PEYTON ANDERSON - FIRST CONFEDERATE WOUNDED IN CIVIL WAR AND MOSBY RANGER
FROM WASHINGTON TIMES, MAY 14, 2204 ARTICLE
Peyton Anderson, a soldier in what became the 6th Virginia Cavalry, who was shot in the right arm on May 27, 1861, near Fairfax Circle.
Anderson was on picket duty at the time with another soldier, William Lillard, who was captured during the incident.
The two Confederates had been assigned to the Falls Church road with instructions to fire two shots of warning and retreat to Fairfax if they sighted Union soldiers. Anderson survived the wound and was soon after discharged for disability. Injury did not keep him away for long because he later joined Col. John Mosby’s 43rd Cavalry.
In a previously unpublished letter, dated May 27, 1927, on file in the Fairfax Research Room of the Fairfax County Public Library, a witness to the shooting wrote:
“In the early morning of May 27th, 1861, I, as a boy of fourteen years of age was passing the spot where the Flint Hill and Falls Church roads intersect. At this time there were two Confederate pickets stationed there; one lying in the pine woods nearby and the other on his horse on duty, each dressed in civilian clothes with a feather in their hats. [NOTE: Flint Hill road was renamed Blake Lane and Fall Church road was renamed Lee Highway Route 29]
“I had not gone far down the road before I was met by a squad of cavalry which I counted as boys are wont to do, finding twenty-four men and one Officer.
“They were dressed and equipped so finely that I was sure that they were Union soldiers. I was soon to realize this truth, for as they approached the foot of the hill they spurred their horses into a gallop and soon surrounded the two surprised pickets.
“It was but a moment until a shot rang out followed by a puff of smoke and as I hurried homeward to tell my friends what I had seen I was again passed by the troop of cavalry, who this time had a prisoner. I have since learned that the bullet found its mark in the person of Peyton Anderson,
Comment below attributed to Paul Herbert is a criminal investigator and resides in Fairfax.
Had it not been for the fact that he was fighting against the United States, Anderson could be called a true “Yankee doodle dandy” because he was born, in 1837, on the Fourth of July.
Anderson married Louemma Miller in 1876. After the early morning ceremony, they “began the long drive by buggy to Warrenton where they boarded a train for Philadelphia, Pa., to attend the Centennial Exposition,” according to a 1961 article in the Rappahannock News.
Peyton died on Jan. 12, 1914, and Louemma died in 1951 at the age of 102. They are both buried in Amissville, Va.
Peyton Anderson, a soldier in what became the 6th Virginia Cavalry, who was shot in the right arm on May 27, 1861, near Fairfax Circle.
Anderson was on picket duty at the time with another soldier, William Lillard, who was captured during the incident.
The two Confederates had been assigned to the Falls Church road with instructions to fire two shots of warning and retreat to Fairfax if they sighted Union soldiers. Anderson survived the wound and was soon after discharged for disability. Injury did not keep him away for long because he later joined Col. John Mosby’s 43rd Cavalry.
In a previously unpublished letter, dated May 27, 1927, on file in the Fairfax Research Room of the Fairfax County Public Library, a witness to the shooting wrote:
“In the early morning of May 27th, 1861, I, as a boy of fourteen years of age was passing the spot where the Flint Hill and Falls Church roads intersect. At this time there were two Confederate pickets stationed there; one lying in the pine woods nearby and the other on his horse on duty, each dressed in civilian clothes with a feather in their hats. [NOTE: Flint Hill road was renamed Blake Lane and Fall Church road was renamed Lee Highway Route 29]
“I had not gone far down the road before I was met by a squad of cavalry which I counted as boys are wont to do, finding twenty-four men and one Officer.
“They were dressed and equipped so finely that I was sure that they were Union soldiers. I was soon to realize this truth, for as they approached the foot of the hill they spurred their horses into a gallop and soon surrounded the two surprised pickets.
“It was but a moment until a shot rang out followed by a puff of smoke and as I hurried homeward to tell my friends what I had seen I was again passed by the troop of cavalry, who this time had a prisoner. I have since learned that the bullet found its mark in the person of Peyton Anderson,
Comment below attributed to Paul Herbert is a criminal investigator and resides in Fairfax.
Had it not been for the fact that he was fighting against the United States, Anderson could be called a true “Yankee doodle dandy” because he was born, in 1837, on the Fourth of July.
Anderson married Louemma Miller in 1876. After the early morning ceremony, they “began the long drive by buggy to Warrenton where they boarded a train for Philadelphia, Pa., to attend the Centennial Exposition,” according to a 1961 article in the Rappahannock News.
Peyton died on Jan. 12, 1914, and Louemma died in 1951 at the age of 102. They are both buried in Amissville, Va.