Cool Spring was a Civil War engagement fought in Virginia, 1864. It was a Confederate victory.
A Union column, consisting of the VI Corps and elements of the XIX Corps under Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright, pursued Early's army as it withdrew from the environs of Washington, D.C. Wright's force was joined by elements of Crook's command, which had accompanied Hunter during his retreat through West Virginia. On July 17, the Union cavalry passed through Snickers Gap and attempted to force passage of the Shenandoah River at Snickers Ford (Castleman's Ferry). On the morning of July 18, the vanguard of the Union infantry moved through Snickers Gap. Col. Joseph Thoburn (of Crook's command) led his division downstream to cross the river at Judge Richard Parker's Ford. Early's three nearby infantry divisions moved to defend the fords. In the afternoon, Rodes's division attacked and shattered Thoburn's right flank on the Cool Spring plantation. Thoburn made a stand behind a stone wall at the river's edge and beat off three attacks until darkness enabled him to withdraw. Union pursuit of Early was delayed several days.
Fought over two days, July 17 and 18, 1864, the Battle of Cool Spring took place in Clarke County, Virginia, forming part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864. This engagement carried several other names as well, including Castleman's Ferry, Island Ford, Parker's Ford, and Snicker's Ferry. When the fighting ended, the Confederates had claimed victory.
Following the fighting at Fort Stevens on July 11, a Federal column moved to chase Jubal Early's Army of the Valley as it pulled back from the outskirts of Washington, D.C., and made its way through Loudoun County, Virginia. This pursuing force, made up of the VI Corps along with parts of the XIX Corps, was led by Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright. By July 15, Wright had gained reinforcements when Brig. Gen. George Crook's troops linked up with him; Crook had been marching alongside Maj. Gen. David Hunter since their withdrawal through West Virginia in the wake of the fighting at Lynchburg on June 18.
Two minor clashes broke out in Loudoun County on July 16, one near Heaton's Crossroads (known today as Purcellville) and another at Woodgrove. Afterward, Early moved the bulk of his troops westward across the Blue Ridge through Snickers Gap, settling his forces near Berryville. Anticipating pursuit, he stationed sizable rearguard units at the principal fords of the Shenandoah River to protect his withdrawal. On July 17, Federal horsemen pushed through Snicker's Gap heading west and tried, without success, to cross the river at Castleman's Ferry, also called Snicker's Ford.
The next day brought Crook and Wright to Snicker's Gap, where they concluded, wrongly, that only a thin screen of Confederate pickets held the riverbank to shield Early's march up the Valley. Rather than sending his own cavalry across the water to scout and verify this belief, Wright instead ordered them toward Ashby's Gap to strike at Early's supply train, which was moving south of the main Confederate force. He then worked out a plan calling for a small body of Union troops to cross the river farther north, below the main ford at Castleman's Ferry, in order to outflank the Confederate line. Crook handed this mission to Col. Joseph Thoburn.
Whittaker Chambers, in his memoir Witness published in 1952, recounts a family story concerning his mother's father, Charles Whittaker of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who lived from 1840 to 1899 and was the son of a Scottish immigrant. While still a boy, Whittaker had fled home hoping to enlist in the Union Army. His youth meant that no unit would take him except a "convict regiment" posted at Harper's Ferry. This regiment found itself needing to advance across enemy lines under fire during the fighting at Snicker's Gap. Chambers describes how one soldier grew so frightened that he darted out from the shelter of his grandfather's body, stepping into the open in front of him, and was killed by a shot on the spot. Chambers noted that this memory stayed with him, and that he would sometimes invoke it to steady anxious companions amid the Hiss Case, telling them, "Let's not jump out of line."
Confederate forces emerged victorious from this engagement. Believing he faced nothing more than pickets from Early's rearguard, Wright dispatched a modest contingent against a Confederate line that was, in fact, heavily reinforced, and he did so without cavalry support. That miscalculation cost Thoburn's men dearly. Among those caught in the fighting at Snicker's Gap was West Virginia militia Col. Daniel E. Frost, who served as speaker of the House of Delegates for the Restored Government of Virginia; he took command of the beleaguered troops there and suffered a wound to the abdomen that would prove fatal. Despite this heavy toll, Thoburn managed to exploit the terrain wisely, and the Confederates' failure to coordinate their attack meant his men avoided complete collapse, keeping his losses lower than they might otherwise have been. Neither side moved much the next day, with both armies holding their previous positions and only minor skirmishing occurring. It was Hunter who broke the stalemate, ordering troops out of Harpers Ferry to press Early from the north. This maneuver forced the Confederates to pull back from Berryville the day after, marking the opening moves of the Valley Campaigns of 1864.
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