The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-11-23
A SKETCH OF THE EIGHTEENTH
NORTH CAROLINA Infantry.


we were not In the trenches long,
when Long Tom" opened on the Sup
ply train that arrived on Grants mill
tary railroad, and il was but a short
time before the sand-bag embrazures
and the entertainments around Long
Tom" needed reconstruction.
1t was not difficult for us to learn the
devices constructed for protection, from
the accurate fire of the enemy at close
range, and when the mortars rained
down their shot from the sky we found
the holes and could do the gopher act
with the facility Of trained residents.
The scene at night was beautiful, in
the extreme, but there was an elemen
Of unattractiveness about it, that
caused us to yield readily to the desire
of any others to see the sights from
that view point, and we invariably re-
tired at first opportunity, to position
where the lines were further apart.
When Gordon attacked Fort Stedman
on the 18th of March, we were massed,
nearby, but did not become actively
engaged.
Gordon carried the fort but could
not hold 1t, without very great sacri-
flee Of men.
His loss was greater than his cap
lures, and Lee had no men to spare.
On the night of the 9th of May
ooten with the sharpshooter corps
of Wilcox's division, broke the Yankee
lines, and captured and held the strong
position of McIlwain's hill all the next
day. Wooten n Dunlap (McGowan)
pulled the seine, and Scales and
Thomas corps helped to hold the
ground The audacity of the proceed
ing was their security, as the Yankees
had lots Of men close by, who appear
ed to fear that a trap was laid for
them The concentration of troops on
Hatcher'S run and Five Forks, necessi-
IaJe0 Inc G"tr1tchlnO of tho nrpn-.
lines and each man of Lanes rigade
was some twenty feet apart in the
trenches, beyond the Jones house, when
the final attack was made before day
On the morning of the End of April.
Our thin line could maxi but feeble
resistance to the Sixth corps hurled
against us. We detained them howey-
err till the lines were broker beyond us.
ana fell back towards Fort Gregg,
making a stand on the DinWiddie plank
road.
1t was after sunrise that General A.
r Hill was seen coming from the di-
rection Of his Headquarters on the Cox
road, near the Appomattox. The crowd
that L was with made every effort to
stop him. Seeing no indication of halt
ing, L ran out owards the line he was
going, and though some fifty yards
distant, to him, that our line
was broken, n that the enemy's Skin
mishers were on the plank road beyond
the creek. Answering back, tina he
was aware there was danger, but must
get to his right he disappeared around
a hill, down a valley leading to a
crossing on the creek. A volley as of
q dozen guns was heard in that di-
rection, his horse ran back in = few
minutes without him and we knew
that our gallant was off
duty forever. His staff and attend
ants, who were following him, caught
his horse. His body was
and carried to the rear.
The statement that one of his staff.
or couriers. caught him as he fell, is
without foundation, a loving fabrica-
ton of the devotional kind.
They would nav been with him, if
they could, but having the heetest
horse, he was far in advance, and I
was doubtless the last confederate
spoken to by him.
In the discharge of his duty, as he
saw it, he rode into the jaws of death,
n the army lost one of it's most val
liable officers.
Lane and ThOmas's brigades formed
near the Plank road and repulsed the
enemy in several advances. Wilcox
ordered the troops on the Petersburg
side of the break back to a line of
small forts out side of the main works
at battery 45.
When we got to Fort Gregg we found
some artillerists in it and Lanes North
Carolina brigade furnished the greater
part of the garrison. Thomas Georgia
and Harris Mississippi brigades the
balance. General Wilcox and Lane
were in it, when 1 left by permission
of the latter to go to u winter quar-
ters, near by to get our records.
The Sixth corps had been reinforced
by the Twenty-fourth Gibbons corps
and the advanc vas made on Gregg
before I could return
I was glad to be on the outside. The
fighting was desperate. Repulsed, the
enemy reinforced n returned with
several lines. enveloping the Fort.
they filled the mote and climbed the
parapet. lighting their way inside;
Getting inside, the fighting was hand
to hand, till those not killed were
o~verpowered.
Lieutenant William o. Robinson
Co. B.. Eighteenth regiment, and
color sergeant James w. Atkinson.
T~hirty-third North Carolina, escaped
after the fighting with dubbed mus
ketS ceased, n always speak Of it
as a scene of indiscribab1e horror.
After the surrender of Gregg the
other forts were evacuated, and the
main line at battery 45, and the dam
on the creek occupied.
This was held till night, and Peters
burg was ehind us in the morning.
The march to Appomattox Court
House was a succession of privations
and h~ardships scarcely credible by
those who have not had actual army
experiences.
The supply trains, that were to have
been stopped at Burkeville and Amelia
Court House, passed on, and were cap
tured. That country could not subsist
the army, and men and animals suffer
ed for food We were formed in line
of battle several times and had some
casualties at High Bridge and near
Jetersvi1le.
On the morning of the 9Th Of April.
whilst the Eighteenth was forming line
of battle, on a ridge 20 the left of the
a before getting to the branch near
Appomattax Court House, Grants Off
! Ger, bearing dispatches TO Lee passed
through its lines, and DUN Lee a few
hundred yards in our rear on the o a
we had just left.
Firing was h going on beyond the
! court house by General Grimes North
Carolinians.
We were marched to q nearby woods