January 28, 2013

Reverend Michael Bushman could have had no way to know that his beautiful farm of brick and stone would be the last home many Confederate soldiers would ever see. The Bushman farm, located along Warfield Ridge, would have been visible to the Texan and Arkansan soldiers under Gen. John B. Hood, and likely to Alabamian troops as well. The house is especially beautiful and was constructed in sections, the left half built of fieldstone and the right half built of brick with a stone base. It dates from the early 1800s. The large white barn was constructed in the 1830s.

The Bushman farm served a greater purpose during the battle than just to look pretty, however. It is thought that Union sharpshooters probably harassed Gen. Hood’s men from this farm on July 2^nd and were quickly chased out. Anecdotal evidence suggests it may have been used as a hospital. Its battle usage notwithstanding, the Bushman farm is in a beautiful location. Just behind the farm and its attractive wooden and white picket fences looms Little Round Top, and anyone standing in the front yard could have easily gazed up at the face of the hill with its scattering of prehistoric boulders.

**HONORED TODAY**

LT. JAMES ANDERSON GRAYBILL

28^th Virginia Infantry

Born October 18, 1839 --- Died July 03, 1863 at age 23

As Lt. Graybill enlisted at Amsterdam, Virginia, this was likely his pre-war residence. Family history says he was a teacher at Roanoke College at age seventeen and enlisted in the Confederate army at age twenty-one. He was one of thousands of Southern men who took their last stand in the ill-fated Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge on July 3^rd. Lt. Graybill was later buried at Amsterdam Cemetery.


(c) 2013 Skies of Blue and Gray