Caption: Allen
Washington Magee
Credit: George Seitz, “Allen Washington Magee,” findagrave.com,
May 26, 2017
May 12, 1864 east of Heth's Salient at Spotsylvania was a very bad day for the 12th Virginia Infantry, the Petersburg Regiment. After Federals from Burnside's Corps shot color bearer Ensign Ben May and his banner fell to Cpl. William Carrington Mayo. Seconds later, another Unionist plugged Mayo and the flag fell again. Pvt. Allen Washington Magee of the 12th's Company C, the Petersburg New or "B" Grays, seized the flag. Magee had been a clerk in civilian life. Burnside's bluecoats fled and the 12th's men searched for friends and relatives among the dead and wounded. The remnant of the 12th’s color guard stood near a dogwood. A shell burst among these soldiers while First Lt. James Eldred Phillips of the 12th's Company G, the Richmond Grays, was talking to Pvt. Doncey Dunlop of the New Grays, recently returned to the ranks from a detail as wagon master with the regimental quartermaster. Two of the color guard died instantly. Magee, wounded in the left forearm, dropped the flag. Phillips ran around the dogwood and picked up the colors. Nearby Sgt. William Crawford Smith of the 12th's Company B, the Petersburg Old or "A" Grays, the lone member of the color guard still on his feet, had recovered from his wound of six days earlier. Phillips gave the flag to Smith, who got through the fight unscathed despite the hail of lead that the colors drew in his direction. Smith had carried the regiment's colors into the Wilderness on May 6, 1864, but after being wounded then had turned them over to May.
Magee survived to become a first lieutenant and the 12th's color ensign October 28, 1864. He and Pvt. Charles David "Charlie" Blanks laid down their arms at Appomattox after returning from furloughs, and did not received paroles but were not imprisoned. Magee became a tobacconist after the war.
I just came across your blog and I am finding the posts terrific! I haven't made it all the way through, yet, but do you happen to know if there are any posts (or if you have information) on the Battle of Boydton Plank Road in October, 1864, along the Petersburg front? THANKS -- Ray
ReplyDeleteThanks. My book, "The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865" contains a very detailed chapter on Boydton Plank Road, where the regiment suffered its worst losses of the war.
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