| 6. | Col. Daniel S. Bonham was born in 1806 in Frederick Co, Virginia (son of Samuel S. Bonham and Mary Ann Sowers); died in 1869 in of, Clarke Co, Virginia. Other Events and Attributes:
- Military: Civil War, Clarke Co, Virginia
- Census: 1830, Frederick Co (Eastern District), Virginia
- Property: 15 Nov 1837, Clarke Co, Virginia
- Census: 1840, Clarke Co, Virginia
- Census: 13 Aug 1850, Clarke Co (District 12), Virginia
Notes:
Military:
His daughter, Emma Virginia Bonham is a very interesting person because of the famous fight that took place at Colonel Daniel Bonham's home in 1865 between a Yankee officer and five of Mosby's men. I researched this fight in depth and published an article about it in the magazine, "America's Civil War" in 2001.
Capt. Eugene Ferris of the 30th Massachusetts Infantry, which was camped nearby at the railroad bridge over Opequon Creek, came to pay a social call upon Miss Emma Virginia. While sitting in the parlor with her and her father, Col. Daniel S. Bonham, Ferris's visit was interrupted by the arrival of Lt. Charlie Wiltshire and four other members of Mosby's command. Capt. Ferris ran to get his horse, and then, a pistol in each hand, shot his way out of the Bonham stable yard, killing two of the Confederates and wounding two others. Ferris made his escape back to camp with his orderly, and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor about 30 years after the War for this feat of arms due to the efforts of someone who read about this fight in John Scott's 1867 book "Partisan Life of Col. John S. Mosby". Your ancestor, Emma Virginia Bonham, wrote a letter to the War Dept. in support of the award in the 1890's attesting that "no braver soldier ever wore the uniform" or words to that effect.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/bonham/messages/1159.html
(Thanks to Bob Brawley for sharing this story with me in an email on Apr 14, 2012.)
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PARTISAN LIFE WITH COL. JOHN S. MOSBY,
by John Scott
Harper & Brothers 1867
(pgs 459-462)
CHAPTER LV.
GALLANT ACTION OF A YANKEE LIEUTENANT. CHAPMAN'S
VISIT TO THE NORTHERN NECK.
Upper Fauquier, April 18th, 1865.
Dear Percy, Richmond has fallen, the cause is lost, and Mosby, in the hour of victory, is negotiating for the disbandment of the Partisan Battalion. The sun which rose in such brightness, rode in such splendor through the sky, is, in the inscrutable providence of God, destined, like the transient meteor, to be extinguished forever.
"Those golden palaces, those golden halls
With furniture superfluously fair;
Those stately courts, those high encountering walls,
Evanish all like vapors in the air."
In the midst of my preparations for departure, and with a sorrowful heart, I will complete my account of the military operations of the command with which I have been connected, some of which occurred after the evacuation of Richmond, but before that event was known in the Upper Piedmont. The people of other portions of the Southern Confederacy may have been prepared for the catastrophe by the gradual stages of decline which they witnessed, but here, amid a continual round of successes, they saw the Confederated banner waving triumphantly. Hope was in every eye, confidence was on every lip, and when the catastrophe was announced it came with the suddenness and violence of an earthquake. Now all is doubt and dismay. Every countenance reflects the calamity which has befallen the country.
As Charles B. Wiltshire about the first of April was returning from Leesburg, he was met by Colonel Mosby, who apprised him of his intention of making him a lieutenant in Company " H," and at the same time ordered him to take a party and make a scout to Stevenson's Depot, on the Winchester and Potomac Railroad. With a few men, Wiltshire was approaching through a lane which leads from Berryville, the residence of Colonel Daniel Bonham, as a Federal officer, who proved to be Lieutenant Eugene Ferris, of the 30th Massachusetts Infantry, was seen to pass rapidly from the house to the stable, which was situated in a corner of the yard. Wiltshire and Gill, who were riding fifty paces in advance of their comrades, passing through the gate which admitted them to the yard, dashed up to the stable-door in which Ferris was standing. Without drawing his pistol from the holster, Wiltshire demanded a surrender. "Never with life," replied Ferris; and, as his adversary was attempting to disengage his pistol, he inflicted on him a mortal wound in the neck. A little after, Gill, who was somewhat to Wiltshire's left, fired, but Ferris, being protected by the doorpost, was not struck, and at once fired on Gill, and inflicted upon him a disabling wound. By this time the rest of the party had arrived on the scene of combat, and opened a rapid fire on the Federal officer, who, disdaining to fight from a cover, stepped into the open space in front of the stable, and engaged in what appeared to be a hopeless contest. But it was hopeless only in appearance, for, begirt with pistols, he was a skillful shot, and had the additional advantage of being on foot, so that almost all his balls took effect. Soon the gallant officer was master of the field. It was death to stand before that unerring pistol. Orrick and Bartlett Bolling had both been wounded, and Orrick, in addition, had been thrown from his horse. Seizing Wiltshire's horse, which he found at the gate, Ferris directed his orderly, who, cjrouched in the stable, had taken no part in the. conflict, to mount and follow him, but, before taking his departure, he advanced some paces toward his adversaries, who had retreated back to the lane, and fired at them two parting shots. He then sprang into his saddle, and turned his face toward his camp. Two of the Rangers, one wounded, who were waiting until he mounted his horse, started in pursuit. A running fight was kept up until Lieutenant Ferris (for his orderly was captured in the pursuit) passed the Federal picket-post, but not until he had received a slight wound. When the facts of this encounter were related to Grogan, he remarked that the lieutenant ought to be invited to join the battalion. When they were related to Mosby, he said," Why, he is as brave as Grogan."*
After the encounter was over, Gill attempted, notwithstanding his wound, to return to his friends at Middleburg, but was compelled to stop at the house of a citizen in the Blue Eidge, where in a few days he died. He received the announcement of his approaching end with calmness, and said,
"I die at least in a good cause."
George Murray Gill was from Baltimore, and son of the distinguished gentleman of that name, and at the time of his death had just entered his twenty-fourth year. He was graduated at Princeton College, where he exhibited unusual talent for public speaking, a fine omen of success in the profession of law, to which he had devoted his talents and energy. Moved by the spirit of chivalry which animated so many of the young gentlemen of Maryland, he crossed the Potomac, and at an early period of the war enlisted in the Southern army, and served first in the infantry, then in the cavalry arm of the service. He participated in many of the great battles, and was every where conspicuous for the highest qualities of a soldier. The day after the second battle of Manassas, he received in a skirmish on the Little River Turnpike a severe wound, which compelled him to absent himself from the army until the middle of November. From that time till after the disaster at Gettysburg he was constantly with Stuart's cavalry, but was taken prisoner at Hagerstown on the retreat of Lee's army. He spent five dreary months in prison, first at Fort Delaware, then at Point Lookout. At the end of this time he was sent to Richmond, and soon after rejoined his regiment, from which he was transferred to the Partisan Battalion. The elements in him were finely blended, for manly courage was united to intelligence, a high morality, and great gentleness of disposition.
* There are many different accounts of this fight, and I have taken great pains to ascertain the truth. Colonel Bbnham is a witness of unimpeachable veracity, besides being a gentleman of decided Southern principles. He witnessed the whole affair, and his account I have adopted.
http://books.google.com/books?id=E24FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA460&lpg=PA460&ots=NqfX7-Ew2B&dq=eugene+ferris,+bonham&output=text
Census:
- 1830 Samuel in Eastern District of Frederick Co.
wife and 2 sons still at home; 21 slaves
Daniel Bonham, his wife, a male 15-19; 2 girls under 5 and 1 boy 5-9. 5 slaves
Property:
Letter Jno. Milton to Treadwell Smith re money to be paid out. Includes 1837 receipt from Martha P. Castleman receiving $140 on account of deed 11/15/1837.
Letter from Wm. Castleman to Treadwell Smith calculating Daniel S. Bonham?s land bought by Smith from John B. Taylor, 1837
Part of a description of a tract of 143+ acres, 1837 (corner of church yard, and running with church yard)
Collection Land Records Collection
http://clarkecounty.pastperfect-online.com/31579cgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=50AEDA4E-14D5-40C6-9819-183121861759;type=301
Census:
1840 census - Clarke Co; Amos had 12 slaves, 7 employed in Agriculture. Seems to be next door to Daniel (9 slaves; no listing of agriculture) and apparently a relative of his wife (a Thomas McCormick) on the other side of Daniel.
next page is Samuel Bonham (the father); 19 slaves, 7 in agriculture.
John Clinton, a brother to Amos and Daniel, also there in 1840, different page, (7 slaves, 3 in agriculture)
Census:
residence 429
Daniel S. Bonham 43 1807 VA farmer
Nancy 42 1808 VA
Mary F. 21 1829 VA
Lucy C. 19 1832 VA
Samuel 18 1832 VA attended school within the year
Ann M.W. 15 1835 VA
John A. 12 1838 VA attended school
Edward B. 10 1840 VA attended school
Anna V. 6 1844 VA attended school
Aurelius 2 1848 VA
residence 430
Samuel Bonham 69 1781 VA farmer $21,816
Mary A Bonham 65 1875 VA
Amos A Bonham 39 39 1811 VA manager of farm 250
Ann E Bonham 37 37 1813 VA
George S Bonham 16 1834 VA attended school
Albert M Bonham 14 1836 VA attended school
Anna Bonham 12 1838 VA attended school
William Bonham 10 1840 VA attended school
Mary Bonham 8 1842 VA attended school
Frances Bonham 6 1844 VA
Isaac Bonham 4 1846 VA
Daniel married Ann C Eaty in 1827 in Frederick Co, Virginia. Ann was born about 1811; died after 1858 in Sherman, Grayson Co, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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1852 - Aft 1920 (69 years)