MILITARY PARTICIPATION OF LOCAL MEN AND WOMEN
Researched by Leroy Pope and written by Drex Bradshaw
The following members of the local area served in the military in various wars and are buried at St. John’s Episcopal, Wesley Chapel Methodist, Oakland Christian, Christian Home Cemetery, African American Cemetery at Oakland or Whitehead’s Grove Baptist churches. We are sure there are other members of the community who have moved away, and may be buried elsewhere, who served their country. If you know of someone not listed below please advise us so we can update our data base.
American Revolution: Joseph Ligon
Spanish American War: Merrit S. Powell,
Civil War: Alexander Moore, John G. Martin, Edwin C. Ramsey, John David Corbell, Francis W. Snead, Walter A. Lawrence, William J. Sullivan, Caleb L. Upshur, Frederick Wagner, James T. Crocker Sr., John Bridger Newman, Williford Samuel, Julius Benjamin Crumpler, Joseph Holiday Parker, James Richard Holland and Mills Rogers, Jr.
WW-I: Alpheus Ligon, David L. Pitt, Joseph Leslie Pruden, George Gayle, John E. Turner, Herman Barry, Oliver W. Newman, Sr., Happer F. Oliver, Walter S. Dixon, Arlie George Griffin, Joseph Willaford, George Lafayette Gwaltney, W.J. Johnson, Albert W. Horne,
WW-II: William Charles Moore, Jr., William Simpson, Norfleet A. Smith, J. Stokes Kirk, Thomas E. Hobson, Joseph A. Harris, Sr., Albert F. Buppert, Thomas Gayle, Charles J. Jernigan Jr., Richard E. Marsh, William L. Bangley, Irving Johnson, John W. Doyle Sr., Raymond E. Butler Sr., Clarence Walter Knight, Oscar W. Crittenden, Rosco T. Odey, Arthur Joyner, Matthew W. Spady, Henry Gayle Bradshaw, Wilson S. Pruden, Ruth Haas Pruden, Leonard Joseph Nichols, Clifford S. Pinner, William A. Butler, R. Wesley Bradshaw, John B. Duck, Charlie Lee Byrd, Mitchell Bounds, Wesley Glover Copeland, Wilbur Butler, A. Gerline Butler, Thomas Philip Dailey, Lonnie Johnson, Walter R. Warren, Jack Gwaltney Stallings, Cornelious T. Cutchins, Sr., Jessie Earl Smith, Paul B. Wilson, Benjamin Darwell, J.W. Horne, Jr., Raymond Earl Outlaw, George Harvey Luter, Paul Horne, T. Al Saunders, Robert O. Blont, Columbus L. Jackson, James E. Wooden, Rossie Cary, Sr., Malachi Jordan, Frank A. Spady, Jr., Dr. Arthur A. Kirk
Korea: Oliver W. Newman, Jr., Thomas King, Benjamin J. Odom, Henry A. Crocker Sr., Clifton Pinner, Moss Lee Norris, William C. Pitt, Harvey B. Presnell, Randolph T. Brown, Edwin Clever, Joseph M. Delfenthal, William H. Watkins, James H. Hill, Martin E. Watkins
Vietnam: William Trafton Pitt, William Joseph Schlaffer, Ben Tucker, Harry John Wiggs, Jabus Brinson
The following Veterans are listed with no affiliation with a specific war or conflict listed on their monument.
Joseph Cassell, Olive Cassell, Eva Harrison Fusaro, Louis R. Truitt, Alton R. Johnson, Eulah Oliver, Charlie Ray Pinner, John Herbert Kelly, Marvin Lee Pruden, Melton L. Coker, Jerrod W. McEntire, George Gayle, Thurman “Red” Knight, Guy Johnson, Fenton Gilliam, Thomas R. Saunders, David E. Christianson, Thomas A. Parker, John Bradshaw, Merritts, Tupper Bradshaw, Bennie A. Carlbon III, Gerald Keith Burris, Parker Lee Murray, Eloise P. Luter, John A. Goss, William P. Chapman, Bobby D. Baynard, Paul S. Cutchins Jr., Terance Hargrave, Robin Daughtrey Jr
The Historical Foundation would like to thank all of those in the community who have served in the military, active or reserves, and for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. The country and your community will always be indebted to you and your family for ever.
This book is dedicated to all of our military members, past and present, and their families who have served their country.
Civil War (including F Company)
1861 – 1865
The American Civil War, The War Between the North and South, The War Between the States, The War of Northern Aggression, The War to Prevent Southern Independence or That Recent Unpleasantness – whatever name you give it, this war was the bloodiest in American history. Over 650,000 were killed, the largest number of any war before or since. It was a war that put father against son, brother against brother, family against family, neighbor against neighbor, and community against community. This was a war that truly hit home.
In April, 1861, the State of Virginia succeeded from the Union. War fever spread like a wild fire. Young men and old, some just in the bloom of youth and others wise beyond their time, rushed to enlist. Men from the Town of Suffolk and the communities of Nansemond County enlisted at Bethlehem Church on the Holland Road, in Suffolk, and in Chuckatuck – wherever a unit could be found.
What did these men have that they would make the sacrifice of going to war? Was it patriotism? Was it States’ Rights? Was it a fear of Yankee invasion? Was it a love of family and home? We know it was not because of slavery – most did not own slaves. Perhaps it was the fervor of local politicians, newspaper editors and ministers proclaiming a tide of emotion [1](1).
The most probable cause was a difference in ideology. The North wanted to end slavery, while the South needed slave labor to continue. Both were hypocritical and could not compromise.
War came to Suffolk and Nansemond County, Whaleyville, Somerton, South Quay, Holland Station, Myrtle, Chuckatuck, Sleepy Hole and Driver Station. The five years of war could be divided into thirds: one third of the time the area was under Confederate control; one third under Union control; and a third as a “No Man’s Land” – caught between the Confederate forces along the Blackwater and the Union forces at Bower’s Hill, Norfolk, the Peninsula, and the Nansemond and James Rivers. Providence Church Road led from Suffolk to Windsor and to Chuckatuck. This road offered both the Confederate and Union forces easy access to the surrounding area. Chuckatuck, located between Suffolk and Smithfield, the Chuckatuck Creek, tributaries of the James, and the farming nearby made the area essential to both sides. Raiding parties or forging parties harassed the area for food, horses, mules and, later, for men.
The Battle of the Deserted House or Kelley’s Store was one of the bloodiest battles between Confederate and Union forces in Nansemond County(2). Skirmishes around Chuckatuck and along the “Creek” are only sparsely detailed. One such skirmish was documented in a letter from a woman (name unknown) to her unnamed sister describes a skirmish between about 60 Yankees and 25 of our men(3). This incident took place on the property of a Dr. Tynes. “Some say it was a badly managed affair, others that all the Union soldiers could have been captured or wounded but the guides not knowing the bridge had been moved from the old place(4).” Other than detailing the theft of eggs from Dr. Tynes’ henhouse and other thefts in the area no details are given of an actual engagement.
Chuckatuck was a “pass through” to and from other areas of the county. Due to location, the village was constantly on guard from both sides. Minor conflicts or skirmishes took place along the Nansemond River, Chuckatuck Creek and on various farms along this road.
One of the more interesting events and passages of this time period evolved around George Pickett and his romance with LaSalle Corbell of Chuckatuck. George Pickett was described as swash buckling, in tailored uniform, gold spurs and shoulder-length brown hair – the George Armstrong Custer of the South. For all of this, Pickett was a lack luster soldier. He was assigned to a division with Longstreet laying siege to Suffolk. It was then that he became increasingly distracted by his courtship with LaSalle. He was often AWOL from his duties to court and woo LaSalle. So much has been written and told about their romance and Pickett’s military career that fact has become myth and legend – mostly by the writings and talks given by LaSalle after Pickett’s death. The couple was married on September 15, 1863 in St. Paul’s Church in Petersburg, Virginia, just a few weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg(7) (8). Pickett died on July 30, 1875.
LaSalle Corbett Pickett authored a celebrated history “Pickett and His Men” in 1913 and appeared on stage talking and re-telling her husband’s story. Historian Gary W. Gallagher wrote that this history was largely plagiarized, and two collections of war time letters (1913 – 1928) were fabricated(9). Her image of her husband’s charge was that of a gallant and graceful Knight of Chivalry riding to a tournament, whose long, dark, auburn-tinted hair floated back and in the wind like a soft veil as he went on down the slopes of death has stuck American imagination. La Salle’s letters have been cited in Jeff Shaara’s Pulitzers Prize winning novel The Killer Angels (1974) and Ken Burns’ documentary “The Civil War”. (1990).
Whether myth, legend, or fact the War hit home and all of its people.
Robert H. Archer, Jr. (1) Excerpt from A Bible, A Saber, and Four Men– an article and paper presented by Robert H. Archer, Jr. – April, 2005.
(2) The Battle of the Deserted House or Kelley’s Store took place on farmland located between the villages of Myrtle and Buckhorn. For more, see pages 90-94 of The War Hits Home by Brian Steel Wills, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville and London.
(3) Article from the Virginia Pilot Newspaper by W. E. McClenney, Historian – April 22,1937.
(4) Same as #3.
(5) Reminiscences of The Civil War by General John G. Gooch of The Confederate Army, Charles Schribner Sons, New York 1903.
(6) The War Hits Home by Brian Steel Wills, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville and London
(7)General George E. Pickett in Life and Legend by Lesley J. Jordon
(8) Don’t Know Much About the Civil War, Kenneth C. Davis, Perennial, An Imprint of Harpers Collins Publishers; page 302 and page 308.
(9) Same as #7.
(1) Excerpt from A Bible, A Saber, and Four Men – an article and paper presented by Robert H. Archer, Jr. – April, 2005.
(2) The Battle of the Deserted House or Kelley’s Store took place on farmland located between the villages of Myrtle and Buckhhorn. For more, see pages 90-94 of The War Hits Home by Brian Steel Wills, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville and London.
(3) Article from the Virginia Pilot Newspaper by W. E. McClenney, Historian – April 22,1937.
(4) Same as #3.
(5) Reminiscences of The Civil War by General John G. Gooch of The Confederate Army, Charles Schriebner Sons, New York 1903.
(6) The War Hits Home by Brian Steel Wills, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville and London
(7) General George E. Pickett in Life and Legend by Lesley J. Jordon
(8) Don’t Know Much About the Civil War, Kenneth C. Davis, Perennial, An Imprint of Harpers Collins Publishers; page 302 and page 308.
(9) Same as #7.
[hr]
F COMPANY (CHUCKATUCK LIGHT ARTILLERY), 9TH VIRGINIA INFANTRY REGIMENT
Researched and written by John A. Coulter, LTC USA (ret)
The Chuckatuck Light Artillery was formed in May 1861 by the President of the Chuckatuck Military Academy (Chuckatuck Male and Female Institute), James Jasper Phillips. Captain Phillips enlisted the company in Confederate service on 18 May. Unlike many southern military school administrators he did not form the company around his cadets. As far as can be determined only one former student was initially recruited and that was Walter Allen Lawrence, who had graduated from the academy and attended Virginia Military Institute. Walter unfortunately served a short period having died of disease in 1862, like many of his comrades would later in the war.
The company never numbered much over forty men although some 143 different men served in the company’s rank between its enlistment on 18 May 1861 and its surrender at Appomattox on 9 April 1865. The average age of the soldiers in the company was 24 years nine months. We know the occupation of 23 of these 143 men. The prewar occupations varied as you would expect, but only two were farmers. Maritime occupations were the most common with 11 jobs being described as Oysterman (3), Mariner, Shipbuilder/Seaman, Sailor/Oysterman, Sailor, Boatman/Sailor, and Boatman/Sailor. Other occupations were three Carpenters, Blacksmith, Music Teacher, Musician, Laborer, merchant, and an Academy President. The most unusual occupation was two volunteer prisoners who both served with honor and were pardoned by the President of the Confederacy in August 1864.
Captain Phillips likely named the company Light Artillery in hope of being issued cannons as he was a Virginia Military Institute graduate of the Class of 1853 and received artillery training there from the famous General Stonewall Jackson. Initially the company manned Barrett’s Point at the head of the Chuckatuck Creek. In July 1861, the company was assigned to the 9th Virginia Infantry Regiment and redesigned F Company. The regiment was largely recruited in the Southeastern part of Virginia with the exception of a B Company made up largely of men from Baltimore, Maryland and A Company from Roanoke County. Then for a short time it helped man Fort Boykin on the James River.
During the war some eighteen men would died of disease. The first of these was the Company’s original First Sergeant, who was shortly thereafter promoted to Lieutenant, Francis Snead, age 33 who died of tuberculosis less than two months after enlistment on 1 July 1861. He would be followed to the grave by the following men in confederate gray of the company: William Barradall (Barridale)*, W.W. Bondurant, J.J. Burke, Averitt Quincy Clarke, George W. Davis *, Rush Creecy, Jacob M. Edwards, Stephen Fletcher*, Walter Allen Lawrence, Jeremiah E. Pinner, John Matthews, John Moore, James T. Shephard, W.J. Slaughter*, Frederick Turlington.
*Died while Prisoner of War
The regiment was spread along the fortifications on the James River, making its training as an infantry regiment difficult. On March 9, 1862 the company witnessed some of the action of the Battle between the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (Merrimac). The battle surely was of great interests because two former soldiers of the Company, John F. Higgins and John J. Sturges (Strugees), had been transferred and were serving aboard the CSS Virginia.
On 1 June 1862, the 9th Virginia Infantry Regiment with F Company was assigned to the Brigade commanded Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead and its fate sealed for both death and honor in the Civil War. That month Captain Phillips the company commander was promoted to major. He would eventually command the regiment as a colonel. It appears that Lieutenant Walter Butts took command at that time. Later that year F Company would march with the regiment and fight in four major battles.
The first was the Battle of Seven Pines where F Company suffered seven men wounded. On 1 July 1862, in the final engagement of The Seven days Battle the company lost two more wounded at Malvern Hill. There Captain Phillips led his men in charge over open terrain against Union cannon ball and canister. During the charge the Captain was credited with saving the regimental colors. The charge was described as “sending a terrier to charge an elephant.” (Trash, 1984, p. 15).
Next was The Battle of Second Manassas where the Company lost its first men killed in action: Francis W. Hotchkiss age 27 and Sidney Kellam age 28, who was wounded on 25 August 1862 and died likely as a result on 17 October. In September the company participated in the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) in Maryland. That winter the company was again engaged at The Battle of Fredericksburg.
The next year the company had been reduced to no more than thirty men as it marched to the Confederacy’s High Water Mark. It was here with the 9th Virginia Infantry Regiment in Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead’s brigade that they attacked in the center of Pickets Charge. The brigade commander, General Armistead, prior to the charge encourages his men with these words, “Men remember what you are fighting for! Remember your homes, your firesides, your wives, mothers, sisters and your sweethearts.” (Trash, 1984, p. 25). The men of the 9thVirginia numbered 244 men and suffered more than 185 causalities. F Company alone had 6 wounded and 14 captured. Likely many of those 14 were also wounded like Corporal John T. Beach, age 23, and Lieutenant Walter Butts, age 20, who both later died of their wounds. After the battle Lieutenant Caleb Upshur took command of the small company of men.
In the winter of 1863 the regiment moved to North Carolina and conducted operations there to limit Union advances until May 1864. In May 1864, the regiment was engaged near Chester Station, Virginia. There the brigade suffered 249 causalities including 4 wounded in F Company.
The remainder of 1864 was occupied in defense of Richmond, Petersburg and the Battle at Drewry’s Bluff in May. During this period the company commander, Lieutenant Caleb Upshur, was wounded and would later be captured. The successful defense of Drewry’s Bluff, also known as Fort Darling, under heavy artillery fire and close combat in foggy conditions cost the company 4 wounded and two killed. It appears command fell next on Lieutenant John E. Cowling. His command did not last as he was among those killed at Drewry’s Bluff along with William Cowling and David Matthews, age 22. Later in the year the company became engaged at Cold Harbor and would suffer 6 more wounded and 1 captured in operations around Petersburg.
April 1865 found what was left of F Company in a series of engagements that would end with Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. On April 1, the 9th Virginia was part of a force ordered to hold at Five Forks and the company was overrun losing 1 wounded and 8 taken prisoner. This was likely the last battle where the unit functioned as such. The next day Richmond fell to Union Forces and two men of the Company were captured as they tried to recover in a Confederate Hospital. A few days later at the Battle of Sailor Creek, with the 9th Virginia Infantry Regiment numbering little more than a company, one man of F Company was wounded and two more captured.
On 9 April 1865, the 9th Virginia Infantry Regiment, commanded by a Captain and numbering just 39 men surrendered along with the Army of Northern Virginia. Among that hand full of men were two from F Company: Sergeant William A. Bulter and James T. Ritchee. The last man captured was C.F.M. Baylin who was taken prisoner at Blacks and Whites (present day Blackstone) on 11 April 1865. This ended the active service of F Company (Chuckatuck Light Artillery), 9th Virginia Infantry Regiment. The company had lost at least 6 killed in action, 29 wounded, 15 died of illness while in service and 30 became prisoners of war. The company suffered 35% of its members having been killed, wounded or died in service. The company was present at the High Water Mark of the Confederacy at Pickett’s Charge and stacked arms at Appomattox. The hardships of service surely shortened many of their lives but with their deaths they were proud of their service in the Lost Cause.
Reference:
Allardice, B.S. (2008) Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.
Buck-Thompson, C.M. (2010) The 9th Regiment Virginia Volunteers. Retrieved from http://pw2.netcom.com/~buck1755/9thregiment.htm
Trask, B. (1984) 9th Virginia Infantry. Lynchburg, VA: H.E. Howard Inc.
John A. Coulter
LTC USA (ret)
The War of 1812
Researched and Written By Robert Archer
Extending from the Atlantic Ocean/Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River, Virginia was the largest state in area and in population at the time of the war. The constitution of the Commonwealth elected the governor by vote of the legislature limited his term to three one year terms, he was denied veto power, limited his appointments to minor offices, and tied his executive powers to the 13 member Council of State. The governor was given command of the militia. The legislature elected Speaker of the House of Delegate James Barbour (1775-1842) governor on January 3, 1812 after Governor G. W. Smith was killed in a theater fire in December 1811.
In March 1812 Governor Barbour called up 12,000 militia. He toured the James River area and Norfolk. He recommended a fort be built at Craney Island to defend Norfolk and the U.S. Navy Yard at Gosport. One thousand five hundred Virginia militia were assembled in September 1812 and sent to Ohio to join William Henry Harrison’s new army. The militia saw no action, returned home and disbanded the following May. In February 1813 the state legislature raised an army of 1,000 men in addition to the militia; these men were to defend the Tidewater area. [1]
Suffolk, just as during the Revolutionary War and later the War Between the States, was a major center of commerce for the eastern section of North Carolina and Tidewater. U. S. and British troops were in and out of the city and Nansemond County as the tide of battles surged back and forth.
Suffolk and Nansemond County supplied financial backing and food, but mostly recruits for the militia. Among those recruits was my great, great, great grandfather Zachariah Archer from the Myrtle Community of Nansemond County. He was a private in the 8th Regiment Virginia Militia under the command of Capt. John C. Cochran. He was later transferred to the command of Capt. T. Lewis and to Capt. John Laycock’s Company of Infantry, 9th Regiment Virginia Militia. [2] Although there may have been incidents in the Chuckatuck area during the War of 1812, no documentation has been found.
Zachariah Archer, born about 1770, died December, 1841
Served as a private in a company commanded by Capt. John C. Cochran – 8thRegiment Virginia Militia – later transferred to command of Capt. T. Lewis and to Capt. John Laycock’s Company of Infantry, 9th Regiment Virginia Militia.
Documented by copies of service records from the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Pembroke near Chuckatuck is one of two remaining U-shaped houses in Virginia. Built in 1701 on the shores of the Nansemond River by a sea captain, the house has bullet holes from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. (During the War of 1812 gun boats cruised the Nansemond River explaining the presence of a cannon ball in one of its walls.) The house is listed on the roster of Historic American Buildings by the Department of the Interior.
[1] Encyclopedia of the War of 1812, David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, editors; ABC-CL10, Inc. Publishers, Santa Barbara, California ©1997
[2] Service Records on file at National Archives, Washington, D.C.