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Ledbetters from Virginia, page 103
Daniel Alexander b 1825 Townville, Anderson Co, S.C. killed 29 Aug 1862 at Second Battle of Manassas. Lieut. Col. Daniel Alexander Ledbetter was six feet six inches tall. He commanded a regiment of Orr's First South Carolina Rifles. At the Second Battle of Manassas his regiment was defending the railroad cut which was Stonewall Jackson's key to the fight. While with his staff in front of his tent, he was picked off by a sharpshooter. On a lonely hillside in the Virginia Mountains, in the center of the battleground, his son Daniel erected to his memory a marble shaft fenced with an iron railing.
Pendleton District and Anderson County, S.C. Wills, Estates, Inventories, Tax Returns and Census Records by Virginia Alexander 1980 page 141
Will of Daniel Ledbetter - pp 119 - 120 Will Book 3
Wife, E. E. Ledbetter... children, (not named)...H. R., Vandiver, trustee. Executors: O. H. P. Fant, Joseph N. Brown, John C. Miller, Samuel Brown, Sr. Dated 18 July 1861.
Wit.: Jno. Peter Brown, C. C. M. Bruce, and D. E. Brown
Probate: 26 Jan., 1863
Copied from CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY pages 704 and 705.
Colonel Daniel Alexander Ledbetter was born near Pendleton, S. C., in what was then Pickens District, in July 1828, the son of Abner and Sarah (Calhoun ) Ledbetter. His father died in 1830 and three years later his mother was married to Col. John C. Miller, a farmer of the same district. Young Ledbetter grew up on Colonel Miller's farm, much of the business of which was managed by him while he was yet a boy. His education was limited, the greater part of it being obtained in the schools at old Pendleton. He served and apprenticeship as a millwright under Col. M. R. Hunicutt, became a master mechanic and acquired considerable property in the practice of his craft. His honesty and decision of character made him a favorite with every one who know him. When quite a young man he was elected captain of militia, then major and later colonel. He was six feet four inches in height, of fine figure, and was possessed of a stentorian voice, which could easily be heard amid the din of battle. On December 20, 1853, he was very happily married to Elizabeth Earl, daughter of Rev. Sanford Vandiver, of Townville. He had been reared under Presbyterian influences but joined the Baptist church with his wife. Setting within a mile of Townville, he spent there his married life. When the tocsin of war was sounded in 1861 he sorrowfully left his young family and went forth to do battle for his country. He organized and was elected captain of Company A, Orr's rifle regiment, and whe the regiment was organized he was unanimously elected major. Later, when Colonel Orr was elected to the Confederate States congress, Ledbetter was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. He was never absent from his command except two weeks in the spring of 1862, when he visited his family for the last time. As soldier and officer his love for his men was that of father to his children, and often, when on a march, he would give up his horse to some sick or broken-down private. On the march to Cedar mountain in Virginia,one very dark night the camp was aroused by the false alarm that the enemy was at hand, and there was a general stampede; but Colonel Ledbetter stood his ground and called again and again till his men rallied to him. He was present in every skirmish and battle of his regiment, including the Seven Days around Richmond and the battle of Second Manassas, where he fell mortally wounded not more than an hour after he had received promotion to colonel of the regiment. He was carried from the battlefield to Frayser's farm, where he died the third day and was buried by Col. J. N. Brown, of the Fourteen regiment. There rest his noble ashes. No braver soldier, more honorable citizen, kinder father and husband, gave his life to the lost cause. He was laid to rest with no shroud except a gray uniform, no protection but a blanket wrapped around him by his neighbor and friend, Colonel Brown. A beautiful monument, erected by his widow and children, now adorns his grave.
Occupation: millwright, soldier
Religion: Presbyterian
Ledbetters from Virginia, page 107
Daniel Alexander (son), b 6 Nov 1862 at Townville, d 29 Feb 1920 Anderson, S.C. He was six feet and four inches tall and weighed 300 pounds. In this respect he was like his father, Col. Daniel Alexander Ledbetter, who fell at the Second Battle of Manassas just before his birth. His mother took him as a baby in arms from their home in South Carolina to Virginia to see his father. At Richmond she was turned back with the news that her husband was dead. No record of the grave was kept except that he was buried "on the battlefield." For more than 20 years the family did not know the spot of his burial. A boy then ten years old watched the burial of two soldiers on his father's farm on the battlefield. Later he wrote a poem "Two Soldiers in Gray." It appeared in the Charleston News and Courier. The son read the poem which named his father, Col D. A. Ledbetter. The son left at once for Virginia and the author of the poem pointed out the spot "on a lonely hillside in the Virginia Mountains" where the father was buried. The son, then twenty-one years of age, was working in a store at Townville, his home place, and saving his money until he would have enough to move to Anderson and go into business for himself. He spent the savings to erect the marble shaft which now commemorates Col. Daniel Alexander Ledbetter on the Manassas Battle Ground.
Note: The grave, including the marker and fence, has since been moved to the cemetery at the Sudley United Methodist Church not far from the field where he died and was originally buried.
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