Jackson returns to Gordonsville
After the battle Stonewall Jackson remained at Cedar Mountain for two days. Each side buried their dead and evacuated the wounded. When Pope did not attack him Jackson withdrew his army to Gordonsville along the Orange Culpeper Road. His camp was just north of town near Chicken Mountain Road and current day Route 15 at Windholme Farm. The 238 acres of Windholme Farm were part of a grant given to John Scott in 1730, with an original section of the main house dating to 1729. It is one of two houses in Orange County that date from the 1720s. Originally known as Clifton, Windholme was the home of the Scott family from the 1720s until the 1920s.
On August 15th two divisions of General Ambrose Burnside’s men under Major General Jesse Reno arrived from North Carolina via Fredericksburg increasing Pope’s army to 52,000 men. General Lee arrived in Gordonsville that day along with Longstreet and his corps. McClellan was leaving the Peninsula and Lee wanted to strike Pope quickly before he could combine with McClellan. Lee’s initial plan was to try and get around Pope’s left flank.
Jackson moves to the base of Clark Mountain
On the 16th Jackson broke camp and moved to the base of Clark Mountain on the south side of the Rapidan River. From the top of Clark Mountain Lee and his Generals had a clear view of Pope’s army. That view is shown below.
Jackson executes deserters
Jackson’s headquarters was at the Crenshaw Farm on the 17th. His troops had been on the peninsula fighting during the Seven Days campaign far from their homes in the Shenandoah Valley and western Virginia. Desertion and straggling were a problem for his army during this period and especially on the route from Richmond to Gordonsville. Jackson started to aggressively push disciplinary paperwork through and began to convene general court martials to bring men charged with desertion to justice while in Gordonsville. Among those tried as deserters were John H. Layman, John Roadcap and John Rogers of the 10th VA and Andrew Riddel Jr. of the 5th VA. Riddel came before a court martial on July 28th. He was a laborer from Augusta County and was married with three children. He was conscripted into the army and had deserted to return home on two occasions. He was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad. The trials of the three men from the 10th VA were held in Gordonsville during the first week in August. Layman was a thirty-five-year-old farmer from Rockingham County. One of his daughters had died of diphtheria in February. He left camp along with Rogers to return home and visit his wife but was captured not far away. Both were conscripts. James Roadcap was also from Rockingham County but unlike the three other men had enlisted voluntarily. Roadcap had returned home on several occasions for short periods without permission. All three men were found guilty of desertion and sentenced to death by firing squad. The court transcripts for all four men have been lost.
For the sake of expediency and to send a message to his troops Jackson was determined to carry out their sentences without forwarding the paperwork to President Davis for approval, as was normal procedure. In the early morning of the 19th Captain John Wesley Melhorn lined up the prisoners in the pre-dawn hours and told them that all four would be facing a firing squad in the afternoon. The guards allowed Roadcap to escape likely because he had enlisted and was not a conscript. The officers of Layman and Rogers made a final appeal to Jackson for leniency. Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Walker went to headquarters just hours before the executions were to take place. After pleading with Jackson, Jackson replied “Sir. Men who desert their comrades in war deserve to be shot, and officers who intercede for them deserve to be hung.” Jackson asked for his name and then stated “Mr. Walker, I advise you to resign.” The chaplain of the 10th VA also attempted to dissuade Jackson without success and Jackson threw him out of his tent. In the afternoon Taliaferro’s entire division, of which the men to be executed were members, entered a broad field near the Mount Pisgah Church and formed three sides of a square. The men were paraded past the men along the square to the open end where they were blindfolded and directed to kneel in front of their coffins. The firing squad composed of about 6-10 men from the companies of the deserters formed about six paces away. Half of them had rifles loaded with live ammunition and the other half with blank cartridges. Sergeant Charles Keller gave the command to fire. The entire division was marched by the dead men, including Layman’s brothers.
Where were the deserters executed?
In trying to determine the location of the executions I have been able so far to determine the following. The Crenshaw’s were a prominent family in Orange, Virginia. William G. Crenshaw owned the property which eventually grew to 3500 acres and was called “Hawfield”. Crenshaw served as a soldier in the Confederate Army. He organized and equipped at his own expense a six-gun battery of artillery known as “Crenshaw’s Battery” in which he was Captain. The Battery served under Major General A.P. Hill. The large 30 room mansion on the Crenshaw property burned down in 1938, Fanny Crenshaw in her nineties and living in the home alone escaped unharmed. She died shortly thereafter, and the farm was sold in 1945. The property was purchased by the state gaming commission. At the intersection of Clark Mountain Road and Crenshaw Lane I noted the signs below at 38.2900334, -77.9991199. This appears to be the area of Hawfield based on the sign and it was surrounded by large fields. In the last picture you can see the proximity to Clark Mountain.
Interestingly I found the following in a genealogy site from the “Orange Review”–Orange, Virginia–March 30, 1950 entitled “Old Church Building At Hawfield Being Demolished” summarized below-
E. E. Harwell, Orange builder, has completed the work of tearing down the old church building which stood for many years unused on the Hawfield estate lately bought by the State Game Commission. Starting the work of demolition last fall was the signal for a protest from a group of citizens, headed by R. Monroe Waugh, who objected on the grounds that it was church property, not included in the Hawfield estate, and should be maintained as a shrine and historical monument on account of its long association with religious activities of Orange County. The protest halted the work of destruction while Attorney Atwell Somerville, as attorney for John S. Rixey, who sold the property to the Game Commission, searched records of Orange County in the Clerk’s Office. The first record to be found was on January 4, 1839. On that date, Jeremiah Morton deeded to John Bryan 845 acres comprising what was known as “Linden Farm” with the exception of one acre of ground upon which stood “Mt. Pisgah Meeting House.” There were more transfers of title until finally on May 6, 1853, Jeremiah Morton and Henry W. Massie, by deed, conveyed to Benjamin Walker the parcel of land upon which the wooden church known as Pisgah then stood, adjoining the lands of Henry Massie, William G. Crenshaw, and John Hansford, to be used for church purposes. Some of these areas are delineated on the map below.
Then by deed dated October 27, 1856, Benjamin Walker conveyed to George Sleet, Albert Kennedy, Lawrence Sanford, George Pannill, Charles W. Hume, William H. Walker, John S. Rohe, and Benjamin Walker, as trustees, in trust, for the use of the congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the lot of land containing one acre on which Old Pisgah stood, for the use and enjoyment of the congregation as a place of public worship and instruction in religious matters. There the subject rested for 60 years or until Sept. 8, 1906, at which time the church trustees, named as being P. M. Gibbs, Frank W. Clark, and W. L. Loving, by authority of an order of the Circuit Court of Orange County, granted upon petition, and dated August 31, 1906, and for the consideration of $400, sold to Fannie H. Crenshaw, Mary Lewis Crenshaw, and Margaret W. Crenshaw, the lot of land adjoining Crenshaw, known as Orange Chapel. It was about this time that the present Bethlehem Methodist Church at Unionville was built and it was to this place that the congregation removed, a distance of about six miles, the idea being to have the church building more centrally located. Upon acquiring the property, the Misses Crenshaw organized a chapel of the Episcopal Church branch of Emmanuel Church in Rapidan, with services conducted by Reverends P. LeBarr Cross, William Marshall, Robert Coles, and succeeding ministers. Afternoon services with Sunday School were regularly held for several years or until the death of Miss Mary Crenshaw, after which Miss Fanny Crenshaw transferred her membership to Emmanuel and activities at the old chapel at Hawfield came to an end. In her book Soldiers, Stories, Sites and Fights Orange County, VA, Patricia Hurst states, “The old Mount Pisgah Meeting House and new Mount Pisgah Brick Church are both shown on war maps on old Hawfield property. The two churches are shown on some maps as Orange Chapel and Mt. Pisgah or Mt. Pisgah Church and New Brick Church. Troops were encamped in the area of both, as well as Stonewall Jackson’s camp in August 1862. Soldiers wrote of Camp Mt. Pisgah. Mt. Pisgah Meeting House was a wooden building located on the north side of route 267, which was then known as Old Fredericksburg Road and today’s Clark Mountain Road. New Mt. Pisgah, Mt. Pisgah Brick Church or Mt. Pisgah Baptist Chuch, built in 1856, was on the southern side of the road. A deed mentions Mt. Pisgah Meeting House in 1839. In 1856 the church became a Methodist Church and was known as the Orange Chapel or old Mt. Pisgah. The Episcopal Church was the last denomination to hold services in the old building. Both buildings were torn down.”
Lee’s plan to get around Pope’s left flank goes awry as Stuart is almost captured
Lee planned for Jackson to cross the Rapidan River at Summerville Ford while Longstreet would cross 4 miles downstream to the east at Raccoon Ford. Both would then move around Pope’s left flank. Jeb Stuart and his cavalry were to cross the Rapidan further east and destroyed bridges on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad blocking Pope’s path of retreat. Fitzhugh Lee and his cavalry were about 30 miles away at Beaver Dam Station. Stuart had given him orders to join him but was not specific as to when. This delay in Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry arrival delayed the implementation of Lee’s plan. On the evening of the 17th Stuart and his staff camped overnight in New Verdiersville, about 5 miles south of Raccoon Ford on the Orange Plank Road waiting for Fitz Lee. A detachment of Federal cavalry was conducting reconnaissance in the area and came across Stuart’s adjutant general, Major Fitzhugh, who was trying to locate Fitz Lee’s cavalry. Major Fitzhugh was taken prisoner and he had in his possession a copy of Robert E. Lee’s battle plan. The Federal Cavalry under Colonel Brodhead surprised the Rebels at the Catlett Rhoades house where they were staying, and Stuart narrowly escaped. In the process his cloak, dispatch case and a plumed hat were lost. Stuart had won the hat in a bet with Union General Samuel Crawford during the truce after Cedar Mountain. Stuart had bet that the Northern press would label the battle a Union victory. When this happened, Crawford sent the hat through the lines. Stuart wore a handkerchief around his head that day as his staff teased him repeatedly asking him what happened to his hat. The marker below interprets the incident. The Rhoades house where Stuart and his staff slept no longer stands. It was on the southwest corner of routes 20 and 621.
Pope retreats across the Rappahannock
Pope now aware of Lee’s plans and his vulnerability to them, quickly withdrew his forces north of the Rappahannock River by the 20th. Sigel crossed at Sulphur Springs and burned the bridge there and would be on the right flank. McDowell and Banks would cross at the Rappahannock Station bridge and Reno (Burnside’s forces) would be at Kelly’s Ford on the left flank. McClellan’s forces were starting to arrive. Hooker and Kearny’s Divisions of Heintzelman’s Corp had detrained in Warrenton. Porter’s Corps was on the March and was 13 miles south of Bealeton (between Warrenton and Brandy Station). Lee would now need to come up with another plan. When Pope crossed the Rappahannock River initially his forces extended from Kelly’s Ford northward to beyond the Rappahannock Station bridge. Lee would now engage in a series of battles and maneuvers to try and get around Pope’s right flank. He would send Jackson on a march to the northwest along the south shore of the river to look for a place to cross and get to the rear of Pope. At the same time Lee would also need to protect his right flank to ensure that Pope would not get around it and make a move toward Richmond. This led to a series of small battles collectively referred to as the first Battle of Rappahannock Station. They occurred at multiple potential river-crossing sites including among others: Freeman’s Ford; Rappahannock Station; and Fauquier White Sulphur Springs.
Sources
From Cedar Mountain to Antietam by Eric Stackpole.
Return to Bull Rull Run The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas by John J. Hennessy.
So Far From God and So Close to Stonewall Jackson. The Executions of Three Shenandoah Valley Soldiers. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Volume 111, No. 1, 2003.
Soldiers, Stories, Sites and Fights Orange County, Virginia 1861-1865 and the Aftermath by Patricia J. Hurst.
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