USA > Virginia > Albemarle County > Albemarle County > Memorial history of the John Bowie Strange Camp, United Confederate Veterans, including some account of others who served in the Confederate Armies from Albemarle County > Part 14
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He is one of the few who did General Lee a favor on the battlefield, and saw the last shot fired on the enemy at Appo- mattox by Cumberland G. Dodd of Poague's Battalion. He is now engaged in the jewelry business in Charlottesville.
ROBERT CARSON VANDEGRIFT.
R. C. Vandegrift was a member of the Monticello Guard when that organization was ordered to the front to take part in the War between the States.
The guard became a part of the Nineteenth Virginia Infan- try, Pickett's Division, Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.
After the battle of Gettysburg he was transferred and pro- moted to a sergeantcy in Company G, First Engineers, Army of Northern Virginia, in which capacity he served until the surrender at Appomattox.
He was with the immortal Lee at the surrender. He served all four years of the war and was wounded but once, and that was at the Second Battle of Manassas.
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CHARLES EDWARD WATTS.
I am one of six brothers who. served in the Army of North- ern Virginia in defense of Southern rights.
I enlisted in Company H, Nineteenth Virginia Infantry, at the time it was organized and commanded by John T. Ellis (afterward Lieutenant Colonel), who was killed at Gettysburg.
In the fall of 1861, I transferred to Whitehead's Company, Second Virginia Cavalry, with which I served in most of the raiding, scouting, and fighting experiences of that company until May 6th, 1864, when I was disabled by a gunshot wound through the body. I was at First Manassas and received a slight wound at Stevensburg, where I also had my horse killed:
In 1865, being pronounced permanently disabled for field service, I secured, through General Wickham, a detail from the Secretary of War to "go to school," with orders to report at Charlottesville.
G. S. WEBB.
I was a member of the Charlottesville Band when the war broke out and went to war as a member of Company A, Nine- teenth Virginia Regiment, Monticello Guard, and served as a member of the band one year. Then the band disbanded, and I enlisted as a private in the same regiment. I was wounded on the 6th day of April, 1865, and was sent to prison at Point Lookout. I left there on the 24th day of June, 1865, for home.
W. C. WEBB.
W. C. Webb, son of Captain Spottswood Webb, left Char- lottesville in April, 1861, with the Monticello Guard (of which organization he was already a member), Company A, Nine- teenth Virginia Regiment.
At Culpeper Court House he was detailed a member of the regimental band, and remained a member of the same until the reorganization of the army. He then reënlisted for the war and was detailed as bugler, with rank of sergeant, and contin- ued to serve in that capacity until the surrender of the army at Appomattox Court House in April, 1865.
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JOSEPH N. WHEAT.
Joseph N. Wheat served during the Civil War in Company D, Sixth Virginia Cavalry, participating in the battles of Brandy Station, Trevillian's, Stewart's raid around Mcclellan, and Yellow Tavern. He was captured September 19th, 1864, at the battle of Winchester, and was paroled June 15th, 1865.
E. W. WILKERSON.
E. W. Wilkerson resided in Orange County at the beginning of the war and enlisted in Company C, Thirteenth Virginia In- fantry. This regiment was known as the "Bloody Thirteenth," and was reputed to be the best regiment in the army. It was commanded by General A. P. Hill, General Terrell, General James A. Walker, Colonel Goodman and Colonel Crittenden. Wilkerson shared in this distinguished honor, participating in the battles of Hatcher's Run, Winchester, Cold Harbor, Fish- er's Hill, Wilderness and Spottsylvania, and lives to enjoy this honored and hard-won distinction.
THOMAS JEFFERSON WILLIAMS.
Thomas Jefferson Williams, son of David Williams, has re- sided in Charlottesville for sixty-two years and is one of our oldest citizens. He entered the Confederate army in 1861 as a member of Company A, Nineteenth Virginia Infantry, and served the four years of war. He has been an active member of our camp since its organization. He has been chief of the Charlottesville Fire Department for many years and holds the unique position of being the oldest fire chief known.
EDWARD B. WILLIS.
Edward B. Willis enlisted in the Richmond Light Infantry Blues, Company A, Forty-sixth Virginia Regiment, Wise's Legion, in August, 1861.
He was taken prisoner, with his command, in the battle of
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Roanoke Island, North Carolina, February 8th, 1862, and was paroled on the 21st of February, 1862, at Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was exchanged and reëntered the service in August, 1862. In 1863 he was transferred to Company A, Fifteenth Virginia Regiment, Corse's Brigade, but was dis- charged from field service that same year on account of physi- cal disabilities. He was detailed to the Quartermaster's De- partment under Major W. B. Richards, at Gordonsville, Vir- ginia, in 1864. Still later in 1864 he was transferred to the Quartermaster's Department under Captain T. W. Wood, at Charlottesville, Virginia, where he remained until the war ended in April, 1865.
A. COKE WINGFIELD.
A. Coke Wingfield enlisted in the Confederate army from Albemarle County in Company A, Nineteenth Virginia Infan- try, at the beginning of the war, and served until the close. He took part in the battles of Williamsburg, First Manassas and Seven Pines. Having been wounded at Seven Pines, he was detailed for special work at Charlottesville, where he re- mained until the surrender. He resides near Hardware Church, Albemarle County.
J. R. WINGFIELD.
J. R. Wingfield was born December 14th, 1845. He re- signed from the Virginia Military Institute and volunteered in the Army of Northern Virginia, Second Regiment Virginia Cavalry, Company E, about the middle of April, 1864. He says :
"After General Grant crossed the Rappahannock I partici- pated in three days' fighting-the fifth, sixth and seventh of May-our division of cavalry being on General Lee's right wing.
"On the evening of the seventh of May, General Grant threw a heavy force of infantry which attacked us near Todd's
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Tavern, and our line of dismounted cavalry was outflanked. Colonel Munford, in command of our brigade, ordered me to take his horse and ride down the line to give the order to fall back. In so doing I was shot through the right lung.
The regiment fell back immediately afterwards. I became a prisoner and was removed to a field hospital, where I was left, unparoled, when General Grant moved his army to the left in his advance on Richmond.
"I recovered from my wound sufficiently to rejoin the army the latter part of February, 1865, and participated in the bat- tle of Five Forks and in several minor engagements, of which I can mention Amelia Springs and High Bridge near Farm- ville, on the retreat from Petersburg."
M. WALKER WINGFIELD.
M. Walker Winfield was the son of Colonel F. F. Wingfield, and was one of five brothers to enter the Confederate army at the beginning of the war. He enlisted in Company A, Nine- teenth Virginia Infantry, and participated in the battles of First Manassas, Williamsburg and Seven Pines. Having been wounded at Seven Pines, he was detailed for special service at Charlottesville until the close of the war. He resides with his son in Charlottesville, Virginia.
W. H. WOLFE.
W. H. Wolfe enlisted in the Confederate army in May, 1861, in Company I, Twenty-fourth Virginia Infantry, Kemper's Brigade, Pickett's Division. He was engaged in the following battles : Williamsburg, May 5th, 1862; Seven Pines, May 31st, 1862; battle of Plymouth, N. C., April 20th, 1863; Drury's Bluff, in May, 1864; Cold Harbor, June 3rd, 1864; Hatcher's Run, March, 1865; Five Fork's, April 1st, 1865.
He was wounded at Seven Pines and disabled for several months. At Five Forks he was taken prisoner and carried to Point Lookout, where he remained a prisoner of war until
.
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June 22nd, when he returned to Charlottesville, June 26th, 1865.
His brother, Luther T. Wolfe, enlisted in April, 1861, in Company B, Nineteenth Virginia Infantry, Pickett's Division. He was in nearly every battle in which his division participated and was badly wounded in the Second Battle of Manassas, and again at Gettysburg. He was promoted from the ranks to the position of Sergeant-Major for his bravery, which position he held until mortally wounded in the battle of Cold Harbor, June 3rd, 1864, from which wound he died the following day.
Dedication of Monuments
. THE MONUMENT IN UNIVERSITY CEMETERY. Extracts
From Address at the Dedication of the Monument to the Confederate Dead, University of Virginia, June 7th, 1893.
BY MAJOR ROBERT STILES.
On the outskirts of the historic city of Virginia, between it and the great battle fields, out of the midst of sixteen thousand graves, rises a simple granite shaft with this inscription :
"The epitaph of the soldier who falls with his country is written in the hearts of those who love the right and honor the brave."
Today, in this silent camp, we unveil another sentinel stone, bearing this legend :
"Fate denied them Victory, but clothed them with glorious Immortality."
There is a naked simplicity and sincerity of right in the man who defends his hearth-stone, which does not belong to him who invades it. Let it never be forgotten that this God-im- planted, spontaneous, irrepressible right was on our side in the late war, and that it tore away from their quiet studies here and hurried to the front, largely over one-half of the 604 stu- dents at this institution in the spring of 1861, while there joined the first army of invasion but 73 out of the 896 students on the roll of great Harvard the same year. It gave to the Confederate service, from 1861 to 1865, more than 2,000 men of our University, of whom it buried in soldiers' graves more than 400, while but 1,040 Harvard men served in the armies and navies of the United States during the four years of the war, and only 155 of these lost their lives in the service.
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MONUMENT TO THE FOURTEEN HUNDRED CONFEDERATE DEAD IN THE CEMETERY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
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Lee.
The most eloquent tongues and pens of two continents have labored to present, with fitting eulogy, the character and ca- reer of the great Cavalier, who is today recognized, the world over, as the representative of the soldiery of the South. Not only is it true of him that he uniformly acted from the high- est motive presented to his soul, but so impressive and all- compelling was the majesty of his virtue, that it is doubtful whether any one ever questioned this. It is perhaps not too much to say, that the common consensus of Christendom --- friend and foe and neutral-ranks him as one of the greatest captains of the ages, and attributes to him more of the noblest virtues and powers, with less of the ordinary weakness and littleness of humanity, than to any other representative man in history.
Indeed, if commissioned to select a man to represent the race, in a congress of universal being, whither would you turn to find a loftier representative than Robert Edward Lee?
Jackson.
What, now, of our marvellous Roundhead?
This certainly, that the world believes in his intense religion and his supreme genius for war, and receives every fresh rev- elation of him with something of the profound and eager in- terest that attaches to the abnormal and the miraculous. In explaining the apparent presumption of this humble contribu- tion, I can not avoid the egotism of a personal explanation.
Probably no two general officers in the Confederate service knew more of the inner being of Stonewall Jackson and his characteristics as a soldier, than General D. H. Hill and Gen- eral Ewell-the former his brother-in-law, the latter his trusted lieutenant. It was my privilege to be honored with the per- sonal friendship of both these officers-General Hill early in the war, General Ewell later. Both talked freely with me of Jackson and I eagerly absorbed from both all I could concern- ing him.
General Hill, during the winter of 1861-2, frequently ex-
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pressed to me his unbounded confidence in Jackson's un- bounded genius, and predicted that, if the war should last six years, and Jackson live so long, he would be in supreme com- mand.
Dear, queer, chivalric, lovable "Dick Ewell" first worshipped Stonewall Jackson, and then Stonewall Jackson's God. With his own lips he told me, what is related with slight variation in Mrs. Jackson's life of her husband, that the first religious im- pression of which he was ever conscious took the form of a desire to get hold of the wondrous power which inspired his great commander after prayer. Elymas the sorcerer, Simon Magus, if you please-but dear old Dick's simony led him up to "pure and undefiled religion." Ewell used to say the secret of Jackson's success as a soldier lay in his emphasis of the maxim, "Time is everything in war"-more than numbers, preparation, armament-more even than all these and all else.
I am satisfied this is but part of the secret.
My father was a minister of the gospel, but possessed strong military instincts and would have made a superb soldier. He was a sort of chaplain-general in the army of Northern Vir- ginia, and spent much of his time and did much of his work in the lightning corps of Jackson. Being an intense Christian and an intense Calvinist, he and Jackson became warm friends, and he was much at headquarters, even in the General's tent. I distinctly recall his saying, "If required to state wherein Jackson differed most from other men, and wherein lay the great secret of his power, I should say he came nearer putting God in God's place, than any other human soul I ever met."
A Member of the Stonewall Brigade.
During the winter of 1864-5, two or three of General Alex- ander's field officers, First Corps Artillery, A. N. V., were sent to Chaffin's Bluff, for the purpose of toning up the garrison there, which had been demoralized by the disaster at Fort Har- rison, the capture of their commanding officer and other unto- ward incidents. The morale of the men had decidedly im- proved before the final crash came, but that was enough to try
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the mettle even of the best troops in the highest condition. The men of the fleet and of the James River defenses were ordered to leave the river about midnight of the 2nd of April, explod- ing magazines and iron clads, and joining the army of North- ern Virginia on its retreat. The troops at Chaffin's, having been long in garrison and rightly deeming this the beginning of the end, were greatly shaken by the orders, and the sublime. terrors of that fearful night certainly did nothing to steady them.
The explosions began just as we got across the river. When the magazines at Chaffin's and Drury's Bluffs went off, the solid earth shuddered convulsively; but, as the iron clads, one after the other, exploded, it seemed as if the very dome of heaven would be shattered down upon us. Earth and air and the black sky glared in the lurid light. Columns and towers and pinnacles of flame shot upward to an amazing height, from which, on all sides, the ignited shell flew on arches of fire and burst as if bombarding heaven. I distinctly remember feeling that, after this, I could never more be startled, no, not by the catastrophes of the last great day.
I walked in rear of the battalion to prevent straggling, and as the successive flashes illumined the cimmerian darkness, the blanched faces and staring eyes turned backward upon me spoke volumes of nervous demoralization. I felt that a hare might shatter the column.
We halted at daylight at a country cross-road in Chester- field, to allow other bodies of troops to pass, the bulk of my men lying down and falling asleep in a grove; but, seeing oth- ers about a well in the yard of a farm house over the way, I deemed it best to go there, to see that nothing was unnecessa- rily disturbed.
I sat in the porch, where were also sitting an old couple, evi- dently the joint head of the establishment, and a young woman dressed in black, apparently their daughter, and, as I soon learned, a soldier's widow. My coat was badly torn, and the young woman kindly offering to mend it, I thanked her and, taking it off, handed it to her. While we were chatting, and groups of men sat on the steps and lay about the yard, the door
.
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of the house opened and another young woman appeared. She was almost beautiful, was plainly but neatly dressed, and had her hat on. She had evidently been weeping, and her face was deadly pale. Turning to the old lady as she came out, she said, cutting her words off short, "Mother! tell him if he passes by here, he is no husband of mine," and turned again to leave the porch. I rose, and placing myself directly in front of her, extended my arm to prevent her escape. She drew back with surprise and indignation. The men were alert on the instant, and battle was joined.
"What do you mean sir?" she cried.
"I mean, madam," I replied, "that you are sending your husband word to desert, and that I cannot permit you to do this in the presence of my men."
"Indeed! and who asked your permission, sir? And pray, sir, is he your husband or mine?"
"He is your husband, madam, but these are my soldiers. They and I belong to the same army with your husband and I cannot suffer you or anyone, unchallenged, to send such a demoralizing message in their hearing."
"Army! do you call this mob of retreating cowards an army? Soldiers! if you are soldiers, why don't you stand and fight the savage wolves that are coming upon us defense- less women and children?"
"We don't stand and fight, madam, because we are soldiers, and have to obey orders, but if the enemy should appear on that hill this moment, I think you would find that these men are soldiers, and willing to die in defense of women and children."
"Quite a fine speech, sir, but rather cheap to utter, since you very well know the Yankees are not here, and won't be, till you've had time to get your precious carcasses out of the way. Besides, sir, this thing is over, and has been for some time. The government has now actually run off, bag and baggage, the Lord knows where, and there is no longer any government or any country for my husband to owe allegiance to. He does owe allegiance to me, and to his starving children, and if he
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doesn't observe this allegiance now, when I need him, he needn't attempt it hereafter, when he wants me."
The woman was quick as a flash and cold as steel. She was getting the better of me. She saw it, I felt it, and worst of all, the men saw and felt it too, and had gathered thick and pressed up close, all around the porch. There must have been a hun- dred or more of them, all eagerly listening and evidently lean- ing strongly to the woman's side.
This would never do.
I tried every avenue of approach to that woman's heart. It was either congealed by suffering, or else it was encased in adamant. She had parried every thrust, repelled every ad- vance, and was now standing defiant, with her arms folded across her breast, rather courting further attack. I was des- perate, and, with the nonchalance of pure desperation-no stroke of genius-I asked the soldier question :
"What command does your husband belong to?"
She started a little, and there was a slight trace of color in her face, as she replied, with a slight tone of pride in her voice : "He belongs to the Stonewall Brigade, sir."*
I felt rather than thought it, but had I really found her heart? We would see.
"When did he join it?"
A little deeper flush, a little stronger emphasis of pride. "He joined it in the spring of '61, sir."
Yes, I was sure of it now. Her eyes had gazed straight into mine; her head inclined and her eyelids drooped a little now, and there was something in her face that was not pain and was not fight. So I let myself out a little, and turning to the men, said :
"Men, if her husband joined the Stonewall Brigade in '61,
*The Stonewall Brigade was, of course, not so named until after the first battle of Manassas, and it did not exist as an organization after May, 1864; but men who had at any time belonged to one of the regiments that composed it, ever after claimed membership in the brigade. Among soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, and yet more among their families and friends, once of "The Stonewall Brigade," always of that immortal corps.
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and has been in the army ever since, I reckon he is a good sol- dier."
I turned to look at her. It was all over. Her wifehood had conquered. She had not been addressed this time.
Yet she answered instantly, with head raised high, face flushing, eyes flashing.
"General Lee hasn't a better in his army."
As she uttered these words, she put her hand in her bosom and drawing out a folded paper extended it toward me, say- ing :
"If you doubt it, look at that."
Before her hand reached mine she drew it back, seeming to have changed her mind, but I caught her wrist, and, without much resistence on her part, possessed myself of the paper. It had been much thumbed and was much worn. It was hardly legible, but I made it out. Again I turned to the men.
"Take your hats off, boys. I want you to hear this with un- covered heads." And then I read an endorsement on applica- tion for furlough, in which General Lee himself had signed a recommendation of this woman's husband for a furlough of special length, on account of special gallantry in battle.
During the reading of this paper the woman was transfig- ured, glorified. No madonna of old master was ever more sweetly radiant with all that appeals to what is best and holiest in man. Her bosom rose and fell with deep, quiet sighs; her eyes rained gentle, happy tears.
The men felt it all-all. They were all gazing upon her, but the dross was clean purified out of them. There was not, upon any one of their faces, an expression that would have brought a blush to the cheek of the purest womanhood on earth. I turned once more to the soldier's wife:
"This little paper is your most precious jewel, isn't it?" "It is."
"And the love of him whose manly courage and devotion won this tribute is the best blessing God ever gave you, isn't it?"
"It is."
"And yet, for the brief ecstasy of one kiss, you would dis-
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grace this hero husband of yours, stain all his noble reputation, and turn this priceless little paper to bitterness; for, the rear- guard would hunt him from his own cottage, in half an hour, as a deserter and a coward."
Not a sound could be heard save her hurried breathing. The rest of us held even our breath.
Suddenly, with a gasp of recovered consciousness, she snatched the paper from my hand, put it back hurriedly in her bosom, and, turning once more to her mother, said:
"Mother, tell him not to come."
I stepped aside at once. She left the porch, glided down the path to the gate, crossed the road, surmounted the fence with easy grace, climbed the hill, and, as she disappeared in the weedy pathway I caught up my hat and said:
"Now men, give her three cheers."
. Such cheers! O God! shall I ever again hear a cheer which bears a man's whole soul in it!
. I could have hurled that battalion against an embattled world.
The Monument Unveiled.
Comrades :
We are about to unveil a monument to "The Confederate Dead"-but, one interesting feature of this occasion is its ten- der association with a Confederate, thank God, yet living.
When little Sallie Baker shall draw aside yonder veil, and reveal the noble figure behind it, her act will also serve to re- call the pathetic figure of the hero father to whose superb gal- lantry she owes her distinguished part in the ceremonies of this hour-comrade James B. Baker, a soldier who never fal- tered till he fell, and who had borne his wounds as bravely as he had worn his sword.
And now, we leave this holy acre, we close this holy hour. We turn again to what we call "life." We leave these gallant brothers whom we call "dead." Yes, leave them here in silence and with God.
God will distill the gentlest dews of heaven upon these flow-
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ers. He will direct the mildest stars of heaven upon these graves. God and his angels will guard their repose until the roses bloom again, then we will return and renew our flowers and our faith.
THE MONUMENT IN COURT SQUARE.
BY J. H. LINDSAY.
The Confederate monument which stands in the Court House Square, in the City of Charlottesville, was unveiled May 5th, 1909, the anniversary of the organization of the Monticello Guard (Company A, Nineteenth Virginia Regiment).
One of the largest crowds ever seen in Charlottesville wit- nessed the ceremony, which was preceded by a procession which included the local Masonic orders, the Albemarle band, Monti- cello Guard, Confederate Veterans, Sons of Veterans, Univer- sity band and students, Fire Company with drum corps, and 1200 children of the public schools carrying Confederate flags. Captain H. Clay Michie acted as general marshal. The exer- cises at the monument were in charge of Widows' Sons' Lodge No. 60 A. F. and A. M. Miss Sallie Stuart Woods, daughter of Captain Micajah Woods, drew the veil from the shaft, and as she did so the Monticello Guard fired a salute, which was followed by a salute of thirteen guns fired from the two twelve pound Napoleon guns recently presented by the U. S. Gov- ernment, and placed on either side of the monument.
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