"‘Cowards of the Army’: Straggling in the Civil War" Topic

"IN THE WINTER OF 1861–62, "Stonewall" Jackson refused to grant furloughs to let his men rest, opting instead to drill them relentlessly as he prepared for his ambitious Romney Campaign in western Virginia. The campaign in January proved to be a bitter endeavor both in terms of the weather and in its lack of significant strategic gains. As Private Charles W. Trueheart, an artillerist, recalled: "The roads were so slippery with sleet, that the poor [horses] could not keep their feet in pulling the cannon & wagons, but fell continually—sometimes 3 out of 4 of a team would be down at once. Splotches and puddles of blood frequently marked the places where they fell….Many of us got our feet and hands frostbitten. My feet were so badly bitten that I could scarcely walk." The soldiers faced freezing temperatures on the march and when they reached Romney had nowhere to sleep. That winter, Colonel Turner Ashby's cavalry became particularly notorious for employing the lengthier French Furlough, sometimes for up to four weeks. Such extended stays were risky, as they smacked of permanence, alerting commanders to the prospect of desertion. As Lieutenant Albert C. Lincoln, a subordinate of Ashby's, fretted on February 18, 1862: "That portion of the [7th Virginia Cavalry] that are now at home have left three or four times in the same manner….Some of them had not been back more than three weeks since the retreat from Romney."…"
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