History professor and Shenandoah Valley Civil War expert Dr. Brandon Beck’s newest book is now available. Winchester’s Three Battles: A Civil War Driving Tour Through Virginia’s Most War-Torn Town will be officially released on Saturday, September 24 at Winchester, Virginia’s Old Court House Civil War Museum which is operated by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation [SVBF]. This is Dr. Beck’s 11th book on the Civil War. He is professor emeritus in history from Shenandoah University. He will sign books from 4-6 pm this day and then a reception follows.

Winchester’s Three Battles front cover

This type of book is much needed as a guide for Winchester visitors and residents alike. Union and Confederate forces fought over and occupied Winchester, Virginia during the entire Civil War. Winchester’s location at the north end of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley plus its road and rail network meant that civilians and their property would not be spared the sword. This book is a concise driving tour and history of three battles fought around the town: the First Battle of Winchester in May 1862; the Second Battle of Winchester in June 1863; and the Third Battle of Winchester in September 1864. Civil War buffs and those interested in tracing the trail of their Union and Confederate veteran relatives will want to make this book a companion as they travel the roads and battlefields around Virginia’s most war-torn town.

WINCHESTER’S THREE BATTLES: A Civil War Driving Tour Through Virginia’s Most War-Torn Town    By Brandon H. Beck [Angle Valley Press, 2016]
11 x 9 softcover, 194 pages, maps, images, bibliography,  $21.95

ISBN  978-0-9711950-6-6

A number of Georgia Confederate soldiers struggled to survive at various Federal hell-hole prisons well after the war ended in Virginia. The 35^th Georgia Infantry Regiment’s private John Frank Edwards was captured at Fort Gregg [The Confederate Alamo] on April 2, 1865. His scary story begins at the Union supply depot at City Point near Petersburg where he boarded a boat full of fellow prisoners – destination unknown.

Pvt. Frank Edwards, Co. D, 35th Georgia Infantry Regiment

Edwards recalled, “we went out on the boats toward hell, if you will excuse the expression. It proved to be a veritable hades.” The disgruntled prisoners were unsure of their destination as the boat weighed anchor and steamed down the James River. Uncertainty weighed heavily on the twenty-two-year-old Edwards. “Those seemed to be the darkest days of my life, hard fighting, thirsty, hungry, half clad, no future, our army almost gone, so many of our brave heroes killed on the battlefield, our homes burned, our cities destroyed and we prisoners of war, out on the waters of the great ocean, and did not know where we would land.” He did not believe the written word could really describe how black that night really was. His only consolation, which he called a privilege, was his ability to pray to God for protection.

On the afternoon of April 5, the boat docked at the wharf for Point Lookout, Maryland. Black soldiers in blue uniforms came on board and ordered the prisoners into a formation. Roll was called and two prisoners were missing. Upon interrogation it was discovered that these two prisoners had jumped overboard in the darkness of night – no doubt to a watery grave. The guards then stripped the men of all their personal items and marched them off the boat toward the looming walls of the prison.

Point Lookout, Maryland Prison Camp

Point Lookout, Maryland, was established on a long sandy point where the Potomac River ran into the Chesapeake Bay. The first prisoners arrived shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. The camp was almost at sea level thus drainage was poor and the area was subjected to high winds and temperature extremes. Point Lookout was the only Federal prison that did not use barracks to house the prisoners, but instead only tents. It was the largest Union prison camp of the war and held not only thousands of Georgia Confederates but soldiers from every state in the Confederacy. During its two-year existence, the tall walls held more than 52,000 military and civilian prisoners.  Some 3,000 of these prisoners perished due to the squalid conditions.

A fifteen foot high wooden fence surrounded the prison. Frank Edwards received a close call shortly after his arrival:

“We found about twenty-five thousand prisoners on ten acres of land, which of course, made it very much crowded. I passed on to the lower side. I thought I would step up to the wall and see how far it was to the Chesapeake Bay. I heard several of the men saying, ‘Come back! Come back! You will get killed. Don’t you see that ditch; don’t step across that ditch or you will be killed.’ I was just in the act of stepping over the ditch; only two more steps to carry me over. I looked up and saw a negro guard ready to shoot me when I stepped over. They said nothing to a prisoner. If one stepped over that ditch he was shot without a word. I was in there only ten minutes and came very near getting shot.”

Point Lookout Prison Camp marker

More on the 35^th Georgia Infantry Regiment’s Frank Edwards and his Point Lookout experience to continue in next post.

NOTES

Army Life of Frank Edwards – Confederate Veteran – Army of Northern Virginia 1861-1865. (1906). John Frank Edwards p.41-42, 46.

Red Clay to Richmond: Trail of the 35^th Georgia Infantry Regiment by John J. Fox, Angle Valley Press, 2004, p. 328.

The Civil War Monitor, Spring 2015 with recommendation for The Confederate Alamo by John Fox

The Civil War Monitor magazine [Spring 2015 issue] highlighted John Fox’s The Confederate Alamo: Bloodbath at Petersburg’s Fort Gregg as one of the five best books about the Petersburg Campaign. The article titled “Closing the Book on the Civil War: The Best Reads on the Conflict’s Last Chapter” was written by noted Petersburg Campaign Historian and Pamplin Historical Park Director Will Greene.  Visit   The Civil War Monitor website or view article below.

The Confederate Alamo listed as one of 5 Best Books on Petersburg Campaign

Confederate Veteran magazine March/April 2015 cover article by John Fox on The Confederate Alamo at Fort Gregg

We are excited to announce that the staff of Confederate Veteran magazine selected John Fox’s article titled “The Confederate Alamo: Bloodbath at Petersburg’s Fort Gregg on April 2, 1865″ to be their cover piece for the March/April 2015 issue. The article is based on Fox’s 2010 award-winning book about the bloody fight at Fort Gregg that enabled R.E. Lee’s Confederate army to escape from Petersburg, thus extending the war for another week. The 150th anniversary of the Confederate Alamo took place on April 2.

The previous blog detailed the wounding and capture of the 35^th Georgia Infantry Regiment’s John Rigby at the Battle of the Wilderness. Rigby was from Troup County, Georgia. His wife and immediate family had no idea what had happened to John because when the war ended he never returned to the family farm. He left behind three young sons and his wife, Nancy A. Scogin Rigby, never gave up hope that he would return home. When she died in 1897 she ensured that a spot would be left vacant next to her grave for John. [see blogpost on 4/15/2015]

Nancy Rigby headstone – wife of John Rigby, 35th Georgia Infantry Regiment. See link below for image credit.

What they did not know was that early on the morning of May 6, 1864, Rigby and his fellow Georgia Confederates manned the line along the Orange Plank Road that sliced through the tangled undergrowth of a place in central Virginia named The Wilderness. Then suddenly, surrounded on three sides by Yankees, the Georgia line broke amidst the smoke and a hail of bullets. In the chaos, something hit Rigby and he went down, wounded again. He had been shot two years before in the right thigh and left breast which had collapsed a lung. This initial wounding kept him out of action for six months while he recovered.

Yet his arrival at the notorious Federal prison located in Elmira, New York would begin the most desperate struggle of Rigby’s life. He died at “Hellmira” nearly a year after his capture and almost a month after the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s army at Appomattox.

Now fast forward to the 20^th century. Some of Rigby’s descendants discovered that he was buried in Woodlawn National Cemetery in grave 2756 on the outskirts of Elmira. In September 1995, James and Wanda Pollard from McDonough, Georgia made the long drive to Elmira to visit the grave of Rigby who was James’ great-great grandfather. Their vehicle held a 20 pound bag of red Georgia clay that they spread over his grave. James said, “He [Rigby] was true to the end. In the end John probably knew he would never see Southern soil again, so I thought I would bring some Georgia soil to him.”

Headstone for Pvt. John Rigby, Co. D, 35th Georgia Infantry Regiment, Woodlawn National Cemetery at Elmira NY. See link to left for image credit.

The family of the 35^th Georgia Infantry Regiment’s John Rigby finally had their closure on his demise.

Notes:

Red Clay to Richmond: Trail of the 35th Georgia Infantry Regiment by John Fox, Angle Valley Press, 2004, p. 327.

Quote from Elmira: Death Camp of the North by Michael Horigan, Stackpole Books, 2002, p. 198.

John Rigby’s grave info on findagrave.com

Nancy Rigby’s info on findagrave.com

John Fox will give two presentations and lead a battlefield tour for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Gregg which is known as the Confederate Alamo. On Wednesday, April 1 at 12 noon, John Fox will speak at the Virginia Historical Society for their Banner Lecture Series. Then the following day, Thursday April 2 he will lead a battlefield tour at the remains of Fort Gregg on Boydton Plank Road in Dinwiddie County at 1:45 pm followed by a 3 pm presentation at Pamplin Historical Park at 6125 Boydton Plank Road. Fox wrote the award winning book The Confederate Alamo

Click here for VHS link for info is   

Click here for Pamplin Park link for info is