Existing comment:
The War Had Begun:
In the spring of 1861, Henry Kyd Douglas joined the 2nd Virginia Infantry in Harpers Ferry. When the Union army threatened to advance into Virginia, Douglas' unit took action.
"I was with the regiment that marched to Shepherdstown to destroy the bridge over the Potomac at that point. I was with the company that set fire to it, and when, in the glare of the burning timbers, I saw the glowing windows in my home on the hill beyond the river and knew my father was a stockholder in the property I was helping to destroy, I realized that war had begun... Not long after, when i saw the heavens lighted up over in Maryland one dark night and knew that the gorgeous bonfire was made from the material and contents of my father's barn, I saw that I was advancing rapidly in a knowledge of the meaning of the war, and my soul was filled with revengeful bitterness." |