I was sick that day, but stayed with the company until the fighting was all over, when I started back to Richmond, the surgeon having given me a sick-pass during the afternoon.
I determined, however, to go into the fight if the regiment was called on, but as before said, the Yankees gave it up before we got at them, to which I had not the slightest objection; in fact, I was very glad of it. I made my way back towards Richmond next day, walking very slowly, and resting often by the wayside, went to the camp where the tents were still standing, where the man Pillow I have spoken of was also sick. In a few days several old men from Campbell County, who had come to Richmond to look after the sick and wounded men of Company C, took us to Richmond to a hotel where we went to bed. In a day or two we were sent with other sick and wounded to Lynchburg, and from there I went home and remained until restored to health, after a long spell of sickness.
The brigade was engaged in the fight on the 30th of June at Frazier's Farm, though I don't think many were killed.
As I lay in the tent, I could hear the booming of the big guns in this battle. The Yankees made a last stand at Malvern Hill, where, on the 1st of July, a desperate battle was fought, the Yankees holding their position until after nightfall, when they retired to Harrison's landing under the protection of their gunboats. McClellan was afterwards called Gunboat McClellan, he having sought the safety of the gunboats. His initials were G. B.
In the Seven Days' fighting around Richmond, the Confederates, according to General Lee's report, captured more than 10,000 prisoners, fifty-two pieces of artillery, and 35,000 muskets. The Yankees admit they had 160,000 in the Peninsula campaign, and that there were only 85,000, when it ended at Harrison's landing on the James River, fit for duty. The Confederate loss was heavy, but nothing to compare with the Yankee loss.
CHAPTER X
Second Manassas and Maryland Campaign—Sharpsburg—Back
to Virginia—From
Winchester to Culpeper—To
Fredericksburg
SECOND MANASSAS AND THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN
Some time after the battles around Richmond, the brigade set out on what is called the Maryland campaign. It took part in the second battle of Manassas, on the 30th of August, 1862, when my brother, Robert W., who was just eighteen years old, and had joined the company the day before, was badly wounded in the thigh. He was taken to Warrenton, where his father came to him. While there the latter had a severe spell of typhoid fever.
In the fight Company C lost four men killed, as follows: Harvey Martin, W. H. Hendricks, Chas. Murrell, and H. O. Elliott, and several wounded. In this battle the brigade charged and captured a Yankee battery.