by Kelly Jasper , The Daily News-Record

Their screams were heart rending.

The poor people of Dayton, wrote Lt. Col. Thomas R. Wildes, were the very picture of despair.

Sitting among their little piles of household effects, women and children watched the smoke billow in the country all around them. Each waited for the hour when their houses should be given up to the flames. The men came at noon, as promised, carrying not torches, but a message: The town of Dayton was saved.

The pleas of a Yankee officer spared the village.

Sheridan's Reprisal

Sent to Dayton to guard mills grinding grain for Gen. Philip Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah, Wildes and men of his 116th Ohio Volunteer Infantry protected against smuggling to Confederate troops.

“Bushwhackers also infested the roads between there and Harrisonburg, and frequently fired on parties passing to and fro,” Wildes wrote in a history of 116 th Ohio.

In October of 1864, a party of Confederate scouts, suspected bushwhackers, shot and killed Lt. John Meigs.

At the time of his death, Meigs belonged to the chief engineer corps of the regular Army, and occupied the position of chief of engineers on Sheridan's staff.

“He was greatly loved by Sheridan,” Wildes wrote, “and he determined to wreak a terrible vengeance on the country road in retaliation for his murder.”

A 2 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 5, Sheridan directed that every house within a 5-mile radius of the ambush should be burned. Wildes received the order and at once wrote a statement begging him to revoke the order for Dayton.

“The people of Dayton were as fine and loyal a people as we met anywhere in the south,” Wildes wrote. The message was hand delivered to Sheridan.

“The general read the note and swore, read it again and swore, examined and cross-examined the messenger,” Wildes continued. Finally, Sheridan yielded and gave the messenger an order to carry back, revoking his earlier command.

A Soldier's Humanity

So the women and children of Dayton cheered. Women fainted, and the sleeve of many a blouse was wet with their tears, Wildes wrote.

“The people of Dayton, anyhow, if of no other place in the South, believed there were at least some Yankees who had some humanity in them,” Wildes wrote. The clapping of hands and shouts of gladness were too much for even the grim and sturdy soldiers.

Wildes' conscience sets him apart from most of those soldiers, says Joe Whitehorne, a professor at Lord Fairfax Community College and retired Army officer.

“He was not a blind follower of orders,” said Whitehorne. “He was known for being a very efficient, effective leader.”

Whitehorne believes Wildes felt so strongly about saving the town because the order, when it came down to it, wasn't justified.

“Only the very unusual person gets pleasure in destroying personal property,” Whitehorne said. “Wildes didn't believe that the innocent citizens of Dayton were responsible for the incident.”

Eventually, Dayton residents erected a small monument to Wildes for his role in saving the town from destruction.

Wildes continued to distinguish himself even after leaving Dayton, Whitehorne added, especially on Oct. 19 at the battle of Cedar Creek, where the commander maintained unit cohesion amidst mass confusion.

Uncommon Soldier

After the war, he graduated from law school in 1866 and practiced his profession at Athens, Ohio. Born in Racine, Canada, in 1834, Wildes came to Ohio with his father's family five years later. He served in the military for three years but then returned, where prior to the war, he worked as editor of the Athens Messenger.

Little else in known about Wildes, Whitehorne said.

“Most people don't know who he really was,” he said. “He must have been quite an exceptional officer to run his troops in such a dignified manner under those conditions.”

Sources: “Record of the 116 th Regiment Ohio Infantry Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion” by Thomas Wildes and www.ohiogenealogy.org.