The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1893-01-26
A BRAVE TARHEEL CAPTAIN.
HG Stood by the Colonel When All HiS
Company Fled.
CLAIBORNE'S NOTE FROM TIE DEAD.
Colonel Claiborne and Captain Roberts
Tried to Whip Stoneman's Brigade
All by Themselves-One was Cap>
tured and the Other Given up for
Dead-The Dead Man Turns Up


tured and the Other Given up for
Dead-The' Dead Man Turns Up
In 1864 the Thirty-seventh Virginia
regiment, under Col. Bob Claiborne,
sailed forth from Morehead, Va. to
meet the Stoneman brigade. Al that
time Gen. Stoneman was on raid
and sought to aSSail Lees army in
the rear while the army of the Poto-
mac attacked him in the front. He
had already met and whipped half a
dozen bands of rebels, but had not
encountered so formidable regiment
as Col. Claiborne's. The engagement
was remarkable for the bravery of
two men, as will be seen before this
story is completed.
In the early part of the day Colonel
Claiborne'S regiment, with the eXcep-
ton OF one company, was bearing the
whole brunt of Stoneman's terrific
onslaughts and by three in the after
noon that regiment had been reduced
to a mere handful of men. They had
been decimated again and again. The
best of their men were either killed
or wounded. The regiment was
ready to Succumb with fatigue and
wounds and there seemed no possibil-
ity of escape for any one. But sud-
denly the missing company appeared.
Yet even with this Reinforcement the
fight was hopeless.
But at the moment the blue coats
of Stoneman's brigade appeared over
the crest of the hill, and the cheers
of the Union soldiers were ringing in
the ears of the COnfederates. In vain
did their colonel try to rally them and
urge them on. The solid line of steel
in front was too appalling, and al
most to man they broke and fled. A
second later and Colonel Claiborne
found himself deserted by all his men
hut one. That man was rough
backwoodsman from North Carolina.
whom he had but a short time ago
taken from the ranks and promoted
to captaincy for brave and daring
conduct on the battlefield. His name
was Roberts, and as he pressed close
beside his commanding officer, he
shouted, "l'll stay by you, Colonel, if
L lose every drop of blood in my
body" The words were hardly out of
his mouth before he fell full length to
the ground with rifle ball through
his chest.
The next moment Col. Claiborne
was surrounded blythe boys in blue
and captured. He afterwards report
ed to the Confederate government the
death of Capt. Roberts, and from that
day until yesterday, exactly twenty
years, he had heard nothing from the
man who aided him in his charge on
Stoneman'S brigade.
Yesterday morning Colonel Clai-
borne. while looking over his letters
came to one with the pOstmark RAJ
eigh, n. c., addressed in lead pencil
to Maj. G.. Il. Claiborne, st. Louis
On opening it the first thing he saw
the name Capt. t. B. Roberts"
Jumping to his feet he exclaimed to
bystander: my God, | have got
letter from the dead. l saw this man
shot and killed with my own eyes at
the battle of Morehead, December 81,
1862, and here he is writing to me-
The letter, however, explained how
Captain Roberts escaped, and as the
circumstances are so remarkable, it is
produced here verbatim:
"RALEIGH, n. c., Dec. 26.
maj. CLAIBORNE:-I have been
trying to find out your address ever
since the war; have asked hundreds of
people about it, and have only just
succeeded. | believe | would rather
see you and talk to you than any 9th
er man on God Almighty'S earth. Do
you remember when you rode up to me
and made me captain at the battle
of Orange Court House? / was only
a Tarheel soldier before that, but
when you done what you did | would
have died for you. Then do you re-
member the fight at Morehead, when
you and L started alone to charge
Stoneman's brigade? | tell you that
fellow Stoneman was the worst cuss
in the whole Yankee army for us fel-
lows TO tackle. But that d COM
pany of mine. Want they the mean
est, most cowardly - of - you ev-
er saw? | tell you they were the
worst God Almighty ever had hand
in making. No decent Iuan would
| have run off and left you in the lurch
the way they did. If they had felt
like me they would have died, every
| q" mothers son of them, first.
You thought l was dead, didn't
you? Well, | am the healthiest dead
man in North Carolina. / got an ug
/ ly wound in that scrimmage at More
! head, and never did knew how it all
turned out, but long after you had all
| gone l came to and found a hoss there
| and managed to get on him and ride
until | found some friends who took
care of me and brought me out 0. K.
| Now, Major, l want ySu to write me
long letter and tell me all about
yourself and what YOU are doing.
Your true friend,
CAPT. t. B. ROBERTS,
/ OyerSeer at State Prison, Raleigh
Capt. Roberts speaks of Col. Clai.
borne as Major because he first knew
him before he was made Colonel The
latter said to st. Louis Globe-Demo
crat reporter that he should spenC
most of his time for a day writing to
his old cOmrade.
[The above story originally appear
ed in the ST. Louis Globe-Democrat
Mr.. Roberts lives at LewisviIle, thi:
county. He is a Jeffersonian Demo
crat and was personally saluted BY
Hon. A. e. Stevenson during the cele
bration here Sept. 10Th last.1
Mills Will be Senator.