the
Indian Wars. Whenever anybody was fighting our country, some of my
people were in it, and back of that, Lord Nelson of Trafalgar, was a
second cousin of my great-grandfather, Thomas Nelson; and, still farther
back of that, my ancestor, Thomas Randolph, in command of a division of
the Scottish Army under King Robert Bruce, was the man who, by his
furious charge, broke the English line at "Bannockburn" and won the
Independence of Scotland.

You see that a boy, with all that back of him, in his family, had the
virus in his blood, and could not help being wretched when his country
was invaded, and fighting, and he not in it. He would feel that he was
dishonoring the traditions of his race, and untrue to the memory of his
fathers. However, that schoolboy brooding over the situation was mighty
miserable. When my parents realized my feelings, they, at last, gave up
their opposition, and I went into the army with their consent, and
blessing.

=First Company Richmond Howitzers=

While this matter was hanging fire, having been at a military academy, I
was trying to do some little service by helping to drill some of the raw
companies which were being rapidly raised, in and around Danville. The
minute I was free, off I went. Circumstances led me to enlist in a
battery made up in Richmond, known as the "First Company of Richmond
Howitzers," and I was thus associated with as fine a body of men as ever
lived--who were to be my comrades in arms, and the most loved, and
valued friends of my after life.

This battery was attached to "Cabell's Battalion" and formed part of the
field artillery of Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. It was
a "crack" battery, and was always put in when anything was going on. It
served with great credit, and was several times mentioned in General
Orders, as having rendered signal service to the army. It was in all the
campaigns, and in action in every battle of the Army of Northern
Virginia. It fought at Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Seven Days'
Battle around Richmond in 1862, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Harpers
Ferry, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Morton's Ford, The
Wilderness, The Battles of Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna, Pole
Green Church, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and at Appomattox Court House.
Every one of the cannoneers, who had not been killed or wounded, was at
his gun in its last fight. The very last thing it did was to help "wipe
up the ground" wit