202 Nort Carorina Troops, 1861-65.

which to serve their struggling country. Our regiment for-
merly the Thirteenth North Carolina Volunteers, was there-
after known as the Twenty-third North Carolina Troops.

In pursuance of our plan to briefly outline the careers of
the Field Officers of the regiment, we give the following
sketch of John F. Hoke, the retiring Colonel.

COLONEL JOHN F. HOKE.

Colonel Hoke was born in Lincoln County, N. C., 8 May,
1820. He was a graduate of the University of North Caro-
lina, and a lawyer by profession. He served with credit as
First Lieutenant in Captain W. J. Clarke’s company in the
Mexican war, taking part in the campaign which resulted in
the capture of the City of Mexico. Subsequently he served
several terms in the Legislature. At the outbreak of the
War for Southern Independence, he was appointed Adjutant-
General of North Carolina, serving till the ten regiments of
“State Troops” and thirteen regiments of “Volunteers” were
organized and equipped. In July, 1861, he was elected Colonel
of the Thirteenth (later Twenty-third) North Carolina Vol-
unteers, and commanded the regiment until its reorganiza-
tion, 10 May, 1862. Failing of re-election, he returned to
North Carolina and in 1864 became Colonel of the Seventy-
fourth Regiment, Second Senior Reserves). The close of
the war found him guarding prisoners at Salisbury. He died
in November, 1888. Colonel Hoke was an upright, honora-
ble and cultivated gentleman. Great kindness and consider-

ation characterized his bearing towards the subordinate of-
ficers of his regiment.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL JOHN W. LEAK.

John W. Leak was born in Richmond County, N. C., 16
March, 1816. His grandfather, Walter Leak, Sr., served
throughout the Revolutionary War as a private in the Amer-
ican army, and died in the town of Rockingham, in 1844, at
an advanced age.

He graduated at Randolph-Macon College about 1837.

In July, 1861, he was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of our
regiment. This office he filled till the re-organization of the
regiment in May, 1862, when, as was the case with many of

Twenty-THIRD REGIMENT. 203

the officers, he failed of re-election. Being then well ad-
vanced into middle age, he retired to private life and became
prominent in the cotton mill interests at Rockingham. He
died in May, 1874.

THE BATTLE OF SEVEN PINES.

The retreat from the peninsula and up the south banks of
the Chickahominy, brought us within sight of Richmond on
Sunday, 18 May. We pitched camp in a dense undergrowth
of woods, one and a half miles from the city, on the
eastern side. Soon the invading Federal hosts drew nearer.
Day by day portents of a desperate strife to come, accumu-
late. Picket firing grows heavier and more persistent, and
the shriek and roar of bursting shells seemed to have become
part of the natural order of things.

The strategy of the battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, as
it is sometimes called, was exceedingly simple.

McClellan had thrown Keyes’ Corps, composed of Casey’s
and Couch’s divisions, and Heintzelman’s composed of Hook-
er’s and Kearney’s divisions, to the southern bank of the
Chickahominy, and Casey had advanced to Seven Pines and
fortified. Couch’s line was about a mile and a quarter in the
rear of Casey’s. Hooker and Kearney were in rear of Couch.
On Friday night, 30 May, a violent thunder and rain
storm had greatly swollen the streams, and Johnston seized
upon this opportunity to deal with his vastly superior foe in
detail. He hoped to crush these isolated divisions before
more troops could be thrown across the swollen Chickahominy
to reinforce them. D. H. Hill’s division, supported by Long-
street’s, was to attack in front; Huger’s division was to at-
tack the enemy’s left flank, and Smith’s his right.

The Twenty-third took an important and most gallant part,
both in the battle of Seven Pines and in the reconnoissance
on the Williamsburg road the day before, which disclosed the
situation of the enemy and led to the Confederate attack. In
this sortie down the Williamsburg road 30 May, several
men were wounded and Captain Ambrose Scarborough, of
Company ©, in command of the four companies reconnoiter-
ing, was killed. In the person of this gallant officer the reg-