HALIFAX COUNTY, VA - MILITARY - Confederate Officers (partial) ----¤¤¤---- Book Title: A History Of Halifax County (Virginia) By Wirt Johnson Carrington Confederate Officers PARTIAL LIST OF CONFEDERATE OFFICERS IN HALIFAX COUNTY. The infantry roll is long. 1. Eighth Regiment, Company G, Captain James Thrift and Captain C. C. Terry. 2. Fourteenth Regiment, Company K, Captain D. A. Claiborne, "Dan River Co." 3. Seventeenth Regiment, Company D, Captain William H. Dulany, "Halifax Rifles." 4. Thirty-eighth. Regiment, Company F, Captain Jonathan Carter and Captain Lafayette Jennings. 5. Fifty-third Regiment, Company A (Armistead's Brigade, Pickett's Division), Captain John Grammer, "Halifax Light Infantry Blues." Lieutenants: P. C. Edmunds, Ransom B. Moon, Thomas F. Barksdale, H. A. Edmondson, James D. Clay, Evan J. Ragland, A. B. Willingham. Orderly Sergeant: A. R. Green. This company was mustered in service on the 25th of April, 1861. Ninety-four men and officers passed inspection. Captain Grammer was advanced to the colonelcy of a West Virginia regiment (Breckinridge's Brigade). 6. The Brooklyn Grays, Captain William Haymes. 7. Captain John C. Coleman's company (Dr, Coleman). This company, under Garnett, was captured in the Luray Valley and disbanded. The men joined other companies. 8. Captain Richard Logan's company, Lieutenant Charles Bruce. 9. Captain W. S. Penick’s company. 10. Captain Young's company (Dr. Young). 11. Captain D. B. Easley’s company, 12. Captain West’s company. 13. Captain William B. Hurt's company (reserves). At least four companies of artillery were made up of Halifax men, to which must be added the Staunton Artillery, half from Halifax. 1. Fourth Regiment, Heavy Artillery, Battery F, Captain Richard H. Edmondson. 2. Light Artillery (Poague's Battalion), Captain Lewis (Milton, N. C.) and Captain Nathan Penick; First Lieutenant, Armistead Barksdale; Second Lieutenant, James Cobbs. 3. Captain Sam. Wright's Battery. 4. Captain H. H, Hurt's Battery. After one year's service this company was formed into an infantry company (Wise's Brigade). 5. Staunton Artillery, six gun battery, Captain Charles Bruce and Captain A. B. Paris. Lieutenants: Thomas Tucker, Wood Bouldin, Jr., R. V. Gaines, C. A. Hammer, Flavius Gregory, Thomas E. Marshall. Orderly Sergeants: C. C. Read, H. A. Walker, T. C. Watkins, John Fore, Wyatt Paris, George Bruce, William Walker, J. A. Roberts. Halifax was a racing region before the war. The county furnished its quota to the cavalry. 1. Third Regiment, Troop C, "Black Walnut Cavalry," Captain William Easiey, Captain J. 0. Chappell and Captain Thomas H. Owen. Subalterns at the first organization: First Lieutenant Thomas H. Owen, Second Lieutenant J. W. Hall, Lieutenants J. M. Jordan, Thomas Hall, Sergeant Thomas Traynham, Captain Owen was advanced to a colonelcy and just before the close of the war received a commission as brigadier general. 2. Third Regiment, Troop H, Captain William Collins, "Catawba Cavalry." (The Third Regiment was in Wickham's and Fitzhugh Lee's Brigade, Stuart's Division.) 3. Captain Thomas S. Flournoy's Troop. Captain Flournoy later became colonel of the Sixth Cavalry. 4. Captain Mustain's company. A part of this company was from Halifax; whether in the infantry or the cavalry the writer is uncertain. Company A, Fifty-third Virginia Infantry, Armistead's Brigade, Pickett's Division, may serve as a typical Halifax company. This was an organized company before the war, and was the first to be mustered in from the county. The company fought from North Carolina to Pennsylvania, at Bethel Church, Seven Pines, the Seven Days (including Malvern Hill), Second Manassas, Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Suffolk, Gettysburg (where General Armistead was killed), Newbern, N. C., Drewry's Bluff, Fort Harrison (here Captain Henry Edmunds was greatly distinguished, June 18, 1864), the Petersburg-Richmond lines, the Hewlett House, Five Forks, Sayler's Creek, Appomattox Court House, where Captain Edmunds, as senior captain, was in command of the regiment. A letter written by a member of the company after Fort Harrison gives a notion of what war meant to the Halifax soldier: "Sandy (orderly sergeant) Green carried us on night picket duty through the battlefield of the day before over dead bodies of men and horses and within a hundred yards of the main fort. We were placed at a spot where there had been a cabin, and when the lightning flashed I could see all around me as plainly as if it was day. There was a fearful cloud rising. I took a seat on the remains of an old chimney, and as I looked over there stood, within ten feet, two Yankees on the same errand as ourselves. Sandy gave me orders not to fire unless there was an advance in force. These Yankees heard my orders, and after a while one of them said, 'Johnny, don't shoot. If you do, we will all be killed. Both armies will fire and we have no way to protect ourselves.' 'Agreed. I shall not fire unless you all advance.' We chatted for some time, until an officer came around and stopped them. Our orders were to come in at daybreak. We started as soon as the camp mules began to bray, but just before we reached our works, that had been built that night, our artillery opened on the fort and we sought shelter in an old rifle pit some 100 yards in front of the works, and there we spent the greater part, if not the whole day, without water or food, between the fires of the opposing batteries. Pieces of brimstone would fall in our pit from the shrapnel of the enemy and the dirt in our front would be knocked on our heads. We moved out just about dark and joined our company in time to be marched nearly all night, and early next morning I went with Major Fairfax on a reconnaissance to find the enemy. The loss of sleep for two nights nearly wore me out, but I lived on excitement and went into the fight as cheerfully as I ever did. I remember going to Henry Southall's that night, and we slept in a feather bed, the first time in two years under a roof and in a bed. Mrs. Southall filled our haversacks and we returned to the company next morning and then moved to our former lines between the Appomattox and the James."—From Morrison's Handbook. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com ___________________________________________________________________