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Captain of Independent Company of Scouts for Randolph Co., West Virginia during the Civil War.
born Pittsylvania, Virginia??
1890 SNIDER SAMPSON SR. Randolph County WV 001 Dry Fork District WV 1890 Veterans Schedule WV1882967

Snyder's Swamp Dragoons
Author: larry sullivan Date: 13 Apr 2001 12:00 PM
Surnames: SNYDER Post New Message | Post Reply | Mark Unread | Report Abuse Print Message In a letter dated 13 Sep 1863 to Robert E. Lee, Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden tells of plans to send a company of the 62nd VA Mounted Infantry to Pendlet on County, WV, to "try and clear out Snyder's gang of Union robbers and murderers, known as Swamp Dragoons." Anyone have a clue as to this Snyder's identify?
Replies to this message:
* Swamp Dragons : Jack Isner -- 20 Apr 2001

Swamp Dragons
Author: Jack Isner Date: 20 Apr 2001 12:00 PM
Surnames: Snyder
In Reply to: Snyder's Swamp Dragoons by: larry sullivan
The Swamp Dragons, or the "Dry Fork Home Guards" as they called themselves, were organized by John Snyder and his son Sampson Snyder early in the war. Sampson Snyder was the leader and held the title of Captain. The unit included mostly resident s of the Dry Fork area of Randolph County and possibily some from the western part of Pendleton County. The Dragons was disbanded April 15, 1865 with 43 members.
Fansler's History of Tucker County has a lot of information on the Swamp Dragons.

Enrolled as "Captain" on the muster roll of Capt. Sampson Snyder's Independent Company of Scouts during the Civil War, with the following note to the side:
"Those has Been Standing in Selfe Defense for 2 years, more or less. They had to do it or be robed By the Rebs & Taken off & imprisoned."

In a letter dated 13 Sep 1863 to Robert E. Lee, Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden tells of plans to send a company of the 62nd VA Mounted Infantry to Pendleton County, WV, to "try and clear out Snyder's gang of Union robbers and murderers, known as Swam p Dragoons."

After the Battle of Corrick's Ford on July 13, 1861, the Civil War in Tucker County, began to assume a pattern similar to the game of hid-and-go-seek. Federal troops were camped in Preston, Barbour and Randolph Counties, while Confederate troop s were in Pendleton and Hardy Counties (Grant County not being formed until 1866). Tucker County was caught in between with about equal numbers of pro-factions for both sides, among its citizens. In the Dry Fork area, comprising the eastern secti ons of both Tucker and Randolph Counties, John and Sampson Snyder, a father and son team, assumed leadership of the pro-Union sympathizers; while in the other end of Tucker County, the Harper brothers, William and Ezekiel, known as Bill and Zeke , assumed leadership of the pro-Confederate sympathizers in the Saint George area. The Snyders were guerrillas but the Harpers were bona fide Confederate soldiers, placed on detached service because of their recognized abilities as scouts and guid es; in fact they were employed as spies more often than anything else until their downfall late in 1863, when Zeke was captured and Bill was killed.
The Snyders organized a band of guerrillas, known as the Swamp Dragons, of which Sampson Snyder, with the pseudo title of Captain, was the leader. The Swamp Dragons were organized, not so much to protect their homes and property, but as a reprisa l force to take revenge on those who sympathized with the South. They engaged in an incessant conflict with the Harpers, Huttons, and all other southern sympathizers throughout Tucker, Randolph and Pendleton Counties. John Snyder was born on Dr y Fork about 1800. He was a rancorous, cantankerous old individual, who never professed or aspired service in the Federal Army. His son, Sampson Snyder (1840-1910), allegedly enlisted in the Federal Army at Beverly, early in 1861, but his name a ppears nowhere on rosters of Federal troops or state militia and he was denied a pension in 1901 for this reason. Congressman Alston Gordon Dayton tried to get a special act through Congress to provide him with relief but whether or not it was su ccessful is unknown. However, on April 12, 1864, he was appointed, by Governor Arthur Ingraham Boreman, as Captain of the Randolph County Independent Scout Company, which was disbanded April 15, 1865, with 43 members, including his father, two br others and a cousin.

[note by ccs:] Less than a year later the Governor, A. I. Boreman, commissioned Sampson with the following document found at the West Virginia University Library:

The State of West Virginia.
To Sampson Snider [sic] Greeting:
Know you, that from special trust and confidence reposed in your fidelity, courage and good conduct, our GOVERNOR, in pursuance of the authority vested in him by the Constitution and Laws of the State, doth commission you Captain in the 107th Regi ment of the 4th Brigade and 1st Division of the West Virginia Militia, to rank as such from the fifth day of April 1866
In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto signed my name as Governor, and caused the Less Seal of the State to be affixed, this fifth day of April 1866
[signed] A. I. Boreman
By the Governor: [signed] F. H. Peirpont
Adjutant General

[Note: Guerrillas are members of independent bands of armed men who harass an enemy by surprise raids, as distinguished from "bushwhackers," who are unorganized individuals that waylay an enemy from ambush, usually by hiding in the bushes, hence t he derivative "bushwhacher."]

[Note: John Snyder's father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather were all named John, having originally settled in Pennsylvania and then moving to the South Branch. His father settled on Dry Fork about 1800 and moved to Michigan in 1818 . John married Lucinda Hensley of Albemarle County, Virginia, and they had eight children. All the Snyders were violently pro-Union and the Confederates had a standing order to "find Old John Snyder and kill him." Once he was shot by bushwhacke rs and thought dead but his immense physique and vitality saved him. The Confederates made up a song for that occasion, beginning with: "The Dixie lads have right good sense, they shot John Snyder through the fence." He died in Canaan Valley No vember 22 1894.]

[Note: Some writers insist that they were called "Swamp Angels," but the name "Swamp Dragons" was given them in contempt by old Job Parsons, Sr., of the Holly Meadows, because they hid in the swamps like dragonflies (MacCabe's Parsons Family Histo ry, 1913, page 43). Job's appellation gained favor and the name has gone down in history, besides, the word "angels" is by no means a contemptuous word. The Dragons themselves and their friends called them the "Dry Fork Home Guards"]

A squad of citizens' Homeguards, scouting for guerrillas and horse thieves during the war. Sketch by J. H. Diss Debar

"Although they have been maintained at considerable expense to the State, it cannot be doubted that they have rendered very efficient service in the counties for which they were organized; they have been a great protection to the loyal people of t he border counties, and have aided materially in the enforcement of the civil laws therein; without which those counties must have been abandoned by the loyal people, thus depriving them of representation in the Legislature of the State, and the S tate of considerable revenue."
Francis P. Peirpoint, Adjutant General 1866

Last Name: Snyder [Snider]
First Name: Sampson
Middle Name or Initial:
Rank: Captain
Company:
Age: 22-23
Roll Dated: Aug. 21 1864
When Enrolled: Feby. 29 1864
Where Enrolled: Randolph Co. W. Va.
Length of Service: 1 year
Mustered In: Feby. 29 1864
Mustered Out: Dry Fork, W. Va.
Remarks:

Enlisted & mustered Mch. 13/65 discharged under S. O. #34 A. G. O. - May 9 1865.

Co. Reorganized Mar. 13 -65 Discharged or disbanded April 15 -65.

By S. O. #6 Mch. 26/64 authority to raise Indpt. Co. Scouts for Randolph County, revoked and Co. if raised ordered disbanded at once.

By S. O. #12 Apr. 12-'64 S. O. #6 was revoked & Snider authorized to complete organization of said co.

Com's'n as Capt. Indpt. Scouts Randolph Co. ordered Apr. 12 -'64 to rank Mch. 29/64.

Appointed Capt. Indpt. Scouts of Randolph Co., Oath of Office dated May 2 -'64.

By S. O. #26 Aug. 27 -'64 authorized to recruit his company to 38.

Ordered to be authorized & instructed to reorganize his Co. to be called State Guards - not less than 25 nor more than 40 - under act of Legislature passed Feby. 25 -'65.

Comm's'n as Capt. 107 Rgt. ordered Apr. 5 -'66 to rank same date.

By S. O. #27 Apr. 27 -'65 number of men on reorganization limited to 25.

By S. O. #34 May 9 -'65 Co. ordered disbanded & discharged to take effect Apr. 15 -'65.


Lived in Dry Fork, next to his father [John Snyder], during the 1870 census [home 57]

Harman W Va Jan 9th 1904
This is a Sketch of facts of Sampson Snyder's Services & Experiences in the late civil war. I was Drove away from my home by the Rebels in the summer of 1861. The rebels threatened my life & seized my property. So I went to the United States fo rces at Grafton and Soon after that the Laurel Hill fight came off & I carried[??] my Self there with the Union Army I was Sworn in to the service as a Scout and a guide. So I was with the first [??] army at the Laurel Hill fight & at Corrick's F ord fight where Gen [Robert S. [CSA]] Garnett was killed. I was kept out on duty nearly all the time. So I was connected with the U.S forces from that time to the end of the war. I was in from 50 to 100 Battles & skirmishes from first to las t & might have been in more. The first injury I received was I was with Capt. Gardner [sp??] of [??]
p. 2
10 W. Va Regiment as a Scout in Pendleton County we was Surrounded by the Rebels & we got Bush whacked & in the fight I was on a horse & it fell & caught my right leg under the horse and [???] & Badly hurt me. The wound injured me for life. I w as laid up for weeks with it. So in the Summer of 1863 I take in Typhoid fever was very near dying with it confined to my bed for 6 or 7 weeks & there was a leader that lead from my hip to my knee that corded[??] and has hurt me ever since and i t injured my badly & I contracted Rheumatics from it. And in 1863 I was sent out in charge of a Squad of about 15 men to capture one noted guerilla with orders to first locate his whereabouts & then capture him at all hazards, dead or alive. S o I did and in the combat with him I was cut twice with a bowie knife & was badly injured for life.
p. 3
And it was a hand-to-hand fight & he, the guerilla [Bill Harper], cut the leader off that closes my little finger that leads to the nerve that was over the elbows knuckle. It paralyzed my arm for the time & the same lick he cut off the leader th at lifts my thumb. So neither leader ever united and it hurts me ever since caused my arm & shoulder to shaking [.??] & has caused me great pain & aching ever since & the loss of the use of my finger [...??] & thumb painfully[??].
[Capt. Sampson Snyder]

• Married: 29 DEC 1864 in Tucker Co., West Virginia
• Note: another source says: marr. 24 Dec., 1863 ^{11 12}

1. Lorenzo Dow Snyder b: 15 OCT 1864 in Harman, Randolph Co., West Virginia
2. Phoebe Catherine Snyder b: 17 NOV 1865 in Dry Fork, Randolph Co., West Virginia
3. Elmer Ellsworth Snyder b: 9 MAR 1867 in Dry Fork, Randolph Co., West Virginia
4. Sampson Snyder b: 9 AUG 1868 in Randolph Co., West Virginia
5. Prince "Albert" Snyder b: 11 SEP 1870 in Dry Fork, Randolph Co., West Virginia
6. Job L. Snyder b: 22 MAR 1872 in Randolph Co., West Virginia
7. John Wesley Snyder b: 23 FEB 1874 in Dry Fork, Randolph Co., West Virginia
8. Ann Toy "Nettie" Snyder b: 1 DEC 1875 in Harman, Randolph Co., West Virginia
9. Lucy Estella "Stella" Snyder b: 6 JUL 1877 in Randolph Co., West Virginia
10. Carrie Viola Snyder b: 6 FEB 1880 in Randolph Co., West Virginia
11. James G. Blaine Snyder b: 2 FEB 1883 in Dry Fork, Pendleton Co., West Virginia
12. Henry Clay Snyder b: 8 JUL 1884 in Dry Fork, Harman, West Virginia

• Married:
• Note: Unmarried but associated with Sampson Snyder

1. Buena Vista Snyder b: 7 MAR 1884 in West Virginia

1. Type: Web Site
   Author: Various sources
   Title: Idaho County Biographical Index
   URL: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ididaho/idahobios/idahobio.html
   Text: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO EMBRACING
   NEZ PERCES, IDAHO, LATAH, KOOTENAI, AND SHOSHONE COUNTIES
   STATE OF IDAHO; WESTERN HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1903
   We are grateful to the kind assistance of the Ilo-Vollmer Historical Society and in particular, Dick Southern and Shelley Kuther , for scanning and editing of the biographies contained in this volume of history.
2. Text: ancestry.com
3. Type: Web Site
   URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/an/localities.northam.usa.states.westvirginia.counties.pendleton/302.306/1
   URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/an/localities.northam.usa.states.westvirginia.counties.randolph/977/1
   URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/an/localities.northam.usa.states.newjersey.counties.morris/61
   URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/an/localities.britisles.england.general/2198.1185.1220
   URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/an/surnames.boone/851.900.904.909
   URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/an/surnames.boone/851
   Text: www.amazon.com . . . can only get to this if you are a member. cs
   
   Message from Ancestry.com
   
   Message on Ancestry.com
4. Type: Vital Record
   Title: Muster Roll
   Date: 1864
   Place: Randolph Co., West Virginia
   Location: West Virginia University Library
   Text: A photo copy of this document is located in the personal family history collection of Craig Cooper Snyder, Bellingham, Washington.
5. Type: Message Board
   Location: GenForum
   Date: 13 apr 2001
   URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?wv::snyder::3098.html
6. Type: Book
   Author: Hu Maxwell
   Periodical: History of Tucker County, West Virginia
   Publication: Preston Publishing Company, Kingwood, West Virginia, 1884
7. Type: Book
   Author: Homer Floyd Fansler
   Periodical: History of Tucker County West Virginia
   Publication: McClain Printing Company, Parsons, West Virginia, 1962
8. Type: Web Site
   Title: West Virginia Union Militia in the Civil War
   URL: http://129.71.134.132/militia/wvunmil.html
   URL: http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvmemory/militia/wvunmil.html
   Location: West Virginia Division of Culture
   URL: http://wvmemory.wvculture.org/militia/wvunmil.html
   Text: Craig Snyder Washington State. This is a note, comment or extra info from the compiler of this ged file.
9. Type: Census
   Title: 1870 Federal Census
   Place: 1870 U.S. Federal Census > West Virginia > Randolph > Dry Fork
   Location: Ancestry.com
   Place: 1870 U.S. Federal Census > Illinois > Knox > Abingdon
   Text: Created by FamilySearch (TM) Internet Genealogy Service
10. Repository: Craig Snyder file cabinet
11. Type: Book
    Author: Homer Floyd Fansler
    Periodical: History of Tucker County West Virginia
    Publication: McClain Printing Company, Parsons, West Virginia, 1962
    Page: p.662
12. Type: Web Site
    Author: Janet Cooper
    Title: TUCKER COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA MARRIAGES - 1856 - 1887
    URL: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvtucker/mgs.htm
    Date: 2001
    Text: Taken from the marriage book in Tucker county courthouse.