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MONDAY. MAY 21, 1962
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Federals Learn About Lightning
By MEKTON T. AKtina
UPI Correspondent
The Federal Army learned
about, lightning war-the hard
way in Ma 1862. Their
teacher was Stonewall Jack
son, only recently an instruct
or at the Virginia Military
Institute, and now applying
his lessons. -
HU text was to save Rich
mond, the Confederacy's cap
ital. Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor,
one of Jackson's generals, de
scribed his first sight of this
dour, religious man who glor
ified in war:
"The mounted officer . . .
pointed out a figure perched
on the topmost rail of a fence
. . . and said it was Jackson.
"Approaching, I saluted and
declared my name and rank,
then waited for a response.
Before this came I had to see
a pair of cavalry boots cov
ering feet of gigantic size, a
mangy cap with visor drawn
low, a heavy dark beard and
weary eyes eyes I saw aft
erward filled with Intense
but never brilliant light."
Jackson asked Taylor how
far his men had marched that
day.
"Six and twenty miles,"
Taylor replied.
"You seem to have no strag
glers," Jackson said.
"Never allow straggling,"
Taylor answered.
"You must teach my peo
ple" Jackson said. "They
straggle badly."
Sand Strikes Up
About that moment Tay
lor's band struck up a waltz
and some of his Creole sol
diers began to dance.
"Thoughtless fellows for
serious work," Jackson re
marked. That was Jackson on the
eve of his first triumph,
"Stonewall" to the South,
"Old Jack" to his men and
"Fool Tom" to V.M.I, cadets.
, On this day In May, Jack
son was 38 years old. He was
in the midst of a campaign
In the Shenandoah Valley of
Virginia against two Union
armies. By whipping both.
he could create enough con
sternation in Washington to
keep reinforcements from go
ing to the Army of the Poto
mac, which was miles to the
Southeast.
Late the same night Jack
son sat at Taylor's campfire.
"If silence be golden," Tay
lor reported, "he was a 'bo
nanza.' He sucked lemons
(Stonewall thought lemons
helped the dyspepsia), ate
hardtack and drank water,
and praying and fighting ap-
peared to be his idea of the
'whole life of man.'"
As he sat at the campfire
Jackson was forming a de
cision which likely changed
the course of the Civil War.
Certainly , it changed the
course of Maj. Gen. George
B. McClellan's Peninsular
campaign, the biggest Union
drive of the war to date.
Sudden Strikes
If Jackson by quick man
euvers and sudden strikes
against the Union armies of
Gens. Nathaniel P. Banks and
John C. Fremont i: the Val-
ley could prevent their going
to the Peninsula to reinforce
McClellan and if he could
lure Union Gen. Irvln Mc
Dowell's 37,000 -man corps
from Fredericksburg, Va., to
ward the Valley, then the for
ces of Confederate Ge n. Jo
seph E. Johnston with their
backj to the Richmond de
fenses might have a chance to
stop McClellan, even to de
stroy his army.
The man milling over how
to do this had come from ob
scurity and stood where he
now was because he had ov
ercome poverty and lack of
early education by hard work
rather than brilliance. Born
in Clarksburg, Va., (now West
Virginia), he arrived at West
Point an awkward boy in
homespun. He barely manag
ed to meet the minimum stan
dards at the Point the first
year, but by long hours of
hard study, graduated in
1846, 17th in a class of SB.
He won two brevets in the
Mexican War, but by Civil
War time he had quit the ar
my and was a professor at
V.M.I., austere, taciturn, a
strict disciplinarian and a
working Presbyterian.
He had won the name of
Stonewall at the battle of
Bull Run (Manassas) by hold
ing his brigade firm under
attack.
Now he was operating in
the Valley, home ground he
knew as well as a farmer
knows his own land.
Strategic Corridor
Jackson's maneuver ing
ground, the Shenandoah Val
ley, is a long, strategic cor
ridor running southwest and
northeast the length of west
ern Virginia. Two ranges of
mountains, the Blue Ridge on
the east and the Alleghenies
on the west, bind the valley
and protect the flanks of any
army operating there as long
as the passes are held. The
Shenandoah river runs from
south to north in the valley.
Its two forks join near the
north end (foot) of the valley
and meet the Potomac river
at Harper's Ferry.
The Massanutton Moun
tains split the valley near the
north end for about 50 miles,
leaving a valley on each side.
The narrower one on the east
Is called 'Luray Valley after
its principal town. Only one
road crossed the Massanut
tons, running from New Mar
ket on the west U Luray
on the east. ,
A macadamized road, call
ed the Valley Pike, ran on
the west side of the Massa
nuttons. Pointing straight into Mary
land and Pennsylvania be
yond, the valley was one of
the Confederate's safety
valves. Whenever pressure be
came too great on Confeder
ate armies in eastern Virgin
ia, a force could be thrown
into the valley, thereby
threatening Washington from
the northwest as well as Bal
timore and Pennsylvania.
Reading from north to
south, the valley towns af
ter Harper's Ferry were: Win
chester, Mt. Jackson, Stras
burg, Woodstock, New Mar
ket, Harrisonburg and Staun
ton In the west corridor;
Front Royal, Luray, Conrad's
Store and Port Republic in
the east corridor.
Jackson consulted Gen.
CHICK AHOMINY CAMPAIGN At the end
of May, 1862, Confederate Gen. Joseph
Johnston set out to level a blow at the
Union Army of the Potomac. Near the
Chickahominy river lay Fair Oaks, and this
was the site Johnston picked for the first
cision resulted. Gen, Johnston was wound
ed and carried from the field. After his
injury. Gen. R. E. Lee would take command
of Confederate forces. Here, in a litho
graph from the Library of Congress collec
tion, the Army of the Potomac Is shown
of a series of bloody battles for Richmond, en route from the Chickahominy after the
Many died in the battle, but no real de- battle. (Ufl)
Robert E. Lee, military ad
viser to President Jefferson
Davis. Lee said to go ahead
and try to stop the Federals
and gave Stonewall command
of Maj. Gen. Richard Ewell's
division and the troops of
Brig. Gen. Edward (Allegh
eny) Johnson. All together
Jackson had about 10,000
men. Against him were align
ed about 70,000 Union troops
scattered among three com
manders. Jackson prepared carefully
for the campaign. His topo
graphical engineer, Jed
Hotchkiss, mapped the north
ern end of the valley. Stone
wall himself drew up accu
rate charts of distances be
tween the chief towns. He was
ready to call to order -the
class in tactics and demon
strate his brand of lightning
war.
His subordinates were told
as little as possible of his
plans, the foot soldiers noth
ing. On May 8, 1862, Jackson
opened up by hitting a part
of Fremont's command at
McDowell, Va., in the south
ern part of the valley west
of Harrisonburg and drove
them about 30 miles north
west. Fremont now was out
of touch with Banks, whose
troops were at Strasburg, Va.,
about 20 miles south of Win
chester. Jackson sent Ewell north
in the Luray Valley, march
ing his own men north from
Harrisonburg, cutting across
the Massanutton Mountains
and joining Ewell at Luray.
The combined force hit a
Federal detachment at Front
Royal on May 23, and sent
it flying north toward Win
chester. Supplies Abandoned
Banks at Strasburg was
outflanked, realizing the dan
ger, Banks raced north for
Winchester. He barely es
caped annihilation and made
Winchester only by abondon
ed all his supplies.
Jackson was delayed on his
way from Front Royal to
Winchester when some of his
troops stopped to loot one of
the Federal wagon trains and
missed pinching off Banks.
He then attacked at Winches
ter on May 25. Banks, defeat
ed, made a disorderly retreat
20 miles north across the Po
tomac river.
The strikes at Front Royal
and Winchester netted 3,000
prisoners, 10,000 muskets,
several cannons and wagon
trains full of supplies, all of
which Jackson and the Con
federacy desperately needed.
With Jackson controlling
the valley and threatening
Harper's Ferry, Secretary ' of
War Edwin M. Stanton pan
icked in Washington and or
dered 20,000 of McDowell's
troops to march west from
Fredericksburg, Va., to the
valley. This halted a planned
move to reinforce McClellan
before Richmond, a move that
had a vital bearing on the
Peninsula campaign.
Offensive Ordered
Fremont, little hurt so far
in the south of the valley, was
ordered to go on the offensive.
Banks was reinforced with
15,000 men and also ordered
south after Jackson.
That left Stonewall in a
tight spot with McDowell's
troops under Gen. James
Shields pressing in from the
east, Fremont from the west
and Banks from the north.
His only route was south
along the paved valley pike
and he took it without delay
on May 31.
Shields retook Front Royal:
Fremont was skirmishing
with Jackson's cavalry at Ce
dar creek, 20 miles south of
Winchester.
All day and all night prod
ded his wagon train south
along the Pike, his troops
If? the Day's. Nes
By FRANK JENKINS
In Las Vegas the other day,
a radio station sent one of its
reporters out to do a man-on-
the-street questionnaire on
Laos. Packing his microphone
on the sidewalk, he began ask
ing passers-by: "Where is
Laos, and why is it so impor
tant in the news?"
It was a washout. He found
ONE person who thought it
was somewhere on the other
side of the world but didn't
know where.
If the general run of people
are as vague as all that about
Laos maybe we d better do a
little backgrounding on South
east Asia, of which Laos is
a part,
WHAT we are reading about
in the big headlines these
days is the remnant of French
Indo-China. French Indo-
panting from long forced
marches, with rear units
fending off Shield's and Fre
mont's skirmishes.
By nightfall Jackson had
his weary army safe at Wood
stock, half way down the valley.
The next day, June 2, pa
trols of Shields and Fremont
joined on the Pike but it was
empty. Jackson's "foot cav
alry" had won the day again,
Shields and Fremont pursu
ed, Fremont on the west side
of Massanutton, Thields on
the east, cut off from com
munication by the massive
hogback.
By June 5 Jackson was
back at Harrisonburg, where
if he wished he could fade
away south. But he had other
ideas.
He sent' Ewell to Cross
Keys below Harrisonburg to
stop Fremont. That Ewell did
easily. Meanwhile Jackson
hit Shields at Port Republic
and drove him back 20 miles.
That ended the valley cam
paign. Between April 30 and
June 9 Jackson had marched
400 miles, fought and won
five battles, defeated four
Union commanders, seized
great quantities of supplies
the Confederates needed bad
ly, kept McDowell from rein
forcing McClellan, panicked
Washington for a time, mud
dled the plans of the Pen
insular campaign and made
himself a reputation as a mas
ter of lightning warfare.
China, historically, is a group
of Southeast Asia states that
for nearly a century before
World War II were French
colonies. It included Annam,
Cambodia, Cochin China, Laos
and Viet-Nam - all familiar
names in the news these days.
The Chinese ruled Indo
China until about the 900's
A.D. The next seven or eight
centuries saw more or less
constant fighting to throw off
Chinese rule. The French be
gan to intervene in Indo
China about 1785. For three
quarters of a century there
was more or less constant
fighting, and by 1907 the
French gained control of the
entire area. .
In World War II, the Jap
anese overran practically the
entire region, but when they
were defeated they lost it all.
In the peace settlement that
followed World War II, the
French took Indo-China back
BUT
In the meanwhile
The PEOPLE of Indo-China
had developed a strong desire
for independence. When the
war ended, they set out to
throw off French rule. Under
the leadership of Communist-
trained Ho Chi Minh, they
eventually ran the French
out.
By that time, however, the
Chinese communists had
come to the conclusion that
THEY wanted add needed
ai t. of Southeast Asia. So
they set out to TAKE it. By
then, we had learned Jfi the
hard school of experience
that these Chinese commu
nists were not the "simple
agrarian reformers" we had
been claiming they were. So
we started out to do what we
could to checkmate them.
SAD TO SAY, we didn't
have much luck then, and
we haven't had much luck
since. Because of Communist
Ho Chi Minh's help in run
ning the French out, the peo
ple of Southeast Asia, espe
cially the people of the for
mer French colonies, leaned
toward the communists and
were suspicious of us because
we were allies of the French.
IN CAPSULE form, there is
the background of this
Southern Asia business. Com
munist China WANTS South
east Asia. Communist China
NEEDS Southeast Asia.
Among other things, only
Burma sells more RICE in
world markets than this Indo
China area. Rice makes up
two-thirds of its exports. Rice
is the chief food of the Chi
nese. China, reportedly, can't
produce enough rice to feed
its people. If it could grab
the rice of Indo-China, it
would help.
That helps to explain why
communist China is so deep
ly involved in this Southeast
Asia business.
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