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Works Project Administration – Articles from Rockingham County
HISTORY – CIVIL WAR
1. SUBJECT:
General Turner Ashby’s Death and Monument.
2. LOCATION:
Four miles southeast of Harrisonburg, Virginia.
3. DATE:
June 6th, 1862.
4. OWNERS:
Miss Lucy Shockett, 1862.
Isaac Good.
Isaac Good’s heirs, present owners.
5. DESCRIPTION:
The monument is made of gray granite and is located in a beautiful spot surrounded by an iron fence.
6. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
On the evening of June 6th, 1862, General Turner Ashby was shot and killed while leading an infantry charge
against the Pennsylvania Bucktails.
General Thomas L. Kane, commanding the Bucktails, a brother of the famous Arctic explorer, Elisha Kent
Kane, was captured at the same time in a cavalry fight near at hand. Ashby’s men led by Munford, captured Sir
Percy Wyndham, whose highest ambition was to capture Ashby.
Ashby’s body was the next day in the home of Doctor George W. Kemper, of Port Republic, Virginia, wrapped
in the Confederate flag, and the bier was wet with tears of strong men. The next day Sunday, June the 8th, while
Cross Keys was being fought, the body was taken to Charlottesville, Virginia, and buried.
On October the 10th, 1912, when the Daughters of Confederacy of Virginia in convention at Harrisonburg,
Virginia, went out to decorate the Ashby Monument, there was in company one, Mrs. J.E. Alexander, who fifty
years before had followed Ashby’s body to the grave at Charlottesville, Virginia.
7. ART:
Photograph.
6. SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
Informants: Heirs of Isaac Good present owners, Harrisonburg, VA.
Books at Public Library, Harrisonburg, VA.
Personal visit to monument.
September 29, 2024 C.W. Snyder
Harrisonburg, VA
Page 88 of 482
HISTORY – CIVIL WAR
1. SUBJECT:
General Turner Ashby’s Death and Monument.
2. LOCATION:
Four miles southeast of Harrisonburg, Virginia.
3. DATE:
June 6th, 1862.
4. OWNERS:
Miss Lucy Shockett, 1862.
Isaac Good.
Isaac Good’s heirs, present owners.
5. DESCRIPTION:
The monument is made of gray granite and is located in a beautiful spot surrounded by an iron fence.
6. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
On the evening of June 6th, 1862, General Turner Ashby was shot and killed while leading an infantry charge
against the Pennsylvania Bucktails.
General Thomas L. Kane, commanding the Bucktails, a brother of the famous Arctic explorer, Elisha Kent
Kane, was captured at the same time in a cavalry fight near at hand. Ashby’s men led by Munford, captured Sir
Percy Wyndham, whose highest ambition was to capture Ashby.
Ashby’s body was the next day in the home of Doctor George W. Kemper, of Port Republic, Virginia, wrapped
in the Confederate flag, and the bier was wet with tears of strong men. The next day Sunday, June the 8th, while
Cross Keys was being fought, the body was taken to Charlottesville, Virginia, and buried.
On October the 10th, 1912, when the Daughters of Confederacy of Virginia in convention at Harrisonburg,
Virginia, went out to decorate the Ashby Monument, there was in company one, Mrs. J.E. Alexander, who fifty
years before had followed Ashby’s body to the grave at Charlottesville, Virginia.
7. ART:
Photograph.
6. SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
Informants: Heirs of Isaac Good present owners, Harrisonburg, VA.
Books at Public Library, Harrisonburg, VA.
Personal visit to monument.
September 29, 2024 C.W. Snyder
Harrisonburg, VA
Page 88 of 482
