Saturday, November 22, 2003, SANDY HOOK, KY. -- Members of the Colonel Ben E. Caudill Camp participated in a major milestone in the history of our organization with the setting and dedication of our 600th Confederate military marker. The stone and ceremony honored Captain "Devil Joe" Adkins, Company B, 5th KY. Infantry. A good size crowd of camp members, family members and researchers met Saturday afternoon at 1:30 in Sandy Hook, Kentucky and then caravaned from Rt. 32 up Howards Creek to the foot of a mountain. From there the stone and tools were placed on a 4-Wheeler while the participants climbed a steep heavily wooded mountainside to reach the Adkins Cemetery. This event was the culmination of many years of diligent research that went into finding the Captain's "lost" gravesite.

Originally a resident of Morgan County, Joseph D. Adkins was born in 1829, married twice, and enlisted in the Confederate Army on October 21, 1861 at West Liberty, Kentucky as a 2nd Lieutenant. By July of 1862 he had been promoted to Captain of Company B and he remained in service through the reorganization of the original 5th Kentucky. He was captured in Morgan County on August 18, 1863 and taken to McLean Barracks in Cincinnati, Ohio. He served later in the war with an independent partisan ranger group in what is now Elliott County. A few months after the war, in October of 1865, Captain "Devil Joe" Adkins was killed in a street brawl by another ex-Confederate Ned Perry. The encounter took place in front of the Kendall Hotel on Main Street in West Liberty. Captain Adkins chose a rock as his weapon, Perry chose a pistol. His body was taken from West Liberty to his home on Howards Creek and he was laid to rest in the Adkins Cemetery.

James Prichard with the Kentucky State Archives traveled from his home in Louisville to be with us and shared some very interesting stories about the life of Captain Adkins. "Devil Joe" has long been a favorite study for Prichard and he was excited about this special ceremony to honor the Captain's memory. Harold and Henrietta McKinney of Morgan County were also on hand having played a major role in the research that resulted in finding the grave. The Caudill Camp would like to especially thank Henrietta McKinney and Jim Prichard for their outstanding work in this matter.

There's a lot of water under the bridge for our camp with the marking of the 600th Confederate soldier but we are already focused and working daily on our work ahead. We look forward to continuing the research in an effort to preserve the history of our Confederate ancestors from Eastern Kentucky.