 |
| David Wardlaw Ramsey |
Ramsey was born in Oak Hill on Jan. 14, 1840 to the Rev.
Abiezer Clarke Ramsey and Elizabeth Wardlaw Ramsey, who were natives of Georgia
and South Carolina, respectively. David Ramsey went on to graduate from the
Kentucky Military Institute and went on to medical school. Sources say that in
February 1861, he put his medical studies on hold and enlisted as an officer in
the Confederate army on Feb. 9, 1861.
A short time later, when the Wilcox True Blues were
officially organized as a formal military company, Ramsey was selected to serve
as a captain in that infantry unit.
When the True Blues left Wilcox County on Feb. 12, 1861,
they first headed to Pensacola, Fla., where they became Co. B of the 1st
Alabama Infantry Regiment. For most of the next year, they were stationed at
Fort Barrancas in Pensacola. Later, in March 1862, they were sent to pull duty
at Island No. 10, a strategic point on the Mississippi River.
Union forces eventually laid siege to Island No. 10, and
some members of the Wilcox True Blues were captured or died from disease during
this long siege. Members of the regiment who escaped the siege later made their
way to Port Hudson in Louisiana, only to suffer another siege at the hands of
the Union army. A handful of Wilcox County soldiers survived that siege and
went on to fight in such places as Sharpsburg, the Wilderness, Manassas,
Atlanta and Knoxville.
Ramsey was one of the handful who survived the war, and he
eventually returned home to work as a doctor and as a local minister. Not long
after the end of the war – on Jan. 24, 1866 – Ramsey married Emma Virginia
Hawthorn, who was the daughter of Joseph Richard Hawthorn of Pine Apple. Joseph
Hawthorn was the grandfather of Brigadier General John Herbert Kelly, who was
known as the “Boy General of the Confederacy.”
Emma Ramsey died at the age of 47 in 1893. After her death,
David Ramsey went on to marry Lucella “Lanfila” Walthall Ramsey, who died in 1922.
David Ramsey lived to the ripe old age of 77 before passing away on March 9,
1916. According to the March 16, 1916 edition of The Wilcox Progressive Era,
Wilcox County “lost one of its most esteemed and venerable citizens” with the
passing of David Ramsey.
His obituary noted that he was a Baptist minister and was
“loved and esteemed by hundreds whom he served as pastor. For numbers of years,
he was moderator of the Pine Barren Association and maintained an active
interest in his church life up to his death.” Ramsey was laid to rest in the
Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery at Pine Apple.
No doubt Ramsey still has many relatives living in Wilcox County today. If anyone in the reading audience has any additional information to share about Ramsey, please let me know. I am especially interested in information about his exploits during the War Between the States.
No comments:
Post a Comment