Dear Friends,
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
I repost the following request for new members.
For old members . . . please note my new contact information below.
I have been working for some time on an account of what was, arguably,
the O. J. Simpson case of 1854 . . . the murder of VMI Cadet Thomas
Blackburn by C. B. Christian, a student at Judge Brockenbrough's law
school in Lexington, and later Lt. Col. of the 49th Virginia and one of
the "Immortal 600."
With the MSS now at ca 500 pages . . . having "retired" from my day job
. . . and having done due diligence at VMI, W&L, UVA, LVA, UNC, Duke,
the VHS and a host of local archives . . . I have . . . much to my
frustration . . . NEVER YET SEEN A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE PRINCIPALS IN THE
CASE!!!
I would greatly GREATLY appreciate any help you could give me finding
same!
Anyone seen images of:
VMI Cadet Thomas Blackburn . . . the victim . . . son of Dr.
Richard
Scott Blackburn of Ripon VA (now WV) . . . and nephew of Governor
Francis Thomas of Maryland (he of the nasty divorce of Va Gov.
McDowell's daughter, Sally Campbell Preston McDowell). Blackburn's
sister, Jane Wormley Blackburn Moran, headed the Charlottesville
Chapter of the DAR and presented the bronze doors which now grace the
DC HQ of the organization. The murdered cadet was also related to the
Blackburns of Rippon (with two 'ps') Lodge and Mount Vernon.
Colonel Charles Burks Christian . . . the murderer (well . . .
technically, not a murderer . . . he was acquitted . . .but he did the
deed) . . . son of Charles M. Christian and Frances Ann Burks of
Amherst County, Virginia . . . Lt. Col. of the 49th Virginia, and a
long-time Lynchburg lawyer, who died unmarried after bragging he could
seduce any woman in Lexington.
Mary Evelyn Anderson Bruce . . . credited (along with her aunt,
Evalina Alexander Moore, wife of Samuel McDowell Moore) with provoking
the fight between Blackburn and Christian . . . and by all accounts as
great a beauty at fifty as she had been at 17 . She was Mary Evelyn
Anderson in 1854 . . .
daughter of Francis Thomas Anderson and Mary Ann Alexander of
Fincastle. She later married VMI Cadet Alexander Broadnax Bruce (one
of Cadet Blackburn's roommates at the time of the murder and the heir
to "Berry Hill" Plantation.) I've seen only a small photo of
her . . . in a
published Michael Miley collage . . . but have not been able to find
the original.
Thomas Johnson Michie (1795 -1873) . . . of the famous
Michie family
of lawyers . . . member of VMI Board of Visitors during the War . . .
assisted Commonwealth's Attorney David Evans Moore with the prosecution
in Christian's FIRST trial in Lexington (which ended with a hung jury)
David Evans Moore . . . see above . . . son of General and U.S.
Senator Andrew Moore.
Charles Edward Lightfoot of Culpeper, Virginia . . . one of
Blackburn's roommates . . . later a teacher at Culpeper Military
Academy, Hillsborough Military Academy in NC and at Bethel Military
Academy near Warrenton. He also served in the 6th NC infantry; the
22nd NC infantry; and, after a prisoner exchange, as commander of
Lightfoot's Btn of light artillery, assigned to the Artillery Defenses
of Richmond. While he was at Bethel Academy he appears to have had a
close connection with John Singleton Mosby.
Many many thanks. . . . and always happy to share more on
any of these
folks and the topic in general.
Sincerely,
Dan Morrow
Daniel Morrow
Publisher
The Middleburg Eccentric
c/o
Jamestown Exploration Company
36001 John Mosby Highway, Suite #4.
P.O. Box 1186
Middleburg
VA 20118-1186
540-687-8690
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