Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/229

 Major-General Stephen D. Ramseur. 229

was no officer in either army better qualified to play such a game of bluff than the genial, whole-souled Magruder. Ramseur was ordered to report with his battery at Yorktown. When he arrived Magruder, who had known him in the old army, detached him from his battery and placed him in command of all the artillery on his right. Here Ramseur saw his first active service in the field, and received the promotion of Major. On the arrival of the forces of McClellan a campaign of maneuvering commenced which delayed the advance for over a month. In the meantime, Ramseur had been elected lieutenant-colonel of the Third regiment of volunteers, but declined to leave his battery. Subsequently, and before serious demonsta- tion had begun, he was elected colonel of the Forty-ninth regi- ment of infantry. He was still reluctant to leave his battery, but appreciating the fact that Manly and its other officers were then well qualified for any duties that might be required of them, through the persuasion of friends he was induced to accept the promotion. Sub- sequent events soon justified his confidence in this artillery company. At the battle of Williamsburg, where it received its first baptism of fire, it gathered fadeless laurels which it was destined to wear through- out the war with a fame still augmenting.

The Forty-ninth regiment was composed of raw recruits who were gathered together in the camp of instruction at Raleigh, organized into companies and regiments, and instructed as to their duties in the field. With his accustomed energy and ability Ramseur immediately addressed himself to the labor of making soldiers out of these recruits. By constant drill he soon had his regiment in fair condition ; and as the emergency was pressing, he moved with it to the point of danger. The regiment was assigned to the brigade of an old army officer, General Robert Ransom, who was soon to become a distinguished major-geneial of cavalry, in the Army of Northern Virgina, and thence to be assigned to the command of all the cavalry under Longstreet in his operations in the West. In the series of battles around Rich- mond, known as the "Seven Days' Fight," Ramseur, while gallantly leading his regiment in the battle of Malvern Hill, received a severe and disabling wound through the right arm, but declined to leave the field until the action was over. This wound necessitated his removal to Richmond, where he was detained for over a month before his injury permitted him to enjoy the much-coveted pleasure of a visit to his home. Indeed, the arm was broken, and he was ever after- wards compelled to wear it in a sling.