John Wetmore Hinsdale

“ On 2 September, under orders from the War Department, Major Ellington, who when elected Major was disabled from active service by wounds, and who afterwards recovered, was relieved of his command and sent to his company near Petersburg, Virginia. He was soon afterwards killed at Fort Harrison, Virginia. Major Ellington was a gallant officer and much beloved by the boys. It was a mistake to have relieved him. General Holmes afterwards secured a ruling of the War Department by which the officers of the Junior Reserves after they reached the age of 18, were retained with their commands. ”

“ The Junior Reserves lost quite a number of officers and boys in this battle. Their conduct was creditable to the last degree. General Hoke, their attached and beloved commander, thus writes concerning them: “The question of the courage of the Junior Reserves was well established by themselves in the battle below Kinston, and at the battle of Bentonville. At Bentonville you will remember, they held a very important part of the battlefield in opposition to Sherman’s old and tried soldiers, and repulsed every charge that was made upon them with very meagre and rapidly thrown up breastworks. ”

“ Many went to sleep in their wet clothes to find them frozen stiff upon awakening. This suffering was undergone without a murmur. The old guard of Napoleon on the retreat from Moscow, never displayed more heroism and fortitude than did the boy-soldiers—the “Young Guard of the Confederacy.”
Under the law, the reserves could not be required to cross their State lines, but without hesitation and without an exception, the brave boys at Weldon hurried on to Belfield, Virginia, there to meet the invading foe. ”

“ Colonel William Lamb, the hero of Fort Fisher, who, under General Whiting, commanded the troops, in his report says: “At 4:30 p. m., 25 December, a most terrific fire against the land face and palisades in front commenced, unparalleled in severity. Admiral Porter estimated it at 130 shot and shell per minute. The parapet and the guns were manned by regulars and the Junior Reserves.
“During the night the rain fell in torrents, wetting the troops and their arms, but it did not dampen their spirits nor interfere with their efficiency. ”

“ It was here that young Ellington, of Company D, lost his life, crossing the Sound in a storm while on his rounds as officer of the day. He was a zealous and capable officer. The salt works, from which large supplies of salt were obtained for the army, were in the vicinity of this camp, and were guarded by the battalion.
From Camp Davis the battalion moved to Sugar Loaf, on the Cape Fear River, about fifteen miles below Wilmington, six miles above Fort Fisher and one mile from the ocean, where it drilled and did guard and picket duty. “Sugar Loaf” is a singular formation. ”

“ The fleet bombarded the fort until 12 o’clock Christmas day, when Butler landed 2,500 troops near the Half Moon Battery, about two miles north of Fisher. He immediately pushed up Curtis’ Brigade within a few hundred yards of the parapet of the fort. A skirmish line was then advanced to within seventy-five yards of the fort. Upon the approach of the enemy, the Junior Reserves sprang to the parapet of the land face which was swept by the guns of the fleet, and by a well-directed fire, delivered with a coolness which could not be excelled, they repelled the attack. ”

“ While at Camp McLean, near Goldsboro, the regiment was ordered to Halifax to repel another Federal raid. It remained there only a day or two, the enemy having withdrawn. It returned to Goldsboro where it remained drilling and doing guard duty until the last of January. It was then ordered to Kinston and camped near the beautiful home of Colonel John C. Washington. It was here employed in constructing the breastworks and fortifications for the defence of the town and especially of the county bridge across the Neuse river. ”

“ The Junior Reserves constituted the right of Hoke’s Division and supported a battery of Starr’s Battalion of artillery commanded by Captain Geo. B. Atkins, of Fayetteville. The brigade of Juniors were led by Colonel John H. Nethercutt, who had superseded Colonel Armistead. This gallant officer was Colonel of the Sixty-sixth North Carolina Regiment—a plain, blunt man, but every inch a soldier. The Third Regiment threw out a skirmish line which was commanded by Captain Bristol and hurriedly constructed a rail fence breastworks. Here under a fire of artillery we suffered many casualties. ”

“ Grant had been placed in command of all the Union armies and was preparing to take personal charge of a campaign of attrition against the Army of Northern Virginia, willing to swap five [4] for one in battle, if need be, in order to exhaust his straitened adversary—a process by which with his unlimited resources of men, he knew he was bound to win in the end. ”

“ He knew that a land force was attacking the fort, and he felt that it was his duty to take his boys to the rescue. He marched them down the river towards the fort but unfortunately he failed to put out a skirmish line and fell upon a regiment of General Weitzel’s troops by whom he and a majority of his command were captured and carried to Point Lookout. The following is a list of the officers who were taken prisoners:
Major J. M. Reece, Captain J. R. Gaither, First Lieutenant J. M. Lawrence, of Company B, Eighth Battalion; First Lieutenant M. G. Tuttle, Company C, Eighth Battalion ”

“ The rations which were issued to officers and men while here and at Goldsboro were very scant. They consisted of half a pint of black sorghum syrup, a pint of husky meal [22] every other day, a third of a pound of pork or Nassau bacon and a few potatoes occasionally. The old soldiers will all remember Nassau bacon, a very gross, fat, porky substance which ran the blockade at Wilmington and was distributed among Lee’s veterans as bacon. ”

“ These troops, concentrated recently for the first time, were stationed at and near Smithfield, eighteen miles from the field, where the battle was fought, and it was from there that General Johnston moved them to strike a veteran army numbering about 60,000 men. This latter army had marched from Atlanta to Savannah without meeting any force to dispute its passage, and from the latter city to Bentonville unobstructed save by the useless and costly affair at Averasboro, where Hardee made a gallant stand, though at a heavy loss. ”

“ On 24 June, it was ordered to Raleigh and at Camp Holmes was uniformed and equipped with small rifles, which were very inferior and quite dangerous—to the “man behind the gun.”
On 26 June the battalion was ordered to Wilmington. It went into camp at Camp Davis. It afterwards did picket and patrol duty on Masonboro and Wrightsville Sounds under Colonel George Jackson. On 4 August it was ordered to report to General L. S. Baker, at Goldsboro, but returned to Wilmington 16 August and was again placed under Colonel Jackson’s command at Masonboro Sound. ”

“ That night the Confederate Army re-crossed the creek by the bridge near Bentonville and were halted beyond the town two miles north from the creek. The Federals made repeated attempts to force the passage of the bridge, but failed in all. ”

“ He was recommended by General Holmes for the appointment of Brigadier-General in terms of high praise.
Captain John W. Hinsdale, as Assistant Adjutant-General, who had served in this capacity on the staffs of Generals J. Johnston Pettigrew at Seven Pines, and William D. Pender, through the Seven Days’ Fight around Richmond, and also with General Holmes in the Trans-Mississippi. ”

“ Many of them were frost bitten. A good old farmer along side of whose fence the boys camped on the first night of their stay, kindly gave them leave to start their fires by using the top rail of his fence. ”