Tales from the road: The kid who died in Mrs. Cross' yard

Sharpshooter Lewis Branscomb, an Alabaman, suffered a mortal wound in the yard of this house.

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Each morning during my stay in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., I walked a short distance over the hill from the inn on Washington Street once owned by Robert E. Lee’s father, “Light Horse” Harry Lee, and on into the heart of town.

I walked past this house every day during
a three-day stay in Harpers Ferry.

Along the way, I passed two Civil War hospital sites, the fire department, a gorgeous bed of flowers, the Woman’s Club (est. 1915) and a coffee shop that serves massive chocolate chip cookies worth every calorie. At a red-brick house on Washington Street — the one where the 13-star United States flag slowly flaps in the breeze from the front porch — I lingered for a minute or two.

Here, on July 4, 1864 — our nation’s 88th birthday — a 21-year old private from Union Springs, Ala., named Lewis Branscomb fell victim to a Union sharpshooter’s bullet. A sharpshooter himself, the 3rd Alabama soldier ("Blackford’s Sharpshooters") had already lost two brothers during our awful war.

In the flyleaf of the Bible Lewis carried until his death, he had written a short note: “If found on my person please send to my mother Mrs. B.H. Branscomb at Union Springs, Alabama. Do so and oblige (friend) who ever you be.”

Nearly a year later, after the war’s end, the woman who lived in the red-brick house sent a letter to Lewis’ mother. Margaret Cross had discovered Lewis’ Bible in her yard.

Lewis Branscomb

“If you wish for the book you can [write me],” she wrote. “I will send it by mail immediately and if you wish to know any thing more I will then write you all that I know concerning your son. “

Several years ago, I connected with Frank Chappell, a Branscomb descendant, who guided me to the red-brick house over the phone from his house in Huntsville, Ala. What a surreal day that was.

Lewis' Bible remains lost to history and his final resting place is unknown despite efforts of his descendants to find it. But nearly 100 of the Branscomb brothers' wartime letters remarkably survived the war. They surfaced in 1991 in an old BVD underwear box marked "War Letters" in the family's possession.

On every visit to Harpers Ferry, I sneak a glance of the red-brick house on Washington and wonder about Lewis Branscomb, the kid from Alabama.

Where did he fall in Mrs. Cross’ yard?

Did he linger after the bullet tore into him?

What was that Union sharpshooter thinking when he squeezed the trigger of his weapon?

And, most importantly, was Lewis Branscomb’s sacrifice really worth it?

580 Washington Street in Harpers Ferry. Lewis Branscomb died in the yard of this house.

SOURCE

• Chappell, Frank Anderson, Dear Sister: Civil War Letters to a Sister in Alabama, Branch Springs Publishing, Hunstville, Ala., 2012.

A Civil War orphan's plea to President Taft: Help my sister

According to the date stamp, President Taft's White House received the letter from the daughter
 of Civil War veteran Isaac Bellis on June 16, 1910. (Note from National Archives via fold3.com)

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Trapped like "rats in a cage," the United States Army faced bleak prospects at Harpers Ferry, Va., in mid-September 1862. Confederates commanded Loudoun Heights, Maryland Heights and were prepared to sweep the Yankees off Bolivar Heights, closing the vise on 12,500 Union soldiers at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers.

"A general feeling of depression observable in all the men," an Ohio private wrote in his diary. "... All seem to think that we will have to surrender or be cut to pieces."

On Sept. 15, the day the U.S. Army surrendered, a Confederate artillery shell crashed among soldiers on Bolivar Heights, killing luckless 126th New York Private Isaac Bellis. The 45-year-old soldier, a father of seven, had enlisted in Milo, N.Y., only a little more than a month earlier. A cooper, he stood 5-foot-5 and had gray eyes, black hair and a dark complexion.

In May 1863, Bellis' wife, Anna, sought a widow's pension, which the government soon approved. She initially received $8 a month, later increased to $12. The couple had married in 1836. Even well into the next century, the ripple effects of Isaac Bellis' death were still felt by the family, who lived in Easton, Pa., about 70 miles north of Philadelphia.

When Isaac's widow became unable to take care of herself and a physically challenged son — a "cripple from a babe," he was called — her daughters Sarah and Anna Bellis stepped in. Another son, 23rd New York veteran John Henry Bellis, couldn't offer much assistance because he suffered from effects of a war wound to his thigh that opened "time after time."

           
          ABOVE AND BELOW: Bolivar Heights, where Private Isaac Bellis was killed.


                                  Click at upper right for full-screen experience.

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When her mother died in September 1890, Sarah initially believed Widow Bellis' pension "died with her." But later she hoped to transfer it to her unmarried sister, so Sarah sent a letter to the highest government authority in the land.

"Dear Sir," she wrote in a three-page letter to President William Howard Taft on June 15, 1910. "You will kindly pardon my addressing you, but I feel when looking at your various pictures that your heart must be as broad as your smile. I am writing to you on behalf of my sister. We are both soldiers' orphans."

After Isaac's death, Anna became the "bread winner" along with their mother, Sarah explained. "Sister and I always made a home and living for mother and our lame brother," she wrote, adding it was "almost impossible" for illiterate, 67-year-old Anna to "earn anything" outside the home.

"She is so worthy of [a pension]," Sarah Danver continued in the letter to Taft, "having remained single when she could have made a home for herself and giving the best of her life in Father's place." Sarah hoped the president would give the request "earnest consideration."

Five days after Sarah wrote to the president, a government bureaucrat typed a one-page reply.

"Your letter of the 15th instant, addressed to the President, was forwarded to this Bureau as it related to the question of title to pension of your sister, and was received on the 18th," the Bureau of Pensions worker wrote.

Added the bureaucrat: "There is no law under which your mother's pension can be transferred to your sister, or under which she can be pensioned in her own right."

Sarah's sister, Anna, died in April 1928. The final resting place of their father is unknown.

National Archives via fold3.com.

6-15-10
Easton, Pa.

To William Howard Taft
President of the United States
Washington D.C.

Dear Sir:

You will kindly pardon my addressing you, but I feel when looking at your various pictures that your heart must be as broad as your smile. I am writing this in behalf of my sister. We are both soldiers orphans and I am a widow. My father Isaac Bellis and my oldest brother John Henry Bellis fought side by side in the ...

National Archives via fold3.com.

... battle of Antietam. Father was killed and brother seriously wounded in the thigh. Mother was left with six small children at home. I was the baby in arms and sister was the oldest none able to earn their living but always willing to do their best. The oldest brother at home being a cripple from a babe. The sister in behalf of whom I am writing being the bread winner with Mother. My oldest brother that was wounded in the army was honorably discharged but the wound opened time after time and it was a long time before he was able to work being a machinist. For eight long years, he suffered in this way and then it ended in hasty consumption. His friends tried to persuade him to apply for a pension but he refused with the reply that when he was well he could work and he always thought he would be real well again.

Mother then received a pension of $8.00 dolls, which was afterward increased to $12.00 dolls ...

National Archives via fold3.com.

... Sister and I always made a home and living for mother and our lame brother. Mother died in 1890. Her pension died with her, but we were all strong and well then and able to work and all these years have done so, caring just enough to keep ourselves together. Sister is now 67 years and it is almost impossible for her to earn anything, and I have written this to ask the great favor of having Mother's pension transferred to her for the short time she is here. She is so worthy of it having remained single when she could have made a home for herself and giving the best of her life in Father's place. She can not write nor read writing. Would you kindly give this your very earnest consideration and if you feel that the prayer can be granted address ...

Mrs. S.E. Danver, 903 Ferry St., Easton, Pa.

Sisters name is
Anna M. Bellis

Very Sincerely

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 SOURCES

• Find A Grave
• Isaac Bellis widow's pension file, National Archives & Records Service, Washington, D.C., via fold3.com
• Lewis Bryam Hull Diary. Lewis B. Hull. Co. F. 60th OVI. 27 pages. Typed copy of the diary, Oct. 31, 1861-Oct. 12, 1862, of Lewis Bryam Hull, Co. F, 60th O.V.I., edited by Myra E. Hull. Location of original unknown. Call# VFM 831. Ohio Historical Society. Columbus, Ohio.
• New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, National Archives via fold3.com

A soldier's death in Mrs. Cross' yard in Harpers Ferry

A Union sharpshooter killed Lewis Branscomb of the Third Alabama in the front yard of
 this house on Washington Street in Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
 (Lewis' photo courtesy Frank Chappell)

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Shortly after war erupted, four sons of  Bennett and Eliza Branscomb enlisted in the Third Alabama Infantry, causing great angst in their household in Union Springs, 45 miles southeast of Montgomery.

A little more than a year into the fighting, tragedy hit home when word arrived of the death from measles of 31-year-old William Branscomb in a military hospital in Richmond. 

"Don't grieve Ma," Private James Branscomb wrote to his mother on June 25, 1862, 10 days after William's death. "He is better off though tis hard to lose him. You may have more to grieve for than him before this war ends."

Those words proved prophetic.

On May 19, 1864, James fell at the Battle of Harris Farm, near Spotsylvania Courthouse, Va. He was only 25.

Private James Branscomb of the 3rd Alabama
was killed at the Battle of Harris Farm
on May 19, 1864.
(Photo courtesy Frank Chappell)

During a break in brutal fighting near Richmond in early June 1864, probably at Cold Harbor, Va., Private Lewis Branscomb wrote a short note to his sister, Lucinda. Apparently unaware of his brother's death in battle, the Third Alabama sharpshooter poured out his feelings about a war that had claimed several of his friends and messmates.

"My mess is all gone but me," the 21-year-old soldier wrote on June 5, 1864. "... I know I have a few good christians far away praying for me. The fighting still continues. No more. Give my love to all and write soon. I have not received but one letter since the first of May. If you all knew how much comfort it would give me to get a letter from home you would write.

"Excuse this note," Lewis concluded, "as I have almost lost my mind."

Less than a month later, on July 4, 1864, a United States sharpshooter killed Lewis in the yard of a house on Washington Street in Harpers Ferry, Va., (now West Virginia). The owner of the house recovered Lewis' Bible, and nearly three months after the war had ended, she wrote a letter to his mother in Alabama:

Harpers Ferry, Va.,
July the 2nd, 1865

Mrs. Branscomb 
Dear Madam

On the 4 of July will be one year since the Confederate soldiers was here and there was a young man killed in my yard by a sharpshooter. At the place he died I picked up a Bible and written on the fly leaf was his name 'L.S. Branscomb, Co. D, 3d regiment of Alabama.' On the next leaf was written.'If found on my person please send to my mother Mrs. B.H. Branscomb at Union Springs, Alabama. Do so and oblige (friend) who ever you be.' I should have done so sooner but not knowen that the way was open between here and there and as I have just heard that I could send a letter through embrace the first opportunity. If you wish for the book you can [write me]. I will send it by mail immediately and if you wish to know any thing more I will then write you all that I know concerning your son. If you wish to write address Mrs. 

Margarett Cross, 
Harpers Ferry, Virginia, 
In care of Cathrin Shillings

Lewis' Bible has been lost to history, but nearly 100 of the Branscomb brothers' wartime letters remarkably survived. They surfaced in 1991 in an old BVD underwear box marked "War Letters" in the family's possession. In 2012, Branscomb descendant Frank Chappell edited the letters for publication in an excellent book, Dear Sister. The Third Alabama was one of the hard-fighting regiments in the Southern army, seeing action at Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and elsewhere.

During a visit to Harpers Ferry, Chappell guided me over the phone from Alabama to Mrs. Cross' house on Washington Street. The two-story red-brick house stands a short distance from the Appalachian Trail Conervancy headquarters.

Postscript: A fourth Branscomb brother, John, survived a wound at Antietam and the war. William Branscomb was buried in the Confederate section of Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond. Despite efforts by Chappell and other Branscomb descendants, the gravesites of Lewis and James are unknown,

SOURCE

• Chappell, Frank Anderson, Dear Sister: Civil War Letters to a Sister in Alabama, Branch Springs Publishing, Hunstville, Ala., 2012. (To obtain a copy of the book, Chappell may be contacted at fchap10220@comcast.net).

Margarett Cross' wartime house on Washington Street in Harpers Ferry, W.Va.

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From Antietam to The Wilderness, a memorable Power Tour

A backdrop of a field of buttercups at Ellwood Manor, where Stonewall Jackson's arm is buried.

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And so my week-long Civil War Power Tour has ended. The final tally shows three states visited, six battlefields toured, nearly 45 miles hiked and more than 1,000 road miles logged. The special moments? Ah, those were numerous.

I was moved by the deep-purple violets in front of the graves of Connecticut soldiers at Antietam National Cemetery and the seemingly endless fields of buttercups at Ellwood Manor, the final resting place of Stonewall Jackson's amputated left arm. I stuck my head through the trapdoor hatch at the Philip Pry House to see what Union commanders may have seen while fighting raged in the West Woods at Antietam, and listened to the crunch, crunch, crunch of gravel as I walked behind the infamous stone wall at Fredericksburg.

While trudging just after dawn through The Wilderness forest near Saunders Field, where fighting raged in early May 1864, I had the eerie feeling that I wasn't alone. I don't believe in ghosts, but there is something deeply spiritual about that place. I huffed and puffed my way to the Maryland Heights overlook for a spectacular view of  Harpers Ferry, W.Va., and felt like I was on top of the world. Do yourself a favor and make that trip.

Violets in front of the grave of a Connecticut soldier at Antietam National Cemetery.

The fabulous view of Harpers Ferry, W.Va.. from Maryland Heights.

In the woods near Sudley Church at Manassas, a group of nearly 60 of us Civil War fanatics stared at unusual depressions in the ground. Those likely were once the temporary graves of Union soldiers, said tour leader John Hennessy of the National Park Service. One of John's favorite places, it was a poignant scene in a trip full of them. I want to go back there.

But this trip was especially about people. In a hotel in Hagerstown, Md., a tall, slender man and I laughed about the names Southerners and Northerners call a certain battle in western Maryland. Is it "Sharpsburg" or really "Antietam"? Don't laugh: More than 150 years later it's still debated. For our First Battle of Bull Run tour, a gentleman told me he left Connecticut at 3 in the morning to get there by 9 a.m. And when the seven-hour tour was over, he headed right back home. That's crazy... in a cool sort of way.

A landscaper named Joe and I trekked through the woods and a clearing to see where Jackson's arm had been amputated in 1863. Peaceful today, that scene near Wilderness Tavern was awful more than 150 years ago, when thousands of wounded Rebels were treated there after Chancellorsville. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine it.

Leaves mask depressions that likely were once graves for Union soldiers in the woods at Manassas.

The Wilderness, near where Confederate General Leroy Stafford was mortally wounded.

I drank beer and swapped war stories (literally) in Fredericksburg with Civil War photo expert John Cummings and his friend, James. Afterward, John pointed out the location just blocks away of a graveyard in 1864 for Union soldiers, many of whom were victims of the brutal fighting throughout that war-torn area. Long gone, the burial site today is partially in  the back yard of a house painted blue. There's a child's play set there now..

Unfortunately, I didn't get to speak with the man who sat in the grass at Fredericksburg National Cemetery. Deep in thought, he had just completed shooting close-ups of a grave of a Union soldier. More than 15,000 Union soldiers, most of them unknown, are buried in the terraced cemetery on Marye's Heights, which once was dotted with Rebel artillery.

Do yourself another favor: Visit there, too.

And most of all this trip was about Henry Pearson. Mortally wounded at the Battle of North Anna River in 1864, the lieutenant colonel in the 6th New Hampshire was only 24 years old, just three years older than our eldest daughter. I had goosebumps as I walked the pathway in the national cemetery in Fredericksburg to place a tintype of him next to his grave there. Let's not forget young Henry and thousands of others like him.

Henry Pearson "returned" to his gravesite at Fredericksburg (Va.) National Cemetery.

Harpers Ferry panorama from Maryland Heights

                                     Click on image for full-screen interactive panorama.

During the Civil War, the imposing Maryland Heights, overlooking the strategic town of Harpers Ferry, Va., was bristling with Union guns and encampments. In the spring of 1862, Federal engineers installed a seven-gun Naval battery atop the Heights, a spectacular feat just for the effort that it took to haul the heavy weapons up the steep mountain that rises to 1,400 feet.

Evidence of  the Union army's stay atop Maryland Heights abounds even today, including the remains of a parapet for the Naval battery and a stone fort near the summit. After a serpentine, butt-kickin' 40-minute hike this afternoon,  I arrived at the Harpers Ferry overlook, a stone outcropping that offers a breathtaking view of the formal arsenal town at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. Of course, the town is best known for the attempted slave revolt incited in October 1859 by John Brown, who was born in Torrington, Conn. Brown, a hero to some and a villain to others, was captured at Harpers Ferry and later hanged in nearby Charles Town. Below is an interactive panorama from town level; Maryland Heights may be seen at left.

Click on image for full-screen interactive panorama

Civil War under my nose: John Brown birthplace

The house where John Brown was born burned down in 1918.

The man who helped spark the Civil War was born in 1800 in a house on a scenic hill outside Torrington, Conn.

John Brown, about 1856.

With the exception of a large stone marker and the remains of the foundation of the main house and an outbuilding, I didn't find much left this afternoon of  John Brown's birthplace. The house, built in 1785 and restored in the early 20th century, was destroyed by a chimney fire in 1918. (1) The remains are located in a clearing just north of John Brown Road, about four miles from downtown Torrington off Route 4 and 30 miles from Hartford. Several plots of land are for sale in the immediate vicintity, so I don't expect the area to remain so rural for long.

Brown, of course, was one of the most polarizing figures in the country in the years just before the Civil War. An ardent abolitionist, he hoped to incite a rebellion of slaves when he and his followers raided the government armory and arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Va., on Oct. 16, 1859. His plans were crushed by miltia led by Robert E. Lee, and Brown was captured, tried, convicted of treason and finally hanged on Dec. 2, 1859, in Charles Town, Va. Brown became a martyr in the North, and his death put the nation on the course for the Civil War.

(1) Torrington Historical Society website 





Stone marker for Brown's birthplace in Torrington, Conn.



An illustration of the Brown house, which burned down in 1918.



These stones are all that remain of an outbuilding on the Brown property.