A couple correspondents from the New York 1st Veteran cavalry maintained that the Union occupation of Staunton, Virginia in early June 1864 was quite well-received by the citizens. SENECA said everything was passing off quite smoothly as the Union demolished the city’s railroads. Charley Wisewell stated that most of the people of Staunton were happy to see the Yanks, even as they destroyed the railroads and “Government manufactories”. 150 years ago today a letter was published in Richmond that balanced the story. The Yankees damaged private property and stole food. The Union band apparently accompanied much of the mayhem.
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch June 24, 1864:
The enemy in Staunton.
A letter from Staunton contains some interesting particulars of the Yankee occupation of that place. We give the following:
Saturday,June 4th, 1864.
There were reports that the Yankee army was only ten miles from town. Sunday morning many persons were busy sending away their goods and chattels, but the town was comparatively quiet. In the afternoon, as people returned from church, they heard the sorrowful news of the defeat at New Hope and the Yankees advancing on Staunton. It was thought that perhaps they might enter the town that night, but they did not. Monday morning all continued quiet; few but women and children waiting to see what would come next. They had not to wait long. The Yankee cavalry came dashing down the old stage road from Richmond. These were followed by their infantry, and artillery–thirty pieces. The number of Yankees in Staunton, including Crook’s men, who did not enter the town till Wednesday, was fifteen thousand.
Gens. Hunter, Averill, Crook, Sullivan, and Stahl, were in command. When Crook’s men arrived, all the houses were searched for provisions. In one case, on Monday, a man ascended the stairs of a dwelling and demanded food. A young lady told him there was none up there and he must go to the kitchen. He drew his pistol upon her, but she stood firm, and succeeded at last in making him go to the kitchen. Guards were placed at various points, and good order in general preserved. Tuesday morning, several Confederate scouts dashed down the Richmond road and fired, and a little skirmish ensued. A great panic followed. A part of the Yankee cavalry raced up the road after our men, but did not catch them, and the whole Yankee army skedaddled out of town, thinking our army was coming. After a while they came back. They broke open the stores and distributed the contents to the negroes and some white people who had given them information. They burned the depot and the steam mill, and broke up the machinery of the shoe factory. They intended to have burned this, and it was only saved by the earnest and long-continued entreaties of the citizens, who feared that it would involve half the town in flames. On Thursday they blew up one of the elegant stone bridges of the Central Railroad, at each explosion their band playing exultantly. The stone bridge nearest Richmond would have been blown up on Friday, but they left on that day. Thursday night the woolen factory was burnt, the band playing all the time. In Crook’s search of the houses on Wednesday he get five hundred barrels of flour from Staunton alone, the same number that was captured from them on the day of the New Hope fight. The persons engaged in searching the houses behaved, in some instances, outrageously.
All the Government shops and stables were burned, and the railroad torn up for six miles. Gen. Hunter, who is described as a horrid old wretch, next to Beast Butler, was so enraged by the skirmish of Tuesday, that he declared he was going to burn the town, insisting that it was the work of citizens. This demoniac purpose was not carried out. As an example of the liquor drinking propensities of the Yankees, a lady whose house was molested by a drunken soldier, went to the Provost Marshal for protection, but found he was drunk also, and could not be seen. Another example of Yankee meanness. When one of the Government shops was burned, several private houses caught on fire. The Yankees had a splendid fire brigade which put these fires out, using the Staunton hose and engine. They then broke two of the latter, and cut up six hundred feet of the hose, leaving the population helpless against any future fire. They had tents pitched in the Episcopal church yard and horses turned in there. At the residence of Hugh W. Shefley, Esq, a short distance from town, they stole a large quantity of provisions and clothing, and trampled down his wheat. The headquarters of Gen. Sullivan, who is described as a very gentlemanly man, were at the residence of the late Wm. King. On Thursday evening intelligence was received of the Confederate victory of the 3d of June, and on Friday the Yankee army left, professing not to know where they were going. If anything was needed to intensity the patriotism of the people of Staunton this visitation would have done it. Nevertheless they say, “If our brave and noble Jackson had been living the Yankees would not have got here.”
Encyclopedia Virginia supports the idea that the damage inflicted by the federals was more than just a sort of neat surgical strike against public property. And besides an economy is integrated. People were working at the wool factory, &c.
