and South, was scuttled by the Confederates on May 11 since her deep draft prevented her ascending the James River to Richmond.

5.  C.A.Hewlett was Sheriff of New Kent in 1862.

6. "Major"Jones is, I believe, Rowland Jones a large landowner on the Pamunkey. Possessing no Confederate rank I can find, "Major" is probably an honorific from bygone militia days. Jones, age 62 and a widower, had recently married again, to the 22 year old Octavia Jones.