Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 39.djvu/98

 86 Southern Historical Society Papers.

STUART'S RIDE AND DEATH OF LATANE.

Paper Read Before Wright-Latane Camp, Confederate Veterans, Tappahannock, Va,, December 21, i8g6.

By Hon. WILLIAM CAMPBELL, Company F, 9th Virginia Cavalry.

At your request, I undertake, after an intervention of more than thirty-four years, to write (from memory) my recollec- tions of Stuart's famous ride around McClellan's army in the early summer of 1862; and also of the death of Captain Wil- liam Latane, of the Essex Light Dragoons, who fell in a charge made by his squadron upon the enemy near the "Old Church," in Hanover county, Va.

Captain Latane, a son of Henry Waring and Susan Allen Latane, was born at "The Meadow" on the i6th of January, 1833, and grew to man's estate surrounded by home influences not inferior to any in Virginia. After receiving such training as the surrounding educational institutions could afiford, he be- gan the study of medicine at the University of Virginia in October, 1851. Here he remained until the following summer, not offering for graduation. In the fall of 1852, for some un- explained reason, he did not return to the University, but trans- ferred the scene of his studies to the Richmond Medical Col- lege, where he graduated in the spring of 1853. The following winter he spent in Philadelphia, taking a post-graduate course at one of the medical schools of that city, and also attending the hospital practice of the city. On returning home in the spring of 1854, he located at "The Meadow," and at once be- came a candidate for the practice of medicine. Here he re- mained until the breaking out of the war, not only attending