Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1925-07-31
u. S. SENATOR
FIRST CITIZEN
Harrison Holt Riddleberger Won
Fame For Self and Home Town

In the tumult and political strife
following on the heels of the recon
struction era in Virginia, there came
out of Edinburg a man who stood in
the storm center s-'he turmoil and
Who because of his feaSaassness wor
for himself Leadership hich made
him a United States Senator from
Virginia. This man is often referred
4 to as Edinburg's leading citizen and
/ he sleeps in the beautiful cemetery
on the south of the town, among the
people whose cause he championd&
and among those who loved him we'll.
Harrison Holt Riddleberger was
born in Edinburg, the son of Madison
and Susan (Shryoek) Riddleberger,
on October 4. 1S43.
After attending several private
schools in the village, at the age of
fifteen, went to Harrisonburg, Va,
! to take employment as clerk in gem
eral grocery store, where he was
working at the outbreak of the war.
When seventeen years old, he joined
and help organize company of cav
airy in Harrisonburg, and was later
made captain of this company, which
participated in the first battle of
Manassas. A considerable part of
his military activity consisted in do
ing scout duty in the Shenandoah
Valley, from the hills and mountains
of which he reported the movements
of the armies under Generals Banks
and Siegel.
Interested in Law
Captain Riddleberger was twice
captured, and while in prison at
Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, be-
came interested in the study of law,
through a copy of Blackstone Com
mentaries, having in some way fallen
into his hands. After the surrender, I
he returned to the mercantile bust
ness in Harrisonburg for a short
while and in the Fall of 1867, mar
ried Miss Emma Below of Edinburg, +
daughter of DR.. Peter and Elizabeth
(Samuels) Below After a brief
mercantile experience in Edinburg, /
and teaching school, he became in
terested in the publication of a news
paper there, The Tenth Legion Ban
ner." and continued to read law at
srlf h., Lilo Il
next associated himself with the pub
fishers of the Shenandoah Herald"
at Woodstock, the county seat, and
having taken up the practice of law
there, he moved to Woodstock and
was elected Commonwealth Attorney
of Shenandoah County. He ran for
the State Senate but was defeated, .
being elected, however, at the next
election following.
While in the State Senate, he wrote .
and sponsored what later became
known as the Riddleberger Bill, deal
ing with the settlement of the State
debt as between Virginia and West
Virginia, which was defeated in the
Legislature, but became the leading
issue in the formation of the Read /
juster movement in Virginia, on
which this new party went before the
people, and were successful at the
polls. 1t was as a Readjuster that
he became an outstanding figure in
the State, and he ranked high among
the giants on the hastings during
those turbulous times. AS a speaker
and debater he had few equals dur
ing the campaigns in which he took
such a conspicuOuspart, and this ac-I
tivity led TO his election as United
States Senator Here, his support of
the Blair Educational Bill, his oppo-
sition to the British Extradition
treaty, aimed at Irish political of
lenses, and his participation in the
legislation out of which the Inter
state Commerce Commission was ere
ated, gave him an enviable eminence
among his fellow senators.
Senator Riddleberger died January
"a, 1890.