Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/762

706 comrades. On being exchanged he rejoined his company at Richmond, and participated in the fighting during the long siege of Richmond, in command of his company. At the battle of Five Forks he was again captured on April 1, l865, and from then until the latter part of June was confined at Johnson's island, Ohio. Then returning to his home, he resumed the occupation of farming, and still resides upon the farm of one hundred and ninety-two acres on the banks of the Nansemond, which has always been in possession of his family since his ancestor acquired it. He was married in 1872 to Mary, daughter of Hardy C. Williams, of Gates county, N. C., and they have one child living, William Hardy Arthur, a student in the university college of medicine.

Captain William Aylett Ashby was born in Culpeper county, Va., in 1838, the son of John Thompson and Emily Buckner Ashby. His early life was spent at Culpeper Court House. In 1859 the Culpeper Minute Men were organized, and he was elected sergeant, the company being commanded by Capt. Tazewell Patton. The Minute Men were ordered to Harper's Ferry in April, l86l, and were assigned to the Thirteenth Virginia regiment. Col. A. P. Hill's regiment. Sergeant Ashby was appointed quartermaster sergeant of this regiment at Winchester in the spring of 1861. This position he held until the spring of 1863, when he was elected first lieutenant of Company E, Thirteenth Virginia. He was made captain of this company soon after the battle of Fredericksburg, the captain of Company E having been killed in battle. Captain Ashby was in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, and many other engagements. He was with General Ewell at Lynchburg, and with General Early in the campaign of the Valley of Virginia, and took part in its engagements. He was captured at Fisher's Hill, and remained in prison until the close of the war. Immediately after the war he was in Baltimore for about six years, connected with a large dry goods house, then moved to Culpeper Court House and was a merchant there for fifteen years. He was appointed postmaster under Cleveland's second administration. He married Miss Nellie P. Alcocke, of Culpeper, Va., and they have two sons, one practicing law at Newport News, Va., and the other chief clerk of division of Chesapeake & Ohio railway company from Ashland to Louisville, Ky. C. Aylett Ashby, son of the foregoing, was born in Culpeper county, July 19, 1874, and was graduated in law at Richmond college, in 1896, and at once established himself at Newport News, where he is highly regarded, and has the promise of a successful career.

General Turner Ashby Camp Guard: At Winchester, Va., where the memory of the chivalrous Confederate hero. Gen. Turner Ashby, is specially precious, his name is honored by the title of the organized camp of Confederate veterans, also by an auxiliary association, known as Gen. Turner Ashby Camp Guard, of Winchester, which is worthy of notice. The purpose of the guard is to cherish and perpetuate the memories of Confederate soldiers, and their heroic struggle for their cause, to aid in ministering to the wants of disabled comrades and their widows and orphans, and to act as an escort of the camp at its public appearances. The membership is restricted to sympathizers and sons of Confederate soldiers or sailors. The roll in 1897 bore the names of