Richard Channing Price
Despite his youth, Richard Channing Price (or Channing, as he was called) fulfilled admirably the duties of assistant adjutant general of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Channing Price was born in Richmond, Virginia, on February 24, 1842. His family lived at "Dundee" in Hanover County. His father, Thomas Randolph Price, was a Richmond merchant. Channing aided his father, who became blind, by taking his dictation and writing his correspondence. His work forged strong family bonds and helped to establish an organizational ability which would be of invaluable service to Jeb Stuart.
On October 10, 1861, Channing joined the 3rd Company, Richmond Howitzers. This unit, organized at the Richmond College Artillery Camp, spawned no less than 19 companies. They fought at Big Bethel, June 10, 1861, the first land battle of the Civil War. In September 1861 the 3rd Company became Company D, 1st Virginia Artillery, commanded by Captain Robert Stannard. On December 3rd they were located at Deep Creek on the Peninsula.
In 1862 Channing joined his cousin, Jeb Stuart, as an aide with the rank of first lieutenant. By his 21st birthday, Channing was a Major. On August 18, 1862 Major Norman Fitzhugh, Stuart's A.A.G., was captured at Verdiersville. Price assumed Fitzhugh's adjutant duties.
Price accompanied Stuart on his raid to Pennsylvania on October 9, 1862. It was an event which Channing kept a careful account of in letters to his mother. The Chambersburg Raid accomplished little militarily but caused McClellan much embarrassment. Stuart's foray marked the second time "Little Mac" was made to look bad by Stuart's daring cavalrymen. The cavalry returned to the Bower along Opequan Creek, the home of the Dandridges, to relax. Fortunately, Channing's letters to his mother survived and provided many details of the raid.
Stuart, in a letter to Channing's father, dated March 30, 1863, could not resist a pun: "I wonder how you all can keep your heads above water when the whole country is crying 'Down with the Prices.' It must be consoling to the financiers to observe the Price Sterling is not as much above the Price current, as before Channing's promotion."
On May 1, 1863, Channing Price received a fatal wound at Chancellorsville. Cannon fire had been dropping Beckham's artillerymen and a shell landed amidst a group of Stuart's officers. Fragments entered Price's leg, but although bleeding profusely, he refused aid. He finally was taken to the home of Charles Wellford. Stuart visited him that night. Shortly after, near midnight, he died. Stuart, on May 11, wrote a touching letter to his father, stressing Channing's devotion to duty.
W.W. Blackford of Stuart's staff could not help but admire Price's ability. Stuart would dictate, wrote Blackford, and, "Price would listen, and without asking him to repeat a single thing, or taking a single note, he would... write the letters ready for the General's signature; and it was rarely the case that any alteration was made when Stuart read them and affixed his signature." As an adjutant general, Stuart said, Price had no superior. As a measure of final respect, the cavalry went into mourning for 30 days. They had only recently removed their black armbands for John Pelham.
This article first appeared in Volume 2, No. 4 of The Cannoneer.
Sources:
W.W. Blackford, War Years with Jeb Stuart, pp. 204-05.
Burke Davis, Jeb Stuart: The Last Cavalier.
Dr. Harry J. Warthen, Jr., "Family Ties, Jeb Stuart's 'Fond Recollections',"
Civil War Times Illustrated, Vol. XXII, No.6, October 1983, pp. 34-35.
