John Henry Timberlake

John Henry Timberlake

Excerpted from the Richmond Times Dispatch - June 18, 1997

Biography Identifies General Jackson's Guide By: Jim Mason, Times Dispatch Staff Writer

By the time Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's troops arrived, two hours behind expectations, the Civil War Battle of Gaines' Mill was already raging in Hanover County.

It was June 27, 1862, the beginning of the weeklong series of engagements that would become known as the Seven Days Battles. Confederate infantry had attacked the center and left of Union Gen. Fitz John Porter's entrenched infantry and artillery on the hilltop above Boatswain's Swamp four miles east of Mechanicsville.

Jackson's orders were to turn the right flank of the Union army besieging Richmond. Gen. George B. McClellan's army of the Potomac was poised in battle lines extending across the Chickahominy River east of the Confederate capital.

However, because of the late arrival and his soldier's slow advance through the swampy terrain, Jackson -- famous for his swift marches and lightning attacks days earlier in Shenandoah Valley -- failed to move quickly.

After Jackson's attack faltered, Gen. Robert E. Lee launched a Confederate assault along the entire Federal line. The Confederates drove the Federals into retreat, but suffered heavier casualties than they might have if Jackson had been able to move swiftly.

Historian's say Jackson's movement to the battle zone was delayed, in part, by enemy sharpshooters and obstructions left in the roads leading to his planned attack position north of Old Cold Harbor.

Another explanation is that Jackson's guide took him down the wrong road, which sounds as if the guide didn't know where he was going.

But thanks to information from 81-year old Donald C. Timberlake of Atlee, whose grandfather was Jackson's guide that day, details of what happened are part of a newly published and acclaimed book.

Dr. James Robertson, Jr., in his new biography, "Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend", reveals the guide's identity for the first time in a Civil War book.

He was 26 year old Private John Henry Timberlake of the 4th Virginia Cavalry.

Robertson wrote: "Private Timberlake was a natural candidate to guide General Jackson. His family farm -- Rutland -- was located at Atlee Station on the Virginia Central Railroad midway between Ashland and Gaines' Mill. Thus, it is very likely that Jackson's prescribed route would have been familiar to Timberlake, who, at 26 years of age was well traveled."

Indeed, just two weeks earlier, Private Timberlake demonstrated his knowledge of the area's roads when he rode with J.E.B. Stuart around McClellan.

Confederate Veteran John Henry Timberlake died in 1900. His grandson, Donald, says that his grandfather was born at Rutland, the family home, and earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Virginia in 1857 and a Master of Arts degree there in 1858.

Donald Timberlake possesses some 40 letters written by John Henry Timberlake during the Civil War to the woman who became his wife, Gertrude Bowe. (She died in 1910).

In a June 16, 1862 letter mailed from Richmond to Gertrude Bowe, cavalryman John Henry Timberlake told about his ride [with Jackson]....

"We have just returned from a circuit of the Yankee Army. We started from Ashland and came through Charles City and along the James River. We had a gay time, losing only one man, Capt. Latane of Essex, an old friend of mine, and three wounded. We took one hundred and seventy prisoners, about two hundred mules, and burnt upwards of one hundred wagons loaded with provisions for the army as well as three vessels loaded with coffee...

I took some seven prisoners and mounted them on horses and made them lead mules. It is thought by Genl. Stuart that we damaged the Yankees to the amount of two millions of dollars. I am dressed in a full Yankee uniform."

John Henry Timberlake, also known as "J.H." and "Jack", remained in Stuart's cavalry. His assignment as a guide for Jackson was only for the one battle.

In the same July 4, 1862 letter in which he told of serving as Stonewall Jackson's guide, Timberlake summed up his view of the Seven Days Battles he had survived unscathed..

"The enemy has been driven back to his gunboats with the loss of many lives and much property and many prisoners, yet we too have paid dearly for our victories."

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	John Henry Timberlake
	Excerpted from the Richmond Times Dispatch - June 18, 1997

	By the time Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's troops arrived, two hours behind expectations, the Civil War Battle of Gaines' Mill was already raging in Hanover County.
	It was June 27, 1862, the beginning of the weeklong series of engagements that would become known as the Seven Days Battles. Confederate infantry had attacked the center and left of Union Gen. Fitz John Porter's entrenched infantry and artillery on the hilltop above Boatswain's Swamp four miles east of Mechanicsville.
	Jackson's orders were to turn the right flank of the Union army besieging Richmond. Gen. George B. McClellan's army of the Potomac was poised in battle lines extending across the Chickahominy River east of the Confederate capital.
	However, because of the late arrival and his soldier's slow advance through the swampy terrain, Jackson -- famous for his swift marches and lightning attacks days earlier in Shenandoah Valley -- failed to move quickly.
	After Jackson's attack faltered, Gen. Robert E. Lee launched a Confederate assault along the entire Federal line. The Confederates drove the Federals into retreat, but suffered heavier casualties than they might have if Jackson had been able to move swiftly.
	Historian's say Jackson's movement to the battle zone was delayed, in part, by enemy sharpshooters and obstructions left in the roads leading to his planned attack position north of Old Cold Harbor.
	Another explanation is that Jackson's guide took him down the wrong road, which sounds as if the guide didn't know where he was going.
	*But thanks to information from 81-year old Donald C. Timberlake* of Atlee, whose grandfather was Jackson's guide that day, details of what happened are part of a newly published and acclaimed book.**
	Dr. James Robertson, Jr., in his new biography, "Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend", reveals the guide's identity for the first time in a Civil War book.
	*He was 26 year old Private John Henry Timberlake* of the 4th Virginia Cavalry.**
	Robertson wrote: "Private Timberlake was a natural candidate to guide General Jackson. His family farm -- Rutland -- was located at Atlee Station on the Virginia Central Railroad midway between Ashland and Gaines' Mill. Thus, it is very likely that Jackson's prescribed route would have been familiar to Timberlake, who, at 26 years of age was well traveled."
	Indeed, just two weeks earlier, Private Timberlake demonstrated his knowledge of the area's roads when he rode with J.E.B. Stuart around McClellan.

	Confederate Veteran John Henry Timberlake died in 1900. His grandson, Donald, says that his grandfather was born at Rutland, the family home, and earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Virginia in 1857 and a Master of Arts degree there in 1858.
	Donald Timberlake possesses some 40 letters written by John Henry Timberlake during the Civil War to the woman who became his wife, Gertrude Bowe. (She died in 1910).

	In a June 16, 1862 letter mailed from Richmond to Gertrude Bowe, cavalryman John Henry Timberlake told about his ride [with Jackson]....
	"We have just returned from a circuit of the Yankee Army. We started from Ashland and came through Charles City and along the James River. We had a gay time, losing only one man, Capt. Latane of Essex, an old friend of mine, and three wounded. We took one hundred and seventy prisoners, about two hundred mules, and burnt upwards of one hundred wagons loaded with provisions for the army as well as three vessels loaded with coffee...
	I took some seven prisoners and mounted them on horses and made them lead mules. It is thought by Genl. Stuart that we damaged the Yankees to the amount of two millions of dollars. I am dressed in a full Yankee uniform."

	John Henry Timberlake, also known as "J.H." and "Jack", remained in Stuart's cavalry. His assignment as a guide for Jackson was only for the one battle.
	In the same July 4, 1862 letter in which he told of serving as Stonewall Jackson's guide, Timberlake summed up his view of the Seven Days Battles he had survived unscathed..
	"The enemy has been driven back to his gunboats with the loss of many lives and much property and many prisoners, yet we too have paid dearly for our victories."