After Commanding at First Manassas, CSA Colonel Rodes Writes His Wife

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RODES, Robert Emmett (1829-1864) Confedrate general. When General Robert E. Lee reorganized the Army of Northern Virginia to compensate for the loss of “Stonewall” Jackson, Rodes joined the Second Corps under Richard Ewell. In the Battle of Gettysburg, on July 1, 1863, Rodes led the assault from Oak Hill against the right flank of the Union I Corps. Although he successfully routed the division of Maj. Gen. John C. Robinson and drove it back through the town, the attack was not as well coordinated or pursued as aggressively as his reputation would have implied. His division sat idle for the remaining two days of the battle.On September 19, 1864, Sheridan attacked the Confederates at the Battle of Opequon, also known as the Third Battle of Winchester. Several wives of Confederate officers were chased from town during the attack and Rodes managed to save Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon's wife from capture. Rodes and Gordon prepared to attack Sheridan's forces when Rodes was struck in the back of his head by a Union shell fragment. He died on the field outside Winchester.Autograph Letter Signed “R.E.Rodes,” 4pp., Union Mill, [near Manassas] Virginia. October 20,1861, in part “"Mrs. Brown will come at once - but I think she will be out here in the course of ten days - and as soon thereafter as possible you may come, unless a battle is imminent. I begin to think now that the enemy are sending their forces from our part to Kentucky and that soon some of us will be sent out thither. So don't be too certain of meeting your husband here or anywhere yet awhile. I really think that a part of this force will be moved to Kentucky soon, who knows what part? So be prepared for anything. I know nothing of course of the future. I truly hop you and I will meet sooner or later, to part no more of this earth...." VG

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