Mann R. P. Castleman and the Survivors of the Clarke County Cavalry

Survivors of the Clark County Cavalry circa 1888

Mann R. P. Castleman, "was a member of the organizations known as the Survivors of the Clarke Cavalry and of the J. E. B. Stuart Camp C. V., both of this county." [ quote from Clarke Courier, 1 Nov 1899]

In "A Rebel Cavalrymen" by John Newton Opie, 1899, the dedication in the book reads: "This book is dedicated, with everlasting friendship and abiding affection, to the " Clarke Cavalry," a troop of Virginian horsemen, who served in the Confederate Army from Harper's Ferry to Appomattox. No more gallant, heroic, and chivalrous men than they ever wielded the sabre or rode up to the cannon's mouth. Truly, they were noblemen, trusty friends, unfaltering soldiers, generous enemies, — the true type of the gentleman, the old-time Virginian, and the Southern horseman. Affectionately inscribed by the AUTHOR." Staunton, Va., March 10, 1897.

Medal given to Survivors of The Clarke Cavalry Co. D. 6th VA. C.S.A. 

Excerpt from "A Rebel Cavalrymen": 

CHAPTER LXXI. THE "CLARKE CAVALRY" AT TREVILIAN'S STATION..
...
The narrator of the following facts was a private in Company "D", Sixth Virginia cavalry, known as the ' ' Clarke County Troop, ' ' and, without any pretense to historical accuracy as to dates, the position of our forces, etc., he relies entirely upon his memory, made somewhat indistinct by the lapse of more than thirty years.....His horse escaped, and the following day, when the main fight took place, was ridden by our gallant color-bearer, Mann R. Castleman. The guns, which we thought we had captured, were immediately turned on the fleeing remnant, and, as I lay stretched upon the field, I remember, very distinctly, seeing General Custer and hearing his order given to the artil lerymen to fire. "Much has been written about the inhumanity of soldiers upon the battlefield; and, before I close this sketch, I must record some facts, to the honor and glory of Custer's command. In the first place, one of them kindly and tenderly helped me to drag myself from the open field to the shade of the woods, where I lay all day, just in rear of the enemy's line of battle, and water was brought and given me, repeatedly, during that long day — the nth of June, 1864 — and coffee was also brought me. At nightfall, I was tenderly carried in a blanket by four of Custer's soldiers, and laid alongside two other wounded comrades; one, Lieut. Nat. Willis, wounded through the lungs, like myself, and another, whose name I cannot now recall, shot through the abdomen, who died that night in great agony. We were also given blankets to keep us warm.