Berkeley County, West Virginia Biography of ROBERT CHRISTOPHER BURKHART This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 392-393 ROBERT CHRISTOPHER BURKHART is spending his retired years at the residence which he occupied while active as a horticulturist and farmer, situated on the Winchester Pike, three miles from Martinsburg. Mr. Burkhart is a veteran of the Confederate army, is a veteran man of affairs in Berkeley County, and few men still living can claim a broader association with the events of his long lifetime anil with prominent personages both military and political. He was born at Darkesville in Berkeley County, October 8, 1839. His grandfather, Christopher Burkhart, was a miller by trade and, so far as known, spent all his life in Maryland. He was the father of three sons and three daughters, one daughter marrying a Mr. Flagg and another, a Mr. Rummel. Dr. Francis M. Burkhart, father of Robert C., was born about eight miles north of Hagerstown, Wash- ington County, Maryland, acquired a liberal education, practiced medicine for three years in the City of Washington with Doctor Dunbar, and then located at Darkesville, West Virginia, where his labors as an active physician continued for upwards of forty years. He lived to the age of eighty- four. Doctor Burkhart first married Miss Rosenberger. and their two children were James H. and Caroline, the latter the wife of John R. Stewart. The second wife of Doctor Burkhart was Elizabeth Stewart, who was born in Berkeley County, near Darkesville, daughter of Robert Stewart, a farmer. By the second marriage there were three chililren: Mary, wife of Philip Berlin; Ella B., wife of Elias Em- mert; and Robert C. Robert C. Burkhart acquired a private and public school education. He was a young man of twenty-two when the war came on, and he soon enlisted in Company B of the First Virginia Cavalry. His main service during the war was as a scout. He possessed exceptional qualifications for this hazardous duty, being vigilant, alert, resourceful and fearless. Eventually he was put in command of a detach- ment of fifteen scouts and assigned to duty with Gen. Titz- hugh Lee's command. He kept in close touch with this command, though his duties frequently took him within the Union lines. He had many exciting experiences. It was his duty to learn all he could of the whereabouts of the enemy. He frequently conferred with Confederate lenders high in command, and knew nearly all the prominent gen- erals in the armies of Northern Virginia. It was Mr. Burkhart who informed General Early that General Sheri- dan was absent from his army in Washington. This infor- mation caused General Early to make his attack upon the Union troops at Cedar Creek, and Mr. Burkhart was at Darkesville and saw General Sheridan galloping down the Winchester Pike on the way to send back his retreating forces and retrieve a victory. Mr. Burkhart was in the battle of Gettysburg, was at Richmond the day before the surrender, and at Appomattox on the day of the surrender. In 1866, following the war, he engaged in the drug business at Shepherdstown. but four years later bought a farm near Shenandoah Junction. After being there seven years he bought a fine place bordering the Winchester Pike. three miles from Martinsburg, and on that estate he lias lived now for nearly half a century. He has developed it as a horticultural proposition, raising both apples and pears. and he became known as one of the most successful orchard- ist in the Eastern Panhandle. He continued in the busi- ness for about forty years, finally selling his fruit interests to a son-in-law. He is still a member of the West Virginia State Horticultural Society, and was the second president of that body, serving six years. In 1866 Mr. Burkhart married Susan W. Moore, a native of Jefferson County and daughter of Samuel Moore. Her brother, Maj. Blue Moore, was a Confederate officer, a major on the staff of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. Mrs. Burkhart died May 14, 1914, after they had been married forty-eight years. They reared a family of eleven children: Bessie M., Maggie Virginia, Joseph Flagg, Mary Porter, Frances Mantz, Myrtle M., Robert Stewart (who died at the age of twenty-three), Carrie, Daisy, Blue Moore and Ernest Emmert. Mr. Burkhart has always been a stanch democrat. For eighteen years he was magistrate of Arden District, and in 1899 was elected to the State Senate, receiving the largest majority ever given a candidate in his district. He voted for John T. Magraw for the United States Senate. He was a member of several important committees, including priv- ileges and elections and finance. Mr. Burkhart is affiliated with Equality Lodge No. 44, A. F. and A. M., Lebanon Chapter No. 2, R. A. M., and Palestine Commandery No. 2, K. T.