USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 29
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From the foregoing it will be seen that Dr. Rucker's parents were Clifton Hedly and Mary Jane Starke (née Staples) Rucker, born, respec- tively, in Amherst and Appomattox Coun- ties, Va. His father moved to Lynchburg at an early day and became one of the leading business men of the place. Colonel Ambrose Rucker and Captain William Parks, officers of the Revolutionary War, were his great-grand- fathers on the paternal side, General John Starke, also an officer of the Revolutionary War, was his great-granduncle, and Governor Spotts- wood, first Colonial Governor of Virginia, was his great-great-granduncle, on the maternal side. His grandmother on the paternal side and Mrs. Rucker's grandmother on the maternal side were sisters-Elizabeth and Margaret Parks -daughters of Captain William Parks. A warm
and intimate friendship always existed between the Parks and Washington families, which was cemented by the marriage of Captain Parks' youngest brother and General Washington's niece and protegée. Moreover, Dr. Rucker is blood kin, on the maternal side, through the Lewises, to General Washington. October 28, 1852, he married Margaret Ann, the second daughter of Thomas Hazlewood and Margaret Parks (née Burks) Scott. Captain William Scott, an officer of the Revolution and a lineal descend- ant of the first King of the Scots, was the grand- father of Mrs. Rucker. The Roys and McGreg- ors, of the Highlands of Scotland, are among her ancestors also. Following is the entry in the family Bible of Colonel Ambrose Rucker, great- grandfather of Dr. Rucker, referring to the ad- miral mentioned in the ancestry: " Ruyter, Mi- chael Adrianzoon de. Born 1607. Dutch admiral. Distinguished for bravery, learning, and cour- tesy." After graduating at Jefferson Medical Col- lege, Dr. Rucker began practice at Alvon, Green- brier County, for a time, and subsequently at Covington, Alleghany County, Va., where he con- tinued from 1855 to February, 1862. He became a well-known and popular physician throughout that section of Virginia, and travelled every road for many miles in his extensive practice. He also became interested in public improvements and was President of the Covington and Lexington Turnpike Company. At the breaking out of the war his Unionism got him into serious contro- versies and desperate hand-to-hand battles with his fellow-townsmen of Confederate sympathies. Beginning with Dr. Rucker's early political sentiments, he had always been a Whig, and when the election of 1860 took place he was one of the " Assistant Electors" selected by the Central Executive Committee of the State. During that campaign he made many speeches in support of the Bell and Everett ticket and was a most efficient worker in the cause. In the spring of 1861, while secession was being debated in the Richmond Convention, Dr. Rucker, with Hon. John Minor Botts and Gen- eral John J. Jackson, addressed the people of Virginia and Western Virginia, boldly advo- cating Union doctrine. The result was that no three men in the State were more disliked, politically, by Governor John Letcher and his supporters. Shortly thereafter he left Coving-
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
ton and made an effort to reach the Union lines, and came as far as Nicholas County ; but find- ing no Union troops in that section, and fearing he would be killed by bushwhackers, he re- turned to Covington without injury to man or horse. In July following he received a com- mission as Postmaster of Covington from Presi- dent Lincoln, through Montgomery Blair, Post- master-General, and his political colleague and old personal friend John Minor Botts, who requested him to send in a list of all disloyal postmasters in that section that they might be removed. For various reasons he could not accept the appointment and wrote Mr. Botts explaining his position. The postmaster re- fused to receive the letter for mailing and it never reached its destination. Dr. Rucker's open and defiant excoriation of secession leaders and sympathizers finally resulted in his being attacked by a mob, but with a pistol in one hand and bowie-knife in the other, he defied them and indulged in oratory of the Patrick Henry school with most vigorous effect. The Doctor's subsequent career until nearly the close of the war includes hardships and exploits of the most perilous character, and their narration would fill a volume. Indeed, to review his career from 1860 to 1865 is to believe in that Providential interposition which saves such daring men from the very fate they seem to court. Intrepid, patriotic, reckless of conse- quences, the hand of a higher Power alone protected him repeatedly and in a way inexplic- able to all human anticipation. On the 27th of February, 1862, Dr. Rucker left Covington the second time and made his way into the Union lines to the camp of Colonel Crook (afterward General), of the Thirty-sixth Ohio Infantry. He engaged with the army as Chief of the Secret Service of what was known as the " Mountain Department," and subsequently he was appointed Provost Marshal of Crook's bri- gade. His duties were most important and confidential, and his knowledge of the country proved of the greatest value to the generals commanding. Dr. Rucker always was at the head of an advancing column on the staff of or in consultation with the officer in charge; and his skilful aid added greatly to the success of the Union army in its sanguinary operations throughout western and southwestern Virginia.
He became a daring scout and raider. One of his most notable achievements in this line of action was the raid at the head of seventy-five men in which he burned the Cow Pasture Bridge by orders of General Fremont. The bridge spanned the Cow Pasture River, on the Virginia Central Railroad (now the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad), about eight miles from where it joins the Jackson, below Clifton Forge, and forms the James. He passed other bridges, not particu- larly important as aids to the enemy, and touched them not, but the loss of this thoroughfare seri- ously crippled the movements of the Confeder- ates and cut off their supplies, which was the main object of the Union officers in that section. Dr. Rucker also knew that this bridge could not be rebuilt during the war. On the 25th day of July, 1862, the Doctor and several other Union officers were surprised and captured at Sum- mersville, Nicholas County. The fame of Dr. Rucker as a bridge-burner, horse-stealer, corn- stealer, etc., etc., had gone abroad all over the Confederacy, and to some he was pictured as a living terror. He was taken to the camp of the Thirty-sixth Virginia Infantry at the headquarters of General McCausland, Salt Sul- phur Springs. Surrounded by a guard of seven men with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, a special forging was made for his security in the shape of an iron bar extended between both wrists, around which were welded and riveted strong iron bands. These were placed upon the anvil while the blacksmith dealt heavy blows upon the rivet-heads. Stout man that he is, his brawny arms and sinewy wrists felt the terrific force of those crude blows which shook his nervous system to its very centre. He was kept in camp for several days under the strictest surveillance and his guard relieved every two hours. Orders were given and read repeatedly to the effect that the prisoner should not be spoken to or allowed any writing mate- rials or privileges. Lieutenant Duffy, now Auditor of West Virginia, was the officer of the day on one occasion, and at an opportune mo- ment threw the Doctor a bundle of undercloth- ing, socks, and handkerchiefs, but without a word more than " Here, Doctor." Before he left camp several physicians from Covington and other places, also Hon. Allen T. Caperton, called at the camp and interceded for him with
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
General McCausland, who, upon learning that his prisoner was not so bad as he had been de- scribed by the newspapers, revoked his orders of severity and exclusiveness, and at parting with the Doctor wished him well and apologized if he had misjudged him unduly. He started for Richmond in charge of Lieutenant St. John and sixty mounted men, with special orders to allow no one to communicate with him along the road; but this part of his instructions Lieutenant St. John himself disobeyed, and when the Doctor happened to meet an old acquaintance along the journey the exchange of greetings went on just the same in spite of the lieutenant and his guard. There are those in Lewisburg who recollect the Doctor as he rode through the country (his feet fastened together under the horse), the wonder of the small boy and the terror of the old ladies. At Richmond he was brought be- fore Judge Merideth, of the Confederate District Court, and committed as a prisoner of war to Castle Thunder. Governor Letcher, through Attorney-General Randolph Tucker, expressed disapproval of Judge Merideth's action and de- manded that he be held for treason to the State and taken to Covington for indictment and trial. Mr. Tucker was assisted by General William Skeen and Bowie Miller, while Dr. Rucker's counsel were Thomas J. Mickie, Nathaniel Harrison (afterward a West Virginia Judge), and William A. Glasgow, in all, a formidable array of legal talent. There were ten indict- ments, including murder, treason, bridge-burn- ing, horse-stealing, corn-stealing, etc. He had formerly been tried and acquitted on the charge of murder, and the Court held that he could not be tried again. The argument of counsel occu- pied six days, Judge R. M. Hudson presiding. The Doctor's lawyers tried to bring trial on the other indictments, but the case was continued indefinitely, and the prisoner meantime was held in jail. Captain James Abraham, a care- ful and voluminous writer of war " Reminis- cences," has referred quite extensively to Dr. Rucker's army career in several published ar- ticles in the Republican Standard of Union- town, Pa. Writing about the Doctor's jail ex- periences, he says (April 10, 1890) :
"While he was confined in the jail at Alle- ghany County, under the direction of the Presi- dent and Secretary Stanton, General Milroy
made an attempt to rescue him, but the rebels rushed him away. Shortly afterward General Crook sent our company (of Second West Vir- ginia Cavalry) to his rescue-as given in Remi- niscences No. 17. . . . Their efforts and others made by the Government for Rucker's rescue made the rebel authorities rush him from prison to prison-ten in all-the last being the jail of Pittsylvania County, near the North Carolina border, about twenty miles from Danville, which was selected as the strongest place to keep him imprisoned during the war. In the mean time Mr. Lincoln had arrested and held at Fortress Monroe Dr. Green, ironed hands and feet, just as Rucker was, with orders to hang him the moment Rucker's death-no matter how it oc- curred-was announced."
Both governments were now watching each other on the Doctor's account, and his name and career had become of national renown. He finally made his escape from this dungeon on October 18, 1863; how or by whose aid has never been made public-but by friends who unlocked the jail. He got out about dark, wearing a rebel uniform and armed; and, jump- ing into a buggy in waiting, with a trusty friend made speedy travel for Lynchburg, his native place (fifty-five miles distant), where he arrived at five o'clock next morning. Here he was secreted for nine days in the third story of a friend's house. He was furnished with the Confederate uniform of a lieutenant and had papers prepared for him purporting to be his authorization as Lieutenant Sylvester Walters, commissioned to search for Confederate de- serters. His friends in Lynchburg presented him with a very valuable horse that cost over one thousand dollars in Virginia treasury notes; and thus mounted he rode away in the evening as handsomely caparisoned an officer as could be found in Virginia. His steed-a truly grand animal-made rapid strides on the way toward the Federal lines, via Natural Bridge, Clifton Forge, and Covington, and by daylight brought his rider to the foot of Garden Mountain, in Botetourt County, Va. The Doctor's escape from jail was not discovered until the next morning, when the news was telegraphed to Richmond, and Governor Letcher at once pro- claimed a reward of $5,000 for his capture- dead or alive. The Doctor had little fear among strangers, as his uniform and papers were perfect, but in his journey back to the Federal lines he must go through the same sec-
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
tions in which he had always lived and through which he had been taken a prisoner. He stopped at the house of a friend at the foot of Garden Mountain the first day and remained secreted until the next evening, when he again took the road for "God's country" in old Greenbrier. He rode over the mountain that night, his splendid horse scraping the pebbles into the ravines below and striking fire at every stride. In referring to this part of his adventure the
Doctor remarked: "I felt as though I could
conquer the earth. Alexander the Great on his
Bucephalus was no braver than I on that
night going over Garden Mountain!" At about two o'clock the next morning he passed through Covington and at daybreak was at Callaghan's, a famous stage inn and hostelry, five miles be-
yond. In this vicinity he secured food for him-
self and his horse at the farm of a friend, where both were secreted in a "draft" at the back of the house about a quarter of a mile up the mountain. During the forenoon his friend in- formed him that news came from Covington of his having been seen there in the night and the authorities were out searching for him. An
impromptu council of war was held and a ruse planned by the Doctor that gave him time for escape and prevented his capture. His friend
was to go to Covington and report his hiding- place and volunteer to lead a company of armed
men to capture him. The Doctor was supposed
to be secreted in the draft, where his horse and
some of his accoutrements were to be left as though he had made hasty flight. He at once resumed his journey on foot, taking with him a little kindling, some food, and his weapons. The Confederates carefully surrounded the place at dusk, and, nearing the supposed spot,
fired into the bushes upon the alarm of " There he goes," being given by his quondam friend and alleged betrayer. At that very hour Dr. Rucker was fast asleep under some pine boughs in the Alleghany Mountains about fifteen miles from Callaghan's. So sure were the posse that
they nearly had him, and that he was shot any- way, that one of them, a surgeon, now living in Covington, made out a written report which he signed to the effect that from the blood seen on his trail he must have been mortally wounded. The effect of this was to circulate the story of Dr. Rucker's death, which was
duly printed in the newspapers. The Doctor
came always at the last moment to save his life. meeting with the Providential good luck that a fox; time and again escaping capture and continued on foot and was as closely hunted as
a bee-line for Cherry River, which they reached but the Doctor took the lead and struck out on lost their way, and the guide wanted to return, ing to the fall leaves covering the trail they across the country for the Federal camp. Ow- and nights. Accompanied by a friend he started County. Here he bathed and rested three days camp on Greenbrier River, in Pocahontas perience and much hardship, he reached a Union After several days and nights of exciting ex-
-no doubt strangely fascinating to the expec- Bottom, "and the prettiest country I ever saw" they came to a beautiful valley at Cherry Tree met their gaze. Continuing down the stream near its source, where a desolate waste of rocks
plantation is known as (and called) "The Big due time, where his companion remained. This ler's Cross Lanes, which place they reached in directly for the Doctor's plantation near Kes- or in the county, they turned their course that there were no Union troops at Summerville Knob Mountain, in Nicholas County. Learning days they reached the road at the base of Cold tant refugee soldier. After travelling three
Cherry Tree Bottom they neared the house of in the spring and fall. On the way there from eral years before the war and to it paid visits tain 1,866 acres. Dr. Rucker purchased it sev- and Hughes ferries, on Gauley River, and con- Bend of Gauley." It lies between the Carnifax
met the very man himself face to face on the section ; and, going round about to avoid it, one of the most implacable secessionists in that
road. The Confederate had known him before the war and was aware of his escape; but per- sonal acquaintance and the love of "auld lang
reaching Gauley Bridge. Mounted on the horsc now had only twenty-eight miles to go before syne" prevailed over political animosities. He
of his rebel friend, whose brother-in-law rode by his side on another horse, he pushed forward close pursuit. They reached Gauley Bridge Confederates had struck his trail and were in as rapidly as possible, for they learned that the
about daylight on the morning of November 7, just twenty days from the time of his escape
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
out of Pittsylvania jail. When his arrival was announced by Captain Merriman, of the Fifth West Virginia Infantry, commanding at Gauley, telegrams came in thickly from all parts of the State and from Washington. Dr. Rucker was completely disabled. His feet and ankles were swollen and the skin worn off. He was full of rheumatic pains and his nervous system wholly collapsed. General Scammon, of the Twenty-third Ohio, of which President Hayes was then the colonel, telegraphed from Charles- ton that Dr. Rucker must be brought there at once, no matter at what cost. An ambulance was arranged and, resting upon feather-beds, he was escorted to Charleston-some forty miles journey. From here he finally made his way under Government protection to Parkersburg, from thence to join his wife and family at Mari- etta, Ohio, who had been cared for by the Gov- ernment during his imprisonment and whom he had not seen for nearly two years. At Parkers- burg he was intercepted by telegrams from Secretary Stanton peremptorily demanding his appearance at the War Department. No excuse was of avail, and within but a few hours of his wife and children, he was obliged to go to Washington, where he was needed in important matters relating to Union prisoners and to Con- federate doings, which information could not be learned from any other source. The Doctor was shown every attention and a carriage always kept in waiting for him at the hotel, while Mr. Lincoln, Secretary Stanton, and other officials treated him most considerately. Gen- eral Halleck sought his aid in determining the correctness of certain maps relating to the roads leading out of Covington, and was much sur- prised to learn from the Doctor that the furnaces and cross-roads were wrongly placed, thereby greatly endangering the movements of the army intending to travel them. Finally Dr. Rucker left Washington to join his family, and soon thereafter was again in the field with General Crook and was commissioned Major of the Thir- teenth West Virginia Infantry. The Doctor received a hearty welcome from his old comrades and was detailed on staff duty, alternately, with Generals Crook, Sigel, and Hunter. He served until nearly the close of the war, when he resigned his commission and returned to peaceful pursuits in the new State which his
prowess had helped to establish. In Captain Abraham's Reminiscences is the following ref- erence to Dr. Rucker's ability as a guide, and the great skill he possessed in memorizing the roads and rivers he had traversed and studied all his life:
"He knew every foot of the country from Lewisburg to Richmond. After his escape in the fall of 1863 he again joined Crook, and to his knowledge of the country as much as to any other one thing were Crook and Averill enabled to reach the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad in May, 1864, destroying the railroad at Dublin Depot and the bridge across New River. After the return of this expedition Rucker was sent to Wheeling in charge of prisoners, and Crook moved his army east to Staunton, where he formed a junction with General Hunter, who had moved up from Winchester. Rucker was to join the command here and pilot the com- bined forces of Hunter and Crook to Lynch- burg. But Hunter moved out of Staunton be- fore Rucker's return and consequently lost the advantage of Rucker's knowledge of the coun- try. If Rucker had been along with Hunter, instead of going from Lexington to Buckhan- non, a distance of forty miles in the wrong direction, he would have taken us right down North River to the James, thence down the James by good roads, saved at least two days' heavy marching, and brought us upon the rebel rear, and enabled us to take their intrench- ments and fortifications before reinforcements could have reached them from Richmond."
The burning of the bridge over New River, before mentioned (which was about five hun- dred feet wide), was the most difficult and costly achievement of the kind ever attempted by the Union army in western Virginia. Its destruction as an important connection had long been contemplated by General Crook, and finally acting upon Dr. Rucker's plan of "fight- ing through the enemy" as the only means of reaching it, the river being too turbulent and risky for navigation, Crook advanced and brought on the desperate battle of Cloyd's Mountain, an infantry engagement, on the 9th of May, 1864. At the battle of New River Bridge, the next day, Crook's splendid batteries, under Captain Simmons, were placed on three different hills. The guns were well trained and did fearful execution; but as fast as the Confederates were dislodged and their guns disabled, other troops and other guns were sub- stituted with marvellous courage and rapidity.
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
This was distinctively an artillery battle. Fi- nally, seeing that it was impossible to dislodge the enemy, Dr. Rucker advised the bold plan of one hundred men under his command rushing down to the bridge with camphene cloths and firing it in broad daylight. The order being given to the Seventy-first Ohio Regiment of Infantry for one hundred volunteers, every man stepped forward. A selection was made of the youngest and strongest and they started, one hundred and one with the Doctor, while the forces in the rear yelled and fired over their heads. The Confederates were mystified; but finally concluding that their prisoners were escaping or the Union troops deserting, never realized the ruse played upon them until they saw the flames leaping along the bridge from shore to shore: and by that time every man of the one hundred and one was safe back in ranks and saw the bridge disappear. In the summer of 1872 the two principals of the foregoing nar- rative met by chance in a stage in Bath County, Va. Dr. Rucker was going to Bath Circuit Court as counsel in a will case and ex-Governor Letcher was on his way to the same court as opposing counsel. They recognized each other with this brief and pointed introduction: Ex- Governor Letcher: " Aha! old fellow, I've met you before." Dr. Rucker: "Yes, and I've met you, too." The conversation turned to old times before the war when they were good per- sonal friends. The ex-Governor assured the Doctor that he never intended to deprive him of his life, but was determined to keep him in jail as long as possible for the sake of the Con- federate army in Virginia. Mr. Letcher died at his home in Lexington, Va., on the 26th day of January, 1884. Upon leaving the army Dr. Rucker settled upon his Nicholas County plan- tation, where he handled cattle, horses, and sheep; he also engaged in the buying and sell- ing of timber, oil, and coal lands. Five years subsequently he sold out his land to the Chesa- peake and Ohio Railroad Company. He then began the practice of law, having read law pre- vious to his medical course; removed to Lewis- burg in 1870, where he has since continued and enjoys a good practice. In 1870 he was elected on the Republican ticket Prosecuting Attorney of Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties respec- tively, and served two years. He was selected
by the Republican State Committee to conduct the contested election cases of November 8, 1888, in several counties, involving the election of General Goff to the Governorship. Dr. Ruck- er and his noble wife, who shared his trials, live comfortably and happily on one of his farms a mile east of Lewisburg. Mrs. Rucker, like her husband, is large of stature and a lady of fine personal presence. Major, or Dr., Rucker as he is most generally called, is a Virginian to the manner born. Although over sixty he is in per- fect health and a good sprinter. He vigorously prosecutes an extensive and diversified law practice, and is equally at home whether attend- ing to some simple matter in equity, or to a case in the County or Circuit Courts or in the Supreme Court of Appeals of his State; and the thoroughness and persistency of his efforts in behalf of a client or a cause are a part of his general reputation. His oratory both by in- heritance and acquisition is of a soulful quality ; and a deep, manly voice, deliberate emphasis, and great vigor of construction never fail of producing an emphatic impression upon his hearers. A lineal descendant of noble sons and daughters, conspicuous in the trials and suffer- ings as well as in the triumphs and honors of his native State, he bears a historical name and has a conscientious appreciation of its worthi- ness and distinction, which, it need not be said, he has well sustained both as a patriot and as a professional man distinguished in two branches of learning. He is of that class of Virginians who were more or less prominent when the war broke out, but whose patriotism was of such . inborn character that, braving every danger and impervious to every menace and social influence, they boldly stood for the Union, although imbued with a love for Virginia and proud of her history. It is difficult for those outside of this environment to fully comprehend what a struggle it was and the high qualities of manhood and self-denial it involved for Vir- ginians and true descendants of Virginians like Dr. Rucker to denounce secession and risk all for an undivided Union. Dr. Rucker's children -four boys-all well-to-do, are named as fol- lows: Hedley Scott Rucker, a practising lawyer in Huntersville, Pocahontas County, W. Va., married Lizzie Camm Scott, of Lynchburg; Wil- liam Waller Rucker, Prosecuting Attorney of
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