The Virginia in the Civil War Message Board

Casualties at the Battle of Piedmont

The battle of Piedmont was reportedly fought by a rag-tag collection of regulars, reserves, militia, and home guard units. This mixed bag was the best we could come up with and we were still seriously outnumbered. On the bright side, although we were almost always outnumbered, the yankees had enjoyed little success in the valley since early in the war.

Unfortunately, our brave defenders were routed with the result that our commander, General Jones, was killed and Staunton was occupied by Union General Hunter who then burned VMI in Lexington before moving upon Lynchburg.

I know of at least one family member, James Marion Brown (b.1834), who lost a leg at Piedmont and received a state pension and artificial leg under the earliest pension act. I have never been able to find a service record for him.

His brother, Samuel Finley Brown (b.1819), enlisted in the 3rd. Va. Reserves at Staunton in April 1864 but I can find nothing further on him.

I was wondering if anybody knows of the existence of personnel records from state reserve, militia, and home guard units.

My primary reason for this search is that one of my 2G grandfathers, Andrew J. Smith (b.1809) , brother in law to the above Brown brothers, appears in Augusta Co. property tax records through 1863. It seems possible that, even at the advanced age of about 55 years, he might have served in the home guard and possibly fought and died at Piedmont. Unfortunatley, his widow died and all his children married before the pension acts were passed.

Mike Lee
Lynchburg, Va.

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Casualties at the Battle of Piedmont
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