Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/802

744 the war he has devoted himself to business pursuits, achieving great success, and is now one of the leading citizens of Richmond.

Captain John Clinton Boude was born in Frederick county, Va., November 23, 1833, and came of an ancestry distinguished for military spirit. His father, Rudolph Thomas Clarkson Boude, served in the war of 1812 as a member of the Baltimore light infantry Blues, Thirty-third regiment, Maryland volunteers; his grandfather, Joseph Boude, served in the Revolutionary war, in which conflict the latter's brother, Thomas, earned the rank of major in Anthony Wayne's Pennsylvania regiment, and was promoted for gallantry at Stony Point. The family, of French origin, resided at Baltimore, from which place the father of Captain Boude removed to Virginia after the war of 1812, married Elizabeth Ewing and became the father of eight children. John Clinton Boude, the sixth of these children, was reared in the lower valley, but in 1855 made his home at Lexington. Watching the tide of events with intelligent scrutiny, he saw long before the war broke out that the drift of politics was inevitably in that direction, and his expression of this conviction led to his being called an "original secessionist." Though unconnected with the institution of slavery, and as a matter of principle opposed to it, yet he fully believed in the righteousness of the cause of the South, and during the excitement attending the John Brown invasion, gave expression, on the Rockbridge fair ground, to perhaps the first secession sentiment uttered in the State. It made the blood run cold in the veins of those who heard it, but the rapid progress of events soon justified his prophetic power. The Rockbridge Rifles was presently organized, of which he became sergeant, and when the State seceded his company was among the first mustered into active service. The company was assigned temporarily to the Fourth and Fifth regiments and finally to the Twenty-seventh regiment of infantry, forming part of the famous "Stonewall" brigade. He participated in every campaign and battle of "Stonewall" Jackson, except the battle of Kernstown, he then being absent on recruiting service, and early in 1862 his gallantry earned promotion to the captaincy of his company. He received a slight wound in the wrist at the second battle of Manassas and at the battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, he was struck by a minie ball which shattered his knee joint and necessitated the amputation of his leg. As soon as he could wear an artificial leg he was appointed enrolling officer for Rockbridge county, a position he held until the close of the war. Faithful and true in the performance of duty and patient in suffering, he won the admiration of all, which was expressed by his election in 1864 to the clerkship of the circuit court and his continuous re-election during a period of thirty-two years—the remainder of his life. Having graduated in the law school of Washington and Lee university, he was a good lawyer and discharged his official duties with remarkable efficiency. Notwithstanding his crippled condition, his strong constitution and indomitable will were such that he was public spirited in a high degree and accomplished remarkable undertakings in civil life. For many years he served upon the city council and school board, was secretary of the Jackson memorial association and commander of Lee-Jackson camp. Confederate Veterans; was master of Mountain City lodge, F. & A. M., for fifteen years, and at his death was its last surviving charter member. He