150 years ago, my great-great-grandfather, William Fairfax
Gooden, stood outside a farmhouse in a sleepy little town that few people
outside Virginia knew existed. But at 3 p.m. April 9, 1865, when pencil lead
touched paper and two well respected and opposing military generals shook
hands, that time – that place – was etched into history books studied by the
six generations since and the hundreds of generations yet to come.
The moment was the surrender of Confederate Army of Virginia
General Robert E. Lee to Union Army of the Potomac General Ulysses S. Grant,
and the place was Appomattox.
William Fairfax Gooden was the father of my
great-grandmother, Estelle Gooden Boyer; grandfather of my grandmother, Helen
Boyer Stoker; and great-grandfather of my mother, June Stoker Daravanis.
William Fairfax Gooden was born in March 1849 in
Pennsylvania and enlisted in the Union army on March 14, 1864 at age 15 despite
the opposition of his father, Hiram.
William was assigned to the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 65th
Regiment, 5th Cavalry, Company I. William was among 231 new recruits
to join the Pennsylvania 5th Cavalry in Notoway Bridge, Virginia.
His company saw action at Notoway Bridge throughout April; fought at Jarratt’s
Station and Bellville, Virginia May 8 through May 19, 1864; fought at
Petersburg June 2 through June 15; fought at Staunton Bridge, Stoney Creek and
Darbytown from June 29 to mid-July; fought numerous skirmishes around the
Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia from September 29 until the end of
1864.
A profile of the Pennsylvania 65th Regiment,
written in 1999, continues the story:
“In the latter part of March, 1865, it joined Gen. Sheridan's command and
on April 1, started on its last
campaign. The enemy was met and routed at Five Forks, where the 5th cavalry made a
gallant dash, capturing 300
prisoners. During the succeeding week the command was active in the pursuit, skirmishing at
Gravelly Run, Amelia Court House
and Burkesville. On the 7th its picket line was established near Prince Edward Court
House and on the evening of the
same day it reached Appomattox Court House, where it shared in the fighting up to the time
of the surrender.
“It moved to Lynchburg on the 12th and
thence returned through Appomattox,
Farmville, Burkesville, Five Forks and Richmond to the Mechanicsville Pike, where it
encamped.”
William Fairfax Gooden and 330
other members of the Pennsylvania 65th Regiment mustered out on May
14, 1866.
For
the entire Civil War, one officer and 76 soldiers of the Pennsylvania 65th
Regiment were killed or mortally wounded in battle. An additional six officers
and 210 soldiers died of disease or accident.
William
moved to Johnson County, Indiana, south of Indianapolis, where he married the
former Sarah Russell on Dec. 20, 1869. Their son, Charles, was born on
Christmas day of 1870. Sarah died the following year. He then married Lavinia
Sanders Kaufman, who also lost a spouse to death and had a son, on March 29,
1880. From this union, my great-grandmother Estelle was born in 1884. She died
seven months short of her 100th birthday in 1984.
William
studied medicine, moved to Aurora, Nebraska in 1886 and eventually became Burlington
Division (Neb.) Surgeon for many years. Lavinia died March 9, 1900. In 1904,
William married Luella “Lulu” Ream, another widow with one son, and moved to
Montgomery, Alabama where he died and was buried in 1914.
But
before my great-great-grandfather could come to the rescue of injured and
ailing citizens of Indiana, Nebraska and Alabama; William Fairfax Gooden
stepped forward to help save a budding nation. And he was only a teenager.
Though
I have driven through Virginia a couple of times in my life, I’ve never stopped
at Appomattox. Someday I hope to visit Appomattox and see what he saw. I know
the trees will be bigger and the exterior paint will have been refreshed since
then, but the ground where he stood and the aura he felt on that particular day
– at that particular moment – is eternal.
