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in a young republic. His first wife, Miss Julia Hancock, was a woman of eminent graces and singular beauty: after her death he married her cousin, Mrs. Radford. His descendants and collaterals are prominent citizens of St. Louis and Louisville. Thomas H. Benton belongs to history. Counted among the first, when Jackson, Webster, Calhoun, and Clay were his competitors, his name reopens a page illustrious in American annals. His wife was a daughter of Colonel James McDowell, of Rockbridge County, Virginia, and sister of the eloquent Governor of Virginia, of the same name. She was the niece and favorite kinswoman of Major Preston and spent four or five years in his house, devoting herself for the most part, as a matter of choice, to the education of his daughter Henrietta, then a little girl. As she was a woman of fine accomplishments and uncommon literary culture, as well as of a sprightly temper and vigorous intellect, she not only taught her pupil the rudiments, but advanced he
n the steamboat Hunter for Guvandotte, with their son, a nurse, a driver, and a carriage and pair of stout horses. From Guvandotte the journey was pursued in the carriage. After visiting the Red Sulphur Springs, esteemed salutary in lung-diseases, they made the round of the watering-places in the mountains, relying more upon exercise in the open air than upon the mineral waters. They also visited some of Mrs. Johnston's relations in that region, especially Colonel James McDowell, in Rockbridge County. During this distant tour he paid a visit to Mrs. Edmonia Preston, at Lexington. The writer then visited a house which forty years later he occupied as a residence for a time. Lieutenant Johnston visited the Peaks of Otter with John T. L. Preston, who later in life was of Stonewall Jackson's staff. Leaving Cherry Grove, the residence of Colonel McDowell, on the 8th of September, they traveled by carriage, passing through Fredericksburg on the 11th, and reaching Baltimore on the
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), Fire, sword, and the halter. (search)
t, too; but, owing to the active exertions of Captain Towns, who made his men carry water, the house was saved. While Hunter was in Lexington, Captain Mathew X. White, residing near the town, was arrested,. taken about two miles, and, without trial, was shot, on the allegation that he was a bushwhacker. During the first year of the war he commanded the Rockbridge Cavalry, and was a young gentleman of generous impulses and good character. The total destruction of private property in Rockbridge county, by Hunter, was estimated and published in the local papers at the time as over $2,000,000. The burning of the Institute was a public calamity, as it was an educational establishment of great value. From Lexington he proceeded to Buchanan, in Bottetourt county, and camped on the magnificent estate of Colonel John T. Anderson, an elder brother of General Joseph R. Anderson, of the Tredegar Works, at Richmond. Colonel Anderson's estate, on the banks of the Upper James, and his mansi
Robert Lewis Dabney, Life and Commands of Lieutenand- General Thomas J. Jackson, Chapter 1: parentage, and Early years. (search)
out his second year at West Point his system seemed to escape a part of its burdens; he grew rapidly to a tall stature, and thus, instead of remaining short, like his father, he was conformed to the usual standard of his race. But the other affection clave to him, like a Nemesis, during his whole youth and the war with Mexico, and never relaxed its hold until after he came to Lexington as Professor in the Military Institute, when he subdued it by means of the waters of the alum springs of Rockbridge, in connection with his admirable temperance. His habits of uncomplaining endurance, and his modest reluctance to every display savoring of egotism, concealed the larger part of these sufferings. It should be remembered, in order that we may appreciate his capacity and energy, that his arduous studies at the military academy, and his brilliant services in Mexico, were performed by him while hag-ridden from time to time by this wretched tormentor. The post of Constable in the norther
Robert Lewis Dabney, Life and Commands of Lieutenand- General Thomas J. Jackson, Chapter 4: life in Lexington. (search)
short, for he rarely made any allusion to it. On the 27th of March, 1851, he was elected Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and Artillery Tactics in the Military Academy of Virginia. This school, founded about twelve years before, upon the model of the one at West Point, had grown nearly to the distinction of its prototype, and was now attended by several hundred young men from Virginia and other Southern States. It is placed near the village of Lexington, in the county of Rockbridge, one of the most fertile and picturesque districts in the great valley of Virginia. Its castellated buildings, grandly situated on a commanding yet grassy eminence, overlook the country for many miles, and, on the east, confront the Blue Ridge Mountains, which form the boundary of the district on that side. The salubrity of the climate, and the intelligence of the society, graced also by the faculty of Washington College, have always made Lexington an attractive residence. The prosperit
Robert Lewis Dabney, Life and Commands of Lieutenand- General Thomas J. Jackson, Chapter 6: first campaign in the Valley. (search)
ever, and when he expressed his anxieties, replied, Why should the peace of a true Christian be disturbed by anything which man can do unto him? Has not God promised to make all things work together for good to them that love him? The county of Rockbridge, like the rest of the State, was in a blaze of excitement, and its volunteers were arming and hurrying to the scene of action. Now it was that the hold which, notwithstanding his reputation for singularity, Major Jackson had upon the confmmand at Harper's Ferry. The next day this appointment was sent to the Convention for their sanction, when some one asked, Who is this Major Jackson, that we are asked to commit to him so responsible a post? He is one, replied the member from Rockbridge, who, if you order him to hold a post, will never leave it alive to be occupied by the enemy. The Governor accordingly handed him his commission as Colonel, on Saturday, April 27th, and he departed at once for his command. On the way. he wrot
Jubal Anderson Early, Ruth Hairston Early, Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early , C. S. A., Chapter 30: Averill's raid and the winter campaign. (search)
river, on this route. It was, therefore, impossible for him to go the direct road, but being informed by him that there was a bridge over the Cow Pasture not far above its junction with Jackson's River, which could be reached by going through Rockbridge, and avoiding the other streams, I ordered him to take that route, which was by the way of Brownsburg. The infantry brigades I determined to move back to Staunton, to be used for the defence of that place in the event of Averill's moving ths harsh among the mountains as it is in that part of Canada bordering on the Lakes. Shortly after our return, the troops were moved further up the valley, the two infantry brigades going into camp near Harrisonburg, and the cavalry going to Rockbridge and the railroad west of Staunton where forage could be obtained, a small force being left to picket down the valley. Major Gilmor subsequently made a raid down the valley, and captured a train on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. After th
Jubal Anderson Early, Ruth Hairston Early, Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early , C. S. A., Chapter 36: campaign in Maryland and Virginia. (search)
ey, which is a part of the Valley of Virginia, embraces the counties of Augusta, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Page, Warren, Clarke, Frederick, Jefferson and Berkeley. This valley is bounded on the north by the Potomac, on the south by the county of Rockbridge, on the east by the Blue Ridge and on the west by the Great North Mountain and its ranges. The Shenandoah River is composed of two branches, called, respectively, the North Fork and the South Fork, which unite near Front Royal in Warren Couve their junction; and from Front Royal there are good roads up the Luray Valley, and by the way of Conrad's Store and Port Republic, to Harrisonburg and Staunton. From Staunton, south, there are good roads passing through Lexington, in Rockbridge County, and Buchanan, in Botetourt County, to several points on the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad; and others direct from Staunton and Lexington to Lynchburg. The Central Railroad, from Richmond, passes through the Blue Ridge, with a tunnel at
Jubal Anderson Early, Ruth Hairston Early, Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early , C. S. A., Chapter 38: operations in lower valley and Maryland. (search)
Letcher and her family, to leave the house. In the same county a Christian gentleman, Mr. Creigh, had been hung because he had killed a straggling and marauding Federal soldier while in the act of insulting and outraging the ladies of his family. The time consumed in the perpetration of those deeds was the salvation of Lynchburg, with its stores, foundries and factories, which were so necessary to our army at Richmond. Ransom's cavalry moved by Clifton Forge, through the western part of Rockbridge, to keep a lookout for Hunter and ascertain if he should attempt to get into the Valley again. On the 26th, I reached Staunton in advance of my troops, and the latter came up next day, which was spent in reducing transportation and getting provisions from Waynesboro, to which point they had been sent over the railroad. Some of the guns and a number of the horses belonging to the artillery were now unfit for service, and the best of each were selected, and about a battalion taken from
Jubal Anderson Early, Ruth Hairston Early, Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early , C. S. A., Chapter 50: operations in 1865. (search)
ing under the orders of the Conscript Bureau. Orders were therefore given for the immediate removal of all stores from that place. Rosser succeeded in collecting a little over 100 men, and with these he attempted to check the enemy at North River, near Mount Crawford, on the first of March, but was unable to do so. On the afternoon of that day, the enemy approached to within three or four miles of Staunton, and I then telegraphed to Lomax to concentrate his cavalry at Pound Gap in Rockbridge County, and to follow and annoy the enemy should he move towards Lynchburg, and rode out of town towards Waynesboro, after all the stores had been removed. Wharton and Nelson were ordered to move to Waynesboro by light next morning, and on that morning (the 2nd) their commands were put in position on a ridge covering Waynesboro on the west and just outside of the town. My object in taking this position was to secure the removal of five pieces of artillery for which there were no horses,