I am the
proud descendant of a member of the 14th Regiment, NC Troops. My
G-G-Grandfather, PVT Robert Williams from Buncombe County, NC, served
in
Captain Zeb Vance's Company F ("Rough and Ready Guards") from
1861-1865.
He was actually born and reared in Sampson County, but moved
with his
sister, mother and step-father to Buncombe County in the 1850s.
He was
wounded in the knee at Chancellorsville, but returned to duty sometime
thereafter, despite the wound's crippling effect on his leg. He is not
listed on the surrender roll at Appomattox, and I suspect his being
married on April 14, 1865 back in Buncombe County may account for that.
Don't know if he was home on leave by unit authority or his own.
I think he
was a brave and faithful soldier. If he decided after nearly four years
of bloody fighting and a wound that crippled him for life to not take a
chance on rotting in some Yankee prison after the inevitable surrender,
then more power to him. He had done his part, and more.
Included here is a link to a photo of
Pvt. Williams in uniform. The picture is also on file with the North
Carolina Division of Historical Resources (State Archives), Raleigh, NC.
I
know he was active in his reunion group after the war. He is the tall
gentleman holding the flag in this second
linked photo. A distant cousin in Maryland has a
small ID tag
with his name and unit engraved upon it, which I have been told was
associated with reunions.
He died in
1914 and is buried at Sharon Methodist Church in the Fairview Community
of Buncombe County.
