USA > Virginia > Orange County > Orange County > A History of Orange County, Virginia > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16
My hope and purpose have been to create a fund by the aid of the charitable equal to the establishment of a manual labor school, where the indigent might be so instructed as to become useful citizens, and especially where teachers might be reared-a good supply of which to operate through the State in an object of great importance.
I43
CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
In this letter is to be found the first appeal in Virginia, so much heard in recent years, for industrial and nor- mal schools which, at last, are becoming parts of our educational system.
It seems the irony of fate that this fund, earned in the sweat of his face by a man imported here as an inden- tured servant who could neither read nor write, and by him dedicated to the education of children as indigent as he had been, should have so dwindled that there is hardly a benefictary of it in the County to-day; and that probably there is not a score of people now living who ever heard of William Monroe, the philanthropist, whose obscure grave in Greene County lies in flagrant neglect.
For the benefit of the Boards of Supervisors of the two counties, the recipients of his bounty, and espec- ially of their county school boards, it is here stated with confidence that his grave is on the Chapman farm, "on a hill overlooking the river;" that Colonel Brad- ford of Orange can still point it out, if, as in duty bound, they wish to mark the spot, and so commemorate the first philanthropist of this section of the State.
CHAPTER XVII.
From 1848 to 1861.
In preceding chapters there have been no head- line dates, because a system of grouping facts has been followed, not a narration of them in regular sequence.
The War of 1812, for instance, and the Mexican War, have not even been mentioned, for the reason that the County records disclose nothing of interest about either. Indeed neither the County nor any of its citizens, with a few exceptions, bore any conspicuous part in either of these wars, and the meagre facts that can be collected about the War of 1812 (for there seem to be none about the War with Mexico) will be narrated in an appendix.
In 1848 the War with Mexico has just been ended in triumph, and one of its chief heroes, Gen. Zachary Taylor, a son of the County, elected President of the United States.
Everything appears to be serene and matter-of-fact at this period. The industrial and public improve- ment age has begun. In 1850 a vote of the freeholders is ordered on the question of a subscription of $10,000, to the projected Fredericksburg and Valley Plank Road, which was carried by a handsome majority. It was a great road while it lasted, and Gen. William
I44
PLEASANT VIEW
Page 210
I45
FROM 1848 TO 1861
Mahone, if for no other reason, ought to be remembered with gratitude for his fine engineering work on this highway. Yet as early as 1859 the directorate turned over the roadbed to the County, "on condition that it shall be kept open as a public highway." The court accepted it on those terms, but the condition has not been faithfully fulfilled.
In 1851 a section of the Blue Ridge Turnpike was opened to travel, and a right of way across the public lot was granted to the Orange and Alexandria Rail- road Company (now the Southern) on condition that it keep the public buildings insured against fire.
The public buildings were removed higher up the street some years later, but, though still enjoying the right of way, the company does not keep up the insur- ance.
At this period was held the great "Reform Conven- tion" to revise the State Constitution; framed by the world-famous Convention of 1829-30, which was utterly cast aside, except that George Mason's Bill of Rights was retained almost word for word. White male suffrage became universal, and every office from constable to judge of the supreme court of appeals, was made elective by the people. Dire things were prophesied of it by the traditionally conservative, but so long as it lasted, practically only to the outbreak of the war, it gave great satisfaction, and the judges elected under its provisions conformed to the highest judicial standards of former and subsequent periods.
The whole State became a storm centre of politics about this time, and the "Know Nothing Party" was
I46
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
launched. It received its definite quietus in 1855, when Henry A. Wise, its leading antagonist, was elected governor.
In 1850 a ten-mile section of the Rockingham Turn- pike was opened to travel, and since its completion no macadamized or other improved public highway has been built in the County, except the short reaches at the County seat.
In 1857 the present courthouse was ordered, with permission to the Masons to add a third story for use as a lodge, they to pay one third of the insurance on the building. The Masons did not accept. The court held its first session in the new building in July, 1859.
In 1859 occured the invasion of the State, and the attempt to incite the negroes to armed insurrection, known as the "John Brown Raid." It occasioned wild excitement, and a good deal of local apprehen- sion, and was, indeed, the alarum gun of the war that so soon followed.
The "Montpelier Guards," a fine volunteer company at and about Orange Courthouse, commanded by Capt. Lewis B. Williams, Jr., was promptly ordered to repair to Charlestown, where they remained till Brown and such of his accomplices as had been caught were hanged.
A roster of the company, as then constituted, believed to be complete, is printed in an appendix.
One of the immediate results of this raid was the organization and equipment of many volunteer com- panies throughout the State. Two, the "Gordons- ville Greys," Capt. William C. Scott, and the "Bar-
147
FROM 1848 TO 1861
boursville Guard," Capt. W. S. Parran, were organized in Orange, received arms and equipments, were uni- formed, and began regular drills in preparation for the direful conflict which everybody felt was coming, indeed was almost come.
And here, it may be said, ends the history of the Orange of the old régime-a régime which all who can recall it will delight to cherish in their memories, and the like of which no one may hope to look upon again.
But relentless time goes on, and with it the history of the people that made noble sacrifice, suffered and endured; and who, like the brave yeomen of their motherland, never lost "the mettle of their pastures!"
CHAPTER XVIII.
The War Period.
It is not within the scope of this book to treat of the war period, except in the most cursory way, narrating briefly what relates particularly to the County, and more shall not be attempted; but a résumé of local happenings ought to be recorded, with such impar- tiality as a participant in the struggle may command.
In the presidential election of 1860 the vote in Orange was as follows: for Bell and Everett, the pro- nounced Union ticket, 427; for Breckenridge and Lane, the States Rights ticket, 475; for Douglas and Johnson, also a pronounced Union ticket, 12; for Lincoln and Hamlin, o. Thus in a total vote of 914, there was only a States Rights majority of 48, and ad- ding the Douglas vote to Bell's, a majority of only 36; so it will be seen that love for the "Union" was still strong in the County.
After the election of Lincoln, which was followed so soon by the secession of South Carolina and other Southern States, the Secessionists of the County grew bolder and more aggressive, and when the State con- vention was called to determine the course of Virginia, party feeling became very tense. Rosettes of blue ribbon, called "cockades," appeared everywhere, even
148
149
THE WAR PERIOD
at the churches. Men, boys, and even girls, wore them. The Unionists were less demonstrative, but no less resolute. Candidates to represent the County in the convention were numerous and eager. Col. John Willis, Major John H. Lee, Hon. Jeremiah Morton, and perhaps others, aspired to represent the Seces- sionists. The contest finally narrowed to Mr. Morton, on that side, and Mr. Lewis B. Williams, the elder, who had then been the attorney for the commonwealth for thirty years, for the Unionists. The exact figures are unattainable, but Mr. Morton was elected by a good majoirty.
The convention assembled at Richmond in February, 1861. But there was no secession; the Union party was in control. It is likely there would have been none but for the attempted reinforcement of Fort Sumter by the administration, while peace loving people were yet endeavoring to avert disunion and war.
Another shot was "heard 'round the world," when Sumter was fired on, and the echoes of it have hardly yet ceased to reverberate. At once there were no "Unionists" in Orange; certainly none that disclosed themselves until after the war had ended disastrously, and an office was in sight.
All the people seemed of one mind, and on the night of April 17th the three volunteer companies of the County, with many fresh recruits, hastily assembled, and under orders from Governor Letcher, proceeded to Harpers Ferry and took possession of the national arsenal there, which had been partially burned before their arrival; and war was on.
150
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
The Monday following was regular court day, and a vast concourse attended. On that day, Col. Robert E. Lee passed through Orange on his way to Rich- mond, in response to an invitation from the conven- tion. After long and irrepressible calls from the throng at the depot, which even threatened to block the train, he appeared on the rear platform and bowed acknowledgments. Erect, without a strand of grey in his hair or moustache, and he then wore no beard, he appeared every inch a man and a soldier. The people went wild with enthusiasm at his martial appearance: he bowed, but said not a word.
Orange looked upon him many times afterwards; grown grey, indeed, but never bent. No doubt the Daughters of the Confederacy will some day mark with appropriate tablets the several places in the County still remembered as Lee's and Jackson's "Head- quarters."
Soon after court was opened, Mr. B. Johnson Bar- bour, the only surviving son of Gov. James Barbour, arose, and in a rather faltering but incisive voice ad- dressed the Bench, saying in substance that it was known of all men how he had striven to save the Union of the fathers and to avert the dread calamity of war, but now that Mr. Lincoln, like another Appius Claud- ius, had cast his lustful eyes upon the fair Virginia, and had called for volunteers to invade the South, there was nothing for patriots to do but to prepare to meet the invaders. He suggested that a subscription for defense be made, and himself pledged a liberal sum .*
*This is not stated as matter of record. The writer was present and heard the remarks, and he especially remembers the apt classical allusion. Mr. Barbour was noted for such allusions. The immediate order of the court, and the committee as named by it, fully confirm his recollection.
15I
THE WAR PERIOD
The following order was thereupon entered: "The Court of this County, at the suggestion of some of the citizens, being of the opinion that, for the defense of our County and State, funds should be raised to an amount not exceeding $4,000, and that such action is approved and desired by the people of the whole County, do appoint Benjamin J. Barbour, Ferdinand Jones, and Philip B. Jones a committee to borrow a sum or sums of money not exceeding $4,000 in the aggregate, from time to time as may be required in the opinion of the committee, to be applied by them as necessity may require; and the court pledge them- selves to levy on the land and slaves such amount of money as may be necessary from time to time, to pay the said sums of money so borrowed in installments of one and two years, with all interest that may accrue thereon." It also authorized H. T. Holladay to em- ploy four or six discreet persons to guard the rail- road bridge at Rapidan.
At the May term three persons in each magisterial district were appointed to visit the families of soldiers in actual service and furnish to each all necessary meat and bread, pledging the court to levy $500, at the next term for that purpose.
July 22, the day after the first battle of Manassas, when many private houses and some hastily provided hospitals at the Courthouse were full of sick and wound- ed soldiers, the Court "requested Mr. W. M. Graham to supply them such necessaries as the physician might apply for;" and $1,000 was afterwards appropriated to pay the bill.
152
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
The former order authorizing a loan of $4,000 was changed, and the clerk was authorized to issue County bonds for $6,000, for the committee to pay debts already contracted by them, and to procure uniforms, clothing, equipments, and necessary relief to the vol- unteers and portions of the militia of the County.
In May, 1862, John L. Woolfolk was appointed a commissioner to go to the salt works and purchase 6,000 bushels of salt for the citizens.
At a special term, January, 1863, the slaveholders were required to deliver, in the ratio of their holdings, 200 able-bodied negro men to the sheriff, for work on the defences of Richmond.
The apportionment among individual owners appears at large on the order book.
April, 1863, Ferdinand Jones appointed to borrow $10,000 on the faith of the County, and pay the same to the wives of soldiers in service at the rate of eight dollars per month to each wife and four dollars per month for each child under twelve years of age.
Also an order to William Parker to distribute the county salt so that each inhabitant receive fifteen pounds; charging eight cents a pound for the first ten pounds, and ten cents a pound for the remainder.
In November the sheriff was ordered to list all indi- gent soldiers disabled or honorably discharged, and their families, and the families of those now in service, and the widows and minor children of such as are dead or may die; and to summon all the justices to the next term to make provision for the families of soldiers in service.
153
THE WAR PERIOD
At the December term Ferdinand Jones was ap- pointed agent of the County to purchase supplies for indigent families of soldiers; to furnish them with money as per the former order, or to purchase and supply to each member of a family at the rate of one- half pound of beef, or one-eighth pound of bacon, and one and a half pints of meal or its equivalent in flour, per day; and he is authorized to impress 7,000 pounds of bacon, or 20,000 pounds of beef, and 2,200 bushels of corn at prices fixed by the impressing agent of the Confederate States; and also to borrow $50,000.
May, 1864, Ordered, that it be certified to the post quartermaster for the Eighth Congressional District that there are in the County four hundred persons, members of indigent families of soldiers; that there will be necessary for their subsistence for the next six months, 10,000 pounds of bacon and 1,200 bushels of corn; and that it is impossible to procure same by purchase in the County.
The Confederacy is starving!
September, 1864, Ferdinand Jones directed to bor- row $25,000 for same purposes.
The Confederate enrolling officer having been ordered to impress one of every four able-bodied negro men to work on the fortifications at Richmond, the court makes its protest to the Secretary of War, alleging many and weighty reasons why the order should not be enforced in this County.
This is the last war item of interest in the order books, and surely these are enough to show the devotion of the people to their cause. Battle and murder and sudden death had become their daily bread.
I54
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
They had borne all things, endured all things, believed all things, hoped all things; they had seen things in a mirror darkly, and now were to behold them face to face.
And so ensued Appomattox and the end!
A volume might be written, interesting and inspir- ing, about Orange soldiers and their valiant conduct in the field from 1861 to 1865, but this must be left in the main to military annalists.
There were three companies from the County in the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry, commanded first by A. P. Hill, who was killed at Petersburg in 1865, having attained the rank of lieutenant-general; secondly by James A. Walker, who later commanded the Stonewall Brigade, became a brigadier-general, and after the war, was lieutenant-governor of the State, and for several terms a member of the United States House of Repre- sentatives; thirdly by James Barbour Terrell, of Bath County, whose father was a native of Orange, and who was killed at second Cold Harborin 1864, his commission as brigadier general, having been signed ; a noble record for the regiment! It was next commanded by Col. G. A. Goodman, of Louisa, who went out as a lieuten- ant in the Gordonsville Greys, and survived the war; and lastly by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles T. Crittenden, of Culpeper, who died recently at the Soldiers' Home. A roster of these companies appears elsewhere.
The regiment bore a brave part in all the great bat- tles of the Army of Northern Virginia except Gettys- burg, having been left in charge of Winchester at the time of that battle.
I55
THE WAR PERIOD
There were two companies of artillery from the County, one organized and commanded by Capt. Thomas J. Peyton, and subsequently by Capt. C. W. Fry, who was promoted to the rank of major, but whose commission, captured on the retreat to Appomattox, was never actually received.
The other company, which can not be strictly called an Orange company, was raised and commanded by Capt. William G. Crenshaw, of Hawfield.
A cavalry company, "The Orange Rangers," was enlisted by Capt. G. J. Browning.
Many Orange soldiers served in the Seventh Vir- ginia Infantry, in the Wise Artillery, and in sundry other organizations formed without the County.
The County suffered much from the ravages of the war, being practically on the border from its beginning. The Rapidan was General Lee's line of defence for many months, and his army wintered in the County in 1863-64, his headquarters being on the Rogers farm, near Nason's.
Just before and just after the battle of Slaughter's Mountain, Stonewall Jackson's headquarters were on the farm of Col. Garrett Scott; almost exactly where Rev. F. G. Scott's farm buildings now stand, and near a notable spring known locally as the "Hollow Spring."
Gen. A. P. Hill's were in the yard at "Mayhurst," the residence of Mr. William G. Crenshaw Jr., near Orange; then known as "Howard Place," and owned by Col. John Willis.
The important battles fought in the County were Mine Run, in 1863, and the Wilderness battles of 1864.
I56
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
There were also cavalry engagments, mostly skirmishes, at Rapidan, Locust Grove, Morton's Ford, New Hope Church, Orange, Liberty Mills, Zoar, Germanna and on the turnpike near Col. Alexander Cameron's, two miles northwest of Gordonsville (the nearest approach of the enemy to that town during the war); and the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry had an insignificant skir- mish with cavalry at Toddsberth in July, 1862, where they encountered a reconnoitering party which had been up the County road as high as the "Stone Bridge," about four miles northeast of Gordonsville.
The tragic story of the Magruder and the Burrus families in the war must be narrated in some detail.
For some years prior to the war, Col. James Magru- der owned and resided at "Frascati," near Somerset. He was an ardent "old line whig," and an enthusiastic lover of the Union of the States. At the outbreak of the war he had five sons of military age, and three daughters, the eldest having lately been married to Col. Edward T. H. Warren, of Harrisonburg, who afterwards became colonel of the Tenth Virginia Infan- try. His eldest son, Edward, a graduate of the Vir- ginia Military Institute, who was teaching school in Rome, Georgia, came to Virginia in command of a com- pany, and attained to the rank of colonel. He was seven times wounded during the war.
Colonel Warren, the son-in-law, was killed in battle. The second son, James Watson, lately graduated from the University, joined the Albemarle Light Horse, Second Virginia Cavalry, was chosen first lieutenant, and was killed in battle near Richmond during Sheri-
I57
THE WAR PERIOD
dan's raid. The next son, known as Hilleary, was a doctor, and received an appointment as assistant sur- geon in one of Ashby's regiments. So much beloved was he by the soldiers, that he was prevailed on to accept a captaincy of one of the companies. He was killed, leading a charge near Rochelle in Madison County, almost in sight of his home. The next son, George, and the youngest, David, were members of the Gordonsville Greys. David was the first man to be wounded in the Thirteenth Infantry ; so badly wounded at Munson's Hill, in 1861, that he was disabled for active service for the rest of the war, though he con- tinued in the army on light service, and died soon after the war from the effect of his wound. George was killed in battle, in the Valley. Five sons and a son-in- law; four killed in battle, one seven times wounded, and one disabled !
Mr, Lancelot Burrus, who lived near Pamunkey, had been high sheriff of the County, and enjoyed the respect and esteem of all who knew him. Of his six sons, five enlisted in the Montpelier Guards, the sixth later on, being under age, in the Sixth Virginia Cavalry. Their full names are written down here as a memorial of them, and the names of three of them are inscribed on the Confederate monument in the public square at Orange. Five of them, George Martin, Robert Henry, Thomas Joseph, William Tandy and Lancelot went to Harpers Ferry April 17th, 1861. At the battle of Gaines's Mill, known also as first Cold Harbor, the three first named were killed, William Tandy, slightly wounded, Lancelot wounded, his cartridge box belt
158
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
cut off, and fourteen bullet holes shot through his clothing; all this in one day and one battle!
John Herschel, the youngest brother, joined the army in 1862, and was wounded in the head, near Luray. Lancelot, was seven times wounded, and had thirty- seven bullet holes through his clothes. And Tandy was in every battle with his regiment from the begin- ning to the end of the war:
When a friend called to condole with the father of these soldiers, after the battle of Gaines's Mill, the brave old man said to him, "Ah, Mr. W --- , I wish I had a million sons, even though they all had to go the same way!"
And these are but types, remarkable though they be, of the resolute fathers and sons in Orange, "in the time of the war."
Mr. Larkin Willis, who lived not far from Germanna, had ten sons in the Confederate army at one time.
There is at Orange, though first organized at Gor- donsville, a Confederate veterans' camp, known as the "William S. Grymes Camp," and named in honor of a distinguished and much loved surgeon and county- man who served through the war.
There is also a chapter of the "Daughters of the Confederacy," named for the Thirteenth Virginia Infan- try.
An appendix gives the names of such of the Confed- erate soldiers from the County as could be obtained after much effort. It is known to be very defective; and if the names of soldiers not found therein are to be
159
THE WAR PERIOD
rescued from oblivion, it must be done by these two organizations, and done at once.
The monument on the public square at the County seat will hand down the names of those who were killed. The names of those who served and survived ought also to be preserved.
CHAPTER XIX.
Reconstruction, 1865 to 1870.
The last chapter brought the record down to Appo- mattox. It is interesting now to recall the memories of the three or four ensuing years.
The soldiers came back home, if home had been left them, and, settling down to peaceful pursuits, began their struggle with poverty. There was not seed in the County sufficient to pitch a crop, nor money wherewith to buy. So great was the rebound from the field of battle to the serenity of domestic life, that even the old veterans, their bodies racked with many wounds, set to work with their own hands and with good heart to make the best of the situation. The Freedmen's Bureau was constituted by the conquerors, and satraps with shoulder straps and brass buttons were sent to every county to look after the late slaves; the "wards of the nation" as they were then called. The negroes were organized into "Union leagues," and de- praved white men, some of them citizens, many of them a low type of northern newcomers, "scalawags" and "carpet-baggers," they were called respectively, did what they could to inflame them to tumult and riot. To the credit of the negroes be it said that many of them, notwithstanding the wiles of their charmers, accepting their freedom as a great boon, continued to
160
MAYHURST
Page 207
161
RECONSTRUCTION, 1865 TO 1870
be orderly, respectful, and industrious. There was no such "labor problem," even in those trying times as has prevailed for the past ten years.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.