History of Saint James': Ministering to Soldiers

Originally posted 11/12/2015

Vital Records Of A Tumultuous Time And An Extraordinary Recent Development

As I write this, All Saints’ Day is being celebrated which brings to mind the many young men who died in the tragedy of the Civil War.  Recently discovered records show that Saint James’ Church and its rector, the Rev. Otto S. Barten, played a larger role than heretofore known in comforting the living and burying the Confederate dead.

In 1861, the first year of the war, Mr. Barten buried 75 soldiers who came to Virginia from all over the south.  Also buried that year were a chaplain from Mississippi and a “colored” nurse serving in a Confederate hospital.  In 1862, there were 15 burials, and in 1863, there were 2.  Many died from disease – camp fever, pneumonia, typhoid fever, and of course in battle and from injuries.  In the Parish Register, Mr. Barten did not record where the dead were buried; his entries show date, name, regiment and company.

We fast forward to 135 years later when a fellow parishioner, Elizabeth C. Lineweaver, known to many of us as “Biz”, found on her doorstep a loose-leaf notebook with the names, units of service and dates of death of 520 Confederate soldiers believed to be buried in the Warrenton Cemetery.  They were thought to be buried in a mass grave beneath the monument to 600 unknown southern soldiers. The notebook included most of the names of those buried by Mr. Barten which he had entered into the Parish Register.  (Any wooden markers erected at the time of burial were removed and used as firewood by Union troops.)

This extraordinary development was the result of research by Robert E. Smith of Carpentersville, Illinois, whose forbearer had fought in the Civil War.  At last, with the names in hand, a committee was formed and decided to erect a Memorial Wall around the existing Confederate monument “To Name the Fallen,” on which every name was engraved.  The dedication took place May 24, 1998.  Our “Biz” Lineweaver was Chairman of this ambitious and successful project; she was rightfully commended for her devotion and tireless leadership.  Other members of Saint James’ also served on her committee.

Note:  An account of the Warrenton Cemetery Civil War burial site is in the volume The Memorial Wall To Name The Fallen, May 1998, available at the Old Jail Museum.

Comment:  The original Parish Register for the period 1859-1865 may have been lost when the Warren Green Hotel burned in 1874, at which church records were stored in the County Clerk’s office housed there.  Mr. Barten and his successor, the Rev. James R. Hubard, apparently collaborated years after their respective ministries, in transferring vital information from their private record books to the recently found Parish Register.

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