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scoundrel.
His investigations into the past reveal a man — hero or scoundrel — whose life story reads like fiction.
Robert Woodford Eastham was bom February 28, 1842, at “Buena Vista,” just north of Massie’s Comer. He was the son of Captain Benjamin Franklin Eastham and Lucy Eliza Browning Eastham. This couple had 11 children — three girls and eight boys — among whom Robert Woodford was the first bom.
The nickname Bob Ridley was given him during the Civil War. Eastham played a fiddle to entertain his companions during his service with Mosby’s Rangers and his favorite tune was one which was popular with the troops, ending in the refrain “Bob Ridley — ay oh, ay oh; Bob Ridley - ay oh.”
“This business caused me considerable trouble later on when I wanted a birth certificate for the Navy. The certificate handed me by the charming, grey headed lady at the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Richmond showed my name as ‘Robert Ridley Eastham.’ Upon my protesting that my name was, and ever had been, Robert Woodford Eastham, the lady struck out ‘Ridley,’ substituted “Woodford” and put it through the copying machine again. Later, my mother explained as it dawned on her: she had told Dr. Browning, the attending physician at the birth, ‘Frank and I have decided to name him after Uncle Bob.’ The good physician naturally assumed that meant ‘Robert Ridley Eastham’ and so registered the name,” the present day Robert Woolford Eastham explained.
Eastham Volunteered
When President Lincoln on April 15, 1861, called for 75,000 volunteers to “suppress rebellion” and the Virginia Convention countered with secession on April 17, Eastham had already decided to go along. He Was mustered into Virginia’s service at Winchester and by April 19, was already enroute to Harper’s Ferry with Green’s Company to join the forces of Johnson and Jackson occupying that strategic site. Eastham was 19 at the time.
Eastham’s company was moved from Harper’s Ferry toward the Manassas area and, after the first Battle of Manassas, helped occupy Alexandria, the only time Confederate troops held the city during the Civil War.
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