Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-24
GEN. M'CAUSLAND,
HERO OF DIXIE, DIES
Last Confederate General
Officer But One SuCCumbS
at Age of go.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
POINT PLEASANT, w. Va, Jan
uary 24-Funeral services for Brig
Gen. John McCausland, 90, general of
ficer of the Confederate Army, viii
be held tomorrow morning. Buria
will be in Smiths Cemetery, at Hen
derson. near here. Gen. McCauslanC
died in his sleep at his home in Nc
Causland Saturday night
With his death. the last surviving
Confederate general officer is Gen
Felix Robertson. now living in Texas
Probably the most spectacular OF
Gen. McCausland's exploits during the
Civil War was his command of a raid
that ended with the burning of Cham
bersburg.
Reused Bitter Feeling.
So bitter was the feeling engendered
by this expedition that after the war
ended he left the United States and
toured Europe and Mexico for several
years. Later he returned and pur-
chased farm lands along the Ohio
River near here. where he had lived
ever since. His name also was con
spicuously mentioned in the defense
Of Lynchburg.
After the death of his parents, in
1850, McCausland went to live with
an uncle and subsequently, entered
Virginia Military Academy. where he
was graduated at the head Of his
class in 1857 and later became as.
Sistant professor of mathematics.
Among the experiences he often re-
called was when he marched the
Y. NJ. l. Cadet Corps to Charles Town
to act as guard around the scaffold
where John Brown was hanged for
treason.
From the academy, where he was
assistant to Thomas J. cStonewall')
jackson, he was called to mobilize
Confederate forces in the Kanawha
Valley. in what is now West Virginia
He organized a force of rifiemen in
the vicinity of Charleston and later
an artillery battery'at Point Pleasant
Escaped on Gunboat.
Long before his elevation to the
rank of brigadier general, McCaus-
lands dashing tactics had been in evil
dence. When surrender of the be-
leaguered forces defending Fort Don
elson became inevitable in February,
1862, McCausland, leading a sortie
from the fort, seized a gunboat and
with it succeeded in getting more
than half of the Virginia troops across
the Cumberland River, thus escaping
the necessity of surrender.
McCausland was made a brigadier
general on May IS, 1864, following
the death of Gen. Albert Gallatin Jen-
kins. A month later his cavalry dem
onstration DETECTED the drive of Gen
Hunters forces toward Lynchburg,
Va.
A brief time afterward, McCausland
carried a raid into Pennsylvania in
retaliation for Hunters incursion into
Virginia 1t was at this time that
Chambersburg was burned after a de-
mand had been made on the city for
100000 in gold or $500, 900 in paper
money. After the residents had de-
clared they could not produce the
sum and McCausland said they ap-
peared to be making no effort to meet
his demand, he ordered the torch ap-
piled.
Disbanded at Lynchburg.
At Appomattox, when McCausland
and Gen. milford, on a hill above the
town, heard that Lee had surrendered,
they made their way to Lynchburg
and disbanded their forces there.
Returning to this section, McCaus-
land was warned that officers were
seeking him and he made his way TO
Canada, thence to England, France
and Mexico.
Following an exile of two years. he
came back and acquired the farm
lands along the Ohio River here
where he had lived since. He deyel-
oped a property of about 5000 acres
and in recent years divided it into
three farms, occupied by himself and
two sons. He lived with his daughter
Charlotte in a large home of stone
and wood. Besides the daughter,
three sons survive, Sam, John and
Alexander McCausland.