Return to the Land

Bud, and lived in Ceres of western Bland County; Minnie Catherine married John Harvey Miller; William Gordon (Uncle Willie) married Macie Spangler.

At the age of 19 on August 8, 1862, at a rally with his neighbors, David enlisted in the Confederate Army at Mechanicsburg, just a few miles from his home. He began as a private in Company F 8 th Regiment of the Virginia Calvary Brigade, known as the Bland Rangers, under the command of Colonel William Neal Harmon who owned a large farm at Hollybrook. At the Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain , just north of Dublin, Virginia on May 9, 1864, David was wounded in the leg. Unable to continue in the front lines he stayed in the rear and became a surgical assistant for the wounded soldiers. Unfortunately, the surgeon was killed leaving him with the responsibility of caring for the wounded. The bullets were called mini-balls or punkin-balls and when possible were removed by an instrument called ball-togs or ball-tongs. When the war ended David kept the ball-tongs with which he worked and brought them home. They are in his grandson’s, Eugene Wright, family’s possession.

The Ball Tongs

One story that was passed down was that near the end of the war their uniforms were so ragged it was difficult to distinguish the North from the South. David happened upon one of those northern war weary soldiers and both being too exhausted to fight struck up a conversation instead. Both expressed their opposition to the war. They went on their separate ways without a confrontation. Even though he was opposed to slavery and never owned any slaves he supported the South in order not to disgrace his family for at that time young men who refused to enlist were considered dishonorable. At wars end one would think those on active duty would be given a formal discharge. But in fact there was such disorganization many merely left the ranks and returned home when learning of General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. It appears that David’s situation may have been different. Records revealed he was given a Parole of Honor in Charleston, West Virginia on June 22, 1865 as rendered by a provost marshal. It becomes apparent that David became a prisoner of war, captured by the North, and at the conclusion of the Civil War he was released and exchanged.

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