256 Norte Carorina Troops, 1861-’65.

to save it was yielded to. It being deemed risky to carry him
in the retreat, he was left in Winchester when the army fell
back at the close of the day. So much interest was felt in his
behalf that the hospital steward was ordered to remain and
take care of him.

That was the last seen of the gallant Colonel by his friends
of the regiment. The foot was amputated by Federal sur-
geons, but too late to save his life. Tenderly nursed by the
devoted women of Winchester, he lingered for six weeks and
six days, dying November 6, 1864. By a singular coinci-
dence death came to him in the house of a Washington (Mrs.
Byrd Washington) and on the site of Washington’s old fort
(Fort Loudon) built in the French Indian War.

Colonel Blacknall was buried by the side of Colonel
Christie, his predecessor in command of the regiment—par
nobile fratrum.

Colonel Blacknall was a man of varied gifts. He loved let-
ters and his reading had been considerable and of the best.
He was a strong and graceful writer and a ready and eloquent
speaker. To few of the children of men has been given as
much personal magnetism. During his three and a half
years’ service as a soldier no one in the regiment was more be-
loved; no one behaved more gallantly; no one endured the
deprivation and hardships of army life more cheerfully.

Courage was the common staple of Confederate soldier-
hood. But Charles Blacknall had a command of faculty and
an ability to think and act in an emergency possessed by few.
One who knew him well spoke of him as one of the few thor-
oughly chivalrous men that he ever knew; another as the
ideal Confederate officer. A chapter of Daughters of the
Confederacy at Kittrell, Vance County (formerly a part of
Granville County) Colonel Blacknall’s home, has been named
for him.

General Pegram was now placed in command of our divis-
ion, Ramseur being placed in command of Rodes’ division
after the death of that officer. Captain Frank Bennett, Com-
pany A, by seniority of rank, assumed command of the
Twenty-third on the fall of Colonel Blacknall.

Twenty-T HIRD REGIMENT.

THE FISHERS HILL DISASTER.

22 September Sheridan, who had followed us and occu-
pied our front in force, threw Crook’s corps on.the left flank
of our line which, even when stretched to the utmost, was too
short to occupy the position held. Driving back Lomax’s
weak line of dismounted cavalry, Crook advanced against
Ramseur’s left flank. Desperate efforts were made to throw
Ramseur’s brigades and then our division (Pegram’s) into
line to the left. But this movement in the face of a vastly
superior enemy, could not be effected without disorder. Crook
taking advantage of this, advanced, and after a brief contact
forced the whole army back in confusion, capturing eleven
of Early’s guns.

The Confederate foot soldier was not noted for his admira-
tion or his respect for his compatriot who bestrode a horse.
Early’s foot soldiers’ love for a cavalryman was even below
the Confederate average. Sheridan’s horse was so much
stronger in numbers and equipments than ours, and the na-
ture of the country gave this superiority such opportunity,
that our cavalry, gallant fellows as they were, had no showing
and cut a poor figure. But the man who trudged and toted a
musket, made none of these allowances for his mounted broth-
ers, who dashed hither and thither with no object apparent to
prejudiced eyes, except that of keeping as much space as
possible between themselves and the foe.

For some cause known only to their whimsical philosophy,
Imboden’s cavalry was an especial object of their disesteem.
By way of derision they called it “J imboden’s” cavalry. The
confidence in General Early had met with that impairment
which is almost sure to be the lot of the unsuccessful leader,
no matter from what cause. This spirit in the troops mani-
fested itself at Fisher’s Hill in the most drolly humorous in-
cident of the writer’s whole war exprience. Close beside the
road along which the troops poured in confusion, a ragged, de-
jected, unkempt “Confed” crouched over a little fire, regard-
ing naught, absorbed alone in warming numbed fingers and
toes, for the day was chilly. As he crouched and shivered he

17