The Ride of Watkins Richardson - 1863

During the Civil War

   Owensville families sent sons to fight for both the Union and the Confederacy.  When a Confederate soldier was brought home for burial, Union troops from Annapolis often came to the funeral, uninvited, hoping to capture a Confederate comrade paying respects. 

  So it was in July 1863 when Elizabeth Murray brought home the body of her brother from Gettysburg, Confederate Capt William Murray.  

His friend, Confederate soldier Watkins Richardson, showed up for the funeral.

Peake Farmhouse
(photo- M.Carroll 1978)

  Yankee soldiers from Camp Parole came riding into Owensville just as Watkins was leaving the church.

He saw them and wheeled his horse at the crossroads, galloping down Blacksmith Hill toward the Peake Farm.

  Teenage twins Sallie and Betty Peake heard the commotion from upstairs.  Crowding to the window, they shouted "Go Jeff Davis!" as Watkins raced past.  

  When the Yanks came through, the girls sang loudly out the window:

 "John Brown’s body lies a-moulder-ing in the grave!”   

  Watkins escaped. But the disgruntled Yanks soon returned and stole one of the Peakes' horses.  

Sallie Peake c1870

   Oh, wasn’t there some hollering that evening when the girls’ father William Peake learned of the loss!

“My grandmother, she took her whipping without a whimper, but her sister Betty cried and begged for mercy. 
What a sissy!”  exclaimed  Elizabeth Peake Havens, 

91-year-old granddaughter of Sallie Peake.