Company M (Howell Guards)
Stationed at Evansport Batteries,
August 30-December 31, 1861.
August 20-27. - This company (Howell
Guards) was organized in Tallahassee, Florida on August 20, 1861.
August
27. - Remained in camp at that place until their departure for Virginia, which
was on August 27, 1861.
September 2-27. - The company reached Richmond
on September 2, 1861, where they were encamped for instruction and drill.
September 27. - Ordered to Evansport, Special Orders No.162.
September 27. - The company arrived at Brooke's Station on the night of
September 27 and camped there until the following morning, from whence we
marched to Evansport Batteries, a distance of twenty miles on the same day,
where they have been encamped since and engaged in building batteries, etc., and
have had charge of the 32-pound rifle gun and 32-pound smoothbore gun from the
time of opening Old Ship Point Battery on ----. While so in charge, two of our
men, Privates [John Maxwell] Footman and [Richard A.] Jenkins, have been
accidentally wounded by the bursting of shell shot from the enemy's gun on the
opposite (Maryland) shore of the Potomac.
September 26. - This company
(Howell Guards) was mustered for pay on September 26, 1861 by John Archer,
Confederate States Army, Mustering Officer, but the muster rolls being
improperly made out, the company was not paid on them.
Stationed
at Camp Davis near Fredericksburg, December 31, 1861-April 30, 1862.
The
Howell Guards, Florida Volunteers, Captain G. W. Parkhill, commanding, encamped
near Richmond, Virginia.
September 28. - Started for Evansport,
Virginia, where we arrived that afternoon at 4 o'clock p.m., after a march of
eighteen miles.
October 15. - On October 15 the steamer Pocahontas came
down the Potomac, fired at some men (near Battery No. 1) standing on the banks.
The battery was unmasked, but the steamer was out of range of the guns. The
steamer Seminole then came down upon us and engaged batteries in a running
fight. She received eleven shots which did her (according to Northern accounts)
great dam-age.
October 16. - On October 16 the Pawnee passed, receiving
three shots and one shell in her. The shell exploded, setting her on fire. It
was extinguished, however, after doing her some damage, and she laid around
Smith's Point for several days.
October 19. - On October 19 we
participated in the capture of two schooners, viz.: the Fairfax. of New York,
and the Mary Virginia, of Washington. The colors of the Howell Guards were the
first unfurled over these batteries and the banner under which all this fighting
was done.
November 1. - About November 1 the enemy erected a battery on
the Maryland shore and have been throwing shells constantly at us ever since. As
many as eighty-five shells have been thrown in one day.
February 14. -
On February 14, 1862 the Tredegar rifle gun exploded while firing at schooners,
killing one of my men (David B. Julian). I had two men wounded by bursting of a
shell from the enemy's battery.
March 7. - The evacuation of Evansport
batteries was ordered and my company was left the 9-inch battery to cover the
retreat and spike the guns and destroy the property.
March 10-15. -
Reached Fredericksburg, Virginia on March 10 and was ordered by General
[Theophilus Hunter] Holmes to Spottswood Battery on the Rappahannock River on
March 15.
April 18. - Our Army fell back from Fredericksburg and we were
ordered to join the Fifth Alabama Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel [Henry H.]
Walker.
G. W. PARKHILL, Commanding Company,
Howell Guards, Florida
Volunteers.
Station not stated, February 28-June 30, 1862.
June 20. - The Howell Guards, Company M, Second Regiment) having been
temporarily attached to the Fifth Battalion, Alabama Volunteers, when our Army
fell back from the Rappahannock, and afterwards to the Fifty-fifth Regiment,
Virginia Volunteers; received orders on June 20, 1862 to join the Second
Regiment, Florida Volunteers; encamped two miles below Richmond.
June
26. - Company M, with the regiment, left said encampment on the morning of June
26 and slept on the battlefield at Mechanicsville at night. The following
morning at daylight (Friday), [the] Second Regiment, Florida Volunteers,
consisting of part of General Roger [Atkinson] Pryor's Brigade and General
[James] Longstreet's Division, participated in the early renewed attack of that
morning when Captain G. Washington Parkhill was killed leading his company (M)
in battle. The Second Florida was actively engaged throughout the day and in the
afternoon's severe engagement and in the march on the retreating enemy.
June 30. - On the afternoon of Monday, June 30, in our engagement below
Richmond in charging a field battery of the enemy's, Lieutenant Richard C.
Parkhill was severely wounded by shell; Sergeant Joseph M. Cants and Private
Abram B. Johnson were killed and several members of Company M were wounded.
Several were wounded in the engagement of Friday. The casualties of Company M
[tally] up as follows: killed, one captain, one sergeant, one private-total
killed, three; wounded, one lieutenant, four corporals, nine privates-total
wounded, fourteen; total killed and wounded, seventeen. [A] number of others
were slightly wounded, but not sufficient to go to the hospital or report unfit
for duty. Colonel E. A. Perry, Second Regiment, Florida Volunteers, was wounded
in the battle of Monday, June 30 and the command devolved on Captain A. Moseley,
Company H.
July 10. - Returned to camp near Richmond July 10, 1862,
having been actively engaged in the battle before Richmond and in the long
pursuit of the enemy [for] fifteen days.
Amos Whitehead, Lieutenant, Commanding Howell Guards, Company M,
Second
Regiment, Florida Volunteers.
Stationed at Culpeper Court-House,
Virginia, June 3-October 31, 1862.
Stationed at camp near
Fredericksburg, Virginia, November-December 1862.
Stationed at
Hamilton's Crossing, Virginia, January-February 1863.
Stationed at camp
near Fredericksburg, Army of Northern Virginia, March-April 1863.
Stationed near Orange Court-House, Virginia, April 30-August 31, 1863.
Stationed near Culpeper Court-House, Virginia, September-October 1863.
Stationed at Rapidan Station, Virginia, November-December 1863.
Stationed near Orange Court-House, Virginia, January-February 1864.
Stationed near Petersburg, Virginia, March-April 1864.
Stationed
near Petersburg, Virginia, April 30-August 31, 1864.
Stationed near
Petersburg, Virginia, September-October 1864.
Stationed at camp near
Petersburg, Virginia, November-December 1864.
Stationed near Petersburg,
Virginia, January-February 1865.
From "Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate
Armies"
Part II - Record of Events, Volume 5, pages 228-231
Edited by
Janet B. Hewett
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