The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-05-20
SURRENDER OF
GALLANT ARMY

uioSI SdllSuL army llidl ever UdLIleU
for right and justice, the old Confed-
crate soldier likes to recall his expe-
riences in the great struggle; so am
moved to write of the surrender of
the army under Gen. Joseph E. John
ston, in the preliminaries of which |
was an actor.
was a member OF the 5th South
Carolina Cavalry Our last battle was
fought at Bentonville, n. c., where
two of our company were Killed..
c. Eison of Union county, and C. c..
Casey of Laurens county, S. C. On
March "a, 1865, Gen. E. N. Law, now
living in Florida, had been put in
command of that portion of the cav
airy including our regiment near
Smithfield, n. C. There were Yankee
marauders not far away. General Law
sent portion of our regiment, in
cluding my company, to stop their de-
predations. We found several hun
dred of them in a woody place, and
there was little skirmish, during
which i noticed a Yankee jump from
his horse and take deliberate aim at
some one in my direction. heard
the bullet strike with dull
thud near me and turned to see that
Lieut.. Berry Richards, nay nearest
comrade, who was in command of the
company, had been hit. He told nae
that he had been mortally wounded
and asked me to take him to his bro
ther, John c.. Richards, and for his
brother. to carry his body back home
for burial. put my arm around him
and held him on his horse, and We had
gone but short distance when we
met his brother. The wounded man
died three days later, on March 27,
and his brother carried his body home,
as requested.
After leaving Raleigh nay command
fell back toward Greensboro, tired
and hungry and depending on their
own exertions to get something to
eat. As an illustration of the straits
to which we were put for food, will
relate this little incident: While out
foraging great big husky fellow and
I were chasing the same chicken, and
we caught it at the same time. I
weighed only about a hundred and
twenty, but was holding on to the
chicken with all my might. when he
said, and he meant it, too: Oh
you, if you don't let go, I'll kill you,"
and let go and went hungry.
1t was about the middle of April,
1866, that the correspondence began
between Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and
Gen. William T. Sherman in regard
to an armistice, Johnston sending a
communication to Sherman about that
time. As Sherman's messengers-a
lieutenant and some petty officers
with a flag of truce-were on their
way to Johnston's headquarters they
came TO place where Joe Hargrove
and / had been posted. One was to
stay there, and tie other was to con-
duct Sherman's messengers to John
ston's Headquarters, somewhere be-.
tween Durham and Hillsboro. Joe
had slipped away on a foraging expe-
dition, so !, had to escort the messen-
gers. noticed that one of the Yanks
was riding very fine bay horse that
he had captured from Charles Bar
nett of our company, only a few days
before. I wanted very much to take
the horse from him, but of course L
couldn't.
On the 17th of April Generals
Johnston and Sherman, with their
STATS, met in plain little farmhouse
known as the Bennett House." hav-
ing only two or three rooms, to dlsZ
cuss terms of the arnistice. This was
Just four miles west of Durham. They
did not complete the negotiations
that day ana met at the same place
the next day, April Is. General John
ston's escort was the 5th South Caro-
lima cavalry, and with him We're Gen.
Wade Hampton of South Carolina,
Gen. John C. Breckenridge Of Ken
tucky,% and Gen. J. H. Regan of Tex
as, as / remember. With General
Sherman were General Fitzpatrick of
the Yankee cavalry, and l think, an
escort of Minnesotans. While the
conference was going on the respec-
tive escorts on the outside fraternized
and cracked jokes. The Yanks were
in splendid and handsome uniforms
Of blue, the 'tJohnny Rebs" in torn
and sodden suits of gray.
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