Since 1998 - Historical and Genealogical
Resources
for the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and Virginia
PREFACE: HOW IT CAME ABOUT
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA POSTAL
SYSTEM
THE CIVIL WAR MARAUDERS
THE MAXWELL CASE: POUND, WISE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
THE HICKS FAMILY OF RUSSELL COUNTY
CATHOLICISM IN SCOTT COUNTY
THE PRESBYTERIAN BEGINNINGS IN BUCHANAN COUNTY,
VIRGINIA
CONFEDERATE VETERANS OF WISE COUNTY IN
1900
In July, 1959, Dr. W. D. Weatherford, one of the directors of Berea College in Kentucky, organized plans for "A Consultation on Creative Writing in the Appalachians". All known writers and historians of the Southern Appalachians were invited to attend.
In general it was a distinguished group, and the writer had the privilege of "sitting on the side lines."
The speakers included such celebrities as Wilma Dykeman, Kermit Hunter, Rebecca Caudill, and John Jacob Nyles, a rare musician, accompanied by his Russian wife, who did a fine performance.
The key speaker was to have been no other than Jesse Stuart, then confined to his bed following a heart attack; and his speech was read by another person. Our own Elihu Jasper Sutherland gave a talk on "Creative Writing, the Most Effective Agency in Developing Regional Pride and Loyalty".
It was there that the idea of the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia was conceived. After lunch at the Boone Tavern, Mrs. Sutherland and I sat in a cozy corner while Luther F. Addington and E. J. Sutherland exchanged ideas concerning the possibility of a historical society for the southwestern corner of Virginia. More than a year later, on Friday, November 18, 1960, at 7:30 p.m., a preliminary meeting was held at Clinch Valley College, Wise, VA, to form a regional historical meeting. Among those present were: L. F. Addington, E. J. Sutherland, Emory L. Hamilton, E. B. Broadwater, Roy V. Wolfe, Mrs. E. J. Sutherland and Miss Phoebe Sutherland. After a general discussion, temporary officers were elected, (E. J. Sutherland's diary).
The Historical Society of Southwest Virginia became a reality on March 16, 1961, when the organizational meeting was held at the Southwest Virginia Museum in Big Stone Gap. The minutes of that meeting show the following were present: E. B. Broadwater, L. F. Addington, James E. True, Harold R. Jenkins, J. Fred Bolton, Emory L. Hamilton, Rose Aston, R. F. McConnell and Mrs. R. F. McConnell (of Kingsport, Tennessee) Mrs. Ezra McClellan, C. Dennis Compton, Faye P. Tate, Phoebe Sutherland, E. L. Henson, J. Fred Fraley (of Bristol, VA), J. L. Camblos (of Big Stone Gap), Gary Graham, Bobby Elkins, Hampton Osborne, E. J. and Mrs. E. J. Sutherland. Constitution and By- Laws (drawn up by E. J. Sutherland) were adopted. Luther F. Addington was elected President; Earl B. Broadwater, Vice President: Hetty S. Sutherland, Secretary and E. J. Sutherland, Treasurer. (E. J. Sutherland entered in his diary on that date.) Emory Hamilton gave a fine talk on "St. Marie on the Clinch."
1985 marks the 25th year of the society's existence.
E. J. Sutherland succeeded Mr. Addington as President when new officers were elected at the March 1963 meeting and served one year. Mr. Addington was re-elected in March 1964, when Mr. Sutherland resigned because of ill health, and continued as President until 1974 when he resigned for health reasons. Professor E. L. Henson of Clinch Valley College acted as President one year. In 1975 Mrs. Ruth S. Watkins was elected President and served until 1982 when she was succeeded by Omer C. Addington who is still serving. Emory L. Hamilton has been the organization's most efficient Secretary since 1963, and Hetty S. Sutherland has served as Treasurer since 1965. The writer has served as reporter and necrologist for the society since it's organization. E. J. Sutherland died July 9, 1964; Luther F. Addington, on February 28, 1978, and many other charter members are no longer with us.
The Historical Society of Southwest Virginia has published seventeen pamphlets composed mostly of speeches made at the regular meetings by area historians. They include episodes of history that are, in many cases, not found elsewhere and should definitely be preserved in the form of a large, permanently bound book.
Furthermore, the society has contributed to a number of projects in the preservation of our Southwest Virginia Heritage. Among these are donations to the Southwest Virginia Museum at Big Stone Gap, the society's archives at Clinch Valley College, Wise, VA, and the Fort Houston Marker on Clinch River near Nickelsville in Scott County. The organization has also acquired a large volume of historical material for its archives in the John Cook Wylie Library at Clinch Valley College, including the James Taylor Adams Papers, reams of material collected by E. J. Sutherland as well as hundreds of published volumes from his library. Portraits of the two founders, Luther F. Addington and Elihu Jasper Sutherland, were unveiled by their widows at the March, 1980 meeting of society, to be hung in the archives.
The area covered by the society consists of Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott and Wise Counties, Virginia, but it has members in many other counties and states. Interested visitors are always welcome to it's meetings held three times a year on the last Saturdays of March, June and September. Because of uncertain weather conditions, the December meeting was discontinued soon after the society's organization.
There are currently about 140 members, four of whom are life members. These are Mrs. J. E. (Anne) Lanningham, Mrs. Bonnie S. Ball, Mrs. Hetty S. Sutherland, and Mr. Emory L. Hamilton. All of these have provided numerous articles for the publications and Mrs. Lanningham has long been the Lee County Director. It is our hope that the younger generations will take up where we leave off and keep the torches of history alive for those who follow:
Footnote: Your necrologist requests that obituaries of deceased members of the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia be sent to her, to be included in future publications. Please send to Mrs. Bonnie S. Ball, Necrologist, Historical Society of Southwest Virginia, 606 Wood Avenue, Big Stone Gap, VA 24219.
Pages 1 to 3
All the compromises between the North and South on economic issues and the question of slavery had come to naught.
Two days after the election on November 8, 1860, the legislature of South Carolina met to cast the electoral vote of the state, deciding to prepare the state for any emergency and called for a convention of the state to meet on December 17th at Columbia, South Carolina. The next day it adjourned to Charleston because of a smallpox epidemic raging in Columbia. On the twentieth day of December, this convention by unanimous vote, passed the Ordinance of Succession, declaring that the act of the convention of May 23, 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified is hereby repealed and the union now subsisting between South Carolina and the other states under the name of the United States of America is hereby dissolved.
After South Carolina withdrew from the union on December 20, 1860, her action was followed in January 1861, by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana.
These six seceding states functioned for a brief period of time as Independent Republics, from December 20, 1860, until January 26, 1861. These six states sent delegates selected by their State Legislature to Montgomery, Alabama to organize the government of the Confederate States of America.
Texas joined the Confederacy, February 1, 1861, six days after the Confederate government had been organized.
No addition to seceded territory was made until after the fall of Fort Sumter on April 13, 1861.
Virginia passed an ordinance of secession on April 17, 1861 to take effect after ratification at a popular election in May. From April 17, 1861 until May 7, 1861, Virginia functioned as an independent republic. The two counties that make up the eastern shore, Accomac and Northampton were always under Federal control, and on the night of June 18, 1861 over a third of the Old Dominion declared itself free of the confederacy and formed the state of West Virginia.
Three other states were to follow Virginia and leave the union. They were Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee.
The Provisional Congress that met in Montgomery, Alabama on February 4, 1861 elected Jefferson Davis, President, at a salary of $25,000 per year. He took office February 18, 1861.
On February 21, 1861 an act was passed by the Confederate Congress establishing a post office department, and on February 23, 1861 an act was approved, which was entitled an act to prescribe the rates of postage in the Confederate States of America. For a single letter not over « ounce for a distance up to five hundred miles and ten cents over five hundred miles and drop letters, two cents. These letters were not for transmission, but for delivery only. Local circulars one cent and letters of advertisement, two cents each. Circulars rate, two cents up to three ounces.
The only changes that were made in the above rates during the life of the Confederacy were: (1) The act approved April 9, 1862, effective July 1, 1862, which fixed the rate of first class mail at ten cents for each « ounce regardless of the distance, within the Confederate States of America. (2) The act of April 29, 1862, effective July 2, 1863 fixed the circular rate at one cent per ounce.
On March 6, 1861, John H. Reagan of Texas was appointed Postmaster General of the Confederate States of America. He was the only member of President Davis' cabinet to serve throughout the war and was with President Davis when they were captured in Georgia at Irwinville, May 10, 1865. He was born in Sevier County, Tennessee, November 8, 1818. He worked as a tanner, farm laborer, a mill operator and salesman in order to pay for his education. At the age of twenty-one he settled in Texas, where he practiced law. After the war he was a member of Congress, from 1875 to 1887, United States Senator from 1887 to 1891. He died at his home in Palestine, Texas, March 6, 1905, forty-four years to the day after he had taken the oath of office as Postmaster General of the Confederate States of America.
Postmaster General Reagan had initiated postal legislation in the Confederate Congress that gave him broad powers. His proclamation of may 13, 1861 named May 31 as the final date upon which Southern Postmasters would close their accounts with the United States government, and begin on June 1, their duties in the Postal Service of the Confederacy.
Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair, of the United States ordered that Postal intercourse between the South and North to be unlawful after May 28, 1861, and on June 1, 1861 postmasters received a regulation from the Dead Letter Office at Washington reading:
"You will return all mail directed to Southern States which cannot be forwarded to their intended destination on account of the discontinuance of mail service or any other cause, you will therefore, once a week or oftener if they accumulate rapidly make a separate return of such letters, postmark each on the sealed side, put domestic, foreign and registered letters in separate parcels and mark each parcel outside and bill showing their number and rates."
In this way the union tried to prevent mail from crossing from North to the South, and to cut off all communication from the outside.
An Act of the Confederate Congress went into effect June 1, 1861, which reads as follows:
"The Congress of the Confederate States of America to enact that until postage stamps and stamped envelopes can be procured and distributed, the Postmaster General may order the postage of the Confederacy to be paid in money under such rules and regulations as he may adopt."
All coins collected were deposited in the Confederate Treasury, thus depleting the Confederacy of all gold and silver money. From that date on "paid" handstamps and Postmaster Provisionals were quite extensively used throughout the Confederacy, but never officially recognized by the authorities of the Confederate Government.
Lacking official standing their implied status was accepted by Southern Postmasters, and by the grace of common consent their use was sanctioned as the government was unable to supply postage stamps. These temporary substitutes served their purpose and in a great measure met the needs of the public in the towns and cities of their origin, passing unchallenged through the states of the Southern Confederacy.
These Provisionals were postage stamps for use until a regular government issue appeared.
Postmaster J. H. Francis of Marion, Virginia claims to have issued the first Confederate Provisional. In preparing these stamps he left the space in the center blank for the insertion of the value which was handstamped as occasion required. He stated that he prepared two cents, five cents, ten cents, twenty cents and twenty-five cents denominations.
Postmaster I. C. Fowler, of Emory, Virginia stated that he carved the stamp on the end of a piece of poplar wood. He stated that one thousand were sold by him, until they were superseded by the regular Confederate issue.
A Provisional stamp printed in Abingdon, Virginia was found among the correspondence of Col. Samuel V. Fulkerson, dated June 11, 1861. Col. Fulkerson was Colonel in command of the 27th Regiment Virginia Volunteers. He was mortally wounded in the battle of Gaines Mill, June 27, 1862.
On Tuesday morning, April 2, 1861, proposal for postage stamps for the Confederate States of America appeared in the Richmond Enquirer. Virginia was still an integral part of the union when this advertisement appeared. Two weeks later she cast her lot with her sister States of the South.
Several companies submitted bids for printing the postal stamps but they were in the North, this was done before Virginia left the Union, this eliminated all bidders but one, the Lithographin House of Hoyer and Ludwig in Richmond, Virginia.
The first stamps of the Confederacy went on sale October 16, 1861, this was a five cent stamp in green color bearing the likeness of President Davis. This postage stamp was the first stamp to bear the features of a living American. The green five cent stamp was printed about four months - 9, 500,000 to 10,000,000 were printed.
The Confederacy had five cent stamps printed in London in 1862 on steel plates. These stamps were better than the lithograph printed stamps. This five cent stamp has the unique distinction of being the only foreign engraved and printed stamp used in America. No other stamp of the Civil War can equal its record of travel adventure and vicessitude, and no other single piece of postal currency of that time can compare with its cost of production, the price was $1,007.88 in gold, not Confederate money. The latter was not legal tender outside the Confederacy.
The one cent stamp bearing the likeness of John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina and printed in orange color and also foreign engraved and printed, but was never issued.
These stamps reached the Confederacy shortly before the new ten cent rate went into effect.
The Confederate Congress had fixed the rate of postage at five cents for the half-ounce on letters conveyed in the mails for any distance between places within the Confederate States not exceeding five hundred miles; and for any distance exceeding the half-ounce weight were to be charged double rate. Thus, there was a need for a ten-cent stamp and this made its appearance on November 6, 1861, and was immediately distributed among the post offices. It bore the likeness of Thomas Jefferson. The color selected was blue. The engraving for this stamp was copied from a United States Stamp of 1851.
An Act of the Confederate Congress on February 23, 1861, also prescribed a two cent denomination for drop letters, newspapers, handbills, circulars, and periodicals not exceeding three ounces in weight. Andrew Jackson was selected to appear on the two cent stamp. His likeness was taken from an oil painting in the Capitol in Richmond. It ranged in color from light green to dark and yellow green. Later it was changed to rose-brown which ranged from pink tones to brown-red. This occurred sometime in February or March 1862. The change was done for two reasons, to prevent counterfeiting and to help the postmaster distinguish the different denominations.
In the Richmond Daily Examiner, of Tuesday, April 21, 1863, appeared the following news item:
A new issue of ten cent postage stamps has been made and is quite a popular currency, being as much sought for as change in the absence of small notes, as for posting mail matter. The stamp is of lighter print and much neater than the old stamp and bears the bust of the President of the Confederate States, in profile, enwreathed with the words, Postage Ten Cents, Confederate States of America. These stamps will supplant the five cent stamp, since the postage on letters has been increased to ten cents.
When a proof of these stamps was shown to President Davis it is said to have met with his approval, as well as the officials of the Post Office Department. But it appears that there was a certain Mr. Browne, an Englishman and a northern newspaper reporter, a hanger on at the Davis mansion, who had not been consulted in the premises. This person took occasion, during a reception to approach Mrs. Davis and casually ask if she had seen the new stamp. Replying, that she had not, he took from his pocket a specimen and tactlessly remarked on the striking resemblance to Abraham Lincoln. The stamp was quietly withdrawn from sale; but not before a considerable number had been circulated through the Post Office.
In the first act authorizing postage stamps and specifying the denominations to be issued, a twenty-five cent stamp as included, however, it did not appear until 1863. There was no urgent need for this value up to this time, but the increasing shortage of small change, (the lowest value of Confederate paper money being a fifty cent bill) indicated that a twenty cent stamp might well relieve this situation.
In the Richmond Daily Examiner of Thursday, June 4, 1863, appeared the following news item:
A new postage stamp of the denomination of twenty cents has put forth by the Treasury Department. The stamp is of a rich dark green color with the medallion of George Washington on the face encircled by the words 'Confederate States of America', and the designation of twenty cents at the top and bottom, the former in figures and the latter in letters. The engraving is the best that has yet been executed of the postage currency.
The stamps when issued in any number will be a good medium of exchange and because of its high fractional value will we hope drive from general circulation some of the dirty five cent stamps that are becoming a great nuisance every day. About two million twenty cent stamps were issued from June 1863 to July 1864.
As the union blockade tightened its grip on the Confederacy, foreign commerce could not be carried on, and the union forces began to threaten Richmond, some stamps of the Confederacy were printed by J. T. Patterson and Company of Augusta, Georgia, and Keating and Ball in Columbia, South Carolina.
The postage stamps of the Confederate States of America were used for four years and six months. The last stamps were printed in 1864.
At the outbreak of the war Southern postmasters turned over their stock of United States stamped envelopes to the Confederate Postal authorities who used them as official envelopes for the Post Office Department, by printing across the stamp the legend, "Confederate States of America, Post Office Department, Official Business," and below an open space for their written signature of the respective Bureau Chiefs, the designation of his office.
The Confederate Congress passed an act which reads: "That as soon as the Postmaster General shall procure stamps and stamped envelopes, that the postmasters throughout the Confederate States be required to receive the treasury notes of the Confederate States at par, for said stamps and envelopes applied, for shall be five dollars or other sums for which the Confederate Treasury notes are issued."
There were no franking privileges in the Confederacy. President Davis had to use stamps on his mail, and so did General Lee and everyone else. The only free mail was the official correspondence of the Post Office Department. The Confederate Congressman could mail letters without stamps, by endorsing them with rank and station. They went "collect" and were stamped due and the recipient paid the postage.
The difficulty of getting supplies and the rapidly depleting stock of the ten cent stamps, forced the postmasters to adopt a unique method of supplying the need. There were large quantities of the twentys on hand and the postmaster bisected or halved them either diagonally or horizontally, thus creating substitutes for ten cent stamps.
The Richmond Daily Examiner of May 18, 1863 published the following information for the guidance of the public:
We have been furnished for publication by General Winder (General Winder was a Confederate General) with the following rules adopted by the United States Commandant General Dix, at Fortress Monroe, and which will be enforced in regard to all letters forwarded from the north to Fortress Monroe to go by flag or truce to Richmond.
1. No letter must exceed one page of a letter sheet, or relate to any other than purely domestic matter.
2. Every letter must be signed with the writer's name in full.
3. All letters must be sent with five cents postage enclosed if to go to Richmond and ten cents if beyond.
Some civilian flag or truce letters of the first period had attached to the envelope five or ten cents in the United States coin to pay the Confederate postage to its destination. The United States postage was paid with a three cent stamp or cash.
4. All letters must be enclosed to the Commanding General to the Department of Virginia at Fortress Monroe. Letters sent to any other address will not be forwarded.
The same rules will be applied to all letters sent from the South except prisoners of war.
Soldier letters from the field could be sent unfranked, the fee paid by the recipient; but it was required that they bear the name and rank as well as a corp of the writer, to which he was attached.
These "flag of truce letters" told their mute tales of suffering, hardships, hunger, sickness and death in the prison camps, army and at home, both North and South.
A letter written by Martin Godsey of Company E, 64 Regiment Virginia Cavalry, told of sickness and death.
Saltville
Smythe County, Virginia
27 June 1862
Mr. James T. Wood
Dear Friend,
I was very much gratified to receive a letter from you stating that
you all were in tolerable good health, but I sympathize greatly
with you all on account of the death of one that I thought to be
one of your best friends.
Dock, (nickname) you wrote to me to write and give you all the particulars of his death. I wrote Tabitha (Ballard's sister) from Jeffersonville on the second day after Ballard's death, giving nearly all the particulars, but it is probable that she had not got the letter, as mails there are so irregular. I will give you all the particulars as I can recollect.
He was taken sick at Crofts Road, in Mercer County on Friday the sixth of this month. At first he merely complained; On Saturday he went into the hospital as the tents were damp. I went and stayed with him, he was about as common. We got orders that day to move to Saltville and he was very anxious to come. I got him into an ambulance and brought him and all the sick to Jeffersonville, when we got there he said he felt some worse, as he had a severe pain in his side and thought it was riding in the wagon. Dr. Mason got a house and we took the sick of our Company to it. Nearly all the private houses were full. On Wednesday morning, Doctor Emmert came to see him and said he was doing very well. Ballard contended that it was Pleurisy, but the doctor said it was Pneumonia.
About the turn of the day, he commenced getting worse and I sent for Doctor Perry. He came and inquired for Doctor Emmert. I sent of him, and Doctor Perry directed him to put a mustard plaster all over his chest; but it did not good, he still got worse. He had been blistered severely on his chest and side. Doctor Meade then came and they all went to work with him, but could do no good.
At about three o'clock in the evening, he commenced getting out of his right mind, at about six o'clock he lost his speech, but soon came to his right mind. But, he still got weaker, and at about three o'clock in the morning he died.
Dock, I would have brought Ballard home if it had been possible. But, I could not get any conveyance to Saltville at that time, as all the wagons and teams were in government service.
I had him put away very decently. I had a shroud that cost seven dollars and everything else that was necessary. I also had religious services at the grave, by Captain Walker, as the Circuit Rider was not in the neighborhood. I did not have him buried according to the rules of war, because I heard him say he did not believe in it.
Write me soon. No more -
I Am yours,
Martin Godsey
Co E 6A Regt. VA Cav.
A letter from Lee County tells of murder and robbery. A part of which is given, this is a very long letter and the person who wrote it must have been a doctor.
7th February 1865
Lee County, VA
Dear Aunt & Cousins:
I avail myself of this cold morning sitting at home by the fire of dropping you a few lines to let you know we are all doing as well as can be expected.
Rowen Rogues, that infested Lee County last July took John D. Sage from his home to Jonesville in company of several others. Some of whom had no money, they were set free. At the jail in Jonesville were James Smith, Jack Myers and Lewis Berry. The next day they were taken to David McKinney's in Scott County. On the 11th they were marched back to Stickleyville and started back to McKinney's the same evening under guard, and to the top of Powells Mountain was taken about 150 yards to Allens jGap and there John D. Sage and Jack Myers was hung up to a hickory tree. On Sunday evening I was on my way to see some patients in Scott County and had crossed the mountain through the woods and the first house I got to I was told of the murders. But was not certain till Monday at 12 o'clock and in the evening I went to help bury them. We covered them up where they lay till Saturday. I had them taken up and buried at the graveyard at old James Duff's in a decent coffin.
I am sad to state that on the north of the mountain we found Lewis Berry's body with the head off, run down below the road in the head of a deep hollow. On all fours, we attempted to cover him up, but did so in so slight a manner the dog took him up and ate his carcass. So in a month his bones could not be found.
They killed others whose forms we found, but they were unknown. All had been robbed of their money and personal belongings.
I will close for want of room.
Yours,
James W. Sage
Many of the letters written by family, friends and others never reached the soldiers to whom they were addressed because of death, sickness, or transfers. These were sent to the Dead Letter Office and destroyed.
The Dead Letter Office was located in Richmond. It received a large number of letters from persons who were not residents of the Confederate States. These were placed in the hands of the proper Judical Officers to be disposed of under the Sequestration Act. This was an international law, which was to hold property and restore it to the party to who it is adjudged to belong.
As supplies in the Confederacy became scarce and hard to obtain; people turned to the last available scrap of paper in the Confederacy, fly leaves from books, to write on, wrapping paper and wall paper for envelopes.
Envelopes of earlier correspondence were carefully "turned inside out", regummed and used again. Frequently these turnings were repeated and the same addressing served for several letters, the earlier stamps being removed or covered by the new stamp. These were used until sheer weakness at the folds put an end to the envelopes use.
There were two kinds of turned covers those with a United States stamp on the inside and the other with Confederate franking on both inside and outside.
There was no insurance or registration of mail. Letters containing money and other valuables were charged a double rate and no records kept. Many of these letters were stolen.
The post office employees were paid the following:
Postmasters General, $10,000 per annum
Assistant Postmaster General $3,000 per annum
Chief Clerk, $1,500 per annum
Ten other clerks five of whom shall receive $1,200 per annum and five receive $1,000 per annum. Labors as required not to exceed $1.50 per day.
Postmasters were allowed the following commissions on postage. One hundred dollars, fifty percent; if at night 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. sixty percent. Over one hundred dollars not to exceed four hundred dollars, forty percent. On four hundred dollars to two thousand and four hundred dollars, thirty percent. At distribution post offices eight percent.
Fourth of July, New York and Christmas Day, were not observed as legal holidays by the Confederate Post Offices.
The full story of the Confederate Postal System can never be told because so many records were destroyed as te Civil War came to a close, and after the war some of the records were baled and sold as waste paper, others were burned.
We can never know who the carriers were and the Postmasters that served in the post offices in Southwest Virginia during the Civil War. This will remain forever a story untold.
Bibliography: (1) A Short History of the American People, Frank Owsley, Oliver Chitwood, and H. C. Nixon (2) American History for Colleges, David S. Muzzy & John A. Krout (3) Southern Historical Society Papers, Proceedings of the First Confederate Congress, December 1863 - Februry 1864. (4) Directory of the Confederate States 1861-1865 (5) Laws and Joint Resolutions of the Last Session of the Confederate Congress, November 1864 - March 1865 (6) The Confederate States Post Office Department, Its Stamps and Stationery (7) Richmond Daily Examiner, April 21, 1863 (8) Ibid, May 18, 1863 (9) Ibid, June 4, 1864 (10) Richmond Enquirer, January 15, 1864 (11) Letters of Martin Godsey, Co. E, 64 Regt. VA Cav. (12) Letters of James W. Sage
Pages 4 to 13
The American Civil War had dragged on for three years and the tide had begun to turn against the South. They had lost the battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863). One day later they lost the battle of Vicksburg which had been under siege from May 17, to July 4, 1863. The fall of Vicksburg deprived the Confederacy of the use of the Mississippi River. The trans-Mississippi Department had come to be the principal sources from which horses, cattle, swine and other supplies were obtained for the Southern armies. On July 9, 1863, the South lost the Port of Hudson Louisiana; from this date communication between the states east and west of the Mississippi River were cut.
President Lincoln had proclaimed a blockade of the Confederate States on April 19, 1861 which eventually reached from Virginia to Texas, thus stopping the export of farm products from the Southern States and the import of foreign goods.
The Confederate Congress on March 26, 1863 passed the Impreesement tax which was a tax on goods and services. This included the tithe tax on agricultural products and livestock. This was an income tax on the farmers and planters, which was paid in produce and live or slaughtered animals. It was by this tax that the Confederate armies were, to a large extent, fed during the last year or so of the war.
As the spring of 1864 approached, supplies in the South became very scarce and the people began to suffer from hunger and for the want of clothing and shoes.
Marauders had begun to roam the south. Some of them, under the pretense of collecting supplies for the Confederacy.
Scott County had its share of these marauders and in the Spring of 1864 a group of them began to raid and pillage in Moccasin Valley on mostly women and old men. The Confederate Congress had passed the Conscription Act, February 17, 1864, which required all men, 17 to 50, to serve in the Army.
The last week in April, 1864, was beautiful. The grass had turned green, spring flowers were blooming, the birds were nesting and the people in Moccasin Valley had begun to get their land ready for planting.
One day in mid afternoon, the marauders came up the valley, taking everything they could carry away; but, little did they know that they were to recon with the women in the valley. They crossed Big Moccasin Creek late in the afternoon and made camp on the east side of the creek. There they cooked their supper of stolen provisions. Feeling secure, they did not post a guard for the night; they opened their bed rolls and retired for the night. A heavy fog had formed in the valley along the creek and all that could be heard that night along the creek banks was the croaking of the bullfrogs and shrill piping of the spring peepers.
As the last quarter of the moon began to rise over Clinch Mountain, the women began to make their move. They went some distance down the creek and crossed to the east side and up the creek to where the marauders were sleeping. Stealthily and silently they began to execute their plan of attack. Each woman carried a large hickory maul. The women were in pairs; they were to pick out a man and hit him in the head with their mauls and beat him until he was dead.
After the massacre, the women recovered their stolen property and that of others which included guns, knives, jewelry and other valuable items; also, the horses of the marauders, which they would need for farm work.
The next day, a common grave was dug and the women with help of the old men, carried and dragged them to the cemetery. They are buried in the Osborne Cemetery, a short distance from where they met their doom.
Who were these men? Were they part of some Union army dressed in civilian clothes or part of Rowen Rogues who had infested Southwest Virginia? No one knows. They are like all unknown dead known only to God, but without honored glory.
The Osborne Cemetery is located on the North side of Highway 613, about 12 miles east of Gate City, in Big Moccasin Valley. To find out why it is called the Osborne Cemetery, we must go back in time 162 years.
Nancy Davidson married Solomon Osborne in 1764. Solomon was killed by the Indians in 1765. They had one son who was born shortly after his father was killed.
Nancy Davidson Osborne married again in 1767 to Jonathan Wood. She and her husband with her son James came from Loudon County, Virginia in 1773 and settled near Houston's Fort.
James Osborne's wife was also named Nancy, but we do not know her maiden name. James died November 29, 1822. His wife Nancy, died July 14, 1848. James does not have a marker to his grave and the marker to Nancy's grave is made from rough native stone. On Nancy's marker it reads: Died 1848, age 81 years, 6 months. It does not read died and does not give her birth date.
Pages 13 to 15
Trigg Maxwell was killed at his home in Pound, VA, the night of July 21, 1935. His daughter, Edith, was arrested and charged with the crime.
It appeared according to evidence submitted, that Edith (a school teacher) had been (during the summer vacation) keeping late hours and otherwise conducting herself in a manner that might jeopardize her employment at the fall school term. It further appeared that father had called attention to the fact that unless she changed her habits, her chances for getting a teaching job would be greatly impaired. This Miss Maxwell resented, and the result would be violent arguments between Miss Maxwell and her father. It was one of these arguments that culminated in the death of Trigg Maxwell.
Chant Kelly, a next door neighbor, on hearing the commotion went to the Maxwell's, but was turned away by Edith. A few minutes later a young sister of Edith came to Mr. Kelly's saying her father was drying. On arriving, Kelly found Maxwell lying in a pool of blood and from all appearances, dead at the time. He was told Maxwell had come drunk, fallen, and hit his head on the meat block. Later this story was changed by the defendant. Maxwell came home drunk and was beating his wife and family. Edith grabbed one of his shoes (his shoes had rubber heels) and struck him. At the trial this was changed to a woman's high-heeled shoe.
Here, then was a beautiful young girl, fighting her drunken father to defend the family from his mistreatment of them. It was on this theme the big city reporters capitalized and used it as a basis for the immense publicity this case received. Publicity that aroused the citizenry of Wise County and Southwest Virginia, due to the outside news media picturing to the world our mountain empire a a back-woodsy place, where people still lived a strict mountain code of ethics. We were (according to them) people who had not progressed to the modernistic period of 1935. We did not believe in modern dress, too much "book-larnin'" was not good, and certainly our womenfolk were allowed no liberties. Their lot was to stay in the home and bear children, work the fields, and prepare the "polk-sallit and hogs jaws."
Our Courts and Attorneys were ridiculed by the press releases as being old and out-moded. The fact is, this case was handled by some of the most highly respected attorneys in the entire country (both prosecution and defense) and a tribunal that was beyond question.
It was not the case itself, but the exaggerated description of the area and its people that upset the folks of Southwest Virginia. Whatever the verdict, the findings of the court would have been final and accepted by the local inhabitants.
Trigg Maxwell was employed as a blacksmith by the Consolidation Coal Company at Jenkins. The local citizens spoke of him as a good, well-liked, hard-working man and not given to excessive drinking; who rarely, if ever, missed a day's work.
Sirs:
The Commonwealth's Attorney (Prosecuting Attorney) of Wise County is my brother; so when I saw the statements in the papers regarding this trial...I sent articles from the daily press to him and asked "Why?" This answer came today...
The Maxwell case has been the most grossly misrepresented by the newspapers, of any case that I have ever been in contact with. The facts of the case as shown at the trial are about as follows:
She and her father had a quarrel that afternoon because he had objected to the way she was standing talking to a young man on the street near their home. She was out that night just running around, up at an adjoining town and at a roadhouse until 1:00 a.m. when she came home. Her father had been out around the village...at various places of business, until about 12:30 the same night.
There was eight disinterested witnesses who had been with him that night up until about 30 minutes before the trouble started in his home, all of whom testified that he was perfectly sober...
Shortly after Edith got home, there was a great commotion in the house which attracted the attention of some neighbors...
One man went down to the Maxwell home, thinking he might be of some assistance, where Edith met him at the door leading into a latticed porch. She told him to get away from there that there was no fire down there...About 30 minutes later, a young sister came after this same neighbor and asked him to come down there that her father was dying. He went and found Maxwell in his underclothes...in a dying condition. He was told that Maxwell had fallen and hit his head on a large meat block which was sitting on the porch. But examination of the meat block by the neighbor, disclosed no sign of any blood or hair on it and he became suspicious.
After three hours of questioning, Edith finally admitted that she had struck him with his shoe, which had a rubber heel. In the trial of the case, she changed this to a woman's high-heeled shoe, and presented a pair in evidence, with which she claimed she had hit her father. There was no sign on them of having been used in such a manner. The testimony of the doctors who made the post-mortem examination, was to the effect that the lacerated wound on Maxwell's head might have been made with a woman's shoe if tremendous force was used in striking the blow...
The jury evidently came to the conclusion that no shoe was used on Maxwell, but that some other instrument was used to give him a severe blow while he was lying in his bed. The other lesser ones were inflicted following the first wound while he was in an addled condition and could not defend himself, but merely cried for help, and therefore rendered a verdict of first degree murder...
Although I was born and reared in this county as my father before me, I had never heard of any "code of the mountains" until I saw the press reports of this trial. I might also add that the jury which tried the case was made up of intelligent, honest, and upright men.
Signed: Fred B. Greear, Commonwealth's Attorney, Wise County, Virginia.
The first two following letters are samples of the publicity that surrounded the Edith Maxwell trial:
Unfortunate Girl
Sirs:
Of all the sinister crimes being committed under the law, Edith Maxwell's severe sentence in a Virginia court seems particularly striking.
For the offense of defending herself against a dull-witted drunkard, who happened to be her father, the unfortunate girl must spend the best years of her life as a convict. If there is any justice at all in the bewhiskered hills of the south, some higher court should set aside this harsh and inhuman sentence...
There, is ever, is a case for Robin Hood, Clarence Darrow...
Edith, of course, cannot command the funds of the Loebs and Leopolds. She merely fought off a man himself engaged in a crime - that of illegally spanking a grown-up girl whose moral guilt was by no means established.
Signed: Wolfram Hill, St. Paul, Minn.
Sirs:
It is such a pity that there aren't more schoolmarms like Miss Edith Maxwell.
I am quite certain that a slipper could not have been used to a better advantage. Pappy Maxwell's drinking seems to have been beyond reproach. However, the midnight hour seems to have been a certain conviction of sin for Miss Maxwell.
Too bad I wasn't a jurist.
Signed: Stanley Pace, Selma, Alabama
The answer to the Maxwell case is based, first on a newspaper man's fiction, which he built in as a background for the case...so intensely did he overplay the conditions under which the death occurred...
The trial was conducted by Judge Henry A. Wise Skeen, who will be 78 years old December 26, (this was written in 1935) and who has been on the Circuit Bench in Wise County for 44 years this month. She was represented by her uncle, W. W. G. Dotson, thrice Commonwealth's Attorney for Wise County; by former State Senator Robert P. Bruce, who in his younger days was Commonwealth's Attorney for two terms and who has been a leader at Wise County bar for 50 years; and by Judge Alfred A. Skeen of Clintwood, former Commonwealth's Attorney of neighboring county of Dickenson and like Senator Bruce, one of the leaders in the legal profession in Southwest Virginia...Thus the case has come to its present status through the regular channels of the law, in court procedure that was regular and orderly.
Interest at the trial was intense, though there was no display of sentiment (either for or against) Miss Maxwell. The attention of the local folk was more curiosity than sincere interest.
The mountain and curfew codes are fiction; the reporters false and misleading description of the section in which the death occurred; exaggerated comment by feature writers who were not here, have never seen the mountains, or at least never spent a day in them; the deliberate building up of a story to make headlines; comments by radio speakers whose very comments indicated they were not familiar with the evidence or the country; these have all combined to give a prominence to a case far beyond what it deserves, either as a human tragedy or as a court procedure...
This entire community (Wise County has a population of 51,000) is keenly resentful of deliberate misrepresentation and falsifying in description of a section, and distortion of evidence on which the jury, who saw the witnesses, heard their testimony and reached verdict in 30 minutes. They brought in this verdict of "guilty". The community neither approves nor disapproves of the verdict. Many feel it too severe, though none doubt her guilt...But all are equally satisfied that the courts will dispose of this case in routine procedure, strictly on its merits, as it has in hundreds of other cases.
Signed: Pres Atkins, Editor, The Coalfield Progress, Norton, Virginia
Note: The first trial of Miss Maxwell started November 19, 1935, Prosecution consisted of Fred B. Greear, Commonwealth's Attorney of Wise County. He was ably assisted by Attorney O. M. Vicars.
Defense Attorneys were: Senator Robert P. Bruce, Judge Alfred A. Skeen of Clintwood, W. W. G. Dotson, uncle of the defendant, and Hon. H. A. W. Skeen was presiding Judge.
The verdict of the first trial was first degree murder, and the sentence was set at 25 years. This trial was set aside by the Court of Appeals as evidence did not warrant verdict of "first degree murder."
The second trial started December 9, 1936; ended December 17, 1936. Her new attorneys were W. J. Fulton of Richmond, VA, Charles H. Smith of Alexander, VA, and Gail Laughlin, a lady lawyer, from the state of Maine. Judge Ezra T. Carter of Scott and Lee Counties, was designated by the Governor to preside over the case. The story is that a brother of the defendant, who was living in New York, procured the services of the attorneys for the second trial.
The result of the second trial was a verdict of second degree murder. Penalty was fixed at 20 years, which was upheld by the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Testifying at the trial (for trials) of Miss Maxwell, was the 11 year old sister of the defendant. Also Alta Cantrell and Ruth Baker, two college chums of Radford State Teachers College, and teacher Conrad Bolling. It was revealed at the trial that Edith had at one time made the remark that she would kill her father.
The people of Pound and surrounding Wise County felt that the brother of Miss Maxwell, living in New York and friends of his in the same area, were for the most part responsible for the news media sending reporters into the Wise and Pound section. The reporters had never been in this area and knew nothing about the local people, but this did not stop them from writing their stories of the "likker-drinkin' hillbillies" who were persecuting this young school teacher unmercifully.
More letters from people expressing their feelings concerning the case.
Sirs:
The widespread interest in the case of Miss Edith Maxwell is due largely to the fact that the newspapers ballyhooing it are getting most of their material from John Fox's novels instead of the court sessions...
As a matter of fact, progress has come to the mountains of Southwest Virginia perhaps to a greater extent than to many other rural communities in the United States. The development of the rich coalfields in this section has brought about great changes in the living conditions in the past two decades. Good roads, radios, electric lights, automobiles and airplanes are as commonplace here as anywhere...
The people of Wise County consider that expression "Gov'ment Court" attributed to them as the crowning outrage.
I seriously doubt if it was ever heard in Southwest Virginia until some tabloid reporter coined it, or wiped it from some good old mountain folk-ballad written by a "Tin Pan Alley Mountaineer". If these mountain people get nothing else from their contact with smart city journalist, they should at least pick up some picturesque hilly-billy dialect.
Nearly everybody down hee thinks the prison sentence of 25 years is too severe. They feel that the jury unconsciously may have been swayed to greater severity by the interference of outsiders. If the busybodies and publicity hunters will keep out of it, there is no doubt the Virginia Court and people will see that justice is done in this case.
Signed: J. C. Horton, Swords Creek, VA
Sirs:
Such stuff as "hill-billy" justice being any appreciable difference from the judgment of any court of law is pure bunk. The only angle in this case seemingly overlooked resolves to the question: Is the jury system a failure, a coin tossing proposition, even more so when, as in Virginia, the jury fixes the punishment? It is for the public, not the Bar to decide.
To write the trial up as conflict between "book-larnin" and a "snuff-dippin' hill-billy pappy" is just manufacturing copy, nothing else.
Signed: L. R. Campbell, Attorney At Law, Independence, VA
From Edith Kane Stair, Knoxville, Tennessee:
Sirs:
With a genuine desire to help this girl, the sincere call for help went out, sponsored by the Business and Professional Women's Club of Knoxville, Tennessee. The response was beyond all expectation...
We started from Knoxville driving leisurely...on to Wise where we went Thanksgiving morning. Here the present Governor of Virginia practiced law for around 15 years. If you have looked at the court room scene, you will see a modern court comparable to any of New York or other large cities. I cannot, for the life of me, find a "coon-skin cap" in the picture.
An interesting part of our Wise, Virginia visit was the two odd reporters who had been sent about 400 miles and couldn't get a thing! All bought up! I really believe they thought they would lose their jobs...
At first it looked like we would get to talk to the young lady who was in the mail.
We were then told we could see Miss Maxwell, but could not talk to her. I replied, "Well, we surely wound not want to humiliate her or ourselves by just looking at her. It would be too much like looking at an animal in a cage, so we will not go - just to look." Then our discouraged new friend whispers, "Oh please go for our sakes (thinking he would be permitted to go with us). He was not of the syndicate on this particular contract. So for his sake we went over and looked on, feeling terribly stupid and helpless and rather useless in the face of such a powerfully financed syndicate..."
We are glad we had the wisdom to go to Wise. The courts of Virginia will solve the problem for the best of all concerned.
Signed: Edith Kane Stair, Knoxville, Tennessee.
On the basis of Mrs. Stair's report, the Knoxville Business and Professional Women's Club returned all donations explaining that Edith Maxwell was well provided for with funds and legal talent.
From M. G. Hamrick, O. D., of Chappel-Hamrick Optical Company, Inc., Bristol, Tenneseee
Sirs:
I have lived in Southwest Virginia for 6 years, and have many patients from both Wise and Pound. I can truthfully say that all this bunk about the "mountain-men and mountain-women" of the Daniel Boone area is just about as true as some will tell you that cowboys still roam in the loop in Chicago...
If the newspapers that have played up the "injustice" in this case would only print some of the evidence which convicted the unfortunate girl, the public would readily understand the case properly and learn that the girl was given a fair and just trial. This has been proven by the withdrawal of some of the leading business and professional women's clubs that so quickly "came to her rescue." One such club sent a committee down to Wise to interview the girl herself. When they got there they could not interview the girl herself. When they got there they could not interview her on account of a contract she had signed with some newspaper syndicate giving them the exclusive rights of interviewing and photographing her. Sounds like some "movie queen" arrangement, doesn't it?...
Signed: M. G. Hamrick, O. D., Bristol, Tennessee
Sirs:
The criticism of the result of the trial of Edith Maxwell, in Wise County, Virginia, which has appeared in the press, is in my judgment unfair and unjust. This is certainly the consensus of opinion in Southwest Virginia.
Judge Skeen, who presided over this trial, is an eminently qualified and impartial jurist...
The jury lists in Wise County are the equal of any in Virginia. The citizenship of Wise County is the equal of any County in Virginia or in any of the South. The present Governor of Virginia, George C. Peery, for years practiced in Wise County and is a native of the neighboring County of Tazewell...
The truth of the matter in this Edith Maxwell case is that she was tried by an impartial jury, before a competent Judge. She represented by able criminal counsel. The evidence of the Commonwealth was presented without prejudice and the jury were correctly charged as to the law. The sum and substance of the whole matter is that the jury did not credit the whole story of Edith Maxwell, and did not believe what she said. They therefore convicted her. If that conviction is sustained by the trial Judge, there cannot be the slightest doubt but that she received a perfectly fair trial.
Signed: J. P. Buchanan, Attorney at Law, Marion, Virginia
From: Mr. Fred Newland, Fred Newland & Company, Farm & City Loans, Bristol, VA-TN
Sirs:
This letter is about color and its synthesis, also concerning those who live by the artful application of it...
These folks descended upon us by plane from New York about the time the trial was to "break". Upon being told that there was hardly any difference between these people and themselves they drew on their memories of the stories they had heard of the 90s. They scraped up some of that old dull color, added some of the brilliant yellow their journalistic offices always keep handy and dashed the mass on what they had to report. The result was not a work of art, but to the people of the class to which they catered, having dulled sensibilities, need strong colors to be affected as they like.
We believe here that the trial was conducted properly and practically in the same manner as it would have been in any other enlightened county seat. One of the most ridiculous observations has come from a North Carolina woman who, contrary to the profound wisdom of civilization, states that it was unfortunate that Edith had to be tried by her own mountain people. Anyhow anyone from the State of North Carolina can hardly righteously speak in that manner of mountain people.
May the light of truth bleach out those hideous colors or the deadly black of condemnation blot them out and may their purveyors be forever banished from the earth!
Signed: Fred Newland
From: Mr. J. Willard Horne, Marion, Virginia
Sirs:
I am expressing the feeling of many in this section in saying that we do not consider this is a case which could have happened only in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. Such cases occur in Oregon, Florida or Pennsylvania and the Nation's press is not aroused. We see no special issue in this case to justify such widespread interest. My opinion is that certain people whose ideas of the South have been formed by "Tobacco Road, Sanctuary," and childhood memories of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine," sensed the possibilities of a grand story and proceeded at once to the scene of action. Upon discovering that matters of that sort were handled here in much the same fashion as elsewhere, they let their pre-conceived ideas run riot and sent back to their readers masterfully colored tales of living and dying among the Mountaineers of Southwest Virginia.
Signed: J. Willard Horne, Marion, VA
From: Mrs. B. Ball, Inman, VA
Sirs:
It seems absurd to us Southwest Virginia people that a bunch of news-reporters know more of the facts connected with the Edith Maxwell case than the Wise County citizens do, even though they are supposed to be an uncouth lot.
It is surprising that these imitators of John Fox did not portray a mind picture of ox-carts parked in front of the Courthouse and coon-skin caps worn by the spectators.
Signed: Mrs. B. Ball, Inman, VA.
A final letter from: Mr. J. Shields Kent, Of the Mathieson Alkali Works, Inc., Saltville, VA
Sirs:
There has been but little interest shown here in the case itself, but a helluva lot on the accounts as carried by the press, especially yellow sheets of the North.
Virginians were under the impression that Miss Maxwell was tried and convicted for taking the life of her father, and not for staying out late at night and the wearing of "modern" clothes.
Signed: J. Shields Kent, Saltville, VA
Note: These letters were written following the first trial of Miss Edith Maxwell, about December, 1935. (Compiled from Court Records of Wise County, Virginia, newspaper accounts, magazine articles, and personal contact with people familiar with the event.)
Pages 15 to 24
There were two branches of the Hicks family in Russell County in its early years and possibly before its formation in 1786. They were not related as far as this researcher has been able to find.
In the records of Russell County can be found many transactions by Claiborne, Nathaniel, Elias and other Hicks'. There was a Reuben Hicks, but records are hazy concerning him, since most early records were destroyed by fire.
It would appear that Claiborne and Nathaniel, (who were possibly brothers) and Elias contributed the most to the history of Russell County.
Somewhere it is written by the ancients: "That the whole human specie is to be regarded as one common family, the high, the low, the rich and poor, all created by the same Almighty parent are placed in the world to aid, support, and protect each other." How true it is that it takes all these to make history. The Hicks family have played their part in this drama so well, they have rightfully earned their place in the history of their beloved county.
The Hicks family of which I write were not rich in money, land and other worldly goods, nor educated as we think of education today. But they were wealthy and educated in so many other ways. They lived it seemed, for the good they might be to others. Walking miles to sit up with the sick, work the crops of their ailing neighbors until they were on their feet, and if necessary dig a final resting place for them and drop a tear at this passing. They were rich in the ways to survive in primitive surroundings, how to cure and preserve food before the days of refrigeration. Theirs was a richness of how to work with their hands. Educated in the ways to make-do with what they had; to name a few; rive boards and palings for fencing and house covering, in the dry areas how to dig and plaster a cistern for a water supply, experts in raising of log houses, ever log and corner was laid level and true, at clearing land the Hicks' were unsurpassed. In working with wood the Hicks family had a talent that few are blessed with, such as: making handles for farm implements, gun stocks, wooden mauls for splitting fence rails, firewood, and pounding a froe or wedge.
Washington County records show that Nathaniel Hicks bought forage for State use September 19, 1782. On May 20, 1783, he paid 305 pounds for beef for use by the Washington County militia in Powell Valley. In 1849 Nathaniel was employed in furnishing charcoal for a iron smelter called White's Forge on Big Moccasin Creek. The charcoal was made by burning hardwood. Claiborne and others of the Hicks Clan were engaged in the hardwood gathering. It has long been told that Claiborne Hicks had no equal in chopping and piling the wood in cords. Nathaniel has a number of descendants still living in Russell County near where the wood was gathered, and not far from the site of the old forge.
On December 2, 1851, Elias Hicks bought land on the south side of Moccasin ridge. (Deed Book 12, page 542); in Deed Book 13, page 225, October 10, 1853, he sold the land. Elias was born in Russell County (circa) 1795. He married Didama White or (Wyatt). 1850 census shows Didama born in South Carolina, (records of marriage destroyed by courthouse fire.) This census shows them with four children, the youngest Andrew R., one year old. I write of Andrew because he was my grandfather. He lived his entire life in Russell County, and raised his family there. Andrew was born in 1848; he married Susan, daughter of Claiborne and Susan (Hughes) Hicks, (no relation) November 27, 1867. They had two sons and two daughters; George Cowan, born 1869; Roberts, born 1871; Belle born 1876; and my mother, Mary Jane, born 1881. George Cowan married Elizabeth Scarberry, September 14, 1889, they had nine children, all married and likewise raised families there. Only two of the nine remain; Henry who lives in the Copper Creek area and Carson who lives near Castlewood, however, many of Cowan's descendants live in the western part of the county, most own their homes and small farms. Cowan died July 4, 1947 and Elizabeth (Aunt Betty) died January 22, 1959. Both are buried at the Henry Hicks family cemetery.
Robert married Josie Skeens, September 10, 1894. They had two sons and two daughters, one son and one daughter are still living, the son, Coley lives at the old home place on Copper Ridge. Robert died July 22, 1949. Josie died March 1933, both are buried at the home place on Copper Ridge.
Belle married Charles Smith, August 3, 1897, and had one son, Jim. All have departed this life.
Mary Jane married Frank Harvey, August 21, 1899. They had five children, all born in Russell County. All have passed on but one son; Rev. Homer Harvey of Bristol, Tennessee. Frank Harvey was slain in an altercation on Copper Ridge (circa) 1906 and is buried at the Arch Meade Cemetery. Mary then married King Sturgill of Wise County. Their issue was two boys and three girls, all are living. Mary Jane was born 1881; died October 6, 1922, and is buried beside her first husband Frank Harvey at the Arch Meade cemetery.
To visit the grassy mounds under which my loved ones are resting, brings fond memories of the wonderful times spent with my beloved Hicks family, on each occasion I cannot help but shed a tear.
Oh come and listen a true story I'll tell
Of my childhood I remember well
Away back in the country an old house on the hill
Where I lived as a child and my memory lingers still.
We didn't have any riches such as silver or gold
But we had love for each other
And other blessings ten fold.
We didn't even have money or go to the store
So we took some eggs and a few things more.
We didn't have any windows just small wooden doors
There were no curtains hanging and no knobs on the doors.
The walls were papered with old catalogs
And the ceiling was papered with the same.
The old chimney was built with old limestone rocks
And the cracks were filled with clay.
The old roof was covered with old rough boards
And the floors were just about the same.
My grandmother washed on an old washboard
But we didn't have anything to be ashamed.
We had plenty to eat and a few clothes to wear.
The winters were cold and life was hard to bear.
But when the mailman came he didn't leave a heat bill
When we all lived together in the old house on the hill.
My thoughts wander back to the old house on the hill
Where everything is gone now
And the place is so still.
My loved ones are gone and the old house too,
But the birds still sing there in the morning dew.
King Sturgill, Jr., grandson of Andrew Hicks wrote the above poem in memory of the old log house in which Andrew lived for many years, and King, Jr., spent much of his boyhood there. (RLS)
Most of the Hicks' in the western end of Russell County are direct descendants of Andrew Hicks.
Pages 25 to 28
Compiled and condensed from the personal notes and interviews of Mrs. Ann Francisco, Gate City, VA
In the early 1800's, Joseph Hagan arrived in the United States from Ireland. He took a job of surveying a large portion of Richmond, Virginia. He purchased 35,000 acres of land in the mountainous region of Southwest Virginia. It covered many miles in all directions, including High Knob and large areas of Wise, Scott and Lee Counties. Hagan later settled in Hunters Valley in Scott County.
Joseph was the first known Catholic to settle in this rugged wilderness. At that time the nearest Catholic Church was in Wytheville, Virginia. Joseph took his family to Wytheville once a year to make their Easter Duty. In those days it was a law of the church that in order to remain a Catholic, you were expected to attend mass and receive the sacraments of communion and confession at least once a year.
In 1852, Patrick Hagan, a nephew of Joseph, arrived in the United States. He, too, was a Catholic and later became a well known teacher of the faith. He settled in Hunters Valley and built a fourteen room brick house. This house was known as Hagan Hall, and it was here that Catholic services were held for the families of Scott County.
There were no Catholic Churches in Scott County though many Catholic bishops, priests, and nuns passed through Hagan Hall for religious services.
In 1918, Father Clement, a Benedictine priest, became one of the first priests to take care of the Scott County Catholics. He continued these services until about 1922 or 1923.
In 1919 or 1920 a road was surveyed through Big Moccasin area. All the men in the vicinity helped with the road work. When the road was completed, it stretched from Gate City, Virginia, to Russell County. This road opened access for wagons to travel to the County seat. As long as the weather was dry a wagon and team could make it to town. If it rained the road was almost impossible to travel.
At this time, Father Clement had given up his jurisdiction in the area and had retied to Cullman, Alabama. Since the Bishop of Wheeling, West Virginia didn't have enough diocesan priests to staff the small churches in Dante, and Toms Creek in Wise County, Virginia, the task again turned to a Benedictine priest.
Father Jerome Lawrence arrived in Dante, Virginia, around the year 1923. He had a car, and he faithfully traveled the deeply rutted roads to hold mass in the various homes of the Catholic families. Mass was not always held on Sundays for weather conditions often made this impossible. But, Father Jerome would hold mass every morning that he could travel the back roads.
In 1924, Father Jerome decided to build a church. Garfield and Mart Wood donated the land needed for the construction site and, with the help of these fine gentlemen and several others, Father Jerome built St. Theresa's Catholic Church. This was the first Catholic Church in Scott County. It was also the first church built in the Wood settlement. After the church was built, Father Jerome held mass there as often as possible.
In 1929, Father Jerome's health failed and he returned to Cullman, Alabama. He died the following year.
After Father Jerome's death, things drifted back very much as they had been several years earlier. Many of the Catholics moved away and there were no priests to perform the mass.
Finally, in 1931, the Bishop of Wheeling appointed a new priest. Father Hickie was a diocesan priest from the city and he was appointed Pastor of St. Anne's Catholic Church in Bristol, Virginia. He was also responsible for the church in Wood settlement. He remained pastor of both churches until 1946.
In 1946, Father William Howard, founder of the Glenmary Order of Priests, decided it was time to begin a permanent evangelical movement in Scott County. He sent Father Ed Smith and Father Joe Dean as pastor and assistant pastor to Norton, Virginia. In a very short while, additional priests and brothers were assigned to different areas.
Later Father Ed Smith met Barney Hagan, a Catholic living in Dungannon, Virginia. Barney was a great nephew of Patrick Hagan. He donated a piece of property in Dungannon for the construction of a new church. Father Ed drew up plans and built a triple-peaked log cabin chapel in 1946. It was named St. Patrick's Catholic Church and it was the second Catholic Church in Scott County.
In 1944, Father Robert Berson, then Pastor of the Norton Missionaries, began to establish a Catholic community in the rural area known as Hunters Valley. A small wood-frame church was constructed sometime during 1953 on property that was also given to the church by the Hagan family. The church was named the Chapel of Christ the King and became the third Catholic Church in Scott County.
Father Eugene Ryan and Father Pat Breheney came to this area in 1954. Father Ryan became pastor of Gate City and Father Pat became assistant pastor of Dungannon. There was no church in Gate City, so Father Ryan rented a house where he held church services. After a few years, Father Ryan purchased property and built St. Bernard's Catholic Church in 1956. The church was dedicated in 1958. Father Ryan was later sent to Rome and a new priest, Father Frank Gardner was assigned to St. Bernard's ad St. Patrick's.
Father Gardner was transferred and then followed by Father Bob Rodemancer. Since Father Bob's transfer in the 1960's, the following were priests assigned to St. Bernard's in Gate City and St. Patrick's in Dungannon: Father Duffy, Father Cline, Father Tigler, Father Holmes, Father Curran, Father Garvey and presently Father Kelly.
St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Gate City has grown from the three original families descended from Patrick Hagan to approximately fifty families.
The Clenmarians are still in charge of all the Catholic Churches and Missions in this section of the country. These churches are simply not self-sufficient enough to be turned back to the Richmond diocese. So, since 1946, the Catholic Churches in Scott County have been a bee-hive of activity due to the Glenmary priests, sisters and brothers. They were a young order of very ambitious Catholics and because of their dedication, people have learned what Catholicism really means.
Pages 29 to 31
During the 1960's the writer began a research on the early churches and missions in Buchanan County, Virginia. However, after covering part of them the project was interrupted and never completed. Two of them were compiled by Mrs. Miller of Oakwood, Virginia, and myself, but there are still other noteworthy ones with interesting histories. Later, I was able to acquire data on the early history of the Presbyterian Church's arrival and influence in that area. For this, I am indebted to others hereafter mentioned.
The first Presbyterian minister to locate in Grundy was the Rev. Frank Emmett Clark of the Green Springs area of Washington County. He was appointed as an evangelist in 1908 by the Abingdon Presbytery with headquarters in Grundy, and was the founder of the Grundy Presbyterian Mission. In the fall of 1909, he went to the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond in search of a minister to take charge of the school. The Principal, W. W. Arrowood had offered his resignation, effective in June of 1912.
W. W. Moore, president of the Seminary, recommended Rev. James Smith for the position. He was a graduate of Union Seminary, and was invited by Dr. Clark to visit Grundy and look over the situation.
Dr. George H. Gilmer, Superintendent of Home Missions for Abingdon Presbytery, was also invited to come to the area at the same time, but due to a very cold fall and winter, their visit was postponed until March 1912.
When they reached Grundy they found that Mr. Arrowood had decided to remain for the next session. However, Dr. Gilmer told him that he would like to have Rev. Smith as an assistant, since the field was so extensive that he could not cover it, and had received a request from Presbyterians in Big Stone Gap to send them a minister, and he wished him to act as his assistant in studying the fields in the Presbytery and report to him. Mr. Smith accepted the position and came to Big Stone Gap on June 16, 1912 to begin the work.
After some years Dr. Gilmer retired and Rev. Smith was appointed superintendent and treasurer of the Home Missions Board for the entire Abingdon Presbytery, which then extended from Radford, including all the western counties.
Dr. Clark had already begun preaching in other Buchanan County communities of Hurley, Roseann, Vansant and Oakwood. Rev. Smith visited the area annually for over four years, but, with the arrival of a depression the work was greatly curtailed. He decided to remain in Big Stone Gap and "hold the work together as much as possible."
The folks in Big Stone Gap built a nice church in 1914. Rev. Smith preached in Wise, Lee and Scott counties and continued to visit the Grundy area as long as he was superintendent and treasurer.
The above information came from a letter written by Rev. Smith to the writer on August 12, 1966.
The following data was provided by Mr. Samuel Shumate of Union Theological Seminary in 1966. She had visited Mrs. Rachel (Matney) Baker of Bristol, Tennessee, who had lent him a copy of the Grundy Presbyterian School catalog issued in the 1920's. Rev. Shumate is now (1984) pastor of a large Presbyterian Church in Lumberton, North Carolina.
From "Women of Old Abingdon", 1937, by Women of the Church of Abingdon Presbytery, we have this:
"On February 4, 1909 the Rev. R. D. Carson and Frank E. Clark held a meeting at Grundy Methodist Church. Carson preached twice daily for eight days. On February 11, 1909, at the home of Mrs. G. B. Watkins, the Buchanan First Presbyterian Church was organized with the following members: Mrs. E. R. Boyd by letter from Woodstock, Virginia; John W. Flannagan by letter from Willis Memorial of Louisa County; Mrs. E. H. Witten and Mrs. Lettie Watkins from Grundy Methodist. Others were: Mrs. J. W. Lambert, Miss Dora Crockett, Miss Bessie Hibbitts, Miss Beulah B. Waldron and Miss Bertha Ellis. A brick church was erected on E. H. Witten's lot. (This was the 1966 site of the Grundy Bible Church.)
"Dr. Carson delivered what he thought to be the first Presbyterian service in Buchanan County. In 1908 he had brought the Rev. Frank E. Clark from Union Theological Seminary to work there. In 1909, Mr. W. W. Arrowood came as his assistant in the school. As stated above, Mr. James Smith, a Seminary graduate, came as assistant in 1912 and later went to Wise County."
In 1928, when Mr. Smith became Superintendent of Home Missions in the Abingdon Presbytery, Dr. Goodridge Wilson noted that the Grundy school had 230 pupils, 150 boarders and 18 teachers.
At that time there was also a county high school in Grundy, but many considered that the church school provided a better classical education for those planning to enter college. Among its instructors was Mr. W. D. Painter of Draper, Virginia.
These are only the beginnings of the First Presbyterian Church of Buchanan County.
There has been a Presbyterian Church in Abingdon since 1772; in Tazewell County since the 1830's, but the "hills" apparently kept the Presbyterians out of Buchanan until 1909, and Dickenson County until the 1930's.
Nevertheless, they have both made great strides. Someone prepared a list of the Presbyterian Churches and church schools of Buchanan County in 1966, as follows:
Church: Grundy; Members: 241 and Sunday School: 169
Church: Hurley; Members: 51 and Sunday School: 50
Church: Roseann; Members: 71 and Sunday School: 60
Church: Vansant; Members: 83 and Sunday School: 45
Church: Oakwood; Members: 79 and Sunday School: 55
Totals: Members: 446 and Sunday School: 379
The Grundy Presbyterian Church is now an impressive structure with a large membership and strong financial support. Perhaps others will be able to follow up on its more recent history.
Pages 31 to 33
Pension Board: T. M. Smith - Chairman; B. C. Ramey - Clerk; N. J. Horne; A. F. Wampler and Anderson Wells.
| Name | Residence |
|---|---|
| John Dollarhide | Coeburn, VA |
| Lonis Collins | Wise |
| W. R. Collier | East Stone Gap |
| John F. Dewey Hays | |
| Jessee Bolling | Dewey |
| A. C. Huhges | Coeburn |
| George Ison | |
| Levi Perry | Tasso |
| John W. Wampler | Lipps |
| J. B. Robinette | Coeburn |
| D. E. Farmer | Coeburn |
| W. F. Fuller | Dorchester |
| J. M. Carico | Coeburn |
| G. R. Rogers | Wise |
| Henry Wells | East Stone Gap |
| Ruben Cantrell | Pound |
| Johnson Kilgore | Wise |
| Alexander Trent | Virginia City |
| James McFalls | Haddonfield |
| Andrew Collins | Tacoma |
| G. H. Kilgore | Wise |
| Jessee Gilley | East Stone Gap |
| James Stidham | Lipps |
| James V. Boatright | Coeburn |
| J. B. Mullins | Pound |
| James H. Hartsock | Coeburn |
| W. F. Bartley | East Stone Gap |
| Elijah Mullins | Pound |
| O. J. Hicks | Coeburn |
| James Chisenhall | Lipps |
| D. F. Stallard | Wise |
| Aaron Wells | East Stone Gap |
| G. E. Buchanan | Coeburn |
| Henry C. Jones | Norton |
| Jeremiah Salyers | Herald |
| Lockard Hamilton | |
| Morgan Buchanan | |
| H. D. Roberts | |
| Audley Maxwell | |
| James W. Adams | |
| B. F. Richmond | |
| Walter Stapleton | |
| J. J. Buchanan | |
| William Sergeant | |
| Jefferson Sowards (Was a prisoner) | |
| W. H. Hughes | |
| D. H. Riner | |
| John Wells | |
| Samuel Salyers | |
| George W. Bolling | |
| Louis Roberts | |
| Calvin Purkey | |
| James Flanary | |
| G. W. McReynolds | Virginia City |
| Thomas L. Evans | Dwina |
| B. B. Mullins | Pound |
| James H. Elkins | East Stone Gap |
| R. W. Marshall | |
| J. W. Asbury | |
| John Church (A prisoner at Camp Douglas) | Coons Eye (Cane Patch) |
| J. B. Olinger | |
| Isaac Osborn | |
| David Stidham | Coons Eye |
| A. J. Collier | |
| Martin D. Stidham | Coons Eye |
| John Sexton | |
| Hiram Davidson | |
| Nelson Kilgore | |
| G. L. Collier | |
| John Stidham | |
| John W. Gilley | |
| D. C. Mullins (Was a prisoner) | |
| Thomas George L. Wells | |
| Henry Stapleton | |
| J. F. Davis (Was a prisoner) | |
| William Thomas Huff |