University of Virginia Library

Throughout late April, the 38th Regiment served picket duty in the trenches near Yorktown, VA. Conditions were miserable: soldiers stood in knee-deep water, traded fire with the Union troops, and endured torrential rainstorms (Gregory, 12-12.) As James notes, Joel P. Tucker of Company F was shot in the chin on April 17. He was sent to Richmond Hospital from Yorktown on April 20, where he later died (Gregory, 128.)