John David McGeachy, a Robeson County farmer, enlisted in Company D of the 51st North Carolina on April 26, 1862. He served with the regiment until April 1865, when the company disbanded and went home. Among his papers in the David Rubenstein Library at Duke University, are three journals. One, a pocket-sized notebook, contains the hand-written tale of McGeachy’s service in the Confederate Army. NOTE: the transcript below has been lightly edited for readability, mostly by adding punctuation and paragraphs. None of the words have been changed.
John D. McGeachy volunteered at McLeans Cross Roads the 26th April 1862 under Capt. James R. McDonald to serve for three years or the war. Left home the 6th of May and took the cars at Lumberton the 7th and went that night to Camp Ho[l]mes where we met all our friends who had gone before. We remained till 17th when we went to Camp Davis and stayed till 21st when our Co. was ordered to Camp Lazaretto to build batteries on the Cape Fear. We then remained there till 21st July, when we moved a little distance to Camp McDonald and we made one battery and started what was called Fort French, when I got a permit to go home the 6th day of Sept. where I stayed till the 17th of Oct.
When I started [back] for my Regt. I took the stage at Fayetteville and had a very pleasant trip to Raleigh with the exception of one upset which did not hurt anyone [the stage turned over, and the passengers had to squeeze through a window and tip the stage back on its wheels].Then took the cars to Goldsboro thence to Camp Campbell, between Goldsboro and Kinston, where I found my Co. We then stayed there enjoying camp life as best we could till when we were marched to in all haste to Kinston, some eight miles. Here we remained all that day then that night. We came back to Camp Campbell and stayed till Nov. 1st when we took the cars for Kinston and went to Camp Allen some four miles below. Then began our first hard marching for fifteen days.
We went toward New Bern twice. The first trip we had snow and rain. I volunteered in a party of 100 men to go on a scout. We left the Regt. at Trenton and went in about eight miles of New Bern and tried to draw the picket out but failed. We then came back to Trenton that night and next night we started through snow and darkness and marched some 20 miles and we encamped till morning. Then we went back to Kinston and next day we started on the same road again. This time we went in six miles of New Bern and ran in the picket. We captured one horse and some dainties from there, when we fell back again to Kinston.
Then we were ordered to Greenville and went some 40 miles when the orders was countermanded and we come back to camp and then took the cars for Wilmington where we arrived the 19th Nov and marched out to Camp Hedrick, stayed till 21st when we went to Camp Clingman. Then, the 27 we moved to Camp Whiting where we stayed till the night of the 15th of Dec when we took the cars at Wilmington for Goldsboro. Got there the 16th and the 17th we met and fought our first battle. Our Co. lost one killed and four wounded. We then went into camp till 28th, when we started for Camp Whiting which was a very pleasant march and we arrived in Wilmington Jan. 2nd 1863.
We then stayed at Camp Whiting till the 17th Feb when we started to Charleston S C where we arrived there the 19th and stayed that night in the Pavilion Hotel. Next day we marched to St. Andrews Parish on Johns Point where we remained till the 1st of March when we started for Savannah Ga. We remained till the 5th when we returned to Johns Point and remained till 12th when we went to James Island and remained there till first May when we started for Wilmington again and arrived there 3rd May.
We then went to Camp Florida and had a very good time with plenty of fish. This camp is 16 miles below Wilmington. The 24th we came back to Camp Whiting. We went back to Camp Davis and stayed till 6th June when we went to Magnolia and went into camp at Beaver Dam Church till 8th. We then went to Cornegays Forks below Kenansville and remained till 12th when we came back to Beaver Dam and stayed till the morning of the 4th of July. The Yankees made a raid on W W R Road and we made ready to meet them when they went to Warsaw and tore up some of track but did not do much damage. They then went back to New Bern and we followed but could not overtake them. We then went to Kenansville and from there we were ordered back to Charleston again.
We arrived there the 12th and the 13th. The Regt went to Morris Island, and I was sent to the Hospital with the fever and chills where I stayed till the 18th. That day the boys had a very hard fight but were successful. Our loss was one killed and three wounded. That night they were relieved and came to Sullivans Island where I rejoined them.
Then the 25th we went back to the island again and stayed till the 3rd August. This time we lost three wounded. Then the Regt went again and returned the 12th. I was sick and did not go. Then the 6th Sept. our forces left the island after two months hard fighting, lost 700 men in all and the enemy lost 6,000.
We then went in the sand hills about the first of Sept. and remained till 26th Sept. when we went to Long Island where we [had] a good time hunting and fishing when not on duty. Then we returned to Sullivans Island and was put on detail to cut wood the 2nd Nov. I went first to Long Island then to Clab Island then to Goat Island and then to the mainland. We got orders 30th Nov. to return to NC.
We took the cars the 1st Dec. and came slowly along and came to Tarboro the 6th. We then went to Hamilton and our Co. was sent to Rowls Mill to do picket duty and we were relieved by the 24th N. C. T. and went back to Tarboro till we stayed till the 19th Dec. when we were ordered to Petersburg. We came part of the way and was turned back to Tarboro. We then remained till the 31st Dec. when we went to Sparta and came back the 2nd of Jany 1864. We then started for Petersburg again. We then put up at Camp Hill, one of [the] best camps we have been at since the war.
From this place I got a furlough from the 15th of Jan. to 10 of Feb. when I rejoined my Regt at the same place where we stayed till the 2nd of March when I went in all haste to Petersburg to stand guard and the 3rd we rejoined our Regt and went that night to Richmond. Next day we came back to Petersburg and remained till the [?] when we went to Ivor and remained till when we came back to Camp Hill. Went again to Ivor and went on down to Suffolk and came back to Ivor, stayed there until the 5th of May when we came to Petersburg and found Genl. Butler landing at City Point.
We did picket duty up and down Swift Creek Factory [?] and repulsed them. Then we went to Drewrys Bluff and made a charge on the yanks the 16th of May and gave them a route. Then the 18th we skirmished with them at Bermuda Hundreds and again the 20th. We then remained till the 29th.
We went [to] the North side of the James where we had a fight at Cold Harbor, both the 31st of May and the 1st of June. From there we came back to Petersburg where we met the enemy again on the 17th and 18th of June. Then began the Siege of Petersburg in which we remained, having one fight on the right, till the last of Oct. when we went to the North side of the James and fought the battle of Fort Harrison the 30th of Oct [actually September 30th]. Then we took position on the Darbytown road. From there I was sent on detail to cut wood where I remained until the 25th of Dec. when we started for N. C.
We came slowly on to Wilmington via Piedmont Road, sometimes marching then riding. We came to Wilmington the 2nd of Jan. 1865 and had a new years dinner given us. We then put up at Camp Lamb and stayed till [the] 5th when we went to Camp Whiting and stayed till the night of the 14th when we went to Sugar Loaf some two miles from Ft. Fisher but the yanks were there first and we had to see them take the fort without giving us a brush but they gave us plenty from their gunboats. Then we stayed there till the 19th of Feb. with some skirmishing.
We then began to fall back. We had one skirmish before we got to Wilmington. Put through Wilmington the 22nd and on to Teachy’s Depot then to arrive Kinston the 1st March, fighting the 5th, 6th and 7th. Thence to Goldsboro, thence to Smithfield, thence to Bentonville. Fought the 13th there.
Back to Smithfield then 1st April we started for the Trans Mississippi. Passed through Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and near Greensboro, we stopped to negotiate with Sherman on the 16th. We then moved to the copper mines where I stayed till the 25th when everybody else and me left the Red, White and Blue to its fate and started for home where I arrived safe and sound the 30th of April having been in the war three years minus seven days.
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