Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Overby gets a new life

By LINDSAY BIANCHI
lbianchi@thecitizennews.com

It becomes immediately apparent when one talks to Carolyn Cary about history that she has a true passion for the subject. The recent publication of her book, “William Thomas Overby: Proud Partisan Ranger”, a project Cary has been busy with for six years, bears this out. The book recounts a little known episode in the War between the States which took place in the small town of Front Royal, Virginia. On September 23, 1864, five men who were part of a guerilla outfit know as Mosby’s Rangers were killed on what was to become known as “Black Friday.”

Carolyn Cary is well known to many in the Fayette community and has been featured in “Fayette Woman” magazine which is published by the Citizen. Cary, who also writes for the Citizen moved with her husband to Georgia in 1959 from Ohio. She credits her love of history to her father, recalling when she was seven how he demonstrated with an orange that the world was round.

“ He was interested in telling about his ancestors, so I got that from him.” she said.

Cary has lived in the South for 45 years seeing the county grow from 8,000 to 100,000 people. “When it was only 8,000 people, you got to know everyone, all the families, black and white. You attended functions and participated in various committees. You got to know everyone, who was related to who and what their mother’s maiden name was and that’s all stuff I ate right up.”

Overby’s body was disinterred and moved to Oak Hill Cemetery in Newnan from Markham, Virginia in January of 1997 where he now rests with his kinsman. The long process of returning Overby to his native soil was accomplished by the efforts of the Sharpsburg Sharpshooters Sons of the Confederate Veterans. Cary helped the group record the event for posterity and in the process was asked to write a book about Overby’s life.

Six years of research, traveling the state of Virginia and two months of “living at the National Archives in Washington D.C.” resulted in an historical account that Cary says, “plows all new ground.” The book contains additional material related to Overby including first hand accounts written by Front Royal families and Union soldiers who witnessed what is termed in the book “the assassination.” Commemorative events honoring “Billy” Overby are also given space along with a generous group of pictures that highlight both the re-interment and archival material from the Civil War.

“Mosby’s Rangers were an independent Confederate group who reported to General Lee and Jeb Stewart. They were part of the first guerilla warfare here in the U.S. They would blow up munition dumps and tear up railroads. What made Mosby so successful, though he was trained as a lawyer and had no military training at all was his natural penchant for tactics.”

“He was good at it. Mosby did not have a camp or headquarters anywhere. The men stayed all over North Virginia in homes. You couldn’t track Mosby’s Rangers all down. They were scattered and stayed that way. When Mosby had something he wanted to do he would send word out. He kind of knew who was where. He would instruct them to be at a certain place at a certain time and the Rangers would perform whatever that duty was and then they would scatter again.” Cary explained going on to say that one of the reasons Overby was hung was Mosby’s ability to keep the Union soldiers busy hunting him down. When they captured five of his men, the Union soldiers thought, ‘We’re going to get even.’

Cary spent so many hours at the National Archives, she ended up on a first name basis with the staff. “We’re so spoiled these days. We think we can get everything we need off the Internet and you can’t. If you’ve never been to the Archives you have no conception of the millions of pieces of paper they have.” Original documents like hospital records and letters which date back to the earliest years of our country are all available for scrutiny.

“The only thing that kept me going through all six years was Overby’s demeanor in the last ten minutes of his life. When you read the first hand account of the citizens who were there and the Union soldiers who wrote after the war, they all said how much they admired Overby as he sat on that horse. He kept his chin up and would not say a thing.” Cary said. “The only Confederate soldiers in town that day were all killed and there was no report. The Union was so appalled by the way they handled that scenario that they never wrote it up.”

Review copies are being sent out this month and Cary is soliciting several history magazines to run an excerpt of the book. “ I stand behind everything that I say in the book. In order to avoid criticism, I footnoted it up the kazoo.”

The Fayette County Public Library is hosting a signing for Cary Saturday, May 8 from 2-4 p.m. On June 15, she will attend the Georgia reunion of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans in Dalton where she will also be signing.

Future plans include a history of churches in the county, a subject Cary has been writing about for 30 years. She would also like to write a complete story of the Seventh Georgia Regiment company

from A to Z, from year one to the last day.

“It involves a lot of research and I’ve done half of that in the process of writing this book.” Cary pointed out, adding that the task may have to be left up to someone a little younger.

When asked to put into words a capsule description of her book, Cary said, “It’s the story of one individual that was a true patriot and lived out his beliefs even to the point of sitting on a horse with a rope around his neck.”

“William Thomas Overby: Proud Partisan Ranger” is available at the Citizen Newspaper for $21. The Saturday event is being sponsored by the Frankie Lyle Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy. Its members include those from Fayette and Clayton counties.

What-Carolyn Cary signing “William Thomas Overby: Proud Partisan Ranger”

When-Saturday from 2-4 p.m.

Where-Fayette County Public Library