Augusta County: "Capt. George A. Schoppert.," by Unknown, August 1911
Summary: The majority of an obituary of Captain George A. Schoppert.
Capt. George A. Schoppert died at his home, in Waynesboro, Va., August 4, 1911, in his eighty-sixth year. He was born in Martinsburg, W. Va., October 27, 1825. He learned early in life a high grade of smith work in making and repairing locks, guns, etc. He served awhile as city marshal of Martinsburg, and later was employed by the United States government in the armory at Harper's Ferry, and took an active part in the John Brown affair there in 1859. In 1861 he was elected captain of a company organized at that place, and later by command of Stonewall Jackson he took charge of the arsenal in the repairing department. He served in this capacity at Winchester, Staunton, Lynchburg, Richmond, and other places in Virginia throughout the war.
Captain Schoppert was married early in life to Sarah M. Colvin, of Martinsburg, and to them were born five children, only one of whom, a daughter, is now living. She is the wife of W. A. Rife, with whom Captain Schoppert was associated in business under the firm name of Rife & Schoppert. He was a man of unusual physical strength, carrying his normal weight of two hundred and twenty pounds almost to the end, and being able to take his regular morning walks around the shops the day before his death. He was tenacious on all questions that he believed to be right. For the last twenty-five years of his life he was a strong supporter of the temperance cause, and many times stood almost alone in his community in behalf of this cause on the day of election, and to the day of his death was unflinching and uncompromising on the question.
"'How is the old captain?" no longer we hear;
It's 'Now the old captain's
gone,' by friends far and near.
Yes, gone beyond the river, there in the
gentle breeze
Resting with Jackson under the shade of the trees.
Another old veteran has answered his last roll call,
Another vacant armchair
now sits in the hall,
Another life passed as a tale that is told,
Another shadow only framed in gilt or gold."
Bibliographic Information: Source copy consulted: Confederate Veteran, Vol. 19, 1911, p. 492
