Reminiscencies of a Confederate soldier of Co. C, 2nd Va. Cavalry

by Rufus H. Peck

The next morning the 60th regiment passed down the line and I recognized two of my nearest neighbors, at home, Harrington Jones and Albert Curd. I said hello, Albert, and he stopped very suddenly and a lantern jawed fellow, with his mouth wide open, who was walking right behind him, swallowed about six inches of Albert’s gun. He had tremendous teeth and I could hear the teeth scraping over the gun barrel. The fellow yelled out at Albert “what in the hell did you stop for?” Albert said: “Pshaw, what are you eating my gun for, didn’t you have any breakfast?” In a few hours we were ordered out to intimidate the Yankee cavalry and be ready if they made an attack, and directly we saw a horse kicking and rearing around and he came dashing across the field, right to our regiment and one of our men ran out and met him and captured horse and rider.

There was an old white rooster tied on the saddle just flopping away, so his prospective chicken roast had caused his capture. We sent him on to Richmond and ate the chicken. The very next day the treacherous horse became frightened and carried one of our men into the enemy’s lines. We cheered both men as they came and went.

We didn’t do any fighting that day but the infantry fought all day, but our men still held their position. There were thousands of men released on both sides. The Yankees charged all night as well as day for two or 3 days. The north lost, I guess, ten men to our one though, as we were well fortified and they were not. Grant seemed determined to force through our breastworks but he failed. Sheridan COULDN’T and Grant thought he WOULD. We still held our post to keep any of the enemy from getting around and a strong force of cavalry was on the left of our infantry to prevent Grant from sending any troops around that way. He was known as the old left flanker. The cavalry was not in any of the hottest of this battle, as we occupied the extreme ends of the line.

This was in July and the next March, I passed over the ground, across which the Yankees had charged and I could hardly step without tramping on the bones still in the uniforms of the blue. They had buried some in very deep gullies, just piled them and cut brush and threw some dirt over them but the rains, had by this time, washed out the bones and the land was strewn with skulls for a half mile, or more. A lot of rushes grew down in the low lands below the end of the gulley and I saw a pile of something that looked like snow. I went down to see what it was and found it was skulls piled against the rushes. I found a dentist from Appomattox Co. there getting teeth that were filled with gold. He had his haversack about full.

Just after the battle of Cold Harber, my furlough came and I started home for a horse. While I was at home Wilson made a raid toward Petersburg and Fitz Lee and Hampton met him and drove him back and captured some men and about 100 horses. As I went back to the war I passed through Bedford City and stayed all night at the same place I stayed when I first went to the war.

I found our command near Ream’s Station, not far from Petersburg. In a short time after I got there, we were called out to go to the White House on the York River. We crossed the James River on pontoon bridges, below Richmond and rode all day and night, arriving there just before day. At daylight we saw three ironclad boats in the river and as the fog cleared away one boat moved up the river and one down and turned broadside and opened fire on us, firing three or four guns at once. We moved back out of sight before they got our range, so we didn’t lose any one just then. Then we dismounted and were marched by fours up above the White House and down to the river, where we could see the enemy drilling in a piece of meadow land just below the town, called the White House. We were not ordered to charge at all, but were marched back to our horses and mounted and went a couple of miles back in the direction of Charles City C. H. and went into camp, remaining there all night.

The next morning, after eating breakfast we were ordered to mount and just then a courier came with a dispatch to Fitz Lee and he sent it on to Col. Munford who was commanding our brigade. Col. Munford sent Co. C. and D. to form a skirmish line and we were ordered to forward march. The other 8 companies followed in regular line of battle. When we had gone a short distance we came to a lot of pines about as high as a man’s head and a fence that had been through this pine field, had been torn down and the rails piled, forming a fortification. The Yankee skirmish line was lying behind this, but broke and ran, before we shot at them at all. We pursued them and when we got out of the pines, we saw them going to several buildings around a farm house.

We followed them and they took refuge in a log barn and shot at us through the cracks, but over shot us, not even wounding a man. We swung around the barn and when they saw we were going to get them, about 25 of them ran out and aimed to escape through a solid plank gate, and rushed against the gate thinking it opened out, I suppose, but it opened back against them. The foremost man couldn’t get the others back to open it, of course, and we ordered them to surrender, but they wouldn’t and began firing at us, so we had to fire at them. We killed or wounded every man. They were supporting six pieces of artillery on the hill above us, which was firing at us all the time, but overshooting us. We went up the hill to take the artillery, but before we got there, they had retreated. The only loss we sustained was by a bumshell hanging in the limbs of a tall, slender, sweet gum tree, and its weight and force took the tree right to the ground bursting the shell and striking Capt. Tibbs of Co. K. from Albermarle Co., cutting his head clear off. The first and third regiments followed the retreating artillery awhile and put a couple of negro regiments to flight, but could not overtake the artillery. We drew in all our pickets and started back toward Richmond. We traveled about 15 miles and made up fires and camped until morning, then continued our march back to Petersburg. We had left our weak horses and a few of the men at the old camp.

Everything was quiet for a few days. One evening late, we heard a terrible report and didn’t know just what to make of it, so we went down to Petersburg and stayed all night in the streets. Some remained mounted, while others dismounted, awaiting future orders. We learned when we got there that Grant had undermined our breastworks below Petersburg and had blown them up, sustaining a very heavy loss of his men. We went back to camp the next day and remained for a week or so. We had a fine time there catching eels. We practically lived on them.

We next had orders to prepare three days’ rations and march toward Richmond. We passed through Richmond and crossed the Blue Ridge at Brown’s Gap and into the Valley of Virginia. Here we found fine hay stacks, big barns, nice houses, and we thought we had struck a bonanza. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, commanding a large division of infantry and cavalry, came into the Valley just after we did. We knew something was coming off soon, but didn’t know just what.