1862 CIVIL WAR Journal DIARY Union SHENADOAH VALLEY CAMPAIGN Stonewall Jackson

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1862 CIVIL WAR Journal DIARY Union SHENADOAH VALLEY CAMPAIGN Stonewall Jackson:
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ONE OF A KIND CIVIL WAR UNION SOLDIER\'S RECOLLECTION OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY PURSUIT OF STONEWALL JACKSONTHE FIRST BATTLE OF WINCHESTERTHE UNION AND GEN BANKS\' FAILURE
THE CAPTURE OF CONFEDERATE GENERAL ASHBYDEATHS, CAMP LIFE AND BATTLES\"Mr President...the remarks I am about to make is neither going to be Gilt Edged or Varnished and polished with a high lustre, I am not before you as a military critic - neither do I intend to try and elevate and extol the Bravery of the Union Army by making comparisons odious to the Rebel Army...for I can assure you Ladies and Gentleman when we met those misguided people in Battle array...we met a foe worthy of our Steel\"---
ALTHOUGH THE WRITER IS UNNAMED, WE CAN GATHER THESE FACTS FOR ID----
The writer enlisted July 1861 in Hartford at the Smelting Furnace at the Rolling Mill
Possibly in the 19th NY, mentions of 46th PennaCommander was Colonel C S Ferry
chasing ashby
chasing stonewall w only 16 men left in compny
captured rebels at Bunker Hill Va near Wincester 1862battle details of soldiers dying near him, amputationsjoined ira harrisBattle of WinchesterUnion failure and retreat
Rebel account of Union entry into Winchester and Rebel Gen Ashby\'s attempted capture\"Delivered before Viewbille (?) Literary Association\"Includes original 13 page speech, about 10 to 15 fragments of notes, probably used while compiling the speech,
a shenandoah valley description, Battle of Winchester regiment list and facts, and military term glossary as well as a Rebel account of Ashby. Totals around 22-25 leaves full of handwritten info. Probably from around 1870-1875.

The handwriting and paper is certainly pre 1880s, and matches many papers seen around and right after the Civil War in both handwriting style and paper quality. Great content including battles, regimental info, camp life, field tactics, orders, deaths, rebel prisoners, and more. Largest papers measure 13\" x 8.25\". Main speech in great shape, some light toning and edgewear; fragments with some splits and folds from heavy referencing. A Rare and firsthand account of the Rebel Army/Stonewall Jacksons successes in the Shenandoah from a Union viewpoint.

INFO

Shenandoah Valley CampaignIn February 1862 Banks was ordered by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan to secure the lower Shenandoah Valley, moving most of his forces east of the Blue Ridge Mountains in anticipation of assisting in McLellan\'s Peninsula Campaign. After Stonewall Jackson was turned back at the First Battle of Kernstown on March 23, Banks was instead ordered to pursue Jackson up the valley, to prevent him from reinforcing the defenses of Richmond. When Banks\'s men reached the southern Valley at the end of a difficult supply line, the president recalled them to Strasburg, at the northern end. Jackson then marched rapidly down the adjacent Luray Valley, and encountered some Banks\' forces in the Battle of Front Royal on May 23. This prompted Banks to withdraw to Winchester, where Jackson again attacked on May 25. The Union forces were poorly arrayed in defense, and retreated in disorder across the Potomac River and back into Maryland. An attempt to capture Jackson\'s forces in a pincer movement (with forces led by John Frémont and Irvin McDowell) failed, and Jackson was able to reinforce Richmond. Banks was criticized for mishandling his troops and performing inadequate reconnaissance in the campaign,while his political allies sought to pin the blame for the debacle on the War Department
First Battle of Winchester From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia First Battle of WinchesterPart of the American Civil WarDateMay25,1862LocationFrederick County, Virginia and Winchester, VirginiaResultConfederate victoryBelligerents United States (Union) CSA (Confederacy)Commanders and leadersNathaniel P. BanksStonewall JacksonStrength6,500 [1]16,000 [1]Casualties and losses2,019 [2]400 [2][show]

Jackson\'s Valley Campaign

The First Battle of Winchester, fought on May 25, 1862, in and around Frederick County, Virginia, and Winchester, Virginia, was a major victory in Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. \"Stonewall\" Jackson\'s Campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. Jackson enveloped the right flank of the Union Army under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks and pursued it as it fled across the Potomac River into Maryland. Jackson\'s success in achieving force concentration early in the fighting allowed him to secure a more decisive victory which had escaped him in previous battles of the Valley Campaign: Front Royal to Port Republic.ConfederateUnionActions from Front Royal to First Winchester, May 24–25, 1862.

Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks learned on May 24, 1862, that the Confederates had captured his garrison at Front Royal, Virginia, and were closing on Winchester, turning his position. He ordered a hasty retreat down the Valley Pike from Strasburg. His columns were attacked at Middletown and again at Newtown (Stephens City) by Jackson\'s converging forces. The Confederates took many Union prisoners and captured so many wagons and stores that they later nicknamed the Union general \"Commissary Banks\". Jackson pressed the pursuit for most of the night and allowed his exhausted soldiers only a few hours sleep before dawn.[4]

Banks now deployed at Winchester to slow the Confederate pursuit. He had two brigades of infantry under Colonels Dudley Donnelly and George Henry Gordon, a mixed brigade of cavalry under Brig. Gen. John P. Hatch, and 16 guns. Gordon\'s brigade was placed on the Union right on Bower\'s Hill with its left flank at the Valley Pike, supported by a battery of artillery. The center of the line (Camp Hill) was held by the cavalry supported by two guns. Donnelly\'s brigade was placed in a crescent on the left to cover the Front Royal and Millwood roads with the rest of the artillery. At earliest light the Confederate skirmish line advanced in force driving the Union pickets back to their main line of battle.[4]

Opposing forcesUnionFurther information: Union order of battleConfederateFurther information: Confederate order of battleBattleMap of Winchester I Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program.

During the night, the advance of Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell\'s division (four brigades) reached Buffalo Lick. Jackson moved three of Ewell\'s brigades to the left to participate in the advance on the Valley pike, leaving Ewell with just Trimble\'s brigade and Bradley Johnson\'s Maryland regiment.[5] At dawn, he deployed Trimble\'s brigade astride the Front Royal Pike and advanced against the Union left flank. His leading regiments (in particular the 21st North Carolina) came under heavy fire from Union forces deployed behind stone fences and were repulsed. Confederate forces regrouped and brought up artillery. Ewell advanced the regiments of Trimble\'s brigade, sending regiments to either side of the high ground to enfilade the Union position. Donnelly withdrew his brigade to a position closer to town with his right flank anchored on Camp Hill. Ewell then attempted a flanking movement to the right beyond the Millwood Road, but in response to orders from Banks, Donnelly withdrew through the town.[6]

In conjunction with Ewell\'s advance on the Front Royal Pike, Jackson advanced on the Valley Pike at early dawn in a heavy fog. At Jackson\'s command, Winder\'s brigade swept over a hill to the left of the pike, driving off the Union skirmishers who held it. Jackson quickly placed a section of artillery on the hill to engage Union artillery on Bower\'s Hill at a range of less than half a mile. Union sharpshooters along Abrams Creek began picking off the cannoneers. Jackson brought up the rest of his artillery and a duel ensued with the Union guns on Bower\'s Hill.[4]

Jackson then brought up the brigades of Fulkerson, Campbell and Elzey to support Winder. Despite numerous officers being wounded,[7] Jackson\'s forces were in good order and nearly ready for an attack. He then deployed Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor\'s Louisiana brigade (led by the Louisiana Tigers) reinforced by two regiments of Fulkerson\'s brigade and backed up by Scott\'s brigade, to the left along Abrams Creek. Taylor marched under fire to a position overlapping the Union right and then attacked Bower\'s Hill. The Confederate assault swept irresistibly forward over the crest in the face of determined resistance. With three enemy brigades in its front and three coming at its right flank, Gordon\'s Union brigade gave way and Union soldiers began streaming back into town.[4]

Union forces retreated through the streets of Winchester and north on the Valley Pike to Martinsburg. After resting in Martinsburg, Banks command continued north to the Potomac river, crossing it at Williamsport.[8] Confederate pursuit was lethargic, as the troops were exhausted from the non-stop marching of the previous week under Jackson\'s command. Nevertheless, many Union prisoners fell into Confederate hands. Brig. Gen. Turner Ashby\'s cavalry was disorganized from the actions of May 24 and did not pursue until Banks had already reached the Potomac River.[4]

AftermathFirst Winchester was a major victory in Jackson\'s Valley Campaign, both tactically and strategically. Union plans for the Peninsula Campaign, an offensive against Richmond, were disrupted by Jackson\'s audacity, and thousands of Union reinforcements were diverted to the Valley and the defense of Washington, D.C. PA Civil War > Regiments > 203rd
203rd Pennsylvania Regiment

Recruited in the city of Philadelphia, Lycoming county, Lancaster county, Chester county, and Delaware county, PA

203rd PA Regiment Companies

Bates\' Regimental History & Company Rosters

203rd PA Regiment Organization, Service & Battles

Organized at Philadelphia September 10, 1864.
Moved to Petersburg, Va., September 22-27.
Attached to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 10th Army Corps, Army of the James, to December, 1864.
2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 24th Army Corps, to January, 1865.
2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Terry\'s Provisional Corps, Dept. North Carolina, to March, 1865.
2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 10th Army Corps, Dept. of North Carolina, to June, 1865.
Detached from Brigade and provost at Deep Bottom, Va.,
And picket at Malvern Hill September 27-October 5.
Rejoined Brigade October 5. Service & Battles - 1864
Siege operations against Richmond till December 7.
Battle of Fair Oaks October 27-28.
Expedition to Fort Fisher, N. C., December 7-27. Service & Battles - 1865
2nd Expedition to Fort Fisher, N. C., January 3-15, 1865.
Assault and capture of Fort Fisher January 15.
Advance on Wilmington February 11-22.
Sugar Loaf Battery February 11.
Fort Anderson February 19 Capture of Wilmington February 22.
Advance on Goldsboro March 6-21.
Guard railroad at Faison\'s Depot March 21-April 10.
Advance on Raleigh April 10-14.
Occupation of Raleigh April 14.
Bennett\'s House April 26.
Surrender of Johnston and his army.
Duty at Raleigh till June.
Mustered out June 22, 1865 Regimental Losses
Regiment lost during service 4 Officers and 70 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 72 Enlisted men by disease. Total 146.

Battle of Front Royal From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Battle of Front RoyalPart of the American Civil War
The Union Army under Banks entering the town,
May 20, 1862.
Forbes, Edwin, artist.DateMay23,1862LocationWarren County, VirginiaResultConfederate victoryBelligerents United States (Union) CSA (Confederacy)Commanders and leadersJohn Reese KenlyStonewall JacksonStrength1,063 [1]3,000 [1]Casualties and losses773 total
83 killed and wounded
691 captured [2]36 killed and wounded[2][hide]

Jackson\'s Valley Campaign

1st Royal
1st Winchester
Good\'s Farm
Cross Keys
Port Republic

The Battle of Front Royal, also known as Guard Hill or Cedarville, was fought May 23, 1862, in Warren County, Virginia, as part of Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. \"Stonewall\" Jackson\'s Campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. Front Royal demonstrated Jackson\'s use of Valley topography and mobility to unite his own forces while dividing those of his enemies. At a minimal cost, he forced the withdrawal of a large Union army by striking at its flank and threatening its rear.

Contents

1 Background
2 Battle
3 Aftermath
4 References
5 Notes
6 External links

BackgroundJackson\'s Valley Campaign: Front Royal to Port Republic.ConfederateUnion

On May 21, 1862, the Union army under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, numbering about 9,000 men, was concentrated in the vicinity of Strasburg, Virginia, with two companies of infantry at Buckton Depot. Col. John R. Kenly commanded 1,063 men and two guns at Front Royal. Confederate cavalry under Col. Turner Ashby confronted Banks near Strasburg, but then withdrew to join the main army, which crossed Massanutten Mountain via New Market Gap to reach Luray, Virginia. On May 22, Jackson\'s Army of the Valley (about 16,500 men) advanced along the muddy Luray Road to within ten miles of Front Royal. Jackson\'s headquarters were at Cedar Point. Colonel Thomas T. Munford\'s cavalry regiment was sent east to close off Manassas Gap and cut communication between Front Royal and Washington, D.C.[3]

Battle\"Action at Front Royal, Va.\"

On the morning of May 23, the vanguard of Jackson\'s army reached Spangler\'s Crossroads (present day Limeton, Virginia). Here the Confederate cavalry under colonels Ashby and Thomas Flournoy diverged west to cross the South Fork of the Shenandoah River at McCoy\'s Ford. The infantry continued to Asbury Chapel and right onto a cross road to reach Gooney Manor Road. Following this road, they approached Front Royal from the south, bypassing Federal pickets stationed near the river on the Luray Road one mile south of the courthouse. After minor skirmishing the Federals withdrew.[3]

Jackson\'s leading brigade, under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor, deployed on Prospect Hill and along the ridge to the east. The 1st Maryland Infantry, CSA and Major Roberdeau Wheat\'s Louisiana \"Tigers\" battalion were thrown out in advance, entering the town and clearing it of Union skirmishers. The battle is notable in that the 1st Maryland CSA was thrown into battle with their fellow Marylanders, the Union 1st Regiment Maryland Volunteer Infantry.,[4] the only time in United States military history that two regiments of the same numerical designation and from the same state have engaged each other in battle. On the day of the battle Captain William Goldsborough of the 1st Maryland Infantry, CSA captured his brother Charles Goldsborough of the 1st Maryland Infantry, USA, and took him prisoner.[5]

Col. John Reese Kenly, in command of the Union forces, established his headquarters in the Vanoort House.[3] He withdrew his force to Camp (Richards\') Hill, supported by a section of artillery. The Union line extended in an arc from the South Fork to Happy Creek, defending the South Fork bridge. Kenly\'s artillery opened fire and slowed the Confederate advance. The Confederate infantry advanced through town, deploying into line of battle under an accurate artillery fire. A Confederate flanking column moved to the east, crossing Happy Creek in an attempt to force Union withdrawal without a frontal assault. After a long delay because of the muddy roads, a battery of rifled artillery was deployed on or near Prospect Hill to counter the Union guns on Camp Hill.[3]

In the meantime, after crossing the South Fork at McCoy\'s Ford, Ashby\'s and Lt. Col. Flournoy\'s 6th Virginia Cavalry rode via Bell\'s Mill and Waterlick Station to reach the Union outpost at Buckton Depot. Ashby made a mounted assault, which cost him several of his best officers before the Union defenders surrendered. Ashby cut the telegraph lines, severing communication between the main Union army at Strasburg and the detached force at Front Royal. He then divided the cavalry, sending Flournoy\'s regiment east toward Riverton to threaten Kenly\'s rear. Ashby remained at Buckton Depot astride the railroad to prevent reinforcements from being sent to Front Royal.[3]

On discovering that Confederate cavalry was approaching from the west, Col. Kenly abandoned his position on Camp Hill, retreated across the South and North Fork bridges, and attempted to burn them. Sgt. William Taylor received the Medal of Honor for his gallantry in this action. Kenly positioned part of his command at Guard Hill, while the Confederates ran forward to douse the flames, saving the bridges. While Confederate infantry repaired the bridges for a crossing, Flournoy\'s cavalry arrived at Riverton and forded the river, pressing Kenly\'s forces closely. As soon as the Confederate infantry crossed, the Union position could be flanked by a column moving along the river. Kenly chose to continue his withdrawal, his outmatched cavalry fighting a rear guard action against Flournoy\'s 6th Virginia Cavalry.[3]

Kenly withdrew along the Winchester turnpike beyond Cedarville, Virginia, with Flournoy\'s cavalry in close pursuit. Jackson rode ahead with the cavalry, as Confederate infantry began to cross the rivers. At the Thomas McKay House, one mile north of Cedarville, Kenly turned to make a stand, deploying on the heights on both sides of the pike. Flournoy\'s cavalry swept around the Union flanks, causing panic. Kenly fell wounded, and the Union defense collapsed. More than 700 Union soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered.[3]

AftermathActions from Front Royal to First Winchester, May 24–25, 1862.

The results of the battle were lopsided. Union casualties were 773, of which 691 were captured. Confederate losses were 36 killed and wounded.[2] Jackson\'s victory over the small Union force at Front Royal forced the main Union Army at Strasburg under Banks into abrupt retreat. Jackson deceived Banks into believing that the Confederate army was in the main Valley near Harrisonburg; instead he had marched swiftly north to New Market and crossed Massanutten via New Market Gap to Luray. The advance to Front Royal placed Jackson in position to move directly on Winchester, Virginia, in the rear of the Union army. On May 24, Banks retreated down the Valley Pike to Winchester, harassed by Confederate cavalry and artillery at Middletown and Newtown (Stephens City), setting the stage for the First Battle of Winchester the following day.[3]

The confusion engendered by Jackson\'s appearance at Front Royal and the hasty Union retreat from Strasburg to Winchester contributed materially to the defeat of Banks\'s army at First Winchester on May 25. Jackson used his cavalry to good advantage at Front Royal, to sever Union communications east and west, and to strike the final blow at Cedarville.[3]

After the battle, the victorious First Maryland CSA took charge of prisoners from the beaten Union First Maryland regiment. Many men recognized among them former friends and family. According to W. W. Goldsborough, who chronicled the history of the Maryland Line in the Confederate Army:

\"nearly all recognized old friends and acquaintances, whom they greeted cordially, and divided with them the rations which had just changed hands\"Nathaniel P. Banks From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nathaniel BanksPortrait by Brady-Handy studio, c. 1860–1875
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts\'s 5th districtIn office
March 4, 1889– March 3, 1891Preceded byEdward D. HaydenSucceeded bySherman HoarIn office
March 4, 1875– March 3, 1879Preceded byDaniel W. GoochSucceeded bySelwyn Z. BowmanMember of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts\'s 6th districtIn office
December 4, 1865– March 3, 1873Preceded byDaniel W. GoochSucceeded byBenjamin Butler24th Governor of MassachusettsIn office
January 7, 1858– January 3, 1861LieutenantEliphalet TraskPreceded byHenry GardnerSucceeded byJohn Albion Andrew21st Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesIn office
February 2, 1856– March 4, 1857PresidentFranklin PiercePreceded byLinn BoydSucceeded byJames Lawrence OrrMember of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts\'s 7th districtIn office
March 4, 1853– December 24, 1857Preceded byJohn Z. GoodrichSucceeded byDaniel W. GoochPersonal detailsBornNathaniel Prentice Banks
January 30, 1816
Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.DiedSeptember 1, 1894 (aged78)
Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.NationalityAmericanPolitical partyDemocratic (1844–1854)
American (1854–1857)
Republican (1857–1870)
Liberal Republican (1870–1872)
Republican (1873–1891)Spouse(s)Mary Theodosia Palmer (m.1847–94)Children4 childrenProfessionMilitary officer, workmanSignatureMilitary serviceAllegianceUnited States of America
UnionService/branchUnited States Army
Union ArmyYears of service1861–1865Rank Major GeneralCommandsArmy of the Shenandoah
V Corps
Army of the GulfBattles/warsAmerican Civil War

Nathaniel Prentice (or Prentiss)[1] Banks (January 30, 1816 – September 1, 1894) was an American politician from Massachusetts and a Union general during the Civil War.

A millworker by background, Banks was prominent in local debating societies, and his oratorical skills were noted by the Democratic Party. But his abolitionist views fitted him better for the nascent Republican Party, through which he became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Governor of Massachusetts in the 1850s. Always a political chameleon (for which he was criticized by contemporaries), Banks was the first professional politician (with no outside business or other interests) to serve as Massachusetts Governor.[2]

At the outbreak of the Civil War, President Lincoln appointed Banks as one of the first \'political\' major generals, over the heads of West Point regulars, who initially resented him, but came to acknowledge his influence on the administration of the war. After suffering a series of inglorious setbacks in the Shenandoah River Valley at the hands of Stonewall Jackson, Banks replaced Benjamin Butler at New Orleans as commander of the Department of the Gulf, charged with administration of Louisiana and gaining control of the Mississippi River. But he failed to reinforce Grant at Vicksburg, and badly handled the Siege of Port Hudson, taking its surrender only after Vicksburg had fallen. He then launched the Red River Campaign, a failed attempt to occupy Eastern Texas that prompted his recall. Banks was regularly criticized for the failures of his campaigns, notably in tactically important tasks including reconnaissance. Banks was also instrumental in early reconstruction efforts in Louisiana, intended by Lincoln as a model for later such activities.

After the war, Banks returned to the Massachusetts political scene, serving in Congress, where he supported Manifest Destiny, influenced the Alaska Purchase legislation, and supported women\'s suffrage. In his later years he adopted more liberal progressive causes, and served as a United States marshal for Massachusetts before suffering a decline in his mental faculties.

Early life

Nathaniel Startle Prentice Banks was born at Waltham, Massachusetts, the first child of Nathaniel P. Banks, Sr., and Rebecca Greenwood Banks, on January 30, 1816. His father worked in the textile mill of the Boston Manufacturing Company, eventually becoming a foreman.[3] Banks went to local schools until the age of fourteen, at which point the family\'s financial demands compelled him to take a mill job. He started as a bobbin boy, responsible for replacing bobbins full of thread with empty ones,[4] working in the mills of Waltham and Lowell.[5] Because of this role he became known as Bobbin Boy Banks, a nickname he carried throughout his life.[6] He was at one time apprenticed as a mechanic alongside Elias Howe, a cousin.[7]

Recognizing the value of education, Banks continued to read, sometimes walking to Boston on his days off to visit the Atheneum Library. He attended company-sponsored lectures by luminaries of the day including Daniel Webster and other orators. He formed a debate club with other mill workers to improve their oratorical skills, and took up acting. He became involved in the local temperance movement; speaking at its events brought him to the attention of Democratic Party leaders, who asked him to speak at campaign events during the 1840 elections. He honed his oratorical and political skills by emulating Robert Rantoul Jr., a Democratic Congressman who also had humble beginnings.[8] His personal good looks, voice, and flair for presentation were all assets that he used to gain advantage in the political sphere, and he deliberately sought to present himself with a more aristocratic bearing than was suggested by his humble beginnings.[9]

Banks\'s success as a speaker convinced him to quit the mill. He first worked as an editor for two short-lived political newspapers; after they failed he ran for a seat in the state legislature in 1844, but lost. He then applied to Rantoul, who had been appointed Collector of the Port of Boston, for a job.[10] The job, which he held until political changes forced him out in 1849,[11] gave him sufficient security that he was able to marry Mary Theodosia Palmer, an ex-factory employee he had been courting for some time.[12] Banks again ran unsuccessfully for the state legislature in 1847.[13]

Antebellum political careerBanks in 1852, portrait by Southworth and Hawes

In 1848, Banks was victorious in another run for the state legislature, successfully organizing elements in Waltham whose votes were not easily controlled by the Whig-controlled Boston Manufacturing Company. Company leaders could effectively compel their workers to vote for Whig candidates because there was no secret ballot.[14] He was at first moderate in opposition to the expansion of slavery, but recognizing the potency of the burgeoning abolitionist movement, he became more strongly attached to that cause as a vehicle for political advancement.[15] This brought Banks, along with fellow Democrats Rantoul and George S. Boutwell to form a coalition with the Free Soil Party that successfully gained control of the legislature and governor\'s chair. The deals negotiated after the coalition win in the 1850 election put Boutwell in the governor\'s chair and made Banks the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Although Banks did not like the radical Free Soiler Charles Sumner (either personally or for his strongly abolitionist politics), he supported the coalition agreement that resulted in Sumner\'s election to the United States Senate, despite opposition from conservative Democrats. His role as house speaker and his effectiveness in conducting business raised his status significantly,[16] as did his publicity work for the state Board of Education.[17]

Congress

In 1852, Banks sought the Democratic nomination for a seat in the United States Congress. While it was at first granted, his refusal to disavow abolitionist positions meant support was withdrawn by party conservatives. He ended up winning a narrow victory anyway, with Free Soil support.[18] In 1853, he presided over the state Constitutional Convention of 1853. This convention produced a series of proposals for constitutional reform, including a new constitution, all of which were rejected by voters. The failure, which was led by Whigs and conservative anti-abolitionist Democrats, spelled the end of the Democratic-Free Soil coalition.[19]

In Congress, Banks sat on the Committee of Military Affairs. He bucked the Democratic party line by voting against the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which overturned the 1820 Missouri Compromise, using his parliamentary skills in an effort to keep the bill from coming to a vote.[20] Supported by his constituents, he then publicly endorsed the abolitionist cause.[21] His opposition came despite long stated support for Manifest Destiny (the idea that the United States was destined to rule the North American continent), which the bill\'s proponents claimed it furthered.[22] In 1854 he formally joined the so called Know Nothing cause, a secretive populist and anti-immigration nativist movement – officially named American Party since 1855. He was renominated for Congress by the Democrats and Free Soilers, and won an easy victory in that year\'s Know Nothing landslide victory.[23] Banks was, along with Wilson and Governor Henry J. Gardner, considered one of the political leaders of the Know Nothing movement, although none of the three supported its extreme anti-immigrant positions of many of its supporters.[24]

In 1855, Banks agreed to chair the convention of a new Republican Party convention, whose platform was intended to bring together antislavery interests from the Democrats, Whigs, Free Soilers, and Know Nothings. When Know Nothing Governor Henry Gardner refused to join in the fusion, Banks carefully kept his options open, passively supporting the Republican effort but also avoiding criticism of Gardner in his speeches. Gardner was reelected.[25] During the summer of 1855, Banks was invited to speak at an antislavery rally in Portland, Maine, his first major speaking opportunity outside Massachusetts. In the speech, Banks expressed his opinion that the Union did not necessarily need to be preserved, say that under certain conditions it would be appropriate to \"let [the Union] slide\". Future political opponents would repeatedly use these words against him, accusing him of \"disunionism\".[26]

At the opening of the Thirty-Fourth Congress in December 1855, after the Democrats had lost their majority and only made up 35% of the House, representatives from several parties opposed to slavery\'s spread gradually united in supporting the Know Nothing Banks for Speaker of the House. After the longest and one of the most bitter speakership contests on record, lasting from December 3, 1855 to February 2, 1856, Banks was chosen on the 133rd ballot.[27] The coalition supporting him was formed by his American Party (known as \"Know Nothing Party\") and the so called Opposition Party, which opposed the Democrats, marking the first form of a coalition in congressional history. This victory was lauded at the time as the \"first Republican victory\" and \"first Northern victory\" – although Banks is officially affiliated as Speaker from the American Party – and greatly raised Banks\' national profile.[28] He gave antislavery men important posts in Congress for the first time, and cooperated with investigations of both the Kansas conflict and the caning of Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate. Because of his fairness in dealing with the numerous factions, as well his parliamentary ability, Banks was lauded by others in the body, including former Speaker Howell Cobb, who called him \"in all respects the best presiding officer [I] had ever seen.\"[29]

Banks played a key role in 1856 in bringing forward John C. Frémont as a moderate Republican presidential nominee. Because of his success as speaker, Banks was considered a possible presidential contender, and his name was put in nomination by supporters (knowing that he supported Frémont) at the Know Nothing convention, held one week before the Republicans met. Banks then refused the Know Nothing nomination, which went instead to former President Millard Fillmore. Banks was active on the stump in support of Frémont, who lost the election to James Buchanan; Banks easily won reelection to his own seat. Democrats, however, regained control of the House of Representatives, depriving him of the speakership.[30]

Governor of Massachusetts

In 1857 Banks ran for Governor of Massachusetts against the incumbent Gardner. His nomination by the Republicans was contentious, with opposition coming primarily from radical antislavery interests opposed to his comparatively moderate stand on the issue. After a contentious general election campaign Banks won a comfortable victory.[31] One key action Banks took in support of the antislavery movement was the dismissal of Judge Edward G. Loring.[32] Loring had ruled in 1854 that Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave, be returned to slavery under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.[33] Under the pressure of a public petition campaign spearheaded by William Lloyd Garrison, the legislature passed two Bills of Address, in 1855 and 1856, calling for Loring\'s removal from his state office, but in both cases Gardner had declined to remove him. Banks signed a third such bill in 1858.[32] He was rewarded with significant antislavery support, easily winning reelection in 1858.[34]

John Albion Andrew (portrait by Darius Cobb) succeeded Banks as governor.

Banks\'s 1859 reelection was influenced by two significant issues. One was a state constitutional amendment requiring newly naturalized citizens to wait two years before becoming eligible to vote. Promoted by the state\'s Know Nothings, it was passed by referendum in May of that year. Banks, catering to Know Nothing supporters, supported its passage, although Republicans elsewhere opposed such measures, because they were seeking immigrant votes.[35] The amendment was repealed in 1863.[36] The other issue was John Brown\'s raid on Harpers Ferry, which more radical Republicans (notably John Albion Andrew) expressed sympathy for. Not yet ready for armed conflict, the state voted for the more moderate Banks.[35] After the election, Banks vetoed a series of bills, over provisions removing a restriction limiting state militia participation to whites. This incensed the radical abolitionist forces in the legislature, but they were unable to override his vetoes in that year\'s session, or of similar bills passed in the next.[37]

Banks made a serious attempt to gain the Republican presidential nomination in 1860, but dislike of him by the radicals in the state party harmed him. His failure to secure a majority in the state delegation prompted him to skip the national convention,[38] where he received first-ballot votes as a nominee for Vice President.[39] His attempt to promote Henry L. Dawes, another moderate Republican, as his successor in the governor\'s chair also failed: the party nominated the radical Andrew, who went on to win the general election.[40] Banks\'s farewell speech, given with civil war looming, was an appeal for moderation and union.[41]

In the summer of 1860, Banks accepted an offer to become a resident director of the Illinois Central Railroad, which had previously employed his mentor Robert Rantoul.[42] Banks moved to Chicago after leaving office, and was engaged primarily in the promotion and sale of the railroad\'s extensive lands.[43] He continued to speak out in Illinois against the breakup of the Union.[41]

Civil WarMain article: American Civil WarThe champions of the Union, lithograph by Currier & Ives, 1861. Banks is among the frontmost standing figures, just left of the central seated figure.

As the Civil War became imminent in early 1861, President Abraham Lincoln considered Banks for a cabinet post,[44] despite a negative recommendation from Governor Andrew, who considered Banks to be unsuitable for any office.[45] Lincoln rejected Banks in part because he had accepted the railroad job,[46] but chose him as one of the first major generals (Maj. Gen.) of volunteers, appointing him on May 16, 1861.[47] He was initially resented by trained and experienced commanders,[48] but Banks, given his national prominence as a leading Republican, brought political benefits to the administration, including the ability to attract recruits and money for the Union cause, despite his lack of field experience.[49]

First command

Banks first commanded a military district in Eastern Maryland, which notably included Baltimore, a hotbed of secessionist sentiment and a vital rail link. Banks for the most part stayed out of civil affairs, allowing political expression of secessionism to continue, while maintaining important rail connections between the north and Washington, DC.[50] He did, however arrest the police chief and commissioners of the city of Baltimore, and replaced the police force with one that had more carefully vetted pro-Union sympathies.[51] In August 1861, Banks was assigned to the western district of Maryland. There he was responsible for the arrest of legislators sympathetic to the Confederate cause (as was John Adams Dix, who succeeded Banks in the Eastern district) in advance of legislative elections. This, combined with the release of local soldiers in his army to vote, ensured that the Maryland legislature remained pro-Union.[52] Banks\'s actions had a chilling effect on Confederate sentiment in Maryland. Although it was a slave state, it remained loyal through the war.[51]

Shenandoah Valley CampaignMain articles: Jackson\'s Valley Campaign and Peninsula Campaign

In February 1862 Banks was ordered by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan to secure the lower Shenandoah Valley, moving most of his forces east of the Blue Ridge Mountains in anticipation of assisting in McLellan\'s Peninsula Campaign. After Stonewall Jackson was turned back at the First Battle of Kernstown on March 23, Banks was instead ordered to pursue Jackson up the valley, to prevent him from reinforcing the defenses of Richmond. When Banks\'s men reached the southern Valley at the end of a difficult supply line, the president recalled them to Strasburg, at the northern end.[53] Jackson then marched rapidly down the adjacent Luray Valley, and encountered some Banks\' forces in the Battle of Front Royal on May 23. This prompted Banks to withdraw to Winchester, where Jackson again attacked on May 25. The Union forces were poorly arrayed in defense, and retreated in disorder across the Potomac River and back into Maryland.[54] An attempt to capture Jackson\'s forces in a pincer movement (with forces led by John Frémont and Irvin McDowell) failed, and Jackson was able to reinforce Richmond. Banks was criticized for mishandling his troops and performing inadequate reconnaissance in the campaign,[55] while his political allies sought to pin the blame for the debacle on the War Department.[56]

Northern Virginia CampaignMain article: Northern Virginia CampaignBanks in his military uniform, c. 1861 (portrait by Mathew Brady)

In June 1862, the Union forces were reorganized under Maj. Gen. John Pope, with Banks heading one of three Corps. By early August this force was in Culpeper County. Pope gave Banks an ambiguous series of orders, directing him south of Culpeper to determine enemy strength, hold a fortified defensive position, and to engage the enemy. Banks showed none of the caution he had displayed against Stonewall Jackson in the Valley campaign, and moved to meet a larger force. Confederates he faced were numerically stronger and held, particularly around Cedar Mountain, the high ground. After an artillery duel began the August 9 Battle of Cedar Mountain he ordered a flanking maneuver on the Confederate right. Bank\'s bold attack seemed close to breaking in the Confederate line, and might have given him a victory if he had committed his reserves in a timely manner. Only excellent commanding by the Confederates at the crucial moment of the battle and the fortuitous arrival of Hill allowed their numerical superiority to tell.[57] Banks thought the battle one of the \"best fought\", one of he officers thought it an act of folly by an incompetent general.\"[58]

The arrival at the end of the day of Union reinforcements under Pope, as well as the rest of Jackson\'s men, resulted in a two-day stand-off there, with the Confederates finally withdrawing from Cedar Mountain on August 11. Stonewall Jackson observed that Banks\'s men fought well, and Lincoln also expressed confidence in his leadership.[59] Banks suffered a minor injury during the battle, and was recalled to oversee the forces defending Washington.[60][61]

Army of the GulfColonel Short\'s Villa in New Orleans Garden District was the residence of Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, U.S. Commander, Department of the GulfMain article: Army of the Gulf

In November 1862, President Lincoln gave Banks command of the Army of the Gulf, and asked him to organize a force of thirty thousand new recruits, drawn from New York and New England. As a former governor of Massachusetts, he was politically connected to the governors of these states, and the recruitment effort was successful.[62] In December he sailed from New York with a large force of raw recruits to replace Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler at New Orleans, Louisiana, as commander of the Department of the Gulf.[63] Butler disliked Banks, but welcomed him to New Orleans and briefed him on civil and military affairs of importance. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, doubted the wisdom of replacing Butler (also a political general, and later a Massachusetts governor) with Banks, who he thought was a less able leader and administrator.[64] Banks had to contend not just with Southern opposition to the occupation of New Orleans, but also to politically hostile Radical Republicans both in the city and in Washington, who criticized his moderate approach to administration.[65]

Banks issued orders to his men prohibiting pillage, but the undisciplined troops chose to disobey them, particularly when near a prosperous plantation. A soldier of the New York 114th wrote: \"The men soon learned the pernicious habit of slyly leaving their places in the ranks when opposite a planter\'s house.... Oftentimes a soldier can be found with such an enormous development of the organ of destructiveness that the most severe punishment cannot deter him from indulging in the breaking of mirrors, pianos, and the most costly furniture. Men of such reckless disposition are frequently guilty of the most horrible desecrations.\"[66]

Banks\'s wife joined him in New Orleans, and held lavish dinner parties for the benefit of Union soldiers and their families. On April 12, 1864, she played the role of the \"Goddess of Liberty\" surrounded by all of the states of the reunited country. She did not then know of her husband\'s loss at the Battle of Mansfield three days earlier. By July 4, 1864, however, occupied New Orleans had recovered from the Red River Campaign to hold another mammoth concert extolling the Union.[67]

Siege of Port HudsonMain article: Siege of Port Hudson

Part of Banks\'s orders included instructions to advance up the Mississippi River to join forces with Ulysses S. Grant, in order to gain control of the waterway, which was under Confederate control between Vicksburg, Mississippi and Port Hudson, Louisiana. Grant was moving against Vicksburg, and Banks was under orders to secure Port Hudson before joining Grant at Vicksburg. He did not move immediately, because the garrison at Port Hudson was reported to be large,[68] his new recruits were ill-equipped and insufficiently trained for action, and he was overwhelmed by the bureaucratic demands of administering the occupied portions of Louisiana.[69] He did send forces to reoccupy Baton Rouge, and sent a small expedition that briefly occupied Galveston, Texas but was evicted in the Battle of Galveston on January 1, 1863.[70]

In 1862, several Union gunboats had successfully passed onto the river between Vicksburg and Port Hudson, interfering with Confederate supply and troop movements. In March 1863, after they had been captured or destroyed, naval commander David Farragut sought to run the river past Port Hudson in a offer to regain control over that area, and convinced Banks to make a diversionary land attack on the Confederate stronghold. Banks marched with 12,000 men from Baton Rouge on March 13, but was unable to reach the enemy position due to inaccurate maps. He then compounded the failure to engage the enemy with miscommunications with Farragut.[71][72] The naval commander successfully navigated two gunboats past Port Hudson, taking fire en route, without support. Banks ended up retreating back to Baton Rouge, his troops plundering all along the way. The episode was a further blow to Banks\'s reputation as a military commander, leaving many with the false impression he had not wanted to support Farragut.[71]

1860s map showing the Siege of Port Hudson

Under political pressure to show progress, Banks embarked on operations to secure a route that bypassed Port Hudson via the Red River in late March.[73] He was eventually able to reach Alexandria, Louisiana, but stiff resistance from the smaller forces of Confederate General Richard Taylor meant he did not get there until early May. His army seized thousands of bales of cotton, and Banks claimed to have interrupted supplies to Confederate forces further east. During these operations Admiral Farragut turned command of the naval forces assisting Banks to David Porter, with whom Banks had a difficult and prickly relationship.[74]

Following a request from Grant for assistance against Vicksburg, Banks finally laid siege to Port Hudson in May 1863.[75] Two attempts to storm the works, as with Grant at Vicksburg, were dismal failures. The first, made against the entrenched enemy on May 27, failed because of inadequate reconnaissance and because Banks failed to ensure the attacks along the line were coordinated.[76][77] After a bloody repulse, Banks continued the siege, and launched a second assault on June 14. It was also badly coordinated, and the repulse was equally bloody: each of the two attacks resulted in more than 1,800 Union casualties.[76] The Confederate garrison under General Franklin Gardner surrendered on July 9, 1863, after receiving word that Vicksburg had fallen.[78] This brought the entire Mississippi River under Union control. Port Hudson was the first time African American soldiers were used in a major Civil War battle.[79][80]

In the autumn of 1863, Lincoln and Chief of Staff Henry Halleck informed Banks that plans should be made for operations against the coast of Texas, chiefly for the purpose of preventing the French in Mexico from aiding the Confederates or occupying Texas, and to interdict Confederate supplies from Texas heading east.[81] The second objective he attempted to achieve at first by again sending a force against Galveston, which was badly beaten in the Second Battle of Sabine Pass on September 8.[82] An expedition sent to Brownsville secured possession of the region near the mouth of the Rio Grande and the Texas outer islands in November.[83]

Red River CampaignConfederate General Richard Taylor opposed Banks in Louisiana.Main article: Red River Campaign

As part of operations against Texas, Halleck also encouraged Banks to undertake the Red River Campaign, an overland operation into the resource-rich but well-defended parts of northern Texas. Banks and General Grant both considered the Red River Campaign a strategic distraction, with an eastward thrust to capture Mobile, Alabama preferred.[84] Political forces prevailed, and Halleck drafted a plan for operations on the Red River.[85]

The campaign lasted from March to May 1864, and was a major failure. Banks\'s army was routed at the Battle of Mansfield (April 8) by General Taylor and retreated 20 miles (32km) to make a stand the next day at the Battle of Pleasant Hill. Despite winning a tactical victory at Pleasant Hill, Banks continued the retreat to Alexandria, his force rejoining part of Porter\'s Federal Inland Fleet. That naval force had joined the Red River Campaign to support the army[86] and to take on cotton as a lucrative prize of war. Banks was accused of allowing \"hordes\" of private cotton speculators to accompany the expedition, but only a few did, and most of the cotton seized was taken by the army or navy. Banks did little, however, to prevent unauthorized agents from working the area.[87] A cooperating land force launched from Little Rock, Arkansas was turned back in the Camden Expedition.[88]

Part of Porter\'s large fleet became trapped above the falls at Alexandria by low water, engineered by Confederate action.[89] Banks and others approved a plan proposed by Joseph Bailey to build wing dams as a means to raise what little water was left in the channel. In ten days, 10,000 troops built two dams, and managed to rescue Porter\'s fleet, allowing all to retreat to the Mississippi River.[90] After the campaign, General William T. Sherman famously said of the Red River campaign that it was \"One damn blunder from beginning to end\",[91] and Banks earned the dislike and loss of respect of his officers and rank and file for his mishandling of the campaign.[92] On hearing of Banks\' retreat in late April, Grant wired Chief of Staff Halleck asking for Banks to be removed from command.[93] The Confederates held the Red River for the remainder of the war.[94]

Louisiana ReconstructionSee also: History of Louisiana §Reconstruction, disenfranchisement, and segregation (1865–1929)

Banks undertook a number of steps intended to facilitate the Reconstruction plans of President Lincoln in Louisiana. When Banks arrived in New Orleans, the atmosphere was somewhat hostile to the Union owing to some of Butler\'s actions. Banks moderated some of Butler\'s policies, freeing civilians that Butler had detained and reopening churches whose ministers refused to support the Union. He recruited large numbers of African-Americans for the military, and instituted formal works and education programs to organize the many slaves who had wandered from their plantations, believing they had been freed. Because Banks believed the plantation owners would need to play a role in Reconstruction, the work program was not particularly friendly to African Americans, requiring them to sign year-long work contracts, and subjecting vagrants to involuntary public work.[95] The education program was effectively shut down after Southerners regained control of the city in 1865.[96]

General Edward Canby succeeded Banks in Louisiana.

In August 1863, President Lincoln ordered Banks to oversee the creation of a new state constitution, and in December granted him wide-ranging authority to create a new civilian government.[97][98] However, because voter enrollment was low, Banks cancelled planned Congressional elections, and worked with civilian authorities to increase enrollment rates. After a February 1864 election organized by Banks, a Unionist government was elected in Louisiana, and Banks optimistically reported to Lincoln that Louisiana would \"become in two years, under a wise and strong government, one of the most loyal and prosperous States the world has ever seen.\"[99] A constitutional convention held from April to July 1864 drafted a new constitution that provided for the emancipation of slaves.[100] Banks was a significant influence on the convention, insisting that provisions be included for African-American education and at least partial suffrage.[101]

By the time the convention ended, Banks\'s Red River Campaign had come to its ignominious end and Banks was superseded in military (but not political) matters by Major General Edward Canby. President Lincoln ordered Banks to oversee elections held under the new constitution in September, and then ordered him to return to Washington to lobby Congress for acceptance of Louisiana\'s constitution and elected Congressmen.[102] Radical Republicans in Congress railed against his political efforts in Louisiana,[103] and refused to seat Louisiana\'s two Congressmen in early 1865. After six months, Banks returned to Louisiana to resume his military command under Canby. However, he was politically trapped between the civilian government and Canby, and resigned from the army in May 1865 after only one month in New Orleans. He returned to Massachusetts in September 1865.[104] Secretary of War Halleck in early 1865 ordered William Farrar Smith and James T. Brady to investigate breaches of Army regulations during the occupation of New Orleans. The commissioners\' report, which was not published, found that the military administration was riddled by \"oppression, peculation, and graft\".[105]

Military recognition of Banks\'s service in the war included election in 1867 and 1875 as commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts.[106] In 1892 he was elected as a Veteran First Class Companion of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, a military society for officers who had served the Union during the Civil War.[107]

Postbellum careerPostbellum portrait by Mathew Brady or Levin C. Handy

On his return to Massachusetts, Banks immediately ran for Congress, for a seat vacated by the resignation of Radical Republican Daniel W. Gooch. The Massachusetts Republican Party, dominated by Radicals, opposed his run, but he prevailed easily at the state convention and in the general election, partially by wooing Radical voters by proclaiming support for Negro suffrage.[108] He served from 1865 to 1873, during which time he chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee.[109] Despite his nominally moderate politics, he was forced to vote with the Radicals on many issues, to avoid being seen as a supporter of President Johnson\'s policies.[110] He was active in supporting the reconstruction work he had done in Louisiana, trying to get its Congressional delegation seated in 1865. He was opposed in this by a powerful faction in Louisiana, who argued he had essentially set up a puppet regime. He also alienated Radical Republicans by accepting a bill on the matter that omitted a requirement that states not be readmitted until they had given their African-American citizenry voting rights.[111] Despite his position as chair of an important committee, Banks was snubbed by President Grant, who worked around him whenever possible.[112]

During this period in Congress, Banks was one of the strongest early advocates of Manifest Destiny. He introduced legislation promoting offers to annex all of British North America (effectively today\'s Canada), which drew neither domestic interest, nor that of the Canadians.[113] This and other proposals he made died in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Charles Sumner.[114] They served to make him unpopular in Britain and Canada, but played well to his heavily Irish-American constituency.[115] Banks also played a significant role in securing passage of the Alaska Purchase funding bill, enacted in 1868.[116] Banks\' financial records strongly suggest he received a large gratuity from the Russian minister after the Alaska legislation passed.[117] Questions were raised not long after the bill\'s passage, with a House investigation of the matter effectively whitewashing the affair. Biographer Fred Harrington is of the opinion that Banks would have supported the legislation regardless of the payment he is alleged to have received.[118] Banks also supported unsuccessful efforts to acquire some Caribbean islands, including the Danish West Indies and the Dominican Republic,[119] and spoke out in support of Cuban independence.[120]

Statue of Banks by Henry Hudson Kitson in Waltham, Massachusetts

In 1872, Banks joined the Liberal-Republican revolt in support of Horace Greeley. He had to some degree opposed a party trend away from labor reform, a subject that was close to many of his working-class constituents, but not the wealthy businessmen who were coming to dominate the Republican Party.[121] While Banks was campaigning across the North for Greeley, the Radical Daniel Gooch successfully gathered enough support to defeat him for reelection; it was his first defeat at the hands of Massachusetts voters. After his loss, Banks invested in an unsuccessful start-up Kentucky railroad headed by John Frémont, hoping its income would substitute for the political loss.[122]

Seeking a revival of his political fortunes, Banks ran successfully for Massachusetts Senate in 1873, supported by a coalition of Liberal Republicans, Democrats, and Labor Reform groups. The latter groups he wooed in particular, adopting support for shorter workdays. In that term, he help draft and secure passage of a bill restricting hours of women and children to ten hours per day.[123] In 1874, Banks was elected to Congress again, supported by a similar coalition in defeating Gooch.[124] He served two terms (1875–1879), losing in the 1878 nominating process after formally rejoining the Republican fold. He was accused in that campaign of changing his positions too often to be considered reliable.[125] After his defeat, President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him as United States marshal for Massachusetts as a patronage reward for his service. He held the post from 1879 until 1888, but exercised poor oversight over his subordinates, and consequently became embroiled in legal action over the recovery of unpaid fees.[126]

In 1888, Banks once again won a seat in Congress. He played little role, because his mental health was failing.[127] After one term he was not renominated, and retired to Waltham.[128] His health continued to deteriorate, and he was briefly sent to McLean Hospital shortly before his death in Waltham on September 1, 1894.[129] His death made nationwide headlines; he is buried in Waltham\'s Grove Hill Cemetery.[128]

Legacy and honors

Fort Banks in Winthrop, Massachusetts, built in the late 1890s, was named for him.[130] A statue of him stands in Waltham\'s Central Square,[131] and Banks Street in New Orleans is named after him, as is Banks Court in Chicago\'s Gold Coast neighborhood.[132] His Waltham home from 1855 to his death is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[133]

Turner Ashby From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Turner Ashby, Jr.Nickname(s)\"Black Knight of the Confederacy\"BornOctober 23, 1828
Fauquier County, VirginiaDiedJune 6, 1862 (aged33)
Harrisonburg, VirginiaPlace of burialStonewall Cemetery, Winchester, VirginiaAllegianceConfederate States of AmericaService/branchConfederate States Army CavalryYearsof service1861–62Rank Captain (Virginia Militia)
Colonel (CSA)
Brigadier General (unconfirmed)Commands held 7th Virginia CavalryBattles/wars

American Civil War

Manassas Campaign
Battle of Bolivar Heights
Valley Campaign
- First Battle of Kernstown
- Battle of Good\'s Farm

Turner Ashby, Jr. (October 23, 1828 – June 6, 1862) was a Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War. He had achieved prominence as Thomas J. \"Stonewall\" Jackson\'s cavalry commander, with the rank of colonel, in the Shenandoah Valley before he was killed in the Battle of Good\'s Farm. Although he is sometimes referred to as a general and his name often appears in lists of Confederate generals, his appointment as brigadier general was never confirmed by the Confederate Senate. He died two weeks after his appointment and the Confederate Senate did not act to confirm the appointment during that time.

Early years

Turner Ashby, Jr. was born at Rose Bank Plantation in Fauquier County, Virginia, to Turner Sr. and Dorothea Green Ashby.[1] As a child he often played in the waters of nearby Goose Creek. His father died when he was young, and Turner was raised by his mother. In later years, he bought a residence near his childhood home and named it Wolfe\'s Crag. His father had fought as a colonel in the War of 1812, and his grandfather Jack Ashby served as a captain during the American Revolutionary War.[2]

Ashby was privately educated. Prior to military service he was engaged in business and farming, enjoying modest success at both.[1]

He was also known throughout the Shenandoah Valley for his strict adherence to a Code of Chivalry. Once a young male guest at a party given by Ashby was insulted and goaded into a duel with a rejected rival for a young lady\'s attention. Though totally unskilled in firearms, the youth accepted the challenge and the duel was set to be immediately fought with pistols at a nearby grove. When word of the altercation reached Ashby in the next room, he barged through the door and approached the more experienced challenger. In his low, gentle voice he asked \"What is the time fixed for our meeting?\" The prospective duelist responded, \"I am to fight [him] immediately.\" Ashby replied, \"I beg your pardon, but he has nothing to do with this affair. He came to my house tonight as my guest. When I invited him to come the invitation was Turner Ashby\'s word of honor that he should be treated here as a gentleman. I am sorry to have to explain these points of good breeding to you, but you have shown your ignorance of them by insulting my guest. The insult is mine, not his, to resent. He is here under my protection. If you are not prepared to make a proper and satisfactory apology at once, both to my guest and to me, you must fight Turner Ashby and the time and place agreed upon will answer as well as any other. What do you say, sir?\" Now fighting a duel with a young man wholly unacquainted with the use of firearms and dueling was one thing; fighting a duel with Turner Ashby in a rage was very well understood to be quite another, and a much more serious thing, and his realization of this difference brought a complete change to the challenger\'s mind...and he signed the pair of written apologies.[3]

An accomplished horseman at an early age, Ashby in his 20s organized a cavalry company of his friends known as the Mountain Rangers. The Mountain Rangers were absorbed into the Virginia Militia in 1859 following John Brown\'s raid at Harpers Ferry; they performed guard duty at Charles Town during Brown\'s trial and execution. Ashby made the statement that the Civil War really began with John Brown\'s insurrection. Ashby was an avid follower of politics and ran for the state legislature, but was a Whig (the minority party in Fauquier County) and follower of Henry Clay, and was not elected. After the start of the Civil War, though he\'d disapproved of secession, when it became obvious that Virginia would secede, Ashby persuaded Governor John Letcher to order the militia to capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. When secession was approved, Ashby made his move, but U.S. forces burned most of the arsenal buildings and 15,000 small arms before he could arrive.

Civil War

At Harpers Ferry, Ashby was assigned to the Virginia Militia command of Colonel Thomas J. \"Stonewall\" Jackson. He was responsible for guarding fords across the Potomac River and bridges from Harpers Ferry to Point of Rocks, Maryland. His command assisted Maryland men with Confederate sympathies to pass into Virginia, and they disrupted railroad traffic on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and interfered with the passage of boats on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Ashby suffered a personal loss when his brother Richard was killed during an engagement with a Union patrol along the Potomac in June 1861. Ashby, convinced of the rumors that his brother had been bayoneted while trying to surrender after he had a chance to examine his corpse, came to hate Northerners and became obsessed with revenge.

On July 23, 1861, Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston appointed Ashby lieutenant colonel of the 7th Virginia Cavalry. Due to the illness of the regimental commander, Ashby had effective control of half of the regiment, which he operated separately. When the commander retired in February 1862, Ashby assumed command of the entire regiment on March 12. Ashby organized the first Confederate horse artillery, named Chew\'s Battery, as part of this regiment. The 7th did not participate directly in the First Battle of Manassas, but Ashby aided the Confederate cause by screening the movement of Johnston\'s army to the Manassas area. The Union had hoped that Johnston\'s forces would be pinned down by Major General Robert Patterson, but Ashby\'s screen allowed Johnston to move freely without Patterson\'s interference. In October 1861 he led an attack on Harpers Ferry, a Union armory, but was defeated by Union colonel John W. Geary in what became known as the \"Battle of Bolivar Heights\".

By the spring of 1862, the 7th Virginia Cavalry had reached the enormous size of 27 infantry and cavalry companies, much larger than a typical Civil War regiment. Stonewall Jackson, in overall command of the Shenandoah Valley, tried to correct the situation by stripping Ashby of his cavalry forces, ordering them to be assigned to two infantry brigades. Ashby threatened to resign in protest and Jackson backed down. Jackson continued to resist Ashby\'s promotion to brigadier general, due to his informal military training and consequent lack of discipline.[4] Nevertheless, Ashby\'s promotion came through on May 23, 1862, and he received his promotion and general\'s star in a ceremony at the Taylor Hotel in Winchester, Virginia.[5]

Ashby cut a striking figure, called by many the \"Black Knight of the Confederacy\". He generally rode horses that were pure white or pure black. A civilian in the Valley named Thomas A. Ashby (no relation) wrote about an encounter with him:

He was just entering upon a career that soon made him an heroic character in the history of the Civil War. Dressed now in Confederate gray, with gilt lace on his sleeves and collar, wearing high top-boots with spurs and a broad-brimmed black felt hat with a long black feather streaming behind, his appearance was striking and attractive. He stood about five feet eight inches in height and probably weighed from 150 to 160 pounds (68 to 73 kg). He was muscular and wiry, rather thin than robust or rugged. His hair and beard were as black as a raven\'s wing; his eyes were soft and mahogany brown; a long, sweeping mustache concealed his mouth, and a heavy and long beard completely covered his breast. His complexion was dark in keeping with his other colorings. Altogether, he resembled the pictures I have seen of the early Crusaders,—a type unusual among the many men in the army, a type so distinctive that, once observed, it cannot soon be forgotten.

Valley Campaign and deathAshby\'s death at Good\'s Farm

Ashby\'s vigorous reconnaissance and screening were factors in the success of Jackson\'s legendary Valley Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862. However, there were instances in which Ashby failed Jackson. At the First Battle of Kernstown, Jackson attacked a retreating Union column that Ashby had estimated to be four regiments of infantry, about the size of Jackson\'s force. It turned out to be an entire division of 9,000 men, and Jackson was forced to retreat. At the First Battle of Winchester, as Union forces under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks were retreating, Ashby failed to cut off their retreat because his troopers were plundering captured wagons. It is possible that the Union forces could have been substantially destroyed if it were not for this lack of discipline.

As Jackson\'s army withdrew from the pressure of Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont\'s superior forces, moving from Harrisonburg toward Port Republic, Ashby commanded the rear guard. On June 6, 1862, near Harrisonburg, the 1st New Jersey Cavalry attacked Ashby\'s position at Good\'s Farm. Although Ashby defeated the cavalry attack, a subsequent infantry engagement resulted in his horse being shot and Ashby charging ahead on foot.[6] Within a few steps, he was shot through the heart, killing him instantly.[7] (The origin of the fatal shot has been lost to history. Soldiers of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry, the \"Bucktails\", claimed credit, but some accounts blame friendly fire.) His last words were \"Charge, men! For God\'s sake. Charge!\" waving his sword, when a bullet pierced him in the breast and he fell dead.\"[8]

Turner Ashby, post-mortem photograph as he lay in state

He had been appointed brigadier general just two weeks before his death.

LegacyTurner Ashby Monument at the site of his deathAshby\'s tomb in Winchester, Virginia

Stonewall Jackson\'s report of the engagement sums up the man (although, considering Jackson\'s resistance to Ashby\'s promotion, the eulogy might be an exaggeration in favor of the young man):

As a partisan officer I never knew his superior; his daring was proverbial; 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.

Ashby was buried at the University of Virginia Cemetery, but in October, 1866, his body was reinterred at the Stonewall Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia, next to the body of his younger brother Richard Ashby, who had died at Harpers Ferry in a skirmish with Union soldiers in 1861. The Turner Ashby Monument can be found in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at the spot where Ashby was fatally shot in the Battle of Harrisonburg at Chestnut Ridge.[9]

Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater, Virginia, and Ashby Hall at James Madison University are named in Ashby\'s honor.

There is a tie to the naming of prominent Page County, Virginia businessman Major Ashby Roudabush (August 22, 1861 – February 16, 1916). It seems that early in the war then Lieutenant Colonel Turner Ashby was riding with his regiment near one of the family\'s mills. Ashby saw the new child and asked if the boy had yet been named. When he learned that it had not, he pronounced that the boy be named \"Major Ashby\", for the boy could not outrank him.

A biography of Ashby was written by his relative, Thomas Ashby.

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