Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 37.djvu/63

Rh Wood, J. H., sergeant; wounded five times, losing at one time a pound and a half of flesh from his thigh and hip from a canon shot; is now living near Eaton, Weld county, Colorado, and an active business person.

Anderson, Nat., Carrington, Robert, wounded at Gettysburg, Pa., 1863; Clopton, Mortimer, Covington, Creasy, Creasy, Crenshaw, Dodson, Dyson, Goodman, William; Gordon, Haley, Hewitt, Hurt, Moore, Padgett, William; Poole, Quarles, Ransom, Henry, transferred from Company H., 1863; Smith, Varner, Wakeham, John E., killed near Petersburg, Va., April, 1865; Webb, Winfree, William, was on detail service during the war.

In giving the roster of the Black Eagle Company, of Cumberland county, Va, I venture to say that the morale of that company could be taken as a fair representation of the Virginia troops. In its rank and file were soldiers who had been educated at the University of Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute, Princeton, New Jersey, and the very best medical institutions of learning in the United States. Along with these soldiers of culture and refinement came another class not so fortunate in the walks of life, but who had been educated to a certain standard in the common schools of our country. There were soldiers in this Company who represented as much negro and other property interests as could be found in the State.

There were other soldiers in this company who never owned a negro nor property of any value. These two separate and distinct classes of soldiers, financially and socially, so to speak, contended for their rights on the field of battle as if each individual soldier had been a millionaire.. The humble and unpretentious cot of the peasant was his castle and was no more to be invaded and devastated than the palatial residence of the prince. There was one motive which impelled and united this sentiment into one common thought, that of driving from their homes the invaders. Much has been said since the war about the Confederate war being the rich man's war and the poor man's fight. A palpable fallacy and a flagrant injustice done the brave, patriotic volunteers of that army. I think I can refute to some extent such heinous charges in relating the death