USA > Virginia > Washington County > Washington County > History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 > Part 46
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4th. There shall be one or more volunteer companies of not less than forty men within each district to be commanded by a cap- tain and two lieutenants and four sergeants, respectively, which officers shall be selected by the men of the companies and confirmed by the court. Each man shall be armed with his own rifle, musket or shot-gun, or with arms of like character, loaned or furnished
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
him by the citizens of each district from the house, stock or lands or otherwise. In like manner he to furnish or have procured to him a sufficiency of ammunition. The companies shall be divided into two platoons, extending from the center to the extremities of the district as nearly as practicable, and shall act as a general pa- trol within the proper bounds and under their proper officers at least once a week, performing alternate turns of duty. The company, or companies, of the district shall assemble semi-monthly at some central point, under the command of the captain, for the purpose of drill and instruction. At these meetings a report of the general operations of the company, and especially the condi- tion of things within the districts as regards the peace, security and good order of the ctiizens, shall be made to the captain, and by him reduced to writing and forwarded to the central committee.
5th. The district committee shall have power to order out, when in their opinion deemed necessary, an additional police to act in- dependently of, or in conjunction with, the armed police.
6th. The needy families of all the volunteers absent in the ser- vice of the State shall be provided for, and with this view the magistrates of each district shall be appointed by the court a com- mittee whose duty it will be to inquire into the condition and ne- cessities of said families, and provide at once for the same, if neces- sary, and report in writing to the next and every succeeding county court, and thereupon the proper allowance will be made.
7th. In the event of invasion or for the purpose of suppressing insurrections within the county, this court will at once proceed to appoint a field officer, who shall be empowered to call out and command the voluntary forces provided for, or so much thereof as may in his opinion be deemed necessary for the purpose of re- pelling such invasions or suppressing such insurrection.
The court then proceeded to the appointment of the additional committee under the third clause, and thereupon John L. Brad- ley and Jacob Neff were appointed in district No. 1; Henry Roberts and Francis Preston, in district No. 2; John Gobble and A. M. Apling, in district No. 3; Jeriel D. Linder and John J. Scott, in district No. 4; Alex. G. Thompson and David M. Stuart, in dis- trict No. 5; Benj. K. Buchanan and Robert B. Edmondson, in district No. 6; Andrew Edmondson and James Kelly, in district
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Washington County, 1777-1870.
No. ?; Thomas M. Preston and John Eakin. in district No. S: Robert L. Berry and Lilburn O. Byars, in district No. 9.
The court then unanimously elected James T. Preston colonel or field officer under the seventh clause.
A number of muskets had been furnished the county by the State authorities early in the year, and had been distributed throughout the county, but in such a manner as to render them of little value to the authorities, and at the May term of the court the sheriff of the county was directed to collect and deposit them in Abingdon.
During the spring and summer of Is61 ten companies were or- ganized in Washington county, which were officered as follows:
The Washington Mounted Rifles-Captain William E. Jones.
The Mountain Boys-Captain William White.
The Glade Spring Rifles-Captain R. P. Carson.
Washington Independents-Captain Dr. James L. White.
Company B. Forty-eighth Virginia Regiment-Captain Milton White.
Company I. Forty-eighth Virginia Regiment-Captain James C. Campbell.
Company H. Thirty-seventh Virginia Regiment-Captain Robert E. Grant.
Goodson Rifle Guards-Captain John F. Terry.
Floyd Blues-Captain David C. Dunn.
Company F. Forty-eighth Virginia Regiment -- Captain D. A. P. Campbell.
The Washington Mounted Rifles were sent to First Virginia Cav- alry, Stuart's command, while the companies of Captains Terry, Car- son, Grant. James L. White and William White formed a part of the Thirty-seventh regiment. commanded by Colonel Samuel V. Fulker- son, and the companies officered by D. A. P. Campbell, James C. Campbell and Milton White formed a part of the Forty-eighth regi- ment, commanded by Colonel John A. Campbell, of Abingdon, and D. C. Dunn's company formed a part of Floyd's Brigade. Captain .A. C. Cummings was commissioned colonel by a committee composed of Governor Letcher. Judge Allen and Francis Smith, in the month of May, 1861, and was ordered to report at once to General Jackson at Harper's Ferry, which he did, and was there assigned to the command of the Second regiment. afterwards the Tenth Vir-
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
ginia regiment, but was soon thereafter placed in command of the Thirty-third Virginia regiment.
At the June term of the county court Thomas G. McConnell was appointed by the court to visit all the volunteer companies from this county then in the service of the State or thereafter to be formed, and to provide for their wants out of any money that might be in the hands of the committee appointed by the court at the April term.
About this time Charles Eckerbusch was arrested and committed to jail upon the suspicion that he was not true to the institutions of the South, but was discharged by the court upon his taking the following oaths, to-wit :
"I declare myself a citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and solemnly swear that I will be faithful and true to the said Commonwealth, and will support the Constitution thereof so long as I continue to be a citizen thereof, so help me God."
"I .do solemnly swear that I will obey all orders of the legally constituted authorities of the State of Virginia and of the Confed- crate States, and that I will in no wise give aid and comfort to the enemies of the State or Confederate States either directly or in- directly, so help me God."
On Sunday night, September 1, 1861, at about 10 o'clock a col- lision occurred on the railroad, about one mile west of Abingdon, between trains loaded with troops. The first train, carrying a part of the second regiment of the Polish Brigade from Louisiana, was ascending the grade west of the depot when a shackle pin broke, and the cars descended to the level at the bridge over Wolf creek. At this time the second train, heavily loaded with soldiers, ran into the front section at the bridge, the result being one soldier killed and seventeen wounded, one of the wounded soldiers after- wards dying. The wounded soldiers were removed to the houses of the Rev. James McChain, Messrs. T. G. McConnell, J. M. Ropp, and Judge S. V. Fulkerson, and were attended by Drs. Preston, Barr, Heiskell and Pitts.
On the 28th of October, 1861, the county court of this county appropriated an additional sum of $2,500 for the purpose of sup- plying the volunteers of this county in the service of the Confed- erate States, and directed the committee theretofore appointed to borrow said sum of money and apply it to the purposes mentioned.
519
Washington County. 1777-1870.
At the same term of the court William B. Dickenson was ap- pointed quartermaster for the eastern and John M. Hamilton for the western district of the county, and they were directed to aid the committee appointed by the court in applying the sums above voted to the purposes directed.
On Thursday, November 6. 1861, an election was held through- out the Confederate States for President, Vice-President and mem- bers of Congress. Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens had no opposition for the offices of President and Vice-President of the Confederate States of America, but in this district the Hon. Walter Preston, of Abingdon, and the Hon. Fayette MeMullen, of Scott county, were opposing candidates.
Polls were opened at all the voting precincts in the county, and. in addition thereto, at Camp Dickenson, Camp Cooper and at the Confederate camp at Abingdon, soldiers being stationed in this county at the places mentioned.
Preston was elected a member of the Confederate Congress by a considerable majority.
On the 25th of March, 1862. the sheriff and his deputies and the commissioners of the revenue were directed to enroll, as soon as possible, all able-bodied free negroes in the county and report the same to the clerk of the court.
By this time the families of the absent soldiers were beginning to feel the burden of the war, and a number of the wealthier citi- zens of the county by voluntary contributions undertook to relieve their situation. The following citizens contributed the sums set opposite their names to this cause :
1862. April 28. Henry Preston,. $ 300 00
1862. April 28. Stuart, Buchanan & Co., 1,000 00
1862. Dec. 22. Mrs. Wyndham Robertson, 100 00
1863. Oct. 26. Wyndham Robertson,. 500 00
The General Assembly of Virginia, on the 29th of March, 1862. passed an Act authorizing the counties to issue notes of less denomi- nation than five dollars, and the county court of this county, on the 28th of April, 1862. deciding to avail itself of the advantages of this law, appointed a committee, consisting of James K. Gibson. Thomas G. McConnell and William King Heiskell, to ascertain and report to the court,
First. A design for said notes.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
Second. Whether a supply of suitable paper could be procured and on what terms.
Third. The terms upon which said notes could be printed and the amount and denomination of the notes necessary to be issued.
This committee on the following day made their report, which report was filed, and, upon consideration of said report, the county court ordered that this county issue $15,000 of these notes of the following denominations and amounts :
Nine thousand ten-cent notes.
› Six thousand fifteen-cent notes.
Eighteen thousand twenty-five-cent notes.
Three thousand four hundred and fifty one-dollar notes.
Six thousand fifty-cent notes.
Three thousand seventy-five-cent notes.
The form of said notes as prescribed by the court is shown by the fac-simile of a one-dollar note and a twenty-five-cent note.
ONE DOLLAR.
The County of Washington will pay to Bedies.
1225One Dollar 5
Reden di, a hen presented in ams { FIVE DOLLARS or de multiple present to the porras at An lot of the Good Asany of Virginia, passed Har
By Order of the Court.
Clerk.
TWENTY-CITE CEVEN.
....... B
25
che Conatyof Washington, Virginia,
WILL PAY ON AND AFTER THE FIRST DAY OF JANUARY. 1504,
=
Cents,
Ev Order of the Court.
2. haga. Clerk
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Washington County, 177-1810.
John G. Kreger, clerk, whose name appears to said notes, was required by the court to issue the same as soon as practicable, and was appointed treasurer for the purpose of exchanging said notes for other funds to pay the indebtedness of the county.
The court, on the 24th of June, directed the derk not to issue the ten-cent notes as provided for by their former order, but to issue twenty-one thousand six hundred notes of the denomina- tion of twenty-five cents instead of eighteen thousand as provided by their former order, and John G. Kreger, the clerk, on the 24th of February, 1863, was allowed one thousand dollars for issuing and redeeming said notes.
On Tuesday, the 4th of April, 1862, a company of Confederate soldiers was organized in Abingdon, to which was given the name of the Abingdon Confederates. This company was officered as follows :
Captain, William L. Hunter.
First Lieutenant, Milton W. Humes.
Second Lieutenant, William McChesney.
Third Lieutenant, James H. Smith.
This was Company A, and formed a part of the Sixty-third Regi- ment, Virginia Volunteers.
On the 11th day of April. 1862. the Methodist Protestant church and the Protestant Episcopal church of Abingdon delivered the bells used by the respective churches to the ordinance department of the Confederate States for use in manufacturing cannon, and on the 25th of April of the same year the Presbyterian and Metho- dist Episcopal churches. South, performed a like service.
In the spring of the year 1862, the armies of the Confederate States were reorganized, and upon the reorganization of the Thirty- seventh and Forty-eighth regiments Colonels Fulkerson and Camp- bell, as well as Lieutenant-Colonels Carson and Garnett, were re- elected. Major Williams was re-elected in the Thirty-seventh, and Captain James C. Campbell. of Abingdon, succeeded Major Stuart in the Forty-eighth regiment.
In the companies there was a considerable change as follows :
Captain Grant was succeeded by Sergeant Duff.
Captain William White was sucreeded by Lieutenant B. P. Mor- rison.
Captain James L. White was succeeded by Captain James Vance
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
and Captain, Vance was succeeded by Sergeant T. M. Gobble. Captain Milton White was succeeded by Lieutenant W. Y. C. Hannum. Captain D. A. P. Campbell was succeeded by Lieu- tenant W. T. Greenway.
At the October term of the county court, in the year, 1862, the court appointed agents in the several magisterial districts of this county to solicit subscriptions in their districts of articles of cloth- ing, shoes, etc., for the use of the volunteers in the service of the Confederacy.
At this time a great scarcity of salt prevailed in the county as a result of the State authorities taking charge of the salt works, and the county court appointed John N. Humes a committee to correspond with Governor Letcher and seek to have the contract of Stuart, Buchanan & Company, made with the county authori- ties in July of this year, enforced, but the court obtained no relief in this particular.
On the 27th of June, 1862. Colonel Samuel V. Fulkerson, of the Thirty-seventh Regiment, was mortally wounded near Richmond on the second day of the great battle before Richmond, and died the next day. Upon the receipt of the news of his death, a public meet- ing was held at the courthouse of this county for the purpose of offering a tribute of respect to the memory of the deceased.
"On motion, J. N. Humes, Esq., was called to the chair, and William King Heiskell appointed secretary.
The object of the meeting was explained by Adjutant Joseph T. Campbell in brief but appropriate remarks, and, on his motion, a committee of ten gentlemen was appointed as an escort of honor to meet the remains at Wytheville. The following gentlemen were appointed : Adjutant J. T. Campbell, Hon. Walter Preston, Wil- liam King Heiskell, Colonel A. C. Cummings, Thomas G. McCon- nell, G. V. Litchfield, Jr., William Y. C. White, James C. Green- way, J. G. Kreger and D. M. Stuart."
This committee met the remains of Colonel Fulkerson at Wythe- ville and accompanied the same to Abingdon.
Colonel Fulkerson, at the time of his death, was judge of the Seventeenth Circuit of the Superior Court of Law and Chancery, and soon thereafter an election was held in this circuit to fill the vacancy, at which election John A. Campbell, John W. Johnson, William B. Aston and W. P. Cecill, were opposing candidates.
Washington County, 1777-1810.
Judge Campbell was elected by a considerable majority and served until removed by the military authorities of the United States in the year 1869.
In May, 1862, President Jefferson Davis issued his proclamation setting apart the 16th day of May, 1862, as a day of fasting, humil- iation and prayer, and, on the day appointed, the several congre- gations of the town united in regular services at the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at eleven o'clock in the morning, and at the Methodist Protestant Church at four o'clock in the evening.
On the 4th day of October, 1862. in the lower end of this county, on the farm of Colonel John Preston, William MeDaniel, a very respectable citizen was brutally murdered by Jerry and Jim, two negroes, the property of James AAllen, of Tennessee. These negroes had left their homes and were scouting in the woods, with a lot of stolen property in their possession, when they observed McDaniel approaching. After meeting MeDaniel and engaging in a conver- sation with him, as to what they were doing there, and where they were going, Jack, one of the negroes, struck and seriously wounded McDaniel. and the negroes hid his body until night came on and then returned and carried it to the creek and placed it therein. They were tried, and Jim and Jerry were sentenced to be hung on the 23d of January, 1863, on which day they were executed pur- suant to the sentence of the court.
The Abingdon paper in describing the scene in Abingdon on that. day says :
"At an early hour the people began to pour into town from the farthest limits of this and adjoining counties, and from the gorges and coves of the mountains. They came by railroad, in wagons. on horses and mules, and hundreds came wading up to their knees in mud. Some rode bare-back, others on sheep-skins, and again others with halters and blind bridles. Little boys and negroes gal- loped into town almost breathless, bespattered with mud and wild with excitement to see two negroes choked to death. But stranger still was it to see probably not less than a thousand hearty, robust. young men jostling and elbowing their way through the dense mass of humanity towards the field where the scene was to be enacted ; and when we saw them working and twisting their tor- tuous way like so many eels in the mud, we wondered if they would have been as eager and as hurried if there had been a squad
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
of Yankees in that direction. If Stonewall Jackson had them, he would cross the Potomac in a week."
This execution took place in the Academy field west of Abingdon and was the last execution of any person in this county for any offense.
The Provost-Marshal at Abingdon at this time was Colonel John H. Earnest.
In October of this year President Lincoln issued his proclama- tion emancipating all negroes after the first day of January, 1863, which information greatly excited the slave owners of the county.
Some idea of the conditions existing during this time may be gathered from a diary kept by a very aged citizen of Abingdon, from the summer of 1861 to the fall of 1862, which diary is here given.
"1861. July 1st. The evening train had about 150 troops; 100 from Arkansas, the balance from Georgia, remnants of companies gone on.
"1861. July 2d. At dark I saw the comet for the first time, but it was seen the night before by others. It is the largest I have ever seen ; it was high up north of west, at ten o'clock it was large, the tail was broad and appeared to be 250 feet long, the body of it appeared the size of a common hat.
"1861. July 3d. The evening train had 200 Arkansas troops.
"1861. July 4th. This day eighty-five years ago since the Decla- ration of Independence of the old U. S. It's gone, and to-day there is another declaration going on for independence, the South against the North, and it must and will end the same way the first declara- tion did against old England. The South must be independent of the North, her cause is more just, etc. In 1775 there were two parties, one for immediate independence from old England, the other was for no separation from the mother country, as they called it. But independence was declared on the 4th of July, 1776. The party that went for independence of the mother country and fought for it and got it was called Whigs and the party against indepen- dence was the Tory party and fought against it, but was defeated ; yet they remained Tories, for I can remember hearing one of them in Wythe county when he got drunk, "halloo" for King George, &c. The present revolution for independence and a separation from Northern tyrants, or rather Northern Goths and vandals, against
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Washington County, 1777-1870.
Southern rights is tenfold greater than the first revolution, and in all respects like it, as to the parties Whig and Tory. But I believe it will end just like the first revolution.
"1861. July 4th. Cold all day. The evening train took Captain David Campbell Dunn's company to General Floyd's Brigade at Wytheville, seventy-eight men and boys.
"1861. July 16th. To-day awful news from General Garnett's command at Beverly, Randolph county. Fulkerson's regiment is part of it. Colonel Fulkerson's regiment is composed of five com- panies from Abingdon and county, two from Russell, one from Davis and one company from Lee county. The news is that all are killed and taken and that General Garnett is killed.
"1861. July 23d. News this morning of a great battle fought on the 21st, last Sunday, at Manassas, between the Southern forces and Lincoln's Northern or black army, in which the latter lost 25,000 men killed, the South 15,000. If this be true it beats Waterloo, for the South had only 60,000, while the North had 95,000.
"1861. July 26th. Colonel John A. Campbell's regiment left for Staunton to-day, ten companies, three companies from Wash- ington county, nine companies of old Washington county now in the field. Colonel Campbell has Captain White's and David Camp- bell's and J. C. Campbell's companies.
"1861. August 31. This morning at five o'clock the house trem- bled and shook, the window sash rattled so much that it awakened all, the rocking of the house awakened me. I never felt such a sensation before, the house appeared to be standing on something. the house would quiver and rattle like it would fall.
"1861. September 1st. Two trains at ten o'clock with 1,100 troops. one company of eighty-two from Mobile, Alabama, and the balance from New Orleans, mashed up at the bridge west of Abingdon depot, killing one and wounding twenty odd, the front engine with the conductor cut loose and went on towards Lynch- burg, the other engine was mashed up in the wreck, but the engineer and conductor left rather suspiciously.
"September 3d. The soldier scalded in the mash up died last night.
"1861. September 21st. John M. Preston died this morning at Seven-Mile Ford.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
"1861. September 24th. Charles G. Preston, son of F. H. Pres- ton, died on the 15th. He belonged to the Greenbrier Cavalry, was in the retreat from Laurel Hill in July last when General Garnett was killed.
"1861. September 28th. No trains from the East yesterday, no mail, the rivers were higher yesterday than any one recollects, houses were taken off where never known before. The whole roof of one house was left on the bank of the river below Mr. Cole's on the Middle Fork. The Holston river was six feet higher than ever known before.
"1861. October 1st. Part of a company of horse got here last evening from Kentucky.
"1861. October 3d. Hon. John C. Breckenridge and William Preston, of Kentucky, got to Abingdon to-day.
"1861. October 14th. A company of horse, 111 from Kentucky by way of Pound Gap, got here this evening, all armed with double- barreled shot-guns, under Captain Desha.
"1861. October 15. I was wrongly informed as to the arms of the Kentuckians, they have Minnie rifles and muskets, and were a part of the State guard. Three thousand dollars reward for the above-mentioned Captain Desha ; his father is here with him.
"1861. October 30th. The Kentucky company took the cars for General Buckner's headquarters by way of Nashville, Tennessee, and all took the oath this morning. One of the Kentuckians by accident shot himself through the arm above and below the elbow.
"1861. November 13th. This day the Cherokee artillery of Geor- gia got here from Goldsboro, North Carolina. The train with most of the regiment ran off near Senter depot last night and killed three and hurt several. They have three brass six-pounders and one iron rifled six-pounder.
"1861. November 25th. Twenty of Colonel Jenkins' cavalry got here to-day from Dublin, where they took ninety-four prisoners captured at Guyandotte on the 17th.
"1861. November 26th. Colonel Stewart's Fifty-sixth Virginia Volunteer Regiment got to Abingdon depot to-night on their way to Pound Gap to join General Humphrey Marshall.
"1861. December 9th. Three hundred cavalry, Colonel Phillips, of Georgia Legion, got here to-day from Tory mountains of Vir-
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Washington County, 1777-1870.
ginia, and left for Taylorsville, Tenn., the Tory mountains of Tennessee. The balance of the regiment is behind.
"N. B .- The above regiment is said to be the Fifty-seventh Vir- ginia, and that a battalion from North Carolina went about the same time after night and stopped at Bristol.
"1861. December 8th. There are now at the depot six cannon, two of them rifled, and twenty-four carriages.
"1861. December 31st. Mrs. Humes died to-day, General Floyd's Brigade has been going for the last week on the railroad from the Tory mountains of Virginia to Bowling Green, Kentucky.
"1862. March 16th. Jacob Lynch died this morning at two o'clock, his brother Daniel died at Estillville, Scott county, the 16th of March, 1843, at 12 o'clock.
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