Richard Andrew Hurt, 57^th Virginia Infantry, Company B

Reference: The Compiled Service Records of confederate soldiers who served in organizations from the State of Virginia, Reel 985 Library of Virginia

Richard A Hurt 2^nd  Lieut., Co. D. Keen’s Va. Batt'n CSA for July 4 1861 to 8/31/61. pd. 154.66.  

Requested and received of Capt. George W. Grice, Asst. quartermaster CSA, transportation by RR for "myself and 7 soldiers of 57^th Va. Regmt. from Suffolk to Franklin on S & RR. Signed Richard A. Hurt, Lieut. commanding Co B 57^th Va. Infantry.

William H. H. Hurt’s Military Service

   Prior to William "Bill" Hurt's enlistment, the 2nd VA Cavalry had already engaged in the battle of 1st Bull Run, July 1861.  His brother, John G. Hurt, served with the 2nd Cavalry from May- October 1861, but had transferred to the 28th Va. Infantry by the time William H. enlisted.   Bill Hurt was present  from the time of his enlistment on 3/15/1862 until June 12, his Company engaging in the  Shenandoah Valley Campaign from May-June and the battle at Linden, VA, May 16, 1862.  He was out of camp sick after June 12 and may have had a chance to go home for supplies and fresh horses.  The 2nd Cavalry was engaged in battle at 2nd Manassas in late August, and, as General Lee was determined to take the war to the north, the 2nd crossed the Potomac and was stationed around Poolesville, Frederick, and Buckeystown, MD in early September.  On Sept. 7-8, Northern troops broke through the Confederate pickets at Poolesville and drove the troops back resulting in frequent skirmishing throughout the remainder of the month.  October 1862 was spent picketing along the Potomac near Leesburg with skirmishes occurring near Charlestown and Berryville where the B & O Railroad ran.

 In November Gen. Lee ordered his army to move closer to Fredericksburg to counteract the increasing numbers of Federal troops gathering there.  It was at this time that the 2nd was transferred to General Fitzhugh Lee's Brigade which included the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Va. Cavalry.  On Dec. 13, 1862, the 2nd Cavalry Va.  made its presence known in the terrible carnage and victory over Federal troops at Fredericksburg.  Bill Hurt fell ill once again during the frigid duty in  northern Virginia and spent Christmas day through the end of December sick in the hospital.  It is unclear whether William Henry was well enough to be with his Company in the dead of winter as 1863 began, but it is probable since, by the time of the 2nd Cavalry's engagement at Hartwood Church on Feb. 25, 1863, he was released a week later on horse detail 3/4/1863.

By the time of William's return to his Company, the 2nd Virginia faced gruesome battles at Chancellorsville in early May and another horse was shot from under him in battle at Brandy Station.  Following his narrow escape, another horse was obtained after his pay of $500 on June 9, 1863 and mid-June brought Bill Hurt into battle again at Aldie and Middleburg.  With no respite from the toils of war, the call came to the 2nd Cavalry Virginia to join the Army of Northern Virginia in Gettysburg, PA.  It is most probable that Bill Hurt and brothers Richard and John all fought valiantly for  hearth and home  under the heat of the July sun at Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863.  Though defeat came with a great loss of life and limb to the Southern army, all three Hurt men survived those infamous days of mortal destruction.

William H. H. Hurt was sent home sick as documented in his record on 8/31/1863 .  Having had some time at home with family and with rumors of the war's end in sight, Bill Hurt gathered himself and returned to Company D, 2nd Cavalry VA for another pull of duty being reported present in camp October 31, 1863.   The brigade spent November and December pursuing Gen. Averill and Gen. Meade's Federal troops which were marching into the Shenandoah Valley.  From their position on picket duty at the Rappahannock River in October, the 2nd, as part of Fitz Lee's division under orders from Gen. Jeb Stuart, marched as far south and west as Staunton, Lexington, and Covington and back to New Market.  That winter on the move skirmishing with the Yankees was an unbelievable test of the limits of the survival instincts of the soldiers.  With both man and beast starving and freezing and with no possibility of supplies being delivered, Col. Thomas Munford, while in Covington, received permission to disband the regiment until February giving the men time to get home and recuperate and get fresh gear and horses.  

The men returned to the army at Lynchburg in February and, though still terribly cold, rations, supplies, and horses were somewhat improved.   William was present in camp on April 1, 1864, and in preparation for the commencing skirmishes that were already breaking out owing to the spring thaw, William was again sent away on horse detail for 18 days - 4/18/64.  

Some of the engagements of the 2nd Cavalry Va. from May – August 1864 included the battles of  Spotsylvania Court House, May 8-21, Haw's Shop, May 28, Cold Harbor, June 1-3, Trevilian Station, June 11-12, and by the end of August Mechanicsville, Winchester, and Front Royal.

After August 1864, there were no further attendance records for William H. H. Hurt.  There is a possibility that he was given a furlough to go home when his little sister of 18 years, Martha Jane, died from consumption.  She is the only member of the Ira Hurt family to perish in wartime.  

It is undocumented how long, therefore, William Hurt remained in active duty on the front lines after August 1864 due the absence of records during the critical engagements of which they were a part.  It is known that the 2nd Cavalry Virginia did engage, with or without Bill Hurt, in the battles of  Tom's Brook, Cedar Creek, and Mt. Jackson in the winter of 1864 and in fighting around Richmond during the Siege of Petersburg which began in June 1864 through the end of the war in April 1865.   It is unknown whether Bill Hurt ever made the trip back to Franklin County before the end of the war and Lee's surrender to General Grant at Appomattox Court House.  At the end of the war, the 2nd Va. Cavalry did not surrender at Appomattox, but disbanded on April 10, 1865 at Lynchburg, Virginia from which William Henry Harrison Hurt began his journey home to Oak Hill.

John G. Hurt "see also 28^th VA Infantry", Pvt. Age 24, enlisted 5/20/61 by Capt. Hale, mustered into service 5/22/61 in Lynchburg by Lieut. Col. D. A. Langhorne. Present 5/20/61 – Oct 31, 61; Discharged 12/31/61, pd. 1/4/61 $24 month.

"Hurt, John Gilmer, Pvt. Co. D, b. Franklin Co., 4/19/36. Enlisted in Franklin County 5/20/61.  Age 24.  Present through 10/31/61.  Transferred to Co. B 28^th Va. Infantry 12/31/61.  Paid 1/2/62.

Transferred to Company B, 28^th Regt Va. Vols. Army of Northern Virginia under Beauregard, 12/31/61

Company B (1/1/62); Pvt.

Absent, sick 3/62-10/62 in Richmond hospital, discharged 10/22/62 with fever.

Transferred to Purcell's Battery Va. Vols. 7/7/64, Dept & Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee

"5’9" dark complexion, blue eyes, light hair, teacher NFR. Teacher and clerk, Danville in postwar. Farmer in Waidsboro, Franklin County. Died Rocky Mount 4/10/1895. Buried in Ira Hurt Cemetery, Franklin County." 

WORLD WAR II