VIRGINIA. 



741 



the Shenandpah. The battle of Bnll Run was 

 the most serious conflict between the Confed- 

 erate forces in this part of the State and the 

 Federal troops. (See BULL Rex.) It resulted 

 in no change in the military operations in Vir- 

 ginia on either side. A list of a large number 

 of battles and skirmishes throughout the State 

 is appended below. They occurred chiefly in 

 Western Virginia, and in the neighborhood of 

 the Potomac River above Washington. On 

 two occasions a Confederate force crossed the 

 river into the State of Maryland, and a skirmish 

 took place at Darnestown, in which one Federal 

 and several Confederate troops were killed. 

 This was on the 15th of September. Previously, 

 on the 5th of August, a small affair took place 

 at Point of Rocks, in which seven Confederate 

 prisoners were taken. These were the only in- 

 stances of the invasion by Confederate troops 

 of any State east of the Alleghany Mountains, 

 which had not joined the Confederacy. 



The condition of affairs in the State is thus 

 described by the Governor of Western Virginia 

 in his message to the Legislature of that section, 

 near the close of the year : " I have embraced 

 all the sources of information in my power to 

 ascertain the truth. There seems no reason to 

 doubt that nearly all the able-bodied men be- 

 tween the ages of sixteen and sixty have been 

 forced into the Confederate army, including 

 thousands who are at heart true to the Consti- 

 tution and the Union. I need not mention that 

 our public improvements, railroads, canals, 

 bridges, and public buildings have been de- 

 stroyed wherever the secession forces have had 

 control of the country. Rapine and plunder 

 have marked their path ; and men, arrogating 

 to themselves a superior civilization, derived, 

 as they say, from the existence of negro sla- 

 very among them, have abandoned the rules of 

 civilized warfare, and made war, like savages, 

 a scene of indiscriminate and useless destruc- 

 tion. A large proportion of the slaves have 

 been sent further South for security. All the 

 live stock within the rebel lines have been 

 seized for the use of their army. Farms have 

 been stripped of horses, wagons, fencing, and 

 timber, and the houses of the people of blank- 

 ets, and even clothing whatever, in short, that 

 could be made useful to the soldiers. The 

 property of men known or supposed to be true 

 to the Union has been taken without compen- 

 sation, and they regard themselves fortunate if 

 their lives are spared. The property which is 

 pretended to be paid for is paid for in Treasury 

 notes of the Confederate States, or in bank 

 notes issued on the deposit of such Treasury 

 notes. This currency, even at Richmond, is 

 already at a discount of not less than thirty per 

 cent., and the papers there are seeking to main- 

 tain its credit by denouncing the penalties of 

 death or confiscation against merchants and 

 bankers who make any distinction between 

 such notes and coin. Yet this circulation is 

 really valueless. If the rebellion fails to sus- 

 tain itself, the notes must go down with it ; if 



Battlt and fiHrmitkt* in Virginia, 1861. 



