John McCausland John McCausland , Jr . ( September 13 , 1836 – January 22 , 1927 ) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army , famous for the ransom of Hagerstown , Maryland , and the razing of Chambersburg , Pennsylvania , during the American Civil War . Early life . McCausland was born in St . Louis , Missouri on September 13 , 1836 , the son of an immigrant from Ireland . He became an orphan in 1843 and went to live with relatives near Point Pleasant , Virginia , now in Mason County , West Virginia . He graduated with first honors in the class of 1857 at the Virginia Military Institute ( VMI ) . In 1858 , after graduating from the University of Virginia , McCausland became an assistant professor of mathematics at VMI until 1861 . In 1859 he was present with a group of VMI cadets at the execution of John Brown at Charles Town . Civil War . Immediately after the start of the Civil War , on July 16 , 1861 , McCausland was commissioned as a colonel and placed in command of the 36th Virginia Infantry Regiment . The regiment had been formed from the 2nd Kanawha Regiment and part of the 3rd Kanawha Regiment , which had been recruited heavily from the south - western counties of present - day West Virginia . He served in the brigade of Brigadier General John B . Floyd in western Virginia and was transferred with his regiment to Bowling Green , Kentucky , to serve in General Albert Sidney Johnston ' s army . He fought at the Battle of Fort Donelson and escaped with his command before the Confederates surrendered the fort in February 1862 . For the remainder of 1862 and 1863 he fought in the Department of Southwest Virginia . At the death of Confederate Brigadier General Albert Gallatin Jenkins , who was mortally wounded during the Union Army victory at the Battle of Cloyd ' s Mountain on May 9 , 1864 , McCausland took command of the Confederate forces . McCausland was promoted to brigadier general on May 18 , 1864 , and served as a cavalry brigade commander in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 , under Lieutenant General Jubal A . Early , raiding into Maryland and Pennsylvania . Under Early ' s orders , on July 30 , 1864 , McCausland burned the town of Chambersburg , Pennsylvania , in retaliation for the destruction of private property by Union Army Major General David Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley , including the burning of the Virginia Military Institute . After the failure of Early ' s campaign , McCausland rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia in the Siege of Petersburg , the Battle of Five Forks , and the Appomattox Campaign . He escaped with his cavalry from Appomattox Court House before Robert E . Lee ' s surrender , but disbanded his unit soon after . He was paroled in Charleston , West Virginia , on May 22 , 1865 . Postbellum life . After the war , McCausland spent two years in Europe and Mexico before returning to the United States . He faced arson charges for the burning of Chambersburg , but was pardoned by President Ulysses S . Grant . He acquired a tract of 6 , 000 acres ( 24 km² ) in Mason County , West Virginia , where he lived as a farmer for more than 60 years . McCausland died at his farm , " Grape Hill " , in Pliny , near Point Pleasant , West Virginia , on January 22 , 1927 , the last Confederate general to die . McCausland is buried in Henderson , West Virginia .