Last week, we looked at David and Mariah Stockton Craig and their children, particularly Thomas and his three wives and fourteen children. This week, we will learn more about sons Peter and William Craig and their wives, who were half-sisters. We will also follow the three brothers’ journey along with the 42nd Virginia, Company G., part of Stonewall Jackson’s Foot Cavalry.
The 42nd Infantry Regiment, organized at Staunton, Virginia, in July 1861, recruited its members in Henry, Floyd, Bedford, Campbell, Roanoke, Patrick, and Franklin counties. According to John Chapla’s book on the regiment, Private William S. Craig, age 24, enlisted on the 10th day of March 1862 at Martinsville, Henry County and was placed in the 42nd Virginia Infantry, Company G.
William had married at age 19 to Miss Elizabeth Wood, who was 21 years old at the time. Elizabeth was the daughter of Edward “Ned” Wood and his first wife, Mary “Polly” Moran of Patrick County. When William joined the 42nd, he and Elizabeth’s first child, Edward “Ned” was five years old; second son David Alexander was four; and daughter Mary Jane was three years old.
William’s brother Thomas joined the 42nd Virginia, Company G on the same day as William and was appointed to the rank of sergeant. Thomas was married to the former Miss Sarah Philpott, but no children were born to the union until after the war was over.
William and Thomas’ brother, Peter joined his brothers twelve days later when he also enlisted in the 42nd Virginia Infantry, Company G. He gave his occupation as farmer and his address as Rock Castle Post Office. Peter had married Miss Sarah “Sallie” Wood, the daughter of Edward “Ned” Wood and his second wife, Nancy Adeline Nolen/Nowlin on the 30th of December 1858. Peter and Sallie settled near the home of Sallie’s parents in the Lone Ivy community of Patrick County. When Peter left home to join the war, he and Sallie had a three-year-old son, John Copeland and Sallie was expecting a baby that winter.
The Craig brothers did not have to wait long to see action because after the battle of Kernstown, the regiment was assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia. The young men participated in the Valley Campaign where Stonewall Jackson marched his men back and forth across the Shenandoah Valley for 646 miles in 48 days: engaging three different Union armies and preventing them from capturing Richmond. According to John Chapla’s regimental history, Lt. Henry D. Puckett wrote, “We all nearly broke down from the marching and fighting.”
Thomas was promoted to Third Sergeant on the 21st of April 1862; William, Thomas, and Peter along with the other men of the 42nd participated in the Seven Days Battles which lasted from June 25 to July 1, 1862. During the last few days of the battle, Thomas was hospitalized at the Greenwood Station hospital near Louisa Courthouse.
The Craigs and the 42nd next saw action at the Battle of Cedar Mountain in Culpeper County, Virginia on the 9th of August 1862 and the Second Battle of Bull Run from August 28th -30th 1862.
The first time one of the Craig boys was wounded was at Antietam, which would become known as the bloodiest day in American history. William Craig was wounded at the battle on September 17, 1862, and was taken to a hospital in Richmond where he remained from September 30th to October 7th, 1862. William was allowed to return home on sick leave where he remained until the end of 1862. When William left to join his brothers and the rest of the 42nd Virginia at the beginning of 1863, his wife Elizabeth was now expecting a baby.
Peter was hospitalized in Richmond from September 30th to October 27th, 1862, and was also allowed to return home to recover until the beginning of 1863. Thomas remained with the 42nd during the fall of 1862, fighting in the Battle of Fredericksburg from December 11th to 15th of 1862.
William, Peter, and Thomas were with the 42nd Virginia Infantry at the Battle of Chancellorsville from April 30th to May 6th of 1863; this was also where their leader Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded.
Lee next marched his Army of Northern Virginia, including the 42nd Virginia to a little town named Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where they met the Union Army. It was here at Gettysburg when tragedy would strike the Craig brothers. On the third of July 1863, William Craig was gunshot through his left thigh. Peter and Thomas had to leave their brother William in Pennsylvania while the Army of Northern Virginia retreated back through Maryland and over the Potomac River into Virginia.
William Craig died of his injuries on July 13th, 1863; he was 25 years old. William was buried in a marked, shallow grave in Gettysburg. Twenty-four days later, his son, Willie Craig was born on August 3, 1863.
Peter and Thomas were captured on May 12th, 1864, during the battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, along with over 5,000 of Lee’s men. The brothers, now prisoners of war, arrived at Point Lookout, Maryland on May 18th, 1863. Point Lookout lies on a peninsula between the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. A wooden walled prisoner pen had been constructed on the shore of the bay and men were given tents for shelter. Many of the prisoners died from exposure, disease, or starvation.
Peter and Thomas Craig remained at Point Lookout until August 3rd, 1864, at which time they were moved to Elmira, a newly constructed prisoner of war camp in New York. The brothers arrived at Elmira on the sixth of August 1864 and would soon discover why the POW camp’s death rate rivaled the more famous Andersonville prisoner of war camp in the South. According to the American Battlefield Trust, the death rate at the Union POW camp Elmira was 25%, while the death rate at the Confederate POW camp Andersonville was 28%. The horrors these men endured is unimaginable.
Peter was at Elmira until the 20th of February 1865 when he was sent to a meeting spot on the James River for a prisoner of war exchange. Thomas remained at Elmira until the 27th of June 1865 when he was released after signing the Oath of Allegiance to the United States Government. I have often wondered what was going on in Thomas’ mind from the time of the surrender at Appomattox in April to the time of his release in June, a full eighty days later.
Last week, we looked at Thomas’ life, his three wives, and his fourteen children. This week, we will examine what happened to William’s widow, Elizabeth Wood Craig and his four children, and Peter and his wife, Sallie Wood Craig, and their ten children.
Elizabeth and her four children lived with her mother-in-law, Mariah Stockton Craig in the Carter’s Store section of Henry County. Elizabeth’s son Ned married Miss Fannie Alice Burge of Henry County in 1881; son David Alexander married Miss Lucinda Adkins of Franklin County in 1889; daughter Mary Jane “Mollie” married George Crawford Moran of Patrick County in 1881; and Willie married Miss Fannie Mitchell of Bassett in 1885. Elizabeth, age 65, is shown living with her daughter, Mollie Moran in the 1900 census until the time of her passing on December 30th, 1928, at the age of 93.
In 1871, Dr. Rufus Weaver was contracted to supervise the removal of the Confederate dead to their native state. Using a journal of identified Confederate burials compiled by Dr. J.W.C. O’Neal (a Virginia-born physician who resided in Gettysburg), Dr. Weaver was successful in returning the remains of 3,320 soldiers, the vast majority of which were sent to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. According to the cemetery records, William Craig of the 42nd Virginia, Company G is buried there in an unknown plot (www.hollywoodcemetery.org/genealogy/burial-records).
Peter returned to his home in the Lone Ivy community of Patrick County where his son, John Copeland was five years old and he met his new daughter, Nancy Ellen, who was now 2 ½ years old. Peter and Sallie would go on to have eight more children over the next twenty-three years.
Peter and Sallie’s son, John Copeland Craig married Miss Martha Alberta Belcher in April of 1884. Martha was the daughter of John Belcher and Nancy Brammer Belcher of Brammer’s Spur community. Daughter Nancy Ellen Craig married Charles Edgar Belcher in December of 1883. Charles was also the child of John and Nancy Brammer Belcher.
Peter and Sallie’s daughter, Martha Evelina married Lewis Shelton “Shep” Cassell in October of 1883. Shep was the son of Austin Jones Cassell and Levina Edwards Cassell of Vesta, Virginia. The fourth child of Peter and Sallie, Sarah Elizabeth Craig married William Moses Hylton in April of 1886. William was the son of Moses Hylton and Elizabeth Cruise Hylton of the Lone Ivy community.
Peter and Sallie’s fifth child, Susan Ann Mariah married German Tiberius Belcher in April of 1895. German was the son of Hardon Belcher and Louisa Frances Palmer of the Brammer’s Spur community. William “Billy” German Craig was next born to Peter and Sallie. Billy married Miss Minta Adeline Howell in October of 1895. Minta was the daughter of Henry Howell and Julia Angelina Boyd of Meadows of Dan.
The seventh child born to Peter and Sallie was Mary Lou Craig who married Benjamin Byrd Belcher in January of 1898. Benjamin was also the son of John and Nancy Brammer Belcher of the Brammer’s Spur community. Lula Alberta Craig was born to Peter and Sallie in 1879; Lula never married.
Peter and Sallie’s ninth child, Thomas Craig married Ada Arabelle Wood in October of 1904. Ada was the daughter of Stephen Wood and Sarah Elizabeth Cruise Wood of Meadows of Dan. Thomas was killed in a coal mine in McDowell County, West Virginia on the first of May 1911. Thomas’ body was brought back to Patrick County and buried in the David G. Wood Cemetery in Lone Ivy.
Sallie Ann Wood Craig passed away on the 24th of November 1926; she was 83 years old. After the death of his wife, Peter went to live with his daughters Lula and Oma in Bassett. The two sisters owned a boarding house for the Bassett furniture workers. The home is still in great shape and is located directly across the road from Carter Bank and Trust in Bassett. Peter David Craig passed away on the 29th of May 1929. Peter was laid to rest beside his wife Sallie and his son Thomas in the David G. Wood Cemetery.
Peter and Sallie’s tenth and youngest child, Oma, did not marry until her father passed away. Oma married at age 43 to widower, Euell Handy in October of 1931. Euell was the son of Will Handy and Nancy Annah Belcher of Meadows of Dan. Euell’s first wife, Nancy Louanna Howell had passed away in 1929, leaving Euell with two children to raise.
The late Gay Belcher Edwards could recall sitting in her great-grandfather Peter Craig’s lap and combing his long beard. She would have been about six years old at the time. The photo of Peter and Sallie shown above was discovered when my mother and I visited Gay. This photo was taken from a framed picture of the couple that was hanging in Gay’s home.
If you are interested in learning more about the 42nd Virginia Infantry, the Bassett Historical Center has a phenomenal collection of documents from this particular regiment. Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 692-9626.
