Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 36.djvu/298

 Richardson's office, which was burned on the night of the evacuation of Richmond.

It was, therefore, with great pleasure that we received last week a letter from Captain Micajah Woods, of Charlottesville, who was an officer in the "State Line," and for a time an aid on the staff of General Floyd, in which he says :

"I hope during the coming spring to be able to send you a condensed history of the State Line, commanded by General John B. Floyd; in fact, I have several letters written to my parents giving quite a full account of all the history of this command. The services rendered by the State Line under Floyd seem to have been completely ignored in large measure in the current histories of Virginia and of the country. It is a remarkable fact that, after General Floyd retired from the Confederate service, by virtue of his own prowess and personal influence, he raised a command in Southwest Virginia and in Eastern Kentucky of about 5,000 men, and these men protected the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and the Salt Works, which were essential almost to the Confederacy, and made large captures in Eastern Kentucky of equipments and ammunition, and broke up organizations that would have given great trouble in that region. I doubt if any other individual in the Confederacy in the fall of 1862 could have commanded the personal following that General Floyd did. While not trained as a soldier, he was intus et in cute,—a hero and a soldier. He sounded his bugle and thousands rallied to his standard in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, where he was born and known.

"I was at his side at Carnifax Ferry when he was wounded: I was with him also at Cross Lanes (an engagement fought a few days before Carnifax Ferry), and I have never seen a more splendid figure on a battlefield, or a more fearless one than he presented. I was also with him as volunteer aid when seventeen years of age on the top of Sewell Mountain, when he was confronted by Rosecrans, and my recollection is distinct that he urged General Lee, who commanded the combined forces, to attack Rosecrans, and I still believe that, had an attack been made as suggested by General Floyd, who advised both an attack in rear and in front, we might have captured, without great loss, the whole of the army of Rosecrans."