Civil War & Reconstruction
Civil War
Stafford's Confederate Year
Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow
Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow
Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow, a native of adjoining Culpeper County and prewar Mississippi school teacher, was slight of build (approximately 94 pounds). He served throughout the war as one of J.E.B. Stuart’s “scouts” or military spies. He worked in cooperation with Colonel John S. Mosby in northern Virginia. A “master” or “mistress“ “of disguise,” by war’s end he had wreaked havoc behind Union lines. A $10,000 reward was posted for his capture. After the war, Stringfellow became an Episcopal minister and was later rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville, Virginia.
During the war, Stringfellow was reportedly surprised by the appearance of a ghost while on a mission and hiding in Stafford’s Aquia Episcopal Church.
