first action

White’s Comanches were organized in December 1861; the Loudoun Rangers in June of 1862. What actions were first recorded in their histories? When do the authors first appear in the text?

The Loudoun Independent Rangers at a reunion in 1910. Briscoe Goodhart is second from the left, kneeling.

http://www.loudounhistory.org/history/loudoun-cw-rangers/

First action in the words of Frank Myers

In the last days of December, 1861, Captain Elijah V. White, for such was his rank now, reported to General Hill, with fifteen men for duty, and was ordered by that officer to establish a line of couriers between Leesburg and Winchester, which he did on the 29th, stationing Ben. F. Conrad and James W. Harper at Leesburg, Richard Harding and William H. Luckett at Hamilton, Peter J. Kabrich and Frank. M. Myers at Round Hill, C. C. Wenner and R. W. Washington at Castleman’s Ferry, Joseph E. Conner and W. T. Cruzen at Berryville, and Richard Ferro at Winchester, with Gip. Peter in command at that end of the line, while the Captain himself remained at Leesburg. The company was thus employed until the 14th of January following, when an order was passed along the line calling all the men to assemble in Leesburg, and on reaching that point the Captain found he had about twenty-five men, whom he marched to Waterford and established in winter quarters at that place. Maj. Win. F. Barrett, of the 57th

Regiment Virginia Militia, acted as Orderly Sergeant and Quartermaster, and with the Captain formed the board of officers of the company. The Madison Cavalry, under Capt. Graves, was also stationed at Waterford and picketed the Potomac from the Point of Rocks to Berlin, and Capt. White proposed to cooperate with these men in scouting, and guarding the line of river all the way to Harper’s Ferry; and here commenced the active duty of what was afterwards to be the famous Battalion, now not having enough men to entitle it to a company organization, but whose rolls afterwards bore nearly 700 names. About this time an officer was sent by Gen. Hill to muster the company regularly into the military service of the Confederate States, and this duty performed, the men considered themselves tied fast and were perfectly satisfied with their lot.

Among the first duties required of the company was that of executing an order of Gen. Hill, to collect the delinquent Militia of the 56th Virginia Regiment, and take them to their comrades who were at work on the fortifications around Leesburg, but this was no easy matter, many of them having crossed the Potomac—some to take service in the army of Abraham I, and others to escape doing any kind of military duty in the Confederacy—while a large portion of those who remained were Quakers, who, according to the tenets of their religion, could not perform such duty, and paid their exemption fines.

(page 18-19)

First action in the words of Briscoe Goodhart

It having been learned that some parties were engaged in forwarding rebel supplies from Baltimore and crossing the Potomac near Leesburg, a detail was made, with instructions to arrest those parties if possible. The squad started early in the morning, about 7th of July, crossing the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, where several parties were attempting to cross into Virginia with supplies for the Confederate army, consisting of arms, ammunition, clothing, etc. The parties thus engaged were arrested, and with the goods loaded on a canal boat and taken to Harper's Ferry and turned over to Col. Miles' command. The squad returned to the Valley church that evening, and having traveled about thirty-five miles that day, both men and horses were entirely exhausted.

About July 10 the company moved to Lovettsville and camped in the German Reformed church. This proved to be a very popular camp, being situated in the center of the German settlement, amongst friends. About twenty -five recruits enrolled their names here.

(page 29)

Capt. Samuel C. Means, Lieut. Edwin R. Gover, Quartermaster Charles F. Anderson, Orderly Sergeant James A. Cox, Commissary Sergeant Edward T. White, Sergeants Flemon B. Anderson, David E. B. Hough, T. W. Franklin, Henry C. and Isaac S. Hough, Edward Bond, Samuel, William, Joseph F., George W., and Robert W. Hough, Fenton P. and Charles F. Rinker, from in and around Waterford, were, more or less of Quaker lineage.

Lient. Luther W. Slater, Sergeants James H. Beatty and John P. Hickman, George V. Kern, Samuel, Joseph and Peter C. Fry, Jacob Cordell, Samuel E. Tritapoe, George C. Tritapoe Jacob E. Boryer, Charles and George W. Baker, Samuel J. and W. J. Cooper, George P., John M., and Presley A. Davis, Thomas, Charles, and Henry Dixon, Armistead Everhart, Briscoe Goodhart, Philip H. Heater, Mahlon H. Best, Edward Jacobs, Joseph T. Ritchie, John Ambrose, Charles F. Moreland, Albert C. Mock, John Denhart, George Swope, Charles Stout, Charles D. Spring, Charles H. Snoots, William Shoemaker, John W., Charles W., and Richard Virts, Frank Mormon, James Stoneburner, Johnathan Myers, Jacob Long, coming from around Lovettsville and Taylortown, were of German ancestry.

While a very large majority of the command belonged to the German and Quaker stock, there was quite a sprinkling of other nationalities, principally Scotch-Irish, comprising Lieut. D. M. Keyes, W. S. Keyes, Sergeants James H. Corbin, Milton S. and James W. Gregg, Joseph T. Divine, Bugler John S. Densmore, Michael McMullen, J. C. McCutcheon, D. J., George H., and Robert S. Harper, John W. Forsythe, Peter Miles, Charles McDade, George Welch, James W. and Sylvester Shackelford, and Joseph T. Cantwell.

(page 8)

Analysis

The units for that Frank Myers and Briscoe Goodhart served in became active the first half of 1862. However, the first action mentioned in their books was separated by about 6 months. Frank Myers wrote about his first act as a soldier related to his role as a courier for the 35^th Virginia Cavalry stationed in the town Hamilton between Leesburg and Winchester in January1862. Shortly afterward he went into duty rounding up delinquent members of the local 57^th Virginia militia unit. Briscoe Goodhart’s first action came in July of 1862. Freshly enlisted in the Loudoun Independent Rangers, he was stationed along the Potomac River. His unit’s job was to arrest people who were buying war materials in Baltimore with the intent of taking them to Virginia.

Even though both units were organized to act as scouts in a contested region, one gets the sense that the transition was difficult. While on opposites sides, both patrolled a large piece of the Potomac Piedmont. Both units had a mission to bring a degree of law and order to a place that was largely beyond the control of government. This section of the book also found the authors learning the ways of war in a no man’s land. There are stories of success like when the Rangers intercept a large amount of war material on its way to Virginia (Goodhart 29). There are stories of learning how to drill (Goodhart 28). There are also stories of men who hurt themselves due to accidentally discharging their weapons (Goodhart 28). There are also passages describing the enemy. Frank Myers describes men who have fled Virginia for Maryland to take up service in the “army of Abraham I” (Myers 19).

In the larger context, both authors explain their actions in relation to the well-known men who organized their units. For the 35^th Virginia Cavalry, that included a lengthy biography of Elijah White. Details about him include where he was from, his activities in the conflict in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces (page 8), as well as his rise to fame during the Battle of Balls Bluff (page 11). Sam Means was the founder of the Loudoun Independent Rangers. In a similar fashion, Briscoe Goodhart took pains to describe founder Sam Mean as a successful businessman and steadfast loyalist (pages 23-24). He also related the connections he had to leaders in the federal government like Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War. It is clear that both books want to show their units were organized by important and influential members of their Loudoun communities.

Recounting the first action of both units also presents an opportunity to list the men who were there. Frank Myers lists some of the men who acted as couriers like Ben Conrad and James Harper. Briscoe Goodhart lists the names of the first people who joined the Rangers like James A. Cox of Hamilton and Charles Anderson. Later he mentioned more enlistees and groups. First come the Quakers, then the Germans, and finally, men from “a sprinkling of other nationalities.”

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