Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 33.djvu/75

 John Yates Beall, Martyr. 71

JOHN YATES BEALL, GALLANT SOLDIER

Stands in Foremost Line of the Heroes and Martyrs of the

Civil War.

Captured While on Raid Kept in Prison a Year and Then Sentenced to Death by a Drumhead Court- Martial.

BY J. H. CRAWFORD.

[For further matter as to the plan of Captain Beall to release the Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Island, see Vols. VIII, XIX, XXVII and XXX, and "Why John Wilkes Booth Shot Lincoln" the animus being revenge for barbarous treatment and what he be- lieved the illegal execution of his personal friend, Captain Beall, Vol. XXXU.So2it/iern Historical Society Papers. En.]

Captain John Yates Beall, who served in the Stonewall Brigade Second Virginia Infantry, before he entered upon his daring career as a Confederate naval officer, stands in the foremost line of the heroes and martyrs of the Civil War. He met his pathetic fate with that stern, yet gentle sense of honor that not unwillingly pays its price without repining or regret.

He was just 26 years of age in 1861. He had graduated in law at the University of Virginia. He had been right in the midst of the John Brown insurrection, and he was ripe for those services to his State by which he was soon distinguished.

He was badly wounded in a charge under Ashby in October, 1861, and possessing alike the mind, the nerve and the spirit which befit great adventure, he was soon singled out for " enterprises of great pith and moment."

The story of his ill-fated endeavor to release the Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Island, is told in the enclosed article by a loving comrade who cherishes and honors his memory, and who fitly says: " It is a sacred duty to defend those who sacrificed their lives in the God-given right of self-defence and preservation of home."

Captain Beall stood for the principle which animates the pen of