Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1895-06-01
TEN BROTHERS IN THE ARMY.

A few days ago chancellor Boggs
received letter from Prof. Charles S.
Venable, of the University of Virginia,
asking that inquiry be made for the
name of the lady who wrote General
Lee from Clarke county, asking that
one of her ten sons be allowed to come
home and make crop for her husband
and herself.
The letter has already found an
swer through Miss Anna Gean, a
granddaughter of this old lady, who
furnished the following bit of family
history:
Mr.. James E. Bone and his wife,
Mildred Bone, lived in 1860 in Clarke
county. There had been born to them
twenty-three children, sixteen of whom
had lived to manhood and womanhood
ten sons and six daughters.
When the war broke out the mother
buckled on the swords of her ten sons
and sent them all out to fight for
Dixie. These sons were HardemaD,
Jonathan, James, Sanders, George,
Clark, Joseph, William, Matthew and
Willis. They were all in the Army of
Northern Virginia, and fought through
the war. Clark was wounded and af-
forwards died from the effects of his
wounds. George died from smallpox
during the war. Four sons now sur
vive, Hardeman Bone, OF Forsyth; Will
lis Bone, of Kentucky; William Bone,
of Harmony Grove, and James Bone,
of Barnett Shoals.
On April Z, 1868, being hard pressed
for necessities of life, Mrs. Bone wrote
Gen. Lee letter asking that one of
her sons be sent home to make crop.
To this letter Gen. Lee replied. Fol-
lowing is a copy of the reply, taken
from the original, now in possession of
Miss Dorcas Bone, of this city: a sister
of the ten brothers:
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTH
ERN VIRGINIA, April Is, 1868.
Mrs. Mildred Bone, athens, Ga:
DEAR MADAME-Your letter of the
7th instant asking the discharge or fur
Tough of your sons has been received.
You have set q noble example in devot-
ing your ten sons to the service of the
country, and in encouraging them to
defend their home. We need every
good soldier we have. in the army. If
we allowed all to return who are need
ed at home we should soon have no
country and no homes. sympathize
with you in your anxieties and prlva-
tions, but trust your kinG neighbors
in the patriotic State of Georgia will
not permit you to want while your
brave sons are doing their duty man.
fully against the enemy. l am very
respectfully your obedient servant,
r. E. LEE, General.
This letter of inquiry has developed
other facts of interest on the same line.
Wiley Thornton and his wife, Harriet
II. Thornton, sent from Clarke county
to the army OF Northern Virginia three
sons, and to the army ofthe west, seven
sons, making ten in all.
There were twelve Elder brothers.
Ten of them went to the war in the
Clarke Rifles and two in the Johnson
Guards. Two of these soldiers were
killed and several were wounded.
Six Bradberry brothers went out from
Clarke county TO fight for Dixie. -Four
of these were killed during the war. 1t
is said that the bullet that killed John
NJ. Bradberry passed through his hip
and wounded his brother, J.. V. Brad
berry.
There were six Henrick brothers
from Clarke county in the war, three
Of them in the command of Major w.
S. Grady, father of Henry w. Grady.
1t is doubted whether any county in
the Confederate States furnished more
soldiers from as few families as these
Instances record.-Chicago Inter-Ocean.