Oval chest-up view of Blair in Confederate double-breasted uniform coat. Image is clear. Plain mount remains in fine condition. Modern pencil notes and identification (from Wm. Turner) on back, no photographer's backmark. Accompanying the image is a small portion of a cdv album frame with the very faint pencil identification, "Capt. B.B. Blair  C.S.A."

According to the General Catalog of Jefferson College, Canonsburg, PA, Bruce Benton Blair, aka Brice Benton Blair, was born in Dillsburg PA, on March 9, 1839. He was the son of Thomas Porter and Rebecca J. Ferree Blair. In 1850, he lived with his family in Carroll Township, York County, and he is listed as "Benton B. Blair." In 1860, his family lived in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, but his name is not present because he was then studying for the ministry at the Princeton Theological Seminary.

After the war erupted in April 1861, young Blair eventually went south and cast his lot with the Confederate States. He served in the Civil War as a chaplain in the 37th Virginia Cavalry (Dunn's Battalion, Partisan Rangers). In 1864, Confederate Major General Jubal A. Early ordered his cavalry under Brigadier General McCausland to ride from Maryland north to Chambersburg. He was to ransom the town for $200,000 in gold or $500,000 in currency. If the residents refused to pay, McCausland was ordered to burn Chambersburg. On the morning of July 29, 1864, he positioned artillery on a hill a mile from town and opened fire to alert the townspeople to his presence. He subsequently led 830 of his men into downtown, where he insisted on meeting with the civic leaders. The town fathers refused to pay. To their shock the Rebels secured two or three barrels of kerosene, rolled them into the courthouse, and lit it on fire. An additional 50 small fires were set and consumed almost all of an 11-block area.

Several Confederate officers refused to participate or objected strenuously before following orders. One of the outraged Confederates was Brice Benton Blair. Horrified at the scene of destruction, he wanted to make sure that his family and friends in Shippensburg did not think that he had brandished a torch. He left a hasty note in the local Presbyterian church, “Please write my father and give him my love,” the message read. “Tell him, too, as Mrs. Shoemaker will tell you, that I was most strenuously opposed to the burning of the town.” He signed the note, “B. B. Blair, Chaplain, and son of Thomas P. Blair, Shippensburg, Pa.”

Blair survived the war and returned to his ministry with the Presbyterian Church. He lived with his family in Shippensburg under his death on June 19, 1871. He is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Shippensburg.

From the late William Turner collection.  [jet] [ph:L]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS.

THANK YOU!