Civil War Romance

Civil War Romance. Thompson and Martilia Walker. This is the site of a romance between Thompson L. Walker, a Confederate soldier, and Martilia Walker, the daughter of a staunch Unionist. Pvt. Thompson Walker enlisted in Company B, 23rd Virginia Infantry Battalion, on July 12, 1862, and fought in several engagements in the Greenbrier Valley and in the Battle of Droop Mountain. In the summer of 1863, while with his unit in the Shenandoah Valley, Walker was captured and confined at Point Lookout, Maryland. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, food shortages, and bad drinking water made conditions horrendous. , On May 15, 1865, Walker signed the oath of allegiance to the United States and was soon paroled. Ill and weary, he began the long journey home to Mercer County in the new state of West Virginia, trekking through rugged terrain and being threatened by Unionists seeking revenge on former Confederates. , By mid-June, Walker reached the ridge just across the road from here, and Martilia Walker (no relation), the youngest daughter of Unionist William Walker, found him hungry and exhausted. Sympathizing with his plight, she concealed Walker near her home, which stood at the bottom of the ridge. On the pretext of feeding the family cattle, she covertly brought him food, medicine, and blankets, and nursed him back to health. , Walker remained in the area, and the couple fell in love and married on December 11, 1866. They had sixteen children. They built a house half a mile south of here on Bear Branch, and Walker never reached his former home in Mercer County. , (sidebar) , William Walker was an attorney and fervent Unionist who served as a captain in the U.S. Army. He served as Wyoming County’s only delegate to the Wheeling constitutional convention, November 26, 1861–February 18, 1862, and favored the name of West Virginia for the new state. He was an advocate of free public education. He is buried in Oceana. According to local tradition, this area was so divided in its loyalties during the war that for years thereafter, fistfights erupted between proponents of each side.