Jack earned a place in Civil War dog history

Jack’s story as a Civil War dog is full of intrigue. He is remembered for switching allegiance from Confederate gray to Union blue.

He was described as a young mastiff – medium size and jet black, “except a white breast and a dash of white on each of his four paws.” Jack originally belonged to a Confederate jailer in Front Royal, Va.

Kate Kelly, creator of the America Comes Alive! website, said troops under the command of Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson drove Union forces out of Front Royal on May 23, 1862. The battle earned an historical footnote, pitting Marylanders versus Marylanders in warfare.

Fighting for the Union was the 1st Regiment Maryland Volunteer Infantry. Among Gen. Jackson’s troops was the Confederate 1st Maryland Infantry. Military historian J. J. Goldsborough commented: “This is the only time in U.S. military history that two regiments of the same numerical designation and from the same state have engaged each other in battle.”

There are some gaps in the story about how Jack came to switch sides during the Civil War, but the dog was featured in the Nov. 8, 1862, edition of Harper’s Weekly magazine. An unnamed writer said that in the confusion of the fray at Fort Royal, Jack “insisted upon” defecting to the Union’s 1st Regiment Maryland.

The Harper’s Weekly news account offered testimony from Union officers about Jack’s contributions in the war effort.

“On the road, when our parched men were fainting from thirst, Jack would always run forward, and whenever he discovered a pool of water would rush back, barking loudly, to tell them of it.”

“When they were supplied with only five crackers to each man for five days – with no meat – and our poor fellows were literally dying from starvation, this noble animal has been known to go and catch chickens for them and to bring them in his mouth, or he would waylay every horse or wagon passing with food, and bark imploringly for them to bring relief.”

After Fort Royal, the 1st Regiment Maryland resurfaced, participating in the Battle of Bristoe Station, Va., on Oct. 14, 1863. It’s unknown whether Jack was there. The dog seems to have dagnabbitly disappeared from the historical record. There is some speculation that Jack left the front lines, found a home in Baltimore and remained there.

Kate Kelly also tells her readers about Harvey, another Union dog, who saw the war through until the very end. Harvey was a member of the famous “Barking Dog Regiment of Ohio,” the 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. These soldiers were accompanied by a whole gang of dogs.

Harvey was a mostly white bull terrier that belonged to Lt. Daniel M. Stearns of Wellsville, Ohio. The two of them joined the regiment in 1862.

Capt. William Jordan said Harvey was one of the top dogs, “having the run of the regiment,” sleeping in whatever tent appealed to him on any given night.

Pvt. Adam Weaver wrote that Harvey attended campfire sing-alongs and was known for barking and swaying from side-to-side. Weaver sensed that the men’s “singing hurt Harvey’s ears.”

Lt. Stearns and Harvey were reportedly there with the 104th at Bennett Place in Durham, N.C., when Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Gen. William T. Sherman, on April 26, 1865.

Although Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had already surrendered on April 9, 1865, to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Va., some war scholars say it was the Bennett Place deal that effectively ended the conflict.

The agreement disbanded all Confederate forces in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, totaling 89,270 soldiers – the largest group to surrender during the Civil War.

Lt. Stearns and Harvey traveled back to Camp Taylor near Cleveland, Ohio, where they “received their pay and were mustered out of the military,” Kelly said.