Charles C. Blacknall .--Part 5, On Camp Life: "Drilling -- Drilling, Drilling"

After Manassas, Charles and his company spent a lot of time in camp.  He described his daily regimen as "dull and monotonous, time occupied principally in drilling, eating, drilling, studying and reciting Tactics (which by the way I don't at all fancy) eating again and then drilling -- drilling, drilling."

The 13th North Carolina was redesignated the 23rd North Carolina.

The Confederate Army then began having serious losses due to illness.

--Old Secesh

Charles C. Blacknall, 13th N.C.-- Part 4: Manassas Aftermath "I Have Seen More Dead and Wounded Men Than I Ever Expected To See"

Charles Blacknall and the 13th N.C. were too late for the First Battle of Manassas (Battle of Bull Run in the North) but they did see the horrible aftermath.

Blacknall wrote of the scene he saw:  "The morning was dark and lowering and gloomy in the extreme, torrents of rain had fallen during the night and nature seemed sad and mournful....  In every direction you behold the dead and dying -- sights so heartrendering that I turn sorrowfully away from them....

"Hundreds of men are coming in, some in small crowds, others alone, stating that their companies are entirely lost....  I have read a great deal in history about war and battles but I can assure you that I have never formed the most distant conception of the reality.

"I have seen more dead and wounded men than I ever expected to see.  I see many men with their arms and legs shot off who seem to be perfectly regardless of their loss and as cheerful as if nothing had happened...."

Certainly an Introduction to Real War.  =--Old Secesh

Charles C. Blacknall-- Part 3: Camp Life Not So Bad

He wrote his brother George on May 27, 1861 concerning life in camp:  "I write this amid a tornado of noise and confusion and have only to say that camp life is more pleasant athan you would think.

"All the little inconveniences of cooking, etc., drinking Champaign out of tin cups and eating half cooked food is not as annoying as you may suppose."

The Granville Rifles were designated the 13th North Carolina's Company G and Blacknall was elected captain July 11, 1861.  They were sent north by train to Richmond.

--Old Secesh

Charles C. Blacknall-- Part 2: Too Late for First Manassas

The 13th North Carolina took trains north from Richmond to participate in the First Battle of Manassas, arriving on July 22, only to discover they had "arrived too late to participate in the engagement, which secured to us a glorious, complete, and decisive victory."

Blacknall and the  13th were disappointed, but they certainly didn't miss too many battles after that.

Charles Blacknall was born December 4, 1830 at "Beech Spring," a farm near the town of Kittrell in Granville County, N.C..

In 1860, with war looming, he raised a company of volunteers named  the Granville Rifles and drilled them on his hotel grounds.

--Old Secesh

Charles C. Blacknall, 13th N.C. Infantry-- Part 1: This "Unjust and Unholy War" Forced On Us

From the May/June Civil War Times Illustrated magazine.  "My War" by Mark J. Crawford.

Captain (later colonel) Charles C. Blacknall of the 13th North Carolina Infantry Regiment wrote many letters home during his time in the service.

On July 21, 1861, his regiment had just recently arrived in Richmond, Virginia.  He wrote:  "I may perhaps never have the gratification of viewing these pages after the conclusion of the war, as there is no way of telling which way the Yankee may shoot in battle, and some stray ball might suddenly make me 'adorn a tale' instead of living to relate it, but ...

"I am resolved to do my duty and to use what means I can command towards a vigorous prosecution of this unjust and unholy war, in which we have been forced by our unnatural enemies of the North."

--Old Secesh