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Born at Woodstock, West River, Anne Arundel Co., Md., on 30th April 1839. Son of Alexander John Murray & Mary Clapham. Educated locally. Moved to Baltimore in 1855. Businessman in 1860. Elected Captain of the Maryland Guard. When he left Baltimore to go south in May 1861 he wrote to his mother: “It may be forever - but if I fall - I fall a free man.” Captain, Co.H, 1st Md. Inf.: 18th June 1861. On 2nd March 1862 he wrote: “Just think it is ten months since I left home, 'not banished but set free'- not till now have I realized the responsibilities resting on one's shoulders. The force of example. The strict impartial rules - by which to govern - present their responsibilities fearfully plain to my mind. You may ask why I allow things to trouble me which disturb not others - I answer - because in other companies many officers laugh at moral corruption which is to me a source of anxiety and pain. How many anxious mothers - who perhaps I have never seen - look to me as far as in me lies, to shield and protect their sons from harm - This is one care that is never absent…At this moment a shell from the hills of my native State came hissing through the air and bursting at my feet seemed to say 'forbidden ground' and with sad heart I turned and looked not again on the land of my birth.” At some point in 1863 he wrote to his sister: “The happiest day I ever spent in the South was I think the eighth of last June at Cross Keys. I with rifle in hand had with fifteen others twenty most beautiful shots at a regiment of Yanks bearing their flag. Three times did it fall in the dust under our fire. My heart danced for joy as the cheers of our dear little regiment made the echoes sing....For six long hours did we face three regiments of Infantry and two batteries of artillery of the enemy. There was not an inch of ground around us that was not literally ploughed with shot and shell from the continued roar and bursting of these unpleasant messengers--for hours after the battle was over I could not hear my own voice. Such is the fun my foolish company now wishes to enjoy.” Englishman Francis W. Dawson recorded in his memoirs how, after he was wounded during the Seven Days, Murray visited him and “rigged up an arrangement for me by which water was allowed to drip, night and day, on the bandages, to keep them moist and cool…Murray returned to Richmond in a day or two. Poor fellow! I never saw him again. He was killed at Gettysburg. I have fancied that he was deeply attached to Miss Jennnie Cary, who has never married.” Captain, Co.A, 2nd Md. Inf.: 27th August 1862. Killed at Gettysburg on 3rd July 1863. A comrade wrote: “I grieved to see poor Bill Murray stretched out stiff and cold. Oh! How I felt. I liked him and he was a fine soldier, a fine Captain. He used to look forward with such pride and joy to an entrance into Baltimore, and to think his life was thrown away.” Initially buried on the field, his body was later returned to West River. There is a monument dedicated to him in the Confederate Lot at Loudoun Park Cemetery, Baltimore. [Hartzler, A Band Of Brothers, p.81; Dawson, Reminiscences Of Confederate Service, pp.51 & 53; Ruffner, Maryland’s Blue & Gray, p.319.]
Last edited by bill_torrens; 03-09-2005 at 04:59 AM.
Born at Port Royal,Va., on 5th May 1824. Son of Stafford Henry Parker & Sarah Bailey Pearson. Studied medicine in Paris, France, after his graduation from Richmond Medical College in 1848. Doctor in Richmond. From 1856 until the war he worked at Bellevue Hospital. 3rd Lieut., Co.B, 15th Va. Inf.: 14th May 1861. Resigned in November or December 1861. Married Ellen Jane Jordan in January 1862. Captain of Parker’s Battery: 14th March 1862. “No captain appealed more to Porter [Alexander] than William Parker, who commanded the Richmond battery. A kindly, congenial man, Parker had been a physician and his battery consisted largely of boys taken from the families of his patients. Because of their youth they became known as the ‘Boy Battery’, but they fought hard and well under their captain. Parker was eminently qualified to father his charges, for he impressed everyone with the depth of his Christian convictions. He believed in a religion of action rather than dogma, and at the heart of his belief lay the simple principle that if he died he would go at once to heaven. As a result he displayed an utter disregard for danger in battle, and his boys responded quickly to his example. Nothing better illus trated his character than a remark he made to his lieutenant in the thick of a hot fight: ‘Mr Saville, I don’t see sir how you dare to expose your life as you do, knowing that you have not made your peace with your maker.” Major of Artillery: March 1865. Alexander himself wrote of Parker: “If I want a Christian to pray for the dying soldier I call on Parker; if I wish a skillful surgeon to amputate the limb of a wounded soldier I call on Parker; if I want a soldier, who with unflinching courage will go wherever duty calls, I call on Parker.” He also wrote that “no physician ever lived, I believe, whose [sic] has done more charity practice than Doctor, Captain, & later Major Parker. And if I am ever closely questioned at Peter’s Gate I shall promptly offer, as my best credentials, the fact that Captain Parker named a daughter after me.” Resumed his medical practice in Richmond after the war. President of the Richmond Male Orphan Asylum and the Richmond Home for Old Ladies. Died in Richmond on 4th August 1899. Buried in Hollywood Cemetery. [Manarin, 15th Virginia Infantry, p.111; Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, pp.161-2; Ferguson, Hollywood Cemetery, Her Forgotten Soldiers: Confederate Field Officers At Rest, p.91; Klein, Edward Porter Alexander, p.49.]
Born in Warrenton, Virginia, on 27th May 1825. Graduated from V.M.I., second in his class, in 1846. He then served as assistant professor of mathematics & tactics there until his father's death in 1848, when he returned to run the family lands in Fauquier Co. Appointed sheriff in 1854. He organised and trained the Warrenton Rifles at the time of John Brown's raid. Delegate to the Va. Secession Convention. Captain, Co.K, 17th Va. Inf. Killed at Fairfax Court House on 1st June 1861 during a skirmish with Co.B of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry: "his body was found, face down, in a nearby clover field with a bullet in his chest, hit by one of the few random shots fired by the [enemy] as they passed through." Believed to be the first Confederate officer to be killed in action. A member of his company wrote: “The company has received such a shock as I fear it will not recover from soon. No, I believe never.” [Cooney, First To Fall, C.W.T.I. October 1981; Wallace, 17thVirginia Infantry, pp.17, 96, 126.] A photo of Marr and additional information may be seen at http://www.fairfaxrifles.org/marr.html
MACON, Miles Cary
Born in Hanover Co., Virginia, in 1836. Son of Miles & Frances Macon. His brother Thomas wrote in his memoirs that “My brother, Miles Macon…joined me at ‘Woodland’ and became a scholar in our school; he was my senior by two years. Our country life there was very pleasant, for on Saturdays we would hunt birds all day, as my brother owned a fine pointer dog named ‘Roscoe’.” Graduate of V.M.I. Businessman in Richmond. Captain of the Fayette Artillery. Contracted typhoid during the Peninsula campaign, which "shattered" his health. Was killed at Appomattox on the evening of 8th April 1865. Buried there.
Last edited by bill_torrens; 03-11-2005 at 04:46 AM.
This will be the last officer I'll be posting for a few days as I'm nipping over to the Continent for a long weekend.
MAY, Samuel H.
Born in Massachusetts in c.1829. Clerk in New Orleans. Sgt., Co.D, 10th La. Inf.: 22nd July 1861. Elected 3rd Lieut. on 1st January 1862. Wounded in right shoulder and captured at Gettysburg on 2nd July 1863. On 30th April 1864 a Northern nurse in Baltimore wrote in a letter: “Last Saturday the rebel officers, forty in number, took their departure for Fort McHenry, and as the guard came to escort them, I was told that there was a Mass. man among them. I thought I would go and enquire where he was from. To my utmost astonishment I knew the Rebel, for he was once a citizen of Chelsea, his name Samuel May, (10th Louisiana, wounded) and as I spoke to him, he asked me in the name of God what brought me there. When I told him I came to take care of our brave boys whom the rebels had nearly killed by starvation, he hung his head and looked guilty. I then asked him of his wife and children, and he told me they were in Boston. I asked him how he could fight against his wife and two sons in the Federal army, against his country, and against God? His reply was, his grandfather fought for principle, and he was doing the same, and would do so as long as he [had] breath.” One of "The Immortal 600". Exchanged in Charleston Harbor on 15th December 1864. Admitted to Gnl. Hospital 9 in Richmond on 22nd December. Still in hospital in Richmond on 15th March 1865, suffering from debility. Retired on 31st March 1865. [Joslyn, Biographical Roster of the Immortal 600, p.182.]
Born in Washington Co., Ga., on 10th August 1840. Son of Dr. Francis Thomas & Elizabeth Butler. Attended West Point, and resigned upon Georgia’s secession. Adjt., 12th Ga. Inf.: 5th July 1861. Served on Stonewall Jackson’s staff in 1862. Was captured in bed at Port Republic on 8th June 1862: “Willis was taken five miles to the rear and placed under guard in a house. There he met a sympathizing young lady, whose anti-Union sentiments he soon discovered. He had not been well, and it occurred to him that he might just as well be worse – an idea which the young lady heartily encouraged. She reported his condition and administered potions to him, awful gruels and bitter tea, but he steadily became worse. To all appearances alarmed, she kept surgeons away from him and almost made him ill in reality by the concoctions she invented and made him taste, to her amusement if not his. The next day came on the battle of Port Republic; when the rout came, the retreat was too rapid to include him and he was left behind.” Jackson wrote to Samuel Cooper in November 1862, recommending Willis for promotion: “Captain Willis…has been serving with me, and during a portion of the time has been my acting chief of artillery…He is a bold, prompt and efficient officer of superior mind…Whilst he is an excellent staff officer, I believe that he would render more valuable service as a line-officer…” Lt-Colonel, 12th Ga. Inf.: 13th December 1862. Colonel: 22nd January 1863. Robert Stiles met Willis in the spring of 1864: “the intruder and interlocutor was obviously a private soldier – his hat unquestionably a ‘slouch’, his hair long and unkempt, his long overcoat of whatever original color, now by long usage the color of the ground, and ending in a fringe of tatters around the skirt; under it no sign of a coat or anything save a gray flannel shirt, no badge or insignia of rank anywhere visible, not even an appropriate place for any, shod in very rough shoes….a second glance revealed a face of such commanding intelligence and personal force that I said ‘If you will wait a moment I will see’, and a moment later the very effusive meeting between Gibbes and himself…made me very glad I had answered as I had. They had been at West Point together, I think, when the war broke out. Gibbes seated himself, tailor fashion, at one end of a large box of clothing which had not yet been opened, and Willis, stretched out on the box, put his head in Gibbes’ lap, who began running his fingers through the long, tangled tawny hair, which hung almost to Willis’ shoulder.” Wounded in thigh at The Wilderness. Mortally wounded at Bethesda Church on 30th May 1864. Died the next day. Sandie Pendleton wrote to Willis’s father to inform him of his death: “Knowing that he had been dangerously, if not mortally, wounded yesterday, I went as soon as my duties permitted to the hospital where he lay. I found him evidently dying, but not suffering much pain and perfectly conscious. Dr. McGuire, medical director of this corps, was with him, and, as I came to the pallet where he lay, he said, 'Willis, here's Sandy Pendleton come to see you.' Ned opened his eyes and grasped my hand with both of his and said, 'Sandy, the doctors won't tell me whether I am going to die. Am I mortally wounded?' I replied, 'Yes, Willis, I am afraid that you are mortally wounded.' He said, 'That's right, old fellow, that's the way I like to hear a man talk. I am not afraid to die any more than I was afraid to go into battle.' I said, 'Willis, I trust you have as good cause not to fear death as you had not to fear the enemy.' To which he replied, 'I trust so, Sandy. I believe I have.'. . . The doctor said he would probably die during the day and without much pain, which satisfied him. . . . I asked him if there was anyone else he wanted to see. He said, 'Yes, Moxley Sorrel's sister to whom I am betrothed. I am not afraid to die. I don't mind it myself, but it will almost break her heart and my poor Father's and Mother's. Tell her not to be distressed. I die in the best cause a man could fall in.' He said nothing more, but seemed a good deal moved. After a few moments he asked me to see that all his debts were paid by Captain Reed, quartermaster of his regiment. The doctor here interfered to give him some brandy and said that some ice and strawberries would be good for him. I left and sent him some. On returning after a couple of hours, I found that he had died quietly a short time after I left." At the time of his death he was engaged to Agnes Sorrel, the sister of Moxley Sorrel. He was buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery, Savannah. In 1879 he was reinterred in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond. [Douglas, I Rode With Stonewall, pp.93-94; Ferguson, Hollywood Cemetery, her Forgotten Soldiers: Confederate Field Officers At Rest, p.117; Stiles, Four Years Under Marse Robert, pp.120-121.] A photo of the dedication of the Willis monument in Hollywood Cemetery in 1997 may be seen at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9145/97willis.html
Hi Bill: I noticed that your avatar is a Union Jack and the Confederate battle flag. I had the chance to go to the UK in 1997, and when I got to Limerick, Ireland, they were having the world "Hurling" championships there. I never had heard of hurling before, except sometimes when somebody may use the term in reference to being nauseous. Anyway we could hardly get a cab from Shannon airport into Limerick due to the tremendous influx of people into town that day for the game. Cabs were all busy. Anyway to shorten up this post, we got to the hotel in Limerick and turned on the tv and were watching the game, and the camera panned this huge cheering crowd, and zoomed in on one Irishman standing up waving a large Confederate battle flag back and forth while he was cheering. My question is this: Is there a significant portion of the UK who lean toward the Confederacy in their sympathies? I ask because of that gentleman in Ireland in the crowd, and your avatar. Thanks.....Terry
In terms of attitudes in the British Isles during the CW/WBTS, it is fair to say that they were divided. The subject is still a reasonably controversial one amongst scholars. There was more support for the South amongst political conservatives and the upper classes; there was more for the Union amongst political radicals. Support for the latter was largely due to intense antipathy to slavery in these islands.
As for the Confederate flag in the crowd in Ireland, my best guess is that this shows enthusiasm for Lynyrd Skynyrd rather than the politics of 19th century Dixie!
Born in Cumberland Co., Va., on 22nd April 1832. Son of Morris Langhorn Hobson & Ann Dean. Married Katherine H. Kirkpatrick on 2nd September 1858. Resident of Lynchburg, Va. Pvt., 2nd Richmond Howitzers: 21st April 1861. 2nd Lieut.: 17th October 1861. 1st Lieut.: 17th May 1862. Commanding the rifled piece in the Amherst Artillery during the Seven Days. Commended by Captain Kirkpatrick for being "both competent and brave". E.P.Alexander, writing about the winter of 1862-63:- "Lieut. George Hobson of Lynchburg, also got board for his wife with the Worthams. They also had a little girl, Jennie, about Bessie's age, & we found them very agreeable company & we became great friends. Poor Hobson was killed during the ensuing summer, & we have lost sight of the wife and child ever since." On 5th February 1864 Pvt. H.R. Berkeley of Kirkpatrick’s Battery wrote in his diary “Got put on broom squad for four days, for staying over time. Lieut. George Hobson put me on. He is a good fellow, a brave man and a conscientious Christian. He said that he hated to do it, but was compelled to take some notice of the delay. I told him it was ‘O.K.’ ” Berkeley also described him at Cold Harbor on 3rd June 1864: “In that terrible battle yesterday both [Colonel Nelson] and Lieut. Hobson of our battery walked up and down on the top of our breastworks and gave their orders calmly and deliberately, while the death storm raged around them. The tears trickled down Hobson’s cheeks as he saw one after another of his brave men go down before this terrible iron hail.” He was slightly wounded in the hand in this action. He was mortally wounded at Monocacy on 9th July 1864: “Hobson was killed by a sharpshooter after the enemy had been routed, and was retreating rapidly from the field. Hobson had had a wheel on his gun knocked to pieces by a cannon shot and could not go with us as we moved rapidly down the pike after the Yanks. While his men were putting a new wheel on his gun, he and J.H. Berkeley, being on their horses, rode to the brow of the hill in front of them (which hill overlooked the river), and halted their horses. Just at the moment they halted, two Minie balls whizzed over from beyond the river, one of which struck Lieut. Hobson on the right shoulder and, passing diagonally downward, stopped on his left hip. He sank from his horse and was caught by my brother and laid on the grass. He never spoke after being struck and breathed his last in about ten minutes. Just as he was shot, he was talking to my brother of Gardner and Page, who had been killed a few minutes before and whose bodies had been left unburied a short way behind us. And these were the last words on his lips, ‘Those poor boys must be buried and their graves marked, if I have to go back.’ As he reached the word, ‘back’, the fatal ball struck him and he sank from his horse.” He was captured, and died in Frederick, Md., on 15th July. Buried at Mount Olivet Hospital, in grave #219. [Alexander, Fighting For The Confederacy, p.189; Runge, Four Years In The Confederate Artillery, pp.67, 80, 86-87; The Virginia Regimental Histories Series (c) Historical Data Systems, Inc. @ www.civilwardata.com]
Born in Kent Co., Md., on 4th July 1842. Son of Macall Medford Rasin. After his father’s death in 1848 he went to live with an uncle in St Louis. In 1858 he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, and went into business. “The war brought Rasin back to Kent County from Kansas, where Union detectives arrested him as a spy in February, 1862. Placed in confinement at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., Rasin joined a Maryland Confederate officer, Henry A. Steuart, in a cell….Rasin, Steuart, and a third man plotted an escape from their wretched prison cell. The group sawed through one of the wooden bars with a sharpened table knife. Despite occasional checks by Union guards, the three men cut the bar until it could be removed by hand. Waiting until the time was right, the group selected Rasin to leave first, Rasin removed a rope, woven from an ‘old manila door mat,’ from its hiding place in a mattress, tied the rope to one of the firm bars, withdrew the cut bar, and climbed out the window. It was a cold and rainy night, and the Union guards had little reason to suspect that a prisoner could escape from the cells several stories above street level. As Rasin began his descent, the rope snapped and he fell to the ground. His companions were certain that he had either fallen to his death or was seriously injured and had been apprehended by the sentries. They quickly pulled up the remaining rope and reinserted the wooden bar. Just before dawn, the wind knocked out the bar and it fell below, attracting the attention of the guards. The prison commander ordered an investigation and traced the wooden bar to Rasin’s cell. Discovering that a prisoner was missing, the guards searched the neighborhood without success. As it turned out, Rasin landed intact and unobserved because two guards were ‘engaged in a quiet flirtation with a girl.’ The Marylander passed these same two soldiers, who mistook Rasin for an officer and saluted him. The escaped prisoner hid in Washington for a couple of days before making his way across the Potomac and eventually arrived safely in Richmond.” Captain, Co.E, 1st Md. Cavalry: 20th January 1863. G.W. Booth wrote of him that “Captain Rasin was our youngest company commander. He combined, with dash and personal courage of a high type, unquestioned ability and power to command.” Received a serious sabre wound at Middletown on 12th June 1863. Admitted to a Charlottesville hospital with fever in September 1863. In a Richmond hospital in March 1864. Wounded in head in October 1864; admitted to a Charlottesville hospital with wound on 6th October. Back in a Charlottesville hospital on 10th November 1864, suffering from gonorrhea. Under arrest during November and December 1864. At Appomattox, although his unit disbanded without parole. Post-war commission merchant in Baltimore; also deputy collector of internal revenue. Later, he entered the service of an English steamship company at Newport News, Va., where he remained until his death on 18th June 1916. In 1867 he had married Mary A. Garnett of Buckingham Co., Va. [Johnson, Confederate Military History Of Maryland, pp.382-385; Ruffner, Maryland’s Blue & Gray, pp.322-323, photo facing p.150; Booth, Personal Reminiscences Of A Maryland Soldier, p.79.]
Last edited by bill_torrens; 03-18-2005 at 04:17 AM.
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