On the night of the 31st of May, 1861, Lieutenant-Colonel Ewell (subsequently General Ewell) was in command of the Confederate forces at Fairfax Courthouse: Captain Thornton's company of cavalry(Prince Willian Cavalry), Captain Green's cavalry company (Rappahannock Cavalry), and Captain Marr's company of rifles. I arrived at Fairfax about 5pm on a visit to Marr's company, which being raised in my neighborhood, although known as the Warrenton Rifles, I designated as "my boys." After spending a pleasant hour with them, and after a gratifying interview with Colonel Ewell  and many other friends, I retired with Joshua Gunnell to his house.

 

 At about 2am the following morning a force of Federal cavalry attack Fairfax and routed the Confederate cavalry. Half the members of the Warrenton Rifles also fled and Capt. Marr was killed, although no one knew of his death at the time because of the darkness and the thick undergrowth in the field where where he fell.

 

In 2011 the City of Fairfax celebrated the 150th anniversary of the skirmish with a program in the Courthouse and a re-enactment on the site of the engagement. They produced a 21 minute video of these events which is on the bottom of the home page of this site.

 

 

 

 

 

 In mid-June Colonel Smith proceeded to Manassas Junction to begin to organize the militia companies that would arrive and be assigned to the 49th Regiment of Virginia Volunteer Infantry. Initially only three companies had arrived when, on June 18, the regiment (or more properly what was then a battalion) was ordered to a position near Sudley Church to link up with Col. Eppa Hunton's 8th Virginia Infantry marching from the Leesburg area. Hunton had not yet arrived when in response to skirmishing at Blackburn's Ford lower down Bull Run Colonel Smith was ordered to move downstream and take up position near Lewis Ford.,

                                                                                                                  

 On the day of the Battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861, the regiment still consisted of only three companies when it received orders to march to the fighting on Henry Hill, where it took position on the left of Jacksons Brigade and participated in the capture of a Yankee artillery battery. Several people wrote about this attack, from both sides of the lines:

 (Captain Charles Griffin, U.S. Army battery commander) "I noticed a tall looking officer walk out in front of his men and seemed to be making a speech. Who was he? What could he have said, and within 80 yards of eleven hostile guns? But very soon they moved toward us at charge bayonets."

 (Robert Funkhouser, 49th Va.) "Col. Extra Billy Smith made us a spirited speech, short though and to the point, and he also went right with us. All was ready with guns loaded and bayonets fixed when the order to forward came and the dreadful battle was on"

Lt. Warren Wilkes, 4th S.C. Inf.,  "Ex Governor Smith, with his 49th Regiment of Virginia came to the rescue. Seizing a Confederate flag, he unfurled it to the breeze and appealing to the troops in short, forcible terms to make one gallant final charge with their comrades he put himself at the head of the column and charged through several companies of sharpshooters stationed in the bushes and behind fences, reached the terrible battery and amid a blinding storm of 'leaden rain and iron hail', captured it."

 

Demonstrating the confusion of the battle, with both sides wearing multi-colors of uniforms, and what you can get away with by putting on a bold front, was a story told by Extra Billy about the attack on, and later withdrawal from, the Union battery. Two of my men, Kirkpatrick(could be either James F. or John W.)and Suddoth(James Sudduth), penetrated so deeply into the enemy's lines that they could not fall back with their comrades when repulsed, but remained in the confused masses of the enemy, unnoticed, until another charge, which almost immediately followed, extricated them.

 

Once the fighting is done the wounded are no longer an enemy, but someone in need of assistance.The enemy had charged into my lines and been repulsed, several prisoners being captured, among them a Captain Butterworth who was shot down in my lines, badly wounded. I directed my servant to make him as comfortable as possible. I also charged my servant to lay my commands on the first wagon which passed to take him in and carry him to the hospital. The officer was grateful for my arrangements for his comfort; inquired of my servant who I was, and handing him his pistols, a beautiful pair, directed him to hand them to me, as the evidence of his gratitude for the kind and generous care I had taken of him: at least, so said my servant when he delivered the pistols to me next morning, and added, that I had scarcely left them the night before, when a wagon passing by, was stopped, the officer taken in and duly delivered to the hospital. Subsequently inquiring about him, I was informed that he had been moved to Orange Courthouse, where he died.

 

Ebenezer Butterworth was the 33 year old captain of Company C of the 1st Michigan Infantry. Born in England, he was married and had two children, Butterworth actually died at Charlottesville on August 17, 1861 and is buried in the Culpeper National Cemetery in Culpeper, Va. On his tombstone he is identified as Ebenezer Betterworth, not Butterworth. I have checked the roster of the 1st Michigan and the 1850 and 1860 U.S. census and they all give his name as Butterworth. Extra Billy got it right, the U.S. government got it wrong. I was told by the folks at Culpeper Cemetery that any request to correct the record would have to come from a relative and would invo9lve loads of paperwork.  RIP as Betterworth.

 

 That evening Colonel Smith had another with a Yankee interesting encounter when he went to visit some of the regiment's wounded at the Dogan farmhouse. On reaching Dogan's, I saw that his porch, yard and stable seemed full of the enemy's wounded. Taking my seat in the porch, one of the wounded men asked me about my position in the fight. Apparently satisfied with my reply, he said, "I thought I recognized you when you rode up, and particularly your horse. Three times did I fire upon you during the fight," and added with the most perfect simplicity, "Of course, what I did was in the way of business and not in malice." My horse was shot in the neck, and I suppose I owe to this man the injury he received.

 

 

Following the battle the regiment continued to organize and train before going into winter quarters. It was a learning time both for the troops and for Extra Billy, as Robert Stiles relates: "It is said he used to drill his regiment at Manassas, sitting cross-legged on the top of an old Virginia snake fence, with a blue cotton umbrella over his head and reading the orders from a book. On one occasion he was roused by the laughing outcry, 'Colonel, you've run us bang up against the fence!' 'Well, then, boys,' said the old Governor, looking up and nothing daunted; 'well, then, of course you'll have to turn around or climb the fence"  Ten Virginia Militia companies were combined to create the 49th regiment. Before they were stuck with the mundane designations of Company A, Company B, etc., they gloried in their militia names: Flint Hill Rifles, Amherst Rough and Readys, New Market Volunteers, Sperryville Sharpshooters, Warren Blues, Ewell Guards, Quantico Guards, Fauquier Guards, Rappahannock Rifles, and Crowder's Company. Recognizing his inexperience with military drill and procedures, Smith recruited men with such experience to constitute the regimental staff. 

 

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Murray had graduated from West Point in the class of 1841. He served in Mexico and had obtained the rank of Captain before he resigned from the army in 1855 to become a farmer in Loudoun County

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Major of the 49th was Caleb Smith, the son of Extra Billy's brother, Thomas. Caleb had attended West Point for but left before graduating to pursue a career as a lawyer. At he outbreak of the Mexican War he was commissioned in the U.S. Army and served in Mexico, where he was wounded. He remained in the army after the war and served at a number of posts (including in California during the time Extra Billy was there) and resigned his commission in May, 1861. He was badly . He would resign and return to private life in 1862, wounded at First Manassas and be limited to desk duties for the remainder of the war.

 

 In the spring of 1861 the cadets from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), including Billy's youngest son, Frederick Waugh Smith, were assigned to the various regiments to teach the raw troops drill and military procedures. Fred was assigned to the 49th and became the regiment;s Sergeant Major. He would later serve as a Captain on various general's staff (including Billy's) and finish the war serving with John Mosby's command.

 

 

 

 

 

 Although he did no campaigning, in November Billy was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives. He attended the sessions in Richmond from January to March, 1862, and rejoined the regiment before the start of the spring campaign. He would miss the summer session while leading the regiment in action.

 

 

 

 

 

 Austin Smith, Billy's son, had gone to California in 1853 but when he return home in 1861 he had the misfortune to arrive in New York City 10 days after the Battle of Manassas and was immediately arrested and held as a political prisoner at Fort Warren in Boston. He was exchanged in the spring and was killed two weeks later at the Battle of Gaines Mill.

 

  

 

 

 

While manning the fortificationa at Yorktown the 49th was under fire and tp Lt. Funkhouse it) "sounded like war night and day at Yorktown. The Yankee gunboats lying in the York River about 4 miles down kept us awake by the boom of their heavy guns most constantly greeting us. A 120 pound shell would explode in our midst often doing much damage"

 

 

 At Seven Pines the 49th was heavily engaged and Extra Billy was wounded in the leg and his horse was killed under him. During that engagement Robert Stiles relates that Extra Billy "was ordered to carry a work and to take his command through the abattis in front of it, reserving their fire. The regiment started in, the old Governor intrepidly riding in advance. The abattis swarmed with sharpshooters and his men were falling about him, but they followed on heroically. At last they appealed to him, 'Colonel, we can't stand this, these Yankees will kill us before we get in a shot.' It was all the old hero wanted and he blazed forth: 'Of course you can't stand it, boys; it's all this infernal tactics and West P'int tomfoolery. Damn it, fire! and flush the game!' And they did, and drove out the sharpshooters and carried the work."

 

 

 

 

 

In July the regiment was assigned to the brigade commanded by Brig. General Jubal Early, part of Ewell's Division of Stonewall Jackson's command. They took part in Jackson's march around Pope's army and the capture of Pope's supply base at Manassas Junction, engaging Federal troops at Kettle Run and were in support when Jackson opened the Second Battle of Manassas with an attack on Union infantry at Brawner's Farm (or Groveton). Bruce Catton describes that attack: "From the woods beyond a great mass of Confederate infantry emerged, red battle flags with their starred blue cross snapping in the evening breeze, Stonewall Jackson's men, whose measured conviction it was that they could whip any number of Yankees at any time and place, and whose record gave them tolerable good reason for that belief." 

 

The next day Early's Brigade was assigned to defend a section of Jackson's line along the unfinished railroad cut. As there was room on their section for only three of the seven regiments of the brigade to form a battle line, four of the regiments, under Early's personal command, remained in reserve while the 49th and two other regiments took position in the front line. As he was the senior of the three regimental commanders, Extra Billy took command of this portion of the line and repulsed several Union attacks. 

 

Following the battle Jackson attempted to get his corps between the defeated Federal army at Centreville and their base at Washington. He ran into Union troops near Ox Hill and engaged them in battle in the heavy downpour where Extra Billy rode into action protecting himself from the rain with his blue cotton umbrella.

 

 

Unable to remain in the Manassas area because of supply problems and not having the manpower to attack the Union fortifications around Washington, Lee decided to move the conflict north across the Potomac River. Brice Caton describes the situation: "September was bringing the outriders of doom up across the Potomac. Lee's army, so unbelievably thin and ragged in actual appearance, so greatly magnified and transfigured by rumor and by fear, came splashing through the shallows of the fording places like a legendary host. An army so exhausted, ragged, and ill-equipped that by any ordinary standards it ought to have gone back to some rest camp for a couple of month's refit.Every faint-heart, every weakling, every man whose spirit and body were not of the stoutest had been winnowed out. The ones who were left were the rock-hard men who would be a long time dying."

 

After crossing into Maryland, Lee divided his army and General Jackson's troops, including the 49th Va., returned to Virginia to operate against the Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry. Following the surrender of that post Jackson's troops hurried to re-enforce the main army which had taken position at Sharpsburg after fighting the Union army at South Mountain.

 

 Arriving at Sharpsburg, Early's brigade took position on the far left of the Confederate line in the West Woods behind the Dunker Church. When the division commander was hit General Early took over command of the division and “directed Colonel Smith, of the Forty-ninth Virginia Regiment, to take command of the brigade and to resist the enemy at all hazards. He was as brave a man as I ever saw, and seemed always insensible to fear.” Shortly thereafter Billy received three wounds, one of which was life threatening. General Early describes meeting Smith: “I found Col. Smith standing by himself, the blood streaming from his left shoulder, which indicated a very serious wound, and he was shot in the leg. These wounds were in addition to the one inflicted by the ball which struck him in the arm. It was very evident he was seriously wounded and I saw he was unable to move, though he was standing up. He was subsequently carried from the field in a helpless condition." His servant, George Hunter, took the wounded Colonel back to Warrenton, but after several days at home the arrival of Union forces in the area force him to move on to Orange, where he spent several months recuperating at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Grymes, his wife's cousins. He was still there when the 49th fought at Fredericksburg, where his son, Sgt. Major Frederick Smith, was wounded in both legs. In late December he moved on to Richmond to recuperate, during which he took his seat in the Confederate House of Representatives during the winter session. In March, his wounds having healed, he resigned his seat to return to active duty.

 

 

                                                           Returning to active duty, Extra Billy was promoted to Brigadier General and assigned to command Early's old brigade, Early having been promoted to command of the division. During the Chancellorsville campaign Early's Division remained at Fredericksburg facing a wing of the Army of the Potomac commanded by John Sedgewick. The Federals attacked and forced Early's troops out of their position, but when Sedgewick moved west to re-enforce the main Union force at Chancellorsville Early returned and re-occupied the Fredericksburg position.

 Modern view of tha area of the above photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In May Extra Billy was elected Governor of Virginia and although that may not have led to dancing in the streets it did inspire a musical tribute. Since his term did not begin until January 1, 1864, he remained in command of his brigade as the army moved west and north toward the Potomac River. During the Third Battle of Winchester Billy's Brigade was in reserve, although under Union artillery fire. As Robert Stiles' artillery battery came into position "Gen. Smith was standing on the right of a long line of infantry, lying flat on their faces under a terrible fire, and erect, with his folded arms, securing his horse's bridle rein, and, save the artillery men following their guns he was the only human being I saw erect upon that field. As the cannoniers dashed by with faces blanched, lips pressed against the teeth, and eye-balls straining out of their sockets, I saw Gen. Smith bow politely, and heard him greet each one as he passed, in a rich, smooth, full, clear voice; 'How do you do, Sir! how are you to-day, Sir!' and I noted, too, the effect upon the men; for each lifted and threw back his head proudly as if he felt, 'Gen. Smith must have noticed me, specially; I certainly meant to do my full duty in this fight, at least.'"

 

       Smith's brigade consisted of five regiments, about 1400 men. Following the capture of Winchester the 58th Virginia Infantry was detached to escort prisoners south to Staunton while the 13th Virginia was ordered to remain in Winchester as a provost guard (what we would now call Military Police). That left about 800 men in the 31st, 49th, and 52nd Virginia Infantry Regiments to follow Extra Billy across the Potomac River.

 

          In his memoirs, Confederate Major Robert Stiles writes often of Extra Billy: "Although sixty-seven years old during this, the Pennsylvania campaign of 1863, it was yet a matter of constant interest to observe him on the march, as well as in battle; he was so brimming over with life and spirit, and being in a somewhat independent position, I always tried to be somewhere in his neighborhood."

 

The sojourn in Pennsylvania did not remain such a lighthearted adventure. General Lee ordered the army to concentrate and Ewell's Corp was moving west when, in the morning hours of July 1, 1863, Confederate and Union forces clashed just west of Gettysburg. Moving toward the sound of the guns Ewell's men changed their direction of march to south towards Gettysburg, striking elements of the Union Eleventh Corps on the northern edge of the town and driving them back through Gettysburg. Smith's Brigade was in reserve, supporting the attack on the Confederate left, then it moved through the eastern part of Gettysburg to the area of the York Road. During the fight Federal troops had been moving toward and into the town from the east. Deven's cavalry brigade entered Gettysburg on the York Road skirmishing with Confederate infantry on the town's outskirts, while William's Division of the Union XII Corps deployed on the Hanover Road less then a mile outside town before retiring a mile back down the road.. When he received orders to move through town to support a possible attack on Cemetery Hill, Extra Billy recognized that if there were move Union forces on the York or Hanover Roads removing his brigade from it's position would give such forces an unobstructed route to the Confederate left flank and rear. Advising Generals Early and Ewell of his decision, Smith maintained his position east of town. After inspecting the position, his superiors ordered him to remain covering the eastern approaches into Gettysburg

 

     During the second day of battle the brigade remained in position on the York Road and the Hunterstown Road which forked from the York Road in a northeastern direction just outside town (not shown on the above map). Although Extra Billy's Boys were not engaged there was action on the Hanover Road. Col. Q.A. Nadenbousch, commanding the 2nd Virginia Infantry, describes that action:"At dawn a brisk skirmish commenced with our skirmishers and those of the enemy, which was kept up during the day, with bur short intervals. Our line took position on the north side of the Hanover Road, our skirmishers being much harassed and forced back by the enemy on our left". That afternoon there was an engagement between the Wade Hampton's Confederate Cavalry Brigade and the Michigan Cavalry Brigade under George Custer outside Hunterstown, just a mile or so in front of Smith's infantry on the Hunterstown Road.

 

Shortly after midnight on the morning of July 3 Extra Billy received orders to turn over security on the York Road and report to General Early facing East Cemetery Hill. Leaving the 58th in position until Stuart's forces arrived, the 31st and 49th moved to join Early. As dawn was breaking Federal forces launched attacks on General Johnson's division holding the southern slopes of Culps Hill. Major R.W. Hunter of Johnson's staff relates that "While this desperate struggle was at its height, a large force of the enemy advanced upon our left and rear. Unless it could be checked disaster was inevitable. A staff officer was dispatched to notify General Smith that our left wing could only be saved by an immediate re-enforcement. At this supreme moment was heard the voices of Smith and his men dashing forward to the rescue with a rush, the old Governor in the lead, his voice rising above the din of battle, reckless of shot and shell, with bare head and sword in hand, pointing to the enemy, he harangued each regiment, as it double-quicked past into the arena of blood and fire. t was done so handsomely; the old Governor's bearing was so superbly gallant; his voice so ringing and inspiring; the reinforcement he brought so opportune, so welcome and so effective, that the troops in that quarter, rejoicing in their deliverance, in heartfelt tribute to that 'good grey head that all men knew',  with one accord raised the shout: 'Hurrah for Governor Smith'." In mid-morning the 58th Va. rejoined the brigade which took position on Johnson's flank, later repulsing another Union attack from several Union regiments.

 

 

 

On January 1, 1864, Extra Billy took the oath of office as Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia for the second time, joining James Monroe and Patrick Henry as the only men to have been elected Governor twice (since then Miles Godwin has joined this select company in the 1970's). In his inauguration address he stated that:We cannot believe that our great God will allow such a just cause as ours to be lost. Much as we have done, much remains to be done. Let us resolve to make every sacrifice in a cheerful and hopeful spirit, perform our whole duty, and then, with the blessing of heaven, we cannot be subdued.

 

Shortly after the inauguration the city of Richmond was reminded of the military conflict. On the evening of February 9-10, 1864, 109 Union army officers escaped from Libby Prison in downtown Richmond through a 50 foot long tunnel. 48 were re-captured while the rest escaped to the Union lines east of the city. On the first day of March there was skirmishing on the outer defenses of the city as local defense forces turned back a raid by Federal cavalry from the Army of the Potomac (the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid).

 

 

 

You may have noticed that Extra Billy didn't always do things in the conventional manner. His surrender in 1865 follows this trend. This interesting period of his life might be called: