10 A
MONDAY. AUGUST 13. 1962
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOHD. OREGON
War Has Its Lighter Side
By.MERTON T. AKERS
UPI Correspondent
The Civil War was many
things. 11 was blood, sweat
and tears. It was mud, dust
and bad food. But the war had
its lighter moments, too, and
one of the lightest was the
story of Job Stuart's new hat
and John Pope's uniform
dress coat.
It happened in the early
days of a campaign between
the battle of Cedar Mountain
and the series of fights which
history calls the Second Battle
of Bull Run (Manassas).
Maj. Gen. John Pope was
maneuvering his new Union
Army of Virginia in the north
ern part of the state. Stone
wall Jackson had trounced
part of Pope's army at Cedar
Mountain on Aug. 9, 1862.
After that Pope's army lay
between the Rapidan and the
Rappahannock Rivers in an
exposed position. The Con
federates were looking for a
way to strike before it could
concentrate behind the Rap
pahannock. Maj. Gen. James Ewcll
Brown (Job) Stuart, Confeder
ate cavalry commander, mobi
lized his troopers to deliver
the first blow.
On the night of Aug. 17
Stuart and his staff rode out
to Verdiersville, Va., a small
town south of the Rapidan, to
meet a brigade of his cavalry
led by Fitzhugh Lee, a neph
ew of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Bedded Down
Not finding Fitz Lee at Ver
diersville, Stuart and his staff
bedded down for the night on
the porch of a house. He sent
Maj. Norman Fitzhugh out lo
find Fitz Lee and his troops
and prepared to get a night's
rest
Carefully Stuart placed his
new plumed hat in a safe
place beside him with a haver
sack in which he carried his
maps and papers, rolled up in
his scarlet - lined cloak and
drifted off to sleep. The hat
was a special one and highly
prized by Stuart because he
had won it on a bet from
Union Brig. Samuel W. L.
Crawford in one of those high
ly unlikely incidents which
could have occurred only in a
war where many officers -now
fighting each other - had
served together in the Old
Army before Fort Sumter.
Sluart had met Crawford
and Brig. Gen. George D.
Bayard, Union cavalry com
mander, during a truce after
the battle of Cedar Mountain.
During the conversation
Stuert had remarked that the
Federals would claim Cednr
Mountain as a victory. Craw
ford bet a hat they would not.
A few days later through
the lines under a flag of truce
fame a significant hat with a
copy of the N.Y. Herald claim
ing victory. It was for Stuart,
with the compliments of
Crawford.
Early the next morning the
rlattcr and Jingling of a cav
alry troop aroused the porch
sleepers. Mist hung low and
the crossroads barely a quar
ter of a mile away was scarce
ly visible.
Bareheaded, Stuart peered
through the mist trying to
identify the troops. This must
be Fitz Lee's cavalry, 12 hours
late.
But challenges and pistol
shots anounced to the startled
Stuart that it was Federal
cavalry, not Fitz Lee's.
Vaulted Over Fence
Stuart ran for his horse,
kept saddled for just such
emergencies. He vaulted the
horse over a garden fence and
rode hell for leather away
from there.
The prized hat and the
haversack remained on the
porch to be scooped up by the
Federal troopers. With them
went his cloak and sword
sash.
Stuart and his staff escaped
the Federal cavalry but as the
hot August sun began to beam
he had to knot a white hand
kerchief over his reddish
locks in place of a hat.
All day he took the jibes:
"Where's your hat?"
That was more than the
"Gay Cavalier" could take in
definitely. Something had lo
be done.
His chance came the night
of Aug. 22-23.
With, 1,500 men, Stuart
started on a raid to Catlett's
Station, a hamlet on the
Orange & Alexanderia rail
road where it crossed Cedar
Run. Here Pope had a supply
base. If the bridge could be
destroyed. Pope would be har
ried, perhaps crippled.
The troopers rode into the
night and along the way cap
tured a Negro who claimed he
knew where Pope's tent stood
in the Catletl camp. Lady
Luck was smiling again on
Stuart.
"It was the darkest night I
ever knew," Stuart said. A
quick August thunderstorm
broke and drenched the troop
ers before they reached the
camp.
The Negro was as good as
his word. He pointed out
Pope's tent in the camp where
Union quartermaster and com
missary officers were having
a drink in their waterproof,
floored tents before sitting
down to a hot meal.
The gray troopers hit the
camp with a Rebel yell. Offi
cers, teamsters, cooks and
orderlies ducked into the
darkness. Horses and mules
reared and snorted and broke
away from their picket lines.
Tables Kicked Over
Lt. Col. W. W. Blackford,
one of Stuart's staff, described
the pandemonium:
"Slipper tables were kicked
over and tents broken down
in the rush to gel out, the
tents catching them sometimes
in their fall like a fish in a
net. within whose folds we
could trace the struggling out-1
lines of the frantic men with
in .. .
"In less time than it has
taken to tell the tale, all was
over . . . The tents and wagons
were fired and burned merri
ly, and each moment the light
increased as busy hands
spread the conflagration, mak
ing it easier to collect the
thousands of mules and horses
into droves, for there were too
many to lead, and to gather in
the multitudes of prisoners
around us . . ."
Stuart had detailed Black
ford to see that the bridge
was destroyed, the main ob
jective of the raid. But Black
ford and the colonel leading
the bridge burners got lost in
the dark. When they finally
reached the bridge they found
it guarded by Federal infantry
r-i
?TmsnTT7rrT TkT A TV
the j AlVrJUy V VAlV.
i$ A iVliii'rh T'"r V" r'f iriMi ram'' iT"'1" -V ' 'J.-iw.-&f
and gave up the job.
In his report later Stuart
said the bridge was too wet to
burn and too heavy to chop
down.
But the raid was successful
as far as Stuart was concerned
for among the loot was Pope's
dress coat, an elaborate gar
ment of broadcloth with a vel
vet collar and a general's stars
embroidered on it with golden
thread. Along with it was
Pope's hat and his military
cloak as well as valuable papers.
Stuart was avenged.
He sent the coat to Gov.
"Honest John" Letcher of Vir
giania in Richmond who
promptly put it on exhibition
in the State Library. The coat
gave Richmond its first laugh
since the dark days of the Pe
ninsular campaign.
The story ends with the
clinking of champagne glass
es. One of Stuart's prisoners
was Maj. Charles M. Gould
ing. Earlier, when Federal
troops had occupied Warren-
ton, he had boasted to a pretty
girl - one Miss Lucas - that
he would be in Richmond in
90 days. She bet him a bottle
of champagne he wouldn't.
As the prisoners passed her
home - on the way to Rich
mond - she paid the bet.
The gallant major lifted his
glass and drank to the health
"of so charming a person."
Then he trudged off to prison
camp in Richmond, well
ahead of the 30-day deadline.
It could only have happen
ed in the Civil War.
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LIGHTER MOMENTS Despite ,., blood, clenlh nnrl hor
ror, the Civil War had what i-ould be described as its Hunter
moments, too. One of the lightest of these stories was about
leb Stuart s plumed hat and den. John Pope's dress coat.
Jt happened In the days between the battles of Cedar Moun
tain and Second Manassas. Jeb Stuart had led his cavalry
to Venersville, Va.. to meet with troopers of Kitz l.ec. The
meeting didn't materialize and Stuart camped for the night.
Early next morning, troopers arrived. They were not those
of Fitz Lees, but Federals. Stuart leaped lo his hor.se and
fled, leaving his new plumed hat to be captured by the
jN'orth. All day he smarted under jibes by his fellow officers i
and the hot sun. He was to he avenged, however, several
days later. With 1.5(111 men. Stuart raided a Federal camp
at Catlett s Station. The raid was successful, in that sup-1
plies were destroyed and the Northern unit was scattered. I
Most important, the full-dress coat belonging to General I
Tope w as captured. Stuart sent it lo Governor Letcher of '
Virginia, who put it on display in Richmond Hero. ,leb
Sluart is shown with a plumed hat in a rare photograph
Jrnm the Library of Congress collection. (UPI)
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