Lee University Research Articles

420CIVIL WAR HISTORY difficulties will acquire useful information and an appreciation of the considerable significance of Confederate commerce raiding. James E. Sefton San Fernando Valley State College The Liberty Hall Volunteers: StonewalTs College Boys. By W. G. Bean. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1964. Pp. x, 227. $3.25.) In June, 1861, the Liberty Hall Volunteers, a company of college boys which had formed at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) during the secession crisis, reported to Harper's Ferry and were assigned to the first brigade of the Army of the Shenandoah. In Jury the new soldiers fought their first battle and in May, 1864, a lifetime later to these youthful veterans of the "Stonewall Brigade," the unit was captured practically intact during Hancock's assault on die Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania. This is their story. It is not the usual battle narrative culled from the Official Records, although die author contends that only one other college company in Lee's army could boast a comparable record; this book seeks to portray the attitudes and the unvarnished reactions of a group of intelligent, high-minded soldiers as revealed in surviving family letters and the printed recollections of survivors. Through their eyes we get an unspoiled view of the war—the idealism of volunteers eager to "fight the battles of liberty," the novelty of their first camp ("a prolonged picnic" but for the constant drills), everyday problems of administration and personnel, and the sobering effects of battle. Because the company served as headquarters guard until Antietam, when there no longer remained enough men with the colors to perform the necessary duties, this book contains frequent glimpses of Stonewall Jackson, who from the very first inspired confidence in his men and after Bull Run commanded "perfect devotion." "With him," wrote one of the volunteers at the time of Jackson 's feud with Loring, "we are ready to go anywhere, and to endure everything. But if he is to be run down, our spirit is utterly broken, and we can never re-enter the service with cheerful hearts." Their hearts were not destined to remain cheerful in any case, for the war eroded them in spirit as well as number. (Only three of the original seventy-three were present to answer the roll call after Gettysburg.) In 1861 "one thought of the cause in which we are engaged is enough to scatter all gloom and fill us with gladness"; after Gettysburg, where "we were not whipped though we suffered heavily," one ragged survivor wrote home: "I know this letter is rather complaining, but as it is the first one of that stamp and considering the desperate state of affairs I hope you will excuse it." In their first camp the boys could scarcely conceal their excitement as they described the army as "very fine schooling for us air and boasted that they took to camp life like "ducks to water." But by BOOK REVIEWS421 1863 they were lonesome for fallen comrades and felt isolated and rather destitute. If their determination to see the war through never waned, they lived to return home. "I SUpPOSe," wrote one, "if I were at home I would be discontented . . . but ... I would like to try ft again for a while. I think I would be contented until the tomatoes were gone." Even die fighting itself had deteriorated in character. At Bull Run the company had "crossed bayonets" with the New York Zouave Regiment and afterwards had drilled by the Zouave manual until the bayonets would "fairly hum." In contrast, by the end of 1863 one wrote almost apologetically that "we . . . have become quite a good set of dirt diggers, but I do not think there is any disgrace in using all lawful means to preserve our Uves, for enough gallant spirits have already fallen in this carnal war." The conscripts sent as replacements were by and large a sorry lot; the old hands probably preferred to see mud "as it will retard military movements as long as it lasts. You see we are as big cowards as ever. This thing of soldiers being anxious to engage the enemy, or as our papers term it "spoiling...

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THS RICHMOND, FREDERICKSBURG AND POTOMAC, 1861-1865 Charles W. Turner The War between the States was the first of four wars in which the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad played an outstanding role. Chartered in 1835, the road ran from Richmond to the Potomac River via Fredericksburg. It not only provided transportation between Washington and Richmond but also connected with major lines running south and west of Virginia's capital. Moreover, the railroad was a vital north-south approach to the capitals of the opposing governments, and afforded almost ideal means for carrying troops and supplies to and from the strategic area through which it passed. From the outset of the war both sides realized the value of the R. F. & P. In 1861 eleven locomotives of the line pulled 134 cars of various types over a seventy-five-mile track. The railroad had a capital of more than $2,000,000. Virginia controlled 2,752 shares of the company's stock; the city of Richmond owned 2,300 shares. The remaining stock was in the hands of London financiers and out-of-state residents. A president and four directors, elected annually by the stockholders, were the chief officers of the line. Prior to 1861, the R. F. & P. semiannually paid a 3 per cent dividend to its stockholders.1 The road had able leadership from its inception. The Robinson family (ofAshland) furnished presidents, engineers, and superintendents prior to the War between the States. Peter V. Daniel, Jr., was president when the war started. His re-election throughout the war years reflected his ability. His spirit was best shown in 1861, when he declared: "Whatever sacrifices of profit or convenience we may be called upon to incur either as a company or as citizens it is not doubted that they will be cheerfully borne at the price of the independence and welfare of counCharles W. Turneris professor of history at Washington and Lee University. He is the author of Chessie's Road, a history of the Chesapeake b- Ohio Railroad . !Charles W. Turner, "Virginia Railroads, 1727-1861" (Unpublished dissertation , University of Minnesota, 1946 ), p. 185. 255 256charles w. turner try and future peace and prosperity."2 He labored tirelessly to keep the line open for business, and in the process suffered drastic reduction in personal income. The next most important positions were those of superintendents of transportation and upkeep, held in the war years by Samuel Ruth and William Bragg, respectively. To them came countless complaints over lack of service and high rates. When the war ended, Major E. L. D. Myers served as civil engineer in rebuilding bridges and track beds. Myers was no novice, for in the 1850's he had worked with Claudius Crozet in the construction of the Virginia Central's Blue Ridge tunnel —the largest tunnel in the United States at the time. So well did Myers serve the R. F. & P. that the company subsequently named him general superintendent and president. Other personnel included the faithful treasurer, C. W. MacMurdo, and 190 individuals who served as conductors, train engineers and firemen , baggage men, mechanics, inspectors, carpenters, unskilled laborers, and depot agents at Fredericksburg, Guiney's, Milford, Pole Cat, Chesterfield, Junction, Ashland, and Richmond. The question of securing skilled and unskilled labor was an important problem for Southern railroads in 1861-65. Besides the demand for higher wages, raids took off the Negroes while conscription drained off the white labor supply. Railroad employees were not excused from military service, and the usual procedure was to replace all types of help with disabled veterans. This continued until President Peter V. Daniel, Jr., presented to the Confederate Congress in January, 1864, a remonstrance against indiscriminate conscription of railroad employees. The War Department was asked to take up the matter and grant the railroads some measure of relief. The Confederate Congress passed an act in the spring of 1864 exempting from military service a certain number of skilled laborers for railroad duty, but with a provision that these men might be called back into service if an emergency arose.3 This problem of insufficient manpower remained in spite of this act, and many were the advertisements for help published in local newspapers...

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Lee University Research Articles

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Lee University Research Articles

Related Topics

Articles published on Lee University

Exports and the Propensity to Save in L.D.C.s

General Lee’s College: The Rise and Growth of Washington and Lee University by Ollinger Crenshaw

General Lee's College: The Rise and Growth of Washington and Lee University

General Lee's College: The Rise and Growth of Washington and Lee University.

General Lee's College: The Rise and Growth of Washington and Lee University (review)

Southern Churches in Crisis by Samuel S. Hill, Jr.

The Burden of Time: The Fugitives and Agrarians by John L. Stewart

ANTITRUST IMPLICATIONS OF TYING A PATENTED ARTICLE TO AN AGENCY DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

The Liberty Hall Volunteers: Stonewall's College Boys (review)

They Closed Their Schools: Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1951-1964

Cavalier and Yankee: The old South and American National Character. By &lt;italic&gt;William R. Taylor&lt;/italic&gt;. (New York: George Braziller. 1961. Pp. 384. $6.00.)

The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac, 1861-1865

Book Reviews

Introduction

The Value of a Portrait

A Note on World War II Naval Records

Science Service, Washington

Studying Law: Selections from the Writings of Nine Notables of the American Legal Profession

John Paradise and Lucy Ludwell of London and Williamsburg

George Washington from 1732 to 1939

Cavalier and Yankee: The old South and American National Character. By <italic>William R. Taylor</italic>. (New York: George Braziller. 1961. Pp. 384. $6.00.)