A Case of Mistaken Identity: Look-alike Confederate Cousins

Last March, Emerging Civil War ran a March Madness bracket to choose the Civil War officer who had the best beard. The winner was Lt. Col. John Shackelford Green. “Shack” Green was a farmer from Rappahannock County, Virginia before he joined the ranks of the 6th Virginia Cavalry as captain of Company B. During the reorganization of the regiment on April 20, 1862, Green was elected major. The 6th and 2nd Virginia Cavalry formed a mounted force under Thomas T. Munford and went with Gen. Richard Ewell to reinforce Gen. Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson in the Valley. Stonewall put Turner Ashby in command of all his cavalry and promoted Ashby to general.[1]

John Shackleford Green had a cousin who also served in Jackson’s army. That cousin was Gen. Turner Ashby. Ashby’s mother’s maiden name was Dorothea F. Green. Born in Rappahannock County, she was a direct descendant of Col. Green who served in the Revolutionary War.  Col. Green was the grandfather of John Shackleford Green. Ashby and Green had another blood connection when Turner Ashby’s older sister Elizabeth married James Green.[2]

The two cousins even resembled one another. McHenry Howard, in his recollections described Ashby:

“I would describe him as of slender build and somewhat under medium height. His beard, thick and of a very dark brown color, covered the entire lower half of his face, from above the line of the moustache, and was so long as to come to his breast.”[3]

“Shack” Green was also of slender build, medium height, and had a long dark, brown beard that covered most of his lower face and reached his breast.

Neither was a professionally trained soldier. They both were lax in disciplining their troops and as a result were popular with them. Both Ashby and his cousin had instances where they lost control of their men in battle. They were also known to take off on individual scouts. Both were personally brave but were not disciplinarians.

Both cousins were almost captured. When Gen. Nathaniel Bank’s cavalry pursued Jackson’s army after the Confederate repulse at Kernstown, Ashby, astride his white horse and riding to the crest of a hill, taunted the Federals. When the enemy approached to capture him, he retreated to the next hill and continued the taunting. A Sergeant Pierson of the 1st Michigan Cavalry took a crossroads by himself and cut Ashby off. Being larger than the Confederate, Pierson dragged Ashby from his horse and took him prisoner. When Pierson’s comrades caught up, they disarmed Ashby but made the mistake of allowing him to ride his white horse. The bluecoats had not proceeded far when Ashby’s white horse wheeled, jumped over a high fence, and galloped away. Not long afterward Ashby was seen once again on a high hill defiantly taunting them.[4]

Ashby’s cousin was captured once and almost captured a second time. The first was when Green was promoted to Lt. Col. Taking charge of the regiment in Col. Thomas Stanhope Flournoy’s absence, Green rode with 130 men to Paris, Virginia on September 22, 1862. There, he was attacked by Yankee cavalry. Green ordered his men to hold their fire until the Yankees were 50 feet away. Unfortunately, he had waited too long, and with the Yankees almost upon them, his men shot once before breaking to escape. Left alone, Green received three severe saber wounds to the head and was captured. He was immediately paroled and went home to recover.[5]

The second time he was almost captured was on February 9, 1863. Recovered from the wound he received at Paris, Green and Col. Asher W. Harman of the 12th Virginia Cavalry were alone in Martinsburg when a large Yankee force entered the town. Practically surrounded but undetected, the two stealthily wound their way through the city blocks, successfully avoiding capture, and escaped.[6]

During Jackson’s retreat up the Valley toward Harrisonburg in early June 1862, Ashby and his horsemen, acting as the rearguard of the army, successfully parried all Union attacks.  Afterwards, as he rode along the columns of Confederate infantry, the foot soldiers, cheered Ashby in admiration to his prowess and daring.

Ashby’s biographer wrote of another account of his troopers cheering Ashby. It was shared by Maj. William Goldsborough of the Maryland Line and this encounter turned out to be one of mistaken identity:

“The column was moving along the turnpike, when a swarthy Confederate officer with [a] long, black beard, approached [on horseback]. ‘Come boys,’ said I. ‘yonder comes Ashby; let’s give him a welcome;’ and hearty cheers for Ashby ran along the line. As the officer passed me, he drew rein and remarked, ‘Major, you have made a mistake; I am Major John Shack Green, of the 6th Virginia Cavalry, – a cousin of Gen. Ashby.’ We both laughed, and the Major rode on. The next day I saw Ashby, and laughingly told him of the mistake. He jocularly remarked, ‘Never mind, Major, the cheers were given a very gallant officer.’”[7]

On June 6, the look-alike cousins almost suffered the same fate. Ashby and the cavalry were at Harrisonburg protecting the Valley Army from Gen. Fremont’s advancing army. Discerning the approach of Yankee cavalry, the Confederate cavalry commander ordered his men to mount and charge the onrushing Union column. Ashby’s head-on onslaught, combined with a double envelopment, proved too much for the horsemen in blue who, after some vicious hand-to-hand fighting, broke and beat a hasty retreat. During this melee, “Shack” Green suffered a serious wound that kept him out of action for some time. His cousin, after capturing the Yankee cavalry leader, Colonel Sir Percy Wyndham, pursued and found the enemy posted in a position inaccessible to mounted men. Ashby, along with the Major Goldsborough’s 1st Maryland Infantry, charged the position only to be unhorsed and mortally wounded while on foot. Ashby’s body was placed in an ambulance and removed to Port Republic that evening. When Stonewall Jackson learned of Ashby’s death, he “walked the floor of his room, for some time, in deep sorrow, greatly moved by the sad news.”[8]

Green’s actions at Paris were later examined in a court of inquiry. One witness remarked that Lt. Col. Green “is without tactical knowledge, or ability to keep up the discipline of the regt.” When Jeb Stuart heard of the fiasco, he said that the saber wounds to Green’s head were well deserved.

Col. Green led his regiment during the Jones-Imboden raid where his performance was less than what Brig. Gen. William E. “Grumble” Jones expected. When Flournoy returned to the regiment in April, the two found themselves in trouble. Stuart wanted to get rid of both, commenting on their lack of fitness for command. Green would not be a good choice, he opined, “though no doubt a gallant man.”[9]

On May 24, 1863, Jones had a board convened to examine the officers of the 6th Virginia Cavalry.  Col. Flournoy’s, courage and administrative skill were questioned. As for Green, everyone liked him personally but they found him wanting in energy and firmness to command. The board recommended that Flournoy be relieved and Col. Julien Harrison replace him over Green. Outranking Harrison but lacking confidence, Green agreed to step aside. However, Brandy Station and the Gettysburg Campaign postponed any actions on these recommendations.[10]

Once back at Culpepper, the court-martial reconvened. The board acquitted Green of Jones’ charges of disobedience of orders and breach of arrest. Nonetheless, Stuart, decided to make some changes. Jones was transferred; Harrison took over the 6th Virginia Cavalry, and Flournoy obligingly resigned. Green could feel the pressure and on April 24, 1864, he resigned for the good of the service. Stuart wrote that Green “deserves credit for his patriotism. The service will benefit beyond a doubt by its acceptance.”[11]

John S. Green lived out his days in Norfolk, Virginia and died there in 1891 at the age of 74 years.

[1] Musick, Michael P., 6th Virginia Cavalry, The Virginia Regimental Histories Series, Lynchburg, VA: H.E. Howard, Inc., 1990, p. 11.  Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1959, pp. 13-14.

[2] Avirett, James B., The Memoirs of General Turner Ashby and His Compeers, Baltimore, MD: Selby & Dulany, 1867, annotated edition Lucy B. Roper 2013, p. 157.

[3] Howard, McHenry, Recollections of a Maryland Confederate Soldier and Staff Officer Under Johnston, Jackson and Lee, ed. James I. Robertson, Dayton, OH: Morningside Bookshop, 1975, pp. 77-78.

[4] Bushong, Millard K. General Turner Ashby and Stonewall’s Valley Campaign, Verona, VA: McClure Printing Company, Inc. 1980, pp. 97-98.

[5] Musick, 6th Virginia Cavalry, p. 23. Thomas S. Flournoy took command of the 6th Virgina Cavalry when Munford was promoted to brigade command.

[6] Ibid. p. 30.

[7] Ibid. pp. 156-157.

[8] Avirett, Memoirs, pp. 163-165. Musick, 6th Virginia, p. 16.  Hotchkiss, Jedediah, Diary entry of June 6, 1862.  Make Me a Map of the Valley: The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson’s Topographer, ed. Archie P. McDonald, Dallas, TX: Southern Methodist University Press, 1975. p. 53.

[9] Musick, 6th Virginia Cavalry, p. 31.

[10] Ibid. pp. 27, 35-37.

[11] Ibid. p. 119.