The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-09-01


in the records published by the United
States government, Col. Connolly, Lieut..
Col. Smith, and Major Belo are partic
ularly mentioned for gallant and meri
torious conduct, but Col Connolly was
so severely wounded that he was
never able to again command the reg
iment. This was a great loss, for he
was not only brave aud loyal in his
support of the Southern cause, but his
sentiment and conduct We're so chiyalric,
that he impressed all the men and Off
GERS of the regiment with his own lofty
ideals, and Lieut.. Col. Smith was dead.
The very soul of honor, he was older
and less impetuous than Dol. Connolly,
but gentle and refined as a woman; he
was conscientious and painstaking i'm the
discharge of every duty and enforced
among the men the same rigid rule Of
attention to duty he prescribed for him
self. No hasty utterauce and no unCleau
word ever escaped his lips. and by his
daily life, he taught us what a beautiful
thing it is to be a christian gentleman.
The regiment, after its return to the
line Of the Rapidan, was engaged in
drilling and picketing at the fords until
October, when it went with the army of
Northern Virginia to Manassas and
became engaged in the battle of BriStOw
Station. The position of our regiment
in that battle was on the left of our bri
gade, which was Just to the right of
Cookies brigade A piece of forest was
in front and consequently our loss was
slight as compared to the loss of some of
the regiments of Cookies brigade. The
regiment was also with the army at Mine
Run and was part of line that was
formed for the charge upon the enemy's
left flank in the early morning, when it
was discovered after throwing out a
skirmish line that Gen. Meade, during
the night, had withdrawn his forces.
Col. Belo returped to the command of
the regiment late in January, 1864, but
he had not entirely recovered from his
wound received at Gettysburg 1t was
made on the leg by the fragment OF a
shell, and in his determination not to be
captured he fell back with the army
from Gettysburg. A portion of the time
he was in such danger of capture that he
exposed himself greatly, and by the time
! the wound was so serious that for several
days it was feared that amputation
would be necessary.
Soon after his return to the regiment,
our brigade, one severely cold night, was
ordered out of camp, and marched to
GordonsVille AS soon as we reached
that point, the 55th Regiment was sent
out to picket the roads on the south.
The rain was falling and sleeting and the
clothing on the men was frozen. The
next day the regiment with the brigade
was marched some distance to the south
west and biYouaced for the night with
orders to have very few fires, the purpose
being to intercept a raiding detachment
of the Federal army, but the detachment
went around Us, and after enduring the
lntensest suffering that night, we re-
turned to camp.
On the 4th of May, 1864, the regi,
ment, Col. Belo, now recovered of his
wounds, commanding, left its camp
near Orange Court House, and com
menced its march to the Wilderness. 1t
was going down the plank road towards
Fredericksburg about half past o'clock
in the afternoon of the 5th, when it was
discovered that the enemy were advanc-
ing up the road. We were formed into
line of battle, not for the purpose Of ad-
vancing or bringing on an engagement,
as Gen. Lee said to A. P. Hill, but to
hold the enemy in check until Long
streets corps and Auderson's division of
ours, A. P. Hills corps, should come up
Davis brigade was formed on the left
OF the road; our regiment was the right
centre Of the brigade and on the crest of
q SD Il hill or ridge. 1t was in a dense
fores Of small trees the hill in our front
SLOPE gradually to depression or val
| ley wach was a few yards wide, and
then ( ere was a gradual incline on the
oppos side until it reached a point of
about tue same altitude as that occupied
| by us about one hundred yards from
eur line We had $40 men including
non -coIn missioned officers in our regi-
ment. About half past three o'clock, our
skirmisg line was driven in, and the first
line of he Federal forces charged us,
but they got no further than the crest of
the hill ii front of US, and were repulsed
with great loss; from then until sunset,
they chaHged us with seven successive
lines of battle, but we repulsed every one
of them. Our line never wavered. The
officers and men of the regiment realized
that the safety Of the army depended
upon our holding the enemy in check
until the forces left behind could come
up, and there was fixed determination
to do it, or to die About half past five
o'clock, the enemy were pressing us so
heavily with their successive lines of
fresh troops, it was thought that they
would annihilate us before night fall,
and a conference of the general officers
of the field determined that it would
probably become necessary as a last re-
sort to make vigorous and impetuous
charge upon them with the hope that
We might be able to drive
them back. Col. Belo, who was
sitting just in the rear of the regi
ment by the side of little poplar tree,
sent his orderly to the line to the writer
of this sketch, O. NJ. Cooke, instructing
him to report to him Immediately /
went at once. He then stated to me
that the necessity of a charge seemed
apparent and that the order for making
it would probably soon be given, and he
desired that | return to the line and
notify the men, that they might be pre-
pared for it, and take the command of
my own company, @, which was the flag
company, the commanding officer of
which had been a few moments before
severely wounded, and to see that the
flag was kept well to the front, and to
make the charge with all the dash that