John Banister Tabb

John Banister Tabb. Patriot, Poet, Priest. , Tabb was born in 1845 at "The Forest" here in Amelia County into one of Virginia's oldest and wealthiest families, and was destined for the life of a gentleman farmer. The American Civil War changed everything for young John. Despite failing eyesight and a frail constitution he enlisted in the Confederate Navy at age 17 and was assigned to a blockade runner. His time on board ship took him to the Caribbean, the British Isles, Paris, and up and down the east coast of America. He was eventually caught and sent to a federal prison camp at Point Lookout Maryland, now a State Park. It was here he met fellow prisoner Sidney Lanier, a musician who would later become one of the South's best known postwar literary figures. They became life long friends., After the war Tabb moved to Baltimore. He studied music, then took a teaching job, and eventually under the influence of acquaintances he converted to Catholicism. He entered St. Charles College in Ellicott City Maryland to prepare for the priesthood where he was recruited by the faculty to teach English. Following his ordination in 1884 he remained at St. Charles where he taught English grammar until shortly before his death in 1909. Father Tabb developed a reputation in the American and English literary circles as one of the South's finest poets. Religion and nature ere two of his favorite subjects and his verse ranged from frivolous to serious. Five volumes of his poems were published during his lifetime and many appeared in well-known periodicals of the day such as Harpers, Cosmopolitan and The Atlantic., Blockading is an old naval tactic that is designed to starve, outlast or destroy the enemy by preventing ships from reaching enemy ports with food, goods, supplies, or support of any kind. The Confederate war effort relied on the bravery of the "blockade runners," a small group of sailors who sailed goods in and out of Southern seaports under the guns of Northern ships. John Tabb served aboard the CSS Robert E. Lee, the most famous of the Confederate runners., To honor John Bannister Tabb this monument was erected through the efforts of The Forest Memorial Association of Notre Dame, Indiana in the summer of 1936. The marker was dedicated on November 7th of the same year. Several noteworthy speakers provided comments at the dedication ceremony, including the governor of Virginia, George C. Perry. The site was donated to the State Commission on Conservation and Development which preceded the current owner, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.