Diary of Private William S. White, August 17, 1861

Returned to Bethel Church where we remained until the 22d.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 107

Diary of Private William S. White, June 18, 1861

Magruder arrived at Bethel Church a few hours since, and right glad were we to see him, for “Old Mac," as we call him, has our fullest confidence. Sent my "detachment," mounted, with a guard of cavalry to New Market Bridge to reconnoitre. Results: procured two cart loads of corn, one spade and two shovels, shot at one of our own videttes, but didn't hit him, as he ran too fast. We could have been easily cut off had the Yankees possessed any daring.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 101

Diary of Private William S. White, June 19, 1861

A BIG SCAMPER.

Reported by our videttes that the enemy, ten thousand strong, were moving rapidly on the Warwick road, and would attack us from the rear.

Magruder instantly ordered a retreat, and the troops made very quick time for men not frightened.

There was a good deal of hard swearing, some throwing away of baggage, and in fact a little touch of stampede, but when we reached Yorktown the ten thousand Yankees turned out to be only a marauding party of some fifty or more.

Hardly had we gotten into Yorktown when my detachment was ordered to return to Bethel, with a squadron of cavalry, to guard a wagon train sent back to recover the stores left there.

This time we were mounted but were pretty well broken down when we reached Bethel, as the train moved very slowly. Upon reaching the church I had the good fortune to find a cold boiled ham, and with the aid of ship crackers, I soon made a good square meal. As soon as we loaded up the wagon train, we started back for Yorktown; being much fatigued and very sleepy I could scarcely keep my seat in the saddle. A fifteen mile march, and a thirty mile ride on horseback, in one day is no easy matter.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 101-2

Diary of Private William S. White, June 27, 1861

Received orders for two howitzers with twenty-five picked men, mounted, to report to Lieutenant-Colonel Chas. Dreux, commanding the First Louisiana Battalion. Left Yorktown with an infantry force of some two thousand men and marched within six miles of Bethel Church. It is reported the enemy intend landing a large force on the Poquosin River, and we are acting as a small corps of observation. Magruder joined us a short while since.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 103

Diary of Private William S. White, June 6, 1861

Left Yorktown this morning to meet the enemy, who are reported to be advancing.

10 P. M.—Camped at Bethel Church; enemy reported six miles off. Our guns occupy a good position. The church exhibits many marks of a late visit of the enemy. Scoundrels! They even write blasphemy upon the walls of a house consecrated to God.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 95

Diary of Private William S. White, June 9, 1861

We are ordered to leave Bethel Church early tomorrow morning on a scouting expedition towards Newmarket Bridge and Hampton.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 96

Diary of Private William S. White, June 10, 1861

BATTLE OF BETHEL CHURCH, MONDAY, JUNE 10TH, 1861.

The above-named place is a neat little country church situated some fifteen miles from Yorktown, and twelve miles from Hampton. Since June 6th we have been throwing up rude, but strong breastworks, and fortifying the place in the best manner we knew how.

Our Parrot gun (No. 1) and a brass howitzer (my gun, No. 4) composed the main battery, just to the left of the church. A howitzer of Captain Brown's Second Company was stationed to our right, and about one hundred and fifty yards in our front. A rifled howitzer of the Second Company was stationed about a hundred yards to the left of the main battery. Two of Stanard's howitzers were stationed some miles in our rear, to guard a flanking road, but came up in the heat of the fight and did good service.

There was also a howitzer a few yards to the left of the main battery, its position was changed several times during the engagement.

There were in all seven guns engaged in the battle, four belonging to the Third Company and three to the Second Company.

All honor is due to a noble hearted Virginia country woman, who undoubtedly saved our camp from surprise, and kept the forces sent out early this morning from running into the enemy unawares.

These troops were under the immediate command of Colonel Magruder, and their mission was to capture a post called New Market, occupied by six hundred Federal troops; they having left Bethel Church about 3 A. M., with six hundred infantrymen, three Howitzers and a small squad of cavalrymen, proceeding in the direction of New Market, towards Hampton. After being on the road some two hours, this woman came towards us in great haste, and gave Colonel Magruder the timely information that the enemy a few moments since, some five hundred strong, had been to her house, but a short distance in our front, had taken her husband prisoner and were then marching to get in our rear.

Believing this party to be an advance guard of the enemy, Colonel Magruder wheeled his column, and we marched rapidly back to Bethel Church, to await further developments.

Our whole force only numbered fifteen hundred, Virginians and North Carolinians, commanded by my old Sabbath-school teacher in the Lexington days of long ago, Colonel D. H. Hill.

At 8 o'clock A. M., our videttes and advanced pickets commenced coming into camp and reported the enemy advancing upon us, five thousand strong, under the command of Brigadier-General Pierce, of Massachusetts.

Major George W. Randolph, formerly Captain of the old Howitzer Company of Richmond, acted during the day with conspicuous gallantry as Magruder's Chief of Artillery.

Then one by one and in squads of five or six came the inhabitants, fleeing before the enemy. At first they came in slowly, but anon their pale faces and the hurried manner of their coming betokened the enemy to be not far distant.

Even the peril, so near at hand, could hardly suppress the smile that flitted athwart our countenances as a superannuated negro, driving lustily an aged mule attached to a dilapidated cart filled with promiscuous plunder, appeared upon the scene evidently making tracks for the rear.

Every man was at his post, but not a cheek blanched, nor did an arm falter, for we felt as if the entire South watched us that day, and we would pay their watching well.

Precisely at 9 A. M. we saw the dazzling glitter of the enemy's muskets as they slowly appeared in battle array marching down the Hampton road-then our trusty Parrot gun opened its dark mouth and spoke in thunder tones the stern determination of our devoted little band—then the howitzer on its left, and right, hurled shot and shell into the bewildered ranks of the advancing foemen; and then came the enemies shot, bursting and whizzing around our heads, and the sharp ring of the rifle told of war in earnest.

Here on one side is a band of beardless boys, who, heretofore, have scarcely been considered as possessing a sufficiency of nerve to brain a cat, now handling their artillery with a coolness and consummate skill that war-worn veterans would have gloried in.

On the other side regulars and fanatics fought for PAY and for the upholding of a government whose oppression had to millions of people now become unbearable.

And the death missiles came hurtling and screaming through the calm, clear, summer's air, but those brave boys quailed not before the storm of death—they thought of kindred, of homes, of peaceful firesides and of loved ones, who, with weeping eyes and anguished hearts were praying to the God of Battles to shield them from all harm, when the hour that tried men's souls drew near.

Not one of our men failed in the discharge of his duty, but silently and rapidly did we pour shot and shell into the enemies ranks.

'Twould be a vain endeavor to attempt to describe one's feelings in a battle, for I believe after the first shock is over they become somewhat blunted, and yet we all thought enough to fall flat whenever we saw a shell coming from the Yankee battery. But the musket and rifle balls could not be dodged and they whistled around us in a perfect storm. There seemed to be some unseen hand that warded them off from the men, but the horses and mules were not so fortunate. There was a very stubborn, thickheaded old mule belonging to the Second Company Howitzers, and just before the fight one of the boys hitched him to a cart and endeavored to make him work, but 'twas no use, Mr. Mule asserted the popular theory of rebellion and declined to be pressed into service, whereupon the soldier gave him a “cussing," and tied him to a tree, hoping at the same time that the first shot from the enemy "would knock his 'dern'd' head off." Alas, for the poor mule!—the second shot fired by the enemy struck a tree just to the left of my gun, glanced and passed directly through the mule, who, in the agonies of death, doubtless deplored his untimely fate and refusal to work.

For nearly two hours the fight was confined to the artillerists almost exclusively, but so soon as the enemy came in musket range our infantry gave them a reception worthy of Southern hospitality.

About this time one of Captain Brown's howitzers, the one in front and to the right of the main battery, became spiked by the breaking of a priming wire in the vent, and was rendered ineffectual during the rest of the engagement.

By reason of this, three Virginia companies of infantry on the right front flank were in a measure unprotected, and were withdrawn by Colonel Magruder to the rear of the church.

The New York Zouaves seeing the gun disabled charged upon the works in which this howitzer was placed, and our men retired slowly, discharging their pistols as they fell back upon the North Carolina infantry.

Colonel Magruder immediately ordered Captain Bridges of the "Edgecombe Rifles" to retake the lost position, which 'tis said he attempted to do by himself, failing to order his company to follow him, in his eagerness to obey orders.

But his company did follow him in gallant style and drove the Zouaves off at a double-quick. The two howitzer guns of Stanard's Third Company now coming up from the rear, under the command of Sergeant Powell and Lieutenant Edgar F. Moseley, were immediately placed in position, and again the battle raged.

Major Winthrop, aid to General B. F. Butler, in command at Fortress Monroe, having come up with reënforcements wearing our badges, white band around the cap, made an ineffectual attempt to carry our works, and lost his life in the endeavor. After his fall the enemy fled in disorder, having also lost a valued artillery officer, Lieutenant Greble, who commanded his battery with great bravery. Badly crippled and much worse frightened, they now were in precipitate flight toward Hampton, hotly pursued by a small squadron of Virginia cavalry, who reached the field just as the fight ended. If Magruder had have had a thousand cavalry we could have taken the whole force prisoners. Our loss has been comparatively small-one killed and ten wounded, three of the wounded belonging to the Second Howitzers-Lieutenant Hudnall and Privates John Worth and Henry Shook. The only one killed on our side was Private Henry L. Wyatt, of the North Carolina Infantry, who fell in endeavoring to burn a small wooden house in which the enemy were harbored. The Yankee loss was heavy, though we could not find out the exact number, as they carried off many of their dead and wounded in carts, wagons, carriages and buggies, which they took from the neighboring farmers. Their loss was between two and three hundred. They had boasted that they would, with cornstalks, drive off the mob of Virginians and North Carolinians hastily collected together to impede their would-be triumphal march.

About 4 o'clock P. M. we were reënforced by the Second Louisiana Regiment, and had they have gotten to us sooner our victory would not have been fruitless. Thus ends the first pitched battle between the United States troops and the Confederate forces. Although in itself it was a battle of no magnitude or great importance, yet it showed to the boasting North how terribly we were in earnest, and gave comfort and encouragement to the faint and weak-hearted on our side.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 96-100

Diary of Private William S. White, June 11, 1861

The enemy having retired to Fortress Monroe, we left Bethel Church last evening and arrived at Yorktown at 1 o'clock in the night.

Nothing of interest to day, save the sending off of a howitzer belonging to my company, guarded by a squadron of cavalry. They will return to Bethel Church.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 100

Diary of Private William S. White, June 13, 1861

Had a grand review of all the troops stationed at Yorktown to-day, numbering five or six thousand. Magruder is a magnificent looking soldier when in full dress uniform.

Stanard's battery, Third Company, with the New Orleans Zouaves, ordered back to Bethel Church, left about sun down, and took the road easily, marched eight or nine miles and camped on the roadside. Nothing has been heard of the enemy since the late fight. According to their account of the late battle, our one Parrot gun was a masked battery of forty pieces of rifled artillery.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 100-1

Diary of Private William S. White, June 14, 1861

Arrived at Bethel Church this morning about 9 A. M., and immediately set to work to get breakfast—such a breakfast: salt pork, black Rio coffee and hard crackers. Well, such is a soldier's life, and we mustn't complain. The Zouaves are having even a harder time of it than we, for their rations have not yet arrived. Most of their officers seem to be gentlemen, but some of them are very cruel to their men. The Second Louisiana regiment came down a few hours since.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 101