Chapter XXXIX

I append to these reminiscences, to complete the record, copies of my parole and of some letters of which I retain the originals.

LETTER FROM THE HOLLYWOOD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION.

The Ladies of the Hollywood Memorial Association tender to
Captain Dawson their heartfelt thanks for his untiring devotion
to their cause; for the efficiency and aid extended to their
efforts when most needed; and the prompt co-operation in all
measures adopted by the Association; and beg leave to say
that while they regret his absence from the meeting yesterday
afternoon, they recall with pleasure and gratitude the noble work
in which he was then engaged.

May the success and energy which crowns that effort be the
earnest for the future of the Association, the ladies of which
will always hold in grateful remembrance the effective support
rendered by Captain Dawson.

_Tuesday Morning, May 29th, 1866._

[The work alluded to, I think, was that of preparing for calling out the old soldiers in Richmond to put the graves at Hollywood in order.]

MY PAROLE.

HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, }
Richmond, Va., April 18th, 1865. }

I, Captain F. W. Dawson, C. S. A., Prisoner of War, do hereby
give my solemn parole of honor not to take part in hostilities
against the government of the United States until properly
exchanged; and that I will not do anything directly or indirectly
to the disparagement of the authority of the United States until
properly exchanged as aforesaid.

(Signed) FRANCIS W. DAWSON,

_Captain and Chief Ordnance Officer Cavalry Corps,
Army of Northern Virginia_.

I certify that F. W. Dawson gave the foregoing parole in my
presence, and signed it in duplicate.

(Signed) D. M. EVANS,

_Colonel and Provost Marshal_.

_Richmond, Va., April 18th, 1865._

The bearer, Captain F. W. Dawson, having taken the oath of
parole, has permission to go to his home in Mechlenburg County,
Va.

LETTER OF COLONEL BALDWIN, CHIEF ORDNANCE OFFICER ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

RICHMOND, VA., April, 1865.

Captain F. W. DAWSON,

_Chief Ordnance Officer Fitz Lee’s Cavalry Division_:

CAPTAIN--The recent surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia
dissolves our official relations for the present. I take pleasure
in expressing my high sense of the zeal, intelligence, and
courage you have manifested in the discharge of your duties.

Hoping you may soon recover from your wounds, and wishing you a
speedy re-union with your friends,

I remain, with much esteem,

Yours, truly,

BRISCOE G. BALDWIN,

_Lt.-Col., Chief Ordnance Officer Army Northern Virginia_.

LETTER OF COLONEL MANNING, CHIEF ORDNANCE OFFICER 1ST CORPS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

RICHMOND, VA., April 19th, 1865.

DEAR CAPTAIN--The recent reverses to our armies, and your wound,
have for a time relieved you from command. I trust by the time
your health is restored that some arrangement may be made to
effect your exchange, and allow you to again enter the field, and
our country to have the services of an officer who has by his
faithfulness, activity, and courage, added no little to the cause
which he has adopted; and won for himself a name which will long
be respected and admired where honor and courage are recognized.

Believe me, very truly,

PEYTON L. MANNING,

_Lt.-Col., Chief Ordnance Officer 1st Corps
Army of Northern Virginia_.

CERTIFICATE OF GENERAL FITZ LEE.

PETERSBURG, April 26th, 1865.

To Captain F. W. DAWSON,

_Chief Ordnance Officer Fitz Lee’s Cavalry Division_:

I hereby certify that Captain Francis W. Dawson, C. S. Ordnance,
was regularly commissioned, and at the time of the surrender of
the Army of Northern Virginia was on my staff as Chief Ordnance
Officer of the Cavalry Corps.

FITZ LEE, _Major-General_.

LETTER OF MR. COWARDIN, SENIOR EDITOR OF THE RICHMOND DISPATCH.

RICHMOND, September 10th, 1866.

Captain F. W. DAWSON:

_My Dear Sir_--As you are about to separate your connection with
the _Dispatch_, please accept this expression of my sentiments on
the occasion.

The _Dispatch_ will miss your valuable contributions and your
intelligent and persevering efforts to promote its interests,
and increase its attractions. I can truly say that I never
knew a gentleman more earnest and energetic, in the pursuit of
journalism, while you have displayed accomplishments for the
profession that are rare and invaluable. Socially, we will all
feel a great loss in parting with you; and the recollections of
our intercourse with you will always be agreeable. While your
own talents and bearing will command respect for you in every
community, and your gallantry in the Southern cause will commend
you to the hospitality and friendship of every Southern man, I
tender you my most earnest and heartfelt good wishes for your
prosperity and happiness in life.

Very truly and sincerely, yours,

J. A. COWARDIN,

_Editor Dispatch_.

The following is a copy of my application for membership in the Survivors’ Association of Charleston District, with the endorsements of the officers under whom I had served:

APPLICATION.

CHARLESTON, S. C., April 14, 1869.

_To the Officers and Members of the Survivors’ Association of
Charleston District, Charleston, S. C._:

GENTLEMEN--The undersigned respectfully applies for admission
into your Association, and presents the following as the RECORD
of his services in the Confederate Army and Navy:

ENTERED CONFEDERATE SERVICE in December, 1861, at Southampton,
England, as sailor, aboard the C. S. Steamer _Nashville_.
Promoted to Master’s Mate, C. S. N., February, 1862. Resigned as
Master’s Mate, C. S. N., June, 1862. Entered Purcell Battery,
Field’s Brigade, Army Northern Virginia, as Private, June, 1862.
Promoted to First Lieutenant of Artillery, August, 1862. Promoted
to Captain of Artillery, April, 1864.[A]

PRESENT AT THE FOLLOWING ENGAGEMENTS: Mechanicsville, Second
Manassas, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chattanooga, Knoxville,
Wilderness, Spotsylvania C. H., North side James River, 1864,
Valley of Virginia, 1864, Five Forks.

WOUNDED at Mechanicsville, June 26, 1862; at Harrisonburg, Va.,
1864; Five Forks, March 31, 1865.

TAKEN PRISONER near Williamsport, Va., September 14, 1862.
RELEASED on parole, October, 1862.

SURRENDERED and was paroled, May, 1865.

FRANCIS W. DAWSON,

_Applicant_.

FOOTNOTE:

[A] Served from June, 1862, to October, 1864, as Assistant Ordnance Officer, 1st Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and from that time to April, 1865, as Ordnance Officer Fitzhugh Lee’s Cavalry Division.

ENDORSEMENTS.

[_From Commodore Pegram._]

PETERSBURG, VA., October 29, 1869.

I take pleasure in bearing testimony to the authenticity of
the accompanying record, as furnished by Captain F. W. Dawson,
whilst he was under my command on board of the C. S. Steamer
_Nashville_; and I do most earnestly recommend him to the
favorable consideration of the Committee on Applications, as one
eminently entitled, by his efficient services, to enjoy all the
advantages and honors of a Survivor.

Captain Dawson offered his services to the Confederate cause on
board the C. S. Steamer _Nashville_, at Southampton, England,
December, 1861, in any capacity I might designate. He was under
age at the time, being about 17 or 18 years old; for this reason
I declined to take him away from his home and friends to set him
adrift in a foreign land then engaged in a bloody war.

A few days before sailing from Southampton, duty called me to
London, and Dawson, taking advantage of my absence, assumed the
garb of a sailor boy, and was enlisted by the First Lieutenant on
board the _Nashville_. I did not know that he was on board until
we were at sea, and was so surprised at seeing him that I called
him to enquire how he had thus gotten the weather-gage of me? He
replied, he was determined to espouse the Confederate cause at
all hazards, even by smuggling himself on board, if indispensable
to attain his object.

During the voyage of the _Nashville_ homeward, the admirable
conduct of young Dawson attracted my attention, and that of all
the officers; and such favorable reports were made to me of his
zeal in the discharge of every duty required of him, that I
determined to give him an acting appointment of Master’s Mate in
the C. S. Navy, which appointment was promptly confirmed by the
Honorable Secretary of the Navy, upon my recommendation, when the
_Nashville_ arrived at Beaufort, N. C.

Mr. Dawson was attached to a vessel of the James River Squadron
at the time that General McClellan made his advance upon
Richmond, yet such was his anxiety to engage in the battle, that
he offered his services as a volunteer to the officer in command
of the Purcell Battery. He was taken from the field of battle
at Mechanicsville badly wounded, but remained fighting his gun
until the close of the action, when, from loss of blood, he was
completely prostrated. Mr. Dawson’s bravery on this occasion,
elicited the admiration of his Captain, who went with me to the
Hon. G. W. Randolph, then Secretary of War, to request that he
might be appointed a Lieutenant in the C. S. Army. The request
was readily granted as a reward of merit.

Though suffering from a painful wound, Mr. Dawson did not remain
idle. An invitation had been issued by the Secretary of War to
the junior officers of the army, to propose for admission into
the Ordnance Corps. An examination was ordered; and when the
Board of Examiners met, Mr. Dawson was examined and passed with
distinction, and was commissioned in the Corps of Ordnance. His
career of duty in that branch of the service is better known to
the officers of the army with whom he served than to myself:
though I have watched his course with great satisfaction, and
always felt a profound interest in his advancement and welfare,
having long since forgiven him for his tact in weathering an old
sailor.

R. B. PEGRAM,

_Lt. Com’g, C. S. N._

[_From Lieutenant-General Longstreet._]

I take pleasure in certifying to the services of Captain Dawson
in the 1st Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.

JAMES LONGSTREET,

_Lt.-Gen., C. S. A._

[_From Lieutenant-General Anderson._]

CHARLESTON, S. C., April 16, 1869.

It affords me pleasure to recommend this application to the
favorable consideration of the Committee on Applications, and to
say that the services rendered by the applicant eminently entitle
him to share the privileges and distinctions of a Survivor.

My acquaintance with Captain Dawson began in the early part of
the war; but during a period of about six months, following the
battle of the Wilderness, (whilst in command of Longstreet’s
Corps,) I had constant opportunities to observe the meritorious
conduct and gallant bearing of this officer.

The record given within, between the dates or during the period
above mentioned, is correct.

R. H. ANDERSON,

_Lt.-Gen’l, C. S. A._

[_From Major-General Fitz Lee._]

RICHLAND, STAFFORD CO., VA., November 10, 1869.

Captain F. W. Dawson was my Ordnance Officer at the time he
specifies. He was a brave soldier and an efficient officer.

“Survivors!” let him in.

FITZHUGH LEE,

_Maj.-Gen., C. S. A._

* * * * *

These pages I have written at the request of my wife, Sarah Morgan Dawson, and for her dear sake. It is little enough, in the hurry of a busy life, to do for one who, year after year and so long as I have known her, has strengthened my faith by believing in me, and enlarges my hope always by her confidence and love.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained: for example,
breast-work, breastworks; gunboat, gun-boats; pic-nic; grewsome;
trowsers; tragical; Hayti; rascality.

Pg 98: ‘in the caisons’ replaced by ‘in the caissons’.
Pg 123: ‘on a reconnoissance’ replaced by ‘on a reconnaissance’.
Pg 123: ‘be the heighth’ replaced by ‘be the height’.
Pg 147: Chapter heading ‘XXIII’ replaced by ‘XXXIII’.
Pg 172: ‘in the autum’ replaced by ‘in the autumn’.
Pg 178: ‘Spottsylvania C. H.’ replaced by ‘Spotsylvania C. H.’.