For exercise, military companies were formed, and the positions in them were esteemed honorable in no small degree.
To preserve order among the large number of prisoners who dwelt so closely together, a sort of Lynch-Law Court was established, in which those who were thought guilty of misdemeanors were tried, sentenced, and punished.
In February, 1862, they were removed to Salisbury, N. C., for exchange; but the wheels of the system not working smoothly, they were left in the uncomfortable, military prison of that place until May 21, when they took an oath not to take up arms against the Confederate States until exchanged, nor to communicate any thing injurious to the Confederate cause, which might have come within their knowledge after their capture. With more than joy, they sailed down the Tar River, and stepped from under the rebel flag, to the deck of the Union steamer, over which proudly floated the Stars and Stripes. It is reported that they "danced, wept, and even kissed the mute folds of those loved colors." After their exchange some of them were discharged, and others reported themselves to the company for duty, and served during the three years of their enlistment.
Explanation of Promotions.
These prisoners will allow a word of explanation with regard to a measure taken by the company authorities, which, by some, has been thought unjust. When the remnant of the company was gathered, there was no non-commissioned officer present of higher rank than corporal, and only four of that rank were on company duty. Privates were obliged to perform the duties of sergeants and corporals. None seemed willing to take the responsibilities, discharge the duties, and, in case of error, bear the blame of these officers, without the pay and honor which belong to them. Besides, it was constantly a matter of uncertainty, who should be detailed, as sergeant or corporal, and feelings of jealousy were daily excited by what was supposed to be the partiality of the officer who made the detail. The privates themselves soon began to desire that some of their number might be promoted, to end the occasion of such feelings. In order to do this, it was both expedient and necessary that the non-commissioned officers among the prisoners should be reduced to the ranks. This measure was taken in November, and there can hardly be a doubt that it was right and just. Indeed, it rather seems that no other course could have been so. No man had a natural right to any office in the company. If expediency, because of superior qualifications, rendered it right that certain men should occupy certain positions before their capture, then, certainly, after that capture, which disqualified them for the discharge of official duty, the same cause rendered it right that others who were qualified by their presence, should be promoted.
Gauley Bridge.
The fragments of companies, A, E, F, K, and C, went into camp at Gauley Bridge. Picket duty each alternate day and night, characterized the stay here. One aggressive movement, however, was made to Dogwood Gap, sixteen miles eastward. Nothing of note occurred but the repeated confiscations of native mountain pigs, and a hasty return to camp the next day. The excellent water privileges, boat riding, rafting-in of potatoes, and gathering of paw-paws and persimmons, rendered Gauley Bridge a comparatively pleasant place to do soldier duty.
On the 16th of October, the regiment was ordered to Charleston. It marched down the river ten miles, to Cannelton, and there took a steamer.
Sixteen members of Co. C will long remember their tedious ride down from this point with Major Casement, in an old oil flat-boat, during the cold, rainy afternoon of that day, without shelter for their heads or a decent place for the soles of their feet. Their joy at being taken aboard the steamer at dark, was as though they had been rescued from shipwreck.
The camp at Charleston was in a quiet, level place, two miles up the north side of the Kanawa River.