On the way to reinforce Gen. Lee

Having received orders to go to the relief of Gen. Lee at Richmond we started off [160] in that direction, but had not got far on our new route when we received the news that he had evacuated that city and was falling back on Danville where we were ordered to proceed to join him,

News of Lee’s Surrender

but when at Trinity College a town near Greensboro we heard that he had surrendered at Appomattox Court House, on the 10^th April, proceeding a few miles further to Bush Hill, we came to a dead stop, having traveled nearly 300 miles in a circuit of only 30, like a fish floundering in a net, darting here and there to get out but in vain,

The end fast nearing

on all sides the fast closing lines of the enemy encompassed us, and we saw now the end of our army also approaching; Gen. Lee’s surrender cast a damper over the already fast sinking spirits of our men, and when soon after rumors reached us that Gen. Johnston was also treating for our capitulation they were at a low ebb.

Surrendered Apl 26/65

On the 26^th April, Articles of Agreement were signed by Generals Johnston and Sherman at Durham, when the former issued his last order informing his army of the same; when the order was read to our company drawn up in line, and although expected for some time already, a deep hush prevailed over [161] the men, and when our captain, in a husky tone of voice that plainly showed the depth of feeling in the same added a few remarks the emotions welled up from their hearts and many an eye could hardly suppress the tear.

Gen. Johnston’s farewell order

Soon after Gen. Johnston issued his farewell address, as follows:

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA
May 2 1865
General Orders No 22

Comrades: In terminating my official relations I ernestly exhort you to observe faithfully the terms of pacification agreed upon, and to discharge the obligations of good and peaceful citizens, as well as you have performed the duties of thorough soldiers in the field. By such a course, you will receive the comfort of your families and kindred and restore tranquility to our country.

You will return to your houses with the admiration of our people, won by the courage and noble devotion you have displayed in this long war. I shall always remember with pride the loyal support and generous confidence you have given me. I now part with you with deep regret, [162] and bid you farewell with feelings of cordial friendship and with earnest wishes that you may have hereafter all the prosperity and happiness to be found in the world.

J. E. Johnston
General

Paid off and Paroled.

By the terms arranged we were to be paroled, and to return to our homes unmolested. The bullion of the treasury of the Confederacy being at Greensboro at the time, the same was divided among the men, by our authorities, each receiving $125 silver. The parole list having been made out and signed and the following parole given out: [163]

The Cause “lost”

We were now free to return to our homes; our warfare was over, though brought to an end, by a turn of fate, which we had not desired, and which sad fact could at first be scarcely realized; it almost brought tears to the eyes of many of us to think that we had suffered and fought, and so many of our comrades had bled and died for naught; that the hopes so fondly cherished by the people, the aim so nobly worked for by our women, and so bravely struggled for by our soldiers, be in this manner dashed to the ground, our aim remain unachieved.

Sad feelings for “the lost cause”

Sad, sad were our feelings when we took the battle flag of our company, that conquered banner, from its staff to hide it, not in shame or disgrace, for no stains of dishonor rested upon its folds, but to prevent the same falling as a trophy into the enemy’s hands; and those guns that we had followed on the march for nearly [164] four years, and that we with so much trouble had brought thus far, were now to be given up to our foes, without even the satisfaction of having defended them to the last.

To return home

One ray of light alone broke through the gloom like a beacon amid the tempest: we were “to return to our homes”; had we yet homes? had the torch of the enemy spared our hallowed homes, or were we to find them a mass of ruins? And our loved ones were they yet in the land of the living, or had they preceeded our country to the grave? Such were the questions that naturally came to my mind when my thoughts wandered to my home and loved ones now that my feet were about to wend their way in that direction; for three months or more we had not heard from our mother, and many fears for her safety in these troublous times would intrude themselves upon us, and made us anxious to learn of her welfare.

Leaving for home May 3/65

On the 3^rd of May we left Trinity College on our way home, and as Lieut. Whilden and some of our men with one of our wagons were going in the direction of Newberry, I concluded to accompany them to there, and then to take the cars to Walhalla. Charlotte, N.C.

After several [165] days march during which we passed through the towns of Charlotte and Concord, the first of which I found to be a very pretty place, we passed the Catawba river at Rock Island ferry, at which place we visited a then celebrated factory of Jeans.

Again on native soil

The state line was crossed near Yorkville, when my heart bounded for joy that I could again tread the soil of my native state, desolated though it was by fire and war.

Newberry

We reached Newberry after passing through the counties of York, Union & Laurens,touching at the courthouse towns of the two former, and at Liberty Hill in Newberry county, having applied for and received transportation and rations from the federal authorities, we boarded the train next day, as we thought, for Walhalla, but which took us no further than Belton, the Anderson branch having been partly destroyed and not in running order, so nothing was left us but once more to resume our march, so shouldering our knapsacks and rations we walked to Anderson along the railroad track, passing the debris of a train at the bottom of an embankment on the same. Arriving at Anderson [166] in the evening we encamped under a tree near the depot that night, awakened about midnight by some hogs prowling about our rations. The next morning early we again started on our way along the track of the Blue Ridge road, and after passing Pendleton and Perryville, the latter the site of a government nitre bed during the war,

Arrival at Walhalla. May 15/65

we arrived at Walhalla late that afternoon, on the 15^th May 1865, a pair of weary and worn soldier lads, much the worse for the dust and dirt of the road, but none the less gladly welcomed by our dear Mother and all our relatives and friends there.

I found that Walhalla had, with the exception of some pillaging by raiding parties of the enemy, not suffered much, but was more frightened than hurt. I learnt on our arrival that President Jefferson Davis had passed through there hotly persued by some federal cavalry, by whom he was captured in Georgia. Walhalla was garrisoned shortly after our arrival by a company of negro troops, a fact not much relished by the residents of the town; to me the sight of [167] those black faces in uniform was also a novelty, having seen none but white soldiers, though our company had opposed colored troops in the fight on John’s Island.

Leave for Charleston May 28^th 65

Having recuperated from the hardship of our march, and thinking it necessary to look after our property in the city, I embraced the opportunity of my cousin A. W. Fager and a comrade of his going down to accompany them; so early on the morning of the 28^th of May, we set out for Charleston, in soldier fashion on foot carrying only the most necessary clothing, and our rations; that evening we reached Belton where we took quarter for the night and after a good rest boarded the train next morning for Newberry where we as paroled soldiers, returning home, were furnished with transportation and rations by the quartermaster of the federal army.

At Newberry again

Remaining at Newberry the balance of the day and that night we again took the train the next day, which carried us only as far as Alston from where, as the railroad bridge over the Congaree river [168] at that place had been burnt by the enemy we had to make the balance of the way to Columbia by boat down the river, which was a very tiresome travel on account of the constant poling among the innumerable rocks in that river. We arrived at Columbia late in the afternoon, when we called upon, and were heartily welcomed by Capt. W. K. Bachman, of the German Volunteers, who gave us a supper and bade us remain that night, which kind invitation we were nothing lothe to accept. Columbia, I found to be only a wreck of its former self, where on my visit before the finest houses, among them the public buildings, had stood, there was then only a heap of ruins, a sad spectacle of the horrors of war. Early the next morning after some refreshment furnished by our kind host we again resumed or journey taking the cars, which carried us only as far as Lewisville, a far twenty miles above Orangeburg, from where we had again to walk to the latter place, the railroad there having also been torn up and destroyed by the enemy, in fact, along our whole route we saw [169] traces of their devastation, tall blackened chimneys marking our way. At Orangeburg, of which we also found a large part in ruins, from the same cause, we replenished our haversacks with Yankee rations, furnished by the federal quartermaster there, they consisted of “Hard Tack”, buiscuits, and Bacon, the latter tasting particularly good to us poor “rebs” who had never got any like it ours being generally more or less “rank” and old.

Boarding the train again at Orangeburg on the afternoon of the 4^th June that evening found us once more in our old city, but what a different return than the one we had desired! although nearly dark when we reached there, I hurried through the streets as if I had no right there, afraid of being arrested for wearing the “rebel” uniform, but I was allowed to proceed unmolested going to Hartz’s where I remained during my stay in the city, our house being in other hands. By orders of the federal authorities all paroled men had as soon as they arrived in the city to report to the Provost Marshall, and have their paroles counter [170] signed, which I did on the morning after my arrival, the office of the same being on the west side of Meeting Street, one door below Wentworth, afterwards the “Board of Trade” building; after my name, age, occupation and general description had been taken down, the oath of allegiance to the United States government was administered, I would have preferred a dose of castor oil, my parole was countersigned and I was allowed to go, being once again a citizen of the United States although I still wore “the rebel gray”. Our property being in the hands of the “Freedmen’s Bureau”, which had been established for the benefit of the negros, taken possession of by the federal authorities on account of the owners being not in the city, I consulted with our lawyer, Mr John Phillips, who was kind enough to write out a petition for me with which I called on General Sexton, in charge of the bureau, whom I found had established his headquarters at the Conner residence, in Meeting Street, near the battery; having presented my petition I procured [171] a release for the property, but with a loss of the rent up to that time, which remained forfeited to the government, though I was glad enough to get it without more loss or trouble than I had. Visiting our house, soon after, I found that as far as the shelling was concerned it had sustained no damage, only one shell, apparently, having reached it, making a slight abrasure on the rail of the balustres of the piazza, and burying itself harmlessly in the ground, where it yet awaits resurrection.* Passing along the streets I was struck by the number of American flags, of all sizes, displayed from the different houses, and which I, a good Confed’ yet, though a reconstructed citizen of the U. S., most dutifully went out of the way of, even if it lead me into the middle of the street; I learnt afterwards that this had been done by the residents of those houses to secure the protection of the military authorities, against any wanton molestation by the soldiers, though mostly the colored. In the lower part of the city, the so-called “Gilmore District”, I found that the shelling [172] had done much less damage than I had expected from the innumerable shells thrown into the city, though no doubt “the burnt district” had absorbed comparatively the most of them, which was again “a good within an evil”. The most damage had been occasioned by fire at various times, though mostly at the evacuation. It was hard for me to get used to the many blue coated soldiers on the streets, where I formerly only saw “the boys in gray”; my uniform which I wore for some time after yet did not occasion me any trouble from them though.

Return to Walhalla

Having accomplished the main object of my visit, and finding just then no opening in business, as the dull season was approaching I resolved to return to Walhalla and remain there till fall; learning that Messrs Louis Deitz and Nicholas Bisenoff were going to Walhalla with a wagon load of groceries, on speculation, I obtained permission to accompany them on their trip. Leaving the city early on the morning of the 2^nd of July we were soon under way on the road to Summerville; [173]

Summerville July 3/65

having had very heavy rains just before our departure the roads were in a very bad condition, nevertheless we reached Summerville that evening, remaining there a day at Mr. Lesemann’s for whom Mr. Deitz had formerly clerked, having a pleasant time of it. on the morning of the 4^th we resumed our journey, and if the roads had been bad before they were shockingly so now as we were passing through “Caw Caw Swamp” where the recent rains had caused the numerous “branches” or creeks to overflow the swamp and the adjacent roads, so that on some places we could almost swim across, being over knee deep. Our shoes being in a constant soak from wading through the water, Mr. Bischoff and myself took them off and walked barefooted, but when we after reaching a higher region wanted to put them on again, we found it impossible to do so, our feet having become swollen and sore from alternately walking in water and hot sand, so we had to stop and camp for the balance of the day. In camping we would generally seek the presence of water, and [174] the shelter of some tree, where we would gypsy like build a fire, and while one would prepare supper, coffee and buiscuits, the others would water and feed the horses; as I did not care for the last named, the former duty generally fell to my lot. after partaking of our frugal meal, at which the dry jokes and witty remarks of Mr. D. would keep the party in good humor, we spread our blankets near the fire and stretched off for our nights’ rest; in the morning after grooming and feeding the horses, and getting our own breakfast we would again start off, taking an hour’s rest at mid day, and repeating in the evening the procedure of the one before.

Ridgeville, Branchville, Blackville, Williston, Windsor, Aiken

In this way we reached Ridgeville, where we passed a night, next passed through Branchville, then reaching Blackville where we visited Mr. Kalb, who was living there then, then passing Williston and Windsor we reached Aiken where we lay over a day at Mr. Henry Hahn’s, a friend of my two companions, which gave me chance of seeing the town and thus passing the time very pleasantly, the town is a pretty little one, situated on a [175] high ridge making it very healthy. We had from Branchville travelled parallel with the rail road, or what remained of it, as the enemy had taken great pains to make the same unserviceable, completely tearing the road up piling the ties or sleepers high upon another and then putting the rails on top and setting fire to the whole, twisting the rails when red hot in every conceivable shape, even like rope around trees; the depots and the cars that had remained at the same, after the larger part had been sent to Cheraw, had been burnt; on every side bare chimneys showed us that the enemy had neither spared private property, but that all had fared alike at the hands of the ruthless foe.

Edgefield, Abbeville, Anderson

Having as before mentioned passed a day at Aiken, we set out again early the morning after on our way, touching at Edgefield, Abbeville and Anderson, all three pretty towns, and on the 15^th July, after a journey of 14 days reached Walhalla; when about seven miles from the town, my impatience becoming too great for the slow rate we were traveling, I begged [176] a seat in a wagon going there, which was granted me, but I soon found that I had, as the saying is: “jumped from the frying pan into the fire” as my companions to cheat me of my advantage hurried their horses on and soon passed me and reached there before I did; these last seven miles were the only, of the 300 or more of the way, that I rode, the rest had been made “with shank’s mare”, on foot. When I finally reached Walhalla in the evening my cotravellers had already announced my coming and had a hearty laugh at my expense. I was heartily welcomed by Mother, and all, the former being quite glad of the success of the trip to the city, or the object of the same rather.

Final trip to the city

Having spent a month at Walhalla again, and being quite tired of the idle life there I concluded to avail myself of the opportunity of Mr Nicholas Fehrenbach and my friend M. J. H. Ostendorff’s going down with a wagon to accompany them to the city to try to get into business there; so after celebrating my friend’s birthday at Knee’s even up to the hour [177] of our departure early on the morning of the 25^th August we set out on our journey to Charleston, which was to be the third one between the two places, within two months for me.

Newberry, Orangeburg

Having passed through Newberry and Orangeburg stopping a day at each place, we reached the city on the 7^th of Sept. having been 12 days on the way, having rode a large part of the same.

“Home, sweet Home”

Arriving in the city I proceeded to our house, when I prepared the same for Mother’s coming, as the same needed a good cleaning, white- washing, and painting the rooms myself. Mother and John arrived early in December and my brother George having been in the city since shortly after the close of the war, we were once again all domiciled in our old home, all had returned safe and sound, and with the sad experiences of the war behind us.

Again a citizen

From the time of my last arrival in the city I had laid aside my uniform and once again assumed the dress of the citizen, as every one will believe quite willing to make the change; nearly four years had elapsed since I last wore the latter.

Peace

Peace now reigned again, though for a long time a peace only in name, distrust and hatred prevailed between the white and black races, caused mostly by the arrogance of the latter, and the corruption of the adventurers promoted to the highest positions of honor in the state by them to the entire exclusion of those who should properly fill them; till at last after many vain efforts, our old Palmetto State, by the aid of our noble Hampton, like Bayard of old, “without fear and without reproach,” arose from her thraldom, drove away those that had been preying upon her substance, and once again enjoyed a peace in fact, as well as name, and now no longer known as “the prostate state” again assumes the polsition entitled to as one of “the old thirteen”.

Peace! thrice blessed Peace! may it ever reign over our country and our people, and may prosperity, its twin sister smile upon our home, our state, our land; may the demon War never again drench our soil with blood, much less that of brothers, never again desolate our busy cities and towns, and lay [179] waste our fruitful fields.

Meanwhile the recollection of “the lost cause”: can never be erased from our memory, like a sad awakening from a pleasant dream it is indelibly fixed in the minds of those who shared the fortunes and the failures of the nation that like a meteor, as bright and as passing, shot across the southern sky, leaving in deeper gloom the horizon it once brightened; of the nation whose fallen flag, “the starry cross” has in the language of the poet: “taken its flight to greet the warrior’s soul.”

“The Conquered Banner” . .. . Rev. A. J. Ryan

Aye! our flag has been furled, but the cause whose symbol it was is not forgotten; when even all that fought under its folds shall have been laid in the grave, in our own beautiful harbor stands a proud monument of its fame: historic Sumter shall yet to coming ages tell the story of “the lost cause”, of that “conquered Banner.” Like that of Thermopylea of old, the history of its defense shall pass to generations yet unborn, and be “penned by poets and by sages”. [182]

Conclusion