Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/597

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

963

of my inability to fill your present command of the Laurel Brigade."

Early in May he was called to the Peters- burg lines on account of the opening of Grant's campaign. At first stationed on the "\\ eldon Railroad, and in command of a brigade consisting of his regiment, a Georgia regiment and two other North Carolina regiments of cavalry, a \'irginia battalion and Graham's light artillery, he was soon called to the line of Swift's Creek and Drew ry's Bluff to meet the advance of Butler. On June 9 his command engaged Grant's cavalry at Reservoir Hill, and drove the enemy from the field by an impetuous charge. On the fifteenth of June, Grant's whole army now being south of the James. Dearing's regiment made a gallant stand against the advance, which Beauregard re- ported as of incalculable advantage to his command. Subsequently he commanded a brigade of General \V. F. H. Lee's cavalry, and later succeeded General Rosser in com- mand of the "Laurel Brigade." \\'hen dis- cussing with the latter, his successor, Gen- eral Robert E. Lee said. "I know of but one man suited to the command — Bearing — ^Jim Dearing — whom everybody loves."

In appearance General Dearing was strik- ingly handsome and a magnificent physique, standing six feet and two inches in his stockings. He possessed a most winning personality and was a typical Southerner in his dash and daring. His comrades claimed for him the distinction of being the best rider in the Confederacy.

While leading the "Laurel Brigade" in a brave charge at Rice's Depot, on Lee's re- treat from Petersburg, he fell, shot, like the great Jackson, accidentally through the lungs by one of his own men. .\ few weeks later, on .\pril 22, he finished his brief, brave and brilliant, young career, and, enshrouded in the flag which records such as his im- mortalized, was laid in peace among others of his people, whose hands had helped to carve the destiny of a nation — all as great, if less victorious.

General Dearing married Roxana Birch- ett, daughter of Peter and Lucretia ( ?Iar- rison ) Birchett, and had one daughter, Mary Lucretia, born August 2"}. 1864, who mar- ried Judge Frank Patteson Christian t^see Christian line).

(The Lynch Line).

The Lynch family traces its ancestry in unbroken line back to Pepin, founder of the Carlovingian dynasty of France in the sev- enth centur}-. They are said to have taken their name from Lintz, an ancient capital of I'pper Austria. A Lynch, or Lintz, was a high military officer under Emperor Charle- magne, and distinguished himself in the wars of that time. Descendants of Lynch found their way into Ireland when it was an independent kingdom, and became a powerful and prominent family. Sir John Ljnch who flourished in Galway just prior to the conquest of Ireland by England, was said to has'e imitated the Roman Brutus in voting for the sentence of the death of his own son, he being a judge, and his son hav- ing been concerned in an attempt to over- throw the government of his native land. In later years the Lynches seem to have been noted for a generosity too nearly akin to extravagance. They kept open house, hunted and drank until their immense pos- sessions melted away, and in the eighteenth centur)- they were masters of only the pa- triarchal mansion and comparatively a few surrounding acres. Then it was, about 1715-20, that one of them, a youth of fif- teen, sought America and became the pro- genitor of the present family in Virginia, the immediate cause which actuated him having been a punishment received at school. Meeting soon thereafter with the captain of a ship who was on the eve for sailing for America, young Lynch was easily pursuaded to avail himself of the opportu- nity of embarking on the Atlantic in quest of a far distant home in the western world. ■ When he was finally landed in Virginia the captain apprenticed him for his passage to Christopher Clark, a wealthy tobacco planter, of what is now Louisa county, who received him as a member of his family, and eventually bestowed ui)on him the hand of one of his daughters, Sarah Clark. Some of the silver which was her marriage portion, in 1733, is still in the Lynch family. Mrs. Frank P. Christian, of Lynchburg, fell heir to two spoons of uncommon weight and prizes them greatly.

The first Charles Lynch settled on a plan- tation called Pen Park in Albemarle county. Late in life he moved to a place on the James river, about a mile below the present