|
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. |
|