Spies in Lynchburg

Col. Robert Owen, president of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, owned Point of Honor during the war. This railroad, one of three that served Lynchburg, transported thousands of Confederate troops as well as wounded, supplies, prisoners of war, and refugees. It connected Lynchburg to Bristol, Tennessee, where it joined other southern railroads, and formed a strategically vital western supply lifeline for Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The tracks here ran along Blackwater Creek in the va1ley west of this location.

Owen's wife, Narcissa, was the daughter of a Cherokee chief. She headed the local Soldiers Aid Society that made uniforms, knapsacks, and other items for Confederate soldiers. Before the Battle of Lynchburg, two men calling themselves Confederates appeared at Point of Honor asking for food. Narcissa Owen told them that there were 20,000 Confederates in the city to boost their morale, and that they would "give the Yanks fits" in the morning. The men, however, were really Union Gen. David Hunter's spies, and her exaggeration may have helped convince Hunter to retreat on June 18. In Kansas after the war, Owen first learned from her housekeeper that the men were Union spies—one of them the housekeeper's father.

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On May 26, 1864, Union Gen. David Hunter marched south from Cedar Creek near Winchester to dive out Confederate forces, lay waste to the Shenandoah Valley, and destroy transportation facilities at Lynchburg. His raid was part of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's strategy to attack Confederates simultaneously throughout Virginia. After defeating Gen. William E. "Grumble" Jones at Piedmont on June 5, Hunter marched to Lexington, burned Virginia Military Institute, and headed to Lynchburg. Here, on June 17-18, Gen. Jubal A. Early repulsed Hunter and pursued him to West Virginia. Early then turned north in July to threaten Washington.

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Built by Dr. George Cabell, Sr., in 1815, this refined, Federal-style dwelling is stylistically linked to houses in Richmond. The source of the name is not known, but local legend suggests that duels were fought here. Cabell owned vast properties in Virginia, including this 737-acre plantation and a nearby tobacco warehouse where batteaux were loaded and goods shipped to Richmond on the James River. Point of Honor was restored and opened to the public in 1977 as part of the Lynchburg Museum System.All photographs are courtesy of Lynchburg Museum System

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Show me all markers in:  Lynchburg, VA  |  24504  |  Virginia  |  United States of America

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