Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/68

 62 Sniiflu'i'ii Historical Sui-i

supplies were contributed for the support of our armies. Strategi- cally, it was the right wing of the Army of Virginia; and General Scott, whose plan of campaign delineated at the beginning of hos- tilities, of intersecting the Confederacy, was verified by events, and the consummation of which resulted in our downfall, declared that, after the opening of the Mississippi, a heavy column pushed through the gateway of eastern North Carolina, would cause the abandon- ment of Virginia, and the dissevering of the most formidable portion of the Confederacy. The closing events of the war demonstrated the accuracy of his judgment and his consumate skill as a strategist. That it was not done sooner must convince the student of history how severely taxed were the powers and resources of the Federal government to meet and hold in check the main armies of the South, and that its dismemberment was deferred so long alone by the mag- nificent courage and endurance of its soldiery. Ransom's brigade was the only force of importance in the section mentioned for many months; and, occupying in quick succession Weldon, Warsaw, Keenansville, Goldsboro, Kinston, Wilmington and Greenville, it was always on hand to confront any movement of the enemy in that region. Occasionally a sharp brush with the enemy's forces was necessary to warn him of the foe in his path. From Newbern, Ply- mouth and Washington, in eastern Carolina, and from Norfolk and Suffolk, in Virginia, the Federals would send out expeditions; but, in each instance, no great distance would be traversed before they were confronted by Ransom's brigade. Besides the protection thus afforded to the main army in Virginia, an extensive and fertile section of the country was thus kept open for supplies of corn and meat to the Confederate forces; and it was not rare for other supplies and needed articles to reach our lines through that territory. Meanwhile, the ranks of all the regiments in that brigade were recruited; drill and discipline were advanced; and equipment was perfected ; so that, when in 1864, we were made a component part of General Beaure- gard's command between Richmond and Petersburg, on the south side of the James, it is more than probable that there was not in the Confederate service any brigade containing a greater number of effective, well-trained, veteran soldiers, and which constituted so valuable a force of that grade.

On May 22d, 1863, a sharp affair occurred at Gum Swamp, in Craven or Lenoir county, in which the Fifty-sixth and Twenty-fifth regiments, owing to the negligence of our cavalry, were surrounded