Encamped in the
woods after a march of eight miles; roads terrible, marching very hard.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 5
Encamped in the
woods after a march of eight miles; roads terrible, marching very hard.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 5
Did not march today.
Got permission to go on to Sherman's army which was marching on our right flank
to get in Price's rear, and compel him to evacuate the fort he had thrown up on
the Tallahatchie and which was in Grant's front. Saw Will Stockton who was in
Battery "A" Chicago Light Artillery. Saw a number of my Chicago
acquaintances in batteries A and B. Took dinner with Will, spent an hour very
pleasantly. Started home in a rain storm, got lost and would have gone I don't
know where had I not met some of Sherman's bummers returning to camp with
spoils. Had a very disagreeable ride back—did not see a soul for five miles,
raining hard, got to be dark before I reached our camp. Very glad to get back
safe—rained hard all night.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 5
Left camp at 6
o'clock. Roads in a terrible condition, mud knee deep, marching almost
impossible; artillery stuck in the road, wagons in every conceivable condition.
Crossed the Tallahatchie on a pontoon bridge of a very primitive build, being
composed of trees cut down fastened together with ropes and tied to the shore
with the ropes, small trees were laid crosswise and on this we crossed. The
rebels had quite a strong fort here which would have given us a great deal of
trouble, but Sherman's march on our flank forced Price to abandon it. The roads
on the south side were much better and after a wearisome march of sixteen miles
reached Oxford, Mississippi, at 8 o'clock p. m. I never was so tired and never
saw the men so worn out and fatigued as they were on this day's march. We were
kept over an hour before our camp was located and it seemed as if all dropped
to sleep at once. I could not but think of those at home who are all the time
condemning our generals and armies for not moving with greater rapidity, for
not making forced marches and following up the enemy, when they know nothing
about it. We made quite a parade going through Oxford as it is a place of
considerable importance. Flags were unfurled, bands struck up, bugles sounded,
and men for the time being forgot their fatigue and marched in good order.
Nothing like music to cheer up the men.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 5-6
Was quite unwell for
a day or so. Nothing of particular interest occurred. Foraging parties were
sent out to gather all the provisions and vegetables they could, as scurvy was
making its appearance in a slight form. Visited the University of Mississippi
with Doctor Powell. Buildings were fine and well built, grounds handsome and I
saw the finest astronomical apparatus, they say, that there is in the country;
also a splendid collection of minerals purchased of a Mr. Budd in New York.
Weather beautiful.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 6
Still in camp. Went
to see Nell Towner at Grant's headquarters. Tuned a piano for a sweet lady—first
woman I have talked to for weeks, it seemed like old times. Her voice sounded
sweet even if she did abuse the North. She gave me no encouragement to call.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 6
In camp eight miles
from Oxford. We cannot move our camps but a few miles distance from the
railroad, as all our subsistence depends on our being able to keep the road
open. Our camp is in a beautiful forest of splendid large trees, fine water,
and I enjoy the large log fires we have, particularly at night when it is the
only light we can have. There are a number of Germans in my company who sing
very well and it is always a pleasure to me to have them come up to my quarters
and sing. Days are warm and pleasant. Sent a few leaves of holly to Kate as my
Christmas gift. Also sent some to St. James church for a Christmas wreath.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 6
Months ago, when we
and others urged that Lincoln’s
inaugural meant war, we were told
by those who have since been “awakened,” that the President did not mean to coerce, and that we should save the
Union, or separate peaceably. So it seems—in a horn. The N. Y. World of May 1st, says:
“We don’t suppose
that a sterner, more inflexible purpose ever existed in the human breast, than
now possesses the northern people to subdue the South into a return to its
duty. The purpose is as fixed as fate—as fixed as your purpose to subdue the
man who is scuttling the ship on which you float, or is putting the torch to
the house in which you live. It is as restless as the impulse of self-preservation;
and the South cannot too soon understand its exact nature. The enemy to our
existence may call it subjugation if he likes; he may put on the incredible
impudence of pretending that it is tyrannical to over master him, but the compulsion
will none the less come. Since reason has not availed to make him abandon his
destructive work, the strong hand shall. The North has found it hard to believe
that it would come to this. It has forborne to the last probability. It will
now try force—sheer brute force, since the South will have it so. We know that
we are the strongest, and we intend to use our strength in the very way in
which it can be made most effective—active aggressive war. Short of that there
is no obedience on the one part, nor safety on the other.”
The Tribune of the same date in the same
strain tells us the same thing. Here that old devil, Greeley:
“Therefore shall we
imitate the South no more in war than in peace. But, nevertheless, we mean to
conquer them—not merely to SUBJUGATE them—and we shall do this the most
mercifully, the more speedily we do it. But when the rebellious traitors are
overwhelmed in the field, and scattered like leaves before an angry wind, it
must not be to return to peaceful and contented homes. They must find poverty
at their firesides, and see privation in the anxious eyes of mothers and the
rags of children.”
These are the
leading organs of the administration
in New York City and no doubt speak the views and purposes of the
administration. So they mean to subjugate
us if they can; so we implore the people of the South to take Lincoln at his
word this time and make every possible preparation to meet his advancing
slaves.
SOURCE: “They Mean
not only War but Subjugation,” Newbern
Weekly Progress, Newbern, North Carolina, Tuesday Morning, May 7, 1861, p.
3
The following sweet
morsel of her fierce defiance and blustering braggadocio appears in the
Philadelphia Transcript, under the
head of “Crush the Traitors.” It will be perused with more of pity than of
anger toward the poor wretches whose ignorance would counsel its indorsement:
The Point has been
reached where forbearance is a crime against our country. The seceding States,
for five months past, have been perpetrating a continual series of outrages
against the Constitution, against the common courtesy of nations and states,
against all public decency and right. Whatever may have been their complaints
or wrongs, they have resorted, not to any remedy of them, but to disgraceful
violence, robbery, murder and treachery. They have spurned all offers of
conciliation or adjustment; they have inaugurated wholesale schemes of
revolution; they have made war upon the Union, simply because it attempted to
victual its starving soldiers, and they have attacked and murdered volunteer
troops peacefully marching to defend the capital. Virginia and Maryland are not
out of the Union, and yet, instigated and applauded by the Cotton States, they
commit monstrous acts of avowed treason. Baltimore has capped the climax by its
cowardly assault upon unarmed men, and by its brutal murder of many of them.
Now the time has
come to end all this. The slaveholding States must be taught a lesson that will
never be forgotten—a lesson of fire and blood. Their threats, bluster,
arrogance, and outrages must be forever terminated. They must be made to feel
that they cannot and dare not arrest and assault our Union and our flag. They
are as weak as they are insolent. The gigantic strength, the superior
civilization, and the boundless resources of the free States are able to carry
desolation from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. The whole North, from Maine to
California, although usually “slow to wrath,” patient and forbearing, is at
last fearlessly aroused. The descendants of the heroes of Bunker Hill,
Saratoga, Brandywine, Tippecanoe, Chippawa, and Fort Meigs, are flying to arms.
Presently the continent will resound under the stern and steady tramp of
unprecedented myriads of the free laborers and mechanics of the North.
Let them finish
their enterprise. Let them plant the stars, stripes, and eagles of an indissoluble
Republic on the steeples of Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans. Let the
traitor States be starved out by blockade and given to the swords and bayonets
of stalwart freemen. No matter at what cost of treasure, blood and suffering,
the slaveholding States must be scourged into decency, good behavior and
subjection.
The cannon is now
the sacred instrument of union, justice, and liberty. The Union heretofore has
been a smiling angel of benignity. Now it must be an angel of death, scattering
terror and destruction among its enemies. If necessary, myriads of Southern
lives must be taken, Southern bodies given to the buzzards, Southern fields
consigned to sterility, and Southern towns surrendered to the flames. Our flag
must wave in triumph, though it float over seared and blackened expanses, over
the ruins of razed cities. Our Union must be maintained, and our Constitution
respected, and the supremacy of Federal law vindicated, if it requires armies
of millions of men.
So let no true man
shrink or flinch. All duties, all occasions must be postponed, until the cannon
and the musket have restored decency to the South, and peace and order to our
country.
Our only desire is
that just such fellows as the valorous editor of the Transcript may be sent on the above delightful “enterprise.”
SOURCES: “Northern
Sentiment,” The Memphis Daily Appeal,
Memphis, Tennessee, Thursday, May 2, 1861, p. 1; "Specimens of Northern Civilization," Nashville Union and American, Nashville, Tennessee, May 22, 1861, p. 2.
“We hold traitors
responsible for the work upon which they have precipitated us, and we warn them
that they must abide the full penalty. Especially let Maryland and Virginia
look to it, for as they are greater sinners, so their punishment will be
heavier than that of others. Virginia is a rich and beautiful State, the very
garden of the Confederacy. But it is a garden that is doomed to be a good deal trampled,
and its paths, its beds, and its boundaries are likely to be pretty completely
obliterated before we have done with it. It has property in houses, in lands,
in mines, in forests, in country, and in town, which will need to be taken
possession of and equitably cared for. The rebels of that State and of Maryland
may not flatter themselves that they can enter upon a war against the
Government and afterward return to quiet and peaceful homes. They choose to
play the part of traitors, and they must suffer the penalty. The worn-out race
of emasculated First Families must give place to a sturdier people, whose
pioneers are now on their way to Washington at this moment in regiments. An
allotment of land in Virginia will be a fitting reward to the brave fellows who
have gone to fight their country’s battles, and Maryland and Virginia, free
states, inspired with Northern vigor, may start anew in the race for prosperity
and power.”
SOURCE: “The New
York ‘Tribune’ has the following,” Richmond
Enquirer, Tuesday Morning, April 30, 1861, p. 2
“Let the levees on
the Mississippi be at once prostrated in a hundred places, while the water is
high, and let the Traitors and Rebels living on the Lower Mississippi be
drowned out, just as we would drown out rats infesting the hull of a ship. Nor
is this all. Let the negroes in the Border States understand that all moral
obligations on the part of the North to sustain the peculiar institution has
ceased; and let the Traitors thus be taught at once the price of rebellion and
its legitimate fruits.
What we desire to
see at once is a call for an additional one
hundred and fifty thousand volunteers from the Free States, and the establishment of a land
blockade of the strictest kind, extending from the Atlantic to the Mississippi—accompanied
by the flooding of the country bordering on the lower Mississippi. Do this and
the inevitable consequence of such a state of affairs—the extinction of slavery
in the Border States—will soon bring the rebels to their senses.”
SOURCES: “From the
N. Y. Courier and Enquirer,” Daily
Nashville Patriot, Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday, May 16, 1861, p. 2; “A
Diabolical Suggestion,” The Daily
Exchange, Baltimore, Maryland, Friday, April 26, 1861, p. 1;
RICHMOND, May 2, 1861.
MY DEAR MRS GARDINER: I have but a moment ago received your letter from the hands of Mrs. Pegram, and regret to perceive the nervous concern you feel in relation to the safety of our dear Julia and the children. Be assured that they will always be in safety. The vaunts and terrible boasts of the North are one thing-the execution of them another. In mustering their troops in the large cities, they, of course, are more expeditious than it can be done in the country; but we are ready for them, and number in Virginia at this moment more troops under arms and in the field, panting for the conflict, than they can arm, provision, and support for a campaign.
The whole State is clad in steel, under the command of the most accomplished leaders. General Scott is too old and infirm to take the field, while our commander, General Lee, a son of Harry Lee of the Revolution, the most accomplished officer and gentlemen, will lead our armies. The volunteers have come in such numbers that thousands are ordered home. Our fighting men in the State number 120,000. North Carolina and Tennessee have followed our lead, while the further South sends us succours. Our people are filled with enthusiasm. I had never supposed it possible that so much enthusiasm could prevail among men. In a week from this time, James River will bristle with fortifications, and Charles City will be far safer than Staten Island.
No one of all these hosts is boastful; none blood-thirsty; all generous and brave. Why, my dear Mrs. Gardiner, judging from the tone of the papers, the North has fallen back on the age of barbarism. The era of Robespierre was never more savage. I would not trust any one bearing my name, even our little Pearl, to New York, if the Herald, Tribune, Courier, and Enquirer, and Times are the true exponents of Northern sentiments.1 No, my family and myself here are safe. The mob sent out relieves your cities, it is true, but other mobs will rise up to overthrow order. If I find our situation dangerous on the river, we will go to the mountains, or other retreats in Virginia.
Little Julia is well and happy. All are well at Sherwood Forest. With my congratulations to the Colonel on account of his boy, and affectionate regards to his wife.
* Mrs. Gardiner's residence was on Staten Island, New York. She had, annually exchanged visits with her daughter, Mrs. Tyler, who was wont to visit her in the summer.
1 The New York Courier and Enquirer advised the most rigid system of blockade on the South, that the negroes should be let loose on the whites, men, women and children indiscriminately, and to prostrate the levees of the Mississippi, so as to drown the rebels on the lower Mississippi, “just as we would drown out rats infesting the hull of a ship." The New York Tribune said that "Virginia was a rich and beautiful State, the very garden of the Confederacy," and advised that her lands should be parcelled out among the pioneers who are on their way to Washington at this moment in regiments." The Philadelphia Transcript bellowed that desolation must be "carried from the Potomac to the Rio Grande." "If necessary, myriads of Southern lives must be taken; Southern bodies given to the buzzards; Southern fields consigned to sterility, and Southern towns surrendered to the flames." The Southerners "should not be permitted to return to peaceful and contented homes. They must find poverty at their fireside, and see privation in the anxious eyes of mothers, and the rags of children." The Westchester Democrat, in urging on the Pennsylvania troops, said that Baltimore had "always been celebrated for the beauty of its women; that the fair were ever the reward of the brave, and that Beauty and Booty had been the watchword of New Orleans."—See Howison's History of the War.
SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 643-4
Arrived at Bellaire
at 3 P. M. There is trouble in the neighborhood of Grafton. Have been ordered
to that place.
The Third is now on
the Virginia side, and will in a few minutes take the cars.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 9
Reached Grafton at 1
P. M. All avowed secessionists have run away; but there are, doubtless, many
persons here still who sympathize with the enemy, and who secretly inform him
of all our movements.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 9
Colonel Marrow and I
dined with Colonel Smith, member of the Virginia Legislature. He professes to
be a Union man, but his sympathies are evidently with the South. He feels that
the South is wrong, but does not relish the idea of Ohio troops coming upon
Virginia soil to fight Virginians. The Union sentiment here is said to be
strengthening daily.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 9-10
Arrived at
Clarksburg about midnight, and remained on the cars until morning. We are now
encamped on a hillside, and for the first time my bed is made in my own tent.
Clarksburg has
apparently stood still for fifty years. Most of the houses are old style, built
by the fathers and grandfathers of the present occupants. Here, for the first
time, we find slaves, each of the wealthier, or, rather, each of the
well-to-do, families owning a few.
There are probably
thirty-five hundred troops in this vicinity—the Third, Fourth, Eighteenth,
Nineteenth, and part of the Twenty-second Ohio, one company of cavalry, and one
of artillery. Rumors of skirmishes and small fights a few miles off; but as yet
the only gunpowder we have smelled is our own.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 10
At twelve o'clock
to-day our battalion left Clarksburg, followed a stream called Elk creek for
eight miles, and then encamped for the night. This is the first march on foot
we have made. The country through which we passed is extremely hilly and
broken, but apparently fertile. If the people of Western Virginia were united
against us, it would be almost impossible for our army to advance. In many
places the creek on one side, and the perpendicular banks on the other, leave a
strip barely wide enough for a wagon road.
Buckhannon, twenty
miles in advance of us, is said to be in the hands of the secession troops.
To-morrow, or the day after, if they do not leave, a battle will take place.
Our men appear eager for the fray, and I pray they may be as successful in the
fight as they are anxious for one.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 10-11
It is half-past
eight o'clock, and we are still but eight miles from Clarksburg. We were
informed this morning that the secession troops had left Buckhannon, and fallen
back to their fortifications at Laurel Hill and Rich mountain. It is said
General McClellan will be here to-morrow, and take command of the forces in
person.
In enumerating the
troops in this vicinity, I omitted to mention Colonel Robert McCook's Dutch
regiment, which is in camp two miles from us. The Seventh Ohio Infantry is now
at Clarksburg, and will, I think, move in this direction to-morrow.
Provisions outside
of camp are very scarce. I took breakfast with a farmer this morning, and can
say truly that I have eaten much better meals in my life. We had coffee without
sugar, short-cake without butter, and a little salt pork, exceedingly fat. I
asked him what the charge was, and he said "Ninepence," which means
one shilling. I rejoiced his old soul by giving him two shillings.
The country people
here have been grossly deceived by their political leaders. They have been made
to believe that Lincoln was elected for the sole purpose of liberating the
negro; that our army is marching into Virginia to free their slaves, destroy their
property, and murder their families; that we, not they; have set the
Constitution and laws at defiance, and that in resisting us they are simply
defending their homes and fighting for their constitutional rights.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 11-12
FIFTY-THIRD REGIMENT
BY COLONEL JAMES T. MOREHEAD.
The duty assigned to
me to write a sketch-not a history—of the Fifty-third North Carolina Infantry,
I undertook to discharge, with pleasure, but I did not realize until I began
how great the difficulty would be, with no records and the conflicting
recollections of surviving comrades as to events and persons. It may be and no
doubt it is true, that I have not been accurate as to the personnel of the
officers of the regiment, as to the dates of commissions, death and wounds, and
if any injustice by omission or commission is done, I assure my living comrades
and friends of such as have crossed over the river, that no one regrets more
than I the lack of reliable data to rectify any mistakes.
The limited length
of this sketch of course, forbids my entering into the details of casualties
among over one thousand men who at different dates composed the rank and file.
The characteristics
of this regiment were common to North Carolina troops. Obedience to
and reverence for law and authority, for which the State has been so long
known, in my opinion, constitute the basis of soldierly qualities for which her
soldiers will be famous in history.
This regiment was
like other North Carolina regiments; it was never known to shirk a
duty; never refused to advance when ordered; never known to retire without
command. In June, after its organization, it was ordered to Richmond and during
the seven days contest it was on duty on the south side of the James. The
greater part of its first year of service was spent in Eastern North
Carolina and it received its first baptism of fire as a regiment at
Washington, N. C., in Gen. D. H. Hill's winter campaign of 1862 and 1863. A few
days after the battle of Chancellorsville it became a part of the Army of
Northern Virginia, and as a part of Daniel's Brigade, was attached to the
Second Corps, with which it marched and fought from Fredericksburg to
Appomattox, and participated in more than twenty general engagements, including
Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Washington City, Kernstown,
Snicker's Ford, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, Hare's Hill,
Petersburg, and in numerous combats and smaller affairs, in some of which the
conflict was more hotly contested than in the greater battles. Daniel's Brigade
was composed of the Thirty-second, Forty-third, Forty-fifth and
Fifty-third North Carolina Regiments, and Second North
Carolina Battalion. After General Daniel's death, General Bryan Grimes
became Brigadier-General. The histories of the other regiments in the brigade
necessarily outline the chief incidents in the career of the Fifty-third and
make it unnecessary to give its battles and marches in detail.
I select two special
instances of its coolness and discipline: One was on the first day of the
battle of Gettysburg. This regiment had hastened from Carlisle, Pa., its steps
quickened by the report of big guns on the morning of 1 July. Immediately upon
its arrival at Gettysburg it was thrown into line and advanced to the assault
with the brigade. Soon it, was ascertained that there was not room between the
brigade on the left and the one on the right, and this regiment was dropped out
of the line, which closed up in its front and for some time it had to stand
under shot and shell in an open field without being able to return the fire
until the brigade on the left, having given away, it moved to the left, took
its place and drove the enemy into the town.
In this trying
situation, and there could have been none more trying, except a retreat under
fire, the regiment manoeuvered as upon parade and drill, and its behavior on
this occasion was greatly commended by the brigade and division commanders.
Another instance: At
the battle of Winchester, 19 September, 1864, after hours of desperate
fighting, when all the troops on the right and left had abandoned the contest
and retired from the field, this regiment, alone, continued to fight the foe
until ordered to retreat, which it did, across an open field for several
hundred yards (the enemy advancing ten to one in numbers) in perfect order, and
at intervals, when ordered, halting, facing about and delivering its fire
almost in the faces of the pursuers. Not a man broke ranks or quickened his
steps. As is well known to every soldier, a retreat under fire is the severest
test of discipline and courage.
At the battle of
Winchester, to prevent the enemy from discovering the gap on the left, I had
deployed the greater part of my regiment as skirmishers, and this thin line
successfully held five times its numbers at bay, until the failure of promised
support to arrive, and all of Early's army on our left had been driven from the
field. It was known to every man in the regiment that the enemy was getting
rapidly in our rear, and that there was imminent danger that we would be cut
off and surrounded, but until ordered so to do, not a man left his position,
and the regiment then retreated across the field in the manner above told.
Experience and
observation have taught that one of the results of organization and discipline
is, that when soldiers retire or retreat in face of the enemy by order, they
will halt, but if they "break" without order, it is difficult to
rally and reform them. An incident of this battle illustrates this. The
temporary works of the enemy above referred to were constructed just beneath
the brow of the hill or slope up which the regiment was charging at a run and
was not observed until we were within a few feet of them. When the men had
reached nearly the top of the slope, to their astonishment they saw behind the
work a third line of the enemy and such of the other two lines as could be
prevailed on to stop, outnumbering us four or five to one. Our men immediately
faced about and started for the shelter of a wooded hill from and through which
they had just driven the enemy. Seeing the condition and thinking of the fact
above stated, I at once ordered a retreat, had the officers to repeat the
order, seemingly so superfluous, and directed the regiment to halt as soon as
the woods were reached. When I reached the woods, I had the satisfaction of
seeing the regiment reformed and "ready for business" as if nothing
had happened to dampen their ardor.
I select these out of
many instances, which particularly distinguished this regiment, because of the
trying situations.
After the regiment
was assigned to Daniel's Brigade, it participated in the battles of Gettysburg,
three days, and at Mine Run and fought more or less from 5 May, 1864, to 30 May
at the Wilderness under fire every day. It was in the famous Horse Shoe at
Spottsylvania Court House, during the terrible days of 9, 10, 11 and 12 May,
losing its Major, James Johnston Iredell, killed, Col. Owens wounded, several of
its Captains and Lieutenants and scores of its men killed and wounded. It was
brought out of the Horse Shoe to straighten the lines after the assault of the
12th under command of a Captain, its only remaining field officer, its
Lieutenant-Colonel being in command of the brigade, the Brigadier-General
(Daniel) and every other officer in the brigade senior in commission, having
been killed or wounded. On 30 May it was engaged in the battle at Bethesda
church, and on the next day was withdrawn from the front preparatory to its
march to the Valley of Virginia.
On 5 or 6 May, 1864,
the sharpshooters of this regiment were much annoyed by one of the Federal
sharpshooters who had a long range rifle and who had climbed up a tall tree
from which he could pick off our men, though sheltered by stump and stones,
himself out of range of our guns. Private Leon, of Company B (Mecklenburg),
concluded that "this thing had to be stopped," and taking advantage
of every knoll, hollow and stump, he crawled near enough for his rifle to
reach, took a "pop" at this disturber of the peace and he came
tumbling down. Upon running up to his victim, Leon discovered him to be a
Canadian Indian, and clutching his scalp-lock, dragged him to our line of
sharpshooters.
The regiment was at
Lynchburg when the pursuit of Hunter began, marched with General Early to
Washington, D. C., was one of the regiments left to support the picket line
under the walls of Washington, while the rest of the corps made good its
retreat to the valley-the Nineteenth and Sixth Corps of the Federal army having
been poured into the city for its defense. While supporting the pickets, this
regiment became involved in one of the hottest conflicts in its experience, but
succeeded in holding its position, repulsing and driving the enemy back to the
earthworks, which defended the city. At midnight it received orders to retire
in perfect silence, and to the surprise of all when we reached the position on
the hills near the city, where we had left the corps, it was ascertained that
the corps had left the night before, twenty-four hours and we marched the whole
night and a greater part of the next day before we caught up with the rear
guards. Early's ruse, as usual, had succeeded in deceiving the enemy.
This regiment
participated in all of the battles in the Valley in 1864, and in numerous
combats and skirmishes. In this Valley Campaign the regiment lost its gallant
Colonel Owens, who was killed at Snicker's Ford, near Snicker's Gap, in August,
1864. He had been absent since 10 May, disabled by wounds at Spottsylvania
Court House; had returned just as the regiment was eating dinner, and almost
while we were congratulating him on his safe return, we received notice that
the enemy had crossed the river at Snicker's Ford. The order to "fall
in" was given, we marched to the river, and drove the enemy across, after
a short, but severe conflict. The firing had ceased, excepting now and then a
dropping shot, when Colonel Owens was killed by one of these stray shots. He
was a good officer, brave, humane, social, popular with both men and officers.
He was succeeded by the writer as Colonel. At Winchester, on 19 September,
1864, Adjutant Osborne was killed. Two years ago Color Sergeant Taylor, of
Company E, Surry county, who has resided in Utah since 1866, visited me. He
received a ball in his hip from which wound he still limps and in talking about
his own wound, he told me as we were charging the third Federal line at
Winchester, having broken the first two, and when near the temporary breastwork
of the enemy, he received the shot which disabled him for life, and that as he
fell, young Osborne picked up the flag waving it, ran forward, cheering on the
men and was killed within 20 feet of the Color Sergeant. He was an efficient
officer and daring soldier, I suppose not older than 20 years. Lieutenant W. R.
Murray, of Company A, than whom there was not a better officer or braver
soldier in the "Old Guard" of Napoleon, acted as Adjutant after the
death of Osborne till the surrender at Appomattox.
As stated before,
Major Iredell, a true gentleman and brave soldier, was killed at Spottsylvania
Court House. Captain John W. Rierson succeeded him. At Winchester, finding that
there was a gap of two or three hundred yards between my left and the troops on
the left, and that the enemy had discovered and were preparing to take
advantage of it, I directed Major Rierson to find General Grimes on the right
of the division, (General Rodes had been killed in the beginning of the
action), and apprise him of the situation. After some time he returned, saluted
and reported, the fighting being very heavy all the time, when I discovered
that Major Rierson was shot through the neck, which wound was received before
he found General Grimes, but he nevertheless performed the duty, returned and
reported, and did not then go to the rear until I directed him to do so. This
gallant officer was killed when the enemy broke over our lines at Petersburg, a
few days before Appomattox. He was entitled to his commission as
Lieutenant-Colonel from the date of the battle of Snicker's Ford, but I do not
know that he received it.
This was a volunteer
regiment, enlisted in the latter part of the winter and first part of the
spring of 1862, and was organized at Camp Mangum, near Raleigh, the first week
in May, 1862, and assigned to Daniel's Brigade, (Rodes' Division). William A.
Owens, of Mecklenburg county, was elected Colonel; James T. Morehead, Jr.,
of Guilford county, Lieutenant-Colonel, and James Johnston Iredell, of Wake
county, Major.
Colonel Owens had
already been in the service more than one year, having served as Captain in the
First (Bethel) Regiment, and at the time of his election was Lieutenant-Colonel
of the Eleventh Regiment.
Lieutenant-Colonel
Morehead had also been in the service the preceding year, having entered the
same in April, 1861, as Lieutenant of the "Guilford Grays,"
(afterwards Company B, of the Twenty-seventh Regiment), and at the time of his
election was a Captain in the Forty-fifth Regiment.
William B. Osborne,
of Mecklenburg county, was appointed Adjutant and John M. Springs, of
Mecklenburg, was appointed Captain and Assistant Quartermaster. He resigned in
the fall of 1862 and was succeded by Captain John B. Burwell. J. F. Long was
appointed Surgeon; Lauriston H. Hill, of Stokes county, Assistant Surgeon, and
promoted Surgeon in 1863. William Hill, of Mecklenburg, was appointed Captain,
A. C. S. In 1863 Charles Gresham, of Virginia, was assigned to duty with this
regiment as Assistant Surgeon. James H. Colton, of Randolph county, was
appointed Chaplain; J. H. Owens, Sergeant Major (promoted Second Lieutenant of
Company I and killed); R. B. Burwell, Quartermaster Sergeant; J. C. Palmer,
Commissary Sergeant; R. S. Barnett, Ordnance Sergeant. Upon the promotion of J.
H. Owens, Aaron Katz, of Company B, succeeded him as Sergeant-Major, and upon
his being captured, Robert A. Fleming, of Company A, was SergeantMajor.
COMPANY A was from
Guilford county. A. P. McDaniel was its first Captain, commissioned 25
February, 1862, and upon his retirement in 1863, Lieutenant J. M. Sutton was
promoted Captain and wounded at Bethesda Church and on 21 September, 1864, in
the Valley, and captured at Petersburg; P. W. Haterick (killed at Gettysburg),
First Lieutenant; J. M. Sutton, Second Lieutenant; W. L. Fleming, promoted from
Sergeant to Second Lieutenant in August, 1863; William R. Murray, promoted from
ranks to Second and First Lieutenant in 1863; J. W. Scott, promoted Second
Lieutenant from Sergeant (chief of regimental corps of sharpshooters).
COMPANY B was from
Mecklenburg county and its first Captain was J. Harvey White, commissioned 1
March, 1862, killed at Spottsylvania Court House in May, 1864. Samuel E. Belk,
First Lieutenant; John M. Springs, Second Lieutenant, promoted Assistant
Quartermaster; William M. Matthews, Second Lieutenant, promoted from First
Sergeant; M. E. Alexander, promoted Second Lieutenant from Second Sergeant.
Lieutenants Belk, Matthews and Alexander were wounded at Gettysburg.
COMPANY C was from
Johnston, Chatham and Wake, mostly from Johnston. Its first Captain was John
Leach, commissioned 28 February, 1862; was succeeded as Captain by J. C.
Richardson (wounded at Petersburg), commissioned 17 April, 1863, both from
Johnston county; George T. Leach, of Chatham, commissioned First Lieutenant 7
March, 1862; John H. Tomlinson, of Johnston county, commissioned Second
Lieutenant in April, 1862, resigned and succeeded by E. Tomlinson in 1862; S.
R. Horn, of Johnston county, was commissioned Second Lieutenant 21 July, 1862.
COMPANY D was from
Guilford, Cumberland, Forsyth, Stokes, Bladen and Surry. David Scott, Jr., of
Guilford county, was commissioned Captain 1 March, 1862, resigned and was
succeeded 15 May, 1863, by Alexander Ray, of Cumberland county, promoted from
First Lieutenant and killed at Petersburg, April 1865. Alexander Ray was
commissioned First Lieutenant 1 March, 1862; Madison L. Efland, of Guilford
county, commissioned Second Lieutenant 1 March, 1862, promoted First Lieutenant
15 May, 1863, and wounded; A. H. Westmoreland, of Stokes county, was promoted
from Sergeant to Second Lieutenant; W. N. Westmoreland, Stokes county, was
promoted from the ranks to Second Lieutenant in 1863.
COMPANY E was from
Surry county. J. C. Norman was commissioned Captain on 8 March, 1862, resigned
the following December and was succeeded by First Lieutenant Robert A. Hill,
killed in 1864, succeeded in turn as Captain by First Lieutenant B. W. Minter;
Samuel Walker was commissioned Second Lieutenant 8 March, 1862, promoted to
First Lieutenant December, 1862, and resigned; B. W. Minter, Second Lieutenant,
promoted First Lieutenant and Captain; Henry Hines, Second Lieutenant, in 1862;
Logan Bemer, promoted from Corporal to Second Lieutenant, wounded and captured
in 1864; James A. Hill, Second Lieutenant, captured in 1864.
COMPANY F was from
Alamance and Chatham. G. M. G. Albright was commissioned Captain 5 May, 1862,
killed July, 1863, at Gettysburg, and was succeeded by A. G. Albright, promoted
from First Lieutenant (wounded at Fisher's Hill, 1864); Jesse M. Holt, First
Lieutenant, 16 July, 1863, promoted from Second Lieutenant, (killed at Winchester,
1864); Branson Lambe, commissioned in 1864, promoted from Second Lieutenant;
John J. Webster, commissioned Second Lieutenant May, 1862, and resigned; S. J.
Albright, commissioned Second Lieutenant in 1862 and killed at Spottsylvania
Court House in 1864.
COMPANY F was from
Stokes. G. W. Clarke was commissioned Captain on 20 March, 1862, and resigned
May, 1862; was succeeded by John W. Rierson, promoted from Second Lieutenant
and who was in 1863 promoted to Major, wounded at Winchester and killed at Petersburg,
April, 1865. He was in time succeeded as Captain by H. H. Campbell, promoted
from First Lieutenant and killed at Winchester. G. B. Moore was commissioned
First Lieutenant in March, 1862, resigned in June; John W. Rierson,
commissioned Second Lieutenant March, 1862; W. H. McKinney was promoted from
the ranks in May, 1862, to second Lieutenant, and wounded at Winchester; C. F.
Hall, promoted from ranks to Second Lieutenant, mortally wounded at Gettysburg;
W. F. Campbell, promoted First Lieutenant and wounded at Washington, D. C.
COMPANY H was from
Stokes county. Captain Spottswood B. Taylor was commissioned on 20 March, 1862,
resigned on account of health in November, 1863, and was succeeded by John E.
Miller, promoted from Second Lieutenant, who was wounded at Snicker's Ford and
captured September, 1864; Thomas S. Burnett, commissioned First Lieutenant 20
March, 1862, and killed in 1863; Charles A. McGehee, First Lieutenant,
November, 1862, wounded at Gettysburg 3 July, 1863, and captured; Alexander M.
King, Second Lieutenant, March, 1862; J. Henry Owens, promoted Second
Lieutenant from Sergeant-Major, December, 1862, and killed; Alexander Boyles,
promoted First Lieutenant.
COMPANY I was from
Union county. E. A. Jerome was commissioned Captain 20 March, 1862, and
resigned in June following, and was succeeded by Thomas E. Ashcraft, promoted
from First Lieutenant; John D. Cuthbertson, commissioned Second Lieutenant 20
March, 1862, promoted First Lieutenant; Joshua Lee, commissioned Second
Lieutenant 20 March, 1862; James E. Green, promoted from the ranks, Second
Lieutenant 24 June, 1862; A. T. Marsh, promoted from Sergeant to Second
Lieutenant 19 May, 1864.
COMPANY K was from
Wilkes county. William J. Miller was commissioned Captain 20 March, 1862,
killed at Gettysburg 1 July, 1863, and was succeeded by Jesse F. Eller,
promoted from Second Lieutenant; Thomas C. Miller, promoted from Second
Lieutenant to First Lieutenant 1 July, 1863; Thomas C. Miller, commissioned
Second Lieutenant in August, 1862.
This regiment lost
in killed its first Colonel, who was twice wounded; both of its Majors, one of
them, Rierson, several times wounded and its Adjutant. Its surviving Colonel
was wounded three times, at Gettysburg, Fisher's Hill and in the assault upon
the Federal lines at Hare's Hill on 25 March, 1865, in which last engagement he
was captured within the enemy's works.
As it is, I have
only the approximately correct report of the losses of one of the companies of
the regiment, and that only in one battle, but I think the losses of the other
companies may be fairly estimated from the losses of this one.
Company B lost at
Gettysburg out of about 65 men, 8 killed and 22 wounded, and of the four
officers, three were wounded.
I meet many of these
scarred and now grizzly veterans of the companies from Alamance, Guilford,
Stokes and Surry at my courts in these counties, and hear sometimes from those
from the other counties, and with very few exceptions they have shown
themselves to be as good citizens as they were gallant soldiers. They
illustrate that "peace hath her victories no less renowned than war."
The regiment reduced
to a handful of men shared the fortunes of the historic retreat and surrendered
at Appomattox, being then commanded by Captain Thomas E. Ashcraft, the brigade
being commanded by Colonel David G. Cowand. General Grimes having been made a
Major-General, commanded the division.
I cannot close this
sketch without acknowledging my indebtedness to Captain Sutton and Private J.
Montgomery, of Company A; L. Leon, of Company B, who kindly furnished me with
copy of a diary kept by him from organization of the regiment up to 5 May,
1864, when he was captured; Captain Albright, of Company F; Captain S. B.
Taylor, of Company H, and Lieutenant W. F. Campbell, of Company G, for valuable
information; and I hope that the publication of the sketches of the North
Carolina regiments will excite interest enough among the old soldiers to
give us further dates and incidents. I wish I could write a history of my
regiment which would do the officers and men full credit for their patriotism
and services.
The patriotism and
heroism of these soldiers were illustrated by the patient and uncomplaining
endurance of the forced march, the short rations, the hardships of winter camps
and campaigns as much as by their fighting qualities. Posterity will hesitate
to decide which is most worthy of admiration.
Nothing, only that I
fear that our cause is lost, as we are losing heavily, and have no more men at
home to come to the army. Our resources in everything are at an end, while the
enemy are seemingly stronger than ever. All the prisoners in Northern prisons,
it seems, will have to stay until the end of the war, as Grant would rather
feed than fight us.
SOURCE: Louis
Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 69
The smallpox is
frightful. There is not a day that at least twenty men are taken out dead. Cold
is no name for the weather now. They have given most of us Yankee overcoats,
but have cut the skirts off. The reason of this is that the skirts are long and
if they left them on we might pass out as Yankee soldiers.
SOURCE: Louis
Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 69