Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 28.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

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[369] Boydton plank-road, where the infantry under the immediate command of General John Pegram was hotly engaged. The battery here engaged the infantry, losing some of our best soldiers, among them Benjamin Pleasants, who lost a leg; Hix, and others whose names I do not now recall. General John Pegram, who was killed here, was a brother to Colonel William J. Pegram, who commanded the Pegram Battalion. After the battle was over, in company with Charles P. Young, another member of the company, I went out to survey the field from which we had driven the enemy, and as it was now night, we soon found that we had passed beyond our pickets, and were in the lines of the Yankees, as we heard them calling out ‘any one here belonging to the Fifth New Jersey,’ and other regiments, the light of their torches revealing them in too close a position to be comfortable. We turned around and started for our lines when suddenly a heavy fire was opened upon us, which caused us to drop to the ground at once. We remained there hugging mother earth until the firing ceased, when glad enough were we to get back to our lines. Here, as at other times, was the Confederate soldier to prove his devotion to the cause, as it required great moral courage to undergo the privation that was prevailing in the army at that time, and then to battle, too with the elements, for, mark you, the weather was of a freezing kind—raining and freezing. Then, too, the soldiers were so poorly clad. However, we managed to get through this battle with the loss before stated, and again returned to our shanties.

It was now the middle of February, 1865, and although the snow covered the ground, yet it was apparent even to the ‘Private’ that something of an unusual character was going on which was soon to burst forth in all its fulness, as there could be noticed the traces of uneasiness and disquietude depicted on the faces of the officers as well as the men. How much longer was this strife to continue? What would be the final outcome? Were the sufferings endured by the Confederate soldier to go for naught? These and kindred other subjects were meditated upon by the boys as we lay here in our quarters, which were soon left by us to return no more, for at that time the
Army of the Potomac
was gathering in all its strength, having fared sumptuously during the winter, with all the necessary clothing, &c., and soon the booming of cannon was again calling us to the field, there to contend