The Story of a Confederate Boy in the Civil War
by David E. Johnston · English · Gutenberg #44889 · 415,038 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Story of a Confederate Boy in the Civil War
Author: David E. Johnston
Author of introduction, etc.: C. E. Cline
Release date: February 13, 2014 [eBook #44889]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
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The Story of a Confederate Boy in the Civil War
By
David E. Johnston
_of the 7th Virginia Infantry Regiment_
Author of "Middle New River Settlements"
With Introduction by
Rev. C. E. Cline, D.D.
A Methodist Minister and Chaplain of the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion, U.S.A.
COPYRIGHT, 1914
BY
DAVID E. JOHNSTON
PUBLISHED BY
GLASS & PRUDHOMME COMPANY
PORTLAND, OREGON
Preface
Some twenty-eight years ago I wrote and published a small book
recounting my personal experiences in the Civil War, but this book is
long out of print, and the publication exhausted. At the urgent request
of some of my old comrades who still survive, and of friends and my own
family, I have undertaken the task of rewriting and publishing this
story.
As stated in the preface to the former volume, the principal object of
this work is to record, largely from memory, and after the lapse of
many years (now nearly half a century) since the termination of the
war between the states of the Federal Union, the history, conduct,
character and deeds of the men who composed Company D, Seventh regiment
of Virginia infantry, and the part they bore in that memorable
conflict.
The chief motive which inspires this undertaking is to give some meager
idea of the Confederate soldier in the ranks, and of his individual
deeds of heroism, particularly of that patriotic, self-sacrificing,
brave company of men with whose fortunes and destiny my own were linked
for four long years of blood and carnage, and to whom during that
period I was bound by ties stronger than hooks of steel; whose
confidence and friendship I fully shared, and as fully reciprocated.
To the surviving members of that company, to the widows and children,
broken-hearted mothers, and to gray-haired, disconsolate fathers (if
such still live) of those who fell amidst the battle and beneath its
thunders, or perished from wounds or disease, this work is dedicated.
The character of the men who composed that company, and their deeds of
valor and heroism, will ever live, and in the hearts of our people will
be enshrined the names of the gallant dead as well as of the living, as
the champions of constitutional liberty. They will be held in grateful
remembrance by their own countrymen, appreciated and recognized by all
people of all lands, who admire brave deeds, true courage, and devotion
of American soldiers to cause and country.
For some of the dates and material I am indebted to comrades. I also
found considerable information from letters written by myself during
the war to a friend, not in the army, and not subject to military duty,
on account of sex; who, as I write, sits by me, having now (February,
1914), for a period of more than forty-six years been the sharer of my
joys, burdens and sorrows; whose only brother, George Daniel Pearis, a
boy of seventeen years, and a member of Bryan's Virginia battery, fell
mortally wounded in the battle of Cloyd's Farm, May 9, 1864.
DAVID E. JOHNSTON.
Portland, Oregon, May, 1914.
Introduction
The author of this book is my neighbor. He was a Confederate, and I a
Union soldier. Virginia born, he worked hard in youth. A country
lawyer, a member of the Senate of West Virginia, Representative in
Congress, and Circuit Judge, his life has been one of activity and
achievement. Blessed with a face and manner which disarm suspicion,
inspire confidence and good will, he makes new friends, and retains old
ones.
Judge Johnston (having through life practiced the virtues of a good
Baptist), is, therefore, morally sound to the core. He has succeeded,
not by luck or chance, but because of what he is. Withal, he has
cultivated the faculty for hard work; in fact, through life he has
liked nothing so well as hard work.
A vast good nature, running easily into jocular talk, with interesting
stories, in which he excels, he is able to meet every kind of man in
every rank of society, catching with unerring instinct the temper of
every individual and company where he is.
He is thoroughly American, and though having traveled extensively in
Europe and the East, he is not spoiled with aping foreigners, nor
"rattled" by their frivolous accomplishments. He is likewise an
experienced writer, being the author of the history of "Middle New
River Settlements, and Contiguous Territory," in Virginia and West
Virginia, a work of great value, which cost the author years of
persistent research.
This volume, "The Story of a Confederate Boy," is written from the
heart, with all his might, and all his honesty, and is characterized
throughout by fertility, sympathy, and magnanimity, in recording his
own personal experiences, and what he saw.
C. E. CLINE.
Portland, Oregon.
Contents
Chapter. Page.
I. Pre-election Statement as to Mr. Lincoln.--The
Presidential Election in November, 1860.--Fear and
Anxiety.--At School with Rev. J. W. Bennett in Winter
1860 and Spring 1861.--Debating Society.--Some
Recollections of Colonel Chambers and Others.--Strong
State Rights Ideas.--Desire to Become a Soldier.--The
Anticipation and the Reality.--Return Home.--War Talk
and Feeling 1
II. Giles County, Its Formation and Early Settlers.--Its
Geographical Position, Topography and Population in
1860.--State of Political Parties.--Election of
Delegate to the Convention 9
III. What Will Not Be Attempted Herein.--How the Southern
People Viewed the Situation.--Virginia as a Peacemaker.
--The Peace Conference and Its Failure.--Geographical,
Territorial Position.--Assembling of the Convention
and Its Action.--Mr. Lincoln's Attitude and Call for
Troops.--Adoption of the Ordinance of Secession.--
Preparations for Defense 15
IV. Organization of Volunteer Forces.--Giles Not Behind
Her Sister Counties.--A Company Organized at
Pearisburg with James H. French as Captain; Eustace
Gibson, First Lieutenant; William A. Anderson, Second
Lieutenant; Joel Blackard, Second Junior Lieutenant,
and Captains James D. Johnston and R. F. Watts on
the Committee to Purchase Uniforms, etc.--The Ladies
of the Town and Country.--In Barracks and on Drill.
--Anecdote.--Dixie.--Our March to Wolf Creek.--
Presentation of Bible and Flag 25
V. The Election for the Ratification of the Ordinance
of Secession Was Held on the Fourth Thursday of May
--the 23rd. On that Day Members of the House of
Delegates, and Perhaps Other Officers, Were to Be
Elected.--Our Departure.--Lynchburg and to Manassas
Junction 39
VI. Stay at the Junction.--Organization of 24th
Regiment as Afterwards Completed.--March to Camp
Davis Ford.--First Night on Picket.--Alarm.--
March to the Town of Occoquan and Back Again.--
A War of Words.--Serious Fight Imminent.--Leaving
the 24th Regiment.--Camp Tick Grove and a Personal
Difference.--A More Perfect Union.--Camp Wigfall.
--Blondeau's Shot.--How We Cooked, Ate and Slept.
--Shannon's Bob.--Rumors Afloat of Pending Battle.
--Three Days' Rations Cooked 47
VII. Breaking Camp at Wigfall.--The March to the
Battlefield.--General Beauregard and His Appearance
and Advice.--First Cannon Shot.--Battle of Bull Run.
--The Advance.--The Charge.--The Wounded.--Isaac
Hare and John Q. Martin.--Retreat of the Enemy.--
Severe Artillery Duel.--The Dutchman and His Chunk
of Fat Bacon.--Casualties 61
VIII. Night's Experience on Our First Battlefield.--The
Dead and Cries of the Wounded.--Occurrences on the
Field.--Sunday, July 21.--Shelled by the Enemy.--
March to the Field by the Sound of Battle.--The
Battle.--Casualties.--The Pursuit.--To the Outposts.
--Incidents.--Winter at Centerville 69
IX. Our Daily Duties.--In Camp.--Among the Last
Rencounters.--Lieutenant Gibson, Corporal Stone
and Others Hold a Council of War and Determine
to Advance and Drive McClellan from Arlington
Heights.--March to the Outposts.--Graybacks.--
Religious Exercises.--Incidents of Camp.--
Depletion of the Army.--Re-enlistments and
Furloughs.--Retreat from Manassas Behind the
Rappahannock.--Albert and Snidow.--Gordonsville 83
X. The Stay Near Gordonsville.--The March to
Richmond and Journey to Yorktown.--In the
Trenches.--Skirmishing and Night Alarms.--
Reorganization.--The Retreat from Yorktown.
--The Old Lady's Prayer.--Battle of Williamsburg.
--The Killed and Wounded.--Forces and Numbers
Engaged and Losses.--Retreat Up the Peninsula.
--Battle of Seven Pines.--Casualties 93
XI. Preparations for Active Field Service.--Dress
Parade and Speeches of General Kemper and Colonel
Patton.--Battles Around Richmond.--Gaines' Mill
or Cold Harbor.--Frazier's Farm and Malvern Hill.
--Testing a Man's Courage.--Casualties.--In Pursuit
of the Enemy.--In Camp Near the Chickahominy.--
Sickness and Death.--Threatening Attitude of the
Enemy in Northern Virginia.--Concentration of
the Confederate Army on the Rappahannock.--Pope's
Bravado.--Lieutenant Hugh M. Patton Succeeds
Stark as Adjutant, and Sergeant Parke Appointed
Sergeant-Major, Succeeding George S. Tansill 107
XII. General Jackson With His "Foot Cavalry."--On
the Flank and in the Rear of General Pope's
Army.--Longstreet's Division Diverting the
Enemy's Attention on the Rappahannock.--March
Through Thoroughfare Gap.--Haymarket to the
Relief of Jackson's Men.--The Fight on the
29th.--Battle of August 30, 1862.--Kemper
Commands Division, Corse Leads the Brigade.--
Pope Defeated.--Casualties.--Rainstorm and
March Through Leesburg to White's Ford.--
Crossing the Potomac.--The Cry "Back to
Washington" and not "On to Richmond."--
"Maryland, My Maryland," "Bonnie Blue Flag."
--Halt at Monocacy Bridge 123
XIII. A Soldier's Equipment.--Washing His Clothes.--How
He Ate and Slept.--March Through Frederick.--
Middletown.--Hagerstown.--A Soldier in Active
Service in the Field.--What He Possesses.--
Indications of Southern Sympathy.--The Return
from Hagerstown.--Battle of Boonsboro and
Casualties.--Retreat to Sharpsburg 135
XIV. Number of Men for Action in Kemper's Brigade.
--General D. R. Jones' Division.--Confederate
Cavalry.--General Lee Playing Bluff with McClellan.
--The Opening of the Battle.--Burnside's Attack
and Repulse.--Casualties.--Re-crossing the
Potomac 145
XV. From Winchester to Culpeper.--Reorganization
of the Army.--What Happened at Culpeper.--To
Fredericksburg and Battle There.--In Winter
Quarters.--Incidents of the Camp 163
XVI. Leaving Camp.--March Through Spottsylvania.--
Louisa.--Hanover, Petersburg.--First North
Carolina Campaign.--Heavy Snowfall and Battle.
--Accident to Anderson Meadows Near Chester.
--Camp Near Petersburg.--Gardner Exchanges
Hats.--Lieutenant Stone in a Box.--To Weldon,
Goldsboro and Kinston.--At Suffolk, Virginia;
Return via Petersburg, Chester, Richmond, to
Taylorsville.--John, the Drummer Boy.--Professor
Hughes, Frank Burrows, and Others.--Across the
Pamunkey, Return and to Culpeper 177
XVII. Pennsylvania Campaign of July, 1863.--Culpeper
and Snicker's Gap.--Fording the Potomac.--
Shooting a Deserter.--Pennsylvania Invaded.--
Chambersburg.--My Dream.--Willoughby Run.--Roll
Call 191
XVIII. Finishing Roll Call.--March to the Field.--
Inspection of Arms.--Fearful Artillery Duel.
--The Charge.--Killed and Wounded.--Army
Retires.--Crosses the Potomac 199
XIX. Sketches and Incidents While a Wounded Prisoner.
--How Long in the Field Hospital.--The Walk to
Gettysburg and Kindness Shown Me By a Federal
Captain.--In Box Cars and Ride to Baltimore.
--What Occurred in Baltimore.--To Chester,
Pa.--Dr. Schafer and Another.--Paroled and
Back to Dixie 221
XX. Return to My Command.--Long Stay at Taylorsville
in November and December, 1863, and Part of
January, 1864.--Dr. Blackwell's Address.--Our
Second North Carolina Campaign.--General and
Mrs. Pickett and Baby George.--Back in Virginia.
--The Advance to Newbern.--Capture and Execution
of Deserters.--In Camp at Goldsboro.--Shooting
a Confederate Deserter.--The Shoemaker's Letter.
--Wilmington and Mouth of Cape Fear.--Return and
to Tarboro.--The Capture of Plymouth, N.C.--To
Washington and Newbern.--Return to Virginia 231
XXI. Battle of Dreury's Bluff.--The Forces Engaged.
--Casualties.--The Pursuit of General Butler's
Troops.--Bombardment at Howlett's House.--The
Wounding of Lieutenant John W. Mullins.--His
Death.--Withdrawal from Howlett's House 247
XXII. To Richmond.--Captured Flags.--Affair at
Milford.--Tom Yowell's Yarn.--Hanover Junction.
--North Anna.--Cold Harbor.--John A. Hale and
His Prisoner.--Malvern Hill 259
XXIII. From Malvern Hill to the South of the James.
--Engagement at Clay's House.--Bermuda Hundred
Line.--Christmas Dinner.--Our Southern Women.
--Close of 1864 267
XXIV. Religion in the Army.--Doctors Pryor, Fontaine
Stiles.--General Pendleton.--Young Men's Christian
Association.--Frazier, our Preaching-Fighting
Chaplain 285
XXV. From January, 1865, to Close of Battle of Five
Forks--Gloomy Outlook at the Opening of the Year.
--The Peace Commissioners.--Spirit of the Army.
--A. L. Fry as Regimental Clerk and Historian.
--Trouble in Company D.--Activity Within the
Federal Lines.--General Pendleton's Speech.--
Early's Small Force Defeated at Waynesboro.--
Sheridan's Raid 297
XXVI. South of the James.--Battles of Dinwiddie and
Five Forks 307
XXVII. The Retreat.--Battle of Sailor's Creek.--Captured 321
XXVIII. To Prison at Point Lookout, Maryland.--Prison
Life.--Release.--Home 335
XXIX. The Conclusion.--War Ends.--The Return to Civil
Pursuits.--The Confederate Soldier 349
Portraits
Page
David E. Johnston, 16 years old, in Confederate uniform
and off for the war Frontispiece
Captain James H. French 32
Lieutenant Eustace Gibson 64
Captain Robert H. Bane 80
Lieutenant Elisha M. Stone 112
Lieutenant John W. Mullins 144
Corporal Jesse B. Young 208
Lieutenant Thomas S. Taylor 240
Rev. J. Tyler Frazier 272
David E. Johnston, Brigadier-General, Confederate Veterans,
and David E. J. Wilson, Captain and Aide-de-Camp 304
Chapter I
Pre-election Statement as to Mr. Lincoln.
The Presidential Election in November, 1860.
Fear and Anxiety.
At School with Rev. J. W. Bennett, in Winter 1860 and Spring 1861.
Debating Society.
Some Recollections of Colonel Chambers and Others.
Strong State Rights Ideas.
Desire to Become a Soldier.
The Anticipation and the Reality.
Return Home.
War Talk and Feeling.
As a boy, but little more than fifteen years of age, I heard and
learned much of the pre-election news, as well as read newspapers,
by which I was impressed with the thought that Mr. Lincoln was a
very homely, ugly man, was not at all prepossessing, some of the
newspapers caricaturing him as the "Illinois Ape," "Vulgar Joker
of Small Caliber," and much other of the same kind of silly rubbish
was said and published. Some of the negroes inquired if he was
sure enough a black man. They had heard him spoken of as a "Black
Republican."
At the election in November, 1860, Mr. Lincoln, the Abolition-Republican
candidate, was chosen President, which caused great anxiety and alarm
throughout the Southern states--in fact, in other parts of the country.
This fear was intensified later by Mr. Lincoln's utterances in his
inaugural address, of which more will be said in later chapter.
Late in the Fall of 1860, and in the early Spring of 1861, I was at
school on Brush Creek, in the County of Monroe, Virginia, under the
preceptorship of Rev. James W. Bennett, a ripe scholar and genial
Christian gentleman. I do not think I progressed as rapidly as I might,
most probably on account of some things that tended to distract my
attention from my studies. Toward the ending of the school there was
much talk about secession and war; in fact, it was the theme of
every-day conversation. Even the boys in the school talked learnedly
about the questions, and were divided in opinion much in the same
proportion as their fathers, guardians and neighbors.
As day after day passed and something new was constantly happening, the
feeling and excitement became more intense. As the war clouds began to
arise and seemingly to overshadow us, the mutterings of the distant
thunder could be heard in the angry words of debate and discussion in
the councils of the country, and at home among the extreme advocates of
secession on the one hand, and those holding extreme views opposed to
the principle and policy of secession on the other. This was not
confined to the men alone, but, as before stated, the school boys were
would-be statesmen, and in Mr. Bennett's school organized a debating
society, in which was most frequently discussed the question, "Shall
Virginia Secede from the Union?"--the question being generally decided
in the negative.
The meetings of the society were frequently attended by some of the men
of the neighborhood, and among them were Col. William Chambers, Major
Arnett, and Captain Shue. Colonel Chambers was a fierce, bold,
determined, and uncompromising Union man, opposed to secession in any
and every form or name in which it could be presented, while Major
Arnett and Captain Shue were much of the same way of thinking, but more
conservative in their utterances. These men and others frequently took
part in the debate and sometimes sat as judges.
When I took part in the discussion it was generally on the affirmative,
in favor of secession, my sentiments and convictions leading me in that
direction, though as a matter of fact my ideas were very crude, as I
knew little of the matter, not having at that time attained my
sixteenth year. I had only caught from my uncle, Chapman I. Johnston,
who had been educated and trained in the State Rights school of
politics, some faint ideas of the questions involved in the threatened
rupture.
Naturally following my early impressions, I became and was a strong
believer in and an advocate of State Rights, and secession, without
fair comprehension of what was really meant by the terms. My youthful
mind was inspired by the thought that I lived in the South, among a
southern people in thought, feeling and sentiment, that their interests
were my interests, their assailants and aggressors were equally mine,
their country my country,--a land on which fell the rays of a southern
sun, and that the dews which moistened the graves of my ancestors fell
from a southern sky; and not only this, but the patriotic songs, and
the thought of becoming a soldier, with uniform and bright buttons,
marching to the sound of martial music, a journey to Richmond, all
animated and enthused me and had the greatest tendency to induce and
influence me to become a soldier. Grand anticipations! Fearful reality!
When thinking of this, I am reminded of the story of Bill Douthat of
our Company, who, after trying the realities of war and soldier life
for a part of one year, returned home, and being strictly inquired of
as to what war was, what it meant, or how he liked it, answered, "Well,
gentlemen, I have seen the elephant; don't want to see him any more."
And after having tried it, I think I can truthfully say that Bill
expressed fully our views on the subject.
Leaving school about the last days of March or the first days of April,
I returned to my uncle's house.
Although Virginia had not yet seceded, there was an abundance of war
talk, and some of the people were rapidly coming to the conclusion that
war was inevitable, and that the only way the controversy could or
would be settled was by resort to arms, an appeal to the King of
Battles,--a submission to the arbitrament of the sword.
Volunteer military organizations already existed in various parts of
the state; perhaps there was scarcely a county or city in the
Commonwealth that did not have at least one organized volunteer
company.
Many overzealous persons declared their purpose to unite their fortunes
with the states which had already seceded, whatever the course of
Virginia might be, and many of these zealots were so much afraid that
there would be no war, or none in Virginia, that they hurried south;
however, the ardor of at least some of them became somewhat frigid as
the war became flagrant, until it is believed it fell below the
freezing point, and some of them going over to the enemy; helped stir
up the strife, then ran away, and let the other fellows do the
fighting.
Chapter II
Giles County, its Formation and Early Settlers.
Its Geographical Position, Topography and Population in 1860.
State of Political Parties.
Election of Delegate to the Convention.
Giles County, named for Hon. William B. Giles, once Governor of
Virginia, was created in 1806 out of the territory of Montgomery,
Tazewell, and Monroe counties; the county town or seat of justice,
Pearisburg, being named in honor of Col. George Pearis, a soldier of
the American Revolution, who donated to the county the land on which
the town is located. Colonel Pearis was a descendent of a French
Hugenot, and was born in the State of South Carolina, February 16,
1746. In a battle with the Tories at Shallow Ford of the Yadkin, North
Carolina, on the 14th day of October, 1780, he was wounded in the
shoulder, which disabled him for further military service, and on
reaching Virginia sought shelter with some relations on the New River,
at a place since known as Pepper's Ferry.
The settlement of what is now the territory of Giles County began at a
period anterior to the American Revolution, perhaps as early as 1755,
if not a few years before that date. Among the early settlers of Giles
County were the Lybrooks, Snidows, Harmans, Halls, Napiers, McComas',
Clays, Pearis', Peters', Hales McKenseys, Chapmans, Frenches,
Johnstons, Shumates, Hatfields, Adkins', Hares, Pecks, Hughes',
Wilburns, Shannons, and Banes, who were of Scot-Irish, German, Hugenot
and English blood, many of them suffering much from Indian incursions.
The population of this county, in 1860, was 6816, of whom 6038 were
free white persons. The county is situated in the midst of the great
Appalachian chain or range of mountains, distant from Richmond some
three hundred miles. Its length, thirty, by a mean width of twenty
miles. New River flows through it in a north-west direction, the chief
tributaries of which, in Giles County, are the Sinking, Walker's, Wolf,
Big Stony, and Little Stony creeks. Its principal mountains, Walker's,
Sugar Run, Angel's Rest, Wolf Creek, East River, Peters' and Salt Pond,
which are high, rugged, and precipitous. The streams are rapid, and the
surface of the country, other than the river and creek bottoms,
generally rough and broken, but the soil rich and fertile. The
population in 1861 was made up of sturdy, liberty-loving, hardy
mountaineers, engaged chiefly in agricultural pursuits, where brave men
are bred, accustomed to the chase and the use of firearms, which fitted
them for the hardships and privations of soldier life.
Politically, in 1860 and the early part of 1861, the county was fairly
evenly divided between the democratic and whig parties, with perhaps a
slight preponderance in favor of the democrats, the great body of whom,
with the State Rights whigs, being intensely southern in character, but
opposed to extreme measures, or hasty action.
In January, 1861, the legislature ordered an election for delegates to
a convention to consider the critical condition of the country, said
election to be held on the 4th day of February, at which in Giles
County Mr. Manilius Chapman was elected over Mr. Charles D. Peck by a
small majority. The convention assembled in Richmond on the 13th of
February, of which more hereafter.
Chapter III
What Will Not Be Attempted Herein.
How the Southern People Viewed the Situation.
Virginia as Peace Maker.
The Peace Conference and Its Failure.
Geographical, Territorial Position.
Assembling of the Convention and Its Action.
Mr. Lincoln's Attitude and Call for Troops.
Adoption of the Ordinance of Secession.
Preparations for Defense.
It is not herein attempted to record the causes which led to the
withdrawal of the Southern States from the Federal Compact of Union
framed by the Deputies of twelve of the Thirteen Original States, in
the City of Philadelphia on the 17th day of September, 1787, afterwards
acceded to and ratified by the states acting by and through conventions
of the sovereign people of the states entering into and forming the
Compact. Neither will it be discussed whether Secession is a violation
of the Constitution, nor whether it is or is not prohibited to the
states and no power granted or delegated to the Federal agent to
prevent it. It seems no longer a practical question, hence no
good purpose could be subserved by a discussion thereof. Some of
the arguments, however, of the Southern people are reproduced to
show how they viewed the question at the period of which I am
writing,--especially what Virginia people said and thought on the
subject.
In his inaugural address, Mr. Lincoln had declared his purpose to
repossess the forts which had been seized by troops of the seceded
states, reading to the Virginia Commissioners on April 13th a paper
setting forth his views declaring his purpose to coerce the seceded
States. By the Southern people this declaration by Mr. Lincoln was
construed as a purpose to wage immediate war of subjugation against the
South; in fact, no other meaning could be given to what he said.
Many of the Southern states did not want to leave the Union, abhorred
war, and especially was this true of Virginia. She therefore hesitated
before taking the step which was to separate her from that Union she
had contributed so much to create. Virginia, therefore, made overtures
to the government at Washington for an amicable and peaceful solution
of the questions agitating the country, which, if not adjusted, would
soon plunge the nation into the dreadful war to which we were rapidly
drifting. Virginia took the lead in the matter of pacification, by a
resolution of her legislature passed early in the month of January,
1861, recommending each of the states to appoint commissioners to a
convention, the object of which should be "to adjust the present
unhappy controversies." This proposition met the approval of President
Buchanan. Most of the states, save those which had then seceded,
responded by appointing delegates. In pursuance of this call, the
convention met in Washington, February 4, 1861, choosing John Tyler of
Virginia, chairman of the convention. After some three weeks'
deliberation, this "Peace Congress" submitted a number of propositions,
amendments to the Constitution. These propositions, together with most,
if not all overtures, came to naught, were rejected by the congress and
the party then in control of affairs at Washington.
On December 20th the State of South Carolina had seceded from the
Union, affirming and claiming that she, with her sister Southern
states, could no longer live on equal terms and in peace in that Union
and under that Constitution which many of the Northern states did not
hesitate to violate whenever it suited their interests; and further
insisting that there had been a powerful party organized in the North,
upon principles of ambition and fanaticism, whose purpose was to divert
the Federal Government from the external, and turn its power upon the
internal interests and domestic institutions of the Southern states;
that they had thus in the Northern states a party whose avowed object
not only threatened the peace but the existence of nearly one-half of
the states of the Republic; that this same party in the North proposed
to inaugurate a president, at the head of the Army and Navy, with vast
powers, not to preside over the common interests and destinies of all
the states alike, but upon partisan issues of avowed hostility, with
relentless war to be waged upon the rights and peace of half the states
of the Union.
This is but a faint picture of what awaited the Southern states, as
they saw it, upon the coming into power of a sectional party, with Mr.
Lincoln as chief magistrate, whose inaugural address clearly
foreshadowed war.
After repeated demands made by South Carolina, and after several
ineffectual attempts by negotiation for the surrender of Fort Sumter,
and a Federal fleet had sailed and was then off the harbor of
Charleston, for the reinforcing and provisioning of the garrison, it is
claimed that treachery and duplicity of the Federal government had been
used to deceive the state authorities of South Carolina as to the
surrender of the fort.
It was therefore decided to reduce the fort; hence, on the 12th day of
April, 1861, the bombardment commenced, the news of which fired the
Northern heart, notwithstanding the well known principle that it is not
always he who strikes the first blow that is the aggressor, but he who
by his conduct or act forces that blow to be given. However, the shot
had been fired which aroused the whole country to the highest pitch of
excitement, with seemingly no way to allay it. The war was on.
Let us return to the Virginia convention which assembled in Richmond
February 13th. These were momentous days. This historic body, composed
of the ablest and best men from the Commonwealth of Virginia, carefully
considered the grave issues involved, the fearful consequences of civil
strife. Upon the best authority it is averred that two-thirds of the
men composing this convention were opposed to secession, and preferred
to remain in the Union.
A committee on Federal Relations was appointed, which, on the 10th day
of March, reported fourteen resolutions, as follows: protesting against
all interference with slavery; declaring secession to be a right;
defining the grounds on which Virginia would feel herself to be
justified in exercising that right, namely: the failure to obtain
guarantees; the adoption of a warlike policy by the government of the
United States, or to reinforce, or recapture the Southern forts. These
resolves clearly defined the attitude of Virginia at this critical
moment. After serious discussion pro and con, all but the last of these
resolves had passed the convention, when the news was received that the
bombardment of Fort Sumter had begun.
Virginia was still for peace and the Union, endeavoring by every means
within her power to avert the awful calamity of civil war. Her
territorial limits were extensive, reaching from the northeast point of
North Carolina northwestward nearly five hundred miles to a point
within about one hundred miles of Lake Erie, practically separating the
eastern from the western states of the Union; hence her geographical
position entitled her to and gave her great power and influence toward
a settlement of the impending trouble. It was then claimed,--which was
no doubt true,--that the Federal Administration was anxious to see her
shorn of her power, which in a measure was accomplished by her
dismemberment, by the formation of West Virginia out of her territory,
and this by the aid of the Federal power.
Virginia's son was foremost in fanning the flames of revolution,
leading to the overthrow of British tyranny and the establishment of
American independence. Her son had written the Declaration of
Independence. Her son had led the Continental armies during the
Revolution, and her son was active in the framing and ratification of
the Federal Constitution. Virginia had been among the first to suggest
and to assist in creating the compact of union.
To the Confederated states and in the spirit of patriotism and
confidence in the continuance of good will, she had given to the Union
her north-west territory, an empire within itself, out of which six or
more states have been formed. She had furnished seven presidents to the
Republic.
It was on the 15th day of April that Mr. Lincoln issued his call for
seventy-five thousand troops. Virginia's quota, 2400, were to
rendezvous at points in Virginia, thus placing armed soldiers in her
territory, though still in the Union, her convention a few days
previous having refused to secede by a vote of 89 to 45. This act of
Mr. Lincoln was construed by our people as an act of war, and without
authority, that power being vested in Congress alone.
Thus it will be seen that all the efforts made by Virginia to preserve
the Union and peace had been defeated, Mr. Lincoln having pronounced
secession unlawful and void. Virginia was a Southern state, in sympathy
with her sister states of the South, and could not be induced to make
war on them, nor on the Northern states of the Union. The conduct of
the Federal Administration had not only forced her out of the Union,
but to take sides in the impending crisis. It was not a Southern
Confederacy that Virginia sought or her people fought for, but to
uphold and maintain the integrity and sovereignty of the state, and
this necessarily meant separate government. I am sure at no time did
the people of Virginia think of becoming the aggressors upon the rights
of the other states of the Federal Union.
The issue was, therefore, squarely presented. Virginia must decide on
which side she would stand. "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve,"
was the alternative. There was no middle ground, no neutral position,
no evading the issue. Against her persistent attachment to the Union,
the strongest appeals and bitterest denunciations, Virginia remained
unmoved.
When her voice and her pleadings were no longer heard, the news of the
bombardment of Fort Sumter, and Mr. Lincoln's call for troops, reached
the convention, the supreme moment had come. The die was cast. There
could be no further hesitation. On April 17th the Ordinance of
Secession, amid anguish and tears, was adopted by a vote of 81 to 51.
The call for troops by the President brought an immediate change in the
current of public opinion in Virginia from the mountains to the sea.
The Ordinance of Secession was ratified by the people on the 23d day of
May by a majority of 96,750 out of a total vote of 161,018.
Virginians having now made their decision to defend themselves and
their state, hastened to arms with ardor and a determined spirit of
resistance.
Chapter IV
Organization of Volunteer Forces.
Giles Not Behind Her Sister Counties.
A Company Organized at Pearisburg, with James H. French as Captain;
Eustace Gibson, First Lieutenant; William A. Anderson, Second
Lieutenant; and Joel Blackard, Second Junior Lieutenant; Captains James
D. Johnston and R. F. Watts on the Committee to Purchase Uniforms, etc.
The Ladies of the Town and Country.
In Barracks and on Drill.
Anecdote.
Dixie.
Our March to Wolf Creek.
Presentation of Bible and Flag.
On learning of the adoption of the Ordinance of Secession by the
convention, the country was ablaze with the wildest excitement, and
preparations for war began in earnest. Volunteer organizations of
troops were forming all over the state. Why and wherefore, may be
asked. Not to attack the Federal Government, to fight the Northern
states, but only to defend Virginia in the event of invasion by a
Northern army. There was at this time in the county, already organized
and fairly drilled, the volunteer company of Capt. William Eggleston,
of New River White Sulphur Springs. Pearisburg and the region
roundabout in the most part received the news of the secession of the
state with apparent relief and gladness, and immediately James H.
French, Esq., of Pearisburg, a lawyer and staunch, bold Southern man in
education, sentiment and feeling, assisted by others, commenced the
enlistment of a company of volunteer infantry to serve for the period
of twelve months from the date of being mustered into service,
believing that war, if it should come, would not last longer than one
year. Enlisting men for war was something new; people are always ready
to try something new, and as our people were possessed of a martial
spirit, this, together with the excitement and enthusiasm of the
occasion, made it no difficult matter to enroll a full company in an
incredibly short time. Names were readily obtained, among them my own.
I had to go with the boys,--my neighbors and schoolmates, little
thinking, or in the remotest degree anticipating, the terrible
hardships and privations which would have to be endured in the four
years which followed. The idea then prevalent among our people was that
we were not to be absent a great while; that there would probably be no
fighting; that Mr. Lincoln was not really in earnest about attempting
to coerce the seceded states, and if he was, a few Southern men would
suffice to put to rout the hordes of Yankeedom. If, however, the
Northern people were intent upon war, our people were ready to meet
them, because thoroughly aroused.
Our people had by this time arrived at the conclusion that war was
inevitable; no settlement on peaceable and honorable terms could be
had. They had therefore left the Union, which seemed to them the only
alternative. Consequently we felt obliged to appeal to the sword for
the settlement of questions which statesmanship had failed to solve;
yet always willing to make a child's bargain with the Northern
people,--"You leave us alone and we will leave you alone." Extravagant
utterances and speeches were made as to Southern prowess. It was even
said that one Southern man could whip five Yankees; that the old women
of the country with corn-cutters could drive a host of Yankees away;
but the people who made these assertions knew little of what they were
saying, for ere the war had long progressed we found we had our hands
full, and it soon became evident that we might like to find someone to
help us let go.
The organization of the company which afterwards became Company D, 7th
Virginia regiment, took place April 25, 1861. The only contest for
office worth relating was for the captaincy, which was between James H.
French and Andrew J. Grigsby, and resulted in the election of the
former. The following is a complete roster of the company, with dates
of enlistment, rank, etc., to be followed later by a tabulated
statement of losses in battle, by disease, desertion, discharge,
etc.:
ROSTER OF COMPANY D, 7TH VIRGINIA INFANTRY.
Date of enlistment. Name. Rank.
1861--April James H. French Captain
1861--April Eustace Gibson First Lieutenant
1861--April W. A. Anderson, Sec. Lieutenant
1861--April J. Blackard, Second Jr. Lieutenant
1861--April Allen C. Pack First Sergeant
1861--April John W. Mullins Second Sergeant
1861--April Joseph C. Hughes Third Sergeant
1861--April Wm. D. Peters Fourth Sergeant
1861--April Hamilton J. Hale Fifth Sergeant
1861--April Allen L. Fry First Corporal
1861--April Elisha M. Stone Second Corporal
1861--April T. N. Mustain Third Corporal
1861--April John W. Hight Fourth Corporal
1861--April David C. Akers Private
1861--August George W. Akers Private
1861--August William R. Albert Private
1861--August Daniel Bish Private
1861--August Allen M. Bane Private
1861--August Robert H. Bane Private
1861--April Joseph E. Bane Private
1861--August Jesse Barrett Private
1861--April Alexander Bolton Private
1861--August Travis Burton Private
1861--August William H. Carr Private
1861--August James M. Collins Private
1861--April John R. Crawford Private
1863--March William Crawford Private
1861--April James B. Croy Private
1861--April James Cole Private
1865--January D. E. Dulaney Private
1861--April M. J. Dulaney Private
1861--August Tim P. Darr Private
1861--April John S. Dudley Private
1861--April William H. Douthat Private
1861--April Thomas Davenport Private
1861--August David Davis Private
1861--April Elbert S. Eaton Private
1861--April Elisha D. East Private
1861--April John W. East Private
1861--April Joseph Eggleston Private
1861--April James H. Eggleston Private
1861--April Francis H. Farley Private
1861--April William C. Fortner Private
1861--April James H. Fortner Private
1861--April Jacob Tyler Frazier Private
1861--April William Frazier Private
1861--August Creed D. Frazier Private
1861--April William A. French Private
1861--April John S. W. French Private
1861--August Andrew J. French Private
1861--April James H. Gardner Private
1861--August Francis M. Gordon Private
1861--April Andrew J. Grigsby Private
1861--April Charles A. Hale Private
1861--April John A. Hale Private
1861--April John D. Hare Private
1861--April Isaac Hare Private
1861--April James B. Henderson Private
1861--August John Henderson Private
1861--Mar. 1862 Baldwin L. Hoge Private
1861--April 1861 James Hughes Private
1861--April James J. Hurt Private
1861--April George W. Hurt Private
1861--April John F. Jones Private
1861--April Manelius S. Johnston Private
1861--August George Johnston Private
1861--April David E. Johnston Private
1861--April George Knoll Private
1861--April Charles N. J. Lee Private
1861--April Joseph Lewy Private
1861--April Henry Lewy Private
1861--April William H. Layton Private
1861--April James Lindsey Private
1861--April Patrick H. Lefler Private
1861--August Anderson Meadows Private
1861--August Ballard P. Meadows Private
1861--April John Meadows Private
1861--April Newton J. Morris Private
1862--March Christian Minnich Private
1861--April George A. Minnich Private
1861--April John H. Minnich Private
1861--April Absalom D. Manning Private
1861--April Raleigh Merricks Private
1861--April Tapley P. Mays Private
1861--April John Q. Martin Private
1861--April John H. Martin Private
1861--August Wiley W. Muncey Private
1861--August George C. Mullins Private
1862--March James J. Nye Private
1861--April John Palmer Private
1861--August Charles W. Peck Private
1861--April John W. Sarver Private
1861--April Demarcus L. Sarver Private
1861--April Josephus Southern Private
1861--April Samuel B. Shannon Private
1861--April Joseph C. Shannon Private
1861--April William H. H. Snidow Private
1861--April John P. Sublett Private
1861--April William T. Sublett Private
1861--April Lewis R. Skeens Private
1861--April Alexander Skeens Private
1861--April Joseph Skeens Private
1861--April Amos L. Sumner Private
1861--August Thomas J. Stafford Private
1861--August William H. Stafford Private
1863--January Ralph M. Stafford Private
1861--April Andrew J. Thompson Private
1861--August Adam Thompson Private
1861--August Alonzo Thompson Private
1861--April Thomas S. L. Taylor Private
1861--April Lee E. Vass Private
1861--April Washington R. C. Vass Private
1861--April Elijah R. Walker Private
1861--April Lewis N. Wiley Private
1861--April Gordon L. Wilburn Private
1861--April Ballard P. Watts Private
1861--April Hugh J. Wilburn Private
1861--August William I. Wilburn Private
1861--April Edward Z. Yager Private
1861--April Thomas J. Young Private
1861--August Isaac Young Private
1861--April Jesse B. Young Private
Whole number of enlisted officers and men, 122.
[Illustration: James Harvey French]
Upon the company being organized, a committee was appointed by the
county court to purchase uniforms and blankets. This committee, which
was composed, as now recollected, of Captains James D. Johnston and R.
F. Watts, acted promptly, and the materials for the uniforms were soon
on hand. The ladies of the town and surrounding country went to work in
earnest and with energy to make our outfits. Herculean as was the task,
they accomplished it in an incredibly short time, and we soon donned
our bright new clothes, with nice brass buttons, and began to think
ourselves soldiers in fact. We occupied as barracks the large frame
building on the south-east side of the town, the same lately owned and
occupied by Capt. James D. Johnston as a residence. While here we
usually had daily squad and company drill, conducted by the
accomplished Captain W. W. McComas, then a practicing physician, who
had been a soldier in the Mexican War, and who, after the departure of
our company, raised and organized a company of which he was made
captain. He fell at his post in the forefront of the battle of South
Mills, North Carolina, April 19, 1862. He, like many others, died too
soon for his country's good, and his friends were greatly grieved and
distressed over his untimely death.
During the period which elapsed between the organization and departure
for Lynchburg, the designated place of rendezvous, and while in
barracks, "the boys," as we were wont to call ourselves, played many
pranks upon each other, one of which is worth relating. A sham or mock
election was held for the election of a fifth Lieutenant, the choice
falling on a very credulous member of the company, who, after the
announcement of his election, became quite anxious to know what the
duties of his office required of him,--which we, also ignorant of
military duties, were unable to answer. With his consent, it was agreed
to refer the solution of the matter to Lieutenant Anderson, who was
always full of wit and humor, ever ready with answer, and always
enjoyed a good joke. Upon the arrival of the Lieutenant, the question
was promptly referred to him, and without pausing he promptly answered,
"His duties are to carry water and catch fleas out of the soldiers'
beds." This seemed satisfactory to the newly elected Lieutenant, and
doubtless, as was afterwards demonstrated--for he always obeyed orders
and did his duty--he would have proceeded to perform his prescribed
duties as explained by Lieutenant Anderson, had not some one told him
that it was all a joke and a sell.
Early in May we were invited to a dinner prepared for us by the good
people living at and near the mouth of Wolf Creek, whither we marched,
partook of a bountiful repast, and returned to our barracks. During our
stay in barracks at Pearisburg, as before stated, we were frequently
drilled by Captain McComas, who attempted to teach us to keep the step
and to cheer, or huzzah. The latter was no easy task, for in fact we
never did learn uniformity in the "huzzah," but gradually drifted into
that wild "rebel yell," as it was called, which so often sent a thrill
of horror into the Yankee ranks, and the memory of which brings a cold
chill over those fellows yet! "Dixie," "Bonnie Blue Flag" and other
patriotic songs, sung by the choir of the company, greatly enthused us,
but "Dixie" had more music in it than all others put together, and it
has ever been so, even to this good day.
As all people of all lands are more or less fond of "flag worship," it
was altogether fit and proper that the company should have a suitable
emblem or flag, and the women, always first in every good work,
determined to present to the company a flag and a Bible. Both were soon
ready, and it was determined to have a formal presentation of each.
Miss Mary Woodram, now the widow of Dr. James O'Keiffe, presented the
flag, and the pupils of Pearisburg Academy the Bible, which was placed
in the custody of Jacob Tyler Frazier, who had been selected as
chaplain, the flag being delivered to Joseph Edward Bane, the company's
ensign. J. Smoot Dennis, a boy of only seven years of age, a pupil of
the school, presented the Bible, in the following little speech:
"The teachers and pupils of Pearisburg Academy beg leave to present
this copy of the Holy Scriptures to our magnificent 'Mountain Boomers'
as an expression of our confidence in their Christian faith and
patriotism."
To which the chaplain responded:
"On behalf of the 'Mountain Boomers' I accept this book, knowing it to
be the Word of God. I shall read it with care and diligence, and on all
suitable occasions will endeavor to explain and enforce its claims.
Should any of our band fall sick in camp, or be wounded on the field,
then from the great treasure of its precious promises I will bring balm
for the suffering, and point them to Him whose mission to earth was to
bind up the broken-hearted and save that which was lost. If the Pale
Horse and his Rider should overtake any of us in a distant land, we
will rest in hope of the glorious appearing of Him who is the
Resurrection and the Life, and with whom we shall be gathered into that
land which no foe invades, and where friends are parted no more."
Chapter V
The Election for the Ratification of the Ordinance of Secession Was
Held on the Fourth Thursday of May, the 23d. On That Day Members of the
House of Delegates, and Perhaps Other Officers Were to be Elected.
Our Departure.
Lynchburg and to Manassas Junction.
The total vote (1033) in Giles County was cast in favor of the
ratification of the Ordinance of Secession. Captain William Eggleston
was elected to the House of Delegates over Dr. John W. Easley by a
majority of 234 votes. Our departure for the rendezvous was delayed for
the purpose of giving such members of the company as were entitled to
vote the opportunity to do so. To avoid delay and to furnish means to
carry us to the railway station twenty-one miles away, preparations
were made in advance to transport us in wagons.
The day arrived at last. It was a lovely May morning; the sun shone in
all his splendor, the birds sang, all nature seemed to smile, and there
was nothing to indicate that this should be the last farewell for many
noble Giles County boys to home, friends, and loved ones. We seemed to
be going on a holiday journey, to return in a few days. But alas! when
the time of departure arrived, what a change of scene! The town was
being filled with people,--the fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters,
wives, relatives, friends and lovers of the men and boys who were
starting on the errand of war. Here was a fond and loving mother
clinging to her baby boy, weeping, sobbing, praying the Father of all
Mercies to protect and preserve the life of her darling child, amidst
the fury and storm of battle. There stood the patriotic, gray haired
father, the tears trickling down his cheeks, giving to his beloved son
words of comfort, begging that he act the man, be brave, do his duty,
refrain from bad habits, and to shun all appearance of evil. A loving
sister might be seen with her arms around a brother's neck, reminding
him of her love and attachment, and her grief and sorrow at parting
from one with whom she had been associated from childhood's days, upon
whom she had leaned for protection, and upon whom her fondest hopes for
the future rested, and whose face she was, in all probability, gazing
upon for the last time. Ears were not deaf to the mutual promises and
plighted faith of lovers, of what they hoped one day should be
realized. Nor were eyes dim to the parting glances and silent tears,
for scarcely could be found an eye that was not bathed in tears on this
occasion. It was weeping, shaking of hands, "goodbye," and "God bless
you;" and thus the scene continued until the long train of wagons drove
us away.
On reaching the residence of that hospitable gentleman, Thomas Shannon,
ten miles away, we found in his orchard near the spring a long table on
which was spread a splendid dinner. After partaking thereof, and
resting a short time, we resumed our journey towards Dublin, arriving
there at sunset. Assembling near the station, we were addressed by
Colonel Pogue and Mr. Frank Wysor, whose speeches were well timed and
patriotic, which, together with the good supper furnished us, had the
effect to dispel in some degree the gloom and sadness of the morning.
At eleven o'clock P.M. we boarded the train for Lynchburg, arriving
there at sunrise next morning. With us were Robinson and Hurt, drummer
and fifer, who kept us well supplied with music during that long
night's ride. Crowded closely in the coaches, unaccustomed to riding on
the cars, and sleeping none, we found ourselves on reaching Lynchburg
pretty badly used up. Falling into line at the station, we marched up
Bridge street to Main, then to a back street above, going into quarters
in a tobacco warehouse, where we remained but a day and night; then to
the fair grounds, or Camp Davis, as it was called. There we were joined
by Captain Eggleston's company, the Mercer company under Captain
Richardson, with several companies from the counties of Franklin,
Henry, Patrick, Floyd, Montgomery, and Carroll, which later formed the
24th Virginia regiment of infantry, commanded by Colonel, afterwards
Lieutenant-General Jubal A. Early, Peter Hairston, Lieut.-Col., and J.
P. Hammett as Major. Colonel Early was not in camp with us at Lynchburg
and did not join us until we reached Manassas. The camp was in charge
of Lieut.-Col. Hairston, a tall, slender, sandy-haired, blue-eyed man,
good natured, but, as we then thought, evidently better qualified to
manage his farm down in Henry County than a green military force
composed of Virginia gentlemen, unused as they were to restrictions or
restraints upon their personal liberty, and not to be broken into
harness, so to speak, in a few days.
Our quarters were rude plank sheds with inclined rough floors; our
bedding not of feathers, but of a little straw and blankets. As no one
in the company knew anything of the art of cooking, what little was
done as a matter of course was badly done; the cooking vessels
consisting of a tin cup, camp kettle, and frying pan. Bread was
generally furnished from the bakers' shops of the city, while meat,
rice, beans, peas, etc., had to be dumped into a camp kettle and boiled
together--so that it requires no strong stretch of the imagination on
the part of the reader to realize that we had a real mess. However,
"necessity, the mother of invention," compelled us to learn how to
cook, and we were right apt scholars.
In a few days after taking up quarters at Camp Davis, there were issued
and delivered to us Springfield muskets, bayonets, scabbards, cartridge
boxes, but no ammunition. With these muskets we performed quarter
guard, the chief objects of which seemed to be to keep the men out of
the city, and to give us some knowledge as to the handling of arms. In
accomplishing the first named purpose it was vain; the guards had
muskets, but no powder and ball, therefore if anyone were desirous of
passing the lines into the city, he had only to wait until the sentry
turned on his beat to walk away, then glide quickly across the line;
but when the sentry did catch a fellow, he usually made him stand at
the point of his bayonet, marking time, until the corporal of the guard
could answer the call and conduct the prisoner to the guardhouse.
Consequently a different remedy was resorted to by the officers, viz.:
The frequent call of the roll, by which the absentees were readily
ascertained. This had the effect of lessening the practice of going
into the city without permission.
We remained in Lynchburg eight days, breaking camp at Camp Davis Friday
the 31st day of May, 1861, and departing that evening in freight cars
over the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, for Manassas Junction, a
distance of one hundred miles or more. After a long, tiresome,
all-night ride, we reached Manassas at sunrise on the morning of June
1st, the morning on which occurred, at Fairfax Court House, a skirmish
between the Federal and Confederate outposts, in which Capt. John Q.
Marr, of Fauquier, was killed and Major Ewell wounded. The Confederate
post at Manassas was named "Camp Pickens" in honor of Governor Pickens
of South Carolina.
Chapter VI
Stay at the Junction.
Organization of Twenty-fourth Regiment as Afterwards Completed.
March to Camp Davis Ford.
First Night on Picket.
Alarm.
March to the Town of Occoquan and Back Again.
A War of Words.
Serious Fight Imminent.
Leaving the Twenty-fourth Regiment.
Camp Tick Grove, and a Personal Difference.
A More Perfect Union.
Camp Wigfall.
Officers of the Seventh Virginia Regiment.
Blondeau's Shot.
How We Cooked, Ate and Slept.
Shannon's Bob.
Rumors Afloat of Pending Battle.
Three Days' Rations Cooked.
The day, or second day, after arriving at Manassas, began the
organization of the 24th Virginia Regiment of Infantry, with companies
from the counties of Carroll, Floyd, Montgomery, Henry, Franklin,
Patrick, Mercer and Giles, including our company, the regiment
numbering about one thousand men. In our company were J. Tyler Frazier,
the company Chaplain, Thomas S. Taylor, James B. Henderson, the
Eggleston boys, and perhaps others not now recalled, whose custom and
habit was not to retire at night until they had held devotional
exercises, thanked God for His past mercies and blessings, and asked
His care and protection during the night. This they had not failed to
do since leaving home. Taps were sounded at nine o'clock, when all
lights must be extinguished. One night at Manassas taps sounded while
the boys were at their devotions. Colonel Hairston, seeing the light in
their tent still burning, had the boys marched to the guard house; but
they were soon released.
After two or three days at the Junction, we marched seven or eight
miles to Davis' Ford on the Occoquan river, a stream formed by the
junction of Cedar Run, Broad Run, and Bull Run, where we went into
camp, pitching tents in a field on the right of the road, behind a
skirt of pines which lined the northeast bank of the stream. The
Occoquan here is small, with high banks. The field where we camped was
barren, not even covered with grass. Our beds were mother earth, our
rations were cooked in frying pans and camp-kettles, and we had to wash
our own clothes, often without soap.
Company drill was our daily avocation, and when well and closely
followed was quite irksome, especially in warm, sultry weather. We also
performed quarter guard and did picket duty, the latter by detachments
from the various companies, under the command of a commissioned
officer, arranged by alternate service. The picket post was nearly a
mile in advance of the camp, the small stream flowing between.
No one but a soldier can form any proper conception of the feelings and
imaginations of a green boy performing his first night's picket duty on
the outpost, and in order to give some meager idea of such a situation,
the writer will here relate his personal experience during his first
night on the outpost.
It must be kept in mind that the private soldier is supposed to be a
mere machine, which, if not in working order, may somewhere along the
line produce friction. This machine is supposed to know nothing but his
duty and obey orders,--the instructions of his superiors. If placed on
outpost duty and told that there is nothing in front of him but the
enemy, to keep a sharp lookout, and to warn of the approach of danger,
he is not expected to ask questions. My time came to go on duty at ten
o'clock at night. The night was cloudy and dark, but pleasant. I was
placed on the road by which it was supposed the enemy might come, and
given the countersign. From ten o'clock to twelve, midnight, was the
time I had to remain, unless the enemy captured or ran me away. What a
long two hours! The silence was oppressive. I stood peering through the
darkness, away a half a mile or more from any human being, so far as I
knew, imagining that every noise or bush shaken by the passing breeze
was a veritable foe.
The long two hours had nearly passed away, when--hush! in the distance,
on the hard beaten road, not two hundred yards away, came the sound of
approaching hoof-beats. Yankees, of course! Who else could they be? I
had no information that any of our troops were on the road in front of
us. What should I do? To fire before challenging and alarm the camp
would be highly improper; to run away without challenging or firing
would be an act of cowardice. So, nerving myself as well as I could
under the circumstances, remembering the instructions and countersign,
I awaited the coming of the party with all the courage I then seemed
to possess. Supposing them to have approached to within some fifty
yards,--though it was most likely a hundred yards--I challenged
the party, and was answered, "Friends, with the countersign." Then
the rejoinder, "One of you dismount, come forward and give the
countersign," which was quickly done, and the party passed on; and you,
gentle reader, may be assured there was one on his first night's picket
duty who breathed with more ease. The spell was broken,--thereafter I
had less trouble when on the outpost.
A few nights after this occurrence, the soldier on duty at this same
post discharged his musket, which aroused the camp nearly a mile away.
Such excitement was scarcely ever witnessed. The long roll sounded,
officers cried out, "Fall in! Fall in! The enemy is coming!" Had this
been true, there is little doubt that in the confusion and darkness of
the night there would have been a stampede.
On the 10th of June we struck tents, taking up the line of march for
the village of Occoquan, in the direction of the Potomac River. Our
march was only about twelve miles,--hot, dry and dusty, through a
country scarce of water. Many a scuffle at wells that we passed took
place among the men famishing for water. Our march by the route step
was rapid, much too rapid for troops unused to marching and carrying
guns, accouterments, knapsacks, blankets and canteens, which, together,
weighed from fifty to seventy-five pounds, and which, with our heavy,
close fitting coats, made the march burdensome and cruel in the
extreme; this in part because the commandant refused to halt for rest
or to allow the men to get water. About sunset camp was reached, all
hands broken down and exhausted. Next day we marched back, our boys in
disgust, some of them quoting the King of France, who with fifty
thousand men marched up the hill and then marched down again.
On the tramp to Occoquan occurred a difficulty between Lieutenant
Hairston and our Lieutenant Gibson, the two high bloods squaring
themselves in the road for battle, but the prompt intervention of Major
J. P. Hammett of the regiment prevented the trouble, which threatened
to involve not only the two officers but their respective companies,
and which difficulty was the cause of the transfer of our company from
the 24th to the 7th Virginia regiment.
We rested for a few days in camp in a grove of pines not far from
Manassas, to which we gave the name of "Camp Tick Grove," from the fact
of our being nearly eaten up by the seed-ticks that infest that region.
Nothing of interest transpired while in this camp further than that the
writer had a small personal difference with a great burly fellow, which
but for the timely interference of a comrade might have resulted in
somebody getting threshed. It was a trifling affair, soon over and
forgotten. Our transfer to the 7th Virginia regiment being duly
effected, we left the "camp of terror" and at Camp Wigfall formed a
more perfect union with our new regiment, commanded by Colonel James L.
Kemper of Madison County; of which regiment Lewis B. Williams of Orange
was lieutenant-colonel, and W. T. Patton, of Culpeper, major.
This regiment was formed of ten companies, two from Madison, two from
Rappahannock, one from Albemarle, one from Greene, one from Orange,
one from Washington, D.C., one from Culpeper, and one from
Giles--designated by letters as follows:
Co. A, Capt. John Welch, Madison County.
Co. B, Capt. Thos. B. Massie, Rappahannock County.
Co. C, Capt. John C. Porter, Culpeper County.
Co. D, Capt. James H. French, Giles County.
Co. E, Capt. John Taylor, Culpeper and Orange Counties.
Co. F, Capt. F. M. McMullen, Greene County.
[1]Co. G, Capt. Austin Walden, Rappahannock County.
Co. H, Capt. William Cleary, District of Columbia.
Co. I, Capt. Isaac Winn, Albemarle County.
Co. K, Capt. William Lovell, Madison County.
Dr. C. Bruce Morton, Surgeon.
Rev. Mr. Bocock, Chaplain.
Rev. Mr. McCarthy, Chaplain.
Rev. Mr. J. Tyler Frazier, Acting Chaplain.
Captain Crisler, Quartermaster.
Captain Graves, Quartermaster.
Captain J. W. Green, Commissary.
The adjutants who served in the 7th Virginia were:
Charles C. Flowerree, 1861 to April, 1862.
E. B. Starke, April, 1862, to June 30, 1862.
Hugh M. Patton, ----, 1862, to August 30, 1862.
John H. Parr, September, 1862, to April, 1865.
Sergeant-Majors:
George S. Tansill, to June 30, 1862.
---- Park, to August 30, 1862.
David E. Johnston, from November, 1862, to April, 1865.[2]
[1] This company joined the regiment on the morning of the
day of first battle of Manassas.
[2] I recall the names of some of the officers who came in
later as well as men, to wit: Captains W. O. Fry, Thomas Fry,
F. McMullen; J. W. Almerid, Thos. Harris, Phil S. Ashby,
Thos. G. Popham, Jas. G. Tansill; Lieutenants Porter, Jas.
Brown; Sergeants Wm. Aylor, Apperson, Parrott, Billy Fray, H.
C. Burrows and Frank Burrows.
Camp Wigfall was situate on a beautiful upland grass plot, a short
distance southeast of Manassas, and not far from Bull Run. Here we
spent the time rather pleasantly, engaging in daily company and
battalion drill and doing picket duty on two old country roads leading
in the direction of Bull Run.
Blondeau, the Frenchman, belonging to Company H, caused quite a stir
and excitement one night by firing his gun at an imaginary foe, which
turned out to be a cow browsing in the brush near him. The long roll
was sounded, the camp aroused, the regiment put into line, but before
this was accomplished the camp was in an uproar, one had lost his
boots, another his trousers, another his gun, etc. On the companies
reaching their positions in regimental line, ten rounds of ammunition
were ordered given each man, and non-commissioned officers directed to
make the distribution. It was often told of our Corporal Stone that
while dealing out ammunition, on the occasion referred to, one of the
men remarked to him that he was giving him more than ten caps, to which
the Corporal replied in quick, sharp tone, "Oh, it's no time to count
caps now!" Of course no one knowing the Corporal attributed his remark
to a want of courage, for no cooler, truer, braver man belonged to the
company. Such signification as it had was simply that men unused to
"war's alarms," aroused from slumber at the dead of night, would,
despite themselves, become excited and impatient, and especially so
when they momentarily expected the enemy to pounce upon them; but no
enemy came. We, however, rested on our arms the remainder of the night;
and though no foe appeared, some of the men were credited with having
seen some in the distance--on the hills, in the open fields, but on the
coming of light they were found to be merely harmless bushes. On such
occasions the imagination is naturally fertile.
The camp becoming quiet, we settled down to old habits. Rations were
abundant, more thrown away than we consumed. Inaction was not good for
us, and numbers of men became sick and were sent to hospital. Our
soldiers, like other people, loved to sleep. If their rest was broken
or disturbed at night, by picket, quarter guard, duty, or otherwise,
they were sure to take a nap the next day, if the flies, of which there
were swarms, would allow them to snooze. If they failed to get their
nap during the day they were pretty sure to have their nocturnal
slumbers disturbed by gnats and mosquitos, especially during the warm
nights.
Two members of our company, Samuel B. and Joseph C. Shannon, sons of
Thomas Shannon, had with them a negro servant, Bob, as their cook. Bob
was noted for his propensity for laughing, and when in a good glee he
could be heard half a mile. He was very patriotic, and declared his
purpose to go into battle with his young masters; that he could and
would fight as well as we, and shoot as many Yankees. In this Bob was
in earnest, as he believed; but ere long his courage was to be put to a
practical test, for rumors were already afloat in the camp that the
enemy was advancing and a battle impending.
The private soldier knows little of what takes place, other than that
which comes under his immediate observation. His general was supposed
to keep his own counsels, not allowing his left hand to know what he
intended to do with his right. Later on, the private soldier of the
Civil War became often as wise about what was on hand as his superior.
An order came to cook three days' rations, pack haversacks, and be
ready to move at a moment's notice. From this, we knew something was
up. Just what, we could not tell; however, we learned that the enemy
was advancing, and a battle to be fought. All was now activity and
preparation in the camp, and the men in high spirits and ready for the
fray.
Chapter VII
Breaking Camp at Wigfall.
The March to the Battlefield.
General Beauregard and His Appearance and Advice.
First Cannon Shot.
Battle of Bull Run.
The Advance.
The Charge.
The Wounded.
Isaac Hare and John Q. Martin.
Retreat of the Enemy.
Severe Artillery Duel.
The Dutchman and His Chunk of Fat Bacon.
Casualties.
Breaking camp at Wigfall Wednesday noon, July 17, the 7th regiment
marched in the direction of McLean's ford on Bull Run, halting on the
high land nearly a mile from the Run, and going into bivouac, or rather
lying down in an uncultivated field, where we rested quietly during the
night. Moving next morning a short distance, we halted on an eminence,
overlooking Mitchell's, Blackburn's and McLean's fords, and the country
beyond, whence about noon we observed clouds of dust to the north. Very
soon after this came the sound of brisk skirmish firing, and the roar
of cannon from the direction of Mitchell's ford.
The 24th Virginia, 7th Louisiana, and 7th Virginia regiments
constituted a brigade commanded by Col. J. A. Early. Longstreet's
brigade, holding Mitchell's ford, against which the enemy directed his
principal attack, consisted of the 1st, 11th and 17th Virginia
regiments.
The 7th Virginia moved towards the firing along a narrow country road
and over a field which had been planted in corn, in which field near
the road, in charge of a guard, was a Federal prisoner. We eyed him
closely, Bob, the colored cook, especially observing him with interest.
At McLean's gate, as we passed, stood General Beauregard, the commander
of the Confederate forces,--slim, strong shouldered, five and a half
feet high, of swarthy complexion, and lightish mustache. He appeared
calm, and collected, saying as we passed, in a quiet, low tone: "Keep
cool, men, and fire low; shoot them in the legs."
I am reminded to state here that in the earlier battles of the war I
have seen men in their excitement fire their muskets into the air at an
angle of probably forty-five degrees, and others so lowering their guns
that the ball would strike the ground but a few feet in front of them.
This, however, was soon corrected, and the men took good aim.
[Illustration: Lieut. Eustace Gibson]
Pushing forward from this point some two hundred yards, we halted on
the left of the road under cover of a belt of pines, which sheltered us
from the view of the enemy. Soon came the boom of a cannon, the ball
whizzing and buzzing over our heads. All eyes turned in the direction
of the noise of the ball, which struck the house near where General
Beauregard was standing. A second shot came, the ball cutting away an
apple tree near the house referred to, causing a team of horses to take
fright and run away, as well as the colored man, Bob, who, musket in
hand, had halted at the house, and the last seen of him that day he was
making rapid speed for Manassas. Bob never expressed any regret for the
run he had made, satisfied with his experience. The rattle of musketry
in our front made strange music, affecting some of the men very
peculiarly, especially John W. East, of our company, who, on account of
a severe pain in the region of his stomach, clasped both hands across
that locality, becoming almost doubled, which wholly disabled him for
the fight.
The order for the advance came, and forward we went along the narrow
country road, through the pines, with a wild yell, and at double quick,
accompanied by a section of the Washington (Louisiana) artillery,
commanded by Lieutenant Squires. Meeting on the way some wounded men of
the 1st Virginia regiment, pale and bleeding, had any other than a
pleasant and happy effect upon our nervous systems, tending somewhat to
dampen the ardor.
Emerging into an open field two hundred yards from Bull Run, by a
movement by the right flank, we were in line advancing towards the
stream, the banks of which were covered with timber, the opposite bank
sloping from the stream, high and precipitous. Within one hundred yards
of the stream, from the opposite bank the enemy poured into our ranks,
or rather at us, a volley of musketry, which, thanks to his bad
marksmanship, went high, doing little or no damage, but causing us, by
common impulse, as is usual with soldiers in their first battle, to
fall flat on the ground, and down we went. On the side next the enemy,
in front of Isaac Hare, was John Q. Martin, who sprang over Ike,
leaving him next the enemy. Ike, with a curse and threatening gesture,
compelled Martin to resume his former position. The men of the regiment
were immediately upon their feet. As they rose, Lieutenant Squires,
whose section of artillery had unlimbered immediately in our rear, gave
the command, "Fire!" which command, being mistaken by our men for that
of our own officer, caused us to let fly, a terrific volley at the
enemy in the woods in our front, and this was followed by a rush with
fixed bayonets for the stream, behind which the enemy was posted,
forcing him to retreat in confusion, leaving his dead and wounded,
knapsacks, haversacks, hats and part of his small arms. Reaching the
bank of the stream, the regiment lay down, and there followed for more
than an hour a fierce artillery duel between the Federal batteries and
the Confederate, the latter under Lieutenant Squires, which resulted in
the withdrawal of the former. During this bombardment, shell, shot and
shrapnel fell around and among us, wounding a few men of the regiment,
but all were quiet, and continued to hug the ground. This was about
five o'clock in the afternoon.
George Knoll, "Dutchman," as we usually called him, being in his
characteristic mood, but hungry, took from his haversack a chunk of fat
bacon, stuffing himself while the artillery fire was in progress.
Quiet now reigning, we began to look after the wounded and prepare
for spending the night in battle line in front of the enemy, who had
retired from our immediate front, but still hovered near by.
The troops engaged on the Confederate side, save the artillery
mentioned, were principally the 1st, 11th and 17th Virginia of
Longstreet's brigade, with the 7th Virginia of Early's. The losses in
Longstreet's regiments, as reported, were: Killed and mortally wounded,
15, and slightly wounded, 53. Of these casualties 40 were of the 1st
Virginia. Seven were wounded in the 7th Virginia of Early's brigade,
one killed and five wounded of the artillery. In Company D of the 7th
regiment Isaac Hare and James H. Gardner were slightly wounded by spent
balls. H. C. Burrows of E Company got a musket ball through his hand; a
man of B Company had his hand or fingers mangled by a piece of shell.
The Federal force that attacked us was Richardson's brigade, of Tyler's
division, consisting of the 1st Massachusetts, 2d and 3d Michigan, and
12th New York regiments; Ayers' battery, and Brackett's cavalry. The
Federal loss, as reported, was 19 killed, 38 wounded, and 26 missing.
Chapter VIII
Night's Experience on Our First Battlefield.
The Dead and Cries of the Wounded.
Occurrences on the Field.
Sunday, July 21.
Shelled by the Enemy.
March to the Field by the Sound of Battle.
The Battle.
Casualties.
The Pursuit.
To the Outposts.
Incidents.
Winter at Centerville.
Returning to the battle line, we found ourselves groping around in the
dark.
Knowing the enemy to be close by, we quietly went to work throwing up
temporary breastworks of logs. The cries of the Federal wounded, and
the groans of the dying, the occasional volleys of musketry fired by
some of our troops at imaginary foes, with the hooting of owls, made
the night hideous and weird, deeply impressing the nature of a lot of
young Virginia boys reared in Christian homes. The regiment behaved,
however, with great coolness during the entire night, encouraged by the
example, presence and good conduct of our brave Lieutenant-Colonel
Williams, then in command, Colonel Kemper being absent on public
service.
With the coming of daylight, the Confederate scouts crossed the Run,
brought in the Federal wounded, and quite a number of muskets,
knapsacks, blankets, canteens, cartridge boxes, and hats, thrown away
or dropped by the enemy in his flight. By an examination of the dead in
front of our regiment, it was ascertained that we had fought the 1st
Massachusetts regiment.
This action of the 18th was preliminary to the real battle which came
on Sunday the 21st, but on different ground, seven or eight miles
northwest of the engagement of the 18th as just described. During
Friday and Saturday all was quiet, the Confederate line of battle
extending from Union Mills to Stone Bridge, several miles in length;
the enemy in the meantime keeping up a showing of force, threatening
our front at McLean's, Blackburn's and Mitchell's fords, while his main
column was moving or preparing to move northwest to strike the
Confederate battle line in flank and reverse on its extreme left.
Our regiment remained Friday night and until late Saturday evening at
the same place at which it had halted on Thursday; being then relieved
by other troops, retired to a pine thicket close by, where we received
a bountiful supply of rations, some in boxes from home,--a thing that
makes glad the heart of a homesick boy.
On Saturday evening we were joined by Colonel Kemper, the commander of
the regiment. At sunrise on Sunday morning, July 21, the enemy's
batteries near Blackburn's opened fire, on account of which we marched
to the cover of the pines, between McLean's and Blackburn's fords,
remaining but a short time. Our regiment, together with the 7th
Louisiana, crossed the Run at McLean's ford for the purpose of
attacking the enemy's batteries, which were annoying us, occasionally
throwing shots into our ranks, without, however, doing any serious
damage. It will be recalled by those present that while lying down
behind the pines a shot struck near the center of our company,
scattering dust and dirt over us.
While getting into battle line, preparatory to assault upon the
batteries, an order came to retrace our steps to the cover of the
pines. This was near 12 M. By this time we distinctly heard the roar of
heavy guns far to our left, and the great Battle of First Manassas was
on.
Near one o'clock P.M., we moved by a rapid gait with the head of the
column directed northwest, guided by the sound of the battle. The
distance from our starting point, McLean's, by the route we marched to
the extreme Confederate left, was fully eight miles, which distance was
covered in two hours, notwithstanding the scorching rays of the sun,
stopping not for rest or water, for want of which we suffered. The
three regiments of Colonel Early's brigade, 7th Louisiana, 7th
Virginia, and 13th Mississippi, (the latter substituted for 24th
Virginia) passed to the extreme Confederate left, reaching there at
near 3:20 P.M., finding themselves face to face with the foe at the
Chinn house and in open ground.
Approaching the scene of action, a wild cheer was heard, following
which a man on horseback at full speed, hatless, face flushed, covered
with perspiration and dust, brandishing his sword over his head, and
shouting, "Glory! Glory! Glory!" rode rapidly by. In answer to inquiry
as to what was the matter, he said, "We have captured Rickett's battery
and the day is ours." This was the first glad news we had received, and
all were thrilled with new courage. Cheering wildly, the men pressed
forward at double quick. Passing in rear and beyond a wood into which
Smith's Confederate brigade had just entered, we encountered the fire
of the enemy, mostly United States Regulars. The 7th Virginia here
formed quickly, the 7th Louisiana and 13th Mississippi forming on the
left, thus completing the battle line with three regiments front. Nor
had we arrived a moment too soon, for the enemy was pressing our left
flank sorely. There they were, in full view on our front, and to the
left of us on the higher ground. Here Colonel Early[3] ordered us not
to fire, saying that they were our friends: a grievous blunder upon his
part, the result of misinformation not easily explained. Captain
Massie, whose company was armed with rifles, called out, "Colonel, they
may be your friends, but they are none of ours. Fire, men!" and fire
they did.
[3] See Colonel Early's Report, Rebellion Records, Series 1,
Vol. II, pp. 555-6.
As we formed, the enemy at long range kept up an irregular fire,
inflicting upon our men considerable loss in killed and wounded, and
all this while we were too far away from them to pay them back in their
own coin. As we pushed forward towards the enemy, they retreated
pell-mell, we chasing them over the hill towards Bull Run, considerably
in advance of the general Confederate battle line forming across a
peninsula created by a sharp curve on Bull Run between Stone Bridge and
the mouth of Catharpin creek.
Up to this time we had little realization of the utter defeat of the
Federal army, the evidence of which we saw a few days after, when,
following his line of retreat, we found guns, caissons, muskets,
ambulances, spades, picks and knapsacks abandoned in his flight. The
only reason seemingly the enemy had for running as he did was because
he could not fly.
The casualties in the 7th Virginia for the limited time it was under
fire were severe--nine killed and thirty-eight wounded, our Company D
losing Joseph E. Bane, a brave and gallant soldier, killed; Robert H.
Bane, A. L. Fry, Manelius S. Johnston, Charles N. J. Lee, Henry Lewy,
John P. Sublett, and Samuel B. Shannon wounded. The loss of the
Confederates in the battle was 387 killed, 1582 wounded, and 13
captured.
The Federal loss was 2896 men, of which 460 were killed, 1124 wounded,
and 1312 captured or missing, besides 26 pieces of artillery, 34
caissons and sets of harness, 10 battery wagons and forges, 24
artillery horses, several thousand stand of small arms, many wagons
and ambulances, large quantities of army supplies of all kinds.
The Confederate army remained on the field after the battle for two
days, amidst a terrific rainstorm; then marching beyond Centerville,
six miles to the east, went into camp in a body of woods, where we
remained for some weeks; thence moved a short distance beyond Fairfax
Court House. Here we laid out our camp and pitched tents, which was
barely done when the long roll sounded and we were quickly on the march
in the direction of Alexandria and Washington, whither we should have
been pushing the day after the battle; for if vigorous pursuit had been
made, Washington would have fallen into our hands.
The march referred to took us to Munson's hill; learning on the way
that a brisk skirmish between the enemy and some Confederate troops had
occurred during the day, which had only ended with the approach of
darkness. Halting near Munson's hill, an order was given to load
muskets, and again we moved forward. John W. East, from sheer
cowardice--constitutional--he could not avoid it--fell at full length
in the road. John turned up in camp a few days after, in fair health
and clothed in his right mind. The regiment passed on a few hundred
yards to the base of the hill, going into camp. The following morning,
Company K, together with Company D, under Captain Lovell, on the right
and front of the hill had quite a sharp skirmish with the enemy. Next
morning, Saturday, August 30, Major Patton, with Companies B and D,
advanced to Bailey's Corners, three-quarters of a mile or so, where
they engaged in quite a fusillade with a portion of the Second Michigan
regiment, in which a lieutenant of B Company was wounded, and one man
of the Michigan regiment was mortally wounded.
In a few days after the skirmish just described, we returned to our
camp, where we found peace and plenty. Lieutenant W. A. Anderson, who
at Camp Wigfall had been detailed to go back home and secure additional
men to fill up the loss in the ranks, caused by sickness, had returned
with the following men, to wit: George W. Akers, William R. Albert,
David Davis, Creed D. Frazier, A. J. French, Francis M. Gordon, John
Henderson, George Johnston, P. H. Lefler, Anderson Meadows, Ballard P.
Meadows, Winton W. Muncey, George C. Mullins, Charles W. Peck, Thomas
J. Stafford, William H. Stafford, Adam Thompson, Alonzo Thompson,
William I. Wilburn and Isaac Young.
With the exception of company and regimental drill, some picket duty,
and quarter guard, we did little but cook, eat, write letters and
sleep. The weather was hot, the water bad; this, with an overabundance
of rations, and insufficient exercise--in fact, a life of almost entire
inactivity--were the fruitful sources of disease, and many of the men
were sick, a number of them finding their way to the hospital; among
them, Allen C. Pack, Ed Z. Yager, William Sublett, John Henderson,
William Frazier, H. J. Hale, and doubtless others, not now recalled.
Frazier, Henderson, Sublett and Hale died, as did Alonzo Thompson,
whose deaths and loss were much regretted. Strange, yet true, that many
of our strongest men fell victims to disease, while those apparently
much weaker stood the service well.
While on picket duty at Fall's Church, a Captain Farley, with smooth
face, fair skin and blue eyes, claiming to be--and was--a South
Carolinian, and an independent scout, approached our outpost and
proposed that some of the men go with him into the timber in front
of the picket and run the Yankees out. Our boys regarded this as
preposterous, and on went Farley. He had not been in the woods long
till firing began, and he soon returned with blood streaming from his
ear: he had a close call.
During the months of August and September we served on frequent picket
duty at Munson's, Upton's and Mason's hills, and at Annandale. Our
lines were fairly well connected. The enemy, not being able to discover
by their scouts what we were doing--what movements we were making, or
what force we had, resorted to the use of balloons. On one occasion our
people fired at a balloon with cannon shot, and down came the balloon.
A short while after this, the balloon was up again, when our boys
concluded to at least give the man in the basket--Professor Lowe--a
scare; so, rigging up the rear gears of a wagon with a stovepipe, ran
the improvised artillery to the hilltop, in full view of the aeronaut,
pretending to load. The Professor descended quickly, only to appear
again at a safer distance.
On one of our tramps to picket we went to Annandale and remained a day
or so with Captain Harrison's Goochland Dragoons, which did outpost
duty during the day and we at night. We lived largely, while on picket,
on green corn, potatoes, and sometimes other vegetables, a relief from
fresh beef, bacon and hardtack, the regular diet of camp life.
As the enemy perfected his lines, he became bolder, pressing closer.
This led to frequent collisions between the troops on outpost duty.
These conflicts were by general orders discouraged, and called petty
warfare. Nor were these without their casualties--if not caused by the
enemy, sometimes by accident, or mistake--careless handling of firearms
in passing through the brush, carrying of arms at a trail and catching
the hammers against some obstacle. One such accident is recalled by
which a man by the name of Link, of Captain Eggleston's Giles company,
lost his life.
[Illustration: Capt. Robert H. Bane]
During the sojourn at Fairfax, a detachment under Lieutenant Allen, of
the 28th Virginia, was sent to the station on the railway to guard some
baggage and stores deposited there. Of this detachment was John R.
Crawford, of our company, who for true physical courage, bravery and
self-possession, had scarce an equal; indeed, it was often said of him
that he knew no fear--did not know what it meant--never dreamed nor
imagined what danger was; that he felt as much at ease in the storm of
battle as when resting quietly in the camp. The reader doubtless has
heard of the "Louisiana Tigers," who in the first battle of Manassas,
when closing with the enemy, threw down their muskets and rushed upon
the enemy with their bowie-knives. They were a dangerous, blood-thirsty
set--at least so reputed. It was two of these same "Tigers" who found
Crawford on guard over the baggage and stores above referred to, which
they proposed to appropriate. Crawford warned them to stand off and go
away. They paid no heed to the warnings, but persisted in their
purpose. Crawford then reversed his musket and downed the man nearest
to him, who fell trembling and bleeding at his feet; whereupon his
companion quickly advanced to his rescue, but Crawford's belligerent
attitude caused him to beat a hasty retreat.
The Winter of 1861-1862 was spent at Centerville in camp, our quarters
being constructed of log huts with wooden chimneys. The Winter was cold
and dreary, and we had some difficulty in keeping a supply of rations,
which had to be transported from the junction six miles away by wagons
over a road deep in mud and mire.
Owing to the difficulty of distinguishing our Virginia state flag from
many flags of other states carried by the enemy in the battle of
Manassas, whereby we had been threatened with serious consequences,
such as occurred with our own brigade on that field: it became
necessary to have a flag uniform in design for all the Confederate
army. Such a flag was designed by Colonel Miles, of South Carolina, and
presented by General Beauregard to the army. This flag was about
twenty-two inches square, the field red, with blue stripes from corner
to corner at right angles, with thirteen white stars; and was ever
after our battle flag.
Again we were on picket, Crawford on outpost, with instructions to keep
a sharp lookout, as the enemy was near, but not to shoot without
calling "halt" the usual three times, and if no halt made, to shoot.
Shortly after Crawford took post, his cries of "Halt! Halt! Halt!" were
heard, and bang! went his gun. The corporal ran to see what was the
matter: he found Crawford standing quietly at his post as if nothing
had happened--a stray fat hog had wandered to the post and had not
halted at Crawford's command, consequently was dead. Crawford's only
explanation was, "I obeyed orders." The hog was roasted, with many
compliments for Crawford, and all had a feast.
Chapter IX
Our Daily Duties.
In Camp.
Among the Last Rencounters.
Lieutenant Gibson, Corporal Stone and Others Hold a Council of War and
Determine to Advance and Drive McClellan from Arlington Heights.
March to the Outposts.
Graybacks.
Religious Exercises.
Incidents of Camp.
Depletion of the Army.
Re-enlistments and Furloughs.
Retreat from Manassas Behind the Rappahannock.
Albert and Snidow.
Gordonsville.
Our duties in camp during the Winter were not onerous, save quarter
guard in inclement weather, especially rain and extreme cold, for it
will be remembered that we had no shelter on quarter guard post--that
is, none while on post and on the beat, as a guard must always be in
the open, both as to weather and to the foe. The guards were divided
into three reliefs: the first went on at 9 o'clock A.M., the second at
11, the third at 1. This order was observed during the twenty-four
hours. When off post we were required to remain at the guard house,
unless by special permission of the officer of the guard. The quarter
guard were supposed to be the special custodians of the quiet and
safety of the camp. The mode of placing guard on post was as follows: A
sergeant or corporal commenced at the top of the roll, the number of
men being equal to the number of posts. Beginning with post number one,
we marched around the entire camp, relieving each sentinel with a new
man. When this was to be performed at night, the countersign (a pass
word adopted at army headquarters and transmitted to the various
subordinates) was delivered in a whisper to the guards by the officers
thereof, so that as the sergeant with the relief guard approached the
sentry, he was required to halt and give the countersign.
Colonel Kemper, still a member of the General Assembly of Virginia, was
absent for the greater part of the Winter. Lieutenant-Colonel L. B.
Williams, a rigid disciplinarian, who was left in command, endeavored
by watchfulness, to have everything done in strict military style;
frequently visiting the guard house, having the officer turn out the
guard, call the roll, and woe to the man absent or out of line when his
name was called. Punishment was sure to follow in the way of double
duty or otherwise. On one occasion Lieutenant Anderson and W. H.
Layton, having both imbibed too freely, took a jaunt to the guard
house, where they had no business, and here Colonel Williams, on one of
his visits, found them. Layton was placed in the guard house and the
lieutenant in arrest.
During this stay in Winter quarters, Privates Mays, Farley, Thompson
and John W. East had an altercation, the last (save two) which occurred
in the company. It was not an uncommon thing for the soldiers to
discuss the conduct of the war, the remissness and failure of
commanders, the probabilities and improbabilities of success, peace,
the plan of battles, and the war policy, offensive and defensive. A
discussion of this kind is well remembered as having occurred between
Lieutenant Gibson, then officer of the day; Corporal Stone, Sergeant
Peters, Sarver, Hare and others, in the quarters of my mess, while
at Centerville. It was at night; the boys had gotten in a little
stimulant. Lieutenant Gibson dropped in, and with the others, imbibing
freely, began in a very serious way the discussion of the surest and
quickest way or mode of ending the war, and restoring peace to our
distracted country. After much discussion pro and con, which lasted
practically throughout the night, Corporal Stone submitted a plan to
which all readily assented, and which was as follows: To "attack
immediately General McClellan's army, drive it from Arlington Heights,
capture the Federal capital, then propose an armistice and congress
of the states." Stone was for starting that night, for prompt and
aggressive action, but Peters favored postponement until morning, which
was by this time at hand. Just then the long roll sounded to arms, and
a march toward Washington, sure enough, began, but with only our
regiment. And, oh! such headaches as Stone, Peters, Gibson and the
others in the war council had, and how formidable and impregnable now
appeared Arlington, which a few hours before was to them but a mole
hill. Our mission was to relieve a Louisiana regiment then on picket
near Fairfax, where we remained for a week, occupying the quarters just
vacated by the Louisianians. Here it was that we formed our first
acquaintance with the "graybacks," which filled our clothing and
blankets, much to our discomfort. Oh! the digging under the shirt
collar, under the arm pits, and every point where the cruel pest found
the flesh of the poor soldier. It was a difficult matter to rid
ourselves of them--they seemed over anxious to remain with us. Nothing
short of boiling them hard in water got rid of them. The next Summer on
the peninsula, in the swamps of the Chickahominy, and around Richmond,
we had them in abundance, the boys often saying that they had stamped
upon their backs the letters, "I.F.W.," which, interpreted, meant "In
for the war."
During our stay in Winter quarters at Centerville, there was little, if
any, preaching or religious exercises, as there was no place to have
public services, and the weather was too severe to hold services in the
open. The mess of J. Tyler Frazier, in which were Thomas S. Taylor,
James B. Henderson, F. H. Farley, John F. Jones, William C. Fortner,
Joseph Eggleston, James Eggleston, and perhaps others, never neglected
their religious duties, and in quarters invariably read a chapter of
the Bible, sang a hymn, and prayed before retiring at night. These men,
by their upright conduct, observance of their religious duties, their
Christian character and conversation, had great influence over their
comrades, and especially upon the conduct and morals of the company.
The expiration of the term of service, twelve months, of most of the
men was rapidly approaching; the ranks having been much depleted by
sickness, death and other causes. No adequate provision had yet been
made for the retention of those already in the field, or for the
filling of the ranks. It was evident that if the war was to be
prolonged, and the contest maintained, we must have an army. With one
year's service many were satisfied; the fever had worn off, enthusiasm
was on the wane. The government, to induce re-enlistment, was offering
fifty dollars bounty and thirty-day furlough. Quite a number availed
themselves of an opportunity to go home by accepting the bounty and
re-enlisting. Some eighteen of Company D took advantage of the offer,
among them E. M. Stone, John D. Hare, J. W. Mullins, A. L. Fry, J. W.
Hight, John W. East, R. H. Bane, J. B. Young, Tom Young, W. H. Layton,
Tom Davenport, John Palmer, and the writer. Tom Young, Davenport,
Layton and Palmer never returned--deserted.
On our return to the army we were accompanied by Christian Minnich, who
enlisted in the company, having two sons therein. The question of
re-enlistment was soon settled by an act of Congress, which placed
every man in the Confederate states between the ages of 18 and 35 in
the army for three years, or until the close of the war, retaining all
that were under 18 and over 45 for ninety days, continuing the
organizations then existing, with the right to elect regimental and
company officers.
March 1, or thereabouts, in 1862, the enemy began to push his lines
closer up, and to make more frequent reconnaissances, and to extend his
lines toward Aquia Creek on the Potomac, on the right flank of the
Confederate army, causing our commander uneasiness, no doubt, as to the
tenableness of our position, and hence on or about the 10th of the
month orders were issued to cook rations, and be prepared to march. The
movement began three days later, with the head of the column directed
toward Warrenton and the Rappahannock River, which was crossed the
second or third day. At Centerville we left burning immense quantities
of provisions and army supplies, of which later we stood in dire need,
the inadequacy of transportation being the excuse for the destruction.
At a point either in Culpeper or Rappahannock, near where we one night
encamped, was a distillery, of which some of our men took possession,
procuring Old Man Riley Albert to make a run of applejack, with which
they tanked up, then filled their canteens, with no way to transport
the residue. Harry Snidow and others from a nearby store procured jars,
with which they trudged along until the jars were emptied. No one was
drunk, but the boys were happy and jolly.
Gordonsville, in Orange County, near the junction of what was then the
Central and Orange and Alexandria railroad, was reached, where we went
into camp.
Chapter X
The Stay Near Gordonsville.
The March to Richmond and Journey to Yorktown.
In the Trenches.
Skirmishing and Night Alarms.
Reorganization.
The Retreat from Yorktown.
The Old Lady's Prayer.
Battle of Williamsburg.
The Killed and Wounded.
Forces and Numbers Engaged and Losses.
Retreat up the Peninsula.
Battle of Seven Pines.
Casualties.
Our stay in the vicinity of Gordonsville was of short duration--only
for a few days--for on or about April 1 we set out for Richmond,
distant about seventy-five miles. The route taken lay through the
counties of Louisa, Hanover and Henrico, a low, flat, swampy territory,
and in March and April knee deep in mud. The people along this march
were unaccustomed to seeing large bodies of armed men marching. The
negroes, especially, gazed upon us with seeming astonishment. How long
we were making this march to the capital city is not now recollected,
but as we carried heavy burdens at that day, it is probable we did not
reach Richmond before the 8th or 9th of April.
On the 10th of the month last mentioned, the 7th regiment left Richmond
aboard a steamer on the James River, disembarking at King's Landing,
ten miles from Yorktown, inland, whither we marched the evening of our
debarkation. We took position in and near the trenches for the purpose
of preventing the Federal army from marching up the peninsula. Now and
then a brisk skirmish would occur on some part of the lines, scarcely a
night passing without picket firing and alarms; one of which occurred
during a heavy rainstorm, in which the men stood to their guns
throughout the night and were thoroughly drenched by the rain.
The time for reorganization of the army had arrived, and this was
accomplished quietly on Saturday, April 26, 1862, in the face of the
enemy. Before giving in detail the result of the reorganization, I will
state that a very decided change had taken place among the men as to
their estimates of the character and ability of their officers, field
and company. Many were moved by their dislikes and prejudices,
engendered by contact in their first year's service, against officers
who had endeavored to enforce obedience and strict military discipline,
prompted by no other motive than the good of the service; yet these
acts, done in accordance with military law, and inspired by patriotism,
were often misconstrued by men born freemen, wholly unaccustomed to
having restraints placed upon their personal liberty; such acts, the
exercise of such authority, being regarded by our volunteer citizen
soldiery as tyrannical. Consequently those who had been foremost in
rushing to the country's rescue in the early days of her peril, bravely
leading their men to the forefront of the battle, were displaced, to
the detriment of the service; but patriotic and good men are oftentimes
only human. The organization was, however, effected apparently without
injury to the public service.
Captain James H. French, of my company, was taken sick on the march
from the Rappahannock, and was left in Richmond; consequently he was
not present at the reorganization, and perhaps was not a candidate for
re-election. Had he been present and a candidate, it is more than
probable he would have been again chosen captain without opposition, as
no one could have had any personal grievance against him. He had proven
himself a man of unflinching courage, and as much in this respect could
be said of the other company officers. Save one, Lieutenant Joel
Blackard, all were displaced. Blackard, in the reorganization, was
elected captain; Sergeant R. H. Bane, first lieutenant; Orderly
Sergeant John W. Mullins, second lieutenant; Corporal E. M. Stone,
third lieutenant. The non-commissioned officers elected were: A. L.
Fry, first sergeant; W. H. H. Snidow, second sergeant; William D.
Peters, third sergeant; Joseph C. Shannon, fourth sergeant; this
scribe, fifth sergeant; A. J. Thompson, first corporal; Daniel Bish,
second corporal; George C. Mullins, third corporal, and J. B. Young,
fourth corporal.
Comment as to the choice of the men will not here be made, nor the
character of the new officers, as ample opportunity will be afforded in
these pages to judge their conduct. It suffices to say now that the
company had no cause for regret.
Of the regimental officers, Colonel James L. Kemper was chosen to
succeed himself; Major W. T. Patton was elected lieutenant-colonel;
Adjutant C. C. Flowerree, major; Lieutenant Starke was appointed
adjutant; George S. Tansill, sergeant-major. Dr. C. B. Morton was
regimental surgeon, with Dr. Oliver assistant, and upon the promotion
of Dr. Morton to brigade surgeon, Dr. Oliver became regimental surgeon,
with Dr. Worthington as assistant.
As recollected, Company H, from the District of Columbia, having served
its one year, for which it had enlisted, disbanded shortly after
reorganization.
Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis B. Williams, than whom no braver man wore the
gray, was elected colonel of the 1st Virginia regiment. Prior to the
battles of Bull Run and Manassas, the 7th regiment had been brigaded
with the 24th Virginia and 7th Louisiana, under Colonel J. A. Early.
After these battles, we were commanded by General Ewell. Subsequently,
the 1st, 7th, 11th and 17th Virginia regiments formed General
Longstreet's brigade. On reaching Yorktown, Brigadier-General A. P.
Hill became our brigade commander, General Longstreet having been made
a major-general, to whose division our brigade was attached.
At this juncture we were still at Yorktown, with the enemy bold and
threatening in our front. It was evident, therefore, that a collision
was imminent, either where we were or near by. The order came to move
on Saturday evening, May 3. We were soon on the road, in the mud,
floundering and pushing toward Williamsburg, about twelve miles
distant, reaching there early next morning, after an all night march.
The command halted in front of the grounds of the Eastern Hospital for
the Insane. The enemy, evidently determined we should not get away
without trouble, followed closely, skirmishing briskly with the rear
guard, which was continued throughout the afternoon. Then came the
monotonous standing in line of battle from early dawn till near
midday--a thing that always tries the patience of a soldier. The
booming of artillery, and the rattling of small arms could be
distinctly heard. As we passed over the street leading to William and
Mary College, an elderly lady appeared on her porch, with clasped hands
and eyes lifted heavenward, uttering for us, in simple, pathetic tones,
a prayer to God for the protection of our lives in the coming conflict.
Beyond the College the column filed to the right into an open field,
piled baggage, and then in battle line moved forward into the timber,
receiving as we entered therein a shower of balls at close range,
wounding a number of men. This onslaught was answered by a charge from
us, which broke up the lines of the enemy, consisting in part of New
York regiments, and drove him for more than a half mile through the
woods into a body of fallen timber, in which was encountered a fresh
line of battle. Some doubt at first existed as to who these people
were. This was settled by the unfurling of their flag. At close
quarters, the fight was desperate for more than two hours, in which our
ammunition was expended, when General A. P. Hill ordered a charge with
fixed bayonets, upon which the enemy (New Jersey men) were driven from
the field; for a hand-to-hand charge is something fearful to
contemplate. Being relieved by other troops, Hill's brigade retired to
the line from which it had moved in the charge, from whence we withdrew
during the night, continuing the retreat; for it will be remembered
that the task in hand for us was the holding in check of the enemy--a
force vastly superior to our own. In this day's work I fired 36
charges, by which my shoulder was pounded so that it was for a time
completely disabled. This battle was fought for a safe retreat for our
trains and for the army, and accomplished this purpose. We had beaten
the enemy in our center, and on the right wing, while a portion, two
regiments, of General Early's brigade had been repulsed by General
Hancock's Federal brigade.
The forces engaged were, as stated by General Longstreet: Federals,
12,000; Confederates, 9,000. The casualties: Federal, 2,288;
Confederate, 1,565. This engagement was called the Battle of
Williamsburg, and will be remembered by the survivors whose eyes
may fall upon these lines.
In Hill's brigade the loss was 326, of which 67 were killed, 245
wounded, 14 missing. The 7th Virginia lost 13 killed, 64 wounded,
aggregate 77. In Company D, of the 7th Virginia, the loss was one
killed, 14 wounded, as follows: Killed, William H. Stafford; wounded,
Lieutenant E. M. Stone, and the following men of the line: Allen M.
Bane, Charles W. Peck, Andrew J. Thompson, John A. Hale, John W. East,
Isaac Hare, George Knoll, Anderson Meadows, Demarcus Sarver, William
I. Wilburn, Edward Z. Yager, John Meadows, and the writer--who knows
what it is to have a hot buckshot in his hand. Baldwin L. Hoge had
the belt of his cartridge box severed and cut from the belt; several
of the men had holes shot through their clothing. Sergeant Tapley P.
Mays, of Company D, the ensign of the regiment, who bore the flag
aloft throughout the battle, had the staff severed three times and
the flag pierced by twenty-three balls, Mays escaping unscathed. For
his gallant conduct on this field, he received the thanks of the
commandant of the regiment, and his conduct was made the subject
matter of a complimentary letter to him from the Governor of the
state, promising that he should receive a fine sword for his gallant
conduct.
The mud was deep, the movement slow, and when morning dawned we were
only a few miles from the battlefield, halting occasionally in battle
line in order to hold the enemy in check until our long train of wagons
and artillery could get away. It must not be supposed that because we
were wearied, covered with mud and hungry, that we were dispirited and
gloomy. Such mental conditions could not then well exist among such a
jolly set of fellows, for we had in each company one or more who would
have their amusement, in a joke, a laugh, or a song, especially Bolton
and George Knoll (the Dutchman), who were clownish and full of fun. In
passing along the roads and through the towns and villages, if a
citizen with a high silk hat appeared, these clowns would call out:
"Mister, come out of that hat; I know you are in there, for I see your
feet!" Another would likely call out: "Mister, my bees are swarming;
lend me your hat to hive them in." They sometimes ran across a man with
high top boots. Then it was: "Come out of them boots! I know you are in
them, for I see your head above." Occasionally they were paid back in
their own coin. An old preacher, white-haired, with long white flowing
beard, one day rode into camp, when one of these wags called out:
"Boys, here is old Father Abraham," whereupon the old preacher said:
"Young men, you are mistaken. I am Saul, the son of Kish, searching for
his father's asses, and I have found them." The preacher had won, and
nobody enjoyed the joke better than the fellows who had been beaten at
their own game.
The Chickahominy was crossed by our troops May 9, when we went into
camp at Clark's farm, and later near Howard's Grove, on higher and
dryer ground, with better water. Here inactivity and hot weather
brought on much sickness. It was from this camp that A. L. Sumner of
Company D took "French furlough"--went without leave, to see his
family, was arrested, brought back, courtmartialed, and sentenced
for a term to Castle Thunder, a Confederate prison in Richmond for
Confederate delinquents. On his return he made up for his delinquency.
A. L. Fry, orderly-sergeant, was summoned as a witness against Sumner
at his trial, and was thereby absent at the battle of Frazier's farm.
For several days preceding the 30th day of May, 1862, the weather had
been very sultry, and during the night of that day there broke over the
camp a violent electric storm, accompanied by a heavy downpour of rain,
which flooded the quarters and submerged everything on the ground
within the tents, compelling the men to stand on their feet for hours.
The vivid flashes of electricity, the fearful peals of thunder,
reminded one of the progress of a mighty battle, and was a fitting
precursor of the morrow's bloody day.
At daylight, Saturday, May 31, came the order to march. Although we
knew the enemy was in close proximity to Richmond and extending his
lines closer, with the intention of investing the city, yet we were at
a loss to determine where we were going, as we had not received orders
to be ready to move. Much difficulty was encountered in crossing the
small branches, which had overflowed their banks, but we finally made
our way into the Williamsburg road, learning on the way from parties
coming from the front that a battle was imminent. Hurrying forward at
quickstep, turning to the right from the Williamsburg road, we found
ourselves in line of battle on the edge of a swamp in a wood, where
we remained until about 1 P.M., hearing the boom of cannon, and
indistinctly the rattle of musketry, apparently far to our left. Not
long after the hour mentioned, we were hurried away to the left to
Seven Pines, where we soon found ourselves face to face with the enemy,
in part the Federal division of General Silas Casey, whose earthworks
and camp we carried, including some of his artillery. The forces
engaged, as given by General Longstreet in his "Manassas to
Appomattox," were: Union troops, 18,500; Confederates, 14,600; Union
losses, 5,031; Confederate, 4,798. This engagement was called by the
Confederates the Battle of Seven Pines.
I have not been able to secure my brigade or regimental loss but my
company loss was: A. D. Manning, killed; Sergeant E. R. Walker,
Privates Travis Burton, John W. Hight and Joseph Lewy, wounded. Our
ensign, Mays, acted with his usual gallantry.
The right wing of the Confederate army, under General Longstreet, had
defeated the left wing of the Union army, captured its intrenchments,
guns and camp, and driven it for quite a distance, but the Confederate
left wing had not been so fortunate as the right. In this battle, after
we had broken General Casey's lines, some Union sharpshooters took
cover in the swamp in our front, one of whom at about seventy-five
yards fired at me, the ball grazing my cap.
A short time previous to the Battle of Seven Pines, our
brigadier-general, A. P. Hill, had been made major-general. Colonel
Kemper had been promoted to brigadier-general and was in command of
the brigade during the above-mentioned engagement. General Joseph E.
Johnston, commanding the Confederate army in this battle, was badly
wounded, and General Robert E. Lee was appointed to succeed him in
the command.
We left the battleground, as now recalled, on June 2, returning to
camp, a few days after which the 24th Virginia regiment, which had been
with Early's, then with Garland's brigade, was united with ours--now
composed of the 1st, 7th, 11th, 17th and 24th Virginia regiments.
Chapter XI
Preparations for Active Field Service.
Dress Parade and Speeches of General Kemper and Colonel Patton.
Battles Around Richmond.
Gaines' Mill or Cold Harbor.
Frazier's Farm and Malvern Hill.
Testing a Man's Courage.
Casualties.
In Pursuit of the Enemy.
In Camp Near the Chickahominy.
Sickness and Death.
Threatening Attitude of the Enemy in Northern Virginia.
Concentration of the Confederate Army on the Rappahannock.
Pope's Bravado.
Lieutenant Hugh M. Patton Succeeds Stark as Adjutant, and Sergeant
Parke Appointed Sergeant-Major, Succeeding George S. Tansill.
Following the Battle of Seven Pines, and the period preceding the
opening of the battles around Richmond, at Mechanicsville on June 26,
all were engaged in drilling and gathering in absentees. Muskets were
put in order, cartridge boxes, bayonets and gun straps were issued.
Inspection of arms and accouterments, and dress parades were frequent,
and the word went from lip to lip that something was up, that all this
preparation meant business, and that right early.
Rations were cooked and distributed on Wednesday, June 25, and
everything put in shape to move on short notice. Being on parade on
the evening of the day last referred to, General Kemper and Colonel
Patton made soul-stirring speeches, telling us that the great battle
of the revolution was now to be fought, and if we were successful the
Confederacy would be a free country, and we would all go home together;
if beaten, the war must be prolonged for years.
Leaving camp in the early morning of the 26th, we marched in the
direction of Mechanicsville bridge, on the Chickahominy, halting a
short distance from the bridge under cover of timber on the roadside,
from which we could, late in the afternoon, hear the roar of the battle
at Mechanicsville beyond the river, then being fought by the
Confederate division of General A. P. Hill and the Federal corps of
Porter. As the darkness came on the flash of their guns could be seen
distinctly, the battle continuing until nearly 9 o'clock. At dawn the
firing across the river was renewed, continuing for a time. The
movement of our force was then made across the bridge, following the
track of the retreating foe, whose course was marked by the destruction
of commissary stores. Reaching the vicinity of Gaines' Mill at noon, a
line of battle was formed behind and near the crest of a low range of
hills, hiding us from the view of the enemy. In our immediate front
were the brigades of Pickett, Wilcox and Pryor, who were to lead the
assault on our part of the line, with our brigade in support. Near the
middle of the afternoon the battle opened with fury, raging with
varying fortune until nearly dark, when our troops broke over the Union
lines, forcing their men from the field: a victory dearly bought.
Kemper's brigade was not called into action, though lying under fearful
shelling, but fortunately we were just near enough the crest of the
ridge to avoid the shells, which passed in most part over us. We
suffered but little if any loss.
The Federals engaged in this battle numbered about 35,000; their loss
in killed, wounded and missing, 7,000, besides twenty-two pieces of
artillery which fell into our hands. The Confederates no doubt had the
larger number engaged, and their casualties were, therefore, greater,
but seem not to have been reported.
Next morning we marched over the field on which the Confederate
brigades of Wilcox, Pickett and Pryor, with others, had made heroic
fight, and it is almost incredible that a single line of Confederates
should have forced their way in the face of the murderous fire they
met, over such a position, which was to all appearances impregnable,
and certainly was, except as against men fighting for homes, firesides,
and principles which they regarded as dearer than life.
We occupied the field Saturday, in a position to make or to receive an
attack, but the enemy was in no plight--in fact, in no mood, to attack
us, but on the contrary was making for the James River, though we did
not then know it. Our officers did not seem to know with certainty what
direction the enemy was taking, as his movement was well masked. It
seems to have been discovered late on the evening of Saturday, the
28th, or early on Sunday morning, the 29th, that General McClellan,
with his army, was making for the shelter of the Union naval fleet on
the James, and such being the understanding, Longstreet's and A. P.
Hill's divisions at an early hour on Sunday morning were pushed across
the Chickahominy via New Bridge, and to the Darbytown road, to
intercept the retreat. The day was warm, the roads dusty, and the march
fatiguing, especially as it was rapid for fifteen or eighteen miles.
Pushing ahead early the next day, Monday, June 30, the enemy was
encountered about noon. The skirmishers were soon engaged, but the
advance of our troops did not begin until about 4 o'clock P.M., and
after we had suffered for two or more hours from a severe shelling.
While under this severe fire and in line in the woods, in a swamp
amidst brambles and vines, a shell from one of the enemy's guns burst
immediately in our front and only a few feet away, scattering the
fragments and shrapnel in our midst, one of which struck a man close by
me, burying itself in a testament in his breast pocket, which thus
saved his life.
[Illustration: Lieut. Elisha M. Stone]
The point where the encounter took place was known locally as Frazier's
farm. The only Confederate troops engaged were the two divisions above
mentioned, which had been sorely reduced by the casualties at Seven
Pines, Mechanicsville and Gaines' Mill, as well as by sickness, the
exhaustion of a rapid march, and by straggling, to about 12,000 men.
These were pitted against the main body of the Union army.
From the firing we had every reason to believe that the enemy was close
at hand in large numbers, seemingly not distant more than half a mile.
The advance of our forces was through a dense wood, tangled underbrush
filled with brambles, and partly covered by water, with no possibility
of keeping the men up to their places, the stronger ones pushing
through over the obstacles, while many of the weaker, unable to keep
pace, were left behind. Kemper's brigade was leading and his advance
soon became a charge, the enemy being posted on the farther side of an
open field. Some of the line officers implored the regimental commander
to halt long enough to get the men in order and close the ranks, but
the officer cried out: "Forward! Forward!" and on rushed the men, every
man his own general, which they usually were in making such a charge.
In a fierce battle a man's courage is severely tested. Here our
regiment is in battle line on the edge of a wood; less than a quarter
of a mile in front is another wood, sheltering the enemy; between the
opposing forces is an open field; the regiment is advancing and the
lines move out into the clear sunlight. Men will hurriedly reason with
themselves: "The enemy is posted in that timber across the field;
before we move many yards he will open on us with shot and shell; this
is perhaps my last day on earth." So each man reasons, but every face
is sternly set to the front and not a man falters. The shell and shot
blow dozens to gory fragments, but the line does not halt, the living
saying to themselves: "The fire will presently change to cannister,
then I shall certainly be struck." The prediction is being verified,
gaps are opened through the ranks, only to be closed again; the
regiment has lost its adhesion and marching step, its lines are no
longer perfect, but the movement is still onward. From knowledge of
methods in battle, our men suppose the infantry is in support of the
battery. We have escaped shell and cannister, but when we meet the
musketry fire we shall be killed. There is no hanging back, no thought
but to push ahead. The leaden hail now comes and the lines are further
disordered; the left wing has lost its front by quite a distance, but
the push is forward, men grip their guns, their eyes flash, and with a
yell, on to the battery they rush, bayonetting the cannoneers at their
posts. The Federal infantry supports give way precipitately--then
follows that famous bone-searching rebel yell of triumph.
The brigade, led by the brave General Kemper, met a shower of shot,
shell, cannister and storm of leaden bullets; it never faltered, rushed
upon the Union battery--Randol's Pennsylvania--routing its infantry
supports. Here Ensign Mays planted the colors of the 7th regiment on
the Union guns. They were ours, won, however, at fearful cost. The
failure promptly to support our brigade--the enemy flanking us on both
wings--caused General Kemper to order the retirement of the brigade,
now suffering severe loss from the fire of these flanking columns,
which in turn were themselves flanked and defeated by the troops coming
to our support. Such is the fearful game of war with men of the same
valor and blood.
The brigade casualties were 414, of which 44 were killed, 205 wounded
and 165 missing. Regimental loss in the 7th Virginia, 111, of which 14
were killed, 66 wounded and 31 missing. Adjutant E. B. Starke was
killed and Sergeant-Major Tansill severely wounded, disabled for
further service. Sergeant-Major Tansill had been a soldier in our war
with Mexico, and was one of the most efficient, the bravest and best of
our soldiers. The gallant Lieutenant, afterwards Captain James G.
Tansill, of Company E, of the 7th regiment, was the son of
Sergeant-Major Tansill.
The loss in my company was 16. Killed, Captain Joel Blackard; mortally
wounded, Ballard P. Meadows, Lee E. Vass and Joseph Eggleston; the
other wounded were: J. C. Shannon, Daniel Bish, Jesse B. Young, David
C. Akers, H. J. Wilburn, Tim P. Darr, Francis M. Gordon, George A.
Minnich, T. P. Mays, John W. Sarver and Joseph Suthern. Captured, Allen
M. Bane. Ballard P. Meadows was made a prisoner and died in the hands
of the enemy. Upon the fall of the brave and lamented Captain Blackard,
the command of the company devolved upon First Lieutenant Robert H.
Bane, a gallant soldier, and a worthy successor to Captain Blackard.
Second Lieutenant Mullins became first lieutenant; E. M. Stone, second
lieutenant, and Sergeant E. R. Walker was elected second junior
lieutenant.
During that night our troops rested on the field without disturbance
from the enemy, who continued his flank movement, a masterly retreat,
to a position at Malvern Hill, on the banks of the James: a position of
great natural strength, where the entire Union army was concentrated,
supported by the gunboats in the river. The Battle of Malvern Hill did
not begin until the afternoon, but its tide swept to and fro until far
into the night. The divisions of Longstreet and A. P. Hill were held in
reserve, close up, but not called into action, near enough, however, to
be in range of the enemy's artillery and heavy projectiles thrown from
the gunboats, inspiring fear and terror among our men not justified by
their execution. The repeated charges of our troops against the enemy's
stronghold failed to dislodge him. Our men were repulsed; they had
bearded the lion in his den; he refused to yield; he could not afford
to, for if he did he had but one place to go and that was into the
river, or the alternative, of surrendering. In the Battle of Frazier's
Farm the Federals largely outnumbered the Confederates. They lost ten
guns captured by the Confederates, who, when the battle closed, held
the greater part of the field. The Federal General McCall was captured
by the 47th Virginia regiment.
At the opening of the campaign, the Union army numbered 105,000, the
Confederate 80,762--tremendous armies, when we come to think of it. The
losses on each side, up to the Battle of Malvern Hill, in killed and
wounded, were thought to be equal, but in that battle it is stated upon
authority that the Confederate loss was about 5,000 men, the Union loss
about one-third that number. During the Battle of Malvern Hill, Mr.
Davis, President of the Confederate States, was with us in the morning
and under the fire of the gunboats.
It being ascertained that the enemy had retreated during the previous
night, we hastened in pursuit, amidst a heavy rainstorm, and after a
fatiguing, disagreeable, all-day march, found the enemy in a strong
position at Westover, on the James. As he showed no disposition to come
out from his cover, our army, about July 8, reached its camps in the
vicinity of Richmond. It had been a wonderful series of battles.
General McClellan had made a most masterly retreat, escaping from
woeful disaster. It was within the range of probability, in fact,
almost a certainty, that if the Confederate army had been under as good
discipline as it was two years later, the Union army would have been
destroyed or made prisoners. As it was, the Federal loss was nearly
16,000 men and 54 pieces of artillery, while the Confederate loss was
reckoned at about 19,000 men. Richmond had been saved, the enemy driven
far away, General McClellan proving himself better at a retreat than
going the other way.
After the enemy had taken shelter under the protection of his gunboats
at Westover, the Confederate commissariat attempted to reach the large
amount of supplies held by the farmers along the James River. Numerous
wagons were sent under escort to secure these supplies. Our Company D,
going on one of these trips, was attacked by Union gunboats, into which
we fired quite a number of volleys of musketry at close range, being
sheltered by the river bank, and in return received a severe shelling.
A few men were wounded, and I received a shot on the side of the foot,
but not much of a hurt.
From July 8 to August 13, a period of inactivity ensued, and as usual
in that swampy country, with bad water, there was much sickness among
the men. Lewis R. Skeens, of Company D, died in camp and was buried
near by. Charles W. Peck, George W. Akers, William C. Fortner, James B.
Henderson, John R. Crawford, and the writer were taken sick and sent to
hospital at Richmond, where Peck and Akers died. Fortner, Henderson,
Crawford and the writer improved rapidly, and were ready to return to
our command by the middle of August.
General McClellan's Union army was shut up at Westover, and being
depleted by the ravages of sickness and death. This fact, together with
the threatening attitude of a new Federal army in Northern Virginia,
induced General Lee, who now had apparently nothing to fear from
McClellan, to concentrate his army on the Rappahannock, and to that end
about the middle of July had transferred General Jackson and his
command to the Rapidan--which, by the early days of August, was in the
vicinity of the enemy--and closed with him at Cedar Mountain on August
9, forcing the enemy to retire on Culpeper court house.
Longstreet's division left Richmond Wednesday, August 13, for
Gordonsville and the Rapidan, our brigade moving by rail. Learning that
our division was moving, Fortner, Henderson, Crawford and the writer,
the sick bunch above alluded to, applied for discharge from the
hospital, and procured transportation via Lynchburg. Reaching Orange
court house on the 18th, we left the railway, taking the track of the
advancing army. The first day's tramp finished up Fortner and
Henderson, both of whom were still feeble; and it also finished up my
shoes, leaving me barefoot; in fact, had none I could wear until after
our return from Maryland a month later. Leaving Fortner and Henderson
on the road, Crawford and I pushed on, rejoining our command on the
Rappahannock. Fortner overtook us in a few days, and in time to go into
the battle of the 30th, when he received a severe wound. Poor Fortner!
Misfortune seemed now to be his lot, going and coming.
By August 20 the greater part of General Lee's army was on the
Rappahannock, confronting the Union army under General John Pope, on
the opposite bank. Pope, who, it is stated, had said a few days before
in an address to his troops that "his headquarters were in the saddle,
and that he never turned his back upon an enemy nor looked for lines of
retreat"--which statement he later denied--had already run, and was in
a position to have to run again, or at least to get to the rear to look
after his line of retreat.
Longstreet's division on August 21 moved forward to Kelley's ford,
which we left on the 22d, taking position near Beverly's, relieving
some of General Jackson's command, which moved up the Rappahannock.
For three or four days there was considerable skirmishing, with
occasional artillery duels across the river. Again moving on the 24th
to the assistance of Jackson's troops, engaged with the enemy at some
of the upper fords of the Rappahannock, our march was retarded by the
swollen condition of Hazel river and other small tributaries of the
Rappahannock; reaching Jeffersonton that afternoon, during the progress
of a lively cannonade. A halt was made by our division and Jackson's
men moved up the river. Lieut. Hugh M. Patton had been appointed
Adjutant of the seventh regiment, succeeding Adjutant Starke, and
---- Park had been appointed Sergeant Major to succeed George S.
Tansill, disabled and discharged.
Chapter XII
General Jackson With His "Foot Cavalry."
On the Flank and in the Rear of General Pope's Army.
Longstreet's Division Diverting the Enemy's Attention on the
Rappahannock.
March Through Thoroughfare Gap.
Haymarket to the Relief of Jackson's Men.
The Fight on the 29th.
Battle of August 30, 1862.
Kemper Commands Division, Corse Leads the Brigade.
Pope Defeated.
Casualties.
Rainstorm and March Through Leesburg to White's Ford.
Crossing the Potomac.
The Cry "Back to Washington" and not "On to Richmond."
"Maryland, My Maryland," "Bonnie Blue Flag."
Halt at Monocacy Bridge.
General Jackson with his "foot cavalry," as his men were often referred
to, on account of their rapid marches and power of endurance, crossed
the Rappahannock on August 25 and by swift marches placed his command
at Manassas in the rear of General Pope's army, and between it and
Washington--our division (Longstreet's) amusing General Pope on the
Rappahannock by making sortie in order to divert his attention from
General Jackson's movement.
Longstreet's division crossed the river near Amissville on Tuesday, the
26th, reaching Thoroughfare Gap in the afternoon of the 28th; the march
having been somewhat disturbed by a body of the enemy's cavalry. The
enemy held the east side of the Gap in large force. The evening was
spent in reconnoitering, getting into position to carry the Gap. Our
rations consisted of green corn and fresh beef. Numbers of the men were
without shoes, including the writer. Some horses belonging to the
wagons or ambulances broke from their fastenings during the night,
running through the camp and creating quite a stir, as someone called
out, "Yankee Cavalry!" No damage was done, except the loss of an ear by
one man from the stroke of a horse's hoof. The man yelled, "I've got a
one _ear_ furlough."
The Gap next morning was flanked by our troops, the enemy scurrying
away in time to save his face. After clearing the Gap and reaching the
vicinity of the little village of Haymarket, there could be heard
distinctly seven or eight miles away the roar of artillery. The day was
warm, the roads dusty, and the men suffered for water. It was pathetic
to see the boys with feet bare and bleeding endeavoring to keep pace
with their comrades.
A little past noon on the 29th, we arrived in the vicinity of the
battleground, and not long thereafter the roar of battle to our left
informed us that Jackson's men were hotly engaged. Later in the
evening, the brigades of Hood and Evans, of Longstreet's division,
engaged a portion of the enemy, driving him for some distance. The
remainder of our division was in line of battle, prepared to attack, as
we understood, a force of the enemy to the right, should opportunity
offer. Our position was now between the Warrenton pike and Manassas Gap
railway--where we were still subsisting on roasting ears and fresh
beef; no large quantity at that, but the Confederate soldier ever bore
his privations with less complaint than would be supposed by those who
did not know his enthusiasm for cause and country.
On the morning of the 30th, during skirmishing and artillery fire along
the lines, the command to which we belonged moved forward a short
distance, resting near an old rail fence which ran on and along a
narrow country road. All firing ceased about noon, and quiet continued
until about 3 o'clock P.M., when it was broken by the lumbering of
artillery and the crash of small arms. While lying on the road referred
to, A. J. Thompson and John Q. Martin, of Company D, came near having a
serious fight, which was finally terminated by the interference of
Colonel Patton. In a few minutes after this trouble, the battle opened
on the left, rolling towards us. The order came, and the brigade, under
command of Colonel Corse, went forward at double quick, over a field,
through the woods, and into open ground, where the enemy was in line of
battle. The charge of the division under General Kemper, the brigade
under Colonel Corse, was impetuous and most gallant, routing the Union
infantry and capturing a Maine battery and some regimental flags.
General Pope's army was defeated and in retreat. It was now dark. The
forces engaged on the Union side, under General Pope, in this series of
battles around Manassas amounted to 74,578 men; those on the side of
the Confederates, 49,077. The casualties in the Union army were 1,747
killed, 8452 wounded, 4263 missing; aggregate, 14,462. On the side of
the Confederates, 1468 were killed, 7563 wounded, and 81 missing;
aggregate, 9112. Thirty Union field guns were captured by the
Confederates, with 20,000 small arms, including a number of colors.
Our brigade loss was 33 killed, 240 wounded, and one missing;
aggregate, 274. The regimental loss was Col. W. T. Patton, Lieut. Col.
C. C. Flowerree, Major Swinler, Adjutant Patton and Sergt. Major Park,
all of whom were severely wounded, Major Swinler losing a leg, and
Adjutant Patton and Sergt. Major Park being disabled for further
service. The loss including those mentioned was five killed, 48
wounded; aggregate 53.
The loss in my company was 16, equal to about one-third of the
regimental loss: John Q. Martin, killed; wounded, Lieutenant John W.
Mullins and 14 privates, viz: William H. Carr, John S. Dudley, Elbert
S. Eaton, Adam Thompson, William C. Fortner, James H. Fortner, Francis
H. Farley, J. Tyler Frazier, John W. Hight, G. L. Wilburn, H. J.
Wilburn, William I. Wilburn, James J. Nye and Washington R. C. Vass.
The two latter were mortally wounded, Vass dying that night and Nye
a few days thereafter. A. L. Fry had been sent with our wounded
Lieutenant Mullins to Warrenton, and was there captured by the enemy
after the army had crossed the Potomac.
I must speak here of some little incidents in connection with this
battle which I think worthy of notice. The advance of the brigade in
the charge encountered a rail fence, a short distance beyond which was
the enemy's battery, and its battle line of infantry supports. When
near the fence, fearless Lieutenant-Colonel Flowerree--a mere boy,
scarcely 21 years of age--shouted: "Up to the fence, 7th regiment, and
give them h--l!"
In closing on the battery, the man at the breach was in the act of
firing, when bold Ike Hare, of my company, directly in front of the
guns, cried out, "Fire!" Whiz! went the ball over the heads of the men,
who the next moment, with Colonel Skinner of the First Virginia
regiment, were among the cannoneers, the Colonel, with heavy sabre in
hand, cutting right and left, receiving a wound in the encounter which
retired him from the service.
I went out to help gather up the wounded, and to get me a pair of
trousers and shoes, both of which I had need of, and which I procured,
selecting a dead Union soldier about my size. His shoes I could not
wear, as they were too small, and I gave them to a comrade; and I
almost regretted having put on his trousers, for they were inhabited by
the same sort of graybacks common to the Confederate and Union
soldiers. After more than 50 years the thought of this wretched
parasite makes my flesh itch. But these pests were unavoidable to
soldiers continually on the march through mud, mire, and over dusty
roads, without opportunity to cleanse their clothes or make a change
thereof, and this was particularly so with the Confederate soldier, who
seldom had, or could procure a change of raiment.
In front of our regiment fell mortally wounded Colonel Fletcher
Webster, of Massachusetts, the only son of Daniel Webster, where he lay
until next day.
As was usual following the great battles of our war, there came down
that night, and continuing the most of the next two days, a heavy
downpour of rain; a great blessing to the wounded, who needed the
cooler temperature, as some relief at least from the warm and
oppressive heat.
Our time on Sunday was occupied in burying the dead and caring for the
wounded, then being relieved by others. On Monday, September 1,
followed the command of General Jackson to Chantilly, where he had a
heavy engagement with the enemy. From here we marched on the 3d, 4th
and 5th, passing through Leesburg and to White's Ford on the Potomac
River, where camp was made on the evening of the 5th.
At Leesburg an order came for all sick and shoeless men to remain
there: an unfortunate order, in some respects, as it was construed by a
great many of the men to mean just anyone who did not want to go over
the river into Maryland. There had already been large depletion of the
ranks, after leaving Richmond, caused by straggling--partly by shoeless
and sick men, and partly, doubtless, from other causes. Rapid marching
and insufficient, indifferent, or no food, had much to do with the
straggling. Judging other commands by my own, I can state that much too
large a number of men remained at Leesburg, stretching the pretext
to cover far more than was intended by the order. But when it is
remembered that the army within a period of ninety days had fought not
less than eleven pitched battles, sustaining losses in the aggregate of
fully thirty-five thousand men, and that in addition to this they had
engaged in many skirmishes, in which numbers of men were lost, and that
the use of bad water and bad or insufficient food had depleted the
ranks by thousands; and again, further considering that a large portion
of the army had marched from Richmond to the Potomac, hundreds shoeless
and more becoming so--it is not strange there were so many stragglers,
sick and barefooted men. They amounted to probably 20,000. I think a
great many remained at Leesburg who were not sick or barefoot, because
of their aversion to fighting beyond Virginia territory, north of the
Potomac. In one or more of these things enumerated, I may say thousands
of men found excuses, or made them, to fall out of ranks along the line
of march, finally to halt at Leesburg--men whose help was sorely needed
at Sharpsburg.
The Potomac River was forded on the morning of September 6, amid the
singing of "Maryland, My Maryland," and the shouts and cheering of the
men. "Back to Washington," the cry, instead of "On to Richmond," which
we had heard from our foes. Winchester was made the rendezvous for all
the sick, lame, shoeless and others who remained as we passed Leesburg.
That night we camped at a little village, or crossroad hamlet, I think
called Buckeystown. Next day, the 7th, a halt was made at the railway
bridge over the Monocacy, two miles or more from Frederick, Maryland.
Many of the shoeless, and others too plucky to remain at Leesburg,
still kept their places with their comrades, following the fortunes of
the army throughout the campaign. I was one of the number that made
this tramp with bare feet.
Chapter XIII
A Soldier's Equipment.
Washing His Clothes.
How He Ate and Slept.
March Through Frederick.
Middletown.
Hagerstown.
A Soldier in Active Service in the Field.
What He Possesses.
Indications of Southern Sympathy.
The Return from Hagerstown.
Battle of Boonsboro and Casualties.
Retreat to Sharpsburg and Battle.
Thirteen Days in Maryland.
Back in Virginia.
A Musket, cartridge box with forty rounds of cartridges, cloth
haversack, blanket and canteen made up the Confederate soldier's
equipment. No man was allowed a change of clothing, nor could he have
carried it. A gray cap, jacket, trousers and colored shirt--calico
mostly--made up a private's wardrobe. When a clean shirt became
necessary, we took off the soiled one, went to the water, usually
without soap, gave it a little rubbing, and if the sun was shining,
hung the shirt on a bush to dry, while the wearer sought the shade to
give the shirt a chance. The method of carrying our few assets was to
roll them in a blanket, tying each end of the roll, which was then
swung over the shoulder. At night this blanket was unrolled and wrapped
around its owner, who found a place on the ground with his cartridge
box for a pillow. We cooked but little, having usually little to cook.
The frying pan was in use, if we had one.
We remained three days at Monocacy, during which time the bridge was
destroyed by our engineers. The morning of Wednesday, September 10, our
division marched through Frederick, Middletown, Boonsboro, and to
Hagerstown, reaching the latter place the evening of the 11th, and
going into camp half a mile to the south of the town. Subsistence was
still a pressing need, green corn and fresh beef becoming monotonous.
In Frederick our hearts were made glad by unmistakable signs of
friendship and sympathy. A bevy of pretty girls, singing "Maryland, My
Maryland," on seeing our battle flag inscribed "Seven Pines," proposed
"three cheers for the battle flag of Seven Pines," which were heartily
and lustily given by us. In Middletown we met no smiles, but a decided
Union sentiment was in evidence. In Hagerstown we observed indications
and heard some expressions of Southern sentiment, but none that
satisfied us that they were ready and willing to shed their blood for
the Southern cause.
The troops of Stonewall Jackson, together with those of McLaws and
Walker, were now rapidly moving to invest and capture the Union
garrison of some 13,000 men, at Harper's Ferry. During the march from
Frederick, the Confederate rear was protected by a cavalry force under
General Stuart, and infantry under General D. H. Hill. In the wake of
this rear guard, following leisurely was the Union army under General
McClellan, quite a hundred thousand strong, including a powerful
artillery of 300 guns.
On Sunday, just before noon of the 14th, the long roll sounded calling
the men into line, and a quick movement was made east in the direction
of Boonsboro and Turner's Gap. Wagons, artillery and ambulances cleared
the road, giving us the right of way. At Hagerstown was left General
Toombs' Georgia brigade, and one regiment of G. T. Anderson's to watch
a Federal gathering force just across the Maryland line. The day was
hot, the road hard and dusty, the march rapid--so much so that many of
the men broke down, falling by the wayside. The emergency demanded the
presence of our division on the field of battle, which we knew, having
learned on our way that General Hill's division had been attacked at
Turner's Gap beyond Boonsboro by a largely superior force, perhaps by
the larger part of General McClellan's Union army. Let it now be
remembered that this army made fourteen miles to the immediate vicinity
of the battleground in three and a half hours--good time for a
Hamiltonian horse. Now with other troops we were hurried up the
mountain to the right of the main gap (Turner's), and after getting
near the firing line, and finding Confederate troops there holding the
enemy in steady fight, our steps were retraced to the Gap. From thence
we were ordered to the left, climbing the mountain side in full view of
the enemy to our right, and in range of one of his batteries on a
plateau to our right rear, which threw shot and shell thick and fast,
striking the head of the leading company of my regiment and killing one
man instantly. On reaching the crest of the mountain we found ourselves
face to face with the enemy and close up to them, and under fire before
we were able to get into formation. The brigades of Rodes and Evans on
the left were engaged in strong combat with the force in their front,
and as soon as Garnett's and Jenkins' brigades filled the space on the
right and connected with Colquit's Georgia brigade, which was astride
the turnpike, the fighting along the line became general and fierce, as
much so as brave men on both sides could make it.
The writer's brigade was now in a body of open timber, among
stones--large boulders, with some fallen timber along the line, behind
which, lying down, the men took shelter as best they could; the enemy
occupying a skirt of woods with a strip of open land between their
position and ours. For two or more hours the battle raged, or until
darkness fell, the enemy making repeated but unsuccessful efforts to
dislodge our men. The firing having ceased, there was heard in our
front the tramp of the enemy's feet, evidently preparing to renew the
assault. In a few minutes, a few yards to the right, in which lay a
portion of the brigade in the edge of a field, where at the beginning
of the battle was standing corn (now cut to the ground) came the sound
of a voice, "There they are, men! Fire on them!" Suddenly came a sheet
of flame with a deafening crash from the guns of each of the
combatants, plainly disclosing them to be within a few feet of each
other. The flame from the respective muskets seemed to intermingle. The
well-directed fire of the Confederates caused confusion in the enemy's
ranks and compelled them to retire. Among the casualties on our side
from this encounter was Adjutant John W. Daniel of the 11th Virginia,
who received a severe wound in the hand. This same Daniel served with
distinction in the United States Senate, dying a year or so ago. Such
was the character of many a noble man engaged in this horrid game of
death.
It was now 9 o'clock or after and intensely dark, especially in the
timber where we were. Wounded comrades had to be removed and cared for;
this had to be done quietly, as the enemy was in whispering distance.
As heretofore stated, Company D of the 7th Virginia carried into the
battle of Second Manassas forty men, of which sixteen were killed and
wounded, leaving twenty-four, including commissioned officers. After
crossing the Potomac and on entering the battle at Boonsboro Gap, we
had twenty-one commissioned officers and men. In this battle were lost
four men: T. P. Mays, killed; James Cole, mortally wounded; George
Knoll, severely, and John R. Crawford, slightly wounded. Mays was
serving in the capacity of ensign of the regiment, and died at the
front, where danger was met and glory won, with that flag which he had
so gallantly, proudly and defiantly borne aloft on many victorious
fields. Brave and undaunted, he ever led where duty called, sharing the
hardships and privations of camp life, the march and dangers of battle,
without a murmur, and dying with his flag unfurled and its staff
clenched in his hands. May the memory of Tapley P. Mays rest in peace.
With two commissioned officers, Captain Bane and Lieutenant Stone,
and fifteen men we left the field a little after 9 o'clock at night,
carrying one of the wounded, George Knoll, who had an ankle bone
fractured. Knoll was borne on the back of Isaac Hare a mile or more
to the hospital in Boonsboro.
The officers and men of Company D who went into the battle of Boonsboro
were Capt. R. H. Bane, Lieut. E. M. Stone; men of the line, Travis
Burton, John R. Crawford, James Cole, John S. Dudley, John A. Hale,
Isaac Hare, B. L. Hoge, J. J. Hurt, John F. Jones, David E. Johnston,
George Knoll, John Meadows, T. P. Mays, W. W. Munsey, William D.
Peters, W. H. H. Snidow, R. M. Stafford, Thomas S. Taylor and A. J.
Thompson. The cook in Company D, Alexander Bolton, remained with the
supply trains and was not in the engagement.
The forces in this battle on the Federal side, according to the report
of General McClellan, numbered 30,000, while the Confederate force, as
stated by General D. H. Hill and others, was 9000. The Federal loss was
1813 in fifty-nine infantry regiments engaged; 325 killed, 1403
wounded, and 85 missing. The Confederate loss was 224 killed, 860
wounded, and 800 made prisoners. There are but few regimental reports
of losses, therefore I am unable to give those in the 7th Virginia. I
am satisfied that of the four brigades of Evans, Kemper, Garnett and
Jenkins, sent late in the evening to reinforce the Confederate left,
not more than one thousand men reached the firing line, but these were
iron soldiers equal to the emergency, holding more than 5000 of the
enemy at bay until we were ready to leave the field. The superb
fighting in this battle--if at this day a fight can be called something
superb--prevented the enemy from occupying the Gap, thus sealing the
fate of the Union garrison at Harper's Ferry, which surrendered the
following morning, the tidings whereof came to us about noon, causing
much rejoicing.
Now set in an all night's march to the scene of the struggle at
Sharpsburg, called in the North "Antietam," among the most gigantic and
awful in the history of warfare. When daylight came Monday, we were at
Keedysville, midway between the points mentioned, not having reached
the field of Sharpsburg until 12 o'clock. Having been on our feet all
night, without sleep or food, save green corn or apples, placed us in
no cheerful mood, but in good fighting temper, as hungry soldiers fight
better than well fed ones. Numbers of men straggled off along the
march, and even after the Antietam was crossed, in search of food, a
number of whom did not get back in the ranks for the battle.
[Illustration: Lieut. John W. Mullins]
Chapter XIV
Number of Men for Action in Kemper's Brigade.
General D. R. Jones' Division.
Confederate Cavalry.
General Lee Playing Bluff with McClellan.
The Opening of the Battle.
Burnside's Attack and Repulse.
The Casualties.
Re-crossing the Potomac.
When Kemper's brigade was called to action at Sharpsburg, it did not
number 400 muskets. The only regimental report accessible of the number
going into action and the loss is that of Colonel Corse of the 17th
Virginia (himself wounded), who says he led into the action fifty-five
officers and men, all of whom were lost but five. The 1st Virginia did
not number more than 30, the 11th Virginia 85, the 24th probably 110,
and I know (for I counted them) that the 7th Virginia had but 117,
Company D having but two commissioned officers and fifteen men before
action began. Sergeant Taylor, sent in quest of rations, did not return
with the food until the battle had ended. John S. Dudley, on the
skirmish line, was wounded and captured. He, with Taylor, made the
fifteen, leaving for battle two officers and thirteen men. Kemper's
brigade belonged to General D. R. Jones' division, which was composed
of the brigades of Jenkins, Garnett, Jones, under Colonel Geo. T.
Anderson, Drayton, Kemper and Toombs, numbering on that morning, by the
report of General Jones, 2400 men--far too many.
The division of General Jones held the ground in front and southeast of
Sharpsburg, extending from the Boonsboro-Sharpsburg pike along the
ridges and range of hills in front, south and east of the old road to
Harper's Ferry, nearly a mile in length, covering the approaches from
what has since been known as Burnside's bridge over the Antietam.
Robertson's cavalry brigade, under Colonel Thomas T. Munford, was in
observation on the extreme right along the Antietam and toward the
Potomac; General Stuart, with General Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry brigade,
the 13th Virginia regiment of infantry, with a number of batteries
holding the extreme Confederate left, Hampton's cavalry brigade not in
the fight, but in reserve, in rear of Stuart's position.
It is stated upon authority that during Monday, September 15, and for
most of Tuesday, the 16th, General Lee confronted General McClellan's
Union army with only the divisions of Longstreet and D. H. Hill,
numbering all told 10,000 men, while General McClellan had 60,000 men
then facing Lee.
In the afternoon of Monday, and continuing for the most of Tuesday, the
Federal batteries across the Antietam kept up a lively fire, during
which the troops, our brigade included, frequently shifted position,
showing our flags first at one and then at another place, being exposed
to the artillery fire, and getting a severe shelling. General Lee was
playing bluff with McClellan, who was led to believe--and so reported
to his government--that he was confronted not only by "a strong
position, but by a strong force"--imaginary numbers, not real.
Late in the evening of Tuesday the firing to the left seemed to
increase. We heard not only the artillery fire but the rattle of
musketry for quite a time after dark. Before daylight on Wednesday, the
17th, the artillery opened vigorously on the left, followed by the
crash of small arms, the battle raging with intense fury for hours.
From our position on the right we could not see the combatants, but
could hear the crash of small arms and the wild rebel yell. As long as
we could hear this yell we felt that things were going our way.
The battle which began on the left had at noon extended to the right
until the Confederate troops holding the open ground on the left front
of Sharpsburg were within our view. We discovered at this time a
straggling retreating line of Confederates closely followed by a solid
blue line, which soon met the fire of a Confederate battery, causing it
to retire.
Now affairs in our front began to claim our attention. The 24th
Virginia regiment was detached from the brigade and sent a half mile to
the right, and shortly thereafter the 7th Virginia under Captain Phil
S. Ashby was detached and hurried to the right, taking position in
front of the old road leading from Sharpsburg to Harper's Ferry,
between the position held by the 1st, 11th and 17th Virginia regiments
of the brigade, and that held by the 24th regiment. Upon the advance of
the enemy we dropped back into the old road referred to. Captain Ashby
had been a soldier in our war with Mexico, was a brave man, and when he
had placed the regiment in the road, seeing the advance of the enemy he
drew his sword, saying: "Men, we are to hold this position at all
hazards. Not a man leave his place. If need be, we will die together
here in this road." Putting our muskets through the board fence, and
with fingers on the triggers, we awaited the enemy's approach through a
strip of corn, some forty yards away.[4]
[4] The headlong rush of Archer's brigade across the front of
the 7th Virginia regiment prevented its firing into the
enemy.
Colonel Geo. T. Anderson's brigade of D. R. Jones' division had early
in the morning been detached and sent to the aid of General Jackson,
and Garnett's brigade had been taken away and placed in position to
cover the front of Sharpsburg. General Lee had stripped his right in
aid of his left, which was being sorely pressed, leaving General Jones
to hold the right with the small brigades of Jenkins, Garnett, Drayton,
Kemper and Toombs, whose numbers I will later attempt to give.
Two of General Toombs' regiments, the 15th and 17th Georgia, were
guarding ammunition trains, and he, with the 2d and the 20th Georgia,
and 50th Georgia of Drayton's brigade--in all numbering 403 men--with a
company of sharpshooters and a battery, was ordered to the defense of
the bridge (Burnside's). On Wednesday morning at an early hour General
Burnside, who had been ordered to carry the bridge and advance to the
heights at Sharpsburg, assailed General Toombs' men at the bridge. The
stream is small, and at the time of the battle afforded but little
water--could have been waded in dozens of places. Why the bridge?
Burnside made the effort to carry the bridge, was five times repulsed
by Toombs' small force, losing a large number of men in killed and
wounded--exacting, however, from Toombs' regiments heavy toll, for his
2d Georgia lost one-half its numbers, and the 20th Georgia suffered
heavily. General Toombs, finding the enemy crossing the stream at a
ford below the bridge, and the position no longer tenable, withdrew his
men and retired to the heights on which Jones' four brigades--Jenkins',
Garnett's, Drayton's and Kemper's--were posted. General Toombs was
joined on the way by his 15th and 17th Georgia, and Major Little's
battalion of 140 Georgia men. His 20th Georgia had been sent to
replenish its ammunition, and only part of these men returned in time
for the final contest.
The enemy came in bold march at 4 P.M. He came in fine style and good
order until probably half way from the Antietam to the crest of the
heights, whereon stood the depleted Confederate battalions of Jenkins,
Garnett, Drayton and Kemper, when he encountered the Confederate
skirmish line posted behind stone and rail fences. These skirmishes
repulsed and routed the Union skirmishers, making it so hot for the
enemy's front battle line that it was only able to push forward by its
mere momentum, but on it came, overrunning, killing, wounding and
capturing the entire skirmish line, the men thereof remaining in their
places, firing until he reached the muzzles of their muskets. The
enemy's battle line overreached Kemper's right by several hundred
yards, exposing McIntosh's battery, the men thereof for the time being
forced to abandon their guns. Kemper's and Drayton's men were broken
off, outflanked and forced back to the outskirts of the village.
General A. P. Hill with five small Confederate brigades which had left
Harper's Ferry that morning, marching seventeen miles, reached the
field at the opportune moment. Leaving two of his brigades to guard the
approach from a ford on his right, General Hill threw the brigades of
Gregg, Archer and Branch on the enemy's left front and flank, while
General Toombs, who had circled around the enemy's left, being joined
by the men of Kemper, Jenkins, Garnett and Drayton, together with
Hill's three brigades, with a wild yell charged, the Confederate
batteries opening fiercely; the enemy was driven from the field, mostly
in disorder, fleeing to the banks of the Antietam for shelter. The
field was won, the day was ours. In this headlong Confederate charge,
General Branch of Hill's division was killed; General Gregg of the same
division and General Toombs of Jones' division, wounded. Federal
General Rodman was mortally wounded. The 24th and 7th Virginia suffered
a few casualties in killed and wounded, mostly from the artillery fire,
a few by musket balls. My company lost Hare, and Dudley wounded, the
latter captured on the skirmish line.
With the utter defeat of General Burnside's Federal Army Corps, the
battle ended, and Kemper's brigade occupied that night and the next day
the same position it held when the battle in our front opened.
No fiercer, bloodier one day's conflict occurred during the war than
the battle of Sharpsburg, which was fought on the part of the
Confederates by a worn out, broken down, naked, barefooted, lame and
starved soldiery, against a far superior force of brave, well rested,
well clothed and well fed veterans. It was an all day, stand up,
toe-to-toe and face-to-face fight, just as close as brave American
soldiers could make it, and in none other did Southern individuality
and self reliance--characteristics of the Confederate soldier--shine
more brilliantly or perform a more important part. It was on this field
that strategy and military science won the day for the Confederates. It
was mind over matter. General Lee, the greatest military man of the
age, was on the field, wielding the blade that was so admirably
tempered, which brought blood and destruction at every stroke.
The failure of the Union soldiers to win this battle and utterly crush
the Confederates, was no fault of theirs; they had the numbers and
equipment, were courageous and brave. The truth is, their leader was
timid, overcautious, and outgeneraled, fought his battle in detail,
and was defeated in detail. General Burnside's, the largest single
attacking corps, was beaten before he had his columns fairly deployed,
and this because the Confederates outmaneuvered him on the field, had
the flanks of his assaulting columns turned before he knew there was
any Confederate force on the ground to turn them. Upon this occurring,
he lost control of the battle, and the only thing apparent to him was
to get away as quickly as possible, which he did, though his battle had
not lasted an hour.
The force engaged in this battle on the Confederate right, on the Union
side, was that of General Burnside's 9th army corps, consisting of
twenty-nine regiments of infantry, six batteries of artillery, and
two companies of cavalry, making, according to the most reliable
information obtainable, an aggregate of 13,083. His losses were:
Killed, 436; wounded, 1796; missing, 115; total, 2349.
On the Confederate side the battle was fought by the brigades of
Jenkins, Garnett, Toombs, Kemper and Drayton (two regiments, 51st
Georgia and 15th South Carolina); Gregg's, Archer's and Branch's (less
the 18th North Carolina, on detached duty), of Hill's division. The
24th and the 7th Virginia, except their skirmishers, did not pull a
trigger, but were under the fire of the artillery and partly that of
infantry. Nor did the 18th North Carolina take part in the battle.
From the best information I have been able to obtain, from the official
reports and otherwise, I fix the number of Confederates in this battle
against General Burnside's 13,083 men as follows:
Jenkins' brigade 500
Garnett's brigade 250
Drayton's brigade (51st Ga. & 15th
S.C. Regmts.) 200
Kemper's brigade 300
Toombs' brigade (including Maj.
Little's bat., 140) 600
----
Total Jones' Division 1850
A. P. Hill's three brigades, less
18th North Carolina, detached 1900
----
Total, both divisions 3750
Casualties--General Jones reports, including the battle of Boonsboro,
1435. Toombs' brigade was not at Boonsboro, and the brigade commanded
by Colonel Geo. T. Anderson was detached in the early morning, and we
have no reports from the 28th Virginia regiment of Garnett's brigade,
and only in part from Toombs' regiments, and but from one regiment of
Kemper's. Approximately, however, the losses were as follows:
Col. Walker, commanding brigade
of Jenkins, reports 210
Taking 4 regiments of Garnett's
and averaging the 5th 80
Drayton's two regiments, estimated 100
Kemper's regiments, estimated 160
Toombs, stated 346
---
Total 996
The disparity in numbers on this part of the field was probably greater
than on any other--nearly three and a half to one.
There has been, and probably will always be, uncertainty as to the
number of men General Lee had in the battle of Sharpsburg. Colonel
Taylor, of the staff of General Lee, and Adjutant General of the army,
puts the number at 35,250--including cavalry and artillery, putting the
infantry force at 27,255. This is surely incorrect for the reasons:
first, that the returns of the army on the 20th of July, 1862, a few
days before the movement of the army to North Virginia from Richmond
began, show the total cavalry 3740. In the second place the fact is
well known that the cavalry and artillery had been engaged in the
battle of Cedar Run, the battles around Manassas, and at South
Mountain, Harper's Ferry, Crampton's Pass, and Boonsboro, and the
losses must have been large; and again, there were only three brigades
of Confederate cavalry at Sharpsburg--Lee's, Hampton's and Robertson's,
the latter under Munford, and there is no evidence that either of the
two latter named fired a shot at Sharpsburg. Lee's brigade could not
have numbered more than a third of the cavalry force, say 1500--a
liberal estimate--and the artillerists 1800. We have 3300. A careful
examination of all the sources of information available to me,
including official reports, and my own personal knowledge and
observation on the march and on the field, inclines me strongly to the
opinion and belief that the Confederate troops on the field of
Sharpsburg on the firing line and actually engaged on the 17th of
September numbered:
Jackson's division 1600
Ewell's division 3400
D. H. Hill's division 3000
D. R. Jones' division 1850
A. P. Hill's division 1900
Hood's division 2000
McLaws' division 2893
R. H. Anderson's division 3500
J. G. Walker's division 3200
Geo. T. Anderson's brigade 300
N. G. Evans' division 1500
Lee's cavalry brigade 1500
Artillerists 1800
------
Total 28,443
Note:--There is no evidence that Armistead's brigade of R. H.
Anderson's division drew trigger in this battle.
The Confederate casualties in the Maryland
campaign as given in the War Records 13,609
The Federal casualties, including the garrison
at Harper's Ferry 27,767
Deducting the Harper's Ferry garrison,
we have the Federal losses of the campaign 15,203
Deducting Federal losses at Boonsboro
Gap of 1813, Crampton's Gap 533, we
have approximately as the Federal loss
in battle of Sharpsburg 12,856
Deducting the estimated Confederate loss
at Boonsboro Gap, Crampton's Gap and
Harper's Ferry, 3948, from the campaign
loss, we have approximately as
the Confederate loss at Sharpsburg 9,661
The actual number of Union soldiers on the firing line in the battle of
Sharpsburg could not have exceeded 68,000 men, but Porter's corps, some
19,000, was close up in the center in reserve, with more than 14,000,
only a march away.
The night of the battle several of our men went out on the battlefield,
to look after the dead and wounded and for other purposes. Among those
from my company who went out in this way were Travis Burton and
Lieutenant Stone, who shortly returned with an unwounded prisoner of a
Rhode Island regiment, who had failed to get away with his retreating
comrades. This prisoner was a mere boy, who exhibited considerable
signs of fear and trepidation, and with whom Captain Ashby had quite a
little fun.
On passing over a battlefield after the close of the battle, it will
usually be observed that the pockets of the dead, and sometimes of the
wounded, have been turned out. A soldier will generally take from the
battlefield and the dead what he wants.
The next day, the 18th, was in the main quiet, with some little picket
firing; the wounded were being cared for and the dead buried. In the
immediate front of our brigade, some fifty yards away, the farthest
point reached by Harland's Federal brigade the day before, and the
ground on which it stood, when charged by the brigades of Toombs and
Kemper, I counted the bodies of 33 dead Union soldiers of the 8th
Connecticut regiment. One of the wounded was still living, to whom I
gave a drink of water and filled his canteen. During the day a man of
our regiment, who had gone forward to help remove the Federal wounded,
was shot through the body and killed by a Federal sharpshooter, who was
so far away that the report from his rifle was not heard by the men
engaged in the removal of the wounded.
On the night of the 18th, we left the battle line, moving to the
Potomac, wading the river at the ford near Sheperdstown, and instead
of singing when crossing the river thirteen days before, "Maryland,
MY Maryland!" the song was, "Carry me back, oh! carry me back to old
Virginia, once more."
A halt was made some three miles from the river; moving in a day or two
to near Bunker Hill, and again to a point nearer to Winchester, close
by a large spring, where we received quite a number of accessions to
our ranks by the return of the shoeless, sick, and some wounded men
left along the route of our advance into Maryland.
Chapter XV
From Winchester to Culpeper.
Reorganization of the Army.
What Happened at Culpeper.
To Fredericksburg and Battle There.
In Winter Quarters.
Incidents of the Camp.
Longstreet's command left the vicinity of Winchester the latter part of
October, 1862, crossing the Shenandoah river, Blue Ridge, and reaching
Culpeper the early part of the first week in November, going into camp
a short distance southeast of the court house. Several companies of the
7th regiment were from Orange, Culpeper, Madison and Rappahannock, and
while in this camp the friends of these men came with wagons loaded
with provisions and clothing, supplying many of their needs, and
relieving much of their suffering.
Here the reorganization of the army was effected into two army corps,
the first commanded by General James Longstreet, the second by General
Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson. Later a third corps was organized, of
which Lieutenant General A. P. Hill was appointed commander. Pickett's
division was also organized, composed of five brigades, as follows:
First brigade, General James L. Kemper: regiments 1st, 3d, 7th,
11th and 24th Virginia.
Second brigade, General R. B. Garnett: regiments 8th, 18th, 19th,
28th and 56th Virginia.
Third brigade, General Lewis A. Armistead: regiments 9th, 14th,
38th, 53d and 57th Virginia.
Fourth brigade, General M. D. Corse: regiments 15th, 17th, 29th,
30th and 32d Virginia.
These four Virginia brigades were composed of the flower of the
state.
Jenkins' South Carolina brigade--General M. Jenkins: regiments
Palmetto sharpshooters, 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th South
Carolina, and 4th battalion.
To which was attached the following Virginia artillery: Major
Dearing's 38th battalion, with Caskie's, Stribling's and Latham's
batteries.
Many additions were made to the ranks at Culpeper, greatly increasing
our strength; the organization now being better as to numbers and
discipline than at any previous period. The health of the soldiers was
also much improved; the entire army, however, still being deficient in
equipment, especially shoes, overcoats and blankets, and the chilly
November winds, the precursor of that fearfully cold winter just
ahead, causing suffering among the men, who bore the same without
murmuring--such was their metal. The weather by this time had become
quite cold, the men building strong fires, and to keep off the cold
ground at night they procured, when possible, two or three flat fence
rails, placing them near the fire, lying down upon them. Such was their
feather bed, covering themselves with a blanket if they chanced to have
one.
Here the writer was appointed Sergeant-Major of the regiment,
succeeding Sergeant-Major Park, disabled in the second battle of
Manassas--an honor as proud as anything that has come to him since.
The march to Fredericksburg began November 18, over the old plank
road, passing through the Wilderness and Chancellorsville, soon to be
drenched in blood in the most famous battles of the war--Chancellorsville,
Wilderness and Spottsylvania. Here it may be said that in the County of
Spottsylvania more important battles were fought, more blood shed and
more men killed and wounded, and more soldiers lie buried, than in any
other county in the United States. Here were fought the first and
second battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the two days
Wilderness, and the series of battles in and around Spottsylvania court
house, including countless skirmishes and cavalry combats. It is no
exaggeration to say that the men killed and wounded in the battles,
skirmishes and combats in the county reached 100,000.
When we reached the vicinity of Fredericksburg, snow had fallen to
the depth of two inches or so, which had to be cleared off to find
a dry place to go to bed. Here we remained for twenty or more days,
performing no guard duty, but kept busy gathering fuel to make fires to
keep warm. Eating our rations gave us little trouble, not nearly so
much as when or where the next would come from. The men smoked, some
croaked--for it must be remarked that in the army there are chronic
grumblers, who complain of short rations, continually saying the war
would never end; others that we were going to be whipped in the next
fight; but men of this class were few in number, the greater part in
good spirits, buoyant with hope and confident of the final triumph of
our cause.
At early dawn, December 11, we stood to arms, continuing to do so until
early Saturday morning, the 13th, two days and nights, then moving out
from camp in the direction of the Rappahannock. The two days' suspense
just alluded to proved a severe task on the staying powers of the
strongest men. Our march now continued until we reached a point
overlooking the river valley. Although frosty, the air bracing, a dense
fog hovered pall-like over the valley below, shutting off from our view
the enemy, now in full force along the river, and the broad bottom land
at our feet. As the sun broke away the fog, the movement continuing,
there was heard to our left occasional rattle of musketry. Meeting a
negro man loaded with blankets, canteens, haversacks and general
baggage, puffing as if almost out of breath, with great drops of sweat
as big as peas on his face--someone said to him: "Hello, Uncle! Where
are you going?"
His answer was, "To de r'ar, Sah!"
Then the query, "To what command do you belong?"
"Barksdale's brigade, Sah."
"Is it running, too?"
"No, boss, it never runs, but I always do."
By this time the fog had so lifted that we could see in front far to
our right the gleam of a long line of bayonets, though we could not see
the men who held the guns. We halted on the break of the heights, where
we witnessed the combat between the Federal and Confederate skirmishers
of Jackson's command, as well also as the assault by a part of the
Federal line of battle against Jackson's men, and the repulse of the
Federals. Not being longer permitted to enjoy the further progress of
the battle on that part of the field, we were now hastened down the
hill and formed in line of battle in a wood with an open field in
front; the fog, however, still bothered in seeing the game we were
watching. The dictates of self preservation impelled us to throw up
some rude breastworks, which would furnish fair protection from rifle
or musket balls, but none from artillery fire. While in this position,
where we remained until the middle of the afternoon, there could be
heard the commands of the officers of the enemy quite as distinctly as
those of our own.
Many of the men without overcoats and thinly clad stood shivering from
the cold fog, their beards white with frost. General Kemper came along
and made a patriotic, soul-stirring speech, which had a good effect
upon the men, also making similar speeches to other regiments of the
brigade.
The Confederates on the left at the foot of Marye's Hill being heavily
pressed, our brigade was withdrawn and pushed across the hills and
valleys to a position in rear and easy supporting distance of the
troops holding position at the foot of the hill. While in this new
position, the musket and rifle balls of the enemy flew thick and fast,
a number being wounded, among them Lewis N. Wiley, of D company, one
ball striking the writer's left foot, which had become so hard by going
without shoes that but little injury was inflicted. At dark and as the
last charge of the enemy was repulsed, our brigade moved forward,
relieving some Georgia and North Carolina troops; the left of my
regiment resting on the road leading out of Fredericksburg over the
hill, and extending to the right on the upper side of a road leaving
the last named road at right angles; occupying the angle made by these
roads, where we lay down on the upper side of the road on a wall made
by a stone fence built against the foot of the hill, which afforded us
no protection.
The 1st Virginia regiment was on our right and in line in the road and
behind the stone fence; the men of our regiment, with bayonets, boards,
sticks and tin cups, went to work to cut a trench on top of the wall on
which it lay, and by daylight the next morning had made themselves
works sufficient to protect them against minnie balls.
Around us lay the Confederate dead, two dead Georgians lying in the
midst of my company, by whose side the writer lay down and slept. The
night was cool, but not cold; there was no moon, but bright starlight,
to which, for several hours, was added the Aurora borealis. About
midnight I was aroused by Captain Bane, who said to me, "They are
coming," and with my ear to the ground I could distinctly hear hoof
strokes approaching from the direction of the city. In a moment every
man was at his post, musket in hand; dead stillness reigned. The
mounted parties rode up to the intersection of the roads and were
captured by the first regiment. The party consisted of three Federal
officers, one a member of General Hooker's staff. They had ridden
forward to examine their skirmish line and had been allowed to pass
through unchallenged, finding themselves in a trap. They were sent
under guard to the provost-marshal in charge of an Irish sergeant and
guard of the 1st Virginia. This sergeant on his return next morning,
while passing our company, was severely wounded by a Federal
sharpshooter standing behind the corner of a brick house a hundred
yards or more away.
We had been advised on the night of the battle that the attack was
expected to be renewed the next morning, in view of which we had been
furnished with one hundred rounds of ammunition, with instructions to
hold the position at all hazards, that we would be supported by a line
of battle on the hill in our rear. The attack was not made, though we
remained in position during the day and night, skirmishing and
sharpshooting. Next day after the battle, while holding the line in
front of Fredericksburg, some of our boys carried water to the Federal
wounded lying in our front, though at the risk of life.
Amid a rainstorm on the night of the 14th, the enemy stole away and
crossed the river. The battle over and the danger past, we retired to
our camp on the hills south of Fredericksburg, where we remained for
nearly two months, suffering much from cold, want of clothing and
shoes; many of the barefooted men making and wearing rawhide moccasins.
Frequently, to prevent suffering at night, the men made log fires and
in evening rolled away the burning logs, cleared away the fire and
ashes and made their sleeping places on the warm earth from which the
fire had been removed. When we had snow, the men would fight snowball
battles, in which frequently someone was seriously hurt. We did little
picket or guard duty, and many engaged in card playing. Religious
exercises were now infrequent. I recall going once to divine services,
when the Chaplain, Mr. McCarthy, preached; and I remember to this good
day the text which formed the basis of his discourse. It was from the
53d chapter of Isaiah, verse i: "Who hath believed our report? and to
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"
During the long, dreary, cold two months following the battle of
Fredericksburg, while in camp amid privations and suffering, the men
discussed freely the questions touching the war, its conduct, and
prospects for peace. The soldiers talked gravely of these matters,
discussing them frequently with much earnestness, not a few becoming
homesick and longing for the termination of the game of conflict and
death. An ever abiding confidence in our cause, its justness, and our
belief in the final triumph of right over wrong coupled with invincible
spirits ever ready to brave the storm of battle, caused our sufferings
and hardships to be treated as trivial, as compared with the issue at
stake. The end, however, was not yet in sight, and little did we dream
that it would be reached as it was; for while it was supposed that the
private soldier knew little of what was transpiring throughout the
country--North, South or in Europe, yet it is a fact that the questions
of resources of the South in men and supplies; the North with its vast
resources, with the old world to draw upon for men to fight its
battles, were frequently talked of, as well as the remote possibility
of foreign intervention; its effect upon the war; the peace feeling
North, and its probable effect. Our confidence in the armies of the
Confederacy, and our ability to successfully resist the Federal armies
with their overwhelming numbers was scarcely doubted. It was remarkable
what confidence the men reposed in General Lee; they were ready to
follow him wherever he might lead, or order them to go.
In company D was one, Dan East, who was never in a battle, and never
intended to be; yet Dan knew more about it than anyone who had gone
through it; always turning up after the battle with a full haversack,
good blanket, overcoat and shoes. As usual, Dan walked into the camp
after the battle of Fredericksburg, when the Colonel determined to
punish him; he caused a placard with the word "Coward" in large letters
to be fastened across his back, and with rail on his shoulder he was
marched to and fro in front of the regiment; but this had little effect
on Dan, and the first opportunity he helped himself to a fellow
soldier's clothing and other goods, which were found in his quarters.
The men of the company decided to rid the service of Dan by whipping
him out of it, which they did.
It was while in this camp that a rencounter occurred between Hight and
Young, both large, stout, athletic men, pretty equally matched in size,
strength and good mettle. The fight was as close as two brave men could
make it, but friends intervened and the combatants were separated.
Let us now return to the result of the battle of Fredericksburg, as far
as forces engaged and casualties suffered are concerned.
The Federal army in this battle numbered 50,000; casualties, 12,653.
Confederate army, 20,000; casualties, 4201. Casualties in Kemper's
brigade, 46; in 7th Virginia regiment, 5; in Co. D, 1; Lewis N. Wiley,
wounded--with the whack taken at the writer's foot, already described.
January 20, 1863, the command was suddenly called to arms, marched up
the Rappahannock in the direction of Banks' ford, where, it was
reported, the Federal army was threatening to cross the river. We
remained out one night in the snow, rain, mud and slush, returning to
camp next day.
Chapter XVI
Leaving Camp.
March Through Spottsylvania.
Louisa.
Hanover, Petersburg.
First North Carolina Campaign.
Heavy Snowfall and Battle.
Accident to Anderson Meadows Near Chester.
Camp Near Petersburg.
Gardner Exchanges Hats.
Lieutenant Stone in a Box.
To Weldon, Goldsboro and Kinston.
At Suffolk, Virginia. Return via Petersburg, Chester, Richmond, to
Taylorsville.
John, the Drummer Boy.
Professor Hughes, Frank Burrows and Others.
Across the Pamunkey, Return Taylorsville and to Culpeper.
Monday, February 16, 1863, in the midst of a storm of snow and sleet,
Pickett's division took up its line of march heading toward Richmond.
Reports were rife relating to destination, some saying Charleston,
others Savannah or Blackwater; all were on the list of probabilities,
the line of march being through the counties of Spottsylvania, Louisa
and Hanover. At Hanover Junction Sergeant A. L. Fry, who had returned
from captivity, rejoined us. Within eight miles or so of Richmond the
moving army went into camp, resting a few days from fatiguing march,
then proceeding through Richmond to Chester station on the Richmond and
Petersburg railroad.
The brave Lieutenant-Colonel Flowerree of the 7th regiment, having
imbibed a little freely, as we passed through Richmond was placed in
arrest, charged with the breach of soldierly good conduct. He was
finally restored to us on the return from Gettysburg; a streak of luck
that saved the Colonel from being in the great battle.
The day of our arrival at Chester was cool, the early night was clear,
the sky blue, the stars shining--nothing that betokened any sudden
change of weather. Awakening next morning we found we had a blanket of
snow twelve inches deep--the men lying in rows reminding one of a
cemetery, and on rising, of the resurrection day. We soon built roaring
fires and went out and fought a great snowball battle. The explosion of
cartridges in a cartridge box that had been hung up too near the fire
came near costing Anderson Meadows the loss of his eyes. Meadows was
quite a remarkable man. When he went into the army he could neither
read nor write, but during the service he became quite proficient in
all, was a number one cook and a brave soldier, surviving the war.
Our next move took us to a point about a mile southeast of Petersburg,
where we went into camp. The weather had somewhat moderated, but snow
still on the ground. Our Lieutenant Stone, who had been home on
furlough, returned to us here. The camp was always more lively when he
was present, for there was no fun or mischief started in which he did
not make a full hand, and in the army anything that cultivates
cheerfulness is of real value. Many of the men went into Petersburg,
some without leave, among them Gardner of Company D, who, on his
return, was discovered wearing a good looking hat instead of the old,
dingy cap he had worn away. Inquiry being made as to how he became
possessed of the hat, he replied: "I swapped with a fellow--but he
wasn't there!"
March 25 a shift was made to the Weldon and Petersburg railway station,
and while the train to carry us south was being made ready, some of the
men took on too many drinks, our jolly Lieutenant Stone being one, and
becoming boisterous, fell into the hands of the city police. To keep
our Lieutenant out of their clutches, the men of the company put him
in a box car, fastening the doors, but as he did not fancy being a
prisoner in a box car he kicked off one of the doors, coming out with
it, hanging as he came on a nail or part of the door, the leg of his
trousers catching the same a little above the knee, tearing one leg of
his trousers.
Next morning found us at Weldon, where we remained several hours, and
while here Pat Wood, an Irishman of the 1st regiment, started some kind
of a row, which brought General Ransom, the commandant of the post,
upon the scene, and which resulted in a peremptory order for the whole
command to move on, which it did. Crowded into box cars, without fire,
the weather cold, the result cold feet and general discomfort. But a
soldier equal to almost any emergency, especially where his personal
safety and comfort are concerned, and determining to have fires,
covered the floor of each car with sand. On this fires were made of
longleaf North Carolina pine. The smoke was dense, and, having no
escape, settled upon the men, so that when Goldsboro was reached that
evening we were thought to belong to the "colored brigade."
Next day we proceeded about twenty-five miles to Kinston, on the Neuse
river, about thirty-five miles west from Newbern. From Kinston we did
some scouting and picket duty on the roads leading to Newbern, the
object seeming to be to keep the enemy at Newbern close in, while our
commissariat gathered supplies, as General Longstreet with Hood's
division was likewise doing at Suffolk, Va. The enemy had occupied
Kinston the preceding winter, and many of the houses had been
destroyed; the inhabitants had removed, either inside the Union
military lines, or to the interior of the state. The village, in fact,
was entirely deserted.
Our brigade left Kinston April 9, moving by rail to Goldsboro and
Weldon to a point twenty or more miles south of Petersburg, from whence
we marched through the Blackwater region--the counties of Southampton,
its county town Jerusalem, Isle of Wight--to the neighborhood of
Suffolk in Nausemond County, where we united with the division of
General Hood, then closely investing the town.
I will here relate two incidents occurring on our journey to and from
Kinston. While halting at Goldsboro, a soldier of Company F, 24th
Virginia, named Adams, went to a pie stand kept by an old lady, took
part of her pies and was walking away without paying therefor, when he
was arrested by a town policeman, whom the soldier sought to resist,
and in the fight Adams was killed. The other incident was, as we were
being transported by the railway in box cars between Kinston and
Goldsboro, a part of the men were on top of the boxes, and along
portions of the railway were overhead bridges for the accommodation
of travelers on the county roads. One, Manly Reece of Co. G, 24th
Virginia, standing erect on one of the box cars, and not observing an
overhead bridge, was struck, knocked from the car and killed.
At Suffolk lively skirmishing was kept up for quite a while, sometimes
approaching a battle. While here we were formed into line of battle to
receive the foe, but he did not come. Matters thus continued until we
retired, as hereinafter related.
From a letter I wrote to a friend dated April 25 (the original
furnished while writing these pages), it appears we reached Suffolk the
12th of the month. I state in the letter: "This is the 13th day that we
have been in close proximity to the enemy." While at Suffolk three of
my Company D--Hugh J. Wilburn, James
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