Hunter’s Raid: When War Came To Lexington

By the spring of 1864, much of Virginia had been ravaged by three years of war. Lexington and Rockbridge County had been spared invasion, occupation and destruction like that experienced by the northern and eastern portions of the state. The closest battles had been those of Jackson’s Valley Campaign in 1862, which were to the north of Lexington.

In May of 1864, a Federal army under General Franz Sigel advanced up the Shenandoah Valley, but was turned back at New Market, with help from the Corps of Cadets from Virginia Military Institute. Sigel was removed and General David Hunter was put in command. He wasted little time in resuming the army’s advance south up the Shenandoah Valley toward Lexington.

June 11 will mark the 138^th anniversary of what local people call Hunter’s Raid. Hunter’s army of 18,000 soldiers invaded the town on a Saturday, and remained until the following Tuesday. During this short occupation, Union troops ransacked many homes, taking various ‘trophies’ and burned Virginia Military Institute and several other buildings.

Because of the shock to the town and its people caused by the raid, the libraries of both VMI and Washington and Lee University contain extensive material on Hunter’s Raid, including several personal accounts by people living in Lexington at the time.

On June 10, 1864, upon hearing that the Union troops were nearing Lexington, Gen. John McCausland and his 1,500 Confederate soldiers prepared to burn the wooden bridge to Lexington that crossed the North River, now known as the Maury River. McCausland also stationed sharpshooters north of the river on what is now called Hunter Hill. The Confederate soldiers burned the bridge early the following morning.

Although the destruction of the bridge failed to hold off the Union forces indefinitely, Rose Page Pendleton’s account of the raid tells us it did provide the Confederate forces with valuable time to retreat from the considerably larger Union army.

In her detailed account of the raid, which was later edited by Charles W. Turner and published, Rose Pendleton says, “After the burning of the bridge, the Yankees opened fire upon our sharpshooters, and our artillery, though only small pieces , having the advantage of position, returned the fire with effect. Instead of entering the town at nine o’clock in the morning as they might have done if the bridge had been left, they did not succeed in finding suitable fords until two or three o’clock.”

Frank Smith Reader, Union soldier and member of Hunter’s army, tells his version of the army’s entry into Lexington on June 11.

“One mile from town the bridge was burnt over the river and we had a very severe skirmish losing four men.”

After the Union troops forded the river and entered Lexington, they promptly began setting up headquarters in various homes. General Hunter established his headquarters in the home of General Francis H. Smith, the Superintendent of VMI. The other generals also found homes for temporary quarters.

The following morning, Hunter ordered that VMI be burned. An article from a 1932 VMI newspaper refers to a Col. Schoonmaker, a Union officer who was told to burn VMI but refused to do so.

President Abraham Lincoln had specifically prohibited the destruction of educational institutions as well as private property, and Schoonmaker, to use his own words, “considered at the time the burning of the Institute for military reasons, unnecessary and unwarranted.”

However, Hunter soon arrived, ordered that VMI be burned anyway, and reprimanded Schoonmaker for his impertinence.

VMI was not all that the Union army burned. Soldiers also set fire to several private residences, taking any worthwhile items as trophies.

Frank Reader describes this process in the June 12 entry in his journal.

“Lay in camp today burning up public works. We burnt some fine buildings, among others the residence of Governor Letcher. (John Letcher, Governor of Virginia at the time.) Stonewall Jackson’s remains are in the cemetery at this place... There are some of the most extensive libraries here that I ever saw. I have procured some very good works. The Cadets who attended the Military Academy here lived in style.”

Rose Pendleton also talks about the burning of Governor Letcher’s home.

“Soon after breakfast, the Institute was fired and then Colonel Williamson’s, Colonel Gilliam’s and Governor Letcher’s... Mrs. Letcher was given only five minutes notice about the burning of her house; she opened a drawer to get a dress for the baby and the Provost Marshall, an Irish Scoundrel, struck the lighted matches all around it into the clothes. He took the cradle out of Lizzie’s arms and threw it into the flames. All day they destroyed furnaces, burned mills and buildings of different sorts, and robbed private property.”

Apparently, VMI was not the only educational institution that Hunter wanted to destroy. A newspaper clipping, which appears in the scrapbook of Lucy and Margaret

Withrow, says that once Hunter had burned VMI, his turned his thoughts to demolishing what was then Washington College, now Washington and Lee University. According to the clipping, only the intervention of Schoonmaker and other officers saved the second school from being burned as well.

The clipping also mentions two of Hunter’s officers who were very much opposed to the burning of the schools. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes and First Lieutenant William McKinley, Jr., both of whom later became United States Presidents, were against the unnecessary demolition.

By many accounts, the Union soldiers continued to take the possessions as well as the food of local civilians throughout their occupation of Lexington. Thus, their withdrawal from town on Tuesday, June 14, was, no doubt, met with a collective sigh of relief on the part of Lexingtonians.

Rose Pendleton describes the withdrawal of the troops.

“We went quietly to bed, and the first sound that greeted us Tuesday morning was the tramping of horses and rolling of wagons. They had been going all night and by the time we went to breakfast there were not more than a few hundred in the streets. Before eleven o’clock our own pickets were in town and had captured two or three Yankees. What the amount of damage may be, they have done, is almost impossible to estimate, but it must be very great...”

The burnt-out walls of the VMI barracks were reused in reconstructing the building in the late 1860s. The United State government later paid compensation to VMI for the burning of the school, and the funds were used to build Jackson Memorial Hall, site of the famous painting of the Battle of New Market and location of the VMI Museum.

This June 11, some local people may remember their ancestors’ tales of Hunter’s Raid. It may have occured 138 years ago, but as far as the people of Lexington are concerned, it may as well have been yesterday.

Exploring the Keys to the Locks

By: Kelly Harris

Finding interesting historical sites in Rockbridge County is easy. For the more adventurous, however, another world awaits just beyond the main roads and tourist attractions. Obscured by time and technology the remains of the North River Navigation system provide a visual history of early transportation. The North River, renamed the Maury River in honor of the “Pathfinder of the Seas” Matthew Fontaine Maury, runs from near Goshen in northwest Rockbridge County to its mouth at the James River at Glasgow in the southeast corner of the county.

History

Completed in 1860, at a cost of about $500,000, the North River Navigation Canal System provided efficient, if slow, travel by water. The canal consisted of a series of locks, dams and aqueducts, and was a part of the James River and Kanawha Canal. Running 20 miles from Lexington to the James River, cargo and passengers could go as far as Richmond. Because of the topography of Rockbridge County, it was necessary to raise or lower boats for easier passage through the rocks and rapids.

The initial survey for construction of the canal system was in 1818. Commissioned by the Virginia Board of Public works, Thomas Moore was the principal engineer but by 1843, no record of his survey survived. W. B. Thompson resurveyed the North River in 1838, and proposed safer improvements with locks, dams and canals. He noted that it would be expensive.

In 1850, plans were made for the construction of the enhanced waterway. Jacob M. Ruff, the North River Navigation Company secretary, urged using masonry instead of wood. The initial cost would be higher but future repairs would be less expensive, he argued.

Work began in 1851. The materials included white oak and pine for the foundation. The lock walls, constructed mainly of limestone, included other types of stone as well. The contractors had to provide their own stone so most likely; it was quarried from Rockbridge County.

Building of the canal system provided employment for many citizens of the area.

Skilled labor included carpenters and stonemasons. The company also used whites, convicts, slaves and free blacks on the project. Each lock showed differences in construction as many laborers and contractors worked on the project. The lock chambers were about 15 feet wide and 100 feet long.

After completion of the canal system, employees were hired as lockkeepers, toll takers, boatmen, pilots and mule drivers. Our understanding of the process of moving the boats from dam to canal to river is incomplete, however records show sketchy plans. Horses or mules were hitched to the boats at the wharves then tied to the towline. Then the animals pulled the boats through the canals from the towpaths that ran along the banks of the river. After going through the locks the boats then could proceed on their journey, pulled by the animals. There were bridges along the way for the workers and animals to cross.

Stables were build every twenty miles or so. Scattered along the waterway were also warehouses, gatekeeper houses and wharves, much like the off ramps of today’s Interstate system.

Packet boats traveled at a high rate of speed compared to freight or animal pack boats. Packets ran about 4 miles an hour unlike the freights that clocked about 2 miles per hour. Travelers could depart from Lexington for a Richmond destination in comfort and style. There were bunks, baggage tickets and washrooms. The fare for one person from Lexington to Lynchburg was $2.50 and took about 13 hours. To go all the way to Richmond, The cost was $4.00. The travel time to Richmond was about 28 hours. Passengers could make the entire trip without changing boats.

A Union cavalry raid during the Civil War damaged several gates in the locks. The canal and locks, still in operation in 1881, were slowly retired as the railroad came through. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad actually built track on top of the old canal towpaths in many places along the James River. Major floods in 1870 and 1877 hastened the demise of the North River Navigation system.

Some of the locks are now rubble. Weeds, time, weather and technology obscure others. With a little imagination and good hiking shoes, one can visualize how important the locks were to the Rockbridge County and its economy.

Directions

The locks, known by different names over the years, make tracking a bit of a challenge.

Reid’s (Town Dam & Lock) and South River (Davidson’s) dams and locks can been seen from the Chessie Nature Trail that runs between Lexington and Buena Vista, and require some hiking to reach. To see more easily accessible ruins of the canal, begin by taking Rt. 60 East toward Buena Vista. On the left about 4.2 miles is Ben Salem Wayside Park. Rubble remains of the dam, but the locks are in good condition.

Continue east on Rt. 60 into Buena Vista. Following along the river occasional sights of ruins remain.

At the first stoplight make a right onto Rt. 501 south. Drive through Buena Vista toward Glasgow, turn right about 4.8 miles past Buena Vista onto Rt. 663 (River Road). This road is a semi-circle and comes out back on Rt. 501. There are several locks along this road in good condition, though not as accessible as the Ben Salem lock. They include Snavernake (Laird’s), Lock #7,Edmondson’s (Agner’s), Lock #8, Goose Neck, Lock #9, Devil’s Step (Garrett’s), Miller’s (Spiller’s), Lock #10, Lock #11 and Davidson’s Run Aqueduct. Please note, some of these locks and dams are on private property.

This brings you back to Rt. 501. Turn right and continue about 1.3 miles. Turn right on Rt. 130. This is the town of Glasgow. There is a nice view from the bridge, though not much of the dams or locks are visible now. Go back to 501. Locks #12, #13 and #14 are just south of Glasgow.

The journey to Richmond from this point included 10 aqueducts, 14 dams and 88 more locks.

Additional Information

Visit the Buena Vista Courthouse at 2039 Sycamore Ave. Inside, there is a display with photos and historical information lining the walls about the North River locks. Books available include Proceeding of the Rockbridge Historical Society, Vol. VIII (1970-1974); Proceedings of the Rockbridge Historical Society, Vol. IX (1975-1979); Buena Vista: History Runs Through It, Historical and Archaeological Investigations Along the Maury River; The Maury River Atlas, Historic Sites On The North River Navigation; and An Automobile Tour and Field Guide to The North River Navigation, Rockbridge Historical Society, Lexington, Virginia or on the web at http://organizations.rockbridge.net/canal/.