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Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Sidney E. Shaw, Soldier, Civil War Records and Other Material, A&M 0944, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

Sidney F. Shaw mustered into the Union army as a second lieutenant in the 15th Virginia (later known as 15th West Virginia) Volunteers on August 9, 1862, to serve three years. He was commissioned a captain on September 18, 1862, and was in command of Company G, 15th West Virginia Infantry for a time in the Fall of 1863. By special order, Shaw was assigned to duty as an engineer on the staff of the commanding general of the Department of West Virginia on April 3, 1864. Later in 1864 he was acting chief engineer of the Department, and took charge of all block houses between Cumberland and Monocacy, Maryland, including all defensive structures along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a vital federal supply line.

During the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, General Robert E. Lee ordered Jubal Early to clear the Valley of all federal forces, capture badly needed stores and supplies for the Confederate army at Petersburg, and make a strong demonstration against Baltimore and Washington, with intent to cause General Grant to pull Union forces from Petersburg to protect Washington, thereby weakening his Petersburg lines. Early was able to force Union armies out of the Valley for the summer, but gained few supplies, and managed to only frighten Washington. General Horatio Wright's 6th Crops, sent from Petersburg, put up a formidable defense before the delayed Confederate troops attacked Fort Stevens outside Washington. Early was late and according to Captain Shaw, due to the heroic "Little Lost Army".

Captain Shaw mustered out of the army in July, 1865. He and his wife, Caroline, settled in Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia and raised five children. While supporting his family as a real estate agent, he was involved in veterans affairs and reunions, politics, and pursuing the government to recover money he was owed.

For a Confederate perspective on the five day fighting retreat see:

Hotchkiss, Jedediah, Make me A Map of the Valley; the Civil War journal of Stonewall Jackson's topographer, edited by Archie P. McDonald (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1973), 201-219.

Scope and Contents

Captain Sidney F. Shaw's diary regards his role, as Assistant Chief Engineer in General Fran Sigel's command, to save supplies and wagons from Jubal Early's Confederate forces during the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

The narrative manuscript provides a detailed account of a five day fighting retreat from July 3 to July 8, 1864, through Jefferson and Berkeley Counties, and across the Potomac River to Maryland Heights. He indicates how John B. Gordon's Division, and the cavalries of McCausland and Gilmore, were among those of Early's Corps held back by three federal units, including Colonel Mulligan's 23rd Illinois and Colonel T. M. Harris's 10th West Virginia Infantry Regiments, and Major Merriam's 5th New York Heavy Artillery. Shaw's narrative concludes that this action by the "Little Lost Army" not only denied Early most of the Union supplies, but delayed the Confederates, giving Lew Wallace time to move his division from Baltimore and set up a line of battle at Monocacy Junction, northwest of Washington D.C. The battle of Monocacy, although a Confederate victory, gave the Federals time to reinforce Washington defenses with troops pulled out of the Petersburg siege line, forcing Jubal Early to abandon plans to attack the capitol city. There is also a typed summary of the narrative titled "The Little Lost Army".

There is also documentation regarding Shaw's persistent efforts to correct army records pertaining to his assignment and posts during the Civil War in order to recover back pay owed to him and to file for disability, including: a letter he wrote to President William McKinley, dated 1901, regarding Shaw's certification of rank authorized by then Captain McKinley, as well as listing past military and work experience; correspondence with Congressmen; affidavits from soldiers with whom Shaw served; and Congressional bills introduced in the House of Representatives "For the relief of Captain Sidney Shaw".

Other records include a program for a national Civil War veterans reunion encampment in the Chicago area (this was likely a Grand Army of the Republic [GAR] event) organized by Shaw, two stock certificates for the Chicago, Parkersburg and Norfolk Railway Company, dating from 1885 and 1888, an essay written by Shaw in 1898 concerning the need for "Good Roads" in West Virginia, and clippings regarding pay for WWI soldiers.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Civil War - West Virginia 15th Infantry.
• Civil War battles - Monocacy.
• Railroads - Parkersburg and Norfolk Railway Company.
• Shaw, Sidney E.
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865