Epilogue

In 1980, my grandfather, Lester P. Dodson, and I together began researching our family history. We worked our way back to his father, Lewis P. Dodson, then to Lewis' father, Thomas M. Dodson, and finally to Thomas' father, Charles G. Dodson. We became interested in the Civil War and the Thirteenth Regiment West Virginia Volunteer Infantry when we learned that among those mustered into the regiment in October, 1862, was our own 44-year-old Charles G. Dodson, a resident of Mason County, West Virginia, and my great-great-great grandfather. Originally from Rappahannock County, Virginia, Charles Dodson and his family had moved to Mason County in the early 1850s. When he joined the Union Army, he left a wife and six children behind.

On February 12, 1864, Charles Dodson's oldest living daughter, Virginia Frances Dodson, was married to Gideon S. Clendinen back home in Mason County.²¹⁶ Dodson, interestingly, was absent from his company, "sick at home in Mason County" during January and February.²¹⁷

On July 24, 1864, while retreating from Kernstown, Charles Dodson lost his "gun and accoutrements," and after the August 26 skirmishing at Halltown, Dodson was among the wounded.²¹⁸ He was taken to the U.S. Military Hospital in Frederick, Maryland, on August 29, where the attending physician treated a gunshot wound in his hip and a slight graze wound on his wrist. The physician noted that he was in "apparent good health generally . . . appetite good and says he feels well." On August 31, Charles suddenly died. He was 46 years old.²¹⁹ He was first buried on the grounds of the military hospital in Frederick.²²⁰ At some later time, he was re-interred in Antietam National Cemetery at Sharpsburg, Maryland.²²¹ Sarah Dodson, his wife, at 53 years of age, still had four children at home ranging in age from 12 to 19. In November 1864, she applied for her pension and was granted eight dollars per month.²²²

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Copyright © Kimberly Ball Hieronimus Brownlee, 1998-2003. All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in any manner for any media without the express agreement of the author.