Early, Jubal A.
After his graduation from West Point in 1837, Jubal Early served on and off in the US Army until Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861. Although he opposed secession, he accepted a commission as commander of the 24th Virginia regiment and was soon promoted to Brigadier General due to his actions at First Bull Run. He continued to see action with the Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war, serving at battles including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the
|
Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse. In May 1864, Early was given command of the Confederate Army of the Valley where he defeated Union forces repeatedly and temporarily neared the outskirts of Washington DC in July. After ordering the burning of Chambersburg on July 30, Early was forced to retreat and was defeated repeatedly from August to October by Union General Philip Sheridan. In November, Lee ordered Early’s men to rejoin the Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg and they would surrender with Lee at Appomattox in April, 1865. Early managed to escape, initially fleeing to Texas to try and find Confederate forces still fighting but, after failing to do so, continued on to Mexico and then Canada. He returned to the US in 1869 where he settled in Lynchburg, Virginia until his death in 1894.
Sources
Hunter, David
By the outbreak of the war, David Hunter had been in the military for some time, having graduated from West Point in 1822. Beginning the war as the commander of the US 6th Cavalry regiment, he was able to use political connections to get promoted to Brigadier General and saw action in the war’s early battles. A radical Republican and abolitionist, Hunter is most known for his General Order No. 11, which preempted the Lincoln administration by ordering the liberation of all slaves in his Department of the South.
|
Although this order was rescinded by Lincoln for political reasons, Hunter continued efforts to raise black troops for the Union Army and was labeled an outlaw by the Confederate government for his order. In May 1964, General Hunter came to command the Army of the Shenandoah and was ordered to wreak havoc on Confederate resources in the Shenandoah Valley. Hunter took the task perhaps a little more harshly than General Grant intended, burning the homes of numerous Confederate notables and even destroying VMI in response to the actions of Confederate guerillas. It was these actions that led to General Jubal Early’s order to burn Chambersburg on July 30, 1864. After the war ended in 1865, Hunter would remain in the army for another year before retiring to Princeton, New Jersey where he died in 1886.
Sources
-David Hunter, Report of the Military Services of Gen. David Hunter, USA: During the War of the Rebellion, made to the US War Department, 1873, (New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1873). [link]
-“David Hunter and the Department of the South,” Mr. Lincoln and Freedom, The Lehrman Institute. [link]
-“David Hunter,” Fort Pulaski, National Park Service. [link]
-“David Hunter and the Department of the South,” Mr. Lincoln and Freedom, The Lehrman Institute. [link]
-“David Hunter,” Fort Pulaski, National Park Service. [link]
McCausland, John A.
John McCausland was born September 13, 1836 in Missouri but moved to Virginia to live with his grandmother in 1843 after the early death of his parents. In 1857, he graduated top of his class from VMI and commanded the cadets assigned to guard John Brown’s execution in 1859. At the outbreak of the war, McCausland became an artillery officer in General Jackson’s Stonewall Brigade. For his actions during the war, he gained the nickname “Tiger John” and reached the rank of
|
Major General. During the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, he was placed in charge of a cavalry division under General Jubal Early, who ordered him to burn the town of Chambersburg. Although he was personally repulsed by the order, he carried it out anyways and his troops destroyed the town on July 30, 1864. On April 9, 1865, McCausland refused to surrender his men at Appomattox and managed to escape with his men, although he disbanded his division shortly after at the nearby town of Lynchburg. After the war he was threatened prosecution for arson for the burning of Chambersburg and fled to the country until 1867 when he returned on assurances from grant that he would not be charged. McCausland spent the rest of his life as a farmer in Virginia until his death in 1927, making him one of the last Confederate generals to pass away.
Sources
McClure, Alexander K.
Alexander Kelly McClure was born in Pennsylvania on January 9, 1828. In the 1840s he began work as a printer and became editor and publisher of the Juniata Sentinel. After joining the staff of Pennsylvania Governor William F. Johnson, he received the honorary title of Colonel, although he never actually served in the military. After taking over the Franklin Repository and turning it into a highly influential newspaper, he held a series of positions in the Pennsylvania House of
|
Representatives and state Senate throughout the 1850s. A staunch Republican, McClure became the chairman of the Republican State Committee and was able to strongly influence the election of Andrew Curtin as Pennsylvania governor and give Lincoln the victory in Pennsylvania in the 1860 election. He lived in Chambersburg during its several occupations, taking up direct correspondence with Robert E. Lee during the Confederate occupation in 1863, and having his house specifically targeted by McCausland’s raiders during the burning of Chambersburg on July 30, 1864. His account of the burning is an excellent primary source on the topic and is quoted in full in Benjamin Schneck’s 1864 book on the event. After the war, McClure continued his political career, although he had become disillusioned with the Republican Party. He also founded the Pennsylvania Times and remained its editor until 1901. He died on June 6, 1909.
Sources
-John Osborne and James Gerencser, “Alexander Kelly McClure (1828-1909),” Their Own Words, Dickinson College. [link]
-“Alexander Kelly McClure,” Pennsylvania State Senate Biographies. [link]
-Benjamin Schroder Schneck, The Burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, (Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1864), 26-27.
-“Alexander Kelly McClure,” Pennsylvania State Senate Biographies. [link]
-Benjamin Schroder Schneck, The Burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, (Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1864), 26-27.