On April 12, 1906, Major Robert W. Hunter, secretary of Military Records in Richmond, Va., wrote to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, noting that Wyndham’s capture had been a subject of several recent communications in the Confederate column. He enclosed a letter from Conrad discussing Wyndham’s capture, the details of which where essentially the same as those of the 1896 letter to Hotchkiss.

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Early in 1910 the controversy took a new and interesting turn. Jacob Crisman, a Frederick County, Va., farmer and veteran of Ashby’s cavalry, submitted his account of the capture to the Winchester Evening Star in a letter dated January 25, 1910: “On June 6, 1862,…as Colonel Wyndham was forming his men, preparing to whip us, and take Ashby’s crown of laurels….I…suggested making a charge upon the enemy….

Throwing my revolver as far in the air as my right arm would permit I gave a yell and started. The Laurel Brigade, as it was called, followed me….I made for [Wyndham] and before he was aware of his enemy being so near, I was right by his side with my revolver pointing at his head, demanding him to surrender. At the second demand he gave me his equipments….As I returned after the conflict Lieutenant Wood, of Company C, met me in the field where the fight occurred and said to me, ‘Jake, did you take that Colonel?’ My answer was ‘I did.’” Crisman also claimed that Henry Huntsberry and Arch Pittman, comrades in the 12th Virginia Cavalry, remembered his capture of Wyndham.

On February 22, a letter by J.R. Crawford, who noted that he was a witness to the event, was carried by the Evening Star. Crawford noted that “Maj. Holmes Conrad, of Gen. Ashby’s staff, rode swiftly, and demanded his surrender; but Sir Percy at first defiantly twirled his sword as though he were ready for combat. But Major Conrad rode close to him, with his pistol ready to pull the trigger, and Wyndham, seeing that Conrad had the ‘drop’ on him, said, ‘I am your prisoner,’ and handed Conrad his handsome sword which Garibaldi had given him. Major Conrad holds that sword as evidence that he alone captured Col. Wyndham….”

Charles F. Russell, identifying himself as a member of Company G, 7th Virginia Cavalry, submitted a letter to the Shepherdstown, W.Va., Register, on March 3. His account of the events of June 6 also identified Conrad as the trooper who captured Sir Percy.

Meanwhile, an irate Crisman fired off a scathing epistle to the Evening Star accusing J.R. Crawford of fabricating the story and opining that he “must have been a member of that mighty army of ‘Invisibles in the War,’ but who after the dangers of war had passed and the smoke of battle was cleared away, marched forth in all of the splendor of their mighty hosts, armed with goose-quill spear and paper shield, with a fiery banner bearing the inscription ‘Discretion is the better part of Valor,’ and who have since endeavored to deprive certain good men of honors that rightfully belong to them.”

As with so many incidents during wartime, the exact sequence of events that led to Wyndhem’s capture may never be known, but Conrad’s account appears to have the greatest merit. His tale appeared in 1896, significantly earlier than the others, and was substantiated in print by comrades who were present during the action. Following June 6, 1862, Conrad kept Wyndham’s sword throughout the rest of his life, until he died in 1915, the same year as Crisman.

Wyndham was paroled shortly after his capture, but he was not exchanged until mid-August. At that point he rejoined the 1st New Jersey on its way to Manassas and the Second Battle of Bull Run. Over the winter of 1862-63, Wyndham and the 1st New Jersey were stationed at Fairfax Court House, Va., where he publicly referred to Confederate partisan John S. Mosby’s men as “a pack of horse thieves.” Enraged, Mosby entered the heavily guarded town a little after 2 a.m. on March 9 to capture the colonel, but Wyndham had gone into Washington for the evening, so he was spared the humiliation of being captured for a second time. Instead, Mosby bagged the sleeping Brig. Gen. Edwin Stoughton, a number of Stoughton’s men and 58 much-needed horses.

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