Charlotte Hope: Facts and Fiction

The story of Charlotte Hope as reported is heart breaking.  She first enters the historical record when she assisted the 1st Virginia Cavalry with reconnaissance about the area surrounding her residence.  While helping guide the troopers, she met and fell in love with Billy Wilds.  However, the budding romance came to a tragic end when the young lieutenant was killed during a raid.  The distraught Charlotte sought to avenge his death by sending 21 Yankees into eternity, one for each year of her beloved's life.  In order to accomplish this gory goal, Charlotte Hope assumed the alias, "Charlie Hopper," and joined the regiment. It is reported that the captain, Charles Irving, was aware of her true identity as well as her mission, and looked after her.  Despite his attempts to protect the young girl, however, Hope ultimately suffered the same fate as her love when she, too, was killed.


Charlotte's tale appears in George Eggleston's Southern Soldier Stories from 1898 (p. 97-103).   Some of it is true while other details are not.  First of all, Captain Charles Irving was indeed an officer.  Specifically, he served as the captain of Company G of the 1st Virginia Cavalry, the same company as Eggleston.   However, I could not find Hope's fiance, Lieutenant Billy Wilds, listed on the roster.  But there was a William Wiley in Company G.  Billy is a nickname for William, and Wilds was probably the same for Wiley, so this is undoubtedly the Billy Wilds to whom Eggleston referred.  But Wiley was a corporal at the time of the incident - later promoted to sergeant - and survived the war.  "Charlie Hopper" does not appear either, but that is more than likely because, as the story claims, Hope never formally enlisted since she stated she did not want to be paid for the work she set out to do.

Eggleston previously mentioned Hope in A Rebel's Recollections, which appeared in 1874, two decades prior to the publication of Southern Soldier Stories.  Even though he never recorded her name in this earlier account, it is apparent that he is talking about Charlotte Hope.  On page 73, he describes her as a young girl not more than sixteen who acted as a guide to a scouting expedition early in the war.  At one point when Eggleston and his comrades began taking fire, they urged Hope to the rear for safety.  She declined because she believed a charge was about to take place and that she "wanted to see the fun." 

Charlotte Hope existed.  I found her in Loudon County.   She was listed as 14 years old in 1860.
 

 
The story of her death is incorrect because I found her in Loudon County in the 1870 census, unmarried at the age of 25 and living at home along with her parents and siblings.

Ultimately, Charlotte Hope married Charles Edgar Fulton on December 2nd, 1873, at the age of 27.  She died in 1914 and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Hamilton, Virginia.

Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

Therefore, Eggleston's first account of her being a scout must be the correct version.  He then took this story and applied a few dramatic details for the second version.  At the very least, we can say she was a scout or a guide and that she survived the war. But she was not a soldier.

Until next formation.....rest.