Preface
I have been researching Fauquier’s Black Horse Cavalry—Company H, Fourth Virginia Cavalry, C. S. A.—for many years. The ultimate objective of the work is a comprehensive history of this famous Confederate Cavalry company. My focus is not just on the military history of the unit. Frankly, I find the individual cavalrymen and their families just as interesting.
After researching over 200 300 members of the company, I realized that the men came from the best families and that there was a high degree of social and kinship interaction between them.
One family stood out in my studies—the Martins. “Honest” John Martin and his wife Susan Fisher Martin had three sons in the Black Horse and two of their daughters married Black Horse Cavalrymen.
Other families also had several sons in the Black Horse—this was quite common. However, this family attracted my attention because the three Martin boys were especially noted for their daring exploits.
Even before the War Between the States, the Martin family was prominent in Fauquier County. John Martin descended from an original settler of the Germantown colony of Fauquier, John Joseph Martin.
Attention on the family intensified during the war. The oldest son Bob was the subject of a remarkable event. He was selected as the “bravest man in Lee’s army” and awarded a rifle sent by an Englishman for that purpose. This was an extraordinary honor, and, you would think, would be a well remembered and celebrated part of Fauquier’s history.
Yet, at the beginning of the 21st century, Bob Martin and his family are all but forgotten. No descendant with the name Martin remains. The graves of the family are overgrown and ignored in a rural cemetery.
These three sons and their family were immortalized in Black Horse Cavalryman Alexander Hunter’s two books, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank and Women of the Debatable Land. However, a detailed history of this family has never been written.
I have no illusions that this book will have broad appeal, not even to civil war enthusiasts. It will not. It is the most local of local history. My goal is simple. I hope this work will document this noted family and their brave sons—especially the “bravest man in Lee’s army”—and return them to a remembered and honored part of Fauquier’s heritage.
Not only is the Martin family fascinating, so is their kinship with other notable Fauquier families. Thus, I have included what I could find on their allied families—those of the spouses of the siblings and children of Honest John Martin. To make this a manageable project, I did not apply this scheme above Honest John Martin’s generation or below his children’s. However, I have provided as many references as I could to these families.
A word about research methods and sources. Where possible, especially in Fauquier County, I have used many primary sources such as deeds, wills and marriages. However, I found that to tell the story of the Martin boys, and particularly their allied families, I had to use information prepared by others. The reader is cautioned that these secondary resources vary considerably in quality. Some cite primary sources for the information presented. Some do not. For the professional genealogist, these secondary sources are just a place to start. They should not be taken as absolute gospel.
The Internet poses a particular challenge. A web page is not a book in a library—some come and go. Although I cite the sources of my Internet derived information, do not be surprised if it no longer exists if you look for one of them.
A work such as this is always incomplete and further research on the Martin and allied families (and the Black Horse Cavalry) continue. A revised edition of this work or an addendum is always possible if enough new information is uncovered. Anyone with corrections or additional information (letters, diaries, and photographs are especially desired) on the genealogical history of these families (or their family members who were in the Black Horse) is kindly requested to communicate with the author at:
7590 Cannoneer Court, Warrenton, Virginia 20186-9720. Telephone: 540-349-2488, voice and fax. Email: lynn@hopewell.org. Web Pages: www.blackhorsecavalry.org. www.hopewell.org Lynn Hopewell Warrenton, Virginia