The Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley

Colonel Alexander (Sandie) Swift Pendleton served as the Assistant Adjutant General for General Stonewall as a part of his famous staff that served him so well until Jackson's death in May, 1963.        Sandie Pendleton was born near Alexandria, Virginia on September 28, 1840. He was the only son of Confederate General William Nelson Pendleton who also servied as an Episcopal minister and Anzolette E. Page.

The Pendleton family moved to Lexington, Virginia in October 1853, where William became rector at Grace Episcopal Church. Sandie Pendleton graduated from Washington College (now Washington & Lee University) in 1857, and then enrolled at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he was pursuing a Master of Arts degree when the War Between the States began. He received a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the Provi-sional Army of Virginia and

on June 14, 1861, he reported to The Confederate Garrison at Harper's Ferry. Colonel Thomas J. Jackson then in command at Harpers Ferry, had known Pendleton from their days together in Lexington, where Jackson was a Professor at the Virginia Military Institute. Jackson asked Lt. Pendleton to join his staff as an ordnance officer, but because of his efficiency he became Jackson's Assistant Adjutant General (AAG), and the relationship between Pendleton and Jackson was a close one-- it was said that Jackson "loved him like a son." Following Jackson's death at Chancellorsville in May 1863, Pendleton remained as AAG under General Richard S. Ewell who took over Jackson's Second Corps.  When Gen. Jubal A. Early assumed command of the Second Corps Pendleton continued to serve as Early's AAG. When the Second Corps returned to the Valley in the Summer of 1864 Pendleton continued to be an important part of the staff.

Pendleton married Kate Corbin in December 1863, and the newlyweds were expecting their first child when he was mortally wounded near Fisher's Hill on September 22, 1864. He was taken to Woodstock where he died on September 23. Sandie Pendleton's body was was returned to Lexington in October for burial. Kate Corbin Pendleton gave birth to a son, Sandie, in November 1864. The child contracted diphtheria and died in September 1865.