The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1906-06-06
The Lexington Dispatch.
Wednesday, June 6, 1865.
CONTEDERsSAs ATE
sRARPSEocTER.
Killed During EarIys Retreat From
Washington.

Washington.
A pathetic incident of Memorial day
will be the decoration of single grave
on the historic farm of F. P. Blair, Sr.,
just beyond Fort Stevens.
This lonely grave is that of an un-
known Confederate sharpshooter, the
last man in gray to fall during Gen.
Jubal Early's advance upon Washing
ton by a portion of the Army of North
ern Virginia on July 10, 1864.
General Early, by rapid marches,
seriously threatened the capital city
and reached point confronting Fort
Stevens on the northern outskirts of
Washington. Maj. Gen. A. Med. Nc
Cook confronted the hosts in gray.
His force consisted of Columbia Volun-
teers, Districto of Columbia Volunteers.
Colonel Alexander; the Ninth regi-
ment, Veteran reserve corps, also
Captain Gibbs Ohio battery and Capt.
Bradbury's Maine battery, with a
force of government clerks who were
armed for the protection of the city Of
Washington.
These two forces of blue and gray
confronted each other at first on the
Piney Branch, midway between Wash
ington and Fort Stevens.
Ewell's old corps encamped on the
farm of F. P. Blair, Sr.
The battle that followed and the as
sault on Fort Stevens is a matter of
history. It is well known that Presi-
dent Lincoln stood upon the ramparts
of Fort Stevens until he was ordered
back by the cry of the Union soldiers,
"Lincoln to the rear! Lincoln to the
rear!"
When the famous Sixth army corps
appeared on the scene Early began his
retreat on the night of July ~ and the
morning of July 13. The rear of his
retreating army was protected by a
cloud of Confederate sharpshooters,
mostly Mississippians. They lodged
from bush to bush and tree to tree
and fred with uneering aim into the
advancing columns of blue.
The last of these sharpshooters to
lose his life during that famous episode
in history was boyish Mississippian,
who had clambered into great tree
near the famous Blair mansion, and
was picking off the Union officers. He
remained too long engaged in his
game of death and volley from one
of the advancing Union companies
brought him to the sward.
His body remained there until the
echoes of battle had died awayin the
distance. Then it was that the re-
mains of this fair-haired Mississippi
boy were discovered by members of
the Blair family. There was nothing
about him to indicate his name or
place of residence.
He was buried by tender hands be-
meath the tree which had been his
covert retreat while protecting the
rear of his commanders army. There
is not the remotest trace of his name
or from whence he came, except in a
general way that he was a Mississip-
plan, and perhaps for long years this
unknown soldier in gray has been
mourned by loving mother, father and
relatives, who do not know upon what
battlefield of the South he perished.
The lonely grave on the outskirts of
Washington has not, however, been
forgotten by loving hands.
A little monument of white marble
marks the last resting place of this
boy sharpshooter of the Southland,
and on every recurring Memorial day
garlands of beautiful flowers are
placed upon the mound by the mem
bers of one of the most distinguished
families of the State of Maryland.
Today members of the Confederate
society of Washington will add their
tribute to the unknown marksman. In
common with the grand family which
has provided him with such pictur-
esque resting place and such beauti-
full tribute in marble.-Washington
Post, May 80.
The old time method of purging the
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