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The 3rd Virginia Infantry, originally a militia unit,
was transformed into a volunteer regiment and mustered
into Confederate service on July 1, 1861, at Portsmouth.
It consisted of companies from the counties of Dinwiddie,
Halifax, Isle of Wight, Nansemond, Southampton, and
Surry, and from the cities of Petersburg and Portsmouth.
The regiment’s first commander was Virginia Congressman
Roger A. Pryor, who left the regiment when he was promoted
to brigadier general in April 1862. The regiment subsequently
was commanded by Colonel Joseph Mayo, Jr. for the rest
of the War.
For the first year of the war, the 3rd Virginia served
on both sides of the lower James River, seeing no action
against the enemy. In late April 1862, however, the
3rd Virginia was hurried across the James River to join
Brigadier General Raleigh E. Colston’s Brigade
of General Joseph E. Johnston’s army. It fought
in the Siege of Yorktown and at the battles of Williamsburg,
Seven Pines, and in the Seven Days’ Battles. In
July it became a part of Major General James Longstreet’s
command, later the First Corps, of General R. E. Lee’s
Army of Northern Virginia. The 3rd Virginia fought under
Longstreet at Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg,
Suffolk, and Gettysburg. From November 1862 it served
in Brigadier General James Kemper’s Brigade of
Major General George E. Pickett’s Division of
Longstreet’s corps.
Private Pond was promoted to second corporal sometime
in late 1861. Despite a slight wound at Second Manassas
in late August 1862, he was present for duty with his
regiment from the time of his enlistment in the summer
of 1861 until he reported sick in Richmond in February
1863. He returned to duty in April but again reported
sick in May and did not return to duty again until the
following August. He therefore missed out on the Suffolk
Campaign as well as the Battle of Gettysburg, in which
his brigade and regiment were decimated in Pickett’s
Charge on July 3, 1863.
In the fall of 1863, Pickett’s Division was detached
from Lee’s Army and served in the Richmond area.
In January 1864, Pickett’s units, including the
3rd Virginia, followed him to his new command in eastern
North Carolina. There, the 3rd Virginia fought at New
Bern, Plymouth, and Washington before following the
rest of Pickett’s Division to the Petersburg-Richmond
area in mid-May 1864. As part of Brigadier General William
R. Terry’s Brigade, it fought in the Battle of
Cold Harbor in early June 1864. It remained with Lee’s
Army until the end of the War, taking an active part
in the operations around Petersburg and Richmond. It
fought gallantly with Pickett’s Division in the
Battle of Five Forks and at Sailor’s Creek before
surrendering with the rest of Lee’s Army at Appomattox
Court House on April 9, 1865. Only 1 officer and 60
men were left in the 3rd Virginia when it laid down
its arms at Appomattox. |
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Corporal
Pond was not one of them. He was present with his regiment
from his return from the hospital in late August 1863
until the final days of the conflict. While his unit
was maneuvering in eastern North Carolina, however,
the 27-year-old corporal secured leave to hurry up to
Petersburg, where he married a fellow native of Isle
of Wight County, 24-year-old Mary Elizabeth Applewhite,
on February 29, 1864. During the retreat to Appomattox,
on April 4, 1865, Corporal Pond was captured at the
High Bridge on the Appomattox River and held by the
Yankees until he was paroled at nearby Burkeville on
April 14. He took the oath of allegiance to the United
States on June 5, 1865, and was free to return to his
new home in Chesterfield County.
Lenius B. Pond and his wife Mary Elizabeth produced
9 children in the years following the War Between the
States, 4 sons and 5 daughters. Mary Elizabeth died
in 1907 at the age of 67. Corporal Pond was active in
the A.P. Hill Camp of the United Confederate Veterans
until his death on August 15, 1912, at the age of 75.
He and his wife are buried in Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg.
The memory of Corporal Lenius B. Pond of Company I,
3rd Virginia Infantry is perpetuated in this camp by
his great-great grandson, Compatriot Steven P. Pond.
Mary Elizabeth Applewhite Pond
Lenius B. Pond and daughter
Lola (standing)
Seated - Bertha Faison Mann
- daughter of Lola Pond Faison
child - Russell Mann?
This picture most likely taken after death of his wife
(December 1907) probably around 1910.
Coat and hat are Confederate Veteran attire of A.P.
Hill Camp, Confederate Veterans, Petersburg, Va. |
