632 Nortu Carorina Troops, 1861-65.

rior for manliness, courage, gentility and all the elements of
nobility it would be hard to find.

On one occasion when we were looking for an attack by the
enemy the Sergeant on duty found a young South Carolina
soldier asleep on his post guarding the heavy artillery. The
Sergeant arrested him and put him in the guard house.
Charges were preferred by order of the General and he was
about to be tried for his life. I asked the General if he
could not let the soldier off from further punishment, as he
was nearly scared to death now. General Leventhorpe, after
consideration, told me to show him how narrowly he had es-
caped a disgraceful death and release him. This is a speci-
men of the General’s kindness, and yet he was a strict disci-
plinarian.

My regiment was called upon to take part in the execution
of three deserters at one time, and many other unpleasant
duties fell to their lot. The regiment had about 500 men,
and during the many months they were in active service there
were very few infractions of discipline and disobedience of
orders. Lieutenant-Colonel Green was a lawyer of fine abil-
ity and a soldier of approved courage on the field of battle.

I wish I could recall the names of the many officers who
aided me so efficiently in making the regiment equal to the
best in the army. Nearly all of them had seen hard service
in the field in other commands.

In the winter the regiment was relieved by other com-
mands, and ordered on other duty. When Fort Fisher was
threatened the regiment was ordered out to the part of the
State then threatened and from that time to the close of the
war part of the command were in the field and part per-
forming duty in their respective counties.

When Sherman was marching through North Carolina
and Stoneman at the head of 5,000 horsemen was coming
through the mountains in the west, General Beauregard took
command with headquarters at Greensboro. Governor Vance
left the Capitol and established himself in the same city and
General Leventhorpe had his command entrenched north and
west of the same place. Governor Vance directed me to report
to General Beauregard some time in March and I received

 

Homer Guarps. 633

orders from him to take command of a scouting party of
about twenty well mounted and well armed men and set out
for the mountains to meet Stoneman and send back accurate
information about his force and movements. Passing through
Guilford, Forsyth, Stokes and Surry, we came upon the en-
emy near Pilot Mountain and I sent a courier back to Gen-
eral Beauregard with information nine hours later than any
he had previously received. I met Colonel Belo at the head
of a company of cavalry and other Confederate cavalry
joined in watching the enemy. I followed a body of Stone-
man’s cavalry into Virginia and learning through other par-
ties that the enemy was going to Southwestern Virginia, I
started back with my command and arrived in Greensboro
just a few hours ahead of a part of Stoneman’s troopers who
had pursued a different route from that followed by my
command. Lee’s army about this time surrendered and
while Sherman was marching towards Greensboro in pursuit
of Johnston’s army and Johnston was entering into negotia-
tions for surrendering, I received orders one morning from
Governor Vance to assume the duties of Chief Quartermas-
ter of the State and take charge of all the goods, and property
belonging to the State at Greensboro, and distribute the
clothing to the soldiers, State and Confederate. This prop-
erty filled several large warehouses and was probably worth
a million dollars. There were probably 20,000 soldiers of
the various armies in the town and round about, and Lee’s
paroled soldiers were arriving daily. The soldiers, rendered
desperate by misfortune and defeat and insubordinate to all
command, were storming houses, breaking into military
stores, taking horses and wagons, and a general riot and
mutiny was threatened and several men were killed. Under
these circumstances I took charge and after several days hard
work, assisted by a score of earnest assistants and guarded by
300 soldiers under Major Brantley, of Mississippi, the goods
were distributed among the soldiers and thousands of men
from all parts of the Confederacy went away from Greens-
boro on their way home clothed by the State of North Caro-
lina by order of her great Governor. The soldiers were dis-