 | History of Roanoke County |  |
Roanoke Guards
This company was organized at Salem in July,
1861, and was soon mustered into the service of the
Confederate States as Company K, Fifty-Fourth
Regiment, Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and served
during the entire four years in the Western Division
of the Southern Army, participating in the battles
of Harrodsburg, Kentucky; Richmond, Kentucky;
Chickamauga, Georgia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Missionary
Ridge, Tennessee; the campaign from Dalton
to Atlanta, Georgia; Franklin, Tennessee; besides
many less important engagements. At the
close of hostilities, about thirty men remained out
of a total of one hundred and thirty.
At Chickamauga the company captured the colors
of a Michigan regiment, the Colonel commanding
the latter surrendering his sword to the Captain of
the Roanoke Guards. At Franklin, Tennessee,
while on picket duty, the company held the lines in
the face of the enemy, which outnumbered them
four or five to one, killing nearly as many Federals
as there were men in its own ranks. Colonel R. C.
Trigg, commanding the brigade, complimented the
company for bravery, as the Colonel commanding
had done at Chickamauga.
After the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, all of the
company who had not been killed or were off on
sick leave or furlough, or in hospitals, joined the
army under General Joseph E. Johnston in North
Carolina, and surrendered with him there at the
close of the war. Those who did not go with Johnston
were afterwards gathered together by Colonel
R. C. Trigg, by special order of the Secretary of
War of the Confederate States, and sent to guard
the salt works in Southwest Virginia. After the
surrender at Appomattox, the company was disbanded
near Christiansburg, Virginia, by General
John Echols.
The officers of the company were as follows:
John S. Deyerle, Captain; Ballard Deyerle, First
Lieutenant; William Woods, Second Lieutenant;
William W. Brand, Captain; R. W. Plunkett, First
Lieutenant; Fred N. Bryant, Second Lieutenant;
M. W. Stover, Third Lieutenant; Crawford Anderson,
First Sergeant; John T. Stover, Second Sergeant;
John N. Smith, Third Sergeant; F. A.
Wright, Fourth Sergeant; John D. Martin, First
Corporal; William R. Nelson, Second Corporal;
William Doyle, Third Corporal; Archibald Woods,
Fourth Corporal.
Captain Deyerle was promoted to the rank of
Major in 1862.
Lieutenant William Woods was wounded in 1864
at the battle of Stone Mountain, and was retired on
account of his age.
Captain William W. Brand was promoted from
the ranks in 1862 to succeed Captain Deyerle, made
Major. He was afterwards county treasurer of
Roanoke County. He lives in Bristol, Virginia.
Corporal John D. Martin was killed at the battle
of Chickamauga.
Corporal William R. Nelson was wounded in battle,
September 20th, 1862, and Corporal William
Doyle, who was promoted from the ranks, died in
the hospital in 1862.
Among the members of the company who died in
the hospital were: John R. Ames, James Armstrong,
Tyree Antyre, William Baker, George Beckner,
James C. Carter, D. R. Dobbs, James E. Doyle,
James Hall, Joseph John, Archibald Moses, Haden
Richardson, Addison Stump, Stephen Snyder, Elias
B. Thomas, George Vandergrift, William Walls,
Alexander J. Crawford, James R. John, and Crawford
Harrison.
The following members of the company were
killed in battle: James H. Archer, Stone Mountain,
1864; Daniel Brilhart, Prestonsburg, Kentucky;
James M. Damewood, Chickamauga, 1863; John Desaix,
Chickamauga; J. W. Hayes, Chickamauga;
A. F. Hurst, Missionary Ridge, missing, supposed
killed; Silas E. Lemon, Atlanta; Jacob D. Lemon,
Atlanta; Daniel Sarver, Chickamauga; William T.
Farron, George W. Graham, N. T. Hardbarger,
Madison Lawson, and Daniel Larch were killed at
the battle of Resaca, Georgia, in 1864.
| History of Roanoke County | |