A military biography of Confederate Brigadier General John McCausland, a soldier who had been generally overlooked by modern Civil War historians.
Hard Cover, 400 pages. Maps, Illustrations.

$30.00

   The military biography of McCausland has essentially been overlooked by Civil War historians, but he was a significant officer in the Confederate army who fought throughout the war for the state he loved more then country, Virginia.  Though born in St. Louis, he was orphaned early in life and lived with his widowed aunt in what was to become West Virginia during the Civil War.

   He had many similarities in common with "Stonewall" Jackson:  orphaned while young, he grew to manhood among the proud mountain people of western Virginia, had a military education at the Virginia Military Institute, and young McCausland was a teaching assistant at VMI in both mathematics and artillery tactics under Jackson's supervision.  Both were with the Cadet contingent serving as guards at John Brown's execution.

    Tiger John: The Rebel Who Burned Chambersburg by David L. Phillips is a military biography of Confederate Brigadier General John McCausland, a soldier who had been generally overlooked by modern Civil War historians. McCausland was a significant officer in the Army of Northern Virginia who fought throughout the war for the “Native State” he loved more than country, Virginia. Though he was born in St. Louis, he was orphaned early in life and lived with a widowed aunt in what was to become West Virginia during the Civil War.

   He had many similarities in common with “Stonewall” Jackson: orphaned while young, young McCausland grew to manhood among the proud mountain people of western Virginia, received a military education at Virginia’s Military Institute, and he served as a mathematics and artillery instructor at VMI while under Jackson’s supervision. Both were with the Cadet contingent serving as guards at John Brown’s execution.

   Each of these soldiers was drawn to the defense of “Native State” as the Civil War opened, but Robert E. Lee sent McCausland into “his country,” western Virginia, to recruit men for the defense of Virginia’s western counties. McCausland served there in the initial campaigns that eventually resulted in the loss of the entire region to federal control. McCausland had the early misfortune to have served under very poor commanders, Generals John B. Floyd and Henry A. Wise, who had recently been Virginia governors.

    McCausland’s regiment was ordered to Fort Donelson in early 1862 where he served once more under the incompetent General Floyd. While there, McCausland led an attack that broke through Ulysses Grant’s encirclement only to be recalled to await a formal surrender. Escaping capture as Floyd’s less than honorable orders put his Virginia regiments aboard steamboats, McCausland was denied any consideration for promotion until the bloody battle of Cloyd’s Mountain in 1864.

    John McCausland is remembered for the 1864 raid into Pennsylvania during which the town of Chambersburg was burned in retaliation for the federal atrocities in the nearby Shenandoah Valley. He fought through the rest of the war as a cavalry commander, but the federal authorities had long memories.

    In a very rare interview, McCausland spoke of the raid to Chambersburg:

   “You’ll see ... what my orders were. That ought to answer the charge that in burning their town that I was wreaking my own private vengeance. Good God! I had nothing against their town! My orders were definite and final: I was to go to Chambersburg as demand a ransom. Failing to get the money, I was to burn the town. We needed food, clothes, shoes and forage for the horses -- all the things that the Federal soldiers had been helping themselves to. And I still believe it was Early’s idea that part of the ransom money ... was to be used to buy supplies for our men and part to reimburse the citizens whose homes had been destroyed by Hunter. You see ... I was instructed to give the Chambersburg people a chance to raise the ransom money.... Tell me, did you ever hear of Sherman or Hunter or Sheridan giving our people a chance to ransom their homes before burning them?"

   “As a professional soldier, Early’s idea did not appeal to me. Left to myself, I should have followed General Lee’s example.... You recall that Lee’s army molested no private property. Lee issued strict orders against it. But for all that, I could see some justice of Early’s demand.... Frederick and Hagerstown ... had paid him ransoms ... and he had every reason to believe that Chambersburg would do the same. And there was another thing: Early believed that if the North got an example of what their own armies were doing ... the result might be a let-up in the destruction of private property in our country. Anyway, my orders left no alternative.”

    McCausland signed a parole at the end of the war, but he received a warning that he was to be arrested on charges of arson when he returned home. Soon, he had slipped into Canada, visited Ireland, and traveled to France where he was hired as a surveyor to lay out the new Confederate colony, Carlota, at the direction of Maxmilian, the emperor of Mexico. McCausland returned the United States after General Grant arranged a full pardon for the burning of Chambersburg, but Pennsylvania authorities were less generous and attempted to press the arson charges. Embittered to the last of his days, John McCausland was described as “The Last Confederate Stronghold” until his death in 1927. He was the next to last surviving Confederate general officer.

The Author

    A former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces and the descendant of four soldiers who served in the Confederate army, Civil War historian David Phillips is a specialist in the Allegheny Campaigns and Union special operations. He is the author of several books on the Civil War, including War Diaries: The 1861 Kanawha Campaigns, War Stories: The War in West Virginia, and three volumes in the Civil War Chronicles series: Daring Raiders, Crucial Land Battles, and A Soldier's Story. Phillips lives and writes in Leesburg, Virginia.