Memorials › John Henry Rampy

John Henry Rampy

5 Nov 1830 – 16 Nov 1889

Birth5 Nov 1830
Death16 Nov 1889
CemeterySalado Cemetery
Salado , Bell County , Texas , USA
Added byStanley A. Hutson on 17 Jun 2021
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11350448

Bio

SERG - Co B, 5 Batt, 10 Regt Ala Cav - Confederate States JOHN HENRY RAMPY (1830-1889) CONFEDERATE CAVALRYMAN by Gordon A. Rampy Two of the most important military engagements in American history were the battles at Yorktown, Virginia, in October, 1781, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July, 1863. The first opened the door to independence and the second led to the preservation of the Union. As one who has researched much of the Rampy family lineage, it would be a matter of pride for me to report that we were represented in those battles and fought on the winning side. But the opposite is true. In fact, Johan Nicholas Rampy, the ancestor of us all, fought for the King as a cavalryman with the South Carolina Royalists and died in October, 1781, probably from wounds received far from Yorktown. About eighty years later his great-grandson, my great-grandfather, John Henry Rampy, was fighting as a Confederate cavalryman in Eastern Kentucky, just three weeks after Gettysburg, when he was captured and sent to a Union prison in Delaware. What follows is a brief account of John Henry's life, including what is known about his military career. Henry Rampy, John Henry's father, was born in Edgefield, South Carolina in 1797, married in 1820, and moved with his family to Alabama about 1837. John Henry, then seven years old, grew up there and married Ann Hassentine Burgess in 1855 at the age of twenty-five. They farmed in Randolph County near Wedowee and had two young children when, at age thirty-two, John Henry enlisted in Hilliard's Legion, September 5, 1862 at Knoxville, Tennessee. John Henry Rampy Ann Hassentine Burgess Rampy Hilliard's Legion consisted of three battallions of infantry, one battallion of artillery and one of cavalry. John Henry was a private in Company B, 5th Battallion, which was cavalry, about 600 men strong. The Legion operated as a part of Brigadier General McCowan's Brigade in the Dept. of East Tennessee, including the siege of Cumberland Gap, until October, 1862 when it took part in General Braxton Bragg's campaign through Kentucky and East Tennessee. In December, Colonel Hilliard resigned his commission and the 5th Battallion merged, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with the19th Battallion Georgia Cavalry to form the 10th Confederate Cavalry Regiment. John Henry was listed as Corporal in Company B, February, 1863, and in the March-April muster he is present, listed as "Mounted 40 days." Later, as part of General Pegram's Brigade, the Tenth Regiment saw action at Monticello, Kentucky, in July, 1863, losing 8 killed, 19 wounded, and 62 captured. Shortly thereafter, a cavalry brigade was assembled under the command of Colonel John S. Scott consisting of the 1st Louisiana  Cavalry, 2nd Tennessee Cavalry, 5th Tennessee Cavalry, 10th Confederate Cavalry, 5th North Carolina Cavalry, and eight pieces of artillery. The brigade began operations ("Scott's Raid") in the area around Lexington and Richmond, Kentucky. "The objects of the expedition were to cut the enemy's communications; to destroy their trains and supplies; to capture horses, mules, and arms; to send out cattle, and, if possible, and incidentally, to make a diversion in favor of General Morgan." Scott's raid began July 25th,1863, passing through Big Creek Gap and on toward Williamsburg, Kentucky where about 100 Union mounted pickets were driven toward London, which the brigade reached on the evening of the 26th. That night they continued on toward Richmond via Big Hill, encountering heavy opposition with skirmishing at Rogersville, five miles from Richmond on July 27th. On the morning of the 28th the brigade met 1200 Union cavalry under Colonel Sanders a mile and a half south of Richmond. In the thirty minutes of battle which followed, the Union forces were driven out of the town toward Lexington. Colonel Sanders was wounded in the action and his forces lost about 15 killed and 30-40 wounded while Scott's losses were three killed and ten wounded. At 4 P.M. Scott's brigade marched on Winchester, reaching the town on the morning of the 29th. On learning that strong Union forces were assembling in Lexington just 14 miles to the west, he moved the brigade eastward toward Irvine, hoping to capture the 14th Kentucky Cavalry stationed there and remount his men on much needed fresh stock. Scott, leading Ashby's regiment (2nd Tennessee) and 150 men of the 10th Confederate, reached Irvine at daylight, routed the enemy, and captured large quantities of arms, wagons and stores as well as 150 prisoners. But they were immediately set upon by a strong Union force and driven southwestward through Big Hill and Berea, arriving in Paint Lick on the morning of July 31st. They continued on through Lancaster toward Stanford with Union cavalry in hot pursuit. The rear of Scott's Brigade was being guarded by the 1st Louisiana Cavalry (Lt. Colonel Nixon) and was attacked by the enemy "in force" about one and a half miles south of Lancaster on the Stanford Pike. The disaster which took place there is described by Colonel Scott in his report: "Colonel Goode (10th Confederate) and Lt. Colonel Gilespie (2nd Tennessee) were both in supporting distance, but, instead of turning to his (Lt. Colonel Nixon's) relief, came on in disorder, to Dick's River where I was preparing to make a stand, and assured me they could do nothing with their men." It was in the engagements of July 30th and July 31st, 1863, that over 200 of Scott's troops were captured. John Henry Rampy was captured on the afternoon of the 31st somewhere on the Stanford Pike, probably close to Lancaster. Colonel Scott summed up the closing days of his raid into Eastern Kentucky as follows: "The casualties are great, but very small when considering the fact that several times both front and rear were engaged, the front fighting a force almost equal to our whole command, and the rear pressed by one vastly overwhelming. For five days and nights the fighting was incessant, not a half hour of rest at any time intervening. Nothing but the most indomitable bravery and persever- ance, without food or rest, upon the part of the officers and men, saved the entire command." It had been hoped that Scott's expedition would relieve some of the Union pressure on Con- federate General Morgan as he raided across the Ohio River into Indiana. However, Morgan and his raiders were quickly captured and the units that had been pursuing him were immediately transported by rail to Lexington in great numbers, forcing Scott to run for cover. John Henry (He appears in the prison records as "J. H. Rampy") spent the first days of August in a military prison in Louisville, and then at Camp Chase on the west side of Columbus, Ohio. He was then transported to Fort Delaware, a large facility on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River just south of Wilmington, where he would remain until he took the Oath of Allegiance after the surrender of the Confederacy in 1865. Except for a period when was hospitalized from 14 May 1864 to 31 July 1864, for an unspecified illness, his prison time -- nearly two years -- appears to have been unevent- ful. Fort Delaware (Today) By the end of the war, about 33,000 Confederate prisoners had passed through Fort Dela- ware. Wikipedia gives the following description of the conditions at the time John Henry was in- terned. "By 1863, enlisted men and junior officers (mostly lieutenants and captains) of the prison population were living in the wooden barracks on the northwest side of the island. These two classes of prisoners were separated by a tall fence complete with a catwalk for the guards. In 1864, the War Department ordered the rations to be cut in retaliation for the treatment of Northern soldiers in southern POW camps. Although prisoners were only receiving two small meals, they were allowed to purchase extra food from the sutler, and allowed to fish in the waterways on the island and in the Delaware River. Official records also show that prisoners at Fort Delaware received more care packages than any other POW camp in the country. "Things here are not quite as bad as I expected to find them. They are, however, bad, hopeless and gloomy enough without any exaggeration," said Pvt. Henry Berkeley. "We went into dinner about three o'clock, which consisted of three hardtack, a small piece of meat (about three bites) and a pint tin cup of bean soup. We only get two light meals a day." "The mess-room is next to [Division] 22 and near the rear. It is a long, dark room, having a long pine table, on which the food is placed in separate piles, either on a tin plate or on the uncovered greasy table, at meal hours, twice a day," said Capt. Robert E. Park, 12th Alabama Infantry Regiment. "The fare consists of a slice of baker's bread, very often stale, with weak coffee, for breakfast, and a slice of bread and a piece of salt pork or salt beef, sometimes, alternating with boiled fresh beef and bean soup, for dinner. The beef is often tough and hard to masticate." The close quarters, miserable food, and humid, miasmal conditions on the island led to the deaths of about 3,000, but John Henry survived and was transported to his home when he was released June 15th, 1865. Today the fort and surrounding area are maintained as "Fort Delaware State Park," offering the visitor tours and displays commemorating the history of the prison. After returning to Alabama John Henry Rampy moved with his family to Salado, Bell County, Texas, where he died November 16th, 1889 at the age of 59.

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