YOU ARE INVITED

TO A STAGE READING

 of a

Marching Through Culpeper drama 

7 p.m., Thursday, September 2, 2010

Eastern View High School Forum

16332 Cyclone Way

Culpeper, VA 22701

In case you are wondering, a stage reading is the first step in developing a stage production. Actors and actresses sit on the stage and present a dramatic reading of the script. I have been blessed with a talented group of performers. We will have sound effects, simple costumes, and intend to bring this story vividly to life. In many ways it is similar to a radio drama. But most importantly you are invited to watch the launching of this show. We need audience reactions and comments. Videos will also be made available. 

My hope is to have the script available in two formats, drama and musical, by early 2011 for the beginning of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. Rod Stone has written fabulous songs for the musical. 

You, my readers, are my best word-of-mouth promoters. Does your community have a theatrical group? Are they looking for a Civil War story for the Sesquicentennial? Please help me get the word out about this show! 

I hope to see many of you Sept. 2. Y’all come! 

GOD’S VISION FOR FILMMAKING WEBINAR  

You are also invited to listen to a free webinar at 2 P.M. on Tuesday,  Aug. 31. If you sign up you can listen to the recording at a later time.  

Join co-hosts Dr. Joseph Peck www.visions777.com/blog and Dr. Bruce Cook and panelists Dr. Ted Baehr of www.movieguide.org and George Escobar, founder of the Advent Film Group www.adventfilmgroup.com and learn of the spiraling growth in Christian films. REGISTER ]]> http://marchingthroughculpeper.com/stage-reading-of-mtc-script/feed/ 0 http://marchingthroughculpeper.com/a-triangle-george-mcclellan-ellen-marcy-and-a-p-hill/ http://marchingthroughculpeper.com/a-triangle-george-mcclellan-ellen-marcy-and-a-p-hill/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:29:09 +0000 Virginia http://marchingthroughculpeper.com/?p=422 What happens when two close West Points friends fall in love with the same young lady? This is the first of a series of articles about this fascinating triangle. But as we shall see, McClellan is smitten.

George McClellan entered West Point when he was only 15 yrs. 7 months old. The gifted son of a prominent Philadelphia physician was precocious bordering on genius. He had passed 2 years at the University of Pennsylvania and then graduated 2^nd in his West Point class. 

His first-year West Point roommate, A.P. Hill of Culpeper, Virginia, described McClellan as “of gentle nature and high culture.” They quickly became on “terms of great intimacy.” 

Several years after graduation, on March 5, 1852 McClellan reported to West Point graduate Capt. Randolph Marcy to serve as second in command on expedition to discover sources of Red River. Before departing for the expedition, at Fort Smith he met Mrs. Marcy and her younger daughter Fanny and was shown picture of 16-yr old Ellen who was in school at Hartford, Connecticut. He considered her very pretty. 

McClellan was impressed with all the Marcys. While on the trail he wrote his mother, “Randolph Marcy is one of the finest men I ever met with, and never saw one better fitted to conduct such an expedition.” 

Capt. Marcy was also duly impressed with young George McClellan. In fact he named a tributary of the Red River McClellan’s Creek in his honor. He assured his wife, “He is generally regarded as one of the most brilliant men of his rank in the Army and one any young lady might be justly proud of. His family connections are unexceptional and his staff position is such that his wife would always have a good and comfortable home.” 

Randolph Marcy had ambitious plans for his first-born daughter. He doted on Ellen, his “precious child.” By the time she turned 11 she was a stunner and he saw in her the potential for widespread devastation of masculine hearts. He wrote to her, “You can make almost anyone love you if you choose.” 

He wrote her long letters of fatherly advice from his frontier posts in the West. When the time came, he wanted her to marry well and as high up the social scale as possible. He warned her against marrying an army officer of any kind, but especially an officer of the line, who like himself, would be gone to the frontier for months or years on end. Or worse, who would marry her and take her with him. There were few officers who could give Ellen the high social position and comfortable life he so coveted for her. It was also a duty, in Marcy’s way of thinking for a daughter to consult her parents on the important business of picking a husband. 

George McClellan was one of the few exceptions on Capt. Marcy’s short list. He thought that it could be a match made in heaven and that she should meet him. 

In the spring of 1854, McClellan’s mother in Philadelphia thought so too. She had met 18-year-old Ellen several times. When McClellan returned east he received her note which said, “She is beautiful, and she has heard so much from her father that she was just ready to fall in love with you.” 

McClellan was very much open to the idea, and the first week of April, 1854 the handsome twenty-seven year old first lieutenant went to Washington and gained his first vision of this young lass. She had blue eyes, blonde hair, and a gentle sweet smile. Her many suitors called her Miss Nelly. When George McClellan saw her rockets went off. It was love at first sight. He was instantly deranged, but then who wasn’t? But he knew he had an inside track and he also understood protocol.*

Stay tuned for the next issue: “Miss Nelly’s reaction!”

From “The Class of 1846: From West Point to Appomattox: Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan, and Their Brothers ” by John Waugh (highly recommended!”

Ten years ago, local historian and author Virginia Morton introduced her book “Marching Through Culpeper,” during the grand opening of the Museum of Culpeper History’s new Main Street location in July 2000.

Since then, Morton has sold more than 10,000 books and has led more than 4,000 people on her popular two-hour walking tour of historic downtown Culpeper.

She is marking her 10-year anniversary of her book’s release and museum celebration with a special walking tour on July 24 at 10 a.m.

The tour will begin at the Depot’s on Commerce Street.

The cost is $8 for adults 18 and older and all proceeds will benefit the museum.

During her 10-year literary journey, Morton has shared many high points.

“I’ve been blessed with hundreds of new friends across the country and I had the privilege of leading two History-America Mississippi Riverboat tours. But the greatest honor was having Dr. David Aiken, an
English professor at the College of Charleston assign ‘Marching Through Culpeper’ to his class as parallel reading with ‘Gone with the Wind.’”

Culpeper author Virginia Morton with Dr. David Aiken, literature professor at the College of Charleston, at Charleston harbor in 2008. Morton spoke to his class which was reading "Marching Through Culpeper" as parallel reading for "Gone with the Wind."

Since the book’s release 10 years ago, Morton has been busy working on bringing it to life on stage and to the big screen. She is working on producing two versions of the book on stage: a drama and musical.

Morton hopes to have her project complete by the American Civil War Sesqui-centennial in 2011.

“This could bring huge numbers of tourists to Culpeper and lead to a movie or miniseries,” Morton said. “The prayers and support of the community would be greatly appreciated.”

Want to go?
What: Virginia Morton walk-ing tour of downtown Culpeper
Where: Starting at The Depot on Commerce Street
When: July 24 at 10 a.m.

For more information call Virginia Morton at 825-9147.

I had goose bumps when I stood on the front porch where on Sunday, June 8, 1913 the Lord brought the Reverend Stringfellow home. He was serenely sitting on the porch when he passed on to paradise almost instantly from a heart attack at age 73. And I imagine like Stonewall Jackson, he rejoiced that his homecoming was on the Sabbath.

The house faces the railroad where the casket was loaded on a train and taken to Alexandria. The funeral was conducted from the stately Caryle House, his wife Emma’s  home. Stringfellow was buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery, Alexandria, in a most prestigious location. When one enters the circular drive, the Stringfellow marker is immediately visible across the circle. His beloved Emma joined him there on March 24, 1929. The only indication of his extraordinary achievements as a Confederate scout is a small metal marker at the base that says, “Capt. F. Stringfellow, confidential scout under Genl. R.E. Lee.”

 

Frank and Emma Stringfellow's grave

Perhaps the most reliable and greatest tribute to him was written on Aug. 3, 1892 by J.E.B. Stuart’s former adjutant, H. B. McClellan. He wrote, “My position on the staff of General J.E.B. Stuart gave me the opportunity to become fully acquainted with the character of the service rendered as a scout by Frank Stringfellow…I know that he had the confidence of General Stuart and of General R. E. Lee, and that they relied as much upon his accurate judgment in forecasting the movements of the enemy as they did in his courage and enterprise as a scout, in which qualities he was not surpassed by any man in the Army of Northern Virginia.”* 

Medal marker at the base of the headstone

Frank and Emma, rest in peace. Well done good and faithful servants.

*From the Stringfellow papers in the Virginia Historical Society.

 

His lovely daughters had married well. Two of his daughters and their husbands gave Frank and Emma their dream cruise. In 1907, they joined a tour of ministers to Europe and the Holy Land. This life-changing journey in his sixty-seventh year rejuvenated Rev. Stringfellow’s energy to preach and be a faithful servant of the Lord. He wrote to one of his daughters, “How much of the good done to me can I transmit to others? I have had a great spiritual uplift, with it comes increased responsibility. I hope the light within me may never be put under a bushel, but be put upon the candlestand.” 

And for the next six years he let his light shine brightly. Rev. Stringfellow’s philosophy of life can best be summarized in a letter he wrote his grown daughter encouraging her never to complain, “Serve God and your generation with an unselfish spirit, and the same sun which rose often on you in splendor may follow you in life, and come down in a blaze of glory. We can only do our part faithfully, and the thing which befalls us will be the best thing for us in the two lives which we must all live, the here and the hereafter.”*

 *from the Stringfellow papers at the Virginia Historical Society.

You admirer’s of the legendary John Mosby will appreciate Bud’s family history. One of the most exciting episodes of the war took place in the Fauquier home of his great-great-grandfather, Ludwell Lake. On the evening of Dec. 21^st, 1864, Mosby, accompanied by Thomas Love, stopped to have dinner with Mr. Lake, whose son, Ludwell, Jr., fought with Mosby. Leaving their horses tied at the front gate, they entered and were soon seated around a table enjoying a warm dinner with Mr. Lake and his daughter, Mrs. Skinner. 

Hearing the tramp of horses around the house, Mosby opened the door leading to the back yard and saw a number of cavalrymen. He hastily closed the door and turned towards the other door, which then opened and a party of Federals entered. Mosby’s hat, overcoat and cape were lying in a corner. He put up his hands to his coat collar to hide the stars, the emblem of his rank, as he knew his chances of escape would be better if he could conceal his identity. 

Just then shots were fired from the back yard, and a ball passed through the window and struck him in the stomach. “I am shot!” exclaimed Mosby. As the firing continued, the Federals hurried out of the room to escape being shot by their own men. Mosby was bleeding profusely, but stepped into an adjoining bedroom, pulled off his coat and hid it under a bureau, smeared blood all over himself, and fell on the floor as if dead. 

The Yankees returned in a few moments and struck a light. Mrs. Skinner told them Mosby was a stranger to her. Mosby gasped that his name was Lt. Johnson of the 6^th Virginia. They pulled up his blood-saturated shirt and a doctor pronounced the wound mortal. They stripped Mosby of his boots and left. 

When Mosby was satisfied that they had left, he got up and walked into the room to the astonishment of Mr. Lake and Mrs. Skinner, who supposed him dead. Mosby at the time thought his intestines were cut and the wound mortal. When Mr. Lake regained composure, he called a couple of Negro boys to get an ox cart and remove Mosby to safety. The “Gray Ghost” ultimately recovered in his father’s home near Lynchburg and returned to be a thorn in the side of the enemy. 

The window with the bullet hole survives and is occasionally displayed by another branch of the Lake family. Bud has memories of the stories his father told about sticking his fingers in the nine bullet holes which marred the body of his grandfather, Ludwell, Jr., who never acknowledged how many Yankees he killed. Bud spent many hours of his childhood searching the fields of the family farm for bullets and arrowheads. His fascination with arrowheads led him to New Mexico 30 years ago. Today he has the largest private collection of Crow Indian materials and original photographs in the US.  

Prayer Power 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for giving me a safe trip to New Mexico to enjoy a completely different yet majestic portion of Your creation, and for providing the opportunity for me to learn more history through Bud Lake.  New Mexico was re-enacting its one an only battle at Glorietta Pass. We are all stewards of our land and our history. Never let us forget our sacred responsibility.

 In the mighty name of Jesus– Hallelujah! He is risen! Amen.

Initially he built a one-story structure, later to be the barn, and portioned off a section for his faithful horse, separating the animal’s stall from his own quarters by a windowed wall. Then, he had a photographer snap his picture standing on his side of the wall waving through the window to his horse.

 The clever former spy mailed hundreds of these photographs to everyone he knew—friends, Confederate veterans, and churches—with a solicitation for funds to build a rectory for Saint James so that its minister would not have to sleep under the same roof with his horse! Needless to say, he succeeded in building the rectory. 

The church records from 1905 state, “A first class rectory has been erected at a cost of $2,525. The work was done by students from a school in nearby Lawrenceville. The value of the house is $3,000. Much was given towards it. The Southern Railroad kindly agreed to move all the carloads of materials at half price.” 

One assumes that the students probably stayed in the barn during construction. And Stringfellow could not have possibility found a more convenient location for delivering materials to the building site. The house went up just a few feet from the railroad track. Unfortunately this handsome and remarkable house no longer stands. 

However, Mrs. Amelia Hitchings from Norfolk, who lived in the house, was so fascinated by the Reverend Stringfellow that she penned a book “In the House of the Spy.” In 1988 the Cape Henry Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy placed a plaque in the church to honor Reverend Stringfellow. It reads:

 To the glory of God and in memory of Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow 1840-1913

Captain C.S.A. 1861-1865

Chaplain U. S. Volunteers Fourth Virginia Regiment 1898

Minister of this church 1903-1905

Several years ago this author had the opportunity to walk around St. James Episcopal Church, a beautiful little brick church nestled under huge trees with a cemetery dating back to 1840. It is always a privilege and an inspiration to walk in the footsteps of Frank Stringfellow, and to imagine the impact he had on lives and the service he must have rendered to countless others.*

 *The News Progress, Sept. 21, 1988

The United Daughters of the Confederacy Magazine 1988, “Frank Stringfellow: Spy, Priest, Builder”

But he was past the acceptable age for military service and he was not in the best of health. However as one might expect, Frank Stringfellow would not take no as an answer. He had one more trick up his sleeve. When Grant was president, Stringfellow had written him in great detail how in 1864 he had Grant in his gun sights highlighted against the camp fire, but spared the general’s life. Grant had thanked him warmly and said that any request by Stringfellow would be honored by him or any future president. Stringfellow had not taken advantage of Grant’s promise, but now, he felt, the time had come. He wrote President McKinley, quoting from Grant’s letter, and an affirmative answer came back quickly. 

So it was that on May 28, 1898—the 37^th anniversary of his enlistment in the Confederate Army—Frank Stringfellow entered the Fourth Infantry Regiment, Virginia Volunteers, U. S. Army. Sworn in with him was his son, and both served in the same regiment throughout the war. 

*From Stringfellow of the Fourth, by R. Shepard Brown, pp. 292-293

On Valentine’s Day, I had the great pleasure of attending “Love Letters” starring Ben Jones and his lovely wife Alma Viator at the theatre in “Little Washington.” Afterwards our mutual friend, Thom Pellikan, took us to a reception where I learned that Ben, a scholar of the War Between the States, was reading the copy of “Marching Through Culpeper” I had recently sent him.
 
So I decided it was only appropriate for me to read his autobiography, “Redneck Boy in the Promised Land.” And am I ever glad I did! I agree with reviewer Russell Banks, this book is “gutsy, funny, and good-hearted. And definitely reader-friendly.”

But most importantly, it is a story of transformation and redemption. Ben Jones grew up literally on the other side of the tracks in Portsmouth in a home without electricity or a bathroom. His father was an alcoholic and he became one too. He studied acting when he wasn’t drinking, but at age 36 he hit rock bottom with alcohol poisoning. Some former alcoholics took him in and told him to appeal to a higher power. So he prayed and went cold turkey. Here’s a quote in his down-home style:

“Well, you must be a helluva alcoholic, Jonesey,” I thought, “to have none other than God Almighty looking around for you.” Then came into my thoughts another voice, one different from my own stream of consciousness. “You have it right,” the voice said. “I have been looking for you a long time. Take my hand.” 

Being cast as “Cooter” was a true Godsend.

After “Dukes of Hazzard” ended he served two terms as Congressman from Georgia and made a trip around the world. But when driving to Skyline Drive, he fell in love with Rappahannock County. He and Alma found a log cabin dating to the 1700s and bought it immediately. He said he felt as if he was coming home to a place he’d never been before. 

An active participant in the Civil Rights movement and a close friend of Andrew Young, he is a staunch defender of everything Southern and the Confederate flag. He believes that today race relations are better in the South than anywhere else. In fact when a girl asked about his Southern accent, one of his co-stars spoke up and said, “He’s not from the South, he is the South.” He considers that his finest compliment. The resurgence in popularity of “The Dukes of Hazzard” amongst a new generation led him to open “Cooter’s Place” near Sperryville. But when the crowds became too big he moved “Cooter’s Place” to Gatlinburg. In 2006 the DukesFest held in Nashville drew a crowd of 80,000 plus over one hundred replicas of the “General Lee,” the most famous car in film history!
 
These days this “good ol’ boy” spends an hour in prayer and meditation every morning. Want to read an uplifting life story that will make you smile? Grab “Redneck Boy in the Promised Land.”