Company F, 4th Virginia Cavalry, C.S.A.

The Dahlgren-Kilpatrick Raid

Goochland County, Virginia

1 March 1864

At home on furlough, 19 year-old Private Pleasants awakened to learn that Union raiders had taken his 2 cavalry mounts in the early morning hours. Arming himself with his carbine and donning a captured Union sack coat for protection from the winter cold, he set out on foot intending to recover his horses and, if possible, to take the war to his foe. Sighting numerous small groups of Federal cavalry during a 3-mile trek, it became apparent that a sizeable Union force was in the area.

Though alone and without hope of support, he remained steadfast in his quest. Using the wood line as cover, Private Pleasants twice captured lone raiders as they rode near him. Now mounted, he pressed on toward the main body. Unfazed at suddenly meeting a small party of raiders, he swiftly presented his carbine and forced their surrender without resistance. Returning to the road with his prisoners, Private Pleasants deliberately allowed an unsuspecting group of Union riders to converge. Audaciously presenting his carbine with a demand for surrender, he captured them all. With 12 prisoners now in his custody and other groups of raiders still in the vicinity, Private Pleasants deemed it prudent to return home, by now nearly 5 miles away.

When 150 yards from his house, he spied 2 Federals there at a well. Though burdened by his prisoners, Private Pleasants boldly continued toward them. Arriving, he presented his carbine and demanded their surrender. The raiders instead responded by drawing revolvers and firing at him. In the brief but furious fusillade that followed, Private Pleasants displayed uncommon coolness by shooting one and forcing the other to surrender, all the while maintaining control of his prisoners. With assistance from his uncle and a neighbor, Private Pleasants then began a 20-mile trip, much of it still teeming with Union cavalry, to the jail of a neighboring county. That night he deposited his prisoners and a wagonload of their equipment with authorities.

Young, determined and intrepid Private Pleasants, displaying astounding daring and personal valor, captured 13 Union soldiers, killed another and took 16 horses that morning. For extraordinary heroism at great personal peril, Private James Pleasants is hereby awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor.**

CONFEDERATE MEDAL OF HONOR