Bravehardt
0031 General Mohone Memorial at Petersburg Battlefield
Willam Mahone was born in Monroe Southampton County,Virginia to Fielding Jordon Mahone and Martha (n'eeDrew) Mahone.Beginning with immigratin of his Mahone ancestors fromIreland,he was the third individual called "william Mahone".He did not have a middle name as shown by records including his two Bibles,VMI Diploma,a marrige license,and Confederate commissions.Likewise,the General and Otelia's first born son christened William Mahone.The suffix "Jr". was added to his name later in life,during a period of similar cultural naming transition in Virginia.
The little of Monroe was on the bank of the Nottoway River about eight miles south of the county seat at Jerusalem,a town which was renamed Courtland in 1888.The river was important transportation artery in the years before railroads and highways serving the area.Fielding Mahone ran a store at Monroe and considerable farmland.The family nerrowly escaped the massacre of local whites durring Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831.
The local shift of transpotation in the area was from the river to the new technology emerging with railroads in the 1830s.In 1840,when William was 14 years old,the family moved to Jerusalem,when Fielding Mahone perchased and operted a tavern.As recounted by his biographer,Nelson Blake,the frecked-face yourth of Irish-American heritage gained a reputation in the small town from both "gambling and a prolifc use of tobacco and profanity."
Young Billy Mahone gained his primary education from county schoolmaster but with special instruction in mathemtics from his father.As a teenager,for a short time,he transported the U.S.Mail by horseback from his hometown to Hicksford,a small town on the bank of the Meherein River in Greenville County which later combined with town of Belfield on the north bank to form current independent city of Emporia.He was awarded a sport a a state cadet at the recently opened Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington,Virginia.Studying under VMI Commandant William Gilham and a professor named Thomas J.Jackson,he graduted with a degree as a civil engineer in the Class of 1847.
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 Gordonville,Virginia,and the City of Alexandria.Having performed well with the new railroad,was hired to build a plank road between Fredercksbug and Gordonville.
On Apirl 12,1853,he was hired by Dr.Francis Mallory of Norfolk,as chief engineer to build the new Norfolf and Petersburg Railroad (N&P).Mahone's innovative 12 mile-long roabed though the Great Dismal Swamp between South Norfolk and Suffolk employed a log foundation laid at right angles beneath the surface of the swamp.Still on use 150 years later,Mahone's coruroy design withstands immense tonnage of modern coal traffic.He was also resonsible for engineering and building the famous 52 mile-long tangent track between Suffolk and Petersburg.With no curves,it is a major artery of modern Norfolk Southern rail traffic.
In 1854,mahone surveyed and laid out with streets and lots of Ocean View City,a new resort town fronting on the Chesapeake Bay in Norfolk County.With the advent of electric steetcars in the late 19th century,an amusement park developed there and a boardwalk was built along the adjacent beach area.Most of Mahone's street plan is still in use in the 21st century as Ocean View,now a section of the City of Norfolk,is redeveloped.
He was surveyor for the Norfolk and South Air Line Railroad,on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
On February 8,1855,Mahone married Otelia Butler (1835-1911),the daughter the late Dr.Robert Butler from Smithfield,who had been State treasurer of the Commonwelth of Virginia from 1846 until his death in 1853.Her mother was Butler's second wife,Otelia Voinard Butler (1803-1855,originally from Petersburg.
Young Otelia Butler is said to have been a cultured lady.She and William settled in Norfolk,wherwe they lived for most of the years before the Civil war.They had 13 children,but only 3 survived to adulthood,two sons,william Jr. and Robert and a Daughter,also named Otelia.
The Mahone family escaped the yellow fever epidemic that broke out in the summer of 1855 and killed almoust a third of the population of Norfolk and Portsmouth by staying with his mother some distance away in Jerusalem.However,as a consequence of the epidemic,the decimate citzenery of the Norfolk area had difficulity in meeting financial obilations,and work on their new railroad to Petersburg almost came to a stanstill.Ever frugal,Mahone and his mentor Dr.Mallor,nevertheless pushed the project to completion.
Popular legend has it that Otelia and William Mahone traveled alone the newly completed railroads named stations from Ivanhoe and other books she was reading written by Sir Walter Scott.From his historical Scottish novels,she chose the place name of Windsor,Waverly,and Wakefield.She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name of Ivor,a small Southampton County town.When they reached a location where they could not agree,it is said that the name Disputana was crated,the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was completed in 1858,Mahone was named its president a short time later.
According to some records,in 1860,Mahone owed 7 slaves,all black 3 males (ages 13,4,2),4 females (45,24,11,1).Nevertheless,during the Civil War and after,he showed an empath for former slaves that was atypical for the times,and work dilgently for their fair treatment and education.
As the political differences between northern and southern factions escalated in the second half of the 19th century.Mahone was in favor of secession of the Southern states.During the American Civil War,he was active in the actual conflict even before he became an officer in the Confederate Army.Early in the War,in 1861,his Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was especiable valuable to the Confederacy and transportion ordnance to the Norfolk area where it was used during the Confederate occupation.by the end of the war,most of what was left of the railroad was in Federal hands.
After Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861,Mahone was still a civilan,and not yet in the Confederate Army,but working in coordination with walter Gwynn,he orchestrated the ruse and capure of the Gosport Shipyard.He bluffed the Federal troops into abandoning the shipyard in Portsmouth by running a single passenger train into Norfolk with great noise whistle-blowing,then much more quietly,sending again,creating the illusion of large numbers of arriving troops to the Federal listening in Portsmouth accross the Elizabeth River(and just barely out of the sight).The ruse worked,and not a single Confederate soldier was lost as the Union authorities the area,and retreated to Fort Monroe accross Hampton Roads.After this,Mahone accepted a commission as Liutenant Colonel and later Colonel of the 6th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Confederate Army.He commanded the Confederate's Norfolk Districk until its evacuation.He was promoted to Brigadier General in November 1861.
in May 1862,after evacuation of Norfolk by southern forces during the Peninsula Campain,he aided in the construction of the defenses of Richmond on the James River around Drewry's Bluff.A short time later,he led his brigade at the Battle of Seven Pines,and the Battle of Malen Hill.He also fought at Second Bull Run,Fredericksburg,Chancellorsville,Gettysburg,the Wilderness,and Sportsylvania Court House.
Small of stature 5 foot 5 or 6 inchs,and weighing only 100 lb.(45 kg.),he was nicknamed "Little Billy".As one of his soldiers put it,"He was every inch a soldier,though there were not many inches of him". Otelia Mahone was working in Richmond as a nurse,when Virginia governor John Letcher sent word that Mahone had been injured at Second Bull Run,but had olny received a "flesh wound".She is said to have replied "Now I know it is serious for William has no flesh whatsover."
Although his wound at Manassas had not been serious,Mahone did suffer from acute dyspepsia all of his life.During the War,a cow and chickens accomanied him order to provid dairy products.Otelia and their children moved to Petersburg to be near him during the final campaign of the war in 1864-1865 as Grant moved against Petersburg,seeking to sever the rail lines suppling the Confederate capital of Richmond.
It was during the final campaign that William Mahone became wildely regarded as the hero of the Battle of the Crater on July 30,1864.During the Siege of Petersburg of 1864-1865,former Pennsylvania coal miners in the Union Army tunneled under the Confederate lines and blew it up a massive explosion,killed and wounded many Confederates and breaching a key point in the defense line around Petersburg.However,they lost initial advantage and Mahone railed the remaining Confederate forces nearby,repelling the attack.After beginning as an innovative intiative,the Crater schemes turned into a terrible lost for the Union leaders.The quick and effective action led by Mahone was a rare cause of celebration by the occupants of Petersburg,embaitled citizens and weary troops alike."Little Billy"Mahone was promoted to Major General as the result.
However,Grant's stratege at Petersburg eventually succeded as the last rail line from the south to supply the cockcade City (and hence Richmond) was severed in early April 1865.Mahone was with general Robert E.Lee and the Army of Northern Virgiania for the surrender at Appomattox Court House about a week later.Dr.Douglas Southall Freeman,noted biographer of Robert E. Lee,wrote that,after the surrender Lee instructed his Lieutenants "Go home and start rebuilding."
0031 General Mohone Memorial at Petersburg Battlefield
Willam Mahone was born in Monroe Southampton County,Virginia to Fielding Jordon Mahone and Martha (n'eeDrew) Mahone.Beginning with immigratin of his Mahone ancestors fromIreland,he was the third individual called "william Mahone".He did not have a middle name as shown by records including his two Bibles,VMI Diploma,a marrige license,and Confederate commissions.Likewise,the General and Otelia's first born son christened William Mahone.The suffix "Jr". was added to his name later in life,during a period of similar cultural naming transition in Virginia.
The little of Monroe was on the bank of the Nottoway River about eight miles south of the county seat at Jerusalem,a town which was renamed Courtland in 1888.The river was important transportation artery in the years before railroads and highways serving the area.Fielding Mahone ran a store at Monroe and considerable farmland.The family nerrowly escaped the massacre of local whites durring Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831.
The local shift of transpotation in the area was from the river to the new technology emerging with railroads in the 1830s.In 1840,when William was 14 years old,the family moved to Jerusalem,when Fielding Mahone perchased and operted a tavern.As recounted by his biographer,Nelson Blake,the frecked-face yourth of Irish-American heritage gained a reputation in the small town from both "gambling and a prolifc use of tobacco and profanity."
Young Billy Mahone gained his primary education from county schoolmaster but with special instruction in mathemtics from his father.As a teenager,for a short time,he transported the U.S.Mail by horseback from his hometown to Hicksford,a small town on the bank of the Meherein River in Greenville County which later combined with town of Belfield on the north bank to form current independent city of Emporia.He was awarded a sport a a state cadet at the recently opened Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington,Virginia.Studying under VMI Commandant William Gilham and a professor named Thomas J.Jackson,he graduted with a degree as a civil engineer in the Class of 1847.
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 Gordonville,Virginia,and the City of Alexandria.Having performed well with the new railroad,was hired to build a plank road between Fredercksbug and Gordonville.
On Apirl 12,1853,he was hired by Dr.Francis Mallory of Norfolk,as chief engineer to build the new Norfolf and Petersburg Railroad (N&P).Mahone's innovative 12 mile-long roabed though the Great Dismal Swamp between South Norfolk and Suffolk employed a log foundation laid at right angles beneath the surface of the swamp.Still on use 150 years later,Mahone's coruroy design withstands immense tonnage of modern coal traffic.He was also resonsible for engineering and building the famous 52 mile-long tangent track between Suffolk and Petersburg.With no curves,it is a major artery of modern Norfolk Southern rail traffic.
In 1854,mahone surveyed and laid out with streets and lots of Ocean View City,a new resort town fronting on the Chesapeake Bay in Norfolk County.With the advent of electric steetcars in the late 19th century,an amusement park developed there and a boardwalk was built along the adjacent beach area.Most of Mahone's street plan is still in use in the 21st century as Ocean View,now a section of the City of Norfolk,is redeveloped.
He was surveyor for the Norfolk and South Air Line Railroad,on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
On February 8,1855,Mahone married Otelia Butler (1835-1911),the daughter the late Dr.Robert Butler from Smithfield,who had been State treasurer of the Commonwelth of Virginia from 1846 until his death in 1853.Her mother was Butler's second wife,Otelia Voinard Butler (1803-1855,originally from Petersburg.
Young Otelia Butler is said to have been a cultured lady.She and William settled in Norfolk,wherwe they lived for most of the years before the Civil war.They had 13 children,but only 3 survived to adulthood,two sons,william Jr. and Robert and a Daughter,also named Otelia.
The Mahone family escaped the yellow fever epidemic that broke out in the summer of 1855 and killed almoust a third of the population of Norfolk and Portsmouth by staying with his mother some distance away in Jerusalem.However,as a consequence of the epidemic,the decimate citzenery of the Norfolk area had difficulity in meeting financial obilations,and work on their new railroad to Petersburg almost came to a stanstill.Ever frugal,Mahone and his mentor Dr.Mallor,nevertheless pushed the project to completion.
Popular legend has it that Otelia and William Mahone traveled alone the newly completed railroads named stations from Ivanhoe and other books she was reading written by Sir Walter Scott.From his historical Scottish novels,she chose the place name of Windsor,Waverly,and Wakefield.She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name of Ivor,a small Southampton County town.When they reached a location where they could not agree,it is said that the name Disputana was crated,the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was completed in 1858,Mahone was named its president a short time later.
According to some records,in 1860,Mahone owed 7 slaves,all black 3 males (ages 13,4,2),4 females (45,24,11,1).Nevertheless,during the Civil War and after,he showed an empath for former slaves that was atypical for the times,and work dilgently for their fair treatment and education.
As the political differences between northern and southern factions escalated in the second half of the 19th century.Mahone was in favor of secession of the Southern states.During the American Civil War,he was active in the actual conflict even before he became an officer in the Confederate Army.Early in the War,in 1861,his Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was especiable valuable to the Confederacy and transportion ordnance to the Norfolk area where it was used during the Confederate occupation.by the end of the war,most of what was left of the railroad was in Federal hands.
After Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861,Mahone was still a civilan,and not yet in the Confederate Army,but working in coordination with walter Gwynn,he orchestrated the ruse and capure of the Gosport Shipyard.He bluffed the Federal troops into abandoning the shipyard in Portsmouth by running a single passenger train into Norfolk with great noise whistle-blowing,then much more quietly,sending again,creating the illusion of large numbers of arriving troops to the Federal listening in Portsmouth accross the Elizabeth River(and just barely out of the sight).The ruse worked,and not a single Confederate soldier was lost as the Union authorities the area,and retreated to Fort Monroe accross Hampton Roads.After this,Mahone accepted a commission as Liutenant Colonel and later Colonel of the 6th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Confederate Army.He commanded the Confederate's Norfolk Districk until its evacuation.He was promoted to Brigadier General in November 1861.
in May 1862,after evacuation of Norfolk by southern forces during the Peninsula Campain,he aided in the construction of the defenses of Richmond on the James River around Drewry's Bluff.A short time later,he led his brigade at the Battle of Seven Pines,and the Battle of Malen Hill.He also fought at Second Bull Run,Fredericksburg,Chancellorsville,Gettysburg,the Wilderness,and Sportsylvania Court House.
Small of stature 5 foot 5 or 6 inchs,and weighing only 100 lb.(45 kg.),he was nicknamed "Little Billy".As one of his soldiers put it,"He was every inch a soldier,though there were not many inches of him". Otelia Mahone was working in Richmond as a nurse,when Virginia governor John Letcher sent word that Mahone had been injured at Second Bull Run,but had olny received a "flesh wound".She is said to have replied "Now I know it is serious for William has no flesh whatsover."
Although his wound at Manassas had not been serious,Mahone did suffer from acute dyspepsia all of his life.During the War,a cow and chickens accomanied him order to provid dairy products.Otelia and their children moved to Petersburg to be near him during the final campaign of the war in 1864-1865 as Grant moved against Petersburg,seeking to sever the rail lines suppling the Confederate capital of Richmond.
It was during the final campaign that William Mahone became wildely regarded as the hero of the Battle of the Crater on July 30,1864.During the Siege of Petersburg of 1864-1865,former Pennsylvania coal miners in the Union Army tunneled under the Confederate lines and blew it up a massive explosion,killed and wounded many Confederates and breaching a key point in the defense line around Petersburg.However,they lost initial advantage and Mahone railed the remaining Confederate forces nearby,repelling the attack.After beginning as an innovative intiative,the Crater schemes turned into a terrible lost for the Union leaders.The quick and effective action led by Mahone was a rare cause of celebration by the occupants of Petersburg,embaitled citizens and weary troops alike."Little Billy"Mahone was promoted to Major General as the result.
However,Grant's stratege at Petersburg eventually succeded as the last rail line from the south to supply the cockcade City (and hence Richmond) was severed in early April 1865.Mahone was with general Robert E.Lee and the Army of Northern Virgiania for the surrender at Appomattox Court House about a week later.Dr.Douglas Southall Freeman,noted biographer of Robert E. Lee,wrote that,after the surrender Lee instructed his Lieutenants "Go home and start rebuilding."