John Echols: Noble Leader

Brigadier General John Echols

       John Echols was born on March 20, 1823 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He attended the Virginia Military Institute, but earned his degree at Washington College in Lexington, Virginia (which would become Washington and Lee University following the war). He then studied law at Harvard and began a law practice in Union, Virginia (now West Virginia). 

       Echols was a huge man for the time, standing six feet, four inches in height and weighing over 260 pounds. Despite his imposing size, he was a likable person and gallant officer. Prior to the war, he served one term in the Virginia House of Delegates. Following Virginia's secession, Echols became lieutenant colonel of the 27th Virginia Infantry Regiment. He commanded the regiment at the Battle of Manassas. The unit was part of the famed Stonewall Brigade there. Following the battle, he was promoted to colonel of the regiment. Stonewall Jackson described Echols as a "noble leader." 

        At the disastrous Battle of Kernstown, Echols led his regiment as they repulsed two charges by the Federal troops. At the height of the assault, Echols was shot through the shoulder, the bullet entering his arm and fracturing the humerus. Although he was out of action for several weeks, he would luckily not lose the arm. Following the battle, Echols was promoted to brigadier general. 

       He was back in command of a brigade by the fall of 1862. He was placed in command of the Department of Southwestern Virginia, yet resigned his command before serving a month. Echols seems to have suffered from ill health and was unable to return to command until the summer of 1863. His next action was at the Battle of Droop Mountain where he commanded 1,200 troops against 5,000 Federals. Though vastly outnumbered, he held his position for over an hour before withdrawing. He had been defeated, but his reputation wasn't affected in the least. 

       His brigade was placed under Major General John C. Breckinridge's command at the Battle of New Market (which became famous because of the service there of the V.M.I. Cadets). Echols brigade helped Breckinridge secure a victory. Soon after the battle, he again was forced to relinquish his command because of "neuralgia of the heart." The disease causes severe pains in the chest. 

       Echols returned to duty as the commander of the District of Southwest Virginia in August of 1864. He defeated a Federal force at the Battle of Saltville in October of that year. When he learned of Lee's retreat from Petersburg and Richmond, he gathered a force of 7,000 men and marched to meet Lee. He learned of Lee's surrender while moving to meet him. Echols then moved his command to join Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina. When Johnston surrendered, Echols fled with the Confederate government in an attempt to escape the country without being forced to surrender. He was captured at Augusta, Georgia. 

A post-war image of John Echols

       Echols eventually settled in Staunton (pronounced Stanton), Virginia (having spent almost all the war in the Shenandoah Valley). He would see work as a banker, run a railroad, and serve on the board at Washington and Lee University. Despite years of health problems, Echols would live until 1896, dying of kidney disease in Stuanton, Virginia. He was 73 years old. He rests today in Thornrose Cemetery in that city. 

Jerry and I at the grave of John Echols (Echols rests just to my right about even with the second block up)

A variant of the first image of John Echols

       

The Ultimate Civil Wargasm Part II

Me and Jerry with Brigadier General John Echols

       The ultimate Civil Wargasm would hit its first snag at Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia. We pulled into this huge cemetery and immediately found the grave of Brigadier General John Echols. We jumped from the van and had our pictures made in front of the vault that contained the remains of General Echols. If you look at the photograph above, General Echols is in a vault that is about even with the second block from the bottom and on my side of the mausoleum. Following us taking this photograph, Jerry and I began our search for the other Confederate general in this cemetery.

       Brigadier General Robert Doak Lilley commanded a brigade in Early's raid on Washington where he was wounded in the arm and was disabled following amputation. Now, I have narcolepsy and I get ill very easily when I haven't had much sleep. I had gone to sleep about 5 a.m. the morning of this trip and slept about an hour and a half. Jerry, Melanie, Stacie, and myself had crossed this entire cemetery about 123 times and none of us were able to find General Lilley. I was hot, exhausted, and frustrated, yet none of us were able to find Lilley. I resorted to asking the locals if they knew where he was buried. A woman told me she thought she had seen the name somewhere before and a man told me the general location. Jerry, being much smarter than me when it comes to slowing down and paying attention noticed something that I never would have. In the book we use to find graves, it said that General Lilley is buried very close to Major Jedediah Hotchkiss's grave. He found the grave and off we went searching for Lilley. We never found him. I decided that Lilley's tombstone must have been damaged by vandals and been removed. Stacie proved us all wrong by contacting the woman that oversee's the cemetery. Stacie left a message on her answering machine and she later replied that she could take us directly to General Lilley's grave. We were in Richmond at this point and will have to return on a later date. 

       I was frustrated when we left Staunton and we struck out for Charlottesville, Virginia. I figured we wouldn't have time to get all the generals there, but hoped we would. We went first to the University of Virginia Cemetery and Jerry found Brigadier General Carnot Posey before I could. General Posey was wounded in the thigh at the Battle of Bristoe Station and died a month after being struck by artillery fire. 

Jerry and me at the grave of Brigadier General Carnot Posey

Brigadier General Carnot Posey

       We immediately left the University of Virginia, both Jerry and I both had to refrain from shouting at the students there, "Roll Tide!!!" We both are big Alabama Crimson Tide fans and love to rub that in to all other colleges. We struck out for the next cemetery on our list, Maplewood Cemetery about five minutes away. The sun was getting low in the sky, but we pressed onward. We rolled into Maplewood and found the graves of Brigadier General John Marshall Jones and Brigadier General Armistead Lindsay Long. Jones was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness in the spring of 1864 and Long served on Lee's staff. Jerry mentioned the fact that although he has never drank any alcoholic beverage, he wished we would have brought some rum to place on Jones's grave. The neighborhood where Jones's is buried made me think that the best thing to do was pour the rum on his grave or someone would come steal the beverage and drink it themselves. 

Me and Jerry with Rum Jones

       We left Maplewood Cemetery and headed to Riverside Cemetery where Brigadier General Thomas Lafayette Rosser rested. He was a cavalry commander in Virginia. We got to his grave just before dark and had our pictures made. We then struck out for the grave of Brigadier General George Wythe Randolph who rests in the Jefferson Family Cemetery at Monticello. General Randolph had spent some time as the Confederate Secretary of War and then as a brigadier general. He died in 1867 of tuberculosis. We found Monticello closed at such a late hour. Jerry was very frustrated because he said it's illegal to deny a person access to a cemetery before dark. Nevertheless, we were forced to give up on finding General Randolph until a future trip. Our fifty plus general trip was quickly falling apart. We planned to return to Alabama with 52 generals, yet we would come home with only 49. More on that in part III...

Me and Ole Man at the grave of Thomas Lafayette Rosser