VOLUME IX FALL 2003 ISSUE 2

Cruise of theC.S.S. Chickamauga

Described by her captain as “altegether unfit for a cruiser,”the CSS Chickamauga is one of the least remembered of theConfederate commerce raiders. But during her brief career sail-ing the high seas for a dying nation, this all but forgotten ship car-ried the war to the gates of the Union’s most prosperous ports,spreading alarm throughout the northeastern seaboard beforeending her career in the waters of the Cape Fear River.

The Chickamauga began her eventful career as the blockaderunner Edith, a swift twin-screw steamer owned jointly by theConfederate government and the Collie Company. The Edith suc-cessfully ran the blockade 12 times, eluding the cordon ofFederal ships hovering off the Carolina coast and bringing muchneeded supplies into the port of Wilmington.

In the fall of 1864, Confederate naval authorities were des-perate to stay the tide of defeat, and many felt that could best beaccomplished by taking the war to the enemyby means of raids against the commerce of theUnited States. Proponents of this view, chief ofwhom was President Jefferson Davis, were encouraged by thesuccesses of the Tallahassee, a commerce raider which hadinflicted much damage upon enemy shipping during a monthlong cruise in the summer of 1864. The ship claimed 33 enemyvessels off the New England coast.

In an effort to mimic the Tallahassee’s success, Confederatenaval authorities commandered the Edith and re-outfitted her forservice as a warship. The blockade runner was hauled into theshipyard on Eagle Island opposite Wilmington, where she wasmodified for the coming service and renamed the Chickamaugain honor of the famous Confederate victory in north Georgia in1863. Sails were added to propel the vessel while on the openwaters of the ocean, but the most important addition was weapon-ry. This consisted of a “twelve pounder rifled gun forward, asixty-four pounder amidships, and a thirty-two pounder rifle aft,all on pivots.”

Assigned to command the Confederacy’s newest cruiser wasan experienced blackade runner, Captain John Wilkinson, who

was regarded as one of the best mariners in Confederate service.Wilkinson’s intricate knowledge of the numerous inlets along thecoast had helped him earn his reputation, but he was best knownfor his integrity, passing up numerous opportunities for personalgain during his numerous runs throught the blockade while cap-tain of the Robert L. Lee.

Preparations for the expedition were completed by lateSeptember, but it would be the evening of 29 October 1864before the right combination of luck, tides, and moonlight wouldenable the Chickamauga to sally forth from the Cape Fear in adash through the Union Navy to the Atlantic. The operation near-ly ended that night off Bald Head Island after the Chickamaugawas spotted by the USS Dumbarton, but the Southern ship wasswift under steam and quickly outdistanced her pursuers.

Once beyond range of the Union fleet, the Chickamaugaheaded for the shipping lanes off New York.She made her first capture off the coast ofDelaware, taking the bark Mark L. Potter of

Bangor, Maine, which was headed to Key West with a load oflumber. This ship was burned and the Chickamauga moved on.

Halloween would prove to be a busy day for the Con-federates. They began their activities of the day by capturing theEmma L. Hall, a bark loaded with sugar and molasses. Before theprize was thoroughly burned, another ship, the Stars & Stripes,came into view and was quickly taken. Captain Drinkwater of theStars & Stripes had brought along his fiery tempered wife, whoproved to be more than the hardened sailors were prepared to dealwith. “Heavens! What a tongue she wielded,” Captain Wilkinsonlater recalled.

Fortuitously, another ship came into view and was capturedas easily as the others. The Albion Lincoln, loaded with vegeta-bles bound for Havana, was bonded for $18,000. The prisonersfrom the Chickamauga’s other victims were paroled and loadedupon the ship, including the sharp tongued Mrs. Drinkwater. Thecaptain of the Albion Lincoln was then told that his ship wasbeing released only under condition that he not take her back to

By John Hairr

New York, but instead would head for the Union base at FortressMonroe. Though he readily agreed to the terms, he proved not tobe a man of his word, and at the first opportunity he headed aboutand made his way to New York. Captain Wilkinson noted, “Themaster of the Albion Lincoln shaped his course straight for NewYork. I hope his conscience has since reproached him for violat-ing his oath, though given to a ‘rebel’.”

On 1 November 1864, the Chickamauga took up a positionbetween Long Island and Black Island as the weather continuedto deteriorate. The Confederates captured 3 more ships, butCaptain Wilkinson had more ambitious goals in mind. “Aproposof this tentative look into Long Island Sound, and the originalidea of going on to New London or thereabouts, CaptainWilkinson told me long afterwards that he had been greatlytempted by the idea of a dash through the sound, past New Yorkharbor by night and out at Sandy Hook,” wrote Passed Mid-shipman Clarence Cary, a crew member on the Chickamauga.“As it happened, he had been engaged in coast survey work inthose waters while in the Untied States Navy just before the warand was therefore prepared to dispense with a pilot; he was con-fident that the unexpect-edness of such a move-ment would ensure itssuccess.”

Wilkinson’s grandadventure was delayedby the storm that contin-ued in all its fury forthree days, tossing theship about like a toy onthe tempestuous watersof the Atlantic. Finally,coal began running low,and Wilkinson wasforced to leave his hunt-ing grounds and headsouth for Bermuda torefuel.

Bermuda proved a disappointment to the Confederates, asthe British authorities were not inclined to supply theChickamauga with an ample amount of coal for cruising, andonly agrreed to give the Southerners enough fuel to reach theirnearest home port. The resilient Confederates found a wayaround this dilemma by getting the British customs officersdrunk and then clandestinely adding extra amounts of coal totheir ship.

Thus resupplied, the Chickamauga headed back out onto thehigh seas, but made no more captures before returning to theCarolina coast, where they arrived on the fog shrouded eveningof 18 November 1864. As the sun rose the next morning, a spir-ited enagement ensured when the cruiser was spotted by severalships of the Union fleet who promptly attacked. With some assis-tance from the gunners at Fort Fisher, the Chickamauga escapeddestruction and dashed into New Inlet and back into her homewaters of the Cape fear River.

Plans were afoot in December of 1864 to send the cruiser outon another raid, but the Union operations against Fort Fisherstymied any such actions. On 15 December 1864, CaptainWilkinson was given command of the Tallahassee, which was

renamed Chamelion. Command of his old vessel fell uponLieutenant William H. Ward, who commanded the vessel duringthe two battles of Fort Fisher.

Though the Chickamauga was no longer a menace to ship-ping on the high seas, she did play an important role in theConfederate defense of Fort Fisher, shelling Union landing par-ties and ferrying troops and supplies. A contingent of sailors fromthe cruiser was detached to man a battery of Brooke rifled gunsin the fort itself and fought valiantly during the first attack uponFort Fisher.

On 15 January 1865, during the second Battle of Fort Fisher,the Chickamauga sank its last victim. This engagement was a farcry from a heroic naval engagement. The supply steamer IsaacWells from Wilmington was headed straight for a landing on theeastern bank of the Cape Fear that was occupied by Union sol-diers. Heedless to all warnings, her captain landed the boat whichwas promptly captured. Colonel William Lamb, the Confederatecommander at Fort Fisher, ordered the Chickamauga to destroythe vessel to keep the supplies from falling into the hands of theenemy. As he later noted, “The Chickamauga, which has been

annoying the enemyfrom the river, fired intoand sank the stupidcraft.”

In the end, FortFisher fell and the doorto the sea was closed forthe Chickamauga. TheConfederate cruiserheaded upriver toWilmington, whereshe remained brieflyuntil the port city wasitself in danger.Desperate, her crewtook the ship up theCape Fear River enroute to Fayetteville,

but the rising floodwaters and labyrinthine course of the riverwere too great an obstacle to overcome.

At a landmark then known as the Indian Wells in southernBladen County approximately 2 miles above King’s Bluff and themodern site of U.S. Lock & Dam #1, the Confederate sailorsgave up on reaching Fayetteville. Instead, they stripped the boatof its gear and weaponry. Then, they set fire to the ship, burningit down to the waterline. Finally, the remaining hull was turnedcrosswise of the river and sunk in the main channel with a cablesecuring it into position.

After securing the wreck and mounting the guns on the bluffoverlooking the southwest bank of the river at Indian Wells, theConfederate sailors scurried north to Richmond.

Thus the war ended for the Chickamauga, proud raider of thehigh seas, Despite the brevity of her existence, the Chicka-mauga’s colorful and distinguished career earned her a spot in theannals of the South’s rich maritime history.Sources:Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.Clarence Cary Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.Narrative of a Blockade Runner by Captain John Wilkinson, 1877.History of the Confederate Navy by John Scharf, 1887.

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C.S.S. Chickamauga

It will be remembered by those who were living at that time,what a revolution of feeling resulted from the issuing of PresidentLincoln’s Proclamation in the early spring of 1861, calling onNorth Carolina for her quota of an army of seventy-five thousandtroops to coerce the then seceded states. Among other militarycompanies organized to resist this invasion was “THE CUM-BERLAND PLOUGH BOYS,” a company of twelve monthsvolunteers. This company was organized at Camp Bethany, theold Methodist Camp grounds, about twelve or fifteen miles Eastof Fayetteville. The company, as accepted by the state, numberedmore than one hundred officers and enlisted men.

The officers were: Jonathan Evans, Captain; Charles H.Blocker, 1st. Lieut.; James S. Evans, 2nd. Lieut; W.A. King, 3rd.Lieut; O.H. Blocker, 1st. Sergeant; John Saw, 2nd. Sergeant; J.A.Gauny, 3rd. Sergeant and John A. McAlister, 4th. This Companyhas a distinction of every man being a farmer or the son of afarmer. This fact gave it its name. After something like twomonths drilling and preparation for active service, they wereordered to Weldon where it was made part of the 14th Regiment,North Carolina Volunteers, and was designated as Company “F”.On the promotion of Capt. Evans to Major, Charles H. Blockersucceeded to the Captaincy and O.H. Blocker promoted to 3rd.Lieut. The first active service seen by the Company was under

The following history of the “Cumberland Plough Boys” was writ-ten by the unit’s former commander, Captain James S. Evans, probablyin the early part of the Twentieth Century. The detailed and most enlight-ening manuscript is a recent addition to the Civil War Collection of theMilitary Collection of the State Archives of North Carolina.

The “Cumberland Plough Boys” was raised in eastern CumberlandCounty, North Carolina, on 1 June 1861 and subsequently mustered intoConfederate service as Company F, 14th (later 24th) Regiment, NorthCarolina Troops. It took its agrarian sobriquet from the fact that everymember of the unit was either a farmer or the son of a farmer. James S.Evans was appointed First Lieutenant upon the unit’s creation at the ten-der age of 17. The company’s first commander was a Captain JonathanEvans, no doubt a kinsman of the article’s author. James S. Evans waselected Captain on 8 May 1862 and was present or accounted for withCompany F until his capture at Hatcher’s Run, Virginia, on or about 1April 1865. He was imprisoned at Old Capitol Prison in Washington,D.C., and transferred to Johnson’s Island in Ohio on 9 April 1865. Hewas released after taking the Oath of Allegiance on 18 June 1865.

Captain Evans’ reminiscence details the “calling up of NorthCarolina’s quota of an army of seventy-five thousand troops” inresponse to Lincoln’s call for troops, information on the raising of thecompany at Camp Bethany, the old Methodist camp ground east ofFayetteville, and lists of company officers, battles in which the unitfought, and deaths within the unit. It also chronicles many small detailsof soldier life and service during the Civil War. For example, on page 4he recalls that just after the Battle of Sharpsburg, while stationed at“Maddison Court House,” there were only nine pairs of shoes in theentire company. In lieu of shoes, the Confederate supply system issuedhis men “moccasins.” The moccasins quickly proved impractical during

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The Cumberland Plough BoysCompany F, 24th Regiment, N.C.

A history written by Captain James S. Evans, Commander, with an introductionby LTC (Ret) Sion H. Harrington III, N.C. Division of Archives and History

the regiment’s four and a half day, 125-mile forced march through bittercold and rain in the Confederate Army’s attempt to catch Union GeneralPope. The misery of the men was further aggravated by the fact thatthere were only three blankets left in the unit at the time.

Captain Evans’ story of the “Cumberland Plough Boys” is one ofmany fascinating items in the holdings of the State Archives. In additionto invaluable military-related materials found in Private Collections andthe Adjutant General’s Records, the Military Collection contains originalbounty payroll and pension records, petitions for pardon, Confederatequartermaster, commissary, paymaster, and ordnance records, and a sig-nificant collection of regimental records, including some pertaining toUnion troops raised in North Carolina. Filed in the Military Collectionunder the heading of “Miscellaneous Records” can be found suchresearcher’s gems as the logbooks of the famed commerce raider CSSShendoah, a logbook from Fort Fisher, the largest earthen fort in theworld and once known as the Gibralter of the South, correspondence ofthe United Daughters of the Confederacy, a large number of essays onNorth Carolina and Civil War-related subjects, numerous scrapbooks, an1862 volume entitled, Mamual of Instruction for the Volunteers and an1864 copy of Regulations for the Army of the Confederate States. Ofequal interest are the nearly 600 folders containing personal reminis-cences by or sketches of Confederate veterans, units, and incidents, aswell as other materials related to the 1861-1865 time period.

Except for a very few items, mostly restricted due to their physicalcondition, all materials housed in the Military Collection of the StateArchives are available for on-site viewing and research by the public.Finding aids for materials in all collections are available via computerand hard copy. The staff of the Search Room stands ready to assist visi-tors to the Archives between the hours of 8:00 and 5:30, Tuesdaythrough Friday, and 9:00 to 5:00 on Saturdays.

General Floyd in West Virginia. While not actively engaged inbattle the Company suffered heavily. The unseasoned men diedin great numbers from Measles and camp fever. After spendingthe winter in Petersburg, Va., the Company with its Regiment,was sent to Eastern North Carolina on the Chowan Riveer. Theterm enlistment having expired the Company re-enlisted for threeyears or for the war, as Company “F” 24th. Regiment NorthCarolina Troops. The writer deems it unnecessary to explain whythe Regiment was advanced ten numbers, as the same has beentold in the public prints repeatedly ever since the occurrence. Thehealth of Capt. Blocker being very poor, he decided to take serv-ice in heavy artillery. Under the new order of arrangement JamesS. Evans was made Captain. Lieut. King and Blocker having leftthe Company during the winter. John A. McAlister was promot-ed to 1st. Lieut. and James A Gainy and D.J. Downing were pro-moted to 2nd. and 3rd. Lieutenants, respectively. Company “F”was designated “Color Company for the Regiment, Brigade ofBRIG-GEN. Robt. Ransom. On June 25th, we smelt our firstpowder. The Regiment was drawn in line of battle on the right ofthe Williamsburg Road near Richmond, Va., Companies “E” and“F” were ordered forward across a field grown up in pines, thereto deploy as skirmishers and move forward through these pinesto a wheat field and wait for the Regiment to come up. As we

reached the edge of the Old field and deploying as instructed Col.Ramsour of the 24th. Regiment, told the Captain of Co. “F” tohave his men lie down, saying the fire was very hot. Just then aman in Company “E” was killed and one in Company “F” lost hisarm. Then we realized for a fact that we were in battle. TheCompany behaved in this, their first engagement like veterans.On the evening of the 27th, the Regiment was moved to the rightand placed on the firing line. Here occurred an incident thatshowed the splendid discipline of Company ”F” and the metal ofthe men. Early in the night the enemy opened a heavy fire on ourlines, during which an order to fall back was repeated severaltimes along the line, which caused considerable confusion.Company “F”, seeing the Regiment leave the firing line, wasordered into ranks and marched by the right flank some thirty orforty yards to the rear.

Back Into Battle

Careful inquiry not developing any authority for order, theCompany was faced about, marched back and occupied its origi-nal position on the firing line. The other Companies of theRegiment, with one exception immediately rallied and reformedthe line of battle, thus the steadiness of Company “F” preventedwhat might have been a very discreditable affair: 1st. Lieut. JohnA. McAlister, with a detachment of Company “F” guarded theline vacated by this Company. The next morning we had our firstexperience in attacking in line of battle. Our Brigade drove theenemy handsomely, developing the fact that McCleland’s armywas in retreat. We reached White Oak swamp on the evening ofthe 30th, in time to take a good shelling from the enemy’s batter-ies but not in time to intercept McCleland’s army, as intended. Onthe morning of July 1st. the command of Company “F” wasturned over to Lieut. McAlister (The Captain being ill) who com-manded the Company on in the battle of Malveern Hill. Here thecompany list it’s first man killed in battle. An incident worthy ofmention occured in this battle: Private William Brook couldnever keep exact step in march, due (the boys said) to the lengthof his foot, so one or another officer often called out “Klip thestep Mr. Brook.” In the hot test of the fight this fine soldier calledout “Don’t get excited boys and bite off the ball of your car-tridge.” Say boys, “I don’t hear any body calling ‘Keep step Mr.Brook’.” When the army of Northern Virginia went after Pope,the Captain of Company “F” was placed in command of a campof sick and wonded of the Brigade near Richmond. Very soonthere after Lieut. J.A. McAlister was placed on detached duty,leaving the command of the Company under Lieut. James A.Gainy, than whom no finer soldier ever drew blade in defense ofhis country. Under Lieut. Gainey the Company participated in thecapture of Harper’s Ferry and the battle of Sharpsburg. Here theCompany suffered terribly in killed and wounded. Among thekilled was the splendid young Lieut. D.J. Downing, popular withthe Company, brave and efficient in duty. When Company “F”(The Plough Boys) stripped for battle at Sharpsburg they werequickly moved to the left of the army and never saw their knap-sacks and blankets again. After the battle, the Army recrossed thePotomac resisiting in different localities until Burnside moved tocross the Rapahannock at Frederickburg. Our division was thenat Maddison Court House. There Company “F” had the first, andonly, moccasins given them. As a substitute for shoes they proveda failure as was demonstrated on the forced march of one hundred

and twenty-five miles in four and one half days to interceptBurnside. This march was perhaps one of the greatest trials theCompany ever endured. Not withstanding the bitter cold and rainand that there were but nine pairs of shoes, and three blankets inthe Company, when the roll was called at the end of this terriblemarch every man of Comapny “F” answered to his name. Well doI remember the third morning out, when the call to ranks wassounded, Dan Melvin, a boy of seventeen, with feet twice theirnormal size and tears streaming down his face, stepped into hisplace without a murmer.

THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG

The morning of December 13th, 1863, saw the 24th. NorthCarolina Troops in line of battle at the foot of Willis Hill on theopposite side of the street or road from Mars Heights where CobbBrigade was stationed in the old sunken road at the foot of thehill. Companies “E” and “F” (the two right Companies of theREGIMENT) were ordered from the line by Lieut. Col. Harris, totake position behind a small house at the end of the street thatseparated from Cobb’s Brigade, where we fought until night putan end to the battle. About the middle of the afternoon our ammu-nition was exhausted. Col Harris ordered Company “G ” from theline of battle to our rescue. They responded promptly but at a costof nearly one third of its number. (Company “G” was theHighland boys from Robeson County.) They freely dividedammunition with Companies “E” and “F” but it was only a shortwhile until this was spent. The situation was grace and not one,whose duty it was to render the proper relief, knew of our peril.Something had to be done. Col. Harris asked (me) (Capt. Jas. S.Evans) if I had a man who would undertake to carry a message tothe Ordinance Sergeant, who was in a ravine on the left of theRegiment some two hundred yards distance. The Undertaking ofthis task seemed certain death so I called for a volunteer: imme-diately SERGEANTS HECTOR STRICKLAND AND DANIELBAIN offered their services: SERGEANT STRICKLAND, beingnearest the Colonel, was told to go. That you may understand thehazardness of the undertaking of this brave Man, the situationwas this: The ENEMY was in full line of battle, about 200 yardsdistant protected by the formation of the land. The space betweenthe two lines was perfectly open, and the houses fairly swarmedwith their sharp-shooters. The only route by which to reach thegoal was along the line of the Regiment. This the Sergeant(STRICKLAND) took at a run: immediately, a murdeous fire wasopened on him and the air seemed blue with lead. When abouthalf the distance had been covered a speck of dust was seen torise from his shoulder and he went, headlong, to the ground. Inan instance he was on his feet again speeding on. A great cheeralong the line greeted him as he recovered his feet. A fewmoments more suspence and he was safe behind the hill.Ammunition was passed from man to man along the line and wewere ready to meet the charge of the famous Irish Brigade. Whenthe battle was over, there was not a gun in the Company intowhich a ball could be inserted more than eight or ten inches. ThePlough Boys expended in this battle about 120 rounds of ammu-nition to each man. The wound received by Sergeant STRICK-LAND proved to be quite serious and caused his absence fromthe Company for several months. The historian of the 24th.Regiment in Clark’s Regimental History says the 24th. Regimentfought on the Celebrated Mary’s Heights. This is an error. The

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Three Companies “E” “F” and “G” were the only companiesnearer than 200 yards of those Heights and they were 100 feet ormore away all day taking position behind this small frame houseto load and having to go into the street to fire. Practically the onlyprotection this house gave was to screen us from the sharpshoot-ers. It was literally riddled by shot and shell. I mention thisbecause I wish it to be known that we had no such protection asdid Cobb’s men: here, again, “The Plough Boy’s were calledupon to mourn the loss of a number of good men.

After the great battle, late in December or early in Januarywe were sent to North Carolina for the winter. There were quitea number of men who were granted furloughs to visit theirhomes. The year of 1863 was spent in running up and down therailroad from Richmond Va., to Wilmington, N.C., protectingRichmond and the line of railroad from sudden attacks of theenemy. During the summer we were engaged with the enemy inquite a number of minor affairs, the most important of which wasbetween Kinston and New Bern, N.C., and at Bottoms Bridgebelow Richmond, Va.

There was a little scrap with negro troops at Suffolk, Va., wehad been on a long raid as far as South Mills, N.C., when wekilled and captured a few blue coats and on our return we learnedof these negro troops at Suffolk. We came in contact with them inthe streets of the town. In their retreat a number of them tookrefuge in a house. The burning of the house caused the only onesliving to come out. Here our Historian of the 24th. Regiment isagain in error. He credits Capt. Durham with buring the house,when in fact the Captain of Company “F” ordered the housefired. The suggestion to fire the house came from some man inCompany “F” (I regret not being able to call his name). At thesuggestion, the Captain ordered the torch applied which nearlycost him his life. A negro trooper hearing the order gave fire onhim from the window not ten feet away.

Brigade Storms Plymouth

The campaign in North Carolina for 1864 opened by aneffort on our part to clear the eastern section of the state of theenemy. The first place to engage our attention was Plymouth, ssmall town on the Chowan River. This place was found to be wellfortified with several forts connected by heavy earthworks. TheBrigade was assigned the task of storming the town. The attackwas made from the east at dawn on April 20th, and was over anopen field three fourths of a mile. Company “F” “The PloughBoys” covered this public road. The fire from the enemy’s heavyguns lighted up the heavens so that the works of the enemy withflags flying and smoke rolling with the town in the background,formed the grandest picture I ever beheld. Our line of battlestruck the enemy’s works very evenly: there being no obstructionin the road, Company “F” passed in between the forts on the rightand the left while the troops on either side of us were confrontedby deep ditches and heavy earthworks. The fact of Company “F”entering the town first was by reason of their position in the line.We first gave our attention to the enemy on the left. When theywere cleaned out, my attention was called by Lieut. Duffy ofCompany “I” to the fact that the first fort on our right had not sur-rendered and was firing on us; we then turned our attention to thisfort, which in a few minutes surrendered to Col. Jones of the35th. N.C. Regiment. A great many claims have been made as towho was the first man to enter town. This distinction, if distinc-

tion at all, should be accorded to the gallant Capt. Durham whowas in command of the skirmish line. When we arrived within afew paces of the enemy’s line, Capt. Durham jumped out of theditch in front of the fort, directly in front of Company “F” andwith his hat in one hand and his sword in the other, raised overhis head, he called me by name and said “come on.” This is whyI know Capt. Durham was the first man in the town from our partof the line. After the surrender of this fort the lines were reformedand we continued to push the enemy back through the town. Byreason of the fact that Company “F” was directly in the street, theformation of the Company was kept more intact than those oneither side of us who had to pass around houses, through yards,fences, etc. On the East side of the town, we captured a fortifiedcamp. Very soon the last fort was surrendered and the town wasours. Company “F” again lost quite a number in killed andwounded. Among the killed was Ord. Lieut. D.M. Johnston. Aftera few days rest, we moved on the New Bern and invested thattown, but before anything was accomplished we were hurriedlysent to Virginia to meet Butler’s attack on Richmond andPetersburg, where after three days fighting Butler was bottled upin Bermuda Hundreds: for the next twenty days we were almostcontinually engaged in skirmishing with the enemy. On the 15th.of June we met Grant’s attack on the city of Petersburg, and thenext morning we awoke to find that the enemy had penetrated ourline somewhere to the left and were fast placing themselvesbetween us and the City. In our effort to hold our line, MajorLove in command of the Regiment, ordered Lieut. Gainy ofCompany “F” to take part of the Company into a fort nearby withinstructions to hold the enemy in check as long as possible. Thisthe brave Lieut. did but held too long and lost as prisoners sometwelve or fifteen men of the Company. These were the first menof this Company ever captured.

For the next three succeeding days, the fighting was desper-ate. The last day’s battle resulted in establishing the permanentline occupied by Lee’s army in defense of the City. In the open-ing of the campaign of 1864, Company “F” “The Plough Boys”had been recruited to its normal strength, but in sixty days thearduous duties resultant of heavy fighting and hard marchreduced the Company in numbers to less than a dozen men.SERGEANT STRICKLAND had been promoted to 3rd. Lieut.and Corporal N.C. Thaggard had gone up to Orderly Sergeant.Shortly after establishing this line Lieut. Gainy of our Companywhile in command of a detachment on extra duty, was severelywounded and the Company was deprived of the services of thisfine officer for quite awhile. The commander of the Brigadespoke in the highest terms of Lieut. Gainy on this occasion. Thenine months following covered the period of the siege ofPetersburg, not withstanding the arduous duties, the Companywithin the next thirty days began to grow in numbers again onaccount of the return to ranks of the wounded and sick and hav-ing quite a number of conscripts assigned to us. The next thingout of the ordinary was the springing of Grant’s line, which wasbut a short distance to our right. Company “F” took an importantpart in this recapture of our line being assigned to duty in a fortfor the purpose of keeping down the enemy’s sharp-shooters. Thecaptain of the battery thanked the Company for the splendid man-ner in which they performed this duty. We then continued ourusual duty along the line until August 19th. The Regiment underthe command of the Captain of Company “F” was taken out of

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the line and sent eight or ten miles out on the Weldon Railroad.The next morning Company “F” under command of Lieut. J.A.McAlister, bore its part gallantly in the capture of a strong line ofworks of the enemy again losing good men. That night wereturned to our usual position in the line of defense on the east ofthe City. A very bitter winter followed, the thermometer oftenshowed zero and below. The company was thinly clad and suf-fered greatly. On the 25th. of March 1865 Company “F” partici-pated in storming and capturing Grant’s line at Hares Hill in frontof Petersburg. When it was determined to retreat from this line,Maj. Love, then in command of the regiment, ordered me to takemy company back to our original position in line passing throughone of the captured forts a little to our right and rear. The openground over which we had to pass to reach our line was swept bycannon and small arms from three directions. For fear some ofthe men might be left in this fort the Lieutenants of the Companywere directed to remain in the fort until every man had left it. Thecommand was then given for every man to make for our line asfast as possible. After reaching our works, I ordered the men intoline and seeing only Corporals guard realized that the splendidold Company was no more.

We had left three fourths of our fine men on field. Events fol-lowed so rapidly and the war ended so soon that I never knewwhether or not any of Company “F” were captured on that occa-sion but as Lieutenants declare they saw every man of theCompany leave the fort before they left themselves, it seemedalmost certain that the missing were all either killed or woundedwe went on the right of Lee’s line, fighting day after day. On themorning of April 1st. while the right wing of our army was fallingback from Dinweddle Court House, the remnant of our oldRegiment Company “F” among them, acted as rear guard cover-ing the retreat. There was only 140 men in line. Sheridan’sCavalry who were pursuing us in great swarms, attempted to rideus down, but the accurate fire and steadiness of the men repulsedevery attack. We then moved back and took position where theline of battle was formed only to be enveloped and captured. I amproud to say that the moral of the company was as good as it everwas and there was as much fight in the remnant of eight of themen of Old Company “F” as at any time during the war.

Thus was brought to a close the career of “the CumberlandPlough Boys”, than whom no finer organization of soldiersentered the service of the Confederacy. Space will not permit meto go into detail deserved, how Green Averitt, the smallest, mostdelicate looking man in the Company never missed a battle orfailed to be present at the end of hardest march or how JohnMelvin, while all were lying on the ground resting while on longmarches would stand leaning on his gun, and give us his opinionof “ABE” Lincoln in language such as he never learned in OldCedar Creek Church.

In Publishing this condensed and imperfect history of the OldCompany I am discharging a duty I owe to the survivors and thefamilies of those who have passed away. The support given bythe officers, and the consideration by the men was all that anycommander could ask and could come from only the highest typeof soldier. Not one man of the Company ever merited or receivedharsh or degrading punishment.

Adieu, old boys — May we meet “On the other side of theriver.”

(signed) Jas. A. Evans, Captain Company “F”

Laurence Binyon was born 10 August 1869. You maynot have heard of him, but it’s likely your grandparentsor great-grandparents have. In the first quarter of thiscentury he was among the most famous English poets,and he was Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard in1933 and 1934. His translation of Dante is, in my opin-ion, the best of all those who attempted terza rima inEnglish.

Today’s poem, For the Fallen, is probably the best-known Binyon poem. It memorializes the dead of theGreat War of 1914-18. Sir Edward Elgar set it to musicin a way which, once you have heard it, you will notforget. Pieces of this poem appear on war memorials allover Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and NewZealand.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,England mourns for her dead across the sea.Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royalSings sorrow up into immortal spheres,There is music in the midst of desolationAnd a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow,They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningWe will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;They sit no more at familiar tables of home;They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,To the innermost heart of their own land they are knownAs the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,To the end, to the end, they remain.

For the FallenLaurence Binyon

FALL 2003 PAGE SEVEN

REMINISCENCES OF WORLD WAR II

Survival in the Southwest PacificBy Ken SamuelsonThe Reidsville Review

In early 1941, Damon Conrad Alberty, then age 18, wantedto join the Army and see the big world that surrounded the townof Greensboro, where he was born on August 28, 1924. Albertytold the Army recruiter he was 18. Since proof of age was notrequired in those days, the recruiter eagerly enlisted him in theArmy, perhaps thinking about the $1 bonus he would receive forsigning up Alberty.

Alberty had some choices of duty station and with all thatwas happening in Europe, requested that he be assigned some-where relatively safe, such as a SouthPacific location. The choice of a SouthPacific duty station was to impact the restof his life and etch memories that few peo-ple are alive to recount.

After basic training at Fort Benning,Ga., and maneuvers in North Carolina, hewas asssigned to Fort McDowell in thePhilippines. On the way, in October of1941, his ship passed two Japanesedestoyers and two transports who sig-nalled they were on maneuvers. Albertyarrived in the Philippines three weeksbefore the December 7th surprise attack onPearl Harbor. His idyllic assignment in theSouth Pacific was interrupted by an attackon Clark Field on the morning of Dec. 8,1941, which was still December 7thHawaii time. No one thought the Japanesecould effectively attack two major targertson the same day. Most military airplaneswere destroyed while lined up perfectly onthe field with no thought to readiness foran attack. Shortly after the aerial attack,the Japanese landed troops on thePhilippines.

Alberty, with the 57th Infantry Scouts,was one of the defenders of the islands,and as history tells us, the defense wasdoomed from the start due to lack of sup-plies and reinforcements. Manila wasdeclared an open city by General DouglasMacArthur on Dec. 26. The defenders, including Alberty, wereforced back to the Bataan peninsula for a last stand against thevastly superior Japanese invading force. The troops on Bataanwere told to hold until reinforcements came, but they neverarrived. Alberty along with the other troops held out for fourmonths. Ammunition, supplies, and food were in extremely shortsupply and most military supplies dated from World War I. Ascavalry horses were killed or died, the men ate them. The troopsate dog meat, monkeys, lizards, or just about any food available.

The Bataan defenders were dying from enemy action as well asyellow fever, jaundice, dengue fever, and malnutrition. There wasno grave registration. Men were just buried where they died with-out any marking.

When the surrender finally came, Alberty had been woundedand weakened but was still mobile. The Japanese quickly killedeveryone in the sick bays.

Shortly after the surrender on April 9, 1942, the men wereplaced in groups of 100 and started on a march toward Camp

O’Donnell. This was the start of the infa-mous Bataan Death March. Alberty wasonly 17 years old. The Japanese atrocities,brutality and inhumane treatment of themen on the march is well documented. AsAlberty describes it, “It was a nightmare.”He “became like a robot in an almostdreamlike state with no emotion or feel-ings.” The men were given a daily rationof only a little rice with a few sips ofwater.

More than 10,000 of approximately50,000 men died on the 80-mile marchwhich took about 10 days to complete.Alberty said the “carnage on the side ofthe road was unbelievable.”

Shortly after arriving at CampO’Donnell, Alberty was sent to nearbyCabanatuan prison where he was on burialdetail for four months. He buried over28,000 bodies, 100 per mass grave with noidentification except a cross marker whichindicated how many bodies were in thegrave. The men were buried naked as anyclothes were precious to the other men.

The prisoners were put in groups often. If one escaped, the other nine werekilled. The conditions at Cabanatuan wereatrocious. One water spigot provided onehalf cup of water per day per man. Twostraddle latrines were used by thousandsof men. Men lived in bamboo huts with

dirt floors. The food provided daily was one cup of rice and abowl of thin fish soup. There was no medicine. Many men triedto commit suicide. Some were successful.

Alberty was one who was determined to survive. If anotherman refused to eat the soup because of some foreign material init. Alberty would eat it because it provided the critical nutritionneeded for survival. He put a rusty nail in his drinking water toget iron in his system. Survival and keeping his sanity wereAlberty’s basic instincts during those times. As Alberty stated, “If

Sergeant Damon Conrad Alberty, United StatesArmy, prior to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

you have never smelled death all around you, you would notunderstand.”

Alberty was assigned with other men to flatten a hill to buildan auxiliary airstrip at Nichols Fields. He said to himself, “Howcan we possibly do this monumental job?” His answer in retro-spect is, “with a bayonet pointed at your chest you can do a lot ofthings you never thought you could do.” He would get up at 5a.m. and work until about 6 p.m. with the bare daily subsistencethat was given to provide energy. He lost weight down to 87pounds. Men died and were buried in the runway and packeddown with gravel with pavement placed over their dead bodies.After work, men went to sleep, exhausted. Guards came by everyhour and monitored the men closely to ensure no one escaped.

In July 1943, Alberty was put on an old coal carrier ship andsent to Japan. The ship was a living hell for the 28-day voyage toJapan. It was very overcrowded with several hundred prisonerssitting in 6 inches of coal dust and unable to move about. Thevery minimum of food and water was given to the men.Conditions were filthy and foul smelling as one would expectunder those circumstances. Alberty considered himself alreadydead! He had no rights, had lost everything he owned, and wasisolated from his country with little hope of rescue before death.When he arrived in Japan, he was so weak and undernourishedthat only his youth saved him.

While a prisoner in Japan, he worked to build a break-waternear a submarine port, and he also unloaded various ships con-taining timber, raw rubber, coal and soy beans, and any war mate-rial you could imagine. At one time, because he had accidentallyleft his hat in a field where he was working, he was put in a soli-tary confinement cage with minimum food and water, where hecould neither sit nor stand. While in solitary confinement, he keptfrom going crazy by thinking of places he had been, events in hislife, and all sorts of things to keep his mind occupied.

In 1945, he was thrilled to see the first B-29s flying overheadand dropping bombs. That gave him some hope for liberation hehad not had for over three years. When the atomic bomb wasdropped on Aug. 6, the commander of his prison camp said if theallies invaded Japan all prisoners would be put to death.Fortunately, the atomic bomb proved to be the catalyst forJapanese surrender and liberation for Alberty. Alberty is con-vinced that without the atomic bomb being dropped, he wouldnot be alive today to tell his story.

After liberation by Dutch paratroopers, Alberty went to SanFrancisco to Letterman General Hospital for six months of re-cuperation and treatment for his illnesses. He went on to spend atour of duty at the American embassy in Rome as well as in Japanwhere he was involved in developing evidence against Japanesewar criminals. Alberty received a full retirement from the Armyin 1953 with 17 awards and decorations for his service. Hereturned to North Carolina, married, and has lived in Mayodanserving his fellow man through a ministry sponsored by theMoravian church helping the disadvantaged as well as serving onthe town council for 17 years.

Alberty says he has been where the disadvantaged and home-less are as he has had no food, clothing, shelter, and little hope inhis life experiences. When given the chance, he has spoken toyoung people and others about his experiences and the apprecia-tion we should have for the opportunities we have in our United

States of America. Opportunities which were won by men livingand dying on the battle field and, yes, being prisoners of war.

In his own words …On entering Army service: “I wanted to go where it was

safe, like the South Pacific.”

On Bataan before capture: “We were eating dog meat,monkeys, lizards, and even our horses. We had no normal foodand our equipment was obsolete from WWI.”

On prison camp conditions: “Men were dying from yellowfever, jaundice, dysentery, beri beri, and malnutrition. As manydied from sickness as were killed by Japanese.”

On burial detail: “In four months we buried 26,000 bodiesin groups of 100—naked because we needed their clothes. Thegrave was only marked with a cross and the number of bodiesburied.”

On his mental attitude as a prisoner: “You grew hard, likea robot with no emotion or feelings.”

His attitude after his WWII prison experience: “I do nothate anyone. That is a cancer that will kill your soul and spirit.”

PAGE EIGHT RECALL

Retired from the Army in 1953, Alberty is shown with some of the 17 awardsand decorations presented to him for his service. He was a prisoner of theJapanese from April 1942 until September 1945.

Combat Airmen of WWIIA non-profit organization of veterans of any branch of serv-ice who share the story of freedom’s price to students of allages. The group meets for breakfast at 8 a.m. the thirdWednesday of every month at Meadow Greene CountryClub, Eden, NC.

If you have an interest in joining the group, contact anyofficer. Hilton Monsees is commander, telephone 349-5431. Phil Newman, vice commander, 342-3827. JackMorris, secretary, 627-7459. Andy Gaster, treasurer, 349-2536.

A broad selection of audio interviews of local CombatVeterans of WWII is available for checkout at RockinghamCounty Libraries.

FALL 2003 PAGE NINE

‘Scrappy’ Kessing Started Navy’sPre-flight School at UNC-CH

By James T. CheathamCommander, U.S. Naval Reserve (Ret)

it!” he exclaimed. “You’ll foul up everything!”“You wait and see,” replied Halsey.If Nimitz tood action, he left no record of it. The fact

remains, however, that confirmation of Scrappy’s promotionarrived in time to prevent a showdown between Halsey and thebureau.2

A 1914 graduate of the Naval Academy, Kessing served withdistinction in the Pacific, commanding bases at Tulagi,Bougainville, Ulithia, and finally the base at Yokouska, Japan. Atwar’s end, he had earned the Legion of Merit with 2 Gold Stars,Bronze Star, the Navy-Marine Corps Medal, the Secretary ofNavy Commendation Ribbon with Star, and the Victory Medalwith Star.

Later he served for one year as President of the All-AmericanFootball Conference which later became theAmerican Football League. After this heretired back to Chapel Hill and later movedto Coronado, California. His three sonswere commissioned as Naval officers andcontinued their contacts with Chapel Hilland UNC.

“Scrappy” retired as a Rear Admiraland was living in Coronado when, as anactive duty Naval officer, I had the pleasureof becoming his friend during the late1950s.

Perhaps the late William D. Car-michael, Jr., best described “Scrappy”:

The Trustees of the University ofNorth Carolina could not have cho-sen anything more appropriate toname in honor of CommodoreKessing than the outdoor swimmingpool. All his life a man of God’sgreat outdoors, he loved the water,the air, the sky, the sun, and thestars. … There is even appropriatesymbolism in the pool’s chlorinesalt, for “Scrappy” Kessing was thesaltiest of all salts—the salt of theearth.”

Notes:1. Oral interview with Rear Admiral Thomas J. Hamilton in 1983, pp.

63 & 99, available Naval Academy Library, Annapolis, Maryland.2. E. B. Potter—Bull Halsey—page 196. Annapolis: Naval Institute

Press.3. The author graduated from UNC in 1957 with a B.S. in Business

Administration and received a commission in the Navy through theUniversity’s NROTC Program. After two years active duty, he

Since the early 1940’s, UNC students and alumni rememberwith pleasure the Kessing outdoor pool and other athletic facili-ties built by the Navy’s Pre-flight program during World War II.Many alumni also remember with pleasure the affable Oliver“Scrappy” Kessing who came out of Navy retirement to start theNavy’s Pre-flight program at Chapel Hill.

Other schools in the country that were selected to host Pre-flight programs were the University of Georgia, the University ofIowa, and St. Mary’s College in California. These schools hadgood athletic facilities, and the Navy was willing, where needed,to supplement their facilities.

Each school had a capacity of 1800 to 2400 cadets. 200 camein every two weeks and graduated 14 weeks later. The schoolemphasized physical training, drilling, and elementary seaman-ship. From pre-flight, the students went toprimary training bases, then intermediaryschools, and finally advanced flight trainingbefore they received their wings.

Admiral Thomas Hamilton, in a 1983interview at Annapolis, was highly compli-mentary of “Scrappy” Kessing, saying thesuccess of all of the Navy’s Pre-flight pro-grams was due to his energy, his resource-fulness, his determination, and his exactingstandards.

1

When Admiral “Bull” Halsey tookcommand of the South Pacific Fleet in1943, he thought at once of CommanderOliver Owen “Scrappy” Kessing, able offi-cer and old friend, and requested the Bureauof Personnel to order him to the SouthPacific in the temporary rank of captain.The bureau replied, “Regret his serviceunavailable,” to which Halsey, who knewbetter, replied hotly, “Make his servicesavailable.” After a further exchange of snap-pish radio messages, the bureau capitulatedin part. It notified Halsey that Kessing wason his way but said nothing about the pro-motion.

Halsey told Admiral Nimitz that he wasfed up with the bureau’s obstructionism and swore that, if therequested promotion had not come through by the time he gotback to Noumea, he would send a message to Kessing and aninformation copy to the bureau: “You will assume rank, uniform,and title of captain, U.S. Navy.”

Nimitz threw up his hands. “No! For God’s sake, don’t do

“Scrappy” Kessing

PAGE TEN RECALL

Patrol was composed of three boat teams. Boat No 1, com-manded by Lt. Donald A. Sheldon. Boat No 2, commanded byTec Sgt Kenneth McCann. Boat No 3, commanded by S/SgtGeorge Mulvey.

Three boats left our side of the Rhine at approximately 2200hours, 1st April 1945. Boat team No 1 was 15 to 20 yards left ofboat team No 3. Boat team No 2 was to the right of boat team No3. Boat team No 2 became stuck on a reef about half way overand fell 200 yards behind the other boats. Boat team No 1 moveddirectly across and landed directly in front of Panel 718. Boatteam No 2 landed to the left between boat team No 1 and wood-en pier. Boat team No 3 landed between pier and Red Cross bargefarthest to the left. The trip across took approximately eight to tenminutes. Boat team No 1 was about 15 yards off shore in hip-deep water when the enemy opened up probably with machinepistols and the fire missed the occupants of the boat. No one wasinjured. Boat team No 1 hit the shore and fired at the flashes asthey moved up off the beach.

Lt. Sheldon with Sgt. Mize, Pvt Gonzales, PFC Bouton andPFC Vombey moved into the underbrush to the right of the patrol.The rest of the men were scattered in front or to left of the panel.Sgt. Sakass stayed on the beach rounding up the men to forwardthem to Lt. Sheldon. LeBlanc,Rentfrow and Cory were dug-in inthe sand. Lt. Sheldon sent Vombeyback to Burgasser and three remain-ing members to bring them up, buthe couldn’t find any of them. PFCRentfrow, radio operator for boatteam No 1, sent a message as soonas the enemy fired on the boat, then went ashore to the right ofpanel and sent another message “Receiving heavy, enemy resist-ance.” LeBlanc was right in back of Rentfrow and pointed out amachine gunner emplacement as enemy opened fire. Both menthen started to dig in. Additional enemy riflemen (?) caused themto withdraw towards beach where joined by PFC Cory. They tookup a position in a shell crater half filled with water — water dam-aged radio set so sending was impossible and only weak recep-tion. Neither LeBlanc or Cory had weapons.

Lt. Sheldon: “The reason I didn’t turn back was that theenemy covered the boat position with machine pistol andmachine gun fire at intervals.” The fire was grazing the ground tothe rear of the men. No tracers or flares were used the entire timeby the enemy. Another thing: the weapons being wet almost with-out exception failed to give satisfactory performance (ammuni-tion was wet also). In my reconnaissance I found that the enemyhas trenches and individual emplacements running across thecrest of a small rise to the rear and right of the panel. Thesetrenches may have spread to both flanks but this was not dis-cernible.”

Sgt Mize and PFC Bouton both advanced and threw grenadesat the automatic weapons in the trenches which caused them to

stop firing for some time. Throughout the entire patrol, it wasnoticed that a thrown hand grenade usually silenced any auto-matic weapon nearby. Up to this time — midnight — there wereno casualties in boat team No 1.

No 3 boat team was farthest to the left, and there was no con-tact with it, nor with boat team 2. Lt Sheldon: “We were lying inour positions and formed the opinion that Tec Sgt McCann andS/.Sgt Mulvey and their squads were probably proceeding withmission. We were pinned down by enemy fire so decided to waitand hold the position for the return of these men.”

Between 2400 and 0100 Lt Sheldon and PFC Bouton headedfor designated assembly area to see if Tec Sgt McCann hadreturned or the other boat team. Lt. Sheldon making for the crestof the rise to the rear of the panel was halted by enemy riflemanwhom he shot in the face. At the time two more riflemen fired athim from a trench 25 feet away. Both misseed. Lt Sheldon dovebehind log barrier closely followed by percussion grenadeswhich shook but did not injure him. Both he and Bouton lay closeto the ground for some time. It was now approximately 0200.

Lt Sheldon: “The Germans which subsequent observationdisclosed seemed to number about one platoon in this area. Theyseemed to be well equipped with automatic weapons. My con-

clusion is that the Germans in thisarea remained well inside theiremplacements until after midnightwhen several small groups seemedto start roaming around. Their habitwas to remain in their position and atvaried intervals spray the area infront of them with low grazing fire.”

Lt Sheldon and PFC Bouton withdrew from their positionabout 0215. There still were no casualties in boat No 1 at thistime. S/Sgt Mize who had remained behind close to the beachtried to round up some of the men preparatory to returning acrossthe Rhine. He could only find PFC Bouton who had come backto the beach in advance of Lt. Sheldon. They decided to swim forit. They started crawling diagonally toward reef extending intothe water when machine pistol on right flank opened up and inthe opinion of S/Sgt Mize who inspected PFC Bouton woundedhim in the back. Mize also crawled past an unidentified body inan American helmet with an M-1 rifle. Body had a hole from earto ear and he surmises that he was one of the engineers attachedto the patrol. S/Sgt Mize made it to the water, took off clothes andequipment, and jumped into the water and started wading towarda steel rowboat farther down the beach. He was halted after a fewmoments of wading by PFC Rentfrow who was lying dug-in onthe beach. He waded ashore and together with Rentfrow went tojoin Gonzales, Sherman (Engineer) and Lt. Sheldon.

PFC Rentfrow’s story is that he, Cory and LeBlanc movedfrom the shell hole to the right and to the rear. He was the onlyone with a weapon so they all stuck together. They decided toswim back in spite of the fact that Rentfrow couldn’t swim with-

Lt. Sheldon’s Patrol!Three boat teams cross the Rhine River at night

EDITOR’S COMMENT: This is a copy of a WorldWar II Infantry patrol report made by Lt Donald A.Sheldon, Co G, 187th Infantry, 97th InfantryDivision. The patrol crossed the Rhine River duringthe night of Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945. The reportis dated 3 April 1945.

FALL 2003 PAGE ELEVEN

out help from the others. Rentfrow gave his carbine to Cory andall three waded to the end of reef extending into river. Uponreaching end of reef with water up to their necks, they stoppedwhile LeBlanc went ahead to explore for water shallow enoughto wade through. LeBlanc slipped off the end of the reef into deepwater and PFC Cory jumped in to help him. They both wentdown and PFC Wentfrow, left standing on the end of the reef, didnot see either come up again. At the same time an automaticweapon started firing in his general direction so he crawled backto the shore and without weapon lay hidden in the rocks at theshore line where he noticed S/Sgt Mize as mentioned above.

Gonzalez was stationed by a big tree with his BAR with PFCVombey to his right flank. It was about 0200 when suddenly overthe crest of the rise about 30 or 40 feet away a group of Germansadvanced firing automatic weapons. Gonzalez fired half a maga-zine when his weapon jammed. He inserted a new magazine,fired a few rounds, and the weapon stopped firing altogether. Atthis time Vombey rolled over to Gonzalez and said he waswounded all over. Gonzalez saw that he had been shot all alonghis right side and through the right side of his head. Then Vombeyrolled over and Gonzalez believed him dead. Gonzalez left hisBAR and started crawling toward the water, made it, and took offhis outer garments and waded and swam to reef in the river. Hesaw a person on the other side of the reef (probably another engi-neer). Believing him to be a German, he waded back to shorewhere he met with Rentfrow and the others.

Sgt Sakacs’s story: Together with Burgesser they werepinned down by enemy fire and lay in one position in a smallshack until they saw Lt Sheldon with a boat. While crawling backtoward Lt Sheldon they were fired upon by several standing at theedge of the woods. They were not in a position to return fire.They joined Lt Sheldon and the rest of the group who at this timewere at the edge of the reef that extended into the river: LtSheldon, S/Sgt Mize, Sgt Sakacs, Engineer Sherman, PFCBurgesser, PFC Rentfrow, and PFC Gonzalez. They all dug in,surrounded their positions with rocks as much as possible, andremained there on the reef throughout the next day. At dawn theysaw the Germans coming out of their emplacements. Some 15 ofthese Germans were engaged in digging of some kind.

S/Sgt Mulvey’s boat landed to right of boat No 2 and wasfired on as it reached shore — but all got ashore safely. Tec SgtMcCann’s boat came in immediately afterwards and was caughtin a cross fire as it landed. Tec Sgt McCann and S/Sgt Weiherwere the only ones to reach shore. However, PFC Fatzinger andPFC Bledsoe (unwounded) stayed in the boat and returned acrossthe river with the body of PFC Venezia and with PFC Weiss andPFC Ochlschlaeger who were wounded. (Note is made here thatPFC Bell, wounded in action in this patrol, is not mentioned byany of the present survivors.)

S/Sgt Miller ws wounded while going ashore and remainedon the beach by the boat. Tec Sgt McCann advanced and joinedup with S/Sgt Mulvey’s group. Tex Sgt McCann was under theimpression that he was the only survivor in his boat. S/SgtMulvey’s group with McCann headed toward the general assem-bly area when they were caught by automatic weapons fire. Atthis point they either lost or became separated from five men inthe group including the medic. They did not see these five at anytime thereafter. The remains of S/Sgt Mulvey’s group wentthrough to and behind objective of mission. Their observations

are that all Germans and weapons were concentrated along theriver front as they met with no opposition or challenges after theygot 1000 yards inland. They crossed over a large road, made a cir-cle and headed back to the assembly point. They waited there forsome time without any news of the other members of the patrol.Then they headed for their boat, but in the darkness missed it byquite a ways. As they headed back up the beach towards the cor-rect position of their boat, they saw it being rowed to the otherside by three engineers. This was at approximately 0315. Theypicked up S/Sgt Miller, who was lying along by the boat badlywounded in arm and legs. The group now consisted of S/SgtMulvey, Tec Sgt McCann, PFC Schiff, PFC Head, PFC Schmidt.The five men who were lost from the original group were S/SgtWeiher, PFC Saladin, PFC Rozwalka, PFC Adair, and Medic PFCParker. S/Sgt Mulvey’s group was again caught in automaticweapons’ fire and deployed into holes on the beach near barge inthe river. S/Sgt Miller was carried with them.

About 1100 they discovered an old wooden boat attached tothe barge. Tec Sgt McCann advised returning immediately de-pending for successful daylight crossing of the river on support-ing fire from our side (which was not forthcoming). They startedback in the wooden boat when the boat filled with water and theenemy opened fire from the far left flank. S/Sgt Mulvey was hitin the back of the nexk, S/Sgt Miller was lying over the gunwaleof the boat helpless. McCann, Beard, Schiff and Schmidt jumpedinto the water. They started swimming and Schiff was hit in thejaw by a bullet. Schmidt returned to the side of the boat, took offhis shoes and all outer clothes and started to swim. Schiff returnedto hang on to the side of the boat, McCann and Beard were lastseen swimming in the water amid enemy rifle fire. In Schmidt’sopinion, the three men in the boat were not mortally wounded.Schmidt swam and was carried by the current three miles down-stream, where he was finally picked up on our side.

Lt Sheldon’s party returned via dug up by PFC Gonzalez whotook the boat from under machine gun fire.

Thus ends Sheldon’s after action report of 1st Platoon, “G”Company, 387th Infantry Regiment, 97th Infantry Division per-taining to patrol across the Rhine on Easter Sunday, 1st April1945 — Zone Germany. Mission completed 3rd April 1945.

What would you like to readin your magazine?

Do you have suggestions for articlesto be published in Recall? Can youput your memories of combat inwriting? Send your ideas and yourcontributions to the editor for con-sideration. Help make Recall one ofthe nation’s finest military historicaljournals.

PAGE TWELVE RECALL

North Carolina’s Most Notorious LoyalistBuried Underneath Church In Nova Scotia

by John HairrCopyright 2003 John Hairr

High on a hill in the fishing village of Digby, Nova Scotia,stands the majestic Holy Trinity Anglican Church, a blue wood-en structure that is significant in the annals of North Carolina’smilitary history. Underneath this century old building rest themortal remains of the most notorious Loyalist from the days ofthe Revolutionary War—Colonel David Fanning.

Col. Fanning made quite a name for himself during theRevolution, masterminding a raid on Hillsborough that resultedin the capture of the Governor of North Carolina, a feat that wastalked about far and wide among the British. In addition, Fanningnever lost a battle in which he commanded. He is perhaps bestremembered today as the man who captured Colonel PhillipAlston at the House in the Horseshoe, nowa State Historic Site.

When the war was over he was on thelosing side, and his Whig antagonists madesure that Fanning’s name became synony-mous with all that was bad in a gruesomeand bloody conflict which raged throughoutthe state in the final years of theRevolutionary War. The Rev. Eli Carrutherswent so far as to conclude that Fanning’sname would be remembered as “…areproach and a byword of infamy.”

How ironic, then, that this most suc-cessful of North Carolina Loyalists shouldfind his final resting place underneath achurch.

Exiled by name from North Carolinafor the part he had played in the Revolution,and banished from his adopted home ofNew Brunswick for a crime he did not com-mit, David Fanning spent the latter days ofhis life on a farm near the picturesque townof Digby, hard by Beaman’s Mountain over-looking the famed Digby Gut and AnnapolisBasin on the southwestern coast of NovaScotia. Here he lived out his final days farming, shipbuilding,fishing and, on occasion, arguing with his neighbors.

“He was said to be a grouchy old man, set in his ways,” saidArnold Trask, one of the numerous inhabitants of Digby who canclaim descent from the noted Loyalist partisan. “He would shootthe heads off the neighbor’s chickens when they would wanderonto his place, even if there was a crowd of children standingabout.”

When the end finally came to Fanning in March of 1825, hewas buried in the graveyard beside the Trinity Anglican Church.This was a natural choice, for not only was he a member there,but his oldest son, David William Fanning, had been interredthere following his untimely death in 1810. The old Loyalist had

carved the boy’s tombstone himself, and on it inscribed the fol-lowing unusual notation:

In Memory ofDavid William, son of

David & SarahFanning

Who died, July 15, 1810Aged 16 years, & 11 months& 11 days & 11 hours and

37 minutes

In 1833, the two were joined by Col. Fanning’s wife, Sarah.There, beside the stately old church, thethree members of the family rested in peaceuntil 1878.

In the late 1870’s, the members ofTrinity decided it was time to replace theirold church with a larger building. But whenthose responsible for erecting the new struc-ture began work, they were faced with adilemma—what to do with the number ofold graves, including the Fannings’, whichstood in the way.

Their solution was simple. Just buildthe church as planned, and move the stonesa short distance beyond the church. Thusseveral of the old occupants of the grave-yard were left under the new building andtheir headstones moved beyond the church.

“As a boy, I remember standing hereand hearing stories about the Colonel beingburied underneath this church,” remarkedTrask as he stood on the site where the oldheadstones were placed on the northeastcorner of the church. Oddly enough, thereare no stones on this site now.

“A few years ago, in one of those gov-ernment ‘make-work’ projects, a group of kids was given the jobof taking down the old stones to clean them,” recalled Trask.“Problem was, they didn’t write down where they had gottenthem from. So when they brought them back, they just lined themup along the fence on the back of the church grounds.”

There they stand today, some of the oldest tombstones ofHoly Trinity Anglican Church, arranged in neat rows con-veniently and uniformly spaced to allow the free passage of lawnmowers.

In the middle of this assemblage of granite monumentsstands the tombstone of North Carolina’s most successfulLoyalist, Col. David Fanning, over a thousand miles from hishome state and nearly fifty meters from his body.

Arnold Trask of Digby standing beside thetombstone of his famous Loyalist ancestor,Colonel David Fanning.

Due to the flag they carry, one assumesat first glance that the body of soldiersshown in this Spanish-American War eraimage are Texans bound for Cuba in 1898.But a closer examination reveals a mostinteresting mystery.

The flag shown is not that of Texas,because both the color scheme andarrangement of the horizontal bars areincorrect. On a Texas flag, the fly consistsof a white horizontal panel over a red hor-izontal panel of equal length and height.The field, that part adjacent to the flagstaff, is blue with a single white star. Thereare neither dates nor any other lettering ordesigns on the blue field.

The flag in this Spanish-America Warera photograph shows a standard with thewhite panel located horizontally belowwhat appears to be a medium to dark blueone. Since the star is not upside down, onemay assume that this banner is displayedcorrrectly on its staff. Therefore, this flagis not representative of the Texas State flagof current design. Research on the Texasflag failed to uncover any evidence of anyprevious official flag of Texas that resem-bled this one. What was discovered is thatdue to a legislative oversight, Texas had no“official” state flag from 1879 to 1933.

There are, however, two examples ofTexas flags from the Texas Revolutionaryera, mid 1830s, in the Mexican NationalMuseum of Artillery that have the whitefly beneath the red one, but the fieldremained blue.

So, if it is not a Texas flag, what is it?One possibility iss that it is a variant of thefirst flag of North Carolina, adopted in

1861 following our state’s secession from the Union.

That flag consisted of a blue panelaligned horizontally above a white one ofequal size and shape. The field, that sec-tion vertical to the flag staff, was red witha centered single white star with the dates

“May 20, 1775,” the date of theMecklenburg Declaration of Independ-ence from Great Britain, above and “May20, 1861,” the date of North Carolina’ssecession from the Union, below in whiteletters arranged in a semicircular style.There is no evidence that any Texas flagever resembled the 1861 North Carolinaflag in regards to the arrangement of itscolored panels or inscriptions.

The flag in this photograph appears tobe identical in all ways to North Carolina’sConfederate flag, with the exception of thedates. No lettering of any kind can be seenon the flag. Further complicating the issueis the fact that the State of North Carolinachanged the design of its flag in 1885,some 13 years before the Spanish-American War. The new flag switched thered and blue panels, leaving the white inits original location, and replacing the dateof secession with the date of the HalifaxResolves, April 12, 1776. Was this a non-standard company or regimental flag pat-terned after the pre-1885 North Carolinaflag and peculiar to this organization?Perhaps it was made and carried for senti-mental reasons by the sons and grandsonsof Confederate veterans of this state?

And what of the unit shown? The only

FALL 2003 PAGE THIRTEEN

Spanish-American War Era Mystery FlagBy Sion H. Harrington III, LTC (Ret)

Military Collection Archivist, NC Division of Historical Resources

State of Texas flag

Unknown North Carolina flag

clue is an “F” painted on a wooden signaffixed to a tree at the end of the companystreet of tents. North Carolina had two reg-iments composed of white soldiers andone of black soldiers that served in theSpanish-American War, and each had aCompany “F.” Since the men pictured hereare white, we may assume that, if indeedthese are North Carolinians, they aremembers of either the First or SecondRegiments, North Carolina Volunteers.From the trees and sandy appearance ofthe soil, it appears that the photograph wastaken in a coastal area. Both the First andSecond Regiments served along the south-eastern coast of the United States in 1898.Since this image was likely made relative-ly early in the war, both regiments wouldhave been similarly armed and uniformed,as shown in this photograph. The FirstRegiment eventually saw occupation dutyin Cuba, but by that time they were attiredin the new khaki uniform adopted by theUnited States Army and armed with bolt-action Krag-Jorgensen rifles rather thanthe trapdoor Springfields illustrated in thisimage.

A detailed examination of the photo-graph under magnification failed to revealany markings or other clues that could beused to positively identify the unit’s desig-

operated a photographic studio in Miamiprior to the outbreak of the war, but appar-ently left there to photograph the morelucrative troop build-up. Eventually, Mr.Coates made his way to Cuba after the ces-sation of hostilities to work as a photogra-pher for some undetermined amount oftime.

If you have information or specula-tions regarding the identity of the unitshown in thsi photograph, or have photo-graphs of or papers related to NorthCarolina Spanish-American War/Philip-pine Insurrection era veterans, please con-tact the author at the N. C. Division ofHistorical Resources, Archives andRecords Section, Attn: Military Collec-tion, 4614 Mail Service Center, Raleigh,NC 27699-4614, or by telephone at 919-733-3952, or by email at sion.harring-ton@ncmail.net. The State Archives ofNorth Carolina is actively seeking dona-tions of photographs and papers, whetherpersonal or government, pertaining to themilitary service of men and women of thisstate, regardless of when, where, or inwhat branch of the military they served. Ifyou have such items and wish to see thempermanently perserved, please contact theauthor.

PAGE FOURTEEN RECALL

nation. Some men have pinned the frontbrim of their hats to the front crown withwhat appears to be a button, but they aretoo small and blurred to accurately identi-fy. All that can be said for sure is that theunit is clothed in the standard blue woolArmy uniform of the era, consisting, inpart, of a light brown model 1885 cam-paign hat, dark blue four button pull-overshirt, light blue trousers, and tall khakicanvas leggings. Most all volunteer andmany regular Army units were still attiredin this uniform at the outbreak of the warwith Spain. Some volunteers even inherit-ed old wool uniforms that had been storedin warehouses since the end of the CivilWar. Whether new wool or old wool, woolproved to be a most inappropriate materialfor active campaigning in Cuba’s climate.

The flag itself has a border of fringe ofsome undetermined color, probably goldor yellow, and is attached to its staff byfour small pieces of cloth or small diame-ter rope. Comparing its vertical length tothe height of the men standing nearby, itappears that the flag measured approxi-mately three and a half to four feet verti-cally. The photograph is marked on theback with the photographer’s name andlocation, “Florida East Coast Studio …P.J. Coates, Manager.” Mr. P. John Coates

In the past one hundred years many a soldier has been outfit-ted in the khaki uniform, yet few know of its origin. The father ofkhaki was a British Major Sir Harry Burnett Lumsden. Sir Harrywas the eldest son of Colonel Thomas Lumsden, C.B., and hadbeen born in 1821 on board a ship of the East India Company inthe Bay of Bengal. Although Lumsden was sent home to Scotlandfor his education, he soon followed family tradition and joinedthe Bengal Army at the age of 17 as an ensign. Sir Harry began arapid rise through the ranks and served in several actions includ-ing the Afghan Campaign of 1842 where he was present for theforcing of the Khyber Pass and the recapture of Cabul. He alsoserved in the first and second Sikh Wars and was severelywounded at Sobraon.

In 1846, at the tender age of 25, Lumsden was assigned toform a Corps of Guides. The Guides were composed of bothhorse and foot and were tasked with acting as trustworthy guidesto troops in the field as well as intelligence gathering in theNorth-West frontier of India. Lumsden’s regiment was based inMardan on the Peshawar border and soon earned a reputation asone of the most hard fighting and reliable in the Indian Army.

It was while in command of the Lumden’s Guides Regiment,

Where the KHAKI comes from …By Terry Mosley

later known as the Queen’s Own Guides, that Sir Harry devel-oped the use of khaki as a military uniform. Lumsden discoveredthat the standard British issue felt red coat and white pants werepoorly suited for duty in the heart of the Punjab region of Indiaand besides, they presented too ready a target when worn by hisguides in their scouting duties. Sir Harry found the cotton paja-mas he wore much more tolerable in the arid climate and bydying the white pajamas using a variety of materials includingriver mud, extracts of tea leaves, and a native plant called mazari,a color was produced that blended well with the surroundingarea’s terrain. The khaki uniform was born. The name khaki wastaken from the Urdu language and translates as earth or dust col-ored.

All British troops in India adopted the khaki uniform by1885. The use of khaki by American troops began with WorldWar I and continues to this day. The father of khaki went on tobecome a lieutenant-general in the British Army in 1875 and wasmade a Knight Commander of the Star of India. Sir Harry BurnettLumsden died in 1896, but the use of khaki has since spread frommilitary uniforms to everything from Boy Scout uniforms tooffice wear.

CISTERNARangers: Selected Combat Operations in World War II

The Leavenworth Papers No. 11 (Chapter 4)Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, June 1985Reprinted by permission

The Rangers’ experience in Italy fell into two phases. Thefirst phase began with an amphibious landing at Maiori, nearSalerno, on 9 September 1943, and included the subsequentseizure and defense of Chiunzi Pass, the drive on Naples, andprolonged fighting on the Winter Line. The second phase beganwith the amphibious landing at Anzio on 22 January 1944 andcame to an abrupt end eight days later with a disastrous operationat Cisterna di Littoria, or Cisterna. In the latter action, all but 6men of a 767-man Ranger force were killed or captured by theGermans.

The Rangers’ defeat at Cisterna was due to several causes,but one of the factors that contributed to the battle’s outcome pre-ceded it by several months and is worth examining in detail atthis point. This was the decline in the unit’s combat skills result-ing from the dilution of a well-trained, extremely cohesive unitby less well-trained replacements for those original memberswho had become casualties. Ironically, theRangers suffered most of these casualties whenthe force was used as conventional infantryrather than as the special strike force that it was. These casualtiesbegan to mount immediately after Salerno.

Ranger Force was attached to the British X Corps forAvalanche, Fifth Army’s landing near Salerno. The Rangers cameashore at Maiori, about 20 miles west of Salerno, before daylighton 9 September with the mission of taking the town, destroyingnearby coastal defenses, seizing Chiunzi Pass, and preparing tooperate against the rear of Germans who might attempt to hold upthe Allied advance through neighboring Vietri Pass. The Rangersgained local surprise and had accomplished their objectives bymidmorning.

Had the other Allied units been as successful, they wouldhave quickly driven inland and on to the Plain of Naples. Unlikethe Rangers, however, the main invasion force did not have theadvantage of surprise when landing, and nightfall saw it fail toachieve most of its D-day objectives. Furthermore, once thebeachhead was established, Fifth Army was slow to break out ofit, and the Rangers’ mission that had been expected to last nomore than two days thus lasted more than two weeks. During thattime, the Rangers were subjected to successive German counter-attacks and prolonged artillery fire. The X Corps, which con-trolled the invasion force landing west of Salerno, did not beginits drive to the Plain of Naples until 23 September and did notsucceed in reaching it until five days later.

The 1st and 3d Ranger Battalions won Distinguished UnitCitations for their successes at Maiori and Chiunzi Pass but paida very high price. In the two weeks preceding the drive onNaples, Ranger Force lost 28 killed, 9 missing, and about 66wounded. All but a few of these casualties, which numbered

about 20 percent of the Rangers’ authorized strength, were suf-fered during the conventional fighting that followed the seizureof Chiunzi Pass—the type of fighting the Rangers had neitherbeen created nor organized to do.

A relatively uneventful drive on Naples followed and led toabout a month and a half of conventional infantry combat on theWinter Line. The heavy losses that the Rangers had sustained atChiunzi Pass were repeated in the new fighting, and during theweek which ended on 27 November, Ranger Force suffered morethan 70 killed and wounded.

The regular use of the Rangers for conventional missions dis-turbed many of Darby’s men. On 28 November, Major Roy A.Murray, commanding officer of the 4th Ranger Battalion, wroteto the chief, Army Ground Forces, in an effort to resolve certainrelated problems. Murray pointed out that the Rangers did nothave a clear-cut directive that defined their purpose and were thus

hampered in long-range planning. Although adirective establishing that the 1st RangerBattalion was to be for training and demonstra-

tion purposes had been issued on 1 June 1942, it had been super-seded by events, and no consistent written or unwritten policyhad ever replaced it.

Murray saw three problems as plaguing the Rangers. Thefirst and most pressing was the replacement of casualties. Afterlosing well-trained men in combat, the battalions had to remainout of action for a month or more to receive replacements andtrain them to Ranger standards. Murray recommended that theproblem be solved by having trained replacements sent to RangerForce from the 2d and 5th Ranger Battalions that had recentlybeen activated at Camp Forrest, Tennessee.

The second problem, which was closely linked to the first,concerned the advancement of junior Ranger officers and theretention and use of experienced Ranger officers rendered unfitfor combat by wounds or other physical disabilities. Murray rec-ommended that some of the junior Ranger officers be given com-mand of new Ranger battalions and that the disabled Ranger offi-cers be sent to the United States to train Ranger replacements.His plan would allow younger men to advance and would stillmake use of the older men’s experience.

The third problem was the absence of a Ranger Force head-quarters to handle the administration, intelligence, planning,assignment of missions to the battalions, “most important,” todecide if the missions were “proper” for the Rangers. Murray rec-ommended that a headquarters be formed and given to Darby,“the senior Battalion Commander of Rangers.” The fact thatMurray described Darby as being only the Rangers’ senior bat-talion commander reflected the tenuousness of Darby’s controlover the battalions he had organized. No documents are present

By Dr. Michael J. King

FALL 2003 PAGE FIFTEEN

in the Rangers’ files to indicate that Army Ground Forcesresponded to Murray’s letter.

On 17 January, Ranger Force made a practice amphibiouslanding at Pozzuoli Bay to the immediate west of Naples. Thelanding was part of a 3d Infantry Division exercise and a rehears-al for Anzio. Although the operation was a good opportunity forthe Rangers and the Navy to practice working together, itrevealed a serious deterioration of the Rangers’ fighting skills.The chief umpire was favorably impressed with the Rang-ers’enthusiasm and spirit but noted numerous violations of doc-trinal principles and sound combat techniques. For example, the1st Ranger Battalion became congested shortly after landing;several of its companies made excessive noise as they practicedstealth; at night, one-third of the men moved while flares werebeing fired—an action that would have made them more visibleto an enemy; the unit established itself in an indefensible posi-tion; and it failed to send local security forward after movinginland. The 3d Ranger Battalion performed much better and wascriticized only for having its landing craft too close together andmoving in flare light at night. The 4th Ranger Battalion combinedseveral potentially fatal errors. In addition to moving while inflare light at night and failing to establish communications withForce headquarters, it moved up a road in column without send-ing an advance guard forward and went through a seventy-five-yard-long defile without first reconnoitering it. In actual combat,either of the latter two blunders could have resulted in the battal-ion walking into an ambush.

The number and gravity of the Rangers’errors demonstratedthe decline in quality which had taken place since their formationand early training in the British Isles. The conventional fightingto which the Rangers had too often been committed had resultedin severe attrition among their best trained and most experiencedmen. As their places were taken by replacements who, howeverbrave and highly motivated, had enjoyed nothing equal to thetime and training that had been lavished on the early Rangers, theRangers’ original quality became diluted and their unit cohesionweakened.

There was, however, one positive development during theperiod immediately preceding the landing at Anzio. The Rangersand the units that had been attached to them for the landing weredesignated the 6615th Ranger Force (Provisional). While therewas no assurance that the unit would ever be more than tempo-

rary, for at least the time being a headquarters element wasauthorized that gave Darby a degree of control over the Rangershe had not previously enjoyed. On 11 December, Darby was pro-moted to colonel.

The 6615th Ranger Force (Provisional) was to land at Anzio

before dawn on 22 January with the mission of seizing the city’sport facilities and protecting them against sabotage; destroyingnearby gun batteries; clearing the beach area between Anzio andNettuno, a neighboring town; establishing and securing a beach-head; and tying in with the British 1st Division on the left and the3d Infantry Division on the right. Upon contacting the 3dDivision, Ranger Force would become attached to it. All Alliedforces landing at Anzio were part of Major General John P.Lucas’ VI Corps.

The landing was the smoothest in which the Rangers hadtaken part. They landed when and where they were supposed toand met only two Germans, both of whom they killed. The othersectors of the beachhead were established with equal ease, forthere were only two undermanned German coast-watching bat-talions to oppose the twentyseven battalion Allied force. TheGermans, who had come from the Winter Line for rest and reha-bilitation, were quickly overrun, and by midnight VI Corps hadlanded about 36,000 men and 3,200 vehicles and had taken 227prisoners at a cost of 13 killed, 97 wounded, and 44 missing. Thelanding was an unqualified success.

During the next few days, VI Corps cautiously expanded itsbeachhead, which grew to be seven miles deep and sixteen mileslong by 24 January. Lucas, however, hesitated to make a decisivethrust inland and thus gave the Germans time to gather strength.When Generaloberst Eberhard van Mackensen assumed com-mand of the beachhead defenses on 25 January, he had elementsof eight divisions deployed and elements of five more on the way.Furthermore, Mackensen’s mission was not defensive; he was tocounterattack as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the Rangers aidedin VI Corps' slow advance. By the morning of 25 January, theywere nine miles inland; they would drive forward an additionaltwo and a half miles by the morning of the 27th.

On 28 January, Clark urged Lucas to act more aggressively,and on the following day, VI Corps responded by publishing afield order outlining a major attack. There was a serious need formaintaining the Allied advance at this time. The purpose of theAnzio landing had been to threaten the rear of the Germans hold-ing the Winter Line, forcing them to withdraw northward. Thiscould be accomplished most effectively by seizing Highways 6and 7, which led to Rome from the southeast and passed on eitherside of the 90~meter-high Alban Hills inland from Anzio. By theend of January, however, VI Corps had failed to reach the high-

ways. If the Allies failed to break the German line,which was then on flat to rolling terrain, the Germansmight withdraw to the Alban Hills. They would not onlybe more difficult to dislodge there but would still be ableto control Highways 6 and 7 from the heights. The VICorps attack was intended to shatter the Germans beforethey pulled back to the more defensible and strategichigh ground.

The 3d Infantry Division, which was still com-manded by General Truscott, issued its own field orderin anticipation of VI Corps’ order on 28 January.According to the division order, Ranger Force would

cross the line of departure at 0100 on 30 January, move rapidly toCisterna, and seize and hold the town until relieved. The 7thInfantry would operate on the left of Ranger Force, and the 15thInfantry would operate on the right. After seizing Cisterna, the 3dInfantry Division would prepare to continue the advance to take

Final Organization of Ranger Force. 1943.Cisterna

PAGE SIXTEEN RECALL

high ground near Cori and Velletri.The mission was acceptable to Darby, who did not believe an

attack that size could fail. The Rangers were relieved from theirpositions on line by the British during the morning of 29 January,and the battalion commanders met with Darby at 1800 thatevening to discuss Ranger Force’s Held order.

The Force order, which was signed by Dammer and issued atDarby’s command, was simple and reasonable. The 1st RangerBattalion would cross the line of departure, which was a roadrunning generally parallel to and about three and a half milessouth of Highway 7, and move to Cisterna under coverage ofdarkness by way of previously reconnoitered routes. The terrainbetween the line of departure and Cisterna was flat farmland withlittle cover other than drainage ditches and scattered farm build-ings. Because the Rangers would be vulnerable in the open coun-try, they were to use the drainage ditches for concealment whenpossible and avoid enemy contact before reaching their objective.Upon arriving at Cisterna, the battalion was to enter the town,destroy the enemy in it, occupy the ground to the immediatenorthwest, and prepare to repel enemy counterattacks. At day-light, the battalion was to send a patrol to the northwest to con-tact the 7th Infantry.

The 3d Ranger Battalion would cross the line of departurefifteen minutes after the 1st Ranger Battalion cleared it and fol-low the 1st Rangers to Cisterna. If the enemy interfered with the1st Ranger Battalion, the 3d Rangers were to engage them, thusfreeing the 1st Rangers to continue their attack on Cisterna. The3d Ranger Battalion would assist in the capture of Cisterna if nec-essary, occupy the ground immediately northeast of town, andprepare to repel enemy counterattacks. At daylight, it was to senda patrol to the northeast to contact the 15th Infantry.

The 4th Ranger Battalion, with an eight-man minesweepingparty attached, would cross the line of departure at 0200 andadvance on Cisterna astride the Conca-Isola Bella-Cisterna road,clearing the road of mines and enemy. At Cisterna, it wouldbecome part of Ranger Force’s reserve. The Cannon Companyand a platoon of the 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion would beprepared to move on Cisterna by way of the Conca-Isola Bella-Cisterna road and furnish antitank protection for Ranger Forceonce in Cisterna. The 83d Chemical Battalion would assemble onthe Conca-Isola Bella-Cisterna road and would be prepared tomove forward to positions from which it could give fire supportto the advanced units.

The 3d Infantry Division G2 was optimistic and suggestedthat Ranger Force would accomplish its mission without unduedifficulty. While there was still a healthy respect for the ability ofthe higher German commanders and the quality of training anddiscipline found at battalion and company levels, it was notedthat the enemy had not recently shown the same tenacity or elanthat he had in the past. This was evident from the frequent sur-render of small enemy groups and the enemy’s lack of aggressivepatrolling and was attributed in part to the integration of Polesand other politically unreliable non-Germans into German units.As early as October 1943, a VI Corps G2 report had claimed thatthe number of Wehrmacht deserters appeared to be in proportionto the increasing percentage of non-German replacements. TheVI Corps records also indicate that, by the end of November1943, a German-Polish buddy system had been put into effect insome Wehrmacht units, with Germans and Poles occupying alter-

nate foxholes in defensive positions. The intelligence annex tothe division field order concluded, “It does not now seem proba-ble that the enemy will soon deliver a major counterattackinvolving units of division size; on the other hand, the enemy willprobably resort to delaying action coupled with small scale coun-terattacks in an effort to grind Us to a standstill, as on the Cassinoline.”

In spite of division’s assurances, Darby’s headquartersbelieved that enemy resistance at Cisterna might be “consider-able.” The Rangers’ appraisal was the more perceptive of the two.Members of the Hermann Goering Panzer Division had recentlybeen taken prisoner in the Cisterna area. In the past, the presenceof that division in an area had indicated that the Germans werereinforcing or preparing to counterattack, but that lesson was nowlost on higher headquarters.

At 2315 on 30 January, Ranger Force began to move its com-mand post forward from a location well behind the lines, and by0215 the next morning, it had reached its new site, an isolatedhouse near the line of departure and just to the right of the Conca-Isola Bella-Cisterna road. Darby would direct the attack from thehouse and, as the battle progressed, from positions forward.

The 1st and 3d Ranger Battalions passed through the line ofdeparture that night as planned and began to move towardCisterna through a ditch that offered cover and concealment. At0248, however, the first of several events took place that did notaugur well for the mission. Four radio operators who were tohave accompanied the 3d Ranger Battalion reported themselveslost to the Force command post. Darby, always conscious of theneed for good communications, thought it “the goddamnedestthing” he had “ever heard of.” A second problem developed whenthe 3d Ranger Battalion lost contact with the 1st Rangers abouthalfway to the objective. Then, a half mile ahead, the 1st RangerBattalion became split in two, with three companies continuing toadvance and three remaining in place. The dangers of conductinga night infiltration with so many relatively untrained and inexpe-rienced men were becoming painfully evident.

Captain Charles Shunstrom took command of the 1st RangerBattalion’s three rear companies and sent a runner back to findthe 3d Ranger Battalion. The runner returned with word thatMajor Alvah Miller, who had only recently been made the 3dRanger Battalion commander, had been killed by a round from aGerman tank and that the battalion was moving forward to linkup with the 1st Rangers. Although Miller’s death demonstratedthat the Germans were probably aware that something was afoot,there was no systematic attempt to stop the Rangers and no rea-son to believe that the Germans knew the scope or objective ofthe operation. On the contrary, the 1st Ranger Battalion appearedto be having continued success spearheading the operation.Although German patrols crossed in front and on both sides ofthe battalion, they did not appear to be aware of the Rangers’presence, and two groups of German sentries were surprised bythe point and killed with knives. Lieutenant James G. Fowler,who led the point, personally killed two of the enemy. At about0545, with the first light of day, the 1st Rangers passed closeenough to an enemy artillery battery to hear the gunners’ voices.They did not fire on the Germans but tried to radio Darby. Theyfailed to make contact and continued to creep forward throughsome empty trenches until they reached a flat field on the south-ern edge of Cisterna.

FALL 2003 PAGE SEVENTEEN

The field was roughly triangular in shape, about a thousandyards long on each side, and surrounded and subdivided by roadsand drainage ditches. The Rangers began running towardCisterna in the hope of reaching it before the sun rose. Whenabout 600 yards outside the town, they passed through whatseemed to be a German bivouac area and killed a large number ofthe surprised enemy with bayonets and knives. When they hadrun 400 yards farther and reached the edge of Cisterna, they were

stopped by violent fire from the town. They returned fire from aposition astride a road that paralleled an irrigation ditch. It did notprovide much cover, but it was all the Rangers had.

The 4th Ranger Battalion began its attack up the Conca-IsolaBella-Cisterna road as scheduled but was stopped short of Isola-Bella by fire from German tanks, self-propelled guns, automaticweapons, and small arms. Cisterna was more strongly held thananyone had anticipated. Darby, who was gravely concerned aboutthe virtually nonexistent communications he had with the twolead battalions and the difficult time the 4th Rangers were hav-

ing, saw well the urgent need to break through the German road-block. Indeed, the survival of the 1st and 3d Ranger Battalionsdepended on his doing so.

Although it was not fully realized at the time, the circum-stances in which Darby found himself were the results of consci-entious planning by the Germans and poor intelligence by theAmericans. General Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, the seniorGerman commander in Italy, had correctly judged Lucas to be toocautious to move directly on the Alban Hills and had concentrat-ed considerable strength in Cisterna in preparation for a counter-attack that had been scheduled for 2 February. This counterattackcontinued to be unexpected by American intelligence, which hadinterpreted German intentions in the area to be “purely defen-sive.”

Kesselring, however, had correctly judged the probability ofan American attack on Cisterna and took steps to blunt it. AGerman officer, who took part in the battle and was later cap-tured, stated in his interrogation that Cisterna had been reinforcedby elements of the Hermann Goering Panzer Division on thenight of 29 January in anticipation of the attack. Ironically, ayoung Pole named Stempkofaki who had been serving in theWehrmacht made a vain attempt to warn the Americans of theGerman preparations. He deserted to American troops and triedto tell them what was happening, but they evacuated him to therear and his story was not known until after the battle when hewas routinely interrogated at Fifth Army headquarters. Alsounknown to Darby was another fact—the Germans had detectedthe 1st and 3d Ranger Battalions as they moved northward abouta mile south of the triangular field.

The appearance of three German tanks to the 1st and 3dRanger Battalions’ rear while Dobson was briefing Shunstromindicated to the Rangers that they were being surrounded. Allthree tanks were destroyed by rocket gunners, but automatic andsmall arms fire continued to tear through the Rangers, most ofwhom had gathered in an area about 300 yards in diameter.German attempts to overrun the Rangers, and Ranger attempts tobreak out of the encirclement, were turned back with mutualferocity. After two hours, the Rangers’ ammunition began to runshort, and three companies that were being held in reserve with-in the battalions’ perimeter gave half their ammunition to thecompanies on line.

Meanwhile, the Germans grew in strength as the newlyarrived 2d Parachute Lehr Battalion, which was regularly used toreinforce threatened sectors of the front, and armor, Nebelwerfer,flak wagons, and artillery firing at point-blank range broughttheir power to bear on the Rangers. The besieged Americansrepeatedly called for help by radio, but what messages gotthrough in spite of the Rangers’ imperfect communications weresent in vain, because Darby and the rest of Ranger Force hadbeen fought to a standstill south of Isola-Bella.

Shortly after noon, enemy paratroopers supported byarmored personnel carriers began marching about a dozen cap-tured Rangers toward the center of the 1st and 3d RangerBattalions’ position in an attempt to force an American surrender.Ranger marksmen shot two German guards, but the Germansretaliated by bayoneting two of the prisoners and continued tomarch the rest forward. The same sequence was repeated a sec-ond time—two Germans were shot and two prisoners were bay-oneted. This time, however, more Rangers surrendered. The

Cisterna Operation, January 1944The 3d Ranger Battalion and the three companies of the 1st RangerBattalion that had been separated were able to get within 300 yardsof the three lead companies before running into the Germans. AfterRanger bazookamen destroyed two tanks that had been blocking theway, Shunstrom went forward with a runner and two other men andmade contact with Major Jack Dobson, who briefed him on the sit-uation. Dobson, who was new to the Rangers, had been given com-mand of the 1st Ranger Battalion by Darby shortly before Anzio.

PAGE EIGHTEEN RECALL

Germans continued to march their captives, now numberingabout 80, toward the center of the Rangers’ position shouting thatthey would shoot the prisoners if the remaining Rangers did notsurrender. For a third time, the surrounded Americans openedfire, but when several prisoners were accidentally killed alongwith one or two Germans, a few men “who were evidently newto combat got hysterical and started to leave their positions andsurrender.” They were ordered not to give up but continued to doso, and the piecemeal surrender continued. Even an attempt bythe more determined Rangers “to stop” those who wished to sur-render “by shooting them” failed.

Calmer men disassembled their weapons and buried or scat-tered key parts before the Germans overran the area. Othersdestroyed radios after telling Darby what was happening. RobertEhalt, sergeant major of the 1st Ranger Battalion, was the lastman to speak to Darby by radio from Cisterna. He told him thatthe commander of the 1st Ranger Battalion had been woundedand the executive officer of the 3d Ranger Battalion killed. Hehimself had only five men left, and German tanks were closingin. “So long, Colonel,” Ehalt concluded, “maybe when it’s allover I'll see you again.” Darby told Ehalt that he would neverforget the surrounded men and would be with them till the end.Ehalt then destroyed his radio and continued to fight on for awhile longer with the few men he had left before surrendering.

Other painful dramas, much like Ehalt’s, were played out inthe triangular field as the heavily equipped Germans, using farm-ers’ access roads for their armor, broke the Rangers into eversmaller groups and captured them or annihilated them in detail.By the end of the day, the 1st and 3d Ranger Battalions hadceased to exist. Only 6 of the 767 men who had infiltrated toCisterna made their way back to friendly lines. All the others hadbeen killed or captured.Commentary

While Darby was recovering from losing most of his com-mand, his superiors were already beginning to avoid or obscureresponsibility for the debacle. Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark,commanding general of Fifth Army with overall responsibilityfor the landing at Anzio, had it entered in his diary that he was“distressed to find that the 3d (Infantry) Division had led with theRanger force in its attack on Cisterna. This was a definite error injudgement for the Rangers do not have the support weapons toovercome the resistance indicated.” Out of fairness to Clark, hehad not been involved in the detailed planning of the attack onCisterna and did not know that the Rangers had been chosen tolead the way. Indeed, he would have been violating the chain ofcommand had he bypassed VI Corps’ headquarters to tell a divi-sion commander how to plan an attack.

A report prepared by VI Corps’ G1 professed that, had theattack on Cisterna succeeded, “it would have been a brilliant tac-tical move with far-reaching effects upon the operations in thisarea. Its failure was an incident of campaign contributed to by somany factors that it can be ascribed only to chance.” The G1would have placed the blame more squarely if he had laid it onpoor intelligence. Although sufficient information had been col-lected to correctly determine the enemy’s capabilities and proba-ble course of action, they had been sorely misjudged.

Although poor intelligence was most important in determin-ing the outcome of the battle, the Rangers contributed to theirown end, though to an indefinite degree. While the Germans

expected an attack on Cisterna, they had no definite knowledgeof precisely when or where it would take place. This was learnedduring the infiltration phase, when the Germans discovered theRangers’ presence. In view of the difficulty the Rangers had prac-ticing stealth while training at Pozzuoli Bay, their ability to suc-cessfully conduct an operation such as they attempted at Cisternais open to question. That the Rangers surprised and overranbivouacking enemy just outside the objective was probably dueto a breakdown in the Germans’ communications and their con-sequent failure to inform all their troops that the Rangers were inthe area.

However much or little it may have contributed to the out-come at Cisterna, the decline in the Rangers' combat skills was anunfortunate result of misusing the Rangers. From North Africathrough Italy, the Rangers had been too frequently used as con-ventional infantry, and most of their casualties were suffered inthose actions. As Ranger casualties were replaced with less well-trained men, Ranger Force’s quality became diluted, the level ofits combat skills declined, and unit cohesion weakened. Thisdeterioration was evident throughout the battle.

Although Ranger Force failed to accomplish its mission atCisterna, it contributed at suicidal cost to the eventual victory.The battle for Cisterna was sufficiently jarring to the Germans toforce them to delay their plans two days. They did not launchtheir counterattack until 4 February (thus giving the Alliesfortyeight extra hours to prepare) and then failed only by the nar-rowest of margins, reducing some American units to firingartillery over open sights and using clerks and cooks as riflemen.Had the attack on Cisterna not taken place and had the Germansbeen able to counterattack earlier, the outcome might have beendifferent.Subsequent Developments

Cisterna marked the beginning of the end of Ranger Force.The 4th Ranger Battalion helped turn back the German counter-attack of 4 February, and on 19 February, those Rangers still sur-

FALL 2003 PAGE NINETEEN

Looking northward toward Cisterna from the vicinity of Isola-Bella.The shoulder of the Conca-Isola Bell-Cisterna road is to the imme-diate left, and the Alban Hills are faintly visible on the horizon. The1st and 3d Ranger Battalions infiltrated toward their objectivethrough the fields to the front and right and fought their last battlejust short of Cisterna's houses, the rofftops of which are visiblebeyond the trees to the front. The virtual absence of concealment isevident in this photograph. (Photograph taken by the author in1977).

viving were temporarily attached to the Canadian-American 1stSpecial Service Force. Their experience was put to further gooduse in the spring when they were assigned to conduct a scoutingand patrolling school for Fifth Army outside Civitavecchia, nearNaples. Rangers of long standing were sent to Camp Butner,North Carolina, on 6 May and remained there until 24 Octoberwhen the 1st, 3d, and 4th Ranger Battalions were inactivated.Those men who had joined the Rangers more recently and hadnot spent enough time overseas to justify being returned to theUnited States were absorbed into the 1st Special Service Force.

Darby briefly commanded the 179th Infantry during theGerman counterattack at Anzio and was assigned to theOperations Division of the War Department General Staff inWashington, D.C., in April 1944. While in Washington, Darbyhad a conversation with William Hutchinson that demonstrated,once again, his faith in firepower. He told Hutchinson that hisexperience with the 179th Infantry had impressed him with themight that could be brought against an enemy by a unit that wasseveral times larger than Ranger Force and had direct access tothe firepower of division artillery. With such an infantry unittrained in Ranger operations, Darby believed that he could do

what he had done with the Rangers, but on a larger scale.Events, however, did not afford Darby the opportunity to test

his theory. After spending a year in Washington, he became assis-tant division commander of the 10th Mountain Division thenfighting in northern Italy. He was killed by a round from aGerman 88mm gun in Torbole, Italy, on 30 April 1945, while vis-iting the front.

The timing of Darby's death was tragically ironic. The daybefore Darby was killed, Mussolini had been slain by Italian par-tisans in Milan and Generaloberst Heinrich Gottfried vonVietinghoff had agreed to surrender unconditionally all Germanforces in Italy effective at noon on 2 May. With further irony, onthe day of Darby’s death, his name appeared on a list of nomineesfor promotion to brigadier general being submitted to PresidentTruman. On 2 May, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson recom-mended to the President that, in view of Darby’s outstandingcombat record, his name remain on the list and that he be pro-moted posthumously. Truman agreed and on 15 May 1945,slightly more than three months after his thirtyfourth birthday,Darby was promoted to brigadier general. He was the only Armyofficer to be posthumously promoted to star rank during the war.

Letter to the EditorTo the editor:

The Spring 2003 issue of Recall maga-zine was naturally of great interest to me,because my brother, Ensign Frank M.Fisler, was Plane Commander of the PBYCatalina which rescued nine Army fliersfrom the stormy Pacific approximately500 miles from Hawaii on December 20,1941. This story titled “Guardian Angel”is dramatically told by W. W. “Rip”Warlick, who was radioman on this flight.

Frank Fisler was born in BladenCounty, N.C., on September 4, 1916, butthe family soon moved to Ivanhoe, N.C.,in Sampson County. He graduated fromFranklin High School, Harrells Store,N.C., as valedictorian of the class of 1934.

After two years at Presbyterian JuniorCollege in Maxton, N.C. (now St.Andrews College), he graduated fromKing College, Bristol, Tennessee, in 1938.Throughout his school years he was notonly a good student, but also an excep-tionally good athlete—especially base-ball—which he played at the semi-prolevel during summer vacations.

Frank’s Navy career began in 1938soon after his graduation from college. Hewas one of the very few accepted for flighttraining/officers candidate school in thosepre-war, depression days. Frank receivedthe coveted Naval Aviator’s Wings on

December 1, 1938, plus a commission asan Ensign.

Not only were his dreams of flyingachieved, but he was personally presentedthe Navy Cross (December 30 rescue) andthe Air Medal (June 1942 Batttle ofMidway) by Admiral Chester Nimitz forrescuing downed airmen from the vastPacific—three different open-sea landingsunder difficult conditions in a PBYCatalina seaplane.

In the fall of 1942, Frank was one of thefirst Navy pilots to fly the new B-24bombers secured through the Army. Aftertraining at the factory in California, hereturned to the Hawaiian/Pacific area totrain other pilots in this 4-engine planewhich was much faster and with longerrange than the venerable PBY Catalina.

In the fall of 1942 and early 1943, allavailable aircraft were sent to Guadalcanalin a desperate attempt to interdict hugeJapanese forces which were determined toretake Guadalcanal. The Japanese hadcomplete air superiority during the dayhours with their Zero fighters, but thesewere not as effective at night. Frank Fislerbecame part of VBP-101 which used theB-24s to bomb Japanese shipping and theirbases at New Guinea. They would take offat midnight, make their missions withoutnavigation lights or radio contact, then try

to successfully land at Henderson Fieldjust a daybreak.

In the early morning of March 5, 1943,Frank Fisler and his crew of 12 men tookoff to bomb a Jap airfield in KahhiliAirdrome on Bougainville, SolomonIslands, These men disappeared into thedark Pacific night and no trace of themwas ever found. Frank was reported MIAon March 5, 1943. The Navy reported thedate of death effective December 10,1945.

Frank was definitely “cream of thecrop” in every regard,and a great loss tohis family and this country. A wonderful,caring, and talented brother and son!

—Chester A FislerCary, N.C.

PAGE TWENTY RECALL

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There are at least nine Civil War Round Tables in NorthCarolina that are known to this author, and quite probably more ofwhich the writer is unaware. They range in size and activity from rel-atively large and quite active to relatively small and less active.Several have their own sites on the web that can be easily accessedfor a variety of information from regular meeting times, dates andplaces, membership opportunities, and chapter officers to future andpast meetings, programs, and special events. Many publish theirown newsletters and some provide electronic copies on their web-sites.

Nearly all of the chapters that sponsor websites include a seriesof “links” that route the user to a variety of useful and most interest-ing additional sources of Civil War-related material. On the websitefor the Burlington area’s “North Carolina Civil War Round Table”[www.mindspring.com/—nccwrt/home.htm] is a link to their“Bookstore,” which is a wonderful collection of Civil War booksconveniently arranged alphabetically both by author and title andavailable through Amazon.com.

A list of Civil War Round Tables on the web is located at

http://www.civilwararchive.com/RNDTABLE/webtable.htm. Here,information can be found on The Western North Carolina Civil WarRound Table (Cullowhee/Sylva), The Civil War Round Table ofDurham, The North Carolina Civil War Round Table (Burlington),The Raleigh Civil War Round Table, and The Fort Macon Civil WarRound Table (Morehead City). In addition to those Round Tablesthat are on the web, there are chapters in Rocky Mount (WilliamDorsey Pender Civil War Round Table), Aberdeen (Rufus BarringerCivil War Round Table), Wilmington (Cape Fear Civil War RoundTable), and possibly one in Greensboro.

Please accept my apologies if I have included any erroneousinformation or overlooked any Civil War Round Table. If indeed thisis the case, let us know about your organization, and we will behappy to include the information in a future issue of Recall.

(Sources for the above information include http://www.civil-wararchive.com/RNDTABLE/webtable.htm and http.//www.mind-spring.com/—nccwrt/home.htm. We are indebted to the hardworkingwebmasters and the many Civil War enthusiasts they support.

FALL 2003 PAGE TWENTY-ONE

Civil War Round Tables in North CarolinaBy LTC (Ret) Sion H. Harrington III

INDEX / RECALL / 1995-2001

10 Costliest Battles of the Civil War: Jun 98 15

10th Cavalry in Mexico, The: Oct 96 7117th Infantry at Stavelot, Belgium, The:

May 00 618th Century Military Service,

Punishment, and Retaliation: Jul 95 424 Hours a Prisoner of the Waffen SS:

May 00 5

26th N.C. Infantry Regiment at Gettysburg, The: Apr 96 8

30th Infantry Division in the Great War, The: May 97 8

823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion in the Ardennes: Win 00 1

America's Most Decorated WWI Soldier:Nov 99 12

American Civil War, The: Jun 98 1

American Revolution in the South, The:Oct 97 1

As I Saw It: Sp 01 1Battle of

Averasborough, The: Jun 98 11Beatti's Bridge: Fa 01 21Belleau Wood, The: Nov 99 9King's Mountain, The: Oct 97 7Moores Creek Bridge, The: Oct 97 5

The Story of the Mortar Round BookendsLZ UPLIFT, II CORPS, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH VIETNAM

In the early morning of 1 April 1970, LZ UPLIFT (basecamp of 3/503 Infantry, 173d Abn. Bde.) was hit with a sustainedmortar attack. I remember at least one KIA and more than 30WIA in the battalion aid station. Lt. Jim Kerchmar, my MSC offi-cer, and Staff Sgt. Neu went out in the middle of the attack tobring in a wounded man on a stretcher. First Sgt. Bob Burnette,D Co., 3/503 Inf., a Lumbee Indian from near Ft. Bragg, walkedinto the aid station during the attack, smiled at me, and took aposition, covering the front of the aid station with a CAR-15 toprevent a sapper attack. SFC Jackie Siggers, the First Sgt. of BCo., 3/503 Inf., came in to check on which of his men werewounded. Just as First Sgt. Siggers left the aid station, at leasttwo rounds landed sending shrapnel through the wall of the aidstation and slightly wounding my platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt.Jerry Lenz, who had covered a wounded soldier with his body toprotect him.

After a moment, First Sgt. Siggers came back in the aid sta-tion, his M-16 in one hand and holding his neck with the other.Blood was running between his fingers and he said, “They got theSig … in the neck.” I was not amused. Any neck wound is poten-tially serious. After examining him, I advised SFC Siggers to

remain in the aid station to await transportation to the helicopterpad for evacuation via Dust Off. He said that he had to leave. Hehad men to check on and other duties to perform. He said hewould be back when he was sure things were OK. He left whilethe attack was still going on.

Probably one or two hours later, he returned to the aid stationand was among the last to be evacuated. Later in the morning,when everything was over and all the wounded were evacuated,I was delighted to be alive and very proud of the way the medicalplatoon had performed. As a result of their actions, I recom-mended Lt. Kerchmar, Staff Sgt. Lenz, and Staff Sgt. Neu forvalor awards, which they got. Needless to say, April Fool’s Daywill always be significant to me.

The mortar fins came from two dud rounds that landed—onevery close to the aid station. When First Sgt. Siggers returned tothe battalion, he gave me a .38 cal. S&W revolver (which I stillhave). I was able to get it back in the U.S. by having our chap-lain, Maj. Al Street, smuggle it in after he had been wounded ina later action and evacuated stateside.

Philip D. Coleman, M.D., Cpt., MC, Battalion Surgeon3/503 Infantry, 173d Airbourn Brigade — 1970

PAGE TWENTY-TWO RECALL

AUTHOR INDEX / RECALL / 1995-2001Alexander, Thomas W.H.: Jun 98 9,

Nov 98 13, Nov 99 9, Win 00 13Amos, Preston E.: Oct 96 1Angley, Wilson: May 00 10Ashe, Samuel: Oct 95 12Bailey, K.H., Jr., LC: Win 00 7Boisseau, Mary Leigh: Jul 95 4Brown, William H.: Nov 98 7Burnside, Gen. And Hawkins, Rush C., Col.:

Oct 95 12Burt, Millard P.: Apr 96 6Campbell, Wayne: Jul 95 1, Apr 96 6,

Win 00 8Cheatham, James T.: Nov 99 1Cofer, Leland F. Lt.: May 00 9Comer, James Vann: Nov 99 19Corbett, Belzoni Ainsworth: May 97 15Crissinger, Bruce A. May 00 5Davis, Robert S.: Oct 95 5

Demilio, Nicholas: Nov 99 15Durham, John: Apr 99 3Farlow, Fran: Nov 99 22Foxx, Michael Scott: Sp 01 17Greene, Vernon E.: Sp 01 1Harrington, Sion H. III: Oct 97 9, Jun 98 11,

Nov 98 12, Win 00 6, 16Jones, J., Maj.: Apr 96 8Marshall, R. Jackson III: May 97 12Owens, Thomas: Oct 95 10Peacock, John R, III: Jun 98 5, Nov 98 1Pleasants, Shane Willam: Nov 99 5Pope, Jeffrey, Maj.: Win 00 5Porter, Lester R.: Apr 99 9Rainey, Tom: May 00 1, 3Raney, Tom: Sp 01 15, 23Ray, Louis D.: Jul 95 2Ripley, Richard M.: Apr 96 1, Oct 96 1, 6,

May 97 1, 8,14, Oct 97 1, Jun 98 1,

Apr 99 1, Nov 99 14, May 00 1Saunders, C.W., Jr.: Nov 99 12Saunders, C.W.: Oct 96 12Shelby, Isaac, Col.: Oct 97 7Sparrow, W. Keats: Oct 97 5Stairs, Henry M., Jr. Cpl.: May 00 8Stevenson, George: Apr 99 4Stewart, Alfred Theodore, Capt.: Oct 95 10Swett, Frank M., LTC: Apr 96 4Troxel, O.D., Capt.: Oct 96 7Walters, Edward A., Sgt.: Sp 01 7Warnock, Frank: May 00 6Watson, James W., Lt.: Oct 96 3Wiggs, J.T.: Jul 95 1Wood, Tom: Sp 01 16Wynne, Frances H.: Jul 95 2, Oct 95 8Young, J.J., Capt.: Oct 95 7

Mortain, The: Win 00 5South Mills: Oct 95 12the Bulge, The Ardennes Campaign:

May 00 1Book Review:

Divided Allegiances: Jun 98 19Letters from a NC Unionist: John A.

Hedrick: Fa 01 23Letters to the Home Circle: Nov 99 23Papers of William Woods Holden, The,

Vol. I: Sp 01 24Popular Indian Wars in NC, 1663-1763:

Nov 98 18Revolutionary NC: Nov 98 18Sherman's March Through NC: Jun 98 18The Civil War in Coastal NC: FA 01 24Ocracoke's British Cemetery and

Submarine Warfare: Nov 98 18Bridge at Stavelot, The: May 00 8Buffalo Soldiers, The: Oct 96 6Burning of Winton, The: Oct 95 12Campaign Forgotten, The: Nov 98 12Campbell Resigns; Burt New President:

Apr 96 6Citizen's Participation with Confederate

Forces, A: Jul 95 2 Colonial Militia in America 1607-1774:

Apr 99 1Colonial Militia in the South: Apr 99 3Combat Diary of Sgt. Edward A. Walters, The:

Sp 01 7Commanders Sad Letter to a Confederate

Soldiers Wife, A: Oct 95 10Confederate Soldiers Long for Family &

Home: Jul 95 1Contributions to NC Colonial History:

Sp 01 16Cruise of the YMS 195, The: Nov 98 13Diary of a Combat Infantryman: May 97 15End of the Trail for Tiger 222: May 00 3Every Day Is Memorial Day!: Nov 99 22F.I.L.I. Museum, The: Nov 98 16Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry:

Nov 98 16Fiddler's Green: Nov 98 17

Fighting Cavalry of the Indian Wars:Oct 96 1

First World War, The: May 97 1Gen. Bryan Grimes-Citizen and Soldier:

Jun 98 5He Escaped from the Malmedy Massacre:

Sp 01 23Heritage of the 113th Field Artillery:

Apr 96 4Indian War Hero Memorialized: Oct 96 12Lawrence O'Bryan Branch - Statesman

and Soldier: Win 00 13Longstreet and McLaws A Friendship

Tested by War: Win 00 16Military Must Revive its Warrior Spirit,

The: Win 00 12My Friend Laura's Great Grandfather:

Win 00 8National Archives Military Section:

Jun 98 12National Guard of NC, The: Apr 99 9NC Buffalo Soldier Medal of Honor

Recipient Oct 96 1NC's 20th Century Military Heroes:

Win 00 6NC's Colonial Era Military Records: Apr 99 4NC's Navy Medal of Honor Recipient:

Apr 96 1North Carolina Troops, 1861-65: A Roster:

Nov 98 19Not the Croutons of Genealogy, Research

in Military Records: Oct 95 5Notes from the Society President: Jul 95 1Official Records of the Union and

Confederate Armies: Jun 98 16Organization of a Typical Civil War Army:

Jun 98 13Overview of Confederate Cavalry Operations

1865: Nov 98 7Peace without Victory: May 97 12Penalties for Desertion: Oct 95 10Peregrine Poles of World War II, The:

Nov 99 15Personal Reflections of the 30th Infantry

Division: Apr 96 3

PFC Felix E. Brockmann, a World War ISoldier: May 97 14

Photos, Interviews Sought of Late 20th Century NC Veterans: Nov 98 20

President's Report, The: Apr 96 6Regimental Histories: Jun 98 14Rept of Capt. J.J. Young, Quartermaster

26th NC Infantry: Oct 95 7Revolutionary War Hereditary Societies:

Oct 97 14Revolutionary War Hero: Fa 01 9Roanoke Island Campaign of 1862, The:

Nov 98 1Rogers' Rangers Standing Orders:

Nov 99 22Row Galleys in the Carolina Sounds: Oct 95 8Scouting in Arizona, 1890: Oct 96 3Siege of Khe Sahn, The: Fa 01 10Somebody Must Fight and Bleed and Die:

Nov 99 8Son Tay Raid, The Fa 01 1Tar Heels in Korea 1950: Win 00 7They Fed Hungry Confederates: Nov 99 19Tory War of 1781-82 in NC's Upper Cape

Fear Country, The: Oct 97 9Tradition of Military Service Originated

with Fear of Standing Armies: May 00 10Treatment of Sick and Wounded in Raleigh:

Jun 98 9Tuscarora Indian War of 1711-12, The:

Fa 01 14U-Boat War in WWII off the Outer Banks:

Nov 99 1Village of Hoengen, The: Sp 01 15War Record of BG Rufus Barringer and 1st

NC Cav. Regiment, The: Sp 01 17Was Bragg at Fault for Loss of Fort Fisher?:

Nov 99 5World War I Medal of Honor Awards:

Nov 99 14WWI Veterans Sought: May 97 7

FALL 2003 PAGE TWENTY-THREE

B O O K R E V I E W S

North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster.

The N.C. Office of Archives and History has published a newvolume in its acclaimed Civil War roster series. Volume 15 ofNorth Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster contains detailedhistories and rosters of the 62nd, 64th, 66th, and 68th N.C.Infantry Regiments. The names and military service records ofmore than 7,000 North Carolina Confederate soldiers are includ-ed.

The 62nd and 64th Regiments were raised in the NorthCarolina mountains. Both were captured at Cumberland Gap inSeptember 1863 under circumstances that were still the subject ofangry debate 40 years later. Members of the 64th also perpetrat-ed the Shelton Laurel massacre in Madison County, in which 13prisoners were shot by a roadside.

The 66th was raised in Eastern North Carolina counties andthe Piedmont. It fought at Southwest Creek (near Wilson),Drewry’s Bluff, Cold Harbor, Fort Fisher, Bentonville, and otherbattles. The 67th and 68th were raised in coastal and other east-ern counties and were engaged in numerous skirmishes, raids,and scouts in the eastern part of the state. Both fought atSouthwest Creek and took part in the Fort Branch andBentonville Campaigns.

The service records of individual soldiers contain a numberof remarkable tales: Musician Thomas J. Ballard was mistakenfor a bear and shot dead while brushing his teeth in a moon-litcreek; Lt. Silas C. Beck died after eating a poisoned apple; Pvt.Henry Perkins was shot and killed in his yard by a neighbor; andPvt. William Gentry was tied to a tree and, with his two sons, shotfor desertion. Pvt. Henry Grooms, another deserter, was made toplay a tune on his fiddle before he was shot; Cpl. Thomas J. Cabewent insane amid the deprivation and squalor of the Federalprison at Chicago; Pvt. James A. Roberts lost an arm after shoot-ing himself while leaning on his rifle.

The names and deeds of other soldiers still evoke respect. Lt.Council Wooten was killed at Bentonville while waving the col-ors of the 66th Regiment in front of the enemy; Pvt. Jesse Brownwas wounded in the shoulder, hip, thigh, leg, and both feet at theBattle of the Crater; and the imposing, six-foor-six-inch Capt.Christopher D. Foy, whose white beard reached his waist, wasdubbed “Tecumseh” by his admiring troops. Pvt. Joseph H.Myers, the last surviving Confederate veteran in Bertie County,died on March 14, 1935, at age 90.

Volume 15 of North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster(637 pages, clothbound, illustrated, index) sells for $42.80,which includes North Carolina sales tax. Add $4 shipping for thefirst volume ordered and $2 for each additional volume. Orderfrom Historical Publications Section (N), Office of Archives andHistory, 4622 Mail Service Center, Raleigh 27699-4622. Forcredit card orders call 919-733-7442.

The Historical Publications Section’s catalog and order formare online at www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hp.

A Sentimental JourneyMemoirs of a Wartime Boomtown

Wilmington—the population, economic, social, and culturalhub of Southeastern North Carolina—was a mighty contributorto the World War II war effort. It once was described at “TheDefense Capital of the State” and “The country’s unique wartimeboomtown.”

A Sentimental Journey is a social history of the life and cul-ture on the Wilmington and Southestern North Carolina homefront. The personal story of a burgeoning community, it is thefirst book covering a specific geographic area this extensively.The author, born and raised in Wilmington and seven when thewar began, weaves the story through interviews, letters, memoirs,the local daily newspapers, and other first-hand accounts. Hisvivid boyhood remembrances are the thread.

The area was home to all the Armed Forces, a major ship-yard, the vital state port, a fighter-training air base, defenseindustries and farms, and German prisoner of war camps.Strategically located, its massive civilian defense efforts contin-ued until the enemy threat vanished in 1944. U-boats sank shipsoffshore (one fired on a defense plant). Thousands of citizens leftto fight; 191 New Hanover County boys died. Two Wilmingtonhigh school graduates received the Medal of Honor.

The population nearly tripled. Demands for goods and serv-ices overwhelmed. In the city’s business heyday, officials over-came civic, governmental, racial, and economic complexitiesresponding to their war role. Yet people fell in love, societywhirred, and the seed of Wilmington spread throughout the land.As the war ended and military personnel and industrial require-ments disappeared, the area retreated to its pre-war small-townseclusiveness. By 1946, the bell-curve joyride was over.

Wilbur D. Jones, Jr., the author, is a Wilmington military his-torian, retired Navy captain, and former assistant to PresidentFord, with a UNC-CH history degree. He has written 15 bookson military history and national defense focus on WWII.

A Sentimental Journey. 348 pages, 6x9, 80 photos/illustra-tions. Hard cover. $29.95 plus $5.75 shipping. Wilbur JonesCompositions, 4700 Chamberlain Lane, Wilmington, NC 28409.

North Carolina Military Historical SocietyClass of Membership: ANNUAL ($10.00 a year) LIFE ($100 one time)

Amount enclosed: $_________ for calendar year (Jan.-Dec. 2004)

NEW MEMBER RENEWAL

NAME _____________________________________________________________

ADDRESS __________________________________________________________

CITY___________________________________ STATE _____ ZIP _________

TELEPHONES: (Office)__________________ (Home) _____________________

Please make check payable to NCMHS and mail to:

NCHMS, 7410 Chapel Hill Road, Raleigh, NC 27607-5096

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

PAGE TWENTY-FOUR RECALL

EDITOR’S TACK ROOMBy Richard M. Ripley

I would like to thank the authors who have contributed arti-cles for the Fall 2003 Recall. Their articles make our publicationboth interesting reading and a fine contribution to military histo-ry. We seek articles for future publication.

Special appreciation to our friend Frances Wynne for prepar-ing the Recall index. The index covers the period from the first

publication up to 2002. The Spring2003 includes the index for Springand Fall 2002. In the future we willpublish an annual index in the follow-ing Spring issue.

We need members. I have men-tioned this before, but now we are ata serious point. Several months ago, alarge number of members weredropped because they had notrenewed their membership for severalyears. At a cost of only $10.00, it

hardly seems a hardship to pay this once a year. Member renew-al and new members are critically important right now if we wishto continue with Recall and other programs.

We want to communicate with members. However mailingcosts are expensive. It will help if you would furnish your emailaddress and help keep costs down. Please send your emailaddress to me at rripley@nc.rr.com.

Since the publication of the article “Guardian Angel” inRecall, Volume IX, Spring 2003, Issue No. 1, Recall’s Editorreceived a letter dated 3 September 2003 from Mr. Allen L.James, advising that he is a co-author of the article, and Recallnotes his statement accordingly.

Photos, Interviews Sought ofLate 20th Century N.C.

VeteransIn 1998, the N.C. Division of Archives and History began

Phase III of its effort to better document the state’s 20th centurymilitary experience. Previous phases have focused on the periodfrom 1900 through the end of the Korean War. Though stillactively collecting and preserving items from this era, theArchives is seeking to honor North Carolina veterans who servedNorth Carolina and the nation from 1954 through the present.

In keeping with this state’s long and proud military tradition,large numbers of North Carolinians served in the military forcesof the United States both in time of war and in operations otherthan war, primarily in support of humanitarian efforts around theworld.

If you have a photograph or photographs of a North Caro-linian in uniform, consider making a donation to the MilitaryCollection Project. The Archives also seeks to collect and pre-serve military related papers and memorabilia so that future stu-dents, researchers, historians, and others can better understandthe nature of military service and sacrifice.

The Military History Collection Project also is engaged in anextensive oral history program. People around the state areencouraged to tape interviews with veterans of all time periodsand services for deposit in the Military Collection of the StateArchives. If you have items to share, please mail them to or con-tact: Sion Harrington III, Coordinator, Military CollectionProject, North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 109East Jones Street, Raleigh, N.C. 27601-2807; or call 919-733-3952. E-mail: sion.harrington@ncmail.net.

Contribute Articles to RecallReaders are invited to submit material to Recall. In choos-

ing material for publication, the editor of Recall will give prefer-ence to articles of unusual significance and transcripts orabstracts of difficult-to-locate records. Material submitted forpublication will be reviewed by persons knowledgeable in theareas covered for validity, significance, and appropriateness. Allmaterial will be edited for clarity and conciseness. Manuscriptsshould be sent to the Editor, 4404 Leota Drive, Raleigh, N.C.

27603. Tel. 919-772-7688. E-mail: rrip-ley@nc.rr.com.

Examples of Material Suitable forPublication

Articles on military history / Biog-raphies of military figures / Personal andfamily papers pertaining to the military /Military society records / Military censuses /Personal experiences / Records, diaries, let-ters pertaining to service / Impressmentrecords / Oral histories / Military and pen-sion records

Abstracts should be for a full recordseries. If an abstract is not complete, itshould include all individuals and familieswithin the pages abstracted.

The North Carolina Military Historical Society7410 Chapel Hill Road

Raleigh, North Carolina 27607-5096

NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDCARY, NC 27511

Permit No. 551

In this issue …C.S.S. Chicamauga 1For the Fallen 6Survival in Southwest Pacific 7‘Scrappy’ Kessing 9Lt. Sheldon’s Patrol 10N.C. Most Notorious Loyalist 12Spanish-American Was Mystery 13

Where the Khaki Comes From 14Cisterna 15Letter to the Editor 20The Mortar Round Bookends 21Civil War Round Tables 21Index/Recall 21Book Reviews 23Editor’s Tack Room 24