Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1903-05-06
Unparalleled Loss in War.
Company Of" 26th North Caro-
lima.


DEAR EDITORS: As kindly re
quested by you, 1 have with pleas
ure prepared the following article
for publication in your excellent
paper:
In my estimation, one of tn,
greatest honors ever conferred upor
me, in a civic or military sense,
was a Captains commission from
the Confederate Government, which
put ME in command of Company
"F, " fthe Goth Regiment of North
Carolina Volunteers; and then, the
privilege of leading those gallant
men into battle on the CORY field
in front of Gettysburg and it's gun
crowned Cemetery Hill''-July,
lst, 1868.
The Company went into action
with SO muskets and commits
stoned officers--the captain and
two Notwithstanding in all 81
men. 1t was, indeed, a fateful
field to Company "F," for, in the
engagement that followed, every
officer and every man of the rank
and file was either killed or wound
ed. Thirty-cne-more than a. third
were killed and died from wounds
received. There were in the Com
paEy three sets of twins, of wnom
five were killed and mortally wound
ed. There were, also, in the Com
pany sixteen men of the same
family connection by the name
of Coffey.
There can be no doubt as to the
credibility of the above statement,
for soon after the battle, while in
a hospital in Richmond, Va, /
sent to one of the city papers-the
or Examiner-a list of
the Company's casualties, giving
not only the names of the killed
and wounded, but the nature of
the wounds received by each, This
report, providentially, Ipasted,
during the war, in the back of my
sisters album, where it was safely
preserved.
The Orderly Sergeant, j. T. C.
Hood, who is still living,years ago,
March '65 and January 95, corrOb-
'rated the facts and figures, as
given by me, from memory and by
documents in his possession. To
his may be added the sworn state
nent of Mr.. Jas. d. Moore, cashier
If the First National Bank, Cas-
onia, N. c. 1t was published in
he Post" of Raleigh, N. c., Feb.
18th, 1900. And to make the
laim more than doubly sure and
certain, Col. VIM. H. S. Burgwyn,
PRESIDENT of the Weldon National
Sank, verified the whole matter by
. thorough examination of the
;ompany's muster and pay rolls,
which are still extant.
Below are the casualties of the
company at Gettysburg as pub
ished, at the time, in the Rich
nond paper:
KILLED ON THE FIELD.
Lieut.. John B. Holloway, Pri-
ates Robt. NJ. Braswell, Robt. H.
'arswell, l. H. Cotfey, Cleveland
'otfey, T. j. Cozart, Thos. Crump,
ames Deal, VIM. Fleming, Jack
on Gragg, Abram Hudson, John
!. Lewis. j. B. Littlejohn, Jos.
'hillips and w. Z. Phillips (twins), |
. P. Shook, John A. Taylor, w.
:. Thompson, NJ. l.. TOwnsell.
MORTALITY WOUNDED.
Privates j. NJ. Clonts, j. G.
ofey, Thos. NJ. Coffey, W. S.
otfey, Rufus Ervine, H. H. Hays,
!. W, Holloway, George Morgan,
oseph Setter, w. f. Setter, Hosea
tallings, William Underdown.
WOUNDED.
Capt. r. NJ. Tuttle, badly, right
z; Lieut.. G.. NJ. Sudderth, badly,
and; Sergeant j. T. C. Hood,
ndly, thigh and foot; Sergeant
B.. N. Hudspeth, by bursting of
hell; Sergeant II. C. Cofey, badly,
rist; Corporal S. P. Philyaw,
ably, thigh; Corporal A. H.
leg broken, amputated
rivates Hezekiah Annas, badly in
Ugh; George Arney, leg broken, (
nputated; S. P. Badger, badly, I
'ot q; Joseph Baldwin, badly, thigh;
ero Beach, badly, hip; w. w.
can, badly, foot; W. w. Brad
rd, slightly, arm; Nathan Brad I
law, slightly, knee; r. w. Brss. l
ell, slightly, breast; John Bow q
an, badly, thigh; Redmond t
hurch, badly, foot; j. C. Clark, |
IDLY, arm; William Clark, badly, /
OF, leg and shoulder; A. J. COT
y, finger shot off; H. C. Court b
y, badly, thigh; j. P. Cotfey, I
bursting shell; s. W. Crisp, s
dly, thigh; H. C.. Crump, q
ghtly, arm; Nathaniel Cul- t
cath, badly, side; Thomas Curtis, t
m amputated; j. NJ. Holloway, v
dly, breast; Paul Howell, badly. v
Ugh; Ambrose Hudson, by burst t
g shell; A. NJ. Hudspeth, badly, s
ce; G. w. Hudspeth, badly, leg; n
W. Kerby, slightly, shoulder; t
hn Kincaid, badly, shoulder; t
Hip Largent, badly, thigh; Il
kanah Mathis, slightly, arm; Jas
Moore, badly, thigh Noah Page,
dly, thigh; VIM. r. Payne,
ghtly, body; A. w. Perkins, y,
i 0l