"Danville was blown to H--l."

This is Philip A. Nail, of Company F, 13th North Carolina Infantry. This regiment is mentioned below. Nail was enrolled into the service of the Confederate States at Mocksville, North Carolina on August 6, 1861. His occupation was that of farmer. He was unmarried. Nail was not one of the soldiers waiting rail transport with Tooms at Danville. The 13th was there but Nail was not. He had passed three years earlier of Typhus at Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond on June 29, 1862. His father, Jesse, filed a claim with the Confederate Comptroller's office in May of the next year.Owed to Jesse was $140.26 in back pay for his son. Jesse signed the paperwork with his mark. The nickname of the company was the Davis Grays

Sunday, April 16, 1865, Danville, Virginia.

We had the scare of our life today. We thought that the war was back on and we were in the thick of it. In the entire regiment, there are not more than twenty armed men and I doubt that the division has two hundred. We certainly had no artillery. Our cavalry, being mounted, left this place already.

When the shells exploded, there was nearly a rout. Civilians were running for their lives away from the shells. Our officers formed us up into line, those with arms in the front rank. I was in the rear rank. We heard the artillery but no musketry. Some shells landed near us but no damage was done. We responded to the commands, "Load!", and, Fix bayonets!", as if it were still the old times.

Lieutenant Williamson called for four volunteers to go with him to find where the Yankee shelling was coming from. He got his men and they went off in search of trouble. Shortly, they returned with the news that one of the government warehouses had caught fire and the artillery ammunition within had ignited, giving the impression of a barrage. Gingerly, the men were ordered to disperse from the battle line out of range of the shells. It was some fright.

We are still waiting for a train to take us to South Carolina. Some of the North Carolinians from Scales' and Lanes' brigades whose homes are just beyond the state line or cannot be reached by rail have already left Danville. Thomas' Georgians are still here. They have the furthest to travel of all of us.

A postwar photo of Brigadier general Alfred Scales. His brigade consisted of the 13th, 16th, 22nd, 34th and 38th North Carolina regiments.

Brigadier General James Lane. His brigade consisted of the 7th, 18th, 28th, 33rd and 37th North Carolina regiments. The 7th had been detached from the brigade much earlier in the year and had been sent to North Carolina where they were serving with the Army of Tennessee.

Brigadier General Edward Thomas. His brigade consisted of the 14th, 35th, 45th, and 49th Georgia regiments.

We are still being fed from government stores and that is good. We are not starving. While we wait here, our wagons are being repaired and made ready for the trip. While we might think that once we board the train we will no longer be called upon to march a single step until we reach home, we cannot trust in that kind of good luck.

There are a number of prisons here full of Yankees. We need to be on those trains and removed from the area before the Yankees get here. They will be likely to be quite upset. There is still a war on.


I Send You These Few Lines.


The explosion of the artillery ammunition is thought to be accidental. The warehouse was not far to the east of the railway station where Tooms and the rest of them are awaiting transport. The hospital sat just across the tracks to the west of the station.

Tooms is right, there is a war on. As far as anyone knows, only Lee has surrendered. Every other Confederate army is still in the field.  The Confederate President is, in Federal eyes, Public Enemy No.1. Since the assassination of President Lincoln, Federal authorities are very, very anxious to capture Davis and his party since it is possible, they think, that Davis might have had something to do with it.

Davis had been in Danville and was now in Charlotte. Federal forces are all over the countryside looking for Davis. Tooms has no clue that the route home that he will be taking is the same route that Davis is taking to avoid capture. If all these parties are not careful, they will run right into one another and then there will be trouble.