University of Virginia Library

EVENING SESSION.

The first business in order was the report of the Committee on
Resolutions, but before any action was taken thereon, a call was
made on the "distinguished gentleman from Bedford," Mr. William
M. Burwell, who entertained the convention for more than two
hours with a masterly address in favor of the great line from New
Orleans to Norfolk.

The convention now took a recess for one hour. On reassembling
at candle-light, Sidney Baxter, Esq., having appeared as a delegate
from the city of Richmond and being introduced to the convention,
proceeded to address it for a short time.

After Mr. Baxter "wound up," the resolutions of the Committee
on Business coming up in order, they were unanimously adopted.

Thomas L. Preston, Esq., then introduced the following resolution:

Secretaries.

On the 24th of November, 1851, the county court, upon motion
of the president and directors of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad
Company, appointed James Edmondson, John Eakin, James
Orr, Michael W. Withers and James K. Lowry commissioners to
ascertain a just compensation to the owners of lands upon the line
of the proposed railroad through this county.

The election at which the question of voting the subscription to
the railroad was considered was held on June 1, 1852, a considerable
majority of the citizens of the county voting for said subscription.

The advocates of the subscription held public meetings at the

six precincts in Washington county on the day of the election, at
which meetings the following gentlemen addressed the people:
follows:

Abingdon, Colonel S. E. Goodson.

Three Springs, C. F. Trigg.

Jones's Mill, J. H. Earnest.

Meek's, Dr. N. Snead.

Ward's Store, A. C. Cummings.

Fleenor's, J. A. Campbell.

The county court of this county on the 28th of June, 1852, subscribed,
on behalf of the county of Washington, $33,400 for three
hundred and thirty-four shares of the stock of the Virginia and
Tennessee Railroad Company, and appointed William Y. C. White
the agent for said county to subscribe said sum in three annual
instalments of $11,1331/3 each, and authorized the said agent to
issue the bonds of the county payable twenty years after date bearing
six per cent. interest from date, and to sell the same for the
purpose of paying the subscription to the railroad, the said bonds
to bear interest from June 28, 1854.

The railroad was completed to the town of Abingdon in the fall
of the year 1856.

At the February term, 1852, of the County Court of Washington
county, Virginia, Green, a slave, the property of Thomas Wilson,
was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hung for the murder of
Tom, a slave, the property of William Y. C. White, but, by a subsequent
order of the court, his sentence was commuted and he was
transported from the Commonwealth. In the spring of the same
year, Campbell and Benjamin Smith were arrested, and, at the
April court, were tried for rape. Campbell Smith was sentenced
to be hung, and on the 23d of October, 1852, was executed pursuant
to his sentence. An account of the execution is here given:

"Campbell Smith, a free negro, was hung yesterday (Friday)
near this place, in pursuance of the sentence pronounced upon him
by his Honor, Judge Hopkins, at the late term of the Circuit Court
for this county.

The crime of which Campbell Smith was found guilty was one
of so heinous and diabolical a character, committed as it was by
two stout negroes, and upon a young respectable white girl, that
but little sympathy was manifested for the prisoner by any one

present. The culprit himself seemed indifferent to his fate, almost
as much as many of those present to witness his execution.

He was taken from the jail about twelve o'clock and followed to
the place of execution by between 3,000 and 4,000 people. After
arriving at the gallows, the Rev. George R. Barr, at the request of
the prisoner, engaged in a short and appropriate religious service
with him, having previously addressed a few remarks to the large
crowd assembled around the gallows. The prisoner stated, through
Mr. Barr, that he became religious six years ago, and continued
faithful for four years, when in an evil hour, through the influence
of intoxicating liquor, he lost the image of his Maker, and now
found himself condemned to die for an offense which he told Mr.
Barr, had it been committed by another, he would call as loudly
as any in the crowd for his execution.

He said he died at peace with all the world and trusted in the
mercy and forgiveness of the Saviour of the world. He struggled
for some time after the wagon was driven from under him.

On the 25th of July, 1853, the County Court of Washington
county, on behalf of the county, subscribed $4,000 to the old courthouse
and Abingdon turnpike, and appointed Jacob Lynch the
agent of the county to make said subscription, and on the 23d day
of October, 1854, the court subscribed $2,250 to the Abingdon and
Pattonville turnpike, and appointed C. S. Bekem the agent of the
county to make the subscription.

At this time in our history the attention of our public men
was, to a great extent, directed to the internal improvement of
the country, to the building of turnpikes, MacAdam roads and railroads.

At the August term, 1853, of the County Court of this county,
Peter C. Johnson, A. C. Cummings, I. A. McQuown, Andrew
Edmondson and Washington Bishop were appointed commissioners
to run and mark the boundary line between the counties of Washington
and Grayson, and in the month of October these commissioners
made their report, which was received and recorded on the 29th
day of November, 1853.

Among the public improvements that attracted the attention of
the people of Southwest Virginia, and the one that was of greater
importance to this section of Virginia than all others combined, was
the Southwestern Turnpike road.

On the 28th of January, 1846, the General Assembly of Virginia
incorporated the Southwestern Turnpike road, which road was
to be a MacAdamized road from Salem, Virginia, by the way of
Christiansburg, Newbern, Wytheville, Marion and Abingdon to the
Tennessee line, and appropriated seventy-five thousand dollars to
carry into effect the object of the act.

The said road was to be graded to a width not less than twenty-four
feet, and to be MacAdamized to a width not less than twenty-two
feet.

This act provided for the condemnation of the lands over which
the road was to pass, said road to be, at no point, on a grade
exceeding three degrees.

An engineer, who was also to be superintendent of the road, was
to be selected by the president and directors of said company, and
it was made the duty of the engineer to make all contracts for the
opening and constructing of said road, erecting bridges and whatever
else was necessary for finishing the same, but all such contracts
were to be approved by the president and directors of said
company.

The construction of this road was begun during the same year
and the work upon the road was carried on with commendable
speed until the year 1848.

In January of this year, the road had been completed as far
as Wytheville, and there was an urgent demand for its immediate
completion to the Tennessee line, by the citizens living in the counties
of Smyth, Wythe, Washington and Scott, and the General
Assembly on the 17th of January, 1848, appropriated the sum of
three hundred thousand dollars to complete said road, not exceeding
seventy-five thousand dollars of said sum to be expended in
any one year.

The superintendent and engineer of the Southwestern Turnpike
let the contract from Wytheville west to the Tennessee line to
William L. Lewis, and this contract was approved by the president
and directors of said company in the fall of the year 1848. At the
fall session of the General Assembly in the year 1848, and, on the
day of the approval of said contract as above stated, E. R. Watson,
a member of the General Assembly from Albemarle county, introduced
a resolution in the Legislature to suspend the work upon the
Southwestern road west of Wytheville. A large majority of the

Legislature were in favor of the resolution, but in view of the fact
that the Board of Public Works had signed a contract for the construction
of this road, the resolution was defeated and work was
continued upon the road.

Fifty thousand dollars of the public money appropriated for the
construction of this road was paid to William L. Lewis, the contractor,
but for some reason, which cannot now be explained, the
work of constructing said road was delayed, and but little progress
was made until the year 1851.

The road was surveyed and located to the Tennessee line by the
spring of 1850.

By an Act of the Assembly adopted on the 29th of March, 1851,
it was provided that unless William L. Lewis, the contractor,
should complete a section of the road twenty miles west of Wytheville
by the first day of April, 1851, it should be the duty of the
Board of Public Works within ninety days thereafter to take legal
steps upon the bond of the said Lewis and his sureties to recover
damages for his default, with the proviso that the sureties of the
said Lewis might become undertakers to complete the twenty miles
of road according to the tenor of the said contract, and in that
case action on the bond of the said Lewis should be suspended for
one year.

This same Act provided that, should the said William L. Lewis,
abandon or forfeit any other portion of his contract for constructing
the said road to the Tennessee line, the Board of Public Works
were directed and instructed to relet said road to the sureties of the
said William L. Lewis. And in the event the said sureties did not
become the undertakers of said road under this act, the Board of
Public Works should not give the said Lewis any further time to
complete his contract, but should, so soon as any part of his contract
for constructing said road is abandoned or forfeited, proceed
forthwith to relet the same in sections of not more than five miles.

As a result of this act, Lewis, or his sureties, completed said
MacAdamized road as far west as Seven-Mile Ford in Smyth county,
Virginia.

Such was the condition of affairs on the 5th day of April, 1851,
at which time a resolution was offered by Colonel Hopkins, directing
the Board of Public Works to relet said road, to which resolution

Mr. Stovall, a member of the Legislature, offered the following
substitute:

"Resolved, by the General Assembly, That the Board of Public
Works be and they are hereby authorized and required to suspend
the further construction of the Southwestern Turnpike road, except
so much as may be necessary to finish any intermediate sections
between the eastern part of said road which has been finished, and
the extreme western part of said road upon which the contractors
may have commenced work."

This substitute was eloquently and energetically opposed by Colonels
Hopkins and Imboden, but was adopted by a vote of fifty-two
to forty-four, and the friends of the road were unable to obtain
a reconsideration of the vote.

A number of unsuccessful efforts were made by the friends of
this road to have work on the same resumed, but without success.

The newspapers of Abingdon charged that Governor Johnson
and the Board of Public Works were responsible for the suspension
of work upon this road, and Governor Floyd was severely censured
for his course in the matter. The road was never completed west
of Seven-Mile Ford, and while Southwest Virginia and Washington
county have had to bear their portion of the great public
debt created for public improvements previous to 1860, they have
received no benefit therefrom.

The failure to complete this road has been attributed to different
causes, among the number being:

First. The anticipated construction of the Virginia and Tennessee
Railroad.

Second. The principles actuating Governor Johnson and his
advisers, which principles were opposed to internal improvements
by the Commonwealth and favored a strict construction of the
Constitution of the Commonwealth.

Third. The indisposition of the representatives from Eastern
Virginia to interest themselves in the welfare of Western Virginia.

It will be nothing more than an act of justice to this section of
Virginia, if the General Assembly of Virginia should yet complete
this road.

In the year 1855 the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad Company
decided to build a branch railway from Glade Spring to Saltville,
to be known as the Saltworks Branch, and on the 27th day of

February, on motion of the railroad company, the county court
appointed William A. Preston, Lewis F. Cosby, Isaac Horne, James
Orr and Pleasant Smith commissioners for the purpose of ascertaining
a just compensation to the owners of the lands through
which the Saltworks Branch would pass. This road was built
shortly thereafter and the town of Glade Spring had its beginning.

About this time, at the instance of John M. Preston, a number
of citizens contributed a sum of money sufficient to MacAdamize the
main road leading east from Abingdon to near the railroad crossing
at McConnell's Switch. Some evidence of this work is still to be
seen.

On the 23d of July, 1855, the county court of this county, upon
receipt of information of the death of Samuel Logan, who had for

Samuel Logan.

many years been the very efficient attorney for
the Commonwealth in this county, adopted the
following resolutions:

"Resolved, That in the removal from amongst
us of Samuel Logan by an all-wise Providence,
this court has been deprived of an able and efficient
officer, the members of the bar of a courteous
and gentlemanly practitioner, the community
of a laborious, able and well-informed lawyer,
and his family of a kind and indulgent husband
and father.

"Resolved, That the court, its officers and the members of the
bar extend their warmest sympathies to the bereaved widow and
children of the deceased in this most afflicting dispensation of Divine
Providence.

"Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the minutes
of the court, and that the clerk furnish a copy thereof to Mrs.
Logan, and also to each of the newspapers of Abingdon for publication."

Nothing of any importance occurred until November, 1858, at
which time John S. Mosby, who had settled in the town of Goodson,
qualified to practice law in the courts of this county.

The abolition sentiment in the meantime was fast obtaining
prominence throughout the Union, and by the fall of the year 1860
excitement was at fever heat, and the feeling between the sections
had grown to such an extent that war was inevitable.

The Democratic Convention held in this year for the purpose
of nominating a candidate for President was not harmonious, and
as a result three candidates for President were nominated by three
different conventions held by the Democratic party, viz., John C.
Breckenridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas, while Abraham
Lincoln was nominated by the Republican party.

The campaign preceding the election was exceedingly bitter, and
the election resulted in favor of Lincoln and the Republican party.
The effect of the election of Lincoln was to create great excitement
throughout the South and advocates of secession, peaceable,
if possible, by force, if necessary, were heard and applauded
throughout the Southern States; but such were not the sentiments
of the people of Washington county.

Four hundred patriots from the county of Washington had assisted
in the erection of the Union. Their descendants long hesitated
before lending their assistance to any movement that had for
its object the dissolution of that Union and they did not give their
consent nor lend their assistance to the movement until President
Lincoln called upon the States for seventy-five thousand men
to invade and overcome the Southern country.

It must not be understood from what is here stated that the people
of this county were unanimous in their opposition to secession,
for it is a fact that numbers of our citizens were strong advocates
of secession from the beginning.

War Between the States—1861-1865.

In the month of December, 1860, or January, 1861, a volunteer
company was organized in Abingdon and was known as the Washington
Mounted Riflemen, and the county court of this county,
on the 29th of January, 1861, entered an order permitting this
company to use and occupy the rooms on the third floor of the
courthouse as an armory, and from this time on, during the spring
and summer of the year 1861, the sole theme of conversation was
the organization of companies of volunteers and preparations for
war.

At the election for members of the General Assembly in the year
1859 George W. Hopkins and Jacob Lynch were elected to the
Assembly from Washington county, and Ben Rush Floyd, of the
county of Wythe, was elected to the Senate from this district, but
Jacob Lynch soon thereafter became president of the Exchange

Bank of Abingdon, Va., resigned his seat in the Assembly, and
Dr. A. R. Preston was elected to fill the vacancy.

The one subject that engrossed the Assembly at its meeting in
the year 1860-1861 was the secession of the Southern States from
the Union, and on the 14th of January, 1861, the General Assembly
called a convention and directed that an election be held
on the 4th day of February, 1861, to select delegates to the convention
thus called.

This Act directed that the sense of the qualified voters be taken
as to whether any action of said convention dissolving the connection
of the State with the Federal Union or changing the organic
laws of the State should be submitted to the people for ratification
or rejection. In other words, the Legislature, by submitting to
the voters at this time the last question stated, did so for the purpose
of securing their ratification of the action of this convention
in advance of any action by the convention.

The candidates for the position of delegates to this convention
from Washington county were: John A. Campbell and Robert E.
Grant opposed to secession, and William Y. C. White for secession.
The result of the election held on the 4th of February, 1861,
was an overwhelming triumph for Campbell and Grant, the vote
in this county being as follows:

WASHINGTON COUNTY—Official.

                                         

	WAIT-A-BIT.		SECESSION.
Precincts.	Campbell.	Grant.	White.	Floyd.	Ref.	No Ref.
Courthouse	307	236	154	79	209	92
Clark's Mills	11	9	13	13	10	13
Davis'	36	34	18	16	35	17
Waterman's	121	113	33	30	120	27
Three Springs	173	169	61	60	169	60
Gobble's	83	83	10	9	92	1
Craig's Mill	125	125	4	21	127	1
Worley's	103	92	13	00	105	00
Williams'	48	26	28	4	47	6
Morell's	48	39	39	37	62	14
Fullen's	58	54	32	38	59	34
Matt Clark's	56	19	69	90	50	68
Kelley's	51	50	33	33	52	32
DeBusk's	75	74	17	18	69	19
Arch. Orr's	64	64	41	39	61	43
Miller's	122	119	34	37	119	31
Good Hope	9	7	2	1	9	1
Green Spring	65	62	21	23	66	17
	1555	1375	622	529	1551	476

While Governor Floyd was not a candidate, he was voted for
in this election, being a strong advocate of secession, and Secretary
of War in the cabinet of President Buchanan.

It will be observed from an inspection of the returns from this
election that the people of the county were overwhelmingly opposed
to secession and to permitting the convention to proclaim
its action without referring the same to the people.

At this time South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama
and Georgia had adopted ordinances of secession, and excitement
was at fever heat.

At the February court following this election a tremendous
crowd of people were in Abingdon, and an incident occurred that
might, under other circumstances, have definitely fixed the sentiment
of the people of this county against secession and have placed
this section within the State of West Virginia.

A few over-zealous advocates of secession on the morning of the
day in question obtained a Confederate flag and placed it upon a
rope stretched across Main street from the residence of John D.
Mitchell to what is known as the White House, on the south side
of the street.

When the presence of this flag was observed it greatly enraged
the citizens of the county who were opposed to secession, and William
B. Clark,[2] one of the best and bravest men this county has
ever produced, proposed to the anti-secession men present that
they immediately tear down what he termed "that d—d rag," saying,
"Boys, it is not the flag of our fathers," and immediately proceeded
to execute his threat.

At the same time the advocates of secession appeared, and war
seemed imminent, but by the advice and counsel of Joseph T.
Campbell, Judge Campbell, Charles S. Bekem, and others the disturbance
was quelled.

It is proper to be stated at this point that as soon as Virginia
had seceded from the Union and the homes of our people were
threatened with invasion, the men who that day proposed to tear
down the Confederate flag were the first to enlist in the service of
their State, were the bravest in battle and the last to surrender,
William B. Clark himself dying in the service of his country.

The convention assembled in the city of Richmond on the 13th
day of February, 1861, and on the 17th of April, 1861, by a vote
of 81 to 51, adopted an ordinance to repeal the ratification of the
Constitution of the United States by the State of Virginia, and
to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution.
This act of the convention was submitted to the people for
ratification at an election held on the fourth Thursday of May,
1861, at which election the ordinance of secession was ratified.
Washington county voted for the ratification by an overwhelming
majority. On the 15th of June, 1861, the convention agreed to a
permanent Constitution for the State, but this Constitution, when
submitted to the people, was rejected by a small majority, and the
Constitution of 1850 remained the fundamental law of the State.

The convention that adopted the ordinance of secession elected
five gentlemen to represent Virginia in the Confederate Congress,
then in session at Montgomery, Alabama, Judge Waller R. Staples
being the representative from this section of Virginia.

While the delegates from Washington county sent to Richmond
were opposed to secession, they afterwards voted in favor of the
ordinance of secession in view of the course pursued by President
Lincoln and his cabinet.

In the month of March President Jefferson Davis formed his
cabinet, which was confirmed by the Senate of the Confederate
States, and was composed of the following gentlemen: Robert
Toombs, C. C. Memminger, L. P. Walker, S. R. Mallory, J. H.
Reagan and J. P. Benjamin.

On the 24th of December, 1860, the county court of Washington
county, upon motion of the president and directors of the Virginia
and Kentucky Railroad Company, appointed James L. Davis, L.
L. Waterman, John Gobble, Roland T. Legard and William Fields
commissioners to ascertain a just compensation to a number of
land owners through whose land said road was proposed to be
constructed, and these commissioners made their report to the
county court on the 24th of February, 1861. This was the inception
of the efforts that resulted in the building of the Virginia
and Southwestern railroad from Bristol to Big Stone Gap.

At the January term of the county court in 1861 the court gave
permission to Thaddeus Harris, Samuel Merchant, Barbary Beverly
and Senah Richmond, free persons of color, to remain in the

county for the space of ninety days for the purpose of settling
their business, the authorities having theretofore required all free
persons of color to leave the county, but, notwithstanding this provision,
many free persons of color remained in the county throughout
the entire war by having some responsible white man stand
security for their good behavior.

At the April term of the court of this county the sum of fifteen
thousand dollars was voted by the county court for the purpose of
securing necessary supplies for the support, equipment and arming
of the volunteer companies of the county, which companies were at
that time being formed, and James K. Gibson, William Y. C.
White, John W. Johnson, T. G. McConnell, James C. Greenway
and Thomas S. Stuart were appointed a committee and authorized
to borrow said money and to issue the bonds of the county for
the same, said bonds to be paid in one, two and three years, or upon
longer time if said committee should think proper.

At the May term of the county court the court adopted a plan to
police the county for the protection of the citizens, the order of
the court being as follows:

1st. The magistracy of this county shall constitute a vigilance
committee, who shall be always on the alert and at all times more
prompt and active than ever in the performance of their duties
under the law in the protection of the rights and interests of the
citizens.

2d. The county court shall have control over all measures of
home protection and defence.

3d. There shall be a central vigilance committee in each district,
composed of four magistrates and two other discreet gentlemen,
to be appointed by the court within the bounds of every
district. This committee shall have power to direct and dispense
all measures of protection and defence within the sphere of their
actions, and make a report in writing at least once a month to
the county court of all matters worthy of note.

4th. There shall be one or more volunteer companies of not
less than forty men within each district to be commanded by a captain
and two lieutenants and four sergeants, respectively, which
officers shall be selected by the men of the companies and confirmed
by the court. Each man shall be armed with his own rifle, musket
or shot-gun, or with arms of like character, loaned or furnished

him by the citizens of each district from the house, stock or lands
or otherwise. In like manner he to furnish or have procured to
him a sufficiency of ammunition. The companies shall be divided
into two platoons, extending from the center to the extremities of
the district as nearly as practicable, and shall act as a general patrol
within the proper bounds and under their proper officers
at least once a week, performing alternate turns of duty. The
company, or companies, of the district shall assemble semi-monthly
at some central point, under the command of the captain, for the
purpose of drill and instruction. At these meetings a report of
the general operations of the company, and especially the condition
of things within the districts as regards the peace, security
and good order of the ctiizens, shall be made to the captain, and by
him reduced to writing and forwarded to the central committee.

5th. The district committee shall have power to order out, when
in their opinion deemed necessary, an additional police to act independently
of, or in conjunction with, the armed police.

6th. The needy families of all the volunteers absent in the service
of the State shall be provided for, and with this view the
magistrates of each district shall be appointed by the court a committee
whose duty it will be to inquire into the condition and necessities
of said families, and provide at once for the same, if necessary,
and report in writing to the next and every succeeding county
court, and thereupon the proper allowance will be made.

7th. In the event of invasion or for the purpose of suppressing
insurrections within the county, this court will at once proceed to
appoint a field officer, who shall be empowered to call out and
command the voluntary forces provided for, or so much thereof
as may in his opinion be deemed necessary for the purpose of repelling
such invasions or suppressing such insurrection.

The court then proceeded to the appointment of the additional
committee under the third clause, and thereupon John L. Bradley
and Jacob Neff were appointed in district No. 1; Henry Roberts
and Francis Preston, in district No. 2; John Gobble and A. M.
Apling, in district No. 3; Jeriel D. Linder and John J. Scott, in
district No. 4; Alex. G. Thompson and David M. Stuart, in district
No. 5; Benj. K. Buchanan and Robert B. Edmondson, in
district No. 6; Andrew Edmondson and James Kelly, in district

No. 7; Thomas M. Preston and John Eakin, in district No. 8;
Robert L. Berry and Lilburn O. Byars, in district No. 9.

The court then unanimously elected James T. Preston colonel
or field officer under the seventh clause.

A number of muskets had been furnished the county by the
State authorities early in the year, and had been distributed
throughout the county, but in such a manner as to render them of
little value to the authorities, and at the May term of the court
the sheriff of the county was directed to collect and deposit them
in Abingdon.

During the spring and summer of 1861 ten companies were organized
in Washington county, which were officered as follows:

The Washington Mounted Rifles—Captain William E. Jones.

The Mountain Boys—Captain William White.

The Glade Spring Rifles—Captain R. P. Carson.

Washington Independents—Captain Dr. James L. White.

Company B, Forty-eighth Virginia Regiment—Captain Milton
White.

Company I, Forty-eighth Virginia Regiment Captain James
C. Campbell.

Company H, Thirty-seventh Virginia Regiment—Captain Robert
E. Grant.

Goodson Rifle Guards—Captain John F. Terry.

Floyd Blues—Captain David C. Dunn.

Company F, Forty-eighth Virginia Regiment—Captain D. A. P.
Campbell.

The Washington Mounted Rifles were sent to First Virginia Cavalry,
Stuart's command, while the companies of Captains Terry, Carson,
Grant, James L. White and William White formed a part of the
Thirty-seventh regiment, commanded by Colonel Samuel V. Fulkerson,
and the companies officered by D. A. P. Campbell, James C.
Campbell and Milton White formed a part of the Forty-eighth regiment,
commanded by Colonel John A. Campbell, of Abingdon, and
D. C. Dunn's company formed a part of Floyd's Brigade. Captain A.
C. Cummings was commissioned colonel by a committee composed
of Governor Letcher, Judge Allen and Francis Smith, in the
month of May, 1861, and was ordered to report at once to General
Jackson at Harper's Ferry, which he did, and was there assigned
to the command of the Second regiment, afterwards the Tenth Virginia

regiment, but was soon thereafter placed in command of the
Thirty-third Virginia regiment.

At the June term of the county court Thomas G. McConnell
was appointed by the court to visit all the volunteer companies
from this county then in the service of the State or thereafter to
be formed, and to provide for their wants out of any money that
might be in the hands of the committee appointed by the court at the
April term.

About this time Charles Eckerbusch was arrested and committed
to jail upon the suspicion that he was not true to the institutions
of the South, but was discharged by the court upon his taking
the following oaths, to-wit:

"I declare myself a citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia,
and solemnly swear that I will be faithful and true to the said
Commonwealth, and will support the Constitution thereof so long
as I continue to be a citizen thereof, so help me God."

"I do solemnly swear that I will obey all orders of the legally
constituted authorities of the State of Virginia and of the Confederate
States, and that I will in no wise give aid and comfort to
the enemies of the State or Confederate States either directly or indirectly,
so help me God."

On Sunday night, September 1, 1861, at about 10 o'clock a collision
occurred on the railroad, about one mile west of Abingdon,
between trains loaded with troops. The first train, carrying a part
of the second regiment of the Polish Brigade from Louisiana, was
ascending the grade west of the depot when a shackle pin broke,
and the cars descended to the level at the bridge over Wolf creek.
At this time the second train, heavily loaded with soldiers, ran
into the front section at the bridge, the result being one soldier
killed and seventeen wounded, one of the wounded soldiers afterwards
dying. The wounded soldiers were removed to the houses
of the Rev. James McChain, Messrs. T. G. McConnell, J. M. Ropp,
and Judge S. V. Fulkerson, and were attended by Drs. Preston,
Barr, Heiskell and Pitts.

On the 28th of October, 1861, the county court of this county
appropriated an additional sum of $2,500 for the purpose of supplying
the volunteers of this county in the service of the Confederate
States, and directed the committee theretofore appointed to
borrow said sum of money and apply it to the purposes mentioned,

At the same term of the court William B. Dickenson was appointed
quartermaster for the eastern and John M. Hamilton for
the western district of the county, and they were directed to aid
the committee appointed by the court in applying the sums above
voted to the purposes directed.

On Thursday, November 6, 1861, an election was held throughout
the Confederate States for President, Vice-President and members
of Congress. Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens had
no opposition for the offices of President and Vice-President of
the Confederate States of America, but in this district the Hon.
Walter Preston, of Abingdon, and the Hon. Fayette McMullen, of
Scott county, were opposing candidates.

Polls were opened at all the voting precincts in the county, and,
in addition thereto, at Camp Dickenson, Camp Cooper and at the
Confederate camp at Abingdon, soldiers being stationed in this
county at the places mentioned.

Preston was elected a member of the Confederate Congress by a
considerable majority.

On the 25th of March, 1862, the sheriff and his deputies and the
commissioners of the revenue were directed to enroll, as soon as
possible, all able-bodied free negroes in the county and report the
same to the clerk of the court.

By this time the families of the absent soldiers were beginning
to feel the burden of the war, and a number of the wealthier citizens
of the county by voluntary contributions undertook to relieve
their situation. The following citizens contributed the sums set
opposite their names to this cause:

       

1862.	April 28.	Henry Preston,	$ 300 00
1862.	April 28.	Stuart, Buchanan & Co.,	1,000 00
1862.	Dec. 22.	Mrs. Wyndham Robertson,	100 00
1863.	Oct. 26.	Wyndham Robertson,	500 00

The General Assembly of Virginia, on the 29th of March, 1862,
passed an Act authorizing the counties to issue notes of less denomination
than five dollars, and the county court of this county, on
the 28th of April, 1862, deciding to avail itself of the advantages
of this law, appointed a committee, consisting of James K. Gibson,
Thomas G. McConnell and William King Heiskell, to ascertain
and report to the court,

First. A design for said notes.

Second. Whether a supply of suitable paper could be procured
and on what terms.

Third. The terms upon which said notes could be printed and
the amount and denomination of the notes necessary to be issued.

This committee on the following day made their report, which
report was filed, and, upon consideration of said report, the county
court ordered that this county issue $15,000 of these notes of the
following denominations and amounts:

Nine thousand ten-cent notes.

Six thousand fifteen-cent notes.

Eighteen thousand twenty-five-cent notes.

Three thousand four hundred and fifty one-dollar notes.

Six thousand fifty-cent notes.

Three thousand seventy-five-cent notes.

The form of said notes as prescribed by the court is shown by
the fac-simile of a one-dollar note and a twenty-five-cent note.

John G. Kreger, clerk, whose name appears to said notes, was
required by the court to issue the same as soon as practicable, and
was appointed treasurer for the purpose of exchanging said notes
for other funds to pay the indebtedness of the county.

The court, on the 24th of June, directed the clerk not to issue
the ten-cent notes as provided for by their former order, but to
issue twenty-one thousand six hundred notes of the denomination
of twenty-five cents instead of eighteen thousand as provided
by their former order, and John G. Kreger, the clerk, on the 24th
of February, 1863, was allowed one thousand dollars for issuing
and redeeming said notes.

On Tuesday, the 4th of April, 1862, a company of Confederate
soldiers was organized in Abingdon, to which was given the name
of the Abingdon Confederates. This company was officered as
follows:

Captain, William L. Hunter.

First Lieutenant, Milton W. Humes.

Second Lieutenant, William McChesney.

Third Lieutenant, James H. Smith.

This was Company A, and formed a part of the Sixty-third Regiment,
Virginia Volunteers.

On the 11th day of April, 1862, the Methodist Protestant church
and the Protestant Episcopal church of Abingdon delivered the
bells used by the respective churches to the ordinance department
of the Confederate States for use in manufacturing cannon, and
on the 25th of April of the same year the Presbyterian and Methodist
Episcopal churches, South, performed a like service.

In the spring of the year 1862, the armies of the Confederate
States were reorganized, and upon the reorganization of the Thirty-seventh
and Forty-eighth regiments Colonels Fulkerson and Campbell,
as well as Lieutenant-Colonels Carson and Garnett, were reelected.
Major Williams was re-elected in the Thirty-seventh, and
Captain James C. Campbell, of Abingdon, succeeded Major Stuart
in the Forty-eighth regiment.

In the companies there was a considerable change as follows:

Captain Grant was succeeded by Sergeant Duff.

Captain William White was succeeded by Lieutenant B. P. Morrison.

Captain James L. White was succeeded by Captain James Vance

and Captain Vance was succeeded by Sergeant T. M. Gobble.
Captain Milton White was succeeded by Lieutenant W. Y. C.
Hannum. Captain D. A. P. Campbell was succeeded by Lieutenant
W. T. Greenway.

At the October term of the county court, in the year, 1862, the
court appointed agents in the several magisterial districts of this
county to solicit subscriptions in their districts of articles of clothing,
shoes, etc., for the use of the volunteers in the service of the
Confederacy.

At this time a great scarcity of salt prevailed in the county as
a result of the State authorities taking charge of the salt works,
and the county court appointed John N. Humes a committee to
correspond with Governor Letcher and seek to have the contract
of Stuart, Buchanan & Company, made with the county authorities
in July of this year, enforced, but the court obtained no relief
in this particular.

On the 27th of June, 1862, Colonel Samuel V. Fulkerson, of the
Thirty-seventh Regiment, was mortally wounded near Richmond on
the second day of the great battle before Richmond, and died the
next day. Upon the receipt of the news of his death, a public meeting
was held at the courthouse of this county for the purpose of
offering a tribute of respect to the memory of the deceased.

"On motion, J. N. Humes, Esq., was called to the chair, and
William King Heiskell appointed secretary.

The object of the meeting was explained by Adjutant Joseph T.
Campbell in brief but appropriate remarks, and, on his motion, a
committee of ten gentlemen was appointed as an escort of honor to
meet the remains at Wytheville. The following gentlemen were
appointed: Adjutant J. T. Campbell, Hon. Walter Preston, William
King Heiskell, Colonel A. C. Cummings, Thomas G. McConnell,
G. V. Litchfield, Jr., William Y. C. White, James C. Greenway,
J. G. Kreger and D. M. Stuart."

This committee met the remains of Colonel Fulkerson at Wytheville
and accompanied the same to Abingdon.

Colonel Fulkerson, at the time of his death, was judge of the
Seventeenth Circuit of the Superior Court of Law and Chancery,
and soon thereafter an election was held in this circuit to fill the
vacancy, at which election John A. Campbell, John W. Johnson,
William B. Aston and W. P. Cecill, were opposing candidates.

Judge Campbell was elected by a considerable majority and served
until removed by the military authorities of the United States in
the year 1869.

In May, 1862, President Jefferson Davis issued his proclamation
setting apart the 16th day of May, 1862, as a day of fasting, humiliation
and prayer, and, on the day appointed, the several congregations
of the town united in regular services at the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, at eleven o'clock in the morning, and at
the Methodist Protestant Church at four o'clock in the evening.

On the 4th day of October, 1862, in the lower end of this county,
on the farm of Colonel John Preston, William McDaniel, a very
respectable citizen was brutally murdered by Jerry and Jim, two
negroes, the property of James Allen, of Tennessee. These negroes
had left their homes and were scouting in the woods, with a lot of
stolen property in their possession, when they observed McDaniel
approaching. After meeting McDaniel and engaging in a conversation
with him, as to what they were doing there, and where they
were going, Jack, one of the negroes, struck and seriously wounded
McDaniel, and the negroes hid his body until night came on and
then returned and carried it to the creek and placed it therein.
They were tried, and Jim and Jerry were sentenced to be hung on
the 23d of January, 1863, on which day they were executed pursuant
to the sentence of the court.

The Abingdon paper in describing the scene in Abingdon on that
day says:

"At an early hour the people began to pour into town from the
farthest limits of this and adjoining counties, and from the gorges
and coves of the mountains. They came by railroad, in wagons,
on horses and mules, and hundreds came wading up to their knees
in mud. Some rode bare-back, others on sheep-skins, and again
others with halters and blind bridles. Little boys and negroes galloped
into town almost breathless, bespattered with mud and wild
with excitement to see two negroes choked to death. But stranger
still was it to see probably not less than a thousand hearty, robust
young men jostling and elbowing their way through the dense
mass of humanity towards the field where the scene was to be
enacted; and when we saw them working and twisting their tortuous
way like so many eels in the mud, we wondered if they
would have been as eager and as hurried if there had been a squad

of Yankees in that direction. If Stonewall Jackson had them, he
would cross the Potomac in a week."

This execution took place in the Academy field west of Abingdon
and was the last execution of any person in this county for any
offense.

The Provost-Marshal at Abingdon at this time was Colonel
John H. Earnest.

In October of this year President Lincoln issued his proclamation
emancipating all negroes after the first day of January, 1863,
which information greatly excited the slave owners of the county.

Some idea of the conditions existing during this time may be
gathered from a diary kept by a very aged citizen of Abingdon,
from the summer of 1861 to the fall of 1862, which diary is here
given.

"1861. July 1st. The evening train had about 150 troops; 100
from Arkansas, the balance from Georgia, remnants of companies
gone on.

"1861. July 2d. At dark I saw the comet for the first time, but
it was seen the night before by others. It is the largest I have ever
seen; it was high up north of west, at ten o'clock it was large, the
tail was broad and appeared to be 250 feet long, the body of it
appeared the size of a common hat.

"1861. July 3d. The evening train had 200 Arkansas troops.

"1861. July 4th. This day eighty-five years ago since the Declaration
of Independence of the old U. S. It's gone, and to-day there
is another declaration going on for independence, the South against
the North, and it must and will end the same way the first declaration
did against old England. The South must be independent
of the North, her cause is more just, etc. In 1775 there were two
parties, one for immediate independence from old England, the
other was for no separation from the mother country, as they called
it. But independence was declared on the 4th of July, 1776. The
party that went for independence of the mother country and fought
for it and got it was called Whigs and the party against independence
was the Tory party and fought against it, but was defeated;
yet they remained Tories, for I can remember hearing one of them
in Wythe county when he got drunk, "halloo" for King George, &c.
The present revolution for independence and a separation from
Northern tyrants, or rather Northern Goths and vandals, against

Southern rights is tenfold greater than the first revolution, and in
all respects like it, as to the parties Whig and Tory. But I believe
it will end just like the first revolution.

"1861. July 4th. Cold all day. The evening train took Captain
David Campbell Dunn's company to General Floyd's Brigade at
Wytheville, seventy-eight men and boys.

"1861. July 16th. To-day awful news from General Garnett's
command at Beverly, Randolph county. Fulkerson's regiment is
part of it. Colonel Fulkerson's regiment is composed of five companies
from Abingdon and county, two from Russell, one from
Davis and one company from Lee county. The news is that all are
killed and taken and that General Garnett is killed.

"1861. July 23d. News this morning of a great battle fought on
the 21st, last Sunday, at Manassas, between the Southern forces
and Lincoln's Northern or black army, in which the latter lost
25,000 men killed, the South 15,000. If this be true it beats
Waterloo, for the South had only 60,000, while the North had
95,000.

"1861. July 26th. Colonel John A. Campbell's regiment left
for Staunton to-day, ten companies, three companies from Washington
county, nine companies of old Washington county now in
the field. Colonel Campbell has Captain White's and David Campbell's
and J. C. Campbell's companies.

"1861. August 31. This morning at five o'clock the house trembled
and shook, the window sash rattled so much that it awakened
all, the rocking of the house awakened me. I never felt such a
sensation before, the house appeared to be standing on something,
the house would quiver and rattle like it would fall.

"1861. September 1st. Two trains at ten o'clock with 1,100
troops, one company of eighty-two from Mobile, Alabama, and the
balance from New Orleans, mashed up at the bridge west of
Abingdon depot, killing one and wounding twenty odd, the front
engine with the conductor cut loose and went on towards Lynchburg,
the other engine was mashed up in the wreck, but the engineer
and conductor left rather suspiciously.

"September 3d. The soldier scalded in the mash up died last
night.

"1861. September 21st. John M. Preston died this morning at
Seven-Mile Ford.

"1861. September 24th. Charles G. Preston, son of F. H. Preston,
died on the 15th. He belonged to the Greenbrier Cavalry, was
in the retreat from Laurel Hill in July last when General Garnett
was killed.

"1861. September 28th. No trains from the East yesterday, no
mail, the rivers were higher yesterday than any one recollects,
houses were taken off where never known before. The whole roof
of one house was left on the bank of the river below Mr. Cole's
on the Middle Fork. The Holston river was six feet higher than
ever known before.

"1861. October 1st. Part of a company of horse got here last
evening from Kentucky.

"1861. October 3d. Hon. John C. Breckenridge and William
Preston, of Kentucky, got to Abingdon to-day.

"1861. October 14th. A company of horse, 111 from Kentucky
by way of Pound Gap, got here this evening, all armed with double-barreled
shot-guns, under Captain Desha.

"1861. October 15. I was wrongly informed as to the arms of
the Kentuckians, they have Minnie rifles and muskets, and were a
part of the State guard. Three thousand dollars reward for the
above-mentioned Captain Desha; his father is here with him.

"1861. October 30th. The Kentucky company took the cars for
General Buckner's headquarters by way of Nashville, Tennessee,
and all took the oath this morning. One of the Kentuckians by
accident shot himself through the arm above and below the elbow.

"1861. November 13th. This day the Cherokee artillery of Georgia
got here from Goldsboro, North Carolina. The train with
most of the regiment ran off near Senter depot last night and
killed three and hurt several. They have three brass six-pounders
and one iron rifled six-pounder.

"1861. November 25th. Twenty of Colonel Jenkins' cavalry got
here to-day from Dublin, where they took ninety-four prisoners
captured at Guyandotte on the 17th.

"1861. November 26th. Colonel Stewart's Fifty-sixth Virginia
Volunteer Regiment got to Abingdon depot to-night on their way
to Pound Gap to join General Humphrey Marshall.

"1861. December 9th. Three hundred cavalry, Colonel Phillips,
of Georgia Legion, got here to-day from Tory mountains of Virginia,

and left for Taylorsville, Tenn., the Tory mountains of
Tennessee. The balance of the regiment is behind.

"N. B.—The above regiment is said to be the Fifty-seventh Virginia,
and that a battalion from North Carolina went about the
same time after night and stopped at Bristol.

"1861. December 8th. There are now at the depot six cannon,
two of them rifled, and twenty-four carriages.

"1861. December 31st. Mrs. Humes died to-day, General Floyd's
Brigade has been going for the last week on the railroad from the
Tory mountains of Virginia to Bowling Green, Kentucky.

"1862. March 16th. Jacob Lynch died this morning at two
o'clock, his brother Daniel died at Estillville, Scott county, the 16th
of March, 1843, at 12 o'clock.

"1862. May 18th. Adam Hickman died this morning at twenty
minutes past nine o'clock, has been in bad health for about ten
years.

"1862. July 1st. It rained very hard at sundown, just after the
train got to the depot with the remains of Colonel Fulkerson, who
was shot the evening of the 27th, in the battle below Richmond in
a charge on the enemy's battery, which was taken, but the Colonel
died the 28th, at twelve o'clock at night. His place cannot be
filled in Southwest Virginia, and I doubt if it can be in the State.
He was buried July 2d at twelve o'clock.

"1862. November 6th. — got home to-day from
Kentucky; has been there almost two months; brought a fine Bowie
knife of a Union Tory and his cap (tip too) —
killed him. Nothing now on this continent in the shape of man
but thieves, robbers and murderers.

"1862. December 22d. Jerry and Jim, slaves of Allen, of Tennessee,
were convicted for the murder of William McDaniel on the
farm of Colonel John Preston and sentenced to be hung on the
23d day of January, 1863.

"1862. December 31st. It is said that 1,500 or 3,000 cavalry
(Yanks) came through Stone Gap, and got to Blountville, the 30th,
and took it.

"1863. January 23d. This day between twelve and one o'clock
Jerry and Jim were hung in the Academy field for the murder of
William McDaniel in October, 1862.

"1863. March 4th. This night, 1841, Charles B. Coale and

myself were converted by Dave Shaver in what is called the Radical
Church, to Methodism; Hum—

"1863. March 28th. Yesterday was Jeff Davis' fast day, whether
the people fasted or not I don't know, but they went to the different
churches.

"1862. November 22d. William Fields died the 22d of November,
1862, in the fifty-second year of his age, no better man has
lived or died in Washington county. His father died New Year's
morning 1829, just such a man."

By the fall of the year 1862, the Southern sympathizers living in
the State of Kentucky were compelled to leave their homes, and
the provisional Governor of that State, after being inaugurated at
Frankfort, Kentucky, on the 4th of October, was forced to leave his
State and had his headquarters in Abingdon on the 31st of October.

In the month of December, 1862, shoes in Abingdon brought
from $10 to $12 per pair, boots from $20 to $30 per pair, a pair of
jeans pants, $20; a jeans coat, $30 to $40; a bushel of corn, $2.50
to $3; a bushel of wheat, $4; a barrel of flour, $25, and a bushel of
sweet potatoes, $5.

The people of this county were greatly excited by the invasion
of East Tennessee by about fifteen hundred Federal troops under
the command of General Carter.

At the time, General Humphrey Marshall with his brigade was
at Abingdon, and immediately started in pursuit, accompanied by
a volunteer company from this county under Lieutenant Warren
M. Hopkins.

The invaders succeeded in destroying the railroad bridge across
the Holston and Watauga rivers and made their escape.

In January, 1863, the Governor of Virginia made a requisition
upon the authorities of Washington county for one hundred and
twenty slaves to work upon the fortifications around Richmond,
which request was complied with, after some time.

The court directed the sheriff and his deputies to ascertain the
number of slaves in the county of all ages and sexes and the number
of male slaves between the ages of eighteen and forty-five
years. The sheriff and his deputies and the commissioners of the
revenue reported, ascertaining the number of slaves in this county
to be twenty-seven hundred and eighty-seven, and the number of
male slaves between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years to

be six hundred and fourteen; thereupon the court directed Tobias
Smith, John N. Humes, Abram Mongle and Joseph W. Davis to
apportion the one hundred and twenty slaves required from this
county, upon the male slaves between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five years, and required the slave-holders of the county to
deliver his or her quota of slaves to the sheriff of this county at
Abingdon, Goodson and Glade Spring on the 21st of February,
1863, and John L. Bradley and Moses Brooks were appointed
agents or overseers for such slaves, and Floyd B. Hurt was directed
to notify the railroad company of the number of slaves to be sent
from this county to Richmond.

At the same term of the court an order was entered appointing
the Rev. Thomas Catlett agent for the county to proceed to North
Carolina to purchase cotton yarn and domestic for the destitute
families of soldiers in this county.

In the summer of the year 1863, the portion of salt allotted to
this county from the Saltworks was distributed among the people
by T. G. McConnell, William R. Rhea and Robert C. Allison, in
quantities not less than ten bushels and at $2 per bushel.

On Thursday evening, the 10th of September, 1863, Rebecca
Lynch and Elizabeth Murray, of this county, were under an oak
tree near Lynch's Spring on the turnpike at the head of McBroom's
mill-dam, with two Confederate soldiers, during a storm. Lightning
struck the tree under which they had taken shelter and the
four persons were killed.

In the fall of the year 1863, Washington county was overrun by
stragglers and deserters from the army, claiming to belong to the
cavalry service. These men traveled about and over the county in
bands of from two to twenty, and robbed the citizens indiscriminately
of their money, clothing, horses, saddles, bridles, their grain
and forage, by force and actual violence, and such was the condition
of affairs that the County Court of Washington county
appealed to the General Assembly of the State for a remedy, stating
that they had appealed to the military authorities, but without
avail.

In the fall of 1862 and the spring and summer of 1863 several
companies of infantry and cavalry were organized in this county—
viz.: Company E, of the Sixty-third Virginia Regiment, Captain
David O. Rush; Company F, of the Sixty-third Virginia Regiment,

Captain James Snodgrass; Company C, of the Twenty-first Virginia
Regiment, Captain R. J. Preston; Company —, Twenty-first
Virginia Cavalry, Captain Fred Gray.

In the fall of this year another requisition was made upon the
county authorities for eighty slaves to work upon the fortifications
at Saltville.

The county had been threatened with an invasion by the enemy
during the fall of the year and had been overrun as before
described, and the County Court, at the October, term, petitioned
the Governor to exempt this county from the requisition, but their
petition was refused and the slaves were furnished early in the year
1864.

At the same term of the court an order was entered appointing
John Roberts a general agent for the county to purchase supplies
for the families of soldiers who were in indigent circumstances,
and district agents were appointed in the several districts of the
county with authority to purchase supplies for the same purpose
and to draw upon John G. Kreger for such sums of money as
were needed for the purpose.

At the November court, 1863, the districts of the commissioners
of revenue for the county were designated, pursuant to an Act
of Assembly, the Western District being No. 1, and the Eastern
District No. 2.

By December, 1863, the condition of affairs was such that the
people of the county were threatened with a famine for bread, and
the County Court entered an order calling the attention of the Confederate
authorities at Richmond to the condition of affairs in this
county and asking their aid in every legitimate way to prevent any
further appropriation of the means of the people of this county to
the support of the army.

On the 16th of September, 1863, a company was organized at
Abingdon for home defence. This company was officered as follows:

Captain, Peter C. Johnson.

First Lieutenant, Joseph T. Campbell.

Second Lieutenant, Charles F. Keller.

Third Lieutenant, W. R. Trigg.

A full complement of sergeants and corporals were appointed
and Saturday was fixed as the day for drilling. This was the second

company organized for home defence in the town, the first company
having been organized on the 22d of June, 1863, and was
officered as follows:

A. C. Cummings, captain.

John A. Campbell, first lieutenant.

G. V. Litchfield, second lieutenant.

Charles F. Keller, first sergeant.

James L. Davis, second sergeant.

Henry Roberts, third sergeant.

John Leach, fourth sergeant.

James A. King, fifth sergeant.

James S. Munsey, first corporal.

These two companies undertook the protection of this community
upon ordinary occasions and discharged their duties well.

In the spring of this year, Colonel William E. Peters was elected
to represent this district in the Senate of Virginia, while Colonel
A. C. Cummings and Captain George Graham were elected to
represent the county in the House of Delegates, but, in the fall, Colonel
Peters resigned his position as a member of the Senate of Virginia,
and Colonel Joseph J. Graham, of Wythe, was elected to fill
the vacancy.

The threatened invasion by the Federal troops from the West was
so imminent that on the 16th of October, 1863, Abingdon was
honored with two major and six brigadier-generals—to-wit: Ransom,
Samuel Jones, Corse, Wharton, Williams, W. E. Jones, Jackson
and Crittenden.

By January 1, 1864, this county had furnished at least two
thousand men, nearly all volunteers, to the army of the Confederate
States, and had been subjected to the necessity of having quartered
on them large numbers of troops, and provisions and forage were
scarcer in the county than they had been for many years. Serious
apprehensions were felt that the poor of the county and the families
of soldiers would suffer. During the fall of 1863, the brigades of
Generals Corse, Jones and Wharton were encamped near Abingdon
for more than a month, and had consumed large quantities of
provision and forage. There were at this time about one thousand
sick and wounded soldiers in the three hospitals in the county.

But, notwithstanding the situation of the people of the county,
in the month of March, 1864, officers were impressing in the lower

end of this county all provisions to be found except five bushels of
grain and fifty pounds of beef or bacon to each adult of the family,
and one-half the quantity for those under fourteen years of age,
for use by General Longstreet's forces, and by the summer of this
year, wheat sold at $30 per bushel and corn at $24.

It seems that such a condition of affairs would have been unbearable,
but such was the patriotism and loyalty of our people to their
Commonwealth, that they, with but little hesitation, furnished the
officers of the Confederate government the greater portion of all the
grain and provision that they could possibly secure.

General Buckner and General Morgan were both in Abingdon on
the first of April, 1864.

A portion of General Morgan's Brigade were encamped for a
few days near our town.

On the 5th day of February, 1864, a young man by the name of
Jacob Mullens, of Wise county, Virginia, was shot by order of
Colonel Prentiss, in West Abingdon, at the location of the colored
graveyard. Mullens had deserted from his company and joined the
enemy. The Abingdon paper in speaking of Mullens says: "He
was an exceedingly ignorant young man, almost a heathen, having
never read the Bible, nor heard it read until after his conviction,
and never heard a sermon in his life. The chaplain of the post
and several other ministers here gave him the benefit of their counsel
and consolation, and he seemed to be penitent. He was greatly
affected on the day of his execution, but exhibited a good deal of
firmness and composure after arriving at the place of execution.
He was sitting upon his coffin with his fingers in his ears when the
order to fire was given. He expired almost immediately, five balls
having pierced his breast."[3]

This is but one instance of the many that happened during the
war, such executions being necessary to enforce discipline and to
render the armies of the Confederacy effective.

The first day of April, 1864, was set apart as a day of humiliation,
fasting and prayer throughout our Southland, and that day
was observed by all our people.

On the same day James K. Gibson resigned his office as Confederate

States Depositary at Abingdon, and Floyd B. Hurt was
appointed his successor.

The County Court at its April term, 1864, directed that $50,000
be levied upon the county to buy grain in Georgia or elsewhere to
be distributed among the poor and the families of soldiers who
were in indigent circumstances in this county, and Aaron L. Hendricks
was appointed to purchase the said corn and have it conveyed
to this county, and committees were appointed in each of the
magisterial districts of the county to solicit subscriptions and
relieve the sufferings of the people as far as possible.

The County Court at this time had on hand six hundred and
eighty bushels of salt, which was much more valuable than the Confederate
currency and county scrip, and the court directed Jonas
S. Kelly to convey this salt to Tennessee and exchange the same for
corn, to relieve the suffering families of the soldiers of this county.

The indebtedness of Washington county on the 23d of May, 1864,
was ascertained to be $53,648.66.

To add to the sufferings of the people of the county, small-pox in
a dangerous form appeared in the vicinity of Abingdon, producing
a great deal of uneasiness among the people.

On the 3d day of September, 1864, General John H. Morgan,
who had been of great service to the people of this county, was
foully murdered at the residence of Mrs. Dr. Williams in Greenville,
Tennessee. He was betrayed by a young Mrs. Williams, who
had left her home upon the coming of General Morgan, and
informed the Federal troops of the whereabouts of General Morgan
and the number of guards on duty, and on Sunday morning
the 3d, the house where General Morgan was sleeping was surrounded
by Federal troops, and in attempting to escape General
Morgan was shot through the right breast and killed, his body
thrown across a horse and paraded through the streets of the town.

On Monday night the remains of General Morgan arrived at
Abingdon, and were taken to the residence of Judge Campbell in
the vicinity,[4] where Mrs. Morgan with one or two relatives were
sojourning. On Tuesday evening at 4 o'clock, funeral services were
performed by Chaplain Cameron, and the procession formed by
General George B. Crittenden. It was the largest and most imposing

procession of the sort ever seen in this part of the country. The
order was as follows:

1st. Hearse, with the body and guards on each side, without
arms.

2d. Chaplains.

3d. Family of deceased.

4th. Military family, mounted by twos.

5th. Military court, mounted by twos.

6th. Officers of the army, mounted by twos.

7th. Privates, mounted by twos.

8th. Citizens, mounted by twos.

9th. Citizens, dismounted.

As the sun went down behind dark masses of clouds in the West,
emblematic of the sorrow and gloom that pervaded the vast concourse
in attendance, all that was mortal of the immortal John H.
Morgan was consigned to the rest of the tomb, there to sleep,
unmindful of the clash of arms and the terrible tread of armies,
until the trump that marshals the buried millions shall break his
slumbers.

The remains of General Morgan were interred in Sinking Spring
Cemetery, but were subsequently removed to his home in Kentucky.

General Morgan was succeeded in his command by General Duke,
of Kentucky, but from this time forward the people of this county
were without hope and calmly awaited the inevitable.

The subscription price of the "Abingdon Virginian," at this time
was $8 per year.