SW Pennsylvania Invasion Threats Part 5 Washington County

False Rumor Report in Phila. Inquirer  4-30-1863

Postwar Story About Grumble Jones
          Bristol (VA) Herald Courier  11-7-1948

     In April of 1863, a Washington, Pennsylvania ("Little Washington") newspaper received news of the Confederate occupation of Morgantown from J. Edgar Boyers, West Virginia statehood (and Union) supporter who had fled Morgantown before he could be the apprehended by Confederate raiders. The article noted,

“The information [from Morgantown] was brought by a gentleman who resides two miles below Morgantown on the Monongahela River and who reached this place about Tuesday morning. Their [the Confederates] aim appeared to be the obtaining of supplies in the shape of horses, cattle, stores, etc. and the capture of such leading citizens as had rendered themselves conspicuous for their efforts in the Union cause. Our informant being one of this class…was compelled to flee when they were within a few yards of his house...On reaching the main road, he leaped upon one of the horses that was being brought away to avoid capture and came through Waynesburg, arriving here early on Tuesday morning as stated.” [Washington (PA) Reporter and Tribune, April 29, 1863]

While Confederate General William “Grumble” Jones was occupying Morgantown and rounding up Union supporters, another resident of the city escaped the dragnet and rode about 45 miles north to Washington, Pennsylvania to alert these citizens of transpiring events. A Pittsburgh newspaper published an alarming report of the events to their south: “The excitement in Washington, Waynesburg and Uniontown at last accounts was unabated...Messengers arrived here from Washington [PA] last evening and took out six thousand rounds of ammunition, which would be distributed to the militia there. They had five hundred men under arms, and ready to give the rebels and warm reception, but they had no ammunition.” [Pittsburgh Gazette, April 29, 1863]

 Little Washington wasted little time in responding. Late in the evening of April 28, as soon as news was received of Jones’ movement at Morgantown, the courthouse bell was sounded and a late-night meeting was held within minutes. Two couriers reported that Grumble Jones had captured Morgantown (which was true), and that Waynesburg and Washington were the next targets on the Confederates’ path to Pittsburgh (which was not true). Overnight preparations were made to form a militia company to march to Waynesburg, which had requested military assistance. The Little Washingtonians agreed with the request, choosing to confront the enemy in Waynesburg rather than wait for the raiders to appear in their own city. [AlexanderWishart, Letter to Isaac M. Wells, August 3, 1901, Courtesy of U. Grant Miller Library, Washington and Jefferson University]

Washington County Court House

The company of militiamen from Washington was hastily organized under the command of Captain Alexander Wishart and Lieutenant Harvey Vankirk. Wishart earlier had served in the 8^th PA Reserves and was the current school superintendent of the city. He was wounded during the Seven Days’ Battles at Gaines Mill, Virginia in 1862 and was medically discharged several months later. Vankirk, an attorney, was also given a medical discharge from the 85^th Pennsylvania in 1862.

Captain Wishart later remembered that,

“…farmers and others who had teams were asked to convey the troops to Waynesburgh. When I [asked] where the arms and ammunition was to come from, Major [John] Ewing cried out, ‘Dang it all, we’ll fight them with pitchforks!’ But a wagon was sent to the Allegheny Arsenal [in Pittsburgh] at once and arms and ammunition procured, and after their arrival the company proceeded to Waynesburgh in the wagons which had been tendered.” [Wishart letter]

Obituary for Alexander Wishart
Pittsburgh Daily Post  8-3-1906

Wishart and Vankirk led their company from the Washington Courthouse to Waynesburg, a distance of 23 miles.  A Washington newspaper said these “patriots about Washington, armed with 'Dutch’ rifles, went to Waynesburg filled with zeal and enthusiasm and determined to repel Imboden and his hordes, or die.” They arrived and found that the reports of Jones [or Imboden] making a move into Pennsylvania were unfounded and exaggerated. Wishart returned to Little Washington with him company on May 2^nd. [Washington (PA) Observer, date unknown]

Invasion warnings cooled after the first few days of May as it became known that Jones had veered to the south towards Fairmont, (West) Virginia. As accounts began to report the fight at Fairmont, similar stories of the invasion of Uniontown or Waynesburg were discounted. The New York Times wrote that, “The reports for the south-western part of the State [Pennsylvania] are very contradictory owing to the excitement among the inhabitants.”  [New York Times, April 29, 1863]

On May 6, Greene County citizens were being alerted that the raid had not continued into Greene County as feared, but that the marauders were still a potential threat to the region:

“The excitement consequent on the threatened Rebel Raid on Greene and adjoining counties has almost entirely subsided. The Rebles have disappeared from Morgantown but are said to be still in the vicinity of Fairmont or Warren…On Saturday morning, all imminent danger of a Rebel incursion having passed away, the Washington lads returned to their homes and our own people resumed their usual business activities. At present all is quiet, and all alarm allayed…” [Waynesburg Messenger, May 4, 1863]

        

Finally, on May 18, the Waynesburg Messenger could report that, “On Tuesday evening the rebels all left in the direction of Fairmont on the West side of the river… At this date, all is quiet in the vicinity of Morgantown. No signs of ‘graybacks’ have been seen since Tuesday of last week.” [Waynesburg Messenger, May 10, 1863]

"Little" Washington (dot in Washington County)
PA Counties of Washington, Greene , Fayette, Somerset, Westmoreland, Allegheny
Emerging new state of West Virginia
From Maps Showing the Development of Pennsylvania (1920)


NEXT: John Hunt Morgan

Echoes of Dred Scott Case in Uniontown, Pennsylvania

Partial boundary between Pennsylvania and (West) Virginia
Map showing Uniontown, PA and nearby Morgantown, VA in the 1850's  LOC

        For several decades prior to organizing the 85th Pennsylvania regiment, Colonel Joshua B. Howell had been a prominent attorney in Uniontown, PA. In 1853, he took part in a court case that closely resembled one of the most controversial cases in U.S. history, the notorious Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court in 1857. 
        To quickly review, Scott, a slave, had been taken from Missouri, a slave state, to several free northern states for extended periods of time by his then-owner, John Emerson. Scott, through his attorneys, had tried in vain for several years to gain his freedom for having lived in free states where slavery was outlawed. 
          In 1853, Scott, now owned by Emerson’s brother-in-law, John Sanford, sued in federal court to be declared a free man. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that Scott should remain a slave. The court further declared that, as a slave, Scott was property and had no rights as an American citizen 

Colonel Joshus B. Howell
From Dickey's History of the 85th PA Regiment

          In the same year that Scott sued Sanford, a case involving fugitive slaves was heard in a Uniontown court. Alexander Green, an African-American slave, and had gotten married in Morgantown, then part of the slave state of Virginia [see map] Together he and his wife had seven children, all born into slavery. Green had at some point bought his own freedom as well as the freedom of his wife, Evalina. Eventually four of their children also gained their freedom. Three others, Willis, Charlotte and Liz remained slaves in Morgantown to three different owners. These three children were occasionally granted vacations to spend with their parents in Uniontown, 27 miles away. On one of these visits, they declined to return to Morgantown. Their owners sued for their return. Joshua Howell was one of the two attorneys who represented the slaveowners. 
           The U.S. Commissioner, Robert P. Flenniken, ruled that the three Green children had to return to Morgantown as slaves. This decision did not sit well with the African-American community of Uniontown, who attended the court proceedings in large numbers. Following the return of the Green children to Morgantown, a group of African-Americans from Uniontown organized a rescue mission with the intent of seizing the three Green children and transporting them to safety in Canada. They acquired a horse-drawn cart and set off for Morgantown. But upon reaching the Cheat River, a ferryman was not available to help them get across. The group also worried that their appearance at the state border might tip off authorities, so they called off the mission and returned to Uniontown.    
         The three Green children eventually gained their freedom after the Civil War. Two of their free brothers, Jerry and George, died serving the Union cause in the Civil War. 
         Finally, several ironies are associated with the Green case. Flenniken, the commissioner who ruled against setting the Green children free, moved to the territory of Kansas the next year and promoted an anti-slavery statehood platform. Meanwhile, as West Virginia moved towards statehood a decade later, James Evans, who owned Willis Green, started the 7th West Virginia infantry that fought for the Union.