Preserving Yesterday Enriches Tomorrow THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MADISON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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1 Preserving Yesterday Enriches Tomorrow THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MADISON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY P.O. Box 467, Madison, Virginia November 2013 CIVIL WAR ARTIFACTS COLLECTOR TO SPEAK items since that time. He has participated in living history programs for the National Park Service for over twenty years and still shoots cannons and muskets in competition as a member of Hardaway s Battery in the North- South Skirmish Association. Mr. Hosaflook is a life member of the Louisa and Fluvanna Historical Societies and many other history based organizations. A 1972 graduate of the University of Virginia, he has retired this year from a forty year career as a land surveyor. The meeting will be held in the county administrative offices auditorium at 2pm Sunday, November 17 th. Everyone is invited to attend and refreshments will be provided in the Kemper Residence next door following the presentation. CONFEDERATE CIVIL WAR ARTISTS Greg Hosaflook Our speaker for the November 17 th quarterly meeting of the Madison County Historical Society will be Greg Hosaflook. He is a Louisa County native and has had a lifetime interest in history, especially the Civil War. The topic of his presentation will be Collecting the Civil War- an Artifact Sampler. Basically a show and tell presentation, his talk will include a range of items, from a postal history exhibit, several types of guns and swords, confederate currency, soldier s equipment, an identified cavalry saddle, military manuals and excavated artifacts. Mr. Hosaflook has been interested in history, especially the civil war, since 1962, when, as a young boy, he excavated a cannonball fragment at Manassas. He has been collecting Civil War Page 1 Pat Lattin speaking at Society meeting The speaker for the August 18 th meeting was Pat Lattin arrayed in her artist s beret as she

2 introduced six little-known artists of the Confederacy to the audience. Mrs. Lattin displayed her own portrait of General Lee painted in the Old Masters technique. Her power point program allowed viewing of several sample paintings from each artist. Fredericksburg native John Adams Elders has portraits of Lee and Jackson hanging in the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. His reputation was made by his Battle of the Crater, which illustrated the aftermath of the explosion under the Confederate line at Petersburg in 1864 due to the tunneling by Pennsylvania miner/soldiers. William D. Washington s Burial of Latane was the most memorable image to emerge from the Civil War and an outstanding example of Lost Cause imagery. Much of his work is found in the VMI library. Mrs. Lattin s favorite artist, Conrad Wise Chapman, was brought up in Italy by his Virginian parents but enlisted against their wishes. A talented artist from a young age, he never gained the credit or reputation he deserved due to mental illness that plagued his life since a self-inflicted head wound received during the battle at Shiloh. While stationed in Charleston, he was asked to record the batteries defending this coastal town and 33 of his oil paintings from that time were acquired by the Museum of the Confederacy. There is ongoing restoration of these pieces that look like beautiful impressionistic paintings rather than wartime scenes. A Chapman painting was found in Oregon in the 70 s when a barn was being dismantled. Mrs. Lattin hopes everyone was inspired to look more closely at art work of the war years as we commemorate the 150 th anniversary. BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION Members of the Society will elect four members to the Board of Directors at the general membership meeting scheduled for February 16, The Board consists of twelve members, each serving staggered three-year terms, so that four memberships expire each year. Article IV, Section 3. Of the Society s By-Laws states: The Board of Directors shall be elected by the general membership. One third of the Board shall be elected at the first designated regular membership meeting of the calendar year. A Nominating Page 2 Committee shall nominate members. Nominations may also be made from the floor. Any one so nominated must have agreed in writing to serve prior to the nomination. A Board member whose term has expired may be re-elected. As noted above, in addition to nominations by the nominating committee, a member can run for a seat on the Board by submitting his or her desire in writing prior to the general membership meeting. These can be submitted to a current Board member or by mailing them to the Society at P.O. Box 467, Madison, VA. The current members of the Board are as follows, with the year of their term expiration in parentheses: Tommy Ford (2014), Bill Scholten (2014), Sandy Stowe (2014), Beppy White (2014), Penn Bowers (2015), Jean Busboso (2015), Jim Lillard (2015), Judy Mahanes (2015), Maxwell Lacy (2016), Pat Lattin (2016), Carole Milks (2016), and Roger Schreiner (2016). The full content of the By-Laws can be accessed on the Society s web page at: THE BATTLE OF JACK S SHOP 150 TH ANNIVERSARY The commemoration started with a Lecture Series consisting of the following: Virginia and Madison County During The Civil War by Mr. Frank Walker Freedom At The Gates: African- Americans in Civil War Virginia by Prof. Ervin L. Jordan (UVA) Civil War Crossings by Mr. Jim Lillard The Battle of Jack s Shop by Mr. Harold Woodward, Jr. The Civil War 150 th History Mobile was provided by The Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission for the Madison High School Students on Friday and the general public on Saturday. Saturday brought lots of displays and demonstrations, including cavalry and artillery demonstrations at Hoover Ridge Park, tent encampments at the High School, basket weaving, soap making, quilting, butter churning, wood shingle making, spinning and weaving and live animals, Civil War artifacts found locally, Civil War era living history, and re-enactors

3 including; Gen. Robert E Lee, Gen. James L Kemper, Gen. Thomas J Jackson, Gen. George A Custer, and 2 nd Maryland Infantry Co. A. There were 4 bus tours of the actual Battle Site, conducted by Harold Woodward Jr. The weather was miserable, but lots of folks turned out to see the different events. This day was the culmination of almost a year of hard work and planning by a committee of many led by Doug Graves and Willie von Raab. From the lectures and displays to the demonstrations of the cavalry, and the crafters to the bus tours, everything was well done. We are very thankful to the school system and Parks and Recreation for allowing us to use their facilities for this project. Many volunteers were involved in making this a huge success, thanks to them all. Thanks to Germanna Community College, John Berry, and Pat Temples, there will be DVD S of the Lectures and the September 21 st events for sale by the Society in the near future. One DVD will contain all of the lectures and the other the displays and demonstrations. They will be priced at $12 each or both for $20. These should be available in time for Christmas. We hope to have them available at the November 23 rd and December 14 th Markets at the Madison Fire House. You can also contact the Arcade or any member of the Madison County Historical Society if you would like to purchase one or both. Once again, a capacity attendance helped make the Fall Tea a huge success. We are grateful to friends in Madison and surrounding communities for their support. Our apologies to those on the waiting list who we could not accommodate. This ongoing support is gratifying to the group that prepares and donates the food for the events. We are pleased to be a part of a successful project that helps provide funding for the Society s preservation efforts in Madison County. Plans are already underway for the Spring event, which is scheduled for Wednesday, April 2, That is a week later than the normal last-week-in-march pattern. The change was made to avoid a conflict that would affect attendance. Please mark your calendars for April 2 nd, for the tea and March 1 st, when reservations will open. Call early, so you will not be disappointed. Watch for a reminder in the February newsletter. DO YOU KNOW? FALL LUNCHEON TEA A SUCCESS Lizzie and Nick Leonard attend in period costume Page 3 In the last newsletter we showed you pictures from an unknown airport. A member called in and although he could not identify the people, he told us that the Bowles Airport was the first airport in Winchester, VA. In this issue we have two portraits. They were given to the Jack Smith family by the Christian/Compton family when they moved out of the Kemper Residence. Mary Elizabeth Smith

4 Delaveign has donated them to the Historical Society but does not know who they are. Can anyone identify them? Please call the Arcade and leave a message KEMPER FIX-UPS NEARING COMPLETION New steps on Kemper entrance MEMBERSHIP We would like to welcome the following new members to the Society since the last newsletter: Linda Leifeld Garold & Dorothy Stephenson Carolyn Bourdow Diane C. Enroughty Patricia Lattin Caroline Watts We are happy to have you with us and hope you have a rewarding membership experience. Your 2014 membership renewal letter should be placed in the mail to you in early December. This will give you the opportunity to include your 2014 membership donation with the current tax year if you so desire. The Society is also working on creating an distribution list. We want to begin checking out how many members may be receptive to receiving from the Society and possibly the Newsletter. Obviously this distribution method does not work for everyone but we wanted to see what the interest level might be As noted in the last Newsletter, what started out as the application of a new coat of paint on the front porch and stairs turned into the need to replace the stairs and side boards when, after scraping off the paint, several patches of beyond-repair rot were discovered. The installation of new steps and side boards has now been completed. The final phase of the project will be the application of a new coat of paint. The appearance and function of the entrance will be greatly improved after completion of this work. Thanks are due to Madison County and Facilities Manager Roger Berry for undertaking this project. Another project noted in the last Newsletter was the partial renovation of the first floor bathroom and kitchen. This project has been completed with the laying of a new floor in both rooms and replacing the sink and counter top in the bathroom with a newer and more appropriate model. In addition a ceiling fan donated by Maryvonne Longley was installed in the kitchen. These improvements have already been enjoyed by Mary Haught and her staff during Fall Tea preparations. Page 4

5 HISTORIC PROPERTY OF JAMES CITY TO BE RESTORED James City Tavern The very historic Madison County property of James City has been purchased by Peter and Alice Stoudt, of Albemarle County, with the objective of restoring several of the buildings. Preserving this historic property has been an interest of several entities in the past but finances have precluded its acquisition and restoration. We feel most fortunate that the Stoudts have acquired the property of one hundred and thirty plus acres with the intention of preserving this site of a Civil War battle and a property that has been in existence as a City since colonial times and functioned in three centuries of American history. The Civil War battle of James City involving Confederate General JEB Stuart s troops and Union General Jubal Kilpatrick s troops occurred on October 10, 1863, and was the second battle fought in Madison County after the battle of Jacks Shop September 22, On Saturday, October 12 th, the Stoudts invited a number of individuals to their James City property to commemorate the 150 th anniversary of that battle and Mr. Harold Woodward gave the guests a synopsis of the reasons for the battle and its consequences, and Mr. Frank Walker provided a memoriam. The guests were told by the Stoudts of plans for research and restoration of the property. They will provide a voluminous amount of papers found on the property from the 1870 s to 1900 s period to the Madison County Historical Society for preservation. Several members of the Madison County Historical Society were present and consider this acquisition by the Stoudts and their interest in historical preservation an exciting and fortunate happening. At the James City Battle Commemoration are Harold Woodward, Jim Lillard, Bernice Walker, Frank Walker, Alice Stoudt, Kavanaugh White, and Peter Stoudt. Page 5

6 The Madison County Historical Society is a non-profit organization founded and operated for the perpetuation and preservation of Madison County heritage and traditions. The mission of the Society is to record, preserve, and stimulate interest in the history of Madison County, its families, occupations and way of life. Memberships expire at the end of the calendar year. Membership and other contributions to the Society are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. Types of Membership: Sustainer $500 or more Benefactor $250 to $499 Partner $100 to $249 Friend $50 to $99 Business $50 Family $30 Single $20 Student $5 Membership applications are available at the Arcade and the Kemper Residence, and on-line at the Society s web page - (Click on "ABOUT US", and then on "application"). For more information call the Society Office at Please leave a message if no one answers. We will return your call. You can also us at madisonhistory@verizon.net. Madison County Historical Society P.O. Box 467 Madison, Virginia November 2013 Page 6