Nansemond-Southampton County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Alford, Francis M., 1901 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ Francis Marion ALFORD NAT TURNER INSURRECTION. Death of a Citizen Who Possessed the Negro's Sword - Other Incidents. (Special Dispatch to The Times.) SUFFOLK, VA., May 27. - Francis Marion Alford, whose father, Captain Benjaman [sic; Benjamin] Alford, of the Portsmouth Light Dragoons, was sent by the then Governor of Virginia to suppress Nat Turner's insurrection in Southampton county in 1831, died here Sunday, aged seventy-three years. Despite large money offers the deceased retained till death the sword alleged to have been owned and used by the noted negro insurrectionist. It is a crude looking weapon, but the steel is finely tempered. Nat Turner, it will remembered, was a fanatical leader, who believed he had been chosen to exterminate the whites. He passed word among his followers, and for several days there was fearful slaughter. The Portsmouth Dragoons, with Captain Alford, are said to have been the first military organization on the scene, and the "rising"' was soon suppressed. Nat Turner, who had taken refuge in a cave, was betrayed by the smell of meat he was frying for dinner. Turner was hanged and Captain Alford got his sword. That's what Captain Alford's son always told his closest friends. There is a legend revived by F.M. Alford's death that Nat Turner's ears were cut off by a doctor who drove across the county thirty miles to see the execution, and that they are still in existence, having been preserved in alchohol. A well known citizen, now living in Suffolk, says he has seen the ears. The family in whose possession they are supposed to be has never sought to give publicity to their possession, nor the details of the reason for their ancestor's action. F.M. Alford was a unique person, whom near neighbors sometimes saw only once or twice a year. He was educated for a lawyer, but never practiced, having an income which made him independent. The funeral will occur Tuesday. "Frank" Francis Marion ALFORD, Confederate veteran, Eastern Shore native, d. 27 May 1901, Suffolk, age circa 70, buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery (Block O, Lot 95*), Suffolk, 29 May 1901, "The Times" (Richmond, VA), May 28, 1901, p. 4 *Cedar Hill list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_a.txt His parents are buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Norfolk - 4AW-L5. Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives, Elmwood list: http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/norfolkcity/cemeteries/elmwood/elm-ab-al.html The SCHS has a sword, which is claimed to be Nat TURNER's. There are several photos of it online at Google Images. There is also an interesting discussion on it, at: http://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.22392.html It seems to be the same sword pictured in William Sidney Drewry's "The Southampton Insurrection" (Neale Co., Washington, DC, 1900). A footnote states it was in the possession of Mr. James D. WESTBROOK of Drewryville, a relative of TURNER's captor Benjamin PHIPPS; that Mr. Frank ALFORD of Suffolk claimed to have TURNER's musket & sword; that TURNER was armed only with the sword; that ALFORD's father's militia unit - commanded by Capt. DAY - had returned to Portsmouth 2 months before TURNER's capture; and that ALFORD's claims were disputed by Capt. J.J. DARDEN in a letter to "The Suffolk Herald," replying to an article published July 24, 1899. (pp. 91-92) That book & text are available online at: https://archive.org/details/southamptoninsur00drew https://books.google.com/books?id=Eg55AAAAMAAJ&hl=en Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/a416f1ob.txt