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 7
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He was a staunch Baptist and was for many years a deacon in the First Baptist Church. He was a member of Masonic Lodge No. 60.
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CHARLES E. YOUNG.
BY ROGER A. YOUNG.
The following is an extract from a resolution unanimously adopted at a meeting of Stonewall Jackson Camp held April 4th, 1905, at their hall in Staunton, Virginia :
Whereas Charles E. Young departed this life March 11th, 1905, this Camp desires to put on record some expression of their sorrow and respect for his memory :
Comrade Young was born in Augusta County in 1836. He was a student at the University of Virginia and was prompt to respond to the call of his native state when she threw herself into the breach to resist tyranny and oppression.
He enlisted June, 1861, in a company of students that went from the University of Virginia, which company was enrolled as a part of the Wise Legion, then doing service in what is now West Virginia.
Early in the year 1862 the company was disbanded by order of the Secretary of War. In March of the same year he en- listed in the Rockbridge Artillery, then commanded by Captain (afterwards judge) Mclaughlin.
After service of several months, owing to the overgrowth of the company, he was, with several others, transferred to the Danville Artillery, Shumaker's Brigade. After a service of five or six months, he was transferred back to the Rockbridge Ar- tillery, where he remained until after the Battle of Gettysburg. He was then commissioned Lieutenant of Engineers, and served below Richmond and around Petersburg until the retreat from Richmond to Appomattox, where he surrendered and was pa- roled.
The writer of this was with Comrade Young during his serv- ices in the Rockbridge Battery and can testify to his faithful service, all duties being cheerfully and promptly performed. He was always ready and willing to do his full share, whether it consisted in pushing the cannon out of the mud, or running it up after recoil for another shot.
As a veteran, in after years, he took much interest in all that
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concerned the old Confederates, and especially the Stonewall Jackson Camp.
He was promoted to its highest office and served as its com- mander with dignity and efficiency.
He loved the cause for which he had fought and suffered so much none the less because it seemed to have failed, believing with the poet that-
"Eternal right, though all things fail, . Can never be made wrong."
CHAPLAIN.
REV. J. WILLIAM JONES, D. D. BY DR. H. W. BATTLE.
Any history of our Camp that did not contain an appreciative recognition of the sterling moral character and distinguished services of the late Rev. J. William Jones, D. D., who, during the period of his Chaplaincy at the University of Virginia, was a most loyal and enthusiastic member, would be flagrantly in- complete. Dr. Jones was born at Louisa Courthouse, Virginia, September 25th, 1836, of good old Virginia stock. His father was Francis William Jones, an honored and beloved merchant, and his mother was Ann Pendleton Ashby. On his maternal side, Dr. Jones was closely allied with historic families whose achievements imparted luster to many of the State's proudest pages. He was married, December 20th, 1860, to Judith Page Helm, a descendant of illustrious ancestors. Of this marriage was born ten children, four of whom have risen to eminence in the Baptist ministry-Carter Helm, of Philadelphia, and Ashby of Atlanta, have won national fame.
When the war between the states came on, Dr. Jones enlisted as a private, and served to the close, never permitting his sacred responsibilities as a Chaplain to interfere with his duties as a soldier. Profoundly religious, personally courageous, and in- tensely Confederate, he wielded a mighty influence over thou-
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sands of soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia, and many a battle-begrimed hero felt on his brow where the death-dew was gathering a touch gentle as a mother's, and heard a voice all broken with emotion as "the fighting chaplain" commended his passing spirit to "the God of all compassion." Dr. Jones was Chaplain of the 13th Virginia regiment, and Missionary Chaplain of General A. P. Hill's Corps.
The war over, Dr. Jones returned to the pastorate and served with eminent success in a number of important fields ; but per- haps he was most widely known by the numerous and varied productions of his brilliant pen. As pastor of the First Bap- tist Church of Lexington, he was brought into almost daily as- sociation with his revered and beloved chief, Robert E. Lee, and thus peculiarly fitted to portray, with pen and voice, the character of that matchless man. So uncompromising was his devotion to the cause espoused by Lee and Jackson (the rea- lized ideals by which he measured all human excellence), and so bold his spoken and written words, that he became a national example of fidelity unreconstructed and unreconstructible. Pa- thetic it may have been, but sublimely loyal.
As Secretary of the Southern Historical Society, 1876-1887, Dr. Jones contributed many valuable papers and collected much material for future historians. He was the author of numerous works of permanent historical value, all of which reflect the deathless devotion of their author to the traditions and achieve- ments of the South. In 1890 he was made Chaplain-General of the United Confederate Veterans. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by Washington and Lee University. Death found him, as he had lived, a patriot and a Christian, pure, magnanimous, and unafraid. Dr. Jones died in Rich- mond, March 17th, 1909.
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SURGEONS .. /
DR. JAMES EDGAR CHANCELLOR.
BY JOHN S. PATTON.
Dr. James Edgar Chancellor was born at Chancellorsville, Spottsylvania County, Virginia, in 1826, and died at the Uni- versity of Virginia September 11th, 1896. He was a son of George Chancellor.
Dr. Chancellor wa's educated at the University of Virginia and at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. He began the practice of his profession at Chancellorsville. The war com- ing on, he was commissioned First Assistant Surgeon and then Surgeon in the Confederate Army, and assigned to duty at the general hospital at Charlottesville, continuing in the service un- til the end of the war. After the war he was made demonstra- tor of anatomy in the University of Virginia, where he remained until his health imperatively demanded his retirement. He be- came president of the Medical Society of Virginia, and during his term the State Board of Medical Examiners of Virginia was organized, of which he became a member in 1890, and in which office he continued till his death. For twenty years he had been a member of the American Medical Association and of the American Public Health Association.
His first wife was Miss Josephine Anderson, of Spottsylvania County, who bore him six children-Dr. E. A. Chancellor of St. Louis; Alexander Clarendon Chancellor of Columbus, Geor- gia ; Thomas Sebastian Chancellor of New Orleans; Samuel C. Chancellor of the University of Virginia; and Josephine Chan- cellor, now deceased. His second wife was Mrs. Gabriella May Chancellor.
DR. HENRY KING COCHRAN.
BY MRS. JOHN M. PRESTON.
Henry King Cochran was the son of John Cochran and his wife Margaret Lynn Lewis. He was born in Charlottesville, August 5th, 1832, and studied medicine at the University of
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Virginia and at Jefferson College, Philadelphia. After gradu- ation he practiced in Bellevue Hospital, Baltimore, later settling in Lynchburg for the practice of his profession. Here the out- break of the war found him. He volunteered at once and served through the entire war as a surgeon, being stationed at points in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. He was in the western campaign and at the siege of Corinth.
He was for many months at "Old Seabrook Hospital" near Petersburg, and later at Wilmington, North Carolina, where he contracted chills from which he never wholly recovered.
The latter part of his life was spent in Smythe County, Vir- ginia, where he practiced medicine, doing a great amount of charity work.
Late in life he embraced the Catholic faith, the seeds of which had been planted by a zealous and pious aunt.
He never took the oath of allegiance and grew to be a stronger Confederate as the years advanced.
He died at the home of his sister, Mrs. J. M. Preston, No- vember 28th, 1903.
DR. THOMAS MARTIN DUNN.
BY MRS. SALLIE THOMPSON DUNN.
Dr. Thomas Martin Dunn, son of Rev. Thomas Rivers Dunn and Jane Bennett Carr Salmon, was born at the old Carr home- stead near Free Union, Albemarle County, on September 1st, 1836. He studied medicine at Richmond Medical College, Rich- mond, Virginia, and was graduated in February, 1857. He be- gan the practice of his profession before he was twenty-one years of age.
On November 15th, 1859, he was married to Miss Sallie Shepherd Thompson of Free Union, Albemarle County. From this marriage, there were three children, all of whom survive- Percival Thomas Dunn, Lelia Shepherd Dunn Miller, and Bessie Carr Dunn.
During the Civil War he was surgeon at Chimborazo Hos- pital, Richmond, Virginia, and while Jackson was operating in the Valley of Virginia he was transferred to the hospital at
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the University of Virginia, and later to a local hospital at White Hall, Albemarle County.
While he was practicing medicine in the hospitals in Albe- marle County, he was Captain of Company D of the Albemarle County Local Battalion. At the time of General Lee's surren- der he was serving at Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond.
After the war he practiced his profession, locating at Free . Union, Albemarle County, Virginia, where he practiced the re- mainder of his life, with the exception of the time he was in the legislature of his state and in the United States Government service.
He was elected to the legislature from Albemarle County for the first time in 1875, and again in 1877, 1879, 1881, and 1883. In 1885 he was appointed Deputy Collector of Internal Reve- nue for Northern Virginia, under President Grover Cleveland. He served in this office till 1889.
In 1889 he was elected to the Virginia Senate, representing Greene and Albemarle Counties, and served till 1892.
In 1893, he was again appointed Deputy Collector for North- ern Virginia, under President Grover Cleveland, and served un- til he was elected to the legislature in 1897, where he served continuously until he retired from public life in 1911.
He died from heart trouble on April 4th, 1916.
DR. JOHN RANDOLPH PAGE.
BY REV. C. B. BRYAN, PETERSBURG.
John Randolph Page, son of Mann Page of Shelly, Glouces- ter County, Virginia, and Anne Jones Page of the same county, was born at Greenway in Gloucester County, May 10th, 1830. He married in 1856 Delia Bryan, eldest daughter of John Ran- dolph Bryan (of Eagle Point, Gloucester, and of Carysbrook, Fluvanna County) and Elizabeth Tucker Coalter.
Dr. Page graduated from the University of Virginia in 1850 with the degree of M. D. and then spent several years in Paris attending medical and surgical clinics. He returned to Vir- ginia and practiced medicine in his native county.
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During the Civil War he was with General J. B. Magruder. He organized and was in charge of the hospital at Yorktown, and was in hospital service during the Seven Days fighting around Richmond and at Malvern Hill.
In his profession he was especially successful as a diagnos- tician, and was advanced and sound in his views on sanitation and hygiene. During the last years of the war he was chief surgeon in a hospital in Lynchburg. Dr. Wilson C. N. Ran- dolph, his able colleague there, declared that in organizing and managing a hospital from a sanitary and hygienic point of view, Dr. Page had no equal in his knowledge, and that the hospital under his charge in Lynchburg was the best in the Confederacy. He is said to have been the first surgeon in the Civil War to use bichloride of mercury in the treatment of infected gunshot wounds. He also used tar water-the antiseptic property being creosote and crude carbolic acid-and this at a time when the antiseptic treatment of wounds was not recognized. He recog- nized the infectious and fatal nature of glanders in horses and condemned and destroyed all the horses and stables infected with glanders within the sphere of his work.
After the war he taught in the Louisiana State Seminary at Alexandria, Louisiana. From there he went to Baltimore, where he was Professor of Medicine in the Washington Med- ical College. From 1872 to 1887 he was Professor of Agricul- ture, Zoology and Botany in the University of Virginia. Re- signing his chair, he went to Birmingham, Alabama, and became Chief Surgeon of the Georgia Pacific Railroad and of the Sloss Iron and Steel Works. His health failing, he returned to the University of Virginia, where he died March 11th, 1901, and is buried in the University Cemetery.
Dr. Page was ever a devout, pure-minded and chivalrous Christian gentleman.
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DR. WILSON CARY NICHOLAS RANDOLPH.
BY THOS. J. RANDOLPH.
Descended, as the subject of this sketch was, from the old Vir- ginia family of Randolph, Tuckahoe branch, and of President Thomas Jefferson, of Albemarle County, it is not surprising that Dr. Wilson C. N. Randolph should have thrown in his lot with the Confederate States when the Old Dominion at last became a member of that independent aggregation of sovereign States in 1861. His father was Thomas Jefferson Randolph, of Edgehill, Albemarle County, who contributed all his sons and practically all his available fortune, that free and independent government might live in America as handed down by the fa- thers, among whom were reckoned his own forbears from the beginning of the Commonwealth.
Dr. Randolph was an honor-graduate in medicine of the Uni- versity of Virginia, and had just entered upon the successful practice of his profession in his native section when the call to arms in defense of the Mother State enlisted the services of all her sons of military age.
He enlisted for this service on May 8th, 1861, only a few weeks after the Ordinance of Secession had been adopted by the Vir- ginia Convention at Richmond, and was commissioned as a sur- geon in the Army of Virginia (later to become the Army of Northern Virginia) under the skilful Joseph E. Johnston and the matchless Robert E. Lee. He was assigned for duty with the Richmond Howitzer Battalion of Artillery. With this glorious aggregation he saw one year's service in the field, and after- wards was stationed at Lynchburg as Surgeon in charge of Gen- eral Hospital No. 2.
Dr. Randolph's achievements in this difficult but necessary role of army service were notable, distinguished, and in keeping with his great talents in medicine and surgery, and the efficiency natural in a graduate of the great school which he was proud to call his Alma Mater. Despite the handicaps which were inevitable from the unprepared condition of the Confederacy, and the many obstructions placed around the civilized care of the sick and wounded by the unexpected and questionable sever-
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ity of the enemy as to blockade and deprivation of medical sup- plies, he made an enviable and distinguished record for the effi- ciency and care which he exercised over the helpless wounded entrusted to his treatment.
Paroled on May 8th, 1865, after four successive years of un- remitting service, Dr. Randolph returned to his native county, and spent the remainder of his long life in practising among his own people, with whom his name became a household word.
He was born in the year 1834 in the county of Albemarle, and departed this life on April 23rd, 1907, in his seventy-fourth year, beloved by all and honored as few men have been in his day and time for his sterling qualities of head and heart, and devotion to his native land and the heroic people who sprung from it.
DR. ARCHIBALD TAYLOR.
BY C. B. LINNEY.
Archibald Taylor entered the Confederate service in April, 1861, as Second-Lieutenant of the Charles City Troop, and was commissioned Assistant Surgeon afterwards. He served at va- rious stations, last at Richmond, Virginia. He continued in the service until the close of the war. After the war he resided at Charlottesville, where he practiced his profession.
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NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND PRIVATES.
JAMES BUTLER SIGOURNEY ALEXANDER .*
James Butler Sigourney Alexander was born in Charlottes- ville, January 6th, 1836. He graduated at the U. S. (West Point) Military Academy, in June, 1856, and was a second-lieu- tenant in the U. S. Army until April, 1861, when he resigned and was appointed Captain in the Army of Northern Virginia. Later he became Assistant C. M. and Q. M. General in the Army of Northern Virginia, under General Garnett and General Jackson. He died at Alleghany Springs, August 13th, 1861. He is buried in the cemetery at Charlottesville.
WILLIAM WILLS ALEXANDER .*
William Wills Alexander was born in Charlottesville, August 25th, 1838. He was Second-Lieutenant of Company B, Nine- teenth Virginia Regiment; was in the battles of Bull Run and Manassas ; served in the medical department in Lynchburg; aft- erwards was Adjutant of the Forty-sixth Virginia Regiment ; wounded in 1864, and killed March 29th, 1865, at the battle of Hatcher's Run, near Petersburg. He is buried in the cemetery at Charlottesville.
J. M. ANDERSON.
J. M. Anderson was a son of Colonel John T. Anderson and originally from Hanover County, Virginia. He was a fine sol- dier and served his country well. He engaged in business after the war and was highly esteemed as a man and citizen. He was an active member of John Bowie Strange Camp.
R. G. BAILEY.
R. G. Bailey enlisted in Company A, Nineteenth Virginia In- fantry, and served during the war. After the close of hostili -. ties he lived in Charlottesville and kept a place of entertainment.
*These sketches came in late, and through oversight were omitted in making up the sketches of deceased officers.
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J. B. BAKER.
J. B. Baker enlisted in the Confederate Army May 1st, 1861, as an orderly sergeant of Company H, First Virginia Cavalry. He was wounded at First Manassas and disabled from further service in the army .- A fine soldier and citizen.
HENRY JUSTUS BALZ. BY ALBERT G. A. BALZ.
Henry Justus Balz was born in Frankenburg, Hesse-Cassel, Germany, on February 25th, 1840. He came to the United States as a youth of seventeen. At the outbreak of the war he enlisted in an artillery company organized by a Captain Wag- ner, a Prussian soldier of fortune who gave his services to the Confederacy. He saw service at Fort Sumter, but later was in Company IA, Lucas's Battalion, Army of Northern Virginia.
After the war Henry Balz returned to Charlottesville, Vir- ginia, where, on April 7th, '1870, he married Mary Hartman. He remained in Charlottesville until his death, which occurred on October 25th, 1902. He was instrumental in organizing the Monticello Guard, and was for many years Second Warden of the Volunteer Fire Company.
JOHN H. BARKSDALE.
BY W. R. BARKSDALE, HIS SECOND SON.
The subject of this sketch, John Henry Barksdale, was born March 8th, 1828, at the old Barksdale homestead in Albemarle County, known as Pleasant Hill. He came of a long line of ancestors, dating back to the early part of the seventeenth cen- tury, when Sir William Barksdale, the first of the name, so far as known, emigrated to America from England and settled in Virginia.
He was the second son of Rice Garland Barksdale and Eliza- beth S. White, his wife, and was educated in the country schools of the neighborhood. At the age of twenty-eight (No- vember 18th, 1856), he married Miss Mattie Catherine Dun-
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kum, of Green Hill, Albemarle County. Soon afterward he bought the Robinson place, then known as Locust Grove, where he engaged in farming until called to arms in the spring of 1864, under Captain Pannell, of the Fifth Virginia Cavalry. He served only a few weeks, however, before he was shot through the left hand at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, the same engagement in which his commanding general, the immortal Stuart, was killed .*
After recovering from his wound sufficiently, he went into the Commissary Department and bought and drove cattle for the subsistence of the army. Prior to the war he was very ac- tive in organizing and drilling the State militia, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, by which title he was called by his old associates during the rest of his life.
At the close of the war, or soon afterward, being in straight- ened circumstances on account of the loss of all his slaves and the impoverished condition of the country, and finding it hard to make a living for his family on the little and poor farm, he obtained an appointment as deputy-sheriff, and at the end of the term was elected sheriff, which office he filled with credit.
After retiring from public life, having lost his home on ac- count of inability to meet the payments, he moved back to the old home at Pleasant Hill, and engaged in farming again for some years.
Afterward he bought and moved to the Wingfield place, just across the road from Temple Hill Church, where, a few years afterwards, on March 15th, 1899, he had the misfortune to lose his lifetime partner. From that time he made his home with his oldest son, J. O. Barksdale, at what was one time the Gary place, where he departed this life on September 2nd, 1912, just a few months before his 85th birthday. His remains lie in the family section in the cemetery at Mount Olivet Church.
*There is no record of the other engagements in which he took part.
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W. S. BASHAW.
W. S. Bashaw enlisted in June, 1861, in the Fluvanna Ar- tillery. He was discharged, but re-enlisted and served nearly four years in the Confederate service. He resided in. Char- lottesville, following the occupation of a liveryman.
ROBERT BASS.
Robert Bass enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1862, and was discharged April 9th, 1865, serving three years. He was originally from Fluvanna County, but moved to Charlottesville, where he engaged in carpentering.
NEWTON BECKWITH.
Newton Beckwith was a native of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He served four years in the Confederate army as a member of Company C, 30th Virginia Regiment, under Captain Wisten Wallace of Fredericksburg.
He was a gallant soldier, bearing privations and sufferings gladly for his beloved country. He died in Charlottesville, Virginia, January, 1917.
CHARLES PAGE BENSON.
BY C. B. L.
Charles Page Benson was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, and served faithfully in the War between the States as a mem- ber of the Albemarle Artillery. After the war he was a drug- gist for many years. He died in Richmond, Virginia, March 6th, 1904. He had a host of friends. His generous spirit and pleasant manner made him a very enjoyable companion, and few men ever lived who did more to cheer the sick and comfort the sorrowing. He was a valuable and active member of John Bowie Strange Camp.
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ALBERT PENDLETON BIBB.
BY R. H. WOOD.
Albert Pendleton Bibb, born of patriotic blood, did not wait to be called, but at the age of sixteen volunteered in the serv- ice of the Confederate States of America. By reason of poor health he was not able to continue in the service very long, but while he was in, he rendered valuable service as orderly ser- geant, never sparing himself, but giving the best that was in him to the work in which he was engaged. On his return home he entered into the dry goods business with his father, John H. Bibb, who, as a leading business man, was one of the most in- fluential citizens of Charlottesville.
When his father retired from the business, A. P. Bibb con- tinued it most successfully for a number of years, but his health giving away entirely, he, too, was compelled to follow a life that took him more out of doors.
Early in life he united with the Charlottesville Baptist Church and continued one of its most active and efficient members un- til his marriage to Miss Nannie Leitch, when he withdrew from the Baptist Church and with her entered the Charlottesville Presbyterian Church. In this church his usefulness soon be- came apparent, and in a short time he was elected a ruling elder, in which office he rendered valuable service to the Church and the cause of Christianity. He was also elected to, and for a number of years held, the office of Superintendent of the Sab- bath School, which he filled most acceptably to the officers, teachers and scholars of the school, as well as to the members and officers of the church, all of whom deeply regretted when, by reason of impaired health, he had to resign his office.
There was never a man in Charlottesville who had more friends than A. P. Bibb. He made friends easily, and re- tained them. His energy knew no bounds, and he never spared himself where he could be of service to his friends, his church, or his country. His nature was to love everybody, and every- body loved him.
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