234 Nortu Carortwna Troops, 1861-’65.

fight commenced. That night we lay not far in the rear of
McClellan’s right wing. We were near enough to hear the
report of small arms. The battalion did picket duty that
night. Next day we soon fell in with the divisions of D. H.
and A. P. Hill, and when it was known that we were Jack-
son’s troops from the Valley, were greeted with shouts of ap-
plause.. All the roads were full of marching troops. very
now and then a shout would be heard in front or rear, and
pass along the line in our direction. The men would imme-
diately say that Jackson, or more frequently, “Old Jack,” as
they familiarly and affectionately called him, was coming.
In a few minutes General Jackson and his staff would pass.
Jackson’s Corps marched in the rear that day and of course
our progress was slow. About the middle of the afternoon
we heard firing not very far in our front. General Trimble
took his brigade, by a short cut, through some fields, and in a
short time we were on the field of the first battle of Gaines’
Mill or Cold Harbor. Trimble’s Brigade was composed of
the Fifteenth Alabama, Sixteenth Mississippi, Twenty-first
Georgia, Twenty-first North Carolina Regiments and the
First North Carolina Battalion. In this battle the Georgia
and Alabama Regiments were soon engaged. The Mississip-
pians and North Carolinians were held in reserve until near
the close of the fight. Shortly before sundown, an officer
rode up to General Trimble, who was sitting on his horse
near where I was and said, “General Trimble, General Lee
says the enemy have been driven on both flanks, but still
holds his position in that woods,” pointing towards a piece of
wood-land about a quarter of a mile distant. “He directs
you to drive them from it.” We were ordered to charge as
soon as we came in sight of the enemy. On reaching the
woods we first went down a steep hill, crossed a branch and
then up a steep hill. When we got to the top of the hill we
saw the enemy about 100 yards in front, but there was an-
other branch between us and them. We immediately raised
the rebel yell and charged. The enemy fired as soon as we
came in sight, stood their ground and fired again before we
got to them. When we were within a few yards of them
they gave way. In this charge a few men in the battalion

First Batra.ion. 235

were wounded, but none killed. Doubtless if we had stopped
to fire when we came in sight of the enemy, the casualties on
our side would have been much greater. Just in the rear of
the captured position were hundreds of standing tents. In
one of these tents Lieutenant-Colonel Fulton, of the Twenty-
first North Carolina, found a wounded Federal Lieutenant
who, upon inquiry, turned out to be a member of a Pennsylva-
nia Regiment and a distant relative of his. Next day Gen-
eral Jackson with his corps marched eastward to a point on
the Richmond & Yorktown Railroad, to intercept the enemy
in case he should attempt to retreat by that route. Nothing
of special interest occurred until about the middle of the af-
ternoon, when suddenly we heard a tremendous noise up the
road, which sounded like the near approach of a great storm
and instantly a train came rushing down the road at a fearful
speed and pitched into a small creek where a bridge had been
destroyed, accompanied with an explosion that almost
knocked men from the saddle a half mile away. The enemy
had loaded a train, containing a number of box cars, with
powder, shells and other ammunition, and turned loose the
engine with a high head of steam on. Nobody on our side
was hurt. That night we crossed the Chickahominy on one
of McClellan’s bridges, and joined in the pursuit. The bat-
talion was at Malvern Hill and under a heavy artillery fire,
but not closely engaged. It was also at Harrison’s landing
and with the Twenty-first North Carolina occupied the skir-
mish line nearly two days.

CEDAR MOUNTAIN AND SECOND MANASSAS.

After the seven days’ fight was over the battalion remained
in the vicinity of Richmond three or four days and was then,
with the rest of the brigade, hurried back to Gordonsville to
protect that place from a raid. We encamped near Gor-
donsville several weeks. The next fight was that of Cedar
Mountain, in which the battalion participated. It was also
in Jackson’s raid on Manassas Junction and in all the hard
fighting done by Jackson’s troops in the second battle of
Manassas. The battalion suffered heavily in the latter fight.