USA > West Virginia > Braxton County > History of Braxton County and central West Virginia > Part 21
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Wm. M. Barnett, the youngest soldier in his company, a boy of only 15 years of age, was less concerned, for his youth had rendered him less conspicu- ous an object of their vengeance. If Barnett had had an inch of ground to stand upon, Tuning's arm would have been too slow, and his brain too dull to have conquered him. He was the Kit Carson of the whole crowd, and while he was not so particularly concerned for his own safety, he was active in ar- ranging by signs the unloosening of the cords that bound their wrists one to another, and the time and location most suited for their escape.
S. E. Knicely, who was coupled with Barnett, was an elegant citizen, a sturdy and conscientious soldier. His father and two brothers were in the army, making four of one family. It is needless to suggest that Tuning and his eompany were elated at their capture. A rieher prize could not have been selected.
Baxter was to be taken through Webster county, tortured and shot, and possibly Wheeler was to share the same fate. The others were to be taken with an air of triumph to Jackson's camp. This to Tuning was a most fortunate and important military capture. He did not stand very high at Jackson's camp. While Jackson was an extreme partisan, he was a poor military commander. The Jacksons like Boneparts, while in Napoleon was concentrated all the genius
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of that family, so did "'Stonewall" possess the military genius of the Jackson family. He held a position between the regular army of the Confederacy and the ragged edges of the territory lying between the two opposing forces, and all the odds and ends that could be gathered together in a section of country without law or order, civil or military. He was handicapped by irregular bands and small companies of men like the Tunings, the Campbells, the Con- leys, Goffs and Dusky Men, who had no well defined relation to the Confederacy, unless they occasionally acted as scouts and spies, but whose main object was plunder. They reveled in a country that was powerless to resist.
The mountainous counties of the interior offered a shelter for refugees, skulkers and deserters. These men preyed upon the country and often brought down the vengeance of the Federal authorities upon innocent families, whose fathers or sons were in armies of the south.
Jackson's discipline was not of that character that would give protection ยท or inspire confidence and respect to a country helpless in the absence of civil government. Jackson had some good men, we have no desire to say that he had not. Many of them we knew personally, who had good families, and prided themselves as being good soldiers, and, if I were to name two men representing the two armies the equals of any soldiers of the interior of the State; men who developed more natural military genius and soldierly bearing and courage, I would name John D. Baxter and John S. Sprigg. Captain Sprigg was a splen- did specimen of manhood; tall, erect and of pleasing manners, a superb horse- man, a dashing cavalier. One incident will illustrate his stratagem and the generalship that he used this occasion to save his men and assure an easy victory. When he attacked the Federal forces at Sutton, he approached by marching his forces down the turnpike on the south side of Elk, and as the road winds around a high ridge, one point for some distance was in full view
of the Federal position. Then there was a depression in the ridge that was hidden from their view. When his command came in sight he marched them quietly and in soldierly order until they reached the depression and were hidden from view. Then they would gallop around the opposite side of the ridge, and as the last of the column was coming around in view of the Federal position the head of the column by this time had gotten back and would pass in review again, thus the same soldier passed many times in review and the strength of his forces was magnified until the Union forces began to think that the Confederacy had turned loose a considerable portion of their forces, and they evacuated the town without hesitancy or preliminaries. If Jackson had been in immediate command of the forces that captured the town of Sut- ton, the great probabilities are that there would have been a fight and a differ- C ent fate awaiting the town, and if Captain Sprigg had been the commander of Jackson's forces, there might have been more activity in the military depart- ment of the mountains.
The Tunings and their men were marching in triumphant splendor through the darkness with their, prisoners and what booty they had succeeded in appro-
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priating ; at a point on the ridge near Ben's Run through a signal or sign, two of the couple communicated the fact that they had removed the cords by which they were tied, and at a place in the road that seemed to invite the attempt to escape, Baxter and Wheeler plunged into the brush, running in the same direc- tion; Knicely and Barnett made a dash in the opposite direction. Barnett got tripped or entangled in the brush and fell at the edge of the road, and the balls that were fired at the noise that his fleeing comrade made passed harmlessly over his head. Every shot went wild of its mark, and only acted as an ineen- tive to excellorate the movements of those stalwart men who were winding down the brush and sapplings as if they were but dry stubble, in their flight lown the rugged hillsides of the Elk Valley.
Barnett lay still, but was soon discovered and one of the company ex- claimed, "We have killed the boy." Baxter and Knicely being on familiar ground, soon found their bearing and got out of the wilderness, but not so to Wheeler, and it was some time the next day before he found himself. The next night I slept with Baxter, on a knob of Grannies creek, that William Fisher has since cleared and planted in fruit trees. We slept on the bare ground with no covering save the clear blue sky. Baxter was restless-not nervous or ex- cited, but his nerves were strung. He was on his metal and ready for action. The war drama was being enacted in its realities. He had just been before the footlights and looked into the grim visaged face of his enemy, while his strong limbs were being manacled in cords with guns and desperate men on either side. He knew what his capture meant but he was a soldier without fear.
When Tunings realized that they had lost in a moment what they had long sought to win, and the great prize over which they felt so clated, their ven- geanre and anger knew no bounds. We were told by some of those who re- mained in captivity that they raged and swore, lamenting the escape of Baxter. They sullenly trudged on with occasional vile oaths and frequently threatened the lives of the other prisoners. George D. Mollohan, M. L. Barnett and Henry Hyer, the three civilian prisoners, after the exciting spectacular scenes of that midnight hour, were taken with the other prisoners to a point near the mouth of Brock's run on Holly river. There they halted to hold a war council and wait for daylight. There was a tide in the river and the only means of cross- 1
ing was on a broken boat gunnel. At this point it was decided to release two of the prisoners, Hyer and Barnett. Hyer was a brother of Captain Hver-a firm and conscientious citizen ; a union man, mild and pleasant in manners ; useful as a conservative citizen and to carry off and thrust into prison such a man would be an injury to any cause. Barnett was a brother to the boy prisoner, and lived in a neighborhood that was strongly allied in sympathy to the southern cause, but in principle was a union man. He had taken no pro- nounced part in the great struggle ; was kind and gentle, and had the good of his country and neighbors at heart. One of nature's noblemen, and in after
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years, no minister of the Gospel that ever graced a West Virginia pulpit was more genuinely and universally beloved by his people.
George D. Mollohan was taken to Richmond and the cruel treatment he received came near ending his life.
After the escape of Baxter, Knieely and Wheeler. Mr. Mollohan's hands were tied, also Barnett's. We do not know whether Capt. Hyer's hands or whether he as an officer was placed on his honor to remain a prisoner. After the halt at Broeks run, the inarch was resumed and the prisoners taken across Holly river. The Tunings were importuned to untie the cord that bound Mol- Johan's hands until the river was crossed, but they positively refused. To cross a stream on a piece of boat gunnel with your hands tied behind you is extremely hazardous. The river crossed in safety, the march was continued through Webster county to Jackson's camp: thence to Richmond and Libby prison.
'In passing through Webster C. H., weary and footsore with the march, warmed up by the autumn sun, Molloban's thirst was intensified by the sight ef the pure crystal waters, but he was denied that slight privilege of appeasing his thirst, that to him would have been a blessing. The prisoners had one friend in the company of whom I wish to speak more particularly, because jus- tice should be done every man and he should have credit for his good acts, and a friend under these circumstances and in such trying need should be remem- bered and appreciated. F. F. Squires wanted Tunings to untie the cords that bouna Mollohan while crossing the river and give him a chance for his life, in case that frail craft should sink or capsize but refused and on the march he frequently besought Tuning to grant decent treatment to the prisoners, but without effect. He confided with the prisoners and advised for their welfare, and through his influence saved them great and trying iniquities. He admin- istered to their wants while in Jackson's camp. These facts I learned from one of the prisoners long years after the tragic event when he was on his last bed of sickness.
F. F. Squires was of noble and gentle parentage. The influence of a Chris- tian home could not be obscured by the strenuous irregularities of a boarder warfarc.
I now came to a point in my narrative that to me seems to be of very great importance. A subject that any person might give more than a mere casual observance or consideration. It indicates a providence that is unseen-a hand that is invisible. Several years ago, Captain Hver related a very remarkable dream that he had when he was a very small boy, and it so impressed me that when I visited him during his last sickness, I had him relate his dream to me as fully as he was able. His mind was clear, but his once strong frame was wasting, tottering to a fall. He realized that the sands of time had well nigh run out, but he gave me the story just as he had related it years before. When Captain Ilyer was a small boy he dreamed that he and his brother Harvey and two strange men were in captivity and confined in a loathsome and revolting
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hog pen. But in a short time. Harvey regained his liberty. and he and the two strange men remained, what appeared to be a lone confinement. He became familiar with their voices. gestures and personal appearance. So vivid and realistic were these impressions on his mind that in all the years intervening between that time and the war they remained undimmed, and after the capture as we have described, his brother Harvey was released at Holly river. Then the Captain's privations began. He was taken to .Jackson's camp, thence to Libby prison. After a long confinement there, he was taken to Salisbury, N. C., and when he was ushered into the new and strange prison pens, nearer dead than alive, the first men he met were the two he saw in his dream when he was a boy. And during the remainder of his prison life they were his constant com- panions. They ministered as far as they could to his wants, and with him they lived to escape the horrors of prison life and returned to their homes in Ohio. The question is, was it prophetie? Do the teeming millions exist in invisible form before they came upon life's stage? Captain Hver was made to see through a dream, a prison pen that he should in the future occupy, and the faces of two companions that perhaps were not born at that time. The provi- dences of God are mysterious to mortal vision.
Fifty years have come and gone since the event occurred of which we have been writing-eventful years, years in which history has been written as with an electric pen. The angel of death has not been idle. but has thrown its evele in the fields of mortality and some of the noblest, purest characters, men and women of our land, have been its victims, and as far as I know not a man who participated in that episode at Captain Hyer's in 1863, is now living. They have all, one by one, crumbled into dust. The participants of that great strug- gle who remain are ageing; the vim and vigor of youth have passed, our battles are history, and there is nothing left us but memory.
"The tumult and the shouting dies; The captains and the kings depart ; Still stands thine ancient sacrifice An humble and a contrite heart, Lord God of hosts be with us yet. Lest we forget, lest we forget."
Capt. Wm. Kantner who commanded a company in the 3rd W. Va. Cav- alry, while stationed at Martinsburg, W. Va., was sent with a squad of soldiers to capture a Confederate Major whom it was said was to be married near Charlestown. The Captain relates that John Shuttlesworth, Quartermaster of the Regiment, requested to accompany the seout, but when they reached the place where the marriage was supposed to take place, they found that the re- port was untrue, and on thier return, about four miles from Charlestown, they surrounded a house and captured a prisoner or two, and among the crowd was Wm. L. Wilson. The Captain said that Wilson escaped from the house, and a search failed to reveal his presence but just before they left a soldier spied him
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hiding under an out building, and when they came through Charlestown, the ladies of the town expressed great sympathy for the prisoner whom the Cap- tain described as a very youthful, delicate looking soldier, but one who was destined to become a statesman of international reputation.
Silas M. Morrison related to the author that Isaac Brown, a soldier, made some report against George Blankenship that caused a squad of soldiers in company with two or three citizens to waylay and kill Blankenship which was an outrage. He also related that a renegade from Greenbrier county named Andy Williams, piloted the troops that killed Jacob Tonkin.
It is related by David M. Jackson who lived at the ford of Little Birch during the Civil war, that a soldier named Cutright (possibly from Harrison county) and George Leonard of Cincinnati, carried dispatches from Sutton to Summersville, and stayed at his father's home. He states that Cutright was shot in the shoulder from ambush.
MILITARY TRAGEDIES.
Early in the war some Confederates went to the residence of John Crites on Crites Mountain and killed Isaac, his son. Isaac was a boy scarcely grown. This so enraged the family that all the other boys who were able, joined the Union army, and the father of the boy acted as scout and spy, great harass- ing the citizens of Braxton and Webster counties during the remainder of the war.
In 1863, while a scouting party commanded by Major Withers of the Tenth West Virginia Infantry, were coming down the Elk river, they saw James Mc- Court run from a house not far above where the village of Centralia is now located. McCourt was halted and commanded to surrender, but he continued to run, and just as he was entering some high weeds and brush he was killed. He was said to be a harmless citizen, but through fear and excitement he lost his life.
John O. Cool, John and James Clifton and MeLure Bickel were killed by 'Federal soldiers on the Holly. Al and Fred Tuning were killed at James Dyer's near the close of the war by Federal soldiers. Jack Tuning was said to have been hung in Texas after the close of the war.
John Mace of Hacker's Valley, a Union man, was killed by bushwhackers. William Arthur was killed by the Tunings, The Tunings also killed Arbogast, a local preacher in the M. E. church, and Buzzard, a class leader, who lived in Pocahontas county.
Dr. John L. Rhea of Flatwoods, while in Weston during the Civil war, was shot by some lawless soldier and wounded, the ball taking effect in his jaw. He recovered without serious trouble. Many acts of wanton cruelty and in- justice were perpetrated by reckless, irresponsible persons. War develops and brings out the worst that is in man.
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Just at the beginning of the Civil war when the first Federal troops passed through the county, a boy from Ohio had followed the army as far as Glenville. Some parties say, however, that he came as far as Sutton, but it is in doubt as to what place he left the army. At any rate, he desired to return to his home, and started across the country by way of Steer creek, stopping at Cole's to get something to eat. Cole, a man named Windon, also a Conrad, were some distance down the creek working in the hay harvest. Mrs. Cole, when she found out that the boy had come from Ohio and had been with the Federal army, ran down and told her husband and Windon, while the boy was eating his din- ner, that there was a Yankee at the house. They waylaid him as he came down where they were at work. They killed the boy, cut his head off with a scythe and hid his body in a stone or log pile. Conrad fled and was never heard of. Windon hinted it to a man named Simpton while they were both intoxicated. Cole and Windon were arrested and tried by a court in Charleston, Kanawha county, and sentenced to be hanged. The execution took place in Sutton in the fall of 1862, the same being carried out by the military authorities. Their bodies were buried on the Town Hill. One of the streets now passes over their remains. Mrs. Cole being in delicate health, was allowed to escape. One of Cole's sons afterward volunteered and served through the war in the Tenth West Virginia Infantry. Nothing is recorded in the border warfare of our country that equals this in cold blooded atrocity.
Late in the Civil war, William Wine and a young man hardly grown, named McCourt, of Webster county, visited the residence of Joseph Green, liv- ing in that county, for the purpose of robbery. While McCourt was handing some meat down from the loft of the cabin, Wine was putting it in a sack. Green, who had been made a prisoner, was standing between Wine and the fireplace. He got hold of a poker, and as Wine was stooping over to put the stolen goods in a sack, Green struck him a fatal blow on the head. Green then took Wine's gun and made McCourt come down from the loft, and kept him a prisoner that night.
Early in the Civil war two Federal soldiers, couriers, coming from Weston to Sutton were attacked at Wines' Gap by Ben Haymond, a man named Foley and a man named Riffle. One of the soldiers was killed, his name was Debolt; the other soldier, Henry Brooks, was wounded, but made his escape. Shortly after the close of the war, Riffle was killed while attending a sugar camp, it is said, by Debolt's brother.
One of the most brutal and cold blooded murders that occurred in Braxton county (excluding the killing of a boy by Cole and Windon) was the betrayal of another boy, son of John Arthur. He was taken upstairs in Dr. Humphrey's home in Sutton and beguiled by some soldiers dressed in southern uniforms, professing to be prisoners. The young man knew nothing of the war except what he had heard southern sympathizers say, and being placed in prison as he supposed, he talked freely by being asked leading questions. He was taken out by two of Roan's men, Moneypenny and Steambeck, and marched up the
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road, leading to North Sutton. He suspicioned something and showed fight, but they told him that they were going to take him upon the hill to camp. There was no camp on the hill, and they took the boy out by the side of a little ravine in the brush. There he showed fight, and one of the soldiers engaged his attention in front, while the other one shot him in the back of the head. He was laid by the side of the little stream an deovered with some sticks and leaves. Afterward Michael MeAnana and some other citizens, built a little rock wall between the body and the creek, filled in with dirt and covered the body.
Captain Harrison of the Sixth West Virginia Infantry was the commander of the post, and must have been apprised of the treachery that led to the young man's death.
The most atrocious and revolting murder that was committed in central West Virginia was the brutal killing of Jacob Tonkin, an aged and respected citizen living on Salt Liek of Little Kanawha. Mr. Tonkins was a local preacher in the M. E. church. It is said that a scout of Federal soldiers ac- companied by some young men of the neighborhood, went to his house and professed to be southern soldiers, and led Mr. Tonkin to say something which indicated to them that he was a southern man, and from this a report was circulated that led to his murder. He was out in a lot near his house, and a squad of soldiers rode up and fired at him, and it is said that six balls took effect in his body, but he was able by the assistance of his wife and some other members of his family to get to the house. Two of the soldiers went to the house and his aged wife begged them not to hurt him as he was already mor- tally wounded, but one of the men drew his carbine and shot him in the back of the head. The squad of soldiers were said to belong to Roan's Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant Lawson. The two men who went to the house and did the last shooting were said to be from Wheeling, their names being Burn- hart and Skinner. Nowhere in the annals of savage warfare when savagery and civilization clashed in deadly combat, was there a more brutal spirit of the lower instincts of humanity shown than in the murder of this aged Chris- tian gentleman.
John G. Morrison relates that he was pressed as a guide by a Lieutenant and some soldiers who belonged to General Wise's forces at Gauley Bridge, and that they met some of General Rosecran's forces on Powell's Mountain, com- manded by Colonel Litle. The Federals fired on them and while the skirmish was going on, Henry Young, some other citizens and the militia came to the road in front of the soldiers. Young was carrying a gun and showed fight. Young was killed and the others made their escape. Litle's horse was shot, and he lost his sword in the skirmish.
Nathan Blankenship, said to be a peaceful citizen, who lived on Ben's run was shot and killed by some Union citizens.
Early in the Civil war, some Federal soldiers who were camped at the churches at Flatwoods, captured Campbell Perrine, a man considerably ad-
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vanced in years. They brought him to their camp and then started him with a detail of soldiers to prison at Sutton. The squad brought him to the low gap at the head of Granny's creek and there told him to run. When he did su they shot him. The turnpike makes a bend and the old road went straight down the hill. He ran from the pike toward the old road and fell in the road. A detail of soldiers came and buried him in a shallow grave on the bank of the road at the root of a large poplar tree. In a day or so Adam Gillespie made a coffin and he and some other citizens came and buried him in the hill field on the Linger farm. Mr. Perrine was a very harmless man, not strong minded, but very ingenious. He could make clocks and almost any kind of ma- chinery out of wood. Seldom occurs a more cruel or unjustifiable murder.
James Squires, son of Elijah Squires, while at home on a furlough from the Confederate army, was captured by a Federal scout near the headwaters of Flatwoods run. He was left in charge of Robert Blaggs, a member of Com- pany F. Tenth West Virginia Infantry, while the other members of the party went down the hill a short distance to a house, looking for parties who might be in hiding there. While Squires and Blagg were alone, Squires tried to wrest Blagg's gun from him and in the tussle the gun was fired and Blagg succeeded in getting his revolver from its scabbard and killed Squires. When the other parties came back Squires was not yet dead, and said that he was in the fault. of Flatwoods run. He was left in charge of Robert Blagg, a member of Com- federate soldier, helped Blagg to steal his wife, a cousin of theirs, the daughter of William G. Squires.
Two Federal couriers, coming np the Wine hill from Big run, were fired on by Ben Haymond and some other parties near the Wine low gap and one of the couriers was killed.
Just over the hill on the west side of the Wine gap, near the foot of the hill, some Federal soldiers, having captured Thomas Stout and two of his sons, Johnson and Isaac, at their home, brought them to this place and killed the father of the boys and shot Isaae and wounded him very badly. Johnson made his escape by flight. Thinking Isaae was killed, the soldiers ran after Johnson, shooting at him, and while this was going on Isaae made his escape. Johnson lived through the war and for many years thereafter, and was finally killed by a falling tree. Isaac, though badly wounded in the mouth, recovered and is still living.
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