MISC, RRB xx/xx/1967

The Valley Turnpike

Winchester to Staunton

And Other Roads

By John W. Wayland

 

Volume VI: Winchester - Frederick County Historical Society

Copyright 1967

Winchester - Frederick County Historical Society

Winchester, Virginia

 

"Railroading" on the Pike

   In 1933 I read in Edward Hungerford's "The Story of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 1827-1927, Vol. II, pages 7-15, his account of General Jackson moving railroad engines over the Pike from Winchester to Strasburg; and others a little later from Martinsburg (via Winchester) to Strasburg.
   According to Hungerford, Jackson in May, 1861, ran four small locomotives from Harper's Ferry up to Winchester on the railroad, and thence pulled them with horses over the Pike to Strasburg, where they were put on the rails and taken thence eastward across the Blue Ridge. {See my comments on this at Jackson and the Earlier Locomotive Haul} Early in July following he moved a dozen large engines over the roads (with horses) from Martinsburg (via Winchester) to Strasburg. I had often heard of this; but Hungerford then goes on to tell how, in the late summer of 1862, after the second battle of Manassas, Jackson ran a Ross Winans camelback engine, No. 199, up to Mt. Jackson (the end of the line) and from there hauled it with horses to Staunton. This was new to me. I began to make inquiries, and learned a number of interesting (and additional) facts in connection.
   On April 29, 1933, I asked David Wenger, aged about 65 or 70, of Edom, whether he had ever heard of an engine being hauled up the Pike (from Mt. Jackson to Staunton) with horses. He said that he had; that David Rhodes (an older man) years before had told him that he (Rhodes) had witnessed the operation. Rhodes stated that he had seen two engines hauled up the Pike -- 60 horses to each one. Rhodes lived on the Pike, a mile or so above Melrose.
   November 22, 1933, Ralph S. Monger, aged 40 or 45, whose old home was near Pleasant Valley and Mr. Crawford, told me that he had heard his mother speak of a railroad engine being taken up the Pike with horses. At the same time P. C. Kaylor, aged 65 or 70, said that some one (perhaps Joseph Crawn) had told him that box cars were also hauled up in the same way. Hungerford also indicates that cars etc. were taken across the country on the roads.
   Some time prior to November 22, 1933 (I find from my diary), Hon. Brock T. White of Keezletown told me that he had heard of engines being hauled up the Pike. He said that he had heard the operation referred to as proof of the excellence of the road.
   November 29, 1933, Cornelius B. Williamson, aged 50, who grew up in New Market, told me that when he was a boy he had heard people in New Market speak of railroad engines being hauled up the Pike.
   December 21, 1933, I went to see Joseph Crawn of Mt. Crawford. He was born in 1851. During the war (1861-1865) his home was in the brick house that stands on the northwest side of the Pike, at the bridge over North River, 3/4 of a mile southwest of Mr. Crawford. He said that there were two engines; thought that the cab of one, perhaps the cabs of both, had been burned. This agrees with Hungerford, who says that Jackson had been ordered to burn the engines at Martinsburg early in 1861 -- such parts as would burn -- and later had undertaken to move them for use by the Confederates.
   Mr. Crawn said that 40 horses were hitched to an engine; also, that a number of box cars were hauled up -- 20 horses to each; that, coming down a slight grade between Mt. Crawford and the bridge, one of the cars got out of control -- ran down on the horses and killed one of them {see NA, RRB 9-5-63}; that the bridge was reinforced by underpinning, to bear the weight of the engines and the cars.
   On the upper (southwest) side of the bridge at (above) Mt. Crawford is a steep hill. The old Pike curved around the northwest edge of this hill. Here, Mr. Crawn said, the first engine got off the hard surface of the road (on the right side) and "stalled" -- and tilted over, but did not upset. It stood there for a week or two, while the second engine was held up in the road, northeast of the bridge, in front of the Crawn (now Leavell) house. Finally both engines were moved on.
   Mr. Crawn said that while the engines were halted there some Yankees came up the Pike. They halted and hesitated to cross the bridge. They could see some dark object (the stalled engine) on the other side of the river, but could not be certain what it was -- they feared some trap. -- It was perhaps night, or evening dusk.
   The dates are uncertain. Mr. Crawn said that he was "about 15 years old." This would have made the date 1866, which, of course, was too late. Mr. Kaylor thought that the moving of the engines was after Jackson's operations in the Valley.
   Dr. Joseph A. Waddell, in his "Annals of Augusta County," 2d edition, page 466, quotes from a diary he kept time of the war. Under date of Sunday night, March 16, 1862, he has this item:
   "Jackson's army, when last heard from, was at Woodstock. A portion of the rolling stock of the Manassas Gap railroad arrived yesterday over the turnpike."
   From March 12 to 21 Jackson and his army were on the Pike at different places between Cedar Creek and Rude's Hill. Accordingly, it appears certain that some of this hauling of railroad equipment up the Pike to Staunton took place in March, 1862. Hungerford says that the big camel-back engine was hauled up in the late summer of 1862 from Mt. Jackson to Staunton. We may conclude, therefore, that such operations were carried on at several times. After Jackson had demonstrated between Martinsburg and Strasburg in the spring and summer of 1861 how the thing could be done, it was not always necessary for him to be on the spot. The hind drive wheels on the rear of the engines were left on for use in hauling; the front part of the engine was supported upon a strong truck, with heavy wooden wheels, with a heavy linchpin for turning. -- See Hungerford, Vol. II, page 11.
   It appears that the bridge here was burned by the Confederates early in 1862, but there is also evidence that a make-shift was built soon afterwards. 
   Hungerford says that at some of the hills the teams of horses were aided by a hundred or two hundred men, who pulled on a long strong rope that was run out ahead of the horses. The hardest hill between Martinsburg and Strasburg was at Cedar Creek. Coming down into Strasburg there was a steep  decline on Hupp's Hill. This required effective checking, probably by men pulling on the rope behind, and otherwise. Between Mt. Jackson and Staunton are several considerable hills: Rude's Hill, one or two near Lacey Spring, the one at Smithland (below Harrisonburg), the one above Mt. Crawford (at the southwest side of the river), several at and near Burketown, one above Fort Defiance, at the Parkins place, one or two at Middle River, near Verona, one just above "Merrifield," and two in the near approach to Staunton.
Above from pages 62 - 65
This publication is found in the Winchester Public Library.

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