The Free State Of Patrick Blog

Virginia Monument At Chickamauga

2011-08-22T18:41:00.000-04:00

Born on the Smith River in Patrick County, Jefferson Turner lived at the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountain along the border between Patrick and Floyd Counties before the war. He served in Captain Sparrell Griffith’s Company H, 54th Virginia Infantry. Turner died of disease at Abingdon in May 1862. During the American Civil War families sometimes came to the camps and took their loved one's body home for burial. Family tradition states his wife, Susan Short Turner, traveled by wagon to Abingdon, brought his body back, and buried him at the head of Shooting Creek, a journey of almost 300 miles. This just one of the stories from The Free State Of Patrick: Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War that I finished over a decade ago. We are commemorating the 150^th anniversary of the War Between the States and one man has the idea to remember some of these men with a monument at battlefield that many do not realize they fought at in northern Georgia at a place along a creek called Chickamauga.

Many years ago John Cail of the Surry County Civil War Round Table and I found ourselves at the Brotherton Cabin on the Chickamauga National Battlefield in northern Georgia just south of the my father’s birthplace in Chattanooga, Tennessee. John found the sign for the his ancestor’s regiment, the 54th Virginia Infantry and just beside it I found the sign for my father’s ancestors in the 17th Tennessee. John and I did a double take as just like we were doing our ancestors fought beside each other at Chickamauga in September 1864.

Men from Patrick County served in the 54th Virginia Infantry. Company H with 64 men under the command of Sparrell H. Griffith enlisted on October 1, 1861. Joseph H. Scales, James R. Scales, Lewis A. Buckingham and Peter S. Banks led the company later in the war. This regiment made up of men mainly from Floyd County included at least 24 men from Patrick County.

The regiment fought future President James A. Garfield at Middle Creek on January 10, 1862. Griffith left with the reorganization in May 1862. At the Battle of Kelly’s Store in Southampton County in January 1863, the 54th fought alongside the 50th Virginia Infantry.

The 54th joined the Army of Tennessee fighting at Chickamauga in September 1863 and Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga in November. The Atlanta Campaign in 1864 occupied the regiment fighting at Resaca in May, Atlanta in July and Jonesboro in August under the command of Joseph Johnston and John Bell Hood.

John Bell Hood “played hell in Tennessee” the remainder of the year into 1865 with the 54th Virginia participating except for the disaster of Franklin in November. The 54th joined Nathan Bedford Forrest at Murfreesboro in December 1864. Johnston replaced Hood in January 1865. The 54th with 235 men moved towards North Carolina in February traveling through Augusta, Georgia to Charlotte. On March 19, 1865, the 54th fought its last battle at Bentonville, North Carolina losing four killed, 5 wounded and losing 30 prisoners.

Among the men with a connection to Patrick County was the brother of the most famous soldier from our county. John Dabney Stuart was an Assistant Surgeon in the 54th Virginia Infantry. He previously served as a Surgeon in the 42nd Virginia Infantry. Born In Patrick County in 1828 in Ararat, Virginia, at the Laurel Hill Farm and was the brother of J. E. B. Stuart. John went to Wytheville then Emory and Henry for schooling. In Floyd, he studied medicine under his brother-in-law, Nicholas Headen, and practiced medicine there and in Wythe County. He married Anne Elizabeth Kent of Wythe County. After the war, he farmed in Wythe County, where he died in 1877. He is buried in the town cemetery just across the street from the home of his other brother, William Alexander Stuart.

Knowing something about trying to raise money to preserve something with a Civil War connection, I befriended James Christman of Grayson County at the Battle of Saltville reenactment. Christman is well on his way to place a Virginia Monument at Chickamauga working with National Park Historian Jim Ogden and others. James will be at Stuart’s Birthplace the first weekend in October raising money for his cause. Below are a list of some of the men from Patrick County who served in the 54th Virginia Infantry Regiment. If you are related to these men or are interested in the war contact James and learn about his efforts to place a monument honoring men from Patrick County in the Civil War.

Blancet, James M. (1834-1918). Company G, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Boyd, Jacob C. Teamster, Company I, 54th Virginia Infantry. .

Griffith, Sparrell (1846-1920). Captain, Company H, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Hall, Jackson. Possibly In 54th Virginia Infantry. Killed at Chickamauga, September 13, 1863.

Haynes, Columbus (October 16,1839-May 21,1881). Company I, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Haynes, Lafayette (1841-1881). Company B, 54th Virginia Infantry. POW, November 25, 1863, at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee.

Helms, Joseph. Company D, 54th Virginia Infantry.

King, John B. Possibly In Company I, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Lovell, James K. Company D, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Martin, Alexander G. (1835-August 31, 1864). Sergeant, Company G, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Martin, Andrew J. Company E, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Ray, Wilkins P. Company B, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Rogers, James J. (1833-1923). Company F, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Scales, Joseph H. Captain, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Scott, Jehu. Company C, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Shelor, William F. Company I, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Smith, Eli. Company I, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Spence, Thomas Alderman. Company D, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Sumner, Joshua H. Company A, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Tatum, C. A. Company B, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Turner, Fleming (1832-1892). Company I, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Turner, Jefferson (May 22, 1829-May 2, 1862). Company H, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Wickham, Joseph R. Company A, 54th Virginia Infantry.

Visit the website to learn more about the project. http://63rdand54thvainf.com/home or contact James Christman at P.O. Box 1741, Galax, VA 24333

For further reading see G. L. Sherwood and Jeffrey C. Weaver’s The 54th Virginia Infantry printed by H. E. Howard out of Lynchburg in 1993.

Patrick and Henry Counties In Vietnam

2011-07-05T13:26:00.000-04:00

For Release July 4, 2011

The Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society and Historian Tom Perry are pleased to announce plans for an upcoming exhibit on the men from Martinsville, Henry County, and Patrick County, Virginia, who lost their lives in the Vietnam Conflict. The exhibit will open around Veterans Day this November in the Martinsville-Henry County Heritage Center & Museum located in the historic Henry County Courthouse. We are asking the people of Martinsville and Henry County for your help to provide us with information on the local men who lost their lives in Vietnam so that it may be included in the exhibit.

On June 23, 2011, Perry visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C. and collected rubbings of the names of each man from Martinsville and Henry County engraved on the Wall. These rubbings will be incorporated into the exhibit to go with a similar shadowbox with the names of the seven men from Patrick County who lost their lives. Perry collected material on these men and did rubbings several years ago documented at www.freestateofpatrick.com/vietnam.

If you have photos, documents or stories that you would like to share and to help us tell the story of these veterans, please let us know. Perry will be scanning images or any related materials on these men over the next few months. Perry will be at the Heritage Center and Museum in the historic Henry County Courthouse in Uptown Martinsville on July 21, 22, August 18, 19 and September 15, and 16. Please call Tom Perry at 276-692-5300 or send an email to freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com to set up an appointment to scan any materials you would like to share. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Debbie Hall, Executive Director of the Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society at 276-403-5361.

Perry will be at the Bassett Train Station during the Bassett Farmer’s Market scanning images for a Bassett book and the Vietnam project on July 7, August 11, September 8, September 10, October 13, 2011.

Following are the names of the soldiers from Martinsville and Henry County who lost their lives during Vietnam:

LONNIE DOUGLAS ALLEY

LONNIE ALLAN BROOKS

FRANK JOSEPH BOWLES

JERRY ALLEN DILLARD

SAMUEL HARRISON EASLEY II

DOUGLAS LEE FOLEY
JOHNNY MICHAEL HAIRSTON

LARRY DAVIS HATCHER

ROBERT VERNON HOLLAND

LOUIS ALLEN JEFFERSON

LEWIS DEAN LAMKIN (LAMPKIN)

LEWIS RANDOLPH LOVELL JR
CHARLES EDWARD MANNS

ALPHONSO S MARTIN

HARRY PEMBERTON MARTIN

LINWOOD DWIGHT MARTIN

CALVIN WETZEL RAMSEY

TONY ELWOOD SEAY

JAMES ALLEN SOUTHER

GORDON ELLIOTT STONE

CLOVIS BERNARD WALKER

MORRIS ALFRED WHITEHEAD

DAVID WAYNE WILSON

SAMUEL EARNEST WITCHER

Men From Patrick County Who Lost Their Lives in Vietnam

ROGER DALE BOWMAN

FREDERICK CURTIS BULLINGTON

BOBBY LARRY CORNS

ISRAEL

LONZO INGRAM

JOHN MATHAS JAMES

BERNARD ALLEN SOWDER

LARRY JAMES TALLEY

Program Sunday At Old Henry County Courthouse In Martinsville

2011-05-31T13:28:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR MORE INFORMATION

CONTACT:
Debbie Hall, Executive Director
276-403-5361
mhchistoricalsociety@gmail.com

May 31, 2011

Historian and author Thomas D. Perry will present “Extraordinary Times, Ordinary Man: The Life, Times and Images of Everett M. Bennett” on Sunday, June 5, at 3:00 PM in the Historic Henry County Courthouse and Heritage Center and Museum, located at 1 East Main Street in Uptown Martinsville. Everett Bennett grew up in Spencer, Virginia and served his country in occupied Germany after World War II and during the Korean War. Perry’s sixteenth book, “From Spencer-Penn to Rives Road: The Life, Times and Images of Everett M. Bennett,” recounts Bennett’s life, the times in which he lived and the images he collected along the way including photographs he took and postcards he collected. The book also includes letters Bennett and his family received after famed photographer Walter Sanders’ photograph of Bennett appeared on the cover of Life magazine in 1947 propelling Bennett to his own “15 minutes of fame.” Bennett died in 2005.

The program is being held in conjunction with the opening of an exhibit on Everett Bennett featuring personal possessions including his uniform and other military items, his original photographs and his Life magazine cover on loan from his widow, Dora Adams Bennett and his longtime friend, David Minter. The exhibit will also include items from the collection of David Minter on the Korean War, Vietnam and his father, Philmore G. Minter’s service with Company H, 116 Infantry 29^th division on D-Day. Mr. Glenwood Hankins and Mr. Clyde English, D-Day veterans who served with Minter plan to attend the program.

Historian Thomas D. Perry is the author of sixteen books on regional history in Virginia surrounding his home county of Patrick. In 1990, Perry started the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace in Ararat, Virginia. A Virginia Tech graduate, he studied under renown Civil War Historian James I. “Bud” Robertson, and speaks all over the region and country. Perry’s collection of papers, books, and images are housed in the Special Collection Department of the Carol M. Newman Library at Virginia Tech.

He is the recipient of the John E. Divine Award from the Civil War Education Association, the Hester Jackson Award from the Surry County Civil War Round Table, and the Best Article Award from the Society of North Carolina Historians for his article on Stoneman’s Raid in 2008. In 2010, he received acknowledgement from the Bassett Public Library Association for his work to expand the Bassett Historical Center and was named Henry County Virginia Man of the Year by www.myhenrycounty.com. Perry also recently received the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Community Service Award from the Patrick Henry Daughters of the American Revolution.

Everett Bennett Book

2011-05-30T10:18:00.000-04:00

Program Sunday June 5 at 3 pm at Martinsville Henry County Heritage Center and Museum at old Henry County Courthouse in Martinsville. Ordinary Man in Extraordinary Times: The Life, Times, and Images of Everett M. Bennett.

Read Paul Collin's article in the May 30, 2011, Martinsville Bulletin about Everett M. Bennett.

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=28696

Thank You Friends of the Blue Ridge Regional Library

2011-05-16T19:17:00.000-04:00

"Thank You Thomas Perry!

I would like to take this moment to Thank Thomas Perry for all that he has done for the Bassett Historical Center and the promotion of regional and local history. Tom has tirelessly devoted his efforts and resources in support of the Bassett Historical Center and many other deserving organization. The Patrick Henry Chapter of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) presented Tom with their Community Service Award in February 2011. The DAR Chapter in turn received a third place award from the entire Commonwealth of Virginia for their nomination of Tom for Community Service. The Colonel George Waller Chapter of the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) presented Tm with their Bronze Good Citizenship Award in 2005. Tom’s mission has always been the education and promotion of history. He started the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc. in 1990 and the online Free State of Patrick website in 2004, which has grown to over 500 members.

Tom has produced the Laurel Hill Teacher’s Guide for educators and the Laurel Hill Reference Guide for groups. Additionally, Tom speaks with students at several local schools and colleges. Tom has his collection of papers relating to J. E. B. Stuart and Patrick County history at his alma mater Virginia Tech in the Special Collections Department of the Carol M. Newman Library under the auspices of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. He has donated his collection of over 14,000 photos and images to the Bassett Historical Center and the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Tom as instrumental in developing the Historical Symposium held to benefit the Bassett Historical Center’s Building Fund, as well as, encouraging James I. Robertson, Jr. to be a speaker. He has presented multiple “First Saturday” programs annually, on various local topics of local history over the past five years. He served as editor of the Henry County Heritage Book and Tom’s Arcadia Publishing’s Henry County Virginia book went to the Bassett Historical Center’s Building Fund to help raise over $50,000 for the expansion of the building. Tom participated in the Big Read in October 2010, holding the final event for Poe on Halloween at the Bassett Train Depot. Tom has gone above and beyond for the promotion of local and regional history and deserves a huge Thank You for all he has done for the Blue Ridge Regional Library system and the Bassett Historical Center. The deeds listed above are just a sampling of Tom’s outstanding contributions. We are truly fortunate to call Thomas Perry our friend!"

Ruby David, Editor, Friends of the Blue Ridge Regional Library Newsletter Spring-Summer 2011

Book To Help Fieldale Community Center

2011-05-11T21:51:00.000-04:00

Fieldale Virginia $19.99

Laurel Hill Publishing is pleased to announce that Fieldale Virginia (History and Memory Series of Laurel Hill Publishing) will help funding for the Fieldale Community Center respectively. Each book is available at each respective center where proceeds will go to each center and each center will receive $1 from all sales of the respective books.

Tom Perry recently received the National Community Service Award from the Patrick Henry Daughters of the American Revolution and these two books continue his long standing belief in using his books to help raise money for local non-profit projects, which began over twenty years ago when Perry started the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace in his hometown of Ararat, Patrick County, Virginia and continued recently with the expansion of the Bassett Historical Center.

Fieldale Virginia is part of the History and Memory Series of Laurel Hill Publishing. Fieldale Virginia continues the series begun in 2009 by Tom Perry with Images of Henry County Virginia, which was used to raise money for the Bassett Historical Center and matched by the Harvest Foundation to help fund the expansion to what Perry calls “The Best Little Library in Virginia.” Perry continued this series with Martinsville Virginia recently revised with the Virginia Museum of Natural History on the cover. All these books are available for $19.99 at the Binding Time Café, Martinsville Visitor Center and the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville.

This book is co-authored by Traci Petty, who is an expert on the history of Fieldale especially the Fieldale Lodge and the Fieldale Heritage Festival. Perry asked Petty to join him after going on one of her tours of the Fieldale Lodge.

This book uses old black and white images to tell the history of the small Henry County community began by Marshall Field and Co. in the early 20^th century. Also, included are short

essays by people whose families called Fieldale home.

Bill Adkins of the Fieldale Community Center comments. “The proceeds from the book sale will be used to update facilities at the center. We are currently working on the pool, which is scheduled to open May 28. We are cleaning and working at the center preparing for the Heritage Festival.”

Link to Fieldale Community Center http://www.fieldalecommunitycenter.org/

TOM PERRY WILL BE SIGNING BOOKS WITH TRACI PETTY AT THE FIELDALE HERITAGE FESTIVAL ON MAY 21.

Perry can be contacted through his website www.freestateofpatrick.com or email at freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com

Book To Help Spencer Penn Centre

2011-05-10T08:27:00.000-04:00

Laurel Hill Publishing is pleased to announce that From Spencer-Penn To Rives Road: The Life, Times, and Images of Everett M. Bennett and Fieldale Virginia (History and Memory Series of Laurel Hill Publishing) will help funding for the Spencer-Penn Centre and the Fieldale Community Center respectively. Each book is available at each respective center where proceeds will go to each center and each center will receive $1 from all sales of the respective books.

Tom Perry recently received the National Community Service Award from the Patrick Henry Daughters of the American Revolution and these two books continue his long standing belief in using his books to help raise money for local non-profit projects, which began over twenty years ago when Perry started the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace in his hometown of Ararat, Patrick County, Virginia and continued recently with the expansion of the Bassett Historical Center.

Perry can be contacted through his website www.freestateofpatrick.com or email at freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com

Mary Jordan of the Spencer-Penn Centre comments. “The Spencer-Penn School has a legacy of admirable, hard-working students who went on to be admirable, hardworking citizens. When the school closed and the community formed the Organization to buy the property, the mission was not only to preserve the building and continue the role the building served in the community, but also to preserve the history of the school and thus its former students.

When one tours the building, one will see many pictures of former students decorating the walls. Each student has a memorable part of Spencer-Penn’s history. Having a book written about a former student is an extra bonus.

Everett Bennett was your usual rural student but achieved recognition when his picture went all over the world on the cover of LIFE magazine. What a thrill for this family, his friends and his community because his image also was an image of his life in rural Spencer, Virginia.

Spencer-Penn Centre P.O. Box 506 475 Spencer-Penn Road Spencer, VA 24165

Phone: 276-957-5757 Fax: 276-957-5757 spspo04@yahoo.com www.thecentreatspencerpenn.com

          An Exhibit of Everett Bennett’s personal belongings is on display at the Spencer-Penn Centre in the Stanley Bowles Classroom.

          Tom Perry will be speaking on May 11 at Noon in the New College Institute about the book.

          A temporary exhibit about Bennett will be on display later this summer at the Martinsville-Henry County Courthouse Museum.

Everett M. Bennett grew up in the Penn's Store community on the border between Patrick County and Henry County in Virginia. He graduated from Spencer-Penn High School in Henry County in 1945 as World War II was winding down. Bennett joined the U. S. Army and found himself in occupied Germany in 1947 serving in the 28th Constabulary, a military police unit along the German/Czech border. During that time Life Magazine photographer Walter Sanders made him the cover image of the February 10, 1947, Life Magazine. Bennett returned to Martinsville and Henry County before returning to active service Korea in the 1092nd Combat Engineers. He returned to Martinsville and spent the rest of his life working at the Rives Road Grocery beside Martinsville Novelty. This book tells his story, the times he lived, and the images he saved along the way. Tom Perry used material brought to him by Bennett’s friend David Minter and Dora Adams Bennett, Everett’s widow.

Everett Bennett died in 2005, but his story lives on along with the history of the Spencer-Penn school along with information about the families of those names including the Shootout on Fayette Street between the Spencers and the Terrys in the late 19^th century. This book tells of life in world in 1947 when the Life Magazine with Bennett’s image was on the cover. The book tells of the rise and fall of Martinsville detailing the rise of the town through furniture and textiles before the hard times of the late 20^th century.

Exhibits about Everett Bennett are on display at the Spencer-Penn and will soon also be at the Henry County Courthouse Museum in downtown Martinsville on loan from David Minter and Dora Adams Bennett. Tom Perry will speak on Everett Bennett on May 11 at noon at the New College Institute in downtown Martinsville.

"My Angel Mother"

2011-05-08T17:08:00.004-04:00

My mother Betty H. Perry on the right and her sister Kathyrn H. Green on the left at Mabry Mill.

Jane Tesh and I are not without mothers on Mother’s Day because our mothers Nancy and Betty are gone to Georgia. They are going to spend a week taking care of my Aunt Kathryn, who is in a nursing home suffering with dementia and recently fell and broke her hip and then last week fell and broke her arm. So, without my mother today I got to thinking of the self-sacrifice of my mother and Nancy for going to Augusta, Georgia to take care of a sister and her friend’s sister.

My Aunt Kathryn raised two daughters Kathy and Ann as a single mother after the death of her husband Robert of a heart attack when my beautiful first cousins were teenagers. She worked for years at the Medical College of Georgia in the mail room. My cousin Kathy is a CPA and a grandmother herself. My cousin Ann has PhD level education in education and is the grandmother of three and is fighting her own battle with cancer.

Kathryn Hobbs Green was one of those people who not only talked about being a good Christian, but was a good Christian. She walked the walked following Jesus’ teachings. She was one of the best human beings I ever knew. When I was a grown man I would still get birthday cards from “Sis” as we called her. Now, she like her mother Elizabeth Prescott Hobbs is dealing with dementia and her children and grandchildren are dealing with it. Every woman in my mother’s family seems to have to face to this disease and the horrible effects of literally losing one’s mind.

Abraham Lincoln said of his step-mother, “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Having lost his birth mother to disease as a child, Lincoln was lucky to have a stepmother who encouraged him to ready and that learning was a good thing. Most men believe their mothers are saints and I am one of them. My love of history and books comes from my mother who reads voraciously and who thought nothing of loading her only child in a 1964 white VW and carrying him to Monticello or more importantly she took me to visit Icy and George Elbert “Shug” Brown when I expressed an interest in J. E. B. Stuart’s birthplace although years ago.

Today our (Jane and I) mothers are acting as angels of mercy taking care of my aunt and giving my cousins a few days to have their own lives. I don’t mind being without my mother today because she is doing more important work and like her sister. She walks the walk in Jesus’ footsteps not just talking about her Christian faith, but actually doing something few of us can do. Living it.

Justice

2011-05-03T10:13:00.008-04:00

“ Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.”-- George W. Bush - September 20, 2001

“We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done.” –Barrack H. Obama, May 1, 2011

“Earlier this evening, President Obama called to inform me that American forces killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda network that attacked America on September 11, 2001. I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude. This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.” – George W. Bush, May 1, 2011

Bush’s statement echoes his call for “Justice” from almost a decade ago after the attacks of September 11, 2011. In the last few days I have been watching Facebook for the reaction to the death of Osama Bin Laden and it goes from pure revenge to criticism of the President to the following. “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him." Proverbs 24:17-18

I got the following numbers off the internet. The U. S. Military Losses since September 11, 2011, are 4,768 Coalition Casualties in Iraq, 2,421 in Afghanistan and 2 from Patrick County, Virginia, Jonathan Bowling and Leevi Barnard. This weekend on May 7, there will be a benefit for Joshua Kerns, who was wounded in Afghanistan a few weeks ago.

I have thought about these three young men a lot over the last few days. Two lives lost and one forever changed and what the world would be like without this horrific change. The things they might have done and the children they might have had that we will never know because of Osama Bin Laden’s religious fanaticism and the hate he spewed.

The loss of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan are staggering. 48,644 total casualties in Afghanistan (40,000 Afghan Civilians and Soldiers) and total casualties in Iraq of 1,609,903 (864,000 Iraq civilians). I put everyone of these lives lost at the feet of Osama Bin Laden. It took nearly ten years to kill this man after the attacks of September 11, 2011. It took nearly ten years and thousands of lost lives for Justice.

I have little use for Bill Clinton because I believe from everything I have read that he could have killed Osama Bin Laden before September 11, 2011, after the attacks on the U. S. S. Cole, which killed seventeen sailors and wounded thirty-nine and the 1993 attacks on the World Trade Center, which killed six and injured thousands. Unlike Clinton, Obama was willing to give the word to take out Osama, a decision that I agree with.

Assuming that Osama is dead and they need to show proof soon or the conspiracy theories are going to start flying. It concerns me greatly that this country is so fractured that the leadership shown by the President is criticized instead of giving him credit for taking out one of the worst enemies this country has had. I don’t like much of what Obama is doing, but Osama is dead and we as a country should acknowledge that a team of dedicated military, intelligence and yes even political leaders took him out. This same harping from the other side during George W. Bush’s administration made me uncomfortable because when we are at war with an enemy that really does want to destroy our freedom of speech, put women back in the Stone Age and rule us by religious law, the petty political dialogue serves no good purpose.

We are a great country. We are an exceptional country. People are upset because they buried Bin Laden at sea as his religion dictates, a religion that he so abused that there is not enough room on this blog to state it. We are a great country because we can rise above the hate of this mad man. We are a great country because we produce men like Jonathan Bowling, Leevi Barnard and Joshua Kerns. I am proud of that and I am glad Osama Bin Laden is dead. I believe they have some justice today along with all the others who lost their lives because of the actions Osama Bin Laden put in motion. It takes courage to die for what you believe in and that leads me to the last quote I saw on Facebook this week, which speaks for itself.

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Back To College/Civil War Vacation

2011-04-28T19:18:00.000-04:00

I went back to college this week. My professor Alumni Distinguished Professor James I. “Bud” Robertson, Jr. is retiring from teaching the largest Civil War class in the country after over half a century at Virginia Tech. I took the opportunity when in Blacksburg to do some research on William T. Sherman and his march through Georgia and the Carolinas for my friend R. Wayne Jones for a book about the Battle of Aiken, a cavalry fight between Joseph Wheeler and Judson Kilpatrick.

Bud, shown here with me helping to raise money for the Bassett Historical Center last year, now teaches in the Colonial Room of the Squires Student Center, but in my day it was 100 McBride Hall. In 1982, I sat in on my first quarter of Civil War with him and it changed my life. To this day I am still amazed at how he brings the war to life and keeps the attention of twenty somethings most of whom didn’t know or care about Lee, Lincoln and much less Jefferson Davis and U. S. Grant. This was reinforced to me as I sat waiting for class to begin. The students behind me were bemoaning the fact they did not have DVR to record a recent showing of Gettysburg on Turner Classic Movies and one male regretted not seeing Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles, which made me laugh. Then a very attractive tall and blonde coed came in engaging the crew behind me and during the course of the conversation state that she hated that the Civil War class was about to end. She said she wished this class could go on forever. What better compliment could a teacher have and I am sure Bud would have enjoyed the fact it was an attractive female who said it.

When Bud came in, I spoke to him briefly and was pleased to see his nearly eight decade old eyes light up and a big smile saying to me he could not believe I would come to class. Bud then came to tell us all how much he hated computers, but that he had to do something called a PowerPoint presentation and that with the help of another young coed he had discovered something called Google and that there are images on there of everything. He had most of us in stitches laughing at something we had known for years. Computers were just coming into vogue in 1982 when I started at Virginia Tech and a personal computer sat on a desk and was called an Apple 2E or an IBM PC with 640K memory. My how things have changed.

Well, it was my “last lecture” with my professor. He spoke about “Why the South lost the war” concentrating mainly on Jefferson Davis and in his inability to get along with most of his generals, his vice-president Alexander Stephens and the Confederate Congress. The fifty minutes passed much too quickly and although the time passed way to quickly and I had heard the talk before I remembered why this man meant so much to me. He could bring dry and boring material to life with humor and a presentation that still marvels my mind.

During my trip up I went to Roanoke the night before to hear Kevin Levin speak on the controversial subject of Black Confederates and I went to see The Conspirator about the Lincoln Assassination and the trial and execution of Mary Surratt. So I had a Civil War vacation while going down memory lane. One thing I learned from Bud Robertson was that you should mentor the next generation and that historians need to come out of their ivory towers and bring history to the people especially the students.

Last Full Measure Of Devotion

2011-04-28T17:16:00.002-04:00

After what Joshua has given to his country — to his community — how can we do anything less?” –John Peters, Mount Airy News

I cannot recall ever meeting Jonathan Bowling, Leevi Barnard or Joshua Kerns, but I know about them sadly because they have given in their way what Abraham Lincoln called “the last full measure of devotion” to their country in time of war. Two, Bowling and Barnard gave their lives in Iraq and Kerns lost his two legs and an arm in Afghanistan, but not his fighting spirit judging from what I am hearing around Ararat.

Corporal Jonathan Bowling, United States Marine Corps

Over the next two weekends we will have the opportunity to remember Bowling with the memorial motorcycle ride that funds a scholarship in his name. We should also remember Barnard who is buried just above the Ararat River down the road from the Dan River Park in Ararat almost across the road from where his mother, Pam, grew up. A link to a blog about him will follow.

1st Lt. Leevi Barnard, United States Army

At times like these I have no idea what to say, but I spend most of my time studying war, specifically the War Between The States or the Civil War, which we just started commemorating this month 150 years after it began with the firing on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The more you study war, the less you like war and the more it disgusts you to see young men like these have to fight in war, but these heroes all volunteered to serve their country.

For the two young men, Barnard and Bowling, from Patrick County who gave their lives maybe these words from the President who fought to preserve the Union during that Civil War come to mind and give this blog a title.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Next weekend, we can help the family of Joshua Kerns by raising money to defer expenses associated with travel to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where Kerns is recovering. With the end of the Civil War fast approaching Abraham Lincoln gave what I think was far greater speech at his Second Inaugural if you realize these words come from a man who knows he is going to win the war that will soon have crossed four Aprils. Lincoln said the following.

At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Let us look at the ending again. “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

So on May 7, let us all “care for him who shall have borne the battle.” I have donated money to the fund at Carter Bank and Trust and I will be donating signed copies of all my books for the benefit, which seems so little in comparison to what these three young men have given for us all.

Read about Jonathan Bowling Memorial Bike Ride Here

Read My Blog About Leevi Barnard Here

Read John Peter's great editorial in the Mount Airy News Here

Read About The Benefit For Joshua Here

Read About Joshua's progress Here

One Man Show I Mean One Man's Vision

2011-04-28T17:05:00.003-04:00

Many years ago I was at the encampment at Stuart’s birthplace when I overheard then birthplace President telling someone that I really had very little to do with the preservation of the 75 acre site in Ararat. Something that the new Secretary of the birthplace use to preach against before she recently sold out to the clique in Stuart and joined the board. A recent article written in newsletter of the that same organization by the Vice-President tells all about the beginning of the birthplace, but the trouble is that it is written by the man who has made my 78 year old mother cry twice by destroying the flowers she grew and took care of at the birthplace for decades. The article never once mentions the thousands of dollars and thousands of hours donated by me and my family to the site, but it makes a point of saying the birthplace is not and was not a one man show. The above newspaper clipping from the February 5, 1989, tells who the one man was and is. I have never said others did not help, but it was one man’s vision and everything you see at the Laurel Hill Farm today came from my brain. This is all documented in my papers that are or will be at Virginia Tech so that anyone who is interested will know the truth and the truth will set the birthplace free of their jealousy and pettiness, but I doubt it as ignorance is bliss and they don’t know the history of the site they are charged with preserving and they cannot see the forest for the trees. Recently, I received a national community service award from the Daughters of the American Revolution. Some good Christian person in Stuart clipped the notice out of The Enterprise, the Voice of the Clique since 1876, and mailed it to my family with a circle and a slash draw over my face. I have no doubt where this came in Stuart. Speaking of that, someone at our local chamber likes to make harassing phone calls to my cell phone all documented by my attorney to show a pattern of behavior. This is not the first time I received harassing phone calls. It is no secret that the chamber tries to sabotage my business relationships made perfectly clear at last year’s Ararat Festival when a friend of mine was told he would have to “distance himself” from me in order to work with the birthplace. Well, my friend did not and did work with the birthplace. Some people have courage to stand up to for what is right. Several weeks, I worked to help with the bone marrow donation drive in Stuart. The local chamber chose to publicize the event, but cut my name out of the pr on their website. I am trying to help save lives and I am so in their heads that all they can think of is to delete my name from a press release. I love that I am so in the heads of the birthplace that they have to make comments in their newsletter about the “one man show.” I love the good Christians who defend this organization. I usually don’t stoop to notice such small, little people, but when you go after my family and don’t respect their contribution you ask for it. I will continue to speak my mind and is it any wonder that Patrick County is in the mess it is with such little people controlling it. Big people and big ideas change the world. Little people and little ideas are forgotten.

Patricia Ross Dedication To History

2010-12-15T05:28:00.000-05:00

At the Bassett Heritage Festival in September 2009, I found myself sitting beside Anne Marie Ross Freeman and Fran Ross Snead selling our books. On the other side of the two ladies mentioned was their mother with the tables for the Bassett Historical Center. A lady unknown to me approached us all and spoke loud enough for all four of us to hear inquiring if these three young people were Pat’s children. Without a blink of an eye, I rose and answered affirmative to the question, much to the chagrin of the real daughters of Patricia Ross, and the laughter of their mother and later their father and fellow raconteur, Paul Ross. People leave their mark on the word in many ways. Patricia Clay Ross has left a mark on my life by her support of my multiple book projects giving me a research home that I drive over one hundred miles round trip to use the facilities of the Bassett Historical Center that she is Director. She is the mother of two teachers/authors mentioned above and one grandson at this writing. When she retires, she will have led the effort to expand what I call “The Best Little Library in Virginia,” the Bassett Historical Center. For all these reason and many more, the Henry County Heritage Book is dedicated to Patricia Clay Ross. (Photo courtesy of Steve Shepherd.) – Tom Perry, Chairman, Henry County Heritage Book Committee.

Henry County Heritage Book Release December 21

2010-12-15T05:17:00.000-05:00

With stories from as far away as Paris, France, and Hawaii, the Martinsville and Henry County Heritage Book is here. Usually, these books take years to complete, but this book came in under one calendar year due to the work of the Henry County Heritage Book Committee and the ability to do the book digitally.

The Henry County Heritage Book will be at the Bassett Historical Center. Those who pre-ordered the book may pick up their copies beginning December 21 at noon. Please bring the receipt you received from the committee when picking up your book to make the process go quicker. Mail order copies were sent from the printer.

Those interested in purchasing a copy of the book may buy it in person at the Bassett Historical Center. Post-publication cost is $75 with all profits going to the library. Credit card orders are available at www.freestateofpatrick.com/hchb. There are limited number of post-publication copies available.

The 400 page 9x12 hardcover book is the first Heritage Book completed on Henry County and Martinsville. All profits from this book go to the building fund of the Bassett Historical Center.

This book is the result of a year of work by the committee and those who submitted stories. The book was available for review for over six months at the library. There will be no second printing of the book. It was the responsibility of the submitter to make sure their stories are in the book and correct. These books usually take years to complete, but this committee finished the book in under a year. Perry would particularly like to note the efforts of Anne Copeland, who scanned and formatted all of the stories and photographs so that this book could be submitted to the publisher in digital format, which drastically reduced the time of publication.

Members of the Henry County Heritage Book Committee worked for free and are as follows: Chairman, Tom Perry; Secretary, Elva Adams; Treasurer, Betty Scott; Daphne Stone, Debbie Hall, Cindy Bingman, Joel Cannaday, Teddy Compton, Janet Fentress, Joan Frith, Mary McGee, Jean Matthews, Peter Ramsey, Avis Turner, Laura Young and Beverly Lipford-Yeager. At the Bassett Historical Center members are Patricia Ross, Anne Copeland, Sam Eanes, and Cindy Headen.

If your family or organization is not mentioned in this book, don’t complain, sit down, and write the story (500 words and one photo or 1000 words and two photos if your family was in Henry County before 1800.) Send it to Tom Perry at freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com in MSWord format with photo scanned at 300 dpi. Contact Perry about requirements. There will be no reprint of Volume One.

The Library will be closed December 24 and 25 for the holidays. The Bassett Historical Center is a branch of the Blue Ridge Regional Library and is located at 3964 Fairystone Park Highway, Bassett Virginia 24055. Contact them at 276-629-9191 or baslib@hotmail.com .
www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com.

Credit card orders are available at www.freestateofpatrick.com/hchb

Bassett Historical Center 3964 Fairystone Park Highway Bassett, VA 24055

Contact Tom Perry, Chairman of the Henry County Heritage Book Committee at the following for more information: freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com.

Letter To Tom Joyce

2010-12-12T08:19:00.000-05:00

Earlier this fall Tom Joyce of the Mount Airy News wrote a letter full of vitriol aimed at the Virginia Tech Football team after Joyce’s alma mater James Madison defeated the Hokies, who were playing on five days rest after losing a close game to Boise State. Since that time the team from Virginia Tech has one eleven games in a row that included defeating every team in North Carolina (UNC, NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, and East Carolina) and winning the third ACC Championship in four years and four out of six since joining the league.

Tyrod Taylor, who has won more games than any quarterback in Virginia Tech history, was the ACC Most Valuable Player, Dudley Award Winner for being the best college football player in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Taylor holds almost every passing, rushing, and offensive record for quarterback in the nearly 120-year history of Virginia Tech football. More importantly, he is a model citizen, who spends his time in the community doing service not because of a criminal record (He has never been arrested.), but because that is the person he is. He is just like another ACC Most Valuable Player from Virginia Tech, Brian Randall, who led the Hokies at quarterback to their first ACC Championship. The son of a preacher, Randall was a class act, who never got in trouble and worked in the community. What Joyce and all those jealous of the success in Blacksburg, who talk about thugs and bullies and think Virginia Tech football is only about Vicks is that there is a Brian Randall and Tyrod Taylor for every Vick. There are always two sides to every story.

Frank Beamer, born in Mount Airy, North Carolina, has led the Hokies to eighteen straight bowl games and is the second among active coaches in wins behind only Joe Paterno at Penn State. He has led the Hokies to seven ten win seasons in a row and twelve ten win season since 1995. Frank Beamer also started a literacy program in his mother’s name, which takes money from a “White Out Game” every year that puts books in school libraries throughout Virginia. Beamer’s football team generates millions of dollars in economic benefit and even some for Mount Airy I bet for those who travel on I-77 going back and forth to Blacksburg for home football games. It is hard to imagine that some of those people do not stop in Mount Airy to enjoy the Mayberry effect.

It is human nature and especially for newspapers to focus on the negative of Mike Vick’s problems with the law, but even that has changed this year as Vick has tried to put his life back on track on and off the field with the Philadelphia Eagles. While Vick might be a better player than Taylor or Randall, but he is not a better person, but even that story may have a good ending. Often in lifestyle wins out over substance. Some people believe that playing dress up is a better way to teach history, but they like newspaper reporters, can be wrong.

The Night The Music Died

2010-12-08T17:55:00.000-05:00

It was thirty years ago today that any hope that Sgt. Peppers band would play again ended with the murder of John Winston Ono Lennon outside his home at the Dakota Building just off Central Park in New York City. He left England in 1971 and never went back again, never went back again due to his immigrant status and the attempts by the U. S. Government to deport him mainly by the paranoid Nixon Administration, who gave him way more credit than he deserved.

I missed hearing about Lennon’s death by minutes that night of December 8, 1980, as I went to bed just before Howard Cossell announced it on Monday Night Football. The next morning I stopped at Theodore Guynn’s on my way to Surry Community College and Theodore told me John Lennon was dead.

I first met John Lennon in Augusta, Georgia, when my cousin Ann Green, a Beatlemaniac, exposed me to the music of the Beatles in the 1960s. She loved John the best and I spent many happy times with her listening to Lennon’s nasally voice. I remember particularly liked Hard Days Night. Today, she if fighting cancer and loathes any talk of her misspent youth with the Fab Four, but then she did. She later bought me a Lennon-McCartney Songbook when I started playing the guitar at age thirteen that I still have sitting on the piano right now. Every once in a while I will open it and sing to myself horribly off key some tunes such Nowhere Man by Lennon or another his tunes such as Day Tripper.

While Paul McCartney is my favorite Beatle, I listened to Lennon and his solo work. I particularly liked Mind Games and Walls and Bridges. Imagine is a great album and Double Fantasy, his last album, yes I had the vinyl, and to paraphrase Lennon I was it spinning “round and round” many times before I heard of his death that bleak December day.

I had just turned twenty only a month before and was into my second year at Surry Community College, where I had my eye on a Yadkin County gal that I would soon start dating and fall head over heels in love with. I made her “Love Tapes” that had John Lennon songs on them. Out the Blue from Mind Games comes to mind along with Woman and Starting Over from Double Fantasy.

Many programs and movies are out about his life and earlier this year I watched two films about the Cretan who killed him. Everyone from PBS to Fox News has aired documentaries and even a few dramas since what would have been Lennon’s seventieth birthday. Hard to believe he would have been that old, but Julian, his oldest son by his first wife Cynthia is my age and Sean his son with Yoko Ono is 35.
John’s politics were I think a bit naïve and he seldom really knew what he was talking about like many celebrities. Paul continues to stick his foot in his mouth as he did insulting George W. Bush’s lack of reading when the former President’s wife and mother were involved in literacy programs and I don’t think you get out of Yale and Harvard Business School without reading, but that is another blog.

John Lennon had a gift when it came to writing a song and he went from the amazing studio effects of I Am The Walrus to the stripped down sound of Watching The Wheels. It is fun to IMAGINE what might have been. No doubt many of us would have seen a Lennon-McCartney World Tour before THE END came. Paul McCartney, who I have seen numerous times in concert over the last ten years always sings a song he wrote about Lennon after his death called Here Today and I have seen him get choked up doing it. He also sings songs such as Help, but not as the Beatles did it, but as John first played it for him a slow piano ballad. He will end these songs with Give Peace A Chance even if John was naïve; it is not such a bad idea to hope for.

When a man who sang about peace lost his life due to violence when he was the happiest he had been in years it is a lesson from Lennon we should all learn. “Some are dead and some are living. In my life I’ve loved them all.”

First Saturday Civil War Programs For 2011

2010-12-01T08:08:00.000-05:00

The J. E. B. Stuart Regional Civil War Commission is pleased to announce programs for the upcoming year. The commission formed by Historian Thomas D. “Tom” Perry started programs in 2010 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War in Patrick and Henry Counties in Virginia and Stokes and Surry Counties in North Carolina forming partnerships with groups that are involved in serious study of history and the War Between The States that began in April 1861. These programs will center at the Bassett Historical Center over the course of the four year commemoration of the war that was fought from 1861-65.

The J. E. B. Stuart Regional Civil War Commission will host First Saturday Programs at the Bassett Historical Center beginning on February 5, 2011. These programs will be on the first Saturday of each month going from February through May to start. All programs are from at 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Library is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

February 5, J. E. B. Stuart and His Brothers Go To War.

March 5, Civil War Genealogy Workshop

April 2, Stoneman’s Raid with Tom Perry and Chris Hartley

May 7, Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War

Tom Perry, a leading authority on J. E. B. Stuart and the Civil War will lead all programs Perry is the author of over a dozen books on regional history and J. E. B. Stuart. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Virginia Tech, where he studied under noted historian James I. Robertson, Jr.

The first program will concern Confederate Major General J. E. B. Stuart and his brothers William Alexander and John Dabney Stuart, who all served in the war effort in different ways. William ran the saltworks in Saltville Virginia during the war, one of the few sources for the vital element of salt for the Confederacy. John served as a physician in the 54th Virginia Infantry mainly in the Army of Tennessee.

The second program will be the annual Civil War Genealogy Workshop conducted by Perry every year at the Bassett Historical Center concentrating on how to find an ancestor in the war using Perry’s research on Patrick County Virginia as an example.

The third program will concentrate on George Stoneman’s 1865 Raid, which came through all four counties covered by the regional commission in April 1861. Author Christopher James Hartley will join Perry to discuss his new book Stoneman’s Raid 1865 published in 2010 by John Blair Publishing of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Hartley, a graduate of the UNC-Chapel Hill is the author of Stuart’s Tarheels: James B. Gordon and the First North Carolina Cavalry and works in marketing for Blue Rhino Natural Gas.

The fourth program will cover Patrick County Virginia throughout the war concentrating on the home front, the various regiments from the county that served and J. E. B. Stuart, the most famous person from the county in the war. Perry presents this program each year to the 11th graders at Patrick County High School.

The J. E. B. Stuart Regional Civil War Commission will began scanning material from the Civil War such as letters and photos from the four counties. This material will be placed at the Bassett Historical Center. Anyone with materials they wish to share should contact Tom Perry to set an appointment at freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com.

The J. E. B. Stuart Regional Civil War Commission is not associated with any other Civil War Commission. The sole purpose of the group is to promote serious history of the time period by giving educational programs and preserving the material from the war in the regional history library, the Bassett Historical Center in Bassett, Virginia, a branch of the Blue Ridge Regional Library.

Visit www.freestateofpatrick.com or www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com for more information.

Gee Whiz Pal Fellows

2010-11-09T08:42:00.001-05:00

Fred Smith passed this week and I wonder if Ararat, Virginia, will ever be the same or if the people in Ararat really know who they lost this week. I am sure there are many stories shared this week about Fred Smith. I will tell two that show that his community was never far from his mind.

When I was a teenager there was a basketball goal at the Ararat Ruritan Club and it was the only paved surface to shoot hoops on. We played many games on the dirt behind Zeb Scales’ house, but for many years we played at the Ararat Ruritan Club. The goal came down due some others drinking, breaking glass and cursing loudly. I went to Fred and told him that it was not us doing it and that the basketball goal gave us a place to have some fun. The goal was back up within a week. That was the kind of man Fred Smith was. He listened and he got things done.

Twenty years ago when I started raising money to save the J. E. B. Stuart’s Birthplace, many people in Ararat scoffed at the idea of trying to preserve the site, but not Fred Smith. He put his money where his mouth was giving as much as any one individual donor except maybe for Lucy Pannill Sale or her brother William Letcher Pannill, but in Ararat no one gave more to save the site than Fred Smith. He did not stop there. I went around to most of the Ruritan Clubs in Patrick County getting $1,000 from each except for Patrick Springs that never invited me and never gave a dime to preserve the site. Ararat was the last to give, which should not surprise anyone (Luke 4:24) and there were members who did not want to give to the effort. I am told that Fred Smith got up at a meeting and lectured them about community service and supporting what I was trying to do. Fred never told me he did that, but many others did and I never forgot it.

Fred was the son of Davis Reid Smith and brother of Davis Reid Smith, Jr. along with the sister of Jean Smith Cooke, all great characters in their own right. A lifelong Democrat, who took up golf in his later years. I would say after he retired, but Fred Smith never retired. Fred was a great putter of the golf ball and he could talk trash as good as anyone. I know this. I don’t think I heard Fred ever swear, but he would say “Gee Whiz Pal Fellows” and for many of us that is what when we thought of Fred Smith. I know I smiled everytime I said it.

I have never known anyone in Ararat, Virginia, where I grew up, who did more for his community or thought more about his community than Fred Smith. I do not think any of us realize who we have lost or what that loss will mean for the future of the community.

Images of Mount Airy North Carolina

2010-09-06T16:54:00.001-04:00

With the 125th anniversary of the founding of the city and the 50th anniversary of the Andy Griffith Show, Historian Thomas D. “Tom” Perry is pleased to announce release of his book Images of Mount Airy North Carolina. This 220-page book contains black and white photos celebrating the history and the memories of the “Granite City,” where the author was born after his family came from Tennessee in the 1940s. In fourteen chapters and over 200 photos, Perry gives a snapshot of the town his father, Erie Meredith Perry came of age in with a chapter on his family along with covering many aspects of the history of the town so associated today with the mythical town of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.

Using personal relationships and his knowledge of the regional history Perry developed the book over the last few years not necessarily to be the definitive history of Mount Airy, but to give residents and visitors a good read with interesting images from the past and present. Perry received help from Emmett Forrest supplying images of Andy Griffith while he lived in Mount Airy. Donna Fargo personally worked with Perry for a chapter on her life. The Surry County Historical Society and Mount Airy Museum of Regional History both worked with the author on this book. Other organizations that supplied images were Mount Airy High School and the Gilmer-Smith Foundation along with many private individuals especially Burke Robertson and Steve Talley.

Mount Airy Mayor Deborah Cochran penned the Foreword in the book titled “What Mount Airy Means To Me” where she tells, poignantly and honestly, about her life in the city she now leads and how during tough times the people of Mount Airy rose up to help her family. She speaks about her dreams and how the place she called home made her dreams come true.

The cover image is the James Hadley House on Pine Street, one of the oldest and best examples of granite and Victorian architecture in Mount Airy. In Chapter Thirteen, Perry tells his personal reasons for placing the home on the cover as his grandparents lived directly across from the home and he would as a youth often sit in the window and read and look at the giant house. The Mount Airy Public Library was just a few feet up Pine Street, so it was this area that the author read books.

Chapters in Images of Mount Airy North Carolina with index and selected bibliography include Andy Griffith, Donna Fargo, the Dinky Railroad, Granite Quarry, Folks from Mount Airy, White Sulphur Springs, Main Street, Ararat River, Schools, Downtown area, Granite structures, Civil War, Reasons to Visit, and a chapter on the author’s family.

Images of Mount Airy North Carolina $19.99

ISBN 1449971733

ISBN-13 9781449971731

Available for order here Images of Mount Airy North Carolina
https://www.createspace.com/3418738

Visit Tom Perry's Amazon Page
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002F4UJGE

New Book Folklore of the Blue Ridge Foothills

2010-08-23T12:38:00.001-04:00

See all titles available from Laurel Hill Publishing
www.freestateofpatrick.com/lhpcatalog201011wo.pdf

Laurel Hill Publishing is pleased to announce the release of Folklore of the Blue Ridge Foothills edited by Doug Belcher. The book will be available at the Bassett Heritage Festival on September 11, 2010, and at the Bassett Historical Center until then. ALL PROFIT from this book will go to the Building Fund of the Bassett Public Library Association. This is the first book published by Laurel Hill Publishing not written by Tom Perry and begins a new series of books called the Bassett Historical Center Series, which will benefit the library from the sale of this series.

This book originally published in 1969 from stories submitted by students at Samuel H. Hairston School in Henry County, Virginia, takes tales, superstitions, and traditions to weave a story about the folklore of the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in piedmont Virginia. See a list of student contributors below.

Edited by the student’s teacher from 1969, Douglas G. Belcher, who holds degrees from Appalachian State University and UNC-Chapel Hill. He edited these stories from his students in 1969. Proceeds from this book will go to the Building Fund of the Bassett Historical Center. Mr. Belcher, a very private man will not do book signings or public relations for this book, but he is donating ALL profit to the Bassett Historical Center from the sale of this book.

Chapters in Folklore of the Blue Ridge Foothills are about Weather Signs, Household Superstitions, Animal Superstitions, and Country Medicine. The book includes student illustrations from 1969 and his indexed. At sixty pages, this book is a labor of love from a teacher wanting to remember his students and help our regional history library at the same time.

Student Contributors were Wayne Ashley, Jill Baily, Jerry Belcher, Debra Boardwifle, Ronnie Bryant, Doug Campbell, Debbie Cassell, Perry Cassell, Terilda Clark, Ann Clement, Danny Cline, Kathy Coleman, Debra Craig, Kirk Craig, Mary Craig, Roger Craig, Sandra Craig, Herbert Dellinger, Deborah Dillon, Lisa Draper, Richard Fitzgerald, Sharon Foley, Delairie Fretwell, Wanda George, Robin Gilley, Karen Gray, Ann Grogan, Harriet Grogan, Mickey Grogan, Joe Hairstoll, Paulette Hairston, William Hairston, Wanda Harbour, Jimmy Hearl, James Hendricks, Darryl Holland, Patricia Hughes, Tony Hutchens, Patricia Hylton, Sandra Hylton, Paul Johnson, Deborah Jordan, Michael Joyce, Charlotte Kellam, Steve Kendrick, Ray Lawrence, Judy Marshall, Jerry Martin, Sammy Martin, Debbie McAlexander, Marsh Merriman, Susan Milton, Susan Morris, Debbie Mullins, Ronnie Mullins, Darlene Murphy, Leon Nelson, Donna Nester, Owen Overby, Doretha Penn, Doris Penn, Richard Penn, Willie Penn, Tim Philpott, Dianne Rakes, Dean Randall, Vanessa Redd, Valerie Reed, Charlene Reid, Elbert Robertson, Michael Scales, Linda Shively, Paula Shough, Lee Smith, Linda Smith, Brenda Spencer, Jacob Spencer, Pamela Spencer, Pansy Spencer, Roger Spencer, Cindy Stone, Debris Stone, Philip Stone, Sandy Stone, Susan Stone, Cheryl Strader, Gail Taylor, Renniette Thomas, Velma Thomas, Janice Thompson, Vickie Tolbert, Linda Townsend, Telisa Triplett, Alonzb Turner, Edward Turner, David Vaughn, Dennis Via, Charlotte Ward, Carolyn Watkins, Howard Wigington, Wanda Wood, and Barbara Yates.

ISBN 1452871299 EAN-13 9781452871295 60 pages $9.99

Available from Laurel Hill Publishing at https://www.createspace.com/3454350

Available from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Folklore-Ridge-Foothills-Douglas-Belcher/dp/1452871299/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282163730&sr=8-1

Visit www.freestateofpatrick.com to learn more about Tom Perry and Laurel Hill Publishing.

Ringo Rocks Durham

2010-07-12T17:07:00.000-04:00

Ringo Rocks Durham With A Little Help From His Friends. On Sunday, July 11, 2010, I found myself alone in the company of several thousand fans in the company of Mr. Richard Starkey, the former drummer of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. You might know him as Ringo Starr, the drummer of The Beatles. The new Durham Performing Arts Center beside the new Durham Bulls Baseball Stadium was the site of the concert. This time last year I found myself in the baseball stadium listening to Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Bob Dylan outdoors. I call this my annual July visit with 1960s icons tour. Ringo and his All Star Band have been touring in eleven different versions since 1989. The 2010 group includes Ringo Starr, Rick Derringer, Richard Page of Mr. Mister, Edgar Winter, Gary Wright, Wally Palmar of The Romantics and on drums Gregg Bissonette.

Set List From July 11, 2010
It Don't Come Easy (Ringo Starr)
Honey Don't (Ringo Starr)
Choose Love (Ringo Starr)
Hang On Sloopy (Rick Derringer)
Free Ride (Edgar Winter)
Talking In Your Sleep (Wally Palmar)
I Wanna Be Your Man (Ringo Starr)
Dream Weaver (Gary Wright)
Kyrie (Richard Page)
The Other Side of Liverpool (Starr)
Yellow Submarine (Ringo Starr)
Frankenstein [Edgar Winter]
Peace Dream (Ringo Starr)
Back Off Boogaloo (Ringo Starr)
What I Like About You ( Wally Palmar)
Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo/Eruption (Derringer)
Boys (Ringo Starr)
Love Is Alive (Gary Wright)
Broken Wings (Richard Page)
Photograph (Ringo Starr)
Act Naturally (Ringo Starr)
With a Little Help From My Friends/Give Peace a Chance (Ringo Starr)

What surprised me about this show that I went too almost as a lark as how tight a band these guys were and how they played as a team showing the same enthusiasm for the other guys music as they did for their own. The energy level was high considering the age of the musicians. Ringo just turned 70 and was/is the oldest Beatle, then John, Paul, and George in age. During the show the crowd spontaneously sang Happy Birthday to Ringo, who quipped he was still looking for the present. He interacted with the crowd often making jokes about few CDs his new Y-Not album had sold doing a head count of the audience with copies.

I learned that Hang On Sloopy was the state Rock and Roll Song for the state of Ohio, but I did not realize that Rick Derringer sang it. He was a great guitar player including an almost perfect rendition of Van Halen’s Eruption at the end of his own Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo. Edgar Winter, who I listened to as a teenager, was also an amazing musician going from sax, to drums, to keyboards and that was just on Frankenstein. His song Autumn was one of my favorite ballads from the 1970s. Palmar had high energy and probably the weakest musician in this band playing rhythm guitar, but he kept everyone out of their seats singing two of The Romantics big hits with the audience yelling “Hey” on almost every line of What I Like About You. Richard Page held down bass duties and delivered two strong vocals on Mr. Mister songs Kyrie and Broken Wings that were hits in the mid-1980s.

Gary Wright sang a remarkable version of Dream Weaver that allowed most to sit down along with his Love Is Alive, but that was not because he was not good, just perfect timing in a show that most people stood for two hours. Wright’s voice was strong and he told the story that he played on George Harrison’s first solo album All Things Must Pass along with Ringo and that he went with George to India. Harrison gave Wright a copy of a book about Indian Philosophy and that there was a passage about weaving of dreams that led to Wright’s most popular song.

Ringo joked that, “George Harrison never gave me a damn book.” Implying his song writing might have been stronger. The fact is that two of Starr’s most popular songs Photograph and It Don’t Come Easy were co-written with Harrison. It makes one wonder that if this song writing duo had worked together more what might have happened. While they would never be Lennon-McCartney, they did make some beautiful music together.

Of course, the reason for the show sold out show was Ringo. He did Boys, which he noted he did with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes before joining that other band. He never once mentioned Beatles in the show or Paul McCartney. His later solo work mostly about Peace and Love, where repeats of the 1960s mantra of All You Need Is Love and even mentioned John Lennon in a song about Imagining a Peace Dream. While the naïve worldview is a bit outdated in the cynical times we live, there is no doubt that Ringo still believes it.

There were songs that you might have wanted from Ringo especially more from his wildly popular 1973 Ringo Album or Octopus’s Garden. When I was learning to play the guitar about 1973 after spending all summer in Theodore Guynn’s tobacco field making enough money to buy an FG-75 Yamaha acoustic, my teacher Sam Dobyns and I learned most of the songs from Ringo as they were not very difficult to follow the chords and gave us common ground to play together.

It is not every day you get to spend time with a living Beatle and these guys were very good and very professional, who enjoyed each other’s company and the energy from the crowd. It is not every show that you hear a former Beatle sing Carl Perkin’s Honey Don’t, which The Beatles covered or Buck Owens’s Act Naturally. Starr loved the former Hee Haw star and all musicians of Ringo’s age loved Carl Perkins. Starr brought the house down when he sang Yellow Submarine and I Wanna Be Your Man, but a more fitting finale for the show could not have been that With A Little Help From My Friends, the Lennon-McCartney song penned for Starr’s baritone from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Raleigh News and Observer Story
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/beat/ringo-plays-durham-with-a-little-help-from-his-friends#storylink=misearch

Photos from the concert
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/11/577083/first-look-ringo-starr-071110.html

Durham Herald Sun Story
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/8728546/article-Ringo-rocks-DPAC-stage--excited-crowd?instance=homesecondleft

Paul McCartney showed up for Ringo’s Birthday Concert at Radio City in New York
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emily-singer/ringo-starr-and-his-all-s_b_640302.html

Jeb Visits GrahamFest

2010-07-05T20:45:00.001-04:00

Christmas in July came to me this past weekend at GrahamFest 2010 in Major David Graham’s home in Wythe County, Virginia. For the second year in a row I took my J. E. B. Stuart photo exhibit to the mansion once visited by James Ewell Brown Stuart and set up in the Christmas Room. J. E. B. Stuart visited the home just before his fourteenth birthday walking through snow up to his knees. This year performers included Jeanette and Buddy Williams among others. I was happy to see Tracey Puckett Stump and her historically named sons along with Denise Coalson, who told me that she and her sister Deb Goodrich found the Graham Mansion over two decades ago. Denise wanted me to make sure we called Deb in Kansas to tell her we were there. I visited the house searching for everywhere Stuart visited over two decades ago myself. In this year, I celebrate the twentieth anniversary of raising money to save Stuart’s Birthplace. Thanks to Josiah Weaver and Mary Lin Brewer for having me again. This is a truly an interesting home with the history and a ghost investigation by the Virginia Paranormal Society.

To Alexander Stuart Brown

Draper’s Valley, Virginia
January 17, 1847

It is now dear cousin almost a month since I wrote to you last and I resume my seat hoping that you will—

View this not with a scornful eye
But pass its imperfections by

Although I have but little new to write yet I hope that I will have something that will interest you.

I was disappointed in getting a horse here. So I set out on foot on Tuesday morning for Uncle Brown’s I crossed the mountain and went up the back road by Graham’s, where I dined upon quite a fine dinner, and then set out on my journey the snow being about half leg deep and I tell you that I had a tough time of it, for I had to break the road nearly all the way.

I got to Cobbler Springs about sundown where I found Cousins T. and F., also Miss Mary McKee and Miss Maria S. Crockett who was as fat and pretty as ever. I had the pleasure of riding home with her next morning and in the conversation I brought up your name, and I talked about a good many different things concerning you and found them to be o. k. but away with this trash.

When I got there I found that I could not get a horse (I mean at Uncle Brown’s) until he arrived home which he did not until Thursday night following. I thought it was not worth my while to go to Patrick County until Spring at which time I intend to go or burst a gut.

I stayed there enjoying myself most remarkably well, until Tuesday making a stay of just two weeks when accompanied with Miss Maria Young I came down to the Valley where I have been ever since jogging away at old Caesar

I suppose you’ve heard of the wedding etc. The Colonel has gone with a carriage to Roanoke after his children. Things are going on about as usual. I received a letter from Sister Columbia the other day. They were all well and she requested me to send her love to you when I wrote to you. My school will be out the last of March. I want to go home then and stay until May and then go to Mr. Buckingham.

Yours,
J. E. B. Stuart

J. E. B. Stuart Papers, Virginia Historical Society.

My Mother Raised A Christian

2010-06-06T05:42:00.001-04:00

Two times in the last two years I have heard my mother’s voice crack and seen tears in her eyes relating to her flowers destroyed and her years of work disrespected at the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace by the board of directors charged with preserving the site. Last time was in 2009 when azaleas she planted at the entrance were dug up and thrown away after she asked them to be brought to her as she caught members of the organization doing just that. These flowers were very personal to her because she brought them from her father’s garden in Augusta, Georgia, and planted them at the entrance to Stuart’s Birthplace. In fact, she tended the entrance for TWO DECADES. She and my father spent THOUSANDS of dollars at the site and this is how they are treated.

My mother raised me as a Christian. Something many people in Patrick County should be thankful for this week especially two specific boards of directors. On Tuesday, June 1, 2010, the forsythia planted by mother at the entrance to the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace was dug up and destroyed.

My mother’s reaction this time was similar as her voice cracked and tears welled up in her eyes, she said, “They are just flowers and they are not worth the trouble. Just let it be.” Now some people talk about being Christians and some people are. My mother is the latter. My mother planted yellow forsythia “Yellow for the cavalry” she said to honor J. E. B. Stuart and his men. It was the first cover of my book on Stuart’s Birthplace and the way I ended my talks for nearly two decades promoting the site and Patrick County.

While this may seem like a small "Petty” thing, but it is the motivation that I question. This is the second time this occurred. Both times when I was leveling criticism at members of the Stuart clique. These people will not come at me, but instead go after a nearly 80-year-old woman to get back at me. I guess they did not like me bringing a better J. E. B. Stuart living historian than they ever have to Ararat in recent weeks.

Over the last year, the tailgate of my truck was keyed (a long scratch down the entire width) during the Free State Of Patrick Festival in April at the Ruritan building in Ararat as many people with Highland Game T-shirts wandered around. Someone vandalized my booth at the Just Plain Country Store (not while the present owners have been there, but when the “Dix” owned the place and he did NOTHING about it). I had multiple business relationships sabotaged where people worked with me, then suddenly stopped, only to become a chamber member or show up at another festival in Ararat. I received harassing phone calls in 2009 from a number (276-930-4359) in Woolwine that originated from the textile plant where at least one employee was a board member of the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace. Recently, I received a threatening phone call from 276-694-6012, not hard to figure out where that number comes from.

I have seen with my own eyes a person parked behind my truck at the Stuart Wal-Mart, who is married to a member of the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Board of Directors. They parked not in a parking stop, but blocked the lane for several minutes. I hoped he would get out of the truck because I had my cell phone set to 911 and I was getting ready to have him arrested. I caught this same person peaking around a tent taking a photo of me at the Ararat Festival a couple of weeks ago for what possible reason I cannot imagine. I do not believe any of this is a coincidence.

As you can see there are things at the Laurel Hill Farm that need attention such as replacing the Virginia Civil War Trail Marker shown here that is water damaged. Instead making a 78 year old woman cry is a priority. Here is the reason I believe this happened. Just three weeks ago at the Ararat Festival a representative of the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce told a business associate of mine that in order to work with the chamber the business associate would have to “Distance himself from Tom Perry” in order to work with them. When I complained, I received harassing calls that I asked stopped and one threatening voice mail message and my mother’s forsythia disappeared. Coincidence? I do not think so.

This should be a lesson to the sellouts from Ararat as to what their fates will be if they do not follow the line set by the clique in Stuart. I am from Ararat and not a member of the Stuart clique or a sell out like some of my parent’s neighbors. When you stand up for what it is right, there is a cost, but I would rather pay it than be a hypocrite. What does it gain a person to gain the world and lose his immortal soul.

Last year J. E. B. Stuart IV (shown here with me in 1991 when I raised the money to save his ancestral home) wrote a letter supporting these people and I assume their actions in an obvious dig at me for criticizing the organization I started, but more importantly disrespected my family. I think everyone involved or who support the Patrick County Chamber and the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace need to take a long hard look in the mirror and think about their behavior. I am use to the pettiness and jealousy aimed at me, but when you go after someone’s mother, who has done more than all those mentioned combined to preserve Patrick County’s and J. E. B. Stuart’s history there is something very “rotten in the Free State Of Patrick” to paraphrase Shakespeare.

Every time someone comes at me I think about the roof going on the Bassett Historical Center, something I am very proud of or the person who stopped me in Pandowdy’s Restaurant two days ago and congratulated me for what a great job I did at Stuart’s Birthplace. You can dig up all the flowers you want and bad mouth me all you want, but I know what I did and I don’t need the clique in Stuart to get my satisfaction. I get it every time I ride by Stuart’s Birthplace. I will follow my mother’s sage advice and “Let It Be.” My mother raised me as a Christian. It is a shame that the mothers of those in question did not do the same.

Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life at a pin's fee;
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again. I'll follow it.

First and Last From Patrick County On Memorial Day

2010-05-31T10:22:00.000-04:00

On Memorial Day, May 31, 2010, I visited Ararat, Virginia, and my parents early in the morning. I took the opportunity to visit the graves of several men from the community who served this country in the United States Armed Forces. Just a mile from my parent’s home down the Homeplace Road is the grave of Command Sergeant Major Zeb Stuart Scales, who was my neighbor and whom I spoke about this weekend at the Memorial Day Ceremony at Rocky Mount, Virginia. While Zeb did lose his life in service, he is I think one of the most decorated soldiers from The Free State Of Patrick.

You can read those remarks at www.freestateofpatrick.com/memorialday.pdf.

I drove up to the Blue Ridge Elementary School and turned on to Raven Rock Road, up past the Dan River Park as a fog hung low over the Blue Ridge Mountains. Down the hill I went to the intersection to the River Road and the Raven Rock Road just up the hill from the Ararat River. I took a moment to visit the grave of Levi Barnard, who lost his life just over a year ago in Iraq. I did not know him personally, but I had known of him since his birth. Here is his myspace page http://www.myspace.com/43293558. Levi was the last person from Patrick County serving from our area to lose his life. I hope he is the last, but for today anyway he holds that distinction.

Nearby his grave was another grave that of Charles Barnard of Company I, 24th Virginia Infantry. Charles died on June 30, 1862, in a Danville hospital per the Patrick County Death Register in the courthouse in the town formerly known as Taylorsville. I have several letters from him that I will write about another day that are in my book The Free State Of Patrick: Patrick County in the Civil War.

Downstream along the Ararat River several miles is the grave of the first man from Patrick County to lose his life in service to this country. He was a Corporal in Daniel Carlin’s Henry County Militia Company. During the American Revolution, Patrick County did not exist and was part of Henry County.
In the summer of 1780, Lord Charles Cornwallis was coming through the Carolinas heading for a date with Nathaniel Greene at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March 1781 and a date with George Washington at Yorktown, where he surrendered and practically ending the American Revolution. The pro-British Loyalists or Tories became embolden by the presence of a large British force close by and looked for targets on the Patriot side. Living on the banks of the Ararat River was William Letcher, his wife Elizabeth Perkins Letcher and their daughter Bethenia recently born. The Letchers married in 1778 and he was a strong Patriot. One summer day in August 1780, a stranger came to the Letcher’s cabin door and inquired about William. Elizabeth as the story goes invited him to wait. When William arrived the stranger, tradition holds as a Tory named Nichols shot Letcher in the presence of his wife and left him to die in his wife’s arms. Tradition holds that George Hairston and the Henry County Militia came over captured the Tories led by a William Hall, who lived just across the state line in Surry County, North Carolina. They held a “Drumhead” trial, convicted, and hung the murderous gang. Other stories have Hall coming to his end at the hands of Native people further west and Nichols finding the end of a rope later. Either way William Letcher died just about a year before Cornwallis surrendered to Washington, making him the first man from what is today Patrick County to lose his life during a war in service to this nation.

Just over fifty years after Letcher’s death, his great-grandson was born on the same land along the Ararat River. He, like Letcher, lost his life around the age of thirty, fighting in what he no doubt considered his own “Rev War.” Most everyone has heard of him as he was James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart and William Letcher was his material great-grandfather. The Ararat River begins just behind Bell’s Spur Church along the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Squirrel Spur Road. The river meanders down the mountain past the Raven Rock and across the bottom where Charles and Levi Barnard rest today. Further downstream a great-grandfather rests along the same stream that his famous descendant was born. This small mountain stream’s history now includes the first and the last man from Patrick County to lose their lives in service of this country. I thought on Memorial Day that they both deserved a visit.

Memorial Day Remarks At Rocky Mount VA

2010-05-30T07:51:00.000-04:00

Here are my remarks from the Memorial Day Ceremony at Rocky Mount Virginia yesterday, May 29, 2010.

"In stories about the war I try to show all the different sides of it, taking it slowly and honestly and examining it from many ways. So never think one story represents my viewpoint because it is much too complicated for that."
Ernest Hemingway wrote these words and today I want to use his words and my experiences over the last twenty years researching the many aspects of war to tell you about some men, all dead now who deserve to be remembered on Memorial Day. Most gave their lives. All gave their service.
Today, I would like to share the stories of some of the people, who over the last twenty years I have studied who gave what Abraham Lincoln said was the “last full measure of devotion.” These are men who it was my great honor to cross paths in researching history. Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for."

Read the entire speech here

Read more about the men from Patrick County who gave all.

Vietnam

World War Two and Bull Mountain Plane Crash

Civil War

American Revolution and before

Wall of Honor in Administration Building

Schedule Updated Through November

2010-05-30T07:25:00.000-04:00

www.freestateofpatrick.com/coe

Come check out these events and buy a book.

Notes From The Free State Of Patrick May 2010

2010-05-18T07:06:00.000-04:00

Read about the Ararat Virginia Festival May 22 in this month's Notes From The Free State Of Patrick.

Everett M. Bennett

2010-05-01T17:19:00.000-04:00

Imagine your life boiled down to the contents of a cardboard box, but that is how I started a new journey with Everett Marshall Bennett. In early 2010, as we were finishing the Henry County Heritage Book at the Bassett Historical Center, David Minter brought a box of material to me at the “Best Little Library in Virginia” with the idea it would make a good book. In fact, David brought enough material for several books that we hope to work on over the next few years. I found an FM17-12, a War Department Field Manual dated July 10, 1944 about “Tank Gunnery.” The box had War Ration Book #4 including stamps for coffee and other materials rationed during World War Two. There was a photo album with many images of occupied Berlin and even postcards from Germany. There were a few photos from Korea during Bennett’s service there and a ration card he used during his time in Asia. There were letters from people who wrote to a young man from Henry County about a magazine cover. It was that image that jumped out to me as the young man was on the cover of Life Magazine, Everett M. Bennett from February 10, 1947. Mr. Bennett served in occupied Berlin in the U. S. Army serving the 28th Constabulary, returned home to Henry County, went back into the U. S. Army in Korea serving in the 1092nd Engineering Regiment, and came home again to Martinsville, married and worked for decades at the Rives Road Grocery beside the Martinsville Novelty. On January 1, 1947 Life photographer Walter Sanders took Bennett’s photo and over 20 million people saw this young twenty year old, who grew up at Penn’s Store and went to Spencer-Penn High School. Stayed tune loyal readers for more…

Patrick Henry Trail Leaves Out Patrick and Henry Counties

2010-04-28T07:40:00.000-04:00

Anyone reading a map of Virginia cannot help but notice the name Patrick Henry along the southern border of the Commonwealth of Virginia as two counties have the name of Virginia's first governor. Yet the people in Richmond, who apparently think Virginia ends somewhere just west of Charlottesville and south of Richmond do not seem to know that Patrick Henry lived in Henry County, which included Patrick County at that time during the latter stages of the American Revolution. All they have to do is read the Virginia Historical Highway Marker book to see there is indeed a marker along Highway 58 about Patrick Henry and there is a large stone marker on the land he once owned along Leatherwood Creek. I would like to know why counties that share his name are not included along the new trail about his life. I am sure those in Richmond will say this trail is for “Interpreted Sites,” but there are many Civil War Trail sites that have trail signs that are not interpreted. Here is a great opportunity for Patrick and Henry Counties to promote themselves using “Heritage Tourism” to bring people to the area. Having worked on the Virginia Civil War Trails sign at J. E. B. Stuart including writing the text and supplying the photos, I know something about this. I know there are efforts underway to bring one of these signs to Henry County and here is another opportunity to bring history tourism to the area through the man whose name is on both our local counties.

Stone marker near the site of Patrick Henry's Leatherwood home. My friend Elva Adams also commented about this on her blog www.myhenrycounty.com

Here is the Richmond Times Dispatch Article announcing the new Patrick Henry Trail
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/SIGN26_20100425-212403/339998/

Information about Patrick Henry
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/places/henry.html

After turning over the responsibilities as governor to Thomas Jefferson in 1779, Henry moved west to "Leatherwood" in Henry County, which had been created out of Pittsylvania County in 1776. By selling Scotchtown and some western lands (in Botetourt County and Kentucky), he had bought himself a fresh start on the frontier again... though this time he was no longer a failed storekeeper or a newly-famous young lawyer. Henry held on to his Bedford County land, hoping to find gold.
Cornwallis came near Leatherwood during his chase of the Continentals under Nathaniel Greene through the Carolinas. Greene retreated across the Dan River, then moved south again and defeated Cornwallis at Guilford Court House - 40 miles from Partrick Henry's new home. Henry came closer to the war when he attended the General Asembly in May, 1781. He went to Charlottesville rather than Richmond to attend the session, since it had been moved inland to avoid the marauding English. Banastre Tarleton's raid on Charlottesville chased the legislature further west to Staunton. [Reportedly on the flight four famous Virginia leaders had requested supper at a rural cabin. The woman of the cabin had rejected three requests for assistance, until she heard Patrick Henry was in the party - at which she decided it was appropriate to assist the travellers, rather than reject them as cowards...]
Henry was at Leatherwood when Cornwallis was cornered at Yorktown and surrendered on October 19, 1783.

Road To Revolution Heritage Trail http://www.roadtorevolution.com/
Red Hill Patrick Henry’s Home and Final Resting Place http://www.redhill.org/
Patrick Henry’s Virginia http://www.redhill.org/virginia.html

Virginia Historical Highway Marker along Highway 58 in Henry County. Below are the members of the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate to contact about putting Patrick and Henry Counties on the Patrick Henry Trail.

Ward Armstrong DelWArmstrong@house.virginia.gov
Roscoe Reynolds district20@senate.virginia.gov
Danny Marshall DelDMarshall@house.virginia.gov
Christopher Peace DelCPeace@house.virginia.gov (Delegate From Hanover County)

Ararat Virginia Festival May 22

2010-04-21T10:10:00.000-04:00

The Ararat Virginia Heritage and Music Jamboree will be May 22, 2010, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Dan River Park (www.danriverpark.com). The event begins at 9 a.m. with a parade through the community beginning at the Ararat Ruritan Club and ending at the site of the event at the Dan River Park. The park is located at 419 Raven Rock Road, Ararat, Virginia 24053

Events will include multiple bluegrass bands, antique tractors and cars cruising, T-ball, and Cow Patty Bingo. Vendors will have food, produce, and crafts on hand. The event will end with fireworks around 8 p.m. Vendor spaces are available by contacting Janet Epperson at redapplelane@yahoo.com or 276-251-1182. www.freestateofpatrick.com/araratfestival has downloadable forms and other information about the festival.

The Ararat Virginia Heritage and Music Jamboree has merged with Tom Perry’s Free State Of Patrick Festival held last year at the Ararat Ruritan Club to promote Ararat, Virginia, and western Patrick County in the Dan River District. This event raised money for the Dan River Park and the Ararat Ruritan Club Scholarship.

This year Perry will again raise money for the scholarship named in honor of his parent’s Erie and Betty H. Perry by giving proceeds from his book sales. The Erie Meredith and Betty Jane Hobbs Perry Scholarship will help deserving students in the Dan River District of Patrick County, Virginia. They are the parents of Historian and author Thomas D. “Tom” Perry.

Erie M. Perry, born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, spent his formative years in High Point and Mount Airy, North Carolina. He attended Lees McCrae and Appalachian State University and received a Master’s Degree from Radford University. He taught in the Patrick County Virginia School System for nearly thirty years at Blue Ridge High School, Red Bank Elementary School, and Blue Ridge Elementary School.

Betty Jane Hobbs Perry, born outside Augusta, Georgia, met her husband while he was stationed in U. S. Army at Fort Gordon. Like several ladies from Georgia she came to Ararat, Virginia, in the late 1950s. She worked for nearly forty years at Quality Mills/Cross Creek Apparel in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

Vendor Forms Available at www.freestateofpatrick.com/araratfestival

Follow the event on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=374708220387

J. E. B. Stuart (Wayne Jones of Aiken, South Carolina), the best Stuart interpreter in the nation will be on hand in character as a personal guest of Tom Perry. http://thegeneralandhislady.com

http://martinsvillemedia.com/2010/04/15/perry-releases-revised-book-on-j-e-b-stuarts-birthplace-and-stuart-interpreter-coming-to-ararat-festival/

Tom Perry will have photographic displays on the Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad “The Dinky,” J. E. B. Stuart and Patrick County in the Vietnam Conflict. Read more about these topics at the following websites.
www.freestateofpatrick.com/dinkyrr
www.freestateofpatrick.com/pcvietnam
www.freestateofpatrick.com/Laurelhill

Tom Perry will have his new book Ararat Virginia: A Guide From Willis Gap To Kibler Valley to promote the western end of Patrick County with businesses, history, and reasons to come visit Ararat, Virginia.

Remembering April 16 At Virginia Tech

2010-04-18T06:54:00.000-04:00

Notes From The Free State Of Patrick Newsletter

2010-04-11T10:42:00.000-04:00

This month's newsletter has an article on the Shootout on Fayette Street in Martinsville, an article about going back to high school and new book released J. E. B. Stuart's Birthplace: History, Genealogy and Guide available everywhere along with events I will be attending in May 2010.

Read it here

Longaberger Bingo For Janet Pack Sumner

2010-04-08T09:06:00.000-04:00

I received the following email recently from Shelby Farris Willis about our mutual friend Janet Pack Sumner. I gave Shelby one copy of all my books specially signed to commemorate the effort to help Janet. Please come by and play some Bingo if you get a chance.

Hello all,

We are having a Longaberger Bingo fundraiser for Janet on Friday, April 30 at the Central United Methodist Church on North Main Street . See attached flyer and raffle tickets. Please forward this to everybody you can think of and post this for me.

Also, we are in the process of collecting door prizes for this fundraiser. We need at least 25. If anyone can help with door prizes or the food for this, it would be greatly appreciated. Some people have asked about sponsoring baskets. The baskets are between $25.00 and $50.00, if you know someone who wants to sponsor a basket.

We all know what a hard time Janet has had battling malignant melanoma since 2002. She’s taking 3 shots a week (interferon) now for a year for her cancer. She has been very sick and so weak from this. She’s always had tough times in her life since she was a little girl. I have made a DVD of Janet talking about her life and sent it to ABC Extreme Makeover Home Edition, hoping they would come in and help finish her house. They can’t seem to finish it because of all the medical bills. I have more copies that I would like others to see. It’s really touching and I don’t think people realize what Janet has been through…Please let me know if you are interested in seeing it.

Thank you all so much!
Shelby

BASKET BINGO

HOSTED BY FAMILY & FRIENDS OF JANET SUMNER WHO HAS RECURRENT MALIGNANT MELANOMA.

Proceeds to help support Janet Sumner’s Medical Bills

WHEN: Friday April 30, 2010

WHERE: Central United Methodist Church,
1909 North Main Street
Mount Airy, NC 27030

TIME: Doors will open @ 6:00pm
Bingo will begin around 7:00pm

COST: $20.00 for 60 cards
Play 3 cards per game

Hot dogs, chips, drinks, & desserts will be available for purchase.

20 games will be played for beautiful Longaberger products!

Cover All Prize-RETIRED FILE BASKET W/PROTECTOR-LINER
Valued at $300.00
Cover All Cards are $3.00 each or 2 for $5.00

Raffle tickets may be purchased for $1.00 each for a chance to win a Coastal Tote Set. The drawing will be held April 30, 2010.
You do not have to be present to win.

Contact Gina Gough @ 336-710-3141 or Shelby Willis @ 276-251-5775 if you have any questions!

This event is in no way connected with or sponsored by the Longaberger Company.

Back To High School

2010-03-31T12:56:00.000-04:00

This week I returned to Patrick County High School to speak to the students of the eleventh grade U. S. history classes of Glenn Burnette and Shannon Brown. After several years of not talking, I returned when I found out that no one was talking to the classes. I brought my memory stick with a PowerPoint presentation on Patrick County in the Civil War back to the place I graduated thirty-one years ago. I always hear people complaining about how the kids are not taught this or that in school anymore, but none of these complainers ever volunteer to go to school and talk to the kids. So off I went back to school.

This program is about two individual soldiers William Dennis Via and Rufus James Woolwine, who served in the 51st Virginia Infantry, were messmates, and who rest today in adjoining plots in the old Stuart Cemetery. The talk contained information about the county before war and the election of 1860. Discussion included the homefront during the war, Stoneman’s Raid at the end of the war and a year by year account of the war on the battle lines and at home. There was information on life for African-American slaves and free people in Patrick County. Two brothers discussed were R. J. and Abram D. Reynolds and their exploits during the war.

Of course, there was biographical information on J. E. B. Stuart from birth to death and his importance in the history of the company. Many of the students asked very good questions and the dialogue was impressive. While none of the ladies thought J. E. B. Stuart was attractive enough to carry to the prom, as I showed them a photo him beardless at age 17, I did feel like they got something out of the presentation.

This was an exhausting and enormously fulfilling experience that I hope to repeat again the future. For this I received lunch, where I got to break bread with Principal Bradshaw and Resource Officer Roger Wilson, who I graduated with in 1979. I found too that a t-shirt from the Lady Cougar basketball coach and a PC hat came my way from Coach Burnette. I sponsored the webcast of the playoff games for the Lady Cougars as they made the regional finals last year and beyond this year traveling to Richmond to compete in the final four of their level.

Teaching and coaching are thankless jobs in this day and time, but being the child of a teacher and principal in Patrick County I know what it is like. It is easy to criticize teachers and school administrators, but those people should ask themselves what they have done to improve education in Patrick County.

A Big Man

2010-03-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

Daniel Boone was a man. Yes a big man. With an eye like an eagle and as tall as a mountain was he. Daniel Boone was a man. Yes a big man. He was brave, he was fearless and as tough as a mighty oak tree. From the coonskin cap on the top of ol Dan to the heel of his rawhide shoe The rippin'est roarin'est fightin'est man the frontier ever knew. Daniel Boone was a man. Yes a big man.
And he fought for America to make all Americans free. What a Boone. What a wonder. What a dream comer truer was he.

Recently, due to the wondrous thing that is Netflix, I have been editing the Henry County Heritage Book while a song from my youth comes from the television. I finished watching season one, just as news came recently of the death of the man, who for me and many of the “Baby Boomers” knew as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. Fess Parker passed away at his winery in California. I admit it. I had a coonskin cap and I loved watching Fess Parker as Boone and Crockett. No doubt that I loved history and I remember often watching The Wonderful World of Disney on Sundays at 7 p.m. I believe, although my romantic image of my childhood maybe obscured with time.

Fess Parker, who passed away on March 18, was 85 years old and he too was a big man, standing six foot six inches. He was the voice of the driver in Harvey, along with being in movies such as Them, The Great Locomotive Chase, and Old Yeller. He was Boone from 1964-70 on TV and Crockett a decade earlier in made for TV movies. It was not accurate history as I am listening to Boone by Richard Morgan, but when you are ten years old history is playing dress up. Luckily, I grew up unlike others I know, but man I remember watching Parker on Disney. For some reason, I remember the color versions better and watching it on the Guynn’s TV, as I think trucking mogul Teddy Guynn had a coonskin cap too. There has got to be a photo of that somewhere.

Anyway, thanks to Netflix for letting me relive some good memories of my childhood and the man who brought history to life every Sunday evening on Disney. Parker like Boone was a big man in life and in my memory. God’s Speed, Daniel, Davy, and Fess.

Superintendent/Reenactor Fires Gun In Class

2010-03-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

From Eric Wittenberg's Civil War Cavalry Blog www.civilwarcavalry.com

Superintendent accidentally discharges muzzleloader in class

ROB ROGERS Of The Gazette Staff | Posted: Monday, March 8, 2010 10:19 pm | (60) Comments

Dwain Haggard’s high school history lesson on Friday backfired.

Haggard, who used to be a Civil War reenactor, was showing the five students in Reed Point High’s American history class his replica antique black powder muzzleloader when the gun fired and lodged a ball in the front wall of the classroom.

“I can’t explain how it was loaded,” Haggard said.

Haggard has been district superintendent since 2007, and each year he’s visited the high school’s American history class to show off his Civil War-era equipment. When he shows the muzzleloader, he finishes the demonstration by firing a cap, which makes a small “pop” when he pulls the trigger, he said.

But this time, “when I dropped the hammer on it, to all of our surprise, it went off,” he said.

Jake Bare, a junior at Reed Point High, was in the class when the gun fired. He said it caught everybody off guard.

When Haggard pulled the trigger, there was a loud bang,and the room filled with smoke, Bare said.

“Holy criminy, you just shot the map,” he said.

Indeed, the ball shot through the “o” in the word “North” at the top of the map and lodged in the wall, Haggard said.

The gun was never pointed at the students once Haggard inserted the cap. He was facing away from the students, pointing the gun toward the ceiling when he pulled the trigger.

The students were “never really in danger,” he said.

After settling down the students and dismissing class, Haggard said, he called the school board to explain what happened and then called the parents of the five students.

“None of them were upset with me,” he said.

One father, he said, laughed until he cried.

The board and his staff have been supportive, he said.

He described the incident as “bitter irony.” As superintendent, Haggard has worked with the school to increase safety at the school, updating its drills and the training staff receives.

Shootout on Fayette Street

2010-03-18T07:38:00.000-04:00

Gunfire erupted on May 17, 1886, in Martinsville, Virginia, in one of the largest gunfights ever recorded on the east coast. This shootout ended with nine shot and eventually three dead including an African-American bystander. It was just five years after Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the OK Corral, but that was thousands of miles away in frontier west town of Tombstone, Arizona. The shooting in Martinsville happened within sight of the Henry County Court House in the middle of a quiet southern town.

Aiken Summit along the Danville and Western Railroad was home to the Terrys. Their home, Marr’s Hill, and Terry’s Mountain were marks they left on the landscape of Henry County, Virginia, but in the late 1880s, tradition says their prospects were on the way down. The children of Parker and Mary King Terry lived on land literally granted them from colonial times. The Spencers were a family on the rise in the summer of 1886. Their home was Grassdale. These two families met as their lines of rise and descent crossed on the streets of Martinsville.

D. H. Spencer and Sons moved their tobacco operation to Fayette Street within site of the Henry County Court House. Their brands included Calhoun and Old Crow. The company was one of the first to make their own boxes for shipment. Peter Spencer was on the Martinsville Town Council. On May 8, 1886, the council heard complaints from two fertilizers agents, A. W. Hill and B. F. Barrow, who thought their annual license tax discriminated against their product. They did not get the two-thirds vote needed to change their bill with Mayor C. B. Bryant and “Colonel Peter” Spencer voting against them.

The Editor of the Henry News, J. T. Darlington, published an anonymous article that was an obvious satire of the meeting. The article written by local attorney William King Terry, who may have represented the fertilizer agents, made fun of Bryant and Spencer. On Saturday, May 15, Terry distributed a printed circular that was more critical of the two men. One author speculates that it looks like an “over reaction” or an “emotional” response by Terry that may indicate some existing bad blood between the Spencers and Terrys.

The following day, the story goes, May 16, a Sunday, Peter Spencer printed up his own poster comparing Terry to a jackass. John Hardin Pedigo, who apparently wrote for both sides, “ghost wrote” the poster. Attempts to destroy the posters were not completely successful as William Terry found one. “Finding himself effectively called an SOB, Will Terry was enraged.” This was a time of honor and reputation in the two decades since the end of the Civil War and with the recent death of his father, Terry could not ignore the slander. He lived in a local hotel in Martinsville and the small world the town would have been at that time made conflict and stirring the pot of controversy was good sport for some in those days as cable television sensationalizes today’s rumors and innuendo.

Terry distributed another circular. The printer, probably Darlington at the Henry News, certainly was busy. It read, “I have been attacked by some low contemptable scoundrel and midnight assassin, by the publication of an anonymous card. If however he will present himself he shall receive the chasetisement he so richly merits.”

On Monday, May 17, Terry learned that the Henry News printed Peter Spencer’s circular. He sent word to his brothers, Jake and Ben Terry, who soon arrived on the railroad in Martinsville. Noting the heightened tension, more “peace officers” than usual were present including the Sheriff, several deputies, two constables, and a town sergeant.

At 7 p.m., employees streamed out of the Spencer Tobacco plant on Fayette Street, where they worked sunrise to sunset. When Peter and John Spencer came out, William Terry called and asked Peter directly if he wrote the “horse card.” Peter answered that he did. Terry grabbed his pistol, but W. H. Werth grabbed Terry. John Spencer suggested that there were “other means for handling the dispute.” J. T. Darlington pointed out that the Spencers outnumbered the Terrys, as the Spencers had five gunmen present due to “prior arrangements.” Seeing the situation William Terry stepped away with Darlington.

As with all such situations it only takes one person to create a catastrophe and that person was Tarleton Brown. Smoke filled the air for about twenty-five feet around the entrance to the Spencer Tobacco Company. The Richmond Dispatch noted, “at least a dozen revolvers flashed in the air. The death dealing missiles flew thick and fast, rarely missing their prey. Every man stood his ground with nerve and grit.” Gilmore Dickinson shot Will Terry in the back “fifteen inches away.” Ben Terry shot Tarleton Brown after the latter fired at Jake Terry.

The shootout wounded nine people. All three Terry brothers were down. Jake died immediately, Will died after lingering several weeks and Ben, hit twice, once in the neck, recovered. Peter Spencer, shot in the ribs, survived for five years. Bystanders J. R. Gregory and an African-American Sandy Martin lost their lives.

Shot were “Peace Officers” Hugh N. Dyer and B. L. Jones. Hugh Nelson Dyer went on to become Roanoke Chief of Police and wrote a memoir of the event. Born on November 28, 1860, in Henry County, the son of W. C. Dyer, Hugh served as a Police Chief and Sergeant for five years in Martinsville. He went to Roanoke in 1889 and on December 20, 1893, became the Chief of Police. That same year he married Emma Hutchinson. He died on August 5, 1936, in Staunton and rests today in Roanoke’s Fairview Cemetery.

The Halifax Advertiser reported three days after the gunfight that, “Jake Terry was shot in the side and killed. Colonel P. D. Spencer was wounded in the right side, T. F. Brown shot painfully in the thigh, W. K. Terry shot in the left shoulder near the spinal column, Ben Terry shot in the bowels and neck, B. L. Jones painfully wounded in the thigh, Hugh Dyer shot in the thigh, two men by the name of Gregory were shot in the back accidentally, and a colored man by the name of Martin was shot in the thigh.”

The Henry News of June 24 reported testimony of Darlington this way. “J. T. Darlington: - There was a difficulty on Fayette Street on May 17, 1886. After the difficulty had progressed a very few seconds, shots being fired by other parties, I saw G. G. Dickinson, who was then standing about three feet in the rear of W. K. Terry. While in that position a pistol in Dickinson’s hand was fired, and W. K. Terry fell. This is about all I know.

Cross-examined by G. L. Richardson for Commonwealth: I afterward saw W. K. Terry; did not then examine his wound, but have done so since. I think the muzzle of the pistol was not more than fifteen feet… (I’m not sure whether the following is referring to W. K. Terry, but it seems appropriate) lower limbs are paralyzed. I think his condition critical. He has completely lost the use of his legs. The last time I saw him I could see no real improvement, but a perceptible loss of strength.”

The court fined Ben Terry $20 and costs for carrying a concealed weapon. A judge dismissed all other charges. The Terry daughters moved on top of Terry Mountain due to the shame of the shootout. None of the ten Terry children reportedly ever married.

This was the time of the Hatfields and McCoys in neighboring West Virginia, who had been feuding for three years when the gunfire erupted in Henry County. It was over a decade before the Allens shot up the Carroll County Court House in Hillsville. The story of the gunfight even reached the New York Times, which at least three separate stories about it including the gunfight, subsequent trial and an August 31, 1886 reporting the death of W. K. Terry, who lingered from May until his death the day before the article.

Lost in the story is the murder of a “young farmer,” R. H. Bowsman of “Horse Pasture,” in September that resulted in an indictment of J. V. Darlington, who apparently was still instigating in the matter, and a trial in November with the jury finding the latter not guilty. The newspaper reported that Darlington’s son and Bausman where “in difficulty.”

Another story reported on September 11, that a “large number of citizens of the county met and organized for the purpose of lynching Spencer, Brown, Dickerson and Darlington…The plan failed through one of the members of the band, who betrayed the whole thing. People of the town and county are considerably worked up over the affair. Nearly every man in the Martinsville has been sworn as a special officer. It is whispered around that the failure of the lynching plan is for a short time; the enraged citizens will eventually carry out their intentions.”

This a story that would not die even many locals wish it would. Years later a magazine writer, Hiram Herbert, wrote a story for Saga Magazine: Adventure Stories For Men. When no locals would talk with him other than Gus Dyer, the son of Hugh, Herbert resorted to sensationalizing the story by interjecting a romance between May Belle Spencer or Belle Spencer and Will Terry. There was no romance nor was there a Belle Spencer.

Born in on September 16, 1861, Tarleton F. Brown died on May 8, 1895, nearly a decade after the shootout on Fayette Street. After his death in 1895, and his wife Annie Eliza Brown (1862-1901) six years later, Henry Clay Lester and his wife Lucy “Big Lucy” Brown Lester, sister of Tarleton, raised her brother’s children Rives S. Brown, Lucy Brown “Little Lucy,” and Mattie T. Brown. The latter married George M. Andes and was the father the recently deceased Tarleton River Andes. When “Big Lucy” died she left the Lanier Farm to Rives Brown, Sr., and his sister, “Little Lucy.”

Rives Spotswood Brown, Sr. (1894-1957), a graduate of Randolph-Macon, became a prominent man of Martinsville. When Henry Clay Lester died in 1913, Brown took over management of the Lester’s business interest. On May 20, 1916, Brown married Cornelia Frances Gregory and they had a son Rives S. Brown, Jr. on August 30, 1919.

Lucy Gaines Brown “Little Lucy” (1888-1926) married Dr. Morton Elbridge Hundley. After Lucy’s death, Dr. Hundley married Mary Kate Black (1896-1944) in November 1927 at the age of 49. Hundley died on his honeymoon of pneumonia in Switzerland, but that is another story.

Rives S. Brown, Sr. began his first development on Mulberry Road in 1925. In 1930, Rives S. Brown, Sr. built the Chief Tassell Building and five years later the Rives Theatre, Kroger’s Grocery, and the Greyhound Bus Station. Three years later in 1938, he came up with a plan for Forest Park.

Among other holdings inherited from Henry Clay Lester, “the wealthiest man in Henry County at the time,” was the Lanier Farm that Brown farmed until 1922. The Marshall Hairston Lanier Farm had a storied history, which was once the property of Patrick Henry, who sold the property to David Lanier, until today where the 2,000 acres is the site of the Druid Hills and Forest Park residential areas.

The legacy of the “Shootout on Fayette Street” continues with the Spencers, Terrys, Lesters, and Browns as they continue to make a mark on the landscape of Martinsville and Henry County Virginia. As with all things related to Henry County and Martinsville’s history you need to travel to the Bassett Historical Center, where you will find files and even a privately published book about the “Shootout on Fayette Street.”

NEW Patrick County Postcard Book Available

2010-03-16T10:32:00.000-04:00

Images of Patrick County: Postcards is Tom Perry’s fourth images book focusing on photos from his collection of over 10,000 images soon to be housed at the Special Collections Department of the Carol M. Newman Library at Virginia Tech, Perry’s alma mater in Blacksburg, Virginia. This book of 71 pages concentrates on the many postcards from the past with a connection to Patrick County including chapters on the Mountain Top area including the Circle M Zoo, Dan River Queen, and Cochram’s Mill in the Vesta and Meadows of Dan areas. A chapter includes the area East of Stuart that concentrates of Patrick Springs and Critz including the Reynolds Homestead and many orchards that led to the Peach Festival. A chapter on Woolwine concentrates on the covered bridges of Patrick County that are 2 of the surviving nine in Virginia. A chapter on Stuart, Virginia, includes images from the county seat of The Free State Of Patrick. A chapter on Fairy Stone Park has images from the county’s only state park. A chapter from the images of the Blue Ridge Parkway that makes up the northern border of the county. Last, there is a chapter of postcards that claim they are Patrick County, but they are not PC. The book begins with a summary of the history of postcards in America.

The book retails for $9.99 and is available throughout the region and in Patrick County. This is the first of Perry’s images books that is available though major book distributors such as Ingram. This book sells for $9.99 and is available from Perry’s website www.freestateofpatrick.com and is available at online booksellers such as www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com

Perry will be signing his books in Stuart, Virginia, on March 27 at the Just Plain Country Store from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and at the Patrick County Music Association from 4 until 8 p.m.

Perry will be releasing a new or revised book every month in 2010. Next up is the revised history of the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace, Ararat, Virginia: A Guide From Willis Gap to Kibler Valley, and Images of Martinsville, Virginia in May 2010.

Contact Information

Tom Perry

freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com

276-692-5300

Laurel Hill Publishing, P. O. Box 11, Ararat, VA 24053

www.freestateofpatrick.com

Henry County Heritage Book Available For Review

2010-03-16T10:26:00.001-04:00

The draft of the Henry County Heritage Book will be available for review by the public starting Monday, March 22 at 10 a.m. for at least two weeks. The purpose this is to give those who participated an opportunity to review their stories, make sure the photos submitted match the stories, and see the editing the committee did on the stories.

The Henry County Heritage Book Committee is an ALL VOLUNTEER group with no paid staff. All profit from the book goes to the expansion of the Bassett Historical Center. At this point over 600 copies of the book have sold for $55. This hard cover publication is still availalbe for purchase at the Bassett Historical Center. The committee hopes the book will be back for Christmas 2010, but only a 100 copies will be available for $75 at that time. You must purchase a copy before publication to be assured of getting a copy.

Tom Perry, Chairman of the Henry County Heritage Book Committee

Ghost Towns? Mount Airy and Martinsville

2010-03-13T06:35:00.001-05:00

Two stories this week in the national media caught my attention about Mount Airy, North Carolina, and Martinsville, Virginia, that are similar in tone and bias making both local communities seem doomed to economic collapse. On Wednesday, the USA Today published a story on the front page about Mount Airy titled “When the textile mill goes away, so does a way of life.”

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2010-03-09-textile-jobs-lost-mount-airy_N.htm

There are the usual Mayberry related photos, but the comments section is revealing. http://content.usatoday.com/community/comments.aspx?id=37795242.story&p=2

One that caught my eye was “This didn’t happen overnight.” The usual story is that when a small group of people control business and keep new business out to keep wages low and unions out, the world falls apart when those same business leaders decide to move to other places where the wages are lower. It is almost a feudal system with masters and slaves.

In Patrick County as everyone argues over rail trails and tourism as their world crumbles around them the thought of Nero fiddling on the Crooked Road as Rome burns around him or the idea that ignorance is bliss come to mind. When no new ideas are welcome, the children leave and no matter how many trails you build or brochures you hand out, they and the new jobs that keep them home find their ways to other more farsighted communities, where freedom of speech is welcome and people have thicker skins that don’t mind a little criticism.

This month the very elitist New Yorker Magazine published an article titled “Obama’s Lost Year — The President’s failure to connect with ordinary Americans” that includes http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/03/15/100315fa_fact_packer

Here is a link to the a story about the New Yorker article in the Martinsville Bulletin that ignores the negative image it portrays Martinsville focusing on new energy and their favorite soon to be one terms Congressman "Pinkiello."

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=22834

There is a slide show of photos from downtown Martinsville that goes with the article online titled “George Packer on how the Great Recession is still shaking Martinsville, Virginia.”
http://www.newyorker.com/online/multimedia/2010/03/15/100315_audioslideshow_martinsville

Here are some comments from the New Yorker article.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker/2010/03/obamas-lost-year.html

My grandfather came to Mount Airy in the 1940s for a job in a textile mill. My mother worked thirty-eight years in a textile mill. My father and I both worked in several different textile mills before, during and after we went to college. I think both of these stories are about the same thing and that is when a small clique with no vision control everything, you should not be surprised when the world they control falls apart around them and all of us.

Remembering Eric Jarrell, Doctor and Soldier

2010-03-09T17:09:00.000-05:00

Wilburn Eric Jarrell (1926-2010)

Dr. Jarrell passed away last night. He was good friends with my second father Theodore Guynn. I spent many hours listening to the two of them talk about their histories and the history of Ararat, Virginia, where they both grew up together.Here is a passage from my book Notes From The Free State Of Patrick about him.

Wilburn Eric Jarrell was born to Benjamin Alec and Mary Alma Hancock Jarrell in Floyd, Virginia, on March 14, 1926. Benjamin met Mary while they were both students at Central Academy in Patrick County. W. Eric Jarrell had eight siblings: Merlin Thomas, Mary Claudine, John Arnold, Joseph William, Franklin Delano, Charles Burgess, Dallas Gray and Lilly Aleene Jarrell.

Jarrell descended from Joseph William Jarrell and his father Albert Jarrell, who was among four brothers serving the South in the War Between the States. Albert lived on land once owned by J. E. B. Stuart’s father Archibald and often visited William Mitchell at the 1905 Mitchell-Dellenback house owned by the Stuart Birthplace.

W. Eric Jarrell attended J. E. B. Stuart School in the Rabbit Ridge Section of Ararat and later Blue Ridge High School. Jarrell wanted to fly planes off aircraft carriers during World War II, but entered the U. S. Navy on May 12, 1944, from Ararat and traveled to Williamsburg’s Camp Perry. He joined the Medical Corps attending three months of intense training at Bainbridge, Maryland, and then to Portsmouth Naval Hospital and to Hawaii. Jarrell served on the U. S. S. Cecil, an amphibious transport ship (APA) that carried 1500 men to Iwo Jima. They continued to the New Hebrides, Caroline, Cook, and Solomon Islands. For one week, Jarrell saw Kamikazes attack the navy at Okinawa and the flag raising on Mount Suribachi. He spent six months at Tientsin, China, taking care of the Marine Air Corps, and thought of becoming a dentist, but since he had already done everything eight years of college would teach in Dentistry, he turned to medicine instead. He left the navy as Pharmacist Mate Third Class on June 11, 1946.

From September 1946 until 1950, he attended the University of Virginia and then spent four years in medical school in Charlottesville. After one year interning, Dr. W. Eric Jarrell returned to Ararat working off his rural scholarship and beginning a forty-three year career in medicine. He worked to get a Medical Examiner system in Surry County. He took over Dr. Gates’ practice and later moved to Mount Airy with his office on North Main Street. He retired on November 9, 1998 and is the rare Ararat native named Distinguished Patrick Countian.

W. E. Jarrell married Jewel Beatrice Davis the daughter of Clyde Stephen and Edith Beatrice Earnhart Davis. Four children were born to the couple. W. E. Jarrell, Jr. born in 1954 died tragically in a car accident. David Hancock was born in 1961, Beverly Jewel in 1956 and Susan Beatrice in 1963. Beverly married Roger S. William and their oldest child Leslie Erica attended the University of Virginia and was a Presidential Scholar. They had two other children: Roger, Jr. and Logan Beatrice. Davis H. Jarrell married Teresa Ercoline and had two children Davis, Jr. and Anne Abram Jarrell.

Dr. Wilburn Eric Jarrell, 83, of 700 Country Club Road, Mount Airy, passed away Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at his home. He was born March 14, 1926, in Floyd County, VA, son of the late Benjamin A. and Mary Hancock Jarrell. Dr. Jarrell was a family physician, retiring in 1998 after 43 years of doing what he loved best, improving patients’ health. He was proud of his military service, having served as a pharmacist mate 3rd class at Iwo Jima and Okinawa during World War II, where he witnessed the raising of the flag in Iwo Jima. He also served with the First Marine Air Wing, Headquarters Squadron, in Tientsin, China. Upon completion of duties, he entered the University of Virginia for undergraduate studies and in 1954 received his medical degree from the University of Virginia Medical School. Dr. Jarrell was a past member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, a lifetime member of the North Carolina Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and the Surry-Yadkin Medical Society. When serving as a member of the staff at Northern Hospital of Surry County, he helped design the hospital’s first Coronary Care Unit, initiated the establishment of the Medical Examiner’s system in Surry County, and served the county as its first Medical Examiner. Upon certification, he became a member of the American Association of Medical Review Officers. He was an original member of Surry Medical Ministries and upon retirement assumed the position of Interim Director of the Surry County Health Department. Dr. Jarrell also held the position as adjunct professor at East Carolina Medical School. In 2004, he was proud to be inducted into the Thomas Jefferson Society at the University of Virginia. In the community, Dr. Jarrell was a past member of the Mount Airy Community Foundation Board, Board of Directors of First Citizens Bank, The Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce, Camp Physician at Raven Knob and recipient of the Old Hickory Council’s “Order of the Arrow” award. He was the first recipient of the “Patrick Countian of the Year” award. He also was a member of Central United Methodist Church. Dr. Jarrell is survived by his wife of 56 years, Jewel Davis Jarrell; a daughter and son-in-law, Beverly and Roger Williams of Charleston, SC; a son and daughter-in-law, Davis and Teresa Jarrell of Bluefield, WV; a daughter, Susan Jarrell of Bluefield, VA; and five grandchildren, Leslie Williams, Roger Williams, Jr., and Logan Williams, Davis Jarrell, Jr., and Anne Jarrell. He is also survived by two sisters and a brother-in-law, Alene and Richard Ward of Mount Airy and Claudine Eaton of Crystal River, FL; and four brothers and three sisters-in-law, Joe Jarrell and Charles Jarrell, both of Mount Airy, Frank and Elizabeth Jarrell of Kernersville, Dallas and Diane Jarrell of Roanoke, VA, and Donnis Jarrell of Shelby. He was preceded in death by his son, Wilburn Eric Jarrell, Jr.; his parents; and two brothers, Tommy Jarrell and Arnold Jarrell. The funeral service will be held at 2:00 PM Friday, March 12, 2010, at Central United Methodist Church, with the Rev. John Ferree officiating. Burial will follow in the Oakdale Cemetery. The family will receive friends Thursday night from 6:30 to 8:30 at Moody Funeral Home in Mount Airy. Memorials may be made to the Dr. W. Eric and Jewel D. Jarrell Scholarship Fund, c/o Surry Community College Foundation, 630 South Main Street, Dobson, NC 27017, or to Central United Methodist Church, 1909 North Main Street, Mount Airy, NC 27030.

Bassett Historical Symposium Saturday

2010-03-02T07:27:00.001-05:00

Bassett Historical Center Symposium Set For March 6

The Bassett Historical Center is pleased to announce a symposium on regional history to be held March 6, 2010, from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Historic J. D. Bassett High School auditorium, now owned by EMI Imaging, Inc., who is donating the use of the school auditorium, in Bassett, Virginia.

Proceeds from this event will go to the Bassett Historical Center Building Fund. The speakers are donating their time in support of this project to expand the library. Advance tickets are $25 and $30 at the door. Students and Senior Citizens are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Please include e-mail address for ticket confirmation only. E-mail addresses will not be sold or given to others.

Visit the webpage of the Bassett Historical Center http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com or call 276-629-9191 or email baslib@hotmail.com for more information. Advance payment can be sent to Bassett Historical Center at 3964 Fairystone Park Highway, Bassett, VA 24055.

The Bassett Historical Center has been called 'the best little library in Virginia'. The Center has grown considerably since we merged with Blue Ridge Regional Library in 1992. From that time through 2004, our patron count increased 1359% over a period of 13 years. Since 1998 we have had an increase of 125% per year. People from all 50 states and 9 foreign countries have visited the Center. Our family files now number 9496, local history files number 2818, and our books number over 12,000. It is time for expansion of our facility. We need to double our present size so that we will be able to accept new collections that otherwise may be sent to another facility outside of our immediate area. In an attempt to add 4195 square feet to our existing facility, an estimate of $800,000 has been given.

We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to our effort as well as, those who have supported our events. We have been successful in reaching our “Challenge Grant” of $205,000 with the Harvest Foundation. We are thankful and very fortunate to have their support. Though we have reached our Challenge Grant, there are still financial challenges ahead. As mentioned above, the Historical Symposium is March 6 and your ticket purchase will assist us in our fundraising efforts. So please come and enjoy a day with four talented writers and speakers and some very interesting historical facts. Your personal or corporate tax-deductible donation can be used for memorials or honorariums. You can consider donating or buying shelving, furniture, display units or sponsor 1 to 3 of the proposed large rooms.

Our day begins with Alan Pell Crawford and his discussion of his book “Twilight at Monticello, the Final Years of Thomas Jefferson”. Based on new research and documents culled from the Library of Congress and from other special collections which include previously unexamined letters from family, friends, & Monticello neighbors, Alan touches on Jefferson dealing with illness, the indignities of early nineteenth century medicine. Alan shows Jefferson coping with massive debt, family disputes, receiving dignitaries, corresponding with close friends, and all the while still influencing America’s political landscape.

Joe Tennis will share his book “Beaches to Bluegrass: Places to Brake on Virginia’s Longest Road”. He will explore the stops and stories he discovered along Highway 58. They are from areas such as Martinsville, Danville, Mount Rodgers, Grayson Highlands State Park, Whitetop Mountain, and the Barter Theatre. Stories about ghosts, the Civil War, music legends, a UFO landing, a witch, a waterfall, and the place where Johnny Cash played his final concerts.

After a Lunch break, Tom Perry will give an informative discussion on “Frank Stringfellow: Martinsville Minister/Confederate Spy”. Frank Stringfellow served as a spy/scout for J.E.B. Stuart during the War Between the States and in the 1890’s was the Rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville. Tom, who grew up near Laurel Hill in Patrick County, has helped the Historical Center raise over $50,000 through the sale of his books.

Our last speaker of the day will be Craig Rockwell. He will be speaking on and portraying Brigadier General William Clark. After his expeditions with Meriwether Lewis, Captain Clark became a Brigadier General of the Louisiana Territory Militia, Indian Agent, Governor of the Missouri Territory, Surveyor General of Wisconsin, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

We look forward to seeing you for an informative and fun day of History.

Speakers joining me are the following. Alan Crawford- An accomplished author and speaker when he was still in his 20s, Alan Pell Crawford “was either endowed with a special gift of prescience or generously favored by the political gods,” according to the late James Wechsler, writing in the New York Post. Mr. Crawford is a former U.S. Senate speechwriter, congressional press secretary, and magazine editor. He has published essays on politics and history in The New York Post, The Independent of London, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Vogue, The Nation, National Review, and The Weekly Standard. He has reviewed books on U.S. history for The Wall Street Journal since 1994. Alan will discuss his book, “Twilight at Monticello: the Final Years of Thomas Jefferson”. Based on new research and documents culled from the Library of Congress and from other special collections which include previously unexamined letters from family, friends, and Monticello neighbors, Alan touches on Jefferson dealing with illness and the indignities of early nineteenth century medicine. Mr. Crawford shows Jefferson coping with massive debt, family disputes, receiving dignitaries, corresponding with close friends, and all the while still influencing America’s political landscape. Alan Pell Crawford has also written, “Thunder on the Right: The ‘New Right’ and the Politics of Resentment”, described by Godfrey Hodson in The new Republic as “a notable work of intellectual and political history”, and “Unwise Passions: A True Story of Remarkable Woman and the First Great Scandal of the Eighteenth-Century America”, “Imagine Gone With the Wind if Eugene O’Neill had written it, add a spoonful to Alexis de Tocqueville, a suspicion of incest and murder, many great names and reversals of fortune, and you have this love-hate-mystery tale of political history.”, Weekly Standard. A former resident of Washington, D.C., Alan and his wife, Sally and their two sons, Ned and Tim now reside in Richmond, Va.

Joe Tennis is an award winning feature writer for the Bristol Herald Courier in Bristol, Va., and the author of the critically acclaimed “Beach to Bluegrass: Places to Brake on Virginia’s Longest Road”. Joe Tennis will be discussing “Beach to Bluegrass”, Tennis’s collection of 58 tales along Highway 58, that stretches from Hampton Roads to Virginia Beach to the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Cumberland Gap. Along the way, the author discovers ghost tales, Civil War stories, music legends, a UFO landing, a witch, a waterfall, and the place where Johnny Cash played his final concerts. Stops and stories explore Martinsville, Danville, Mount Rodgers, Grayson Highlands State Park, Whitetop Mountain, and the Barter Theatre. The book features more than 100 original photos. Mr. Tennis’s first book, “Southwest Virginia Crossroads: An Almanac of Place Names and Places to See”, features 21 chapters and tells how more than 750 places took their names. This illustrated history and guide was written, as the author says, to prove “the state does not stop at Roanoke.” Mr. Tennis is also the author of “The Marble and Other Ghost Tales of Tennessee and Virginia” and “Sullivan County: Images of America”. His forthcoming book, “Finding Franklin: Mystery of the Lost State Capital”, is a children’s adventure book exploring the history and mystery of the Lost State of Franklin, including connections to Arthur Campbell of Marion. Mr. Tennis writes a weekly column (“Tennis Anyone?”) for the Bristol Herald Courier. He has also written for Appalachian Voice, Virginia Living, and Blue Ridge Country. He has won more than 25 awards from the Virginia Press Association, Tennessee Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists, and the Northeast Tennessee Tourism Association. Joe and his wife Mary, have two children, Abigail and John.

Craig Rockwell, who is the Operations Project Manager at Philpott Lake, recently moved to Bassett, Virginia, with his wife Carolyn Rockwell. They have been front-and-center in the Lewis and Clark world for 10 years. Craig is a historical impersonator of William Clarke, of Lewis & Clarke fame. Mr. Rockwell portrays him later in his life when he was a Brigadier General. The importance of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to our nation’s history has been a driving force behind Craig’s involvement in the story. During the bicentennial, Craig portrayed Captain William Clark to a wide variety of audiences, and now continues telling the story of William Clark beyond the Lewis and Clark Expedition. As Brigadier General of the Louisiana Territory Militia, Indian Agent, Governor of the Missouri Territory, Surveyor General of the Wisconsin, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, William Clark had tremendous influence on all of western history. This has given Craig the opportunity to expand his teaching to cover the building of our nation from before it even started, until late in the 1830’s. Craig has performed for a wide range of events and organizations across the country. This includes: Lewis and Clark Bicentennial events, school assemblies, college symposia, a variety of civic organizations and historical societies, the US Congress in our nation’s Capitol Building, in several Lewis and Clark documentary films, and even on the theme float for President Bush’s second inaugural parade.

Talking at the Mount Airy Museum

2010-03-01T06:02:00.000-05:00

I spoke at the Mount Airy Museum yesterday about African-American history and the civil war. Here is an article about it from the Mount Airy News. Thanks to Jon Peters for covering the event. This event raised money for the museum. Next Saturday is the symposium to raise money for the Bassett Historical Center.

Many discussions regarding the Civil War focus on the politics of the era, or the military campaigns of the conflict.

Sunday, local historian and author Tom Perry gave a different look at that era, talking a little about what life might have been like for African-Americans in local communities during the time period, and highlighting the words of significant figures in the fight for civil rights in America.

His comments came during a presentation at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History Sunday afternoon.

Perry, who is well-known in the area as an historian, writer, and the man behind the preservation and establishment of JEB Stuart’s birthplace in Laurel Hill, Va., said he has spent much time studying local history during the Civil War era.

“There’s no way you can study Civil War history, and be honest about it, without looking at African-American history,” he told nearly two dozen people gathered for his talk Sunday.

He began his discussion with a quick look at several people he believes have been instrumental in African-American history and the march toward equality in American. Among those were Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, John Hope Franklin, and Martin Luther King Jr. ’s

He particularly singled out King for his courage in leading non-violent protests in support of civil rights.

“It takes courage to keep doing what you’re doing, knowing people are trying to kill you,” he said of King, who was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Perry said had things been a little different in 1865, King might not have needed to fear for his life.

“If the Civil War had ended like it was supposed to, if the U.S. government had done what it was supposed to do with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (to the U.S. Constitution), would Martin Luther King have needed courage? I don’t think so. Civil rights would have been more than just words. Martin Luther King would not have been killed.”

His words referenced the fact that those amendments guaranteed the full rights of citizenship, including freedom and the right to due process, to black people and all other people after the Civil War, but those rights were often withheld from African-Americans — sometimes violently so — until after the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Perry’s presentation also took a look at what life was like for African-Americans who were free prior to the end of the Civil War. Much of his research comes from Patrick County, Va., where original courthouse records dating back to 1791 are still intact, but he said “I don’t think Patrick County was really exceptional. I think Surry County was very similar.”

He said free black people had to be registered as such, and carry documentation which showed they had been granted free status. Perry said such people also were required to renew those papers, and pay a fee, every three years and to appear in the court which granted their emancipation papers every three years.

“Imagine what life would have been like. Everything you did, as a free black person, would have been under suspicion ...If you lost those papers, you could become a slave again.”

During the Civil War, he said slaves and free blacks were often pressed into service for the Confederacy. Not as soldiers, but as wagon drivers, ditch and latrine diggers, and any number of other support roles behind the front lines.

And, with a majority of white men off fighting, communities such as Patrick County, and presumably Surry County, often found themselves with more slaves within its borders than white people. White men who were left behind were sometimes put in patrols with broad policing powers.

“I don’t want to say this was a precursor to the (Ku Klux) Klan, but they were to patrol the county,” he said, to keep the black population under control.

Of course, Perry said no Civil War discussion could be complete without looking at President Abraham Lincoln, who presided over the war from the White House.

Perry said Lincoln deeply believed America could not survive with some states allowing slavery and other states disallowing the slave trade, and with his own personal distaste for the practice, he naturally pursued a nation with no slaves.

Perry called Lincoln a masterful politician. He said the president managed to get South Carolina troops to fire on federal troops at Fort Sumter, thus they could be branded rebels before the war began. And Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation, which Perry said freed no one. That document called for the freeing of all slaves in Confederate held territory, which at that time was not under United States jurisdiction and thus the proclamation had no authority there. It did not, notably, free slaves in states still aligned with the United States.

What that proclamation did, Perry said, was make the war, at least in public opinion, about freeing slaves, thus making it politically difficult for European nations to aid the Confederacy.

While African-Americans in the South were pressed into support roles, some in the North were allowed to join Union ranks as soldiers, at great risk to themselves. Perry said Confederate commanders would often execute black Union troops who were captured, as well as their white officers.

In the end, though, he said the conflict did bring about change.

“What comes out of the Civil War? The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments ... it took another hundred years, and some would way we’re still not there yet, before black people were given (equality),” he said
.

Firebaugh Wants To Run Against Boucher

2010-02-22T07:19:00.000-05:00

Monday, February 22, 2010 By DEBBIE HALL - Martinsville Bulletin Staff Writer

A Stuart business owner hopes to challenge 9th District U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher in November. Dale Firebaugh, who along with his wife, Melanie Firebaugh, co-owns the Honduras Coffee Company, is collecting signatures to get his name on the ballot.
“There’s too much secrecy, too much spending and steering away from the Constitution,” Firebaugh said of his reasons for running against Boucher, D-Abingdon.
He also does not “like the anti-life climate that has been installed” by President Barack Obama, Firebaugh said. Although he is a Republican, Firebaugh, 61, said he would run as an Independent. “The Republican Party has not really been a party of conservatives. I would love to be part of the Republican Party if I could help it move in that (conservative) direction,” he said. He did not rule out switching parties if he wins the election. “If I actually win as an independent and could help the Republican Party” move toward becoming more conservative, Firebaugh said he would consider switching from an independent to a Republican. The Republican Party, he said, “had an opportunity in 1994 (when Republicans won control of both the House and Senate), but they didn’t take advantage of it. They tried to please the Democrats at every opportunity,” Firebaugh said. “I call that a missed opportunity. They weren’t acting like the conservatives we thought they would be,” he said. The one good thing to come from the Obama administration “is it’s awakened everybody,” Firebaugh said. Obama “went so far to the left that it riled the right so bad that they are trying to put a stop” to the administration’s agenda. Firebaugh said he hopes to get 1,500 signatures on a petition to get his name on the November ballot. He said only 1,000 signatures are required, but the State Board of Elections Web site recommends collecting additional signatures in case any are disqualified. “I think one reason people will want to sign my petition is the reason we have the government we have. (It) is because we continue to vote the same people in over and over,” Firebaugh said. Boucher, Firebaugh said, has spent 28 years in office.
Firebaugh said research he conducted online shows that Boucher voted with Democrats 97.3 percent of the time. Boucher also “gets a 100 percent rating from” abortion groups and family planning organizations, Firebaugh said. Likewise, Boucher “gets a zero from people who are pro-choice,” Firebaugh said. “This country needs to change. We need to get back to the constitution, shrinking government, lower taxes or install a fair tax,” Firebaugh said. He also would support doing away with the income tax, combating terrorism, providing a strong military, “protecting our borders and protecting life,” he said. “We don’t want government telling us what our rights are. We just want them to protect us,” Firebaugh said. “Smaller government gives people more freedom,” he said. “That’s how our country was founded.” A Michigan native, Firebaugh has owned property in Patrick County since 1997, he said. He and his wife moved there in January 2002. The couple started roasting coffee and later opened a shop on Main Street in Stuart. It serves both the retail and wholesale sectors, Firebaugh said. He and his wife have three children and six grandchildren.

Makers of History at Mount Airy Museum

2010-02-21T07:56:00.000-05:00

Makers of History - African-Americans in the Civil War

Sunday, February 28, 3 p.m., Mount Airy Museum of Regional History Annex, Oak Street, Mount Airy, North Carolina.

Join your museum as we learn about "Makers of History" African-Americans in the Civil War presented by Historian Tom Perry. This presentation, based on a chapter in Perry's newly revised book Notes From The Free State Of Patrick, comes from twenty years of researching the American Civil War and the role many African-Americans played in the history surrounding the conflict that brought freedom to an entire race. This program will cover many aspects of several people beginning with Frederick Douglas, the slave who acquired his freedom and became the first in a long line of African-American leaders. Included in this discussion are the slaves at Laurel Hill Farm, the birthplace of Confederate General JEB Stuart, Booker T. Washington, and Kittie Reynolds of the Reynolds Homestead. Perry also discusses John Hope Franklin and Martin Luther King, Jr.

This program is free to the public however donations are always graciously accepted.

Perry is not accepting a fee and donating proceeds from the sale of his book to the museum.

Mount Airy Museum of Regional History www.northcaroinamuseum.org

Visit Perry’s website at www.freestateofpatrick.com

“Yankees in Martinsville! How did they ever get in?”

2010-02-16T18:56:00.000-05:00

Brigadier General William J. Palmer

If Aunt Pittypat of Gone With The Wind fame had lived in Henry County during the War Between the States in April 1865, she might have exclaimed and I paraphrase, "Oh, dear, Yankees in Martinsville! How did they ever get in?" By April 1865, the American Civil War was about to come to an end and until that time Patrick and Henry Counties in Virginia were untouched by the hand of armies of the United States of America. That changed as Robert E. Lee evacuated Richmond, the Capitol of Virginia, and the Confederate States of America. As Lee went west for fateful meeting with U. S. Grant to surrender his Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, Confederate President Jefferson F. Davis came south on the train to Danville.

At this same time from the east came over four thousand cavalry under the overall command of Major General George Stoneman. Stoneman was born on August 22, 1822, in Busti, now Lakewood, New York. Described as “a correct moral man,” he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point in the heralded class of 1846 that included George B. McClellan and George Pickett. During his third year, Stoneman’s roommate was Thomas J. Jackson. He was not “Stonewall” yet. After graduating the six foot four inch Stoneman, described as a “generous hearted, whole souled companion,” was part of a march from Kansas to California in the Mormon Battalion during the Mexican War. He fell in love with the California and vowed to make it his home one day. U.S. Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, appointed Stoneman to the Second United States Cavalry. In 1861, Stoneman refused to surrender to Confederate authorities in Texas. He took part of his command and escaped north via ship.

He served under McClellan in the early part of the war. He received promotion to Brigadier General in August 1862 and Major General in November. During Chancellorsville in May 1863, Stoneman left Hooker raiding towards Richmond and became the scapegoat of the Union defeat. Using medical problems as a reason, specifically hemorrhoids, Stoneman took a desk job running a cavalry bureau near Washington, D. C.

Stoneman went to Georgia taking command of Sherman’s left during the Atlanta Campaign. In an effort to redeem his reputation, Stoneman and 2000 cavalry went on a raid to free the Union soldiers at Andersonville. On July 31, 1864, Stoneman along with 700 of his men became prisoners while raiding towards Andersonville. He was the highest ranking Union general captured during the war.

Exchanged in September 1864, Stoneman presented a two-phase attack on the railroad in southwest Virginia and the Confederate munitions factory at Salisbury, North Carolina. He raided Saltville in December 1864. In early 1865, commanding the Department of East Tennessee near Knoxville, Stoneman started a raid that brought his men to Patrick and Henry Counties. Stoneman did not come to Martinsville, but Brigadier General William J. Palmer, commanding a brigade of Stoneman’s cavalry.
William Jackson Palmer was born on September 16, 1836, on the Kinsale Farm in Leipsic, Kent County, Delaware, into a Quaker Family. In 1841, the family moved to Germantown near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

As a young boy, his fascination with steam locomotives “spurred Palmer to learn all he could about railroads.” At age 17 in 1853, Palmer began working in the engineering corps of the Hempfield Railroad near Washington, Pennsylvania. Two years later, he went to England and France to study railroading and coal mining. The next year, Palmer was the railroad President’s Private Secretary learning the inner workings of a railroad.

When Civil War erupted in 1861, Palmer was against violence, but he was more against slavery. In July 1862, Palmer returned to Philadelphia to raise the troops that became the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, raising 1,200 men in ten days. During the Antietam Campaign, Confederates captured Palmer within Southern lines in civilian clothing in what is today Shepherdstown, West Virginia, a few days after the battle along Antietam Creek. Confederates sent Palmer to Castle Thunder Prison in Richmond, Virginia, suspected as a spy, but later exchanged him in January 1863.

He returned to his regiment in 1863 in Tennessee and served in the Tullahoma, Chickamauga, and Knoxville Campaigns and in 1864 near Chattanooga. On January 14, 1865, near Red Hills, Alabama, leading Company A of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Palmer’s actions led 29 years later to his receiving the Medal of Honor bestowed upon him on February 24, 1894, stating “With less than 200 men, attacked and defeated a superior force of the enemy, capturing their field piece and about 100 prisoners without losing a man.”

During George Stoneman’s Raid, Palmer received appointment as Brevet Brigadier General at age 29. Only George A. Custer became a General at a younger age. One commander said Palmer was worth “a whole brigade of most cavalry.”
Colonel William J. Palmer’s First Brigade of cavalry included the Tenth Michigan Cavalry Regiment under the command of Colonel Luther Trowbridge, the Twelfth Ohio under Colonel Robert H. Bentley and the Fifteenth Pennsylvania under Lieutenant Colonel Charles M. Betts.

On March 21, 1865, Stoneman with 4,500 men left Mossy Creek, Tennessee. Stoneman reached Boone, North Carolina, on March 28. The flooding Yadkin River separated Palmer’s men, who crossed to the north side, from the remainder of the force on March 29. On April 1, the commands still divided by the Yadkin River reached Elkin on the north side of the river and Jonesville on the south side respectively.

Stoneman reunited his entire command on the north side of the river in Surry County at Rockford on April 2. On April 2-3, Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia evacuated Richmond and Petersburg. Stoneman raided Mount Airy.
A native of Surry County, James Gwyn, commented on the Yankee raiders as they came by his place on the north side of the Yadkin. "The Yankees passed along on both sides of the river…Those who passed acted very well…Treatment of citizens by Palmer’s Brigade on the north side of the river evoked the surprise of the residents who feared much harsher treatment."

As Abraham Lincoln walked the streets of Richmond with his youngest son, Stoneman moved to Christiansburg by midnight of April 4-5. Palmer's Brigade destroyed railroad track of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad east of Christiansburg. The return began on April 7 to North Carolina came through Patrick and Henry Counties. The direct route ran through Patrick County, where Stoneman and two brigades under the overall command of Alvin Gillem traversed.

On the return journey of Stoneman’s command Palmer came through Martinsville and Henry County fighting a battle along Jones Creek when he ran into 250 Confederate cavalry under the command of James T. Wheeler. General Gillem in his report said, “Colonel Palmer, commanding the First Brigade had been directed to send the Tenth Michigan directly on the railroad to Martinsville, by some misunderstanding he marched with his entire command.”

General George Brown, in his Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War, wrote that, “The regiment moved at 4 a.m. and by a forced night march reached Henry Court House about 7 a.m. of the 8th, to find it occupied by about 500 of Wheeler’s Cavalry…”

Based on this description and the location of the skirmish on Jones Creek north of Martinsville, the encampment appears to have been established in the deep, steep-side valley between the railroad tracks and Commonwealth Boulevard down which Stillhouse Branch flows to empty into Jones Creek today. Wheeler’s Confederate troops took refuge there after receiving an attack by Captain James H. Cummins and a battalion of the 10th Michigan Cavalry.

An account from the Tenth Michigan Cavalry states: “Captain James H. Cummins, commanding the leading battalion, immediately charged and routed the party in the town, and drove them back on the main body. The noise of the firing aroused the main body, which quickly saddled and formed, and when Cummins reached them they were in line of battle. Nothing could restrain the Tenth, however, and they attacked with vigor, and the enemy was driven out of the woods. They mainly took refuge in a deep depression so common at the South, and there, huddled together, they formed an excellent target for the Spencer carbines of Captain Dunn and his plucky boys. The casualties of the enemy were reported as 27 killed.”

The result was on the Union side were five killed including a Sergeant or Lieutenant T. C. Kenyon, “a noble young man,” of the 10th Michigan Cavalry and four others killed. The dead rested in the Episcopal Church Yard, now Baptists, at the corner of Church and Moss Streets in Martinsville until reburial at the National Cemetery in Danville.

Colonel James T. Wheeler wrote on April 8, twelve miles east of Henry Court House, “The enemy attacked me at 7 a.m. today after a spirited fight were repulsed with severe loss on his side. The force which attacked me was 800 strong.” Jefferson Davis, in Danville, wrote on April 9 of the fight to Robert E. Lee, “The enemy cavalry reported in small force at Henry Court House yesterday. Colonel Wheeler engaged them with about half their force say with 250 men and checked them.”

Palmer stayed in Martinsville (apparently in the home at 33 Church Street) and Wheeler withdrew twelve miles from town. Wheeler wrote later on April 8, “At dark tonight the enemy was still in Henry Court House. During the day, he was re-enforced by about 800. They tell citizens that they will advance on Danville in the morning. As yet no buildings have been burned.”

Instead, Palmer rejoined Stoneman’s command on April 9 in Danbury, North Carolina. He did not know that Jefferson Davis was a few miles away in Danville. Stoneman’s raid continued down into Piedmont North Carolina attacking Salisbury on April 12. Stoneman returned to Tennessee four days later. Palmer continued in pursuit of Jefferson Davis. Stoneman left Gillem in command of the rest of his force. Gillem moved through Morganton, Rutherford, where he sacked Asheville and returned to Tennessee on April 26. On May 10, Union cavalry captured President Davis near Irwinville, Georgia. Two days later, the Confederates won the last battle of the war near Brownsville, Texas.

After the war, Stoneman retired in May 1871. He bought a 400-acre estate in the San Gabriel Valley near San Marino, California, called “The Oaks.” He served as Governor of California from 1883 until 1887. Stoneman returned to New York in poor health and had surgery for his recurring hemorrhoid problem and died in Jamestown on September 5, 1894, while visiting a sister. He rests today in Bentley Cemetery in Lakewood, New York. He never visited Martinsville.

Palmer left the United States Army on June 21, 1865. He married and had three daughters. He started railroads in Colorado and founded the city of Colorado Springs. On March 13, 1909, General Palmer died at his estate, Glen Eyrie, “the eagle’s nest,” at age 72. He left an estate estimated between 3 and 5 million dollars that he donated to schools and institutions. This amount today adjusted for inflation would be $102,651,931.82. Even though a “Yankee,” William Jackson Palmer proved himself an officer and a gentleman during the course of his long life and during his visit to Martinsville.

Major General George Stoneman

This an article for Showcase Magazine that I wrote today from three previous articles written for the Henry County Heritage Book.

Notes From The Free State Of Patrick Feb 2010

2010-02-15T11:34:00.000-05:00

Read the latest newsletter Notes From The Free State Of Patrick
www.freestateofpatrick.com/newsletterfeb2010.pdf

Upcoming Talks

March 28, 3 p.m. Makers of History: African-Americans in the Civil War, Mount Airy Museum of History www.northcarolinamuseum.org

March 6, Bassett Historical Center Symposium, $35, Frank Stringfellow: Martinsville Minister/Confederate Spy www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com

Perry is doing both programs for free to raise money for the museum and library with proceeds from book sales going to both institutions

Visit www.freestateofpatrick.com/coe to learn of more appearances

Tom Perry will release new or revised versions of his books every month in 2010.
Perry's books are available at many local outlets, bookstores everywhere, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Perry has raised over 1 million dollars for historical sites and libraries.

Perry is editing the Henry County Virginia Heritage Book and available for $55 www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com

J. E. B. Stuart's Birthplace: History, Guide and Genealogy

2010-02-06T07:31:00.000-05:00

Over twenty years ago Historian Tom Perry had the idea to save the site of the birthplace of J. E. B. Stuart in the community he grew up in. After four years of effort the non-profit J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust purchased 70 acres for $60,000. An additional five acres was added bringing the total to 75 acres of the 1,500 acres once owned by the Stuarts.

This newly revised book combines three of Perry’s previously published works on the Stuart and the Birthplace into one book J. E. B. Stuart’s Birthplace: History, Guide, and Genealogy. In 302 pages Perry tells the history of the Stuart Family upon their arrival in the North America up through J. E. B. Stuart III. The book also tells the history of the property from pre-historic times and the Native-American evidence discovered via archaeology on the property. The book tells about the local people who lived on and near the site that has history including the American Revolution with William Letcher, who lost his life on the property, killed by pro-British Tories in 1780, and was J. E. B. Stuart’s great-grandfather. The antebellum history of the property, which with archaeology got the site placed on the Virginia and National Registers of Historic Places.

The life and career of James Ewell Brown Stuart is covered in three chapters followed by a chapter on his wife, Flora Cooke Stuart and her children and their descendants. This is the only published material on the life of Mrs. Stuart. Perry includes chapters on life at the Laurel Hill Farm before and after the arrival of the Stuarts and the final chapter in the History section details the efforts to preserve the site beginning in 1988.

The next section of the book includes driving tours from Mount Airy, North Carolina, Meadows of Dan, and Stuart, Virginia, in Patrick County. A walking tour ends the second section of the book.

The final section gives a summary of the genealogy of J. E. B. Stuart meant to give interested parties a starting point to connect their family trees to the Stuarts. It is not intended as a complete and definitive genealogy, but a reference to start a search.

The book indexed with a full bibliography gives the reader sources to the twenty years of research Perry continues to work. This book has new information from archaeology recently conducted by Radford University to new material supplied recently to Jeffery Wert’s new biography of the J. E. B. Stuart, Cavalryman of the Lost Cause.

Revised Book: Notes From The Free State Of Patrick

2010-01-26T11:32:00.000-05:00

Notes From The Free State Of Patrick REVISED 2010 Edition relase set for February 28, 2010, at Mount Airy Museum of Regional History and on March 6, 2010, at the Bassett Historical Center Symposium.

You can purchase the book at www.amazon.com

All of Tom Perry's books will soon be available at Barnes and Noble and other outlets through Ingram distribution.

This revised edition originally published in 2008 contains articles, speeches, blogs, and stories in 241 pages with chapters on J. E. B. Stuart’s great-grandfathers who fought in the American Revolution, Reynolds Homestead, Virginia Tech “Hokie” History, two chapters on Stoneman’s 1865 Raid, United States History, North Carolina History, Virginia History, Patrick County People and History, African-Americans in the Civil War, the World War Two Plane Crash on Bull Mountain in 1944, the men who lost their lives from Patrick County in Vietnam, J. E. B. Stuart and Patrick County and Thomas Jefferson: First American Architect. The latter is Perry’s first paper written for eleventh grade English at Patrick County High School in 1978. Found by Perry’s mother in 2009, he revised it for this book. Perry includes ideas about using history and tourism to promote Patrick County along with a chapter on the Patrick County Oral History Project.

This book begins with an essay titled “Cobblestones on Crawford Avenue” that deals with Perry’s love of history that stems from many people including his maternal grandparents who lived in Augusta, Georgia, near Crawford Avenue. The book ends with a talk given at the Patrick County Courthouse in 2006 about the men and women, who called The Free State of Patrick “Home” during the War Between the States.

This book is dedicated to Perry’s friends and second set of parents Theodore C. and Bertie Hill Guynn. Perry spent many years as a youth staying with the Guynns on their farm along the Ararat River while his parents worked. Walking and working the farm at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains exposed Perry to many stories and history that still influence his writings. Included in the book is a story titled "Everything I Know I Learned From Theodore Guynn," given as a talk at Guynn's eightieth birthday party in 2007.

To learn more specifics about this book visit http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/notes

To see the table of contents and index visit http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/notestitles.pdf

J. E. B. Stuart’s biographer Emory Thomas describes Tom Perry as "a fine and generous gentleman who grew up near Laurel Hill, where Stuart grew up, has founded J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace, and attracted considerable interest in the preservation of Laurel Hill. He has started a symposium series about aspects of Stuart’s life to sustain interest in Stuart beyond Ararat, Virginia." Perry holds a BA in History from Virginia Tech in 1983.

Perry started the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc. in 1990. The non-profit organization preserved 75 acres of the Stuart property including the house site where James Ewell Brown Stuart was born on February 6, 1833. Perry wrote the original eight interpretive signs about Laurel Hill’s history along with the Virginia Civil War Trails sign and the Virginia Historical Highway Marker in 2002.

He spent many years researching traveling all over the nation to find Stuart materials including two trips across the Mississippi River to visit nearly every place "Jeb" Stuart served in the United States Army (1854-1861). He continues his work to preserve Stuart’s Birthplace producing the Laurel Hill Teacher’s Guide for educators and the Laurel Hill Reference Guide for groups and the organization to share his lifetime of research on the only preserved site in the nation relating to the birthplace and boyhood home of James Ewell Brown Stuart.

Tom can be seen on Virginia Public Television’s Forgotten Battlefields: The Civil War in Southwest Virginia with his mentor noted Civil War Historian Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr. Perry has begun a collection of papers relating to Stuart and Patrick County history in the Special Collections Department of the Carol M. Newman Library at Virginia Tech under the auspices of the Virginia Center For Civil War Studies. He is the author of ten books including Ascent to Glory, The Genealogy of J. E. B. Stuart, The Free State of Patrick: Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War, and Images of America: Patrick County Virginia and Notes From The Free State Of Patrick from which the program on February 28 will be based.

In 2004, Perry began the Free State Of Patrick Internet History Group, which has become the largest historical organization in the area with over 500 members. It covers Patrick County Virginia and regional history. Tom produces a monthly email newsletter about regional history entitled Notes From The Free State of Patrick that goes from his website www.freestateofpatrick.com.

In 2009, Perry used his book Images of America Henry County Virginia to raise over $25,000 for the Bassett Historical Center, “The Best Little Library in Virginia,” and as editor of the Henry County Heritage Book raised another $30,000 of the $800,000 raised to expand the regional history library. He will donate proceeds from the sale of all his books to the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History on the day of the program “Makers of History:” African-Americans in the Civil War.

The program will cover many aspects of several people from Frederick Douglas, the slave who acquired his freedom and became the first in a long line of African-American leaders. Along with Perry’s personal research on the slaves at the Laurel Hill Farm, the birthplace of J. E. B. Stuart just outside Mount Airy, North Carolina, in Ararat, Virginia to Booker T. Washington and Kittie Reynolds of the Reynolds Homestead, Perry tells the story of many fascinating people who were born to slavery and survived to experience the promise of freedom the war brought. In modern times Perry discusses John Hope Franklin and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the many aspects and the relationships these people had with the War Between the States. From life during the war for the slaves and “free people of color” to the Civil Rights Movement of the twentieth century, Perry explores how the war is still with us in 2009.

Tom Perry will present Frank Stringfellow: Martinsville Minister, Confederate Spy at the Bassett Historical Center Symposium, March 6, 2010, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Site is the Old John D. Bassett High School, now EMI in Bassett, Virginia.

Visit the website www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com for more information.

A Message From Dan River Supervisor Roger Hayden

2010-01-26T06:46:00.000-05:00

Dan River Supervisor in Patrick County, Virginia, sent me the following message and it is posted as a public service.

The message below is sent on behalf of Rondi Furgason, CenturyLink General Manager-V
Link Below, Please Help! It is imperative that we defeat Defeat HB378.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am writing to alert you to an urgent situation that has developed at the Virginia General Assembly that could have a severe impact on CenturyLink’s customers and the Company’s ability to continue broadband investment in the 34 mostly rural counties and 7 cities we serve in Virginia, including your area.

I have provided a more detailed explanation below, but in sum certain members of the General Assembly are considering a bill that would ultimately force companies like CenturyLink to eliminate the equivalent of its entire annual capital budget over the next year. Our capital dollars are the very dollars that enable broadband, improve service quality and ensure safety and reliability for services such as 911 for emergency and homeland security threats. During the past year, CenturyLink invested over $20 million dollars in Virginia. We are expecting to make a similar investment in Virginia this year, although the pending bill could certainly affect that decision.

As introduced, this legislation is bad public policy with virtually no consumer benefit. I hope that you would agree with me that access to broadband services and the ability to build infrastructure for new businesses are critical components of a comprehensive effort to bring new jobs and more opportunities to rural Virginia. If you agree, I hope that you will call your state delegate and state senator today and ask them to oppose House Bill 387. The initial votes on this bill could occur as early as next week. If you do not know who represents you in Richmond, you can find that information by going to the General Assembly’s website at http://legis.state.va.us/ and selecting the “Who’s My Legislator” button.

Background. As you probably know, on July 1, 2009, Embarq became CenturyLink. Also in 2009, the State Corporation Commission issued an order that requires that CenturyLink reduce a major component of its “access charges” by 25% on July 1, 2010 and another 25% by July 1, 2011 and stated that it would address the remaining 50% in a proceeding to begin in July of this year. “Access charges” are the charges paid by long distance companies, such as Sprint and AT&T, to local Virginia companies, such as CenturyLink, to connect calls from customers who are served by Virginia local telecommunications companies. Although CenturyLink disagrees with the Commission’s action, the Commission was sensitive to the possible adverse effects of the revenue loss on CenturyLink’s investment and consumers’ rates and provided an opportunity for CenturyLink to manage the loss over time. The current bill, which was instigated by Sprint, would interfere in the pending case and force the complete elimination of over $20 million over a much shorter timeframe. At the same time, the “savings” that companies like Sprint receive would not stay in Virginia to benefit our citizens, but rather go back to their out-of-state corporate headquarters.

Your help on this issue is critical for rural Virginia. We may not have as many votes in Richmond as the large metro areas, but I believe that those of us who live, work and invest in rural Virginia need to work together ensure that our voices are heard.

Sincerely,

Rondi Furgason
General Manager, VA

From Roger T Hayden
Dan River District Supervisor, PCBOS
www.rogerthayden.com
390 Cox Ridge Road'
Claudville, Va 24076
276-694-6836
"Together WE can make a Difference in Twenty-Ten"

Sundays At Augusta: Cobblestones on Crawford Avenue

2010-01-23T18:18:00.000-05:00

"A boy never gets over his boyhood, and never can change those subtle influences which have become a part of him, that were bred into him when he was a child.” —Thomas Woodrow Wilson

Augusta, Georgia, in the summer is hot when compared with the mountain breezes coming off Groundhog Mountain in The Hollow, present day Ararat, Virginia. Every summer as a youth, I made a sojourn to the Peach State to spend two weeks with my maternal grandparents Floyd Thomas and Elizabeth Prescott Hobbs. They lived at 1815 Fenwick Street.

Today getting to the home of “tradition like no other. The Masters on CBS” is easy straight down I-77 to I-20 and before five hours are up you arrive at the Savannah River. Augusta is one of the oldest urban areas in Georgia and is full of history.

Getting to my grandparent’s home involved crossing a two-lane bridge over the Savannah River, which terrified me as a young boy. (My fear of heights came from my paternal Uncle Buddy throwing me in the air.) After crossing the river, we made our way up Walton Way named for George Walton, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He along with Lyman Hall and Button Gwinett signed from Georgia.

Next was a right turn onto Crawford Avenue. The street, named for George Crawford, an Attorney General and Governor of Georgia, who served as Secretary of War under President Zachary Taylor 1849-50 was bricks or cobblestones. Crawford voted for secession and lived until 1872. To arrive at my grandparent’s home you drove across Crawford Avenue for a couple of blocks bouncing on the cobblestones. Bricks in the street were unheard of in Ararat. In fact, pavement on the roads was almost unheard of in the western end of the county in the decades of the 1960s and 1970s.

The Civil War dominates Georgia whether it is Gone With The Wind or the many fine homes of Washington just northwest of Augusta. The state of my mother’s birth was where I first came into an awareness of the conflict that nearly tore our nation apart and the source should not surprise anyone who knows my mother or me.

My grandmother Elizabeth “Momma Lizzie” worked at Bailey’s framing shop at the corner of 8th and Ellis or Greene Street. One of my favorite memories of her is riding with her on the bus to downtown where she worked. I remember getting to pull the cord on the bus that signaled the driver to stop and let us off. We would get off the bus near the Presbyterian Church and manse, where young Thomas Woodrow Wilson experienced the War Between the States first hand in Augusta. As his father was pastor of the church Wilson spent his youth in Augusta and Columbia, South Carolina, after being born in Staunton, Virginia.

Wilson’s boyhood home is now a museum that I visit every time I go to Augusta. Authors and the City of Augusta document its Civil War history very well. The Arsenal, now Augusta State University and gunpowder factories from the American Revolution and Civil War still sit beside the Augusta Canal. The grave of E. Porter Alexander, the best writer of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia is in the city.

“Momma Lizzie” always left me presents in a special drawer the mirrored chest of her guest room where I slept during my visits. Elizabeth Hobbs and her history are still with me. Today that chest sits in my bedroom with the bed. Her love seat and my grandfather’s writing desk and lamp are in my office area where I work on my historical research. Their guest room faced the street where I can remember the streetlights shining in the room at night and sound of trains in the middle of the night rumbling into Georgia’s “Garden City.”

The making of chicken and dumplings was a work of art when my grandmother did it. She left the dumplings out over night. She often spoke to me about her family history while needing the dough with her youngest grandchild. Her favorite topic was the War Between the States and William Sherman was a dirty word to this devout Baptist woman. She attended Crawford Avenue Baptist Church just around the corner from her home.

On our trips downtown we would often pass the First Baptist Church where my parents were married on December 22, 1957, a good year for Chevrolets. My father stationed in the United States Army in Stuttgart, Germany, won a football contest in the Stars and Stripes Newspaper. The prize included a trip home. Erie Meredith Perry came home and married my mother Betty Jane Hobbs in Augusta. He continues to pick winner in newspaper football contests along with every other member of our family including the cats whose names appear from time to time on forms. My mother has often had to pretend to be a cat when picking up my father’s ill-gotten gains from the Mount Airy News.

My grandfather Floyd Thomas Hobbs grew up outside Augusta. He worked in the shipyards of Savannah and Wilmington, North Carolina, during World War II. He worked as a mechanic after the war and hurt his neck when a car struck him on Broad Street. One story about him I remember was the embarrassment he felt after running a red light and the resulting police officer pulling him over with his grandson in the car. He had a green thumb growing roses and azaleas around his small house on Fenwick Street that are also growing around his daughter’s home in Ararat, Virginia.

Just around the corner was my grandmother’s sister Pearl, who married Restie
Usry. She had a 1965 purple Ford Galaxy 500 that had plastic on the seats. She parked it behind the house in a garage, where my mother’s sister Kathryn now lives near Walton Way. Her son James Randall Usry died of leukemia and was the first person to receive a complete blood transfusion at the Medical College of Georgia.

Augusta is home to The Masters golf tournament, which I have visited on practice rounds many times in my life. Now you have to be in a lottery to get tickets. During my youth, you could walk up to the gate with ten bucks and walk in. Another ten dollars would allow you to eat and even buy a small souvenir. Many people talk about the snobbery around the Augusta National Golf Club not letting women in as members, but that golf tournament is the best run event I ever saw. I have seen Jack Nicklaus, my golf hero, in person play the course he won on six times. I saw him skull a shot once in a practice round when arrived late for a practice round with Arnold Palmer, who won four times and Greg Norman, who should have won it that many times.

The Savannah River separates the city from North Augusta, South Carolina. My mother’s brother Ed Hobbs and his wife Cleopatra lived near Edgefield. Pat worked at the top-secret Savannah River Plant, where she worked on “secret” things that I think involved radiation and probably contributed her health problems later in life. They were great to me. They were fond of their dogs. They had Chinese Pugs: Sam, Sissy, and Samantha among others. Edgefield was home to Strom Thurmond and Confederate General James Longstreet, whose birthplace we pass going to visit my aunt and uncle. They also had a trailer up on Clark Hill Lake on the river north of town, where I spent many pleasant days and my wedding night.

President Wilson was not the only occupant of the White House with an Augusta connection. Dwight David Eisenhower, the hero of World War II, played golf at the Augusta National Golf Club and attended Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church on Walton Way.

Like another Augusta resident, soulful singer James Brown, the city makes me “feel good” by bringing back many good memories. This is my personal history.

Woodrow Wilson as a young man saw Confederate President Jefferson F. Davis brought through the city in chains after his capture and Robert E. Lee after waiting several hours during the former’s visit after the war. Wilson once said, “The only place in the country, the only place in the world, where nothing has to be explained to me, is in the South”

Augusta first visited by the Spanish explorer DeSoto, George Washington, and me at the end of The Great Wagon Road that ends along the Savannah River after starting on Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a place that history is alive. The Great Wagon Road crosses the far eastern border of Patrick County, Virginia.

Patrick County, Virginia, has many good people and much interesting history. This book is my attempt to share some of the stories from my monthly email newsletter in five hundred word stories about the people and history. There are chapters from men who shared their interest in particular subjects such as Clarence Hall on the World War II plane crash on Bull Mountain. There are several of my speeches included from topics varying from the American Revolution to the Civil War. I present these to the reader not because I know everything about the history of my home county. I believe that the history of the county would be a great way to promote the county, but most of all I believe in sharing this history and not hording it for some future unknown reason that will never happen. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Patrick County History began for me with the Virginia historical marker written by Douglas Southall Freeman and placed at the Laurel Hill Farm in the 1932 to mark James Ewell Brown Stuart’s one-hundredth birthday. An article in the Mount Airy Times from that year stated, ‘The marker, which is beautiful in its simple way, marks a spot near Mount Airy that should be of universal interest to residents of this section. The effort to commemorate the birth of Stuart in this section is one worthy of commendation.’ This marker became the obsession of life and fueled my interest in Jeb Stuart and history.

It is my hope that by sharing this information, history will pass to visitors and those involved in the future preservation of the many faceted heritages it represents. By sharing this history across the region, I hope that man made boundaries of state or county will not keep people from realize that Laurel Hill and Civil War history can be a great magnet for visitors and those in the region who love history. For me history began with cobblestones of Crawford Avenue.

This is the Foreword to my newly revised Notes From The Free State Of Patrick available today at www.amazon.com and soon to be around the region. I will be speaking at the Mount Airy Museum on February 28 at 3 p.m. on Makers of History: African-Americans in the Civil War, which is a chapter in this newly revised version of collection of articles, speeches, blogs, and ideas about Patrick County, Virginia, and Regional History. You can order this book from Amazon here.

I like to blog occasionally on the history of my mother’s hometown, Augusta, Georgia, and the history around it and that I have come face to face with. Taking a cue from The Masters golf tournament I call them Sundays at Augusta as I blog about it on Sundays.

Here is a link to the Table of Contents and Indes for Notes From The Free State Of Patrick.

Heritage Book Deadline February 1

2010-01-21T06:37:00.001-05:00

The deadline for submission of articles for the book and purchase of the Henry County Heritage Book is February 1, 2010. The non-profit group has met publishing goals but the large number of still incoming submissions has led the committee to extend the deadline. The book has sold over 500 copies with over 400,000 words submitted. Stories from nearly every state including from as far away as Texas, California, and Florida have been submitted and even stories from France with a Henry County connection have come into the Bassett Historical Center. Pioneer Stories are 1,000 words and 2 photos free. (A Pioneer Family is one which was in Henry County before 1800). Family Stories are 500 words and 1 photo free. Community Stories are the editor’s discretion at 1,000 words and two photos. Military Stories are 100 words with a photo preferably in uniform. Church Histories are 250 words with one photo. (Churches over 100 years old get 500 words and two photos.) Topical Stories are 250 words and one photo. Articles can go over these guidelines at a cost of 10 cents a word and extra photos or enlargements are at $12.50. Send stories via email if possible to Tom Perry at freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com. Photos must be 300 dpi. Email submissions are accepted. All profits go to the building fund of the Bassett Historical Center. www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com.

Shovels In The Ground

2010-01-20T08:26:00.000-05:00

When you are part of something that is successful and something you know will be here long after you are gone, it is a source of great pride. I have twice had that feeling in my life. First, twenty years ago when I led the effort to preserve the Birthplace of J. E. B. Stuart and now as construction is underway to double the size of our regional history library, the Bassett Historical Center.

With tough economic times in Henry County, Virginia, and our region it is amazing that this group raised $800,000 including a $200,000 matching grant from the Harvest Foundation. I donated all the royalties from my book Images of America: Henry County Virginia and the profit the from Henry County Heritage Book will raise $50,000 for the expansion of the library that will add over 4,000 square feet to the building.

Construction crews have started pouring footings along the Smith River in Bassett, Virginia, and “The Best Little Library in Virginia” will soon begin to have four new walls creating more workspace and a meeting room for programs. There are many collections at the library with Patrick County material including mine, O. E. Pilson, Eunice Kirkman, and Lela Adams. There is material on every county in Virginia and all the surrounding North Carolina counties.

Tom Perry presenting Phil Dalton of the Building Fund Committee of the Bassett Historical Center. The book Images of America: Henry County Virginia raised $25,000 for the expansion of our regional history library. James I. Robertson, Jr. of Virginia Tech came to raise money for the Bassett Historical Center in May 2009.

Read related stories from Martinsville Bulletin
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=21510&back=archives
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=21489&back=archives
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=21476&back=archives
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=19332&back=archives
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=18707&back=archives
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=17931&back=archives
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=19051&back=archives

The Bassett Historical Center has been called 'the best little library in Virginia'. The Center has grown considerably since we merged with Blue Ridge Regional Library in 1992. From that time through 2004, our patron count increased 1359% over a period of 13 years. Since 1998 we have had an increase of 125% per year. People from all 50 states and 9 foreign countries have visited the Center. Our family files now number 9496, local history files number 2518, and our books number 11,074.

The Historical Center's history is tied closely with the Bassett Branch Library. Both were a part of the early efforts made by members of the Bassett Garden Club, spearheaded by Mrs. Effie Noland in 1939, who dreamed of a Library for the community. In early years, the genealogy material was housed in a single file cabinet and one shelf. Until the flood of Labor Day, 1987, the material was kept in the Library basement. Immediately the need was realized by the Bassett Public Library Board to bring this material to the upper level, which necessitated a building addition. This addition was realized in November 1988, and housed the genealogy materials and the children's area. Genealogy was kept in the room that currently holds the American Indian and the Civil War material. In 1992, the Bassett Public Library had become a part of the Blue Ridge Regional Library System. The Bassett Branch was again bursting at the seams and the Board of Directors named a committee to lead a community effort to raise money to purchase the building across the street for the "regular" library. This project was completed in November 1998, leaving the genealogy materials in the original building. For a few months the staff thought it might take a very long time before all the shelves would be needed, however, collections are donated to the Center on a continuing basis and the shelves are again getting full.

The early collection consistently grew through the efforts of dedicated people such as Mrs. Effie Noland, Mrs. Shirley Brightwell Bassett, Mrs. Lelia Adams, and Mrs. Martha Jane Clark. The present-day collections are growing due to the staff and the volunteers who faithfully care for the patrons and the data on the shelves just waiting to be uncovered again. Patrons and researchers have been extremely generous with their files and books. The Center currently houses over 11,000 genealogy books, around 7000 genealogy family files, 995 genealogy files Pilson Collection, over 2500 local history files and 112 personal computer genealogy collections. Local company collections from DuPont, Tultex, Bassett-Walker, and Blue Ridge Hardware & Supply Co., are housed here. Henry County is one of the five counties in Virginia that has a Cohabitation List. Slaves were not permitted to marry legally but did have families, with the counties keeping records of which slaves were cohabitating. Also available is the "Afro-American Marriages of Henry County, Virginia,” by Harris and Millner, which would be helpful to find an ancestor dating back to the early or mid-1800's. The collection of Mr. John B. Harris, African-American educator and historian, is also housed here. Mr. Richard Gravely is responsible for the "Bicentennial Collection,” a collection of county records and loose papers found in the Henry County Courthouse, being housed here.

Researchers have visited the Historical Center from every state in the Union and from Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, Thailand, England, Canada, Luxembourg, Taiwan, and Italy.

The information in the Historical Center focuses on 5 immediate counties in Virginia: Henry, Patrick, Floyd, Franklin, Pittsylvania; and 3 bordering counties in North Carolina: Rockingham, Surry, and Stokes.

He's Back

2010-01-19T09:05:00.001-05:00

I am a notorious early riser and for years I watched Imus in the Morning on MSNBC. For years I have been unable to watch Don Imus and sideman Charles McCord as they were on RFD with talk of pork futures, but now He’s Back!

Don Imus is now on the Fox Business Network from 6 until 9 a.m. every morning. After his stupid remarks about the Rutgers women’s basketball team and his firing from MSNBC he spent several years on RFD, but now he is back. I have watched nothing else in the early hours as I work on book manuscripts since he came back near the end of 2009.

The irreverent humor of Imus, who is “fighting a courageous battle with prostate cancer” cracks me up. From Rob Bartlett’s “Gangsta Mickey,” Mickey Mouse with a “negro dialect” as Harry Reid might say,Tony Powell, who does a poetic Reverend Jesse Jackson or Producer Bernie “Cardinal Eagan,” no one is off limits.

With some the beautiful women from Fox appearing as guests and musical guests, Imus is back and I hope he destroys the pathetic Morning Joe on MSNBC that took his place in the ratings. Among the ladies is Dagen McDowell, who hails from Brookneal, Virginia, and graduated from Wake Forest, and engages Imus with talk of her family that leads to much good natured Southern bashing.

Imus is well known for his ranch in New Mexico, where every summer he and his wife, Deidre, host kids with cancer.

Free State Of Patrick In New York Times

2010-01-18T17:50:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder where the term Free State Of Patrick comes from. Well, in my book The Free State Of Patrick: Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War I state that I think it comes from the Civil War. Patrick County descends from Lunenburg County “The Old Free State.” During the War Between the States when secession was all the rage, the idea that if Virginia did not secede that Patrick County would, but of course Patrick County did not vote to secede until after Abraham Lincoln called on troops from the South to put down the “rebellion” after the firing on Fort Sumter. There is the Free State of Jones or the State of Jones that is the subject of several books that took the opposite view in Mississippi that the county was pro-Union or at least anti-Confederate within the state that the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis called home.

Back to Patrick County, Virginia, and the Free State Of Patrick, the first time I have found it called that in print comes from the New York Times of June 18, 1882, reported from Danville, Virginia, three days earlier on June 15 from a reporter of the Baltimore Sun wrote “The Want in Patrick County VA.” This was two years before Taylorsville became Stuart, Virginia.

This newspaper is not the New York Times today, but a struggling newspaper, one of many in Gotham at that time. This NYT was thirty-one years old when this article appeared. It was believe it or not a mouthpiece of the Republican Party and would not support a Democrat until two years later in 1884 when the county seat became Stuart, Virginia.

In 1882, Patrick County Virginia, was suffering through a drought and the article implies that the 13,300 people were starving. That is another story, but here are the first two mentions I know of it print of the term The Free State Of Patrick.

“These people have ever lived in their mountain county almost to themselves, being entirely independent of the balance of the world, and having the least possible intercourse with it. So notorious is this face that the county has from time immemorial enjoyed the sobriquet of ‘The Free State of Patrick.’”

“The year 1880 found them with nearly enough old grain to carry them through the 12 months. They had no way to get it to market, and hence there was no inducement to the farmer to pitch a crop. Can it be wondered that the people of ‘The Free State of Patrick’ made the year 1880 a kind of holiday and gave their usual avocations but little attention?”

Here is the link to the entire story from the New York Times
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E03E0DE1E3EE433A2575BC1A9609C94639FD7CF&emc=eta1

Text $10 To Red Cross For Haiti

2010-01-17T07:17:00.001-05:00

Text the word "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 On behalf of the Red Cross in the U.S.

Imitation Is The Most Sincere Form Of Flattery

2010-01-16T07:32:00.000-05:00

Boyd's Restaurant in Ararat was the scene of a gathering on Jan. 5 of local residents who are excited about planning a festival for the Ararat community. Participants included Dan River District Supervisor Roger Hayden. Other interested citizens attending included Janet Epperson, representing the Dan River Park; and representatives of Boyd's Restaurant, Windy Hill Orchard, grow-your-own produce farms, racing, accommodations and other attractions in the area. Jeanie Puckett of Doe Run Farm and Cindy and Gary Hoback of Wolf Creek Farm Bed and Breakfast Inn initiated the meeting. Gary and Alesia Nester of Rolling Thunder Raceway also voiced their enthusiasm for helping increase tourism in the Ararat area. The group agreed that it should build on existing assets including the mountain views, orchards, greenhouses, history, local craftspeople, music, and the Dan River Park. Participants reviewed lists of festivals in Patrick County as well as neighboring areas in North Carolina, and agreed it would be a benefit to the community and tourists to hold a festival in the near future. Anyone who would like to present ideas or make comments, or who may be interested in helping this committee is welcome to attend the next planning session on Tuesday, Jan. 19, at 6 p.m. at Boyd's Restaurant, located across from Blue Ridge Elementary School on the Ararat Highway. You do not have to be a business owner to participate. If you have questions, please call Jeanie Puckett at 276-251-8287 or Cindy Hoback at 276-251-7645.

For years I tried to form a group like this. Last year we had a festival at the Ruritan Club that only two of these people participated in. I hope this group is successful and I will bring my tent to their festival and sell books to raise money for a cause of my choosing until then I believe that “Imitation is the sincere form of flattery.”

Someone in Henry County recently said to me that unless you are going to Ararat for a reason “Why would anyone go to Ararat?” Well, that is the sort of attitude that I love to hear because I can begin my preaching.

Ararat, Virginia, is the most historic community in Patrick County. No one place has produced the number of famous people. There is J. E. B. Stuart, who never set foot in the county seat that bears his name, but is probably the most important historic figure from Southwest Virginia, much less The Free State Of Patrick

There is Orleana Hawks Puckett, who lived only a short time on top of the mountain and probably not in the cabin that bears her married name. She lived at the foot of Groundhog Mountain, where her own children are buried just up the road from the Doe Run Church and The Hollow History Center.

There is Reverend Robert “Bob” Childress made famous in the most popular book along the Blue Ridge Parkway The Man Who Moved A Mountain. Bob was born and spent half his life in Ararat, Virginia. I have researched and marked many of the places with a connection to his life when he was the “Hellion From The Holler.”

There is the Epperson Family, who made radio stations a business mainly in North Carolina. There are soldiers like the late “Levi” Barnard, who lost his life in Iraq last year and James T. W. Clement, who lies at Hunter’s Chapel, who was with Stuart and Turner Ashby on the day they both received mortal wounds in the Civil War.

There is racing history from the days that Anthony Terry and Bernie Epperson went from Bassett to Martinsville to Bowman Gray Stadium and the Rolling Thunder. There is “The Dinky” or the Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad that ran over a hundred years ago through the middle of Ararat to the Dan River. Anthony Terry found some of the rails a few years back and they are now on display at The Hollow History Center.

Janet Epperson asked me to come up with some ideas for historical interpretation for the walking trail at the Dan River Park and these are some of the ideas I gave her. Athletics and history might bring some people to The Hollow as well. These are just some examples of the history in Ararat, Virginia, which if promoted correctly could bring visitors to the community for multiple reasons.

I am working on a book about the history along the Ararat River, which runs from Bells Spur Church to Siloam, North Carolina, that includes all of this. Ararat is and always will be more associated with Mount Airy and it is the “Granite City” that tourism should focus on. I hope they will continue to use my ideas because as I said “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.”

Black Confederates Part Two Free People

2010-01-15T07:38:00.000-05:00

Patrick County’s population, according to the 1860 Census of the United States, was just over 9,300 people. Of these, twenty-two percent were slaves and one percent were "free persons of color." There were two hundred fewer people in the county than in 1850 and less than three hundred people lived in the county seat of Taylorsville, but better known as Patrick Court House.

The life of free Blacks and slaves in Patrick County during the war included tight control and forced service to the South. A law passed in 1793 required all “Free Negroes” to register at their local courthouse every three years and purchase a certificate at a cost of twenty-five cents. The law required them to give their name, age, color (mulatto or black), status, to report what court had emancipated them and made it illegal to employ a free person without the above certificate. In June 1861, four free black women Hannah Going, Ruth Going, Jennie Johnson, and Rachel Johnson registered at Taylorsville, now Stuart, Virginia.

Five hundred thousand “free people of color” lived in the entire nation in 1860, and a quarter million lived in the South. Virginia’s free black population reached nearly sixty thousand. One hundred and thirty-one called Patrick County home in 1860. Between 1820 and 1860, never more than 140 “free people of color” lived in Patrick County. As blacksmiths, wagoners, wheelwrights, farmers and laborers, these “free people” made up a productive part of the population, though only five owned real estate. Always suspected of being runaway slaves, they lived under a harsh set of rules that forbade them entry into certain professions and even prevented selling agricultural products without a license.

The Virginia General Assembly passed a law on February 12, 1863, calling for the “enrollment and employment of free Negroes” in the war effort. On September 29, 1863, Confederate authorities conscripted James or Jarvus Beaver, Alis Fenly, Josephus Givny, Soloman Johnson, Edward Loggin, Jackson Loggin, Samuel Nelson, Governor Phillips, Peter Rickman, Harrison Steward, Henry Steward, Salie Stuart, Granville Stuart, William H. Travis and John Vaughan into service. This service was for laborers, not soldiers.

Records exist relating to several of these people. Governor Phillips stood five foot ten inches tall with black eyes, black hair, and black complexion. On July 1, 1864, he reported to Lieutenant Poole under the direction of the Confederate Quartermaster Department commanded by I. H. Lacy at New Bern in Pulaski County, Virginia. Granville Stewart, Josephus Goins, William Harris, James M. Hickman, Soloman Johnson, and Jacob Lac reported to New Bern also. These men enrolled from several counties, but all were born in Patrick County.

With this second post about “Black Confederates,” I am trying to bring out the facts that history based on evidence is what a historian does. These are the facts, not based on the emotions of the descendants of slave or free people of African descent or ideas about loyalty from these same ancestors to a people and system that enslaved them. The history of the War Between the States, the Civil War or whatever you choose to call it is not “Moonlight and Magnolia” of Gone With The Wind. It is many times harsha, but it always involves about people who tried to survive and do the best they could for their families. Real history is not playing dress up, but in the records and recorded memories of those who participated. It is not a pretty history, but it is our history, good and bad.

Black Confederates Part One Slave Requisitions

2010-01-15T07:12:00.000-05:00

There is much talk these days on blogs and the internet about “Black Confederates.” Now the only “Black Confederate” I have encountered is H. K. Edgerton shown in the cartoon above. Several years ago I spoke with Mr. Edgerton of Asheville, North Carolina, at the Memorial Day remembrance at the Patrick County Courthouse in the town formerly known as Taylorsville. You can read more about him here.

The idea that African-Americans fought for the Confederate States of America is something that many members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have taken on as a “cause celeb,” but I have found little evidence in Patrick County records to support the idea. In the famous photo showing a reunion of the Confederate Veterans in uptown Stuart, there is supposedly a Rufus Staples, who filled this role. I have been unable to find any evidence in the photo or in the records that Mr. Staples served in the Confederate armies.

What I have found is evidence that many enslaved men found themselves digging ditches for the armies of the South, but I find no evidence that they fought for these same armies. Near the end of 1862, Patrick County’s “Gentlemen Justices” received a request from Governor John Letcher (a cousin of J. E. B. Stuart) for non-combatant slaves “to labour on fortifications and other works necessary for the public defence.” This information comes directly from the Order Books in the Clerk’s Office in Stuart, Virginia.

The county appointed a committee including Barnes Carter, Asa Wood, G. H. Ashworth, J. W. Brammer, Reuben Ziglar, and Richard Wood to procure slaves in each of their districts. Sheriff Turner received 63 slaves on December 30, 1862. The use of slaves as teamsters, cooks, personal servants to officers, and laborers to dig trenches and build earthworks enhanced the Confederate war effort and made up for the disparities in numbers between Union and Confederate forces. September 1863 brought another requisition of forty-eight slaves for delivery on October 12, 1863.

As the war progressed signs of the pressure citizens dealt with included the refusal of Barksdale, Stovall and Company in 1864 to release a list of slaves for possible requisition by the government. During January 1865, the county received the third request for slaves from the Confederate government. Local officials allocated nineteen persons to appear at the courthouse on April 17 and reported 214 able-bodied male slaves in Patrick County. As the war in Virginia ended on April 9, 1865, it is doubtful that these seventeen people ever saw service for the South. The total number of slaves requisitioned for Confederate service throughout the war totaled 130souls. (This information comes from my book The Free State Of Patrick: Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War. Below is a list of the slave owners and the number of their slaves requisitioned into service.)

Slave Requisitions by Virginia and Confederate Authorities From Patrick County

Name of Owner 1862 1863 1865
Adams, Joshua 1 0 0
Anthony, Mrs. Ben 0 1 0
Auggker, Phillip 0 1 0
Ayres, Martha 0 1 0
Barnard, Isham 0 1 0
Brim, Jospeh 0 1 0
Burwell, William 0 1 0
Carnaday, William 0 1 0
Carter, Madison 1 0 0
Clark, James H. 1 1 0
Clark, Jane 0 1 1
Clark, Robert M. 0 0 1
Clark, Thomas M. 0 1 1
Cobb, John 0 2 1
Cochram, Edward 1 1 0
Conner, William 1 0 0
Critz, Gabe 0 1 0
Critz, James P. 1 1 1
Critz, William 0 1 0
Davis, B. A. 0 1 1
DeHart, Charles 1 0 0
Foster, Abram 5 1 0
Frans, Joseph 1 0 0
Gray, David(Daniel) 0 1 0
Hairston, Samuel 0 3 0
Hubbard, Mrs. E. 0 0 1
Hubbard, Mrs. John 0 1 0
Hylton, Gabe 0 1 0
Hylton, George 1 1 0
Hylton, Valentine 0 0 1
Joyce, John 0 1 0
Kennerly, Joseph 0 2 0
King, Ben S. 0 1 0
Langhorn, James S. 0 1 1
McCabe, Mrs. Mary 1 0 0
Moir, James 0 1 1
Morrison, Thomas 0 1 0
Murphy, Mrs. 0 1 0
Nelson, Charles 1 0 0
Nowlin, Spencer F. 0 1 0
Parker, John 0 1 0
Penn, George 1 0 0
Penn, Jackson 3 1 1
Penn, James A. 1 1 0
Penn, Jane 0 1 0
Penn, Mary 0 1 1
Penn, Mrs. 0 1 0
Penn, Mrs. James 0 1 0
Penn, Mrs. Gabriel 0 1 0
Penn, Peter 0 1 0
Penn, Polly 0 1 0
Penn, Thomas 5 1 1
Rangeley, James 0 1 0
Reynolds, Hardin W. 5 1 1
Sayars (Sawyers), James 0 1 0
Scales, Farmer 1 1 0
Spencer, William B. 0 1 0
Staples, Mary 1 0 0
Staples, Mrs. C. 0 1 0
Staples, Samuel G. 0 1 1
Shelton, Lewis 0 1 0
Smith, Alexander 0 0 1
Stovall,Barksdale 0 4 0
Tatum, Edward 0 1 0
Tatum, Pryor 0 1 1
Tatum, William F. 0 1 0
Thomas, Mrs. Richard 1 0 0
Tuggle, Henry 1 1 1
Turner, E. B. 1 0 0
Via, Alexander C. 0 2 1
Wilson, Samuel 6 1 2
Ziglar, C. 0 2 0
Zentmeyer, John N. 0 1 0

Total 63 48 19 130 Total Persons

Cavalry Seminar At Liberty University

2010-01-12T06:36:00.000-05:00

Here is another cavalry seminar this spring. I will be setting up selling books myself at this event. I am particularly looking forward to hearing my good friend Horace "The Manly Man" Mewborn speak on John Mosby. Dr. Robertson will give the keynote speech on Friday night. He is working with the Chaplain's Museum at Liberty University.

The 14th Annual Liberty University
Civil War Seminar
"Jine the Cavalry": The US and CSA Cavalry in the Civil War.
March 26 @6:30 PM–9:30 PM March 27 @8:30 AM–4:30 PM March 28 @9:00 AM–10:00 AM

March 26–Kickoff Banquet at Pate Chapel at the Thomas Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg, VA

March 27–Speaker Presentations and Artifact Displays at The Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center on the Campus of Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA

March 28–Period Worship Service at The R.C. Whorley Prayer Chapel on the Campus of Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA

Contact Info: 434-592-4366 or klburdeaux@liberty.edu
Speakers:
Dr. James I. Robertson, Key Note Address
Kent Masterson Brown, John Hunt Morgan
Scott Patchan, Phillip Sheridan
Dr. Brian Wills, Nathan Bedford Forrest
Eric J. Wittenberg, Custer and the Calvary Actions at Gettysburg
Jeffrey Wert, JEB Stuart
Horace Mewborn, John Mosby
Dr. Brenda Ayres, Flora: Mrs. J.E.B. Stuart
Steven Alexander, George Custer During the Latter Part of the Civil War
Delanie Stephenson, Libbie Custer: In the Shadow of Her Husband
Rev. Alan Farley, Period Church Service Sunday, March 28, 2009)

Admission: Everyone is encouraged to secure reservations for this seminar by Monday, March 1. Admission to the seminar prior to March 1 is $60 (which includes all of the seminar sessions, the Friday night banquet, and Saturday's luncheon). After March 2 the admission price is $65. After March 24 the admission price is $75. Admission for Friday only is $35 which includes the kick-off banquet. Admission for Saturday only is $40 which includes breakfast and lunch.

Other Info: In addition to the speakers presentations, there will be a silent auction on Friday, March 26, 2009 to benefit the National Civil War Chaplains Museum. There will also be displays and vendors on Saturday, March 27, 2009.
Breakfast and lunch on Saturday also provided.

Cavalry Seminar At Longwood

2010-01-12T06:25:00.000-05:00

There are two Civil War Cavalry Seminars nearby in 2010. One below at Longwood College and another at Liberty University, which I will post later. These are serious seminars by published authors and one who is not at Longwood. Longwood is FREE. Both will feature Jeffry Wert who wrote Cavalryman of the Lost Cause, the new biography of J. E. B. Stuart. It was my great pleasure to assist Mr. Wert with this book. He found some new information about Stuart's family that he shared with me.

ELEVENTH ANNUAL CIVIL WAR SEMINAR: THE CAVALRY: WEAPONS, LEADERS, and BATTLES

Cavalry Generals J.E.B. Stuart (CSA) and Philip Sheridan (USA)

WYGAL AUDITORIUM, LONGWOOD UNIVERSITY, FARMVILLE, VIRGINIA

February 27, 2010

Schedule

9:00 a.m. Doors open

9:25 a.m. Introduction by Dr. David Coles, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy, Longwood University

9:30 a.m. Robert Dunkerly
“Horsepower and Firepower: Weapons of the Cavalry.”

10:00 a.m. Eric Wittenberg
“Little Phil: A Reassessment of the Civil War Leadership of
Gen. Philip H. Sheridan.”

11:15 a.m. Jeffery Wert
“‘He Stood out from the Great War Canvas’: Jeb Stuart.”

12:30 Lunch

After lunch Scott C. Patchan will speak on “Overview of cavalry operations in the 1864 Valley Campaign.”

Participants

ROBERT DUNKERLY
Bert Dunkerly is currently a park ranger at Appomattox Court House NHP, where is the park’s historic weapons safety officer. He has worked at several other National Parks, including Gettysburg, Stones River, Jamestown, Kings Mountain, and Moores Creek. He has authored several articles and books on the Revolution, Civil War, and historic preservation.

SCOTT C. PATCHAN
Scott Patchan was born and raised in Ohio, and attended college at James Madison University. He has written dozens of articles for Civil War Magazine and other periodicals, is a contributing writer and historical consultant for the Time Life Series Voices of the Civil War and for the Kernstown Battlefield Association. He is a frequent lecturer on many aspects of Civil War history and is often requested as a battlefield tour guide. He is the author of Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign. His first book The Forgotten Fury: The Battle of Piedmont, Virginia received critical acclaim when it was published in 1996 and is now out of print. He has a forthcoming book on the Battle of Third Winchester.

JEFFRY D. WERT
Jeff Wert graduated cum laude with a B. A. History from Lock Haven University in 1968. In 1976, he completed his M. A. in History at Penn State. Wert taught at Penns Valley Area High School from 1969 to 2002 and was Pennsylvania’s “Teacher of the Year” in 1999. He is now a full time author and an historian. He has written articles for Civil War Times Illustrated, American History Illustrated, Blue & Gray Magazine, America’s Civil War, Military History, Virginia Cavalcade, Pennsylvania History, and the Civil War News. Wert has contributed and edited Historical Times Illustrated’s “Encyclopedia of the Civil War.” He has wrote seven books including: From Winchester to Cedar Creek: The Shenandoah Campaign 1864; Mosby’s Rangers; General James Longstreet: The Confederacy’s Most Controversial Soldier; Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer; A Brotherhood of Valor, Gettysburg—Day Three, The Sword of Lincoln; and Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart. His books have won numerous awards. Wert has appeared on the History Channel’s “Civil War Journal”; C-Span 2’s “Book Talk”; and PBS’s “Valley of Fire.” Wert is an Honorary Board of Directors for the Civil War Preservation Trust; serves on the Advisory Council for the Lincoln Award at Gettysburg College; and is on the Historical Advisory Board for the Friends of Gettysburg.

Eric J. Wittenberg
An attorney in Columbus, Ohio, Eric Wittenberg has long been a student of Civil War cavalry operations. Wittenberg has published fifteen books on Civil War history, most of them centering on Virginia. Additionally, his articles have appeared in Gettysburg Magazine, North & South, Blue & Gray, Hallowed Ground, America’s Civil War, and Civil War Times Illustrated. He is very active in battlefield preservation, and serves as the vice president of the Buffington Island Battlefield Preservation Foundation and also serves on the Governor of Ohio Commission on Ohio’s Civil War Sesquicentennial. He is also active with the Civil War Preservation Trust and the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation. He is a graduate of Dickinson College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

This annual seminar is sponsored by Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Eastern National Bookstore, The Department of History, Political Science, & Philosophy, and the Center for Southside Virginia History at Longwood University.
This seminar is FREE and open to the public. Parking available on Longwood University campus except in 24 hour reserved spaces, handicapped, or tow-away zones.
Lunch is available at the Longwood University Dining Hall. Signs will be posted on the Longwood University Campus. For directions to the campus go to www.longwood.edu. For more information contact Dr. David Coles at 434.395.2220 or Patrick Schroeder at 434.352.8987, Ext. 32
.

Reenactors Batte In Court

2010-01-10T08:09:00.000-05:00

Stanardsville Civil War dispute ends in courtroom stalemate
By STAFF REPORTS
Published: January 7, 2010

STANARDSVILLE — In a Civil War re-enactment that went too far, two Union and Confederate cavalry commanders who tussled on the field of battle each were found not guilty of assault.

The two pressed charges against each other after the Sept. 19, 2009, re-enactment of the Battle of Stanardsville.

The Confederate commander, Doug Nalls, claimed his Union counterpart, Joseph Ferguson, knocked off his hat and Nalls allegedly responded by firing his revolver. While the weapon was not loaded with a bullet, the Union commander suffered facial injuries from the revolver’s powder blast, according to a prosecutor.

This chapter of the Civil War ended in a draw: A judge concluded yesterday that he could not find either man guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The Greene County commonwealth’s attorney said the re-enactment gone bad was the result of “bad blood” between the men that boiled over on the battlefield, located about 20 miles north of Charlottesville.

Confederate re-enactors testified during the several-hour trial that the two had exchanged words before the violent encounter. According to Confederate witnesses, the Union commander used archaic slurs such as “blaggard” and “knave” to describe his Confederate counterpart.

The prosecutor, Ronald L. Morris, said today that more contemporary insults were also exchanged. He said courtroom accounts of the physical exchange were in dispute except for two points: “The hat came off and the gun was fired.”

Nalls’ father testified he had to wade into battle to separate the men.
Ferguson left court unhappy with the outcome. “The feud on the battlefield goes on,” he said.

Injuries, accidental or otherwise, are not uncommon during Civil War re-enactments. In 2008, a Confederate re-enactor brought a loaded weapon into a battle being filmed for a documentary and shot and wounded a Union re-enactor. — The Associated Press

I saw this the other day, but leave it to Eric Wittenberg to post it first.

Ghosts of Peyton Past

2010-01-09T10:42:00.000-05:00

Useless Trivia Question: How many games did Tennessee Quarterback Peyton Manning winning at the University of Florida’s Griffin Stadium, Florida Field? Hint: Peyton never beat the University of Florida while at the University of Tennessee.

Answer: http://www.hokiesports.com/football/stats/showstats.html?5892

I know this bit of useless trivia because I was sitting there on December 30, 1994, watching it as the 1994 Virginia Tech Hokies lost to freshman Peyton Manning 45-23 and hearing “Rocky Top you’ll always be home sweet home to me” over and over again. VT lost to Peyton’s father Archie in the 1966 Liberty Bowl as Mississippi beat the Hokies 34-17 after Tech led 17-0 early in the game. Frank Beamer played in that game. No games with Eli Manning during his college career.

What I remember about that night is it was COLD even though it was in Florida. The Gator Bowl moved from Jacksonville because the stadium was under renovation for the Jacksonville Jaguars. So, the ex and I found ourselves in the town where many of the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd are buried.

It was Maurice DeShazo’s last game and the game Jim Drukenmiller tried to bring back the Hokies. Antonio Freeman and Brian Still were on the team. Both went on to the NFL playing wide receiver. On the defense for the “Fighting Gobblers” was Cornell Brown, the first big recruit to play for Bud Foster’s defense and Torrian Gray, who now coaches for Frank Beamer. It was the second year of the 17 year streak the team is in under Beamer. The first was a defeat of Lee Corso’s Indiana team in the 1993 Independence Bowl. It was the next to the last bowl game I went too. The 2000 National Championship Game in New Orleans was the last. I find HDTV much better than obnoxious drunk fans these days. In 1995, VT beat another UT (Texas) in the Sugar Bowl and the rest is history.

That leads to New Year’s Eve. When the Volunteers from Knoxville faced a far different Virginia Tech Football Program. I sure hope Peyton was watching and that he got tired of the Hokie Pokie. At 4 p.m. on New Year’s Day after the Criminoles from Florida State had won the Gator Bowl, Frank Beamer found himself all by himself as the number two active coach with 229 wins. Jim Tressell at Ohio State tied Beamer later that day and the two will no doubt go back and forth behind Joe Pa until he goes to the big creamery in the sky.

Call me cynical, but I doubt if any football program is clean, but I can’t imagine Frank Beamer losing his job for striking a player or locking a player in a dark room after a concussion. For six years in a row his team has won ten games. No one scored on Bud Foster’s defense in the second half of the last five games. If VT cheats I think the Hoos would have turned them in years ago, but it is football and no one is perfect. Something the arrogant Lane Kiffin and his fans in burnt orange learned on New Year’s Eve. I enjoyed it because it erased the Ghosts of Peyton Past.