Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 24.djvu/229

 Tin ///./.-/.- //,*, Troop. -1-1\

Stonewall Jackson soon discovered what good stuff the Black Hoi 'inposed of, and detailed the company to act at his head-

(jii.irtt i> a> guides and couriers. Captain A. D. Payne, who was then lirst lieutenant, was sent bark with half of the troopers to meet General Lee, who was following Jackson when marching against Pope's great army. It is said that the Black Horse looked like a company of holiday soldiers, so gay were they in demeanor, and so well groomed were their horses. At tin- second battle of Manassas, they were engaged in carrying General Jackson's orders to and fro between the various commanders of the troops in action, thus wit- nessing and bearing their part in that famous struggle, when a num- ber of the corps were seriously wounded and several killed. Two privates of the Black Horse offered their beautiful chargers to Gen- erals Lee and Jackson when they marched into Maryland.

In the first Maryland campaign, before General Jackson's corps entered Boonesboro, he sent a squad of the Black Horse, com- manded by Lieutenant A. D. Payne, through the town to picket the approaches from the opposite direction. Lieutenant Payne had nineteen men and the charge was against twenty times their number, but General Jackson was saved from capture. It was a desperate charge and the enemy was deceived and routed. Payne remarked to- his men: "We must relieve our general at all hazards. I rely upon your courage to save him."

In the winter of 1862-' 63, the Black Horse occupied their native heath, and scouted the counties of Fauquier and Stafford thoroughly, reporting all the movements of the enemy to Generals Lee and Jack- son, who complimented them for their effective service. They par- ticipated in the various engagements of Stuart with Pleasanton's cavalry, and in the fight at Waynesboro against Sheridan's famous cohorts, the Black Horse was the leading squadron of the Fourth Virginia. It was in this battle that one of Sheridan's captains dis- played great valor, wounding four of the Black Horse with his sabre; and leading a charge, his men following but a short distance, the gal- lant Yankee captain dashed on without looking behind and was unac- companied, into the very head of the Black Horse column. Not wishing to cut down so dashing a fellow, who had put himself in their power, no one fired at him. Some of the men knocked him from his horse, when Captain Henry Lee observing a Masonic sign, rushed to his assistance, and saved him from further harm.

Mr. Hugh Hamilton, an old Black Horseman, who is now trea- surer of Fauquier county, in relating his reminiscences of those times,