Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/214

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and designated as Company " H." Colonel Lewis A. Armistead was subsequently assigned to its command, and on February 14, 1862, ordered to report to General Huger at Suffolk, Va. Colonel Armistead continued in command of the 57th Virginia regiment until April, 1862, when he was promoted to brigadier-general.

On the 2oth of February, 1862, Brigadier-General A. G. Blanchard, commanding at Portsmouth, Va., moved Colonel Armistead's 57th Virginia regiment, and one section of Girardy's battery to defend the Blackwater river and cause its blockade. This force garrisoned Fort Dillard at the confluence of the Blackwater and Nottoway rivers, in North Carolina, until May I2th, when it was evacuated. Captain Magruder was directed to embark his company on an old steamboat and proceed up the river to Franklin. It had in tow a large schooner, which Captain Magruder was ordered to sink in the chan- nel about seven miles below Franklin, to prevent pursuit by the enemy's gunboats, which might attempt to come up the river from Edenton. This work, after considerable trouble with the leaking steamboat, was successfully accomplished, and Captain Magruder's command disembarked at Franklin about i o'clock P. M., and re- joined the rest of the regiment, which, by a forced march, reached there about the same time. The artillery, ammunition, etc., were shipped to Raleigh, N. C., by the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad. After burning the county road bridge and railroad bridge over the Blackwater, they moved on and bivouacked for the night within two miles of Jerusalem. As the soldiers marched into the village next morning, the whole population turned out and treated them in the most hospitable manner.

John Tyler, Jr., son of ex-President John Tyler, was remarkably kind to Captain Magruder's company. He had a cart hitched up, loaded it with the knapsacks of the men, and directed the driver to go along with the company until encamped for the night and then return. Only those who have borne the burden of a knapsack strapped to the back on a hot day can fully appreciate such a kindness. Besides, Mr. Tyler had every man's haversack filled with deliciously cooked corn bread, which must have required fully six bushels of meal.

The camp for the night of the i3th was in a woods near Mr. Urqu- hart's farm, and about n o'clock A. M. of the i4th of May, the command arrived at Littletown where it rejoined the brigade which came up from Suffolk, and all moved to a point about two and a half miles north and east of Petersburg, where they encamped.