Thomas G Day at Quebec Schoolhouse (1899)
1 January 2023
In a comment on an earlier post about the cavalry action at Quebec Schoolhouse near Middletown, MD on 13 September 1862, Amy Matzet offered a fascinating story about one of the participants – Thomas Groves Day – a Private in Company E of the 3rd Indiana Cavalry.
The short version is that Private Day lost his carbine during the fight, picked up a Confederate weapon to replace it, but soon after lost that to a Confederate Surgeon under a flag of truce. Amazingly, a young Middletown resident and battle witness had kept that same Confederate carbine since 1862 and happened to meet Day when he visited the area in 1899. Thomas Day took that weapon home to Indiana.
Ms Matzet has the details thanks to a scrapbook of family papers, clippings, and photographs handed down by her grandmother Hester Lucille Day Warfield. Hester was Thomas Day’s granddaughter. Thanks to them, I can show you two excellent artifacts of that story.
His photograph, in 1899, on a visit to Quebec Schoolhouse:
A transcription of an article in the Middletown Valley Register (1899) telling his battle story and events of that visit:
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March 5th, 2023 at 4:37 pm
Hi Amy,
Thank you very much for sharing the above story about your ancestor. Do you have a copy of the other article by Mr. Day, mentioned in the above story, that you wouldn’t mind sharing? Does anyone else have a copy of the April 8, 1898 Valley Register article about the Quebec Schoolhouse battle written by Mr. Pickerell? One of my great-great grandfathers was in Cobb’s Legion Cavalry Battalion. I’m not sure if he was at this battle, but I do know that the Legion cavalry was armed with Maynards, like the one returned to Mr. Day.
October 30th, 2023 at 8:22 pm
I have written a book about the 3rd Indiana Cavalry, East wing that spends a bit of time on the fight at Quebec Schoolhouse. Hoosier Spies and Horse Marines by McFarland Publishing.