The picture
above was taken on Sunday, November 4, 2007 at the Oronoco Church of the Brethren in Amherst County, Virginia as we honored
Pvt. Clement Jordan Lipscomb with a Marker and Iron Cross Dedication. Those in attendance were: Appomattox Chapter 11 UDC,
Turner Ashby Chapter 824, Nelson Grays Camp #2123, Appomattox Rangers Court House Camp #1733, and the 58th VA Infantry/Summers-Koontz
Camp # 490.
Clement Jordan
Lipscomb was born on June 1, 1839 in Amherst County. When the War Between the States broke out he was a farmer in this County.
On September 11, 1861 he enlisted in the Amherst Light Artillery and on November 19, 1861 he transferred into what would become
one of the most famous units of the war—the 18th Virginia Infantry.
Clement saw action at Seven Pines,
Sharpsburg, and was wounded at Gettysburg. He was sent to the hospital for fever from August through December of 1864, but
he was at Saylor’s Creek in 1865 and was captured and condemned to the infamous Federal Prison at Point Lookout Maryland.
Records indicate
that Clement did not sign the oath, but was paroled July 1, 1865 almost three months after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.
His wounds
followed him all the days of his life. His record indicates he was a carpenter in the postwar years. On May 12, 1914 Clement
left this life. He was brought here to Oronoco Church of the Brethren to rest in hope of glorious resurrection.
In his official
report of Sharpsburg, General Richard B. Garnett-himself a fatality of the War- unknowingly wrote a fitting memorial of the
18th Virginia Infantry when he wrote, “ In this battle, as in former ones, we are called on to deplore the
loss of many brave spirits, who have sealed their devotion to the Southern cause with their life’s blood. May the memories
ever be enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen.
