| A Short History of the Life
of Samuel Brunk |
| By Samuel Brunk |
| Born January 8, 1843 |
| |
| ***** |
| p. 944 Now comes my war story.
In 1861 when I was a little over 18 years old, I was caught in the
first draft, but one of my neighbors who wanted to go, offered to go
in my place, and I was to go in his place when he would be drafted, so
this kept me out several months and then I had to go. Our first night
was spent in the Court house in Harrisonburg. The next day we were
marched to Woodstock, as there was no railroad to Harrisonburg. From
Woodstock we were taken to Winchester by rail. Here we spent several
months of the summer, in two different camps. ***** All we had to do
at Winchester was to drill and go out on picket once in a while, a
little later we were marched to Martinsburg a distance of 22 miles on
foot, here our company were camped in a house right in town, after we
were there several days there was an order for us to go up the Rail
Road track west of Martinsburg to take up the tracks, of course we
went with train {this could only have been a
captured Baltimore & Ohio RR locomotive} to bring the rails
back. The first day we bought a load of Rails, the second day we
started back again, and when we were getting near to the point we were
aiming at, there was a woman on the side of the track hollowing and
waving a cloth trying to stop the train. When we stopped she told us
the Yankeys were only a little ahead of us and they would capture us,
so we went back without rails. I don't think they went back to take up
rails after that, or at least I did not. We were told afterward that
there were no Yankeys up there, but the woman that gave the alarm, had
several small children up there somewhere and she was afraid the train
would catch them. Pretty good excuse I think. ***** |
| |
| {From Unionists and
the Civil War Experience in the Shenandoah Valley, Volume III,
Bridgewater, Dayton and Surrounding Areas Rockingham County, Virginia.
Compiled and Transcribed from the Southern Claims Commission Records
1871-1880, The National Archives Washington, D. C. by David S. Rodes
and Norman R. Wenger.} |
| {Thanks to Peter J.
Lysy for locating and providing this document} |
|