Parkersburg, W. Va. Some were going into the Union army, and some of us into the Southern army.
I arrived at home and remained there a short time. At that time the Governor of Virginia was calling for volunteers. There had been a company raised at Springfield, my native town, and they were in service and camped at Blue's Gap, fifteen miles east of Romney, on the road leading to Winchester. As I had but fifteen miles to go to reach them, I bade farewell to my parents and sisters and went to the company, and arrived that evening in camp.
I met old schoolmates and acquaintances whom I had parted from two years before in the school room, and now found them in arms. I signed my name to the muster-roll, put on the uniform of gray, and was mustered into service for one year. The name of the company was "Potomac Guards," Captain P. T. Grace, commanding; S. D. Long, First Lieutenant; Jacob N. Buzzard, Second Lieutenant; William Johnson, Third Lieutenant. There was another company camped at that place, the "Hampshire Riflemen," Captain George Sheetz. They were doing picket duty, not having yet been assigned to any regiment.
The next morning, which was the 19th of June, we were ordered to fall in, and marched to Romney. The day was hot and the road dusty, and marching went quite hard with us, especially myself, who had never marched a day in my life; but I kept in ranks, for, "Who would not a soldier be, and with the soldiers march?" Arriving in Romney about 3 p. m., we quartered in an old building, took a good wash, had some refreshments, and felt like soldiers indeed, with our clothes covered with brass buttons and the ladies smiling at us and cheering us on.
In the early part of June Colonel A. C. Cummings, who had seen service in the Mexican war, and whose home was at Abington, Va., was commissioned Colonel by the Governor of Virginia, and sent from Harper's Ferry to Romney to collect together the different companies organizing in that and adjacent counties and form a regiment. He had been there but a few days, and had three companies—the Potomac Guards, from Springfield; the Hampshire Riflemen, from New Creek, and the Independent Greys,
