The FReeper Foxhole - Profiles The Black Horse Troop - March 19th, 2004

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


...................................................................................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

Our Mission:

The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.

The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer.

If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions.

We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.

To read previous Foxhole threads or
to add the Foxhole to your sidebar,
click on the books below.

Black Horse Troop saves Stonewall's life


The 4th Virginia Cavalry

By Lewis Helm

Cavalrymen of the Black Horse Troop were jubilant as their horses splashed across the Potomac River into Maryland at Edwards Ferry. It was early September 1862, and they were fanning out along the front and flanks of Stonewall Jackson's corps, passing Leesburg, Va., and Poolesville, Md., heading into Maryland toward Pennsylvania.



With the victory at the Battle of Second Manassas, they knew that with this thrust they might even be marching along the streets of Washington, bringing the Yankees to their knees. Virginia would be free at last.

Ferocious charge

Only a week earlier, the Black Horse, whose members were the gentry of Warrenton, Va., had split into two sections. One, under their captain, Robert Lee Randolph, led Jackson's corps from the Rappahannock River through the Black Horse's home turf to Manassas, where it took positions on a ridge above the Old Alexandria Turnpike. Lt. Alexander D. Payne's section followed, guiding the way for Gens. Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet to join Jackson, by then embattled with the Union Army. During the movements and battle, the troop shuttled messages among the commands.

Then they helped chase the Yankees back to Fairfax and a whipping on the Chantilly family farm of Black Horse trooper Walker Milan. At First Manassas, they had been dubbed "the Terrible Black Horse Cavalry" for their ferocious charge into the Union Army as it fled between the Stone Bridge and Cub Run, capturing a score of cannons as well as some members of Congress and ladies who had come to observe a Union victory.



Riding with the Black Horse was Charles Randolph, 15-year-old brother of Capt. Randolph. "Charlie" waved his undersized sword at any troopers who were stragglers. Jackson soon sent him to Virginia Military Institute, where he was wounded as the cadet corps fought at New Market later in the war.

Black Horse casualties were minimal at both Manassas battles, although in the second fight, Pvt. Erasmus Helm was mortally wounded while he held the reins of Jackson's horse near the sunken railroad line atop the hill.



Stonewall arrives

Lt. Col. William Payne, their first troop commander, had been critically wounded and captured at Williamsburg in May. Welcome news now reached the Black Horse that he had returned to Warrenton, where he was recovering from a bullet that had fractured his jaw.


William H. Payne - Capt., Black Horse Cavalry; Major, 4th Virginia Cavalry; commanded regiment at Williamsburg, where he was severely wounded and captured; exchanged and returned to duty as Lt. Col., 2d North Carolina Cavalry; led 2d NC at Chancellorsville; captured during Stuart's Pennsylvania raid and imprisoned at Johnson's Island; exchanged and appointed Brigadier General November 1864; served in Valley under Early; during final operations around Richmond commanded brigade under Munford.

As the troopers moved through farms and villages, small groups of cheering women and children gathered. The cavalrymen waved their hats, laughed and bowed to the crowd, which was hoping for a glimpse of the great general. Near Leesburg, a brass band played "Maryland, My Maryland" and the troopers broke into song, one jumping off his horse among a group of mothers and daughters, kissing and hugging as many as he could reach.

Spectators were calling, "Stonewall." Several hundred yards to the front rode a trooper whose companions began pointing to him and shouting, "There's General Jackson." As the crowds cheered, Jackson broke into laughter himself.

When Jackson entered Frederick, Md., on Sept. 6, however, only a scattering of sympathizers ventured forth. Many more waved American flags. The soldiers snarled their displeasure and kept marching while Stonewall passed false information to residents to indicate that Chambersburg, Pa., was his destination.



The Confederates camped at Monocacy Junction near Frederick. Jackson's back hurt because he had been thrown by his horse the day before. He fell asleep while attending a Presbyterian Church that Sunday.

On Sept. 9, the corps crossed South Mountain at Turner's Gap, camping a mile outside Boonsboro, Md., at the home of John Murdock, a Southern sympathizer. The next day, Black Horse Lt. Alexander Payne with a squad of troopers went through the town scouting for Union forces, and Jackson's assistant inspector general, Lt. Henry Kyd Douglas, asked friends with whom he had grown up about river crossings.

Col. S. Bassett French headed to the United States Hotel on Main Street, "desperate for a well-cooked meal and other refreshments," while Pvt. Bernard Green and two other Black Horse troopers went to the hotel lobby for supplies.

'With his usual vigor'

In his memoir, "I Rode With Stonewall," Douglas said, "When we reached that road that leads to Sharpsburg (today's Maryland 34) we heard the clatter of unseen cavalry coming up the other street, and in a moment a company of the enemy were facing us and proceeded to make war on us. We retired rapidly. I tried a couple of ... shots at them ... and they shot a hole through my hat, which, with the beautiful plume a lady in Frederick had placed there, was rolled in the dust. I wanted to stop and get it but thought better of it.

"At the end of town, I discovered ... General Jackson walking slowly toward us, walking his horse, swinging his hat alone. At the signal of alarm, he mounted and galloped to the rear.

"Just then T.W. Latimer of the First Virginia Cavalry joined us ... and there was but one thing to do. The enemy was slowing up, as if in hesitation, and we turned upon them and, with a cry of unseen troops, charged them. Suspecting trouble, they fled." He added that Alexander Payne "at the other end of town had heard the firing and raced to the rescue with his usual vigor."

Douglas wrote an account in 1886 for Century Magazine that offended former Black Horse troopers. M.M. Green replied in the Baltimore Sun that Lt. Payne deserved most of the credit for saving Jackson. (Green, as mentioned in historian John Michael Priest's book "Before Antietam: The Battle for South Mountain," had galloped after Payne, dodging gunfire from hostile Boonsboro residents.)

French also left an account that commented on the Payne/Douglas actions: "The Black Horse did gallantly charge the enemy and pursued them out of the village ... and [Douglas] did with knightly chivalry cover the retreat of [Jackson] with [his] own person. Both were gallant actions, and whether the one or the other saved Jackson from capture, that fact, be it as it may, neither adds to nor detracts from the gallantry of either."

Black Horse remained

French had raced from the hotel when he heard the shots. His account said that before he could leap onto his horse, it was shot and killed. Bullets were ricocheting, so he ducked back into the hotel, following a freedman into the cellar and diving to hide in a foul refuse pile. When they emerged, he gave a 10-dollar Confederate bill to the freedman.

One Union soldier had been killed, the commander slightly wounded, and three of their horses had been captured. The Confederates had no casualties, but word came that Helm died Sept. 13, as the armies closed for battle at Sharpsburg.

The Black Horse remained as bodyguards and scouts for Stonewall Jackson, and when he was wounded at Chancellorsville, Va., on May 2, 1863, representatives of the troop accompanied him to his burial.



Lewis Helm is writer in Maryland and a descendant of a Black Horse trooper and is working on a book about the cavalry unit.

---

---

FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

'Bravest of the Brave'


The Black Horse Cavalry was part of Williams Carter Wickam's 4th Virginia cavalry, Fitz Lee's Division, JEB Stuart's Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.

Mustered in Fauquier County, Virginia
Escorts to Gen. Stonewall Jackson

Description of the Black Horse Cavalry:

In their care was placed the fate of a new nation. They composed a single company of the 4th Virginia Cavalry - but they were better known as the Confederate "Black Horse Cavalry." Raised in Virginia's Fauquier County, they had answered the Southern call to arms in 1861, and had immediately distinguished themselves in combat.


At the Battle of First Manassas, their hammer-like strike against Federal troops at Cub Run had helped turn the Northern retreat into a panicky rout. Their calm courage under fire eventually earned them a unique post of honor: scouts to protective escorts for the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee, and his irreplaceable "right arm," General Stonewall Jackson.


In the winter of 1862-63, their wartime duty had become personal: the war had come to their homes. A mammoth Northern army had poured into their native counties in a campaign to destroy Lee's army. Now, as the scouts of Lee's army, the Black Horse Cavalry did double duty, mounting repeated reconnaissance patrols, pinpointing Federal positions - and thus defending their homeland. Deep snows and winter downpours left the roads in the Warrenton region almost impassable at times, but the Black horse Cavalry always found a way through.


When high waters flooded the region's waterways, they found a way across. When food and forage were dangerously low, they kept going. The troops of the Black Horse Cavalry, said their admirers, were "the bravest of the brave." In the winter of 1863, they kept Lee posted on the movements of the enemy, conducted countless bold raids - and captured hundreds of Northern troops.

They defended their homes, served their commander - and did their duty. On February 28, 1863, General Lee officially cited them for their efforts and sacrifices. The "bravest of the brave" - the Black Horse Cavalry - had lived up to their name.

---

Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
Article By Lewis Helm, Special to the Washington Times

www.washtimes.com/civilwar/
http://blackhorsecavalry.org/
http://blackhorsetroop.org/

[snippy_about_it]

MORE ABOUT THE TERRIBLE BLACK HORSE.

Alexandria, July 25, 1861.
I overheard one of the men sitting on the door step of the house describing the charge of the Black Horse Cavalry, part of which, I believe, is Capt. Scott's Fauquier cavalry.

He said they advanced in a wedge form, then opened, disclosing a battery which fired upon his regiment, and that then the cavalry charged upon the regiment, hem­ming it in on all sides; and, cutting right and left with tremendous blows, each blow powerful enough to take off a man's head.

He said he never wished to see such a charge again.

-- The Richmond Daily Inquirer, quoting the Baltimore Exchange

[snippy_about_it]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!



It's Friday! Good Morning Everyone

If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[snippy_about_it]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization.

---

Tribute to a Generation - The memorial will be dedicated on Saturday, May 29, 2004.

Thanks to CholeraJoe for providing this link.

---

Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

Thanks to quietolong for providing this link.

---

Iraq Homecoming Tips

~ Thanks to our Veterans still serving, at home and abroad. ~ Freepmail to Ragtime Cowgirl | 2/09/04 | FRiend in the USAF

---

The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

Click on Hagar for
"The FReeper Foxhole Compiled List of Daily Threads"

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

Brunelli "Wing" (1946)

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Aeronaut. I flying skateboard ramp? ;-)

[Aeronaut]

Well, at least the engines are in front on this one.

[snippy_about_it]

That's a plus! Have a good day.

[SAMWolf]

Good morning Snippy. Good thread today. Free Dixie!

Formed as an Independent Volunteer Cavalry Company in 1859 from Fauquier County, Virginia of some of the finest sons of the “old Dominion,” the “Black Horse Troop” was one of the first Confederate units on the field at First Manassas. Their reputation as horsemen and fighters was already so renowned that the cry “The Black Horse” spread panic in the Union ranks when J.E.B. Stuart’s charge turned the tide of battle. Throughout the war the gallant riders of the “Black Horse” brought honor and glory to the Confederate Cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia. Depicted is a First Lieutenant of this renowned Troop during the initial stages of the War.

The Black Horse was mustered into state service in May of 1861 to later become Company H of the 4th VA Cavalry but kept their “nom de guerre” of “The Black Horse Troop.” The uniform is early war cadet-grey trimmed in black, as many state militia and volunteer companies were. His arms consist of a “brace” of Colt Army .44’s supplied, along with his Federal issue sabre belt, cap box (used for carrying spare pistol cartridges) overcoat, poncho and canteen by a ‘generous joe. The black ostrich plume is a classic statement of ‘Southern Chivalry.’ The saddle is a Jenifer, popular in the South, and the bridle is a private purchase (or capture) combination halter/bridle with an imported English bit. The horse is his own, as all CS cavalrymen had to provide their own horse, and is of finer breeding than the Federal issue.

The sabre, a captured Federal Cavalry officers Model 1860, is being returned to comrades of its original owner.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Aeronaut. That one's right out of a Sci-Fi movie.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Sam. Many things have been tried in aviation.

[SAMWolf]

Starting today, my computer time is going to be real limited and I'm not going to be home much if at all until about April 1st. I'm not sure yet what my schedule is going to be or even where I'll end up each day. Spring break is here and everyone wants (needs really) to just get out. So far the only sure thing on the schedule for sure is that I'll be gone all today, after that my schedule is pretty much up for grabs but I'm sure I'm gonna be doing a lot of running around. We're gonna try and get in as much as we can because it may be a while before we can do this again.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Sam. You're up early. As you know I'll be busy too but our readers will keep the threads alive I'm sure and I bet between the two of us we will be able to post everyday. Don't get in trouble on spring break or go wild like the youngins' do. LOL. Have a good time "off"..

[SAMWolf]

Many things have been tried in aviation.

And they come up with new ideas all the time. I'm waiting for sub- orbital commercial aviation . :-)

[SAMWolf]

Don't get in trouble on spring break or go wild like the youngins' do.

Gee, why don't you just come out a say "Don't have any fun"?

[Aeronaut]

I'm waiting for sub- orbital commercial aviation . :-)

[SAMWolf]

YEAH! Hopefully in my life-time.

[AnAmericanMother]

Good morning, y'all, from the gg grandchild of Private Nimrod William Ezekiel Long, 51st Alabama (Cavalry) Partisan Rangers.

His horse's name was "Doctor".

[jriemer]

NEWS FLASH - VKPac has teamed up with "Books for Soldiers" who are pledging to ship one book, food item or personal care item to our soldiers in Iraq for each Troll ZOT!ed at Free Republic! For details about you can help this program, click here Books for Trolls, e-mail BooksToBabylon@comcast.net, FRee-mail timpad, or contact me.

This is a parallel fund-raising operation in coordination with VKPac. VKPac will continue to pledge one penny per Troll ZOT per person until Election day for the Bush Re-election.

[The Mayor]

Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. —Galatians 5:16

The Holy Spirit is our ever-present protector.