From: pdunn@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Patrick L Dunn)
Subject: Re: John McCausland (was Text of 1861 mustering call)
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 05:18:11 GMT


I thought I would post this as an interesting follow-up to the mustering call.
The commander of the department of the Kanawha Valley in 1861 was Lt. Col 
(later Brigadier General) John McCausland.  His record in the war was rather 
infamous because of his activities in 1864, and on his death northern 
newspapers referred to him as "the Hun of Chambersburg" in his obituary.

As the war progressed, he became a cavalry commander under Jubal Early.  In
1864, I believe on the way to the Battle of Monocacy, he was ordered to
Chambersburg, PA (and some other towns in Maryland and Pennsylvania) to extract
"reparations" for damage done by Union troops to civilian property in the
Shenandoah Valley and in Lexington, VA (particularly, the burning of much of
the campus of the Virginia Military Institute).  His orders were to demand from 
the townspeople in several towns sums of money, and if these were not 
delivered, the business district of these towns was to be burned.  At 
Chambersburg, the populace could not (or would not) come up with the sum of 
money asked, and the town was burned.

I was well informed of the story of McCausland when I was growing up.  After
the war, McCausland traveled abroad for a while, then returned to WV and built
a house, which still stands and is directly across the Kanawha River from my
parent's house.  The house is very strange: it has a very wide gate going into
the cellar, and an octangular cupola at the top, with windows facing in four
directions.  The cupola looks something like a turret on a CW gunboat.

Now, the strange features of this house, as well as some other strange events,
have led to the creation of a local legand about the general.  Apparantly,
McCausland was in constant fear after the war that there was a price on his
head, placed there by the citizens of Chambersburg, and, as the legand goes, he
did all that he could to make sure that he would be ready should someone come
for him.

The first part of the story has to do with his return to the area after the
war.  Supposedly, he wanted people to believe that he was dead, so he arranged
to have himself shipped home in a coffin.  (I  have an aged relative who says
that he talked to a ferry-boat opereator many years ago, and that this person
attested to this being true, as he ferried the famous "corpse" across the
Kanawha river).

Now, the large cellar door and the strange "turret" in the house fed this
legand.  Supposedly, the door existed so that McCausland could drive a team of
horses directly into the cellar, should he have need to conceal himself in
haste.  The turret was (supposedly) equipped with Gatling guns, should there be
need of defense.

If any of this happened, it was over 100 years ago, and like most folklore, it
is based on hearsay.  But it is an interesting story.

Ending on an ironic note:  McCausland, who they say was so afraid for his life,
passed away in 1927, at the age of 91.  He was the next to last surviving
Confederate general officer (the last being Simon Bolivar Buckner).


PDunn
Newsgroups: alt.war.civil.usa