Person:Washington Phibbs (1)

Carroll County Heritage, Volume I, p. 230-231 659 Washington McDonald Phibbs “Did you ever kill a Yankee, Grandpa?” asked the little girl. “No,” replied Wash, “I never really wanted to, except for one time.” Further inquiry from his granddaughter, Elsie, elicited the following story from Washington Phiggs. “My buddies and I were starving, with no relief in sight,” he began. “We had consumed any edible parts of shoes, belts, and other leather items we could find. Upon approaching a small dwelling, we found, to our delight, a hog’s tongue which the farmer, after butchering, had inadvertently left hanging in the fork of a tree branch. We lost no time building a fire and putting the meat on to cook. The tantalizing odor was beginning to get to us when suddenly a shot from a sniper rang out. We frantically dived for cover. When we finally picked up the nerve to come out, there, in the pot was our prospective meal was a mess of dirt and debris which the bullet had kicked up. If I could have reached that Yankee, I would gladly have dispatched him.” Washington Phibbs had come to Fancy Gap from North Carolina with his parents, John and Martha Halloway Phibbs, and five siblings in 1842. Here, in 1852 he met and married Rachel Horton. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Alexander Haynes organized Company E, 29th Virginia, and Wash joined this unit on August 6, 1861. immediately his services were utilized at Emory, Virginia, in tending the sick and wounded Confederate soldiers. Later he was sent to the eastern part of the state, where he was wounded in the right hand during a battle at Dinwiddie Court House. After a somewhat tumultuous and sporadic tenure in the army, Wash returned home in 1865 where he settled down with Rachael, and obtained a federal permit to distill whiskey. This business was strictly regulated and supervised by officials who came periodically to measure barrel capacity and to investigate brewing methods and sale of the product. Nine daughters were born to Wash and Rachael, and one son whose name was Canada Calvin Calhoon. He married Minnie Victoria Morris, and became a minister in the Primitive Baptist Church. He pastured a number of parishes in the Carroll County area and so was widely known. Wash, after the death of Rachael, lived in a small house adjoining that of Canada and his family, which consisted of twelve children. The second daughter was Elsie Almira, who married Frank Blair and became my mother. She told us that they all loved their “Grandpa Wash” and that they cooked his meals daily and took them to him at his home. His favorite food was rutabagas cooked in an iron pot. In later years both of these families moved to Wythe County, where Wash died and on March 3, 1916 was buried in the Catron Cemetery. Submitted by A. B. Shockley