Page Valley War, Part 3: Impact of Death and War

 In the previous two parts of this series, we chronicled the case of a lost Hoosier horseman and the murder/execution of John F. Haines and Samuel Beyler.  This latter event is an example of the internecine war that the American Civil War was noted for.  Two men, in their sixties, being killed for no other reason than an affinity for the Union, was a reprehensible but common occurrence.  Just as common were the injustices perpetuated by Unionists upon supporters of the Confederacy.  It is easy to forget, however, that there are survivors from each of these atrocities and they had to continue to live after the events.  So it was for the families of Haines and Beyler.

Post Killings

For Harriett Haines, devastated by the death of her husband, her sorrow was alleviated somewhat by the arrival of her son Ellis, from California.  We don’t know if Ellis returned because of the long exile from home, the war, or some other reason.  We do know that Ellis returned to Milford just days after the family learned of his father’s death.

Ellis realized that staying in Milford would be dangerous for him.  As a known Unionist of military age, he could be arrested and suffer the same fate as his father or conscripted into the Confederate army.  Though painful for him and his family, after just a few days at home, he left for Winchester.

Just weeks before, a Luray native, John Sailor, had been in town as a member of Company K, 10^th Virginia Infantry.  A veteran of a year in the army, he was part of Jackson’s army.  A fellow member of Company K was Thornton Beyler, the eldest son of Samuel Beyler.  The day after the deaths of Thornton’s father and John Haines, May 23^rd, Sailor was reported to have “deserted to the cavalry.”  This was a common occurrence, especially when a young man could get a horse and horse equipment. 

Sailor was a married man and worked as a wagoner before the war.  He was prosperous enough to own a slave boy, age 10 in 1860.  Having fought at First Manassas and McDowell, the visit to his home may well have afforded him the opportunity to outfit himself and head out to join the cavalry.  

It is also likely that he knew John Haines, given his occupation.  As a wagoner, essentially a hauler of goods for other people, it is possible that he would have hauled items to or from Haines’ mill.  Regardless, the date of his desertion will gain more significance later in our narrative. 

So three young men, tied together by locale and events beyond their control continued on with their lives in the chaos of war.

Ellis Haines was seething with anger and yearned to avenge his father’s death.  Knowing the roads, pathways, and people of the Page and Shenandoah Valleys were vital skills needed by both sides.  The knowledge that he was the son of a Unionist who had been killed while in Confederate hands made it easy to believe that his sentiments were with the Union.  Just days after leaving Milford, he was hired as a scout for the Union cavalry at Front Royal.  “Scout” was a generic term for guide, scout, or spy.  Oftentimes they wore Confederate gray and passed themselves off as members of the confederate army or as partisans.

Moving quickly into his role, in late June, 1862, he received a flesh wound to his calf around Front Royal.  For the following months, he served as a scout for General William Averell’s Union cavalry division.  In June, 1863, while reporting to the commander at Winchester, General Robert Milroy, he was badly wounded in the hip and groin in a skirmish near the town.

Union Scout

Apparently, Haines success and notoriety as a scout was well known by Confederates in the area.  While recuperating from his wounds in Winchester’s Taylor Hotel, a Confederate named Overall (perhaps a former neighbor from Milford) unsuccessfully offered a man $500 to unlock Haines’ room door so that Overall could kill him.

For Thornton Beyler, his war continued after learning of his father’s death on his brief visit home in May, 1862.  By the middle of 1863 he had fought at Port Republic and Cross Keys, marched across Virginia and fought in the Seven Day’s battles, Cedar Mountain, 2^nd Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.  So far, he had escaped injury and stood resolutely in the ranks, perhaps to make amends for the Unionist feelings of his father.

John Sailor, the young man who deserted the day after the killing of Haines and Beyler, may have had good reason to take off.  There is no record of which cavalry unit Sailor joined, or whether he joined.  He was heard to say that he had left Confederate service because his unit had been disbanded.  In all likelihood, he may have joined any number of “partisan” groups that roamed the Valley.  Regardless, his disappearance may have been for a far more sinister reason.

Months later, at a holiday party at Landon Racy’s home in Frederick County,  Sailor bragged about being a part of the group that had killed Haines and Beyler.  He also boasted of taking part in the murder of captured Union “Jessie” scouts.  Word got back to General Milroy in Winchester and a squad was sent out to arrest Sailor before he left the area.  He was captured and imprisoned in Winchester, there to await trial.

On February 5, 1863, a military commission was sworn in and the trial of John Sailor began.  Over the next two weeks, the commission heard testimony from four individuals.  Philip Byers gave the only testimony that pointed to Sailor being a killer in Luray.  The following is Byers’ trial transcript.

(Q)      Were you ever acquainted with John F. Haines and Samuel Bealer?

(A)      I was intimately acquainted with John Haines, but I was not with Bealer.

(Q)      Where did Haines reside?

(A)      In or about Milford in Page or Warren County.

(Q)      Is he living or dead now?

(A)      I heard he was dead.        

(Q)      From whom did you hear that Haines is dead?

(A)      I heard it through different sources.  Sailor told me so.

(Q)      Did he tell you how he came to his death?

(A)      Sailor said we took him out and killed him (Haines) and also Bealer.

(Q)      Did he state for what cause(A)   He said they were Union men?

(Q)      Did he state why Bealer was killed?

(A)      I (was) speaking of both, Sailor said they were Union men.

(Q)      Where was this conversation had?

(A)      It took place just after holidays at the house of Landon Racy’s in Frederick County.

Byers also spoke of the murder of 8 Union scouts.

“He (Sailor) said that 8 Federal scouts had been captured and he said we took them out and shot them and I think he said they were shot before Jackson came up.  He said the scouts plead (pleaded) for mercy.  I asked him how he could shoot men who begged for mercy.  He said I or we ( I’m not sure which) shot them like dogs and I believe he said like damned dogs.  ”

When queried as to the identity of the scouts, the witness reply, “They were Jessie scouts.”

 In further testimony by Byers, it was intimated that Sailor had been involved with the party host’s wife.

(Q)      Are you acquainted with Sailor’s character as a quiet and peaceable Citizen and, if so, is it good or bad/

(A)      So far as my own knowledge is concerned I have seen nothing  amiss except his being too intimate with Landon Racy’s wife which I know and warned him of and he still persisted and she went off with him.  I understand through some of Sailor’s wife’s friends that Sailor is inattentive to his family.

This provoked the only questions from Sailor during the entire trial. 

(Q)      (Asked by the Defendant)  Did you ever know of Racy’s wife leaving Racy before?

(A)      She did leave him before.

(Q)      (asked by Defendant)  State whether she left on my account that time?

(A)      She left before I knew Sailor was in the neighborhood.

(Q)      (asked by Defendant)  Did you hear she left to meet Kline?

(A)      I did not.

(Q)      (asked by Defendant)  Was Kline and Mrs. Racy intimate?

(A)      I heard so.  I do not know.

(Q)      (asked by Defendant)   Did Kline stop at your house pass himself off as Orndorff?

(A)      He did.

(Q)      (asked by Defendant)   Have you any proof I killed those scouts?

(A)      I have no proof except what you told me.

(Q)      (asked by Defendant)   Do you remember that I told you that the Louisianans took and killed Haines and Bealer?

(A)      I do not.  I remember that you told me that the Louisianans killed Clen(?) at the fort.

The commission adjourned and delivered their verdict on February 22.

            “The undersigned detailed by your order to act as a Military Commission to examine into, and report upon the case John W. Sailor late of Page County, was charged with the murder of John F. Haines and Samuel Bealer, late citizens of Page County Va.; and eight members of the Corps of the United States army denominated Scouts.  Beg leave to report, that they assembled in Winchester according to your order and after being duly sworn in presence of said Sailor and no objections being  made by him to any Member of Said Commission, they proceeded to hear Such evidence as could be procured (a copy of which evidence is herewith returned) and upon a careful Consideration thereof do find that Said Haines and Bealer came to their death by violence at the hands of Said Sailor and his confederates unknown to this commission.  And that the only reason thereof was their attachment to the Constitution and the government of the United States, that they were murdered sometime in the summer of 1862 in the county of Page and State of Virginia.  We further find that Said Sailor aided by others unknown to this Commission did sometime in the summer of 1862 while they were prisoners of war, kill and murder eight soldiers in the Service of the United States, belonging to that Corps denominated Jessie Scouts this being done in the county of Page or Frederick Va.  They further find That Said Sailor was prior to December25th, 1862 in service of the rebel army.

Therefore the said court finding John Sailor alias John W. Sailor, guilty of aiding and assisting in the crime of murder of the said John F. Haines, Samuel Bealer, and the said Scouts as he stands charged, do sentence him, the Said Sailor to suffer Death by hanging at such time and place as may be directed by the President of the United States.”

Of interest is the location of the Jessie scout murders.  Page and Frederick counties are not contiguous.  This lack of specificity is striking, given the severity of the charges.  It could have been written “the murders were committed somewhere within a 25-30 mile radius of Front Royal at an unknown time by the defendant and other unknown individuals.”  Yet, he was found guilty of these murders.

As stated in the last sentence, the final arbitrator of the sentence was the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.  Lincoln was well known to find all kinds of reasons to commute death sentences, particularly in military law cases.  However, this was more than sleeping on duty or harming oneself to avoid service.  Sailor was found guilty of participating in the murder of 10 men, two of them civilians well past military age.

When the Judge Advocate General of the United States Army, Joseph Holt, met with Lincoln, he was troubled by the scanty evidence and various legal improprieties exhibited in the trial transcript.  Having been appointed in September, 1862 Holt felt that any sentence of death had to held to high legal standard.  Lincoln, of a similar mind, agreed with Holt.  On March 16, Holt issued this remarkable ruling:

“This record is regarded as fatally defective.  It does not appear that the general order convening the commission was read to the prisoner or in his hearing or that he had an opportunity to object to any members of the commission nor does it appear that the charge against him was in writing or that he had in advance of the examination of the witnesses any knowledge of the offense for which he was to be tried; Nor is it shown that the prisoner was allowed to plead to the charge against him, as recited in the General Order convening the Commission.  In a proceeding involving Life, such irregularities are wholly inexcusable and make the execution of the death sentence legally impossible.”

                                    Holt

                                    Judge Adv Genl

Report approved.

1. Lincoln

Sailor had escaped a death sentence.  It is highly likely, however, that he realized he was a marked man, for within two months he had enlisted in the UNION army.  Why would he join his enemy and the prosecutor of his murder sentence?  Was it a condition of his release?  Given his history, why didn’t he desert from the Union army at his first opportunity?  We may never know the answers to these questions. 

We do know that Thornton joined the 3^rd West Virginia Mounted Infantry which was later designated the 6^th West Virginia Cavalry.  He was quickly identified as having scout potential and assigned to the Union Second Cavalry Division, commanded by Brigadier General William Averell. 

So, by mid-1863, the sons of Haines and Beyler were enlisted and fighting for their respective causes.  John Sailor, the convicted murderer of their fathers, was free and fighting for the Union after starting the war as a Confederate soldier.  Ellis Haines was serving in a similar capacity as Sailor and Beyler continued in the ranks of the 10^th Virginia Infantry.  As 1864 began, these three lives changed, once again.

End of War

Ellis Haines had become an accomplished scout.  Serving with Milroy and the Union forces in the lower Shenandoah Valley, he transferred to Averell’s cavalry command.  Remarkably, quartermaster records indicate that Haines and Sailor were paid by the same quartermaster in West Virginia for a short time.  It is unknown if either knew of the connection between them. 

In June, his unlucky month, Ellis Haines received his third wound of the war while scouting in Abb’s Valley, West Virginia.   A minie ball shattered both right forearm bones.  Haines’ wound ended his active military service.  He was discharged from his duties in November, 1864 and paid $400 upon separation.  However, he was briefly re-enrolled and served at Army of the Shenandoah headquarters from April through June, 1865.

John Sailor continued to serve the Union cause and appears to have been effective.  Payroll records show Sailor being paid as a scout throughout 1863 and 1864.  When the war ended, the 6^th West Virginia Cavalry was ordered to Kansas for duty on the western frontier until their three year enlistment ended.   Sailor, since he was on detached duty, did not make the trip to Kansas but was mustered out in Washington D.C. in 1866.

Thornton Beyler’s Confederate service came to an end at Spotsylvania Courthouse on May, 1864 where he was captured in the terrible fighting around the infamous “Mule Shoe” salient.  Within days, he had been transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland, a prison camp on the very tip of Maryland’s Eastern Shore where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean.  A godforsaken piece of land, Beyler decided to accept an alternative to harsh life in prison.

It was fortuitous for Beyler that the United States Army was recruiting from Confederate prisoners for the 1^st United States Volunteers.  In total, six regiments were raised and sent to the western frontier to protect families and United States interests.  The 1^st U. S. Volunteers’ first duty, however,  was along the North Carolina coast where they did face their former comrades on the battlefield.  General Ulysses Grant never did fully trust the former prisoners of war fighting their former friends.  When the cries for protection on the western frontier became incessant, he gladly sent the U.S. Volunteers west.

Beyler would march west with the 1^st United States Volunteers as a “Galvanized Yankee” –  a term to describe Confederates in gray putting on the Yankee blue.  Thornton served in Minnesota and Kansas before muster out in November, 1865 as a sergeant.

Post War

Harriett Haines, our heroine in part one, left Milford and, for a time lived in Washington DC.  In the 1870’s she filed a claim Southern Claims Commission, a government entity charged with re-imbursing “Southern Loyalists” for damages incurred during the war.  Ironically, the wife of a murdered Unionist and mother of a Union scout was denied payment.  In her later years, Harriett lived with her son Ellis near Winchester.  In her final years, she moved to Woodstock with her daughter, Harriett, the young chronicler of her father’s death back in 1862.   She died there in 1882 and is buried in the Reformed Cemetery in Woodstock.

Ellis Haines had been badly injured during his time as a scout.  His arm was so badly damaged as to make the limb nearly useless.  His wound from 1863 in the hip and groin caused him constant pain.  Despite this, Ellis married in November, 1865 and was named Jailer of the Frederick County jail. 

Looking for something more substantial for support, he turned to the national government in hopes of employment.  In 1867, he applied for the superintendency of the National Cemetery being established in Winchester.  His recommendations were impressive, coming from Generals Robert Milroy, William Averell and Alfred Torbert.  Citizens of the community chimed in with their support, but to no avail.  Haines was denied the post on a technicality.  The letter rejecting his application stated that he did not meet the criteria of being a former enlisted or commissioned officer in the Union army.  Ellis’ service had always been as a civilian.  For a time, he later engaged in the harness making business. 

Ellis also looked for support from another source. As early as 1867, Haines was pursuing a pension from the United States government.  A Congressional act provided him $8 a month which was increased to $14 in 1871.  He settled down, got married and raised six children.  He died in 1909.

Mt. Olive United Methodist Church Hayfield, Va.

Thornton Beyler served quietly on the frontier and withstood the severe winters of Minnesota and the constant threat of Indian attack.  When he came back from his service as a Galvanized Yankee he decided a fresh start was needed.  Perhaps he was concerned about his reception back in Luray after serving in the Union Army.  He eventually settled in Wirt County, West Virginia, got married and raised 11 children while farming.   He died there in 1902 at the age of 61.

Beulah Humble Presbyterian Church Elizabeth, WV

John Sailor found civilian life boring and enlisted in the 5^th U.S. Cavalry in 1867.  He served in the Army on the western frontier for a number of years before returning to Winchester around 1881 and marrying a local woman. Interestingly, there is no record of a divorce from his first wife.  During his last years, he drove a bus for the Taylor Hotel and was known as quite a storyteller from his time out West.  John died in 1906 and was buried in the National Cemetery in Winchester.

Winchester National Cemetery, Winchester, Va.

It seems plausible that Ellis Haines and John Sailor would have known of each other as Winchester was not a large city at that time.  I can’t help but wonder if they bumped into each other, perhaps swapping stories from their times as scouts.  Did Ellis know of the charges and conviction of John Sailor?  Were either or both members of the GAR? 

Finally, there still remains the ultimate questions.  Who really killed John F. Haines and Samuel Beyler on May 22, 1862 in Luray?  Was it ordered?  By whom?  Were the killings committed by local vigilantes?  The quest for the truth continues.

As we come to the end of part 3, I hope you enjoyed this journey through little known events of the Civil War in the Page Valley and some of the individuals whose lives were so impacted by this tragic era of American history.  My thanks to Peter Dalton for allowing me to tell the story.  It is a story that I will continue to research and, Peter allowing, will update you with any new information about the protagonists in Page County War in a future blog posting.

Sources for part 3 include obituaries of the individuals, Court Martial records, Quartermaster records,  and individual service records in the National Archives, contemporary newspapers, and family histories.  If you wish to know the source of a particular piece of information contained in any of the three parts, contact me at jagoecker@yahoo.com for the source.  Likewise, if you have information about this tragedy, feel free to contact me.

Jim Goecker is the author of “Hoosier Spies and Horse Marines:  A History of the 3^rd Indiana Cavalry, East Wing,” available from McFarland Publishing or your online book source.