brigade materially aided Lee to repulse and hold the enemy at bay, thus winning another victory. At this time, by the long marches of the campaign, and by the casualties of battles, the effective force of the three regiments, all told, was about 850. On our part of the field, which was the left, we constituted both support and reserve. On this battle-ground about 35,000 Confederate troops confronted about 140,000 Federals, under General McClellan, who had again resumed command of the Army of the Potomac. The conflict on our part of the field began about sunrise, and soon raged fiercely in our immediate front. The word came that the brigades of Lawton, Trimble and Hays were being hard pressed, and Hood's division, composed of an Alabama brigade, under Law, and the Texas brigade, under Colonel Wofford, of the Eighteenth Georgia, were ordered forward. When the troops emerged from the timber and passed the old church and into the open corn-field, a herculean task lay before them. Down the slant of the hill stood the remnant of the divison before-mentioned. They still held their position, but were unable to advance. Beyond them in the open and in the timber stood a solid field of blue, at least three columns deep. To an observer it looked as if the whole of Hooker's corps was there. As we occupied a position on the hill, and above the Confederate line in front, the fire of the enemy played havoc in the ranks of the supporting column. In vain did the officers in charge of Hays' and Trimble's brigades urge them to charge, and in vain did the Texas brigade add its entreaties to theirs. The line would neither advance nor retreat; its ranks were decimated, and its fire was ineffective. Suddenly, as if moved by a single impulse, the Texans, unable to be restrained longer by their commanding officers, charged over the line of our troops and swept upon the advancing foe like an irresistible avalanche. In the twinkling of an eye the enemy wavered, turned and fled-still the brigade pressed forward until two other lines of the enemy were broken and driven from the field and through the wood, and were routed from behind a stone wall, where they sought shelter. Not receiving an expected support, it was beyond human endurance to advance further; but here the line rested, and was held through that bloody day, resisting assault after assault of the enemy. But for this terrific and successful assault on the part of Hood's division, our left centre would have been broken, the left wing of the army turned, and the fords on the Potomac captured by the enemy, and Lee's army shut in between the Antietam and the Potomac. By members of the brigade who were engaged in nearly . every battle in Virginia and Maryland, Sharpsburg, on account of its sanguinary and protracted character, has been characterized as the hardest-fought battle of the war. General Hood, who won his rank of major-general for gallantry on that day, speaks of this charge in the following language: "Here I witnessed the most terrible clash of arms by far that has occurred during the war. Two little giant brigades of my command wrestled with the mighty force, and although they lost hundreds of their ufficers and men, they drove them from their position and forced them to abandon their guns on our left." This battle completed the campaign of 1862, and established for the Texas brigade a reputation for bravery and courage which was not excelled by that of any troops in General Lee's army, and their noble example was an inspiration, not only in Virginia, but throughout the West, and caused emotions of joy and pride to thrill the hearts of our countrymen throughout the entire South. The brigade had thus won its spurs, but at the cost of the best and bravest in its ranks; and the task henceforth devolved on the survivors to sustain the reputation which they had so heroically won. Though the task was difficult, I am proud to say, they sustained the glory of their achievements on almost every battle-field in which the Army of Northern Virginia was engaged. At Gettysburg, at Chickamauga, and in the Wilderness they added new lustre to their name, and they kept their fame untarnished until the end of the struggle at Appomattox. Hitherto I have told of their deeds; but I will here quote what some of the illustrious soldiers, under whose eye they fought, said of them, so that it may be seen in what estimation they were held in that army. BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE. Here is what General Hood, who, if he does not stand so high as some others as a tactician or strategist, takes rank with the bravest of the brave as a soldier and a fighter. He says: "So highly wrought were the pride and self-reliance of these troops that they believed they could carve their way through almost any number of the enemy's lines formed in an open field in their front." And again he says: "Long and constant service with this noble brigade must prove a sufficient apology for a brief reference at this juncture to its extraordinary military record. From the hour of its first encounter with the enemy at Eltham's Landing, on York river, in 1862, to the =2 2 surrender of Appomattox Courthouse, in almost every battle in Virginia, it bore a conspicuous part. It acted as the advance guard of Jackson when he moved upon McClellan around Richmond, and almost without an exceptional instance it was among the foremost of Longstreet's corps in an attack or pursuit of the enemy. It was also, as a rule, with the rear guard of this corps, whenever falling back before the adversary. If a ditch was to be leaped, or fortified position to be carried, General Lee knew no better troops upon which to rely. In truth, its signal achievements in the war of secession have never been surpassed in the history of nations." And hear what the greatest military chieftain of modern times, General Robert E. Lee, addressing General Wigfall, on the 21st of September, 1862, just after Sharpsburg, writes: "General, I have not heard from you with regard to the new Texas regiments, which you promised to raise for the army. I need them very much. I rely upon those we have in all our tight places, and fear I have to call upon them too often. They have fought grandly and nobly, and we must have more of them. Please make every possible exertion to get them on for me. You must help us in this matter. With a few more regiments such as Hood now has, as an example of daring and bravery, I could feel more confident of the campaign." I have thus dwelt on some of the events of the campaign of 1862, in which the Texas brigade participated, not for the purpose of unduly boasting nor of drawing a comparison between the achievements of these troops and those of other Confederate troops, or of other Texas troops who may have fought in Johnston's army or on this side of the Mississippi. They only did their duty as soldiers; and if this little band of Texans was more conspicuous or accomplished greater results than their brothers on other fields, it was, doubtless, because they were better disciplined and better led. In other words, they were afforded a better opportunity to display their courage, and simply demonstrated what, under the same conditions, other Texans would have done. All, no doubt, did their best in the great struggle which taxed the courage and energies of the people of the South. And how near we came to achieving success in the mighty struggle, none but the God of Battles, who shapes the destinies of nations, can ever know. No doubt it was He who, on Shiloh's bloody field, directed the unconscious aim of the Federal soldier who fired the shot which struck down the great commander of the Western army, Albert Sidney Johnston, and thus turned victory for our arms into defeat. Evidently it was the guiding hand of the great unseen Architect of Nations who brought the Monitor into the waters of the Chesapeake to grapple in deadly conflict with the Merrimac for the supremacy of the seas. And we concede that it was He who delayed Ewell's coming until the heights of Gettysburg were crowned with the Federal army under General Meade, and thus pitted the impregnable mountains against the fierce assaults of the cohorts of Lee under the gallant and daring Pickett. It was never intended by the Divine Hand that this nation as a nation should perish from the earth. On the contrary, cemented by the blood of its bravest and best, it was foreordained that it should continue to live, to bless and guide the nations of the earth. And I have no doubt that the time will come when this great republic as a nation will feel proud of the courage and achievements of the Southern soldier, and will revere the names of Lee and Jackson as it now reveres the names of Grant and Sheridan. I am not unmindful that there be those who would rob us of our title to courage and honor-all that remains to us as a result of the war. But of this rest assured, they are not of the soldiers who fought in that struggle. These, if they would, could not afford to disparage our courage or bravery, for on this pedestal rests their own prowess and fame. For, take notice of this fact, no nation will discredit its own deeds of heroism. All men love glory, and all men admire courage, and without courage and love of glory a nation is doomed. While the harvest of death through four long years of terrible war enriched our soil with the blood of our purest and noblest, it was not shed in vain; for in that martyrdom which tried men's souls our people coined a reputation for courage and duty, for patriotism and love of country, which glorified them, and of which nothing can ever rob or despoil us. That honor and courage henceforth is consecrated to the preservation of the nation, and we will transmit it as a precious legacy to our children. May they not forget the immortal dead; may they emulate their example. [From the Richmond, Va., Dispatch, February 23, 1902.] GUY'S BATTERY. Another Roll of the Company Made From Memory. Light Artillery, mus- Below is the muster-roll of the Goochland tered in the Confederate army May 6, 1861. by R. N. Allen, one of the first names to be enrolled, and who was with the company from the beginning to the end. The names not marked with an asterisk were on the original roll—108 rank and file. The names with an asterisk are those of recruits after the company returned from Camp Douglas, where they were sent as prisoners of war after the fall of Fort Donelson, February 16, 1862. About eighty of the company were surrendered at Donelson: John H. Guy, Captain. Jonathan Talley, First Lieutenant. John Brown Budwell, Second Lieutenant. Isaac Curd, First Sergeant. J. D. Massie, Second Sergeant. |