2nd North Carolina Cavalry

19th North Carolina Troops (2nd North Carolina Cavalry)
BY W. A. GRAHAM, CAPTAIN COMPANY K.

This regiment, with the first eight regiments of infantry, the Ninth North Carolina Regiment (First Cavalry), the Tenth Regiment (First Artillery), and the Thirty third Regiment of infantry, comprised what was originally known as "State Troops." They enlisted "for the war," and the officers, both regimental and company, were appointed by the Governor. The volunteers enlisted for twelve months (except the Bethel Regiment-six months); their company officers were elected by the "rank and file" of the company; the field officers by the commissioned officers of the companies of the respective battalions and regiments. In 1862 the right to elect company officers was given by law to the State Troops. The horses for the privates were furnished by the State to the and Second Cavalry Regiments. The regiment, except Company A, assenibled at Kittrell's Springs in August and September 1861.

FIELD AND STAFF.
S. B. Spurrill, Colonel.
William G. Robinson, Lieutenant Colonel.
John W. Woodfin, Major.
Guilford Nicholson, Adjutant.
Capt. John S. Hines, Quartermaster.
Capt. John W. Moore, Commissary.
_____ Smith, Surgeon.
R. H. Shields, Assistant Surgeon.
E. P. Tucke, Sergeant Major.

COMPANY A--Cherokee and Adjoining Counties--Captain George W. Hayes; First Lieutenant, John V. B. Rogers; Second Lieutenants, George V. Snider and W. P. Moore.

COMPANY B-Iredell County-Captain, C. M. Andrews; First Lieutenant, S. Jay Andrews; Second Lieutenants, Richard W. Allison and James N. Turner.

COMPANY C-Gates and Hertford Counties--Captain John G. Boo the; First Lieutenant, James M. Wynn; Second Lieutenants, Mills L. Fure and William P. Roberts.

COMPANY D--Cumberland County--Capta in, James W.Strange; First Lieutenant, T. S. Lutterloh; Second Lieutenants, Joseph S. Baker and James F. Williams.

COMPANY E-Nash, Wilson and Franklin Counties-- Captain, Columbus A. Thomas; First Lieutenant, J. J. B. Vick; Second Lieutenants, Nick M. Harris and Robert W. Atkinson.

COMPANY F-Guilford Conitty-Captain Barzillai F. Cole; First Lieutenant, R. W. King; Second Lieutenants, P. A. Tatum and ____ Nelson.

COMPANY G-Beaufort Couniy-Captain, Louis F. Satterthwaite; First Lieutenant, William Satterthwaite; Second Lieutenants, Samuel S. Whitehurst and George P.Bryan.

COMPANY H-Bertie and Northampon Counties-Captain, John Randolph; First Lieutenant, H. B. Hardy; Second Lieutenants, W. H. Newsom and George Bishop.

COMPANY I-Moore County-Captain, Jesse L. Bryan; First Lientenant, J. L. Arnold; Second Lieutenants, D. O. Bryan and J. S. Ritter.

COMPANY K-Orange County--Captain, Josiah Turner, Jr.; First Lieutenant, William A. Graham, Jr,; Second Lieutenants, John P. Lockhart and James V. Moore.

In October the regiment broke camp, Companies D, F, F, I and K, with Colonel, Major and Staff, to Hertford, thence to Edenton: the second squadron (Companies B and G), Lieutenant Colonel commanding, to Washington, N.C.; the third squadron (Companies C and H), under Captain Boothe, to Neuse River, below New Bern. Company A was at Asheville.

While at Edenton there was mention of arming the five companies there with muskets and sending them to Roanoke Island as infantry, to remain until relieved by infantry. The Colonel favored this, but the company officers objected, as it was putting the men into a different service from that into which they had entered, and for an indefinite time. After several weeks' "jawing" the idea was abandoned. Major Woodfin commanded the Battalion most of the time while at Edenton, Colonel Spruill being in attendance upon the State (Secession) Convention; of which he was a member. In December the regiment, except the second squadron, was assembled at New Bern. Company A had come from Asheville, tbe fifth squadron (Companies F and K) received horses here, and the whole regiment was now mounted but was not armed. Governor Clark complained to the Confederate Government on 12th March, 1862, that the regiment had not been armed, although it had been in service six months. Winter quarters were built across the Trent river. These, on the evacuation, were occupied by "runaway negroes" and were the beginning of the present James City.

'he regiment took part in the battle of New Bern, 14 March, 1862, Companies A. F and K dismounted, and under command of Colonel Z. B. Vance, Twenty-sixth N. C. T. After the battle of New Bern the camp was at Wise's Fork, five miles below Kinston, and for the first time the regiment met as a whole. It picketed the roads to New Bern, thee first via Tuscarora, the second via Dover Swamp and the Third via Trenton and near Pollocksville.

This was the severest service the regiment saw in its history. A company of from thirty to sixty men would go from twenty to twenty-five miles to the front, establish its picket in from a half to a fourth of a mile of those of the enemy who had a "reserve" of several thousand a mile or two in their rear, and General Burnside's whole command at New Bern, not ten miles from our outpost. For us there was no reinforcements, except a few "couriers," in twenty miles. Each company in turn had a picket tour of about ten days on on of the roads. and frequently the horses were not unsaddled for half that time. It frequenttly rained nearly every day of the ten. Consequently, three-fourths of the horses returned from picket with sore backs. The regiment was armed with almost every kind of arms (except the newest patterns) known to the warrior or sportsman, and was never fully equipped with arms of modern warfare until it equipped itself with those furnished by the United States and taken from its troops in Virginia.

The writer has taken Company K on picket with thirty-five men, armed about as follows: Two Sharp's carbines, six Hall's, five Colts' (six-shooters), four Mississippi rifles and twelve double-barrelled shotguns, and perhaps a half dozen pairs of old one-barrel "horse pistols." There was not exceeding twenty cartridge boxes in the company; the others carried their ammunition (twenty rounds) in the pockets of their clothes and in their "haversacks." Was not this a "formidable array" to place itself within ten miles of the headquarters of thirty thousand men equipped with arms of modern pattern?~ While the regiment remained here there were nearly every week, engagements with the enemy, (1) Captain Strange, Company D, near "Ten Mile" house; (2) Captain Andrews, Company B, at Tuscarora; (3) Captain Boothe, Company C, at ____ Mills, in Carteret county; (4) Lieutenant W. P. Roberts, Company C, with twenty-five men near Pollookaville; (5) 14 April, Lieutenant-Colonel Robinson, with portions of Companies D, F, F, I and K, at Gillet's, in Onslow County. The attack was made on horseback against infantry in house and in a lot surrounded by a "stake and rider" rail fence with a deep ditch on the outside. Lieutenant-Colonel Robinson was wounded and captured. He never returned to the regiment. Captain Turner, Company K, was severely wounded and disabled for further service in the field; (6) 13 May, at the White Church, near Foscue's, in Jones County, on the Dover Swamp road, fourteen miles from New Bern, Lieutenant Rogers, with twenty-five men of Company A, and Lieutenant Graham, with fifteen men of Company K, a total of forty men, were attacked by the Third New York Cavalry, a six gun battery, and two regiments of infantry. They repelled the attack and killed, wounded and captured nearly as many as they had engaged in the fight. The road having swampy ground on both sides, there was no opportunity for them to deploy against us. Our loss 1 killed, 6 wounded, 2 prisoners. The troops engaged were complimented in general orders by Lieutenant-General Holmes from district headquarters; also by General Robert Ransom, commanding post. Colonel Spruill resigned in April. Matthew L. Davis, who was commissioned to succeed him, died in Goldsboro en route to the regiment. Colonel Sol. Williams was transferred from the Twelfth Infantry to the Second Cavalry 5 June, 1862. His Adjutant, Lieutenant John C. Pegram came with him. Adjutant Nicholson became Lieutenant of Company A.

A FLAG OF TRUCE.
On 4 July, 1862, as First Lieutenant Company K, I was in command of the picket on the Dover Swamp road from Kinston to New Bern with headquarters at the Merritt House and our outpost at the Ten-Mile House. About 11i o'clock a.m., Colonel W. F. Martin, Seventeenth North Carolina Troops, and Captain Theodore J. Hughes, formerly Commissary of the regiment and afterwards Purser of the "Ad-Vance during most of her life as a blockade-runner, arrived, carrying communications under "flag of truce" to General Burnside, commanding the United States forces at New Bern. I requested Colonel Martin to procure for me permission to accompany them, and with this expectation took command of the escort. I prepared my toilet by taking off my coat and pants and whipping them around a sapling to get the dust out and with a corn cob and spittle, endeavored to shine my boots. After dinner (about 12:30 p. m.) we started; a Corporal and two men with a white handkerchief on a pole as the "flag of truce" going about three hundred yards in front, the escor~ahout fifteen men-and the messengers following. The advance was halted at Deep Gully, nine and a half miles from New Bern, by the Federal outpost was the week of the "Seven Days' Fights" around Richmond. We received our mail for the week by Colonel Martin, containing papers giving accounts of the battles; which, it will be remembered, were all in our favor. Colonel Martin had brought several copies with him and we gathered what we could before starting, to carry the good news with us. We distributed them among the officers and spoke of any particularly favorable item in the papers. After a halt of half an hour we mounted an ambulance and Colonel Mix, who was to accompany us, informed us that his orders were for us to travel blind-folded and requested us to tie our handkerchiefs over our eyes. Colonel Martin remarked that he preferred for Colonel Mix to tie his as it might come oft at some time when not desired and have the appearance of his acting in bad faith. Captain Hughes and I also adopted the same view, and Colonel Mix tied all our handkerchiefs.

A drive of an hour landed us at General Buruside's headquarters. It was now about half past 4 o'clock. General Buruside, after reading papers brought by Colonel Martin, asked if we had any newspapers. We told him we had given them out at Colonel Mix's headquarters. Colonel Mix afterwards came in and General Burnside said to him he understood he had some late papers. Colonel Mix said "Yes," and he would send them in. General Burnside made some remark about not caring particularly about it; which was but a poor attempt to conceal his desire to have them speedily.

General Burnside apologized to us for our blindfold ride. He said: "General Foster was temporarily in command and it was by his orders; that he never required it. If any one thought he was ready to attack him after being in his lines he was welcome to come on and try it."

The true condition of matters was that General Burnside had been ordered, with Generals Parke and Reno, to reinforce McClellan in Virginia. Several regiments, arriving from Morehead City during the afternoon, were marched by in order to make the impression on us that the troops at New Bern were being reinforced. I was surprised to see a good many white straw hats worn by the men. General Burnside remakred to General Foster, as a regiment passed, that he would "make those fellows throw away those straw hats," which Foster said he would do. The generals were not as courteous to us as the officers of lesser grade had been. They seemed to be in bad humor. They had heard from Richmond and other news may have accounted for it.

Salutes on the Fourth of July were being fired frequently. General Burnside remarked to me: "I suppose you people do not burn any powder on the Fourth of July ?' I replied: "No, we save it to burn on those who are attempting to deprive as of the privileges of the Fourth of July."

He remarked to Colonel Martin, that he "had just returned from a trip North, and that you could hardly miss the men absent in the army. This is not the case with you." Colonel Martin replied: "No, and that it seemed to prove what he had often heard said, that 'Northern people were staying at home and sending the foreigners to do the fighting." General Burnside replied: "Not at all, but it shows the difference in the populations of the two sections and the impossibility of the South's success. Success would be the worst thing that could happen for the South. When I am in a bad humor I wish the South would succeed." Colonel Martin replied that he "wished he was in a bad humor all the time." About this time Generals Foster, Parke and Reno came in. They were all in bad temper, and we spent an hour or so "spatting." Some one of us, whenever opportunity offered, would relate something about the late battles in Virginia. General Burnside expressed himself as in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war, even to the arming of the negroes if necessary to success. We were surprised to hear this as General Burnside was represented as opposed to negro soldiers. During our confab, General Burnside turned to me and said rather sharply "To what command do you belong?" I replied: "The Second North Carolina Cavalry." "Yes," says he, "you are the fellows who are shooting my pickets. I detest such warfare; if a man wishes to fight let him come out like a man and show himself and not creep up hke he was hunting a turkey." I replied: "Your men began this mode and now you are complaining of it-" Re replied: "It is not so, and to prove it I lose five or six men where you lose one." I answered, "That only proves our men are the best shots, and when they pull the tripper generally bring down the game, while yours miss." He replied: "You do, hey!" with a touch of the "dry grins." I said: "If you do not like this style of warfare order your men to stop and ours will."

We discussed secession, States' rights, Federalism, war, ability of the South to maintain the contest, campaigns already fought, leaders, etc., etc., but in not a very gentle manner. Governor Edward Stanly came in for a short while and was very courteous. About dusk we were driven in an ambulance to the house of the Spotswood family, but now used by the United States Army, and placed in a room on the second floor to spend the night.

Supper was furnished us in our room. An hour or so afterwards Governor Stanly called and spent several hours. He had recently arrived from California, having been appointed "Military Governor" of the State by President Lincoln.

Colonel Martin remarked that he was surprised to hear General Buruside express himself in favor of arming the negroes. Governor Stanly replied that he "must be mistaken; that he had frequently talked with General Burnside on the subject, and he was as much opposed to it as you or I, and, as for myself, whenever it is done I will resign and go whence I came."

About the time the "colored troops" were "mustered in" Governor Stanly resigned and left the State. I do not know, however, that there was any connection between the two events.

After Governor Stanly left we discovered some one was in the little room connecting the one we were in with another, and the door was pushed a little ajar, as if to hear anything we might say. We considered this as a "hreach of hospitality" and expressed ourselves in vigorous language on the subject and on Yankees in general, and the experiences of the If. what was gathered from our conversation was reported it is not published in the Records of the Rebellion.

On the morning of the 5th, about sunrise, we went across the street to breakfast.

Breakfast over, we got into the ambulance; were again blindfolded, and when we saw the light we were at our pickets at the Ten-Mile House.

In Angust the second- squadron (Companies C and K), Captain Booth commanding, moved to Hamilton, Martin County, to picket the Roanoke river.

In October the other ten companies, under command of Major C. M. Andrews, who had been promoted upon resignation of Major Woodfln, moved via Franklin, Va., to join the Army of Northern.Virginia and camped at Warrenton, October 12th. Shortly after reaching there a scout of 225 mounted men and two pieces of artillery was ordered by Lieutenant-Colonel Payne, Fourth Virginia Cavalry, commanding post. This party, commanded by M ajor Audrews, moved on the 16th via Bristoe Station, Manassas, and to the south of Centerville to Gainesville. Here the Major learned that a train had passed a short time previous. Pushing on, he overtook and captured the train at Hay Market, consisting of seven wagons and teams, also thirty-nine prisoners, killed three and and wounded five Yankees. The regiment remained at Warrenton until 1 December, when it moved with the army to the vicinity of Fredericksburg. In the battle of Fredericksburg, - 13 December, the regiment acted with other mounted forces in protecting General Lee's right, but was not engaged, except as skirmishers.. The regimen was represented in the detail to make the raid under General Stuart into Maryland, on 24 December. It was assigned 2 December, 1862, to the brigade of General W. H. F. Lee, with the Ninth, Tenth, Thirteenth and Fifteenth Virginia Regiments of cavalry. It spent the winter in Essex County, picketing the Rappahannock river from Hazel River to Centre Cross. In March it moved to Culpepper County camping between Culpepper Court House and Brandy Station. 1 May engaged Stoneman in his raid at Stone Mills. The regiment was commanded by Major Andrews from 14 December to 8 May, Colonel Williams being detached as president of a court-martial. Major Andrews then getting a "sick furlough," Lieutenant-Colonel Payne was temporarily assigned to command it.

The second squadron (Companies C and K) remained at Hamilton until October. It participated in the attack on Washington, 1 September. Captain Boothe was severely wounded and not again in active service. While moving to join the regiment in Virginia the squadron was ordered into camp near the "Halfway House" on the pike between Petersburg and Richmond. It, with Company C, Forty-flrst North Carolina (3d Cav.), formed a battalion, commanded by Captain Graham, and built winter quarters on the pike near Proctor's creek. The battalion picketed the James River as far as Bermuda Hundreds. To it was also assigned the duty of picketing the Appomattox for sixty miles above Petersburg, to arrest deserters from the Army of Northern Virginia. In March, 1863, the squadron, commanded by Captain Graham, picketed General Longstreet's left flank in his expedition towards Suffolk to secure the hogs and cattle from the Albemarle section of North Carolina. While at Drewry's Bluff the squadron was attached to the commands of Generals Daniel and Elzey, also to Colonel Jack Brown, of the Fifty-ninth Georgia. Under General Longstreet it picketed the James and Nansemond rivers. There were engagements with the enemy at Providence Church and Chuckatuck. Captain Moore's Company, Sixty-third N.C. (5th Cav.), and Stribling's Virginia Battery, mounted, formed a battalion, which Captain Graham commanded. It was under Generals Jenkins of South Carolina, Hood and Pickett during this service.

May 20 the squadron rejoined the regiment in Culpepper County, Virginia. There had been many changes of officers in the regiment. The following is a roster at that time:

ROSTER -- 1 JUNE, 1863.
Sol. Williams, Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel (Vacant)
Clinton M. Andrews, Major
John C. Pegram, Adjutant
A. Smith Jordan, Assistant Quartermaster
W. H. Upshur, Surgeon
Ianson, Assistant Surgeon
Edward Jordan, Sergeant Major.
COMANY A-Captain, J. V. B. Rogers; First Lieutenant, W. B. Tidwell; Sec6nd Lieutenants, Abram C. Evans and Jacob B. Williams.

COMPANY B-Captain, S. J. Andrews; First Lieutenant, R; W. Allison; Second Lieutenants, J. N. Turner and William A. Luckey.

COMPANY C-Captain, James M. Wynn; First Lieutenant, W. P. Roberts; Second Lieutenants, Abram F. Harrell and L. R. Cowper.

COMPANY D-Captain, James W. Strange; First Lieutenant, Joseph S. Baker; Second Lieutenants, J. A. P. Conoly and John B. Person.

COMPANY E-Captain, B. W. Atkinson; First Lieutenant, K. H. Winstead; Second Lieutenants, F. P. Tucke and Eph. Dobbins.

COMPANY F-Captain, P. A. Tatum; First Lieutenant, John G. Blassingame; Second Lieutenants, N. C. Tucker and ______ Holden.

COMPANY G-Captain, M. L. Eure; First Lieutenant, G. P. Bryan; Second Lieutenants, W. M. Owens and J. W. Simmons.

COMPANY H-Captain, R. H. Reese; First Lieutenant, S. N. Buxton; Second Lieutenants, F. M. Spivey and _____ Copeland.

COMPANY I-Captain, D. O. Bryan; First Lieutenant, Thomas H. Harrington; Second Lieutenants, John C. Baker and James A. Cole.

COMPANY K-Captain, W. A. Graham, Jr.; First Lieunant, John P. Lockhart; Second Lieutenants, A. F. Faucette and James R. Harris.

THE BATTLE OF BRANDY STATION, OR FLEETWOOD.
The regiment participated in the review of the Cavalry by General R E. Lee, Monday, 8 June, 1863, on the plain along the railroad between Brandy Station and Culpeper Court House. Our regiment returned to its camp of the night before, about one mile north of Hon. John Minor Botts', near Gilberson's, with orders to go on picket the next morning at Fox's Spring, about twenty miles distant on the Rappahannock River. On the morning of the 9th at about 6:30 o'clock "boots and saddles" sounded. "Saddle up" was the Confederate name for this signal, perhaps due to the fact that the boots were generally wanting. I went to headquarters and Colonel Williams directed me to leave the cooks and sore-back horses in camp. Thirty minutes afterwards, "To horse lead out" was sounded, and just at its close Colonel Williams' orderly came to me with orders to mount every man I had. He had received notice of the Federals crossing the river in the meantime, but the orderly said nothing of it. The regiment was quickly formed, my command being the second squadron, Companies C and K, threw me in the rear, as we moved off in "column of fours." A quarter of a mile distant we entered a road leading towards Beverly Ford, and forming platoons immediately took the "gallop" which we maintained for most of the distance, which must have been considerably over a mile, to the battlefield. Up to this time not one third of the regiment knew that the Federals had crossed, or were attempting to cross, at Thompson's or Welford's. As we cleared a piece of woods the column headed to the left and came in view of the enemy's artillery placed between the Dr. Green residence and the river on the Cunningham farm. Just as our rear squadron turned into the field a shell cut off the top of a tree over our heads, and this was the first intimation we had of the presence of the enemy. We could see a portion of the Tenth Virginia engaged in the direction of the battery. The Nineteenth (Second Cavalry) North Carolina passed Dr. Green's house, crossed Ruffin's Run and took position behind a knoll on which two guns of Breathed's battery, "horse artillery" under Lieutenant Johnson were placed. This soon became engaged with the enemy. Colonel Williams formed all the men in the regiment who were armed with "long-range guns" on foot and went to the front where he was soon hotly engaged with the enemy, who had dismounted and taken position behind a stone wall three hundred yards in advance of his battery. After exchanging shots for a short time, he ordered a charge and captured the wall taking eighteen prisoners, besides the killed and wounded. In the charge Captain S. Jay Andrews, Company B, Iredell County, lost a foot, and Lieutenant J. G. Blassingame, of Columbia, S. C., temporarily in command of Company F, was mortally wounded. Our regiment held this position with little change, although engaged part of the time with Ames' Brigade Qf infantry, until 2 p. m. During the engagement General W. H. F. Lee, with several of his staff, were standing in a few feet of a large hickory tree a few steps to the right of one of Lieutenant Johnson's gnus, when a shell struck the tree and threw pieces of it over them. A fair representation of "Company Q," (Quartermaster and his cubs) had assembled on the high ground about half a mile in our rear to see the fighting. A well directed shot in their direction caused them to seek less conspicuous places for observation. About 2 p. m. General Lee withdrew his brigade to the right to form connection with Jones and Hampton. The Nineteenth North Carolina (Second Cavalry) being on the right was placed on the plain which extends to the railroad and in full view of Fleetwood, General Stuart's headquarters. The Tenth Virginia was next to us and at foot of the hills, the Ninth and Thirteenth Virginia were next to the enemy. The brigade held the enemy in cheek until moved to sear the Orange and Alexandria Railroad at Fleetwood, on acount of the advance the enemy, which had crossed at the Rappahannock bridge and Kelley's Ford, had made. Generals Pleasanton and Buford had united their forces, which had crossed the Rappahannock at the different fords, and now with combined forces, attacked e brigade on the left and were driving the troops in that portion of the field in some disorder, capturing some of the dismounted men and threatening the horse artillery.

About 3 or 3:30 o'clock the shouts on the left told us that a brisk engagement was proceeding. Shortly afterwards Colonel Williams came at full speed towards the regiment, passing the Tenth Virginia. I suppose he gave the command, as by squadron and started at a gallop As soon as he was near enough to our regiment he gave command, "Form Column by squadron," and placing second squadron in front, gave the command "Gallop; march." As we rose the hill we saw the enemy driving the Ninth and Thirteenth Virginia in considerable confusion before them, in our direction. The Tenth Virginia, when it reached a position that it could fire on the enemy without firing into the Ninth and Thirteenth, halted and opened fire. Colonel Williams gave the command to his regiment "Right oblique," and as soon as we had cleared the Tenth Virginia, turning in his saddle shouted: "Forward; draw sabre; charge." The regiment raised the yell as it went by our stationary and retiring companions and the scene was immediately changed. The Federals were the fleers and the Confederates the pursuers. Our regiment drove the enemy about half a mile back upon their reserves of cavalry and infantry, who were posted on a hill, while our advance had reached an angle where two stone walls came together on an opposite hill, about two hundred yards distant. This, with a volley from the reserve, checked the advance. The leading four were Colonel Williams, Sergeant Jordan, Company C; private Asbell, Company K, and the writer.

Death of Colonel Sol. Williams
Asbell was felled from his horse with a wound through the head almost instantly. Colonel Williams gathered his horse to leap the wall, shouting: "Second North Caroina, follow me." The writier called to him: "Colonel, we had better get a line, they are too strong to take this way." He replied: "That will be best; where is the flat?" and as we turned, it was not fifty yards to our rear. He rode to meet it; halted it and was shouting to the men to fall in, when he was shot through the head, and died immediately, his body being carried from the field by his adjutant, John C. Pegram.
About this time the enemy enfiladed us with a piece of artillery, placed half a mile or more to our right, towards the river, down the gorge, at whose head we had formed. This caused the regiment to give back a hundred yards of so, keeping its formation. The Federals charged us, we fired into them, and they retired and made no further demonstration. In the charge, we relieved a great many of our dismounted men, who had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and also a gun of the horse artillery, which went rapidly to the rear, as we relieved it of its danger of capture. Any information General Pleasanton got of General Lee's movements, must have been given him by General Gregg, for Buford never pierced W. H. F. Lee's line without being immediately repulsed, and the brunt of this work, both on foot and mounted, was done by the Nineteenth North Carolina (Second Cavalry), and so acknowledged at the time. Lieutenant P. A. Tatum, Company F. (Greensboro, N. C.) who had a disagreement with Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Payne, Fourth Virginia Cavalry, who was temporarily in command of the regiment a short time before, and had been placed under arrest, went into the charge without arms or spurs, and was wounded while most gallantly leading his men. The regiment lost 35.

Colonel Williams had been married but two weeks before to Miss Maggie, daughter of Captain Pegram, of the Confedrate Navy, and had returned to camp on Saturday. He beloved by his men; as brave and true a man as was in army, yet with a gentle, affectionate disposition, almost equal to a woman's. Indulgent to his men in camp almost to fault, yet, when duty called and occasion required, he proved himself a leader worthy of their admiration. I have given this account of the battle of 9 June, 1863, somewhat in full that Colonel Williams and his regiment might receive some of the credit to which they are entitled.

Captain Strange, of Company D, Fayetteville, N. C., who was in command after Colonel Williams' death, I know preprared a report of the part taken by the regiment and submitted it to the officers before forwarding it to headquarters. In The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies the Nineteenth North Carolina (Second Cavalry) is hardly mentioned in the official reports of this battle. General Stuart says in his report of Colonel Williams: "He was as brave as he was efficient." The reports for the Nineteenth North Carolina Cavalry are nearly all wanting, and a loss of only five is reported, when the loss in my own command was three times that. The brigade ordnance officer, Captain B. B. Turner (Official Record, Vol. 17, part II, page 720) says of captured arms that "Reports are all in except the Second North Carolina Cavalry, which is on picket; none of the other regiments captured any." Consequently whatever prisoners, whether wounded or not, that fell into the hands of W. H. F. Lee's Brigade must have come to our regiment and been its work.

Major H. B. McClellan has published a book entitled "The Campaigns of Stuart's Cavalry." In this he is very unfair to the Nineteenth North Carolina at Brandy Station. He dismisses it with a statement that Colonel Williams requested permission to go into the charge--went in on the right of the Ninth Virginia, was shot through the head and instantly killed. In making up his narrative, he says he got Colonel Beale, of the Ninth Virginia, to give him an account of the fight, who informs him when he reformed his regiment, and rode forward to reconnoitor, to his surprise he found the enemy moving back to the river. Not one word about the Nineteenth North Carolina, or how he got an opportunity to reform his regiment. Major McClellan does not seem to have considered it necessary to consult any member of the North Carolina regiment as to the action.

On that day W. H. F. Lee's Brigade received no assistance, although Robertson's Cavalry and a portion of Iverson's Infantry Brigade came upon the field; they fired no gun, and saw no enemy. After sunset we rode to a clover field near by, dismounted, and held our horses "to graze" until half past nine o'clock, when we marched to Fox's Spring, and as the sun rose next morning the writer dismounted, having placed pickets on the river. The regiment thought this very unjust, as it had borne the burden of the fight during the day, but Colonel Chambliss, of the Thirteenth Virginia Cavalry, was in command of tghe brigade, and continued through the campaign, as I do not suppose there is a member of the Nineteenth (Second Cavalry) North Carolina that has a single pleasant recollection of his treatment of it during his command. He was promoted to Brigadier, and fell at the head of his brigade in 1864. His bravery was never questioned, and was displaced on many occasions. It is to be regretted he did not add to this, impartiality of treatment to the regiments under his command in the Gettysburg campaign. As the regiment formed "platoons" on reaching the Beverly Ford road, on the morning of the 9th, my negro servant, Edmund, formed the officers' servants and colored cooks in line immediately in the rear of the regiment and flourishing an old sabre over his head, took command of them. As we galloped down the road he was shouting to them: "I want no running. Every man must do his duty, and stand up to the rack," ete., etc. When the shell cut off the tree, as we came in view of the enemy, he and his sable warriors disappeared in every direction except the front, and we did not see them for three days.

That night, 9 June, the regiment, although it had done most of the fighting for the brigade during the day, was marched to Fox's Springs to do picket duty, and just as the rose on the morning of the 10th the pickets took position.

The Company was not together again until we returned to camp on the 14th. At "roll call" I spoke to the men of my pride in their action in the battle, mentioning those who had especially come under my observation but that all had done and that when rallied in the face of the enemy none had been missing but the dead and wounded. As the command "break ranks" was given the band at Head Quarters struck up the "Old North State." Such cheering, jumping, etc., I have seldom witnessed. The mind of each went back over the hills and valleys to the home in the old State he loved and for which he would willingly die.

Lieutenant -Colonel Paine was assigned to command the regiment. On 16 June we broke camp for the "Gettysburg campaign," first engaged in the movement in Loudon and Fauquier counties to cover Gerneral Ewell's advance against Winchester. As there was little horse feed in this county, the men held their horses by the bridle rein while the animals grazed on the clover and orchard grass. This was done until we crossed the Potomac on 28 June. We moved via Warrentton and Salem to Middleburg, when we struck the enemy on the 18th. Then there was fighting every day, and sometimes nearly all day, for a week or more, in the vicinity of Middleburg, Upperville, Goose Creek, Union and Paris. The most severe fighting was near Upperville, on 21 June. The enemy, besides cavalry, had Barry's division of infantry. These were placed behind the stone walls with which this country was fenced. Except a portion of the Tenth Virgin ia Regiment, under Major W. B. Clement, none of the brigade, nor of Jones' brigade, drawn up in sight in our rear a mile or so, gave the Nineteenth North Carolina any assistance. It was driven from the field with a loss of over half of the men it took into action, either killed or wounded. Captain W. P. Roberts, Company C, rallied a portion of the regiment and enabled Breathed's Battery, which had served most gallantly during the fight, to "limber up" and get out; otherwise it would have been captured.

Lieutenant Cole, Company I, was killed; Lieutenant Bryan, Company G, was wounded and captured. Lieutenant Holden, Company F, had his arm broken, but, calling one of his men to make him a sling of his handkerchief and place his arm in it continued in the fight. Corporal Stephen O. Terry, Company K, was the last man to leave the field, and emptied the five barrels of his Colt's rifle almost alone into the face of the advancing enemy. I do not believe there was an engagement during the war in which a body of troops was more forsaken by comrades than the "Second Horse" was on that occasion. General Ewell, having captured Winchester, General Stuart "scouted" towards the Potomac to see that no enemy was left in the rear when he crossed the river. He found General Hancock, with Meade's wagon train, on the plains of Manassas, but was not able to deprive him of any of it, save one cannon and an ambulance. On 27 June the regiment moved via Fairfax Court House and and Drancesville to near Leesburg. After placing pickets, about sunset, almost in sight of Hancock's rear guard, it retreated several miles, and then, going through a pine thicket by another road, found itself about 10 o'clock p.m. on the bank of the Potomac near Seneca Falls. It forded the river, herer three-fourths of a mile wide, with water half way up the saddle skirts. The fording was (lone in single file. On Sunday (28th) we moved out near the turnpike from Washington to Frederick City. About 2 p. m. we captured 172 of a train of 175 wagons, with six mules to each wagon, chasing them through Rockville to within seven miles of Washington City. The capture of this train, perhaps, caused the failure of victory at Gettysburg, or perhaps the battle at that point. To preserve it hampered and delayed General Stuart's movements and left General Lee without the cavalry to locate General Meade's forces. We moved by way of Westminster, Md., where we found abundance of rations for man and beast. After filling body and haversack, the depot was burned. On the morning of the 30th we passed through Papertown, Va., where a large quantity of paper was loaded into some of tbe wagons, and reached Hanover about 10 o'clock. Here General Stuart struck Meade's army. lie attempted to cut his way through. Our brigade was in front. The leading regiment, after a short advance, retired in confusion. The Nineteenth North Carolina was then sent forward, and opened its way into the lines of the enemy, cutting off a large force; but not being supported, they immediately closed in their rear. General Stuart sent no reinforcements to them, perhaps concluding the task too much for him, and left the regiment to its own defense. Hardly thirty men escaped being killed or captured. Most of these came out on foot through gardens or enclosures which offered protection. Here again the Nineteenth North Carolina were the actors, its comrades the audience.

After passing Papertown details were made from each regiment to impress horses from the citizens. Captain Graham had charge of the detail from the Nineteenth North Carolina. Gathering what horses he could from the plows, wagons and stables in his route, and narrowly escaping capture, he rejoined the command after the fight at Hanover. Hanover is seventeen miles from Gettysburg. General Stuart was forced to make the circuit with his wagons via Carlisle --where he burned the United States barracks--to Gettysburg. We reached General Lee's lines ahout sunset on Thursday, 2 July. The service on this raid was very severe. There being only three brigades, it required fighting two out of three days-the first in advance, the next in rear, and to march with the wagons on the third. One hour for rest at 9 a. m. and one at 9 p. m. was all the intermission allowed.

On the morning of 3 July, gathering up the fragments left from Hanover and what was available from the wagon train, Captain Graham, as officer commanding, had a force of forty men. That afternoon, while supporting a section of Breathed's Battery, he was wounded. His command took part in the charge which occurred soon after and assisted in cutting off and capturing a squad of the enemy. The command of the regiment devolved upon Lieutenant Jos. Baker, Company D.

I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to Captain S. N. Buxton, Company H, Jackson, N. C., for the account of the fight at Hanover, Pa., and to Sergeant W. A. Curtis, Company A, for the account of the ten companies while the second squadron was detached.

W. A. GRAHAM,
Captain Company K.
MACHPELAH, N. C.,
9 April, 1901.