Lieutenant John R. McNulty (1832 – January 11, 1912) of Baltimore, Maryland was a Confederate soldier. During the Battle of Old Town, his 2nd Maryland Artillery prevented an element of the Army of Northern Virginia led by Brigadier General John McCausland from being trapped behind Union lines. At the time, the unit was returning from raids into Maryland and Pennsylvania, where they had sacked and burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.E.B. & B. Long Civil War Day By Day © 1971 Garden City, NY: Double1832 Day, unabridged republication by arrangement (reprint published by De Capo, Inc.) (pbk.), pp 549 and 550 (for August, 1864) "August 1, Monday … McCausland's cavalry, successful in its expedition against Chambersburg, Pa., … was now in trouble with more Federals closing in. … August 2, Tuesday Early's cavalry under McCausland … sought to recross the Potomac after their Chambersburg raid … skirmishing at Old Town, Md., … August 3, Wednesday … McCausland had made good his escape from Maryland to West Virginia with part of Early's command." After the civil war, he served as a presidential elector for James A. Garfield in 1881.
Battle of Old Town
The Valley Campaigns of 1864 were part of a strategy to save the Confederate breadbasket for the provision of the Army of Northern Virginia from Major General David Hunter and, later, General Philip Sheridan and to threaten Washington, D.C. This was part of the larger strategy of Generals Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston for the outnumbered and out-resourced Confederate States Army to break the Northern population's resolve and force the Union to sue for peace by taking the battle to Northern soil while bogging down advancing Union Army troops.
During these campaigns, forces of Brigadier General John McCausland were being pursued by Federal troops when they were blocked at Old Town, Maryland at the Potomac River between Hancock, Maryland and Springfield, West Virginia by Union infantry and an armored train armed with a 12 lbs howitzer. During the ensuing battle, McNulty brought his horse drawn light cannon to high ground within 200 yards of the armored train. The first cannon shot breached and exploded the train's boiler, causing Federal troops both within and without the train to scatter. A second shot, passed through one of the train's howitzer car's open musket portals, disabling the howitzer and forcing the crew to evacuate. Pursued by the Confederates, the frontal Union troops surrendered, allowing McCausland's forces to return to the relative safety of West Virginia without further incident.Scott C. Patchan Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign (2009) University of Nebraska Press pp. 287-289
Later American Civil War events During the October 9, 1864 Battle of Tom's Brook, McNulty saved and repositioned Confederate guns to high ground when Major General Thomas Rosser's Laurel Brigade (whom the Baltimore Light Artillery were supporting) broke and ran. However, he later lost all but one of the surviving guns when chased by Federal troops after the battle.Gary W. Gallagher The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 (2006) University of North Carolina Press, pp. 147, 151 and 154 McNulty's Baltimore Light Artillery had lost 4 guns and 19 of their crews in the battling at Tom's Brook.Memoirs of the Stuart Horse Artillery Battalion, Robert J. Trout, ed., (2010) University of Tennessee Press, p. 280 McNulty remained in command of the Baltimore Light Artillery until the April 9, 1865 Battle of Appomattox Courthouse which was the final U.S. Civil War engagement of the Army of Northern Virginia. By then, however, his forces had been so depleted that they were not able to participate in the battle.Edward G. Longacre The Cavalry at Appomattox: A Tactical Study of Mounted Operations During the Civil War's Climactic Campaign, March 27-April 9, 1865 (2003) Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, p. 48
While referred to in histories as "Lieutenant" or "the Lieutenant", McNulty was repeatedly promoted during the war, eventually holding the rank of major.J. Thomas Scharf History of Western Maryland (2003) Genealogical Publishing Co. p 337 , 9780806345659, noting also that "This company (Baltimore Light Artillery) served with distinguished gallantry during the entire war in the Army of Northern Virginia."
A memorial to 2nd Maryland Artillery (Baltimore Light Artillery) at the Antietam National Battlefield lists McNulty by name. U.S. National Park Service
Later life
After the war, McNulty continued to live in Baltimore, Maryland, where he served as a presidential elector for James A. Garfield in 1881.John Thomas Scharf History of Baltimore City and County, from the Earliest Period to the Present Day: Including Biographical Sketches of Their Representative Men Baltimore: L.H. Everts (1881) p. 195 He moved to New York in 1877, and was one of the founders of the New York Coffee Exchange in 1882. He died at his home in Blauvelt on January 11, 1912.
See also Valley Campaigns of 1864 Maryland Line (CSA) Trevilian Station Confederate order of battle, section Army of Northern Virginia
References
External links "Battles at Folcks Mill and Oldtown" at the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Association