Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/689

 '/IRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

1031

seven by second. 2. Robert G.. born 1828. deceased: married, 1861, Jane C. Spiller ; one child. 3. William A., born 1830. died July 17, 1866: married. October 21, 1863. Mildred C. Carrington. 4. Abram Cabell, of whom further. 5. .A.lexander Broadnax, of whom further. 6. Edgar W., born 1835. killed May 31, 1862, at "Seven Pines," in the Civil war. 7. Louisa Cabell, born April 30, 1837; married, November 8. i860, Andrew Reid Venable ; seven children. 8. Adeline Mayo.

Lieutenant .Abram Cabell Carrington, son of Paul S. and Emma Catherine (Cabell) Carrington. was born October 15, 1831, in Charlotte. \'irginia. He was educated at the \'irginia Military Institute and at Frank- lin Minor's School, near Charlottesville. He was a member and elder in the Presbyterian church. He took an active part in the Civil war, serving as lieutenant of Company D, Eighteenth Virginia Regiment, Confederate States army, and was killed while leading his company at Frasier's Farm, June 30, 1862. He married, July 7, 1852, Nannie Cabell, daughter of Clement and .Ann (Wat- kins) Read, of Farmville, Virginia. She died in April. 1893. Children : i. William Cabell, born November 13, 1853: married Mrs. \Mrt Turner, of Bristol, Tennessee. 2. Clement Read, born July 12, 1855; mar- ried, November 10, 1892, Eleanor Patton Crutchfield, of Fredericksburg, Virginia ; one son. .Abram Cabell, born January 26, 1894. 3. Paul S.. born October i, 1857. 4. Alexander Broadnax, of whom further. 5. Anne Lee, born July 21. 1862; married, Oc- tober 30, 1888. Rev. William S. Campbell, of Richmond, Virginia ; children : Virginia Epps, born July 28, 1890, and Nannie Cabell, born September 10, 1901. Extracts from sermon of Rev. R. L. Dabney, D. D., com- memorative of the death of Lieutenant Abram Cabell Carrington preached in De- cember, 1862, at the request of the session of College Church, Hampden-Sidney, Vir- ginia:

To pass over such a Christian character as that of our brother (.Abram Cabell Carrigton'), and let his memnry in silence without thanksgiving to Him who formed him to holiness, would be ingratitude to God and neglect of the instruction of His Church. For never have I known a man in whom grace bore more excellent fruit, in the short summer time, than in him. Under this ministry of the late venerable pastor. Dr. Rice, the sacred instructions of his childhood ripened into faith, and he devoted his

early manhood to God. From the very first, his modest, brave and honorable nature displayed the refining influence of grace; and he assumed at once tlie standing of a thorough Christian. His religion was of that type which, like Joshua's and Caleb's, followed the Lord fully. The result was that after two years, he was introduced into the elder- ship with the unanimous approval of the Church. In that office he was a model of fidelity, ever post- poning his private convenience to the calls and duties of the elder; firm in discipline, in purity of life an "e.xample to the flock," and ready to assume any burden of labor or responsibility to which duty called him; so that, though of all men most modest and least pragmatical, he soon found the largest share of the Church's work resting on his shoul- ders. It was thus I came first as stated supply, and then pastor of this church, to know and love him. If I did not know that my estimate is warmly sus- tained by all who knew him best, I should suspect myself of a too partial affection, and put a con- straint upon my heart and lips; for truly I can say my soul was knit with his, as the souls of David and Jonathan. And now that I have lost him. I can find no w'ords to express my personal bereavement bet- ter than those of David in the requiem of his princely friepd: "How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle! O. Jonathan, thou wast slain in thy high places: I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant hast thou been unto me."

Need I commend his kindness as a neighbor when I see so many glistening eyes before me to attest it? Need I remind you of his public spirit, his inflex- ible integrity, his courage for the right in this com- munity? On the graces of his character as son, brother, husband, father, in the interior circles of his home, the sacredness of the grief which his loss has left behind forbid me to enlarge. Abram C. Carrington was the tn'est man with whose friend- ship it was ever my lot to be blest. Let him but be convinced, in his clear and honest judgment, of the call of duty, and his effort to accomplish it was certain as the rising of the sun; and it was made at once, without a pause to consider whether the task was easy and pleasant or arduous and repulsive. Let him once bestow his friendship upon you, and he was yours in every trial, with fortune and hand and heart, and. if need be. lifeblood.

As a soldier his courage was of the truest temper. His comrades whom I see before me will remember how his body was prostrate with disease at the first battle of Manassas, but the energy of a determinate will seemed to be medicine for his w-eakness; so that instead of making it an excuse for going to the rear, as so many did, his spirit invigorated his fail- ing strength. In the battle of Gaines Mill, where is regiment had one man of every three struck, his gallantry was conspicuous; and on Monday, June .50, at Frazier's Farm, he was encouraging his men, when he fell with a bullet through his breast. His was the courage of the Christian. It was truly ex- . hibited by his steady Christian example in camp and on the field. In a letter written on the morning he died while describing the carnage through which his company, the Friday before, had passed, he modestly says of himself: "Amidst it all I lifted up my heart to God for safety, and thanks to His holy name. He was pleased to hear me." In the same