USA > Virginia > Prince Edward County > Prince Edward County > A history of Prince Edward County, Virginia: from its formation in 1753, to the present > Part 9
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will put on our clothes," and we did after passing the next swamp. After going into camp that night, we were relieved, and reported back to our company.
We were now near Newberne, and had captured several stockade forts and many prisoners. On the morning of the 2nd of May we continued to advance, and crossed the rail- road leading out to Moorehead city, and rested our right flank on the Neuse river just below Newberne. Here I saw the first locomotive converted into an iron-clad battery. The Yanks ran it out from Newberne and opened fire at us as we crossed the railroad. The Yankee gunboat began to shell us. A 150-lb. shell fell just in front of my regiment; buried itself in the soft earth, and exploded, digging a nice well, from which we got our supply of water !
The troops on our left flank had not been idle .. They had already captured one fort and sixty prisoners. Prepara- tions were now in full progress to make a general attack on the Yankee works all along the line, when orders came for us to withdraw and hurry back to Kinston. We were needed in old Virginia !
General Grant, who was now in command of the army of the Potomac, had completed his plans for conducting the campaign against "Marse Robert" in the Wilderness. The army of Northern Virginia had never before had such num- bers, and vast resources, to contend against. The official return of the army of the Potomac, on May 1st, 1864, shows present for duty, a total of 141,160 men of all arms. To meet, and successfully resist this vast host, General Lee, by official returns of his army, had only 63,984 men of all arms: a difference in favor of General Grant, of 77,176 men; or more than two for one. I am thus particular in giving the relative strength of the two armies, in order that the reader may have a proper conception, and appreciation of the difficulties that beset our great commander and the noble men who fought under him. In addition to this force, Gen-
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eral Grant had ordered General Butler (the beast) to leave Fort Monroe with 38,000 more, and land them on the James River, between Richmond and Petersburg, to capture one or both these cities if possible. It was to meet this attack of Butler's that we were ordered back to Virginia. Our return march was commenced from Newberne on the afternoon of the 5th of May and continued until the 8th, on which day we reached Kinston and halted. From this place we took the cars, passed through Greensboro, and on to Stony Creek, where we arrived on the evening of the 13th, and camped. The Yanks had been here and burned the bridge, and our train could go no further. A train of cars was sent out from Petersburg. This reached us on the morning of the 14th. We immediately got aboard and were soon in Petersburg. We were broken down and hungry, and had been told that the . good people of Petersburg would feed us as we passed through the city. This was not to be. On our arrival we found the people much excited and no grub in sight. Butler was then destroying the railroad between Petersburg and Richmond! We left the cars at Jarratt's Hotel in Peters- burg and hurriedly formed line and away we went at the double quick down Sycamore street and across the Pocahon- tas bridge into the county of Chesterfield. We took up our line of march along the pike leading to Richmond. Not knowing exactly where Mr. Butler was, we threw forward skirmishers, and marched slowly behind them. When we began to close up on him, Mr. Butler found he was on the wrong road, and fell back toward the James river, thereby leaving the pike open to us to Richmond. We quickly availed ourselves of this error, and passed rapidly along his front, and halted at the "Half-way House" and went into line of battle along Deep Creek, and called check to his march on to Richmond. Here we remained in line of bat- tle all night expecting an attack but none came. Old "Tin Ware" Wicker and myself were in the skirmish line that
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night and could hear the Yanks forming their lines and get- ting into position for tomorrow's fight.
Early on the morning of the 15th our skirmish line was drawn in without a fight. We had only nine thousand men in front of Butler's thirty-eight thousand. We were out- numbered more than four to one, but ready to put up a good fight, which Butler soon found out. Butler began to move and soon the fight was on. He threw a flanking column down our right, which we could not resist while in the works, so we vacated the line and gave them battle in the open field. Here too, they proved too many for us. After a short and sharp fight, we fell back to our second line of works. But- ler did not attack again that day. Early on the morning of the 16th we heard the pop, pop, of the skirmish line on our left, then the long roll of musketry as the infantry advanced. We at first thought it was the Yankees making the attack, but soon found by the firing that the Rebs were getting down to business and making things lively for Butler and his peo- ple. Soon the order came for us to leap the breastworks, and charge the Yankees in our front, which we did in fine style, and with the old Reb yell. We never stopped until we had cleaned them up. Our entire line, consisting of 9,000 men was advancing in good order, and fighting trim, on Butler's 38,000! Strange, but true, in less than two hours we had whipped them so bad they did not stop running un- til they reached the breastworks on the James river. Had General Whiting, who was near Petersburg, and in Butler's rear, done his duty, we would have captured Butler and his whole army.
We followed Butler's retreating forces until we had reached our former position near the Half-Way House. Here we again formed line of battle along our outer line of works, and remained during the night of the 16th. On the morning of the 17th we resumed our advance toward Petersburg, and again formed line of battle along the pike. Soon the
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order came to move forward and we commenced the advance toward the James river, on which Butler had retreated under cover of his gunboats. We soon struck his skirmish line, which was driven back on his main line. Our line of battle was now up, and ready to grapple again with Mr. Butler. He did not wish to feel us again so soon, and withdrew his line nearer the river. We halted here and threw up a slight line of works. My company was now detailed, and thrown forward as skirmishers, in front of our regiment. We de- ployed to the front and commenced the advance again, leav- ing the other troops to complete the line of works. We ad- vanced across an open field and entered a large body of woods. Here we felt sure we would run into the Yankees and again open up the fight, but they had continued their retreat and we failed to locate them. Night was now coming on, but we continued the advance for half a mile further and halted in position. We were now more than one mile in ad- vance of our line of battle, and each of us selected the best possible position for the night's duty. We fully expected the Yankees would feel us out during the night and we were not disappointed. About twelve o'clock they came up a wood, leading to our position. It so happened that old Bow Har- vey's post in line was right in this road. He saw the road suddenly darken in his front, not twenty yards off. He knew the Yankees were coming and, without a word, raised his musket and fired. My post was just ten feet to his left, and behind a big pine tree. I let drive at them, when the whole line opened. We fought them for half an hour, when they retired, but not yet satisfied. They wished to find out where our line of battle was, and in about an hour they advanced again. Everything was quiet along our line, but all on the alert. We could hear the tramp, but could not see them. It was cloudy, and very dark in the woods. Here and there we could hear the officer in command say to his men : "Steady on the right; steady on the right." . This gave us a cue as
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to their distance from us. Captain Morrissette cautioned the boys to hold their fire. We did so until they were within twen- ty-five yards, then our muskets began to talk in earnest. The Yanks returned the fire at once. We now had the flash of each other's guns to fire at, and the midnight fight waxed warm and furious; the boys were there to stay; the Yanks could not move them. After a half-hour's good, hard, stand- up fight, they gave up the job and retreated. We made no effort to follow them in the dark.
Early on the morning of the 18th, we were relieved and returned to the line of battle. Our company had now been on duty for twenty-four hours without sleep, and very little of anything to eat, yet went to work on the breastworks as soon as we reached the line, and worked until night, by which time we had a very good line of works, and wanted the Yanks to give us one fight from behind them. We never got the chance. All our labor was lost. Early in the night of the 19th we were relived by other troops, ordered to vacate the works and march to Richmond, which we reached on the morning of the 20th, got aboard the cars and started in the direction of General Lee's Army. Arriving at Penola sta- tion we found Yanks in that neighborhood. We got off the cars and prepared to fight. My company was again de- tailed and thrown forward as skirmishers, and was ordered to go forward and protect a railroad bridge about a mile be- low the station. Captain Morrissette placed a man in the center of the track and deployed his men right and left, using this man as a guide for the line. The command, "For- ward; guide centre," soon came and off we went double quick for the bridge. When within one hundred yards of the bridge, we discovered the Yankees about the same distance on the other side, coming up to the bridge. It was now a race as to which would get there first. It fell to our luck, and we opened a brisk fire on them. They returned the fire, but soon fell back. We now went to work digging rifle pits, and soon
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had good ones. It did not take a Reb long in those days to wiggle a hole in the ground to hide his head. It was now quite dark. Bob Elam and myself decided to have a good cup of coffee; we had gotten some out of the haversacks of the dead Yankees on the 16th. We soon had a fire; boiled our coffee; ate what bread we had; and resumed our position near our rifle pit.
Late in the night we heard a heavy splashing in the river above and below us. For some time we could not make it out, and two men were sent to find out the cause. They soon returned and informed the Captain that the Yankee cavalry were swimming their horses across the river above and be- low and were then surrounding us. Captain Morrisette im- mediately drew in the boys from right and left, formed us in single file on the railroad, and ordered us to stick to the roadbed, but to git, and git fast. You bet we got, and got in a hurry. We succeeded in passing out just as their two lines were crossing to cut us off. They opened fire on us and we handed them a few in return, but kept "a gitting" all the same. Reaching the station where we expected to find the regiment, to our surprise not a man was there; not even one to direct us the way they went! We were in a pretty fix. Had the Yankees now come up, they would have gob- bled up the last one of us. Lucky for us, the moon was now up and, by getting close down to the ground, we discovered the way the toe marks pointed, and followed them as our guide. About day we came up with them, on the Telegraph road on which General Lee's army was moving to keep up with General Grant in his great flanking movement. We rest- ed here while Lee's troops were passing, and fell in with the rear guard and marched to Hanover Junction.
On the 23rd we marched to Andersonville during the night, halted there until the 27th, when we left, and made seventeen miles in the rain, and camped near Atlee's station. The following day we passed the station and marched about
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12 miles toward Hanovertown, and camped about three miles from Mechanicsville. On the evening of the 30th we reached the line of entrenchment near Cold Harbor. Here we had a very heavy fight with Grant's army, in which we lost many good men.
One June 1st there was heavy fighting on our right; also on the 2nd, when Gen. Early drove the enemy some distance. On the 5th more fighting in Kershaw and Hoke's front on the right. On the 7th, General Early's command drove in the Yankee skirmish line, taking about one hundred pris- oners.
We were still doing duty with General Corse's brigade, and the boys were anxious to get again with our own, (Hun- ton's brigade) and requested Col. Carrington, who was in command of our regiment, to demand the same. Not many hours elapsed before the order came to fall in. We were satisfied orders had come for us to return to our brigade. The boys fell in with a yell. As we marched out we found "()Id Puss in the boots," and many of his men had placed them- selves along our line of march to bid us good-bye. As we passed, "Old Puss" stood with his hat off, and a smile on his face, and said, "God bless you, boys." We halted, gave the old man three rousing cheers and passed out. On ar- riving at our brigade camp we found everything ready for our reception. General Hunton and the boys had turned out to welcome us back, and with cheers, hand-shaking, and kind words, we resumed our position with the old war brigade once more.
On the morning of the 13th, we found the enemy had left our front, and were moving toward the river. At an early hour we started, marching in a parallel line with the enemy, passing over the old battle-field of Gaines' Mill, crossed the Chicahominy river over Mcclellan's bridge, near Seven Pines, and halted near the battle field of Frazier's Farm. On the morning of the 16th we started at daybreak,
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marched to Chaffin's Bluff, and crossed the James river on a pontoon bridge.
Passing over the battle ground of Drewry's Bluff. we got on the turnpike leading to Petersburg. On arriving just opposite Chester, when quietly marching along, the head of the column was suddenly fired into by the enemy who had possession of the turnpike. We (Pickett's division) were then formed in line of battle and, sending forward our skir- mish line, commenced to advance. We drove the enemy back to the line of works we had thrown up just one month before, they having been vacated that morning by our troops, who had been moved to meet General Grant's army at Peters- burg, leaving only one cavalry regiment, which was unable to hold the enemy in check. Night was now coming on. We halted at this line of works. My company was again thrown forward as skirmishers. We advanced about half-mile to the front, halted, and established line for the night. We were relieved early next morning by Company B of our regiment. We reported back to our line. Soon the order came to advance. General Pickett had determined to recapture a line of works which our troops had thrown up further on, and nearer the river. The pop, pop, of the skirmish line was heard. The line of battle now closed up at a steady gait. Coming up with our skirmishers, we raised the old Rebel yell, and charged the enemy in our front. They couldn't stand the yell, and bullets proved too much for them. They broke and ran like sheep. With our line closing up after them, we soon had possession of our other line of works, and the halt was called. We had many good men killed and wounded in this charge. Tom Price was killed in this battle. Of the wounded, I re- member O. T. Wicker, W. J. Nash, N. S. Morton, and, I think, O. F. East. It afterward appeared that General Lee did not intend to carry on the attack to such an extent, and sent his aides to stop the charge, but they were too late, the charge had been made, and the work well done. However,
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he was satisfied with the result. He wrote the following letter to General 'Anderson after the charge.
:
"General :-- I take great pleasure in presenting to you my congratulations upon the conduct of the men of your corps. I believe they will carry anything they are put against. We tried very hard to stop Pickett's men from capturing the breastwork of the enemy but could not do it. I hope his loss has been small.
(Signed) R. E. LEE, General."
Official: G. M. Serrel, Lieut .- Colonel, Acting Adjutant- General.
On which General Anderson endorsed :
"For Major-General, Geo. E. Pickett, Commanding Di- vision."
The Richmond Examiner, at this time stated in one of its issues, that General Lee had given orders for long-tail coats to be issued Pickett's men to hold them back while charging.
After getting in those works, we moved up and down them for several days, getting the brigades of divisions in their positions, from right to left, reaching from the Howlett House on the James river, to the mouth of the Appomattox river. Between these points we now had Butler's force bottled up, and General Lee meant to keep the cork in,-the cork was our division and pretty hard to move. We now settled down to prepare for the long siege.
There was but little fighting along this line during this campaign. We did camp and picket duty on the skirmish line for some months. Winter was now coming on and we began to build huts and dig holes to protect us from the cold weather. While on parapet duty one day I looked to my right hand and saw Generals Lee, Pickett, and Hunton com- ing down the line of works. As they passed my post I halted and presented arms, they saluted and passed just beyond my
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post and halted. General Lee was inspecting our lines. At this time the Yankee skirmish line was not more than one hundrd and fifty yards from where they stood. Of course, our skirmish line was between them and the Yankees, but the Generals were in full view of the enemy, and could have been easily killed by their sharp-shooters. Our skirmish lines were so close to each other I could have shot a gravel from one to the other without effort. In fact we often ex- changed tobacco for coffee with the Yanks. We would toss to them a piece of tobacco and they would toss back a small bag of ground coffee in exchange. General Lee remained here for some time examining the Yankee works through his field glass. My beat ran beyond where they were standing, and in walking it, I passed and repassed them many times. Always on the lookout, I, of course, caught a little of their conversation. General Lee finally turned to General Pickett and said: "General, those people are too close to your works. You must move them." I did not hear Pickett's reply, but knew those Yanks had to get further. After coming off duty I told the boys what I had heard. They agreed with me.
We always relieved the skirmish line at sundown. A few days after General Lee had left the skirmish line, we doubled. We knew this had its meaning. After getting on the line we were told by the officer in command that when "taps" were sounded at the works, which was always done at nine o'clock, we should immediately leap the pits and charge the Yankees in our front without further orders. The time soon came. Taps sounded and over the pits we went. The Yankees were more than surprised. They fired but few shots before we were upon them and over their pits. We captured many of them and advanced our line further on, and halted to dig the new line of pits. The Yanks did not like this much. While we were digging away, they threw forward a new line of battle, charged our skirmishers and drove them back to the old line of pits. Everything now
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remained quiet for a few days .. Tom Dowdy of my com- pany was wounded in this charge. Pickett was not satis- fied,-General Lee's orders had not been carried out. Prepa- rations were again made to charge the line. This time the effort would be made at daylight, so that we could see what we were doing. General Hunton came on the line to look. after the work, gave orders to double the skirmish line, and to charge just at daybreak, which we did, again driving the Yanks out, and advancing our lines two hundred yards. Here we dug new pits, and General Hunton threw forward his line of battle to protect us until the work was finished. The Yanks, seeing the line of battle in the field, concluded to let us remain. It was on this new line, but not at this time, that Charlie Richardson and Tom Weaver were killed. This was our skirmish line so long as we remained at this point. Winter was now on and wood very scarce. We had used up all between us and the works. There was a small piece of woods between our line and the Yankee skir- mish line. Both were afraid to cut it. The weather began to pinch us pretty tight. Both wanted that wood, so an agree- ment was made that each side should send out a detail of men, under guard, just before night, cut, and divide the wood. I have seen a Yank and a Reb cutting on the same tree and divide equally. The wood secured for the night, each would return to the pits, and ready to fight again if necessary. At this time the pickets were not firing at each other at all, although we were within speaking dis- tance. I have stated we relieved the picket line at sundown every day. The Yankees did the same. I have seen the two details marching along their respective lines relieving the men in the pits, the lines being from fifty to seventy-five yards apart, and not a shot fired! In fact, we got to know- ing each other by name! I have often heard a Yankee calling out : "Say, Johnnie, is Captain Nash on duty this morning?" Everything worked like this for a long time; in
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fact till the Yankees withdrew the whites, and put negro troops, in our front. This kicked up the devil, and the kill- ing of everything in sight began again. There was no hold up now; the pop, pop of the guns was heard day and night. There was no rest for the negro; if he exposed any part of his body it was immediately shot at. Many were killed and wounded, but few of us were hurt. Bob Meadows and myself were one day on the right of our line, sharp- shooting, in front of Stewart's brigade. There were three negroes in a pit, but rather too far off for Stewart's boys to do much with them. Bob and I decided to turn our at- tention to them; they were about two hundred yards to our right, and in a half-moon pit. Our position gave us an enfi- lade fire along this pit, and we arranged a small log of wood to prevent the Yanks on our left and front from seeing us. Elevating our rifle sights to two hundred yards, we awaited our time, agreeing that he would shoot the centre man, and I the one on the left of the pit. We did not wait long be- fore we saw their heads coming up from behind the pit; we took deliberate aim, and, at the command from Lieut. Murray, fired. At the crack of our guns the two fell back dead on the outside of the pit, and remained in full view from about ten o'clock in the morning, until. dark. The other gentleman in that pit did not show himself again during that day, though we tried very hard to make him do so, by firing across his pit. I suppose he thought two dead niggers in one pit would do for one day. This firing was kept up for about three weeks, when, before day one morning, we were surprised by hearing a Yankee calling out: "Hello, Johnnie, don't shoot! There are no negroes on this side, this morn- ing." Dougherty, an Irishman belonging to our company, replied. "We will wait until day and see." Between day- break and sun-up we called and asked them to show up. Immediately three white men to each pit jumped out in full view, not a shot was fired, and quiet was restored along our
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whole front again. We chatted with them, swapped tobacco for coffee, exchanged papers, and had a good time generally. During the month of December we were relieved and with- drawn from the line, and marched to Richmond, and from this point sent to Gordonsville, to meet a Yankee raid on that place. We succeeded in checking this, and returned to our lines again.
On the 22nd of January, 1865, our gunboats came down the river to the Howlett House battery. Their intention was to shell Butler's observatory, pass along down the river in the rear of the Yankee line, and destroy the enemy's shipping at City Point. In the attempt to pass the obstructions in our front, all, except one, the "Fredericks- burg," ran aground. She succeeded in doing considerable damage to the enemy's vessels. During that night a heavy demonstration was made by our troops, and the next day the enemy's monitors arrived, and opened fire on our iron-clads which were aground in the river. A small wooden gunboat, the "Drewry," was blown up by them. The firing was very lively, the forts on both sides taking a hand in it. About the middle of the day, our boats succeeded, without material loss, in retiring to the rear of Fort Howlett, and at night they returned to Richmond.
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