USA > Virginia > City of Portsmouth > City of Portsmouth > A record of events in Norfolk County, Virginia, from April 19th, 1861, to May 10th, 1862, with a history of the soldiers and sailors of Norfolk County, Norfolk City and Portsmouth, who served in the Confederate States army or navy > Part 1
USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > A record of events in Norfolk County, Virginia, from April 19th, 1861, to May 10th, 1862, with a history of the soldiers and sailors of Norfolk County, Norfolk City and Portsmouth, who served in the Confederate States army or navy > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0 006 092 181 7
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Book.
A RECORD
OF
EVENTS IN NORFOLK COUNTY, VIRGINIA, FROM APRIL 19th, 1861, TO MAY 10ch, 1862, WITH A HISTORY OF THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF NORFOLK COUNTY, NORFOLK CITY AND PORTSMOUTH WHO SERVED IN THE CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY OR NAVY.
BY JOHN W. H. PORTER,
A COMRADE OF STONEWALL CAMP, CONFEDERATE VETERANS, OF PORTSMOUTH, VA.
PORTSMOUTH, VA .: W. A. FISKE, PRINTER AND BOOKBINDER, 1892.
7
40398
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F 23 . No
TO
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WM. H. STEWART, FORMERLY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, BUT NOW A CITIZEN OF PORTSMOUTHI, WHO SERVED FAITHFULLY THROUGH THE WAR FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END, AS LIEUTENANT, CAPTAIN, MAJOR AND LIEUTENANT- COLONEL, AND TO WHOSE ASSISTANCE IS DUE THE COLLECTION OF MANY INTERES- TING FACTS CONTAINED IN THIS VOLUME ; TO STONEWALL CAMP, CONFEDER- ATE VETERANS, OF PORTSMOUTH, AT WHOSE SUGGESTION THIS WORK WAS BEGUN ; TO PICKETT-BUCHANAN CAMP, OF NORFOLK, WHICH IS PER- FORMING A GOOD TASK IN RELIEVING THE NECESSITIES OF MANY OLD COMRADES IN THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, AND TO THE THIRTY-FOUR HUNDRED MEN OF NORFOLK COUNTY, NORFOLK CITY AND PORTSMOUTH, WIIO BID ADIEU TO THEIR HOMES AND KINDRED ON THE 10TH OF MAY, 1862, AND MARCHED FORTII UNDER THE RAN- NERS OF THE SOUTH,
THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
THE AUTHOR.
.
PREFACE.
Stonewall Camp, Confederate Veterans, of Portsmouth, being desirous of preserving the names of the Confederate soldiers and sailors of this county, appointed various historical committees; but slow progress was made, and each succeeding year rendered the task more difficult of accomplishment. Having been an eye-witness of some of the scenes herein related, and having become pos- sessed of many authentic records and personal reminiscences, I have, by request, undertaken the work. I have collected the names of more than thirty-three hundred men who marched under the Sonthern flag, from their homes in Norfolk county on that memorable 10th of May, 1862, and have followed them through the smoke of battle, in the hospitals, and sometimes throngh prison walls, recording when and where they were wounded, or when and where they died. In a work of this char- acter, the first which ever songht to tell the history of the private soldier in the ranks as well as the doings of the officer in com- mand, and which must depend largely upon recollection, much of necessity, will be left ont which should be made to appear; for memory, after a lapse of more than a quarter of a century, will sometimes fail to recall events just as they happened, and com- rades who were associated with us then have passed out of mind, but much has been rescued from oblivion. The mistakes are more those of omission than of commission. I have not succeeded in getting the names of the Portsmouth men in the Navy Yard in Richmond who, like the Jews at the rebuilding of King Solo- mon's Temple, worked with their tools while their swords were by their sides ready to be taken up at a moment's notice. Those men were in the trenches around Richmond almost as much as they were employed in their workshops, and their names should appear in this book, but nearly all of the Confederate Navy De- partment records appear to have been destroyed. Most of the men were advanced in years and have " passed beyond the river."
I have ascertained and published the names of 1,018 men from Norfolk county, of whom 280 were killed or died during the war, 1,119 who enlisted in Norfolk eity companies, of whom 176 were killed or died, and 1,242 from Portsmouth, of whom 199 were killed or died, making a total of 3,379 men, of whom 655 gave up their lives for the cause in which they enlisted, and hundreds of others were disabled from wounds. A number of Norfolk county men were in the Princess Anne Cavalry and in Company F, 3d Virginia Regiment, which was recruited principally in Nanse- mond county, and these will more than offset the Nansemond men in Company I, 9th Virginia Infantry. Tracing up these facts has required months of patient research and inquiry. If I have not given each man as extended a record as he deserves I hope he will consider the number of names in the book and the limitless bounds it would occupy if not condensed.
J. W. H. P.
0
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE,
I. The first year of the war in Portsmouth, 9
II. The Portsmouth Light Artillery. 38
111. The Dismal Swamp Raugers, Co. 1, 3d Va., 47
IV. The Virginia Riflemen, Co. B, 3d Va., 52
V. The National Grays, Co. H, 3d Va., 57
VI. The Third Virginia Regiment, 63
VII. Capt. Jno. II. Myers' Company, Co. E, 6th Va., 70
VIII. The Virginia Artillery, Co. D, 9th Va., 73
IX. The Portsmouth Rifles, Co. G, 9th Va., 78
X. The Craney Island Artillery, Co. I, 9th Va., 86
XI. The Old Dominion Guard, Co. K, 9th Va., 93
XII. The Ninth Virginia Regiment, 101
XIII. The Virginia Defenders, Co. C, 16th Va., 126
XIV. The St. Bride's Artillery, Co. 1, 38th Va., 132
XV. The Norfolk County Rifle Patriots, Co. Fr, 41st Va., 136
XVI. The Jackson Grays, Co. A, 61st V., 141
XVII. The Wilson Guard, Co. B, 61st Va., 147
XVIII. The Blanchard Grays. Co. C, 61st Va., 151
154
XXI. The Virginia Rangers, Co. H, 61st Va., 161
XXII. The Bilisoly Blues, Co. I, 61st Va., 164
XXIII. Company K, 61st Va., Co. K. 61st Va., 169
XXIV. The Sixty-First Virginia Regiment, 173
XXV. In Outside Commands, 200
XXVI. The St. Bride's Cavalry, Co. F, 15th Va. Cavalry, 206
XXVII. Field and Staff. 210
XXVIII. The Wise Light Dragoons, 220
XXIV. In the Navy-Portsmouth, . 221
XXX. Operations Around Norfolk, 1861-2,
228
XXXI. Norfolk Light Artillery Blues,
247
XXXII. Norfolk Light Artillery, (Huger's Battery),
255
XXXIII. Company A, 6th Virginia Regiment, 259
XXXIV. Woodis Riflemen, Co. C, 6th Va., 262
XXXV. The Norfolk Light Infantry, Co., D, 6th Va.,
266
XXXVI. Company F, Co. G, 6th Va., 269
XXXVII. The Independent Crays, Co. H, 6th Va., 276
XXXVIII. The Sixth Virginia Regiment, 279
288
XXXIX. The Norfolk Juniors, Co. H, 12th Va., XL. The Atlantic Artillery, .
294
XLI. The United Artillery,
296
XLII. Young's Harbor Guard, 301
XLIII. The Signal Corps, 304
XLIV. Field and Staff, 306
XLV. In the Navy-Norfolk, 313
XLVI. In Other Commands, 324
XLVII. The First Iron-clad, the Virginia, 327
XLVIII. The Battle in Hampton Roads,
358
XIX. The Jackson Light Infantry, Co. D, 61st Va., XX. The Border Rifles, Co. E, 61st Va., 157
ERRATA.
Page 42, line 20, for July 14th read July 1st. 66 55, " 5, for 1884-5 read 1864-5.
55, " 49, for Five Forks read Appomattox.
74, " 37, for June, 1862, read June, 1863.
66 83, " 1, for Barton read Burton. 127, " 29, for Company G read Company C. 129, " 47, for September 30th read September 14th.
66 139, head line, for 61st Virginia read 41st.
175, line 38, for 1892 read 1862.
6. 190, " 24, for Maj. J. T. Woodhouse, read Lieut. Col.
R. O. Whitehead. 66 207, " 47, for Israel Eason read Isaac. 66 249, " 12, for Petersburg read Fredericksburg.
66 289, " 46, for May 19th-21st, '62, read '61. 348, " 8, for 1861 read 1862.
In Thos. Scott's Advertisement add Undertaking.
.
CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR IN PORTSMOUTH.
Thirty-one years have gone by since the beginning of the strng- gle between the States which, raging for four years, reached nearly every portion of the South, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and left in its devastating track blazing homes and wasted fields. In no previons war in the history of the world's battles was there a greater display of bravery and fortitude than the people of the Southern States put forth in defence of those prin- ciples of self government which had been instilled in them from the foundation of the American Union, and no braver men served under the banners of the Southern Confederacy than those whom the City of Norfolk, the City of Portsmouth and County of Norfolk sent to the front when the Governor of Virginia issued his call for volunteers. They were brave men and courageous soldiers, fighting most of the time in defence of the homes and families of others, while their own homes and families were in the possession of the enemy, but, in the many struggles of that long and weary war, in the heroic charge of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg, in the determined rush of Mahone's Brigade at the "Crater," proving their devotion to Virginia and the metal that was in them.
Many of them fell upon the field of battle, or died from dis- eases contracted from exposure in the line of duty, and many re- turned home with a leg or an arm gone or with bones broken. and disabled, while those who survived the ordeal of battle and exposure are rapidly passing away.
The twenty-seven years since the last gun was fired and the last soldier of the South laid down his arms, have witnessed the funeral of many a survivor of "the Lost Cause," and while there are still enough left to tell the tale, and before memory becomes dimmed by age, it is proper that the names and deeds of those who, had success crowned their bravery and devotion, would have lived in history and in song as heroes and patriots should be collected and preserved.
The record of the men who marched from this county is one to which future generations of their children may recur with pride. From the General at the head of his brigade to the humblest sol- dier in the ranks, " Fame crowned their brows with an amaranthine wreath that will never fade," and the object of this modest volume is to collect and preserve this record.
The city of Portsmouth sent more men to the Confederate cause than there were voters in the city, and it has been said by
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9
10
NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
one who has given the subject sufficient study to speak advisedly, that there was not an important battle fought east of the Missis- sippi river during the entire war in which there was not present a soldier from Portsmouth. At this late day memory cannot recall the names of all those brave men who, upon distant battle fields, so gallantly upheld the name and fame of the little city which gave them birth and sent them forth at the call of duty, hence many of them will necessarily be omitted from its pages; passed from memory as the years roll by !
I leave to the general historian the task of tracing out the progress of campaigns and describing the mammeuvres, the charges and the struggles when armies met in deadly combat, and will endeavor to tell, as well as I can, the part which Norfolk, Ports- mouth and the county of Norfolk took in that great war. The history of one is the history of the other, for their companies stood shoulder to shoulder in the same regiments, marched to the tap of the same drums, sat by the same camp fires and fell upon the same battle fields.
In the year 1861 Portsmonth, the county seat of Norfolk county, was a city of abont nine thousand inhabitants, of whom less than six thousand were white persons. Norfolk county, ex- clusive of the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, contained a pop- ulation of about twelve thousand, of whom about seven thousand were white persons. The Gosport navy yard, the most important of the United States Naval Stations, was located at the southern extremity of the city, and, on account of the large amount of work done there by the Government, usually gave employment to from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred mechanics and laborers. The city was prosperous and contented, and when the question of seceding from the Federal Union came before the people on the 4th of February, 1861, in the form of an election for delegates to the State Convention, Portsmouth and Norfolk county, which together were entitled to two delegates, elected Dr. William White and Mr. James G. Holladay upon what was known as the Union ticket, by a large majority over Messrs. James Murdangh and Samnel M. Wilson, who ran upon what was known as the Secession ticket. The Union sentiment predominated largely in the State Convention also, but, unfortunately, the sentiment of the men who controlled the North was in favor of forcing rather than persuading back into the Union the States which had already seceded, and, in obedience to that sentiment, President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 troops, assigning to Virginia her pro- portionate share. Then it became evident that Virginia would not be permitted to hold a neutral position but would be com- pelled to fight with or against the other Southern States, and the convention underwent a change of opinion. It was held that it would be better to stand or fall with those States than to take up
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THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR IN PORTSMOUTH.
arms against them, and men who were elected as Union delegates voted to submit to the people, for ratification or rejection, the Ordinance of Secession. This resolution was passed April 17th, 1861, and was to be submitted to a vote of the people on the fourth Thursday in May following, but the State was virtually ont of the Union from the day the convention adopted the ordinance.
It will not avail anything to discuss the right of a State to se- cede from the Federal Union, for, whether the right existed or not, under the Constitution, it has been stamped ont under the feet of more than a million of soldiers, but six years after that date the Congress of the United States, which denied the right of the States to go out of the Union of their own accord, claimed for itself the right and anthority to put them out, and the South- ern States became territories, under military governors, and, after going through a course of reconstruction prescribed by act of Congress, were readmitted into the Union as States, with their constitutions radically altered to suit the views of the majority in Congress. As a prerequisite to their readmission into the Union, they were required to vote to ratify certain amendments to the Constitution of the United States; hence those amendments were adopted and became the law of the land by the aid of the votes of States which were out of the Union, by act of Congress, and under military government. But this discussion is foreign to the object for which this work is being written. Virginia, by virtue of a reservation in the resolution by which her Legislature ratified the Constitution of the United States and consented to become a State in the Federal Union, always claimed the right to withdraw therefrom. In that resolution she said :
"The powers granted under the Constitution, being derived from the people of the United States, may be resumed by them whensoever the same may be perverted to their injury or oppres- sion."
And the State Convention, believing the time had arrived when the powers conferred upon the General Government were being perverted to the injury of the people of Virginia, and that the State had the legal and constitutional right to do so, decided to withdraw from that compact.
The State Convention passed the ordinance of secession on the 17th of April, 1861, but it was not made public immediately. On the night of the 18th General William B. Taliaferro arrived in Norfolk with authority from Governor Letcher to take command of the Virginia forces in that city, and on the same day Lieuten- ants Robert B. Pegram and Catesby Ap. R. Jones, who had re- signed from the United States Navy, were appointed by the Governor captains in the Virginia Navy, with orders to take command of the naval station and organize naval defences.
General Taliaferro was accompanied by Major Nathaniel Tyler
12
NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
and Captain Henry Heth as his staff, and the Virginia military forces in the vicinity consisted of the Norfolk Juniors, Indepen- dent Grays, Woodis Rifles, Company F, and the Light Artillery Blues of Norfolk City; the Portsmouth Rifles, Old Dominion Guard, National Grays, Marion Rifles and Portsmouth Light AArtillery, of Portsmouth, and the Dismal Swamp Rangers, of Doep Creek, and the Rifle Patriots, of Great Bridge, Norfolk county, the twelve companies minnbering probably eight hundred and fifty men, but without any ammunition. The two artillery companies had each four light guns. The naval forces at the disposal of Captain Pegram consisted of absolutely nothing. There was also in Norfolk county a small cavalry company, the Wise Light Dragoons.
The Navy Yard was under the command of Commodore Mc- Canley, who. under the very peculiar circumstances which sur- rounded him, was uncertain how to act, and the Navy Depart- ment at Washington left him withont instructions. He had re- ceived orders on the 16th from the Department to immediately fit out the Merrimac, to put her guns on her without loss of time (they had been taken ashore), and to send her, with the other vessels capable of being moved, together with the ordnance, stores, &e., beyond the reach of seizure.
Commodore MeCauley construed the order to mean a desire on the part of the Navy Department to abandon the station, and did not feel authorized to disobey the order to the extent of bringing on hostilities by maintaining possession of the Navy Yard and firing upon the City of Portsmouth, more especially as the United States Government had made no hostile demonstration against the State of Virginia.
There were at the Navy Yard at that time, the sloop-of-war Cumberland, 22 guns, in commission, with a full complement of officers and men on board; the sloops-of-war Plymouth, 22 guns, and Germantown, 22 guns, and the brig Dolphin, 6 guns, almost ready for sea; the steam frigate Merrimac, 40 guns, almost ready for sea and undergoing repairs; the line of battle ship Pennsyl- vania, 120 guns, in commission as a receiving ship, with a consider- able crew on board, and the 74-gun ships Delaware and Columbus, and the frigates Raritan, Columbia and United States, dismantled and in ordinary. The force of sailors and marines on the various vessels and at the Navy Yard was probably about 600, weil armed and abundantly supplied with ammunition. The Plymouth, Ger- mantown, Dolphin and Merrimac were lying alongside the wharves and men were working on them. The Delaware and Columbus were at a wharf at the southern end of the yard, and might have been considered as in "Rotten Row," a term applied to vessels for which the Government no longer has any use.
Commodore McCauley might have held the Navy Yard for a
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THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR IN PORTSMOUTH.
considerable time against any forces at the disposal of the State of Virginia. The Cumberland and Pennsylvania could have swept it with their guns, and he has been considerably censured for not doing so, but there was another side to the question. The Penn- sylvania might have been considered as stationary. She was sup- posed to have been fast in the mud, and conld easily have been entiladed by batteries on shore, in such a position that her broad- side could not be brought to bear on them, and furthermore, it would have been possible, shut up in a close harbor as those two vessels were, to have captured them by a determined attack by boarders at night, just as General Magruder, later in the war, captured the steamer Harriet Lane in Galveston harbor. By the erection of batteries on the St. Helena side of the river, opposite the Navy Yard, the Cumberland could have been driven away or destroyed. She would have been compelled to have relied upon her sails for motive power. It is true the State of Virginia had nothing heavier than twelve-pounder howitzers with which to man those batteries, but Commodore MeCauley was not familiar with the resources of the State, and therefore, in the light of the last orders he had received from Washington, determined to leave with what he could take with him and destroy the remainder. ITis determination was quickened by reports which reached him that the Virginia forces were sinking obstructions in the river below Fort Norfolk and erecting batteries. He was deceived also by the continued moving of trains on the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad within hearing of the Navy Yard, and thought they were bringing troops to Norfolk. This was done by General Mahone, who was then president of the railroad company, for the purpose of creating just such an impression.
The work of destruction began a little before noon on the 20th, and the frigate Merrimac was the first object of the destroyers. Carpenters and machinists were at work on her at the time. The carpenter of the Cumberland, with a small squad of sailors to assist him, opened her bilge cocks and she filled with water and settled quietly until she rested on the bottom. Owing to her great draft of water she did not settle far.
After the 12 o'clock bell was rung for the workmen to knock off for dinner, the gates of the Navy Yard were closed, and no one was permitted to enter without the approval of the Commo- dore. The work of destruction then proceeded very rapidly. The standing rigging of the Germantown was eut away and the guys which held the heavy masting shears were cut in two, so that the shears fell across her and she was broken and sunk. The Ply- month and Dolphin also were scuttled, as were also the 74-gun ships Delaware and Cohunbus, but on account of their great depth they were not submerged.
During the afternoon it became generally known in Portsmonth
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NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
that the vessels and stores in the Navy Yard were being destroyed and a rumor became prevalent that it was the intention of Com- modore MeCauley to set the buildings on fire. This, it was feared, would cause serions damage in the city, as it was separated from the yard only by the width of Lincoln street, which was but sixty feet wide, and a meeting of citizens was held, at which Messrs. Samuel Watts, James Murdaugh and William H. Peters were appointed a committee to wait upon Commodore MeCanley to endeavor to persuade him to reconsider that purpose, if he really entertained it, but the Commodore refused to see them and they were denied admission into the yard.
Abont dusk the sloop-of-war Pawnee, under Captain Paulding, steamed up to the Navy Yard, and her crew were added to the wrecking force. It is said the torch was applied by the orders of Captain Paulding. The long building on the north front of the yard, faeing Lincoln street, and in which was the main entrance, was set on fire and totally destroyed. This building, among other things, contained the armory of the yard, and its hundreds of rifles, carbines, pistols, entlasses, and other ordnance stores, besides ropes, canvas, &c. The two large ship houses, A and B, were also fired. Ship house A had in it, on the stocks, the 74-gun ship New York, completely framed, with her deck beams, carlines and knees completed, and partially planked, inside and out, and her decks partially laid.
The fire from the ship honses communicated to the Merrimac, Plymouth, Germantown and Dolphin, and all of them that was above the water was consumed. The Pennsylvania, Raritan and Columbia, which were anchored out in the stream, shared the fate of the ship houses. They were set on fire and burned almost down to their keels. Several buildings, containing stores of va- rious kinds, were fired and, together with their valuable contents, totally destroyed.
An effort was made to destroy the usefulness of the heavy eannon, hundreds of which were in the yard, by breaking off their trunions with mauls, but this was successful in only a few in- stances. There was a large quantity of liquor in the spirit room in the naval store house, and the sailors, getting possession of this liquor, filled themselves so full of it that they were unable to keep up the work of destruction. They spiked a number of the cannon with nails, but these were easily gotten out subsequently by the Confederates.
History says an attempt was made to blow up the large stone dry dock but that it was discovered by the Confederates in time to prevent its successful accomplishment, but history is at fault in this instance, as in many others. The trne reason why the dock was not blown up has never before been published, and the proof of it seems conclusive. On the morning of the 21st, about day-
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THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR IN PORTSMOUTH.
break, detachments from the Portsmouth military companies which had been under arms all night, marched into the Navy Yard and took possession of it, and Privates David A. Williams, of the Old Dominion Guard, and Joseph F. Weaver, of the Portsmouth Rifle Company, attracted by curiosity, strolled down to the dry dock, and, looking down into it, noticed a train of loose powder, leading down to the culvert at the northeast corner. Mr. Williams immediately ran down into the dock and broke the connection by kicking one of the planks down. They then hunted for the fuse or slow match, but did not sneceed in finding it, and concluded that after the train was laid the orders to blow it up had been countermanded, or that there had been some other hitch in the proceedings. Soon afterwards the wicket gate was opened by the Confederates and the water turned into the dock. This caused abont thirty barrels of powder to float ont of the culvert.
The cause of the failure to ignite the train of powder remained a mystery until the following February, when it was discovered by a singular coincidence. Mr. Weaver had, in the meantime, been appointed a carpenter in the Confederate States Navy, and was attached to the steamer Seabird in the fight at Roanoke Island February 7th, 1862, between the small fleet of small steam- ers under Commodore Lynch, and the greatly superior force of
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