whole lotta marchin’ goin’ on … despite the forged orders
I don’t know how true this is, but it is a pretty creative way to try to hinder the Confederate advance in northern Virginia.
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 27, 1862:
A Daring spy Hung.
A man named Mason, a resident of Fairfax county, Va., but a native of Pennsylvania, was [h]ung near Gordonsville a few days since. The division commanded by Gen. Longstreet was pushing for a point which it was known the enemy desired to reach and occupy. As the column was pressing forward a courier, pretending to have orders from Gen. Lee, halted each brigade until he reached the last, when Longstreet, observing the movement, desired to know what it meant. He was told that General Lee had ordered the halt, and upon demanding to know the authority for the order from General Lee, was pointed to the courier, who had not had time to make his escape. The man was immediately arrested by Longstreet, who frustrated his designs. He was examined and condemned on the spot. Forged orders to both Jackson and Hill were found on his person, those for Longstreet having been delivered, and he acknowledged that he had been acting as a Confederate scout for eleven months, and all that time was a traitor and a spy. He was then condemned and executed in about fifteen minutes.
The map by Hal Jasperson is licensed by Creative Commons
