University of Virginia Library

CAMPAIGN OF 1864 IN VIRGINIA.

The winter, with its comparative quiet, had closed; and the
opposing parties were concentrating and marshalling their forces
for a more vigorous and decisive campaign than had yet marked
the history of the war. Virginia and Tennessee were respectively
in the east and the west, the theaters upon which the opposing
banners were unfurled, and it was evident that around these two
centers would be collected in hostile array all of strength that
either party possessed.

Gilmore, with the bulk of his army, had early in April been
transferred to Virginia. Beauregard had been assigned to the
command of the "Department of North Carolina and Southern
Virginia"—a territorial command extending from Wilmington
to James River in Virginia.

Wise's and Walker's (formerly Evans's) brigades had followed
him, and Hagood's and Colquitt's brigades alone remained of the
infantry lying at Charleston during the winter of '63-'64. These
soon followed, Hagood's first and Colquitt's a week afterward.

Hagood's brigade commenced moving by rail on the night of
the 28th of April for Wilmington, where it was directed to report
by letter to General Beauregard, whose headquarters were at
Weldon. The whole brigade, with its transportation, was not
concentrated at Wilmington till the 4th May. It was encamped
some two miles east of the city.

On the 5th May, the brigade received orders to proceed by rail
to Petersburg, its train to move by highway. Owing to insufficient
transportation, the brigade moved in fragments. Lieutenant-Colonel
Dargan was dispatched with seven companies of
the Twenty-first on the 5th, early in the day, and was followed
by Colonel Graham with the remaining companies of that regiment
and three companies of the Twenty-fifth. Next day General
Hagood moved with the Twenty-seventh regiment and the
remaining companies of the Twenty-fifth. Later in the day, the
Eleventh regiment and Seventh battalion followed. A few cooking
utensils were taken along. The horses of all the mounted officers,
except the general and staff, together with the ambulances, had to
go by highway with the train. No baggage was carried except
upon the persons of officers and men. This with the men was
excessive. They had good knapsacks, and, with the reluctance of

all troops fresh from stationary quarters to throw away their
little comforts, had overloaded their packs. So far it was very
well, but in the active operations, into which they at once entered
upon their arrival at Petersburg, in the first day's marching and
fighting, off went the knapsacks, one by one, as its owner became
excited or jaded; and thus was lost to him his necessaries as well
as superfluities, while if he had only been burthened with the first
it would have been borne and retained. Much discomfort and
suffering resulted to the men from want of cleanliness, consequent
upon this loss in the beginning of the campaign.

It had been foreseen by the brigade commander, when he
observed the men laden like pack horses in moving from Charleston,
and he had warned regimental commanders against permitting
it. He should have interdicted it himself.

It is not within the scope of these Memoirs to go into the
general strategy of the Virginia campaign, but some reference to
it is necessary to understand the part borne by the brigade.

Grant, made lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of all
the armies of the United States a few months before, had made
his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, numbering some
140,000 men and lying behind the Rapidan, sixty miles north of
the Confederate Capital. It was confronted by the Army of
Northern Virginia under Lee, numbering about 52,000 of all
arms.[4] The City of Richmond was Grant's objective, and he
proposed to move upon it by the direct overland route, while Butler,
moving from Fortress Monroe up the James, was to secure a
point at its junction with the Appomattox from which to operate
on the southern communications of Richmond. There was also
to be made a co-operative move under Hunter from the Valley
against the western communications of Richmond, which, when
made, resulted in little but covering the Federal Army with
infamy for its wanton and merciless destruction of private
propery.[5] And in Tennessee and elsewhere in the West, Grant
had ordered a heavy and continuous aggressive to be taken to
keep re-enforcements from Lee. To sap the Confederate sources

of material supply, razzias by light movable columns for the purpose
of destroying railroads, mills, provisions, growing crops,
farm stock and buildings, were to be specially organized. The
regular Federal columns were to devote as much attention to these
objects as was consistent with other and less congenial duties.
And wherever Federal influence extended, persistent efforts were
to be made in debauching the black agricultural labor of the
country. These raids and these practices upon the blacks had
their inception earlier in the war, but in this campaign, and as
the struggle culminated, the first became more pitiless, and the
last, in the decreasing area covered by Confederate arms, more
effective.

The move from Fortress Monroe was, however, the most
important and threatening diversion in the programme of the
Virginia campaign; and with thirty to forty thousand men and a
large naval armament was entrusted to General B. F. Butler, of
New Orleans notoriety.

On the 4th May, Grant crossed the Rapidan and commenced
his overland march. On the same day Butler commenced ascending
the James. On the night of the 5th, he debarked at Bermuda
Hundreds, the peninsular made by the confluence of the James
and the Appomattox, and began to entrench across its narrow
neck about three miles from the railroad connecting Petersburg
and Richmond. On the 6th, he threw out a brigade to destroy the
railroad at Walthal Junction.

Beauregard's troops were much scattered over his extensive
territorial command, pending the developments of the enemy's
designs. The largest portion were with General Hoke, who had
recently been engaged in some successful offensive operations in
Eastern North Carolina. Very few, if any, troops other than
local militia of an inferior character were under General Pickett,
commanding at Petersburg; and it was to meet and delay Butler's
advance that Hagood's brigade had been pushed forward, while
Beauregard got the balance of his troops in hand and drew
re-enforcements from further South.

Affair at Walthal Junction.

Colonel Graham, with the companies he had moved with,
arrived at Petersburg and was pushed forward by General

[ILLUSTRATION]

Pickett to Walthal Junction, reaching the latter place a little
before 5 p. m. on the 6th May, and there found Lieutenant-Colonel
Dargan's detachment which had preceded him about an hour.
This raised his force to about 600 men, composed of his own regiment
and three companies of the Twenty-fifth under Major
Glover. As Graham's men jumped off the platform cars upon
which they were borne, the brigade of the enemy,[6] before alluded
to as thrown forward against the railroad, was in view some
thousand yards off across an open field, advancing in line of
battle and supported by artillery. Informed by a citizen of the
topography, Graham rapidly advanced his men to a sunken road,
running parallel to the railroad and some 300 yards nearer to the
enemy. In this natural trench he took position across the field,
his right resting upon a wood, and his left upon a ravine. A
brisk action ensued. The enemy made two direct attacks, and
after his second repulse, at nightfall, withdrew, leaving some of
his dead and wounded upon the field. Graham's loss was two
killed and thirty-one wounded.[7] He spoke well of the spirit and
steadiness of his men.

At 8 p. m. the same evening, General Hagood arrived at Petersburg
with the remaining seven companies of the Twenty-fifth,
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pressley. After some delay
in rationing the men, he moved forward to re-enforce Graham.
Roger A. Pryor, formerly a brigadier of the Confederate Army,
but now a private trooper acting as guide and courier to General
Pickett, piloted him to the scene of action. Arrived at the Junction,
General Hagood found General Bushrod Johnson there,
who informed him that hearing Graham's firing he had marched
to his assistance from the direction of Drury's Bluff with a
brigade of 1,168 Tennesseeans and had arrived during the night.
Gaillard, with the Twenty-seventh regiment, joined Hagood at
daybreak and raised his command to an aggregate of 1,500 men.
General Johnson, having the senior commission, assumed the
command, and shortly after daylight General D. H. Hill arrived
upon the field. This officer, in consequence of some difficulty with
the President and General Bragg, under whom he had recently

served in Tennessee, was without a command at this time, but,
unwilling to be idle at a time when the country had so much need
of the services of her sons, had attached himself as aide to General
Beauregard's staff. Although General Johnson was in command
at the Junction, the ensuing operations of the day had their
inspiration and direction largely from General Hill.

After daylight on the 7th, it was ascertained that the enemy
had entirely withdrawn from our immediate front, and scouts
reported them in the vicinity of Warbottom Church, about three
miles off and somewhat to our left. About 10 a. m., General
Hagood was directed to move across Ashton Creek towards the
Church to feel and develop their strength and position. General
Hill accompanied him, and he was told that Johnson would
follow in support with his brigade. He moved in column of fours
along the narrow road through the woods, the Twenty-seventh
leading and skirmishers well advanced. In about a mile the
skirmishers encountered the enemy's cavalry[8] advancing, and fired
upon them, driving them back. The Twenty-seventh was at once
deployed to the right of the road, and the skirmish line strengthened.
A desultory skirmish ensued; and the enemy showing a
disposition to develop to our left, three companies of the Twenty-fifth
regiment were deployed on the line of the Twenty-seventh
and to the left of the road. It soon became evident that under
cover of this skirmish the enemy was moving masses of infantry
to our left, with a view of flanking us and striking the railroad,
and, upon General Hill's returning and reporting the fact to
Johnson, Hagood was directed to withdraw and take position
along the railroad at the Junction. This he did in column, using
the skirmish line deployed and slightly engaged, first as flankers
and afterward as a rear guard, as the direction of the road interposed
them between himself and the enemy. In the meanwhile
a force of the enemy had appeared south of Ashton Creek,
advancing over the ground of Graham's affair of the evening
before; and Johnson's brigade had not moved in support of
Hagood. A few discharges from Hanker's battery of field pieces
caused this force to retire. It was evident that an attack in force
was now about to be made. Our line was formed along the railroad
with Hagood's left resting where the turnpike crossed it

and Johnson's men prolonging the right toward and beyond
Craig's house. Hagood had the Twenty-first regiment in reserve
upon the turnpike. The artillery (six pieces) were placed by
General Johnson near Craig's house. He had two other pieces
sent him from Petersburg manned by uninstructed men (convalescents
and men on furlough of other arms picked up in the
city), who, when the action commenced, deserted their guns
without firing a shot. The enemy reappeared in front of Johnson
about 2 p. m. in their original force, estimated by him at four
regiments and a battery of artillery, which failed to engage him
except with artillery at long range, and was replied to by his
batteries. This demonstration had, however, the effect of neutralizing
Johnson's 1,168 men, who remained quietly watching it
during the action that ensued, and lost only seven men wounded
by shells.

At the same time (about 2 p. m.) the enemy appeared in two
strong lines of battle with skirmishers thrown out and supported
by artillery on Hagood's front. He approached from across the
valley of Ashton Creek, here without swamp or woods, and his
line was oblique to ours and tending to overlap it to the left.
After a half hour's brisk fighting, he retired his lines somewhat,
though still engaging us at longer range, and under cover of an
intermediate wood moved his second line by a flank across the
railroad, and it soon reappeared approaching upon Hagood's
left and rear, the left of this force being upon the prolongation
of our line of battle. The movement was concealed by woods
until the flanking party was within easy rifle range.

The Twenty-first regiment had been ordered up into line on
the left in the beginning of the action; and, upon suddenly receiving
this flank fire, broke. The men went back slowly, but their
organization was broken, and they were deaf to the expostulations
of those officers who tried to stop them. General Hagood, perceiving
the critical condition of things, proceeded at full speed
with his mounted staff to lend assistance in rallying the men.
The brave Lieutenant-Colonel Dargan was killed with the colors
in his hands, waving them and calling to his men to rally.
Graham was shot in the leg, while actively struggling against the
impending rout, and had to leave the field. The command of the
regiment then devolved upon Wilds, the senior captain, Major

McIver being absent. Captain Stoney, of the staff, fell from his
horse with a minnie ball through his lungs, while nobly doing
his duty. At length, by dint of entreaty, expostulation and
threats, the retrograde movement was checked. Captain Tracy,
volunteer aid-de-camp, seized the colors from the sergeant then
bearing them and planted them in the ground. Lieutenant Chappell,
commanding a company, rallied some dozen of his men upon
it; and at once the whole current of feeling in the regiment
seemed changed. The men formed right and left upon the colors,
under the hot fire of the advancing enemy, with something of the
precision of the dress parade. As they formed, General Hagood,
to steady them, made them lie down and return the enemy's fire
from that position. While this regiment was being rallied the
two remaining regiments were being bent back to conform to
the new position; and the result of the whole was to change our
position as if he had half changed front to the rear on the right
company of his right regiment. He now partially confronted
at once both the force which had first engaged him and that
approaching on the flank, both heavily pressing with fire, but the
latter only advancing. As soon as his new line was taken, General
Hagood ordered an advance. The brigade rushed forward
with enthusiasm, and drove back the flanking line—they not
again appearing in that direction. This advance regained us the
railroad, but the right of Hagood's brigade now rested at the
turnpike crossing, where his left had first been. The enemy
again massed heavily in Hagood's front and essayed an advance,
but his men, sheltered in the railroad cut, easily repelled this
attack with little loss to themselves.

Between 4 and 5 p. m. the engagements ceased, except the
firing of sharpshooters and artillery on both sides; and before dark
the enemy withdrew from the field unpursued and carrying off
most of his wounded. Hagood's force, as before stated, was 1,500
men and his loss during the day was 22 killed, 132 wounded, and
13 missing. The force of the enemy was five brigades of infantry,
under General Brooks,[9] with the usual proportion of artillery
and a regiment of cavalry. His loss was heavy. General Johnston
estimated it at 1,000; prisoners put it larger, but it was
probably not so great. During the action Hagood was assisted

at different times by two pieces of artillery sent to him from the
right, but they were of very little service, getting twice out of
ammunition after very few discharges and going half a mile to
the rear to replenish it. General Johnson replied to his call for
assistance, when the Twenty-first broke, that the enemy were too
threatening on his front to spare it.

The Eleventh regiment and Seventh battalion arrived upon
the field after the action. Pickets were thrown out and the sad
duty of burying the dead and caring for the wounded was performed
without distinction between friend and foe.

The brunt of this action fell upon Hagood's brigade; and in
the progress of the narrative it will be seen that it saved Petersburg.
By the time the enemy were again ready to advance sufficient
re-enforcements had arrived to hold the place. The citizens
appreciated the fact, and were enthusiastic in their gratitude. A
flag was voted the brigade by the ladies; the merchants would
take no pay from the men for their little purchases, and from at
least one pulpit thanks were offered for the "timely arrival of the
1,500 brave South Carolinians." The brigade did acquit itself
well. It was its first fight upon Virginia soil, and a creditable
letter of introduction to the battle-scarred veterans of Lee among
whom it was shortly merged.

Lieutenant-Colonel Pressley had his arm shattered by a rifle
bullet in the charge which decided the fortunes of the day, and
refused assistance, ordering back into the advancing ranks men
who stopped to aid him. The arm was resected at the shoulder
joint, and, though afterwards of some service to him, the colonel
was never again fit for the field. The brigade from this time lost
the valuable services of that meritorious officer. Glover succeeded
to the command of the regiment in the absence of Simonton,
who had remained upon detached duty at Charleston.

Private Vince Bellinger, a cripple from wounds received at
Secessionville and on light duty with the commissary, quit the
train when he heard the battle was going against us and came
upon the field. Picking up the rifle of a fallen man, he joined a
company and fought well during the balance of the day. Captain
Sellars, of the Twenty-fifth, was wounded and returned to the
fight after having the wound dressed. Lieutenants Moffett and
Due, Sergeant W. V. Izler and Private I. S. Shomaker, of the

Twenty-fifth, and Sergeants Pickens Butler Watts, J. B. Abney
and J. P. Gibbons, with Corporal J. Booser and Private
Aemiliers Irving, of the Twenty-seventh, were mentioned for
gallantry by their regimental commanders. No report of the
kind was received from the Twenty-first, in consequence of the
fall of its field officers and the succession of Captain Wilds to the
command late in the action. There were many instances, however,
of devotion in its ranks, and General Hagood often spoke
with admiration of the bearing of Lieutenant Chappell in rallying
the regiment. The services of the staff were invaluable in
restoring order in the Twenty-first. Moloney, Mazyck and
Martin did their duty with great intrepidity; and without these
and Tracy and Stoney it is doubtful if the Twenty-first regiment
could have been stopped. Tracy received promotion shortly after
in consequence of his services in this affair, and was assigned to
duty with General Earley in the Valley of Virginia. Stoney
lingered a long time between life and death, and nine months
afterward rejoined the brigade with one lung gone. Faithful
to the last, he endured the vicissitudes and hardships of the campaign
of '65; and shed bitter tears when the last hope of the
Cause he loved was buried with Johnston's surrender. The extent
to which the enemy had availed himself of foreign recruiting
was exhibited in the fact that among the twenty or thirty prisoners
taken by Hagood's brigade, there were men of six different
nationalities, some of whom could not even imperfectly speak
English.

Swift Creek.

The arrival of the Eleventh regiment and Seventh battalion
of Hagood's brigade at the Junction had raised our force to
3,500 men. The strength of Butler's force had now, however,
been ascertained to be ten times that number. The line of railroad
afforded no suitable position to await the advance of such
an army. Without natural protection, the flanks could be turned
on either side, and our line of retreat either into Richmond or
Petersburg, instead of being covered by our position, was on the
prolongation of our line of defense. General Pickett, at Petersburg,
seemed too under the impression that an advance against
the city was threatened on the south side of the Appomattox; and
no re-enforcements were arriving from the South or information

received as to when they could be expected. Accordingly, in a
dispatch received at 10 p. m., General Pickett directed General
Johnson to withdraw to the line of Swift Creek, three miles from
Petersburg. At midnight the movement was commenced and by
3 a. m., of the 8th, the troops in position on the south bank of that
stream and busily engaged in strengthening the entrenchments
already partially constructed along that line as part of the
defences of Petersburg. Hagood's brigade covered the turnpike
and extended to the left as far as Brandee's Bridge and to the
right as far as the railroad bridge. He also had a regiment with
a section of artillery advanced by way of outpost to the top of
the hill on the turnpike just beyond the creek.[10] The railroad
bridge was held by Colonel McCauthen with the Fifty-first North
Carolina regiment, of Clingman's brigade, and Johnson's brigade
prolonged the right. Some eighteen pieces of artillery, consisting
of Hawkins's, Owens's, Payne's and Martin's batteries,
were distributed along the line, and Colonel Harris, of Beauregard's
staff, arriving from Weldon, took charge of the engineering
operations. A detachment of twenty-two men of Johnson's
brigade was made, to work the heavy guns of Fort Clifton near
the debouchment of Swift's Creek into the Appomattox, and
which controlled the navigation of that river. Captain Martin
commanded the fort.

The field of battle at the Junction was occupied by our
advanced forces till 10 a. m., on the 9th, collecting and removing
arms, accoutrements, etc. Butler unaccountably delayed his
second advance upon the railroad thus long, and then our smaller
force fell back before him skirmishing. The same morning, five
gunboats attacked Fort Clifton, and after three hours' fighting
retired with the loss of one of their number. By 12 m., Butler
was in strong force on the north bank of Swift Creek and skirmishing
going on between both infantry and artillery. Hagood
still held the eminence on the pike upon the enemy's side of the
creek.

At 11 a. m., General Pickett, from Petersburg, had instructed
Johnson to maintain a defensive, advising him of re-enforcements
on the way from Weldon. At 1 p. m., he enclosed a dispatch
from Bragg, at Richmond, and directed him in pursuance of it

to take the offensive. Hagood was accordingly ordered to
advance on his front, and the movement began. Nelson was
directed with the Seventh to cross at Brandee's, and bearing to
the right attack in flank the force which the rest of the brigade
would encounter on the pike. Gantt, with his regiment and a
detachment of the Twenty-fifth, was 150 yards across the stream
holding the hill already referred to, his skirmishers thrown forward
in a semi-circle of some 200 yards radius and the enemy
slightly pressing. As the remaining regiments filed out of the
entrenchments and moved in column down the long slope of
probably 250 yards to the Turnpike Bridge, the movement was
visible to the enemy on the wooded height beyond and to the
right of the bridge; and a heavy fire was opened from their
batteries. While the leading regiment, the Twenty-first, was
crossing the bridge, Colonel Harris galloped up to General
Hagood, and informing him that Pickett's plans were again
changed, directed him to make a reconnoisance with the troops
already over the creek and ascertain whether the present demonstration
by the enemy was a feint or a real movement. Hagood
told him that of course he would carry out the order, but that it
was perfectly evident the enemy were in force, and that the
troops he was directed to take could accomplish nothing. While
they were speaking, the enemy commenced pressing heavily upon
Gantt; his skirmishers were driven in, and he was warmly
engaged. Gantt's line of battle was to the left of the road, beyond
the crest of the hill. The Twenty-first was hurried over the bridge,
and deploying to the right of the road, under cover of the hill,
was directed to advance upon an alignment with Gantt. It did
not behave with its accustomed spirit, was slow in deploying,
advanced tardily up the broken acclivity, and was of very little
assistance in the brief but sanguinary struggle that ensued.

Gantt maintained himself stoutly under the heavy pressure
upon him for some minutes, until hearing firing upon his left
and supposing it to be Nelson coming into action and that the
whole brigade was behind him, he ordered, under his previous
instructions, an advance. The roar of musketry that followed
informed Hagood, who was getting the Twenty-first up the hill,
of the overwhelming force in his front, and he sent Captain
Moloney to order Gantt back across the creek, while the balance

of the Twenty-fifth on the south bank was deployed to cover the
crossing, and the regiments which had not crossed and were
standing in column in the pike were ordered back to the entrenchments.
The troops over the creek came back pell mell over the
bridge, and were reformed on the south bank. The Twenty-fifth
checked pursuit; and this most useless and disastrous reconnaisance
in force was over. Colonel Nelson did not reach the
scene of action, and the firing Gantt heard was from one of his
own companies stationed by himself as a flanking outpost. The
loss of the troops engaged was in the few minutes that the affair
lasted, 31 killed, 82 wounded, and 24 missing, making an aggregate
of 137 men thrown away because of too many generals, and
too far away from the field of battle.

Colonel Harris, with his usual indifference to fire, remained
with General Hagood during the affair, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Logan, of the Hampton Legion (afterwards General Logan)
acted upon his staff and was of much service. Colonel Logan had
been on leave and was on his way back to his command. Captain
Leroy Hammond and his brother, Lieutenant Hammond,
together with Lieutenant Seabrook, being all the officers of one
of the companies engaged from the Twenty-fifth regiment, were
killed. The Hammonds were grandsons of Colonel Leroy Hammond
of revolutionary fame in South Carolina; Seabrook was a
graduate of the State Military Academy. They were brave and
efficient officers. Lieutenant Wolfe, of the Eleventh, was also
killed. Captain Carson, commanding the detachment of the
Twenty-fifth, was severely wounded and incapacitated for service
for the rest of the campaign. Tracy and Moloney, of the staff,
both had their horses wounded under them. Among the missing
were some valuable officers and men.

On the night of the 9th, there was some heavy skirmishing
between Johnson's brigade and the enemy, with advantage to us.
On the 10th, everything was quiet in our front, and General
Hagood obtained permission to send a flag of truce to enquire
after his wounded of the day before, and propose an exchange of
prisoners he had captured at the Junction for those he had lost
at the Creek. Captain Moloney was sent, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Lightfoot of the artillery accompanied him. On arriving at the
enemy's outpost, they found them retiring, in consequence of

which our flag was forcibly detained for some hours. Butler
was then an outlaw by proclamation of Confederate authorities
for his conduct at New Orleans, and Captain Moloney had been
directed to hold no communication with him, but to seek his ends
if possible through General Turner, the officer commanding in
Hagood's front.

Information was obtained, but the exchange failed; though
Moloney was informed there would be no difficulty if the proposal
was made in form to Butler.