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[222] said the other day with a smile playing over his bland and goodna-tured features: ‘When we boys were not in the thick of the fight, or engaged in carrying news and scouting, we were not supine. With no Federals to shoot or watch, we would have fun over an imprompture fox chase, or take possession of some private half-mile track, and stake our best riders and swiftest horses against each other in match races. Our mounts were the best that money could buy, and as they were individual property, we had to replace them in the event of loss, which was generally done by capture from the enemy.’ The Green family furnished a generous quota to the Black Horse, and they all distinguished themselves in one way or another. All three of them had figured in the great tournaments for which that section was famous in ante-bellum days, and when called upon to enter the lists which involved life and property, their nerve, zeal, and splendid horsemanship proved them to be not toy knights, but soldiers in the Spartan sense of the word. When General William H. Payne was promoted, he was succeeded as captain, by Lieutenant Robert Randolph, and Lieutenant A. D. Payne followed Captain Randolph, and was the last captain of the Black Horse. General Payne has frequently been offerred preferment since the war, but has turned his heart away from political life, and is content to follow the quiet pursuits of his profession. He is still in the vigor of manhood, and is the present counsel for the Richmond and Danville system of the Southern Railroad. Captain A. D. Payne, whose untimely death about two years ago, was deeply lamented in Virginia, had achieved distinction and success as a lawyer, and a brilliant tribute to his memory by the members of the Warrenton bar appears on the minutes of the court. At the close of the war, when the Black Horse disbanded at Warrenton, General Payne delivered a valedictory to the men from his saddle, which is said, by those who were present, to have been a gem of emotional eloquence.
Richmond, VA. 1896.
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