STANLY COUNTY, NC - HOFFMAN - Civil War Stories - Battle of the Crater
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From the notebook of Lilly Carter Hoffman 1888-1979(LCH):
 
On Easter Monday,April 2,1934, I visited John Hatley of Albemarle. He had been 
a private in the 42nd regiment under my Father, Captain Robert Allen Carter. 
He told me several interesting stories cocerning Captain Carter during the 
war. One took place during the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Va. I had 
never seen Mr. Hatley before, but when I told him that I was Bob Carter's 
daughter, he shook my hand for a long time and said, "I'm so glad to meet you. 
Of course, I know who you are. Bob was my Captain. We were lying in a deep 
gulley on a dirt road. The gulley took the place of breastworks. Suddenly a 
bomb shell exploded near us and a fragment hit Capt. Carter in the knee and 
another fragment hit me (Hatley) in the upper lip, splitting it open."
Mr. Hatley pointed to the scar on his lip.
 My Mother had told me that when the explosion came, fragments of the shell 
lodged in my father's back and were not removed until several years after the 
war. My oldest sister Florence Carter Anderson told me that she remembered 
quite well washing his back and could not put a finger anywhere there was not 
a scar. My Mother told me that Capt Carter was found in a large shell hole. He 
was taken to his tent. When the battle was over, two ladies from the area came 
by his tent. He had typhoid fever. They were given permission to take him home 
with them and they nursed him back to health. He was then given a furlough 
back home to Stanly County. While there he persuaded others to join the war 
efforts.
 
Submitted by Jodie Gee