I. INTRODUCTION
Albert Gallatin
Jenkins was born November 10, 1830, on the plantation at
Greenbottom which his father, William Jenkins, had owned and
occupied since 1825. Between the ages of fourteen and eighteen
he attended Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
After his graduation there in 1848 he entered upon the study of
law at Harvard University, and in 1850 was admitted to the bar.
In 1856, he went as a delegate to the National Democratic
Convention held in Cincinnati, and from 1857 to 1861 he
represented his district in the 36th and 37th Congresses. In
April 1861, he resigned his seat in Congress, feeling impelled
to ally himself at once with the Confederate cause.
Jenkins performed
illustrious services as a leader of cavalry in the border
warfare that was waged in Western Virginia. An English writer
regarded him as a romantic border chieftain, who had led his
people in swift and inexplicable forays to wrest their freedom
from an invader.
His military
experience was attended by fitting recognition and promotion.
The Confederate high command called him to assist in carrying
out their purposes in other theaters of war, on one occasion
choosing him above all other Confederate cavalrymen for a
service of major importance. The following paragraphs will
attempt to trace the trend of this man's Civil War career, to
give an account of some of his exploits, to present an estimate
of his character as a soldier, and as an implement in the
Confederate cause.
II. 1861
After leaving
Washington, Jenkins returned to his home at Greenbottom where,
on April 20, 1861, he was elected captain of a company composed
of a hundred and one riflemen from Cabell and Mason counties.
Jenkins converted the members of his company into cavalrymen and
gave them the name of Border Rangers. On May 29, 1861,
they were sworn in as Confederate soldiers.
Jenkins
immediately identified himself with the Virginia forces who were
fighting to defend the Kanawha Valley. In the latter part of
June he advanced from Charleston to Point Pleasant with a party
of fifty men. There he captured several prominent citizens who
had been active in the movement for the partition of the state.
Colonel J. S. Norton of the First Regiment of Ohio State Troops,
at Gallipolis, crossed the river and made an attempt to overtake
Jenkins. Having failed in this, the Ohio officer ordered his men
to make a thorough search for Secessionists. The Ohioans found
thirty of these whom they held as hostages. This raid brought
Jenkins to the attention of the public.
On June 17, at the
battle of Scary Creek, near St. Albans, the action of Jenkins
made possible a victory which was the first success for the
Southerners in an open fight, and did much to restore their
confidence. Colonel George S. Patton of the Twenty-second
Virginia Infantry tried to defend his position on Scary Creek
against superior numbers and equipment. With the wounding of
Patton, panic seized the Virginians, and many of them fell back.
Jenkins and others restored order, but shortly afterward a
second panic succeeded. At that point Jenkins himself took
command, a rally followed, and the Federals were driven back and
forced to recross the Kanawha River.
After the battle
of Scary, Jenkins was made Colonel of the Eighth Virginia
Regiment of which his original command, the Border Rangers,
became Company E.
On August 25,
1861, Jenkins's cavalry was defeated at Hawk's Nest, near
Piggot's Mill, by an infantry ambuscade. This was the result of
his "incautiously advancing" and replacing the guards of General
Henry A. Wise, who was taking every precaution for the defense
of his lines. By this act of interference Jenkins unnecessarily
imperiled his men, several of whom were wounded.
On the night of
November 10, 1861, Jenkins with seven hundred men made a swift
surprise attack upon the Regiment of Ninth Virginia Infantry,
then in process of formation at Guyandotte. Of the one hundred
and fifty at that time comprising the body, only those escaped
who fled or concealed themselves at the outset, and Jenkins
captured all their papers, books, and rolls. The next morning
the steamboat Boston came up from Portsmouth, Ohio,
bringing two hundred of the Fifth Virginia Regiment. These
soldiers turned the cannon upon the town and afterward burned
the most valuable property in Guyandotte. From there the Jenkins
command went into winter-quarters at the camp meeting ground in
Russell County, Virginia.
By this time
Jenkins had reduced the territory lying between the Guyandotte
and Big Sandy rivers to a state of anarchy. In December 1861 a
petition, drawn up at Wheeling and signed by Governor Francis H.
Pierpont, requested Abraham Lincoln to send a strong official
who would be capable of stamping out rebellion in that region.
The petition informed the President that it was through the
highways of the Guyandotte and Big Sandy River valleys that the
Confederates had from the beginning transported supplies to
their armies. Also in December 1861, Jenkins was endorsed for
the commission of brigadier general.
II. 1862
While serving thus
as a soldier in his native borderland, Jenkins had been elected
to represent the Fourteenth Virginia Congressional District in
the first Congress of Confederate States. He served as
Congressman only from the opening date, February 18, 1862, until
August 6, 1862, for at that time he was issued the commission of
brigadier general and sent back to the battlefield.
In August and
September 1862, Jenkins performed his most brilliant military
exploit, a raid into West[ern] Virginia and Ohio. Major General
William W. Loring, commanding Department of Western Virginia,
sent him out with about five hundred and fifty cavalrymen with
orders to sweep around the northwest by the Cheat Valley,
destroy the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and fall upon the rear
of the enemy in the Kanawha Valley, about September 8.
Jenkins left the
Salt Sulphur Springs in Monroe County August 22, marched through
the Great Sewell settlement of Pocahontas County, over the
mountain, and down the headwaters of the Tygart's River Valley.
He had expected to surprise Beverly, but upon hearing that it
had been heavily reinforced, decided not to make the attack.
Crossing Rich Mountain by a trail leading through thirty miles
of wilderness, Jenkins finally emerged from the fastness and
entered the Buckhannon River Valley. The home guards of that
region fired upon him constantly, but he drew near to Buckhannon
and, by a skillful arrangement of his cavalry, defeated his
enemy and took possession of the town.
At Buckhannon
Jenkins equipped his men with valuable rifles and other supplies
from the stores he captured and then destroyed the remainder,
including five thousand stand of arms, and ordnance stores and
clothing in large quantities. At Weston the next morning, August
31, the Sixth West Virginia Regiment escaped in the fog, leaving
only a few men. Jenkins destroyed all the public property in
Weston and marched on to Glenville, from which he drove the
Federal guard with a single round of fire.
On September 2, at
Spencer Court House he surprised and captured Colonel J. C.
Rathbone and his entire command, the Eleventh West Virginia
Regiment. Jenkins paroled his prisoners and rode on to Ripley.
There he found a defenseless paymaster from whom he took funds
to the amount of $5,525. Moving on to Ravenswood, he rested his
men there, and on the evening of September 4 forded the Ohio and
set up the flag of the Confederate government on Ohio soil. On a
march of some distance in Ohio, Jenkins took pride in treating
the citizens with consideration. He captured Racine and there
recrossed the river.
General Loring
pronounced this expedition a great success. He said that Jenkins
had executed all but the destruction of the railroad in the time
required, had marched five hundred miles, mostly within hostile
lines, and had accomplished these things: Capture and parole of
three hundred prisoners of war; a thousand enemy casualties;
reclamation of forty thousand square miles of territory for the
Confederate government; destruction of many home guard garrisons
and the records of the Wheeling and Federal governments in many
counties; seizure of many valuable arms for his men, and
destruction of five thousand stands of small arms, one piece of
cannon, and immense stores; an advance of not less than twenty
miles through the State of Ohio, in which his policy of humane
warfare won many friends for the Confederacy; weakening of the
hold of the Federals by arriving on time in their rear.
After his
expulsion from the Kanawha Valley on October 31, 1862, Jenkins
was assigned to work in Greenbrier, Pocahontas, and Nicholas
counties. In December 1862, at the request of General Lee, he
left the Department of Western Virginia and reported for duty in
the Shenandoah Valley. There in the winter of 1862-63, Jenkins
and others constituted the "Valley Defenses." During the winter
of 1862-63 Jenkins also had charge of finding foraging places in
Virginia and North Carolina for the horses and mules of that
department. Moreover, he established a line of couriers between
the Valley and General Lee's headquarters, and guarded the
passes of the mountains.
IV. 1863 and 1864
On March 18, 1863,
Jenkins started with a part of his brigade on another raid
across Western Virginia. At Hurricane Bridge, now Hurricane,
March 27, he arrogantly ordered the Union guard to surrender. A
fight of five hours' duration came to an end with the sullen
withdrawal of Jenkins and his men. On March 30, 1863, he
surprised the garrison at Point Pleasant. Although he succeeded
in driving these men into the courthouse there, he lacked
equipment adequate to dislodge them. After a few hours Jenkins
retired and crossed the Kanawha River.
In June 1863, he
was called to the Shenandoah Valley at the opening of the
Gettysburg campaign and assigned to cooperate in a plan made by
Major General R. E. Rodes as follows: Simultaneous attack on
Winchester and Berryville; the subsequent attack on Martinsburg;
the immediate entrance into Maryland, by way of Williamsport.
Rode's division was to attack and seize Berryville, then to
advance on Martinsburg and move on into Maryland. Other
divisions were to attack and reduce Winchester. At Berryville,
Jenkins drove in the cavalry, but the artillery held his brigade
at bay; he demanded the surrender of Martinsburg, June 14, 1863,
but the Federals held him in check for several hours before
retreating. The fall of Martinsburg cleared the Shenandoah
Valley of United States forces.
On June 16, 17,
and 18, 1863, Jenkin's cavalry helped the quartermasters and
commissaries to obtain supplies for their departments. Although
he had been carefully instructed about transacting this business
by regular purchases, Jenkins did not require his men to account
for large numbers of horses which they seized and kept.
Thus Jenkins led
the way into Pennsylvania. Arriving at Greencastle, he took up
his residence at the home of the editor of the Repository,
in whose clover fields he pastured his horses. Next he occupied
Chambersburg which he had been ordered to hold until the arrival
of the Rodes division. But upon hearing of the approach of
Federals in superior numbers, Jenkins promptly withdrew, leaving
supplies that would have been highly valuable to the Southern
troops. Reoccupying Chambersburg, June 22, he found that the
coveted stores had been removed or concealed after his
departure. On June 27, his cavalrymen were at Carlisle; and
before the concentration at Gettysburg, they had reached
Harrisburg, where Jenkins had made a reconnaissance of defenses
with a view to an attack by Rodes.
Jenkins was
wounded on July 2 in the battle of Gettysburg. His brigade was
taken by Colonel M. J. Ferguson and commanded temporarily by
him. In the organization of the Army of Northern Virginia for
the battle the Jenkins brigade is listed as included in the
division of Major General J. E. B. Stuart, and as consisting of
the Fourteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Regiments, and the
Thirty-fourth and Thirty-sixth Virginia Battalions. The loss of
killed, wounded, or missing, is not of record. General Rodes
mentioned Jenkins as one of nine Confederates who had won
distinction in the Gettysburg campaign.
General Lee stated
that the members of the Jenkins command were affected by a
spirit of localism. In presenting a reorganization plan for the
cavalry, Lee said he had not separated these men, since they
claimed to have been raised for special service in Western
Virginia. It was late in the fall of 1863 before Jenkins had
recovered, and in the meantime his brigade had been on detached
service in the Department of Western Virginia and Tennessee.
In 1864, Jenkins
was again at his mountain work in the Department of Western
Virginia. On February 11, he was organizing a large cavalry
corps to be used in Western Virginia in the coming spring. On
February 21, he was at Callahan's Station with five thousand
men. On February 24, Jenkins and others had a command of seven
thousand at Franklin in Pendleton County.
By the month of
May 1864, Jenkins had been appointed Commander of the Department
of Western Virginia with headquarters at Dublin. Upon hearing
that Brigadier General George Crook, commanding Second Infantry
Division, Department of West Virginia, had advanced from the
Kanawha Valley, with overwhelming numbers, Jenkins took up a
position five miles from Dublin, on Cloyd's Mountain. The battle
known by that name, a bloody defeat for the Confederates was one
of the principal events in a Federal expedition against the
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad made between May 2 and May 19,
1864.
The fighting began
early in the morning of May 9. Crook found that the Southerners
had settled upon a wooded spur, three quarters of a mile beyond
the summit of the mountain. The Second Brigade engaged the
forces of Jenkins. Crook then ordered a charge of the First and
Third Brigades across an intervening meadow. As they charged,
the Confederates fired heavily upon them, throwing part of the
Third into temporary disorder.
Crook's men
arrived at the foot of the spur upon which Jenkins had stationed
his troops the preceding day. Moving steadily upward and
approaching the formidable breastworks on the crest, the
Federals rushed upon Jenkin's men, put them to rout, and killed
and wounded them in great numbers. Jenkins himself fell,
seriously wounded, and was captured.
Colonel John S.
McCausland who had delayed departure from Dublin in order to
join his forces with those of Jenkins for the battle, then took
charge and effected an orderly retreat. Jenkins died on May 24,
1864 at Dublin. On May 27, McCausland was given the commission
of brigadier general and assigned to command the Jenkins
brigade.
V. CONCLUSION
General Jenkins,
then, accomplished much for the Confederate fortunes in Western
Virginia, both by arduous mountain marches and by raids and
forays that served to demoralize the enemy in strategic regions.
He was prominent both in the campaign for the Kanawha Valley and
in the attempt to destroy the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. By
reason of his success, he reached the position of commanding
officer of his department. He played a vital part in the
Shenandoah Valley campaign and assisted materially in the
invasion of Pennsylvania. He was a brilliant, brave, and clement
leader, who exemplified the highest ideals of the proverbial
Confederate cavalryman.
APPENDIX
1. Major Achilles
James Tynes wrote on May 24, 1864:
No more on his
proud steed shall he sweep o'er the plains, cheering by his
ringing voice and flashing eye his struggling cavaliers to deeds
of daring, breasting with the foremost the storm of battle.
2. Major S. M.
Gaines wrote on June 14, 1923 to Miss Margaret Virginia Jenkins:
Your father
commanded a Brigade of Cavalry which he raised and organized. It
was composed of the 14th, 16th, and 17th Regiments and 34th and
36th Battalions, (sic) all cavalry. He was a brilliant
man and one of the most talented and attractive men I ever knew.
he had great personal magnetism, was wonderfully winning. He
served under General Stuart in the Gettysburg campaign. His
command known as Jenkins Brigade.
General Lee had a
very high opinion of his skill as a commander, as was shown by
the fact that when Gen. Lee decided to invade Pennsylvania in
1863 he selected your father in preference to all other cavalry
officers to command the force which was first to enter
Pennsylvania and cleared (sic) the way for the rest of
our army. This he did with great skill and success. He sometimes
commanded several Brigades, a division.
3. E. F. Chapman
in the Huntington
Herald, June 22, 1900, has given the following account of
Jenkins:
That General
Jenkins was a brave man is fully attested by the circumstances
of his death. During the battle of Cloyd's Mountain his brigade
was charged by two Ohio regiments of Federal troops . . . and
repulsed. Then came the charge of the 91 O. V. I. and 9th W.
Va., I, under command of Gen. Duval of Brooke County, this
state. Jenkins' brigade was broken and began a hasty retreat.
The General headed the 45th Virginia and, with drawn sword, was
encouraging the men to stand and cover the retreat of the other
regiments of the brigade. They too fled, leaving the General
alone, when he was shot from his horse and picked up by the
Federal troops. He was taken to the house of Mr. Cloyd (or
Guthrie) and all possible done to aid his recovery, but he died
on the above date.
All in all, Cabell
County never produced a more illustrious son and well may those
of his comrades who still survive feel justly proud of their
leader and military chieftain, who, had he lived, would have
furnished material for some of the brightest pages of our state
and national history. (sic.)
4. In a letter
written from Salem, Virginia, January 28, 1863, to Zebulon B.
Vance, Governor of North Carolina, Jenkins says:
. . . . In thus
distributing these animals, and after overstocking almost every
part of Virginia, it became a matter of necessity to send some
of them to portions of North Carolina where both grain and long
forage were abundant. But unfortunately, there is great
indisposition on the part of the people there to sell their
produce for Confederate money at any price, and I desire to ask
relief at your hands in the form of authority of some kind for
impressment. This authority you can limit with such restrictions
as will make it entirely certain that no injustice will be done
to your people. If some step of this kind is not taken promptly,
and we should be compelled in this portion of Southwestern
Virginia to bring the horses in the service of the Government
back to this section, and thus consume the forage which is
essential to the wants of our armies elsewhere, it is manifest
that most serious detriment to the public service must occur.
Knowing your
disinterested patriotism, not only from your public character
but also from a personal acquaintance which I had the pleasure
of having while we were both members of the old Federal
Congress, and your full and entire devotion to our cause (which
is not the cause of a State, but of the whole South), I have
taken the liberty of addressing you upon the subject. . . .
5. Correspondence
of Jenkins with Colonel B. F. Smith:
Headquarters, Camp
near Martinsburg,
June 14, 1863.
The Commanding
Officer U. S. Forces near Martinsburg:
Sir: I herewith
demand the surrender of Martinsburg. Should you refuse, you are
respectfully requested to notify the inhabitants of the place to
remove forthwith to a place of safety. Small-arms only will be
used for one hour upon the town after your reception of this
note. After that, I shall feel at liberty to shell the town, if
I see proper. Should you refuse to give the necessary
notification to the inhabitants, I shall be compelled to hold
your command responsible.
Very truly yours,
(sic)
A. G. Jenkins,
Brigadier General,
etc.
P. S. An immediate
reply is necessary.
Headquarters, U.
S. Forces
Martinsburg, W.
Va., June 14, 1863.
A. G. Jenkins,
Brigadier General, etc.
General:
Martinsburg will not be surrendered. You may commence shelling
as soon as you choose. I will, however, inform the inhabitants
of your threats.
Very respectfully,
yours, (sic)
B. F. Smith
Colonel,
Commanding U. S. Forces.
6. James D.
Sedinger, a Border Ranger, has written as follows in an account
of the regiment's activities while on duty in Tennessee:
. . . We stayed in
Tazewell and Mercer Counties, Virginia, until October 7th, '63,
when we were ordered to Abingdon, Virginia, to report for duty
to General Wm. E. Jones. The regiment was sent to Bristol,
Tennessee, with orders to do picket and scout on all roads
leading to Bristol. . . . One day while moving out with part of
the Company under Lieutenant Thompson, our orderly Sergeant,
Daniel Ruffner, who had been drinking, struck a citizen with his
revolver. The man who was armed shot the orderly and killed him.
He made his escape and was hid by his friends. We never could
find him. . . .
On another
occasion 8 of the boys went on a little scouting expedition of
their own into Sullivan county Tennessee. There was an old
gentleman of well-known Union sentiments in that part who had
some pretty daughters and some old apple brandy. The boys
slipped by our pickets in round about way and struck the road
about mile from the Yankee guard and came up and charged the old
man's house about 12 o'clock at night waking the gentleman and
all his family. He thinking we were Yanks ordered the whole
family to get up and give the best the house afforded. We had a
splendid supper and plenty of fun with the girls. He gave us all
the brandy we wanted and filled our canteens when we left. Told
us to call at any time we was in that part of the country, and
each one of us should have one of his daughters as they should
not marry anyone but a Union soldier. We thanked the old
gentleman, kissed the girls and left, going the way we came
toward the Yankees. I don't think he ever knew any better.
On November 6th
was ordered to prepare 3 days rations and march to Rogersville,
Tennessee. On the morning of the 8th the old company was ordered
to the front and told to form by 4's as we were to charge a
house that was full of militia and Company A was to support us.
We formed with our revolvers in our hands and started ready for
action at any time. On topping a little hill we found ourselves
within 20 feet of a company of Yanks. Captain Everett ordered a
charge, and at them we went head foremost. They started to run
and it was a horse race for 3 miles in the mud. We did get them
all but the Captain -- his horse was too fast for us or we would
have gotten him. They was the muddiest set of Yanks when we went
back to see how many there was of them, we think, that was ever
captured. We re-formed after the charge, went into Rogersville
and gobbled about all of them that was there. Our captures that
morning amounted to 800 prisoners and one battery of artillery
and a large amount of stores. The boys was pretty well clothed
and shod when we had finished up for the day. We had plenty to
eat for a Confederate soldier -- sardines and hardtack. Several
of them had their haversacks well filled and the canteens was
not forgotten.
