From Glimpses of the Past in Shenandoah County, (p.10), published in 1984.

As told by the late Blair Zirkle:

What I'm about to tell you happened over a hundred years ago in this county, and the persons involved are no longer living, but since their descendants are I feel that we ought not to mention names. I am satisfied that the story is true. My information has come from two individuals who were directly related to participants in the event.

It happened during the winter of 1863-64, when it became rather obvious that the south was losing the war. Feeling was running high in the Valley. Our barns and mills had been burned, and the Yankees were in virtual control of the region. The excuse for what happened was attributed to the tension of the time, and may have accounted for the rather casual dismissal of the crime by the authorities.

In the rugged mountainous section of Shenandoah County lived a young, unwed woman with her young son. It was rumored that she had a lover who was a known Union sympathizer. She lived alone, but her lover was a frequent visitor. Finally, a self-appointed posse of three men determined to take matters into their own hands and to end this disgraceful relationship.

The group consisted of a Confederate soldier home on leave, the soldier's brother-in-law, and the young nephew of the Confederate soldier. The young man's father had recently been killed in the war, and pressure upon him to join the group was a very emotional thing.

On the night of February 28, 1864 word reached the group that the woman's lover was paying his lady-love a nocturnal visit, so the men mounted their horses and rode to the woman's house. The woman's visitor had been warned by a sympathizing friend and had sneaked out of the house and hidden himself behind some brush across the road.

When the posse arrived and called for the lovers to appear the woman and her young son came out onto the porch and assured the group that she and her son were the only ones there. There followed a lot of bickering and wrangling, and in the confusion a shot rang out and the woman fell dead upon the porch.

The three men hurried back home and reported immediately to the authorities what had happened. A hearing was held shortly, but no charge was brought against the men. The shooting was declared to be accidental.

The woman's body was buried on a knoll behind her house. The small burial plot is not cared for, and few people know it exists. The stone that marks the woman's grave bears her name and the terse statement, "Killed February 28, 1864."

This is a sad story of a tragic event. What happened may be dismissed as symptomatic of the tense time in which it occurred, but some who know the story as an intimate family chronical are led to wonder if it is not rather symptomatic of a more timeless emotion - the jealous spite of an aggrieved lover.