Company G of the eighteenth Virginia ‘old ironsides’
A look at these frank, straightforward features conveys at a glance the caliber of the personnel in the Army of Northern Virginia.
Good American faces they are, with good old-fashioned Anglo-
Saxon names—Campbell,
Ferguson,
Hardy,
Irby,
Sydnor.
They took part in the
first battle of Bull Run, and ‘tasted powder.’
In the fall of 1861
First-Lieutenant Richard Irby resigned to take his seat in the General Assembly of
Virginia, but on April 20, 1862, he was back as captain of the company.
He was wounded twice at
Second Manassas and died at last of prison fever.
Company G took part in
Pickett's charge at
Gettysburg.
Of the men who went into the battle, only six came out unhurt.
Eleven were killed or mortally wounded, and nineteen were wounded.
The company fought to the bitter end;
Captain Campbell (page 111) was killed at
Sailor's Creek, only three days before
Appomattox.
