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 22
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 22
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LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WILLIAM F, NIEMEYER was born in Portsmouth May 12th, 1840, of a family which had long resided there, and was appointed a cadet in the Military Academy at
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West Point in June, 1857, which position he resigned in May, 1861, and tendered his services to Governor Letcher. The first year of the war he was assigned to the duty of drilling and su- perintending the equipping of the new companies which were being organized in the counties adjacent to Norfolk and Ports- mouth, and in May, 1862, was elected by the officers of the 61st Virginia Regiment to the position of Lieutenant-Colonel, and in that capacity commanded the regiment from that time until the fall of 1862, when Colonel V. D. Groner was assigned to it as Colonel. Lieutenant-Colonel Niemeyer was with the regiment at the battles of Fredericksburg, Zoah's Church, McCarthy's Farm, Chancellorsville, Salem Church, Gettysburg, Hagerstown, Bristoe Station, Mine Run, Wilderness, Shady Grove and Spotsylvania Courthouse, in which last battle he received his death wound. The battle was over for the day and the enemy had been driven back. It was late in the afternoon, and Captain McAlpine, of Company I, had captured a fine horse that belonged to a Federal officer, which he presented to Lientenant-Colonel Niemeyer, who, while in the act of extending his hand to take the horse, was shot through the heart by a sharpshooter on the enemy's picket line and died instantly. The battle was fought on his birthday, and he was just twenty-four years old at the date of his death. He was one of the youngest field officers in the army. His remains were taken to Richmond and there interred.
MAJOR GILES B. COOKE was born in Portsmouth and belonged to a family which had a fondness for military life, his father, Major John K. Cooke having been an officer in the Mexican war. He entered the Confederate service as Adjutant of a regiment commanded by Colonel Philip St. George Cocke, and when Col- onel Cocke was promoted to the command of a brigade he became Adjutant General of the brigade, and in that capacity took part in the first battle of Manassas. In the winter of 1862-3 he was Adjutant and Inspector General on the staff of Major General Sam Jones, commanding the department of Western Virginia, and from there was transferred to the staff of General Beaure- gard. Following that officer into Virginia in the spring of 1864 he was, after the battle of Drury's Bluff, transferred to the staff of General Robert E. Lee as Major and Assistant Inspector Gen- eral. He followed the fortunes of the Army of Northern Vir- ginia from then until the close of the war and surrendered with the remnant of the army at Appomattox.
MAJOR JOHN Q. RICHARDSON was born in Portsmouth about the year 1837 and received a collegiate education. Happening to be in North Carolina when the war began he enlisted in one of the regiments from that State. Subsequently he received a staff appointment and was afterwards appointed Major of the 52d North Carolina Regiment. He was killed in the charge of his
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brigade at the battle of Gettysburg July 3d, 1863, while gallantly cheering his men on. He was a courageous soldier and one of the handsomest men in the army.
MAJOR CHARLES R. MCALPINE was born in Princess Anne county, Virginia in April, 1827, and removed to Portsmouth in 1855 and began the practice of his profession, medicine. He was extremely popular in the community and had a very large prac- tice at the breaking out of the war. He was an ardent Secession- est, and before Virginia seceded assisted in raising a company in Portsmouth to go to South Carolina to offer their services to the Governor of that State. He was elected First Lieutenant of this company, but before it could obtain uniforms Virginia followed the lead of South Carolina and left the Union, and the company was mustered into service in Virginia as Company D, 9th Vir- ginia Regiment. Lieutenant McAlpine resigned his commission May 14th, 1861, in Company D to accept the captaincy of a new company then being organized and afterwards assigned to the 61st Virginia Regiment as Company I. He was commissioned Captain of this company June 16th, 1861, and was promoted to Major of the 61st Regiment May 12th, 1864, which position he resigned March 25th, 1865, for the purpose of organizing a bat- talion of partizan rangers to operate in the Blackwater section of Virginia, but the close of the war put an end to his plans. He was a fearless and dashing soldier, was always in the front of the battle, and though several times wounded did not miss a battle in which the regiment was engaged up to the date of his resigna- tion.
MAJOR WILLIAM J. RICHARDSON was born in Portsmouth Feb- ruary 29th, 1828, and for a number of years before the war was Captain of the Portsmouth Rifle Company. When the troubles between the North and South were about to ripen into a crisis he organized a new company called the Virginia Artillery, after- wards assigned to the 9th Regiment as Company D, and was elected its Captain. The company was on duty on Craney Island the first year of the war, and at the reorganization in April, 1862, Captain Richardson was re-elected Captain of the company, which position he held until June, 1863, when he was promoted to Ma- jor of the regiment. He was in the charge of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg and was captured there and not exchanged. He was paroled just before the close of the war and sent through the lines to Richmond but, not having been exchanged, he did not re- join his regiment.
COLONEL WILLIAM WHITE was a broad-shouldered old soldier and was as brave as he was big. He was born January 7th, 1820, near Great Bridge, in Norfolk county, studied medicine at the Medical College in Richmond and in New York, and at the breaking out of the war was practicing medicine and lived at the
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village of Deep Creek, in Norfolk county, about eight miles from Portsmonth. He was one of the Lieutenants of the Dismal Swamp Rangers at its organization in 1856, but resigned shortly afterwards. In 1861 he was elected from Norfolk county and Portsmouth as a Union delegate to the Virginia State Convention which passed the ordinance of secession, and voted against its passage in that body, but after the State had decided to secede he yielded to her sovereign authority and tendered her his ser- vices. He was appointed by Governor Letcher Major of the 14th Virginia Regiment, then under General Magruder at Yorktown, and while there was placed in command of the detachment which General Magruder sent to burn Hampton. At the battle of Mal- vern Hill Lieutenant-Colonel Evans of the 14th Regiment was disabled by a wound, and Major White was promoted to Lieuten- ant-Colonel, which position he held until the battle of Gettys- burg, where Colonel Hodges was killed, and he was promoted to Colonel of the regiment. He was severely wounded in the neck in the charge of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg, but escaped without being captured, and from that time until the close of the war was in command of the regiment, and frequently in com- mand of the brigade. The regiment was in Armistead's Brigade, and Colonel White was present at all of the battles in which it was engaged. At the battle of Drury's Bluff May 16th, 1864, he planned and executed a flanking movement on the enemy's right which contributed materially to the Confederate victory on that occasion.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WILLIAM H. STEWART was born in the village of Deep Creek, Norfolk county, September 25th, 1838. He inherited a military disposition, for his grandfather was a sol- dier in the war of 1812 and died in the service, and his great grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, having been appointed a Lieutenant in the 11th Virginia Regiment. He en- tered the schools in the neighborhood of his father's home near Wallaceton, Norfolk county, and finished his education in 1859 at the University of Virginia. At the breaking out of the war he was engaged with his father in the shingle and lumber busi- ness, which he gave up and entered the army as 2d Lieutenant in the Wise Light Dragoons. (See chapter XXVIII). Upon the disbanding of this company he was instrumental in organizing an infantry company at Pleasant Grove Church, and on July 1st, 1861, was elected its captain. It afterwards became Company A, 61st Virginia Regiment. At the organization of the regiment in Petersburg in 1862 Captain Stewart was elected Major, and on the 12th of May, 1864, was elected Lieutenant-Colonel, which position he held until the surrender of the army at Appomattox. He was wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville and again at Spotsylvania Court House. He commanded the regiment at the
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battles of North Anna River, Hanover Court House, Atlee's Sta- tion, Cold Harbor, Turkey Ridge, Second Frazier's Farm, Wil- cox Farm, Gurley House, Crater, Reams' Station, June 27th and August 25th, 1864, Burgess' Mill and Hatcher's Run, the colonel of the regiment being absent on account of wounds. He was with the regiment in the following battles also: Fredericksburg, Rappahannock Bridge, Zoah's Church, McCarthy's Farm, Chan- cellorsville, Gettysburg, Hagerstown, commanding brigade picket line, Culpepper, Mine Run, Wilderness, Shady Grove, Spotsylva- nia Court House, Davis' Farm, Hicksford, Amelia Court House, Cumberland Church and Appomattox, and was present with his company in the engagements at Seawell's Point March 8th and May 8th, 1862, with the Federal fleet. He missed only two bat- tles in which it was engaged, namely, Bristoe Station, which took place when he was absent on leave, and Salem Church, which was fought while he was in the field hospital suffering from a wound received that morning at Chancellorsville.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GEORGE A. MARTIN was born at Mount Pleasant, Norfolk county, September 3d, 1833, and studied law at the University of Virginia. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the St. Bride's Artillery, a company organized in Norfolk county, and was elected its Captain. In May, 1862, his company was attached temporarily to the 14th Virginia Regiment and participated in the second day's engagement at Seven Pines June 1st, after which it was retained in the fortifications around Richmond until April 25th, 1864, when it was assigned to the 38th Virginia Regiment as Company I. Captain Martin subse- quently participated in the battles of May 10th and May 16th, 1864, near Drury's Bluff and June 16th near Chester Station. In the battle of May 10th Colonel Cabell, commander of the regi- ment, was killed, and Captain Griggs, senior captain, was pro- moted to Colonel, and on the 28th of March, 1865, Captain Mar- tin, the next in rank, was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, his commission to date from December 2d, 1864. For some days previous to his promotion Lieutenant-Colonel Martin was sick in a hospital in Richmond, and upon the evacuation of that city went to Lychburg by rail and was assigned by General Colston to the command of the Home Guard for the defence of the city, but when General Colston surrendered it he pushed on into Carolina, following the fortunes of President Davis, and surrendered at Augusta, Georgia, after the surrender of General Johnston's army.
MAJOR WILLIAM H. ETHEREDGE was born near Great Bridge in Norfolk county on the 27th of July, 1820, and was raised a farmer, at which occupation he was engaged at the beginning of the war. Shortly before the war the men in that portion of the county organized the Norfolk County Rifle Patriots, one of the
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. largest and best companies which entered the Confederate service, and he was elected Captain of it. It was subsequently assigned to the 41st Virginia Regiment, as Company F. Captain Ether- edge on the 21st of April, 1861, took possession of the naval ord- nance stores at St. Helena, opposite the Navy Yard, and for nearly a year did guard duty in the Navy Yard. He was very highly complimented by Colonel Chambliss, Colonel of the 41st Regiment, for gallantry at the battle of Seven Pines, and shortly after that battle, Colonel Chambliss having been transferred to the command of a cavalry regiment, Captain Etheredge was pro- moted to the position of Major of the 41st, which position he held until the surrender at Appomattox, when he laid aside the sword which he had carried so worthily. He was present in every bat- tle in which Mahone's Brigade took part, and though he always fought in front of his men, was never wounded. He had a nar- row escape at the Crater, an account of which is told in Lieuten- ant-Colonel Wm. H. Stewart's account of that battle, ante, chapter XXIV. No soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia has a better war record than Major Etheredge. In probably more than half of the battles in which the regiment was engaged he was its commander, his superior officers being disabled cither from siek- ness or wounds.
CAPTAIN STEPHEN A. COWLEY was about 16 years old at the beginning of the war and was attending a military school in North Carolina, and was employed by the Governor of that State as drill master for new troops at Raleigh. In December, 1861, he went to General Beauregard's army in Kentucky and was ap- pointed a Lieutenant in the regular army. He was at Fort Henry when it fell, but escaped and went to Fort Donelson, where he was captured at the surrender of the fort, was exchanged in October, 1862, and was appointed by Colonel Quarles Adjutant of his reg- iment, the -th Tennessee. Colonel Quarles was promoted to Major General and Captain Cowley became Inspector General on his staff. He was with General Quarles in the campaign between Sherman and Johnston, and when Hood superceded Johnston he was with the army in its advance into Tennessee, and was killed on the enemy's breastworks at Franklin.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE WISE LIGHT DRAGOONS.
During the John Brown rebellion in 1859, a cavalry company was organized in Norfolk county under the name of the Wise Light Dragoons, of which Captain Aldustin Wilson was eomman- der. The company retained its organization, but Captain Wilson resigned as its commander, and at the breaking out of the war its officers were :
Captain, John W. Young.
First Lieutenant, Columbus W. Foreman.
Second Lieutenant, Wm. H. Stewart.
The company turned out on the 20th of April, and was sent to Seawell's Point by the commanding officer in Norfolk to do picket duty on the beach between that point and Ocean View. It re- mained there for nearly two months, but not having the requisite number of men to be mustered into the Confederate service, it was disbanded.
While it was engaged on picket duty there the United States steamer Monticello was in the habit of shelling the woods, and one of the shells exploded near Private Sykes, wounding him in the leg. This was the first casualty of war in the vicinity of Norfolk, and Private Sykes was quite a lion for a short while. It is to be regretted that a roll of the company cannot be obtained but as the men entered the Confederate service in other com- mands, their names are recorded with those organizations. The company was not mustered into the service of the Confederate States, but a history of the part Norfolk county took in the war would not be complete without a reference to it.
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CHAPTER XXIX.
IN THE NAVY-PORTSMOUTH.
In addition to a large number of seamen, Portsmouth was rep- resented in the Confederate States Navy by the following officers : Captain, James W. Cooke. LIEUTENANTS.
John J. Guthrie, Dulaney A. Forrest, A. S. Worth,
John H. Parker, Walter R. Butt, Chas. J. Hasker,
Wm. H. Murdangh, Wm. E. Hudgins, Jno. W. Murdaugh.
SURGEONS.
Chas. H. Williamson,
Wm. E. Wysham.
MASTERS.
D. W. Nash.
Michael Quinn,
James H. Warner, John W. Tynan,
Edward W. Manning.
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS.
Eugene H. Brown,
E. Alex. Jack, Joseph E. Virnelson,
John B. Brown, Leslie G. King, Jos. S. West,
Wm. B. Brockett,
Chas. H. Levy, Thos. J. White,
Geo. W. City,
Jas. K. Langhorne, Moses P. Young.
NAVAL CONSTRUCTORS.
J. L. Porter, Chief,
Joseph Pierce, GUNNERS.
Wm. M. Hope.
John A. Lovitt, John Owens, Thos. Baker.
CARPENTERS.
Robert M. Bain,
Hugh Lindsay, Joseph F. Weaver,
John T. Rustic,
R. J. Meads, Nathaniel C. Gayle,
Edward Williams. SAILMAKERS.
Wm. Bennett, E. A. Mahoney.
Boatswain, L. J. Nelson.
Norfolk county was represented in the Navy by :
Lieutenant, C. B. Poindexter.
Assistant Surgeon, Geo. N. Halstead.
CAPTAIN JAMES W. COOKE, who heads this list, was born in North Carolina, and entered the United States Navy from that State, April 1st, 1828, and resigned May 1st, 1861, as lieutenant. He married Miss Mary Watts, of Portsmouth, which city from
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Benj. W. Guthrie,
CHIEF ENGINEERS.
Chas. Schroeder,
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NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
that time became his home, and upon resigning from the United States Navy, he tendered his serviees to Governor Leteher, and received an appointment on the 4th of May as lieutenant in the Virginia Navy. On the 11th of June he was transferred to the Confederate States Navy. His first duty in the Virginia Navy was in connection with the erection of a battery at Fort Powhatan on James river, and from there he was transferred to the Potomae and assisted in blockading that river in the summer of -1861. In the fall of 1861 he was ordered to the Gosport Navy Yard to take command of a small steam tug, the Ellis, formerly a canal boat, which was manned with one 32-pounder Dahlgren gun, and with this he was ordered to North Carolina as a part of Commo- dore Lynch's mosquito fleet. He took part in the engagement at Roanoke Island, February 7th, 1862, with the Federal fleet, and his was the last of the Confederate vessels to withdraw. He held his ground until he had fired away his last round of ammunition, when he followed Commodore Lynch to Elizabeth City. On the 10th, when the attack was renewed at that town. the Ellis was boarded by the crews of two Federal vessels, and though Lieuten- ant Cooke received a musket wound in the arm and a bayonet thrust in the leg, he refused to surrender. He and his erew were surrounded by overwhelming numbers and taken by main force. He was paroled on the 12th of February and returned to his home in Portsmouth. He was subsequently exchanged, and on the 17th of September was promoted to commander. In 1863 he was or- dered to the Roanoke river to superintend the building of the ironclad gunboat Albemarle, which was being constructed at Ed- ward's Ferry, by Captain Gilbert Elliott, under contract with the Navy Department, and was indefatigable in his efforts to procure material with which to complete her. No stone was left unturned in his zeal and when he started down the river with her to engage the enemy, workmen were still hammering on her. The Albe- marle mounted two guns, and on the 19th of April, 1864, arrived in front of Plymouth, which was being invested on the land side by the troops of General Hoke. History has told how Captain Cooke fought and defeated the Federal vessels. How he ran his prow into the Southfield, sinking her in ten minutes, and then drove the Miami out of the river into the sound, and was only prevented from destroying her by the inferiority of the machinery in his vessel, which was not of sufficient power to give her speed to overtake her. The result of this victory on the water was the capture of Plymouth with fifteen hundred prisoners and twenty- eight pieces of artillery. Relieved from the presence of the gun- boats, General Hoke's men stormed the enemy's works on the land side and carried the town by assault. Lieut. Col. G. G. Luke, of Portsmouth, at the head of the 56th North Carolina Regiment, led the assaulting column and was the first man to enter the town,
e
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IN THE NAVY-PORTSMOUTH.
thus Portsmouth was. represented by the captain of the Albe- marle, on the water, and by the leader of the storming party on the land.
As personal reminiscences are always interesting, and frequently contain minutiæ which are not found in the matter of fact "official reports," the following account of this engagement, which was written by Captain Gilbert Elliott, her builder, and published in the St. Louis Republican of April 16th, 1887, will not be out of place here. Captain Elliott was, at the time he commenced building the Albemarle, adjutant of the 17th North Carolina Reg- iment, stationed near Drury's Bluff, on James river, and was given leave of absence from his regiment, by order of the Secretary of War, for that purpose. The leave of absence was "for two years on full pay," probably the longest leave of absence granted during the war. Captain Elliott says :
" Much to my gratification Captain Cooke was the officer as- signed by the Navy Department to supervise the construction of, and afterwards command the ironclad ram Albemarle, which I succeeded in building, under my contract with the government, at a point on the Roanoke river known as Edward's Ferry, about twenty miles below the town of Halifax. Of course I had the warm sympathy of the citizens of that neighborhood, who ren- dered me all possible assistance, together with the support and aid of the government, and yet the difficulties with which I had to contend were so great as to seem almost insurmountable. How- ever, after twelve months' unceasing labor, with a force averag- ing two hundred men, but few of whom, however, were skilled mechanics, but all working with an eye single to the end in view, I had the pleasure of delivering the ship into Captain Cooke's hands, and she went into commission just in time to take a lead- ing part in the expedition organized by command of General Lee for the recapture of the town of Plymouth and surrounding country.
" The Albemarle was 152 feet long, and 45 feet wide over all. She drew about eight feet of water. Her armament consisted of two rifled Brooke guns, mounted on pivot carriages, the shield or house, was octagonal in shape, with three port holes at each end. The shield was built of timber about fourteen inches in thickness and covered with two courses of flat iron, two inches thick and eight inches wide, making eighteen inches of wood and iron as a protection against shot and shell. She carried a crew of seventy- five or eighty men. The plans and specifications were drawn and prepared by Naval Constructor John L. Porter, who also planned the conversion of the man-of-war Merrimac into the ironclad Vir- ginia, at the Gosport Navyyard, and, as the Virginia was the first vessel ever covered with an ironclad shield, it may truly be said that to John L. Porter largely belongs the credit for the revolu- tion in the naval architecture of the world, exemplified in the
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construction of that ship. The Albemarle was built on the same general idea, but she was intended for an ironclad, and built, from her keel up, for that purpose, while the Virginia was a frigate, with her upper works cut down or razeed.
" On April 18th, 1864, the Albemarle dropped down the river stern foremost, with a long chain payed out at the bow, by means of which she was steered, it being impracticable to proceed down the stream with the bow to the front, owing to the rapidity of the current, the freshet at that time being the heaviest in the memory of the oldest inhabitants. Captain Cooke kindly allowed me to accompany him as a volunteer aid. Indeed I took with me a force of men and some portable blacksmith forges and we put the finishing touches on her armor only a few hours before she went into action. There was a Federal battery at Warren's Neck, on a considerable elevation, some three miles above the town of Ply- mouth, commanding Thoroughfare Gap, where the river divides into two streams, and piles, sunken vessels, and other obstructions with a plentiful supply of torpedoes, had been placed here to prevent our further descent, or to accelerate our possible descent to the bottom of the river, but, thanks to the high water, we floated safely over the obstructions and passed on down the river, paying no attention to the Warren's Neck fort, although a well directed fire was kept up against us as long as we were in range. We were much comforted to find, however, that the shot and shell did us no harm, and this was the case in all the engagements with the ram. Her shield was built at an angle of forty-five de- grees, and, in time of action, was well covered with a greasy sub- stance we called slush, to facilitate the outward course of the shot and shell striking against the roof. As a rule, the shot would scoup out a little place in the iron roof about as large as a table spoon and then ricochet over the ship and go on its way harmless. The Albemarle was struck hundreds and hundreds of times, and yet no one was hurt on her except a young sailor who had the curiosity to put his head out of a port hole to see what was going on outside, and was at once shot with a pistol from the steamer Miami, lying along side and engaged with us at the time. Very early on the morning of the 19th of April, 1864, the Miami and Southfield, lashed together with spars and with chains festooned from their sides, hove in sight, and so approached us, coming up the stream. The design undoubtedly, was to run the Albemarle down, but the pilot was equal to the occasion, and at Cooke's com- mand, signalled to the engineer to open the throttle-valves, and with all the steam the engines would bear, and the immense force of the current with which we were sailing, he put his helm hard down and dashed the prow (or ram) of the Albemarle into the side of the Southfield, sending her to the bottom of the Roanoke river with a suddenness that seems awful to contemplate. The
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