Old Court House Civil War Museum  Winchester, Virginia

Diary, Bible, and letters given to the museum by the family

Private Bell was born in the house on Cameron Street within view of the courthouse in 1840. He was educated and joined the 1^st Rockbridge Artillery which an elite artillery unit, consisting mostly of educated men from VMI and Washington College in Lexington. This is the unit that used the famous cannons of "Mathew Mark and Luke, now prominently displayed and used by the cadets today at VMI. This unit participated in most of the major artillery engagements of 1862 and 1863. Bell was captured First Kernstown March 23, 1862, may possibly have been held in the courthouse. His diary began in 1863 and is rich in text. This is the unit that mounted the ridge west of Winchester, turning the Federal guns around and bombarded Milroys main position in Second Winchester June 16, 1863 (when Albert Wilson was captured). The unit went on to Gettysburg and participated in the famous bombardment of Cemetery Ridge in the ill fated Pickett’s charge. The regimental history gives a grim account of the effects of returning Federal fire on the battery during that engagement. Bell survived Picketts charge. The unit was positioned to guard a railroad crossing at Brandy Station on November 7, 1863 when he was struck by a Federal shell and was killed. A commrade wrote a letter to his family describing his excruciating death and returning his Bible and diary.

Robert Bell was uncle of Stewart Bell Jr, a well known Winchester figure. Stewart’s father was born in the same house on Cameron Street on September 19, 1864, literally while the Third Battle of Winchester raged.

Military Record: Yes

Pension Record: tbd

Click here for article:  
To Gettysburg & Back, the 1863 Diary of Robert Sherrard Bell 
By Trish Ridgeway