USA > Virginia > Albemarle County > Albemarle County > Memorial history of the John Bowie Strange Camp, United Confederate Veterans, including some account of others who served in the Confederate Armies from Albemarle County > Part 2
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This accidental delay led to the forming of two divisions in the State in this way: At the Nashville Convention, Headquar- ters, after welcoming Albemarle, and stating that a charter had been sent authorizing her to organize other chapters in Virginia,
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.HISTORY OF THE DAUGHTERS
proceeded to authorize Alexandria (organized in 1895) to do the same thing; so that in the fall of that year (1896) the Alexan- dria Chapter organized another division of three chapters. However, both were working for the same cause, and what seemed at first a complication was happily adjusted at Lynch- burg, the two divisions meeting there and uniting under the common name, "The Virginia Division." . At this time sixty chapters had been organized. by the Grand Division, forty in one year through constant appeals from Mrs. Garnett by letter to every place where a chapter seemed possible.
On November 11th, 1897, when the U. D. C. met in Balti- more, the Grand Division was enrolled with them, an accident having prevented it being done a year before. Mrs. Norman V. Randolph cast sixty-five votes for the Grand Division, thus ad- ding about two thousand members to the General Society.
One of the principal objects of the Albemarle Chapter is the relief of the unfortunate veterans in the city and county, and . although the number grows smaller each year, there are still a few on the list who receive their monthly check. In addition to this, well filled baskets go to them at Christmas, and money is sent to those of the Albemarle veterans who are in the Sol- diers' Home at Richmond. Two widows of veterans have been helped and one is still on the list, and the Chapter owns two rolling chairs which are loaned to invalids who are unable to procure them otherwise. Flowers and fruit are sent to the sick veterans in the local hospitals, and the "stranger within the gates" is never turned away if help is necessary.
While no war work was done by the Chapter as an organiza- tion during the late world-conflict, its members individually did their "bit," and through the generosity of the author of "The War Time Dixie" (the words of which were composed by Dr. P. B. Barringer of the University, Virginia), the Chapter was enabled to dispose of a good many copies, the money being contributed to war work.
A check was sent towards endowing beds in a hospital in Neuilly, France, dedicated to the memory of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, and contributions have been made to various
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HISTORY OF THE DAUGHTERS
monuments at home and in other states; also to the Y. M. C. A., District Nurse, Education, Museum and Relief Funds, The Hall of Fame Window for Confederate Women in the South (at Washington), the Tablets to the Dead Alumni of the Uni- versity of Virginia on the Rotunda portico; and the greater part of the money for the Confederate Monument in the Court House Square in this city, was raised by the Daughters of the Confederacy.
Shortly after the Chapter was organized the members had the pleasure of being received by Mrs. Stonewall Jackson, she being at the time a guest in the home of Dr. Paul B. Barringer at the University of Virginia. During October, 1908, when the Grand Camp of the Virginia veterans held its meeting in Char- lottesville, the Daughters entertained the veterans and Sons of Veterans at a reception at the Red Land Club. When the Dis- trict Convention met in Charlottesville in 1910, the Daughters were hostesses at a large reception at Madison Hall. And in June, 1912, when the University of Virginia presented bronze war medals to the survivors of the Confederate Alumni, the Daughters assisted in their entertainment by giving a luncheon in their honor, and later presented buttons and small silk Con- federate flags to each veteran alumnus.
The Memorial Day celebrations on May 30th of each year were instituted by the Daughters of the Confederacy, and the exercises are always under their direction. Lee's Birthday is always the occasion for a luncheon by them for our town and county veterans.
It is the custom of Albemarle Chapter to bestow Crosses of Honor twice during the year in connection with the annual Lee Birthday celebration, and with the observance of Memorial Day at the Confederate Cemetery at the University of Vir- ginia. Almost every Confederate veteran in the county wears a cross received from this chapter. In recent years many crosses have been bestowed upon widows and descendants of veterans who had died without receiving the cross. This mat- ter was for a number of years in the hands of the late Mrs. C. C. Wertenbaker and since her death has been attended to for
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HISTORY OF THE DAUGHTERS
the Chapter by Mrs. John W. Goss and Miss Isabelle H. Goss. Numerous rules govern the bestowal of Crosses of Honor and only veterans are permitted to wear this emblem.
When a Confederate veteran of the town or vicinity answers the last call, Albemarle Chapter sends a Confederate battle flag of silk to be laid upon the casket. The custom, suggested by Mrs. James E. Irvine, a member of the Chapter, and adopted by it twelve years ago, has seemed fitting as an impartial ex- pression of the love and reverence which the Daughters feel for all our heroes of the 'sixties.
To perpetuate the memory of our dear old veterans of '61- '65, Albemarle Chapter, U. D. C. No. 1, is placing an iron cross at the grave of every soldier in the city cemeteries. They have already put in hundreds of them, and as the roll is called and each old hero passes over the river, this work will go on. This suggestion was put before the Daughters by Miss Lizzie McIn- tire and Misses Carrie and Sallie Burnley, and is carried out by the committee in charge-Mrs. Lawson Turner, Mrs. Noble Sneed and Miss Gillie M. Hill.
The present (1919) officers of Albemarle Chapter are :
President, Mrs. Glassell Fitzhugh.
First Vice-President, Mrs. J. Cook Grayson. Second Vice-President, Mrs. Lawson H. Turner. Recording Secretary, Mrs. John H. Moomau. Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Monte Rea. Treasurer, Mrs. George Perkins.
Registrar, Mrs. J. Fulton Williams. Historian, Miss Sallie J. Doswell.
Custodian of Crosses, Miss Isabelle H. Goss.
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MRS. JAMES MERCER GARNETT FIRST PRESIDENT ALBEMARLE CHAPTER, U. D. C.
SOME PRESIDENTS OF THE ALBEMARLE CHAPTER
MRS. JAMES MERCER GARNETT.
BY MRS. E. H. McPHERSON.
Mrs. James Mercer Garnett, founder and first president of the Albemarle Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confed- eracy, No. 1, and of the Grand Division of Virginia, was born in Middleburg, Loudoun County, Virginia, the second daugh- ter of Major Burr Powell Noland, C. S. A., and spent her life there until April 19, 1871, when she married Dr. Garnett, Presi- dent of St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, remaining there ten years, before coming to the University of Virginia. Though a child at the beginning of the war, Mrs. Garnett re- members every event of those trying days that her family and friends underwent at the hands of the Northern armies pass- ing through Loudoun and laying waste all in their path.
Her mother, with six children and a governess in her home, and her family servants, had no protector, but knew not the meaning of the word fear, even when facing rough foes who rushed into their home in the dead of night to search and steal. After the battle of Manassas offers were made by the citizens "to care for some wounded." Fifteen hundred were sent to Middleburg, though the population was but three hundred, in- cluding the negroes. The white men were all in the army ; even the ministers of the gospel were arrested and put in the old Capitol Prison in Washington. Mrs. Noland's home and the cottage on the place were filled with the wounded; General York, of Louisiana, being one of them. The Episcopal Church and yard next door. were utilized, as well as all the other churches, and every private home.
Mrs. Garnett remembers the nightly visits with her mother to carry fruits and cooling drinks to these poor men. To those who died, a monument, probably the first of its kind in the country, was erected in 1866 in Mt. Sharon Cemetery, "To the
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CHAPTER PRESIDENTS
Unknown Dead." On the tombstones at the head of these graves, arranged in a circle, are the names and states of those known. The lot is well cared for and the graves are decorated with flowers and flags on Memorial Day by. the Daughters of the Confederacy and others.
Colonel Mosby and his men were frequent visitors at Mrs. Noland's home-a resting place sometimes between the north- ern "raids ;" and in Mrs. Garnett's hall, among other Confed- erate pictures, with the battle flag and the Virginia flag waving over all, is a fine picture of Colonel Mosby, sent to her from San Francisco; also three photographs of his raids inscribed by him as follows :
1. "Mosby's Battalion Crossing at Snickersville Gap, Vir- ginia, August 12, 1864."
2. "Mosby's Battalion-Attack on Sheridan's Train, Berry- ville, Va., August 13, 1864."
3. "Mosby's Battalion Returning from Berryville, August 13, 1864."
On the back of these pictures, under glass, Colonel Mosby wrote the names of his officers; and on one is the inscription :
"Forsan haec olim meminisse juvabit-Presented to my dear friend, Mrs. Kate Noland Garnett.
John S. Mosby."
Reared amid such scenes and under such influences, Mrs. Garnett could not have been other than intensely Southern in her sympathies. Accordingly, we find that her entire life has been one long chapter of devotion to the principles of the Lost Cause and of loving and untiring service to the survivors of the legions which followed Lee and Jackson.
Of her services in founding the Albemarle Chapter, which was the pioneer chapter of the United Daughters of the Con- federacy, little need be said, as a full account of her activities in that connection has been given in the historical account of that chapter elsewhere in this book.
Mrs. Garnett was President of the Albemarle Chapter until 1896, when she left Virginia; and of the Grand Division of Vir- ginia until 1898, when she declined re-election, introducing a
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MISS SALLIE J. DOSWELL HISTORIAN AND FORMER PRESIDENT Albemarle Chapter, U. D. C.
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CHAPTER PRESIDENTS
resolution, which was duly adopted, that, "the President shall reside in the State." She had, while President of the Grand Division, enrolled it in the General Society of the U. D. C., and as Chairman of the union of the two divisions in Virginia, had carried it through successfully, and so felt that her special du- ties could be now given over to others, though her interest in the Albemarle Chapter, which was especially dear to her, contin- ued unabated.
She was made Honorary President and Custodian of Badges, which office she still holds. She served several years as Vir- ginia Historian and has contributed many papers and book re- views to history. She was also "Chairman of History" of the General Society for two years, the office now called "Historian," and arranged the historical plan now generally adopted by the states. She has served continuously on history committees and shows unfailing interest in all Confederate matters. Mrs. Gar- nett says, "My home is in Maryland, but my heart is in Vir- ginia !"
SALLIE J. DOSWELL. BY MRS. J. FULTON WILLIAMS.
Sallie J. Doswell, daughter of Major Thomas W. Doswell (aide to General William E. Stark C. S. A) and Frances Anne Sutton, was born in Richmond, Virginia, where the 'early years of her life were spent. Soon after graduating from the Virginia Female Institute, Staunton, Virginia, she, with her family, re- moved to the old Doswell home, "Bullfield," near Hanover Junction, Virginia, now known as "Doswell." in honor of her father.
After Major Doswell's death she came with her mother and three sisters to live at the University of Virginia, where she and one sister, Miss Norma Doswell, still reside.
She transferred her membership from the Richmond Chap- ter U. D. C. to the Albemarle Chapter, the history of which would indeed be incomplete without an honest tribute to the whole-souled enthusiasm and splendid executive ability, which has characterized her work in this field.
"Not to sympathize is not to understand ;" so it is but natural
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CHAPTER PRESIDENTS
that as the daughter of a brave Confederate officer, and having spent her early life in and around Richmond, the capital of the . Confederacy, she came to us with an understanding that has been one of the greatest assets of the Albemarle Chapter U. D. C. She has held consecutively the offices of president, vice- president and Chapter historian. In 1897 she became president of the Chapter, succeeding Mrs. Fannie Berkely Williams. She resigned this office after four years, but was induced to serve another term as president after the death of Mrs. G. W. Olivier. She again resigned the presidency and Mrs. Glassell Fitzhugh was elected to the office, Miss Doswell becoming vice-president.
During her terms of office Miss Doswell had the privilege of witnessing the unveiling of the handsome Confederate Monu- ment on the Court House Square and the beautiful bronze tab- lets on the north front of the University Rotunda, erected by the special efforts of the Ladies' Confederate Memorial Asso- ciation.
In 1915, she was made Chapter historian, when with the aid of the officers she revised for publication the Constitution and By-Laws, and included a brief sketch of the Chapter.
Besides her interest in the work of the Daughters of the Con- federacy, Miss Doswell became a member of the Albemarle Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, in which or- ganization she filled the office of historian for a term of two years, resigning her membership at the end of that period to devote herself more fully to the duties of President of Albe- marle Chapter, Daughters of the Confederacy.
She seems at all times to have considered it a sweet privilege to have part in the work of the Albemarle Chapter, and she has indeed established true claims to the gratitude of its large mem- bership for her loyalty, her graciousness and the wonder- ful results of her untiring efforts to keep the Chapter worthy of its traditions. She may be justly regarded as the guardian spirit of the Albemarle Chapter U. D. C.
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MRS. GLASSELL, FITZHUGH PRÉSIDENT ALBEMARLE CHAPTER, U. D. C. Children: Slaughter and Margaret
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CHIAPTER PRESIDENTS
MRS. GLASSELL FITZHUGH.
BY MRS. E. H. McPHERSON.
Orie Slaughter Fitzhugh, daughter of the late Reuben Moore Slaughter and Lucy Watson Turner, was born in Amherst County, Virginia. Her father was a brave Confederate sol- dier, serving as a member of the Little Fork Rangers Cav- alry. Her mother died when she was an infant and she was reared by her aunt, Mrs. Annie Slaughter Wingfield, of Cul- peper-a lovely woman whose memory Culpeper delights to honor.
Mrs. Wingfield was a charter member of the Culpeper Chap- ter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and it was through Mrs. Fitzhugh's early association with this Chapter that she be- came deeply interested in the work. In 1906 she came to Char- lottesville as the bride of the late Glassell Fitzhugh. Transfer- ring her membership from the Culpeper Chapter to the Albe- marle Chapter, she has been a most enthusiastic worker for the Daughters and for the Confederate veterans. In 1913 she was unanimously elected president of the Albemarle Chapter to succeed Miss Sallie Doswell, which office she still holds.
Albemarle Chapter U. D. C. is among the largest and most influential chapters of the Virginia Division, and through the twenty-five years of its history has enjoyed the honor of a suc- cession of presidents who were women of rare charm of man- ner, splendid executive ability and a deep reverence for the sac- rifices made by the Southern soldiers and their families for the Confederate cause. Mrs. Fitzhugh has proven no exception, and by her winsome personality has won the love and admira- tion of those who are in touch with her splendid work.
When Mason Gordon Junior Auxiliary Chapter was organ- ized, the names of Mrs. Fitzhugh's small son and daughter, Glassell Slaughter and Margaret Conway, were among the first enrolled.
CHARLES BEALE LINNEY. Adjutant of John Bowie Strange Camp. (A tribute from the Daughters) BY GERTRUDE MANN.
The Daughters of the Confederacy feel that their contribu- tion to this book, which seeks to perpetuate the brave deeds of "our boys in gray," who are members of the John Bowie Strange Camp United Confederate Veterans, would be incomplete with- out some recognition and appreciation of the devoted and self- sacrificing services rendered by Mr. Charles Beale Linney, Ad- jutant of the Camp.
Mr. Linney came among us a number of years ago to make his home, and there has never been a time that he has not been manifestly interested in the "Veterans." Since his election as Adjutant of the Camp about ten years ago to succeed the late Mr. Lew Wood, he has found no service too hard to perform when looking after his comrades. Wherever there is sickness and sorrow, wherever there is want, wherever there is advice to be given, there he is found at his post willing and anxious to serve. And what has been said about his helpfulness to the "Veterans" may also be said in regard to his cooperation with the "Daughters." No Memorial Day exercises are complete without him, and at the celebration of Lee's Birthday he is al- ways ready and willing to lend himself to the success of the oc- casion, and yet going about it with such modest mien that one has to put together the many little acts of kindness in order that they may see the whole beautifully blended, and thus catch the real spirit of the man and the soldier.
No wonder then with his mind so filled with devotion to the cause, and for those with whom he served, that he should have caught "the vision" and had a desire to see recorded the deeds of those brave men who are so dear to the hearts of the South- land. Phillips Brooks once said, "It is a joy to do something which shall not merely touch the present, but shall reach for- ward to the future," and it was with this thought in mind that Mr. Linney has given of his time and his strength to get to- gether the data for this interesting and valuable book.
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CHARLES B. LINNEY Co. D, 25TH VA. BAT'L'N INF., C. S. A. Adjutant John Bowie Strange Camp
R. T. W. DUKE CAMP, SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS.
The R. T. W. Duke Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, was organized Tuesday, April 18th, 1893, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and named for Colonel R. T. W. Duke, a sketch of whose life appears in this volume. The first officers were :
R. T. W. Duke, Jr., Commander; James Lindsay Gordon, Lieutenant Commander; John S. White, Adjutant; George R. . B. Michie, Treasurer; with about one hundred members.
The Camp, with almost its entire strength, took part in the re-interment of President Jefferson Davis at Richmond, Va., on May 31st, 1893, and on- June 7th, 1893, took part in the dedi- cation of the Confederate Monument in the cemetery at the University of Virginia, on which occasion Major Stiles deliv- ered the address, parts of which are contained in this volume.
The Camp, at various times at its meetings, has been addressed by a number of distinguished soldiers. Colonel John W. Mal- let, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Virginia, and a distinguished officer in the Ordnance Department of the Con- federate States, delivered a very interesting and instructive ad- dress on the Ordnance Department of the Confederate Gov- ernment. Professor Milton W. Humphreys of the University, spoke on "How it feels to go into a battle."
The present (1919) officers of the Camp are :
Commander; Henry W. Battle. Lieutenant Commander, John S. Patton. Adjutant, Homer Richey. Treasurer, W. W. Waddell.
The motto of the camp is "Patria et Virtus Patriae."
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Sketches of the Dead ..
GENERALS. MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS L. ROSSER.
BY L. ROSSER, JR.
Thomas L. Rosser, the first Commander of the John Bowie Strange Camp, was born on October 15th, 1836, in Campbell County, Virginia. His father, Colonel John Rosser, moved with his family to Texas in 1849, and it was from that state that Thomas L. Rosser was appointed to the U. S. Military Acad- emy at West Point in 1856. He was in the graduating class of 1861 when the Civil War began, but, after the firing on Fort Sumpter, left the Academy and came South, receiving a com- mission as First Lieutenant of Artillery in the Confederate Army. He was in the First Battle of Mannassas and soon aft- erwards was made a captain. He won the admiration of his commanding officers and rose rapidly, receiving his promotion as Brigadier General on October 15th, 1863, his twenty-seventh birthday, and the following year was made a Major General.
The following quotations from the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, published by the U. S. War Department, illustrate the high esteem in which Rosser was held by his fel- low officers. On October 31, 1862, General J. E. B. Stuart re- ported, "There is no cooler or more intrepid man in action than Rosser." And again on March 17th, '63, General Stuart wrote General Lee, "Severely wounded at Kellysville, he (Rosser) remained in command at the head of his regiment until the day was won." In recommending Rosser's appointment as Briga- dier General, General Lee wrote, "He is an excellent officer in the field; is prompt, cool and fearless, and has been twice wounded in this war." In the winter of 1863, by capturing a large wagon train near Patterson Creek, he again won the praise of General Lee, who wrote on February 6th, 1864, "Gen. Rosser has shown great energy and skill and his command de-
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MAJOR GENERAL THOMAS L. ROSSER COMMANDER OF ROSSER'S CAVALRY DIVISION, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA First Commander of John Bowie Strange Camp
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SKETCHES OF THE DEAD
serves great credit." And after the fight at Ashland on June 2nd, 1864, General Lee, "Expresses his gratification at the hand- some conduct of Rosser's command and his thanks for their having so gallantly defeated the enemy;" and General Wade Hampton wrote to, "add his thanks for your valuable assistance and to say that he deems the success of yesterday mainly due to your skill and the services of your command." . After the engagement at Reams Station General Hampton again reported, "General Rosser, though not recovered from his late wound, went through the entire fight, showing the ability and gallantry which have always characterized his conduct." In reporting the raid of November 28th, 1864, when, with about a thousand men, Rosser surprised and captured the fortified town of New Creek, W. Va., losing only two men and returning with a large quantity of sorely needed supplies, General Lee wrote, "Tle boldness and energy exhibited by General Rosser deserves much praise."
In the midst of a winter which General Sheridan in his re- ports describes as the coldest he had ever experienced and one in which his men and horses were frozen to death, Rosser with three hundred picked men rode across the mountains, and on January 11th, 1865, surprised and captured the fort at Beverly and took back to the distressed Southern army 700 prisoners and a large number of cattle, as well as other military supplies. A great tribute from Sheridan to the daring and boldness of General Rosser was the instructions of this Federal general to his officers to double their pickets when Rosser was in their neighborhood.
During the war, on May 28th, 1863, Rosser married Betty Barbara Winston, of Hanover County, Virginia. The war left him penniless. He had been trained a soldier and had no other profession. He tried law and attended lectures at Lexington, Virginia, under Judge Brockenborough, but in '69 decided to abandon this pursuit and go to Minnesota, leaving his wife and three children in Virginia. There his energy soon found an opening, and in the spring of '70 he went to work for the North- ern Pacific Railroad which was then starting to build from Duluth. He remained with the Northern Pacific for some years
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SKETCHES OF THE DEAD
and then went to the Canadian Pacific Railroad as Chief Engi- neer, when it started to build west from Winnipeg.
In 1885 Rosser, having accumulated a fair estate, returned to Virginia and bought a home near Charlottesville, where he spent his remaining years. In the war with Spain he was com- missioned a Brigadier General of Volunteers and was stationed at Chickamauga. He died at Charlottesville on March 29, 1910.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN MARSHALL JONES.
BY GILLIE MARSHALL HILL.
General John Marshall Jones was the son of Colonel John Russell Jones and Gillie Marshall Jones. General Jones was born at Social Hall (now owned by Dr. J. F. Williams), Charlottes- ville, Virginia. He was a professor at West Point. When Vir- ginia called her sons he promptly answered, and became Briga- ier-General. He was killed at the battle of the Wilderness in 1864. His life-long friend and neighbor, J. Thompson Brown, was killed the same day at Locust Grove, Orange County. Their remains were brought to their old homes, which were opposite each other, and from there the two processions wended their way to Maplewood where, in opposite sections, their bodies at the same time were lowered into their last resting places.
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