To Make an Example of Them

by Lila Powers

What Happened

Henry Kuhl’s son, Christian, wrote in his memoirs (written in 1911) that, “On the 31st day of May, 1861, there arose a cry. The Abolitionists are coming over from Ohio and elsewhere from the North to invade Virginia (now West Virginia), overrunning our country, destroying property, compelling our men to enlist, taking horses, cattle, arms, ammunitions, and insulting mothers and wives where the men had fled or refugeed. This was too strong a proposition for freemen to sit still and cross arms in a chair and do nothing, or to take sides with. I, with many of my fellow citizens of Gilmer County, gathered all available arms and ammunitions, which in the main consisted of a squirrel rifle, a few rounds of ammunition, sometimes a dirk knife, a revolver, or old fashioned revolver then known by the name of Pepper boxes.”1 These citizens organized a company of infantry volunteers, which afterward became Company D of the 31st Regiment Virginia Volunteer Infantry.

Left, Henry Kuhl and his first wife, Catherine Yeagle. Catherine died in 1854 at the age of 50. Henry and Catherine and several children came to America from the Rheinland.

Right: Henry's second wife, Elizabeth Skidmore.
Right, below: examples of pepper box revolvers

A couple of months later (on or about the first day of August, 1861), a boy around 15 or 16 years old dressed as a Union soldier came to Henry Kuhl’s home. Henry Kuhl, Conrad Kuhl, Hamilton Windon, and John Conrad were out working in Henry’s field when Henry’s wife, Elizabeth, came out to tell the men that the boy had been at the house again. The boy had come to the house the previous day as well. Elizabeth said she had given the boy food, and he was leaving the farm. Two of the men went after him, and brought him back to the field where they confronted him. The details of what actually happened on that summer day in 1861 are unclear, but before the day had ended, the boy had been mortally wounded.

Left, above and right:
These are recent photos of the former Kuhl farm where the event unfolded. They were provided by Marilyn (Cole) Posey. Identified are
1. where the house stood
2. where the boy was killed
3. the stone grave where the boy was found.

Left, below: a map of 3 central WV counties, Braxton, Gilmer and Lewis, illustrating the approximate location of the Kuhl farm.

During the same period in 1861, Companies B, C, and H of the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.) were in the Glenville area looking for “rebels”. Corporal Adams of Company C was shot and seriously wounded there by a “bushwhacker” on the 21st of July. “The whole regiment came out, but failed to discover the rebel after diligent search.”11 The fact that the boy arrived at Henry Kuhl’s farm around this time must have caused some concern, especially when the boy said he was looking for secessionists, good horses, and guns. Two of Henry’s sons were Confederate soldiers, so the men knew they could expect to be treated as the enemy if this i
nformation were to reach the Union soldiers. A Federal Confiscation Act was about to be approved that would authorize the military to take property from Confederate sympathizers.15 These farmers were not secessionists or rebels, but Union soldiers would most likely not find that believable. Recent news of the brutal killing of a local citizen, Thomas Stout, by a Union soldier who had mistaken him for a rebel12, strengthened the farmers’ resolve to be cautious. The War was upon them, and the dangers were real. If they were to let the boy go, what kind of information could he take back to the Union soldiers? Sadly and tragically, the circumstances of the times compelled the men in Henry Kuhl’s field to act in the belief that they were defending their lives and property.

Henry Kuhl’s neighbor, Frederick Gerwig who was loyal to the Union side of the Civil War, testified eight months later at a military tribunal in Charleston, Virginia: “James Putnam had told that Henry Kuhl and Hamilton W. Windon (prisoner) were the two men who killed the boy. Then I and two of my brothers, Mathias and Jake Gerwig, and my father and Daniel Engle went out and looked.”2 Gerwig described how they all made a secretive trip to the boy’s burial site on or near Henry’s farm. They went in the middle of the night in order to avoid being seen. It is doubtful that any of these men had the authority or skill to inspect the site. Gerwig said they dug up and examined the body, which must have destroyed evidence. “. . . the neck bone was all washed away and we could not tell anything hardly.”2

Questions

Sometime after the Gerwigs and Engle examined the body, all men who had been in Henry Kuhl’s field that day (except John Conrad) were brought before Justice of the Peace, William Corley, in Sutton where they were charged with murder. John Conrad had fled from the farm, and was not captured for the trials. It is not clear who reported the boy’s death to the authorities. Why had the military taken control of the prisoners? Why were these men denied the right to a trial by jury? Henry and his son, Conrad, were civilians. Why were they tried and sentenced by a military tribunal? This was 1861, but martial law was not imposed until 1863.13 Why were the trials held in Charleston, far from Sutton? And why were some of the key witnesses not present at the trials? Elizabeth Kuhl had been a witness to what had happened at the house while the men were out working in the field. Two of the children, Henry Jr. (age 17) and Rebecca (age 14) may have also been present. What had provoked the men to go after the boy that day? Had there been some kind of conflict at the house? Were these three witnesses given an opportunity to testify? They were not present at the trials.

Henry Kuhl, his son Conrad, and Hamilton Windon may not have been informed of their legal rights through legal counsel while they were incarcerated. In 1866, the U. S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that military tribunals used to try civilians in any jurisdiction where the civil courts were functioning were unconstitutional.3 Although the ruling came too late to help Henry and his son, it does question the legality of military tribunals in civilian cases during the Civil War. “The guaranty of trial by jury contained in the Constitution was intended for a state of war, as well as a state of peace, and is equally binding upon rulers and people at all times and under all circumstances. . . . A citizen not connected with the military service and a resident in a State where the courts are open and in the proper exercise or their jurisdiction cannot, even when the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended, be tried, convicted, or sentenced otherwise than by the ordinary courts of law.”3 John D. Sutton, in his “History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia” noted that “throughout the war the courts were open, and their authority was respected.”4 He mentions several cases in which citizens were detained by Federal military authorities, and when applied to civil authorities, were released.4

After the Military Commission tried and sentenced the three men in Charleston, Henry Kuhl and Hamilton Windon were executed by public hanging on May 9, 1862 in Sutton, Virginia. Henry’s son, Conrad, was sentenced to be “kept at hard labor, with ball and chain attached to the left ankle, during the war”.2

Those Involved

Who were the individuals involved in this Civil War tragedy—the victim, the accused, the witnesses, the judges? What were their actions and responses in all of this?

“Casper Presler”: Very little is known about the boy whose name might have been Casper Presler. Frederick Gerwig, witness for the prosecution at Henry Kuhl’s trial, stated, “I supposed the boy to be a soldier. The old man [Henry Kuhl] said the boy belonged to Captain Moore’s Company. Capt. Moore was of the 10th Regt. O.V.I. . . . The name of the deceased was not known. He wrote it on a slate at my father’s house as Casper Presler, that he said was his name. He looked like a likely boy. He looked like he might have been fifteen or sixteen years old.”2 Searches through the soldier lists of this regiment as well as the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, did not find a Casper Presler. Conrad Kuhl, witness at Hamilton Windon’s trial, stated “the boy was uniformed like a United States soldier. I did not know his name.”2 Hamilton Windon, witness at Conrad Kuhl’s trial, said, “The boy was a German boy. The old man [Henry Kuhl] talked to him in German.”2 The record of the Military Commission states that the boy was “one of the soldiers of the United States Army whose name is unknown”2. Apparently there had never been an investigation to determine the identity of the boy. His identity was ignored and made irrelevant. The evidence does not seem to support the claim that he was a soldier, which would mean the case should have been tried in a civil court.13 If the boy had been a soldier, where are the military records of his service and his death?

Henry Kuhl: Henry pleaded guilty to the charge of murder. John Morrison, Union soldier, Co. F, 10th Infantry Regiment Virginia 5, witness for the prosecution in Henry Kuhl’s case, stated that he was present when Henry confessed to the Justice of the Peace in Sutton. Morrison said that Henry first denied killing the boy, but later confessed. No written record of this was mentioned in the trial record. Such a record must have existed. We are left wondering why Henry changed his plea. Was he pressured? Was some kind of deal made?

Right: Henry Kuhl

Hamilton W. Windon: Windon pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder. By his own admission, he witnessed the death of the boy soldier, but he said Henry Kuhl killed the boy. Windon was not provided with any kind of defense, but John Morrison and Frederick Gerwig were both witnesses for the prosecution. Henry Kuhl’s son, Conrad, served as witness for the defense, but would have been considered a hostile witness in a normal trial. Conrad said, “Windon and my father (Henry Kuhl) told me afterward that they had killed the boy. . . . The way they told me was that Windon gave the first lick and my father (Henry Kuhl) the second.”2 Windon was tried as a civilian, yet military records show that he was a Confederate soldier, who had enlisted as a Private in Company D, 31st Virginia Regiment Volunteers5. After the trials, Judge Advocate General Cornine responded to the actions of the Military Commission by writing: “Some of these men belonged to the army at the time the crime was committed. This circumstance has given me trouble, but careful investigation and reflection have brought me to the conclusion that the Military Commission had ample justification to try them.”2


John Conrad: The 1860 Federal Census for Braxton County, Virginia, shows a 17-year-old John Conrad living on a farm as one of Christopher Conrad’s children. The 1880 Federal Census shows a John S. Conrad living in Braxton County, and his birth year is 1843, which would have made him a 17 year old youth in 1861. The 1880 record indicates that he was a farm laborer, divorced, and housing three boarders. Was this the John Conrad who fled the farm and escaped the trials? Additional research would be required to answer this question.

Conrad Kuhl: Conrad’s trial was the last case to be tried by the Commission. He pleaded not guilty. He was provided with two witnesses for the prosecution, and none for his defense. The testimony of these two men, however, may have saved Conrad’s life. Union soldier, Private Ezekiel Marple’s testimony was especially helpful. When the Judge Advocate ordered Marple to state what kind of a character the prisoner had in Braxton County, Marple replied, “The people in and about Sutton who know the prisoner say that he is a quiet and peaceable man, that there is not a stain upon his character, and that he is very much afraid of his father who is a very hard man.”2 The other witness, Hamilton W. Windon, testified that Henry Kuhl killed the boy, and Conrad Kuhl had no part in it other than going up on the hill to act as a lookout to see if anyone was coming to the farm.

James Putnam: The testimony of Frederick Gerwig provided hearsay evidence that James Putnam had reported the boy’s death. Gerwig, stated, “It was reported that one James Putnam had told that Henry Kuhl and Hamilton W. Windon (prisoner) were the two men who killed the boy.”2 Elsewhere in the court proceedings, Gerwig said, “Hamilton W. Windon told James Putnam about killing the boy and Putnam let it out.”2 James Putnam enlisted in Company D, Virginia 31st Infantry Regiment on May 31, 1861, and served the Confederacy5 along with two of Henry Kuhl’s sons, Christian and John, who were also in Company D. Putnam was not present during the court proceedings, and was probably with Company D on the battlefield. Was Gerwig’s claim based on fact or rumor?

Frederick Gerwig: Gerwig, a farmer living half a mile from Henry Kuhl’s farm, said he had known Henry for 20 to 23 years. Both men were born in Germany, immigrated to the United States, and settled in Braxton County as neighbors. Gerwig provided damaging testimony against both Henry and Hamilton Windon at their trials. Gerwig does not appear to have enlisted for military service on either side of the Civil War, but indicated in his testimony that he was a Union supporter.

William L. Corley: Corley was Deputy Sheriff of Braxton County when he enlisted in the Confederate Army, Company C, 9th Battalion Infantry Regiment Virginia on May 18, 1861.5 The trial record shows that “Justice Corley in Sutton, Virginia” heard the statements of the men arraigned for the murder of the boy. On May 1, 1862, Corley transferred out of the 9th Regiment and into Company C, 25th Infantry Regiment Virginia.5 This transfer occurred only nine days before Henry Kuhl and Hamilton Windon were executed in Sutton.

John Morrison: Morrison had been Sheriff of Braxton County for a number of years. At the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederate guerilla company known as the “Moccasin Rangers” came to Morrison’s 300 acre farm, burned his home and drove off all his cattle and horses.4 After that, Morrison enlisted at the age of 44 as a Union Private in Company F, 10th Virginia Infantry.6 He served as witness for the prosecution against both Henry Kuhl and Hamilton Windon.

Ezekiel Marple: Marple was a Private in the Union Army, Company A, 10th Regiment, West Virginia Infantry.7 He was 39 years old at the time of the trial, where he served as witness for the prosecution in Conrad Kuhl’s case. As mentioned above, Marple’s testimony probably saved Conrad’s life. According to the 1860 Federal Census, Marple was a farmer with a large family. He died May 21, 1869, only 7 years after the trial.8

Hugh Ewing: Colonel Ewing, President of the Military Commission, was educated at the United States Military Academy, and became a lawyer. Long after the trials, on March 13, 1865, Ewing was promoted to Brevet Major-General “for gallant and meritorious service during the war.”5 His military training may have predisposed him to accept military tribunal justice, a form alien to common law, which provides for trial by jury and the presumption of innocence. In his letter to the Provost Marshal who was in charge of the three prisoners prior to the trials, he ordered the Marshal “to confine, under heavy chains, in the securest dungeon you have in your control, Henry Kuhl, Hamilton W. Windon, and Conrad Kuhl, and to keep them until you are otherwise ordered by proper authority.”9

Above, right: Colonel Hugh Ewing.
Below, right: Colonel George Crook.

George Crook: Crook graduated at West Point in 1852. He was commissioned an officer in Company S, Ohio 36th Infantry Regiment on Sept. 23, 1861.5 He was a member of the Military Commission in Charleston along with Hugh Ewing. Colonel Crook was known for his severe treatment of civilians during the Civil War. He typically followed a no-prisoners policy.16 When his troops encountered heavy guerilla resistance north of Sutton, Braxton County, Virginia in January, 1862, he responded by burning citizens’ houses and towns along his march.16 In one of his reports dated May 24, 1862, he wrote, concerning civilians who shot and wounded some of his soldiers, “The houses which can be fully identified as having been fired from will be burned, and if I can capture any of the parties engaged they will be hung in the street as an example to all such assassins.”10

General Jacob D. Cox: Cox, a lawyer, commanded Union troops in the Kanawha Valley that occupied Charleston, Virginia. In his May 24, 1862 letter to Col. George Crook, he writes, “Your retaliation upon the citizens who fired on your wounded will be approved.”10

Right: General Jacob D. Cox
Right, below: Major General John Fremont

Major General John Fremont: Fremont likewise thought it appropriate to carry out public executions of civilians to make an example of them so that others would know what to expect if they were to fire at Union soldiers. In his General Orders No. 17, dated April 25, 1862, he gave the same order for both Henry Kuhl and Hamilton Windon, stating for each case, “The finding and sentence in the above case are approved and confirmed, and to the end that just example may be made, the sentence will be carried into effect at Suttonville, Braxton Co., Virginia, on Friday, the 9th day of May, 1862, between the hours of 12 M. and 1 P. M.”2 The two men were then moved from Charleston, Virginia, and taken through the wilderness, probably in chains, by Union troops under the command of Colonel George Crook to Sutton where they were publicly executed by hanging.

In Conclusion

What did this effort to make an example of the men through public hanging accomplish? It is difficult to say what effect it had on the population as a whole. It may have intensified resentments in some of the people. It is known to have humiliated innocent members of the Kuhl family. To this day, the location of Henry Kuhl’s grave is unknown, and legends abound. In 1897, following the last public hanging in West Virginia, the body of prisoner John Morgan was placed in a pauper’s coffin, his remains were sent to the home of his wife and were buried on her father’s farm.14 Could Henry’s resting place exist in some secluded area of his farm? Time heals, generations pass, and Society evolves. By the end of the 19th Century, the barbaric spectacle of public executions had been abolished in the state of West Virginia.

Endnotes
1. Memoirs of Christian Kuhl, written in 1911, edited by historian, Roy B. Cook, Charleston, WV., Lila V. Powers collection of family papers.

2. Proceedings of a Military Commission Convened at Charleston, Virginia, March 31-April 3, 1862 in Record Group 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General, file # II-832, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

3. Ex Parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2 (1866), Syllabus Supreme Court of the United States, digital copy, Cornell University Law School.

4. John D. Sutton, History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia, McClain Printing Company, Parsons, WV, 1919, p. 191.

5. U. S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2009.

6. American Civil War Soldiers [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 1999.

7. U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2007.

8. Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, 1879-1903 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2007.

9. Union Provost Marshal’s File-Citizens, Two or More Names (Entry 465) in Record Group 109, War Department Collection of Confederate Records, File #885, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

10. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.; Series 1 – Volume 12 (Part 1), Chapter XXIV, p. 807.

11. Lawrence Wilson, Itinerary of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1864, The Neale Publishing Company, New York, 1907, p. 51.

12. Jacob Heater, “Some Civil War Reminiscences”, The Braxton Democrat, March 4, 1920. [Reprinted at orlandostonesoup.blogspot.com]

13. Two websites that refer to the Sept. 15, 1863 Congressionally-authorized martial law: [www.usconstitution.net/consttop_mlaw.html] and [www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/]

14. Stan Bumgardner and Christine Kreiser, “ ‘Thy Brother’s Blood’: Capital Punishment in West Virginia”, West Virginia Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. IX, No 4 and Vol. X, No. 1, March 1996. [www.wvculture.org/history]

15. The First Confiscation Act, Chap. LX.—An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes, August 6, 1861. U.S., Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, Vol. 12 (Boston, 1863), p. 319.

16. Kenneth W. Noe, “Exterminating Savages”, The Civil War in Appalachia, Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1997, pp. 115-116.

. . . . .

Notes

a. To the right is Henry Kuhl's (spelled "Cool" here) land grant for his property at the head of Butcher's Run, which is illustrated above. Click oh the image to open a larger copy of the document.

b. Henry Kuhl's farm at the head of Butcher's Run is a 40 mile ride from Orlando; much closer "as the crow flies." However. many of his descendents settled in the Orlando area. Henry Kuhl's grandson Henry Kuhl/Cole was in the Three Lick area and Henry Kuhl's son Christian Kuhl's farm was at the tip of Gilmer County where it meets Braxton and Lewis Counties.

c. The photograph of Henry and Catherine (Yeagle) Kuhl and of Elizabeth (Skidmore) Kuhl were taken from the Wilt/James/Brewer/Kuhl family tree belonging to jnnfbl91, a descendent of Conrad "Koanard" Kuhl who was imprisoned for the duration of the war for his part in killing the young Union man.

A Photo, Film and Bio of Christian Kuhl (1839-1918)

by David Kuhl

To the right is Christian Kuhl displaying his blood stained and bullet riddled CSA battle jacket at Gettysburg in 1913.

This picture of Christian Kuhl is preserved by the Library of Congress. The picture was located by a total stranger who saw the name in reverse on the glass plate and searched for Christian on the Internet. He found where I had published Christian’s Civil War memoirs written in 1911, he e-mailed a link to the image. My second cousin, Lila Powers, who is also a great grandchild of Christian, observed that this century-old image is so clear that you can see the individual hairs on Christian’s wrist. Readers are encouraged to pull up the original photo.

The Film

Above is a video of Christian Kuhl wearing his Civil War uniform at Gettysburg in 1913. It shows Christian wearing his CSA battle jacket. Note the bullet hole in the right shoulder at the point of the shoulder. Also note the bullet hole (large tear) in the center of the back. This video is from

near the end of the Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War. Thanks to my youngest son James Christian Kuhl for locating this video.

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Down the left side are scenes of four of the battles in which Christian took part:

top: Pickett's Charge, depicted by contemporary artist

Don Troiani

second: Battle of Petersburg

third: an aerial view of the Battle of Fort Stedman

bottom: Siltington Hill, where the Battle of McDowell took place, as it looks today.
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In 1913, the State of Pennsylvania and the US Government sponsored the 50 year reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg which was fought in July 1863. 50,000 soldiers who fought on both sides attended. Christian’s unit served in Pickett’s Charge. The still picture and the video were both produced in 1913. The video continues with the 75th anniversary in 1938.

Christian was wearing this jacket on March 25, 1865 during the Battle of Petersburg when he was shot and captured. According to records preserved by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the US Army surgeon who treated Christian stated that Christian’s wounds consisted of “a mini ball entering at the head of the humorous and exiting near the first dorsal – a severe flesh wound”. Christian was taken to City Point, VA (now Hopewell) then placed aboard the hospital steamer the State of Maine for a trip down the James River and then up the Potomac River to Washington, D.C. where he was treated at Lincoln Army Hospital. He signed the Oath of Allegiance on June 10 and was released on June 14, 1865. The siege of Petersburg had degraded to trench warfare.

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The Biography

As acting company commander of Company D of the 31st Virginia Infantry Regiment CSA, “The Gilmer Rifles”, 24 year old First Sergeant Christian Kuhl had been ordered to take Fort Stedman. He led his men across three lines of entrenched federal troops and took the fort. When promised support did not arrive, he was attempting to lead his men back to CSA lines

when he was shot and captured. This was the last of his four wounds suffered during the war and the last of the 33 battles which he fought in the war.

A description of Christian’s wounds is also published in the regimental history series for the 31rst Virginia Infantry Regiment CSA. These books were published in Lynchburg, VA. A copy is available in the Biloxi, MS library.

Christian told his grandchildren about his wounds and wanted them to be sure that they understood that he was shot while he was charging and that he was not shot in the back while running away.

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On May 31, 1861, 21-year old Christian and his 19-year old brother John went to Glenville where they enlisted under Methodist Minister John Elam Mitchell in the CSA. Did they know what they were getting into? Or were they just caught up in the moment and perhaps just getting away from home? Both paid dearly for this decision.

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Christian's younger brother John, serving in the same CSA company, was mortally wounded at the Battle of McDowell on May 8, 1862. His father Henry Kuhl was hung by the Yankees on May 9, 1862. Two brothers, William and Henry, served the Union during the Civil War. Christian told his oldest daughter that he lost his father, a brother and everything he owned during the war. After the war, Christian and his brother Conrad, with others, built the Methodist Church, Jobs Temple using hand hewn logs. This church is on the National Register of Historic Buildings, is still in use and is located near the intersection of Job Run and the Little Kanawha River 9.5 miles west of Glenville, WV on Route 5.

According to his family Bible and family tradition, Christian was born October 19, 1839 in Baltimore, MD a few weeks after his family arrived from Prussia (now Germany).
There is some question about when the family arrived and from where with different information being stated by different researchers.

After the war, Christian was licensed to preach and was ordained in the Methodist Church. He also farmed and sold books to earn a living. He and his wife Emsey (Heater) Kuhl had six children, five of whom lived to adulthood and three of whom have living descendants.

According to the family Bible, Christian died October 25, 1918 at age 79, in Burnsville, WV from the Spanish flu. He and his wife Emsey (Heater) Kuhl are buried in the K of P Cemetery in Burnsville.

One grandson was killed in WW II. A grandson of his brother Conrad and a son of his half-brother George were also killed in WW II. Their names are all immortalized on the Veterans Memorial in Charleston, WV.
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Kuhl Family History on Line

Many other relatives fought in WW II and subsequent wars. One of our goals as a family is to ensure that each of our war heroes is honored with a biography on the West Virginia Veterans' Memorial site.

We are also building a family website

Outlines of the family are provided at:

Henry Kuhl (1802-1862)

Henry J. Kuhl/Cole (1846-1919)

Henry Harrison Kuhl/Cole (1860-1926) 

Mariah (Kuhl) Rutherford (1862-1936) #26

Alice (Kuhl) Rutherford (1857-1947) #28 
Rebecca (Kuhl) Stout  (1849-1928) #782

The Kuhl Family Today

We are also collecting e-mail addresses for a free family newsletter by e-mail. The newsletter will be distributed using the bcc feature to protect your address from spam.

The Kuhl family has held an annual reunion in Glenville, WV in August every year since 1938 with the exception of two war years when gasoline was rationed.

Christian’s CSA jacket was donated to Beauvoir, a CSA museum in Biloxi, MS and the last home of Christian Kuhl’s old commander in chief, Jefferson Davis. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage to Beauvoir and the jacket has not been located. After Katrina, 2500 artifacts were taken to Jackson, MS for preservation. However, the jacket is still missing.

If you have questions about the Kuhl family, contact me:
Dave Kuhl210 Glen Eagles Drive
Ocean Springs, MS 39564-9041
e-mail: dbkuhl@bellsouth.net

“Dear Son and Daughter . . .”

by David Parmer

Two letters of the Blake family recently have come to light, each well over a century old, written by parents to their son James Alvin Blake who left his West Virginia home after the Civil War for the forests of Wisconsin.

This chronicle is in three parts. The first part is an introduction to the family and life of James Alvin Blake. The second part is about the letter sent to him by his father Joseph in 1873. The third part is about the letter his stepmother Elizabeth Jane (Sands) Blake sent in 1883. These two letters give us an unusually intimate look at life in the Oil Creek area before the railroad. We also see the hardships experienced by our forefathers. Disease, death and poverty visited the hearths of the log cabins which dotted the hills and valleys of the Oil Creek valley over a hundred years ago, and uncertainty stalked the everyday existence of the common folk who were our ancestors.

Right: James Alvin and Anna (Hall) Blake. James was the son who received the two letters from Orlando.

1. James Alvin Blake’s Heritage and Life
Pioneers

The 1830’s witnessed considerable migration to the northern end of Braxton County. Still largely unsettled by the third decade of the 1800’s, migrants from Greenbrier County and other counties began to find their way to the watershed of the Little Kanawha River. Waltons, Blakes, Williamses, and Ocheltrees were among the families who blazed a trail from Lewisburg in Greenbrier County. Part of that trail later would be followed by the Weston-Gauley Bridge Turnpike.

Left: map of central western Virginia/ West Virginia showing the Staunton Parkersburg Turnpike and the Gauley Bridge/Weston Turnpike as they we roughly located before and at the time of the Civil War. Click on the map to enlarge it.

Coming from Lewisburg in Greenbrier County, the pioneering Blake family, including parents Andrew and Margaret (Williams) Blake and their adult children, Rebecca, Hannah, Andrew Jr., Hugh, John and probably Patience and their spouses, settled along Clover Fork and over the hill on the waters of Knawls Creek during the early 1830’s.
~ Rebecca was married to Alexander Ocheltree,
~ Hannah was the widow of Isaac Ocheltree,
~ Andrew Jr. was married to Catherine Crysemore.
~ John Burton was married to Catherine’s sister Abigail Crysemore
~ Patience was married to George Matthews.
~ Hugh was married to Martha Williams

Several of these Blake families settled along Knawls Creek. John Burton and Abigail (Crysemore) Blake settled in the Oil Creek watershed on upper Clover Fork, near the Knawls Creek families. Several of the offspring of the Knawls Creek Blakes would also settle in the Oil Creek watershed. For example, George and Patience (Blake) Matthews’ granddaughter Patience Duvall would marry Jackson McWhorter Skinner, son of Alexander and Phoebe (Conrad) Skinner, and live on Clover Fork and in downtown Orlando. Several of Andrew and Catherine (Crysemore) Blake’s grandchildren would live along lower Oil Creek.

James Blake’s Parents

The (apparently) oldest child of early settlers Andrew Jr. and Catherine (Crysemore) Blake was Joseph T. Blake who was listed in the 1850 census as age 24, a resident of Braxton County and married to the former Elizabeth Walton, who was listed as aged 36. Elizabeth was the daughter of Samuel and Nancy (Hannah) Walton. Both sets of parents were from Greenbrier County.

Joseph and Elizabeth were parents of (apparently) only two children. One was a son, James Alvin, who was born in 1847. James Alvin was seven years of age when his sister, Mary Anne, was born in April 1854. Regrettably, their mother died two months later from complications of Mary Anne’s birth.

In 1856, two years after the death of his first wife, Joseph married Elizabeth “Betty” Jane Sands. Young James Alvin Blake would have been nine years of age when his father re-married.

Joseph and Betty became parents of nine more children: William, born 1857; John T., born 1859; Francis Marion, born 1860; Sarah, born 1863; Joseph, born 1864; Patrick Newton, born 1867; Martha, born 1869; Virginia, born in 1871; and Charles Victor, born in 1873. James, the child of his father’s first marriage, had grown to manhood and would leave home even before some of his later siblings were born. The younger children would know him only as their brother who lived in the west, but before that there would be the matter of a Civil War.

The Cavalryman

The hills and valleys of northern Braxton County were in turmoil in 1861. Virginia had seceded from the Union and northwestern counties of the Old Dominion State had in effect seceded from the Old Dominion. Out of control Ohio troops roaming the Weston-Gauley Bridge Turnpike were summarily executing anyone they suspected of being a “bushwacker” and were burning the homes of those they thought probable of being Southern sympathizers. Southern-sympathizing partisans were earning the accusations of bushwhacking by taking potshots at the “bluebellies” riding up and down the Turnpike from vantage points high on the ridges and were disappearing before the Yankee cavalrymen could reach the heights to exact revenge.

Right: a Union Cavalryman's hat.

James Alvin Blake was mustered into the 3rd West Virginia Cavalry, 3rd Regiment at Buckhannon on November 9, 1863. Although he gave his age as 18, other records suggest he was closer to 15. During late 1863 and early 1864, the 3rd West Virginia Cavalry was assigned to guard and picket duties from Clarksburg to Charleston. James’ Company “I” participated in the raid on Lewisburg, at the battles of Droop Mountain, Moorefield, and Wytheville. In 1864 the 3rd West Virginia Cavalry was sent to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where it participated in several battles during Sheridan’s Shenandoah campaign. In early 1865, the unit participated in campaigns in central Virginia and was present at Appomattox when General Lee surrendered. In the course of the war James was a Prisoner of War, held at Libby prison where he contacted measles. During the war, the 3rd West Virginia suffered losses of 6 officers and 40 enlisted men and lost 136 to disease. James came through unscathed. James was discharged from service in 1865.

Annette Frank, his great granddaughter, tells us that James left for the West soon after his discharge from service because of acrimony in the neighborhood from former Southern sympathizers, many of whom were family. At the end of the war, James drew his final pay of $11.70 and his enlistment bounty of $75.00. He elected to retain his cavalry saber and paid the government $5.00 for it.

James Alvin Blake Left the Hills

James went to forests of Wisconsin in 1865. Vast tracts of virgin timber covered Wisconsin in the 1860’s which had been cleared of hostile Indians not long before. Huge forests were located on the Eau Claire, Black, and Chippewa Rivers and several nearby lakes. This standing timber brought wealth to those who were clever enough to take advantage of the assets of the region. James married Anna Jane "Jennie" Hill in Wisconsin. According to the History of Northern Wisconsin, James first located at the Wisconsin town of La Crosse and was in business with Martin Jefferson for about a year. He then went to lumbering along the Black River, both in the pineries and on the river where he rafted logs to the mill. Later in 1868, James worked in a saw mill and also worked on building a dam on the Black River near Alma.

Left above: Map of Wisconsin showing the towns where the Blakes spent most of their Wisconsin years. Click on the map to enlarge it.
Left below: generic photo from 1905 from the Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company

In 1873, according to our letter, James was considering buying a farm and moving back to West Virginia. However, in the 1880 census James listed his occupation as “lumberman” and his place of residence as Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 1881 found James working as a filer for the Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company in Chippewa Falls. By 1890, James and his family were living at nearby Chippewa, and in 1900 the family was living in Big Bend, also near Chippewa. .
From James’ great granddaughter Annette Frank we learn that James and Jennie and their family visited their West Virginia kinsmen for a brief reunion in 1908. A family story recalls that Jennie was horrified because none of James' female family members used a tera towel to dry the dishes. The census shows that by 1910 the Blake family was back in Eau Claire. But the big move was yet to come.

About 1912 James and Jennie left Wisconsin and migrated farther west to Washington, the Evergreen State. Two of thei daughters had married and moved there. At first they lived in Lents, Washington. In 1913 they settled in Camus, on the north bank of the mighty Columbia River. James worked in the mill at Crown Willamette until he was injured in 1915. His leg was broken in the mill when he was walking near the tracks and a car came by and a protruding piece of lumber hit him. Anna (Hill) "Jennie" Blake died in 1919. James died in 1927.

Right: daughters of James and Anna Blake, Mary, Anna and Edna Blake. There were two more children: Hazel, who died at the age of four, and Elizabeth.

The Letters

2. His Father’s Letter

Joseph T. Blake to James A. Blake

Braxton Co. West Va
April the 20, 1873

Son and daughter I seat myself this morning to inform you we are all well at this time hoping this may find you the same We received your kind and welcome letter and was glad to you was all well More over we was all glad to hear that you was coming home. James you wanted me to buy land and you would send some money I have not bought it yet I have the offer of two or three farms one is a little farm containing 50 acres price 400 dollars It is joining the Garling Ocheltree farm Terms two hundred dollars paid this fall the rest paid in two years the man will make any sort of deed that you would want a house a stable smoke house corn cribs a good young orchard a grass road The rail road will be in one mile the place The man wants you to let him know soon

James tell me how much money you can pay on a place Elias Cunningham will let me have a place with good improvement for six(?) hundred dollars.

James, when can you come home if you have got your discharge yet make the best of it you can do if you intend to come make and save all you can I am sure you can do better if you want to farm according to your own letter times is hard hear but if a man has land he can live this country is better than when you left it

I have told you all I can about land I have no news I can tell you at this time we had a hard winter and a cold spring so far the messels is all around us – are in one mile of us at this time None of us has never had them yet Jenny we would all like to see you and the baby I suppose it still grows fine give it a kiss for every one of us can little Mary sit alone yet If she can she is a little woman Come home little Mary We have wrote to you latly and have had no answer yet tell us what you are doing this summer James I am not very able to work any more but I want to do all I can I must tell you about grain ear corn is from sixty to seventy- - wheat one dollar fifty cts bacon 10 cts oats 50 cts eggs 10 cents per dozen butter 50 cts per pound we can get coffee hear from 25 to 30 cts pound I have told you prices of things hear I ask you to wrigt as soon as you get this letter this fall or wen direct your letter to –vil Braxton Co Wes Va I must close for this time so good by for this time

I remain your father until death

According to Annette Frank, great granddaughter of James and Anna Blake, in this letter Joseph was urging his son to return to West Virginia from Wisconsin and take up farming in West Virginia. Joseph discussed two farms of interest: the “Garling” Ocheltree farm (actually “Garland” Ocheltree, son of John and Lucinda (Blake) Ocheltree and the Elias Cunningham farm. The Ocheltree farm could be had for $400 and the Cunningham farm for $600. Both farms were in the Knawls Creek – Clover Fork neighborhood and undoubtedly James would have been familiar with both. We know, of course, James chose lumbering in Wisconsin rather than farming in West Virginia.

Sadly, Joseph died of typhoid fever at age 49 the following year on Christmas Eve, leaving his widow landless and with nine children, five of whom were under the age of ten.

3. His Stepmother’s Letter

From Betty Jane Blake to James A. Blake

February 25, 1883

Dear Son an Daughter I seat my Self to answer your kind and welcome letter I hope this will find you well. It leaves me well. I would like to go to you of I thought I could live satisfied out there. The children are willing to go but I don’t think I could be contented so far from the home of my childhood. Joe wants me to go to him in Kansas. He says it is fine country but I think I will stay here an do the best I can. I wish I could see you an Jennie and the children. Tell them I am so proud of them picture Mary has them now. I must get them home. I am going to Mary’s soon. Mary has two children Ida and Roy. Ida has black eyes and Roy has blue eyes. The young one is the largest. Your Aunt Martha Skinner has five children married the people is getting married they never think of hard times. Well it ain’t as hard as living a widow for I think I see trouble enough to go crazy. It is so hard to provide for a family when they can’t have plenty to go on. It is hard for a man and it is a good deal harder for a woman. Soon as the boys get big enough to do me any good they leave me to do for the rest. I am going to tell Joe he has to help me --- days. Love nor money won’t bring him back to W Va but he can send something. James, you said you would send me some money if you do God will reward you for he knows you will be keeping the poor and needy for I sometimes think I can’t get along but I put my trust in God so you belong to the church. I think Jennie is a good woman her letter makes me think she has a good heart. I will have to bring my letter to a closeasking you to rite soon and often. From your mother

I forgot to tell you May got married. She got married on her birthday. Her man is Joseph Scarff. I will give you the children ages
Frank is 22 Dec 14
May is 20 Feb 13
Joe is 18 March 8
Pat is 16 April 8
Alice is 14 March 27
Bell is 12 June 9
Charley is 10 Oct 21

James if you send me any money send it soon for I am in great need.
May god bless you

Left: Charles, Bell, Martha, Patrick Newton, Joseph and Frank with their mother Elizabeth Jane (Sands) Blake Donaldson.

This second letter to James, written by his step-mother Elizabeth “Betty” Jane, was dated February 25th, 1883. This letter responds to a letter from James, which apparently offered her a home with her stepson and his family in Wisconsin. Elizabeth declined the offer because of her attachment to the land of her birth. Elizabeth did however ask for financial assistance from James, stating her situation as “poor and needy.”

Whether any help came from her stepson is lost to the ages. We do know from the 1900 census that the widow Elizabeth (Sands) Blake had married James Donaldson about 1883 and they were living on Oil Creek below Orlando. Fifteen years his senior, Elizabeth was then 59 years of age and James was 44. The 1900 census reports that James was a “day laborer,” presumably in connection with the oil and gas fields which were then being exploited in the area.

In Conclusion, The Folks Back Home

Most of the Blake family remained in the Orlando area. Brother Francis Marion “Frank” was the Postmaster, youngest brother Charles V. Blake was Orlando’s first RFD mail carrier and Patrick Newton “Newt” was Orlando’s own newspaper columnist Uncle Zeke. However, one of James’ younger brothers, Joseph George “Joe” Blake, who was born in 1864, left his West Virginia home in 1885 and located in Minnesota. After living a while in Minnesota, Joe Blake moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin which was also the home of his half brother, our James Alvin Blake. By 1920, Joe was operating a garage and service station in Eau Claire. P. N. Blake, known in Orlando as “Uncle Zeke,” was the full brother of Joe and a half-brother to James Alvin. Uncle Zeke frequently chastised his brother Joe in the Buzzardtown News column for failing to write to his West Virginia siblings. On April 2, 1930, Uncle Zeke wrote:

There is a man in Chippewa,
He went there years ago.
I guess he must have gone to stay,
At least it seems just so.

He operates a service station.
His name perhaps you know.
He is as ugly as all creation;
We always called him Joe.

When he receives the Democrat
And reads this little poem,
Perhaps he might pick up his pen
And write a letter home.

Curiously, Uncle Zeke, never mentioned his brother James in his column. Neither did he ever mention his step-father James Donaldson or his mother’s (James’ stepmother’s) death in 1919.
Left and right: Gravestones of James Alvin Blake and Anna Jane(Hill) Blake

. . . . .

Note 1: Concerning the Name “Crysemore” Greenbrier County natives and Braxton County pioneers Andrew Blake Jr. and his brother John Burton Blake married sisters, Catherine and Abigail Crysemore respectively. The correct spelling of the name “Crysemore” is uncertain. The first acquaintance of this writer with the name “Crysemore” came many years ago in the Greenbrier County Courthouse while reviewing the marriage records of the Blake brothers. Since the last name of the sisters was spelled “Crysemore” this writer has always spelled the name accordingly. Since that first experience with the name, this writer has seen the name spelled a number of different ways, for example, “Crissmore,” “Crissamore,” “Crismore,” and “Crisamore.” Undoubtedly, there are other variations of the spelling of the name. There are many thousands of descendants of Catherine (Crysemore) Blake and Abigail (Crysemore) Blake who probably want to know the correct spelling of the name of their Crysemore ancestor. Despite the many choices available, this writer will continue spelling the name “Crysemore” while others will continue spelling the name the way they first saw it spelled. Who can say which is correct?

Note 2: about James' mother's family; Elizabeth Walton's family:

In 1848, Franklin (believed to be a middle name) Walton, who is either a brother or uncle of Samuel Walton, owned a large tract of land in northern Braxton County. In this year Franklin bought 684 acres from John C. Haymond. A couple of months later, Franklin re-conveyed this 684 acre parcel to Samuel and Nancy Agnes Walton by deed of lease. The term of the lease agreement expired by 1851 and Franklin then conveyed 434 acres of the land located on Chop Fork to Samuel’s three youngest daughters Margaret, Martha and Miriam Walton. Franklin Walton conveyed the remaining 250 acres to Samuel’s grandsons Andrew, George and John Walton, who were sons of James McClung Walton and Eveline (Brown) Walton. Samuel and Nancy (Hannah) Walton’s oldest daughter, our Elizabeth, was already married by this time to Joseph T. Blake and she was not involved in the land transactions. The real estate conveyed bordered on lands owned by Hugh Blake, Andrew Blake, James Williams, and Mose Cunningham.

In 1849, Samuel Walton was in poor health, although he would not die until 1855. An interesting agreement was executed in 1849 between Franklin Walton and Samuel Walton which provided that Franklin would care for Samuel’s family as long as they remained in the family, which presumably meant for so long as they did not marry. In exchange for this promise by Franklin, Samuel transferred to Franklin, two horses, two cows, and twenty-four head of hogs. An amendment to this agreement was made in 1851 to specify that Franklin would provide care for Samuel’s daughters Margaret, Martha, and Miriam Walton. The agreement was notarized in 1853.

NOTE 3: about James' stepmother's family; Elizabeth Jane Sands' family:

Elizabeth "Betty" Jane Sands, the second wife of Joseph Thomas Blake, and step-mother of James Alvin Blake, was the daughter of pioneer children James F. and Mary (Riffle) Sands. Elizabeth was the sister of

~ Samuel Sands who married Millie Perrine,

~ Susan Sands who married Andrew Graff,

~ Sarah Sands who married Patrick Taggart (grandparents of Clarence McCauley),

~ John Sands

~ Alice Sands.

Elizabeth’s mother, Mary, was the daughter of Isaac Riffle Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth.

Note 4: Annette Frank tells us that during the Civil War, Thomas J. Hill and John F. Hill, two brothers of Anna Jane Hill (who later married James Alvin Blake) served with the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment which participated in many battles in the western theater of the war.
During the early summer of 1861 after the Civil War had begun, an Indian of the Lake Flambeau tribe in Wisconsin sold a magnificent bald eagle which had been captured to Daniel McCann of Eagle Point, Wisconsin. McCann, in turn, sold the eagle to a just-forming unit of the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment to use as a mascot.

The handsome eagle was dubbed “Old Abe” and was fitted out with a ribboned necklace and a breast rosette. His cage was resplendently decorated with miniature flags giving the 8th Wisconsin a “one-of-a-kind” mascot to take into battle.
Anna’s brothers, Thomas and John, at various times during the Civil War, were honored by being designated as “War Bearer of the Eagle and Peace Attendant” of “Old Abe.”
This unique mascot was widely envied by other Union units and was much in demand to be seen by the Yankee soldiers. After serving as a mascot during the war, “Old Abe” served his state in an exhibit in the State Capitol of Wisconsin at Madison until its death in 1881.

. . . . .

Many thanks to Barbara Ulowetz Hottle, great grand daughter of James Alvin Blake, for sharing these letters with us. The original letters repose in a safety deposit box, gathering age. We are fortunate to have the transcribed copies of the letters to present with this story.

What Did Smithy Do?

by Donna Gloff

David Smith "Smithy" Wine (or Wines) is a legend in the upper reaches of the Little Kanawha Watershed and he is the several-great grandfather of many who live or lived in the Oil Creek Watershed. David Smith Wine (1822-1909) and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Conrad) Wine (1830-1917) lived on Tripplets Run, just over the hill south of Oil Creek. Both David Smith and Elizabeth were from a long line of pioneers dating into the early 1700s and even the 1600s.

Very little about David Smith Wine has been "proven", but the stories abound. Here are several of the stories we have today.

Preacher's Kid and Fiddler

Preacher's Kid
One tells that "George Wine had a son named David Smith Wine. George was a preacher. He allowed both Indians and blacks to worship with him." Research by Nettie Gregory suggests there was a Dunkard church on Curry Ridge near Falls Mill and nearby were a cemetery for blacks and a cemetery for Indians. Joe Hacker, referring to page 99 of West Virginia The State and Its People by Otis K. Rice, explained ". . . The Dunkards were a German sect. . . Like the Quakers, the Dunkards refused to take oaths or bear arms. They believed that they must pay the Indians for lands which they took. . . "

Right: The kind of violin Smith would have had, this one was made by Clover Fork craftsman Charley Blake in the early 1900s.

Fiddler
And of course, any description of Smith should mention his fiddling. In the late 1900s Smith's great grandson Melvin Wine (probably the most celebrated fiddler from central West Virgina) said that Smith was known for his fiddling and his favorite tune was Soldier's Joy. Melvin also told the following story.

"(One time Smith) was over to Sutton to pay his taxes and he was walking back. There was paths all through the woods where you could take near cuts you know--get there quicker. He laid down to get him a drink of water and when he raised up he was stone blind. He said he had to crawl to try to get to where he could get some help. He never could see after then, but he never would play the fiddle after then either, just one or two tunes to my dad was all he'd play."

What Did Smith Do in the Civil War?

There are three stories of what David Smith Wine did during the Civil War.
~ In one he joined the First Partisan Rangers with his brother John but was captured or deserted after a couple months.
~ In a second, he was a nonpartisan, easy-going fiddler who was caught in the maelstrom of the times.
~ In a third he was a bushwhacker: one of the old sharpshooters who would wait in the bushes overlooking the road where troops marched and couriers rode and then pick off a couple soldiers before fleeing into the dense woods.

What to believe? Who knows? Maybe a little of all three. Here they are for your consideration.
.
Records Show
D. S. Wines, John Wines and Wesley Williams, along with many others, enlisted in Braxton County in the First Regiment, Virginia Partisan Rangers, (later Capt. John Imboden’s 62nd Virginia Infantry) on 20 Aug 1862. Smith, John and Wesley were listed as deserters on 4 Oct 1862, at Capon Bridge.

Were these our David Smith Wine, his brother John and his neighbor/future in-law S. Wesley Williams? Very likely. Confederate soldiers were taken prisoner that day and sent to Camp Chase in Columbus, OH, so maybe they had been captured and escaped in transport.
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An Easy Going Fiddler
"During the War Between the States, Smithy was known for helping anyone who came to the house. All soldiers were welcome no matter what side they were on. When the Confederate Army found out what was going on, they arrested Smithy and marched him down to Richmond to sign the Oath of Allegiance to the south. On his way back to his house the Confederates found out he could play the fiddle. He then was called upon to play the fiddle for the Confederate troops. When the Yankee Army found out what was going on they sent a patrol from Bulltown, WV to his house. They order to shoot Smithy for helping out the south. When his children found out what was going on they piled on top of Smithy. Back then they were not allowing shooting someone if they had to shoot someone else first. When the soldiers saw what was going on they ordered for Smithy house to be burnt down. While Smithy was rebuilding the house they went to live in a cave. After they moved into the new house, the cave they were living in collapsed."
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Right: Slim Qunitin: Marilyn (Cole) Posey and Charlie Cole

A Bushwhacker, Set to Music
Cousins Marilyn (Cole) Posey and Charlie Cole are Orlando based musicians (Slim Quinton duo) and folk historians. On a trip to the Blake Cemetery on Clover Fork they met a man who knew a man who. . . had on a transcription of a cassette tape made nearly twenty years ago. The sheet of paper said:

“This is Job, “Get the Wood” Conley, from the other side of the mountain. I was in the yard one day, when this little tune came flying around and I thought the little tune outta have some words put to it to make a little song~ So I went out behind the barn, got a turkey feather, some poke berry juice and a corn husk or two, stood nfly he fld and Wrote this song and called it 1862. Never did know where the tune came from, but it is a true song my grandmother told me many, many times. Goes a little something like this.”
.

. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . “1862”

The battle lines were drawn all across our land
When Great-grandpa crossed the mountains over into Cumberland.
He joined the Yankee Amy back 1861.
They gave him a bright blue uniform and a long barreled rifle gun.

One day the captain said to him, I need twelve men to go
Way up it West Virginia where the Little Kanawha flows
Two hundred miles of wilderness you have to travel through
To stop the bloody killing, it was 1862.

My other Great-grandpa was at home when the Yankees called that day.
He was sitting in the back yard smoking his pipe away.
The Captain told the Sergent not to fool around
But kill bushwackin’ “Smithy” and burn his cabin down.

Grandpa had a loving wife and ‘Betsy” was her name
She was standing by Great-Grandpa when the Yankee soldiers came.
Nine children all began to cry and make so much ado
They couldn’t shoot Great-grandpa lest they shoot some children too.

Twice they sent a soldier d.w4r Great-grandpas’ reprieve
Captain finally told him to burn the house and leave.
They rode off down the mountain side in a column two by two0.
the twelfth day of October, it was 1862.

They moved in under a great big rock with no place to go
Piled it around with sticks and stones to keep out the wind and snow
They slept on leaves and branches the long cold winter through
That was how they made it back in 1862.

Amanda Jane was nine years old that fateful day
When the Yankees burned her cabin, tried to blow her dad away.
They had no bed to sleep in, not a pot to cook their stew.
They lived on squirrels and rabbits back in 1862.

Now many a year has passed since 5~great-grandpas’ Yankee son
Married the Rebel's daughter and they lived on Tripplet run.
Thus is a truthful story cause any grandma told me too
Of how they lived in under a rock in 1862.

Now many a fight has broken out since the war was won
And many an eye was blackened up there on Old Long Run
Everything has turned out fine that was supposed to do
When they picked up the pieces back in 1862.

. . . . .

David Smith and Elizabeth (Conrad) Wine had as many as fourteen children. Their daughter Amanda married Tom Conley, the son of a veteran of the Union Army. Amanda would have been about ten years old in 1862, when their home was burned.

Job who apparently wrote and sang 1862 was a grandson of Tom and Amanda (Wine) Conley. His cousins Dink and Roy "John" Conley would have, of course, also been Tom and Amanda's grandsons.

Right: Two of their children who would have been present at the burning of their home and the winter in the cave are pictured to the left. Rebecca (left) would have been about three years old and Margaret (right) would have been about five years old.

Left: Their greatgreat grandson Roger Conrad with his wife Sandy (Burgett) Conrad. who live on Three Lick today.

Center, below: Smithy and Betsey's grandson, son of John Nelson and Isabel (Bragg) Wine, David Smith Wine with his wife Mary (Claypool) and their children. This photo is from Hughie Ratliff who is a greatgrandson of Smithy Wine by way of Armintie (Wine) Ratliff and a greatgreatgrandson of Smithy Wine by way of Sarah (Wine) Riffle. Armintie 's husband was John Russell Ratliff and Sarah's husband was Charles Riffle.