Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 33.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

[72] his loyal friend, and that pen expresses also the duty which a loyal people owe to those who suffered and died for them.

Very respectfully,

The lamented John Y. Beall ranked as captain in the Confederate Navy, having been appointed by Hon. S. R. Mallory, Secretary of the Confederate Navy, at Richmond, Va., in 1863. The integrity of Captain Beall's motives, the incorruptibility of his principles, and the injustice and illegality of his execution by General Dix, in February, 1865, on Governor's Island, N. Y., are well known. He was a devout Christian, a thorough gentleman, and an accomplished scholar. His home was in the garden spot of old Virginia-Jefferson county-now West Virginia. A few miles distant of Charlestown is ‘Walnut Grove,’ a fine farm owned by Captain Beall's father, and here the son was born January 1, 1835. His ancestors were of the best people in the South, and his father was a prominent citizen in that section. Young Beall was sent to the University of Virginia to study law, and in the course of due time he graduated in the legal profession.

It was in 1859 that John Brown and his gang of murderers and robbers invaded Harper's Ferry, a few miles distant from Mr. Beall's home, and it made a serious impression upon all who resided in that immediate neighborhood. It was but a prelude of the Civil War. Brown having been aided and abetted by Northern fanatics, and the irrepressible conflict was fast approaching. Virginia seceded in April, 1861, and John Y. Beall was one of the first volunteers in Virginia, enlisting in the Second Virginia Regiment, Stonewall Brigade. General Turner Ashby had a sharp engagement with the enemy at Falling Waters, in October, 1861, and John Y. Beall led a charge and was seriously wounded, the ball passing through his breast; but good nursing and strong will power enabled him to survive the injury.

Plan to relieve Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Island.

It was during Beall's convalesence at Richmond, Va., that he conceived the plan to release Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Island, and he subsequently made known his idea to President Davis, who referred him to Hon. S. R. Mallory, Secretary of the Confederate