On the 18th of December, Lieutenant Frank A. Hanner was promoted to
1st Lieutenant, vice Lieutenant McKnight killed. Orderly Sergeant
Chas. A. Campbell to 2d Lieutenant, Jr.; Sergeant William M. Paisley
was appointed Orderly Sergeant; Corporal C. W. Stratford, Sergeant,
and privates Alfred W. Klutts and Rufus B. Gibson were promoted to
Corporals.
During the month of December, under special orders No. 72, Lee's
headquarters, a general court martial was convened for our (Heth's)
division. Capt. J. A. Sloan was detailed as judge-advocate; Col. R.
Mayo, of the 47th Virginia regiment, as president, and Sergeant
William U. Steiner, of the Grays, appointed recorder. With the
exception of a temporary suspension in February and again in March, to
accompany our several commands on expeditions made at those times, the
court was in regular session at Orange Court-House. In the meanwhile
Lieutenant Banner was in command of the Grays.
On the 8th of January, private Chas. W. Westbrooks, our company
chaplain, and known as our "fighting parson," was discharged by order
of the Secretary of War, and received an appointment as regular
chaplain in the army. Charlie preached as he shot without fear and to
the mark.
On the 16th of January, private Henry G. Kellogg, at home on surgeon's
certificate, was permanently detailed in the commissary department at
Salisbury, North Carolina.
On the 18th of February, W. H. Donnell joined the company.
On the 20th, Corporal Thomas J. Rhodes was promoted to Sergeant, and
private Richard S. Smith was appointed Corporal.
On the 1st of March, Preston P. Dick joined the company. At the same
time private Henry W. Ayer, who joined the Grays in May, 1863, was
transferred to company "C," 48th N.C. regiment.
On the 12th, H. Smiley Forbis died of disease at hospital in
Lynchburg, Va.
On the 31st, private A. Laffayette Orrell was transferred to the C.S.
Navy, "or words to that effect."
On the 13th of April, private Pleasant Ricks died in camp of typhoid
fever.
On the 25th, E. Tonkey Sharpe was detached, by order of Gen. Heth, for
duty with the provost guard.
On our return from the Mine Run "freeze-out," we planned, built, and
improved our winter quarters, and soon had a city of log cabins. It
was now our turn to watch the wary "yank" on the borders of the
Rapidan, and we picketed up and down the stream in the cold and ice
until early in February, when Kirkland's N.C. brigade was sent to our
relief.
While we were in camp near Orange Court-House in December, 1863, the
good mothers, wives, and daughters of Virginia, with the ready hands
and loving hearts that had always characterized them from the
beginning to the end of the fearful struggle, bethought themselves to
give Lee's army a Christmas dinner. Every pantry, turkey-roost, and
hog-pen in the dear old State was called upon to furnish its quota for
the feast. Our infinitesimal ration dimmed with the prospect, and we
looked forward to that day, which ever stirs all the better and
sweeter impulses of our humanity, with longing desires. In our log
cabins we lay upon our hard beds and dreamed of its past celebrations,
of its anthems and its carols; we thought of its bays and its wreaths
of evergreen; its sprigs of holly in the parlor, and the sacred
immortelles around the portraits of the lost ones; its gift-giving and
all those interchanges of tokens that make friendship sweet; its
suppressions of self; its lessons of generosity, and its going out to
others. Need you wonder, under these circumstances, that Lee's hungry
rebels were all anticipation. The day was ushered in with a snow
storm, but, nothing daunted, our brigade wagon was soon on its way
to the depot to receive our share of the feast; but, unfortunately,
these same pantrys, turkey-roosts, and hog-pens had been invaded so
often before that our part of the grand dinner assumed microscopic
proportions, and the wagon returned with about a half-bushel measure
of dissected gobblers--our Christmas dinner!
"O, ever thus, from childhood's hour"--
Early in February we received a most delightful and interesting visit
from Greensboro's eminent divine, Rev. J. Henry Smith, who preached
for as in the large log tabernacle erected by the boys for divine
service. During his visit the cry of the "Philistines be upon you"
from the other side of the river was heard, and we were ordered out to
resist the threatened attack. The parson exhibited an eagerness to
become a "soldier of Lee" for the occasion. After spending two days
and nights of bitter cold weather on the banks of the Rapidan, the
enemy making no further demonstrations, we were returned to our
quarters.
On the 26th of February, three formidable columns of cavalry, under
the command respectively of Generals Kilpatrick, Custer, and Col.
Dahlgren, proceeded by different routes towards Richmond to surprise
and, if possible, capture the city; and, if successful, to sack and
burn the city, pillage the buildings, and kill "old Jeff Davis and his
cabinet." In the meanwhile two corps of the enemy crossed the river
and proceeded to Madison Court-House; their object being, by a feint,
to cover their cavalry demonstration upon Richmond. Two days later
another army corps left for Madison, and our corps (Hill's) was
ordered to follow them. We left our camp before day on the morning of
March 1st and reached Madison late in the evening, after a long and
weary march in the rain and mud. On our arrival we found that the
enemy had retired, and were returning to their former position on the
Rapidan. The weather turned very cold during the night, and the next
morning we retraced our steps through snow and ice to our camp, the
men suffering greatly from fatigue and cold. We remained quietly in
our winter quarters until the 4th of May.
Sometime in March, 1864, Major-General Ulysses S. Grant was appointed
Lieutenant-General and assumed command of the armies of the United
States. In April he made his headquarters at Culpepper Court-House, and
took personal command of the army of the Potomac. During the months of
March and April re-enforcements were gathered from the four quarters
of the globe and sent to this army.