The Battle of White Sulphur Springs (18 page)

Patton ordered George Edgar to advance his skirmishers, and the men of the 26
^th
Battalion advanced cautiously until it became obvious that Averell's men had abandoned their positions in Edgar's front.
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The Union rear guard repulsed two more attacks by Patton's men before withdrawing from the battlefield. The Federal troopers constructed successive barricades as they withdrew, permitting Averell to fall all the way back to Callaghan with little hindrance before halting to rest his weary men and horses.
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Patton ordered his cavalry and artillery to pursue the retreating Federals. “For about 10 or 12 miles the road passes through a very narrow and thickly wooded defile,” reported Major General Sam Jones. “The enemy availed himself of the advantage offered to retard pursuit by felling trees across the road. I was informed that he had left a regiment of infantry and a squadron of cavalry at the Warm Springs, and under the assumption that he would make a stand at the latter place, the First Brigade was pushed forward in pursuit. The enemy, however, turned off from the direct road at Morris's Hill and retreated rapidly by way of Huntersville toward Beverly.”
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However, Lieutenant Mathew Wilson and his Company L of the 14
^th
Pennsylvania Cavalry had been sent to hold a position near the Miller house, and nobody had bothered to tell Wilson that the main body of the Fourth Separate Brigade was leaving. Wilson, age thirty-three, was known as “a gallant man, a courageous officer, and model Christian patriot.” This day he found himself in a difficult position. Sergeant Joshua Groft, one of Wilson's men, discovered that the rest of the Union army had left and reported this unwelcome news to Lieutenant Wilson. Wilson feared that if they left, they would all be killed, and he was inclined to wait it out. Groft disagreed and told Wilson that he would take command and get the men out. All but Wilson and two other men escaped. Wilson was wounded and captured, and his two comrades were captured.
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Groft and his detachment headed for the woods, dodging Confederate Minié balls as they ran—“and how they did make the balls dance around us,” he recalled. “When at last we came to the fence I did not take time to climb over it, but just threw myself on the top rail and fell over it, and when I struck the ground I believe a half dozen balls must have struck the top rail.” Groft found himself alone in the woods and, coming upon a full kettle of coffee, paused for a moment to help himself to the welcome refreshments. He finally came across the Union barricade and rejoined the retreating column, making it back safely. “The rebels did not follow us very far,” he noted, “and I think that they were as badly used up as ourselves.”
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Hamilton Smith, also of Wilson's company, was not so lucky as Groft. Smith watched the withdrawal of the bulk of the command and asked a couple of the older men in his company if the Federals had left the field and was told that they had. “I am going too,” declared Smith. They replied, “You will never get out.” Smith replied, “I am going, goodbye.” He took off running as fast as he could. Before long, Confederate bullets began whizzing by, buzzing like angry bees. Smith dropped to his hands and knees and rolled into a fence corner, where he was shot through the right foot. He jumped up and limped off until he reached a deep ravine and spotted William Stevenson of his company climbing the opposite bank. Smith called for Stevenson to wait for him and to take his arms. Stevenson helped Smith up the bank, and they ran across the field to the position previously held by Morton's artillery.

Two others of his company, Lieutenant S.D. Hazlett and Joseph Mateer, joined them there. Both Hazlett and Mateer were wounded and were making their way to the field hospital for treatment. By now, Smith was growing weak and thirsty from loss of blood, and he paused to take a drink as they crossed a small stream. He reached the field hospital and had his wound dressed, but he, along with the other men being treated there, was captured and left to the tender mercies of the victorious Confederates.
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Colonel Patton described the efforts to pursue by his troops. He detailed Colonel James M. Corns and his five companies of the 8
^th
Virginia Cavalry, one of Chapman's guns and some of his infantry to pursue Averell's retreating column. Patton ordered Corns to mount his five companies as rapidly as possible and to pursue the enemy. “It was soon found, however, that the enemy had so heavily blockaded in their rear that much delay would be experienced,” Patton reported, his frustration obvious. “Pioneer parties were detailed to cut out the blockade, and very early the next morning the cavalry started again in pursuit, the infantry also moving as far as Callaghan, when it was found that the enemy had passed Gatewood's, where it had been hoped they would have been intercepted by Colonel Jackson's command.”
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The strength of the Union barricades also frustrated Corns. “Such were their facilities for filling the road with timber, and the formation of the country being such that it was impossible to get around the blockade with cavalry, I was compelled to give up the pursuit until morning,” he wrote. “Having left a company of my command to cut out the blockade during the night, and also to watch the movements of the enemy, I returned to Dry Creek, the nearest point at which I could get forage for my horses and provisions for my men.”
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Corns's being forced to give up the pursuit by the stout barricades cast the die: from that moment forward, the Confederates would be well behind Averell's column, desperately trying to catch up.

Sergeant John Stevens of Chapman's battery joined the halfhearted pursuit. After inspecting the damaged gun abandoned by Morton's battery, Stevens came upon a house that had been used as a field hospital for wounded Union soldiers. “The lower side of this cottage rested on posts about six or seven feet high to bring the floor level with the pike, and under the windows of same were great piles of amputated arms and legs, thrown out by the surgeons of the enemy in their rapid work,” reported a horrified Stevens. “I, personally, saw several legs with the trousers and shoes or boots still on them, the surgeons evidently having no time to remove clothing before operating.” Stevens noted that “after pursuing the enemy a few miles and seeing the futility of endeavoring further pursuit over a road which their pioneers had so thoroughly blockaded, were countermarched to the field of battle for a short rest, and to count up casualties—which were not a few, for our small force—and considerably more on the part of the enemy.”
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Jones desperately tried to cut off Averell's route of march. He informed Imboden that Averell and Patton had tangled again that day and that Averell had withdrawn in the direction of Warm Springs. “They suffered severely here, and are much exhausted, both men and horses, and I believe they are short of ammunition,” reported Jones. “Look for them and damage them as much as possible.” He told Mudwall Jackson to “push them to the utmost, and help destroy them if possible.” Finally, Jones also ordered the brigades of Ferguson and Wharton to move as quickly as possible toward Warm Springs, where they were to attack Averell.
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That night, Sam Jones issued a congratulatory order to his victorious troops:

The major-general commanding tenders his cordial congratulations and thanks to the troops for their gallantry and good conduct yesterday and to-day. After a fatiguing march of twenty-four consecutive hours, they encountered the enemy in largely superior numbers, and from 9 o'clock in the morning repelled repeated and bold charges of infantry and cavalry, supported by a heavy fire of artillery, with a steadiness and spirit worthy of the highest praise. Again this morning they repelled handsomely two attacks, and forced the enemy to abandon his position and retreat in haste
.

In this engagement the Forty-fifth and Twenty-second Regiments and Twenty-third and Twenty-sixth Battalions Virginia Infantry, the Eighth Regiment and Thirty-seventh Battalion Virginia Cavalry, and Chapman's battery, inscribed their names high on the roll of those who in this war have illustrated the valor of our troops
.

No one can regard it as an invidious distinction to mention particularly the commander of the First Brigade, Col. G.S. Patton. He exhibited admirable judgment in placing his troops in action, and his gallantry was conspicuous throughout the day
.

The enemy, though in retreat, is not beyond our lines. He must be driven beyond them. With devout thanks to Almighty God for the victory He has given us, and humble trust in Him, let us press on and complete the work so happily done.
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Jones's exhortations notwithstanding, Patton's weary infantrymen failed to catch up to Averell's troopers and likewise failed to drive them from beyond the Confederate lines. However, Averell had no plans to stay within their lines—out of ammunition and stymied, he had to fall back to his base of supplies and operations.

The Virginia newspapers celebrated the Confederate victory. “The repulse of the enemy was decisive, and our forces were in hot pursuit, picking up prisoners rapidly,” reported the
Richmond Daily Dispatch
. “No further apprehensions are felt that the enemy will be able to reach the Tennessee Railroad with their present force,” continued the article. “They have been effectually checked, and have suffered to such an extent as to make another attempt by the same party entirely out of the question.”
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After the Federals abandoned the battlefield, Patton and his men were left to care for several hundred dead and wounded men of both sides. That afternoon, nuns of the Sisters of Charity arrived on the battlefield from their convent in Montgomery County to take over caring for the wounded about the same time that the main body of Patton's brigade marched off the field to return to its base at Lewisburg. The sisters remained there for three days, nursing the wounded. Most of the wounded were treated at the Greenbrier, and many of them still remained there as late as November 7, when the last few were evacuated to the town of White Sulphur Springs in Montgomery County, where the sisters could continue to care for them.
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The sisters had their hands full. The battlefield was a terrible place, with dead and wounded men and horses of both sides littered promiscuously about. That night, troopers of the 14
^th
Virginia Cavalry of Colonel Milton J. Ferguson's brigade arrived on the battlefield at White Sulphur Springs, hoping to join the pursuit of Averell's command. “I saw more men killed there than at any other time during the war,” recalled Lieutenant James S. McClung of the 14
^th
Virginia. “We had to move men around to ride through there.” Ferguson's men arrived too late to provide effective support of the pursuit and eventually made their way to Jones's headquarters at Lewisburg.
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Graves of unidentified Confederate casualties of the Battle of White Sulphur Springs on the grounds of the Greenbrier.
Author photo
.

Some of the dead were buried on the battlefield where they fell. Others were buried in a small family graveyard on the grounds of the Greenbrier Resort, and still others were buried on a hill overlooking the postwar Virginia Central Railroad tracks that now pass through the Greenbrier River Valley. Most of the graves are unmarked, as their occupants are largely unknown, although standard issue Confederate grave markers delineate the remains of the unknown Virginians who rest in those graveyards.
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Captain Chatham T. Ewing, the badly wounded Union battery commander, was one of the men too severely injured to be transported with Averell's column, and he was reluctantly left behind to the tender mercies of the Confederates. Sergeant John Stevens of Chapman's battery befriended his fellow artillerist, and the two men spent many hours in interesting conversation. Patton realized that his quartermaster, Major George McKendree, was missing, and he resolved to arrange an exchange cartel of Ewing for McKendree, whom he incorrectly assumed was a prisoner of war.
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Lieutenant Noyes Rand, Patton's adjutant, wrote a note that was sent forward under a flag of truce, proposing the exchange. The flag of truce caught up to Averell, and the note was brought to the New Yorker. Averell responded, “I would be more than pleased to accept your proposition, but either fortunately or unfortunately, your Major McKendree is ‘absent without leave' but if you will hold Ewing at your headquarters we can possibly agree upon a satisfactory exchange in some other way.” McKendree, it turned out, had been hiding and eventually made his way back to safety and rejoined Patton's headquarters. The badly injured Ewing was paroled and left behind to recover from his abdominal wound.
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