"The Bumgardner Fight

           Submitted by John A. Stegall < johnstegall@hotmail.com  Jan 7, 2000
               
                  First, let me inform the readers of this story that the western part of
                  present day Elliott County where this battle took place was, until 1869, a
                  part of Morgan County.  And it was to this area that John Bumgardner 
                  moved his family when he departed from Virginia.  The family first settled
                  on Brown Ridge (Rt. 32) on property that is now the home of Elwood
                  Flannery. Just how long they resided on this property isn't known for
                  sure, but it could not have been for more than a very few years.
                  By the time Civil War activity reared its ugly head in Morgan
                  (Elliott) County, John Bumgardner had purchased property just west of
                  Brown Ridge and near the northern rim of the Laurel cliffs---a beautiful
                  spot that is now the home of Arvil DeHart.  Older residents of the area
                  could recall that the Bumgardner family were "a peaceful people, who
                  tended to their own business."  But it seems evident that they desired to
                  be left alone and would not tolerate harrassment.  This seemed to be the
                  situation on a hot August day in 1863.  John Bumgardner, although not
                  an active soldier in the Confederate Army, had been accused by Union
                  forces of allowing his farm to be used as a base for Rebel activity. On
                  more than one occassion, Union sympathizers had raided the Bumgardner
                  place and forced the family to flee to safety.  Eventually, John Bumgardner
                  grew tired of this activity, and announced, "I have run my last time".
                  And so it was, on that August day when Bumgardner looked across Rocky
                  Branch, a tributary of Laurel Creek, and saw a number of men mounted on
                  horses, slowly making their way down into the gorge. Their destination
                  was undoubtedly the Bumgardner home.  True to his vow, John Bumgardner
                  did not run this time. Instead, he loaded his old rifle and proceeded out
                  to a rail fence just above his house, where he awaited the arrival of his
                  most unwelcome guests.  When the contingent of soldiers rode up,
                  Bumgardner raised his rifle, took aim, and pulled the trigger. One of the
                  men toppled from his horse, probably killed instantly by a bullet to his head.
                  John was rapidly re-loading his rife, but a hail of gunfire brought
                  him down before he could claim another victim.  Robert Bumgardner, one
                  of John's sons, was a soldier in the Confederate Army, and was at home
                  on a short leave at this time. Being a short distance from the house, young
                  Bobby Bumgardner heard the gunfire and raced to the scene to investigate. 
                  As he reached the blood-soaked yard, he too was shot and left for dead.
                  Who was the dead Union soldier, or sympathizer? John DeHart, my late
                  grandfather, told me he had heard older residents refer to the soldier as
                  a Jake Adkins. We do know that the body was carried up to the top of a
                  nearby hill and interred. However, it is believed that Adkins' body was later
                  removed by relatives, perhaps to a family plot.  When the soldiers left the
                  Bumgardner residence, they proceeded on up Brown Ridge in the direction
                  of Rowan County.  Not far up the ridge, they passed by the home of "Aunt"
                  Sarah Crum, who was informed of the battle, now called the "Bumgardner
                  Fight". The elderly lady went immediately to offer her assistance to her neighbors.
                  When she arrived at the Bumgardner home, young Bobby was beginning to
                  regain consciousness (the bullet had merely grazed the top of his head),
                  and Aunt Sarah immediately used her undoubtedly very limited medical
                  knowledge to care for the wound.  My great-uncle, the late Oliver DeHart,
                  told me that many years later he was cutting Bob Bumgardner's hair and
                  noticed the scalp scar.  He was aware of the story, but questioned Bob and
                  received first-hand, the story of the Bumgardner Fight.  The tragic death of
                  John Bumgardner was not, unfortunately, the only grief the war would bring
                  to the family.  Sometime later, William Bumgardner, another son, was taken
                  prisoner, and for some unknown reason, he and a brother-in-law, William
                  McMillan, were shot on Bruin somewhere near what is today known as the
                  Mobley property.  Both were left lying in the road. Bumgardner died from
                  his wounds, but McMillan lived.  When the Grayson Lake was going in, it
                  was rumored that a Civil War soldier had been buried near the Bruin
                  Schoolhouse. Massive excavation failed to reveal human remains, or even a
                  grave, for that matter. There is, I have been told, a small cemetery on a small
                  knoll near the Charles Porter place on Bruin, and supposedly there is a Civil
                  War soldier buried there.  Could it be William Bumgardner?  A strong possibility,
                  but since the Bumgardner home was not all that far away, I am wondering if
                  young William's body might have been taken to the cemetery where his father
                  was buried. Today, this cemetery is called the Elijah Pennington Cemetery.
                  Tragedy would again strike the Bumgardner family in 1885, during the
                  "Tolliver-Martin-Logan Vendetta" in Rowan County. But that is another
                  story.