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 6
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CAPTAIN CHARLES ERASTUS VAWTER.
BY PROF. F. H. SMITH.
Charles Erastus Vawter was born June 9th, 1841, in what is now Monroe County, West Virginia, and died at the Miller School, October 27th, 1905. He entered Emory and Henry College in 1858, and left in 1861 to enter the Confederate Army. He was a member of the Stonewall Brigade, rising to the rank of Captain. He was a prisoner at Fort Delaware in June 1863.
He re-entered his college, graduating in 1865. He took spe- cial courses in higher mathematics with distinction at the Uni- versity of Virginia, while serving at Emory and Henry. He spent part of his time, the second year, at Charlottesville. He was Professor of Mathematics at Emory and Henry from June 1868 to 1878, when he was elected Superintendent of the Miller Manual Labor School of Albemarle County, Virginia. He died in its service.
He also, while in this office, acted as member of the Board of Visitors of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg. He acted as Superintendent of Sunday-School work in Albe- marle County and as member of the Board of Visitors of the Colored Institute at Petersburg, Virginia. In every field he proved to be a valued citizen, leaving everywhere the results of fine work.
I close with two pictures of him:
One was when in 1878 two professors of the University of Virginia spent two long days in studying the testimonials of a great multitude of candidates for the place of Superintendent of the Miller School. Among them were distinguished soldiers. One had been the honored head of the most successful depart- ment of the Southern Government. At the end of the second day, one of the judges addressed his senior: "Well, Colonel, whom do you pick out?" "I'm for Vawter," said the. man ad- dressed. "So am I," exclaimed his companion. The selection, a wonder to those who did not know Vawter, proved to be a most happy one for the school, the first of its kind in our land. After years of experiment, it is to-day carrying on its magnifi- cent work, largely on lines laid down by Captain Vawter.
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Our second picture finds Captain Vawter years later on a car sweeping down the Valley. Captain Vawter spoke aloud, and said, "What a glorious Valley it was, without a single defeat for the great Stonewall." "What about Kernstown?" said a loud voice from the other end of the car, "Oh, well!" exclaimed the Captain with a laugh, "that was the only action I was not in and I can say nothing personally of it." He sought out the in- terrogator, and found him to be a gallant Federal officer. They became good friends. But the Captain might have said that our army never regarded Kernstown as a defeat. It was fought to keep General Shields and his army from crossing the Blue Ridge, and this it did.
CAPTAIN MICAJAH WOODS.
BY LYON G. TYLER, OF WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA.
Micajah Woods was born May 17th, 1844, at "Holkham," in Albemarle County, Virginia. His parents were Doctor John Rodes Woods and Sabina Stuart Creigh. On both sides of his family he was descended from Scotch-Irish Ancestors. His first American progenitor on his paternal side was Michael Woods, who, in 1737, received a patent for a large tract of land in what was then Goochland County, from which Albemarle County was formed in 1744. Michael Woods' son, William Woods, the great-grandfather of Micajah Woods, was a mem- ber of the legislature of Virginia from Albemarle County in 1798 and 1799, and his son Micajah Woods was a member of the Albemarle County Court from 1815 to 1837, and high sher- iff of the county at the time of his death. Doctor John Rodes Woods, the latter's son, and the father of the subject of this sketch, was a wealthy planter of Albemarle County and was for many years considered the leading authority upon scientific agriculture and stock-raising in Virginia.
After the usual round in the elementary branches, Micajah Woods was, in 1855, sent to the Lewisburg Academy, where he
MICAJAH WOODS CAPTAIN, C. S. A. PRESIDENT VIRGINIA BAR ASS'N Former Commander John Bowie Strange Camp
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remained one year. He then attended the Military Academy in Charlottesville conducted by Colonel John B. Strange, where he remained two years, after which he studied two years at the Bloomfield academy taught by Messrs. Brown, and Tebbs. In 1861, he entered the University of Virginia, but soon quit the academic shades for the field of war. He first served, when barely seventeen years of age, as a volunteer on the staff of General John B. Floyd in the West Virginia campaign of 1861; in 1862, as a private in the "Albemarle Light Horse," in the Virginia cavalry; afterwards as First Lieutenant in the Vir- ginia State Line; and in May, 1863, he was elected and com- missioned First Lieutenant in Jackson's Battery of Horse Ar- tillery, Army of Northern Virginia, in which capacity he served till the close of the war. Among the battles in which he par- ticipated were Carnifax Ferry, Port Republic, Second Cold Harbor, New Market, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Winches- ter, Fisher's Hill and Gettysburg.
At the close of the war he returned to the University of Vir- ginia, graduating in law in 1868. He immediately began the practice of his profession in Charlottesville, Virginia, and in 1870 was elected Commonwealth's Attorney for the County, which position he filled with credit and distinction up to the time of his death, in 1911.
In 1872 he was made a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, a position which he held for four years, having been at the time of his appointment the youngest member of that board ever selected. Captain Woods was a Democrat, and, in 1880, he declined a unanimous nomination for congress tendered him by the Democratic party in Albe- marle County. He was permanent chairman of the Virginia Democratic Convention which met in Staunton in 1896 to elect delegates to the National Convention.
In 1881 he was elected Captain of the Monticello Guard at Charlottesville, and commanded that famous old company at the Yorktown celebration in October, 1881. In 1893 he was made Brigadier-General of the Second Brigade of Virginia Confederate veterans, which rank he held until 1901, when he
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declined re-election. In August, 1908, he was elected President of the Virginia State Bar Association.
On the 9th of June, 1874, he was married to Miss Matilda Minor Morris, of Hanover County, Virginia, and had five chil- dren.
When asked to review the experiences of his career for the benefit of the young and to make some suggestions regarding the best way to attain success, Captain Woods replied: "Be thorough." And, indeed, such was this exemplary man's prin- ciple of action through life. He was a thorough lawyer, a thorough student of books, and a thorough Virginian in heart, soul and action.
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LIEUTENANTS.
EVERETT W. EARLY.
BY CAPTAIN HENRY CLAY MICHIE.
Everett W. Early was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, on the 29th day of February, 1844. When his State seceded from the Union in April, 1861, Lieutenant Early, seeing that war was inevitable, went to the Virginia Military Institute to prepare for the struggle. In June or July, 1861, he was or- dered to Manassas to aid in preparing the thousands of green troups who were assembling there for the approaching conflict. He was assigned to the 49th Virginia Volunteer Infantry, com- manded by Colonel (ex-Governor) William Smith, who soon made him Sergeant-Major of the Regiment, in which capacity he served in the First Battle of Manassas, where he was wounded. For meritorious services in this battle he was pro- moted to a lieutenancy in one of the Amherst companies of the 49th regiment. In this capacity Lieutenant Early served in 1862 in the Battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Seven Days Bat- tle around Richmond, Second Battle of Manassas, the capture of Harpers' Ferry, and the Battle of Sharpsburg (or Antietam). In the last named battle he commanded the skirmishers of General Jubal Eearly's Brigade. He served under Jackson, December 15th, 1862, in the desperate fighting at Fredericks- burg; also at Chancellorsville in 1863, where he was badly wounded. After sufficient recovery he attended lectures at the University of Virginia, but returned to his old Company dur- ing the battles in Spottsylvania County in 1864. He was taken prisoner by Sheridan on Monticello Mountain in March, 1865, and confined in the jail at Charlottesville, but escaped when the enemy was taking him North, and so missed the worst ex- perience of a Confederate soldier-a Northern prison. Lieu- tenant Early passed away about the year 1896.
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CLEMENT DANIELS FISHBURNE.
BY J. N. WADDELL.
Clement Daniels Fishburne was born in Waynesboro, Vir- ginia, on May 26th, 1832, and died in Charlottesville, Virginia, on May 16th, 1907. He was the son of Daniel Fishburne, of Waynesboro, and of Ann Blackwell Rodes Fishburne, of Albemarle County. In his earlier years, he attended school in Waynesboro, and afterwards entered Washington College at Lexington, Virginia, from which institution he graduated.
After leaving college he taught in Christiansburg, Virginia, for one year, and the following year entered the University of Virginia. Shortly after the opening of the session he was elected Professor of Applied Mathematics at Davidson College, North Carolina, which was at that time under the charge of Major D. H. Hill, afterwards General Hill of the Confederate army. He was afterwards elected by the trustees of that insti- tution Professor of Greek.
In 1860 he resigned his position at Davidson College with a view to studying law, and entered the law school of the Uni- versity of Virginia in the fall of 1860.
In the spring of 1861 Virginia seceded from the Union, and in June of that year he left the institution to join the Rockbridge Artillery under the captaincy of W. N. Pendleton. He served in the Rockbridge Artillery for a year or more, and was then transferred to other departments of the army. When the .war closed he was First-Lieutenant in the Ordnance Department.
After the war he returned to the University of Virginia, and finished his course in law, and started practicing in Charlottes- ville, where he lived for the remainder of his life. While en- gaged in his profession, he was elected cashier of the Bank of Albemarle, which position he held until his death. He was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County for many years, and was also a member of the council of the town and city of Charlottesville. He was one of the trustees of Washington and Lee University, of which he was a graduate, and on him was conferred by that University the honorary de- gree of M. A.
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He was married while at Davidson College to Sarah Wad- dell of Lexington, Virginia, who died about one year later. He afterwards married Elizabeth Wood, of Albemarle County, Vir- ginia, who, with three sons, Judge John W. Fishburne, Clement D. Fishburne, Jr., and George P. Fishburne, survives him. He was a strong and vigorous writer, and at one time edited The Chronicle, a well known weekly paper published in Charlottes- ville for some years after the war.
Few men in his day and generation were held in higher es- teem by the people of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Ready always to give counsel to those who sought his advice, his judgment was rarely wrong, and many to-day live to testify to the strong, lovable character of Clement Daniels Fishburne- Soldier, Scholar, and Citizen !
WILLIAM MORRIS FONTAINE.
BY PROFESSOR J. M. PAGE.
William Morris Fontaine was born on December 1st, 1835, in Louisa County, Virginia, and was the son of James and Juliet (Morris) Fontaine. He was a worthy scion of old and distin- guished families in Virginia, being of Huguenot descent on his paternal side, and a lineal descendant of that John de la Fon- taine who was martyred at La Mans, France, in 1561.
Young Fontaine was prepared for the University of Virginia at the famous old "Hanover Academy." He entered the Uni- versity in 1856, and was graduated with the degree of Master of Arts in 1859. He then taught school for a short time, but en- tered the Confederate Army at the outbreak of the War be- tween the States, serving as a second-lieutenant until 1862. Then he was made First-Lieutenant of Ordnance, in which ca- pacity he served until the close of the war. From 1865 to 1869 he taught school and farmed. During 1869 and 1870, he was a student in the Royal School of Mines, Freiburg, Saxony. In 1873, he was elected Professor of Chemistry and Geology in the University of West Virginia, which position he filled un- til 1879. In 1879, he was called to the Corcoran Chair of Nat-
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ural History and Geology in the University of Virginia. He was also appointed Curator of the Brooks Museum of the Uni- versity of Virginia, and served until September 1911, when he retired on the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. From this date until his death in 1913; Professor Fontaine divided his time between his home at the University and his other home in Hanover County.
He was the author of numerous papers in scientific journals, and in the publications of the United States Geological Survey and the U. S. National Museum. He was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in December, 1888, and was a member of the Huguenot Society of America. He was ranked as an expert of the highest order in paleo-botany, in which field his work stands out as of the highest importance and value, especially in the application of paleo-botany to the broader fields of stratigraphic geology.
Professor Fontaine was of an extremely modest and retiring disposition, and generous to a fault. He was devoted to music and literature; and those who were so fortunate as to know him well were devoted to him, not only on account of his large intellectual endowments, but on account of his splendid traits of character. He was never married.
· ADJUTANT GEORGE LOYALL GORDON.
BY ARMISTEAD C. GORDON.
George Loyall Gordon, son of General William Fitzhugh Gor- don and his wife, Elizabeth Lindsay, was born at his father's home, "Edgeworth," in Albemarle County, about five miles west of Gordonsville, Virginia, on the 17th day of January, 1829. His twin brother was Captain Charles Henry Gordon, of Fau- quier County, Virginia, who was a lieutenant in the "Black Horse Cavalry," C. S. A., and later on the staff of General Beverley Robertson.
George L. Gordon received his primary education in schools conducted by private tutors at his father's home, and at the neighboring homes of the Pages and Rives. In 1848 he en-
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tered the University, where he studied in the Academic De- partment and later in the School of Law. After leaving the University, he settled in Alexandria, Virginia, where he prac- ticed law in partnership with Mr. W. L. Marbury under the firm name of Gordon & Marbury, and at the same time edited a Democratic daily, "The Alexandria Sentinel," and took an ac- tive part in in the politics of the State, gaining a distinguished reputaton as a political speaker.
On the 20th of December, 1854, he married at Halifax, North Carolina, Miss Mary Long Daniel, eldest daughter of Judge Joseph J. Daniel of the Supreme Court of that State, and his wife Maria Stith. Of this marriage were born five children, two of whom died in childhood. The three remaining children were Armistead C. Gordon, now a resident of Staunton, Vir- ginia, the late James Lindsay Gordon of Albemarle County and New York City, and Mary Long Gordon, who married Dr. Richard H. Lewis, of Raleigh, North Carolina, and died there in 1895.
In 1857 George L. Gordon moved to Louisa County, Vir- ginia, where he resided and practiced his profession, at the same time conducting his farm known as "Longwood," situated about a mile and a half from Lindsay's on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. At the beginning of the War between the States, . he was visiting, with his wife and children, his wife's sister, Mrs. Turner W. Battle, in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Hence it was that he enlisted there as a private in an infantry company raised in that county by his brother-in-law, Captain Battle, and known as the Edgecombe Light Infantry, which be- came a part of the Fifth (later the Fifteenth) North Carolina Regiment, under Colonel Robert Mckinney, and afterwards under Colonel William McCrae. In the latter part of June, 1861, the regiment was ordered to Virginia, and was in service at Yorktown, Williamsburg and Suffolk, and participated in the battle at Lee's Farm, in which it lost twelve killed, including Colonel Mckinney, and had forty-four wounded. The enemy suffered casualties in killed and wounded amounting to one hun- dred and eighty-three.
This regiment reorganized on the 3rd of May, 1862, and
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George L. Gordon became regimental adjutant, being promoted from the ranks and commissioned June 10th, 1862 (Moore's Roster of N. C. Troops, Vol. I, p. 545). On July 1st, 1862, at Malvern Hill, the Fifteenth Regiment, forming the right of Cobb's Brigade, and constituting a part of the first line of battle, attacked the enemy who had concentrated a heavy force of ar- tillery and infantry on the hill. The attack was made "through an open field of several hundred yards, broken by ravines, and exposed to a murderous fire of grape and canister from the ar- tillery and mortar shells from the gun boats on the James River, and a heavy fire from the infantry in front." (Clark's Hist. of N. C. Regiments, 1861-1865, Vol. I, pp. 737-739.)
In this charge George L. Gordon led the Confederate line and was killed within twenty yards of the Federal batteries.
MASON GORDON.
BY ARMISTEAD C. GORDON.
Mason Gordon, youngest son of General William Fitzhugh Gordon, of Edgeworth, Albemarle County, Virginia, and his wife, Elizabeth Lindsay, was born at his father's home, situated about five miles west of Gordonsville, September 17th, 1840. He was educated by teachers at home, and at Bloomfield School in Albemarle County, and at the beginning of the War between the States was a student in the academic schools of the University of Virginia, which he had entered in the session of 1859-1860. At the outbreak of hostilities he left the University, and became a private in the Albemarle Light Horse, a gallant cavalry organ- ization, which was afterwards known as Company K, Second Virginia Cavalry, General Munford's old regiment, Elizabeth Lee's Brigade. In this company he became a corporal, and served with his troop in the First Battle of Manassas, and later with Jackson and Ashby through the Valley Campaign of 1862. He was in the Second Battle of Manassas and in the frequent skirmishes in Maryland and in the battle of Sharpsburg. After the last named battle, he was detached from his regiment and ordered to report to General Robertson, with whom he served
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as second-lieutenant, and was detailed as drill-master of recruits at Weldon and other points in North Carolina. At a later date he was attached to the command of General Whiting at Wilm- ington, where he continued in active service until the fall of Fort Fisher and the evacuation of the city early in 1865. He then joined the army of General Joseph E. Johnson, and par- ticipated in the battle of Bentonville in March, 1865.
After Johnson's surrender he returned to Albemarle and again took up his studies at the University of Virginia in the Law School under Professor John B. Minor. In 1866 he opened a law office in Charlottesville, where he practiced his profession in partnership with William L. Cochran under the firm name of Gordon & Cochran. The firm was dissolved, after several years, by the death of the junior member, and the senior continued in the practice until his death which occurred at his residence, "Stonefield," near Charlottesville, June 9th, 1914. He was a gallant soldier, a faithful and intelligent officer, and a conscientious and painstaking attorney. He served many years as Commissioner in Chancery of the Albemarle Circuit Court, and as Commissioner of Accounts of the County. For four years he was a member of the Board of Visitors of the Univer- sity of Virginia by appointment of his old commander, Gov- ernor Fitzhugh Lee. A friend and fellow-member of the Al- bemarle Bar bore tribute to the esteem in which he was univer- sally held, in these words: "He was a man thoroughly honest in his character and impulses. In his nature he was as far re- moved from deceit or double dealing as any man could be. He was unselfish and lovable, and bore ill-will toward no man, and I do not believe there was a human being who bore ill-will or malice towards him."
He married Miss Harriett G. Hart of Wilmington, North Carolina, whom he survived; and of their marriage were born three children: Harriett, who married Thomas L. Rosser, Jr .; William Robertson, who died before his father; and Nancy Burr Gordon.
His military record is included in the manuscript volumes of Confederate Records, Vol. 8, pp. 209, 212, in the Virginia State Library.
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EUGENE O. MICHIE.
. BY CAPTAIN HENRY CLAY MICHIE.
Eugene O. Michie was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, in the year 1841. He entered the Confederate service in May, 1861, as Second Lieutenant of Company H, Fifty-sixth Regi- ment of Virginia Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was sent to southwestern Virginia in the autumn of 1861 and incorpo- rated into Floyd's Brigade, which served through the winter and spring of 1862 in Tennessee and Kentucky. Lieutenant Michie commanded his company in the battle of Fort Donelson. In May, 1862, the Fifty-sixth Regiment returned to Richmond, reorganized and was assigned to Pickett's Brigade. Lieutenant Eugene O. Michie, declining re-election, joined Company K, Second Virginia Cavalry, a company from his native county. He was severely wounded in one of the battles of 1864. His record in the service was highly creditable. He passed away about the year 1895.
ADJUTANT JOHN DAVIS WATSON.
BY G. N. WATSON.
John Davis Watson was born in Charlottesville, January 21st, 1841, being the son of E. R. Watson and Mary Kelley Watson. His entire life was spent in Charlottesville, with the exception of the two or three years he lived in Port Republic.
He was twice married, his first wife being Susan Henry Smythe, and his second, Josephine Emma Norris. By his first marriage five children were born: John Richard, Lewis Ran- dolph, George Norris, Hunter and Annie Watson.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, John D. Watson was a student at the University of Virginia, but resigned and volun- teered his service, joining Southall's Battery of Artillery as a private. He served with this company about eight months on the peninsula below Richmond. In January, 1862, he was made Second Lieutenant of Company D, 46th Virginia Infantry, Wise's Brigade, and went to Roanoke Island, North Carolina, where he was captured with his entire command by General
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Burnside. Upon the reorganization of his command he was made First Lieutenant, but had served only a few weeks when he was ordered to report to Colonel John B. Magruder as Ad- jutant of the 57th Virginia Infantry, Armstead's Brigade, Pick- ett's Division, Longstreet's Corps. He was wounded at the bat- tle of Gettysburg, from which wound he never fully recovered his strength. John D. Watson died on the 28th day of Novem- ber, 1916.
WILLIAM NATHANIEL WOOD.
BY EMMA G. WOOD.
William Nathaniel Wood was born in the northern part of Albemarle County, Virginia, November 16th, 1839.
When quite young he entered mercantile life in Charlottes- ville. On July 18th, 1861, he left Charlottesville, joining the Monticello Guard, Company A, Nineteenth Virginia Infantry, at Lewis' Ford on "Bull Run," and participating in his first bat- tle that memorable July 21st, 1861.
He was soon promoted to a lieutenancy, and for much of the latter part of the war was in command of the company. At the battle of Gettysburg he led the company to the stone wall under that terrific fire. His clothing was riddled with shot, but he escaped with a slight scratch under the arm.
His regiment never fired a gun in battle in his absence. Three days before Lee surrendered, on April 6th, 1865, he was captured at Sailor's Creek and taken to Johnson's Island in Lake Erie, remaining there till June 1865.
He returned to Charlottesville from prison, and went into business. Later he went to New York, and at the time of his marriage, 1870, was living in Baltimore. After four years there he came again to Charlottesville, but close confinement to business had injured his health, and by the advice of his phy- sician he went to the country and lived on a farm. Fifteen years later he returned to Charlottesville, where he lived until his death on February 10th, 1909.
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