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VMI and the Battle
Affiliation: Class of 1859; Superintendent
Biography & Genealogy: Scott Ship (spelling of name changed to 'Shipp' around 1883), Class of 1859 & VMI's 2nd Superintendent.
Genealogy:
- Born- Aug. 2, 1839 at Warrenton, Va.
- Father- Capt. John Ship; Mother- Lucy Blackwell Scott of Fauquier Co. Va.
- No information on grandparents.
- Married- Anne Alexander Morson, daughter of Arthur A. Morson of Richmond, Va. on Aug. 19, 1869.
- Children- 1- Elizabeth Scott Shipp Tucker, who married Col. Nathaniel Beverly Tucker; 2- Lucy Scott Shipp Huger, who married Benjamin Huger; 3- Col. Arthur Morson Scott Shipp. (US Army).
VMI Record:
- Entered VMI- Aug. 14, 1856; Graduated July 4, 1859 standing 4th in a class of 29.
Civil War Record: Assistant Adjutant General at Camp Lee in Spring of 1861; Appointed Major of 21st Va. Infantry in June, 1861; Detailed to VMI Jan. 20, 1862; Commandant of Cadets 1862-64; Unofficial sources says he served as Private in the 4th Va. Cavalry during the summer of 1863 while on leave from VMI; New Market Staff - Commanded Cadet Battalion at the Battle of New Market May 15, 1864, where he was slightly wounded in action (took a small piece of shell in the face); served with the Cadets in the trenches at Richmond until the Corps disbanded in 1865.
Careers: Teacher, School official; Unofficial source says he worked as a railroader before teaching at VMI; Lieut. and Asst. Prof. of Math and Latin and Asst. Instructor of Infantry Tactics at VMI 1859-60; Studied Law before the War; Lt. Col. and Prof. of Military History and Strategy; Instructor of Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry Tactics and Commandant of Cadets 1862-64; At Washington College 1865-66; Col. and Prof. of Military History and Commandant of Cadets at VMI 1865-90; Brig. Gen. and Superintendent of VMI 1890-1907; On Board of Visitors of both US Military Academy (1890) and US Naval Academy (1894)
Died: Dec. 4, 1917 in Lexington, Va.
Affiliation: Class of 1867
Biography & Genealogy: Thomas Garland Jefferson, Class of 1867. "Died on the Field of Honor."
Genealogy:
- Born- January 1, 1847, in Amelia County, Virginia. Father- John Garland Jefferson; Mother- Otelia Mansfield Howlett.
- Paternal grandparents: John Garland Jefferson and Mary Ann "Nancy" Booker.
- Maternal grandparents- unknown.
- Cadet Jefferson was the great-great-nephew of President Thomas Jefferson
VMI Record: Matriculated on August 1, 1863; New Market Cadet, Private, Co. B., mortally wounded at the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864; died May 18, 1864, in New Market, Va. He is buried beneath the New Market Monument at VMI.
| Born | April 27, 1945 |
| Birthplace | Berry Hill in Orange, Virginia |
| Married | No |
| Children | None |
| Occupation | Cadet at Virginia Military Institute |
| Hometown | Orange Court House, Virginia |
| Died | New Market, Virginia on May 15, 1864 |
Bev, as he was known to his family, enrolled in the Corps of Cadets at Virginia Military Institute on January 20, 1863. There he made many friends including John S. Wise, his roommate at the Institute. Bev (or Jack as he was known at school) and John were left to guard a baggage wagon at the start of the battle. Not content to wait out the battle in comparative safety, they disobeyed orders and joined the cadets marching to the front. Both were injured in the battle, and Stanard died on the porch of the Bushong farmhouse, bleeding to death from a leg wound.
Staunton May the 12th 1864
My darling Mother,
No doubt a letter written from this place will take you greatly by surprise. Well to relieve your anxiety I will tell you before going further and keep you from uneasiness. On Tuesday night an order came from Gen. Breckinridge calling us immediately to Staunton. . . and are tonight encamped one mile out of town. I have run the blockade and come in to take tea with Cary Taylor, and that I might write this letter. Am I not good?…The Yankees are reported coming up the Valley with a force of 9000 strong. Our Corps will run Gen. B up to 5000 maybe more. I hope we may be able to lick them out. I have suffered more with my feet this march (so far) than I ever did on all the others together…Well darling Mother I have written enough I suppose to relieve your mind as to our destination so I must stop and go in the parlor. Some young ladies there…And now my dear Mother that I may be spared to see you all again, and that you may continue in good health will be the nightly prayer of
Your darling boy, Bev
Letter of Jacquelin B. Stanard
VMI Corps of Cadets
Letters of New Market Cadet
Edited by John G. Barrett and Robert K. Turner Jr.
The University of North Carolina Press
Copyright1961
Source : The Battle of New Market by Dr. Joseph W. A. Whitehorne
In 1839 the Virginia legislature approved replacing the guard company at the Lexington Arsenal with a military school. The school was intended to provide a source of competent militia officers, engineers, and teachers. It proved to be the states greatest source of officers in 1861; of sixty-four regiments raised that year, twenty-two were commanded by VMI graduates. Of 1,902 VMI matriculates from 1839 to 1865, 1,781 served in the Confederate Army. In April 1861 the Corps of Cadets, 200 strong, performed training duties in Richmond. The school resumed "normal" operations in January 1862 with 269 cadets. The corps was called out as reserve in April and May 1862 during Jackson's McDowell Campaign and took to the field three times in 1863 to support resistance against Federal cavalry raids in southwest Virginia. Following New Market, the corps was ordered to Richmond, where it served briefly in the city's defenses. It returned to Lexington in June to resist Hunter's advance, but could do little to prevent the Federal burning of Institute facilities. The corps was furloughed from July to October, when it was reassembled at Richmond where it served again periodically in the city defenses. It was disbanded on 2 April 1865 on the eve of the evacuation of Richmond. The Institute reopened at Lexington in October 1865.
VMI Casualties
Killed in Action:
- Cabell, William H.
- Crockett, Charles G.
- Jones, Henry J.
- McDowell, William H.
- Stanard, Jaqueline B.
Died of Wounds:
- Atwill, Samuel A., 20 Jul 64
- Hartsfield, Alva C., 26 Jun 64
- Haynes, Luther C., c. 15 Jun 64
- Jefferson, Thomas G., 18 May 64
- Wheelwright, Joseph C., 2 Jun 64
Wounded in Action:
- Akers, Reuben C.
- Berkeley, Edmund, Jr.
- Bradford, John F.
- Buster, William D.*
- Christian, Edward D.
- Cocke, John P.
- Corling, Charles T.
- Darden, James D.
- Dickinsen, Jesse I.
- Dillard, William, Jr.
- Garnett, Griffin T.
- Garrow, Harris W.
- Gibson, Franklin G.
- Goodwin, James H.
- Harris, Willis O.
- Harrison, Carter H.
- Hill, Archibald G.
- Howard, John C.
- Imboden, Jacob P.
- Johnson, Porter
- Jones, Walter S.
- Macon, George K.
- Marshall, Martin
- Mead, Henry J.
- Merritt, James L.
- Moorman, Edwin S.
- Pendleton, Robert A.
- Phillips, Samuel T.
- Pizzini, Andrew, Jr.
- Preston, James B.
- Randolph, Charles C.
- Read, Charles H.
- Shipp, Scott
- Shriver, Samuel S.
- Smith, Charles H.
- Smith, Edward H.
- Smith, Francis L.
- Spiller, George
- Stuart, John A.
- Triplett, John R.
- Upshur, John N.
- Walker, Charles D.
- Walter, Charles P.
- Watson, William P.
- White, Thomas W.
- Whitehead, Henry C.
- Wise, John S.
- Wise, Louis C.
- Woodlief, Pierre W., Jr.
- Wyatt, John W.
* Died of typhoid April 1865 with corps at Richmond
A Civilian's Story
| Born | April 12, 1838 |
| Birthplace | Presbyterian Manse in Fort Defiance, VA |
| Married | Married in 1871 to John Crim |
| Children | four, two sons and two daughters |
| Occupation | milliner (maker of ladies hats) |
| Hometown | New Market, Virginia |
| Died | New Market, VA on November 6, 1931 |
Known to her friends as Lydie: petite, dark-haired Eliza Crim was well known in New Market for her compassion. After the Battle of New Market, she helped care for the wounded from both sides and even nursed the dying cadet, Thomas G. Jefferson in her own home. After his death she journeyed eighty miles to return his personal effects to his grieving family. She is said to have made the first Confederate flag for the town as well as introducing the tradition of Christmas trees to New Market homes. Because of her love and care for the VMI cadets who fought at New Market, (she called them “her boys”) she was awarded the New Market Cross of Honor along with all the cadets involved in the battle; the only woman ever to receive this award. Upon her death at the age of 93, a squad of cadets carried her flag draped casket and laid her to rest under a tombstone that reads, “Mother of the New Market Corps”.
My dear friend,
I want to tell you something about the battle of New Market…How well I can remember it all, and how it frightened my poor old mother and the little children. They were taken to the cellar for protection. The day of the battle I stood on the doorstep. My brother called to come and look at the fine soldiers coming down Shirley’s hill. This was the first time I ever saw the Virginia Military cadets. They looked so nice and trim as they ran down the hill…I will never forget those brave boy soldiers as they ran down the hill to victory and death…I ran down to the battlefield to help with the wounded. I was the first woman to go there…They told me of a poor little cadet lying down at the Lightfoot farm, badly wounded. I told them to bring him up to my home…the now Sir Moses Ezekiel, of Rome, Italy, who was then a pretty black curly-headed Jewish boy, brought him to my home in an ambulance and carried him in…When we laid him down he looked up and said, “Sister, what a good soft bed.”…His name was Thomas Garland Jefferson. He was about 16 years of age, was blue-eyed and had golden hair. I will never forget him and his sweet boyish face… He died in Moses Ezekiel’s arms…Sleep on, sleep on, my beautiful soldier boys, who gave your precious young lives for a cause we all believed to be right, and are now resting under the “shade of the trees.”
The Mother of the old war Battalion,
E.C. Crim
Excerpts from a letter written by Eliza Crim to Mrs. I.V. Johnson in 1909
