Falmouth during the War

by Hugh Muir

It was April 18, 1862, when the Yankee army first marched into Falmouth and set up camp in the surrounding area. It would be a year before they would leave Stafford County, defeated in two of the most significant battles of the Civil War. And with them fled more than 10,000 slaves.

Last weekend, Falmouth marked that turbulent time with "Yankees in Falmouth!" and invited visitors to relive that period through the eyes of its residents. Included were walking tours of the Rappahannock River beach; visits to half a dozen of the old antebellum buildings, such as the Moncure Conway House; and a gunfire reenactment by Northern sharpshooter units.

"Where we are standing," National Park Service senior historian John Hennessy said to a group on the beach, "was a main route for slaves fleeing north." The reasons were twofold, Hennessy said: crossing at that point was easier, and the slaves had immediate Union army protection.

The first floor of the 1807 Conway House, now owned by Norman and Lanatta Schools, was opened to the public especially for the "Yankees in Falmouth!" event. They also opened their back yard for firing demonstrations by units from the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters and the 7th Michigan Infantry.

Both regiments fought at Fredericksburg in December, 1962, and at Chancellorsville in May, 1863. Their demonstration showed how the Civil War was a bridge in gun technology. The 7th Michigan was armed with long-barreled ball-and-ram- rod rifles, which could fire three rounds a minute. The sharpshooters' breech-load weapon could fire 10 a minute.

Two other buildings highlighted the Washington Street tour: the 1820 Cambridge Inn, which today is the location of Amy's Cafe--and across from it, a late 18th-century warehouse where Harry Lightener's Store once thrived. Roger Lightener, his grandson, was on hand to recollect the days when great-grandmother Lessing Lightener sold ice cream and sandwiches from the center of the building's three sections.

A tour of upper Falmouth, at the level of the present Falmouth Bridge carrying U.S. 1 over the Rappahannock River, included the Union Church on Carter Street, with its historic adjacent graveyard. The original church on the site was an Episcopal church, which burned in 1818.

Falmouth was too small then to support more than one church--so the present unused building, built in 1840, was declared a Union church and used by Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists. Its graveyard was the burial place of the first fatalities in the 1862 Union invasion of the area.

The weekend event was cosponsored by the Moncure Conway Foundation and the National Park Service. Al Conner, president of the Stafford County Historical Society (and who married his wife, Jane, in the Conway House nine years ago) said he hoped that this "first annual event" could be held every year.

Hugh Muir: 540/735-1975
Email: hmuir@freelancestar.com

Falmouth was once a thriving port at the head of navigation of the Rappahannock River, and competed with neighboring Fredericksburg for worldwide trade.

The town reached its high point when a wealthy Falmouth mill owner, Joseph B. Ficklen, built the first bridge across the Rappahannock in 1816. This gave Falmouth road access to trade from western and southern Virginia. Because the span was near water-level, it also blocked ships from going farther upstream.

Construction of the Falmouth Canal in the 1820s, to drive mills and other machinery, confirmed Falmouth's manufacturing strength. But as the 19th century waned, the silting up of the river, the building of larger cargo ships and the arrival of the railroad ended major commercial traffic on the Rappahannock.

The Civil War also set the Falmouth area's manpower back nearly a century. Although no significant fighting occurred there, the region's population went from 8,600 in 1860, to 6,400 in 1870. It did not regain its antebellum population until 1940, according to the National Park Service.

Significantly, with the ending of slavery, the African-American population also dropped, from 3,700 in 1860 to around 1,500 in 1870. "The transformation of America," said National Park Service senior historian John Hennessy, "began here, on this river."

--Hugh Muir

Read more stories about Stafford
Date published: 9/23/2008

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