A soldier's recollections; leaves from the diary of a young Confederate, with an oration on the motives and aims of the soldiers of the South (1910) (14576046709)

Identifier: soldiersrecollec02mcki (find matches)
Title: A soldier's recollections; leaves from the diary of a young Confederate, with an oration on the motives and aims of the soldiers of the South
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: McKim, Randolph H. (Randolph Harrison), 1842-1920
Subjects: Mosby, John Singleton, 1833-1916 United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Personal narratives, Confederate
Publisher: New York (etc.) Longmans, Green, and co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation



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anked him,and returning to my mess began packing my knapsackpreparatory to moving up to headquarters. Observ-ing this, the men asked me what I was doing, and inreply I told them I was tired doing the duty of an infan-tryman and was going up to headquarters to be onthe generals staff. I have mentioned that most ofmy immediate friends had preferred not to reenhst,and as the day approached (it was now only two weeksoff) when our company was to be mustered out, I hadbeen made the butt of many a gibe as to what would bemy fate after that. I would, said they, be drafted intoE.s company — which was made up of roughs — andwhat would I do then? Well, now it was my turn tolaugh, as I told them that the general said one reasonhe had selected me was that I had been the first toreenlist. My cousin, Wm. Duncan McKira, had, previousto this, been appointed aide to General Trimble, andMcHenry Howard had been given a place on GeneralWinders staff. I entered at once on my duties, but was embarrassed
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LIEUT. RANUOLPII H. McKIM, 1862 STONEWALL JACKSONS VALLEY CAMPAIGN 111 by the fact that I had neither horse, nor sword, norspurs — and of course no uniform but my gray jacketwith the chevrons of a sergeant on the left arm, havingbeen made color sergeant not long before. I hadhardly reached headquarters when the enemy wasreported advancing, and in a very short time the bloodybattle of Cross Keys, Sunday, June 8th, had begun.General Steuart bade me mount a beautiful black horsebelonging to Major Kyle, the quartermaster, who wasabsent. I felt happy and proud when I found myselfastride of that fine animal. I need not describe the battle that ensued. Thathas been done with admirable accuracy by Lieut.-Col.Henderson in his Life of Stonewall Jackson, andby various other writers. Ewell, with 6,000 infantry,5 batteries, and a small cavalry force, defeated Fre-mont, with over 10,000 infantry, 12 batteries, and2,000 cavalry. It is amusing now to read Fremontsdespatch to Shields, who was just a