From a Cross Keys Battlefield to Charlottesville General Hospital...and more

farrargirl

First Sergeant
Joined
Jul 9, 2017
Location
Baldwin County, on the Alabama Gulf Coast
I read an article in the Alabama Historical Quarterly recently which piqued my interest to delve into the circumstances which precipitated it. These AHQ quarterlies are found in the public domain, under archive.org. and contributed by the Al.Dept.History& Archives. (more sources listed at bottom ). It was a series of letters from a dying infantryman of the 15th Alabama, part of Trimble’s Brigade, Cantey’s Regiment, on the Confederate right, which played a large part in the victory on the 8 June, 1862 Battle of Cross Keys.
I have had a book a few years which I had not read. It is “Battlefield, Farming a Civil War Battleground”. Here is a brief summary of the book, and what the Swenson’s later did with their property:

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The well- documented book contains numerous primary sources from the OR, OWR, letters, diaries, reports, etc.
Here are two maps the author sketched depicting the battlefield on the day of 8 June, 1862, and his 40 acre property in 1992.
*Maps removed due to copyright concerns*

The flanking attack when viewed on the map Gen. Trimble drew from memory:
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Private Casper W. Boyd of Co. I, 15th Alabama, was shot on the battlefield that day. He was from Pike County, oldest of 8 sons of Dr. Albert Boyd, a physician who practiced in in that County and later in Montgomery. Here is a brief sketch of Company I :

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There follows a few selected letters from Pvt.Boyd to his parents, written by himself and later by his volunteer care-giver, Catherine Virginia Brand, during his last week before death in the Charlottesville General Hospital. ( NOTE: some letters contain references to his other brothers. Joseph, 22nd Reg. ( second son ) died on 15 Nov. 1862 in Chattanooga. James, 33rd Reg. ( third son ) died 1863 at home from disease and exposure.) Four of his younger brothers all became dentists.
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There are several other letters written by Pvt. Boyd from the field. These last two are written to his parents by his caregiver, Miss Brand.
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What a tender gesture of compassion. Who was this lady, Catherine V. Brand? She was an unmarried daughter of a physician in Charlottesville, who volunteered her time to ease the minds of wounded and dying soldiers. As many of the prominent ladies of the town did:

*Screenshot removed for copyright concerns. 2007 "Windows in Time: A Newsletter from The Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry" Volume 15, Issue 1, May 2007. <nursing.virginia. edu>*

This is Miss Catherine Virginia Brand:

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Catherine later married a widower with 5 children, and upon his death, later chose to live with her younger brother, James Walker Brand, a beloved physician, who, as fate would have it, settled in a small town in central Alabama, about 2 hours from Pvt. Boyd’s birthplace. Dr. James Brand requested to be buried “ beside my beloved sister, Catherine”.
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Final notes:
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The will of Pvt.Boyd:
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