A Confederate officer killed.
On Thursday of last week Captain John C. Blackford, a daring and intrepid scout, attached to the forces in the Valley of Virginia, lost his life in an engagement with the Yankees at Newtown, in Frederick county. He had been sent down by General Early to ascertain something with reference to the enemy's movements and numbers in the Lower Valley. With his party he had reached Newtown, where he got into an encounter with the enemy, and was killed.--Col. Boyd, who commanded the Yankee forces, had his body taken up and sent to Jefferson county to his friends, remarking at the time that "he was a brave man, and deserved an honorable interment."The circumstances connected with his death, as related to us, are as follows: Capt. Blackford, with three of his men, had stopped at a public house in Newtown to warm themselves. They had not been long in the room before it was entered by eight men dressed in Confederate uniform. Blackford soon discovered that they were Yankees in disguise, and at once left the house with his men, and started for their horses. The party of eight men followed them out, and commenced a fire upon them. The fire was returned by Blackford's party, and two of the enemy killed, but in the firing Capt. B. himself was shot down. The balance of his party escaped, although the town was soon filled with Yankee troops.
Capt. Blackford was quite a young man, and had been in the service since the commencement of the war. For a long time he was a scout for the lamented Ashby, and possessed the confidence of his gallant chief. About two months ago he was betrayed and captured along with a party of his men, near Martinsburg, and taken to Fort McHenry. From this prison he subsequently escaped, and came back to his native State with renewed determination to avenge the wrongs there heaped upon him and his comrades.
