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470 NortH CArontina Troops, 1861-65.

front of Dr. Kinney’s on the direct road to Richmond, a
squad of Federals stepped into the Taliaferro’s Mill road in
front of the command. The Colonel suspecting an ambush,
halted his regiment, faced it by the rear rank and wheeled it
to the right into the thicket. It handsomely cleaned the
thicket of the enemy. On reaching the road in front of Dr,
Kinney’s it charged, with rebel yells, the Twenty-fifth New
York Regiment, concealed in Kinney’s field of standing
wheat, and almost annihilated it in front of Martindale’s Bri-
gade, drawn up in line of battle and strongly supported by
artillery. It was not known then that the regiment had
been cut off by an overwhelming force of infantry, artillery
and cavalry under General Fitz John Porter. It was with-
drawn and reformed, in the open field, on the Hanover Court
House side of Kinney’s dwelling. Potts’ artillery was also
ordered into position, and never were two guns served more
handsomely. The unequal contest was kept up for over four
hours, inflicting greater damage than was sustained; and
when it was found that the enemy was flanking the regiment
in both directions, it was withdrawn in good order to Hano-
ver Court House. On reaching St. Paul’s church beyond the
Court House where the road forks, and finding the enemy’s
batteries in position and the road to Ashland in their posses-
sion, it was ordered to take the fork to Taylorsville under a
shelling. Knowing the cavalry was pursuing in force, it
was thrown from the road to the field to take advantage of
the cross-fences. On reaching a thin strip of woods beyond
the railroad, it was ordered back into the road, and directed
to move as rapidly as possible to Taylorsville, while Potts un-
limbered his Parrott gun in the middle of the road. The
other gun had been abandoned at Kinney’s, most of the
horses having been killed or badly wounded. This bold piece
of strategy on the part of the Colonel and the Lieutenant of
artillery intimidated the enemy’s: cavalry, caused them to
form line of battle on the other side of the railroad, and ena-
bled the Twenty-eighth Regiment to make its escape. Al:
ready exhausted from exposure to inclement weather, from
hunger, from fighting and marching, it was three days before
the regiment, by a circuitous route, rejoined the brigade on

Twenty-ErigHtH REGIMENT. 471

the right bank of the Chickahominy where it was wildly and
joyfully received. It was highly complimented by Generals
Lee and Branch for its splendid behavior in this masterly re-
treat. The former was heard to remark that it was a wonder
to him the whole command had not been killed or captured.

Company G, which was cut off from the regiment at Kin-
ney’s, can never forget how their brave, but frail and delicate
young Captain, George B. Johnston, afterwards the accom-
plished Adjutant General of the brigade, swam the river to
escape the enemy and then swam back rather than appear to
have deserted his men; how he marched as a prisoner of war
from Kinney’s Farm to West Point in his wet clothes; how
he was confined on Johnson’s Island; how he read the Epis-
copal service regularly to his fellow prisoners there; how he
endeared himself to all in his captivity; how he was joyfully
welcomed back to camp; and how, a physical wreck, he was
soon forced to return home to die. A nobler, braver, purer
Christian hero never lived.

From this battle at Kinney’s Farm, or Hanover Court
House as it is generally called, to the surrender at Appo-
mattox Court House, the history of the brigade is the history
of the regiment. It bore on its battle-flag the name of every
battle in which the brigade participated.

Before the fights around Richmond, Branch’s Brigade was
assigned to General A. P. Hill, and became a part of the
famous “Light Division.” The Twenty-eighth Regiment
was with its brigade when it was the first, in those seyen
days’ fights, to cross the Chickahominy at “Half Link,” and
cleared the way for the crossing of the rest of the “Light Divis-
ion” at “Meadow Bridge.” When it reached Mechanicsville,
on 26 June, it was ordered to support a battery on the left of
the road. Next morning it was subjected to a short but
severe artillery fire. On reaching Cold Harbor, on the 27th,
it and the Seventh North Carolina were ordered to the left of
the road where it behaved very handsomely, its own Colonel
being wounded on the head and Colonel Campbell, of the
Seventh, killed with the colors of his regiment in his hands.
At Frazier’s Farm, on the 30th, it was on the right of the
Thirty-seventh North Carolina Regiment. After driving