"...we crossed the Appomattox."

Thursday, June 30, 1864, north of Fort Harrison, VA

When I last made an entry, the Yankees were not bothering us as much as was Ol Sol. We long for last winter, having forgotten just how cold it was. When this winter arrives, we will long for this summer, having forgotten how hot it was. As there is so little shade here, we have resorted to building  our shebangs just as we have for the past three summers. It would be so much better for us if there was an abundance of sweet water. What little sweet water there is not going to last. A soldier's camp is a dirty place. We need to move camp closer to that millstream.

And the very next day after the last entry, we were back on the march. Mahone's division was to attack the Yankees near Richmond and our division was to be in support. It meant leaving our works and marching again through Petersburg, this time heading north. The first time we marched through Petersburg, heading south, the citizens greeted us with cheers, calling upon Lee's boys to save them from the vile Yankee hordes of scoundrels.

The best thing that happened to us on that march was that the citizens, mostly the womenfolk, presented buckets and pails of the best water we have ever had.We would have liked to have stopped and filled our canteens but there was no time to avail ourselves of this liquid bounty. The best we could do was dip our tin cups into the buckets as we passed. God bless the citizens of Petersburg.

Holton noticed something about our march and called or attention to it. We could see in some places where the line of march was very straight, the colors being carried by each regiment. We observed that the distance from one battle flag to the next was quite short. There are so few of us now that each regiment does not take up quite so much space as it used to.

There are so many missing from the ranks. Corporal McAteer, in command of second squad, is still absent in the hospital. Most of his squad is dead, wounded, or on details. The only man fit to shoulder a musket in his squad, Stafford Hood, is now with us and first squad until things get better. Our squad, with Hood, numbers but nine men. Of these nine, Will Crenshaw and Bill Terry are absent sick. This leaves seven, including Corporal Flynn. As there is no second squad in this platoon, our squad of seven represent the entire platoon, which should number some forty. I would wager that the entire company does not number two dozen nor the regiment even one hundred present and fit for duty. We will whip the Yankees anyway. We have faith in our Lee and he has faith in us.

When Mahone finally engaged the enemy, near Jerusalem Plank Road, the brigade staten somewhat in the rear, waiting to be called in to support if necessary. We were not so far in the rear that the Yankees did not find us. We exchanged some musket fire but it was not a hot fire. Short was wounded here. When this little expedition was over, we marched back to Petersburg, drinking our fill while in town.

The Yankees did not allow us to rest in our works for long. We left during Wednesday night, going through Petersburg on our way to near Richmond. As it was a night march, it was cooler but it was too late for there to be any water for us in town. When we crossed the Appomattox, there was but a little time to replenish our canteens.

The march was long and hurried. We guessed that Beast Butler had broken through our works and was about to capture Richmond. What with the lack of water had the rapid pace, straggling was very bad. We crossed the James on a pontoon bridge and were in position by today's late morning. Stragglers filtered in all the rest of the day and into the night. Our position is in the works to the north of Fort Harrison. There is a good deal of heavy artillery in the Fort.

And now we dig.


I Send You These Few Lines


The brigade (McGowan's) has been marching its feet off during June. There has been some action and some rest but the rest of the month has been spent doing what infantry is supposed to do, march.

Fort Harrison, part of the Richmond defenses, is part of the National Park service system. The fort is located south of Richmond, a bit east of the James River and west of Malvern Hill. Malvern Hill was one of the 1862 Seven Days Battles.

The conditions of the several names mentioned, McAteer, Crenshaw and Terry being absent sick, and Short being wounded, all come from the National Archives records. As mentioned in a previous entry, the records are not so detailed as to indicate which soldier is in which squad or platoon so any mention along those lines is just literary license.

It is not license, however, to state that the ranks in Lee's army are thinning. J.F.J. Caldwell wrote a history of McGowan's brigade in which he was a company commander in the First South Carolina. In this work, he states that the company he commanded at this time consisted of himself and seven men. Another company had but two.

There's something else about the documentation that has been bothering me since long before I started this blog. Much of the references that I use to support this blog come from company muster rolls held by the National Archives. The rolls were filled out six times a year, once every two months. When May of 1864 arrives, something happens. Instead of there being two rolls, one for May/June and one for July/August, there is just one. One roll for the four month period. This is common to all Confederate forces wherever stationed at the time. I have never been able to account for this.

This situation complicates things for the researcher. An incident, happening to a soldier, might be noted on the roll but with the time period covering four months, it is not possible to determine when the incident happened. For instance, James W. Porter, of Company I, the 12th South Carolina, is carried on the May/August roll as being absent, sick. Do I mention this in a May entry, June entry, July entry or August entry of this blog?

And since I'm on a roll about documentation, please let me add that it is very unfortunate that the quality and reliability of the information depends on the persons keeping the rolls. A further frustration is having to deal with the handwriting of some of the Federal transcribers who were hired in the very early days of the 20th century to transcribe information from the muster rolls to index cards. Almost all muster roll information used by modern researchers is gleaned not from examination of the original rolls but rather from these index cards. Some of these transcribers have good handwriting. As for some others, they might as well be writing in Cyrillic.

Beast Butler refers to Union Major General Benjamin Butler. He commands the Army of the James positioned to the east of and in between Richmond and Petersburg. Butler acquired the nickname, "Beast", from his activities as commander of Federally-occuppied New Orleans. The women of the Crescent City were being very disrespectful to the occupiers. Butler issued an order stating that any women who showed such disrespect to Union soldiers ..."would be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation." In other words, a soiled dove, fallen angel, trollop, strumpet, a lady of the night, etc. Chamberpots were manufactured with his likeness at the bottom.

Tooms does not know that now that the brigade is in the Richmond defenses, it falls under a military jurisdiction commanded not by Robert E. Lee but by Richard Ewell, who used to command a corps in Lee's army and now commands the Department of Richmond. Will Tooms ever see the Army of Northern Virginia again?