92 Norra Carotina Troops, 1861-65.

command, “Form column by <ee ae
in front, gave the command “Ga : ch.

ci page hill oh saw the enemy driving the earge
Thirteenth Virginia in considerable confusion be ore ha 2
in our direction. The Tenth Virginia, when it Jem a
position that it could fire on the enemy without _— . oy
Ninth and Thirteenth, halted and opened are. Co _ 3
liams gave the command to his regiment Right ef sone
and as soon as we had cleared the Tenth Virginia, oe :

his saddle shouted: “Forward; draw sabre; charge. : :
regiment raised the yell as it went by our stationary a or
tiring companions and the scene was immediately rai
The Federals were the fleers and the Confederates the oe
suers. Our regiment drove the enemy about half a mile ae
upon their reserves of cavalry and infantry, who were saa

on a hill, while our advance had reached an angle eevee wo
stone walls came together on an opposite hill, about two hun-
dred yards distant. This, with a volley from the reserve,
checked the advance. The leading four were Colonel Wil-
liams, Sergeant Jordan, Company ©; private Asbell, Com-
pany K, and the writer.

DEATH OF COLONEL SOL. WILLIAMS.

Asbell was felled from his horse with a wound through the
head almost immediately. Colonel Williams gathered Ais
horse to leap the wall, shouting: ‘Second North Carolina,
follow me.” The writer called to him: ‘Colonel, we had
better get a line, they are too strong to take its ay. He
replied: “That will be best; where is the flag?” and as we
turned, it was not fifty yards to our rear. He rode to meet
it; halted it and was shouting to the men to fall in, when he
was shot through the head, and died immediately, his body
being carried from the field by his adjutant, John C. Pegram.

About this time the enemy enfiladed us with a piece of ar-
tillery, placed half a mile or more to our right, towards the
river, and down the gorge, at whose head we had formed. This
caused the regiment to give back a hundred yards or so, keep-
ing its formation. The Federals charged us, we fired into

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NINETEENTH REGIMENT. 93

them, and they retired and made no further demonstration.
In the charge, we relieved a great many of our dismounted
men, who had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and also
a gun of the horse artillery, which went rapidly to the rear, as
we relieved it of its danger of capture. Any information
General Pleasanton got of General Lee’s movements, must
have been given him by General Gregg, for Buford never
pierced W. H. F. Lee’s line without being immediately re-
pulsed, and the brunt of this work, both on foot and mounted,
was done by the Nineteenth North Carolina (Second Cay-
alry), and so acknowledged at the time. Lieutenant P. At
Tatum, Company F. (Greensboro, N. ©.) who had a disa-
greement with Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Payne, Fourth Vir-
ginia Cavalry, who was temporarily in command of the regi-
ment a short time before, and had been placed under arrest,
went into the charge without arms or spurs, and was wounded
while most gallantly leading his men. The regiment lost 35.
Colonel Williams had been married but two weeks before
to Miss Maggie, daughter of Captain Pegram, of the Confed-
erate Navy, and had returned to camp on Saturday. He
was beloved by his men; as brave and true a man as was in
that army, yet with a gentle, affectionate disposition, almost
equal to a woman’s. Indulgent to his men in camp almost to
a fault, yet, when duty called and occasion required, he
proved himself a leader worthy of their admiration. I have
given this account of the battle of 9 J une, 1863, somewhat in
full that Colonel Williams and his regiment might receive
some of the credit to which they are entitled.

Captain Strange, of Company D, Fayetteville, N. C., who
was in command after Colonel Williams’ death, I know pre-
pared a report of the part taken by the regiment and submit-
ted it to the officers before forwarding it to headquarters. In
“The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies”
the Nineteenth North Carolina (Second Cavalry) is hardly
mentioned in the official reports of this battle. General Stu-
art says in his report of Colonel Williams: “He was as brave
as he was efficient.” ‘The reports for the Nineteenth North
Carolina Cavalry are nearly all wanting, and a loss of only

five is reported, when the loss in my Own command was three