Wayne County, NC - George Whitfield Pearsall and the Fifty-Fifth Regiment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Introduction By Tom Vincent On April 15, 1861, United States Secretary of War Simon Cameron telegraphed North Carolina Governor John W. Ellis requesting "two regiments of military for immediate service." Ellis judged the federal government’s call for troops "in violation of the constitution and a gross usurpation of power." The governor continued: "I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country, and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina." The call for troops severed the state’s last link with the union and North Carolina seceded on May 20, 1861. When the guns fell silent on May 18, 1865, the state had contributed approximately 111,000 troops to the Confederate cause. North Carolinians quickly raised volunteer companies with names such as "The Hornet’s Nest Riflemen" and "The Charlotte Grays." One of these companies, "North Carolina Rebels," became Company G of the Fifty-fifth Regiment of North Carolina Troops. Company G consisted of volunteers from Johnston and Wayne counties in the eastern piedmont portion of the state. Organizers raised the company in April and May 1862, and the Confederate States mustered it into service on May 30, 1862. George W. Pearsall served in Company G of the Fifty-fifth Regiment from May 30, 1862 until June 2, 1864. Pearsall’s letters to his wife Sarah reveal some of the tedium of camp life and the camaraderie among his brothers in arms. His letters from May 1864 provide an almost blow-by-blow account of his unit’s action in some of the most horrific fighting of the war: the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. In addition to details of life in the Army of Northern Virginia, Pearsall’s letters reveal a man who cared deeply about his family and remained concerned about the maintenance of the family farm. In his correspondence, Pearsall described battles as "the oflest site that I evor saw." However, in the midst of the carnage, Pearsall constantly penned endearments to his wife and family and displayed an aching urge to come home. George W. Pearsall was the eldest child of John and Mary Pearsall. In the summer of 1850, when George was fourteen years old, John Dickson Pearsall (1816), his wife Mary Whitfield Pearsall, their four children, and John’s mother Ann Ezzell Peasall (1787), lived on a small farm in Duplin County, North Carolina. On October 11, 1857, George Pearsall married Sarah Patrick. According to census records, by 1860 George and Sarah lived on a farm in Wayne County, North Carolina, near the town of Mount Olive. Three Pearsall children lived on the farm, ranging in age from one to six years old. Charles Casey, who was eleven years old, also lived with the Pearsalls. The census records indicate George Pearsall was an engineer. When Pearsall mustered into the Confederate Army in May, 1861, he listed his occupation as a farmer. His letters to Sarah revealed, in addition to his military adventures, a concern for the workings of the farm. Pearsall advised Sarah, Charles, and his son William on the care of the family hogs, cows, corn, beehives, and turnips. Pearsall’s world in rural Wayne County was a mixture of small farms and relatively large plantations. Along with Pearsall and his family, 14,899 people live in Wayne County in 1860. Enslaved blacks numbered 5,451, or over a third of the population. The county was rural, with 885 residents in Goldsboro, the county’s largest town and the county seat. The most widely harvested crops were corn, sweet potatoes, and wheat. Farmers also cultivated cotton and rice. Large plantations in Wayne County specialized in the raising of cotton and tobacco. Wayne County benefited from the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. By 1838, the railroad stretched from Wilmington to Waynesborough. In 1840, the railroad reached its terminus in Weldon. From Weldon the Petersburg Railroad continued north and provided a vital lifeline from the port of Wilmington to the Confederate army near Richmond. During the 1840’s, a small cluster of buildings along the railroad grew into the village of Mount Olive. The town expanded through the 1850’s with the addition of a railroad depot and a post office. By 1861, Mount Olive contained several stores and other businesses. Large plantations and small farms surrounded the village. George Pearsall was one of these small farmers living near Mount Olive at the outbreak of the war. George Pearsall enlisted in the Confederate Army on May 3, 1862 and the state of North Carolina mustered him into service at Camp Magnum, near Raleigh, on May 30, 1862. Pearsall wrote to his wife upon his arrival in Raleigh on May 12, 1862. Even though he appeared to be having fun with the men in camp, he already missed his wife when he wrote "last thing that I thot of last night was you." Whether he was loafing around camp or in the heat of battle, Pearsall’s wife would never be far from his thoughts. Near the end of June 1862, the Fifty-fifth North Carolina resided at Camp Campbell near Kinston, North Carolina. It was near there, on August 7, 1862, that the regiment underwent its baptism of fire when some Federal gunboats shelled them from the Neuse River. The cannon fire wounded one soldier in the regiment. The Fifty-fifth North Carolina’s next major action was an attempt in September to recapture the town of Washington, North Carolina. The Confederates failed to dislodge the Yankees and the regiment lost seven men killed, eight wounded, eleven captured, and one missing. With the close of the campaigning season, the Fifty-fifth North Carolina served on provost guard detail in Petersburg, Virginia, from October 13, 1862 until February 1863. The men marked this period with accounts of boredom, cold, fatigue, and an increase in sickness. There are no surviving letters from Pearsall covering this period. Attesting to the poor health of the regiment, doctors admitted Pearsall to the General Hospital in Petersburg, Virginia on February 16. He suffered from debilitas and returned to duty on February 20, 1863. The spring of 1863 found the Fifty-fifth North Carolina in southeastern Virginia assigned to guard a pass on the Blackwater River. The regiment participated in the siege of Suffolk, Virginia, in April, 1863 and suffered relatively light casualties: two men killed and twelve wounded. The Fifty- fifth North Carolina was still skirmishing near Suffolk on April 26 when it received orders to join the Army of Northern of Virginia. General Longstreet, commander of the force that contained the Fifty-fifth North Carolina’s brigade, was unable to get his men in motion until May 3 and the unit missed the battle of Chancellorsville. No letters remain from Pearsall covering this period or anything to show he participated in the upcoming battle of Gettysburg. He appeared on a receipt roll that showed he worked as a teamster in Staunton, Virginia from July 12 to August 1, 1863. On March 5, 1863, the headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia assigned the Fifty-fifth North Carolina to the brigade of Brigadier General Joseph R. Davis. The brigade comprised part of Major General Henry Heth’s Division of Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill’s Corps. The Fifty-fifth North Carolina would remain with this division until January 1865, and it was with that division they followed Robert E. Lee on his invasion of Pennsylvania in June 1863. The Fifty-fifth North Carolina marched with Heth’s division when they encountered Union Brigadier General John Buford’s cavalry near the town of Gettysburg on the morning of July 1. The regiment attacked, driving Buford’s men back until encountering the "Iron Brigade" of the Federal I Corps. With a withering volley, the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry blasted the Fifty-fifth North Carolina back into a railroad cut, from which they retreated in confusion. Charles Cooke, a first lieutenant in Co. I of the Fifty-fifth North Carolina Regiment, described the regiment’s losses as "very great in killed and wounded, and a large number were captured in the road-cut." Later that afternoon, Davis’s Brigade joined Jubal A. Early’s division in an attack that drove the Yankees through the town of Gettysburg and onto Cemetery Ridge. On the second day of the battle, the Fifty-fifth North Carolina rested and policed the battlefield. On the afternoon of July 3, the Fifty-fifth North Carolina formed ranks for Lee’s grand assault on the Federal center, commonly known as "Pickett’s Charge." The troops encountered no enemy fire until about three quarters of a mile from the enemy lines where, in General Davis’s words "we were met by a heavy fire of grape, canister, and shell, which told sadly upon our ranks." Davis’s brigade continued to advance, in spite of Federal artillery raking them with canister on their exposed left, due to the collapse of a brigade of Virginians commanded by Colonel Robert Mayo. About 200 yards from the enemy lines, the Federal troops delivered several volleys of musketry into the faces of Davis’s men. The leaden hail killed scores of men, many retreated to the rear and a few continued to advance. The Federal forces killed or captured any men from the regiment who reached the stone wall. According to the official report, at Gettysburg the Fifty-fifth North Carolina suffered thirty-nine men killed and 159 wounded. Robert E. Lee detailed Heth’s division as the rear guard during the retreat from Gettysburg. The Fifty-fifth North Carolina fought Federal cavalry forces at Falling Waters as the Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River. The regiment suffered four men killed, three wounded, and thirty-six captured. The next action the Fifty-fifth North Carolina participated in was a battle near Bristoe Station, Virginia on October 14, 1863. Pearsall described this fight as one of "the hotest times that I ever saw." A.P. Hill held Davis’s brigade in reserve as two other brigades engaged the Federal Second Corps. The Federal troops drove the Confederate brigades back and Hill ordered Davis’s brigade forward to reinforce his right flank. The brigade halted after advancing only a short distance, and the Fifty-fifth North Carolina suffered only three men wounded and two captured. Although Brigadier General John R. Cooke’s brigade suffered the brunt of the losses in this engagement, Pearsall described his regiment coming under fire when "they pepered round me very fast but we had to git from the bumes." In late November and early December, 1863, the Fifty-fifth North Carolina participated in the Mine Run campaign south of the Rapidan River. Major General George Meade crossed the river and tried to turn Lee’s right flank. Lee anticipated Meade’s move and ensconced his army behind strong fortifications. Meade realized the futility of an attack and withdrew. The regiment suffered no losses during this campaign and went into winter encampments near Orange Court House, Virginia. Alfred Belo, at the time a major in the Fifty-fifth North Carolina, recorded, "the rations that winter were on very scant allowance. The daily portion was a pound of corn meal and a quarter pound of beans." Pearsall’s correspondence showed him being concerned with domestic issues back home in North Carolina, but food is never far from his mind. He instructed his wife to save him some ribs for his expected furlough because "if you don’t have something to revive me up I shant bee able to make the trip." Later that winter he asked her to "to git 1 bushel of potatoes if you can" and give them to one his furloughed comrades to deliver to him. Davis’s brigade remained encamped at Orange Court House until May 4, 1864. On that day, Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River and advanced into the Wilderness, an area of scrub pines, underbrush, and thickets in Virginia. Lee ordered A. P. Hill to march his corps on the Orange Plank Road to the Wilderness. Upon Hill’s arrival on the battlefield, Lee ordered Heth’s division to capture the Orange Plank Road – Brock Road Junction without bringing on a general engagement. Heth deployed his three brigades, which included Davis’s brigade under the temporary command of Colonel John M. Stone, astride the Orange Plank Road. The Confederates found Federal troops already in position at the road junction, and in accordance with their orders, fell back and formed a defensive line. At approximately 4:15 PM, Brigadier General G.W. Getty’s division attacked and slammed into Cooke’s and Stone’s brigades. The Confederate soldiers repulsed several attacks by Getty. As the afternoon wore on, more Federal troops arrived on the field and their officers sent them into the inferno on Orange Plank Road. Stone’s brigade repulsed seven Federal attacks. Darkness and the arrival of fresh Confederate troops finally brought a halt to the carnage. In a letter that described the events of May 5, Pearsall told his wife: "my Dear I sat in one place and shot my riful 61 times." He added, "We have got the best of the fight so far. We have kiled a county of Yankees and a good meney of our men." That day’s fighting made such an impression on Pearsall, in a letter written a week later he retold the events of May 5, which he summed up as "the oflest site that I evor saw." In his letter of May 7, he reported his regiment went into battle that day with 350 men and only 120 soldiers survived at the end of the day. Writing a week later, he cited the regiment’s May 5 losses as "kiled 34 Wonded 154." The action of May 5 heralded an almost continuous week of combat for George Pearsall and the Army of Northern Virginia. In his letter of May 11, Pearsall wrote that he had "gone threw more for the last 7 days than I evor did before." Early on the morning of May 6, Federal forces from Major General Winfield Scott Hancock’s Second Corps slammed into A.P. Hill’s corps. The location of Stone’s brigade and the Fifty-fifth North Carolina at the time of this attack is uncertain. Evidence suggests that the brigade was in the process of reoccupying its position of the previous evening. According to Pearsall’s correspondence, the Federal attack cut him off from the rest of Stone’s brigade and "I got with the 11 Missippi and Went in a charge the 6 in the morning and backed the Yankees considerbal and I nevor saw as meney ded yanks in my life." Lieutenant General James Longstreet reorganized Stone’s scrambled brigade and they spent a relatively quiet day in the Confederate center with Hill’s corps. Davis returned that morning and reassumed command of his brigade from Stone. According to Charles Cooke, "our regiment was not engaged further during the Wilderness fight." On the evening of May 7, Grant began a movement around Lee’s right and the opposing armies began a race to the strategic crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. A.P. Hill’s corps, now under the temporary command of Jubal Early, made up the rear guard during the march and did not reach Spotsylvania until May 9. The exact position of Davis’s brigade and the Fifty-fifth North Carolina on May 10 is not certain. However, they were part of Heth’s division when Union Major General David Birney’s division encountered the Confederates near Talley’s Mill. According to Pearsall, "We charged them out of three lines of brest works but did not kill half as meney as We did the [May] 5." May 11 was a day of rest for the troops in the trenches at Spotsylvania. Major General Philip Sheridan’s union cavalry troopers mortally wounded Major General J.E.B. Stuart at Yellow Tavern, Virginia. George Pearsall had time to write a three-page letter to his wife. Ulysses S. Grant found the time to write to Major General Henry Halleck and tell him "[I] propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." At 4:00 AM on May 12, the Federals launched a series of furious attacks against the Confederate’s "Mule Shoe" salient. The butcher’s bill for that single day’s fighting consisted of almost 17,000 men from both sides killed, wounded, and captured. Davis’ brigade occupied a relatively quiet position to the right of the salient, also known as the "Bloody Angle," which was the site of the day’s fiercest fighting. Pearsall observed, "they charged our brest works in the begining on my left and kiled a good many of our men… [and] ...we lost kiled one in the Regt." Charles Cooke, never one to downplay the Fifty-fifth North Carolina’s sacrifices, characterized the regiment’s losses that day as "comparatively small." During the next week, Grant attempted several attacks against the Confederate lines, but the Federal forces did not direct them against the Fifty-fifth North Carolina. Pearsall noted on May 14, "our scrumersh is firing and reglar buming going on." On May 18, elements of Major General Ambrose Burnside’s Ninth Corps attacked the Confederate brigades of Brigadier Generals Alfred M. Scales and Edward L. Thomas. The Fifty-fifth North Carolina, as part of Davis’s brigade, was in the trenches immediately to the right of the assault. The Federal forces fell back with heavy losses and "our boys slaid them so fast they had to fall back again." Pearsall described the Federal artillery’s opening bombardment as "the hevist canonading I evar herd." In the midst of describing such furious combat, Pearsall’s love for his family continued to show when he told his wife to "kiss the childring for me and tell them how my hart akes for you and them in time of our hevy batles." As the fighting around Spotsylvania began to wane, Grant began another shift around Lee’s right flank. Between May 5, when the fighting began in the Wilderness, and May 21, the Army of the Potomac reported 39,791 soldiers killed, wounded, and missing. Between May 5 and May 12, Lee’s casualties numbered about 23,000 men killed, wounded, and missing, a much higher proportion of his troops than Grant’s losses. Most of Lee’s losses were concentrated in Lieutenant General Richard Ewell’s Second Corps. The only time the Fifty-fifth North Carolina was directly involved in heavy fighting in the Spotsylvania campaign was on May 10. When Lee realized Grant sought to outflank him, the Confederate army fell back to the North Anna River and prepared positions to block the Federal advance. On May 23, along the North Anna River, Confederate Major General Cadmus Wilcox’s division encountered elements of Major General Gouverneur K. Warren’s Fifth Army Corps. A.P. Hill feared a Federal counterattack and ordered Heth’s division to reinforce Wilcox. The division arrived too late to participate in the battle. Federal artillery shelled the division and the Fifty-fifth North Carolina did not sustain any casualties. George Pearsall was in the rear on cooking detail and commented, "they ar fiting now but little Wais from me very hard." On the night of May 26, Grant began another attempt to sidle around Lee’s army. Lee ordered Ewell’s, Major General Richard H. Anderson’s, and part of Hill’s corps into positions about eight miles northeast of Richmond. The Fifty-fifth North Carolina arrived on the night of May 29 and "Worked near all knight making brest works." Grant did not attack the Confederates along those entrenchments. Instead, he sent cavalry units under Major General Philip Sheridan further south to seize a strategic crossroads at Cold Harbor, Virginia. In his letter of May 23, George Pearsall predicted, "thair Will bee a nother big kiling and I trust in god that I may go threw safe." There would be another big killing at Cold Harbor, but Pearsall would not live to see it. Sheridan arrived at Cold Harbor on May 31 and found the place occupied by Confederate cavalry and by late afternoon, Sheridan’s troopers occupied the crossroads. The next day both sides attacked, but neither force made any headway. Davis’s brigade was not involved on the fighting of June 1. Grant hoped to launch a huge assault on the Confederate entrenchments on June 2. He delayed the attack until the following day because one of his corps was exhausted by time it arrived in position. In the late afternoon of June 2, Jubal Early sent three divisions, including Heth’s, on an attack on the Union right flank. Cooke described the engagement as "a fearful charge." Sometime during this charge, a bullet struck Private George W. Pearsall in the head and killed him. On June 5, John W. Powell wrote a letter to Sarah Pearsall and informed her that her husband "was shot through the head + his brains out in a charge made by Davis Brigade on the Yankeys the eve of the 2nd of June." Powell described how Pearsall’s comrades dragged him off the field two days later and buried him. In George Pearsall’s last letter to his wife, written the morning of June 2 before the attack, he said, "I trust in god to meat you again soon." The "big killing" Pearsall predicted came the next day. Early on the morning of June 3, 50,000 Federal troops advanced into the center of the Confederate line. The people of Richmond, eight miles away, heard the fusillade of rifle fire and artillery that met the Union soldiers. The Confederate soldiers repulsed the enemy all along their lines. In his post- war account, Cooke claimed, "we did not suffer as heavily as some of the regiments, but the punishment we inflicted upon the enemy was fearful." The Federal losses were astronomical, there has never been an accurate accounting, but estimates range from 4,500 to over 7,000. Ulysses S. Grant, who almost never second-guessed himself, wrote years later, "I have always regretted that last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made." The Fifty-fifth North Carolina soldiered on for the rest of the war without Private Pearsall. The regiment remained in reserve for the rest of the Cold Harbor campaign. On June 14, Grant began moving his army to Petersburg, a strategic road and rail junction south of Richmond. The Fifty- fifth North Carolina arrived in fortifications in front of Petersburg on July 5. Several weeks of inactivity in the trenches followed. On July 29, Heth’s division and Anderson’s corps moved from the Confederate lines to confront Hancock’s Second Corps, which had crossed the James River and was threatening Richmond. Hancock’s movement diverted enemy troops away before the Federals detonated a large underground mine they had burrowed under the Confederate lines. The next morning, the Fifty-fifth North Carolina woke to the "reverberation of a great sound which seemed to have been produced a long way off, and at the same time there was a trembling of the earth." The regiment marched back to help repair the breach in the Confederate line, but arrived too late to participate in the action that historians dubbed The Battle of the Crater. The Fifty-fifth North Carolina remained in the trenches around Petersburg and made occasional forays to contest Federal attempts to extend their lines and cut vital Confederate railroads. In mid-August, Davis’s brigade and Mayo’s Virginians clashed with elements of Warren’s Fifth Corps at Globe Tavern, Virginia. Cooke described the regiment’s losses of seventeen men killed, forty-two wounded, and seven captured, as "relatively greater than in any other battle in which it participated." Later that fall, the regiment participated in action at Burgess’ Mill, where they suffered three killed and fourteen wounded. The Army of Northern Virginia spent a cold and hungry winter in the trenches before Petersburg. In late January 1865, the Confederate army transferred the Fifty-fifth North Carolina from Davis’ brigade to Brigadier General John R. Cooke’s brigade of Heth’s division. Previously brigaded with Mississippians, the Fifty-fifth enjoyed the last months of the war in the company of fellow Tar Heel units the Fifteenth, Twenty-seventh, Forty-sixth, and Forty-eighth North Carolina Regiments. In late March 1865, Major General Phil Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah rejoined Grant’s forces and he participated in the Federal victory at the battle of Five Forks. Hoping to quickly follow up on that victory, on April 2 Grant launched Major General Horatio G. Wright’s Sixth Corps at a Confederate salient near Burgess’ Mill occupied by Cooke’s brigade. The Federal forces pushed the Confederates from their position and Cooke’s brigade fell back to Sutherland’s Station and dug in. Coordinated Union attacks on the Confederate lines drove them from their entrenchments in confusion. Fifty-nine members of the rapidly shrinking Fifty-fifth North Carolina surrendered. The shattered remnants of Heth’s division limped away to meet with the Army of Northern Virginia at Amelia Court House. At 4:00 A.M. on April 4, they weary members of Cooke’s brigade rendezvoused with Lee’s army. The army headed for Appomattox Station, where they expected rations to be waiting for them. On the morning of April 9, the Confederates found themselves hemmed in by Federal troops and they poised to repel attacks by freshly arrived Union corps. Surrounded, famished, and outnumbered, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House the afternoon of April 9. Eighty-three members of the Fifty-fifth North Carolina survived to surrender. The Fifty-fifth North Carolina regiment had served for slightly less than three years in the Civil War. They were not a particularly distinguished unit. They had no moments of great glory or occasions of great shame. However, their contributions on the first day of Gettysburg and the first day of the Wilderness were key in both of those engagements. George W. Pearsall appeared to be an average man in an average Confederate infantry regiment. He ran a small farm and owned no slaves. If he had any strong opinions on state rights, slavery, or tariffs, he did not write about them in the surviving letters to his wife. Pearsall tried to endure the crucible of war the best he could. Even when he described some of the most horrendous fighting of the war, he never failed to remind his wife and family that he loved them. Editorial Method The collection of Pearsall’s letters consist of eleven letters written by George Pearsall, Co. G, Fifty-fifth North Carolina Regiment, to his wife Sarah. There is a twelfth letter written by John W. Powell that informed Sarah Pearsall of her husband’s death in battle. The letters are in the private collections of the State Archives, North Carolina Office of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina. The editor has transcribed the letters as literally as feasible. This transcription method retained all misspellings. Pearsall included no punctuation in his letters. The only editorial adjustment in terms of punctuation was the insertion of an extra blank space where the editor judged a sentence ended. All editorial interpolations are enclosed in square brackets [ ]. [Illegible] indicates words that cannot be deciphered. If the editor made an educated guess as to what the word is, the editor enclosed the word in square brackets followed by a question mark. In cases where the misspelling is so bizarre, the editor included the correct spelling in square brackets. Pearsall’s writing displayed several different quirks. He often capitalized the first letter in words beginning with the letters "w" and "s." Pearsall often wrote words that began with the letter "a" as two words, for example: a fraid or a bout. The editor has retained all such idiosyncrasies. Pearsall began all of his letters with the date and his location. Sometimes he separated that information from the main body of the letter, and occasionally he ran the information in with the main body of the letter. In the interest of clarity, the editor separated the date and location and placed that information on separate lines at the beginning of each letter. Occasionally, Pearsall continued a letter the following day but on the same sheet of paper as the previous day’s letter. In these cases, the editor did not treat them as separate letters and retained them in the body of the first letter. On the same sheet of paper of his May 29, 1864, letter to his wife, Pearsall began a letter to his mother on May 30. The editor separated that letter from the body of the prior letter to his wife for the sake of clarity. John W. Powell, the writer of the last letter to Pearsall’s wife, used punctuation and more standard spelling than George Pearsall did. The editor has retained Powell’s punctuation and spelling exactly as written by the author. The Letters of George Pearsall Roley NC May the 12 1862 Dear wife I take the pleasur of writing you afiew lines to let you know that I got heair Saft we are in a house about 50 yards from the depo Sack we got heair yasty at five oclock the captin give us leaf to go whoir we pleas untell nine oclock Sack I and L.G. Isaac marin Richird Kley and lamuel Bud walk over town until we got atyared and we all come back and lay down Sack after we lay down I ast I L Marin what hee wld give to bee home he sayed hee wold 5 dolars Sack I told him I wold 500 and the compny all laugh Sack I in joyed my self as well as I cold but last thing that I thot of last night was you and the first this morning was Sack and the childring J R Rolen told me that hee thot you wuld bee good medson for me I told him I thought so too But I dont want you to [illegible] a bout mee for I hope that I Shall fair as well as eny other Solgier Sack the captin sed that we wold [illegible] in camp this ething or in the moring ton at Camp Mangum about 3 miles from hear Thair well yet our turn over Sack we hase not bin mustred in yet the captin is going to wilming to marro after some men that has bin turn in to him and gon to other compnies and hee will cary some men with and I may bee sent to go so look out for me tomorro on the four oclock train Sack tell Jane that that I sead that if shee distan Come with you win she promis that I wold ring her little long neck in too I want you Jane to be cirtin to come if I donot write eney tell then Sack the [illegible] is now redy to take our bauty to camp So I must Sack write tomoro as Soon as you get this I Remain your af fiction husbn till death G.W. Pearsall to Sarah Pearsall Direct your letters in this way George W Pearsall Camp Mangum in care of Capt J P Williams Camp Bristow VA October the15 1863 My Dear Wife I am very thankley to god to think that I am spaired to drop you a fiew lines one time more My Dear I am now on the Battlefield The battle opened yesterday at 2 oclock and held till dark Cooks bragade sufered very bad the 27 NC regt lost 300 killed wounded and taken Jack Denmark kiled H Parker kiled is all that I no, ten peases of atilry taken from us I cant tell the ofical lost Now they are firing now as hard they can about fore miles from hair It was chill yesterday and wet to day We made them git last knight My regt was in line but did fire nor lose no men but I tell you I think we should git into it for the hotest times that I ever saw was hair But thank god we was not in reach of the muskets but a fiew minuts they pepered round me very fast but we had to git from the bumes they fill all in amung us My Dear it is a bad chans tonite I received you kind leter dated 6 and was very glad to hear from you I was at Watsons Court House when I got it and not had the chans to rite I will rite a gain as soon as I can. May god spair us to meat again for christ sake is my prair nothing more at this time Only I still remain your loving husband untell death G.W. Pearsall to his Dear wif Sarah Camp Winder Dec the 23 1863 My Dear Wife I seat my self to answer your kind leter that came to hand to day it found me a bout like common and I hope these lines may find you and the childring well my Dear I asked the Lt to reekermend me for a furlow and he sed I had to stay with him a nother weeak or to before I went home for I was not in a fix to go home yet so I am in good hart a bout seeing you before long I think that I shud git home the first or second weeak in january if nothing hapens you sed I hurt your feeling in my last letter if I did I am sorry for it for I dont want to hurt your feeling but I esaped that first one an then another wood but you out of the nosion of moving to your place and I need it was bes for you to go thair buley for you Charly I am of your opinion I dont like to make corn and then give evry third load for makeing it Charly hear is too dolars you spend as you pleas and Sack will let me no what you spend it for and if you dont spend it too foolishly I will send you something evry time Sack rits to me that you are doeing smart and trying to please her Billey I will send you one dollar and if you and Charley dont bee smart and minds hur I wont never send you and Charley nomore money but if you mother rits to me that you and Charley is smart and minds her I will Send you Some more and if you dont bee Smart and mind hur I wont never send you and Charley no more money My Dear you sed you had killed all of your hogs but the old sowe try to keep hur till I come home so that I can git a [bail ?] of spair ribs and back boons and then I will [waler ?] on your bones for if you don’t have something to revive me up I shant bee able to make the trip I will send you 12 needles let me no whether you git them or not Dear I have no nus to rite at this time day after tomoro is christ mass and you must send me a ciss for a christmass gift for I had rather have a ciss from your lips than all the christ mass that will be about Richmond Dear let me no if you have got any irish potatos for seed and whether the bees is living or not and if they are you must bee purticular moving them give my love to [illegible] and Hanes and Jane and tell Jane I hope I shal see her fine boy before long I will close so fair well for this time I hope to see you soon GW Pearsall to his dear darling Sarah Kiss [illegible] for me Camp near Orange Va Febry the 15 1864 my Dear Wife I take the opertunity this cold Snowey knight to drop you a fiew to let you hear from me my Dear I am not very well I have taken a very bad cole and I have begin to coff again very bad I earnesly hope my fiew lines may find you and our loving litle childring mothers and fambly all well my dear I rote you a leter the knigt that I got hear the 12 which was friday I staid to. g o. jones tuesday kight to Petersburg Wendsday knight and to Richmond Thursday knight I got hear Friday evning the boys is giting furlows now rite fast the capt and Jack Powel is gon home now and David Thompson will start home in 3 or 4 days I want you to git 1 bushel of potatoes if you can and cary them to Dudly draw day and he will bring them to me dont put your self to too mutch truble and dont pay too mutch for them I shal draw the first of next month and I shal draw some over a hundred dolars and I will send it to you try to by some corn if you can and feed the mair as good as you can untell you git dun plowing try to git some rails split and make a cow pen over the rode so as to have a turnup patch and if the land has bin runout let me no how meny achors thair is and how mutch ground charly has got redy to plant and if you have planted your ptaitoes and if the road fens is done and if Mr Edwards has got the money for that jujment and if he has tell him to pay his Self and give you the rest and if Mr Hering wans to keep the gun git his receip for it and if not git it hom I am in hops that I will git home to Stay Soon So that I can See Som Satesfaction with you all and git to making something to live on for that keeps me very uneasy for them that fails to make it will fail to eat it mother tell gery to reckerlect what mr car told him and show the people that he can make a plenty of corn sell tobe and by cowes god bee with us all and spair asole to git home together again soon G W Pearsall to his Dear Wife Sarah let me hear from you Charly if you will beet jerry making corn I will give you 10 dolars don’t let Sack rite that you are behind with the crop May the 7 64 My Dear loved Wife I am now on the battle field and have bin evor sens thursday and I am truly thank to god that I am yet spaired to drop a fiew lines to the one that my werea hart ake for While in battle from 2 oclock thursday untell sunset my love I no god was with me and I am truly thankful to him that I am spaird so far my Dear I sat in one place and shot my riful 61 times my co wint in with 30 men and come out with 8 only and onley 2 taken prisner the rest all kiled and wounded L B Price and L J Thompson taken the strength of our regt was 350 and now 120 The enemy charged us and we had to fall back about sunset and I got cut off from my com and got with it again yestady We hold all the batle ground now and I tell you dear it is a offul site the small armes is poping now on my rite as fast as you evor herd reeds in a branch it is now about 11 oclock saturday and it has bin a continul fire evor sens thursday morning sunrise We have got the best of fight so far We have kiled a county of yankees and a good meney of our men too they are now chargeing the yankees and I must close I will write again god bee with us and enable us to meet again soon for christ sake huney I will say a fiew words more as we have got still behind brest works it is near sunset and I hope I shal rest some to knight fro I am broke down We are about 20 miles from orange on the plank road I recived you very kind leter yestaday lying in line of battle and was glad to hear from you Give my love to mar grand and Bep WEP and fambly you Will all pray for me to me you all a gain soon G W Pearsall to his loved wife S A Pearsall May the 11 1864 In line of batle near Spotsylvana court house Va My Dear Wife I am truly thankful to god that I am yet aloud the priverlige of writing you a fiew lines in Which you will learn that I am yett in the land and among the living and have gon threw more for the last 7 days than I evor did before hear has bin the oflest site that I evor saw I was engaged the 5 from 2 oclock untell sunset the yankees charged in frunt of our breggade and I tell you thair was a hot time my Regt lost kiled 34 Wonded 154 my co lost kiled 2 Jessey Garres and Joseph Price wonde 12 in that fite I got cut off from my Regt and my breggade got cut in too and I got With the 11 Missippi and Went in a charge the 6 in the morning and backed the yankees considerbal and I nevor saw as meney ded yanks in my life they Wair laid threw the Woods for 2 miles and the rest of our Brggade was yes today eavning which was the 10 We charged them out of three lines of brest works but did not kill half as meney as We did the 5 for they can out run eney foks I evor saw I tell you I never was in as clost a place as I was the first day I sat in one place and shot my riful 61 times and I was not more than 2 hundred yards from them yestaday thair was 2 wonded in my co they are fiting now on my left as hard as they can I begin this leter this morning and had to leave it is 9 oclock at knight I just herd such goo nuse thaut I wood try to finish it the report is old grant is retreting and I think it is time for if he aint whipped now thair is no chans to Whip him We will have to follow him and we expet to to start at eney minut and god grant he may go back to com no more huney We had to put out our lits and I cold not finish So I will try again Friday the 13 inst that report is not so for the fight opend at day yestady morning and held all day they charged our brest works in the begining on my left and kiled a good meney of our men but we charge them out about 10 oclock and kiled lots of them Walkers Breggade took 500 prisoners 3 stand of culars the balls is hisling over me now from the scrumish lines no reglar engagement now it is 8 oclock Friday morning we lost kiled one in the Regt Saturday the 14 evry thing is still to what it has bin our scrumersh is firing and reglar buming going on I can see the yanks very plain and can see them fire thair canons at us We ar behind good brest works they kile a horse and Wond a man evry once and a wile huney I Will close for evry time I begin to Write We have to leave so I still pray to god to Spair us to meet again soon for christ sake give my love to all brother John was all rite they he came by but I nevor saw him I was on detail I cant tell when this leter will go but I keep one rote and I sent one or too half doon My trust is yet in god GW Pears to his loved one at home it is bad to reed but a bad [illegible] In line of battle behind brest works near Spotsilvana cort house Va May the 15 1864 my Dear Wife I am thankful to god that I am aloud the privlige of drafting you a fiew lines in which you will learn that I am well as to health but the worst broke down I ever was in my life I hope these lines to find you and all well my Dear it is grate pleasur to me that I have gon threw the hevy batls safe so far and I trust in god I may go threw safe Wrights briggade made a charg yestaday eavning and drove them back and kiled and wonded a good meny and took 150 prisners our pickets is firing now on them in frunt the canon ading was very hevy yestaday eavning I am am siting by the left whele of a brace peece that makes them git when she opens on them I can see the yankees brest works they are about one mile from me it is very wet and rany hear now I have no bin engaged sens the 10 only on picket thair is no canon ading this morning the male is going to leave and I must close by praying to god to conduct me threw this horred war safe and alow me to return home a gain soon to them that is so Dear to me give my love to all G W Pearsall to his loved one at home Sarah Pearsall take care of theas leters this is yankee paper behind brest Works near Spottssilvana cort house va May the 18 1864 My Dear Wife I seat my self to drop you a fiew lines in which you will learn that I am well as to helth but very mutch were I earnstly hope these fiew lines to reach and find you and all well my Dear we are in a old feel about 2 hundred yards from the court house and the yankees lines runs threw the same field about a half mile from us We have had no reglar engagement sens the 12 untell this morning The enemy charged on my left with a singly line and failed to git to our brest works and fell back and came again With 2 lines but our boys slaid them so fast they had to fall back again With a hevy lost it begin this morning at sunrise and held untell 10 oclock our Regt was not engaged but under the fire of the hevist canonading I evar herd the bumes fell all around me and threw the dirt all over me but thank god I am yet unhurt but we had one man kiled in the Breggade and 200 wonded in a fiew minuts after the firing begin you cold not see a man 40 yards for the smoke it was a continul fire on bouth sids but evry thing has camed of now it is 3 oclock in the eavning kiss the childring for me and tell them how my hart akes for you and them in time of our hevy batles give my love to all and continue to pray for me to return home soon G W P to his loved wife Sarah to the rear on cooking detail on the banks of the South annar near hanover junction may the 23 1864 My Dear Wife I recived your leter of the 4 a fiew minuts ago and Was very glad to hear from you those lines leavs me broke down I hant time to write but I no one Wold will let you no that I am yet living thank god the army is all falling back I surpose to Richmond and if not before thair Will bee a nother big kiling and I trust in god that I may go threw safe they ar fiting now but litle Wais from me very hard it is no dark and I must close I will rite evry time I can I have Wrote you 5 or 6 leters sens the fiting begin and I will as often as I can and must to me tell Mary old coten bothering me so I cant write give my love to all I Will close by asking you all to think of me in your prairs and by praying to god to spair me to return home again to you and our dear litle childring G W Pearsall to his loved Wife Sarah it is so dark I cant see May the 29 1864 Stoped to rest on the road 8 miles of Richmond My Lovid Wife it is a grate pleasur to me to think that it is the lords will so far that I am able to drop you a fiew line in Which you will lern that I am Well as to helth but very mutch wered We ar 75 miles nerrer Richmond now than We Wair When we first begin to fite and thair has not bin a day sens the 5th but some of our army has bin en gage thank god I have not bin engaged sins the 10th only on picket and me and the yankees pickets has taken severl fair cracks at each other they have come very clost to me the balls has pased between my legs under and one Went under my arm but thank god it has bin his Will so far that I have escape and I trust in him I may threw this war and return home to you again soon for I want to see you wers than I evor did but I fear this fite has hardly begin huney I recived you very kind leter just now in close with mothers and Was glad to hear from you all and you had heard from me but you had not got all the leters for I wrote evry 2 or 3 days untell last weeak dear I think this fite will clsoe the war we are giting double rashings [rations] of meet a half pound We drued tobaco the army is all out of money We Will draw as soon as this fite over and if it is gods will I Shal live I will send you some tell charly and Billy that I will send them some too I think they ar mity smart it pleases me to hear that you are giting a long with yer crops huney We have got to leave hear I will close god bee With us all I pray G W Pearsall to his loved Wife Sarah Monday morning the 30 Dear Mother I with pleasure take opertunity of droping you a fiew lines mother I can say to you that I am very much wered this morning We are now about 12 miles of Richmond We are in line of batle on the front we are especting to fit hear we got hear last knight dark and Worked near all knight making brest Works We ar redy for them if they Will come on us you Sed your mair Was very laim I am sury to hear it make Perry rube it and wash it in vinegar and drive my mair When you have to go the plowing Will be lite and She can hold out I trust in god I Shal git home this fall to stay this is all the paper I have got and I have spent all my money on this march but we will draw as soon as we git station down and I want to it to Sack I will close by asking the lord to bee With us all G W Pearsall to Mary his mar In Line of batle behind brest works front of Richmond June the 2 64 My Dear Wife it is With pleasure that I seat my self to drop you a fiew lines in which you will learn that I am not very well I have had the dierrear for 4 or 5 days very bad but have not stoped I earnsly hope those lines to fiend you and all Well my Dear we have bin under hevy firing evor sens yestaday 12 oclock but we have not bin engage yet I saw a ofel site yestaday eavng the yankees charged in front of Cooks Bregade a bout 5 hundred yards on my left and they wair slaid by cooks men I cant tell the number that Was kiled and Wonded but I dont think the 10 one Went back they got in a bout 100 hundred yards of our brest works before they turned back I Was sarry for them to see them faling so fast as they com runing threw the field We lost no men our pickets is firing in our front prity thick thair was a charge on my rite yestaday a half mile of but they did not git to our brest works before they had to turn back I cant tell what thair lost Was give my love to all I trust in god to meat you again soon G W Pearsall to his loved Wife Sarah Write soon and oblige yours Joneses Farm Near Richmond VA Company G 53th Regt NC Troops Davis Brigade Heths Division Sunday May [June] the 5th A.D. 1864 Mrs Sarah Pearsal. With profound regret and in accordance with my promice – if such a thing should take place I have to write you the sad news that your husband George W. Pearal was shot through the head + his brains out in a charge made by Davis Brigade on the Yankeys on the eve of the 2nd of June. Capt W.A. Whitted had him brought off of the field and buried. as we had no coffin for him he was wropt up in his blanket. David Price buried him in the night of the 4th June. he had no chance to place a board at this head but says he could find him if he should be wanted but at this time the Yankeys hold the ground where he was buried. this was a flank movement and the 4th night we had to fall back. W.F. Grantham assisted in bringing him off of the field and searched his pockets in which he found one Pocket Knife Some letters from home one almanac and one pocket book with some steel pins – but no money. – I will send his pocket book in this letter – and the first chance I get I will send his pocket knife – as to his clothing we could not carry it under the circumstances. George was one of my favorite friends a mess and bed mate of myne and he and I agreed if either one should be kild or wounded that the other would write amediately to his family – and only with regret that such is the case – for George had bin such a good man in the company that all the Officers and the company have the greatest sympathy for you. I need not write any more at present. So this leaves me as well as common. Respectfully Yours John W Powell P.S. You will excuse me for not paying the postage for I have not got a postage stamp to save my life JW Powell ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Jerome Tew Posted with permission of the great granddaughter of George W. Pearsall ___________________________________________________________________