Claude Wayne Secrest

“ General D. N. Couch, second in command to General Burnside, was watching the slaughter from the cupola of the Court House. He went to Burnside's headquarters and told him the story and asked if there might not be a better way. Burnside said his plan of battle would work, and to send the other four waves of infantry forward, and sooner or later, the enemy would yield and the Heights would be taken and the battle won.
The other four waves met the same fate–"these were brave men"–and no one got any closer than 40 yards to the stonewall. Dead and wounded men were piled deep over this ground ”

“ All my life I have been interested in the Civil War and over the last few years I have made a study of each battle fought as I was interested in finding out which battles my grandfather participated in. He was David Secrest, son of Solomon Secrest of Montvale, Virginia living on the Buford place where now stands a tank farm. ”

“ On September 6, 1862 a ragged host of 55,000 men crossed the Potomac River at White's Ford near Leesburg, Virginia. This was General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. This was the first Confederate invasion of the North. It was untouched by battle, rich in crops; Maryland being a border state could probably be brought into the Confederacy, General Lee also wanted to get the Federal troops out of Virginia as harvest time was at hand and he could also march into Pennsylvania and cut off rail communication to the North, as well as being a threat to Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. ”

“ The men all agreed they could wait another day for food and rallied behind General Lee and headed south.
Eight miles south of Amelia Court House at Jetersville, Virginia they found General Sheridan's dismounted cavalry behind earthworks placed squarely across their line of march. This ended all hopes of rations or escape; his only alternative was to go west to Farmville, on to Appomattox, as his men were in no shape to fight an all-out battle.
The Federal cavalry of General Sheridan's cut gaps in the retreating line of men at every opportunity ”

“ Major General Joseph Hooker was Lincoln's choice as Commander-in-Chief to crush the Confederate army and take Richmond. The Union army still encamped on Stafford Heights and General Lee's troops were still at Marye's heights between Hooker and Richmond.
First off Hooker was told to restore morale and dicipline in the Union ranks, then present a battle plan to crush Lee's army. He had 130,000 men, the largest and best equipped and supplied army in the world. ”

“ At the station was a trainload of rations if Lee could beat Sheridan's cavalry to them.
Another letter came from General Grant. His terms of surrender would be simple. "Peace being my great desire" his only condition was that the men surrender, take their parole and return to their homes, not to bear arms again. This was handed to General Lee at 9:00 p. m. on the 8th of April.
General Lee did not reply at once, then he found out that General Sheridan had beat him to the Station at Appomattox and stood squarely between the Confederate army and the much needed rations at the Station. ”

“ General Jackson had held his ground also, by hand to hand combat at times. General Lee's army had not left Marye's Heights as dusk settled over the area. They were expecting the battle to continue the next day, but the cost had been too high, 18,000 men lay dead; approximately 15,000 Union troops and 3,000 Confederate.
Two days later General Burnside ordered his troops back across the bridges under cover of night and a heavy rain. He was marked for removal as commander of the Army of the Potomac by President Lincoln for his weak showing at Fredericksburg. ”

“ General McClellan was within 7 miles of Richmond with 80,000 men, but the rumors were that General Lee had called everyone in to help defend the Capital and 200,000 men were there to stop McClellan. This was not true, General Lee pulled out General Longstreet's, General D. H. Hill's, and General A. P. Hill's 30,000 men, leaving only 20,000 to defend the City. General Lee ordered these troops to join forces with General Jackson's 30,000 coming from the Valley of Virginia to strike General McClellan's forces in the rear. ”

“ He hoped to be ahead of the Union forces and slip through one of the mountain passes and reach the Valley of the Rappahannock and make it to Culpepper, Virginia to be between Meade's Federal troops and Richmond. He reached Culpepper the same day Meade reached Manassas Gap. Each army commander expected the other to make disposition for a fight the next day. Neither knew for sure the other's strength and Washington forbid Meade to make battle as Lee's strength had grown since he reached Virginia soil ”

“ General Longstreet's forces arrived at dark and took positions to strengthen Jackson's right flank and other weak points. Union forces attacked next morning August 30 not knowing Jackson had been reeinforced and found a stronger force to face. The battle was fought hard most of the day, but the fresh troops did make a difference and General Pope had to do what General McDowell did 13 months before, retreat back across Bull Run to Centreville and on back to D. C. a defeated army. ”

“ The famished regiments began to march into Amelia Court House on April 4 and General Lee rode in with Longstreet's advance about 8:30 a. m. and not a single ration was there. Hour after hour famished regiments marched in as planned. General Wilcox and his men arrived at noon, followed sometime later by General Heath, General Mahone, and General Goode's regiments. By late afternoon General Ewell arrived, then the cavalry under General Anderson and Fitzhugh Lee arrived. It was their job to hold General Sheridan off of the troops and burn the bridges after the last unit was across all waterways. ”

“ Each signed the agreement and General Lee rode back to his men and told them the war was over and that they would be fed, given a parole and allowed to return to their homes. Any one who owned a horse could take it home to do their farm work with. ”

“ This was in early June of 1864 and these battles had finally convinced Federal officers that well-selected, well-manned entrenchments, adequately supported by artillery were practically impregnable to frontal assaults. These battles changed the course of the war from a war of maneuvers to a war of siege. ”

“ The Confederate Army was growing stronger as General Johnson's troops were arriving. General Beauregard had sent General Evans with his 4 Divisions to take battle formation north of the Stone House on Sulley Road. He sent General Bee with his 6th Regiment of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi troops to strengthen General Evans troops. ”

“ Another army under Major General George B. McClellan was forming just north of Washington. This Army was assembling at Rockville, Maryland and was 90,000 strong. General McClellan's orders from President Lincoln were to find and destroy the Confederate army. ”

“ On April 5 General Mahone sent out commissary wagons to comb the countryside for food and folage; the wagons returned empty as the country had nothing to give after helping to feed the army for the past four years. ”

“ With help from General Early and General Jones they managed to push the XI Corps back across Hanover Road; they took Benner's Hill and pushed them to the base of Culp's Hill. That was as far as they could go and the 1st, 2nd and V Corps came to the XI's aid. Heavy fighting took place the rest of the day but at dusk everyone was holding their grounds. ”

“ They ran into Berry's division of the 3rd Corps, Hayses' brigade of the 2nd Corps and part of the 12th, no one could make an effectual stand until finally dark came and each outfit tried to reorganize and form a battle line for next day. ”

“ General Jackson, General Longstreet and General A. P. Hill arrived just before dusk and made plans to hit the Union forces next day. At dawn they found no Union forces on Malvern Hill, they had moved out during the night and were headed to the James River ”

“ This brought the battle of Gettysburg to a close with over 50,000 men killed, wounded, and missing, in the three days of fighting. The books list 23,186 Union troops and 27,063 Confederate troops. The battle had crippled both armies and the battle did not resume on July 4th and General Lee gathered his wounded together as best he could and started the long trip back to Virginia. ”

“ General Ewell's 2nd corps hit General Warren's right, driving them further into the Wilderness. General Hill was holding General Hancock's forces in check. Generals Longstreet and Anderson were giving General Burnside and General Sedgwick plenty of trouble. ”

“ David Secrest was assigned to Company "C" of the 42nd. Infantry Division and served with that Company through the war. His service record shows that he was on Company Muster rolls in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1865. ”