Pettus Cousins in the Battle of First Kernstown

Pettus Cousins in the Battle of First Kernstown. . , On May 2, 1861, after hearing that their home state of Virginia had seceded from the Union, John Hudson Petus, his younger cousin John Overton Pettus, and four other cousins from the Eubank family enlisted in the Keysville Guards as privates for one year under the command of Captain Armistead W. Bailey. They were part of a group of 112 volunteers that joined the Confederate Army that day., John Hudson Pettus was born on March 29, 1841, in Charlotte County, Virginia. he was assigned to Company K of the 23rd Virginia Regiment. He and his cousin John Overton Pettus engaged in the same military campaigns, including the Battle of First Kernstown. After his one-year enlistment expired, he was transferred to the 14th Virginia Cavalry under Colonel McCausland., John Overton Pettus was born November 12, 1847 near Keysville, Charlotte County, Virginia and was 14 when he joined the Confederate Army. Assigned to the 23rd Virginia Regiment as part of Colonel Samuel V. Fulkerson's brigade, John and his five cousins participated in the assault on Pritchard's Hill., Near this spot, John Overton Pettus and his cousin Phillip G. Eubank were killed in action by a Union artillery shell on March 23, 1862 during that assault., His cousin James Francis Eubank was captured during the Confederate retreat at the conclusion of the First Battle of Kernstown.