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David H. Scantlon, who was an enlisted member of Company C, 4th Virginia Infantry (Pulaski Guards), had seen service in the Mexican war and was an expert drummer. He was noted for his orderly habits and his strict obedience and observance of military discipline. He was drummer for the volunteer company before entering the Confederate army, and they had bought for his use a handsome brass kettle drum, which had a clear, ringing tone. Scantlon prized this drum very highly, and at all times exercised for it the most scrupulous care. In the army he was chief drummer for the regiment, and always seemed filled with enthusiasm when, with two other drums and the shrill notes of a couple of fifes playing “Highland Mary,” or “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” he marched at the head of the regiment at dress parade or in review.
Scantlon accompanied the 4th Regiment in the charge of the battle of Manassas, and after the capture of the Rickett’s Battery, the regiment being in some confusion, he was ordered by Colonel Preston to beat “the rally,” which he immediately proceeded to do, after first having turned his back to the enemy. On being asked by an officer near him why he turned his back to the enemy, he replied:
“Do you suppose I want the Yankees to shoot a hole through my new brass drum?”
One more humorous incident: While the 4th was lying in the rear of the Rockbridge Artillery, the men flat on their faces to lessen the exposure to the heavy artillery fire of the enemy, and while their shells were shrieking very close over us or exploding about us, a member of the company was very zealously and earnestly calling upon the Lord for mercy, for protection, and for help in the time of such imminent danger. During his devotions he would tell the Lord that he had been all through Mexico, but he had never seen anything half so bad as that; just then another shell would whistle over in very close proximity, when with the greatest earnestness he would exclaim:
“Oh, Lord, have mercy on me!”
At this point a comrade near his side would respond: “Me, too, Lord,” whether from inability to frame his own supplications or in a spirit of humor, no one then present took occasion to enquire.
J. B. CADDALL
Co. C, 4th Va. Infantry
Southern Historical Society Papers
Vol. XXXII. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1904, pp. 174-178
Scantlon accompanied the 4th Regiment in the charge of the battle of Manassas, and after the capture of the Rickett’s Battery, the regiment being in some confusion, he was ordered by Colonel Preston to beat “the rally,” which he immediately proceeded to do, after first having turned his back to the enemy. On being asked by an officer near him why he turned his back to the enemy, he replied:
“Do you suppose I want the Yankees to shoot a hole through my new brass drum?”
One more humorous incident: While the 4th was lying in the rear of the Rockbridge Artillery, the men flat on their faces to lessen the exposure to the heavy artillery fire of the enemy, and while their shells were shrieking very close over us or exploding about us, a member of the company was very zealously and earnestly calling upon the Lord for mercy, for protection, and for help in the time of such imminent danger. During his devotions he would tell the Lord that he had been all through Mexico, but he had never seen anything half so bad as that; just then another shell would whistle over in very close proximity, when with the greatest earnestness he would exclaim:
“Oh, Lord, have mercy on me!”
At this point a comrade near his side would respond: “Me, too, Lord,” whether from inability to frame his own supplications or in a spirit of humor, no one then present took occasion to enquire.
J. B. CADDALL
Co. C, 4th Va. Infantry
Southern Historical Society Papers
Vol. XXXII. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1904, pp. 174-178
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