Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 28.djvu/173

Rh which attest the spirit and prowess of a company, out of, as well as in, the forefront of battle. A good soldier, be it remembered, must suffer and endure on the wearisome march, and in the tiresome tented field, no less than in the fiercest battle. The battles in which Carpenter's Battery fought may be counted by scores, from its first bloody infantry charge at the first Manassas, and its artillery baptism at Kernstown, onward incessantly in every battle of the Army of Northern Virginia, to the closing scene of General Lee's desperate endeavor just before Appomattox.

When it was Company A of the 27th Regiment, our good and brave first captain, Thompson McAllister, led it to deeds heroic in that first Manassas battle, where our losses were heavy, but where we gained a fighting name the soldier so dearly prizes, and then, too, we were only boy soldiers!

The failure of Captain McAllister's health, occuring soon after that famous event, in which he bore so conspicuous a part, devolved the captaincy next on our former First Lieutenant, Joseph Carpenter, and it was he who so nobly and bravely commanded the company at Kernstown, and onward as artillery until a fatal shot struck him down at Cedar Mountain, his death ensuing therefrom. He was a military cadet, under Major (Stonewall) Jackson, at the Virginia Military Institute, and this will account for his company's being one of the best drilled and disciplined companies in all the old Stonewall Brigade. His death was greatly lamented. After this his brother, John C. Carpenter, a lieutenant, became our third captain, and remained in command until the war closed, being always at his post of duty, except when wounded, which was often the case, though he still lives, as is said of him, in fragments. Two brothers of these second and third captains were also desperately wounded—Lieutenant Ben Carpenter, shot through the lungs, but who is now living in Covington, Va., and Private Tobe Carpenter, who was killed at Wade's Depot, in the Valley of Virginia.

From beginning to end our loss was forty-three killed outright, and a proportionate number in wounded, which means hundreds, since it must be remembered that recruiting was continually going on in our ranks. At one time Cutshaw's Battery, which, like our own, had been greatly reduced by the casualties of war, through a faithful and fearless discharge of its duty, was consolidated with Carpenter's Battery, and the union made a fine and splendid company. Our commissioned officers from first to last were Captains