History of The Middle New River Settlements - Chapter VII Part A



Chapter VII Part A
1861-1865

At the period of the organization of military companies referred to above,
the whole state of Virginia, in a measure, presented a fair picture of a
grand military camp and the people, except those in the northwestern part
of the state were aglow with enthusiasm for the defense of Virginia.
Enlistments were rapidly going on in all the counties, cities, towns and
villages within the Commonwealth, and the people of the New River Valley
Counties were abreast with their sister counties in this great movement.

The change in public sentiment wrought in the minds of the people in a few
short weeks was most remarkable. In the County of Giles Mr. Manilius
Chapman, known to lean strongly towards separation from the Federal Union,
was in February elected to the convention by a majority of only about
twenty votes over Mr. Charles D Peck, an open and avowed Unionist, and who
declared that "he would give up his slaves rather than dissolve the
union." A little more than three short months, the solid vote of Giles
County was cast for the ratification of the ordinance of Secession. The
same is true of the people of Mercer County, where the Union candidate was
elected by a vote of over two to one; yet in the same length of time the
sentiment of the people had been so revolutionized, that, save and except
seven votes, the county went solidly for secession; this too, in county
whose population was composed almost wholly of white people, there being
but few slaves in the county.

The following companies were organized and sent to the war by the County
of Giles, viz: Captain James H. French's company of infantry attached to
the 7th Virginia regiment; Captain W. W. McComas' company of artillery
attached to Sarke's battalion; Captain Andrew Gott's company (Note:The
officers of Captain Andrew Gott's company I, 36 Va. Infty., were, Capt.
Andrew Gott, Lieuts. James K. Shannon, Leander Johnston and Jno. M.
Henderson.) attached to the 36th Virginia regiment of infantry; Captain
Porterfield's company attached to the 36th regiment of Virginia infantry;
Captain William Eggleston's company attached to the 24th Virginia regiment
of infantry; Captain William H. Payne's company attached to the 27th
Virginia battalion of cavalry. To these should be added numbers of Giles
County men who attached themselves to companies from other counties, and
also the Reserve forces composed of those between the ages of sixteen and
eighteen years and forty-five and fifty years. (Note: A company of
Reserves commanded by Capt. Wm. H. Dulaney.)

Mercer County organized and sent to the field ten companies as follows,
viz: (Note: In addition to these ten companies, Mercer County also sent
Capt. Alex. Pine's company of Reserves, attached to the 4th Va. Battalion.
See Appendix G.) Captain Robert A. Richardson's company attached to the
24th regiment of Virginia infantry; Captain William B. Dorman's company
attached to a regiment of the Wise legion; Captain John A. pack's company
and Captain W. G. Ryan's company, both of which were attached to the 60th
regiment of Virginia; Captain Richard B. Foley's Independent company of
infantry; Captain John R. Dunlap's company attached to the 23rd Virginia
battalion of infantry; Captain William H. French's company attached to the
17th Virginia regiment of cavalry; Captain Napoleon B. French's company of
artillery, unattached, and captured at Fort Donnelson, and afterwards
divided, part going to the 17th regiment of Virginia cavalry and the
remainder thereof to Clark's 30th battalion of Virginia infantry; the
companies of Captain Jacob C. Straley and Captain Robert Gore attached to
the 17th regiment of Virginia cavalry. The company of Captain William B.
Dorman was captured in the battle of Roanoke Island, in 1862, and on the
return of the members of said company they separated, some going to
Captain Jacob C. Stralye's company and some to a company commanded by
Captain Thomas Thompson, who was succeeded by Captain James H. Peck, and
this company was attached to the 27th Virginia battalion of infantry
commanded by Colonel George M. Edgar.

It is not intended here, in fact it is not at all possible, as the
information is not at hand, to present a list of the names of the men who
composed these various companies, but the rolls of some of the companies
from the Counties of Giles and Mercer, as far as they have been obtained,
together with the names of the various company, officers will be found in
the appendix to this volume.

As has already been stated, when our people entered upon the war it was
with brave determination and vigor--not counting the cost. It was to them
simply the question of defending Virginia, and Virginia's soil from the
threatened invasion of a Northern army; and to preserve our rights and
liberties as free people, and for which our ancestors had shed their blood
in our contest with Great Britain. It was not a war on the part of our
people to preserve or perpetuate slavery, for thousands of our best and
bravest soldiers, nor their ancestors had ever owned a slave. We were
forced to the choice of which master we should serve--we could not serve
both. We regarded our primary allegiance due to the state which, with the
other states, had given life and existence to the Federal agent that now
proposed to turn upon, crush and destroy its creators. These were the
arguments and presentations of the question at that time. For these
contentions our people stood ready to surrender their lives, their all,
save honor, and fought to the finish, only yielding to overpowering and
overwhelming force, but not surrendering an iota of the principles for
which they so long, so faithfully and bravely battled. These principles
are just as sacred today as they ever were, they were not lost by the
results of the war, only the effort to maintain and establish them by the
arbitrament of the sword was a failure.

In the months of May, June and early days of July, 1861, the Federal
Government had gathered two great armies in the East under the command of
General Winfield Scott; one at Washington and in the vicinity, which
during the months referred to had crossed the Potomac into Virginia, the
other along the upper Potomac in the vicinity of Martinsburg and Harper's
Ferry. The first named army under General McDowell as field commander, the
second under General Patterson as commander in the field.

The Confederate Government to oppose these hostile and invading armies,
had gathered and mobilized an army at and around Manassas Junction under
General G. T. Beauregard; another to oppose General Patterson on the upper
Potomac and in the Valley under General Joseph E. Johnston.

During the month of May many of the companies from the New River Valley
Counties marched away to their respective places of rendezvous, among them
the companies of Captain James H. French, of Giles, and Captain
Richardson, of Mercer, which left their respective Counties about the last
days of May, 1861, and hastened to Lynchburg, Virginia, their appointed
place of rendezvous, and on the first day of June thereafter joined
General Beauregard's army, then being concentrated at and around Manassas
Junction on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad and about twenty-five miles
from the city of Washington. The companies of French (Note: French's
company was subsequently and prior to the first battle of Manassas,
transferred to the 7th Virginia Regiment.) and Richardson were assigned to
the 24th regiment of Virginia infantry then commanded by Colonel Jubal A.
Early. The company of Captain McComas was assigned to duty with the Wise
Legion, and did its first service in the Greenbrier-Sewell Mountain
country, and was then transferred to the eastern department with the
legion to which it belonged. The other companies as organized, those from
Giles as well as those from Mercer, went forward to their respective
places of assignment. It is estimated that the County of Giles sent into
the Confederate service about eight hundred men, of whom nearly forty per
cent were lost, and that about fifteen hundred men went from the County of
Mercer, of whom it is estimated that fully forty per cent were lost. These
two counties had their representatives on every important battlefield in
the state of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and on some
of the fields in Tennessee, Kentucky and North Caroline.

General Beauregard's outposts were at Fairfax Court House, and on the
morning of June 1st, 1861, a Federal scouting party entered the town and a
skirmish with the Confederates under Major Ewell took place, in which
Captain John Q. Marrs, of Fauquier County, was killed.

During the month of June and the early days of July, General Beauregard
was actively engaged in the organization of his troops and in preparing
them for field service. The regi-(Note: incorrect line in original text --
"regiment and placed under the command of Colonel Jubal A." -- same line
appears later.) 24th Virginia regiments were brigaded with the 7th
Louisiana regiment and placed under the command of Colonel Jubal A. Early.

Rumors were afloat in the camps for several days previous to the Federal
advance that we would soon be attacked by General McDowell's army.

Soldiers, even at that early stage of the war, seemed to have the peculiar
faculty of finding out things that it was difficult to conceive how or
where they got their information,--probably a kind of intuition.

In the early days of July our pickets on the outposts were required to be
more vigilant, and orders were issued requiring the men not on picket to
keep strictly within camp. One night during this time a picket fired his
gun at some object, real or imaginary; nevertheless the long roll sounded
to arms. We had the guns but no ammunition, and such confusion was
scarcely ever seen, but we survived it--got straightened out, and became
much more calm when we found no enemy was approaching.

Orders came to prepare three days rations and to be prepared to march at a
moment's notice. Everything transportable was packed and in readiness, the
soldier's knapsack was full and heavy, and this together with his musket
and forty rounds of cartridges, made a burden too heavy to be borne on a
July day and we learned better later on, soon finding out how to reduce
our baggage to minimum. The order to march came on the 17th day of July
and we left our camp and proceeded to the high ground overlooking the
valley of Bull Run, and Mitchell's, Blackburn's, and McLean's fords, where
we remained that night and until about noon on the 18th, when we
discovered a cloud of dust rising beyond the stream, which indicated the
advance of a body of men, which proved to be the vanguard of the Federal
army, which threw itself against General Longstreet's brigade and was
repulsed; but soon renewed at attack, when the seventh Virginia regiment
was led into the action by Colonel Early, and this attack was repulsed.
After a sharp cannonade of two hours or more, the enemy retired and some
of our men crossed the stream, picked up hats, guns, blankets, and the
enemy's wounded. The loss in the 7th regiment was small, a few slightly
wounded, among them Isaac Hare and James H. Gardner, of the Giles company,
struck with spent balls. Lieutenant Colonel Lewis B. Williams was in
command of the regiment, Colonel Kemper being absent on detached service,
but he joined us the next day. We occupied the field that night, next day
and until Saturday, when we were relieved and allowed to retire a short
distance into a pine thicket to rest and recuperate. The enemy having
sufficiently felt of our position and of us to satisfy him that we were
there and meant to stay as long as necessary, retired out of the range of
our guns, and began the flank movement which culminated in the battle of
Sunday afterwards.

On Sunday morning, the 21st, we were lined up along the belt of pines and
timber which fringed the southern bank of the stream, where we were
subjected to a severe shelling from the enemy's guns posted on the heights
beyond. On the day preceding, the companies of Richardson, of Mercer, and
Lybrook, of Patrick, were sent to Bacon Race Church to guard the road
leading to our position from that direction, and these companies remained
in their position throughout Sunday and did not participate in the battle.

About 11 o'clock A.M. of Sunday, July 21st, Colonel Early led his brigade
of three regiments, less the two companies above referred to, across Bull
Run at McLean's Ford and on to the hills beyond, forming in line of battle
and prepared to advance, when he was recalled to take position in the rear
of the troops at Mitchell's and Backburn's ford.

About high noon could be heard distinctly the roar of battle far to the
left and to the west. It was fully eight miles away, and Colonel Early
receiving an order to march to the field of contention, moved off rapidly,
the 13th Mississippi, Colonel Barksdale, having been substituted for the
24th Virginia regiment, which had been placed in position at one of the
fords. The movement of Early's brigade for the greater part of the
distance was at double quick through a boiling hot sun and many of the men
were almost completely exhausted and famished for water. The brigade
reached the field of action about three o'clock and twenty minutes, P. M.
the time consumed in the movement being about two hours and twenty
minutes. In this rapid movement on roads were looked for or traveled, but
the command was governed alone by the sound of the firing . On the arrival
of this brigade the situation was anything but promising to the
Confederates; the Federals were making another, and it was the last, swing
around the Confederate left. The brigade of General E. Kirby Smith, which
had just preceded that of Early on the field, had passed through a strip
of woods, behind which Early's command marched to the left, and into an
open field beyond, and near to the Chinn house, which was almost
immediately on the left of the brigade. Here the deployment of the brigade
began to meet the oncoming foe. The 7th Virginia regiment being in the
advance made its deployment quickly, but not without serious loss from the
enemy's fire, from which the regiment suffered in killed and wounded
within a few minutes forty-seven men, of whom nine were killed and thirty-
eight wounded. Colonel Early advanced his regiments promptly against the
enemy, who soon left the field in a panic, and were pursued as rapidly and
as far as the broken down condition of the men would permit. The Federals
continued their retreat to the Potomac, and even beyond, some of them not
stopping short of their homes; and thus the first "On to Richmond" was a
disastrous failure.

General Johnston had eluded Patterson in the Valley, and with the greater
part of his forces had united with General Beauregard's army in time to
win the great victory at Manassas.

The loss in company D, the Giles Company, of the 7th regiment was as
follows, viz: Killed, Joseph E. Bane, Wounded, Robert H. Bane, A. L. Fry,
Manilius S. Johnston, Charles N. J. Lee, Henry Lewy, John P. Sublet, and
Samuel B. Shannon.

In a few days after this battle, the army moved forward to Fairfax Court
House, picketing along the Alexandria Leesburg and other roads leading in
the direction of Alexandria and Washington. Late in the fall the main body
fell back to Centerville and Bull Run, where it passed the winter. The 7th
Virginia regiment was separated from the 24trh Virginia and 7th Louisiana,
and added to another brigade which for a while was commanded by Brigadier
General Ewell, later by Brigadier General Longstreet. In March, 1862, a
brigade was formed under the command of Brigadier General Ambrose Powell
Hill.

General Henry A. Wise, in the early summer of 1861, had entered the Valley
of Kanawha with considerable number of New River Valley men, and on the
7th day of July, 1861, had a successful fight at Scary Creek with the
advanced troops of the Federal General Cox. Subsequently, in fact in a few
days, General Wise being threatened by a force of Federal troops from the
upper Gauley section under the command of General Rosecrans, was forced to
retire towards Lewisburg. About the middle of August, 1861, General John
B. Floyd with a brigade arrived in the vicinity of Lewisburg, and he
assumed command of all the Confederate troops operating in that section,
and about the movements of which more will be stated hereinafter.

In all revolutions excesses are committed, and the same was true of our
revolution in 1861. After the retreat of General Wise's forces from the
Kanawha, a plain unlettered farmer of Mercer County, by the name of
Parkinson F. Pennington, who resided on the waters of Laurel Creek, in
August of the year mentioned, took his team and wagon loaded with produce,
and went to the Valley of the Kanawha, and purchased goods, salt, etc.,
returning to his home, and known to be a strong Union man in sentiment,
and freely expressing his views, made himself quite obnoxious to some of
his southern neighbors, and was arrested without warrant and charged with
being a spy. The party arresting Pennington was headed by Captain James
Thompson a strong resolute, bold southern man of quick temper, and when
aroused became wholly unmanageable. Pennington's captors started with him
to the Court House, and he on the way becoming very boisterous and
insulting incensed the party that had him in charge, and they halted and
put him to death by the road side, by hanging him by the neck, with a
hickory withe, to a dog-wood tree that stood nearby. This was a very
unfortunate affair for all the parties concerned, and the first act of the
kind that had ever taken place in the county, and greatly shocked the
community. Great regret was expressed by the people, as the act portended
no good to the parties engaged nor to the southern cause. The civil
authorities were powerless to punish the perpetrators, and the military
would not. After the close of the war, the most of those engaged in
hanging Pennington, except Captain Thompson, had either been lost in the
war or left the country. Pennington's father, with a body of eighteen
United States soldiers went to the house of Captain Thompson intending to
arrest him, but Captain Thompson discovering their approach attempted to
escape, but was shot by one of the party and killed.

Notwithstanding the apparent unanimity of sentiment among the people of
Mercer County in favor of Southern rights and armed resistance to Federal
attempt at coercion, there were quite a number of good men in the county
opposed to the war, and who remained steadfast in their convictions, for
the Union throughout the conflict; among them,Colonel Thomas Little,
George Evans, Andrew J. Thompson, John A. McKensey, James Sarver, David
Lilley, Sylvester Upton, Augustus W. Cole, Augustus W. J. Caperton, James
Bowling, William C. Honaker, W. J. Comer, Russell G. French, and many
others. Some of these men, believing it unsafe to remain in the country,
went within the lines of the Federal army, and there remained during the
entire period of the war, others remained quietly at their homes, taking
no part in the contest. There were a few, glad to say few, who enlisted in
the Confederate army and then deserted to the enemy, and some of these
became a set of outlaws, thieves and robbers, who respected neither friend
nor foe, and made incursions into the country, plundering
indiscriminately.

The commands of Generals Wise and Floyd, being sorely pressed by the
enemy, the militia brigades of General Alfred Beckley and Augustus A.
Chapman were called into service in August, 1861, and sent to Cotton Hill,
in Fayette County. A call had been made in the early part of the summer of
1861 for the services of the militia of the County of Mercer, and Colonel
Thomas Little, the then commandant thereof, declined, in fact refused to
obey the call, and in a public meeting of the citizens held at Princeton
he was fearfully denounced, and threatened with personal violence, so much
so that he thought it prudent to immediately retire within the Federal
lines. The Mercer and Giles regiments of militia, belonged to Chapman's
brigade. The Giles regiment was commanded by Colonel James W. English with
Samuel E. Lybrook and J. C,. Snidow as Majors. the Mercer regiment was
commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John S. Carr, with Harman White and W. R.
Bailey as Majors. H. W. Straley was the brigade Commissary. The militia
brigades were disbanded in the fall of 1861, and later in the same fall
the troops of Wise and Floyd were withdrawn from the Gauley and New River
section; Wise going to the eastern coast of Virginia and North Carolina,
and Floyd with his command, in which was the 36th Virginia regiment of
infantry, composed in part of New River men, to Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

During the winter and spring of 1861-2, the 8th Virginia regiment of
cavalry under the command of Colonel Jenifer, occupied the territory of
Mercer County, as a corps of observation, with headquarters at Princeton.

Before proceeding further with this narrative, it becomes important and
interesting to relate what is transpiring during this period among the
people of the northwestern counties of Virginia, who were so violently
opposed to Secession, It is not proposed to discuss the military side of
this rather novel situation, but the civil. It is well known and need not
here be related, that Federal troops had largely occupied all of the
territory of the northwestern counties north of the Kanawha, and mostly
that west of the Alleghanies, in what is now the state of West Virginia.
As already stated, that in the Secession Convention, which assembled at
Richmond in February, 1861, a majority of the members from the
northwestern counties of Virginia were earnestly, conscientiously and
violently opposed to Secession and a number of them voted against the
ordinance. These men returned to their respective constituencies, and
public meetings were held in many of the northwestern counties for the
purpose of determining what action should be taken by the people of these
counties. A large meeting of the people was held at Clarksburg on the 22nd
of April, 1861, under the auspices of the Honorable John S. Carlisle, the
late delegate from that county to the convention. About twelve hundred
people attended the meeting, and after reciting in a long preamble the
means which had been resorted to by the Secessionists to transfer the
state from its allegiance to the Federal Government to the Confederate
states without the consent of the people, and reciting many other
grievances, recommended to the people of all the counties composing
northwestern Virginia, to appoint not less than five delegates from each
county to a convention to be held at Wheeling on the 13th day of May
following, to consult and determine upon the course of action to be taken
by the people of northwestern Virginia in the then fearful emergency.
Delegates were accordingly selected from twenty-six counties, viz:
Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Wood, Lewis Richie,
Harrison, Upshur, Gilmer, Wirt Jackson, Mason, Wetzel, Pleasants, Barbour,
Hampshire, Berkeley, Doddridge, Tyler, Taylor, Roane, Frederick, and
Marshall.

The convention met on the 13th day of May, and was organized by the
election of John W. Moss as permanent president. After a long and somewhat
stormy session, this convention ended its work by recommending that in the
event the ordinance of secession should be ratified by the people, the
counties there represented, and all others disposed to co-operate, appoint
on the 4th of June, 1861, delegates to a general convention to meet on the
11th day of the same month at such place as should be designated by a
committee to be afterwards appointed by the convention.

The convention was composed of about five hundred in number, and from its
close to the election which took place on the 23rd of the same month, the
country was in a feverish state of excitement. On election day the people
voted for the members of the house of Representatives to the Federal
Congress from the three districts west of the Alleghanies. In twenty-five
counties, embracing a part of what is now West Virginia, there was a
majority of over twenty-four thousand votes against the ordinance of
Secessions. There was great interest manifested in the coming election for
delegates to the convention to be held on the 11th day of June. The county
committees appointed persons to hold the election at the various precincts
on the 4th of June. There was a very full vote polled, and delegates from
twenty-one counties were reported elected, which number was subsequently
augmented to thirty-five. The delegates met in Washington Hall, in the
city of Wheeling, on the 11th day of June, 1861, and elected Arthur I.
Boreman, of Wood County, President of the convention. On the 19th day of
June the convention passed an ordinance for the reorganization of the
state Government of Virginia; and on the following day elected the
following officers: Francis H. Pierpont, of Marion, Governor, Daniel
Polsley, of Mason, Lieutenant Governor, and James S.Wheat of Ohio,
Attorney General. The General Assembly met in pursuance of the ordinance
of the convention at Wheeling on the 1st day of July. The session was held
at the custom house, where the Governor had already established his
office, and where the other officers of the Government were subsequently
located. On the 9th of July the House on a joint vote elected L. A.
Hagans, of Preston, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Samuel Crane, of
Randolph, Auditor of Public Accounts, and Campbell Tarr, of Brooke,
Treasurer. On the same day John S., Carlisle and Waitman T. Willey were
elected Senators to the Federal Congress. The convention was reinforced by
the appearance of several members from the Kanawha Valley, which for some
time previous thereto had been occupied by the Confederate Military
forces. On the 20th of August the convention passed an ordinance providing
for the formation of a new state out of a portion of the territory of the
state of Virginia, which included the Counties of Logan, Wyoming, Raleigh,
Fayette, Nicholas, Webster, Randolph, Tucker, Preston, Monongalia, Marion,
Taylor, Barbour, Upshur, Harrison, Lewis, Braxton, Clay, Kanawha, Boone,
Wayne, Cabell, Putnam, Mason, Jackson, Roane, Calhoun, Wirt, Gilmer,
Ritchie, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Doddridge, Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio,
Brooke, and Hancock; thirty-nine in all, and the convention was empowered
to change the boundaries so as to include the Counties of Greenbrier,
Pocahontas, Hampshire, Hardy, Morgan, Jefferson, and Berkeley, or either
of them, and also all the counties contiguous to the boundaries of the
proposed state , or to the Counties just named, were to be added if the
people thereof by majority of the votes given should express a desire to
be included on the same day that the election was held in the other
counties, and should elect delegates to the convention.

Kanawha was proposed as the name for the new state, and the election was
to be held on the fourth Thursday of October succeeding. Delegates to the
convention were sent from all the foregoing enumerated counties, except
Webster and Berkeley.

The convention met on the 26th day of November, 1861, completed its
labors, and adjourned on the 18th day of February, 1862, providing for the
submission of its work to the people on the 3rd day of April, 1862, and
was accordingly voted upon on that day and adopted by a vote of 18,862 in
its favor and 514 against it.

The Legislature of the reorganized Government assembled on the 6th day of
the May following, and gave its formal assent by the passage of a bill on
the 13th of the same month, for the formation and erection of the state of
West Virginia, within the jurisdiction of the state of Virginia.

As has already been shown it was at first proposed to call the new state
Kanawha, but the convention finally gave it the name of West Virginia.

In the convention which framed this first constitution for the state of
West Virginia, Captain Richard M. Cooke, of the County of Wyoming, was
admitted as a delegate from Mercer County, by authority, as he claims, of
a petition of a few people in the western portion of said County of
Mercer. It is uncertain, under this first Constitution, how Mercer County
became a constituent part of the state of West Virginia. Research does not
disclose that any vote was taken whereby the people of the County elected,
authorized or commissioned any person to represent them in the said
convention. And it is further certain that no election was held in the
County of Mercer by the people thereof upon the question of the
ratification or rejection of the said Constitution, and hence it would
seem to follow that Mercer County was not legally a part of, or one of the
Counties of the State of West Virginia prior to the adoption of the
Constitution of 1872.

In the ordinance adopted by the reorganized Government of Virginia, giving
consent to the formation of the new state, it was provided; "that the new
state should take upon itself a just proportion of the public debt of the
Commonwealth of Virginia prior to the 1st day of January, 1861, to be
ascertained by charging to it all state expenditures within its limits,
and a just proportion of the ordinary expenses of the state Government
since any part of it was contracted; and deducting therefrom the moneys
paid into the treasury of the Commonwealth from the Counties included
within the new state during the same period." This provision was duly
assented to by the new state, and hence, the principle and basis upon
which West Virginia's part, part if any, of the anti-bellum debt of
Virginia is to be ascertained, is fixed and determined.

Francis H. Pierpont had been chosen as Governor of the reorganized
Government of Virginia, and Arthur I. Boreman as Governor of West
Virginia, whose government went into operation, on the 20th day of June,
1863, in accordance with the proclamation of the President of the United
States, under an act of Congress authorizing the admission of the state
into the Union. Upon the admission of the new state, the reorganized
Government of Virginia under Governor Pierpont removed from Wheeling to
Alexandria, Virginia. During the existence of the reorganized government
at Wheeling, the formative period of the new state and afterwards, all
kinds of excesses, political, military or otherwise were perpetrated. The
Virginia Government at Richmond claimed and attempted to exercise
jurisdiction over the same territory that the reorganized government at
Wheeling and the new state claimed to exercise, and this led to the arrest
of many citizens by both sides for alleged political offenses, each
government charging treason. It was more dangerous to life, liberty and
property to live in the section referred to than to have been in the army
of one or the other of the belligerents. A peaceable non-combatant was
liable at any hour night or day to be arrested, carried away and
incarcerated in prison without any charges preferred against him, and
worse than all, he was frequently allowed to lie in prison and perish
without knowing with what offence he was charged, if any. In partial
illustration of this statement it is stated that one Augustus Pack, of
Boone County, an old man and a non-combatant, who carried on trade between
the lines, was frequently arrested, first by one side and then by the
other, and carried to military prison where he remained some times for
months, and then released upon taking the oath of allegiance to the
government that had him a prisoner. General Cox, the Federal commandant in
the Kanawha Valley, had had Mr. Pack so frequently before him that he had
become very well acquainted with him, and so, as the story goes, on an
occasion after Mr. Pack had been arrested by the Federal troops and was
being carried to General Cox's headquarters, he was discovered by General
Cox approaching his tent under guard, whereupon the General exclaimed,
"Here you are again, "Pack," to which he replied, "Well, General, I am an
old man and have nothing to do with the war, and try to remain at home a
quiet, peaceable citizen, when along comes the Rebels who arrest and carry
me within their lines and require me to take the oath of allegiance, and
as soon as I return home I am picked up by your men and brought within
your lines, and required to take the oath of allegiance, and this process
has been going on for several months; the truth is, General, that the
foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but as for me I have
no where to lay my head."

The Federal army of the Potomac under General George B. McClellan, began
in the early spring of 1862 its movement to the Peninsula, and General
Johnston's army, which in the last days of March had retired from
Centerville behind the Rappahanock, commenced moving by way of Gordonville
and Richmond to the Peninsula. The brigade of General A. P. Hill left
Richmond by steamer on the James River on April 10th, and disembarked at
King's landing and from thence marched to a point within one or two miles
of Yorktown, where and in the vicinity of which, it remained for about
twenty days engaged in picketing and drawn out in line of battle in the
swamps. The 24th Virginia regiment remained attached to the brigade of
General Early.

During the last days of April or the first days of May, at any rate before
marching orders were received, the "Wiseacres" were telling us that we
were to retire towards Richmond.

The Confederate Soldier was the most remarkable of all the soldiers that
the world has produced, and that in many ways. He could seemingly know
more, and in fact did, than the officers in immediate command, and he
could know less than any soldier in an army when he wanted it that way-or
when so instructed, or when he found it necessary for his convenience or
profit, he could forget his name, company, regiment, brigade, division or
army commandant; could even forget where he was from or whither he was
going. This same soldier could get farther from camp, get more rations,
and get back quicker than any other fellow you ever met. When he was
marching he could see more, laugh louder, brood less over his troubles,
and when he wished, could carry more than any soldier any other army ever
produced. He could march barefoot, go farther, complain less, eat nothing,
never sleep, and endure more genuine suffering than any soldier that ever
marched under the banners of Napoleon. When he reached camp after a long,
toilsome march he could start a fire, find water, and go to cooking
quicker than the best trained cook in the land. Such were these men who
were being trained by the Lees, Johnstons, Longstreet, Jackson, Pickett
and the Hills.

Before passing to the description of the retreat of the Confederates from
Yorktown, it will be noticed that in the fall of 1861 General Jackson with
his division had marched from the lines in front of Washington to the
Valley of Virginia; where the next spring, the most wonderful military
campaign in recorded history was conducted and directed by him, in which
he defeated three Federal armies in succession, and then in June of that
year stole away from his enemies and helped to defeat the fourth one.

In the month of January, 1862, the McComas Battery had gone with the Wise
Legion to Norfolk, and was to have been sent from there with the command
of General Wise to Roanoke Island, but owing to want of transportation,
only a part of the company reached the Island, together with Captain
Dorman's Mercer County, were captured, along with the other Confederate
troops thereon.

In the month of March this battery, under the command of its Captain, left
Norfolk and went to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, near where, shortly
after its arrival, it engaged without loss in an artillery duel with the
enemy. A short time thereafter the company marched with the 3rd Georgia
regiment of infantry, under the command of Colonel Wright, to the vicinity
of South mills, North Carolina, where on the 19th day of April it was
engaged in a severe battle with the enemy, in which its gallant Captain
was slain while behaving in the bravest manner. Sergeant James M. Peters,
and Privates Oscar Blankenship and William Hern were wounded.

The Federal troops 3,000 strong, with four pieces of artillery, led by
General Reno, attacked Colonel Wright's troops, composed of the 3rd
Georgia infantry 585 strong, some North Carolina militia, Gillett's
company of Southampton cavalry, and McComas' Battery of four guns; the
whole Confederate force not exceeding 750 men. the fight lasted for three
hours. Mr. D. H. Hill, Jr., in his Military History of North Carolina, in
reporting this engagement says: "At last McComas, who had fought his guns
manfully, was killed, and Colonel Wright fell back a mile to his supports.
General Reno did not attempt to follow, and that night at 10 o'clock left
his dead and wounded behind, and made a forced march to his boats."

The Confederates lost 6 killed 19 wounded, the Federals 13 killed and 92
wounded. Captain McComas informed one of his company on the night
proceeding this battle that he had orders to return with his company to
western Virginia, but that he did not want to go until he had fought at
least one battle.

This company, after the capture of Norfolk by the enemy, under the
leadership of its First Lieutenant, David A. French, marched to
Petersburg. Its subsequent history will be stated later.

In December, 1861, the 60th Virginia regiment of infantry commanded by
Colonel William E. Starke, in which were the Mercer Companies of Pack and
Ryan, was ordered and went to South Carolina where it remained under the
command of General Robert E. Lee until it returned to Virginia about the
last days of April, 1862, and was then attached to the brigade commanded
by General Charles W. Field of A. P. Hill's division.

On the evening and night of the 4th of May, 1862, General Johnston quietly
withdrew his army from the Yorktown entrenchment's and hastened up the
Peninsula as rapidly as the condition of the roads would permit. The
Federal gunboats were passing up the James and York Rivers with an army
corps on transports on the latter, having in view the cutting of General
Johnston's line of retreat.

The enemy pressed so hard and closely upon General Johnston's rear that in
order to protect his trains he was forced to halt and offer battle. The
Divisions of Longstreet and D. H. Hill were covering the retreat, and upon
them fell the brunt of the battle which followed. The rear of the army had
reached Williamsburg, twelve miles distant from the starting point about
daylight on the morning of the 5th, amidst a drizzling rain.

The skirmishing began at early dawn, and grew fiercer as the morning wore
away; so that by high noon it had drifted into regular volleys.

The brigade of General A. P. Hill, in which was the 7th Virginia regiment
of infantry, passed from the grounds of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum, where
it had encamped two hours previous, by William and Mary College to a point
near Fort Magruder, and then by a flank movement to the right for a half
mile or more, was brought face to face with the enemy, who were in line of
battle in a wood, Hill's brigade being in an open field where it received
a volley from the enemy which killed and wounded many men. The brigade
pushed forward into the wood, getting close up to the enemy, and fired
into them a destructive volley, and then charged, driving them rapidly for
more than a quarter of a mile, when it met a fresh line of the enemy lying
down behind fallen timber. Here the battle raged for more than two hours,
and until the men had exhausted nearly every round of ammunition;
whereupon General Hill ordered another charge, and the enemy was driven
for some distance through and beyond this fallen timber. It was now
growing dark, the brigade halted and returned to the position from which
it had started in the charge, and where it remained for an hour or more
after dark, and then resumed its line of march.

The loss sustained in the 7th Virginia regiment was 77, and in company D.,
the Giles Company the loss was as follows, viz: killed, William H.
Stafford, wounded, Lieutenant E. M. Stone, and the following men of the
line, Allen M. Bane, Charles Wesley Peck, Andrew J. Thompson, John A.
Hale, John W., East, Isaac Hare, George Knoll, Anderson Meadows, Damascus
Sarver, William I. Wilburn, Edward Z. Yager, and David E. Johnston, a
total of fourteen killed and wounded, being about 25 per cent of the
number carried into action. Tapley P. Mays, of this company, was the color
Sergeant of the regiment, and although he escaped unhurt, the flag which
he bore was pierced with 23 balls and the staff severed three times. For
his gallantry in this action Sergeant Mays was awarded a sword by the
Governor of Virginia.

On the evening of the same day General Early led two regiments of his
brigade, the 5th North Carolina and 24th Virginia regiments, against a
fort held by General Hancock's Federal brigade. While General Early's men
fought with great steadiness and bravery, they were forced to retire with
the loss of 190 men killed, wounded and prisoners. General Early was among
the severely wounded; as was also Colonel William R. Terry and Lieutenant
Colonel Peter Hairston. The killed and wounded in Captain Richardson's
Mercer Company G., 24th Virginia regiment were as follows: Killed, Isaac
Alvis, Edward Bailey, John A. Brown, John Easter, and Tobias Manning, and
the wounded were Alexander East, James H. Mills, lost an arm, Stephen
Prillman, Rufus G. Rowland, Gorden L. Saunders, lost a leg, and A. J.
Whittaker, Robert Batchelor, Granvil F. Bailey, William Bowling, Jesse
Bowling, L. A. Cooper, Jordan Cox, Marshall Foley, John M. N. Flick, Peter
Grim, James T. Hopkins, Dennis Johnson, Addison Johnson, Isaac A. Oney,
Theaddeus Peters, John M. Smith, Allen Smith, William Stewart and George
W. Toney were captured, a total of twenty nine.

As already related, the company of Captain Napoleon B. French, of Mercer,
had gone with General Floyd's command to Fort Donelson, where it was
engaged in the battle of the 13th day of February, 1862, losing William
Oney killed by a shell from one of the enemy's guns, and the whole company
with the other troops, except Floyd's brigade and Forrest's cavalry
regiment, were surrendered as prisoners of war. Captain French being
absent in Virginia, the command of the company had devolved upon
Lieutenant John J. Maitland.

Later in the year of 1862, the company of Dorman, captured at Roanoke
Island, and that of French, surrendered at Fort Donelson, were exchanged
and returned home. The time of their enlistment having expired, they went
into other organizations, a portion going to Captain Jacob C. Straley's
company of the 17th Virginia Cavalry regiment, another portion to Edgar's
battalion of Virginia infantry, and another portion to the 30th battalion
of Virginia infantry commanded by Colonel Clark, attached for part of the
time to the brigades of Echols or Wharton.

Captain William H. French having been commissioned Colonel of the 17th
Virginia regiment of cavalry, was energetically at work during the early
spring and early summer months of 1862, in getting together and organizing
his regiment, which participated in many of the expeditions and skirmishes
along the outposts in Western Virginia up to the date of the advance of
the Federal army of General Crook from the Kanawha Valley in May, 1864,
when this regiment with others of Jenkins' cavalry brigade and troops of
Colonel William L. Jackson, under Colonel French, were stationed at the
narrows of New River in Giles County to guard that point, and to meet the
forces of General Crook, should they move by that route, of which full
statement will be made hereinafter.

General Johnston's army, after defeating the Federals at Williamsburg and
at White House on the York River, retired behind the Chickahominy.

By the middle of May and first of June the army of General McClellan had
made its approach very near to Richmond, and had extended its right wing
far up in the direction of the Virginia Central Railroad, leaving its left
wing across the Chickahominy in front of Richmond. Brigadier General A. P.
Hill had been promoted to Major General, and given the command of a
Division, which included Field's brigade, to which was attached to the
60th regiment of Virginia infantry.

Upon the promotion of General Hill to the command of a Division, Colonel
James L. Kemper, of the 7th Virginia regiment, had been commissioned a
Brigadier General, and assigned to the brigade previously commanded by
Hill.

For some time previous to and on the night of the 30th day of May, 1862,
Kemper's brigade had been in camp at Howard's Grove, a few miles north of
Richmond. On the night of the 30th occurred a most remarkable electric
storm, accompanied by an exceeding heavy downpour of rain, which continued
for many hours during the night, and so flooding our camp that we were
compelled to stand on our feet in our tents during the long hours before
the coming of daylight. This rainfall had flooded the low lands of the
Chickahominy, and caused such a rapid rise in that stream as to carry away
or flood the bridges over the same, whereby General Johnston was led to
attack the Federal troops then occupying the bank of that stream on the
side next to Richmond. The Divisions of Longstreet and D. H. Hill marched
at an early hour on the morning of the 31st, encountering on the way to
the battlefield streams so swollen as to greatly delay and impede the
march. The 7th Virginia regiment with Kemper's brigade belonged to
Longstreet's Division. The 24th Virginia regiment to Garland's brigade of
Hill's Division. The former mentioned Division marched down the White Oak
swamp road, the latter down the Williamsburg road. Hill opened the battle
a little after noon, and while it raged with great fury, the sound
thereof, which was to be the signal for Longstreet's attack, was not heard
by him for some time, on account of the condition of the atmosphere,
although he was scarcely two miles away. Finally, General Hill requested
assistance, and Kemper's brigade was sent him. This brigade moved rapidly
through swamps, water and mud until it reached the field of Hill's
contention on the Williamsburg road, when about four o'clock, P.M., it
advanced in good order against the earthworks thrown up by the command of
the Federal General Casey, and after a stubborn contest of a little more
than half an hour it charged and carried the works, capturing the enemy's
camp and a number of prisoners. The loss in company D, of the 7th regiment
was A. D. Manning, killed; Sergeant Elijah R. Walker, privates Tarvis
Burton, John W. Hight and Joseph Lewy wounded. The total regimental loss
was about 75.

The 24th Virginia regiment was in this battle in the brigade of General
Garland and suffered a loss of one hundred and seventeen killed and
wounded, among them its Major, Richard L. Maury, who was severely wounded.
The Mercer company loosing G. H. Gore, killed, George P. Belcher, Hugh M.
Faulkner, William H. Herndon, George A. Harris and Luther C. Hale wounded.

On the evening and night of the day after this battle the troops returned
to their former camps, wherein they for the most part remained until the
opening of the "Seven Days Battles."

In the interim between the close of the battle of Seven Pines, which has
just been referred to, and the opening of the "Seven Days Battles," the
24th Virginia had been detached from Garland's brigade, and attached to
that of Kemper, now composed of the 1st, 7th, 11th, 17th, and 24th
Virginia regiments.

General Branch, of North Carolina, with a brigade of North Carolina troops
and some others, was fiercely attacked on the 26th of June near
Mechanicsville by a superior force of Federal troops under General Porter,
and Branch defeated with serious loss, though after a brave and gallant
defense on his part and that of his men. General A. P. Hill going to the
support of Branch, and advancing with the remainder of his division,
supported by Ripley's brigade, struck the Federals at Beaver Dam, and a
bloody engagement followed lasting far into the night of the 26th, without
any particular advantage to the Confederates.

General Jackson, with his corps, having arrived from the Valley, joined
Hill's left and swinging around the Federal right compelled General Porter
to withdraw and retire to Cold Harbor, where he occupied an exceedingly
strong position, but from which he was driven with heavy loss on the 27th,
as hereinafter related.

The movement of the troops of Hill and Jackson had uncovered the front of
General Longstreet's Division on the Mechanicsville Road, and he
immediately crossed the Chickahominy and set out in pursuit of the
retreating enemy, passing on the route immense piles of bacon, flour,
wagons, tents, etc., which the Federals had sought to destroy to prevent
them from falling into the hands of the Confederates.

About noon or a little past on the 27th, the head of Longstreet's column
reached the New bridge, in the vicinity of Cold Harbor or Gaines' Mill,
where it halted and formed a line of battle behind a long range of hills,
which hid it from the enemy's view. The enemy occupied a strong position
behind a small creek on a range of hills in part fringed with timber. In
front of the position of the enemy was a deep ravine, through which flowed
a small branch or creek, this ravine he filled with his sharpshooters, and
in his rear was a wooded bluff on the side of which was a line of infantry
protected by log breastworks. Behind this line was another line of
infantry, sheltered by the crest of the hill, and the high ground behind
them crowned with artillery. To reach the position of the enemy, the
Confederates must pass over an open space of some five hundred yards.

Kemper's brigade was in line of battle behind the crest of a low ridge,
and behind the brigades of Wilcox, Pryor, Pickett, and Featherstone. The
battle raged for hours with great fury; more than once was the charge
repeated before the enemy's position was carried. Kemper's brigade was not
engaged, though exposed to the fire of shot and shell, but suffering
little loss. The field had been won, and the day was ours.

In this terrific engagement, as well as that of the day before, the 60th
Virginia regiment was a participant, and suffered severe loss, its Colonel
Starke being wounded in the engagement of the 26th, and the two Mercer
Companies of Ryan and Pack losing a considerable number of men in killed
and wounded. Colonel Starke in his report of the engagement of the 26th,
says: "Our loss here was considerable, Lieutenant S. Lilley of Company I,
Ryan's Company, being killed, Captain John L. Caynor and Lieutenant P. M.
Paxton of Company F, and Lieutenant S. D. Pack of Company A, being
wounded, and many privates both killed and wounded. On the next day, the
27th, this regiment was again engaged, repelling a cavalry charge of the
enemy, and losing many valuable officers and men. Colonel Starke, in
commending its conduct and that of its officers refers specially and by
name to Lieutenant Colonel B. H. Jones, Major John C. Summers, Captain
John M. Bailey, and Lieutenants R. A. Hale and George W. Belcher, the
three last named Mercer County men, of Company H, and Lieutenants A. G. P.
George, Stephenson, and Lilley, the latter killed the day before, and
adds: "I desire to notice particularly the good conduct of Lieutenant A.
G. P. George, not only through out all the engagements in which the
regiment participated, but for months past while in charge of Company I,
in faithfully discharging the responsible duties of his position *** the
highest terms of praise apply with equal justice to Lieutenant R. A. Hale
*** upon whom owing to the wounds or sickness of his Captain in particular
engagements devolved the command of the company."

The enemy having been driven from the field of Gaines' Mill with a loss of
6,837 men, retreated on the night of the 27th across the Chickahominy,
followed on the next and two succeeding days to Frazier's Farm, where the
divisions of Longstreet and A. P. Hill had with almost the entire Federal
army, a more than four hours bloody engagement, without decided results to
either army. In this battle the brigade of General Kemper, together with
that of General Field, was heavily engaged; the former brigade constituted
the extreme right of the general line of battle, and was posted upon the
rear edge of a dense body of timber and on the right of a nearly
perpendicular to the road leading through Frazier's Farm, with the 17th
Virginia regiment, under Colonel Montgomery Corse, occupying the right;
the 24th Virginia under Lieutenant Colonel Peter Hairston the left; the
1st Virginia regiment under Major George F. Norton in the center; the 11th
Virginia regiment Captain Kirkwood Otey the right center and the 7th
Virginia regiment under Colonel Walter Tazewell Patton the left center.
After suffering from a severe shelling for some time, about 5 o'clock
P.M., the order to move forward came, and the brigade advanced steadily
and in good order, notwithstanding the entangled undergrowth which filled
the wood, and the raining of shot and shell from the enemy's guns directly
in front of the moving column. Upon striking the enemy's skirmish line,
the advance from a quickstep into a double-quick followed, with loud
cheers, and by the time the brigade had cleared the wood and reached an
open field at the farther side of which stood the enemy in full line of
battle behind log breastworks with their batteries beside them and firing
rapidly, the continuity of the line was lost and much confusion followed,
but the impetuosity of the forward movement was not broken, and the
brigade fired rapidly, throwing itself upon the enemy's infantry and
artillery swept them away like chaff before a hurricane.

General Kemper says in his official report of this charge: "A more
impetuous and desperate charge was never made than that of my small
command against the sheltered and greatly superior forces of the enemy.
The ground which they gained from the enemy is marked by the graves of
some of my Veterans, who were buried where they fell; and these graves
marked with the names of the occupants, situated at and near the position
of the enemy, show the point at which they dashed at the strong holds of
the retreating foe." Continuing, General Kemper says: "It now became
evident that the position sought to be held by my command was wholly
untenable by them, unless largely and immediately reinforced. The inferior
numbers which had alarmed the enemy and driven him from his breastworks
and batteries soon became apparent to him, and he at once proceeded to
make use of his advantage. While greatly superior numbers hung upon our
front, considerable bodies of the enemy were thrown upon both flanks of my
command, which was now in imminent danger of being wholly captured or
destroyed *** no reinforcements appeared and the dire alternative of
withdrawing from the position, although of obvious and inevitable
necessity, was reluctantly submitted to." Again, says the report: "Among
those reported to me as deserving notice for gallantry on the field are
Captain Joel Blackard, Company D, and Lieutenant W. W. Gooding, 7th
Virginia, who were both killed, Sergeant Major Tansill and Color Sergeant
Mays, the latter of Company D, both wounded, and both of whom had
distinguished themselves in the battles of Williamsburg and Seven Pines,
Lieutenant Calfee of Company G, Mercer County, 24th Virginia, who was
killed within a few paces of the enemy's battery."

The Federal General McCall, who was captured in this battle, says of this
charge: "Soon after this a most determined charge was made on Randall's
battery, by a full brigade, advancing in wedge shape without order, but in
perfect recklessness; somewhat similar charges had as I have stated, been
previously made on Cooper's and Kern's batteries by single regiments
without success, they having recoiled before the storm of canister hurled
against them. A like result was anticipated by Randall's battery, its
gallant commander did not doubt his ability to repel the attack, and his
guns did indeed mow down the advancing host, but still the gaps were
closed and the enemy came in upon a run to the very muzzle of his guns. It
was a perfect torrent of men, and they were in his battery before the guns
could be removed."

General Kemper had ordered his brigade to retire, which it did, but not in
good order, but soon rallied again near the spot from which it had made
the charge. The loss of the brigade was 414, of which 44 were killed, 205
wounded, and 165 missing; of which the 7th Virginia regiment lost in
killed 14, wounded 66, missing. The 24th Virginia regiment lost 4 killed,
61 wounded and 14 missing. The loss in Company D, 7th Virginia regiment
were killed, Captain Joel Blackard, wounded Joseph C. Shannon, Daniel
Bish, Jesse B. Young, David C. Akers, Hugh J. Wilburn, Tim P. Darr,
Francis M. Gorgon, George A. Minnich, T. P. Mays, John W. Sarver, Joseph
Southron, Ballard P. Meadows, Lee E. Vass and Joseph Eggleston, and Allen
M. Bane captured; total killed, wounded and missing 16. The loss in
Company G, Mercer Company, 24th Virginia was, killed, Lieutenant Harvey M.
Calfee, wounded Thomas C. Brown, lost a leg, John Coeburn, A. J. Holstein,
Jeff Thomas, lost a leg, and Lieutenant Benjamin P. Grigsby.

The 60th Virginia regiment, with its brigade and division, had a most
distinguished part in this battle. Among other things stated by Colonel
Starke in his official report of this battle, are the following:: "On
Monday evening the 30th, June. We were ordered to the support of General
Kemper's brigade then engaged near Frazier's Farm with an overwhelming
force of the enemy. The regiment advanced at a double quick nearly two
miles to the brow of the hill where a battery of eight guns, Randall's
Pennsylvania battery, was posted, which had been taken from the enemy and
by them recaptured before we reached the ground. Delivering a few volleys,
the regiment moved forward, charged the enemy, drove them into and through
the woods for a considerable distance, killing wounding and taking many of
them prisoners, and recapturing the battery. On reaching the wood,
however, the enemy poured a heavy fire into our line, upon which the
command was given to charge bayonets. This command was obeyed with
alacrity, and very many of the enemy fell before the formidable weapon. I
cannot close this report without noticing the conduct of Privates George
R. Taylor of Company E, and Robert A. Christian of Company I. Private
Christian in the bayonet charge of the 30th was assailed by no less than
four of the enemy at the same time. He succeeded in killing three of them
with his own hands, though wounded in several places by bayonet thrusts,
and his brother Eli W. Christian going to his aid dispatched the fourth."
Both Robert A. and Eli W. Christian belonged to Ryan's Mercer Company. We
again quote from the report of the Federal General McCall, in which he
says: "It was here my fortune to witness one of the fiercest bayonet
fights that perhaps ever occurred on this continent. Bayonet wounds,
mortal or slight, were given and received. I saw skulls crushed by the
butts of muskets, and every effort made by either party in his life or
death struggle, proving indeed that here Greek had met Greek." The total
loss of the 60thVirginia regiment in the engagements of the 26th, 27th and
30th day of June was 204. It is regretted that the names in full of the
killed and wounded in the two Mercer companies of the 60th regiment cannot
be given further than already mentioned, and to add to the list of the
wounded Washington Hodges, Rufus McComas and Wesley Dillon, the latter
mortally. In the headlong charge of the 60th Virginia regiment on June
30th, and as it reached the log breastworks of the enemy, John Hartwell,
of Pack's Mercer Company, a man of about six feet six inches high, raw
boned, big footed, clumsy and awkward, caught his foot in getting over the
works and fell headlong over and among the enemy, exclaiming as he fell,
"Get out of here, you d----d Yankees, or we will kill the last one of
you." John got out safe and all of the enemy not killed, wounded or
captured, took John at his word and ran away.

On the next day, July 1st, the battle of Malvern Hill was fought, but
neither Kemper's nor Field's brigades were engaged, though drawn up close
to the firing line as supports and subjected to a severe shelling from the
enemy's batteries in front and his gunboats in the river. On the night of
the first the enemy withdrew from the Confederate front, and retired to a
strong position at Harrison's Landing under the cover and protection of
his gunboats; and thus ended the second "On to Richmond," and the
Confederates returned to the vicinity of Richmond and went into camp.

The McComas Battery, now commanded by Captain David A. French, had been
brought from Petersburg to the north of the James and was in position on
the Confederate right at the battle of Seven Pines, and during the Seven
Days Battles, but was not engaged. After the battle of Malvern Hill it was
sent with some infantry down to Turkey Island on the James, and later to a
position in front of Harrison's Landing. During the campaign of 1862 in
Northern Virginia and Maryland, it remained as part of the forces left to
guard the defenses of Richmond.

A few weeks after the close of the battle around Richmond, August 5th, the
60th Virginia regiment was ordered to join General Loring in western
Virginia. Captain William H. French, as senior Captain, with several
companies of cavalry, also joined General Loring in his Kanawha Valley
campaign.

It now becomes necessary at this place to relate some of the incidents
occurring in western Virginia. As has been related, in the summer of 1861,
the Federal troops had advanced to Kanawha Falls and Gauley Bridge,
General Wise retiring to the Big Sewell Mountain and Hawks Nest district
of country, and General Floyd marching out from Lewisburg to reinforce him
and to oppose the Federal advance. After some severe skirmishing by the
troops of Wise and with Federal advance, and some maneuvering on the part
of both armies, General Floyd advanced to Cross Lanes, in the County of
Nicholas, where, on the 26th day of August, 1862, he had a severe combat
with the Federal troops, whom he routed. General Floyd after the battle at
Cross Lanes fell back to Carnifix Ferry on the Gauley and fortified his
position, which was fiercely assailed by Federal troops under General
Rosecrans on the 10th day of September, but they were finally beaten off,
Floyd holding his position until after nightfall and then retreating. In
this engagement the Federals outnumbered the Confederates about three to
one. These incidents are merely mentioned because some of the companies
from the New River Valley were in the commands of Generals Floyd and Wise.

After the withdrawal, in the fall of 1861, of the troops of Generals Floyd
and Wise from the Kanawha District, and the disbanding of the militia
brigades of Generals Beckley and Chapman, the Federal troops under General
Jacob D. Cox advanced and occupied Fayetteville, the county town of
Fayette County, and later Beckley, the county town of Raleigh County at
which latter place on the 22nd day of April, 1862, Colonel E. P. Scammon
reports Colonel Thomas Little and W. J. Comer as having arrived that
evening from Princeton, and who gave as far as they knew statements of
Confederate forces, etc., and adds, "Colonel Little confirms reports of
intended destruction of town and county property." In the last days of
April the Federal advance reached Flat Top Mountain and encamped at what
is known as the Miller Tanyard, place on the turnpike road about two miles
south of the main top of the mountain. At this time the only Confederate
troops in the County of Mercer were the small cavalry forces of Colonel
Jenifer acting as a mere corps of observation, and the independent company
of Captain Richard B. Foley known as "Flat Top Copperheads." Foley was on
the extreme outposts next to the enemy, and in fact was the eyes and ears
for Jenifer's command.

General Cox's command consisted of two brigades of infantry; the first
commanded by Colonel E. P. Scammon, made up of the 23rd, 30th and 12th
Ohio infantry regiments and McMullen's battery; the second brigade under
Colonel A. Moor composed of the 28th, 34th and 37th Ohio regiments of
infantry and Simmond's battery, also one battalion of Colonel Boler's
second Virginia cavalry, and Smith's Ohio cavalry troop, with a train of
250 wagons.

On the last day of April the Federals had thrown forward, under Lieutenant
Botsford, some seventy-five of the 23rd Ohio regiment, who on the night of
that day occupied the dwelling house of Henry Clark, which is situated on
the west side of the Wythe, Raleigh and Grayson turnpike road, about eight
miles from Princeton. Russell G. French acted as guide, as he was
thoroughly familiar with the country, his home being in that neighborhood.
Foley and his men, who were on the alert and hovering around the enemy's
camp, discovering the least movement on their part, determined on an
attack on the Federal outpost at Clark's house. Lieutenant Botsford and
his men had scouted all day of the 30th of April in search of Foley and
his men, but were unable to find them; had even gone to Captain Foley's
home and throughout the neighborhood on and along the waters of Camp
Creek. They did not see Foley, but he saw them, and when late in the
evening tired, and worn by their days tramp, they returned by way of
Campbell's Mill and on the turnpike road at Clark's house they determined
to camp for the night. Captain Foley immediately dispatched messengers to
Confederate headquarters at Princeton advising of the situation, and an
attack was determined upon. And so on that night Major Henry Fitzhugh, of
Kanawha, with the border Rangers, Captain Everett, Kanawha Rangers,
Captain Lewis, Mercer cavalry, Captain W. H. French, Lieutenant Graybeal
in command, Tazewell troopers, Captain Thomas Bowen, Bland Rangers,
Captain William N. Harman, Grayson cavalry, Captain Boring, Nelson
Rangers, Captain Fitzpatrick and Captain R. B. Foley's independent company
of infantry, moved out to Clark's house reaching there a short while
before daylight on May 1st, and took position near the house, some of the
companies not fully up. Mr. Clark was an ardent southern man, and had been
compelled to quit his home to keep out of the way of the Federals, but his
brave and heroic wife with her small son and daughter remained at home and
braved the storm of battle that raged furiously around here for nearly an
hour. Mrs. Clark whose maiden name was Mize, was born and raised in
Patrick County, Virginia, and was a woman of strong natural sense, and in
her undying devotion to the southern people and their cause, she was
excelled by no woman in the south. She lived to a ripe old age, and died
an unrepentant, unreconstructed, Confederate. It may well be said of her
as Whittier, the poet, said of Randolph:

"Too honest and too proud to feign
A love she never cherished,
Beyond Virginia's border line
Her patriotism perished."