138 Norra Carorina Troops, 1861-65.

Corumsvs Mix1s, of Polk, Surgeon. :
W. D. Wurrrep, of Henderson, Assistant Surgeon.

D. F. Semaery, of Buncombe, A. Q. M.
J. M. Israzr, of Buncombe, A. C. S.

The regiment remained in Raleigh under command of

Major Henry K. Burgwyn, commandant of the camp, until

Colonel Lee and staff arrived about 1 July. On 3 July the
first six companies under command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Love left for Richmond, followed the next day by Colonel
Lee, with the balance of the command, arriving about mid-
- night in Petersburg, where we spent a most uncomfortable
night sleeping on the bare brick floors of the market house.
At daylight we were aroused, crossed the Appomattox and
had breakfast, then taking the train for Richmond, arriving
about 12 M. Sunday, 5 July, joining the regiment in the old
fair grounds.

Remaining two days in Richmond, we were ordered to
Staunton, Va., and taking the Virginia Central, we passed
Gordonville, Charlottesville, and crossed the mountains to
Waynesboro, where the citizens turned out en masse and gave
us a most royal feast. And it will never be forgotten—the
first rebel yell ever given by the Sixteenth. When we camie
suddenly in full view of the Blue Ridge, the counterpart
of the homes of twelve hundred patriotic men who had scarce
ever been out of sight of the mountains, there rose an im-
promptu shout and yell that (often after repeated on bloody
fields) seemed to rend the very heavens.

Reaching Staunton at a late hour, we spent the night in
the depot yard, and next morning moved into very pleasant
quarters in the valley near the headwaters of the Shenandoah,
where we remained two days. Teams were purchased—one
for each company and more for the regiment besides, making
about thirty teams, the Jargest and finest horses we had ever
seen, and wagons sufficient to transport baggage and supplies
for an army, all of which we then had in abundance.

WEST VIRGINIA.

We were ordered to the relief of General Garnett, at Cheat
Mountain. Marching out from Staunton on the Parkersburg

SIXTEENTH REGIMENT. 139

pike, with brass band in front, the streets lined with citizens,
soldiers, and ladies, and our colors gaily floating in the breeze,
we began to think we were soldiers. We made ten miles,
camping at Buffalo Gap, and that night Colonel Lee received
orders to take 500 men with arms and ammunition and with-
out baggage, and make a forced march to reach General Gar-
nett, but in the morning, for some reason, he decided to take
the whole regiment and push on without delay. So at din-
ner we passed the place where we expected to camp that night,
eleven miles, where we found the citizens had turned out with
wagon loads of provisions, off which we made a hearty dinner,
then promptly falling into ranks we marched ten miles farther
toward the top of the mountain, making twenty-one miles in
the day. The men were all pretty much worn out with the
hard march, and as soon as supper was over, dropped into
their blankets, hoping to have a good night’s sleep and rest.
The Adjutant came to the Orderly of Company G and told
him if anything should happen during the night to form the
company as quickly as possible and march down to the road,
which gave the men quite a scare, feeling like they were get-
ting on dangerous ground, as we had already met several
wounded men and wagons with dead officers, but as no car-
tridges had heen issued, the men, of course, could not see the
point, and nothing occurring during the night except that
Captain Davis alarmed the camp with an attack of night-
mare. Early in the morning we were on the march crossing
the mountain and Calf Pasture river. Reaching McDowell
we met Governor Letcher with a big demijohn of buttermilk
in his buggy. He told Colonel Lee that.General Garnett had
been killed and his command routed was falling back, advis-
ing Colonel Lee to push forward to Monterey and there to
stop all troops and get things into better shape. We reached
Monterey, a small village in a narrow valley between two
mountains, and went into camp, and soon the stragglers came
flocking in, in squads from one to twenty, the most forlorn
looking set of men ever seen, ragged, barefoot and hungry,
having lost everything. Our men having an extra supply

of clothing, divided with them and made them as comforta-
ble as possible.