| Today | Wednesday | Thursday |
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 Thunderstorm 86°/70° |  Chance of a Thunderstorm 82°/66° | Thunderstorm 79°/57° |
May Day, the annual celebration of spring, was attended by some 50 alumni and friends of the Scrabble School earlier this month, many bringing their children to experience a fun-packed day much like those celebrated in May from 1921 to 1968, when the school for African-American students was in operation. Kids and adults alike...
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With the Union army in defeat in Virginia, focus in mid-May 1863 turned to Mississippi, where Maj. Gen. Ulysses Grant was making advances on the fortified Confederates at Vicksburg. Col. Benjamin Grierson’s cavalry raid from Tennessee through Mississippi had ended at Baton Rouge, La., on May 2.
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On two of the three major fronts, as May 1863, opened, Northern armies moved in new offensives. The Army of the Potomac was at poised at Chancellorsville, while other Union force marshaled at Fredericksburg. In a freak accident, the South loses one of its heroes as Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson is killed by friendly...
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August 3, 1972 Mrs. Irene Frazier was hostess to a picnic supper, Saturday, July 29 at her home in Sperryville in honor of her son Wade Frazier who leaves Aug. 3 for Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Those attending were Wade Frazier’s fiancee, Miss Rosie Thomas, Eddie Frazier, Charlie, Jerry, Ann and Linda Thomas, Johnny...
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July 27, 1972 Mrs. James F. Massie of Amissville has been named to represent the Jackson District on the Rappahannock County School Board. She was selected to serve a four-year term and takes the seat formerly held by Ralph H. Rowzie, who has served since 1947. Mrs. Massie, in addition to being a full time farmer’s...
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The Congress of the Confederate States levied a comprehensive “tax in kind” of one-tenth of all produce of the land for the year 1863 on April 24. Skirmishing took place the next day at Hard Times Landing in Mississippi as Maj. Gen. Ulysses Grant’s troops continued to push south after bypassing Vicksburg.
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April 1863 The first clash between local Mississippi Confederates and the U.S. Cavalry commanded by Col. Benjamin Grierson on their raid south from LaGrange, Tenn., took place between Ripley and New Albany, in northern Mississippi on Saturday, April 18. In Arkansas, Confederate cavalry commanded by Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke launched a raid into...
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July 20, 1972 A herd of black angus cattle owned by Washington residents D.D. Miller and son fared badly during the weekend. Four of the animals were injured or killed in three different crashes. An investigation disclosed a fence had been cut once and a gate left open by an apparent trespasser. Wade Hampton Evans, of...
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Counting down to the 35th annual Fodderstack 10K, welcoming a Chinese pianist to the Theatre, meeting GOP candidate Ken Cuccinelli, remembering the county's Civil War past, becoming a stage hand with RAAC and showing off the improvements to the fire hall at the SVRS open house in this week's Rapp.
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July 13, 1972 Saturday, three girls from Rappahannock participated in an All-Comers track and field meet held in Winchester. The girls were running in the 14-15 age group against competition from Virginia and Maryland. Leverne Summers and Ruby Faye Dunn, both of Washington and both inexperienced in track, combined for a total of six wins....
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April 1863 The siege of almost a month of the Federal troops garrisoned in Suffolk, Va., by Confederates commanded by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet (on detached duty from the Army of Northern Virginia) began on Sunday, April 12, the second anniversary of the start of the war. Out west in the Utah Territory, Federal...
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Details on RDA's busy weekend, exploring new Civil War trails with the Historical Society, raising funds to fight cancer with Nikki Brady and the Public House, Janet Brome's new exhibit at R.H. Ballard, breakfast at the Senior Center, a Civil War's Sesquicentennial event and a meeting for this year's Farm Tour in this week's...
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Local residents join the World's Finest Navy, open a new art exhibit at Gallery Plan B, throw a launch party for an inaugural CD, expand the Trinity Festival and expound on the county's Civil War history in this week's Washington column.
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July 6, 1972 A unique program on the grounds at Avon Hall preceded the brilliant display of fireworks which climaxed the Independence Day activities Tuesday in the town of Washington. Hundreds of people relaxed on the hillsides around the lake; some picnicked while others chatted with friends not often seen, or just rested. Spectators...
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April 1863 April, 1863, specifically April 10, was the midpoint of the war, 1861-65, though it was then unknown at the time in 1863. Military activity by both land and naval forces throughout the divided nations increased daily. On Saturday, April 4, President Lincoln left Washington for Fredericksburg, Va., to confer with Maj. Gen....
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June 29, 1972 In the 1950 election, Mrs. Dorothy C. Davis was named mayor while council seats were taken by Mrs. Acsah Miller, Mrs. Louise Price, Miss Ruby Jenkins, Miss Elizabeth Racer, Mrs. Bobbi Critzer and Mrs. Dorothy Hawkins. Mrs. Hawkins remains a council member and is the only lady official who has served continuously since...
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March/April 1863 As the month of March 1863 began closing, much of the military focus was on the Union efforts to capture the Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River at Vicksburg. Things were not going well for the Federals. The Union gunboat USS Diana was captured by Confederates at Pattersonville, La. Maj. Gen. William...
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June 22, 1972 Raynor V. Snead Jr. received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the University of Virginia at commencement exercises June 4. Mr. Snead will be associated with the law firm of Edmonds, Williams, Robertson, Sackett, Baldwin and Graves in Lynchburg. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1966 and served three years with...
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March 1863 Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner, one of the oldest Federal officers in the service, who had performed well as a combat commander in the Peninsula Campaign and in Maryland in September 1862, died in Syracuse, N.Y., on Saturday, March 21. The same day, in Mississippi, gunboats on Steele’s Bayou were harassed by...
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In the “statusphere” that is Rappahannock County, good looks and influential jobs don’t count for much. Education, money and power – those old status standbys – maybe mean a bit more. But most important by far is family background – especially whether you have “roots” in the county.
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June 15, 1972 Four teachers retired from the Rappahannock County school system at the close of the 1972 session. Two of these have dispensed the three R’s in excess of 40 years, while the remaining two have been instructors for six and 15 years. Miss Garland Riley of Amissville has completed a teaching career which...
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March 1863 During the night of Saturday, March 14, Adm. David Farragut in his flagship USS Hartford led his Union naval squadron up the Mississippi River past the Confederate artillery batteries at Port Hudson, La. The Hartford and the USS Albatross succeeded in getting through but the Monongahela and Richmond were heavily damaged and...
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The oldest occupied governor’s residence in the United States opened an archaeological exhibit to mark its 200th anniversary.
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June 8, 1972 Col. E. A. McNear was given back $4,000 for his zoning office – to allow him to stay open an extra day a week, to keep up with development pressures – when the Rappahannock Board of Supervisors met last Thursday to adopt the budget and set the tax rate. Restoration of...
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March 1863 Only two months after becoming a Partisan Ranger, Confederate Capt. John S. Mosby and several of his Rangers sneaked through Federal lines into Fairfax Courthouse, Va., on the chilly, rainy night of Sunday, Mar. 8, intending to capture Sir Percy Wyndham, a British “by-the-book” Union cavalry officer observing the war for Queen...
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March 1863 The first glimmerings of spring after a winter of bitter weather greeted North and South as the month of March, 1863, began. There were increased worries in the Confederacy, and hope mixed with discontent in the Union. Northern citizens were critical of their military leaders, even of Maj. Gen. Ulysses Grant; he...
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June 1, 1972 Every Tuesday and Saturday, the old Washington School House is open from 11 to 4:30 p.m. to receive donations of things to be sold in the Rappahannock Library’s Super Flea Market. “We beg everyone in the county to get his and her things to us just as soon as possible,” said...
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I had heard the name, but that’s about all I knew about Gene Patterson. As time went by, I learned more – a lot more – and everything I learned bolstered that first impression. He was indeed a good man, one of the best that came out of the South in the 20th century.
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February 1863 During the last week of February 1863, several military, naval, national and political events took place, with skirmishes and engagements all around between Union and Confederate forces. On Sunday, Feb. 22, the anniversary of George Washington’s birth, ground was broken in Sacramento, Calif., for the Central Pacific Railroad that would eventually link...
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May 25, 1972 Patricia Saltonstall, owner of a farm near Massie’s Corner, received her bass fingerlings from the hatchery specialist. Saltonstall is one of 23 new pond owners who received the final shipment of fish for their ponds. Ponds are stocked with bluegill, redear sunfish and channel catfish for the fall by the Soil...
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Curriculum changes are afoot at Rappahannock County Public Schools, as the elementary school is eyeing a substantial modification to its black history curriculum: a partnership with Scrabble School.
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February 1863 River and ocean warfare highlighted the events of the third week in February 1863. In Washington, President Lincoln was concerned about a naval attack being planned for Charleston, S.C. There was fighting at Yazoo Pass, Miss., when Confederates there opposed Maj. Gen. Ulysses Grant’s plans to move gunboats down the Yazoo River...
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May 18, 1972 In an effort to improve the summer baseball program for boys in Rappahannock County initiated last year, three local teams have been entered in the Fauquier Recreational League: Midgets, ages 8-11, coached by Newbill Miller; Pee Wee, ages 12-31, under the direction of Julian Brown; and Pony, with Maury Nichols as coach....
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February 1863 Three blockade runners successfully broke through the Federal blockade off Charleston, S.C. on Saturday, Feb. 7. The same day, the Federal Department of Washington was recreated and Maj. Gen. Samuel Heintzelman was placed in command. Near Williamsburg, Va., Confederate soldiers ambushed a Union cavalry patrol, resulting in the deaths and wounding of...
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May 11, 1972 Following the May 2 election, the government of the Town of Washington has taken on a “new look.” Two men have joined the former all-woman executive and legislative branches. Elected as mayor of the town was Andrew F. Kozik, while Kermit A. Weakley joined the five ladies who were reelected to the council....
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The board of supervisors initiated two requests for road quality tests by VDOT and heard a presentation on the county’s Civil War Trails program from John Tole at its monthly meeting Monday afternoon (Feb. 4).
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It was not just love at first sight; it was adoration, idolization and devotion. Ben Jones was five years old when he saw the picture of Stan Musial on the cover of a sports magazine. In his famous crouch, his bat high, he was the picture of relaxed concentration.
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The winners of the Daughters of the Confederacy's annual essay contest, Mardis Gras at the Theatre, a schedule of the local Lenten services and special birthday and anniversary wishes in this week's Washington column.
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May 4, 1972 Mr. and Mrs. Sung Pil Han of Woodville became citizens of the United States in naturalization proceedings Monday in U.S. district court in Roanoke. The Han family, who are Koreans, have been in this country since 1964. The Hans have two children, Nancy, a fourth grade student in local school who will...
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January/February 1863 As January closed, raids on settlers by the Shoshone Indians led by Chief Bear Hunter in the Utah Territory provoked retaliation by Federal troops. Col. Patrick Connor led his troops out in the deep snow from Fort Douglas and marched 120 miles to Bear Hunter’s camp near present-day Preston, Utah. After an...
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