The Braves and The Heroes of The Mighty 13th.

Some regiments can claim, that they provided their army with a general officer, when their regimental commander was promoted to higher command. But there aren’t that many regiments (if any), which can say that they provided their army with three generals and good one’s at that. One of those regiments was the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment, whose three Colonels all made General. This is their stories in short as well as that of other significant soldiers of the 13th.

Lieutenant General A.P.Hill
Brigadier General James A. Walker
Brigadier General James B. Terrill
Sergeant Richard Roberson, Co. I.
Sergeant John B. Bibb, Co. C.
Lieutenant Wilson Scott Newman, Co. A. 
The Trice Brothers, Co. D.
Private George Haner, Co. D.
Private George W. Cheshire, Co. I.
Sergeant Major William B. Mansfield, Co. C.

 

Lieutenant General A.P.Hill
A 34 year old native of Culpeper County was appointed as the first Colonel (Commanding Officer) of the 13th Virginia. His name was Ambrose Powell Hill. A graduate of U. S. Military Academy of West Point in 1847 and an experienced soldier from the regular Army having served at the Texas Frontier, the Seminole campaigns and the Mexican War. His first task as Colonel was to teach the citizen soldiers of the 13th to become real soldiers. With the assistance from students from the Virginia Military Institute serving as Drillmasters and hard drilling usually six or eight hours a day the Regiment soon had a "veteran-like appearance" as General Joseph E. Johnston remarked.

The 10 months of service in the Regiment was not to the liking of A. P. Hill. It only involved few skirmishes and the Regiment missed out on the main action at 1st Manassas. This was not enough to show that he should receive the promotion, that he so desired. But on February 26th 1862 he was finally promoted to Brigadier General and transferred to other duties, which meant that the Second in Command of the Regiment, James A. Walker, was promoted to Colonel and Commanding Officer of the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment.

A. P. Hill was later in the war given command of the Light Division and the Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. His ability of timely arrivals at various battles, e.g. Sharpsburg, Cedar Mountain etc., and thus saving the day for the Confederacy won him great honor. Of a very frail health he was often on sick leave.

As he was the one who trained and disciplined the Regiment and made it into a fighting unit. A. P. Hill remained a respective figure in the Regiment after his departure.

A. P. Hill was killed on April 2nd 1865 during the Union breakthrough of the Petersburg defenses.

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Brigadier General James A. Walker
James A. Walker organized before the war a local company in Pulaski County. When the war broke out the company became Co. C, 4th Virginia Infantry Regiment (of the Stonewall Brigade) with Walker as its Captain. Because of his gallantry and soldierly qualities Walker was soon promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assigned to the 13th Virginia under A. P. Hill. As Hill was promoted to Brigadier General in February 1862, James Walker was made full Colonel and Commanding Officer of the Regiment.

Walker served with the Regiment during Jackson’s Valley campaign and the Seven Days Battle. After these campaigns, and because of his capacity for higher command, he was often absent from the 13th Virginia to serve as temporary brigade commander; at Sharpsburg he commanded Trimble’s brigade and at Fredericksburg it was Early’s brigade. His command of the Regiment at the Battle of Cedar Mountain and of Early’s brigade at 1st Fredericksburg is worth studying and showed James Walker at his best, displaying courage, gallantry and tactical command skills.

In May 1863 just after Chancellorsville Walker was promoted to Brigadier General and transferred to the Stonewall Brigade and James B. Terrill was made Colonel of the 13th.

The story of Walker and the 13th Virginia does not end here. During the fighting at Spotsylvania he was wounded in the left arm and reassigned to command the defense of the railroads south of Richmond, which were the Army of Northern Virginia’s main line of communication and supplies. He asked in February 1865 to return to the front, and was granted command of the brigade, which, by the death of Pegram, was without a brigadier, and which included his old regiment the 13th Virginia. Because of General Early’s absence Walker was given Division command and held that position until the surrender at Appomattox.

James Walker attended before the war Virginia Military Institute and in his graduating year, when he took offense at some remark made to him by Stonewall Jackson (then Professor Jackson), in the lecture room, a passage of sharp words took place between the two. Cadet Walker, feeling that he had been publicly insulted and wronged by Jackson, sent him a challenge to a duel. Walker was court-matialed because of the challenge and dismissed from VMI.

In the years after, whenever Stonewall and Walker met, as officers in the field, Jackson always saw his wayward pupil in the front of every fight, always promt, never shirking nor flinching in the most trying and dangerous situations. Jackson therefore blotted from his memory the occurrence at the VMI, and pushed Walker for promotion whenever there was an opportunity to do so. They became friends and few officers in the Army stood in higher esteem of Jackson than Walker.

Another interesting fact about James A. Walker is, that he is the only officer, that commanded the Stonewall Brigade and survived the war. All the others Jackson, Winder, Garnett and Paxton was killed in battle. Colonels Allen, Botts and Baylor, while in temporary command of the Stonewall Brigade, also fell at the head of their troops.

An impressive war record, his after-war record was equally impressive. A lawyer before the war, he returned to law-practice after the war. Elected to two terms at the Virginia House of Delegates from 1871, and to Lieutenant Govenor in 1877. Served in the U.S. House of Representatives 1895-99. Contested his Congressional Election defeat of 1898 and in the following court case he wounded his opponent’s attorney. James A. Walker died on October 20th 1901.

James A. Walker commanded the Regiment during the great victories it shared as a part of General Robert E. Lee’s Army. Walker won his men’s respect and affection by his courage and by sharing their hardship, demanding the highest standard and setting the example for all to follow.

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Brigadier General James B. Terrill
Born in Bath County, Virginia in 1838, James Terrill attended the Virginia Military Institute from which he graduated in 1858. He then began studying law and started pratice at Warm Springs in 1860. He enlisted in April 1861 and was elected Major of the 13th Virginia one month later.

When A. P. Hill left the Regiment in April 1862, James Terrill was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. The regiment was engaged in the Jackson's Valley Campaign, with Terrill winning honorable mentions at the Battle of Cross Keys. He was commended for gallantry at the Battles of Cedar Mountain and 2nd Manassas.

He commanded the Regiment at 1st Fredericksburg in which the 13th Virginia played a significant role in plugging the hole in the Confederate right and sending the Union soldiers back to their starting line.

In May 1863 when James Walker was put in command of the Stonewall Brigade, James Terrill was promoted to Colonel. As the Army of Northern Virginia moved north towards Pennsylvania and Gettysburg, the 13th was left back at Winchester as Provost Guard. James Terrill commanded the regiment at the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. During the Battle at Bethesda Church James Terrill was ordered to take command of the Brigade and shortly afterwards on that same day he was killed in battle. Also on that same day his promotion to Brigadier General was confirmed by the Congress of the Confederate States, and recieved his general's star posthumously on June 1st 1864.

James Terrill was respected as an officer, although not always popular and was nicknamed "Major Terrible" by the men early in the war. Also he got the unenviable task of following the very popular Walker. At the time he assumed command, there was a movement among the men to transfer the Regiment to the Cavalry, which came from fond memories of previous service with J. E. B. Stuart at Lewinsville and Sharpsburg. This effort was even favored by Walker. The transfer came so close, that Stuart made a letter of official action and announced that the transfer was imminent and the only obstacle was a scarcity of horses. Terrill opposed the transfer and squelched it. There was much bitterness among the officers and men over Terrill’s obstinacy, accusing him for staying with the Infantry because of the higher chance for promotion to General than in the Calvalry.

Despite the disagreement between the men and Terrill, he was respected as a combat officer from some of his critics in the Regiment and one assessed him as "one of the ablest tacticians in the Army and others conceded that no more gallant officer has laid down his life in our cause".

The term "a house divided" is often used to discribe the American Civil War and in the case of James B. Terrill it gives special meaning. James’ brother William, was also a general, however, he served with the Federal Army and fell in the battle at Perryville, Kentucky. At the close of the war their father brought their bodies back and buried them on the family farm. He is said to have commented: "Only God knows which one was right". The following poem concerning the father’s sentiment was widely published and circulated:

"God Only Knows Which One Was Right!"

Brigadier General James B. Terrill	"Well I recall their last dispute,      The towering tone, the blazing eye,      The haughty gesture mad to suit      Each brisk assertion and reply,      Their favorite steeds I see the vault,      And vanish from mine aged sight      To measure might in war’s assault –      God only knows which one was right!   Then crept an age of dragging days,      With vague, conflicting rumors rife,      Until along our dust-hung ways      The tidings came that chilled my life,      Among the brave, heroic slain,      Where heavy fell the heavy fight,      My boys lay – wet with crimson rain –      God only knows which one was right!   Ere long I brought them home to sleep      On the old farm – beneath mine eye,      Where stranger eyes their vigils keep,      I could not bear that they should lie.      No more the bugle to the fray      My boys shall rouse, at dead of night.      A deep peace holds my Blue and Gray –      God only knows which one was right!"	Brigadier General William R. Terrill

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Sergeant Richard Roberson, Co. I
The three episodes of "Lee to the rear" are some of famous stories of the war, showing the Army of Northern Virginia’s affection towards their commander Robert E. Lee. One of these episodes happened during the battle of Spotsylvania, where Robert E. Lee readied himself to lead a charge into the Mule Shoe salient. When General John B. Gordon and the soldiers who where about to do the charge realised the intention of Lee, the troops cried "General Lee to the rear". Sergeant Richard Roberson of Company I of the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment was identified by his comrades as the man, who turned Lee’s horse around and led him to the rear.

Sgt. Roberson was a farmer, who enlisted at Romney in Co. I as Sergeant at May 18th 1861. He was wounded twice at respectively 1st and 2nd Fredericksburg. He was taken prisoner at Cedar Creek on October 19th 1864. He was paroled on April 25th 1865.

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Sergeant John B. Bibb, Co. C.
As opposed to Sergeant Roberson, who survived the war, the story of gallant John Bibb has a sad ending. Bibb, a farmer, enlisted in Co. C as a Private on April 19th 1861. He was promoted to Corporal on April 24th 1862 and to Sergeant on February 1st 1864. Wounded twice at respectively Gaines’ Mill and Broad Run. He was killed in the attack at Fort Stedman, a mere two weeks from the end of the war.

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The following stories are extracts from an article called "The Morale of the Confederate Armies" from the "Confederate Military History, Vol. 12", written by Rev. J. William Jones, Chaplain of 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment.

The Generals and the Regiment.
....."The Thirteenth Virginia infantry gave to the Confederacy three generals, who were its original field officers: A. P. Hill, who rose to the rank of lieutenant-general, one of the most accomplished, skillful and successful soldiers the war produced; James A. Walker, who commanded the Stonewall brigade until he was severely wounded at the "bloody angle" at Spottsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864, and afterward led Early's old division to Appomattox Court House; and J. B. Terrill, who was promoted only a short time before he was killed at Bethesda church in June, 1864, and would have won higher distinction had his noble young life been longer spared.

Besides these, there were many among the rank and file of that regiment who were the peers of these distinguished soldiers and would have worn the "wreath and stars" of generals as gracefully and achieved just such official distinction as they did win in patiently doing their duty as "unknown and unrecorded heroes of the rank and file." I give several illustrations of the general Confederate morale drawn from the personnel of this fine Confederate regiment.

I have not singled out the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry as being superior to other regiments of the Confederacy. I have simply cited a few illustrations which came under my personal observation; but there were many other regiments composed of just as good material, and volumes could be filled with the heroic deeds of men of every State, illustrating the morale of the Confederate armies. I call further from my ample material only a few individual illustrations…………….."

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Lieutenant Wilson Scott Newman, Co. A.
When the war broke out, there lived at Orange Court House, Va., a young man named Wilson Scott Newman, who had graduated in law, was commonwealth's attorney of his county and thereby exempt from military service, and who had been recently married to a beautiful young woman who graced his charming home. Many men would have considered it their duty to remain at home under the circumstances, especially as young Newman's wide popularity gave him every promise of high political preferment. But when at 12 o'clock, April 17, 1861, there came a telegram from the governor of Virginia, ordering the "Montpelier Guards," a volunteer regiment composed of the best young men in the county, to be ready to take a train of cars that evening, Wilson Newman promptly enlisted as a private soldier in the company to which four of his brothers already belonged, and served, until killed September 19, 1864, at Winchester, as one of the most intelligent, brave, patient and efficient soldiers who ever fought in any cause.

One incident illustrates his character: On one of the marches of Jackson's "Valley campaign," I saw him one day with bare, blistered and bleeding feet limping along the hard turnpike and suffering greatly as he left his bloody tracks on the road in keeping up with his command. I begged him to fall out of rank and rest by the roadside until I could get him a place in one of the ambulances or on a wagon. "No, I cannot do that," replied the brave patriot, "for all of the transportation is needed for poor fellows worse off than I am. Besides, I cannot leave the ranks now, for we are going to fight up yonder presently, and if I cannot march I can shoot. Indeed, I am in first-class condition to go into battle just now, for I cannot run even if I wished to, and will be obliged to hold my position, no matter how hot it should prove." And thus the heroic boy limped to the front to "take his place in the picture near the flashing of the guns."

Three years ago, visiting the town of Lexington, Va., nestling in the Blue mountains and rich in hallowed memories, I went to the tomb of Lee, which the genius of Edward Valentine has decked with one of the most superb works of art on this continent, putting into pure white marble the veritable "Robert E. Lee at rest." I also gazed for some time on the monument of Stonewall Jackson, in which Valentine has given us a very Jackson in bronze, and meditated on the career of this great soldier and what might have been had God spared him to lead longer his victorious legions. But in turning away from Jackson's grave, my eye fell on a modest marble slab, on which was carved the name of Wilson Scott Newman. Pausing to drop a tear on the grave of my brave army comrade, I said: "Your name will not go sounding down the ages like that of the great chieftain who sleeps beneath yonder bronze; but for true patriotism, chivalric bearing and heroic self-sacrifice, you had no superior, and it is meet that your grave is near that of Stonewall Jackson himself."

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The Trice Brothers, Co. D.
During the first year of the war there were enlisted in the Louisa Blues five brothers named Trice. The eldest one, against his earnest protest, was discharged at Harper's Ferry in May, 1861, "on account of physical disability." But as soon as he got home he joined another company, which was assigned to the Fifty-sixth Virginia regiment and was in Fort Donelson when Grant made his attack upon it. He had been wounded four times and ordered from the field, but when his regiment then made a brilliant charge, he was among the foremost in the advance, displaying conspicuous gallantry, using his musket for a crutch, and finally fell, pierced with many bullets.

At Gaines' Mill, Va., June 27, 1862, the Thirteenth Virginia, being deployed as skirmishers, captured a number of prisoners. The second brother, "Tap" Price, was sent to the rear, against his earnestly expressed wish, in charge of prisoners, and instead of using this as a good excuse to keep out of the fight, he turned his prisoners over to some men who were detailed to guard them and hurried to the front to join his regiment. But the command had changed position and he failed to find it until the battle began to rage furiously all along the line. Just then he found the Fifty-sixth Virginia regiment about to go into action, and rushing up to the Louisa company, he said to the captain, whom he knew well: "I want you to put me in the file in which my brother would be if he were here to-day. I cannot find my own regiment, and I want to take his place and avenge his death." The brave fellow was wounded three times, but refused to leave the field until he received another wound which rendered him unconscious. Not being able to march any longer, even when partially recovered from his wounds, he joined a cavalry company and served to the close of the war with conspicuous gallantry. He survived the war but became almost totally blind from the effects of his wounds, and yet he continued bright and cheerful in the consciousness of having done his duty in the great struggle for constitutional freedom.

On the same day two others of the brothers fell dead in that historic charge which Stonewall Jackson ordered and the men made with such heroic impetuosity that, despite Fitz John Porter's skillful and gallant resistance, they carried every position north of the Chickahominy and fully convinced General McClellan that it would be wise for him to "change base." The fifth brother was badly wounded (he was afterward killed), and one of the saddest sights I saw the next morning when moving among the dead and wounded, was this boy of sixteen preparing his two brothers for their burial "on the field of glory." The news went to the mother of these young soldiers, a widow who had been running the little farm while all of her sons were at the front, that the remaining four had been killed. In her great but not rare affliction she said: "They were noble boys, and how I can do without them I do not know. But I am proud of the fact that they were not cowards, but that all five of them fell bravely doing their duty in the cause of Southern independence. And, bitter as is my affliction, my chief regret is that I have not five more boys to put in their places." Did Spartan women, Roman matrons or the women of the Revolution of '76 ever utter nobler sentiments of patriotism than this humble Southern woman whose fame deserves to be celebrated with that of "the mother of the Gracchi?"

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Private George Haner, Co. D.
Another boy in the same company and regiment was a fit representative of a large class. When the war broke out, George Haner was an orphan working in a carriage factory at Louisa Court House, Va. He not only owned no slaves, but it was not likely that he ever would, and some might have said: "This is none of Haner's fight. Why should he go into it?" But George was an intelligent, well-informed secessionist, and when at noon on the 17th of April, 1861, the Louisa Blues received their marching orders, he was the first man ready to march, as he was ever afterward prompt in the discharge of duty. The boys called him "eccentric" at first and laughed at his oddities. One of his "eccentricities" was that he always carried his Bible in his haversack and read it as he had opportunity. But when on the memorable field at Cold Harbor and Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862, the heroic regiment at one time faltered under the terrific fire (they carried into that fight 306 men and lost 175, killed and wounded) and seemed about to fall back, the color-bearer being shot down, Haner grasped the flag, rushed to the front, calling on the men to rally to their colors and firing their valor so that they swept on to victory; then they saw that George Haner was a true hero in a fight, and changed their laughter into praise. He was thenceforth known and honored for his conspicuous gallantry.

Another simple incident illustrates his noble character: Down at Petersburg, in February, 1865, the regiment held a position south of the Appomattox, and the opposing lines were so close together at that point that it was almost certain death to expose one's self for even a minute. One day when I was looking through a porthole at the enemy in blue, who seemed only a few feet away, a sudden gust of wind blew off my hat and landed it between the lines. It was a new hat, for which I had just invested $3, Confederate currency, but I would not have gone after it for all the hats that ever ran the blockade. I was sorrowfully turning away to see if I could not borrow a "second-hand hat," to wear into Petersburg, though I did not know how I could get another, when George Haner stepped up and said: "Chaplain, I will get your hat." I positively forbade his doing so, told him that it would be a reckless risk of his life to attempt it, and thinking that he was dissuaded, I went into one of the bomb-proofs, and having succeeded in borrowing a "second-hand" cover for my head, was preparing to leave the trenches when George Haner came up and brought me the hat which had deserted me.

"Why, how did you get it, George?" I asked. "Oh! I crawled down the trench leading to the picket line and fished it in with a pole." "But, did not the Yankees see and shoot at you?" "Yes! and they came very near getting me," said the brave fellow, as he raised his arm and showed three bullet-holes in the jacket sleeve of the arm with which he had worked the pole. "I reckon they would have gotten me," he added, "but I called out, 'Hello, Yank! quit your foolishness. I am doing no harm. I am just trying to get the chaplain's hat,' and the Yank replied, 'All right, Johnny, I'll not shoot again if you will hurry up and get it before the next relief comes.' And so I got it without being hurt." The brave boy had cheerfully risked his life to serve his old comrade and chaplain. Poor fellow! he was killed a few days afterward, bravely doing his duty. He sleeps in an unknown grave at Petersburg; and this little tribute is justly due to as true a patriot, as heroic a soldier as ever kept step to the music of Dixie or fought under any flag.

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The following stories are extracts from the book "Stonewall Jim", written by Willie Walker Caldwell, the daughter of Brigadier General James A. Walker - the second Regimental Commander of the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment. The stories are based on General Walkers personal reminiscences of the "Seven Days" battles around Richmond in the summer of 1862.

Private George W. Cheshire, Co. I.
On the 27th of June, as the 13th Virginia Infantry was going into battle at Gaines Mill, the color sergeant, Fendol Chiles of Louisa County, was severely wounded by a shell fragment and was borne from the field. As the colors fell from his hands, one of the color guard, a youth named George W. Cheshire from Hampshire County, Virginia (now West Virginia), seized them, exclaiming as he ded, "They are mine now! Colonel Walker promised them to me if anything happened to Sergeant Chiles."

An hour later when the regiment was engaged in the hottest and most prolonged infantry fight I ever knew, as I passed along the line I saw the brave little color-bearer standing bolt upright in an exposed position, holding the colors aloft, unmindful of the Minie balls that were whistling thick around. Going up and touching him, I pointed to a tree nearby and made a sign to him to get behind it. In a short time I returned down the line and saw the colors still in the same position I had left them, the color-bearer having declined to take advantage of my permission to seek shelter. Before I reached him, the colors went down, and the color-bearer pitched forward on them as if still guarding them in death, for he was shot through the heart and died instantly, saturating the bunting with his life*s blood.

I beckoned one of his comrades to me, and we lifted his body and picked up the flag, wet and dripping with his blood. I handed it to another brave man.

The flag carried by the regiment that day was a Virginia state flag which had been presented to the regiment by Governor Letcher. It went into the fight scatheless, but it came out literally shot to pieces. The bunting was riddled, and the staff in three places was nearly severed in twain, so that it was too weak to be borne with the regiment. We carried it around in the regimental headquarters wagon until after the Seven Days fighting around Richmond was over. We then sent it back to Governor Letcher, who had it placed in the State Library, where it remained until Richmond was evacuated and then fell into the hands of the enemy.

The gallant boy who so nobly died on it was buried in a soldier's grave on the field of battle with nothing to mark his last resting place. But I have cherished his memory as one of the bravest of the brave and can yet in my mind's eye call up his form and his face as he stood unflinching and unmoved in that storm of war, setting a noble example for his comrades.

His home was in the enemy's lines, and I heard nothing from his friends until thirty years afterwards, when I visited a camp of Confederate veterans in Hampshire County. Inquirering if any of the friends or family of Color Bearer Cheshire were present, I was told that his mother was on the ground. I sought her out, sat with her on a fallen log in the grove, and told her of the circumstances of her brave boy's death. She had never heard them before and only knew that he was killed in battle; but even after thirty years it seemed to be a comfort to her to know that her boy had died the death of a hero.

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Sergeant Major William B. Mansfield, Co. C.
Another incident of this same battlefield is to me personally one of the msot tender and touching in all history. There was in my regiment a young man named William B. Mansfield, the son of a minister in Orange County, Virginia. Private Mansfield was detailed as clerk at regimental headquarters. His position excused him from drill and guard duty, but on the march and in battle he took his place in the ranks.

A very short time after the brave little color bearer was killed, I saw Mansfield lying behind the root of a tree where he had been placed by his comrades. He was mortally wounded and suffering great pain, but as I passed he beckoned me to come to him.

I knelt beside him and put my ear to his lips, asking if wanted to say anything. He whispered, "Lie down beside me," at the same time putting his arm around my neck and trying to draw me down.

I said, "I cannot lie down. I must be at my post."

His life was fast ebbing away, and he knew it, but he still tried with his feeble strength to draw me down. "Just lie down here beside me a few moments until the hottest of this fire is over," he said. "You will be killed if you don't."

Gently withdrawing his arm, I left him and never saw him again, but a nobler, more unselfish spirit never died for his country.

[Note: in the Virginia Regimental Histories Series book of the 13th Virginia Infantry, William B. Mansfield is listed as Sergeant Major effective 4/24/62.]

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