The Dispatch A Monthly Journal of WCWA News Vol. 8, Issue 8 Everett, WA August, 2014, depicting 1864 Get to Know Your Cavalry By: Rick Callesto st th Confederate Cavalry of the WCWA, History of the 1 & 14 Virginia Cavalry In This Issue The 1st Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Page 1-2 Get to Know Your Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It Cavalry fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. Page 3 Union Commander’s Note to the Troops Stuart's horsemen wore chiefly homespun clothing of plain gray or butternut with black facings, or "Hussar's Bars" sewn onto the front of the jackets. The short jackets early in Page 4 Membership Corner the war were similar to the Richmond Depot Type I shell jacket design, which had Page 5-6 Advertisements epaulets, sleeve trim, and belt loops. Although the traditional trim color for cavalry was yellow, the 1st Virginia wore black-trimmed uniforms instead, including a broad- Page 7 Remaining 2014 Events brimmed black hat, often with a black plume. Page 8-10 2014 Contact List The 1st Virginia Cavalry completed its organization at Winchester, Virginia, in July 1861, under the command of Colonel James Ewell Brown (J.E.B.) Stuart at the command of General Thomas Jackson. Unlike most regiments, the First contained twelve companies. The men were from the counties of Amelia, Augusta, Berkeley, Clarke, Frederick, Gloucester, Jefferson, Loudoun, Rockbridge, Rockingham, and Washington. After taking part in the First Battle of Bull Run, the unit was brigaded under Generals J.E.B. Stuart, Fitzhugh Lee, Williams Carter Wickham, and Thomas T. Munford. It participated in more than 200 engagements of various types including the Seven Days Upcoming August Events Battles and Stuart's ride around McClellan. The regiment was active in the conflicts at Gainesville, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Kelly's Ford, Chancellorsville, Aug. 9-10, Battle of Roy Brandy Station, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, the Wilderness, Todd's Tavern, Spotsylva- Roy, WA nia, Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor. Later it was involved in Jubal Early's operations in the Shenandoah Valley, the defense of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. Aug 16, General Board Mtg. and Echoes of Blue and In April 1862, it totaled 437 men, lost eight percent of the 310 engaged at Gettysburg, Gray, Evergreen Cemetary, and had 318 fit for duty in September 1864. The cavalry cut through the Federal lines at Everett, WA. Appomattox and later disbanded. Only one man from this unit was present at the surrender. The field officers were Colonels R. Welby Carter, James H. Drake, William E. Aug 22-24, Columbia Park, Jones, Fitzhugh Lee, William A. Morgan, and J.E.B. Stuart; Lieutenant Colonels L. Tri-Cities Living History Tiernan Brien and Charles R. Irving; and Major Robert Swan. Encampment Future U.S. Solicitor General Holmes Conrad enlisted in Company A at the beginning of the war. He was commissioned a lieutenant and eventually transferred to division headquarters. July, 2014 The Dispatch Page 2 Get to Know Your Cavalry (continued) By: Rick Callesto The 1st Virginia Cavalry took part in the following Campaigns: 2014 WCWA First Battle of Bull Run Administrative Board Peninsula Campaign Seven Days' Battles Chairman: Rich Bright, Acting Second Battle of Bull Run [email protected] Battle of Antietam Battle of Fredericksburg Vice Chair: Battle of Chancellorsville VACANT Battle of Brandy Station Battle of Gettysburg Secretary: Bristoe Campaign Kevin Saville, Overland Campaign [email protected] Siege of Petersburg Valley Campaigns of 1864 Treasurer: Anna Flores, Appomattox Campaign [email protected] US Battalion Commander: 14th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate) Alan Geho [email protected] Company G (Border Rangers) - many men from Montgomery County and Roanoke County CS Battalion Commander: The uniforms of the 14th Virginia Cavalry are different from the 1st Virginia Cavalry Rob LeCocq [email protected] above, they were also a Militia Unit before the war, but favored the Cavalry Yellow facings/collars and cuffs with the grey jacket and the Grey Kepi with a Yellow band or the US Civilian Coordinator: solid Yellow Kepi with the Blue band was favored for Militia Units as it was flashy for the Nicole Spellman ladies. [email protected] This unit was organized in September 1862, with nine companies, some of which had CS Civilian Coordinator: previously served in Jackson's Squadron Virginia Cavalry. The 14th continued the fight Elizabeth Sier in Western Virginia, took part in the operations in the Shenandoah Valley, and disbanded [email protected] in April 1865. Field officers: Colonels James Cochran and Charles E. Thorburn, Lieutenant Colonels Robert A. Bailey and John A. Gibson, and Majors B. Frank Eakle 2014 WCWA Election and George Jackson.[1] Coordinator Susan Odette Virginia's 14th Cavalry Regiment was organized in September, 1862, with nine companies, some of which had previously served in Jackson's Squadron Virginia Caval- ry. The tenth company was made up of surplus men of the other companies. The unit was attached to Jenkins', Echols', and McCausland's Brigade. It skirmished in western Virginia, then saw action at Droop Mountain and Lewisburg. During January 1864, it had 29 officers and 424 men present for duty. The 14th continued the fight in Western Virginia, took part in the operations in the Shenandoah Valley, and disbanded in April 1865. The field officers were Colonels James Cochran and Charles E. Thorburn, Lieutenant Colonels Robert A. Bailey and John A. Gibson, and Majors B. Frank Eakle and George Jackson. The 14th Virginia was active during all of the Valley Campaigns referring to the Shenandoah Valley. The 14th’s Battle activities are too numerous to post here and they were present at the last charge at Appomattox. The great thing about Jenkins Brigade was that they had “Flying Artillery” attached to them and you will see that the current 14th Virginia also has a Mountain Howitzer that could have been dismantled and packed or trailed with a Caisson. July, 2014 The Dispatch Page 3 Union Battalion Commander’s Report No. 6, August By Lt. Col. Alan Geho 2014 WCWA Board Administrative To the Officers, Troops, and Military Civilians, of the Army of the Columbia. Assistants The major part of our season is soon to be over, with the events of Roy, Tri Cities and for Membership Coordinator: some, deployment to Fort Stevens. I continue to be honored to be with you all and in awe of Elizabeth Sier the dedication to the betterment our hobby and craft of this battalion. Thank you commanders [email protected] and troops for the great service you perform. I would like to thank Mark Tackitt, for his Event Planning: contributions to our drill and maneuvers last month in Chehalis, which was enjoyed by all and Howard Struve employed with success. Mark will always be welcome in our encampment. I do encourage each [email protected] member of the battalion both military and civilian to make way to Roy this next week and make Insurance Coordinator this a good finish for our major events. AS it is “July 1864” (close your eyes and believe), We are David Imburgia being deployed to Monocacy Junction to prevent the Rebs from taking Washington all troops are [email protected] needed with each rifle primed and ready. As always I request each member of our battalion to Publicity Coordinator call someone and make sure they are coming, offer them a ride. Marc Williams [email protected] I remain ever in service to our cause. Dispatch Editor Elizabeth Sier [email protected] Col Marshall Alan Geho Army of the Columbia Webmaster Rich Bright Nos Vadum Triumphus [email protected] Sutler Coordinator Norm Harriman [email protected] Recruiting Coordinator Ruben Flores [email protected] Check out the WCWA Website Happy Labor Day!! www.wcwa.net Reciprocity Organization Northwest Civil War Council (NWCWC) www.nwcwc.org July, 2014 The Dispatch Page 4 Membership Corner By: Elizabeth Sier, 2014 WCWA Membeship Coordinator Great news, the 2014 WCWA membership is at 878. The 2013 final WCWA membership was 858. With one event still to go, we may well have an even higher 2014 final membership count. We began using the new on-line membership enrollment process this year. Overall, that has worked very well. Most of the technical issues that were encountered were readily fixed. The system is still a work in progress, but it has certainly come a long way. The two most repeated membership related issues that I have encountered in this process have been: A. When you enroll on-line, you must pay on-line. There were a great many registrations for which the PayPal payment was not done at the time of enrollment. For the first couple of months, I simply placed a hold on those memberships and maintained a separate list on the monthly rosters while chasing down the payment. That was quite a lot of extra time and work. So, instead, I have been deleting those registrations after sending an e-mail to the member requesting they re-enter their information and make the required payment at that time. B. When you are enrolling a family, each member must be registered separately. This is the same as for using the paper registration procedure. The primary reason for this is that we must have the Release of Liability signed for each member separately. Payment for a family can be made after registering the first member and then simply hitting the back arrow in the upper left corner of the screen to get back to the member information entry screen.