CUSSONS,
JOHN, soldier, historical writer, land owner, was
born at Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, in 1838, son
of John and Elizabeth (Jackson) Cussons. In his youth
he manifested an adventurous spirit which led him to take up
his abode in America, in 1855, where, in the wilds of the Northwest,
he spent the succeeding four years enlivened by hunting,
adventure, and experiences among the Sioux Indians.
In
1859, he drifted to Selma, Alabama, where he engaged in newspaper
work, and became half owner of the Selma "Reporter." 'While
connected with this journal, he gave vigorous support
to the Bell and Everett presidential ticket of
1860; but, when
the conflict between the states became inevitable, he quickly gave
up his civic pursuits and prepared to join the Confederate army.
As
soon as the state of Alabama had decided to secede from the
Union, Mr. Cussons, who was a member of the governor's guard,
joined the Confederate forces and took part in the occupation
of Fort Morgan. This guard afterwards became a part of
the 4th Alabama infantry, and, with the rank of lieutenant,
he accompanied the command to Virginia, in April, 1861, where
he found genial companionship amongst the braves of the Army
of Northern Virginia. The regiment was placed in the brigade
commanded by Gen. Barnard E. Bee, with whom Lieutenant Cussons
served as a scout until the death of that lamented officer at
Manassas on July 21, 1861.
General
Whiting, who succeeded General Bee, retained him as
a scout
until, at the Battle of Seven Pines, he was promoted captain
and appointed to the staff of General E. M. Law, who succeeded
to the command of the brigade. Thereafter, he was frequently
assigned to outpost, flank, rearguard, and detached service.
During
General Longstreet's Suffolk campaign, Captain Cussons
surprised and captured Fort Stribling by a night attack, with
a handful of picked men, end with but slight loss. In the campaign
against General Pope, at the crisis when Longstreet must
join Jackson through Thoroughfare Gap to effect a defeat of
the enemy, the Gap being held by the Federals under General
Ricketts, Cussons, with a hundred riflemen, climbed over the mountain
and attacked Ricketts' outposts. This impetuous charge
at nightfall, in that broken country, had instant results. The
outposts and skirmishers were driven in on the flank, which in
turn was stampeded, communicating disorder to the main body,
and General Ricketts started forthwith on his wild night march—away
from that mountain fastness, and from beleaguered Stonewall—through
Haymarket and Gainesville, and out toward the entrenchments of Manassas,
fifteen miles from Thoroughfare Gap. At nine o'clock the next morning,
August 29, 1862, Captain Cussons found General Jackson, and delivered
the welcome intelligence that Longstreet was through
the Gap and that the head of his column was fast approaching
on the Warrenton pike.
At
dawn on the third day of the struggle at Gettysburg, Captain
Cussons was captured on the slope of Round Top, and from the crest
of the hill, as a prisoner of war, he witnesed the splendid
attack of Pickett's corps that afternoon. He was confined
at Fort McHenry, Fort Delaware, Johnson's Island, and Point Lookout.
After eight months' prison experience, he was exchanged
and returned to the army. At that time he found his old
division in the West, where he served until the close of the war,
being, at the end, with Forrest's cavalry.
Just
after the capture of Fort Stribling, by the Federal troops,
in 1862, Captain Cussons was a principal in a duelling episode
with Colonel Belo, which illustrates one phase of his character,
as well as the Southern vendetta spirit of the time. Neither
Colonel Belo nor Captain Cussons had anything to do with the action
during which the fort was captured, but half a mile
further up the Nansemond river, the latter had some rifle pits
where his sharpshooters were doing good work. If the enemy
should secure a footing on that side of the river, the effect would
be to force Cussons to retire. That was his interest in the matter.
A swift counterstroke might recover the fort, he reasoned,
and he hastened to the nearest troops and gave orders without authority.
There was some delay and some confusion, and
not much concert of action. Night came on, the opportune moment
passed, and Cussons abandoned the undertaking.
Colonel
Belo was not present; but, when he learned what had occurred with
his command, he sent Cussons
a polite note inviting explanations
and suggesting the logical alternative, pistols or rifles.
Cussons, conceiving that explanations would be tedious and
apologetic, and perhaps mutually unsatisfactory, asked Colonel
Goldsby to take the matter up and assent to any arrangement
that might be agreeable. The preliminaries
were quickly arranged
for a duel with " Mississippi rifles."
At
the appointed hour, the combatants with their respective friends
met in a little old barren field, surrounded by a dense pine forest.
Belo and Cussons, having never met before, were introduced
on the field, shook hands cordially, and entered into free and
easy conversation about the latest war news, while the seconds
were arranging the ground. Neither then nor afterwards was
the faintest spark of personal animosity displayed.
Colonel
Goldsby was second to Cussons, and Captain Townes to
Belo. The " word " fell to Goldsby. Two shots were exchanged
without "satisfaction " to either combatant, and the
guns were reloaded for a third fire, when a truce was called
for by their friends and an amicable settlement agreed to. It
was found
that Belo had escaped with a ball through his shoulder, and
that Cussons was unhurt. Cussons then accompanied Colonel
Belo to his ambulance, where they exchanged a courteous
and what proved to be a final adieu, for they never met
again. Upon
the death of Colonel Belo, who for a long period
edited the Galveston " News," the
captain contributed a magnificent floral offering
to the bier of his former antagonist.
After
the war, Captain Cussons settled in Virginia, and devoted
himself to the improvement and beautifying of his splendid
estate of about a thousand acres at Glen Allen, to which he has
given the name of " Forest Lodge." Here he has led
an ideal rural life, by opening roadways through the forest,
making artificial lakes, and stocking a spacious deer park. Although
his days of strenuous action are over, he is still vigorous in
defence of the principles and the sentiments which dominated
his earlier years. In this splendid retreat, much of his time
has been given to
the literary work which recounts his own experiences in attractive
form, and sheds a non-partisan light on various critical
periods of our history. His " Glance
at History," " United States
History," " Passage of
Thoroughfare Gap," and " Jack Starry,
the Jessie Scout," have elicited
warm words of commendation from the reviewers.
His articles and addresses on Indian life
and character are full of information at first hand, and are somewhat
startling to those who have regarded the Red Man only as
a savage and a public enemy. Captain Cussons is past grand
commander of the Confederate Veterans of Virginia, and ex-chairman
of the history committee.
"Colonel
John Cussons," says Senator John W. Daniel, " was
by instinct a Confederate, by adoption a Virginian, and performed
rare deeds of 'high emprise.' Colonel and Confederate
veteran; scout, sharpshooter, staff officer, and soldier of the
line; a captive who walked coolly out of prison under salute of
the guard; a sleuth upon the trail or a leader of the forlorn hope,
as occasion suggested; country gentleman, combing the wilderness
around him into forms of beauty, with lawns and lakes and deer
parks and gardens; author, puncturing the shams and conceits of
some recent history' with brilliant, trenchant pen; man of affairs,
creating an enterprise which has found development
on both sides of the Atlantic—John Cussons is a
character as solid
as he is picturesque, as valiant as he is modest, as full of poetry
as he is faithful to fact, and as gentle in manner as he is resolute
of purpose.
"Had
General Cleburne remained a sergeant in the British army
he might have been flung into a trench among the unknown dead,'
but his genius rose with his opportunities; his splendid achievements
bore him from rank to rank, until, leading his hosts upon the ramparts
of Franklin he fell, sword in hand, amid the plaudits and the lamentations
of an army and a nation.
"Had
propitious fortune borne John Cussons to the martial rank for which
nature designed him, he, too, would have worn a general's
wreath. Mayhap, too, it might have lain—like Cleburne's—upon
a soldier's bier. It was only a star he wore, a major's star, in
the great battles of Northern Virginia; but that star shone with
a radiant light wherever danger challenged or honor wove its imperious
spell."
In
1864, he married Sue Annie Allen, daughter of Mosby Sheppard, and
widow of Benjamin Allen. They have had no children.
His
address is "Forest Lodge," Glen Allen, Henrico County,
Virginia.
