1940: Roadside fame or cast-iron shame?

Civil War veterans clad in gray and blue meet across a rock wall on Cemetery Ridge during the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. The fellow on the left is giving the "rebel yell."

 December 7, 2016, marks the 75th anniversary of the Japanese air raid at Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II.

 At The Stoneman Gazette, we are all about anniversaries and memorials. This newspaper was created to cover the double-diamond 150th anniversary (or sesquicentennial, if you prefer) of Stoneman's Raid.
 So, Pearl Harbor Day seems like a good time to look back at how our forefathers commemorated the 75th anniversaries of Stoneman's Raid and the end of the Civil War—just 19 months before "the date that will live in infamy."
 Nationally, the biggest ceremony was in 1938—the 75th anniversary of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. Some 2,500 Yanks and Rebs, all in their nineties, gathered on that blood-consecrated field for one last reunion. (Watch remarkable footage from Ken Burns' 1990 epic, The Civil War). Those veterans included at least one associated with Stoneman's Raid, Mose Triplett, who died just two weeks afterwards. (His daughter is the last person receiving a Civil War pension.)

Burlington Daily Times-News, April 16, 1940

 By 1940, the 75th anniversary of the end of the Civil War was overshadowed by the beginnings of World War II in Europe. Across North Carolina, the United Daughters of the Confederacy held local ceremonies on Confederate Memorial Day, May 10 (the date of Stonewall Jackson's death in 1863 and Jefferson Davis's capture in 1865), to remember fallen heroes and salute the last few surviving veterans. Prominent politicians made speeches under a battle flag at Hillsborough's Alexander Dickson House, known as "the last headquarters of the Confederacy."

 (The Dickson house now serves as the Hillsborough County Visitor's Center. This history by a Dickson descendant is fascinating, though some of the details are contradicted by what we know about Stoneman's timeline.)
 As for Stoneman's Raid, you might have expected North Carolina to sweep the whole painful episode under the rug of history. Instead, the state marked the 75th anniversary of the raid by bestowing Gen. George Stoneman with roadside fame and making him a something of a household name in the mountains and foothills. 

These markers in Salisbury are among 18 erected by North Carolina 75 years after Stoneman's Raid.

 In 1940, the state's official historian, C.C. Crittenden*, commissioned 18 cast-iron historical markers to trace the path of Stoneman's Raid along highways from Boone to Mount Airy and from Salisbury to Asheville. As the grandson of two Confederate soldiers, Crittenden must have known how provocative this would be.
 Some North Carolinians were outraged that their state would spend their taxes to honor the notorious Yankee general and a campaign that was scorched into their family memories. "When the first North Carolina historical markers commemorating the raid were installed over seventy years afterward, citizens tore them down and threw them in a river," historian Chris Hartley wrote in the cover notes for his book, Stoneman's Raid, 1865.

 In 1969, historian Glenn Tucker (the award-winning biographer of Gov. Zebulon Vance) had a similar reaction. Writing about the Civil War for the centennial edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times, he scoffed:

Stoneman's raid, though still prominently advertised, did not hasten the end of the Confederacy by an hour. Anyone is entitled to wonder why, since it passed through Asheville after Lee and Johnston's men had laid down their arms, it is commemorated so extravagantly by historical markers in Asheville, Hendersonville, Lynn, and places in the Piedmont. Little if any heroism appears to have been involved. Incidents occurred which had better be forgotten. ... A salutory event would be for the historical commission in Raleigh to apply the Stoneman touch and trip down those signs, then substitute more worthy markers.

 Tucker raised a legitimate question, since Stoneman's Raid has nearly twice as many markers as Sherman's march through eastern North Carolina—a much more significant campaign that effectively ended the Civil War. Undeniably, some of the raiders were guilty of rape, pillage, and other dishonorable deeds during the week they spent in the mountains.
 However, I must respectfully disagree with some of Tucker's conclusions about the timing, conduct, and consequences of the raid. And I have corroborating witnesses. Gen. Ulysses Grant shared Tucker's disdain for Stoneman, yet Grant did acknowledge that the raid helped finish off the Confederacy. An Ohio captain who later became a historian and a diplomat described Stoneman's Raid as "brilliant but inadequately appreciated."

 Are the markers appropriate? I think so, and the scholars in Raleigh seem to agree: In the 76 years since the signs were erected and the 47 years since Tucker objected, only one of the 18 has been decommissioned by the state. It was in Newton, and it was replaced by the city in 2009 after it was knocked down by a snowplow in 1989.

 Eleven of the original 1940 markers still stand. You can find six of them near the courthouses in Boone, Wilkesboro, Dobson, Danbury, Salisbury, and Rutherfordton. Two more are on the outskirts of Salisbury, the most significant battlefield of Stoneman's Raid. Others remain in Statesville, Lenoir, and Lynn.
 Six of the originals have been replaced with newer plaques in Hendersonville, Asheville, Morganton, Shallow Ford, Mount Airy, and Blowing Rock. Two more monuments to Stoneman's Raid were added at Deep Gap in 1959 and Swannanoa Gap in 1960. So there were 20 state markers before the disappearance of the one in Newton.
 Contrary to Tucker's generalizations, these markers are not one-sided in favor of the Yankees. The ones at the Yadkin River near Salisbury and the Swannanoa Gap east of Asheville commemorate heroic rebel stands that resulted in the last Confederate victories of the war.

Civil War Trails displays along Stoneman's route
 include this one at Andrews Geyser near Old Fort,
commemorating the last Confederate victory.

 In addition to the state and city markers, Stoneman's Raid is also documented by 24 Civil War Trails displays. These illustrated and informative plaques are part of an effort to promote Civil War tourism.
 Near Greensboro, there are also two monuments related to Stoneman's Raid erected by the Col. John Sloan Camp of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans.

 Altogether, I've found 46 historical markers documenting the 28 days and 500 miles that Stoneman's raiders criss-crossed 24 counties in western North Carolina.

 Folks who agree with Tucker might be more content in Tennessee, Virginia, or South Carolina, where few markers mention Stoneman by name. Georgia has several, but most of them focus on an 1864 raid where rebels captured Stoneman.

 

C.C. Crittenden

S.S. Crittenden

* C.C. CRITTENDEN (1902-1969) should not be confused with S.S. CRITTENDEN (1829-1911), a Confederate veteran who wrote the 1903 centennial history of Greenville, S.C. As far as I can tell, they were not related, and they would have disagreed on how we should remember Stoneman's Raid. In his brief chapter on "Greenville During the War," S.S. Crittenden did not mention the two occasions that Stoneman's cavalry invaded Greenville (May 1-2 and May 22-24, 1865). Certainly he knew of these incidents, and it would not be surprising if he was personally involved in the local resistance. His mother was from Salisbury, N.C., which famously denied its history with Stoneman.

The first 11 markers for Stoneman's Raid were announced May 7, 1940—75 years after the raid and 19 months before Pearl Harbor. This clipping is from The Robesonian in Lumberton, N.C.

Vet's dilemma: Which side would he fight for?

FLAG POND, Tenn.

 One cold winter night in 1947, Anderson Moore was on his way to bed when he stumbled and fell. For the next five weeks he tolerated a painful crick in his neck, until he finally sought care at the Oteen Veterans Hospital near Asheville, N.C.

Anderson Moore (1847-1949)

 Doctors diagnosed a fractured vertebra and admitted Moore into a ward with a dozen young veterans of World War II. That must have made for some interesting war stories—because Moore was 100 years old and fought for the Union in the Civil War.
 Hospital administrators tipped The Asheville Citizen, which published Moore's story and asked him the obvious question: Why would a Southerner enlist with the Yankees?
 "To keep out of the rebel army," he declared.
 By the middle of the 20th century, it was easy for the public to forget that not all southerners were rebels. In fact, back in 1861 following the election of Abraham Lincoln, the majority of North Carolinians voted against secession. Pro-Union sentiment was strongest in the mountains, where few families owned slaves and most saw no reason to fight against the country that their fathers and grandfathers had fought for.
 Yet as soon as they turned 17, young men like Moore were required to join the Confederate army. If they dodged the draft, the local Home Guard would hunt them down.
 "I didn't have any better sense than to fight," Moore said.
 Actually, he had no choice but to fight. His only choice was: Which side would he fight for?
 When Moore turned 17 in 1864, he walked 50 miles to Strawberry Plains, Tenn., to enlist with the Union Army in the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry. Unfortunately, there were not enough horses for all the soldiers. "We weren't mounted," he joked. "We were webfeet."
 He said he fought in a number of skirmishes and minor battles, including Stoneman's Raid. The 3rd N.C. Mounted Infantry was part of Stoneman's rear guard and occupied Boone and Asheville in the closing weeks of the war.
 Moore was born Jan. 10, 1847, in Flag Pond, Tenn., a mountain community just across Sams Gap from North Carolina. His longevity was no surprise, since his father lived to be 108. After the war, Moore became a farmer, was married twice, and had five children, five step-children, and 35 grandchildren. Some of them shared his pro-Union sympathies, because one of his grandsons was named Meade, after the Union general who defeated Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg. 
 Moore lived two more years and was 102 when he died June 3, 1949, at home in Madison County, N.C. As far as I have found, he was the next-to-last surviving veteran from Stoneman's Raid.
 

The nurse quoted in this clipping, Mercina "Jimmie" Pananes McSwain (1922-2013), was the daughter of Greek immigrants and a graduate of Johns Hopkins who met her husband Ray McSwain during the year she worked at the Oteen Veterans Hospital. She became known as the godmother of tennis in the Swannanoa Valley, and the town courts in Black Mountain are named for her.

NEXT➤ 75 years later: Roadside fame, household name

The ghost of Della Barnes

Della Barnes' truncated statue

PADUCAH, Ky.

 Della Barnes was a heartbreaker. One man gave her an expensive engagement ring, but she chose to marry another. The jilted man was so enraged that he cut off Della's ring finger, and she bled to death. 
 Or so the legend goes.
 The true story of Della's demise, as reported in the Paducah Daily Sun, is just as haunting. One summer night in 1897, Della told a friend that she didn't feel well and was going to take a dose of calomel, a mercury compound that is now known to be toxic but back then was used to treat various ailments. By accident, she swallowed morphine instead. Della went to bed and never woke up.
 The heartbroken man in this real-life tragedy was her father, Major George Barnes. A Tennessee native who remained loyal to the Union throughout the Civil War, he rode with the 12th Kentucky Cavalry in Stoneman's Raid and was mentioned in the New York Times for his leadership in the invasion of Boone, N.C. He was also entrusted with the destruction of the Confederate armory at Salisbury.
 After the war, Maj. Barnes married 17-year-old Anna Robinson and became a successful coal merchant and city councilman in Paducah, a city on the lower Ohio River across from Illinois.

Della's original monument

 Della was born in 1874, when her father was 38. He had three other daughters (two grew up to marry and one died at age five), but Della was his darling, and after she died on June 27, 1897, he never got over it. To mark her grave, he commissioned an Italian sculptor to carve a life-sized statue of Della holding a rose over her heart.
 Over the next year, he was engulfed by grief, his business failed, and his debts mounted.
 On November 3, 1898, Barnes bought 30 grains of morphine—the same drug that had killed Della. That's enough to kill 10 men. To get so much, he had to go to two apothecaries, and he told one of them he needed it for a sick horse. Instead, he swallowed it all with a bottle of whiskey. Hours later when his family found him, they called the same doctor who had tried to revive Della, but it was too late.
 Barnes, 62, left a note written on paper that had wrapped the morphine, explaining that he had no domestic trouble, but that he took his life because of financial embarrassment and his grief over Della's death. He asked God to have mercy on his soul and take care of his little grandson.
 According to his obituary:

The deceased was a good, conscientious man, and highly esteemed by all who knew him. His friends were numbered by the hundred, and among them are not only his old comrades at arms in the Union army, but the men who fought on the other side as well, and for whom he always showed the highest regard and friendship.

 Major Barnes was buried in an unmarked grave next to Della in Paducah's Oak Grove cemetery.
 Today, Della's grave is barely recognizable. Her monument has disappeared, piece by piece. After vandals broke off her ring finger, people swore they saw the statue bleeding or crying. Then her head and torso disappeared. Now, all that remains is the marble foundation, decorated by flowers.
 But some people say ... if you dare to visit the cemetery at night on the anniversary of her death, you just might see Della's pale ghost walking the darkened paths through the old oak grove, clutching a blood-red rose over her heart.

NEXT➤ Vet's dilemma: Which side would he fight for?

Paducah Daily Sun, June 28, 1897

Paducah Daily Sun, Nov. 5, 1898

Greenville: 'Prepare to Meet Your God'

A noble Yankee from Tennessee:
Union Capt. Isaac Taylor

GREENVILLE, S.C.

 The Stoneman Gazette has unearthed more information about the skirmish in Greenville, S.C., in May, 1865, that I believe was the last Civil War clash east of the Mississippi.

National Tribune, Sept. 5, 1889

 This clipping was published July 18, 1889, in the National Tribune, a weekly newspaper catering to Union veterans. I found it reprinted Sept. 5, 1889, in the Anderson Intelligencer.

 It is a letter written by Isaac Taylor, a Union captain from Tennessee who was ordered to execute four Confederates accused of mistreating and robbing some of Stoneman's sick and wounded soldiers as they were being evacuated to Knoxville.
 Convinced that the rebels were innocent, Capt. Taylor defied his orders and made a noble last-minute decision to spare their lives.
 I believe that Taylor is describing the same incident that was documented in 2002 by Greenville historian John McLeod, though there are some discrepancies in their stories, and it is possible there were two similar incidents.
 Taylor gives the date as May 24 (rather than May 22 or 23) and the location as 25 miles from Greenville at the foot of the Blue Ridge (not Crescent Ridge near downtown Greenville). He says there were four Confederates (rather than three) facing the firing squad. The 1903 history of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry says it was Lt. T.C. White (rather than Capt. Taylor) who was ordered to carry out the executions.
 Capt. Taylor vividly described the scene as the rebels awaited their fate:

They were informed of the order and given 10 minutes in which to prepare to meet their God. I had passed through many battles and trials, but this was the most trying ordeal of my life. The utter despair depicted on their countenances, while great rivers of perspiration ran down their pallid faces, makes me shudder yet when I think of how near four innocent men were to being murdered by the command "fire" given from my lips.

 Then the surgeon (Dr. James Cameron) recognized a gesture from one of the rebels as the Masons' "Grand-Hailing Sign of Distress." Dr. Cameron was a Mason, and so was Col. Miller, the brigade commander who had ordered the executions.  This made Miller reconsider the charges, and he set the captives free.
 The Civil War is full of stories like this where lives were spared after enemies discovered they were brothers in the secret society of the Masons. In fact, there is a Masonic Memorial at Gettysburg called "Friend to Friend" (pictured below) that honors these traditions. Several similar accounts are found in the annals of Stoneman's Raid. No doubt some are apocryphal, but I think this one is credible, since it is reported by both sides. 

Emporia (Kan.) News, Jan. 24, 1884

 Capt. Taylor (1843-1892) grew up in eastern Tennessee, which was predominantly pro-Union and opposed to secession. When the war began, he enlisted with an Illinois regiment. In 1863 he joined the Union's 13th Tennessee Cavalry, commanding Company B and serving as Acting Assistant Adjutant General under Col. John Miller. The 13th Tennessee was one of eight Yankee regiments that marched with Stoneman's Raid in the spring of 1865. They fought at Wytheville and the Yadkin River bridge and were involved in the pursuit of Jefferson Davis.
 According to this 1884 newspaper tribute, he was the first man in Carter County, Tennessee, to make a stand for Negro suffrage, and he was among the first Republicans elected to the Tennessee legislature. 
 Republicans fell out of favor at the end of Reconstruction, so Capt. Taylor moved to Hartford, Kan., where he built a mill, became president of the local bank, and served as an Indian agent.
 He wrote to the National Tribune in 1889 hoping to make contact with his forgiven enemies:

I disobeyed orders, turned them over to the brigade commander at noon with a full statement of what had occurred, and he discharged them. They were happy, but I cannot believe that they were more so than I was. A Masonic sign saved their lives, and no doubt, saved me from great remorse. If those four ex-Confederates, or any of them, are living, I would be very happy indeed to hear from them.

 Earlier in 1889, Taylor had written to the National Tribune in another attempt to reconcile with the enemy. He said he was seeking to find the rightful owner of a Virginia regimental banner "he captured from the rebels in South Carolina in the spring of 1865." The 13th Tennessee passed through South Carolina twice during Stoneman's Raid, but I am not aware of any fights they had there with Virginians.
 Taylor died three years later at age 49, and I don't know if he ever heard from any of those rebels. Although he was not familiar with Masonic rites during the war, he evidently apprenticed later, because his obituary says his funeral was conducted by the Knights Templar with Masonic honors.
 According to a biographical sketch in the History of the 13th Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry: 

Captain Taylor was an officer of the highest courage, never evading any duty or danger, but was always among the first to reach the danger line when there was fighting to be done. He possessed fine social qualities and a high sense of honor that endeared him to all who knew him.

The Masonic Memorial at Gettysburg portrays Union Capt. Henry Bingham
comforting Confederate Gen. Lewis Armistead, who was
 mortally wounded during Pickett's Charge.

NEXT➤ The ghost of Della Barnes

An animated glimpse of Gen. Stoneman

Gen. George Stoneman sat for at least two stereographic portraits by James F. Gibson, who learned the 3D technique from the famous Civil War photographer Mathew Brady. This one was taken near Fredericksburg, Virginia, in June 1862, when Stoneman was 39 and commanded the Third Army Corps. I posted another 3D image of Stoneman when I began this blog, but I've just now figured out how to animate it. If that's a Bible he's holding, it's probably just a prop.

In the interest of equal time, here's General Robert E. Lee:

(Photos from the Chubachus Library of Photographic History)

 

NEXT➤ 'You have 10 minutes to prepare to meet your God'

'Great heavens, the Yankees are upon us!'

Col. WIlliam Luffman and Maj. Richard Reeves were sleeping here the morning of April 2, 1865, when Yankees raided Siloam, N.C. The historical marker next to the chimney was installed in 2011.

SILOAM, N.C.

 The Civil War ended just in time to spare Milton Cundiff, who turned 16 in January 1865. The only battle he ever experienced was as a storyteller. We can thank Cundiff for a vivid and almost-too-good-to-be-true account of a gunfight between two gallant Confederates and hundreds of apparently aimless Yankees.
 It happened April 2, 1865. The same day that Gen. Robert E. Lee abandoned the Confederate capital in Richmond, Stoneman's Raid came through Surry County, N.C., northwest of Winston-Salem. Stoneman was headed into the Virginia mountains to wreck the railroads and cut off Lee's retreat. Just one week later, Lee would surrender at Appomattox. 

Col. William Luffman

 Confederate Col. William Luffman had spent the night in Siloam, N.C., at the home of Maj. Richard Reeves. Luffman was recovering from a hip wound and evidently was on his way home from Richmond to Spring Place, Ga.

 Col. Luffman was bathing at dawn April 2 when he heard rustling out at the stable and found a Union soldier trying to steal his horse. In the ensuing shootout, the horse thief was killed and two other Union soldiers were wounded. Luffman, 44 and lame, and Reeves, 39 and plump, somehow outran the cavalry, escaped through a hail of bullets, and hid in the Yadkin River. It was left to Reeves' elderly mother to keep the Yankees from burning down the house.

 Cundiff grew up in Siloam and may have witnessed the episode. He certainly knew the details first-hand from the Reeves and other neighbors. Thirty-two years later, when he was the school superintendent in Surry County, Cundiff published his account of the "most wonderful fight" in the Mount Airy News under the pen name Will Fidd.

 Here's the story as it ran 119 years ago, on Nov. 11, 1897:

THE BATTLE OF SILOAM

Graphic Account of One of the Most Thrilling Incidents of the Late War

EDITOR NEWS: Few of your readers, I presume, are aware that within the village of Siloam there was fought one of the fiercest battles of the late Civil War. Such, however, is a fact, though I am quite sure you will find no record thereof in any of the school editions of our United States histories. Hereafter, I trust, the diligent readers may be able to find upon the files of THE MOUNT AIRY NEWS a portraiture of that unexpected and, in many respects, most wonderful fight.

     It was in April, 1865, that Col. Luffman, of Georgia, who had been severely wounded in a battle in Virginia, was recuperating among his friends in Surry County, and at this particular time had spent the night at the home of Messrs. R.E. & M.C. Reeves, in Siloam. Very early in the morning, Col. Luffman was up bathing, when he heard the heavy tramp of horses. Looking out at the front door of the "office" in which he and Maj. R.E. Reeves had slept, he beheld, to his great amazement, quite a number of Blue Coats dashing toward the house. He called to Maj. Reeves, who was still in bed, saying:
     "Great heavens, Major, the Yankees are upon us!" Then seizing his carbine, he rushed out into the front yard.
     "Surrender that gun, sir," demanded a Yankee, who had already been to the stable and was astride Col. Luffman's fine horse.
     "This is my gun," curtly replied the Colonel, "and I have a perfect right to use it; besides, I see you are on my horse; get off at once, or I'll help you off!"
     "D__n you, surrender!" roared the Blue Coat.
     Bang! roared Luffman's gun, and off tumbled the haughty rider, shot through the breast.
     By this time, Maj. Reeves was up, and had seized a shot-gun and ran to the rear door just as a minnie ball crashed through a buck-horn and lodged in the door facing within a few inches of his head! He fired both barrels of the gun; then seizing another, he ran to the front, where Col. Luffman was rapidly discharging his carbine at the advance guard of the enemy, who were firing recklessly and excitedly, but were gradually giving back toward the main body, now in sight, moving down the hill northeast of the stables.
     Bang! bang! bang! and the shock of battle roars and rages terrifically! Five hundred Federals arrayed in deadly combat with only two Confederates! and yet this regiment is beaten back and forced to take shelter behind a long wood-shed and the old factory building.
     Col. Luffman and Maj. Reeves emptied a carbine, two double-barrel shotguns and four revolvers in this most unusual contest of all the war, while the Yankees poured a perfect fusillade of minnie balls through the air that hung clear and crisp above and about their heads. Just as the firing along the Confederate "line" ceased, Maj. Masten, who was in command of the Federals, ordered a charge. With a wonderful flourish of glistening steel and the assurance of a glorious victory, the enemy dashed boldly up to the very spot where their dead comrade lay at full length upon the greensward. No quarters were now asked or offered. But with empty guns, Col. Luffman and Maj. Reeves had to stand and be riddled with bullets or escape, if possible, by precipitate flight. Hence, turning their faces toward the friendly river, these night-robed Confederate officers—one carrying a severe wound in his hip and the other 250 pounds avoirdupois—made their way as rapidly as possible across the bottom. A pitiless storm of bullets whizzed by their ears, while many others were buried in the sands dangerously near their feet.
     John W. Hardy, then a boy of eighteen, living with Maj. Reeves, having seen the flight and not knowing what else to do, took to his heels, running in the same direction, but fifty or sixty yards behind the other two fugitives. After two balls had pierced Hardy's hat and two others had cut the dust from his coat, he stopped and turned his face toward the pursuing enemy. A soldier ran up within a few feet of him and was bringing his gun on a level with Hardy's head, when an officer cried out, "Stop, you blank fool, don't you see the man has surrendered?" Just at this juncture a colored man, George, who lived with Messrs. Reeves, ran up and assured the Yankees who were collecting around that Mr. Hardy had taken no part whatever in the fight. While the soldiers were parlaying over their capture for a few moments, our bold Confederates had passed over the sand ridge unscathed and jumped into the river, the bank of which was thickly overgrown with weeds and briars. Col. Luffman sank behind a rock that projected a few inches above the water, while Maj. Reeves concealed himself behind some driftwood. Forty or fifty men scoured the bank of the river thoroughly, swearing summary vengeance upon them if found. But they managed to keep their bodies and heads beneath the water, breathing only through their nostrils. Finally, the Blue Coats gave up the fruitless search and returned to the house.
     Several men entered the house and fired it by throwing burning brands from the fireplace into the middle of the room and piling bureau drawers, clothing, etc., thereon. Mrs. Reeves, the aged mother of the Messrs. Reeves, while the men were pillaging other rooms, threw the burning brands and clothing into the fireplace, and with the help of a colored servant extinguished the flames. Two ruffian-looking men deliberately informed her that she had gold and silver concealed about the premises, and that, unless she immediately informed them where it was, they would kill her. She calmly replied, "if you do, you will not deprive me of many days."
     In the fight one Yankee had been killed and two others badly wounded, while several horses and mules were shot more or less severely, but were not entirely disabled.
     When the Yankees were gone and some two hours had elapsed, Maj. Reeves was seen to emerge from his hiding place in the river, after which a search was made for his companion, who was found almost exhausted clinging to an overhanging limb several hundred yards below where he had entered the stream. After procuring some refreshments and a brief rest at Mr. Bowman's they crossed the Ararat River and stopped with Mr. Samuel Scott, who furnished them some clothing. They continued their journey, stopping at Mr. Ed Butner's and Mr. Mat Phillips', both of whom treated them very kindly. They reached Salem after several days tramping through the woods, where Mr. Henry Fries presented each of them with a new suit of clothes. Then they made their way to Mr. William Marsh's, in Davidson County. Soon after their arrival here, some of Col. Luffman's friends passed, and he went with them to his home in Spring Place, Georgia.
     Some two months later Maj. Reeves returned to his desolated home where the battle had been fought, but the war was ended and he found the best of all things—his mother and peace.

WILL FIDD

Siloam, N.C., Nov. 6, 1897

 The farm "office" where Maj. Reeves and Col. Luffman were sleeping has been preserved, along with family relics that include a partially burned picture frame. A Civil War Trails historical marker has been installed next to the building in Siloam.
 The marker includes some additional information that Cundiff did not mention. In 1861, Maj. Reeves organized the first Confederate volunteers from Surry County.

Mrs. Reeves' hearth

 Maj. Reeves' mother, Elizabeth Early Reeves, was the cousin of Confederate Gen. Jubal Early. She was nearly 71 at the time of the raid, and though she told the Yankees her days were numbered, she lived to see 80. The marker says that Yankees withdrew when she promised to give the dead soldier a proper Christian burial on a nearby hill. Unfortunately, his name has been lost to history. (In observance of Memorial Day, I've collected the names of 37 Union soldiers who died during Stoneman's Raid.)
 It's uncertain which of Stoneman's troops went through Siloam. By the process of elimination, the 12th Kentucky Cavalry seems most likely. Cundiff said the Federal troops were commanded by a Major Masten, but I have not been able to find that name among Stoneman's officers.
 It's quite possible that the wounded Yankees at Siloam were treated by Dr. Milton Folger from nearby Rockford. Yankees also seized Dr. Folger's horse, leaving him with one of their worn-out mounts.
 Col. Luffman had a distinguished military and legal career. He survived wounds at Manassas in 1862, Gettysburg in 1863, and the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. In March 1865, a medical board considered whether to declare him an invalid. Presumably, he was given a medical leave, since he was already at Siloam while Robert E. Lee evacuated Richmond on April 2.

Milton Cundiff lived in this house, built by his father around 1865

NEXT➤ An animated glimpse of Gen. Stoneman

Memorial Day: Stoneman's toll

Lt. Thomas Kenyon was among five
Michigan soldiers killed April 8, 1865,
in a skirmish near Martinsville, Va.

     The Stoneman Gazette marks Memorial Day with the following list of Union soldiers who died during Stoneman's Raid.

     We published the corresponding list of Southern fatalities on Confederate Memorial Day, this past May 10. 
     I've identified 37 Union soldiers (plus several unknown) who died during the 54-day raid. Ten of them were killed in the Battle of Salisbury and five near Martinsville, Va. Another five died of disease in Watauga County, N.C. If you have any further information on these men or others who should be included, please leave a comment. I will update this post as additional information becomes available.

     Winners write history, and the victorious Union raiders did a much better job than the vanquished Confederates in terms of preserving names of their dead. Much of this information comes from histories written by five of the eight Union regiments who participated in Stoneman's Raid.
      I've arranged the names in order of the counties and cities that were raided.

  

BOONE & WATAUGA COUNTY, N.C., March 28-April 22

     There may have been one or two Union soldiers killed in the raid on Boone March 28. Stoneman reported that the 12th Kentucky Cavalry under Maj. George Barnes lost a few men wounded. Folks in Boone maintain that a teenager named Steel Frazier killed one or two Yankees. It's possible that one of them may have been Isaac Smith of the 8th Tennessee (see footnote below).

     Five more "Home Yankees" died of disease during the occupation of Boone by Kirk's Raiders in the days following Stoneman's Raid. All of them were enlisted in the 2nd N.C. Mounted Infantry, which was composed of men who remained loyal to the Union even after their home states seceded. Four of the five Union soldiers who died in Watauga County were from western North Carolina.

• Pvt. William Bradley died April 10 of typhoid. He enlisted at age 16 in 1863 and was from Buncombe County, N.C.
• Pvt. James Paine died April 11 of typhoid. He and Bradley enlisted on the same day in Greeneville, Tenn. He was 33 and was from Buncombe County, N.C.
• Pvt. John E. Maricle (also spelled Miracle) died April 15 of measles. He was from Harlan, Ky., enlisted at age 28, and had served barely six months when he died. He left a widow and four children.
• Pvt. Henry Evans died April 16 of typhoid. He was from Buncombe County and enlisted in 1863 at age 30.
• Pvt. Robert Foster died April 22 of disease. He was just 16 years old when he enlisted in 1864. He was also from Buncombe.

WILKESBORO & WILKES COUNTY, N.C., March 29-31

     Several Union soldiers drowned March 30 trying to cross the flooded Yadkin River. "Some never reached the other side. One out of our regiment, and I do not know how many others, drowned. It was a fearful sight," according to Howard Buzby of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry.

SILOAM & SURRY COUNTY, N.C., April 2

     An unknown Union soldier was shot April 2 while trying to steal the horse of Confederate Col. William Luffman of the 11th Georgia Infantry, according to an 1897 newspaper story by Milton Cundiff, a noted Surry County educator who may have been an eyewitness to the event.

WYTHEVILLE & WYTHE COUNTY, Va., April 5-7
      Gen. Gillem's report said 35 Union men were killed, wounded, or captured in the April 5 raid on Wytheville. I researched the rosters of the two regiments involved in this raid, the Eighth and Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry and have not been able to identify them, with the exception of:

• Pvt. John C. Connor of the 8th Tennessee drowned April 7 while crossing the New River during the retreat from Wytheville.
• Pvt. David Wilson, 20 years old, of the 13th Tennessee was reported missing in action after this raid. Some relatives believe he was killed at Wytheville, but this has not been verified. Wytheville was not far from his home, and it is possible that he deserted.

      There were seven members of the 13th Tennessee and at least four members of the 8th Tennessee who died in Knoxville and elsewhere in the three weeks following the Wytheville raid. (See the footnote below.) Some of them may have been mortally wounded at Wytheville, but it is also possible that they were wounded or sick prior to the raid and were left behind in Knoxville when their regiments marched.

JACKSONVILLE & FLOYD COUNTY, Va., April 4-8

• Pvt. John Houston of the 1st Tennessee Artillery was killed April 8 at Floyd's Church. Stoneman's artillery was passing through Floyd County at that time.

LYNCHBURG & BEDFORD COUNTY, Va., April 8

• Pvt. Jacob King of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry was shot by friendly fire near Lynchburg. He was the only Union fatality during Wagner's Raid, which was dispatched by Stoneman and praised by Gen. Ulysses Grant for cutting off Robert E. Lee's last line of escape.

MARTINSVILLE & HENRY COUNTY, Va., April 8
      Five soldiers from the 10th Michigan Cavalry were killed April 8 in a skirmish near Martinsville, Va. This was the deadliest engagement of the war for the 10th Michigan, which previously had only eight of its 1,886 men killed in action.
      Just three days earlier, these troops had learned that Robert E. Lee had abandoned the Confederate capital at Richmond, telling them the war was all but over. They were on their way to liberate the prison at Salisbury and weren't looking for a fight when they crossed paths with Capt. James Wheeler's rebels at a creek in Henry County. In the ensuing fight, the Confederates had as many as 27 killed.
      The Union victims were buried at the Episcopal church in Martinsville, and the bodies were later relocated to the National Cemetery in Danville.

• Lt. Thomas C. Kenyon was described as "a gallant young officer" in Volume 40 of Michigan in the Civil War. He enlisted with the 10th Michigan at age 25 in 1863 and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1864. He previously served with another regiment and spent six months as a prisoner of war following the 1862 Battle of Shiloh. 
• Sgt. John Benton was from Wayne County, Michigan. He enlisted in 1863 at age 27. 
• Pvt. George Wood was from Antrim County. He enlisted at age 31 in 1864 and had served only five months before he was killed. 
• Pvt. Joseph Cune (also spelled Kune or Kunne) was from Grand Traverse County. He enlisted at age 36 in 1864 and served less than six months before he was killed. 
• Pvt. Ira E. Harvey enlisted in Grand Rapids at age 22 in 1864 and served eight months before he was killed.

STOKES COUNTY, N.C., April 10-11

• Robert Watson of the 10th Michigan was killed April 10 in Germantown, N.C.
• Pvt. Joseph Hale of the 8th Tennessee died April 11 in Danbury, N.C.

SALEM & FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C., April 10-11

• Pvt. Dennis Shea of the 12th Ohio died April 22 in Salem. It seems likely that Shea was the unidentified soldier shot by Confederate Sgt. Greenbury Harding in Huntsville, 20 miles west of Salem. Harding was a Yadkin County native who had been wounded four times in battles and was discharged from the 28th North Carolina Regiment in 1864. According to a Civil War trails marker in Huntsville, Harding killed one of the two Yankees who were trying to loot his house. If Shea was mortally wounded, it would have made sense for the Union to leave him in the care of the pro-Union Moravians in Salem. A 1917 history of Champaign County, Ohio, says Shea was left sick at Salem.

SALISBURY & ROWAN COUNTY, N.C.

• Capt. John Edwards of the 11th Michigan Cavalry was shot leading the charge into Salisbury April 12 and died four days later in Way Hospital No. 3. He was leading Company D in an attack on the Confederate Battery F when he was shot by a rebel from Maryland named Lt. Stokes. According to historian Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Edwards was pursuing Stokes, who had already shot one of Edwards' men. As Edwards closed in, brandishing his saber, Stokes suddenly wheeled around and shot Edwards as he passed by. Edwards was hit in the leg and right lung. A native of Ireland and a resident of Hudson, Mich., he was buried with Masonic rites at the Lutheran church in Salisbury and was later reburied in the National Cemetery. He was a member of Gen. Stoneman's personal staff.

     Capt. Edwards was profiled in a 1996 book, "Last Full Measure of Devotion," by his great-great nephew, Joe Edwards, writing under the name J. Doby. This book lists five other men from Hudson, Michigan, who gave their lives in Salisbury. Three of them actually died in Chattanooga, where presumably they were being treated for wounds. One of them was probably the first victim of Lt. Stokes.

• Cpl. Orlando Richardson died May 1, 1865, in Chattanooga, just two months after he enlisted.
• Norman F. Henry died May 1, 1865, in Chattanooga. His tombstone in the Chattanooga National Cemetery says he served in the 11th Michigan Mounted Infantry, which disbanded in 1864. Several of those soldiers enlisted in the 11th Cavalry.
• James Berch [or Bercham]
• John S. Worden
• Oliver Stebbins [or Stibbens] died April 27, 1865, in Chattanooga. Letters to his family indicate he died of measles and do not mention wounds.

     Salisbury editor J.J. Bruner, who was known to exaggerate, wrote in 1890 that 16 Union soldiers were killed or mortally wounded in the unsuccessful siege of the Yadkin River bridge, six miles northeast of Salisbury. However, the Tennessee brigade that attacked the bridge reported only four deaths at Salisbury:

• Saddler Leander Russell, 23, of the 13th Tennessee was killed April 12 in Salisbury. 
• Pvt. Godfrey Jenkins, 21, of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry was killed April 12 in Salisbury.
• Pvt. John Renshaw of the 8th Tennessee Cavalry was killed April 12 in Salisbury. Renshaw, just 18 years old, had enlisted March 21--the same day Stoneman's Raid left Knoxville. 
• Pvt. James Ledso, 20, of the 13th Tennessee, died April 18 at Salisbury from wounds suffered April 12 or 13.

STATESVILLE & IREDELL COUNTY, N.C., April 13-16

• Pvt. Orlow J. Brackett of the 10th Michigan was killed by bushwhackers April 16 in Statesville. He was from Bay County.
• Pvt. George Hysinger of the 8th Tennessee was executed April 15 "under a pretense of insubordination" by Capt. Landon Carter of the 13th Tennessee.

      At the 1895 reunion of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, a letter was read from Confederate Capt. J.R. Johnston, who served with Echols' cavalry in Virginia and the Carolinas. "Near Statesville, we came in contact with your General Palmer's command, and killed the Lieutenant who killed Morgan in Tennessee," he claimed. He was referring to the notorious Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan, who was hunted down by the 13th Tennessee in Greeneville, Tenn., in 1864. However, the soldier credited with killing Morgan, Andrew Campbell, lived in Indiana for decades after the war. Johnston's unit may have killed a different Union soldier, possibly Brackett.

LINCOLNTON & LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C., April 17-23

• Corp. George J. French of the 15th Pennsylvania was ambushed and shot April 18 near Lincolnton and is buried there at St. Luke's Episcopal Church. For his story, click here.
  

DALLAS & GASTON COUNTY, N.C.

• Pvt. John W. Knowles of the 12th Ohio died April 30 in Dallas. His unit was based April 17-23 in nearby Lincolnton, and it is not clear if he died of sickness or a wound. He was from Salem, Ohio.

MORGANTON & BURKE COUNTY, N.C., April 17-18
      North Carolina historian Cornelia Phillips Spencer said the Union had 25 killed and wounded in a gunfight at Rocky Ford and even reported eight Union bodies floating in the Catawba River. However, the military reports say there were no Union fatalities in this incident, which is known as the last artillery exchange of the Civil War.

ASHEVILLE & BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C., April 23-May 8

• Walter A. Sigler of the 11th Michigan died of disease at Asheville April 23. An 1865 report by the Michigan adjutant general says that Sigler was the only fatality from the 11th Michigan during Stoneman's Raid.

Four members of the 1st U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery (part of Stoneman's rear guard under Gen. Davis Tillson) were executed by firing squad May 6 after being accused of rape. (Click the image to enlarge.)

• Pvt. Alfred Catlett from Virginia
• Pvt. Alexander Cowell
• Pvt. Charles Turner
• Pvt. Jackson Washington

PENDLETON & ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C., May 5

• Alanson Wesley Chapman of Hillsdale, Michigan, accidentally shot himself while looting the Boscobel plantation south of Pendleton. According to Rev. John Bailey Adger's memoirs, "Chapman had stolen a fine young mare, and in mounting her, his short carbine swung around. The hammer hit the pommel of his saddle as the muzzle jabbed him under the chin and he fell dead in the yard. Most of the jewelry, including the handsome old-fashioned watch we now wear was recovered." Chapman and his brother Adelbert (who visited Rev. Adger a few days later) were enlisted in the 11th Michigan Cavalry, which was in Georgia by May 5, so it seems likely they were deserters. That would also explain why Chapman's death was unknown or ignored by the Michigan adjutant general mentioned above.
  

PICKENS COUNTY, S.C., May 9

• David H. "Harry" Morrison of Michigan was killed May 9 between Greenville and Easley in retaliation for the May 1 murder of civilian Matthew Ellison. Morrison, 18, was buried on Turner Hill near what is now the intersection of U.S. 123 and S.C. 153 His father reclaimed the body six months later.

Other possible Union casualties on Stoneman's Raid

     The 8th and 13th Tennessee regiments as well as the 12th Ohio list a number of deaths during the days of Stoneman's Raid but do not say if they were killed in action. The Tennesseeans were involved in the raid on Wytheville, and it is possible that some of them may have fallen there. On the other hand, it's likely that some of these men died of disease or wounds suffered prior to Stoneman's Raid, or were on duty elsewhere. Similarly, there were also four members of the 12th Ohio who died of unspecified circumstances back at headquarters during the weeks of the raid. Their names:

13th TENNESSEE

• Pvt. Marion Wilson, age 19, died April 9 in Knoxville.
• Pvt. William Roten, age 18, died April 11 in Knoxville.
• Pvt. William H. Payne, died April 12 in Knoxville.
• Pvt. James N. Duggar, age 18, died April 14 in Knoxville.
• Pvt. William Mallory, age 44, died in April in Knoxville.
• Pvt. David Price, age 44, died April 28 in Knoxville.
• Pvt. Michael Sanders, age 42, died April 29 in Knoxville.
• Pvt. David Cole, age 26, died June 10 in Danville rebel hospital

8TH TENNESSEE

• Pvt. William Cox died March 26.
• Pvt. Rodolphus Harris, age 21, died March 26.
• Pvt. Isaac Smith died March 28. The location is not specified, but the date suggests that he might have been Steel Frazier's victim in Boone. Another possibility is that he was previously sick and was not part of the raid. 
• Pvt. John P. Frake, age 22, died March 31.
• Pvt. Benjamin Owens died April 3.
• Pvt. Robert Peek, age 25, died April 9.
• Pvt. Louis Lain, age 33, died April 10.
• Pvt. Elijah Keys was killed April 19 at Elizabethton.
• Pvt. Faro Collier, age 25, died April 26.

12th OHIO

• Pvt. Levi Ebert from Lancaster, Ohio, died April 9 in Knoxville.
• Pvt. Lorenzo F. Hiddleston from Alliance, Ohio, died April 21 in a Nashville hospital.
• Pvt. Leonard H. Springer from New Lisbon, Ohio, died April 23 in a Knoxville hospital.
• Pvt. Benjamin McCullough from Columbus, Ohio, died April 30 in Knoxville.

NEXT: 'Great heavens, the Yankees are upon us!'