AUTHOR: Cathy Adcock Yancey (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter)
My great-grandfather, David Crockett Lunsford, fought in the Civil War. On July 20, 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a Private, serving in Company E of the 35th Infantry (N.C. Troops). On June 17, 1864, he was captured near Petersburg, Virginia, and taken to Point Lookout, Maryland. About a month later, on July 27, he was transferred to Elmira, New York and confined in the prison there. It was amazing that he lived until the end of the war, considering the hellish conditions at that prison!
On March 18, 1865, David Crockett Lunsford was exchanged at Boulware’s Wharf, Virginia. After the war, he walked home to Person County, North Carolina. My great-grandmother, Nannie Cozart Lunsford, stated that she knew her husband was home by the way the dogs barked as he walked down the long driveway to the house. Of course, the first thing he did was burn his clothes and take a hot bath to get rid of the lice. He had walked the soles off his shoes!
David Crockett Lunsford lived to be ninety-three years old, outliving his wife, Nannie. He died on Jan. 13, 1931, and was buried beside his wife, Nannie, at the family cemetery at Mt. Tirzah, North Carolina.