History Honors

Sharina Kapoor

5.30.2016

Marshall Houghton

There were many battles fought during the civil war. We lost a significant amount of men in these battles. These men were very brave and sacrificed their lives for their beliefs and for freedom. Marshall Houghton was one of these brave soldiers according to the 1860 census from ancestry.com.

The census states that Houghton lived with his parents and siblings. He was born and raised in Rappahannock, VA. He was a literate black man. He worked as a farmhand in Virginia before he joined the army. When Houghton was seven his father owned 800 dollars worth of land which is basically $14,660 in today’s economy. His mom, Harriet Houghton(44), owned personal property after her husband passed away in 1860. The land was worth $1,125 which converts to $20,000 in the present time. He had seven siblings: Jackson(24), Thomas(19), Ann(14), William(10), Elizabeth(6), Edward(2), John R(2). Houghton continued to work the farm with his mother until everything was situated and he could enlist in the army. He enlisted in the Confederate army on July 19, 1861.

The Battle of Upperville was fought in Loudoun County Virginia on June 21, 1863 during the Civil War. This battle was fought because General Stuart was trying to prevent Union General Alfred Pleasonton’s cavalry from finding where General Robert E. Lee’s main army was located. He was successful in keeping the location a secret possibly with the help from my soldier, Marshall Houghton. He was a young man who enlisted with Captain John Green’s Cavalry Company which was a part of the 6th cavalry on July 19, 1861. He fought in the Battle of Upperville and was shot during this battle. Although he was shot during the battle, he actually died on August 6, 1863. It is unclear to me whether or not he died as a result of his wounds or maybe he was shot again in an unrelated situation the day he died. He may have had an enemy who decided to take revenge against him for some unknown reason. There is insufficient information to draw any solid conclusions as to what really happened to him.

He joined the Confederate army on July 19th in Union Mills, VA. He was enlisted under John Green for 12 months. The company muster roll of the organization named above for the date of September 1, 1861 he was present. He fought in the First Battle of Bull Run. For the months in which he fought, Sept.-Oct., he was paid on Aug. 31, 1861 for fighting in the battle. During January and February of 1862 he was moved from Union Mills to Manassas where he was paid to fight in the Second Battle of Manassas. He was paid Nov. 1 of 1862 by Captain Carter even though he was absent a month later since he got sick. In May and June of 1862, Captain John Green was promoted to Major and Houghton was enlisted for 3 years. Captain Carter paid him on May 1, 1862 and he was present that day of battle. Houghton had a regimental return for the month of November of 1861 which was a year before he got paid. Things must’ve been delayed quite a bit. On August 6, 1863 he was shot and killed in Upperville, VA. They received and identified him as Houghton 5 months later. No one knew that he had been deceased for a while.

In conclusion, Marshall Houghton was a very brave soldier who sacrificed so much for his family and friends. Today we are grateful to those men whom sacrificed their lives and will still to this very day.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

https://www.fold3.com/page/637669847marshallhoughton/stories/

https://www.nps.gov/abpp/Battles/va038.htm

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2004/nov/10/in-fields-where-soldiers-died/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleofUpperville