Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 2.djvu/323



N Hampshire county, before the commencement of the war, there were two organized and uniformed companies of infantry; one known as the Frontier Riflemen, of which Robert White, afterward colonel of the Twenty-third Virginia cavalry, was captain, Elias L. Irvin first lieutenant, Job N. Cookus second lieutenant, and Daniel T. Kellar third lieutenant; and the other the Hampshire Guards, John B. Sherrard captain, D. W. Entler first lieutenant, and Felix D. Heiskell second lieutenant. The first-named company had about 96 men, and the last about 80. In May, 1861, both of these companies were ordered by the governor of Virginia to report to Col. T. J. Jackson, then commanding at Harper's Ferry. Soon afterward the Thirteenth Virginia regiment of infantry was organized, with A. P. Hill as colonel, and these companies were mustered into that regiment as Companies I and K. The world knows much of the heroism of the men of that regiment and of its hard service during the war. In the spring of 1862 the army was reorganized. Captain White was assigned to ordnance duty. He was afterward authorized, at his own request, to raise a battalion of cavalry, which he did and became major of the Forty-first battalion, Virginia cavalry, which was afterward merged in the Twenty-third regiment, of which he was colonel. Captain Sherrard, of the Guards, served during the war and was promoted to the rank of major.

Another company, known as the Potomac Guards, was