Drewrys in the
War Between The States

Major Augustus H. Drewry
Company C, 2nd Regiment Virginia Artillery

Major Clay Drewry
Company B, 41st Virginia Infantry
Confederate Grays

Private James H. Drewry
The University Memorial, 1871
Private Company A, 13th Virginia Calvary

James H. Drewry, son of John and Elizabeth Drewry, was born near Drewryville, in Southampton County, Virginia, on the 10th day of June, 1839. His parents dying while he was quite young, he was left to the intelligent care of an uncle who determined to give him every educational facility. To this course the uncle and guardian was inclined both by the evidences of intellectual power which his nephew gave, and by his passion for books even when a child.

James Drewry was accordingly put at the best school in the county, and from this, at the proper period of his life, he was transferred to Hanover Academy. He remained at the Academy until the close of the session in the summer of 1858, and in the following October entered the University of Virginia, taking the schools of Ancient Languages and Mathematics. The next year he returned and took the same ticket, with the addition of Modern Languages and Chemistry; and at the end of the session he received distinction at both examination in the senior class of Greek, and diplomas in Latin, French, and Chemistry. In 1860 he entered the Medical Class and became a candidate for graduation. The intermediate examinations he passed satisfactorily, receiving distinctions in all the subjects embraced in the course; and he had every prospect of success, when his studies were interrupted by the war.

When the expedition was made against Harper's Ferry in the spring of 1861, he was a member of one of the companies of students formed for that purpose; and after the return of the University companies, he could not consent to remain at his books when the whole country was preparing for the impending struggle. Accordingly, without regret for the professional degree he was surrendering, he returned home and enlisted in the "Southampton Cavalry," which upon organization of regiments, became Company A, 13th Virginia Calvary.

Dedicating his life to his country by this act, he followed her standards through the long catalogue of battles and skirmishes with which the reader has been familiarized by the pages immediately preceding. During the more than three years of arduous service, he never asked for, nor seemed to desire, a furlough; and he was not once absent from his command, except after he was wounded in the severe cavalry engagement at Brandy Station. He was several times offered rank, but did not care for it. An excellent shot, the picket-line was his favorite position; and, as though he courted danger, he would often volunteer to take the place of some comrade, when not ordered to the front himself.

His brilliant career as a cavalryman was terminated on the first day of June, 1864, near Ashland, Virginia, where he fell, instantly killed by a bullet from the enemy.

James Drewry was frank and generous in his youth; as a man he was somewhat reserved in manners, and slow to form attachments, but true to those friends to whom he opened his heart. In Company A he had the opportunity to study his comrades, and they had often occasion to admire his noble qualities; thus he grew into their esteem, and attained a popularity far more lasting than if it had been won in a day. They will cherish his memory as a patriot and soldier, worthy the high compliment paid him by the lamented Major Gillette of his regiment, when he said, "I have no better soldier in my command than James Drewry."
I became very interested in James Hal Drewry very early in my research of the Drewry family and was perplexed by the information that had fallen into my hands. Having found this eloquent eulogy answered all the questions I had concerning his military service and studies and, with it, there was a great sense of satisfaction for me. A puzzle was solved and I felt closer to James Hal Drewry. And, the closer I felt to him, I began to wonder what kind of person he was. Having lost both his parents at such an early age and being brought up by his Uncle Samuel must have had some effect on him that carried forward to his years of war service. Why would a soldier in the Confederate States Army request front line duty when it wasn't necessary? Why would a soldier not request furlough? Even though his parent were deceased he still had considerable family in Southampton County, VA. The more I learned about James Hal Drewry, the more I wanted to know. You can imagine my delight when I received a copy of a letter written by James Hal to Pattie, his niece. While it was not in his original handwriting, which I would have preferred, they were his words and thoughts and, as such, they allowed me to get to know him just a little better. And, again, a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction was felt.

It is believed, but not certain, that James Hal Drewry is buried at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA, in the Confederate Dead Memorial section. An "H. Drewry" with the remarks "13th Regiment, Virginia, May 12, 1864" is buried in section U, number 1. While the date of May 12, 1864, does not match the records exactly it is within a very close period of time and mistakes were common during these periods. The Confederate Dead section of Hollywood Cemetery contains the remains of over 18,000 Confederate war dead. Of the 18,000 interred there approximately 7,500 have been identified.

Brigadier General James B. Terrill
13th Regiment Virginia Infantry

"Well I recall their last dispute,
The towering tone, the blazing eye;
The haughty gesture made to suit
Each brisk assertion and reply;
Their favorite steeds I see them vault,
And vanish from mine aged sight
To measure might in war’s assault --
God only know which one was right!

Then crept an age of dragging days,
With vague, conflicting rumors rife,
Until along our dust-hung ways
The tidings came that chilled my life,
Among the brave, heroic slain,
Where heavy fell the heavy fight:
My boys lay -- wet with crimson rain --
God only know which one was right!

Ere long I brought them home to sleep
On the old farm -- beneath mine eye;
Where stranger eyes their vigils keep,
I could not bear that they should lie.
No more the bugle to the fray
My boys shall rouse, at dead of night.
A deep peace holds my Blue and Gray --
God only know which one was right!"

Thomas Crowder Coles Drewry
Company C, 19th Virginia Militia

Assistant Surgeon Samuel Davies Drewry
Confederate States Navy

Private Patrick Arrington Drewry
18th Virginia Battalion Heavy Artillery
His Recollections

I, P.A. Drewry (picture), was mustered in the Military Confederacy June 19th, 1861, as heavy artillery and was sent to Sewell's Point known now as Pine Beach. We did a lot of hard work there fortifying the place. We remained there until the evacuation of Norfolk. In May, 1862, we were ordered to Richmond where we were put in the fortification and remained there almost continually until a few months before the evacuation of Richmond and then we were ordered out on Picket duty. During our stay in Richmond we were with three other companies forming a battalion known as the 18th Virginia Battalion Heavy Artillery. At the evacuation of Richmond we were ordered out on picket duty during our stay in Richmond. We were on the move until captured at Sailor's Creek with 5,000 others. Myself and Bro John made our escape but we were captured and taken to Burkeville Junction. We were paroled and arrived at our Old Home in Southampton County on the 13th day of April, 1865. I have been in Confederate service continually for three years and ten months.
/s/P.A. Drewry, Company A
18th Virginia Battalion
Heavy Artillery

Major Fenton Humphrey Drewry
2nd Brigade, 8th Division of Georgia Volunteers

Major Fenton Humphrey Drewry served with the Spalding County Volunteers under the command of Captain A. D. Nunnally. Continuing under Nunnally's command he later with the 2nd Brigade, 8th Division of Georgia Volunteers. From September 14, 1863 to January 31, 1864 Fenton was assigned 2nd Lt. to Company K, 6th Regiment Georgia State Guards. While Fenton managed to survive the war unscathed two younger brothers were killed during the conflict: Joseph Florence Drewry, private Company F, Georgia State Infantry, who died from typhoid fever April 9, 1863, at Chicamagua, Georgia, and Lucius Quintus Drewry who died from a throat disease on March 26, 1864 while in service with the CSA.

Assistant Surgeon Nicholas Butt Drewry
Company E, Thirtieth Georgia Volunteer Infantry

Captain Alexander Dickinson
Griffin (Georgia) Light Artillery

Captain Alexander Dickinson, the husband of Belle Drewry, enlisted in a company formed at Griffin, Georgia in February, 1862, serving with that company in Savannah until it was disbanded several months later. He then enlisted in the Griffin Light Artillery and proceeded with this company to Chattanooga where they joined General Bragg's army and marched into Kentucky. There he participated in the campaigns of that state and the retreat to Tennessee. Returning to Chattanooga the company was detached to Bridgeport, Alabama and was on duty at Chattanooga during the battle of Murfreesboro. His company participated in the battle of Chickamauga, September 19-20, 1863, and afterward was in garrison at Charleston, Tennessee, until the battle of Missionary Ridge, when they rejoined Bragg's army just in time to take part in the retreat to Dalton. After wintering at Resaca, the company entered the campaign against Sherman participating in the fighting from Resaca to Jonesboro. Suffering heavy losses at the battle of New Hope Church half of the company, including Mr. Dickinson, was transferred to Darden's Mississippi battery. With that battery he saw action at Kenesaw Mountain and through the battles and siege of Atlanta. In November and December they campaigned under General Hood in north Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, and lost their guns in the disastrous battle of Nashville, December 16, 1864. The army collapsing under the relentless Union advance retreated to Mississippi. He participated in the battle at Selma, Alabama against Wilson's Raiders, escaping capture there in April 1865. He returned home and shortly after Lee's surrender to Grant was paroled.

Captain Emmett Arrington Drewry, Surgeon
Company B, 41st Regiment Virginia Infantry

Emmett Arrington Drewry, born August 4, 1838 at Drewryville, Virginia attended Randolph Macom College, Boydton, Virginia where he graduated in 1850. He then attended the Medical College of Virginia in 1858 and 1859, and Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA, where he received his medical degree in 1860. In 1861 Emmett enlisted in the Confederate States Army at Camp Maupin and was assigned as a captain to Company B, 41st Virginia Regiment, known as Mahone's Brigade. He was captured by Federal troops while serving in a hospital at Raleigh, North Carolina on April 13, 1865, and paroled at Raleigh on May 11, 1865. Following the war he returned to Drewryville, Virginia where he established his practice. Emmett was a charter member of the Virginia Medical Association, Superintendent of the Southampton County Schools, and surgeon to State Penitentiary.

Private Robert Washington Drewry
Company B, 3rd Regiment Virginia Calvary

Robert Washington Drewry born 1834 enlisted in Company B, 3rd Regiment Virginia Calvary on March 31, 1864 and served with that unit until captured by General Sheridan's army on April 16, 1864 at Front Royal, Virginia. He was first sent to the Old Capitol Prison, Washington, DC, and on August 28, 1864 to the Federal prison at Elmira, New York where it was noted that he was received for "transfer for exchange October 11, 1864." On that date he, one of 3,023 prisoners, was paroled at Elmira and sent to Venus Point, Savannah River for exchange. In preparing his release Robert was required to sign the following parole oath:

Parole Oath of Prisoners of War
Headquarters Department of Virginia
Richmond, VA, April 17th, 1865.
I, Pvt. R.W. Drewry, Co. B, 3rd Virginia Calvary, 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 detriment or disparagement of the authority of the United States until properly exchanged as aforesaid.
/s/ R.W. Drewry
I certify that R.W. Drewry gave the forgoing parole in my presence, and signed it in duplicate.
D.M Evans
Colonel and Provost Marshal
Richmond, VA, April 17th, 1865
The Bearer, R.W. Drewry having taken the oath of parole, has permission to go to his home in --

Joseph Brown Prince
Staff of General Wade Hampton

Joseph Brown Prince was born August 18, 1844, in Southampton County, Virginia was attending Virginia Military Academy when the war began. His military training at VMI would soon be put to good use when in 1864 he was assigned to ordnance duty on the staff of General Wade Hampton, an officer commanding a cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia. He also participated in the operations against Sherman in the Carolinas. Joseph surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina and was paroled on April 10, 1865, when he then returned to Virginia to complete his studies. He entered the University of Virginia and was graduated in 1867 with a degree in law. He returned to his native Southampton County and established a law practice in Courtland, Virginia and was quite successful. For thirteen years he served as commonwealth attorney of Southampton county, held the office of clerk of the circuit and county courts during four years, and in 1891 was called to the bench as judge of the Southampton county court. In 1876 he participated as a delegate in the national convention which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency. In 1877 he married Martha F., daughter of John Drewry, a prominent merchant and farmer.

Private Jason G. Guice
31st Georgia, Stonewall Jackson's Army of Northern Virginia

Jason G. Guice, the husband of Stella Drewry, of Eufaula, Alabama, was a major on the staff of Gen. Geo. P. Harrison, commanding the Alabama division, United Confederate veterans, and brigadier-general of state troops, Third division of Alabama, under Governor Oates. He aided in the organization of a military company in 1860, and was made lieutenant. Following its first failed attempts to get involved in the action, Guice's troops were joined with a regiment formed by Colonel Jones, however, because of the many unarmed volunteers the command was dissolved. A new regiment then assembling at Columbus, Ga. and Guice joined this regiment, the 31st Georgia, with the rank of private. In April, 1862, under the command of Major Clement A. Evans, the regiment applied for service in northern Virginia and was ordered to join Stonewall Jackson's at Staunton, Virginia. Joining Jackson's command, the Thirty-first became a part of the infamous old Stonewall division. When a corps of sharpshooters was formed, composed of ten men from each company, Jason Guice was selected, and this would be his line of duty throughout the war. His first battle was Gaines' Mill, in the Seven Days' campaign before Richmond, where he was slightly wounded. Then Jackson marched to meet Gen. John Pope, beyond the Rappahannock, and after various skirmishes and maneuvers they made the famous flank movement to Bristoe Station and Manassas Junction, where the Thirty-first Georgia burned the quartermaster and commissary stores of the Federal Army. That night they marched to Centerville, and the next day to the old Manassas battlefield, and on Thursday night this brigade (Lawton's) and Trimble's, of Ewell's division, opened the Battle of Second Manassas. At this time, where the lines of the Thirty-first Georgia and Fifteenth Alabama lapped, General Ewell fell severely wounded, and Guice and others of the two regiments caught him as he fell from his horse. As they started to carry the general to the rear he objected, crying out: "Put me down, and give them hell. I'm no better than any other wounded soldier, to stay on the field." The next day (August 30) and on the 31st, the regiment was in battle, and on the latter day Mr. Guice was severely wounded in the left foot, and while being taken to Rapidan Station he was given up to die, but the devotion of a negro teamster, a stranger, who sat up all night caring for him, saved his life. He was not able to return to the field until just before the Battle of Fredricksburg, in which he took part, also in the Battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. At the Battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, he was wounded in the arm in the famous charge of Gordon's Georgia brigade which made John B. Gordon a major-general and Colonel Evans a brigadier-general. Returning home on furlough on account of this wound, when recovered, he started on his return to the army, and had reached Macom, Ga., when General Stoneman approached that city in his raid during the siege of Atlanta, and burned the bridge at Walnut Creek. About three hundred furloughed and disabled men from Lee's army volunteered to meet Stoneman, and Private Guice was chosen to lead them. Gen. Howell Cobb, in command of the state troops, directed Mr. Guice to advance, and he proceeded to Woolfolk's Hill, and encountered the enemy in a cornfield. Deploying his men as skirmishers, he attacked the Federal line, charging with the "Rebel yell," and drove them across Walnut Creek. In this gallant action he was again wounded, severely, in the right ankle. Nevertheless, on the expiration of his furlough, he reported to Staunton, Va.,, where he was put in a hospital, and after a few days again furloughed. He returned to this regiment in time to take part in the famous Battle of Cedar Creek, in the Shenandoah Valley, with the sharpshooters of Evans' brigade opening the morning attack. After various fighting in the valley, they were transferred to the Petersburg lines in January, 1865, where he fought at Hatcher's Run, February 1, 6 and 7, and in March took position in front of Petersburg. In the attack on Fort Stedman, night of March 25 or morning of 26, 1864, he was one of the three hundred men of Gordon's division and of Evans' brigade who made the first rush early in the morning of the 26th with empty guns, and captured the fort and turned the guns upon the enemy. After the line of battle had reached this position, Guice, with a detachment of sharpshooters from his own brigade and Hays' Louisiana brigade, pushed on to Grant's military railroad, and captured a battery. While in this advanced position several train loads of Federal reinforcements arrived, and the Federal general, mistaking the Confederate sharpshooters for Federal skirmishers, rode near Guice and his comrades to encourage them in the fight and was promptly hauled in and pulled from his horse and made a prisoner. On account of the courteous treatment accorded him he presented Mr. Guice his buckskin gauntlets. Returning to Fort Stedman the sharpshooters took part in the repulse of several Federal charges on Evans' brigade, and finally the Confederates retired under a destructive fire to their own lines. In so doing, a grapeshot from Fort New York struck Mr. Guice's left wrist and knocked out the bone, leaving nothing but shreds of flesh. Amputation was immediately made below the elbow. After a few days spent by him in the hospital at Richmond, the Confederate capital was abandoned to the Federals. Then learning that he was to be sent to the prison camp at Point Lookout, he escaped to the mountains, were he was cared for by a lady of that region until he was informed that all of Lee's soldiers would be paroled on surrendering. Going to Richmond he received his parole papers in May, 1865, and then started for home, walking most of the way, arrived home June, 1865, with nothing save the bloody clothes he wore. His wound was still bleeding and painful. In 1866 he engaged in farming, but soon abandoned this occupation, and removing to Eufaula in October, 1866, embarked in the cotton trade in which he was engaged with much success for thirty years. In 1873 he married Stella Drewry. It is worthy of note at the close of this sketch of a Confederate who suffered so much for the cause, to state that he was in most of the battles fought by the army of Northern Virginia, was wounded severely five times in different battles, and that he was one of five brothers who fought with equal devotion. James M. Guice served with the Georgia troops and died from disease in the army. William H., of the Twelfth Georgia, was killed at the Battle of McDowell in May, 1862. John G., a lieutenant in the Fourth Alabama, was severely wounded at Chickamauga, participated in the battles in front of Petersburg and of the Crater, and surrendered at Appomattox.

Sergeant Albert Sidney Drewry
3rd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
Pursell's Artillery

Albert Sidney Drewry, born in 1838 in Southampton County Virginia, went from Norfolk as a volunteer in the State troops at the time of the execution of John Brown. On April 19, 1861, Albert enlisted for service at Richmond in a battery organized under Capt. R.L. Walker and known as "Pursell's Artillery." At the rank of private his first engagement was at Aquia Creek, Virginia, May 3, 1861, in an action against Federal gunboats. In July he participated in the battle of First Manassas. His battery forty-seven men our of seventy in action at Mechanicsville during the Seven Days battles before Richmond. He saw action at Cedar Mountain, where he was slightly wounded, and through the Second Manassas campaigns. At Second Manassas a shell exploded near his gun wounding or killing every man except Joseph. He continued to serve throughout the remaining great battles of the Civil War including Chantilly, Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg, Winchester, Snicker's Gap, Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court House, with his final actions being fought on the famous battlefields at Petersburg. At the time of his parole he held the rank of sergeant. Following the close of the war, in 1867, Albert Sidney Drewry moved to Galveston, Texas.

Others Who Served

John William Drewry, 1838 - May 9, 1873, captain, Southside Artillery stationed at Drewry's Bluff.
Thomas Byrd Macklin killed in action at Five Forks.
Francis Goggin Grigg released from Pt. Lookout Prison February 15, 1865, died at home March 8, 1865 from disease.
Richard Willie Grigg, enlisted in Greenville County, Virginia and served with Company H, 13th Virginia Calvary.
Robert Hicks Carroll Goodrich, Jr. from Virginia.
Augustus Samuel Drewry, private, Company K, 6th Georgia State Guards.
Demarius Eugene Drewry, private, Company I, 44th Georgia Infantry.
John Wallace Comer, Company H, 54th Alabama Infantry.
George Legare Comer, private, Alabama Cadet Corps.
James Allen Drewry, sergeant, Company C, 46th Alabama Regiment, killed in action in a battle near Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864.
William Drewry of Mississippi killed in action Munfordville, Kentucky, 1862.
Thomas Wilson Hopper, a private and scout, Capt. Morphis' Independent Company of Scouts, C.S.A., from Mississippi.
Riche A. Willis, captain, from Virginia.
Willie Barkley, believed to have been a drummer boy during the Civil War, died while bathing in a lake in New York state.
Humphrey Carroll Grigg, from Virginia, died June 5, 1863 at Turner Hospital, Columbus, Mississippi, while in service to the Confederate Army.
Joseph Henry Drewry, from Virginia, enlisted May 3, 1861, by Captain William H. Hood's Southampton Greys Virginia Volunteers at Jerusalem (now Courtland), Virginia. Later assigned as private, Company D, 3rd Regiment Virginia Infantry, captured at Five Forks and paroled June 11, 1865.
Elias C. Tapp, from Mississippi.
Martin Josephus Hopper, from Mississippi, Company G, 23rd Mississippi Infantry.