Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 25.djvu/285

 '/'I,, N< ,-//,/ Rockbridgt Battery. 281

[From the Rockbridge County .%>., I'ebruary 5, 1897.)

THE SECOND ROCKBRIDGE BATTERY.

Its Roster and Career.

Compiled by W. F. Johnston. Valuable services were rendered in petting up the lists by Captains John A. M. Lusk and W. K. Donald, and Orderly-Sergeant S. W. Wilson.

The Second Rockbridge Battery was called such on account of being the second batu-ry as to date of organization in the county. The list of officers and men who served in the company is given below. Being made up chiefly from memory, after a lapse of thirty- two years, it is probable that some omissions and inaccuracies may occur. This company was organized as an infantry company, owing to the want of artillery equipments at the time, and served as Com- pany B of the 52nd Virginia Regiment, then under Colonel Baldwin, and was a part of General Ed. Johnson's Brigade, doing service on Alleghany and Shenandoah mountains until the fall of 1861, when it was made an artillery company, and was attached to the same bri- gade till the artillery was made a separate command. After this it was a part of Mclntosh's battalion, in General A. P. Hill's corps, until the close of the war.

It was mustered into service as the " McDowell Guard " in honor of Miss Lillie McDowell, then of Lexington, Va., a daughter of Gov- ernor James McDowell, now Mrs. E. P. McD. Wolff, of Georgia, who made the company a present of a pair of horses, harness and ambulance, besides furnishing a considerable amount of means for clothing equipment of the company. She also paid a bounty to a young man who was under military age, to go as her personal repre- sentative in the war. Her substitute, Alfred Sly, proved himself faithful to the trust until a few days before the fight at Gettysburg, when having been sent out with others on detached service, he was captured and held in prison until after the surrender of the army.

This company was made up largely of farmers and farmers' sons and laborers. Practical knowledge of caring for and driving horses gave the battery an advantage over many others; being able to move with promptness under the most unfavorable circumstances. Quite a number of the men were from the Blue Ridge and vicinity, with- out the advantage of education, and nothing but principle to fight