USA > Virginia > Rockbridge County > Rockbridge County > A history of Rockbridge County, Virginia > Part 16
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With one exception the principal threats to the county were from the Federal cavalry under General Averill. The first of these raids was late in August. 1863. Averill left Winchester the 5th of that month and reached Callaghan Station near Covington twenty days later, after destroying the saltpeter works along his route. Colonel W. L. Jackson had 900 men at Millboro, and intended to make a stand at Panther Gap. Two companies of cadets and one company
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A HISTORY OF ROCKERIINA COUNTY, VIRGINIA
di home guards marched to Goshen, but as Averill did not turn castward, the renforcement returned to Lexington after an absence of two days.
Early in November Averill was again at Callaghan Imboden took position a mile east of Covington, where he was joined on the morning of the 9th by Colonel Shipp with 225 cadets and one rifled gun and by Colonel Massie with 575 of the home guards. Right companies of these were mounted. Averill retired toward Huntersville, but thinking a flank movement was the real purpose. Imboden took a diagonal course and marched to Goshen. He thus saved the six or eight very necessary blast furnaces. At Armentrout's, Imboden dismissed the cadets and the guards.
Only one month later there was a third and more serious raid. With both cavalry and artillery, Averill was once more at Callaghan, December 14th De- feated in the battle of Droop Mountain. November 6th. General John Echols had fallen back to Union, where on the night of the 14th he was joined by MeCausland from the Narrows of New River. A Federal force under Colonel Scammon had occupied Lewisburg. But Averill found Jackson's River unford- able. General Fitzhugh Lee with two of his brigades advanced from Char- lottesville to cover Staunton, and was joined by Imboden on Shenandoah Moun- tain. General Early came also to Staunton and took command Averill was at Sweet Springs on the 15th. By marching eighty miles in thirty hours, he struck the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad at Salem and did great damage Meanwhile, 1 e was ordered in pursuit. Colonel Jackson was directed to take position at Chiton Forge, and Echols on Sweet Springs Mountain Again Shipp and Massie marched with the cadets and the home guards. The latter reached Goshen on the 17th, but was ordered to countermarch in haste and guard the bridges over the Buffalo. By noon on the next day he was joined at Lexington by Lee with 2,700 men, and by Imboden. The combined force advanced to Collierstown and camped Averill circulated the report that he would return by way of Buchanan and Lee was ordered to that town. But Averill moved to Newcastle, which he reached on sunset of the 18th. He was told that Lee was at Fincastle and Jones between him and Sweet Springs. By great nimbleness of movement, and with the help of a doctor whose knowledge of the mountain roads proved ex- cecchingh inconvenient to the pursuers, Averill slipped between the Confederate commande and escaped by way of Covington These operations covered one week, which was a time of cold rains and swollen rivers, and consequenty of rent bard hip to all the soldiers concerned
During the wirter of 1863 64. the Laurel Brigade of General Rosser was quartered at Buffalo Forge It broke camp April 11th.
Pary m May, 1864, General Crook was formed by Averill at Union General Jenkins was defe ted by him at Cloud Mountain and at New River Bridge, where
JACK . IF
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BRONZE STATUE OF STONEWALL JACKSON IN LEXINGTON CEMETERY
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THE WAR OF 1861
the railroad to Tennessee was again damaged. Crook then marched to Staunton by way of Greenbrier.
General Sigel, who commanded the Federals at New Market, was of German birth, and his record as a military leader is indifferent. He was superseded by General David Hunter, who won a victory at Piedmont, June 5th, where General W. E. Jones, the Confederate leader, was killed. Two days later Hunter occupied Staunton without opposition, the Confederates falling back to Rockfish Gap to protect Charlottesville. The railroad for three miles on each side of Staunton was destroyed. The next day he was joined by Crook and Averill, who struck the Virginia Central at Goshen and wrecked it as they came along. June 10th Hunter began his advance to Lexington in four parallel columns, and reached the Rockbridge line by nightfall. Soon after noon the next day he had come to North River, the 1,400 cavalry under McCausland being too light a force to hinder his progress in any marked degree. The Confederates fell back through Lexington, leaving the bridge over North River in flames. The black- ened timbers were falling into the current as the Federals came up. Their passage was disputed by some artillery and by sharpshooters on the bluff at the Institute and in storehouses near the river. In his report Hunter calls McCaus- land unsoldierly in risking the destruction of the town by a superior force. He had thirty guns, some of which unlimbered on high ground and dropped a few shells around the Institute and into the lower course of Main Street. But the skirmish at the river was a small incident, the Federals losing only four men. A pontoon was thrown across below the road, and before the close of the day the town was in their possession. Two of their officers, Colonel Hayes and Major Mckinley, were subsequently presidents of the United States. The retreat of McCausland was hastened by Averill, who crossed the river eight miles above the town.
The next morning witnessed the most regrettable incidents of the raid. General Hunter was a stern soldier, harsh toward a foe, and had an almost irresistible propensity to burn private as well as public buildings. Soldiers are quick to take their cue from their commander-in-chief, and the rudeness shown by many of Hunter's men was largely a reflection of the vindictiveness for which the general was well known.
On this day, and not so soon as Hunter had intended it, the Virginia Mili- tary Institute and the house of Governor Letcher were burned. The cadets had been sent against the Federal forces whenever opportunity presented itself. Under the generally accepted usages of the civilized nations of 1864, it was per- missible to render the buildings unserviceable to them in a military sense. But this school is and always has been fundamentally scientific, the military feature being as incidental as it is in many of the colleges and academies of the present
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A HISTORY OF RIK KERIM.I. COUNTY, VIRGINIA
day. That the burning of the recitation rooms, the hbrary, and the scientific apparatus was unwarrantable was officially admitted by the National government subsequently paying the Institute $100,000, which, however, was less than one- half the estimated damages. Nevertheless, Hunter made an almost clean sweep. sparing only the house of the superintendent, where two sick girls were lying Hunter intended to burn Washington College also, but finally yielded to the representations of one of the oldest of the alumni. Nevertheless the buildings were plundered and damaged, especially with respect to the library and the laboratory equipment, but restitution was made in 1887 to the extent of $17,000.
The burning of the fine residence of John Letcher was a wanton act. Hunter alleges that it was done by way of reprisal, and because of an "inflammatory proclamation" urging the people of Rockbridge to turn themselves into bush- whackers. But Letcher was no longer governor of Virginia. Ilis appeal was that of a private citizen. We have not seen the document, but we feel assured that it did not sanction any form of resistance not generally recognized as legitimate. Mr. Letcher could not have been so unwise and shortsighted as to advise a course of action that would cause needless suffering to his people. General Hunter made the most of some very poor excuses, and his incendiarism was against the express instructions of President Lincoln It was discounten- anced by many of his own officers, so far they could do so without exposing them- selves to a charge of insubordination.
Hunter's army remained in Lexington until about daybreak on the morning of June 14th. It made beefsteak of the cows in and around the town, and developed an extraordinary appetite for the acres of onions planted for the Confederate soldiery. The cadets, about 250 strong, had marched to Balcony Falls to assist in holding that pass. The Federal army pushed on to Buchanan. on its way to Lynchburg, in an attempt to capture that important place. In its march through the rural districts it caused much uneasiness, but we are told that the behavior of the soldiers was better than in Lexington Hunter burned about a half-dozen each of furnaces and canal barges, and carried away a few prisoners, five guns, some ammunition, and the statue of Washington that was on the college tower. Whether the bell of the Institute was carried away or was buried in the debris of the ruins we are not informed. By the standards of 1861-6%, the treatment of Lexington by Hunter was severe Yet it was not a circumstance to what would have been its fate had it been entered by a German army of the present war. The town would have been burned to the ground after the residences had been footed; scores of the inhabitants, without di tinction of age or sex, would have been maimed or massacred: the able- textiel mates would have been carried away into virtual slavery, and many of the females would have been carried away for a purpose not necessary to particularize.
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THE WAR OF 1861
In the brief interval between the firing on Sumter and the first passage at arms in Virginia, the Gazette took occasion to deprecate "the tarring, etc., of those voters who are against the ordinance of secession, as subversive of law and order. If a free citizen is not to be allowed to exercise his free will in casting his vote, then the submission of the question is mere mockery. Many of our best citizens still believe the border states have not adopted the best method of redressing their grievances. Whilst they cannot conscientiously change their opinion, toss up their caps and huzza for secession, they are ready to defend Virginia with the last drop of their blood. We are personally acquainted with the sentiments of some sterling men, whom we have heard assailed as abolitionists by flippant coxcombs and silly misses."
At the close of 1864 the War Department of the Confederacy estimated that there were 50.000 deserters from its armies in the mountain districts of the South. Some of these were in this county. In August, 1863, Lieutenant Wise was sent out with fifty of the cadets to scour the hills, but returned the next day without meeting any success whatever. The mountain paths were far more un- familiar to them than to the refugees.
More than one-seventh of the white population of Rockbridge was absent in the Confederate army, and as the greater portion of the farmers were not slave- holders, there was a distressing shortage of labor. The hardships which the people at home were called upon to undergo were very great. Fencing was burned for campfires, and fields thus became commons. There was a progressive deterioriation of the roads. Many of the people became very poorly clad, even after bedding had been made into wearing apparel. Maple sirup and sorghum sirup took the place of sugar. Many a meal consisted only of corn bread, roasted potatoes, and rye coffee, and even then there was a scarcity of corn. Foodstuffs were hidden to escape the thief as well as the impressing agent. and it was very unsafe to tell where such articles were concealed. The informant was some- times put out of the way. Deserters and slackers were tolerated because of the fear that they would burn the home of the one who would tell about them. As for the hungry soldier, he was much the same, whether Federal or Confederate.
As early as August, 1862, the depreciation in the paper currency was causing prices to soar. But in the summer of 1864, a yard of linsey sold at $25 00, and other articles in proportion. Postage was five cents for a less distance than 500 miles, and ten cents for a greater distance. However, depreciation was not the only trouble with the prices. Governor Letcher's message of September 25, 1862, contains this vigorous denunciation of the profiteer :
A reckless spirit for money-making appears to have taken entire possession of the public mind. Patriotism is second to a love of the Almighty Dollar. The price of every- thing is put to the highest point. What must be the feelings of a man who is fighting the
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A HISTORY OF ROCKARINGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
battles of the country, when he is receiving hun $1 00 per month, is informed that a pair of ladies' shoes costs $1600, with everything else in proportion? With what heart can he fight our battles under such circumstances ?
There were other complaints of extortion. AA local paper said Rockbridge was overrun with speculators and hucksters, who were stripping the country of almost everything necessary to human existence. Provisions of any kind could hardly be bad for love or money. Thousands of barrels of flour, pur- chased at $15.00, were stored at Lynchburg and Richmond for sale at $30 00
After four years of progressive privation, the return of peace was a relief A meeting held at Staunton, May 8, 1865, declared the people of Augusta county ready to conform to the laws of the United States. Even before Appomattox. one of the men representing Virginia in the Confederate Senate had expressed himself in favor of a reunion of the states. Wreck and ruin were visible in every direction, and it was a large task to remove the signs. Yet such was the energy and the recuperative power of the Rockbridge people that the process of restoration was rapid, and in five years it was fairly complete. In commerce the recovery was faster than in farming. But during the twelve months fol- lowing the surrender of General Lee, little money was to be seen except specie, and there was a tendency to hold coin in reserve
In the first years of the war the rich could purchase exemption for their own sons, and it was due to this discrimination that even set the war is sometimes referred to as "the rich man's war and the poor man's fight." But substitution was at length abolished. The outcome of the great conflict put the aristocrat on his mettle and he went to work.
If 1870 found economic recovery measurably complete in Rockbridge, it also marked the end for Virginia of that unsavory episode in American history known as the Reconstruction Period. In 1868 Virginia was Military District Number One, and it was not able to take part in the general election of that year_ A few months later the carpet-bag regime was overthrown, and in January, 1870, the state was again a member of the Federal Union.
To give a further insight into the events of the four years of war, we devote the remainder of this chapter to extract from the county order-books and the newspaper files
1.XTRACTS FROM THE ORDER BOOKS
1861
All justice present, May 9th, Je consider the subject of aring the militia, according to the Act of January 19th. The following orders were issued
An site of counts band to the amount of not more than $25,000, and m sums of not less than Sium The tends to be registered and numbered, signed by the presiding ju lee and countergigred Is the dark, and made pasable to the treasurer. Interest pasable semi- annually
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THE WAR OF 1861
William Dold, Joseph G. Steele, and John D. Paxton constituted a committee to carry the above order into effect, and to deposit the money thus realized with the Bank of Lex- ington.
Whenever the colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and first major-or any two of them-of either militia regiment shall certify that at least sixty efficient men are organized into a volunteer company, and that the assistance of the county is needed to equip the company, a warrant to that effect is to be issued, but not for more than $25.00 per soldier.
The commissioners shall provide quarters and subsistance while such companies are drilling, such expense not to exceed $20.00 per soldier ; likewise subsistance, and transporta- tion to rendezvous if ordered into service.
The justices of the several districts-or any two of them-may ascertain the wants of the families of men who are in service, and see that requisite necessaries are supplied, and make report monthly. The sum to be thus used is not to exceed $5,000.
Reports to be turned in at each term of court.
The foregoing orders to be published in the Lexington Gazette and the l'alley Star.
Ordered, June 3rd, that a Home Guard be organized, the same to include all the white males able to serve and who have taken the oath of fidelity to the Commonwealth. The Guards to patrol their several neighborhoods with a view to the preservation of peace and quiet, and to be empowered to arrest and bring before a justice all persons, white or black, whom they may have reason to suspect of improper purposes, or violation of the Ordinance of Sccession.
Abraham Doubt, slave of Mrs. Hennetta Ruff, cleared of the charge of inciting servile insurrection, but not of that of making seditious speeches. Ordered that he be given thirty- nine lashes on the bare back at the whipping post.
A levy ordered of six cents per $100 on land and personalty, and eighteen cents on each slave over twelve years old, the avails to be applied to the interest on the bonds and the payment of the first instalment. Another levy, of seventy cents per $100 of land and personalty, was to pay interest on the county's subscription to the North River Navigation Company.
The road levy was fixed at $1.50 in money or two days in labor.
The July court reduced the minimum bond to $20.00.
1862
In March and April 385 men were exempted from military service because of physical disqualification. Ninety-six others were exempted as being millers, overseers, blacksmiths, etc. There were ninety-three refusals.
A bond issue of $10,000 ordered in May to relieve the families of volunteers and the militia.
Robert J. White was appointed salt agent, and was authorized to buy not more than 10,000 bushels, the faith of the county being pledged to the payment.
1863
In January there was a further issue, by a vote of eleven against ten, for the relief of soldier families. In the further distribution of relief, ordered that the weekly allowance, paid in money, be $1.25 to a wife, seventy-five cents for each girl over the age of twelve, and fifty cents for each child under twelve.
An order of $10,000 in county notes was ordered, the issue to be in the denominations of one dollar, fifty cents, twenty-five cents, fifteen cents, and ten cents.
In January there were 608 slaves in the county between the ages of eighteen and forty- five, who were liable to be drafted for work on fortifications. The apportionment was
A HISTORY OF ROCKERIINE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
to be made by a committee of justices, one from each district The slaves were to be valued. The number actually drafted was 200
In September the sheriff was to enroll all male slaves, including ringees, between the ages of eighteen and fift, tive. to fill a requisition fur work on forts. 292 were furnished. out of the 701 who were liable
1864
Substitution was abolished in January in an Act of the Confederate Congress
A S Bacon, forty Seven years of age, was appointed General Agent and Storekeeper for Rockbridge, giving had in the suis of $50,000 He was directed to borrow, on the fanh of the county, to the ar cunt of got more than $50,000 at 1 to purchase cotton yarns and cloths, and other articles of prime necessity While thus employed he was to have a salary of $200 a month, over and above his expenses, and was to make a report at each term of court. In February he asked whether, in the existing condition of the country. he should continue huis efforts He was directed to use his own di eretion.
There was a call, February Ist, for ninety slaves to work on the forts around Richmon ! The court thought they should be kept at home to work the farms, fortify the mountains fases, and aid in preventing the raids that were always threatening the county, Kaids had already taken place in the preceding year in the month of June. August. November. and December, and another invasion was likely to occur at any time The governor of the state was asked to exempt the county from the requisition
Stiphes extreniely scarce in April. AAgents carnot buy enough for the indigent families 13 ) persons are dependent on juthe support 4950 Bushels of corn and (A) barrels of four are needed before August It. The court certifies that the supplies asked are neces- wars. It is represented to that body that corn and wheat may be purchased at the depots of the tax m-kind of the Confe lerate government. Bacen is in tructed to spend as much of the $50 0M as will releve the want, refugees and sejwarners bung included
The court alks that the deputy sheriff's now hable to servie le exempted Three are required, outbreaks beng daily on the increase For more than thirty years four deputies have been constantly engaged The counts has over 18,000 people, and is broken and monn- tamnous.
In April it is stated that certain ergens are believed to be evading the impressment of supplies. Impressment agents are required to call upon the sheriff, or any constalle, and such official is authorized to summon any number of citizens to take impressed articles by force. A refusal to to assist will be contempt of court.
Several murders and attempts at murder during the year
A committee was appointed June 6th to visit the battlefields near Staunton and Rih. " nd to look after wounded Rockbruder soldiers Another committee is in the field to collect supplies and forward them to the first committee
Darn g Hunter's raid, thirty or more barrels of flour-left in certain mills were carried off
In Namen her an thes issue of $5,000 m bords for the schiet of nehiperis
Severe drouth in the summer And very meagre crop Scarcely enough supplies in the cour's for home seeds.
(FROM THE NEWSPAPER FILES) 1861
1.500 men in the county en government wakes
Complant in October that tanneries are Having only five cents per going for hides,
hat atking friwi fix's cenity and upward for leather
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THE WAR OF 1861
1862
Prices in August : flour, $8.00; corn, $1.00; oats, fifty cents; butter, twenty-five to thirty cents ; bacon, thirty-five cents; beef, nine to twelve cents ; eggs, fifteen cents.
"If every part of the Confederacy has as many idle young men in it as this quiet little town of Lexington, we might raise a splendid army in addition to the forces now in the field."-Gazette, August 14.
The Natural Bridge Aid Society sent $150 to the relief of the wounded of the 12th Georgia at McDowell.
Public schools partially or entirely closed for more than a year. Private schools fully sustained. Ann Smith Academy reorganized with Mrs. George D. Baskerville as principal. The Rev. Mr. Trimble's school at Brownsburg now in its third year and more flourishing than ever before .- August 21.
Good crops in the Valley of Virginia.
Candles seventy-five cents a pound. Why not substitute an hour of the morning for an hour of the evening?
About 150 of the Rockbridge Dragoons surprised and captured in the west of Green- brier, about December 1st, by the Federal cavalry.
1863
Farm produce five times as high as usual. Things purchased, ten times as high .- February 2.
Wood, per cord, $12.00 .- March 5.
Native dyes, copperas being a requisite in each instance : The root and bark of sassafras, a beautiful yellow and orange; kalmia (dwarf laurel), a drab; willow bark, a deep blue- black on wool and linen, a dark slate on cotton ; bark and root of red oak, a chocolate brown ; pine bark, a slate (on cotton) ; pine with kalmia. a dove; sweet gum bark, a dove; maple, a purple ; beech bark, a dove; leaves and berries of sumach, a black; white oak, a lead (on cotton), but will not dye wool.
200,000 pounds of bacon in the county-April 15.
As a candidate for the Confederate Congress, Baldwin has 676 votes and Letecher 526.
253 cadets in the Virginia Military Institute, May 6th, and more wish to come in. Sixty students at Washington College.
Seventy-five families in Lexington will need bread this winter, and 100 will need fuel to the amount of 500 cords. 150 families in the corporation produce no foodstuffs.
1864
Lexington House sells for $100,000 in January.
Many farmers on half rations of meat so as to send meat to the army.
Matrimonial advertisement by one of Rosser's soldiers.
Several smokehouses robbed in April.
English stationery on sale at one of the stores.
Large wheat crop, considering the reduction in the supply of labor.
RICENT PERIOD
WAR OF 1917
More than half a century has now elapsed since the great war of the 60%. In this county the period has brought a progressive transformation, greater and more striking in its aggregate results than was witnessed in the equal number of years just preceding.
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