USA > Virginia > Campbell County > Campbell County > Annals of the Lynchburg Home Guard > Part 3
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when the men who won immortal glory at King's Mountain were hurriedly drawn together to resist Brit- ish regulars We know that the gallant boys whom Lynchburg has sent to turn back the invader, will do their whole duty. We expect to hear a good account of them for the display of all the qualities that go to make a true soldier-not a mercenary. Their noble bearing will command respect, and secure for them the proud distinction of being the flower of the army. We greatly regret that we did not in time think of what occurred to us just as the troops were moving off. We want a list of the names of the men comprising each of the companies, together with their ages, nativity, and rank. If the captains will make the necessary inquiry through some of the subalterns, so soon as all the men- bers of their respective companies shall be assembled, we will publish it with great pleasure, and it would not only be a subject of much interest to our citizens, but might be useful as a matter of record in the future. God bless the boys, and bring them all in safety to their homes again .- Virginian, April 24th, 1861.
A LIST OF MEMBERS
OF THE LYNCHBURG HOME GUARD, WHO LEFT LYNCII- BURG ON TIIE 23D APRIL, 1861, BY ORDER OF THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA, AND WERE MUSTERED INTO THE SERVICE OF THE STATE APRIL 24, 1861.
OFFICERS.
Samuel Garland, Jr., Captain. First Lieutenant.
Kirkwood Otey,
J. G. Meem,
Second Lieutenant.
S. M. Simpson, Third Lieutenant,
J. L. Meem, Orderly Sergeant.
W. J. H. Hawkins,
Third Sergeant.
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
William Sandford,
B. L. Blackford,
C. D. Hamner,
K. Seabury,
Color Sergeant. Fifth Sergeant. First Corporal. Second Corporal. Third Corporal.
John H. Smith, Hugh Nelson, Fourth Corporal. Benjamin Blackford, M. D. Surgeon.
PRIVATES.
H. J. Abrahamis,
R. H. T. Adams,
E. A. Akers,
Jamies Armistead,
J. R. Kent,
R. F. Apperson,
G. T. Lavinder,
C. D. Langhorne,
T. H. Ballowe,
M. M. Leckie,
C. F. Barnes,
I. F. Lucado,
W. H. Blackford,
G. R. Lyman,
. S. C. Booth,
James H. Lydick,
J. B. Brugh,
D. Lydick, Max L. Mayer,
E. W. Burks,
R. P. Button, Samuel Burch,
A. H. Miller,
Breck. Cabell,
S. L. Moorman,
P. H. Cabell,
L. C. Mosby, W. S. Nelson,
Wiley Campbell,
A. W. Nowlin, John Oglesby,
Robert Colhoun, John Conley,
C. H. Page,
C. D. Percival,
C. V. Cosby, J. J. Creed,
James O. Kinnier,
N. Kabler,
Joseph Kreuttner,
John G. Anderson,
C. McCorkle,
S. Cabell,
R. C. Pierce.
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
John H. Cross,
R. T. Peters,
. John Crumpacker,
I. P. Preston,
H. Dabney,
S. D. Preston,
C. De Witt,
T. L. Preston,
James Franklin, Jr.,
G. J. Salmons,
P. H. Franklin,
J. R. Sears, G. W. Shelton,
William A. Ford,
Max Guggenheimer, Jr.,
W. B. Snead,
D. C. Guy,
C. S. Spencer,
John Goggin,
A. B. Stratton, John U. H. Sumpter,
H. V. Harris,
Meade Harris,
W. H. Shaver,
S. M. Hawkins,
Van Taliaferro,
William Holland,
Charles W. Terry,
J. W. Ivey,
J. H. Thompson,
J. H. Jennings,
W. A. Toot,
T. D. Jennings, Jr.,
W. K. Trigg,
Minor Johnson, Joseph Valentine,
R. G. H. Kean, R. L. Waldron,
James F. Kinnier,
R. W. Watkins,
J. M. Wheeler,
C. A. Moseley,
William H. H. Woods, T. C. Walsh,
T. H. Simpson-102.
PART II.
"Let not your hearts be troubled by the presence of old soldiers and generals; they will not be in your way much longer. There is a silent reaper whose scythe is gradually mowing down those brave old veterans and removing them to that everlasting camping ground beyond the silent river. Wait a little while longer, and the last hero of the great armies of Lee and Jack- son, of Johnson and of Hood, will be out of your way. They will soon be gone-transferred to another field and before another tribunal, where truth, honor and fidelity to principle will be fully recognized, and where there will be no barriers against courage and self-sacri- ficing devotion to the Confederate cause or against the brave old warriors who served and suffered and who cheerfully offered their blood and lives at the call of conscience and of country."
GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON.
THE HISTORY OF THE HOME GUARD FROM 1861 TO 1865.
THE YEAR 1861 opened on a dark and gloomy political sky. The Union, framed by Virginians and for which Virginia had poured out the blood of her noblest sons, to which she had given Wash- ington, Jefferson, Marshall, Madison, Monroe and Tyler, for which Light Horse Harry Lee had fought and Patrick Henry had spoken, was threatened with destruction by a band of fanatics who preferred plunging the country into the awful agony of civil war to yielding their views or settling the matters in dispute by any mode other than their own. The Union was peculiarly dear to Virginia, for the wisdom of her sons gave it birth and cherished its earliest days. Five times had the Presidential chair been filled by Virginians, and its policy had been directed for half a century by Virginians. Her bounds included the historic field of Yorktown, and from her territory had been carved many of the richest of the States. But the time had come for her to decide between the legends of the past and the possession of what in her opinion was true liberty. Her sister States looked to the prond "Old Dominion" as children to a mother for guidance in the struggle that was at hand. It was not a time to hold back though she well knew that in the coming war her soil would be the battlefield, her wealth and harvests be the first to be devastated. On this point we will make two quotations, one from the private memoirs of a Virginia lady, the other from
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
a History of the United States, published in England. We will give this latter first:
"The action of Virginia deserves especial notice. She, above all, was forced by the Washington Govern- ment to a cruel alternative. She had no mind to secede, but it left her no choice. It could reach her sister States only through her side. She must be the accom- plice, or the first victim; and in the latter case, be the issue of the Northern appeal to the sword what it might, she must inevitably be ruined by the costs. Never, since the Athenians abandoned city and country, and furnished two-thirds of the fleet which saved the cowardly Peloponnesians from the same fate, has his- tory recorded so noble, so generous and so glorious a choice. Unless Maryland should act with instant and most improbable energy, depose her treacherous Gov- ernor, call a convention, pass an ordinance of secession, and bar the invader's road, all in a few days' time, Washington would be the headquarters of the enemy's chief army and the war be waged from first to last, on Virginian soil. No other Southern State was sim- ilarly exposed, and none had so much to lose. Vir- ginia was a rich, civilized and prosperous country, a land of thriving towns and valuable plantations, of well-tilled and well-stocked farms-the Flanders of the South. Eighty years before she had been the martyr of the War of Independence, enlisted in the quarrel, wasted and ruined in the service of Massachusetts, ever since her bitter enemy; her industry disorganized, her rising towns fired, the wealth accumulated through a hundred and fifty years of peace and prosperity plun- dered and destroyed, while the Colonies which had begun the war, for whose rights rather than for her own, she had drawn the sword, were safe from invasion and slow to answer her call. The elder statesmen and soldiers of the present generation had heard the story of those days at the kuces of fathers who had shared
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
the struggle against Cornwallis. Her younger citizens remembered the tales of their grandfathers, the family legends of suffering and terror, of slaughter and confla- gration. She counted the cost. The Federal Govern- ment would have given her her own price for a support which would have secured Maryland and Kentucky and opened a way to the heart of the South. But Vir- ginia chose rather to suffer than to share the wrong. The proclamation had put before her a plain choice betwen lionor and safety. At once her course was determined. Her Convention met, and the Old Domin- ion renounced her fellowship with the West, which owed to her its being, with the North, for which she had done and suffered more than all the northern Colo- nies, and cast in her lot, calmly, legally, and decisively, with the Southern sisters whose intemperance she had often rebuked, whose haste and fire she had constantly tamed and controlled, whose present action she had deprecated, but with whom lay the right, as every man of whom America was proud had laid it down; the right defined by the pen of Jefferson, achieved by the sword of Washington, and maintained by Madison, Monroe, Randolph, Calhoun at the bar and in the Senate."-Greg's History of the United States, vol. II, page 226.
The extract which we now copy is from the pen of Mrs. C. M. Blackford, who, for several years, has been engaged in writing out for private use her own recol- lection of her life during the war. We think the sen- timents expressed in the following lines well reflect the mind of the time:
"No State in the South had been more devoted to the Union than Virginia. Its electoral vote was cast for Bell and Everett and the Union, and the sentiment of her people was strong against the violent and hasty
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
action of South Carolina and the other Southern States in withdrawing from the Union merely on the election of the Republican candidate, and it was not until Lin- coln called upon Virginia for her quota of the seventy- five thousand troops to coerce the Southern States that the State gave its voice for secession.
"A Convention was called which met in Richmond in February, 1861, to consider the condition of public affairs and to determine for the State what it should do. Messrs. John M. Speed and Charles R. Slaughter were elected in Campbell county and Lynchburg as delegates to that Convention. * * * The gentlemen elected were the Union candidates.
"The Convention was largely Union in its complex- ion, and although every possible influence was brought to bear upon it both at home and abroad; although Commissioners were sent from South Carolina and the other seceded States, and although the "fire-eaters" denounced the majority as cowards and traitors, the Convention stood firmly by the Union and for the Union, and maintained that the State should remain in the Union until some overt act against her rights had been committed which could not be righted by negoti- ation; and the Convention very truly represented the sentiment of the people.
"Delegates were appointed to visit Washington to urge a policy of conciliation and peaceful negotiation upon Mr. Lincoln, and others went to Montgomery on a like mission, but both were unsuccessful. The pas- sions of men were roused in angry hate and the voice of reason was stilled. The calm, conservative and thoughtful consel of the great State of Virginia, the mother of the family, was drowned in the fiery shouts of her excited and maddened children. Still Virginia remained firm, and true to her ancient faith and to the Union which her sons, more than any other, created. This was her status when the crisis was precipitated by
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
South Carolina in firing upon Fort Sumter, and the im- mediate call by Lincoln for 75,000 troops "to suppress the rebellion," of which force 8,000 were demanded of Virginia.
"Virginia was thus forced to decide between the sec- tions; neutrality was no longer possible. A shudder passed through the hearts of our people, old men bowed their heads in sorrow, young ones gravely pre- pared for the dread uncertainties of the future, and women wept as only those weep who know that amidst darkness and gloom they must part from those they love best. The old State had done her duty nobly, and had failed in all her efforts to avert the storm. There was nothing left for her to do but to join her Sonthern sisters, erring though she thought they were. Calmly, therefore, and with the full knowledge that she was bearing her breast to the storm and that on hier soil the great contest must be fought, on the 17th of April, 1861, the Ordinance of Secession was passed, and she soon afterwards took her place as one of the Confederate States of America. History records 110 nobler act of self sacrifice on the part of a people."
But we must resume the thread of our narrative. The Lynchburg troops went direct to Richmond, arriv- ing there on the night of the 23d of April. The cere- mony of mustering them into the Confederate service was performed the next day, and the Home Guard became Company G, in the Eleventh Virginia infantry. This regiment was in turn brigaded, and Colonel Ter- rett, a former marine officer, given command of the brigade. The regiment remained in Richmond for some days, and in the Richmond Examiner of the 26th of April, 1861, we find the following notice of Company G:
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
"The Capitol Square was thronged with ladies on yesterday afternoon. The drill, parade and beautiful weather drew them out. Without making any 'invid- ous comparisons,' the Home Guard of Lynchburg, and the Farmiville Guard rather 'took' them."
Almost the first thing done after the formation of the Eleventh Virginia regiment, was the appointment of Captain Garland as its colonel. As indicative of the esteem in which he was held at home, we will quote a passage from Mr. Blackford's diary, to which we are so much indebted:
"Thursday, May 9th, 1861. We received intelli- gence that the Home Guard, Rifle Greys, Robert Saun- ders' company, and a Farmville company are to go to-morrow to Culpepper Court House under Samuel Garland, who has been made a colonel. He is well fitted to discharge the duties; in fact, I think it the best appointment yet made to that rank. Still I dislike to see him quit his old company who are devoted to him."
It may be of interest to many surviving members of the old regiment to give the formation of it. As well as we can make out, it was made up as follows:
OFFICERS.
Colonel, -
Samuel Garland.
Lieutenant-Colonel,
David Funsten.
Mujor,
Carter Harrison.
Adjutant, - J. Lawrence Meem.
Chaplain, -
Rev. J. C. Granberry
COMPANIES.
A. Rifle Greys, of Lynchburg, Captain M. S. Lang- horne.
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
B. Southern Guard, of Campbell county, Captain R. C. Saunders.
C. Clifton Greys, of Campbell county, Captain Adam Clement.
D. Fincastle Rifles, Captain D. G. Houston.
E. Lynchburg Rifles, of Lynchburg, Captain Ward.
F. Preston Guards, Montgomery Guards, of Botetourt county, Captain Foulks.
G. Home Guard, of Lynchburg, Captain Kirkwood Otey.
H. Jeff Davis Guards, of Lynchburg, Captain J. R. Hutter.
I. Rough and Ready Rifles, of Fauquier county, Cap- tain Jamieson.
K. (Rockbridge and Alleghany) Valley Regulators, Captain A. M. Houston.
The regiment went to Culpepper but were soon taken to Manassas Junction on the Orange and Alexandria (now Virginia Midland) Railroad, where they went into camp. The camp life is of no particular interest, it being imposed on the troops at that time for the double purpose of instruction and for watching the movements of the enemy. Much doubt was expressed as to the intention of the Federal Government to invade the State, but it was well to have a force at hand in case the worse happened. Several Lynchburgers visited the boys while they were in this camp, and on the 17th of May a large box of vegetables was sent the Home Guard from the citizens of Lynchburg, largely through the exertions of the Rev. W. H. Kinckle, then rector of St. Paul's Church. About a week later a
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
box containing 102 jackets was sent the company. "They deseerve it. They have laid out more on them- selves than any other company, and the family of but one of them is drawing support from the fund," writes a gentleman then living in the city.
It may not be inappropriate in giving here a descrip- tion of the uniform prescribed for the army. We take it from the Lynchburg Virginian, of May 29th, 1861:
Coat: Short tunic of cadet grey cloth, double- breasted, with two rows of buttons across the breast, the rows two inches apart at the waist and widening toward the shoulders. Suitable for cavalry as well as infantry.
Pantaloons: Of sky-blue cloth made full in the leg, and trimmed according to corps-with blue for infan- try, red for artillery, and yellow for cavalry. No other distinction.
For the general and officers of the staff the dress will be of dark blue cloth, trimmed with gold; for the med- ical department, black cloth with gold and velvet trimming.
All badges of distinction are to be marked upon the sleeve and collars. Badges of distinguished rank on the collar only. For a brigadier-general, three large stars; for a colonel, two large stars; tor a lieutenant- colonel, one large star; for a major, one small star and horizontal bar; for a captain, three small stars; for a first lieutenant, two small stars; for a second lieutenant, one small star.
Button: For a general and staff officers the buttons will be of bright gilt, convex, rounded at the edge, a raised eagle at the center surrounded by thirteen stars. Exterior diameter of large buttons, one inch; of small size, one-half inch.
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ANNALS OF THE 11OME GUARD.
For officers of the corps, of engineers, the same but- ton is to be used, except that in the place of the eagle and stars, there will be a raised "E" in German text.
For officers of artillery, infantry, riflemen and cav- alry, the buttons will be plain gilt, convex, with a liarge raised letter in the centre, A for artillery, I for nfantry, etc. The exterior diameter of large sized button, seven-eighths of an inch; small size, one-half inch.
For all enlisted men of artillery, a large A raised in the centre of a three-quarter inch button.
For all enlisted men, the same as for artillery, except that the number of the regiment will be substituted for the letter A.
The threatened invasion of the enemy at last took place, and Alexandria fell into Northern hands. This was what was to be expected, for it would have been almost impossible to have defended it. The troops gathered at Manassas were in constant expectation of a battle, and day by day the enemy was reported nearer. The fact that a conflict was impending was known even to the privates, as will be seen from the subjoined letter which we take from the Lynchburg Virginian. It will also be seen that the Eleventh Virginia had been put under General Longstreet, with whom as brigadier, major and lientenant-general, it was des- tined to serve for many a weary and hard-fought can- paign.
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
[Lynchburg Virginian, July 15th, 1861.]
LETTER FROM A MEMBER OF THE ELEVENTH VIRGINIA REGIMENT TO THE VIRGINIAN.
CAMP PICKENS, MANASSAS JUNCTION, JULY 12, 1861.
Dear Virginian :- Events of momentous import- ance are crowding each other in such rapid succession in this locality, as to render it almost a matter of im- possibility to keep up with the record. The cloud of war is thickening in this region, and unless I am greatly mistaken in the signs of the times, will be upon ns in a time unexpectedly short to the denizens of Lynchburg who have so many of their loved ones in this camp.
Orders were issued to-day prohibiting commissioned officers or men from leaving the limits of the camp. This precaution taken in connection with sundry oth- ers, and exhortations emanating from headquarters which was to-day read at regimental parade, leave 110 room in the mind of your correspondent to doubt that an engagement is anticipated and that very speedily. Certain it is, that the men are prepared for it, and while many of them regret the stern necessity that has torn them from the bosoms of their families and friends, now that the hour that will "try men's souls" is appa- rently at hand, none regret the sacrifices they have made in entering the service of their beloved South. There is throughout the regiment (Colonel Garland's), at least so far as our observation extends, a oneness of sentiment in their calm determination to meet the vile invaders of our soil as become men and Virginians.
An attack by the Yankees at this point is hardly within the range of probability. The position is so strongly fortified as to bid defiance to a larger force than can be spared from other posts which they are threatening, the fight will doubtless be in advance of
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
Manassas (if there be one), but the troops at this point expect to have a hand in it.
Your readers have doubtless been apprized of tlie fact that the command of this brigade has been trans- ferred from Colonel Terrett to General Longstreet, who is said to be an officer of merit, with the additional recommendation of having seen hard service in thie Mexican war.
Troops continue to arrive and depart, their destina- tion being unknown except to the initiated.
Your readers shall hear from me again shortly, when I trust to be able to communicate something that will be of interest to your local readers. B.
General Longstreet, in obedience to orders, took a position at Blackburn's Ford on Bull Run, some three or four miles from Manassas. When the enemy ad- vanced on this position, he threw out a line of skirm- ishers to the water's edge, but owing to the strength of the enemy, this line was thrown back on the line of bat- tle. He opened fire with his artillery, only two pieces, which fire was promptly answered by the Federal guns, eight in number, (Report of Brigadier General Tyler, Connecticut Militia), which held a commanding posi- tion. In consequence of this superiority of artillery, the two Confederate guns were removed, but the fire from the enemy was kept up for about half an hour. An advance of the enemy's infantry now followed, but although General Tyler sent some three or four thou- sand men under Colonel Richardson to break the Con- federate line, the attempt failed and the enemy fell back in confusion. The infantry was withdrawn on the Federal side and heavy cannonading took its place, but without doing serious damage. The troops engaged
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
in this skirmish were, on the Federal side, Ayres' bat- tery, Brackett's squadron, the Light Battalion, First Massachusetts infantry, Second Michigan infantry, Third Michigan infantry, and the Twelfth New York infantry. The infantry lost eighty-three in killed, wounded and missing. On the confederate side there were the First, Eleventh and Seventeenth Virginia Volunteers, and a battery of two guns, which was reinforced after the repulse of the enemy's infantry by a battery of seven guns under Captain Eshleman. The Confederate loss was sixty-three, killed, wounded and missing.
Says General Longstreet in his report: "To discrim- inate in such a body may seem a little unjust, yet I feel that I should be doing injustice to my acquaintances were I to fail to mention their names-not that I know them to be more distinguished than some others, but that I know what I owe them. Colonel Moore, First Regiment, severely wounded; Col. Garland, Eleventh Regiment, Virginia Volunteers, and Colonel Corse, Seventeeth Regiment, Virginia Volunteers; Lieutenant- Colonels Frye, Funsten and Munford; Majors Harri- son, (twice shot and mortally wounded) Brent and Skinner, displayed more coolness and energy than is usual amongst veterans of the old service."
We are able to give here a letter written by J. Law- rence Meem, then orderly sergeant of the Home Guard and acting adjutant of the regiment, describing this battle. The letter was to his father, but was published in the Lynchburg Virginian of July 22d, 1861, from which we copy it:
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ANNALS OF THE HOME GUARD.
FIELD OF BATTLE, BLACKBURN'S FORD,
July 19th, 1861.
As we expected, the evening of yesterday, we made a stand here with most of our forces four miles from Manassas. They commenced the attack from a thick wood on the opposite side of the road with rifled can- non at a quarter past twelve, and continued for some time to throw shot, shell and grape into us, without any damage however. Our brigade was drawn up in line of battle as follows : Below the ford, ist Regiment Virginia Volunteers, on the left the 17th, and further up the 11th, four companies being stationed along the fence as skirmishers. ( Here is inserted in the original an excellent diagram of the field which we regret to have to omit.)
After a while the cannon cleared, and the most awful firing that can well be conceived took place in the woods, so severe that the 17th and ist, the only ones that commenced at first, wavered for a moment, but were quickly rallied by General Longstreet, who cov- ered himself with glory. Then two companies of the rith were sent for, and Captains' Blankenship (Lynch- burg Rifles), and Hutter were led gallantly by Major Harrison, the latter, poor fellow, was soon brought back to us, it is feared, mortally wounded as he was shot through the stomach and in the arms. His horse was also shot in the head but not killed. The fight took place in a thick woods and underbrush, and we cannot tell the damage. In a short time the enemy com- inenced giving way, and the Washington Artillery then galloped up and opened fire where they thought the enemy was strongly posted. A prisoner reports that they did awful execution. I was on a hill and saw the whole battle, and in the latter part did some running abont. A rally was made by the enemy, when another awful firing took place, such as you can scarce imagine. Then too their artillery opened and ours continued to
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