#82h – Colonel Kenton Harper

Report of Colonel Kenton Harper, Fifth Virginia

A WAR DOCUMENT ORIGINAL REPORT

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Exactly What the Fifth Virginia Regiment Did at First Manassas

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HARPER’S OFFICIAL STORY

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His Report Sent in to General Jackson the Day After the Battle

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I present below a very valuable and never before published paper. It is the report of Colonel Kenton Harper, of the Fifth Virginia Infantry, Jackson’s brigade, of the first battle of Manassas, In General Jackson’s report, which appears on the war records, he speaks of the reports of regimental commanders as enclosed. His regimental commanders were Second Virginia, Colonel Allen; Fourth, Colonel J. F. Preston; Fifth, Colonel Kenton Harper; Twenty-seventh, Lieutenant-Colonel John Echols; and Thirty-third, Colonel Arthur Cummings. However, the reports do not appear, and not one of them has ever been discovered. This report was sent me by Captain James Baumgardner, of Staunton, Va., who at the first battle of Manassas was adjutant of Colonel Harper’s regiment, and he obtained it from Mr. L. D. Hooper, a grandson of Colonel Harper, who very graciously allowed him to have it.

The report, it seems, was found amongst the papers of Colonel harper, who has been many years deceased. He was a captain in the Mexican war and a general in our State forces, and he, then an old man, led his regiment at Manassas in a manner that was distinction for himself and made its impression on the fortunes of the field.

The article of Captain Baumgardner in The Times-Dispatch on the Fifth Virginia Infantry at Manassas, attracted the attention of Mr. Hooper and brought about the production of this report. To Captain Baumgardner, as well as to Mr. Hooper, I am much indebted; and it is to be hoped that the efforts of the Times-Dispatch to rescue Virginia History from neglect, will be farther successful in similar ways.

John. W. Daniel

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Copy of Original Document

Headquarters Fifth Infantry
Camp Jackson, July 22, 1861

General[1],–In compliance with your order, I respectfully submit the following report of the part taken by my command, the Fifth Regiment of Virginia Infantry, which forms part of your brigade, in the action of yesterday, 21st instant.

About 4 A.M. I repaired as directed by you to the position occupied by General Longstreet, where I held my command for some considerable time, in anticipation of an advance of the enemy on that point, until it became manifest to you that the demonstration made was but a feint. Under your orders I then reunited with the rest of your brigade and moved to a position on the right of General Cocke’s and in rear of Colonel Bartoe’s command, where I remained about one hour. My regiment was again reunited to the brigade and advanced to a position in rare of General Bee’s brigade. Here I was ordered to advance to support of a battery then being brought into a position on my left. My instructions were to hold on to the position until the enemy approached over the crest of the hill, which would bring them within about fifty yards, when I was to fire upon them and charge. This order I executed in part, though subjected to an annoying fire of artillery and musketry, sheltering my men as best I could in my position of inactivity. Very soon, however, our forces in front began to give way and retreated in numbers by my flanks and through my files. Finding it impossible under such circumstances to execute your order, I concluded to advance my regiment to the brow of the hill, to ascertain what I could there effect for the support of our friends. Seeing the enemy were not within five or six hundred yards of the line, and that many of our troops were still in the front, I determined to fall back upon my original position, to avoid the danger of firing upon our friends, which I did,

There I halted the command in good order, but soon the increasing number of our retiring friends, who paid little regard to my lines, induced me to make a second advance. On reaching the top of the hill, however, I found the enemy advancing from different points, and after a brief contest, I again retired to my first position, and subsequently fell back through the skirt of woods in my rear.

Here I found General Bee actively engaged in an effort to rally his scattered forces, in which he partially succeeded. I at once approached him and offered my co-operation. Very soon, however, General Beauregard appeared on the field, under whose orders I subsequently acted. We advanced at once upon the enemy, keeping up a brisk and effective fire, which caused them to give way.

After regaining the summit of the hill I ordered a charge to be made upon a battery of six pieces, commanded by Captain Ricketts, but such was the eagerness of the men in keeping up their fire upon the retiring foe, I could rally only a portion of the command to the work. At this juncture a considerable number of our troops of different commands had rallied on my left and formed perpendicularly to my line – who were seemingly inactive. I dispatched my adjutant to inform them of my purpose and invite their co-operation which was promptly given. My own men on the right being nearer to the battery reached it first, driving the enemy by their fire in advancing upon the pieces. T wo of my men were wounded at the guns.

I immediately called upon my command to know whether any of them could manage them and receiving no response, I advanced my regiment to a hill on the right where Colonel Robert Preston’s regiment was stationed.

There being no enemy, however, in that direction against whom we could operate, orders were received from General Beauregard to move towards Centreville by way of the stone bridge. While passing by the battery, I found it operating against the retiring enemy in the distance. This, I am informed, was done by order of Colonel James F. Preston, of our brigade., who it appears had been cooperating with me with a portion of his command.

After passing beyond the stone bridge the troops were halted and held together until near sunset when my command was marched back to Manassas Junction.

I have only to add the expression of my warm acknowledgments to Lieutenant-Colonels Harman and Baylor for their earnest and hearty co-operation throughout the protracted conflict, as well as to the adjutant and officers and men generally of the command. The loss of the regiment was six killed, forty-seven wounded and thirteen missing.

With high respect,
Your obedient servant,
KENTON HARPER,
Colonel Fifth Infantry

GEN’L T. J. Jackson
Comg. First Va. Brigade

Official

General: Colonel Harper, of the Fifth Virginia Regiment. respectfully requests that the wounded of his regiment, residing in Staunton, be sent thither, at once, for treatment and attention of their relatives.

Respectfully Your obedient servant,
KENTON HARPER,
Colonel Fifth Va. Infantry

July 22, 1861.

For General Beauregard.

Approved;

G. T. BEAUREGARD.
General.

Richmond Times Dispatch, May 7, 1905

Clipping Image

Contributed and transcribed by John Hennessy

Letter image

[1] Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson

Kenton Harper at Ancestry

Kenton Harper at Fold3

Kenton Harper at FindAGrave

Kenton Harper at Wikipedia

Bull Run in the News – Kenton Harper, 5th VA

Due to the transient nature of online newspaper urls, I’m going to depart from my custom of simply linking to OPW (other people’s work) and reproduce in its entirety this article from Staunton’s News Leader.  Kenton Harper was colonel of the 5th VA Infantry in Jackson’s Brigade (which means he was not “one of Bee’s officers”).

Kenton Harper Left Large Footprint in Staunton

By Charles Culbertson • mail@stauntonhistory.com • March 6, 2010

The moment was not going well for Confederate forces in the first major land battle of the Civil War. A coordinated Union attack at 11:30 a.m., July 21, 1861, had driven forces under Gen. Barnard Bee to the Henry House Hill near Manassas and was on the verge of breaking the line.

Suddenly, one of Bee’s officers — 60-year-old Col. Kenton Harper of Staunton — approached him and pointed out the presence of five regiments of Virginia troops under Col. Thomas J. Jackson that had just arrived on the scene.
Bee quickly made his way to Jackson and said, “The enemy are driving us,” to which Jackson reportedly replied, “Then, sir, we will give them the bayonet.”

At that point Bee is said to have shouted to his men, “There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer. Follow me!”

Some have claimed that Bee’s statement was perjorative — that Jackson was “standing there like a damned stone wall.” Whatever he said or how he meant it — we will never know, for Bee was mortally wounded moments later — his command rallied with Jackson’s men, who routed Union forces and helped win the First Battle of Manassas for the South.
Jackson, of course, received the immortal sobriquet, “Stonewall.”

It is unlikely that Bee was being critical of Jackson. Harper, a renowned Staunton publisher, politician, soldier and farmer, had little reason to either like Jackson or to portray him in a favorable light. Just before his death at age 66 in 1867, Harper told the editor of the Staunton Spectator that Bee’s words had been:

“Rally here! Look how these Virginians stand like a stone wall!”

Harper’s experience with the quirky professor from Virginia Military Institute began in April 1861. A major general in the Virginia state militia, Harper was given command of the 5th Virginia Infantry Regiment and marched out of Staunton with 2,400 men to seize the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry.

The assault was a success, with Harper’s men salvaging thousands of muskets, as well as milling machines, lathes and other supplies. Later that month, Harper was replaced in favor of Jackson, a move that irritated Harper and angered many of the officers serving under him.

He was further alienated from Jackson when, in September 1861, Jackson denied him leave to be by his dying wife’s side.

But Harper was bigger than his grievances, having forged a long and fruitful career through diligence, honor and competency. He continued to serve the Confederate cause despite fragile health that was exacerbated by the rigors of war.

Born in Chambersburg, Pa., in 1801, Harper grew up in the printing business, learning the trade from his father, who published the Franklin County Repository. In 1823, he moved to Staunton where he purchased the Republican Farmer and changed its name to the Staunton Spectator.

In 1836 Harper began serving as a state legislator and, in 1840, filled a year’s term as Staunton’s mayor. When the U.S. went to war with Mexico in 1846, Harper was appointed a captain in the 1st Virginia Infantry, commanding the Augusta County volunteers in the northern frontier of Mexico.

Although he never saw action, his “soldierly demeanor was so marked” that he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and given a military governorship in Parras, Northern Mexico. He was officially commended for the manner in which he conducted himself in that post.

Mustered out of service in 1848, Harper returned to Staunton where he sold the Spectator to the Waddell family. Soon he was appointed under President Millard Fillmore as U.S. agent to the Chicasaws at Fort Washita in the Indian Territory, a post he administered with distinction. His service there led to an appointment as assistant to the Secretary of the Interior — a post held by another Staunton resident, Alexander H.H. Stuart.

At the end of his term, Harper returned to Staunton where he worked his Augusta County farm, “Glen Allen,” and served as the president of the Bank of the Valley. By 1860 he was a major general in the Virginia state militia, a post that led to his military involvement in the Civil War.

After Jackson refused him permission to visit his dying wife, Harper resigned his commission and returned to Staunton for her funeral. He was again elected into the state legislature and, in 1864, was re-appointed as a colonel. Forming a regiment from reservist companies, he led them in battle at Piedmont and again at Waynesboro.

Two years after the war, Harper contracted pneumonia. Some of his last words were reported as, “I would not live always; I ask not to stay.” He died on Christmas Day, 1867.

Upon his death, the newspaper he had founded wrote, “His memory we should not willingly let die, his example of a virtuous life and peaceful death should long remain to point to each of us the lesson of the fineness he so truly illustrated.”