History of Abingdon, (Washington County) Virginia United States of America

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Local History Notes:

Abingdon, VA., Dec. 15, 1864. Stoneman's raid. Starting from Knoxville, Tenn., on Dec. 9, with two mounted brigades Under Gens. Burbridge and Gillem, Gen. Stoneman drove out of East Tennessee the forces with which Gen. Breckenridge had made a diversion in favor of Hood. In following up his advantage he went up the Holston Valley to Abingdon, Wytheville and Saltville, Va. After the capture of Bristol, Tenn., Burbridge Learned that Gen. Vaughan was at Zollicoffer, 1O Miles distant, with 2,000 Men. Asking Stoneman to support him with Gillem's brigade, Burbridge with 4,000 men marched to Attack Vaughan, but the latter eluded him in a dense fog and attempted to join Breckenridge at Saltville, Going Via Abingdon where Burbridge headed him off, capturing the town, 1 piece of artillery, a locomotive, 12 cars and valuable stores.

SOURCE: The Union Army A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States 1861-65 -- Records of the Regiments in the Union Army -- Cyclopedia of Battles -- Memoirs of Commanders and Soldiers. 8 vols. Madison: Federal Publishing, 1908.

Biographies:

Francis Preston Blair, statesman, was born at Abingdon, Va., April 12, 1791; son of James Blair, attorney-general of Kentucky. He was graduated at the Transylvania university in 1811, and soon afterwards was appointed clerk of the supreme court of Kentucky. In 1828 he was elected by the legislature president of the bank of Kentucky. This office he resigned in 1830, when invited by President Jackson to establish the Globe newspaper at Washington, as the organ of his administration. As editor of the Globe, and as a member of the famous "Kitchen Cabinet," Mr. Blair exerted a wide influence during the eight years of the Jackson administration. He became first known as a political writer during a controversy that arose in Kentucky over the attempt of its legislature to destroy the business of the United States bank by taxing its branches. The contest lasted ten years. It involved the right of a state to change the laws enforcing contracts, to abolish imprisonment for debt, to extend the replevin laws, and other important questions. Mr. Blair advocated the power of a state to change existing laws without reference to pre-existing contracts, and to keep the judicial system under control by repeal and modification. He was beaten at the time, but when these questions became national, as they did in the controversy over the United States bank, his views were sustained by a large majority of the American people. Mr. Blair continued to conduct the Globe during the Jackson and Van Buren administrations, but on the accession of Mr. Polk he surrendered his editorial position, declined a foreign mission, and retired to his farm at Silver Spring, Md. After that he took no further part in politics than to strenuously oppose the extension of slavery in the new territories, and to do all that a private citizen could do to prevent an armed collision between the north and south, During the civil war he was a zealous upholder of the Union, and believed that a satisfactory and honorable adjustment of the controversy might be accomplished by bringing together the leaders or officials on both sides. He obtained a pass to Richmond and unofficially visited President Davis and other leaders of the rebellion and finally brought about, at much personal inconvenience, what is known as the Hampton Roads conference, which resulted in a failure to secure even the basis of an understanding. Mr. Blair opposed the reconstruction policy of President Johnson, and he thereafter supported the principles of the Democratic party, although not always approving the measures adopted. He died at Silver Spring, Oct. 18, 1876.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Warren Ogden, representative, was born in Abingdon, Va., Oct. 21, 1842; son of Elias and Louisa (Gordon) Ogden; great-grandson of Elias and Maria (Anderson) Ogden, and great2-grandson of Robert Ogden, speaker of the Colonial house of representatives of New Jersey, and a descendant of John Ogden, an early settler of the island of Manhattan and the colony of New Jersey. His parents removed to Warrensburg, Mo., in 1851, where he worked on the farm and attended the district school in the winter. He entered the Confederate army in 1861, and served in the Trans-Mississippi department, first as a lieutenant in the 16th Missouri infantry, and afterward on the staff of Col. S. P. Burns, commanding the 2d brigade, M. M. Parson's Missouri division, in Price's army in Louisiana. He was paroled at Shreveport, La., June 8, 1865, and engaged in farming at Benton, La. He was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1879, represented the parish of Bossier in the state legislature, 1880-88, being chairman of the committee on ways and means in 1882, and speaker of the house, 1884-88. He was a Democratic representative from the fourth Louisiana district in the 53rd congress to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Representative N. C. Blanchard to the U.S. senate, March 12, 1894, and was reelected to the 54th and 55th congresses, serving, 1894-99. He was defeated for re-nomination in 1898, and at the close of his term retired from public life.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Young Conn Humes, soldier, was born at Abingdon, Va., in June, 1830; son of John N. and Jane C. (White) Humes, and grandson of Thomas Humes and of Col. James White, of Abingdon, Va. His father lost his fortune and the money to meet his college expenses was borrowed from a neighbor. He was graduated from the Virginia Military institute with honors in 1831, and taught school till his loan was paid. He then read law and removed to Knoxville. Tenn., where his relative, the Rev. Thomas William Humes, was rector of St. John's church, and subsequently president of the University of Tennessee. He taught school, was admitted to the bar, and practised in Knoxville until 1858, and in Memphis, 1858-61. He entered the Confederate service as a lieutenant in Bankhead's battery of light artillery; was promoted captain of heavy artillery in charge of the big gun, "Lady Polk," at Columbus, Ky., and later was in charge of the batteries at Island No. 10. where he was captured, and was confined on Johnson's Island for a year, and on his release assigned to duty at Mobile, Ala. In the spring of 1863 he was ordered to report to General Wheeler, commander of the cavalry corps, and was assigned to duty ns chief of artillery, soon earning the rank of major. He was wounded in the battles incident to General Wheeler's raid in the rear of Rosecrans after the battle of Chickamauga and for this service was made brigadier-general. He commanded a cavalry division under General Wheeler throughout the campaigns of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina until the battle of Marh 10, 1865, near Fayetteville, where he was again wounded, and was promoted to the rank of major-general. After the war he resumed his law practice at Memphis, Tenn. He was married about 1854, to Margaret White, of Abingdon, Va. by whom he had two sons; and secondly, in 1833 or 1861, to Sallie Elder, of Memphis. Tenn., by whom he had four children. He died at Huntsville, Ala., Sept. 2, 1883.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Smith Preston, soldier, was born at the Salt Works, near Abingdon, Va., April 20, 1809; son of Francis and Sarah (Campbell) Preston. He was graduated from Hampden-Sidney college, Va., A.B., 1824; did postgraduate work at the University of Virginia, 1825-26, and attended the Harvard law school. He was married in 1830 to Caroline, a sister of Gen. Wade Hampton of South Carolina. He afterward moved to Columbia, S.C., and thence to Louisiana, where he worked his sugar-plantations. He became prominent as an orator in the South and delivered many famous addresses, among them the one at the laying of the corner stone of the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tenn., in 1857. He was chairman of the South Carolina committee to the Democratic convention at Charleston in May, 1860; was a commissioner to Virginia, and in February, 1861, advocated the secession of Virginia. He was on the staff of General Beauregard in the first battle of Bull Run, 1861, was promoted brigadier-general and served in the conscript department, 1865. He was then in Europe for a number of years and subsequently returned to South Carolina. He delivered his last public address at the unveiling of the Confederate monument at Columbia, S.C. He made a collection of painting and sculpture, and was a helpful friend to Hiram Powers and other rising artists. He died in Columbia, S.C., May 1, 188l.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor