March 17, 1863: Herndon Station Raid
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The Charge on the Station and Capture of Enlisted Men:
As they got close to the station, Mosby ordered his men to charge. According to one account, the initial charge was with sabers, but rapidly turned into a pistol charge.
Some of the Vermonters at the station were taken captive immediately, too surprised to be able to move in time. Most ran for shelter in neighboring houses and were pursued by Ranges who fired their pistols through the thin weather-boarding of the houses eventually causing many to surrender.
A large number of the Yankees had sought refuge in the upper floor nearby sawmill. Mosby entered the building , accompanied by Ranger John Peyton deButts and demanded their surrender. At first, they refused but when Mosby threatened to set fire to the building, they realized that they would be trapped with no escape route and surrendered without a shot being fired.
Over half of the Vermonters taking refuge in local houses managed to escape detection and were not captured, but a total of 21 enlisted men, mostly from Company L, but some from Companies A, B and M, were now Mosby's captives. Sgt. Atchison was lying on the ground and thought by Mosby to be more seriously wounded than he was and was therefore not captured. Twenty six Yankee horses were tied up nearby and Mosby's men rounded them up.
The Capture of the Officers:
As the Rangers began to depart with their prisoners they observed four horses tied in front of the residence of Nat Hanna across the road.
Links: On this Site:
Herndon Raid
Reenactment,
March 15 2003Accounts of the Raid
from Various Primary and Secondary
SourcesMosby's Men Who
Took Part in the
Herndon RaidFederal Soldiers
Captured by Mosby's
Men at HerndonBiography of Major
William WellsMosby's Rangers
History of the
CommandOther Sites:
The Alexandria,
Loudoun
and Hampshire
Railroad
During the Civil War
(From the W&OD trail website)History of Herndon
(From the W&OD trail website)
Hanna was a Union sympathizer who operated a store at the station, moving in after the railroad became non-function. The horses belonged to Major William Wells , Captain Robert Scofield, Jr. 2nd Lt. Perley C.J. Cheney and Lt. Alexander G. Watson. Lt. Watson was the commander of the post at Herndon. The others were visiting from headquarters, reportedly investigating complaints that their men were pilfering from the local citizenry.
The four officers had been inside eating lunch, prepared by Nat Hanna's wife, Kitty Kitchen Hanna, who was known as a good cook. She had laid on quite a spread, including sending her son to a neighbors to get some newly-baked pies.
Accounts differ as to what happened next. Mrs. Hanna's brother in law conducted Capt. Scofield and Major Wells to a dark cubbyhole off the main part of the attic where they could hide. According to Col. Mosby's version of the story, Lt. Watson and Cheney dashed out of the house, guns blazing, perhaps with the idea of creating a diversion so that their senior officers could avoid capture. According to another version, all four officers hid in the attic.
In any event Cheney and Watson were captured, but as there had been more than two horses outside, the rebels assumed that there were others still present. The only possibility was the attic garret. On of the Rangers, reported possibly to be James "Big Yankee" Ames, fired into the attic, demanding their surrender. Capt. Scofield then surrendered , but according to at least two accounts, including that of Colonel Mosby himself, Major Wells missed his footing in the dark, and as the cubbyhole had only three floorboards, slipped and stepped on the lathing of the ceiling, which gave way and caused him make a rather spectacular entrance, crashing down through the ceiling into the midst of the partisans. (1)
Before leaving, the Rangers ate the four lunches that had been left, uneaten on the table. Mosby historian John Scott, in his 1867 book cited elsewhere states that "as soon as the officers had delivered up their arms, the men attacked the dinner on the table and soon dispatched it."
However, they may not have surrendered their arms at all--if one can believe an old Herndon town story. The original house is no longer standing, but Herndon "old timers" recounted the story years later that Maj. Wells and Col. Scofield, once they had concluded that resistance was futile, dropped their guns from their attic hideaway down through the side of the house so that the weapons would not be captured by the Rangers. Years later, the officer would write to the family in the house, telling the story. A hole was cut in the wall and the guns were where the officers said they would be. They were returned to their originals owners and the patch was still visible until the house was torn down and rebuilt in the early 20th century.
The Escape and Pursuit:
The Rangers regrouped, adding their new prisoners to the group to be led off to the Rangers' home base in northern Fauquier. The officers were allowed to ride their own horses, which the officers apparently appreciated very much, a point which Lt. Perley Cheney made in a letter to Col. Mosby long after the war.The prisoners and their guards, led by Fairfax county native and guide John Underwood, rode off first, followed by the rest of the troopers under the command of Dick Moran, one of the oldest men in Mosby's command. Mosby stayed behind with a rear guard of 12 men, to defend the party in case the expected Federal relief unit showed up.
A nearby Federal cavalry camp, (presumably the main camp at Dranesville) was alerted by the gunfire and sent a detachment under the command of Lt. Edwin H. Higley, Co. K. of the First Vermont. It is probable that this group was also the relief column that had been expected that afternoon and for whom Mosby's men had been mistaken.
Higley's men were a good 15-30 minutes behind the rangers, but were able to move faster not being encumbered with prisoners and captured horses.
As Mosby's men crossed Horsepen Run, southwest of the depot, where Mosby and the rear guard overtook Moran's group. Just as they had crossed the creek, Lt. Higley and his men caught up with the raiders and opened fire from the opposite bank. Mosby, with both the rear guard and Moran's men, were on a hill above the stream and challenged the Yankees to cross. The stream was too deep and the Federals declined and instead dismounted and opened fire with carbines but apparently the rebs were just out of range for firing uphill.
Mosby held his ground until Underwood and the prisoners were far enough away to be safe from pursuit and then rode off. Daunted by the depth of the creek, Higley turned back.
Maj. Charles Taggart who commanded the picket lines in the area, blamed Higley for the raiders escape and tried unsuccessfully to have him dishonorably discharged. (2)
Parole and Exchange of the Prisoners:
Underwood and the prisoners proceeded to Benjamin Chappelier's farm on the Upperville / Piedmont (now Delaplane) Pike. They were fed dinner and given a place to stay the night. Mosby and the rear guard joined up with the command again in the morning. He decided to parole the enlisted men and set them off on foot for Harper's Ferry, where they could link up with the Union army there and obtain transportation back to their regiment.According to Major John Scott's Partisan Life With Col. John S. Mosby (1867), "They were in high spirits, and thought it not a bad thing to be captured by the guerrilla Mosby, and get a furlough until they could be exchanged."
The officers were escorted to Culpeper, to be conveyed to Brigadier General Fitzhugh Lee. Under their parole of honor not to attempt to escape, they were put in the charge of a Ranger known to history only as "Jake the Hungarian." Jake was convinced that paroles of honor were worthless and conceived a plan to keep his captives from escaping by offering to black their boots at night. His theory was that no self-respecting cavalry officer would attempt to escape and Jake therefore slept each night clutching four pairs of Cavalry boots!
From Culpeper, the officers were sent to Richmond, where they were imprisoned for a few weeks before being exchanged.
After the prisoners had been sent their various ways, Mosby disbanded the command with orders to reassemble the following Monday, March 23 and the usual rendezvous point at Rector's Cross Roads (now Atoka) in Fauquier County.
Footnotes:(1) If this story is indeed true, the potential embarrassment of the experience did Major Wells' military reputation no harm. He went on to win the Congressional Medal of Honor at Gettysburg, where he is honored with a statue on the battlefield and ended the war as a Major General, having originally enlisted as a private. Sgt. Blin Atchison, the one soldier wounded in the melee, was mercilessly ribbed by his comrades for having been shot in the left buttock, showing that he had turned tail and run. A bit harsh, considering that's what they ALL were doing. With a surprise attack at close quarters, it was the only sensible course of action.
(2) See Taggart's letter in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion excepts in our Sources section. Notes supplied by local historian Lea Coryell: Capt. Frank Huntoon (Co. H, 1st Vermont) was also a victim of the (Taggart) crackdown. He led a force that Mosby attacked and captured at Aldie Mill on March 2, 1863 (fifteen days before the Herndon raid). Huntoon was also dismissed, but not reinstated. Also captured with Huntoon at Aldie was Capt. Woodward and some troopers from Co. M. Some troopers from Co. M were captured at Herndon--they probably talked about their captured captain and comrades while on post.
Visit MosbysRangers.comFor information on the event, contact:
Richard Downer: mosbysraid@HRIAssociates.com
(general information, logistics, civic involvement)
Kathryn Coombs: MosbyWeb@aol.com
(reenactors, living history program, website)