Chapter VII
The Civil War
The Confederate States of America was formed by the southern states in early 1861 and in April of that same year the Civil War began with the attack upon the federal outpost at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Immediatedly, there was a general call to arms in both the South and North, and the Buie men did not hesitate to offer tileir services to the Southern cause. Only one, William R. Buie of Illinois, fought for the Union side.Southern patriotism ran deep in the Buie families. At Union Church, Mississippithe company of Confederates composed of local boys paraded beneath the trees near the church and received a hand-made silken banner of the Southern Confederacy from Miss Flora Buie. Hugh Buie of Bladen County, North Carolina, had six sons to enlist. (Seven sons). North Carolina alone had about 40 Buie men to fight in the war. Of so many that joined their country's forces, about one-third did not return. Many were killed or died in Northern prison camps. Others were so maimed by wounds that they died soon after the war or were crippled for the remainder of their lives.
A few personal accounts of their war experiences survive. The story of young Aaron Hinsdale Buie of Franklin County, Mississippi, follows which exemplifies the life style and hardships of the typical Confederate soldier:
"... I left the schoolroom at the age of 16 years and was examined and swornin service...May, 1863, at Monticello, as a private in Compally E, Fourth Mississippi Cavalry, General N.B. Forrest's Division... (I) was never wounded, taken prisoner, changed nor promoted...was in the battles of Harrisburg, Mississippi, Selma, Alabama, and many skirmishes. I served as a courier a great deal of the time. (I) received parole in Meridian, Mississippi. In the winter of '63, I contracted a cold which resulted in deafness and was discharged. I returned home and after a rest of two months, my hearing was restored. I returned to the same regiment...On the night of my arrival, after being sworn in, I was placed on picket duty and orders were given me to arrest any man passing that way without a pass from headquarters. So about 9 o'clock I heard a man advancing towards me with his sword rattling at his side, and it happened to be my colonel who was an old bachelor. Just to my left lived a rich farmer with four or five fine daughters, and the colonel had sent them a note that he would call on them that night, but he had no pass. We kept him under guard for about two hours until the young ladies had retired and then marched him back to his headquarters. He begged piteously to let him pass, telling me that he had given such orders, but I told him I must carry them out or suffer the consequences. On our return to camp, he told me that he would remember me for the act. Being only a lad, I expected severe punishment. Within two days, he ordered his regiment into line to secure an escort for him on a raid into Mississippi. After two days march about sunset we were nearing a little town, Fayette, in Jefferson County. We rode into the arms of 600 Yankees. He halted us for a few minutes and commanded us right about and charge. The Yankees broke their line and went out .... We then marched to Jackson, Louisiana, where a large force of Federals were in camp . We took them by surprise. I, with others, was ordered to run out on a road for some two miles and report the movement of the Yankees. While there we heard a noise and the hair stood straight up on our heads. In a few minutes, seven Yankees ran into the road about fifty yards in front of me. We halted them and carried them into camp. My colonel was so well pleased that he made me one of his couriers. I found this harder than a private's life, more risks to take and more hardships."
Most of the soldiers at war were homesick young men who yearned to return to their families. James A. Buie, a 23-year old recruit from Smith County, Tennesee, enlisted in Company A of the 8th Tennessee Infantry. He was sent to Camp Trousdale for training and one of his first letters was to his sister Mazey, his wife Susan, and one of his brothers: "Dear brother, I seat myself to write to you to inform you that I am well hoping when these lines come to hand they will find you well. A few lines to Mazey: Mazey, I believe this is the first time I have sent you a line and you must not fall out with me. Mazey, I want to see you badly and hope I will .... So write to me Mazey and give me your best respects. A few lines to "Soos" (Susan): Soos, I want to see you mighty bad, and if I can't, write to me for it does me good to hear from you at any time, and write it yourself for I can read your hand real good. Soos, I have been in good health ever since I left home, but John Lee is sick this morning and we don't know but what he is taking the measles, but I hope not. I am going to have my likeness taken the first clear day and will send it to you. So Soos, you must do the best you can for yourself until I come home. So I must close my letter. So give my best respects to all my friends and tell them to write to me. So remains your husband until death, James A. Buie."Several Buies achieved notable promotions in the Confederate Army. Duncan Buie enlisted in 1861 in Winnsboro, Lousiana, and was elected to Captain of the Franklin Life Guards which was one of the constituent outfits of the 4th Louisiana Battalion. Duncan was promoted to major in 1862, and later in May, 1864, reported his unit's activities during the Atlanta Campaign "I assumed command of the Fourth Louisiana Battalion near night-fall, May 15. The same night (we) retreated from Resaca. (We) continued to retreat south, resting at intervals until May 25,Wednesday, instant, when the Command was ordered into the line of battle near New Hope Church. The same night (we) entrenched our positions and remained there entrenched for sixty hours, during which time (we) lost three men killed and eight wounded. On May 28, (we) marched to the right of New Hope Church. On May 29 we were in the rear of the line of battle two miles and a half east of New Hope Church. " Although wounded soon thereafter, Duncan recovered, and after the war was a sheriff and county judge in Franklin Parish.Another officer was Captain James D. Buie of Cumberland County, North Carolina, who was also a chaplain. He was a pastor at the Straits in 1862 when New Berne fell to the Federals in March. Captain Buie must have been an outspoken secessionist for he wrote "(The Federal Major) commanding in Beaufort sent thirty men to the Straits to arrest men, and sent handcuffs to put on me. I escaped by sailing up Core Sound and across Pamilco Sound to Hyde County. I walked 125 miles to Tarboro and went to Wilson...I volunteered April 27, 1862, and was mustered out with Johnston's Army April 26, 1865." Captain Buie recalled a sad event which occurred during the war. "After the Battle of Burgess Mills on October 27, 1864, I was going over the field looking after the dead and wounded, and I found, leaning against a tree, one of our church members with his New Testament in his hands. He was dead. He died with his Testament opened and I found it stained with blood."