McKay Reunion

     The McKay Clan held the 14th meeting on Sunday, August 12th, at the Junior High School Riverton, Va., with 65 members present.
     After being served a delicious luncheon, the meeting was called to order by the president, Antram A. McKay, of Baltimore, who was born at "Belmont Farms," Front Royal, Va., and later lived at "Erin", Nivevah, Warren County, Va., the home of his paternal grandfather, Jesse H. McKay. The first thing on the program was an interesting and witty talk by William. K. McKay, of Luray. Following this, the business meeting was held at which Randolph Barbee, formerly of Luray and now of Washington, D. C., was elected president for the coming year. Mr. Barbee's grandmother was Mary McKay, granddaughter of Enos McKay, who built the old stone house at Spring Farm just outside Luray, in 1780, and lived there until he died in 1845, his will being one of the first probated at the Court House in Luray. He also present- ed to the then new Court House the tower and bell which still proclaims that court is in session there.
     Also elected at the meeting was vice president Carroll F. McKay, now of Thurmont, Md., formerly of Warren County, Va., having been born in the first McKay house at Cedarville, Warren County, which was built in 1732 on the grant of land given to the McKay's in 1730 and owned by McKay's continuously until 1916.
     It was decided that another meeting will be held on the second Sunday in August, 1957, the place of the meeting to be decided upon later. The business meeting was adjourned and was followed by interesting entertainment for all hands, pony rides and games for the children. Having secured the services of a very fine band of square dancers led by Joe Bowers, of Reliance, Va., everyone tried to join in the merriment but it was mostly enjoyed by the young folks, the older ones an interested audience.
     Some folks having come from as far as Staunton, Va., Washington, D. C., and upper Maryland, it was thought best to end the meeting at an early hour.

Looking Backward

     A chapter of this series of articles, recently published, recorded the origin, erection and didication in Front Royal, of three monuments to soldiers of the Confederate States of America. The earliest one, dedicated in 1882, honored soldiers of the Confederacy who were wounded on nearby battlefields and died in Confederate Government hospitals, or in other buildings converted into hospitals in Front Royal.
     A second monument in memory of seven captured Mosby Rangers executed by order of Federal authorities, and erected by their surviving comrades of the 43rd. Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, was dedicated in 1899.
     These memorials in marble were the culmination of the efforts of patriotic women of Front Royal and Warren County is Warren Memorial Association, whose loving hands continued through many years, in the care and completion of the grounds of these monuments in Prospect Hill Cemetary, at the expenditure of $6,400.
     A third memorial, located on the lawn of Warren County Court House, in honor of the men of Warren County who served in military organizations of the Confederate States of America, was erected under the leadership of another organization of women, Warren Rifles Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and William Richardson, Post, United Confederate Veterans. It was dedicated on July 4, 1911.
     This immediate chapter will recite in detail, the origin, objectives and achievements of a half century of another organization of Warren County women.

     Warren Rifles Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, was organized on September 4, 1905, by a group of women with seventeen charter members, who met in one of the front rooms of "Ivy Lodge", the home of Mrs. Sallie Davis-Roy, on Chester Street, now the present Samuels Library which adjoins the site of the Confederate Museum building on the north. These women were Miss Helen Ashby, Miss Mary Cunningham Ashby, Miss Elizabeth Almond Ashby, Mrs. Francis R. Buck, Miss Katie Massey Buck, Mrs. Mary Wiley Burtsfield, Mrs. Elizabeth Roy Chapin, Miss Madge Lane Cook, Miss Mattie Stover Compton, Mrs. M. L. Garrison, Mrs. Augusta King, Miss Laura King, Miss Virginia LeHew, Miss Bessie Peyton, Mrs. Sallie Davis-Roy, and Mrs.W. Cass Weaver. Mrs. Sallie Davis-Roy was elected as its first president.
     The name for the chapter, appropriately chosen, was "Warren Rifles", in honor of Company B, 17th Virginia Infantry, the first infantry company from Warren County to enlist in the War between the States. Of this founding group, six are living today: Mrs. Helen Ashby Rogers and Miss Elizabeth Almond Ashby, of Catonville, Md; Mrs. George L. Graham (Mary Cunningham Ashby), of East Orange, New Jersey; Miss Madge Lane Cook, of Washington, D. C. Mrs. Laura King Sonner, of Front Royal, and Miss Bessie Payton, of New Market.
     Today, Warren Rifles Chapter has a membership of 107, and is recognized as an outstanding chapter of Virginia Division, and the General United Daughters of the Confederacy.
     The first public act of the chapter was the presentation, in 1906, of military service crosses of honor to Confederate soldiers of Warren County. This ceremony took place in the former Davis Hall which stood on the site of the J. J. Newberry Company store, on East Main Street, of Front Royal. The chapters participation in the erection of the Confederate monument on the Court House lawn is noted above.
     The program of activities has been, and continues to be: the preservation and publication of Southern history; to stimulate interest in such history by placing books in local, public and private school libraries; to promote college scholarships for worthy students who are descendants of Confederate soldiers; to establish an annual, competitive essay and award prizes to seniors of Warren County High School; to cooperate in essay contests and the award of prizes through the Virginia Division and General United Daughters of the Confederacy; to give aid in procuring pensions for needy widows and daughters of Confederate soldiers of Warren County, and of Rappahannock and Page counties which do not have the U. D. C. chapters; to mark the graves with iron crosses and restore headstones, of Confederate soldiers; and to place wreaths of flowers on Confederate momuments on anniversary days.

     Warren Rifle Chapter, and individual members, have won numerous awards made by the General U. D. C. and its Virginia Division. Apart from such awards, was one of $500, in 1952, to Mrs. Dewey R. Wood then chapter historian. The chapter sponsored Mrs. Wood as its candidate for "Woman of the Year" in a contest promoted by Radio Station WSVA, Harrisonburg. She was chosen, and this award became the nucleus of the chapter's fund for the establishment of a Confederate Museum building, now under construction in Front Royal, the chapter's most enterprising objective, to date.

     Three times, Warren Rifles Chapter has won the annual, national award of the John A. Purdue Cup for the best diary submitted of the Confederate period. These diaries have been that of Dr. Charles Eckardt, an early music teacher of Front Royal, for the years 1860-1865, (teacher of Mrs. Kathleen Boone Samuels), the diary of John William Boone, of Front Royal, covering a period of two years as a Confederate prisoner of war at Rock Island, Ill., and at Ft. Delaware; and the diary of Private Norvall Baker, of Frederick County, 18th Virginia Cavalry, Imboden's Brigade, C. S. A., including a narrative of the retreat of one of Lee's wagon trains following the battle of Gettysburg: This diary was made available for copying through R. M. Larrick, of Winchester, a grand-nephew of Private Baker.
     United Daughters of the Confederacy, General, has given recognition to Warren Rifles Chapter for placing Confederate books in public libraries, and in public and private school libraries, to the number of sixty copies in a single year. Miss Virginia Hale has won awards by the General organizations (and by the Virginia Division) in competitive essay contests for essays on "Southern Men of Letters", "Mosby's Rangers", "Education in the Ante-Bellum South" and "Jefferson Davis"; Mrs. Carrie Baily Grubbs won first place for an essay, "The Challenge that is Ours in Honoring the Women of the Sixties"; Mrs. Deward Edgar Walker was awarded first prize by the General organization federate Governor of North Carolina, and Mrs. Katie Jordan Owfor an essay, "Zebulon Vance", Conens was first for her essay on "Confederate Newspapers".

     For seven consecutive years, except in 1950, Warren Rifles Chapter was first place winner of a large silver cup, for the most outstandinig historical work by a chapter of the Virginia Division. The cup, which had been awarded for seventeen years, was retired in 1955 and presented to Warren Rifles Chapter for permanent possession.
     Mrs. Dewey R. Wood was first place winner for a review of a book "The Capture of Jefferson Davis"; and Mrs. Deward E. Walker received a prize at the annual Confederate ball in Richmond in 1954 for the most authentic reproduction of a costume of the Confederate period.
     For her efficiency in sponsoring and featuring Southern Music, Mrs. Carrie Bailey Grubbs, chapter Chairman of music, received special recognition by the Virginia Division, and her essay, "Confederate Music", was published in the official U. D. C. magazine.
     During her presidency of Warren Rifles Chapter, the first printed yearbook of the chapter was published, a beautiful, illustrated volume, on fine paper stock, from the press of Dietz Company, Inc., Richmond, Va., dedicated to the United Daughters of the Confederacy. August Dietz, Sr., publisher and historian, addressed the chapter on "Confederate Stamps and Postal Service", in an authoratative account of government postal service during the years of the Confederacy. Also, during Mrs. Grubb's incumbency, the chapter established a memorial fund of parents of chapter members for an essay contest for Seventh Grade pupils of Warren County schools. The first place winner was Robert M. Cullers, the son of Mrs. R. Miller Cullers, and the late Mr. Cullers. The subject of the essays was "Home Life in the South During the War between the States". This fund has since provided annual cash awards as prizes for a competitive essay contest for seniors of Warren County High School.

     In general U. D. C. activities, Warren Rifles Chapter has always met, and frequently exceeded, its quota to the Mrs. Norman Randolph and Janet Randolph funds for relief work; has contributed more than $1,000 towards Virginia Division Headquarters Buildings in Richmond, as a memorial to Confederate women; exceeded its quota for a Lee-Jackson memorial window in Washington D. C. Cathedral; has contributed towards the restoration of the home of Wade Hampton in South Carolina, as a shrine; and towards furnishing the McLean house at Appomattox Court House.
     The combined anniversaries of the birthday anniversaries of Lee, Jackson and Maury is observed, annually, on January 19.
     On the occasion of the three-day celebration of the Centenial of Warren County, in 1936, the chapter sponsored an official cachet of the event and had charge of an historical Conference exhibit in the former Strickler House building, Mrs. M. O. Simpson, chair- man.
     The late Mrs. B. Ferguson Cary served, successively, as chapter Fourth District Virginia Division, and Historian General, U. D. C. Miss Virginia Hale, of the chapter, is the authentic source of information on the history and genealogy of Warren County. Mrs. Harriet Harrison Armentrout, a daughter of Warren Rifles Chapter, is president of Pickett-Buchanan Chapter, of Norfolk.
     In 1949, the U. S. Post Office Department planned the issuance of a special postage stamp commorative of the bi-centenial of Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Va. Later, the decision was about to be revoked as a possible precedent that would be claimed by other educational institutions. The designer of the proposed stamp, Roy Trimley, appealed to Miss Hale to intervene with her influence as an historian and philatelist, and her efforts prevailed. Miss Hale was unable to attend the ceremonies, as a special guest, on April 1949, the first day of the issue, in Lexington. Warren Rifles Chapter, had previously, joined in publicity for the issuance of the Joel Chandler Harris commemorative stamp on December 9, 1948.
     Warren Rifles Chapter has assembled a large collection of historical documents, pictures, letters, mementoes, flags and material, carefully preserved in its archives for deposit in its Confederate Museum building when completed.

     Among the Warren County pioneer family memorials in this museum will be a flag niche by descendants of Charles Buck, with a display of Confederate and captured Union flags, and flags that waved over the last Confederate Union reunion encampment at Gettysburg, in 1938, presented by Col. Coleman Mark, U. S. A. Ret. of Washington D. C., The Buck family furnished seventeen soldiers to the Confederacy.
     Other pioneer families memorialized in the Museum by their descendants will include the Robert McKay family, by a memorial arch in the main museum room, in memory of eleven Confederate soldiers; descendants of Peter LeHew will memoralize Capt Francis Wesley LeHew, Co., B, 17th Virginia Infantry and Sergeant Jonathan Branson LeHew and Charles Edwin LeHew; four brothers and a cousin, of the Rust family; Capt. John Robert Rust, 7th Va. Calvalry, who had six horses shot under him;, and Scott Rust, William 0. Rust, H. Clay Rust and Bushrod Rust, brothers, two killed in battle, will be memorialized by former State Senator John W. Rust, fairfax; by a display case for family war relics and Mrs. Ella Rust Bibb, will honor her father R. Singleton Rust, by a memorial of family war relics.
     Descendants will honor Capt Samuel J. Simpson, Co. E. 7th Virginia Cavalry, Laurel Brigade, and his brother, Maj. Robert Simpson and John Simpson, both killed in military service. It is noteworthy here that during a period of its history, five sisters, the daughters of Capt. Samuel J. Simpson, were members of Warren Rifles Chapter: Miss Margaret Simpson, Mrs. Elizabeth Menefee, Mrs. Eva Haskett, Mrs. Etha Morgan and Mrs. Kate Blackford and presented the chapter with its flag in memory of their father.
     Warren Rifles Chapter will place a memorial in the Museum in honor of Maj. Robert Simpson, who was captain of Co. E. (Warren Rifles, 17th Virginia Infantry, organized June 10, 1861, the first infantry company mustered from Warren County in Confederate service.) He was promoted to the rank of Major, was wounded in the knee at Drewry's Bluff, near Petersburg, suffered the amputation of his leg and died a few days later in Richmond, on June 9, 1864. Capt. Francis W. LeHew succeeded to the command of Co. E. Maj. Simpson was a graduate of Virginia Military Institute and a Front Royal educator, heading Academy, before the war.
     The chapter will place a memorial, also to Belle Boyd, famed Confedetate spy, who lived, at times, in Front Royal.
     To date, 153 memorials have been authorized.

     Some years ago, Mrs. Elizabeth Mauck Garmack presented an American flag to the chapter. Mrs. Garmack was a teacher, for many years, in the Philippine Islands and in her absence, the presentation was made by her sister, Mrs. Z. James Compton, of Frort Royal.
     The chapter, has frequently, presented to the public, distinguished public figures. On September 8, 1955, Richard Bales, director of music of the National Art Gallery, addressed the graup, in "Chester House" on "Southern Music", and Virgil Carrington Jones, author of "Ranger Mosby", spoke on "Mosby". On December 12, 1955, Harnett Kane, who has written "The Smiling Rebel" a story of Belle Boyd, spoke to an audience in the auditorium of Front Royal Elementary School building.
     The Civil War Round Table, of Washington, D. C. has met in Front Royal in recent years. In 1951, Miss Virginia Hale was its guest speaker, and in 1955, it had the Rev. Richard H. Forrester, of Front Royal, as its special program speaker. Thurlow Malone, of Armory Mississippi, who visited Front Royal in 1955 and made an authentic tape recording of the frightening war time "rebel yell" for the benefit of the Confederate Museum fund. The first Warren County volunteer for the Confederate Army was Thomas N. Garrison of "Rockcliffe" near Riverton, Fourth Corporal Co. B. 17th Virginia Infantry Warren Rifles.