USA > West Virginia > Hampshire County > History of Hampshire County, West Virginia : from its earliest settlement to the present > Part 45
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The Coffee Spoiled .- William Loy was one of the sharpshooters who had belonged to Company I. During a skirmish one day he thought he would snatch a few min- utes and make a cup of coffee. He built a fire behind a rail pile and set his cup on. The truth is, it was cane seed, but he was playing that it was coffee. The cup was beginning to simmer, and Loy was blowing the coals to expedite matters when a yankee sharpshooter, with plenty "of nerve, shot at him and sent a bullet through the cup of coffee. Loy exclaimed : "Drat that yankee! He spoiled my cup." The sharpshooters would climb trees, or old chimneys, or houseroofs to get a good shot. On one occa- sion V. M. Poling was at the gable window of a deserted house when Major Daniel, of General Early's staff, went
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up to use his field glass. A yankee sharpshooter sent a bullet into the loft near their heads, through a feather bed, scattering feathers over the room. The major remarked that he had seen all there was to see, and departed. It has often been remarked that wounds received while fight- ing sharpshooters are nearly always severe, because sharpshooters aim at vital parts and are excellent marks- men. On the day before the second battle of Cold Harbor Samuel Mohler was shot through the brain and killed. This left only four men of Company I. In the fight Gen- eral Hunter was forced back toward Salem. The confed- erate army moved down the valley to Maryland, fighting much of the way; advanced within a few miles of Wash- ington; then up the valley; again down the valley to Charlestown. In all this marching there was scarcely a day on which the sharpshpoters were not fighting. One night they captured thirty-one cavalrymen behind a stone fence in the edge of Winchester. The yankee lieutenant asked where Winchester was, he being badly bewildered. Although the sharpshooters made the capture, Gilmor's Marylanders got the cavalrymen's horses.
General Mulligan K'illed .- General Mulligan, a brave federal officer, was killed near Kernstown. He had the respect of friend and foe. When he was in command . at Keyser, Moorefield and Petersburg he had many oppor- tunities to show kindness to captured confederates, and he always did so. Those who killed him did not know who he was until too late, and they regretted what they had done, although they did it while discharging their duty as sharp- shooters in line of battle. Seven of them, William Loy, W. F. Sheetz and Joel Roberson being of the number, crawled two hundred yards down a ditch and reached a point from which they could see General Mulligan and his staff. All seven fired at one time, and the general was killed and one of his staff was wounded.
Charlestown Captured .- While General Early
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was in the vicinity of Charlestown that place was taken by seven sharpshooters, four of them being the remnant of old Company I, William Loy, Joel Roberson, V. M. Poling and W. F. Sheetz. The exploit was somewhat remarkable. The sharpshooters had forced back the federal skirmish- ers toward the town, and supposing they had passed through the village, followed after them. When the squad of seven confederate sharpshooters reached a small bridge in the suburbs of the town they were surprised to find that they had run into a squad of cavalry not thirty yards distant. Luckily for the sharpshooters, the yankees were still more surprised, and ran without firing a shot. The sharpshooters fired and killed the federal captain and two of his men. The cavalry took refuge in town, and the sharpshooters followed. For an hour the fight continued, the seven confederate taking the place house by house and street by street, fighting in back yards, running over porches, and all the while the women were waving their handkerchiefs from windows and cheering. Finally the yankees were driven out.
In the fight at Winchester, September 19, 1864, General Early was forced to retreat before General Sheridan. The battle was a hard one and the sharpshooters had little rest. William Loy was wounded and taken prisoner. He was one of the toughest soldiers in the service, never giving out on the hardest march. This left three of old Company I. Sheetz was wounded in the arm by a spent ball. He had the remarkable record of never missing a battle during the war, up to that time, in which his regiment was er- gaged. After living through the war, he was killed on the railroad a few years ago. When Sheetz was wounded it left only two men of the eighty-six who went into the company at the beginning of the war. They were V. M. Poling and Joel Roberson. These two entered the battle of Fisher's Hill, where General Early's veterans became stampeded from some unknown and unaccountable reason,
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and there was a disgraceful route. The two sharpshoot- ers, Poling and Roberson, were doing what they could, in company with other sharpshooters, to save the day, when Poling was wounded. He became very sick and wanted to be left on the field. But his comrade, Roberson, would not desert him. They had fought many a day and many a night side by side; they had shared victory and defeat; and now, when only one of that company of eighty-six was left, he was not the man to abandon a comrade to the en- emy. So he carried Poling off the field, put him in an am- munition wagon and landed him safely in Harrisonburg, where he was placed in the hospital. The union troops captured the hospital and Poling was a prisoner. How- ever he was not sent to prison. After a few days he was exchanged and was sent to Hampshire on furlough, and he was there taken care of by James C. Poland and his wife and daughter. As soon as Poling could walk he went to his home in Romney, and on March. 1865, was taken pris- oner by a scouting party from Martinsburg. They took him to Garrett I. Blue's, where they stopped for the night, the river being too deep to be crossed. About three o'clock next morning Poling ran out at the door and escaped, tak- ing one of the yankee's guns with him, but left his own revolver and hat. He did not consider it a good trade, but it was the best he could do at the time. He and others surrendered in Cumberland soon after the surrender of Lee. During the last year of the war he had no clothing except what was made for him and sent to him by his sis- ters. The confederacy was unable to supply clothes for its soldiers. Mr. Poling's portrait in this book shows him in a suit of uniform sent him from home.
The Last Man .- It is in order that the history of the old company be followed to the end, and until the last man disappears from the scene. When Poling went home wounded, Roberson was the only one left in active service. But Sheetz recovered from his wound and went back and
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took his place in the line of sharpshooters. At the battle of Bell Grove, near Strasburg, Sheetz and Roberson were trying to hold a bridge and prevent the federal cavalry from crossing. They said that one hundred men could have held the bridge and could have saved Early's artil- lery and wagons. But the necessary one hundred men were not there. The cavalry charged across the bridge and took Sheetz prisoner. Roberson tried to escape by climbing a steep bank of solid limestone, where the pike cuts through at the south end of the bridge. Before he could climb the rocks a yankee cavalryman was upon him striking at him with his sabre. Roberson was compelled to turn and fight. Neither had his gun loaded. Roberson would strike the horse, causing him to wheel; then he would attempt to climb the rocks; but before he could do so the cavalryman would be striking at him again. This was kept up until Roberson was about worn out. The yankee seemed determined to kill him, and did not offer him a chance to surrender. At length an officer came up and took Roberson prisoner. He and Sheetz remained in. prison till the close of the war. But old Company I was not yet to pass out of active service. When Sheetz and Roberson surrendered, not one man was left; but in a day or two Uriah Cheshire had recovered from his wound and came back. He was the only man in ranks when Lee sur- rendered at Appomattox, and he there laid down his gun. James Starnes, Hiram Terry and Joseph Poland were teamsters during the entire war, and were faithful to their duty. Benjamin Brooks was an ambulance driver. All were included in Lee's surrender.
"When these heads are white with glory, When the shadows from the west
Lengthen as you tell the story In the veteran's ward of rest,
May no ingrate's word of sneering
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Reach one heart of all the brave, But may honor, praise and cheering Guard old valor to the grave."
Unmaterialized Bonds .- In 1864 the confederate government concluded to be generous with the veterans who had volunteered in the service, and congress at Rich- mond passed an act giving each veteran a bond for one hundred dollars. The few men still serving in the ranks of the Frontier Riflemen were called out in line and each was promised the bond as a present. They never received them. It was afterwads ascertained, or was so reported in the army, that the employes in the government printing office at Richmond were given all the bonds they could print after five o'clock each evening, as their pay for working the rest of the day for the government.
It was customary in winter to give ten days' furlough to two men at a time from each company. The young sol- diers usually gave way to the married men who could thus visit their families. Those on furlough, if they remained in Richmond, had expenses to pay. Board at the hotels was fifty dollars a day in January, 1864; flour, one hundred and fifty dollars a barrel; oysters one dollar a dish; whis- key two dollars a thimbleful. As the soldiers received only twelve dollars a month they could not afford to go on furlough very often. The soldiers in camp were very often starved nearly to death, and when they obtained a supply of food their appetite was so ravenous that they ate to excess. After the battle at Port Republic, two days' rations were issued to the men. Some of the sol- diers cooked and ate the whole at one sitting. Two brothers, in addition to the two days' rations, bought from a butcher a beef's liver weighing twelve pounds. They boiled this and ate the whole of it. They lay down and slept, never expecting to wake; but no harm came of their enormous meal.
CHAPTER LIII,
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OTHERS TAKING THE FIELD,
Following is a list of the members of the Hampshire Guards, afterwards Company K: Captain, J. B. Sherrard; first lieutenant, D. W. Entler; second llieutenant, Felix D. Heiskell; first sergeant, William V. Herriott; second ser- geant, James W. Poling; third sergeant, C. S. White. Privates-John A. Borley, Henry Burd, C. E. Blue, Isaac T. Brady, Edward Brelsford, Thomas Brooke, D. Car- michael, John Carroll, Felix R. Davis, John H. Davis, John Davis, William Davis, Samuel Fleming, John Florey, David Fox, William French, Isaac V. Gibson, Joseph Gill, Robert Gill, Joseph A. Hammen, Isaac Hartman, John W. Hass, Henry G. Houser, Joshua Johnson, Joseph Kern, W. Lar- gent, James Linthicum, C. S. Lovett, Benjamin McDonald, E. H. McDonald, George Malick, B. F. Maloney, P. Mc- Carty, Owen Millison, Robert E. Morehead, G. Mytinger, George Nealis, John Nolan, William Nolan, Pierce Nolan, James D. Parsons, John D. Parsons, John P. Parker, Isaac V. Parker, William C. Parker, William M. Parsons, John Peters, Peter L. Peters, James T. Peer, H. A. Powell, Jonathan Pugh, Joseph Pugh, Mahlon Pugh, Owen V. Pugh, Isaac Pancake, James W. Ream, Charles H. Ream, Frederick Sheetz, F. D. Sherrard, James E. Spaid, John F. Taylor, Isaac Taylor, D. K. Taylor, M. Taylor, E. Ullery, Edward Washington, John Washington, Alexander White, William Wills. Musicians-William F. Davis and Peter Miller.
The Hampshire Guards were organized before the com- mencement of the civil war, and saw service during the
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excitement following John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry. When the war began this company was one of the first in the field, and was one of the last to leave the field at the close of the war. It was called into service in May, 1861, to go to the front, and on the eighteenth of that month left Romney for Harper's Ferry. The trip down the south branch to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad at Greenspring was made in buggies, carriages, on horseback and in wagons, many citizens accompanying the soldiers that far on their journey. The baggage train was enormous, the prevailing opinion seeming to be that the trip was a com- bined excursion and picnic, and that enough provisions and sufficient changes of clothing should be taken along to render life enjoyable. The company carried a flag which was destined to pass through the war and survive till the present day. It was of heavy silk, elaborately worked and embroidered, and was presented to the company in 1858 by the ladies of Hampshire county. The presentation had been made by Captain Robert White with a speech appro- priate to the occasion. He recited the duties of the sol- dier, his obligations to his country and his flag, and ad- monished the men to carry the banner with honor in war and in peace; and the survivors of the company now speak with pride of the manner in which they performed their duty. Within a year after the flag was presented it was taken to Harper's Ferry. Within the next two years- that is, in May, 1861-it was carried to Harper's Ferry again. It was brought back by Frank Sherrard. The flag, or what remains of it, is now in possession of Miss Mary Gibson, of Romney, daughter of James A. Gibson and granddaughter of David Gibson. The stripes have been cut off. They were divided among the members of the company as souvenirs.
In June, 1861, the company returned to Romney, after having marched from Harper's Ferry to Winchester After occupying Romney for a few days an expedition was made
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toward Piedmont, where a company of federal home guards was camped. The confederate force was made up of parts of the Third Tennessee and Tenth Virginia regiments. The expedition resulted in the capture of two small can- non from the Cumberland home guards and the destruc- tion of a bridge on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. A few days later the confederates left Romney and returned to- ward Winchester, camping the first night at Hanging Rock, on the Northwestern pike, and the next at Capon Bridge. The company did not take part in the battle of Bull Run, although in the vicinity. In August, 1861, the company was doing picket duty within sight of the dome on the capitol at Washington.
In 1862 an election of officers for Company K, formerly the Hampshire Guards, resulted in the selection of Felix Heiskell, captain; Frank D. Sherrard, first lieutenant; John H. Davis, second lieutenant. The company took part in the battle of Front Royal, May 23, 1862; the battle of Mid- dletown, May 24; the battle of Winchester, May 26. On June 2, on the Capon Springs road, the company was in the fight against General Fremont; and on the sixth of the same nionth, in a fight near Port Republic, in which Colonel Ashby was killed while leading a counter-charge. On June S the company took part in a battle with General Shields near Port Republic, and also on the same day, in another battle with General Fremont. The next day there was a battle with General Shields. The company was in the fight at Cold Harbor, going in with twenty-six men, of whom seventeen were killed or wounded in the fight. Lieutenant Sherrard was killed; also John Washington, Thomas O'Farrell and Owen Milleson. Isaac Gibson, Isaac Arm- strong and Thomas Brooks died of their wounds.
Captain Mc Donald's Company .- Company D, Eleventh Virginia cavalry, was raised by E. H. McDon- ald of Hampshire county. At first it was a part of the seventh battalion of the Ashby cavalry, and afterwards in-
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corporated in the Eleventh Virginia regiment. It con- tained a few men from Maryland and Pennsylvania. The roll of the company and a sketch of its history is as follows: Captain, E. H. McDonald; first lieutenant, William Taylor; second lieutenant, John Blue; third lieutenant, Isaac Par- sons; first sergeant, Joseph Sherrard; second sergeant, Amos Roberson; third sergeant, R. B. Kidd; quartermas- ter sergeant, Samuel Bane; commissary sergeant, Conrad Umstett; corporals, Uriah Lease, James Ream, L. Nixon, George Hott; privates, John Adams, Philip Abbee, Isaac T. Brady, Mathias Brill, Frank Brown, Richard Brown, Frank Barnett, John Brown, John W. Bowers, J. W. Bobo, D. Carder, Frederick Carder, John Carroll, J. Carroll, Rob- ert Cresap, W. R. Chapman, Charles Clayton, Charles Con- rad, Holmes Conrad, John Casler, James Davie, Benjamin Dailey, George Duvall, John Davie, Maurice Davis, John Dailey, Randolph Davis, Samuel Freddle, Samuel Feshel, J. Groves, Henry Huddleson, Isaac Hartman, Healy Hud- dleson; S. Hannas, E. Herriott, G, Holt, I. V. Inskeep, J, Kelly, W. Lease. C. S. Lovett, Edward Light, W. N. Mc- Donald, W. Morehead, Robert Morehead, F. Murphy, F. H. Myers, Pause McNary, Joseph A. Pancake, S. Pancake, John S. Pancake, A. Peer, John D. Parsons, James D. Par- sons, John W. Poland, Amos Poland, Jasper Pownell, Joel Robinson, Simon Rudolph, John Rudolph, John M. Reese, Charles Riley, Herman Senoff, John Saville, Luke Spurling, Edward Swartz, John N. Seymour, Daniel Seymour, Ab Shingleton, Elisha Shingleton, J. Shelley, James Smith, Charles Seibert, John Stewart, John Starns, S. Dudley Tay- lor, John Taylor, Enos Taylor, D. K. Taylor, John Urton, Isaac Wolfe, Thomas White, H. M. Watkins, Charles Watkins.
A list of those of the company who were killed or died in the service, so far as ascertainable, is as follows: Robert Cresap, a native of Preston county, killed at Moorefield, in November, 1862. He always carried a double-barreled 42
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shotgun. James Davis was killed in Hampshire county. Frederick Abbee was captured at Moorefield, and died of smallpox in prison at Cairo. He was an excellent swords- man. Mathias Brill was killed at Darkeville, Berkeley county, in his first fight. James Ream, known as "the boy preacher," was killed. John Groves fell in the battle of the Wilderness, May 2, 1863. H. M. Watkins was killed at Hagerstown, Maryland. George Hott was killed at the Forks of Capon. Edward Light, although in a Hampshire company, was from Berkeley county. He was killed near Richmond. James Carroll was killed at Moorefield Junc- tion. Daniel Seymour, from Maryland, was killed at Peters- burg, in Grant county. Ab Shingleton. James Shelley and Isaac Wolfe were killed at Brandy Station. Frank Myers was captured at Darkeville and died at Vicksburg, after being exchanged. John Rudolph died in the hospital at Charlottesville, Virginia. James Stewart died at Camp Chase. Enos Taylor, a prisoner, died on his way to be exchanged.
Amos Roberson, of this company, kept a diary during the service. The entries in it, during the last few days before Lee's surrender, may be of interest to show how the men then viewed occurrences which are now history. After detailing the many marches of the past month, he enters in his diary the following notes :
"March 29, 1865 .- Left camp about twelve o'clock and marched all afternoon and most of the night in the direc- tion of Petersburg. A battle is expected.
"March 30 .- Still on the march; hard rain; camped at White Oak.
"March 31 .- Continued the march till three o'clock, and then attacked the enemy and drove them four or five miles. Our loss is said to be heavy. The firing was terrific. We camped on the battle ground.
"April 1 .- The battle continues. Our division was not engaged. Our troops fell back over the ground they drove
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the enemy on yesterday. There was heavy firing all along the line on our left.
"April 2 .- We continue to fall back, the enemy pressing our rear; roads almost impassable; in camp but a short time tonight.
"April 3 .- Still fighting and falling back.
"April 4 .- Still retreating.
"April 5 .- Still on the retreat; had a hard fight, captur- ing a few prisoners and driving the enemy.
"April 6 .- Had another hard fight near the long bridge. General Dearing was seriously wounded."
This was the last entry. The end was then near, and General Lee soon surrendered.
The Apron Flag .- A battle flag carried by Company D has become famous in song and story. It was a child's apron, and it is still preserved as one of the most cherished mementoes of the war. Its history is briefly told. Lee's splendid and all but invincible army, with which he had crossed the Potomac and invaded Pennsylvania, had met the northern hosts on the hills of Gettysburg, and after one of the most desperate battles in the history of the world had been defeated and was slowly retreating south- ward to the Potomac. The army was yet powerful, but it had met disaster, and the soldiers realized that they were no longer led by the star of victory. Among the regiments that had passed through the storm of battle was the Eley- enth Virginia Cavalry. It was making its way through a hostile country and among unfriendly people. The news of the battle had gone over the land, and the people along the line of retreat looked with scorn and hatred upon the weary soldiers as they made their way south. There was no friendly word or sympathetic look among all the citizens of the country through which they passed. Thus, with feelings of dejection and discouragement, the confederates marched through the streets of Hagerstown, Maryland, and out by a stone mill. Here their eyes caught sight of
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the first token of friendship they had seen among the in -- habitants in days. A little girl stood on a porch near the mill watching the soldiers pass. She wore a small confed- erate flag for an apron. The discovery was greeted by rousing cheers by the weary soldiers, who little expected to find a friend in that place, and several of them went up to the child and asked for pieces of the apron for souve- nirs. She cheerfully took the apron off and gave it to. them. Charles Watkins, of Hampshire county, took it, fastened it to a stick, and said he would use it for a battle flag and defend it with his life.
He little knew how soon he would be called upon to re- deem his pledge. Scarcely had they passed beyond the town when union troops opened fire on them from the. front. The battle began at once, and was fiercely fought. for a few minutes, when the federals fell back and the con -- federates continued their retreat. But Charles Watkins,, who was a youth of nineteen, marched no further. He had been cut down in the midst of a furious charge. The apron flag lay beneath his body and was stained with his. life blood. The flag was preserved, and was often exhib- ited at confederate reunions throughout the south. The. following poem, written by Virginia Frazer Boyle, has for its subject the flag and the death of young Watkins :
It is just a little apron
That a tiny maid might wear
When childhood dimpled on her cheeks And sunlight kissed her hair.
Just a qaint, old-fashioned trifle, Blent with stripes of white and red;
Wrought tenderly with careful hands And earnest, bended head.
But the dust of years sleep on it. It is faded, rent and old; There are battle marks upon its field And blood stains in its fold.
.
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Yet a dainty maiden wore it As she watched way up the hill, Standing in the ancient doorway Of the busy old stone mill.
And she saw the soldiers coming, Dispirited and slow; A sad, retreating army In the country of the foe.
Then a shout that waked the woodlands Stirred her heart and filled her ear.
Down the line it rolled and echoed And re-echoed, cheer on cheer.
And the strong men dashed the teardrops That would come, and cheered once more For the girl who dared to wear it And the apron that she wore.
It had thrilled the weary legion, And from heart to heart it swept,
Striking deep the languid pulses, Where their truth and valor slept.
And they paused, these men of battles; Paused with grave, uncovered head, Just to beg a piece, a token, Of the apron, white and red.
Then the blue eyes dropped their fringes On the modest, blushing face ;
Then the proud breast swelled with ardor As she tore it from its place.
Then they fixed it on the flagstaff And unfurled it for the strife,
And the noble youth who bore it Pledged his valor with his life.
Onward moved the weary army
Through the vale and down the hill;
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Lost to sight the modest maiden; Past the village and the mill;
On and on, where raged the battle, And where hearts must needs be true,
Where the scythe of death was heaping High the mounds of Gray and Blue;
On and on, with stately marching; On and on, they could not lag;
For in front the youthful hero Bravely bore the apron flag.
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