USA > Virginia > Culpeper County > Culpeper County > Genealogical and historical notes on Culpeper County, Virginia > Part 31
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Mildred Jane, the seventh child and only daughter of William Wigginton and Elizabeth Jones, resided with her mother until the death of the latter, : which occurred at Culpeper Court House November 16, 1882.
Of the seven children of William Wigginton and Elizabeth Jones, only two, Thomas and Strother, ever married.
Eliza Ann, the third child of Gabriel and Jane Jones, died unmarried in Warren county, Kentucky, in 1847.
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: Seth Slaughter, the fourth child of Gabriel and Jane Jones, moved from Culpeper county, Virginia, to Warren county, Kentucky, about 1836, and settled on a farm near Bowling Green. He was a man of much amiability of character and popular with all classes of people. He married Elizabeth Briggs, and had two children : William Henry and Mary M. William Henry began his business life as a clerk in a store in Bowling Green. He also served as clerk of the common council of that city for a number of years. In 1885, when Charles H. Thomas was appointed United States Circuit Judge of South Dakota, he received the appointment of clerk of that court, and removed to Deadwood in that territory, returning to Bowling Green at the expiration of Judge Thomas' term of office. In 1897 he was elected clerk of the Circuit Court of Warren county for six years, the duties of which office he is now dis- charging. He married Mattie Robinson and has two children : Elsie and William Henry. Mary married John Turpin, and has three children : Redford T., William H., and Perrin Slaughter. .
Gabriel Scott, the fifth child of Gabriel and Jane Jones, soon after reach- ing his majority, moved from Culpeper county, Virginia, to Louisville. Ken- tucky, where he continued to reside until his death. During the greater part of his life, he held some office under the city, generally that of constable or collector of taxes. He married Hetty Camp. They had four children : Wil- liam Edward, Gabriel Ambrose, Robert C., and Eliza.
William Edward, the first child of Gabriel Scott and Hetty Jones, was a Lieutenant in the Mexican War, and a Captain in the Confederate army. In 1862, while leading his company in a charge through the streets of Glasgow, Kentucky, he was killed. He married Kate Franklin, of Louisville, and left several children, whose names are unknown.
Gabriel Ambrose, the second child of Gabriel Scott and Hetty Jones. com- menced the discharge of the active duties of life as a constable. He afterwards engaged in the livery business in which he was engaged at the time of his death in 1898. He married Lottie Ellis, who bore him five children : Frank, Hugh, Ellis, Norton and Mary Lee, all of whom are living, except Ellis.
Robert Camp Jones, the third child of Gabriel Scott and Hetty Jones, was for a number of years, and at the time of his death, an excellent and popular teacher in the public schools of the city of Louisville. He was twice married. The name of his first wife was Auna Barrel. The name of his second, Anna Kirby. Each had one child. The name of the child of the first wife is May Esther. That of the second wife, Bertie.
Eliza, the fourth child of Gabriel Scott and Hetty Jones, married William Ellis, and had three children : Jessie, William T., and Fay.
John Wigginton, the sixth child of Gabriel and Jane Jones, before arriving of age, left Culpeper county and located at Louisville, Kentucky, where he obtained a situation in a dry goods store. In 1838 he purchased a stock of hardware and commenced business for himself, which he conducted for a few years, when he returned to Virginia, and married Mary Eliza Valentine, a most estimable lady, the daughter of Edward Valentine, of Staunton, Vir- ginia, and his only child. The fruit of this marriage was six children : Susan Archer, Sally Anderson, Edward Valentine, Ella Jane, Mary Eliza, and Anna Rosa. Edward Valentine is an Episcopal minister and has charge of two churches, one in Albemarle county, the other in the county of Louisa. He married Mary Smith Ruffin, and has four children: Edward Valentine, Ed- mund Ruffin, Mary Ruffin, and Susan. Ella Jane married Richard B. Rich- ardson, and has no children. None of the other daugliters have married.
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His first wife having died, John Wigginton Jones married Marion Stuart Alexander, who bore him five children : Julia Manderville, John Stuart, Mar- tha Slaughter, Gustavus Alexander, and Ashton Blair. Of the children two are married : Julia Manderville and Alexander Augustus, the former having married Charles Stuart Mayo, who died without issue, and the latter Mary E. Scott, who has two children : Elvira Scott and Gustavus Alexander.
Martha Slaughter, the seventh and youngest child of Gabriel and Jane Jones, married Wesley H. Perkins, who died from cholera in 1849. They had no children.
Mary, the only daughter of the Revolutionary soldier, Captain Gabriel Jones, and his wife, Martha Slaughter, was a woman of many excellent quali- ties, both of mind and heart. Marrying, early in life, Richard Young Wiggin- ton, a man of considerable fortune, who died childless soon after their mnar- riage, having no children of her own, she was enabled to become a mother to the children of others. How well she discharged this self imposed duty is well attested by the care and attention she bestowed upon a number of her half neices and nephews, grandchildren of her mother, Martha Jones, and her second husband, William Broadus, two of whom, William H. Ward, and Martha F. Thompson, she adopted and educated, the former living with her as long as she lived, and the latter until her marriage, which took place at her home. Besides these two, there were several others, whose mothers bore the name of Broaddus, among them the late R. W. Thompson, who, after the death of their mothers, always found a home at this kind hearted old lady's residence, and received substantial legacies from her at her death.
Stern and exacting, where principle was involved, this excellent old woman, in what she regarded as the non-essentials, was yielding and indulgent. Not only was she kind and generous to her relations, but a good and true friend to the poor, and one who sympathized with them in their trials and misfortunes, and at all times stood ready, with willing hand and open purse, to minister to their comforts, and relieve their wants. Years ago she went to her eternal re- ward, and her body is interred in the old family graveyard, near the homestead where she so long and so well performed her deeds of thoughtful and unpre- tentious generosity and kindness. The old house too, which was once the scene of the performance of so many good deeds, is also gone, and another and more modern one occupies its place, but the fragrance of the memory of its inmate and owner, is still fresh in the minds of the few who are left to recall and relate the story of her many virtues and excellencies. The old Wigginton place is now owned and occupied by Mr. S. W. Thompson.
AMBROSE POWELL HILL, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL, CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY.
Ambrose Powell Hill, a lineal descendant of Captain Ambrose Powell, a vestryman of Bromfield parish in 1752, and the son of Maj. Thomas Hill, was born in Culpeper county November 9, 1825. He entered West Point Academy July 1, 1842, and graduated thence July 1, 1847, the fifteenth in merit in a class of thirty-six, among whom were Generals John S. Mason, O. B. Wilcox. H. G. Gibson, A. E. Burnside, John Gibbon, R. B. Ayers, Charles Griffin, Thomas H. Neill, W. W. Barnes, E. L. Viele, and L. C. Hunt, of the United States Army, and General Harry Heth, of the Confederate Army. Entering the First Artillery as Brevet Second Lieutenant, Hill became First Lieutenant September 4, 1851. He was engaged during the Mexican war at Huamantla the 9th of October, and at Atlixas the 12th of October, 1847. and in Florida against the Seminole Indians in 1849-50, and from 1852 to 1855. He was an
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assistant on the coast survey from November, 1855, until March 1, 1861, when he resigned his commission. Upon the breaking out of hostilities between the North and South, he was chosen Colonel of the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment, which, at the first battle of Manassas, with the remainder of the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, arrived on the field just in time to secure and complete the victory of that memorable day. Colonel Hill was promoted Feb- ruary 26, 1862, to the rank of Brigadier-General, and by his signal gallantry at the battle of Williamsburg, in May, drew the eyes of the public upon him. He greatly distinguished himself in the sanguinary seven days battles around Richmond, commencing on the 26th of June, in command of one of the largest divisions of the Army of Richmond, and which was composed of the brigades of Anderson. Branch, Pender, Gregg, Field and Archer. At Meadow Bridge, with only a portion of his command, he made the first attack upon Mcclellan, and in a terrible conflict encouraged his troops by a fearless intrepidity which constantly exposed him to the fiercest fire of the enemy. Successful at this point, General Hill was placed first in the line of advance and bore the brunt of the action at Frazier's Farm, where, with his own division and one brigade of that of Longstreet, he fought and overcame a largely superior force which broke the spirit of the enemy and achieved final victory.
In this series of battles the division of Hill lost 3870 men killed and wounded Immediately after this battle General Hill was promoted, July 14, 1862, to the rank of Major-General. In the campaign of Northern Virginia the division of A. P. Hill was sent to reinforce Stonewall Jackson, who had been dispatched to check the advance of Pope. At the battle of Cedar Run, Hill gallantly sus- tained the prestige he had won. He also bore a conspicuous part in subse- quent operations, marching with Jackson in his flank movement towards the Rappahannock and Manassas. At the second battle of Manassas he repeated a similar exhibition of valor to that of Frazier's Farm, and with dauntless abandon met and repulsed at the point of the bayonet six distinct and separ- ate assaults of the enemy, a majority of the men a portion of the time being without cartridges. The next day (Angust 30, 1862), his division was again engaged, and late in the evening drove the enemy before them, capturing two batteries, many prisoners, and resting at night on Bull Run. At Sharpsburg the accomplishment of A. P. Hill was in brilliancy not surpassed by any other recorded during the war. With three brigades, numbering scarce 2,000 men, he drove back Burnside's Corps, 15,000 strong.
After the battle of Sharpsburg, when General Lee determined to with- draw from Maryland, Hill was directed with his division to cover the retreat of the army, and in the performance of this duty at Botlers Ford, on the 20th of September, 1862, was enacted one of the most terrible episodes of the war. Lee's army was well across the Potomac when it was found that some brigades of the enemy had ventured to cross during the preceeding night and were making preparations to hold their position. General Jackson at once ordered A. P. Hill to drive the enemy back. After some preliminary movements a simultaneous charge was made by Hill, and the enemy forced in a confused mass into the river. "Then writes General Hill, describing the action with graphic horror, "commenced the most terrible slaughter this war has yet witnessed. The broad surface of the Potomac WAS BLUE WITH THE FLOAT- ING CORPSES OF OUR FOE. But few escaped to tell the tale. By their own account they lost 3,000 men killed and drowned from one brigade alone. In this battle Hill did not use a piece of artillery; but relying upon the musket and bayonet, he punished the enemy beyond precedent. At the battle of Freder- icksburg, Hill's Division formed the right of Jackson's force, at Chancellors- ville the center, and participated in the flank movement that crushed Hooker.
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96 The death of the illustrious Jackson devolved the command upon Hill, and he was soon after wounded. Upon the reorganization of Lee's army he was made, May 24, 1863, a Lientenant-General, and placed in command of the third of the three corps into which it was divided. His was the first corps in action at Gettysburg. In Lee's flank movement of the same to get between Meade and Washington City, A. P. Hill sustained the only reverse of his career. Having fallen upon a superior force of the enemy at Bristoe Station, conceal- ed by a railroad embankment, in a vain effort to dislodge it he lost several hundred in killed and wounded, and five pieces of artillery. In the momen- tous campaign of 1864 General Hill was again conspicuous, his corps, with that of Ewell, opening the action in the Wilderness. A few days thereafter his fee- ble health so gave away that he was unable to remain on duty, when Jubal A. Early was assigned to the command of his corps. After the scenes of Spot- sylvania Court House, General Hill reported for duty, resumed command of his corps, and fought with it to the last day in front of Petersburg. August 25, 1864, at Reames Station, he attacked the enemy in his entrenchments and carried his entire lines, capturing seven stand of colors, 2,000 prisoners and nine pieces of artillery.
At the final attack on the Southside Railroad and the defense of Peters- burg, he was restlessly active in his exertions to repel the Federal attack. On the morning of April 2, 1865, desiring to obtain a nearer view of a portion of the line of the enemy, he left his staff behind him in a place of safety, rode forward accompanied by a single orderly, and soon came upon a squad of Federals who had advanced along a ravine far beyond their lines. He immed . iately ordered them to surrender, which they were on the point of doing, un- der the supposition that a column of troops was just behind him. But soon discovering that he was slightly attended, they fired upon him, and he fell, pierced through the heart by a rifle ball .. The following night his body was hastily buried in the cemetery at Petersburg, but was subsequently reinterred in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, where his remains are marked by the words, "Lt-Gen. A. P. Hill," cut into the granite curbing in front of the grave. The trust reposed in A. P. Hill by the illustrious chieftains, Lee and Jackson, found solemnly impressive exemplification in the dying ejaculations of each, which, too, are remarkable for their semblance. "Tell A. P. Hill to prepare for action," were amongst the words of Stonewall Jackson. "Tell Hill he must come up," were the last words of the peerless Lee. What more honora- ble tribute ?
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CULPEPER AS A BATTLE GROUND.
IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES. CHAPTER VII. [By Judge D. A. Griinsley.]
[Daniel Amon Grimsley, son of Rev. Barnett Grimsley and Ruth U. Grims- ley, was born April 3rd, 1840, in Culpeper, now Rappahannock county, near Washington. When about twenty years old Judge Grimsley enlisted as a pri- vate in the Rappahannock cavalry, which was first commanded by Captain John Shackelford Green, and was appointed orderly sergeant soon after the company went into active service. Was elected first lieutenant upon the re- organization of the company in the spring of 1862, and within a few days thereafter became captain upon the promotion of Capt. Green, and afterwards major and lieutenant colonel of the sixth Virginia cavalry, to which the Rap- pahannock company belonged. He served through the entire war from April, 1861, to the surrender at Appomattox. Major Grimsley, although he had several horses shot under him, was never wounded, sick, or on furlough for more than a day or two at a time, and was in command of his regiment a greater portion of the time during the latter years of the war. Major Grims- ley has an accurate memory, which, together with his thorough knowledge of military affairs, virtually renders him an oracle, and he is always sought out by those in search of information along these lines.
After the war, Judge Grimsley studied law under a private tutor, Mr. H. G. Moffett, in Rappahannock, and upon obtaining his license, began the prac- tice of his profession at Culpeper in 1867. He was elected to the State Senate in 1869, of which body he remained a member until 1879. In 1880 he was ap- pointed by Gov. Holliday judge of the sixth judicial circuit to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge Henry Shackelford. The readjuster party ob- taining control of the State in 1872, he was defeated in the election for that office. In 1885 he was elected to the House of Delegates to represent Culpeper county. and in 1886 he was elected judge of the sixth judicial circuit, which position he still occupies.
In 1866, Judge Grimsley married Bettie N., daughter of William L. Brown- ing, and has six living children, who are : Margaret, married George Drewey, Virginia, Thomas Edwin, married Mary Edelin, Mary B., married John Strode Barbour, Fanny G., and Elizabeth Barnett. Their younger child, Ethel, died a few years since of typhoid fever .- R. T. G.]
Brandy Station was the great battle ground between the cavalry of the armies of Northern Virginia, and of the Potomac, during the war between the States. It was the scene of quite a half dozen pitched battles, in which thou- sands of horsemen met in the rude shock of conflict.
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Brandy Station was directly on the line of advance and retreat of the armies, between Washington and Richmond. A station on the Southern rail- way (then the Orange and Alexandria), which either army, occupying Culpeper, used for the purpose of supply. It was a point from which the road south diverged east ward to Fredericksburg, to the Wilderness and the lower Rapidan. and westward to Madison and Orange; going north, they diverged westward towards Warrenton and upper Fauquier, and eastward towards Kellyville and the lower Potomac. So it was an Objective point in the movements of either army, in either direction. The country around about the Station was admira- bly adapted to cavalry movements. It was a broad, open, undulating plain. without forest or other serious obstruction to the movements of large bodies of troops, but sufficiently rolling to furnish select positions for the use of artil- lery.
In the early part of the war the country was well fenced, occasionally by a hedge and ditch, which offered serious obstruction to the movements of cavalry, and was not unfrequently, both in charge and retreat, the occasion of serious mishap to the bold cavalier, being especially disastrous in retreat. However, the fences soon disappeared, and the hedge rows were leveled to the earth, and it became an ideal locality for cavalry.
It was occupied for a time by Gen. Stuart in the spring of 1862, on the retreat of the Confederate Army from Manassas, and some little skirinishing then took place, between the videttes and pickets along the banks of the Rappahannock. No serious engagement, however, occurred until the 20th of August. 1862, when Lee advanced on Pope, then occupying Culpeper. just previous to the second battle of Manassas.
After the defeat of MeClellan, before Richmond, it will be remembered, General Lee quietly transferred his army to Orange county, and massed it behind Clarke's Mountain, from which point he designed to hurl his veteran battalions on the flank and rear of Pope, in Culpeper. Lieut-Colonel Hender- son, of the English Army, who is at present [Jan. 1900.] a staff officer of Lord Roberts in the South African war, in his life of Jackson, gives the following beautiful description of the landscape, as seen from Clarke's Mountain, where Jackson had established a signal station.
"The view from the summit embraced an extended landscape. The rav- ages of war had not yet effaced its tranquil beauty, nor had the names of its bright rivers and thriving villages become household words. It was still unknown to history; a peaceful and pastoral district, remote from beaten tracks of trade, and inhabited by a quiet and industrious people. To day, few regions can boast of sterner or more heroic memories. To the right, roll- ing away in light and shadow, for a score of miles, is the great forest of Spots- sylvania, within whose gloomy depths lie the fields of Chancellorsville, where the breastworks of the Wilderness can still be traced, and on the eastern verge of which stand the grass grown batteries of Fredericksburg. North- ward, and beyond the woods which hide the Rapidan, the eye ranges over the wide and fertile plains of Culpeper, with the green crest of Slaughter's Moun- tain overlooking Cedar Run, and the dim levels of Brandy Station, the scene of the great cavalry battle, just visible beyond. Far away to the northeast, the faint outline of a range of hills marks the source of Bull Run and the Manassas plateau, and to the west, the long ramparts of the Blue Ridge, softened by the distance, stand high above the Virginia plains."
This movement was designed to be begun on the 18th day of August, but by reason of the delay of the cavalry, in reaching Orange from the Peninsula, it was not begun until about 3 o'clock on the morning of the 20th. General Pope, having in the meantime, learned of Lee's meditated attack, began his
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retreat on the morning of the 19th, and had reached the south bank of the Rappahannock before Gen. Lee left Orange. The Confederate Army crossed the Rapidan at Raccoon and Morton's Fords, and moved towards the towns of Culpeper and Brandy Station, preceded by Robertson's brigade of cavalry, consisting of the second, sixth, seventh, eleventh and twelfth Virginia Regi- ments, White's battalion, and Fitz Lee's brigade, consisting at that time of the 1st. Maryland, 3rd, 4th and 5th regiments. Gen. Fitz Lee took the road by Madden's towards Kellysville, and Gen. Robertson the road by Stevensburg to Brandy Station, Gen. Stuart moving in person with Robertson's bri- gade. Gen. Bayard, of the Federal Army, was directed with his brigade, then at Brandy Station, and consisting of the 1st. Pa., 1st. N. Y., 1st. R. I., 1st. Mass., and 2nd. N. Y., to protect the flank and rear of the retreating army in the direction of Stevensburg. At that time, if the writer remembers rightly, for some distance out of Brandy Station, on the Stevensburg road, there were woods on both sides of the road, and on the east side they extended beyond the point where the Culpeper road now turns off from the Stevensburg road, and in those woods, the Federal cavalry, their rearguard having been driven back from Stevensburg, made their first determined stand against the advance of the Confederate cavalry. By dismounting a portion of his force, armed with carbines, and judiciously posted in these woods, Gen Bayard was en- abled to hold in check the advance of the Confederates for some time. After the contest here had been waged for quite a while, Gen. Robertson moved some portion of his command, around by the Wise house in the direction of the Barbour hill, and thus turning the flank and reaching for the rear of the Federal commander, forced him from his position in the woods in front of . Brandy. Falling back from this position, he made a stand on Fleetwood Heights in solid columns of squadron, with mounted skirmishers in front and flank. The Confederates moved up rapidly, and attacked the Federals in this new position with great dash and spirit. Gen. Stuart, in his report of this engagement at this point, says : " Robertson's regiments were hurled in rapid succession, in columns of four, upon the main body of the enemy's cav- alry, and before the clash of the sabres they took fright and fled, taking re- fuge close to the river, under protection of their batteries on the other side." He always paid a high compliment to this command, which, he says : "had been brought to the stability of veterans by the discipline, organization and drill of the brigade commander." Gen. Bayard, in his report, says : "that the sudden charge and yells of the enemy seemed to strike terror to his men, and they soon began running;" that they were rallied, however, and retreated quietly to the Rappahannock Fitz Lee, on this same occasion, had a spirited engagement with the Federal cavalry on the road from Madden's to Kelley's Ford.
Fleetwood Heights is a beautiful location. Being an elevated ridge, which extends east ward at right angles to the elevation extending south from Wel- ford's, and jutting out into the plains, it commands the country and roads leading north and south from Brandy Station. On this occasion it received its baptism of fire, and thereafter, there was no movement of troops across the borders of Culpeper that artillery did not blaze from its summits, and charging squadrons, on its slopes and around its base, did not contend for supremacy.
The day after this engagement the cavalry, followed by the whole army, moved westward along the south banks of the Rappahannock into the Little Fork and finally swinging around through Thoroughfare Gap, debouched on the plains of Manassas, to win, for a second time, a victory on the same field. The writer has a most pleasant recollection of the kindness on this occasion of
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