Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/266

 258 Southern Historical Society Papers.

airy and brigade of three regiments of infantry, three thousand men in all, under command of Brigadier-General John R. Kenley, dis- persed the cavalry, rode rough shod over the infantry, captured the entire wagon-train they were escorting, unhitched and drove away the teams, burned the wagons, captured as many prisoners as he had men, and killed and wounded a number of the enemy. Although the loss of this train caused General Sheridan to fall back from his advanced 'position, he failed to report the extent of the disaster to his superiors. Nevertheless the Secretary of War heard of it through other sources, and wired him on August igth, asking if it were true. General Grant also heard of it, and on August i6th he sends the fatal order to Sheridan which closes with this ominous command, " When .any of Mosby's men are caught, hang them without trial." Then came the tragedy on the streets of Front Royal.

THEY WERE KNIGHTS.

Why should the members of the 43d Virginia battalion have been singled out as the victims of such a cruel order ? Their mode of warfare did not depart from that of a civilized nation, the prisoners captured by them, had always been humanely treated, their men wore the same uniforms that covered the breasts of Stonewall Jack- son's veteran's; their officers were commissioned by the same gov- ernment as those who at the command of the matchless Lee stormed the heights of Gettysburg; they fought under the same battle flag as waived o'er the plume of Jeb Stuart, the embodiment of chivalric honor. And yet, although captured in a gallant charge of less than one hundred against ten thousand, they were executed solely be- cause they were members of Mosby's command.

Other executions, no doubt, would have quickly followed, had not our commander, with the approval of General Robert E. Lee, and the Confederate Secretary of War, retaliated by the execution of a like number of Federal prisoners, who were hung on the Valley Turnpike, Sheridan's highway of travel. An officer was immediately sent with a flag of truce, bearing a letter from Mosby to Sheridan, informing him that his men had been executed in retaliation for those of our command, but that thereafter, his prisoners would be treated with the kindness due to their condition, unless some new act of bar- barity should compel him reluctantly to adopt a course repulsive to humanity. Thus did we then, with the approval of General Lee and the Confederate government, register our protest against the execu-