(434) Gen. Jones, the commander of the Rebel force, was shot in the head and fell dead upon the field. This was what caused the apparent excitement among the Rebels, noticed by Col. Curtis, as before mentioned. The Rebel leader was shot just as he was getting his troops ready for a charge. He fell in front of the Twelfth, and it was supposed that some member of it fired the fatal shot. Among the prisoners captured was Capt. Boyd Faulkner, of Gen. Jones' staff. The demoralized and routed Rebels many of whom ran into and across the river, making their escape in that way, reported on their retreat, so we learned the next day, that the Yankees before the battle had been dosed and mad drunk with whisky and gun powder, so that they fought recklessly and charged upon their works regardless of the slaughter made in their ranks.
(435) A comrade of Sergt. Halstead's company records a striking and touching incident concerning him, showing his devotion to patriotic duty. He was mortally wounded in the battle, falling upon the flag and staining it with his blood just after he had crossed the enemy's breast works. He was carried off the field of battle and cared for by his comrades. He lived until about 8 o'clock that night. Just before he died he sent for Col. Curtis to come and see him. The Colonel came immediately and kneeling by his side and taking his hand, said, "Sergeant, you are badly wounded." "Yes," Halstead replied, "I feel that I have but a few minutes to live, but before I die I desire to know if I have done my duty as a soldier." The Colonel answered, "Yes, you have gallantly sacrificed your life for your country; you could do no more." Halstead said, "Then I am ready to go," and died soon afterward.
(436) This battle of Piedmont was the third engagement for the Twelfth and its first victory. It having been our fortune up to this time to fight our battles in the Shenandoah Valley, in which the Union arms had hitherto met with an almost uniform series of disasters, and which had indeed become a valley of humiliation to us owing to the fact that we had generally out numbered, the Twelfth had hitherto met with defeat. This time the day was ours, and we got to view the battle field instead of having to yield that privilege to the Johnnys; and that the regiment behaved so gallantly as it did in this battle is all the more creditable to it that it did so in spite of the demoralizing tendencies of previous defeats.
(437) Gen. Hunter was a large dark visaged stern man of severe aspect; a man not at all of a sympathetic genial disposition, who was calculated to win the personal attachment of men generally. He was not only severe in appearance but he was really so. On one occasion on the march to Lynchburg, a man was noticed as the army passed by, tied up to a tree by order of Gen. Hunter it was said. It is not remembered that any other general under whom the Twelfth served ever punished a soldier in like manner, by direct personal order. Notwithstanding Hunter's lack of popular qualities, now that he had won a victory, he was at this time popular with the boys; and they were disposed to cheer him when he made his appearance before them. They were thus merely paying a tribute to success.
(438) That night after the battle, we slept in the woods held by the Rebels during the battle, and owing to the great reaction of feeling after the fight—the letting down of the high tension of excitement kept up all the long day of strength, the boys generally slept well, though in some instances the moaning of an enemy wounded beyond relief could be heard nearby. In the morning we marched for Staunton some 11 miles distant, which place we reached that day after an easy day's march. After having gone about four miles on the way toward Staunton, we met an aid who informed us that the enemy had fled from that place, and that we now had communication with Generals Crook and Averell, who had moved from the Kanawha Valley, when cheer after cheer went up all along the line over the announcement.
(439) On nearing Staunton we passed one or more houses where the occupants had hung in front of their homes white cloths as indicative of submission or with a view to securing protection. When we got into the town the women seemed dreadfully frightened; some of them were in the streets wringing their hands and crying as if they were afraid the Yankees might eat them alive. Their conduct was in strong contrast with that of the women of Winchester to whom the Yankee was no new sight; they being not in the least afraid of him, having learned that he was no dread monster. But rather they were, in some cases, haughty, defiant and saucy. If we had stayed awhile in Staunton these women would soon have got over their dreadful alarm, finding that they were as safe as with their own.
(440) We were the first Union soldiers that had ever set foot in Staunton as victors. This early summer of 1864 was marking a distinct advance or progress of the Union cause. Grant was planting himself firmly before Petersburg never to yield his ground. Sherman was moving on toward Atlanta and before long would capture that important point, we of Hunters command had pushed farther up the Shenandoah Valley, than any Union army had ever done before and we were soon to menace. Lynchburg, an almost vital point to the enemy, and a place that had never been seriously threatened before; thus causing the enemy to detach heavily from his force at Richmond to send troops into the Valley and to thereby prepare the way for Sheridan to gain, in the fall of the year, his important and telling victories, and thus make his great military reputation.
(441) After arriving at Staunton in the evening the Twelfth went into camp on a hill east of the town. That night the prisoners captured at Piedmont were confined in the stockade which the Rebels had used for the confining of our men. The next day, the 7th, our regiment was sent on the march for what reason it is not known on the road leading to Beverly, W. Va. When about six miles on the way while we were stopping for a rest, orders came to us to return and we marched back to Staunton. While remaining at this place, the large number of prisoners we held, and our surplus wagons, with some of our not too severely wounded in them, were sent in charge of Major Samuel Adams, a quartermaster, from here to Webster on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad guarded by the Twenty-eighth Ohio infantry, whose time had expired.
(442) On the morning of the 9th, Col. Curtis received orders from Gen. Hunter to proceed with his regiment to a certain point on the railroad leading to Richmond to burn the brides, tear up the track, and make the road as difficult to repair as possible. In performing this work, the ties and rails were so piled up that when the ties were set on fire, the rails would be so bent it would require much labor to make them serviceable again. The men engaged heartily in this work.
(443) On the morning of the 10th we set out on the march to Lexington our division taking one road and Crook's division, it having joined us two days before, another road to the right of ours. At Staunton large quantities of the enemy's tobacco had been by authority thrown into the streets. Nearly every man had picked up more than he could conveniently carry and for a day the army might have been tracked by the tobacco plugs strewn along the road. When seven miles on the road toward Lexington a courier came to us bearing the news that a large wagon train was coming with coffee and sugar for us, and that Grant had driven Lee inside of his intrenchments around Richmond. The boys, of course, cheered this news heartily. We camped this night at a place called Midway, 18 miles from Staunton, and the same distance from Lexington which place is situated on the north branch of the James river, and is the seat of the Virginia Military Institute. When near this latter town we were rejoined by Crook's force. Before we reached the town the Rebels burned the bridge leading across the river to it. After some skirmishing and a few shells thrown from our side the Johnnys who were still in the town left. But we did not enter the town this day.