Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1348

dying man a moment and while in this act was approached by two Federals, who sprang from the debris and with leveled guns demanded his sword. Feeling a little indifferent in the midst of the carnage, he replied that he might accommodate them if they would wait a minute. This the Federals did not do, but seized his sword and pitched him into the crater, which was filled with soldiers, white and black, some of whom seized his scabbard and part of his clothing and with threats threw him about among them. As quickly as possible he put his hand to his sword belt, unbuckled same, and demanded protection from a Federal officer. This being granted, the lieutenant remained in the crater until the Confederate fire became so heavy that he approached the officer and asked to be either sent to the rear or allowed to return to his own command, as he disliked the prospect of being shot by his own comrades. He was then placed in charge of his two captors, and they started for the Federal rear, by way of a deep cut in rear of the mine, but had gone only a short distance when the rush of Federal soldiers through the cut became threatening. He told his guard they could not protect him and he would climb out and walk on the bank of the cut and take his chances, and they could have the right to shoot him if he attempted to escape. This was agreed to, and he went to the rear under the Confederate fire, but happily without injury. On being taken to the Federal officers' camp he refused to enlighten them regarding his command. While detained there, weary and heartsick, his clothes bloody, ragged and bullet-rent and covered by swarms of flies, his nerve almost left him, but it was revived by a proposition made to him one day as he sat disconsolate upon the root of a tree, with his head upon his hand. Some fellow in civilian clothes approached in a kindly way, for which he was grateful, but soon developed a proposition that he should take the oath of allegiance to the Federal government and be relieved of his troubles. Whitehurst believes he never swore before, but the impulse of that moment led him to make some remarks of a very emphatic nature that terminated the interview. After this he endured the life of a prisoner of war at City Point, the Old Capitol prison and Fort Delaware, until after the close of the war. While in the field he participated in the Seven Days' battles, Second Manassas, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, and all other engagements of Mahone's brigade except Sharpsburg, then being sick, and escaped without a wound, though his clothes and trappings were pierced by thirteen bullet holes during the war. In 1865 he entered upon the practice of law at Princess Anne Court House, and when the present judicial system was adopted, he was chosen judge of the county by the legislature. After six years' service in this position he resigned, and then held, for the same period, the office of State's attorney. Resigning this position in 1884, he removed to Norfolk, forming the legal firm of Whitehurst & Hughes, which has continued to the present time. He has sat as a delegate in the State conventions of the Democratic party, is one of the board of visitors of Randolph-Macon college, a trustee of the Norfolk military academy, and a member of Pickett-Buchanan camp, U. C. V. Judge Whitehurst was married in 1873 to Miss Laura E. Styron, and they have three daughters.