The Staunton, Virginia Anthology by Culbertson Charles

Author:Culbertson, Charles [Culbertson, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: www.stauntonhistory.com
Published: 2013-06-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 42: The Last Confederate

Nearly a year and a half after the end of the War Between the States, the last of Augusta County's Confederate soldiers came straggling home. He was tired, broke and hungry, but he had one thing going for him – a whopping good tale to tell.

Identified only as Simpson, this former member of Gen. Turner Ashby's hell-for-leather 7th Virginia Cavalry arrived by train in Lynchburg on Sept. 15, 1866, completely worn out and at the end of his rope. He showed up at the door of the Norvell House, a Lynchburg hotel, where a number of people recognized him, vouchsafed "his respectability and reliability" and said they would help get him home to Augusta County.

According to the tri-weekly Lynchburg Republican, he had in his possession a set of court documents that verified the ordeal he had recently undergone.

During the war, Simpson had been with Ashby when the Confederate leader was killed and "was the first to reach his noble form when he fell." Simpson was later captured – it is not known when or where – and sent to Johnson's Island, a prison camp primarily for Confederate officers in Sandusky Bay, Ohio. Soon after the surrender of Robert E. Lee in April 1865, Simpson and other prisoners were liberated, but not furnished with transportation or other means with which to return home.

Simpson began walking.

Instead of wending his way southeast, which would have taken him straight toward Virginia, Simpson walked westward into Indiana. At a town – the record does not mention its name – he trudged into a saloon hoping to find someone there who would help him get back to Augusta County.

The bar was crowded with noisy, drunken men. One of them was a Union officer who talked loudly about the war and, among other things, claimed that he had taken an oath to kill every one of Turner Ashby's men he ever met. Obviously, the officer had not fared well in the Shenandoah Valley.

Simpson heard the Union officer's boast and, "without stopping to weigh the consequences," walked up to him and said, "I am one of Ashby's men. "

In an instant the officer snapped out his pistol and fired three times at Simpson. All three bullets struck the former Confederate, but "not in the vital points."

According to the Lynchburg Republican :

"Our Confederate, like a wounded lion, rushed on him, wrenched the weapon from his grasp and shot the officer dead."

The wounded Simpson was arrested and thrown into prison where he recovered, but languished for many months. Finally, in the summer of 1866, he was tried in an Indiana court and acquitted of the charge of murder. From there he made his way on the train to Lynchburg, no doubt thanks to the charity of a sympathizer.

The day after his arrival in Lynchburg, Simpson was sent on his way to Augusta County by his friends.

"Thus has perhaps the last 'rebel' in gray come back to his home, save the long, long list of those who

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.