USA > Virginia > Rockingham County > Rockingham County > A history of Rockingham County, Virginia > Part 12
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I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
T. J. JACKSON, Lieutenant General.
The following letter, giving additional particulars relating to the battle of Cross Keys, was written in May, 1912, at Frankfort, Indiana, by Capt. William N. Jordan, a native of Rockingham, then nearly ninety-two years of age.
I was born in Mt. Crawford Christmas Day in the year 1820, and my mother died when I was nine days old. I was taken and raised by strangers in the neighborhood of Friedens Church, by a man named Martin Neir, and I staid with him until he died in 1844. Before I was seventeen years old I commenced driving his team of six horses in hauling produce to market, -Fredericksburg and Richmond were the markets at that time. After some time had passed Scottsville became a market for pro- duce, and after a few years more Winchester became a market for the people of Rockingham.
I still remained on the place. On the 5th day of October, 1847, about eight o'clock, we had a cyclone. It tore the barn clear away, and part of the house; and in a large orchard there was not one tree left standing. Wife and I and the girl were in the part of the house that was not torn down. In the part of which the roof was taken off were two boys; but none of us was hurt.
Then Martin Neir's widow and I made sale of the land and property, and I bought me a home near the Cross Keys, and lived there until the Civil War commenced. I was assessor of that district in '59 and '60, and I was captain of the Cross Keys and Mt. Crawford cavalry. I had about
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100 men in the company, and we were mustered into service of the Con- federacy on the third day of June, 1861, and were in a number of battles. Among them was the fight at Cross Keys. We were on the left flank of Gen. Ewell's army during the fight.
My farm was just outside of the line of battle. The Yankees broke open my corn crib and took corn to feed their horses, but did not disturb my family. This was on Sunday, and the next morning Gen. Jackson took us across the river and burnt the bridge; and the North River being high they could not follow us; and we went across South River, then down the river, and whipped Shield's forces, and ran them away below the White Post; and on Monday night Fremont began to fall back.
They had made a hospital of a very large two-story house, and set it. afire when they left. It was thought by the old people that lived close there that there was a large number of dead and wounded in the house at the time, for they heard some of them calling for help. And they left their dead lying all over the battlefield; and we had to make a big circuit to cross the river to get on the battlefield [of Cross Keys]. We did not get around there until Wednesday morning. Gen. Imboden, who was in command of the cavalry, detailed me and my company to gather up and bury the dead. At one place we buried 81 bodies, and at another 21. They were mostly foreigners, from the looks of them. It has been so long ago that I don't remember how many we lost in that battle.
I had eight children of school age at that time, that I thought ought to be going to school. As there was no free school system then, I thought I would go to a state where they could get an education. So I sold out there and came to Indiana. My wife died January 21, 1911. We were married and lived together nearly sixty-six years. I am now staying with one of my daughters, and expect to stay here what few days may yet be allotted to me.
I voted for James K. Polk in 1844, for President, and I am still a Democrat. So good bye.
(Signed) Capt. Wm. N. Jordan.
In 1860 there were in Rockingham County 2387 slaves; in 1863, 2039: loss, 348. During the same time the number of horses was reduced from 7670 to 6656: loss, 1014; and the number of cattle from 21,413 to 14,739: loss, 6674.9 But when these statistics were gathered the worst was yet to come.
In the fall of 1864 Sheridan's army was encamped about Harrisonburg and Dayton. One rainy evening Major John R. Meigs, of Sheridan's staff, and two other Federals met three Confederate scouts near Dayton, and attempted to capture
9. Rockingham Register, March 25, 1864.
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or kill them, but in the fight Meigs himself was killed. It was reported to Sheridan that Meigs had been shot by a bushwhacker. To administer a gentle reproof to the com- munity, Sheridan ordered that every house within five miles of the spot where Meigs fell should be burned. The work of burning began. A number of buildings in the vicinity were devoted to the torch. The people of Dayton were warned of the impending destruction, and moved out into the surround- ing fields, where men, women, and children spent the chill October night as comfortably as they could, waiting to see their homes go up in flames. But sometime the next evening they were told the order to burn the town had been with- drawn, and were allowed to return to their houses.
I have heard several explanations as to why Dayton was not burned. One report has it that a Masonic apron was found by the burners in one of the houses nearby; another, that the many kindnesses extended to the Federals by the people of the community were remembered in the camps. Not long ago I learned that the Federal officer whose task it had been to carry out the order to burn was still living in Ohio, and I wrote to him asking him for information. He is mayor of Clarington, Monroe County, Ohio. His letter follows.
Clarington, Ohio, March 16, 1912.
MY DEAR SIR:
Yours of the 11th recd. In reply will say that I was a main participant in that stirring and heart-rending event of Oct. 5th, 1864, at the town of Dayton, Va., where, at 5 o'clock P. M., by an order issued by our commander, Genl. P. H. Sheridan (order No. 89), I was ordered to take my regiment, the 116th O. V. I., and set the torch of destruction to every building in that beautiful town, for what some fool- hardy citizen had done, or was supposed to have done-the killing of Major Meigs of Sheridan's Staff.
Now the reason why the order of Genl. Sheridan was not carried out is, Genl. Thomas F. Wildes of my brigade, at one time colonel of the 116th O. V. I. (my regiment), who was a particularly ideal officer under Sheridan, and suited Sheridan on account of his bravery and fighting qualities, begged and prayed Sheridan to revoke the order, as my regi- ment, the 116th O. V. I., formerly Genl. T. F. Wildes' regiment, was the regiment detailed by Sheridan to carry out his heart-rending order.
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Gen. Wildes prevailed on Sheridan to revoke the order, and I got the order 5 minutes before we were to apply the torch to that beautiful and peaceful town.
When I announced the revoking of the order, there was louder cheer- ing than there ever was when we made a bayonet charge.
I know every foot of ground in that country. I was only 17 years old then, and my heart fairly leaped for joy when the order was rescinded. Brigadier-Genl. Thomas F. Wildes, together with the regimental officers, are the ones who saved those towns, Dayton, Harrisonburg, and Mt. Crawford, from being burned down. We fought quite a hard battle at Piedmont on June 5th, under Genl. Hunter.
Yours very truly,
COL. S. TSCHAPPAT.
It was just a day or two after the incidents above re- corded that Sheridan began his wide-spread retreat down the Valley, burning mills and barns, and driving off or killing horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs.
A vivid and realistic conception of the destruction wrought in Rockingham by the "burning" may be obtained by looking over the various items in the following letter, written by a gentleman living at the time in the vicinity of Timberville, and published in the Rockingham Register of March 24, 1865.
Near Timberville, Va , February 13, 1865.
Editors of the Register :- I hereby send you a list of losses sustained in this portion of Rockingham county, by Sheridan's army. The prices fixed are those prevailing before the war.
David Cline, one barn, horse stable, 300 bushels of wheat, 34 tons of hay, 9 cattle, 30 sheep, loss about $2,600.
George Moffett, 1 barn, 20 tons of hay, cattle, farming utensils, &c., loss about $1600.
Jonas Early, 1 barn, 150 bushels of wheat, 10 tons of hay, house property, &c., loss $2000.
John Rife, 1 barn, wheat, hay, &c., loss $1000.
John W. Driver, 6 horses, 14 sheep, loss $800.
Widow Driver, 1 barn, horse stable, 200 bushels of wheat, 20 tons of hay, wagon, ploughs, &c., loss $2,500.
S. H. Myers, 1 barn, 325 bushels of wheat, 10 tons of hay, 7 cattle, and other property, $2500.
Thornton Thomas, 5 horses, 10 cattle, 30 sheep, loss $700.
George Lohr and Sons, 3 barns, 1000 bushels grain, 10 tons hay, 7 horses, 10 cattle, farming implements, &c., $5,900.
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Philip Lowry, 1 stable, 1 horse, hay, &c., $400.
Jesse Bushong, 2 horses, 3 cows, $225.
A. Bushong, 1 horse, $100.
Albert Flemens, 1 barn, 2 cows, hay, &c., $700.
Matthias Minnick & Son, 1 barn, 225 bushels of wheat, 6 tons hay, 5 horses, 12 cattle, threshing machine, ploughs, &c., $2,000.
George Arehart, 1 barn, 160 bushels of wheat, 10 tons hay, 8 cattle, farming implements, $1,400.
Abram Arehart, 1 barn, horse stable, 200 bushels wheat, 12 tons hay, 11 cattle, sheep, hogs, &c., $2,000.
Jacob Arehart, 3 horses, 4 cattle, 11 sheep, $400.
Moses Tussing, 1 barn, 4 tons hay, 3 horses, 2 cows, $900.
David Bowman, 1 barn, 500 bushels wheat, 10 tons hay, 12 cattle, &c., $2,000.
William G. Thompson, 1 merchant mill, some grain, horse gears, cattle, etc., $4,000.
The above list comprises that portion of the 8th district, north of the Shenandoah River and east of the Timberville road. A number of other persons had small losses which are not mentioned in the above list.
Yours, Respectfully,
B. Hoover.
The losses enumerated by Mr. Hoover foot up a total of $33,725. The district in which this loss was sustained is not over one-sixtieth of the productive portion of the county; therefore, if equivalent loss was suffered all over the county, the grand total would exceed $2,000,000-estimated upon ante bellum prices. Estimated upon contemporary prices in Confederate money, the grand total would be over $20,000- 000. A calculation of this sort will obviously justify the fol- lowing statement found on page 1303 of Garner and Lodge's history of the United States:
"The value of property destroyed in Rockingham County alone was estimated at $25,000,000; thousands of families were reduced to absolute want and on every hand the signs of desolation were pitiable in the extreme."
In the summer of 1864, upon the advance of Hunter's army up the Valley, a lot of the records of the county and of the circuit court were loaded on a wagon and hauled east- ward, the aim being to take them through Brown's Gap to a place of safety in or beyond the Blue Ridge. The wagon was
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overtaken on the road between Port Republic and Mt. Ver- non Furnace by some of Hunter's men, and set afire. After the Federals left, some persons in the neighborhood put out the fire, using for the purpose, it is said, some green hay just cut in a nearby field. The records left at the courthouse were not injured, though the files of the Rockingham Register, in the office of that paper, were destroyed. The partly burned records of the county were collected and brought back to the county-seat, where many of them may still be seen. An ef- fort has been made to restore them as fully as possible.
A war always stimulates home manufactures. "Neces- sity is the mother of invention." In Chapter XXI will be found a number of items showing some of the particular manufactures in Rockingham during the war, as well as dur- ing other periods. It is needless to say that a war also raises prices. Here are some illustrations from the case before us: 1861.
"Prices Reduced! Best fine salt at $9 to $9.25. Prime Super Flour $4.75. - Isaac Paul."
Brown sugar 20 cents a pound.
Orleans molasses $1.00 a gallon.
1862.
Cash prices paid by Isaac Paul in August: Butter, 40c; cheese, 40c; lard, 25c; hard soap, 30c; bacon, 27-30c.
In October Isaac Paul was advertising tobacco at 60 cents a pound, and offering to pay the following prices: Wool, $1 to $1.25; flax seed, $1 to $1.25; butter, 40 to 50c; cheese, 40 to 50c; lard, 25c; flour, $8 to $8.50; bacon, 35 to 40c.
In September-October salt was over $15 a sack.
In November ink was $1 a bottle; Isaac Paul was offering 75c for butter and cheese; J. N. Hill was offering to pay $1 a pound cash for 10,000 pounds of good roll butter.
1863.
In April flour was $20 a barrel at the mill; wheat was $4 a bushel; corn, $4; bacon, $1 a pound; hay, $1 a cwt.
1864.
In February the American Hotel in Harrisonburg was ad-
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vertising board at $150 a month; supper, lodging, and break- fast for $10; board at $10 a day; single meals at $4. "Posi- tively no credit."
The same month D. A. Plecker was urging: "Buy your salt two years in advance when you can get it at 50 cts. per pound"; while Fishback & Long, at Montezuma, were offering "Also, a lot of Salt which we will sell at 60 cents by the sack."
In May Isaac Paul had some salt at 45 cents.
In July $1000 was given or offered for a horse.
In December salt was 80 cents a pound.
1865.
In the Register of March 24 the following estray notice appeared: "A White Boar, supposed to be one and a half years old, left ear cut, appraised at $175."
But the flowers still bloomed in Rockingham, though often broken in the strife. In the fall of 1861 the Female Seminary, located where the Main Street school in Harrison- burg now stands, J. Mark Wilson, principal, was turned into a hospital for wounded and sick Confederate soldiers. Early in 1864 there was a general hospital at Harrisonburg, Dr. A. R. Meem, surgeon in charge. More than 300 Confederate soldiers were buried in Woodbine Cemetery, where, every springtime, sweet flowers in fair hands are borne to mark the place.
In Chapter XVI other particulars are given that have application here.
In 1862 Rev. Daniel Thomas, a Dunker minister, sold 1000 gallons of cane molasses at $1 a gallon, Confederate money, to his poor friends and neighbors, when he was of- fered $2 a gallon in gold or silver, by speculators. At an- other time he sold several hundred gallons of flaxseed oil at great pecuniary loss, for benevolent reasons.
In the Register of April 24, 1863, appeared a fine tribute to the Rockingham farmers. It was shown that they were a sturdy, industrious class of loyal citizens, even in the midst of most aggravating circumstances. When their fields were devastated, their stock driven off, and their buildings burned
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by the public enemy, and when their own fellow-countrymen in arms failed to respect their rights-riding down grain and grass in mere wantonness, burning fences, men and officers alike, and even threatening the protesting owners, the farm- ers of Rockingham County were still loyal, and strove with no less energy to raise supplies for their country at large as well as for their immediate families.
The following paragraphs appeared in the Register of February 5, 1864:
Notice.
At a meeting of the Rockingham Medical Association, held in Har- risonburg, January 18th, 1864, the following resolutions were unani- mously adopted:
Resolved, That we will practice at old rates, notwithstanding the present high prices of medicines, in all cases where our patrons will pay us in produce at old prices.
Resolved, That in every case where it is not convenient to pay in pro- duce, we will receive a bond at old rates, payable after the war.
Resolved, That in every instance where it is desirable to pay us in money, we will regulate our charges in proportion to the prices of the produce of the country; except for our services to the poor and needy, and especially to families in service, or killed or disabled in the service.
Resolved, That all old open accounts standing upon our books shall be included in the above regulations.
The next meeting will be on the 3d Monday in February, at 10 o'clock.
Geo. K. Gilmer, Secretary.
This chapter must be concluded with another excerpt from the Rockingham Register,-that paper true to its name. The following article appeared under date of March, 24, 1865:
Trotter's Stage Line.
One of the "institutions" that has, so far, survived "the wreck of matter" caused by the Yankees in this beautiful Valley, is Trotter's stage line. Notwithstanding the heavy losses of the enterprising pro- prietor caused by the enemy, he is still in motion, and his teams and his stages still run up and down the Valley as though nothing had occurred to molest them. A stage line requires unusual energy and industry in its proper management, and that is exactly what "Trotter's line" (most
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appropriate designation!) has. It required great skill and activity to save the stages and teams from the Yankees the last time they came up the Valley; but Trotter has the singular good fortune to have an agent at this end of the line, who may be safely trusted to take care of everything under his control. Jos. ANDREWS is as energetic as the proprietor of the stage line whose interests he so carefully protects and promotes. It is to the energy and industry of Mr. Andrews, (who, by the way, is "an old stager" himself,) that the Valley people are now indebted for the mail fa- cilities and other very great accommodations resulting from the movements of a regular daily line of stages. These can hardly be properly estimated and appreciated. We almost felt as if we were cut off from the outside world and the rest of mankind until the arrival of Trotter's stages dis- turbed the Sabbath-like stillness of our paralyzed vlllage. With our stores closed, (the merchants fearing that the Yankees might soon come again,) and with our Post Office shut up as if we had entered upon an unending Sabbath, it was really a pleasant sight to us to see Trotter's teams coming trotting in a week ago as gaily as if there never had been Yankees in the Valley, and as if forage and corn could still be had in abundance. It has, really, been a wonder with us, how the large number of teams have been kept up so well. It is all attributable to the tireless activity and industry of the chief director and agent, Mr. Andrews, who is known to all travellers in the Valley as one of the most accommodating stage agents to be met with. A stage line, under his management, is obliged to go ahead. If ever any stage line deserved encouragement and countenance Trotter's Valley line assuredly does. In fact, we cannot see how the people could possibly do without it.10
10. For the gift or loan of old papers and other source materials for the period covered by this chapter, I am under grateful obligation to Mrs. Cornelia S. Burkholder, of Harrisonburg, and to the following gen- tlemen: Joseph E. Shaver, Friedens; C. L. Denton, Pleasant Valley; Joe K. Ruebush, Dayton; A. E. Wyant, Elkton; W. H. Sipe, Bridge- Water; Rev. C. W. Stinespring, Baltimore; and Q. G. Kaylor, Marshall Crawford, C. A. Hammer, and Capt. J. H. Dwyer; Harrisonburg, as well as to others whose names have already been given.
CHAPTER VIII. THE DAYS OF RECONSTRUCTION.
1865-1876.
In no period of our nation's history have so many great problems thrust themselves upon us as during the decade im- mediately following the Civil War. America continued to be a world stage for the play of giants; and while the full light was upon the center, the great drama, in its subsidiary parts and inevitable accompaniments, was in thrilling action round all the widening circles. Although Rockingham County was more or less remote from the stage's center, it never lost its cue or count from the bitter opening to the better end. It played its part and suffered its share of the tragic years.
In other chapters, under particular topics-roads and rail- roads, churches and religious life, education and schools, banking, manufacturing, etc. - will be found much of the matter that chronologically falls in this; but enough will doubtless be given here to justify the title: "Days of Re- construction."
The period was marked first by high prices and financial stringency; later came the rush of enterprise and speculation, attendant upon rising prosperity; then the crash of '73, and the tedious recovery from the shock. In January, 1867, flour was selling in Harrisonburg at $12 and $12.50 a barrel; bacon, hog round, at 11 and 12 cents a pound; butter at 25 cents. In the same issue of the Register from which these quotations are taken is found the following paragraph:
At a recent sale in Shenandoah county of the property of Mrs. Han- nah Wilkin, dec'd, wheat sold for $3.10 per bushel; corn, 69 cents; cows $25 and $32; beds and bedding each from $30 to $35.1
1. Rockingham Register, January 17, 1867.
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
One of the most striking features of the time, up to 1870, or thereabouts, was the prevalence of lawlessness. Robbery and vandalism were rife. There was robbing of stores, mills, smoke-houses, and persons. Early in 1870 the street lamps of Harrisonburg were smashed, and a few months later a large number of shade trees about the public square and elsewhere were "belted"-the bark being cut off in a circle all around the trunks. Cattle were killed in the fields -the meat being carried off, the horns and hide usually being left. Hogs in their owners' fields or sties were either butch- ered there or driven away. Much of this freebooting was done by negroes lately slaves and by poor whites hard pressed by evil times; but it is also known that some of it was done by young white men of respectable families, whose foraging propensities still lacked restraint. War is always demoraliz- ing; and the country fell heir to more than one unwelcome legacy from the years of '61 to '65.
But, as already intimated, depression and stringency were soon overborne by the rising spirit of progress and the onrush of material prosperity. In April, 1866, there were two iron foundries in full blast at Port Republic. Conditions in May are thus graphically portrayed in the Register:
The remarkable display of energy by the people of the Valley, since the close of the war, is the most forcible commentary that could be given of their character. Without a currency, almost destitute of money, their fields laid waste, barns and other farm houses destroyed, stock stolen and driven off, no surplus supplies on hand, and their labor system broken up, yet they have managed to rebuild their fences and barns, repair their premises generally, and [make] progress in improvements heretofore not enjoyed. Throughout the entire Valley steam saw-mills dot almost every neighborhood, factories and foundries are being built, and the slow and imperfect implements of agricultural husbandry here- tofore used supplanted by the most improved labor-saving machinery.
At Mt. Crawford a large Woolen Factory is in process of construction; also, an Earthen Ware establishment. In Harrisonburg, Messrs. Bradley & Co. have in successful operation their Foundry, and will shortly commence erecting a much larger one, on ground recently purchased for that purpose near the old buildings. At Port Republic and McGaheysville the spirit of enterprize is fully awakened, factories, foun- dries and mills being put into operation as rapidly as the workmen can
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complete their contracts. Carding mills are, also, multiplying through- out the county, and many other improvements are being inaugurated, which we have not space to enumerate. 2
By June a great many of the barns and mills destroyed by Sheridan in October, 1864, had been replaced. In Sep- tember the editor of the Register wrote:
Our friends, Henry E. Rhodes and David Weaver, have erected and completed not less than eight large Swisher barns within the last six months. These barns are all in Rockingham, and all, with but one exception, take the places of barns burnt by Gen. Sheridan. 3
In his issue of October 11 the editor of the same journal devotes a full column to progress in the eastern section of the county: The sawmills of Dr. S. P. H. Miller & Co., near Conrad's Store; the iron furnace of Milnes & Johns, succes- sors of the Forrer Brothers; the chapel erected by the iron- masters for the benefit of the iron-workers, etc.
In the Register of December 20 (1866), a correspondent from John J. Bowman's mill, on Linville Creek, says:
You can count around it [the mill] some fourteen new barns, one extensive tannery, and one first class up-and-down saw mill, all . . . . . erected during the past summer and the previous autumn.
Among the other features of the year, a find of coal was reported on Briery Branch. During the next decade or more . this coal field was a center of interest and speculation.
Early in 1867 it was announced that Philo Bradley & Co., operating the foundry in Harrisonburg, had sold within the past year more than 700 ploughs of their own pattern, and had been obliged to refuse orders for more. 4
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