The Fate of Ashby’s Men (and Horses)

On Wednesday, June 26, 1861, Lt. Col. Turner Ashby and his younger brother, Cpt. Richard Ashby, set off on two different missions north of what is today Romney, West Virginia. The elder Ashby took nine men on a scouting mission toward Patterson’s Creek Depot, while the younger Ashby set off with 19 men to arrest a local Unionist. Not finding him at home, Richard Ashby split his force and took the smaller squad toward Patterson’s Depot. Both columns got into trouble when they ran into mounted scouts from Col. Lewis “Lew” Wallace’s 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment.

This engagement has been called the Skirmish at Frankfort and Patterson’s Creek or Kelley’s Island, and is not well-known, despite resulting in the younger Ashby’s death. A man named Lloyd Ashby (distant relative?) of Portsmouth, Virginia added details to the Hmdb page for the ‘Turner Ashby’s Attack’ Civil War Trails sign near Oldtown, Maryland, in Allegany County, listing every member of Ashby’s scouting party. I recently consulted the 7th Virginia Cavalry regimental history by Richard L. Armstrong to verify the list and find out what happened to each member, in order to have an accurate accounting of all casualties.

The chart below is what I found, breaking them down into the three separate groups, one accompanying Turner Ashby, another accompanying Richard Ashby, and a third that split off from Richard’s group prior to the ambush:

Richard Ashby’s Group, Ambushed Near Frankfort’s Ford

Capt. Richard Ashby	Mortally wounded
Guide John Monroe
2nd Sgt. Joshua Clay Fletcher
Pvt. Joseph Warren Brent
Pvt. Kimball G. Hicks
Pvt. James Robert Blackmore
Pvt. Thomas W Glasscock (Glascock)
Pvt. Thomas B. Smith	“Knocked down” (probably uninjured). May have mortally wounded Pvt. John C. Hollenback, 11th Indiana.

Split from Richard Ashby’s Group

Pvt. Robert Bruce Templeman	Horse mortally wounded
Pvt. Elisha D. Kinchelloe (Kinchloe)	Horse killed
Pvt. Albert G. Pickett
Pvt. Dr. James Albin Templeman
Pvt. James Robert Blackmore
Pvt. Albert N. “Tip” Garrison	Wounded in knee. Horse also wounded

Turner Ashby’s Group, in Kelley’s Island Fight

Col. Turner Ashby	Wounded
1st Lt. John Robert Rust	Horse wounded
1st Lt. Granville T. Smith	Horse killed
1st Lt. James Edward Marshal
3rd Lt. Alfred Glasscock/Glascock
Sgt. John William Kinchelloe/Kinchloe	Horse killed
Pvt. John A. Ladd	Wounded – shot in upper right arm
Pvt. Bob Rector	Wounded when his horse fell on him
Pvt. (Unknown) Miller
Pvt. Henry Clay Rust	Horse mortally wounded
Pvt. Dr. (Unknown) O’Fanton/Aufaunton	Scout – Mortally wounded
Pvt. James Oswald/Osbourn Foley	Killed – shot in chest. Horse wounded
Pvt. Nathaniel “Nat” Grigsby	Wounded
Pvt. Thomas Hickerson McArthur	Wounded in face by a large knife

I can confidently account for the following Confederate casualties: 1 killed in action, 2 mortally wounded, 6 wounded out of 28 men, for a casualty rate of 32%. The group also lost 5 horses killed or mortally wounded.