Seeing the Elephant at McDowell, Virginia on May 8, 1862
On May 8th, 1862, my great-great grandfather Lamont and the men of company D, 82nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry arrived in McDowell, Virginia after marching 34 miles in 24 hours from Franklin (now in West Virginia). The regiment was part of Schenck’s brigade, a 2,500 man force from John Fremont’s Mountain Department tasked with containing Confederate forces in the rugged terrain that made up western Virginia between Ohio and the eastern edge of the Shenandoah valley. Marching on the south branch of the Potomac River, across Straight Creek Road and up the Parkersburg-Staunton turnpike, they linked up with Milroy’s brigade of approximately 3,500 troops. Milroy was operating east of Monterey, Virginia under Fremont’s orders to scout out as necessary to learn the enemy’s activities on the important road and to keep the rebels from using the turnpike for an advance toward Parkersburg, where Fremont was recruiting in Ohio and western Virginia. Milroy had occupied McDowell for several weeks, but freezing rain and snow had delayed either reinforcements or confederate attack in his exposed position. For Schenck’s brigade, making the march and reinforcing Milroy, the strengthening of the federals in McDowell was the goal, and nobody expected the town to become the location of their first battle, their first chance to “see the elephant.”
Within just a few hours of their arrival, the men of the 82nd OVI joined Milroy’s brigade in an attack directly up the face of a line of hills just east of McDowell, overlooking the town. Schenck, who outranked Milroy, took command of the small combined force, and observing the massing troops of Edward Johnson and Stonewall Jackson above on the heights of Sitlington’s Hill, decided to attack the enemy, even though it would require the union forces to cover ground which included several separate elevations totaling nearly 800 feet, ranging from 30 to 70 degrees while under fire.
Over a period of more than four hours the union troops assaulted the lines, with the 82nd OVI attacking first on the right flank of the confederate line, against the 25th Virginia, pushing them back onto the line. Moving backward down the last slope through a ravine, the 82nd made a second assault to its right, directly into the center of the line, against the 12th Georgia and 44th Virginia, atop Sitlington’s Hill, as the 75th and 25th Ohio withdrew from their first phase attack.
At the end of the battle, as the union forces retreated back down to the town, the confederates were able to claim a victory in the tactical sense, holding the hill, but at a cost of nearly 600 casualties, double the number of federals reported dead or wounded. The 82nd OVI counted the highest casualties for the union, and company D, Lamont’s company from Marion county, Ohio, had the largest loss of life for the regiment as a company. On the other side, the 12th Georgia lost nearly 200 men, dead and wounded, after fighting against the first wave and the 82nd’s second attack. Additionally, the 25th Virginia, the first line attacked by the 82nd OVI, had the second highest casualty count for the confederates. The 82nd OVI’s newly issued Enfield rifles proved their worth, reversing the standard military assumption that an assaulting force, moving up a steep hill, required a mass ratio of at least 2:1 to achieve a victory.
Strategically, the battle was important to Stonewall Jackson, his first victory to begin his successful campaigns in 1862, even though it was militarily a draw. It became the basis for his legend, and allowed him to increase his operational command with permanent control over Richard Ewell’s division and Edward (Old Alleghany) Johnson’s division, to form his own corps, the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. the 82nd OVI would meet Stonewall’s men over and over again, until their last direct fight north of Gettysburg on July 1st as they rushed to the flank of the Union I Corps already engaged northwest of the town.
Author’s apology LOL: Sorry for the excessive use of the word “hill” in my narration. Suffice it to say, the number of elevation changes was stunning, particularly considering the fact that the battle was a choice by the Union to assault a hill with no military value, could not be held for strategic or tactical purposes, and would require immense effort on the part of the union volunteers.
One of the results of “Seeing the Elephant” for men on both sides was the moral dilemma of taking a human life, a particular philosophical and emotional problem studied by modern military psychologists, ethicists, and historians. This was an up-close and personal battle, including rifle volleys and bayonet charges, even as both sides were learning the impact of new rifle technology and the challenge of leading small communities of volunteer farmers, storekeepers, and laborers in modern industrial war. Keeping men together on an uphill, overhand climb of 200 feet at a time with an enemy shooting down at you is enough of a challenge. Even more sobering, pulling a trigger or thrusting a bayonet into the flesh of another human being was a new experience for both sides. In an interview with The Highland Recorder in 1927, George W. Sponaugle, a member of the 25th Virginia, shared his thoughts about his experience shooting down at the union forces climbing uphill at McDowell. “Every time I saw a head I shot at it…I expect I came as near killing some of them as the next one, but it is better that one does not know for certain. It does not weigh so hard on one’s mind.”(1) On the other side, this matches the contemporary letters of Ephraim Hutchison, a member of Lamont’s company D, 82nd OVI, who served as a company medic due to his pre-war education in science at Ohio Wesleyan College. “They generaly overshot us their officers could be heard commanding their men to fire low, but our wounded and killed were generaly shot in the head, about the breast, and in their arms. Many of our boys had their guns shot to pieces. A ball would strike the stock and shitter it, driveing the splinters into their hands and faces, they would pick up a gun that would be handy by and go to work as usual.” (2) Among company D’s casualties, both of the company’s lieutenants were casualties, shot in the head or shoulder as Hutchison noted. George Diebold, wounded in the shoulder, died shortly after Hutchison’s letter dated May 21, 1862; Samuel Berry, the other officer, was disabled with a gruesome wound in the head, which he would live with for nearly 7 years before death due to complications.
When I think of Ohio farm-boys and store-keepers charging up hills in Virginia, pulling their first trigger, I hear Benjamin Tod of The Lost Dog Street Band singing “Weight of A Trigger.” Selected lyrics:
“The weight of a trigger is more than you’d figure, its a crutch for Atlas to stand, and the consequence, in his defense, was more than he planned, lead drives the heart of man…
The fall of a hammer, is darker and deeper, than, any grain of ocean sand…
…With your breathing right, and iron sights, so you could understand, lead drives the heart of man..”
Enjoy the video link below, if you want to follow my Spotify playlists including Lamont’s War, you will find Benjamin Tod, Kevin Costner and Modern West, Rhiannon Giddens, and many other artists! Just click on the Spotify button above and sign in to your account (you can open a free account to follow as well) and search for The Americanologist.
A BIG Thank You to Lorraine and Jim White at Laurel Point Retreat in Monterey, VA, for their kind welcome on my trip to the battlefield on the anniversary of the battle! If you ever are staying overnight in Highland County Virginia, this is the only place to stay!
Also, check out the Highland County Historical Society if you are ever in McDowell, they are a great caretaker of the local history of their beautiful county.
(1) The Highland Recorder, (Monterey, VA) “The Battle of McDowell,” Recollections of George W. Sponaugle, Feb 25, 1927. from Richard L. Armstrong, Jackson’s Valley Campaign: The Battle of McDowell, March 11 - May 18, 1862, 2nd Ed. (H.E. Howard, Lynchburg: VA), p.67
(2) Hutchison, Ephraim, Letter dated May 21, 1862, held at U.S. Army Military Institute, Carlisle PA.
