Col. Edmund Goode, (CSA)

EDMOND GOODE,

OF BEDFORD COUNTY, VIRGINIA; COLONEL, 58TH VIRGINIA INFANTRY.

Colonel Edmond Goode, the eldest son of John and Ann M. Goode, was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on the 4th of May, 1825.

After attending for several years in his early youth the grammar schools of the neighborhood, he became a student at the New London Academy, an old and celebrated institution of learning, over which the beloved Bishop Cobbs once presided, and which may now point with maternal pride and tenderness to a long line of worthy and distinguished citizens who laid the foundation of their usefulness and distinction within her classic and venerable walls. He continued to prosecute his studies at this institution until July, 1843, when he entered the Virginia Military Institute as a State cadet from the senatorial district composed of the counties of Bedford and Franklin. Having completed the course at the Institute, during the last year of which he acted as a captain in the corps of cadets, he received his diploma as a member of the graduating class in the summer of 1846, and returned to his native county, where he taught school for two years, in fulfillment of the obligation which had been imposed upon him as a State cadet. After he had thus discharged the debt which he owed to the State, and was left free to consult his own inclinations, he devoted himself to the quiet and peaceful pursuits of agriculture. In this avocation of life, so congenial to his tastes as a modest, unobtrusive gentleman, he demeaned himself in such a manner that he gained the respect and confidence of all who knew him, and enjoyed the reputation of an "honest man, that noblest work of God." In the memorable spring of 1861, when Virginia, threatened with hostile invasion and with the overthrow of all that she held sacred, called upon her sons to come to her rescue, Colonel Goode responded to that call with alacrity and zeal. How could he hesitate? He had no personal ambition to gratify and no selfish ends to subserve; but he was a native-born Virginian, the blood of Revolutionary ancestors coursed through his veins. His grandfathers on both sides had fought in the ranks of the patriots of 1776. His maternal great-grandfather had not only distinguished himself in the war of the first Revolution, but had rendered conspicuous service in the war of 1812. He had been reared in the State-rights school, and had been taught to believe that his paramount allegiance was due to the Commonwealth which gave him birth. He loved that Commonwealth for all the historic glories and hallowed associations which clustered about her honored name. His brother, as a member of the Convention, had voted for the ordinance which absolved Virginia from her connection with the Federal Union. Prompted, therefore, by the highest and holiest impulses, and feeling well assured that every consideration of duty, honor, and patriotism required him to take the step, he volunteered with four other brothers, among the first of that noble band of citizen soldiers which the good old county of Bedford sent to the field before the soil of the State had been pressed by the foot of the invader, or the thunder of his guns had begun to echo along our coasts. He assisted in raising and equipping one of the first volunteer companies that was organized in Bedford, and went into camp about the 1st of May, 1861. Having been appointed adjutant of the 28th Virginia Regiment, which was commanded by that whole-souled patriot and noble gentleman, Colonel Robert T. Preston, of Montgomery, he was ordered to Manassas Junction, where he remained in camp until the 2ist of July, 1861. On that memorable day in the history of our struggle he went into action with his regiment, and performed his whole duty honorably and^ faithfully. Some time in the fall of 1861 he was commissioned by the State, colonel of the 58th Regiment of Volunteers, and ordered to the mountains of Virginia, west of Staunton, to watch a threatened movement of the enemy in that quarter. There he remained in camp with his regiment during the winter of 1861 and 1862.

While no opportunity of meeting the enemy was afforded him, yet during those dreary winter months he exhibited qualities of head and Heart which demonstrated that he was eminently fit to command, and his men became so warmly and devotedly attached to him that they would have gladly followed wherever he led the way. But an all-wise Providence had decreed that he should be cut down in his career of usefulness and honor, and spared the humiliation and pain of witnessing the final overthrow of that cause which he loved so well. His exposure to the rigor and severity of a winter in the mountains of Virginia superinduced a disease from which he never recovered. After he had undergone severe suffering in the camp, he was removed to his home in the county of Bedford, where he died in the bosom of his family, in the month of March, 1862. Such is a brief and imperfect sketch of a chivalrous gentleman and gallant soldier, of whom it is sufficient eulogy to say that he acted well his part as one of that " noble army of martyrs" who suffered and died in the cause of Southern independence.

• Source - Memorial, Virginia Military Institute: Biographical Sketches of the Graduates and Élèves of the Virginia Military Institue who Fell During the War Between the States, by Charles D. Walker

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Birth: May 4, 1825 Death: Mar. 9, 1862 Bedford County Virginia, USA

Family links:

Spouse:

 Ann McGhee Goode (1828 - 1891)

Children:

 Susie Goode Purple (1860 - 1922)*

*Calculated relationship

Inscription: 58th Virginia Regiment - C. S. A.

Burial: Longwood Cemetery Bedford Bedford County Virginia, USA GPS (lat/lon): 37.34122, -79.51196

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Goode&GSfn=E...

Born in Bedford County, Virginia, May 4, 1825. Graduated from VMI 1846. Teacher at the New London Academy and a Farmer, Liberty, Bedford Co., Virginia. Enlisted in Co. D, 28th Virginia Infantry as 1st Lt. in April 1861. Appointed Adjutant of the 28th Virginia. He was present at Manassas, July 21, 1861. Promoted Captain. Appointed Colonel of the 58th Virginia Infantry Sept./Oct. 1861. Present until died of pneumonia at his residence in Bedford March 4, 1862. Buried in Longwood Cemetery, Bedford. The ladies of Liberty [Bedford] made a special Confederate flag to put over his casket that is still in possession of his descendants.

• Source - http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/genealogy/ancestorcomments.asp...