Company F, Fourteenth Regiment of WV Volunteers

By Bobbi Spiker-Conley

The Fourteenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was comprised of ten companies of Union men whose home counties included Doddridge, Marion, Monongalia, Ohio, Pleasants, Preston, Ritchie, Tyler, and Wood.

Jacob Bradford, a farmer living in the vicinity of Wick in Tyler County, served in Company F of this Regiment. A brief history of the Fourteenth WV  Regiment is recorded on RootsWeb, and excerpted here.

RECORDS OF COMPANY F ARE PRESERVED by Agnes H. Snodgrass.

In 1862 Elias Y Satterfield of Pleasant Valley in Pleasants county and Joseph McGregor of Bonds Creek in Ritchie county organized Company F, Fourteenth Volunteers. William H. Hall of Highland served as Secretary and kept all records which he transcribed to a permanent record at the close of the war. This record was framed and kept by Mr. Hall but in case of his death it was to go to Caleb T. Hamilton who was my grandfather. Mr. Hall died in 1884. My grandfather died in 1889 and the records went to his oldest son, W. H. Hamilton and one of his grandchildren now has it. Years ago I made an exact copy of this record. From it and the many stories listened to as a child and some notes I have kept over the years, I am writing this story:

In the summer of 1862 men from the three counties of Pleasants, Ritchie and Tyler who planned to volunteer for war service met for organization and drill at Hebron, then called Giter. Their meeting place was in an open field on the Pleasants county side of the road near the Ritchie and Tyler lines. From this point on August 30th this company started on its march for camp. The wives and children of many of these men went along to the mouth of Big Knot. Here they took leave of their husbands and with the smaller children went back to their homes. The older children followed along down Bonds Creek to Highland where the Ritchie county wives and children were assembled to see their husbands and fathers off to camp. Here the men ate their lunch, rested and took leave of their friends, and once more were on their way. From Highland they continued their march over the “Old State Road” to Ellenboro, now U.S. Route 50, just west of Ellenboro. Here they boarded the train for Clarksburg where they went into camp.

Someone of the Company composed a little ditty about this particular day which went like this:

We marched the road to Ellenboro from Giter all the way
We took the train for Clarksburg, arriving there that day
We there went into quarters and drilled the army way
We lived on beans and bacon, a-longing for the fray.

Mrs. Elias Butcher, when she was very old , related the incidents of this day to me and she, with her husband, sang the little ditty for me. They had each been in the group that followed along from Hebron to Highland.

Only Half the Story

The records speak for itself as to the hardship of these soldiers and the heavy loss of life. That, however, is only half the story. The fortitude of those sturdy women who kept the home fires burning is not to be passed over lightly. Food had to be produced. Crops had to be raised and clothing provided. These women’s hands were put to the plow. Their sacrifices knew no bounds. The husband’s pay check, meager as it was, went to pay for land they were buying when the war broke out. Their darkest day came with the battle of Cloud [Cloyd’s] Mountain, May 9, 1864, when word came that Company F had been practically cut to pieces. The strength of character of my grandmother that day, the way she faced whatever was to come, remained with my father as long as he lived. Over and over again, I’ve heard him relate the events, the tenseness and the anxiety of the day.

The casualty record paints a grim picture of what happened to Company F of the Fourteenth Regiment on May 9, 1864. Bryson Martin of Highland was the first man to fall and after the war the Bryson Martin Post of the G.A.R. was organized at Highland and always met there. Men from other companies living nearby joined this Post and for many years it was quite a large organization. It sponsored the reunion of Civil War Veterans at Hebron in 1894, when more than two thousand persons attended. One of the Post’s greatest activities was the “Decoration” service which was held each May at the various churches and cemeteries where comrades were buried. Sometimes an entire week was used for these services. Here was to be heard much oratory, many war stories, both amusing and pathetic, and of course, the Adlia Band which was always a definite part of this celebration. This band was a by-product of the Bryson Martin Post. It was organized at Adlia in Pleasants county and was made up first of old soldiers and some younger men. The younger people gradually filled in so there was a band as long as there was a post. Many men around St. Marys today played in that band; among them Homer and Colemen Simonton, J. Hooker Fleming, now about 95, and his family and many others I can’t name.

This story with the above mentioned record is a valuable history that should be known by the present and on-coming generations. We have lost so much of what it took to make this state of ours. I am deeply interested in the preservation of the record of these historic events and personalities in our area. Herewith is the official record of Company F, Fourteenth Regiment of West Virginia Volunteers, in which every man is accounted for with the exception of Joseph McGregor, who became ill and was never out with the Company. 

Agnes Snodgrass states this is a complete list of Company F, however, additional names were compiled by Bobby Thorne, a member of the Hacker’s Creek Pioneer Descendants, from a muster roll of the regiment on file at the Archives and History in Charleston. I’ve combined both lists and added “alternate spelling” of names (as they were originally recorded/filed in military records) as follows.

IMPORTANT to make note ofas you scroll down — at least five of the names appear on the State of West Virginia’s list of Unclaimed Civil War Medals. 

According to the West Virginia Archives & History, “In 1866, the state of West Virginia authorized the minting of over 26,000 medals to honor its Union Civil War soldiers. Today, over 4,000 medals remain unclaimed. Each medal is individualized, with the soldier’s name and unit engraved on the edge.” Learn more about these medals and find out how to obtain a Claim Application by visiting their website.  (I made only a quick scan. You should look at the entire Unclaimed Medals list, not just those from Company F.  You may stumble across another family member’s name. Be sure to let us know if you do.)

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Military documents for the 14th WV may be found at Fold3 (subscription required.)

Browse “Civil War Soldiers - Union - WV”
Then browse ”Military Units”
Then make a selection based on the first initial of the soldier’s last name* 

* Important - the list of names are split into two collections. Surnames of the WV 14th beginning A thru B are shown at the end of the list from the WV 13th as follows:  (1) “Thirteenth Infantry Y-Z AND Fourteenth Infantry A-B” (2) “Fourteenth Infantry C-Z”

Announcements

• Submitted by Kate Spiker – We have been cleared to have the bull ride! We will be following the guidelines of the Lewis County Health Department. We are completely outdoors and have lots of space. Please Social Distance and masks are encouraged. We will keep the details coming!