Day Four: Fast Facts

As industry in the east grew, cheap and plentiful fuel sources were needed. Coal filled that need.

Small railroads, then the much larger Clinchfield Railroad opened up the isolated mountains

Other industries besides coal flourished including textiles in Bristol, and chemicals in Saltville

Industrialization also brought the mountain culture many things it did not already have and make the rest of the world aware of its music, people and culture

 

The Civil War in Southwest Virginia

Champ Ferguson

Day Three: The Legend Of Champ Ferguson

The Facts
The First Battle of Saltville (1 October – 3 October 1864), was fought near the town of Saltville, Virginia, during the American Civil War. The battle was fought by both regular and homeguard Confederate units against regular Union troops, including one of the few black cavalry units, over an important saltworks in the town. The Union troops were led by Brig. Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge.

The battle was a Confederate victory, but it has become better known for a massacre that happened afterward. Irregular guerrilla forces under the notorious Champ Ferguson murdered captured and wounded white and black Union troops.Ferguson was tried after the war in Nashville, Tennessee, for these and other non-military killings, found guilty, and executed.

The Legends
Conflicting stories arise as to where, what and how many Ferguson murdered.

Some say he walked the battlefield murdering soldiers of the 5th United States Colored Cavalry and wounded white soldiers as well

Some say that he rode all the way from Saltville to Emory & Henry College where wounded were being treated and murdered soldiers there

Other still say he rode to the hospital, carried out several murders. Returned to Saltville, only to return the next day to Emory Hospital to murder one more soldier. Legends on the campus of Emory & Henry state that this second killing was his own brother, though no records can confirm this.

Which ever story you believe, it was proven that Ferguson committed murders after the Battle of Saltville and he was executed for his crime making him one of only two Confederates to be executed for war crimes after the Civil War.

More Information on Champ Ferguson

http://home.comcast.net/~5thuscc/massacr.htm
http://www.historynet.com/champ-ferguson-an-american-civil-war-rebel-guerrilla.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/1865/10/29/news/champ-ferguson-confession-culprit-killing-reuben-wood-killing-frogg-saltsville.html?pagewanted=2

Day Three- Digging Deeper

Slavery In Southwest Virginia 
Slavery was not as common in Southwest Virginia as it was other places where large scale farms required massive amounts of labor.  Most the slaveholders in Southwest Virginia held fewer that 100 slaves, and many only under 10.  Slaves were often engaged in small agriculture or rented to larger farmers.  If a slave remained with their master and worked it agriculture, the master often worked besides the slave in the field. More often they were used in non-agriculture (not working in the fields).

Brother Against Brother
The issue of slavery (whether states had the right to allow slavery OR the United States success remaining divided) split states, communities, and families across the country, but this problem was especially pronounced in the border states and where slavery was not as prevalent.  The most notable case of this occurred May 23, 1862, at the Battle of Front Royal, Capt. William Goldsborough of the Confederate 1st Maryland Infantry captured his brother Charles Goldsborough of the Union 1st Maryland Infantry and took him prisoner. The battle is also notable for being the only time in United States military history that two regiments from the same state with the same numerical designation have engaged each other in battle.

The Civil War In Southwest Virginia  
Southwest Virginia did not experience any major engagements during the Civil War, but it provided nessacry support in the way of vital goods. The regions wet limestone caves provided saltpeter which was a major ignition fuel in black power. Lead was mined as well in Southwest Virginia. Maybe most importantly salt was harvested from the Saltville salt marshes. The Confederate States of American felt that Saltville salt was so important that by the end of the war, it was the most heavily fortified installation in the south. Also vital to the South was the only east-west rail line that ran from Lynchburg,VA to Knoxville, TN.  Connection lines brought the saltpeter, lead and salt down from the hills and to the main line where it was sent to the troops in the field.  Emory & Henry College's Wiley Hall and Byars Hall were used as hospital facilities by the Confederate States to house both Union and Confederate soldiers.

More Information on Slavery In Southwest Virginia
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/wdunaway/publications/virginia.htm
More Information on Brother Against Brother
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/secessionville/secessionville-history-articles/brother-against-brother-at.html
More Information on The Civil War In Southwest Virginia
http://www.ehc.edu/academics/resources/kelly-library/library-news/2013/10/library-101-emory-henry-civil-war-history/

Day One Homework

1) Imagine what the reaction of a Pre-historic Indian, a Spanish Conquistador, and a member of the Thomas Walker expedition would be to being dropped on the campus of Emory & Henry College today

2) Imagine your reaction to being dropped into a Pre-historic Indian tribe, the Spanish explorers trip, or the Thomas Walker Expedition

Day Three- Fast Facts

From any angle you wish to look, the issue of slavery caused the Civil War

Southern                                                Northern

States rights to allow slavery                    Country could not continue half free, half slave

This issue divided states, communities, and families especially in places like Southwest Virginia.

Southwest Virginia did not experience any major battles but railroad junctures,salt manufacturing in Saltville, and the large buildings at Emory & Henry College played critical roles in the war.  

Saltville Saltworks

Emory & Henry As It Was Around The Civil War

Day One- Digging Deeper

Pre-Clovis Peoples: 14,510 yr BP (Before Present)
At archaeological site SV-2 (Near Saltville, VA), pre-Clovis people appear to have butchered and processed  a mastodon.This evidence show that prehistoric people were living in Southwest Virginia in some of the earliest stages of human history. Pre-clovis tribes would stalk into the Saltville valley where the animals would roam to the salt marshes. 
Structure- Hunter/ Gatherer
Infrastructure- Chief of small bands. Those will plenty to eat
Superstructure- Gods of nature

Spanish Exploration: Spring of 1567
Spanish exploration in the new world was done for can be called the "Three Gs." God, Gold And Glory.  The gold would go to Spain to help the country fight its wars in Europe, God would be spread to the natives, and the Glory would be for the men who helped in these endeavors. A force of 15- 25 men set out from Fort San Juan (near present day Morganton, North Carolina) led by Sargent Hernando Moyano de Morales. Morales' men trek into Southwest Virginia as far as present day Chilhowie or Saltville, VA. On this raid, the Spanish burned the Chisca Indian village of Maniatique. The present day location of Maniatique is debated, but the raids did capture a young girl named Luis Mendez. Mendez described to the Spanish the processes the Indians used to extract the salt from the brine, and where the salt creeks were.  Too, Mendez and her husband, Juan De Ridas, would have a child. This child is thought the first person born of European decent in North America.
Structure- Exploring
Infrastructure- Conquistadores with rank. 
Superstructure- The Christian God could save the souls of the natives

Dr. Thomas Walker Expedition: Winter and Spring of 1750

On July 12, 1749, the Loyal Land Company was founded with Dr. Thomas Walker as a leading member. At the age of 64, Walker would journey to the western areas of Kentucky and Tennessee to map out the border between Virginia and North Carolina westward. This controversial mapped border would forever bear the title of the "Walker Line" and today stand as the separating point between the two states. Beside the Walker Line, Dr. Walker's main object was to survey and sell tracks of land for the Loyal Land Company in Southwest Virginia as far north as Roanoke and in the Holston River areas. Realizing the forests of Southwest Virginia could be timbered for use in the east, the Loyal Land Company sold land to settlers cheaply, and bought the timber.
Structure- Exploring new frontiers
Infrastructure- Those who owned land
Superstructure- Christianity

Early Settlers 
Once tracts of land were surveyed settlers began flocking to Southwest Virginia seeking cheap land and freedom from the confines of the eastern cities.  They brought with them European ways, but they also adapted to a lifestyle different from those in larger towns and cities in the East. Men formed militias to fend off Indian attacks. Forts, like the one at Fort Blackmore in then Fincastle County, were built to provide protection when local Indians went on raids trying to chase away the settlers and capture their food stores.  Itinerant ministers like John Emory moved with the settlers helping spread Methodism during the Second Great Awakening in the late 1700's and early 1800's
Structure- Settling new frontiers. Timbering, Surviving 
Infrastructure- Those who owned land

Superstructure- Evangelical Christianity

                                     

For More Information 
Pre-Clovis 
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/nativeamerican/woodlandindians.html

Spanish Exploration 
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/berrysite/files/1997-southeastern_archaeology.pdf
(word search Pardo Expedition. Note: Hernado Moyano de Morales is referred to only as Hernando Moyano)

Thomas Walker Expedition
http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/lewisandclark/students/projects/adventurers/walkerbio.html

Settlers
https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE190404
http://www.danielboonetrail.com/historicalsites.php?id=85

Day One- Fast Facts

Fast Facts- write these in your notes
Pre-Clovis people hunted the animals attracted to the salt marshes in Saltville Valley 
Spanish explore Southwest Virginia looking for the Three Gs: Gold, God, Glory 
Dr. Thomas Walker surveys Southwest Virginia to map out the border between Virginia and North Carolina. He also surveys tracts of land to be sold to settlers east of present day Roanoke. 
Settlers move into the frontier of Southwest Virginia in search of cheap land. With them comes the spread of Methodism to the new lands.
   

Primary Source: Saltville Style Gorget

     

Above are examples of the Saltville style gorget.  Prehistoric natives began cutting and engraving pieces of conch and whelk shell as early as around AD 1000 in the current states of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois and Tennessee.  As these peoples advanced chronologically, it also moved geographically and eventually reached the Carolinas and Virginia around AD 1300-1400. The Saltville gorgets have been found all over the eastern United States.  Study these items and answer the questions below

Questions
1) There is a clue in the description, but why do you think these do not have writing on them?
2)What purpose do you think these items served?
3) Why do you think there have been examples of the Saltville gorget found all over the eastern United States?

Check out this sites for more information on the Saltville gorget 
http://www.jimmausartifacts.com/saltville-style-gorgets/
http://www.holstonia.net/files/SpeakGorgets.pdf