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up. Several of the Charlotte r.iv.ilrv were wounded, among them Norman Spraggins, now of South Boston, Va. There were two men buried in a fence-corner by the road, and their bodies remained there until after the close of the war, when they were disinterred and taken away.
HANGED FOR KILLING MARAUDER.
The invaders camped that night near Brownsburg, twelve miles from Lexington, where one of the most indefensible acts of the war was committed the hanging of David Creigh, of Greenbrier, an excellent and honorable man, and one of the most prominent and devoted members of the Presbyterian church of Lewisburg, of which the Rev. Dr. McElhenny was so long the pastor. Mr. Creigh had held several positions of trust and responsibility.
The story of Hunter's crime is brief. Mr. Creigh, being beyond the age for service in the army, was residing on his farm at the time of arrest. A short time before, a camp-follower of the Federal army came to his house, intent on plunder, and after forcibly enter- ing several rooms, was about to continue his search, when he was forbidden to open the door. Regardless of protestation, he persisted in making his way further, when Mr. Creigh stopped him. A des- perate struggle ensued. Mr. Creigh was unarmed when they grap- pled, but he saved his life by taking that of the ruffian with an axe that was handed him by " Old Aunt Sally," a family servant. The hostility between the Southern people and the Federal soldiery being bitter at the time, it was deemed best to hide the deed. It is said that a white man, who had learned the fact, communicated it to a negro, who some time afterwards ran away to the Federal army and disclosed the secret. When the army passed through Greenbrier the next time, Mr. Creigh was arrested and brought along to Rock- bridge county. He was given no opportunity for defence, but was hanged simply by Hunter's order. That Creigh had slain the in- vader of his home and the assailant of his own life was not a suffi- cient plea. Thus was this good man made the victim of unmilitary brutality by this Weyler of the Federal army. His body was taken to Lewisburg and interred in the Presbyterian burying-ground, and at the head of his grave stands a tombstone on which are inscribed these words: "Sacred to the memory of David S. Creigh, who died as a martyr in defence of his rights and in the performance of his duty as husband and father. Born May i, 1809, and yielded to his unjust fate June u, 1864, near Brownsburg, Va." I have often
