Newton County GaArchives News.....MR. MOSS'S DIARY AS KEPT DURING SIXTIES July 13 1916 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Phyllis Thompson mandpthompson@bellsouth.net February 1, 2004, 11:38 pm The Covington News "This Is As I Saw It. It May Be Different As Others Saw It" He Says of 3d Regiment, Company H. BEGINNING WITH THE YEAR 1861 January, 1862 1.....We were working on winter quarters and some little drilling up to February 10th February, 1862 10....We left Hardship Camp for South Mills at Sunrise; we marched by the Dismal Swamp Canal, got to South Mills at 8 o'clock at night, powerful tired, camped at a church. Some of the boys ran up hogs out of their beds and lay down there, which was warm with fleas. We put out pickets on the Camden road and the Elizabeth City road. 11....Some of us moved to a private house near the canal and sent a detachment down the Pasquotauk river to cut trees in it to blockade it, so gunboats could not come up. Company H, went about 2 miles and camped in a house close to a draw bridge over Pasquotauk river. 12....Louisiana Artillery arrived with 3 guns of Captain GIRARDY'S battery. Our luggage wagons came up, the first time I had ever seen them or heard we had any. 13....Company H was ordered to Hinton's Cross Roads, 3 miles towards Elizabeth City. General HEMMENGER'S Artillery moved over the Pasquotauk river towards Camden Court House. Louisiana Artillery to Morrison's Mills, 8 miles from Elizabeth City. We heard that Eadenton was captured by the Federal troops. 14....Company H was ordered to Providence Church, 3- 1/2 miles from Elizabeth City, just out pickets at Knobs Creek Bridge. Some cavalry passed over the bridge and camped near Elizabeth City in houses. Company K, went to Elizabeth City and Brown Rifles took some few prisoners. Lieut Col. REED went to Elizabeth City with flag of truce. Sent a detachment to Elizabeth City to spy around and see what was going on around there. 15....We heard of the Battles of Bowling Green, Ky., and Newburn, North Carolina. 16....Rained and sleeted. Alarm in camp caused by the Yanks firing on their fleet. 17....Col. OSBORN and Capt. DeWOLF of the Yankee fleet, came to our camps with flag of truce for the purpose of exchanging prisoners who were captured at Roanoke Island. 18....I bought a lot of watch crystals from J. W. ELLIS. M. J. WHEELER and C. C. KITCHENS went to the wagons to drive them. We heard heavy firing towards Great Bridge and Craney Island. 19.... Nothing was written for this date. 20....Went on picket at creek bridge one mile from Elizabeth City. A negro was arrested and put in jail, but was whipped terribly before being put in jail, for attempt at rape on white woman. 21....We were ordered to Elizabeth City, Company H,and what pickets were in the city. The steamships, Spalding, New York, George Peabody, and some other smaller craft. They brought the Roanoke Island prisoners. Col. OSBORN was in command of the prisoners. We formed a line for them to pass through. We did not allow any of the Yanks to pass through except officers, neither did we allow our own men to pass through to steamers. Some of the Yanks asked a good many questions, and some of our boys did wome tall guessing about our arms and numbers. 22....J. M. LEVY and W. H. BAILEY got to camps from home. 23....Rained all day. 24....45 men from Company H, went to Elizabeth City on picket duty. Tremendous wind; it blew down lots of walls of the burnt dwellings and hotel and banking house and chimney. Some say the houses were burned by our people, some say the Yanks did it. The bank was robbed before it was fired. It did not burn up, the people put it our and also put out the Masonic Hall. It was over the bank. 25....The boys got lots of the bills which were canceled. It was a branch bank of the Farmers Bank of North Carolina. The boys, some of them, thought they had plenty of the Root of Evil for a while. They got tissue paper and they would paste it on the back of bills, and pass them readily. The bills were 2 and 1 for change. When the boys got to Norfolk, they passed them freely for a while, until they saw they were canceled. Lots of stagger juice was bought with the bills. 26....Received orders to drill every day and send 25 men to Elizabeth City every day, the drill to be in bayonet exercises. 27....Drilled some. Tremendous rainy day. 28....57 men from Company H went to Elizabeth City. It was reported the Yanks were going to shell the city and all citizens were ordered out, and hospital flags were to be raised on all the hospitals. They ran up close to the wharf, but never fired a gun. They sent out some men below the city to kill hogs and they got some turkeys and chickens and 50 hams, and ran to the beach and raised a white flag to get protection from the citizens. They offered to pay them for them then, but they would not take pay. I was on picket, me and MAL RICHARDSON MITCHEL on the Rum road at the forks. One went to Eadenton. We had to stand three hours at a time by orders of Major LEE. We fared well that night. The old man who lived in the house in the forks of the road had stagger juice plenty and made uas stew up and gave us supper in the night, fish chickens and eggs, and coffee. He staid up all night and kept warm stew and coffee. We would go in one at a time and warm up by fire and stew up. 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