CAPTAIN. REUBEN LAMPTON., 126th., Ohio. Infantry.

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CAPATIN. REUBEN LAMPTON.

Captain Lampton was a native of the Old Dominion, and was called upon to shed his life's blood in defense of his country, on the soil of his native State. When a young man he came to Ohio and settled in Perry County. At the breaking out of the Mexican war, he enlisted as a private, and served in that war till its close, when he returned to Perry County. On the fourth of July, 1862, being fired with the noble impulse of patriotism, he enlisted and received a commission to raise recruits. He was commissioned Captain of Company K, 126th O. V. I. The following account of his life was received from the Lodge of the G. A. R., at Thorn ville, named in honor of Captain Lampton:

Headquarters Reuben Lampton Post, No. 240, Grand Army of the Republic, ( Thornville, O., June 18, 1883. )
J. H. Gilson, Esq.:

Dear Sir: Yours of the twelfth inst. is at hand, and in reply will say that by inquiry, I have been able to gather the following-   facts in relation to Captain Lampton's history.

He was born in the year 1818, in the State of Virginia, and according to the best information I can get, in Fauquier County. He and his brother, Joshua Lampton, went to the State of Kentucky while they were young men. They removed to Perry County, Ohio, about the year 1843, where he remained until the beginning of the Mexican war. At the outbreak of the Mexican war, he enlisted at Somerset, Perry County, in Captain Knowles' Company, of the 3rd O. V. I., in the year 1846. At the close of the Mexican war he returned to Perry County, Ohio, and was married to Nancy A. Hudgell, with whom he lived until the year 1862, at which time, in August of that year, he recruited a company (Company K) in Thorn Township, Perry County, Ohio, and was assigned to the 126th 0. V. I. His occupation was that of a plaster.

As to Captain Lampton's character, he was generous almost to a fault, readily forgiving an injury and never forgetting a favor. He was a man of wonderful physical power. Though noted for his kindness of heart and gentleness of manner, he was among the bravest of men, apparently without fear; he would meet any danger that duty made necessary, and nothing short of death could make him yield to an enemy when engaged in battle. Captain Lampton was well known here, where every one who knew him, still remembers him with the greatest reverence and respect.

I hope you will make use of all your means to obtain correctly the facts collected with Captain Lampton's history, for I would like very much to see him properly placed in your book, as it is likely it will be the only place that lie will be mentioned in history. Wishing you all the success possible in your arduous undertaking, I beg to remain, Faithfully your comrade, J. F. Lawyer.

Previous to his death, Captain Lampton had participated in all the battles and skirmishes of the Regiment. In the dreadful conflict at the battle of the Wilderness, he was especially gallant, eliciting the admiration and confidence of his men, and inspiring them with courage in that trying ordeal. At Spottsylvania, on the ninth of May, at six P. M., a detail from the 126th Regiment, of one hundred men and three officers, one of whom was Captain Lampton, were sent out to reinforce the picket line, in order to make an advance to reconnoiter the enemy's position. A very terrific fight ensued, in which Captain Lampton was mortally wounded and died soon after. His company, in his death, lost the services of a highly esteemed and as brave an officer as ever served in the Army of the Potomac.

 

"There sounds not to the trump of fame, The echo of a nobler name."

Captain Lampton was among the number of recognized dead of the 126th Regiment that were collected from the battle field of Spottsylvania, and interred in the National Cemetery at Fredericksburg, Virginia.