University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER V.

The only reference to the war of 1812 in the records occurs
in 1866, where an enumeration of the family of James Michie,
Jr., was presented to the Court. It was there stated, that in
that contest that gentleman was a corporal in the company
of Captain Estes, of the Virginia militia, and that a land warrant
for one hundred and sixty acres was issued to his
descendants on that account. It is ascertained upon inquiry
that a cavalry company from the county commanded by
Colonel Samuel Carr, and of which Dr. Frank Carr was
Surgeon, and an infantry company of which Achilles Broadhead
was Captain, were also called into service. From the
same source it is learned that William Wertenbaker was a
private in Captain Estes's company, and Henry Turner, the
father of the venerable William H. Turner, served in the
cavalry. To what point these troops were marched is not
known; but as the enemy never landed on the soil of the
State, no occasion happened for their employment in action.
In a letter dated September 1814, and written by William
Wirt, who commanded an artillery company in camp on York
River, he says, "Frank Gilmer, Jefferson Randolph, the
Carrs and others, have got tired waiting for the British, and
gone home."

Captain Estes above mentioned was Triplett T. Estes, who
for many years kept the Stone Tavern on the square on which
Lipscomb's livery stable stands. In the appointment of
Processioners in 1811, he is designated as Captain of the
militia company in the district immediately south of Charlottesville,
and to which the inhabitants of the town belonged.
He was unfortunate in his business affairs. He purchased
the Stone Tavern with its surrounding square, but was unable
to make the payments. At one time he also owned the
farm on Biscuit Run which Martin Dawson afterwards devised
to the University; but that together with all his property

was sold under deeds of trust. About 1819 he removed from
Charlottesville to Fredericksburg, and in 1832 was living in
Dinwiddie County, probably in Petersburg.

In 1816 the County Court received a communication from
the State authorities, requesting a survey of the County to
be made in order to the preparation of an accurate map of
the State. In compliance with this request they appointed
Dabney Minor, Dr. Frank Carr and Dr. Charles Brown to
arrange for the survey; and in answer to their overtures
William H. Meriwether proposed to undertake the work. It
is supposed he carried it into effect; but no details of the
time or manner of its accomplishment have been found.
The results of this and other similar surveys throughout the
State, were committed to John Wood, an eminent engineer
of the day. He however died in 1822, before the completion
of his task. The fruits of his labors, with all the materials
which had been collected, were then entrusted to Herman
Boye. By the contract entered into with him, the map was
to have been finished on the first of April 1824, and in all
likelihood it was published during the course of that year.
A well preserved copy formerly hung in the University
Library in the Rotunda, but it no doubt perished in the fire
of 1895. Two or three other copies in private hands, much
defaced by time and want of care, have been met with in the
county.

The Legislature passed an act in January 1818, establishing
the town of Scottsville on James River. This point had
been well known from the beginning of the county. In its
proximity the first courthouse had been located, and for
seventeen years was the centre of public business for all the
surrounding country. It can hardly be questioned that the
people of the neighborhood looked upon it as a heavy blow,
when the seat of justice was removed, and they were obliged
to repair to Charlottesville in discharge of their public
functions.

It continued nevertheless to be a place of considerable
notoriety. As Scott's Ferry, it was a point of chief importance

in crossing the river James, and maintaining the means
of communication between the inhabitants north and south
of that stream; and as Scott's Landing, it was a station of
some consequence in the business of its navigation. When
the Tobacco Warehouses were established at Milton and the
mouth of Ballenger's Creek in 1792, liberty was also given
for the erection of one on John Scott's land at Scott's Ferry,
but restricted by the conditions, that the proprietor should
construct an edifice of brick or stone, with roof of slate or
tile, and with gates of iron, and that until the County Court
entered upon their records the fact of such construction, no
tobacco should be received, and no inspectors appointed.
As no fact of the kind was made a matter of record, it would
appear the proprietor regarded the conditions too burdensome
to fulfil.

The desire for the founding of a town at this place was undoubtedly
stimulated by the progress of the James River improvement,
and the further extension of the canal. An
abortive attempt seems to have been made in 1816 by private
efforts of the Coles family, who sold a number of lots with that
end in view. Two years later the sanction of the Legislature
was obtained for the project. Fifteen acres of land belonging
to John Scott were vested in Samuel Dyer, Sr., Samuel
Dyer, Jr., Christopher Hudson, Tucker Coles and John Coles
as Trustees, to be laid out in half acre lots, to be conveyed
to purchasers, and to be called the town of Scottsville. Thirty-three
lots and four outlots were sold the same year for
upwards of thirteen thousand dollars. About 1830 an addition
was made on its western boundary by Peyton Harrison,
who had since its origin purchased the Belle Grove plantation,
which lay just above the town, and on which the old
courthouse formerly stood.

In 1824 the Staunton and James River Turnpike was commenced,
and Scottsville was its river terminus. Because of
its fine shipping facilities, it was not long before great numbers
of huge, old-fashioned wagons thronged its streets,
large consignments of produce from the west, and of merchandise
from the east, filled its warehouses, and it became the

emporium of a busy commerce, and rapidly rose to great
prosperity. A tobacco warehouse was now successfully
established, and its first inspectors were James B. Holman,
James Thomas, Fleming Moon and Richard Omohundro.
It enjoyed the brightness of these palmy days until about
1850, when its flourishing trade was greatly diminished by
the advent of the railroads. It continued however to possess
the benefits of the canal, and when that was relinquished,
those of the railway which succeeded in its stead.

No newspaper was published in Albemarle during the first
seventy-five years of its existence, nor until the fifty-seventh
year after the establishment of Charlottesville. People depended
on Richmond and Washington for information of
events transpiring in the world, and as in those days the mail
was received but once a week, it is probable but few dailies
were taken. At the close of the last century the Courts directed
their orders to be published in the Virginia Gazette in
Richmond, and after the beginning of the present century,
sometimes in a paper of Staunton, and sometimes in one of
Lynchburg.

But in a county where so much of intellectual cultivation
existed, where Charlottesville Academy had merged into
Central College, and Central College was merging into the
University of Virginia, it was high time that a step so indicative
of mental and literary activity should be taken. The
first paper issued in its bounds was the Central Gazette, its
first number appearing on the twenty-ninth of January, 1820.
Its proprietors were Clement P. and John H. McKennie.
It became the medium of advertisements for this and the
contiguous counties. Some original communications were
contributed, but the main part of its literary matter consisted
of extracts from other papers, setting forth the political events
of the day, and the news from foreign countries. After a
time Thomas W. Gilmer was associated with its editorial
staff. It is not certainly known how long its publication
continued, but it probably ceased about 1827 or 1828. A
number of its volumes bound, and running perhaps through
its whole course, were deposited in the University Library,

but all except the first were unfortunately consumed in the
fire of 1895.

The Virginia Advocate was the next journal that appeared.
It began simultaneously with the cessation of the Gazette. Its
first editors were Thomas W. Gilmer and John A. G. Davis.
Nicholas P. Trist subsequently took part in its management.
It then passed into the hands of Dr. Frank Carr, and was
sold by him in 1830 to E. W. Reinhart. After an interval
of some years it was under the control of William W. Tompkins
and Alexander Moseley, the latter of whom afterwards
became the distinguished editor of the Richmond Whig.
Later it was conducted by Robert C. Noel, William J. Shelton
and James C. Halsall, and still later it was edited successively
by John L. Cochran and James C. Southall.

In the meantime, about 1829 or 1830, James Alexander
came to Charlottesville from Massachusetts through the
agency of Colonel T. J. Randolph, to undertake the printing
of Mr. Jefferson's correspondence. When that work was
completed, Mr. Alexander commenced in 1836 the publication
of the Jeffersonian Republican, avowedly as a Democratic
organ. Some years before the opposition to General
Jackson had assumed positive form, and between the Whig
and Democratic parties lines of demarcation had been distinctly
drawn. The Advocate had taken sides with the former,
and to further the interests of the latter the Jeffersonian
was set on foot. Mr. Alexander was the ostensible editor
as well as publisher, though he was constantly supplied with
articles written by such active members of the party as Colonel
Randolph, Frank Ruffin, Shelton F. Leake and others.
These two papers ran side by side until both were suspended
by the disorganizing influences of the civil war. During
their continuance a periodical of some sort, exhibiting the
title of The Idea, was started by Thomas W. Michie, but
apparently it proved ephemeral in its duration. A few
months before the war began, a new journal appeared under
the name of the Charlottesville Review, but owing to the disastrous
pressure of the times it survived but a short season.
A religious paper, the Christian Intelligencer, was published
for a time in Charlottesville by Rev. James Goss.

All papers had discontinued their issues by May 1862.
While the period of suspension lasted, orders of Court were
directed to be published in Lynchburg or Staunton. In October
1864 James C. Southall commenced the publication of
the Chronicle, and in 1868 disposed of it to Bennett Taylor
and John W. Foster. They were succeeded by Littleton
Waddell, and he, by H. B. Michie. Some years after the
war the Jeffersonian Republican was recommenced by R. P.
Valentine, with A. R. Blakey as editor. It was afterwards
transferred to James Blakey, who conducted it several years.
The present paper of the county, the Progress, was launched
as a Daily in 1890 by J. H. Lindsay, and it was not long
before it absorbed both of the other papers. The Chronicle
was published as a Tri-Weekly, and all the other journals
mentioned except the Progress as Weeklies.

Besides the Correspondence of Mr. Jefferson which has
been mentioned, a Gazetteer of Virginia was published in
Charlottesville in 1835 by Joseph Martin. It was an octavo
of more than six hundred pages. It contained a collection
of statistics, valuable at the time, a description of each
county, with an enumeration of its post offices, a history of
Virginia, written expressly for the work, and a map of the
State as it then was. Quite a corps of collaborators was
engaged in its execution. William H. Brockenbrough, a
member of the Albemarle bar, and subsequently Judge of the
United States District Court of Florida, was editor, Moseley
and Tompkins printers, Joseph Martin binder, and E. C.
Morse general aid.

In early periods the people of the county seem to have
been animated by a stronger public spirit than prevails at
present. This was manifested in their frequent co-operative
action for attaining important results. For sometime prior
to 1820 the Albemarle Agricultural Society was accomplishing
a successful work, its members publishing accounts of
their individual experiments, maintaining a correspondence
with kindred bodies, and holding annual exhibitions of their
products, with the award of liberal premiums to competitors
who excelled. An idea of the powerful influence it exerted

for good, may be formed from the list of those who took a
leading part in its affairs. James Madison was its President.
Its first Vice President was Thomas Mann Randolph,
its second, John H. Cocke, its Treasurer, Nimrod
Bramham, and its Secretaries, Peter Minor and Dr. Frank
Carr. Its Committee of Correspondence were T. M.
Randolph, James Barbour, Dr. Thomas G. Watkins, William
D. Meriwether and Peter Minor, and its Committee
of Accounts, Dabney Minor, Dr. Thomas E. Randolph
and John J. Winn. Among the excellent disquisitions
published on these subjects, Colonel Randolph described his
experiments with clover, John H. Craven how he reduced
the great gullies with which Pen Park was furrowed when it
came into his possession, and Peter Minor the results of
different methods of corn-planting on high lands. At one of
its yearly exhibitions, the first premium for the best tilled
farm in the county was assigned to John Rogers, and the
second to John H. Craven. On these occasions George W.
Kinsolving and William Woods, Surveyor, displayed their
fine blooded horses, the latter supplying his stables with
purchases from the choice stock of John Randolph of Roanoke.
Beyond question the agency of this Society gave a
powerful stimulus to the improvement of the live stock of the
county, as well as to the better cultivation of its soil.

In those days a Colonization Society existed, of which
Jonathan B. Carr was Treasurer, and which held an annual
meeting on the first Monday of October. In furtherance of
its objects Rev. Francis Bowman preached a sermon on the
Fourth of July 1824, and in May 1830 the ladies of Charlottesville
and the county held a fair at Fitch's Tavern.

The Albemarle Bible Society was organized in August
1828. Nathaniel Burnley acted as Secretary when they first
convened, and the first Monday of August was appointed as
the time of the annual meeting. A full staff of officers was
elected for a thorough canvass of the county, and for the
energetic prosecution of its work. Hugh Nelson was President,
John Kelly, Vice President, Rev. F. W. Hatch, Secretary,
Rev. F. Bowman, Treasurer, and Dr. Hardin Massie,

William Woods, Surveyor, Nimrod Bramham, G. W. Kinsolving
and John Rogers, Managers. Agents were likewise
chosen to awaken interest in the different battalion districts.
George Wood and Allen Dickerson served in the first battalion
of the Eighty-Eighth Regiment, John J. Bowcock and
M. Fretwell in the second, Dr. Harris and John B. Hart in
the first battalion of the Forty-Seventh, John L. Thomas and
Matthew Pilson in the second, and Dr. H. Massie in the town
of Charlottesville. It is a matter of interest to know who
at that time were leaders in so praiseworthy a cause.

A Debating Society was maintained in Charlottesville,
which, besides kindling the talents and directing the studies
of the young men of the town, quickened the patriotism of
the community by occasionally celebrating the Fourth of July.
On that day 1830, they assembled in the Presbyterian Church,
where Dr. Frank Carr read the Declaration of Independence,
and Nathaniel Wolfe, a member of the bar, delivered an
oration.

In 1830 the Albemarle Temperance Society was formed
with Dr. Frank Carr as President, Dr. H. Massie, Vice President,
J. W. C. Watson, Secretary, and Edward S. Watson,
Treasurer.

Nor should it be omitted, that as a means of promoting
the mental life and culture of the community, a meeting was
held in 1823 for the establishment of a public library. A
committee was appointed to draft a constitution, and another
consisting of Mr. Jefferson, Rev. F. Bowman and John
Ormond, a member of the bar, to prepare a catalogue of
appropriate books for purchase. The next year the Albemarle
Library Association was organized. V. W. Southall
was its President, John J. Winn its Vice President, Ira
Garrett its Secretary, William Wertenbaker its Treasurer,
and William H. Meriwether its Librarian. Its doors were to
open Mondays and Fridays, from eleven A. M. to three P.
M. Like many other beneficent projects, it has passed
away among the things that were, and its books scattered to
the four winds. Occasionally an odd volume may still be
met with, marked with the label of the Association.

The visit of Lafayette to this country occurred in 1824, and
Albemarle was particularly honored with his presence. In
November of that year he came from Richmond to exchange
greetings with Mr. Jefferson. Special preparations were
made for his reception. At the Fluvanna line a troop of
cavalry, named in his honor the Lafayette Guards, met him
on Thursday the eleventh, to escort him to Monticello. The
officers of this detachment were John H. Craven, Captain,
George W. Kinsolving, First Lieutenant, Richard Watson,
Second Lieutenant, and Thomas W. Gilmer, Cornet. On its
arrival at that point, the carriage containing Lafayette was
halted, and he was addressed by William C. Rives, who in
the course of his remarks mentioned, that he was held in
lively and affectionate remembrance by the people of Virginia,
and that not far from where they stood there remained a
memento of him and his gallant services in their behalf during
the Revolution, as the road by which he led his army to
protect the old Court House from Cornwallis's approach,
still bore the name of the Marquis's Road.

When the cortege arrived at Monticello, the troop was
drawn up, on each side of the southern lawn. Lafayette
alighted a short distance from the portico, from which Jefferson
descended with tottering steps to meet him as he
approached. As they drew near, the one exclaimed with
choking emotion, "Lafayette," and the other with the
same tender pathos, "Jefferson," and for a season they were
locked in each other's embrace, while tears freely coursed
down their cheeks. So affecting was the scene that there
was scarcely a dry eye among all the spectators. At length
the venerable friends turned and entered the house. Before
they were seated however, word was brought to Lafayette
that a company of youth, styled the Junior Volunteers, who
had been a part of his escort from the Fluvanna line, wished
to offer him the tribute of their respect. He immediately
returned to the portico, where he was saluted in an admirable
and manly address by Egbert R. Watson, then fourteen
years of age. When the conclusion was reached, he approached
the youthful orator, and taking both his hands in

his own, assured him and his companions of his hearty
appreciation of their reception.

On Friday the twelfth, he was conveyed to the Central
Hotel in Charlottesville, where he was addressed by Thomas
J. Randolph. A public reception followed. At noon a
procession was formed and marched to the University, where
on the portico of the Rotunda he was again addressed by
William F. Gordon. In the Rotunda, then in an unfinished
condition, a large number of guests sat down with him to
dinner. According to the programme, Governor Randolph
was to have presided on the occasion; but being necessarily
absent, his place was happily filled by V. W. Southall. At
six o'clock Lafayette returned to Monticello, accompanied by
Jefferson and Madison, with whom he quietly spent the
interval until Monday the fifteenth. On that day he was
again taken in charge by the Guards, and conducted as far
as Gordonsville on his way to Montpelier.

At this period, and for some time previous, many persons
visited the county to obtain the sight of Monticello, and its
distinguished occupant. They came from all parts of the
country, and even from foreign lands. Mr. Jefferson was
obliged largely to pay the penalty of greatness. Some of his
visitors were animated by a just admiration of his brilliant
gifts and services, others moved by a curiosity both low and
annoying. An Englishman, who spent some time in the
country toward the end of 1824, left on record his great
delight with the aged statesman, with Charlottesville, and
with the whole state of Virginia; and as an instance of the
unbounded hospitality he had experienced, he states, that
the evening before his departure from Charlottesville he was
obliged to sup with three different families. Another
stranger, in a letter dated March 1825, expresses himself in
the following enthusiastic terms over the beauty of Albemarle
scenery:

"The site of the village [Charlottesville] is upon the summit
of a gentle elevation which begins to rise from the foot
of Monticello. It contains a courthouse, a half finished
church, and three or four taverns, which constitute the whole

of its public buildings. It covers a limited portion of ground,
and from its appearance, though I cannot positively affirm
the fact, may number six hundred inhabitants. When a
traveller arrives in the village, he is struck with the sublime,
beautiful and picturesque scenery which everywhere surrounds
him, and he pauses to contemplate with eager curiosity
the magnificent prospect which meets his view. He
forgets there is such a place as Charlottesville in existence,
when he casts his eye upon mountain after mountain rising
in regular succession, and whose lofty summits mingle with
the sky till they are lost in the distance. At one time the tops
of these lofty hills are enveloped in clouds, and at others
when the glorious King of day sinks behind them, and tinges
with golden rays their elevated heads, it calls forth an
unfeigned burst of admiration. The pure, unadulterated air
which descends into this village, surrounded with these
mountains, gives infallible token that the best of all earthly
blessings, health, dwells among them."

Besides the public buildings referred to above, Charlottesville
had at that time a market house. In October 1829,
Opie Norris advertised the "old" structure of that name for
sale, and required the removal of all the materials from the
ground. Its site was on Market Street immediately east of
Third. Soon after the war another edifice of the kind was
taken down at the west end of Market Street; whether it was
erected just after the demolition of the first is not known.

It was an advanced period in the history of the county
before banking facilities were enjoyed. In the earlier years
when a business man wished to remit money in the long intervals
of a payment in person, it was a common practice to
cut in two a bank note of high denomination, and send a
half by mail, and when the receipt of that was acknowledged,
to send the other half. In one instance this mode of remittance
led to an unhappy episode in the life of one of the
citizens.

In 1820 Solomon Ballou advertised to run a hack to and
from Richmond once a week, leaving Charlottesville on Wednesdays
at the tavern of G. W. Kinsolving, and Richmond on

Saturdays at Saunder's Tavern. His design was to transport
passengers, and also to carry the mails. Sometime
after Opie Norris in the course of business sent the half of a
fifty dollar note to a correspondent in Richmond. Hearing
nothing in reply, he had the other half mailed from Nelson
County to go by a different route, accompanied with the
explanation that he had already sent the first half. Assured
that the latter had not been received, he had Ballou arrested
and searched, and the missing piece was found on his person.
In consequence he was convicted of robbing the mail, and
sent for a term of years to the penitentiary. What seemed
a prosperous career, was thus brought to a sad end. Ballou
was doubtless the son of a man of the same name, who in 1780
bought a large plantation between Ivy Creek and Mechum's
River from Rev. William Woods. After his fall, Frank B.
Dyer sold under a deed of trust Lot Twenty-Nine—the most
easterly lot of the old town on the south side of Main Street
—of which he was the owner; and in 1832, when his imprisonment
had probably ended, he and his wife Philadelphia
sold to John Lee the south end of the lot on which the Perley
Building stands.

It was still some time before a banking house was opened
in the county. The first concern of the kind was founded
during the decade of 1830. This was the Savings Bank of
Charlottesville, of which John H. Bibb was Cashier, and
which, when its business had grown to large proportions in
later years, had its office in the building of the Monticello
Bank. In the beginning of 1840, a branch of the Farmers'
Bank of Virginia was located in Charlottesville, at first on
the west side of the Square. John R. Jones, James W.
Saunders and T. J. Randolph were its Presidents in succession,
William A. Bibb its Cashier, and Kemp Lowry and
Edlow Bacon its Tellers. It was here the venerable John
M. Godwin received his financial training, being connected
with the bank during the whole of its existence. The
present City Hall on the corner of Market and Fifth Streets,
was erected for the prosecution of its business.

Shortly after the establishment of the Farmers' Bank, the

Monticello Bank was commenced. Its place of business was
the large edifice on the corner of Main and Fourth Streets,
which was especially built for its use. N. H. Massie was its
President, B. C. Flannagan its Cashier, and Alexander P.
Abell its Teller.

All these institutions were permanently closed by the civil
war. The one last mentioned had a somewhat romantic
prolongation of its proceedings after the cessation of hostilities.
When towards the termination of the war apprehensions
were entertained of the Sheridan Raid, it was deemed
advisable to remove the specie of the bank from its vaults.
Protected by a detachment of the Provost Guard, several
boxes of gold and silver coin were taken from the bank to
the residence of B. C. Flannagan, now in the occupancy of
Judge Lyon. The same night the bank officers, accompanied
by a friend and a negro in whom confidence was
reposed, transported them across the country to the brow of
the hill on the east side of Ivy Creek, near the point where it
is crossed by the Whitehall Road. In the evidence detailed
before the Court, a graphic description was given of the
journey, made toilsome by their heavy burdens, amidst the
gloom of the nocturnal darkness, over the face of the land
unmarked by any object in the shape of enclosure or fence,
all having been swept away by the ravages of the war.
Reaching the place proposed, they hastily dug holes for the
reception of the boxes. They found the ground frozen and
stony, so that their work was difficult. They were likewise
hampered by the fear, that the noise of their picks striking
upon the rocks might attract the ears of some belated passenger.
The result was that the boxes were partly buried in
shallow excavations, and partly covered with leaves under
the trunk of a fallen tree. After the return of peace it was
discovered that the money buried in the earth was gone,
while that concealed under the leaves remained undisturbed.

In searching the surrounding locality, an envolope was
found addressed to George W. Bailey. Inquiry revealed the
fact, that he and several friends had been fishing along Ivy
Creek a few days before. Bailey was arrested, and no other

evidence appearing at his examination, was discharged. He
thereupon brought suit against B. C. Flannagan, who had
procured his arrest. The case was tried at the October term
of the Circuit Court in 1866, and excited intense interest in
the community, both from the mysterious incidents involved,
and from the brilliant array of legal talent on both sides.
The jury came to the conclusion that the defendant had not
acted unjustly or unreasonably.

After the war the Charlottesville National Bank was
organized in place of the Monticello Bank, with the same
officers. In 1867 the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank opened
its doors on the north side of Main Street below Fifth, its
President being John L. Cochran, and its Cashier John M.
Godwin. About the same time the Virginia Loan & Trust
Company was projected, but was not long after transformed
into the Citizens' National Bank, under Doctor Henry Howard
as its President, and W. W. Flannagan as its Cashier.
On the death of Doctor Howard in 1874, this institution was
consolidated with the Charlottesville National Bank. In
consequence of the financial panic which swept over the
country in 1873, and of discounts granted beyond safe limits,
both of the remaining banks collapsed, entailing upon the
community no little loss, and causing a serious disturbance
of its business. In the lack of banking facilities thus occasioned,
the Albemarle Insurance Company, which was
established in 1854, and had been managed with great profit,
became a place of deposit in charge of John Wood Jr.; but
it shortly failed under the stringency of the times. To meet
the requirements of trade, B. H. Brennan, who had recently
come to the county from Buffalo, New York, opened a private
bank, with his son Frederick, as Cashier, and Daniel Harmon,
as Teller. It likewise suffered from adverse conditions, and
soon succumbed.

At the close of this season of commercial disaster and
gloom, the present monetary institutions, the People's National
Bank, and the Bank of Albemarle, entered upon their
career, and by careful and skilful supervision, it is believed,
are fixed on firm foundations.

The Courts, besides discharging the ordinary routine of
business committed to their charge, maintained a vigilant
oversight of the morals of the people. Some of the former
generations of the county appear to have been much more
addicted to the vice of gambling than the present. It pertained
to the country as well as the town; and the gamesters,
by resorting to the country taverns, frequently brought their
hosts into the clutches of the law, as its prohibition was
levelled at the place no less than the person. The magistrates
sought to repress the evil with a steady hand. In 1807
Ferrell Carr was presented before the County Court for this
offence, and was bound over to abstinence. Joshua Grady,
Daniel Farley and Henry Chiles were frequent transgressors.
In 1812 Martin Thacker was held under bonds in the Circuit
Court "to abstain from the infamous practice of gambling."
In fact a large portion of the cases coming before Judge
Stuart during his early occupancy of the bench, were trespasses
of this kind; and no doubt the rigid sternness with
which he pursued the delinquents, greatly diminished their
number, and the frequency of their misdeeds.

The Courts were also firmly resolute in keeping in check
the impetuous spirits, that became unduly heated in the conflicts
of the bar, or the competitions of daily life. Not to
cover great names with reproach, but to show that the most
eminent are men of like passions with the mass of mankind,
records of this nature may be recalled. Dabney Carr,
"clarum et venerabile nomen," and George Poindexter were
placed under bonds to keep the peace in 1801. So were John
T. Hawkins and Richard Terrell the next year. In 1828
Charles A. Scott was bound over for a breach of the peace
against Isaac A. Coles. In 1833 Thomas W. Gilmer and
William C. Rives were obliged to give security to live peaceably
with each other, and the sum of one thousand dollars
specified in their bonds indicated the sharpness of their contention.
In this case John Gilmer became surety for the
former, Peter Meriwether for the latter, and James Clark for
both. Alexander Rives was held under bonds in 1836 with
Alexander Moseley, and in 1846 with Willis H. Woodley.

In 1841 John S. Moon and Jesse L. Heiskell were placed
under similar restraint; and so strained were the relations
between the two, that the same year they were presented for
attempting to fight a duel. Many instances happened in the
past history of the county, in which these barbarous encounters
proceeded as far as design; but fortunately through
the vigilance of the magistrates, or the opportune intervention
of the police, they were suffered to proceed no further.
Among these was the case of the irrepressible Lewis T. Wigfall
in 1835, while a student of the University, and subsequently
a member of the United States Senate from Texas.
For contempt of Court in 1850, a fine of fifty dollars was
imposed on Roger A. Pryor, at that time a practitioner of
the Albemarle bar.

At the October term of the Circuit Court in 1818, a presentment
of a different character took place. Andrew Hart
Sr., Alexander Blain, William B. Harris, James Hart, Andrew
Hart Jr., James Robinson Sr., Jesse Hamner and
James Robinson Jr., were summoned to answer to the charge
of the unlawful assembling of slaves, and teaching them at the
Cove Meeting House, on the Sundays of September twenty-seventh
and October fourth. This presentment was based
on the information of Henry T. Harris, Isaac Hays Jr., William
Suddarth and Samuel W. Martin. James Robinson,
Pastor at the Cove, was also presented individually for words
spoken in addressing the negroes. He was reported, on the
information of Isaac Hays, Jr. alone, as having said, "You
have been disappointed in your school, but do not be disheartened.
Come and attend to me. I will instruct you,
and I have no doubt that in fifteen or twenty years you will
be as free as your masters." It is impossible now to obtain
an exact knowledge of all the particulars of this case, as all
the parties connected with it have long since passed from the
land of the living, and a recollection of the faintest tinge as
to the mere fact remains in the minds of their descendants.
That there was a technical offence, cannot be gainsaid. Nor
is it unlikely that some local excitement was aroused by the
occurrence, as the language of Mr. Robinson, if he really

uttered it, was inexcusably indiscreet. It happened too that
James Robinson, the son, abused Elijah Brown, who was a
Grand Juror in the case, for which he was summarily brought
before the Judge and fined one hundred dollars; though upon
his poverty being proved it was reduced to fifty. But it may
well be conjectured there were considerations of an extenuating
nature. Mr. Robinson was probably in bad health, as he
died within the next two years. He was himself a slaveholder.
In 1834 two negroes belonging to his estate, were
on account of age or disease exempted from taxation. Henry
T. Harris was one of his elders, and William Suddarth perhaps
one of his members, certainly a member of his congregation.
No doubt these persons testified simply in obedience
to their summons. But the strongest apology was the nature
of the work in which the accused were engaged. Instruction
from the word of God, even when given against the letter of
the law, was an act which not only no Christian, but no reflecting
and right-thinking, mind would condemn. Every
enlightened conscience would arise to speak in its behalf.
At any rate such observant guardians of the law as Judge
Stuart and John Howe Peyton permitted it quietly to drop.
The case was continued for two or three terms, and then
dismissed.

Near the latter part of 1822 a brutal murder was committed
in the Ragged Mountains, not far from Taylor's Gap. A
man named Hudson Sprouse killed Susan Sprouse, a woman
nearly related to him by the ties of kindred. He was tried
for the crime at the October term of the Circuit Court, 1823,
and though defended by Rice Wood, Frank Dyer and V. W.
Southall, was convicted of murder in the first degree. In the
examination of persons summoned on the venire, as to
whether they had formed opinions respecting the guilt of the
accused, Abraham Wiant declared that he had formed a substantial
opinion on the subject. Judge Stuart directed his
enrollment as a juror, when he was peremptorily challenged
by the prisoner's counsel. This order of the Judge was made
the ground of an appeal, and the Court of Appeals, holding
that a substantial opinion was tantamount to a decided opinion,

granted a new trial. The prisoner being arraigned again
at the October term 1824, it was found impossible to obtain
a jury, the whole community appearing to have adjudged
him guilty. The Judge immediately removed the case to
Rockingham County, where he was tried on the nineteenth of
the same month, and convicted. He was hanged at Harrisonburg
on the tenth of the ensuing December, utterly hardened
to his fate, and repelling every approach on the part of others,
except towards a Mr. Best, who had made kind and earnest
efforts to prepare him for his end. It ought not to be
questioned that the Court above acted, as they were obliged
to act, according to the rules of law; but it can be as little
questioned, that these are the proceedings that occasion the
enforcement of Lynch law. It is difficult to see how, if the
Legislature should make final a certificate of the Judge, that
the accused had a fair, impartial trial, and was convicted on
sufficient testimony, it would militate against the most scrupulous
dictates of justice, or in any way abridge the rights
and safety of mankind.

Another shock was given the community in 1833 by a
murder perpetrated on the person of Peter U. Ware. He was
a tinner by trade, and had his shop on Fifth Street below the
old Advocate office. He was a quiet, inoffensive man, and
had only a year or two before been married to Elizabeth
Mayo. In compliance with some call of convenience or business,
he had gone to the Buck Island neighborhood, where
he was assailed by two negroes, and killed, as was supposed,
for the purpose of robbery. Circumstances of a suspicious
kind led to the arrest of Peter, a servant of Isaiah Stout, and
Leander, who belonged to Elizabeth Dean, and they were
speedily brought to trial. Egbert R. Watson, who had been
recently admitted to the bar, was assigned as their counsel,
and put forth his maiden advocacy in their defence. They
were however condemned, and in the following October executed
on the hill above Schenk's Branch opposite Mudwall,
which at that time had become the Gallows Hill of the town.

The most unhappy event in the history of the University
occurred in November 1840. Some of the students had for a

time been participating in scenes of disorder, contrary to the
regulations of the institution. In attempting to quell the
disturbance one night, Prof. John A. G. Davis laid hold of a
young man who was present, and who when seized turned
upon the Professor and shot him. The wound proved fatal.
Joseph G. Semmes, a student from Georgia, was arrested for
the deed, and after arraignment before the examining Court
was sent on for trial. At the succeeding May term of the
Circuit Court, the case for some reason was continued.
Efforts were then made to procure the liberation of the prisoner
on bail. Judge Lucas Thompson, who was then on the
bench, positively refused to accede to the motion. Application
was thereupon made to the General Court, and on
receiving the testimony of Drs. Carter, Massie and James
L. Jones as to the prisoner's ill health, bail was allowed in
the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. Reuben Grigsby
and B. F. Porter, of Rockbridge, and William Porter, of
Orange, became sureties for his appearance in that amount.
When the time for trial arrived, the prisoner failed to appear,
and the bail was forfeited. The report was believed, that
Semmes fled to Texas, and a few years after died.

An event happened in 1846, which was the occasion of
much regret both in the community and at the University.
A menagerie was holding its exhibition on the open space
between the lot of Mrs. John Kelly and the Cemetery. One
of its features consisted in a showman riding in a car drawn
by a lion. The route to be traversed extended through two
or three of the cages, the ends of which were opened and connected
together. A rope was stretched a short distance in
front to keep the spectators back, and an address given,
exhorting them to the observance of quietness and silence
during the performance. Just as it began, a student named
John A. Glover, from Alabama, who was leaning against the
rope, threw a lighted cigar at the animal between the bars of
the cage. The performer, enraged by the reckless act, leaped
from the cage, and seizing a tent pin struck Glover on the
head, and felled him to the ground. Glover was taken up
unconscious, and borne to the Farish House, where a day or

two after he died. His remains were interred in the University
Cemetery, where a monument, erected by his fellow
students, still commemorates his untimely end. The man
who gave the blow, during the confusion that ensued, made
his escape. George Nutter, a proprietor of the show, was
arrested for murder, and sent on by the examining magistrates.
He was tried at the May term of the Circuit Court,
and defended by Judges Watson and Rives; but the evidence
produced failing to connect him with the fact, he was
acquitted.

In March 1853 John S. Mosby, whose family at the time
were residents of the county, shot George W. Turpin, the
son of a tavern keeper in Charlottesville, in the course of an
altercation; but his adversary, though severely injured,
fortunately recovered. For the offence Mosby was prosecuted.
At that period Judge W. J. Robertson was Attorney
for the Commonwealth, and Watson and Rives defended the
accused. Mosby was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine
of five hundred dollars, and to suffer imprisonment in the
county jail for twelve months. During the term of his confinement
his counsel loaned him the necessary books, and he
improved his enforced leisure by devoting himself to the
study of law. Two years later he was admitted a member of
the Albemarle bar. Shortly after he removed to Abingdon,
where he was practising his profession when the civil war
broke out, in which he was destined to achieve such brilliant
renown.

The old Louisa Railroad, afterwards the Virginia Central,
and now the Chesapeake and Ohio, was extended to Charlottesville
in 1848. The line was continued westward and
reached Staunton in 1854. For some years while the tunnel
through the Blue Ridge was in progress, trains were moved
over the summit of the mountain on tracks laid in a zigzag
manner, one of the most remarkable feats of civil engineering
ever accomplished. It was performed by Colonel Claude
Crozet, formerly a professor in the Military Academy at
West Point, and the distinguished engineer of the road.
During the process of construction west of Mechum's River,

the Colonel was presented by the Grand Jury for obstructing
the Mountain Plains Road; but no doubt because the inconvenience
was temporary, and the benefit immeasurable and
permanent, it was judged best not to push the matter to
extremity.

The Orange and Alexandria Railroad, then the Washington
City, Virginia Midland and Great Southern, later the
Richmond and Danville, and now the Southern, was opened
between Charlottesville and Lynchburg during the war, in
1863. The link between Charlottesville and Orange C. H.
became a line of travel in 1881. Before that time its trains
were run over the Chesapeake and Ohio track between Gordonsville
and Charlottesville. By the intersection of these
roads, Charlottesville is made a prominent railroad centre,
with arms radiating to all the cardinal points of the compass.

For some time previous to the civil war, symptoms of
uneasiness were apparent in the community. A man named
Rood was tried in 1859 on the charge of conspiring against
the Southern people, and endangering the safety and perpetuity
of the Union. He was acquitted. Rumors that the
negroes were plotting to rebel were circulated in various sections
of the county. Chapman, a servant of Mrs. Frances
Estes, was apprehended, but no serious charge against him
was substantiated. Patrolling parties were sent out more
frequently, and were more vigilant in observing the state of
things in every neighborhood. A person so sedate as Miss
Rebecca Leitch was fined and bound over, for permitting her
servant John to hire himself out according to his own pleasure.
Owing to vague anticipations of evil, free negroes in
some instances voluntarily subjected themselves to slavery,
and made choice of masters. In this manner John Martin
placed himself under the sheltering wing of J. E. Huckstep,
Sachel Grayson of John Wood Jr., and Anderson Hutton of
B. F. Abell. But notwithstanding all these disquieting
tokens, a benignant Providence maintained peace between
the people and their servants. In Albemarle, as generally
throughout the South, the kindly relations between the races
were manifested by the absence of any insubordination during
all the trying circumstances that arose.

Because of the demoralizing influences of the war, much
more trouble was experienced from a certain class of white
people. Numbers deserted from the army, and to evade the
officers seeking their arrest, took refuge in the hollows and
secluded places of the Blue Ridge. Sallying forth from time
to time from their secret haunts for purposes of plunder, they
became a terror to the neighboring districts. It is said that
more than once the people were constrained to form themselves
into vigilance committees, to pursue these marauders
into the mountains, and to make them the objects of their
quiet but determined vengeance. During the last years in
which hostilities continued, and those immediately succeeding,
the courts were busy with prosecuting transgressors of
this description. Indictments for larceny, assaults, obtaining
property on false pretences and horse-stealing, were frequent,
and indicated the vicious and depraved spirit which was
rife.

As soon as the tocsin of war sounded, steps were at once
taken to raise money and arm men for the conflict. At a
special meeting of the County Court, it was proposed to
authorize a levy of fifty thousand dollars for the purchase
of arms. The Nineteenth Virginia was mainly formed of
men enlisted within the bounds of the county. A large portion
of the Second Virginia Cavalry consisted of Albemarle
men. Many were scattered in other divisions of the army,
especially the Forty-Sixth Virginia, of which R. T. W. Duke
became Colonel. The older men were disposed into companies
of Home Guards. The county authorities displayed
their zeal in such important measures as procuring supplies
of salt, and preventing the spread of smallpox and other
contagious diseases. They answered the call of the general
government in sending the servants of the county to perform
work on the defences of Richmond. Three drafts for this
purpose were made in 1862 and 1863, the first for five hundred
and forty laborers, the second for two hundred, and the
third for one hundred and ninety. In connection with the
last draft, W. T. Early drew on himself the animadversion
of the Court. He refused to comply with the order. He

was consequently fined ten dollars for contempt, and one
hundred and eighty for failing to furnish a servant according
to the allotment made, for sixty days at three dollars a day.
Both fines were immediately paid in open court; and those
who remember the Captain, can readily imagine the odd
mixture of scorn and good humor with which the sentence
must have been discharged.

Early in the war Charlottesville was designated as the seat
of a large military Hospital. Two spacious frame buildings
were erected just south of the present Junction, and furnished
with cots and other appliances for ministering to the sick and
wounded. Great numbers of these afflicted classes were conveyed
thither for treatment throughout the war. The medical
professors of the University devoted their time and skill
to this benevolent work, and the ladies of the town and
surrounding country exhibited a laudable interest in providing
supplies of necessaries and delicacies, and many of them
in exercising the soothing and efficient care of the nurse.

As an illustration of the manner in which the South suffered
loss from their deranged currency, some of the public
payments may be mentioned. In early times the ordinary
daily allowance made to the county jailor for maintaining a
prisoner in his custody, was twenty cents. As the war progressed,
it rose to eighty cents, then to a dollar, in June
1863 to a dollar and a quarter, in December 1863 to two and
a half, in May 1864 to three and a half, and in August 1864
to four dollars. The ordinary amount for which the Sheriff
gave his bond for the faithful performance of his duty was
sixty thousand dollars. During the war the amount required
rose to two hundred and twelve thousand, and in September
1864, L. S. Macon was directed to increase his bond to five
hundred thousand.

At the close of the war no courts were held from May till
August 1865. The county was then under military government.
The State of Virginia had been transformed into Military
District No. One, and General John M. Schofield was the
first military ruler. An officer of the United States army
was stationed in Charlottesville, with the style of Military

Commissioner of Albemarle County, and through him the
orders of the commander at Richmond were carried out. For
the most part these military rulers were fair and broad-minded
men. Captain William Linn Tidball first occupied this
office in Albemarle. He was ordered to Mississippi in July
1867, and was suceeded by Lieutenant A. F. Higgs, Sixteenth
United States Infantry. Lieutenant Higgs was subsequently
ordered to Georgia, and was followed by Lieutenant Town.
The people generally acknowledged that they had reason to
congratulate themselves, that posts justly esteemed odious
and repulsive, were filled by men who evidently tried to discharge
their duties in the least odious and repulsive way.

By the force and sharp practice of Federal authority,
Francis Pierpoint, of Marion County, was at the time Governor
of the State, though his tenure of the office was merely
nominal. All real government proceeded from Head-quarters.
An order from this source permitted an election
to be held for county officers under William W. Gilmer as
Commissioner of Elections, and in August 1865 he swore in
the magistrates chosen, mainly those who had occupied the
office before. Egbert R. Watson was appointed Judge of the
Circuit Court, but because of his connection as counsel with
numerous cases on the docket, Judge Sheffey, of Staunton,
frequently sat on the bench in the way of exchange.

Affairs moved on with tolerable smoothness until the early
part of 1869. In the meantime the Underwood Convention
was held in Richmond, in the Hall of the House of Delegates,
sitting from December 1867 till April 1868. The representative
in this body for the District composed of Louisa, Albemarle
and Augusta, was James C. Southall, and those for
the county of Albemarle, James T. S. Taylor, colored, and
Clifton L. Thompson. This Convention was largely made
up of members holding the most extreme radical views.
More than twenty were ignorant negroes. The constitution
they formed not only disfranchised all who had ever served
in any civil or military capacity, even down to the most unimportant
county position, but it prescribed the iron clad
test oath to be taken by every one before he could enter upon

any office. This was virtually turning over the whole State
government in all its ramifications to negroes, or to unscrupulous
white men, who thronged into the State in great numbers
from every section of the country, to profit by this
wholesale disqualification of the native population. By the
direction of the Convention, a vote was to be taken on the
adoption of the Constitution in the ensuing July, at which
time State officers and members of the Legislature were also
to be elected.

Both parties immediately bestirred themselves. A Radical
Convention assembled in Richmond on May sixth, and nominated
Henry H. Wells, for Governor, James H. Clements, of
Portsmouth, for Lieutenant Governor, and George W. Booker,
of Henry County, for Attorney General. A Conservative Convention
met at the same place the next day, and nominated
Robert E. Withers for Governor, James A. Walker, for Lieutenant
Governor, and John L. Marye, for Attorney General. During
the same month the Radicals made nominations for the
county. C. L. Thompson was to be State Senator, and J. T.
S. Taylor, Franklin Nelson—both negroes—and John B.
Spiece were to be members of the House of Delegates. The
Conservatives proceeded so far as to nominate Dr. Robert S.
Beazley, of Greene, who had been a member of the Convention,
for the State Senate. Their greatest efforts however were put
forth to have the Constitution voted down. Fortunately the
higher authorities intervened. General Schofield, who had
paid a formal visit to the Convention, and strongly advised
against their policy of disfranchisement, ordered the election
for July both as to the Constitution and State officers, to be
indefinitely postponed. This afforded opportunity for the
initiation of other measures. General Grant was elected president
in November 1868. On the last day of that year, at the
suggestion chiefly of Alexander H. H. Stuart and John B.
Baldwin, of Staunton, a Convention assembled in Richmond
to devise some plan of obviating the difficulties of the situation.
As a result of their deliberations, a Committee of
nine persons was selected to confer with the authorities in
Washington. This Committee consisted of Mr. Stuart, Mr.

Baldwin, John L. Marye, Wyndham Robertson, William T.
Sutherlin, William L. Owen, James F. Johnson, James Neeson
and J. F. Slaughter. They were successful in gaining
the ear and good will of General Grant. It was arranged
that the provisions of the Constitution, especially that of
negro suffrage, should stand, but that a few of its clauses,
embracing particularly the sweeping disfranchising section
and the iron clad test oath, should be submitted to a separate
vote.

While matters were thus working for better days, present
troubles seemed to be growing thicker and darker. In July
1868 General Schofield was appointed by President Johnson
Secretary of War, and gave place to General George Stoneman
as Commander of District No. One. Governor Pierpoint's
term had expired, and by an order from Headquarters, H. H.
Wells was appointed Governor of Virginia. January twenty-third
1869 the crushing blow fell. On that day Congress,
maddened by the idea that any of the people of Virginia
should presume to oppose the radical Constitution, passed an
act that swept out of office all incumbents, who could not take
the iron clad oath, and allowed none to be appointed but those
who could. Accordingly on March twenty-sixth came an
order from Richmond, ejecting the Clerk, Commonwealth's
Attorney, Commissioners of the Revenue, and all the magistrates.
As the term of L. S. Macon as Sheriff had ended, a
new Sheriff, J. C. Childress had already been appointed. By
military authority, W. J. Points was made Clerk, George F.
Jones and Angus A. McDonald Commissioners of the Revenue,
the former for Fredericksville parish, the latter for St.
Anne's, William F. Worthington, Commonwealth's Attorney,
and the following persons magistrates, Henry N. Harrison,
William G. Merrick, John Thornley, Thomas Garland, John
W. Porter, William H. Hotopp, Edward S. Johnson, John
W. Williams, Charles Goodyear and Charles A. Goodyear.
About the same time Wells was removed as Governor, and
the entire power of directing affairs, nominal as well as real,
rested in General Stoneman.

How completely at this period the laws were silent, and the

force of arms had absolute sway, may be seen in the records
of the County Court. Indictments were forwarded to Head-quarters
for the inspection of the General commanding, and
orders were returned from the General commanding, directing
them to be quashed. In other cases when grand juries found
indictments for such crimes as robbery, and they were brought
to the notice of the Court, one of the justices stated to his
brethren that there was no ground for them, and his mere
word was enough for the Commonwealth's Attorney to ignore,
and the Court to dismiss them.

But the better days were coming. In May of this year,
1869, the third Commander, General Edward Canby, was
sent to occupy Headquarters. By his order the election was
held in July. The new Constitution was adopted, but all the
clauses on which a separate vote was taken were rejected.
Gilbert C. Walker, a New Yorker, was elected Governor,
John F. Lewis, Lieutenant Governor, and James C. Taylor,
Attorney General. The State and county were rescued from
negro control. Things gradually returned into their proper
channels. Henry Shackelford became Judge of the Circuit
Court, and the year following John L. Cochran, Judge of the
the County Court, the new Constitution dispensing with the
service of the magistrates in this respect, and requiring the
office to be filled by a man learned in the law. Ira Garrett
was appointed to his old office of Clerk, and James S. Barksdale
was made temporary Sheriff. At that time Virginia,
and the County of Albemarle, were relieved from military
rule, and all functions of government have since been discharged
according to the usual provisions of law.

During the era of general confusion consequent upon the war,
a foul murder was committed on the west side of the South
West Mountain, not far from Stony Point. John H. Salmon,
instigated by the desire of becoming sole owner of a small
farm which had descended from his father, killed his mother
and brother, the other joint tenants. The evidence was
wholly circumstantial, but such as left no doubt of the guilt
of the accused. He was brought to trial in the County Court
in July 1870, and after a hearing protracted through a large

portion of the month, was convicted and sentenced to be
hanged in the ensuing November. Meanwhile his counsel
appealed the case to the Circuit Court on some points excepted
to in the trial, with the result that a new trial was awarded.
The prosecution was accordingly continued in the County
Court the following May. A venire was summoned from
Lynchburg, a jury was empanelled, and the trial was about
to begin, when the prisoner's counsel moved for his discharge
on the ground that the number of the terms of Court prescribed
by the statutes had been suffered to pass since his
indictment without a trial. The jury was discharged, and
argument on the motion heard. It turned out that in the prevailing
derangement of affairs, and because of several interferences
of the General commanding at Richmond, the ground
alleged was true. The Court took the matter under advisement,
and finally discharged the prisoner. So intense was
the feeling of indignation awakened throughout the community
by his crime, that the man at once fled, and according
to report made his way to Texas.