"My hand would not wobble."

This is one of the most commonly seen photographs of the Civil War. I have tried to avoid the more popular ones in favor of those which most people will never see but I'm running out of such photos. This is Andrew Martin Chandler and his slave, Silas Chandler. Silas does not belong to Andrew but, rather, to Andrew's mother who owned Silas and 35 other slaves. The mother sent Silas along to take care of Andrew and his brothers. Andrew was mustered into the army in July, 1861, as a private in Company F (Palo Alto Confederates), 44th Mississippi Infantry.  Andrew was captured at Shiloh, Tennessee in April of 1862. After a spell as a prisoner of war at Camp Chase, Ohio, he was exchanged. At the battle of Chickamauga, Tennessee, in 1864, he was wounded in the right leg. According to the story, Andrew's leg was saved from amputation by the intervention of Silas who nursed him at home. Andrew was found by a medical examining board to be unfit for field service and was put on light duty. Silas was sent back to the field to take care of Andrew's brother Benjamin, in the 9th Mississippi Cavalry. Andrew was paroled at Columbus, Mississippi on May 23, 1865 as a sergeant.

Wednesday, April 19, 1865, Reidsville, North Carolina.

Just when all of us were ready to abandon all hope of ever seeing a train, we heard a distant whistle. There was a train coming for us. It was finally our turn to leave Danville and go home.

We had to load the wagons of which there were only two and their six mules, plus all the regimental baggage which was not a great amount, and the officer's horses. A last issue of rations was made from government stores and then, after wooding and watering up, we slowly left the station. Some of the town folks were there to wave us off as were some of the militia.

We could not help but feel helpless as we contemplated their fate. We could not help them. Our honor demanded that we observe the terms of our parole even if it means abandoning these good folks to the mercies of the Yankees. It would do no good to stay. The Yankees would snatch us up again and then we would go to prison. The best thing would be for the militia to disband and the folks to get their white sheets ready.

Our train consists of one house car mostly for the baggage, all of which belongs to the officers, a second one for the horses, one poor passenger car for the officers and regimental staff and six platform cars. Two have one wagon each lashed to the floor. All six are full with we enlisted rank and file. I am lucky to have a spot under neath one of the wagons.

The locomotive, Roanoke by name, should be called Elephant for the speed at which it operates. It acts as if the boiler would burst at anytime. We are here at a wood and water stop. I am using the stationary situation of the train to make this entry. It has taken us some eight hours to come this twenty-two miles from Danville. We would do better by marching. I should not worry about the sloth-like pace of the locomotive. I believe that we could be under way and my hand on this pencil would work just fine. My hand would not wobble.

A typical Civil War locomotive.

I Send You These Few Lines


Reidsville is a very small stop on the Piedmont Railroad between Danville, Virginia and Charlotte, North Carolina. The scourges of war has ruined the Southern railway system. Lack of industrial capacity in the south meant that repairs could not keep pace with wear and tear. The Piedmont RR was worse than most Southern railroads. The entire construction occurred during the war and all of it was built on the cheap. The ballast was bad, the roadbed was bad, bridges and trestles were bad, all when new. Tooms is lucky that there's a single locomotive still running even if it is only at a top speed of 3-5 miles per hour not counting wood and water stops.

The name of the locomotive, Roanoke, was an actual locomotive on the line. A house car was what we modern folks would call a box car. A platform car is the old name for a flat car.

Tooms and his pards are making progress even if it is incredibly slow. Quite soon, the division will break up into its' component parts, each going their own separate way. That's too bad as there is strength in numbers and the war is not over yet.