Special Edition: Easter in the Valley (April 20, 1862)
With Nathaniel Bank’s Union forces slowly advancing up the Shenandoah Valley from the north towards Harrisonburg and Luray, Virginia, Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson met with Ed ‘Allegheny’ Johnson, commander of the brigade-sized Army of the Northwest, at his camp near Conrad’s Store (modern day Elkton) to discuss plans for a possible offensive against John C. Frémont’s forces advancing from the west. To secure his position, Jackson sent Jedediah Hotchkiss, his staff aide and personal map maker, to burn the Red and Columbia bridges, “across the South Fork of the Shenandoah, on the roads leading from New Market eastward.” Jackson chose Hotchkiss for this important task because he had worked as a family tutor for Henry Forrer, owner of the nearby Shenandoah Iron-Works, and was familiar with the area. Jackson detailed two companies of Turner Ashby’s Seventh Virginia Cavalry for the mission. These included Captain George F. Sheetz’s Hampshire Riflemen (Co. F, 7th Va. Cavalry) and Captain Macon Jordan’s Massanutten Rangers (Co. F, 7th Va. Cavalry).
The mission was “plagued with problems” from the beginning. Not only did Hotchkiss have to deal with incessant rain and sloppy roads, most of the cavalrymen he met at the Iron-Works, including Captain Jordan, were, in Hotchkiss’ words, “under the influence of apple-jack.” He detailed the unfortunate incident in a letter to his wife.
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