Southeast
How humanity triumphed over an actual lottery of death during the Civil War
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In the fall of 1864, both Union and Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley found themselves trapped in a cycle of violence and retribution deaths. The Civil War is filled with nuance, tragedy and unexpected sacrifice and triumphs of the human spirit. Two such events helped end this no-win bloody cycle.
In the middle of October 1864, a Union soldier fitted a leather strap around the neck of former Baptist divinity student Private Albert Gallatin Willis. The 20-year-old Confederate, a member of Mosby’s Rangers, courageously prayed as he faced his executioners during his final seconds left on earth.
As a member of Company C of the 43rd Battalion or Mosby’s Rangers, Willis survived multiple skirmishes and harrowing narrow escapes. He was granted a furlough and traveling south toward his home in Culpeper, Virginia, with another Ranger when his horse went lame outside a patchwork of houses in present-day Ben Venue.
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A local blacksmith’s hammer and anvil masked the clatter of approaching Union cavalry as they bore down on the two unsuspecting Confederates. Overwhelmed by numbers, the rebels surrendered without a fight and were taken to Colonel William Henry Powell’s headquarters. Powell ordered that one of the two men be executed in retaliation for a Union soldier who was executed days earlier.
Sergeant William T. Biedler, 16 years old, of Company C, Mosby’s Virginia Cavalry Regiment with flintlock musket.
The largely unknown story of Willis, along with the stories of the Confederate Secret Service and the Union Scouts that inspired the creation of America’s special forces, is explored in my forthcoming book, “The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations.”
After Powell discovered Willis’ religious background, he told the young Ranger he could claim an exemption as a chaplain, but the private refused. Powell then ordered the two prisoners to draw straws to determine which would be hanged.
Willis’ companion drew the shorter straw and burst into tears. “I have a wife and children, I am not a Christian and am afraid to die,” the unlucky man pleaded. Willis replied, “I have no family, I am a Christian, and not afraid to die.”
Unfortunately, Willis would not be the last man executed. A deadly series of slayings and retribution followed in his wake.
Bestselling author Patrick K. O’Donnell’s forthcoming book on the Civil War is titled: “The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations.”
Col. John S. Mosby informed Confederate General Robert E. Lee of the Union executions and wrote, “It is my purpose to hang an equal number of [General George Armstrong] Custer’s men whenever I capture them.” Lee concurred with Mosby’s approach to halt the violence.
So, on November 4, outside a train depot where 27 Union prisoners were held captive, Mosby planned to carry out Lee’s orders. Each man pulled a scrap of white paper from a hat. Twenty blanks. Seven marked. The unlucky seven would be executed.
Several of the men prayed aloud. Each gingerly plucked a slip of paper. Some exhaled sighs of relief. Others exclaimed, “Oh God, spare me!” A hysterical drummer boy extracted a blank slip to his great relief. The second drummer boy was not so lucky.
Mosby, hearing that the young boy was among the condemned, ordered his immediate release. The remaining 19 men who thought they had cheated death (the other drummer boy was excluded as well) drew lots again until one selected the mark.
The old train depot where the Union prisoners were held by Col. John S. Mosby’s Confederate troops. Graffiti by the prisoners can still be seen on the structure’s walls. (Patrick K. O’Donnell)
Soberly, the Confederates bound the condemned men and mounted them on horses and rode toward the Shenandoah Valley where Mosby had ordered four men to be shot and three hanged.
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Not all went according to plan, however. When one of the prisoners was granted time to pray, he managed to free his hands while kneeling down. He jumped to his feet, punched the nearest Ranger in the face, and escaped into the woods.
The surprised Confederates fired at the remaining prisoners. A misfire allowed a second man to escape. The Confederates hanged the remaining three prisoners, adorning one with a note that read, “These men have been hung in retaliation for an equal number of Colonel Mosby’s men hung by the order of General Custer, at Front Royal. Measure for measure.”
So, on November 4, outside a train depot where 27 Union prisoners were held captive, Mosby planned to carry out Lee’s orders. Each man pulled a scrap of white paper from a hat. Twenty blanks. Seven marked. The unlucky seven would be executed.
When Mosby’s men returned and explained what happened, instead of executing more men, the Gray Ghost, as Mosby was known, sent a Ranger to Winchester under a white flag with a letter for Union Gen. Philip Sheridan.
In the letter, Mosby detailed the situation, including that he captured over 700 prisoners and sent them to Richmond. He further promised, “Hereafter any prisoners falling into my hands will be treated with the kindness due to their condition, unless some new act of barbarity shall compel me reluctantly to adopt a course of policy repulsive to humanity.”
One of his Rangers returned with a letter from Sheridan. Neither man ever discussed the contents of the letter, but the reprisal killings halted.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM PATRICK K. O’DONNELL
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Southeast
GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’
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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced a bill to authorize the death penalty as a potential punishment for the sexual abuse of children.
“We have zero mercy for child rapists. Those who prey on our most vulnerable deserve the harshest consequence we can deliver,” Mace said in a statement.
The proposal is aptly called the “Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announces she will run for South Carolina governor during a press conference at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Aug. 4, 2025. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“No predator should be allowed to walk away from the most unthinkable crimes against children,” Mace noted.
“This bill is simple. Rape a child and you don’t get a second chance, you get the death penalty. We will never apologize for protecting America’s children,” Mace added.
The bill would put capital punishment on the table as an option to punish those who sexually abuse children.
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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., attends the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“INTRODUCING: The Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act to amend Title 18 to authorize the death penalty for aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual contact offenses against children. It will also amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to authorize the death penalty for the rape of a child,” she said in a post on X.
“We’ve spent months fighting to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s network of powerful predators. We’ve demanded accountability and pushed for transparency. Now we’re making sure anyone who rapes a child faces the ultimate consequence,” she noted.
Mace has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021.
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She is one of the candidates currently running in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary.
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Southeast
Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay
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The Virginia State Senate and its Democratic majority may have voted to nearly triple their pay if a provision inserted into their final budget survives the House reconciliation process and reaches Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.
The development comes as Spanberger has centered her campaign on “affordability,” with Richmond Democrats echoing that they are working to improve their constituents’ personal finances.
Virginia’s legislature itself was founded as a part-time, gentleman’s chamber, where lawmakers would return to their day jobs when Richmond wasn’t holding session.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs executive orders. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Proponents of raising the current 1988-established salary of $18,000 for senators and $17,640 for delegates say the structure restricts who can afford to serve as a lawmaker today. Lawmakers also qualify for a $237 per diem, mileage reimbursements, and coverage of office, meeting and other expenses.
Senators’ new salary would be $50,000.
Republicans were quick to criticize the final budget, with the Virginia Senate Minority Caucus saying in a statement that “teachers got a 3% raise, but Democrats give themselves 300%.” The actual increase would be closer to 178%, though one could say the new salary would be 300% of the original.
“The affordability hoax just gets worse and worse,” the caucus said, adding that the chamber’s majority killed a repeal of the car tax — something GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Sears ran on — while increasing the state budget by $1 billion overall.
Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, told WVTF it is the “wrong time” to address lawmaker pay.
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“It’s supposed to be affordability for working families across Virginia, not members of the General Assembly,” he said.
Virginia’s legislature — the oldest continuous legislative body in the New World — has been making laws since its inception as the House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, where Spanberger gave the Democratic Party’s State of the Union response.
In her speech, she claimed President Donald Trump is the one “enriching himself, his family and his friends” and said Republicans are the ones “making your life more expensive.”
“I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere: costs are too high. In housing, healthcare, energy, and childcare,” she said.
“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”
“Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability — in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” Spanberger said Tuesday.
The pay raise could be moot if the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates does not amend its own budget proposal to include the provision.
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The House’s budget includes $137 million for expanded childcare access, a minimum wage increase to $13.75 in 2027 and $15 in 2029, and a $20 million appropriation for state employees’ and home health care workers’ collective bargaining, according to Washington’s ABC affiliate.
Fox News Digital reached out to the governor, as well as the House and Senate minority leaders, for further comment.
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Southeast
Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges
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A Virginia murder suspect accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a bus stop earlier this week has a lengthy criminal history filled with multiple arrests, but was let back onto the streets nearly every time.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is charged with the Monday night killing of Stephanie Minter, 41, of Fredericksburg, at a bus stop shelter, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
Minter was found by officers with stab wounds to her upper body and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop. (Fairfax County Police Department; provided)
Jalloh, 32, who was seen on surveillance cameras exiting the bus with Minter at Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive, was arrested the next day.
He was arrested at a liquor store after an employee called 911. At the time, officers arrested him for allegedly shoplifting. Investigators linked him to the murder a day later.
Authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the killing and what led to the deadly stabbing.
A search of online court records revealed Jalloh has more than a dozen arrests in northern Virginia, including on charges of petty larceny and malicious wounding.
In most of the cases, prosecutors dropped the charges, FOX D.C. reported.
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Abdul Jalloh seen on a bus in Virginia. (Fairfax County Police Department)
Laura Birnbaum, the chief of staff for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, said Jalloh was known to the district attorney’s office and was “acutely aware of the risk he posed to the community.”
“That is why we convicted the defendant of a 2023 malicious wounding charge, and have since made every effort to hold him accountable each subsequent time that he has come in contact with the criminal justice system, including asking him to be held in custody whenever possible,” Birnbaum said.
“Unfortunately, the defendant in this case also had a history of selecting victims with no fixed address – some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” she added. “In multiple cases, we were unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted.”
Stephanie Minter, 41, was killed on Monday after getting off of a bus in Virginia. (Provided)
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An obituary for Minter described her as a “happy, jolly” person.
“A beam of light in dark places,” the obituary states.
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