“Perfidious Wretch!” – The developing story of Mr. Dorsey horsewhipping Dr. Gordon, OTD, 1840

I came across a number of articles in the Virginia Free Press pertaining to an altercation between one A.G. Gordon and Dr. H. Dorsey, both… I think… were from Charles Town, (West) Va. There’s a lot going on in the exchanges I’ve found in the various clippings (spanning about four issues, so far), so, I’ll just leave this here for readers, with the hope that I revisit this later with a better synopsis of the particulars… and both sides of the story. For students of the Civil War, the name H.L. Opie, Jr. may sound familiar… H.L. Opie was the father of John Newton Opie, author of A Rebel Cavalryman with Lee, Stuart and Jackson (1899).

Give some time, I’ll see what more I can dig up on this little incident from 1840…

Tagged: A.G. Gordon, Capt. W. Castleman, Charles Town West Virginia, Dr. H. Dorsey, Fisher Lewis, Hierome Lindsay Opie Jr, insults in the antebellum period, Jefferson County West Virginia, Marsh Farm, Rose Hill, Virginia Free Press

Posted in: Antebellum culture of the Shenandoah Valley, Antebellum Period, Antebellum Virginia, Shenandoah Valley history