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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, Personal Reminiscences of the War of 1861-5,
-by W. H. (William Henry) Morgan
-
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-
-Title: Personal Reminiscences of the War of 1861-5
- In Camp--en Bivouac--on the March--on Picket--on the Skirmish Line--on the Battlefield--and in Prison
-
-
-Author: W. H. (William Henry) Morgan
-
-
-
-Release Date: April 23, 2016 [eBook #51838]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-
-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR
-OF 1861-5***
-
-
-E-text prepared by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading
-Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by
-Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
-
-
-
-Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
- file which includes the original illustration.
- See 51838-h.htm or 51838-h.zip:
- (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51838/51838-h/51838-h.htm)
- or
- (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51838/51838-h.zip)
-
-
- Images of the original pages are available through
- Internet Archive. See
- https://archive.org/details/personalreminisc00morg
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-
-
-
-
-PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR OF 1861-65
-
-
-[Illustration:
-
- W. H. MORGAN]
-
-
-PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR OF 1861-5
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-IN CAMP—EN BIVOUAC—ON THE MARCH—ON PICKET—ON
- THE SKIRMISH LINE—ON THE
- BATTLEFIELD—AND IN
- PRISON
-
-by
-
-W. H. MORGAN
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Lynchburg, Va.
-J. P. Bell Company, Inc.
-1911
-
-Copyright, 1911
-by W. H. Morgan
-
-
-
-
- TO THE MEMORY OF
- "THE LOVED ONES AT HOME"
- WIFE—FATHER—MOTHER
- THIS BOOK IS TENDERLY AND LOVINGLY DEDICATED
-
-
-
-
- PREFACE
-
-
-I launch this little volume upon the great ocean of books, craving the
-indulgence of the kind reader for its shortcomings and imperfections,
-with the hope that it will not be viewed with a critic's eye, and that
-its imperfections may be charitably passed by. I have endeavored to
-relate my experiences in the great war of 1861-5 just as events
-occurred, as if I were detailing them to family or friends in private,
-or, as I have sometimes done in the past, at gatherings of veterans and
-friends during the past years.
-
-The old huntsman delights to tell of his tracking game in the snow, the
-chase through the woods and fields of the fox, deer and bear; the old
-sailor spins his yarns of the adventures and perils of the deep; the old
-fisherman will sometimes tell a big fish tale, and the old soldier is
-wont to join in with the rest and tell of his life in camp and field.
-This last I have endeavored to do in the following pages after the lapse
-of many years. I might have spun out the story much longer, but
-believing that brevity is often the soul of writing, as well as of wit,
-I have endeavored to "be brief and to the point."
-
- W. H. MORGAN.
-
- _Floyd, Va._, January 23, 1911.
-
-
-
-
- CONTENTS
-
-
- CHAPTER I
-
-Personal—Organization—Roll of company.
-
- CHAPTER II
-
-Enter the service—Trouble about arms.
-
- CHAPTER III
-
-On to Manassas—The 11th Regiment—The 1st Brigade.
-
- CHAPTER IV
-
-Battle of Blackburns Ford—The battle begins—The enemy driven back—
-Incidents of the battle.
-
- CHAPTER V
-
-Battle of First Manassas—General Johnston to the rescue—Gen. Kirby Smith
-turns the tide of battle—The Rebel Yell—Under shelling—The news of
-victory—The enemy not pursued—Gathering the spoils.
-
- CHAPTER VI
-
-To Centreville and Fairfax C. H.—Picket close to enemy—Exciting times on
-picket—Back to Centreville—The fight at Drainesville.
-
- CHAPTER VII
-
-Fall back from Centreville—The Peninsular campaign—Yorktown lines
-evacuated—The battle of Williamsburg—"Give it to them"—Into a hot fire—
-Colonel Garland wounded—Incidents of the battle—Garland and Kemper
-promoted.
-
- CHAPTER VIII
-
-Back to Richmond—Battle of Seven Pines—The brigade in reserve—Into the
-fight at double-quick—Incidents of the battle—On the picket lines.
-
- CHAPTER IX
-
-Seven days fights around Richmond—Battle of Gaines' Mill.
-
- CHAPTER X
-
-Second Manassas and Maryland campaign—Sharpsburg—Back to Virginia—From
-Winchester to Culpeper—To Fredericksburg.
-
- CHAPTER XI
-
-The battle of Fredericksburg—Kemper's Brigade in reserve—Spectacular
-scene—Behind Marye's Hill—Sharpshooting—At home; sad loss.
-
- CHAPTER XII
-
-To Richmond, Chester Station and Petersburg—To North Carolina—Back to
-Virginia at Suffolk—To Taylorsville—On to join General Lee.
-
- CHAPTER XIII
-
-Pennsylvania Campaign—Gettysburg—Back to Virginia—General Lee and the
-army of Northern Virginia.
-
- CHAPTER XIV
-
-To Taylorsville—At Chafin's Farm—To North Carolina again—Marching
-through swamps and sand—The capture of Plymouth—Companies C and G have
-serious experience—Incidents of the battle—The gunboat _Albemarle_—Col.
-James Dearing wins promotion—On to Washington, N. C.—Newberne again
-invested.
-
- CHAPTER XV
-
-Back to Petersburg, Va.—Beast Butler—The battle of Drewry's Bluff—
-General Gracie's courage—Into a heavy fire at close range—Col. Richard
-F. Maury—Yankee brigade captured—General Whiting's failure—The Yankee
-flags.
-
- CHAPTER XVI
-
-To Milford and to capture—Prisoner of war—On to Washington—To Fort
-Delaware.
-
- CHAPTER XVII
-
-To Fort Delaware—Short Rations—Song—Prison rules.
-
- CHAPTER XVIII
-
-Off for Charlestown—Alleged retaliation—On shipboard—Run aground—Short
-of water—In stockade—Under fire—Prison rules.
-
- CHAPTER XIX
-
-To Fort Pulaski—Rotten cornmeal and pickled rations—A plot laid.
-
- CHAPTER XX
-
-Back to Fort Delaware—Disappointment and great suffering—Deaths on ship
-and burials at sea.
-
- CHAPTER XXI
-
-Yankee infamy—Conduct of the war—Sherman's march through Georgia—The
-dismemberment of Virginia.
-
- CHAPTER XXII
-
-Lee's surrender—Lincoln's assassination—Out of prison and at home.
-
- CHAPTER XXIII
-
-Reconstruction and since.
-
-
-
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
-
-When I first undertook to write my war experiences, I had no thought of
-ever publishing what I wrote. It was only intended as a family paper,
-written at the solicitation of my children.
-
-If I had undertaken to write a history of Kemper's Brigade, or the
-Eleventh Regiment, or even of the Clifton Grays (Company C), the story
-would have been far less personal than are these "Personal
-Reminiscences," and doubtless more interesting to others, but of less
-interest to those for whom the sketches were originally designed.
-
-This is my apology for using the personal pronoun so often, and
-referring so frequently to those who were nearest and dearest to me, all
-of whom—wife, father, mother, and brothers—have passed away, and I am
-left al—— no, not alone; I have friends and old comrades still living
-whom I esteem highly and who I am sure esteem me, and children and
-grandchildren whom I love and who I know love me.
-
-And it was but natural that I should desire to transmit to these last,
-recollections of those nearest and dearest to me, and of the comrades in
-arms with whom I was most intimately and closely connected during those
-years of blood and strife.
-
-If I had undertaken to give in detail all the brave deeds performed by
-the men of Company C, and those who made up the Eleventh Regiment and
-Kemper's Brigade, this book would have been much larger than it is.
-
-The Yankees had a custom of promoting men from the ranks for brave
-conduct on the field of battle. If this custom had prevailed in the
-Confederate army, as I have often remarked, there would have been more
-officers than privates in that army; for no army ever had so many men so
-deserving and so capable of being officers. Having, at the solicitation
-of friends, determined to publish my REMINISCENCES, I now have only to
-say as to the following pages. "What I have written I have written," and
-will let it go at that; trusting that old comrades who may read this
-book will find therein something to remind them that they were "there or
-thereabout," and that they and their sons and daughters may find
-something to interest, if not something entertaining, and perchance
-instructive to the young.
-
-To those who may be disposed to criticize the accuracy of dates and
-incidents, and doubtless there are inaccuracies and errors, too, I beg
-them to remember that nearly fifty years have passed over all our
-"memory boxes" since these war scenes were enacted, and that the events
-herein related are from my viewpoint and place on the stage of action,
-and that they saw and heard many things I did not see nor hear, and vice
-versa.
-
-Any one who has heard witnesses testify in court as to a personal
-difficulty between two men, if only a common assault and battery case,
-or a more serious encounter with knives and pistols, know that no two
-will tell exactly the same story; so it is with war stories. We all did
-not see and hear and feel alike at the same time and place. What
-impressed one and fixed an event or date indelibly on the mind, did not
-impress another. And now "I don't remember," "I forget," "I was there,
-but don't recollect," are common expressions heard from old soldiers
-when they meet and talk over the old, old times.
-
-To all comrades of Company C and all the other companies of the Eleventh
-Virginia and of Kemper's Brigade and Pickett's Division, Longstreet's
-Corps, and the army of Northern Virginia, to whom these greetings may
-come, I extend the right hand of comradeship most heartily. We marched
-and camped and bivouacked and fought together. We suffered and
-sacrificed all save honor, and thousands of our comrades died for a
-cause which we knew and still know was just and right and holy.
-
-And know ye that we will not be forgotten as long as truth and chivalry
-shall live upon the earth, and that generations yet unborn will be proud
-to trace their genealogy back to the men who fought under Lee and
-Jackson.
-
-And now, old comrades, good-bye, and may God bless you all. At a reunion
-some years ago, I heard a veteran say, "God will never send an old
-Confederate soldier to hell!" My prayer is that none of them may ever
-go, or be sent to that bad place; but let us not forget that, "By grace
-are ye saved, through _faith_ in Jesus Christ."
-
-
-
-
- PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR OF 1861-5
- —IN CAMP—EN BIVOUAC—ON THE MARCH—
- ON PICKET—ON THE SKIRMISH LINE
- —ON THE BATTLEFIELD—AND IN
- PRISON.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER I
-
- PERSONAL—ORGANIZATION—ROLL OF COMPANY
-
-
-After a lapse of more than forty years, I here record brief sketches of
-my experiences as a Confederate soldier, beginning about the 1st of May,
-1861, and ending the 21st day of May, 1865, and some things since. Many
-of the occurrences herein related remain indelibly fixed on my memory
-through all these years and can never be effaced.
-
-The scenes and events of the battles are burned into the faculty of
-recollection so deep that they remain more firmly fixed than any other
-events in my experience. Amidst the rush and roar and crash of battle,
-every fibre of the brain is intensified and highly wrought, and receives
-the scenes and events of the hour with the accuracy and permanency of
-the camera.
-
-As to many of the dates, marches and camps, my memory has been refreshed
-by memoranda and data collected during the years, since the close of
-that memorable struggle, and by the perusal of wartime letters, and some
-assistance from old comrades.
-
-I have headed these sketches "Personal Reminiscences," which I have
-designed to be a simple narrative of what I saw, heard and felt, without
-any desire to recount deeds of my own; but rather, at the solicitation
-of my children and others, that they may know something of my comrades
-and that I may leave to those who come after me some record of the part,
-inconspicuous as it was, which I took in that fierce and bloody
-conflict, my reasons, therefor, and my convictions and actions since.
-These things alone have prompted me to undertake this task.
-
-I find already that the personal pronoun will appear in the narrative
-much oftener than I would wish. This seems unavoidable, according to the
-plan and scope designed.
-
-I read sometime ago Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's life of Gen. Robt. E. Lee. When
-the book was finished, I remarked that I had a higher opinion of Fitz
-Lee than ever before, for the reason that his modesty caused him to
-leave himself out of the book, only a few times mentioning Fitz Lee's
-Brigade or Division incidentally, showing him to be a great man. I would
-like to do likewise, but this will be impossible.
-
-
- ORGANIZATION AND ROLL OF COMPANY
-
-In the year 1860, at Pigeon Run—now Gladys, Campbell County, Va.,—near
-where I was born and reared, the young men of the neighborhood, catching
-the military spirit that swept over the State and South immediately
-after the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry the year before, organized a
-volunteer infantry company, "The Clifton Grays," named after a small
-stream near by, the name being suggested by my father, the late Richard
-Morgan.
-
-At the organization of the company, Adam Clement was elected captain;
-Jos. A. Hobson, first lieutenant; H. H. Withers, second lieutenant; Jas.
-A. Connelly, third lieutenant, and R. M. Cock, fourth lieutenant. When
-mustered into service only three lieutenants were allowed. I was elected
-orderly sergeant, which position I preferred at that time.
-
-The following is as complete a roll of the company as I have been able
-to make up from memory, and by the aid of old comrades from the
-beginning to the end:
-
-
- CAPTAIN
-
-Adam Clement; promoted to major; wounded and disabled at Sharpsburg, Md.
-
-
- LIEUTENANTS
-
-Jos. A. Hobson; retired at the end of the first year.
-
-H. H. Withers; retired at the end of first year.
-
-Jas. A. Connelly; missing at Gettysburg.
-
-Jabe R. Rosser.
-
-Robt. M. Cock; captured at Five Forks, Va.
-
-
- ORDERLY SERGEANT
-
-W. H. Morgan; promoted to first lieutenant and captain; captured at
-Milford, Va., May 21, 1864.
-
-
- SERGEANTS
-
-Thos. M. Cock; promoted to orderly sergeant; died since war.
-
-E. M. Hobson; detailed as regimental ordinance sergeant.
-
-E. G. Gilliam; badly wounded at Five Forks, Va.
-
-Geo. Thomas Rosser.
-
-Robt. M. Murrell.
-
-Geo. W. Morgan; died since war.
-
-
- CORPORALS
-
-Ed. A. Tweedy; captured at Milford, on the 21st of May, 1864.
-
-G. A. Creacy; wounded at Drewry's Bluff, May 16, 1864.
-
-Chas. A. Clement; promoted to orderly sergeant; captured at Five Forks,
-April 5, 1865; died since war.
-
-W. T. Tynes; killed at Five Forks, Va.
-
-W. H. Hendricks; killed at Second Manassas, August 30, 1862.
-
-
- _Privates_
-
-Allen, Chas.; killed at Drewry's Bluff, May 16, 1864.
-
-Allen, Reuben; died since the war.
-
-Brooks, John J.; died since the war.
-
-Bailey, Allen; killed at Drewry's Bluff, April 16, 1864.
-
-Bailey, Miffram; killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862.
-
-Bailey, Harvey; died near Yorktown, April, 1862.
-
-Bateman, Abner; wounded at Plymouth, N. C., April 18, 1864; died since
-the war.
-
-Barber, Silas; killed at Seven Pines, May 31, 1862.
-
-Brown, Geo. A.; captured at Milford.
-
-Brown, Jas. A.; captured at Milford.
-
-Brown, W. Lee; wounded at Gettysburg and Milford on the 21st of May,
-1864, and captured; dead.
-
-Bell, Geo. W.; lost arm near Petersburg on March 30, 1865.
-
-Blankenship, Chas. E.
-
-Blankenship, Leslie C.
-
-Cocke, Jas. B.; died since war.
-
-Clement, Geo. W.
-
-Creacy, Thos. C.
-
-Caldwell, Daniel R.
-
-Caldwell, Samuel; died since war.
-
-Cary, Peter.
-
-Callaham, Moses H.; captured at Milford, on 21st of April, 1864.
-
-Callaham, Chas. M.
-
-Dunnavant, Lee.
-
-DePriest, Jno. R.; killed at Drewry's Bluff, May 16, 1864.
-
-Daniel, John A; died since war.
-
-Eads, Hairston; died since war.
-
-Eads, William.
-
-Elliott, Robt. A.; died since war.
-
-Elliott, H. O.; color sergeant; killed at Second Manassas.
-
-Franklin, Samuel T.
-
-Franklin, Edmond L.; died since war.
-
-Farris, Benjamin; killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862.
-
-Frazier, John B.; now blind.
-
-Gardner, John.
-
-Hobson, W. H.; mortally wounded at Dranesville, Va., January, 1862.
-
-Hobson, Nathaniel R.; died since war.
-
-Hughes, Andy.
-
-Hughes, Crockett; killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862.
-
-Harvey, Richard C.; died since war.
-
-Hall, Stephen; died since war.
-
-Harvey, Thos. W.; died since war.
-
-Hendricks, Joseph.
-
-Holcome, Ellis H.
-
-Jones, Robt. H.
-
-Jones, Geo. W.
-
-Jones, Joshua.
-
-Jones, Jas. T.; captured at Milford, April 21, 1864.
-
-Jones, J. Wesley; captured at Milford, April 21, 1864.
-
-Jones, Chas.; killed at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.
-
-Jones, Walker; wounded at Gettysburg.
-
-Jones, Jas. Chap.; lost arm at Gettysburg.
-
-Jones, Linneous; killed at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.
-
-Jones, Robt. W.; wounded at ——.
-
-Jones, Jasper; died since war.
-
-Jennings, Monroe; died since war.
-
-Kabler, Fred; captured at Milford, April 21, 1864.
-
-Kabler, W. S.; captured at Milford, April 21, 1864.
-
-Kabler, Jack.
-
-Kelley, Len.; died since war.
-
-Keenan, John; detailed as drummer.
-
-LeGrand, Peter A.; died since war.
-
-Layne, David; killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862.
-
-Layne, John; died near Fredericksburg, January 1863.
-
-Layne, Miffram; died since war.
-
-Morgan, Robt. W.; wounded at Second Manassas and Gettysburg; captured at
-Milford; dead.
-
-Moorman, Thos. E.
-
-Martin, James; detailed as cook; died since war.
-
-Monroe, John; killed at Drewry's Bluff, May 16, 1864.
-
-Monroe, William; killed at Plymouth, April 18, 1864.
-
-Monroe, William T.; captured at Milford, May 21, 1864.
-
-Martin, Henry; killed at Second Manassas, August 30, 1862.
-
-Murrell, Chas.; killed at Second Manassas, August 30, 1862.
-
-Moore, Richard; died since war.
-
-Murrell, Emory.
-
-Matthews, William; died since war.
-
-Mason, Maurice M., Jr.; killed at Gettysburg.
-
-Miles, Chas.; shot accidentally; died since war.
-
-Organ, Jas.; died since war.
-
-Organ, John; killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862.
-
-Pillow, Daniel; missing at Gettysburg.
-
-Pillow, William; detailed as cook.
-
-Puckett, John; died since war.
-
-Phillips, Thornton; died in service.
-
-Pugh, James.
-
-Pugh, Nat.
-
-Quilly, Michael.
-
-Rosser, Walter C.; wounded at Williamsburg and Drewry's Bluff.
-
-Rosser, Alfred S.; killed at Drewry's Bluff.
-
-Rosser, Granville; killed at Williamsburg.
-
-Rosser, Thos. W.; died since war.
-
-Rosser, John W.; captured at Five Forks.
-
-Rice, Joe; killed at Sharpsburg, September, 1862.
-
-Roberts, Pleasant; deserter.
-
-Rice, Alec W.; captured at Milford; died in prison; buried at Arlington.
-
-Terrell, James; killed at Seven Pines, May 31, 1862.
-
-Tweedy, G. Dabney; killed at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.
-
-Tweedy, Bennett; killed at Plymouth, July 18, 1864.
-
-Tweedy, Ferdinand.
-
-Tweedy, Joseph; died since war.
-
-Tweedy, Robt. C.
-
-Walthall, Isaac; company commissary; died since war.
-
-Walker, Geo. W.; mortally wounded at Drewry's Bluff.
-
-Wood, Wash. W.; killed near Petersburg, 1865.
-
-Woody, Bruce; killed at Drewry's Bluff, 1864.
-
-Wood, John; killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862.
-
-Watkins, James L.; died since war.
-
-Woodall, Jno. J.
-
-Wilkerson, W. A.; captured at Milford, May 21, 1864.
-
-Williams, Whit B.; wounded at Williamsburg; dead.
-
-Wilson, Wm. H.; killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862.
-
-Withers, W. S.; detailed as hospital steward.
-
-Wingfield, W. H.; died since war.
-
-Wood, James; killed at Seven Pines.
-
-No doubt several names have been omitted, and others were killed or died
-from wounds and disease not now remembered. It has been impossible to
-give the number and names of all the killed and wounded in the battles
-in which the company was engaged. From three to five wounded to one
-killed is about the average, I think.
-
-One man on this roll has "deserter" written after his name. He was a
-good soldier while with the company. Unfortunately he was a _nullius
-filus_; I suppose he thought he had nothing to fight for. We heard later
-he went to Ohio, where he drove a stage during the war. I have never
-heard of him since.
-
-I wish I could mention by name each one of these men, what they did, and
-how faithfully they served their country; but time and space and lack of
-memory as to many interesting incidents will not permit this. I can only
-say that, with very few exceptions, they were good and faithful
-soldiers.
-
-The uniform of the company was steel-gray, with cap of same color.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER II
-
- ENTER THE SERVICE—TROUBLE ABOUT ARMS—CAUSE
- OF SECESSION
-
-
-The company was drilled from time to time, but was not armed until it
-entered the service about the 1st of May, 1861, at Lynchburg, Va.,
-enlisting for one year. It was mustered into service by (then) Col.
-Jubal A. Early, as one of the ten companies of the Twenty-eighth
-Regiment of Virginia Infantry, Col. Robt. T. Preston, commanding. At
-that time there were about eighty-five men in the company, made up of
-the young men from several miles around Pigeon Run. I had one brother,
-Geo. W., called "Coon"; a brother-in-law, Robt. M. Cocke, and many
-kinsmen and connections in the company; the young Joneses, the Hobsons,
-the Baileys, and others were relations of myself or wife. We were all
-friends and neighbors, and many were former schoolmates. Most of them
-young unmarried men, many in their teens. I had been married not quite
-five months when the war came on.
-
-None of the officers or men had any military education, but little
-training in drilling and none in camp life, and were all, officers and
-men, quite green and inexperienced in military affairs generally. But we
-all knew how to handle guns and how to shoot straight.
-
-These young men made as brave and faithful soldiers as any in the army;
-always ready to do their duty, to go wherever ordered; standing firm in
-action. But I think none of them liked to fight just for the fun of it;
-I did not for one, I well know. It was of this class of men that the
-army of Northern Virginia was made up.
-
-That army was composed of the very pick and flower of the Southern
-youth, and made a name and fame that will live always.
-
-At the beginning of the war, at Manassas, Gen. G. T. Beauregard issued a
-general order, in which he said that strict military rules of discipline
-would not be enforced, that the general commanding would depend upon the
-good breeding of the men, rather than harsh military discipline, to
-insure good order and efficiency in the army. This kind of discipline
-prevailed all through the war. General Grant soon after he met Lee in
-the Wilderness said in a dispatch to Washington that the Rebel army was
-very hard to drive, so well was it disciplined. It was not discipline
-that made this army so effective, but rather the courageous and
-patriotic spirit of the men who carried the guns.
-
-
- TROUBLE ABOUT ARMS
-
-As before said, the company had not been armed up to the time of
-enlistment. The company was organized as a rifle company; we expected to
-be armed with the "Mississippi Rifle."
-
-Soon after we got to Lynchburg it was learned that rifles could not be
-procured, the only arms available being old flint-lock muskets changed
-to percussion. All guns in those days were muzzle-loaders; the
-breech-loaders had not been invented.
-
-We were much disappointed, and many of the men very much disgruntled, at
-the prospects of going to war with those antiquated, cumbersome and
-inferior arms. Other companies were in the same predicament, and many of
-the men threatened to disband and go home. The companies had not yet
-been mustered into service. It was a very critical time in the military
-experience of all. The companies were formed in line and addressed by
-some of their officers. Captain Clement made a speech to his company,
-and I spoke briefly and earnestly to my comrades, telling them that the
-State of Virginia was doing the very best she could to arm and equip her
-soldiers, that they might go forth to meet the invaders of her sacred
-soil; that it was our duty to go to the front with the best arms
-available, even if armed with nothing but "rocks and sticks," and closed
-by calling on every man who was willing to go to war under the existing
-circumstances to follow. I marched out through the camp; the whole
-company following.
-
-
- THE CAUSE OF SECESSION
-
-I had fully determined if the company disbanded to join another
-immediately, as I knew it was the duty of every son of Virginia to
-enlist under her banner when called. I have never been of any other mind
-since, and if it were all to do over again I should act in the same
-manner. I never thought of deserting to the enemy during the war nor
-since. While I was not an original secessionist and voted for the Union
-candidates for the Convention, yet when the North determined to wage war
-on the South; when Lincoln called on Virginia for her quota of troops to
-coerce the seceding States, and when Virginia seceded, it did not take
-me two seconds to cast my lot with Virginia and the other Southern
-States. Here I took my stand then, now and forever, and will never give
-aid in any way to those who were enemies to my State and section, many
-of whom are still haters and traducers of the Southern people, the
-avowed purpose at the close of the war being to put the negro, the late
-slave, over the white people of the South, to rule and govern as brave
-and chivalrous a people as ever lived on God's green earth. To make the
-highest type of the Anglo-Saxon subject to the African! Ye gods! What a
-crime was attempted! And for a time the outrage was in force. This, if
-nothing else, justified the South in its attempt at separation from the
-North. The people of the South had gotten tired of the sectional and
-domineering, hectoring spirit of the North, especially the New England
-Yankees, manifested in many ways before the war, and determined to sever
-the bonds that bound them together; peacefully if they could, forcibly
-if they must. They did not want war, but the North forced the issue. The
-question of slavery in the Southern States was not an issue at the
-beginning of the war, as many believe.
-
-In the presidential election of 1860, the right of the slaveholder to
-take his slaves—property recognized by the Constitution and laws of the
-land—into the territories, was an issue made by the Republican party,
-but no question as to slavery where it already existed, was involved. On
-the other hand, Lincoln, in his inaugural address on the 4th of March,
-1861, expressly declared that he had no authority to interfere with
-slavery in the States, and no intention of doing so. And not until the
-promulgation of Lincoln's emancipation proclamation, which went into
-effect on the 1st of January, 1863, made without shadow of right or law,
-and in direct violation of his solemn declaration and oath of office,
-was this issue raised, as a war measure, to strengthen the Union cause,
-which was then on the wane, among the abolitionists at home and abroad.
-The New England Yankees, who first imported the negro to America, and
-who had sold their slaves to the Southern planters, because slave labor
-was unprofitable at the North, and who had engaged in the African slave
-trade until this was prohibited by law, at the instigation of the South
-and against the protest of New England shipping interests which was
-largely engaged in the African slave trade, and had become rabid
-abolitionists, now demanded emancipation as the price of their loyalty
-to the Union cause.
-
-France had all the while been friendly inclined towards the South, and
-was urging England to join her in the recognition of the Southern
-Confederacy as an independent nation. England, who had years before
-abolished slavery in all her provinces, and was known to be a nation of
-abolitionists, was now appealed to, and urged to stand for emancipation
-in not recognizing the independence of the South. The cotton factories
-of England were closed, the Southern ports being blockaded, the
-operatives were clamoring for work or food; bread riots prevailed in the
-manufacturing cities, the people urging the recognition of the South, so
-that the ports could be opened and cotton, work, and food procured.
-
-Henry Ward Beecher and other abolitionists went to England, faced and
-spoke to these howling mobs, appealing to them in behalf of the Union
-cause and the Southern slaves. Not so much, I opine, for the good of the
-slaves as for the success of the Union cause. They all knew if the
-Southern ports were opened the South would be victorious.
-
-These are the true facts and the reasons for Lincoln's emancipation
-proclamation, as I verily believe, and well known at the time. New
-England was always jealous of the South, opposed everything that would
-extend the influence and power of the Southern States: fought bitterly
-the acquisition of the Louisiana territory and also the annexation of
-Texas, because it would tend to destroy the "balance of power," as they
-called it; and one of these states, Massachusetts, threatened to
-withdraw from the Union, boldly claiming the right so to do. As all
-know, New England was the manufacturing section of the country—the
-South, the agricultural section. New England wanted to control the
-policy of the government as to the tariff, and thereby protect their
-industries, and could not brook the extension of Southern influence and
-power against their protection policy. They still to this day maintain
-this policy, but now we are beginning to hear the rumblings of
-discontent in the West, and I am curious to know what will be the
-result. I know one thing—that the Yankees of New England will hold on to
-their pet policies, "like grim death to a dead nigger." What the great
-West will do, future events only can develop. The North has held the
-West in political slavery, by abusing and vilifying the South, and by
-waving the "bloody shirt"; but that old rag is about worn out. I repeat,
-I am curious to know the result, and want to live to see the end of it.
-
-We remained in Lynchburg until about the 1st of June, 1861, doing camp
-duty and drilling. Several of the company, including my brother and
-myself, had negro cooks the first year, after which, few, if any,
-remained, except ours, who stayed until the last. Rations became too
-scarce to divide with cooks, so the men did their own cooking, forming
-messes of from four to six and eight men to a mess, cooking by turns
-when in camp. We also had two or three company cooks detailed from the
-company, who did much of the cooking when not in permanent camp, one of
-whom, Isaac Walthall, acted as company commissary, drawing the rations
-from the regimental commissary and distributed them to the messes, when
-in camp, or cooking them and distributing to men when in line of battle
-or near the enemy.
-
-Our camp equipments, as far as cooking facilities were concerned, were
-very poor, and never much better.
-
-At first, we had only sheet-iron pans and boilers, called camp kettles,
-which did very well for boiling beef, but the sheet-iron pans were very
-poor for baking bread and frying meat. No wonder the biscuits were
-called "sinkers," being burned on the outside, tough and clammy through
-and through. We afterwards got ovens and skillets, "spiders," as the Tar
-Heels called them, and had better bread. We were in camp in a grove west
-of College Hill, which was afterwards the fair grounds, and is now
-Miller Park.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER III
-
- ON TO MANASSAS—THE ELEVENTH REGIMENT—THE
- FIRST BRIGADE
-
-
-About the 1st of June, 1861, the regiment was ordered to Manassas, which
-name afterwards became historic as a great battle-ground. The first
-battle of Bull Run, on the 18th of July, 1861, and the ground on which
-the first battle of Manassas was fought on the 21st of July, 1861, and
-the second battle of Manassas on the 30th of August, 1862, are all in
-close proximity, and General Jackson, a few days before the last-named
-fight, by a bold movement captured the place, which was then Pope's
-dépôt of supplies, burning what his soldiers could not eat and carry
-off, which no doubt was a plenty.
-
-The place was occupied by one side or the other during nearly the whole
-war, being, in the beginning, considered a strategic point in the
-defence of Richmond by the Confederates, and for the defence of
-Washington and for the advance on Richmond by the Yankees.
-
-At Lynchburg we had no equipments except the old muskets, no belts,
-cartridge or cap boxes, only some little cotton-cloth bags such as
-mothers make children to gather chinquapins in, little tin shop-made
-canteens, home-made haversacks of cotton cloth or cheap oilcloth,
-home-made knapsacks of poor material and very cumbersome, the latter
-packed full of clothes, hair-brushes and shoe-brushes, needle cases, and
-many other little tricks which mothers, wives, and sweethearts made for
-their soldier boys. Many of these things were superfluous and were not
-carried after the first year of the war; for the next three years about
-all a Confederate soldier carried was his gun, cartridge and cap box, a
-blanket, an oilcloth captured from the Yankees, and an extra shirt—very
-often not the latter.
-
-Many a Confederate soldier has taken off his shirt, washed it, hung it
-on a bush, lying in the shade until it was dry. He also carried a
-haversack which was often empty.
-
-There was considerable excitement when it was known we were to go to the
-front, to meet the enemy; hasty preparations were made, tents were
-struck, which, with the cooking utensils and all camp equipment, were
-sent to the dépôt for shipment.
-
-At the appointed hour the regiment, with Colonel Bob Preston mounted on
-his big nicked-tailed bay horse, handsomely caparisoned, at its head,
-marched through the city down to the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, now
-the Southern. The streets were lined with people, the men cheering, the
-ladies waving their handkerchiefs to the soldiers as they marched in
-proud array to martial music—the fife and drum. Boarding the train, in
-box cars, we rolled away to the seat of war.
-
-The train was stopped at Culpeper Court House, the troops detrained, and
-marched out into a field northwest of the town and prepared to go into
-camp; very much disappointed that we had been stopped before reaching
-Manassas. I remember it was a very windy day, and we had great
-difficulty in raising the tents. Before this was fully accomplished,
-orders came to strike tents at once, board the cars and hurry on to
-Manassas. The rumor was that the Yankees were advancing on Manassas and
-we were to rush forward as fast as possible, to meet and drive them
-back. All was now bustle and excitement; in an incredible short time the
-tents were struck, rolled up, taken to the dépôt, placed on the cars,
-and the regiment was soon off again for the front. Of course, discussion
-as to the probability of soon being in a battle went on as we sped
-along.
-
-Up to this time, no cartridges had been issued to the men; some cases or
-boxes of ammunition were now placed aboard each car, but were not
-opened. The men were very anxious to be supplied with cartridges,
-fearing the Yankees would be on us before the boxes could be opened and
-the guns loaded.
-
-In due time, the train reached Manassas without running into the enemy
-or the enemy running into us. It was said a scouting party had come out
-from the Yankee lines near Alexandria, and hence the false alarm which
-caused our hasty and exciting exit from Culpeper.
-
-The regiment went into camp at Manassas station, a short distance to the
-right of the railroad, where we remained for about two weeks, drilling
-and doing guard duty around the camp and at General Beauregard's
-headquarters not far away. Not long before the first battle, Captain
-Clement's company, and Captain Hutter's company from Lynchburg, were
-transferred to the Eleventh Virginia Regiment, commanded by Colonel
-Samuel Garland, Jr., of Lynchburg, a V. M. I. man, and a fine officer.
-In the regiment there were already three companies from Lynchburg and
-one from Campbell County.
-
-
- THE ELEVENTH REGIMENT
-
-The Eleventh Regiment, which was camped immediately on the north side of
-the railroad, just west of the dépôt, was now composed of ten companies,
-with the following named field and staff officers and company
-commanders:
-
-Colonel, Sam Garland, Jr., of Lynchburg; Lieut.-Colonel, David Funston,
-of Alexandria; Major, Carter H. Harrison, of Lancaster County; Adjutant,
-J. Lawrence Meem; Sergeant Major, Chas. A. Tyree; Chaplain, Rev. J. C.
-Granberry; Surgeon, Dr. G. W. Thornhill; Assistant Surgeon, Dr.
-Chalmers; Quarter-Master, R. G. H. Kean; Commissary, L. F. Lucado;
-Commissary Sergeant, W. L. Akers.
-
-Company A, Capt. Morris S. Langhorne; Company B, Capt. Robert C.
-Saunders; Company C, Capt. Adam Clement; Company D, Capt. D. Gardner
-Houston; Company E, Capt. J. E. Blankenship; Company F, Capt. Henry
-Foulks; Company G, Capt. Kirk Otey; Company H, Capt. J. Risque Hutter;
-Company I, Capt. —— Jamison; Company K, Capt. Robert Yeatman.
-
-Colonel Garland was promoted to brigadier-general in May, 1862, and
-was killed at Boonsboro Mountain, Md., in September, 1862.
-Lieutenant-Colonel Funston succeeded Colonel Garland in command of the
-regiment, and was disabled by wounds at Seven Pines, on the 30th of
-May, 1862, and retired from the service; he was later elected to the
-Confederate Congress, and I think still later was in the service
-again. Major Harrison was mortally wounded at Bull Run, July 18, 1861.
-Captain Langhorne succeeded him as major and was afterwards promoted
-lieutenant-colonel. He was disabled by wounds at Seven Pines on the
-30th of May, 1862, and never returned to the army.
-
-Captain Clement was promoted to major just before the Seven Pines fight,
-was disabled at the battle of Sharpsburg, Md., the 17th of September,
-1862, while in command of the regiment, and never returned to the field.
-
-Captain Saunders retired at the end of the first year, and was
-afterwards in the commissary department as collector of tax in kind.
-
-Captain Houston was killed at Gettysburg on the 3d of July, 1863.
-
-Captain Blankenship retired at the battle of Blackburn's Ford on the
-18th of July, 1861; he secured a position in the engineering corps, I
-think.
-
-Captain Foulks was killed at Seven Pines. I was in a few feet of him
-when he was shot dead.
-
-Captain Yeatman resigned.
-
-Lieut. G. W. Latham succeeded Captain Langhorne in command of Company A,
-and he was succeeded by Lieut. Robt. M. Mitchell, Jr. Lieut. Thos. B.
-Horton succeeded Captain Saunders of Company B, and I succeeded Captain
-Clement of Company C; Lieut. Thos. Houston succeeded his brother, D. G.
-Houston, of Company D; Lieut. C. V. Winfrey succeeded Captain
-Blankenship of Company E; Lieut. Robt. W. Douthat succeeded Captain
-Foulks of Company F; Lieut. J. Holmes Smith succeeded Captain Otey of
-Company G; Lieut. Jas. W. Hord succeeded Captain Hutter of Company H;
-Lieut. A. I. Jones, I think, succeeded Captain Jamison of Company I;
-Lieut. Andrew M. Houston, a brother of the other Houstons already
-mentioned, succeeded Captain Yeatman of Company K; Captain Otey was
-promoted to major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel. Captain Hutter was
-promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and was in command of the regiment at
-the battle of Five Forks on the 5th of April, 1865, when he and nearly
-all of the regiment were captured.
-
-Capt. C. V. Winfrey, of Company E, was afterwards succeeded by Lieut.
-John C. Ward. Several of these officers were V. M. I. men, as I now
-remember, as follows: Garland, Harrison, Otey, Hutter, Blankenship,
-Ward, D. G. Houston, and perhaps others.
-
-Company G, the old "Home Guard," was the crack company of the regiment.
-Company A, the "Rifle Grays," also of Lynchburg, was a close second to
-Company G, armed with the Mississippi rifle, and generally acted as
-skirmishers, and one of these rifles brought down the first Yankee on
-the 18th of July, 1861, as hereinafter related.
-
-Company D was also armed with Mississippi rifles and was often on the
-skirmish line. Company B was made up of men from the western section of
-Campbell County; Company C, as before said, from the Pigeon Run section,
-Mt. Zion, and Falling River neighborhoods. Company D came from Botetourt
-County—large, hardy, hale fellows they were too, many of them with
-German names. Company E was made up largely of college boys from
-Lynchburg College, its first captain being one of the professors.
-
-Company F, a sturdy lot of men, came from the hills of Alleghany
-Mountains in Montgomery County around Christiansburg.
-
-Company H was a new Lynchburg company, recruited by its captain, then in
-his teens, with many sons of Erin in its ranks.
-
-Company I was made up of men from Culpeper County.
-
-Company K was from the James River section of Rockbridge County—its
-commander, a canal freight-boat captain, and many of the men boatmen on
-the canal when the tocsin of war was sounded. All classes, from the
-college-bred and the professional man to the country schoolboy, were
-represented in the regiment.
-
-The following are the rolls of the four Lynchburg companies of the
-Eleventh Regiment. I have been unable to get the rolls of the other
-companies of the regiment:
-
-
- THE RIFLE GRAYS, COMPANY A
-
- First Captain, M. S. Langhorne.
- Second Captain, G. W. Latham.
- Third Captain, Robt. M. Mitchell, Jr.
- First Lieutenant, G. W. Latham.
- First Lieutenant, John W. Daniel.
- Second Lieutenant, Robt. M. Mitchell, Jr.
- Second Lieutenant, H. C. Chalmers.
- Second Lieutenant, James O. Thurman.
- First Sergeant, Joseph A. Kennedy.
- Second Sergeant, Elcano Fisher.
- Third Sergeant, Henry D. Hall.
- Fourth Sergeant, Peter B. Akers.
- First Corporal, Geo. T. Wightman.
- Second Corporal, Samuel R. Miller.
- Third Corporal, Lucas Harvey.
- Fourth Corporal, Jas. O. Thurman, Jr.
-
-
- _Privates_
-
- Allman, William H.
- Akers, William L.
- Bailey, James H.
- Bailey, James W.
- Benson, Henry G.
- Brown, Leslie C.
- Beckwith, Henry C.
- Burroughs, Henry A.
- Ballard, James F.
- Bagby, George W.
- Cheatham, Thos. F.
- Cochran, Robert L.
- Cooney, Thomas.
- Camp, Albert G.
- Crumpton, James A.
- Crumpton, Joseph A.
- Clinkenbeard, Wm. E.
- Conklen, Thomas A.
- Connolly, Jerry M.
- Devine, Frank.
- Diuguid, Edward S.
- Davis, Thomas N.
- Delano, Joseph S.
- Dady, David.
- Evans, William H.
- Edwards, James M.
- Elam, H. F.
- Feyle, Frank H.
- Fulks, James W.
- Frances, Joseph M.
- Furry, William H.
- Gooldy, John F.
- Henry, Charles W.
- Henry, John L.
- Harvey, Charles C.
- Hollins, John G.
- Hollins, James E.
- Heybrook, L. G.
- Hersman, Wm. B.
- Hunt, William R.
- Johnson, Shelbry.
- Jones, William B.
- Jones, Charles J.
- Kennedy, Michael.
- Kidd, George W.
- Latham, Robert F.
- Linkenhoker, Sam'l.
- Mitchell, John R.
- Mitchell, T. Holcomb.
- Mitchell, John J.
- Mitchell, William H.
- McKinney, Sam'l H.
- McCrary, Wm. B.
- Marks, James L.
- Milstead, William.
- McDevitt, C. P.
- Norris, Michael A.
- Norvell, Otway B.
- Omorundro, T. A.
- Porter, Thomas D.
- Pendleton, William.
- Price, N. Leslie.
- Parrish, Booker S.
- Pugh, Charles E.
- Peters, John I.
- Rucker, Edward P.
- Raine, John R.
- Robertson, Thomas D.
- Rainey, Charles W.
- Rogers, James B.
- Rock, John J.
- Rector, Thomas S.
- Sims, Robert F.
- Sewell, George W.
- Stubbs, Robert F.
- Stewart, Philip H.
- Slagle, John H.
- Slagle, David H.
- Sholes, Thomas C.
- Stewart, Stephen P.
- Stabler, Thomas S.
- Shepherd, Joseph H.
- Tyree, Charles H.
- Taylor, William H.
- Thurman, Powhatan.
- Turner, John H.
- Truxall, Andrew J.
- Tyree, Wm. D. R.
- Tyree, John R.
- Taliaferro, Rhoderick.
- Torrence, William H.
- Victor, Henry C.
- Wren, Peter R.
- Warfield, Thomas.
- Williams, William H.
-
-
- LYNCHBURG RIFLES, COMPANY E
-
- First Captain, J. E. Blankenship.
- Second Captain, C. V. Winfree.
- Third Captain, John C. Ward.
- First Lieutenant, C. V. Winfree.
- First Lieutenant, James W. Wray.
- Second Lieutenant, W. A. Strother.
- Second Lieutenant, W. M. Taliaferro.
- Lieutenant, John P. Knight.
- Lieutenant, Walter R. Abbott.
- Lieutenant, Adolphus D. Read.
- Lieutenant, Charles H. Tyree.
- Lieutenant, George P. Norvell.
- First Sergeant, W. R. Abbott.
- Sergeant, John C. Ward.
- Sergeant, A. D. Read.
- Sergeant, James W. Wray.
- Sergeant, Thomas Keenan.
- Sergeant, E. G. Williams.
- Sergeant, William M. Seay.
- Sergeant, John L. Marion.
- Corporal, J. H. Sheppard.
- Corporal, John Lovett.
- Corporal, D. M. Pettigrew.
- Corporal, Thomas H. Love.
- Corporal, John Kelly.
- Corporal, John R. Holt.
- Corporal, John Lovett.
- Corporal, W. P. Whitlow.
-
-
- _Privates_
-
- Anderson, Thos. N.
- Atkinson, John.
- Butterworth, John M.
- Butterworth, Wm. W.
- Bradley, Winfree.
- Brown, F. M.
- Brown, Hillary.
- Burks, Paulus Powell.
- Burks, S. C.
- Bailey, Samuel D.
- Bailey, Thomas D.
- Coffee, William H.
- Colvin, Howard H.
- Colvin, William O.
- Colvin, Robert O.
- Grant, Bluford.
- Gaulding, T. Henry.
- Gregory, Edward S.
- Gregory, N. H.
- Goins, James.
- Gilbert, George W.
- Gilbert, William.
- Gilbert, Thomas.
- Hart, Patrick S.
- Haines, Robert L.
- Hurt, Samuel.
- Hickey, Patrick H.
- Hendricks, James.
- Howard, John.
- Houston, Francis R.
- Hudgins, James L.
- Hancock, W. T.
- Jones, Charles T.
- Jenkins, J. Samuel.
- Johnson, Charles Y.
- Kayton, J. Patrick.
- Lawhorne, Delaware.
- Lawhorne, James H.
- Lawhorne, Lorenzo.
- Lawhorne, Lucas P.
- Lipscomb, Charles P.
- Moore, Thomas H.
- Miller, James M.
- Mann, Daniel.
- Milstead, Benjamin.
- Marshall, John W.
- Marshall, James.
- Marshall, Charles.
- Marshall, David B.
- Myers, William.
- McCarthy, Patrick.
- Nangle, Edward A.
- Clark, C. C.
- Clark, C. B.
- Clark, R. C.
- Carey, John H.
- Carey, James.
- Day, Thomas E.
- Davis, Arthur P.
- Davis, T. D.
- Dunnivant, William.
- Evans, T. F.
- Equi, Joseph.
- Elder, Hiram P.
- Farriss, William.
- Fortune, William.
- Foster, William E.
- Neville, Lewis C.
- Noell, James H.
- Pettus, John E.
- Patrim, William A.
- Paris, Thomas H.
- Parr, John E.
- Padgett, J. J.
- Parker, Joseph A.
- Roberts, Charles R.
- Rucker, Jackson.
- Rockecharlie, V.
- Strause, Simon.
- Stewart, William H.
- Simpson, Charles W.
- Searson, Thomas.
- Sullivan, Michael.
- Spillan, Patrick.
- Smith, George W.
- Smith, John G.
- Smith, Thomas.
- Smith, Robert H.
- Smith, James.
- Thomas, Andrew J.
- Taylor, William.
- Taylor, Burley T.
- Trent, George W.
- Turner, G. Kempton.
- Turski, Francois.
- Ward, James S.
- Williamson, L. C.
- Wooldridge, Jas. R.
- Wooldridge, Joseph.
- Wright, Wm. Richard.
- Wray, Ellis D.
- Wills, John McD.
- Walker, J. S. L.
- Wray, Thomas C.
-
-
- HOME GUARD, COMPANY G
-
- First Captain, Samuel Garland, Jr.
- Second Captain, Kirkwood Otey.
- Third Captain, J. Holmes Smith.
- First Lieutenant, K. Otey.
- Second Lieutenant, J. G. Meem.
- Third Lieutenant, S. M. Simpson.
- Orderly Sergeant, J. L. Meem.
- Third Sergeant, W. J. H. Hawkins.
- Sergeant, J. C. Johnson.
- Color Sergeant, William Sanford.
- Fifth Sergeant, B. L. Blackford.
- Corporal, C. D. Hamner.
- Corporal, John K. Seabury.
- Corporal, J. H. Smith.
- Corporal, Hugh Nelson.
- Surgeon, Benjamin Blackford.
-
-
- _Privates_
-
- Abrahams, H. J.
- Adams, R. H. T.
- Akers, E. A.
- Armistead, James.
- Apperson, R. F.
- Anderson, John G.
- Ballowe, T. H.
- Barnes, C. F.
- Blackford, W. H.
- Booth, S. C.
- Brugh, J. B.
- Burks, E. W.
- Button, R. P.
- Burch, Samuel.
- Cabell, Breck.
- Cabell, P. H.
- Cabell, S.
- Campbell, Wiley.
- Colhoun, Robert.
- Conley, John.
- Cosby, C. V.
- Creed, J. J.
- Cross, J. H. (K.)
- Crumpacker, John.
- Dowdy, T. N.
- Dabney, H.
- DeWitt, C.
- Eubank, E. N.
- Franklin, James, Jr.
- Franklin, P. H.
- Ford, William A.
- Gregory, W. S.
- Guggenheimer, M., Jr.
- Guy, D. C.
- Goggin, John P.
- Harris, H. V.
- Harris, Meade.
- Hawkins, S. M.
- Holland, William.
- Ivey, J. W.
- Jennings, J. H.
- Jennings, T. D., Jr.
- Johnson, Minor.
- Kean, R. G. H.
- Kinnear, James F.
- Kinnear, James O.
- Kabler, N.
- Kreuttner, Joseph.
- Kent, J. R.
- Lee, John A.
- Lavinder, G. T.
- Langhorne, C. D.
- Leckie, M. M.
- Lewis, John H.
- Lucado, L. F.
- Lyman, G. R.
- Lydick, James H.
- Lydick, D.
- Mayer, Max L.
- McCorkle, C.
- Miller, A. H.
- Moseley, C. A.
- Moorman, S. L.
- Mosby, L. C.
- Nelson, W. S.
- Nowlin, A. W.
- Oglesby, John.
- Page, C. H.
- Percival, C. D.
- Pierce, R. C.
- Peters, R. T.
- Preston, L. P.
- Preston, S. D.
- Preston, T. L.
- Salmons, G. J.
- Sears, J. R.
- Shelton, G. W.
- Simpson, T. H.
- Snead, W. B.
- Spencer, C. S.
- Stratton, A. B.
- Sumpter, John U. H.
- Shaver, W. H.
- Taliaferro, Van.
- Terry, A. W. C.
- Thompson, J. H.
- Toot, W. A.
- Trigg, W. K.
- Valentine, Joseph.
- Waldron, R. L.
- Watkins, R. W.
- Walsh, T. C.
- Woods, W. H. H.
- Wheeler, J. M.
-
-
- JEFFERSON DAVIS RIFLE, COMPANY H
-
- Captain, J. Risque Hutter.
- First Lieutenant, William L. Goggin.
- First Lieutenant, William S. Hannah.
- Second Lieutenant, James W. Hord.
- Second Lieutenant, Ro. D. Early.
- First Sergeant, Jas. O. Freeman.
- Second Sergeant, S. B. Wright.
- Third Sergeant, D. C. Wright.
- Fourth Sergeant, Wm. S. Thayer.
- Fifth Sergeant, Brandon P. Neville.
- First Corporal, George L. Jesse.
- Second Corporal, Geo. T. Mitchell.
- Third Corporal, Pat. H. Rourke.
- Fourth Corporal, Charles Schade.
-
-
- _Privates_
-
- Akers, H. C.
- Banton, Robert.
- Banton, James H.
- Banton, Richard.
- Blanks, John N.
- Blanks, Robert.
- Burford, William.
- Boland, John.
- Brown, John C.
- Cramer, A. W.
- Callan, Dan.
- Cunningham, Felix.
- Davis, John R.
- Davis, Thomas M.
- Daniel, John.
- Doyle, Henry.
- Donatini, G.
- Eagan, Gabriel.
- Floyd, Alex.
- Floyd, John J.
- Floyd, Nathan D.
- Flowers, Wm. P.
- Flowers, Joseph W.
- Fulks, Robert.
- Fox, Edward.
- Farrer, Robert.
- Fitzgerald, Cyrus.
- Fitzgerald, Ceyton L.
- Gouldin, H. L.
- Gouldin, William.
- Geurtz, Peter.
- Grossman, William.
- Hanly, John.
- Hurt, John H.
- Humphrey, M. L.
- Jones, Thomas.
- Kyle, Benjamin M.
- Labby, M. H.
- Lavinder, James.
- McCormack, L.
- McCormick, S.
- McCormack, Wm.
- McCormack, Wm. D.
- Mitchell, Richard H.
- Micalany, Peter.
- Musgrove, Franklin.
- Myers, Samuel W.
- Oliver, Pleasant.
- O'Brien, Michael.
- Rucker, George W.
- Rucker, Paulus G.
- Reynolds, James.
- Reynolds, John H.
- Rodgers, George W.
- Rider, William.
- Still, Thomas.
- Stanly, Joseph.
- Stanly, D. W.
- Singleton, William H.
- Seay, Isaac.
- Seay, Richard.
- Sprouse, Samuel.
- Turner, Charles.
- Whitten, James.
- White, John W.
-
-The Eleventh Regiment soon won an enviable reputation; it was well
-officered, well drilled and not excelled by any regiment in the First
-Brigade, which was first commanded by Longstreet, then by A. P. Hill,
-then by J. L. Kemper, and later by Wm. R. Terry. This brigade was as
-good as any brigade in Pickett's Division; Pickett's Division was not
-surpassed by any division in Longstreet's corps; Longstreet's Corps was
-equal to any corps in the army of Northern Virginia, and the world never
-saw a better army than the army of Northern Virginia.
-
-While at Manassas, many troops came on from the South. All were
-organized into regiments and brigades. The First, Third, Seventh,
-Eleventh and Seventeenth Virginia Regiments composed the First Brigade
-of Virginia Infantry, commanded by Brig.-Gen. James Longstreet. In
-September, 1862, the Seventeenth Regiment was put in Corse's Brigade,
-and the Twenty-fourth Virginia was added to Longstreet's old brigade.
-
-The Twenty-fourth was then commanded by Col. W. R. Terry, Lieut.-Col.
-Peter Hairston, and Maj. Richard F. Maury.
-
-The First Regiment was commanded by Col. P. T. Moore, of Richmond,
-Lieut.-Col. G. W. Palmer, I think, and Maj. John Dooly, and was made up
-entirely of Richmond companies.
-
-The Third Regiment was commanded by Col. Joseph Mayo, Jr., Lieut.-Col.
-Wm. H. Pryor, and Maj. John D. Whitehead.
-
-The Seventh Regiment was commanded by Col. J. L. Kemper, of Madison
-County; Lieut.-Col. W. Tazwell Patton, and Maj. C. C. Floweree.
-
-The Seventeenth Regiment was commanded by Col. M. D. Corse, of
-Alexandria; Lieut.-Col. Morton Mayre, and Maj. Wm. Munford.
-
-There were many changes in these field officers. Perhaps I have failed
-to name correctly all the original field officers.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER IV
-
- BATTLE OF BLACKBURN'S FORD—THE BATTLE
- BEGINS—THE ENEMY DRIVEN BACK—INCIDENTS
- OF THE BATTLE
-
-
-There were frequent rumors while in camp at Manassas that the Yankees
-were advancing. On the 17th of July the report proved true; the Yankees
-were coming sure enough this time. Longstreet's Brigade marched down to
-Blackburn's Ford on Bull Run some mile and a half or two miles north of
-Manassas. The regiments, except the Eleventh, were formed in line of
-battle above and below the ford, along the south bank of the creek, or
-run, as it is called, a small wooded stream with the ground rising on
-the north side to quite a bluff, heavily timbered, the road from the
-ford leading up through a narrow ravine. Other brigades were posted
-along Bull Run above and below Blackburn's Ford.
-
-The men on the line of battle made temporary breastworks along the bank
-of the run, with old logs, driftwood, and fence rails, and awaited the
-coming of the enemy—skirmishers having been thrown well forward on the
-high ground beyond the stream and woods.
-
-The Eleventh Regiment, held in reserve, was placed behind a small bluff,
-a short distance south of the stream and above the ford. This bluff was
-pretty good protection except from fragments of shells bursting
-overhead.
-
-The enemy did not appear until the next day in the afternoon, when the
-attack was made on the position at the ford about three o'clock. Company
-A of the Eleventh Regiment was on picket, or skirmish line, across the
-run, when a Yankee quartermaster captain rode down the road, and
-enquired of one of the company if he knew where General McDowell's (the
-Yankee commander's) headquarters were. The man replied, "No, I don't
-know where General McDowell's headquarters are, but I can show you to
-General Beauregard's very quick." The captain seeing his mistake wheeled
-his horse and dashed away.
-
-Several of the pickets fired on him, when he tumbled from his horse
-dead, shot through the body. The captain had on a pair of spurs, which
-one of the men took off, and when the company returned to the regiment
-after the Yankees advanced in force, gave the spurs to Major Harrison,
-who put them on and in a short time thereafter received his death wound.
-Unlucky spurs these! My recollection is, as I heard it after the battle,
-that when the Yankee fell from his horse, Henry Beckwith said, as they
-approached him, "If he is shot through the belt, I killed him. I aimed
-at his belt"; and that the ball had entered the body at or near the
-belt. Tom Davis, Leslie Price, and Jim Foulks, I think, were the other
-men who fired. Who really fired the fatal shot was not known.
-
-
- THE BATTLE BEGINS
-
-Pretty soon after the captain was shot, the Yankees advanced in line of
-battle, the skirmishers in front engaging in a lively fight over on the
-hill beyond the run, the Confederates retiring as the main body of the
-enemy advanced. All knew then that the fight was beginning and would
-soon be on in earnest. After the Confederate skirmishers returned to the
-south side of the run everything was quiet—a deathlike stillness
-prevailed for some time, which was intense and oppressive. All nerves
-were strung to a high tension. We were on the eve of a battle, a sure
-enough battle in which men would be wounded and killed, and who would be
-the victims no one knew.
-
-Perhaps not a single man in the brigade, with the exception of General
-Longstreet, had ever heard the sound of a hostile gun before that day.
-
-It was not long, however, until this silence was broken by the big boom
-of a Yankee cannon away over on the hill, and simultaneously, a long
-shell came shrieking through the air, making a noise that can not be
-described; it was more like the neigh of an excited or frightened horse
-than anything I can compare it to; a kind of "whicker, whicker, whicker"
-sound as it swapped ends in the air. This shell passed over high above
-all heads, striking the ground on the hill in the rear, making the dirt
-fly, and tearing a hole in the ground, as some of the boys said, "Big
-enough to bury a horse in."
-
-I have said that all nerves were highly strung while waiting for the
-battle to begin. This shot and shell not only broke the silence and
-relaxed the nerve tension, but severely tried not a few nerves, caused
-many a heart to stand still, and face to blanch. I saw many pale faces;
-don't know how I looked, but felt rather pale.
-
-This shell struck near a Confederate battery, which immediately limbered
-up and went to the rear at a gallop—why, I never knew; the supposition
-was that the battery withdrew in order to draw the Yankees on; if so, it
-had the desired effect, for in a few minutes the musketry firing began
-down at the ford. At first it was pop—pop—pop, then pop, pop, pop—and
-then a continuous roar in which no single shot could be distinguished;
-it was like a loud, continuing peal of heavy thunder. The roar was
-punctuated by frequent cannon shot and bursting shells, which sounded
-louder than the musketry. The noise was frightful, almost deafening, and
-such as we never heard before, but knew full well it was the "noise and
-din of battle," about which we had heard and read, but never
-experienced. I must say it was more terrific and awe-inspiring than I
-expected. Many of the balls and shells passed a few feet above us;
-shells and grapeshot struck among the trees and bushes that crowned the
-small bluff behind which the regiment was posted, with the rushing,
-swishing, fear-creating noise heard many times afterwards, but which I
-never learned to like or admire.
-
-History records that General Washington, in his youthful days, in
-writing to a friend describing a battle with the Indians, said, "The
-sound of the bullets was music to mine ear." Now, I never had much ear
-for music, though I like good music, and can distinguish between good
-and bad music. I here and now record that the sound of shell, solid
-shot, grapeshot, shrapnel, minie ball, or any other kind of battle
-noise, was never "music to mine ear"; therefore, I conclude that any and
-all of these sounds, if music at all, is very poor music.
-
-During the battle, Company G, of the Eleventh Regiment, was deployed as
-skirmishers along the run on the left flank of the Confederate line of
-battle, not far from the position occupied by the regiment, the men all
-lying down behind a fence that ran along the bank of Bull Run, in plain
-view of the other companies of the Eleventh Regiment; no Yankees
-appeared on this part of the line. And, I think, Company F was also
-deployed below Company G near the run.
-
-The heavy firing in this battle did not last long, not over half an hour
-perhaps, but it seemed a long time.
-
-In the midst of the heaviest firing, one of General Longstreet's staff
-officers galloped up to the Eleventh Regiment and called for two
-companies to go down to the ford. When asked how the battle was going,
-he said, "They have the advantage of us just now, but we will drive them
-back with these two companies." Some of the Yankees had charged across
-the creek, or run, at the ford. Colonel Garland called out at the top of
-his voice, "Major Harrison, take Company E and Company H down to the
-ford." These two companies, with Major Harrison leading them on
-horseback, rushed off through the bushes in double-quick time and into
-the fight they went.
-
-
- THE YANKEES DRIVEN BACK
-
-The Yankees were quickly driven back. Dr. G. W. Thornhill, surgeon of
-the Eleventh Regiment, who went along to look after the wounded,
-captured a Yankee who had crossed over the run and was hiding in the
-bushes. Very soon, Major Harrison was borne back from the line of battle
-on a stretcher, or litter, as it was called, shot through the body, and
-as before said, mortally wounded. Major Harrison was a good officer and
-a splendid man, very popular in the regiment, and his untimely death was
-deeply lamented by all. It was rumored through the brigade that Colonel
-Garland had been mortally wounded. When he heard this rumor, he said,
-"It was a better man." A fine tribute this, to Major Harrison.
-
-Soon after the two companies went into the fight, the Twenty-fourth
-Virginia Regiment, led by Col. Peter Hairston on horseback, came
-double-quicking down the road leading to the ford.
-
-Company A of the Twenty-fourth was the leading company and was commanded
-by Capt. C. M. Stigleman, and Dr. B. P. Elliott was orderly sergeant.
-This company was from Floyd County. I did not know any of the officers
-or men; but since I came to Floyd, have been well acquainted with nearly
-all of them, and have often talked about the incidents of this day. I
-have heard Dr. Elliott relate that, as they started into the fight they
-passed by General Beauregard standing by the roadside, and that the
-General spoke to each company as it passed saying, "Aim low, men."
-
-The doctor, in telling it, would laugh and say, "These words sent a
-chill down my spinal column," and that when they emerged from the pines
-into the open field, and saw the men of Company G lying down in skirmish
-line, they thought these men had been killed and laid out there in a
-row, and some one exclaimed, "Good God, look at the dead men!"
-
-Dr. Elliott also related, as they passed by Major Harrison, being borne
-to the rear on the stretcher, the Major said, "Hurry up, men, or you
-will be too late"; and that Colonel Early said to them as they started,
-"Now, boys, if you don't run, the Yankees will." And when the command
-was given the regiment to load, one of the captains stepped out in front
-of his company and gave the command, "Load in nine times—load!" Then
-"old Jube" in his piping voice at a high pitch, exclaimed, "Load in nine
-times? Hell and damnation! Load in the most expeditious manner
-possible."
-
-The Twenty-fourth was the leading regiment of a brigade commanded by
-Col. Jubal A. Early. About the time the front files of the regiment was
-half-way across the field between the pines and the run, Colonel Early
-came riding along down by the line, his black horse in a long trot,
-calling out, "Halt in front!" Colonel Hairston could not hear him on
-account of the noise of the battle. Finally, Colonel Early reined in his
-horse so hard that the war steed was thrown well back on his haunches,
-and called out in a loud and emphatic tone, "Tell Colonel Hairston to
-halt." From the position occupied by the Eleventh Regiment, we could see
-and hear all these incidents.
-
-The word "halt" was passed rapidly along to the front of the regiment,
-and just before the head of the column (the troops were marching by the
-flank) reached the bushes bordering the run, they came to a halt, and
-Colonel Early went forward to find General Longstreet and ascertain
-where to place his brigade in line of battle. Just then the firing
-slackened and in a few moments the musketry firing ceased altogether.
-The Yankees had been driven back, retiring out of sight over the hill;
-the artillery fire was kept up for some time, however.
-
-Up to this time the Confederates had no artillery engaged in the fight,
-though a few shots were fired at the right flank of the enemy from
-Mitchell's Ford, where General Bonham of South Carolina commanded.
-
-Soon after the musketry firing ceased, and while the Yankees were still
-throwing shot and shell from their guns on the hill, scaring many but
-hurting few, a battery of the New Orleans Washington Artillery came in a
-gallop into the open field, and wheeling to the right into battery,
-about midway between the pines and the run, unlimbered and opened up a
-lively fire at the Yankee battery over on the hill beyond the run. These
-batteries were not in sight the one of the other, the woods on and
-beyond the run intervening to obstruct the view, the gunners firing at
-the puffs of smoke from their opponents' guns.
-
-This was a lively and spirited artillery duel for a while, but the
-plucky Louisianians proved too much for their opponents. When the Yankee
-gunners got the range on them, they moved their guns by hand to the
-right or left and poured shot and shell into the enemy thick and fast,
-soon knocking their opponents out of action, disabling one or more of
-their guns, and causing them to get out of range in great haste. The
-Washington Artillery won laurels in this their first fight, which they
-wore proudly and deservedly through the whole war, being conspicuous in
-all the great battles in which the army of Northern Virginia engaged,
-and always performing their part bravely and well.
-
-
- INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE
-
-In the midst of the battle General Longstreet's big bay horse came
-galloping out from the bushes along the run, riderless, and wild with
-the noise and excitement of battle, dashing across the field with head
-high in air, swaying from right to left, with bridle reins and stirrups
-flying over his neck and back. We thought sure our General was either
-killed or badly wounded, but it turned out that General Longstreet had
-thrown himself off his horse to the ground to escape the fire of some of
-his own men. The general was unhurt, and was soon again mounted on his
-horse, though there was dirt on his clothes from the fall to the ground.
-The smoke of the battle, which was thick and heavy along the run, soon
-cleared away, the wounded were all carried to the field hospital in the
-rear, the dead were laid away, and ere the shades of night set in, all
-was peaceful and quiet along Bull Run, except that now and then the
-words, "Friends on the other side, pass it down the line," were passed
-from company to company along the line, our scouts, at intervals,
-crossing over the run to watch the Yankees, lest, peradventure, they
-might make another attack. But no other efforts were made to dislodge
-the Confederates at Blackburn's Ford.
-
-The Yankees were very much surprised at the stubborn resistance they met
-here. Their newspapers, and other writers since, gave conflicting
-statements of the affair, some making light of it as a battle, claiming
-that it was only a reconnoissance in force, a mere skirmish. Others
-attributed it to the "rash enthusiasm" of Gen. E. B. Tyler, who thought
-he could easily brush aside the rebels and march on to Manassas. General
-McDowell, the commander-in-chief, who had established his headquarters
-at Centreville, contemplated, it was said, turning the Confederates'
-left flank when all his troops were up and everything ready for the
-attack. General Tyler had in the fight, Richardson's and Sherman's
-Brigades of Infantry, and Ayres's Battery. These were met and
-successfully resisted by Longstreet with his brigade, with eight
-companies of one of the regiments, the Eleventh, in reserve.
-
-The loss in this engagement was small for the amount of shooting done.
-The Confederates' loss was about twenty and the Yankees' about one
-hundred. This engagement on the 18th made General McDowell stop and
-ponder until the 21st of July, when the battle of Manassas was fought,
-and won by the Confederates.
-
-About sundown on the 18th the Eleventh Regiment and Early's Brigade
-relieved the troops who had been engaged, taking position along the run
-above and below the ford, where they remained on the _qui vive_ all
-night and the next day, without seeing or hearing of a single Yankee.
-
-The trees and bushes along and in the rear of the line of battle were
-scarred by big and little shot. The Yankees, being above on the bluff,
-overshot the Confederates.
-
-Up on the bluff we saw the first dead Yankee—he lay stark and cold in
-death upon the hillside among the trees in the gloom of the gathering
-twilight: the pale face turned towards us, upon which we looked with
-feelings mingled with awe and dread. We had heard and seen many new and
-strange things that day. Later on in the war, we could look upon the
-slain on the battlefield with little less feeling than upon the carcass
-of an animal. Such are some of the hardening effects of war. I don't
-think we were again as badly scared as on that day; I was not, I am
-sure.
-
-Longstreet's Brigade remained at and near Blackburn's Ford all through
-the 19th and 20th of July, waiting for and expecting another attack,
-discussing the events of the battle, and conjecturing as to what would
-be the next move in the game of war. I remember talking with Lieut. Jim
-Hord of Company H along this line, when he remarked, "There will be a
-big battle Sunday—most all of the big fights come off on Sunday." This
-prophecy came true. The brigade had received its baptism of fire, the
-nerves and mettle of the men had been tried, and while it was a
-nerve-racking ordeal, yet all had stood the test, so far as I remember,
-except one officer in command of a company in the Eleventh Regiment,
-whose nerve seemed to fail him. He was taken sick and collapsed; was
-taken to the rear and never returned to his company.
-
-I think if it had not been for pride and regard for reputation, a good
-many of us would have been like a negro cook in Company C: George, who
-belonged to my brother-in-law, Robert Cocke, and had been with the
-company as one of the cooks, brought down from the camp at Manassas
-about noon on the 18th some cooked rations, and when the battle
-commenced, was back in the rear near the hospital. When the Yankee
-shells began to fall and burst in his vicinity, George broke and ran for
-dear life back to camp, stopping only long enough to say, "Dem big balls
-come flying over me saying, 'Whar is you? whar is you?' an' I lit out
-from dar in a hurry," and away he went up the railroad track four miles
-to Bristow Station. The boys laughed at George a great many times about
-his ignominious flight; George, however, never expressed a regret that
-he took to his heels and made good time out of danger.
-
-The Confederate lines extended along the south side of Bull Run about
-eight miles, that small and insignificant stream having been chosen by
-General Beauregard as his line of defense, instead of waiting, as was
-expected by the inexperienced, for the enemy to come on to Manassas,
-which position had been fortified and the forts mounted with big guns.
-Of course, the enemy would have never attacked this place, but flanked
-it, viz., marched around the place and forced the Confederates to
-evacuate. On Bull Run the right of the Confederate lines was at Union
-Mills, with General Ewell in command. Next up the run was McLean's Ford,
-where General Jones and his brigade were posted. Next came Blackburn's
-Ford, where, as before said, was posted Longstreet's Brigade; then came
-General Bonham at Mitchell's Ford with his brigade; next above this was
-Ball's Ford, with Gen. Phillip St. George Cocke in command of a brigade,
-and lastly the Stone Bridge, the extreme Confederate left, in charge of
-General Evans with his brigade. The general direction of Bull Run is
-from west to east, or rather, from northwest to southeast.
-
-General Holmes with his brigade and Colonel Early with his brigade, and
-maybe others, were back in reserve, and when Generals Jackson, Bee, and
-Bartow arrived with their brigades, they were also held in reserve.
-There were also batteries of artillery along the lines near the several
-fords, with cavalry on the flanks, and at intervals back from the run.
-
-Along Bull Run, nearly all the way, grew trees and bushes, and much of
-the ground back of the stream on either side was covered with
-second-growth pines and scrub-oaks, the ground being rolling, though
-tolerably level.
-
-McDowell's command was concentrated at and near Centreville, about a
-mile north of Bull Run, and consisted of thirty-five or forty thousand
-men. Beauregard had twelve or fifteen thousand men; Gen. Jos. E.
-Johnston brought to his relief in the very nick of time on the 21st some
-ten or twelve thousand men.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER V
-
- THE BATTLE OF FIRST MANASSAS—GENERAL JOHNSTON
- TO THE RESCUE—GEN. KIRBY SMITH
- TURNS THE TIDE OF BATTLE—THE REBEL
- YELL—THE NEWS OF VICTORY—THE
- ENEMY NOT PURSUED—GATHERING
- THE SPOILS
-
-
-On Sunday morning, the 21st of July, quite early, on the left, up the
-run, the ball opened again, and "partners, to your places," was the
-order, or in army parlance, "Fall in!" "Attention!" The Yankee General,
-McDowell, stole a march on General Beauregard that morning.
-
-Beauregard had planned to take the aggressive, by making an attack on
-McDowell's left near Centreville, and when General Johnston reached
-Beauregard about noon on the 20th, he approved the plan; accordingly
-orders were issued that night to begin the battle the next morning at
-sunrise. The right wing of the Confederate forces was to cross the run
-and attack the left wing of the Yankee army. McDowell had also been
-doing some planning himself, and as he got in the first lick, frustrated
-the Confederate general's scheme.
-
-He, too, proposed to use his right arm in an attack on the Confederate
-left wing. McDowell put his army in motion before daybreak on the
-morning of the 21st of July, moving out from Centreville. A small column
-of infantry, artillery and cavalry, in battle array, marched out on the
-road leading to the stone bridge, the Confederate left, and at daylight
-formed line of battle and opened fire at long range, while the main body
-of the army was making a detour through the woods still higher up the
-run, and crossing at Sudley's Ford two miles above the stone bridge
-unopposed, marched down on the Confederate left flank and rear. As soon
-as General Evans, who was in command at the stone bridge, was apprised
-of this movement on the left, he changed front with a part of his
-brigade to meet the attack and sent for reënforcements. Generals Bee and
-Bartow first came to his relief, and in a short time the battle was
-raging fiercely. Generals Johnston and Beauregard hearing the firing to
-the left, and learning the extent and object of this movement of the
-enemy, at once abandoned their contemplated attack with their right
-wing, and bent every energy to resist the attack on their left.
-Beauregard went immediately to the front and displayed great gallantry,
-personally leading the troops in the charge, while Johnston remained
-back to direct the forwarding of the troops to reënforce the
-hard-pressed left.
-
-Before sufficient reënforcements could reach the scene of conflict, the
-heavy columns of the enemy drove back the small forces confronting them.
-The position at the stone bridge being flanked by the enemy and
-abandoned by the Confederates, the Yankee column in front of this
-position crossed over and joined the flanking column of the enemy. Some
-desperate fighting was done here, and noble deeds of valor performed by
-men and officers never before in battle.
-
-Bee and Bartow, two young generals from South Carolina and Alabama, won
-immortal fame, both giving their lives to the cause on that (to them)
-fateful day. Reënforcements were hurried forward as fast as possible,
-but still the Confederate lines were pressed slowly back, contesting
-every foot of ground, which was covered in many places with
-second-growth pines.
-
-
- GENERAL JOHNSTON TO THE RESCUE
-
-By preärrangement, of which none but the chief Confederate officers
-knew, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who was confronting a Yankee army in the
-Valley under General Patterson, who had orders to hold Johnston in the
-Valley while McDowell attacked Beauregard at Manassas, was to come to
-General Beauregard's support at the proper time. And if General McDowell
-stole a march on Beauregard on the morning of the 21st, General Johnston
-had on the 18th stolen a march on Patterson. On the 18th, about noon,
-Johnston got word from Beauregard that McDowell was in his front with an
-army much larger than his own, and that now was the time to help.
-Johnston, who was then at Winchester, at once put his army in motion up
-the Valley pike, then marching across towards the Blue Ridge to
-Piedmont, with Jackson's Brigade in the lead, which marched seventeen
-miles that afternoon. Jackson boarded the cars at Piedmont, and on the
-20th by noon was at Manassas, the other troops following. Jackson, as
-before said, was placed in rear of the line along Bull Run as a reserve,
-and now, at a critical moment on the 21st, arrived on the battlefield,
-and noting the situation, remarked, so it was said, "We will give those
-people the bayonet," and forming his brigade in line of battle, stood
-firmly awaiting the propitious moment, as the Yankees were ascending the
-pine-covered hill on which he and his men stood. General Bee called on
-his broken and retreating men of the far South to "rally on the
-Virginians." "Look," exclaimed Bee to the South Carolinians and
-Alabamians, "see Jackson and his men standing like a stone wall!" Then
-and there the sobriquet of "Stonewall" was given to this demigod of war
-and his brigade, which will live forever.
-
-As the Yankee line pressed up the hill, Jackson charged, driving them
-back in confusion, thus giving the first substantial check to the enemy,
-who had pressed back the Confederate lines for a mile or more.
-
-
- GEN. KIRBY SMITH TURNS THE TIDE OF BATTLE
-
-And there was to be another "Richmond on the field," very soon. Generals
-Kirby Smith and Elzey, of Johnston's command, were on the train on the
-Manassas Gap road, hurrying as fast as steam could carry them to
-Manassas Junction.
-
-Hearing the firing to the left and knowing that the battle was not far
-away, instead of going on to Manassas Junction, General Smith stopped
-the trains before reaching that place, detrained the troops, and
-following the rule of war, "marched across the country to the sound of
-the heaviest firing," struck the enemy on his flank, with a wild yell
-that terrified the Yankees, and caused them to break in great confusion.
-
-General Smith was shot from his horse, though not killed. General Elzey,
-who, with his brigade, had just arrived on the scene of action, then
-assumed command, and pushing his troops still further to the rear of the
-Yankee lines, completed the rout.
-
-Such a rout and stampede as then and there occurred has scarcely been
-equaled in the annals of war. Of course, the Yankees had some troops
-back towards Centreville and on the left of their line, who were not
-routed and panic stricken, but I am quite sure from what I afterwards
-heard, and saw the next day, every mother's son of them who crossed to
-the west or south side of Bull Run that day were completely routed and
-demoralized.
-
-
- THE REBEL YELL
-
-While a prisoner during the last year of the war, I talked with a Yankee
-sergeant who was in the battle, and asked him why they were so badly
-routed. His answer was, "Well, when Kirby Smith came in on our flank and
-raised that _yell_, we just thought the Rebels were rising up out of the
-ground in those pines, everywhere, when we broke and ran, and never
-stopped until we crossed the Long Bridge into Washington City." This
-Yankee laid stress on the "yell." The Yankee cheering was done in unison
-and in time. It was "hip, hip, huzza, huzza, huzza," which sounded
-coarse and harsh to the ear, while the "Rebel yell" was one continuous
-shout of mingled voices, without any intermission, unisonance or time.
-Each man just opened his mouth as wide as he could, strained his voice
-to the highest pitch and yelled as long as his breath lasted, then
-refilling the lungs, repeated it again and again. It was a commingling
-of shrill, loud sounds, that rent the air and could be heard for a
-distance of two miles or more, often carrying terror to the enemy. It
-was awe-inspiring to the Yankees, but joyous sounds to the Confederates
-when victory was achieved. The "Rebel yell" was a child of victory, born
-that day on the plains of Manassas, and was afterwards, by common
-consent, adopted as the battle shout of the army of Northern Virginia.
-
-I have given at some length, principally from hearsay, the main features
-of the battle on the left of the Confederate lines, in order that what
-occurred at and near Blackburn's Ford, where Longstreet's Brigade was
-posted, may be better described and understood.
-
-During the whole of this day, the Yankees kept up a show of fight at
-Blackburn's Ford, in order to prevent the Confederate troops on the
-right from going to the relief of the hard-pressed left. Bonham, Holmes,
-Ewell, Early (except the Twenty-fourth Regiment, which remained at
-Blackburn's Ford), and Cocke, or the greater part of these brigades,
-were sent to the left. Early was late in getting upon the scene of
-action, owing to the miscarriage of the order for him to move, which
-was, from some unknown cause, delayed three hours. He rendered good
-service, however, pressing still further on the enemy's right and rear
-than Kirby Smith and Elzey had done. Jones and Longstreet remained at
-McLean's and Blackburn's Ford.
-
-
- UNDER SHELLING
-
-Throughout the whole day the Yankees shelled these positions at
-intervals of every five or ten minutes.
-
-In the afternoon the two brigades and the Twenty-fourth Regiment crossed
-over the run, formed in column of regiments and lay down in the woods,
-expecting every moment to be ordered forward and charge the battery in
-front, the shells from which were continually bursting among the
-tree-tops, cutting off branches, these, and the fragments of shells,
-falling around, now and then striking some one.
-
-I remember how sleepy I was, lying there in the woods that hot July day,
-often dozing between the shots. We had slept but little the past three
-nights. The boom of the guns, the scream of the shells, the dull thud of
-the pieces striking the ground and sometimes a man, was enough to awake
-the dead almost, and made all lie low and hug mother earth pretty
-closely, but still I dozed between shots.
-
-It is surprising how close men can get to the ground when lying under a
-good, brisk shelling; great affection seems to be manifested for the
-dust, from which all sprung. At such times, a lizard, when rocked by a
-boy, never laid flatter on a fence rail than the soldiers lay on the
-ground. It was afterwards said, that orders were sent Jones and
-Longstreet to advance on the enemy's left near Centreville, but the
-order was not delivered; it was conjectured that the messenger was
-killed by a shell.
-
-All day at Blackburn's Ford we could hear the battle raging up the run
-to the left; the booming of cannon, the explosion of the shells, and the
-noise of the musketry could be distinctly heard.
-
-Sometimes the sounds would die down, the musketry firing amounting to
-little more than a sharp skirmish; then again the noise of the battle
-would rise higher and louder, sometimes drawing nearer and then recede
-and die down almost entirely, then fiercely rise again, while the loud
-peals of the battery in our front waked the echoes far and near. All
-this time the strain and suspense were terrible; no tidings as to how
-the battle was going came to us; no news came, only the roar of the
-battle two or three miles away could be heard. I thought this fight was
-the biggest that had ever occurred in the history of the world; others
-were of the same opinion. Col. Bob Preston in the midst of the battle
-remarked to Colonel Withers, as I heard Colonel Withers relate
-afterwards, that "the battle of Waterloo was a mere skirmish to it." I
-could not conceive on the 18th, while the fighting was in progress, how
-any could escape where so much shooting was going on. And, now on this,
-the 21st, the shooting was going on all day.
-
-What must be the result! How many dead and dying were lying on the field
-of strife? Were our friends getting the best of the fight, or were the
-Yankees going to be victorious? How soon would we be called into action,
-and charge through the open fields up "to the very cannon's mouth"? And
-what would be the result? Would we capture the battery and drive away
-the infantry support, or be repulsed and driven back? Who and how many
-would be left on the field wounded, bleeding, dying and dead? All this
-and much more we had time to think of on that hot, never-to-be-forgotten
-21st day of July, 1861. This was one of the days that the sun seemed to
-stand still, or move slower than usual. I never saw our company,
-regiment or brigade falter in battle or fail to respond to any call, but
-I never saw them "eager for the fight," as it is sometimes expressed. My
-observation of men, and my own feelings on the eve of the battle, going
-into the fight, or in the midst of strife, was that the bravest realized
-the danger and dreaded the fiery ordeal, yet did their duty when bidden.
-
-Dr. W. H. Taylor in his "Experiences of an Assistant Surgeon," says, "I
-freely admit that I was never in a battle but that I should have felt
-the most exultant joy if I had been out of it." I freely concur in this
-statement as to myself and all whom I observed in battle.
-
-
- THE NEWS OF VICTORY
-
-At last, as the sun was sinking over the western hills, and the shadows
-lengthening, tidings from the battlefield came, and joyful news it was.
-
-The firing had just ceased, except now and then a cannon shot in the
-distance; the battery in our front had ceased firing—there was an
-ominous silence; the very air around us, hot and sultry as it was,
-seemed surcharged with something more than summer heat and sulphuric
-fumes from exploding shells. Every man was now on his feet, all nerves
-were strung to the highest pitch; every one, from the highest officer to
-the humblest private, wore a look of intense anxiety, all in silent
-expectancy. What did all this portend? Was it a calm before a mightier
-storm than we had heard during the day, that was about to burst? Or had
-the storm already spent itself, and what was the result? Or had the
-contestants in the deadly all-day strife up the run been exhausted, and
-lay limp and impotent on the ground, unable to strike another blow, the
-one at the other? Or had they, like the Kilkenny cats, devoured each
-other, leaving none to tell the tale?
-
-As the noise of battle died away, from away up the run we heard shouts
-and cheers, at first scarcely audible, then louder and nearer came the
-cheers, rolling along down the valley of Bull Run in seeming waves of
-mingled voices, each wave rising higher and more distinct. Messengers
-mounted on fleet-footed steeds, which that day had become war horses
-that sniffed the smoke of battle, not "from afar," but on the very field
-of strife and carnage, hurried down the lines along the run, shouting,
-"Victory! victory! victory; complete victory!" Each detachment took up
-the joyous shout and wafted it on to those below. From Mitchell's Ford,
-just above us, where Bonham and his South Carolinians on the 18th held
-the fort and let fly the dogs of war on the enemy's flank, Longstreet's
-Brigade caught the inspiration and raised its first "Rebel yell" that
-made the welkin ring, and sent the glad and glorious news on down to
-Jones and his men at McLean's Ford, and quickly came the echo back in
-ringing peals.
-
-Then details of the victory began to come in. The enemy was completely
-routed; many prisoners and many guns had been captured. Then it came
-that "Long Tom," a noted Yankee cannon, was captured; then that
-Sherman's Battery, the crack artillery of the United States Army, was
-taken; then that Rickett's, another noted battery, and also Griffin's,
-had all been captured. The first mentioned battery, with Capt. W. T.
-Sherman in command, won laurels in the Mexican War, and had been known
-ever since as Sherman's Battery.
-
-Longstreet at once led his brigade forward into the open field, at the
-farther side of which was a redoubt with abattis in front, where had
-been stationed the Yankee guns that shelled us all day. How different
-were our feelings now from what they would have been if we had entered
-this field during the day, and been met by a shower of shot, shell,
-grape and canister! Now, we were without fear, exultant and in high
-spirits; before, we would have been rent with missiles of death, great
-gaps would have been torn through the column of regiments, and many
-would have been left wounded and dead on the field.
-
-The brigade marched on into the woods beyond the field towards
-Centreville, bivouacking on the ground of a Yankee camp, which the enemy
-had just abandoned, leaving evidences of hasty departure; coffee, sugar,
-hard-tack, and many articles of food and equipments lay scattered
-around. Some of the men shouted, "Don't eat them things, they may be
-pizened." Later on the "pizen" was not for a moment considered when a
-Yankee camp was raided, and when many a hungry Rebel ate to his full
-once more.
-
-As the Eleventh Regiment was taking position in camp for the night,
-General Longstreet, "Old Pete," as he was sometimes called, rode close
-by, when Colonel Garland called on the men of the Eleventh to give three
-cheers for General Longstreet, which were given with a will, then some
-one, Captain Clement, I think, called out, "Three cheers for Colonel
-Garland," and again the shouts were raised. Warnings were sent not to
-use the water from Bull Run; it was said the stream up about the stone
-bridge was filled with dead Yankees and overflowing its banks from the
-obstructions of the bodies. This was a great exaggeration; in fact, few,
-if any, Yankees were dead in the stream.
-
-The Yankee army was in full retreat, and more; the larger part of it was
-in complete rout and panic. The cry of "On to Richmond" was quickly
-changed to "Back to Washington."
-
-A soldier, unless panic stricken, will hold on to his gun to the last;
-only when completely demoralized does he cast away his weapon of offense
-and defense, then he is little more than a frightened animal. The army
-of Northern Virginia was never panic stricken. General Lee said, "My men
-sometimes fail to drive the enemy, but the enemy does not drive my men,"
-which was literally true up to the very beginning of the end, or rather,
-if the expression is permissible, up to the very ending of the end. Let
-the mind run back over the long list of desperate encounters that this
-army had with the enemy during those four bloody years, and this will be
-found to be literally true.
-
-
- THE ENEMY NOT PURSUED
-
-Much has been said about the failure of a vigorous pursuit of the enemy
-at and immediately after this battle of Manassas. Without going into
-details or giving reasons in _in extenso_ for my opinion, I have always
-contended that Johnston and Beauregard acted wisely and prudently under
-all the circumstances. No one in the Confederate army at the close of
-that day knew or had any means of knowing how panic stricken the Yankee
-soldiers really were. There were several thousand soldiers in and around
-Centreville, who had not been engaged, in position and condition to
-resist a pursuit by any force the Confederates could have sent against
-them that night; it's a very risky business to pursue a retreating army
-in the night time; traps, ambuscades, and surprises are easily planned
-and executed, into which the rash pursuers are sure to fall. A large
-majority of the Confederate troops had been marching or fighting, or
-both, all day, many without rations, and were in no condition to pursue
-the enemy ten, fifteen or twenty miles that night. The bulk of the
-fleeing enemy had gotten several miles away, and was still going, before
-it could have been possible to organize anything like a systematic and
-immediate pursuit. Even if the enemy had had no organized rear guard, it
-would have been one mob pursuing another mob.
-
-The Confederate army could not have possibly reached the vicinity of the
-Potomac River opposite Washington City before the next day, and then not
-before noon. Here all approaches were well fortified, mounted with siege
-guns and manned, and the capture of Washington would have been an
-impossibility.
-
-So then, away with the cry then raised by bomb-proof generals in
-editors' chairs a hundred miles or more away, and, as has been since
-often repeated, that "if Johnston and Beauregard had pursued, or if Jeff
-Davis, who came upon the scene of action late in the afternoon, had not
-prevented a pursuit, Washington could have been captured and the war
-then and there ended." I did not believe then, have not since, nor now
-believe, that any such thing could have been accomplished.
-
-And above and far beyond all opinions and speculations on this question
-is the fact, that Joseph E. Johnston, G. T. Beauregard, and Jefferson
-Davis were all on the ground, and if these three men, with all their
-experience, wisdom and information did not know what was the right thing
-to do, who could, would, or should have known?
-
-In this battle the losses were nothing like as large as expected, when
-all was summed up. The Confederate loss was estimated at a little less
-than four hundred killed and not quite fifteen hundred wounded.
-
-The enemy lost about five hundred killed, one thousand wounded, and
-about fifteen hundred prisoners.
-
-The Confederates captured many pieces of cannon, thousands of small
-arms, accoutrements, camp equipage, etc.
-
-
- GATHERING THE SPOILS
-
-On the next day, the 22d of July, Longstreet's Brigade was detailed to
-scour the country between Centreville and the Stone Bridge to secure the
-cast-away arms and equipments the Yankees left in their wild flight from
-the battlefield. The whole brigade was deployed, as if in skirmish line,
-on either side of the Warrenton turnpike, converging as it moved on to
-the crossing at the Stone Bridge. The greater part of the day was spent
-in picking up muskets, cartridge-boxes, belts, knapsacks, haversacks,
-canteens, coats, hats, blankets, etc. It was a dark, drizzly, foggy day,
-much of the way through second growth pines. I remember as we were
-crouching beneath the low-hanging branches of the pines late in the
-afternoon, some of Company C were considerably startled by a cry of
-"halt." It proved to be a little Yankee soldier, a mere youth, who was
-hatless and had been wounded in the head, which was bound up with a
-bloody bandage. He had been in hiding since the day before in the pine
-thicket, presenting a forlorn appearance as he crept out from his hiding
-place. He had called out "halt," doubtless from habit formed while on
-guard duty, to attract attention. He was not badly wounded and was taken
-along and turned over to the provost guard who had charge of the
-prisoners.
-
-Crossing over the stone bridge, the brigade went into camp for the night
-at the top of the long hill on the Warrenton pike, on a part of the
-battlefield where there were many dead horses and men, broken cannon
-carriages, caissons, and ammunition wagons.
-
-Along the road between the stone bridge and Centreville much flotsam and
-jetsam, cast-away and abandoned things, lay strewn around on all sides.
-Large numbers of people, men and women, had followed in the wake of the
-army to witness the battle, and to join in the "On to Richmond," which
-all expected to follow at once. It was currently reported and believed
-among the Yankee soldiers and people of the North that the "Rebel army"
-was but a half-organized mob, armed only with flint-lock muskets and
-shotguns that could be easily brushed out of the way. Great preparations
-had been made for a big ball in the city of Richmond within the next few
-days. Many carriages filled with women, with all their ball costumes,
-were also along; Congressmen and other dignitaries came from Washington
-to witness the battle, and see the "Rebels run"; wagons and carts loaded
-with baskets of wines, liquors, and other things; stacks of pound-cake,
-confectioneries and fruits, oranges, lemons, etc. During the day, while
-the "Rebels" were being driven back, these spectators followed along the
-road and drew near the stone bridge, all, no doubt, in high feather and
-glee with much eating and drinking, and watched the scenes at the front.
-
-When the tide of battle turned and the stream of flying Yankee soldiers,
-artillery, caissons, ammunition wagons and ambulances came rushing back,
-these spectators, in dismay and horror, turned to fly, but the mad rush
-of the army fleeing was upon them; no respect was paid to sex or person.
-It was, "Every man for himself and the devil take the hindermost."
-
-The Confederate batteries galloped to the top of the hill south of the
-run and sent shells screaming along the road. The cavalry crossed the
-stone bridge and dashed into the rearmost ranks, all causing confusion
-worst confounded. Carriages, carts and wagons were upset, their
-occupants and contents dumped out and scattered along the road. Some of
-these civilians were taken prisoners, including Congressman Eli, of
-percussion-cap fame, whose carriage had broken down or overturned; I
-think he was taken to Richmond and soon afterwards released, and
-returned to Washington, doubtless a wiser, if not a better man. At the
-stone bridge a wagon or gun-carriage had been overturned or broken down;
-here there was a perfect jam of all kinds of vehicles that blocked the
-bridge.
-
-After this our men were much better supplied with guns, cartridge-boxes,
-haversacks, canteens, knapsacks, oilcloths, blankets, and many other
-things; and all during the war until the last year, 1865, the Yankees
-supplied Lee's army with such things, leaving them laying around loose
-on almost every battlefield.
-
-The next day the brigade marched back to camp at Manassas, passing over
-much of the battlefield, where still lay among the scrub-pines many
-swollen, blackened corpses yet unburied, though details were at work at
-the gruesome task. Conspicuous among the dead bodies could be seen the
-New York Zouaves with flashy uniforms and red fez with tassel, loose,
-red knee-pants and long stockings; big stalwart fellows they were, with
-bronzed faces and necks, but now they lay dead upon the battlefield. And
-doubtless some, if not all of us, in the words of the "good old Rebel,"
-"wished we'd killed some more."
-
-These men had invaded Virginia with guns in their hands, and we knew
-they had met their just deserts. Virginia and the South only wanted to
-be let alone; peacefully to withdraw from the compact, leaving the
-states north of Mason and Dixon's line with their "Union and their
-Flag," to cherish and love as they pleased. Only this and nothing more.
-But the North would not, as Horace Greeley advised, "Let their erring
-sisters of the South depart in peace." Instead, they waged upon the
-South a most cruel and devastating war. The Yankees are still charging
-that the South tried to break up the United States Government. This is a
-false charge. The South made no attack on the United States Government.
-The South only attempted to get from under the yoke of the North and be
-a free people.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VI
-
- TO CENTREVILLE AND FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE—PICKET
- CLOSE TO THE ENEMY—EXCITING
- TIMES ON PICKET—BACK TO CENTREVILLE—THE
- FIGHT AT
- DRAINESVILLE
-
-
-On the 24th of July, the brigade broke camp at Manassas and marched to
-Centreville, where the Eleventh Regiment pitched its tents, just on the
-outskirts of that little hamlet of a few houses.
-
-Other troops were camped round about, all in fine spirits, fast learning
-to be soldiers, always keeping up the drills, company and regimental.
-Colonel Garland was a fine drill officer and had the regiment well
-drilled. While here General Longstreet had brigade drills a few times,
-but this did not amount to much, and was never tried again. In battle
-the maneuvers practiced in drilling were seldom used; but drilling
-learned the men to keep together, rally and get into line quickly when
-separated. In battle few orders were heard except "fall into line,"
-"load," "commence firing," "cease firing," "forward," "charge," and the
-like. Sometimes, but not often, in the army of Northern Virginia, the
-command was heard, "fall back."
-
-
- ADVANCE TO FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE
-
-On the 10th of August, 1861, the brigade moved to Fairfax Court House,
-seven miles. The day was intensely hot, and many fell by the wayside,
-going into camp just north of the town; not a very desirable camping
-ground, as it was rather low and flat. It rained a good deal and there
-was a great deal of sickness, measles, typhoid fever, and diarrhea. It
-was surprising how many men had never had measles; it seemed that half
-or more of the army had the disease the first year of the war, and large
-numbers died from the effects. Typhoid fever frequently followed the
-measles, often proving fatal. While here my brother Coon had measles
-which was followed by fever. He was taken to the field hospital near
-camp, and after remaining there in a tent a few days, Dr. Thornhill said
-if he was not sent away he would die. I immediately went to work and got
-a sick-furlough for him, carried him to Manassas in an ambulance, put
-him on the train the next day on a mattress and started him for
-Lynchburg; he was too sick and weak to sit up, but I could not go with
-him. On the train, as good fortune would have it, was the Rev. H. M.
-Linney, a Methodist preacher, who was or had been the year before on the
-Campbell County circuit. Mr. Linney acted the part of the Good Samaritan
-and ministered to his wants until the train reached Lynchburg, where he
-was met by my brother-in-law, Mr. Geo. A. Burks, to whom I had wired.
-Mr. Burks took him to his house where he had a long and severe spell of
-fever.
-
-
- PICKET CLOSE TO ENEMY—EXCITING TIMES
-
-After the brigade moved to Fairfax Court House, we did a great deal of
-picket duty down towards Alexandria and Washington City, close to the
-enemy's line. We were sometimes in sight of the dome of the capital, and
-could see the Yankees drilling on the high hills on the south side of
-the Potomac River. The Yankees often had a balloon up in the air,
-anchored by a long cable, at which a cannon shot would sometimes be
-fired, and a shot brought it down. This shot, I think, was fired by
-Lieut. Thos. L. Rosser, afterwards General Rosser. The principal picket
-posts were at Mason's, Munson's and Upton's Hill's, Falls Church, and
-near Annandale.
-
-One night Company C, and a cavalry company commanded by Captain ——
-Carter, were on picket near Annandale, close to the enemy's line, when,
-about midnight, a squad of Company C, on outpost duty, came in to the
-reserve post, and reported that a body of cavalry was approaching along
-the road by which we had come from Centreville. It was at once
-conjectured that the Yankee cavalry had, by another road, flanked our
-position, gotten in the rear and was attempting to bag the Confederate
-pickets. Captains Clement and Carter made disposition of the two
-companies to give the enemy a warm reception. Company C was posted along
-the fence by the roadside, while Captain Carter formed his company in
-the field a short distance in the rear. Instructions were given to the
-men to let the cavalry approaching pass along the road until the head of
-the column reached the extreme right of our line, and then, at a signal
-from Captain Clement, to open fire on them, when Captain Carter and his
-company would charge; this was the plan and instructions in case the
-approaching horsemen proved to be, as was believed, Yankees.
-
-The night was dark; objects could be distinguished only a few feet away.
-In silence we anxiously awaited the coming of the approaching
-cavalrymen, the noise of whose horses' hoofs we soon heard coming down
-the hill; the suspense was intense. Every man had his gun at a "ready,"
-determined, at the proper signal, to pour a volley into the enemy, who,
-when along the road in our immediate front, would not be more than ten
-feet from the muzzles of the guns. On, the horsemen came in silence,
-right along in our front; each man clutched his musket tighter; not a
-word or whisper was uttered, until the front files of the column had
-reached the right of the line, when Captain Clement, who had taken
-position at that point, called out in his deep bass voice, in a firm
-tone, "Halt! Who comes there?" In an instant the horsemen came to a
-standstill and the answer to the challenge came from the front files,
-"Friends, with the countersign;" whereupon Captain Clement called out,
-"Advance one and give the countersign." One of the men came up and in a
-low tone gave the word, which, as I remember, was "Richmond." Captain
-Clement at once called out, "Countersign correct, advance, friends," and
-the scare was over, and each party felt much relieved.
-
-Explanations followed, which developed that this company had been sent
-down to strengthen the picket post, and had not taken the precaution to
-send a single horseman in front to notify us of their coming.
-
-These men thought, they said, when they were halted and heard the click
-of some of our men's musket locks, as they made ready to fire, that they
-were right in the midst of the Yankees. If a single shot had been fired
-by either side (and it is often hard to restrain men under such
-circumstances), there would have been many friends slain by friends. I
-think this was after we moved back to Centreville in the fall.
-
-Another, and for a time rather serious, but in the end, amusing incident
-occurred while on picket near Falls Church. Here the lines were close
-together and the pickets often in sight of each other. The picket forces
-were heavy, sometimes with a battery of artillery along. On one occasion
-the Yankees had a post in a house a few hundred yards away, across a
-wooded ravine, and the captain of the battery concluded he would shell
-this Yankee post. Company C was drawn up in line, near by, as a support
-in case the Yankees made a dash to capture the guns. Two guns were let
-loose on the house, and it was fun to watch the Yankees scamper out and
-take to their heels. Pretty soon some one said, "Don't you hear the
-Yankees bringing up their guns? They are going to shell us." This
-changed the humor of the men very quickly from hilarity and good
-feelings to solemnity and anxiety for their own safety. Just as it was
-expected the Yankee guns were about to open fire, one of the men,
-looking pretty nervous and rather pale about the gills, like most of us,
-turned to Captain Clement and said with earnestness, "I don't think it
-is _far_ to have cannon on picket." It was great fun to see the Yankees
-skedaddle, but quite another thing to be shelled. The Yankees did not
-shell us, but we laughed at Peter Cary many times afterwards about this
-remark.
-
-While on picket down there at Falls Church we fared fine. I remember
-some of us would go every morning to a house for breakfast, where we
-feasted on buckwheat cakes, butter, honey and milk.
-
-Near Mason's Hill, at a picket post, there was a large farm occupied by
-a Yankee, who had abandoned it upon the approach of the Confederates,
-and gone within the Yankee lines, leaving a fine garden, large
-cornfields, fruit, etc. The soldiers were told these things had been
-confiscated by the Confederate authorities for their use, on account of
-the disloyalty of the owner, and they fairly feasted on roasting-ears,
-potatoes, tomatoes, etc.,—boiling camp kettles full of potatoes and
-corn. Some of the men would eat as many as twelve or fourteen ears of
-corn at one time; Ned Gilliam, I believe, was the champion corn eater,
-and Tom and Jabe Rosser, Sam Franklin, the Tweedy and Jones boys, and
-others, were close seconds. I think maybe they appropriated some
-bee-gums, or their contents, and perhaps some jars of preserves and
-other sweets. I must say that Company C had very few men in it who would
-forage illegally. On one occasion a year or two afterwards, I suspected
-some of the company of killing a hog while down in the south-side of
-Virginia, though I did not know it, and took no pains to investigate, as
-meat was very scarce about that time: in fact, we had none, and it was
-right hard for a soldier to let a hog bite him and not kill it when
-hungry. I have heard soldiers say that they would kill a sheep if it
-tried to bite them. Some of the boys told a story on R. H. Jones about
-eating, or rather, not eating "stolen hog." Bob was quite young and very
-conscientious. On one occasion his mess had fresh pork for breakfast
-which they did not draw from the commissary. When the chops were fried
-brown and crisp, the boys gathered around the frying-pan and began
-eating. Bob sat aloof, munching on his corn pone, when some one said,
-"Bob, have some meat." "No," drawled Bob, "I don't eat stolen hog," all
-the while looking at the pan and nibbling away on his dry bread. Again
-some one said, "Bob, you better have some, it's mighty good." Bob
-reached over towards the pan with his bread and said, "I won't eat any
-of the meat, but will take a little of the gravy."
-
-While encamped around Fairfax Court House, the whole army was thrown
-into a high fever of excitement one day by the beating of the long roll.
-Under the army regulations the long roll is never beaten except in cases
-of emergency—the sudden and unexpected attack or approach of the enemy.
-When the long roll is sounded it is the duty of every drum corps in
-hearing to take it up and repeat it, and every man is hastily called to
-arms. On this occasion the long roll was started without cause by a
-_fresh_ "officer of the day," as he said, "to see what effect it would
-have." For miles around the drums rolled and there was much hurrying and
-scurrying of staff officers and couriers. I think the "officer of the
-day" got a court-martial for his freshness, and very likely, if "old
-Jube" had the say-so, a good _cussing_.
-
-
- BACK TO CENTREVILLE
-
-On the 19th or 20th of October, 1861, the army moved back to Centreville
-and went into camp—the Eleventh Regiment on the same ground it had
-before occupied.
-
-The whole army was encamped round about and along Bull Run; rations were
-plentiful and the men passed a very comfortable winter, making pipes and
-trinkets from ivy roots dug up along Bull Run, which had now become
-historic.
-
-The Fifth Louisian Regiment was camped about one-half mile from the
-Eleventh Virginia. The Louisian Regiment had a fine band, and every
-afternoon would play many patriotic pieces, including "Dixie," "The
-Bonnie Blue Flag," etc. The Eleventh Regiment also had a very good band,
-led by Geo. W. Lyman, of Lynchburg.
-
-We still picketed down close to Fairfax Court House. While on picket
-there during the winter I was taken with break-bone fever and sent home
-on a sick furlough. It was a rainy time, and I slept one night on a pile
-of rails, and the next morning every bone in my body was aching. I
-remember telling old Dr. Withers of this after I got home, when he
-remarked, "Sleeping on rails is well calculated to make one's bones
-ache." I had never seen our little boy, Dixie, who was born on the 25th
-of September, 1861, and was then about five months old. He was a fine
-little fellow, and a great comfort to his mother in my absence. Of
-course, we all enjoyed the home-coming.
-
-While I was away the regiment went on a foraging expedition, in support
-of Stuart's Cavalry, north of Centreville. Near Drainesville they got
-into a fight with the Yankees, when Wm. H. Hobson, of Company C, a
-cousin of my wife, was mortally wounded, being shot through the bowels,
-dying soon afterwards. He was the first man of Company C killed. Lieut.
-H. C. Chalmers, of Company A, lost an arm in this fight.
-
-As soon as I was well again, I returned to the army, which was still at
-Centreville, where it remained for some time.
-
-While in camp here, Governor Letcher visited the army and presented each
-Virginia Regiment with a new State flag. The troops were all drawn up
-around one of the forts, the colonels going up into the fort, the
-Governor making a speech to each as he presented the flags, and the
-colonels, on receiving them, replying. I remember Col. Eppa Hunton, of
-the Eighth Virginia, said in his speech, "Every man in Fauquier County
-shall be carried home feet foremost before his flag will be
-surrendered." I think this was the summer or fall before or during our
-first encampment at Centreville.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VII
-
- FALL BACK FROM CENTREVILLE—THE PENINSULA
- CAMPAIGN—YORKTOWN LINE EVACUATED—THE
- BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG—"GIVE
- IT TO THEM"—INTO A HOT FIRE—COLONEL
- GARLAND WOUNDED—INCIDENTS
- OF THE BATTLE—GARLAND
- AND KEMPER
- PROMOTED
-
-
-Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had been for some time sole commander of the
-army, General Beauregard having been ordered south some months before.
-Gen. George B. McClellan, who succeeded General McDowell, was in command
-of the Yankee army, and had been all winter recruiting, reorganizing,
-equipping and drilling what he claimed to be "the finest army on the
-planet," some 125,000 strong. When winter began to break, General
-Johnston knew his adversary would soon move against him, and thinking it
-not prudent to stand his ground at Centreville or Manassas, against so
-powerful an army, with only about 40,000 men, just as McClellan was
-preparing to advance, the Confederate army, on the 9th of March, 1862,
-broke camp, having first made dummy cannons of wood, painted black,
-mounting them in the forts and redoubts around Centreville, also dummy
-soldiers, in order to deceive and delay the enemy. The army retired
-leisurely at first, stopping several days at a time in camp.
-
-The terms of enlistment of most of the Confederate troops were about to
-expire, and the men were called upon to reenlist for the war, which
-nearly all did. On this march, while in camp a few days, Company C
-elected officers to take the place of those who had been at first
-elected and whose terms would expire about the 1st of May. Captain
-Clement was reëlected captain, I was elected first lieutenant, James
-Connelly was reëlected second lieutenant, and Jabez R. Rosser was
-elected third lieutenant. J. A. Hobson and H. H. Withers, first and
-second lieutenants, not being reëlected, left the company at the end of
-their terms. About this time the company received a number of recruits,
-the militiamen up to thirty-five years old having been called out and
-given the privilege of joining the companies of their choice. The
-recruits were mostly married men, from twenty-five to thirty-five years
-old.
-
-McClellan did not essay to follow Johnston, but determined to change his
-base and plan of campaign from Northern Virginia to the Peninsula. His
-army was accordingly embarked on transports, sailing down the Potomac
-and Chesapeake Bay, landing at the lower end of the Peninsula at
-Fortress Monroe.
-
-As soon as General Johnston was aware of this move, he put his army in
-motion and marched rapidly to Richmond. The march was through Prince
-William, Spottsylvania, Hanover, and Henrico counties, into Richmond,
-where we arrived on the 12th of April, 1862. This march was very
-laborious, through rain and mud, the troops often marching through
-fields to avoid the muddy roads, and to give place to the trains of
-artillery and baggage and commissary wagons. At that time each regiment
-had thirteen wagons, but never again after the Peninsula campaign; after
-that year about three was the limit.
-
-This was the first real hard marching we had done. Some of the men gave
-out on the route, and had to be hauled in wagons and ambulances; many
-had their knapsacks hauled. Only one man of Company C besides myself
-carried their knapsacks, blankets and guns through without any help.
-
-
- THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN
-
-On arriving at Richmond on the 12th of April the troops were embarked on
-boats, steamed down the James to King's Landing, seven miles from
-Williamsburg, marching through that quaint and dilapidated old town, on
-down the Peninsula to the lines near Yorktown, where General Magruder
-was in command with fifteen or twenty thousand men, confronting
-McClellan and his "grand army" on the lines stretching across the
-Peninsula from the York to the James. McClellan had 125,000 men;
-Johnston about 50,000, all told.
-
-The lines, at the point the Eleventh Regiment faced the Yankees, were
-about one thousand yards apart; at other places the lines were much
-closer, and there were frequent skirmishes and sharp-shooting. Forts at
-intervals along the lines were mounted with big guns, and shots were
-often exchanged.
-
-One day I was standing behind one of the Confederate guns, when a shot
-from a thirty-two-pounder was fired at a Yankee fort one thousand yards
-off, across an open level field, and saw the ball, a black mass, as it
-sped across the field, go right into the fort and explode. Of course, we
-could not see from that distance what damage was done, but heard
-afterwards from prisoners that this shell played havoc in the Yankee
-fort, killing and wounding men right and left, and tearing up things
-generally. This was a splendid shot, aimed and the fuse timed exactly
-right; it went to the very spot desired, exploding at the very second to
-do the most damage. The Yankees did not return the fire.
-
-The service on the Peninsula was arduous and disagreeable; in the muddy
-trenches, or back in the woods, lying on the rain-soaked ground, or
-marching along the cut-up and muddy roads, was trying indeed, and caused
-no little sickness among the troops. Harvey Bailey, of Company C, died
-of disease while here. One night while the regiment lay back in the
-woods, the men sleeping on their arms, that is, every man lying with his
-gun by his side, instead of being stacked, there was a night alarm, with
-sharp musketry firing along the trenches; all were aroused and under
-arms in a moment. It was a cloudy, pitch-dark night, and we did not know
-what the trouble was. Just as the firing ceased the hooting of a big owl
-was heard in the distance. "There now," was whispered along the lines,
-"we are cut off; that is a Yankee signal." Nothing came of it, however,
-except a good scare. When soldiers are thus suddenly aroused at night by
-a call to arms, it causes a chilling sensation, and they shake like one
-with the "buck ague."
-
-General Johnston was often seen riding along the lines, sitting his
-horse very erect, and presenting a soldierly appearance. He always
-reminded me of a gamecock trimmed and gaffed ready for the main. While
-here our first year of enlistment expired, and I entered upon the duties
-of first lieutenant; I had been orderly sergeant up to this time,
-carrying a musket.
-
-
- YORKTOWN LINES EVACUATED
-
-General Johnston, getting information that McClellan was preparing to
-send a force by transports up York River to West Point, and which he,
-Johnston, had no means of preventing, and thus get in his rear and
-between him and Richmond, it was determined to evacuate the Yorktown
-line of defense. Accordingly, about the 3d or 4th of May, 1862, the
-trenches were evacuated and the whole army began falling back up the
-Peninsula, the wagons and artillery in front. The Yankees made a landing
-at West Point, but were driven back to their transports by a force sent
-to meet them. As we marched up the Peninsula we could hear the booming
-of the big guns in this fight.
-
-The roads were in wretched condition, muddy and badly cut up by the long
-trains of wagons and artillery, making the march very trying and
-disagreeable, for it rained nearly every day about this time. No one who
-has not marched on foot behind army wagon and artillery trains has any
-conception of what muddy roads are. Horses and mules were sometimes
-literally buried in the mud and left to perish, or shot dead on the
-spot.
-
-It is surprising how much fatigue and hardship men can stand when put to
-it. Soldiers were often put to the supreme test of endurance, and, no
-doubt, many an old Confederate soldier often says to himself, "How did
-we stand those long, tiresome marches, through the rain and mud of
-spring, through the dust and heat of summer, and midst snow and ice of
-winter, often poorly shod, scantily clothed, and on short, very short
-rations, sometimes none at all." A man can stand more than a horse. But
-the Confederate soldiers did stand these things, enduring more, perhaps,
-than any soldiers ever endured before. It took men to do these things—
-men with muscles, sinews, and nerves in their bodies, and courage in
-their hearts; and then, on the battlefield, to meet the foe two, three,
-and four to one, and vanquish that foe, took men of the highest valor.
-Of such was the Confederate soldier. The service of our Revolutionary
-fathers was not comparable to the arduous trials and privations of the
-Confederate soldiers. The privations and suffering of the army at Valley
-Forge during the winter of 1777-78 was as nothing to the experiences of
-the Confederates around Petersburg during the winter of 1864-5.
-
-On February 8, 1865, General Lee wrote to the Secretary of War to this
-effect: "For three days and nights the right wing of the army has been
-in line of battle; some of the men have had no meat for three days, and
-all suffering from reduced rations and scant clothing, exposed to the
-fire of the enemy, cold, hail and sleet." About the same time General
-Lee issued a circular letter to the farmers in the surrounding country,
-beseeching them to "loan the army all the cornmeal and sorghum they
-could spare." But I am anticipating, so back to the Peninsula.
-
-
- BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG
-
-I should have stated before, that about the time the army fell back from
-Centreville and Manassas, General Longstreet was promoted to
-major-general, and Col. A. P. Hill of the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment
-was promoted to brigadier-general, and assigned to Longstreet's old
-brigade, which now formed a part of Longstreet's Division.
-
-On the afternoon of the 4th of May, the brigade marched through the town
-of Williamsburg; slept on their arms in an open field just west of the
-town. Early next morning it was evident to all that a fight was on hand—
-staff officers and couriers were riding hither and thither in great
-haste. McClellan was pressing on General Johnston's rear a little too
-closely to suit him, and Johnston determined to give him a taste of what
-was in store for him later on.
-
-Hill's Brigade, as well as other troops, infantry and artillery, were
-marched back through the town. Just at the eastern limits of the town
-the brigade turned off the road to the right, through the fields, and
-was massed in a deep hollow. Other troops were known to be in the woods
-a few hundred yards in front, and we were in position as their support.
-
-Other troops had passed on down the Yorktown road towards Fort McGruder,
-and the other forts east of Williamsburg, some of which the Confederates
-had abandoned. I remember Latham's Battery dashing by, as we marched
-through the streets, at a gallop. Latham's Battery was from Lynchburg,
-and the men well known to many of the Eleventh Regiment. Some one in the
-Eleventh called out to them as they passed, asking if they were going
-into the fight. "Yes," shouted back Jim Ley, one of the battery;
-"Latham's Battery is always in the fight." Artillery firing could
-already be heard at the front. As the men passed along the streets, they
-unslung their knapsacks, depositing them in the front yards of the
-houses on the street—stripping for the fight. There were no forts or
-breastworks in our front, nor was there any artillery with the brigade
-or with the troops in front. The position was the extreme right of the
-Confederate lines.
-
-
- THE BATTLE BEGINS
-
-We did not have to wait long. Sharp musketry firing soon commenced in
-the woods—lasting only a short time, however. About the time the firing
-ceased, the brigade was ordered forward, not in line of battle, but
-marching by the flank. As we entered the woods Gen. Roger A. Pryor and a
-few men came out and moved off to the left, along the edge of the field.
-Soon after getting into the woods the brigade was formed in line of
-battle by the maneuver, "By the right flank into line." The woods were
-thick with much undergrowth, and we could see only a few yards in front.
-
-For some time after the line was formed, everything was quiet. It was a
-cloudy, misty morning, and the air was filled with the smoke of the
-recent firing; no enemy was in sight nor could we see any of the
-Confederates who had been engaged. It has always been a mystery to me
-what became of these troops. We could see and smell the smoke from their
-guns, but not a man was seen, except perhaps fifteen or twenty who came
-out as we entered.
-
-Company C was on the left of the Eleventh Regiment, and the Seventh
-Regiment, commanded by Col. James L. Kemper, was the next regiment on
-the left. Colonel Kemper took position at the right of his regiment. My
-place, as first lieutenant of Company C, being near the left of the
-company, placed me close to Colonel Kemper, and it is of the fighting
-along the line of these two regiments I propose to tell, as I saw and
-heard it that day.
-
-
- "GIVE IT TO THEM!"
-
-While standing here in line of battle some of Company C saw a line of
-men through a slight opening in the woods about one hundred yards away,
-obliquely to the left. Only a few files of the men were visible through
-the vista; some one called my attention to these men. I looked; they
-seemed to have on blue uniforms, and the brass buttons on their coats
-could be plainly seen; they were standing at rest. I called Colonel
-Kemper, who came and said he believed they were Yankees, but was not
-certain. Just then General Hill, on foot, came along down in the rear of
-the line of battle from the right, and Colonel Kemper called his
-attention to these men. General Hill leveled his field-glasses on the
-line, and in a moment said: "Yes, they are Yankees; give it to them!"
-Colonel Kemper's clear-ringing voice broke the stillness with, "Now,
-boys, I want you to give it to those blue-coated fellows; ready, aim,
-fire." At the first command every musket was raised to the shoulder and
-leveled, every eye ran along the barrel at the command "aim," and at the
-word "fire" a sheet of flame burst forth from the line with a deafening
-roar.
-
-Very few of our men could see the enemy, but every man shot straight to
-the front—the guns on a level. No doubt, the first volley did much
-execution, the men reloading as quickly as possible and continuing to
-fire rapidly. In the midst of the firing Colonel Kemper's clarion voice
-rang out above the roar of the muskets. He said: "General Hill says the
-line must be advanced." Not a man moved forward, but all continued
-loading and shooting as fast possible. Again Colonel Kemper shouted
-louder than before: "General Hill says the lines must be advanced." At
-this moment General Hill came to the front, immediately in front of
-Company C, pistol in hand. General Hill wore a dark blue blouse or
-overshirt, gathered at the waist by the sword belt, had on a military
-cap with a sprig of pine fastened in front, and as he went forward,
-waving his pistol over his head, looking back over his shoulder and
-calling on the men to follow, made a splendid picture of the heroic and
-gallant soldier that he was. This picture was photographed on my memory
-never to be forgotten.
-
-
- INTO A HOT FIRE
-
-The whole line rushed forward over a fence and down a slight slope in
-the ground, about fifty yards, and was met by a close and deadly fire
-from the enemy, whom we could not see, but the sharp, quick "sip, sip"
-of the minie balls, as they whacked the trees and cut the bushes and
-twigs, told plainly that we were in very close quarters. On the hill
-where the firing commenced, I don't remember that we suffered any
-casualties—I think the Yankees shot too low; but now the men were
-falling on every hand. The firing was kept up here for some little time,
-the men sitting or kneeling on the ground, loading and shooting into the
-bushes in front whence the balls were coming, though no enemy was in
-sight. While here I looked to the left, oblique from our front, and saw
-a Yankee standing beside a tree some seventy-five yards away, about
-where the line had been first seen. Up to this time I had carried a
-pistol, a Colt's five-shooter, and drawing this I aimed at this Yankee,
-snapped the pistol several times, which, failing to fire, I threw it
-down, picked up a loaded musket that had fallen from the hands of some
-man, killed or wounded, and fired at the Yankee; where he was hit, I
-never knew. About this time the cry came along our lines from the right,
-"They are running." The line again pushed forward, but we did not catch
-sight of the Yankees, that is, live ones, but a short distance, some
-twenty yards in front, their line of battle was plainly marked by the
-dead men lying strewn along through the woods. The lines continued to
-press forward through the woods for a quarter of a mile or more, until
-the eastern edge of the woods was reached, where the timber had been
-felled.
-
-While pushing along through the woods I saw to my left several of
-Company C around a gray-haired Yankee officer with side-whiskers and
-mustache, seemingly rifling his pockets. I shouted at the men, "Stop
-robbing that officer." They replied, "We are just loosening his belt."
-The officer said the same when I approached him. He had been desperately
-wounded and left by his men.
-
-In the felled timber, some thirty yards from the woods, the Yankees had
-taken refuge, lying down behind the logs and stumps, and as the
-Confederates came up, opened a close and rapid fire, our men protecting
-themselves behind trees and logs at the edge of the woods and returning
-the fire. Here the firing was fast and furious, both sides being under
-cover. The casualties here were not serious, on the Confederate side, at
-least, the Yankees shooting too high, riddling the trees and bushes
-overhead.
-
-
- COLONEL GARLAND WOUNDED
-
-In the midst of this severe fighting, Colonel Garland, with his left arm
-bandaged and in a sling, came up. He had been shot through the forearm
-early in the action, had his wound dressed, and continued in the fight
-to the end.
-
-As soon as Colonel Garland came up, he shouted out, "Charge 'em!"
-Captain Clement, a brave man, whose courage was beyond question and who
-still lives in Campbell County, a scarred veteran, remonstrated, saying:
-"For God's sake, Colonel Garland, don't send the men over there into
-that fire. They will all be killed." Colonel Garland replied: "Well,
-hold on a while then." It was not long before the fire of the enemy
-began to slacken—the well-aimed shots of the Confederates were telling.
-Our lines rose up without orders, and over the logs the men rushed right
-among the Yankees. Some of the enemy jumped up and ran; many were shot
-down as they ran; others lay still behind the logs and stumps and were
-captured; some were hauled from brush piles, and many lay killed and
-wounded on the ground, most of whom were shot in the head. This scene
-reminded me of a lot of boys hunting rabbits in thickets.
-
-While engaged in gathering up the prisoners, sending them to the rear
-and exulting over the victory, the noise of artillery wheels was heard
-(it was impossible to see far, on account of the smoke and fog), and the
-men were ordered back to the woods whence they had just charged. There
-were several abandoned Yankee cannon in the road in our front; I don't
-remember whether these were taken off the field or not, but think they
-were. We held this position during the remainder of the day, without
-seeing or hearing anything of the enemy in our front.
-
-Pretty soon after we fell back to the edge of the woods, a terrific
-musketry fire opened up to the right of this position, which seemed to
-be a little to the rear of the extension of the line, the minie balls
-flying thick and fast through the woods in the rear. As this firing
-increased in volume and seemed to be drawing nearer, some of the Seventh
-Regiment began to look anxiously to the rear, like a balky horse, as if
-contemplating a retreat. All eyes were turned in the direction of the
-firing, which was only a few hundred yards to the right, and seemed to
-be drawing closer. Colonel Kemper, who was still at the right of the
-Seventh, noticed the anxiety of his men, and spoke out in firm and
-defiant tones: "Steady, men, steady. The old Eighth Virginia is out
-there." I never knew whether or not the Eighth Regiment was out there—I
-don't think it was; but Kemper's words had the desired effect.
-
-The men remembered Ball's Bluff, where the Eighth Virginia had some time
-before distinguished itself, and whatever fears they may have had of
-being flanked were allayed, and every man stood firmly at his post.
-
-It was not long until the firing ceased all along the lines. The brigade
-remained here until darkness closed over the bloody scenes and thrilling
-events of the day, which were, no doubt, indelibly fixed in the minds of
-every participant.
-
-In the meanwhile, the battle was raging to the left over towards Fort
-McGruder, where the fighting first commenced in the morning, and was
-kept up pretty much all day. Here the Twenty-fourth Virginia and the
-Fifth North Carolina distinguished themselves, as Pickett's Division did
-at Gettysburg, in an unsuccessful, but gallant charge. There were no
-better fighting regiments in the army.
-
-Soon after dark the brigade moved silently off by the left flank,
-marching back to the edge of Williamsburg, where we had turned off the
-road early in the morning. We slept on the wet, muddy ground until
-daybreak next morning, when we again marched through the old town
-towards Richmond, the men gathering up their knapsacks deposited along
-the street in the front yards the day before, and which the people had
-taken care of.
-
-On the march we did not hurry, camping four or five days on the east
-bank of the Chickahominy; but the enemy did not crowd us again, the work
-of the 5th of May having taught General McClellan a lesson, the moral of
-which was, "Don't crowd Joe Johnston too closely on a retreat." Some of
-the Yankee historians claim a victory at Williamsburg, a dear-bought
-victory to be sure. They lost about five hundred killed, fifteen hundred
-wounded, and four hundred unwounded prisoners, twelve cannon, and ten
-stand of colors.
-
-The Confederate loss was much less. We drove the enemy back, held the
-battlefield, and marched off the next morning at our leisure, and did
-not have a chance to fire another shot at the Yankees for weeks; indeed,
-not until the 31st day of May, when Johnston again attacked and defeated
-them at Seven Pines. We had whipped them in a fair, stand-up fight with
-muskets at Williamsburg. It is a little singular and surprising that
-McClellan with his "grand army" never made an attack on the
-Confederates, but on the contrary, was always on the defensive in all
-the battles from Williamsburg to Malvern Hill.
-
-I saw nothing of the fighting on the 5th of May on the left of the
-lines, nor on the right, except along the lines of the Seventh and
-Eleventh Regiments. I know full well we cleaned them up here in nice
-style, with small loss, comparatively. We drove them from their first
-line in the woods, charged and captured their second position in the
-fallen timber, killing, wounding, capturing and scattering everything in
-front of Hill's Brigade. If this was not a victory, I'd like to know
-what it was.
-
-This was the first regular fight in which the Eleventh Regiment had been
-engaged. The regiment, except two companies, was only under fire on the
-18th of July at Blackburn's Ford, but did not fire a gun. On the 21st of
-July the regiment lay all day under a shelling, but did not see a Yankee
-or fire a gun. In the skirmish at Drainesville, in which Company C lost
-its first man, I am not certain, but I don't think there was much
-shooting done by the regiment.
-
-At Williamsburg we got into it right. Company C lost eight men killed
-and many wounded. The killed were Miffram Bailey, who married my wife's
-sister, and had only been with the company about a month; Benj. Farris,
-Crockett Hughes, Granville Rosser, David Layne, John Organ, John J.
-Wood, another recruit, and Wm. H. Wilson, a first cousin of my wife, all
-of whom were good soldiers. I noticed Billy Wilson, during the fight in
-the bottom, some distance in front of the line, fighting with deadly
-intent. I have often thought that he determined to distinguish himself
-in this fight, but alas! he was stricken down, shot through the body,
-dying in a few minutes. In this fight, so far as I could see, every
-officer and man, from General Hill down to the humblest private, did his
-whole duty. I never saw troops fight better on any field.
-
-
- INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE
-
-I have often said this was the most satisfactory fight I was ever
-engaged in, and I have read somewhere that General Kemper had said the
-same thing. I noticed among others a member of Company C, Jim Brown,
-from "Hell Bend" (a rather disreputable section of Campbell County), an
-humble private of no pretentions, standing up and fighting like mad,
-loading and shooting rapidly, with the corners of his mouth blacked by
-the powder as he bit off the cartridges. I never forgot this, and it
-stood Jim in good stead when, months afterwards, he was court-martialed
-for absence without leave, and sentenced to wear a ball and chain for
-sixty days. At Goldsboro, N. C., in 1863, when Chas. Clement drew up a
-petition for his pardon, I gladly approved it, making an endorsement on
-the petition to the effect, that "Brown was a brave soldier, had been
-tried in battle and found not wanting in courage, fighting like a hero."
-The paper was forwarded to headquarters, and quickly came back with an
-endorsement granting the pardon prayed for. I remember it was at night
-when it was returned to me. I at once repaired to Brown's quarters, and
-found him and several others in their "dog house," under their blankets,
-with the ball and chain at the foot, lying on the ground. I called to
-Brown, telling him his pardon had come, that he could now take off the
-ball and chain. Brown raised up on his elbow, looked down at the ball
-and chain and said: "I have gone to bed now; I believe I will wait till
-morning before I take it off." And so he did. Brown remained true to the
-end, and was captured at Milford, May 21, 1864.
-
-After the firing had all ceased, Colonel Kemper and Colonel Garland met
-on the lines in the rear of Company C and exchanged congratulations,
-both in high spirits and well pleased with the day's work. Colonel
-Garland said among other things, "Kemper, honor's easy with you to-day."
-I was standing near, and pointing to Garland's bandaged arm in the
-sling, said: "Colonel Garland, you have the best of it, you have a
-wound." "Yes," replied Garland, "I always wanted an honorable wound in
-this war." Poor fellow, he got his death-wound at Boonsboro Gap, Md., a
-few months afterwards while trying to rally his brigade. Colonel Garland
-was a fine soldier, and if he had lived, would doubtless have attained
-higher rank. He had a worthy ambition, was cool and steady in action,
-not possessed so much of that brute courage that makes men reckless in
-battle, but in an eminent degree of that high moral courage and pride
-that enable true soldiers to do their duty in the face of the greatest
-danger. He was highly endowed intellectually, a learned lawyer, a
-brilliant and eloquent speaker, and possessed of considerable wealth.
-Colonel Garland had a bright future before him, but alas! like so many
-others, was cut down in his early manhood, in that cruel and ruthless
-war waged by the North against the South.
-
-
- GARLAND AND KEMPER PROMOTED
-
-Garland and Kemper both won the stars and wreath of a brigadier at
-Williamsburg. The former was first promoted and assigned to a North
-Carolina Brigade, the latter soon afterwards succeeding Gen. A. P. Hill
-as commander of the First Brigade, which he led into battle the first
-time at Seven Pines, in less than one month after the Williamsburg
-fight.
-
-I remember, when Colonel Kemper took command of the brigade, he had his
-old regiment, the Seventh Virginia, formed, and, mounted on his horse in
-front of the regiment, made a stirring and patriotic speech, eulogizing
-the men for their courage and devotion to the cause, and expressing his
-love and devotion to all of them, declaring that, "Next to the child
-that sprang from my own loins, I love the Seventh Regiment."
-
-Before closing the account of this battle, I will relate one of the many
-incidents of cool and deliberate bravery exhibited by the Confederate
-soldiers on that day. While the firing at the edge of the woods was
-going on, Daniel Pillow, a private of Company C, Eleventh Virginia, when
-ready to fire, would raise up on his knees as high as he could, look
-intently out among the logs and stumps in front, then raise his gun,
-take deliberate aim and fire, and after firing raise his head again and
-look in the direction he had shot. I called to him, saying, "Daniel,
-when you have fired, don't expose yourself in that way by looking over
-there; get down and load as quickly as possible." Pillow turned his face
-towards me and said quietly in measured tones, "I reckon I want to see
-what I am doing," and continued firing.
-
-I also noticed Robt. Cocke, pressing forward in the hottest of the fight
-in the attitude of one breasting a storm, leaning forward with a
-determined expression on his face; in fact, I did not see a single man
-of the company flinch.
-
-Captain Clement wrote home highly complimenting the men and officers of
-his company for their conduct in this fight.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VIII
-
- BACK TO RICHMOND—BATTLE OF SEVEN PINES—THE
- BRIGADE IN RESERVE—INTO THE FIGHT
- AT DOUBLE-QUICK—INCIDENTS OF THE
- BATTLE—ON THE PICKET LINES
-
-
-As before said, on the 6th of May we again marched through Williamsburg
-on towards Richmond. The roads were deep in mud; it was a hot, sultry
-May morning. A few miles out on the road I was taken suddenly very sick,
-and lay down on the roadside utterly unable to march any further.
-Visions of capture and prison rose before me like a nightmare. The
-regimental ambulance was in the rear, and when it came up I was taken in
-and rode all day, camping that night with the wagon trains, and the next
-day rejoined the command.
-
-On the 9th of May we reached the Chickahominy River at Bottom's Bridge,
-where we remained for several days, waiting for the Yankees, but they
-did not come so fast as they did at Williamsburg. On the first day's
-march from here it was raining, the marching being very fatiguing. I
-remember that night when we turned off the road into woods partially
-cleared with the brush piled, I spread my blanket on one of the piles of
-brush, with a Yankee oilcloth over me, and slept soundly till morning.
-It rained nearly all night, but I was dry and ready for the march the
-next morning. The next day we trudged on up the Peninsula, passing by
-some historic old homesteads, among others, if I remember aright,
-Ex-President John Tyler's old place and his grave (the tombstone a
-simple white slab) by the roadside.
-
-On the 15th of May the brigade went into camp in the vicinity of
-Richmond, near what was called Darbytown (though I don't remember seeing
-anything like a town or village), where it remained for a few days. This
-locality, I later learned, is called Darbytown after a family of
-Enroughties, whose local cognomen is Darby. How Darby could have been
-evolved out of Enroughty has always been, to me, one of the mysteries of
-evolution. Yet quite as reasonable as that man sprang from a monkey. I
-got a pass from here into Richmond, where I bought an officer's uniform,
-having before only a jacket.
-
-On the 27th of May we moved to a camp near Howard's Grove, remaining
-there only four days, when the battle of Seven Pines came off.
-
-
- THE BATTLE OF SEVEN PINES
-
-Early on the morning of the 31st of May, 1862, the brigade marched out
-of camp to go into the battle of Seven Pines. Orders were issued the
-night before to take every available man, even the cooks.
-
-Every one knew that a battle was to be fought that day. I remember as we
-marched along the road that morning, it somehow occurred to me that I
-would be wounded in this battle. Dr. Thornhill was passing along and I
-remarked to him that I felt I would be wounded, and that he must see
-after me. The doctor replied, "Oh, you must not think that." W. T.
-Withers, of Company C, who had been detailed as hospital steward, also
-came along and remarked that I had a chance to win my spurs that day, I
-having a short time before taken command of Company C. Captain Clement
-promoted to major, had gone home for his horse and equipments.
-
-I didn't get wounded that day nor win any spurs that I ever saw, but was
-in a very hot fight, and had three bullet holes through my clothes. So
-my presentment came near being thrice fulfilled.
-
-Two corps of the Yankee army had crossed over the Chickahominy at
-Bottom's Bridge, fortifying their position at Fair Oaks and Seven Pines,
-near Richmond, while three corps remained on the other side of the
-river. General Johnston and his generals had conceived the plan of
-falling suddenly on these two corps and crushing them before relief
-could reach them from the other side. It was said General Longstreet
-first made the suggestion. The night before, it had rained very hard;
-this it was thought would add to the success of the scheme, as the rain
-would raise the Chickahominy and keep back reënforcements, but the
-swollen streams and muddy roads delayed the movements of the Confederate
-troops, so that the attack upon the enemy's lines was delayed until
-three o'clock P. M., while the plan was for it to be made in the morning
-by nine or ten o'clock.
-
-Longstreet with his own and D. H. Hill's Division was to make the attack
-at Seven Pines, and was ready early in the morning, but other troops who
-were to assist on other portions of the line failed to come up and take
-position until three o'clock P. M. This no doubt caused a partial
-failure of the enterprise.
-
-While the Yankees were soundly thrashed and driven from their
-breastworks and camps, yet they were not crushed and captured, as it was
-hoped they would be.
-
-Gen. Jas. L. Kemper was now in command of the brigade, which, as before
-said, was first commanded by Longstreet, and then by A. P. Hill, who was
-now a major-general. The brigade was held in reserve while the other
-brigades of Longstreet's and D. H. Hill's divisions advanced on the
-Yankee lines, who were in their fortified camps at Seven Pines.
-
-
- THE BRIGADE IN RESERVE
-
-It is one of the rules of war to hold the best troops in reserve, and
-put them into the fight at the critical moment. No brigade in the army
-stood higher than the "First Virginia," as it was called. The Eleventh
-Regiment, which stood as high as the highest, was in reserve at the
-battle of July 18, 1861, at Blackburn's Ford. The brigade was in reserve
-at Williamsburg on the 5th of May, and now again at Seven Pines on the
-30th of May, and also soon afterwards at Gaines' Mill on the 27th of
-June, and in many other battles during the war.
-
-The brigade was posted in an open field about three-fourths of a mile
-from the Yankee lines, the enemy's first line being in the woods at the
-edge of a field, the woods extending to within two hundred yards of the
-Yankee camps, and in front of the camp were breastworks and redoubts
-mounted with big guns. The attacking Confederate troops were in these
-woods also. The brigade was first marched off the road some distance to
-the right, then marched back, the left resting on the road leading down
-to Seven Pines, where it remained standing in line until ordered into
-the fight. While here the firing commenced in the woods at the front.
-About this time the command was given to load. The ramrods rattling down
-the musket barrels created a sensation akin to that of the clods falling
-upon the coffin lid, which is a reminder that some one is dead, and
-suggested the question, Who will be the next? The first suggested death
-to many, and who will be the victims? While loading, I spoke a few words
-to the men of the company, exhorting them to do their duty, and remember
-what they were fighting for.
-
-The fighting was very heavy in front for some time, and we expecting
-every moment to be called into action. Such suspense is very trying, but
-not as bad as lying under a shelling.
-
-
- INTO THE FIGHT AT DOUBLE-QUICK
-
-General Longstreet, with his staff about him, was sitting on his horse
-in the road close by, looking intently in the direction of the firing. I
-don't remember how long after the firing began, half an hour or perhaps
-more (time seems to move slow on such occasions), it was not long,
-however, before the brigade was ordered to go to the front in
-double-quick time, and down the road we went in a run. About the time
-the woods were reached, the wounded men began to appear in large numbers
-going to the rear, some on foot, some on stretchers, and some in
-ambulances; some limping along, shot in their feet or legs; some holding
-a wounded hand or arm; all bleeding and bedraggled, having charged
-through a swamp; some groaning and moaning, lamenting their sad fate, in
-utter despair and helplessness; others, in grim and heroic silence,
-bearing the pain and shock of their wounds in silence, with fortitude
-and bravery.
-
-One man I remember, who was completely demoralized, called out as we
-passed him, making his way to the rear, "Oh, men," he wailed, "don't go
-down there, you will all be killed; they are killing our men, they have
-wounded me. It is no use to go; don't go." A little further on, came
-another man, shot in the head or face, bleeding profusely, bareheaded,
-swinging his arms and shouting at the top of his voice, "Go in, boys,
-and give 'em hell. They have shot me, but I gave them the devil first;
-go in, boys, and give it to 'em." These two incidents illustrate how
-some men are affected in battle. The one was completely undone, perhaps
-he had no relish for the fight in the start, and was probably what was
-called in the army, "a whiner"; always low spirited and complaining of
-everything that happened. The other brave and resolute, who took things
-as they came, making the best of everything. Of such were a large
-majority of Confederate soldiers—this last class.
-
-On, the brigade went still at a run, the Eleventh Regiment leading,
-Company C in front. Capt. J. Lawrence Meem, of Lynchburg, who, until
-Garland's promotion was adjutant of the Eleventh Regiment, and was now
-General Garland's chief of staff, met us with word from the front to
-"hurry." By this time all were well out of breath, but rushed on at
-increased speed through mud and water almost knee-deep in some places.
-Again a messenger is sent from Gen. D. H. Hill to "hurry, it is a
-critical time at the front; the enemy has been driven from his
-breastworks and camps, but there are not enough men of the assaulting
-column left to occupy and hold the works. The men are doing all that
-mortal men can do, some are falling by the wayside from sheer
-exhaustion, nothing but the excitement keeps any on their feet." General
-Kemper said to the messenger, "Tell General Hill I am left in front and
-would like to change." The messenger replied, "No time to change now,
-hurry on." Soon the brigade emerged from the woods into the open field,
-on the farther side of which the Yankee breastworks and camps were
-located, but not a living soldier, Yankee or Confederate, was in sight.
-I have said "living soldier," because as we rushed along by the edge of
-this field, over which the Confederates had charged, the ground was
-thickly strewn with dead Confederates close up to the Yankee breastworks
-and redoubts, where stood their abandoned cannon. Passing beyond these
-works, Generals Hill and Garland, with their staff officers, were seen
-waiting, behind a big pile of cord wood, the coming of the brigade,
-which was directed to file to the right through the Yankee camp, with
-their small fly-tents still standing, where, facing towards the enemy,
-the rear rank was in front, but this made little or no difference. Like
-the English "Fore and Aft," the men fight from front or rear rank just
-the same. As the brigade filed out through the camp, a terrific fire was
-opened by the Yankees, who had rallied or been reënforced by fresh
-troops, a hundred or two yards beyond their camp. The Yankee lines could
-not be seen on account of the smoke and fog, but the balls flew thick
-through the air, killing and wounding many. The men lying flat on the
-ground, returned the fire as best they could. In a short time some one
-gave the order to fall back to the abandoned Yankee breastworks, some
-forty or fifty yards in the rear, which afforded protection from the
-enemy's shots. This order was obeyed in double-quick time, all hurrying
-over the breastworks, getting on the reverse side, into the ditch half
-filled with water, preferring the cold water to hot lead. I did not hear
-the order to fall back, and the others got the start of me. I think I
-was the last man to go over the works, and was sure a Yankee bullet
-would hit me as I did so. I expect it was here that one or more of the
-bullets passed through my clothes. I thought about being shot in the
-back, of which I always had a dread, but did not take time to turn
-around, face the enemy and go over backwards, making all haste possible
-to get out of danger. From the breastworks the fire was kept up for some
-time, until General Kemper sent a detachment around on the enemy's left
-flank, when the firing ceased.
-
-
- INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE
-
-The brigade lost a good many men in this fight, Colonel Funston and
-Lieutenant-Colonel Langhorne, of the Eleventh Regiment both being badly
-wounded and permanently disabled. Company C lost three men killed,
-namely: James Wood, Silas Barber, and James Terrell, all recruits, and
-several wounded. Terrell was in the Mexican War. Capt. Lawrence Meem,
-Garland's chief of staff, was killed dead on the field, shot through the
-head; a fine soldier he was too, brave, handsome and accomplished. Capt.
-Henry Fulks, of Company F, was killed in a few feet of me. He had rushed
-into the Yankee camp exhausted from the double-quicking, sat down on a
-Yankee fly-tent, which sank to the ground with his weight, and had just
-raised his head to look to the front when a ball struck him about the
-head or face, when he sank back and was dead in a few minutes. I heard
-the whack of the ball as it struck him and saw the blood trickling down
-his neck. About this time Color-Bearer Hickok, of the Eleventh Regiment,
-who was standing close by with his flag in hand, and who was about the
-only man or officer I saw on his feet, was shot down, badly wounded,
-when Color-Guard Jim Haynes, of Company F, seized the colors and rushed
-to Captain Foulks, taking him in his arms, but still holding the flag
-aloft, and cried out, "Oh, my poor captain is killed; my poor captain is
-killed." So Captain Foulks died with the Confederate battle-flag waving
-over him, its folds partly enveloping his body.
-
-I must again refer to Daniel Pillow, of Company C, who was so cool and
-deliberate and fought with such deadly intent at Williamsburg. When the
-troops fell back to the breastworks, Pillow, instead of getting down in
-the ditch as the others did, took his seat on the parapet while several
-comrades behind him loaded guns which he fired at the enemy with
-deliberate aim. At one time the order was given to cease firing; it was
-thought some Confederates were in front between the lines. Pillow paid
-no heed to the order. Colonel Corse, of the Seventeenth Regiment, came
-along the lines, and said to Pillow, "My man, cease firing, our men are
-over there." Pillow turned towards the Colonel and said with
-determination and sternness: "Don't I see the Stars and Stripes? I am
-going to shoot"; and continued firing as before. Colonel Corse stooping
-down, looked under the smoke and fog, and seeing the Yankee flag, said,
-"Well, fire away then."
-
-Daniel Pillow was an humble private, an "overseer" at the beginning of
-the war, without education or pretensions, but he was a soldier, every
-inch of him. He was always at his post, ever ready for any duty. Being
-six feet or more tall, he marched at the head of the company, being
-always near me on the march and in battle; never grumbled or whined, and
-was one of the bravest of the brave. He was reported missing at
-Gettysburg, and never heard of again. I have no doubt that he fell with
-his face to the foe in that desperate charge in which Pickett's Division
-was immortalized, and that he sleeps in an unknown soldier's grave. All
-honor to his memory.
-
-Walter Rosser, Jim Cocke, Sam Franklin, and Daniel Pillow were the big,
-or rather the tall, four of Company C, being over six feet high; were
-always at the head of the company, and all good fighters, too.
-
-There was no more fighting on this part of the line. The Confederates
-had driven the Yankees from their works and camp, capturing all their
-camp equipage and stores, several pieces of cannon, 7,000 muskets, and
-about 350 prisoners. Longstreet's and D. H. Hill's divisions had soundly
-thrashed a Yankee corps under General Keys.
-
-Gen. G. W. Smith was on the Confederate left towards Fair Oaks station,
-but was not engaged until nearly night, when General Sumner's Corps,
-crossing over the Chickahominy, came to the relief of Hientzleman and
-Kasey, whose troops fell back in that direction and were joined by
-Sumner in resisting Smith's attack. General Johnston, who was on this
-part of the line, was wounded about seven o'clock, when the command
-devolved on General Smith.
-
-The wounding of the Confederate commander-in-chief at this critical
-moment was a great misfortune to the Confederates, and no doubt lessened
-their chances of the complete success aimed at—the destruction and
-capture of the two corps that had crossed over the Chickahominy.
-
-For the number of troops engaged, this was one of the bloodiest battles
-of the war. The Confederate loss both days was estimated at a little
-over 6,000 killed and wounded; the Yankee loss a little over 5,000. The
-Confederates attacked the enemy in his breastworks, which accounts for
-the heavy loss sustained. The Confederates also captured many prisoners
-and several pieces of cannon.
-
-The brigade remained behind the breastworks until after dark, then other
-troops took its place, when we marched back a short distance and slept
-under some scrub-oak trees. I remember that night a young kinsman of
-mine, George Bright, from Prince Edward County, who was acting as
-courier for General Kemper, came to where we were to enquire how we
-fared in the fight, and gave me a first-rate new blanket he had picked
-up in the Yankee camp, which I carried and used through the rest of the
-war, only parting with it when I left Fort Delaware, in May, 1865. I
-remember also that Dr. Thornhill got General Kasey's large camp-chair,
-with the General's name on it, which the doctor used as long as he
-remained in the field.
-
-The next morning, which was Sunday, the brigade marched back to the
-breastworks, formed in line of battle at right angles with the works,
-facing towards Fair Oaks, where it remained during the day, lying in the
-hot (first day of June) sun, without any protection from its rays, all
-day long. There was considerable fighting towards Fair Oaks early that
-Sunday morning, but none on this immediate line.
-
-That night the Confederates marched out from the lines back towards
-Richmond, Kemper's Brigade, as it was now called, going into camp just
-northeast of Richmond, where it remained until the 26th of June, 1862,
-when the Seven Days' battles around Richmond began.
-
-
- ON THE PICKET LINES
-
-After the battle of Seven Pines, picket duty was very heavy—whole
-regiments going on duty, some on the advance line and others in reserve.
-The Eleventh Regiment picketed near Seven Pines. The advance lines or
-posts were in the woods, near where the fighting commenced on the 31st
-of May, and very close to the Yankees.
-
-I remember one morning, when the Eleventh Regiment was ordered on
-picket, while getting ready to go, I heard one of the men say, "I
-understand picket firing _are_ very fatal down there." The pickets would
-fire on each other at every opportunity.
-
-On this trip the Eleventh Regiment was in reserve, while some North
-Carolina troops occupied the advanced posts. During the time a North
-Carolina captain came running back from the front where there was some
-sharp firing, and reported that the Yankees had charged the picket
-lines, capturing and killing all of his company—he alone being left to
-tell the tale.
-
-Company C and Company H were ordered from the reserves to go to the
-front and retake the picket lines. Accordingly the two companies were
-formed in line of battle in the open field, a few hundred yards from the
-woods, Captain Hutter, of Company H, being the senior officer,
-commanding. We marched on towards the woods, expecting every moment to
-be fired upon, Captain Hutter leading in front of the line.
-
-The woods were reached without seeing or hearing of the enemy. Advancing
-into the woods some distance, the Confederate pickets were discovered at
-their posts on the alert, watching for the Yankee pickets through the
-bushes. They motioned to us and spoke in low tones, warning us to keep
-under cover, that the Yankees would fire on sight of any one. So it
-turned out that the pickets had not been killed or captured, the Tar
-Heel captain being the only man who had been demoralized and run away.
-
-I walked out into the road running through the woods along which we had
-gone into the fight on the 31st of May, and as I did so, one of the
-pickets close by waved me back, saying: "Don't go out there, you will be
-shot." I remained long enough in the road to see, a few hundred yards
-away, at the farther edge of the woods, a column of blue-coated Yankees
-passing across the road, moving to the right, with the Stars and
-Stripes—a very large flag—flying above them. That flag looked hateful to
-me then, and on other occasions, when I saw it flying above the heads of
-men with guns in their hands, who were our deadly enemies, invaders of
-the sacred soil of Virginia, doing their utmost to kill her sons who
-dared to defend their rights, and who burned houses and devastated the
-country ruthlessly and cruelly; and now I here record, that I have never
-since that day looked very _admiringly_ or _adoringly_ on that flag, nor
-have I since the war worn any blue clothes.
-
-In a short time I went back to the general commanding the picket lines
-and reported that the pickets were on their posts, with the line intact,
-also that I had seen the column moving to the right. The general
-remarked, "They are massing on our right," and ordered a battery to open
-fire in that direction. This fire drew no response from the enemy, and
-in a short time the two companies were ordered back to the reserves, and
-all was quiet.
-
-As I was going back to report to the general I met the Tar Heel captain,
-a small, pale-faced youth. He seemed much relieved when I informed him
-that his company was not captured, and hastened down to rejoin them,
-saying, "That's all right," mortified, no doubt, that he ran away. I
-felt sorry for him.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER IX
-
- SEVEN DAYS' FIGHT AROUND RICHMOND—BATTLE
- OF GAINES' MILL
-
-
-The brigade remained near Richmond some weeks longer. On the afternoon
-of the 26th of June, 1862, the Seven Days' fights around Richmond
-commenced at, or near, Mechanicsville, north of Richmond on the upper
-Chickahominy. McClellan's army lay on both sides of the Chickahominy,
-his right wing extending as far up the stream as Mechanicsville.
-
-Gen. R. E. Lee was now in command of the army around Richmond, and
-determined to strike a blow at the enemy instead of waiting to be
-attacked at Richmond. On the morning of the 26th of June we marched out
-of camp, going north. As we crossed the York River Railroad an engine,
-with an inflated balloon attached to a heavy cable, passed along. This
-balloon was used by the Confederates in observing the movements of the
-enemy.
-
-By a master stroke of strategy Stonewall Jackson was brought from the
-Valley, where he had just out-generaled and whipped three Yankee armies
-in detail, each larger than his own, and before any of the Yankee
-generals anywhere knew of his movements, joined General Lee and helped
-thrash McClellan and his "grand army," now 160,000 strong; Lee had about
-80,000 all told.
-
-A. P. Hill's division crossed the upper Chickahominy on the 26th of
-June, and in the afternoon attacked the Yankees in a strong position on
-Beaver Dam Creek, driving them from their first lines. It was expected
-that Jackson's forces would join with A. P. Hill's in this attack by
-striking the enemy on the right flank and rear, but from some unknown
-cause, Jackson's men were delayed, and did not arrive in time. The
-battle lasted until nightfall. The Confederates lost heavily in this
-fight, from assaults on the enemy's works.
-
-The Yankees withdrew from their position during the night and fell back
-to Gaines' Mill, lower down the Chickahominy, where the next day a
-terrific and bloody battle was fought and won by the Confederates.
-
-Longstreet's Division crossed over the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge,
-below where Hill had crossed the day before, and moved down towards
-Gaines' Mill, as the right wing of Lee's army, on the north side of the
-Chickahominy, with Hill in the center and Jackson on the left. Kemper's
-Brigade halted as it was crossing the bridge, with the Eleventh
-Regiment, or a part of it, on the bridge. While waiting here, General
-Lee rode by on "Traveler," picking his way carefully along through the
-ranks. When close to Company C, General Lee asked what regiment this
-was. Perhaps a dozen men spoke out, saying, "Eleventh Virginia."
-
-Up to this time, the 27th of June, no one but the generals knew that
-Jackson was anywhere near. During the day it was rumored that Jackson
-had come from the Valley or was coming. That afternoon I saw some men
-from Campbell County who belonged to Jackson's army, and asked them if
-it were true that Jackson was near. They replied, "Yes, Jackson and all
-his men are right over there," pointing to the left. This was, indeed,
-good news. This piece of strategy had been worked to perfection by
-General Lee. I remember a few days before, it was reported, in fact well
-known, that Lee was sending reënforcements to Jackson in the Valley.
-General Whiting's Division was sent by train via Lynchburg, around-about
-way—no doubt to attract attention and deceive the enemy—to Staunton,
-where it remained until the proper time, when it came back with
-Jackson's troops via Charlottesville and Gordonsville.
-
-
- BATTLE OF GAINES' MILL
-
-At this battle of Gaines' Mill, on the 27th of June, 1862, Kemper's
-Brigade was again in reserve, and was not actually engaged in the fight,
-the Yankees breaking just as it was called in to reënforce after
-sundown. This was one day the sun set before we got into the fight.
-
-The brigade lay back in the pine woods, where now and then a stray shell
-would come, anxiously awaiting the issue of the battle at the front—not
-"eager for the fight," but ready to go when called on. It was about
-sunset when Capt. J. W. Fairfax, of General Longstreet's staff, on his
-war horse, came bounding over the logs and brush, through the woods,
-towards where the brigade lay. All knew then what was up; the men knew
-they were wanted whenever Captain Fairfax was seen dashing up on his
-gray charger in time of a fight. Then some one was sure to say, "Boys,
-we've got to go in now; yonder comes Captain Fairfax after us."
-Longstreet with the rest of his division was hotly engaged at the front.
-
-This was one of the hardest fought battles of the war. We lay in full
-hearing, though not in sight of the battle-ground, on account of the
-woods and hills intervening. I never before or afterwards heard such
-heavy musketry firing. I have read somewhere that General Lee said it
-was the heaviest he ever heard.
-
-The Confederates lost heavily in this fight, as they attacked the enemy
-in strong, fortified positions. The Yankees admitted a loss of 9,000
-killed and wounded, and twenty-two cannon.
-
-The brigade went down the road towards the battlefield. It was nearly
-dark by the time we got down to the creek, when the firing ceased, and
-the battle was over. The Yankees had been driven from every part of the
-field, and that night crossed to the south side of the Chickahominy, and
-McClellan commenced his retreat by the left flank to James River.
-
-I remember, as we were going down the road, seeing Chaplain John C.
-Granberry, later Bishop Granberry, going along with the men. I said to
-him, "Mr. Granberry, you ought not to go into this fight; you have no
-gun and may get shot." He replied, "I have an object in going," and on
-he went. A few days afterwards, at Malvern Hill, he was badly wounded
-and left on the field for dead, but recovered, losing the sight of an
-eye, however, from the effects of a wound on the brow. I remember also,
-as we were going down the hill, we heard that Col. R. E. Withers had
-been mortally wounded. As we crossed the bridge over Powhite Creek I saw
-the surgeon of the Eighteenth Virginia, which the Colonel commanded, and
-asked the doctor if Colonel Withers was badly wounded. "Yes, sir," he
-replied, "he can not live an hour." He did live, however.
-
-I was sick that day, but stayed with the company until the fighting was
-all over, when I started back to Richmond, the surgeon having given me a
-sick-pass during the afternoon.
-
-I determined, however, to go into the fight if the regiment was called
-on, but as before said, the Yankees gave it up before we got at them, to
-which I had not the slightest objection; in fact, I was very glad of it.
-I made my way back towards Richmond next day, walking very slowly, and
-resting often by the wayside, went to the camp where the tents were
-still standing, where the man Pillow I have spoken of was also sick. In
-a few days several old men from Campbell County, who had come to
-Richmond to look after the sick and wounded men of Company C, took us to
-Richmond to a hotel where we went to bed. In a day or two we were sent
-with other sick and wounded to Lynchburg, and from there I went home and
-remained until restored to health, after a long spell of sickness.
-
-The brigade was engaged in the fight on the 30th of June at Frazier's
-Farm, though I don't think many were killed.
-
-As I lay in the tent, I could hear the booming of the big guns in this
-battle. The Yankees made a last stand at Malvern Hill, where, on the 1st
-of July, a desperate battle was fought, the Yankees holding their
-position until after nightfall, when they retired to Harrison's landing
-under the protection of their gunboats. McClellan was afterwards called
-Gunboat McClellan, he having sought the safety of the gunboats. His
-initials were G. B.
-
-In the Seven Days' fighting around Richmond, the Confederates, according
-to General Lee's report, captured more than 10,000 prisoners, fifty-two
-pieces of artillery, and 35,000 muskets. The Yankees admit they had
-160,000 in the Peninsula campaign, and that there were only 85,000, when
-it ended at Harrison's landing on the James River, fit for duty. The
-Confederate loss was heavy, but nothing to compare with the Yankee loss.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER X
-
- SECOND MANASSAS AND MARYLAND CAMPAIGN—SHARPSBURG—BACK
- TO VIRGINIA—FROM
- WINCHESTER TO CULPEPER—TO
- FREDERICKSBURG
-
-
- SECOND MANASSAS AND THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN
-
-Some time after the battles around Richmond, the brigade set out on what
-is called the Maryland campaign. It took part in the second battle of
-Manassas, on the 30th of August, 1862, when my brother, Robert W., who
-was just eighteen years old, and had joined the company the day before,
-was badly wounded in the thigh. He was taken to Warrenton, where his
-father came to him. While there the latter had a severe spell of typhoid
-fever.
-
-In the fight Company C lost four men killed, as follows: Harvey Martin,
-W. H. Hendricks, Chas. Murrell, and H. O. Elliott, and several wounded.
-In this battle the brigade charged and captured a Yankee battery.
-
-
- SHARPSBURG
-
-The brigade was also engaged in the battle of Sharpsburg, Md., on the
-17th of September, 1862, when Major Clement was in command of the
-Eleventh Regiment and was desperately wounded. He never again returned
-to the army. He still lives in Campbell County, respected and honored by
-his people. Adam Clement was a true man, among the bravest of the brave.
-
-I have heard some of Company C relate that on the evening of September
-15th, when near Sharpsburg, they saw General Lee by the roadside. When
-the head of the column, which was falling back before the Yankee army
-from the direction of South Mountain, reached a certain point, General
-Lee remarked, as the troops by his order filed off the road to form line
-of battle, "We will make our stand on these hills," and here the
-Confederates did make a desperate stand before a largely superior force,
-30,000 against 80,000, and held their ground to the end. This was a
-bloody fight, many thousand men being killed and wounded on both sides.
-General Jackson had a few days before captured Harper's Ferry, with
-11,000 prisoners and large quantities of stores and munitions of war.
-Jackson and his men then set out to rejoin General Lee at Sharpsburg,
-arriving, some of them, late in the afternoon on the 17th inst., with
-ranks much depleted by the hasty march. But "old Jack" got there in time
-to save the day.
-
-Company C lost two, and perhaps more, men killed, as follows: Joe Rice
-and John Rice, and several wounded.
-
-
- BACK TO VIRGINIA
-
-After the battle of Sharpsburg the brigade, with the Confederate troops,
-re-crossed the Potomac River and camped about Winchester until the
-latter part of October.
-
-I rejoined the army near Winchester about the 25th of September, 1862,
-going by railroad to Staunton in company with several men of Company C,
-who had been home on sick and wounded furloughs, from whence we tramped
-down the pike and back road, a distance of ninety-odd miles to and
-beyond Winchester.
-
-The second day, I think it was, we left the rock road, crossing over to
-the back road in order to procure rations more easily along the way,
-which we did without any trouble, buying our food from the farm-houses
-along the road, and sleeping in the woods at night. It took four or five
-days to make the trip.
-
-With the main army, the brigade left Winchester about the 25th of
-October, marched up the rock road some distance, then struck across
-towards the Blue Ridge, wading the Shenandoah River, waist-deep or more.
-Along the farther side of the river, I remember there were some grand
-old sycamore trees growing with wide-spreading branches. Whenever I read
-of or hear Stonewall Jackson's dying words, "Let us cross over the river
-and rest under the shade of the trees," I think of those sycamores on
-the Shenandoah, under which I have no doubt Jackson and his men rested
-in the long ago.
-
-We crossed the Blue Ridge at Thornton's Gap, not far from Sperryville,
-passing through Madison, Rappahannock, Orange, and Culpeper counties.
-Through Madison County the road ran for some distance along Robinson
-River, which has the rockiest bed I ever saw, literally covered with
-small boulders, not very small at that, some of them. We arrived at
-Culpeper Court House about the 3d of November. In the meantime, the
-enemy had crossed the Potomac and were then near Warrenton, Fauquier
-County, and about the middle of November moved towards Fredericksburg.
-
-The army remained in Culpeper and Orange counties until about the 19th
-of November, 1862, when it moved on towards Fredericksburg, where the
-brigade arrived about the 25th of November, stopping by the way several
-times, going through the Wilderness country—large tracts of woodlands,
-miles and miles in extent, which afterwards became famous as the ground
-on which several bloody battles were fought—a part of the way along the
-old plank-road, going into, as was thought, winter quarters, building
-"dog houses," some two miles south of Fredericksburg.
-
-The Yankee army, now commanded by General Burnside, was in camp on the
-opposite side of the Rappahannock River, on what was called Stafford
-Heights, which overlooked the town and country on the south side, their
-thousands of white tents being in plain view from the hills on the south
-side of the river.
-
-The Yankees always camped in the open fields, where they pitched their
-tents. The Confederates camped in woods after the first year, when
-improvised shelters were used, for few were the tents they had.
-
-The camps of both armies extended along the river, on either side, some
-twelve or fifteen miles. The picket lines were along the river banks, in
-sight of each other, but no firing was done; instead, the soldiers
-sometimes clandestinely crossed over, swapping tobacco and coffee—the
-"Johnnies," as the Yankees called the Confederates, having the tobacco,
-and the "Yanks" the coffee. Newspapers were also exchanged.
-
-While here many of the men were without shoes, and beef hides were
-issued to make moccasins, but this was a poor shift for shoes, and did
-little or no good.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XI
-
- THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG—KEMPER'S
- BRIGADE IN RESERVE—SPECTACULAR SCENE—BEHIND
- MARYE'S HILL—SHARP-SHOOTING—AT
- HOME—SAD LOSS
-
-
- THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG
-
-Longstreet was in command of the corps, and Gen. Geo. E. Pickett was the
-division commander, having been assigned to the division in September.
-The hills along the south side of the river on which Lee's army was
-encamped are from a half to a mile back from the river, broad bottom
-lands intervening between the river and hills. When the line of battle
-was formed, Jackson's Corps was on the Confederate right, Longstreet on
-the left, and Kemper's Brigade on Longstreet's right flank, and about
-the center of the line of battle, which was some four miles long.
-
-Jackson being on the right, no one was uneasy about that wing;
-Longstreet on the left, with General Lee near him, all felt at ease, and
-with Pickett's Division about the center, we were sure of success.
-
-I don't know whether the Yankees knew Kemper's Brigade was in the center
-or not; one thing certain, they did not attack this part of the line. I
-for one was very glad of it, and I think I had company.
-
-It had been rumored about camp for some time that the Yankees were about
-to cross the river and give battle. On the morning of the 11th of
-December the rumor proved true—the Yankees were preparing to cross now,
-beyond a doubt. I remember when we were aroused early that morning by
-the Yankee guns shelling the town, I exclaimed, "Poor old
-Fredericksburg!" It was not a part of General Lee's plan to seriously
-contest the crossing; only one brigade, Barksdale's Mississippians, who
-occupied the river front, in and just below the town as pickets, made
-any resistance. They, however, drove back several times the pontoon
-bridge-builders before they succeeded in laying their bridges across the
-river, which is here about 300 yards wide. It was not until the
-afternoon of the 12th that the Yankee army had crossed over. On the
-morning of the 13th of December, 1862, when the line of battle was
-finally formed for the big fight, I remember General Kemper rode out in
-front of each regiment of his brigade and spoke to the men, urging them
-to do their duty, saying among other things, "If we can whip the enemy
-here to-day, I tell you from what I know, the Confederacy is surely
-established." But alas! he did not know. The enemy was badly whipped
-that day, but the Confederacy failed.
-
-As before said, the Yankees did not attack the center of the Confederate
-lines, but tried both the right and left wings about the same time. The
-morning of the 13th of December was very foggy along the river bottoms,
-and it was some time after sun-up, perhaps nine or ten o'clock, before
-the fog lifted and the battle commenced. Soon after the firing began on
-the right and left, Kemper's Brigade was marched back off the line of
-battle up on a hill, so as to be in position to give support wherever
-needed. While lying down there a big shell from a Yankee gun across the
-river was fired at the line. The big, long shell, "camp kettles," as
-they were called, struck the ground near by, but did not explode—it just
-tipped along through the chinquapin bushes like an old hare and then lay
-still; no one went out to investigate—all were glad it did not burst,
-and just "left it be." They did not throw any more over there; all were
-glad of that, too, but did not let the Yanks know it; we just laid
-still, and like Pete Vaughan's bear, "never said a word," nor made any
-sign of approval or disapproval.
-
-From where the brigade lay on this hill, the Yankee lines advancing on
-Jackson's position could be plainly seen, but Jackson's men could not be
-seen—only the smoke from their guns, the men being concealed in the
-woods.
-
-
- SPECTACULAR SCENE
-
-This battle scene was a grand spectacle—more like some great panoramic
-picture of a battle than anything I saw during the war. Ordinarily, very
-little of a battle is seen by the troops engaged or in reserve, the
-reserve forces being generally concealed as much as possible from the
-enemy, and the troops engaged too busy to pay any attention to what is
-going on except in their immediate front. Most of the fighting is done
-in the woods.
-
-Three times with triple lines of battle the Yankees advanced across the
-open field to within musket range of Jackson's men, the artillery on
-each side belching forth shot and shell, grape and canister the while,
-and each time upon receiving a deadly fire, halted and then began to
-waiver, give back, scatter and finally disappear over the rise in the
-ground, out of sight and out of range, leaving many dead and wounded
-behind.
-
-The Yankee officers on horseback could be seen riding hither and thither
-among the men. One fellow on an iron-gray horse was particularly active
-and conspicuous, seeming to be doing his utmost to urge his men forward,
-but all to no purpose. They had run up against "Stonewall," and they had
-no better success than their comrades, who about the same time were
-butting up against a rock wall at the foot of Marye's Hill, on the
-Confederate left. We could see the Yankee ambulances busy hauling the
-wounded across the river and up the hills beyond, to the hospitals.
-
-All the time we could hear the roar of the battle-tide to the left, as
-well as see and hear it on the right. The booming of the cannon, the
-bursting of the shells, and the long, deep, continuous roar of the
-musketry, made a noise as if all nature was in convulsion.
-
- "Then shook the hills with thunder riven,
- Then rushed the steed to battle driven,
- And louder than the bolts of heaven,
- Far flashed the red artillery."
-
-The big Yankee guns over the river punctuating the noise with frequent
-loud and long sounding booms, followed by the screams of the big shells,
-as they sped across the river, the reply of the Confederates' heavy
-guns—all sounded like "pandemonium broke loose"—whatever that is—or like
-the crash of worlds in the coming clash of the spheres, if ever God
-Almighty lets loose the reins that hold them in their orbits. It has
-been said that during this battle, General Lee remarked to some one,
-"This is grand; it is well that it does not come often. We would become
-too fond of such things."
-
-
- BEHIND MARYE'S HILL
-
-Soon after the Yankees got enough of Stonewall's men on the right, and
-while the battle was still raging on the left, Kemper's Brigade was
-called to "attention," and marched off in quick time to the left towards
-Fredericksburg; going to support the troops on Marye's Hill, who had
-borne the heat and burden of the day on that wing, passing Gen. R. E.
-Lee on the road, standing by his war horse, "Traveler," with his staff
-about him, on a high point from where he could "view the landscape
-o'er," and a large part of the battlefield as well; I think, however,
-General Lee was giving more attention to the battle than to the
-landscape. A battery of heavy artillery was near by, engaged in a duel
-with the Yankee guns across the river. The brigade did not halt to act
-as a second in that duel, but hurried on down the telegraph road towards
-Fredericksburg.
-
-Just about the time the head of the column reached the foot of the long
-hill, and filed to the left, a Yankee battery from somewhere, presumably
-from across the river, commenced throwing shells right into the line,
-exploding in the midst, and knocking men right and left. A few feet in
-front I saw a shell explode and knock several men of Company H heels
-over head. All were now moving at a run and soon got out of range of
-this battery, crossing Hazel Run, and going in the rear of Marye's Hill,
-lying down there until dark, expecting to be called into action at any
-moment. But Generals Ransom and Cobb, with their gallant North
-Carolinians and Georgians, stood like statues behind the rock wall—with
-the now famous Washington Artillery, under Colonel Walton, behind them
-on the crest of the hill—and repulsed with great slaughter the frequent
-and desperate assaults made by the enemy in columns of whole divisions,
-literally covering the ground with dead Yankees. Not during the war was
-any piece of ground so thickly covered with dead men as this.
-
-Some years ago I talked with a Yankee soldier who was in one of the
-assaulting columns at this place, who described the situation there in
-front of the Confederate lines as, "a hell on earth."
-
-Six separate and distinct assaults the Yankees made with divisions
-heavily massed, but all failed.
-
-While the brigade lay just back of the hill, spent balls came over from
-the front, dropping among the men, and now and then wounding some one—a
-very uncomfortable position to be in, though not very dangerous; the
-balls had hardly force enough to kill, yet they hit pretty hard. I
-remember Captain Houston, of Company K, had the breath fairly knocked
-out of him by being struck about the short ribs with a spent minie ball.
-The surgeon made an examination and found the skin had not been broken,
-only a severe bruise, whereupon he remarked, "It is only a furlough
-wound." No enemy was in sight upon whom the fire could be returned; all
-that could be done was to lay low, hug mother earth, and await events.
-
-About sundown the firing ceased and the battle of Fredericksburg was
-over, though no one knew it.
-
-The Yankees had been beaten back at every point they assailed the
-Confederate lines, but were not routed nor driven back across the river.
-General Lee, standing on the defensive all this day, still stood
-awaiting another attack, but none came.
-
-I have often thought how presumptuous it was in Burnside to attack Lee
-and Jackson in their chosen position; although his forces greatly
-outnumbered theirs, yet he stood no earthly chance of driving the
-Confederates from their position. General Burnside used no strategy or
-tactics in this battle; he just hurled his massed forces against Lee's
-lines.
-
-"On to Richmond" was the clamor at the North, and Burnside had to do
-something. He got soundly whipped, for a fact.
-
-
- SHARP-SHOOTING
-
-At dark the brigade went around the hill to the left and relieved the
-troops who had been fighting all day. The Eleventh Regiment was placed
-in a cut in the road on the outskirts of the town, just to the left of
-the stone wall, remaining here that night, and the next day,
-sharp-shooting with the Yankees posted in the houses of the town. If a
-head was raised above the bank for half a minute, "sip" would come a
-minie ball, the Confederates returning the fire, giving the Yankees
-tit-for-tat—shot for shot.
-
-It was fun for some of Company C to place a hat or cap on a ramrod,
-raise it slowly above the bank, and as soon as the Yankee ball whizzed
-by, rise up and fire at the door or window from whence the puff of smoke
-came. Some of them would raise a hand above the bank and say, "Look,
-boys, I am going to get a furlough wound," but they would hold it there
-only a second, lest it be struck sure enough. I saw here one of the men
-fire upon two Yankees, one on the back of the other, who let his charge
-drop at the crack of the gun. I have often regretted not preventing this
-shot. It was a case of one comrade helping a sick or wounded friend.
-Then we looked upon them as deadly enemies, and they were, too;
-revengeful, vindictive, and cruel.
-
-All that day and the next, the 14th and 15th, the two armies lay still,
-only engaging in sharp-shooting and picket-firing along some parts of
-the line. On the night of the 15th, the Yankees, like the Arab, folded
-their tents and quietly stole away in the night, re-crossing the river
-on their pontoon bridges, which they drew ashore on the north bank, and
-again all was quiet along the banks of the Rappahannock; "no sound save
-the rush of the river." But many a soldier was "off duty forever."
-
-In the battle of Fredericksburg the Yankees admitted the loss of between
-twelve and fifteen thousand men killed, wounded and captured, while the
-Confederate loss was comparatively light.
-
-The brigade, on the 16th, marched back a mile or two south of
-Fredericksburg, camping in the woods near Guinea Station, on the
-Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad, where big snowball battles
-were fought, regiment pitted against regiment, the field officers on
-horseback taking part, and getting well pelted too.
-
-While in camp near Fredericksburg, John Lane, a young soldier of Company
-C, died. He had been sick only a few days. One evening we had orders to
-be ready to march at sun-up the next morning. I got up that morning
-quite early to look after him and get him in the ambulance. I first went
-to where he was sleeping to enquire how he was. I found him lying
-between two of his sleeping comrades, stark and cold in death, his
-bed-fellows being unaware that he had passed away while they slept.
-Blood-stains on his lips told that he had died of hemorrhage. We
-remained in the vicinity of Fredericksburg until the latter part of
-February, 1863. Just before the brigade moved from here, an order came
-to detail one officer from each regiment to go home for supplies of
-shoes, socks, and clothing for the men. Maj. Kirk Otey, who was in
-command of the regiment, very kindly gave me this detail without
-solicitation on my part. Of course, I was delighted to go home, and be
-with the loved ones, but this great pleasure ended very sadly indeed. A
-terrible stroke fell on my wife and myself in the death of our little
-boy, Dixie, who was then nearly eighteen months old. We had gone from my
-father's, where my wife made her home during the war, to her father's,
-Capt. William Cocke, when our little boy was taken with a severe spell
-of acute indigestion, which threw him into convulsions, caused
-congestion of the brain, and in spite of all that loving hearts and
-hands and medical skill could do, he died in a few days. We laid him to
-rest in the old family graveyard at Shady Grove with sad, sad hearts.
-The day after he was buried I had to leave home for the army, the time
-of my detail having expired, and the rules of war being inexorable, I
-had to go. My wife was inconsolable. It was with a sad and heavy heart I
-left her in care of those I knew full well would do all for her that
-human love and sympathy could do. Duty called me hence and I had to
-obey.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XII
-
- TO RICHMOND, CHESTER, AND PETERSBURG—TO
- NORTH CAROLINA—BACK TO VIRGINIA, AT
- SUFFOLK—TO TAYLORSVILLE—ON TO
- JOIN GENERAL LEE
-
-
- TO RICHMOND
-
-While I was away Pickett's Division and other troops under Longstreet
-left the vicinity of Fredericksburg, marched to and through Richmond,
-and camped on the 13th of February, 1863, near Chester Station, on the
-Richmond & Petersburg Railroad. I heard some of the men say, that when
-bivouacked here, while the army slept under their blankets a heavy snow
-fell, enveloping all in a mantle of white while sleeping comfortably and
-quietly until day dawned, unconscious of the additional cover spread
-over them during the night. I rejoined the command about that time, and
-later we marched to the south side of Petersburg, protecting forage
-trains down towards Suffolk.
-
-After marching in Southside, Va., for a few days, through Southampton
-and other counties, where we got some of the splendid hams—the finest I
-ever ate—for which this section is justly famous, one afternoon our mess
-bought some fresh herring. That night we ate all we could for supper and
-covered the rest up in the leaves for breakfast. But we were aroused at
-daybreak the next morning, and left for Petersburg, leaving the herring
-there in the woods. I often afterwards thought of and wished for those
-fish.
-
-
- OFF FOR THE OLD NORTH STATE
-
-About the 20th of March, 1863, the brigade took the train at Petersburg
-for North Carolina. We were in box-cars, and built fires of pine wood on
-piles of dirt in the cars. It was very cold, and all were well smoked.
-We went by way of Weldon to Goldsboro, going into camp in the long-leaf
-pine woods just north of the town.
-
-While here three men were shot for desertion. All the regiments were
-drawn up around the victims, who were bound to stakes in hollow square
-formation, one side of the square being open. A detail of eighteen men,
-one-half of whom had balls in their guns and the other half without
-balls, did the shooting. I don't remember to what commands these
-deserters belonged; I am sure none of them belonged to the Eleventh
-Regiment. This was to me a sickening spectacle, never witnessed before
-or afterwards. Very few Confederate soldiers suffered a like fate. It
-was necessary to make examples sometimes.
-
-From Goldsboro we went to Kinston, on Neuse River, remaining here
-several days, and then marched to New Berne, lower down the Neuse—where
-there was some fighting with the Yankees who occupied the town. The
-Eleventh Regiment was not engaged. It was expected the place would be
-attacked, but it was not. General Pickett was in command.
-
-I remember it was after night when the vicinity of New Berne was reached
-by Kemper's Brigade. Company C was detailed for picket duty. The company
-was conducted out through the pitch darkness, the night being foggy and
-very dark, by a guide sent for the purpose, who led us for some distance
-across an open field, finally posting the company with instruction to
-keep a sharp lookout for the Yankees in our front. When morning dawned,
-it was discovered that the company was one-half mile away from where it
-was intended to be posted, and facing in the wrong direction.
-
-While in North Carolina, rations were plentiful, sweet potatoes and rice
-especially, also black-eyed peas, cornbread and bacon, all of which were
-greatly enjoyed, for rations had been pretty short in Virginia for some
-time. The country down on Neuse River was very rich and productive,
-large quantities of corn being raised, and while the troops occupied the
-country and kept the Yankees in their strongholds near the coast,
-foragers were busy with the wagons hauling out provisions and supplies
-for the army in Virginia.
-
-There were some fine old plantations and homes in this rich lowland
-country, where once prosperity, peace and happiness reigned; but now all
-was changed; the ruthless hand of a cruel and relentless enemy had been
-laid upon the country along the coast, the towns were in his possession,
-and the country and people for many miles back wore an aspect of gloom
-and despair, with many lone chimneys standing out as grim monuments to
-Yankee vandalism.
-
-While at Kinston, Lieut. John W. Daniel, later United States Senator,
-who was then adjutant of the Eleventh Regiment, was promoted to major
-and ordered to report to Gen. Jubal A. Early, for duty as chief of
-staff, which position he filled with credit and distinction until he
-fell desperately wounded at the battle of the Wilderness, and as all
-know, maimed for life. What a name and fame he won in civil life is
-known of all men.
-
-
- BACK TO VIRGINIA
-
-About the 4th of April, 1863, the brigade left North Carolina by train
-for Franklin Station, Va., south of Petersburg, on Blackwater River. In
-a few days, with other troops under the command of General Longstreet,
-we crossed Blackwater River and marched down near Suffolk, and had
-several skirmishes with the Yankees, who occupied the town. No attempt
-was made to capture the place. I think the object of the expedition was
-to give the Confederates an opportunity of gathering supplies along the
-Blackwater River and beyond, and by threatening Suffolk, prevent the
-Yankees sending reënforcements to Hooker, whom Lee was confronting on
-the Rappahannock.
-
-The Confederates had a line of breastworks extending out from the Dismal
-Swamp at right angles on either side of the main road to Suffolk to
-another swamp on the left, with an abattis in front, but as usual the
-Yankees did not attack. There was also one or more batteries of
-artillery along, and some cavalry.
-
-The picket line was about 1,000 yards to the front, at the further edge
-of a pine thicket, with open fields in front, extending towards Suffolk,
-though we were not in sight of the town; there were rifle-pits every few
-yards along the picket line.
-
-One day while here the Yankees came out from Suffolk in force, drove in
-the pickets, and placed a battery in position in sight of the
-breastworks 800 yards away, and opened fire. The works were at once
-manned, and two batteries vigorously returned the fire of the enemy. All
-were expecting an attack on the breastworks and were prepared to meet
-it, but it did not come. It was not long before a shell from one of the
-Confederate guns struck and exploded an ammunition chest of a Yankee
-gun, at which a wild cheer went up from the Confederate lines, whereupon
-the Yankees broke and ran for dear life, leaving a disabled limber and
-one or more dead men on the ground. The captain of our battery had
-measured the distance from the breastworks to the point where the
-Yankees planted their battery, and knew exactly how to cut the fuse to
-do effective work. A Yankee detail returned the next day under flag of
-truce to get their dead, and said, "When you fellows raised that yell,
-we thought you were charging us, and we decamped in short order." The
-"Rebel yell" had terrified them again.
-
-Another day, when Company C and Company D were on picket, the Yankees
-came out again. We could see the skirmishers deploying across an open
-field half a mile or more to the front, while their main body marched
-along the outside of the road fence in columns of fours, partially hid
-by trees and bushes. On they came, nearer and nearer, until the
-skirmishers reached a fence running parallel with our line some distance
-in front, rather out of range of our guns; here they halted and
-commenced shooting at long range. Expecting the main body to advance and
-attempt to drive us back from the picket line, we occupied the
-rifle-pits, and Captain Houston and myself tried to restrain the men
-from returning the fire until the enemy was in good range, but when the
-balls would come whizzing by, whacking the trees behind us, some of the
-men would crack away now and then in spite of us, but did not hit any of
-the Yankees.
-
-While this was going on, a black smoke burst forth from a large
-dwelling-house about 150 yards in our front, on the right of the road,
-the inmates, women and children, running and screaming from the burning
-house. The vandals had set fire to that house and burned it with all its
-contents, leaving those women and children homeless and helpless, only,
-as they said, because some of the Confederate pickets had been going
-there and getting something to eat. The miscreants left when the flames
-enveloped the house.
-
-The Confederates gave them a parting volley, together with a loud cheer
-of derision and defiance. One of the Yankees was seen to fall, but got
-up again and went on. Sam Franklin, of Company C, took deliberate aim at
-this man in the road. At the crack of his gun the Yankee fell prone to
-the ground, when Sam cried out exultingly, "I got him; I got him." As
-the Yankee struggled to his feet and moved off down the road, Sam's
-exultant tone changed to one of chagrin, as he said, "No, I didn't; he's
-got up and gone." The Yankee went off; we never knew whether he had a
-bullet hole in his measly hide or not. No doubt all of us hoped he had,
-and that it had reached a vital spot.
-
-After remaining near Suffolk several days longer, the command returned
-to Franklin Station, which place was abandoned on the —— day of May.
-Marching through the country, Petersburg was reached the 9th of May,
-1863. From thence we went to Taylorsville, in Hanover County, remaining
-at the latter place until about the 3d of June.
-
-This falling back from Suffolk was done in regular military order, as if
-expecting the enemy to make a hot pursuit. The trees along the roadside
-were chopped nearly down by the corps of sappers and miners—"_sappling_
-miners," as some of the boys called them—ready to be felled across the
-road by a few licks of the axe when the rear guard had passed. At the
-bridge across Blackwater, troops were deployed in line of battle on
-either side of the road; the artillery was also in position, in battery,
-unlimbered and ready for action; General Longstreet was at the bridge
-seeing to it that every detail was carried out. But the enemy made no
-effort to pursue. I think the bridge was destroyed after all had crossed
-over.
-
-In the meantime General Lee had, on the 1st to 5th of May, fought and
-won the battle of Chancellorsville, where the immortal "Stonewall"
-Jackson fell.
-
-While down on the Dismal Swamp the echoes of the great guns, away up on
-the Rappahannock, could be heard rolling through the swamps and
-lowlands; loud-mouthed messengers, telling of the deadly struggle raging
-far away.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XIII
-
- PENNSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN—GETTYSBURG—BACK
- TO VIRGINIA—GENERAL LEE AND ARMY
- OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
-
-
- PENNSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN
-
-These troops—Pickett's Division and others—that had been in North
-Carolina and southeast of Petersburg since February, as before said,
-halted at Taylorsville, where they remained until the 3d of June, 1863.
-Leaving Corse's Brigade at Taylorsville, they then set out to join
-General Lee's army. Of course, no one knew where we were going, nor what
-General Lee's plans were. We were going to join "Mars Bob," and follow
-where he might lead. The Gettysburg or Pennsylvania campaign having been
-determined on, General Lee was gathering in all available troops. The
-battles around Chancellorsville had been fought and won without
-Longstreet and his legions, except McLaw's Division, but now they were
-again to play an important part in the army of Northern Virginia. We
-marched through the counties of Hanover, Spottsylvania, Orange, and
-Culpeper.
-
-On the march I was taken sick, riding in an ambulance part of the way;
-the night before reaching Culpeper Court House I was quite ill. The next
-morning I was sent in an ambulance to Culpeper Court House to be
-forwarded to Lynchburg. At Culpeper I stopped at the hotel, where I went
-to bed until the next morning, when I got aboard the train for
-Lynchburg. The ladies at Culpeper were very kind to me, as they were to
-all soldiers, doing everything in their power for the Confederates all
-over the South.
-
-On the train near Charlottesville I met Dr. G. W. Thornhill, who had
-been the regimental surgeon until a short while before, and with whom I
-had become quite intimate. The doctor was very kind, and before we got
-to Lynchburg, told me I need not go to the hospital, he being the chief
-surgeon in charge, but to a private house, and that his ambulance would
-be at the dépôt. When we got to Lynchburg, he took me to his ambulance,
-telling the driver to take me wherever I wished to go, saying he would
-come to see me every day. I went out on College Hill to my
-brother-in-law's, Mr. Geo. A. Burks, where, of course, I had the best of
-attention, and Dr. Thornhill, true to his promise, visited me daily. My
-wife and father came up at once, the former remaining with me until I
-was able to go out home in a carriage, which was in about two weeks. Dr.
-Thornhill said he had no authority to issue sick furloughs, but that I
-could go home, stay until I was well and report back to him, which I did
-in about three weeks.
-
-
- GETTYSBURG
-
-General Lee led his army on towards the Potomac, maneuvering, so as to
-force the enemy to evacuate Virginia. The Southern army crossed the
-river and invaded Pennsylvania, when the bloody and ill-fated battle of
-Gettysburg was fought on the 1st, 2d and 3d days of July, 1863.
-
-On account of this sickness I missed the Pennsylvanian campaign and the
-Gettysburg battle, in which Pickett's Division greatly distinguished
-itself, making a name that will live forever. I have often regretted not
-being in that charge; may be, if I had been there I would not now be
-writing these reminiscences.
-
-In the battle of Gettysburg the loss was very heavy. Company C lost six
-men killed as follows: Lieut. James Connelly, M. M. ("Boy") Mason,
-Daniel Pillow, Charles Jones, Dabney Tweedy, and Lanious Jones.
-Lieutenant Connelly and Daniel Pillow were reported missing; that is, no
-one saw them fall and they were never heard of afterwards, and no doubt
-died on that bloody field doing their duty. They were brave and faithful
-soldiers. I was told by some of the company that when the command came
-to charge, after the heavy cannonading had ceased, Charles Jones was
-among the first on his feet, and although only a private, called out,
-"Come on, boys, let's go and drive away those infernal Yankees." He died
-game. It was also said of Dabney Tweedy, that as he was borne to the
-rear on a stretcher, his lifeblood fast flowing, he sang with his last
-breath a hymn he and his mess were wont to sing in camp. The company
-also had a number of men wounded. J. C. Jones lost an arm; my brother
-Robert W., was wounded in both feet. While going forward in that
-desperate charge the latter was struck with a minie ball on the instep
-of the right foot. Stopping to ascertain the extent of the wound, and
-"to see if I was hurt bad enough to go to the rear," as he expressed it,
-another ball struck his left foot just at the root of the third or
-fourth toe, tearing its way through the full length of his foot, and
-stopping in the heel. Hesitating no longer, he picked up his own and
-another musket that lay near by, which had fallen from the hands of some
-dead or wounded comrade, and using them as crutches, hopped to the rear,
-when he was taken charge of by the faithful negro servant, Horace, who
-had been with us from the beginning and remained faithful until the end.
-Horace, by taking Robert on his back, when no other means of conveyance
-was at hand, and by getting him in an ambulance or wagon when possible,
-brought him safely out of the enemy's country, across the Potomac, on
-down the Valley to Staunton, and in due time landed him safely at home,
-where our mother showered thanks on, and almost embraced, the faithful
-servant for bringing her boy home. I was at home when he arrived. The
-negroes were very faithful during the war, and I have always had kindly
-feelings towards them.
-
-Robert remained at home until his wounds were healed, when he joined the
-command, and did faithful service to the end.
-
-
- BACK TO VIRGINIA
-
-General Lee re-crossed the Potomac ten days after the battle of
-Gettysburg, and crossed the Blue Ridge into Culpeper County soon
-afterwards.
-
-I rejoined the command about the last of July in Orange or Culpeper
-County.
-
-There was no more fighting that summer between the main armies of
-Northern Virginia and the army of the Potomac, as the Yankees called
-their "grand army," greater by far in numbers and resources than the
-army of Northern Virginia, but deficient in leaders when compared with
-Lee and Jackson, and not equal in the courage and dash that enabled the
-much smaller army of Southerners to beat them on nearly every
-battlefield.
-
-Lee and Jackson had a way of throwing a large body of men upon certain
-portions of the Yankee lines during a battle, generally striking them in
-the flank. Both as strategists and tacticians they were unsurpassed.
-They could combine armies and concentrate forces in action with the
-greatest skill, which are the true tests of military genius.
-
-Lee's army was much exhausted and depleted by the spring and summer
-campaigns—the great battles around Chancellorsville—which began on the
-1st of May and ended on the 5th, on the night of which day the Yankees,
-badly beaten, stole back over the Rappahannock River, glad to escape;
-the three days' fighting at Gettysburg, in the first two of which the
-Confederates were successful, but failed on the third day because
-Pickett's men were not properly supported.
-
-The armies lay on either side of the Rapidan, on the south side of which
-General Lee had taken position, while the Yankees confronted him on the
-north side, the two armies stretching up and down the river for many
-miles. Later General Lee retired south of the Rappahannock.
-
-The army of Northern Virginia, while its ranks were much depleted by the
-many bloody battles of the year (and many were footsore and weary from
-the long marches, ragged and dirty as they were), yet the men were not
-dispirited nor had they lost faith in their great leader, upon whom all
-looked as the greatest captain of the age. I know full well the
-sentiment among the men was, that the failure at Gettysburg was due, not
-to General Lee's want of skill and ability as a leader, but to the
-tardiness of Longstreet, and his failure to support Pickett's charge.
-The men knew well where the fault lay, and were not slow to express
-themselves.
-
-
- GENERAL LEE AND THE ARMY OF NORTHERN
- VIRGINIA
-
-In August or September, after the men had rested and the army had been
-recruited by the return to duty of many sick and wounded, there were
-general reviews. The whole army, of every branch—infantry, artillery,
-and cavalry—was drawn up in columns of regiments, brigades, and
-divisions, in large open fields, General Lee and his staff riding along
-the lines of each command, and then all marched by the reviewing
-station, showing by the steady and firm step and soldierly bearing that
-they were not disheartened, but ready to go whenever their trusted and
-beloved commander might point the way. While other commanders were often
-criticized, never a word of censure of General Lee escaped the lips of
-his men; he was "Mars Bob" and "Uncle Bob" with them, and whatever he
-did was right, in their estimation.
-
-I have just spoken of General Lee as the greatest captain of the age,
-and so he was; I am equally sure that the army of Northern Virginia was
-never excelled in the annals of the world.
-
-Without this army Lee and Jackson could never have made the name and
-fame they did. These generals had confidence in their men, and the men
-had confidence in their generals; there was not only mutual confidence,
-but mutual love and esteem.
-
-History records no incidents like those in which, on two occasions,
-Lee's men, when he had placed himself in front to lead desperate
-charges, cried out, "General Lee, to the rear"; and private soldiers
-actually seized his bridle reins and led his horse through the lines to
-the rear saying, "General Lee, we will attend to this; you go to the
-rear." I did not see this, but it is too well authenticated to admit of
-question. I am sure there were men in Company C, and the other companies
-of the Eleventh Regiment, who would have done and said the same thing
-under like circumstances.
-
-At the Bridge of Lodi, Napoleon, after his men had made two unsuccessful
-attempts to cross the bridge and capture a battery, seized the colors
-and led a successful charge. Lee's men compelled him to go to the rear
-and then made successful charges. Some one, in writing of this incident
-in Napoleon's career, remarked that "any corporal in the French army
-should have been capable of carrying the flag over that bridge." Lee had
-thousands of privates capable of leading his horse to the rear and
-commanding him to go to the rear. General Lee fully recognized the
-prowess of his men, and always gave them due credit in general orders.
-
-I believe the time will come when some great historian will be raised up
-to tell the true story of the Southern Confederacy, of her heroic armies
-and matchless leaders; some Gibbons, Burke or Macaulay; and another
-Virgil or Homer in a great epic poem will sing of arms and of men, the
-like of which the world has never known. An Englishman has truly said,
-"It was an army in which every virtue of an army, and the genius of
-consummate generalship, had been displayed."
-
-If Lee and Jackson had lived in the mythological ages of the world they
-would have been called the sons of gods, if not very gods, and the men
-they led classed with the heroes who fought under the walls of Troy.
-
-When this history is written the world will be astonished at the
-disparity in numbers, equipments, and resources of the contending
-armies.
-
-"True greatness will always bear the test of time. The greatness of
-really great men will grow as the ages roll by." The fame of Lee and
-Jackson, and the army that helped to make them great, will go down the
-eons of time, ever increasing, and when time shall be no more, the echo
-will be heard resounding through the corridors of eternity.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XIV
-
- TO TAYLORSVILLE—AT CHAFIN'S FARM—TO
- NORTH CAROLINA—MARCHING THROUGH
- SWAMPS AND SAND—THE CAPTURE OF
- PLYMOUTH—COMPANIES C AND G
- HAVE SERIOUS EXPERIENCES—INCIDENTS
- OF THE BATTLE—THE
- GUNBOAT "ALBEMARLE"—COL.
- JAMES
- DEARING WINS
- PROMOTION—ON
- TO WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA—NEWBERNE
- INVESTED
-
-
- TO TAYLORSVILLE
-
-In the early fall of 1863, the brigade now commanded by Gen. ("Buck") W.
-R. Terry, General Kemper being disabled by wounds received at
-Gettysburg, moved down towards Spottsylvania County, and later, about
-the 1st of October, 1863, went into camp near Taylorsville, Hanover
-County, which seemed a favorite stopping place. I remember on this march
-I wore a pair of new boots. My feet becoming sore and blistered, I had
-to fall back in the rear. I took off the boots and walked in my socks
-until the sand worked through, when the bottoms of my feet began to burn
-as if walking on hot embers. I then took off my socks and walked on,
-barefooted, until the sand and gravel began to wear away the cuticle,
-when I put on my boots without socks, and limped on, coming up with the
-command after dark, which was bivouacked by the roadside.
-
-The brigade remained at Taylorsville until about the 1st of January,
-1864, guarding the railroad bridges over the North and South Anna
-rivers, and doing picket duty to the east down on the Pamunky. I
-remember while on picket that fall, the weather was delightful, the
-atmosphere pure and clear as that under the far-famed Italian skies, and
-how the boys used to watch the morning-star as it rose high in the
-heavens, keeping track of it as late as 10 and 11 o'clock A. M., when it
-could be seen plainly with the naked eye, by knowing exactly where to
-look, some one always keeping it in sight.
-
-The command was quite comfortably situated here, some building huts or
-"dog houses" and chimneys to tents, and as the picket duty was not very
-arduous, we had a pretty good time, though rations were scarce. My
-memory is at fault as to the time the brigade was in camp below Richmond
-at Chafin's Farm, nearly opposite Drury's Bluff. At any rate, we were
-there at one time, and relieved Gen. Henry A. Wise's brigade. Here we
-had a fine camping ground in high, level fields, and expected to remain
-some time, but did not tarry very long. While here I visited the
-batteries at Drury's Bluff, and saw the big guns mounted there, pointing
-down a long stretch of the river half a mile or more. The men here said,
-that lower down on the bluff other big guns were in position near the
-water's edge, which, they declared, "could blow clear out of the water
-any Yankee gunboat that attempted to pass up the river." The Yankee
-gunboats at one time attacked this place, but were driven off in short
-order. The Confederate ironclad gunboat, _Patrick Henry_, lay at anchor
-in the river just above the bluff. This I also visited, going on board,
-and inspecting the little monster, small though formidable, with its
-ribs of railroad iron, and big guns. I was struck with how neat and
-clean everything was kept—spic and span as any ladies' parlor or
-drawing-room—the floors highly polished, the brass work clean and
-shining, and the officers and crew very polite, taking pains and seeming
-pride in showing visitors over the boat.
-
-Soon after we arrived at Chafin's Farm I went on some errand for General
-Kemper or General Terry (I forget now which was in command) to Gen.
-Henry A. Wise's headquarters. I had seen General Wise before and had
-heard him speak more than once, but had never met him. I was struck with
-his polite and pleasing manner, and the courtesy with which he received
-me. But the man of the most pleasing and delightful manners I met during
-the war was Col. Isaac H. Carrington, provost marshal of Richmond. I had
-occasion once to visit his office on business and was perfectly charmed
-with his urbanity not profuse or embarrassing to a visitor, but
-delightfully easy and pleasing was his manner; I am sure he was a born
-gentleman.
-
-I should have stated before, that in the early fall of 1863, soon after
-the brigade and the other brigades of Pickett's Division had been
-detached and sent to Taylorsville, thence below Petersburg, Longstreet
-and his other two divisions, Hood's and McLaw's, were also detached and
-sent to Tennessee, where they rendered distinguished service in the
-battle of Chickamauga, and later at Knoxville.
-
-
- TO NORTH CAROLINA AGAIN
-
-On the 10th of January, 1864, the brigade embarked on the cars at
-Petersburg for Goldsboro, N. C, via Weldon; remained at Goldsboro until
-near the last of the month, going thence to Kinston, on Neuse River.
-
-About the 1st of February the brigade, with other troops under General
-Pickett, marched to New Berne, lower down on the Neuse. The town was
-invested and there was some fighting, some outposts taken and prisoners
-captured as well as considerable stores, but the town was not attacked,
-nor was the Eleventh Regiment actively engaged, though at one time the
-brigade was drawn up in line of battle, and all thought that we were
-going into a fight. I remember as the line was being formed, seeing the
-drummers with their drums slung over their shoulders going back to where
-the surgeons had selected a position for the field hospital, to assist
-the doctors. I remarked to some one that if I lived through the war, I
-intended to have all my boys learn to beat the drum. Whenever the
-drummers and the cavalry were seen going to the rear, some one was sure
-to say, "Look out, boys, we are going to have a fight." The troops
-marched back to Kinston, thence to Goldsboro, where we remained until
-the 20th of February, when we again marched to Kinston.
-
-About this time, I got a twenty-days' furlough and went home. Many of
-the officers and men got furloughs during the winter, as there was
-little or no fighting going on.
-
-
- MARCHING THROUGH SWAMPS AND SAND
-
-We lived pretty well while marching and tramping around through the
-swamps and sands of Eastern North Carolina, but some of the marches were
-very trying. In places the roadbeds were worn down a foot or two; in
-rainy weather the roads would be full of mud and water half-leg deep,
-through which we tramped for miles on a stretch, the roadside being
-closely bordered with thick-growing bushes and intertwining vines; it
-was impossible to avoid the slush and water. Often when a particularly
-muddy stretch of road, or a big, deep mudhole was encountered, some wag
-would call out, "Boys, you have been looking for a soft place, here it
-is." By the "soft place" was meant an easy, bomb-proof detail, where
-there was no fighting, picket or guard duty to perform.
-
-Some of these marches were made in the night time, when the men would
-splash and flounder along through the mud, some swearing, some laughing
-and cracking jokes, and ever and anon, the "Bonnie Blue Flag," "Dixie,"
-or some other patriotic song would be started, when the woodland would
-ring for miles with the songs, and the echoes go rolling through the
-swamps and marshes.
-
-In some sections the roads ran through high and dry lands, the roadbeds
-filled with loose, white sand, over which the marching was very
-laborious; sometimes through the long-leaf pine turpentine orchards, as
-they were called—great forests of tall pines, the bark from two sides of
-the trees being scraped off, with steel-bladed knives on long poles,
-many feet from the ground, so that when the sap rises it exudes freely,
-running down the trunks of the trees into deep notches near the ground,
-cut with long-bladed axes, made for the purpose, and then dipped out
-into buckets and conveyed to the turpentine distillery.
-
-During the winter these scraped-off surfaces are incrusted with dried
-rosin, which burns freely when set on fire, the blaze running up the
-trees many feet. On these night marches sometimes the soldiers would
-apply the torch to the rosin-covered trees along the roadside, when the
-woods and country around would be lighted up, the flames leaping up the
-tall pines to the very tops; the long, gray moss hanging in festoons
-from the branches of the live oaks interspersed among the pines, the
-glare of the long streaks of flame reflecting on the white sand,
-scintillating like carpets woven of silver threads and sprinkled with
-tiny diamonds; the gloom off in the woods beyond the penetration of the
-light, and anon the hooting of the big owl and the scream of the
-nighthawk—all brought to mind scenes described in fairy tales, where
-witches and goblins in fantastic attire and shapes participate in high
-carnival, reveling with kindred spirits in some vale of tangled
-wild-wood, deep hidden and embossed in the gloom, save for the glare of
-the torches of the devotees—while the gray lines of the soldiers, like
-grim spectral figures stalking along betwixt the blazing trees, the red
-lights flashing from their burnished muskets and bayonets, reflected on
-their begrimed faces, resembled gigantic and uncanny figures moving
-amidst the flames of some plutorion realm.
-
-These high, sandy roads traverse the country between Goldsboro, Kinston,
-and Tarboro.
-
-While I was on furlough, the command went by train to Wilmington, thence
-by steamer down Cape Fear River to Smithville, opposite Fort Fisher,
-camping on the seashore, where the men feasted on oysters and fish.
-
-After the expiration of my furlough I returned to the command, which
-was, when I left home, still on the seashore, but on my arrival at
-Wilmington I met the brigade on the return trip up the river on the way
-to Goldsboro, where we remained until the 1st of April, then marched to
-Tarboro on Tar River, when some one started a report that "Tar River was
-on fire," but the report, like many others circulated in the army,
-proved untrue. These rumors were called "grapevine dispatches," and were
-about on a par with the weather man's reports of to-day. While at
-Manassas the first year of the war a report was circulated that the
-Black Horse Cavalry had captured the Yankee gunboat _Pawnee_ on the
-Potomac River.
-
-
- THE CAPTURE OF PLYMOUTH
-
-On the 15th of April, 1864, the brigade, with other troops—infantry,
-artillery, and cavalry, under the command of Gen. R. F. Hoke, of North
-Carolina—marched on Plymouth, which was captured on the 20th of April,
-with a brigade of Yankees, and large quantities of stores, arms, and
-provisions. Our little army lived high for a few days, literally
-feasting on the fat of the land. While besieging the town, Company C and
-Company G of the Eleventh Regiment had an experience worth relating; a
-very trying and disastrous one it was, too, for these two companies,
-which I will presently relate. Plymouth is situated on the south bank of
-Roanoke River, not far from where it empties into the Albemarle Sound.
-
-The Yankees had erected several forts and redoubts around the place, one
-of which, Fort Warren, was about a mile up the river and not in sight of
-the town. When the town was invested, Terry's Brigade, except the
-Twenty-fourth Regiment, which went below near the town, was placed in
-front of this fort, which could not be seen from where the lines were
-first formed, for the woods intervened. As soon as the lines were
-established, Company C was detailed for picket duty and placed along the
-farther edge of the piece of woods in which the line was formed. I
-walked out in the field to see what could be seen, and pretty soon came
-in sight of the Yankee pickets to the left, one of whom took off his cap
-and waved it; I did not return his salute. About that time there
-appeared beyond the Yankee pickets, still further to the left, what I at
-first thought was a train of cars. While I was looking on in
-astonishment, a puff of smoke burst from the supposed train with a loud
-boom and shriek through the air, which I at once recognized as a cannon
-shot and shell. I divined at once, that what I had taken for a train of
-cars was a Yankee gunboat steaming up Roanoke River, though I could not
-see the river for the high banks. I don't know whether that shell was
-fired at me or not—they may have just been "shelling the woods"; I was
-the only Confederate in sight of the boat in the direction which it was
-fired. If it was, it was a poor shot, it went high overhead and crashed
-into the woods beyond. I did not run, but am pretty certain I ducked my
-head, and walked back to the picket line; I did not return the
-salutation of the Yankee picket, but bowed to the shell. It was very
-hard to keep from dodging when a shell went by, or a minie ball whizzed
-close. I heard a story on one of our generals who, on one occasion when
-his men were dodging at the minie balls, upbraided them, saying, "Stand
-up like men and don't dodge," when pretty quick a shell came very close
-to the general, who ducked his head. The men began to laugh, and the
-general said, "It is all right to dodge them big ones."
-
-The gunboat steamed on up the river out of sight. That afternoon or the
-next morning the Confederate pickets advanced nearer to, and in sight of
-the fort, wading through a swamp in the woods for several hundred yards
-from half-leg to knee-deep in water, to the edge of the field in which
-the fort was situated, some 800 or 1,000 yards away.
-
-The companies took daily turns at this duty while the siege of the town
-lasted.
-
-
- COMPANIES C AND G HAVE SERIOUS EXPERIENCE
-
-Now I come to the relation of that trying and disastrous experience
-mentioned above. The scare I had from the Yankee gunboat and shell was
-as nothing compared to this. One morning before day, Company C and
-Company G were aroused from sleep, called to arms, and received
-instructions from Colonel Otey, coming from General Terry, to "march out
-in the field in front of the fort to within musket range, open fire and
-keep down the Yankee gunners while the Confederate battery shells the
-Yankees out of the fort." Company G was commanded by Lieut. James
-Franklin, of Lynchburg, and I, being the senior officer, had charge of
-the expedition. As soon as the orders were received, off we started.
-Wading through the swamp, we came out at the picket posts at the edge of
-the field when the first streaks of daybreak could be seen in the east.
-Company G had not yet gotten out of the swamp. It being important to get
-position as near the fort as possible while it was yet dark, I at once
-deployed Company C in skirmish line and moved forward, leaving word with
-the pickets for Company G to come on as soon as they got through the
-swamp.
-
-We marched on in silence until within about 400 yards of the fort, when
-all at once, without any warning, or even saying, "by your leave," the
-Yankees let loose the dogs of war upon us, with, as it seemed to me, all
-kinds of guns and shot, big and little—shells, grapeshot, canister, and
-minie balls. At this warm and sudden salutation, the men fell prone to
-the ground. Thinking that we were not close enough to the fort to do
-much execution with muskets, I gave the command, "Forward," when every
-man rose to his feet and rushed forward some distance. When the command,
-"Lie down and commence firing," was given, this was at once obeyed.
-About this time Company G came up at double-quick and joined in the
-firing. All the while the Yankees were pouring it into us, killing and
-wounding a good many. Here the two companies lay out in the open field
-without any protection whatever, without a tree or rock, stump or log to
-shelter them, firing at the fort until after sun-up, while the
-Confederate battery was trying to shell the Yankees out of the fort.
-They were only trying, sure enough, for I could see the shells bursting
-high in the air over the fort, while never a one entered or exploded
-near it. I had sent back for more ammunition, some of the men saying
-their supply was running short from the rapid firing, but before the
-messenger returned I concluded the right thing to do was to get away
-from that place as soon as possible; so I gave the command, "Skirmish in
-retreat; double-quick, march," which was done in full double-quick time.
-Sad to say, we left five or six men, good soldiers, dead on the field,
-while a number of others were wounded.
-
-Company C lost two good men killed, as follows: Bennett Tweedy, Wm.
-Monroe, and I think another, whose name I do not remember. Among the
-wounded was Abner Bateman, who had his right arm shattered above the
-elbow. A section of the bone was removed by the surgeon, so that
-afterwards he had an extra joint, as it were, in his arm. Company G lost
-several men also. That night a detail was sent out and brought off the
-dead bodies, which were buried down there in the sands of the Old North
-State, where, no doubt, they still lie mouldering into dust, if not
-already dust, ere this.
-
-I remember when we came back to the line of battle that morning, F. C.
-Tweedy, a brother of Bennett, who from some cause had not gone with us,
-came to us and said, "Where is Bennett?" Some one replied, "Bennett was
-killed." "Ferd" then threw up his hands and exclaimed, "Oh, my God!" I
-shall never forget the agonized tone of Ferd's voice; it was if his very
-soul was pierced through and through.
-
-This fort was manned by 200 men with muskets, besides the big guns,
-32-pounders, mounted on the parapet; also had sandbags arranged along
-the parapet, so as to form loopholes for muskets. These 200 men in the
-fort, well protected, were shooting at the 75 or 80 men laying out there
-in the field, without the slightest protection—an equal contest indeed!
-
-I have always thought it a "fool order" that sent these companies out
-that morning.
-
-It was said afterwards, and no doubt true, that a little lieutenant who
-had been doing some scouting, suggested the project to General Terry.
-This lieutenant was standing out in the field alone while the firing was
-going on that morning, some distance from the firing line, when the
-Yankees took a crack at him with a charge of grapeshot, one of which
-struck him in the heel and maimed him for life. We did not know that he
-was anywhere near, nor that he had been wounded until after the fighting
-was over. When it was known that he had suggested the "fool project," I
-don't think he got much sympathy from any one.
-
-On the 20th of April, the troops near the town, by an assault on and
-capture of the forts near the place, compelled the surrender of the
-enemy. We could hear the fighting going on down the river a mile away.
-All at once the firing ceased and cheering commenced, when the men began
-to say, "They are cheering—sh! sh! Listen, listen! See which side is
-cheering!" It was not long before the "Rebel yell" was recognized, then
-all knew the day had been won, when the troops above sent up a mighty
-shout in answer to their comrades below.
-
-Pretty soon two men in a small boat was seen pulling up the river
-towards Fort Warren; all knew it meant the surrender of the fort, and it
-was not long after they landed before the Stars and Stripes were hauled
-down, and a white flag run up in its place. Another mighty cheer went
-up—the "Rebel yell"—three times three. It was a glad time when "Old
-Glory" slid down the flagpole. Col. Jim Dearing and a Yankee officer
-were in this boat.
-
-The brigade marched down and took possession of the fort and garrison.
-Some of the Yankees said they wanted to see the men who came out in the
-field that morning, and lay under their fire for nearly an hour. They
-saw them and greatly admired such courage as was then and there
-displayed. They only lost one man, their best gunner, who was shot
-through the body while aiming one of the big guns. The brigade with the
-prisoners then marched down to the town, where the other prisoners and
-Confederate troops were assembled, when congratulations and good cheer
-among the Confederates were exchanged; all feasting on the good things
-to eat and drink captured in the forts and town.
-
-
- THE GUNBOAT "ALBEMARLE"
-
-The capture of Plymouth was greatly aided by the Confederate ironclad
-gunboat, _Albemarle_, built at Weldon, and commanded by Captain Cooke,
-of the navy, which dropped down the river as the troops marched by land,
-the movements of each being timed so as to coöperate in the attack. The
-_Albemarle_ glided by the upper fort in the night-time, the night after
-the troops invested the town, dropping down the river near Plymouth,
-where the Yankees had three gunboats lying in the river.
-
-The Yankees in Fort Warren, which is situated on the river bank, said
-they saw the _Albemarle_ as it passed down the river that night, and had
-their guns trained on it, but did not fire, thinking it was one of their
-boats which had passed up the river that afternoon, which I have already
-mentioned, but had returned by another channel, unknown to the occupants
-of Fort Warren.
-
-These Yankee gunboats were the _Southfield_, the _Miami_, and the
-_Bombshell_. There were three other forts on the land side of the town:
-Fort Williams, Fort Wessels, and Fort Comfort. Captain Cooke lay at
-anchor until daylight. The Yankees during the night became aware of his
-presence, and made preparations to give him a warm reception when day
-dawned. They conceived the idea, so it was said, of fastening the ends
-of a long chain to two of their gunboats, with which they proposed to
-drag off the anchor of the _Albemarle_, by running a boat on either side
-of it. Captain Cooke heard the hammering on these boats during the
-night, and divining their scheme, when daylight dawned, turned the prow
-of the _Albemarle_ towards the _Southfield_, one of the boats to which
-the chain was attached, with full steam ahead, and struck the Yankee
-boat with terrific force, sending it to the bottom at once.
-
-Captain Cooke then turned on the _Bombshell_, which surrendered. The
-_Miami_ was next attacked, when it made its escape by flight down the
-river. Her captain was killed, and some of her guns disabled before she
-got out of range.
-
-By this bold and successful stroke of the _Albemarle_, the whole river
-front of the town was exposed to the fire of the gunboat, and it may be
-depended upon that Captain Cooke made good use of the advantage thus
-gained. I heard General Wessels, the Yankee commander, after the
-capitulation, berating the gunboats for their failure to protect his
-water front, attributing his defeat and capture to this. This may have
-been true, but I hardly think so. General Hoke was a fine soldier and
-officer, had gone there to capture Plymouth, and would have been almost
-sure to have succeeded without the aid of the _Albemarle_, but would
-have no doubt lost many more men than he did. The Confederate loss was
-small.
-
-It was said that there were some negro soldiers at Plymouth, who took to
-the swamps, were pursued by Dearing's Cavalry and left in the swamp,
-dead or alive; none of them were taken prisoners, or brought out of the
-swamp. Some of the prisoners captured were identified as deserters from
-the Confederate service; a court-martial was convened later, and several
-of them were hung. These men were North Carolinians.
-
-
- COL. JAMES DEARING WINS PROMOTION
-
-Col. Jim Dearing, of Campbell County, won his brigadier-generalship at
-Plymouth. He was put in command of the artillery and cavalry by General
-Hoke. Dearing was a dashing officer, and in this battle performed his
-part with great skill and bravery, charging a fort with artillery,
-running the guns by hand right up to the fort, pouring shot and shell
-into it until the white flag was sent up. The first day he surprised, by
-a quick dash with his troopers and artillery, another fort, running in
-on the Yankees so suddenly that they had no water to cool their guns,
-and could only fire a few rounds, when they sent up a white flag.
-General Dearing was mortally wounded in a hand-to-hand fight with a
-Yankee officer a few days before the surrender. This officer also
-received his death wound in the encounter. It has been said that General
-Dearing was shot by one of his own men, who was trying to shoot the
-Yankee officer. Dearing was brought to Lynchburg where he died in a few
-days.
-
-
- MARCH ON WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
-
-After securing the trophies of the victory won at Plymouth, which
-consisted of 1,600 prisoners, 2,000 muskets, and 25 cannon, and a large
-quantity of ammunition and provisions, and sending them up the country,
-General Hoke and his little army marched on Washington, situated about
-30 miles south of Plymouth, on Tar River, near the head of Pamlico
-Sound. The town was reached about the 25th of April. The troops formed
-in line of battle, ready for the attack, when it was found that the
-place had been evacuated by the Yankees, who doubtless had heard of the
-fate of Plymouth and its garrison, and fearing lest they should share a
-like fate, had decamped, bag and baggage.
-
-
- NEWBERNE AGAIN INVESTED
-
-From Washington the command marched towards Newberne, situated, as
-before said, on Neuse River, not far from where it also enters into
-Pamlico Sound, some 35 miles still further south.
-
-On the 2d of May, the town was invested and preparation made for the
-attack, when orders were unexpectedly received to withdraw and march up
-the Neuse to Kinston with all possible speed.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XV
-
- BACK TO PETERSBURG, VA.—BEAST BUTLER—THE
- BATTLE OF DRURY'S BLUFF—GENERAL GRACIE'S
- COURAGE—INTO A HEAVY FIRE AT
- CLOSE RANGE—COL. RICHARD F.
- MAURY—YANKEE BRIGADE CAPTURED—GENERAL
- WHITING'S
- FAILURE—THE
- YANKEE FLAGS
-
-
- BACK TO PETERSBURG
-
-Leaving Newberne at night (a pitch-dark night it was), with the Eleventh
-Regiment as the rearguard, we marched up to Kinston, where the brigade
-boarded the cars for Goldsboro. As the rearguard moved off from
-Newberne, after the other troops were well on the road, a body of
-cavalry was heard approaching, when the regiment halted. A lone horseman
-approached, who was stopped by a cry of "Halt! who comes there?" The
-horseman replied, "It's some of _we all's_ men"—a non-committal reply,
-to be sure.
-
-It was a squadron of North Carolina cavalry coming back to get in the
-rear of the infantry. These Tar Heels were as badly scared as we were,
-each side taking the other for the enemy. Every man had bundles of
-fodder tied on behind his saddle, and presented a grotesque appearance
-in the darkness, as they passed to the rear.
-
-It was soon rumored that we were needed in Virginia to protect Richmond
-and Petersburg from Beast Butler and his army, who had sailed up James
-River, and was threatening Petersburg.
-
-Arriving at Goldsboro, the train was sent on to Weldon as fast as steam
-could carry it, and from Weldon on towards Petersburg. On reaching
-Jarratt's Station, it was found that a body of Yankee cavalry had come
-up from Suffolk and destroyed the railroad, tearing up the track and
-burning the bridge over Stony Creek, several miles further on. Leaving
-the train at Jarratt's, the troops marched along the torn-up railroad
-track to Stony Creek, when another train was taken for Petersburg, where
-we arrived on the —— of May, 1864, none too soon for the safety of the
-city.
-
-
- BEAST BUTLER
-
-Beast Butler had come up James River on transports, with an army of
-about 40,000 men, landing some at City Point, and marched on Petersburg,
-while the main body landed at Bermuda Hundred, higher up the river. This
-move was no doubt intended as a diversion to draw troops from General
-Lee, who was confronting Grant in the Wilderness, but was checkmated by
-drawing troops from other points, threshing old Butler, and sending some
-of these men on to join General Lee, as we shall presently see.
-
-On the day before we arrived, or that day, I am not sure which, Butler
-had advanced a strong column as far as the Richmond & Petersburg
-Railroad, between Richmond and Petersburg, and destroyed a portion of
-the same; the column had been driven back, however.
-
-The people of Petersburg gave a joyous welcome to the Confederates, the
-ladies greeting and feeding the soldiers as they marched through the
-streets.
-
-Until the arrival of these troops there was only a thin line,
-principally old men and boys, with some regular troops, holding back the
-Yankees from Petersburg. General Beauregard also had, with other troops,
-hurried on from the south about the same time.
-
-Butler, with the bulk of his army, now being between Petersburg and
-Richmond, threatening both cities, it was necessary to have troops to
-defend each. Dispositions were accordingly made to that end: General
-Whiting was left at Petersburg with about 3,000 troops; Beauregard, who
-was now chief commander, with the others, passed on towards Richmond,
-and took position opposite Drury's Bluff, the line extending southwest
-to the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad.
-
-As Terry's Brigade marched along the country road towards Richmond, we
-knew the Yankees were only a short distance to the right of the road,
-though not in sight. Along the road at Swift Creek the trees were
-scarred with bullets fired in the fight a day or two before.
-
-Company C marched on the right flank of the regiment in single file, and
-about fifty yards from the road, as skirmishers, moving silently along
-through the pines and bushes, the men five paces apart, looking out for
-the Yankees to the right, and expecting every moment to be fired upon by
-the enemy; a right ticklish position.
-
-We got through, however, without being attacked. Hardly had the column
-passed before the Yankees came into the road we had marched over, firing
-upon the rearguard. The brigade was then halted and formed in line of
-battle, expecting an attack, but none came. The command in the afternoon
-moved on a little farther towards Richmond, occupying the lines between
-Drury's Bluff and the railroad, abandoning a line of breastworks, which
-the Yankees afterwards occupied.
-
-During the next few days there was considerable fighting along the front
-lines, principally with artillery, but our regiment was not engaged.
-
-
- THE BATTLE OF DRURY'S BLUFF
-
-The army lay here on this line until the night of the 15th of May. Late
-that afternoon, General Beauregard had orders given to all the officers,
-from the major-generals down to the company commanders, for an attack on
-the enemy's lines at daybreak the next morning.
-
-I remember well, Col. Kirk Otey calling up all the company commanders of
-the Eleventh Regiment, and telling them that General Beauregard had
-determined to attack the enemy the next morning, and had ordered that
-the troops at dark march to positions to be assigned them in front of
-the enemy's lines, sleep on their arms, and at daybreak the next morning
-charge the breastworks in their front. This was an unusual order; the
-Commanding General did not often disclose his plans in this way.
-
-And so it was done. Terry's Brigade was moved to the extreme left of the
-Confederate lines near Drury's Bluff. There the brigade lay in the thick
-pines with their guns by their sides until morning.
-
-I have spent many more pleasant and less anxious nights than that one.
-Knowing that when the morning dawned we would have to face death in
-front of the enemy's breastworks was not very pleasant to contemplate,
-to say the least. Before daybreak on the morning of the 16th of May,
-1864, the army was aroused and the men on their feet, ready to do or
-die. Many did die that morning, and something was done, too.
-
-The brigade took position in an open field not far from where the night
-had been spent, first marching along the river road, crossing a branch
-or small creek near an old mill site, then filing to the right off the
-road, and forming line of battle close to the bushes growing along the
-branch, with the open field in front. The morning was dark, a heavy fog
-arising from the river enveloping the country around.
-
-About fifty yards in front of the brigade, an Alabama brigade, commanded
-by General Gracie, was forming in line of battle also. This brigade was
-the front line. Terry's Brigade was the supporting line, with orders to
-keep 200 yards in the rear of Gracie while advancing, until called on to
-go forward. Maj.-Gen. Bushrod Johnson was in command of this part of the
-line; General Pickett, I believe, was at Petersburg; Major-General
-Ransom, I think, commanded the front lines.
-
-On the right flank of Gracie's Brigade, Hankin's Battery, of Surry
-County, was taking position also. No unnecessary noise was made, no one
-spoke unless giving orders, and then in a low tone. The artillery moved
-into position slowly, and with as little noise as possible. I remember
-well the cluck of the iron axles as the guns moved slowly into position
-as quietly as a funeral procession.
-
-When all was ready, and while it was yet dark, the Alabamians moved
-forward up the hill, the artillery keeping pace with them, firing by
-sections, each section moving forward after firing.
-
-Pretty soon the Yankee pickets opened fire on the advancing column,
-which it returned, the column moving on the while, driving the pickets
-from their rifle pits near the top of the hill. On down the hill General
-Gracie took his men right into a very heavy fire, the artillery halting
-at the top of the hill, still firing away into the darkness beyond,
-throwing shot and shell into the woods in front, where the enemy is
-supposed to be.
-
-It was a grand spectacle that dark morning—the firing of the battery by
-sections as it advanced; the roar of the guns; the flames of fire
-bursting forth in the darkness. Though rather awe-inspiring at the time,
-it was grand, nevertheless. I shall never forget the scene.
-
-Terry's Brigade followed on and halted at the top of the hill, some 150
-yards in rear of Gracie's, which was now hotly engaged at the foot of
-the hill, many of the Yankee bullets flying over the hill, killing and
-wounding several, as the men knelt or sat on the ground.
-
-I remember while here, one of Company H, the next company to Company C,
-was shot through the body, and how tenderly an Irish comrade, who was
-sitting by his side, took him in his arms and said, "Poor —— (I forget
-the name) is killed; poor fellow," and, "his poor wife and children." It
-was truly a pathetic scene in the midst of a battle. I shall never
-forget the tender, sympathetic tone of that Irishman's voice.
-
-Until reaching this position we were not exposed to the fire of the
-enemy, but now the bullets were whizzing by pretty thick. The enemy
-seemed to have no artillery on this part of the line. By this time day
-was breaking, but it was still very foggy and dark.
-
-
- GENERAL GRACIE'S COURAGE
-
-Through the mist could be seen stragglers and wounded men from Gracie's
-Brigade coming back from the front, some of them loading and firing as
-they fell back; soon larger squads of them came breaking to the rear,
-and up the hill came General Gracie on his horse, cursing and swearing
-like a sailor, apparently oblivious of the danger from the balls that
-were flying through the air, calling his men "d——d cowards," and using
-much strong language. General Gracie was a stout man with iron-gray hair
-and mustache, and was blowing like a porpoise while riding among his men
-trying to rally them. One of his men, a tall, light-haired, good-looking
-young man, seemed to resent his harsh words, saying, "General Gracie, we
-stayed there as long as we could." "Yes," replied the General, "you ran
-away, too, like d——d cowards"; or, to be a little more accurate, though
-not quite exact in quoting the General's words, "Like d——ned cowardly
-sons of —" (female canines).
-
-General Gracie rode up to General Terry and said, "General Terry, send
-me a regiment down there to take the place of one of mine that has run
-away." Just then one of Company C came up to me and said, "It is no use
-for us to go there; don't you see they have driven back them men?" I
-replied, "Then this is the very time we are needed."
-
-General Terry called on the Eleventh and Twenty-fourth regiments to go
-forward, and down the hill the two regiments went at double-quick, with
-a wild yell that sounded above the roar of battle.
-
-The Twenty-fourth was just on the right of the Eleventh, with Col. R. F.
-Maury, sword in hand, in front, walking backwards, calling on and
-beckoning to his men to come on. I noticed Ned Gillam, a sergeant in
-Company C, dash to the front as the line started, look back, open wide
-his mouth, raise the "Rebel yell" and press forward, as if breasting
-against a heavy storm of wind and rain. (Men in battle did do this; why,
-I do not know. The body would be leaning forward, the face averted as if
-the going forward required great physical exertion.)
-
-Addison says, "Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man
-when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty
-acts in a uniform manner." I opine the courage displayed by General
-Gracie that morning was of both kinds. It did not fail him then or
-thereafter; while Ned Gillam's was more from a sense of duty. But I must
-stop philosophizing in the midst of a battle, and go on with the fight.
-
-
- INTO A HOT FIRE AT CLOSE RANGE
-
-On reaching the foot of the hill, the Eleventh and Twenty-fourth halted
-in the edge of the woods, where the enemy's fire was very heavy and
-destructive at very close range. The minie balls were flying thick, the
-"sip, sip, sip" sound they made indicating unmistakably that the Yankees
-were close by, though hidden by the fog, smoke and bushes, and our men,
-standing or kneeling, returning the fire with a will. Here these
-regiments suffered a heavy loss in a very short space of time.
-
-
- COL. RICHARD F. MAURY
-
-I remember passing Colonel Maury just at the edge of the woods, lying on
-his back looking ghastly pale. I said to him, "Colonel, are you badly
-wounded?" He replied calmly, "Yes, very badly." He recovered from the
-wound, however, and still lives in Richmond. Colonel Maury is a son of
-the late Commodore Matthew F. Maury, "the pathfinder of the seas."
-(Since this was first written the gallant Colonel Maury has answered the
-last roll call; peace to his ashes.) Colonel Maury was a strict
-disciplinarian and not very popular in camp, but in a fight his men
-stood by him, and died by him.
-
-I also remember while kneeling here in the woods, in this terrific fire,
-when the twigs around me on every side were being cut by bullets, and
-men shot down on every hand, I felt a sense of safety and security; it
-seemed there was a small space or zone just around my person into which
-no balls came. I have often thought and spoken of this, but never could
-account for the impression clearly and distinctly made upon my mind in
-the midst of imminent danger. It may be, at that early hour of morning,
-a loved one at home—wife or mother—at her morning devotions, was at that
-very moment sending up an earnest petition to the God of Heaven and
-earth, the Maker and Ruler of all things, for my protection, and that
-though the petitioner was far away, the prayer reached the throne of
-grace and mercy, and the answer came down there to me in the midst of
-that scene of carnage, "Safe"! Who knows? Maybe in the sweet bye-and-bye
-I may know more of this. So mote it be.
-
-While here G. A. Creasy, a young soldier of Company C, who was at my
-side, spoke out, saying, "Captain, I am wounded, what must I do?"
-Looking at him, I saw the blood running from a wound in the face. I
-replied, "Go to the rear," and he went. Gus still lives in Pittsylvania
-County.
-
-
- YANKEE BRIGADE CAPTURED
-
-It was not long before the word came along the lines from the left,
-"Cease firing." The other regiments of the brigade, and part of
-Gracie's, on the left, had advanced, overlapping the enemy's lines on
-his right flank, and swinging around, came in on the enemy's flank and
-rear.
-
-They had surrendered; a whole brigade—General Heckman, their commander,
-and all.
-
-The Eleventh and Twenty-fourth at once went forward and came upon the
-Yankee breastworks, not over twenty steps in front. There the Yankees
-stood with their guns in their hands, very much frightened and
-bewildered, apparently, and looking greatly astonished as if something
-had happened, but not knowing exactly what; they found out very soon,
-though, when, after surrendering their guns, they were marched to the
-boat-landing at Drury's Bluff (escorted by the Seventh Virginia
-Regiment) and sent up the river by the boat to Richmond, and into Libby
-Prison. My brother Bob said that as he approached the Yankee
-breastworks, an officer fired his pistol into his face, but his aim was
-bad. Color-Bearer Hickok also went forward among the foremost, and was
-told by the Yankees not to come into the works, presenting their guns.
-Hickcock brought down his flag-staff at a rest, and went ahead, heedless
-of their protestations. I saw Major Hambrick, of the Twenty-fourth
-Regiment, after the battle was over, who was also wounded, shot through
-the thigh, who said, when asked about his wound, "D——n 'em, I will live
-to fight them again." Poor fellow, he died in Richmond soon afterwards
-from his wound.
-
-By this time the battle was raging along the lines for a mile or more.
-The plan of battle was to first strike the Yankees on their right flank
-and follow it by successive attacks on their line from right to left,
-all of which was successfully and handsomely done before the sun was
-well up.
-
-
- GENERAL WHITING'S FAILURE
-
-A further plan of the battle was, that General Whiting, who, as before
-said, had been left in command of the troops at Petersburg, was to
-attack the Yankees in the rear at the same time they were assailed in
-front. This, however, was a miserable failure. It was said at the time
-that Whiting was drunk; how true this was I never knew, he only marched
-out of Petersburg and then marched back again. If the attack in the rear
-had been made simultaneously with the one in front, there is no doubt
-but that Butler's army would have been completely crushed, as if caught
-between the upper and nether millstones, and captured almost to the last
-man, when there would have probably been a first-class hanging. Butler
-had been outlawed; that is, proclamation had been issued by the
-Confederate authorities to hang Butler on the spot, if captured, for his
-beastly conduct towards the people, especially the women, of New
-Orleans, while in command of that city. Butler had threatened to turn
-his soldiers loose upon the women.
-
-Col. Geo. C. Cabell used to tell, that when in Congress he had a talk
-with Butler about this battle, and upon Butler's asking him what would
-have been his fate if he, Butler, had been captured, Colonel Cabell said
-he replied, "I do not know as to the others, but if my regiment had made
-the capture, you would have been strung up at once." A Richmond paper
-described this battle as a contest between a great eagle and a buzzard.
-Of course, the Beast was the buzzard, and Beauregard the eagle.
-
-By the time the sun was an hour high the Yankee army was in full retreat
-for its base, Bermuda Hundred, the Confederates following on, though the
-pursuit was not a very vigorous one. All who knew of the plan of battle
-were anxiously awaiting the sound of Whiting's guns in the rear of the
-Yankee army, but alas! those guns were silent, and Beast Butler and his
-badly beaten army made good their escape.
-
-Some of the prisoners captured that morning said they were taken
-completely by surprise; that orders had been issued to attack the
-Confederates at sunrise. So Beauregard stole a march on them by
-attacking at daybreak. The early bird caught some of the worms that
-morning, if not all, as was planned.
-
-Beauregard followed on to the top of the river hills overlooking Bermuda
-Hundred, where the Yankees were well fortified, with gunboats in the
-river to assist in the defense of the strong position. Here there was
-some artillery firing, but no attempt to assault the position was made.
-Butler was "bottled up." In this fight, Company C lost seven men killed
-and mortally wounded, as follows: Chas. Allen, John DePriest, Allen
-Bailey, John Monroe, Bruce Woody, Alfred Rosser, and Geo. W. Walker, and
-many wounded.
-
-In a few days the bulk of the Confederate army went to join General Lee
-in his death struggle with Grant and Meade, which had been going on
-since the early days of May in the Wilderness and around Spottsylvania
-Court House.
-
-
- YANKEE FLAGS
-
-On the 20th of May, Terry's Brigade marched through Richmond, each
-regiment proudly carrying a Yankee flag, captured on the 16th of May.
-The brigade marched into the Capitol Square, where there was assembled a
-great crowd of Congressmen, high Confederate dignitaries, and others.
-The troops were massed in columns of regiments, and there, beneath the
-grand equestrian statue of Washington, these flags were delivered to the
-War Department officials. I have no doubt that if Washington was there
-in spirit, he looked on approvingly.
-
-That afternoon part of the brigade went by train to Hanover Junction,
-where troops were assembling from different quarters to reënforce
-General Lee, who had been fighting and holding his own for nearly three
-weeks against tremendous odds. But his ranks had been greatly depleted,
-while Grant's army was being reënforced almost daily. Gen. John C.
-Breckenridge was here with his troops also. It was said Breckenridge was
-the handsomest man in the army; some of Company C saw him here and
-declared he was the finest-looking man they ever saw. I could have seen
-him by walking a hundred or two yards, but did not do so, being very
-tired and worn out generally, and sad on account of the loss of seven
-good men a few days before.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XVI
-
- TO MILFORD AND TO CAPTURE—A PRISONER OF
- WAR—ON TO WASHINGTON
-
-
-The same afternoon we arrived at Hanover Junction, the First Virginia
-Regiment and five companies of the Eleventh, A, B, C, E and K, under the
-command of Major Norten, of the First Regiment, boarded the cars and
-went to Milford Station in Caroline County, on the Richmond,
-Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad, arriving there about night, and going
-into camp across the Mattapony River, just west of the station. The
-Mattapony here is quite a small stream, spanned by a wooden bridge. The
-First Regiment at that time was very small, numbering perhaps not over
-100 to 150 men. The five companies of the Eleventh Regiment numbered
-about eighty-five or ninety men—Plymouth and Drury's Bluff had depleted
-their ranks. Pickets were posted on the roads, and there were some
-cavalry videts still farther out. The rest of the command bivouacked in
-the woods a short distance from the bridge.
-
-Early the next morning, the 21st of May, 1864, the cavalry videts came
-in and reported the Yankees were making a raid on the station with the
-intention of burning it. Major Norten declared they should not do this,
-and made his dispositions to prevent it, posting the men of the First
-Regiment to repel the attack on the station, while the companies of the
-Eleventh were held in reserve.
-
-It was not long before the supposed raiders made their appearance. At
-first they were few in number and shot at long range, firing on the
-First Regiment at the bridge from a grove on a hill some 600 yards away,
-with long-range guns, dropping a few balls about them, while too far
-away for them to return the fire with their muskets. Major Norten
-ordered up the reserves, directing them to "Take that hill and hold it
-at all hazards"—a very positive and unwise order, I thought.
-
-The five companies of the Eleventh Regiment crossed over the bridge,
-formed in line of battle, and moved forward at double-quick across the
-broad river bottom, crossing over the railroad track right up to this
-hill, taking possession of it without firing a single gun, the few
-Yankees who occupied it retreating before the line was in shooting
-distance.
-
-As soon as the hill was occupied, no Yankees being in sight, I walked up
-on the northeast side of the grove of trees and saw half a mile away,
-thousands of Yankee cavalry; the hills were blue with them. It turned
-out to be General Torbet's Division, the advance division of Grant's
-army, instead of a raid to burn Milford Station. I went back and told
-Capt. Bob Mitchell, of Company A, who was the ranking officer, that we
-could not hold that hill—that there were ten thousand Yankees over on
-the next hill. Mitchell replied, "We have orders to hold the hill at all
-hazards." I said, "All right, we will all be captured." I have often
-thought Captain Mitchell should have sent a messenger to inform Major
-Norten of the situation, but he did not. The Yankee skirmishers,
-dismounted cavalry, soon began to advance on two sides of the hill, when
-a long-range skirmish began, which continued for some time, growing
-hotter as the Yankees approached nearer and nearer, protecting
-themselves behind trees and whatever they could. They were held at bay
-for an hour or more. During this time the Confederates had several men
-wounded. The Yankees were being hit also. Captain Mitchell was shot in
-the chin and left the hill. Lieutenant Atkins, of Company K, was also
-wounded. I saw him clap his hand on his side as the ball struck him. I
-never learned his fate, and I am not certain that I have his name
-correct, but know he was a lieutenant of Company K. Capt. Thomas B.
-Horton, of Company B, was next in command. Going again to the crest of
-the hill, on the northeast side, I saw a regiment of dismounted Yankee
-cavalry forming in line of battle a few hundred yards away; a colonel or
-general with gray hair and mustache was riding along the rear of the men
-getting them into position, the men seeming very awkward and hard to get
-straightened out. I called up one of Company C, either Tom Rosser or Sam
-Franklin, both good fighters, and told him to raise the sight of his
-Enfield rifle to 400 yards and shoot that officer. The order was obeyed
-promptly; I did not see the result of the shot however. Just as he
-fired, one of Company B, who was lying on the ground on the crest of the
-hill firing at the enemy, in a few feet of where I was standing,
-attracted my attention by calling out at the top of his voice, "Run
-here, ambulance corps; run here, ambulance corps." Seeing he had only a
-scalp wound on the side of the head, and thinking a man who could call
-out so lustily for the ambulance corps to come to his aid, although his
-head was bleeding profusely, could aid himself by getting up and
-running, I told him so, whereupon he jumped up and ran like a deer off
-the hill. I suppose he got away safely.
-
-The men of the companies were scattered around on the hill, among the
-trees, embracing about an acre in area, without any regard to lines,
-fighting on the Indian style, some protecting themselves behind trees,
-some lying down, while most of them stood out in the open, watching for
-and shooting at every Yankee who showed himself within range. The
-Yankees, too, were under cover as much as possible with longer range
-guns than ours, slipping around behind trees, bushes and fences, and at
-every opportunity popping away at the Confederates, all the while
-getting a little closer and extending their lines around the hill. They
-were not very good shots, however.
-
-Captain Horton and myself consulted, or held a small council of war,
-upon the situation. It was beyond question that if we remained on the
-hill, all would be killed or made prisoners in a short time. Some, or
-all of us, might escape by beating a hasty retreat. We agreed to try the
-latter, orders or no orders. Turning to the men who were by this time
-pretty close together about the center of the hill, with the Yankees
-still closing in, we told them we would all make a break and attempt to
-escape. Many of the men so earnestly demurred to this, saying, "We will
-all be killed as we run across the bottom," that Captain Horton and
-myself concluded not to make the attempt. I said to the men, "We will
-stay with you then." Near the top of the hill there was a ditch leading
-from what appeared to be an old icehouse, and in this ditch we made the
-last stand and fought the Yankees until they were close up. I remember
-Marion Seay, of Company E, who still lives in Lynchburg, was at the
-upper end of the ditch, shooting at a Yankee not thirty steps away, and
-then calling out and pointing his finger, saying, "D——n you, I fixed
-you," repeating it several times. Seay was then a little tow-headed boy,
-but he was game to the backbone.
-
-Pretty soon our men ceased firing, as all knew that the inevitable had
-come. The Yankees then rushed up to the ditch, and all the Confederates
-dropped their guns—the seventy-five men left were prisoners of war.
-
-I think we were justifiable in surrendering. If we had fought until the
-last man fell, nothing would have been accomplished for the good of the
-cause. There was no possibility of rescue, so it was die in that ditch
-in a few minutes or surrender; we chose not to die then and there. It
-was not a forlorn hope we were leading or defending, which demanded such
-a sacrifice of life.
-
-As the Yankees came up, one of their men was shot through the head, and
-fell dead into the ditch; killed, I think, by one of his own men who was
-some distance off, firing, as he thought, at the Rebels. Some of the
-Confederates were bespattered with the brains of the dead Yankee.
-
-At Plymouth, N. C., thirty-one days before, and again just five days
-before, at Drury's Bluff, we had been at the capture of brigades of
-Yankees, and exulted in the captures—now the tables are turned and we
-are prisoners, and the Yankees are exulting at our capture. Such are the
-fortunes of war.
-
-I can testify that the sensations of the captors are very different from
-those of the captives, but shall not attempt to set forth the contrast;
-words are inadequate.
-
-The Yankees said they had thirty-five or forty men killed and wounded in
-the fight; so that for every "Rebel" captured that day, they had half a
-man killed or crippled—not a bad showing for the "Rebs," if they did
-surrender, when outnumbered by more than one hundred to one. I don't
-remember that we had any killed on the field; nearly all the wounded got
-away.
-
-Capt. Thos. B. Horton, Company B; Lieut. Peter Akers, Company A, and
-Lieuts. J. W. Wray and Geo. P. Norvell, of Company E., were captured. I
-have no means of getting the names of the men of the other companies
-captured.
-
-Beside myself, the following men of Company C were captured: W. L.
-Brown, G. T. Brown, J. A. Brown, H. M. Callaham, H. Eads, J. T. Jones,
-J. W. Jones, W. S. Kabler, Fred Kabler, W. T. Monroe, R. W. Morgan, S.
-P. Tweedy, E. A Tweedy, W. A. Rice, W. C. J. Wilkerson—seventeen in all.
-W. L. Brown and S. P. Tweedy were wounded; the former slightly, the
-latter a bad flesh wound in the thigh. Some of the company were on
-picket duty and escaped capture, and some who were wounded got away,
-others were at home, or in hospitals, sick or wounded.
-
-Not long ago, in looking over some old papers and letters, I found a
-letter written by Lieut. Robert Cocke to my wife, telling her about the
-fight and capture; it is dated the 22d of May. Among other things he
-says: "I was sent out the night before to guard a road that the Yankees
-were expected to come, but _fortunately for the Yankees_, they did not
-come that way; if it had not been for that, I would have been taken or
-killed myself, I expect."
-
-Our negro boy, Horace, just as we were ordered forward to charge the
-hill, came up to me and said, "Where must I go?" I replied, "Stay with
-the surgeon." There were no wagons with us, with which he usually
-stayed. Horace, after we were captured, made his way home, taking with
-him what little baggage I had left in his care.
-
-Thus ended my experience as a Confederate soldier in the field. I had
-been in active service for three years and more.
-
-
- A PRISONER OF WAR
-
-Now another experience was to be tried, of which I will tell in the
-closing pages of these reminiscences; long, bitter, and trying, too,
-that experience was.
-
-The truth shall be told, setting down nothing in malice, giving credit
-where credit is due, with condemnation and reproach when deserved.
-
-While these seventy-five men were sacrificed by what was another "fool
-order," in the light of subsequent events an advantage was gained.
-
-These companies were sent out to that hill simply to protect the dépôt
-at Milford from the torch of supposed Yankee raiders, when in truth and
-in fact, Grant's whole army was approaching, and in a few hours were
-upon the scene, marching by the dépôt in which the prisoners were
-confined.
-
-General Grant was then on his famous flank movement from Spottsylvania
-Court House, while General Lee was moving on parallel lines in the
-direction of Hanover Junction, all the while keeping his army between
-the enemy and Richmond, the goal that the enemy had been endeavoring to
-reach ever since the beginning of the war, in the spring of 1861; yet in
-May, 1864, the goal was far from being attained, although hundreds of
-thousands of lives had been sacrificed, and billions of dollars expended
-in the effort.
-
-When it was known that the men captured at Milford on the 21st of May
-were from the army which, on the 16th of May, under Beauregard, had
-soundly thrashed Beast Butler at Drury's Bluff, and then "bottled him up
-at Bermuda Hundred on James River," as General Grant expressed it, and
-had come on to join forces with General Lee, General Grant halted his
-army that morning, and made dispositions to repel an attack, threw up
-breastworks, and remained near Milford for two days, giving General Lee
-ample time to concentrate his forces near Hanover Junction and select a
-strong position on the south bank of North Anna River. Grant, I have
-since learned, mentioned these men captured at Milford from Beauregard's
-army in a dispatch to Washington, and called for more troops. So that
-when General Grant finally moved forward he was confronted by Lee with
-his whole army, in a strong and commanding position, that Grant dared
-not assail; instead, he again side-stepped, flanking off towards Cold
-Harbor, where Lee's army was again in his front, and where the
-Confederates inflicted a loss of 12,000 men in a few hours, in repelling
-assaults on their hastily formed breastworks. This battle was fought on
-the ground on which the battle of Gaines' Mill occurred on the 27th of
-June, 1862, only the position of the two armies being reversed.
-
-From Cold Harbor Grant made a long side-step, not halting until he had
-crossed to the south side of James River at City Point, where he could
-have gone by water months before without the loss of a single man. In
-the campaign from the Rappahannock to the James, Grant had lost more men
-than Lee had in his whole army.
-
-Grant had boasted in the early days of the campaign in the Wilderness
-that he would, "fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." But
-he changed his mind as well as his line. From Cold Harbor, it was said,
-Grant sent this dispatch to Washington: "All the fight is knocked out of
-this army." This was after his order to renew the assaults on the
-Confederate lines had been disobeyed; the men standing still and mute
-when ordered to renew the charge. Then it was that Grant struck out
-across the Peninsula to the James.
-
-The Confederate prisoners were first marched over on the hill where the
-main body of Torbet's Cavalry was posted, surrounded by a strong guard,
-the Yankee officers celebrating their victory, 10,000 against 85, by
-feasting on wine and cake. Lieut. Peter Akers, of Company A, marched up
-to a group of these officers, sitting on their horses, saying: "Hello,
-fellows, ain't you going to treat?" The Yanks laughed, handed around the
-wine and cake to the "Rebel" officers, with whom they chatted in a very
-friendly way. Like Bob Jones was with the stolen hog, I took some of the
-cake, but none of the wine.
-
-Pretty soon we were marched down to the dépôt and confined there. It was
-not long until Grant's Infantry began to march by, Hancock's corps
-leading, in serried ranks of brigades, divisions, and corps, marching on
-across the little Mattapony out on the hills beyond, where lines of
-battle were formed, and the digging of entrenchments begun, and redoubts
-for cannon were thrown up.
-
-The prisoners were marched out later, sleeping that night in an old
-barn, where they were guarded until the army moved forward, the
-prisoners being taken along. That night one of the guards said to me,
-"Old man, were you drafted?" I replied, "No, I volunteered." The reason
-he called me "old man" was, my hair was gray, though I was not then
-twenty-seven years old. While in prison many thought I was a political
-prisoner and not a soldier, for the same reason.
-
-I was forcibly struck with the difference in the discipline in the two
-armies. In the Confederate army the officers and privates often messed
-and slept together, and were on equal terms, socially. In the Yankee
-army there was a great gulf between the officers and enlisted men, the
-officers rarely ever speaking to the men except when giving orders.
-
-Rations were short with the Yankees at this time; the "Rebs" were, of
-course, very hungry, having none at all; there were no rations at hand
-to issue. Some of the Yanks, however, divided hard-tack from their
-haversacks, and some fresh beef was issued that night, which we _briled_
-on the coals and ate without salt or bread. The next day the commissary
-trains came up, when hard-tack was issued; not very plentiful, however—
-five crackers to the man.
-
-On the morning of the 23d the Yankee army moved on, and that night
-camped on the high hills on the north side of the North Anna River,
-opposite General Lee's position.
-
-The prisoners slept in a clump of bushes not far from General Grant's
-headquarters. The next morning, as the army moved out, the prisoners
-still going along, Grant and his staff rode along the lines, when we got
-a good look at him.
-
-I never see a picture of Grant but that morning is called to mind, when
-I recall and distinctly remember Grant's face and figure.
-
-His appearance was not striking or prepossessing; he reminded me of my
-uncle, Mack Morgan.
-
-Grant had nothing about his form, features or bearing that compared with
-the handsome, noble, and majestic appearance of Robert E. Lee.
-
-General Lee far excelled Grant in personal appearance, as he did in
-generalship.
-
-Grant's final success over Lee was not accomplished by his genius as a
-general, but by the recognition and application of the well-known laws
-of physics—that a larger body put in motion will overcome the force of a
-smaller one; that a greater mass of material thrown upon a smaller mass
-of the same material will crush it. To use a homely expression, Grant
-overcame Lee by "main strength and awkwardness."
-
-It was not the flashing blade of a strategist and tactician that cut its
-way to victory, but the heavy hammer of a Thor that crushed Lee and his
-valiant band.
-
-Suppose Lee had had an army of anything like equal strength in numbers,
-equipments and supplies, to Grant's, is there any one who would contend
-that Lee would not have prevailed over Grant? Why, Lee would not have
-left a "grease spot" of Grant and his "grand army" in the Wilderness,
-and there would have been no Appomattox.
-
-On the afternoon of the 23d, there was some fighting at the front on the
-North Anna River.
-
-Some of the Yankees crossed over above where Lee had taken his position.
-Here other Confederate prisoners were captured and added to our squad;
-among them, I remember Colonel Brown, of South Carolina, who was in the
-command of a brigade of A. P. Hill's Corps. Colonel Brown said, in
-advancing in line of battle, two of his regiments got separated in the
-thick woods, and he walked through the gap in the line, right into the
-Yankees. On the afternoon of the 24th of May, or the next morning, I am
-not certain which, the prisoners were turned back and headed for Port
-Royal, on the Rappahannock River, under a strong cavalry guard, a part
-of the way riding in wagons going back for supplies, but marched a
-greater part of the distance. As we marched, to the rear could be heard
-the thunder of Lee's guns on the North Anna, bidding defiance to Grant,
-saying, if not in words, in effect, "Thus far shall thou come and no
-farther." On the march to the rear, we passed large numbers of fresh
-troops going to reënforce Grant, many of them negroes. These were the
-first negro troops we had ever seen. One of them remarked as we passed
-by, "They ought to have gin 'em (us) Fort Pillow. If we had cotch 'em we
-would have gin 'em Fort Pillow."
-
-On the last day's march I was taken very sick, getting dizzy, and came
-near fainting, and dropped down by the roadside. My brother Bob, was
-also taken sick about the same time and stopped with me. When the
-rearguard came up to where we were, they commenced to shout at us, "Get
-up, go on, go on." I told them we were sick and unable to go. We did not
-know what would be done, but we received humane treatment. The officer
-commanding the rearguard put us in charge of a big Dutch corporal and
-another man, with instructions to bring us on when able to march.
-
-After a short time we were able to go on to a house close by, on the
-roadside, where we rested in the yard under the shade of the locust
-trees, when the good woman of the house gave us ice-water and something
-to eat, peach preserves and cold biscuits, as I remember, which greatly
-refreshed and strengthened us. God bless the Confederate women, who were
-always kind to the soldiers, who suffered so much anxiety, and endured
-so many privations during the war, who, with their daughters of to-day,
-are still true to the memory of the dead and the honor and welfare of
-the living.
-
- _A Tribute to Confederate Womanhood_
-
- Ye survivors of that gallant band,
- A scanty remnant thinned by time;
- Crown her, love, honor, cherish her,
- And hail her queen of womankind.
-
- Ye present generation, those unborn,
- Both now and hereafter, through all time,
- Crown her, love, honor, cherish her,
- And hail her queen of womankind.
-
- Ye of all nations, every tribe,
- Of every age and every time,
- Crown her, love, honor, cherish her,
- And hail her queen of womankind.
-
-We remained here perhaps half an hour, when the guards let us ride their
-horses, walking at the horses' heads, holding the bridles by the bits.
-This was very kind and duly appreciated. After going a mile or so, the
-Dutch corporal, with the perspiration streaming from his face (it was a
-very hot, sultry morning), stopped and said, "I ish proke down and can't
-valk no farder." I told him all right, we could make it then, and
-thanking him for his kindness, we marched on, the guard telling us to
-take our time.
-
-By this time we were feeling much better and stronger, and that night,
-May 26th, after dark, came up with the other prisoners at Port Royal. I
-am able to fix this date from an old letter I found some time ago,
-written to my wife from that place, in which I gave the names of all the
-men of Company C who were captured with me, and requested her to have
-the names published in the Lynchburg papers, that their friends might
-know their fate.
-
-
- ON TO WASHINGTON
-
-The next day the prisoners were put aboard an old freight ship, which
-steamed down the Rappahannock River, out into the bay, and up the
-Potomac River to Washington City. Here the officers and men were
-separated. My brother Bob was very anxious to go with me, but, of
-course, this was not permissible; and there on the wharf, on the 28th of
-May, 1864, I parted with him and the other members of Company C, not to
-meet any of them again until that "cruel war was over," and many of them
-never again. Some of the company not captured were killed during the
-last year of the war, and many have died since the war. Some still live.
-Every now and then I read in the papers of the death of some of them,
-which always recalls memories of long ago. It will not be many years
-before the last one of us shall have answered the final roll call. May
-we all meet again in a better world, where there is no war, is my
-fervent prayer. War is horrible. General Sherman said, "War is hell."
-Few, if any, did more than William Tecumseh Sherman to make war hell,
-and if I had to guess, I should say that ere now Sherman knows all about
-the horrors of both—war and hell. There may be something in a name after
-all. "Tecumseh!" The savage.
-
-The enlisted men were sent to Point Lookout, and the officers
-incarcerated in the old Capitol Prison.
-
-I remember as we entered from the street, when the door closed, the key
-turned and the bolt went into its place with a grating sound, Captain
-Horton turned to me and said, "This is the first time the bolts were
-ever turned on me." So we all could say. There were other prisoners
-confined here.
-
-While here, we could often see from the windows ambulances moving along
-the streets filled with wounded Yankee soldiers. When Peter Akers would
-see these loads of wounded Yanks, he would remark, "There goes more
-dispatches from General Lee to old Abe."
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XVII
-
- TO FORT DELAWARE—SHORT RATIONS—SONG—PRISON
- RULES
-
-
-These officers remained here for about two weeks, when we were taken by
-boat down the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay, passing out into the ocean
-between Cape Charles and Cape Henry; thence up the coast into Delaware
-Bay to Fort Delaware, where we were placed in prison barracks with
-several thousand other Confederate officers. While at the Old Capitol
-Prison we were well treated, and the rations were all we could wish. At
-Fort Delaware it was very different. The rations were badly cooked and
-scarcely sufficient in quantity to sustain life, besides being very
-inferior in quality. There were only two meals a day; breakfast at eight
-A. M., and dinner at four P. M.
-
-We got to Fort Delaware in the afternoon. I was not feeling very well
-and did not go to dinner. We had some rations brought from Washington.
-Captain Horton went, and the first thing he said when he came back was,
-"Take care of that meat, it is as scarce as hen's teeth here." In truth
-it was very, very scarce.
-
-My brother, J. L. Morgan, who was living in Brooklyn, N. Y., very kindly
-furnished me with clothes, and supplied me with money with which to
-supplement the poor and scanty prison fare, saving me from much
-suffering, and I have but little doubt, saved my life; for many who had
-to depend alone on what they got in prison died from lack of sufficient
-and proper food and clothing. My brother also furnished money to Robt.
-Morgan and W. L. Brown, who was his brother-in-law, and to other
-Confederate prisoners.
-
-For breakfast, we had a slice of light-bread, about four ounces, and
-about one and one-half or two ounces of bacon; for dinner the same bread
-and about two or three ounces of loud-smelling pickled beef—"red horse,"
-as it was called—and a tin cup of miserable stuff, called soup, so mean
-that I could not swallow it. This was all, day in and day out, week
-after week, and month after month. Men who lived on these rations were
-always hungry. Even those who had money did not fare much better, as the
-prices at the sutlers' were so exorbitant that a dollar did not go far.
-I shared the money sent me with my bunk-mate, Capt. Thos. B. Horton.
-
-Prison life was hard and very monotonous, though many things were
-resorted to to while away the tedious hours.
-
-All kinds of games were played, "keno" being the most popular, and much
-gambling went on. Concerts were given, debating societies formed, and
-many other things resorted to to kill time. My brother sent me a set of
-chess-men. There were other sets in the prison, and this game was played
-a good deal. There were some fine players among the officers; Capt. J.
-W. Fanning, of Alabama, and Capt. H. C. Hoover, of Staunton, Va., being
-the champion players.
-
-I here give a song composed and sung by Confederate prisoners at Fort
-Delaware, at a concert given by the prisoners, for the benefit of the
-destitute among the 600 Confederate officers, who were put under fire on
-Morris Island, and afterwards sent to Fort Pulaski and Hilton Head, and
-confined there during the winter of 1864-65, and who were sent back to
-Fort Delaware in March, 1865, in a pitiable plight:
-
- "IN THE PRISON OF FORT DELAWARE
-
- (TO THE TUNE OF "LOUISIANA LOWLANDS")
-
- "Come listen to my ditty, it will while away a minute,
- And if I didn't think so, I never would begin it;
- 'Tis 'bout a life in prison, so forward bend your head,
- And I'll tell you in a moment how dey treat the poor Confed.
-
- CHORUS:
-
- "In the prison of Fort Delaware, Delaware, Delaware,
- In the prison of Fort Delaware, Del.
-
- "Dey put you in de barrack, de barrack in divisions,
- Den dey 'lect a captain who bosses the provisions;
- He keeps the money letters, keeps order in the room,
- And hollers like the debbil if you upset the spittoon.
-
- CHORUS:
-
- "Wheneber dey take de oath, dey put dem near de ribber,
- Dey work dem like de debbil, worse dan in de Libby;
- Dey shake 'em in de blanket, thow stuff into der eyes,
- And parole dem on de island, and call 'em "galvanized."
-
- CHORUS:
-
- "Some officers do washing, many makes de fires,
- So hot upon a sunny day, dat every one expires;
- Some working gutta-percha, some walking in de yard,
- Many make dey living by de turning ob de card.
-
- CHORUS:
-
- "Dar's tailors and shoemakers, some French and Latin teaching,
- Some scratching ob de tiger, while some odders am a-preaching;
- Some cooking up de rations, some swapping off dey clothes,
- While a crowd of Hilton Headers are a-giving nigger shows.
-
- CHORUS:
-
- "Dar's anoder lot ob fellers and cunning dogs dey are,
- Dey get an empty barrel and den set up a bar,
- Git some vinegar and 'lasses—fer whiskey am too dear—
- And mix it wid potato skins and den dey call it beer.
-
- CHORUS:
-
- "No matter what you're doin', one thing am very sartin,
- Dat ebery one is ready from dis prison to be startin';
- De very sad reflection makes eberybody grieve,
- For not a single debbil knows when he's gwine to leave.
-
- CHORUS:
-
- "Now white folks here's a moral: There's nothin' true below,
- This world am but a 'tater patch, de debbil has the hoe;
- Ebery one sees trouble here, go you near and far,
- But the most unlucky debbil am the prisoner of war."
-
-These lines give in a crude way, a pretty correct account of the doings
-in the prison barracks.
-
-I preserved a copy of Prison rules, which follows:
-
- * * * * *
-
- PRISON RULES
-
- "HEADQUARTERS, FORT DELAWARE, DEL.,
- _July 8, 1864_.
-
- I. Roll call at reveille and retreat.
-
- II. Police call at 7 A. M. and 4 P. M.
-
-III. Breakfast at 8 A. M. Dinner at 4 P. M.
-
- IV. Sergeants in charge of prisoners will exact from them strict
-compliance with the above calls, which will be regularly enforced, and
-must promptly report to the officer in charge the number present and
-absent, sick, etc., and any who are guilty of insubordination or any
-violation of the Rules of Prison. They must also notify their men that
-if they do not promptly obey any order given them by a sentinel, officer
-or man in charge of them, they will be shot.
-
- V. Sergeants in charge will be held responsible for the due execution
-of these Rules, and for the regular accounting for the full number of
-their men.
-
-By command of—
-
- BRIG.-GENL. A. SCHOEPF.
- GEO. W. AHL,
- Capt. & A. A. A. G."
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XVIII
-
- OFF FOR CHARLESTON—ALLEGED RETALIATION—ON
- SHIPBOARD—RUN AGROUND—SHORT OF
- WATER—ON MORRIS ISLAND—IN STOCKADE—UNDER
- FIRE—PRISON RULES
-
-
-I remained at Fort Delaware until the 20th of August, 1864. Some time
-previous to this, seventy-five field officers confined at Fort Delaware
-were selected for retaliation, as the Yankees called it, to be put under
-fire of the Confederate guns, on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor.
-
-The Confederates had hospitals in one section of the city of Charleston,
-S. C., with yellow flags flying over them. The Yankees, in shelling the
-city from their batteries on Morris Island, were in the habit of
-shelling these hospitals, and were notified that some of their officers,
-who were held as prisoners of war, would be placed in or near the
-hospitals. The Yankees did not heed this, but prepared to put
-Confederate prisoners under fire of Confederate guns, when firing on
-Yankee batteries on Morris Island.
-
-Firing on hospitals, which were designated by yellow flags, was begun by
-the Yankees on the 18th of July, 1861, at Blackburn's Ford, and kept up
-during the war, contrary to the usage of all civilized nations the world
-over.
-
-These seventy-five field officers were taken to Charleston Harbor, but
-were not put under fire; instead, they were exchanged for a like number
-of Yankee officers.
-
-When orders came to Fort Delaware, soon after this exchange, for 600
-field and company officers to be put under fire, there was a general
-desire among the prisoners to be one of the 600, but we had no say-so as
-to who should go. On the 19th of August, all the prisoners were called
-out and formed in line, when 600 names were called, and those on the
-list were notified to be ready to embark the next morning for the trip.
-Some were so anxious to go that they paid others, whose names had been
-called, for the privilege of surreptitiously answering to their names.
-One officer gave a fine gold watch, and after remaining away seven
-months, and suffering untold privations, was landed back at Fort
-Delaware.
-
-
- ON SHIPBOARD
-
-At the appointed hour on the 20th of August, 1864, the 600 officers
-embarked on board the steamer _Crescent_, which steamed away down the
-bay, out into the broad Atlantic, and down the coast to Charleston
-Harbor, where they were landed on the 7th day of September, having been
-eighteen days aboard ship. Capt. Thos. B. Horton and myself were among
-the number, also Lieut. Peter B. Akers, of Lynchburg.
-
-It was a nasty trip on board this old freight ship, in the summer-time.
-The prisoners were on the lower or freight deck, nearly on the water
-line. Two rows of temporary bunks had been built around the sides of the
-ship, two tiers high. These bunks were about six feet long and three
-feet wide, with two men in each bunk; a pretty close fit, especially if
-both occupants were good-sized men. The bunks did not afford sufficient
-room for all the prisoners, consequently a good many lay on the floor of
-the deck between the bunks. Here the prisoners laid and sweltered
-through eighteen days, the boilers running up through the middle, making
-it much hotter. I occupied a lower bunk on the inside row with Captain
-Horton, who was my messmate while a prisoner; a good fellow he was, too,
-and a good soldier. There was a guard of 150 soldiers on board, who
-occupied the upper deck. The _Crescent_ was escorted by a gunboat.
-
-
- RUN AGROUND
-
-Off the coast of South Carolina, before reaching Charleston, one night
-the pilot, who was a Southern sympathizer, attempted to run the ship
-under the guns of a Confederate battery on the coast, changing the
-course of the ship, and heading it for land, but unfortunately ran
-aground near some low-lying islands near the coast, not far from, but
-not in sight of the mainland. When it was known at dawn of day that the
-ship was aground, all hands were aroused. Some of the prisoners who knew
-the coast, said the pilot had missed the channel by only a narrow
-margin, which led to the Confederate batteries not far away, but not in
-sight. Nor was the Yankee gunboat in sight; the pilot had given the
-escort the slip in the darkness. It was plain to see that the guards
-were very much excited and scared, for they assembled on the top or
-hurricane-deck with their guns in their hands. The crew of the
-_Crescent_ went to work to get the ship off the sand-bar on which it was
-grounded. The prisoners came on deck at will, the guards abandoning
-their post at the hatchway, where they had been stationed to keep all
-the prisoners below, except a certain number, who were allowed to come
-on deck at intervals. All hands were very anxious. Some of the prisoners
-consulted and determined to make an effort to capture the ship and
-guard. Col. Van Manning, of Arkansas, was the leading spirit in the
-movement. I had just come on deck and was standing right by the colonel
-while he wrote a note to the Yankee officer who commanded the guard. I
-think I can give the note verbatim: "Sir—We hereby demand the surrender
-of your guard and this ship. If you comply, you and your men shall be
-treated as prisoners of war; if you refuse, you will have to take the
-consequences." The plan was to make a rush on the guard and overpower
-them by making the attack with such things as were at hand about the
-deck, if they refused to surrender. Just as Colonel Manning finished
-writing this note, some one looked out to sea and there was the old
-gunboat bearing down upon us, and all hope of the capture of the ship
-and guard was dashed to the ground. And how quick the demeanor of the
-guard changed; before the gunboat appeared they were very much
-frightened, and as before said, were gathered together on the upper
-deck, taking no control of the prisoners, who came on the deck at will,
-but now they were insolent and dictatorial, ordering the prisoners to
-assist the crew, and taking control again. The crew pretty soon worked
-the ship off the bar and we sailed on down the coast, accompanied by the
-gunboat. I have often thought what a good joke it would have been on the
-Yankees if we could have captured the ship and guard and taken them all
-into port on the coast.
-
-The pilot was at once arrested and put in irons. We learned afterwards
-he was court-martialed and given a term at hard labor.
-
-
- SHORT OF WATER
-
-While on the _Crescent_ the supply of water ran short; then the only
-water the prisoners had was sea water condensed in the ships, and issued
-out scalding hot in limited quantities. We would pour the hot water from
-one tin cup to another until cool enough to swallow without burning the
-throat.
-
-Think of it! Nothing but hot water to drink in the month of August on
-shipboard on the southern coast. The Yankees had ice on board, but the
-prisoners got none of it.
-
-The _Crescent_ steamed on down the coast, passing Charleston Harbor—
-preparations to receive the prisoners not being completed—to Port Royal
-Sound, where we remained a few days on shipboard. Here two or three
-prisoners escaped from the ship in the night-time, by dropping in the
-water and swimming ashore. Only one, however, made good his escape.
-
-While here we could see sharks swimming about the ship. It took pretty
-good nerve to get in the water and swim for the shore.
-
-
- IN THE STOCKADE
-
-When the stockade was ready, we went up to Charleston Harbor, landing on
-Morris Island, as before said, on the 7th of September, and marched
-between two lines of negro soldiers (big black, slick negro fellows they
-were) two miles up the island, and into a stockade made of pine logs set
-on end in the ground, about twenty feet high, enclosing an acre of
-ground. In the stockade were small fly-tents arranged in regular
-military order. Four men occupied each tent.
-
-The negro soldiers guarded us—the sentries, on platforms on the outside
-of the stockade, about three feet from the top. These sentries would
-fire upon the slightest provocation, though I must say that the negro
-soldiers treated the prisoners better than the white officers who
-commanded them. For these officers the prisoners had a perfect contempt.
-They were a low-down, measly set. One Lieut.-Col. William Gurney was in
-command, and the most despisable in the lot was he.
-
-While here the rations were scant and sorry. For breakfast, we had three
-crackers, sometimes two, and sometimes only one and a half, and a very
-small piece of bacon, about two ounces; towards the last, five crackers
-per day were issued. For dinner, we had soup made of some kind of dried
-peas, about one pint, very unpalatable—for supper, a pint of very thin
-mush or rice. The mush was made of stale cornmeal, full of worms. One
-prisoner picked out and counted 125 small, black-headed worms from a cup
-of this mush. I would pick out worms a while, and then eat the stuff a
-while, then pick out more worms until all were gone. Some just devoured
-worms and all, saying they could not afford to loose that much of their
-rations; that if the worms could stand it, they could. The detestable
-Yankee lieutenant-colonel would sometimes come into the camp while we
-were devouring the mush and worms and with a contemptible sneer and
-Yankee nasal twang, say: "You fellows need fresh meat to keep off
-scurvy, so I give it to you in your mush."
-
-One day all the prisoners were taken out of the stockade, marched down
-to the wharf and put aboard two old hulks or lighters and towed out in
-the bay, where the hulks remained all night. The next morning we were
-again landed and marched back to the stockade. I never knew why this was
-done, unless it was to search the tents for contraband articles, or to
-see if there was any tunneling going on from the tents, in order to
-effect escapes. I think some efforts were made at tunneling out, but
-without success.
-
-While here we were not allowed to purchase anything to eat from the
-sutler unless directed by the surgeon when sick, consequently, every man
-was hungry all the while, as a whole day's rations were not sufficient
-for one meal. During the time a flag-of-truce boat passed between the
-island and Charleston, by which the good women of Charleston sent the
-prisoners a good supply of pipes and tobacco, and something good to eat,
-which was highly appreciated.
-
-
- UNDER FIRE
-
-After the prisoners were placed here near the Yankee batteries, so as to
-be exposed to the fire of the Confederate guns, the Confederate
-batteries did not fire a great deal. What shelling was done was mostly
-at night. Some of the shells burst over the stockade and the pieces
-would fall around, but I don't remember that any of the prisoners were
-hit. It was rather uncomfortable, though, to lie there and watch the big
-shells sailing through the air, which we could see at night by the fuse
-burning, and sometimes burst above us, instead of bursting in or above
-the Yankee forts 100 yards further on, and then listen at the fragments
-humming through the air and hear them strike the ground with a dull thud
-among the tents. We would first hear a distant boom, two miles away
-towards Charleston, and then begin to look and listen for the shell
-which was sure to follow that boom. Peter Akers used to say, "That is
-trusting too much to the fuse to shoot two miles and expect the shell to
-burst 100 hundred yards beyond the stockade."
-
-The prisoners were located about midway between two Yankee forts, Gregg
-and Wagner. Through the interstices between the pine logs forming the
-stockade, we could see indistinctly Fort Sumter, which looked like a
-pile of ruins. The outer walls of brick had been battered to pieces by
-the Yankee batteries on Morris Island and the breaks filled up with sand
-bags. The city of Charleston was also visible, though indistinctly. We
-were not permitted to go near the stockade.
-
-One day a Yankee monitor, which, with other blockading ships, lay near
-the entrance of the harbor or bay, moved up about opposite the stockade,
-and engaged in a fight with the Confederate batteries. We could see the
-Confederate shots strike the water and skip along towards the Monitor,
-which pretty soon got enough of it, and moved out of range.
-
-
- PRISON RULES
-
-I also preserved a copy of the Prison Rules here, which is as follows:
-
- * * * * *
-
- "HEADQUARTERS, U. S. FORCES,
- MORRIS ISLAND, S. C.,
- _September 7, 1864_.
-
-"The following Rules and Regulations are hereby announced for the
-government of the camp of the prisoners of war:
-
-"The prisoners will be divided into eight detachments, seventy-five in
-each, lettered A, B, C, etc., each prisoner numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. Each
-detachment will be under the charge of a warden, who will be detailed
-from the guard for that duty. There will be three roll calls each day,
-the first at one-half hour before sunrise, at which time the prisoners
-will be counted by the wardens, and the reports will be taken by the
-officer of the day at the company streets before the ranks are broken.
-Each warden will see that the quarters in his detachment are properly
-policed, and will make the detail necessary for that duty. Sick-call
-will be at 9 o'clock A. M. each day. Each warden will make a morning
-report to the officer in charge on blanks suitable for that purpose.
-There will be two barrel sinks for each detachment, which will be placed
-on the flanks of the companies during the day and in the company streets
-at night. They will be emptied after each roll call by a detail from
-each detachment. No talking will be allowed after evening roll call, and
-no prisoner will leave his tent after that time except to obey the calls
-of nature. During the day the prisoners will be allowed the limits of
-the camp as marked by the rope running between the stockade and the line
-of tents. Prisoners passing this line under any pretense whatever will
-be shot by the sentinels. No persons except the guard and officers on
-duty at the camp will be allowed to communicate with the prisoners
-without written permission from these or superior headquarters. The
-sentinels will always have their guns loaded and capped. If more than
-ten prisoners are seen together, except at meal-time and roll call, they
-will be warned to disperse, and if they do not obey at once, they will
-be fired upon by the sentries.
-
-"If there is any disturbance whatever in the camp or any attempt made by
-the prisoners to escape, the camp will be opened upon with grape and
-canister, musketry, and the Requa Batteries.
-
-"If a prisoner is sick, he may be allowed to purchase such luxuries as
-the surgeon in charge may direct. The prisoners will be allowed to
-purchase only the following named articles: Writing materials, pipes,
-tobacco, and necessary clothing.
-
-"Everything bought by or sent to them will be inspected by the provost
-marshal. The prisoners will be allowed to write letters, one a week, not
-more than one-half sheet of paper to each letter. The letters will be
-opened and pass through the hands of the provost marshal before being
-mailed. No candles or light of any kind will be allowed. The hours for
-meals are as follows: Breakfast, 7 A. M.; dinner, 12 M.; supper, 5 P. M.
-The rations will be cooked and served under the direction of the provost
-marshal.
-
-By order of—
-
- "LIEUT.-COL. WILLIAM GURNEY,
- 127th Regt. N. Y. Vol., Com. Post.
- "R. H. L. JEVOETT,
- Capt. 54 Mass. Vol., A. A. A. G."
-
- "Official: GEO. N. LITTLE,
- 1st. Lt. 127th R. N. Y. V.,
- A. A. A. C."
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XIX
-
- TO FORT PULASKI—ROTTEN CORNMEAL AND
- PICKLED RATIONS—A PLOT LAID
-
-
-On the 17th of October the prisoners were notified to be ready to move
-at daylight next morning. In one of the tents the next morning, in order
-to see how to get ready, one of the prisoners struck a light, when the
-negro guard fired into the tent, wounding two of the occupants badly,
-one through the knee and the other in the shoulder. On the 18th we were
-marched to the wharf and put aboard two old hulks and towed out to sea.
-We had been forty-two days in this stockade and were glad enough to get
-away. But alas! we did not know what was in store for us later on. Three
-days' rations, so-called, had been issued—fifteen crackers and about
-five or six ounces of bacon. After being at sea three days and two
-nights, one hulk-load of 300 were landed at Fort Pulaski, on Tybee
-Island, Ga., at the mouth of the Savannah River, and the other 300 were
-landed at Hilton Head, a short distance up the coast.
-
-Fort Pulaski was built of brick, with very thick walls, surrounded by a
-wide moat, was very damp, and when the east winds blew, very cold and
-disagreeable, there being no window-lights in the embrasures to the
-casements in which the prisoners were confined—only iron bars. Here the
-prisoners were guarded by the 127th N. Y. Regiment, commanded by Col. W.
-W. Brown, who treated the prisoners kindly.
-
-In this regiment there were a great many youths in their teens. I
-remarked on this in a conversation with a Yankee sergeant, who stated
-that these boys were put into the army by their fathers for the sake of
-the large bounties paid, which, in many cases, amounted to $2,000 and
-over, and that these fathers were using the money to buy homes and lands
-for themselves.
-
-Just like a Yankee—he would sell his own flesh and blood for money!
-
-The Confederate soldiers were patriots, fighting for their country,
-while a large majority of the Yankee army were hirelings, fighting for
-money. Yet these hirelings are lauded as patriots by the North and
-pensioned by the United States Government!
-
-For a time the rations were better here than on Morris Island. All the
-men and officers of this regiment had seen service in the field and had
-a fellow-feeling for a soldier, although he was a "Rebel" prisoner.
-Whenever we were guarded by Yankees who had never seen service in the
-field, they were as mean as snakes. The guards at Fort Delaware were of
-the latter kind—they shot several prisoners without cause. One instance
-I remember was that of Colonel —— Jones, of Virginia, who was sick and
-very feeble, scarcely able to walk. He had gone to the sink and had
-started back when a guard ordered him to move faster, which he could not
-do, and was shot through the body, dying the next day. The miscreant
-boasted that, "This makes two Rebels my gun has killed."
-
-
- ROTTEN CORNMEAL AND PICKLED RATIONS
-
-While at Fort Pulaski, Gen. J. G. Foster, the Yankee general commanding
-the department, and a cruel, unfeeling wretch he must have been, issued
-an order to put the prisoners on ten ounces of cornmeal and half pint of
-onion pickles per day.
-
-This cornmeal was shipped from the North, was completely spoiled and
-utterly unfit for food, being mouldy, in hard lumps, and full of worms,
-big and little, some of them an inch long. The brands on the barrels
-showed that this cornmeal was ground at Brandywine in the year 1861.
-This was done, it was said, in retaliation for the Confederates feeding
-the Yankee prisoners on cornbread and sour sorghum. We would have been
-very glad to have gotten cornbread and sorghum, such as the Yankee
-prisoners had. They did not even give us salt, absolutely nothing but
-this ten ounces of rotten, wormy cornmeal and pickles, and would not
-allow those who had money to buy anything to eat from the sutler's. Some
-say that Edward M. Stanton, the Yankee Secretary of War, the arch-fiend
-of South-haters, was responsible for this cruel treatment. It savored of
-many of Stanton's acts during and after the war. In consequence of this
-inhuman order, there was a great deal of sickness and many deaths among
-the prisoners. "Starved to death," said the Yankee surgeon who attended
-the sick, "medicine will do them no good." Scurvy, a loathsome disease,
-prevailed to an alarming extent; the gums would become black and putrid,
-the legs full of sores, drawn and distorted. Many a poor fellow, in
-attempting to make his way to the sinks, would fall fainting to the
-ground. I remember, in one day, assisting three of these unfortunates to
-rise from the ground and back to their bunks. To substantiate what I
-have here recorded as facts, I give the following from the "War of the
-Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series
-II, Vol. VIII, page 163":
-
- * * * * *
-
- "HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF SAVANNAH,
- SAVANNAH, GA.,
- _February 1, 1865_.
-
- "Assistant Adjutant General,
- Headquarters, Department of the South:
-
-"My medical director yesterday inspected the condition of the Rebel
-prisoners confined at Fort Pulaski, and represents that they are in a
-condition of great suffering and exhaustion for the want of sufficient
-food and clothing; also that they have the scurvy to a considerable
-extent. He recommends as a necessary measure, that they be at once put
-on full prison rations ("full prison rations," God save the mark!), and
-also that they be allowed to receive necessary articles of clothing from
-their friends. I would respectfully endorse the surgeon's recommendation
-and ask authority to take such steps as may be necessary to relieve
-actual sickness and suffering.
-
- (Signed) "C. GROVER,
- Brevet Major-General,
- Commanding."
-
- * * * * *
-
-Now, here it is from their own records, showing how wantonly and cruelly
-the Yankees treated these prisoners.
-
-During these frightful days I made a ring out of a gutta-percha button,
-which was traded to a Yankee soldier, on the sly, for a good chunk of
-middling meat, which was a Godsend. I escaped the scurvy, but my
-messmate, Captain Horton, had it pretty badly, although I shared the
-meat with him. The prisoners killed and ate all the cats they could
-catch. I ate a small piece of a cat myself, and would have eaten more if
-I could have gotten it. One of the Yankee officers had a fat little dog
-that followed him into the casemates when making his tours of
-inspection; the hungry prisoners longed to get this dog, but he kept
-close to his master's heels, as if cognizant of the fact that he was on
-dangerous ground. With half a chance he would have been caught, killed,
-skinned, and devoured in short order. Some one may have nabbed this dog;
-I don't know.
-
-These starvation days lasted about two months. During this time a Yankee
-major, out of compassion for the starving prisoners, went out with a
-boat and net one day, caught and gave to the prisoners a number of fresh
-fish, which were greatly enjoyed. This kindness was duly appreciated.
-But those higher in authority forbade its repetition, and we got no more
-fish.
-
-While at Fort Pulaski the "Lee Chess Club" got out a paper, in pen and
-ink, foolscap size; I was one of the scribes and preserved a copy. A few
-years ago I sent this copy to the Confederate Museum at Richmond, Va.,
-where it is now preserved in a glass case in the Virginia Room, in the
-White House of the Confederacy.
-
-
- A PLOT LAID
-
-While here, six officers laid a plan to capture the ship when we were
-removed from the place, it being often rumored we were to be taken away.
-These six officers each selected ten others to act with them. No one
-else knew anything of the plot. I do not remember the names of the
-leaders. Captain Horton and myself were among the number selected.
-
-About the 1st of March, rumors were rife that we were to be moved, and
-the plot was perfected as far as possible. The plan was to overpower the
-guard when at sea, take charge of the ship and run it to Nassau, or some
-other neutral port, in the West Indies. While here, some of the
-prisoners escaped from the hospital. Only one, however, made good and
-got safely away. Those recaptured were put in irons, cast into a foul
-dungeon, and cruelly treated.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XX
-
- BACK TO FORT DELAWARE—DISAPPOINTMENT AND
- GREAT SUFFERING—THREE DEATHS AND
- BURIALS AT SEA
-
-
-About the 3d or 4th of March, I think it was, the soldiers guarding us
-said an order had been received from General Grant, "an autograph
-letter," they said, to take us to Norfolk; thence up James River to City
-Point, for exchange. This was joyful news, indeed, and with eagerness
-and high hopes the prisoners made preparations to leave that dismal
-place. The next day we boarded a small steamer and were off for Dixie,
-as all believed. We left many a poor comrade buried in the sand on that
-Tybee Island, victims of Yankee cruelty and hatred.
-
-After taking on board the prisoners at Hilton Head, the ship was so
-heavily loaded that the captain refused to put to sea. All the prisoners
-were then transferred to the steamship _Illinois_, a larger and better
-boat, which sailed for Norfolk. So certain were all that an exchange
-would be effected, no effort was made to carry out the plan to capture
-the ship. The guards on the ship paid little or no attention to the
-prisoners; they virtually had the freedom of the ship, could go on deck
-at will, and could have taken possession without the loss of a single
-man. There was no gunboat escort.
-
-On this trip up the coast there was a great deal of seasickness. There
-was no storm, but the ship rolled considerably. I was sick myself, and
-as I lay in a bunk down on the lower deck, looking out a small porthole
-at the huge billows, feeling very miserable, I made up my mind if
-anything happened to the ship, to just lay still and go down with it
-without making any effort to save myself. I remember one poor fellow who
-was suffering terribly, groaning and heaving as if trying to throw up
-his very "gizzard," when some one called out, "Give that man a piece of
-fat meat, it will help him." The sick man cried out in his agony, "O
-Lord God, don't talk about fat meat to me." Any one who has been
-sea-sick knows what an aversion the nausea produces to food, especially
-fat meat.
-
-On the night of the 7th of March we dropped anchor at Norfolk, thinking
-of nothing but that the next morning we would steam up the historic
-James to City Point, and there be exchanged.
-
-
- DISAPPOINTMENT AND GREAT SUFFERING
-
-The next morning the ship weighed anchor, with many of us on deck in
-high spirits. Soon after getting under way, the ship was hailed by a
-gunboat, lying in Hampton Roads, with "Where are you bound?" The captain
-of the _Illinois_ shouted back through his trumpet, "Fort Delaware." Oh,
-horror of horrors! our hearts sank within us; visions of exchange, of
-home and friends, vanished in a twinkling. Doomed to further
-incarceration in a detestable Yankee prison, when we had expected in a
-few short hours to be free and with friends! With hope, aye, certainly
-of relief, dashed to the ground, our feelings may be better imagined
-than expressed in words. The doom of the damned, "Depart from me ye
-cursed into everlasting fire," can not be much worse. The Yankee guards
-on board the ship were at once on the alert, and with harsh and insolent
-commands, ordered and compelled, at point of bayonet, all the prisoners
-to get off the deck, and would not allow, after this, more than six or
-eight men on deck at a time; sentinels with loaded guns and fixed
-bayonets stood at the hatchways above us, and there was no chance to
-take the ship. One scoundrel threatened to shoot me as I stood at the
-foot of the ladder, with my hand on it, awaiting my turn to go on deck.
-He said to me in an insolent tone, "Take your hand off that ladder." I
-did so, then he said, "If you are an officer, why don't you dress like
-an officer?" I replied, "It is none of your business how I dress." Then
-he said, "Damn you, I will shoot you," bringing down his cocked gun on
-me, when I stepped back out of sight, thinking "discretion the better
-part of valor." How much the seventy men in the plot regretted not
-putting that plot into execution can never be told.
-
-
- THREE DEATHS AND BURIALS AT SEA
-
-While on the way up the coast to Fort Delaware, the suffering among the
-prisoners was greatly intensified. The sick and disabled especially were
-downcast, and in utter despair; a more miserable set of men were perhaps
-never seen on board a ship. The floor of the lower deck was covered with
-vomit, which sloshed from side to side as the ship rolled back and
-forth.
-
-Gloom and despair sat like a black pall on every face. Before Fort
-Delaware was reached, three officers died and were buried at sea. I
-witnessed one of the burials. The body was sewed up in a blanket with a
-cannon ball at the feet, then placed on a plank, feet foremost, which
-was pushed out over the side of the ship and the plank tilted up, when
-all that was mortal of the poor fellow slid off, and dropped into the
-sea, many feet below, to rest in a watery grave until the final roll
-call at the Judgment Day, "when the sea shall give up its dead."
-
-Seventy-five sick were taken from the ship to the hospital, and many
-more were hardly able to walk, but the hospital was full. We disembarked
-at Fort Delaware on the 12th of March, 1865.
-
-It was said the reason we were not exchanged, was that upon the arrival
-of the prisoners at Hampton Roads their condition was so horrible the
-Yankees did not want the Confederate authorities and the world to know
-their condition, hence they were shipped back to Fort Delaware.
-
-That the exchange was ordered by General Grant I here present proof from
-the same volume of "War Records," before quoted from, on page 417, where
-will be found the following:
-
- * * * * *
-
- "CITY POINT, VA., _March 21, 1865_.
-
-"Brigadier-General Mulford, Commanding General: I do not know what has
-been done with the officers at Fort Pulaski; I sent orders to have them
-delivered at Charleston. Before the order had been received, Charleston
-had fallen into our possession. I then sent orders to have them sent to
-the James River. Before that order was received, General Gilmore wrote
-to me that, having received my first order, which had been directed to
-General Foster, he had sent a flag to find the enemy to deliver the
-prisoners to. I have heard nothing since.
-
- (Signed) "U. S. GRANT,
- Lieutenant-General."
-
- * * * * *
-
-Proof of Grant's order to Foster for exchange at Charleston is in the
-same volume, page 219, and is dated 14th of February, 1865. "So near,"
-we were to exchange and relief from suffering, "and yet so far."
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XXI
-
- YANKEE INFAMY—CONDUCT OF THE WAR—SHERMAN'S
- MARCH—VIRGINIA DISMEMBERED
-
-
-The Yankees were continually giving out to the world exaggerated
-accounts of the conditions of their soldiers in Confederate prisons, and
-are still at it, all the while refusing to exchange prisoners, except in
-a few instances.
-
-The Yankees during the war did many mean, contemptible and uncivilized
-things, but I have always thought about the most contemptible and
-meanest thing they did was when, sometimes, there was an exchange of
-sick and wounded prisoners, they would strip to the skin their sick and
-wounded men, the most emaciated, have their pictures taken and sent
-broadcast over the country, to fire the Northern people and prejudice
-the world against the Confederates, when they knew the Confederate sick
-from Northern prisons were equally emaciated; but never a picture of
-these did they take and scatter abroad. I have seen some of these
-pictures. They are still harping on the horrors of Andersonville, but
-never a word do they utter about the wilful, malicious and cruel
-treatment of prisoners on Morris Island, and in Fort Pulaski, and Hilton
-Head.
-
-The Confederates fed the Yankee prisoners, as best they could, the same
-rations issued to Confederate soldiers—cut off as they were from the
-world, a large part of their country overrun by a brutal and merciless
-foe, who carried desolation and destruction through the land, wherever
-their worse than Hessian hoards went. There was much suffering
-everywhere in the South.
-
-Food was scarce in the South, women and children suffered, and our own
-soldiers in the field had scanty rations, very often nothing but bread
-and not enough of that, while the Yankees, with plenty of supplies,
-their ports open to the world, less than half fed the Confederates in
-all their prisons, through malice and revenge.
-
-It is a well-known fact, established by the records, that while there
-were more Yankee prisoners in Southern prisons than there were
-Confederates in Northern prisons, many thousands more of Confederate
-prisoners died in Northern prisons than Yankees in Southern prisons. It
-is established by the records of the war office at Washington that,
-during the war, Yankee prisoners to the number of 270,000 were captured
-and that 220,000 Confederates were captured. Of these prisoners 20,000
-Yankees died in Southern prisons (about eight per cent.), while 26,000
-Confederate prisoners died in Northern prisons (about sixteen per cent.
-of those captured). Most of the Confederate prisoners were confined in
-prisons in cold lake regions, and at Point Lookout, where they suffered
-untold miseries from exposure in those bleak locations. Confined in
-open, board barracks and tents with a very, very scant supply of fuel,
-with only a few thin blankets, thin, worn out clothing, and less than
-half fed, no wonder many of them died, victims of Yankee cruelty.
-
-Let it ever be remembered that all this suffering, privation, and tens
-of thousands of deaths, were caused by the Yankees during the last two
-years of the war refusing to exchange prisoners, while the Confederates
-were always willing and anxious to exchange. General Grant said, when
-urged to agree to exchanges to prevent suffering and death in prison of
-his own men, "It is hard on our men confined in Southern prisons, but it
-would be harder on our soldiers in the field to consent to an exchange,
-because, if the 30,00 Rebel prisoners were released, they would go back
-to the army and fight, while our men would return to their homes." The
-Confederate authorities offered the Yankees the privilege of sending
-food, medicine, and hospital supplies to their prisoners in the South to
-be dispensed by Yankee doctors, but the offer was coldly and cruelly
-declined.
-
-As proof of this, I refer to Col. Robt. Olds' letter to General Grant,
-dated Richmond, Va., January 24, 1865, in "War of the Rebellion,
-Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies," Series II, Vol.
-2, pages 122-23, published by the United States Government.
-
-Not only this, but in truth no reply was made. They made medicine
-contraband of war; that is, they would not allow medicine to be shipped
-into the South any more than they would powder and lead or food or
-clothing—something no other nation of modern times has ever done. These
-things here recorded are historic, known and read by all men.
-
-
- CONDUCT OF THE WAR
-
-The conduct of the war on the part of the North was cold-blooded and
-cruel in the highest degree. The Northern soldiers burned and pillaged
-thousands of homes, and ruthlessly destroyed millions of dollars' worth
-of private property. The beautiful and fertile Valley of Virginia, "the
-garden spot of the world," was made a howling wilderness by wanton
-destruction and devastation; every mill and barn was burned, together
-with many dwellings; every kind of food for man or beast was destroyed,
-and the women and children left in a pitiable plight, the vandal
-Sheridan sending a message to Grant after the dastardly work was done,
-that "A crow flying over the Valley would have to take his rations with
-him." Gen. U. S. Grant had ordered this destruction and devastation, and
-found in Sheridan a willing tool to execute the infamous order.
-
-The annals of history, ancient or modern, furnish few if any atrocities
-equal to those perpetrated by the Northern armies. The monster, Sherman,
-in his march through Georgia and North Carolina, burned and pillaged as
-no army ever did before, leaving a burned and blackened swath behind him
-forty to sixty miles wide. A few years ago, when the world was horrified
-at the cruelty the United States soldiers practiced on the Philippinos,
-including the "water cure," which consisted of inserting a rubber tube
-into the throat while the victim lay bound on his back, and pouring
-water in the tube and down the throat until the stomach was filled and
-distended to its fullest capacity, then jumping on the victim's stomach
-with the feet, forcing the water out, repeating the operation time and
-time again—when I read of this I remarked to some one that I was not
-surprised: that the Yankees were mean enough to do anything; that I knew
-them of old.
-
-
- SHERMAN'S MARCH
-
-General Sherman, in his official report of his operations in Georgia,
-says: "We consumed the corn and fodder in the country thirty miles on
-either side of a line from Atlanta to Savannah: also the sweet potatoes,
-hogs, sheep, poultry, and carried off more than 10,000 horses and mules.
-I estimate the damage done to the State of Georgia at one hundred
-million dollars, at least, twenty millions of which inured to our
-benefit, and the remainder was simply waste and destruction." Could
-anything be more diabolical?
-
-From Gen. Bradley Johnston's "Life of Gen. Jos. E. Johnston," I take the
-following extracts, descriptive of Sherman's march: "A solid wall of
-smoke by day forty miles wide, and from the horizon to the zenith, gave
-notice to the women and children of the fate that was moving on them. At
-early dawn the black veil showed the march of the burners. All day they
-watched it coming from the northwest, like a storm-cloud of destruction.
-All night it was lit up by forked tongues of flame, lighting the lurid
-darkness. The next morning it reached them. Terror borne on the air,
-fleet as the furies, spread out ahead, and murder, arson, rapine,
-enveloped them. Who can describe the agonies of mothers for their
-daughters, for their babes, for their fathers and young boys?
-
-"This crime was organized and regulated with intelligence and method.
-Every morning details were sent out in advance and on the flanks. The
-burners spread themselves over the whole country for miles beyond either
-flank of the marching columns, and they robbed everything.
-
-"All valuables, gold, silver, jewels, watches, etc., were brought in at
-night and a fair division made of them among all parties. The captain
-was entitled to so much, the colonel to his share, the general to his
-portion.
-
-"Let a few other things also speak. Major-General Halleck, then, I
-believe, commander-in-chief, under the President, of the armies of the
-Union, on the 18th of December, 1864, dispatched as follows to General
-Sherman, then in Savannah: 'Should you capture Charleston, I hope that
-by some accident the place may be destroyed, and if a little salt should
-be sown upon its site, it may prevent the growth of future crops of
-nullification and secession.'"
-
-On the 26th of December, 1864, General Sherman made the following
-answer: "I will bear in mind your hint as to Charleston, and don't think
-that 'salt will be necessary.' When I move, the Fifteenth Corps will be
-on the right wing, and the position will bring them naturally into
-Charleston first, and if you have watched the history of that corps, you
-will have remarked that they generally do their work pretty well. The
-truth is, the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak
-vengeance upon South Carolina."
-
-The Northern people have immortalized these dastardly deeds in the song,
-"Marching Through Georgia," and still exultingly sing and play it, which
-but perpetuates an infamy which should and does cause every American,
-worthy of the name, to hang his head in shame.
-
-Here we have it from those high in authority approving and urging on the
-demons in human form who were perpetrating the most dastardly
-atrocities, and gloating over it, too. Who can doubt but that Hades
-burned hotter and his Satanic Majesty rubbed his hands in glee, when
-Stanton, Halleck, Sherman, _et id genus omne_, were hurled headlong into
-the bottomless pit?
-
-How different was the conduct of General Lee and his army when invading
-the enemy's country! I give here General Lee's order when in
-Pennsylvania:
-
- * * * * *
-
- "HEADQUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
- _June 27, 1863_,
-
- "Gen. Orders No. 73.
-
-"The Commanding General has observed with marked satisfaction the
-conduct of the troops on the march. There have, however, been instances
-of forgetfulness on the part of some that they have in keeping the yet
-unsullied reputation of this army, and that the duties exacted of us by
-civilization and Christianity are not less obligatory in the country of
-the enemy than our own.
-
-"The Commanding General considers that no greater disgrace could befall
-the army, and through it our whole people, than the perpetration of
-barbarous outrages upon the unarmed and defenseless, and the wanton
-destruction of private property that have marked the course of the enemy
-in our own country....
-
-"It will be remembered that we make war only upon armed men.
-
- (Signed) R. E. LEE, General."
-
- * * * * *
-
-What a contrast! Robert E. Lee would have thrust his right hand into the
-fire and burned it off inch by inch before he would have written such
-words as Halleck and Sherman wrote.
-
-W. T. Sherman was utterly incapable of entertaining or expressing such
-high and noble sentiments as emanated from Lee in the above-quoted
-order.
-
-It is true that Early burned Chambersburg, but this was done in
-retaliation for wanton destruction of private houses in Virginia by the
-Yankee General Hunter, upon the refusal of the town to pay an indemnity
-in money.
-
-
- VIRGINIA DISMEMBERED
-
-A most atrocious act of the Yankee Government during the war,
-high-handed and inexcusable and without any semblance of law, right or
-necessity, was the dismemberment of the State of Virginia, when the old
-Mother of States was despoiled of one-third of her territory. West
-Virginia, cleft as it was from the side of the old Mother State by the
-sword, when in the throes of war, left that mother bleeding, and robbed
-of her richest mineral territory. Not that it would make the United
-States Government any stronger or richer, but only to satiate the
-hatred, revenge and malice of the Yankee nation. Virginia! The proud Old
-Dominion, that in 1795 voluntarily gave to the young Republic that vast
-northwestern domain, 250,000 square miles in extent, which her sons,
-during the Revolutionary War, single-handed and alone, under the
-leadership of the indomitable George Rogers Clark, wrested from the
-British and their Indian allies, and which now comprises the states of
-Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and that part of Minnesota
-east of the Mississippi River; yet her original domains, as one of the
-thirteen States as fixed and adjusted after Kentucky was formed, and the
-ceding to the United States of this great western empire; the oldest,
-foremost, and proudest of the States, on whose shores the first English
-settlement on the continent was made, whose ter-centennial in this year
-of Grace, 1907, is being celebrated, and on whose sacred soil the fires
-of liberty were kindled and fanned into flame by the burning words,
-"Give me liberty or give me death," which fell from the lips of her own
-Patrick Henry; yet Virginia, the proud old Mother of States and
-statesmen, her borders extending from the sands on the ocean shore on
-the east to the Ohio River on the west, must be cut in twain, in hatred,
-in malice and in revenge.
-
-These facts, the treatment of prisoners, and destruction of private
-property, are here recorded that the truth of history may be vindicated,
-and that the cold-blooded and cruel atrocities of the enemies of the
-South may not be forgotten. Multiplied instances of cruelty and
-vandalism might be here written down, but the subject is distasteful.
-
-All this cruelty and these wanton acts of devastation and destruction
-were visited on the South and her people, not because they were
-criminals and outlaws, but to satiate Yankee hatred and revenge. That
-the South acted within her rights in withdrawing from the Union is now
-conceded by all unbiased and fair-minded men who have intelligence
-enough to investigate the rights of the states under the original
-compact—the Bill of Rights, the constitutions of several states, and the
-Constitution of the United States.
-
-Impartial history will accord the South honor, genius, skill, bravery
-and endurance, under adverse conditions, unexampled; victories many,
-against great odds. Truthfully has it been said of the Confederacy:
-
- "No nation rose so white and fair,
- Or fell so pure of crime"—
-
-While to the North will be accorded success through unlimited resources
-and vastly superior numbers, together with dishonor and shame for
-cruelty, revengefulness and wanton destruction of private property,
-unequaled in modern history.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XXII
-
- LEE'S SURRENDER—LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION—OUT
- OF PRISON AND AT HOME
-
-
-Prison life at Fort Delaware had not improved any during the absence of
-the 600; the same bad, scanty rations were still served, with no
-surcease of the tedious, weary hours. When General Lee surrendered at
-Appomattox on the 9th of April, 1865, the prisoners were very much
-depressed, and almost the last hope of the establishment of the
-independence of the South vanished. A meeting of the Virginia officers
-was held to consult as to what was best to be done. Gen. Jos. E.
-Johnston was still in the field with an army in North Carolina, and Gen.
-Kirby Smith, commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department, was in Texas
-with a few thousand men. Whether we would abandon all hope and get out
-of prison as soon as possible by taking the oath of allegiance to the
-United States Government, which was offered, or await future events,
-were the questions discussed. Several speeches were made. Among the
-speakers I remember Capt. Jas. Bumgardner, of Staunton; Capt. H. Clay
-Dickerson, of Bedford, and Capt. Don P. Halsey, of Lynchburg. Captain
-Halsey closed his speech by submitting a motion: "That the meeting take
-no action at present," which motion I seconded, and it was carried
-unanimously. We were not yet ready to surrender to what seemed to be the
-inevitable. General Johnston was still standing before the enemy with
-his tattered, battered, and shattered battalions, and we considered our
-unqualified allegiance was still due to the Confederacy while he thus
-stood. The remaining days of April were anxious and exciting ones.
-
-
- LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION
-
-When the news of the assassination of Lincoln, which occurred on the
-night of the 14th of April, 1865, reached Fort Delaware the next
-morning, there was great excitement among the Yankee guards and
-prisoners also. The Yankee soldiers looked mad and vindictive, and the
-guards were doubled. Visions of retaliatory measures—banishment to Dry
-Tortugas, or worse—rose up before the Confederate officers. If
-retaliation was resorted to, no one knew how many Southern lives it
-would take to appease the wrath and vengeance of the North. If lots were
-cast for the victims, no one knew who would draw the black ballots.
-While all were discussing these questions in all seriousness, Peter
-Akers, the wit of the prison, broke the tension with the remark, "It was
-hard on old Abe to go through the war and then get bushwhacked in a
-theater."
-
-The Yankees almost moved heaven and earth to implicate the Confederate
-authorities in the assassination of Lincoln, but failed most signally.
-No doubt, they would have given worlds, if at their command, if
-President Jeff Davis and other leaders could have been connected with
-the plot and crime. As is well known, Boothe, the assassin, was shot
-dead in the attempt to capture him, and that a man named Harold, who was
-with Boothe when killed: Payne, who the same night attempted to
-assassinate Secretary of State, Wm. H. Seward, and Mrs. Surratt—were
-hung, the latter in all probability innocent of any crime; there was no
-evidence to connect her with the assassination or the plot. Some of the
-assassins boarded at her house and her son fled.
-
-The assassination of Lincoln was the act of a scatter-brained actor,
-John Wilkes Boothe, and did the South no good, if, indeed, it was so
-intended. Many people think that if Lincoln had lived the South would
-have fared much better after the war. I do not think so. Lincoln might
-have been disposed to have dealt more justly with the South, but in my
-opinion he would have been overruled by the Sewards, the Stantons, the
-Mortons, the Garrisons, and the Thad Stevenses, and many more of that
-ilk, who lived and died inveterate haters and vilifiers of the Southern
-people. Meanness is bred in the bone of some people. If Lincoln ever did
-a kindly or generous act in behalf of the South, I do not recall it.
-
-When Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered on the 26th day of April, 1865,
-the last vestige of hope against hope vanished. We felt like saying,
-"'Tis the last libation that Liberty draws from the heart that bleeds
-and breaks in her cause."
-
-
- OUT OF PRISON AND AT HOME
-
-I remained at Fort Delaware until the 21st day of May, 1865, when I was
-released by a special order from Washington, which my brother had
-procured, and who brought the order to Fort Delaware and accompanied me
-to New York and to his home in Brooklyn. So that I was a prisoner of war
-one year to a day. I came out of prison in a much worse condition,
-physically, than when captured. Three years of active service in the
-field was as nothing to my experience in prison, although I did not
-suffer as much as thousands of poor fellows who received no aid from
-friends. I was sick several times while in prison, but had no serious
-illness, but was much debilitated at the end.
-
-We left Fort Delaware on the steamer _Mentor_, going up Delaware River
-to Philadelphia, and thence by train and boat to New York.
-
-After remaining in New York about two weeks recuperating, my brother and
-family and myself left for Virginia and home, going by steamer to
-Norfolk; thence up James River to Richmond, where we found a large part
-of the city in ashes. Gloomy and distressing was the scene. Here I met
-General Kemper and other comrades. The next day we took the train for
-Lynchburg—on the old Richmond & Danville Railroad. At Burkeville we
-found the road to Farmville destroyed. My brother and family went by
-private conveyance to Farmville, while I remained at Burkeville, sitting
-up all night guarding the baggage, as the railroad system was so out of
-joint and deranged that no care could be taken of baggage by the
-officials. The next morning I went by wagon to Farmville with the
-baggage, when we again took the train to another break in the road at
-James River below Lynchburg. Here we got aboard an old-fashioned canal
-boat, drawn by an old mule or two, which landed us at Lynchburg. The
-next day we went to my father's, twenty-one miles, in Campbell County,
-and joined the loved ones there. The reunion was a happy one. But what a
-change! Scores of thousands of dollars' worth of property gone forever,
-and the future, with reconstruction and attempted negro domination,
-staring us in the face, the prospect was anything but encouraging. But
-all was not lost; honor and truth still lived, though might had
-triumphed over right.
-
-Thus ended my four years of service to the Confederacy, which I served
-loyally and willingly, and my only regret is that we all could not have
-rendered our dear Southland more efficient service, even to the full
-fruition of our fondest hopes in the beginning.
-
-I had three brothers in the army, all of us escaping without the loss of
-life or limb. The youngest, Taylor, was only in service a short time,
-being only thirteen years of age when the war began. He was in the
-cavalry service, as was my brother, Coon, towards the end.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XXIII
-
- RECONSTRUCTION AND SINCE
-
-
-As a fit climax to, and exhibitory of, Yankee hatred, malice, revenge,
-and cruelty practiced during the war, the North bound the prostrate
-South on the rock of negro domination, while the vultures,
-"carpet-baggers" and "scalawags," preyed upon its vitals. Unlike
-Prometheus, however, the South did not have its chains broken by a
-Hercules, but rose in its own might and severed the fetters that bound
-it, and drove away the birds of prey, and her people are now free and
-independent, controlling their own state affairs without let or
-hindrance; though many at the North are still growling and snarling,
-threatening reduction of representation in Congress, howling about negro
-disfranchisement, and the separation of the races in schools and public
-conveyances.
-
-Let it never be forgotten that in Virginia in 1868, 80,000
-"carpet-baggers," "scalawags," and negroes voted to disfranchise every
-Confederate soldier who fought for home and native land, and every man
-in the State, young or old, who would not swear that he had never given
-aid or comfort to the soldiers in the field, or sympathized with the
-Southern cause. Armed Yankee soldiers were posted at every courthouse in
-the land. Civil law gave place to arbitrary military rule. The names of
-states were obliterated, the states being designated as "Military
-Districts Nos. 1, 2, 3," etc. Detectives were abroad in the land.
-Everything that Yankee ingenuity and malignancy could conceive of was
-done to humiliate the Southern people. This service was very distasteful
-to some of the Yankee officers and soldiers, but they were urged on by
-the venom of a majority at the North. Peaceful citizens were hauled up
-before the military courts on complaints of worthless and vicious
-negroes, whose word was taken before that of the white man.
-
-The "carpet-baggers" were unprincipled Northern men who came South after
-the war—political adventurers and freebooters—to steal and plunder as
-office-holders. The "scalawags" were native white men, many of them
-skulkers and deserters during the war, who, like the "carpet-baggers,"
-sought political office—"apostates for the price of their apostasy."
-They took sides against their kith and kin, fawning on the Northern
-South-haters and traducers, joining in with the despoilers of the South,
-"that thrift might follow fawning."
-
-And all these atrocities practiced by the North in the name of "liberty
-and freedom," and, as it was often expressed, that, "treason might be
-made odious." "Oh, Liberty, what crimes are enacted in thy name!"
-Treason, indeed! Lee and Jackson "traitors"? Blistered be the tongue
-that utters it. The brave men of the South who for four years fought as
-never men fought before. "Traitors"? Palsied be the hand that writes it.
-The charge of treason against the South is as black as the hearts that
-conceived it, and as false as the tongues that uttered it.
-
-Henrich Heine, in speaking of England's banishment of Napoleon and his
-death on the lonely island of St. Helena, says, "Brittania! thou art
-queen of the ocean, but all great Neptune's ocean can not wash from thee
-the stain that the great Emperor bequeathed thee on his deathbed."
-
-Well might it be said of the Washington Government, both during the war
-and afterwards, that not all the waters of all the oceans can wash away
-the stains of infamy practiced by it upon the South and her people. The
-cruel torture of President Davis at Fortress Monroe is a "damned spot
-that will not out," along with thousands of other acts, some of which I
-have enumerated.
-
-A large majority of the Northern people were bitter enemies of the
-South, vilifying and slandering the Southern people, and sought to
-degrade and oppress them in many ways, but not all of them were so
-disposed, and many others are beginning to see the heinousness and folly
-of Reconstruction.
-
-A late Northern paper, the Brooklyn _Eagle_, says: "Under Reconstruction
-the Republican party outlawed character, dispensed with fairness,
-degraded decency, elevated ignorance and invested in barbarism, under
-all the forms of politics which covered the fact of brigandage." A true
-and just arraignment by a Northern man, it gives a true statement of
-facts in a few words.
-
-No wonder, then, the great mass of the people of the South have stood
-together for their section, and are political opponents of their
-traducers and persecutors.
-
-There are, however, many just and good men at the North who were opposed
-to the invasion of the South by the Northern armies and the waging of
-that cruel war, who have, since the war, battled for the rights of the
-South, and held in check, to some extent, that puritanical element
-which, like the Pharisee, ascribes to itself all the virtue and
-intelligence of the land.
-
-The original Puritans came to this country, as they said, to escape
-persecution. I think the truth is, they left their native country for
-that country's good. I have often thought that if the _Mayflower_ had
-landed at the bottom of the ocean instead of on Plymouth Rock, it would
-have been much better for this country.
-
-The New England Yankees are, in a large measure, responsible for the
-events that brought on the war, and for the atrocities committed in the
-South during and since the war. I don't believe the West and South would
-ever have gone to war had it not been for this puritanical spirit of New
-England. Envy is the ruling attribute of the Puritan; magnanimity is
-foreign to the Puritan nature. One thing formerly practiced by the New
-Englanders, they utterly failed to establish in this country. A good
-thing it was too for the old women, or else many more of them might have
-been burned, hanged or drowned as witches, as was done in New England
-when the Puritan spirit prevailed in its undiluted state.
-
-The following is a copy of an old-time Massachusetts legal document,
-reproduced here that early history may be perpetuated:
-
- * * * * *
-
- EXECUTION FOR WITCHCRAFT
-
- _"To George Corwin Gent'n, High Sheriffe of the County of Essex
- Greeting:_
-
-"Whereas Bridgett Bishop al's Olliver, the wife of Edward Bishop of
-Salem in the County of Essex Lawyer at a speciall Court of Oyer and
-Terminer held at Salem the second Day of this instant month of June for
-the Countyes of Essex Middlesex and Suffolk before William Stoughton
-Esque. and his associates of the said Court was Indicted and arraigned
-upon five several Indictments for using practising and exerciseing on
-the ... last past and divers other dayes and times the felonies of
-Witchcraft in and upon the bodyes of Abigail Williams, Ann Puttnam ...
-Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott and Elizabeth Hubbard of Salem Village ...
-single women; whereby their bodyes were hurt, offlicted, pined, consumed
-and tormented contrary to the forme of the statute in that case made and
-provided. To which Indictm'ts the said Bridgett Bishop pleaded not
-guilty and for Tryall thereof put herselfe upon God and her Country
-whereupon she was found guilty of the Felonyes and Witchcrafts whereof
-she stood indicted and sentence of Death accordingly passed ag't her as
-the Law directs. Execution whereof yet remaines to be done. These are
-therefore in the names of their maj'ties William and Mary now King and
-Queen over England &c. to will and command That upon Fryday next being
-the Tenth Day of this instant month of June between the hours of eight
-and twelve in the aforenoon of the same day you safely conduct the s'd
-Bridgett Bishop al's Olliver from their maj'ties Gaol in Salem afores'd
-to the place of execution and there cause her to be hanged by the neck
-untill she be dead and of your doings herein make returne to the clerk
-of the s'd Court and of this pr'cept. And hereof you are not to faile at
-your peril. And this shall be your sufficient warrant Given under my
-hand & seal at Boston the eighth of June in the fourth year of the
-reigne of our Sovereign Lords William and Mary now King and Queen over
-England &c., Annoq'e Dom. 1692.
-
- "June 10, 1692. WM. STOUGHTON."
-
- * * * * *
-
-"According to the within written precept I have taken the body of the
-within named Brigett Bishop out of their majesties goal in Salem and
-safely conveighd her to the place provided for her execution and caused
-y sd Brigett to be hanged by the neck untill she was dead and buried in
-the place all which was according to the time within required and so I
-make returne by me.
-
- "GEORGE CORWIN,
- "Sheriff."
-
- * * * * *
-
-As before said, the sentiment at the North is changing in favor of the
-South; many are beginning to learn the true history of the past and
-present state of affairs, though the South still has its traducers and
-slanderers there, for in this year of grace, 1907, a Sunday-school
-magazine up North printed in its columns the following: "And when
-General Lee invaded Pennsylvania, at the time of the battle of
-Gettysburg, destruction and rapine followed in the wake of the invaders.
-There was evil and misfortune at every turn." A bigger lie was never
-told. A fouler slander was never uttered.
-
-The South, despite its enemies, is advancing rapidly in material
-interests, and is destined to be the most prosperous portion of the
-United States. "King Cotton" is coming to his throne again. The South
-has always been the most chivalrous, conservative and American-like,
-holding more closely to the traditions, customs, and manners of the old
-days, where the high and unselfish principles of right, justice and
-honor, which go to make up the true gentleman and patriotic citizen,
-have always prevailed. The pure Anglo-Saxon blood still predominates in
-the South, as well as the spirit of the cavalier. Blood will tell.
-
-The average Yankee has a very poor conception of what is right and
-honorable in his transactions and intercourse with his fellow-man, and
-very faint conceptions of those principles of right and justice which
-are the same among men of honor, world without end. To drive a sharp
-bargain, to get money no matter how, but to get money, and diffuse and
-enforce his own ideas and notions, seem to be the _summa summorum_ of
-all his ends—as witness the developments in the past few years of
-rascality and thieving being brought to light at the North, as it exists
-among the "great captains of finance," as they are wont to be called; I
-think "great thieves" would be a much more suitable appellation. The
-foundations of many of the great, overgrown fortunes at the North were
-laid during the war by swindling and stealing by Government contractors,
-and they are still at it. Graft, graft; fraud, fraud, everywhere and in
-everything they touch.
-
-As before said, the South is coming to its own again. I firmly believe
-the days of retribution will come when the evil deeds the North
-perpetrated in the South during and since the war, will be avenged, not
-in kind perhaps, but in some way. "The gods wait long, but they are just
-at last;" their "mills grind slowly, but they grind exceeding fine." God
-is just; His will be done.
-
-I have written much more than I anticipated in the beginning—the subject
-and occurrences opened up the "cells where memory sleeps." The more I
-wrote, the more I recalled.
-
-These reminiscences were commenced several years ago and virtually
-completed last February. Since then they have been gone over, revised,
-added to and some parts rewritten, and now on this, the 31st day of
-December, in the year of our Lord, 1907, the last day of the year, are
-completed.
-
- W. H. MORGAN
-
-
-
-
- INDEX
-
-
- Akers, P. B., 214, 217, 224, 233, 239, 267.
-
- Akers, W. L., 36.
-
- Albemarle Sound, 181.
-
- Allen, Chas., 205.
-
- Annandale, 87.
-
- Anglo-Saxon Blood, 279.
-
- Appomattox, 220, 266.
-
- Army of Northern Virginia, 49, 78, 168, 169, 170.
-
- Atkins, —— Lieut., 210.
-
-
- Bailey, Allen, 205.
-
- Bailey, Harvey, 98.
-
- Bailey, Miffram, 112.
-
- Balls Bluff, 109.
-
- Balls Ford, 64.
-
- Balloons, 87, 133.
-
- Barber, Silas, 125.
-
- Bartow, —— Gen., 66, 67.
-
- Bateman, Abner, 184.
-
- Beauregard, G. T., 26, 36, 57, 64, 65, 66, 67, 95, 194, 195.
-
- Beaver Dam Creek, 134.
-
- Beckwith, H. C., 52.
-
- Bee, —— Gen., 64, 66, 67, 68.
-
- Bermuda Hundred, 193, 205.
-
- Black Horse Cavalry, 180.
-
- Blankenship, J. E., 37, 38.
-
- Blackburn's Ford, 51, 62, 64, 71, 72.
-
- Blackwater River, 159, 163.
-
- Blue Ridge, 68, 143.
-
- Bottom's Bridge, 117.
-
- Breckenridge, Jno. C., 206.
-
- Bonham, —— Gen., 59, 64, 71.
-
- Booth, J. Wilkes, 268.
-
- Boonsboro, Md., 37.
-
- Botetourt County, 39.
-
- Brigade, Barksdale's, 146.
-
- Brigade, Longstreet's, 50, 51, 62, 63, 64, 71, 85, 86.
-
- Brigade, A. P. Hill's, 102, 111.
-
- Brigade, Kemper's, 120, 125, 129, 133, 135, 145, 147, 150, 152, 153.
-
- Brigade, Terry's, 173, 180, 181, 194, 196, 206.
-
- Brigade, Corse's, 50, 164.
-
- Brigade, Gracie's, 197.
-
- Brigade, Heckman's, 202.
-
- Bright, Geo., 129.
-
- Brown, James A., 112, 214.
-
- Brown, W. L., 214.
-
- Brown, G. T., 214.
-
- Brown, —— Col.
-
- Brown, W. W., Col., 244.
-
- Bull Run, 33, 51, 63, 64, 92.
-
- Bumgardner, James, 266.
-
- Burks, Geo. A., 86, 165.
-
- Burnside, A. E., Gen., 143, 152.
-
- Burial at Sea, 252.
-
- Butler, B. F., Gen. (Beast), 193, 204.
-
-
- Cabell, Geo C., 204.
-
- Callaham, H. M., 214.
-
- Carter, —— Capt., 87.
-
- Carpet Baggers, 272.
-
- Cary, Peter, 90.
-
- Carrington, Isaac H., 175.
-
- Centreville, 64, 66, 85, 92, 95.
-
- Chalmers, H. C., 94.
-
- Chalmers, —— Dr., 36.
-
- Chambersburg, Penn., 263.
-
- Chafin's Farm, 174.
-
- Chancellorsville, 163.
-
- Charleston, S. C., 231, 236.
-
- Chester Station, 156.
-
- Chess Club, 248.
-
- Chickahominy, 117, 128, 176.
-
- Chickamauga, Tenn., 176.
-
- City Point, 193, 250.
-
- Clark, Geo. Rodgers, 264.
-
- Clement, Adam, 17, 27, 36, 37, 38, 87, 96, 107, 116, 119, 141.
-
- Clement, Chas. A., 113.
-
- Clifton Grays, 17.
-
- Cold Harbor, 216.
-
- Cobb, —— Gen., 150.
-
- Cock, James, 127.
-
- Cock, Robt. M., 17, 25, 115, 214.
-
- Cocke, Phillip St. George, 64, 71.
-
- Company A., 36, 39, 40, 52, 208.
-
- Company B., 36, 39, 208.
-
- Company C., 37, 39, 87, 90, 96, 104, 112, 123, 130, 152, 158, 161, 181,
- 182, 208.
-
- Company D., 36, 39, 161.
-
- Company E., 36, 39, 40, 56. 208.
-
- Company F., 36, 39, 55.
-
- Company G., 36, 39, 45, 55, 182.
-
- Company H., 36, 39, 47, 56, 130, 198.
-
- Company I., 40.
-
- Company K., 40, 208.
-
- Connelly, James A., 17, 95, 166.
-
- Confederate Soldiers, 34, 100.
-
- Confederate Women, 222.
-
- Cook, —— Capt., 187, 188, 189.
-
- Corps, Longstreet's, 49, 145, 176.
-
- Corps, Jackson's, 145.
-
- Corse, M. D., 50, 127.
-
- Creasy, G. A., 202.
-
- Crescent (ship), 232.
-
- Culpeper, 35, 143.
-
-
- Daniel, Jno. W., 159.
-
- Darbytown, 118.
-
- Davis, Jefferson, 79, 268, 274.
-
- Davis, Thos. N., 53.
-
- Dearing, James, 186, 189, 190.
-
- Deaths on Ship, 253.
-
- De Priest, John, 205.
-
- Discipline in Army, 26, 218.
-
- Dickerson, H. Clay, 266.
-
- Dismal Swamp, 160.
-
- Division, Longstreet's, 120, 128, 134.
-
- Division, D. H. Hill's, 120, 128.
-
- Division, Whiting's, 135.
-
- Division, Pickett's, 145, 156, 164, 166.
-
- Dooly, Jno. H., 50.
-
- Douthat, R. W., 38.
-
- Drainesville, 93.
-
- Drury's Bluff, 175, 195.
-
- Dummy Cannon, 94.
-
-
- Eads, H., 214.
-
- Early, Jubal A., 25, 57, 58, 64, 71, 263.
-
- Eli, —— Congressman, 82.
-
- Elliott, B. P., 57.
-
- Elliott, H. O., 140.
-
- Elzey, —— Gen., 69.
-
- Emancipation, 29.
-
- Evans, —— Gen., 64, 66.
-
- Ewell. R. S., 63, 71.
-
-
- Falls Church, 87, 88, 90.
-
- Fairfax Court House, 86, 87, 92, 93.
-
- Fair Oaks, 119, 128.
-
- Fairfax, J. W., 136.
-
- Flags presented, 94.
-
- Flags, Yankee, 206.
-
- Floweree, 50.
-
- Fanning, J. W., 227.
-
- Farris, Benj., 112.
-
- Five Forks, 38.
-
- Fort Comfort, 188.
-
- Fort Delaware, 225, 231, 250, 253.
-
- Fort Fisher, 179.
-
- Fort Gregg, 239.
-
- Fort Magruder, 102, 109.
-
- Fort Monroe, 96, 274.
-
- Fort Pulaski, 243.
-
- Fort Sumter, 239.
-
- Fort Wagner, 239.
-
- Fort Warren, 187.
-
- Fort Wessels, 188.
-
- Fort Williams, 188.
-
- Foster, J. G., 245.
-
- Foulks, Henry, 37, 38, 126.
-
- Franklin, James, Jr., 183.
-
- Franklin, Saml. T., 91, 127, 162, 211.
-
- Franklin Station, 159, 162.
-
- Frazier's Farm, 138.
-
- Fredericksburg, 143, 145.
-
- Fulks, James, 53.
-
- Funston, David, 36, 37, 125.
-
-
- Gaines' Hill, 134, 135.
-
- Garland, Saml., Jr., 36, 37, 56, 85, 107, 113, 114.
-
- Graft, 279.
-
- Garrett's Station, 193.
-
- "General Lee to the rear," 171.
-
- George, negro cook, 63.
-
- Gettysburg, 166.
-
- Gilliam, Ed. G., 91, 200.
-
- Gladys, 17.
-
- Goldsboro, N. C., 113, 157, 176, 172.
-
- Gracie, —— Gen., 197, 199, 200.
-
- Granberry, Jno. C., 36, 137.
-
- Greeley, Horace, 84.
-
- Grant, U. S., 26, 215, 219, 250, 257, 258.
-
- Grapevine dispatches, 180.
-
- Griffin's Battery, 76.
-
- Gunboat, "Albemarle," 187.
-
- Gunboat, "Bombshell," 188.
-
- Gunboat, "Miami," 188.
-
- Gunboat, "Patrick Henry," 175.
-
- Gunboat, "Southfield," 188.
-
- Guinea Station, 153.
-
- Gurney, Wm., 237.
-
-
- Hairston, Peter, 50, 57, 58.
-
- Halleck, H. W., 260.
-
- Halsey, Don P., 266.
-
- Hankin's Battery, 197.
-
- Hanover Junction, 206, 215.
-
- Harrison, Carter H., 36, 37, 52, 56.
-
- Harrison's Landing, 138.
-
- Hambrick, Joe, Maj., 203.
-
- Harper's Ferry, 141.
-
- Haynes, Jim., 126.
-
- Hazel Run, 150.
-
- Hickman, —— Gen., 202.
-
- Hendricks, W. H., 140.
-
- Hickok, M. V. B., 126, 203.
-
- Hientzleman, —— Gen., 128.
-
- Hill, A. P., 101, 104, 105, 114, 120, 134.
-
- Hill, D. H., 120, 123, 124.
-
- Hilton Head, 227.
-
- Hobson, Jos. A., 17, 96.
-
- Hobson, W. H., 93.
-
- Hoke, R. F., 180, 189.
-
- Hoover, H. C., 227.
-
- Home Guard, 39, 45.
-
- Horton, Thos. B., 38, 210, 212, 214, 224, 232, 247.
-
- Hord, Jas. W., 38, 62.
-
- Horace, negro cook, 167, 214.
-
- Houston, D. Gardner, 37, 38, 161.
-
- Houston, Thomas, 38.
-
- Houston, A. M., 38, 151.
-
- Hospitals, 231.
-
- Hughes, Crockett, 112.
-
- Hutter, J. Risque, 36, 37, 130.
-
- Hutton, Eppa, 94.
-
- Howard's Grove, 118.
-
-
- Jackson, T. J. (Stonewall), 33, 64, 68, 133, 141, 142, 163, 170.
-
- James River, 97, 193, 250.
-
- Jamison —— Capt., 37.
-
- Jeff Davis Rifles, 47.
-
- Johnston, Jos. E., 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 95, 96, 97, 99, 102, 110, 119,
- 128, 266, 269.
-
- Johnson, Bushrod, 197.
-
- Johnson, Bradley T., 260.
-
- Jones, A. I., 38.
-
- Jones, Charles, 166.
-
- Jones, Lanious, 166.
-
- Jones, J. C., 167.
-
- Jones, J. T., 214.
-
- Jones, J. W., 214.
-
- Jones, R. H., 91.
-
- Jones, —— Gen., 63, 91.
-
-
- Kabler, Fred., 214.
-
- Kabler, W. S., 214.
-
- Kasey, —— Gen., 128, 129.
-
- Kean, R. G. H., 36.
-
- Kemper, Jas. L., 50, 104, 105, 109, 112, 113, 114, 115, 120, 124, 125,
- 146.
-
- King's Landing, 97.
-
- Kinston, N. C., 157, 176, 191.
-
- Knoxville, Tenn., 176.
-
-
- Lane, John, 154.
-
- Langhorne, M. S., 37, 125.
-
- Layne, David, 112.
-
- Latham, G. W., 38.
-
- Latham's Battery, 102.
-
- Lea, Jas. B., 102.
-
- Lee, Robt. E., 27, 101, 133, 134, 141, 150, 163, 166, 170, 193, 219,
- 262.
-
- Lee, Fitz., 16.
-
- Letcher, John, 94.
-
- Linney, H. M., 86.
-
- Lincoln, Abe, 28, 29, 267, 268.
-
- Libby Prison, 203.
-
- Long, Tom, 76.
-
- Long Roll, 92.
-
- Longstreet, James, 50, 53, 60, 119, 122, 159, 169.
-
- Lucado, L. F., 36.
-
- Lyman, Geo. W., 93.
-
- Lynchburg, 25, 27, 31, 39.
-
- Lynchburg Rifles, 42.
-
-
- Magruder, —— Gen., 97.
-
- Malvern Hill, 138.
-
- Manassas, 33, 35, 51, 65, 140.
-
- Manning, Van., 234.
-
- Marye, Morton, 50.
-
- Martin, Harvey, 140.
-
- Maryland Campaign, 140.
-
- Mayflower, 275.
-
- Marye's Hill, 148, 149.
-
- Masons Hill, 87, 90.
-
- Mason, M. M. (Boy), 166.
-
- Maury, R. F., 50, 200.
-
- Mayo, Joseph, 50.
-
- Measles, 86.
-
- McClellan, G. B., 95, 96, 97, 99, 102, 110, 133, 138.
-
- McDowell, —— Gen., 52, 61, 64, 65, 67.
-
- McLean's Ford, 63, 71.
-
- Mechanicsville, 133.
-
- Meem, J. Lawrence, 36, 123, 126.
-
- Milford Station, 208.
-
- Mitchell's Ford, 59, 64.
-
- Mitchell Robert M., Jr., 36, 209, 210.
-
- Monroe, William, 184.
-
- Monroe, John, 205.
-
- Monroe, W. T., 184.
-
- Moore, P. T., 50.
-
- Morgan, Richard, 17.
-
- Morgan, G. W., 25, 86, 227.
-
- Morgan, Dixie, 93, 154.
-
- Morgan, Robt. W., 140, 167, 103, 214.
-
- Morgan, J. L., 225, 269.
-
- Morgan, Taylor, 271.
-
- Morris Island, S. C., 227, 236.
-
- Munford, Wm., 50.
-
- Munson's Hill, 87.
-
- Murrell, Charles, 140.
-
-
- Negro soldiers, 189, 221.
-
- Napoleon at Lodi, 171.
-
- New York Zouaves, 83.
-
- New England Yankees, 28, 29, 30, 31, 275.
-
- Norvell, George P., 214.
-
- Norton, —— Maj., 208, 209.
-
- North Anna River, 220.
-
- North Carolina, 157, 159, 176.
-
- North Western Territory, 263, 264.
-
- Neuse River, 157.
-
- New Berne, N. C., 158, 191.
-
-
- Old, Robert, 257.
-
- Old Capitol Prison, 224.
-
- Organ, John, 112.
-
- Otey, Kirk, 37, 154, 196.
-
-
- Palmer, G. W., 50.
-
- Pamlico Sound, 190.
-
- Patten, W. Tazwell, 50.
-
- Patterson, —— Gen., 67.
-
- Peninsular Campaign, 96, 100.
-
- Pennsylvania Campaign, 164.
-
- Petersburg, 101, 156, 157, 162, 176.
-
- Pigeon Run, 17.
-
- Pickett's Division, 145, 156, 164, 166, 169.
-
- Picket lines, 87, 89, 90, 93, 130, 160, 174, 181, 182.
-
- Pickett, George E., 145, 158, 197.
-
- Pillow, Daniel, 115, 126, 127, 166.
-
- Plymouth, N. C., 180.
-
- Port Royal, Va., 223.
-
- Port Royal, S. C., 236.
-
- Point Lookout, 224.
-
- Preston, Robert T., 25, 34, 73.
-
- Price, Leslie, 53.
-
- Prisoners escape, 236, 249.
-
- Prisoner of War, 215, 246.
-
- Prisoners, Exchange of, 250, 254, 257.
-
- Prison rations, 226, 237, 245.
-
- Prison life, 226.
-
- Prison rules, 230, 240.
-
- Prison guards, 244.
-
- Prison ships, 232, 250.
-
- Pryor, W. H., 50.
-
- Pryor, Roger A., 103.
-
- Puritans, 275.
-
-
- Ransom, —— Gen., 150, 197.
-
- Rappahannock River, 143.
-
- Rebel yell, 70, 162.
-
- Reconstruction, 272.
-
- Reviews, 170.
-
- Retaliation, 232.
-
- Regiment, 28th Va., 25.
-
- Regiment, 1st Va., 50, 208.
-
- Regiment, 3d Va., 50.
-
- Regiment, 7th Va., 50, 104, 109, 203.
-
- Regiment, 11th Va., 36, 49, 50, 52, 85, 98, 104, 121, 123, 130, 152,
- 200.
-
- Regiment, 17th Va., 50.
-
- Regiment, 24th Va., 5, 7, 71, 110, 181, 200.
-
- Regiment, 5th La., 9, 3, 110.
-
- Regiment, 8th Va., 109.
-
- Richmond, Va., 33, 97, 117, 195, 206, 269.
-
- Rickett's Battery, 76.
-
- Rice, Joe, 141.
-
- Rice, John, 141.
-
- Rice, W. A., 214.
-
- Rifle Grays, 39, 40.
-
- Rosser, Alford, 205.
-
- Rosser, Granville, 112.
-
- Rosser, Jabe R., 91, 96.
-
- Rosser, W. C., 127.
-
- Rosser, G. T., 91, 211.
-
- Rosser, Thos. L., 87.
-
- Roads, muddy, 100, 177.
-
- Roanoke River, 181.
-
-
- Saunders, Robt. C., 37.
-
- Scalawags, 272.
-
- Sea, W. M. 212.
-
- Secession, Cause of, 27.
-
- Sea-sickness, 251.
-
- Seven Pines, 118.
-
- Seven Days' Fights, 133.
-
- Sharpsburg, Md., 140.
-
- Shenandoah River, 142.
-
- Sherman's Battery, 76.
-
- Sherman, W. T., 76, 224, 258, 261.
-
- Sherman's March, 259.
-
- Slavery, 29.
-
- Smith, J. Holmes, 38.
-
- Smith, G. W., 128.
-
- Smith, Kirby, 69, 266.
-
- Smithfield, N. C., 179.
-
- South Side Va., 156.
-
- Southern Confederacy, 146, 171.
-
- Southern Traducers, 278.
-
- Song, 227.
-
- Sperryville, 143.
-
- Spottsylvania C. H., 206, 218.
-
- Spoils of Battle, 80.
-
- Stars and Stripes, 131, 186.
-
- Stafford Heights, 143.
-
- Stigleman, C. M., 57.
-
- "Stone Wall" Sobriquet, 68.
-
- Stuart's Cavalry, 93.
-
- Stockade, 236.
-
- Stone Bridge, 64, 66.
-
- Sudley's Ford, 66.
-
- Suffolk, 159.
-
-
- Tarboro, N. C., 180.
-
- Tar River, 180, 190.
-
- Taylor, W. H., Dr., 74.
-
- Taylorsville, Va., 163, 173.
-
- Terry, Wm. R., 50, 183, 199.
-
- Terrell, James, 125.
-
- The South, 278.
-
- Thornhill, G. W., Dr., 36, 56, 86, 119, 129, 165.
-
- Thornton's Gap, 143.
-
- Torbet's Cavalry, 209.
-
- Turpentine Orchards, 178.
-
- Tweedy, Bennett, 184.
-
- Tweedy, Dabney C., 166, 167.
-
- Tweedy, Smith P., 214.
-
- Tweedy, E. A., 214.
-
- Tweedy, F. C., 185.
-
- Tyler, E. B., 61.
-
- Tyree, Chas. H., 36.v
-
- Tybee Island, 243.
-
-
- Under Fire of Confederate Guns, 238.
-
- Under Shelling, 71, 72.
-
- Upton's Hill, 87.
-
-
- Virginia Dismembered, 263.
-
- V. M. I. Men, 39.
-
- Valley Forge, 101.
-
-
- Walton, —— Col., 151.
-
- Walker, G. W., 205.
-
- Walthall, Isaac, 32.
-
- War, Conduct of, 258.
-
- Ward, Jno. C., 39.
-
- Washington Artillery, 59, 150.
-
- Washington City, 223.
-
- Washington, N. C., 190.
-
- Washington, George, 55.
-
- Water, Hot, 235.
-
- Weldon, N. C., 157, 176.
-
- West Point, Va., 99, 100.
-
- Wessels, —— Gen., 189.
-
- West Virginia, 263.
-
- Whitehead, Jno. D., 50.
-
- Whiting, —— Gen., 135, 194, 204.
-
- Williamsburg, 97, 101.
-
- Wilderness, 26, 143.
-
- Wilson, W. H., 112.
-
- Wilkerson, W. C. J., 214.
-
- Wilmington, N. C., 179.
-
- Winfree, C. V., 38.
-
- Winchester, 68, 142.
-
- Wise, Henry A., 174, 175.
-
- Witchcraft, 276.
-
- Withers, H. H., 17, 96.
-
- Withers, R. E., 73, 137.
-
- Withers, W. S., 119.
-
- Worms in food, 237.
-
- Wood, James, 125.
-
- Wood, John J., 112.
-
- Woody, Bruce, 205.
-
- Wray, James W., 214.
-
-
- Yankee Flags, 206.
-
- Yankee Infamy, 255.
-
- Yeatman, Robert, 37, 38.
-
- Yorktown Lines, 97, 99.
-
- York River, 97, 99.
-
-
- Zouaves, New York, 83.
-
-
-
-
- * * * * * *
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.
-
-Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
-
-Deleted the word thousand on p. 138.
-
-
-
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