Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/101

 Last Days of Johnston's Army. 101

6th of April. Inferring that Lee would succeed in making junction with Johnston, with a fraction of his army, at least, somewhere in the front, he prepared on the day he had appointed (April loth) to leave Goldsboro, to move straight on Raleigh, which place he reached on April i3th, and found that Johnston had moved further on.

Let us now leave Sherman at Raleigh, and go back to the little force at Weldon. And, in the outset, I take pleasure in acknowl- edging my indebtedness for much I shall now recount to my old commander, Captain L. H. Webb, than whom a truer soldier never drew sword, and who has very kindly furnished me extracts from his diary kept during this period. I have also obtained valuable infor- mation from that gallant soldier, Hon. James C. McRae, then Assis- tant Adjutant-General on General Baker's staff, and now one of the Superior Court judges for North Carolina.

The task imposed upon this small force, consisting of two or three hundred infantry and our battery, numbering about one hundred and twenty-five men, was no light one. For weeks it had been in a state of constant activity and excitement, enhanced towards the last with continual suspense and anxiety. It had been constantly on the move to meet threatened advances from the directions of the Tar and lower Roanoke and the Chowan and Backwater rivers. If I remember aright, during the month of March it had been sent upon two expeditions through Northampton, Hertford and Bertie counties, to repel reported raids of the enemy's cavalry from the Chowan; one, to and below Tarboro to meet a threatened advance from the lower Tar and Roanoke, and one, down the Seaboard and Roanoke railroad towards Franklin, to check a cavalry raid from the Blackwater. This last expedition, however, was in April, the command returning to camp therefrom the night of April 6th. It was under command of Colonel Whitford, who had with him not to exceed two hundred infantry (about fifty of whom were members of our company, armed with inferior rifles) and two guns from our battery. I was with the expedition as a cannoneer of one of the guns of the battery. I forgot to say that we were conveyed down the Seaboard road upon two or three flat cars, and possibly a box car or two. Upon reaching Boy- kin's Depot, about twenty-five miles from Weldon, we discovered that all below that point the enemy had torn up and burned the track, so that it was impossible for us to proceed further on the train. Disembarking, we reconnoitered the situation for several miles around and remained there until next morning, when hearing that the enemy was making his way in the direction of Weldon, we boarded the