Ashby Family Military History

Militia Captain in Fauquier County, Virginia.  Col. Washington stayed at his home for a period of time while surveying the area for Lord Fairfax.

Private - 2nd VA "State Regiment" - Militia.  First served in "Morgans Rifleman" under Capt. Daniel Morgan, Later Gen. Morgan.

Born in Frederick, VA - Enlisted 3 months as a private in a casualty and burial unit under command of Gen. Edward Hand near Pittsburgh, PA and later to Moundsville, VA (now WV) in Sept. 1777 to attend to the dead and wounded of the Grave Creek Massacre (so devastating and demoralizing that his unit was honorably discharged immediately following the burials).  In 1781, he again volunteered in Hampshire Co., VA under command of Capt. Neale of the Virginia Militia and served more than 3 months fighting against the Tories who infested the adjacent counties in Virginia at that time. Moved to Hopkins Co., KY after the war and did not apply for a pension until 1832 when he was 81 yrs old.  Not included in the War Department letter of Virginia Ashbys.

Private in the 323rd Forward Advance Battalion during the battle of the Meuse-Argonne, the largest battle in American history and lasted for 47 days (26,000 killed and 120,000 casualties). Fought until the armistice on Nov. 11, 1918. Also served in the Army of Occupation following the Armistice - stationed in Coblenz, Germany.  

Married Robert J. Earley of St. Louis, MO - Captain-386th Heavy Bomber Group - 8th Air Force.  B-17 Pilot who flew 27 missions over Nazi Germany (20 before his 22nd Birthday). Shot down and landed safely in Belgium on 3 different missions.  Received 2 air medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Received Presidential Unit Citation for secret mission bombing oil fields in Hungary-1945.  Fought in the Battle of the Bulge, flying his only tactical mission there.  All other missions were strategic heavy bombing missions. Targets were factories, submarine pens, and marshalling yards.  Father of James R. Earley - Author of this document.

Purple Heart recipient - shot in the knee by German machine gun during an assault on enemy position near Verdun during the Meuse-Argonne offensive one mile from his brother, Vinal.

Captain - 2nd Virginia Rangers 1755-56, commanded Fort Ashby in the west of the VA frontier in 1755. Known as "Captain Jack" - fought under the command of Col. Washington in the French and Indian War.  Rescued a young French girl, Solona Maron (daughter of the Magistrate of Kaskaskia) taken prisoner by renegade Indians, and delivered her safely to her relatives through hostile Indian territories from Illinois to New Orleans. The trip back took 2 entire years before returning to Virginia. Fought in Lord Dunmore's War in the fall of 1774 against the Shawnee and Mingo tribes in the Ohio Valley. Presented a ceremonial gold watch from the Virginia House of Burgesses for his "brilliant service to the State".  Awarded 2,000 acres in Kentucky Territory in 1774 for service in the French & Indian War (currently Versailles in Woodford County). Later became Bosque Bonita farm (now part of Lane's End farms in Versailles - one of the 5 great thoroughbred breeding farms of Kentucky (290+ stakes winners).  Married Jane (Jean) Combs. Later married Catherine Huffman after Janes death in 1770. Fathered 2 more children with Catherine after age 70.

Lieutenant - 3rd Virginia Regiment - Continental Army.  After the close of the war, he moved to the Kentucky frontier in Woodford. He became a man of great wealth and influence - leaving his family over 18,000 acres of land perfect for horse breeding.  Grandfather of Margaret Ashby Woodson - wife of Judge and US Representative of Missouri, Samuel H Woodson (1857-61).  Married Margeret Mauzey (family friend and neighbor of Lord Fairfax)

Born in Kentucky, fought with Gen. William Henry Harrison at battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.  Private/Quartermaster - 11th Regiment - Mounted Kentucky Volunteers.  Fought with Gen. William Henry Harrison at Battle of the Thames where he witnessed the death of the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh, leader of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Private-12th Virginia Cavalry-Army of Northern Virginia. Under command of his younger brother John W. and rode with the Stonewall Brigade.  *Circumstances of his death are unknown as his brother John died before communicating them to the family.  Therefore, it is believed to have occurred at Petersburg most likely.

Pvt-2nd Virginia Cavalry, Sgt.-12 Virginia Cavalry- Army of Northern Virginia and served under Robert E Lee.  Class of 1855-Virginia Military Institute.  Fought at the siege of Petersburg in 1865.  Last to die at Appomattox Station the night before Lee surrendered (killed by night-time artillery barrage).  He is buried one mile from the McLean House at Appomattox Court House Cemetery .

1st Virginia Cavalry - Army of Northern Virginia.

7th VA Regiment, 11th VA Regiment, 3rd VA Regiment - Continental Army (3 yrs service) - Received 2,667 acres in KY.

Captain-8th VA Regiment and 12th VA Regiment - Continental Army.

Captain-3rd VA Regiment . HERO OF THE BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE.  Held back the best of the British Army for an hour to allow Washington and the Continental Army to escape capture and surrender. He was the officer who attended to a young wounded Marquis de Lafayette in the field of battle in accordance with military custom. Wounded in the hip and retired from active service. In 1825 Lafayette returned to Warrenton on his farewell tour of the United States. There he asked about the whereabouts of John Ashby, recalling how the Virginian came to his aid nearly 50 years before. Although Ashby had been dead for 10 years, Lafayette and the crowd toasted “To the memory of our countrymen – officers and soldiers of the Third Virginia Regiment, who gallantly fell in defense of the rights of man.”  Married Mary Turner

Major - 44th Regiment-Virginia Milita.  Eldest son of John Ashby & Mary Turner.

Captain - 44th Regiment-Virginia Militia.

Married Francis William Jones

​Personal friend of Robert E. Lee and served as his Chaplin during the entire Civil War.  Wrote the first biography of General Lee.

Died at Battle of Seven Pines (aka Battle of Fair Oaks).

Captain-Stapleton Crutchfield's Detachment-44th Regiment-Virginia Militia. Fought at the battle of Hampton where 436 militia faced 2400 British soldiers.

2nd Virginia Infantry ("Stonewall Brigade) - Army of Northern Virginia.  During the first week of the war he joined the Clarke Rifles, which became Company I of the 2nd Virginia Infantry.  After their stand at the battle of First Bull Run, they were forever known as the Stonewall  Brigade.  Following the Battle of Gettysburg, Charles was fined five dollars for losing his bayonet—a penalty levied by both armies for equipment losses.  Wounded and captured at the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864,  Sent to Fort Delaware, Del., he remained a prisoner until exchanged in March 1865.  Of the 6,000 soldiers that served in the Stonewall Brigade during the war, only 212 remained to surrender at Appomattox.

Lieutenant - Cocke's Detachment-Virginia Militia.  (Married Ann Stuart)

Captain - Confederate States Army (Eldest son of Thomson Ashby & Ann Stuart)

Colonel- US Army. Organized a company of men in Fauquier county and served as Lieutenant with Captain Corse for the entirety of the war and promoted to Colonel during his service. Most famous for his photo which has been incorrectly identified as his nephew Turner, the famous confederate general in the Civil War.

Lieutenant - 2nd Regiment -Virginia Militia. (Married Dorothea Farrar Green of Culpepper County).  He died at 45 years old with 6 children.

Dorothea Green came from one of the most prominent families in Virginia when she married Turner Ashby, Sr., a man of much prominence.   Widowed with 6 small children and several servants, she was able to keep the farm and its staff for 19 years until her youngest son was of age.  She gave her children first-class educations while making sure to provide them all the social skills and interaction required for success in the custom of Old Virginia.  She accomplished all these things and never re-married.  An extreme achievement for a single widow at that time.  She died just 3 years after the loss of her 3rd son in 1865 at 68 years of age.

Captain - Stafford County Regiment - A regiment he raised in the time between John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry and Virginia's secession. 

Colonel/Brigadier Gen* - 7th Virginia Cavalry aka "The Laurel Brigade"(Stonewall Jackson's cavalry). He is known as the "Black Knight of the Confederacy".  Before the war he was the most revered young bachelor in Northern Virginia.  He was widely known for his riding skills  and gentle demeanor.  He is considered the prime example of the Virginia cavalier.    Rode to assist in the capture of John Brown after his raid at Harpers Ferry and his brigade of young Virginia horseman guarded Brown and his men until the federal marshals arrived.   During Brown's trial and execution, Turner spent his time with Robert E. Lee, Thomas (later Stonewall) Jackson, and J.E.B. Stuart learning military strategy and where his impressive horsemanship, courage, and high character won their confidence.  Chosen by Jackson as a calvary commander, he fought with Jackson during the "Valley Campaign" in the Shenandoah Valley.  He was particularly well-known for his horsemanship. His ability to recruit young men to Virginia's cause was unmatched.  Ashby's Brigade captured 6,500 horses in one raid into Maryland.  He is also credited with the development and first recorded use of  "horse artillery".  (Later known as Chew's Battery). His brother, Richard was killed in 1861 while under Turner's command. Richard died a heroic death and this affected Turner deeply throughout the short remainder of his life.  Turner was killed in a rear-guard action near Harrisonburg; leading the 58th Virginia during the battle of Cross Keys.  His last words were: "Forward Men! For God's sake -Forward!" (he was shot through the heart by a union sharpshooter of the famed Pennsylvania Bucktails and died immediately).  After his death, Jackson said "As a partisan officer I never knew his superior; his daring was proverbial; his powers of endurance almost incredible; his tone of character heroic and his sagacity almost intuitive in divining the purposes and movements of the enemy". Turner Ashby is widely considered the first martyr of the Confederacy. There are many books written about his life.

Rank of Captain - 7th Virginia Cavalry. Under the command of his older brother Turner.   Killed in 1861 during an engagement at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, near Hancock, Maryland - during a raid into that area. Was an Indian fighter in Texas before the war.

Colonel/Brigadier Gen* - 2nd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, later 4th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion. 1862-63 rendered service in eastern Tenn & Kentucky and served with distinction in in the famous Wheeler's brigade at the battle of Murfreesboro, Dec. 1862 (aka Stones River).  Later served under Gen. E. Kirby Smith & Gen. Buckner in the 1863 retreat from Kentucky - conducting 3 raids with Col. Scott & Gen. Pegram.Wounded during the 3rd raid - losing bone in his right heel. Served again in Sept 1863 at the battle of Chickamauga.  Fought again in the battle of Resaca (GA) in May 1864 after which he was promoted to Colonel and received command of the division formerly under Gen. Hume now known as "Ashby's Brigade", and now under the Corps command of Gen. Wheeler.  The remainder of the war was spent in the "Carolinas Campaign", fighting against Gen. Sherman most notably at battles of Aiken and Fayetteville now with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. Promoted to Brigadier General on the field by Johnston in early April '65 but commission was never approved as the Confederate Congress hadalready fled Richmond.  Surrendered with Johnston to Sherman on May 3, 1865 under what they considered most favorable terms.  Moved to Knoxville after the war and became a businessman.  Henry was murdered in downtown Knoxville in 1868 by a man claiming his relative had been mistreated (and later died) after being taken prisoner by men under Ashby's command - an accusation which Ashby claimed was incorrect on several occasions as he was away and the men were under the command of another regiment at that time.

Private 7th Virginia Infantry (Apr 1861) - Promoted to Asst. Surgeon 56th Virginia Regiment (Sept 1861) - Promoted to Full Surgeon (April, 1862). Served as Full Surgeon for the remainder of the war.