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INFORMATION TO USERS The most advanced technology has been used to photo graph and reproduce this manuscript from the microfilm master. UMI films the original text directly from the copy submitted. Thus, some dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from a computer printer. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyrighted material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are re produced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each oversize page is available as one exposure on a standard 35 mm slide or as a 17" x 23" black and white photographic print for an additional charge. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. 35 mm slides or 6" X 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. A ccessing the World's Information sin ce 1933 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA Order Number 8812226 Gray ghostbusters: Eastern theatre Union Counterguerrilla operations in the Civil War, 1861—1865 Beamer, Carl Brent, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1988 Copyright ©1988 by Beamer, Carl Brent. All rights reserved. UMI SOON. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check__ mark 1. Glossy photographs or pages _ 2. Colored illustrations, paper or ______print 3. Photographs with dark background_____ 4. 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O t h e r_____________________ ______ __________________________ ___________ UMI GRAY GHOSTBUSTERS Eastern Theatre Union Counterguerrilla Operations in the Civil War, 1861-1865 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Carl Brent Beamer, B.S., M.A, ***** The Ohio State University 1988 Dissertation Committee; Approved By A. R, Millett W. Murray Advisor M. L. Dillon Department of History Copyright by Carl Brent Beamer 1988 For the two people who made this work possible: My wife and ity mother. 11 ACKNOwJjEDGnJiCiNTS I wish to express special appreciation to ny advisor. Dr. Allan R. Millett, for his guidance and assistance throughout this project. Thanks also to the other members of ity committee. Dr. Williamson Murray and Dr. Merton Dillon, both of whom provided valuable suggestions and advice. I also want to acknowledge the courtesy of the many nameless staff members at the National Archives \dio helped me find the materials needed. And last, but not least, thanks for the support provided by ny friends and family, vrtiich helped keep me going. Ill VITA July 20, 1954 ......................... Born - Malta, Ohio 1976 ................................. B.S., Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 1979 ................................. M.A. in History, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 1979-1983 . ....................... Graduate Teaching Assistant, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1983-Present ......................... Historian, Newark Air Force Base, Heath, Ohio PUBLICATIONS "Galvanized Yankees in Kansas". Kansas Quarterly. Autumn 1978, pp. 17-25. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: U. S. Military History Studies in European Military History - Dr. Williamson Murray Nineteenth Century America - Dr. Merton Dillon Eighteenth Century America - Dr. Paul Bowers IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNCWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................iii VITA ............................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES .................................................. vi INTRODÜCTICN...................................................... 1 c h a p t e r p a g e I. Not Quite H e a v e n ........................................... 14 II. Milroy was H e r e ........................................... 45 III. Hang 'Em H i g h ............................................. 85 IV. I've Been Working on the Railroads.......................... Ill V. At Night All Ghosts are G r a y ................................ 136 VI. Valley of the P a r t i s a n s .................................... 172 VII. Exorcising the Gray G h o s t .................................. 204 VIII. Gray Ghosts in the S u n s e t .................................. 240 CCNCLUSICN........................................................... 270 ESSAY m S O U R C E S .....................................................286 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................... 289 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURES PAGE 1. Western Virginia .......................................... 15 2. Central West V i r g i n i a .................................... 17 3. Eastern West Virginia and Western Maryland............... 19 4. Railroads in the Virginia Theater ......................... 112 5. The Shenandoah V a l l e y ...................................... 173 VI INTRODUCTION One of the least studied and understood aspects of the American Civil War is the Union counterguerrilla caitpaign. In the literature of the war, the Confederate guerrilla frequently sweeps from the pages, striking shrewd blows against his enemies. The exploits of John S. Mosby, Hanse McNeill and Lige White in the East, as well as William Quantrill and Bill Anderson in the West, have received extensive attention and analysis. On the other hand, the Union opponents who tried to prevent their depredations have received little study, for understandable reasons. The Confederate guerrilla is a colorful figure, generally a superb horseman, adept with small arms, \dio vras fighting for his home and country against tremendous odds. Therefore his escapades represented swashbuckling romance that appealed to people's imagination, and if he fought for a doomed cause, it only added to his glory. Moreover, according to his partisans, he severely haitçered the Union war effort, tying down large numbers of troops and dislocating major operations. In contrast, the Union soldier's story is drab and dull. His life was one of long periods of boredom, garrisoning an outpost or making patrols through the countryside. He atrophied in the routine of canç life or served as the foil for his eneny's actions. Nothing about him captured the imagination. Yet at the war's end, the guerrilla had lost and the Union soldier had won. This result in itself indicated that the former's effectiveness 1 might not have been as great as some historians believed. The guerrillas had not prevented the North from overwhelming the regular Confederate a my , thereby depriving the partisans of formal military support, a necessary ingredient for any successful guerrilla war. At the same time. Federal military efforts throughout the war succeeded in keeping guerrilla depredations controlled. Union forces did not stanp out the guerrillas, but they did confine their activities within acceptable limits. Which may have helped to discourage the Confederacy from reverting entirely to guerrilla operations after Lee's surrender in 1865. In fact, from the amount of concern about guerrilla problems expressed by major Northern commanders, the Southern irregulars seem to have been little more than a minor nuisance. Therefore an examination of the methods used to achieve this control seems wortliwhile. Since the best known guerrilla activity during the war was in the eastern theater, this study will focus on that area, specifically the West Virginia - northern Virginia - western Maryland region. The Union forces faced essentially four different types of opponents Who received the designation guerrilla. At the bottom of the list were the outlaws, men who used the war as an excuse to pillage and destroy indiscriminately. These people preyed on citizens of both sides equally, changing their professed allegiance the opposite of their victims', thereby "justifying" their actions as an attack on the eneity. Although several references to such bands occur, they represented a very minor part of the Fédérais' concern and therefore received little consideration in this analysis. A much greater problem was the second level of guerrilla, the bushwhacker. Unlike the outlaws, the bushwhackers openly supported the South and concentrated their attacks on people of Northern sentiments. Generally they consisted of local men banded together to strike against the Northern invader, as well as their Unionist neighbors. They had no connection with the regular Confederate forces and usually they had no higher authority for their actions. In the early months of the war,