ARTILLERY CAMP,
NORTHWEST DIVISION, C. S. A.,
Monterey, Virginia, July 20, 1861.
SIR: In obedience to Special Orders No. — of July 20, I have the honor to report that on the night of Thursday, July 11, I left Laurel Hill in command of all the artillery of the column under the command of the late General [Robert Selden] Garnett, consisting of one iron rifled 6-pounder and caisson, three bronze 6-pounder field pieces and three caissons of my battery, and one iron 6-pounder field gun in charge of Captain [William H.] Rice and two caissons. These pieces and caissons were drawn by four horses each. My baggage trains consisted of three small two-horse wagons without covers. On July 13, three pieces of my command were engaged with the enemy in a skirmish at a ford of Cheat River in Tucker County, in which engagement two of my horses were shot, and the pole of the carriage of the rifled gun was broken, so as to make it impossible for us to bring it away. The horses were cut loose, and the piece was spiked by Second Lieutenant [James E. McPherson] Washington, who had been temporarily assigned to duty with my battery by General Garnett. One of my baggage wagons was left in the river, the horses having been killed.
Lieutenants [Adolphus C.] Lanier, Washington and [George C.] Brown behaved with great coolness and gallantry and succeeded in bringing off two of their pieces, although the enemy were [within] twenty feet of them, and that without the loss of a man killed or wounded. In the hurried retreat the order was given to cut loose from the train, when the two remaining baggage wagons were abandoned with all of the company baggage, including the entire camp and garrison equipage of the company. In the subsequent retreat of seven days, four of my battery horses gave out, and were left on the road.
I arrived at Headquarters yesterday at noon with my three bronze field pieces and three caissons—and the caisson to the lost rifle piece—with forty-one horses in fair condition, yet galled and wearied, with seven sets of harness complete of my battery and with one iron piece and two caissons of Captain Rice’s Company with twelve horses, and three sets of four-horse artillery harness.
There came up with the battery to Franklin four commissioned officers, twelve non-commissioned officers and eighty-one privates, namely, one chaplain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, one third lieutenant, four sergeants, four corporals of pieces, four corporals of caissons, and eighty-one privates; eight of whom were sick, leaving seventy-three for duty. Three of my company remained behind at Franklin in Pendleton without leave and I suppose have deserted with a portion of Captain Rice’s Company. I enclose a roll of the company and a morning report.
My company is now in a most pitiable condition without tents, without cooking utensils, and the most of them without blankets or a change of clothing.
Very respectfully,
L. M. SHUMAKER,
Captain, Commanding Battery.
Lieutenant [George Washington] Wooding was with the advance guard of the column and conducted the advance by order until I was ordered back after the death of General Garnett.
L. M. SHUMAKER,
Captain, Commanding Battery.
Lieutenant GARNETT [ANDREWS],
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.
Sources
Hewett, Janet B., Noah Andre Trudeau, and Bryce A, Suderow, eds., Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Pt. I, Vol. 1. Wilmington: Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1994.
Spirit of '61 