William Mahone
William Mahone | |
---|---|
United States Senator from Virginia | |
In office March 4, 1881 – March 4, 1887 | |
Preceded by | Robert E. Withers |
Succeeded by | John W. Daniel |
Member of the Virginia Senate from Norfolk City | |
In office 1863–1865 | |
Preceded by | William N. McKenney |
Succeeded by | Edmund Robinson |
Personal details | |
Born | Southampton County, Virginia | December 1, 1826
Died | October 8, 1895 Washington, D.C. | (aged 68)
Resting place | Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia |
Political party | Readjuster (1877–1889) Republican (1889–1895) |
Alma mater | Virginia Military Institute |
Nickname | Little Billy |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Confederate States |
Branch/service | Confederate States Army |
Years of service | 1861–1865 |
Rank | Major General |
Battles/wars | American Civil War (1861-1865)
|
William Mahone (December 1, 1826 – October 8, 1895) was an
As a young man, Mahone was prominent in building
In the American Civil War, Mahone was pro-secession and served as a general in the Confederate States Army. He was best known for regaining the initiative at the late war siege of Petersburg, Virginia, while Confederate troops were in shock after a huge mine/load of black powder kegs was exploded beneath them by tunnel-digging former coal miner Union Army troops resulting in the Battle of the Crater in July 1864; his counter-attack turned the engagement into a disastrous Union defeat.
After the war, he returned to railroad building, merging three lines to form the important Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O), headquartered in Lynchburg. He also led the Readjuster Party, a state political party with a coalition of freemen blacks, Republicans, and populist Democrats. The Virginia General Assembly elected Mahone to the U.S. Senate in 1881.
Early life
William Mahone was born at Brown's Ferry near Courtland in Southampton County, Virginia, to Fielding Jordan Mahone and Martha (née Drew) Mahone.[2] Beginning with the immigration of his Mahone ancestors from Ireland, he was the third individual to be called "William Mahone". He did not have a middle name as shown by records including his two Bibles, Virginia Military Institute (VMI) diploma, marriage license, and Confederate Army commissions. Likewise, the General and Otelia's first-born son was christened William Mahone. During similar cultural naming transitions in Virginia, the suffix "Jr." was added to his name later.
The little town of
The local transportation shift in the area was from the river to the new technology emerging with
Young Billy Mahone gained his primary education from a country schoolmaster but with special instruction in mathematics from his father. As a teenager, for a short time, he transported the
Early career
Mahone worked as a teacher at Rappahannock Academy in Caroline County, Virginia, beginning in 1848, but was actively seeking an entry into civil engineering. He did some work helping locate the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, an 88-mile line between Gordonsville, Virginia, and the City of Alexandria.[6] Having performed well with the new railroad, was hired to build a plank road between Fredericksburg and Gordonsville.[7][8]
On April 12, 1853, he was hired by Dr.
In 1854, Mahone surveyed and laid out with streets and lots of
Mahone was also a surveyor for the Norfolk and South Air Line Railroad on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.[11]
Marriage and family
On February 8, 1855, Mahone married
Young Otelia Butler is said to have been a cultured lady. She and William settled in Norfolk, where they lived most of the years before the Civil War. They had 13 children, but only three survived to adulthood, two sons,
The Mahone family escaped the yellow fever epidemic that broke out in the summer of 1855 and killed almost a third of the populations of Norfolk and Portsmouth by fleeing the city and staying with his mother 50 miles away in Jerusalem (now known as Courtland) in rural Southampton County. However, because the epidemic decimated the Norfolk area, with financial consequences as well, work on the new railroad to Petersburg almost came to a standstill.
Ever frugal, Mahone and his
American Civil War
As the political differences between Northern and Southern United States factions escalated in the second half of the 19th century, Mahone favored southern states' secession. During the American Civil War, he was active in the conflict even before he became an officer in the Confederate Army. Early in the war, in 1861, his Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was especially valuable to the Confederacy and transported ordnance to the Norfolk area, where it was used during the Confederate occupation. By the war's end, most of what was left of the railroad was under U.S. control.
After Virginia declared secession from the United States in April 1861, Mahone was still a civilian and not yet in the Confederate Army. Still, working in coordination with Walter Gwynn, he orchestrated the ruse and capture of the Gosport Shipyard. He bluffed U.S. Army troops into abandoning the shipyard in Portsmouth by running a single passenger train into Norfolk with great noise and whistle-blowing, then much more quietly sending it back west and then returning the same train, creating the illusion of large numbers of arriving troops to the U.S. soldiers listening in Portsmouth across the Elizabeth River (and just barely out of sight). The ruse worked, and not a single Confederate soldier was lost as the U.S. authorities abandoned the area and retreated to Fort Monroe across Hampton Roads. After this, Mahone accepted a commission as lieutenant colonel and later colonel of the 6th Virginia Infantry Regiment, and remained in Norfolk, which was now under the command of Benjamin Huger. Mahone was subsequently promoted to brigadier general on November 16, 1861, and commanded the Confederate's Norfolk district until its evacuation the following year.
In May 1862, after Confederate forces fled Norfolk during the
Mahone's brigade was one of the portions of the First Corps that remained with the main army for the Battle of Chancellorsville. After Lee reorganized the army in May 1863, Mahone ended up in the newly created Third Corps of A. P. Hill. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Mahone's brigade was mostly unengaged and suffered only a handful of casualties the entire battle. Mahone was supposed to participate in the attack on Cemetery Ridge on July 2, but against orders, held his brigade back. During Pickett's Charge the following day, Mahone's brigade was assigned to protect artillery batteries and was uninvolved in the main fighting. Mahone's official report for the battle was only 100 words long and gave little insight into his actions on July 2. However, he told fellow brigadier Carnot Posey that division commander Richard H. Anderson had ordered him to stay put. Despite his failure to move his command into action, Mahone suffered no punishment due to his seniority and the fact that he would ultimately become one of a handful of officers in the Army of Northern Virginia to lead a brigade for an entire year's duration.
Although his wound at
During the Battle of the Wilderness, Mahone's soldiers accidentally wounded James Longstreet. Richard Anderson was appointed to corps command. Mahone took command of Anderson's division, which he led for the remainder of the war, starting at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He became widely regarded as the hero of the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864. There, U.S. Army coal miners tunneled under the Confederate line. They blew it up in a massive explosion, killing and wounding many Confederates and breaching a critical point in the defense line around Petersburg. Nevertheless, Mahone rallied the remaining nearby Confederate forces, repelling the attack, and the U.S. soldiers lost their initial advantage. Having begun as an innovative tactic, the Battle of the Crater became a terrible loss for the United States. Mahone's quick and effective action was a rare cause for celebration by the occupants of Petersburg, embattled citizens, and weary troops alike. On July 30, he was promoted to major general.[15]
However, in early April 1865, Grant's strategy at Petersburg eventually succeeded in severing the last rail line from the southern states to supply Petersburg (and hence Richmond). At the Battle of Sailor's Creek on April 6, Lee exclaimed in front of Mahone, "My God, has the army dissolved?" to which he replied, "No, General, here are troops ready to do their duty." Touched by the loyalty of his men, Lee told Mahone, "Yes, there are still some true men left ... Will you please keep those people back?"[16] Mahone was also with Lee at the surrender at Appomattox Court House three days later.
Return to railroading
After the war, Lee advised his generals to return to work rebuilding the southern states' economies. William Mahone did just that and became the driving force in the linkage of N&P,
The
Before the Civil War, the Virginia Board of Public Works had invested state funds in a substantial portion of the stock of the A, M & O's predecessor railroads. Although he lost control of the railroad, as a significant political leader in Virginia, Mahone was able to arrange for a portion of the state's proceeds of the sale to be directed to help found a school to prepare teachers to help educate black children and formerly enslaved people near his home at Petersburg, where he had earlier been mayor. The Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute eventually expanded to become Virginia State University, with Virginia native John Mercer Langston returning from Ohio to become its first president. Mahone also directed some funds to help found the predecessor of today's Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County, also near Petersburg. Mahone personally retained his ownership of land investments which were linked to the N&W's development of the rich coal fields of western Virginia and southern West Virginia, contributing to his rank as one of Virginia's wealthiest men at his death, according to his biographer, author Nelson Blake.
Political career
Mahone was active in Virginia's economic and political life for almost 30 years, beginning amid the Civil War when he was elected to the Virginia General Assembly as a delegate from Norfolk in 1863. He later served as mayor of Petersburg. After his unsuccessful bid for governor in 1877, he became the leader of the
The Readjuster Party did more than refinance the Commonwealth's debts. The party invested heavily in schools, especially for African Americans, and appointed African American teachers for such schools. The party increased funding for what is now
With the Senate split 37–37 between Republicans and Democrats, Mahone and another third-party candidate willing to caucus with the latter had political influence. Under Senate rules,
However, Mahone still faced opposition from the
In
Death
Although out of office, Mahone continued to stay involved in Virginia-related politics until he suffered a catastrophic stroke in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 1895. He died a week later, at 68. His widow, Otelia, lived in Petersburg until her death in 1911.
Legacy
Although Mahone was not to live to see the outcome, Virginia and West Virginia disputed the new state's share of the Virginia government's debt for several decades. The issue was finally settled in 1915 when the
He was interred in the family mausoleum in Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.[25] His widow was interred alongside him. His well-known monogram identifies the mausoleum, an initial "M" centered on a star inside a shield.
Their first home in Petersburg, originally occupied by John Dodson, Petersburg's mayor in 1851–2, was on South Sycamore Street. That structure is now part of the Petersburg Public Library. In 1874, they acquired and greatly enlarged a home on South Market Street, their primary residence after that. Virginia State University, which he helped found as a normal school, is a major community presence nearby.
A large portion of
A monument to Mahone's Brigade is on the Gettysburg Battlefield.
The site of the
To the memory of William Mahone, Major General, CSA, a distinguished Confederate Commander, whose valor and strategy at the Battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864, won for himself and his gallant brigade undying fame.
See also
Notes
- ^ (2011, January 1). Readjuster Party political party, United States. Britannica. Retrieved October 17, 2023, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Readjuster-Party
- ^ Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission Staff (March 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Brown's Ferry" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
- ^ 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules, Virginia, Southampton, Nottaway Parish, p. 19
- ^ Harwood Paige Watkinson Jr., Simone A. Kiere (July 2007). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Mahone's Tavern" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
- ^ Blake, p. 13
- ^ Blake, p. 19
- ^ a b c "Mahone, William (1826–1895)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
- ^ Blake, p. 22
- ^ Blake, p. 26
- ^ American Railroad Journal. J.H. Schultz. 1853. p. 752.
- ^ a b Blake, p. 33
- ^ Blake, p. 35
- ^ John G. Zehmer and Donald S. B. Hall (April 1999). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Judge Henry Wood Jr. House" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
- ^ a b Blake, p. 43
- ^ Blake, p. 55
- ^ Freeman, vol. 3., p. 711.
- ^ Blake, p. 85
- ^ Blake, p. 111
- ^ Blake, p. 154
- ^ "William Mahone". Lva.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
- Roanoke Times. October 21, 2017. Page 8.
- ^ MAHONE, William - Biographical Information
- ^ Blake, p. 235
- ^ "William Mahone | American businessman and Confederate general". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
- ^ "MAHONE, William - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
References
- Blake, Nelson Morehouse (1935). William Mahone of Virginia : soldier and political insurgent. Richmond : Garret & Massie.
- Evans, Clement A., Confederate Military History, Vol. III (biography of William Mahone)', 1899.
- Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
- Striplin, E. F. Pat., The Norfolk & Western: a history Norfolk and Western Railway Co., 1981, ISBN 0-9633254-6-9.
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
External links
- Official Website for Mahone's Tavern & Museum including the History of William Mahone
- Map of Norfolk & Petersburg Rail Road, issued by William Mahone
- The New Method of Voting by William Mahone, The North American review. Volume 149, Issue 397, December 1889.
- [https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Presidents_Death_Eases_Senate_Deadlock.htm Conversion from Readjuster to Republican
- Luebke, P. C. William Mahone (1826–1895). In Encyclopedia Virginia.