Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1245

Rh 100 colonels, nearly as many lieutenant-colonels, more than 475 majors and captains, over 100 general and regimental staff officers, and more than 200 subalterns, a total of quite 1,200 officers. It will be readily observed that the institute exerted through its graduates a great influence upon the Confederate armies, rivaling except in the highest commands, that of West Point itself. The school was founded for scientific and military instruction by act of the assembly in March, 1839, and was first under the superintendency of Gen. Francis H. Smith, who was succeeded on January 1, 1890, by Gen. Scott Shipp, who had been connected with the faculty since 1859. Col. J. L. T. Preston, of Lexington, to whom is accorded the honor of conceiving the idea of the school, was in its corps of instructors thirty-six years. Other well-known men have been included in its faculty, the most famous of them its former professor of natural philosophy, Lieut.-Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson. The services of the Institute battalion throughout the war of the Confederacy is deserving of mention in this connection. Previously, at the time of the execution of John Brown, the cadets were ordered on duty at Charlestown, where Maj. T. J. Jackson commanded a platoon of two howitzers, and Maj. William Gilham commanded the infantry battalion. On April 17, 1861, by order of Governor Letcher the cadets were moved to the camp of instruction near Richmond, to aid in drilling and disciplining the Confederate troops, and rendered valuable service until July 1st, when the battalion was disbanded, nearly every member having received a commission in some arm of the service. In January, 1862, upon the urgent request of the war department of the Confederacy, the institute was reorganized, to keep up the supply of trained officers. In the following May, the new battalion, recruited from the spirited youth of the Old Dominion, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Scott Shipp, joined the army of General Jackson at the opening of his Valley campaign and was present as a reserve, at the battle of McDowell. In the summer of 1863 the cadets were ordered to Goshen, Va., to assist in repelling a raid of Federal cavalry, and in the following winter they joined the force of Imboden, at Covington, operating against Averell and rendered two weeks of arduous service in midwinter, marching and campaigning in the deep snow. Later in the same season the boys marched twenty miles in very severe weather to Goshen, to check a Federal raid. The cadet corps was particularly distinguished in the battle of New Market, May 15, 1864, forming part of the hastily collected command of General Breckinridge, who reinforced General Imboden, on the occasion of Sigel's advance from Winchester. The cadets went into battle as an infantry battalion of four companies, and a platoon of artillery, serving two rifle-guns, under the command of Colonel Shipp, and advanced with the coolness of veterans in the face of a destructive artillery fire, forcing the enemy to fall back. Then, in line with the Sixty-second regiment, they made a gallant charge through a rocky gulch upon a battery of six guns which was the main reliance of the Federal line, and though suffering severe loss, soon waved the institute flag over the guns. The artillery platoon also rendered effective service with the battalion of Major McLaughlin. In this action the cadets lost 8 killed and 46 wounded out of a total of 225. Their losses and those of the Sixty-second regiment constituted one-half the casualties of the day, in the little