George W. Yarnell & the War Between the States
Source: The Morgan County Herald, McConnelsville, Ohio
Thursday, September 16, 1937
pp. 1 & 4

George W. Yarnell, 91-year-old Civil War veteran residing with his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wymer, of near the Buckeye school in Windsor township, is one of the few living men who saw General Lee surrender at Appomattox. He is one of the few now living who have seen Gen. Phil Sheridan and Abraham Lincoln and who heard Gen. Lee in an address at Richmond, following the collapse of the Southern Confederacy. A member of the 122nd Regiment, in command of Colonel Ball of Zanesville, formerly of the law firm of Ball, Crew & Ivers, Mr. Yarnell served in the companies commanded by Captain Charles Gibson of Stockport and Captain George Henderson of Meigs. The 122nd was in the front line that historic day in April, 1865, when, after his army was destroyed by daily fighting for months about Richmond, the great Southern Commander realized that the war was over and his sword was handed to Grant at Apomattox court house.

George Yarnell vividly recalls the events of that day -- the appearance of General Lee and his staff officers upon the field of surrender carrying a large white flag -- and then old Unconditional Surrender Grant, stolid and stockily built, smoking his customary black cigar and galloping across the field to meet his conquered adversary and the two great Generals clasping hands and greeting each other after four long years of bloodshed and contest.

George Yarnell was a sharpshooter and when asked by interviewers, the editor of the Herald and Dr. R. D. Rusk, he said he hoped his aim was poor and that he was not so good a shot as he was reputed to be. Mr. Yarnell served under Phil Sheridan in the Shenandoah when the youthful Cavalry Commander from Somerset, O., was checkmating General Early in the latter's attempt to enter Washington. Sheridan, Irish wit and democratic comrade of his soldiers, was the idol of the Boys in Blue under his command, Mr. Yarnell recalls

Later Mr. Yarnell was in Washington where, a number of times, he saw Abraham Lincoln. "He was the ugliest man I ever saw," said Mr. Yarnell, "tall and gaunt and plainly dressed. He wore a tall stove pipe hat."

Mr. Yarnell fought at the Wilderness at Spotsylvania Court House and at Cold Harbor where 10,000 Union soldiers fell in 20 minutes, and in other battles about Richmond in the closing days of the greatest drama ever enacted upon American soil. In all of those bloody engagements, he seemed to bear a charmed life, and altho minnie bullets twice coursed through his clothing, he emerged unscathed from the inferno. Also a matter of pride with him was his perfect health while in the army and the fact that the only time he witnessed the interior of a hospital was upon a visit to some of his sick or wounded comrades.

Next summer, June 6 to be exact, Mr. Yarnell will be 92 years of age and he hopes to be able to attend the reunion of the Blue and the Grey at Gettysburg. There is every possibility that his wish will be granted. Aside from impaired hearing, Mr. Yarnell is in excellent physical condition and is good for the 3� mile walk to Chesterhill from the Wymer house where he is residing east of Buckeye.

George Yarnell, Hiram McCann of Stockport, J. W. Moody of Bishopville, Stewart Mahaffey and J. L. Benjamin of Malta and George Patterson of Chesterhill are the last of the Old Guard now living within our confines. We salute them one and all as worthy representatives of the Grand Army of the Republic, but few of whom now remain to receive the homage of a grateful people. May George Yarnell and others of Morgan county's half dozen survivors of the great internecine conflict be physically able to attend the Gettysburg reunion, next July.