“God Alone Knows Which Was Right”

According to legend, William H. Terrill had the phrase “God Alone Knows Which Was Right” inscribed on a monument to honor two of his fallen sons, generals who fought on opposite sides during the Civil War. This history uses excerpts from family letters and official military records to depict both a family and a nation divided.

Richard L. Armstrong is the past president of the Bath County Historical Society and head of the local committee for Bath County in the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. The author of seven other books on Virginia in the Civil War, he lives in Hot Springs, Virginia.

Richard L. Armstrong
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 299
Bibliographic Info: 52 photos, maps, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4622-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Introduction      1
Military Terminology      3
Operation of a Light Battery      4
Terrill Family Tree      8

I —William Henry Terrill      9
INCLUDING JEREMIAH MORTON TERRILL, SARAH JANE TERRILL MCDANNALD AND JOHN ALLEN TERRILL
II —George Parker Terrill      36
III —Emily Cornelia Clay Terrill (and George Alexander Porterfield)      47
IV —William Rufus Terrill      85
V —James Barbour Terrill      172
VI —Philip Mallory Terrill      218

Appendix I: Address at the Burial of Brig. Gen. William R. Terrill      241
Appendix II: Terrill Burial Monument Myth      245
Chapter Notes      249
Bibliography      271
Index      283

“a wonderfully rich look at a truly divided Virginia family that ended up paying a far higher price in blood than most”—Civil War Books and Authors; “wow!”—The Lone Star.