Family’s Home-style Cleaning Method Restores Civil War Veteran’s Headstone

By Carl L. Sell, Jr. · Originally published December 2019 · p. 17

It was hard enough just getting to the gravesite, but reading the headstone was an even bigger challenge. Private James Farthing, who served in both the Thirty-Eighth and Fifty-Third Virginia Infantry in the Civil War, is buried in the Giles Family Cemetery deep in woods outside the county seat of Chatham in Pittsylvania County, Va. The cemetery is about a halfmile drive and hike through chest-high grass and weeds. Farthing is buried there, hidden in the woods under magnificent trees. The graves are protected by periwinkle, a ground cover with evergreen leaves and blue-star flowers that discourages growth of high weeds. The cemetery is located off West Giles Road less than a half-mile from Concord Methodist Church. The purpose of the trip to the cemetery was to install a Southern Cross of Honor on Farthing’s grave. He and my great grandmother, Mary Helena Giles Farthing, are buried side by side. Farthing survived the war and was killed in a railroad accident in 1888. Mary Helena lived until 1929. Their only child, daughter Mary Ellis, and her husband, Isaac Lindow White, produced 13 children, one of which was my mother, Elise Anderson White Sell. The group included the author, James Whitehead IV and James Whitehead V, Ben Trittipoe and Glenn Giles, a descendant of the family. Whitehead’s ancestor, Lieutenant James Whitehead, served in the FiftyThird Virginia Infantry, and, like Farthing, survived Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. Whitehead V brought along some markers for the gravesite that identified Farthing’s units. Trittipoe’s great great grandfather, Lieutenant Jacob Engle, served in the

Twelfth Virginia Cavalry. Fortunately, Giles brought along a trick he had learned from his cousin, Sue Stice of Anchorage, Alaska, that brought Farthing’s headstone back to life, so to speak. While Whitehead V and Trittipoe mixed cement to secure the cross, Giles went to work to clean the very dirty headstone. First, he sprayed shaving cream on the engraved portion of the headstone. He then used a plastic squeegee to scrape away the excess cream. This highlighted the foam-filled lettering. After photographs were taken, he used a spray bottle of water to wash away the residual foam. He had sought approval before using the foam technique because there are those who contend that the practice can damage the surface. The pictures prove that it wasn’t the case in this instance.

Farthing was wounded in Pickett’s Charge, July 3, 1863, and again the following year at Chester Station south of Richmond. He was a member of the Thirty-Eighth on both occasions. After returning to duty from the second wound, he joined the Fifty-Third and was captured at Five Forks on April 1, 1865, just before the war ended. Whitehead was wounded at the High Water Mark of the Confederacy as Pickett’s Charge was repulsed at Gettysburg. He was captured and spent the rest of the war in prison. He and Farthing were released on the same day, June 12, 1865. Both returned to Chatham, Whitehead as a storekeeper and Farthing as a farmer and railroad worker. One of Whitehead’s men in the Fifty-Third was George White, whose younger brother married Farthing’s daughter! Both of Glenn Giles’ great grandfathers served in the Civil War. His paternal great grandfather, George W. Giles, enlisted as a private in Company D of the Thirty-Eighth Infantry in Danville on August 21, 1862. He was 37 years old and father of four at that time. He was listed as being sick in a Danville hospital and died in 1864. He is buried in the Giles family cemetery in Pittsylvania County. Giles’ maternal great-grandfather, James C. Easley, was one of five brothers who served in the Confederate army. Like Whitehead and George White, he was a member of Company I, Fifty-Third Virginia Infantry. He suffered a fractured left humerus during Pickett’s Charge. Easley was sent to the hospital in Baltimore on August 10, 1863, then to City Point for exchange on November 12. Two of James C. Easley’s brothers died as a result of Pickett’s Charge. Robert C. Easley of the Fifty-Third was killed on July 3, while Henry Whitworth Easley of the Thirty-Eighth was wounded in the right thigh. His leg eventually was amputated, and he died on July 5, 1865. John Pyrant Easley served the entire war in the Sixth Virginia Cavalry as a member of Company E, the Pittsylvania Dragoons. He died at age 83 on August 13, 1919. Edward Thomas Easley enlisted in January 1864 and served in the Tenth Battalion

Artillery, Company C. Son in law James T. Hall also was a member of Company C, Tenth Battalion Artillery. Glenn Giles and Mary Helena Giles are descendants of John Cristie Giles, who was born in Westmoreland County about 1740. He lived in Loudoun County before moving to Pittsylvania County in 1797. John Cristie’s son, George was born about 1762 in Westmoreland County and died in 1838 in Pittsylvania County. George Giles served in the Revolution War as both a militiaman and a Continental. In 1781, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Yorktown until the British surrendered. Carl Sell has written two books about his Confederate maternal ancestors who survived Gettysburg. Thank God He Survived Pickett’s Charge is about his great grandfather. Who Were Those Other Heroes With Armistead at the Guns tells the story of his great uncle, George White, at the High Water Mark. Carl Sell can be contacted at 703-971-4716 or via email at [email protected])