At the very earnest request of my children, I will try to write a short history of my painful experiences during the War of the States...
This is the opening excerpt of Mary Gemeny’s memoir, originally posted on gemeny.com. The full text — covering Benjamin’s capture, his imprisonment as a Union spy, and Mary’s eighteen-month campaign to free him — was transcribed from the original manuscript by Steven E. Gemeny in May 1995.
Mary wrote this account on August 14, 1913, at the age of 77. She would live to be approximately 101 years old.
The complete memoir is available as a PDF. The full text is being transcribed into this archive.
“Benjamin Gemeny, a Union sympathizer living in Confederate Virginia, was captured and imprisoned for nearly two years. His wife Mary spent eighteen months campaigning for his release.”
Benjamin and Mary Gemeny were living in Kinsale, Westmoreland County, Virginia when the Civil War erupted. Benjamin, originally from Baltimore, was known as a Union sympathizer in a region firmly under Confederate control.
The memoir recounts Mary’s attempts to reach Benjamin at the wharf as he was being taken away, blocked by Confederate militia. It details the family’s separation, the imprisonment, and Mary’s relentless efforts — writing letters, making appeals, traveling through war-torn territory — to secure Benjamin’s release.
After the war, Benjamin and Mary moved their family west to Junction City, Kansas, leaving Virginia behind.