Robert Mackey Stribling

Who is Robert Mackey Stribling?

Lt. Colonel Robert Mackey Stribling was an American soldier and politician.

Stribling was born in Markham, Virginia to his parents, Dr. Robert Mackey Stribling and Caroline Clarkson. Stribling received training as a doctor and completed medical degrees at the University of Virginia and University of Pennsylvania in 1854, and 1856, respectively, practicing medicine briefly before the outbreak of the Civil War. He was married to Mary Cary Ambler, daughter of Major Thomas Marshall Ambler and Lucy Johnston, from the neighboring estate of "Morven" in 1857. After her death in 1868, he married Agnes Harwood Douthat, daughter of Robert Douthat and Mary Ambler Marshall of "Weyanoke".

In June 1861, he joined the Confederate Army and was made Captain of the Markham Guard and subsequently the Fauquier Artillery. The artillery was more commonly known as Stribling's Battery. Stribling saw action at Antietam, Bull Run, Suffolk, and provided cover at Gettysburg during his cousin George Pickett's Charge. By the end of the war, Stribling was promoted to Lt. Colonel of the 38th Battalion.

Following the War, he returned to Markham and took over the family estate, Mountain View.