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Go 973.74 V81b& 1766760
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00824 3591
ANNALS
OF THE
LYNCHBURG HOME GUARD.,
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
PREPARED BY REQUEST BY
CHARLES M. BLACKFORD, JR., M. D)., CHAIRMAN,
Assisted by the Following Committee.
VETERAN MEMBERS :
GEN. JOHN HOLMES SMITH, COL. KIRKWOOD OTEY.
ACTIVE MEMBERS :
CAPT. ELWYN A. BIGGERS, WALTER D. CAMPBELL,
WM. S. FAULKNER, JOIIN D. CLARK,
ARTHUR H. TAYLOR.
PUBLISHED BY THE COMPANY.
LYNCHBURG, VA .: JOHN W. HOUR, ELECRIC POWER PRINTER AND BLADES, ,
1891.
1766760
BRIGADIER GENERAL. SAMUEL GARLAND, JR.
2
FSC17.92
VOTE OF THANKS.
The Committee on Publication wish to express their thanks to the following persons for valuable aid ren- dered to them in the preparation of this work:
Mrs. Kirkwood Otey, for the use of a scrap book kept by her during the war.
Mr. P. D. Colhoun, for newspaper clippings loaned the committee.
Colonel Kirkwood Otey for the same.
Mr. R. G. H. Kean, for the biography of J. Law- rence Meem.
Colonel Lawrence Marye for books loaned the com- mittee.
The Lynchburg Virginian, for the use of their files,
Mr. Ed. N. Eubank, for valuable assistance.
186220
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1891, by O. M. BLACK FORD, JR., in the office of Librarian of Congress.
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INTRODUCTION.
THE HISTORY of a people is but the resultant record of the traditions of individuals, and the history of an army and its achievements can only be truly written when the doings of each of its component units have been carefully preserved and duly recorded.
It is only thus that the "true inwardness" of a cam- paign can be told, and only thus the true heroism of an army can be handed down to posterity. The polit- ical results of a war or of a single campaign in it, are seen quickly, and soon enter into the philosophy of history, but to appreciate the multitude of canses which produce such results it is necessary to critically inspect the organization, the condition and the spirit of each and every department of the army engaged: indeed it is necessary fully to investigate the motives, deeds and characters of the individuals who compose it. This is especially so when the army, the results of whose actions are to be studied, is one composed of citizen soldiery.
Napier, in his history of the Peninsular War, whilst giving general results in amplest scope, and pointing out the philosophy of the struggle he described with clearest purpose, enforced the logic of his conclusions, and demonstrated the truth of his facts by a constant and almost tedious recurrence to the annals and tradi- tions of each corps and its subdivisions.
When some future historian comes with impartial pen to write with care the glorions record of the "Army of
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
Northern Virginia," if he would conform his story to its high achievements, and attune his tone to the grandeur of his subject, he must seek his information from other sources than official records, the reports of battles, or even the partial tattle of contemporaneons newspaper correspondents. These sources of knowledge he must exhaust, of course, but if he wishes to be inspired by the living impulses which made that army great, and to enter into the spirit and identify himself with the men who composed it, he must learn the history of each and every brigade, regiment and company; he must become one with the individuals who composed it; must sit with them again around the camp fire, learn their hopes and feelings, know their joys and sorrows, read their diaries and correspondence, the let- ters they received as well as those they wrote; aye, he must go further, he must leave the battlefield and the bivouac, enter their homes and sit by their distant fire- sides, that he may know what the sacrifice they were making and how terrible the anxieties which at once oppressed and nerved the men who so bravely de- feuded their rights and their homes. Thus only can he so vivify the dry details of strategies, battles, marches, and counter marches that the readers of the future may- be placed in full accord with the heroes of whom he writes, and may so enter with full sympathy into their hopes, fears, anxieties and joys as truly to understand their sufferings and appreciate their deeds.
The Northern people are preserving all the traditions of organization and individuals composing their armies and have all the vast power or a friendly government
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
to aid them in the effort. Each brigade, regiment and company has its historian, and by biography and auto- biography the story of the individual is everywhere made conspicuous, and where truthful history fails they subsidize the fancy of the poet and the imagination of the novelist. Sherman's march through Georgia, with no armed foe to oppose, and which, according to Von Molkte's estimate was merely a question of the com- missariat, has been made the theme of a national anthem, and the fictions of "Sheridan's Ride" and Barbara Freitche are lisped by successive classes in elocution to keep aglow the fires of infant patriotismn.
The fierce struggle for bread in which the Southern people have been engaged, coupled with the natural indifference to such things usually characteristic of the agricultural classes, have combined to prevent the Southerners from paying the proper attention to the preservation of the traditions of the war, whether of the organized forces engaged, or the individuals composing them, and this has imposed a great loss of well won reputation, and has robbed the future historian of much with which to vindicate both the cause for which our armies fought, and the heroic character of the contest.
Much, however, can still be done to repair our past shortcomings if all will unite in the effort, for our land, despite the ravages of invading armies and the des- tructive torch of a pitiless foe, is still rich in historic memories, and in more enduring archives which per- petuate the story of the great struggle, the bravery of our men, and the heroic suffering of our women. On many a forgotten shelf can be found the muster roll
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
with its sad but accurate account of diminished nim- bers and scant supplies, or the captain's report of what was done by his company in some great battle, telling in simple language how his dauntless little band of heroes had bared their bosoms to the foe, and left half their number dead upon the field. There is no house- hold that cannot produce some faded letter, some tear- stained diary, some cotemporaneous memoranda, which will place the historian more fully en rapport with the times and people of which he writes; and there are few houses in Virginia where there are not stored away as precious relics, some tattered flag, some well worn sword, some rusted rifle, or some uniform of blood- stained grey, around which cluster sacred memories of lost loved ones-proud traditions which should never die. All these things link us to the glorious past, and teach the new generation to emulate the virtues of that which is passing away. Such being their use, how priceless do they become, and how impera- tive the duty to rescue them from the destroying hand of time and change.
It is a fit subject of congratulation that our people are now awakening to the importance of preserving these domestic archives-these sacred relics-for the purpose of vouching to the coming historian the truth of our unwritten traditions, and of inspiring him with the full grandeur of the deeds that were done. Thus will be garnered for his use the materials for accurate his- tory, which but for this effort would soon pass into oblivion.
It is for the furtherance of this general effort, and
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
for the preservation of its own history and the history of its members who took part in the war, that "The Lynchburg Home Guard" has determined to publish in this little volume its annals of thirty two years of eventful life, including its four years of service in the field.
It feels that in doing so it takes upon itself a patrotic duty. Of those who now constitute its active mem- bers, none went through the stirring scenes which made the company historic, but they glory in its grand record, and believe that in preserving it in permanent form, they not only build a monument to the valor and virtue of those who made its name so famous, but perpetuate an example to which its members may proudly point, and which all may emulate with loving veneration.
To those of its veterans who survive, this book is tendered as a faithful reminder of the tragic scenes in which they so actively and so gloriously participated -- the time when they were making history-and to the long list of its martyred dead, it is offered as a proof of the grateful love with which their successors enshrine the memory of the patriotic heroes who were faithful to the end, and sealed their patriotism with their life's blood. Of this glorious list, it may be well said, as inscribed of the Swiss guard or the Lion of Lucerne: "Haec sunt nomina corum, qui ne sacra menti fidem fallerent, fortissime fugnantes ceciderunt "
PART I.
FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COM- PANY TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR.
THE Southern people have ever developed a genius for war, and from them have sprung many of the most distinguished warriors of the United States, notably among them may be named George Wash- hington, Harry Lee, of the Legion, Winfield Scott, Zach- ary Taylor, Robert E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, and George E. Thomas. This is the legitimate outcome of the habitat of the people. They were distinctively agri- cultural and pastoral, lived on large estates in sparcely settled communities, far from theinfluence of large cities. While they were often highly cultured, their lives were spent much out of doors and in the saddle, so that the change from their avocations in peace to the hardships and dangers of war was easily made, and but opened a new field for their energies, much to their taste. Further than this they were surrounded by a servile and subordinate race, dependent upon their will and protection, the relations with whom engendered that self-control and habit of thoughtful command which ever results from the burden of personal responsibility.
Under the influence of these causes and the genius they invoked. the first sound of the tocsin of war brought many a full armed band to the front, and in less time perhaps, than ever before known in history an organized and equipped army was placed in the field, drawn entirely from civil life.
Among the companies most prompt to offer their services to the State, and to prepare for active service.
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
was the "Home Guard" of Lynchburg, in which were enrolled many of the best young citizens of the con- mnnity, and many who afterwards rose to distinguished rank in the Confederate army. On the first suggestion that the horrid front of real war was about to be raised, it was ready, and with nearly ninety men, rank and file, by the military instinct of its commander and the en- thusiastic zeal of its members, was converted as by magic, from a peaceful organism as a band of citizen soldiers, to a powerful arm, ready for the fierce struggle.
The natal day of the company was November 8th, 1859. On the 16th of October, 1859, the fanatic, Jolin Brown and his handful of followers made the anda- cious and now historic attack on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, the avowed object of which was to free the slaves of the South, and put arms in their hands to be used against their masters. The raid itself was of small moment, but the mode in which it was received at the North, and the sympathy which was there evinced, bothı in its aim and its mode, soon warned the Southern people that the fanatic effort of John Brown was but the forerunner of a general scheme by which their peculiar institutions were to be subverted, and that an appeal to arms for protection was inevitable.
All thinking people in the South saw in it a portent of graver results, and knew it but the dust that marks an approaching storm.
No one was more impressed by this than Samuel Garland, jr., a young and rising lawyer of Lynchburg, his native city. He had been educated at the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia, and
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
had been engaged in the practice of his profession about six years. He felt that under the emergency the young men had important duties to perform, and that the organization of military companies throughout the land had-become a measure of public safety. There was no military company at that time in Lynchburg, although it had a population of nearly ten thousand people. He summoned to a conference a number of the prominent men of the place, among them Kirkwood Otey, Esq., and William A. Strother, Esq., and after stating his views upon the subject of the necessity for such an organization, generously of- fered to bear the expense incident to its formation. The result of the conference was the "Home Guard" which, as stated before, was fully organized on the evening of the 8th day of November, 1859, when San- nel Garland, Jr., was elected captain, and Kirkwood Otey, Marcellus N. Moorman, Jolin G. Meem, Jr., and Samuel M. Simpson, were elected lientenants, ranking in the order named.
This little volume undertakes to trace the glorious history of the company thus formed, from that day to the present. Its story is one of success, and one that may well stimulate its present members, and those who are to follow us, to high resolves that its future may ever be worthy the record of its past. In peace it has maintained so high a standard of duty, collectively and individually, that it has inspired the respect and con- fidence of our citizens and of every community in which it has been known, and its record in war, ex- tending from Bull Run to Appomattox Courthouse.
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
and including eleven great battles and thirteen active skirmishes, is the record of the army of Northern Vir- ginia, into which it was incorporated as Company G, of the Eleventh Virginia Infantry, and to which it bore the same relation as did the beauties of Greece, who lent their loveliness to the Venus of Appelles, and proudly claimed that part of her, which she had borrowed of them.
The following is the list of the original members of the Home Guard when organized on the 8th of No- vember, 1859:
OFFICERS.
Samuel Garland Jr., Kirkwood Otey, - First Lieutenant. Second Lieutenant.
M. N. Moorinan,
John G. Meem, Jr.,
- Third Lieutenant. Fourth Lieutenant.
Sammuel M. Simpson,
Robert McKinney, - Orderly Sergeant. Second Sergeant.
John C. Johnson, -
W. J. H. Hawkins,
William Sandford,
Third Sergeant. Color Sergeant.
C. V. Cosby,
- First Corporal. Second Corporal.
W. D. Nowlin,
- Third Corporal. Fourth Corporal.
B. Lewis Blackford,
Treasurer. Secretary.
Robert Garlick Hill Kean, Benjamin Blackford,
Surgeon.
M. L. Goodman,
Armorer.
E. W. Burks,
Marker. Marker.
G. A. Preston,
Captain.
J. Kirk Seabury,
C. D. Hamner,
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
Henry J. Abrahams,
PRIVATES. Calvin McCorkle, Charles A. Moseley,
I. H. Adams,
E. A. Akers,
Max L. Mayer,
J. N. Anderson,
A. H. Miller,
R. P. Button,
J. Lawrence Meent,
R. S. Burton,
S. L. Moorman,
. Robert L. Brown,
J. W. Norvell,
R. C. Burkholder,
James B. Nowlin,
J. J. Creed,
John L. Oglesby,
C. C. Clark,
Robert C. Pierce,
Wiley Campbell,
C. D. Page,
S. A. Cunningham,
H. Dabney,
Clinton DeWitt,
Thomas N. Dowdy,
E. N. Eubank,
J. Franklin, Jr.,
George W. Shelton,
Max Guggenheimer, Jr.,
Henry Guggenheimer,
J. M. G. Hawkins, Charles E. Kent,
John H. Smith,
W. B. Snead, Van Taliaferro, N. S. Tanner.
G. M. Kelly,
L. F. Lucado,
G. T. Lavinder,
M. M. Leckie,
John A. Lee,
Chiswell D. Langhorne,
James H. Lydick,
J. H. Thompson, WV. A. Toot, H. C. Victor, William K. Trigg,
John W. Wheeler, John M. White, and John J. Wade.
C. D. Percival, John A. Read,
R. E. Robertson,
H. S. Sullivan, Samuel C. Stone,
C. H. Spencer, David H. Slagle, W. A. Strother,
J. F. Kinnier, Nicholas Kabler,
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
The company, when organized at first nad no regular armory, but each man kept his arms and accoutrements at home, donning them when called upon for drill or parade. This saved the young com- pany a great expense, while it did not in any degree detract from its efficiency. The members were much interested in their organization and soon acquired pro- ficiency in the manual and in company movements. We take the following extracts from the dairy of Mr. William M. Blackford, former editor of the Virgin- ian, and at that time cashier of the Exchange Bank:
"Friday, December 9th, 1859. * * * In the evening the Home Guard had a public drill. They are improving astonishingly, and will soon be equal to any company. I never saw better material or better officers.
"Thursday, December 15th, 1859. ** At night went to the drill-room to see the Home Guard exercise. They have improved astonishingly. It is the best officered corps in the State, I have no doubt, and the material is very fine. Captain, three lieuten- ants, orderly sergeant, and three sergeants and corporals have received military educations. Their uniform is very neat and appropriate, and I believe it will take rank with the first companies in the State."
To Captain Garland was due in great part this won- derful proficiency in drill, for he was unremitting in his attention to every detail and spent much time and money in perfecting his command. He gave the men frequent entertainments, and his own enthusiasm spread to the freshest recruit. The first notice which we have been able to find. that given above, is dated
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
a month after the organization and shows that consid- erable facility in drill had already been acquired.
The drill-room to which Mr. Blackford refers was a large wooden building on Lynch street between Tenth and Eleventh, known them as now, as Martin's Ware- house. In default of an armory, the men would assemble there whenever called upon to do so, though perhaps Captain Garland's office was more strictly, in a military sense, headquarters. The citizens of Lyneli- burg took great interest in the company, as it was the first and for some time the only military force liere, and its publie drills were largely attended. We find these entries in the diary.
"Monday, January 23d. 1860, ** * At night went to the warehouse, ( Martin's) to see the Home Guard drill in full uniform. They looked well, though there was not light enough to see them freely."
"Tuesday, January 24th, 1860. I forgot to mention that the Home Guard turned out this afternoon in their full uniform. The dress is very neat and beauti- full-the men generally fine looking. Maurice S. Lang- horne and myself went out to the college to see thein drill. Their proficiency in drill is really wonderful considering the short time that has elapsed since their organization. It will be one of the finest companies in the State. Eighty uniforms were paid for before they were used. Maurice S. Langhorne has accepted tlie command of the Rifle Greys, and has entered into it with great zeal. He will make a fine company of it, but the Home Guard had the first choice of men."
A company will always prosper when the three fac- tors that go to make it up, the officers, thie men and the general public, are all interested in it. The
ANNLAS OF THE HOME GUARD.
Lynchburg people were very patriotic then, and ob- served the 4th of July and the 22d of February with scrupulous care, and the Home Guard was, if possible, even more patriotic than the rest. They would not lose the chance of celebrating Washington's birthday in a fitting manner, and we read as follows :
"Wednesday, February 22d, 1860. It began to rain and storm about 4 A. M. In spite of the weather, however, the Home Guard paraded in undress and did some firing. The day, until 12 o'clock, was hopelessly rainy and I thought much of the disap- pointment the weather would occasion in Washington, where the equestrian statue of the Pater Patriae was to be unveiled. At 1 o'clock P. M. it began to clear off, and by 3 o'clock not a cloud be seen. ** * I went through the mud to the College Hill to see the drill of the Home Guard after their review by Colonel Clay. Their discipline under the circumstances is very remarkable."
The facination that brass buttons have for femi- nine eyes was as great then as now. The company had now been organized some time and had its arms, uniforms and equipments, but it possessed no flag. A number of ladies in the town set about remedying this deficiency, and on the 30th of March, 1860, a stand of colors was presented to the command. We will give the account of an eye witness:
"On Friday afternoon the ceremony of presenting a flag to the Home Guard took place at the college. 'The Rifle Greys turned ont for the first time, and the Troop was in full force. The address was by Mr. Trible and the response by Captain Garland, the com- mander of the Home Guard. Both were very good; parts of the answer really eloquent. There was a drill
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
afterwards, and then the batallion marched through the principal streets. The display was really imposing and did credit to Lynchburg. There were exactly 200 men in the ranks. Five months ago there was not an approach to a company here. There is great rivalry between the Home Guard and the Greys, the former is ahead in numerical strength and in discipline, but they must not relax their efforts in the slightest, or their superiority will be endangered."
We have been fortunate enough to procure, through the kindness of Mrs. Kirkwood Otey, tlie full text of the addresses delivered on this occasion, and as they may recall pleasant recollections to many, we give them. Mr. Austin M. Trible said:
"Captain Garland: I have been charged by the ladies of Lynchburg with the most pleasant duty of present- ing to the gallant company you command this beautiful flag. It is the work sir, of a Virginia artist, a finished specimen of Virginia talent and skill. I desire sir, on behalf of the ladies as well as on my own, to tender to him in the outset, my warmest congratulations for the signal success which has crowned his efforts. But it will be received by the Guard with emotions far higher than those of admiration for the artist and guarded with a reverence and affection a thousand fold holier, from the fact that it is an offering of purity and beauty at the shrine of patriotism and chivalry. It is a touch- ing and most appropriate tribute from the gentler to the gallantry of the sterner sex. It does infinite credit to the ladies, it confers a marked, and I believe, a de- served honor on the Guard. I need not say that it will be your duty to cherish it, your purpose and your pride to honor and defend it. I know it will be preserved by you as a cherished and a sacred gift. I know that upon whatever field it may be flung to the breeze, it will be with you all a labor of love to shield it from
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
dishonor. I may be permitted to indulge the pleasing and inspiring hope that it will be demanded in no sterner service than that which we witness as it streams ont in the presence of a citizen soldiery, blessed by the smile of women and greeted by a people still safe from revolting scenes of carnage and of blood. I trust that Heaven, continning as in the past to shower upon our land its unnumbered blessings, will graciously permit this Commonwealth of ours to move onward upon her mission, the leading member of a united and honored family, binding her sisters by her devotion to duty, her loyalty to truth, her reverence for law, and silencing by the grandeur of her imperial and triumphant march, the traitors who are plotting for the ruin of us all. I invoke the spirit of harmony and peace to nestle amid the folds of this cherished emblem of purity and patri- otism, this noble ensign of Virginia's sovereignty, this beautiful memorial of woman's loyalty and worth. Let it wave forever upon the soil of the Old Dominion, still peerless among her sisters, the brightest amongst our magnificent galaxy, shining with a radiance 1111- dimned by a passing shadow, beaming with a perpet- nal and an ever expanding light. But we will not shut out from our vision the dangers that surround us, we will not be regardless of the saddening truth, that within the last six months the flag of invasion and of treason has been unfurled upon her soil.
At a time when she had least cause to suspect it, when nothing had occurred to excite the passions or to provoke the emmity of her confederate sisters; at a period of profound tranquilly and repose, in the month of October last; at a season when Nature herself breathes the sweet inspirations of poetry upon the heart and in- vites its holiest offerings of friendship and affec tion, Virginia was startled by the trumpet peal of war, and her sons were summoned to rally to the rescue of her outraged honor and her violated laws. A band of daring
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