Personal Reminiscences Of The Civil War

The 20th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry was organized in August 1863, and was composed of "North Western Virginians." The unit served in W. L. Jackson's Brigade and confronted the Federals in western Virginia and in the Shenandoah Valley. It disbanded in mid April, 1865. David Poe began the war as Second Lieutenant of the Virginia 20th Cavalry Regiment, Company A. This company was raised primarily in the area which became West Virginia. Many of the men were from Marion and Monongalia Counties, West Virginia. David served throughout the war, raising to Captain of the company. These pages detail the service of his company from a first-hand perspective and in a style not found for many other cavalry units. The Virginia 20th Cavalry Regiment fought mostly in their own home countryside up and down the Shenandoah Valley. "I had seen battles fought, buildings consumed in flames, the face of the earth, as it were strewn with dead and wounded, both men and beasts, in fact, I had seen all the horrors of a wicked, foolish war, and yet that day's scene was the saddest of them all. There was assembled there a group of representatives young men imbued with all the attributes that it takes to constitute the highest type of man. If you looked for a brave man, he was there, if you sought a man of high honor, he was there, if you wanted a man whose word meant his bond, you could see him there. Men were there who had strong convictions of right and wrong and would stand by them. There were men there that had been driven from their homes and families for their loyalty to the government and the principles handed down to them from their forefathers. They must now bow to the yoke of a new or revised government, or leave their native land and homes."