CO F

The Civil War Centennial plans suggest local activities and local history that should be preserved. In 1862 Elias Y. Satterfield of Pleasant Valley In Pleasants county and Joseph McGregor of Bonds Creek in Ritchie county organized Company F, Fourteenth Volunteers. William H. Hall of Highland served as Secretary and kept all records which he transcribed to a permanent record at the close of the war. This record was framed and kept by Mr. Hall but in case of his death it was to go to Caleb T. Hamilton who was my grandfather. Mr. Hall died in 1884. My grandfather died in 1889 and the records went to his oldest son, W. H. Hamilton and one of his grandchildren now has it. Years ago I made an exact copy of this record. From it and the many stories listened to as a child and some notes I have kept over the years, I am writing this story:

In the summer of 1862 men from the three counties of Pleasants, Ritchie and Tyler who planned to volunteer for war service met for organization and drill at Hebron, then called Giter. Their meeting place was in an open field on the Pleasants county side of the road near the Ritchie and Tyler lines. From this point on August 30th this company started on its march for camp. The wives and children of many of these men went along to the mouth of Big Knot. Here they took leave of their husbands and with the smaller children went back to their homes. The older children followed along down Bonds Creek to Highland where the Ritchie county wives and children were assembled to see their husbands and fathers off to camp. Here the men ate their lunch, rested and took leave of their friends, and once more were on their way. From Highland they continued their march over the "Old State Road" to Ellenboro, now U.S. Route 50, just west of Ellenboro. Here they boarded the train for Clarksburg where they went into camp.

Someone of the Company composed a little ditty about this particular day which went like this:
We marched the road to Ellenboro from Giter all the way We took the train for Clarksburg, arriving there that day We there went into quarters and drilled the army way We lived on beans and bacon, a-longing for the fray.

Mrs. Elias Butcher, when she was very old , related the incidents of this day to me and she, with her husband, sang the little ditty for me. They had each been in the group that followed along from Hebron to Highland. Only Half the Story

The records speak for itself as to the hardship of these soldiers and the heavy loss of life. That, however, is only half the story. The fortitude of those sturdy women who kept the homefires burning is not to be passed over lightly. Food had to be produced. Crops had to be raised and clothing provided. These women's hands were put to the plow. Their sacrifices knew no bounds. The husband's pay check, meager as it was, went to pay for land they were buying when the war broke out. Their darkest day came with the battle of Cloud {Cloyd's} Mountain, May 9, 1864, when word came that Company F had been practically cut to pieces. The stenght of character of my granmother that day, the way she faced whatever was to come, remained with my father as long as he lived. Over and over again, I've heard him relate the events, the tenseness and the anxiety of the day.

The casualty record paints a grim picture of what happened to Company F of the Fourteenth Regiment on May 9, 1864. Bryson Martin of Highland was the first man to fall and after the war the Bryson Martin Post of the G.A.R. was organized at Highland and always met there. Men from other companies living near by joined this Post and for many years it was quite a large organization. It sponsored the reunion of Civil War Veterans at Hebron in 1894, when more than two thousand persons attended. One of the Post's greatest activities was the "Decoration" service which was held each May at the various churches and cemeteries where comrades were buried. Sometimes an entire week was used for these services. Here was to be heard much oratory, many war stories, both amusing and pathetic, and of course, the Adlia Band which was always a definite part of this celebration. This band was a by-product of the Bryson Martin Post. It was organized at Adlia in Pleasants county and was made up first of old soldiers and some younger men. The younger people gradually filled in so there was a band as long as there was a post. Many men around St. Marys today played in that band; amoung them Homer and Colmen Simonton, J. Hooker Fleming, now about 95, and his family and many others I can't name.

This story with the above mentioned record is a valuable history that should be known by the present and on-coming generation. We have lost so much of what it took to make this state of ours. I am deeply interested in the preservation of the record of these historic events and personalities in our area. Herewith is the official record of Company F, Fourteenth Regiment of West Virginia Volunteers, in which every man is accounted for with the exception of Joseph McGregor, who became ill and was never out with the Company.

Company Officers
Captain - David B. McIlwain.

First Lieutenant - Thomas M. Reed.

Sergents - William W. Hall, John H. Butcher, Thomas H. Whaley, Joab Martin, Isaac Wagoner.

Corporals - George McCullough, Adam Bumgarner, James Shingleton, George W. Belleville, Joseph Johnson, Samuel E. McHenry, James Allison, Thornton Virden, William Alkire.

Field Staff Officers Col. David D. Johnson, Lt. Col. George W. Taggart, Maj. Shriver Moore, Adjutant Hunter H. Moss; R.Q.M. James E. Hooton, Surgeon James H. Manown, Assistant Surgeon James H. Brownfield, Chaplain John L. Irwin.

Non-Commissioned Officers Sergeant Major Andrew W. Duty, Q.M. Sergeant Thomas Knox, Com. Sergeant Henry A. Hartley, Hospital Steward Hugh C. Irwin, Principal Musician (fife major) Anthony Lovall, Principal Musician (drum major) Henry C. Coffmam.

Private Soldiers Marion Alkire, Oliver D. Alkire (Wounded August 15, 1864), Frederick Arn, Jacob Adams, Ephriam M. Butcher (Wounded July 20, 1864), Peter T. L. Burch, Levi B. Clovis, James R. Carpenter, Newell Cohagan (Captured June 26, 1864), James H. Campbell, John S. Ewell. Enoch Fleming (Wounded July 20, 1864), Daniel Friedley (Captured May 9, 1864), Stephan A. Irad Garrison, Daniel Garrison (Wounded August 26, 1864), Michael Hallam, Lorenzo D. Hemsworth, Caleb T. Hamilton (Wounded May 9, 1864), Daniel H. Locke, Dennis Lamberson (Wounded October 19, 1864), James S. Martin (Wounded Sept. 19, 1864), Phillip Mason, Eber Mason, Jacob McHenry, Calvert M. McKinney, Darwin S. Maxwell (Wounded May 9, 1864), Leander B. Maxwell, William Morris, John B. Oldfield (Wounded Sept. 3, 1864), Enoch Poling, Hillery Pratt, Andrew J. Riggs, Isaac B. Riggs, James S. Riggs, Peter D. Ridings, David T. Stonebreaker (Wounded Sept. 22, 1864), Hider Stonebreaker, Talor Shround, Isaac Shreves, Abraham Shrieves, William K. Smith (Captured October 19, 1864), Anthony Smith (Captured May 9, 1864), David W. Virden, Abraham Wilson, Christopher Williamson, George Watson.

Former Officers Captain Elias Y. Satterfield (Resigned April 6, 1863), First Lieut John M. Satterfield (Resigned May 11, 1863), Lieutenant Esrom Arnott (Promoted Captain May 26 1863 and resigned March 6, 1865).

Deaths James Morgan at Clarksburg, November 2, 1862, David J. Ridgeway at home, July 4, 1863, First Sergeant John R. Simonton, Hancock, Md. July 25, 1863, Robert L. Albis, Petersburg, W. Va. October 14, 1863, David D. H. Carpenter, at home, January 13, 1884, Milton A. Campbell at Parkersburg, March 7, 1864, Corporal James Bryson Martin, killed in action May 9, 1864, Corporal George Smith, killed in action May 9, 1864, David H. C. McDougal, killed in action May 9, 1864, Jacob Bradford, Wounded May 9 - Died prisoner of war May 29, 1864, George Weekley, Wounded May 9 - Died prisoner of war June 25, 1864, First Sgt. John Johnson, Died prisoner of war, captured May 9, 1864, Oliver H. Campbell Died prisoner of war, Captured May 9, 1864, Samuel Wilson, Died prisoner of war, captured May 9, 1864, James A. Maxwell, Died prisoner of war, Captured May 9, 1864, Peter Butcher, Died prisoner of war, Captured May 9, 1864, Joseph M. Wilson, Died prisoner of war, Captured May 9, 1864, Nathaniel Garrison, Died prisoner of war, Captured May 9, 1864, Corporal Benjamin F. Alkire, Died at Winchester Va. Nov. 27 1864, Francis S. Maxwell, Died of wounds received in action August 24, 1864, Daniel T. Rardon, Died of wounds received in action Dec. 1, 1864.

Discharged David Dillon, March 1, 1863, Sergeant Jacob C. Jones, April 1, 1863, Sergeant Achitnedes Gorrell, April 14, 1863, James N. Leggett, December 10, 1863, Sergeant Samuel Bumgardner, March 4, 1864, Jacob Collins, December 1, 1864, John Musser, January 18, 1865.

Transfer Henry R. Reagan, to V.R.C. March 4, 1864.

Engagements Cloud {CLOYD} Mountain, Va. May 9, 1864, Lexington, Va. June 11, 1864, Lynchburg, Va. June 17and 18, 1864, Carter's Farm, Va. July 20, 1864, Winchester, Va. July 24, 1864, Martinsburg, Va. July 25, 1864, Hall Town, Va. August 24 and 25, 1864, Berryville, Va. Sept. 3, 1864, Winchester, Va. Sept. 19, 1864, Fisher Hill, Va. Sept. 22, 1864, Cedar Creek, Va. October 19, 1864.