The Sergeants of the "Randolph Hornets" are next in the line of command after the Captains and the Lieutenants. Unlike the Captains and Lieutenants, it seems the Sergeants don't follow any sort of promotion schedule, nor is there a set number of each level of Sergeant at any given time. (Or if they are, they aren't documented as precisely as they do for the other two ranks.)
Also, remember, as with the previous post, some of the men I have already featured as Captains and Lieutenants also served as Sergeants, namely Lewis F. McMasters, Columbus F. Siler, and John M. Lawrence. I will now describe the service as those men whose highest rank was some level of Sergeant.
The First Sergeants
NOTE: I am not sure whether or not either of these first men served as a 1st Sergeant or as a lower level Sergeant, but since their records never specify being 2nd Sergeant, 3rd Sergeant, etc., I assume that means they were a 1st Sergeant.
Stephen W. Trogdon was the first person (not previously mentioned) to have secured the rank of (1st) Sergeant. He enlisted, however, as a Private on 10 June 1861. His first year in the Company seemed to run fairly smoothly though since he doesn't appear in any records until 13 December 1862. On that day, Stephen was captured at Fredricksburg, Virginia. (He is also listed as being a Corporal at this point in the War.)
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Then, the records show Stephen as being paroled from the Army of the Potomac Camp near Falmouth, Virginia on 14 December 1862 for a prisoner exchange.
Stephen doesn't appear in the records again for another seven months. It seems Stephen's story gets worse really quickly.
Not only is Stephen wounded at Gettysburg on 1 July 1863, but he is wounded so severely that he has to have his leg amputated on 2 July 1863. Surgeon John H. McAden, of the 13th North Carolina Infantry. was the one who operated on his thigh at Richmond, Virginia.
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Understandably, Stephen stayed in the hospital for a while after that. He shows up in August 1863 at the 4th Division, General Hospital at Camp Winder in Richmond, Virginia. At this point, he's been promoted to Sergeant. (I guess amputation is considered adequate merit for promotion.)
In October of 1863, Stephen is present at both the DeCamp General Hospital at Davids Island in the New York Harbor and at the Receiving and Wayside Hospital (or General Hospital No. 9) at Richmond, Virginia.
Then Stephen disappears from the records for a year. He is listed as retiring on 31 July 1864 and being "totally disqualified" from the Invalid Corps.
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And finally, on 16 November 1864, he appears at the CSA General Hospital in Charlottesville, Virginia. This is where we learn it was his right leg that was amputated.
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Stephen's time in the War was violent to say the least. I wonder how this entire experience affected him and his opinions on life, War, and America.
Henry C Smith was the only other person in the 22nd North Carolina Infantry to make it to 1st Sergeant (without being promoted further). He enlisted with the Randolph Hornets much later than most of the rest of the officers in the unit though. He joined on 1 June 1864 as a Private with the Company.
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Since the War didn't last much longer than the time he enlisted, I expected his experience to be rather lackluster. I was wrong!
I started thinking "What caused Henry to get promoted so quickly?" Then I answered myself, "Who do most people get promoted? They show some sort of allegiance above and beyond the call of duty." In Henry's case, as with many soldiers, including some more of the men in this post, he was captured as a Prisoner of War.
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Henry was captured at Hatcher's Run on 31 March 1865 and was held at Point Lookout, Maryland as a Prisoner of War until he was finally released on 3 June 1865. He was released as a "Sick Prisoner" from Point Lookout after having taken the Oath of Allegiance. What an abrupt yet eventful experience he had in the War!
William P. Willey enlisted as a Private with the 22nd North Carolina Infantry on 10 June 1861. Honestly, his service is a little confusing to me.
Once enlisting, he doesn't appear in the records again until September 1862. He's listed as being a Sergeant, but he's also listed as being Absent WithOut Leave. It seemed odd to me that a man who had seemingly no issues prior to this suddenly decided to leave his troop.
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Then, it starts to make a little bit more sense when he shows up in October of 1862 wounded.
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So, to me, it makes sense if he was AWOL due to being wounded. But, I can't find him in any hospital records during this time. For that matter, he doesn't even show up again in the records until 1864!
On 27 March 1864, he was recruited to be a Guard in Greensboro, North Carolina. He must have done a pretty fine job at it because he served as a Guard until then end of the War when he was paroled on 2 May 1865. I want to see if I can find some kind of records of his time as a Guard, but that will be a post for another day.
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The Second Sergeants
William A. Pounds was mustered into the Company on 10 June 1861 as a 5th Sergeant. He, however, doesn't appear in any records until 13 Dec 1862 when he is shown as being captured at Fredricksburg, Virginia. Then, on 14 December 1862, William is paroled as a POW at the Army of Potomac Camp located near Falmouth, Virginia. (I wonder if he and Stephen crossed paths during the time they were both POWs after Fredricksburg.)
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After William's parole, he doesn't show up in the records again for a while, but I can assume he went back to fighting because he later shows up as being taken as a Prisoner of War at Gettysburg and at Falling Waters on 14 July 1863.
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William didn't stay a POW long this time either. On 16 August 1863, he was paroled at Baltimore, Maryland.
Then, something interesting happens.
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According to this record, William joined the US Army on 4 February 1864. This seemed to be a contingency on his parole from, once again, being a POW, as he was also listed as taking the Oath of Allegiance at Point Lookout 11 February 1864.
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It seems from the records that he joined the US Senior Army. I have found no records of him actually having served for the Union in any fashion. And, on top of that, he shows back up with the Randolph Hornets from July to October 1864 after apparently being promoted to 2nd Sergeant.
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It seems William had a pretty interesting time in the War. I'm really curious if he wrote any of his story down in a similar fashion as W. S. Lineberry. I think it would be fascinating to hear his story straight from the man who lived it!
The Third Sergeants
William Coble enlisted 10 June 1861 as a 19-year-old into the 22nd North Carolina Infantry. He mustered in as a 3rd Sergeant.
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Considering his age, I wonder if the rank he was given was perhaps due to prior leadership abilities or intelligence. Whatever the reasons may have been, William didn't seem to do so well in the War. On 11 March 1862,* William died in Cedar Falls.**
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*William also appears as having died 21 February 1862 on another document in his record.
**William also appears as having died in Cedar Forest on another document in his record.
James E. Campbell was a 22-year-old blacksmith when he enlisted in the Company as a Private on 6 March 1862.
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I can't find any records of him for the first two months of his enlistment, but on 28 May 1862, he appears to be at the Chimborazo Hospital No. 4 in Richmond, Virginia with "diarrhea, ac."
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Diarrhea is, of course, self-explanatory, but I am curious about the "ac." at the end. The only thing I can find that has the initials a.c. is "ague cake," which is described as "a hard tumor or swelling on the left side of the abdomen, lower than the false rib, resulting from enlargement of the spleen or liver, and supposed to be the effect of intermitting fevers." This doesn't seem correct to me. It would make more sense if the "ac." stood for "acute," which would mean it was "severe."
After his stay at Chimborazo, it seems he may have been sent to Lynchburg on 1 June 1862, but I can find no record of him there. Instead, on 4 June 1862, he shows up at the C.S.A. General Hospital in Danville, Virginia with typhoid fever, a bacterial infection.
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The CDC states, "You can get typhoid fever if you eat food or drink beverages that have been handled by a person who is shedding Salmonella Typhi or if sewage contaminated with Salmonella Typhi bacteria gets into the water you use for drinking or washing food. Therefore, typhoid fever is more common in areas of the world where handwashing is less frequent and water is likely to be contaminated with sewage." So, perhaps his previous issues with diarrhea caused a contaminated water supply, which then, in turn, gave him typhoid.
It seems his run with typhoid lasted a long while, or that he was simply trying to avoid the War by staying in the hospital, because he was listed as being "on furlough" in July, then he shows up "AWOL" in September before it's finally revealed that he's been at the hospital (seemingly) the entire time until he returns to duty 22 October 1862.
This time back in the field doesn't seem to make it a month though as on 14 November 1862, he shows back up in the hospital. This time, he's at General Hospital No. 13 in Richmond, Virginia. His diagnosis is catarrh.
Catarrh is defined as "inflammation of mucous membrane most commonly in the throat and nose, accompanied by an increased secretion mucous, sometimes accompanied by fever, or, rarely cerebral hemorrhage." To me, that sounds like seasonal allergies. I checked with my pharmacist, and he said it could have been allergies or even a bad sinus infection. If the fever was high enough, it could have been pretty bad, but I wasn't convinced James wasn't just trying to avoid the battlefield. He stayed in the hospital 13 days this time for his illness.
After this stay in the hospital, I don't seem to find James listed on any records, but I don't think that means he was absent. In fact, I think it implies the opposite in his case. Whatever the reason, somehow James ends up fighting with the unit at Gettysburg. This is where his luck really starts to turn for the worst.
On 5 July 1863, James is wounded and taken prisoner at Gettysburg. On 19 July 1863, he is admitted to the USA General Hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania.
He seems to stay in Chester for several months until he is finally sent to Point Lookout on 2 October 1863. He arrives at the Point Lookout hospital, Hammond General Hospital, two days later.
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Either something happened during this time, or maybe someone felt he'd suffered enough to have earned it, but James was promoted some time during his stay at Point Lookout. By 3 March 1864, when he takes part in a prisoner exchange at Point Lookout, James shows up as a Corporal.
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After the prisoner exchange, sometime between October 1863 and July 1864, James finally gets promoted to 3rd Sergeant. James shows up as absent though having taken a sick and wounded furlough in August of 1864. On 17 November 1864, he appears on a register of the Invalid Corps, PACS.
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It seems, however, that he has been listed as "T.D.," which I have come to understand means "Totally Disabled" or "Totally Disqualified." Because of this distinction, I do not think he ever actually served with the Corps.
James is officially paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina at the end of the War on 17 May 1865.
The Fourth Sergeants
William Franklin Hays enlisted 10 June 1861 as a Private in the Company. William was sick and sent to Fredricksburg on 28 August 1861. (You'll remember Columbus F. Siler, future Captain of the Company was sent to Fredricksburg at the same time to "care for the sick.") No mention is made of the illness he had. The next time William shows up in the records is 1 July 1862 at Chimborazo Hospital No. 4 in Richmond with a gunshot wound in the right arm.
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As a result of the gunshot wound, William was furloughed from 20 July to 20 August 1862. After the furlough, William doesn't show up again until October 1862 when he is listed as being "wounded." I don't know if this wound is referring to the one from July or if it is a new wound, but it seems he was at least still unable to perform any duties.
Then, after the October record, I don't know what happened to him. He doesn't appear in the rolls again until July 1864 when he shows up as 4th Sergeant. I wonder if he was promoted because of something that occurred during that time between his furlough and 1864; perhaps something happened at Gettysburg. He shows up as "present" for the span of July to October 1864. I also don't see William listed anywhere from November 1864 until the end of the War when he is paroled (on 13 May 1865 in Greensboro).
The Fifth Sergeants
Thomas B. Hays enlisted as a 25-year-old on 10 June 1861 as a Private in the Company. Within two months, Thomas was sent to Fredricksburg sick (same as William). I don't know what illness he had, but he is listed as still being sick in October 1862.
Then, on 2 November 1862, Thomas was admitted to the Chimborazo No. 3 Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. His disease appears to be listed as "anasaica," which is described as "generalized edema or generalized dropsy." After two weeks in the hospital, he was furloughed for 60 days.
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After Thomas' furlough, I don't know what happened to him. Same as with William, Thomas doesn't appear in the rolls again until July 1864 when he shows up as 5th Sergeant. I wonder if he too was promoted because of something that occurred during that time between his furlough and 1864. He. too. shows up as "present" for the span of July to October 1864. I also don't see Thomas listed anywhere from November 1864 until the end of the War when he is paroled (on 17 May 1865 in Greensboro).
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