388 Nortu Carorina Troops, 1861-65.

was ordered to Wilmington and went into quarters at Camp
Lamb. We were on no active duty, except drill, for a
few weeks while at this place and had a comparatively easy
time, except that bread stuff at one time got very scarce in the
Commissary Department and for several days our rations
consisted of one pound of rice and a half pound of Nassau
bacon brought into Wilmington by the blockade runners.
It was only a month or six weeks after our arrival at Camp
Lamb until the boys entered upon their active and earnest sol-
dier life in the field, which continued until the end of the war
and during which period they received their “baptism of
fire” with that heroic fortitude and patient endurance that

has ever characterized the sturdy, gallant and intrepid moun-
tain boys of the “Old North State.”

BELFIELD, VA.

On 8 December we received marching orders to a more ac-
tive field of duty. We were put aboard a freight train and
hurried off to Belfield, Va., to meet and help drive back a
force of the enemy under command of General Warren, that
was approaching the North Carolina border from the direc-
tion of Stoney Creek and Petersburg for the purpose of de-
stroying the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad and cutting off
that line of communication with Petersburg and Richmond.
By some accident our train was partially derailed at Wilson,
N. C., and our progress toward Belfield was delayed for some
hours. We were after this delay got back on the track again
and proceeded on toward Belfield, arriving at Hicksford on
the south side of Hicks’ Run opposite the town of Belfield,
about noon on the 9th. When we reached Hick’s Run our
train crossed slowly over the bridge into Belfield, but the
approaching line of the enemy’s skirmishers and sharpshoot-
ers made it necessary to back the train to the south side
of the creek at Hicksford, where we were ordered to dis-
embark and take up our position along the south bank of the
stream on the left of the railroad line, and immediately set to
work to throw up a line of trenches. The enemy’s skirmish
line, still advancing, soon put us in range of their fire, which
continued almost incessantly the entire afternoon and until

 

 

TWENTIETH BATTALION. 389

late in the night. We were somewhat protected by a battery
which from an elevation a short distance in our rear, opened
fire over our heads upon the enemy’s skirmish line, holding
them in check until our trenches were so far completed as to
afford shelter from their fire. On our left and joining to
our battalion was a battalion of Louisiana Zouaves, and on
our right and on the opposite side of the railroad from us was
a regiment of Junior Reserves. It was a raw, rainy day and
in the afternoon turned into a heavy, disagreeable sleet.
Being in range of the enemy’s fire made it necessary for the
boys to keep pretty close in their fresh dug trenches during
the afternoon and the greater part of the night, without much
fire; with only a very scant supply of blankets and rations, it
rendered their experiences ever memorable in the minds of
our boys who watched and waited in the rain and sleet, on
that dreary December night.

The enemy succeeded in reaching and burning the depot
and a considerable portion of the town of Belfield that after-
noon and night, having torn up and destroyed the railroad
track as, they advanced, by burning the rails on piles of cross
ties and twisting them around trees and telegraph poles inte
almost every conceivable shape. After accomplishing this,
their skirmishers withdrew and with their main force en-
camped about five miles north of that place toward Peters-
burg.

Although relieved from the danger of being struck by the
enemy’s bullets by their withdrawal, the terrible weather
allowed the boys little or no sleep that night. The casual-
ties among our boys were few that afternoon. Sylvester
Peirson, of Company A, fell mortally wounded by the pre-
mature explosion of a shell thrown over our heads from our
own battery, and died that night, and George McCormick, of
the same company, was wounded in the arm; Corporal Leon-
ard and a private of Company E, were slightly wounded.
There were no others killed or wounded in the battalion that
I remember.

Early on the morning of the 10th we were started out on
the march in pursuit of the enemy along the line of railroad
which they had laid in ruins the day before. A part of Gen-