B00EF19YY8 EBOK, page 14
We rested for the rest of the day. “It looks like they put the cavalry there to watch for us.”
“Sorry Danny. I didn’t think when I took those horses.”
“No Jack, you did the right thing. We just need to be more cautious. I want you to take the powder and the horses to south of Front Royal and tell the General what we saw. We will just rest until you get back. You will need half the men.”
I left the next day. Harry was in charge until the Captain and the Sergeant had fully recovered. We approached via Martinsburg and skirted Winchester to the west. I knew that we had to vary our routes or be caught by our own predictability.
I sent Dago with the rest of the boys to the Quartermaster while I sought General Stuart. He was not in camp but I spoke to his aide, Jeremiah Hill. He smiled as I made my report. “I can see why the General likes your men and Mosby’s. You tie up a lot of Yankees. We heard from some prisoners that they think we have two companies in their rear.” He shook his head. “Yankees sure are dumb. Tell your Captain to keep it up. There will be an attack on Winchester soon and we need their lines of communication disrupted. They will be sending all sorts of wagons and men through Berryville soon. You will have to watch out and be effective.”
“Don’t worry sir. We will be.”
Dago rode next me as we headed back to our camp. He patted his saddlebags. “That powder paid well and the horses! We did all right out of that.”
I shook my head, “I am not so sure. What about the wounds?”
He shrugged. “It is war my friend and it is what happens. You ride your luck.” He nudged me, “You, my friend, are lucky. The men all want to be with you.”
“Be with me? What do you mean?”
“You are the one who has the luck and you don’t get injured. They want to ride with you.” He could see my confusion. “Take the other night; when I returned I thanked God that you wanted me with you and it was Jimmy who got hurt. You see what I mean? You are lucky!”
I had never thought of myself as lucky, rather the opposite, my parents had been murdered, my sister sold herself and I was press ganged on to a slaver, but, as we headed for the camp I reflected that he might be right. I could have died in the fire at my home. I could have fallen from the mast. There were many other instances; the fact that I looked like the captain’s brother. But if I was lucky I would not ride my luck. As we all know, luck can run out.
The invalids were generally better when we returned; apart from the captain who had drifted into a sleep and was feverish. David and Danny thought this might be a good thing. The fever might cleanse his body. I was not so sure.
We were taking nothing for granted and we kept vedettes out. This was good for two reasons, it gave us early warning and it taught all of us to be watchful and resourceful. While we ate Danny secured the latest money in a place of safety. We had decided, early on, that it was not a good idea to carry money with us. We were all single men and any money from a dead man would be divided between the rest. I was now confident that, when time allowed, I could send the money back to Ireland for Caitlin. The problem was where would I send it? All the people I knew who could have carried it for me were now dead or missing. It was a problem I wrestled with over the coming year.
On the second day the captain had taken a turn for the worse and, when we examined his wound, we could smell the putrefaction. Even David did not know what to do. Luckily Danny did. He sent us all off to find maggots. It was summer and there were plenty. When the men came back with them David and I looked at him curiously. He gave a half smile. “My grand da was with Wellington in the Peninsula. They found that when you had a bad wound then maggots would eat the dead flesh. When the maggots died then you were healthy.”
We couldn’t argue with that as it made a kind of sense and we packed the greasy little blobs of white around the ugly angry wound and bound it again. We were now in the hands of Danny’s grand dad and the men who marched to war fifty years earlier on the other side of the world.
Harry took a patrol out at dusk to see what he could see on the Berryville to Winchester road. While he was away we made our camp more secure by putting trip wires and alarms up. So far we had been unobserved but I could not believe that some one would not use the stand of trees for hunting. Danny and David fretted and fussed over the captain. When we caught some rabbits we made a soup which we could feed to the semi-conscious officer. I let Danny sleep while I took the midnight watch with Dago. I was not sleepy and I found myself worrying over Harry. The trap laid for us by the cavalry had nearly succeeded. Had they used guns rather than swords then the outcome might have been different.
Harry and his men arrived back a couple of hours after midnight. Since we had relieved some of the Yankees of their watches we could all now tell the time and I had a fine hunter, courtesy of a dead sergeant from Illinois. It made me feel more civilised being able to tell the time.
I had a pot of coffee going and Harry strode straight up to it. “I could use a cup of that.” As he sipped the scalding liquid he said, “Actually I could do with a cup of tea but never mind.”
“Find anything?”
“There is a convoy camped the other side of the town.” He pointed. “It is only about two miles from here. We found it as we were heading back. The roads are empty but the convoy has a company of cavalry guarding it.” He grinned. “We must have annoyed them and,” he flourished a piece of paper. “I found this and a bunch of others pinned to buildings and trees all over the county.”
I read it.
Notice
$500 reward for information leading to the capture of the Partisans and bandits known as Boswell’s Wildcats.
Colonel William S. Fielding
Officer Commanding Berryville Military district.
It brought a smile to my face. We had irritated the Yankees after all and we now had a name of the military commander. Perhaps, when the captain was recovered we could pay him a visit. It would be interesting to see his reaction when he met the actual Wildcats.
When Danny awoke we updated him. He looked down at the captain. “It seems a shame to let the opportunity go by, just because the captain is a little poorly.”
I sensed he was looking for support. “They will have to go down the Valley Pike and, once they are south of Berryville, they will think they are home free. We could hit them there, from behind.”
“Or,” suggested Harry, “we could have half a dozen attack from the flank and draw off the escort then the rest attack from the rear.”
“Even better. “ He turned to look for our medical expert. “David!”
The recruit joined us. “We are leaving you here to watch the captain and Jimmy. We are taking the rest on a raid.” He saw, as we all did , the disappointment on the face of the young man. “Don’t worry son. Just as soon as the captain is fit again you will be fighting with the rest of us but it is important that the captain gets well. You can see that can’t you?”
“Yes Sarge.”
It did not take us long to organise and Harry took his five troopers for the diversion. He would come from the direction of Winchester and lead them in that direction. We would attack ten minutes after we heard the firing. The road they were following was not a turnpike and had twists and turns affording numerous opportunities for ambush. In addition it did not have a continuous wall boundary. Both of these factors would work in our favour. Harry left before we did; he had to go far further than we did. The sergeant was still not fully fit and I could see that he would not be able to fight as well as he normally did. We rode along the road and we could see the blue of the cavalry as dots in the distance with the white wagons between them. Suddenly we heard the crack of the pistols and then the reply from the cavalry. We could see, even four hundred yards away, the smoke and then we heard the bugle. The cavalry began to thin out as their commander chased Harry and his raiders.
Our plan was to get as close as we could before we fired and so we only had four men using their carbines. They would be the marksmen who would target the drivers. They had left only ten riders with the six wagons and their attention was fixed on the pursuit ahead of them. The first they knew of our presence was when two of their riders were pitched from their saddles. I took a risk and shouted, “Surrender! We are Boswell’s Wildcats!” Miraculously it worked and the other eight threw their arms in the air. Working quickly we trussed up the soldiers and guards, including the two wounded men and then ordered the drivers to head due east.
“Let’s head for Boyce.” Wounded or not Danny could still think and plan.
“Right Sarge! Come on get those wagons moving.” The men urged and whipped the draught animals as hard as they could. There was urgency about our actions which had been lacking in the Yankees who had been charged with protecting the convoy. We had intended on destroying the supplies but this seemed too good an opportunity to miss.
“Jack, you keep ten men at the rear of the wagons. When the Yanks come then form a skirmish line and slow them down. I don’t think they have repeaters and Harry should be able to join us.”
With the ten men left with the wagons we were only outnumbered by four and half to one. For us that was good odds. Besides which our carbines would cut that down and it would become a battle of wills to see who wanted to win the most. We had the advantage that we were fighting for our country and profit; two powerful incentives.
As we struck the back road leading to Front Royal I wondered how long they would chase Harry. The distance to Winchester was almost the same as the distance to Front Royal. If the pickets of our own army were alert then this hare brained scheme might just work. Every mile we rode brought us closer to safety. When we passed through the sleepy hamlet of Boyce we were just five miles away from safety and then Dago shouted to me. “We have company.”
“Rearguard on me. Dismount!” We leaned our carbines on our horses as the cavalry galloped down the road. They were in an eight deep line and I could see that they had ridden their horses hard; they were frothing and foaming as they laboured on. Once again they had adopted the sabre although I could see a few of those behind trying to aim their own carbines. They had more chance of either the ground or a bird than they did us. I waited until they were a hundred yards away and then gave the order, “Fire!” I wanted volleys and, although it meant a slower rate of fire, it was a wall of lead heading towards the advancing cavalry.
The smoke made it hard to see the effect and suddenly an officer reared up before me, his sword poised to strike. I had no idea how many shots I had left but I raised the barrel and fired. It struck his horse and the dying beast fell backwards. I looked at my gun. I was out of ammunition. I sheathed it and took out my Colt to shoot the next rider I saw looming up. Before I could fire I heard Harry shout, “Whoa there! We are on your side.” Our raiders had returned and we were now a troop once more.
The smoke began to clear and we saw the Union cavalry drawing up a hundred yards away. There were a handful of dead men and horses as well as a couple of wounded ones between them and us. “Mount!” I checked to see that we had suffered no casualties and we mounted.”Let’s find the Sergeant eh boys?”
They all gave a rebel yell and we rode after the wagons without the Yankees pursuing us. I suspect their commander was dead pinned beneath the dying horse and the withering fire had made them reluctant to charge us. Even so we retreated cautiously, watching for any sudden movement from the enemy. There was none and soon we reached the pickets outside the Confederate lines south of Front Royal.
The quartermaster was even more delighted with our latest haul. Much of it was ammunition and would fit the muskets. In addition there were Sharps rifles which were much better than those the south had to hand. Finally there were bayonets and boots in one wagon. It was a mixed cargo but, with the horses and prisoners, a valuable one for Boswell’s Wildcats. We were anxious to return to Berryville and Stuart’s aide sent a company of cavalry to escort us to Boyce. The last thing anyone wanted was to be ambushed by the cavalry we had defeated. As we rode north I could see that there were wounds; none of them serious but Harry’s men had suffered the most and it made me think about Dago’s words; was I lucky?
The captain looked much better when we returned and he was both awake and eating. David and Danny looked at the bandage and saw that all of the maggots were dead. It had worked. We all saw a visible improvement in him when we told him of our latest raid. “It seems I am now redundant. You do better without me than with me!”
I could see that he was joking and he looked to be proud of us. “Well sir, if this keeps up we’ll have the Yankees whipped by Christmas.”
Danny was wrong but that was not because of our efforts. Nor was it the fault of Generals Jackson and Stuart but we did begin to have drawbacks and they began at that moment. The Yankees began streaming north from Front Royal when General Jackson launched his attack. I don’t know how much influence we had on the outcome of the battle but I like to believe that we weakened the Yankees somewhat. The result was that we could relax a little for a few days while General Jackson prepared to advance upon Winchester.
The captain was raring to go. We had done so well already that he thought we could shoot for the moon. We were all fit again, even Jimmy’s broken arm did not slow him up much and the captain decided to take us back to Leesburg. We knew that there was a barracks there and any disruption we could cause would slow down the Union reinforcements. Once Winchester was recaptured then the Valley would be secure and we could march on Washington. We left before dark ready to strike when the soldiers were tucked up in their beds. The captain had briefed us well before we left and he intended to take us around Leesburg and approach from the Washington side. That strategy had worked before and we saw no reason why it should not work again.
We struck the Potomac well after dark and located the spit of land in the middle of the river known as Harrison Island. We were to split into two groups. The captain would take Harry and half of the men and scout the northern half of the town. The rest of us would cover the south. We would rendezvous back at the island.
We kept the river to our left as we made our way south. There were still lights on in the houses and we each kept a cocked Colt in our hand. We had suffered one ambush at Leesburg already we would not make the same mistake twice. Dago whistled and pointed. It was an artillery park and there were cannons. They were the Parrot Rifle, a weapon superior to most of the ancient cannons we had in the south. There were caissons and limbers but no horses so there was no way for us to capture them. Danny waved me over. “We’ll have to spike them. I’ve done it before. I’ll take a couple of lads. You and the others find any guards and deal with them.”
I left Barton with the horses and we went quickly to the dark building which was close to the corral containing the six guns. The door was shut and I could hear noise from within. I signalled to my men to be ready and then I tried the door. It was open. I opened it as quietly as I good and eased it so that I could enter. I slipped through and smelled the foetid air of sweaty unwashed men. I moved into the room and the rest of my men followed me. Suddenly Jimmy tripped on something and a Union voice said, “What the!!
Someone else struck a flint and lit a candle. The thirty artillerymen found themselves looking down the barrels of the Colts held in our hands.
“Now, gentlemen we are Boswell’s Wildcats, you may have heard of us. If you have then you know that we are dangerous. If you cooperate then you will live. I would like you all to stand and put your hands on your head.” I noticed that Dago and Jed had placed themselves in the dark area at the back of the room. Most of the men obeyed me but two tried to turn and run. They were both felled by my men’s Colts. “Pick up your comrades and do not try anything again or we will be forced to do more than wound next time.”
They were suitably chastened and they filed out. I picked up a uniform; they were from New York. As one passed me I asked, “Irish?” He gave me a sullen nod. Strange, we were from the same island and yet on opposite sides; much like the Americans where brother sometimes fought brother. I could not just shoot them out of hand. I saw that they were all in their underwear and I had an idea. “Dago, march them to the river. We’ll join you there.” I heard the clang of a hammer on metal and knew that Danny was spiking the guns. “Jed, go back inside and bring out any papers and other items of value. Jimmy, go and help him.”
It did not take Danny long to complete his task. He then placed a charge in each cannon and jammed some mud in the barrel, finally he made a trail of powder to one of the caissons and then to the outside of the corral. “Everything go off all right Jack?”
I saw Jed who waved. “Yes Danny. The prisoners are by the river.”
“Then get the horses. This is going to go bang very soon.”
We were mounted and ready to ride in a heartbeat. Danny raced up to us. “Ride like the devil is after you!”
There was a flash and then a crump and then a series of bangs and explosions. It was still erupting when we reached Dago and the prisoners. Danny looked at me and I winked. “Right boys I want you to wade into the river up to your chest and face the other side. When I give the word you can turn around. You can leave the two unconscious soldiers here.”
Faced by the revolvers and hearing the explosions they obeyed. I turned to Danny. “I figure by the time they turn around we’ll be long gone and a man in wet underwear neither thinks nor moves swiftly.”
He patted me on the back. “I like it. Let’s go!”
As we headed back to the island we could hear the explosions in the distance. The guns would be repairable but it would take time. We hoped that the limbers and caissons would be beyond repair. It had been a stroke of luck finding the artillery park. Obviously they had found the most convenient place for men and guns anticipating a short journey to the front. The island was deserted and I, for one, was a little nervous about waiting. Any Union troops in the area would be racing to the scene.
