In the past few years I’m sure you all have heard J.D. or me talk about the greatest army of all times, The Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee. Some may think I’m bragging, but we all can be proud of the defenders of our South. Many history books will back me up.
I am humbled every time I read of the hardships and sacrifices these soldiers made. The South gave all of her young men while the majority of the North only read about the war in their daily newspapers, but it brought death and grief to almost every family in Stanly county.
The South gave all of her manufacturing trade and farms to the War effort, but the Northern economy was never even tested. I believe the History books would also say the South could never have won a war against a nation with such a strong manufacturing economy and unlimited man power. The only way the Confederate States survived for four years was by the dedication of the soldiers and leadership of Godly men such as Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. Volumes have been written about these two men, but more needs to be written about the soldiers that made all the South’s victories possible.
On my first visit to Gettysburg Battlefield National Park I joined a tour group at the Rock Wall where a park ranger was giving an explanation of how and why the battle happened the way it did. The Ranger posed a question to the crowd, “Why would a General like Robert E. Lee attack a fortified line, out numbering his troops by thousands, and attack over an open area where his soldiers would be in full view and in the line of fire for a mile?” The crowd was silent. The Ranger concluded, “Because General Lee thought his men were invincible.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth I turned and left this group. I didn’t stay to hear the rest. I didn’t like his explanation any better than I liked his accent, but that was 11 years ago and since then I have read and studied many hours of these events. I now think the park Ranger’s explanation was correct. General Lee’s men were invincible, but sadly not immortal and could not be replaced as they fell. They had always accomplished the seemingly impossible. This can be seen in a report written by Gen. Lee to General Samuel Cooper the Inspector General in Richmond. Read the following report and you can see that General Lee knew of his soldiers needs but had full confidence in their invincibility, enough to attack with less that 40,000 men (many were barefoot) against Union forces of 87,164 (well equipped) troops waiting for them in Sharpsburg MD.
“To prolong a state of affairs in every way desirable, and not to permit the season for active operations to pass without endeavoring to inflict further injury upon the enemy, the best course appeared to be the transfer of the army into Maryland. Although not properly equipped for invasion, lacking much of the material of war, and feeble in transportation, the troops poorly provided with clothing, and thousands of them destitute of shoes, it was yet believed to be strong enough to detain the enemy upon the northern frontier until the approach of winter should render his advance into Virginia difficult, if not impracticable.” Signed Robert E. Lee.
In the Valley Campaign General Thomas Jackson earned the name “Stonewall” and his troops became known as “Foot Cavalry”. Jackson’s Corp. operated in the Shenandoah Valley with three divisions, one of these divisions from the start stood head and shoulders above the others, “The Light Division” of A. P. Hill. This division contained six brigades. The Branch/Lane Brigade of North Carolina; Pender’s Brigade of North Carolina; Thomas’ Brigade of Georgia; Gregg’s Brigade of South Carolina; Archer’s Brigade of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia; and Field’s Brigade of Virginia.
Our Burleson family and Stanly County were well represented in the Branch/Lane Brigade. In the 28th Regiment there were two companies from Stanly County. Here we find Adam Burleson who joined in late 1864, John Wesley Burleson who served until Sept. 1863, David Almond surrendered at Appomattox, his brother, Harris Almond, died in Sept. 1862, Howell Harwood served until 1865, his brother, Wesley Harwood, who died in Sept. 1864 and Ebin Burleyson who served from the first day of Co. K, 28th (15 March 1862) until it’s first and only defeat. That was the fall of the Confederate Line at Petersburg, Virginia on April 2, 1865. This was the final blow to General Robert E. Lee’s Army and he was forced to surrender seven days later.
Ebin’s surviving pay voucher does not give any notice of Ebin having time out for wounds or hospital stays, and certainly no leaves from his three years in Virginia. The Gettysburg Ranger’s words were, “ Lee thought his men were invincible,” and invincible was the best description of Ebin Burleyson. His physical description was fair complexion, red hair, blue eyes and he stood five feet five and three quarters inches high. His description was that of an average twenty-two year old in 1862, but the ordeals and hardships of his next three years in the Light Division took their toll.
After Ebin’s capture on 2 April, 1865 he was sent to Point Lookout Prison until 23 June 1865, nearly three months after the end of the war. Ebin survived Point Lookout Prison but suffered sun blindness from the glaring sand and sea because there was no shelter of any kind for the prisoners. After his release, the 500-mile trip home must have been another ordeal, but when Ebin was lead up to his front porch at last, he was still invincible. He recovered his sight soon afterward. Was it luck that Ebin endured all the ordeals that the Army of Northern Virginia asked him to participate in? Maybe a small amount. Was it good training? Definitely not, there was little training if any. Was it experience? Definitely, the private learned what it took to survive. Each battle was another lesson.
Men like Ebin made up the 28th NC. The 28th NC, 7th NC, 18th NC, 33rd NC, and 37th NC made up The Branch/Lane Brigade. The Branch/Lane Brigade was one of the six brigades that made up the famous “Light Division”. Time does not allow me to mention the numerous battles where the Light Division displayed a heroic effort. I will be happy to show one example of how the brigade under General Lawrence O’Brien Branch saved Jackson and his brigade at Second Manassas in Branch’s own words from his official report to General Lee.
“Friday we passed through Orange Court-House and stopped within 2 miles of it on the Rapidan to wait for the commissary wagons to bring up something to eat. Saturday morning at 1 o’clock we were roused by picket-firing in front and the brigade was immediately under arms. In a few minutes I received an order to march forward. Continued the march [without] stopping until about 2 o’clock in the evening, when our advance came up with the enemy, posted and really to give us battle. General Jackson was present in person to command on our side. General Ewell was ordered to take possession of a mountain on our right.
General Jackson’s own division, commanded by General Winder, was on the left. General Hill’s division was placed behind General Jackson’s to support it. The battle commenced and raged for a short time, when General Jackson came to me and told me his left was beaten and broken, and the enemy was turning him and he wished me to advance. I was already in line of battle and instantly gave the order “Forward, march.” I had not gone 100 yards through the woods before we met the celebrated Stonewall Brigade utterly routed and fleeing as fast as they could run. After proceeding a short distance farther we met the enemy pursuing. My brigade opened upon them arid quickly drove the enemy back from the woods into a large field. Following up to the edge of the field, I came in view of large bodies of the enemy, and having a very fine position, I opened upon them with great effect. The enemy’s cavalry attempted to charge us in two columns, but the fire soon broke them and sent them fleeing across the field in every direction. The infantry then retreated also. Advancing into the field, I halted near the middle of it, in doubt which direction to take. Just at that moment General Jackson came riding up from my rear alone. I reported my brigade as being solid and asked for orders. My men recognized him and raised a terrific shout as he rode along the line with his hat off. He evidently knew how to appreciate a brigade that had gone through a hot battle and was then following the retreating enemy without having broken its line of battle, and remained with me directing my movements until the pursuit ceased. We returned and slept on the battlefield among the dead and wounded.
After remaining there and near by until Monday at dark, we were ordered to light large camp-fires, and immediately after dark the army commenced moving back, and our division reached this place last night.
We gained a splendid victory and the credit of it is due to my brigade. I was among my men all through the fight and they were brave and cool. Most of my cowards have been got rid of in one way and another.” Signed General Lawrence O’Brien Branch.
This incident surely made an impression on Jackson. On another occasion, in the Maryland Campaign at the Battle of Sharpsburg, General Lee’s Army was only two separate corps. Commanded by General Jackson and General James Longstreet. After this encounter, General Lee was forced to give up his plan of threatening Washington, D.C. and demanding recognition of the Confederate States. The daylong battle known as The Battle of Antietam in the North, on the 17 September 1862 produced more casualties in one day than any other battle of the entire War. The Union suffered losses of 12,410 men and the South suffered losses of 11,172 men in the campaign. This was more than one quarter of General Lee’s army. The total surely would have been more if not for the arrival and attack of the Light Division that saved Generals Lee, Longstreet, and Jackson from certain destruction.
Here is what General Longstreet said a few years after, “Nearly one-forth of the troops who went into the battle were killed or wounded. We were so badly crushed that at the close of the day ten thousand fresh troops could have come in and taken Lee’s Army and everything it had. But (Union General) McClellan did not know it.”
Keep in mind the Union did not use but 60,000 troops in the fight. They did not need to send for fresh reinforcements as they had over 27,000 fresh troops on the battlefield then. General Lee at day’s end had only about 27,000 remaining and they were the worn survivors of the original 40,000 that started in the morning, their ammo and food supply exhausted by dark with no hope of reinforcements. General Longstreet was correct; Lee’s Army was whipped. At 3 PM the Union Army’s, left wing, had successfully taken and crossed the Burnside Bridge on Antietam Creek that the Confederates had kept between the two armies all day. By 3:30 PM the Confederates right wing had been pushed back with the Potomac River to their back. The Army of Northern Virginia could not stop or slow the overpowering force of the blue clad Troops. General Lee was very aware of his dilemma. In another 15 minutes his whole right wing would be pushed into the river to die or surrender now. There was no escape. General Lee had sent for Hill who was 17 miles away in Harper’s Ferry, but could he bring his Light Division in time?
Lee and Jackson’s only hope was for the Light Division to travel the 17 miles from Harper’s Ferry in record time. General Lee was waiting at Boteler’s Ford on the Potomac River as the Light Division arrived. In the lead was the Branch/Lane Brigade commanded by Lawrence O’Brien Branch. Correct protocol would be for General Lee to issue an order of his needs to first General Hill, Hill would direct General Branch, General Branch would position Col. Lane into the desired position. That would be correct protocol, General Lee instructed General Hill to take the first regiment across the River which was the 28th NC commanded by Col. James H. Lane to block the lead union division advancing through Lee’s line. The 28th, including Ebin Burleyson was still wet from fording the waist deep river and without slowing, stopping or missing a step, fired volley into the advancing blue line. Ebin and the others of Co. K did not need any further orders. They knew why they had marched with their 11 lb. Springfield rifles those 17 miles. Their work had just begun, fire, reload, keep marching, fire, and reload.
While General Hill was placing the 28th to meet the most urgent threat General Branch was directing the remaining regiments into position to have the most effect. Sadly General Branch was killed at this moment.
Immediately with the first volley from the 28th the Union advance stopped. Within minutes the rest of the Light Division was firing into the stalled line of Union troops. This sudden shock turned the Union attack into a retreat. The day was saved for General Lee and Jackson and they successfully escaped the following day back into Virginia. General McClellan had had enough after the attack of the Light Division and wanted no more of the Army of Northern Virginia. He was happy to lick his wounds and watch General Lee return to Virginia.
Would this timely forced march and direct attack without stopping from Harper’s Ferry, by A. P. Hill’s Light Division, be so important to General Lee and General Jackson that the Light Division was on their mind until their last breath? In the memoirs of Robert E. Lee written by A. L. Long who was formerly Military Secretary to General Lee, afterward Brigade General and Chief of Artillery Second Corp., Army of Northern Virginia, wrote this of General Lee’s last moments of his life,
“The great mind sank to its last repose almost with the equal poise of health. The few broken utterances that evinced at times a wandering intellect were spoken under the influence of the remedies administered; But as long as consciousness lasted there was evidence that all the high controlling influences of his whole life still ruled; and even stupor was laying its cold hand on the intellectual perceptions, the moral nature complete orb of duties and affections, still asserted itself. A southern poet has celebrated in song those last significant words, ‘Strike the Tent!’ And a thousand voices were raised to give meaning to the uncertain sound when the dying man said, with emphasis ‘Tell Hill he must come up!’ These sentences serve to show most touchingly through what fields the imagination was passing; but generally his words, though few, were coherent, and for the most part his silence was unbroken.”
General Thomas Jackson’s last moments are best recorded in the book They Called Him Stonewall by Burke Davis. Davis describes the last hours of General Jackson’s life as Jackson was told by his wife Anna and Doctors that he had only two hours to live. I will pick up Davis’ narrative at that point,
“At one thirty, the doctors told him he had two hours to live, and he seemed to understand. Feebly he said, ‘All right. Very good. It’s all right.’ A short time later he shouted, ‘Tell A. P. Hill to prepare for action!…Pass the infantry to the front’.
Soon a faint smile, almost sweet, passed across the pale lips under the beard. Anna and the men leaned forward to the bed, ‘Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.’
He was gone. It was three fifteen in the afternoon.”
I believe I have made my point of how well respected the Light Division of General A. P. Hill was to Lee and Jackson. Many of Stanly County’s finest including Ebin Burleyson were in the forefront of the unit until the end.
If anyone does not accept Generals Lee’s and Jackson’s dying words of highest respect for the Light Division, I suppose I could give you 90,000 plus eyewitnesses from the Union Army. The sight of the Light Division approaching —was the last sight —their eyes —witnessed.
Humbly submitted,
John Hoyle Burleson
Our regular monthly meeting was Monday night, July 7, 2003 at Lena’s Farm House. We had a great time with about 25 present. Several people brought interesting items to share with the group. Calvin Burleson, grandson of Ebin Burleson, brought a medal that Ebin received for attending a reunion of Confederate Veterans. Ebin was very active and enjoyed attending these reunions and meetings. In a conversation with Mae Burleson Moore, Ebin’s daughter she said that she could remember Ebin getting the whole family together in a wagon pulled by a horse and traveling to Salisbury to attend one of these reunions. She was young when Ebin died, but that was one of the things she said he really enjoyed. Here is a picture of the Medal.
