John Yates
Beall was born January 1st 1835 on his family’s farm; Walnut Grove,
in Jefferson County, Virginia the son of George Brooke and Janet (Yates) Beall. He began the study of law at the University
of Virginia, but after his father’s death in 1855 he left school to take up
farming. Beall joined the militia
company known as “Bott’s Grays”. They
would be present at the hanging of John Brown December 2nd 1859.
When the
Civil War started “Bott’s Grays” became Company G of the 2nd
Virginia Infantry. Beall was wounded in
chest at the Battle of First Manassas, and deemed unfit for service. Beall then took up the roll of
privateer. He tried to talk the
Confederate government into giving him a commission to operate on the Great
Lakes, but they declined fearing its effect on relations with England. So with two boats and 18 men as crew he
operated on the Potomac River and in the Chesapeake Bay. Beall was captured in November of 1863 and
after being exchanged in May 1864, he moved to the north shore of Lake Erie in
Canada where he plotted to release Confederate Prisoners of War being held on Johnson’s
Island.
When that
plan failed Beall moved onto a plan to free some Confederate officers by
derailing a train they were on. This
time Union authorities captured him and his companion George S Anderson at
Niagara, New York on December 16th 1864. Anderson agreed to testify against Beall for
a lesser sentence. Union General John
Adams Dix ordered Beall’s trail to begin on January 17th 1865. He was found guilty of guerrilla activities
and spying against the Union by the military commission on February 8th
1865, and transported to Fort Columbus on Governors Island in the New York
Harbor. Appeals were made to save his
life all the way up to Abraham Lincoln but no stay of execution was coming
Beall’s way. He was hung February 24th
1865. He is buried in the Zion Episcopal
Churchyard, in Charlestown, West Virginia.
2 comments:
I've read that 97 members of congress asked Lincoln to pardon Beall, but all were ignored.
I knew that many members of Congress recomended a pardon, but I hadn't seen the number. Thanks for sharing the info.
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