Who thinks that that only Lincoln did this? Silly goose…

Southern Unionist post-worthy is the fact that 149 years ago, on this day, Jefferson Davis suspended habeas corpus and declared martial law in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia because of Union threats.

Gen. Winder

Two days later, the same was done in Richmond, Virginia; Gen. John H. Winder being declared military governor of the city. Part of the irony in this was that Winder was a Marylander. While there seems to be much talk in Confederate celebrationist circles about the appalling treatment of Marylanders as a result of Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus and declaration of martial law there, Jefferson Davis (who, incidentally, had also been a student of Winder’s at West Point), as we can see here, did the same.

J.M. Botts

One of those taken into custody under Winder’s period of authority was John Minor Botts. Not unlike George P. Kane, who was taken from his home in the dead of night in Maryland (as a result of Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus), Botts was taken from his bed in the dead of night, in March of 1862. Botts was then carried to prison, and held in solitary confinement for eight weeks. Botts’ crime against the Confederacy: suspicion that he was writing a secret history of the war.

Though a search was made for the manuscript, the Confederates could find nothing. After his release from prison, Botts returned to his home in Culpeper County, Virginia, though continually harassed by Confederate authorities.

Following the war, the manuscript which the Confederates sought was found, a portion of which had been entrusted to the Count de Mercier, French minister at Washington, D.C. This work formed the basis for Botts’ The Great Rebellion, its Secret History, Rise, Progress, and Disastrous Failure! (New York, 1866).

Virginians feel S.C. is dragging her into war…

From the Staunton Spectator, February 5, 1861:

As there is some conservatism in Virginia, and we seem anxious to secure an honorable settlement, South Carolina is about to apply the spur again.

She first rejects unanimously the resolutions of Virginia.

She secondly declares that her secession is final.

Lastly, she is going to force a collision. She has instructed Gen. Hayne to demand Fort Sumter at once, and if it is not surrendered, it is to be taken at all hazards.”*

They know this will shed blood, and blood is necessary to “fire the Southern heart.”

We trust Virginia will scorn South Carolina. Let her fight her own battles. She has kicked us enough. She has dragged us enough. We were for protecting South Carolina against coercion by the Federal Government. But she is not satisfied with this. We must enter upon a crusade with her for a civil war.

The prospects for a settlement are brightening every day. Mr. [John Singleton] Millson writes to Mr. [Alfred M.] Barbour, of Culpeper, that “he has never had so confident an expectation of a satisfactory adjustment.”

On the heels of this comes the effort to get up a collision. We cannot utter our indignation.–If the people of Virginia are fools enough to be dragooned any longer by South Carolina–we say, go ahead. God means to destroy you, and the efforts of man are vain.

*The statement now is, that Col. Hayne will not make this demand, but that the Convention which met at Montgomery on yesterday will do so.

“Fighting for the Union”

As published in the Staunton Spectator, January 17, 1861 (courtesy of the Valley of the Shadow site, this page).

It is a matter of surprise that any serious apprehensions as to the stability of the Union should now be felt in any quarter. With the exception of the insignificant faction of ultra abolitionists at the North and a few equally insane gentlemen of the fire-eating stripe at the South, nobody seems disposed at the present to tolerate dissolution. On the contrary the prominent men of all the great parties, of both sections of the confederacy, are bold in the declaration that the “Union must and shall be preserved.” The Democratic party, it is gratifying to perceive, are taking the true ground here at the South, that dissolution is no remedy for the evils under which we have naturally become very restive, and we are waking up to an appreciation that the Union and the Constitution belong to the South as well as the North, and that the rights and privileges guaranteed to us by the Constitution, which is the bond of the Union, may and ought to be maintained within the Union and under the Constitution.–It seems now to be the general opinion that it is not only unwise and ridiculous, but absolutely cowardly, to think of abandoning our rights under the and retreating ingloriously from the glorious American Union, because some of the parties confederate are disposed to trample upon and abuse us; but that, on the contrary, the true and manly position to assume is, that we have rights in the Union, guaranteed by the Constitution, which we mean to assert and maintain “at all hazards and to the last extremity,” Gov. Wise placed his foot upon this solid ground first, in his speech to the medical students at Richmond, and following his lead many of the prominent men and presses of the Democratic party have taken the same sensible position. Mr. Pryor, well known to be a champion par excellence of Southern rights and interests, has made up his mind to save the Union, and declared in Congress that the South does not intend to abandon the Union, but will vindicate her rights in the Union, “peaceably if possibly, by force if necessary.” Heretofore, says the Baltimore American “Southern politicians seem never to have thought it possible for the South to do anything but run away from Seward and his fanatics– dissolution (in other words, backing out) being the only resource of the “despoiled nationalities” below Mason and Dixon’s line. But Mr. Pryor, for the first time in the history of Southern Eloquence, takes a more courageous stand. He thinks it just as easy for the South to whip the North as for the North to whip the South in.–At all events, the South, according to Mr. Pryor rather than secede under any provocation, is fully bent upon violence–“force if necessary.” Instead of backing out, it is going to fight to keep in.

While this strong position is taken by Southern Democrats, Mr. Hickman, of Pennsylvania, an anti-Lecompton Democrat who has been voting with the Republicans, and therefore a representative of both, is equally positive that the Union shall not be dissolved. “No matter what the antagonism between sections,” says that gentleman, “the Union must and shall be preserved.”

In addition to these developments of a determination to preserve the Union, on the part of two great parties, both of which have heretofore been inclined to its destruction, we find a movement in progress under the lead of such men as Crittenden and Broom and Stuart, having for its object the organization of another great national party, to aid Messrs. Pryor and Hickman in their patriotic intentions.

In view of all of these facts who can apprehend any danger to the Union? Who is to accomplish the work of dissolution. As the American remarks, if Mr. Hickman shall resort to arms to prevent the South from leaving the Confederacy, and Mr. Pryor is resolved that the South shall urge war to keep from leaving, it is pretty clear that the Union is tolerably safe–we confess to like the idea of the South’s fighting to keep in, while the North is fighting to make the South stay in.

Rockingham County, Virginia’s John Francis Lewis, Southern Unionist

As the following obituary from the New York Times indicates, John Francis Lewis was openly opposed to secession, but was still selected by the people of Rockingham County, the people knowing clearly where he stood on the matter. Not only did he not vote in favor of it, he also refused to sign the Ordinance of Secession.

John F. Lewis, formerly United States Senator from Virginia, died yesterday at his home, at Lynnwood, Rockingham County, Va. He had long been a sufferer from cancerous affection. The disease so affected the sight of one of his eyes that the organ had to be removed about three years ago.

John F. Lewis was one of the most conspicuous figures in Virginia during the reconstruction days. A Whig all his life, and an opponent of secession, the deceased, after the war, became a member of what was known as the True Republican Party. After the close of the war Mr. Lewis advocated a liberal policy on the part of the Federal Government toward the South, and was instrumental in procuring pardons for many Southern men excluded from amnesty by President Johnson’s famous proclamation.

He was twice Lieutenant Governor of Virginia during the most trying and important periods in its history – the first time in 1870, under Gilbert C. Walker, and the second time in 1882, on the readjuster ticker with William C. [E., not C.] Cameron. His election to the Lieutenant Governorship in 1870 was with the understanding that he would be made United States Senator for the long term. This understanding was carried out and Mr. Lewis and John W. Johnston were elected to the United States Senate as the first representatives of Virginia after the reconstruction. Mr. Lewis, who was a member of the State Secession Convention of 1861, was the only member of that body within the present limits of Virginia who refused to sign the ordinance of secession adopted by it. He was elected from his county with the distinct and avowed understanding that he would under no circumstances vote for the secession of the State. He took the ground that secession was as impolitic as it was unconstitutional and from that position he could never be swerved.

Mr. Lewis was born in Rockingham County, Va., on the 1st of March, 1818.* He was a lineal descendant of John Lewis, father of Gen. Andrew Lewis and of Thomas Lewis, and the first settler of what is now Augusta County, Va. He was also descended on the maternal side from Col. Charles Lewis, who was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant. He had all his life been a farmer, and belonged to that class of Virginia gentlemen who took a special pride in fine stock, and particularly in thoroughbred race horses.

Mr. Lewis was never a candidate for any public office until 1861, when he was prevailed upon to run as a delegate to the convention which declared in favor of his State seceding from the Union. After President Johnson’s famous proclamation, Mr. Lewis, with others, appealed to Gen. Grant, when President of the United States, to recommend the passage by Congress of a law submitting to a separate vote of the people of Virginia the odious disfranchising clauses of the Underwood Constitution, which was done, and at the election at which the expurgated Constitution was adopted he was elected to the second place on the True Republican candidates, headed by Wells.

Mr. Lewis almost ever since the war antagonized Gen. Mahone and the character of politics represented by him. Although he ran on the readjuster ticket in 1881, and was elected to the Lieutenant Governorship, Lewis was not in full accord with Mahone. Their views on finances at that time probably accorded, but there was no community of sympathy or interest between the two men to any further extent. After 1883, when the Democrats elected the Legislature, and subsequently acquired control of the State Government, Mr. Lewis vigorously opposed Mahone. When the latter was the Republican candidate for Governor in 1889 Mr. Lewis threw his influence against him.

After his retirement from the office of Lieutenant Governor, in 1886, Mr. Lewis took little active interest in public affairs. For the last four or five years he had been in very bad health, and during the last two years was confined to the limits of his farm.

He was of a warm and generous nature, brave, magnanimous, and outspoken, and intensely loyal to his friends. He was a half-brother to Lunsford L. Lewis** of Richmond, the former President of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and father of Sheppard W. Lewis, for many years United States District Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.

*John Francis Lewis was a son of Gen. T. Samuel Hance Lewis (1794-1869).
**Lunsford Lomax Lewis (1846-1920) was a half-brother to John Francis Lewis, and he married Rosalie Summers Botts, daughter of Virginia Unionist John Minor Botts.

This is a dual post, appearing also in my main blog.

The Loyal Ladies of Winchester, Virginia

As one who is particularly interested in information about Southern Unionists in the Shenandoah Valley, this image truly ranks among those rich discoveries found at places where I would have never anticipated.

Regretfully, it’s hard to make out what the flag looked like (it also doesn’t help when I can’t use a flash!), specifically, but, like usual, it’s the sentiment that counts, right? (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk 🙂 ). As the descriptive placard next to the flag indicates, the flag was presented to (then) Col. Isaac Duval. Fortunately, the placard helps us figure out just what the image on the flag is… “the red background contains a large eagle. The red canton is surrounded by a black border and gold fringe.”

The flag is one of many on display in the new (opened this past summer) Civil War flag exhibit at the West Virginia Independence Hall in Wheeling. I’ve got more images coming.

*This is a dual post, appearing also in Cenantua’s Blog.

A Virginia fugitive

From the Hagerstown Herald of Freedom and Torch Light, October 23, 1861:

The Wail of a Virginia Fugitive from the Tyranny of Secession
Clearspring, Md., October 5, 1861

Messrs. Editors Baltimore American

Dare I be so presumptuous as to address you in regard to a few things with which I have been conversant? Know, then, I am one of those whom Secession denominates “traitors,” merely because I, being a Virginian, refused to think as Virginia’s tyrant master (Jeff. Davis) thinks, and act as he dictates. For this cause, I have been pursued by his minions and well-nigh was captured. Not satisfied with neutral sentiments – I being a Virginian, I could not take up arms against her – they sought to compel me to shoulder a musket and march to Winchester, to be drilled by militia officers as ignorant in the tactics as myself. having refused to go I was threatened with death, in consequence of which a band of four determined to escape to a free land. Accordingly, on Wednesday last we started for the mountains, the Valley being filled with Rebels, and by noon reached the summit of North Mountain, where we rested to drink some of the best water this earth can produce. – Resting here, with the beautiful valley spread out beneath us, and sheltered by the luxuriant canopy of the mountain oak, we dreamed as the ancient Greek:

“Our land was free once more.”

Yet, alas! the illusion, though bright and glorious, was transient as the dew, and we awoke to the knowledge that we were aliens from our own dear homes. Away in the distance we could see those homes seemingly reposing in peace, but between us roamed bands of drunken soldiers, whose acts of atrocity excelled the damning deeds of the midnight robber. Such men are invariably chosen to impress men there, as they are callous to all appeals of mercy, and gloat with fiendish exultation over the miseries of the Union army. They prowl around our dwellings in the midnight hour and bind and drag off our citizens as criminals. They enter our houses and demand food with an insulting authority, and if refused, plunder you of all they want. – They seek to take liberties with females and shoot down the father who dares to protect his household. They have taken nearly all the horses from our county (Berkeley) for the purpose of hauling stolen goods from our county-seat [Martinsburg], and threaten all who do not uphold them in their acts. In short, they have ruined our farmers, robbed our merchants, impressed our mechanics, insulted our females, and now, with an unparalleled impudence, they demand our strength to be wasted upon Secession altars. But to my story.

After having refreshed ourselves, we started through those mountain fastnesses on a direct line to the river, where we arrived after twelve hours of fatigue and constant walking. We came to the river at Cherry Run, but could not get over as those living there are tainted with secession. Two miles farther on we were refused again by a Secessionist constable, John S. Miller by name, who is there in the capacity of a spy and reporter for the Secessionists. Two miles beyond that we prevailed upon a Union man to take us over, and were soon landed upon the soil of Maryland. Oh! what thrilling sensations we felt when standing once more upon free soil! Proud and glorious Maryland, if ever happiness was envied it is now by the groaning thousands in Virginia who, like Moses upon the mount, dare look upon the promised land, yet dare not possess it. How strong the pulse beats when the lungs are fed on free air, and how sparkling does the eye become when gazing upon free things! We, the brothers of the sons and daughters of Maryland, suffer now in sight of kindred, and yet seemingly, beyond their reach. – All the luxuries of life are taken from us, and we are ever deprived of the comforts of a common life. salt is a rarity and very high, as one sack was sold for twenty-five dollars and another offered for forty dollars. Sugar can sometimes be had at thirty cents per lb., and coffee at sixty cents. Our farmers refuse to thresh their grain, for fear of its being taken, they swearing they will sooner burn it. Those in the habit of cultivating over one hundred acres in wheat annually, will not now cultivate thirty acres. They will not fatten their hogs, as they can get no salt to cure the meat. – And yet how long is this to continue? Berkeley county has proven her loyalty to the Government by a voice of eight hundred of her citizens, and yet she must suffer thus. Daily and hourly are prayers offered from her soil for the success of the Federal army, yet no Havelock is found to free another Lucknow.

Soldiers of Maryland, our citizens are willing to join you, so soon as you give them proofs of protection! In God’s name, come quickly and well. Not as the timid Patterson, who showed us the tempting fruits of freedom but would not give them; but as the victorious McClellan in Western Virginia – and we will wreathe your brows with laurel. And never, no never, as you value peace, happiness and prosperity, follow poor Virginia to the hell of Secession to find comforts and rights, lest you weep and groan beneath miseries worse than ours.

Clearspring, Md. M. [signed with only this initial]

More on Southern Unionist James Lee Gillespie

For those who might recall, it was sometime ago when I last wrote about Southern Unionist James Lee Gillespie. However, I’d like to share some additional information about Gillespie’s activities… or at least activities in which Confederates believed Gillespie was  involved and even spearheaded.

In his book, Four Years in the Saddle (pages 32-33), Confederate cavalryman Harry Gilmor mentioned that Gen. John Robert Jones (see this HMDB entry for Woodbine Cemetery, under which Gen. Jones is mentioned), acting provost guard at Harrisonburg, directed Gilmor (between March and April 1862) to deal with Gillespie and efforts in which he was believed to be engaging. Since the name Gillespie is quite unique to the area, it seems certain that this reference was to James Lee Gillespie. Gilmor stated,

Jones sent me to break up a band, estimated at from two to five hundred, that had collected in the large gorges of the Blue Ridge, in the neighborhood of Swift Run Gap. They were headed by a man named Gillespie, and they had determined to resist the draft, and were armed principally with shot-guns and squirrel rifles. We had with us a company of militia infantry, but they were afraid to go into the mountains at all.

We had skirmishing for two or three days without doing any damage; for, when we attempted to charge, they took to the sides of the mountains, and the ground was too rugged to pursue them, and they could fire on us without being able to return to it.

I reported all of this to General [Thomas J. “Stonewall”] Jackson, who sent Colonel Jones in command of all, and advised him to bring up four companies of sharpshooters, and one or two pieces of artillery. This he did; and after driving them into Green [Greene] County across the mountains, I took prisoners, forty-eight in number, to Harrisonburg…

Nothing more was mentioned about Gillespie or the effort to root out the “resisters.” Yet, as we clearly know, Gillespie was not among the captives and found a home as an assistant surgeon in West Virginia regiments of the Union army.

Isaac Hardesty and the slave “Fanny”

One of the Harrisonburg sites that I recently documented for HMDB has an interesting story of Unionism. As the marker reveals, the Hardesty-Higgins House was the “home of Harrisonburg’s first mayor, Isaac Hardesty, an apothecary. Elected in 1849, Hardesty served until 1860. His Unionist sympathies compelled him to leave for Maryland after the Civil War began.”

However, what may be even more interesting about this site is the story of “Fanny,” a young slave woman who had “grown-up” with the Strayer sisters who resided in this house in 1864. When the Union soldiers occupied Harrisonburg, Fanny cooked for the Union soldiers in return for her share. However, she did not keep this share for herself, but instead took it to wounded Confederates in a nearby hospital. Indeed, this seems quite the humanitarian effort. However, when freedom called, she appears to have eagerly taken it as “At the end of the occupation, Fanny and her elderly parents left for freedom with Sheridan’s army.”

What I find fascinating about this is that, had the second half of the story not been known, would Fanny have been labeled a slave in support of the Confederacy? Likewise, had the part about her providing food to Confederate soldiers remained unknown, would she have been labeled among Southern Unionists? Is she actually neither? I see her support of Confederates as humanitarian and possibly a case of familiarity. Perhaps she knew some of the soldiers, but who can really say any longer. Nonetheless, surely she supported the Union soldiers in the hope that their success or simple presence would see to her freedom (and that of her parents). Yet, because of her support to the Confederate soldiers, had she applied for a Southern Claim, she would not have been approved. I think this raises some interesting questions regarding the service provided by slaves to Confederates as well as the categorization of some slaves among Southern Unionists.

Confederate Conscript Hunters!

I’ve mentioned them before, but conscript hunters presented a horror of war to Southern Unionists that I believe we cannot come close to understanding.

Conscript hunters had a difficult duty to perform. Not only were they to gather up those who had not yet volunteered for Confederate service and yet were age-eligible (under anyone of the three different conscript acts passed by the Confederate government), they were also tasked with finding and bringing back Confederate deserters; but that doesn’t excuse the zeal of some of these men in doing their work.

Even among non-Southern Unionists, the conscript hunter was no welcome character. In a letter written by John J. Moyer (1855-1940) of Page County, Virginia in 1924, a time was recalled when some might think a conscript officer had a perfect opportunity to recruit men for the Confederate service. In speaking of the “unhappy days of the sixties,” Moyer wrote that

…some of the experiences of the people in and around Luray when it was reported that Shields’ army was coming in this direction from New Market. He says that a number of persons went toward the top of the Massanutten mountains and catching a glimpse of the invading army the Luray and Page people, seeing that they were doubtless outnumbered many times, beat a retreat, those who lived in Luray not even stopping at their homes but pressing hard in the direction of ‘The Pinnacle,’ at that time a friendly knob at the top of the Blue Ridge several miles east of the home of Mrs. Bettie Sours, in the Printz Mill neighborhood. There was a conscript officer sent out by the Confederate army looking for conscripts and this officer was in Luray at that time. He went with the Luray and Page people to the ‘Pinnacle,’ and there tried his hand at he conscription business. The local folk, Mr. Moyer said, didn’t take very kindly to the idea and were getting ready to make quick dispatch of the officer, even having a rope around his neck and being ready to string him up. About this time, Jonathan Rowe [1810-1884], of this county, intervened in behalf of the officer and persuaded the men who were bent upon his destruction to desist.

Page County historian Jacob H. Coffman (1852-1939) also had a story about conscript hunters writing,

Now I know there’s but few living today that remember the days of the Conscript Hunter, as they were called at this time. They were men detailed from army to hunt up and take back to army deserters – that is soldiers who after many applications failed to get a furlough to visit their homes would take what they called ‘French leave’ that meant to run off.

I know a man who had recently been raised to the rank of Lieut. and was in charge of a squad of Conscript Hunters and he was disliked by many for the power he exercised in this office. One night a notice was put up at what was called the Butterwood Gate [near the Jacob C. Kite house and stage stop known as Mt. Hope], called so from the fact that it was hung on a butterwood tree. The notice was nailed up with wooden pegs and as I passed the place the next day I found near the tree, a fine 6-bladed pen knife which must have been used to make the wooden pegs the notice was tacked up with. The notice was to the effect that if the Lieutenant and his men did not leave the county they would be killed. Whether the warning had the desired effect I never learned.

Got any stories of conscript hunters to share?

Take a look also at this story about Chrisley Nicholson and his encounters with Confederate conscription hunters. Nicholson, by the way, was my third great grand uncle.

A “Galvanized Yankee” does not necessarily a Southern Unionist make

Just as Michael Hardy points out in his blog post today, just because a Confederate soldier opted to join the Union army to escape the horrors of being a POW, it does not necessarily mean that he was also a Southern Unionist. A close examination should be made of the records of the soldiers who took that plunge and more importantly, the pension records should be considered. Did the soldier apply for a Confederate pension or a Union pension? To be considered for the Union pension, the “galvanized Yankee” had to prove that in his “former life” as a Confederate soldier, he did not voluntarily bear arms against the United States; that wasn’t so easy to do (though some were, in fact, able to prove it).

Nonetheless, as an example of a “galvanized Yankee” who was not a Southern Unionist, consider the story of James W. Jewell.

James William Jewell was born June 26, 1845, the son of Augustine and Nancy “Fannie” Ann Nicholson Jewell. A resident of Hope Mills at the opening of the Civil War, James, at about the age of 17, joined Co. K, 10th Virginia Infantry (the Page Volunteers) on March 17, 1862. Jewell seems to have faired well in the army for sometime and did not see any large personal difficulties in health (nor did he cross paths with a Union minie ball) until May 12, 1864, when he was among the many captured in the attack on the Confederate earthworks at Spotsylvania Court House. However, even then, “Jim” Jewell wasn’t quite the type to give up just yet.

From a letter written in 1914 from Dr. Theodore H. Lauck (formerly of the Page Volunteers) to Summers-Koontz S.C.V. Camp Commander Frederick T. Amiss, Lauck conveyed the story of just what Jewell did to remedy his status among those in captivity.

After having been marched off from Spotsylvania, the Confederate POWs were taken to Belle Plains Landing on Aquia Creek before they ended up at the POW Camp at Point Lookout, Maryland a few days later. According to Lauck, they had only been at the Point but a few days before he missed Jim Jewell at the roll call.

Lauck continued; “Now for his history, as told by himself at Little Washington, thirty-nine years afterwards. He had told me in 1901 of some of his experiences, and so at my next meeting with him I asked him how he managed to procure an exchange, when none of us left behind could accomplish it. “Why, I exchanged myself,” said he, to my great astonishment and then he explained his Yankee trick that certainly beat the band a big Yankee band at that.” While in the Union POW Camp, Jewell had told Union Maj. Bradley that he “wanted to take the oath, and having taken it, agreed to enlist in their army, but not seeming too eager to do so.”

It wasn’t a terribly long time at Pt. Lookout, Md. POW camp before Jewell ended up enlisting for three years on May 28, 1864 as a private in Co. I, 1st United States Volunteer Infantry. Listed as 5’9″ with brown eyes, dark hair, and a fair complexion, Jewell was actually credited as a recruit from Boston, Massachusetts Congressional District #3 (most “Galvanized Yankees” were credited to Northern Congressional Districts).

Jewell continued that “The Division I belonged to was soon sent to the coast of North Carolina and I soon had the pleasure of being put on outside picket duty. When night came on, good and dark, I stole away from my post and struck out North West towards where I knew Dixey Land lay.” Union records reveal that he actually deserted on July 30, 1864 at or near Elizabeth City, Pasquotank Co., N.C. His military record goes on to show that for his desertion, he owed the United States government $23.48 for a Springfield musket, haversack, canteen and 60 rounds of ammunition.

Jewell reached Goldsboro the day after he “exchanged himself,” and “lounged around the depot, waiting for a train to Richmond. Citizens noticing my blue uniform, began to crowd about me and looked like they wanted an explanation, if not an apology. I was enjoying the situation fine, and waited until one of the crowd asked me where I belonged. I told him that I belonged to the 3rd Va., Inf. Brigade. Then someone cried out ‘3rd Va. Brigade? Why we have a Regt. in that Brigade, that was enlisted in this city.’ ‘Which one’, asked Jim. ‘The 3rd‘ was answered. ‘Well, said Jim. I went over the breastworks at Spotsylvania C.H. soon after I did on the 12th of May, being gobbled up by the Yankees.’ They asked him why he was in blue clothes. He explained, and then one of the party told him that the Col. of the 3rd had a home and a wife in the city, and that she had never received a line from him since the 12th of May, and did not know whether he was dead or alive. They almost forced him to go to the home of the Colonel and relieve the mind of his wife all that he could.”

Having taken “liberty” of prisoner of war camp by volunteering to “don the blue,” sometime between June and September 1864, Jim Jewell had left his Yankee “comrades” for a return trip to Virginia and his friends and comrades of Co. K, 10th Virginia Infantry. While at Goldsboro, North Carolina, Jewell gave a small degree of comfort to a concerned wife who had not heard from her husband since Spotsylvania Court House. According to his account, all that he could tell was the story of the capture, and that he did not think that there was any loss of life her husband’s regiment. She was greatly comforted by the interview, and fed him well, and made him exchange his hated uniform for a suit of citizens clothes once worn by her husband.

Theodore Lauck recalled of Jewell’s story that the wife filled Jewell’s haversack, and “I think, supplied him with expense money, for his run to Richmond. At the latter city he boarded the first train to Staunton, he could catch, without getting a pass from the provost and that mistake led him into a hitch in his plans when he got to Staunton. A small sized homeguard youth arrested him on the platform as a deserter or as absent without leave because he had to confess that he had no pass. He spent the night under guard, and in the early morning asked the little soldier to please go with him to a spring on the out skirts of town. He noticed as he walked along beside the guard that there was no percussion cap on the musket the boy carried, so when he had bathed his face and filled his canteen, he remarked ‘your gun is not loaded.’ ‘Oh, yes it is, but we are not allowed to have any caps,’ replied the unsuspicious raw one, in close contact, with an old one, for the first time in his service. Jim gave a short laugh, and heading towards home said, ‘Good morning, my son, and walking away rapidly, left the boy gasping.’”

Lauck continued of Jewell’s story, “He reached Harrisonburg before the night and was delighted to run right on to Col. [D.H. Lee] Martz, who had by some rare good fortune, got exchanged just two weeks before. He asked the Col. where the rest of the boys were and when he expected to return to the army. The Col. told him he would leave as soon as his furlough was out, and expected to find the army of Gen. Early near Strasburg. Jim told him that he would continue on home to see his folks and get a change of underclothes, and would return to duty in a week or so and here the eyes of the gay narrator widened and sparkled with amusement.”

Jewell stated, “Sonnie, I got to Fishers Hill the very night before that devil of a stampede.” Lauck continued tat “The upshot of that experience was that the crows and buzzards saw a very tired Jim sneaking across the near-by river and Fort Mountain, and scurrying across two Valleys, to reach the humble cabin above Kimball he had left just two days before.”

“While he rested and got the soreness out of his legs, he did some bushwhacking ‘on the side,’ and along with Clarence Broaddus shot at two chicken-stealing Yankees. Jim missing, and Clarence knocking his target off his horse, and stampeding the other fellow who dropped his bunch of chickens.” Lauck concluded that Jewell later “rejoined the regiment at Petersburg in the winter, and was in every skirmish and battle up to the finish.”

Years after the war, Jewell married Almira Jane Burke in Rappahannock Co., Va. and the couple had at least two children. James William Jewell died on May 19. 1917 in Rappahannock Co., Va. and was buried at Washington Cemetery there.