Confederate soldier graffiti in Allen's Cave, Warren County, Virginia: A Preliminary report

CONFEDERATE SOLDIER GRAFFITI IN ALLEN’S CAVE,
WARREN COUNTY, VIRGINIA: A PRELIMINARY REPORT

Thomas E. Tucker and Marion O. Smith

Between 2002 and 2006 a number of Virginia cavers visited 700+ foot long Allen’s Cave
near Front Royal, Virginia. Some of them mapped the cave while others noted that there was,

among its layers of graffiti, a number of signatures by Confederate soldiers. A few of the names
were quite legible while others are open to interpretation. Some of them were thought to be as
follows:

H P Grant J H Brown

W. W. Long James Lechlator(’?)
Co? H? 7" SC Regt 15S C Regt

| 186_ 1864 S. G. Godfrey
J W Boon (2) g"Sc
J A Lisk (Sisk?)

Co C 8" SC Regt

All the regiments represented during late 1864 belonged to Brigadier James Conner’s
Brigade of Major General Joseph B. Kershaw’s Division, with the other brigade units being the
2™4 3° and 20" South Carolina Regiments and 3" South Carolina Battalion. The movements of
the division reveal the most likely opportunity men had time to tour Allen’s Dave.’

Kershaw’s Division belonged to the First Corps of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. In
early August 1864 the division, along with the First Corps commander, Lieutenant General
Richard H. Anderson, were ordered to the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce Major General Jubal
A. Early’s army there. They left August 6 or 7, and went via the Richmond and Manassas
Railroad from Chester Station to Mitchell Station, about six miles south of Culpeper. On the eas
the division marched via Flint Hill, crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains, and camped near Front
Royal. The next day, they moved a mile farther, to a large spring near the Shenandoah River. ét
They remained there until the 17", when they marched again, reaching Winchester the next day.
Thus, the days between August 12 and 17 encompass the most likely period when soldiers had
time enough to visit Allen’s Cave. None of their subsequent wanderings — to near Charlestown,
Maryland, back to Winchester and detached from Early’s forces, back toward Richmond as far as
Gordonsville, and countermanded September 24 again to Early to fight at Cedar Creek — put
them close enough to the cave to consider an excursion to it.”

After moving toward Charlestown, Maryland, as above indicated, Early’s army
retrograded to near Winchester. Near there, on September 13, 1864, the following incident
occurred. The 8" South Carolina Infantry, 150 men, and elements of several Virginia cavalry
units were on picket a half mile from Kershaw’s Division at/near Abraham’s Creek not far from
the Opequon River. Union Brigadier General James B. McIntosh with a brigade of cavalry,
consisting of the 2"? Ohio, 3™ New Jersey, 24 and 5 New York, and 1 Connecticut, and a
section of artillery, was ordered to make a reconnaissance on the Berryville and Winchester Pike
and cross the river to determine the strength of the Confederates. In doing so they made a quick
dash past the 8" South Carolina and surrounded most of it, and succeeded in capturing its
colonel, John W. Henagan, and thirteen other officers, including Lieutenant Godfrey, and ninety-
two enlisted men, plus two officers and thirty-five enlisted men from six Virginia cavalry
organizations, at a cost of two killed and three wounded. When all hope of rescue vanished,
Godfrey, who was the regiment’s acting adjutant, was supposedly in the process of tearing the
regimental flag off its staff in order to hide it when Federal troops rode up and ordered him to
hand it over. Corporal Isaac Gause of Company E, 2°" Ohio Cavalry secured the flag and took it
in and was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor. How many other Allen’s Cave visitors were
captured that day is not known. Earlier, on August 26, seven officers including the lieutenant
colonel and sixty-nine enlisted men from the 15 South Carolina were captured on a similar
reconnaissance attack on Kershaw’s picket line near Halltown, West Virginia.”

Only one Allen’s Cave Confederate has been definitely identified, while several others
have been partially or potentially determined:

Samuel Gillespie Godfrey (December 28, 1839-September 10, 1897) was a son of
William (1803-1885), a Cheraw bank president, and Margaret Bowen Godfrey (1808-
1876). In 1860 Samuel was a South Carolina College student at Columbia, and when the
war began he was attending medical lectures in Charleston. On April 13, 1861, he joined
as a corporal in what became Company C, 8 South Carolina Infantry, and on the
following July 15 he was promoted to 2"° sergeant. Six days later he participated in the
first battle of Bull Run and “behaved himself like a veteran.” During early 1862 he
unsuccessfully solicited an appointment as 1“ lieutenant in the Confederate regular army.
However, on the succeeding May 13, he was elected 2 lieutenant of his company, and
on July 10, 1863, was promoted to 1* lieutenant. Earlier, starting February 10, 1863, he
had a twenty-seven day furlough. Captured September 13, 1864, he was reputedly
interviewed by Union General Philip H. Sheridan before being sent with other officers to
prison at Johnson’s Island, Lake Erie, Ohio. There he was housed in building or block 13,
with his messmates being lieutenants McPherson of Marion, Rogers of Marlborough, and
W. T. James. Godfrey took the U.S. oath of allegiance June 16, 1865, and was then
described as having dark hair, blue eyes, a light complexion, and a height of six feet. Four
days later he was released. His post-war career has not been researched. He married
Harriet Elizabeth Powe and had a number of children, including at least three daughters.”

Henry P. Grant (b. c1843) enlisted as a private in Company C, 8" South Carolina
Infantry at Florence April 13, 1861. His first months in service were spent in hospitals,
including being treated for measles August 20-September 17, 1861, at Charlottesville.
Starting a few days later, October 1, he became the regiment’s wagon driver and the
following December 20 he was officially appointed a teamster, which job he still held
April 1863. At some point he was promoted to corporal. He was reported present
September 1862-February 1863, May-October 1863, and May-June 1864. He was absent
part of November-December 1863 when “Sent to Richmond with yankee Prisoners” and
in February 1864 while “at home on furlough.” He may be the same person who in 1870

was living in Marlborough County working as a farm laborer married to a woman named
Mary.”

J. H. Brown enlisted at Columbia September 16, 1863, as a “Recruit” in
Company A, 15" South Carolina Infantry. Other than being present November 1863
through June 1864, there is no record of his service.°

James A. Lisk/Sisk (b. c1843) became a private, Company C, 8" South Carolina
Infantry May 26, 1861, at either Cheraw or Florence. He was often ill, including being at
an unspecified hospital about June-October 1861, receiving treatment for bronchitis at the
general hospital at Petersburg April 19-30, 1862, and catarrh at Chimborazo Hospital No.
4, Richmond, June 6-10, 1862. He was on sick furlough September 28-December 2,
1862, and May 1863-February 1864.’

W. W. Long is a difficult soldier to sort out because the name in Allen’s Cave
could be seen as belonging to either the 7" or 15" South Carolina regiment, and the fact
that the compiled service records for possibly three W. W. Longs are intermingled. One
William W. Long (b. c1842) enlisted at Monticello in Fairfield County in Company E,
15" South Carolina and apparently died of chronic diarrhea January 30, 1863, at a
Charlottesville, Virginia, hospital. Two other W. W. Longs in 1860 lived at/near Hollow
Creek in Lexington County. One was W. Wiley Long (July 12, 1839-January 26, 1917),
son of John (1794-1884) and Elizabeth Long (1800-1894), who may be the same as
William W. Long who enlisted in Company C, 15" South Carolina Infantry at Lexington
February 22, 1863. He was wounded at Chickamauga, Georgia, September 20, 1863, and
consequently absent much of the remainder of the year. He received another wound at
Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 3, 1864, and was sent from there to Danville and
subsequently furloughed to Lexington District, South Carolina. The other William W.
Long (b. c1847) lived with his parents, John J. and Martha E. Long in Edgefield County
in 1850 and Lexington County in 1860. Then in 1870 all of them again were back in
Edgefield. It is possible that this individual was the soldier belonging to Company H,
which was made up of Edgefield Countians, in the 7" South Carolina Infantry. The only
notation in his military record is that he was on a muster roll of men paroled April 26,
1865, at Greensboro, North Carolina. It appears on the cave wall that Long scratched “7
S C Regt.” If this is true it may be evidence that the Edgefield-Lexington-Edgefield
resident is the correct man. But, to make research matters worse, there are other
Edgefield-Lexington County candidates.*

SOURCES

1. Official records, Ser. 1, Vol. 43, Pt. 1: 566.

2. D. Augustus Dickert, History of Kershaw’s Brigade (Newberry, S.C., 1899), 417-38; Mac Wyckoff, A
History of... the Third South Carolina Infantry 1861-1865 (Fredericksburg, Va., 1995), 200

3. Official Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 43, Pt. 1: 21, 46, 399-400, 486, 529-30, 592-93; Pt. 2: 77; Dickert,
Kershaw’s Brigade, 418, 422; Treasured Reminiscences Collected by the John K. McIver Chapter United Daughters
of the Confederacy (University, Ala., 1982 [1911]), 26-27.

4. James C. Pigg, 1860 Federal Census Chesterfield County, South Carolina (Tega Cay, S.C., 1998), 119;
1860 Census, S.C., Richland, Columbia, 104; James C. Pigg, Chesterfield County, South Carolina Cemeteries
Survey (5 parts, n.p., n.d.), Pt. 1: 110; CSR, RG109 (M267, Roll 230), NA, Samuel G. Godfrey File; Treasured

Reminiscences ... John K. Mclver Chapter UDC, 57-58; E-mails from Tom Tucker to Kathleen Martin, Aug. 23,
2006, and Mark Martin to Tom Tucker, Dec. 16, 2006.

5. CSR, RG109 (M267, Roll 230), NA, Henry P. Grant File; 1870 Census, S.C., Marlborough, Smithville
Twp., Bennettsville P.O., 30-31.

6. CSR, RG109 (M267, Roll 278), NA, J. H. Brown File.

7. Ibid. (M267, Roll 231), James A. Lisk File.

8. Ibid. (M267, Rolls 219, 281), W. W. Long, William W. Long Files; 1850 Census, S.C., Edgefield, 110,
176; (1860), Lexington, Vicinity of Hollow Creek, Hollow Creek P.O., 126; Vicinity of Leesburg, Leesburg P.O.;
Edgefield, Saluda Regiment, Grove Hill P.O., 44; (1870), Edgefield, Saluda Div., Richardsonville P.O., 68;
Lexington, Hollow Creek Twp., Lexington P.O., 10; Lexington County South Carolina 1850 Census with
Genealogical Data on Many Families (Lexington, S.C., 1985), 126; June A. Seay, Silent Cities A Tombstone
Registry of Old Lexington District South Carolina Volume I (Lexington, S.C., 19984), 362.

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