"The weather when the expedition started was bright and pleasant, so much so that the troops, with the improvidence of young soldiers, left their coats and blankets in the baggage waggons. That very afternoon, however, the temperature underwent a sudden change. Under cold grey skies the column scaled the mountain ridges, and on the winter wind came a fierce storm of snow and hail. In order to conceal the march as far as possible from the enemy's observation, the brigades had marched by country roads, and delayed by steep gradients with slipper tracks, it was not until the next morning that the supply wagons came up."(1)
"The sleet beat down fiercely upon the crawling column. The men stumbled on the slipper tracks; many wagons were overturned, and the bloody knees and muzzles of the horses bore painful witness to the severity of the march. The bivouacs were more comfortless than before. The provision train lagged far in the rear." (2)
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| Mort Kuisler painting of the Romney Expedition of January 1862 |
"Jackson's hope of now reaching Romney seemed to die with the anguish of the next days. Beneath dark, somber skies the temperature plunged below zero; one estimate claimed twenty degrees below. Pulling his overcoat tighter, Lieutenant Henry Douglas saw ice frozen into the matted beards of his comrades. he made these observations in glances, because the road was caked with an unbroken sheet of ice and it was dangerous to take eyes off it for long. Despite careful stepping, Douglas sat down three times 'with emphasis.' John Lyle remembered the roar of men's rumps 'hitting the road with a thud like that of a pile driver.' Legs were broken as men went down and bowled over those around them. 'Loring's attitude was not improved when his horse fell and rolled over him.'
"The plight of the supply train was appalling. Overturned wagons littered the road. The horse had not been roughshod prior to leaving Winchester and could barely stand, so four infantrymen were detailed to assist each wagon. John Casler of the 33d Virginia toiled in one of these fatigue parties. Every time his vehicle rounded a curve, Casler and friends strained mightily to keep the horses upright and the wheels on the road. Casler once glanced up to see Old Jack throw his shoulder into a stalled wagon as hard as any private."
"Ahead lay a hillock that tore Casler's attention from the general. Slight inclines were tedious work, and this knoll proved an agony. Casler's animals repeatedly smashed to the ground. At least one horse was on its side or belly throughout the upward shove. No sooner could that one be coaxed up than another slammed down, and sometimes all four collapsed at once.Not far away, Private Clem Fishbourne of the Rockbridge Artillery was struggling with his gun. Descents were Fishbourne's greatest trial. Brakes were useless on the icy slopes, and the heavy cannon behind the team often lurches out of control and rammed the horses into a thrashing heap. Icicles of blood dangling from their knees almost to the ground bore silent testimony of the torment of these animals." (3)
(1) Henderson, Lieut. Col. G.C.R.(reprint - date unknown), Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War: New York, Barnes and Noble. p. 144
(2) Henderson, p. 146.
(3) Tanner, Robert, G. (1996). Stonewall in the Valley: Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Spring 1862. Mechanicburg, PA: Stackpole Books. pp. 73-74
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