When a Confederate soldier came-a-courtin’ a Southern Unionist’s daughter

While shuffling through some family history notes lately, I came across a story that I had forgotten about. A distant cousin (half first cousin, three times removed), George W. Hillyard, who served in the 12th Virginia Cavalry, and was a native of Winchester, Virginia, found time during the war to find romance with a young lady “down the road a ways”. Now, George “was a man of powerful build, a noted athlete in young manhood, and some notable exploits were credited to him”. When he started to court Miss Jemima Windle (seven years his junior), it didn’t set too well with her father, Samuel Windle.

Samuel was a native of Shenandoah County, and a farmer/merchant near Cedar Creek, but, more importantly, when it came to the war, he is said to have held firm to his Unionism.

So, the story goes…

When George W. Hillyard came to court his daughter, the prospective father-in-law denied him the privilege of the Windle home, and went so far as to secure assistance from some Union soldiers in removing the obnoxious suitor. George, seeing the party in blue coming, jumped through the window, taking the sash with him. Despite his hurried departure, when some distance away, he waited in ambush until the boys in blue came along. When George attacked, he proved the more capable fellow, ultimately drowning all of his pursuers in Cedar Creek.

That’s quite an interesting story, but… I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more info out there on “Papa” Windle. In fact, there is…

In the early 1870s, Samuel Windle prepared a Southern Loyalist claim, and left some interesting details about life, as he recalled them.

When reflecting on his loyalty, Windle informed the committee (in an interview and in the documentation):

At the beginning of the Rebellion I was for the Union and not for the Rebellion. I voted for the ordnance of secession. A man came to my house the night before the election and told me all that did not vote for the ordnance of secession would be tarred and feathered and drummed out. The security of my life required that I should vote for the ordnance. I was a Union man all the time.

Of course, it can’t hurt to let the committee know that a good Unionist has suffered at the hands of the Confederates either…

The Rebels took hay, corn, & goods from out my store, they robbed my house and took 150 dollars in Greenbacks from me. They threatened to burn my house on account of my being a Union man.

Then, of course, it’s important to let them know how one helped the Union army when it was around…

I went at the hour of midnight to give Gen. Milroy notice of the coming of Confederate forces. I gave him the information a few hours before the fight.

Even so, being a Southern Unionist didn’t guarantee safety from depredations at the hands of Union soldiers, as they came through the area… hence the root of the reasons behind why Samuel Windle made application to be reimbursed from losses incurred from their “visit”, in the fall of 1864. Samuel testified…

I was at home when my property was all taken – it was all the same Regiment that took my property – it was in command of a Col. Benjamin and belonged to Sheridan’s army. The Col. and a Capt. Bliss took breakfast with me the morning it was all taken and came upon my invitation – it was in the fall of 1864. – the regiment had encamped close to my house the night before. They were up the valley on the scout. Sheridan’s was in camp at Kernstown at the time. I think so. There was no others to take the property and was all taken that night and the next day and done while Col. Bliss was encamped there.

He also noted that, while hauling wood, Union soldiers took his saddle (worth $10) and horse, though the horse was later returned. Also claimed were, at least, 150 fence rails for camp fires, and 15 stands of bees, and all the honey, estimated at 300 lbs, to which the Union soldiers “made themselves welcome”.

Samuel’s son, James, backed his father’s story, adding the following…

I don’t know that there was any officer present. The sheep was in the Barn yard. The Hay in the Barn, the Potatoes in the patch. The saddle was taken from the horse in the road. The Corn was in the field. The rails enclosed the farm. The Honey was in the Hives. It was all removed by the soldiers. It was taken for the use of the U.S. Army. I saw it used by the army. A complaint was made to Captain Bliss who gave a receipt for the Sheep & Honey. The property was taken both night and day. Did not see the sheep taken but saw them using the mutton. They were the best sheep. Coats would [bring] five or six dollars a piece. I saw fifteen hundred pounds of hay taken. The hay was in the barn & I estimate the quantity from the bulk. It was worth 18 or 20 dollars a ton. I saw eight bushels of Potatoes taken from the ground. From the quantity of land I supposed there was eight bushels. They were worth about seventy five cents a bushel. I saw ten bushels of corn taken judged the quantity from the buck and supposed there was 10 bushels was worth about one dollar a bushel.

James also added that his father sent he and his two brothers into the Union lines “to keep us out of the Rebel service” and, that he [Samuel]…

…gave the Union men all the information he could and aided Rebel deserters to get into the Union lines. They threatened to burn his house and took his property on account of his being a Union man. I do not think the claimant could have staid here had the south gained her independence, and further deponent sayeth not.

Joseph W. Hodge also provided testimony on behalf of Samuel Windle. Having been conscripted in the summer of 1862, into the 11th Virginia Cavalry, Hodge deserted on December 20, 1862. Taking refuge in the homes of Southern Unionists in the Valley, by the summer of 1863, he finally made his way to Ohio. Taking advantage of Sheridan’s occupation of the Valley, in the fall of 1864, he returned home for a while, before returning to Ohio, where he remained until the close of the war.

I did not return until the fall of 1864, and was at Windles for a day or two when I left again for the North. I had come home to see my friends while the Union army was here, but I left again for feat that Sheridan would fall back and leave me in the hands of the rebels. I had a great many talks with the claimant about the war – in his conversations he always expressed strong Union sentiments.

Hodge also let the committee know that Windle’s three sons had been conscripted into the Confederate army. This is where things grow a little fuzzy… but only because all of what was being told… between Samuel Windle, James Windle, and Joseph Hodge… did not all neatly mesh.

In fact, as service records reveal, Windle’s three sons, Addison, James, and William, were all prewar militia, who were activated for Virginia’s service (and, thereby, the Confederacy’s service), in July 1861 (James was mustered-in with the 146th Virginia Militia, July 11, 1861, while Addison and William were mustered-in with the 136th Virginia Militia, July 21, 1861). Of course, as I’ve pointed out before, such service, in the militia, is not an indicator of loyalty to the Confederacy, as many considered themselves conscripts, under such activation, even before the Confederacy passed its first conscription act.

Ultimately, all three were excused or dismissed from militia service at various times prior to October 1861 (Addison and William, in September; and James in October).

From what I’m able to weed-out, (though I can’t tell when, exactly) it appears that Addison was the one who first took his father’s advice, and went to Ohio, to avoid further Confederate conscription. There he remained, until after the war.

James and William, on the other hand, appear to have taken their chances… and lost.

William was conscripted on December 8, 1863, and assigned to Co. E, 11th Virginia Cavalry, on March 9, 1864. He appears to have deserted not long after, finally taking refuge in Ohio. he returned to Winchester, in April 1865, where he received his parole from Federal forces.

James was conscripted as well, and, though not on the rolls of the 7th Virginia Cavalry (I suspect the term of service being so short explains why), having received a disabling wound at Jack’s Shop, received a discharge (at least according to his postwar application for a pension for his service to Virginia). Such a situation, of course, would have enabled James to remain on his father’s farm without further pursuit by Confederate conscript hunters… thereby giving him the opportunity to witness events in the fall of 1864… for which he gave testimony, as seen above.

Hodge, by the way, in his testimony, lent credence to Samuel Windle’s claim, that he sent his sons North (though, I must say, Samuel was a big vague as to the details, while he explained this to the commission). When Hodge fled the Valley, in June of 1863, he stated that he went to Ohio where “Mr Windle’s son was living”.

Of course, I have to wonder if the Claims Commission could see all that we are able to see, in records today, as they are available to us now. At this point, I’d be very confident in saying that Windle was, indeed, a loyal Southern Unionist. However, as in the case of several others I’ve seen, it’s often some fine detail that spoils the whole story. In fact, the Claims Commission found out that Windle sold 3,341 lbs of hay to the Confederacy, at Sharpsburg, Maryland, on December 20, 1862 (for a total of $141.50). But, really, it appears that this wasn’t the factor that brought them to their decision. Who knows… for all they knew, they may have considered such a sale made under duress.

Rather, it was that part about Samuel Windle having voted in favor of secession, that wrecked his claim (albeit, really, a rather small claim). The decision of the Commission, inevitably came down to this…

Claimant stated that he voted for the Ordinance of Secession. We regard a vote for the dissolution of the Union and the overthrow of the Government as inconsistent with local adherence to the Cause of the Union and the Government of the United States. We reject the claim.

… and there you have it. A Southern Unionist… I feel certain… but, not one who went to the point of defying secessionists who threatened him with violence, and perhaps his very life.

Oh yes… and about that romance between George Hillyard and Ann Jemima Windle… they still stuck it out, and were married. Ann died in 1878, while George went on to marry again. Still, in those 13 years after the war, between the end of the war and Ann’s death, one has to wonder just how those family holidays at the Windle house may have been… 🙂

Rebecca Wright: Winchester Unionist and Sheridan’s “Little Quaker Girl”

In January, 1867, while serving as the head of the Department of the Gulf, in New Orleans, Gen. Philip Sheridan penned a letter to Rebecca Wright, in Winchester, Virginia, regarding affairs in which she had played part, less than three years before. “You are not probably aware of how great a service you rendered the Union cause”, wrote Sheridan, “by the information you sent me by the colored man a few days before the battle of Opequon, on Sept. 19, 1864.”

Who was Rebecca Wright, and how big a part did she play in the Battle of Opequon?

Rebecca L. Wright (often seen in biographical sketches as “Rebecca McPherson Wright”) was born January 31, 1838, in Frederick County, Virginia, a daughter of Amos and Rachel Lupton Wright… “Friends”, or Quakers… who belonged to the Hopewell Meeting House, near what is now, Clear Brook, Virginia, just north of Winchester.

In her youth, Wright is said to have “enjoyed the advantages of a fair education, obtained in the schools at Winchester, Va., and, at the age of fifteen, she began her employment as a teacher.” A year later, however, she opted to continue her education with a year’s course of study at the Friends’ School in Loudoun County, Va., under the guidance of Samuel M. Janney. Upon completion, and for the three years that led up to the war, she taught a private school, sponsored by the Friends at Hopewell Meeting, and subsequently served as an assistant teacher in a private school of eighty pupils.

In the early days of the war, she stood against what seemed to be the popular leanings in the area, and “pronounced Union sentiments” that were “distasteful to the management and the popular feeling of the community”. Subsequently withdrawing from the private school, she opened another private school in Winchester, where “she taught the children of loyal parents, and never lost faith in the Union cause.” Furthermore, as the war came regularly to Winchester and Frederick County, she is also said to have never “refused to aid the friends of the National government and its armies”.

Certainly, considering the disposition of the Friends, this makes sense, but were these details of what appeared to be immense and long-term service to the Union made more extraordinary after the war, and because of her having assisted Sheridan with critical information that served him well in the Battle of Opequon? In the absence of detailing information, it’s difficult to project so much from only one documented incident. We’ll return to this thought in a bit. In the meantime…

Sheridan providing Laws with instructions for the delivery of the message

In the early stages of his 1864 Valley Campaign, Sheridan was in need of reliable information regarding the size and strength of Gen. Jubal Early’s army. In his memoirs, Sheridan recalled that some of Major H.K. Young’s special scouts (who often wore gray as part of their intelligence gathering operations) learned of “an old colored man”, Thomas Laws, who might prove useful.

They learned that just outside of my lines, near Millwood, there was living an old colored man, who had a permit from the Confederate commander to go into Winchester and return three times a week, for the purpose of selling vegetable to the inhabitants. The scouts had sounded this man, and finding him both loyal and shrewd, suggested that he might be made useful to us within the enemy’s lines; and the proposal struck me as feasible, provided there could be found in Winchester some reliable person who would be willing to co-operate and correspond with me. I asked General Crook, who was acquainted with many of the Union people of Winchester, if he knew of such a person, and he recommended a Miss Rebecca Wright, a young lady whom he had met there before the battle of Kernstown, who, he said, was a member of the Society of Friends and the teacher of a small private school. he knew she was faithful and loyal to the Government, and thought she might be willing to render us assistance, but he could not be certain of this, for on account of her well-known loyalty she was under constant surveillance. I hesitated at first, but finally deciding to try it, dispatched the two scouts to the old negro’s cabin, and they brought him to my headquarters late that night. I was soon convinced of the negro’s fidelity, and asking him if he was acquainted with Miss Rebecca Wright, of Winchester, he replied that he knew her well. Thereupon I told him what I wished to do, and after a little persuasion he agreed to carry a letter to her on his next marketing trip. My message was prepared by writing it on tissue paper, which was then compressed into a small pellet, and protected by wrapping it in tin-foil so that it could be safely carried in the man’s mouth. The probability of his being searched when he came to the Confederate picket-line was not remote, and in such event he was to swallow the pellet. The letter appealed to Miss Wright’s loyalty and patriotism, and, requested her to furnish me with information regarding the strength of condition of Early’s army. The night before the negro started one of the scouts placed the odd-looking communication in his hands, with renewed injunctions as to secrecy and promptitude.

Of course, were Laws and/or Wright found out for their efforts, it meant almost certain death. Still, Laws followed-through.

Making his way into town, he came to Wright’s private school, but… did he really know Wright so well, or… did the writer (Brevet Lt. Col. Theodore W. Bean) of the Wright-Sheridan sketch (The Loyal Girl of Winchester) design unfamiliarity between Wright and Laws to add drama to the story? The following passages from that postwar sketch make it appear that she was unfamiliar with Laws.

“It was while sitting at my desk in my little school room at the noon hour,” remembered Wright, “that I heard a ring at the front door, and was told a colored man wished to see Miss Wright.” Wright [er, uh… Col. Bean) continued…

He was thirty or thirty-five years old, closing all doors and looking about in such ways that alarmed me so that I demanded very positively business.

He immediately told me he had a note from Gen­eral Sheridan, who wanted me to tell him of the strength and position of the rebel forces in and around Winchester, at which I was greatly troubled, as the man was an entire stranger to me, and the thought that he might be trying to find out what I would do or say, and betray me to the rebels who were in possession of the place, was uppermost in my mind.

I asked him if he knew to whom he was talking and told him there were two of us. He replied, “Oh, yes; you are Miss Rebecca; your sister [Hannah A. Wright, who was 18 years old at the time] a rebel.” I then told him I did not have anything to do with the rebels and knew nothing about them, but he talked so intelligently, told me so much of the troops with Sheridan, and seemed so earnest and honest that I could no longer doubt him.

He quickly noticed the change and said, “will go now, Miss Wright, and come again at three, and I know you will have a line to send to the General.”

All this time I was nervously trying to get at the note, which was rolled in tinfoil, and was tearing the foil when he said: “Do not tear the foil, you will need it to wrap your reply in. I carried it under my tongue and was to swallow it if I was arrested and searched.”

Taking more care, she opened the contents, and read the note…

I learn from Major-General Crook that you are a loyal lady and still love the old flag.

Can you inform me of the position of Early and his forces, the number of divisions in his army and the strength of any or all of them, and his probable or reported intentions? Have any more troops arrived from Richmond, or are any more coming or reported to be coming?

I am very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

P. H. SHERIDAN,
Major-General Commanding.

You can trust the bearer.

The note being read, Wright turned to her mother, Rachel, for counsel…

After talking it over with my mother, and know­ing the risk I was running, I sat down and wrote all I knew, and this [that?] was how I knew anything of Con­federate affairs:

Two evenings before, a rebel officer, convalescent, who boarded with our next door neighbor, asked the privilege of spending the evening in my company. But a sorry evening it proved for his cause. I asked questions (never thinking of using the information) and he answered truthfully. When Sheridan asked me I knew, therefore, what to tell, and wrote, putting my life in the keeping of a strange colored man.

Wright penned her response…

September 16, 1864.

I have no communication whatever with the rebels, but will tell you what I know.

The division of General Kershaw and Cutshaw’s artillery, twelve guns and men, General Anderson commanding, have been sent away and no more are expected, as they cannot be spared from Richmond. I do not know how the troops are situated, but the force is much smaller than represented. I will take pleasure here­after in learning all I can of their strength and position, and the bearer may call again.

Very respectfully yours,

Sheridan made note in his memoirs of the information he received on the evening of September 16…

Miss Wright’s answer proved of more value to me than she anticipated, for it not only quieted the conflicting reports concerning Anderson’s corps, but was most important in showing positively that Kershaw was gone, and this circumstance led, three days later, to the battle of the Opequon, or Winchester, as it has been unofficially called.

Laws delivers the first message. Close-up from the Virginia Civil War Trails marker, available online at the Historical Markers Database.

While we have no further record of Thomas Laws, as to whether he continued to convey information for Sheridan, or what became of him, in the days that followed the exchange of messages, Rebecca is said to have wondered about the disposition of the messenger, and whether the contents of the message had reached Sheridan. The following comes from Col. Bean’s sketch…

What Miss Wright remembers of the terrible day: Many times during the next day (17th) and the quiet Sabbath (18th), I wondered what had become of the colored messenger and of my note. When we were awakened on Monday morning, the 19th, before daybreak, by the roar of cannon, my first thought was whether my note had anything to do with the fight­ing. In the afternoon when the streets were filled with troops, artillery wagons and the poor suffering wounded, when buildings were burning all around us (our own fence was on fire several times), my mother asked me if the note I had written was the cause of it. But I still wondered if it had ever been received.

It was the most terrible day of all our experience in old Winchester. The shells fell so near us we went down cellar for safety. The rumbling and noise grew fainter and fainter, until it was so quiet I could not endure it, and said I must go up and see what I could see.

Nothing on the first floor; nothing on the second floor; but from the window of the garret I saw the old flag waving, and it was coming to town. I dropped on my knees then and there, and gave thanks to the Giver of all good for the sight; then started for the cellar, fairly flying down the stairs, screaming, “The old flag is coming in! Come up now, all will be safe! The fires will be put out and everything will soon be all right. The dear old flag is coming back again.”

We soon had the house open to receive our friends, and in the evening I learned whether my note had anything to do with that battle.

I heard sabers clamping against the steps, and on going to the door met two officers, to each of whom, without knowing their rank, I extended one of my hands, welcoming them as Union officers.

When one introduced himself as General Sheridan, I welcomed him indeed, and he told me it was entirely on the information that I had sent that he at once gave battle. He said the rebels were utterly defeated and would never come again. But I had heard that too often, and told him all who had gained a victory had told us that, so we had lost faith; but they never came again. He wrote the report of his battle at my desk.

Soon friends began to arrive, and though there were no decorations, no flowers, there never was a reception more thoroughly enjoyed or more fully appreciated, than the one held in the old house at the foot of Fort Hill on Main Street, Winchester, Va., by the Quaker girl who felt she had done her duty to her country.

Now, it seemed to me that Col. Bean’s sketch seemed to be “fluffing” things a little when we consider Sheridan’s 1867 letter to Wright. In fact, Sheridan’s words make it seem that only then, with that letter, did he make Wright totally aware of her contribution, and his appreciation. Recapping what was covered in the opening of this blog post…

“You are not probably aware of how great a service you rendered the Union cause“, wrote Sheridan, “by the information you sent me by the colored man a few days before the battle of Opequon, on Sept. 19, 1864.”

Still, Sheridan himself recalled, in his Personal Memoirs, when Gen. Crook conducted him to Rebecca Wright’s home, to prepare a telegram to General Grant. Therefore, Bean’s account seems to hold merit, despite the projection of meaning in Sheridan’s 1867 letter. The rest of Sheridan’s 1867 letter is as follows…

It was upon this information the battle was fought and probably won. The colored man gave the note, rolled up in tinfoil, to the scout who awaited him at Millwood. The colored man had carried it in his mouth to that point and delivered it to the scout, who brought it to me. By this note I became aware of the true condi­tion of affairs inside the enemy’s line and gave directions for the attack. I will always remember this courageous and patriotic action of yours with gratitude, and beg you to accept this watch and chain, which I send you by Gen. J. W. Forsyth, as a memento of Sept. 19, 1864.

I am your obedient servant,

PHILIP H. SHERIDAN,
Major-General

It’s unclear if the locals actually gained knowledge of Wright’s contribution to Sheridan’s victory, but circumstances suggest she may have been scorned by some, perhaps making any effort to remain in Winchester, a difficult affair. It may be that, from this difficulty, she was eventually appointed to a “position of honor” as a clerk in the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., thanks to efforts of Ulysses S. Grant, after he became president (whether Sheridan had a hand in it or not is unclear). It was while there, she married William Carpenter Bonsal, in 1871 (Bonsal was a veteran of the Civil War, having served as a private in Co. L, 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry). She retired from her position with the US Treasury in 1914. Though she was buried in Glenwood Cemetery, in Washington, D.C., the date of her death was not inscribed on her stone.

* Several biographical sketches carry the legend that Rebecca Wright’s father, Amos, died in a Confederate prison camp early in the war. Amos died, however, on August 27, 1865, and was buried in the “Friends’ burying grounds attached to Ridge Meet­ing, Virginia”. Rebecca Wright’s mother died June 21, 1874, in Rice County, Kansas, “while visiting her daughter [though it’s unclear which daughter], and was there laid to rest in private burial-grounds.”

**A Virginia Civil War Trails Marker, seen here, in the Historical Markers Database, is in downtown Winchester, at the site of Wright’s residence.

***I’ve made a slight effort to find Thomas Laws. Sheridan never referred to him as a slave, and it appears more than likely that Laws may have been a free black, though doesn’t appear in the 1860 census for either Frederick or Clarke counties as such.