398 NortH Carotina Troops, 1861-’65.

the best in the Army of Northern Virginia. It was recruited
chiefly from Salem, N. C., and most of its members belonged
to a band in that town prior to the war. Samuel Timothy
Mickey, of Salem, was the leader, and the names of the other
members are as follows: A. P. Gibson, J. A. Lineback, H.
A. Siddell, W. H. Hall, Julius A. Transon, Charles Tian
son, A. L. Hauser, A. Meinung, W. A. Lemly, D. T. Crouse,
J. O. Hall, W. A. Reich, D. J. Hackney, Edward Peterson.
Only one of them died during the war, viz., A. L. Hauser. ~
Captain Mickey still leads a band in Salem, and is a pros-
perous mechanic. W. A. Lemley is the president of the
Wachovia National Bank, of Winston, N. CG; and 36D
Hackney is a Baptist Preacher.
The band was recruited for Wheeler’s Battalion, but at the
capture of that command at Roanoke Island, Captain
Mickey went to New Bern to seek employment. He thus de-
scribes his first meeting with Colonel Vance: “I was sitting
in the lobby of the Gaston House, New Bern, when a man
wearing a Colonel’s uniform came in with a loaf of bread
under each arm. This was Zeb Vance. I spoke to him and
told him my errand. Colonel Vance replied: ‘You are the
very man I am looking for. You represent the Salem band.
Come to my regiment at Wood’s brick yard, four miles below
New Bern.’ Next morning (March, 1862), I went down to
the camp, was met by Captain Horton, of Company ©, and
as the result, of my visit, the band was engaged and at first it
was paid by the officers.” The members being musicians of
unusual cultivation and intelligence, under Captain Mickey’s
indefatigable labors, the band soon acquired great celebrity
and was in constant demand for serenades and military
parades. On the Sunday before Gettysburg, at Fayetteville
Pai; Chaplain Wells preached before the Brigade. His text
was “The Harvest is past, and the Summer is ended and we
are not saved.” Tt was an eloquent discourse and made a
great impression. After the services were over, and the
band returned to its quarters, the drummer (W. A. Reich) re-
marked: “Boys, I believe we are going to lose our Colonel in
the next fight. Did you notice his looks during the ser-
mon?” Captain Mickey replied: “Yes, I did; he looked

TWENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT. 399

right serious.” As appears above in this history their Colo-
nel was lost to them in the next fight.

Captain Mickey thus writes of Gettysburg: “The Yankees
were in three lines on the hill pouring volley after volley on
our men as they came through the fields. The color guard
were all shot down, the colors fell fourteen times. Colonel
Burgwyn was shot down with the colors, and Captain Me-
Creery of General Pettigrew’s staff, was also killed with the
colors. General Pettigrew said the men of the Twenty-sixth
shot as if they were shooting at squirrels; that their shots
counted. After the first day’s battle; Colonel Marshall, com-
manding the brigade, sent an order for the bands of the
Twenty-sixth and Eleventh Regiments to report to his head-
quarters, that the men were anxious to hear some music. The
two bands played numerous pieces which seemed to enliven
and cheer the soldiers. While the bands were playing, they
were shelled by the enemy, and as they left a shell burst just
where they had been standing.

“On the retreat from Gettysburg to Bunker Hill, the band
serenaded General Lee and other officers. After the serenade
to General Lee, Colonel Taylor, his Adjutant General, came
out of his tent and made a little talk. Thanked the band for
the serenade, and said he didn’t know how they would get
along without bands; that they cheered up the men so much ;
that he noticed the style of our music was different from that
of the other bands in the army.” Mr. W. H. Hall was cap-
tured near Green Castle on this retreat.

Just before the campaign of the Wilderness opened, Colo-
nel Lane took his band in a four-horse wagon to serenade Gen-
eral Lee at night. The Colonel was invited into General
Lee’s tent while the music was playing. General Lee re-

marked that we would not be idle many days; that Grant was
making preparations to cross ; and General Lee then said if he

could only strike him with his center, he though he would be

able to make him recross in a way not so pleasant as was his
coming over. “I can re-enforce from each wing,” said Gen-

eral Lee.
Later on in the conversation, General Lee remarked: “TI

. : PED
don’t believe we can have an army without music.