January 21

Fighting battles is like courting girls: those who make the most pretensions and are boldest usually win.

Rutherford B. Hayes, 19^th President, 1877-1881

- From Hayes' Civil War diary entry at Camp Green meadows, August 6, 1862.-Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio in 1822 and and graduated from Kenyon College in 1838. He graduated from Harvard Law School and eventually settled in Cincinnati and established his law practice. As a criminal defense attorney, he gained prominence in defending many escaped slaves who had escaped across the Ohio River from Kentucky. When southern states began to secede from the union, Hayes was indifferent towards the idea of a civil war to maintain the union. After the Confederates attacked Ft. Sumpter, however, Hayes did volunteer for the Union Army from Ohio in 1861 and and was promoted to rank of Major. Also joining the division as a private was another future President, William McKinley. The regiment participated in skirmishes and raids up until September 1862 when they were called upon as reinforcements for the Second Battle of Bull Run in Virginia. In the incident of August 6, 1862, Confederate forces attacked the ferry at the New River above Bluestone in West Virginia. There seems to have been confusion as to how large the confederate forces were. Hayes sent troops to repel the raiders."...Soon after a courier from [the] ferry [reported] that the enemy in large force were firing cannon rifled at them. I sent this to Flat Top. Then called up Companies E, C, and K to go to reinforce the ferry. I sent the band to give them music and told the men: "Fighting battles is like courting the girls: those who make most pretension and are boldest usually win. So, go ahead, give good hearty yells as you approach the ferry, let the band play; but don't expose yourselves, keep together and keep under cover. It is a bushwhacking fight across the river. Don't... expose yourself to show bravery; we know you are all brave, etc., etc. The men went off in high spirits...Major Comly destroyed the large ferry-boat. Soon after, the enemy ceased firing and made a rapid retreat. They ran their horses past the ford at Bluestone. Whether they left because they heard our band and reinforcements coming or because they saw the major had done their work, is problematical. From "The Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes, Nineteenth President of the United States", edited by Charles Richard Williams (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State Archeological and Historical Society, 1922, page 315