Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1265

Rh flag of the regiment and leading the charge against the Federal troops behind the stone fence. Being sent to Winchester by the enemy, he was recaptured there two months later and was regularly exchanged in August. He then assisted in the organization of a company of Partisan Rangers in Montgomery county, of which he was elected lieutenant. He participated in the operations of this company as an independent command during the fall of 1862 and the succeeding winter, during that time being engaged in several raids in West Virginia and Kentucky against Federal General Morgan. The command was subsequently assigned to the Twenty-fifth Virginia cavalry as Company E, and during the greater part of the remainder of the war he acted as adjutant of this regiment. In addition to the operations named, he participated in the battles of Darkesville, Port Republic, Moorefield, and Winchester, September 25, 1864. In the latter fight he had a horse shot under him, and for his gallantry on this field he was recommended for promotion to the rank of captain. He did not participate in the surrender of the army and was never paroled. After the close of hostilities he was engaged in mercantile pursuits at Christiansburg until 1892, and then removed to Roanoke, where he has conducted a successful real estate business. He served as supervisor of Montgomery county for several years, and for ten years as chairman of the Democratic county executive committee. In January, 1870, he was married to Lavinia C., daughter of Rev. Cephas Shelburne, deceased, and they have six children living: Lucile C., Benjamin Lee, Thomas W. Jr., Virginia Allen, Lily and Cephas S.

George A. Sprinkel, of Culpeper, was one of those Confederate soldiers who were so unfortunate as to be deprived of his liberty for many months, during which he experienced the discomforts, deprivations and miseries of Northern military prisons. Born in 1844, in Madison county, he enlisted when about nineteen years of age, in the spring of 1863, in Company C of the Fourth Virginia cavalry, under Col. W. C. Wickham. This regiment was part of the Fitzhugh Lee brigade of Stuart's cavalry, and took an active part in the Gettysburg and Bristoe campaigns which followed the enlistment of Private Sprinkel. He was a faithful soldier and was at the front in all these engagements, with few exceptions. On January 31, 1864, he was captured by the enemy, and being taken to the Old Capitol prison at Washington, was held there four and a half months. Then transferred to Fort Delaware, he was imprisoned at that post for twelve months, making in all over sixteen months of weary imprisonment. When released in June, 1865, hostilities had long since ceased in Virginia, and he returned to his home and went to farming for a time as did the great majority of the returned Confederate soldiers. Then taking up the study of dentistry, he was graduated at the Baltimore dental college in 1868. For five years he practiced his profession at Madison, then removing to Culpeper, his present home. He has been successful in his practice, and is prominent socially. With loyalty to the heroic memories of the past, he maintains a membership in A. P. Hill camp. Confederate Veterans. In 1868 Dr. Sprinkel was married to Miss Hume, of Madison, and they have five children living.