605 
 F16 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 Charles Albert Storke 
 
 Class of 1870 
 
 Given by 
 
 The Thomas More Storke 
 
 Foundation 
 
Cornell University Library 
 E 605.F16S63 
 
 A sketch of the life of Randolph Fairfax 
 
 3 1924 010 165 110 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tinis book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924010165110 
 
'■'TlyJclm Safii" 
 
A SKETCH 
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 Randolph Fairfax, 
 
 A. Private in the Banks of the Eoekbridge Artilleri/, attached to 
 
 the " Stonewall Brigade,'' and afterwards to the First 
 
 Regiment Virginia Light Artillery, Second Corps 
 
 Army of Northern Virginia. 
 
 INCLUDING A BBIBB' ACCOUNT OF 
 
 Jackson's Celebrated Valley Campaign/ 
 
 THIRD EDITION, 
 
 REV. PHimP SLAUGHTER, D. D., 
 
 Sector of Emmanuel Church, Culpeper Co,, Va. 
 
 1878. 
 
IN'NBli AHD COMPANY, PRINTGB8| 
 BALTIMOBE 
 
D « jft t c a t i 1« . 
 
 S'HIS, the Third Edition of the Memoir of Eandolph 
 ' Paikfax, is dedicated to William Cokcoban and 
 Geokoe Pbabody EtrsTis, sons of the late Hon. George 
 Eustis, M. 0. of Louisiana, and Louise, daughter of William 
 Wilson Corcoran of Washington : by the godfather of their 
 mother, and the old friend and pastor of their grandfather 
 W. W. Corcoran, and of their great-grandfather the late 
 gallant Commodore Charles Morris, U. S. N., and his 
 venerable widow, still surviving: with the hope and the 
 prayer, that the brief and beautiful life of this young 
 Chiistian hero and martyr to his sense of duty may be to 
 them an example and an inspiration. 
 
 Among the stars that gild the night 
 
 Of our deep humiliation, 
 Young Randolph Fairfax lends his light 
 
 To the lustrous constellation 
 Of heroes, statesmen, saints and sages, 
 Who will he known to after ages 
 
 As the glorious Southern Cross.* 
 
 « These lines are from an unpublished, aud Indeed an uuwi-itteu, poem spoken by the 
 author at the Centenary of Old Christ Church, Alexandria, in Novemhei' 1874, of which 
 parish the Rev. Bryan (8th Lord I'airfax) was once the minister, and of which Gen. Geo. 
 Washington and Gen. R. E. Lee were vestrymen and communicants. 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 The first two editions of this Memoir were written 
 and printed in 1863-64 {flagrante Mllo) during the 
 flagrancy of civil war, when the North and South — 
 
 " Stood and frowned upon each otlier . . . 
 Like cliffs that had been rent asunder." 
 
 It naturally, therefore, reflects the passions of the 
 passing hour. Time, which adorns the ruin and 
 beautifies the dead, has bridged the bloody chasm, 
 and restored in some measure the broken relations 
 of the sections. Had the author and his hero acted 
 their several parts under this mellowing influence, 
 they would doubtless have modified some statements 
 and softened the. asperity of some epithets. The 
 author does not feel warranted in changing the 
 original so as to make it more in unison with the 
 present rhythm of the public pulse. The chief value 
 of such documents consists, not only in reflecting 
 truly the " very age and body of the times, his form 
 and pressure," but also the expression, which a noble 
 poet calls "the mind, the music breathing from the 
 face," which is the life and soul of a picture. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 It is believed that more than ten thousand copies 
 of this Memoir were circulated in the Southern army 
 at the expense of Gen. E. B. Lee, Gen. J. B. B. 
 Stuart, Gen. Fitz Lee and staff, and Col. Venable, 
 Col. J. T. Brown, and raanj' other oflScers, soldiers 
 and citizens. Thd following, out of many such letters 
 to the author, happen to have been preserved, and 
 are now printed as illustrations of the men and the 
 times : — 
 
 January 24, 1864. 
 Eev. p. Slaughtek. 
 
 Dear 8ir : — Please receive enclosed a contribution 
 ($100) to the very laudable work alluded to so 
 touchingly in church by you to-day. It is very 
 desirable to place the example of Private Eandolph 
 Fairfax before every soldier in the army. I am 
 particularlj' desirous that my command should have 
 the advantage of such a Christian light to guide 
 thorn on their way. How invincible would an army 
 of such men be! — men who never murmur and who 
 never flinch ! 
 
 Verj' truly yours, 
 
 J. B. B. Stuart. 
 
 [From Col, Bhown.] 
 My Bear Sir : — 
 
 If the sketch of the life of Eandolph Fairfax will 
 not shortly be published in the form of a ti-act, 
 please send six hundred copies of the Army and 
 Navy Messenger containing it, to Eev. H. M. "White, 
 Chaplain of my regiment. If the tract should be 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 published, send that numbei* to the same address. 
 In either case, call upon J. E. Southall, with the 
 request that he will pay for them and forward the 
 account to me. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 J. Thompson Beown. 
 
 Mr. Dewy of New York, spoken of in the text, 
 said, in a letter written to Eandolph's aunt, Mrs. 
 Gouverueur Morris : — 
 
 "My brief interview with him in 1858 has been 
 among my brightest retrospections. My correspon- 
 dence with him put into my possession letters that 
 could have no more value for me if they were written 
 in characters of gold. His daguerreotype is a fit 
 companion to Mr. Slaughter's narrative, so admirably 
 drawn. No one who reads those pages and then 
 Jooks upon the picture, should question but that 
 noble beauty mirrored the " angel soul within." I 
 know many lads who were about Eandolph's age 
 when I knew him, to whom I would be glad to send 
 this memoir. It might suggest worthier thoughts 
 and lead to nobler deeds. Should another edition be 
 published, I beg to be allowed to subscribe for fifty 
 copies, and I will put in a photograph of him as a 
 frontispiece to each copy before presentation. Please 
 express to .Dr. Fairfax and family how deeply I loved 
 their noble boy, how sacredly I cherish his memory, 
 how sincerely I sympathize with their loss, and how 
 happy I am that they can confidently expect to 
 meet his pure soul in a world where wars and their 
 desolations are unknown." 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 A distinguished officer of the United States Army 
 said in a late letter, that if he could procure a copy 
 of the original Memoir and of Gen. Stuart's auto- 
 graph letter, he would have them bound in the 
 highest and most durable style of Parisian art. 
 Thus did fellow-soldiers and fellow-citizens, friend 
 and foe, join in laying laurels upon the tomb of this 
 young Virginian martyr, to whom we may apply, 
 the words originally said of his illustrious kinsman 
 Lucius Gary (Lord Falkland), who fell at. Newbury 
 in 1643, '■ He, though not inferior to his neighbours 
 in descent and honour, knowing well how much more 
 glorious it is to be the first than the last of a noble 
 family (blood without virtue making vice but more 
 conspicuous), was so far from relying upon that 
 empty title that he seems, ipse suos genuisse parentes, 
 to have reflected more lustre upon his knightly 
 ancestry than he received from them.'' 
 
 The following notice of the Memoir of Eandolph 
 Fairfax appeared in The Edinburgh Review of July 
 1870. Had the reviewer known the many other 
 streams of good blood that were tributary to that 
 which flowed through the Fairfax channel, and 
 which met in the veins of Randolph Fairfax, he 
 would have found other illustrations of his doctrine 
 •of hereditary genius : 
 
prefaIce. ixr 
 
 " Galton on Hereditary Genius. 
 "Perhaps it is no mere indulgence of the imagina- 
 tion to point out, as a singular instance of pertinacity 
 of family type, the fortunes of the famous house of 
 Fairfax. The Parliamentary General left no male 
 issue ; and through marriage with the heiress of 
 Colepepper, his collateral successor acquired a vast 
 estate, in Yirginia. His descendants have multiplied 
 in that region of the United States. The present 
 Lord Fairfax is a physician at Baltimore. Now for 
 these last two hundred years, they seem to have 
 retained among them the leading qualities which 
 characterized the chief of the name, a chivalrous 
 turn of mind, military aptitude, and religious zeal. 
 Irving attributes a good deal of the character of 
 General Washington, as formed in early life, to his 
 familiarity with his relations, the Fairfaxes, especially 
 William, a man of liberal education and intrinsic 
 worth, who lived at Belvoir, the wooded pi-omontory 
 which projects into the Potomac immediately south 
 of Mount Vernon. In the late civil war all the 
 numerous Fairfaxes adopted eagerly the side of the 
 South, except one, and he was the officer detached 
 by Captain Wilkes to arrest Mason and Slidell. The 
 younger members took up arms mostly as privates,^ 
 and deeply imbued with that spirit of warlike- 
 Puritanism of which Stonewall Jackson was an 
 exalted type as the original Thomas Fairfax him 
 self. One, Eugene, fell at Williamsburg, a devoted 
 Christian. Another, Eandolph Fairfax, is the subject, 
 of a beautiful and touching piece of biography by 
 the Eev. Philip Slaughter of Eichmond. He entered 
 Jackson's army as a private in the Eockbridge 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 Artillery at the age of eighteen. The letters of this 
 gallant youth, chiefly to his mother, are models of 
 simple, unconscious enthusiasm. He was of the 
 Episcopal Church, and well known among his com- 
 rades, among whom a similar zealous temperament 
 largely pre%'ailed, by the well-worn New Testament 
 which was his constant companion in the bivouac, 
 after his Prayer-Book, second only in his estimation, 
 had fallen into the hands of the Yankees with his 
 luggage. He had no doubt of his cause or of the 
 
 means to ensure victory He was killed on 
 
 the spot by a fragment of shell in the battle of 
 Predericksburof." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Or ay' s Elegy — The South a Grand Cemetery — Honor to Pri- 
 vates in the ranks. 
 
 Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" owes 
 its world-wide popularity, not merely to the elegance 
 of the language and the musical flow of the verse, 
 but chiefly to thefaet that it is a true expression of 
 the thoughts and feelings which such a scene natur- 
 ally Awakens in the human mind. Pew could have 
 painted the picture, but every enlightened person 
 recognizes in it his own likeness. If such a subject 
 as a single country churchyard inspired such a poem 
 in an ungenial clime, what a grand elegy the poet 
 would have written had he been born in our day in 
 the sunny South, whose soil is cut up with sepulchres, 
 and whose blue sky is the ceiling of a vast series of 
 vaults, in which are entombed hosts of young cav- 
 aliers, who, had they been developed by time and 
 culture, might have commanded the applause of 
 listening senators or swayed the rod of empire. 
 When old men die it seems almost as natural, and 
 awakens but little more emotion than when the 
 evening sun goes down. When little infants in their 
 early dawn close their soft eyes and breathe no more, 
 we wonder what could have been the design of ah 
 all-wise Providence in bringing into the world so 
 many young immortals just to look around them 
 and to die. But when the maid in the bud of her 
 
:a SKETCH OF THM LIFE OF 
 
 beauty, and the young man in the bloom of his 
 youth, standing in the midst of the landscape, and 
 while hope is gladdening their vision with its en- 
 chanting perspectives, are suddenlj' cut down like 
 the flower,' " these are the tombs that claim the 
 tender tear and the elegiac song." But men in the 
 ranks generally have no pOet, and they die, not 
 unwept, but " unhonored and unsung." 
 
 Officers reap all the honors of war. While they 
 live their brows ai'e crowned with laui'els, and their 
 ears are regaled with the sweet music of praise ; 
 and when they die, their names and memories go 
 down to future ages embodied in monumental marble, 
 or emblazoned upon the pictured pages of hisirory. 
 In the words of Bishop Elliott of Georgia : " Officers 
 therefore may have motives other than the cause. 
 But the soldier in the ranks can have none. He 
 knows that his valor must generally pass unnoticed 
 save in the narrow circle of his company ; that his 
 sacrifices can bring no honor to himself nor reputation 
 to his family." He knows that if he survives, he 
 lives only to enter upon new dangers, with the same 
 hopelessness of distinction ; that if he dies, ho will 
 fall unepitaphed, perhaps uncoffined ; and yet he goes 
 into battle with unfaltering steps, pi-oud to do his 
 duty. His comrades fall around him thick and fast ; 
 yet with a sigh and tear he closes his ranks and 
 presses on to a like destiny. Sublime devotion ! If 
 honor should be given " to whom honor is due," 
 tileu let us render everlasting honor to " the noble 
 army of martyrs" whose blood cries to Heaven from 
 the ground on which they fell, and to those who yet 
 fill the ranks of the Confederate Army. 
 
BANDOLPB. FAIRFAX. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Randolph's Ancestry — Hia Personal Appearance — His Duii- 
 fulness — The Boat Incident — Hii Exciirsian through the 
 North — Sis Acquaintance with Mr. Dewy. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was a private in the 
 ranks. The blood of historical families met in -his 
 veins, and two of them are represented in his name — 
 Randolph Fairfax. Randolph was the son of Dr. 
 Orlando Fairfax, of Alexandria, who is the grandson 
 of Rev. Bryan Fairfax, who was the Rector of Fairfax 
 Parish, in the county of Fairfax, and who inherited 
 thef title of Lord Fairfax. His mother was" the 
 daughter of Jefferson Gary and Virginia Randolph, 
 the sister of Governor Thomas Mann Randolph, who 
 married the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the author 
 of the Declaration of American Independence, and 
 the Father of the University of Virginia. 
 
 Randolph was born in the city of Alexandria, Va., 
 on the 2.3d of November, 1842. From his infancy he 
 was remarkable for an almost womanly beauty. Hie 
 eyes were hazel and his hair of a golden brown, his 
 features regulaa* and his complexion brilliant. These 
 soft beauties as he grew in stature were developed 
 into a manly form, which, though not tall, was 
 distinguished for a noble and graceful bearing. His 
 outward form was the fair index of inward purity. 
 Even in his childhood there was an absence of the 
 waywardness and fits of passion which generally 
 characterize that age. From his earliest years it 
 was said of him by those who knew him best, 
 " Randolph is actuated by a desire to do his duty; 
 his conduct seems to be governed by principle." 
 2 
 
4 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 After passing through an infant school with great 
 cj'edit, he entered, at ten years of age, the High 
 School of Alexandria, kept by that excellent pre- 
 ceptor, Caleb Hallowell. Even then there was so 
 much blended dignity and gentleness in his bearing 
 that his teacher was wont to say of him, "Randolph 
 is a little gentleman " ; and his associates never 
 treated him with rudeness, nor took those liberties 
 to i-epel which demands the exhibition of what is 
 called spirit in a boy. He was much beloved by his 
 schoolfellows, because, they said, Eandolph never 
 got angry and always played fairly. And yet he 
 was not grave nor austei-e. None partook with 
 more glee than he of the games of the playground, 
 or displayed more agility and skill in them. The 
 following incident will illustrate his sense of duty, 
 even at that early age. He was a member of a 
 boating club which used on summer afternoons to 
 go rowing on the Potomac river. Sailing had been 
 prohibited by his mother as. dangerous. At dinner 
 one day he said to his mother, " The boys of our 
 club want to have a sail this afternoon ; may I join 
 them ? " She replied, " No, my son ; the day is 
 very hot, and I am sure there will be a storm, and I 
 should not have a moment's peace if I knew you 
 were on the river in a sail-boat." He said no more, 
 but late in the evening he came in heated and dusty, 
 and told his mother that the boys, when they found 
 he could not join them in a sail, gave it up, " and we 
 rowed," he said, " four miles up the river. The wind 
 was then fair for sailing and they wished to raise 
 the sail. I insisted upon their doing it, and made 
 them put me ashore and I walked^ home. It was 
 
MA^BOLPH FAIRFAX. 5 
 
 hard to do, mamma," he said, " and I have had a very 
 hot walk, but I could not disobey you." The example 
 had its effect upon his young companions, for- the 
 mother of one of them remarked in a few days to 
 Eandolph's father, "You may trust that boy any- 
 where." , 
 
 In the months of August and September, 1854, 
 Eandolph made a visit to his aunt, Mrs. Gouverne,ur 
 Morris of New York, who had a son near his own age, 
 and accompanied them on a tour throughout the 
 Northern States. During this tour he visited many 
 places famous as the scones of interesting events in 
 our first Eevolution. His uncle, Mr. Morris, biaing 
 well acquainted with these places and their historical 
 associations, made the excursion both delightful and 
 profitable to him. While on a steamboat on Lake 
 Champlain, a gentleman, attracted by his looks, 
 walked up to Eandolph and entered into conversa- 
 tion with him, asking his name, and introducing 
 himself as Mr. Dewy, Of New York, once a Senator 
 of that State. On learning Eandolph's name, he 
 remarked, " I would not like to have a name already 
 so famous that I could add" nothing to it." Eandolph 
 replied, " It is the name of my ancestors ; an*!! if 
 they have made it famous, I at least will try to do 
 nothing to impair its brightness." This gentleman 
 continued with the party, and was several days with 
 Eandolph at Saratoga, and when they parted, 
 solicited a correspondence with him. Mr. Dewy 
 was a man between thirty and forty years of age, 
 and of considerable literary attainments. He fre- 
 quently sent Eandolph copies of his speeches and 
 lectures. For "some years he also had books a-nd 
 
6 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 othei* new publications sent by the publishers in 
 New York to Eandolph at his several schools. His 
 letters, which we have had the pleasure of reading, 
 were quite romantic in their expression of friendship, 
 and modestly apologized for intruding on one who 
 already had so many to love him. 
 
RANDOLPS FAIRFAX. 
 
 CHAPTBE II. 
 
 Randolph at the High School — Hia Birthday Present — Sis 
 Religious Impressions — Mrs. Virginia Cary — The Grand- 
 mother's Mission — His First Communion — His Rules of 
 Conduct— The Gold Medal and other Prizes — His Diary. 
 
 In the fall of the year 1857 Eandolph entei-ed the 
 Episcopal High School (near the Theological Semi- 
 nary of "Virginia), under the care of the Eev. John 
 P. McGuire. On his fourteenth birthday Eandolph 
 requested his mother to give him a Bible as a birth- 
 day present, which he said he would try and make 
 a good use of. It is not known at what time he 
 received his first religious impressions. He had 
 been from his earliest years a Sunday-School scholar 
 of St. Paul's Church, Alexandria, of which the Eev. 
 James T. Johnston was Eector. Besides the example 
 and instruction of father and mother, both of whom 
 were communicants of St. Paul's Church, he was the 
 special subject of the prayers and nurture of his 
 grandmother, Mrs. Virginia Cary, an earnest Chris- 
 tian and highly accomplished woman, the tutelary 
 angel of the house. 
 
 Beautiful and almost divine is the mission of an 
 enlightened and Christian grandmother. Free from 
 the care of the house, and retired from the world and 
 its frivolities, she enriches the house of her daughter 
 with the treasure of her experience, diffusing joy 
 and doing good. She possesses that kindness which 
 nothing can exhaust, and that infinite tact which, 
 springing from love, comprehends and anticipates 
 every ill. She lives her life over again in her 
 2* * 
 
8 SEBTCE OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 children and grandchildren; and of all the human 
 family, she alone enjoys the beautiful privilege of 
 not feeling the pains of growing old. A great 
 author, tracing the ideal type of a perfect woman, 
 gives her a grandmother for her instructress, re- 
 marking at the same time that her mother was an 
 excellent woman. Madame Campan was heard to 
 say that of all the children entrusted to her care, 
 the best instructed had been brought up by a grand- 
 mother. She did not mean the best instructed in 
 letters, but in pietj', in order, in submission, in 
 obedience, and in gentleness. We do not maintain 
 that the grandmother should supersede the mother, 
 but only inspire and direct her in those gracious ways 
 which lead to virtue by pleasing example — ways 
 which woman knows, but of which man cannot 
 catch the secret. Such a grandmother it was the 
 privilege of Eandolph to have in his home. In 
 addition to her natural gifts and high culture, Mrs. 
 Cary possessed rare colloquial powers, which made 
 her a charming companion. But above all, she wa« 
 a devout Christian, beautified by the graces of faith, 
 hope and charity. Her charming talent for narra- 
 tive made her the especial favorite of children, and 
 she was so thoughtful of their pleasures that she 
 generally had by her a little store of good things for 
 their gratification. There are those whose memory 
 recalls with admiration and gratitude the form of 
 that venerable woman seated in "the old arm-chair" 
 in the sweet parlor at twilight, with the lovely 
 group of grandchildren at her knees, looking up into 
 her bright face, and drinking in the lessons of wis- 
 dom and love which are bearing fruit in eternity, for 
 
BANDOLPB FAIRFAX. 9 
 
 she has welcomed one of her chief treasures to her 
 heavenly home. 
 
 If it be true, as a G-erman author has beautifully 
 said, that " every first thing continues forever with 
 a child — that the first color, the first music, the 
 first flower, paint the foreground of life — that every 
 new educator effects less than his predecessor," then 
 we must conclude that Eandolph received in bis own 
 home the seeds that were now beginning to spring 
 up to view, and soon commenced bearing their fruits. 
 The Bible which his mother had given him he dili- 
 gently read. Upon entering the High School he 
 joined the prayer-meeting, and his chosen companions 
 were the moi-e pious boys. In-the following summer 
 he expressed a desire to be confirmed, with some of 
 his schoolfellows, in the Seminary Chapel. His 
 pastor, Eev. Mr. Johnston, of St. Paul's Church, 
 Alexandria, naturally wishing to have the privilege 
 of presenting so gentle a lamb of his flock for this 
 interesting rite in his own parish church, Bandolph 
 consented to postpone his confirmation, and made 
 his first profession of religion by communion in St. 
 Paul's Church, four months before he reached his 
 fifteenth year. To show his conception of the 
 Christian character of which he had just made pro- 
 fession, we transcribe from his diary, commenced 
 about this time, the following rules of conduct: 
 
 " Ist. I shall endeavor from this time to adhere to 
 these rules, and at the end of each day review them ; 
 and 
 
 " 2d. Throughout each day I shall try to preserve 
 a sense of the presence of God, and by this to i*egu- 
 late my actions. 
 
10 SKIS TDB CTF THE: -ZIPJI. OF 
 
 "3d. Peeling the saLvatibti of my soul . as . para- 
 mount to all other aims, and that it is my duty to 
 work in Christ's cause in season and out of season, 
 I will do my best by word and deed to lead others 
 •into the way evei-lasting. 
 
 "4th. Never to do anything which I have reason 
 to suppose I may afterwards repent of, and of which 
 the lawfulness is doubtful. 
 
 "5th. Not to allow the praises of men to incite 
 me to any wrong, action, feeling that I know the 
 sinfulness of my heart better than others; and to be 
 continually on my guard against pride, and the 
 deceits of the world, the flesb and the devil. 
 
 " 6th. To guard against insincerity and too much 
 levity in conversation. To endeavor to deny myself 
 in order to be kind and charitable to all around me ; 
 more quick to see the faults of myself than those of 
 others, knowing that all I have is from God, and 
 that all men are the work of His almighty hand. 
 
 "7th. To improve every moment of time — to 
 think much of the shortness of life, and that I may 
 at any moment bo called away to meet a just God, 
 
 " 8th. Never to do anything out of revenge, or to 
 do anything I should justly think mean in another. 
 
 "9th. Not to speak evil of another unless some 
 particular good come from it, and not to speak any- 
 thing that may produce mirthfulness on the Sabbath 
 day. 
 
 " 10th. To inquire every night when I go to bed 
 what good I have done, whether I have been negli>- 
 gent, and what sins I have committed during the day. 
 
 " 11th. To endeavor to gfoW in the knowledge of 
 myself and of my sins, and continually to compare 
 
MANDOLPB FAIRFAX. 11 
 
 the grea^ majesty of God with my own littleness, and 
 to trust only in Hj^n to bi'ing me safely through this 
 life." 
 
 A.t the examination at the High School, in June 
 of this year, Eandolph took the honors in every 
 class, and came home laden with medals and certifi- 
 cates of proficiency. One of the examiners expressed 
 his gratification that one of the " old names " was 
 again so distinguished. A newspaper, giving an 
 account of the examination, was .sent to his friend 
 Mr. Dewy, and elicited a highly complimentary letter, 
 in which he aifeptionately urged him not to sacrifice 
 his health to his studies. 
 
 In the summer of 1859, Eandolph took the highest 
 prize at the High School — the "gold medal" — be- 
 sides many smaller prizes. Mr. MoGuire, the Prin- 
 cipal of the High School, having been asked by a' 
 , brother clergyman who of the boys he had under his 
 charge he considered the most gifted, replied, " Take 
 him altogether, Eandolph Fairfax." What were his 
 own private thoughts at this intoxicating period of 
 his life we learn from his diary, the existence of 
 which was unknown even to his parents until after 
 his death, when two little manuscript books were 
 found among his papers, endorsed "Private." In 
 this record of his daily experience we find the fol- 
 lowing entries of this date : 
 
 "I fear that my worldly occupations are fast 
 drawing my heart from God ; that in my eagerness 
 to be prepared for my school examinations, I forget 
 the great examination which my soul must stand at 
 the bar of God. Oh I that I could despise the things 
 of this world ; could lay aside all my vain ambition, 
 
12 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 and have the glory and service of God as my chief 
 ambition and desire. How littlg are these vain 
 honors compared with the crown of glory ! Oh I 
 that I could estimate them aright, and could see 
 myself as God sees me. O Father, have mercy upon 
 me for Chi'ist's sake ! " 
 
 Again, on Tuesday, 21st of June, we find the fol- 
 lowing record : 
 
 " Oh ! that I could always bear in mind that I 
 must one day stand^an examinatian before the Judge 
 of man ; but especially now, while my scholastic 
 examinations are proceeding. I should not allow 
 them to draw my attention from Heaven, but con- 
 tinually remind me of that final judgment. Oh ! if I 
 should then be found wanting. O Father, grant me 
 Thy grace, keep me from falling, and let not each 
 day pass in forgetfulness of Thee, to whom I owe all 
 my blessings." 
 
RANDOLPH B'AinWAX. 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Randolph at UniversUy of Virginia — Professor Minor' s 
 Prayer-Meeting — Influence of Professors — Graduation — 
 Rules for Spending Sunday. 
 
 From the High School Eandolph went to Din- 
 widdle Academy, in Albemarle. We have but few 
 facts in relation to this year of his life, except the 
 most satisfactory testimonials of his good conduct 
 and proficiency in his studies. * He commenced a 
 new diary at this era of his life, in which we find 
 the following record of his estimate of himself, 
 which is in striking contrast to the golden opinions 
 his conduct won from his teachers, schoolfellows 
 and associates : 
 
 "October 19th, 1859. 
 
 " O Father, in commencing to record the feelings 
 of my heart, preserve me from all hypocrisy, enable 
 me to deal with my heart in sincerity, and keep me 
 from being deceived in a matter of so much import- 
 ance as the salvation of my soul. Although I profess 
 to be a servant of God, I feel that my conduct is 
 little different from that of an unconverted soul; 
 that I have not the single eye to God's glory, and 
 that love to Christ, producing love to all mankind, 
 which befit a true Christian. My sinful, deceitful 
 heart is too much engrossed in worldly cares, and 
 the g6d Self is worshipped instead of my Maker. O 
 God, keep me from such vile ingratitude as to spurn 
 the offers of my blessed Saviour, and of rendering 
 Thee the hollow service with which I have formerly 
 been content." 
 
14 SKETUH OF TBB LIFJS OF 
 
 In the fall of 1860 Eandolph matriculated at the 
 University of Virginia. Hie diligence and success 
 in his studies is sufficiently attested by the fact that 
 he graduated with distinction the first session in 
 French, Latin and Mathematics. He does not seem 
 to have been so engrossed by his studies as to have 
 neglected the 'culture of his soul. He availed him- 
 self gladly of the means of grace within his reach. 
 Among these was a Bible Class, taught by Professor 
 Minor, who, though a Professor of the Law, is not 
 ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, and whose Bible 
 Classes for students in the chapel of the University, 
 and for servants in his own parish church, furnish a 
 pleasing example of the manner in which our literary 
 laymen may lay their laurels at the foot of the Cross. 
 It is a matter of devout thankfulness to Almighty 
 God that the influence of the Professors at the Uni- 
 versity of Virginia has been for so many years so 
 decisively a Christian influence. It is a fact well 
 calculated to arrest the attention of careless young 
 men, and to encourage those who have already 
 commenced a Christian life, to see men eminent in 
 all the walks of science and literature casting the 
 weight of their authority into the scale of Chris- 
 tianity. It is believed that there is not a Professor 
 at the University of Virginia who would not gladly 
 make his attainments tributary to this great epd. 
 
 Prom his relative, Julian Fairfax, we have just 
 learned some interesting facts, illustrating Ean- 
 dolph's life at the University, The Christian Asso- 
 ciation was very flourishing at this time, and 
 Eandolph was a very efficient member of it. By 
 this Society the College, including the dormitories 
 
RANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 15 
 
 proper, and the boarding-houses in the neighbor- 
 hood, were laid off in districts. In each of these 
 prayer-meetings were held every week, and Eandolph 
 was a regular and active attendant. By the example 
 of his daily life, no loss than by his fervent praj'^ers, 
 he preached the Gospel. Committees were sent out 
 by the Association to hold regular services at desti- 
 tute places in the vicinity of the University. One 
 of these visited the Poorhouse, about two and a 
 half miles from college, and read the Scriptures to 
 the poor, with brief exhortations and prayers. 
 When Eandolph conducted the meeting, he prepared 
 himself by fervent prayer and careful study. His 
 public prayers were earnest and appropriate, and his 
 addresses serious and impressive. 
 
 In November, 1860, two military companies were 
 formed and tendered their services to the Governor. 
 Eandolph was a member of the Southern Guard. 
 These companies, with the volunteer companies of 
 Charlottesville, celebrated Jefferson's birthday by a 
 grand pai'ade. During the parade news came of the 
 attack on Fort Sumter, whereupon a grand salute 
 was fired. Two days afterwards these companies 
 volunteere'd to accompany the Charlottesville com- 
 panies to Harper's Ferry. Eandolph was very 
 anxious to go, but he was restrained by a letter 
 from home, telling him not to go until he was 
 ordered : and be yielded, as he had ever done, his 
 wishes to the will of his parents. 
 
 It was while a student at this institution that he 
 inscribed in his diary the following rules for spending 
 the Sabbath : 
 
 " 1. Perform mj' usual devotions and read the 
 chapter for the Bible Class. 
 3 
 
16 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 01 
 
 " 2. After Bible Class attend church, spend the 
 time till dinner in examination, reading and prayer. 
 
 " 3. After dinner read till prayer-meeting, and 
 after prayer-meeting walk with a Christian com- 
 panion, and endeavor to make the conversation as 
 suitable as possible to Sunday. 
 
 "4. After supper attend church, or spend the time 
 in reading, contemplation, &c. 
 
 " 5. Endeavor at all times to remember that it is 
 precious time, and to guard against indolence." 
 
 It was during his session at the University of 
 Virginia that the State of Virginia seceded from the 
 United States, and most of the students withdrew 
 and volunteered in the army. Randolph was anxious 
 to follow their example, but, in deference to the 
 wishes and remonstrances of others, he was induced 
 to remain until the end of the session. 
 
RANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 17- 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Military School at the University — The Battle of Manassas 
 — Randolph enlists in the Rockbridge Artillery — His 
 Letters from the Army — His Contentment and Cheerful- 
 ness — Incidents of Camp Life in Fairfax — Review of 
 Stonewall Brigade — Sir James Fergusson — Crossing the 
 Mountains — Oen. Johnson's Com,pliments to the Brigade — 
 Jackson's Farewell, ^c. 
 
 During the vacation, the University was converted 
 into a military school, and Randolph passed from the 
 groves of the academy to the campus martius. In 
 the meantime the battle of Manassas was fought, 
 and then the University became a hospital. Ran- 
 dolph assisted in receiving and nursing the wounded 
 soldiers, and could no longer resist the call to the 
 field of battle. He repaired to Manassas Junction 
 and enlisted, as a private, on the 12th of August, 
 1861, in the Rockbridge Battery, then commanded 
 by Captain (now General) Wm. N. Pendleton, and 
 afterwards by Captains (now Majors) McLaughlin 
 and Poague, and more recently by Capt. Graham. 
 For our knowledge of his career as a soldier we are 
 indebted chiefly to the familiar letters of himself and 
 his messmates, from the camp-letters, written upon 
 scraps of paper in pencil, and with the oif-hand 
 freedom of a family correspondence. Randolph's 
 letters contain a continuous description of Jackson's 
 wonderful campaigns, as they appeared to a boy of 
 18 years of age in the ranks. This is a point of 
 view from which we do not often look at the evolu- 
 tions of armies. This fact, by itself, invests these 
 letters with interest. We shall reproduce copious 
 
18 SKETOa OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 extracts from. them, because they add something to 
 the materials of history, and are fitted to do good, 
 by their moral and religious tone, their glowing 
 patriotism, and the spirit of contentment and cheer- 
 fulness which they breathe in the midst of the 
 severest trials to which a youth so gently nurtured 
 could be exposed. His letters, too, hastily as they 
 have been penned, are characterized by a vein of 
 sti-ong common sense unusual in one so young, and 
 by uncommon sagacity in speculating upon the 
 probable objects of movements in the army; from 
 August 12 to October '61, they describe his first im- 
 pressions of Manassas Junction, which any one who 
 visited it during the winter and fall of '61 would 
 recognize; his walk to Oentreville in a drenching 
 rain over the late battlefield, and his enlistment in 
 the Kockbridge Battery; enumerate his messmates, 
 among whom are Kinloch Nelson, Jim Garnett, L. 
 Macon, L. Blackford and "other nice fellows"; bis 
 visits to his old friends of the 17th Virginia ; his 
 pleasure at hearing the familiar voices of Bishop 
 Johns and the Eev. Mr. Walker on two successive 
 Sundays; his experience in cooking; his amusement 
 "in seeing , with his sleeves rolled up, wash- 
 ing dishes and making up bread "; make light of 
 the so-called discomforts of camp-life; describe a 
 review of the Virginia troops and presentation of 
 flags by Governor Letcher — a review of the Stone- 
 wall Brigade by Generals Johnson, Beauregard and 
 Smith, in the presence of two members of the Eng- 
 lish Parliament, Sir James Pergusson and the Hon. 
 Mr, Burke — the concentration of troops at Centro- 
 ville, and the construction of breastworks — the" 
 
RANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 19 
 
 marching and countermarching to Fairfax Court 
 House and Centreville — the picketings at Mason's, 
 Munson's and Upton's hills; rejoice in the open air 
 and active life, and express the opinion that with a 
 little precaution, suggested by common sense, a 
 sOldieT, if he has a good constitution, ought to be 
 more healthy than other men. He represents his 
 experience of camp-life as very pleasant so far, and 
 he has no desire to be an officer. " My situation is 
 the more desirable of the two. I have none of an 
 officer's cares and responsibilities ; I have as agree- 
 able companions as I have ever had at school or 
 college ; have as many privileges as I desire, and live 
 as well as most officers, and better than many. The 
 additional honor is ver'y little in my opinion, as my 
 experience has shown me that epaulets are not 
 always criteria of merit. The attraction of office 
 would not induce me to give up the agreeable 
 society and companionship, and light duty of my 
 present situation." He then bewails " the desolation 
 of Fairfax, where barren fields, dilapidated houses 
 and old camp-grounds testify to the ravages of war " ; 
 and concludes with the lamentation, " I am afraid 
 poor old Al^andria will never raise her head again." 
 The summer holidays, and drills, and dress-parades 
 were now past, and he was called to look at the 
 more serious features of " grim-visaged war." Jack- 
 son had been assigned to the command of the Valley, 
 and had taken leave of his old brigade in a charac- 
 teristic sjieech, concluding with the now historical 
 passage, " You were the first brigade in the Array 
 of the Shenandoah, the first in the Army of the 
 Potomac, the first in the 2d Corps, and the first in 
 3* 
 
20 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 01 
 
 the affections of your commander." Jackson's com- 
 mand consisted of his old brigade, some thousands of 
 militia, and Ashby's cavalry. In a letter dated the 
 12th of November, Eandolph says: 
 
 " Last Friday we marched from 6 A. M. to 7 P. M., 
 stopping only to water the horses — marching 25 
 miles, of which I walked 22 ; slept that night in a 
 barn — next day crossed the Blue Eidge in a drench- 
 ing rain. Many of the men were drinking and dis- 
 orderly — reached Berryville that evening, and were 
 quartered in the Court House. I and three friends 
 were hospitably entertained by Dr. Kownslar, and 
 actually slept in feather-beds without taking cold. 
 We started the next day (Sunday), just as the church- 
 bells were ringing, and marched to Winchester." 
 
 November 24th he writes: — 
 
 " Our camp is prettily situated among some cedar 
 knolls near Winchester, and is occasionally enlivened 
 by the presence of the ladies." 
 
 He speaks of the hospitalities of the Williamses 
 and the Bartons, both of whom had sons in the 
 battery. He says : — 
 
 "I can hardly realize that this is Sunday, eo 
 different from the Sundays of former »days. How 
 little did I think last year, when I was enjoying 
 those delightful Sundays at home, that I should ever 
 spend one in such circumstances. There is, unfor- 
 tunately, too much truth in the saying, 'There is' no 
 Sunday in war.' But Sunday here is perfect enjoy- 
 ment to what it was at Centreville, where the chief 
 difference between it and other days seemed to be 
 absence of drills. Yesterday was my nineteenth 
 birthday, and it makes me quite patriarchal to 
 think of it." 
 
RANDOLPH FATMFJ.X. 21 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Winter Campaign to Bath and Hancock — His Furlough 
 — Visit to Richmond and Return to Camp at Cedar Creek — 
 The Battle of Kernstown — Retirement up the Valley — The 
 Battle of McDowell — Dr. Dabney' s Sermon, 
 
 We continue our extracts from Randolph's corres- 
 pondence, January, 1862 : 
 
 "Leaving Winchester on the first, and marching 
 about thirty-two miles, we reached Bath on the 4th, 
 and driving the Yankees out, followed them to the 
 river. That night and most of the following day 
 our battery was engaged in firing at the town of 
 Hancock, on the other side of the Potomac, and at 
 the Federal batteries. I suppose our movement was 
 a feint to cover Gilham's operations towards Capon 
 Bridge. During this trip my patriotism was put to 
 a severe test by marching through the mountains 
 over the icy roads as smooth as glass, bivouacking 
 at night in the snow, and rolling the heavy guns up 
 the slippei-y steeps by day. On the day we left the 
 Potomac we marched from ten o'clock in the morning 
 till twelve at night, and only made seven or eight 
 miles. Even then we did not reach our wagons, and 
 had to sit around our fires one of the coldest nights 
 I ever felt. The next day we overtook our wagons 
 about sundown, and pitched into a good supper 
 which our cook had prepared for us, having been 
 without food, save a morsel by the waj'^, for thirty-six 
 hours. Three roads meet here, leading to Romney, 
 "Winchester and Martinsburg, either of which wo 
 may take." 
 
22 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Jackson took the road to Eomney, and in the 
 meantime .Randolph, being determined to re-enlist, 
 got his fivst furlough and visited his family in Eieh- 
 mond. When he returned to the field bis command 
 was encamped at Cedar Creek, about two miles from 
 Sti'asburg, Jackson having evacuated Wili&Iiester 
 and retired from the Valley. 
 
 The following is his account of the battle ot 
 Kernstown : 
 
 " On the 22d of March, much to our surprise, we 
 took up the line of march towards Winchester. I 
 suppose the object of the move was to keep Banks' 
 force in the Valley. We met the enemy at Kerns- 
 town. The battle began about two o'clock and 
 raged fiercely until night. Our force was not more 
 than 3500 infantry, cavalry and artillery, while that 
 of the enemy was more than 10,000. On our way 
 to our position our battery had to cross a wide 
 open bottom exposed to the fire of the Yankee 
 artillery. Several shells exploded near us, disabling 
 one of our guns. Just before we got into position a 
 shell passed through one of the wheel-horses of our 
 third piece and into the other, where it exploded, 
 tearing oflf the legs of the driver and the foot of a 
 man walking by the gun. It was a horrible sight 
 to see the mangled horses and men lying helpless on 
 the ground. We got into position about three 
 o'clock, and were firing until it was nearly dark. 
 The infantry had by this time fallen back nearly to 
 our position, and our guns wei-e turned to pour 
 canister into the Yankees so soon as they should 
 appear on the edge of the woods. The position was 
 unluckily a bad one, as they were able to come too 
 
RANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 23 
 
 near under cover of the woods. Consequently our 
 fire was not so effective as it otherwise would have 
 been, although we learned afterwards that it was 
 very destructive. The Yankee Captain, Schriber, 
 says in his report that ' the Rebels advanced their 
 heavy battery (that was ours), which threw some 
 well-directed sbots in our (Yankee) battery, and our 
 cavalry and infantry on the sloj)e of the hill, soon 
 rendering it evident that the Rebel batteiy would 
 have to bo taken.' 
 
 " This explains the advance of the Yankee infantry 
 on our flank. The Yankee Captain further says 
 that ' the canister from our battery strewed the 
 ground with dead and dying and broke the infantry 
 that was charging us.' 
 
 " Our drivers being raw hands, we were so long 
 limbering up that two of our men were wounded, 
 one of our horses struck in three places and his mate 
 in one. In this state we drove off. the field while 
 the minnie balls were fiying at a most uncomfortable 
 rate, and succeeded in getting our piece into a little 
 hollow in the woods, where our worst wounded 
 horse fell dead. Discovering that we were now 
 between the lines, our Lieutenant ordered us to cut 
 the traces and make the best time in getting away, 
 which we did in Bull Run style. I hated mightily 
 to lose our old piece. It was one taken at Manassas, 
 and one of the best of our six-pounders. It is some 
 consolation to think that we got it off the field, and 
 only left it when our horse was killed and there was 
 no time to put in another. I have great reason to 
 be thankful to God for my preservation, and that of 
 my friends. My only trust in such times of danger 
 
24 SKETOU OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 is, that I am entirely in God's hands, and He will 
 preserve me until His own good time. Our piece 
 was the last to leave the field. 
 
 " I escaped with a buUet-holo through the skirt of 
 my coat. Our men acted very gallantly. One of 
 
 our mess received a letter from his father, Mr. 
 
 of Winchester, saying that the enemy's 
 
 loss, as estimated by a person who visited the hos- 
 pitals, was 800 wounded and 500 killed ; while our 
 
 killed, whom Mr. helped to bury, numbered 85, 
 
 and our wounded in the enemy's hands 92. Our 
 total loss in killed and wounded was about 425. I 
 am told that the battle of Kernstown is considered 
 in Eichmond a victory,, and I suppose it was, since 
 we inflicted a heavier loss than we suffered, and 
 gained our object in keeping their large army occu- 
 pied by our small one. Our army has been increased, 
 in numbers since the battle, by recruits and drafts 
 from the militia. The night after the battle we en- 
 camped about four miles from the field, and leisurely, 
 began our retreat the next day about ten o'clock, 
 eating our dinner at Cedar Creek, and then march- 
 ing to our old camp-ground, about two miles above 
 Woodstock. The Yankees are at Bdinburg on the 
 other side of the river, and our guns are sent down 
 everj' few days and have artillery duels with them." 
 
 'Jackson soon resumed his retreat up the Valley, 
 and reaching Harrisonburg, turned towards the Blue 
 Eidge, and crossing the Shenandoah, took his position 
 in Elk Eun Valley, near Swift Eun Gap. Herq the 
 troops were exposed for several days to heavy rains 
 without tents. On the 16th of May, Eandolph writes 
 from the foot of Shenandoah mountain, whither Jack- 
 
RANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 
 
 ti 
 
 son had gone to meet Milroy advancing from towards 
 Monterey : 
 
 "Since my last letter, we have been constantly 
 moving. In two weeks we have been in the counties 
 of Rockingham, Albemarle, Augusta, Highland, and 
 Pendleton, crossing the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah 
 mountains twice, and have fought a battle on the 
 western slope of Bull Pasture mountain, at McDowell. 
 From the nature of the ground artillery could not be 
 used on our side. While-the battle was proceeding 
 on the top of the mountain, we were in camp on this 
 side. The fight began just before sundown and 
 lasted until nine o'clock. Our brigade marched up 
 the mountain just before the fight commenced, and 
 was then marched back about five miles to camp to 
 cook. It was again sent for, and the firing ceased 
 just as we reached the top of the mountain the 
 second time. This movement of Jackson's was a 
 great sui-prise to the Yankees, who left behind many 
 tents and stores, and destroyed more. There are so 
 many gorges and defiles in these mountains that the 
 pursuit of the enemy must be slow and cautious, or 
 our victory would have been more fruitful. 1 think 
 it probable our next destination will be Harrison- 
 burg, where, uniting with Bwell, we may, by Grod's 
 blessing, drive the Yankees out of the Yalley. 
 
 '' I was much pleased with a sermon preached for 
 us last Monday by Dr. Dabney — the day set apart 
 by Gen. Jackson as a day of rest and thanksgiving. 
 The, services were held within hearing of the enemy's 
 guns and were impressive. Dr. Dabney's view of 
 the war was that it was a visitation of God upon us 
 for our sins, and that it would not cease until the 
 
^6 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 purpose of God was accomplished — that is, until our 
 people repent and turn to God ; or else it may cease 
 for awhile, and when our cup of iniquity is full, more 
 terrible punishments may come upon us. He also 
 said, that God sometimes uses a more wicked instru- 
 ment to punish a more innocent one, but that the 
 punishment of the more wicked instrument would 
 surely fall sooner or later, with terrible vengeance. 
 Ho spoke of the Babylon of the North, and predicted 
 its downfall and destruction. His view is, that 
 nations, as they cannot be punished in the next 
 world, are punished in this for national sins — a view \ \ 
 I think entirelj' coinciding with the Bible. I think 
 the fate of the country is now in the hands of the 
 praying people, and though I cannot see how or 
 when, I believe God will certainly answer the 
 prayers of His faithful people in the land. I believe 
 I have not told you of the new discipline of our army. 
 We have come to be veterans — have no tents, carry 
 our knapsack and blankets, never ride on caissons, 
 obey orders implicitly without inquiring the why 
 or wherefore, and, in case of necessity, can live on 
 half rations and not think it anything remarkable. 
 When expecting a fight our rations are six hard 
 crackers and a quarter of a pound of pork a day." 
 
BANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 2.7 
 
 V CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 Battle- of Front Royal and Winchestet — Pursuit of the 
 Yankees to the Potomac — Prisoners and Spoils — yankee 
 Breastplates — Fremont and Shields. 
 
 Eandolph's anticipations were i-ealized : Jackson 
 went in pursuit of the Yankees in the Valley. In 
 his next letter, dated 27th May, 1862, our young- 
 friend says : 
 
 " Last Friday we made a forced march from Luray 
 to Front Eoyal, a distance of twenty-seven miles ; 
 surprised the Yankees stationed there (two regi- 
 ments with cavalry and artillery), took the town, 
 with a large amount of quartermaster and commis- 
 sary stores, and about 700 prisoners and two pieces 
 of artillery. And all this with the loss of only two 
 or three killed and wounded. The Yankees left in 
 such a hurry that they did not have time to burn 
 two fine bridges which they had just built across the 
 two branches of the river at that point. By a 
 strange coincidence one of the Yankee regiments 
 was the 1st Maryland, who came into contact with 
 our 1st Maryland, who completely routed the 
 Yankees, chasing them through the town, and 
 taking their camp and colors and a good many 
 prisoners. Nearly all the remainder of the regiment, 
 with their Colonel, Lieut. -Colonel, Major, and many 
 captains, were brought in that night by the cavalry. 
 The next day we marched on towards Winchester, 
 and then struck off to the left to get into the Valley 
 turnpike at Middletown and cut off the Yankee 
 forces at Strasburg. We captured at Strasburg 
 ' 4 
 
28 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 many prisoners, and a large amount of .medical and 
 other stores, and I have heard a battery of six guns, 
 that was escaping by a by-road to Moorfield. 
 
 " This last 1 am not quite certain about. Our 
 cavahy also captured almost the whole baggage 
 train of the Yankees, consisting of hundreds of 
 wagons. Pushing on all that day and all night 
 without the least rest, driving the Yankees before 
 us, we reached Winchester a little before daybreak. 
 Here the Yankees made a stand, and while we 
 attacked them in front, Bwell's division attacked 
 their left flank, on another road. The battle began 
 at early dawn and lasted about two hours and a 
 half^ when by a general charge our men drove the 
 Yankees from their position, completely routing 
 them and chasing them at a double-quick through 
 "Winchester. Such a rout has not been since Man- 
 assas ; arms, knapsacks, blankets, and all sorts 
 of accoutrements, were strewn along the route of 
 their flight. We pressed them-for five miles beyond 
 Winchester, but the broken-down condition of our 
 troops compelled the infantry to stop. The cavalry 
 continued the pursuit. It is impossible for me to 
 form an estimate of our captures. I know that our 
 loss is small, and the number of our prisoners must 
 be near 3000 ; the amount of stores, ammunition, &c. , 
 is very large. We were exposed to a hot fire from 
 some sharpshooters behind a stone wall, as well as 
 a heavy artillery fire. Poor Bob McKim and 
 • another were killed, and we have sixteen wounded. 
 It is only ffirough the blessing of God that none of 
 us were hurt. Our passage through Winchester was 
 perfectly glorious. The pavements were crowded 
 
RANDOLPH FAISJFAX. 29 
 
 with womftn, children and old men, waving their 
 handkerchiefs, weeping for joy and shouting as we 
 passed at double-quick. Our troops were loaded 
 with Yankee plunder, and rigged out in Yankee 
 clothes to such an extent, that an order forbidding 
 it was issued, lest it might lead to firing on our own 
 men. Most of our spoils fell to those who lagged 
 behind, as those in front had no time to stop. 
 Among other things captured was a wagon-load of 
 lemons and one of cake. The lemons were reserved 
 for the sick, but the cakes were disposed of in short 
 order. Among the spoils I have seen two Yankee 
 breast-plates that so much has been said about. 
 They were of different patterns ; one a simple steel 
 plate, and the other had points and came down over 
 the hips. Unfortunately for the owners they had 
 no plates behind, where they were most needed. 
 We are now resting. Yesterday was observed as a 
 day of thanksgiving. It is impossible to tell when 
 or where will be our next move." 
 
 On the very next day after this letter was written, 
 the old brigade, with Carpenter's and McLaughlin's 
 (the Eockbridge) batteries moved towards Charles- 
 town. While our forces were finishing up their 
 work on the Potomac, intelligence was received that 
 Shields was moving from Predericksbui'g, and Fre- 
 mont from the west, with a view of concentrating in 
 Jackson's rear, and cutting him off with his prisoners 
 and spoils. Accordingly our array began to fall back 
 up the Valley on the 30th of May. Bwell had been, 
 sent to hold Fremont in check at Strasburg, and the 
 retreat continued to Harrisonburg, with a caravan of 
 prisoners and booty in. front, and the eagle-eyied 
 Ashby guarding the rear. 
 
30 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 The Battles of dross Keys and Port Republic — Day of Thanhs- 
 giving — Dr. Dahney' s Sermon — The Holy Communion. 
 
 The stirring events immediately succeeding, we 
 will allow our young soldier to tell in his own 
 words : 
 
 "Camp near Port Eepublio, ") 
 "June Uth, 1862. j 
 
 " Dear Mama : — I have already told you how com- 
 pletely we were surprised last Sunday. We were 
 all lying quietly in camp, expecting to have a day of 
 peace and rest, when we were startled by the sound 
 of cannon in our front. A scene of the utmost con- 
 fusion ensued. The wagons were packed, and our 
 pieces hurried forward as fast as the horses could be 
 hitched. We took position on a commanding hill, 
 opposite Port Eepublic, from which we could see the 
 Federal columns coming up the road on the other side 
 within easy cannon range. After a brisk cannonade, 
 we drove them back in confusion. Our position was 
 such that they could not bring their cannon to bear 
 upon lis, so that all the firing was on our side; — a 
 kind of fighting which we all agreed was decidedly 
 the most pleasant we had ever tried. This was the 
 advance of Shields' army, consisting of three or four 
 regiments which had pushed on rapidly. It is said 
 that Gen. Jackson, whose headquarters were at the 
 Port, was informed of their appearance only a few 
 minutes before they had actually posted their guns 
 around the town, afid he narrowly escaped being 
 taken prisoner. The General had just crossed the 
 
RANDOLPH FAISffAX. 31; 
 
 bridge, when he saw a Yankee gun come down the-, 
 road on the opposite side and take position so as to, 
 command the entrance to the bridge. Taking it for 
 one of our guns, he called out, 'Limber up and come 
 over, or the enemy will get you.' The Yankees looked 
 surprised, and then turning their gun upon the Gen- 
 eral, informed him of their true character by firing a 
 shot at him. One of our pieces happening to arrive 
 at the time, and putting in two well-directed shots, 
 compelled the Yankees to abandon their piece, which 
 was afterwards secured by us. Soon after this little 
 affair we heard cannonading to our rear, which was 
 the opening of the battle between Fremont and 
 EweU's division, our rear-guard. The battle raged 
 all day, and we anxiously listened to every shot to 
 tell by the sound which side was gaining ground, 
 The suspense was awful, for we knew that if our 
 forces were di'iven back our retreating army would 
 be assailed by the force in our rear, and probably be 
 cut to pieces. Towards evening, to our great joy, 
 we could hear the report growing more and more 
 distant, and we soon knew that the enemy had been 
 repulsed. I understand that our centre was posted 
 upon a strong hill, which the enemy attacked in. 
 front. They led regiment after regiment to the 
 charge, and were as often driven back by murderous 
 volleys. Only a part of our force was engaged in 
 this fight ; our brigade and General Taliaferro's were 
 kept to guard the bridge, and some others were held 
 in reserve. That night we were brought over to the 
 east side of the river to camp, fully expecting to 
 return and attack Fremont with our whole force in» 
 the morning. But, to our surprise, we were- led 
 4* 
 
32 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 against the enemy on that side, while the remainder 
 of our forces, who had held their position during the 
 night, were drawn back to our support, and the 
 bridge burned to keep the enemy from following. 
 
 Some blame Jackson for not attacking Fremont 
 instead of Shields. But I think he pursued the 
 wiser course. If we had attacked Fremont and been 
 defeated, there was no safe way of retreat; and no- 
 General should go into battle without providing a 
 way of retreat in case of defeat. In the Monday's 
 fight with Shields, we had about five or six thousand. 
 The enemy's force was about eight thousand. The 
 battle began soon after daylight, and after a long 
 cannonade, chiefly by the enemy; during which time 
 our right wing moved around through the woods so 
 as to flank the Yankee position. Our left wing, con- 
 sisting of Our battery and some pieces from other 
 batteries, with several regiments of infantry, ad- 
 vanced to the attack. We were met by almost the 
 whole force of the enemy, and, after a hard struggle, 
 we were compelled to fall back. It seems that our 
 advance was made too soon, so that instead of having 
 our right wing operating in conjunction with us, the 
 enemy were able to meet us with an overpowering, 
 force, and drive us back before our right was ready 
 to attack. Our battery was posted in an open wheat 
 field, exposed to fire from infantry and artillery. We 
 could see and hear the balls. cutting through the 
 wheat on every side ; but, strange to say, we escaped 
 with but few casualties. Nothing but the mercy of 
 God kept us from suffering severely. As we drove 
 off the field I thought the day was lost ; but soon we 
 heard the firing on our right, and our wing returned 
 
BANVOLPH FAIBFAt. 33 
 
 as 80011 as the regiments could rally. The complete 
 rout of the enemy soon followed, and five splendid 
 guns and five hundred prisoners were taken. And 
 all this was done in sight of Fremont's army, which 
 just then appeared on the heights on the opposite 
 fiide of the river; but too late, as there was an un- 
 fordable river between us. Our army was drawn 
 back to Brown's Gap by an old mountain road, the 
 knowledge of which was the key to our whole 
 success. For had we been forced back by the same 
 road we came, we would have been shelled to pieces 
 by the Yankee guns on the opposite side of the 
 river, just as we had shelled them on this day. Our 
 cavalry followed the enemy for ten or twelve miles 
 and came up with the baggage-train ; all of which 
 would have been captured, some think, if poor 
 lamented Ashby had been there to lead them. I 
 have not been able to ascertain definitely, but I think 
 our loss could hot have exceeded 500 wounded, 
 though I see a newspaper exaggerates it to 500 
 killed and 1000 wounded. 1 think that papers that 
 print every idle report they hear are the curse of our 
 country. Fremont has fallen back to New Market, 
 and we are resting. Yesterday, June 14th, by 
 special order, services were held in the regiment, 
 giving thanks for our victories and prayers for 
 further blessings. I heard a delightful sermon from 
 Dr. Dabney yesterday evening, and another this 
 morning. This evening the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper is to be administered, and T hope I may be 
 able to attend. It is such a comfort and a great 
 cause for thanksgiving to have such a Christian as 
 Jackson for our General. 1 have known him, when 
 
34 SKBTOH OF THE LIFE, OF 
 
 obliged to fight or march on Sunde^y^ to set apart 
 another day for rest and divine service. And when 
 other Generals would have continued marching, I 
 have known him to lie by and rest on Sunday. No 
 wonder the blessing of God attends his army in such 
 a signal way. I thank God for the glorious success, 
 as He alone can be considered the author of it. I 
 also thank Him sincerely for my preservation during 
 the fight." 
 
RANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 35 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 Jachsori s On to Richmond I — His Flank Movement on Mc Clel- 
 lan at the Battle of Malvern Hill — Randolph struck hy a 
 Fragment of Shell — His Return to Oordonsville — Battle of 
 Cedar Run or Slaughter' s Mountain — Retreat — Forward 
 Movement — Shelling at Rappahannock — Flank Movement 
 on Pope — Battle at Manassas — Advance into Maryland — 
 Capture of Harper's Ferry — Provost Guard at Martins- 
 burg. 
 
 Jackson now flew swooping down from the moun- 
 tains liiie an eagle upon MeClellan's rear on the 
 Ohiciiahominy, and in co-operation with Lee, ■Won the 
 series of brilliant victories around Eichmond- which 
 have made the names of Coal Harbor, Gaines' Mill, 
 and Malvern Hill historical. The batteryto which 
 our young friend belonged was held in reserve until 
 the, bloody fight at Malvern Hill. He writes : 
 
 "For an hour, we were exposed to the heaviest 
 artillery fire I ever saw. Shot and shell seemed to 
 pour over in one successive stream and burst in 
 our midst. We lost two killed and ten or twelve 
 wounded in our company. I was struck by a piece 
 of a shell on the collar-bone, but fortunately received 
 from it only a bruise, which j)ut me on the disabled 
 list yesterday. It was only through God's mercy 
 that our loss was not greater. Numbers were struck 
 by fragments of spent shells, which did no serious 
 injury. The poor 17th, of Alexandria, I hear suff^ered 
 severely. Hector Eaches, Charlie Whiting and 
 Colonel Marye were taken prisoners. We drove the 
 enemy step by step^ capturing many prisoners and 
 much artillery. I pray that God will continue to 
 
36 SKETCH OF THE LIIPE OF . 
 
 prosper our armies until our enemies are entirely 
 overthrown. Don't trouble yourself about my 
 promotion. 1 am content where I am, and perhaps 
 it is best for me to remain where I am. I would not 
 feel right in accepting a position that would take 
 me out of active service. God again in His mercy 
 has preserved me, and none of my friends were 
 severely hurt; for which, and His other mercies, I 
 owe Him a life of gratitude, and pray for grace to 
 lead it." 
 
 After three days' leave of absence, which he spent 
 with his family in Eichmond, Eandolph joined his 
 battery at Gordonsville, and writes on the 7th of 
 August : 
 
 "Judging from appearances, both sides are gath- 
 ering their forces for a decisive struggle. I have no 
 doubt of the result, if the Yankees will only fight us." 
 
 His next letters of the 11th and 13th of August 
 give an account of Jackson's advance into Culpeper, 
 and the battle of Slaughter's Mountain. He says: 
 
 " Three pieces of our battery were under a very 
 hot fire, but it sustained no injury. General Winder, 
 our brigadier, was standing by one of our guns when 
 he was struck. Eis death is a great loss to us, as he 
 was one of our first oificers. Major Andrews, chief 
 of artillery of our division, was severely wounded 
 and fell into the enemy's hands. Our brigade fought 
 splendidly, and was complimented by General Jack- 
 son, who said they had always done well, but this 
 time gloriously. A panic is said to have seized some 
 of the troops, which exposed the flank of some regi- 
 ments and led to disorder and loss. Our victory was 
 complete. The enemy asked for a flag of truce to 
 
RANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 37 
 
 bury their dead. The foi'ce engaged on our side was 
 the 1st, 2d and 3d brigades, one brigade of JEwell's 
 and sevei-al of Hill's, which came up during the 
 fight. "We were surprised at our fall back to Gor- 
 donsviUe after our victory. But Jackson has some 
 plan in his head. After again leaving Gordonsville 
 to advance on Pope, we met with no obstacle until 
 we reached the river. The long siege-guns of our 
 battery were engaged in an artillery duel with the 
 Yankee batteries on the other side of the river. 
 After several days' skirmishing and unintelligible 
 manoeuvres we crossed the river at another ford 
 without any opposition. We then marched day and 
 night, reaching Manassas Junction on the 30th day, 
 taking the Yankees by surprise. It is wonderful 
 how successful Jackson is in his movements. We 
 effected a march along the entire flank of the enemy 
 and reached his rear without his knowledge. Just 
 after reaching Manassas we saw a brigade of 
 Yankees sent from Alexandria to check the suppos'ed 
 cavalry raid, filing down the opposite hills. They 
 advanced in beautiful line of battle up into a semi- 
 circle formed by our infantry and artillery concealed 
 in the valley, until our artillery opening upon their 
 flank and rear, they discovered their mistake and 
 retired precipitately. If I may presume to criticize, 
 it seems to me that if we had suffered them to ad- 
 vance further and then closed upon them with our 
 infantry, we should have captured the whole lot; but 
 as it was, we took many hundred prisoners. At 
 Manassas Junction a lai'ge amount of stores were 
 taken and destroyed. That night we marched by 
 the light of the burning depot and cars in the direc- 
 
38 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 tion of Sudley Church. We had now been marching 
 three days and three nights, with only about four 
 hours' sleep during our march. J!^othing but ex- 
 hilai'ation at our unwonted success kept us up. 
 Here we were at Sudley Church, with about 20,000 
 men, with Pope in our front, and a large force ad- 
 vancing from Alexandria on our rear. Well, might 
 the Yankees think they had us in a trap! But we 
 privates, with entire coufldenee in our generals, were 
 in blissful ignorance of our danger. For two days, 
 by manoeuvring and fighting we kept them back, 
 until about the middle of the second day we saw the 
 long-expected Longstreet advancing on our right. 
 At one time we were completely cut off, and four 
 successive couriers from Longstreet to Jackson were 
 captured, but the fifth got through with the glad 
 tidings of his approach, and Jackson is said to have 
 grasped his hand in joy at his coming. The next 
 day (Saturday) about three or four o'clock the 
 etiemy attacked us, and were driven back at every 
 point. We had a splendid view of the battle from a 
 hill on which our battery was posted. It was the 
 grandest sight that I ever saw. Artillery was blaz- 
 ing from every rise in the valley below, shells burst- 
 ing in every direction — batteries and horsemen 
 galloping over the field in pursuit; while away off 
 on our right we could see the long line of Yankee 
 infantry drawn up to oppose Longstreet, and sheets 
 of smoke bursting from their guns. Soon a cloud' of 
 smoke enveloped the plain, and we could only hear 
 the successive roar of artillery and rattling of the 
 musketry, gradually becoming more and more dis- 
 tant. I don't think I ever saw such a disproportion 
 
SANDOLPM FAIRFAX. 39 
 
 in losses — ours being comparatively light, theirs 
 very heavy." 
 
 The Eockbridge Battery accompanied Jackson on 
 the march to Maryland from Manassas, and on his 
 return to Martinsburg to clear out the Yankees in 
 our rear, and which resulted in the capture of 
 Harper's Feriy, with valuable stores and munitions, 
 and 11,000 prisoners. The gun to which Eandolph 
 belonged, .with two regiments of infantry, was left 
 in Martinsburg as Provost Guard, and was sent while 
 there to destroy a bridge near North Mountain 
 Station. Finding the Yankees in too great force 
 for them, they only tore up the railroad track and 
 returned to Martinsburg. In a letter from that 
 place, dated September 14th, he says : 
 
 " The prospect of a little rest here is truly 
 delightful. We have now,'' he adds, " been more 
 than a month without a change of clothes; either 
 marching or fighting nearly every day, and sleeping 
 ■without shelter. We have been reduced to a degree 
 of raggedness and dirt that is scarcely tolerable, and 
 the worst of it is we have no chance of getting our 
 baggage, which was left at the Eappahannock." 
 
 In the same letter he speaks of the good conduct 
 of our troops in Maryland — the strictest discipline 
 having been maintained. In reference to the senti- 
 ments of the Marylanders, he says : 
 
 " There are numbers of the people who would 
 receive us gladly and avow their sympathies for the 
 South, were they assured that we would keep posses- 
 sion of the State." 
 
40 SKA- run OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 Battle of Sharpsburg — Straggling — Battery transferred to 
 Col. J. T. Brown's Regiment of Reserve Artillery — March 
 to Port Royal— Battle of Fredericksburg — Bis last Letter 
 — His Death — Lt.-Col. Louis Coleman — Lieut. McCorkle 
 — Berkeley Minoi — E. Hyde — T. McCorkle. 
 
 On the 3d of October, 1862, he writes from camp 
 near Bunker Hill : 
 
 " The army is now resting and being re-organized. 
 It is unfortunate that we could not have continued 
 active operations; but it is impossible. The men are 
 ragged and barefooted; and the ranks so reduced by- 
 straggling that we could only bring half our force 
 into the field. It is shameful. There was not half 
 of our army engaged in the battle of Sharpsburg. 
 The scoundrels were straggling over the country 
 and eating out the hospitable farmers on their way, 
 while their comrades were beating back McOlellan. 
 I don't think we could have had more than 40,000 
 men engaged at Sharpsburg, and yet we repulsed the 
 enemy. But as the more we drove them back the 
 better their position became on the slopes of the 
 mountains, it was clearly our policy to fall back." 
 
 On the 20th and 22d of October, 1862, Eandolph 
 says : 
 
 "We have been transferred to the regiment of 
 Col. Thompson Brown, which constitutes theEesorve 
 Artillery of Jackson's Corps. "We have thus dissolved 
 partnership with the old First Brigade, and we are 
 all sorry to part with old friends, and dissolve a con- 
 nection which has existed from the beginning of the 
 wai". We have now two splendid twenty-pound 
 
BANBOLPH FAIRFAX. 41 
 
 Parrots. Such heavy guns are generally held in 
 reserve. We think that our General intended the 
 change to relieve us from the active service in which 
 we have always been engaged. 
 
 "Gen. Jackson paid us a high compliment at 
 dinner at Mr. Dandridge's, and said we deserved to 
 have rest. The monotony of our present camp life 
 is relieved by drills, guard duty and cooking, and 
 now and then diversified by a corn-detdil, when we 
 have , to go ten or fifteen miles and shuck out a 
 wagon-load of corn. I happened to be on a corn- 
 detail during the late snow-storm, and we had a 
 terrible time of it working in the cold driving snow 
 without gloves." 
 
 After a march of fifteen days, the Eockbridge 
 Artillery encamped near Port Eoyal, on the Rappa- 
 hannock river. 
 
 " The weather now," Dec. 7th, he says, " is in- 
 tensely cold, and I am afraid many of our poor 
 soldiers are suffering." " Oh, how 1 wish," he adds, 
 "that this cruel war would cease! I think when 
 peace is declared I shall be like a man just released 
 from prison, or a condemned criminal just receiving 
 his pardon. May God bless you and keep you all." 
 
 His last letter, which was found in his pocket 
 after his fall, was written to his mother on the 11th 
 of December, the day after the battle of Fredericks- 
 burg opened : 
 
 "Eemembering your injunction to write immedi- 
 ately after every battle, I hasten to obey it, and 
 relieve you of any anxiety on my account that may 
 have been awakened by the engagement of yesterday 
 at Fredericksburg. We were on picket near Port 
 
42 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Eoyal, and, although eighteen miles distant, dis- 
 tinctly heard the cannonade ; it was the most con- 
 tinuous and rapid I ever heard, lasting from four 
 o'clock till sunset. I think the enemy must have 
 been repulsed once or twice, but at last succeeded in 
 crossing the river, and now have possession of 
 Fredericksburg. They are, however, no better off 
 than they were before. We have heard firing again 
 this morning, up the river, but don't know what 
 it is. 
 
 " The day before yesterday we had an affray with 
 the gunboatp on the river below. Our battery was 
 sent down, with the long-range guns. We only suc- 
 ceeded in getting five or six shots at a boat passing 
 up; but our 26-pounder, with a Whitlock gun, had a 
 sharp duel with five gunboats above. The engage- 
 ment, I believe, was harmless on both sides." 
 
 This was the last letter Eandolph Fairfax ever 
 wrote. On the very next day, as the sun went down, 
 amid a storm of roaring guns and shrieking shells, he 
 fell by the side of the gun he had served so well, and 
 
 " Death lay upon him like an untimely frost 
 Upon the fairest flower of all the field." 
 
 Berkeley Minor, one of Eandolph's most intimate 
 friends, in reference to the battle of Fredericksburg, 
 says : 
 
 " The company never behaved better than on this 
 occasion. I speak of my own personal knowledge 
 of the second section, that is the two twentj'-pound 
 Parrots, with one of which Randolph and I worked, 
 as the first was placed in a different part of the field 
 by Major Pelham. Lieut. Graham had command of 
 
BANDOLPB FAIRFAX. 43 
 
 that section, and was highly complimented by Major 
 Pelham. Our section was under the most tremendous 
 fire that any of the company had ever witnessed. 
 We were in position about two hours only, but were 
 under fire long before we got into position. The 
 fire was most terrible about sundown. Then it was 
 that our dear friend fell. We had ceased firing for 
 a while, when Gen. Jackson rode up and ordered all 
 the guns to be shotted and fired simultaneously, and 
 continue firing as fast as possible. This, it appears, 
 drew the fire of almost all the enemy's guns in 
 range upon us. Such a shower of shot and shell I 
 never saw before and hope never to see again. This 
 lasted until daylight was gone. After dark we 
 brought off our guns." 
 
 B. Hyde says : 
 
 " The piece of shell which was the cause of Ean- 
 dolph's death, entered the corner of the left eye, 
 killing him instantly." 
 
 T. McCorkle, who was at the same gun with Ean- 
 dolph, says : 
 
 " That same shell, of which a fragment struck 
 Eandolph, badly wounded Lieut.-Colonel Coleman 
 and Arthur Eobinson, of Baltimore.* Gen. Jackson 
 had left the place where it exploded, a few minutes 
 before. Lieut. McCorkle was near the same gun, but 
 was not killed until shortly afterwards. Thomas 
 McCorkle and. Berkeley Minor bore Eandolph's body 
 off the field, and that night he and Lieut. McCorkle 
 were buried together by their weeping comrades, not 
 very far from where they fell." 
 
 * " Both of these have since died ot their wonnds. Coleman was Frofesaor 
 of Latin at the UnlversUy of Virginia, and Koblnson of the beet blood of 
 Maryland. Both were ChrlsttanB, and died fall of hope.** 
 
 5* 
 
44 SKETCH OF TEE LIFE OF 
 
 Lancelot Blackford, who communicates these facts, 
 says : 
 
 "Few of the victims of the war have been com- 
 mitted to the earth on the field of glory, with more 
 genuine grief than that which attended the inter- 
 ment of these two young heroes, on Saturday night, 
 the 13th of December, 1862." 
 
BANBOLPE FAIRFAX, 45 
 
 CHAPTBE X. 
 
 Tributes of his Precepioi — His Comrades— Of his Captain — 
 Of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Northern Vir- 
 ginia — Rev. J. P. McGuire — Kinlech Nelson — Lancelot 
 Blackford — H. Graham — Serg' t Macon — Berkeley Minor 
 — Jos. Packard — Capt. Poague — Gen. R. E. Lee. 
 
 "We Lave not painted an ideal portrait and written 
 the name of Eandolph Fairfax upon it. "We have 
 ■done little more than classify the facts of his short 
 life, and weave them into a continuous narrative. 
 "We shall now only add a few testimonials, volun- 
 teered by his fellow-students and • fellow-soldiers, 
 who knew him well in times which try men's souls, 
 and where character develops itself as freely as 
 plantain the open air. 
 
 Eev. J. P. McGuire says : 
 
 "I am. glad to hear that you are preparing a 
 sketch of Eandolph Fairfax, persuaded that no 
 worthier subject could, occupy your pen 
 
 "Confining my reply to the enquiries contained in 
 jour letter, let mo begin by remarking, that a true 
 estimate of him must be formed from the general, 
 tenor of his life, rather than from any isolated 
 incident. His character was throughout of the 
 highest order, and perhaps more remarkable for its 
 exquisite finish than for anything else. As a pupil 
 in the High School, as a student, a Christian, there 
 was a uniform consistency — making one day of sin-, 
 gular excellence but the representative of all the rest, 
 and giving to the whole a completeness rai-ely 
 equalled in its strength arid loveliness. Intellectually 
 
46 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 he was undoubtedly one of the first young men of 
 his day. His mind was strong and clear, under- 
 standing promptly and thoroughly whatever he 
 studied. A first-rate student, he acquired knowledge 
 rapidly and accurately, promising great success and 
 high rank in whatever department of intellectual 
 labor he might select. Morally, I have not known 
 his Siiperior. God endowed him with a strange 
 purity of mind and heart by nature; and then to 
 this added the grace of true i-eligion. With a quick 
 conscience, and a most sensitive regard to whatever 
 was right, whatever was proper and becoming, he 
 was ever ready to resist the slightest offence against 
 a stainless morality. However retiring and unas- 
 suming in his general bearing, he was, nevertheless, 
 constitutionally brave; richly gifted with that moral 
 courage, the want of which is often the great defect 
 of men of genius and even of gallant soldiers. Not 
 the slightest timidity was there; no hesitancy or 
 avoiding of responsibility where duty was concerned. 
 Brave as Csesar in the field of battle, he was not less 
 so for truth and right in public and private, in the 
 most retired walks of life, or amidst a crowd of gay 
 and thoughtless schoolboys, or the tempting fascin- 
 ations of the social circle. Nothing could exceed 
 the modesty which threw such a charm around him ; 
 nothing that native politeness, that unselfish cour- 
 tesy, which attracted to him so many devoted hearts, 
 unless, indeed, it was this steadiness, this quiet 
 firmness with which he declined evil associations, 
 and preserved the purity with which his divine Lord 
 had blessed him. To this heavenly grace it, of 
 course, must be ascribed that he stood so ' cleai'ly in 
 
BANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 47 
 
 the light of God,' and reflected so much of the 
 Saviour's image. The uncommon purity and blame- 
 lessness of his whole life cannot be accounted for 
 without looking to those spiritual influences which 
 alone sanctify the heart, and clothe life in the beauty 
 of holiness. Early he had, no doubt, received them 
 from the God and Father of all, whose blessed Spirit 
 quickens in life's early dawn more of the children 
 of men than we are apt to think. . . . Without in- 
 tending to compare him with others, particularly 
 among his fellow-students, for so many of whom I 
 have the highest admiration, and hoping that I may. 
 not be deemed extravagant, yet I -may not hesitate 
 to say, in conclusion, that no nobler son was ever 
 born within this grand old commonwealth than 
 Randolph Fairfax." 
 
 Kinloch Nelson, now a Lieutenant of Ordnance in 
 Kemper'^s Brigade, says : 
 
 " My acquaintance with Eandolph Fairfax com- 
 menced at the High School, in the fall of 1857, 
 where his modest manners and unselfish disposition' 
 endeared him to all around him. There an intimacy 
 began between us which the lapse of time only 
 strengthened, and which was broken by the rude 
 hand of death alone. In the next summer he became 
 a member of the Episcopal Church, and during the 
 following five years I can truly say, that I never saw 
 him guilty of a single act inconsistent with his pro- 
 fession. At the University we were constantly 
 together, and in the army we were intimately asso- 
 ciated as messmates, and he continued a faithful 
 soldier, alike of his country and of his God. He was 
 among the first to re-enlist in the spring of 1862, and 
 
48 SKE'rVU OF 'I'HB LIFE OF 
 
 he never lost a day from sickness or absence without 
 leave. At Malvern Hill he was struck on the chest 
 by a fragment of a shell, and turned to leave the 
 field; but when, after walking a few steps, he found 
 it was but a slight wound, he returned to his post, 
 and remaine4 until the battery was ordered to leave 
 the field. In the patient endurance of all the hard- 
 ships of a soldier's life few equalled him ; in unfalter- 
 ing courage, in that rnost^ trying arena, the battle- 
 field, none surpassed him. Throughout that whole 
 campaign whicb shed such an undying lustre on the 
 name of Jackson— from the Eomney expedition to 
 the fatal field of Fredericksburg — none ever heard 
 him murmur, none ever saw him flinch. In all 
 those trying marches he was uncomplaining, alike 
 under the frosts of winter and the burning suns of 
 summer — on all those bloody fields, he was ever the 
 model of a Christian soldier. I know that none 
 attain perfection in this life, but I should inscribe 
 upon his tomb, ' Mark the perfect man and behold 
 the upright, for the end of that man is peace.' " 
 
 Sergeant L. S. Macon, of the Rockbridge Battery, 
 now Sheriff of Albemarle, who was one of Randolph's 
 messmates, says : 
 
 "He was ever the noble, self-sacrificing, boy who 
 commanded the admiration of all around him. As 
 a soldier he was surpassed by none. He never 
 swerved from the path of duty, and he met danger 
 even at the cannon's mouth, with unfaltering 
 courage. As a Christian, he was sincere and con- 
 sistent ; conscientious in the discharge of the duties 
 ot every post ; and from his daily life there was re- 
 fleeted a light which always makes an unmistakable 
 
MANDOLJ^H FAIRFAX. 49 
 
 impress, but especially in the bloody strife of the 
 battle-field, and in the daily intercourse of camp life. 
 In many situations I have seen him severely tested, 
 and in all he evinced the same heroism. In cold, 
 hunger, or fatigue, I never heard him murmur. He 
 was ever ready to share his comfort, and partake of 
 other's hardships. Truly it may be said of him — 
 
 He lives upon ^all memories, 
 Though with the buried gone.'' 
 
 l/ancelot Blackford, also one of his messmates, in 
 delineating his character, says in a letter written 
 after his death to his parents : 
 
 " That one of his most striking traits was his 
 modesty. Of all the people I have ever known, he 
 did and said the least to advance his own credit, and 
 to draw attention to anything praiseworthy of him- 
 self. A fit accompaniment to his modesty, was his 
 singular purity. In this respect he was in camp what 
 he was in company of his mother and sisters. Cer- 
 tainly 1 never saw the man who was more free from 
 the defilements contracted in the midst of this 
 naughty wOi'ld. The purity of his speech and con- 
 duct, which exerted such influence upon his com^ 
 panions, sprang from the purity of his heart ;. which 
 in him was the fruit of habitual abiding with him of 
 the Holy Spirit. Ean. was always attentive to reli- 
 gious duties; he had a well-worn pocket Testament, 
 which was each day the man of his counsel. I well 
 remember how, under the most adverse circum- 
 stances, he always found time to read it: and the^ 
 solemn, earnest expression of his countenance when 
 poring over the sacred pages. He lost his prayer 
 
50 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 book in the Potomac the night he dropped his over- 
 coat; blankets, &c. It was but seldom that we were 
 able to spend Sunday appropriately. Sometimes, 
 however, we were quiet enough, particularly between 
 the battles of Eichmond and Cedar Eun. On these 
 occasions we spent Sunday, as far as practicable, 
 together, except when Divine service was accessible, 
 or we had prayer meetings. In our knapsack tent 
 we frequently read together the whole or part of the 
 Church service, including many of the occasional 
 prayers and thanksgivings. We were both much 
 attached to the Liturgy, and took much pleasure in 
 the use of its forms when unable to attend the public 
 services of the Church. The hardships of the Bath 
 and Eomney expedition were great, and the com- 
 plaints of the men not unfrequent; but he never 
 complained. Such was his character, whether under- 
 going hardships or enduring the scarcely less painful 
 trial of performing the menial duties which fall to 
 the lot of every private soldier, particularly in 
 artillery service. I have seen him when detailed as 
 teamster from the 15th of July to the last of August, 
 after a fatiguing day's march, and just as we were 
 about to retire to rest, called up to go in the dark 
 for forage to feed his teams. Yet he bore all these 
 exacting duties, such as watering, feeding, currying 
 and harnessing horses, with such equanimity and 
 sweetness as to strike all his associates. The refined 
 gentleman made a first-rate ostler when the exigency 
 demanded it, because he considered it incumbent on 
 him to do his duty in everything that became a 
 soldier. We had few men who were regarded as he 
 was by our captain and other officers. This was the 
 
MANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 51 
 
 subject of almost the last conversation I had with 
 one of them, First Lieutenant Graham. The point 
 upon which all oflfieers and men chiefly agreed in 
 admiring him, was his unswerving devotion to duty, 
 whether in camp or in action. Members of the 
 company in lamenting his fall would remark with 
 emphasis, ' What a good soldier Fairfax was ! ' " 
 
 Berkeley Minor says : 
 
 " I knew Randolph Fairfax at the University quite 
 well, but not so intimately as I did after he joined 
 this company (the Eockbridge Battery). For several 
 months before his death I was his messmate and 
 bed-fellow, and was able to note more fully the tone 
 of earnest piety that pervaded his words and actions. 
 He was unselfish, modest, and uniformly kind and 
 considerate to all. If there was one trait in him 
 more sti'iking than others, it was his calm, earnest, 
 trustful demeanor in time of battle, resulting, I 
 believe, from his abiding trust in the providence and 
 love of God. Many fine young men have been 
 removed by death from the company, yet I do not 
 think that any has been more deeply and universally 
 lamented than he." 
 
 Joseph Packard, another of his comrades, says : 
 
 " His cheerful courage, his coolness and steadiness, 
 made him conspicuous in every battle-field. At the 
 battle of Malvern Hill, where he had received a 
 wound which nine out of ten would have considered 
 an excuse for retiring from the awful scene, he 
 persisted in remaining at his post, and did the work 
 ■of two until the battery left the field. But it was in 
 the bearing more than in the daring of the soldier's 
 life that his lovely character displayed itself. He 
 6 
 
52 SKETCB OF THE LIVE OF 
 
 never avoided the most irksome and trying duties. 
 If he had selfishness, those who knew him long and 
 well as schoolmate and comrade never discerned it. 
 Moi-e than once I have heard his beautiful Christian 
 example spoken of by irreligious comrades. When 
 I heard of his death, though only the bare fact was 
 stated, I knew that he had died at his post, in the 
 path of duty and heroic self-sacrifice. Bitter and 
 inexplicable as may be the Providence which has 
 removed one so full of promise of good to his fellows, 
 I feel that we may thank Grod that we have been 
 permitted to witness a life so Christ-like terminated 
 by a death so noble." 
 
 Captain Poague, commanding the Eockbridge 
 Battery, says in a letter to his father : 
 
 "In simple justice to your son I desire to express 
 my high apj)reciation of his noble character as a 
 soldier, a Christian and a gentleman. Modest and 
 courteous in his deportment, charitable and unselfish 
 in his disposition, cheerful and conscientious in his 
 performance of duty, and upright and consistent in 
 his walk and conversation, he was a universal 
 favorite in the company, and greatly beloved by his 
 friends. I don't think I have ever known a young 
 man whose life was so free from the frailties of 
 human nature, and whose character in all aspects 
 formed so faultless a model for the imitation of 
 others. Had his influence been restricted to the 
 silent power and beauty of his example, his life on 
 earth, short as it was, would not have been in vain. 
 The name of Randolph Fairfax will not soon be for- 
 gotten by his comrades, and his family may be assured 
 that there ai-e many who, strangers as they are, 
 deeply sympathize with them in their bereavement." 
 
BANDOLPB FAIRFAX. 53 
 
 The following from Gen. Lee will be a fit climax 
 to the foregoing tributes : 
 
 " Camp Fredericksburq, Bee. 2%th, 1862. 
 
 "My Dear Doctor: — I have grieved most deeply at 
 the death of your noble son. I have watched his 
 conduct from the commencement of the war, and 
 have pointed with pride to the patriotism, self-denial 
 and manliness of character he has exhibited. I had 
 hoped that an opportunity would have occurred for 
 the promotion he deserved ; not that it would have 
 elevated him, but have shown that his devotion to 
 duty was appreciated by his country. Such an op- 
 portunity would undoubtedly have occurred ; but he 
 has been translated to a better world, for which his 
 purity and his piety have eminently fitted him. You 
 do not require to be told how great his gain. It is the 
 living for whom I sorrow. 1 beg you will offer to 
 Mrs, Fairfax and your daughters my heartfelt sym- 
 pathy, for I know the depth of their grief. That God 
 •may give yoti and them strength to bear this great 
 afiliction, is the earnest prayer of your early friend, 
 
 " E. B. Lee. 
 
 " Db. Oblanuo Faikfax." 
 
 An enthusiastic soldier, after reading Gen. Lee's 
 letter, exclaimed: "Such an honor were indeed 
 worth dying for.'' Another soldier, not less enthusi- 
 astic, said : " The original of this letter, if addressed 
 to me under similar circumstances, I should preserve 
 as the most precious I ever received — a thing to be 
 handed down to the latest posterity, a testimonial, 
 which a stranger would regard centuries hence as in 
 itself a patent of nobility." 
 
54 SKETCH OF TEE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Analysis of his Character, its Symmetry, its Root — The Man 
 of the World and the Christian — Faith and Sense — Sis 
 Standard — Extract from, one of his Essays — The Ground 
 of his Hope — His Diary. 
 
 Loi'd Bacon says, a man that is young in years 
 may be old iu hours. The subject of this sketch 
 lived just twenty years and twenty days.* If we 
 measure his life by years, it was short ; and we may 
 say of him that he came up and was cut down like 
 a flower. If we measure it by the number of events, 
 it was long, for it was crowded with events. To 
 have been in one great battle for his country is an 
 era in a man's life never forgotten, and to which he 
 ialways refers with pride. Randolph Fairfax in the 
 space of sixteen months was in ten fierce battles and 
 many intervening skirmishes. To have received the 
 approbation of his teacher, taken the honors of his 
 school, and won the heai'ts of his fellow-students, 
 are not common events. To have attracted the 
 attention and elicited the commendation of his com- 
 manders is an honor to the soldier in the ranks. 
 But to have won the unanimous applause of his 
 comrades, not merely for courage in action, patience 
 in suffering, and for uniform devotion to duty, but 
 to have gained their esteem and affection by all 
 those nameless' graces which beautified his daily life 
 in camp, is a higher honor still. If we analyse his 
 life and character to detect the secret of his popu- 
 
 * Thomas, son of Hon. Wm. Fairfax, tbe handsomest young man of his day, 
 ft midshipman, was killed on the HarwiGh, Capt. Barnet, 26th of June, 1746, In 
 the twentieth year of his age. 
 
BAKBOLPE FAIRFAX. 55'. 
 
 larity and success, we shall not find it in the promi- 
 nence of any one or two traits. Some men had as 
 much genius, others as high culture, some as fine a 
 person, othei's as much modesty, piety, sweetness of 
 temper and gentleness of manners. It was that 
 these elements were so mixed in him as to make his 
 chai*acter round and symmetrical.* If we search 
 for the germ of such a character, we shall find it to 
 be a deeply-rooted religious principle, of which his 
 life was the normal development. He seemed to 
 have, we learn from his diary, an habitual sense of 
 the presence of God — hearing his word, witnessing 
 his actions, and looking at his heart. He lived as in 
 the great Taskmaster's eye. This is the essential 
 difference between a Christian and a man of the 
 world. The worldly man only looks at things 
 tangible, visible and temporal. He has no percep- 
 tion of spiritual things. He sees only by the light 
 of his natural faculties. Faith is the evidence of 
 things not seen ; it passes the bounds of sense, and 
 imparts to invisible and eternal things the life and 
 power of waking certainties and actual existences. 
 This is the victory that overcometh the world, even 
 our faith. 
 
 Again, our young friend, as we see by an inspection 
 of his diary, did not measure himself by any human 
 standard. He daily looked unto Jesus. His model 
 was " Grod manifest in the flesh." He aspired after 
 conformity to His image who did no sin and yet died 
 for the sins of others. As Randolph himself says, in 
 a manuscript essay which now lies before us: 
 
 " Where can we find such an example of courage > 
 
 *Totue tdreaque rotundus. 
 
56 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 in doing duty as in the life of the ' man of Borrows ' 
 ■who endured the cross, despising the shame? Truly 
 this is an example to follow, though we may never 
 attain till, perfected by Him, we sit down in His 
 kingdom." 
 
RASDOLFB FAIRFAX. 57 
 
 CHAPTBE XII. 
 
 No Incompatibility between the Life of the Soldier and that 
 of the Christian — Courage and Christianity compatible — 
 The highest Type of Bravery is the Man who fears God 
 and who has no other Fear. 
 
 Eandolph Fairfax adds anothei' to the many 
 pleasing illustrations furnished by this war, of the 
 truth that there is nothing incompatible |)etwOen 
 the life of a Christian and that of a soldier. Indeed, 
 other things being equal, a conscientious Christian 
 should make the best soldier. He will not straggle 
 from the ranks, skulk his duty, nor desert his 
 colors. Although war is in general inconsistent 
 with the genius of Christianity, and wars of ambi- 
 tion or covetousness, for conquest or subjugation, 
 are specially wicked as to those who are responsible 
 for them ; yet even in such cases it may be incum- 
 bent on a Christian citizen to take up arms in 
 obedience to the "powers that be." When soldiers 
 asked John the Baptist what they must do, he did 
 not raise a question as to the lawfulness of war in 
 general, or of the particular wars in which they 
 Were enlisted, but dismissed" them with the compre- 
 hensive precept, " ' • violence to no man, and be 
 content with your wages"; tha,t is, do your duty 
 without murmuring and without any wanton viola- 
 tion of the rights of others. As to defensive wars, 
 it seems to be generally figreed that they are lawful. 
 The same instinct that prompts an innocent bird to 
 defend its nest and its helpless young, justifies man 
 in defending his home, his wife and his children, his 
 
58 SKETCH Of THE LIFE- OF 
 
 rights of person and of property, against lawless 
 aggression. . And the soldier who fights and falls in 
 such a cause, not only obeys instincts which are a 
 law of nature, but is a martyr to principle. 
 
 Such examples also prove that Christianity and 
 courage are not incompatible. There is a vulgar 
 notion that a Christian must needs be a coward. 
 This notion is founded upon the error that he only 
 is the brave man who resents every insult with 
 blows or with arms. According to this notion, a 
 gamecock is the bravest of animals and a vulgar 
 bully the bravest of men. But the truth is, that 
 fighting of itself is no proof of courage at all. On 
 the contrary, it is often the result of cowardice, 
 having no higher motive than the jeers and scoffs of 
 other men. This defei-ence to opinion is one of the 
 most powerful motives of human conduct, and some- 
 times screws the courage of the most abject cowards 
 up to the fighting point. Many cowards would face 
 the pistol or the cannon, and quail before the finger 
 of scorn pointed by men whom they despise. If we 
 were called upon to define a brave man, we should, 
 say of him that he was a man who fears God and 
 who has no other fear. That such were the prin- 
 ciples of Randolph Faii'fax we learn from an essay 
 on moral courage written by him before the war, in; 
 which he contrasts the death of a soldier, sacrificing, 
 his life on the field of battle from a mere sense of 
 honor, with the death of a Christian martyr, dying- 
 from a sense of duty. 
 
 " The soldier," he says, "encouraged by the shouts 
 of his comrades and the stirring blasts of the buglej 
 and knowing that a more, certain death and, disgrace; 
 
BANBOLPH FAIMJPAX. 59 
 
 awaits him should he yield to the base impulses of 
 his nature, may perform prodigies of valor, and, 
 rushing through storms of shot, meet death at the 
 cannon's mouth. Contrast him with the martyr 
 who, rather than abjure bis faith and depart from 
 the path of duty, endures the scoffs of a misguided 
 rabble, and dies a death many times more terrible 
 than that of the soldier. How vastly superior is 
 the courage of the man who surmounts all difficulties 
 and braves all dangers from a sense of duty.'' 
 
 These principles our young friend not merely 
 maintained in theory, but he. illustrated them in his 
 life and sealed them with his blood. 
 
 He only lived bul till he was a man ; 
 The which no sooner had his prowess confirmed, 
 In the unshrinking station where he fought, 
 But like a man he died. 
 
 • One might well suppose that a young man so 
 much admired, beloved and lauded as We have seen 
 that Eandolph Fairfax was by his fellow-students 
 and -fellow-soldiers, would be likely to have more of 
 the Bpirit of the Pharisee than of the Publican. But 
 it would seem that the higher a man rises above the 
 earth, and the nearer his vision of God, the deeper 
 is his insight into his own heart. "When we only 
 hear of Grod by the hearing of the ear, we itiay have 
 a good opinion of ourselves ; but when we see Him 
 with the eye of faith, we abhor ourselves, and repent 
 in dust and ashes. That this was the case with Our 
 young friend, will appear in the daily record of his 
 experience, made when he was alone with Grod, and 
 which he never dreamed would be seen by the eye 
 
60" SKMTOH 01' TBE LIFB-OF 
 
 of man ; for no one knew of its existence until after 
 his death. We make a few more extracts from it^ 
 which are a fair sample of the whole book: 
 
 " How little do I know of myself, O God I I know 
 that my heart is deceitful above all things, and I 
 pray Thee to make it known to me, that I may cast 
 all the burden of my sin upon Christ, and obtain a 
 new heart. O Father, reveal thyself to me, through 
 thy Son, and shed abroad thy love in my heart. 
 Let me not deceive myself by any appearance of 
 holiness, but may I forget those things which are 
 behind, and press forward towards Thee. Oh 1 
 when shall I cease sinning and be truly regenerated 
 by the Holy Spii-it ? My heart is not influenced as 
 it ought to be by the love of God, or how could I 
 find it so hard to serve him ? O God, put thy fear 
 in my heart, and let not the fear of man keep me 
 from my duty. Oh ! reveal thyself to me, and show 
 me my deep sinfulness, and show me also my Saviour 
 on the cross, and enable me to go to him. Wean me 
 from this sinful world ; soften my heart, and give 
 me a single eye to thy glory. Grant nie grace to 
 keep all my good resolutions, not trusting in my own 
 strength, which is weakness, but in thine almighty 
 aid, which can make me truly one of thy servants, 
 although I am. so sinful." 
 
 4-gain : 
 
 "Another Sabbath is past, and how have I im- 
 proved my opportunities ? Have I grown in grace ? 
 My soul sinks within me when I reflect upon these 
 questions. I have sinned against the great majesty 
 of God in not worshipping him with my whole 
 heart. I have partaken of the Holy Communion, 
 
BANDOLPH FAIRFAX. 61 
 
 and I hope to the good of my soul ; but if not, how 
 great is my danger? Do I love God, or no? is a 
 question which tries my very heart. O God, if I 
 -have never loved Thee before, help me to begin 
 to-day ! Oh, how hard my heart seems. I can 
 think of God, but he seems like some great being 
 afar off, whom I can never reach. My faith is so 
 small. Oh, reveal thyself to me; my heart is so 
 proud and sinful, and so much actuated by the 
 praises of men. O God, humble me in the dust; 
 teach me to know myself, and make thyself known 
 to me through my crucified Lord. Make the union 
 between thy Spirit and mine closer and closer." 
 
 Such was Eandolph Fairfax's estimate of himself 
 when alone with God, whose all-seeing eye was 
 shining through him, revealing every mote to his 
 own eye. While the mouths of others were ringing 
 with his praises, he laid his hand upon his own 
 tnouth in the dust, and cried, " God be merciful to 
 me, a sinner." Such is the history of a private in 
 the I'anks, which we dedicate to the privates of the 
 Confederate army. May they follow the example 
 of his life as he followed Christ, and may his death 
 inspire them with renewed devotion to the cause 
 which drew from his bleeding heart its last libation. 
 
 How glorious fall the valiant, sword in liand, 
 In front of battle for their native land. 
 
 But youth's fair form, though fallen, is ever fair, 
 And beautiful in death the boy appears — 
 The hero boy that dies in blooming years; 
 In man's regret he lives, and woman's tears, 
 More sacred than in life, and lovelier far 
 For having perished in the front of war. 
 
62 ■ r OENEAZvaY. 
 
 THE FAIEPAX FAMILY. 
 
 This family dates from the Conquest. The name 
 is Saxon,, and means fair hair. ' 
 
 Eandolph Fairfax, the subject of this Memoir, is' 
 lineal descendant of Sir Gay Fairfax of Steeton, 
 Yorkshire, 12th in descent from the founder of the' 
 family, and Judge of King's Bench, 1477. Sir Wm, 
 Fairfax,- his grandson, was High Sheriff of York- 
 shire, temp. Henry VIII. Sir Thomas, Ms son, who 
 served in Italy and Germany, was also High Sheriff 
 in 1571. He was the father of Sir Thomas of 
 Denton, who was knighted at the siege of Rouen in 
 1594, by the Earl of Essex, Captain-General of the 
 Queen's forces, and afterwards raised to the peerage 
 (1627) with the title of Lord Fairfax, Baron of 
 Cameron. He died, aged eighty, in 1640. His son, 
 Ferdinand, succeeded to the title. Thomas, son of 
 the last, was the famous Lord General of the Parlia- 
 mentary forces, and his name is interwoven with the 
 annals of the " Great Eebellion." He dissented from 
 Cromwell's extreme measures towards the King, and 
 was afterwards active in the restoration of monarchj'. 
 His only child, a daughter, married the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham. The title descended to Henry, eldest son 
 of Eev. Henry Fairfax, Eector of Bolton Percy, who 
 was the 2d son of the Ist Lord. He and his son 
 Thomas, the 5th Lord, were prominent in the Eevo- 
 lution of 1688. The 5th Lord marrieci Catherine, 
 daughter of Lord Culpeper, and their son Thomas 
 (the 6th Lord) derived, through his mother, Leeds 
 Castle in Kent, several manors in England, and the 
 
GBNEALOCtY. 63 
 
 Northern Heck of Yirginia, containing more than 
 five millions of acres of land. He died a bachelor 
 at Green way Court in Virginia, December 9th, 1781, 
 in the ninety-second year of his age. The title went/ 
 to his brother Eobert, of Leeds Castle, who also 
 dying without issue, the title reverted to Eev. Bryan 
 Fairfax, Rector of Fairfax Parish, Virginia, who was 
 the son of Wm. Fairfax of Belvoir, Virginia (first 
 cousin of the last two lords). Thomas of Vaucluse, 
 the eldest son of Bryan, succeeded him as 9th Lord. 
 He married Miss Herbert, and had four sons : 1. 
 Albert ; 2. Henry, who died in the Mexican War ; 
 3. Orlando, M. D., who married Mary Randolph 
 Cary, and was the father of Eandolph Fairfax, the 
 subject of this Memoir; 4. Reginald. Albert, the 
 eldest son, who married Miss Snowden of Maryland, 
 died before his father, and on the death of the 
 latter in 1846, the title went to bis eldest son, 
 Charles Snowden Fairfax, who dying childless in 
 1869, the title went to his brother, John Contee 
 Faii'fax, M. D., the 11th and present Lord. 
 
 The first of the family who came to America was 
 Colonel Wm. Fairfax, son of Henry of Towlston, 
 Yorkshire, and nephew of Lord Lonsdale. He 
 served in Queen Anne's war in' Spain, and was 
 Governor of the Isle of Providence. Rj his first 
 wife, Sarah Walker, he had four children : 1. Geo. 
 Wm., who married Sarah Cary ; 2. Thomas, E. N., 
 killed 1746; 3. Anne married Lawrence, elder brother 
 of Gen. Washington ; 4. Mrs. Carlyle. He settled in 
 Salem, Mass., in 1725, as collector of customs, and 
 married there his second wife, Deborah, daughter of 
 Francis Clarke, by whom he had three children : 1. 
 7 
 
64 aENHALOGT. 
 
 Bryan, afterward 8fch Lord and Eeotor of Fairfax 
 Parish, who married Elizabeth Gary ; 2. Wm. Henry, 
 killed at Quebec under Wolfe*; 3. Hannah, who 
 married Warner Washington, a first cousin to Gen. 
 Washington. At the request of his kinsman, the pro- 
 prietor of the Northern Neck, he came to Virginia in 
 1734, to look after that immense estate, which had 
 been under the care of Robert, commonly called King 
 Carter. He opened an office, first in Westmoreland, 
 and thew moved to J''airfax county, where he built 
 Belvoir, near Mount Yernou. He was Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of that county, collector of South Potomac, 
 and President of the Council of Virginia. He died 
 September 3, 1757. His eldest son, George Wm. 
 Fairfax, was co-surveyor with Washington, and 
 succeeded to his father's employments. It was 
 while canvassing for this gentleman for the House 
 of Burgesses that Washington was knocked down 
 by the ancestor of Bishop Payne, and instead of 
 challenging Payne, as was expected, acknowledged 
 himself to be in the wrong, and magnanimously 
 volunteered an apology. Mr. Fairfax died in Eng- 
 land in 1787. 
 
 Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Proprietor of the Northern 
 Neck, came first to America in 1739, and finally in 
 1746; and after living for several years with his 
 kinsman at Belvoir, removed to Frederick county, 
 where he built Greenway Court, hear the White 
 Post, in what is now Clarke county. He was a man 
 of high culture, having been in England a member 
 of the famous Kit Cat Club, and with Addison one 
 
 • Before the battle General Woire touched him on the shoulder and Bald : 
 "Young man, when we come Into action, remember your name!" 
 
GENEALOar. 65 
 
 of the writers of the Spectator^ Although living 
 long in the wilderness, he retained his courtly 
 manners. He was Lord Lieutenant and keeper of 
 the rolls of the county, and presided at the courts 
 in Winchester, where he kept an open table. After 
 Braddock's defeat he was in constant peril from the 
 Indians, who were said to be specially covetous of 
 his scalp, and yet he could not be induced to remove 
 to a place of safety. His favorite amusement was 
 hunting; and after carrying his hounds to distant 
 hunting grounds, his habit was to entertain all 
 gentlemen who attended him in the field. He was 
 munificent to the poor and princely towards his 
 tenants. Although a Loyalist, he was not molested 
 except by being, doubly taxed. He died a bachelor 
 at Greenway Court in 1781, in the ninety-second 
 year of his age. He was buried under the com- 
 munion table of the Episcopal church at Winchester, 
 whose site and the graveyard surrounding it he had 
 given, and of which he was an active vestryman and 
 communicant. It is worthy of being noted that 
 political differences never marred the friendship nor 
 interrupted the social relations of Washington and 
 the earlier Fairfaxes. He kept up a friendly corres- 
 pondence with them, did them many good oflfices, 
 and bequeathed to the rector of Fairfax Parish the 
 elegant Bible in three folios presented to him by 
 Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man. Irving and 
 other authors ascribe to Washington's intimate 
 association with these highly cultivated and courtly 
 Christian gentlemen much influence in the formation 
 and development, of his own unique character and 
 career. 
 
66 OENBALOOT. 
 
 See Ward's Diary of an American Refugee in Eng- 
 land, to which I acknowledge my obligations. See 
 also Fairfax Correspondence, 4 vols. 8vo, for extracts 
 from which I am indebted to L. M. Blackford, Esq., 
 Principal of the Episcopal High School of Virginia, 
 a gentleman who aims to realise the ideal of Arnold 
 of Eugby. 
 
GENBAL0G7. 67 
 
 THE GARY FAMILY. 
 
 Lower, in his " Norman Surnames," says, " The 
 Carys, originally Pipart, were of Normandy in 1180, 
 but on settling in England had the lands of Kari 
 and assumed the present name." The first we find 
 in history was Adam de Kari, Lord of Castle Kari 
 in Somerset, temp. Richard Cceur de Lion. His 
 descendant. Sir John Cary, of Cockington and Clo- 
 velly, Devon, was Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer 
 (temp. Richard IL), and suffered confiscation and 
 banishment for adhering to his king. His son, Sir 
 Eobert, by acts of gallantry propitiated Henry V., 
 who restored part of his estates. Sir Robert's grand- 
 son. Sir William, was beheaded after the battle of 
 Tewkesbury (1471) for fighting under the banner of 
 Lancaster, and his broad acres fell to a Yorkist. A 
 partial restoration ' was made to his eldest son by 
 Henry VII., but the riches of their forefathers were 
 no longer theirs, and the younger sons sought their 
 fortunes elsewhere, some at court, and others at 
 Bristol and London, then the great commercial 
 mai'ts of England. Sir "William's eldest son recovered 
 Clovelly and Cockington, and from him descends a 
 long line of knights and squires to the pi-esent head 
 of the family, Robert Cary, of Torre Abbey, Torquay, 
 Devonshire, a man of great wealth. Sir William's 
 second son, Thomas, married a granddaughter of 
 the Duke of Somerset, and was ancestor of the 
 ennobled branches of the family, Falkland, Hunsdon, 
 Dover,-and Monmouth. Thus: Thomas Cary married 
 Eleanor Spencer, and his son, Sir John, was the 
 7* 
 
68 QENEALOar. 
 
 father of Sir Edward, master of the jewel-house to 
 Queen Elizabeth and James I. His son, Sir Henry, 
 •was Knight of the Bfith, comptroller of the King's 
 household (1617), Lord Deputy of Ireland (1622), and 
 was about the same time (1620) created Yiseount 
 Falkland, being in high esteem with the King for 
 great abilities. He died at the age of thirtj'^-seven 
 from breaking his leg in Theobald Park, 1633. His 
 son, Sir Lucius, was the great Lord Falkland, Secre- 
 tary of State, orator, poet, divine. He was the 
 intimate friend of Boylo, Chillingworth, and the 
 poets Sandys, Cowley and "Walter. His library at 
 Tew was the armory whence Chillingworth drew 
 his weapons of controversy with the Romanists. 
 Bishop Barlow says that most of the authorities 
 that Chillingworth made such use of he owed to my 
 Lord Falkland, who was a true son of the Church of 
 England; and Sir , John Suckling, in his "Session of 
 the Poets," says of him: — 
 
 " But lie was of late so gone with divinity 
 That he had almost forgot his poetry ; 
 Though, to say truth, and Apollo did know it, 
 He might have been both his priest and his poet.", 
 
 The issue of this lord, who fell at Newbury in the 
 thirty-fourth year of his age, failed in his grandson 
 Anthony, 5th Viscount. The present Viscount is 
 descended from Patrick, brother of the great Falk- 
 land, of whom Walter Scott speaks, in "Woodstock," 
 as " the witty young priest." 
 
 Another son of Thomas Cary and Eleanor Spencer 
 was William, who married Mary Boleyn, whose son 
 was Henry, Lord Hunsdon, who was the father of 
 
GENEALOGY. 69 
 
 Sir George (2d Lord Hunsdon), Sir John (3d Lord), 
 Sir Edmund, and Sir Robert, Barl of Monmouth. 
 The line of the 3d Lord Hunsdon failed in his grand- 
 Bon, John, 5th Lord Hunsdon and 2d Earl of Dover, 
 and the title became extinct in 1765 on the death of 
 William Eerdinand, 8th Lord, descended from Sir 
 Edmund, 3d son of the Ist Lord. Sir Robert Gary, 
 youngest son of Ist Hunsdon, was created by 
 Charles I. Barl of Monmouth. The title became ex- - 
 tinet at the death (1661) of Henry, 2d Earl, his son 
 Lionel, Lord Leppington, having been slain at Mars- 
 ton Moor. Thomas Cai'y, brother of the 2d Earl 
 (a poet of note, sometimes erroneously called Carew, 
 the two names being pronounced nearly alike in 
 England), left an only daughter, who carried the 
 title of Monmouth into the Mordaunt family. The 
 Hunsdon branch usually spelt the name Carey. 
 
 Colonel Archy Cary of Ampthili, of whom Mr. 
 Grigsby has painted so fine a portrait in his grand 
 historical picture of thg Convention of 1776, has been 
 thought in Virginia to be the heir of the Hunsdon 
 title at the death of the last lord (1765). This error 
 probably arose from the fact that in the pedigree in 
 the Heralds College in London the Oarys of Virginia 
 afe duly recognized as kinsmen by Lord Hunsdon. 
 
 The direct ancestor of the Carys of Virginia was 
 William Cary, one of the merchant princes of Bristol, 
 who became Mayor of that city in 1546, temp. 
 Henry VIII. His grandson William was also Mayor 
 in 1611. The first Virginia ancestor. Colonel Myles 
 Cary, grandson of the last mayor, came from Bristol 
 soon after its .surrender to the Roundheads in 1645. 
 He soon became prominent in the colony, was a 
 
70 GENEALOGY. 
 
 member of the House of Burgesses (1659) from 
 Warwick, Bscheator General, Collector of Customs 
 for James River, and a member of the King's Council 
 under Sir William Berkeley. In 1665 he superin- 
 tended under royal orders the building of a fort on 
 the present site of Fortress Monroe; and here he 
 lost his life repelling an attack of the Dutch navy 
 (1667). Of his four sons, the male Gary descendants 
 of the elder, Thomas, if any, are unknown. Those of 
 Henry, the 2d son, became extinct with his grandson, 
 Col. Archibald Cary of Ampthill (Old Iron). Wilson 
 Miles Cary, of Baltimore, represents the family of 
 Col. Miles Cary, the 3d son, who was Surveyor- 
 General of Virginia, Burgess for Warwick (1692- 
 1699), one of the revisers of the Code of 1705, and 
 Eoyal Collector of Customs for York Eiver. He 
 married a great heiress, Mary, daughter of Col. Wm. 
 Wilson ; hence the name Wilson, which the eldest 
 son has borne for six generations. Of his two sons, 
 Miles, the younger, died unmarried. Of his two 
 daughters, Mary married Josejjh Selden ; hence 
 nearly all the Seldens of Virginia, except those of 
 Norfolk. Anne married Col. Whiting, of Gloucester. 
 Col. Wilson Cary, of Ceeleys and Eichneck (the 
 former estate on James Eiver near Hampton, tile 
 latter in Warwick), the eldest son, was educated at 
 William and Mary College, Virginia, and at Trinity 
 College, Cambridge. He was a gentleman of literary 
 culture, presiding magistrate and county-lieutenant 
 of Elizabeth City. Wilson Miles Cary, of Baltimore, 
 has a remnant of his fine library. He died, aged 
 seventy, before the Eevolution. Besides an only 
 son he left four daughters : I. Sarah, wife of George 
 
aSNBALOQY. 71 
 
 Wm. Fairfax. She it was who inspired Washington 
 with such an ardent passion. 2. Mary, wife of 
 Edward Ambler, of Jamestown ; hence all the Vir- 
 ginia Amblers, one of whom was the wife of Chief 
 Justice Marshall. 3. Anne, who married Eobert 
 Carter Nicholas, the treasurer, and was the mother 
 of four distinguished sons. 4. Elizabeth, married 
 . Bryan, younger brother of George Wm. Fairfax. 
 She is the ancestress of all the Fairfaxes of this 
 family in Virginia. The only son, Col. Wilson Miles 
 Cary, of Ceelys, Eichneck, Hampton, Williamsburg, 
 and Carysbrook, Fluvanna, to which latter place he 
 moved about 1812, and where he died in 1817 at the 
 age of eighty-four, was a man of great wealth, and 
 pi'ominent in the Legislature and Church assemblies 
 of his time. There is an amusing anecdote of him 
 in Bishop Meade's "Old Churches," Vol. I. p. 50. 
 By his wife Sarah, daughter of the Hon. John Blair 
 and sister of Judge Blair (U. S. Supreme Court), he 
 left an only son and three daughters, viz : Mrs. 
 Thomas Nelson, Jr., Mrs. Wm. Peachy, and Mrs. 
 Ferdinand Fairfax, all distinguished, for their great 
 beauty. The son, Wilson, who died long before his 
 father in 1793, aged thirty-three, married Jean, 
 daughter of Dabney Carr and niece of Thomas 
 Jefferson. Of this marriage there were two sons 
 and one daughter (Mrs. Newsum). The sons were 
 Wilson Jefferson Cary and Col. Miles Cary, whose 
 family is now represented by his only two grand- 
 sons, Hunsdon Cary of Memphis, Tenn., and Wilson 
 Miles Cary of Eichmond. Wilson Jefferson Cary, 
 the eldest son, married Virginia, daughter of Thomas 
 Mann Eandolph of Tuckahoe, whose children were 
 
72 
 
 &BNEALO&y. 
 
 the late Wilson Miles Gary of Baltimore, and Mary 
 Eandolph Gary, who married Dr. Orlando Fairfax, 
 whose son, Randolph Fairfax, is the subject of this 
 Memoir. 
 
 DESCENT FEOM POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Pocahontas 
 Thomas Eolfe 
 Jane Bolfe 
 John Boiling 
 Jane Boiling 
 Mary Eandolph ... 
 Anne Gary 
 Virginia Eandolph 
 Mary Eandolph Gary 
 
 Eandolph 
 
 John Eolfe 
 Miss Poythress 
 Eobert Boiling 
 Mary Kennon 
 Eichard Eandolph 
 Archibald Gary 
 Thos. Maun Eandolph 
 Wilson Jefferson Gary 
 Orlando Fairfax 
 Fairfax. 
 
 The author is under special obligations to Mr. 
 Wilson Miles Gary of Baltimore, lawyer and littera- 
 teur, and the living representative of a long line of 
 historical ancestors. 
 

 
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