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APPOMATTOX PAROLE OF LT. DAVID BEAM HARRILL COMPANY B 34th NORTH CAROLINA: PICTURED IN UNIFORM IN MAST VOLUME 1: NC STATE TROOPS AND VOLUNTEERS
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Item Code: 1300-64
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This comes from the collection of Greg Coco, scholar and author of an article on Appomattox paroles in the March-April 2006 issue of Civil War Times that deals with the circumstances of the printing of these paroles, their importance to paroled Confederates not only as passes to return home and remain there undisturbed, but as some nod to reconciliation, and on the other hand in later years as proof they were faithful to the Confederate cause to the end.
This one is in very good condition, bears one of the three standard designs used on these on the left edge, is partly printed and partly filled out by hand, dated Appomattox Court House, Va., April 10, 1865, at reads: “The bearer 1st Lieut. D.B. Harrill of Co. B 34th Regt. of N.C. Troops, a Paroled Prisoner of the Army of Northern Virginia has permission has permission to go to his home and there remain undisturbed.” Signed at bottom by “G. M. Norment Lieut. Col. / Comdg. 34 NC. It is in very good condition, showing a horizontal and vertical fold with a few small spots of foxing, no tears or losses, with the handwriting showing some typical fading, but legible. Please see our photos.
A wartime ambrotype of Harrill in uniform, descended in the family, is shown in Mast’s Volume 1. Harrill is shown seated, from the waist-up, wearing single breasted gray frock coat with dark Second Lieutenant shoulder straps, his sash worn over the shoulder as officer of the day, holding an unsheathed prewar militia officer’s sword and a sword belt he has turned over to compensate for the lateral reversal of the image and make the scabbard appear on his left side, though showing his eagle belt plate upside down.
The 34th NC was organized at Camp Fisher, near High Point, NC, mustered into state service for one year on October 25, and into Confederate service as of Jan. 1, 1862, and reorganized for three years or the war on April 18, having already taken part in some movements countering Union movements along coastal rivers, etc. It was assigned to Anderson’s brigade, moved to Virginia on April 23, and transferred to Pender’s brigade, A.P. Hill’s division in June and saw action in the Seven Days Battles (there losing 53 killed and 132 wounded,) 2nd Manassas (2 killed and 23 wounded,) Antietam and Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg (2 killed and 17 wounded,) Chancellorsville (18 killed, 110 wounded, 20 missing,) Gettysburg (14 killed, 55 wounded and 46 captured in fighting on July 1 and in Pickett’s Charge on July 3,) all the way up to Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Appomattox, where it surrendered 21 officers and 145 men.
David Beam Harrill’s service record is confused at points by the presence in the same company of a Private David Harrill, who we can only take to be a relation to some degree. Our man, David B. Harrill, was 25 years old, stood 6’ tall, and a farmer when he enrolled in the “Sandy Run Yellowjackets” for one year’s service on Sept. 2, 1861, at Philadelphia Church, Rutherford County, NC. He had been elected 2nd Lieutenant of the company, which became Co. B of the 34th NC. He was mustered into state and Confederate service as of the same dates as the company and regiment, though he was absent on leave when the company mustered into state service, perhaps getting his photograph taken while on furlough.
In addition to confusion with Private Harrill, muster rolls for the company, as often the case in Confederate records, are also incomplete, but show he was present throughout the war, with a couple of exceptions, being appointed 1st Lieutenant of Co. B on March 8, 1863, with rank from February 27. He is listed as present on the July to December 1863 muster rolls, among others, but a note in his file from the Medical Director’s Office in Richmond says he was hospitalized there from July 9 to July 20 on a list of officers, when he was returned to duty. He is listed in CWData and elsewhere, however, as captured at Chancellorsville and soon exchanged, but our own examination of the records indicates this may be his namesake in the company. The only other absence firmly reported is a furlough granted by Gen. Lee on February 15, 1865. This could not have been of long duration. He was back in time for the retreat to Appomattox, as indicated by this parole and his presence on the official surrender rolls. He is noted as signing the May-June 1864 muster rolls for both Co. B and Co. K as commanding officer, certainly a temporary situation.
Harrill returned to Rutherford County after the war and resumed farming. We find him there in the 1880 census, married and with five children. He died in Rutherford County in 1925, his wife having passed away there in 1917, and was survived by four daughters. He had been in the “mercantile business,” was President of the Bank of Ellenboro, “a large landowner,” and was apparently congenially referred to by locals as “Uncle Dave.” [sr][ph:L]
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