George W. Sprinkle, M. D., of Marion, was born in Smyth county in September, 1846. When about seventeen years of age he entered the Confederate service as a private in the Kanawha Rangers, Company I of the Eighth Virginia cavalry, an organization made up of five southwest Virginia and five border companies. He was first introduced to war in the active fighting of the east Tennessee campaign under Gen. John S. Williams, in the battles about Greeneville, and his next battle occurred at Wytheville against Averell, soon afterward. He then served in the Lynchburg campaign which resulted in the defeat of the Federals, in the pursuit of whom he joined down the Shenandoah valley. He was with McCausland in the raid upon Chambersburg, Pa., which was burned in retaliation for the vandalism of Hunter's army, and fought under Early in the disastrous battle of Fisher's Hill, November 19, 1864. After a short time at home on furlough with military duties he joined his command before Petersburg, and shared the fighting of Rosser's cavalry during the spring of 1865. During the retreat from the Confederate capital he was detailed at Farmville to overtake the wagon train and hurry it to Lynchburg. Finally at Appomattox he did not surrender, but with a party of mounted comrades made his way through the Federal lines and attempted to join the army in North Carolina. Upon the close of hostilities he began the study of medicine, which he continued in the college of physicians and surgeons at Baltimore. After his graduation at this institution he practiced two years in Texas, then returning to Marion, where he is now one of the leading men in his profession. In 1872 he was married to Miss Alice V. Allen, and they have four children: Edna Itasco, Henry Allen, Maud French and Satt Bonham.
William H. Startzman, a well-known business man of Roanoke, was born in Berkeley county, now assigned to West Virginia, in 1838. In that county and in Jefferson he was reared and educated, and in 1859 he made his home in Franklin county, where he engaged in the work of a carriage builder, but abandoned that occupation in April, 1861, to become a private in Company B of the Twenty-fourth Virginia regiment of infantry. He went out with this command to defend the soil of the Old Dominion from invasion, and was among the troops concentrated on the plains of Manassas, but was not actively engaged at Bull Run and the rout of the Federals on July 21, 1861. After this campaign he was detailed in the quartermaster's department for about two years, and in August, 1863, was detailed to the ordnance department. After about a year of this duty he returned to the quartermaster's department, with which he remained until the evacuation of Richmond. He was under fire in many engagements, notably during the three days' fight at Gettysburg, and after the evacuation of the Confederate capital he served in the ranks with his regiment during the retreat. With thirty comrades, detailed to protect a wagon train, he amply displayed that unfaltering and devoted courage that characterized the Confederate soldier, by gallantly repulsing two attacks by Sheridan's cavalry. They were finally run over by a brigade of cavalry, but even then were not captured. Rejoining the army he took part in the surrender at Appomattox, and then made his way to Rocky Mount, and thence in May, 1865, to Big Lick, since known as Roanoke, Va., where
