History of Lynchburg-Part 3

Hello Everybody-I hope you are enjoying this series of the history of Lynchburg as much I am doing it. Lynchburg is definitely a HISTORY BUFF"S DREAM. If you missed the first 2 parts here are the links BELOW

Lynchburg HISTORY Part 1    Lynchburg HISTORY Part 2

The 1850's also saw the arrival of telegraph service to Richmond, along with a gas works for lighting, and a sewer system. More importantly, Lynchburg achieved full status as a city on August 27, 1852. In 1854, the South Side railroad began operation with the arrival of the first train from Petersburg at the Island depot.

Lynchburg would see its third railroad, the Orange and Alexandria (a northern route), in a few more years. In the summer of 1855, Lynchburg served as a refuge from the yellow-fever-plagued cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and in the following year, a series of back-to-back snowstorms dumped 58 inches of snow on Lynchburg.

During the Civil War, Lynchburg served primarily as a supply and hospital center, and was spared most of the destruction that befell other Virginia cities and towns. Lynchburg did see battle action, however, in June of 1864,  when Confederate forces successfully fought off a Union attack. On June 17, Union General David Hunter approached the city from the west after moving down the Shenandoah Valley burning farms and towns.

After a series of delaying actions by Confederate General John McCausland, the Union troops managed to force back a Confederate line positioned at the old Quaker Meeting House, and took the nearby Sandusky House (1808, pic left) for use as a temporary headquarters. Sandusky today(pic right)

On June 18 following the fallback, Confederate forces, now reinforced by General Jubal Early, maintained positions along a 3-mile line west of the town (extending from what is now Fort Early to McCausland Ridge).

After inconclusive fighting, the Union troops withdrew under the false impression they were facing a larger Confederate force. Part of the deception arose from a continuous series of train movements on several rail lines, giving the impression that reinforcements were arriving at a steady pace. The following day, General Early chased the Union troops back towards Liberty (now Bedford), overtaking them and inflicting heavy casualties.

The Battle of Lynchburg is reenacted each year at Berkley, an antebellum estate in Bedford county. Over 3,000 Confederate dead are buried in the Old Confederate Cemetery, located just west of the southern end of Fifth St.).

In late September of 1870, Lynchburg experienced its worst flood in history when the James rose 26 feet out of its banks. The flood destroyed all bridges across the river, all railroad property in the river basin and on the island, the main gas pipe across Blackwater Creek and the water works pump house, leaving the city without light or water for months, and without a bridge across the James. In 1877, yet another flood wreaked similar havoc, once again destroying all bridges.

Lynchburg 1875

In this view from Amherst County, one can see the
court house (top middle), the Va. & Tennessee depot
and train shed (center/left), the V&T roundhouse (right)
and covered wooden bridge across the James River

(destroyed by flood in 1877).

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