The Volunteer Service of John Romilius Euliss
by William, Rich and Jonathan Euliss
On July 14, 1843, in the rural Chatham County community of Sandy Grove, John Romilius Euliss was born, the fifth child of Peter and Jemimia Euliss.
Though small in size, Sandy Grove, now part of Alamance County, was an important community in the early- and mid-19th century. Because the post office was located there, at the current intersection of Pleasant Hill and Charlie Euliss Roads, it was one of the major meeting places for neighbors to conduct business and spread local news.
Slaves were once bought and sold at Sandy Grove, according to stories told by John to his grandson Max, and the land around this community gathering place also was used for mustering days. Before the War for Southern Independence, John told Max, men of the proper age would go through military drills on the grounds of the post office. Those drills would foreshadow events to come.
On April 8, 1862, at the age of 18, John volunteered for Confederate service, enlisting for a term of three years or the duration of the war, under G.M.G. Albright. He was paid a $50 bounty for enlisting, a lot of money at the time, as offered under the Ordinance of Secession Convention of North Carolina.
An example of the enlistment situation at that period of time comes from a quote from H.H. Walls' diary: "Enlisted in George AlbrightÕs Company of Volunteers at Snow Camp Foundry in Chatham County and assembled under a large oak tree, we marched to Graham Station and took the train to Camp Mangum, Raleigh, NC."
To a young man of just 18 years, who probably had not been more than a few miles from the family farm, the city of Raleigh must have been an impressive sight. After reaching Camp Mangum, near the capital city, John was mustered into state service on April 30, 1862, and assigned to the 53rd Regiment, North Carolina Troops, as part of Company F. At camp, the soldiers received several weeks of training and instruction, according to this general schedule:
Reveille at daybreak
Breakfast call at 6:30 a.m.
Sick call at 7 a.m.
Guard-mounting at 7:30 a.m.
Squad drill from 8 to 9 a.m.
Company drill from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m.
Orderly call at 12 n
Dinner call at 12-1/2 p.m.
Battalion drill from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Dress parade at 5:30 p.m.
Tattoo at 8 p.m.
Taps at 8:30 p.m.[1]
John spent the greater part of his first years of service in eastern North Carolina, according to the regimental history: "The regiment received its first baptism of fire as a regiment at Washington, N.C., in Gen. D.H. Hill's winter campaign of 1862 and 1863. Shortly after the battle of Chancellorsville it became a part of the Army of Northern Virginia and attached to the second corps, which marched and fought from Fredericksburg to Appomattox and participated in more than twenty general engagements including Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Washington City, Kernstown, Snikers Ford, Winchester, Fisher Hill, Cedar Creek, Hares Hill, Petersburg and in numerous combats and smaller affairs, in some of which the conflict was more hotly contested than in the greater battles." [2]
A total of 164 men served in Company F from April 1862 through April 1865, and during that time, the unit took some losses. Eleven men were killed in action, three died of wounds, 18 were wounded and captured, 14 were wounded and survived the war, 22 were captured, 19 deserted, one was shot for desertion, nine died in prison, 11 were discharged due to old age, 11 died from disease and four were discharged due to mental or physical problems.[3]
Being detailed as a teamster after serving eight months in the infantry, John probably missed most of the front line combat. But because the supply wagons were sure to follow the movements of the infantry, the battles fought by this company provide a good map suggesting where John was working at various times during the war.
When Lee surrendered at Appomatox Courthouse in April, 1865, John's service ended, and he returned home to continue farming and operate a blacksmith shop. Though the shop has been lost over the years, the house built for the man who worked the shop still stands.
John lived to the ripe old age of 95. During his life, he saw the introduction of a new machine called the automobile and had the experience of flying in an airplane. But through the years, he never forgot his service in the War Between the States and the other men who served.
Beginning in 1922, John was able to attend at least six reunions of Confederate Veterans, events from Mississippi to Pennsylvania, including an historic meeting with Union veterans in Gettysburg:
32nd Reunion, 1922
UCV 38th Reunion in Arkansas, May 8-11, 1928
39th Annual Reunion in Charlotte, N.C., June 4-7, 1929
40th Annual Reunion in Biloxi, Mississippi, June 3-6, 1930
42nd Annual Reunion in Richmond, Va.
75th Reunion in Gettysburg, Pa., 1938
John died just one year after the 75th reunion of his compatriots, but his memory has not faded. The commemorative U.C.V. ribbons and the saddle he used to ride home from Appomattox, still remain with the family.
Notes:
[1] Mast, Greg. State Troops and Volunteers: A Photographic Record of North CarolinaÕs Civil War Soliders. Vol. 1, 1995. North Carolina Division of Archives and History.
[2] Clark, Walter, Ed. Histories of Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-65. Vol. III, 53rd Regiment by Col. James T. Morehead, pp. 255-256.
[3] North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, Vol. XIII. Infantry 53rd-56th Regiments. North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1993.
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