June 27, 1863, The New York Herald
Our Chambersburg Correspondence.
CHAMBERSBURG, June 18, 1863.
The following is a correct and truthful account of Jenkins’ raid into Chambersburg, having witnessed it personally. You will remember that Franklin county, Pa., of which Chambersburg is the shire town, is a border county of the State, about eight miles from the Potomac river at its nearest point at Williamsport, so that any movement in the valley of Virginia is immediately sympathized with in this region. You will also recollect that General Stuart demonstrated the feasibility of taking this place last fall. Indeed, full of all agricultural productions, teeming with thousands of cattle upon her thousand hills, frugal and industrious people, it lies a tempting bait to the daring but hungry armies of the South. The propriety of its defence I leave to be settled by a debating society said to exist in the State Lunatic Asylum at Harrisburg. The movement of a cavalry force about Winchester, forty miles south of Williamsport held by Milroy with a large force, was the first intimation of immediate danger. On last Sabbath we heard that large bodies of negroes, the avant courriers of disaster to our arms, were pouring into Hagerstown; then that the rebels had crossed the river at different points. On Monday morning about nine o’clock they commenced arriving in our town. Gen Couch came up here from Harrisburg, but left after a brief stay, leaving in command his chief of staff, Major Burt, a gentlemanly and, I should judge, efficient officer. About eleven o’clock on Monday morning the wagon trains of part of Milroy’s forces came tearing through our town in the greatest panic – everything on a gallop, mule teams, no wheels on the aft axles; nigger drivers, with eyes as big as saucers; oat bags burst and their contents wafted on the winds; train guards drunk, cursing and shouting and brandishing their swords, vowing on their honors that the enemy were but two miles from town and had captured part of their train; horses killed in our streets by wild and frantic driving – will perhaps afford some faint idea of what a skedaddle by teamsters means. Our pickets had been thrown to the river, and soon reports of skirmishing with the enemy reached here. Many of our citizens then left in the cars, and a train was fired to move at the latest moment. Into this were packed the nervous and agitated men and women of our town, and also those who thought themselves of such importance as to warrant transportation to Libby prison. Among the latter might be found the invincible guard who upon a former occasion surrendered the town to Stuart. Deeming their logic as having been thrown away upon Stuart, they would not […..] their visors down” for this wild raider of the West; and thus we were without their counsels in the time of need. The wagon trains ceased coming in about four o’clock P. M., and word from the front that the rebels were at Greencastle, eleven miles from this place, was brought by scouts that proved reliable. About the same time the telegraphic communication with that place ceased. We spent the evening momentarily expecting […..] Southern brethren in the constitution;” but they disappointed us, and so we went to bed quietly, hoping it might prove a mistake. Our forces had all bade us an affectionate farewell, and from the kind look of their eyes you might suspect never ‘…..] would see our like again,” but before we left we concluded we would take a good night’s rest, and at ten o’clock P. M. the town was as quiet as a Sabbath evening. At midnight every man, woman and child on Main street were startled from their slumbers by the clatter of fifty horses’ feet and the shouts of their riders, as they rushed in rapid course down the street, followed by half a dozen pistol shots, and cries of “Surrender, or I will shell your town!” One unlucky horse, in the darkness, stumbled and threw his rider over a pile of stones that stood in front of a new building. He was made a prisoner of by some of the boys that were out. Another got off his horse to assist him, and he, too, was made prisoner and so was a third. The balance returned. These three rebels were put in jail and their horses trotted off to parts unknown by their captors. The young gentlemen then met together on the street, and while congratulating each other upon the clever trick a much larger body of the cavalry came clattering down the street and picked up the aforesaid youngsters, and immediately demanded the prisoners, horses and arms, and, placing a rope around one of their necks, seemed determined to wreak vengeance on their captors. This was more than they bargained for. They surrendered the prisoners, but the horses and arms were gone, and they were kept all night under guard, and only released in the morning on a promise of the Burgess that the property should be restored or its equivalent in cash refunded. The morning light of Tuesday found the streets of our town thronged with horses and rebels, the horses feeding on oats and corn on the pavements, and our captors quietly enjoying a nap on the cellar doors and doorsills beneath us. There were about two thousand of them – one-third cavalry and two-thirds mounted infantry, with their long muskets strapped to their backs. Their horses were by far the best I have yet seen during this war in the possession of any army, fresh well fed and spirited; and the rebs best rode them as though they had grown out of their backs. They then commenced their visits around town, gave orders that all the stores should be opened, as they wished to encourage trade; and in truth they carried their dogma of free trade much farther than I ever recollect Calhoun to have taught in any of his speeches; for they took what they wanted and paid in rebel scrip, which is not par. In many places they did not attempt this irony, but took (or lifted, I believe, is the word). The stores were making money in this way until about ten o’clock A. M., when a great commotion appeared. Orders were hastily given, and all rushed to the front. “Going to have a brush,” was their remark, and as I wanted to see, a companion and myself trotted out north of the town about a mile to witness it. They rapidly dismounted the infantry and led the horses back through the town. Here they waited two hours; but none of Andy Curtin’s heroes from Harrisburg made their appearance, and they resumed their more pleasant occupation of purchasing goods and notions. Their evolutions were performed with great celerity and precision. Generally they were a tall, lithe, muscular looking set of fellows, well armed and said to be good marksmen. They are all from Western Virginia, and, after two years service as bushwhackers, are now converted into a regular arm of the service, under Brigadier General Jenkins. Their leader is a man apparently forty years of age, nearly six feet high, broad shouldered, muscular, intelligent, with fair, light blue eye, forehead bronzed, covered with a long, bushy brown beard; he was mild and affable in his deportment, spoke with great fluency and is an educated man, a graduate of one of our Western colleges. He was dressed in the gray cloth of the Southern army, and wore as the only insignia of his rank three stars embroidered on his collar, the central one larger than the others. There were two colonels – one named Cochrane, with red hair, who denounced Milroy very bitterly, and the other name I have forgotten. Lieutenant Stevens was ordnance officer and Captain Fitzhugh the only aid I hear of. Their camp was about a mile north of the town, on the Harrisburg pike. On Wednesday morning they sent an order to our Chief Burgess, Colonel T. J. Haskinson (who had done all in his power to protect the interests of the people of the town), which now lies before me, and I will here transcribe it. It speaks for itself: –
HEADQUARTERS, &c.,
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa., June 17, 1863.
The inhabitants of the town of Chambersburg having forfeited any rights they may have for the reservation of arms or private property by having fired from their houses on the Confederate forces, it is hereby ordered that every person within the precincts of Chambersburg or its vicinity shall immediately deliver up all guns, pistols, powder and ammunition of every description to the Chief Burgess of the place. The time for compliance with this order will be limited to ten o’clock this morning, after which all parties not complying will subject themselves to a thorough search of their premises and will forfeit besides one hundred times the value of the arms and ammunition so concealed, upon non-payment of which they will be arrested and confined. The discovery of the concealed arms and ammunition in the execution of this order shall not be deemed requisite to substantiate said concealment; but such other evidence as the officer charged with the execution of this order shall think satisfactory will be held sufficient by the General commanding. Lieutenant H. H. Stevens is hereby charged with the execution of this order. By order of
Brigadier General A. G. JENKINS, Commanding.
N. FITZHUGH, Acting Adjutant General.
After consultation with some of the citizens the Chief Burgess ordered the Court House bell to be rung, and assembled the people to hear the order, at the instance of the Burgess. J. W. Douglas, Esq., from the Court House steps, read the order to the citizens assembled, and in a few words protested against the allegation that any one had fired upon their soldiers, as all the firing had been done by their own troops, stating also that a committee of three had been appointed to receive the arms in front of the Court House. About three hundred old muskets, which had been distributed among the people last fall, fifty old shot guns, and pistols and sabres, about as dangerous at one end as the other, were collected. From these they selected the best of the lot and broke up and burned the rest, returning the shot guns to the citizens. They commenced to leave the town rapidly in the direction they came. As the rear guard was leaving they fired the warehouse of Oaks & Linn, which contained one thousand barrels of flour, &c; but fortunately it was extinguished before any damage was done except the destruction of ten barrels of flour. At this moment a lagging rebel rode past the burning house, when some rash boys fired a half dozen shots at him. Clasping his horse round the neck he drew his revolver and sent back a couple of parting shots, and then, kicking his spurs into his steed, dashed on a run through the length of the town, receiving the shower of stones and cudgels of the boys in the street as he ran the gauntlet of the town.
And thus ended this mighty invasion of Lee’s army, that frightened the powers at Harrisburg and sent over the land the news that an immense army was within the borders of Pennsylvania. Two thousand rebels did it all, in a raid tempted by the richness of our valley. One regiment of trained soldiers, under a brave and efficient office, with a battery of six guns, would give confidence to the public; and in times of public danger they would be supported by five thousand armed men of the valley, who would gather round them for the protection of their homes. But without such a nucleus around which to rally – without discipline or order – it would be but the slaughter of an armed mob by the science and skill of the enemy.