Jackson Commands Union Artillerymen at Port Republic

By Carl L. Sell Jr. · Originally published May 2020 · p. 15

Port Republic is a small hamlet located in the Shenandoah Valley’s Rockingham County. It is nestled between the North River and the South River, where the two meet to form the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. Massanutten Mountain separates the two Shenandoah River branches and creates the Luray Valley to its east. The South Fork flows north through the Luray Valley to Front Royal where it meets the North Fork, then continues as the Shenandoah to the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Geography is unimportant in Port Republic, for direction is not what it normally seems. The major rivers all flow north because the Blue Ridge and Allegany Mountains bracketing the Shenandoah Valley increase in height as they go south. Maybe that’s why Stonewall Jackson had his headquarters in Port Republic on June 8, 1862. The Confederate major general’s army was battling Union forces as part of the 1862 Valley Campaign. The two forces were separated by the North River. Suddenly, Union cavalry rushed toward the North River Bridge, deployed as cover while artillerymen unlimbered their cannon and prepared to shell the Confederates. Exactly what happened next depends on who is telling the story, but it is certain that the Union gunners retired and Jackson rode across the bridge to safety, unscathed, amidst a hail of gunfire. Private Henry Clay Clement of the Sixth Virginia Cavalry was there; he remembered the incident in “War Recollections of the Confederate Veterans of Pittsylvania County, Virginia,” compiled by his daughter-in-law, Maud Carter Clement. The recollections were written between 1910 and 1915. Henry Clay Clement died November 19, 1919. “When the general mounted his horse to return to the army and rode up to the bridge, he discovered it held not by his own men but the enemy,” Clement wrote. “Without a moment’s hesitation in a commanding voice he ordered the artillerymen to remove that gun. When Jackson gave a command one’s impulse was to obey at once; his order this time was immediately executed by his enemy, then putting spurs to his horse he dashed across the bridge. The Yankee cavalry fired after him but he escaped unhurt. “On reaching the top of the hill leading down to the bridge, Jackson met the Sixth Virginia Cavalry and halted them to give his order to Colonel [Thomas] Flournoy.” Clement said he had frequently been in Jackson’s presence, carrying and bringing orders, and “while a very approachable man, yet he was always grave and serious. But in this conversation with Colonel Flournoy he smiled and sensed [sic - seemed] much amused as I supposed he recounted his adventure at the bridge. We received his orders to take and hold the bridge ……..which we did with the assistance of a brigade of infantry.” That same day, three Confederate brigades under the command of Major General Richard (Baldy) Ewell defeated a larger Union force led by Major General John C. Fremont at nearby Cross Keys. Jackson had split his command to thwart a Union pincer movement that moved down the Luray Valley and threatened the Confederates’ rear. Two days earlier, Union cavalry had attacked the Sixth Virginia Cavalry serving as Jackson’s rear guard at Harrisonburg. The action claimed the life of Brigadier General Turner Ashby, a Confederate cavalry leader. Ashby’s body was carried to Port Republic and then Charlottesville, where he was buried. His body was later moved to Winchester and interred next to his younger brother, Captain Richard Ashby, who had been killed July 3, 1861. The day after Ewell’s victory at Cross Keys, Jackson attacked across the South River. The Union forces were dug in atop a fortification called “The Coaling” and were extremely difficult to dislodge. It wasn’t until a Louisiana brigade under Ewell’s command arrived and settled the issue that the Union forces withdrew down the Valley toward safety. Fremont’s army could only watch from across the river because Ewell had destroyed the bridge after his troops crossed to help Jackson. Jackson and his 15,000 men neutralized 60,000 Union soldiers in the Valley. The Union leadership, fearing for the safety of Washington, D.C., turned down their transfer to Major General George McClellan, whose Peninsula Campaign was approaching Richmond. After a short rest, Jackson moved his forces to Richmond at the request of Robert E. Lee, the new Confederate commander. With Jackson’s support, Lee drove McClellan down the Peninsula, ended the threat to Richmond, and both sides settled in for a long war Clement was captured at Five Forks on April 1, 1865, and sent to Elmira, N.Y., prison camp. He was released June 23, returned to Danville, and married Harriet Morrison on October 24, 1866. He was 26 and she was two years younger. They operated a farm near Callands in Pittsylvania County and had seven children before she died in 1885. Clement married Harriet’s older sister, Caroline (Callie) Morrison, the following year. Callie died in 1928 at age 90. Clement served two years in the Virginia Legislature (1899–1900). Jackson’s narrow escape on June 8, 1862, is part of the exhibits at the Port Republic Museum, 8691 Water Street, 24471, Port Republic, Va.. For this story, the author and Ben Trittipoe visited Port Republic in an effort to make sure we had our directions straight. Genealogist Karen Connair helped make sure Private Clements’ marital status was presented accurately. Carl Sell has written books about his great grandfather and great uncle, both of whom were wounded and survived Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. He also has written about Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart and is a frequent contributor to the Civil War News. He can be reached at 703-971-4716 or [email protected].