19th North Carolina Troops (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
regiment 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; Second
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 Virginia
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.