Critical information can change the course of an entire battle or even a war, and before the Third Battle of Winchester during the Civil War, that information came from two of the most unlikely sources: a schoolteacher and a slave.
By 1864, the war was turning against the Union. Lincoln had staked the Republican Party’s political future on a military victory over the Confederacy. But Confederate General Jubal Early’s troops were on the brink of marching on Washington. Another military disaster on the battlefield would have dire consequences.
General Philip Sheridan recalled: “I considered it necessary to be very cautious, and the imminent election of the President made me the more so. The authorities in Washington had impressed upon me that my military defeat was likely to be followed by the overthrow of the ruling party; that event was believed to at least delay, if not lead to, an entire abandonment of all coercive means.”
Sheridan’s solution: Better information.
Portrait of General Philip Sheridan, Library of Congress.
“I could not risk ruin. I took the time necessary to become fully informed, and then I decided to seize the opportunity when success was inevitable.”
So Jesse Scout, part of Lincoln’s special forces, was tasked with gathering that information, which included making connections and relationships with people like Thomas Rose and Rebecca Wright.
“They found out that there was an old black man living just outside my camp, near Millwood. [Thomas Laws]He had received permission from the Confederate commander to go to Winchester and return three times a week to sell vegetables to the residents.”
One Sunday evening, Private James Campbell and another scout approached Rose, an enslaved African-American woman, and her wife as they sat on the steps of their cabin. “Two strange men came through the yard and talked to me about Winchester. I told them my master lived there, in Berryville, and I could go to Winchester any time I wanted.” The two scouts returned to Sheridan’s headquarters with information about a potentially valuable informant. The general wanted to see if Rose could be trusted. Campbell returned to the cabin and extended an invitation to Rose: “The general wishes to see you tonight.”
“They carried me up to the general,” Rose recalled. “When we got there, the general and I sat down on an old log near the camp.” Among other questions, Sheridan asked Rose if she knew Rebecca Wright. Wright, 26, a native of Winchester, was a Quaker schoolteacher, Union sympathizer, and ardent abolitionist who had been recommended by General Crook as an informant.
3/4 portrait photograph of Rebecca Wright Bonsall, public domain
Wright lived in a divided family; his sister Hannah was “a born rebel” and his brother David had been drafted into the Confederate Army. At the same time, the Confederates imprisoned his father for being an ardent Union sympathizer. “After some persuasion,” Rhodes agreed to deliver a message to General Wright. Campbell carried Sheridan’s letter deep behind enemy lines and stayed in his cabin until Rhodes returned from his mission.[Laws’] The messages were written on tissue paper, compressed into small pellets, and wrapped in aluminum foil for protection so they could be safely placed in the mouth” or swallowed if searched by Confederate forces.
Rebecca Wright recalled that Rose, a middle-aged man “quiet and dignified” and “very” well-dressed in a white shirt, coat, and tie, approached her in the garden and asked if he could meet her privately. She escorted Rose into the classroom where she taught, and Rose asked her if she was a “Union woman” and if she knew General Sheridan.
“When she said she hadn’t, I felt like I was somewhere between heaven and earth,” Rose recalled. Risking his life, Rose “boldly gave her the letter anyway.”
Understanding the situation and the gravity of her actions, Wright received the letter. “I asked my mother for advice not to reveal the secret to my sister, for I knew it would be fatal.” Wright remembers telling herself, “I won’t pay attention to the letter.” She showed the letter to her mother and said, “If the rebels find out, they will kill us.”
“That’s true,” Wright’s mother replied, “But people are losing their lives for their country. Your life may be needed, and mine too. I can’t convince you. Talk to your conscience. Go to your room and say a prayer.”Rebecca Wright thought deeply about what she was about to do and said a prayer.
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Book Cover The Unvanquished Author: Patrick K. McDonnell
Finally, according to Sheridan, “the brave girl resolved to comply with my request, notwithstanding the possible danger to her life.” Not only had Wright accepted the mission at great risk, but after the war she found herself spat upon, ostracized, hated, and threatened by her neighbors.
In a reply sent via Rose, Wright informed Sheridan of a convalescing Confederate officer who had visited his mother’s lodgings the previous evening and casually revealed that an infantry division and artillery battalion under Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw had departed for Richmond to join General Lee.
This vital information gave the public confidence to attack Early’s weakened army in and around Winchester. Although it was the bloodiest battle ever fought in the Shenandoah Valley, with thousands of casualties on both sides, the Union victory at the Third Battle of Winchester and the ensuing fighting “stoked the excitement of the country,” Grant later wrote in his memoirs. The battle was a decisive Union victory at a time when it was most needed.
“Her answer was of far more value to me than she had expected,” Sheridan wrote in his memoirs. Combined with the Battle of Atlanta, this victory transformed morale in the North, tilting support towards Lincoln, who had been expected to lose badly to the Democratic presidential candidate who had been rising sharply in the polls all summer. After the war, Sheridan wrote to Wright, “The battle was fought, and probably won, on this information.”
Patrick K. O’Donnell is a bestselling and acclaimed military historian and expert on elite military forces. He is the author of thirteen books, including a new bestselling book on the Civil War. The untold story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, Mosby’s Ranger Hunt, and the shadow war that gave birth to American special operations, It is currently on display in Barnes & Noble stores nationwide. His other bestsellers include: Must-Haves, Unknown Peopleand Washington ImmortalsO’Donnell served as a combat historian for a Marine rifle platoon during the Battle of Fallujah and is a frequent speaker on espionage, special operations and counterinsurgency. He has served as a historical consultant on DreamWorks’ award-winning miniseries Band of Brothers, as well as documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel and Discovery. PatrickKODonnell.com translation:
