Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1911-09-06
Tribute to Capt. William H.
Rrunson.

/ uLIoOkAs
The following letter written by
Mr.. Berry Benson, of Augusta, will
be of intense interest to the hun
dreds of friends of the late Capt.
Brunson throughout the county:
Augusta, Ca, Sept. l, l9ll.
My dear Mr.. Holstein:-
wish to thank you for sending
me the clipping from The Advertiser
concerning the death ofmy old and
well tried comrade of the war, Cap
tain William H. Brunson. AS per-
haps you may know, l was very in
timately associated with him dur
ing the last two campaigns Of the
war, the Wilderness campaign and
the Petersburg-Appomatox cam
paign, we being together in the
brigade sharpshooters, he as captain
of Company B., in that battalion,
and IL yself as first sergeant in Com
pany A. This service of sharp
shooters needed officers u the very
first quality, the service being extra
hazardous, and for that reason
Capt. Brunson was chosen to COM
mand Company B. AS commander
of that company he won the es.
TEEN and affection of his command
at once, and there was never a
doubt in the mind of any man, both
of his courage and ability as an
officer. And not only of his own
company, but of the whole battalion.
In fact, every man in the battalion
felt that Capt. Brunson was as
much his own captain as he was of
the company he was especially in
command of. If Captain Brunson
had any fault as commander at all
| it was one which soldiers are al
ways willing to condone, that of
being too careless in battle of his
own safety. On occasions he would
allow himself to forget the danger,
and expose himself too much. Then
we Just had to call him down" l
can see him now. in the last battle
we fought before the surrender, the
battle of Sutherland's Station, on
the Southside Railroad. The re-
treat from Richmond and Peters
burg had begun, the enemy had
driven us many miles, three brigades
of us, one South Carolina brigade
and two North Carolina brigades,
bringing up the rear, and we at last
made stand at Sutherland's Sta
tion to delay the enemy while Lee
made further headway in the re-
treat.
We barely had time to throw up
an earthwork knee high before the
enemy came in sight, in pursuit. AT
once they charged across the open
field. We held our ground, fired as
rapidly as we could load and drove
them back. Again they collected
their scattered men and charged
again. Again we drove them back.
Their fire was heavy and they did
us much damage. Just upon our
right, some FIVE PAGES from my po-
sition, was piece of artillery. One
by one every horse of the four was
shot down, and it was pitiful to see
those wounded horses raise their
heads from the ground and look at
themselves and moan, And while
all this heavy firing was being
waged, Captain Brunson stood by a
little apple tree looking on, as un-
concerned, apparently, as though it
were a circus. If he had lain down,
or even knelt down, he would have
been a little safer, but he did not
seem to think of it. The enemy,
much superior in force, then out
hanked us, and drove us OH.
This battle was on the second of
April, Just one week before the sur
render. And it was in this battle
that saw what l never saw before,
or heard of any other soldier ever
seeing, a rifle bullet in the air, COM
ing. 1 had stopped behind the low
breastwork to reload, having fired,
and had just raised up to fire again,
when, as 1 looked out to aim, l saw
a black spot in the air. That is a
bullet!'' I exclaimed, mentally. And
in an instant, before 1 had time to
move muscle, it whizzed close to
nay left ear. 1t was coming so
nearly straight to my eye that ap-
peared stationary for the instant,
and if it had come truly to my eye,
1 would have seen the bullet that
killed me.
Perhaps it was the last time /
talked with Captain Brunson that
he told me an incident of the sur
render. When it became known
that the army would be surrendered
and the men paroled, to get home
the best they could, he said to his
darkey cook, Jim, can't you get
me horse?" "Sho, Mahs William,
l git a hoss!" That night, some
time after midnight, the captain
was awakened by Jim. "Mahs
William, done got de hoss!" And
sure enough he had got a hoss, )"
as fine and fiery young animal as