JOSIAH CLAY JOPLIN
Josiah Clay Joplin was born in Bedford County, Virginia on September 15th, 1844, one of nine children born to James and Emily Joplin. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in March of 1862 at seventeen years of age, joining Company A of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry as a Private. Five of his seven brothers fought for the Confederacy also, his brothers James and William joining him in the 2nd Virginia Cavalry. Josiah served under the gallant Turner Ashby during General Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign, and during the Seven Days Battles around Richmond in the summer of 1862, Josiah’s Company A acted as escorts and couriers for General Jackson himself. At the battle of 2nd Manassas, the 2nd saw heavy action, engaging both the 1st Michigan Cavalry and the 4th New York Cavalry in hand- to- hand combat.
September of 1862 saw the 2nd Virginia serve under the famous Confederate cavalryman General Jeb Stuart during Robert E. Lee’s invasion of Maryland, culminating in the bloody battle of Antietam on September 17th. The 2nd Virginia acted as advance scouts during the campaign, sending back reports of Federal movements and troop numbers to the Confederate high command. They fought many sharp engagements with the enemy and were in the saddle constantly for almost 3 weeks. The end of 1862 saw them fighting in the Confederate victory at Fredericksburg, and the spring of 1863 at another victory at Chancellorsville. In June of 1863, Confederate commander Robert E. Lee attempted another invasion of Northern soil, this time setting out for the state of Pennsylvania. Here the opposing armies clashed at the small town of Gettysburg, slugging it out for three days until the Union Army was able to break Lee’s resolve and force him to retreat back to Virginia. July 3rd at Gettysburg was when the Union and Confederate cavalry components had a mighty clash 2 1/2 miles east of town, between the York and Hanover roads. The 2nd Virginia bore the brunt of a bold charge led by Union General George Armstrong Custer and his brigade of Michigan cavalryman. Shouting, "Come on, you Wolverines!" and leading the charge himself, four lengths ahead of the rest of his troopers, Custer and his men collided with the 2nd Virginia at full speed. A witness remembered: "As the two columns approached each other, the pace of each increased, when suddenly a crash, like the fall of timber, betokened the crisis. So sudden and violent was the collision that many of the horses were turned end over end and crushed their riders beneath them. The clashing of sabers, the firing of pistols, the demands for surrender and cries of the combatants now filled the air." The Confederates were driven from the field, reluctantly, this being the first time in the war that had happened to Jeb Stuart’s cavalrymen. Private Joplin was one of the 181 casualties suffered by the Confederate cavalry in the affair, being slightly wounded. It was one of three times that he would be wounded during the course of the war.
The 2nd Virginia went on to see much hard fighting for the remainder of the conflict, being engaged in the battles of the Wilderness, Yellow Tavern, Spotsylvania, Petersburg, Five Forks and Appomatox. He was with his regiment at the end, surrendering to General U.S. Grant in Virginia in the spring of 1865. His brothers James and William survived the war also. After the conclusion of hostilities Joplin moved to Mississippi, and then to Arkansas, were he took up the pursuit of farming. He also married Miss Rebecca Boyd, the niece of a former Confederate senator. After a brief period in Missouri, Josiah came to California in 1876, buying a 160 ranch in Santa Ana. Here he engaged in stock raising and bee keeping. These ventures were successful and he was able to purchase more property in the area totaling 600 acres. Josiah became involved in County politics in the 1880’s and along with other ex-Confederate soldiers, like Victor Montgomery and John A. Willson, he was a leader in the movement to secede from Los Angeles County, an effort that was finally successful in 1890. For his efforts on behalf of the new county Josiah was chosen to manage an exhibit of Orange County agricultural products at the Worlds Fair in Chicago in 1893. This exhibit was so successful that Joplin was chosen to superintend the county exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition two years later in St. Louis. Joplin was credited with developing the first successful chemical process for exhibiting and preserving local fruits. In 1898 he was elected County Treasurer, a position he held for 25 years. One of his six sons, Andrew, is reported to have killed the last Grizzly bear in Orange County. Josiah Clay Joplin passed away in 1933, at 88 years of age. He is buried in Santa Ana Cemetery.