The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1925-01-29
JOHN B. FAY, MEMBER OF
CIVIL WAR BAND, DEAD
He Was an Oakland Newspaper
Man and Clerk to Commits
siOners At One Time

John 3. Fay, a member of McNeil's
Rangers, of the Confederate Army in
the Civil War, died at his home in
Dunn-Loring, Va, near Washington,
D. c., on January 10th. He was in
his late seventies and until a few
weeks before his death enjoyed good
health. One son and three daugh-
tiers survive, among the latter being
Mrs. Jerry o. Browning, of Oakland.
Mr.. Fay was a native of Cumber-
land, the son of Mr.. and Mrs. Pat
rick Fay. John Fay brought to the
city Of his birth a story in history
that will be recited wherever the tales
of the gallantry of soldiers are re-
called.
His death in the shadow of the ma
TONS capitol was a fitting climax to
a life that was replete with the thrill
of battle, mellowed by the hardships
Of war and toned to brilliance by
manhood that was exemplary-a cri-
terion of true citizenship, in the opin-
ion of William Maloney, of Romney,
West Va. 1t was Mr.. Maloney,
comrade of Fay's in the famous Nc
Neil's Rangers, who told the story of
the capture in Cumberland on Feb
ruary 81, 1865, of Generals Kelly and
Crook, of the Union Army.
With Richard Halter, Fay was sent
to Cumberland to complete plans for
the capture of Gen. B. F. Kelly, who
was in command of 5000 Union troops
stationed in that city. The Mcneil
Rangers were stationed in Hardy
county, West Va, north of Moore
field, when the two started on their
mission. For about week they rec
onnoitered in the vicinity and when
confident that the Union forces could
be taken by surprise Fay sent Halter
back to Capt. Jesse Mcneil, in COM
mand, with the information that he
would meet the Rangers on the river
road and pilot them to the headquar-
tiers of the Union general.
At about 8 o'clock on the morning
Of February 81, 1865, Fay met the
Rangers at the Brady farm. The
pickets along the river road and the
Braddock road were captured without
a shot being fired and the Rangers
rode into town unmolested to the old
Barnum Hotel, now the Windsor,
where they captured General Kelly.
In the building now occupied by the
Kenneweg Grocery Co., they took
General Crook, although they had not
been aware of his presence until their
arrival there. With their captives,
they rode post-haste out of town with
the Union forces in pursuit. Above
Romney, W. Va, the Union forces
got within firing distance, wounded
one Ranger and captured another.
Lieut.. Bill Griffith, in command of
one company of the Union forces, was
captured by Rebel soldiers when he
fell behind the main detachment of
pursuers.
Fay was born near the old Hem
stetter store on Cumberland street.
His father had been a bailiff at the
court house and a member of the po-
lice force, in the days when police
men acted as the lamplighters about
town. He remained in the city until
the outbreak of the Civil War when
he went to Virginia to enlist in 1862
in Company F, Seventh Virginia Reg
iment. At the end of the year he and
all other Marylanders were discharg-
ed from service. He then enlisted in
McNeiPs Rangers and served with
them until Lees surrender marked
the close of the conflict.
After the war, Mr.. Fay went west
and remained there until the eighties,
when he came east to Oakland and
took up the practice of law. Later he
acquired the ownership of the Noun
tain Democrat and was its editor and
publisher for several years, being
succeeded by Jas. NJ. Litzinger. Mr..
Fay, after retiring from the newspa-
per business, was appointed clerk to
the Board of County Commissioners
of Garrett county, serving in that ca
pacity for two or three years, later
leaving Oakland and going to Wash
ington, where he entered the employ
of the government.