The Tragic Fate of Davy Getz
Col. John S. Mosby - the "Gray Ghost"
As the Civil War dragged on, Union troops began to encounter an increasing number of guerillas that operated independently of the Confederate military. Commonly referred to as “bushwhackers,” these irregular forces often took advantage of the lawlessness and disorder that existed in contested regions like the Shenandoah Valley. While some of these guerillas sought to defend their homelands through a war of attrition, many of them were mere criminals that terrorized the countryside and pocketed the loot of their raids. This military landscape was further complicated by the presence of “partisan rangers” that were officially sanctioned by the Confederate government. Much like their bushwhacking counterparts, these soldiers often wore civilian clothes and conducted similar raids against Union forces. Most famous of all of these insurgents was Colonel John Singleton Mosby. His swift raids as well as his ability to disappear among the civilian population led frustrated Union adversaries to refer to him as the “Gray Ghost.”
Gen. George Armstrong Custer
General Ulysses S. Grant became so frustrated by reports of guerilla raids, he ordered General Sheridan to hang Mosby’s men without trial if they were captured out of uniform. As Sheridan entered the Shenandoah Valley during the fall of 1864, he issued an order that civilians caught with weapons in hand would be put to death. Raids by bushwhackers and Confederate partisans steadily increased as Sheridan’s forces marched up the Valley toward Harrisonburg. Union soldiers under the command of General George Armstrong Custer captured a man with a small hunting rifle in the woods just outside the town of Woodstock. Davy Getz claimed to be hunting for squirrels, but Custer declared the man to be a bushwhacker and sentenced him to death. Whatever Getz's intentions may have been, the thirty-nine year old was a developmentally delayed individual that was not fully aware of his surroundings. The local townspeople pled for his life, but Custer refused. A rope was tied around Getz’s neck, and he was forced to march behind Custer’s headquarters wagon as a warning to potential bushwhackers in the area. A local merchant named Joseph Heller argued that Getz was harmless and begged for his release. Custer’s lack of humanity led Heller to prophetically declare, “you will…sleep in a bloody grave for this.”
Davy Getz remained a prisoner for a few days as Custer led burning parties throughout Rockingham County. On October 2nd, Custer held an improvised field court that quickly found Getz guilty of treason. After being forced to dig his own grave, Getz was shot by Union soldiers on a hillside near the town of Dayton. Twelve years later, on June 25th, 1876, George Armstrong Custer was killed by the Lakota Sioux at the Battle of Little Bighorn in southern Montana.
Native American Memorial at Little Bighorn National Battlefield - designed by Oglala Sioux artist Colleen Cutschall (“Sister Wolf”)
SOURCES:
Heatwole, John L. The Burning: Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. Charlottesville, Virginia: Rockbridge Publishing, 1998.
1864: The Valley Aflame. Staunton, Virginia: Lot's Wife Publishing, 2005.
Heatwole, John L. The Burning: Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. Charlottesville, Virginia: Rockbridge Publishing, 1998.
1864: The Valley Aflame. Staunton, Virginia: Lot's Wife Publishing, 2005.
