364 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River After the Seven Days’ Battles around Richmond he was pro- moted to first lieutenant, and he acted as adjutant of the com- pany for some time. After the Battle of Sharpsburg he was promoted to be captain of the company, Captain Meares having been killed. Capt. VanBokkelen was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and died within a month afterwards. It was with genuine grief that the death of Capt. Van- Bokkelen, which occurred in Richmond, was announced to the regiment while on the march in the campaign of 1863. He was was but twenty-one years of age, and full of youthful ardor, intelligent, and with an acute conception of his duties and an universally popular and almost idolized by his own men. He | . indomitable energy in pursuing the line of conduct which a dis- criminating judgment dictated to him. To him, probably more than to any other officer, was due the high morale which the com- pany attained. His surviving classmates of Jewett’s school still remember the sterling character of this worthy son of the Cape Fear, who was generally beloved for his unselfish, kindly nature and genial humor. Rev. Dr. Alfred A. Watson was chaplain of the Second Regi- ment, and, besides his clerical duties, gave valuable service as a scout. His acquaintance with the topography of the country was of great value to the commanding officer. He had the profound respect of every man. He was commissioned the 21st of June, 1861, and resigned in 1862. He preached in Wilmington many years after the war, and was bishop of the diocese of East Caro- lina from 1884 until his death. Capt. O. A. Wiggins, a gallant veteran of Lane’s brigade, entered the service as a private in the Scotland Neck Mounted Riflemen, organized in his native county, and subsequently was promoted to lieutenant of Company E, Thirty-seventh Regi- ment, in the brigade then commanded by General Branch, and later by General Lane. With this command he went through the entire war, participating in the battles at Hanover Court- house, Mechanicsville, Cold Harbor, Fraser’s Farm, Cedar Run, Second Manassas, Ox Hill, Sharpsburg, Harper’s Ferry, Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Falling Waters, Bristow Station, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Courthouse, Reams Station, Jones’s Farm, Hare’s Hill, and the fighting on the Petersburg lines until they were broken. He was wounded at Chancellorsville, At Spottsylvania Courthouse, May 12, he was promoted to captain on the field, ae Ee ) | | | : The War Between the States 365 and was wounded on the same field May 21; at Petersburg, April 2, he was shot in the head and made prisoner. While be- ing conveyed to Johnson’s Island, he escaped by jumping from a car window while the train was at full speed, near Harris- burg, Pa., after which he disguised himself and worked his way back to Dixie. Capt. J. Marshall Williams, of Fayetteville, entered the Con- federate service in the Bethel Regiment as a private. When the regiment was disbanded he and Col. K. M. Murchison organized a company of 125 men, which was assigned to the Fifty-fourth Regiment. After the Fifty-fourth Regiment was organized, it was sent immediately to Lee’s army and assigned to Hood’s brigade. When Hood was promoted, Gen. Robert F. Hoke suc- ceeded to the command. The brigade was composed of the Sixth, Twenty-first, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-seventh Regiments and was in Jackson’s corps. This brigade was under six or eight different commanders, but was always known as Hoke’s old brigade. It was in most of Lee’s battles. When the regiment was captured at Fredericksburg, Captain Williams was absent on detached service. Having no command, he was then detailed to command sharp- shooters in different regiments until his regiment was exchanged. He had the rank of captain and was adjutant and inspector gen- eral. He saw his regiment overpowered and captured twice, and on the latter occasion made his escape by swimming the Rapidan River near Brandy Station. He was wounded once, and had his shoulder dislocated by a fall. He surrendered at Appomattox as second senior officer of the regiment, and rode home on a horse that had been with Hoke’s staff for two years and wounded twice. Capt. A. B. Williams, of Fayetteville, entered the Confeder- ate service at the age of eighteen as second lieutenant of Com- pany C, Light Battery, Tenth Regiment, organized at Charlotte, May 16, 1861, and was promoted to captain March 1, 1864. He was first ordered to Raleigh, then to New Bern and various other places in eastern North Carolina, and was in many of the great battles, including Malvern Hill, Gettysburg, the Wilder- hess, Spottsylvania Courthouse, where he was severely wounded, Petersburg, and Appomattox Courthouse. He was attached to Pogue’s battalion, Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and went with Lee’s army to Maryland and Pennsylvania. His battery is supposed to have fired one of the last, if not the a a ee