[92] one Sunday I had made two appointments to preach, but was on drill seven hours during the day, and was sent on picket that night), and the routine of the camp kept us very busy, and soon brought comparative order out of the chaos that had reigned, so that the Army of the Shenandoah which Colonel Jackson turned over to General Johnston was tolerably well armed and equipped, under fair discipline, and full of fight.
As we stood picket on Maryland Heights, or up and down the Potomac, or as we turned out to meet a rumored advance of the enemy, we verily believed that Harper's Ferry was one of the strongholds of the Confederacy and that our force could maintain it against all comers. My company (the “Louisa Blues,” Captain H. W. Murray) was one that entered into the organization of the Thirteenth Virginia infantry, which was to make for itself a reputation second to none in the service. Our colonel was A. P. Hill, who had won a fine reputation in the old army, and was one of the most accomplished soldiers with whom I ever came in contact, who was the idol of his men, and who, by his gallantry and skill, steadily rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General, and fell, mourned by the whole South, on that ill-fated day, at Petersburg, which witnessed the breaking of his lines and the virtual fall of the Confederacy.
Our Lieutenant-Colonel was James A. Walker, who would have graduated first in his class at the Virginia Military Institute had he not been expelled for a difficulty with “old Jack.” But this difficulty was all forgotten when Jackson witnessed Walker's splendid courage and marked skill in the field; and one of the very strongest recommendations given during the war was Jackson's recommendation for Walker's promotion. He succeeded to the command of the old “Stonewall brigade;” was terribly wounded at Spotsylvania Court-house, but returned to take the command of Early's old division, which he gallantly led to Appomattox Court-house. He is now the able and honored Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia.
Our Major was J. E. B. Terrill, a brilliant graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, whose gallantry and skill won for him the Brigadier's wreath and stars just as he yielded up his brave young life at. Bethesda church, in June, 1864.
With such leaders, and the splendid material which composed our regiment, it soon become the pride of its officers and the glory of its humblest private soldier.
It was my privilege, while at Harper's Ferry, to see occasionally Captain Turner Ashby, whose raven locks and soldierly bearing even then
