U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
Locals Saw Little Humor At 2nd Manassas
This article is compiled by Julian Williams.
We passed an old Confederate standing beside a small sapling, with one hand resting on it, and we asked him, "What is the matter?"
He said, "I don't want to fight. I ain't mad with anybody."
This put all in a good humor, and amidst laughter and cheers we continued the march.
After going several hundred yards we halted and were ordered to lie down.
The enemy were shelling this wood terribly, and our Captain - - was killed by them."
The foregoing scene evoked mirth for only a moment.
For men like Joseph Studstill of the Telfair Company B, already wounded at Malvern Hill and Cedar Run, it was not a laughing matter.
Somehow, talking to Mr. Joe Studstill of Broxton, Georgia, I knew that his ancestor was a real person - not just a name on some lost page of history.
But the Telfair men leaving Cedar Run were now heading for a place where a battle had taken place the previous year - Manassas (Bull Run to the Yankees).
In that first encounter in 1861, the Washington socialites came out in carriages to watch the retreat of the Rebels.
But that day belonged to the Grays and after a short while, the confused enemy and the civilians who had come to watch were panic-stricken and desperately trying to get back to the safety of Washington.
In Confederate terminology, this kind of retreating was known as "skedaddling."
Now, in 1862, the forces of Blue and Gray were meeting again to fight on the same field of battle.
"Old Reliable" General A.P. Hill and his Light Division, including the Telfair men, were once again standing their ground and in the middle of it all. For ten long hours his men absorbed and repulsed the charging Federals, battling with all the resources available to them, including an abundant supply of rocks strewn along the railroad bed.
The Federal infantry, in large force, --- pressed forward in defiance of our fatal and destructive fire with great determination -- but the 14th South Carolina regiment -- with the 49th Georgia, attacked the exultant enemy with vigor and drove them back across the railroad track with great slaughter.
General Robert E. Lee had this to say about this horrible scene of war at 2nd Manassas, Virginia:
"A large force advanced to assail the left of (Stonewall) Jackson's position, occupied by the division of General A.P. Hill. The attack was received by his troops with their accustomed steadiness, and the battle raged with great fury. The enemy was repeatedly repulsed, but again pressed on to the attack with fresh troops. Once he (the enemy) succeeded in penetrating an interval between General Gregg's brigade, on the extreme left, and that of General Thomas, but was quickly driven back with great slaughter by the 14th South Carolina regiment --- and the 49th Georgia, of Thomas's brigade. The contest was close and obstinate: the combatants sometimes delivering their fire at ten paces."
Delivering their fire at ten paces the men from between the two Ocmulgees saw and felt the great horrors of war that day at 2nd Manassas.
Although they were victorious the intense fighting had again extracted from their ranks by death and wounds another portion which they could not, but had to, give up.
But victory it was and an important one for the South because it opened the way for General Lee to cross the Potomac with his forces and invade the North on its own soil.
Casualties (Soldiers of Telfair) at 2nd Manassas (also includes an earlier August hospital death):
David B. Barron, Died, Richmond, VA, hospital, August 4, 1862.
George Bowen (#1), Killed, 2nd Manassas, VA, August 29, 1862.
Hiram Bowen, Killed, 2nd Manassas, VA, August 30, 1862.
Duncan Campbell Graham, Wounded, 2nd Manassas, VA, August 30, 1862.
Allen D. McLeod, Wounded, 2nd Manassas, VA, August 30, 1862.
Ezekiel Selph, Wounded, 2nd Manassas, VA, August 30, 1862.
Ever in faithful stride,
March the forces of two,
Always going in pride,
March the Gray and the Blue.
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;
Under the spruce, the Blue.
Under the bay, the Gray.
Our roll call today is for those men whose last names begin with H - L:
2nd Lt. William Hatton;
Levi H. Harrell;
Kenion (or Kenan) Howard;
Wiley Howard;
Capt. James Humphreys (surgeon);
Frederick Johnston (or Johnson);
Thomas H. Johnston (or Johnson);
Jesse C. Jones;
Robert W. Jones;
Thomas Laslie (or Leslie);
Gilbert Lucas.
Note: Jesse C. Jones is the father of Dr. Andrew J. Jones, long beloved, but now departed, physician and church leader of the Jacksonville area.
His home still stands on a hill near Blockhouse Church and his numerous descendants still contribute to the life of their various places of residence.
Please let me know if you know something about any of these Civil War personalities and/or their kin.
These connections will be interesting to our readers.
One report gave estimated total casualties for the 2nd Manassas Battle as: Union - 13,830 and Confederate - 8, 350.
The 49th Georgia reported 13 Killed and 51 Wounded.
It was going to be a long hard road back to Jacksonville, Georgia, and other Telfair communities - for those who could survive to make the journey.
