OCR | Washington and Lee University (2024)

ROCKBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

VOLUl\!IE EIGHT OF THE PROCEEDINGS,
1970-1974

(
(

RHS

VIII

(

(
(

(

Cover Drawings:
Front-The Campbell House
(Rockbridge Historical Society Headquarters),
by Barbara Crawf9rd.
Back-The Old Blue Hotel
(c. 1818; demolished 1947; as it appeared in the 1880s),
by Carrie Clark.

Proceedings
of the
Rockbridge Historical Society
Volume VIII (1970-1974)

Larry I. Bland, Editor
Joellen K. Bland, Assistant Editor

Lexington, Virginia
1979

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 49-31386
ISSN: 0080-3383

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROCKBRIDGE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY, VOLUME EIGHT. Copyright © 1980 by the
Rockbridge Historical Society. Printed in the United States of
America. All rights reserved . For information concerning
reprint rights write The Librarian, Rockbridge Historical
Society, Box 514, Lexington, Virginia 24450.
Volume Eight includes papers read before the Society
1970-1974. One thousand copies were published by the
Rockbridge Historical Society, with the assistance of the
George C. Marshall Research Foundation, in December 1979.
Additional copies of this volume and earlier volumes are
available from The Librarian, Rockbridge Historical Society,
Box 514, Lexington, Virginia 24450.

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

v11

Early Man in Rockbridge County ...................... .
Log Buildings in Rockbridge County
Royster Lyle, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

New Providence Presbyterian Church, 1746-1856
Roy K. Patteson, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Lexington Presbyterians, 1819-1882:
Personalities, Problems, Peculiarities
James G. Ley burn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Early Iron Industry in Rockbridge County
T. T. Brady ................... ... ................ 45
William Weaver, Ironmonger
D. E. Brady, Jr.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Benjamin Darst, Sr., Architect-Builder of Lexington
H. Jackson Darst. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
A Cyrus McCormick Story
William H. McClure ............................... 77
A Judge's School: A Brief Biography of
John White Brockenbrough
Matthew W. Paxton, Jr. ............................ 85
An Automobile Tour of the North River Navigation
William E. Trout III. ............................... 105
Lexington Civil War Babies:
Three National Fraternities
Richard R. Fletcher ................... . ..... ....... 115
Buena Vista and Its Boom, 1889-1891
Royster Lyle, Jr. . ·... ........ ..... ...... ........ . .. 131
William Mccutchan Morrison:
Missionary to the Congo
Sterling M. Heflin ................................. 145

Ill

Contents (continued)

Mrs. McCulloch 's Stories of Ole Lexington ......... . ...... 159
Some Recollections of Colonel William Couper
John L. Couper ................................... 161
John A. Graham
G . Francis Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Photography as Social History . .. . ...................... 185
"By Much Slothfulness the Building Decayeth:"
Historic Preservation in Virginia
I. Taylor Sanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Another Perspective on Lexington Architecture
Pamela H. Simpson .. .. ............................ 205
Virginia's Bicentennial Objectives
Lewis A. McMurran, Jr. .. . ......................... 211
Officers of the Society ................................ 215
Activities of the Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Principal Acquisitions, 1970-1974 ....................... 223
Financial Report, 1974 . ............................... 224
Necrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Index ............................................. 226

(

Illustration Sources

page
2
4
6
9
11
18
22
24
25
31
35
38
41

(

43
47
49
51
54
56
57
59
68
70
71
80
81
83
84
88

95
101
106
107
109
110

VMI Museum
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Royster Lyle, Jr.
New Providence Church
New Providence Church
New Providence Church
New Providence Church
Lexington Presbyterian Church
Lexington Presbyterian Church
Lexington Presbyterian Church
Lexington Presbyterian Church
Pamela H. Simpson
Encyclopedie, "Forges"
Rockbridge Historical Society
Rockbridge Historical Society
D. E. Brady, Jr.
D. E. Brady, Jr.
D. E. Brady, Jr.
D. E. Brady, Jr.
W & L, Historical Papers, 4(1893)
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Shen. Valley Res. Station, VPI
Shen . Valley Res . Station,VPI
Rockbridge Historical Society
Larry Bland
W & L Archives

111

117
121
123
126
134
135
137
139
141
151
154
156
166
169
174
181
183
196
197
198
207
208
210

W & L Archives
W & L Archives
Rockbridge Historical Society
Rockbridge Historical Society
Larry Bland
Larry Bland
Larry Bland
Richard R. Fletcher
Richard R. Fletcher
Richard R. Fletcher
Richard R. Fletcher
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Rockbridge Historical Society
Rockbridge Historical Society
Tshiluba Dictionary ( 1939)
Rockbridge Historical Society
T.C.Vinson, Morrison (1921)
VMI
VMI
The Calyx (W & L, 1948)
W & L Alumni Office
W & L Archives
G. Otis Mead
G . Otis Mead
G. Otis Mead
Rockbridge Historical Society
Western Va. Bicen. Info. Cr.
Western Va . Bicen. Info. Cr.

Introduction

If George Santayana is correct in saying that "a country without a
memory is a country of madmen,'' then Rockbridge County is sane indeed, for the memory of its people is long and is continually enhanced by
its historians. This collection of essays, garnered from twenty quarterly
meetings of the Rockbridge Historical Society, spans the period from the
prehistoric to the present. Methodologically, the historian's standard
practice of archival research is leavened generously with oral history.
Rockbridge's Scotch-Irish Presbyterian heritage constitutes an important theme for the county's students of its history; but there are other
important themes. The traditionally strong, deeply rooted Virginia family leads naturally to an interest in genealogy. And when one's ancestors
built with such vitality, it is not surprising to discover here an abiding
concern for the preservation and history of local architecture. Finally,
this small county is the home of three institutions of higher education,
each of which has had indelible intellectual, social and cultural impact
upon the community and its historians.
The seventeen signed essays in this book have been arranged roughly
in the chronological order of their subjects. They represent varied stages
in their authors' researches. Some were preliminary reports presented extemporaneously or from notes; the papers herein printed were written
later. Other essays were more on the order of interim reports of ongoing
studies which the authors subsequently expanded or condensed. A few
essays were the authors' final effort on the subject described. In some
cases the editor has condensed an essay to fit the space available here.
Three presentations before the Society were never essays in the accepted
sense, and the editor has supplied a brief description of the topic. If the
author supplied footnotes and other scholarly apparatus, these were
printed in the expectation that future researchers would benefit from the
sources cited.
Many people labored to create this book. Most important were the
authors of the essays whose unremunerated efforts are printed_here.
Secondly, Richard Fletcher, the Society's president during 1979-80, encouraged and supported the publishing project; equally important was
his tenacity in locating and obtaining the essays and many of the illustrations.
Two institutions deserve much praise for their technical assistance.
The George C. Marshall Research Foundation provided the editor, office
space and equipment. The Historical Society purchased its type from the

vii

Lexington News-Gazette; but more importantly, the paper's longsuffering production department, particularly James Dedrick and his
assistants, Sharon Ludt and Jane Rorrer, helped to create a book where
only manuscripts and ideas had existed. Thanks are also due to Barbara
Crawford and Carrie Clark for donating their artistic talents for the
front and back covers; to Royster Lyle and many others for their
assistance in obtaining pictures, and to Betty Kondayan and Sarah
Radick of the Washington and Lee Archives. John Jacob's assistance in
lay-out was invaluable.
Few people find writing easy or quick work. Writers of history, inevitably discovering themselves constrained by relatively unmalleable
facts and surfeited by ideas and possible interpretations, can sympathize
with Tristram Shandy's description of the problem:
When a man sits down to write a history, ... if he is a man of the least spirit,
he will have fifty deviations from a straight line to make with this or that party as he goes along, which he can no way avoid. He will have views and prospects to himself perpetually soliciting his eye, which he can no more help
standing still to look at than he can fly; he will moreover have various Accounts to pick up: Inscriptions to make out: Stories to weave in: Traditions
to paste up at this door: Pasquinades at that: . . . To sum up all; there are archives at every stage to be look'd into, and rolls, records, documents, and
endless genealogies, which justice ever and anon calls him back to stay the
reading of: -In short, there is no end of it.*

But as the essays in this and previous volumes of the Proceedings
demonstrate, there is indeed an end of it, an enjoyable and valuable one.
Perhaps previous and future contributors will be less intimidated by
Shandy's description of the process having seen these results. 1:?

* Laurence Sterne, The Lije and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (New
York, 1940), pp. 36-37.
viii

(

Early Man In Rockbridge County

(

RIMITIVE, NOMADIC INHABITANTS, members of a Paleo-Indian
culture, roamed the Shenandoah Valley thousands of years before
the descendants of European and African civilizations arrived a
mere two and one-half centuries ago. These "Amerinds" were a blend of
several races rather than true Mongoloids; their features usually included
dark skin, straight black hair, relarively little body hair, prominent cheek
bones, and hawk-like noses.
This description of the earliest humans in Rockbridge County was
given to the members and their guests at the Rockbridge Historical Society's May 3, 1971, meeting at the Lexington Presbyterian Church by John
Henry Reeves, Jr. Colonel Reeves is the Professor of Biology at the
Virginia Military Institute; but in addition he is an archeologist, paleontologist and botanist, to list only his scientific credentials. Illustrating
Colonel Reeves' talk were dozens of projectile points, pottery shards and
scrapers which young Pete Davis, son of Mr. and Mrs . Paxton Davis,
found along Woods Creek when the Lexington golf course was dug up
during the summer of 1970.
Colonel Reeves described Davis' artifacts as coming from several
cultural levels which demonstrated that the people who used them were
inhabitants of the region from 7000 B.C. to 500 B.C. The earlier artifacts

Early Man in Rockbridge
were used by nomadic bands who took pleasure in making polished,
pointed stones and spear weights for hunting. These wanderers moved
through the region in small groups, led by a very old man or woman-a
person perhaps thirty or forty years old. Their lives were hard and short.
Their teeth wore down rapidly from the poor food. They cooked soup in
bark or skin containers, warmed with hot clay balls heated in the ashes of
their fires.
These early people achieved a great technical breakthrough when
they learned to make pottery, the broken remains of which young Davis
discovered. These new cooking vessels probably enabled the people to
improve their diet and consequently their health. At this time they began
to live a more sedentary life. Villages appeared as the people began to
practice agriculture-growing corn, potatoes, tomatoes and tobacco.
They even practiced dentistry.
The earliest inhabitants of Rockbridge County adhered to a rigorous
moral code. Mentally retarded children were not abandoned to certain
death or left to the family, but were considered to be a gift of the gods
and were treated with care and affection by the entire community.
Marital laws were strict; those not conforming might be expelled from
the group and stoned. Punishment for transgressions of the moral code
could be swift and sometimes deadly. ~

Early man's tools are displayed at the VMI Archeological Museum.
2

(
(

Log Buildings in Rockbridge County
Royster Lyle, Jr.

(

a segment of the folk building styles
which started in the western Virginia area in the eighteenth
century and which in certain ways influenced the later forms of
more sophisticated architecture. Concentration will naturally be in the
Rockbridge County area where the majority of my research was done.
Frank Lloyd Wright wrote in 1910 that "the true basis for any
serious study of the art of architecture still lies in those indigenous, more
humble buildings everywhere that are to architecture what folklore is to
literature or folk song to music and with which academic architects were
seldom concerned.''
Any discussion of the indigenous architectural forms in the Valley
of Virginia must necessarily begin with the log cabin, the log house and
the log barn. During the past several years I have photographed or examined over one hundred log buildings in the Rockbridge County area
and, with the assistance of several recent articles, have been able to draw
several conclusions about the styles and types found in the county. Ac-

HIS PAPER WILL DISCUSS

Royster Lyle, Jr., of Lexington, Virginia, is Associate Director of the George C. Marshall
Research Foundation and curator of its museum, an architectural historian, and the editor
of volume six of the Society's Proceedings. Mr. Lyle addressed the Society on October 26,
1970, in Lejeune Hall at the Virginia Military Institute .

Royster Lyle, Jr .
companying this investigation has been an effort to determine the
various cultural influences that caused these particular forms to develop.
It is important to mention that there is a wealth of extant source
material available in this part of the country. I was, of course, able to examine only a small .percentage of the log structures still standing in the
county. I expect that there are probably few places in the United States
with a greater concentration of remaining log buildings. The area is fertile ground for further serious study.
To explain fully the movement of log construction into the Valley of
Virginia, it is necessary to begin in the mid-seventeenth century when the
Swedes began settling in the Delaware Valley in the area near
Philadelphia. C. A. Weslager, in his book The Log Cabin in America,

Log corn crib, White Rock Mountain.
states that "because the use of horizontally-laid notched logs, both
round and hewn, as an accepted form of settlement housing, made its
American debut in New Sweden, the area is of utmost importance for a
thorough understanding of the origins and diffusion of what came to be
known as the American log cabin.''
This is principally the same conclusion reached by Harold R.
Shurtleff in his book The Log Cabin Myth, published forty years ago.
Shurtleff wrote: ''Each group of European colonists in the 17th century
erected the sort of dwelling they were accustomed to at home. The only
17th century colonists who brought with them a log-house technique
were the Swedes." Shurtleff, who was director of research at Colonial
4

Log Buildings in Rockbridge

(
\

Williamsburg in the 1930s, spent most of his scholarly book proving that
the early settlers in New England and Virginia did not build log
houses in spite of the folklore that has survived.
Samuel Eliot Morison said that Shurtleff found "strongly entrenched in the public mind a myth that the log cabin was the earliest form of
dwelling of the English settlers. Whenever there was question of restoring Jamestown, or Roanoke Island, or some other earlier colonial
village, he was confronted by a strong public bias in favor of the log
cabin.'' Shurtleff notes that Professor Thomas J. Wertenbaker, who
made his own investigation of earlier colonial housing, concluded that
there were no log houses in Virginia or New England until the eighteenth
century. But, Shurtleff concludes, "So firmly established is the Log
Cabin Myth, and so widely has it been disseminated by illustrations, picture post cards, pageants, and reconstructions, that the dispelling of [this
myth] will take many years."

A t the close of the seventeenth century German settlers began landing
~ i n eastern Pennsylvania. William Penn had hoped to attract
desirable Europeans seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity; by 1710 the Germans were arriving in large numbers. Many of
them, notably those from Switzerland, the Black Forest, Upper Bavaria
and Saxony, had lived in log houses at home and knew of no other
method of housing for people with modest means. The Germans were
soon to be numerically superior to all the other groups. And it was the
German folk culture that soon became dominant in this area, including
that of housing construction. That Swedish and Finnish log buildings
were present in Pennsylvania is perhaps important, but the German
influence from this point on became the most persistent.
Three decades after the Germans had begun settling in Pennsylvania, the first Scotch-Irish arrived from northern Ireland. Of all the
American colonies, Pennsylvania best suited the restless, lowland Scots
who were already living in an unhappy foreign land. William Penn offered to the Scotch-Irish, as he did to each European group, a government based on universal male suffrage and a promise of economic success for a man who was willing to work. As a Quaker and a pacifist, he
made no provisions for a militia or any military establishment and he
guaranteed.in his charter complete freedom of conscience. Between 1717
and 1735 approximately 250,000 Scotch-Irish came to America from
Ulster, most of them stopping first in Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania. The Scotch-Irish who settled in New Castle, Delaware, were exposed first to the Swedish-Finnish log housing and those who settled west
of Philadelphia to that of the Germans.
The houses of the Scots in lowland Scotland had been almost
5

Royster Lyle, Jr.
nondescript; many were one room "shanties of stone, banked with turf,
without mortar, the crevices stuffed with straw, heather or moss" to
keep out the weather. In Ulster, after they had moved across to northern
Ireland, things were little better. Charles Hanna, in his book The Scotchlrish, referred to the Ulster dwellings as "poor thatched houses" and
"houses covered with clods." Some historians agree that the Scotch-Irish
brought with them no housing culture or tradition, let alone one of log.
Unlike the English settlers who knew of or had seen log buildings on the
Continent, the settlers from Ulster knew nothing of log houses. In addition, they apparently brought with them "no traditions of horticulture,
orchards, and vineyards, nor skilled craftsmanship, whether for housebuilding, furniture or farm implements ." Dr. James Leyburn, in his
sociological study of the Scotch-Irish, paints the Ulsterman and his

Log house, Route 632.
descendants as almost without an artistic culture. "In the earliest days of
settlement there was no time for the artistic, even if the motive had been
there. A home was a house to be lived in; a church was a building in
which one might hear the Word; a school was a place for teaching and
1earning. ' '
Yet, inspite of this, it was the Scotch-Irish immigrants from Pennsylvania and their descendants who became the dominant American
pioneer and from whom developed the American frontier culture-not
the least part of which was log building construction.
6

Log Buildings in Rockbridge

n 1730 a new land policy was instituted by Governor William Gooch of
Virginia-that of granting great tracts of land in the Valley of Virginia
to individual entrepreneurs. By this time settlers had already found most
of the attractive farm lands in Pennsylvania, .while the flow of settlers
from Germany and Ulster continued unabated. Many of the Germans
had by the 1730s pushed their way across the Potomac River and had
taken up much of the finest land in the northern end of the Valley.
In 1736 Governor Gooch gave William Beverly and Benjamin
Borden two grants of 118,491 acres and 92,100 acres respectively.
Beverly's land covered the area to the North, including the modern
county of Augusta and the cities of Staunton and Waynesboro. Borden's
land was the southern part of Augusta and almost the whole of
Rockbridge, including what later became Lexington. One of the stipulations was that Borden should have a hundred families settled on the land
before he could receive title. Within two years he succeeded in securing
the necessary settlers from Pennsylvania and in 1739 he received clear title.
Within the decade after 1736 these two tracts were so predominately
Scotch-Irish that they were known as the "Irish Tract." Charles Hanna
recorded that in 1738 these Scotch-Irish settlers had constructed ninetytwo cabins on the Borden tract. Land dispersement, or "cabin right"
was based upon the settler's having built a log cabin upon the tract he
claimed.
Weslager records that during their stay in Pennsylvania the ScotchIrishmen did not learn log construction easily. He says: "Whereas the
skilled German or Swedish cabin builder was capable of hewing logs with
two or four flat surfaces, and interlocking them with carefully executed
notches to produce tight, square, even corners, Scotch-Irish builders, at
least at first, did not possess this sophistication, and both their round
and hewn log cabins were crudely notched, having wide gaps between the
logs to be chinked with mud, moss, wood, and stones, just as they had
caulked the stone walls of their lowland shanties.'' But undoubtedly the
craft learned by the Scotch-Irish from the Germans and Swedes improved and developed to a certain degree of sophistication as is evidenced by
an investigation of examples still extant in this area of Virginia.
Only recently have students of architectural history begun to look
seriously at early log construction as an important form of American
building. Hardly can a log cabin be called an architectural type, but as a
building method it is of special significance in certain areas because of
the forms that resulted from this sort of construction. Social geographers
became interested in log construction (and all early folk buildings for
that matter) as a way of tracing the diffusion of various ethnic groups
throughout the country.

Royster Lyle, Jr.
As the Valley of Virginia was a key route to the west and southwest,
area is receiving special attention. Two imaginative scholars,
Fred Kniffen and Henry Glassie, have been the leaders in developing a
number of outstanding studies on housing types, corner timbering
methods, chimney construction, roofing materials, and so on. Little can
be written on the subject today without reflecting on their first-rate
books and articles.
Kniffen and Glassie are quick to admit that much more field work
needs to be done on the remaining log buildings in every area. There are
few places left where log construction is still employed as an authentic
method for housing, certainly not in the Valley. Farm buildings, particularly those involving the tobacco culture, are still being built of log in
many sections of the South. Log construction as a modest housing form
has been almost completely replaced in the South by balloon frame
houses and more recently by prefabricated, pre-cut and mobile homes.
In my field work in Rockbridge County I found that the log structures built originally for housing can be divided into two categories: log
cabins and log houses. Some studies have divided folk buildings into
square houses and rectangular houses, regardless of the construction
materials, but I found that this did not appear practical in this area.
In Rockbridge County the log cabin appears to range in outside
dimensions from 12 x 15 feet to about 15 x 18 feet. There are, of course,
exceptions, but this is about average. On the whole the cabin is less well
built than the house and corner timbering methods seem to be more
crude. The cabin is almost always smaller with one room downstairs and
a loft above. The loft is usually reached by a ladder through a corner
opening in the ceiling. In most cases there is only the front door, with one
front window on the side toward the chimney. The older buildings had
no windows. I found no convincing evidence of dirt floors; the fireplace
levels would indicate board floors from the beginning. A good example
of a typical Rockbridge cabin is located at the Kerrs Creek bridge at the
junction of state secondary roads 631 and 602.
It is doubtful that the early pioneer planned the cabin as a permanent dwelling; it was just the quickest way of establishing a residence.
Undoubtedly he expected as soon as possible to build a more substantial
house of log or stone (and perhaps of brick-although this came a little
later) to accommodate his family. Since he already knew log construction, the larger log house was in many cases his next effort. The log
house in our area is usually 16 x 20 feet to about 19 x 24 feet, appearing
nearly square, but a little wider than deep.
The most characteristic house has two rooms downstairs and two
rooms upstairs with a central front door and one chimney at a gable end.
Some of the larger houses have two chimneys. The stair is entered direct-

~ this

Log Buildings in Rockbridge

(

Early log cabin, Kerrs Creek, Routes 631 & 632.

(

ly from the front door or in some cases is a box stair in the back of the
house. The original partitions between the rooms were vertical boards;
interior log walls are unusual in a house. Both the cabin and the house
almost always have a front porch which was a principal work area. The
interior house walls and the porch were generally whitewashed.
ne of the most interesting special characteristics of the log construction is the different ways the log ends are notched and joinedwhat is called corner timbering. Little seems to be known about why
certain forms of notching are more prevalent in some places than in
others. In the Valley of Virginia the most common log ending type is Vnotching. Other types which can be found are half dove-tailing (uncommon), and full dove-tailing (rare); outside Rockbridge County
square notching and saddle notching can be found. I have seen square
notching in Amherst and Bath Counties, and round notching in
Botetourt County. Most of the log endings on buildings used for

Royster Lyle, Jr.
residences are cut flush with the corner, while on many of the farm
buildings the logs extend to various lengths.
In the better built cabins and houses in the Valley there is a special
form of chinking and daubing. Chinking is placing wood slabs tightly at
an angle in the log interstices. Then the interstices were made more solid
by adding a mixture of mud and lime, known as daubing. The combination of the thick log walls and the careful chinking and daubing thus
made the log structures, as Thomas Jefferson put it, ''warmer in winter
and cooler in summer than the more expensive constructions of scantling
and plank.''
Two types of early wood roofs can be found: clapboard (long nar-

~
\
~

Corner-timbering methods in the Southern Mountains: A) V-notching;
B) half dovetail; C) Square notching D) Full dovetail E) Saddle notching.
row wood shingling) and smaller shingles. A clapboard roof is not to be
confused with the New England term, clapboard, which in Virginia is
generally called weatherboarding. Many of the exposed log sides of
houses in the Valley were covered with weatherboarding shortly after
they were built to protect the logs and the daubing from the weather.
Th.is has made it particularly difficult to examine the majority of the extant log buildings, but has had the effect of preserving the buildings. Today many of the very early structures are still in excellent condition.
Anyone who has built a log cabin with a "Lincoln Log" set will fully
~ understand the impossibility of adding another log room to a log

cabin without tearing down the entire building and starting over. Because
10

Log Buildings in Rockbridge
of the obvious need for the early builder to enlarge his log cabin, various
methods were devised to circumvent this problem. The most common
solution throughout the South, although not in Rockbridge County, is
called the dog trot, wherein two cabins are set side by side with a hallway
between. In most cases the houses were later weatherboarded and the
area between the cabins became the front hall.
A more common local double cabin form is the saddle bag, which is
two cabins (pens) built on either side of a central chimney, leaving a
small area exposed on either side of the chimney. Most of the additions
to log buildings were of frame construction, as this was much easier to

Double pen log barn, Marble Valley.
attach to the original house. This type can be observed frequently
throughout the county. Still another way of adding to a log house was to
build a second pen abutting the first and cutting a door through the two
thicknesses of logs.
Dating cabins and other log buildings is difficult because few
records were kept and, as it was a folk form, succeeding generations built
almost identical structures using the same basic methods.
Most of the log structures throughout Virginia and the South were
not built as residences but as farm outbuildings. Among the most interesting is the double crib barn so prevalent in Pennsylvania and
throughout the Valley of Virginia. In Rockbridge County the double crib
or double pen barns come in many variations, but the basic plan is the
11

Royster Lyle, Jr.
same. The two square pens are generally 15 x 15 to 20 x 20 feet with a
passage between about the same width as the pens. In most cases sheds
have been added which have helped in the buildings' preservation.
What part log construction has in the total picture of the architecture of the Old Dominion needs considerably more study. But there is no
question that it was the most important building method of the early settlers (and their descendants) in Rockbridge County and in a large section
of the state. The new findings from extensive field work concerning the
methods used in . early log construction will be helpful in the many
reconstruction projects now under way across the state. It will mean the
difference between an authentic restoration and one carelessly done.
How much more impressive it will be to announce that you have recently
begun work on a full dove-tailed saddle bag rather than merely a log
cabin. ~

Selected Bibliography
Glassie, Henry, Pattern In The Material Folk Culture Of The Eastern
United States. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1968.
----------, "The Types of the Southern Mountain Cabin," in Jan H. Brunvand, ed., The Study Of American Folklore; An Introduction. New
York : W.W. Norton, 1968.
Kniffen, Fred, "Corner Timbering," Pioneer America, !(January 1969).
----------, "Folk Housing: Key to Diffusion," Annals of the Association
of American Geographers, 55(December 1965).
----------and Henry Glassie, "Building in Wood in the Eastern United
States: A Time-Place Perspective," The Geographical Review,
56(January 1966).
Shurtleff, H. R., The Log Cabin Myth; A Study of the Early Dwellings
of the English Colonists in North America. Boston: Harvard
University, 1939.
Weslager, C. A., The Log Cabin in America; From Pioneer Days to the
Present. New Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University, 1969.

New Providence Presbyterian Church
1746-1856
Roy K. Patteson, Jr.

HE SCOTCH-IRISH PRESBYTERIANS were among the more
numerous settlers who came into the Valley of Virginia. Most of
them came from Ulster, in the northern part of Ireland, just
across from Scotland. Their lives in Ireland had been marked by a
rebellion against England, by resentment from their native Roman
Catholic neighbors, and by heavy restrictions upon their rights. Fighting,
famine and pestilence reduced their numbers in Ireland, and after nearly
a century of discrimination under English laws, they sought relief by
migrating to America.
The first Scotch-Irish Presbyterians settled in Delaware, Maryland,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 1706 they formed the Presbytery of
Philadelphia with seven ministers. From the beginning these ministers
dedicated themselves to the difficult task of supplying the "desolate
places" of the colonies which were without a minister. They mutually
covenanted to encourage the formation of Christian societies wherever

Dr. Roy K. Patteson, at the time this address was delivered, lived in Rockbridge Baths,
Virginia, and held the position of Director of Development at Mary Baldwin College in
Staunton . He holds a Ph .D. degree from Duke University in Biblical Literature, Languages
and History. Dr. Patteson's presentation to the Society was made on July 29, 1974, in the
auditorium of New Providence Presbyterian Church near Brownsburg.

Roy K. Patteson
possible and accepted assignments to itinerate into Virginia whenever
possible.
The Scotch-Irish began to move, legally and otherwise, into the
Shenandoah Valley in search of free or cheap land. In 1734 the lieutenant
governor of Virginia, William Gooch, granted an Englishman named
Benjamin Borden a patent for 500,000 acres. This land comprised a portion of what became Rockbridge County in 1778. The land was granted
to Borden on condition that he settle one hundred families on it. He
advertized the land in Ireland, offering one hundred acres to each family
who would build a cabin on it. By 1737 families began arriving, and in
late 1739 Borden obtained his patent. Another grant about the same time
was issued to William Beverly and some others for almost 120,000 acres.
This grant included the area around what was soon called Staunton and
was known as Beverly Manor, a name still retained in the vicinity.
In May, 1738, John Caldwell, acting in behalf of himself and some
other Presbyterian families about to settle in the Valley of Virginia, requested the Synod of Philadelphia' to send a delegation to Williamsburg
to seek the colonial government's permission to practice their religion in
the region. The synod appointed a committee which drafted a properly
deferential letter assuring Lieutenant Governor Gooch that the settlers,
like all members of the Church of Scotland, were completely loyal to the
"illustrious House of Hanover, and have upon all occasions manifested
an unspotted fidelity to our gracious sovereign King George," and merely desired the favor of "the liberty of their consciences .... "
Governor Gooch's favorable response was read to the Synod at its
May, 1739, meeting .
. . . as I have been always inclined to favor the people who have lately removed from other provinces, to settle on the western side of our great mountains;
so you may be assured that no interruptions shall be given to any minister of
your profession who shall come among them, so as they conform themselves
to rules prescribed by the Act of Toleration in England, by taking the oaths
enjoined thereby, and registering the places of their meeting, and behave
themselves peaceably towards the government.

It is apparent from this how desirous the English were of protecting
themselves from the Indians and of fortifying their claim to the western
areas of the continent by establishing a white population in the Valley of
Virginia.

n 1740 the Presbyterians in the Valley made a formal request for the
services of a pastor to the Presbytery of Donegal. 2 In September of

' The number of Presbyterian ministers and members had increased sufficiently for
four presbyteries to be formed. In 1717 they met together as the Synod of Philadelphia.
2
The Presbytery of Donegal had been organized in 1732 in the region centering on
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of serving the frontier region.

New Providence Church
that year the Reverend John Craig accepted a call for the congregation of
Shenandoah, and he was set apart for the work of the ministry in the
southern part of Beverly's Manor. Craig later described the Valley as a
"new settlement without a place of worship or any church order, a
wilderness in the proper sense, and a few Christian settlers in it, with
numbers of the heathen traveling among us." The Indians could be
troublesome, he noted; it was always best to give them what they wished
to eat or drink in order to avoid trouble.
About this time severe differences became apparent in the Synod of
Philadelphia among the ministers, centering chiefly on the question of
proper qualifications for ministers . The division was also occasioned by
the "Great Awakening" which had spread throughout the country as a
result of the evangelical preaching of Jonathan Edwards, and later of
George Whitfield. This revival movement led to differing views regarding the place of personal experience (i.e., inner-calling of the spirit) and
of the emotions in religious experience.
The matter came to a head in 1741 in the Synod of Philadelphia; the
result was a division of the church which would last for seventeen years.
The more conservative ministers, who would later be known as the "Old
Side," protested on June 1, 1741, against the abuses which they attributed to the "New Side" ministers. After the reading of this protest, a
vote was taken which showed the revivalist party in the minority. The
New Side ministers thereupon withdrew and formed the Synod of New
York.
The Synod of New York brought the Presbyterian Church to the
congregations of the Valley of Virginia. The Presbyterian societies which
had been established by the Synod of Philadelphia were actually aligned
with the Old Side portion of the church, but the Old .Side's lack of
ministers and zeal prevented them from doing extensive missionary work
in the Valley. In contrast the New Side was more aggressive and sent men
such as Samuel and John Blair to organize churches on both sides of the
Blue Ridge Mountains.
John Craig, who remained aligned with the Old Side portion of the
Church, supplied the congregations and meeting houses in the Valley as
early as 1740, although there had been no formal effort to organize a
church. The Presbyterians who were there at first met in homes, in
shelters constructed as meeting houses, or perhaps in the open in good
weather.
In 1743, Reverend Craig, having accepted the pastorate at the
Augusta Stone Church, as well as at Tinkling Spring, visited the New
Providence community, which was then only a Presbyterian society and
a part of the "South Mountain Meeting House," located near the spot
where the Old Providence Church now stands. Craig preached in many

Roy K. Patteson
of the homes and administered the sacraments in the New Providence
area.
In 1746 the Reverend John Blair, a New Side minister, organized the
New Providence congregation in the Spottswood area. Blair had been
educated at the Log College in Pennsylvania; later he was to become the
Professor of Theology and the Vice President of New Jersey College at
Princeton. Ordained in 1742, he made two trips to Virginia, the first in
1745, when he visited the Valley and other points east of the Blue Ridge.
In 1746 he returned and organized the congregations of North Mountain
(later known at Hebron and Bethel), Timber Ridge, Forks of James and
New Providence. In this way the itinerations of other ministers before
him, such as William Robinson in 1743, had borne fruit. Now churches
were regularly organized and permanent Presbyterian pastors would
soon follow.
On May 20, 1748, a notice was entered into the records of the
Augusta County Court which stated:
On the motion of Matthew Lyle, yts ordered to be certified that they have
built a Presbyterian meeting house at a place known by the name of Timber
Ridge, another at New Providence, and another at a place known by the
name of Falling Spring.

he first meeting house of the newly-organized New Providence
Church was located at or near the spot now occupied by Old
Providence Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. The stone
structure which stands adjacent to the present brick building is said to
occupy the place where the original log church stood. At this time the
geographical limits of the congregation would have extended from near
Bethel on the north, to North Mountain on the west, to the Blue Ridge
Mountains on the east, and to the Timber Ridge area on the south. The
first church structure was a log house typical of its time. Perhaps, as was
common practice at the time, it was built on land owned by one of the
members. It is unknown when it was constructed-as early as 1745, when
the Great Awakening was reaching into the Valley, is the best
judgment-or how long it survived. This Christian society was initially
known as the' 'South Mountain Meeting House.''
South Mountain Church was flourishing by 1748, for at that time
the congregation attempted to call a Mr. Byram to the pulpit. Byram had
spent the years 1746-47 in the Rockbridge area and had contributed to
the Awakening there. Probably under his influence, and with the expectation of calling him, the first regular meeting house was completed.
Nevertheless, Byram refused the call.
Meanwhile, the Timber Ridge congregation was also having difficulties. Timber Ridge had formerly called William Dean, who had ac-

New Providence Church
cepted the call but had died shortly thereafter; he probably never began
his regular work in the congregation. This, plus Byram's refusal, encouraged the two congregations to form a union to secure supplies until
settled ministers could be called. This relationship endured until 1767.
In August, 1753, a call, signed by one hundred-fifteen people of the
Timber Ridge and New Providence congregations, for the services of
John Brown, was presented to the New Castle Presbytery. The call was a
contract and is interesting as a historical and social as well as a religious
document:
Worthy Dear Sir: we being for these many years past in very destitute circumstances, in want of the ordinances of the gospel among us, many of us
under distressing spiritual languishment, and multitudes perishing in our sins
for want of the bread of life broken among us, our sabbaths wasted in melancholy silence at home, are sadly broken and profane by the more thoughtless
among us, our hearts and hands disengaged and our spirits broken with our
mournful condition, and repeated disappointments of our expectations and
relief of this particular; in these afflicting circumstances that human language
cannot sufficiently, we have had the happiness by the good providence of
God, of enjoying a share of your labors, to our abundant satisfaction; and
being universally satisfied with your ministerial abilities in general , and the
peculiar agreeableness of your qualifications to us in particular, as a gospel
minister, we do, worthy and dear sir, from our hearts, and with the most cordial affection and unanimity, agree to call, invite, and request you to take the
ministerial care of us: and we do promise that we will receive the Word of
God from your mouth, attend on your ministry, instructions , and reprnofs,
in public and private, and submit to the discipline which Christ has appointed
in his Church, administered by you, while regulated by the Word of God, and
agreeable to our Confession of Faith and Directory. And that you may give
yourself wholly up to the important work of the ministry, we do promise to
pay unto you, annually, the sum which our commissioners, Andrew Steele
[representing New Providence] and Archibald Alexander [representing
Timber Ridge] shall give in the Reverend Presbytery, from the time of your
acceptance of this our call; and that we shall behave ourselves towards you
with all that dutiful respect and affection that becomes a people toward their
minister, using all means within our power to render your life comfortable
and happy. We intrigue you , worthy and dear sir, to have compassion on us,
and accept this our call and invitation to the pastoral charge of our immortal
souls, and we shall ever hold ourselves bound to pray.
We request the Reverend Presbytery to present this our call to the said Mr.
Brown, and to concur in his acceptance of it, and we shall always count
ourselves happy in being your obliged servants.

John Brown was a twenty-five year old, Irish-born, Americaneducated ministerial candidate in the Presbytery. He accepted the call
and was ordained on October 11, 1753. We do not know when his installation took place, or even whether he was formally installed, but he
became the first installed minister of New Providence Church.
Shortly after Brown accepted the call, a majority of the members of
New Providence suggested the desirability of moving the church to the
Hays and Walkers Creeks area because of the sizeable number of church
members living there. The date of construction of the new log church on
17

Roy K. Patteson

Pewter communion tokens made for New Providence Church. These
tokens were required in order to receive communion. They were given
out by the elders during their periodic visits to inspect the behavior of
church families. The custom originated in Scotland.
Moffetts Creek is uncertain, but it must have been shortly after John
Brown accepted the call to the area. The deed to the first property owned
by the church, given by Joseph Kennedy to the trustees on August 21,
1754, notes that the meeting house was already under construction. This
first parcel of land contained slightly over three acres.
While the log structure was being built, the question of a name for
the church arose. It is not clear why this should have been a problem at
this time, since the church's name had already been entered as "New
Providence'' in the Augusta County courthouse and in the records of the
Synod of New York. Some people may have felt that the old South
Mountain congregation should have retained the "Providence" or "New
Providence'' name, since the name was originally used there; others may
have believed that as the original church was simply relocating, it should
retain its name. Perhaps the best explanation for the name is that some
members of the South Mountain congregation near Spottswood,
Virginia, had formerly belonged to a "Providence" church near what is
now Norristown, Pennsylvania, and had brought the name with them.
Those who continued to worship at the old Spottswood site eventually
took the name ''Old Providence.''
The log church used by New Providence on Moffetts Creek would
have been a temporary structure and certainly would have been inadequate for a growing congregation. Work probably began on a stone
18

New Providence Church
building to the west ·of the log church as soon as possible. The Timber
Ridge Church had begun the construction of its stone church in 1755.
New Providence's stone church occupied the site over which the present
larger brick building now stands. All evidence of the original stone foundations of the older building has been obliterated. The land on which the
stone building rested was deeded to the congregation by Robert Wardlaw
and his wife Martha on November 14, 1771.
e cannot trace the account of John Brown's ministry in the
minutes of New Castle Presbytery, since these minutes are lost for
the years 1731 through 1758. We do know that he was much involved
with the affairs of Presbytery as reflected in the minutes of Hanover
Presbytery which was soon to be formed.
On September 3, 1755, the Synod of New York appointed Samuel
Davies, John Todd, Alexander Craighead, Robert Henry, John Wright,
and John Brown to be a Presbytery under the name of Hanover. John
Brown attended the first meeting of this new Presbytery on December 3,
1755. The formation of this new Presbytery did much to heal the division
within the eastern and western parts of the church and provided for the
alternate meetings of the Presbytery on either side of the Blue Ridge
Mountains.
The Presbytery met in November of 1756, at which time each
minister was asked to agree to preach one Sabbath in a nearby vacant
congregation. This was a practice which would mark the ministry of
John Brown and other local Presbyterian ministers. At a meeting at New
Providence on October 25, 1759, John Brown was appointed to preach
one Sabbath at Brown's Meeting House and three at the Forks of James
before the fall meeting of Presbytery. This latter church would later
become the New Monmouth Church to the west of Lexington. Brown
also preached at Otter River, Bedford, New London, and Catawba.
These early ministers, working through their Presbytery, encouraged the
local congregations to combine their numbers wherever possible.
John Brown's first home was centrally located between the New
Providence and Timber Ridge Churches to which he ministered. The
house was named Mount Pleasant, and was located within a half mile of
Fairfield and about the same distance from the Classical School which he
operated. This school was located near the site of what is now the former
railroad depot on the ridge just west of Fairfield. The school became
Liberty Hall and was moved to Timber Ridge in 1774. It later moved to
Lexington and became Washington College.
On October 11, 1767, Brown initiated an action in the Presbytery to
terminate his relationship to the Timber Ridge congregation. Despite the
protestations of the Timber Ridge people and the earnest pleadings of the

Roy K. Patteson
Presbytery that he continue in his dual capacity, Brown decided to confine his efforts to the New Providence congregation, and resigned at
Timber Ridge.
It may have been at this time that Brown moved to the
neighborhood of Brownsburg. He made his second home in what was
later known as the John Withrow house. This structure stands diagonally
across Moffetts Creek from New Providence Church. A two-story
building of logs, constructed about 1740, it was torn down in 1802 and
replaced by the building now on the property. Some portions of the early
buildings may still be seen on the property, including a spring house,
granary, and slave quarters.
ohn Brown's tenure at New Providence lasted through the Revolution
and into the postwar period, but information on his activities is
scanty. Rockbridge County was not a theatre of action in the war,
although at times it was expected to be. The youth of the area were
subject to the draft, and William Graham, the teacher at Liberty Hall,
headed a contingent of men raised in the vicinity. The war brought inflation and social unrest. The churches, including New Providence,
suffered declining attendance, reflecting both the disturbing influence of
the war and the introduction of new ideas about the "rights of men"
being generated in France. After the war, with the return of men from
the conflict, there seemed to be a general decline in morality and personal discipline. The Sabbath was ignored and drinking was widespread.
One aspect of the reaction against the irreligious tendencies of the
previous decade was a religious revival in 1787 which spread from a
center around Hampden-Sydney in Prince Edward County. William
Graham was responsible for the promotion of the revival in Rockbridge.
But New Providence and other churches in the northern part of the county regarded the revival with suspicion. That New Providence was not
greatly affected by the revival was probably due in part to the influence
of John Brown. By this time Brown had been at the church for thirtyfour years, and the influence of his values on the direction of the
church's life were well established. The revival was a phenomenon
primarily among the younger generation which was excited by the
"elders' praying circles" asking for fresh outpourings of the Spirit. John
Brown and his elders would have rejected the "jerks, groans and cries"
which sometimes attended the conversion experiences of the young.
The postwar period also witnessed the beginning of a rapid growth
of westward migration. The growth in the Presbyterian Church in the
west and the south since the creation of the huge Hanover Presbytery in
1755 demanded organizational changes. A number of new presbyteries
were formed from the former Hanover Presbytery in 1785-86. The Lex-

(

New Providence Church
ington Presbytery was formed west of the Blue Ridge and met at Timber
Ridge Church on September 26, 1786. John Brown presided over this
historic occasion and was elected the Presbytery's first moderator. Not
surprisingly, the first matter of business was the "alarming state of
religion.''
The Lexington Presbytery embraced a huge triangular arearoughly from the modern cities of Hagerstown, Maryland to Christiansburg, Virginia, to Parkersburg, West Virginia. It was one of four
presbyteries in the Synod of Virginia, which was organized at New Providence Church and held its first meeting there on October 22, 1788.
John Brown, the senior member present, opened the meeting, and
William Graham was chosen moderator.
When John Brown was installed at New Providence, twenty-one
year old George Washington was visiting French forts in the west to protest their attacks on Americans. Forty-two years later, in 1795, when
Washington was nearing the end of his second term as President of the
United States, John Brown decided to lay aside the heavy responsibility
of his pastorate. Despite the pleadings of his beloved congregation, on
September 10, 1795, Brown presented his request to the Presbytery for
the dissolution of his pastoral relation to the New Providence Church.
He had been failing in health for some time and his voice was weak.
Moreover, some of his children had already moved west to Kentucky and
he wished to join them. He moved to that state in 1797 and supplied the
Woodford Church until his death in 1803. He is buried in the graveyard
of the Woodford Church between two former New Providence elders:
William Wardlaw and Andrew Steele.
n the period following John Brown's resignation the New Providence
was supplied by a Reverend Scott. On February 29, 1796, the
congregation met and issued a call for the Reverend Samuel Brown, who
was promised a salary of $400 per year, afterward raised to $500. Brown,
no relation to his predecessor, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, but was born
in Virginia. He had studied at Liberty Hall Academy and had been
licensed to preach in 1793. Prior to coming to New Providence, he had
worked as a missionary for two years. Samuel Brown preached his first
sermon at New Providence on June 5, 1796, and was ordained by the
Lexington Presbytery on September 23.
The period of Samuel Brown's pastorate (1796-1818) was one of immense change for both the Valley of Virginia and the new nation. The
Valley ceased to be a frontier region as the line of furthest settlement
moved out of the eastern mountains into the fertile woodlc!lds of Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. In 1803 the nation doubled in size with the
fortuitous purchase of the Louisiana Territory. The Indians, who in the

Roy K. Patteson
1770s had killed Brown's wife's family and kidnapped her for several
years, ceased to threaten the white man east of the Mississippi River. The
unfortunate natives had chosen the wrong side in a second AmericanBritish struggle, the War of 1812.
The Great Revival swept the country, disturbing congregational
tranquility, dividing denominations, and changing the religious map of
the country. The Revival covered portions of the pastorates of Samuel
Brown and his successor James Morrison. During this period a religious
awakening swept the Presbyterian church which doubled the church's
membership. In the Lexington Presbytery thirty-nine new churches were
organized, with the result that Lexington Presbytery became the largest
in the denomination.
New Providence also grew and ultimately became the largest rural
church in the denomination. This growing membership created new
demands on the church building. In 1812 a new brick edifice was constructed to replace the 1755 stone building, now grown old and inadequate. The new building was more substantial with an entrance on the
end, and with an aisle between pews arranged along each side. A balcony
was provided for slaves. Men and women were seated on opposite sides
of the aisle.
Reverend Samuel Brown's personality and piety doubtless had no
little influence on the dynamic growth of New Providence. When Dr.

Original gravestone of
Rev. Samuel Brown (d. 1818)
stored in New Providence Church
after being replaced by
the present large monument.

(

{

New Providence Church
Ebenezer Junkin, New Providence's fifth installed minister, wrote his
history of the congregation in 1871, he interviewed Thomas Walker, who
had been ordained an elder during Reverend Brown's pastorate. Even
allowing for guilded reminiscences, Reverend Brown emerges as a powerful and pious figure.
His talents were of a very high order. His judgment in all matters was sound
and practical. In cases where it seemed difficult to arrive at a correct decision,
he seemed to seize with facility the true view; and the clearness of his
statements hardly failed to bring others to concur with him. His preaching
was impressive and interesting. In his personal appearance he was tall and
lean, his eyes sunk deeply in his head. His voice, though not sweet, was
distinct; his manners earnest-seeming to be inspired by a deep conviction of
the truth and importance of his subject. His gestures, according to my
recollection, were few, but appropriate . In address from the pulpit he was
eminent for strength, conciseness, and perspicuity ... Plain, instructive, and
practical in his discourses, he brought the principles of the Bible to bear upon
the conduct of his people in all their relations. He also held forth very strongly the great Calvinistic doctrines of the scriptures .... He frequently became
very much animated when preaching, and sometimes the tears were seen to
trickle down his cheeks. His sermons were short, generally .... The longer he
lived among his people, the more they became attached to him. He mingled
amongst them on easy and familiar terms; took an interest in their welfare,
both temporal and spiritual. He was a man that never shrank from any
responsibility that properly belonged to him in any circumstances in which he
was placed and his opinions probably carried more weight in them than
another man in this end of Rockbridge County .

On April 7, 1818, Samuel Brown preached at the meeting of the Lexington Presbytery. In the months after the meeting his health declined,
although he continued to preach with his usual fervency and power. On
October 13, 1818, while preparing to attend the meeting of the Synod at
Staunton, he died, very suddenly, at age fifty-two, "universally
lamented, in the prime of life, in full intellectual vigor, in the midst of his
usefulness, and when the love of his people, so far from abating was
becoming deeper and stronger.''
After a search, the congregation issued a call on April 10, 1819, for
~ James Morrison to become the new pastor at New Providence.

Morrison was a descendant of a family which had come from Scotland to
Pennsylvania in 1750 and moved to North Carolina in 1757. James
Morrison had received a degree from the University of North Carolina in
1814, then had taught while pursuing theological studies under Robert
Hett Chapman, the university's president. Morrison had been licensed to
preach by the Orange Presbytery in 1817 and ordained later that year.
Prior to receiving the call from New Providence, he had served as a
domestic missionary in eastern North Carolina. On April 22, 1819, at the
spring meeting of the Lexington Presbytery in Fincastle, Morrison was
received as a member of the Presbytery and accepted the New Providence
position. He was installed on September 25, 1819, beginning a pastorate
that lasted thirty-seven years.
23

Roy K. Patteson

New Providence's "call" to Rev. James Morrison, April 10, 1819.
On April 27, 1820, after Morrison had been at New Providence for
seven months, the annual report to the Presbytery from the one hundred
thirty-six member congregation stated that
the Reverend James Morrison .. . has performed his duties much to the
satisfaction of his people ever since he became our Minister; hath preached
every Sabbath and frequently on weekdays, in different parts of the congregation, examined twice and has been attentive to the duty of visiting the
sick . On the other hand the congregation has attended well on preaching and
examination and have paid their minister four hundred dollars, the amount
due for eight months the time he has been with us prior to the commencement
of the present year.

The first book of New Providence's Session Minutes began nearly
simultaneously with Morrison's arrival in April, 1819. The principal actions of the Session (i.e., the elders' meeting) during this period was to
receive members into the church. From June 19, 1819, to August 7, 1842,
two hundred fifteen adults were baptized. Between June 17, 1819, and
August 4, 1845, five hundred ninety-three infants were baptized. The
first pages of the Session Minutes includes a list of four hundred
members and a list of twenty-five elders who were ordained between 1820
and 1843. Blacks were received into full membership; they were recorded
as "men of color," with a first but no last name.
The Session sometimes acted as a court. It was not uncommon for
members of the church to be formally charged with crimes and tried by
the Session. In 1820 one member was charged with "intemperance, profanity, and Heresy," primarily because he held to a doctrine of universal
24

New Providence Church
salvation. He was forthwith suspended from the communion of the
church until he gave evidence of repentance. Other suspensions are
recorded for crimes such as fornication, theft and neglecting the means
of grace.
On November 24, 1819, immediately after James Morrison's installation, the women of the church organized a Female Benevolent
Society. The Society's object was to raise money to aid missionaries and
to assist pious young men to qualify themselves for the ministry. This
organization is believed to be the earliest mission organization in the
Presbyterian Church. In their first year, by soliciting subscriptions from
church members and selling patchwork quilts, the women raised $147 to
send to a struggling church in Sherman, Texas.
During the 1820s New Providence membership declined as members
dropped out, moved away or were disciplined by the Session. This trend
was reversed during the early 1830s. The establishment of the church's
first Sunday School in 1830 and the establishment of a school in
Brownsburg, with monthly services of preaching, perhaps encouraged
the moderate growth it experienced in 1831, when ninety-one members
were added. The church reached its peak pre-Civil War membership of
five hundred ninety-one in 1833. The immediate cause of the rapid rise in

Rev. James Morrison (d. 1870);
at New Providence 1819-1856.

Roy K. Patteson
membership in 1833 was the evangelist Isaac Jones, who apparently had
been secured in the hope that New Providence might gather the harvest
from the revivalist movement.
Despite the "Jones Revival," New Providence failed to hold its recent converts. Between 1837 and 1865 the Lexington Presbytery lost
more than fifty percent of its members; New Providence shared in the
general decline. There were a variety of reasons for the decline: movement to other denominations, lack of interest, and migration to the west.
But internal divisions between Old School and New School Presbyterians
were also important. This division occurred in 1838 over issues such as
slavery, doctrine, and especially over the Plan of Union with the General
Association of the Congregational Church of Connecticut, which the
New School favored. James Morrison moved with the majority in the
Presbyterian General Assembly of 1837 in defeating the New Schoolsupported Plan. The New School seceded from the General Assembly,
taking about forty-five percent of the membership.
By 1837, New Providence had lost over one hundred members by
suspension, dismissal or death, and the membership was down to four
hundred eighty-nine. On June 1, 1837, by order of the Presbytery,
twenty-two members were dismissed in order to organize the Mt. Carmel
Church at Steeles Tavern. By July, 1841, the membership had decreased
to three hundred sixty-four with the removal of fifty-nine names for
various reasons, including ·death. In 1848 the church again purged its
roll, reducing its active communicants to two hundred sixty-two. By 1849
the church reported two hundred forty-one members, of which sixty were
slaves. Thus twenty-five percent of the church was composed of "men of
color" who occupied the balcony of the sanctuary. Like the other Valley
churches, New Providence experienced great difficulty in meeting its
obligations to its pastor during the period of decline.
everend Morrison's problems were not limited to membership rolls
and General Assembly politics. When he began his pastorate he
inherited all the social problems present in the church community. Prior
to the revivals of the 1830s he had begun to agitate for temperance. A
Temperance Society was organized in the church in 1829; by 1835 it had
four hundred thirty-five members. Morrison's conflict with his
parishioners ' habits nearly cost him his job; initially seven of his eight
elders owned stills. But eventually most of the church members joined
the Temperance Society, and the production of whiskey by congregation
members dropped from about 15,000 barrels per year to about 5,000. A
lengthy treatise on the evils of strong drink appears in the Session
Minutes, probably taken from James Morrison's sermon notes.

New Providence Church
James Morrison's health during the 1850s declined; it had never
been particularly robust during his tenure at New Providence. Apparently some discussion within the congregation had already begun regarding
his tenure by the thirtieth anniversary of his installation in 1849. On that
occasion he recounted the difficulties which the church had overcome in
the past three decades. He had, he noted, preached 2778 sermons in thirty years, missing but four Sabbaths due to illness. He greatly enjoyed his
connection with New Providence, he professed, despite offers of greater
salaries elsewhere.
Since I have been here I have repeatedly been solicited to remove and in three
instances to the best or amongst the best churches in the southern country. I
have always declined and generally said nothing about it. My best days have
been spent here, and my earnest desire is to preach here whilst I am able to
preach the gospel, and there is no spot upon earth where I so earnestly desire
my body to lie until the morning of the resurrection as in that graveyard. But
whilst I say this, I wish also distinctly to say that I do not wish to impose my
services on an unwilling people.

Morrison's health continued to be a problem. In 1852 he was forced
to reduce his labors. The church secured first Reverend James B. Ramsey
and then Reverend Samuel H. Brown to assist him. In the autumn of
1855 Morrison indicated his willingness to resign in order to go south to a
better climate, but he was asked to remain for the sake of church unity.
He remained, but asked for a twelve month leave of absence. In
December, I855, amid the tears and prayers of his congregation, he
began his leav(; .
The vacation succeeded in improving Morrison's health, and he
returned to New Providence in August, 1856, four months earlier than
agreed upon. But there were murmurs of dissatisfaction in the congregation. He was soon visited by a committee of six elders who requested that
he resign because of his ill health. He declined the invitation. On October
17 a Session meeting was held for the purpose of having a discussion with
Morrison "on the subject of his resignation as pastor of the church."
The Session meeting decided to call a congregational meeting on
November 2 to allow the congregation to vote by secret ballot on the
question of Morrison's resignation. The ballot was 99 in favor of the
dissolution of the relationship and 34 against.
Representatives of the congregation were selected to attend the
meeting of the Presbytery on November 20 to apply for the dissolution of
pastoral relations between James Morrison and New Providence Church.
A minority opinion, signed by fifty members of the congregation, was
filed with the Presbytery, deploring the manner in which the Morrison
case was handled. Nevertheless, the Presbytery dissolved the pastoral
relationship, chided the church for failing to work with the minister in

Roy K. Patteson
his declining years, and commended Reverend Morrison to all churches
to which he would come.
Morrison continued to live among the people he so long and
faithfully served, loved and honored by them. His health was too poor to
allow public service, but he was still devoted to the congregation's
spiritual welfare. He died in November, 1870, at age seventy-six, and was
buried in New Providence's graveyard.
During the final months of Morrison's pastorate, the old brick
church was torn down and work was begun on the present structure.
From log to simple native stone to brick, New Providence had progressed
in a century from frontier meetinghouse in a British colony to bulwark of
a prosperous agricultural community in an independent nation. Through
all this eventful time New Providence Presbyterian Church was fortunate
in having three strong pastors: John Brown, Samuel Brown and James
Morrison. 1:I

(

Lexington Presbyterians, 1819-1882:
Personalities, Problems, Peculiarities
James G. Ley burn

I began to wonder what provisions were
made for the religious needs of blacks in Lexington and Rockbridge
County during the days of slavery and before they had a church of
their own. In the course of my investigations I came across so many
revealing and diverting sidelights about that singular breed of
Lexingtonian, the Presbyterian, that I gave up my original search and
prepared this paper instead.
The period covered by this paper runs from 1819, when the Lexington Presbyterian Church became independent from the New Monmouth Church, to 1882. The latter date marks the end of the ministry of
Dr. Mullally, and also the end of a series of memoirs written by my
father about his childhood. My chief interest here is in the personalities
and idiosyncrasies of nineteenth-century Presbyterians; but it might be
well to think of them in the actual setting of their church buildings. Even
in external details something of the character of the people is revealed.
The Lexington Presbyterian Church was formed in 1789, twelve

EVERAL MONTHS AGO

Dr. James G . Leyburn, formerly a professor of sociology at Washington and Lee University and dean of the college there, was President of the Society when this address was
delivered. The members and guests of the Society heard Dr. Leyburn's presentation on
January 31, 1972, at the Virginia House Restaurant in Lexington.

James G. Ley burn
years after Lexington was chartered and named. From that year onward
it held its own services, but for thirty years it was a component part of
the New Monmouth (or, as it was then called, Hall's) Church. One
minister and one Session sufficed for both congregations. In 1796 the
Lexingtonians determined to build their own building, and subscribed
$2500 for that purpose. Apparently the devastating fire that swept the
town later that year caused a postponement of the project, so that only in
1802 was their substantial edifice 1 completed under the noble white oak
tree, still standing in the Presbyterian cemetery. (The graveyard was
owned by the Presbyterians until the 1950s. The first church, like the present one, had a gallery around three sides.
Two services were held each Sunday, with an interval between the
morning and afternoon meetings. A large oak grove extended from the
church gate all the way to Wood's Creek, and this was a rambling ground
during the intermission. The elders of the church took seriously their
charge of caring for the spiritual welf~Te of members of the congregation. Session records contain many entries of discipline meted out to
those who had been guilty of dancing, card-playing, or breaking the Sabbath. On communion Sundays the pastor distributed to those members
deemed worthy to partake of the sacrament small tokens made of tin or
pewter, about the size of a dime. Only persons with tokens were allowed
to come forward and sit around the communion tables in the aisle in
front of the pulpit. This practice continued until 1833. The Session
minutes for January 5 of that year record two interesting resolutions:
first, "that the plan of successive tables and also the use of tokens, be
dispensed with tomorrow, and Mr. Douglas [minister James W.
Douglas] administer the Lord's Supper as shall seem to him most for
edification." The second resolution was "that the invitation of blacks to
communion be limited to those who are in good and regular standing
with some church of white Christians." The next entry, written after the
service, reads: "The Lord's Supper was administered, Rev. Ruffner
assisting, to about 225 whites and 10 blacks. Collection $20. Expenses
$4.85."

lthough offerings were taken at each service, most of the expenses of

~ the church were met throughout the six decades covered by this

paper by the sale and rental of pews. Members paying the largest sum
had the choicest pews. In 1819 Washington College bought three pews
' The building was fifty feet square and eighteen feet high. In 1819 the church was considerably enlarged by the construction of an addition, fifty by twenty-five feet, on the
southwest side of the building. Two years later, at a cost of $225, a Session House and
Pastor's Study-a single-story house, eighteen by sixteen feet-was built of brick some
twenty-five feet east of the church.

Lexington Presbyterians

(

Lexington church
pew arrangement
(late 19th century).

for the use of its students. A free pew was set aside for the poor of the
community. In a Session minute of 1834 it was noted that John Henson,
on leaving Lexington, "offered to present his pew to the church on
condition that no higher rent than one dollar per year be levied on it, and
that it be rented to such indigent females who may jointly contribute that
sum as an annual stipend." His offer was accepted.
Pew owners sometimes fell into arrears. An 1835 entry resolves that
"some system should be adopted by the Trustees ... to enforce the payment of stipends, by requiring all delinquents, after sufficient notice, to
forfeit their pews agreeable to the provision of the constitution, or pay
the amount levied on them." In 1838 the Session "Resolved that the accounts of the congregation be committed to the hands of Mr. W. C.
Lewis for collection and adjustment, and that he be allowed ten per cent
for the trouble he may have; the per cent to be increased in cases which
seem to demand it."
When the new [present] church was completed in 1844, box pews
were installed with numbers and latches on each door. As my father put
it, reminiscing about the 1870's, "A regular price was fixed for these
pews, according to their location and desirability. One's family pew
belonged to him as fully as the house he rented, and no stranger or visitor
31

James G. Ley burn
was supposed to enter one of these pews without invitation. " 2
By 1843 the congregation had so increased that the Session called a
congregational meeting "to consider the propriety of providing for a
more comfortable place of worship." It was decided not to try to enlarge
for a second time the building in the cemetery, but to erect a new church
in a more central position. The ladies of the congregation formed a
Female Working Society, and chiefly by means of what the minister called a series of "Fairs," they accumulated sufficient funds to purchase the
present large lot at the corner of Main and Nelson Streets as well as the
one now occupied by the manse on White Street. Work on the new
church was begun immediately and the cornerstone was laid, with appropriate ceremonies, on June 22, 1844. The total cost of the new
building was $12,000. It should be noted that the thrifty Presbyterians
saw to it that the bricks from the old church were used to build the new
manse.
The present church building is the one constructed in 1843-44 except
that the present wings on the north and south sides were added much
later. Father's account of the interior of the church in 1880 is full of life.
The choir was in the balcony in the rear of the church . .. with Professor
Nelson, the leader and tenor at one end, and Mr. John Barclay, the deep
bass, at the other end, with the sopranos and altos between. The two older of
Professor Nelson's daughters, and two of Professor White's daughters, and
later the Preston 'girls' and Miss Katie Hopkins, constituted the choir. The
students filled the gallery at one side of the church, and the cadets filled the
other, entering by stairways on opposite sides of the vestibule. The end of the
South Gallery nearest the pulpit was set apart for the Colored people, with a
separate stairway leading up to it from the outside. We had a number of
Negro members of our church in those days, and they and the Negro drivers
of the carriages had this gallery provided for them . They were always invited
to come down on communion days, and occupy the seats to the left side of
the pulpit, and were served the bread and wine along with the other
members. 3
·

Shortly after the construction of the church, an adjacent Lecture
Room was built. This housed the Sunday School classes, and as its name
suggests, served as a public meeting place for lectures and social occasions. Here, too, father makes a diverting comment: "Mayor
Howawought [Boley spells his name Houghawout; he was mayor from
1885 to 1897] (pronounced Huckabout) lived just across an alley from
2
Father added that he would not "recommend this method of raising money for
church purposes." Nevertheless, despite such an antiquated method of finances, the congregation frequently raised the salary of its ministers-from $450 in 1828 to $600 in 1832 to
$800 in 1834 and to $1250 in 1844. This last figure was regarded as very high in terms of the
dollar value of the day.
3
"Instead of the main central aisle of the present church, there were two aisles, one on
each side of the church, with a double row of pews along the walls on each side of the
church." Leyburn memoirs.

Lexington Presbyterians
the Sunday School. ... He was a great fox hunter, and kept a number of
hounds. His dogs often joined in the chorus during the services in the
Sunday School building, much to the distraction and annoyance of the
worshipers. " 4
he Presbyterians themselves are far more interesting than their
buildings. It is tempting, though unwise, to generalize about these
Scotch-Irish Lexingtonians with all their pronounced characteristics. As
one of their descendants I have no hesitation in suggesting that they often
prided themselves, not merely on their moral principles, but also on most
of their convictions, and on the tenacity with which they upheld both. If
outsiders accused them of sheer stubbornness, I suspect that many of the
Presbyterians would have regarded that accusation as a compliment.
They were rich and poor, pious and sinners, and the class system in
Lexington made clear distinctions. The list of officers of the church read
like a roster of Lexington's first families. The stateliness and decorum of
these leaders of the community may be visualized from father's comment
on his grandfather, Dr. Alfred Ley burn, an elder from 1832 to his death
in 1873: ''Grandfather was a very dignified man, quite reserved and
carefully dressed. I don't remember ever having seen him go out without
wearing his long Prince Albert frock coat and high stove-pipe hat, even
when he was only going to ride over the farm on horse-back to see what
was going on and give some directions to the hands."
These Presbyterians and their ancestors for generations had prided
themselves on the rigorous education of their ministers; as a result of this
tradition, most Presbyterians were willing to listen more patiently than
other Protestants to long, scholarly, and abstrusely theological sermons.
True, some objected; and if there were time I would comment on the
strenuous efforts (one in the eighteenth century and one in the nineteenth) to lighten the educational requirements of ministers, to urge them
to speak to the heart rather than the mind, and to engage in the emotional appeals of revivals. In fact, during the era covered by this paper
the entire denomination was in the throes of a controversy on this issue.

4
The first Sunday School had been established in 1831 by Mr. Garland, a professor at
Washington College. Father noted that the Lecture Room was simply

one large room, with no separate class rooms. Very little attention was given
in those days to proper classing of pupils. All of the men were put in one
class, and the women in another, which were called Bible classes. Then, all of
the girls were put in one class, and all of the boys in another, with very little
attention given to age, though sometimes the very small ones were put in a
separate class of their own. General Jackson organized a Negro Sunday
School, which he and some other officers and members of the church taught
there every Sunday afternoon. The Negro Sunday School was carried on for
years after General Jackson's death by officers and members of the church.

James G. Ley burn
It had violent repercussions in Lexington in the 1840s, and in that
episode we have our first acquaintance with one of the most excitable
and exciting of Presbyterian personalities. 5
In March, 1840, the minister of the Lexington church, W. M. Cunningham, resigned. In August the Session received a letter from a Scottish
minister, the Reverend John Skinner, D.D., asking permission to preach
in Lexington. Since he held degrees from the Universities of Edinburgh
and Glasgow, and came with high recommendations from his last congregation in Scotland, the Lexington Session invited Dr. Skinner to
preach. Skinner's last Scottish church had presented him with a gold
watch "as a parting token of their enduring love," and he was praised
for "his talented exertions in the cause of Religious Liberty." We do not
know why he wished to migrate to the United States. He made a good impression on the Lexingtonians. Negotiations took their leisurely course: a
call was issued Dr. Skinner in 1841 and in October of that year he was installed as pastor.
His first years as minister were highly successful, to judge from progress in the church. Membership increased so greatly that six new elders
had to be elected. It was Dr. Skinner who led the congregation in its decision to construct the new church building on Main Street. He was
remarkably efficient in overseeing the financial affairs of the church: not
only was his own salary oversubscribed, but he interested the members in
contributing to mission work and other benevolences. Dr. Skinner took
very seriously his duties as pastor. In 1843 he divided the congregation
into nine districts, and assigned specific elders to take spiritual oversight
of each district. He read out from the pulpit a list of the homes he intended to visit during the week; and he also announced the amount of last
week's collection for Missions. His zeal for benevolences gives us the
first clue as to why, within a few years, he was to become the center of a
perfect storm of criticism. One Sunday morning he read an announcement that one of the church members, whom he named, had given "6 Y4
cents to convert the world."
For six years the records of the Session betray no hint that Dr. Skinner was losing support among his people. The Church's report to
Presbytery in 1845 lauded him for his diligence in preaching, visiting the
5
In those days the young candidate for the ministry was assigned an exegesis in
Latin-for example, "In quibus consistat vocaito ad evangelii ministerium?" After
preaching a sermon before the Presbytery, he still had to stand an examination [see
Presbytery Minutes for 1823] "on Church History, from the beginning of the world until
the close of the canon of revelation; also on natural theology, and the evidences of Christianity." The candidates who came before Presbytery in 1830 were examined on "literary
and scientific courses as follows: Latin, Greek rhetoric, logic, moral philosophy, chemistry,
geography, natural philosophy, astronomy, Euclidean trigonometry, and algebra."

Lexington Presbyterians

Rev. John Skinner;
minister, 1841-1847

sick, attending the weekly prayer meeting , encouraging benevolences,
and guiding church organizations. But on August 18, 1847, a letter was
read to the Session, signed by John B. Lyle and seven other members of
the church, stating that an increasing number of people were dissatisfied
with Dr. Skinner both as preacher and as pastor: his sermons were
generally regarded as too coldly theological, and his dealing with people
lacked human warmth and "spirituality." Several members of the Session shared these critical opinions, and apparently they hoped that by letting Dr. Skinner know that he did not please many people, he would
quietly seek other pastures.
Skinner immediately asked leave of Presbytery to resign his pastoral
charge "on the ground of a letter addressed to him, by eight gentlemen
of the congregation." It is obvious, however, that he expected
Presbytery forthwith to refuse his resignation, to support him wholeheartedly, and to inform his critics of their presumptuousness. The Session was represented at the meeting of Presbytery by Maj or J. T. L.
Preston, who was called upon at the meeting to amplify the charges in
the letter. So began the epochal Skinner case (sometimes called the
"Skinner War"), which resulted in a trial before Presbytery whose
minutes cover three hundred thirty-two pages, and which culminated in
appeal to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. During the
months of the controversy Lexington hummed like a hive of angry bees;
language became vituperative and tempers frayed. Lexington
35

James G. Leyburn
Presbyterians seemed to be reliving ancient Scottish history with its long
record of feuding.
The intricacies of the controversy before the church courts are too
complex to recount here. What is of more immediate interest is Dr. Skinner's reaction to the Lexingtonians. Major Preston explained to
Presbytery the growing discontent with Dr. Skinner's long, theoretical
sermons, with his pulpit manner and his grating voice when he elevated
it, with his foreign mannerisms, with his urgency in promoting
benevolent causes of the church, with his failure during pastoral visits to
inquire into the spiritual life of the members while questioning their
knowledge of the catechism. This bill of particulars seemed to arouse the
fury of Dr. Skinner who clearly felt that his dignity had been affronted.
From that point on the offended Scotsman threw tactfulness to the
winds.
First he published a pamphlet naming his "enemies," and charging
thef!l with all sorts of un-Christian behavior. The persons Skinner named
thereupon published a paid notice in the Lexington Gazette, with copies
in Richmond, Washington, and New York papers, defending themselves
and asserting that Skinner's pamphlet ''contains statements absolutely
untrue, and insinuations and misrepresentations, both slanderous and
unfounded." Skinner's outrage seemed then to vent itself by indiscriminate attack. He fulminated against a Presbyterian professor at
Washington College for having preached in the Episcopal church. He accused some of his elders of reading a church paper (the Christian
Observer) which he considered unorthodox. He further excoriated them
for favoring revivals and emotionalism, which he abhorred.
The young ladies of his congregation drew his most concentrated attack. He suspected it was they who were made restless by his tedious sermons and the reason, he said, was easy to discover. They found too attractive "the fascination of sin and the engrossing of the soul ... with
the novelties of the fashions, the luxuries, the attractions of the gay
assembly, and the easy descent from the Ball room . . . down to the
abysses of infamy and death.'' He asserted that to him nothing was more
odious than to witness a young lady entering "the House of God, on a
Sabbath morning, with such a bundle of robes and ribbons, and
meretricious flowers, and strange stuffings, so nicely pinned and padded
about her person, as to indicate that she must have spent at least two
solid hours in her toilette, rather than on her knees preparing herself to
find the services of her minister to be sweet rather than tedious to her
soul."
In denouncing the sin of dancing he even attacked an Episcopal
vestryman, Colonel Francis H. Smith, superintendent of the Virginia
Military Institute, for promoting and serving as patron of the Annual
36

Lexington Presbyterians
Ball at VMI. How could Colonel Smith reconcile his piety with such sinfulness? Dr. Skinner said:
I have trembled for my young ladies, who were members of the Church, being seduced into an attendance at that Ball, by the tempting and flattering
urgency of the young men, who to all their attractions of person and manner,
add the additional one of the gay soldier's uniform. I have gone to town, with
a palpitating heart, [the morning]after the ball was over, fearing lest that the
first tidings that might greet my ear might be, 'Sir, a member of your Church
was at the ball last night.' The Ball is opposed to the religious feelings of the
whole religious community. And I have been surprised that in a matter of this
sort, Colonel Smith should expose himself to the odium of the religious
public .

Even the older ladies of his church came in for criticism. "We have
had a Ladies Working Society connected with this church for the last
four to five years," he said. True, their efforts had purchased the lots on
which the new church and new manse were built; "but I have had so
many misgivings about it at times and the policy of the church having
wheels within wheels, as well as extra wheels,-and so often have been
called to vindicate my Church from the slander of its being under 'Petticoat Government.'''
After months of hearings the Presbytery, by a vote of 20 to 4, accepted the resignation of Dr. Skinner from the Lexington pastorate, and
suspended him from the ministry. Skinner appealed to the General
Assembly of the Church, which upheld the severing of pastoral relations
with the Lexington church, but not Skinner's suspension from the
ministry. The irascible Scotsman forthwith shook the dust of Lexington
from his feet. Presbytery dismissed him to the Presbytery of Newton
[Massachusetts?] He eventually settled in Canada where he died in 1864.
ne of the greatest possible blessings came to the Lexington
congregation in the successor to Dr. Skinner. Dr. William S. White,
beloved pastor of the Charlottesville church, accepted the call to
Lexington in 1848. 6 He had the gift of kindly sympathy and understanding, an easy and gracious manner with all sorts and conditions
of men; and thus his nineteen-year ministry restored peace and harmony
to the distraught Lexington congregation.

6
Dr. White's character is summed up in the letter written by the Session in Charlottesville to the Lexington Session:
Always the first and foremost in every benevolent enterprise [during his
twelve years in Charlottesville, Dr. White's] labors have been as untiring, as
they have been eminently judicious, and free from the slightest fanaticism
which so frequently mars the efforts even of the well meaning and sincere ....
In other spheres his usefulness has been exemplified in a degree which has
won him the love, and entitled him to the gratitude of our entire county .. ..
In parting with the Rev. Wm. S. White Presbyterianism here loses one of her
most noble standard bearers, and we, our best and most cherished earthly
friend.

James G. Ley burn
During his mm1stry Stonewall Jackson became a member of the
church; and in 1857 the first deacons were elected-Jackson, Mr. J. W.
Barclay, and Professor A. L. Nelson. When the war broke out in 1861,
Dr. White visited army camps in Virginia, wrote letters to all members of
the church who were in the army, and was in frequent correspondence
with General Jackson. On the eve of Hunter's Raid, June 7, 1864, according to Mrs. Margaret Junkin Preston, "All has been wild excitement
this afternoon. Slaves and wagons loaded with negroes poured in from
Staunton. Everybody was in alarm. In the midst of it, after hearing that
the enemy was in possession of Waynesboro and Staunton both, we went

Dr. William S. White;
minister 1848-1867

to the daily prayer meeting. There Dr. White calmed the people by a succinct statement of facts, so far as it was possible to obtain them .... He
inculcated calm reliance upon God; said that the force advancing would
not reach us today; and appointed the meeting for tomorrow, saying that
we should come, unless it was dangerous for the ladies to be on the
street.'' The enemy arrived in Lexington on the eleventh, and General
Averill established his headquarters in Dr. White's yard. 7
Perhaps the most famous member of the Lexington church was
Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson. He was called to the professorship of
' Because of his strenuous exertions during the War , and the added burden of a threemonth trip undertaken from September to December 1865 to collect funds for Washington
College, Dr. White's health was broken, and in 1867 he asked the Session to accept his
resignation. He died on November 29, 1873 .

Lexington Presbyterians
Natural and Experimental Philosophy, and the instructorship in Artillery
at VMI in 1851. It is said that he was "quite worldly" before he came
under the influence of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of Lexington, but
that phrase seems to mean only that he enjoyed dances and conviviality.
His first wife, Eleanor Junkin, was a most devout and pious Christian,
and she had great influence over her husband. She remonstrated with
him for attending the drill of a Highland regiment on Sunday; he promised to think the matter through for himself. The result was that he laid
down an almost Puritanical law for his own observance of the Sabbath.
He would not post, receive, or read a letter on Sunday; he attributed the
failure of an attack during the war to the fact that it was made on Sunday; he would not receive or use powder which his quartermaster had
brought to him on the Sabbath.
Elected a deacon in 1857, he was assiduous in the performance of his
duties. Dr. White wrote:
On one occasion General Thomas J. Jackson was appointed one of the collectors for the Bible Society. When he returned his list it was discovered that
at the end, copied by the clerk of the Session, was a considerable number of
names written in pencil ; to each of which a very small amount was attached.
Moreover, the Session, recognizing very few of the names, asked who those
were. Jackson's characteristic reply was 'They are the militia; as the Bible
Society is not a Presbyterian but a Christian cause, I deemed it best to go
beyond the limits of our own church.' They were the names chiefly of free
negroes. Jackson taught a Sunday School class for boys, and then became
superintendent of the Negro Sunday School.

Dr. White records that Jackson
threw himself into this work with all his characteristic energy and wisdom .
. . . To the moment he was always punctual at the opening of the school.
Although wholly ignorant of the science of music, and having neither ear nor
voice for singing, he yet learned to sing: 'Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound,' [so] that the school would recognize it and carry it along. Sabbath
after Sabbath he would stand before his school of blacks and raise thi s hymn
and tune for them.

Dr. White writes further:
He issued monthly reports to the owners of the slaves. These reports he
delivered in person, calling each month at every house where one of his pupils
lived. When necessary he conferred with the famil y about matters connected
with the behavior or misbehavior of the pupils . Under his management th is
school became one of the most interesting and useful institutions in the
church. So deep was the interest he felt in it that, during the war, when he was
at the front, in the midst of active campaigns, he would find time to write
asking about it, and otherwise showing how closely it lay on his brave heart.

Jackson was constantly troubled with indigestion (dyspepsia, as it
was called in those days). It reached the point of his asking the Session to
accept his resignation as deacon and as superintendent of the Negro Sunday School. The Session declined to accept the resignation. Mrs. Preston
writes that "the attacks of dyspepsia made him extremely drowsy. He us39

James G. Ley burn
ed to furnish considerable amusement when he would go to sleep in
church, for he insisted on sitting erect in his seat, which made his nodding all the more evident.'' When the church was enlarged by the addition of wings on each side of the building, a marker was placed on the
pew nearest that in which Jackson used to sit. A wag suggested that the
marker be inscribed: "Here slept Stonewall Jackson through every service of the church."
Just after the First Battle of Manassas, Jackson wrote to Dr. White:
"My dear Pastor: In my tent last night after a fatiguing day's service, I
remembered that I had failed to send you my contribution for our Colored S. S. Enclosed you will find my check for that object, which please
acknowledge at your earliest convenience, and oblige, Yours faithfully,
T. J. Jackson." As we all know, Jackson died after the battle of
Chancellorsville. He was buried in Lexington on May 15, 1863, with Dr.
White officiating, assisted by the Reverends William F. Junkin and
James B. Ramsey.
y father's reminiscences of the two decades following the War are
full of memories about the church. Since his family lived in the
country, the interval on Sunday between early breakfast and dinner after
the carriage ride home from church was a long one for the children. The
whole family sat in its box pew, which was conveniently provided with
footstools, on which the smaller children delighted to sit. Their mother
realistically cared for the children's needs by bringing a paper sack of
cookies, "and while the minister was finishing up his long and sometimes
tedious sermon, the door of the pew being closed, we children sat on the
foot-stools and had a quiet little picnic, without in the least disturbing
the minister or the other worshippers."
Father several times alludes to the lengthy sermons preached in his
childhood. He noted that the minister had usually reached only his
"thirdly," and rarely his "fourthly" and "fifthly," when the Baptist
church, "in those days just back of ours, with only a narrow alley-way
between them," was already finishing its service. "We were often
diverted and made even more restless by hearing them singing their closing hymn and then passing our church on their way home, while our
good Dr. Francis Patrick Mullally, from County Tipperary, Ireland, was
just getting well warmed up to his climax.'' That minister's climaxes
must have been memorable. The Penick family cherishes a story dating
from Mrs. Penick's childhood. One Sunday morning when Dr. Mullally
was storming heaven's gates with his peroration, his small son called out,
"Don't holler so loud, Daddy. I loves Gawd."
Father's memoirs show that the Session still in the 1870s exercised
surveillance over the morals of the Presbyterian flock. He records:

Lexington Presbyterians

Edward R. Leyburn, the author's
father,
whose remznzscences
(1870-1890) are the basis of this
essay.

Next to the bank was the Walz Delicatessen Shop, which also sold beer and
wine. Mr. Walz and his family were members of the Presbyterian Church. At
one time the Session of the Church cited Mr. Walz to appear before them,
and demanded that he give up selling intoxicating liquors. His answer was
that many of his best customers were members, some of them officers, of the
Presbyterian Church, and offered to give names and dates. My recollection is
that nothing further was done or said about the matter.

The first Episcopal service in Lexington was held in 1840, in the
Presbyterian church. 8 Soon thereafter a church was built on the present
site and was called Grace Episcopal. Many Presbyterians were helpful in
contributions and interest. There was, of course, a great deal of goodnatured banter between members of the two congregations. For example,
when Mrs. John Bowyer and her daughters joined the Episcopal church,
Colonel Bowyer remarked, as if surprised at the discovery, "I'll be
damned if I am not a Presbyterian still." A Lexingtonian who boasted of
aristocratic English lineage and who was a member of the Episcopal
church, asked a man who had left his fold upon his marriage to a
Presbyterian wife, "Well, sir, how do you like being in the church with
the tradespeople?''
The one bit of humor I have ever heard in connection with General
Lee concerned a Presbyterian. When Lee was president of Washington
College and a vestryman in the Episcopal church, the Presbyterian
minister was Dr. John W. Pratt. He was a brilliant preacher. A student
at the college, writing of the period, said that
8

It was conducted by an English minister, the Rev. Mr. Tyne.

(
James G. Ley burn
to sit for three years under his ministry was no small part of a liberal education. The majority of the students from both the college and the institute
were drawn by his eloquence to the Presbyterian Church . He had a very
beautiful daughter, named Grace, who was very popular socially and whom
the students were much given to looking down on from their seats in the
gallery. Once at a meeting of the Episcopal vestry someone expressed the
regret that Dr. Pratt's eloquence was drawing all the young men to the
Presbyterian Church. General Lee ... quietly remarked, 'I should not be surprised if Dr. Pratt's "Grace" had as much to do with it as his eloquence. '

Until 1844 the hymns at the Presbyterian church were lined out by a
precentor, two lines at a time; but Dr. Skinner persuaded the Session to
purchase three hymnbooks-one for the pulpit, one for the Lecture
Room, and one for the mission outpost at Ben Salem. He further urged
the members of the congregation to buy their own hymn-books for their
family pews. The Session then voted 7 to 4 not to restore "the mode of
singing in public worship by parcelling out the lines of the Psalms and
Hymns." Three years later Dr. Skinner seefi1:ed to regret the interest he
had stirred up· in congregational music, for he said, bitterly, "When
ladies and gentlemen become enamored of their own musical performances, they are apt to love but little, discourses of any character or
length." It may be only a coincidence that John Blair Lyle, who initiated
the letter criticizing Dr. Skinner, was a great lover of music. It was said
that "few richer voices ever led the music in the sanctuary;" and he and
his circle would rehearse in Mr. Lyle's bookstore the hymns scheduled
for the next Sunday service.

cannot resist one final comment from my father's reminiscences of his
childhood.
Sunday with us was an entirely different day from all the other days of the
week. The atmosphere seemed different. There was a quiet calm and peace
that seemed to rest even upon the animals. There was never any question as to
whether we would go to church, any more than whether we would have
breakfast or not. We all knew that we would go to church unless we were too
sick to get out of bed .

His boyish eyes saw most of what happened in church. He said that
as a child I used to watch the ladies as they floated down the aisle in church,
and wonder how they would manage to squeeze through the narrow doors of
the pews with their wide hoop-skirts, and how they would be able to sit on the
narrow seats after they got in . I often wondered, too, why women disfigure
themselves with 'bustles,' instead of being satisfied with the attractive figures
God had given them.

Although this paper ends with 1882, when Dr. Mullally finished his
ministry at the Lexington Presbyterian Church, the congregation has
now been in existence for more than eighteen decades. During that time
only nineteen ministers have served the church. Some among them are
now mere names; two were presidents of Washington College; one, Dr.

(

Lexington Presbyterians

Lexington Presbyterian Church in the early 20th century (built 1845).

James G. Ley burn
Skinner, will live in memory as a monument of irascibility. Three of the
nineteen, however, blessed the church by serving it for a third of its entire
history. During the kindly ministration of these beloved pastors-Dr.
William S. White, Dr. Alfred T. Graham, and Dr. J. J. Murrayperhaps even Lexington Presbyterians have become mellower in disposition and have achieved an enlarged vision of what it means to be
Christian .1:r

Selected Bibliography

Allan, Elizabeth Preston, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin
Preston. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1903.
Bean, William G., "The Skinner Case." Manuscript copy of a paper
delivered before the Rockbridge Historical Society, October, 1947.
Boley, Henry, Lexington In Old Virginia. Richmond: Garrett & Massie,
1936.
Leyburn, Edward R., "Reminiscences of Lexington, 1870-1890."
Manuscript in the author's possession, 1953.
Lyle, Royster, Jr., "John Blair Lyle of Lexington and His "Automatic
Bookstore," Virginia Cavalcade, 2l(Autumn, 1971), 20-27.
Smyth, Ellison A ., '' A History of Presbyterianism in Rockbridge County (Down to the Year 1870)." Unpublished M.A . thesis,
Washington and Lee University, 1938.
White , H . M., Rev. William S. White, D.D., and His Times. Richmond:
Presbyterian Committee on Publication, 1891.

The Early Iron Industry
In Rockbridge County
T. T. Brady

N 1619 AT Falling Creek, just below Richmond on the James River,
the Virginia Company, under the leadership of Captain Bleuet (and
later 1ohn Berkeley), constructed and operated the first pig iron
producing blast furnace in the New World. Also, the first wrought iron
was processed in the forge associated with it. Unfortunately, this venture
in iron came to a tragic end in 1622 when all the workers were killed and
the installation destroyed in a savage Indian massacre. Although interest
in and the need for iron prevailed in the colony, it was 1714 before
another operating furnace was established in Virginia by Governor
Spotswood at Germana, in what is now Spotsylvania County. Through
the remainder of the eighteenth century several furnaces were established
in Virginia, but primarily in the valley between the Blue Ridge and
Allegheny Mountains. In the latter part of that century the industry
developed in this area. In 1779 Daniel Dougherty operated a forge near
the mouth of Irish Creek.

Tate T. Brady, a resident of the Richmond area and the District Manager for the Virginia
Electric and Power Company, was born at Buffalo Forge in Rockbridge County . His
great-great uncle was William Weaver, one of the pioneer iron manufacturers in the region.
Mr. Brady's research findings were presented at the Society's April 23, 1973, meeting at
Southern Seminary Junior College in Buena Vista .

T. T. Brady
Why all this interest in iron? One of the driving forces in England
for colonization was the need for new sources of iron. The charcoal
needed to operate the blast furnaces required vast amounts of timber. In
England, with limited forest areas, the industry was rapidly denuding the
land and the government was becoming alarmed over the consequences.
In later years Parliament ordered the cessation of blast furnace operations in some areas and directed that the installations be dismantled.
There were conservationists even then. Of course, the need of iron for
tools, machinery, utensils and weapons was most important in the
development of the new colonies; iron was a marketable commodity to
sell to England and other countries of the Old World.
Who were the giants of iron in its heyday here in Rockbridge? Colonel John Jordan, William Weaver, Thomas Maybury , William W.
Davis, and Samuel F. Jordan were the prime movers in the new industry
during the first half of the nineteenth century. Colonel Jordan was a man
of many talents, active in many enterprises of business and construction
in this region. In addition to his iron operations he built roads, canals,
and public buildings. He was also engaged in milling.
William Weaver was a young energetic man who came here from
Philadelphia to ''look into an iron operation that was in some difficulty," recognized a business opportunity, invested his energy and money,
and never moved back to Pennsylvania. Early in his career here he was in
partnership with Thomas Maybury. Weaver also engaged in a variety of
enterprises in addition to his iron operations. Samuel F. Jordan, husband of one of Weaver's nieces and the son of Colonel Jordan, came
from Clifton in Alleghany County to work for Weaver at the Bath Iron
Works, and in later years built and operated the Buena Vista Furnace.
William W. Davis owned the Gibraltar Forge which no doubt operated in
conjunction with the Bath Iron Works. (There is an entirely separate
story concerning the Weaver-Jordan-Davis relationship.)
Kathleen Bruce in her book, Virginia Iron Manufacture in the Slave
Era, (New York, 1930) listed nine furnaces in Rockbridge County,
although I have some reservation about whether two of them were actually in the county. Of the various furnaces and forges in the county,
Glenwood is the best preserved and Buena Vista next, although it has
suffered considerable damage in recent years.

hile one might think of these furnaces as crude installations with
no real basic design, I believe the opposite to be true. J. P. Lesley
in his book, The Iron Manufacturer's Guide to the Furnaces, Forges and
Rolling Mills of the United States, published in 1859, gives the dimensions of most of the furnaces he surveyed in compiling the data for his
Guide. Practically all furnaces were eight or nine feet across the bosh and
thirty-two to forty feet high, so there must have been basic plans for
46

Early Iron Industry

Plate on "Forges" from Diderot's Encyclopedie, volume 25.
construction. I believe there is a definite relationship in the design and
construction of the furnaces here in the county. The general design of
these furnaces are indicated by plates from Diderot's Encyclopedia
published in French from 1713-1784. Although the furnace stacks here in
the county-Glenwood, for example-are somewhat larger than the
French design, the proportions are almost identical. Whether by coincidence or not, in a contract William Weaver had with Phillip Hull in
1827 to build the Bath Forge, the length of the hammer wheelshaft was
specified to be twenty-six feet in length, the same shaft length as in the
French plans for the forge.
It is quite obvious from reading the specifications accompanying
these drawings that there were definite engineering, construction and
thermodynamic problems to overcome in the erection and operation of
such a furnace. For example, in the French plan exhaust gas ducts vent
the stack, thus preventing its destruction from accumulated vapor
pressure.
The earlier furnaces had bellows to provide induced draft in the fur"'"
nace in order to achieve the high temperature necessary to melt the ore. A
later improvement was the air pump similar to the Hopewell, Pennsylvania installation. In both instances the power supply was the water
wheel, either overshot or undershot. Later in the nineteenth century
some of these water powered installations were converted to steam
47

T. T. Brady
power. The Glenwood and California furnaces, for example, were converted to steam.

A n "iron plantation," as they were sometimes called, was quite a
~sizable operation for its time. At Bath Iron Works, for example,
there were some sixty-five workers with a plantation population of about
one hundred-fifty people. These were practically self-sustaining communities having flour and grist mills, store, saw mill, blacksmith shop,
leather shop, carpenter shop, post office, ice house, stables, dairy barn,
slave quarters, kitchen, guest cottage and mansion. Buffalo Forge in
about 1842 was a typical community.
As I previously stated in referring to the iron industry in England,
these furnace and forge operations required vast quantities of wood to
produce the charcoal needed. Consequently, large areas of forest land
were a necessity for such an operation. Some 7 ,200 acres of mountain
land were associated with the Buffalo Forge. At the Bath Iron Works,
Weaver owned 5,000 acres, and at Etna and Retreat Furnaces on
Purgatory Creek in Botetourt County he had another 5,560 acres.
A cord of wood would produce about forty bushels of charcoal. For
each ton of pig iron produced it required the burning of about two hundred bushels of charcoal-thus a furnace such as Buena Vista, producing
nine hundred tons of pig iron per year, consumed 4,500 cords of wood.
That is a wood pile four feet wide, four feet high and 6.8 miles long. A
forge would require fifteen to sixteen cords of wood to make a ton of bar
iron, or about six hundred bushels of charcoal.
In "siteing" a furnace the four prime factors were: adequate supply
of timber for charcoal, availability of limestone for flux, good quality
ore, and adequate and dependable water power. Of course, it was most
desirable that all of these be in close proximity. In most cases, however,
the availability of water power dictated the location of the furnace and
the other ingredients had to be hauled by wagon or rail to the site. This
was miles in some instances. At Buena Vista the ore mines were some
three miles distant, one mile at Glenwood, and two and a half at California. At Etna in Botetourt it was six miles by wagon and ten miles by
railroad.
The term "dependable water power" was sometimes a misnomer. In
time of drought the streams were frequently reduced to a flow that would
not permit operation of the furnace. At Glenwood there was a miller up
stream; when he operated his mill there was not enough water to operate
the furnace efficiently. In winter frequently the streams and particularly
the water wheels would freeze, thus halting operations.
In this area the furnaces generally used a brown hematite ore found
on the side or top of a mountain ridge. These outcroppings are usually
48

Early Iron Industry

An old picture of
Glenwood furnace.
This stack is
38feet high and was
erected in 1849.

narrow veins of a few feet in thickness, the result, geologically, of an
upheaval eons ago that left the edge of the strata exposed.
Ore was put into the top of the furnace along with charcoal and
limestone flux. A couple of times a day the furnace was tapped, allowing
the molten metal to flow into sand molds to form "pig" iron ingots.
Once a furnace went into blast, it would operate continuously for eighteen to thirty weeks until the lining had deteriorated to such an extent
that it had to be reworked. When the furnace was not in blast the wood
cutters and even those who normally worked at the furnace were busy
stock-piling wood for charcoal for the next run.
The forge was a very important part of the iron making process, for
it was here that the pig iron was processed into merchantable bar iron.
Generally a forge had a "finery" fire and a "chafery" fire, and in most
instances two of each. The finery fire or hearth, using charcoal as fuel
with water powered forced draft, was used to heat the pig iron to remove
impurities and through the use of the forge hammer and about three
heating operations, it was reduced to a mass, vaguely resembling a
square-ended dumbbell. These objects were then reheated, but not
melted, in the second forge operation, the chafery, and under the big
hammer were reduced to the desired shape, a single bar. Most of the iron
marketed was in this form.
ere I think it is appropriate to document what a typical forge installation comprised. Earlier I alluded to William Weaver's
contract with Hull to build the Bath Forge in 1827. This contract called
for a forge with four fires ... "which may be extended to six fires." It
was to have:

T. T. Brady
Two hammer wheels, 11 ft. each and
One bellows wheel, 18 ft.
The two hammer wheels shafts were to be 26 ft. each
A 1 V2 story dwelling house 24' x 20' of hewn logs with three fifteen
light windows, a partition and the lower floor grooved and jointed and a
good wooden chimney ($80).
A forge house 52' x 26' frame to be weatherboarded and roofed with
boards ($130).
A coal house 50' x 18' and 12' to the square with a shingle roof
($87).
One pair of patent bellows and frames to blow six fires ($275).
A dam, ten feet high 180' long, of hewn logs, the whole to be planked ($443.64).
The contract also included items such as forebay, sluice and gates.
It was a very demanding task for the ironworks manager to operate
and produce a profit. Weaver once said that he had followed various occupations during his lifetime but ''without hesitation it required more
capacity and judgment to conduct an extensive ironwork establishment
to advantage than any other business in this section of the country."
There were numerous job classifications for the workers of a furnace and forge complex. Among these were: wood cutters, wagoners,
blacksmiths, forgemen, finers, colliers, carpenters, moulders, founders.
Just as today they had instances where the "journeyman" earned more
pay than supervisors. The collier, for example, was the man who tended
the making of charcoal, a very demanding and exacting operation. It required constant attention around the clock for approximately six days,
and he usually stayed in a little hut right at the pits. Consequently, his
services came rather high, compared to other workers, and his earnings
sometimes exceeded those of the manager.
The fact that these furnaces produced items for domestic use is obvious from the records of the Bath Iron Works. Among these were: glue
pots, dutch pots and lids, ovens, skillets, andirons, mortar and pestle,
firebacks, McCormick moldboards, bellows castings, gudgeons (axle),
cog wheels, hollow ware, forge hammers, anvils and many others.
Lynchburg and Richmond were prime market centers for the sale of
both pig iron and merchantable iron, with the Tredegar Iron Works and
Bellona Foundry being good customers. Delivery of the material was accomplished by bateau on the river and by wagon road.
Records for Buffalo Forge indicate quite a bit of business in 1826-27
with John Jordan with shipping destination "canal." Apparently this
was the iron needed in the construction of locks on the North River
Canal, through Balcony Falls Gorge (1824-28). In the 1860s a man named Alonzo Siebert from Augusta County obtained a patent for a process
50

Early Iron Industry
to make steel. He and my great-grandfather leased from John W. Jordan, Colonel Jordan's son, the California Furnace to conduct a series of
experiments to test the process. I have not determined from my research
how successful they were in this venture.

he iron industry played a vital role in the development of the
colonies, the state and the nation. More specifically, the industry
here in the valley constituted practically the only source of iron for the
Confederacy during the Civil War.
There are many factors that brought about the end of the industry in
this part of the country. But mainly the use of coal as a fuel, the
discovery of higher grade ore deposits elsewhere, and the end of slave
labor were those that made these operations unprofitable. It is a
fascinating subject and one which I think we as a county and state have
done very little toward recognizing in our heritage.
Following the tragedy at Falling Creek in 1622, the next successful
blast furnace was constructed at Saugus, Massachusetts in 1644. Today ·
that operation has been restored and is touted by E. N. Hartley in Ironworks on the Saugus, as the site of the "first manufacture of iron on an
industrial basis within the limits of what is now the United States." Since

Photograph c. 1855 of Samuel Jordan's Gothic Revival home "Buena
Vista" and the iron works for which the present town was named. This
furnace, a large producer, was a primary target of General Hunter's raid
in 1864.

T. T. Brady
Virginia had a blast furnace in 1619, it appears to me that Virginia has
"missed the boat" by not doing more in establishing claim to the first
successful blast furnace in English America.
With the development of the Goshen Pass area as a recreation area,
would it not be beneficial to establish and identify the historical
background of the area as it relates to the Bath Iron Works, Gibraltar
and Lebanon Valley Forges and the Cedar Grove shipping point on the
Maury River? If some level of restoration is not feasible, then at least
historical markers could be erected, perhaps with an artist's rendering to
acquaint the viewer with the scene as it must have been.
A recent field-trip to the site of Bath Forge revealed things which the
casual passerby would fail to recognize or consider significant. Stone
abutments on each side of the river, I think, establish the location of the
dam. There are still remnants of foundations which apparently were for
the forge house, coal house, and dwellings . Some walls of the waterway
are still very much intact. Slag and charcoal specimens are plentiful even
on the surface of the ground. An archeological survey of the site would
prove very interesting and enlightening.
Downstream at the "Indian Pool" I noticed something I had never
seen in my years of travel through the Pass: a bridge abutment on the
north side of the river. This no doubt was the bridge over which the
"Turnpike" crossed the river to the south bank, to follow the approximate route of the present road to Rockbridge Baths. Sketchy details in
my research indicate that this turnpike and bridge required toll for
passage by "outsiders."
On the other hand, Glenwood Furnace, in its excellent state of
preservation, would be a "natural" from the standpoint of restoration.
With its nearness to Natural Bridge, could it not also add to the historical
attraction of Rockbridge?
I have merely scratched the surface, but with the help and support of
interested people, such as members of this society, proper guidance and
financial support, Virginia and Rockbridge could establish their proper
places in the history of this industry which was so vital in the development of the state and country. I feel that some of these sites deserve,
qualify for, and should receive historic recognition. I think it is worth
pursuing. -tl

William Weaver, Ironmonger
D. E. Brady, Jr.

N THE EARLY 1800s and through the Civil War years Rockbridge
County had the reputation of being an agricultural area, but it also
had considerable industrial activity. The mining, smelting, and
forging of iron was one of the big businesses of that time. Some of the
names in this business were Maybury (who had a furnace at Vesuvius),
Jordan (of Lexington interest), McCormick (the Cyrus McCormick
family), Anderson (who ran Glenwood furnace), Davis and Weaver.
The last one of these, William Weaver, kept good records and appears to
have filed all the letters that he received. He was also involved in court
cases which were duly recorded. His records have been deposited in the
libraries of Duke University and the University of Virginia and in the
State Historical Society of Wisconsin's McCormick collection. My
brother and I have some remnants of his papers and the court records are
in the Rockbridge and Augusta Court Houses.

Douglas Ellinipsico Brady, Jr., was mayor of Lexington and the superintendent of
buildings and grounds at Washington and Lee University when he delivered this address.
He was born at Buffalo Forge, a Rockbridge County community which once had a mill and
an iron furnace run by his ancester William Weaver. Mr. Brady spoke to the Society at the
Robert E. Lee Hotel in Lexington on January 26, 1970.

D. E. Brady, Jr.

William Weaver of Pennsylvania.
In 1811 one William Wilson built Union Forge on Buffalo Creek
near its confluence with North [now Maury] River. Three years later he
sold it to a partnership consisting of Thomas Maybury of Botetourt
County and William Weaver of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They
changed its name to Buffalo Forge and began operations with Maybury
at the Forge, where he served as ironmaster and bought slaves for the
labor force. Weaver remained in Pennsylvania where he was a member
of the Pennsylvania legislature (1818-1820), had a cotton mill business
and was settling his father's estate.
Maybury had his problems: the forge was not making a profit; he
could not acquire satisfactory slaves; he repeatedly had to ask Weaver
for more money. Weaver once wrote to his partner requesting that
Maybury not mention slaves in his letters. Apparently it would have been
embarrassing for the Philadelphia resident to be known as a slave holder.
In 1823 Weaver came to Virginia and assumed direction of the forge
operation. The partnership was dissolved, though not to Maybury's
entire satisfaction. Maybury remained in the iron business and became
the operator of the Catopaxi furnace at Vesuvius, Virginia. Under
Weaver's management Buffalo Forge was a success, and he admitted
that it made some money.
54

William Weaver
Weaver was forty-two years old when he came to Virginia, and
seven years later he married a Philadelphia widow, Elizabeth Newkirk
Woodson. They had no children, but he seemed to have had considerable
feeling for his nieces and nephews. In family correspondence and
conversation for three generations he was affectionately, or perhaps
respectfully referred to as "Uncle William ." How he became interested
in Virginia is not known. Klaus Wust, in his little book about the
Dunkard pioneers, tells how Alexander Mack helped found settlements
near Winchester and in the Claytor Lake area. Alexander Mack was
William Weaver's grandfather. One would like to think that young
William was entertained with grandfatherly tales about Virginia and the
mineral wealth in its mountains, thus instilling an interest that he was
able to follow in later life.
As the forge prospered, Weaver acquired more iron properties. He
obtained the Aetna and Retreat furnaces in Botetourt County, large
acreage in the Buffalo Forge area through the Maybury partnership, and
the Bath Iron Works at the upper end of Goshen Pass. In 1819 Thomas
Baggs built a stone house near the forge. Weaver purchased this and used
it as his residence. He later added to it, more than doubling its size.
The forge industry was as near self-sufficient as possible. To operate
the forge large quantities of charcoal were needed, so over the years he
purchased most of the western slope of the Blue Ridge from Glasgow to
Buena Vista. Horses and mules were needed to haul the charcoal and pig
iron, so farm land was acquired to raise feed and large stables were built.
There were slaves to be fed, so land was devoted to the raising of food
for humans. A sewing room was put into use, and numerous cabins were
built for slave quarters. In addition to the usual farm and forge buildings
there were two mills, a harness shop, blacksmith shop, carpenter shop,
icehouse, office building, dairy, carriage house, the company store, a
saw mill, and thousands of acres of land.
The Bath Iron Works had a similar development except that in
addition it had mines and furnaces. The story of Bath Iron Works is well
documented by Dr. Thompkins and others.
eaver's family life was not without strife. He was one of ten
children, so he had many nieces and nephews, several of whom he
brought to Virginia. There is a poignant letter from his sister-in-law complaining about his treatment of her sons. William Weaver's brother
had died, leaving in William's care his two sons and a sum of money for
their upkeep. The mother complained that he had taken them to Virginia
and this would not have been their father's wish. They were not being
educated properly and they were being ''used to drive negros or any
other menial task.'' She also stated that if he had any sense of justice he

D. E. Brady, Jr.
would act toward them as an honorable man should do. I do not know
what was done or how the boys turned out, but there is an audit of the
trust fund account when they reached their majority and the remainder
of the fund plus interest was given to them.
Weaver made an arrangement with Abram Davis (a nephew) and
Samuel Jordan to run the Bath Iron Works. The works were not as profitable as Weaver thought they should be, so he tried to regain control of
them. There followed a lengthy lawsuit which, fortunately for posterity,
has, by way of depositions, furnished a wealth of data regarding the
operation of forges and furnaces, but it caused bitterness in the family.
When his wife died in 1850, Weaver asked a Davis, either his sister or
niece, to come and run the household for him. The lawsuit in which
Abram Davis was involved caused so much unpleasantness that the arrangement was untenable.
He then asked Emma Gorgas Brady, a niece, and family to come.
They came and this arrangement worked well because they stayed on and
eventually inherited a large part of the estate. Will Rex, a great nephew,
helped at Buffalo Forge and Aetna and ran the store. Charles Gorgas, a
nephew about the same age as Will Rex, came to Virginia and was put in
charge of the Aetna furnace. Charles courted and married Anne Sisson,
a prominent old-maidish lady of that section, and Weaver gave them the
furnace works there as a wedding present. Charles soon contracted

Buffalo Forge; drawn by the author's grandfather in the late 19th
century.
56

William Weaver
(

Buffalo Forge; photograph from the same period as the drawing. The
structures shown are: grist mill (center); blacksmith shop (right); harness
shop (the square building, right center); Buffalo Forge store (behind and
to the left of the grist mill); flour mill (left of store). Weaver's home and
the guest cottage are on the hill overlooking these structures.
\

pneumonia and died. Will Rex attended the funeral and reported the
happenings to his uncle. The old man listened and then commented,
"Anne Sisson got my furnace damn slick, didn't she?" Weaver apparently never tried to reclaim that property.
Another nephew, John Weaver Dannenhour, worked for a while at
Bath Iron Works, but did not stay in Virginia. A niece married one of
the Jordans; she died, and he married another niece. C. W. Newkirk,
who was referred to by Weaver as his nephew, also worked at Bath Iron
Works, but he was probably Weaver's wife's nephew or son by her first
husband. In his old age William Weaver received a letter from Abram
Davis, seeking reconciliation on the Bath Iron Works affair. The letter
was quite emotional in content and Weaver must have made a favorable
response, because an entry in. the Buffalo Forge journal on September 5,
1852, notes: "Davis of Mississippi called on Mr. Weaver today."

eaver had a strong sense of responsibility to his slaves. He once
considered selling his iron interests and moving to Mississippi,
and one of the reasons for not doing so was that he did not want his
people to be sold. His records show very few sales of slaves and these few
were usually the result of extreme provocation. In his will he mentioned
57

D. E. Brady, Jr.
that he did not want his estate broken up because of his people. He
stated, "as I have kept the bulk of my estate partly to provide for the
comfort of my servants, I desire that they shall be treated with kindness
and humanity.''
In the 1820s Weaver set up an incentive work system for his slaves.
This was not original with him. He probably got the idea from Oxford
furnace, for he had purchased slaves from that business when it ceased
operations and the system had been in use there. Certain norms were set
for the various tasks and the slaves were paid for their accomplishments
above the norms. They could use the money as they saw fit, and some
purchased vacations. At fifty cents a day a man with ten dollars could
have a twenty-day vacation. One man had a savings account in a
Lexington bank. There is a story that he had a bet with another slave
about the account and had his owner withdraw it temporarily so he could
show the money and win the bet.
While many of the slaves had special skills which determined the
type of work that they did in regard to the forge, they were frequently
two-talent people performing other jobs such as carpentry, farm work
and wood-cutting. It seemed that everyone did a stint at wood-cutting.
There was one man of the John Henry mold named Garland Thompson.
It was said that he would loaf around until Friday and then go out and
cut his week's norm of wood by Saturday noon. Once when the
"paterollers" broke up a party in the slave quarters, people dived out the
windows and back doors, but Garland strode out the front door and
none dared to stop him.
Many of the slaves remained at the forge after the Civil War as
freedmen, and some of their descendants still live at Buck Hill and
Glasgow. This is not to say that there was just one big happy family.
There were whippings and slaves did run away. When Northern troops
under General David Hunter raided the area in June, 1864, some of the
most trusted slaves left, and most of the others were taken to the remote
''Mountain Farm'' until the raiders were gone.
Weaver's wife, Eliza, was very strict and was feared by the slaves.
Two generations later a visiting black asked if old "Miss" still walked in
the big house. It was customary for owners of slaves to rent them out to
people who had need of laborers. It was also customary for a slave who
did not want to go to a certain place to say so to his owner, and he
usually would not be sent. There were those who did not want to work
for William Weaver.
The forge work was hard and had an element of danger. There were
four fires and two hammers. The hammers consisted of iron heads,
weighing two to five hundred pounds each, mounted on wooden beams.
The hammers were lifted and dropped by the water wheels. The iron

William Weaver

William Weaver (1781-1863); a daguerreotype made in the late 1850s.
\

heads struck on large anvils set into the floor. Men would heat the pigs of
iron with charcoal and then bring the one hundred pound pigs glowing
hot to the anvil to be pounded by the hammers. The process produced
from the brittle cast iron a form called wrought iron which was strong,
tou gh, and almost rust proof. Some of this was used locally, but most
was shipped down river to markets in Lynchburg and Richmond. Until
the canal was built, there was a landing at the mouth of Buffalo Creek
where boats were loaded and tied up until North River became full
59

D. E. Brady, Jr.
enough to float them downstream. This landing also served as a shipping
point for people from as far away as Lexington. The "boatyard road"
went out Houston Street and twisted across the hills to the mouth of
Buffalo Creek. The canal later furnished much more dependable
transportation.
t was not possible to maintain continuous operation at the forge. The
water wheels and machinery were made of wood and had limited
durability, so there was down time for repairs. There were droughts
when there was not enough water to run the wheels, and there were
planting and harvest times when all hands were needed on the farm.
Weaver was an innovative farmer. He was one of the first in the area to
use gypsum fertilizer, and he converted one of his mills to grind it. On
the other hand, he may have been over-cautious when he tested Mr.
McCormick's reaper. He decided that it would not work on his hilly
farms. Years later the reaper was used on those hills.
As one looks at his record he appears to have been an astute business
man, and indeed, he amassed a considerable fortune for his day. He also
made many bad contracts and was either suing someone or being sued
most of the time he was in Virginia. There was a suit to settle with
Maybury. In the 1820s he and a man named Doyle built Bath Iron
Works. Their contractural relationship changed several times and finally
ended in a lawsuit. This was followed by the Davis and Jordan suit. Also
he had one over a property line in the Glasgow area which could have
been avoided if a clear deed had been written.
His wealth was legendary, but journal entries and records of his
estate settlement tell the sad story. His nephew-in-law was his executor
and as he handled the estate, he put part of the money into tobacco
which was burned in Richmond. The rest was put in Confederate money,
and then the slaves were freed. His heir, . D. C. E. Brady, was left with
large land holdings, the forge, and no capital.
During Weaver's last illness his doctor stayed at his home and was
remembered in his patient's will. Weaver died on March 12, 1863, at the
age of eighty-two. He does not seem to have been a man with many
friends and we have no record of his religious life. Accounts of his
funeral, however, tell that a large number of people attended. He was
buried in Falling Spring Cemetery one mile from his home. 1:?

Benjamin Darst, Sr.
Architect-Builder of Lexington
H. Jackson Darst

ARLY IN 1785 Benjamin Darst, Sr., came to Lexington from
Goochland County. He and his son Samuel (1788-1864), who was
in partnership with John Jordan (1777-1854) during the "Golden
Era" of Classical Reviv.al architecture in Rockbridge County, were to
have a substantial impact upon the development of Lexington for the
next half century. Their talents are reflected in the buildings which
became Lexington landmarks, some of which, such as Washington Hall
and the houses on Lee Avenue, still stand. No less important were their
contributions to the industrial, commercial, social and educational life of
the community.
Benjamin Darst, Sr. was born January 19, 1760, in Shenandoah
County. His Swiss father, Abraham Derst, had emigrated from the Canton of Glarus and arrived in Philadelphia in 17 43. In the middle of the

The Reverend H. Jackson Darst, a resident of William burg and the author of a book on the
Darst family of Virginia, serves as supply minister at a number of Christian churches in
Virginia. In addition he has acted as assistant to the commandant of the Educational Division at the U.S. Army Transportation Center at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Dr. Darst's address
on "The Rockbridge County Darsts and Their Grigsby Connections" was given at the
Society's January 28, 1974, meeting at the Keydet-General Restaurant near Lexington.

H. Jackson Darst
next decade he moved with his wife and young children into the Valley. 1
Not long after the death of his father in 1772, Benjamin Darst evidently
began to work with one of the pioneer German potters of Shenandoah
County. These early potters laid the foundation for the very prosperous
factories which were operated at Strasburg, which became known as
''Pottown,'' and other points in Shenandoah County in the next century. 2
After serving in the Revolutionary militia, about 1780, with a legacy
from his brother Isaac and the credentials as a master of the potter's art,
Darst set out in the direction of Richmond and Williamsburg, probably
with the intention of establishing a pottery in one of these towns. Instead
he settled in Goochland County, where about 1781 the young Valley
businessman married Lucy Woodward (1758-1794). 3
His bride was of English ancestry, the daughter of John and Susannah (Tilman) Woodward. The Woodwards had been residents of
Goochland since at least the 1740s, and John's step-grandfather, Captain James Holman, had represented the county in the House of
Burgesses. 4 They were communicants of St. James Northam Parish, of
which William Douglass, well known for his Douglass Register, was rector. Among the Woodward neighbors were the Jordans and Woodsons.
Colonel John Jordan's grandfather witnessed the will of Lucy Woodward Darst's grandmother. 5 In Goochland Benjamin Darst had business
dealings with the Woodsons, one of whom moved to Lexington where he
invented a brick press. 6
Benjamin and Lucy Darst settled on the Red Hill tract "near the
Manakin Town Ferry"-probably about the site of the present Manakin
Post Office. During these several years he spent in Goochland, Ben1
Date from gravestone, Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery, Lexington, Virginia;
Samuel Darst to Maj. James H. Darst, October 20, 1859, in author's possession; H.
Jackson Darst, The Darsts of Virginia (Williamsburg, Va .: The Author, 1972), pp. 389,
390, 392; Ralph B. Strassburger and W. J. Hinke, Pennsylvania German Pioneers (Norristown, Pa.: Pennsylvania German Society, 1934), I, xxiv, 330.
2
John W. Wayland, A Short History of Shenandoah County Virginia (Strasburg, Va.:
Shenandoah Publishing House, 1927), p. 129.
3
Shenandoah County Minute Book, 1774-1780, p . 56; Shenandoah County Will Book
A, p. 134; John Woodward Family Bible, Virginia Historical Society; Rockbridge County
Deed Book B, pp. 308-09.
• John Woodward Family Bible; Goochland County Deed Book 14, pp. 79-81; Book
3, p. 557; Hugh S. Watson, Jr., "Climbing The Family Tree," Newport News, Virginia,
Daily Press, October 8, 1972.
5
William Douglass, Douglass Register (Richmond: J. W . Ferguson & Sons, 1928), pp.
90, 327; Goochland County Will Book G, p. 265; John S. Moore, "John Jordan, Baptist
Layman," Proceedings of the Rockbridge Historical Society, 6(1960-1964), 64.
6
Goochland County Deed Book 14, pp. 79-81; Henry M. Woodson, Historical
Genealogy of the Woodsons and Connections (Columbia, Mo.: The Author, 1915), p. 156;
Commissioner of Patents, A List of Patents Granted by the United States from April JO,
1790 to December 31, 1836 (Washington: GPO, 1872, p. 390.

Benjamin Darst, Sr.
(

jamin, then in his early twenties, projects the image of a prosperous and
ambitious young business and family man. He owned land and slaves. 7
Apparently he operated a pottery. Two of his children were born during
this period. He sold his property in Goochland in the fall of 1784 and the
following spring bought land in the bustling new hamlet in Rockbridge
County. 8
t can be safely assumed that he set up his pottery factory immediately.
One of the most significant surviving documents in the early history of
this industry in the Valley was executed three years later in June, 1788,
when "Soldier John" Grigsby and David Cloyd, overseers of the poor,
bound an orphan boy to Benjamin Darst, Sr. to learn the pottery '' Art or
Trade. " 9 The conditions of this indentur~ provide information about
both the education required for mastery of the industry and the
equipment employed in it.
The factory workshops were equipped with pottery wheels and
kilns. Nearby was a clay pit with a mixing paddle turned by a mule or
horse. Churns, crocks, pitchers, plates, toys and other items were
manufactured. 10 The market obviously was not confined to the local
community. Darst's pottery was strategically located in terms of
westward migration through the Valley to Southwest Virginia and the
new states and territories beyond. Ware broken en route from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and elsewhere in 'the northeast could be replenished
from the Lexington factory.
As his business prospered Darst began to look for other lucrative activities and soon became one of the earliest brick manufacturers and
building contractors in the town. To what extent he became interested in
architecture and building before the great fire which destroyed Lexington
in 1796, it is impossible to determine. Out of the ashes of the log
buildings of the frontier settlement came the beginning of a brick town.
A New Yorker who visited in 1804 said that "Lexington is a handsome
little village with good buildings." 11 Undoubtedly, many of these "good

' Goochland County Deed Book 14, pp. 79-81; Helene B. Agee, Facets of Goochland
County's History (Richmond: The Dietz Press, 1962), p. 77; Goochland County Land
Books, 1782-1784; Goochland County Personal Property Tax Books, 1782-1784.
8
John Woodward Family Bible; Goochland County Deed Book 14, pp. 79-81;
Rockbridge County Deed Book A, pp. 517-18; Book B, pp . 308-09.
9
Rockbridge County Will Book 1, p. 319.
10
"Pottery and Porcelain," Encyclopedia Britannica (1946 ed.), 18: 373, 373A.
II
George W. Diehl, The Reverend Samuel Houston, D. V.M. (Verona, Va .: McClure,
1970), p. 70; "The Town of Lexington in 1801," Lexington Gazette, August 14, 1941; ''Octogenarian Writer of Extinct Families," Withrow Scrapbook la (Rockbridge), Rockbridge
Historical Society Papers, Washington and Lee University Library; "Residential Development of Lee Avenue in Lexington [1922)," ibid., III (Lexington); Oren F. Morton, History
of Rockbridge County (Staunton, Va.: McClure, 1920), p. 149. See also, Darst, The Darsts
of Virginia, pp. 399-400.

H. Jackson Darst
buildings'' were designed and erected by Benjamin Darst, Sr.
The transition to the new business was easy. One authority has said
that pottery ''in its widest sense includes all objects fashioned from clay
and then hardened by fire." 12 The manufacture of brick was merely an
extension of the pottery activities. The raw material was the same and the
pugmill and kiln were used in both manufacturing processes. The ability
to produce first-rate brick was perhaps more critical to success in this
business than the actual construction process.
Benjamin Darst possessed a broad knowledge of the chemistry of
soils and of glazes and special purpose uses of clay; he was an experienced operator of kilns. The pottery business also had demanded some competence as a designer and mathematician. He had been exposed to some
of the architectural masterpieces of eastern Virginia before coming to
Lexington, and after 1794 he appears to have frequently visited
Goochland and Louisa, probably passing through Albemarle. 13 These
journeys provided him an opportunity to refresh his memory of the old
architectural forms in Piedmont Virginia, and exposed him to the
Classical Revival style which Jefferson was popularizing at the new state
capitol and at Monticello.
On one of these journeys around the turn of the century Darst may
have encountered John Jordan, who probably served an apprenticeship
as a bricklayer. One source has suggested that Jordan may have moved
to Lexington as a result of Darst's invitation and encouragement.
Perhaps it is significant that the first major construction in Lexington
undertaken by Jordan was in association with Darst's son-in-law John
Chandler (1772-1852). This was the imposing Ann Smith Academy
building erected in 1808~ 1809. Chandler was contractor for the "woodwork" and Jordan did the brick work. 14
Chandler also had come from east of the Blue Ridge. In 1802 he
married Polly Darst (1782-1846), the eldest daughter of Benjamin, Sr.
They lived on a plantation a short distance from the town and were
among the founders of Ann Smith Academy, and were active in the Lexington Presbyterian Church. In 1803 he and Daniel Lambert were the
woodwork contractors for the new academic buildings of Washington
Academy, and Chandler was the contractor for the Steward's House. 15
12

"Pottery and Porcelain," p. 338 .
Darst, The Darsts of Virginia, p. 400.
1
• Willard Isley, "John Jordan, Builder," Proceedings of the Rockbridge Historical
Society, 7(1966-1969), 94; L. Moody Sims, "John Jordan, Builder and Entrepreneur,"
Virginia Cavalcade, 23(Summer, 1973), 20; Ann Smith Academy Records, Washington and
Lee University Library. ·
15
Warren T. Chandler, "Chandler Genealogy," (1931 typescript in author's possession)~ Rockbridge County Marriage Book 1, p. 78; Darst, The Darsts of Virginia, p. 406;
Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 4 and October 4, 1803, Washington and Lee
University Library .
13

Benjamin Darst, Sr.
About 1802, at approximately the same time that Chandler and Jordan arrived in Lexington, Samuel Darst entered the brick manufacturing
and construction business, probably with his father, Benjamin. Samuel
Darst married Nancy Irvine (1788-1835), whose brother John became
Jordan's principal partner in both the Blue Ridge Canal construction and
the iron business. 16

uring the first decade of the nineteenth century Benjamin Darst, Sr.
emerged as the senior member of a group of individuals in
Lexington who were financially interested in the construction business
and whose roots or connections were east of the Blue Ridge. Ultimately
these included John Chandler and his brother Samuel T., John Jordan
and his brothers Hezekiah and Samuel, Samuel Darst and his cousin
Isaac Woodward, John Woodson and perhaps others. 11
In 1815 two of these men, John Jordan and Samuel Darst, formed a
partnership in the brick making and construction business. Benjamin
Darst, Sr. appears to have withdrawn from building operations at this
time and confined his construction activities to design and capital investment in the projects of the firm of Darst & Jordan. As an experienced
builder who had already seen the town grow from a log village to a goodsized community of brick houses, the elder Darst may have b~en the
mentor of the partners and evidently had a large influence upon their
achievements. 18
Although the financial records of the firm of Darst & Jordan have
been lost, it is not difficult to reconstruct from other sources the division
of labor between the partners. Jordan was the agent for the firm and
handled contract negotiations, bids and other "customer relations."
Darst was the "active partner" and managed the operations. He maintained the books and settled accounts, hired, paid and discharged
"hands," purchased supplies, and in general managed both the brick
manufacturing and the construction process.
In the only record of the settlement of accounts to survive, which
pertains to the construction of a handsome residence for Dr. Henry Ruffner, the partners divided the profits evenly. This arrangement did not
prevail in every case. One contemporary under oath stated, ''the concern
16
Lexington Gazette, July 17, 1830; Rockbridge County Marriage Book 1, p. 130;
Rockbridge County Will Book 5, pp. 412-14; Rockbridge County Chancery File 5, Bundle
19, Darst vs. Alexander, affidavit of Samuel Darst, October 15, 1838.
" Chandler, "Chandler Genealogy"; "Building of Old Court House Fence Here in
1806,"Withrow Scrapbooks, la (Rockbridge); Isley, "John Jordan, Builder," 94; Lexington Intelligencer, July 17, 1830.
18
Darst vs. Alexander; Rockbridge County Chancery File 23, Bundle 97, Andrew
Alexander's Executors vs. Jordan, William C. Lewis deposition, April 4, 1848, exceptions
by plaintiffs and affidavits; Darst, The Darsts of Virginia, p. 399; Parke Rouse, Jr.,
"Samuel Darst and Washington and Lee University," The Magazine Antiques,
105(February, 1974), 337.

H. Jackson Darst
of Jordan & Darst were in the habit of doing large jobs and sometimes
they divided the proceeds, sometimes one of the partners took all ... '' 19
Tradition has attributed certain structures to Darst and others to
Jordan. The evidence indicates that all "large jobs" attributed to either
man during the period of the partnership were in fact undertaken by the
firm. A few of the structures for which Darst & Jordan appear to have
been responsible are as follows:
1816-"Little Stono" 20
Neriah Baptist Church Meeting House 21
1817 -The Lexington Arsenal (now part
of Virginia Military Institute) 22
1818 -Residence for Colonel John Jordan
(now known as "Stono") 23
1819 -Residence for Benjamin Darst, Sr. (the old section of
the house now known as "The Pines") 24
Central School Association Schoolhouse2 5
1820 -The Dold Building (old section) 26
1821 -Residence for Dr. Henry Ruffner 21
1822 -Residence on South Main Street (now old section of
building housing the Rockbridge Regional Library) 28
1824 -Residence for Samuel Darst (now known as "Beaumont") 29
Residence for Colonel S. McD. Reid
(now known as the "Reid-White House") 30
Residence for General C. P. Dorman
Andrew Alexander's Executors vs. Jordan; Darst vs. Alexander.
Marshall W. Fishwick, "John Jordan, Man of Iron," The Iron Worker,
2l(Autumn, 1957), 2.
21
Moore, "John Jordan, Baptist Layman," 64.
22
William Couper, One Hundred Years at V.M.I. (4 vols.; Richmond: Garrett &
Massie, 1939), I, 7-9, 224-25.
23
Harrington Waddell, "A Family of Builders," Lexington Gazette, JanuaryFebruary, 1932.
2
• "Residential Development of Lee A venue in Lexington," Withrow Scrapbooks, III
(Lexington); Rockbridge County Deed Book M, p. 27; Rockbridge County Land Books,
1819-1820.
25
"The Central School Association of Lexington [June 11, 1936], Withrow Scrapbooks, III (Lexington).
26
"The Town of Lexington in the Year 1801," Lexington Gazette, August 14, 1941;
Rockbridge County Land Books, 1819-1821.
21
Darst vs. Alexander, affidavit of Samuel Darst, October 15, 1838; Rockbridge
County Land Books, 1819-1821.
28
Rockbridge County News, July 13, 1961.
29
J. Everett Fauber, A.I.A., "Research Report Relating to the Barclay House, Lexington, Virginia" (July 13, 1966), p. 2, Rockbridge Historical Society Papers; Rockbridge
County Land Books, 1823-25.
.
30
"The Town of Lexington in the Year 1801," Lexington Gazette, August 14, 1941;
interview with Mrs. Ruth Anderson McCullough, May 21, 1969, Lexington; Rockbridge
County Land Books, 1823-25.
19

Benjamin Darst, Sr.
(now known as ''The Rectory' ') 3 1
Centre Building (now Washington Hall,
Washington and Lee University) 32
The large resources of the firm and the ambitions of its partners are
well illustrated in the effort they made in 1819 to secure the brickwork
contract for the University of Virginia. In spite of the distance from Lexington and the magnitude of the job, Samuel Darst and John Jordan
were bidders-ostensibly as individuals, but in fact as a firm and as part
of a conspiracy to monopolize the work. Judge Archibald Stuart of
Staunton accused the partners of this in a letter to Thomas Jefferson,
dated March 9, 1819. Evidently, Judge Stuart's letter had the desired effect of barring the partners' participation, as there is no evidence of their
being involved in the construction of the University. 33

he best known and most complex project undertaken by Darst &
Jordan was the Centre Building (Washington Hall) of Washington
College. It has been called their "masterpiece." They began to
manufacture the bricks · in the fall of 1822 in order that construction
could begin early in 1823. The bricks were burned on the college grounds
from clay dug at the site, which accounts for the "flattening of the
surface and the terracing of certain spaces" on the campus. The firm
utilized slave labor extensively. There were problems peculiar to the use
of slaves, one of which was that in a town the size of Lexington there
were always persons anxious to pay them for chopping wood and doing
other odd jobs during their free time. These tasks could become sufficiently time consuming that the regular employment suffered. In May
and June, 1823, "Darst & Jordan" warned the residents through the
Lexington Intelligencer against employing their slaves. 34
The question of who designed the various buildings which were constructed by Darst & Jordan is intriguing and largely unresolved by
documentary and traditional sources. Washington Hall is the foremost
illustration. Notwithstanding the legend which has developed since 1950,
3
"Album: Rockbridge Homes and Other Views," p. 43,
' James W. McClung,
Rockbridge Historical Society Papers ; Rockbridge County News, July 13, 1961;
Rockbridge County Land Books, 1823-25.
32
William H. Ruffner, ed., Washington and Lee University Historical Papers (6 vols.;
Baltimore: John Murphy & Co ., 1890-1904), 4: 91-92 . Photographs of several of the
buildings discussed in this paper may be found in Royster Lyle , Jr. and Pamela Hemenway
Simpson , The Architecture of Historic Lexington (Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of
Virginia, 1977).
33
Archibald Stuart to Thomas Jefferson, March 19, 1819, Jefferson Papers, University of Virginia Library; P. A. Bruce, History of the University of Virginia, 1819-1919 (New
York: Macmillan, 1920-1922); manuscripts pertaining to the building of the university,
University Archives, University of Virginia Library.
34
Washington and Lee University Historical Papers, 4: 94; Lexington Intelligencer,
May 31, 1823.

H. Jackson Darst

A conjectural drawing of the original appearance of Washington
College's Centre Building.
almost a century after his death, that Jordan designed Washington Hall,
there is no creditable tradition or documentation to support attributing it
to him or to the Darsts. According to the minutes of the Board of
Trustees on July 1, 1822, a committee was appointed to develop a
"suitable plan" for the proposed building. Apparently after consulting
several contractors, including Darst & Jordan, "several offers" were
received from "different workmen." On October 16, 1822, John Jordan's bid submitted for the firm was accepted. There is nothing in the
minutes to suggest that the plan was drawn by either of the Darsts or J ordan. 35
A corroboration of this fact is found in Dr. W. H. Ruffner's 1893
account of the building of Washington Hall, contained in the
Washington and Lee University Historical Papers. Ruffner obviously
had a very accurate knowledge of the facts and traditions surrounding
this event. According to him, the committee of the Board "went to planning and figuring'' and finally submitted a design that was adopted. Ruffner refers to the partnership between John Jordan and Samuel Darst in
the construction of Washington Hall and praises both men as builders. 36
Considering the nature of his comments, had he any knowledge which
would have justified attributing the design to the Darsts or Jordan, it is
inconceivable that he would not have done so.
35
Minutes of the Board of Trustees, July 1, August 14, September 24 and October 16,
1822, September 24, 1823 and March 21, 1824, Washington and Lee University Library.
36
Washington and Lee University Historical Papers, 4: 92.

Benjamin Darst, Sr.

(
(

Calder Loth, in his definitive study of the architecture of
Washington and Lee University, concludes that credit for the design of
the college buildings belongs to no one individual. Rather, these structures must be attributed to the administators who were "determined to
give a dignified setting to the educational process," and to local builders
who, with their knowledge of construction techniques, were able to give
"tangible form to the administrators' aspirations." Loth describes the
processes by means of which Washington Hall and the other buildings
came into being as "common at a time when professional architects were
extremely scarce-that of simple builders directly transforming the requirements of their employer into wood, brick and mortar, ... " 37
The only building which the firm of Darst & Jordan erected for
which there seems to be an authentic tradition of a set of architectural
plans being drawn by one person and the firm then executing them, is
The Rectory. The architect was Benjamin Darst, Sr. 38 What was true of
The Rectory probably also applied to The Pines and Beaumont and
perhaps to other structures erected by Darst & J oraan.
The fact that the name of an architect for most of the buildings
which Darst & Jordan erected is not known does not diminish the
historical stature of the partners. They were not architects in the modern
professional sense of the term in that either one prepared plans for others
to execute. More accurately, they and Benjamin Darst, Sr. can be
described as architect-builders. That is, they were builders who, in the
absence of a professional architect, exerted tremendous influence over
the design and specifications of everything they constructed.
Upon completion of Washington Hall in the autumn of 1824, the
partnership was dissolved. Jordan had formed a partnership with John
Irvine to build the Blue Ridge Canal, a project which demanded his entire time, capital and talent. The dissolution of Darst & Jordan eHded
one of the most remarkable decades in the history of Virginia architecture west of the Blue Ridge. If Benjamin Darst, Sr. had not already done
so, Darst & Jordan introduced Classical Revival architecture into
Rockbridge County. Certainly the firm popularized it and erected lasting
monuments to the style. 39

37
Calder C. Loth, "The Ante Bellum Architecture of Washington and Lee University," (unpublished thesis, University of Virginia , School of Architecture , 1967), p. 59.
38
J. Randolph Kean, "The Episcopal Rectory, Lexington, Virginia," (unpublished
Fine Arts 20 term paper, Washington and Lee University, January, 1953; in possession of
Robert E. Lee Memorial Church; with longhand notes by Miss Ellen Anderson .) See the
critique of this source in Darst, The Darsts of Virginia, pp. 416-17.
39
Darst vs. Alexander; Jerry Donovan, "John Jordan, Virginia Builder," Journal of
the Society of Architectural Historians, 9(0ctober 1950), 17-19; Marshall Fishwick , " John
Jordan, Virginia Builder," Commonwealth, l 7(0ctober 1950), 13-29.

H. Jackson Darst
rom 1824 to 1835, Samuel Darst was one of the principal contractors
in Lexington and Rockbridge County. An old resident, writing in
1902, stated that he "built many of the houses now standing." In 1827 he
must have had a large project underway as he advertised for "three or
four active boys to bear off brick." In February, 1833, he was at-

The Pines (today 111 Lee Avenue) was built in 1819 by Benjamin Darst,
Sr. It was extensively remodeled in 1885.
tempting to employ four or five journeymen bricklayers, "to whom
liberal wages and constant employment will be given throughout the
season. " 40
Among the better known structures which Samuel Darst built during
this period was Franklin Hall, constructed for the Franklin Society. A
building measuring twenty-five by thirty feet was completed in 1828.
Samuel Darst did the stone and brick work, lathing and plastering for
$770.00. The bill of William H. Letcher, a local woodwork contractor
and father of Governor John Letcher, for the carpentry work was
$781.97.
One of the major projects undertaken by Darst in the county during
the period 1826-1830 was a plantation complex for the John H. Hyde
family. It provides an excellent insight into the specifications and costs
41

40
W . A . Ruff, "Article Written in 1902 Tells of Lexington 100 Years Ago," Tompkins scrapbook, vol. 7, p. 22, Rockbridge Historical Society Papers; Lexington Gazette,
April 9, 1827; Lexington Union, February 16, 1833.
41
Franklin Society Records, November 3, 1826, January 24, 1829, Washington and
Lee University Library .

Benjamin Darst, Sr.
for erecting a substantial plantation house and its principal dependencies
in rural Rockbridge during the first third of the nineteenth century. The
mansion on the Hyde plantation was approximately seventy-five feet
long and twenty feet wide, two stories high with four large pillars-an imposing residence indeed. The construction also included a brick kitchen,
Negro dwelling, smokehouse, ashhouse and bake oven. Materials and
labor for the brickwork were combined at a price of $6.50 per thousand
with a total cost of $1,381.08. 42
The Dold Building on Lexington's Main Street is a product of both
Samuel Darst's partnership with Jordan and his later individual building
operations. In 1820 the original house was erected by the firm of Darst &
Jordan for John Irvine, and in 1826 Samuel Darst added a section to the
north end which increased its size by about one-third. 43
While Benjamin, Sr. and Samuel Darst were making architectural

The Dold Building (right, 1 North Main Street) was built by Darst &
Jordan as a house for John Irvine. In 1826 Samuel Darst added the section to the right of the doorway. The Alexander-Withrow House (left),
across the street, was built about 1789.
2
•
James D. Davidson Papers, Correspondence 1832-1833, State Historical Society of
Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
3
•
James W. Mcclung, Historical Significance of Rockbridge County (Staunton, Va.:
McClure, 1939), p. 77; E. P. Tompkins, Rockbridge County Virginia (Richmond, Va.:
Whittet & Shepperson, 1952), p. 55; Rockbridge County Land Books, 1815-1832.

H. Jackson Darst
and building contributions, they also were involved in other commercial
and community activities. The senior Darst possessed a wide range of
business interests, which included public improvements in western
Virginia such as roads, canals and even railroads. After 1819 almost all
of his wealth was invested in securities. Both Darsts had the reputation of
being land speculators. The deed books support this in that they bought
and sold a great deal of property, seldom keepfng any parcel very long. 44
Both father and son owned inns. Benjamin, Sr., possessed an exceedingly prosperous one on Main Street near the present site of the
Methodist Church from 1793 to 1819. The inn was operated by Darst
himself some years, and in others it was rented, apparently depending
upon how many buildings he had under contract. Samuel left the construction business in 1835 when he obtained Paxton's Tavern at the upper termination of the Canal. He operated this prestigious hostelry as the
"Blue Ridge Canal Inn" until 1846, when financial reverses resulting
from the depression of the 1840s forced its sale. 4 5
In the early 1830s Samuel Darst was involved financially with a
"Patent Brick Press" which had been invented and patented in 1829 by
1ohn Woodson of Lexington. He and Isaac Woodward formed the firm
of Darst & Woodward and purchased the license to market the machine
in "that portion of Virginia lying on the South of James River, bounded
on the west by the counties of, Rockbridge, Botetourt, Montgomery,
Wythe and Washington, and embracing said counties. " 46
eginning with the Lexington fire in 1796, Benjamin Darst, Sr. was
concerned with the prevention and fighting of fires. He was one of
the petitioners to the General Assembly for the Lexington Lottery which
was designed to relieve those who had lost property in the fire. In 1797
Darst was one of the initial subscribers to the Lexington Fire Company,
and he was still active in this organization as late as 1829. Samuel Darst
was also involved with the fire company and furnished slaves for duty
with the hook and ladder unit and the water line. 4 7
Benjamin Darst, Sr. was a member of the Lexington Presbyterian
Church. His interest in education is reflected in the substantial bequest

Darst , The Darsts of Virginia, pp. 34, 39, 402.
Rockbridge County Deed Books: B, pp. 481-82; L, p. 421; Lexington News-Letter,
March 13, 1819; Rockbridge County Personal Property Tax Books, 1793-1820; Aylett
Alexander to William Alexander, February 18, 1836, Alexander Papers, Washington and
Lee University Library; Morton, History of Rockbridge County, p. 463; Rockbridge County Chancery File 17, Bundle 72, Jordan vs. Darst.
46
Commissioner of Patents, List of Patents Granted, p. 390; Lexington Intelligencer,
July 17, 1830.
47
Legislative Petition, Rockbridge County, November 3, 1796, Virginia State Library,
Richmond; Rockbridge County Will Book 2, pp . 7-8; List of Members of Lexington Fire
Department, November, 1829, copy in the possession of the Lexington Fire Department.
44

Benjamin Darst, Sr.

\
\

which he made to the Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church in
the United States. Samuel's generation had its Franklin Society, of which
he was a member and director. He and nine other shareholders formed
the association in 1819 to operate the Central School of Lexington,
which was the principal elementary institution in the community for
many years. Samuel Darst served as a trustee of the town of Lexington. 48
Both Darsts used slaves extensively in their businesses and maintained household staffs. In 1814 Benjamin was the seventh largest
slaveholder in his tax district, which included about half of the county
taxpayers. Boney, in his biography of John Letcher, cites as evidence of
the rising affluence of the future governor, his purchase of Benjamin
Darst's exceptional house servant Patrick from the Darst estate in 1850.
Another of Benjamin's slaves, Louisa, has gained some fame from the
fact of her sale in 1815 by Darst to another slave, Patrick Henry, who
was Mr. Jefferson's caretaker at the Natural Bridge. The following year
Patrick Henry married Louisa and set her free. 4 9
Benjamin Darst, Sr., lived at The Pines on Lee Avenue. Samuel
Darst resided next door to his father at Beaumont. In 1830 Samuel traded his residence to John Irvine for what is now known as the Dold
Building. A week later he sold this property to Samuel Dold for $4,500.
Subsequently, Samuel Darst lived on Main Street, opposite the courthouse, in a building in which Henry Boley later operated a bookstore. 50
The elder Darst was a member of the leisurely group of professional
and business leaders who spent considerable time on the· Main Street
sidewalk exchanging stories and news. In that era chairs and benches
ranged along both sides of Main Street, ''so that the talkers could cross
over from the sun to the shade, or vice versa , according to the season and
the time of day." Benjamin Darst was particularly remembered within
this group for his "wit and humor," and has been described as a "jovial
citizen" who kept the street "in good humor."
An interesting anecdote which also describes Samuel Darst has been
recounted by Dr. W. H. Ruffner. He says that Samuel Darst "bore a
striking resemblance to Dr. Henry Ruffner. When dressed in black
48
Lexington Presbyterian Church Records, August, 1820; Rockbridge Cou nty Will
Book 7, p. 370; Franklin Society Minutes , Au gust 12, 1820 a nd July 14, 1828; " The Central
School Association of Lexington," June 11, 1936, Withrow Scrapbooks, III(Lexington);
Lexington Gazette, August 21, 1835 .
49
Rockbridge County Personal Property Tax Books, 1790-1845; F. N. Boney, John
Letcher of Virginia (University, Ala.: University of Alabama, 1966), pp. 41, 253 ;
Rockbridge County Chancery File 35, Bundle 147, Darst vs. Darst; E . P. Tompkins and J.
Lee Davis, The Natural Bridge and Its Historical Surroundings (Natural Bridge, Va. :
Natural Bridge of Virginia, 1939), pp . 4-6 .
50
Rockbridge County Deed Book Q, pp . 590-94; Ruff, " A rticle Written in 1902"; Interview with M rs. Ruth Anderson McCulloch, May 20, 1969.

H. Jackson Darst
broadcloth and a tall silk hat, as was usually the case when he came to
town from his farm on North River, Mr. Darst in his later years was not
unfrequently mistaken for the College President . . .. '' On one occasion
the eldest daughter of Dr. Ruffner stopped Samuel Darst on a Lexington
street, mistaking him for her father, and "after explaining her wants,
asked him for money." 51
enjamin Darst, Sr. died October 6, 1835, and was buried in what is
now called Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery. Four of his
children lived in Rockbridge. Samuel Darst and Polly Chandler were
identified primarily with the town of Lexington. Samuel's oldest
daughter was the first wife of Dr. James R. Jordan, with whom the old
Jordan house was connected. Polly's grandsons, Dr. Samuei T. and
Norborne Chandler, married daughters of Captain Reuben Grigsby
(1780-1863) of Hickory Hill. Benjamin Darst, Sr. 's children, Benjamin,
Jr. (1785-1821) and Lucy (1793-1867) married into prominent county
families and lived south of Lexington.
Lucy became the wife of Captain Henry Salling, who was related to
Captain John Peter Salling, the explorer, Indian captive and author of a
classic frontier journal. Captain Henry Salling took his bride to what was
described as "one of the most valuable plantations" in Rockbridge, near
present Glasgow, which had been a part of the original Stalling grant. 52
Benjamin Darst, Jr., is frequently confused with his father in the
historical literature. After graduating from Washington Academy and
marrying Elizabeth Welch (1790-1835) of Fancy Hill, he farmed with his
father-in-law and brothers-in-law. Elizabeth Darst's father, Thomas
Welch II (1753-1821) owned two of the "Seven Hills" plantations and
other tracts, and engaged in an exten:;ive agricultural enterprise. Benjamin Darst, Jr., died of illness resulting from War of 1812 service. 53

Elizabeth (Welch) Darst was a granddaughter of the renowned Captain "Soldier John" Grigsby (1720-1794) and through him was connected with the Glasgows, McNutts, McCormicks, McCorkles, Paxtons,
Davidsons, Greenlees, and other notable Rockbridge families. Morton
Washington and Lee University Historical Papers, 4: 80-89, 92.
Lexington Gazette, November 27, 1835; H. H. McCormick, Genealogies and
Reminiscences (rev. ed.; Chicago: The Author, 1897), pp. 46-47; Rockbridge County Marriage Book 1, p. 160; F. B. Kegley, Kegley's Virginia Frontier (Roanoke, Va.: The
Southwest Virginia Historical Society, 1938), pp. 151-53; Samuel Campbell to Lyman
Draper , November 15, 1848, Draper Papers, State Historical Society of Wisconsin .
53
Vernon E. Kemp, Alumni Directory and Service Record of Washington and Lee
University (Lexington, Va.: The Alumni, 1926), p. 47; McCormick, Genealogies and
Reminiscences, p. 19; Darst, The Darsts of Virginia, p. 51; J . Flint Waller, West of Suez
(Verona, Va.: McClure, 1970), pp. 43-46; Rockbridge County Will Book 5, pp . 121-23 ; R.
A. Brock, ed ., Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia, Pulaski and Giles
Counties, Virginia , (New York , etc .: H . H. Hardesty & Co ., 1884), p . 413 .
51

Benjamin Darst, Sr.
succinctly describes the Grigsbys of Rockbridge as "well-to-do, able, and
influential." 54 It was in this enlarged Grigsby family that the widow
Elizabeth Darst reared her sons, the oldest of whom, John Chandler
Darst (1811-1885) was to follow in the steps of his grandfather Darst and
uncle Samuel Darst as a third generation brickmaker and builder.
John Chandler Darst was contracting independently of his Uncle
Samuel, when in 1831 he did the brick repairs to the buildings of
Washington College. In 1835 he married the daughter of Captain Henry
Wysor, Jr. (1786-1859), a prominent landowner and justice of the Montgomery County Court, who lived about a mile north of the present town
of Dublin, Virginia. Captain Wysor gave the young couple Ash Brook
farm which adjoined his property, and Darst opened a brickyard there
and went into the construction business. He seems to have·influenced the
design of the Classical Revival Pulaski County courthouse and furnished
brick for this building which was erected during 1840-1841. Darst was the
contractor for the handsome brick meeting house of New Dublin
Presbyterian Church in 1840.
As in the case of his grandfather and uncle, John C. Darst had a
number of other commercial and community interests. He farmed Ash
Brook, specializing in raising horses and cattle. He operated a general
merchandise business, owned a 1,000 acre timber tract in Bland County,
was a stockholder in the Pulaski and Giles Turnpike, served as deputy
sheriff and road commissioner, and was a ruling elder of New Dublin. 55
John C. Darst's eldest son, Major James H. Darst (1838-1906), also
was involved for a brief period with the old Ash Brook brickyard. A
Dublin merchant, his store burned to the ground in January, 1871. In the
summer of that year he moved to Ash Brook and manufactured brick for
the substantial two-story Darst Building which he erected in the fall in
the center of Dublin. Major Darst engaged in the drug and general merchandise business in this building for the remainder of his life. He was a
banker and farmer and served in the Virginia General Assembly. After
1871 he was never again engaged in the construction industry. 56 Thus, the
Darst Building stands today as the final monument to the achievements
of four generations of brickmakers and architect-builders in Rockbridge
and Pulaski Counties, whose activities spanned almost a century. 1:I
54
McCormick, Genealogies and Reminiscences, pp. 13-18; Morton, History of
Rockbridge County, p. 256.
55
Minutes of the Board of Trustees, Washington College, November, 1831,
Washington and Lee University Library; Montgomery County Marriage Book, pp. 248,
394; Montgomery County Order Book 27, p. 88; Nettie Wysor, "The Family of Wysor,"
(1938 typescript in author's possession; Darst, The Darsts of Virginia, pp. 93, 100, 102,
118.
56
John C. Darst to A.G. Darst Babbitt, February 7 and June 4, 1871, Darst-Babbitt
Papers, University of Virginia Library; Pulaski County Deed Book 5, p. 136; Darst , The
Darsts of Virginia, pp . 153, 155, 168, 171.

(

A Cyrus McCormick Story
William H. McClure

HE "BIRTHPLACE OF THE AMERICAN AG RI CULTURAL
REVOLUTION," is a rather imposing designation for a 620 acre

farm, nestled in the foothills of the Shenandoah Valley of
Virginia in Rockbridge and Augusta Counties, near the villages of
Raphine and Steeles Tavern.
To set the stage, let us go back to the spring of 1737, where we see a
lone horseman moving southward over a path first stamped out by buffalo, into a wide and beautiful valley guarded by blue brooding mountains. Two medium-sized rivers wind around and lap at the foothills
before merging into a larger stream which bursts through the eastern
mountain and flows eastward to the sea. He sees virgin forests spotted
with pink and white blossoms, beautiful but not so breath-taking as the

William H. McClure, superintendent of the Shenandoah Valley Research Station of the
Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Steeles Tavern, Virginia, led the Society's members and
their guests on a tour of Walnut Grove, the McCormick family farm, on July 26, 1971. The
occasion honored the memory of Robert McCormick and his sons Leander and Cyrus. Mr.
McClure afterward spoke on the McCormicks at the Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church in
Steeles Tavern.
Much of the material for this paper is quoted from an article by Dr. Marshall P.
Fishwick, printed in the Iron Worker, Autumn 1956, by the Lynchburg Foundry Company.

William H. McClure
mountain laurel and rhododendron. Sassy chirping insects are
everywhere, and screechy birds which have not yet heard the blast of a
gun. God never made better country.
The Indians called it Shenandoah-"Daughter of the Stars."
Shawnees came all the way from Illinois, Cherokees from Tennessee and
Catawbas from North Carolina, just to hunt here, to drink the cool
spring water, to commune with the Great Spirit. Indians told many
stories about Shenandoah and its unique loveliness. Here, Sachems said,
stars gathered on summer nights to sing.
Benjamin Borden, our lonely rider in the year 1737, had not come to
see the stars but the land, 100,000 acres of which had been deeded to him
by the British authorities at Williamsburg. To obtain it he would have to
settle a hundred families there within two years.
Exciting plans and expeditions followed: but this is not to be the
story of the Bordens. Before the two years were up, another Scotch-Irish
family had landed in Philadelphia to begin life in the new world, and it is
their destiny that we shall follow. Thomas McCormick and his wife,
Elizabeth Carruth, were members of that band of Scots who fled first to
northern Ireland and then to the New World to find religious and
political freedom.
Thomas McCormick's father had fought at the 1690 siege of Londonderry, and his father's father had followed the drums of war. A different kind of fighting was required here in the American wilderness.
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, into which the young immigrants
moved, had seen red blood flow on the green grass.
They adapted themselves well and eventually owned two hundred
acres of soil upon which a home was built and a family dynasty begun.
Five sons were born. The fifth, Robert, saw service with General
Washington's army. Eventually he came home to marry Martha Sanderson and buy a farm of his own.
Tales of the wonderful valley to the south began to make the
rounds; tales of a place where one could work all day with his hands his
only company, and go to sleep at night listening to the whipporwills. The
idea appealed to Robert McCormick and his wife, Martha, already the
parents of five. They sold their farm, packed their wagon, and began the
journey southward.
After long days on the road, the travelers found land they liked near
Steeles Tavern, about half-way down the valley. Robert inquired and
found that (although it was only 1779) the place he had his eye on had
already had four owners. The first was Benjamin Borden. The second,
Tobias Smith, built two log cabins on it and sold it to William Preston on
May 12, 1760. Preston sold it to a Daniel McCormick (no relation to our
McCormicks) five years later. Daniel had died and his heirs were willing

Cyrus McCormick
to sell four hundred fifty acres.
Robert McCormick bought the land and went to work. The 1792
Personal Property book of Rockbridge County reveals that, in addition
to horses and cattle, he also owned one slave. Local documents show that
he was one of those who opposed the introduction of hymns into the
New Providence Church, and contributed land and labor for the erection
of Old Providence Meeting House. While this project was underway his
wife bore their first Virginia-born son, Robert, Jr.
oung Robert, who grew up and spent all his life at Walnut Grove, is
in some ways the most interesting person in our story. He was not
only the father of Cyrus, but the dreamer and inventor who evoked
Cyrus' talent and interest. After Robert had married Mary Ann Hall and
settled in a log cabin on the McCormick land, he set about to invent
things which would ease the farmer's heavy load. As early as 1809-the
year Cyrus was born-he had a partially completed model of a reaping
machine. Adept in the working of wood and iron, he was confirmed in
his mechanical mission. Having inherited his father's land, he purchased
three adjoining farms, which brought his holdings up to 1,800 acres.
Here he operated sawmills and flour mills, and won a place for himself as
a man of affairs.
But, as historian Reuben Gold Thwaites has pointed out, Robert
McCormick was more than this. "He developed a fondness for
astronomy and other sciences, was given to historical reading, and proved to be an inventor of no mean capacity," Thwaites writes.
As a young man he invented and patented a clover sheller, hempbreak, blacksmith bellows, and hydraulic machine. Indeed, his long standing interest in and work on the reaper was so important that some
writers have thought much of the credit given by history to Cyrus belongs
to his father, Robert. Recently one scholar, Norbert Lyons, has gone so
far as to publish a book entitled The McCormick Reaper Legend, and to
assert that "Cyrus' ·claim that he invented and constructed a reaper so
basically different from the device on which his father had labored for
over twenty years that his own machine constituted a legitimate original
invention appears fantastic to anyone familiar with the evidence."
Mr. Lyons has overstated his case. It seems clear that despite the
considerable help he got from his father and others, the real inventor of
the reaper and the reaper business was Cyrus Hall McCormick, born on
February 15, 1809.
The world in which Cyrus grew up was simple, solid and sweaty.
Like most farm boys of his generation, he had little formal education,
picking up what "book learning" he could at the hearth and the old field

William H. McClure
school. He studied Webster ' s Speller, Adams' Geography, and the Bible.
Close to the land, he learned much from nature, too-learned of the
mystery, the wonder, the symmetry of things.
On late summer days he watched the ripe grain blow in the wind. He
saw his father and the men harvest it by hand. As he watched, he
wondered. Robert had always said there should be a machine to do this
job. Inside young Cyrus' mind, wheels began to turn.
Cyrus was a lad of thirteen when his father decided to build a new
home for his growing family. He got the stone from his own fields, the
lumber from his trees, and the lime from his kilns. On top of the founda-

1831 McCormick reaper built by Joseph G. Reder and Howard F. Conn
of Uniontown, Pa., July 4, 1976.
tions (which were fifty by sixty-five feet) he erected a red brick house
which had a broad hallway and eig_ht rectangular rooms on two floors.
There were hand-carved mantels, broad fireplaces, and a porch on which
Robert could sit and look out over his land. The house stands today, very
much as Robert McCormick built it.
Cyrus, meanwhile, spent much of his time tinkering about the
blacksmith's shop. He made a light cradle out of locust wood to ease the
work at harvest, and a terrestrial globe on which he put the seas and continents. At nights he liked to play the fiddle. When he went to church on
Sundays he noticed the neighborhood girls, like all the other young men
in the Valley. On October 31, 1831, he wrote to a friend: "Mr. Hart has

Cyrus McCormick

(
(

two fine daughters, rite pretty, very smart and as rich as you probably
could wish; but alas! I have other business to attend to and can devote
but a small proportion of my time to society.''
The "other business" was indeed important. It would carry the
name and fame of McCormick to the grainfields of the world. As every
school child knows, that business was the perfecting of the reaper. His
was the first reaper that included all the basic parts of the modern graincutter: the straight reciprocating knife, guards, reel, platform, main
wheel, side-moving cutter, and divider at the outer end of the cutter bar.
Cyrus ' machine was first demonstrated on 1ohn Steele's grain field

(.
(

(

(
\

(

The reaper undergoes a field test.
in 1831. The importance of his invention can hardly be over-stated. He
perfected a device which touches one of man's basic needs, and took
much of the drudgery out of a necessary chore. He opened the door for a
new era in agriculture by finding a way to replace muscle power with
mechanical power on a job that had to be done.
After spending many years involved with the "Cyrus McCormick
Legend,'' it is indeed difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction.
Robert McCormick was certainly a tremendous motivating factor in the
success story of his son, Cyrus, and by today's standards Cyrus would
probably be categorized as a young man who was more prone to dream
and promote than to conduct manual labor.

William H. McClure
All of his business ventures were not successful. At one point in his
early career Cyrus acquired a farm near the village of Vesuvius, and set
up an iron furnace. This venture was unsuccessful, and during this
period the home farm was probably heavily mortgaged to cover the
losses realized in his business enterprise.
An example of the resourceful nature of this young inventor is
related, perhaps as fiction, concerning an experience with the local
sheriff. The McCormick homestead, probably built about 1822, is
located close to the Rockbridge-Augusta County lines, and according to
some persons, the county line actually split the house.
According to this particular story, the Rockbridge County sheriff
came to the McCormick home late one afternoon to serve a summons to
young Cyrus concerning indebtedness on the Vesuvius iron furnace venture. The sheriff was invited, as was the custom in those days, to spend
the night, and accepted the invitation. Early the next morning Cyrus rose
and went out to sit on the front porch. Presumably, the front porch was
in Augusta County and the sheriff could not serve the papers, so he finally thanked the family for the customary hospitality, mounted his horse
and rode away, leaving Cyrus some additional time to correct his
financial problems.

erhaps we have pictured the invention of the reaper as a simple
process, and this is not true. The greatest single problem involved in
the perfection of this grain cutting machine was with the cutting process
itself. Legend tells us that the straight reciprocating knife process was
indeed perfected by a blacksmith in nearby Buena Vista, although the
blacksmith never received proper credit. Indeed, there are to this day two
factions in the McCormick family that differ in opinion as far as actual
input and expertise in the invention of the grain cutting machine are
concerned. One faction contends that father Robert and brother Leander
contributed greatly to the perfection of the machine and that Cyrus
himself was actually acting in the role of ''super salesman.'' Textbook
historians usually picture Cyrus as the sole ''inventor and perfecter'' of
the grain reaper.
Regardless of this family disagreement, Cyrus obviously had the
foresight to realize that the future of his grain cutting machine hinged on
its use in the vast midwest and northwest areas where small grain would
become economically important.
In the mid-1830s reapers were produced at Steeles Tavern and by
contract in Ohio, Kentucky and New York; but Cyrus sought a perfect
site to establish his permanent factory. The town he decided on was the
youngest, ugliest and least prosperous of them all. Exhausted by mud,
droughts, debt, and panics, it did not look like the site of a future
82

(

Cyrus McCormick
(

metropolis. There was no railroad, gas, sewer, or stockyard, and only
one short block had any paved street when Cyrus first saw it. Even the
name was unpromising: Chicago.
But Cyrus had the vision to see what Chicago could become. The
first of its big manufacturers, he built the largest factory in town and
grew with the city. He, as much as any man, established the primary
greatness of Chicago as the principal wheat center of the world.
The world accepted the reaper after it was demonstrated at the Lon-

Cyrus Hall McCormick, 1809-1884.
don World Fair of 1851. At first the London Times called the machine
"a cross between an Astley chariot, a wheelbarrow, and a flying
machine." But when the Englishmen saw what McCormick's machine
could do, they hailed it as the revolutionary invention it was.
By the middle of the century the part of Cyrus McCormick's life
which belonged to the Shenandoah Valley was over. But the early years
had been the really creative ones and Cyrus always looked back on them
with nostalgia. He gave generously to various Virginia institutions , and
as late as 1880 served as President of the Virginia Society in Chicago.
Nor has his native state forgotten this stouthearted breadwinner who
died in 1884. Over a century after he left Walnut Grove to make his fortune, Virginians are keenly aware of the historical significance of his
birthplace, his workshop, and his accomplishment.
Almost one and one-half centuries after Cyrus McCormick first sue83

William H. McClure
cessfully demonstrated his grain reaper, efforts to continue an
agricultural revolution go on at Steeles Tavern. Although some 12,000 to
15,000 persons visit the McCormick Memorial Wayside annually to pay
homage to this great inventor, of even more interest is the research being
conducted on this historically important farm operated by the Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, which acquired the farm in
1954 as a gift from the McCormick heirs. Research in three different
fields, crossbreeding beef cattle, feeding of solid animal waste to beef
cattle and sheep, and integrated pest management control in orchards,
has received international interest and acclaim, and served to provide
continuity to the service of revolutionizing American agriculture. 1:f

Re.1pin g with sickl es . c.

1 80 0

')l~f{

· ~ ~ ~ ,,

,, ''l(!.l(;~j/,\:;~;J,

7 1) ~%, V:11,, .. ,:

-..,./::•:efi~2~::'.":. ;\i i£/'.;:
The McCormick rea per of 1847.

(

A Judge's School: A Brief
Biography of
John White Brockenbrough
Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.

left an extensive collection of
personal papers, historians would have seized upon them with
delight. Educated in law, this man, who played a pivotal role in
the history of Washington and Lee University, used the English language
eloquently. His eloquence led him into politics and teaching. It stood him
in good stead when he was entrusted with the responsibility for inviting
General Lee to become president of Washington College. His success in
persuading Lee to come to Lexington would alone have assured him a
place of honor in the history of the college here. But he also looms large
in that history for two other reasons. He was founder of the law school
which became the School of Law of Washington and Lee. And he was
the first man to hold the office of rector of the college's board of
trustees.
Unfortunately, the Brockenbroughs were not a family of paper
preservers. Relatively few of Judge Brockenbrough's writings are
available to the would-be biographer. The story of his life must be pieced

AD JOHN WHITE BROCKENBROUGH

Matthew White Paxton, Jr. editor of the Lexington News-Gazette, told Judge Brockenbrough's story at the Society's meeting at the Collierstown Presbyterian Church on July 27,
1970. The Washington and Lee University Law School published Mr. Paxton's essay in
1971 .

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
together painstakingly from such sources as newspaper files, minute
books, legal documents and the correspondence of his contemporaries.
A few of his letters and speeches have survived, enough to give us
glimpses of a man who was meticulous, self-effacing, courteous, sensitive, fervent-a man also s1:,1bject to depression and a poor business
manager.
John White Brockenbrough was born December 23, 1806, in
Hanover County, Virginia. His father, William Brockenbrough, was
successively circuit judge, president of the General Court, and Judge of
the Court of Appeals. After studying at the College of William and
Mary, young Brockenbro~gh matriculated at the University of Virginia
on the first day it was opened for the reception of students in 1826. 1
He studied law at Judge Henry St. George Tucker's private law
school in Winchester and returned to Hanover County where he became
commonwealth's attorney. His interest in scholarship led to his preparing and publishing a two-volume work known as the Brockenbrough
reports on Chief Justice John Marshall's decisions in the U. S. Circuit
Court at Richmond. 2
About 1834 he moved to Rockbridge County and shortly afterward
married Mary Bowyer, daughter of Colonel John Bowyer of the Thorn
Hill estate south of Lexington. Colonel Bowyer, himself a lawyer, lived
in style and was owner of a coach-and-four, a rarity in the area. 3
Brockenbrough established a law practice and became active in the
leadership of the Democratic party in which his rival, John Letcher, enjoyed considerably more success. In 1841 he was co-publisher, with
Samuel Gillock, of the local Democratic party newspaper, The Valley
Star, which existed from 1839 to 1862. 4
He early became a staunch friend of the Virginia Military Institute,
and on at least two occasions publicly defended the Institute in its initial
struggling years. After the superintendent arranged in 1843 to have the
Institute provide the cadets' uniforms, certain local merchants had an indictment brought against him for selling goods without a license.
Brockenbrough and General C. P. Dorman, as counsel for the
' Judge Brockenbrough's obituary, including resolutions by the Lexington Bar and the
Washington and Lee University faculty, is in the Lexington Gazette and Citizen, February
23, 1877.
2
Ollinger Crenshaw; General lee's College; The Rise and Growth of Washington and
lee University (New York : Random House, 1969), p. 325.
3
Brockenbrough obituary, Lexington Gazette and Citizen, February 23, 1877; Otis
Bowyer, letter to the Rockbridge County News, April 15, 1936. For a description of the
wedding and attendant activities see Jessie Benton Fremont, Souvenirs of My Time
(Boston: D. Lathrup & Co., 1887), pp. 38-52.
• Lester J. Cappon, Virginia Newspapers, 1821-1935; A Bibliography With Historical
Introduction and Notes (New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1936), p. 115 .

A Judge's School
superintendent, successfully moved to have the proceedings quashed.
Several years later in 1849 a move was initiated in the Virginia
legislature to investigate the possibility of moving VMI to another location, an action prompted in part by evidence of hostility toward the Institute in the town and at Washington College. A meeting was called on
June 4 at the Rockbridge County court house to rally public sentiment
behind retention of the school. The speakers on that occasion were Judge
Brockenbrough and Samuel McDowell Moore. Meanwhile, Brockenbrough had been named, in 1843, to the VMI Board of Visitors and had
served on the board until 1846. 5
After the election of Democrat James K. Polk to the Presidency in
1844, Brockenbrough actively sought the federal judgeship for the
Western District of Virginia which became vacant in 1845. In spite of the
covert opposition of John Letcher, Brockenbrough won the appointment
in 1846. On learning of his nomination for the judgeship, the local Whig
party organ, The Lexington Gazette, paid an unusual tribute to Brockenbrough on January 8, 1846. It stated, in part:
Opposed as we are, in politics, to Judge Brockenbrough, it has given us real
pleasure on various occasions to pay a public tribute to the distinguished
ability and unvarying courtesy which have characterized his practice as an advocate at our bar, as well as his upright and gentlemanly demeanor in all relations of private life. Diametrically opposed as we are to Mr. Polk and his party, we are ever willing to acknowledge and commend such good acts as they
may perform, and in the small number of these must be mentioned the
nomination of our townsman to the judgeship. 6

lavery was becoming the dominant issue of the times and it is not
surprising that the Hanover County native was a strong pro-slavery
man. He took a leading part in the Franklin Society debate on the subject
which opened February 6, 1847, with large attendance, and continued at
the society's weekly sessions in Lexington until April 24.
The question under debate was, "Should the people of Western
Virginia delay any longer in taking steps to bring about a division of the
state?" The pro-slavery forces took the affirmative position. Those opposed to slavery took the negative side; their position was that there
should be no delay in the west's taking action to separate itself from the
slaveholding east.
On February 13 Judge Brockenbrough discussed the affirmative and
Captain David E. Moore the negative. At the next meeting, on motion of
James D. Davidson, it was resolved that no member be allowed to speak
for more than one hour at a time. Nevertheless, Judge Brockenbrough

s William Couper, One Hundred Years at V.M.I., 4 vols. (Richmond: Garrett &
Massie, 1939), I, 204; Virginia Military Institute, Register of Former Cadets (Lexington,
Va.: VMI, 1957), p. 368 .
6
Crenshaw, General Lee 's College, p . 325; Lexington Gazette, January 8, 1846.

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
debated on March 6 with J. G. Paxton and John Letcher, and in the
society's minute book a note signed by John W. Fuller states : "Judge
Brockenbrough's speech in the affirmative this night was two hours and

Minutes of the Franklin Society debate on slavery (March 6, 1847).

a half in length and I suppose was as able as can be made on that side."
In spite of the Judge's eloquence, or maybe because of his verbosity, the

A Judge's School
question was decided in the negative by a 17 to 7 vote of the society. 7
The Valley Star on July 26, 1849, carried Judge Brockenbrough's
announcement of his plans to open a private law school in Lexington. A
hundred years later, John W. Davis, in delivering the inaugural Tucker
Law Lecture at Washington and Lee in 1949, observed that Judge
Brockenbrough's docket was a far cry from that of the modern-day
judge, as is proven by the fact that ''he ran his court and still found time
for teaching." Equally pertinent is the observation that the judge's salary
was far from that paid to federal judges today, and at the time Judge
Brockenbrough was planning to open his school his family included six
children. 8
The newspaper announcement in The Valley Star stated that the law
school would open on October 29 and the session would end March 16.
The tuition was to be $60 per session and classes were to be held in the
Franklin Society Hall. Two classes, junior and senior, would be offered
and students could enroll in both simultaneously without additional tuition charge. The judge stated that ''the hours of the daily lectures to his
students will be so arranged ... as to enable any member of either class
to attend the lectures of any of the professors of Washington College."
Though many students attended college before beginning the study of
law, young men could then enter law school with no more preparation
than those starting college. The Valley Star reported on November 8
that:
Judge Brockenbrough's Law School has opened well and his class are
delighted with him as a gentleman and as an instructor. He now has eight in
attendance and there is an absolute certainty that several other students will
be in, in a few days. His introductory lecture was listened to, by a large
number of our citizens . . . we venture the assertion that the school . . . will be
one of the most popular, in the Southern Country. 9

While expressing admiration for genius, the judge urged on his
pupils the necessity for hard work. "But why," he asked, " ... need I
cite examples to illusrate so obvious a truth as that labor is necessary to
excellence? It is because, obvious as it may be, nothing is more difficult
than to impress a realizing sense of it upon the sanguine mind of youth.''
He explained to the students that his plan of instruction would be to
'' Assign a suitable portion of the text, and then give a thorough and rigid
examination on the assigned portion. This catechistical system, he said,
would be supplemented by his lectures which would amplify the texts and
show where they had been altered by subsequent decisions. 10
7

Minutes of The Franklin Society, Washington and Lee University Library.
The Valley Star, July 26, 1849; John W . Davis, "John Randolph Tucker: The Man
and His Work," Washington and Lee Law Review, 6(1949), 139.
9
The Valley Star, November 8, 1849.
10
The Valley Star, November 22, 1849.
8

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
Five men were graduated from that first session of the Lexington
Law School in 1850, and six were awarded degrees in March of 1851.
During the 1850's the school's enrollment rose as high as thirty-eight. It
suffered a temporary setback in enrollment after a student killed a VMI
cadet in April of 1854. The law student, Charles B. Christian, stabbed
Cadet Thomas Blackburn in a scuffle over a question of escorting a
young lady of the town to church. However, by December of 1857, The
Richmond Dispatch reported that the Lexington school had twenty-eight
students and was "the largest private law school in Virginia at present, or
with a single exception, at any former time." 11
Describing a trip to Lexington at that time, the Dispatch writer
observed that:
We had the pleasure, during a recent visit to Lexington, of hearing one of the
daily lectures of Judge Brockenbrough, and it struck us that his mode of imparting instruction is one which might be imitated with great advantage in all
law schools and seats of learning ....
We have never heard a lecturer who unfolded and explained the principles
of his subject with greater clearness, precision and vigor than Judge Brockenbrough. Taking up the answer of the student to his question, he proceeds to
discuss the particular point or principle which is set forth with an affluence of
learning, appositeness of illustration and terseness of style that enchain the
admiration of the student, and completely exhaust the subject. We had no
conception that the dry subject of law could be made so agreeable . .. . 12

The father of John W. Davis, who was one of Judge Brockenbrough's students during those days, recalled that the judge would take
his students with him when he made his judicial rounds. The students
thus saw the law in action in what the younger Davis described as "a
primitive but highly practical use of the case system." A likeness of
Judge Brockenbrough adorned the wall in the office of the elder Davis
during his long career at the bar. 13
ne of the important events of the pre-war period in Lexington was
the laying of the cornerstone of the VMI barracks at
commencement on July 4, 1850. Judge Brockenbrough gave the address
and, according to The Valley Star account, "a large audience of both
sexes attended.'' The Lexington Gazette gave this description of the
occasion: "a large and imposing procession of Sons of Temperance from
different Divisions of the country, of Odd Fellows, both orders dressed
in full regalia, and of Sunday School Scholars, accompanied by the
Armory Band from Richmond, proceeded to the laying- of the Corner
Stone of the new Institute." After Judge Brocken_b rough's address and

" Crenshaw, General Lee's College, p. 327; Lexington Gazette, April 17, 1854, and
December 3, 1857 (reprinted from The Richmond Dispatch.)
12
Ibid.
11
Davis, "John Randolph Tucker," 139.

A Judge's School

appropriate ceremonies, the procession marched to the Presbyterian
Church to attend the VMI commencement exercises. The judge used the
occasion "to call attention to the portentous cloud which was gathering
in the North." 14
In June of 1851 the local jurist was one of two recipients of Doctor
of Laws degrees awarded by Washington College. The other person so
honored was Professor John B. Minor of the University of Virginia. 15 A
year later, July 1, 1852, Judge Brockenbrough's election to the board of
trustees of Washington College began his long connection with that institution.
Toward the end of the decade, as war clouds gathered, Brockenbrough also had his own private difficulties. In March, 1858, he wrote a
relative:
Troubles and cares press upon me on all sides but I have no time to be sad.
This business of lecturing three hours a day to a large class of educated young
men, walking to town and back, and studying six or eight hours in preparation for the next day's recitation and lecture is no child's play, depend on it.

His financial difficulties were compounded by the fact that he had
bought several slaves and then had had to buy several others to keep
them with their families. He thus appeared to be a victim of the slavery
cause he had so stoutly espoused. 16
The taxing walk for the portly judge to and from Thorn Hill, along
with his financial burdens, helped bring about an unusual real estate
trade. In March, 1861, Judge and Mrs. Brockenbrough traded their
share of the Thorn Hill estate, which included about four hundred fifty
acres and the classical revival house, to E. F. Paxton for his property on
the edge of town and a cash consideration. Paxton had built the house
now known as Silverwood, and his property of about fifteen and onehalf acres on what is now Main Street extended down to approximately
the present location of Sellers A venue. The Paxton property was terraced
and some evidence of the terracing still exists. 11
Though a member of the federal judiciary, Judge Brockenbrough
continued to be a part of the state political scene in the 1850s. In 1855 he
was suggested as a candidate for governor on the Know-Nothing ticket,
but he issued a statement that he cordially detested the leading principles
of the new party, including ''the secrecy of their organization, their war
upon religious freedom, etc.," and he concluded that they would never

The Valley Star, July 11, 1850; Lexington Gazette, July 11, 1850.
Washington College Trustees' Minutes, June 18, 1851, Washington and Lee University Library.
16
Brockenbrough to Henry M. Bowyer, March 3, 1859 (copy in author's possession.)
" Rockbridge County Deed Book "HH", pp . 435, 437 (March 16, 1861), Rockbridge
County Courthouse, Lexington, Virginia.
1

•

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
receive any countenance from him. 18
In 1858 he was supported for the Democratic nomination for governor by the Richmond Enquirer, a newspaper dominated by Governor
Henry A. Wise, who attempted unsuccessfully to block the nomination
of another Lexingtonian, John Letcher. In the political maneuvering that
preceded the Democratic convention, Brockenbrough stated that while
he was not campaigning, he was available for a draft.
Letcher was being assailed for his anti-slavery statements of earlier
years, and Brockenbrough, in a letter to a member of his family, commented, "That's a nice fix they have got Letcher into, is it not? ... For
myself I regret it very much. No explanation can be given that will be
satisfactory to the people of the East. It will lose him the nomination,
mark it!" The Wise forces threw all their support to Brockenbrough in
the convention, but Letcher was the overwhelming choice of the
delegates. 19
Brockenbrough suffered another political defeat when he, as a
secessionist candidate, was defeated in his bid for election to the state
constitutional convention of 1861 which decided on the issue of secession. In January, 1861, however, the Virginia General Assembly appointed him as one of five delegates to the abortive "Peace Convention"
that met in Washington. The group included ex-President John Tyler,
William C. Rives, James A. Seddon and George W. Summers. A writer
of that day commented that "the State scarcely had five abler representatives. " 20
In June, 1861, Brockenbrough was named a member of the Provisional Confederate Congress. The Lexington Gazette in September,
1861, in spite of former party differences with the judge, declared that
"now patriotism, integrity and ability are to be looked to in the selection
of a representative" (to the Confederate States Congress) and that no
man possessed those virtues to a higher degree than Judge Brockenbrough. The jurist declined to be considered for this position, however,
and in October of that year was appointed Confederate States judge of
Western Virginia, an office he held until the end of the war. 2 1
With the coming of war a chapter of Judge Brockenbrough's life
had closed. He had served as a member of .the federal judiciary for sixteen years, and it is reported that during that period not one of his deci18

Cren shaw , General Lee 's College, p. 328; Lexington Gazette, March 1, 1855.
Brockenbrough to Bowyer , June 26, 1858 (copy in author 's possession); F. N.
Boney, John Letcher of Virginia; The Story of Virginia's Civil War Go vernor (University,
Ala.: University of Alabama , 1966), p. 81.
2
° Crenshaw, General Lee's College, p . 328; Brockenbrough obituary, Lexington
Gazette and Citizen, February 23 , 1877.
21
Lexington Gazette and Advertiser, September 26, 1861; Crenshaw, General Lee's
College, p. 328 .
19

A Judge's School
sions was ever reversed upon appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
His law school was also closed by the war. From 1849 to 1861 the records
show that two hundred and seven students attended the school. A
number of them later attained prominence in judicial, legislative and
other fields. 22

(

he Civil War was dragging toward its final desperate stage when two
old political rivals, Letcher and Brockenbrough, appeared on the
same platform in Lexington. The occasion was Letcher's return home at
the conclusion of his term of office as governor. The ex-governor spoke
at the court house in March, 1864, "in compliance with an invitation"
and the place was "filled to its utmost capacity with men from all parts
of the county.'' Letcher spoke of the .willingness of the Confederate
soldiers to re-enlist and expressed the opinion that the army ''had not
been in a better condition that at this time.'' He called on the people to
use their utmost exertions to make the army comfortable 'and to provide
for the families of soldiers.
At the conclusion of the Governor's address, loud calls were made
for Judge Brockenbrough who came forward and said: "I hardly think it
fair, gentlemen, to call to the stand any other gentleman than the
distinguished citizen whom it was your special object to honor in
assembly here." Nevertheless, the old war horse was prevailed on to
speak.
Referring to the wholesale re-enlistmentsin the army "for the duration," he exclaimed, "such an army can never be conquered while grass
grows and rivers run."
''The war on the part of our enemies has degenerated into a
miserable system of raids, cloaking felony under the thin guise of
military enterprise," he declared. "As well may the burglar, the
highwayman, the assassin invoke the application of the rules of war,'' he
said bitterly, then added, "'make no prisoners.' I am convinced this is
the most humane in the end.'' The judge concluded by exhorting the
farmers to "make two blades of grass grow where one grew before. " 23
As did others throughout the South at war's end, Judge Brockenbrough wasted no time starting to pick up the pieces of the area's ruined
economy. Scarcely a month after Appomattox, on May 18, 1865, he
published a notice in the Lexington Gazette stating, "I propose to
reopen my Law School at this place on the first Monday of July next.
The place of instruction will be the same as that formerly adopted, with
highly encouraging success, the length of the session being extended to
22
23

Davis, "John Randolph Tucker;" Crenshaw, General Lee 's College, p. 328 .
Lexington Gazette, March 23 and 30, 1864.

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
nine months." After listing the text books to be used, he announced that
the fee for the course would be $100. 24
At the same time the judge was much occupied with the problems of
reopening Washington College. He was named to a committee of the
trustees to "reduce to writing evidence showing the extent and value of
the damage done to the buildings, libraries and apparatus by the United
States Forces under the command of General Hunter in June, 1864." He
was also appointed August 3, 1865, to a committee named to wait on the
commandant of federal forces in Lexington and ask that the college
buildings be vacated at once by the troops. At the August meeting the
committee reported on the damage at the college and was continued with
instructions to memorialize Congress for reimbursement.
At the Board's June meeting a committee was named to apply to the
legislature for an amendment to the college charter to separate the executive and legislative powers of the administration. In plain words the
trustees' minutes stated that the action was being requested so "the
President shall not preside over the board or be a member thereof.''
The committee prepared a resolution which was adopted by the
board on August 3 and forwarded to the legislature. The board then
elected Judge Brockenbrough its first rector. The action of electing a rector, which at another time might have been hailed as an important step
forward, was completely overshadowed by another action taken by the
Board that August day. On motion of Bolivar Christian, General Robert
E. Lee was unanimously elected to the college presidency. 2 5
To the new rector fell the task of calling on General Lee at his temporary place of residence, Derwent, in Cumberland County, and officially extending to him the invitation of the college. It was necessary for him
to be the house guest of the famed Southern leader at his rural retreat,
and Judge Brockenbrough did not possess a coat suitable for the occasion. According to the account passed down in the Brockenbrough family, Hugh Barclay, another member of the college board, had received
some cloth from relatives or friends in the North and he made the
material available so that a coat could be made for Judge Brockenbrough.
On his way home from Derwent on August 10, the judge poured out
his enthµsiasm to General Lee in a letter written on the packet boat
Jefferson .
The desire I feel for the success of my mission is so absorbing that I tru st you
will pardon me for appearing somewhat importunate . It would be uncandid
to deny that the advancement of the interest of our venerable college was the
primary consideration with the Board of Trustees in inducing them to solicit
2

•

Ibid., May 18, 1865.
Trustees' Minutes, September 21, 1865.

A Judge's School
your acceptance of its Presidency, yet it is but an act of simple justice to them
to declare that your reputation is very dear to each of them and had they supposed that it could be imperilled by your acceptance of the position tendered
to you, the tender never would have been made . But it is precisely because we
feel assured that in discharging the comparatively humble functions of President of our College new luster would be added to your fame, and your
character would be presented in a new and most attractive light to your admiring countrymen .that we presume to urge the acceptance of the office upon
you with an importunity that else might seem indelicate. You would thereby
evidence a mind superior to despair and by this exhibition of moderation and
goodness establish new claims to the admiration and affection of your countrymen. To make yourself useful to the State, to dedicate your fine scientific
attainments to the service of its youth, to guide that youth in the paths of virtue, knowledge, and religion, not more by precept than your great examplethese my dear General are objects worthy of your ambition, and we desire to
present to you the means of their accomplishment. The educational interests
of Virginia, as of all her Southern Sisters, have suffered dreadfully by the
war. The University, Va. Mil. Institute, Hampden Sidney, and William and
Mary Colleges are all crushed and cannot be resu scitated, we fear, for years
to come. Washington College alone possesses an independent endowment
and you have only to stretch forth your powerful arm and rescue it , too , from
impending destruction. You alone can fill its halls, by attracting to them not
the youth of Virginia alone, but of all the Southern and some even of the
Northern States . That all these desirable results would follow your acceptance of this trust, your friends feel the fullest assurance, though your genuine and unaffected modesty may have suggested doubt of their fulfillment
to your mind. We pray that the reflection you graciously promised to bestow
upon the subject may lead you to the same conclusion. 2 6

The end of Brockenbrough 's letter to Lee.
Lee wrote his letter of acceptance on August 24. The board met in
special session on August 31 and unanimously agreed to his conditions.
Judge Brockenbrough transmitted the board's resolutions to General Lee
with a glowing letter. The rector also composed a circular informing the
26
Brockenbrough to Lee, August 10, 1865, Robert E. Lee Papers,
Washington and Lee University Archives.

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
American public of the Southern leader's intention to head the little college in Lexington. 21
General Lee arrived in the town on September 18. Two days later the
rector introduced him to the trustees. On September 21 the board officially tendered its thanks to the rector "for undertaking and so successfully executing his mission to General Lee, ' ' and authorized the
treasurer to pay the rector's expenses. 2 8
At the explicit instructions of General Lee his inauguration as college president on October 2 was conducted with the barest simplicity.
Judge Brockenbrough, overflowing with pride and emotion, found it impossible to abide by the prohibition on speechmaking, and delivered art
eloquent address on the seriousness as well as the joyfulness of the hour,
eulogizing General Lee, and congratulating the students and trustees present and to come on the president. General Lee took the oath of office
and the rector handed him the keys to the college. 29
The trustees met at the conclusion of General Lee's first academic
year in June, 1866, and the minutes of the meeting state that "the Board,
regarding it desirable that the law school of the Hon. John W. Brockenbrough should be connected with the college," named a committee to
confer with the judge. The committee, consisting of Judge McLaughlin,
Francis T. Anderson and James D. Davidson, was to report to the
trustees such regulations in regard to the proposal as they might regard
proper and also to report a course of instruction to be pursued in the law
school. 3 0 The minutes do not indicate whether the move initiated with the
college or with the law school. Though still rector , Brock en bro ugh
discreetly absented himself from that board meeting.

he initial association of the law school with the college was a rather
tenuous one. Judge Brockenbrough was to be a professor of the
college, although he was not a member of the academic faculty. Law
students were not to be entitled to use the library or the other college
buildings. Academic students might attend the law school upon payment
of a $60 fee in addition to the $40 tuition fee for academic studies. Thus,
while Judge Brockenbrough would be receiving $40 less per student than
the fee he had advertised a year earlier, he stood to benefit from having
the law school associated with General Lee, through whose agency new
life was rapidly being injected into the college. 3 1
The fir st session of the law school conducted under the new arrangement was a successful one. In June, 1867, twenty-two students from
Crenshaw, General Lee's College, pp. 147-48.
Trustees' Minutes , June 9, 1866.
29
Crenshaw, General L ee 's College, p. 149.
30
Trustees' Minutes, June 9, 1866.
31
Crenshaw, General Lee 's College, p . 329.
27

(

A Judge's School

(

Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri
were awarded the B. L. (Bachelor of Law) degree. For the law students
the year was climaxed by the examinations vividly described in the
Gazette and Banner of June 19, 1867.

(

The examinations of Judge Brockenbrough's Law Class took place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and the members of the bar together with a
number of other citizens were in attendance. We need not say more than that
all were highly gratified at the readiness and proficiency exhibited by the class
under the rigid and severe examination to which they were subjected.

General Lee and others attended some of the examination sessions.
When the tests concluded, the students presented their teacher with a
gold-headed cane as a token of their appreciation and esteem. '' After the
ceremonies concluded, J. D. Davidson, Esq . was called out and made
them a short, humorous speech, containing much good and wholesome
advice," the Gazette reported. "We feel no hesitation," the newspaper
continued, ''in saying that this school, which is now attached to
Washington College, will rank with any other in the South .... It must
and will succeed." 32
After its first auspicious year of association with Washington College, the law school failed to share the growth experienced by other
departments of the College. In June, 1868, only seven men were listed as
BL recipients, and in 1869 the total enrollment of law students was only
fourteen, of whom Judge Brockenbrough recommended twelve for
degrees. 33
In the closing months of 1867 Brockenbrough was among the local
leaders active in the organization of the Conservative Party. At a local
organizational meeting in early December he was a member of the resolutions committee, which stated unequivocably that ''the only way to avert
the ruin of the Radical Party is to organize a white man's party based on
the single principal that the white man alone has the right to vote.'' 34

A n unfortunate event involving his family cast a shadow over
J-\..Brockenbrough's life during this period. In what the Gazette and
Banner described as "a daring outrage," the judge's youngest son,
Francis Henry Brockenbrough, was shot in a racial incident which occurred May 8, 1868. Not inhibited by today's ideas of objectivity, the
local newspaper gave this report of the incident on May 13, 1868.
As Mrs. Judge Brockenbrough was returning home about 11 o'clock at night
from a visit to her brother' s family, accompanied by her youngest son , a
youth of about 18 years of age, they found the sidewalk occupied by a
number of negroes, male and female. Young Brockenbrough requested them
politely to let his mother pass, and, after some hesitation, all of them , but

32
33
34

Lexington Gazette and Banner, June 19, 1867.
Ibid., June 24, 1868; Crenshaw, General lee's College, p. 330.
Lexington Gazette and Banner, December 4 and 18, 1867.

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
one, made way for her, but that one, a negro man or boy, by the name of
Caesar Griffin, swore he would not give way for any d _ _d rascal, and continued to use various offensive expressions. When Mrs. Brockenbrough
entered her house, her son and his older brother returned to the gate, Frank
having in his hand a small stick or switch, and jumping over the fence, approached the negro, with the stick raised, who immediately fired a small
pistol, sending a ball through the breastbone of young B., into his body, inflicting a very dangerous, if not a fatal wound. The ball has not been found,
and the result is very uncertain. 35

Griffin was immediately arrested, but while the youth's life hung in
the balance, a group of young men, apparently including Frank's older
brothers, threatened to lynch his assailant. Hot-headed action on the
part of his brothers would not have been surprising, as three of them,
John Bowyer Brockenbrough, Willoughby Newton Brockenbrough and
Robert Lewis Brockenbrough, had served in the Confederate States
Army. Major John Brockenbrough had commanded the Maryland Light
Artillery at the Battle of Sharpsburg and was later wounded and crippled
for life. Robert Brockenbrough had been a New Market Cadet at VMI,
and he and Willoughby were then attending Washington College. 36
It was widely reported in newspapers that General Lee had had to
dissuade a mob from lynching the Negro, but the Gazette stated that "no
mob started for the jail" and the only foundation for the story was "the
indiscreet utterances of a few excited young men" who were dissuaded
from rash action by Captain Harry Estill of the college faculty.
Young Brockenbrough recovered, but the incident fanned bitter
feelings in the community. The Gazette called it the first fruits of an incendiary address made to the freedmen by General Douglas Frazer,
United States military commissioner in Lexington. An indication of the
feeling was the fact that local people referred to Frazer as "Mr.," refusing to give him the courtesy of his military title. For a time after tl;le
shooting a company of federal soldiers patrolled the town. 37
urther misfortune struck the judge in 1869 when an extreme and
protracted illness resulted in his largely withdrawing from the
practice of his profession and to the devotion of virtually his entire
energies to the law class. The illness, he later wrote, had been "brought
on by excessive devotion to the interest of my class.''
A select committee of the college trustees studied the law school

Ibid., May /3, 1868.
Lexington Gazette and Banner, December 4 and 18, 1867.
35
Ibid., May 13, 1868.
36
VMI , Register of Former Cadets; Washington and Lee University Alumni Directory, 1749-1970 (Lexington , Va .: W & L Alumni, Inc., 1971; Brockenbrough family tree in
author's possession ; Otis Bowyer to the Rockbridge County News, April 15, 1936.
37
Lexington Gazette and Banner, May 27, 1868.
35

(

A Judge's School
situation, and in June, 1869, submitted a report urging that the law
school be "connected into a more thorough union" with the college "as
soon as possible." The report called for more chairs of law, a broader
curriculum and better integration of law courses with other studies. It
pointed out that the entire direction of legal instruction had greatly
changed in the past twenty-five years. It had shifted from study in
lawyers' offices to attendance at well-equipped law schools. The committee recommended that two professors of law be appointed with salaries
sufficient to attract the highest-level talent and to enable the law professors to devote their exclusive time to their teaching duties .
The board accepted the recommendation and voted to invite the
distinguished Kentuckian 1ohn C. Breckinridge, a former vice-president
of the United States, to be one of the professors. In event he declined, the
college would continue for another year its arrangement with the law
school. 38
The sensitive judge was deeply hurt by this action. Nearly two years
later he bared his feelings to two associates on the Board, D. E. Moore
and J. D. Davidson. He wrote that he had felt that the board's action
regarding the law school had placed him in "a position of extreme
delicacy.''
My first impulse was instantaneoµsly to tender my resignation as a member
of the board of trustees. Some of my warmest personal friends in the board
very earnestly remonstrated against such a course and assured me that the
resolution . . . was not in the .slightest degree prompted by a feeling of
unkindness toward myself personally or by any distrust of my ability to continue to perform efficiently and well the duties of the law department, but
simply and entirely from a conviction that the great enlargement of the
course of instruction in other schools of the college rendered a commensurate
increase in the department with which I had been associated equally
desirable. 39

(

General Breckinridge declined the school's invitation, but the next
year the board successfully implemented its plans with the appointment
of another distinguished lawyer, 1ohn Randolph Tucker, counsel for the
B & 0 Railroad, to the law faculty. 40 Along with approving the appointment of Mr. Tucker, the board voted to make the law department one of
the regular schools of the college with its professors to be regular
members of the faculty.
The committee report adopted by the board held out high hopes for
the expansion of the law school. The report stated that the ''present
distinguished professor" was willing to show his faith in the enterprise
''by accepting, for the present, at least, one half the tuition fees'' of the
38

Trustees' Minutes, June 9 and 24, 1869.
Brockenbrough to D . E. Moore and J . D. Davidson, March 15, 1871, Trustees'
Papers, Washington and Lee University Library.
•° Crenshaw, General Lee's College, p . 332.
39

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
law school as his compensation. Mr. Tucker, on the other hand, was to
be guaranteed a salary of $3,200 for at least three years. Judge Brockenbrough was to teach common and statute law and Mr. Tucker equity and
public law. 4 '
With the new status of the law school in effect, Judge Brockenbrough tendered his resignation as a member of the board on September
10, 1870, pointing out that he was doing so because of the incompatibility between the functions of a trustee and a professor of the college. He
wrote the board:
I cannot dissolve the agreeable connection which has so long subsisted be
tween us without the expression of my grateful sense of your uniform kindness and indulgence extended to me, while I imperfectly discharged the duties
you assigned to me . . .. Let each of us then, in his appropriate sphere, of
trustee or professor extend every legitimate effort to make the old college
worthy of the august name it bears. 4 2

The board adjourned its meeting until September 29, at which time
it planned to fill the vacancy created by Brockenbrough's resignation.
But on the evening of the 28th General Lee was stricken with his terminal
illness, and the board asked its rector to withhold his resignation until its
March meeting.
Following Lee's death on October 12, Judge Brockenbrough had to
perform another delicate mission for the board. The board requested
him to call on Mrs. Lee and offer her the use of the president's house on
campus for life and an annual annuity of $3,000. The problem quickly
became moot, however, when her son, General G. W. Custis Lee, accepted the presidency of the college. Mrs. Lee declined the annuity and
continued to make her home in the president ' s house with her son.
In the difficult period of adjustment after R. E. Lee's death,
Brockenbrough continued to offer his resignation, and the board to ask
that it be withheld until in June, 1872, the resignation was accepted and
the board placed on record ''the deep sense of obligation it has felt to
Judge Brockenbrough" and especially recognized the "valuable services
rendered by him in the many important exigencies of the institution during the past seven years. " 43
he flowering of the law school under the new arrangement proved
disappointingly slow. With only thirty-one law students enrolled in
the spring of 1871, Judge Brockenbrough was financially impoverished.
Under the arrangement agreed upon his portion of the fees had yielded

Trustees' Minutes, June 22, 1870.
Ibid., September 10, 1870; Brockenbrough to Washington College Board,
September 10, 1870, Trustees' Papers.
43
Trustees' Minutes, September 13 and 19, October 1, 1870; March 14 and 16, 1871;
June 27, 1872.
42

100

(

A Judge's School
him income amounting to only $1,212.
He wrote to Messers Moore and Davidson of the board asking that
his salary be made in ''some degree to approximate'' that of the other
members of the faculty, adding that he addressed them on the subject
with "inexpressible repugnance." At its June meeting the trustees voted
to make Brockenbrough's salary equal to that of the academic professors, but it was still considerably below that of Mr. Tucker. 44
Only seventeen students were enrolled in the year of the financial
panic of 1873. At this crisis point the board's three-year agreement with
Mr. Tucker expired. Tucker submitted a conditional resignation to the

John W. Brockenbrough
1806-1877.

board. Pointing out that the law school had not come up to the expectations in providing sufficient income for the two professors and noting
that the salary accorded him created an inequity between himself and his
associates, Tucker stated that, nevertheless, his duty to his family made it
impossible for him to continue on terms other than those hitherto existing. He continued, "The position is entirely adapted to my tastes ...
44

Brockenbrough to Moore and Davidson, March 15, 1871.

101

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
but unless it supports me I must seek other employments." He concluded, "I feel it due to you and to myself, therefore, to place my resignation
in your hands, so that you may feel no embarrassment in any respect,
from my relation to the subject, in your future action."
The situation was desperate. In the preceding year the revenues from
the law students had amounted to only $1,200, while the salaries of the
two law professors had totaled $5,200. Serving as a committee of the
board, W. A. Glasgow and Thomas J. Kirkpatrick called on Judge
Brockenbrough to discuss the situation and showed him Mr. Tucker's
letter.
Highly incensed by what he considered to be "an insufferable insult
to every member of the faculty who had a proper self-respect," the old
law teacher later recalled that he had read Tucker's letter with "disgust
and loathing."
The next day he wrote the board, "I should regret very much to lose
the benefit of Mr. Tucker's services; but I much more regret to know that
he is willing to retain his chair on a condition precedent, the performance
of which would compel me to resign my chair of Common and Statute
Law, as due to my own self-respect." He observed that "it may be that,
in the exigency which has so unexpectedly arisen the Board may deem it a
measure of good policy to take a step backwards, and abolish the chair
of Law and Equity altogether." He continued, "I do not now tender my
resignation, either conditionally or absolutely, but I beg to assure the
Board that I earnestly desire that it will not feel the slightest embarrassment on my account. At the slightest hint from any member of the Board
that it is his wish to abolish this department of the University, I will instantly resign my chair without reservation or condition.''
Messers Glasgow and Kirkpatrick dispatched a cryptic reply to
Brock en bro ugh stating, ''The Board of Trustees received your letter of
today and it comes our duty to inform you, conformably to the intimation of your letter, that the Board find insuperable difficulties in the way
of continuing the Law School as at present organized, and it is desired by
the Board that you communicate your action in the premises, so that they
may take the necessary action on the subject.''
Mistakenly assuming that the Board intended to abolish the law
school alt_ogether, the Judge wrote Messers Glasgow and Kirkpatrick,
''With a view of placing the Board of Trustees of Washington and Lee
University ... out of all embarrassment growing out of recent complications, I tender to the board through you, respectfully and without reservation, my resignation of the professorship in the Department of Common and Statute Law with which I have been heretofore honored by the
Board.''

102

(

A Judge's School
He later wrote that he was "astounded to learn" that the Board had
elected "the very man who has been most instrumental in the fermentation of this matter and placed him in full possession and control of a
school which I had founded and fostered with parental care through the
best years of a long life.''
In addition to appointing Mr. Tucker, who, meanwhile had lowered
his salary request from $3,200 to $2, 700, the trustees named able, young
Charles A. Graves as his assistant in the law school. Judge Brockenbrough aired the whole unfortunate episode in a two-column "card"
published July 6, 1873, in the Richmond Enquirer. 45
A number of Trustees felt a reply should be made to Brockenbrough 's statement and one was actually drafted by Mr. Kirkpatrick.
After much discussion the Board apparently decided it would be best to
make no public reply. 46 Unfortunately, the Kirkpatrick document has
not been preserved in the trustees' papers and unless this or some other
pertinent material comes to light, it will be difficult to piece together all
the facts of the case as they pertain to the board.

(

he record is silent on the last three and a half years of Judge
Brockenbrough's life except for the notation that he tried
unsuccessfully to reopen a private law school of his own in the fall of
1873. 47
At the time of his death on February 20, 1877, a resolution by the
Lexington bar stated that "It was largely due to his personal exertions
and influence that Gen. R. E. Lee accepted the presidency of the college." The resolution cited his "courteous and dignified manners" and
said he was ''especially engaging to the young.''
A resolution by the Washington and Lee faculty commented on his
''strong intellect and great industry,'' and said that:

his generous courage, wide sympathies and flowing courtesy endeared him to
the hearts of all who knew him, and in a very special manner to the many
young men who through a long series of years sat under his instruction, partook of his free hospitality, and were followed by him through their after life
with unceasing affection and interest.

A Card From John W. Brockenbrough, Richmond Enquirer, July 7, 1873.
Ollinger Crenshaw, "General Lee's College: Rise and Growth of Washington and
Lee," unpublished manuscript, Washington and Lee University Library, 1973, Chapter
XXIV, note 34.
47
Crenshaw, General Lee's College, p. 333.
48
Brockenbrough obituary, Lexington Gazette and Citizen, February 23, 1877.
46

103

Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
An indication that time had healed some of the old wounds was the
fact that his pallbearers included General G. W. C. Lee and Professor
White of the college, as well as General Francis H. Smith, Colonel Blair,
Colonel Hardin and Colonel Patton of VMI, J. D. Davidson, J. G.
Steele, W. P. Houston and Major J. B. Dorman of the bar, and S. J.
Campbell and Colonel J. B. Lady representing the local citizenry. 48 1:.

104

(

An Automobile Tour of
The North River Navigation
William E. Trout III

RE THAN A CENTURY AGO Virginia built a great inland
avigation network over a thousand miles long, offering (not
lways successfully) the essential link between the landlocked
farmer and his coastal market. The most successful and extensive of
these navigations was the James River and Kanawha canal, a 200-mile
water road for large mule-drawn canal boats, stretching westward from
Richmond through a gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and almost
reaching the Alleghenys.
The North River Navigation was a 20-mile branch of this canal in
Rockbridge County from Lexington to the upstream end of the Blue
Ridge water-gap, following the North (now Maury) River. From 1860 in-

Dr. William E. Trout III, a nati ve Virginian and an expert on the state 's canal network , has
a Ph .D. in genetics and is a researcher in that field at the City of Hope Medica l Center near
Los Angeles, California . During one of hi s periodic visits to Virginia, Dr. Trout spoke to
the Society on April 27, 1970, at the Robert E . Lee Memorial Epi scopal Church in Lexington.

105

William E. Trout III

to the 1880s this branch made Lexington an inland port of some importance, a terminus for freight boats and passenger packets until the
railway carriage finally replaced them. Before its demise in 1969, the
Lexington Branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway offered
passengers an armchair tour of the North River Navigation; but now it is
the age of the automobile. Fortunately, of all the old canals in Virginia,
the North River Navigation is the one most accessible by car, and provides a display of canal architecture which compares well with any in the
country.
A logical place to begin the automobile tour is on VMI Island, at the
head of the Navigation in Lexington. The island is reached by taking the
first right turn after going south across the U. S. 11 bridge over the
Maury, and continuing about 0.2 mile to the end of the road where there
was once a covered bridge when this was the main road. Looking down
off the end of the road one can see the remaining timbers of Lexington
Mills Dam. This crib dam was not part of the navigation works but well
illustrates a common type of dam in Virginia: timbers spiked and pegged
together in log-cabin fashion, filled with stone and planked watertight on
the upstream side and the top. Most of the dams on the North River
Navigation, however, were of stone. When Reid's Dam and Lock, two
miles downstream, was in repair, still water backed up to VMI Island,
which was lined with warehouses and wharves.
Presumably, when a boat left the wharf on its way to Lynchburg or
Richmond, the mules crossed over the covered bridge, and then, hitched

106

North River Navigation

to the towline, pulled the boats from the towpath on the left bank of the
river. After going through the lock in Reid's Dam, the mules were apparently put aboard a ferry which took them across the river once more,
and the boats were pulled from a towpath on the right bank to South
River Lock and Dam two miles further downstream. Then came a halfmile canal and two more locks, after which the boats again went into the
river and were pulled from a towpath on the bank; after a mile came Ben
Salem Lock and Dam which is the next stop (Reid's and South River
Dams are hard to reach by public road).
Now leave VMI Island, return to Business U. S. 11 (Main Street)
and turn south (right) on to it; after 0.9 mile turn east onto U. S. 60,
(Nelson Street) toward Buena Vista, then left into Ben Salem Wayside
Park after 4.2 more miles . We are now six navigation-miles below Lexington at Ben Salem Lock, typical of those of the North River Navigation. Only a line of rubble remains of the dam , but the lock is in very
good condition. Between its limestone walls once passed canal boats up
to fifteen feet wide and one hundred feet long.
There was no canal at this point; the lock only served to raise or
lower boats through the 9 Yi foot drop created by the dam, after which
the boats continued along the river, drawn by mules on the bank. From
inside the chamber you can see the two pairs of gate recesses, each about
eight feet long, which held the gates when open, and the curved stones at
the downstream end of each recess, against which the gate-post rubbed
while operating. The top of the gatepost was held by a metal strap

107

William E. Trout III
around it, bolted to the top stones of the lock; you can see these bolts, or
the holes which once held them, on most locks, and will occasionally find
the metal strap.
The gates were of wooden beams and planks. When shut these formed a V pointing downstream so that the water pressure against them
would push them together and against the lock, making a watertight seal
except for the inevitable few cracks which spurt picturesque waterfalls.
Built into each of the gates was a smaller wicket or sluice gate, operated
by a lever, which let water in or out of the chamber. If a boat was coming
downstream, the lower (downstream) pair of gates would be closed and
the lock full of water; the boat would enter the lock and the upper gates
closed. Then the sluice gates in the downstream gates would be opened to
let the water out, the boat sinking rapidly to the lower level until the
lower gates could be opened and the boat sent on its way. The lock was
the machine of the canal; its source of power was gravity, and it was easy
to ·use and repair-surely an elegant invention.
Somewhere next to each lock on the landward side was the lockkeeper's house; from here the lockkeeper and his wife would listen for
the conch-shell horn or bugle blown by the captain of an approaching
boat. The lockkeeper's house was typically a rude frame shack; none in
Virginia have survived, except for a stone one near Richmond.
o continue down the canal, turn left onto U. S. 60 toward Buena
Vista. Just after crossing the bridge over the river, (1.5 miles) make
a very sharp right turn onto county road 608, and drive down under the
bridge and upriver. You are driving on the original towpath, beside the
pond still formed by Moomaw's Dam, which is intact and used by a
factory just downstream. In fact, the lock has become part of the factory
building and is used as a water intake. The large trees between the
towpath and the pond have grown up since the navigation was abandoned in the 1880s.
Park where the road leaves the river about 0.4 mile from Route 60.
From here you can walk along the path upstream along the river for
about Y, mile to Zimmerman's Lock and Dam. The lock and a small part
of the stone dam are in very good condition. The bits of concrete on the
lock are reminders of the days when a number of dams on the Maury
were used for generating electricity and water power. The concrete on the
upstream face and on the top probably replaced the original wooden
sheeting designed to protect and waterproof the dam. At the upstream
end of the lock chamber you will see a pair of narrow vertical slots which
were designed to hold stop-planks-boards stretched across the lock,
plugging it up so that the lock could be drained for repairs . Zimmerman's Dam backed water up to Ben Salem Dam one mile upstream.
Somewhere below Ben Salem Dam the towpath again crossed the river,

108

North River Navigation

·l

Part of Zimmerman's Lock
showing stop-plank slot
and gate recess.

the mules probably going across by ferry.
Return to U. S. 60, turning right and continuing into Buena Vista
for one-half mile. Where Longhollow Road intersects the highway there
are historical markers describing Moomaw's Landing. From Moomaw's
Lock and Dam, at the factory upstream to your right, a three-mile canal
ran through what is now Buena Vista, bypassing rapids in the river. The
railway later followed this route and even used the cut-stone foundations
of the canal aqueduct, which you can see from the bridge. This aqueduct
had a wooden trunk, not a stone arch, to carry the canal across.
The canal, which began at Moomaw's Dam, passed through three
stone locks, two of which have been extensively mined for their limestone
blocks, and the third, Loch Laird, is quite silted in. The towpath then
crossed the river again-presumably there was a ferry below Loch
Laird-and the boats entered a short canal just around Savernake's (or
Laird's) dam, which was a crib dam. There is little of the canal left in
Buena Vista and most of that is inaccessible by car. Continue down U. S.
60 until it crosses U.S. 501 and turn south toward Glasgow for about 3.8
109

William E. Trout III

Remains of Goose Neck Dam and Lock.
miles. Turn right onto county road 633, ("River Road") much of which
was once railway bed (now tracks on the other side of the river are used).
Before entering the first cutting (Gooch's Cut, 0.5 mile), look in and
across the river for signs of the stone abutments of Agner's Dam. The
canal around Agner's Dam was on the far bank, was about a mile long,
and supplied water for Agner's Mill, the remains of which can still be
reached from the end of county road 699 across the river.
Continue through the cut. After about one mile, before you re-enter
the woods, you may be able to see the outlet lock of Agner's Canal across
the river. After another 0.2 miles you will come to Goose Neck Dam,
which is shaped like a U pointing upriver, and is very impressive even
though it was partially breached during the 1969 flood, and further
damaged during the 1972 flood. You may wish to walk out on the
bedrock below the dam to examine the stonework. The lock was across
the river, and is presumably still intact although a concrete building,
which once no doubt housed a turbine, has been built into it; water still
rushes into the hole in the floor, or it did before the dam burst. The canal
from the lock was nearly a mile long and has an outlet lock which is hidden from River Road by an island.
A further 1.1 miles down River Road will bring you to Devil's Step
Dam, named after the bluff used as an abutment across the river.
Because the towpath has changed sides again, (for the last time) the lock
is on this side of the river, and is worth a short walk along the edge of the
meadow to the river. Be sure to take a walk out onto the remaining portion of the old dam, which is similar to that at Zimmerman's. As you
walk back to the road you may be using an embankment which was part
110

(
\

North River Navigation
of the towpath, which the road will now follow. Of course, then the dam
below was intact and water was backed up into the lock and to the embankment.
Another 0.4 miles down the road, which was the old towpath, takes
you to the last dam on the North River Navigation. This is Spiller's or
Miller's Dam, with a well-preserved lock (look for the straps which held
the gates). This lock was at the head of a long, 4.5 mile canal with five
more locks and two small aqueducts which carried the boats almost to
the James River.
As you continue south, you cross the canal, so that it is on the left
side and the road is on the towpath. After 0.6 miles, just before the canal
leaves the road, you will be opposite Buffala Creek across the river. This
was an early commercial area of the county, and a warehouse once stood
beside the canal here. As you proceed, the canal moves off to the left,
following the contour of Brady Hill. Where it begins to turn left around
the hill, 2.1 miles from Spiller's Lock and Dam, there are two very well
preserved lift locks, hidden by trees across the field from the road, worth
visiting; but these locks are not as massive as those built into dams which
we have seen up to now. About 0.4 miles later the road is again on the
towpath, although the canal is nearly obliterated; and after another 0.5

1-t

111

A Map Of The

NORTH RIVER NAVIGATION
VJ

cii
c:
ro

Ca~al wharves at Lexington, head of canal-boat navigation !
~
Reid Dam= Ross' = the Town Dam and L o c k - - - - - ->Towpath crossing

mffiT

Dam = Davidson's (Mill) Dam and Lock

Ben Salem Dam= Dunlap's Dam and Lock - - - - - - - Towpath crossing
Zimmerman's Dam and Lock= Stratton's
{ ...
.. · :· . Moomaw's =Moorman's = Green Forest Lock and Dam
:-:-..:.: . -: .:.. ::.:.- .. Moomaw's Landing
·
)l\lll}) Chalk Run Aqueduct _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___,.

--r-

)/ll\l)J Lock No.
<<<<<<<< Lock No.
.....
)) Lock No.
··· ·· ·· ·· : :::::: :::::Lock No.

3
4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -~
5
6 (Laird's)---------------Towpath crossing

c:::a:e~s ~~=~~;; ~~:d:~. Guard Gate (a half-lock.)

~ :/:::/:/:::::::::;:: Agner's =Edmondson's Dam and Lock
· -( ~ /:\/:;:::/:/:Lock No. 8 at Thompson's Landing and Warehouse - - - -

~ f

~~~~~~~~k Dam and Lock

_( ·

Towpath crossing at Garrett's Ferry-----------:
Devil's Step or Garrett's Dam and L o c k - - - - - - - - -~
:?}{}} }}: Spiller's or Miller's Dam and Lock ----------1
}{fj{j\Warehouse (Miller 's Landing, opposite Buffalo Creek) - - - -

[~~~~ ~~: :~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --C

:}{J{Jf) Davidson Run Aqueduct - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ : - - }f{J{Jf Lock No. 12 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ _ : :~
:}{J{Jf} LockNo.13 ------------------J
:}:}:}:{}::\ Lock No. 14 (Outlet Lock) to Blue Ridge Dam Pond - - - - Blue Ridge (Balcony Falls) Dam and L o c k - - - - - - -...;:.__
(On the 1ames River and Kanawha Canal)
112

William E. Trout III
miles the road makes a jog to the left side of the canal, at the site of
Davidson Run Aqueduct, of which a few remaining stones can be seen
from the road. After another 0.5 mile you will come to U. S. 501 again.
Turn south, (right) following the canal which soon disappears into
farmland on the right where there was once a lock of which no sign remains.
After 1.3 miles from the last junction, turn right onto the main road
to Glasgow (state road 130) and stop before leaving the triangle formed
by the intersection. The canal crossed the road here and the lift lock just
to the right is well preserved, with interesting stonework, although some
of the stones have been rearranged to form a spillway across it for a pond
now dry. (This spillway must be confusing to people trying to decide
what this masonry structure was!)
Now turn back onto U. S. 501, continuing south, (right) and stop
beside the road after 0.5 miles, shortly after passing a swimming pool.
Near the base of the hill next to the river is the last lock on the North
River Navigation-the outlet lock of the canal. This is very well preserved, and until the 1969 flood had a roof over it and had been used in the
past to house the Washington and Lee University racing shells, which
were used on the James River close by. From the lock the towpath continued to the river to join that of the James River and Kanawha Canal. A
towpath bridge crossed the Maury where the railway bridge is now, for
boats going west to Buchanan twenty miles upstream.
Continue on Route 501. From the scenic overlook in 0.2 miles you
will get a good look at the James, but there is little sign of the old navigation which used the river above this point. After another 0.3 miles make
an extremely sharp right turn into a dirt road which descends to the
railway tracks, where you can park. This is Balcony Falls Dam, one of
the tremendous dams on the James River and Kanawha Canal. The dam
has been built over and is used for power generation, but you can still see
a good deal of the original stonework of the abutment and part of the
lock. This is excellent masonry work and is full of mason's marks, the
identifying marks of those who cut the stones. Go down to the water
level behind the lock wall to see the timber foundations, which have been
exposed by river erosion. All masonry structures had such timber foundations, which must be kept waterlogged underground or they will dry
out and the stone walls may fall. From this lock the James River and
Kanawha Canal descended the James River gorge, requiring 25 locks and
8 huge dams such as this one, and then went on to Richmond through 63
more locks, 6 dams and across 10 large aqueducts. Butthat is another
story. 1:?

114

Lexington Civil War Babies:
Three National Fraternities
Richard R. Fletcher

VERY CITIZEN OF Rockbridge County and Lexington is aware of
the distinction conferred on the area by the presence and activities
of the Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee
University. But probably few are aware that three great national college
fraternities were born in Lexington. The VMI mothered Alpha Tau
Omega's first chapter and incubated Sigma Nu, while Washington and
Lee gave birth to Kappa Alpha Order. Over a quarter of a million
fraternity men throughout the nation and the world are alumni of what
could be called "The Lexington Triad."
In this brief space there is room for scarcely more than an overview
of the founding and the five years of infancy of the three organizations,
but perhaps this quick look will encourage further research into the story
of the Lexington fraternities. Far from claiming definitiveness for this
work, the writer has relied heavily upon Thomas Paine's definition of the
truth: that which is boldly asserted and stoutly maintained.

Richard R. Fletcher served the University of Virginia for 19 years prior to becoming
associated with the national office of Sigma Nu. In 1972 he retired as that fraternity's executive secretary after 16 years of service . Mr. Fletcher was instrumental in bringing the
Sigma Nu national office to Lexington in 1957. His address was delivered to the Society at
its January 22 , 1973, meeting at Evans Dining Hall at Washington and Lee Universit y.

115

Richard R. Fletcher

he first American society with a Greek letter name, Phi Beta Kappa,
was organized in the Raleigh Tavern at Williamsburg, Virginia, on
December 5, 1776. Phi Beta Kappa quickly developed most of the
characteristics associated with fraternities today: secrecy, a ritual, an
oath of fidelity, a badge for external display, a background of high
idealism, a membership bound together by strong ties of friendship, and
a desire to grow and expand. Its purposes were both social and literary,
its appeal contagious .
A second chapter was authorized at Yale in 1780, and the fraternity
system as such was initiated. However, it was the establishment in 1817
of a Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Union College in Schenectady, New
York, which sparked the development of the college fraternity system as
it is today.
In general, new fraternities have been organized either in opposition
to or in imitation of an established group. At Union College it was imitation of Phi Beta Kappa-first in 1825 by the Kappa Alpha Society (not to
be confused with the Kappa Alpha Order, a member of the Lexington
Triad), then in 1827 by Sigma Phi and Delta Chi-which created the first
of the so-called fraternity triads: The Union Triad. All three fraternities
soon spread to colleges in the North and East.
A comparative newcomer, Alpha Delta Phi, founded at New York's
Hamilton College in 1832, planted the first fraternity chapter in the West
in 1833 at Miami University at Oxford in southwestern Ohio. Six years
later opposition to the chapter led to the founding there of Beta Theta Pi,
the sixth fraternity and the first to originate west of the Alleghenies. Phi
Delta Theta was organized at Miami in 1848 and Sigma Chi in 1855 to
complete the Miami Triad. These three brash young westerners elected to
grow by vigorous campaigning among institutions in the West and
South. Ultimately each was represented at both VMI and Washington
and Lee.
A new fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, founded in 1852 at Jefferson College in Pennsylvania, was the first to appear in Lexington. The fraternity's principal founder entered the Law School at the University of
Virginia in 1853 and established a chapter there. Two years later the
organization jumped the Blue Ridge to Washington College.
Phi Kappa Psi beat the Miami Triad's Beta Theta Pi to Washington
College by just one year. Beta had been busy throughout the West and
South, and its Alpha Rho chapter at Washington College was its sixth in
the south and its twenty-fourth overall. Like Phi Psi, Beta used its
University of Virginia chapter as a springboard.

116

(
(

Three National Fraternities

(

The advent of fraternities did not excite enthusiasm among the
faculties of many educational institutions, Washington College
among them. Perhaps Dr. George Junkin, president of Miami University
from 1841 to 1844, brought with him to Washington College some
reservations based upon his observations of Alpha Delta Phi and Beta
Theta Pi in action at Miami. Perhaps a more important factor was Phi
Kappa Psi's 1857 "annual symposium," which was held in the Lexington
House and dutifully reported in the Lexington Gazette.
The newspaper commented on ''the continued popping of champagne corks which came upon the night breeze," hardly a sound

(

A B

GAMMA
&•m-ah

DELTA
def-tah

ALPHA
al-fah

E
EPSILON
ep-11-lon

I
IOTA
eye-o-tah

N
NU
new

(

p
RHO

roe

\
(l

cl>
PHI
fie

BETA
bay-tah

ETA
ay-tah

ZETA
zay-tah

LAMBDA
lamb-dah

KAPPA
cap-ah

1-f

~
XI
uEYE

OMICRON
omm-e-cron

SIGMA
1lg-mah

x
CHI
kEYE

MU
mew

IT
Pl
pie

TAU
taw

UPSILON
oop-11-lon

'¥

PSI
1lgh

117

THETA
thay-tah

OMEGA
o-may-1ah

Richard R. Fletcher
calculated to appeal to the sixty-seven year old Presbyterian clergyman.
Coming hard on the heels of Beta Theta Pi's "anniversary supper" at the
Exchange Hotel, the "symposium" undoubtedly prompted Dr. Junkin's
recommendation to the Board of Trustees that secret societies-or as he
termed them, "these excrescences" -be excluded from the college.
The trustees solemnly resolved that ''no student of this college shall
be permitted to hold a connexion with any Sod.ety whose character is not
approved by the Faculty," but there is no evidence that the Board's order
was obeyed. Indeed, there are indications that other secret societies may
have been launched thereafter. The Civil War terminated all fraternity
activities at the College, accomplishing effectively what Dr. Junkin and
the faculty could not.
It is unlikely that the cadets at VMI were unaware of fraternity
developments at Washington College during these pre-war years.
However, I have found no evidence to indicate that any real effort, overt
or covert, was made to establish a Greek-letter secret society at the Institute before Alpha Tau Omega pioneered in 1865.
This is somewhat surprising, as by 1861 there were ten established
fraternities at the University of Virginia and two at the College of
William and Mary, in addition to the two at Washington College.
However, then as now, the cadets were thoroughly steeped in the idea
that the entire corps was in reality one big fraternity, its members
distinguished from outsiders by the adversity of the "rat" year and by
other unique traditions. Moreover, they were purposely pointed towards
the day when their military expertise might be needed.
When the cadets, under the command of Professor T. J. Jackson,
marched off to Richmond in 1861 to drill recruits, and then Washington
College's Liberty Hall Volunteers set out for Harper's Ferry, a chain of
events and experiences was initiated which led to the establishment successively of Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha Order and Sigma Nu: The
Lexington Triad.
Both Institute and College somehow managed to keep their doors
open during most of the Civil War, but before the end at Appomattox,
VMI had been shelled and put to the torch and Washington College had
been ransacked and vandalized. Despite the stunning reality of defeat
and occupation, both institutions faced the painful necessity of
rebuilding. Both were equal to the challenge. The College called General
Robert E. Lee to the presidency. At the Institute General Francis H.
Smith set about rebuilding. Idealistic veterans at both schools translated
their post-war dreams of peace, unity and brotherhood into purposeful
action. In this atmosphere Lexington's three fraternities were born.

efore South Carolina's guns opened fire on Fort Sumter, twenty-six
fraternities claimed one hundred forty-two chapters in the South.
118

(

Three National Fraternities

(

But so many of their members enlisted in the Confederate armies that
none survived the war. As the South's colleges and universities struggled
to reopen, returning veterans founded the system anew. Among the two
hundred seventy-nine youths-average age seventeen-who fought in the
VMI corps at the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1863, were the three
men destined to found Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, as well as thirteen
others who would one day wear its insignia.
The vision which was to become A TO was that of Otis Allan
Glazebrook, the eldest son of a prosperous Richmond businessman and
civic leader. His ambition had been to attend the Military Academy at
West Point. He was at Randolph-Macon College when the war began,
but his father, seeking to accommodate his son's pronounced military ardor, secured a VMI appointment f ~r him. He remained with the corps
throughout the war, participating in the camps of instruction and fifteen
marches, skirmishes and battles, including New Market.
The dream which Glazebrook shared with two close boyhood
friends was that of a great people, long estranged by intersectional
animosities and torn by a devastating fratricidal war, again living
together in peace and unity under the healing and transforming power of
brotherhood and love. His dream ultimately brought into being the first
Greek-letter college fraternity organized after the Civil War.
Glazebrook and his friends, Alfred Marshall and Erskine Mayo
Ross, were scions of distinguished Virginia families, reared to revere the
South's traditions and to be faithful to its political philosophies. All lived
in Richmond. Ross, aged twenty in 1865, had graduated from VMI in the
spring. Glazebrook and Marshall, only nineteen, returned to the Institute
in October for their final year.
Glazebrook, a lay reader in the Episcopal Church, was profoundly
religious and of mystical mind. His dream of restoring peace and unity
was hardly original, being a recurring theme in human history; it was an
inevitable post-war phenomenon which in other times was expressed on a
scale as great as the League of Nations or the United Nations. But
Glazebrook recognized that peace is born of the spirit, is an inward grace
that manifests itself in outward conduct. He realized that many who participated in the bloody conflict would be slow to forgive and forget, but
he believed that younger men could be more easily moved than older
ones. He visualized a society which would bind the youth of the land by
ties of true friendship.
Glazebrook's "peace society" became a Greek-letter college fraternity by happenstance. General Smith was busily engaged in rebuilding
the Institute in the summer of 1865. Glazebrook was courting Smith's
daughter, whom he eventually married. Furthermore, Glazebrook's
scholastic and military abilities had earned him the post of CadetAdjutant, the highest staff position. When schools began reopening in
119

Richard R. Fletcher
the autumn of 1865, Northern fraternities began tentative attempts to
resurrect their dead Southern chapters. A friend of General Smith's, a
ranking official of a Northern fraternity, wrote to ask for the general's
help in making a new start in the South. The letter passed routinely
through military channels at VMI to Cadet-Adjutant Glazebrook, who
immediately saw in the letter the idea for a practical vehicle for advancing his dreams of peace and reunification. He consulted with General
Smith.
Smith, a West Point graduate, was not a member of any fraternity,
but he had observed the operations of Phi Kappa Psi and Beta Theta Pi
at Washington College before the war. Moreover, having intimate
knowledge of the history and customs of Phi Beta Kappa, he supplied
Glazebrook with accurate information concerning Greek-letter societies.
In Richmond Glazebrook consulted with University of Virginia
alumni and gleaned further information about fraternities. He concluded
that most of them were too social or scholastic for his taste. Being of
strong religious inclination, Glazebrook could contemplate fraternity only in terms of Christian love-a Christian fraternity. The result was the
concept of a society Greek in name only, the Greek name being merely
the visible symbol of a passionate conviction that peace and brotherhood
could be achieved under the aegis of 1esus Christ.
As a boy and youth in Si. Paul's and Si. Mark's Churches in Richmond, Glazebrook had seen the ancient insignia of the Church: the Tau
Cross subjoined by Alpha and Omega, signifying that Christ is all in all,
the beginning and end of salvation; The society's name, Alpha Tau
Omega, was all but inevitable. For the group's emblem Glazebrook
chose what he mistakenly thought was a Maltese Cross. To these ideas
and their symbols the founder added an organization based upon the
American faith in representative government and in the efficacy of
growth. ATO was not established in imitation or opposition to any other
group, and was intended from the beginning to be a national fraternity.
Glazebrook selected Alfred Marshall, a boyhood playmate, a
member of his class at VMI, and the most popular cadet at the institute,
to join him in his great adventure . Together the two concluded that they
needed the counsel and experience of an older man. They chose Erskine
Ross, who had graduated the previous year and was then living and
working in Richmond. The three young men met at Glazebrook's home
in Richmond on September 11, 1865, and signed the charter of Alpha
Tau Omega.
Glazebrook and Marshall had little trouble meeting other VMI prospects for their organization, as only eighteen cadets were on hand when
the Institute opened on October 16. But by the end of the year the roster
had grown to fifty-seven . The cadets were billeted in town pending the
120

Three National Fraternities

reconstruction of the barracks. Glazebrook, staying at the Compton
House, administered the ATO oaths to his roommate; Marshall did the
same to the others in his room at the Lexington Hotel. When the group
totaled eight, ATO held its first chapter meeting in Marshall's hotel
room.
hen Washington College opened its doors to twenty-two students
on September 15, General Lee had not yet been inaugurated. The
magic of his name and reputation drew one hundred twenty-four others
from throughout the South to the campus by spring. The ATOs naturally
viewed Washington College as a logical target for expansion; but in the
face of a long tradition of hostility between the college students and the
cadets, such a move appeared rather audacious.
A woman was able to bridge the gap. Lizzie Letcher, pert daughter
of Virginia's Civil War Governor, John Letcher of Lexington, was an
old friend of Otis Glazebrook's . She had already introduced her brother,
Samuel Houston Letcher, who was initiate No. 11, and a family friend,
Melville B. Branch, to Alpha Tau Omega. She responded to
Glazebrook's appeal for help by pledging a cousin at Washington College, Fred Berlin, and introducing Glazebrook to John Van Meter, an extremely popular Kentucky veteran who had come to Lexington with a letter of introduction to General Letcher. The A TOs crossed the boundaries
between the schools and initiated Van Meter, creating the nucleus around
which the society's second chapter would form .
Lizzie Letcher, who eventually became the fraternity's only
''honorary'' female member, gathered together a noteworthy group of
"Alpha Tau Girls," as they called themselves, including two named
Mildred Lee-one the daughter of the General, the other his niece. The
daughter recruited the sons of Generals Breckinridge and Longstreet,
and the niece pledged her brother, George T. Lee. This "ladies auxiliary'' was a powerful force in the infant years of ATO .

(

121

Richard R. Fletcher
The men were likewise busy recruiting at both schools. By the end of
the academic year the Mother Society at the Institute had a membership
of eighteen; the Washington College chapter had twenty-four. Meetings
were held in cadet lodging rooms and in the recitation rooms at the college until May, 1866, when the two chapters collaborated in the rental of
two rooms on the second floor of 13 West Washington Street. They met
there on alternate Saturday nights, but always shared their social
pleasure in what they called ''the upper room.''
Alpha Tau Omega stood alone at VMI until 1869 when Sigma Nu
appeared. Meanwhile, its members received the Institute's highest
honors, academic and military. It also began to expand, installing
chapters at Cumberland College, the University of Virginia and Roanoke
College, as well as six community chapters.
The uncertain future of many Southern colleges at the conclusion of
the war was such that most of the fraternities founded in the North did
not immediately undertake to reestablish their chapters. Understandably, new organizations developed in their stead. Alpha Tau Omega was
the first, but others followed in the five years after the war. Kappa Alpha
Order was founded at Washington College and Sigma Nu at VMI. Pi
Kappa Alpha and Kappa Sigma were organized at the University of
Virginia. To this quintet of Virginia-founded fraternities a sixth was added in 1901 when Sigma Phi Epsilon was founded at the University of
Richmond.
he second of the Lexington Triad, Kappa Alpha Order, was conceived by James Ward Wood of Lost River, West Virginia. It was
born as Phi Kappa Chi at Washington College on December 21, 1865,
through the instrumentality of William Archibald Walsh of Richmond,
and two Lexingtonians, William Nelson Scott and Stanhope McClellan
Scott.
These four swore to bind their association together in lasting friendship, but the Greek-letter name they chose did not endure for long. Phi
Kappa Psi, first fraternity on campus in 1855, was reorganizing and asked the newcomers to change their name to avoid confusion between the
groups. Kappa Alpha was the new designation, chosen apparently in ignorance of the existence of the Union Triad's venerable Kappa Alpha
(founded in 1825). The new group, however, designated itself an Order,
helping to distinguish the Southern organization from Kappa Alpha
Society in the North.
Originally imitative, it became thoroughly distinctive. The first Kappa Alpha chapter used the ritual of Epsilon Alpha, a local fraternity
which died in 1861. James Wood designed the badge: an encircled cross
emblazoned beneath the Greek letters Kappa and Alpha.

122

Three National Fraternities

Kappa Alpha Order as such did not really come into being until
Samuel Zenas Ammen was initiated in October, 1866. Ammen, the
author of the fraternity's ritual, was considered so important to the
Order that his name appears with those of the four founders on the commemorative bronze tablet on the wall of a classroom in Robinson Hall at
Washington and Lee University.

ABr ~EZH8IKAMNZOTIP~ TTXwn

a(3'yoerr,e lJLKAµvto1T pa<;TV
\

Ammen was no ordinary student. Of Swiss-German lineage, he was
the ninth and last child of a Fincastle, Virginia miller and merchant.
Earning top grades at the Botetourt Male Academy at Fincastle, he
prepared himself to attend Washington College in the autumn of 1861.
But when the war commenced that spring, he and his fellow students
formed their own Home Guard in which he served as second lieutenant.
In August he volunteered for the Confederate Army. At various times
during the war he served as a dyestuffs maker, a member of the Confederate Navy, and near the end as a member of a mounted guerrilla
command on the West Virginia frontier.
When the war ended Ammen returned to the Academy for another
year of intensive preparation prior to enrolling at Washington College.
He entered the medical studies program with advanced standing, a
member of the Intermediate Class, and even took some senior subjects.
Soon, however, he transferred his interest from scientific subjects to
languages.
It did not take Kappa Alpha long to discover Samuel Ammen, even
among the three hundred ninety-nine students who enrolled at General
Lee's college in 1866. The discoverer was Lexington's Will Scott, who
123

Richard R. Fletcher
met him in Latin class where Ammen was an outstanding student. Swiftly pledged and initiated, Ammen immediately moved to improve the
order's borrowed ritual.
He had become a Mason in March, 1865, and was thoroughly aware
of the shortcomings of the ritual used at his own initiation, an inheritance from Epsilon Alpha. Furthermore, he was convinced that an
order based on chivalry had limitless possiblities. He addressed himself
to what was to be a lifelong task, and ultimately transformed the ritual
into that used by Kappa Alpha Order today. As Ammen conceived it,
Kappa Alpha was to be an order of Christian knights pledged to the
highest ideas of character and achievement, not a mere fraternity. The
Order was to embrace only those aspiring to the qualities of a true
gentleman, as epitomized by General Robert E. Lee.
Despite Ammen's and the founders' dedication, it was initially difficult for the new group to gain a foothold at Washington College in the
face of lack of sympathy, if not open hostility of the older fraternites.
The membership was small and inexperienced, but four of them (Wood,
Scott, Mccorkle and Ammen) were war veterans and not easily
discouraged. When the 1866-67 session opened there were but seven initiates on hand, including three of the founders. Of the seven men in. itiated that session, five were expelled for disloyalty. The Order nearly
gave up in the spring of 1867, but the crisis passed. The 1867-68 session
was markedly better, and the chapter found a home at the Ann Smith
Academy, a school for young ladies where Ammen taught Latin and
French. Will Scott's mother and aunts were sympathetic. They helped to
decorate a chapter meeting room, sewed the first set of ritual robes, and
assisted in arranging the organization's banquets-"convivia" as they
were called.
The Order was struggling hard at Washington College to concern
itself seriously with expansion, but in January, 1868, a member proposed
a cadet friend for membership. Three others followed him later in the
session. Thus Beta Chapter was born at VMI. The following year a
Washington College transfer planted the Kappa Alpha flag at the
University of Georgia; another took KA to Wofford College in South
Carolina. The Order's growth had begun.
The installation of Beta Chapter at VMI was fortunate. It was Beta
which carried the burden of leadership for three years when Alpha went
temporarily inactive in 1870, and it was Beta which assisted in
reestablishing Mother Alpha in 1885. The VMI chapter is perpetuated today by the Beta Commission, which since 1915 has elected cadets to the
Order for initiation after graduation.

hen the year 1869 opened, Alpha Tau Omega was firmly entrenched at both the Virginia Military Institute and Washington
124

Three National Fraternities

College; Kappa Alpha Order, arriving slightly later, was somewhat less
firmly dug in. On January 1, 1869, both acquired a new rival when Sigma
Nu fraternity was founded at VMI, completing the Lexington Triad.
Sigma Nu's roots may be traced to the arrival at VMI in the fall of
1866 of twenty-one year old James Frank Hopkins of Little Rock,
Arkansas. His father's fortune, before the war based on ownership of
125,000 acres in three states, had declined sharply during the conflict,
but there was enough left to send his son to Virginia for his education.
Young Hopkins was fifteen when the war broke out. He attempted to
enlist repeatedly, but was not successful until 1864, when he evaded
Union picket lines around Little Rock and was accepted as a private in
Noland's Independent Troop of Cavalry. His expertise as a horseman
marked him for hazardous courier duty, and he participated in several of
the smaller battles in the closing years of the war.
Then as now there was a difference in the attitude of the Lexington
townspeople towards students and cadets. Lexington's Scotch-Irish
founders had left a strong imprint on the community. Washington College since its founding had been a stronghold of Presbyterianism. The Institute, with its resolute head, General Smith, while nondenominational
by design, had been controlled largely by Episcopalians since its
establishment.
Before the Civil War VMI cadets came largely from the
Episcopalian dominated eastern part of Virginia, furthering the commonly held local belief that cadets were worldly, even wicked. After the
war the Institute's Episcopal cast was somewhat diminished by the infusion of matriculates from other states, but Cadet Hopkins and his close
friends were Episcopalians.
The cadets attended the four town churches in turn, although Grace
Episcopal was favored because its services were shortest. General Smith,
a vestryman at Grace Church, conducted Bible study classes at his home
on Sunday afternoons, and it was at these gatherings that he exercised his
greatest direct influence over the three cadets destined to found Sigma
Nu fraternity.
Sigma Nu grew out of opposition to the post-war version of the ratting or hazing system at VMI. Before the war it had been an organized
procedure regarded as compatible with the system of discipline of a
military college; it was understood by those who enrolled as a means of
qualifying them for admission to the full fellowship of cadet life. But
after the war the ratting system lost its orderliness. Some charged that it
was being used to further the selfish purposes of the members of Alpha
Tau Omega fraternity.
The A TOs on hand in 1866 were not the founders, but their successors. Alpha Tau Omega was an organization set apart. Its membership, recruited largely from Richmond and eastern Virginia, represented
125

Richard R. Fletcher

the old regime. In the fall of 1866 almost all out-of-state cadets were rats,
and the hazing was carried out almost entirely by Virginians, headed by
members of ATO.
A number of out-of-state rats, many of them already matured by the
exacting experience of military service and in no need of disciplinary hazing, became alienated from the rat system. Bitterly resenting the juvenile
treatment, they fought back. Their suspicions were aroused by evidences
of ATO membership among the young sub-professors, whom they
charged with favoritism and persecution. A leader in the resistance
movement emerged in the person of James Frank Hopkins.
Hopkins was willing to accept a reasonable amount of hazing as part
of the system, but he rebelled in the face of what he perceived as
unreasonable demands and unethical designs. In the conflicts which ensued he was so frequently the victor that he soon had a body of fourth
classmen known as "Hopkins' Rats" under his protection, and had won
the affection of his classmates. At the Finals on July 4, 1867, his leadership was recognized when he was designated as the First Corporal, the
highest rank in the third class.
It was as First Corporal that Hopkins had his first-perhaps onlydirect confrontation with Alpha Tau Omega. As Corporal of the Guard,
he was called upon to investigate a disturbance in one of the rooms (that
of Cadet Adjutant Robert E. Nelson, Jr., an 1867 initiate and a veteran
of the New Market Battle.) In Hopkins' words:
On a certain occasion I chanced to enter the room of the Battalion adjutant
on official business, and, to my astonishment, surprised a number of the
Alpha Tau Omegas, hooded and gowned, going through some sort of foot-

126

Three National Fraternities

washing ceremony .... from that incident and instant they were known as
"Blackfeet."

Hopkins had witnessed the purification rite, the climax of the initiation ceremony. The ·black feet were shoes protruding from beneath the
white gowns. He had only a glance at the robed knights of ATO before
being summarily ejected. At the guard room his incoherent report so emphasized the apparition of "black feet" that the label has persisted to
this day.
This encounter was mere coincidence, not related to the conflicts of
the previous year, and it did not forecast continued differences. Hopkins
had acted on principle, not prejudice. He believed in brotherhood and
tried to practice it. During his first two years of adjustment to cadet life,
Hopkins stood as an exemplar of principles, rather than as an active
leader in cadet controversies. He was not an agitator. His battles were
usually fought alone. While companionable by instinct and habit, and
rarely alone, he did not seek heterogeneous company. It was not until his
third year at VMI that the friendships which he had formed and the principles for which he had stood gave him the concept of a lasting union
founded upon his ideas of honor and fellowship.
His initiation into the Lexington Lodge of Masons gave impetus to
his dreams and plans. After careful deliberation Hopkins confided his intentions to two other men who had been his close friends since arriving at
VMI, Greenfield Quarles of Helena, Arkansas-son of a Virginian and
himself a war veteran-and James Mcilvaine Riley, son of a St. Louis
merchant. One starlit night in October, 1868, these men went out to the
saucer-shaped depression behind a professor's home at the end of the
parade ground, clasped hands on the Bible, and joined in the vows that
bound them together as Brothers in the Legion of Honor. During the
next two months others were added, but the existence of the new society
was kept secret until its first formal meeting on January 1, 1869, the accepted date of the founding of Sigma Nu. However, it may well be said
that the spiritual beginning was in the autumn of 1866 when James Frank
Hopkins rebelled against injustices.
ome see in the Alpha Tau Omega-Sigma Nu story a conflict between
preferment by birth and the broader spirit of democracy. This may
have been true at the outset and for a very limited time thereafter. In the
fall of 1866 all of the Institute's ATO members were Virginians, but the
fraternity soon broadened its scope.
For many years it was believed that Sigma Nu had been organized in
order to break up the "Blackfeet," although members of both fraternities denied repeatedly that Sigma Nu was founded with vengeance as its

127

Richard R. Fletcher
purpose. There was intense rivalry, but no more than that which
characterized interfraternity relationships in general at that time. And
there were some close friendships, too, including a small ATO fourthclassman who was called "Hopkins' Mouse" after the Sigma Nu leader
befriended him. Had Hopkins wanted revenge, he would not have waited
so long to launch his Legion of Honor. His battles had been won, his
principles assured. Masonry revealed to him the opportunities for growth
in brotherhood.
The conversion of the Legion of Honor into Sigma Nu Fraternity
occurred through adaptation rather than transition. Whether founder
Hopkins intended originally that the order should follow the course and
customs of college Greek-letter fraternities is doubtful. At that time the
conduct of such organizations was generally in conflict with the principles they espoused, and their reputation in the larger society was not
enviable. Regardless, the Legion of Honor in its first year assumed the
outward aspects of a Greek-letter society, maintaining secretly its
original name but known publicly as Sigma Nu Fraternity.
At VMI prearranged and announced meetings for fraternities were
virtually impossible, as those cadets below the first class had only Saturday afternoons free. Meetings, including initiations, were often held
under cover of darkness in the limestone saucer where the founders had
met. The business of eluding the guards added a fillip of excitement to
the tryst.
Twilight was the hour of fellowship before evening study. Cadets
sauntered around the Guard tree or the Entrance Gates, where Lexington
belles foregathered to catch a glimpse of their cadet swains. This was the
hour chosen to introduce the badge of Sigma Nu. Hopkins himself had
designed the badge, modeling it after the Cross of the Legion of Honor
of France, a decoration held by several members of the faculty. The field
of white enamel surrounding the symbols on the arms of the badge caused it to be known as the ''White Badge,'' in contrast to the Black Cross
of Alpha Tau Omega. The White Cross made its initial-and surpriseappearance on the uniforms of members one evening hour in the spring
of 1869.
Selection of members the first year did not involve contest or
rivalry. Chiefly they were Hopkins' friends and associates, with out-ofstate cadets a significant majority, but with a good representation of
Virginians for balance. Earned merit was the measure for all, and by the
end of the school year in July, 1869, there were fifty-one Sigma Nus.
The following year, 1869-70, marked the beginning of normal
fraternity activities for Sigma Nu. Fourteen members were firstclassmen, thus they had greater freedom for regular meetings with frequent changes of meeting place. The fraternity flourished. By the time of
128

Three National Fraternities

the Finals exercises in July, 1870, when Sigma Nu's three founders
graduated, the fraternity situation at VMI had been transformed from
the domination of a single secret society to the shared rivalry of four:
Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha Order, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Nu.
An invitation from Sigma Nu was regarded as an honor; those invited almost inevitably pledged. This new status led to feelings of selfassurance which presaged the inevitable decline which followed. Just
three years after the founders graduated, the proud Sigma Nus accepted
just one pledge, the next year only two. Fraternities at VMI slowly
declined. By 1881 one had but a single member, and the Mother Chapter
of Alpha Tau Omega had ceased operations entirely.
Content with local achievements, Sigma Nu's members were not
seriously concerned with expansion. In spite of a number of so-called
"authorizations" between 1870 and 1874, it was only in the latter year
that the fraternity finally established a new chapter at the University of
Alabama.
he establishment of Sigma Nu at Washington and Lee University (as
it was called after Lee's death in 1870), at very long last in 1882, has
frequently been referred to as the Second Foundation. But planting a
successful chapter at Washington and Lee was not easy. Twelve
fraternities were already in operation there, survivors of a field of fifteen. Moreover, there were strong campus differences between VMI and
W & L which inhibited cooperation. The cadets were regarded with some
misgivings by many of the staid Presbyterians; on the other hand, the
free-wheeling cadets looked with some contempt on their Calvinist
neighbors, dubbing them the "sitabouts." There was common ground
between the schools in most Lexington homes, but social allies were
sometimes so strongly partial that they were known as Washington and
Lee girls or VMI girls.
Just outside the gates of VMI, in the no man's land between the two
institutions, lived Miss Daisy Madison, a lineal descendant of President
Madison and a Sigma Nu girl. The boundary line between the institute
and the Madison home was a well-worn path somewhat obscured by the
trees and shrubbery lining the avenue to the barracks. This home might
properly be called the Sigma Nu house, since it was there that members
gathered frequently, often in violation of institute rules.
Daisy Madison, although a Sigma Nu girl, had other friends, including some from the university; among these was Isaac Pointevint
Robinson of Louisiana. Through Daisy he met most of the Alpha
chapter men, was initiated, and organized Lambda chapter. Ultimately
this saved Sigma Nu, as Lambda was one of three chapters destined to
provide the superstructure on which was built a great national fraternity.

129

Richard R. Fletcher
But that carries our story far beyond the time limits set for this
paper, which is concerned only with the period of fraternal birth and early infancy. Suffice it to say that Lexington's three Civil War fraternities
managed to survive the intense rivalry which characterized fraternities in
their early and middle years, and the distrust and ill will of much of the
public stemming from the secret way in which they conducted their activities.
Today all three are proud leaders in a field of fifty-seven national
college fraternities. They span the nation with more than four hundred
active campus chapters and more than a quarter of a million alumni
throughout the world. In their mature years the three are not only compatible and friendly on the national level, but often are close allies on the
campus level. Many Alpha Tau Omega and Sigma Nu chapters enjoy an
annual combined Whitefoot-Blackfoot party or join Kappa Alpha Order
chapters for an Old South Ball.
And all three are proud of their Lexington ties. -tI

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reno, Claude J., The A TO Story: The First Fifty Years. Fulton, Mo.:
Ovid Bell, 1962.
Robson, John, Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities.
Menasha, Wis.: George Banta, 1963.
Scott, Gary Thomas, "The Kappa Alpha Order, 1865-1897; How It
Came To Be And How It Came To Be Southern," (unpublished
M.A . thesis, University of North Carolina, 1968).
Scott, John C., The Story of Sigma Nu; A Narrative History of the
Fraternity, 1869-1926. Lafayette, Ind.: Sigma Nu Fraternity, 1927.

130

(

\
(

Buena Vista and its Boom, 1889-1891

Royster Lyle, Jr.
(

(

Buena Vista's history and the history of some of
its unique and handsome buildings have held a special fascination
for me. In many ways Buena Vista is among the most historically
interesting of Virginia's towns, at least during the 1889-1891 period. The
special types of architecture that have survived there are only beginning
to be appreciated by architectural historians-much less the general
public.
Since Williamsburg was discovered by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. over
sixty years ago, Virginians have convinced themselves that for a building
to be good architecture it must look like Raleigh Tavern or the Governor's palace. A Virginia architect's merit has been judged, I believe, by
his ability to "colonialize" as quickly as possible every nineteenth
century house he could get his hands on. Perhaps one of these days
historians will write books on the colonialized architecture in Virginia of
OR MANY YEARS

\
(

Royster Lyle, Jr., is the Associate Director of the George C. Marshall Research Foundation
in Lexington. He is also an architectural historian. In 1969 he received a grant from the
American Association for State and Local History to do a photographic survey of the architectural types in the Rockbridge County area. This paper was delivered to the Society's
October 25, 1971, meeting at Southern Seminary Junior College in Buena Vista.

131

Royster Lyle, Jr.
the 1930s, '40s, ' 50s and '60s, and it will become an accepted type in
itself.
Fortunately, in the last few years we have ·seen a reawakening of
interest in nineteenth century Victorian forms and a real appreciation of
their importance to the total picture of this country's architectural
history. A good example perhaps is the Gothic revival period of the 1840s
and 50s which for years was thought of as merely grotesque; now it is
again in vogue. Architectural historians cannot get books out fast
enough on the subject and these Victorian gems are . being increasingly
sought after in the real estate market.
In the mid-l 960s the Virginia Military Institute demolished one of
its three original Alexander Jackson Davis villas (the Williamson House,
1852) with hardly a peep from anyone. Were the school to propose a
similar action today, I dare say the wrath of thousands of Davis fans
from all over the country would descend on VMI with camping on the
parade ground which would make the recent marches on Washington
seem pale.
Nationwide sentiment has not quite reached this level on the postCivil War Victorian forms, but it will, I am convinced, and soon. There
is still the feeling in many sections, of course, that the only good use for a
Victorian building is to turn it into a parking lot. As a result of this
attitude, we have been losing many excellent buildings ' from this period.
Fortunately, Buena Vista has many gems still standing, and I will
mention some of those that strike me as being particularly important.
Southern Seminary's main building is far and away the best-and
the best preserved-of western Virginia's boom hotels of the period of
Buena Vista's finest hour. But the whole area has many first-rate architectural landmarks being cared for quite well, and for this we are all
most thankful.
No one would dare attempt a talk on Buena Vista's boom or on the
1889-1891 period without first giving due credit to Mr. Stuart Moore and
to his excellent talk before this group on January 27, 1959. Fortunately,
this important address was published in the Society's Proceedings (Vol.
V, page 70). Another source of information was an article in the
Rockbridge County News by Hugh A. White which appeared in the
1930s. More recently two other members of the Historical Society have
dealt with the subject in chapters of their books: Professor Ollinger
Crenshaw in General Lee's College and Professor Allen W. Moger in
From Bourbonism to Byrd.
For this paper I have drawn heavily on all of these. But in addition, I
believe I was fortunate enough to have a new source of information
available to me that my predecessors did not: the bound copies of the

132

(

Buena Vista and its Boom
weekly publication, the Buena Vista Advocate of the 1890 period which
has been preserved in the Southern Seminary Library. This proved to be
invaluable, and we are all indebted again to Southern Seminary for
seeing that this priceless source is being preserved.

rchitecturally, as well as socially and economically, the 1889-1891
era brought the most abrupt change to Rockbridge County of any
single period in its long history. While a number of other areas in the
Valley of Virginia wer\' to experience boom fever, hardly a corner of
Rockbridge escaped the fabulous land sale. Promoters were busy.
Almost every Valley community-Front Royal, Waynesboro, Salem, Big
Lick (Roanoke)-was having its own wild time. The attention was
coming because of the newly arrived railroads and the area's natural
resources: great expanses of timber, ample streams, and reportedly rich
deposits of iron ore. One source called it the "mineral center of the
world." At one point it appeared that Rockbridge, then a totally rural
area, was on the verge of establishing an industrial and mining center to
rival Pittsburgh. Though there were several other smaller land
development companies promoting building lots and industrial sites in
the county (in such places as Cornwall and Raphine), Buena Vista,
Glasgow, Goshen and finally Lexington experienced the greatest activity.
The boom, fanned by Yankee money, aggressive local entrepreneurs and
extraordinary pro!Ilotion, reached tremendous proportions before it
finally burst. Stuart Moore put it better than anyone: "Since the close of
the Civil War the region had been 'a Sleeping Beauty,' but by 1889 it was
on the verge of being awakened by 'a Prince Charming' in the form of
northern capital."
In December 1889, just as the frenzy of buying and selling was
beginning, the Rockbridge County News predicted that "the year 1890 is
to be the most eventful in Virginia history, in the history of Buena Vista,
of Glasgow, [and] of Rockbridge County."
The next week a Buena Vista correspondent reported: ''To put it
mildly, things are getting wild .... It is not unusual for eligible lots to
jump $100 in twenty-four hours." But this was still just the beginning;
before the end of the month the same writer exclaimed, "the value of lots
[has] jumped about one hundred percent ... in two weeks." Glasgow
reported that its population had "doubled in the last thirty days." The
Rockbridge County News recorded long lists of weekly land transfers;
one lot in Buena Vista changed hands three times before it could be
recorded. During this period the Baltimore Sun ran a series of articles on
the "Boom in the Valley." After noting that Lexington was located in
the center of a country rich in minerals, the Sun writer commented:

133

Royster Lyle, Jr.

The Arcade, as it is called today, is typical of the commercial architecture
during the Buena Vista boom.
"Every town in this section of Virginia just now seems to have a separate
and distinct boom of its own, each like Barnum's Circus-the very
greatest boom on earth.''
Indeed, each area did have its own company and its own set of
financiers, speculators and promoters. The Buena Vista Company was
the first to go into business; it was able to announce as early as February,
1889, that all of its $600,000 capital stock had been subscribed. The
company was headed by A. T. Barclay, a successful Rockbridge farmer
and businessman and a trustee of Washington and Lee University. But
the big mover behind the Buena Vista scene was Benjamin C. Moomaw.
During the first year there was little building, though there were great
expectations and many hundreds of residential, villa and industrial
building lots changed hands at an extraordinary rate. Actual construction was going slowly-so slowly, in fact, that the Buena Vista Advocate addressed a series of strong editorials saying that all these paper
transactions were fine, but some real construction was needed to put the
boom on a more sound basis.
The first editorial, January 24, 1890, said,
Now let our monied men go to work and build on their lots, stop speculating

134

Buena Vista and its Boom
and improve your property, you cannot make a better investment. . . . Every new
house that goes up in Buena Vista, increases greatly the value not only of the lot
upon which it is built, but of all the unimproved property in the town. Go to
work."

The speculators apparently did not heed the editor's advice, for the next
editorial was not quite so circumspect. It began:
Stop this everlasting speculating and go to building . . . . Unless some
building is done, especially on good business sites, some of the fine fellows
who are turning over their money by turning over their lots, will turn over
once too often, and roll on a rock ... . Build! Build! You never saw a town
yet that didn't have some houses in it, and it's perfectly reckless folly to go on
buying and selling, and everybody expect somebody else to improve. It's a
fair warning and I want it to make an impression.

The first year of activity ended with a correspondent reporting that
''Buena Vista is enjoying a live boom and one based upon tangible
resources and development.''
After the town was laid off into a vast pattern of streets and building
sites, one of the first buildings erected was what the paper referred to as a
"Queen Ann Hotel" on the plateau overlooking the town. Here the
principal social events of the Buena Vista Company took place. The local
paper took careful note of each gala affair, hosted by "the hotel's genial
proprietor, John W. Tolley." So popular was the hotel that in only a few

Buena Vista's opera house, completed in 1890. The opera hall is located
on the third floor; its stage is still intact today.
135

Royster Lyle, Jr.
months there was a need for expansion. Though there seems to be no
record of the architect or builder of the original 1889 hotel, the local
paper noted that the new addition was .contracted by J. P. Pettyjohn of
Lynchburg. Work began by late January, 1890, for an "improvement
that will add about fifty rooms when completed."
In 1890 construction finally began throughout the town. Another
hotel, then called "The Collonade" was built. Also the company office
in the high Victorian style (later the town courthouse), and a $25,000
opera house were built in 1890, and today both are still very much a part
of Buena Vista's attractive cityscape.
As for the other buildings going up, the editor of the local paper
became concerned with the quality of the architecture and the aesthetics
of his booming town. He admonished his readers:
Let us have an eye to the beautiful in architecture. It is not our object or
desire to criticize anyone, for up to this time we have accomplished wonders,
but we think the time has now come when all parties who build houses should
have some well defined ideas as to something prettyin their style of architecture, and most especially would we urge upon our building associations to
drop the low flat roof now being used so much and give us something more
sightly in its stead. We have no idea that a nice mansard roof, or a pretty
Queen Anne style would cost a great deal more than the present one used,
and they would be so much more attractive looking. A gentleman from a
large northern city remarked to us a few days ago as we stood on the porch of
Hotel Buena Vista, that the view from that point was one of. the prettiest
which his eyes ever beheld, and that it only remained for us to add our part to
that which nature has so lavishly bestowed on Buena Vista, to make it one of
the prettiest cities in the world. It has been truly said that a thing of beauty is
a joy forever. So let all parties who have the future prosperity of our young
city at heart, begin from this time to have the good appearance of each house
they erect, and we feel assured that in a very short time all will agree as to the
wisdom of what we have said on this subject.

Some of the builders did indeed take great care with their construction to which many of the surviving buildings will attest.
The first setback to the Buena Vista Company came in July, 1890,
when a fire, which started in the bakery, destroyed the prominent
"Queen Ann" hotel on the hill overlooking the town. To avoid any
psychological setback to the boom, the company acted immediately. The
local paper reported: "Before the flames died away," President Barclay
telegraphed Pettyjohn in Lynchburg "to make arrangements at once to
contract for rebuilding the [hotel], and at the same time notified the
Board of Directors to meet him at the site.'' The next morning plans for
the new hotel were discussed, and "while the details of the building have
not been finally determined upon, enough has been made known to
justify the statement that a splendid brick structure, of elegant architecture, with all most modern improvements and conveniences will be
immediately erected on the old site." The paper noted that "the people
of the town took in all of the guests at the hotel.''
136

Buena Vista and its Boom

(

The second Buena Vista Hotel was designed by Pennsylvania architect S.
W. Foulks and completed in 1890. It was, according to the local paper,
"one of the most rapidly built, as well as most substantial and beautiful
structures of modern times." Today it is the Main Hall for Southern
Seminary Junior College.
Before the end of the month construction for the new hotel was
ready to begin. The Buena Vista Advocate said the company ''accepted
the plans of Mr. S. W. Foulks, of Pennsylvania. One hundred and fifty
hands will be put to work immediately. . . . It will be one of the most
rapidly built, as well as most substantial and beautiful structures of
modern times." A local citizen wrote of the new hotel:
\

The Romanesque styles of architecture are blended in that structure to the extent of perfect relief, and [there is] nothing left off that [would] impart grace
and elegance in adornment to the exterior, or that could be more happily
associated with the faultless interior.

The new hotel had its desired psychological effect on the new city. In
the next two years some six hundred handsome dwellings, churches,
stores, hotels, and other buildings were completed, many in the popular
Victorian styles of the period. By January, 1892, Buena Vista had grown
from a totally rural area, called Hart's Bottom and Green Forest, to a
city of 5,240, having "22 industrial enterprises and business institutions"-all in less than three years.
My favorite editorial from the sometimes vitriolic pen of the Buena
Vista editor came at the peak of the boom and was aimed squarely at the

137

Royster Lyle, Jr.
doubters and detractors of the boom effort. He wrote: "If the
mossbacks had been running this company, there would be no electric
lights, no hotel, no streets, no houses, no Buena Vista, no Glasgow, no
Goshen-nothing but primeval woods.''
lasgow, like Buena Vista, was started by Rockbridge County entrepreneurs with the help of northern money. Three principal
companies were involved in the development of this village at the confluence of the James and the North rivers; former Virginia Governor
Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of General Robert E. Lee, headed the principal
one, the Rockbridge Company; John DeHart Ross was president of the
Glasgow Improvement Company; and the West End Glasgow Land
Company was under the direction of Greenlee D. Letcher.
Glasgow's plans were more ambitious than Buena Vista's, but the
final accomplishments were somewhat less spectacular. An English
syndicate pumped millions in cash into the Glasgow project, for which
William A. Anderson of Lexington earned considerable praise. Among
the purchasers of lots at Glasgow were the Duke and Duchess of
Marlborough, who were reported to have planned handsome warehouses
on their property.
As in the other county boom towns, the Glasgow company's hotel
received first construction priority. The Rockbridge Company spared no
cost and chose the architectural firm of Edgerton S. Rogers and Walter
R.. fl igham of Richmond to design the elaborate structure called the
"Rockbridge Hotel." A November, 1951, article in Coronet magazine
recounted the short history of the building. Located high on a hill
dominating the beautiful river valley, its "tall towers and wide bays,
sweeping piazzas and impressive stone cut fronts and pillars, made it the
queen of Virginia's hotels. Two hundred rooms and suites were finished
in meticulous and expensive detail. A roof garden-a daring architectural innovation in the '90s-reflected the dazzling mood of the
creators . " The building, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars,
opened on September 17, 1892, with an enormous affair of champagne
and hands and guests from across the country and Europe. The opening
night was propitious enough, but its glory was to be all too short.
At the other end of the county the small village of Goshen boomed
during this period in much the same fashion as Buena Vista and
Glasgow, though the reasons for its beginnings were slightly different.
For several generations this area had been popular as a summer spa, with
Rock bridge Alum Springs, Cold Sulphur Springs, and a number of other
popular watering spots nearby. Further, it was on the mainline of one of
the railways to the west, and iron mines on Bratton's Run were supplying
the famous Victoria, largest iron furnace in the state. In 1886 this fur-

138

Buena Vista and its Boom
nacc was already producing one hundred twenty-five to one hundred
fifty tons a day. So it was not surprising that the boom fever of the next
decade caught on quickly here.
The Goshen Land and Development Company purchased the
grounds of the Cold Sulphur Springs and most of the area around what is
today the community of Goshen. Industrial sites near the Victoria
furnace were designated, as were a town park and numerous vill~ sites
along Mill Creek. The lots were laid off and the developers planned what
they thought would be the most elaborate hotel yet. The first issue of the
local paper, The Goshen Blade, started by the company in 1891 to
promote the town, gave this description of the new hotel building while it
was still under construction:
The Palace City Hotel, a magnificent building on an eminence overlooking
the town ... of brick and granite, four stories high, contains one hundred
and sixty rooms and will cost one hundred fifty thousand dollars. It will be
lighted with electricity and have all the modern conveniences. It will be one of
the finest hotels in all the Southland. The location is commanding and the
building imposing. The hill on which it sits will be terraced with broad steps
of marble leading down to the depot.

The Goshen Hotel
The company had chosen for its elaborate hotel the architecture
firm of Yarnall and Goforth of Philadelphia, who were also to design the
very similar Hotel Altemont for the Staunton Development Company. A
promotional pamphlet for The Alleghany, as it was called, records that
"the best White Sulphur water in America" was "on draught" at the
139

Royster Lyle, Jr.
hotel and that ''The rotu.nda, drawing room, dining room are beautifully
furnished with natural wood which excites the admiration of all visitors
and it can be safely stated that this hotel has no superior in the United
States." The massive pile of towers and columned verandas blended a
number of the Victorian forms-Queen Anne, stick, shingle, and
others-into an impressive chateau overlooking the Goshen valley. It
became the show place of the Goshen boom.
n December, 1889, a Rockbridge County News editorial complained
that "there is growing sentiment in this community that if the same
energy displayed and money invested in the development of other
towns [in the .county] were made use of in our own, a handsome profit
would be returned to the investors, and a permanent benefit to
Lexington." Editor Matthew Paxton cautiously added: "A boom may
not be a desirable thing, but a healthy development, a gradual and steady
growth has advantages, that none will deny." Then the editorial concluded, "Shall our county town, Lexington ... take advantage of the
opportunity now afforded her, or shall she remain content?"
A few months after this admonition the Lexington Development
Company was formed. Two of its charter members were from Baltimore,
but local sponsors were in general those who already were prospering in
the Glasgow boom, including John DeHart Ross, A. L. Nelson, Thomas
S. White, Henry H. Myers, and J. McD. Adair. The Lexington Company's plans were as elaborate as the other boom companies in the
county. The farms surrounding Lexington were laid out into a proposed
city that would have dwarfed the old town. On the western side it embraced most of the land extending to Brushy Hills including Sunnyside
(the Webster Farm), Honeysuckle Hill, Castle Hill, the old golf course
(the Denny property), and Mulberry Hill, extending on to Cave Spring
and to the river.
Industrial sites were laid out along Woods Creek and the North
River. Across the river northeast of Lexington was marked off another
area equally as large, extending over what is today Hunter's Hill and
down along the river by Clifton, and to the old railroad "Y". Old
Lexington-the part that existed then and still exists today-was to be
the business, ci vie, and educational center of this great new city.
The same editorial writer who was worried about Lexington's future
in December of 1889, wrote eleven months later: "It is with a feeling of
sincere gratification that we today record Lexington's great awakening.
The old town has aroused from her lethargy, she has caught the spirit of
the times, and is girding up her loins to march to the front and take her
place among the most vigorous and prosperous towns of the land."

140

Buena Vista and its Boom
On October 23, I 890, at 9 a.m. the sale of Lexington Development
Company stock began. Business was brisk; the sale went fast. The
Lexington Gazette reported that "with all the booms around us, the like
has never been seen before. Lexington started last in the race, but she is
getting there all the same."
A special promotion brochure indicated that the company had
bought about 1,295 acres of land. The purpose was ''to prepare the lands
for .~ettlement by laying off and grading streets, dividing the land into
~ui1.t.Dk lots, providing a supply of pure spring water, building two
hotels, and_ giving sites and money help to such industries of the higher
order employing the best class of skilled labor." The company boasted it
was making Lexington the "most beautiful and profitable city in the
South to live in."

The DeHart Hotel, Lexington
Before the end of 1890 the company voted to erect a $60,000 hotel at
Mulberry Hill and to demolish the large brick house there. Fortunately,
the plan was abandoned. The next spring, a short distance to the south,
construction began on the Hotel DeHart, designed by the same architect
who built the Buena Vista Hotel, S. W. Foulks of Pennsylvania. Mr.
Stuart rvtoore described Foulks' DeHart Hotel as a "sprawling, ornate
struc1 me [which] embodied almost every conceivable type of architecture, from Moorish domes to Norman tower and battlements, but
it wa '.-. .... principally 'boom,' a nightmarish structure common to that
periou." An earlier writer called this same building of stone, brick and
\\ oml shingling "a model in convenience and simplicity of style."
141

Royster Lyle, Jr.
Among the building's innovations were bathrooms on each of the
upper floors and an elevator. The elaborate structure never opened as a

hotel by the boom company; the bust came before its completion. For
nearly two decades it remained empty and boarded up. For a time it was
used as a student dormitory and as a summer school for Washington and
Lee. It was on the verge of being opened as a boys' prep school when it
burned in a spectacular fire in 1922.

he fate of Lexington's DeHart Hotel was almost the same as that of
the other proud hotels at Buena Vista, Glasgow and Goshen. The
boom which had brought unbelievable prosperity in the two short years
after 1889 came abruptly to an end. Almost simultaneously the boom
companies in Rockbridge and elsewhere seemed to be in trouble.
The local papers became skeptical at first, then blunt. The Rockbridge County News cried, "It's a bust! The boom's busted." Money
had begun to get tight-very tight. Hard times were the topic of the day.
A nationwide panic was following a nationwide boom. Within three
years of its inception, Buena Vista's boom and that of its sister communities across the county were in a state of collapse. A serious condition had befallen the U. S. Treasury in 1892 which developed into the
full-fledged Panic of 1893 soon after President Grover Cleveland took
office that year.
The most dramatic demise of the boom projects in Rockbridge was
probably at Glasgow. The same evening of the gala opening of the
fabulous hotel-before the thousands of investors and guests from the
North and from Europe had even finished their champagne-the
creditors arrived, and the company, including the remarkable hotel, went
into the hands of receivers. The company was broke. Panic in the town
ensued. The company's stock and land values plummeted.
For fourteen years thereafter, efforts were made to rescue the
Rockbridge Company from its creditors, but finally the huge hotel, long
since deserted, was sold for a scant $10,500. Parts of the building were
used by nearby farmers to store hay until the 1950s when it was finally
torn down.
In Goshen the hotel which was said to have "no superior in the
United States" lasted some years after the bust, but after changing hands
several times it was finally bought by a group of doctors who planned to
open it as a hospital. Before this remodeling could be completed, it
burned in the 1920s. The huge Victoria furnace, at one time the largest in
the state, also closed, and only the ruins of its twin towers can be seen
today in an overgrown field near Goshen.
The Buena Vista Hotel was the only one of the four outstanding

142

Buena Vista and its Boom
structures to survive. After it was completed in 1891, it was sold by the
development company to "foreign investors" who held it through the
next difficult years. Finally, it was sold for a fraction of its cost.
Ultimately, it was bought by Southern Seminary and today it is known as
the college's Main Building. The purchase by Southern Seminary was
fortunate, because this unusual building has been carefully preserved and
maintained by the college, and the credit here goes to the Durhams and
the Robeys who were able to see the real importance of this building long
before the rest of us.
The local tradition that Stanford White built this building has
fascinated me from the start. The Buena Vista Advocate files in the
Southern Seminary Library spell out beyond the shadow of a doubt that
S. W. Foulks of Pe!'}nsylvania was the architect. I soon discovered that
the now destroyed Goshen Hotel and the unusual old bandstand above
Rockbridge Alum Springs were also attributed locally to White and that
other boom hotels down the Valley-including the one at Waynesboro,
now Fairfax Hall-were labeled from time to time as Stanford White
designs.
Several years ago I began a correspondence with every source I
could think of-the AIA Library in Washington, the McKim, Mead and
White descendant firm, Walter 0. Cain in New York, the Avery Architecture Library at Columbia University, The University of Virginia,
and on and on to try to solve the mystery of the White attribution. In
each case I came to a dead end. Finally, I received a helpful letter from
the curator of the New York Historical Society where the principal
Stanford White collection is housed. Mr. Wilson Duprey wrote:
I have found nothing in our files relating to any of the buildings [you wrote
about] .... I know there have been enough claims on White as architect right
here in New York to make one wonder about his real influence. . . . I really
think he could have well done some things on the side but just did not sign his
name, or ask credit for his contribution. Like an interviewer saying
something, then saying Don't print that! I know that he and his firm have
sometimes been consultant architects, but the job was done by another
architect firm. They simply picked up a consultant fee, and one wonders just
what they did contribute.

Those who study local history learn early to have proper respect for
local traditions. Invariably there is some thread of truth or some reason
for the story in the first place. Perhaps one of these days some member
of the Rockbridge Historical Society will turn up a letter in some Buena
Vista garret that will read:
Dear Mr. Foulks:
Regarding your inquiry about suggestions I might have for a new hotel in
Buena Vista, Virginia, why don't you design them a great romantic pile of

143

Royster Lyle, Jr.

turrets and towers, porches and arches, stone and brick, shingles and clapboard. I'd shoot for nothing less than the finest hotel in all of the South. And
if the Boom collapses, I wouldn't worry about it, the hotel would always
make an excellent building to house a girls' junior college .
All the best:

Stanford White ·

P. S. Don't tell anybody it was really my idea.

144

{;.

William Mccutchan Morrison:
Missionary to the Congo
Sterling M. Heflin

ILLIAM McCUTCHAN MORRISON came from a long line of
preachers and teachers. His paternal ancestor, Samuel
Morrison, moved early in the eighteenth century from
Scotland to Londonderry, Ireland because of his religious beliefs. There
were three sons in the family, Robert, William, and Samuel, Jr.; all three
immigrated to America and settled in Philadelphia about the year 1750.
Robert, the great-grandfather of William Mccutchan Morrison,
was a school teacher and pursued his profession in Philadelphia for a
number of years. He married Susan Murek, who was reared in Germany
and educated at the University of Heidelberg. Her ancestors were
teachers, and there were five Presbyterian preachers in her immediate
family. Shortly after their marriage the Morrisons moved to Staunton,
Virginia, and then later to Lexington where they settled on a farm.
Morrison's youngest son, Robert, Jr., was noted for his piety and
became an elder in the Monmouth Presbyterian Church. He was· the
father of three sons, Luther, Ruffner and Culton. The oldest son,

Colonel Sterling Murray Heflin, until his retirement, was professor of physics and head of
the physics department at the Virginia Military Institute. Colonel Heflin stood but a few
feet from the Morrison pew in the New Monmouth Church when he addressed the Society's
July 24, 1972, meeting.

145

Sterling M. Heflin
Luther, inherited the farm near Lexington, and he too became an elder in
the Monmouth Church. Luther married Mary Agnes Mccutchan of Bath
County, Virginia, who also came from a religious family and was a
woman of sterling character and sound judgment. They had eight
children; their first, William Mccutchan Morrison, was born on
November 10, 1867.
William was consecrated to the gospel ministry from his birth by his
parents, and all of his early training was directed with this end in mind.
He grew up in the quiet retreat of his father's farm, learning to use his
hands and perform the various chores pertaining to country life. He
received his early education in the home and in the common schools in
the community. He took part in the debating club and the singing class in
the country school, and learned something of the art of public speaking
and how to 'raise a tune.'
There is one instance in his early life that Dr. Morrison liked to tell.
When a small boy he was one day watching an old black man cutting
wood at his father's place. Little Morrison began to amuse himself by
throwing chips at the old man's head. He was rebuked again and again in
no uncertain terms. The black man's impatience merely added to
William's enjoyment of the situation and the bombardment was continued with zeal. But the old fellow's patience was finally exhausted, with
the result that the small boy was turned over his knee and given a sound
spanking. William was shocked and humiliated and ran to tell his
mother. But she had been sitting by the window and witnessed the entire
performance, with the result that William was given a strong reprimand
and the promise of a more severe punishment if he should be so
thoughtless again. "And thus," Dr. Morrison would add with a merry
laugh, "Africa made quite a lasting impression on me the first time we
came into personal contact.'' 1
At the age of sixteen he was admitted to Washington and Lee
University, and he walked the three miles from his home on Whistle
Creek to college and back each day. This kept him out of many college
activities, but he always returned on Saturday night to attend the
meetings of the Washington Literary Society of which he was a member.
During his second year he won the orator's medal in the inter-society
contest.
Even though his parents had consecrated him to the gospel ministry,
young Morrison had a will of his own. He chose law as his profession
and looked forward to this throughout his university career. This could
have been the reason he devoted himself to training in public speaking in
'T. C. Vinson, William McCutchan Morrison: Twenty Years in Central Africa (Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1921), pp . 10-11.

146

(

William Mccutchan Morrison
the literary society.
He did not unite with the church until his university days were nearly over. He was about nineteen when his father died, and this death
seems to have been the turning point in William's career. When his father
was on his death-bed, someone asked him what he was going to do about
William, since he was not yet converted. The father replied with that unfaltering faith that had characterized his life, "I consecrated William to
God and have never taken him back, and in God's own good time all will
be well." It was soon after this that William made his public profession.
He had been fighting the call to the ministry throughout his early life, for
he said, "for me to preach is for me to be a missionary, and I don't want
to be a missionary.'' 2
mmediately after his graduation from Washington and Lee at the age
of twenty, young Morrison, for financial reasons, began the life of a
school teacher. He followed this profession for six years in Searcy,
Arkansas. It seems that he had not yet given up the hope that he might
resist the call to the ministry and salve his conscience and pursue his
chosen profession of law. But this was not to be. Becoming convinced
that he was fighting against God, he surrendered and entered the
Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he
distinguished himself as a faithful and conscientious student.
During his seminary course he faced the problem of the investment
of his life. Just prior to his graduation he read an article in the Missionary, written by one of the missionaries at Luebo, Congo Free State,
calling the attention of the Church to the needs and opportunities of that
great field. This appeal went straight to his heart; he believed it to be a
call from God. Immediately after his graduation from the seminary,
Morrison applied to the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions and
was appointed a missionary to Africa. He was licensed and ordained by
the Presbytery of Arkansas, under whose auspices he had pursued his
seminary training.
Morrison left his Lexington home on November 5, 1896, for
Philadelphia, the port from which he was to sail on the first stage of his
voyage to the Congo. We find this remarkably simple and earnest prayer
in the opening words of his diary:

This day I leave home and mother, brothers and sisters, and many hallowed
memories of home and native land and go far hence to the Gentiles in obedience to the command of my Master . 'Go ye into all the world and preach
the Gospel to every creature.' This desire came to me through the peculiar
dispensation of God's providence, about eighteen months ago. I have every
reason to believe that it was in answer to the prayers of some little children in
Louisville, Ky. As I enter upon this great and trying work my prayer is-0
2

/bid., pp. 12-13.

147

Sterling M. Heflin
God , I beseech thee to give me an abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
making my own life an open gospel, an epistle known and read of all men. I
pray for thy richest blessing to rest upon the people to whom I shall preach
the unsearchable riches of Christ; open their darkened understandings, may
Thy truth have free course and may many be brought into the fold of Christ
through the gospel that I may be instrumental in preaching. 0 God, pour out
Thy Spirit upon darkest Africa, and may the long night be broken and may
the brightness of the Sun of Righteousness soon illuminate that benighted
land. Bless the laborers in the field and richly reward their service for Thee.
Give me, 0 God, health of body, vigor of mind and above all purity of
heart. Help me to bear the burdens, keep me ever humble, enable me to love
all men, give unto me wisdom and discretion-Thou hast promised that those
who ask Thee for wisdom Thou will give liberally-verify this promise unto
me.
Keep me during the perils of the voyage, deliver me from dangers seen and
unseen, and may I arrive at my destination sound in body and in every way
fitted for the preaching of the Gospel. 0 Lord, help me to overcome the sins
ofmy life .... 3

he mission post to which Morrison was going had been established
only a few years earlier. During the 1880's Reverend William Henry
Sheppard of Waynesboro and Staunton, Virginia, a black Presbyterian
minister, tried for some time to obtain authority and backing to go to
Africa and set up a Presbyterian Mission, but he was informed that he
must have a white minister to head up the work before the venture could
be approved. In June, 1889, the Reverend Samuel Norville Lapsley of
Anniston, Alabama, indicated his willingness to join Sheppard in this
important effort. Although no choice of site had been made, church
officials put the Belgian Congo high on the list because of its location
and the expectation that no barriers would be placed in the way of the
work there as a result of the efforts of Senator John Tyler Morgan of
Alabama and Henry Sanford, the American Minister to Belgium. They
had been instrumental in securing Washington's prompt recognition of
King Leopold's administration of the Congo, as set forth in the Berlin
Treaty of 1885, dealing with the expansion of European nations in
Africa. Morgan and Sanford were willing to support the mission project
because they thought it would be a real boon to their hopes of influencing many American Negroes to return to Africa.
Lapsley and Sheppard left for Liverpool on February 26, 1890.
When they had completed their consultations with missionary leaders in
England, they crossed the channel to confer with Sanford. The American
minister arranged for Lapsley to be received by King Leopold II. The
missionary was greatly impressed by the Catholic monarch whom he
described as a good and great man. When the King addressed himself to
the question of the mission site, he recommended the Kasai Basin. When

3
/bid., pp . 14-15; Henry Boley, Lexington In Old Virginia (Richmond: Garret &
Massie, 1936), p. 187.

148

William Mccutchan Morrison
(

(
(

Lapsley and Sheppard landed there in April, 1891, they selected the site
for the American Presbyterian Congo Mission on the north bank of the
Lulua River near Luebo. Two years later Sheppard returned to America
and married Lucy Gantt, a Birmingham school teacher, and Mrs. Sheppard returned with her husband to Luebo in October, 1894. 4
When Morrison reached Luebo on May 7, 1897, the mission had
been in operation six years. It consisted of one station occupied by eight
missionaries, three whites and five blacks, an organized church of fortyeight communicants, a Sunday School of fifty members, a day school
with an average attendance of forty-six, and two outposts. Prior to his
arrival the mission had secured the temporary right to open an outpost at
Ibanche, forty miles north of Luebo, and it had been manned by the
Reverend and Mrs. Sheppard and .the Reverend Joshua Phipps. Shortly
before Morrison reached the Congo, the Sheppards left for America on
furlough, and Mr. Phipps returned to Luebo, so Morrison was assigned
to this outpost.

(

(
(
(

he mission had not had a policy of working among tribes of a
common language. Moreover, no one had done any systematic work
on any particular language, and the only literature Morrison had at his
disposal was a small dictionary of a few hundred words. As soon as the
mission adopted a plan to direct its work toward the great Bakuba
Kingdom, Morrison began an intensive study of that language. Within a
few months he was able to preach in the Bakuba language, and was
overjoyed when the people began to ask intelligent questions concerning
his discourses. He organized classes for those who expressed interest in
becoming Christians. Morrison taught the Bakubas the Gospel, and at
the same time he studied their language and sought some insight into
their characteristics and modes of thought. In beginning this study he
found himself faced with almost insurmountable difficulties. In his diary
he wrote:
I am almost oppressed with discouragement when I think of Bible translations . Three great monsters arise before me in the darkness; first of all, my
work is with the very bottom of humanity, with an unbroken history of
perhaps thousands of years of ignorance, superstition, and spiritual
darkness; another difficulty is the fact that all customs, manners, pursuits
and minds of the people are so different from the people described in the
Bible history. These people can form no conception of these strange customs
and circumstances . But the greatest obstacle of all, and the most discouraging, is the fact that after I have spent weary years in translation work, not one
man can read a word of what I have written .
. . . In view of the difficulties before mentioned, I am thoroughly convinced that our first work should be in the school, then follow this up with
4
Stanley Shaloff, Reform in Leopold's Congo (Richmond: John Knox Press, 1970),
pp. 15-24, 37.

149

Sterling M. Heflin
catechisms for general religious instruction of all people whom it is possible
to reach, then paraphrase the Scriptures, and last but not least, the Bible. 5

Despite his problems and discouragements a strong bond of mutual
friendship sprang up between Morrison and the Bakuba people. Consequently, it was a real disappointment to him when, after a few months'
residence among them, he received notice from the Congo State that the
station at Ibanche must be closed in fifteen days. Morrison appealed to
the authorities to have the order rescinded, but to no avail. Dr. Samuel
H. Chester, Executive Secretary of the Board of World Missions, wrote
in the Missionary:
This refusal of the State to grant our American Mission what is being frequently granted Belgian and French Catholic Missions is a clear and open
violation of the Constitution of the Free State and the Treaty of Berlin. This
unjust and unconstitutional action on the part of the State authorities is felt
in England as well as in this country. It looks as if the State authorities were
determined to so cramp our prosperous little mission that we should be forced to abandon it. 6

As time permitted Morrison applied his linguistic gifts to the study
and reduction to writing of the Bakuba language, and preparation of a
grammar and dictionary. Morrison described the manner in which he accomplished this great linguistic feat.
The key words to any language are the questions, "What is this?," and
"What did you say?" Once these are gotten, the way opens up and the
language begins to unlock. The phrases are best gotten by taking a seat in a
group of people and pulling out a pocket knife, or some other article with
which they are not familiar. Now listen with all ears, for someone in the
crowd is almost certain to utter the mystic words. "What is that?" When it
has been gotten, the names of all familiar objects can be obtained at once. By
intense never-tiring listening the more common verbs will begin to come, then
other parts of speech, together with phrases and sentences, the meaning of
which is known, but the grammatical construction of which is still a mystery.

After a period of six years' effort, Morrison wrote:
It is unnecessary here to go into all of the intricacies of language study, it is a
labor of many weary days, months, and years, and yet, this has been for me a
work fraught with much pleasure . May I say that we did not give them a
language, nor did we teach them ours, but we found their language highly
developed, having well defined laws of grammar, rules of syntax and words
with which to express all the ideas they have. The Bakuba language is much
more regular in its construction and laws than is the English language. To
such an extent is that true that though down through the ages they have had
no written language, yet it is preserved in wonderful purity and even small
children never make mistakes in grammar.
The result is that in writing the Bakuba language we use our own alphabet,
with all words spelled phonetically, each letter having only one sound. This
certainly gives us a tremendous advantage over the helpless confusion in our
English spelling-.

1
6

Vinson , William McCutchan Morrison, pp. 30, 31.
/bid., p. 34.

150

William Mccutchan Morrison

ENGLISH

THI-I IL U BA

I) JCT_ION AltY.
-A, prrp ., of. Thi, i ., the ,:rnrrnl cnn- Ahula, • vi., to &erk, to hunt omaU game
strurlinn fnr rxprrHin_~ thr I-:rr,:li,h
on II liurnt plain .
l'o5st.Hi, ,r <.:n .1 t.
Abula 1·1., to row across, lo fcrrv.
Whr11 fo/1,,u ·,·d by thr in.fin. it r_yprr.,.« s Abuluka, ,,i., to separate (as . crowd),
thr idru nf purpou and may /,c trmulapnrl, divide, liranrh into different
lrdirections, diverp:~. radiate.
1<·ord ha, thr ron,trurtion of an adj. Abulula, 1•1., lo separate.
and take. the Secondary /'r,fixr, .
Abulusha, 1•1., to •eparate, divide, part,
apportion, cause to branch into two
Aba, • rt ., to di,·ide.
parb .

Srr Abanya .
Aba . ,·i., lo click (J?un).
Abak,rna, 1•i.. to drt·ad , be
romplain.

Awsha, 1·1., to spread out (aa mat.$)
anxious , Afunya, 1·1., to tidJr..
Aha, ad,·. , here (on), yonder, there, hence,
hither, thithrr, thence .
Abakas'111 . 1·1., (u·ith Mrsu or Mui.hima
Ahn
, ad,,., now, now then. UsuaUy introa. objrct), lo be anxious, he frnrful,
duce$ o .se11/er1cr.
1rnzc with fri~l11.
Abanya, t •I. , lo distribute or divide up Abuka, vi ., to turn aside, lo slrp out of
the path.
or share amo'ug, apportion, part nr
Sre Ehuka.
F-cparate among..
Ahula, vt., to pull off, strip, tear off, turn
Abanyangana, t·I., to dist1ibute or divi aside.
de into shares among each ol her.
Aka, rl., to gather the leaves of the caoAbaoyina, vi., to dis1rili11tc or part or
sava or other plants , also pea>; hem,
apportion to, di,·ide up or separat e
to harvest (pea s), reap.
inlo shares for.
Ak~na, vi ., to fit, to agn·e, match, corAbila,• vt., to divide up for .
re spond to , Le adapted lo, he suitable,
::i<-e Abaoyina .
be ev en, lo suit . he proper.
Abo, pos, . pro., their, theirs. This rr(ers Akana , t"t. , to go to meet, receivegucata,
only lo nouns of cla;, I.
welcome .
muao'abo ne, relati\·c, match, mate,
See Akidila.
of ume kind or sort or quality or cha- Akanangana, v., to agree together, fit or

racter or species or variety, like or

~imilar,

mat ch or conform to each other, corre spond to, he enough or adequate or

The first page of Morrison's dictionary; it was originally included with
his grammar published in 1906. Morrison used the term "Buluba-Lulua"
to describe the language, but this was later changed to "Tshiluba." The
dictionary and grammar was published for the use of missionaries and
other Europeans rather than for native speakers.
pon the publication of the grammar and dictionary in 1904, the
degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on Morrison by his
alma mater, Washington and Lee University. The importance of
Morrison's accomplishment may be seen in this statement from the
mission, "Now that we have our grammar and dictionary and exercise
book, and owing to the regularity of the spoken language, and the ease
of reading the written language, we have had the case of missionaries
who preached to over one thousand people in our Luebo tabernacle
within eight months after their arrival on the field. " 1

/bid., pp. 60-63.

151

Sterling M. Heflin
Morrison agreed that ideally missionaries ought not to become involved in political affairs. However, he refused to abide by such a ban
when he observed situations in which fundamental human freedoms were
being denied and inhumane acts were being regularly practiced. Morrison had seen the slave trade in action and the atrocities associated with
it. He had witnessed the forced labor in the ivory and rubber business
and the cruel and inhumane treatment of the natives, and he resolved to
fight these practices with all his power. Since there were no white settlers
in the Congo, and since the representatives of the rubber firms and King
Leopold and his Congo Free State profited from the regime, it was left to
the Protestant evangelists to denounce the conditions in the Colony.
They were the only persons with first-hand knowledge of the situation
who were bold enough and willing to act.
The full measure of Morrison's influence in the reform campaign
was not felt until his first furlough. One writer states that it was Morrison on his return to the United States by way of Europe in 1903, who
was the pioneer of missionary agitation in England. One of his British
supporters states:
The gallant Virginian, William Morrison, turned up unexpectedly from the
Congo with a tale of continued infamy, with particulars of brutal and odious
deeds, with a heart aflame with passion. There was nothing of the fanatic
about him; no heroics; no prayerful entreaties. He was merely a capable,
honest, strong, fearless man, and he told his story with a moral force which
thrilled all who heard it.

His mood when he arrived in London was testimony in part to his
resentment at being openly and boldly told by the Secretary of State for
the Congo in Brussels that henceforth no concession would be granted to
the American Presbyterian Congo Mission. Subsequently, he sketched a
verbal portrait of the wretched conditions in the Congo Free State for the
benefit of the Aborigines Protection Society. W~en he was invited to
deliver his talk at the Royal United Service Institute there were so many
illustrious persons gathered to hear him that it was mistakenly reported
in some Presbyterian journals that he had addressed a joint session of the
Commons and the Lords. 8
In America Morrison had to plead his case in very strong and emotional terms since the Spanish-American War had made the American
people and the administration wary of colonial involvement. Moreover,
there was the general lack of knowledge about Africa and what was going on in the Congo. In an effort to inform the people, Morrison wrote
numerous articles in secular and religious journals, and addressed
numerous church meetings and congregations, including the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S. at its meeting in the Lex8

Shaloff, Reform in Leopold's Congo, pp. 86-87.

152

William Mccutchan Morrison
ington [Virginia] Presbyterian Church in May, 1903. This body,
"recognizing the crisis confronting the work in the Congo," appointed
Morrison chairman of a committee of three charged with describing to
Secretary of State John Hay the conditions of affairs in the Congo
State. 9 In addition Morrison enumerated the horrors he had witnessed in
the Congo in a series of articles which appeared in such journals as the
Independent, and the American Monthly Review of Reviews, as well as
in the mission's own journal, the Kasai Herald, which Morrison edited.
As a result of these public accusations made to the governmental
in England and the United States, as well as those
made to professional, religious and scientific groups, Leopold and his
advisors sought to show that the charges were untrue. A commission of
inquiry was established and the members handpicked by Leopold. The
commission visited the Congo Free State and much to Leopold's chagrin,
documented the manner in which the inhabitants of Sankuru basin were
exploited. The state, they asserted, did its part by levying a tax which had
to be paid in croisettes. Since these could only be secured from Kasai
Rubber Company agents in return for India rubber, the Congolese were
obliged to toil for the company. To complete the cycle, the state
promptly returned all the croisettes it had received to the Kasai Company. Although the firm was not authorized to collect imposts, it was
able to manipulate the tax system to draft the workers it needed. 10
The growing discontent of the Belgian people and the intensification
of the Anglo-American pressure led the Belgian government to consider
the possibility of assuming control of the Congo Free state. After much
debate and haggling, the transfer was approved by the Belgian Chamber
and Senate in the summer of 1908, and Brussels assumed full control of
the Congo in November.
Presbyterians publicly welcomed the transfer from a piratical king
to an honorable, responsible, enlightened, liberty-loving nation, but
many members of the Presbyterian Congo Mission had religious reservations. The Calvinists were uncertain as to how they might fare under
Belgian rule. For that reason Morrison urged Mr. Chester of the Mission
Board ''to remain alert to see to it that our religious rights are preserved,
for you know that Belgium is one of the most bigoted Roman Catholic
countries in Europe.'' 11
When the actual terms of the annexation became known, A.P .C.M.
members were enraged. The Colonial Charter preserved all existing
legislation, upheld the legality of the monopoly concessions, and retain-

J-\.. departments

(

George West Diehl, "William Mccutchan Morrison.
Shaloff, Reform in Leopold's Congo, p . 109.
/bid., p. 102-03.

10
11

153

Sterling M. Heflin

William
McCutchan
Morrison
ed the old officials to administer the objectionable laws. Both
Washington and London indicated their displeasure by refusing to
recognize the change in administration. The evangelists escalated their
demands for reforms and redress and focused their fire on the operations
of the Kasai Rubber Company, which had been leagued with Leopold in
his exploitation of the province and which still held a monopoly in the
rubber business.

othing aggravated the Presbyterians more than the Company
treatment of the Kuba people who obstinately declined to collect
rubber. The forty hour per month labor tax was interpreted in such a
manner as to compel each village to satisfy a rubber quota or see its
residents fined.
This article incensed the Kasai Company and the officers asked
Morrison to print a retraction of Sheppard's accusation. Morrison
responded that such an apology was out of the question unless Sheppard
was proven wrong by an impartial international panel. Then came an exchange of charges, denials and counter-charges, all of which resulted in a
visit by the British Consul to the Kasai District to investigate the situation. When his report was made to his government and the established
facts made public, the Kasai Company's stock declined on the stock
154

(

William McCutchan Morrison
market. This caused the board of directors to bring suit against Sheppard
and Morrison, charging them with libel. In the absence of a retraction
they demanded 30,000 francs ($6,000) damages from Sheppard and
50,000 francs ($10,000) from Morrison, for he had expanded on Sheppard's thesis in a series of letters to company and state officials which
later found their way to print.
After several delays the trial was set for September 24, 1909, at
Leopoldville, with the Belgian Socialist leader, Emile Vandervelde,
defending the missionaries. The prosecution was chiefly interested in exploiting the trial to silence the consuls and evangelists. Vandervelde's
major purpose was to get the court to condemn the policies and practices
of the Kasai Company. In the end the case against Morrison was ruled
out of court. It was further ruled that the Kasai Company was not
justified in its preceedings against Dr. Sheppard and the charges against
him were dismissed. Furthermore, the Kasai Company was condemned
to pay the expenses and costs of the proceedings to the amount of fortytwo francs. 12
The defendants were high in their praise of their counsel, Mr.
Vandervelde. They were pleased, but not overjoyed with the verdict,
recognizing that it not threaten the end of the rubber system. It did,
however, cause the Belgian government to strip the Kasai Company of its
extra-legal monopoly and to order the restoration of competitive trade as
part of its broader program of reform. Following these changes the
pressure to gather rubber was relaxed, and the lot of the people
noticeably improved. Most of the credit for improvement in the Kasai
must go to the Presbyterian evangelists. The libel trial was a tempest of
more than ordinary significance, and it induced the United States and
England to take a more direct hand in the effort to root out the last
vestiges of the 'Leopoldian System.'
t should be noted that Dr. Morrison did not devote all of his time to
public speeches -and Congo reforms while on his furlough in the
United States. In the summer of 1905 he was sent to the Young People's
Missionary Conference at Asheville, North Carolina, to deliver one of
the principal addresses. Here he met Miss Bertha Stebbins, a delegate to
the conference from the Presbyterian Church of Natchez, Mississippi.
There was a mutual attraction between them from the very beginning of
their acquaintance, and this attraction grew to the point that they were
married in June 1906.
In July the couple left for Liverpool on their way to Luebo. Mrs.
Morrison learned the language quickly and endeared herself to the

Vinson , William McCutchan Morrison, pp. 79, 104.

155

Sterling M. Heflin

Bertha
Stebbins
Morrison
natives. The women spoke of her in the most affectionate terms as
'Mama Mutoto.' After spending just four years in the Congo, she died
on November 21, 1910. Some years later a mission site was named
Mutoto in her honor.
After Mrs. Morrison's death the various missionaries at Luebo
threw open their homes to Dr. Morrison and urged him to come and live
with them. But out of consideration for a native custom he declined the
invitations and continued to live in his own home. When anyone died in
the Congo it was customary for the family to abandon the home through
fear of evil spirits. In order that he might further be an example to the
local people, he remained in his home at the sacrifice of his own personal
feelings.
During the next few months he devoted most of his time to Biblical
translations. His first efforts were the translation of the International
Sunday School Lessons, covering a period of three years, and the
paraphrasing of the sections between these lessons. This gave the natives
a general running story of the historical part of the Bible. This work
created a demand for more Scriptures, especially for use in the schools
and in the training of young men for the ministry. At the unanimous request of his colleagues he undertook the paraphrasing of the New Testament Epistles. He had not finished this work when the time came for his
departure on furlough.
156

(

William Mccutchan Morrison
(
I

(

It was in 1912, when six new missionaries arrived at Luebo , that the
Mission instructed Dr. Morrison to take his furlough. Assembling his incomplete manuscripts, he departed for England, reaching London in
September. Morrison took his native assistant, Matabisha, to assist him
in completing the paraphrasing and translations. Matabisha spent several
weeks in London with him until the translation work was completed, and
then returned to Luebo with a party of missionaries. Morrison sailed for
America where he placed the manuscripts in the hands of the American
Tract Society for publication.
While at home Morrison spent his time in a more leisurely fashion
than on the previous trip. He visited many churches where his thrilling
messages were received with great interest. But during his furlough his
heart was burdened with the sorrow of his mother's death. Shortly after
this he returned to his beloved Congo.

orrison was now recogni4ed widely and his advice was sought by
other denominations interested in evangelistic work in the Congo.
Upon his advice the Evangelical churches in Belgium established a
mission in a district east of the Presbyterian field, and the Mennonite
Brethren set up their Congo Inland Mission with the cooperation of the
Presbyterian group. Bishop Lambuth of the Southern Methodist Church
visited Dr. Morrison. Later the bishop established a Methodist mission
center at Wembo Niama with the aid of a native Presbyterian elder who
had been a boyhood friend of the tribe chief at Wembo Niama. When
Lambuth returned to his duties in the United States, he appointed
Morrison to act as counsellor to the new Methodist mission.
It was a real testimony to Morrison's genius as a missionary leader
to be twice elected president of the Conference of Protestant Missions in
the Congo. This conference was composed of all Protestant missions
working in- the Congo, and it met every four years to make progress
"reports and formulate plans. The sessions lasted only a few days, and a
Continuation Committee, with the president of the conference as chairman, was elected to carry out the plans formulated at the general
meetings.
Dr. Morrison had been elected president in 1914, and the conference
was invited to hold its next meeting at Luebo as guests of the Presbyterian Mission. This meeting took place in February, 1918 with Morrison
presiding. He thanked the members for the high honor conferred upon
him, then took as his text for the opening sermon, John 14:1., "Let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." "Afraid of what?" he
began. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" His hearers knew that
he had God-given courage, and that he was not afraid to undertake any
task in His service. He completely won the confidence of the group and

157

Sterling M. Heflin
later was unanimously chosen their president for the next four years. He
was very busy during the days and nights of the conference, and he got
only a few hours of sleep during the ten days it was in session.
Nonetheless, he was on the beach on the morning of March 4 to bid the
delegates farewell and to lead the parting prayer.
Immediately following the return from the beach, the Annual
Meeting of the Presbyterian Mission was convened while the evangelists
were assembled at Luebo. This meant an extra tax on Morrison's
strength. He seemed tired and worn, but that condition was attributed to
his loss of rest and sleep and his extra responsibilities. At noon he summoned Dr. Stixrud and told him of his condition, and after a thorough
examination it was discovered that he had a virulent form of tropical
dysentery and was ordered to bed immediately. Dr. Stixrud, assisted by
Dr. King and two trained nurses, gave their untiring skill and services.
But Morrison literally had worn himself out by twenty years of unremitting toil, and he had no reserve strength with which to fight such a
disease. He was unconscious when the end came and died without a
struggle at one o'clock in the morning, March 14, 1918. At noon his
body was placed in the church shed and lay in state during the afternoon.
Thousands of natives passed by in reverent silence to take a parting
look at their friend and helper. The funeral was attended by a vast
throng, including local state officials in a body, together with all the
traders and a representative of the Roman Catholic Mission. Judge
Gorlia, the highest state official present, read a paper eulogizing Dr.
Morrison and expressing the state's appreciation of the great work he
had done in the uplifting of the native people. The funeral services were
conducted by the Reverend A. C. McKinnon, assisted by the Reverend T.
C. Vinson, and his body was laid to rest beside his beloved wife in the little cemetery in the mission compound.
Around the world tributes were paid to his greatness, many ranking
him with Livingston and Carey. His fellow students at Washington and
Lee University paid their tribute with a plaque in Lee Chapel. -tI

158

Mrs. McCu/loch's
Stories of Ole Lexington

s. CHARLES ANDERSON McCULLOCH, known to her legion of
riends as "Mrs. Ruth," was one of the principals behind the
rganization of the Rockbridge Historical Society in 1939. She
was born in Lexington on July 20, 1876. With brief sojourns to New
York, Richmond and Germany, until her marriage to Dr. Charles
McCulloch shortly before World War I, she lived in a house on Letcher
Avenue where the Virginia Military Institute's Moody Hall now stands.
Of Scotch-Irish ancestry, she was descended from John Blair, the
Presbyterian evangelist who had been sent into the Valley of Virginia in
1745-46; he organized congregations at New Providence and Timber
Ridge, among other places.
Mrs. McCulloch lived most of her life in Rockbridge County and
Lexington; collecting a wonderful store of local oral history. Some of
this she contributed to the Lexington Gazette and the Rockbridge County News, as well as to meetings of the Historical Society.
Dr. Charles W. Turner, a much-published professor of history at
Washington and Lee University, has long been interested in Rockbridge
and Lexington history, and has made numerous studies of the region. In
addition he has served as president as well as librarian of the Historical

159

Mrs. McCulloch 's Stories
Society and has edited two volumes of the Society's Proceedings. Mrs.
McCulloch was ninety-two years old during the winter of 1970-71, and
still endowed with a good memory, humor, and personal charm. Professor Turner was determined not to let this well of oral history remain
untapped. Over a six week period she related some thirty-seven stories of
important personalities and events of Lexington in her time.
In addition to describing "Life in Lexington in the 1880's" and
"The Parade Ground in the 1880's," Mrs. McCulloch provided vignettes
of such local personalities as Jeff Shields, Phil Nunn, Bertha Howell,
Jenny and Nina Bacon, James Senseney, Julia Shanks, the Waddell
sisters, John A. Graham, James Adair, General Francis Smith, William
Currell, John Letcher, John Brooke, the Misses Lee, Charles Figgett and
H. 0. Dold .
On July 7, 1971, only a few months after her stories had been
recorded, Mrs. McCulloch died. Professor Turner and several of his
Washington and Lee students transcribed the interviews and prepared
them for publication. In 1972 the McClure Press of Verona, Virginia,
printed the stories in a book entitled Mrs. McCulloch 's Stories of Ole
Lexington. It was a best seller in the Lexington area. The tapes of the interviews are now in the Rockbridge Historical Society's library.
On April 24, 1972, the Society met at the Lexington Presbyterian
Church. The members present received a preview of Professor Turner's
book when he played some of the recorded interviews. 1::r

160

(

Some Recollections of
Colonel William Couper
John L. Couper

HERE ARE MANY in the audience who knew my father longer than
I did, and many can tell me things about him that I do not know.
However, I hope to share with you a few things not generally
known about him; things he told me while we were traveling or just
sitting about at leisure; or things I overheard during discussions when
there were visitors in our home on the Parade Ground and later on White
Street.
Briefly for the record, and for those who did not know him or
remember, my father was born in Norfolk, Virginia on a farm, the family's summer home, in 1884. This farm was located where the Norfolk
and Western Railroad's coal piers are now located on Tanner's Creek.
He was educated in private classes in Norfolk and later attended and
graduated from the Norfolk Academy. He entered the Virginia Military
Institute as a third class 'Rat' in 1901 and graduated in 1904 with acertificate. VMI gave no degree then.
He went to Boston Tech, later Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, in the old city building and graduated in 1906 with a

Dr. John L. Couper, anesthesiologist at Lexington's Stonewall Jackson Hospital, reviewed
his father's career for the Society's meeting at Lejeune Hall at the Virginia Military Institute on October 22, 1973.

161

John L. Couper
Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. While at MIT he took the
same courses over that he had had at VMI and acted as a part-time instructor. At once after graduation he began work in New York in the
tunnels being built by the Pennsylvania Railroad under the East River to
Long Island, and later under the Hudson River to New Jersey. He was
actively engaged in the construction, working under compressed air.
Upon completion of these tunnels, he was made secretary of the
railroad's board of engineers which constructed the old Pennsylvania
Station at 32nd street on the West Side.
After the terminal was completed, he was placed in charge of the
railroad's entire harbor fleet. This was a vast operation. As you know,
most of New York City is on various islands and all goods arriving for
delivery by train or ship must be floated in one direction or the other.
The entire city was at the mercy of the railroads' floating division;
therefore one of the fringe benefits of the job was to work as a
strikebreaker. Labor then was in its early organizing days and used this
weak link for bargaining. This meant direct dealing with strikers, which
in those days was not dictated by federal regulation. As a result there are
a few of you who may have noted that my father had one ear that was
quite crooked and asymetrical, the result of a "doctor" in a Hoboken
saloon who sewed it back on after a strike-breaking encounter.
hen World War I was declared my father volunteered the next
day. He was at once made a major in the Construction Corps and
sent to Columbia, South Carolina, with orders of direction and a check
to pay for the building of an Army post, Camp Jackson. The site selected
was a swamp, miles from a railroad and in every way remote. He had a
mandate to get the job going, so he at once hired and commissioned a
staff, mostly his classmates from VMI, Coxton Gordon and William
Mahone. The latter took over a much delayed railroad spur being
constructed by the Regular Army engineers which had built three miles in
two weeks, and completed the last twelve miles in three days. He used his
old force from the Seaboard Railroad. After a crash program of eight
months there was a completed camp for 75,000 men. At once my father
was sent to New York to organize a construction group to embark for
Archangel in northern Russia to build a port. When this program was
cancelled by Russia's collapse, he returned to Camp Jackson to double
its capacity-the "army way" if ever it existed in the eyes of a civilian.
And to his last day he was a civilian at heart.
Prior to World War I my father began his first association with the
administration at VMI. General Nichols, the superintendent, requested
that he prepare a pamphlet to be used for the purpose of raising $10,000
from among the alumni and friends of the Institute to establish cavalry

162

Colonel William Couper

(
(

(

and horse drawn artillery units at VMI. He accepted this on condition
that his efforts remain anonymous. The project was quickly oversubscribed, but construction was delayed by the war and not completed
until 1919. As a point of fact, the last government horse left VMI in
June, 1948.
After the war he was not released until late 1920. During that period
he was engaged in the liquidation of the eastern Army camps and depots.
His immediate boss was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was an Assistant
Secretary of the Navy. My father's job also entailed long periods of testifying before Congressional investigation committees and the preparation
of massive reports.
As soon as he was released by the Army, the VMI Alumni Association and the Board of Visitors requested him to prepare a plan of growth
and development for the Institute, and to draw up plans for an endowment at VMI. This he did. He also prepared five informative fundraising booklets which began VMI's endorsement fund.
Upon completion of this task he was employed by the Texas Gulf
Sulphur Corporation to prospect for sulphur on the Texas-Louisiana
border. He was instrumental in the group effort discovering the huge
sulphur domes which have been actively operated there ever since.
From Texas he returned to Norfolk where he engaged briefly in a
private business enterprise, which he abandoned to come to VMI at the
request of the Board of Visitors to serve as the business executive. He
began this work in late 1924. This position entailed being the officer in
charge of buildings and grounds, all business relations of the Institute,
registrar, admissions officer, supervisor of new construction, budget
director, and future planning officer. It is interesting to note that in his
first ten years at VMI he was only paid by the state for nine months'
work a year, for that was all the state recognized at the school. Teachers'
salaries were for but nine months, too. In later years he surrendered
some of these duties, but actually only a portion of them. I shall not
dwell further on his well-known record at VMI.

y father's interest in history began early. His father and grandfather before him had been prolific letter writers and observers of
the passing scene, particularly the early history of Norfolk. At the time
of my father's death there was an extensive collection of the early
histories of Norfolk in his home, and I placed all of these in the VMI
library in his name.
My grandparents also had begun a detailed research of the
genealogy of all persons related to the family. This was a study in depth,
as anyone who married into or out of the family was researched to the
beginning of the written record. My father took over this ongoing project
163

John L. Couper
in the 1920s and continued it actively until his death . As a result there
exists some fifty-odd volumes of records of all branches of the family,
containing details from deed books, probate records, church records,
court proceedings and newspaper articles. When I was young I often
went on weekends-clerks' offices were open at court houses on Saturday then-to search some old records for some obscure relative usually
quite distant. This was his idea of a great escape from the routines at
VMI, so long as it did not interfere with an athletic contest. Nothing did
that.
As a driving force in the old Southern Conference, he was an avid
football and baseball fan. The other spectator sports he could take or
leave. Since he was a long-time member of the VMI Athletic Council, his
loyalty was strictly partisan. Only athletics could interfere with the
search to complete the family genealogy records. Finally they were
published in chart form in the Virginia Historical Society for all to see. I
still get questioned about various bits of information that he dug up in
the course of his research, and I refer them all to the archives of the State
Historical Society where his work is on file and catalogued.
In 1924, on the occasion of his twentieth VMI reunion, he prepared
a book of biographical sketches of each of his classmates. This was a
financial disaster, but its preparation spurred him on to further investigation of VMI alumni activities.
Colonel Joseph Anderson, a member of the class of 1870 and a
long-time president of the Alumni Association (1900-1919), was also
VMI's historiographer. Colonel Anderson had been running a one-man
operation to collect a biography of everyone who had ever matriculated
at the Institute. He had amassed a huge amount of material at his home
in Goochland County, where he had a little detached cottage that he used
as an office. The records were stored in old letter boxes and cardboard
containers of all sorts containing correspondence and answers to questions that he had sent out to all known alumni or their relatives. It was
the only such collection that existed. In 1927 he published the first
register of former cadets. When he died in 1930 I went to his home with
my father in our car, followed by the VMI truck-the school's only
truck-driven by Shiloh Carter, who had never crossed the Blue Ridge
before. We loaded up all of these records, which were in great disarray,
and came back to VMI and literally dumped them in the Superintendent's office.
Upon my father's arrival in 1924 he instituted a master filing system
whereby,each cadet had a file where everything concerning him was placed. Colonel Anderson's material was included, so that there is something
on everyone who ever signed the matriculation book at VMI. This wealth

164

Colonel William Couper
of information soon became known and there was a constant demand for
it, particularly by various federal agencies running security checks on
former cadets. In my father's personal records are many letters from all
over thanking him and congratulating him on the completeness of these
records, which do not stop on graduation but are ongoing and meaningful as these ex-cadets pursue their careers.
These records at the Institute were not collected when he arrived; as
a matter of fact, all of the old general and special-order books were missing prior to 1910. When the old military store, treasurer's office and
tailor shop were rebuilt about 1932, workmen broke into a sealed-up
basement room that contained all the order books plus other material
reaching back to the start of the Institute. I personally went into this
musty old dark hole, where one got the feeling that one was in a tomb .
The records survived, and are available today. My father went through
them piece by piece at home in the evenings, extracting them, and from
this came most of the background work on his later history.
Colonel Joseph R. Anderson had known and kept in touch with
most of the cadets who fought in the battle of New Market. In 1933 my
father, using Colonel Anderson's records and his personal research
records, published a book on the New Market Corps. This contained a
detailed story of the campaign plus a biography of each member.
Following this project he turned his attention to the men who started
VMI in the years prior to 1839. Claude Crozet was the driving force.
Crozet had been Chief of Engineers in Napoleon's European campaigns.
After Waterloo he came to the United States and went to West Point
where he became professor of engineering in 1816. Crozet was a doer; he
set up the curriculum, supervised the building of the plant and really
created what is now West Point. His restless energies then moved him to
Virginia where he was employed as State Engineer. At once he set out to
promote the state's developing turnpike, railroad and canal system.
When the state decided that there should be a college in the western part
of the state, Crozet was chosen to head the first Board of Visitors. How
he started the school is told in my father's book, published in 1936.
In researching Colonel Crozet, the name General William H.
Richardson was ever in the fore. Richardson was Secretary of the Commonwealth and a politician of considerable influence. He enlisted Crozet
to start VMI and pushed the idea through the legislature to locate the college at the Lexington Arsenal and not at Washington College. A man so
little known with such power fascinated my father, and he put together a
descriptive biography of him. I found this in manuscript form in his
papers; it has never been published, although he spoke several times to
various groups about General Richardson.

165

John L. Couper

Colonel Couper
n 1939 my father took the newly assembled files on former cadets and
published, at the Board of Visitors' order, The Register of Former
Cadets. This entailed a tremendous circularization of all known cadets,
their relatives and friends, and briefly records a biography of each cadet
who ever matriculated at the Institute. I remember proofreading the
galleys of this book, which seemed endless, as my father was a stickler
for accuracy. Anything that could not be proven was out!
The work that gave my father the most satisfaction and pleasure was
his One Hundred Years at VMI. This was the final repository of all the

166

(
I

(
.

(
\

Colonel William Couper
facts and figures he had assembled over his long connection with VMI.
He used to write in brown composition books any little detail that he
came across, such as when he extracted the old order books and letter
files that we found hidden away. There was a tremendous amount of
folklore that various alumni had written, but this was carefully sifted for
facts-proven facts-not the figment of some nostalgic imagination.
This stepped on some toes, but it set the record straight. The book was
written on weekends and at night in his room with the door shut and the
typewriter pounded two-finger style. It was not a noiseless process and
the completion of this book was viewed with great relief by all concerned, as it had to be finished in time for the Centennial. His letters to me
tell of his frantic search for some elusive fact and the onrush of time.
Following the publication of the VMI history, he spent the next five
years researching and writing The History of the Shenandoah Valley. Actually, the two overlapped and were interrelated, but the inevitable
brown composition books began to pile up with facts collected in his
almost illegible handwriting. I believe he kept at least five interrelated
research projects going at all times, and one always led to another. He
never accepted a fact until it was proved at least two ways. The result was
numerous footnotes. The family used to ride him unmercifully about this
and tell him that we would not have a footnote engraved on his tombstone. This was my father's last formal publication, although he did
many small articles and pamphlets.
My father had an unending interest in Stonewall Jackson. Through
the years he amassed a huge volume of material about Jackson's local
life and his war years after he left the Institute. My father's particular effort was to record what Jackson did each hour and every day after he left
the Institute and joined the Confederate Army. This entailed prolonged
searches through all the written records of the Confederate Army that
are collected in Washington, personal interviews with survivors, any
news accounts available, and any memoirs and diaries that came to hand.
He worked more than twenty-five years on this collection which was
never published. He gave it, with no strings attached, to Frank Van
Diver, who wrote from it The Mighty Stonewall, published in 1957. My
father maintained that it was the only factual book ever written about
Jackson. Van Diver gave full credit to my father's research (a matter of
tremendous satisfaction to him) along with that of Douglas Southall
Freeman as the two authentic sources of his material.

ather's last years were his busiest, and this was after he retired from
VMI in 1955. He then had time to do anything he wished,
undisturbed by the bother of making a living. He was the perfect retired
man; his multiple interests kept him busy. He never sat and did nothing.
167

John L. Couper
He had a working and intellectually stimulating hobby in historical
research that made him get out and see things and people. I personally
cannot conceive of anyone so near dead as one who faces retirement
without an occupying interest. The house on White Street was a place
where people came to see him, ask questions or just chat about days gone
by. He had his books at arm's length to back up anything he said. If he
was not there, my mother was, and she is another story. As a historian
she shaped history to conform to her own ideas of how it should have
happened, and no doubt invented tales that sounded better than the
actual events. They may not have been correct factually, but they were
livelier and made better listening, all to my father's disgust.
One asks how he managed to do all of these things. He had a very
small staff, but they all performed. They had to. His office enlarged constantly as the records grew, and as the business of running the Institute
became more sophisticated. But from the room in the back of the right
wing of the Superintendent's house, to the large office in the new section
of the Barracks, he had but two secretaries. The first was Mrs. Beatrice
Locke, and then for the last twenty-five years, Mrs. Johnny Mann, both
very pretty, very efficient and very smart. He used to say that it was
never necessary to dictate more than the idea of a letter, as they could
write it themselves.
n his last few years the Civil War Centennial was the big event of his
life. He was constantly engaged by Civil War buffs to conduct tour
groups, history clubs and others over the sites of the various Virginia
campaigns. This entailed lectures, visits to the sites, and bus travel from
battlefield to battlefield. He thoroughly enjoyed this, as it was a big
moving party for all concerned-a different place each night, dinner,
and conversation. Often I would get a card stating that he was resting
after a hard day's fight at Chancellorsville or some similar place.
In his last year he took on projects close to home, to map the entire
Lexington Cemetery-something never done before-and to research the
building of houses on White Street. The former he finished, due in part
to the efforts of Frank Gilliam, who engaged several Robert E. Lee
scholars at Washington and Lee University. The latter was interrupted by
his death in February, 1964.
I was asked what had happened to my father's vast collection of
notes, books, and pictures. For the record, I was given them all at my
mother's death in 1968, and this is where they are located:

168

(
\

Colonel William Couper

(

(
(

All family papers, beginning in 1801, correspondence, diaries, photo albums
and genealogical research are now in the archives of the Virginia Historical
Society. My father kept a daily journal, as did my mother, from the time he
was ten years old. My father's library is at VMI. This contains his collection
of history, all of which is extensively annotated, corrected and commented
upon, sometimes rather harshly. All research papers, notes, etc., concerning
VMI or the Valley area are at VMI. All of this work is available for anyone
interested to use, except the diaries; they are too personal and at times too
outspoken.

In summary, what was he like as a father? I can only quote from the
resolution of the Board of Visitors presented at the time of his retirement
in 1955: "He had the gift of his good humor, pleasant conversation, wise
judgment and impartial justice." This, I think, sums him up. I can only
add that he enjoyed life to the fullest and was a lot of fun to know. 1:.

\
(

(

\
(
~

169

170

(

JohnA. Graham
G. Francis Drake

was one of the most remarkably talented men I
have ever had the privilege to know and claim as a friend. He was
known to many members of the Rockbridge Historical Society for
far longer than the brief span of seven years that were granted me. For
this and other reasons, I would not have the temerity to attempt anything
like a scholarly biographical sketch to provide an exhaustive description
of his many accomplishments. The best I can hope to do is suggest to
those who may not have known 1ohn something of the spirit of this
gifted man-a genius, to my way of thinking-and to evoke a host of
other memories in the minds and hearts of his friends. Indeed, part of the
tribute to this unique man lies in the legend-like character of the stories
that have circulated around Lexington concerning John. After all,
legends grow up only around strong and extraordinary personalities; as
long as they convey the spirit of the originator, a certain leniency in the
meticulous accuracy of the details may be allowed.

OHN A. GRAHAM

Dr. G. Francis Drake, chairman of the Department of Romance Languages at Washington
and Lee University, spoke of John Alexander Graham (1895-1947) to the Society at the
Keydet-General Motel on January 25, 1971. Also on the program were tape recordings of
Graham's musical compositions "Pavane on the Death of a Beautiful Friendship" and
"Fight, Fight, Blue and White."

171

G. Francis Drake
A number of years ago a Washington and Lee University student,
Donald J. Lineback, made excellent use of a university grant to prepare a
pamphlet entitled "The Life of John A. Graham" (Lexington, 1966). It
is a well written account and one I shall call upon, along with my personal recollections and the help of a few of his friends, in an attempt to
give a partial idea of what he waslike, and to explain why twenty-three
years after his death at the age of only fifty-two he is still remembered so
vividly and affectionately by those who knew him.
John's mind, like his wit, was keen and quick. He had the attributes
of the true scholar in that he never settled for anything short of complete
accuracy. Whatever he undertook was done thoroughly, with proper
documentation and impeccable form. Yet he could see the possibility of
dullness, futility or even stupidity in certain kinds of scholarship, as may
be illustrated by one of the first anecdotes I remember his telling me.
I had just arrived to teach at Washington and Lee from the graduate
college at Princeton, where he had also formerly studied for a time. He
knew that I would appreciate the amusing side of this story as I was acquainted with the man involved. This was a prominent professor of the
department of Romance Languages, a product of the old German
University positivistic school of scholarship that set infinite store in the
exhaustive accumulation of facts. The seminar room in which we met our
classes was testimony to his kind of research in that it was lined with huge
heavy wooden files of literally tens of thousands of three-by-five cards.
John was planning a trip to Spain one summer, and in conjunction
with his journey he proposed to undertake some research. The professor
in question suggested that he make a search of the principal libraries of
the country for any manuscript or material bearing on an old piece of
Spanish literature. When John returned after a glorious trip from his
personal point of view, he was, however, reluctant to admit to his teacher
that he had met with defeat on the research. The professor's face lit up as
he encouraged John zealously. "You have made a big step forward in
that you now know for a fact that not in one single library in all of Spain
is there any manuscript or document pertaining to this subject.''
Perhaps this negative approach explains why, though he had the
ability to make a great scholar, John preferred to channel his energies to
areas involving more creativity. The story also brings to mind John's
Moliere-like perception of the ridiculousness of human behavior when it
ceases to act with reason. He was not condemning scholarship, but was
simply amused by an exaggerated form of it, just as Moliere did not intend to destroy precosity itself, but to poke fun at its unnatural
manifestations in the persons of The Precious Damsels.
John's splendid academic record of training in the Lexington public
schools, at Washington and Lee, at Grenoble and subsequently in
172

(

JohnA. Graham

graduate school at 1ohns Hopkins and Princeton, gave him good cause
to be a fine teacher. Yet it takes more than that to produce the truly great
professor that we know he was. Partly because he was genuinely fond of
people, especially sharp young intellects; partly because his avid reading
of a wide range of topics kept him in constant touch with the times; partly because he commanded the respect of his students through the
demands he made on himself and consequently could expect of them;
partly because he had so much more than merely his subject to impart to
his students; and partly because he had the penetrating wit both in the
concept itself and in the actual wording of this concept that added an extra zest to his classes-perhaps it is the unusual combination of all of
these that make alumni, such as the one I once encountered in
Williamsburg, remark that he was the only professor at Washington and
Lee whose eight o'clock class he would never dream of missing, it was
such a treat.
t would be interesting if John were alive today to see what he might do
in response to the let-down in conventional dress and, worse still, to
some degree in manners. Students in his classes soon learned to keep
their feet on the floor and not on the chair in front of them after having
them whacked off by his cane-as he also used to do every time he had
occasion to pass through the reading room in McCormick Library and
found feet propped up on tables. I dare say today's students would
quickly respond, too. Furthermore, I am confident that if he had been
confronted in the frequently irrational moments of the excitement on
campus at Washington and Lee last May, he would have found words
ready to reduce any vocal but unthinking young man to proper silence.
He had a particular gift for ''the perfect squelch.''
I often think, especially in recent years when there has been considerable controversy over the true origin of Thanksgiving Day, whether
in Plymouth or Williamsburg, about the story of 1ohn and an
anonymous but patronizing New Englander who kept harking back with
insistent and boastful native pride to the Pilgrim Fathers. John took
about all he could stand before turning to the person to say: "Sir, my
ancestors had been legislating in the House of Burgesses for years before
that wayfaring band of wanderers set out from England for Virginia and
lost their way, only to land by mistake on an isolated rock in
Massachusetts.''
John was also known to use this quick thinking mind of his to advantage, enabling him to come to the rescue of any loyal friend who
seemed to be up for unjust criticism. At one time an anonymous staunch
friend had been accused by a clever young man newly arrived in town of
mispronouncing the name of an important city in Scotland. John knew

173

G. Francis Drake

John Alexander Graham
that his friend had lived and studied there and was sure of how the name
was pronounced, but for some unexplained reason it came out Edinburg
instead of Edinborough. The young man, obviously trying to pounce
upon an error, made vocal his criticism to 1ohn, going on to remark that
174

John A. Graham
one should always pronounce the name of foreign cities just as they did
in their own country. John, without hesitation, asked him to pronounce
P-A-R-I-S, to which the young man replied with a French "Paris;" then,
B-E-R-L-I-N, to which the man answered with a German "Berlin;" next,
M-A-D-R-I-D, to which he was supplied with a Spanish "Madrid;" and
finally, M-U-N-I-C-H, at which he heard "Munich." Then John exclaimed victoriously: "Ah! I have you there! It's "Miinchen." His
adversary was silenced.
I have the awful feeling that if John were here now, he would point
out that I had left out an essential part of the story. Such is my fate. He
would explain what it was and it would be perfectly obvious and, of
course, absolutely right!

ohn's wit came to the fore on countless occasions. He always
managed to say the thing each of us would have wished to say at the
time. In other words, he was the reverse of the man the French depict as
having /'esprit d'escalier, the staircase wit that allows you to come out
with exactly what you ought to have said but didn't think of until you
were coming down the staircase on your way home. There must be
hundreds of stories to illustrate this special gift of his. I will suggest two.
At a dinner party a gentleman was accused of being rude in answering his wife (an awkward moment at best). John jumped to the occasion
as he rared back to query that if a man couldn't be rude to his wife, to
whom could he be?
On another occasion John again came through with flying colors .
At a faculty meeting Washington and Lee University President Gaines
was doing his utmost to be absolutely diplomatic in announcing a limited
number of faculty appointments to positions of honor, having
demonstrated unusual service as teachers, and of financial reward. He
had hesitated and begun again and then started again so that no one
would feel he was being overlooked, when John rose to his feet at the
most tense point to remark that the situation reminded him of the critical
moment in "Alice In Wonderland" when she and several of her animal
friends had fallen into the water. At the suggestion of the Dodo it was
decided that the best thing to get them dry would be a Caucus-race. He
reminded the faculty that all the party were placed along the circular
course here and there, that they began running when they liked and left
off the same way. After half an hour or so they were dry again and the
Dodo called out, "The race is over!" All crowded around to learn who
had won. After considerable reflection the Dodo said, "Everybody has
won, and all must have prizes.'' The tension was completely broken.
Many of us remember going to John's house to his daffodil and narcissus shows-at least to me the first of their kind. He was not just a fond
175

G. Francis Drake
gardener, he was a horticulturist and a proud displayer of his handiwork.
On the appointed day we would assemble to view the beautiful specimens
carefully labeled and displayed in a coke bottle. This was a good excuse
to get us together and we would tarry longer than the minimum time
necessary to admire the exquisite blossoms. His garden in the back yard
was relatively small but very attractive. His tulips, jonquils, iris, wysteria
vines and trees and particularly his lilacs were handsome. He enjoyed
them to the full-forking the ground, planning and planting the whole
effort-and especially appreciated having the opportunity of sharing his
efforts with others. It was apt that his last request was for some of the
spring lilac blooms he had not yet seen.
n order not to leave a complete gap in the broad spectrum of activities
and achievements of John's life, I must not fail to mention his work
with the War College. I can remember only one or two references to this
part of his life by him personally, but his address to "That Club" on
September 24, 1945, will supply a glimpse into this fascinating assignment he engaged in, although treating it with the light touch. (I had the
honor of being a charter member of "That Club" along with John and
was present with him at its founding at the home of Dr. Robert S.
Munger on February 24, 1944). The title of his address was: "Mildly
Military Memories of a Refugee, Intelligence Officer, and Civil Affairs
Administrator in World War I." At one point he said:

In November at the invitation of a certain Col. Fabyan at Geneva, Ill., I was
sent by the War College with three other 2nd Lt. to study the methods used at
what he called his cipher laboratory. The "Fabulous" Fabyan (our nickname
for him), was a millionaire cotton-broker who had on his living-room tabie a
large book entitled What I Know About the Cotton Market. When one opened the book it proved to contain one hundred blank pages. He was that kind
of man. Among his many enthusiasms which I wish I could stop to describe
was cryptography. He maintained a corps of experts who, for his amusement
and for the benefit frequently of the Secret Service and the State Department,
broke criminal and diplomatic codes and ciphers. For instance while I was
there, as a sort of setting-up exercise each morning, we deciphered and wired
to the State Department all of the Mexican diplomatic correspondence for the
preceding 24 hours.

The rest of the paper I was privileged to hear read by him in 1945 is
just as fascinating. I have a copy of it.
It was always a wonderful treat to be in John's presence at gatherings he so dearly loved to hold. He was always the perfect host because
he genuinely loved his friends as they did him, and because he made them
feel his enthusiastic welcome whenever they came to his house. It happened that a considerable number of us had birthdays in or around the
middle of January, so that this season always called for a celebration.
Even after a period of confinement when he no doubt had been ordered
176

John A. Graham
not to exert himself, he prepared a birthday celebration, inviting the
guests as follows:
Up, ye January offspring
Somersault with a one-and-a-half spring;
Crack your heels and slap your thighs;
Snap your fingers and roll your eyes;
Come for your and John A. 's birthday;
Come for a celebrate-all-your-worth day.
(Not a wine--and-liquor-dearth day);
ComeeachCP I TW*
Leave behind all frets that trouble you;
Hie to Lee Street, One One Four,
Same old joint you've seen before,
Come the fifteenth day at five-ish,
Find John kicking like a live fish,
Tapped by Munger, bled by Leeches,
Once more wearing hose and breeches;
Come ye jokers, come ye japers,
For the once, be war-escapers;
Let's renew our ancient rites-Wassail, January-ites!
(*Cutest Person In The World)
On the other hand, if there was no special event or holiday, he was
never stumped for an excuse. I remember being invited to an "unbirthday'' party. The conversation was always sparkling and lively. He
could regaie his guests with a seemingly endless supply of stories, most of
which centered around people and not a few of which centered around
himself. His art as a raconteur was renowned. One story I particularly
enjoyed was about him and his devoted aunt, Miss Lizzy Graham. It
seems that John was at his aunf s house for tea with some guests . He was
helping entertain the others with a story about a trip he had made to
Mary Baldwin College to give a talk. He was about to say that when he
came out of the building to go home, the ice and snow had made the
walks on the steep hill impossible to walk over, so he was left with no
alternative but to sit down on his .... At this point Miss Lizzy, being
quite Victorian, hastily interrupted to ask John to give Miss X more tea.
John obeyed and then resumed his story, only to be stopped a second
time at the same juncture by his aunt who asked him to pass the sandwiches. Finally he got his opportunity when he made his third attempt
and said: "I had no alternative but to sit down on my briefcase and slide
down the hill.)'
Before giving you a few samples of some of John ' s humorous verse,
I feel impelled to make one or two comments. First of all, I hope you will
take them strictly in the spirit of the introductory words which John has
chosen to set the mood. For those who do not know his poems, you certainly must not take the ideas seriously, or heaven · forbid, morally, or
177

G. Francis Drake
you will most surely lose the entire point, be utterly disgusted and far
from amused. They must be accepted as a convention, not to be examined too closely for reasonableness, but for the unanticipated and, yes,
malicious twist out of the usual context of the meaning of the words. It is
this deliberate distortion, combined with a startling play on words that
contrive to "set up" each poem. Secondly, the titles are always important to the humor of the poem itself and should be considered an integral
part of each one. Nearly everything John wrote, including musical compositions, was prefaced by a title that involved some play on words,
alliteration, or humorous admonition to the reader.
SADISTIC SONGS
For
ARRANT EGOISTS
By
John Alexander Graham
(Otherwise Known As)
POEMS OF IMPERTURBABILITY
Being a Volume of Vicious Verse
For
Unfeeling Fathers, Morbid Mothers
And
Inhuman Infants
Rhymes of Rugged Individualism
For
The Really Unregenerate
All Beautifully Brutal and Carefully Calculated to
Shock the Sensitive
Faze the Fastidious
Torture the Tender
And
Horrify the Humane
(A musical accompaniment arranged for ambulance sirens, muffled
drums and a quartet of death-rattles may be had upon application to the
publishers.)
CUISINE FRANCAISE
In the Cafe Royal kitchen
Gaston fell into the stew;
Paul and Alphonse went to help him,
Fell in and were boiled, too.
See the chef ' most lose his reasoning,
As he shouts, exceeding wroth,
178

(

John A. Graham

''Moderate your zeal for seasoning;
Too many cooks will spoil the broth!"

A DASH OF SCOTCH

(

When swimming at the beach one day
Young Robert strayed too far from land,
We chased the hungry sharks away
And salvaged half an arm and hand.
How well his mother then behaved
Though pain and sorrow seethed beneath!
"To think," she moaned, "we might have saved
The money spent on Bobbie's teeth!"
A FLAT LIE BUT A TRUE LA
Stoskanini's infant daughter
Paddled in a pool of water
When a passing auto caught her,
Threw her screaming madly in a ditch.
Charmed, her father, as she lay
Struck his tuning-fork to say:
"Hear her sound 440 A!
Why! The child has really perfect pitch!"
ITALIAN OFFSPRING

\
(

When our darling sister Lisa
Sprang from off the Tower of Pisa
Mother said, "Come dry your eyes.
Lisa's end is no surprise;
Cheer up, let's have no delusions,
She loved jumping to conclusions ."

\
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME
In the Rockies Dr . Dreer
Heard one son say to another,
"Run tell Father that we fear
Buffaloes have trampled Mother!"
"Gracious Heavens! What a blow!"
Cries the scientist in woe;
179

G. Francis Drake
"Just to think that one of my sons
Can't tell buffaloes from bisons!"
A SLAY BELLE
William took Olga out sleighing one day.
Olga heard wolves on their track,
So she caught William when quite off his guard,
Shoved him outside to the pack.
"Brave little Olga!" the villagers cried,
"How did you keep them at bay?"
Olga blushed modestly, then she replied,
"Where there's a Will, there's a way."
CHACUN A SON GOUT
(No accent on the "A", if you please.)
When treading wine from grapes, they tell
How once in nineteen twenty-four
Pierre and Roger slipped and fell
And no one saw them any more.
And so in France it now occurs
When tipplers drink their evening toddy,
"Bring '24," cry connoisseurs,
"That vintage seems to have more body!"

A mong John's many artistic talents was his remarkable good
~judgment and taste. In the matter of the Washington and Lee plates
by Wedgwood, we have an example in point. John wrote the account
that I heard from him personally, but I was saved from faulty memory
with exact reference by Dean Frank Gilliam who referred me to John's
account in the July, 1939, issue of the Alumni Magazine. The idea had
been suggested to him by a friend and former graduate of Washington
and Lee who had seen some plates made for Yale and postulated the
equivalent Washington and Lee plate. Apparently the idea began to take
on real impetus when the Virginia Military Institute determined to
celebrate its centennial with a commemorative plate of real beauty.
. After he talked to some alumni in an attempt to stir up interest in the
project, John was ,appointed, along with the president of the Alumni,
Mr. Lykes, and Cy Young, to a committee to meet with representatives
of the Wedgwood Company to investigate the possibility. Subsequently,
180

(

John A. Graham

John, Cy Young and Stuart Moore were put in charge of making the actual arrangements. They set to work and with what I assume was the
acute direction of John's guiding voice, selected the series of eight center
views to accompany the border, which though John gives credit for its
submission from the Wedgwood company, I attribute largely to his own
suggestion of design. Concerning the eight views chosen for the center of
the plates, he has the best way of expressing it: "Some one is going to
say: 'Why didn~t they include a picture of Washington and Lee?' Well,
we decided that there are things more appetizing than eating off othe:L"
people's faces and that it wouldn't contribute to the success of a dinner
party to have Old George peering out at you from a mound of mashed
potatoes, or to see a wisp of spaghetti festooned over General Lee's
moustache and beard."
John and his committee chose eight familiar campus scenes to portray in the center, all encircled with a carefully contrived border especially designed to depict the history, landscape, architecture and flora of the
campus. He was particularly proud that every bit of decorative material
181

G. Francis Drake
was directly inspired by the school's tradition in some way. If one examines the border beginning at the ninth hour position and continues
clockwise around the rim, he observes that the eye is carefully guided by
the campus dogwood flower entwined between the alternating square
and round columns, serving as dividers for the vignettes, successively
from the first of the Liberty Hall Ruins, to the predominant position of
Washington college and thence around to the Lee Chapel, in historical
sequence until the six o'clock medallion in which appears the coat-ofarms of the University set against the background so familiar to Lexingtonians. For those not acquainted with them, the eight scenes in the
center are: Washington College, Lee Chapel, Lee-Jackson House, Campus Walk, Carnegie Library, Doremus Gymnasium, Tucker Hall and
Washington College, 1857.
The plates were not only approved by the Wedgwood Company, but
after they had been made ready for sale were so highly thought of that
John was personally congratulated on having helped design what they
considered the loveliest university plate in their manufacture. I cannot
help but think that John's personal thoughtfulness, devotion to
Washington and Lee, and artistic sensitivity helped in producing this
handsome result. If today they cost the modest sum of $1.50 that they
did when they were anticipated to be ready for delivery in early 1940, I
wonder how many orders might now be on hand!
ohn's contributions to the musical life of Lexington and Washington
and Lee are among his finest. A number of occasions have been
devoted to him: for example, the presentation in the Presbytrian Church
by some of Virginia's finest musicians of the Faure "Requiem" on a
Saturday evening in the spring of 1948, following an earlier performance
that same day in the Lee Chapel of some of John's compositions (his
"Sonata in A Major" for violin and piano, "Sing With Mirth" and the
"Pavane pour une belle amitie defunte. ") One decade later another
memorial concert was given in his honor at duPont Hall and much
appreciated by the audience who were privileged to hear a variety of his
compositions performed. George Irvin, John's good friend, spoke
briefly of John, and James Graham Leyburn played as he had at the first
program, to mention but two of the participants in this program.
His great devotion to the musical activity of the university included
service as director of the Glee Club, as well as composer of some of its
songs and of "Fight, Fight, Blue and White." During the 1920's he
wrote musical comedies entitled, "Oh, Professor!" (formerly called
"Let's Dance"), 'Mlle Gaby" and "The Lady in Green." On the other
hand, he ardently supported the Mandolin Club and had a tremendous
impact on the countless students he inspired in his classes (the first at the

182

John A. Graham

university) in music appreciation. In 1959 his contributions were
recognized in an appropriate way by renaming the brass choir at
Washington and Lee "The John A. Graham Brass Choir."
It is not my intention to dwell at length on his varied and extensive
musical contributions to Washington and Lee, to the community, to the
Madrigal Club and especially to the Presbyterian Choir in which he sang
so faithfully and for which he composed some of his loveliest works. But
since music so filled his daily life it would be derelict of me not to mention it. He not only had a large and fine collection of records, but also
shared the pleasure of listening to them with friends whom he would invite especially for musical evenings. Since he was a devotee of Gilbert
and Sullivan, whose operas he knew almost by heart, he would often
devote an evening to playing through an entire recorded performance.
Each guest was provided with the libretto, the score, or both, and
everyone was expected to join in on the familiar choruses. Most of us
would get our tongues twisted, but not John, who directed the whole and
added a few touches to suggest the humor of the moment.
John composed "Fight, Fight, Blue and White" when he was in
World War I. He tells us of the circumstances of its composition in a
paper which he wrote in the mid-1940's for "That Club", entitled
"Mildly Military Memories" in his typically humorous vein. "One day I
was walking down the corridor to my office when I heard someone
whistling the Washington and Lee Swing. 'That's a good tune you're
whistling, lieutenant,' I said, hoping to find an alumnus and a chance for
183

G. Francis Drake
home-talk. 'Yes, isn't it?' he said. 'It was our regimental marching tune
at training camp. A fellow in my company composed it just for us.' 'The
H ... , you say,' I replied, 'well I hope he doesn't try to copyright it."'
This reminder of home and the campus during the war had the effect
of inspiring him to seek out a piano on which to create his own
Washington and Lee song that has unfortunately been overlooked for
too long, considering its zippy spirit and good musical qualities that
some find even better than the Swing.
In October, 1938, John Graham wrote his "Pavane on the death of
a beautiful friendship." At this period of his work as a composer he was
much interested in French composers, and the Pavane is a kind of imitation of and amusing comment upon Ravel's "Pavane for a dead
Princess." John followed Ravel in his French title: where Ravel had written a ''Pavane pour une infante defunte, '' the Graham title is ''Pavane
pour une belle amitie defunte." With his usual wit he directs the pianist
to play the piece with his tongue at least slightly in his cheek-"colla lingua un poco nella guancia. '' fr

Photography as Social History

ERTAIN PHRASES-like "a picture is worth a thousand words"have become cliches through overwork because of their essential
truthfulness. In that case, Dr. William D. Hoyt's display in
Dupont Gallery at Washington and Lee University represented a large
history book.
Dr. Hoyt, a historian, archivist, author, editor and lifelong
photographer with degrees from Washington and Lee and Johns
Hopkins, now lives in Rockport, Massachusetts, where he is a leader in
local, county and state historical organizations. He returned to Lexington, the scene of his youth, for the Society's October 24, 1974,
meeting.
Dr. Hoyt's purpose was to demonstrate that pictorial materials are important sources for an historical view of the past, especially in dealing
with the social history of years gone by. He projected numerous slides
made from old steroptican views, old photographs, old postcards, old
pamphlets and travel brochures, and illustrations in magazines of the late
19th century. Near the end he showed glimpses of the resort springs of
Virginia, including the Rockbridge Alum, and he concluded with old

185

(
Photography

scenes in Lexington. He urged the collection and preservation of
materials of this kind so that future generations might know about the
way people lived in earlier times.
In the gallery adjoining the auditorium were displayed old black-andwhite photographs taken by Dr. Hoyt in Lexington and Rockbridge
County during the 1920s and 1930s. One series showed the old-time
method of making sorghum molasses, and among those present were a
dozen members of the Hostetter family which was featured in the pictures of sorghum making. 1:r

186

"By Much Slothfulness the Building Decayeth:"

Historic Preservation in Virginia 1
I. Taylor Sanders

STORY IS TOLD about the late, great Louis Armstrong. A
lifelong friend who had served Satch as a combination flunkie
and confidant passed away. Another pal asked Mr. Armstrong
what had been wrong with him. The musician answered, "Man, when
you are dead, everything is wrong."
About a decade ago the historic preservation movement in Virginia
reached its one-hundredth birthday. Looking back to those days, there
was a good deal to be pessimistic about. It appeared to many observers
that like Louis' departed friend, "everything was wrong ." In this paper I
will concentrate on those first one hundred years. I hope to show that
despite lingering_problems, the movement appears to be entering a period
of new life.
As we consider the period after 1965 we shall see that for the first
time there is cause for guarded optimism. The General Assembly, pro-

Dr. Irwin Taylor Sanders JI, who joined the history faculty of Washington and Lee University in 1969, spoke to the Society on October 23, 1972, at Lejeune Hall, Virginia Military
Institute.
'Portions of this report have appeared in I. Taylor Sanders II and Tucker H. Hill,
"The Changing Face of Historic Preservation in Virginia," The University of Virginia
Newsletter, 48(March 15, .1972), 25-28.

187

I. Taylor Sanders II

mpted perhaps by crucial Federal legislation, has afforded preservationists important safeguards. But most importantly there is a growing
awareness by the public of the need for a balanced state-wide preservation program, and concurrently there has been a slow erosion of the
public apathy which marked Virginia in the past.
It is one of the great ironies of the preservation movement that
Virginia, with all her heroic associations with the American past, has
been characterized by this apathy among the bulk.of her citizens. 2 Traditionally, Virginians have displayed a basic indifference toward preserving the public records, documents and buildings of her great men. The
great jurist St. George Tucker, one of Virginia's most farsighted and
brilliant sons, noted that ''Socrates himself would pass unnoticed and
forgotten in Virginia." 3 Time and time again the momentum for preservation had to come from outside the Commonwealth. Much of what is
valuable had to be preserved by interested "outsiders." Small numbers
of Virginians were willing to exert themselves, but the majority appeared
unwilling or unable to shoulder the burden.
How can one explain this? Perhaps Virginia had such a plethora of
old structures, many of them decaying targets of vandalism and neglect,
that more Virginians either took them for granted or for eye-sores.
Maybe the poverty and depravation of the Civil War or the economic
dislocation caused by depressions explain this attitude. Individual
families were unable to keep up the old home place and their strapped
resources were siphoned off to more urgent channels. Yet times of prosperity were more damaging than times of depression.
Inflated property prices increased pressures on old structures. As
prosperous suburbanites built their neo-Colonial palaces, the search for
elegant old mantles, stair rails, columns and brick intensified. Building
strippers had a field day. Churches and other organizations expanded.
They needed more room for parking lots (that always starving monster
which devours old buildings with such rapacious zeal). In these processes
adjacent structures, often quite outstanding if unappreciated examples
of earlier styles, were demolished.
Increased profits enabled businesses to renovate. A search for a
"new look" led them to remodel, add new wings or tear down old ones.
In the process the original facade was either lost or completely altered. In
rural areas new subdivisions, golf courses and resort areas wreaked
havoc with the old country homes. In all this the predominant mentality
2
There was concern expressed in the first half of the nineteenth century for Virginia's
alrea~y dwindling heritage in He~~_Y.Howe, Hi/storical Collections of Virginia (Charleston,
S. C .. W.R. Babcock, 1849), pp. m-1v.
I
3
Quoted in Bernard Mayo, Myths and Men: Patrick Henry, George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson (New York, Harper Torchbpoks, 1963), p. 16.

Historic Preservation
was summed up by one local government official presiding over the
destruction of the proud old Crawford House hotel. As the demolition
crew began work he said, "Portsmouth can quit looking back and look
forward to progress. " 4
It should quickly be noted that these problems are due in part to the
preservationist himself. He has not tended to be a persuasive salesman of
the cause. Regionalism, jealousy and differing tastes have weakened his
program and he has rarely been willing to broaden his base of support to
include more than a small elite. In our own community we have seen the
Universities, which should treasure tradition, being landmarks in their
own right, wantonly destroy important properties. If wars, fires, depression and progress have done their bit, it is also clear that problems have
been caused by a flawed measure of appreciation.
Ironically the love of the Colonial tradition has hindered the
development of a balanced preservation program in Virginia. We go to
great lengths to save a colonial courthouse or an impressive manor on the
James River. At the same time we allow a nineteenth eentury row house
or iron front to be supplanted by a Williamsburg style service station or a
flashy new bank building. We stand idle while a fine Victorian structure
is torn down by the congregation of a neo-colonial church and replaced
by a parking lot which is filled one day in seven.

he role of Federal, state and local government was often destructive
and more often passive. Some local governing bodies passed historic
zoning ordinances. But more often they stood behind urban renewal or
highway projects which wrecked serviceable structures as well as blighted
ones. This "way to progress" was particularly damaging in Norfolk,
where virtually nothing remains of the late eighteenth century port city. 5
A few communities were willing to allocate funds for architectural
surveys or to administer historic properties. Yet only a handful enforced
historic zoning, worked for preservation: within urban renewal target
areas or gave tax reiief to owners of historic or architecturally important
structures. Virginia's leaders long realized that our landmarks were
valuable adjuncts to a lucrative tourist trade. Thousands of Virginians
are employed by a travel industry in the state which nets millions of
dollars each year.
•Norfolk, Ledger-Star, July 13, 1970.
5
Since urban renewal projects are ''based on local plans locally determined, the fault
lies with local officials, "unaware of or indifferent to the fine old buildings in project areas .
. . " See Carl Feirs, "Our Lost Inheritance," in With Heritage So Rich: A Report of a
Special Committee on Historic Preservation under the Auspices of the U. S. Conference of
Mayors With a grant from the Ford Foundation (New York: Random House, 1966), p. 133
and pp. 130-134 for an excellent description of modern pressures exerted on old structures.
This report became the basis for much important Federal legislation during the 1960s .

189

I. Taylor Sanders II

Prior to the mid-1960s, however, the Commonwealth refused to
take an active preservation stance and did little to preserve Virginia's
patrimony. By 1965 more than $650,000 was being spent by state government to attract visitors, yet much smaller, even parsimonious amounts
were parcelled to preserve the treasures that the visitors were coming to
see. 6 Demands for balanced state budgets and economy in government
and a long policy of maintaining an atmosphere conducive to business investment traditionally outweighed any large scale governmental concern
for the environment-social, physical, educational or cultural. 1 Indeed,
ten years ago many preservationists who had struggled so long and hard
to stem the tide of cultural erosion, believed that the much vaunted love
of history and tradition which supposedly characterized Virginia was
largely a myth, at least when the question came down to the hard facts of
economic priorities.
Historic preservation has run a mottled course in Virginia. Yet, in
the past one hundred years important things have been accomplished. It
is impossible to look at all but a fraction of the projects, but a number of
important trends can be seen and some inkling can be gained of the wide
variety of approaches that successful preservationists have used. In the
beginning Americans (and in this Virginians were no different) concentrated on creating museums from the homes of great men in an attempt
to preserve the values exemplified by her heroes. From there they moved
to salvage aesthetically pleasing structures of marked architectural
significance. Finally, beginning with Williamsburg during the 1920s,
large areas began to be singled out in attempts to create living environments; slices of life from the past. The so-called "new preservation" movement grew from the Williamsburg experiment. Attempts are
being made to preserve historic districts, groupings of buildings which
visually describe how past generations of Virginians lived and worked.
Added emphasis is being placed on maintaining these areas as living communities in a twentieth century world. Church Hill in Richmond and
Green Springs in Louisa County are such districts. One is an architecturally united assemblage of middle class merchants' residences that may
effectively be contrasted with modern suburban neighborhoods. The latter is a contiguous community of rural farm houses spanning one hundred years from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries.
"Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation , Report to the Virginia Outdoor
Recreation Study Commission (April, 1965), pp. I, 25. In 1972 the State Travel Service
estimated that tourists spent some $997 million in Virginia, representing an increase of $525
million over 1962 levels . "Travel dollars accounted for 9.1 per cent of the state's total retail
business." Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 1, 1973 .
1
See Allen W . Moger, Virginia: Bourbon ism to Byrd 1870-1925 (Charlottesville: The
University Press of Virginia, 1968), especially his excellent concluding chapter "Retrospect
and Legacy," pp. 345-370.

190

Historic Preservation

Visitors can trace the development of Virginia rural architecture and gain
visual relief from the often harsh urban vistas of our own day.
espite weaknesses which marked the preservation movement in
Virginia, the Commonwealth was the focus of the first successful
nationwide effort at preservation. Characteristically, the fight to save
Mount Vernon was led by individuals from outside Virginia. During the
1850's George Washington's home was imperilled by plans to erect a
hotel on its site. During a decade when sectional strife ·threatened to
dismantle the nation, the home of Washington, who was venerated by
the American people as no other founding father, became a catalyst in an
interesting but futile attempt to patch up the national spirit.
Prime mover behind the project was Miss Ann Pamela Cunningham, a sprightly South Carolinian with a genius for organization. In
one anonymous appeal she wrote:
Can you be still with closed souls and purses, while the world
cries 'Shame upon America,' and suffer Mount Vernon, with
all its sacred associations to become, as is spoken of and probable, the seat of manufacturers and manufactories? . . .
Never! Forbid it shades of the dead. 8
Even at that early date unbridled progress and entrepreneurial greed
(real or imagined) were the bane of preservationists.
During the 1850s Miss Cunningham organized the Mount Vernon
Ladies Association for the Union with a network of interested women in
thirty states and a well-concerted public relations and fundraising campaign. It was to become the model for similar organizations in Virginia,
Tennessee and other states.
Sadly (but typically) she was able to get little support from a lukewarm Virginia General Assembly, which gave the movement a charter
but refused to appropriate funds. It was only her personal charm that
overcame the objections of the estate's owner, John Washington, who
appeared to be unwilling to part with the home for a fair price. In time
the association with its grass-roots organization was able to raise the
$200,000 demanded by Washington.
Additional help came from an unexpected quarter. Edward Everett,
a former U. S. Senator from Massachusetts, was among the foremost
orators of his day. He appears to have seen in the Association an opportunity to salve the divided nation's wounds. Taking to the stump he
delivered numerous speeches throughout the land on Washington's

8
For Mount Vernon's story see the authoritative work by Charles B. Hosmer, Jr.,
Presence of the Past: A History of the Preservation Movement in the United States Before
Williamsburg (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1965), pp. 41-62, 44 (quote).

191

I. Taylor Sanders II
character. By 1859 he had raised nearly $70,000 for the ladies who were
able to purchase the estate.
The Civil War years were difficult for the caretakers who managed
the estate for the Association. But somehow the home escaped devastation. After the war Miss Cunningham continued to oversee the estate,
manage the accounts and direct the accurate restoration of the home. She
even managed to secure a $7 ,000 grant from the Federal government.
Her work continued to be carried on by the Association after her
death. The Association, which has proven to be a very healthy organization, secured measured drawings for the house, refurbished the interiors,
reconstructed the outbuildings and filled adjacent swamps. For one hundred years the spirit of Miss Cunningham, who was the first effective
figure in the national as well as in the Virginia preservation movement,
was evident at Mount Vernon.
Her spirit was evident during the 1950s and 1960s when the ladies,
aided by congressional allies such as Representatives Frances Bolton of
Ohio and John Saylor of Pennsylvania, were able to protect the view
from Mount Vernon which was threatened by proposed oil tanks and a
sewage plant. By the late 1960s, thanks to large scale public pressure and
a willingness of local landowners to cooperate, an extensive park was
established across the river and the view was apparently secured. A bill
currently before Congress would round out the park with the purchase of
five hundred fifty more acres. Mount Vernon is a perfect example of
how the preservation movement has shifted its focus from individual
structures to the protection of the total environment of an important site
from incompatible encroachments. 9
f growing public support was crucial in saving Mount Vernon, there
was little public pressure exerted to preserve Thomas Jefferson's
Monticello, that spot loved by Jefferson above all others. If Washington
was revered, Jefferson was the object of more mixed feelings. As
Professor Bernard Mayo has pointed out, there was no Parson Weems to
elevate Jefferson to Olympus. During the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries his influence was subdued, his ideas and philosophy were in
eclipse in the Commonwealth. His enemies had slandered him as a
dangerous radical, a cowardly demagogue, a tyrant, an atheist, a
skulking intriguer, a hypocrite and the spawner of a host of mulatto
children. In some quarters the Declaration of Independence was
regarded as a subversive document. Mayo noted that for a century
following July 4, 1826, when the heavily indebted Jefferson died, his
home was "neglected" and his tombstone was "mutilated." 10

9
William H. Whyte, The Last Landscape (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co.,
1968), pp. 97-98.
10
Mayo, Myths and Men, pp . 63-66, 74 (quote).

192

Historic Preservation
If we can thank a South Carolinian and a native of Massachusetts
for the present state of Mount Vernon, we can give credit to people from
New York that Monticello is not rubble. From 1836 to 1923 the estate
was in the hands of the Levy family of New York. Uriah Levy, who
venerated Jefferson's memory, had purchased the home as a summer
residence and had assembled a collection of Jeffersonian memorabilia.
When he died in 1862 he left Monticello to the "People of the United
States ."
Once again the Civil War intervened. Since Levy had held a commission in the U. S. Navy, the Richmond government moved against the
alien's home. It was confiscated, its slaves and trappings were sold, and
apparently his collection of mementos were scattered to the wind. Meanwhile, in Washington, the Federal Congress voted to accept the legacy .
The ''People'' never received title, however .
After the war the matter ended up in the courts. For fifteen years the
estate decayed until it finally fell into the hands of Levy's nephew, appropriately named Jefferson Levy. It appears that he preserved the home
as best he could for the next three decades. But squabbling continued
between Levy, who believed the home should remain in private custodianship, and his detractors, who maintained that only government
could maintain the home properly. This sad but characteristic conflict
between private and public efforts is an example of a basic preservation
woe that continues to hinder the preservation movement in Virginia.
It was only after World War I that the Monticello deadlock broke.
During the "Patriotic ' 90s" Jefferson's contributions slowly began to be
appreciated. By the 1920s the revision of his image was well underway. And Levy, who was in financial straits, was anxious to sell. Yet
neither State nor Federal government was willing to take over responsibility at Monticello, and attempts at private preservation had failed due
to a lack of funding. In 1921 Levy announced that the estate would be
sold at public auction.
This threat was enough to rally support. In 1923 a group of prominent New Yorkers and some native Virginians organized the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. Their goal was to unite the various groups
interested in saving Monticello. They had a difficult time raising the
$500,000 demanded by Levy and the similar sum that would be used to
endow the estate. A public subscription flopped and some of the New
Yorkers, who had signed notes on the loan, were called upon to pay their
share of the debt. They did this with grace.
It was only in 1940 that the final mortgage payment was made. The
Association did, however, prove ingenious with its pilgrimages to Monticello, essay contests and Jefferson birthday celebrations (for example,
the school children of New York collected some $35,000 on one occa-

193

I. Taylor Sanders II

sion.) 11 The Association has been more than a preservation group. It has
been very successful in educating the public to appreciate Jefferson's
contributions as scholar, inventor, artist, musician, patriot and architect.
With the scholarly restoration of Monticello the movement took a
new turn. Not only was the home to be revered as the seat of a patriot
genius, but also it was to be viewed as an important example of American
architecture. Monticello's preservation illustrates the two early thrusts of
the preservation movement: the creation of museums in the homes of
famous men, and the preservation of specific architectural gems that
display for all time America's creative genius.

uring the dismal days when there was little active support for
preservation in the state, there was one small dedicated group which
took positive action during those difficult days following the Civil War.
The activities of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities are well known to this group. For more than eighty years it has
been in the forefront, acquiring and preserving (as its charter notes) "the
ancient, historic buildings, monuments and tombs of the Commonwealth."
The Association, the first large private preservation group to appear
in the South after the Civil War, was founded in Williamsburg in 1889.
Prime movers were two Tidewater ladies, Mrs. Cynthia Beverly Tucker
Coleman and Miss Mary Jeffery Galt. Miss Galt summed up her despair
at the crumbling state of our heritage: " ... all of our Virginia landmarks
are passing away: nothing is being done to save them; before long all will
be gone.'' 12 The organization now has more than twenty branches
throughout the State and numerous holdings acquired through gift or
purchase.
Among the most significant early projects was the work of the Norfolk branch of APVA at Jamestown Island. The old church tower and
foundations, the ancient cemetery and the western portion of the island
were early acquisitions. Statewide membership joined forces to save the
western part of the island which had been washing away for generations.
With the aid of Federal funds the group constructed a sea wall and sponsored archaeological digs which uncovered a number of important sites.
The organization's holdings are numerous, ranging from the Debtor's Prison at Accomack and the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse on the
coast, to the John Marshall House in Richmond; Scotch town, Patrick
Henry's home in Hanover to graveyards in Loudoun and Gloucester
"For the full story see Hosmer, Presence of the Past, pp. 153-192.
Quoted by J. Paul Hudson, "The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities: Pioneer in Saving Virginia's Past," manuscript in writer's possession, p. 3. See
Hosmer, Presence of the Past, pp . 65-69, for a full account of the Association's varied activities.
12

194

Historic Preservation

Counties. It has been a vital partner in a number of projects sponsored
with diverse groups, including garden clubs, the Virginia Historical
Society and patriotic organizations such as the Daughters of the
American Revolution. Members have long recognized, however, that the
structure of the APVA, based on local chapters, has been a weakness as
well as a strength. They have performed valuable services in many areas,
but have had to be content to concentrate their limited resources on the
restoration, upkeep and administration of their many holdings. Because
of limitations in the group's constitution, local branches have been
unable to purchase, restore and then sell local landmarks.
Several factors auger well for the future of the organization. In recent years it has assembled an excellent professional staff, and plans appear to be in the works that would restructure the constitution. Recent
acquisitions, including the Wishart House in Virginia Beach, one of the
oldest brick structures in America which was threatened by deterioration, indicates that the APVA is entering a period of renewed vigor.
ne of the early projects of APVA had to do with Williamsburg. In
1896 local chapters purchased property (the old powder magazine
and capitol site) and restored and marked others. It cooperated with the
initial restoration of Bruton Parish Church, completed in 1907, an
undertaking that was to be the seed that would grow into the expert
recreation of a colonial capital.
The lynchpin of the project was a man of far-sighted vision, the
Reverend W. A. R. Goodwin, who saw the possibility of taking the
eighty-eight eighteenth and early nineteenth century structures in his
dilapidated and stagnating community and restoring the entire colonial
site. His singleminded enthusiasm did not wane for more than twenty
years after he spearheaded the successful Bruton Parish restoration.
In 1926 the preservation movement received another crucial boost
from outside. John D. Rockefeller visited Williamsburg and made a
nostalgic walk down Duke of Gloucester Street with the clergyman. He
caught the parson's infectious zeal. the following year he decided to help
implement Goodwin's comprehensive plan. Working with the tycoon's
financial backing, the rector purchased two hundred pieces of property, always carefully keeping secret the source of his funds in a successful effort to avoid real estate speculation. During the summer of 1928
the project was made public. A new era dawned in the fields of historic
and architectural preservation. 13
Immediate work was begun along the Duke of Gloucester Street, expanding from the College grounds to include the market and Capital

Ibid. p . 298 for the "revolutionary" nature of the Williamsburg project.

195

L Taylor Sanders II

The Jacob M. Ruff House (built c. 1829; 21 North Main Street) in the
1920s; it is one of the best examples of a Valley Federal town house in
Lexington.

squares, the palace and court house greens. Buffer zones were established to provide areas for future restoration and rebuilding. Lost buildings
were constructed with careful attention to accuracy and detail. Original
building methods and materials were used whenever possible. The
Williamsburg program has been marked by careful archaeological
research, thorough archival investigation and a penetrating understand196

Historic Preservation

(

(
(

The Jacob M. Ruff House was purchased by the Historic Lexington
Foundation in 1972 and the exterior restored. In 1974 it was sold to Mr.
and Mrs. G. Otis Mead III to house the firm of Mead Associates,
Realtors.
ing of the past. And the program continues. For example, current
restoration projects include establishing a working plantation at Carter's
Grove.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the Williamsburg experience. Its legacy is seen in the many attempts, not all of them successful, throughout the country to duplicate its achievements. For the
197

I. Taylor Sanders II

After purchasing the Jacob M. Ruff House,
Mr. and Mrs. Mead had an architect design
an office complex to fit into the structure without adversely affecting
the building's character. These photos show the restoration of the stone
fireplace on the ground floor.
first time an entire area was preserved in an attempt to create a large living museum; a total environment (bereft, of course, of the more
gruesome aspects of eighteenth century life such as cockfights, duels,
public hangings, cholera, typhus, barnyard aromas and eighteenth century medical malpractice and sanitation techniques).
A growing interest in the scholarship of preservation also began at
Williamsburg. Not only did its programs train a whole generation of
preservation architects and archaeologists, but also it was a laboratory to
develop techniques to insure accurate restoration and repairs. But most
important, Williamsburg made preservationists realize that the conservation of isolated dwellings, no matter who lived there or how important
the house is architecturally, is of small benefit if the environment surrounding the structure is allowed to deteriorate or is subjected to incompatible development.

ven if the Williamsburg and Monticello preservation efforts had not
gotten off the ground during the 1920s, the decade would have been
significant for conservation activities in Virginia. Patriotic and
genealogical interests boomed. Prosperity made money available. Better
roads opened up the state to tourism, and the relatively leisurely level of
business and government expenditure saved old buildings from undue
pressures. In some respects the decade was the golden age of privately
sponsored preservation in the Commonwealth.
The list of important projects is too long to enumerate completely.
But it would include the moving of Wilton to West End Richmond by the
198

(

Historic Preservation

National Society of Colonial Dames of Virginia. Its old site had been in
an area ripe for industrial and commercial development. The mansion's
elegant parlor paneling was being sought by a western museum to grace
its exhibition hall. The new tenor of the times is indicated by the fact that
less than a decade before the Metropolitan Museum had moved the
paneled drawing room from Marmion, near Fredricksburg, without so
much as a whimper from Virginia's citizenry.
Homes connected with the Lee family were restored. Arlington,
which had been acquired with a vengeful spirit by the Federal government during the Civil War period, was restored during the late twenties
with federal funds. 14 In 1928 the Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation
was formed. Including many non-Virginians, the foundation began the_
restoration of Lee's birthplace, Stratford Hall. Fiske Kimball, a famous
architectural scholar who had headed the restoration committee at Monticello, was in charge of the program, underscoring the high level of expertise that became available during that fruitful decade.
Of the other projects, Kenmore's restoration by the Kenmore
Association was perhaps the most significant. Modeled on the Mount
Vernon group, it began a well organized national fundraising effort that
cleared the title of the Georgian mansion within three years (by 1925).
The Fredricksburg home and its grounds, which.were threatened by commercialization, were carefully restored.
A significant spin-off from Kenmore was Historic Garden Week.
The Garden Club of Virginia adopted the Kenmore gardens as its first
project. Over the next five decades the club undertook a wide variety of
landscaping and restoration projects, including the Lee Chapel, Wilton,
Monticello, Scotchtown, and the Adam Thoroughgood House in Norfolk. Each year Historic Garden Week raises funds for continuing
restoration efforts. The tours focus attention on Virginia's horticultural
and architectural heritage.
hen came the Depression and the Second World War. Individual
structures were occasionally saved during those years and important
strides were made in architectural scholarship. But in general the period
was marked by a slow erosion of many of Virginia's fine country homes
and increased dilapidation within our cities.
One of the few positive things to come out of the Depression was the
Historic American Building Survey. Unemployed architects were given
the task of making measured drawings and a photographic record of
significant structures, many in Virginia. The New Deal program ended in

/bid. pp. 63-65 for Arlington; p. 64 Hosmer terms its '"preservation' ... an act of

revenge.''

199

I. Taylor Sanders II

1941, but was reinstituted in 1957. Among the homes recorded under the
more recent Park Service program is Lexington's Alexander-Withrow
House.
Emphasis was placed on endangered structures. Indeed, the program has been called a "death mask for American architecture." And in
fact, more than half of the twelve thousand structures described in the
survey have already been destroyed. Many Virginians were shocked to
learn in the mid- l 960s that twenty percent of the homes listed for historic
Alexandria as standing during the 1930s had been bulldozed out of
existence. 15
Wars have been particularly damaging to Virginia architecture. The
Second World War was no different as military installations expanded
during the war years.For example, in 1941 nearly thirteen hundred Virginians were relocated to make room for Camp A. P. Hill in Caroline
County. Contemporary newspaper accounts reported that "four communities, eight churches, and ten schools," along with two-hundred
ninety-nine 'homes were destroyed. 16 Other bases had a similar if not so
dramatic impact.
Post-war prosperity created dual pressures on urban architecture.
Urban renewal and expansion of business and industry took down many
fine old structures. Stagnation in our core cities led to that most corrosive problem, destruction by neglect. The late 1940s and 1950s were
years, however, when a variety of organizations were formed to insure
that at least a portion of our pleasing old urban neighborhoods would be
saved. A new emphasis was placed on revitalizing the middle class environments that illustrate Virginia's commercial growth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The new professionalism in city planning was crucial in pointing
local government toward historic district zoning. Several towns and cities
fashioned these ordinances. When enforced, historic district zoning
preserves important neighborhoods and provides a measure of protection for buildings threatened by structural alterations which would
damage their architectural integrity. Alexandria, Williamsburg and Richmond forged ordinances which stand as early examples of the total environment approach. In 1966 the authoritative report of the Special
Committee on Historic Preservation of the U. S. Conference of Mayors
paid special tribute to the Richmonders who worked to conserve the
15
Helen Duprey Bullock, "Death Mask or Living Image," With Heritage So Rich, pp.
139-146.
16
Cited in Notes on Virginia: A Publication of the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, Numbers 3-4 (Winter 1971-72), p. 9. Also see the interesting feature by Wilford
Kale, "Village of Magruder was Swallowed by Camp Peary," Richmond Times-Dispatch,
September 17, 1972.

200

Historic Preservation
residential atmosphere around St. John's Church: "Church Hill, a slum
in 1960 is one of the nation's prime examples of selective urban conservation, in which sound old structures have been restored to constructive
utilization through the help of private funds." 11
In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that citizens have a right to
beautiful "as well as healthy" cities "spacious as well as clean" and
"well balanced as well as carefully patrolled" ones. The case (Berman vs.
Parker) made architectural control a legitimate function of government
and upheld the validity of historic zoning. Courts continue to be an important ally of preservationists. 18
Y 1965 we had reached the one-hundredth anniversary of historic

preservation in the Commonwealth. Yet many individuals who had
been active in the preservation field expressed a lack of optimism for the
future. The fact that the burden had been left on the shoulders of private
groups may reflect some native distrust which Virginians have always
had for government intervention in their affairs. But lack of government
help had seriously hindered the preservation movement. Preservationists
echoed the pessimism of the Biblical poet (Ecclesiastes, 10:18): "By
much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of hands
the house droppeth through.''
The Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation of the Virginia
Outdoor Recreation Study Commission assessed the situation as it stood
in the mid-1960s. In April, 1965, the advisory group urged an increased
role by the State and its locales:
New and complex problems brought about by urban expansion and decay, massive superhighway and dam construction
programs, accelerated population growth and mobility, and
industrial and commercial expansion threaten the preservation and integrity of our historic buildings and sites unless the
Commonwealth itself takes steps to conserve and safeguard
these dwindling resources which so far it has sought only to
publicize. 19
During the late 1960s the increased concern for the physical environment spilled over to the historic preservation field. Federal legislation was crucial. Since 1934 the federal government (the National
Historic Sites Act) had recognized its preservation role. Active federal intervention took place at a number of Virginia sites including Jamestown,
11

'
'

8
9

George Fabriskie, "Window to the Past," With Heritage So Rich, p. 62.
Constance M . Greiff, ed. Lost America (Princeton: The Pyne Press , 1971), p. 12.
Report to the Virginia Outdoor Recreation Commission, p. 25.

201

I. Taylor Sanders II

Yorktown, Arlington and other target areas. Under Lyndon Johnson a
variety of measures were passed, particularly the Historic Preservation
Act of 1966.
The act provided that when Federal undertakings affect properties
recorded on the National Register of Historic Places (a listing provided
for in the act), the concerned agency must refer the matter to an advisory
council on historic preservation. Although the council cannot stop projects, its recommendations are often heeded . Under the act Federal
matching funds are available for surveys, plans and "brick and mortar"
projects. Funds for open space preservation, historic preservation and
surveys are also available from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Spurred on by the Federal example, the Virginia General Assembly
acted on many of the recommendations of its own advisory committee
on historic preservation. In 1966 the General Assembly created the
Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission and gave it the mandate to
"recognize and protect all structures within the Commonwealth that are
of significance." The same year the Virginia Open Space Act was promulgated to allow owners of historic or architecturally important properties to grant open space easements to the Commission.
For the first time the State had a central agency to coordinate
Federal, State and local programs, to act as an "ombudsman" for
preservation groups, to conduct archeological, architectural and historic
surveys, to press for state-wide planning for preservation, to publicize
the need for a well-balanced conservation program in the Commonwealth and to help local groups educate the public in an appreciation
of once neglected styles. Since 1967 the small professional commission
staff has visited every area of the Commonwealth, cataloging, describing
and photographing landmarks, and helping preservationists at the grassroots level.
The Commission is also responsible for the State Register, an impressive listing which represents "the richness and diversity of Virginia's
cultural heritage. " 20 With Indian sites dating back to 9,000 B.C. and
buildings erected just prior to World War II, the register reaches far back
into Virginia's pre-literate history and touches the threshold of the
Atomic Age. Since 1967 well over eight thousand buildings have been
surveyed. In the last several years more than two hundred projects have
been investigated involving highway construction, utility lines and other
programs, which were carefully scrutinized for their potential impact on
sites. More than five hundred structures have been entered on the
Virginia Register. Of these the vast majority have been selected for the
National Register as well.
20

Virginia Historic Landmark s Commission, The Virginia Register (1970), p. 4.

202

Historic Preservation

As the Commission oversees Federal grants to local preservation
groups, it stresses the need to plan for preservation on a state-wide level.
It has worked closely with a variety of state agencies, particularly the
Division of State Planning and Community Affairs, the bureau most
deeply involved with comprehensive planning at the State level. In 1972
an act of the General Assembly directed the division to study land-use
problems and to develop criteria for future uses and environmental protection to insure "the planning of critical environmental areas and land
use in the development of controls in such areas.'' The commission has
taken an active role in this survey.

s we have seen, the preservation movement has had a long and
career in Virginia. In the past it has been difficult to
convince political and business leaders that immediate economic
demands can be balanced with the much broader and admittedly undefined right of future generations to enjoy an unspoiled vista or historic
neighborhood. But recent recognition of the problems of air, water and
noise pollution has been joined by an awakened concern for visual
pollution and cultural disintegration, leading to significant legislation by
State, local and Federal goverment. For the first time beleaguered local
groups now have support from sympathetic government agencies. It is
clear, however, that the burden will still be carried by private groups
operating in their own communities.
The value of supportive legislation will have a hollow ring without
increased grass-roots support from private citizens. It does appear,
however, that more people are coming to realize the difficulty of placing
a price tag on a pleasing example of the architect's craft. The new spirit is
clearly evidenced in Lexington. The recently adopted historic zoning ordinance would have been impossible without the support of preservationminded citizens. Of crucial importance has been the Historic Lexington
Foundation. Since its establishment in 1966 its continued work in the
field of selective urban preservation has been one of the brightest spots
on the state-wide scene. Recent actions by the Rockbridge Historical
Society in the restoration of its holdings is another example of the potential vigor of the local movement.
For those of us who have followed the ups and downs of preservation in Virginia, it is not surprising that when the APVA asked the
Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission to suggest which preservation
group should be awarded the first Mary Mason Anderson Williams
Award, the Commission immediately thought of Historic Lexington
Foundation. The Foundation's continuing program in downtown Lexington serves as a model for other preservation groups in Virginia.

~ checkered

203

I. Taylor Sanders II

Despite gains in Lexington and other areas (Danville, for example,
recently implemented a historic zoning ordinance) declining, but
widespread apathy still characterizes the Commonwealth. Large chunks
of Alexandria, even within the historic zone, continue to be demolished.
Maplewood, one of Northern Virginia's few domestic monuments built
shortly after the Civil War, was destroyed in 1970. The site of Conrad
House, one of the finest late Georgian homes in the Valley, has been a
parking lot for two years. The Wharf area in Staunton is in imminent
danger. Richmond was the focus of a good deal of bad national publicity
after preservationists lost the fight to keep a bank from pillaging historic
iron fronts on East Main Street.
There have been victories. For example, there will be no prison in
Louisa County's Green Springs District. The Green Springs fight
underscores one fact. The future of the movement in Virginia rests in the
hands of local preservationists. How the next century turns out will depend on their vigilance, their expertise and their tenacity. As Miss Cunningham pleaded so eloquently one hundred years ago, it will rest with
their willingness to open their ''souls and their purses.'' 1:r

204

(

Another Perspective
On Lexington Architecture
Pamela H. Simpson

HE "OTHER PERSPECTIVE"mentioned in the title of this paper,
refers to that of the architectural historian. In order to explain
that different viewpoint, it is first necessary to understand
something of the evolution of the profession in the United States. Its
history is tied to that of historic preservation.
Historic preservation really began in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries with the emergence of the revival styles. For example, the Gothic Revival style of the nineteenth century encouraged interest in the Gothic architecture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
At first it was an interest in understanding the older style in order to
reproduce it, but scholarly research soon led to an interest in preserving
and restoring the original Gothic monuments. The French cathedrals
that symbolize to all of us the great Gothic period were all restored in the
nineteenth century, many by Violet-le-Due's r,econstructions.
The earliest emergence of the preservation movement in Europe
then, involved the architect. The architect whose interest in present
Pamela Hemenway Simpson, a specialist in American art and architecture, was an instructor in art history in the art department at Washington and Lee University when she spoke to
the Society's July 22, 1974, meeting at Lejeune Hall, Virginia Military Institute.

205

Pamela H. Simpson
revival styles led him to scholarly research on the past and to preservation and restoration.
In the United States, however, the problem was somewhat different.
American architects used the work of their European counterparts, but
this did not lead to an interest in American buildings. We did not have
the centuries of past styles to choose from; instead, our "old" buildings
dated from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and seemed
hopelessly old-fashioned to modern revival architects. At best, our architecture was quaint; at worst, it was useless.
The first major effort at preservation in the United States took place
in 1850 when the Mount Vernon Ladies Association was formed to
manage and preserve Mount Vernon. They did this to preserve the home
of Washington as a national historic shrine. The motives were, in short,
patriotic, not aesthetic. The architecture was incidental to their purposes.
This continued to be the American attitude towards preservation until the turn of the century. For example, in 1877 a group organized to
preserve the Old South Meeting House in Boston. At a meeting to plot
action, James Russell Lowell was the keynote speaker. He talked of Old
South's rich history, the important events that had happened there. As
for the building itself, he said it was not a model of architecture
aesthetically, but "the best our fathers could do." Again, the building
was being preserved for its social history, not its aesthetic quality.
This attitude began to change, however, at the end of the nineteenth
century. In 1884 Richard Grant White, writing about the same church,
called attention to its significance as a "Yankee development out of the
English Meeting House form." White was talking about the stylistic
character of the building! This is a reversal of attitude that continues
during the last years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the
twentieth. People were finally far enough away from the eighteenth century to appreciate its style.
The significance of the change for the profession of the architectural
historian is that before this, when only social and patriotic considerations were important, all one needed was an historian. Now one had to
consider the architecture as well.

he early twentieth century brought a proliferati on of preservation
efforts. The Society for the Preservation of New England
Antiquities, the prototype for many state organizations, was formed in
1910. They concerned themselves with preserving buildings like the
. Whipple House in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and the Eleazer Arnold
House in Lincoln, Rhode Island- not because of any great historical

206

Lexington Architecture
events that took place in either, but because they were unique examples
of late seventeenth century architectural forms.
In the 1910s and 1920s we find the first emergence of the American
architectural historian with a whole series of scholarly publications on
early American buildings like the Whipple and Arnold Houses. Some of
these books were written by men like Norman Isham, an art historian
who had a special interest in architecture. Others were done by men like
Sidney Fisk Kimball, who was trained as an architect, but became interested in architectural history. His book, The Domestic Architecture of
the American Colonies and of the Early Republic (1922), was one of the
earliest serious books on American building.
One of the most influential factors in the development of the architectural historians' profession was the project to restore
Williamsburg, begun in 1927 at the instigation of Mr. W. A. R. Goodwin, and with the munificent support of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. During
this eighteen year project countless architects and historians worked
together to accurately recreate the early Georgian capitol. Especially during the Depression, when there was little employment elsewhere,
Williamsburg represented the great training ground for architectural
historians.
There were basically three types of architectural historian to emerge
from the Williamsburg project. One was the architect who was interested
in the technical aspects of the building, with its structure, techniques of
construction, even its safeness . Some architects specialized in restoration
and developed sophisticated laboratory techniques for determining such
things as the original paint color or floor surface, etc.
Secondly, there was the historian who was interested in the social
aspects of the building. Who lived there? What events took place there?
How did it reflect the cultural period in which it was built? Finally there
was the art historian whose training included the history of painting,
sculpture and the decorative arts as well as architecture. The art historian
was primarily concerned with the building's style. What were its
characteristics? Where did it come from, where else does it appear?
We still have all three types of architectural historian. Few people
fully combine all three. For example, the National Trust For Historic
Preservation has to use teams to do architectural site work: the architect,
the historian and the art historian. These three training fields point to the
three main considerations that comprise a building's architectural history
and the "different perspective" we originally mentioned, i.e., the social,
physical and stylistic history of a building.

207

Pamela H. Simpson
A few local examples will serve to illustrate this point. The
Alexander-Withrow House is one of Lexington's most impressive
buildings. The architectural historian would first consider its social
history by tracing its deeds, finding out who owned it and when. The
local tax and insurance records may also indicate when it was built and
even how expensive it was. A search of local papers may reveal its changing uses and historical significance in the community.
Secondly, its physical history must be investigated. The architectural
historian will make a site survey, thoroughly describing the building,
making floor plans and elevation drawings. He will particularly note
changes and alterations in the structure such as the bricked up doorway
on the Washington Street facade. He will also seek other evidence of its
original appearance such as old photographs, nineteenth century drawings of the town, insurance plats, even the reminiscences of older
residents.
Finally, the stylistic history will be considered. What is the date of
the building? Who built it? Where did the style come from? Here he will
be concerned with the high quality brick work with its diamond patterns
and the curious corner chimney arrangement. Where else can these
features be seen? Where did they come from?
This three-sided investigation is what my students in Art 107 are currently concerned with and they have found Lexington an excellent place
to work. The courthouse records are extraordinarily complete in spite of
fires and Northern raids. Insurance records and newspaper files are also
complete and readily available. Moreover, the quality of the architecture
in this community is indeed impressive. In fact, one can trace nearly
every major stylistic development from the late eighteenth to the early
twentieth centuries in fine examples in Lexington. The Greek Revival,
for instance, can be seen in buildings like the Lexington Presbyterian
Church, done by Thomas U. Walter, a nationally prominent
Philadelphia architect in the 1840s. The Gothic Cottage style of the midnineteenth century can be seen in examples like the Presbyterian Manse
or the Pendleton-Coles House. Great Italian villas are represented at
Blandome and Silverwood.
The architectural historian is also interested in less grand buildings,
things like the "Castle" that represent vernacular building traditions, or
even buildings that until recently were considered ugly, like the great Victorian houses of the late nineteenth century such as the Paxton House
across from the Post Office. The architectural historian looking at Lexington is also struck with the period unity of sections of the town-not

208

Lexington Architecture

The Jordan House, demolished in 1940, stood between the Troubadour
Theatre (right) and the Willson-Walker House (left) on Main Street. It
was the only house still standing in Lexington which had been built on
the Great Road before the town existed. On July 4, 1939, Mrs. Ruth McCulloch called about twenty people together to try to prevent the structure's demolition. Although this effort failed, from the attempt sprang
the Rockbridge Historical Society.

only the historic area from Washington down Main street, but also the
row of mansard roofs on Nelson between Main and Jefferson.
The point is that all of these buildings are worthy of consideration.
Even the most humble farm house can reveal interesting cultural,
historical and stylistic facts. Furthermore, there is no need for a professional to undertake all of this. Research can be carried out on many
levels and amateurs can make significant contributions. It is important,
moreover, that materials and information be gathered and preserved
now while they are available and before it is too late.
Lexington has a unique and rich architectural heritage. It is filled
with opportunities for both the amateur and the professional architectural historian. It is indeed a most exciting place to live and work! *

209

210

Virginia's Bicentennial Objectives
Lewis A. McMurran, Jr.

CHAIRMAN OF THE Virginia Independence Bicentennial
Commission, I appreciate this opportunity to meet with you and
discuss plans for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of our
nation's birth in the years 1974, when the First Continental Congress
assembled, to 1983, when the Treaty of Paris· finally granted our Independence.
All of us recognize this as a major milestone in America's history. It
goes without saying that it should be obseryed with inspiring ceremonies,
arranged both by the United States government, the Thirteen Original
States, and by counties, towns and organizations such as the Rockbridge
Historical Society, which treasure and preserve the legacy of our past.
Certainly no state should do a finer job in this respect than Virginia,
which played so great a part in winning the Revolution and in supplying
the foundations for this republic. For what other state could provide a
Peyton Randolph to preside over the First Continental Congress, a

Lewis A. McMurran, Jr., is a graduate of Washington and Lee University. When he spoke
to the Society on July 23, 1973, at the Keydet-General Motel, he was a delegate to the
Virginia State House of Delegates from Newport News and chairman of the Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission.

211

Lewis A. McMurran, Jr.
Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence, a George
Washington to lead our troops to victory and become our first President,
and a George Mason to propose and draft the Declaration of Rights?
Our plans in Virginia are an effort to develop a celebration which
will be meaningful to people of all ages and educational levels. We plan
also to appeal to the great number of travelers to Virginia, who make up
such an important element in our economy.
1. We. plan first to develop three fitting and inviting centers for the
celebration of the Bicentennial in three different geographic sections of
Virginia. The Western Virginia Center will be placed near Charlottesville
at the entrance to Monticello, the Northern Virginia Center in the

Western Virginia Bicentennial Information Center

restored Lyceum at Alexandria, and the Yorktown Victory Center at
Yorktown.
2. We plan a series of visits by heads of state and 9f commemorative
events, some centering in our Bicentennial centers and others elsewhere
in the state.
3. We plan an appropriate program of publications, including a collection of Virginia's documentary records of the Revolutionary Period,
never before assembled; a series of well-researched booklets by historians
on individuals and events of the Revolution in Virginia; and a continuation of the Colonial Records Project in Great Britain and in Europe,
whereby documents relating to Colonial Virginia history are copied and
preserved on microfilm in the Virginia State Library and other
repositories in Virginia accessible to historians and other researchers. ·We
are planning to develop an index of this series.
Besides these, we believe that our Virginia observance should mark
the chief events of the Revolution in our bounds. These would include
most of the following:
May 27, 1774: The House of Burgesses in Williamsburg denounced
the Boston port's seizure by the British and instructed the Virginia Committee of Correspondence to write the other colonies and propose a Continental Congress.

212

Virginia's Bicentennial

(

March 23, 1775: Patrick Henry gave his great "Give Me Liberty"
speech at St. John's Church in Richmond.
June 15, 1775: George Washington was elected Commander-inChief of Armed Forces of the Thirteen Colonies.
August 16, 1775: The Virginia Convention, meeting in
Williamsburg, named a Committee of Public Safety to defend
Williamsburg against any attack which Governor Lord Dunmore might
make.
December 9, 1775: The first Revolutionary engagement in Virginia
was the Battle of Great Bridge, near Norfolk.
May 15, 1776: The Virginia Convention instructs delegates to the
Continental Congress to propose a resolution "to declare the United
Colonies free and independent states." (As you know, this was to lead
shortly to the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted in
Philadelphia on July 4).
June 12, 1776: Virginia adopts Mason's Bill of Rights.
June 29, 1776: The same convention in Williamsburg adopted the
Virginia Constitution, largely the work of George Mason, and chose
Patrick Henry as the first Governor of Independent Virginia, and he
moved into the Governor's Palace which Lord Dunmore had vacated.
July 8-9, 1776: Governor Dunmore's British Fleet was repelled by
Virginia forces in the Battle of Gwynn's Island, and the Royal Governor
eventually returned to England.
July 4, 1778: General George Rogers Clark of Albemarle County
captured Kaskaskia in the Northwest Territory, enabling Virginia to
create Illinois County (with a county seat at the present Fincastle,
Virginia), and to provide American control over the strategic Northwest
Territory.
February 25, 1779: George Rogers Clark captured Vincennes from
the British and secured the Northwest Territory for the Colonies.
April, 1780: The Capital of Virginia was moved from Williamsburg
to Richmond to avoid possible bombardment by British ships.
August 30, 1781: The French Fleet under Admiral de Grasse sailed
through the Virginia Capes to bottle up British land forces under Cornwallis at Yorktown.
September 5, 1781: de Grasse' s fleet defeated the British fleet in the
Battle of the Virginia Capes and prevented Cornwallis' escape from
Yorktown.
October 19, 1781: Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown-the major
British defeat in the Revolution .
We realize that there were many other Revolutionary events-like
Jack Jouett's famous ride from the tavern at Cuckoo in Louisa County

213

Lewis A. McMurran, Jr.
to warn Governor Jefferson and the General Assembly at Monticello and
Charlottesville that the British were coming. We also plan to commemorate the subsequent session of the General Assembly in Staunton
and the election of Thomas Nelson as third Governor of Independent
Virginia. But we count on the pride and interest of localities to celebrate
such local events.
A very important consideration in any historical observance is accuracy. The Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission is anxious
that whatever it does is factually correct. It is also anxious to extend
many areas of our knowledge of Virginia's wartime history which remained confused or incomplete. For that reason the commission, as one
of its first moves, appointed a committee of distinguished Virginia
historians and bibliographers to undertake an extensive preliminary program of research and publication.
We named former State Archivist William J. van Schreeven as
Director of Research and Publication, and he and a committee of
distinguished historians have planned some twenty-five research and
writing projects. Two publications have already appeared: A facsimile of
the Farmer's and Monitor's Letters, as published by William Rind in
Williamsburg in 1769, and an index to letters and papers of General
Cornwallis, which have been microfilmed in England and abstracted for
the Virginia Colonial Records Project-an ambitious effort begun during the Jamestown Festival to copy the most essential British records
dealing with Virginia which can be ·found in the British Isles. We are also
planning an eight volume documentary history, The Road To Independence, covering the period from the flight of Dunmore to . the
establishment of the Virginia Constitution under Patrick Henry. We
have helped organize the Bicentennial Council of the Thirteen Original
States.
These in brief are some of the possibilities we foresee for the
Bicentennial. We know that anything of such proportions must be
started well in advance to get all of Virginia's 4, 700,000 people working
together. We intend that the celebration will attract many people to our
exhibits and events, culminating in the celebration in 1981 of the 200th
Anniversary of The Battle of the Virginia Capes and the victory of
American and French forces at Yorktown.
It is important that not only the Commonwealth of Virginia, but
also its counties and towns, like Rockbridge and Lexington, should join
in and make the Bicentennial of the American Revolution a success in
terms of inspiration and public benefit. We will depend on groups such
as this Historical Society for the grass-roots assistance which we need.
With such help we know that the Bicentennial will bring lasting rewards
to our nation and its people. i:I
214

(

RHS Officers

(
(
(

(
(

Officers of the Society
January 1970-June 1972
President

James G. Ley burn

Vice Presidents

B. Mccluer Gilliam
John S. Letcher
Mrs. H. Russell Robey
Mrs. James P. Alexander
Mrs. Price Daniel
Mrs. John Merritt
A. Willis Robertson
Mrs. Gordon G. Heiner, Jr.

Recording Secretary
Corresponding Secretary

Mrs. Samuel M. Heflin

Treasurer

William 0. Hay, Jr.

Librarian

Charles W. Turner
Mrs. Charles McCulloch
Mrs. P . L. Paxton
George West Diehl
George M. Brooke, Jr.
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.

Additional Board Members

Life Trustees

Matthew W. Paxton
John S. Letcher
Charles W. Turner
Fred K. Carter
215

RHS Officers

)

July 1972-1974
President

Allen W. Moger

Vice Presidents

B. Mccluer Gilliam
John S. Letcher
Mrs. J. P. Alexander
Mrs. H. Russell Robey
Mrs. Price Daniel
Roy K. Patteson

Recording Secretary

Mrs. Robert Knox

Corresponding Secretary

Mrs. S. W. Heflin

Treasurer

William O. Hay, Jr.

Assistant Treasurer

Robert Knox

Librarian

Charles W. Turner

Genealogist

George West Diehl

Membership Committee Chairman

Mrs. P. L. Paxton

Program

Miss Margaret Davis

House and Property

Richard R. Fletcher

Community Museum

Edwin L. Dooley, Curator

Other Members of Executive Board

George M. Brooke, Jr.
Royster Lyle, Jr.
Matthew W. Paxton, Jr.
Mrs. P. L. Paxton
Mrs. FredericM. P. Pearse
Miss Mary Monroe Penick

216

RHS Activities

Activities of the Society
1970
The Society's four general meetings during the year featured the following speakers and topics:
JANUARY 26, ROBERT E. LEE HOTEL, LEXINGTON

D. E. Brady, Jr., "The Manufacture of Iron by William Weaver"
APRIL 27, R. E. LEE MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH, LEXINGTON

W. E. Trout,111, "The North River Navigation"
JULY 27, COLLIERSTOWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

M. W. Paxton, Jr., "A Judge's School"
OCTOBER 26, LEJEUNE HALL, VMI

R. Lyle, Jr., "Folk Architecture in Rockbridge County

Volume VII of the Society's Proceedings, edited by Anne Brandon
Heiner, sold very well during the year; slightly over half the total printing
of 1000 were sold by the end of the year. The volume was ready for
distribution by June.
At Washington and Lee University President Robert E. R.
Huntley's invitation, the Society sent official representatives to the
university's October 10 convocation commemorating the one hundredth
anniversary of the death of General Robert E. Lee.
The safety and preservation of the expanding collection of papers
and records stored in the Society's headquarters in The Castle was of
growing concern to librarian Charles W. Turner. Washington and Lee
librarian Maurice D. Leach offered space in the university library for the
files. In October, the Society's Board voted to move the files to the McCormick Library on temporary loan.
At the end of the year the Rockbridge Historical Society had 234
members and one life member.

217

RHS Activities

1971

The Society's four general meetings during the year featured the
following speakers and topics:
JANUARY 25, KEYDET-GENERAL MOTEL, LEXINGTON

G. F. Drake, "John A. Graham"
APRIL 19, LEXINGTON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

J. H. Reeves, "Early Man in Rockbridge County"
JULY 26, MT. CARMEL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
STEELESTAVERN

W. H. McClure, "The McCormick Family and Their Inventions"
OCTOBER 25, SOUTHERN SEMINARY JUNIOR COLLEGE

R. Lyle, Jr. "Buena Vista and its Boom, 1889-1892"
Four four-drawer file cabinets of the Society's historical document
collection were moved to McCormick Library at Washington and Lee
University. Society librarian Charles W. Turner, aided by a student,
Daniel Shapiro, began the recataloging process.
In May the Society received a bequest from the estate of Walter A.
Paxton, a long time member from Buena Vista. The gift was ''for the
purpose of procuring and preserving historical documents and for the
erection of markers and memorials, at the discretion of the said Trustees,
and on approval of the Society by vote at a regular meeting thereof.''
The first use of Mr. Paxton's bequest occurred following the
discovery of about 300 Michael Miley glass negatives in the attic of Miss
Nettie Dunlap's house on Edmondson Avenue in Lexington. Most of the
pictures dated from the 1880-1910 period, and included were 94 scenes of
Lexington, V .M.I. , and other sites. The Society paid the Library of Congress $323.52 to produce 96 large prints from the negatives owned by
Mrs. Robert I. Burns, Jr.
The Society appropriated $150 to pay for transcribing Mrs. McCulloch's taped interviews with Dr. Turner. This transcription was completed by the end of the year.
At the end of the year the Rockbridge Historical Society had 264
members and one life member.
218

RHS Activities

1972

The Society's four general meetings during the year featured the
following speakers and topics:
JANUARY 31, VIRGINIA HOUSE RESTAURANT, LEXINGTON

J. G. Ley burn, ''Nineteenth Century Presbyterians,
Personalities, Problems, Peculiarities''
APRIL 24, LEXINGTON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

C. W. Turner, "Ruth Anderson McCulloch
and Stories of Lexington in Her Own Words"
JULY 24, NEW MONMOUTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

S. M. Heflin, "Dr. William Mccutchan Morrison,
Missionary to the Congo''
OCTOBER 23, LEJEUNE HALL, V M I

I. T. Sanders II, "The First Century

of Historic Preservation in Virginia''
The University of Virginia photocopied the Society's files in the
Washington and Lee University Library.
J. Morrison Hutcheson bequeathed the Society $200 without restrictions.
At the end of the year the Rockbridge Historical Society had 269
members and one life member.

219

RHS Activities

1973

The Society's four general meetings during the year featured the
following speakers and topics:
JANUARY 22, EVANS DINING HALL, W & L

R.R. Fletcher, "Lexington Civil War Babies:
Three National Fraternities"
APRIL 23, SOUTHERN SEMINARY JUNIOR COLLEGE

T. T. Brady, ''The Early Iron Industry in Rockbridge County''
JULY 23, KEYDET-GENERAL MOTEL, LEXINGTON

L.A. McMurran, Jr., "Bicentennial Objectives"
OCTOBER 22, LEJEUNE HALL, V M I

J. L. Couper, "Reminiscences of My Father"
In January the Society's librarian, Dr. Turner, carried out an inventory of the contents of The Castle for insurance purposes. Also at this
time plans were being formulated for moving the Society's headquarters
from The Castle, a building given to the organization by Professor Hale
Houston in 1947, to the Campbell House next door. The Society could
then rent The Castle and sections of the Campbell House while maintaining the ground floor of the latter as ,l museum and office. The City of
Lexington and Washington and Lee University had already coordinated
their efforts to develop a park and visitors center parking lot behind the
two houses off Varner Lane.
To raise money for the necessary repairs to the two houses, the
Society offered life memberships for $50 until December 1, after which
they would be $80. Fifty additional persons became life members before
the end of the year. Three officers of the Society-President A. W.
Moger, Treasurer W. 0. Hay, Jr., and Chairman of the Property Committee R. R·. Fletcher-further contributed by accepting a total of $2000
in non-interest bearing demand notes. A total of $12,177 was spent on
the Campbell House by the end of the year.
By late October the work had progressed sufficiently for the actual
move by the Society from The Castle to the Campbell House. Richard
Fletcher, with the assistance of Society librarian Charles Turner and Ma220

RHS Activities
jor Edwin L. Dooley, Jr., the Public Information Officer and Director
of the V M I Museum, managed the transition. The Jaycees of
Lexfogton-Rockbridge provided invaluable assistance. Mr. Fletcher, in a
letter to Jaycee President Calmet M. Sawyer, said:
Captain Tom Gray and six Jaycee stalwarts did the impossible Saturday morning [October 27), moving virtually all of the Rockbridge Historical Society's
possessions from five rooms in The Castle to three rooms in the Campbell
House without a single bit of damage, a cross word, or an unsolved problem.

Besides the membership drive and the office move, the Society made a
third major innovation during the year. Richard Fletcher began the new
quarterly newsletter, News-Notes in July.
At the end of the year the Rockbridge Historical Society had 265
members and 51 life members.

1974

JANUARY 28, KEYDET-GENERAL MOTEL, LEXINGTON

H. J. Darst, Jr., "Benjamin Darst, Sr., Architect-Builder
of Lexington-His Family and Their Connections"
APRIL 22, LEJEUNE HALL, V M I

P.H. Simpson, "Another Perspective on Lexington Architecture"
JULY 29, NEW PROVIDENCE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

R. K. Patteson, Jr., "New Providence Presbyterian Church, 1746-1856
OCTOBER 24, DUPONT HALL, W & L

W. D. Hoyt, "Photography as Social History"
\

The special memorial fund for Mrs. Ruth Anderson McCulloch
following her death in 1971 was spent for a cabinet for the Society's archives and suitably labeled.
The µiembers were invited to preview the Society's new headquarters at a special open house on April 24 at the Campbell House.
221

RHS Activities
The Society launched a series of short seminars conducted by Major
Edwin L. Dooley, Jr., of V M I, on the essentials of professional
museum inventorying and cataloging. This was in preparation for the
development of a Rockbridge County Historical Society community
museum portraying the area's development since the Borden grant in the
1730s.
The bronze tablet setting forth The Castle's history was moved from
inside the house to the outside wall facing the street. In further recognition of the man whose bequest gave the Society its first headquarters
building, the Board extended the building's official name to "Hale
Houston's Castle."
The Society's third building, at 107 East Washington, was remodeled and part of it rented to the city for ten years for use as a Visitor
Center. At the October board meeting the name ''Sloan House'' was
adopted for the structure, called after its builder (1840), prominent merchant Alexander P. Sloan.
In order for the Society to qualify as a tax-free organization under
Internal Revenue Service rulings, the following amendment to the constitution and by-laws was approved by the Board and passed at the
general meeting in October:
If at any time or for any cause the Rockbridge Historical Society should be
dissolved, its property or material assets shall be turned over to an organization in Lexington or Rockbridge County which performs a public service
similar to that of the Rockbridge Historical Society founded in 1939.

At the end of the year the Rockbridge Historical Society had 310
members and 55 life members.

222

(

RHS Acquisitions

Principal Acquisitions, 1970-1974
In addition to numerous books and individual documents, the
Society received the following:
1.

2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

The letters and diaries of Captain J. H. B. Jones, from the
1842-72 period. The Society purchased these, together with some
books, for $300 from Jones' daughter-in-law, Mrs . Henry B.
Jones.
A coverlet used at the Battle of Chancellorsville by one of
Jackson's dying soldiers. Donated by Dr. James M. Moser.
A collection of early 20th century documents from the Walkers
Creek School District, donated by Mrs. W. W. Heffelfinger.
The papers of Dr. Walter Leconte Stevens, a professor of
physics at Washington and Lee University, 1900-20. Donated by
the Washington and Lee physics department.
A large wooden shingle maker given by Mr. and Mrs. Jesse H.
Harper.
Twelve Michael Miley prints donated by Frank Wade.
Mrs. Rose Pendleton's diary of three days of Hunter's Raid,
donated by Miss Ellenor Gadsden.
Three 19th century farm implements from Rockbridge County
(corn sheller, wheat cradle, plow) given by Dr. Stuart Mccorkle.
The letters of the late Miss Jenny Wheat, a Rockbridge County
teacher.
A walnut table-desk from the Daughters of the American
Revolution headquarters in Washington, given by Mrs. George
D. Pinkley.
One hundred copies of the special centennial (1939) edition of
the Lexington Gazette were donated by The News-Gazette for
resale by the Society.
A hand-carved stone watering trough, possibly carved about
1792, and an elegant cast iron Victorian fountain were donated
by Mrs. Burton Deaver.
Ninety-nine folders of material including business papers from
his father and grandfather donated by Dr. Preston Moore, the
papers of Myers Hardware, the Rockbridge Agricultural Society, Confederate veterans' papers, records of the drive to complete Lee Chapel, Washington and Lee athletic papers, and the
papers of Captain Boude.
Photocopies of 61 letters of James B. Davidson (from the State
Historical Society of Wisconsin McCormick Collection) donated
by Dr. Charles W. Turner.
223

RHS Finances

Financial Report
(December 31, 1974)

Receipts
$ 1274.00
9129.80
23.08
947.50
91.50
119.00
2.40
6000.00

Membership dues
Rents
Net from dinner meetings
For memorials
From donations
From books sold
Miscellaneous
Bank loan
TOTAL RECEIPTS

$17587.28

Expenditures
582.89
229.08
12636.56
1057.40
576.00
1012.50
115.00
35.50

Postage & Printing
Office supplies
Maintenance & Improvements
Utilities
Insurance
City tax
Mead Associates
Miscellaneous
TOTAL EXPENDITURES

$16244.93
$1342.35
456.58
$1798.93

Excess of receipts over expenditures
Cash as of January 1
CASH AS OF DECEMBER 31

Assets
Cash as of December 31
Publications for sale
Real estate:
The Castle
Sloan House
Campbell House
TOTAL ASSETS

1798.93
1380.00
35000.00
35000.00
70000.00

$143178.93

Liabilities
Demand notes (non interest bearing)
8 OJo Note due December 17, 1977
NET WORTH
TOTAL LIABILITIES
224

$ 2000.00
6000.00
135178.93
$143178.93

RHS Membership

Necrology

Miss Ellen G. Anderson
Dr. William G. Bean
·Mrs. Malcolm D. Campbell
Bishop Lloyd R. Craighill
Mrs. S. P . C. Duvall
Mrs. Frank Gilliam
Mr. D. G. Grimley
Miss Gwendolen Howe
Mr. William H. Humphries
Mr. Leon J ohenning
Mrs. Agnes Knox
Miss Eugenia Lejeune
Mrs. Charles McCullough
Dr. J. J. Murray
Mr. Walter A. Paxton
Hon. A. W. Robertson
Mrs. John D. Rogers
Mrs. Lester L. Schnare
Mrs. Lewis Tyree
Mr. L. E. White
Rev. W. T. Williams

225

Index

Index
Adair, J. McD., 140
"Adam Thoroughgood House" (Norfolk),
199
Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation (Va. Outdoor Recreation Study
Commission), 201
Agner's Dam, 110
Agner's Mill, 110
Alexander, Archibald, representative of
Timber Ridge Church, 17
"Alexander-Withrow House" (Lexington) ,
71; (photos), 200, 208
American Presbyterian Congo Mission, see
Morrison, William M.
American Tract Society, 157
Amherst County, 9
Ammen, Samuel Zenas, 123-4
Anderson, Francis T., 96; William A., 138;
Joseph R., 164-5
Ann Smith Academy (Lexington), 124;
building (1st), 64
Architecture, of Buena Vista, 134-37,
142-144; canal , 107-08; church, 22, 30,
32; "colonialized," 131-32; construction, 5-7, 75; dam, 106-08; of Glasgow,
138; of Goshen, 138; history of, 5-7,
131-43; of Lexington, 64-72, 132,
140-42, 205-09; preservation, 5, 132,
143, 187-209 See also Washington and
Lee University, Virginia Military Institute.
"Arlington," 199
Armstrong, Louis, 187
Association for the Preservation of Virginia
Antiquities, 194-95, 203
Augusta County, 7, 50, 53, 82
Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church, 15
Baggs, Thomas, 55
Bakubalanguage, 149-51
Balcony Falls Dam, 114
Barclay, John W., 32, 38; A. Talford, Jr.,
134-136
Bath County, 9
Bath Iron Works, 46-8 , 50, 52, 55-57, 60
"Beaumont" (Lexington), 66, 69, 73
Bellona Foundry (Lynchburg) , 50

Ben Salem Dam, l 07, l 08
Ben Salem Wayside Park, 107
Berlin, Fred, 121
Berman vs. Parker (1954), 201
Beverly's Grant, 7, 14-15
Beverly, William, 7, 14
Blair, John, 15, 159; Samuel, 15
"Blandome" (Lexington), 208
blast furnaces, see iron production
Blue Ridge Canal, 65,69
"Blue Ridge Canal Inn" [Paxton's Tavern},
72
Boatyard Road, 60
Boley, Henry, 73
Bolton, Frances, 192
Borden, Benjamin, 7, 14, 78
Borden's Grant, 7, 14, 78
Botetourt County, 9, 48, 55
Botetourt Male Academy (Fincastle), 123
Bowyer, John, 41, 86; Mary (d. John), 86
Brady, Daniel C. E., 60; Douglas E., Jr.,
53n, article by, 53-60; Emma Gorgas,
56; Tate T ., 45n, article by, 45-52
Branch, Melville 8., 121
Breckenridge, John C., 99
brick industry, 63, 67, 75
Brockenbrough, John White, 85 - 104; Confederate office holder, 92-93; and Conservative party, 97; death of, l 03-04; and
Democratic party, 86-87, 92; honorary
degree, 91; houses of, 91; judgeship, 87,
89, 92-93; and Know-Nothing party, 91;
Lexington Law School, 89-91, 93-94,
103; photo of, 101; pro-slavery views,
87-89, 91-92; as student , 86; VMI relations, 86-87; and Washington and Lee
University Law School , 96-103; and R.
E . Lee, 94-95 ; rector, 94-96; trustee, 91,
100
Brockenbrough family, 86, 97-98
Brown, Rev. John, 17, 19-21; Rev. Samuel
H., Sr., 21-23; Rev. Samuel H. Jr., 27
"Buena Vista," 51
Buena Vista, 82, 109; architecture, 131-37;
land speculation in, 133-38, 142-43;
origins of name, 51, 137

226

Index

Buena Vista Advocate, 133-37
Buena Vista Company, 135-37
Buena Vista furnace, 46, 48, 51 (photo)
Buena Vista Hotel, 137, 142-43
Buffalo Forge, 48, 50, 54-57; origins of
name, 54; photos, 56, 57. See also
William Weaver.
Byram, Rev. __ , 16-17
Caldwell, John, 14
California furnace, 48, 51
canals, see North River Navigation, North
River Canal, Blue Ridge Canal, James
River and Kanawha Canal
"Carter's Grove" (York Co.), 197
"The Castle" (Lexington), 208
Catopaxi Furnace, 54
Cedar Grove, 52
Chandler, John, 64-65; Norborne, 74; Polly
D., see Polly Darst; Samuel T., 65, 74
Chester, Samuel H., 150, 153
Christian, Bolivar, 94; Charles B., 90
Christian Observer, 36
"Church Hill" (Richmond), 190, 200-01
Civil War, Battle of Chancellorsville, 40; Battle of First Manassas (Bull Run), 40; Battle of New Market, 119; Centennial, 168;
Confederate iron supply, 51; effect on
colleges, 94-95, 118-19; effects on fraternities, 118-19; effects on Virginia, 188;
Hunter's Raid, see Hunter's (Gen.
David) Raid
Cleveland, _Grover, 142
Cloyd, David, 63
Cold Sulphur Springs, 138-39
Colonial Records Project, 212
Communion tokens (Presbyterian), 18
(photo), 30
Conference of Protestant Missions in the
Congo, 157-58
Conservative Party (Va.), 97
construction, see architecture
Couper, John L., 161n; article by, 161-69;
William, 161-69
Craig, John, 15-16
Crozet, Claude, 165
Cunningham, Ann Pamela, 191-92, 204
dams, at Bath Iron works, 50; North
River Navigation, 106-114; photo, 110
Dannenhour, John Weaver, 57
Danville, 204
Darst, Benjamin, Sr. (s., Abraham Derst):
61, 72; architect-builder, 63-69; brick
manufacturer, 64; death , 74; pottery

manufacturer, 62-63; slaves of, 73; Benjamin, Jr., (s. Benjamin, Sr.), 74;
Elizabeth W. see Elizabeth Welch; H.
Jackson: 61n; article by, 61-75; Isaac (s.,
Abraham Derst): 62; James H. (s., John
C.): 75; John Chandler (s., Benjamin,
Jr.): 75; Lucy (d., Benjamin, Sr.): 74;
Lucy Woodward (wife, Benjamin, Sr.):
62; Nancy I., see Nancy Irvine; Polly (d.,
Benjamin, Sr.): 64, 74; Samuel (s., Benjamin, Sr.): brick manufacturer, 65,
73-74; construction business, 65, 70-72;
Darst & Jordan company, 61, 65-69, 71;
slaves of, 67, 72-73
Daughters of the American Revolution, 195
Davidson,JamesD., 87, 96-97, 99, 101
Davidson Run Aqueduct, 114
Davis, Abram, 56-57; Alexander Jackson,
132; John W., 90; William W., 46
DeHart Hotel (Lexington), 141-42
Democratic party, 86, 92
Derst, Abraham, 61-62. See also Darst
Devil's Step Dam, 110
Diderot, Denis, Encyclopedia, 47
Dold, Samuel, 73
"Dold Building" (Lexington), 66, 71
(photo), 73
Dorman, Gen. C. P., 86
Daugherty, Daniel, 45
Douglas, Rev. James W., 30; William, 62
Drake, G. Francis: l 7ln; article by, 171-184
Estill, Harry, 98
Etnafurnace,48,55-56
Everett, Sen. Edward, 191-92
Fairfield, 19
Falling Spring Presbyterian Church, 16, 60
Female Benevolent Society (Presbyterian), 25
Fletcher, Richard R.: l 15n; article by,
115-130
forges, iron, see furnaces
folk buildings, see log buildings
Forks of James Presbyterian Church, 16, 19
Foulks, S. W., 136, 141, 143
"Franklin Hall" (Lexington), 70, 89
Franklin Society, 70, 73, 87-89
fraternities, college, characteristics of, 1~6,
128; expansion of, 116, 118, 120, 130; mfluence of Civil War on, 118-20, 123,
125-26; influence of Masons on, 124,
127-28; influence of women on, 121 ,
124, 129; Alpha Delta Phi, 116-117;
Alpha Tau Omega, 119-22, 124-28; Beta
Theta Pi, 116-18, 129; Delta Chi, 116;
Epsilon Alpha, 122; Kappa Alpha
Order, 122-25; Kappa Alpha Society,

227

Index

116, 122; Kappa Sigma, 122; Phi Beta
Kappa, 116; Phi Kappa Chi, 122; Phi
Kappa Psi, 116-18, 122; Pi Kappa
Alpha, 122; Sigma Chi, 116; Sigma Nu,
125-30
Frazer, Gen. Douglas, 98
Fuller, John W ., 88
furnaces and forges, design, 46-50, 55, 58-59;
jobs at, 50, 58; photos of, 47, 49, 51 See
Bath Iron Works, Buena Vista furnace,
Glenwood furnace. See also iron production, slaves.
Galt, Mary Jeffery, 194
Garden Club of Virginia, 199
Gibraltar Forge, 46, 52
Gillock, Samuel, 86
Glasgow, 133, 138
Glasgow, W. A., 102
Glasgow Improvement Company, 138
Glazebrook, Otis Allan, 119-21
Glenwood furnace, 46-48, 52-53
Gooch, William, 7, 14
Goochland County, 62-63
Goodwin, Rev. W. A. R., 195, 207
Goose Neck Dam, 110 (photo)
Gorgas, Charles, 56
Goshen, 138-40, 142
The Goshen Blade, 139
Goshen Land and Development Company,
139
Goshen Pass, 52, 55
Grace Episcopal Church, see Robert E. Lee
Memorial (Episcopal) Church
Graham, John Alexander, 171-84; Rev.
William, 20-21
Graves, Charles A., 103
Great Awakening, 15 (First), 22 (Second)
Griffin, Caesar, 98
Grigsby, "Soldier John," 63, 74; Capt.
Reuben, 74
Grigsby family, 74-75
Hall, Mary Ann, 79
Hamilton College (Clinton, NY), 116
Heflin, Sterling M., 145n; article by, 145-158
Henry, PatricK (slave of Benj . Darst), 73
Henson, John, 31
Historic American Building Survey, 199
Historic Garden Week, 199
Historic Lexington Foundation, 203
Historic Preservation Act ( 1966), 202
Hopkins, James Frank, 125-28
Houghawout, J. W ., 32-33

Hoyt, William D., 185-186
Hull, Phillip, 47, 49
Hunter's (Gen. David) Raid (1863), and
Buena Vista furnace, 51; and Lexington,
38, 94; effect on slaves, 38, 58
Hyde family, 70-71
immigrants, 4-7, 61, see Scotch-Irish.
indenture (labor contract), 63
Indians, 1-2, 14-15, 78; relations with whites,
22,45
"Irish Tract," 7
iron industry, as inducement to colonization,
46; fuel for, 46, 48-49, 51, 55; importance to Confederacy, 51; ore, 48-49,
51; power for, 47-48, 60; production,
45-52; products, 50. See also William W.
Davis, furnaces and forges, Samuel F.
Jordan, slaves, William Weaver.
Irvine, John, 65, 69, 71, 73; Nancy, 65
Jackson, Thomas J. ("Stonewall"), death of,
40; health of, 39-40; and Eleanor
Junkin, 39; and Lexington Presbyterian
Church, 39; and Negro Sunday School,
33n, 39; religious beliefs, 39-40; research
on, 167; and VMI, 38-39, 118
James River and Kanawha Canal, 105, 114
Jefferson, Thomas, 212; architect, 64, 67;
and Monticello, 192-94, 214
Jefferson, Thomas, Memorial Foundation,
193-94
Jones, Isaac
Jordan, James R., 74; Col. John: and Blue
Ridge Canal, 65, 69; as bricklayer, 64;
and construction business, 64-69; Darst
& Jordan company, 61, 65-69, 71; and
iron manufacturing, 46, 50-51, 65; slaves
of, 67; John Winn, 51; Samuel F., 46,
51, 56
Jordan family, 57, 65, 74
"Jordan House" (Lexington), 209
Junkin, Rev. Ebenezer, 23; Eleanor, 39; Dr.
George, 118-19
Kasai Herald (Congo), 153
Kasai Rubber Company, 153-55
"Kenmore" (Fredericksburg), 199
Kennedy,Joseph, 18
Kimball, Sidney Fiske, 199, 207
Kirkpatrick, Thomas J., 102-03
Know-Nothing [American] party, 91-92

Lambert, Daniel , 64
land policy, 7, 14
land speculation, 133-43
Lapsley, Rev. Samuel Norville, 148-49

228

Index

Lebanon Valley Forge, 52
Lee, Fitzhugh, (nephew, Gen. R. E.), 138;
George T., (nephew, Gen . R. E.), 121;
Gen. G. W. Custis (s., Gen. R. E.), 100;
Mary Custis (Mrs. R. E.), 100; Mildred
(niece, Gen. R. E.), 121; Gen. Robert E.:
death of, 100; and Grace Church, 41-42;
humor of, 41-42; as role model, 124; and
Washington College, 94-97, 100, 103,
118
Lee, Robert E. Memorial (Episcopal)
Church, 41, 125
Lee, Robert E., Memorial Foundation, 199
Leopold II (Belgium), 148, 152-53
Letcher, Elizabeth S. ("Lizzie") (d., John),
121; Gov. John, (s., William), 70, 73,
87-88, 92-93, 121; Samuel Houston (s.,
John), 121; William H., 70
Levy, Jefferson, 193; Uriah, 193
Lewis, W. C., 31
Leyburn, Dr. Alfred, 33; Edward R., 31-33,
40-42; Dr. James G., 29n; article by,
29-44
Lexington, architecture of, 64-72, 203-09;
Central School, 73; fire company, 72;
fire of 1796, 30, 63, 72; land speculation
in, 133; lottery in, 72; Mrs. McCulloch's
Stories of Ole Lexington ( 1972), 159-60;
Presbyterian heritage, 125; preservation
in, 203-04; relations with college
students, 86-87, 125. See also Benjamin
Darst, Samuel Darst, Col. John Jordan,
Lexington Presbyterian Church,
Virginia Military Institute, Washington
and Lee University.
Lexington Arsenal, see Virginia Military Institute, predecessors.
Lexington Development Company, 140-41
Lexington Gazette, 87
Lexington Law School, see Brockenbrough,
John W.
Lexington Mills Dam, 106
Lexington Presbyterian Church, blacks attending, 30, 32, 39; building: first, 30;
present, 31-32, 34, 208; Female Working
Society of, 32, 37; hymn singing in, 42;
mentioned, 64, 72; Rev. Francis P .
Mullally, 40, 42; Negro Sunday School,
33n, 39; origins of, 29-30; pew fees,
30-32; photo of, 43; Sunday School,
32-33, 39; Rev. John Skinner, 34-37, 42;
and "Skinner War," 35-37
Lexington Presbytery, see Presbytery of Lexington
Liberty Hall Academy, origins of, 19-21
Liberty Hall Volunteers, in Civil War, 118; in
Rev. War, 20
"Little Stono" (Rockbridge Co.), 66
lock, (canal), photos, 109-110. See North
River Navigation Canal.

log buildings, churches, 16, 18-19; construction methods, 7-12; history of, 4-7; size
of, 8, 12; varieties, 11-12
Lowell, James Russell, 206
Log College, see Princeton University
Loth, Calder, 69
Luebo, Congo Free State, see William M.
Morrison
Lyle, John B., 35, 42; Matthew, 16; Royster,
Jr.: 3n, 131n; articles by, 3-12, 131-44
Lynchburg, 50, 59
Mack, Alexander, 55
Madison, Daisy, 129
Manakin PostOffice (Goochland Co.), 62
"The Manse" (Lexington), 208
"Maplewood," 204
"Marmion" (Fredericksburg), 199
Marshall, Alfred, 119-21
Mason, George, 212
Maury River, 59, 106-14
Mayberry, Thomas, 46, 53-54, 60
Mennonite mission (Congo), 157
Miami University (Oxford, Ohio), 116-17
ministers, education of, 15, 33-34, 34n; pay
of, 21, 24, 26-27, 32n. See John Blair,
Samuel Blair, Samuel Brown, Sr., John
Caldwell, John Craig, William Dean,
James Morrison, Francis P. Mullally,
William Robinson, John Skinner,
William S. White.
Minn, John B., 91
Monmouth Presbyterian Church, 145-46
"Monticello" (Albemarle Co.), 192-94,
198-99
Moomaw, Benjamin C., 134
Moomaw's Damn, 108-09
Moomaw's Landing, 109
Moore, Capt. David E., 87, 99, 101; Samuel
McDowell, 87
Morgan, Sen. John Tyler, 148
Morrison, Bertha S. (wife, William M.), see
Bertha Stebbins; Rev. James, 23-24,
26-28; Luther (s., Robt., Jr.) 145-47;
Mary A. (wife, Luther), see Mary A.
McCutchan; Robert (s., Samuel), 145;
Robert, Jr. (s., Robert), 145; Samuel,
145; Rev. William Mccutchan (s.,
Luther): and Bakuba language, 149-51;
childhood of, 146; death of, 158; education of, 146-47; . and lbanche mission,
149-50; a libel suit against, 154-55; and
Luebo mission, 147-49, 151 , 155-58;
photo of, 154; reform efforts in Congo
of, 152-55; translations by, 156-57; wife
of, 155-56
"Mountain Farm," 58

229

Index
"Mount Pleasant," 19
"Mount Vernon" (Fairfax Co.), 191-93, 206
Mount Vernon Ladies . Association, 191-92,
199,206
moral code, post-Revolutionary War, 20;'
primitive, 2. See also temperance movement.
Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church (Steeles
Tavern), 26
Mullally, Rev._Francis P., 40, 42
Munger, Robert S., 176
Myers, Henry H., 140
McClure, William H., 77n; articles by,
77-84
McCormick, Cyrus Hall (s., Robert, Jr.): inventions, 80-82; iron manufacturing, 82;
reaper manufacturing, 82-83; Daniel, 78;
Mary Hall, see Mary Ann Hall; Robert
(s., Thomas), 78-79; Robert, Jr. (s.,
Robert), 79-81; Thomas, 78
McCormick family, 53, 78, 82
McCormick reaper, 60, 79, 80-81 (photos),
81-84
McCormick Memorial Wayside (Steeles
Tavern), 84
McCulloch, Ruth Anderson (Mrs. Charles),
159-60, 209
Mccutchan, Mary Agnes, 147
McMurran, Lewis A., Jr., 21 ln; article by,
211-14
National Historic Sites Act (1934), 201
National Register of Historic Places, 202
National Society of Colonial Dames of
Virginia, 199
National Trust for Historic Preservation, 207
Natural Bridge, The, 52, 73
Negro church attendance, 22, 24, 26, 30, 33n,
39. See also slaves .
Nelson, Alexander L., 32, 38, 140; Robert E.,
Jr., 126
Neriah Baptist Church, 66
New England, 5, 10
New Jersey College, see Princeton University
New Market, Battle of, see Virginia Military
Institute
New Monmouth Presbyterian Church, 19,
29-30
New Providence Presbyterian Church,
building of: 1st (log), 18; 2nd (stone),
18-19, 22; 3rd (brick), 19, 22; John
Brown (1st minister), 17; Samuel Brown
(2nd minister), 21-23; establishment of,
15-17; Female Benevolent Society of, 25;
membership of, 20, 22, 24-26; James
Morrison (3rd minister), 23-24, 26-28;
and Mt. Carmel Church, 26; naming of,

18; Negro members, 22, 24, 26; property
of, 18-19; revivals at, 20-21, 25-26; Session activities of, 24-25; Sunday School
at, 25; Temperance Society at, 26; and
Timber Ridge Church, 17
Norfolk, Va., 163, 189
North River, see Maury River
North River Canal, 60, 105-114; construction
of, 50, map of, 112-113
Old Providence A.R.P. Church, 15-16, 18, 79
"Old South Meeting House" (Boston,
Mass.), 206
Oxford furnace, 58
Panic of 1893, 142
Patteson, Roy K., 13n; article by, 13-28
Paxton, J. G., 88; Matthew, 140; Matthew
White, Jr., 85n, article by, 85-104
"The Paxton House" (Lexington), 208
"Paxton's Tavern," 72
Peace Conference of 1861, 92
"Pendleton-Coles House" (Lexington), 208
Penick family, 40
Penn, William, 5
Pennsylvania, 5, 7, 11, 18, 54
Pettyjohn, J.P., 136
Philadelphia, 4-5, 54-55, 61, 78, 145, 147
Phipps, Rev. Joshua, 149
"Pines, The," 66, 69, 70 (photo), 73
Polk, James K., 87
pottery industry, 62-64
Pratt, Rev. John W., 41-42
Presbyterian Church, communion in, 25, 30;
discipline of members, 24-25, 30; divisions in, 15, 19, 26, 35-37; expansion of,
20; itinerai:e ministers of, 14, 19; missionary work of, 13-16, 19, 25, 34,
147-58; pew rental in, 30-32; Sunday
School of, 25. See also ministers,
Presbytery, Session, Augusta Stone,
Falling Spring, Forks of James, Lexington, Mt. Carmel, New Monmouth,
New Providence, Old Providence, South
Mountain Meeting House, Timber
Ridge, Tinkling Spring.
Presbyterian
Theological
Seminary
(Louisville, Ky.), 147
Presbytery, of Arkansas, 147; of Donegal,
14; of Hanover, 19-20; of Lexington,
20-21, 27-28, 35-37; of New Castle, 17;
of Philadelphia, 13
preservation, see architecture
Preston, John T. L., 35-36; Margaret Junkin,
38; William, 78
Princeton University, 16, 172

230

Index

Quarles, Greenfield, 127
Raleigh Tavern (Williamsburg), 116, 131
Ramsey, Rev. James 8., 27
Randolph-Macon · College (Ashland, Va.) ,
119
Randolph, Peyton, 211
"Rectory, The," 66-67, 69
Reid's Dam, 106
"Reid-White House," 66
Reeves, John H., I
Retreat furnace, 48, 55
Rex, Will, 56-57
Richardson, William H., 165
Richmond, 50, 59, 60, 106, 119-120, 200-01
Riley, James Mcilvaine, 127
Robinson, Isaac Pointevint, 129
Rockbridge Alum Springs, 138, 143
Rockbridge [land] Company, 138, 142
Rockbridge County, land speculation !n,
133-43; origins of, 7, 14; primitive inhabitants of, 1-2; Revolutionary War in,
20; tourism in, 52
Rockbridge Historical Society, 159, 203, 209
Rockefeller,JohnD.,Jr., 131, 195,207
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 163
Ross, Erskine Mayo, 119-20; John DeHart,
138, 140
"Jacob M. Ruff House" (Lexington), 197-98
Ruffner, Rev. Dr. Henry, 30, 65-66, 73-74;
William, 68, 73
Salling, Capt. Henry, 74; Capt. John Peter,
74; Lucy D., see Lucy Darst
Sanders, Irwin Taylor, III, 187n; article by,
187-204
Sanford, Henry, 148
Saugus, Massachusetts, 51
Saylor, John, 192
Scotch-Irish, characteristics of, 33 ; culture
of, 6-7; housing of, 5-7; immigrants, 5-7,
14, 78; in Pennsylvania, 7; religion of,
13 , 125; in the Shenandoah Valley, 7,
13-14, 78
Scott, Stanhope McClellan, 122; William
Nelson, 122-24
Secession Convention (Va.), 1861, 92
Session (Presbyterian), 24-25, 27, 30, 35 ,
40-42
Shenandoah County, 62
Shenandoah Valley, name origins, 78
Shenandoah Valley Research Station (of
VPI), 84
Sheppard, Rev. William Henry, 148-49,
154-55

Siebert, Alonzo, 50
"Silverwood" (Lexington), 91, 208
Simpson, Pamela Hemenway, 205n; article
by, 205-09
Sisson, Anne, 56-57
Skinner, Rev. John, 34-37, 42
slavery, in Congo, 152; opposition to, 87-89,
92
slaves, church attendance, 22, 24, 26; construction industry, 67, 73; families, 91;
freed by Hunter's Raid, 58; Hunter's
Raid, 38; in iron industry, 51, 54-55, 58;
in Lexington fire company, 72; slave
patrols, 58; pay of, 58, 67; runaways, 58
Smith, Gen. Francis H., criticized, 36-37; and
fraternities, 120; rebuilds VMI, 118-19
Society for the Preservation of New England
Antiquities, 206
Southern Seminary Junior College, 132-33,
137,143
South Mountain Meeting House
(Presbyterian), 15-16, 18
South River Dam, 107
Spiller's Dam, 111
Spotswood, Sir Alexander, 45
Staunton, 7, 14, 38, 67
Staunton Development Company, 139
Stebbins, Bertha, 155-56
Steele, Andrew, 17, 21; John, 81
Steeles Tavern, 78, 82
"Stono" (Lexington), 66
"Stratford Hall," 199
Stuart, Judge Archibald, 67
Synod (Presbyterian), of New York, 15 ,
18-19; of Philadelphia, 14-15; of
Virginia , 21
temperance movement, 26
"Thorn Hill" (Rockbridge Co.), 86, 91
Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church, 15
Toleration, Act of (English), 14
Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church, 16; and
John Brown (minister) , 19; building
(stone), 19; and Lexington Presbytery ,
21; and New Providence Church, 17 , 19
"That Club" (Lexington) , 176
Thompson, Garland, 58
Tolley, John W., 135
Tredegar Iron Works (Richmond), 50
Trout, William E ., III, 105n; article by,
105-114
Tucker, Cynthia Beverly, 194; Henry St.
George, 86; John Randolph, 99-103; St.
George, 188
Turner, Charles W., 159-60

231

Index

Ulster (Northern Ireland), 6-7, 13-14
Union College (Schenectady, NY), 116
Union Forge, 54
Valley Star, The, 86, 89
Vandervelde, Emile, 155
Van Meter, John, 121
van Schreeven, William J., 214
Vesuvius, 53-54, 82
Victoria furnace, 138-39, 142
Virginia, Commonwealth of, constitutional
convention of 1861, see secession convention; debate over division of (1847),
87-88; first iron production in, 45, 51-52;
historical preservation in, 52, 187-204;
Revolutionary War bicentennial in,
211-14; tourism in, 189-90, 214
Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission,
202-03
Virginia Historical Society, 164, 169, 195
Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 211-14
Virginia Military Institute, archaelogical
museum of, 2; architecture of, 66, 132;
Annual Ball, 37; barracks, 90; Board of
Visitors, 87, 163, 166, 169; cadet "rat"
system, 118, 125-26; cavalry unit at,
162-63; Civil War effects on, 118,
120-21, 126; fraternities, 118-22, 124-29;
historical records of, 164-66; New
Market, Battle of, 119, 165; One Hundred Years at VMI, 166-67; predecessors
(Lexington Arsenal), 66, 165; relations
with Washington and Lee University, 87,
118, 122, 125, 129; relations with town,
86-87, 125. See also William Couper.
Virginia Open Space Act (1966), 202
Virginia, Synod of, see Synod
Virginia, University of, 86; architecture, 67;
fraternities, 116, 118; library, 53
VMI Island, 106-07
Walker, Thomas, 23
"Walnut Grove" (Rockbridge Co.), 79, 82
Walsh, William Archibald, 122
Walter, Thomas U., 208
Walz, William, 41
Wardlaw, Martha, 19; Robert, 19; William,
21
Washington, George, 21, 212; John, 191
Washington College, Washington and Lee
University

Washington and Lee University: Board of
Trustees, 68, 91, 94-96, 98-103, 118;
buildings, 64, 67-69, 114; Civil War
damage to, 94, 118; fraternities,
establishment of, 116, 121-24, 129;
fraternities, opposition to, 117-18; Law
School, 96-103; Gen. Lee's presidency,
95-96, 103, 118; music at, 182-84;
predecessors: Liberty Hall Academy,
19-21; Washington Academy, 64;
Washington College, 19; relations with
VMI, 87, 118, 122, 125, 129; songs of,
182-84; Washington Literary Society,
146; Wedgewood plates, 180-82
Waynesboro, 7,38
Weaver, Elizabeth Woodson, (wife,
William), 55-56, 58; William, 46-47,
49-50, 53-60; death of, 60; family life,
55-57; lawsuits against, 56-57, 60; papers
of, 53; pictures of, 54, 59; slaves of,
54-55, 57-58
Welch, Elizabeth, (d. Thomas, II), 74;
Thomas, II, 74
West End Glasgow Land Company, 138
Western Virginia Bicentennial Information
Center, 212
Whig party, 87
whiskey manufacture, 26
White, Richard Grant, 206; Stanford, 143;
Thomas S., 140; Rev. William S., 37-40
William and Mary, College of
(Williamsburg), 118
Williamsburg, 131, 190, 195-200, 207
Wilson, William, 54
"Wilton" (Richmond), 198-99
Wise, Gov. Henry A., 92
"John Withrow House," 20
women, and church groups, 25, 32, 37;
criticism of, 3, 6-7; and fraternities, 121,
124, 129
Wood, James Ward, 122, 124
Woodson,John,65, 72
Woodson family, 62
Woodward, Isaac, 65, 72
Woodward family, 62
World War I, 162, 176
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 3

232

Yale University (New Haven, Conn.),
116
Zimmerman's Dam, 108-09

Editor:

Larry I. Bland is editor of the Marshall Papers at the George C.
Marshall Research Foundation in Lexington, Virginia. He
received his Ph.D. in diplomatic history from the University of
Wisconsin, and has taught American history in Wisconsin,
North Carolina and Virginia.

Assistant Editor:

Joellen K. Bland is editing assistant for the Marshall Papers at
the George C. Marshall Research Foundation in Lexington,
Virginia . A graduate of Purdue University, she is also a freelance playwright with over twenty published dramatizations of
classics.

1·11:i:
..

l
{