Members of the Carpenter’s Battery Camp 1927, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Sara Rice Pryor Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, observed the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War Sunday with their ninth annual Confederate Memorial Service.
The service was held at the base of the Confederate Monument, located on Main St. in Covington.
In his opening remarks, SCV Commander Bill Siple offered a history of Carpenter’s Battery, the unit from which the SCV chapter derives its name. Carpenter’s Battery was comprised of men from the Alleghany County area who enlisted April 22, 1861 at Covington. They became Company A of the 27th Virginia Regiment, which was also known as the “Stonewall Brigade” after its general, Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.
In the fall of 1862, the Company, having suffered severely from casualties, was consolidated with Jackson’s artillery and became known as Carpenter’s Battery, after Capt. Joseph Carpenter and Capt. John C. Carpenter.
Carpenter’s Battery took part in 26 major Civil War battles, including First and Second Manassas, Malvern Hill, Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Fredricksburg, Gettsyburg, Cedar Creek and Chancellorsville.
An article in the January 30, 1867 edition of the Lexington Gazette and Banner stated “No Company in the Confederate service won a more honorable and deserved distinction than Carpenter’s Battery, and none that we have heard, lost more heavily in killed and wounded, in proportion to numbers.”
Carpenter’s Battery Camp 1927 of SCV held its organizational meeting November 18, 2000 at Oakland Church in Selma.
Following Siple’s remarks, UDC members Doris McCoy and Gloria O’Neil read poems. McCoy read “One of Longstreet’s Men” by T.C. Haubaugh, while O’Neil read “To the Sons and Daughters of the Veterans” by Elizabeth Rees Legare.
The guest speaker was Rick Armstrong of Bath County. Armstrong is a noted Civil War historian who has written several books on the war.
“We assemble here today to remember and honor the soldiers of the Alleghany Highlands who fought in the American Civil War,” said Armstrong. “This is an extra special occasion as it marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of that conflict.”
Noting that “more than 620,000 Americans died during the war, more than in all the American wars put together, before and after,” he continued, “We must never forget that during that time, American fought American, family member fought family member, and everyone suffered because of it.
The war was not just confined to the battlefield, but in encompassed the entire country…Civilians everywhere were touched in some way by the war. These, we must remember also.”
Continuing, Armstrong said, “we also must remember that in the years after the war, America had a surge of population as many new citizens took their place in society.
Unfortunately, it took many years for these new citizens to gain the freedoms and privileges that were due them. Like it or not, this is part of their heritage also. We do not gather to judge whether it was right or wrong, just or unjust, but to remember and pay honor to all Americans.
Emphasizing that “we must preserve and share our heritage,” he urged everyone to search their attics and collections of family papers and memorabilia .”