site logo
[no picture yet]

[no picture yet]

Confederate (CSV)

Private

George Washington Goff

(c. 1839 - 1899)

Home State: Virginia

Branch of Service: Artillery

Unit: Parker's Richmond (VA) Battery

Before Sharpsburg

Age 23, from Richmond, VA, he mustered as Private in Parker's Richmond Battery, Light Artillery on 14 March 1862 in Richmond.

On the Campaign

At Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862:

... we are then ordered to fall back. We do not go far, however, when, under the lead of the brave Captain Taylor, of the battalion staff, Sergeant Hallowell's gun attempts to take another position; but we are only wheeling for the purpose when an artillery shot explodes over us that kills Bryant, our remaining driver, and mortally wounds Captain Taylor. As Taylor falls from his horse, Darden and I catch him in our arms, and his hero-blood spurts all down my jacket sleeve, and dyes the gray into its own sanguinary hue.

Intrepid George Goff springs into the saddle made vacant by the fallen Bryant, and we withdraw from the field ...

The rest of the War

He was captured with the battery on 6 April 1865 at Harper's Farm, VA and held at Point Lookout, MD until released on 12 June 1865 after taking the oath of allegiance.

References & notes

Service information from Musselman1 via the Historical Data Systems database. The quote above from Royall W. Figg in "Where men only dare to go!" or, The story of a Boy Company (C.S.A.) (1885); thanks to Andy Cardinal for the pointer to that volume. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

Birth

c. 1839

Death

12/07/1899; burial in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA

Notes

1   Musselman, Homer D., The Caroline Light, Parker and Stafford Light Virginia Artillery, Lynchburg (Va): H.E. Howard, Inc., 1992  [AotW citation 23395]