The Day Dixie Died by Thomas Goodrich & Debra Goodrich

Author:Thomas Goodrich & Debra Goodrich
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780811746625
Publisher: Stackpole Books

Abram David Reynolds

REYNOLDS HOMESTEAD, CRITZ, VIRGINIA

At the very least, Federal authorities occupying Virginia, much to the relief of Reynolds and others, recognized the need for local militias to safeguard society in such perilous times. George Cary Eggleston also commented on the willingness of the occupation troops in his area to “protect all quiet citizens, to restore order.” As proof, Eggleston reported to the commanding officer eighteen miles away that a group of marauders was threatening his rural Virginia neighborhood. “They were captured,” said Eggleston, “marched at a double-quick to the camp, and shot forthwith.”3

Unfortunately, not every Federal commander stationed in the South was so diligent in his duty. Many Union officials, still harboring grudges from the war, seemed content to watch while freebooters preyed upon former Rebels. Consequently, outlaw gangs formed by the flotsam of both armies—deserters, draft dodgers, common criminals—seized upon the chaos at war’s end and roamed the countryside virtually unhindered. “They were,” Eggleston revealed,

simply the offscourings of the two armies and of the suddenly freed Negro population . . . who found common ground upon which to fraternize in their common depravity. They moved about in bands, from two to ten strong, cutting horses out of plows, plundering helpless people, and wantonly destroying valuables which they could not carry away. At the house of one of my friends where only ladies lived, a body of these men demanded dinner, which was given them. They then required the mistress of the mansion to fill their canteens from sorghum molasses, which they immediately proceeded to pour over the carpets and furniture of the parlor. . . . We had no courts, no justices of the peace, no sheriffs, no officers of any kind.4

And thus it fell largely to the people to protect themselves.

Because of its size and western location, Texas had its own peculiar set of circumstances following the war. When news of the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi army reached the Frontier Districts, it found a body of men who could not simply lay down their arms and head home. Many of these men were already home, guarding it against the lawlessness that enveloped the Texas frontier. Unlike their comrades farther east, however, Texans were faced with the additional challenge of Indian raids. Leaving their posts at war’s end would have invited wholesale slaughter of white settlers. Thus, volunteering their services, and encouraged by dedicated officers, the men of Texas remained in place, guarding their borders and homes, until they could be relieved by Federal troops.5

Even with these thinly spread patrols in place, the fear of Indian incursions was omnipresent. During the summer of 1865, a series of events occurred that sent shivers racing along the western settlements. One such incident took place in central Texas. Together with his adult children and their families, Matthew Taylor had built a home near the headwaters of the Perdinales River. A chronicler describes what happened:

During the absence of Matthew and his son . . . a band of twenty Kiowa Indians approached the house and secreted themselves in a thicket near the spring.

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