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one end of the stone and on theother end was, Gemmette Mc-Causland, 1851-1881.John Hunt Morgan, Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest and Gens. JohnIT WAS THE FINAL resting place of one of the South’s mostfamous Civil War generals . . . Brig.-Gen. John McCausland, and his wife. Few people living in the Mason-Gallia-Meigs area today know that the general is buried on that hill. The ceme-B. Floyd and Henry A. Wise escaped with more than half of their forces.HE WAS PROMOTED TOproved that a crime had bee committed and that by the dlt;fendant’s admission of shootinHatfield, there was sufficient e\dence to hold him for the granBrigadier-General on May 25, 1864. on merits of his action atjury.tery is on land now owned by the general’s son, Alex McCausland, and has been in the McCausland family for generations.the battle of Cloyd’s Mt., May 9-10, 1864, action in which Gen-Albert Gallatin Jenkins, of Cabell County, was killed. McCausland rallied the Confederateforces and stopped a full scale retreat.Death came peacefully toilhe general that cold winter morning of Sunday, Jan. 23, 1927, as he sat in a rocking chair in the formidable stone house on RouteIn the Shenandoah Valley fighting, McCausland engaged in a 10-day running fight with Union forces under command of17, near Pliny. He built the residence in 1885. Today it is a landmark of a past generation. Its walls are at least 18 inchesLt. Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, later to be president of the United States, and later stalled off Hunter’s advance on Lynchburg, for which the citizens ofthick, of sandstone block and the city presented him with athere is a cupola on the top. It Si]Ver sword and set of spurs.surveyed the 6000 acres of broadKanawha Valley bottom land,the general’s vast holdings.THE HILL WHERE GENER-al McCausland is buried is just south 0(f_ Point Pleasant and Henderson. It is the highest point in the region overlooking the confluence of the Ohio andInscription on the sword’s blade was to: “John McCausland, The Savior of Lynchburg.”HIS MOST CONTROVERSIALburningbersburg, Pa., July 30, 1864. Acting as senior officer, McCausland combined his forcesKanawha Rivers. From its summit, you can see for miles around. Twelve men carried thewith those of Gen. Bradley T. Johnson, and struck the northern city in retaliation for Gen-oasket up the hill to the grave. The body had been transported down the Kanawha River on aeral Hunter’s burning and pillaging in the Shenandoah Valley,including attacks on VMI andsteamboat, a Confederate flag flying high atop its superstructure. The river was high at the time and blocked the main road.the governor’s mansion.Acting on orders of Gen. JubalA. Early, his superior the Rebels surprised the sleeping Pen-dawnJust 124 years ago today, John McCausland was born inmanded $100,000 in gold or $500000 in greenbacks or he woulSt. Louis, Mo. He was the son of an Irish immigrant, John McCausland, who came to Lynchburg, Va., at the age of 21, and married Harriett, daughter oftown. Thevly and the town was pillaged. RUMORS CIRC ULATEDDavid Kyle. The general’s father became a successful merch-that General McCausland kept the ransom monev and burnedthe town. I have a report filedant and later moved to St. Louis, where he served as commissioner of taxation.HIS PARENTS DIED when thegeneral was very young and he came to live with an uncle, Alexander, at Henderson. The uncle was a steamboat captain and they made the trip here by steamboat. That was in 1849. Hebv a Will S. Kocherspereer, Sgt. Company L, 20th Regt. Pennsylvania Calvary, which states the people of Chambersburg failed to pay a red cent.It was also rumored that McCausland bought his vast Kanawha Valley acreage with theattended Buffalo Academy atransom. However, after the war the general collected a huge sum of monies from his father’sBuffalo, W. Va., then Buffalo,holdings in St. Louis, and with that money he established theVa., In 1853, John McCausland entered Virginia Military Insti-large valley farm, which aftertute and graduated in 1857, at the head of his class of 23 cad-his death, was divided among his heirs, three sons and aets.daughter.THERE IS TOOWhen the Civil War broke out, Stonewall Jackson, then head of VMI, rode away and McCausland, who had served as assistant professor of mathematics and artillery instructor, took command at his Alma Mater.to go into here, but the last memorable action, on which contemporary writers dwell, was General McCausland’s refusal tosurrender at Appomattox C. H.instead, he grouped his forcesHe soon grew restless and asked for an assignment elsewhere.GOV. JOHN LETCHER of Virginia commissioned McCa u s-lapd, a colonel, and sent him into the Kanawha Valley to recruit troops for the Confederateand rode away as arms were being stacked in a final surrender to Union conquerors. He returned to Lynchburg and for a second time, saved the city, this time from pillagers and looters who were celebrating the end of the war. He maintained law andarmy. General Henry A. Wise,troopsi few weeks later, made Mc-Dfiusland, a Lt.-Col. and gave lim command of the 36th Vir-to occupy the town.To the end of his days, Gen eral McCausland refused to sur?inia Infantry. He first saw ac-ion at the battle of Scareyrender and maintained he waseek, on Sunday, July 17. 1861.an “unrestricted and unregenerated rebel” until the last. Indic-t was a Conederate victory, but ted by a federal grand jury forhf Grays fell back farther into arson, in the burning of Cham-he Kanawha Valley. fcontemporaYy writers havebersburg, General McCausland fled the country, going to Can-qpeentrated on four parallels in he general’s war career. I shallada and finally to the continentot endeavor to stray from thoseof Europe. He returned to the Noith American continent asJackson ManBurns VictimGALLIPOLIS — Roy ElmeRadcliff, 48, of 277 E. Broac way, Jackson, died at 7:49 p.ir Monday in Holzer Hospital c burns suffered in an explosio 10 days ago at the Interlake Iro Corp., at Jackson.Radcliff suffered first, secow and third degree burns over 7 per cent of his body Sept. 3, whe; an explosion occurred in th main stack of a blast furnace, a what was formerly known as th Globe Iron Works. He had beeian employee there 17 years.The body was taken to a Jack son funeral home Tuesday mornmg.Concealed WeaponCharge Is DeniedGALLIPOLIS—Victor Zugates42, of Gallipolis entered a pie: of innocent Monday in municipa court when arraigned or a charge of carrying a concealed weapon He was bound over to the Sep tember term grand jury unde: $300 bond.City police arrested Zugatei Satuday afternoon at a Court St travern. He was also charge( with intoxication, to which hlt; pleaded guilty, and was fined $1( and costs. Zugates posted $30( bond late Saturday night and wai released for Monday’s hearing The bond was continued until thegrand jury convenes.soldier of fortune in Maximil-lian's rebellion in Mexico. President U. S. Grant pardoned General McCausland in 1868, and he returned to the Kanawha Valley, where he lived out his daysas a leading citizen.NOT TOO MUCH REMAINSof the general’s record as a soldier, for he was a man who carried out orders of superiors. In my research I have poured over both Union and Confederate records and reports, searching for any bit of information thatmight reveal his action and gallantry as a soldier, in the WarBetween the States, from whichhe emerged a Brigadier-Generalat the age of 29.mWe Cari1WE ACC
Newspaper Details
Athens Messenger
Athens, Ohio, US
Tue, Sep 13, 1960
Page 3
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