Black Horse Troop saves Stonewall's life

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Cavalrymen of the Black Horse Troop were jubilant as their horses splashed across the Potomac River into Maryland at Edwards Ferry. It was early September 1862, and they were fanning out along the front and flanks of Stonewall Jackson's corps, passing Leesburg, Va., and Poolesville, Md., heading into Maryland toward Pennsylvania.

With the victory at the Battle of Second Manassas, they knew that with this thrust they might even be marching along the streets of Washington, bringing the Yankees to their knees. Virginia would be free at last.

Ferocious charge

Only a week earlier, the Black Horse, whose members were the gentry of Warrenton, Va., had split into two sections. One, under their captain, Robert Lee Randolph, led Jackson's corps from the Rappahannock River through the Black Horse's home turf to Manassas, where it took positions on a ridge above the Old Alexandria Turnpike. Lt. Alexander D. Payne's section followed, guiding the way for Gens. Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet to join Jackson, by then embattled with the Union Army. During the movements and battle, the troop shuttled messages among the commands.

Then they helped chase the Yankees back to Fairfax and a whipping on the Chantilly family farm of Black Horse trooper Walker Milan. At First Manassas, they had been dubbed "the Terrible Black Horse Cavalry" for their ferocious charge into the Union Army as it fled between the Stone Bridge and Cub Run, capturing a score of cannons as well as some members of Congress and ladies who had come to observe a Union victory.

Riding with the Black Horse was Charles Randolph, 15-year-old brother of Capt. Randolph. "Charlie" waved his undersized sword at any troopers who were stragglers. Jackson soon sent him to Virginia Military Institute, where he was wounded as the cadet corps fought at New Market later in the war.

Black Horse casualties were minimal at both Manassas battles, although in the second fight, Pvt. Erasmus Helm was mortally wounded while he held the reins of Jackson's horse near the sunken railroad line atop the hill.

Stonewall arrives

Lt. Col. William Payne, their first troop commander, had been critically wounded and captured at Williamsburg in May. Welcome news now reached the Black Horse that he had returned to Warrenton, where he was recovering from a bullet that had fractured his jaw.