The Humphreys family in America - citizen hylbom blog

At the lialllc (if W'iiRliestcr, the 521! \ iiniiiia Keg., under his command, was
detached from the brigade to hold a position on the Turnpike, where they had a
very hard fight, contending with greatly superior forces, and where the regiment
lost nearly half its men in killed and wounded. While the killed and wounded
were being removed to the rear, the regiment was ordered to rejoin the brigade.
On the march they met other troops retreating in confusion, which scattered the
small force which he had w^ith him, so that when they arrived at their position,
he, the adjutant and one man alone represented the 52d regiment. Very soon the
adjutant's thigh was broken and the private had to carry him to the rear. Any
other commander, under the circumstances, would have retired, but instead of that,
sheathing his sword and picking up a musket (which he knew so well how to
handle), he made it echo the indomitable resolution of the 5 2d Regiment. Soon
the ensign with the colors found him, and the men again flocked to the standard,
and his regiment was the only one of the division that retired from the field in
good order. Not a great while after this he was captured and held a prisoner
imtil after the surrender.
Mr. Humphreys was (1883) farming near Steele's Tavern, .Augusta County,
Va., and no one witnessing his unobtrusive demeanor would think of him as having
been a military hero. Of him John B. Baldwin, while Colonel of his regiment,
said that he was the best subordinate officer in the army. The scabbard of his
sword bears many marks of Minie balls, and of a shell that turned up its lower
extremity like a sled-runner.
i. John G.'' (Maj.); d. in Confederate Army.
S.\MUEi.,'t b. in 1821; merchant; d. in Arkansas, in Sept., 1868. He was the smallest
of the family of sons. Mentally he was above mediocrity, while his moral character
was almost faultless. He acted well his part in all situations and relations, and
was well liked. Before the war he was for years engaged in merchandising. He
joined the army early in 1862, as a private in an independent cavalry battalion
commanded by Edward Sanders, of Nicarauga notoriety, in which he served until
the surrender, faithfully discharging all his duties as a soldier, and passing through
numerous battles w-ithout receiving a scratch or having a furlough for a single day.
Shortly before the surrender he was sent, in command of a detachment of men,
to one of the counties of South Carolina, to overawe the negroes, who, it was
believed, were preparing for an insurrection, and was not recalled until after Johnson
surrendered. He then returned to Wittsburgh, Ark., where he had lived before the
breaking out of the war. and engaged in business as a commission merchant, and
there died; unmarried.
William F.* (M. D.), b. in 1823. He was eduialcd at \\ashington College, and
studied medicine in Kentucky, attending one course of lectures at the Louisville
University, under .S. D. Gross, Henry Miller, Austin Flint, Benjamin Silliman, &c.,
and graduated, in 1853, from Transylvania University, at Lexington, Ky. He first
practiced medicine in Virginia, where he married, in 1854, Betsey McFarland, dau.
of Rev. Francis McFarland, D. D.
In the spring of i860 Dr. Humphrey removed, with his family, to the neighborhood
of Columbia, Tenn., where, in Aug.. 1861, his wife died, and in Sept.
his son Philip died, shortly after which he entered the army as surgeon, where he
remaineil until the fall of 1863, when, on account of compound fracture i>f the leg.
he resii;ne«l iiis i . miniissinn in the armv ami removed, with his children, to Virginia.