General Albert Jenkins, CSA, Ash Witness Tree Bottle Stopper

Albert Gallatin Jenkins was born on November 10, 1830, in Cabell County of modern-day West Virginia. As a young man he was educated at the Virginia Military Institute and was a graduate of the class of 1848 from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. He took up law at Harvard College and by 1850 was admitted to the Charleston Bar, but never practiced. Instead, Jenkins took up agriculture on his plantation.
Jenkins was very active in public affairs and became a delegate in the Democratic Convention in 1856. He served as a delegate from 1857 to 1861 when Virginia seceded from the Union. As a military soldier, he felt his duties were for the protection of his home state. He raised a company of mounted men called the Border Rangers, and they drilled on the grounds of Jenkins’ plantation. Upon entering the service of the Confederate States, he was commissioned captain, and his company of Border Rangers would soon become the nucleus of the 8th Virginia Cavalry, where the Border Rangers were designated as Company E.
As a military soldier, Jenkins had proved himself loyal to the Confederate cause. On August 5, 1862, Col. Jenkins was promoted to brigadier general and was considered by many as brilliant, daring and very successful at conducting raids and foraging for supplies. He was the first to plant the Confederate battle flag in Union territory in Ohio.
On June 15, 1863, Jenkins’ Confederate cavalry brigade became the first of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s men to enter the North when it crossed the Potomac River and headed for Chambersburg, Pennsylvania—thus commencing the ‘Gettysburg Campaign’ of the Army of Northern Virginia.  By late June, his brigade was in Carlisle where he received orders to turn south.  By July 1, they entered Adams County and were encamped in present-day York Springs.  It was here, while dining with a local merchant, that Jenkins received word that the Union Army was in Gettysburg.
On July 2, Jenkins was tasked with guarding Gen. Richard S. Ewell's left flank. Jenkins' brigade was posted in a piece of woodland near Rock Creek. He and his men waited for the attack. For some reason, Jenkins never received the order that the battle was postponed, even though he was miles away from Ewell's left flank. After waiting for the attack that never came, Jenkins wanted to see what was going on. Arriving on top of a hill, they attracted the enemy's attention, who fired a cannon shot upon Jenkins' party. The shell exploded, wounding Jenkins and killing his horse. Jenkins was carried from the field.  That incident was the end of Jenkins’ actions at Gettysburg.  It took until autumn for him to recover from his wounds and return to his brigade.