William Mahone | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byMathew Bradyc. 1865–1880 | |
| United States Senator fromVirginia | |
| In office March 4, 1881 – March 4, 1887 | |
| Preceded by | Robert E. Withers |
| Succeeded by | John W. Daniel |
| Member of theVirginia Senate from theNorfolk City district | |
| In office March 1, 1864 – April 9, 1865 | |
| Preceded by | William N. McKenney |
| Succeeded by | Edmund Robinson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1826-12-01)December 1, 1826 |
| Died | October 8, 1895(1895-10-08) (aged 68) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Blandford Cemetery,Petersburg, Virginia |
| Political party | Democratic(before 1877) Readjuster(1877–1889) Republican(after 1889) |
| Alma mater | Virginia Military Institute |
| Nickname | "Little Billy" |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Confederate States |
| Branch/service |  Confederate States Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1865 |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War (1861-1865) |
William Mahone (December 1, 1826 – October 8, 1895) was an Americancivil engineer,railroad executive, andConfederate States Army general. After theCivil War he became a defender of the rights offreedmen and a leader of theReadjuster Party. He represented Virginia in theUnited States Senate between 1881 and 1887.[1]
As a young man, Mahone was prominent in buildingVirginia's roads and railroads. As chief engineer of theNorfolk and Petersburg Railroad, he built log-foundations under the routes in theGreat Dismal Swamp in southeast tidewater Virginia that are still intact today. According to local tradition, several new railroad towns were named after the novels ofSir Walter Scott, a favoriteBritish/Scottish author of Mahone's wife, Otelia.
In theAmerican Civil War, Mahone was pro-secession and served as a general in theConfederate States Army. He was best known for regaining the initiative at the late war siege ofPetersburg, Virginia, while Confederate troops were in shock after a huge mine/load of black powder kegs was exploded beneath them by tunnel-digging former coal minerUnion Army troops resulting in theBattle of the Crater in July 1864; his counter-attack turned the engagement into a disastrous Union defeat.
After the war, he returned to railroad building, merging three lines to form the importantAtlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O), headquartered inLynchburg. He also led theReadjuster Party, a state political party with a coalition of freemen blacks, Republicans, and populist Democrats. TheVirginia General Assembly elected Mahone to theU.S. Senate in 1881.
William Mahone was born atBrown's Ferry nearCourtland inSouthampton County, Virginia, to Fielding Jordan Mahone and Martha (née Drew) Mahone.[2] Beginning with the immigration of his Mahone ancestors fromIreland, he was the third individual to be called "William Mahone". He did not have a middle name as shown by records including his two Bibles,Virginia Military Institute (VMI) diploma, marriage license, and Confederate Army commissions. Likewise, the General and Otelia's first-born son was christened William Mahone. During similar cultural naming transitions in Virginia, the suffix "Jr." was added to his name later.
The little town ofMonroe was on the banks of theNottoway River about eight miles south of thecounty seat at Jerusalem, a town which was renamedCourtland in 1888. The river was a vital transportation artery in the years before railroads, and later highways served the area. Fielding Mahone ran a store at Monroe and owned considerable farmland. He also enslaved several people for their forced labor.[3] The family narrowly escaped the killings of local whites duringNat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831.
The local transportation shift in the area was from the river to the new technology emerging withrailroads in the 1830s. In 1840, when William was 14 years old, the family moved to Jerusalem, where Fielding Mahone purchased and operated a tavern known asMahone's Tavern.[4] As recounted by his biographer, Nelson Blake, the freckled-faced youth ofIrish-American heritage gained a reputation in the small town for both "gambling and a prolific use of tobacco and profanity".
Young Billy Mahone gained his primary education from a country schoolmaster but with special instruction in mathematics from his father. As a teenager, for a short time, he transported theU. S. Mail by horseback from his hometown to Hicksford, a small town on the south bank of theMeherrin River inGreensville County, which later combined with the town of Belfield on the north bank to form the currentindependent city ofEmporia. He was awarded a spot as a state cadet at the recently openedVirginia Military Institute (VMI) inLexington, Virginia.[5] Studying under VMI CommandantWilliam Gilham, he graduated with a degree as acivil engineer in the Class of 1847.
Mahone worked as a teacher atRappahannock Academy inCaroline County, Virginia, beginning in 1848, but was actively seeking an entry into civil engineering. He did some work helping locate theOrange and Alexandria Railroad, an 88-mile line betweenGordonsville, Virginia, and theCity of Alexandria.[6] Having performed well with the new railroad, he was hired to build aplank road betweenFredericksburg and Gordonsville.[7][8]
On April 12, 1853, he was hired by Dr.Francis Mallory ofNorfolk, as chief engineer to build the newNorfolk and Petersburg Railroad (N&P).[9] William Mahone, chief engineer, advertised for contractors who would regrade theNorfolk and Petersburg Railroad for 62 miles from the Warwick Swamp of theBlackwater River toNorfolk in 1853.[10] Mahone's innovative 12-mile-long roadbed through theGreat Dismal Swamp betweenSouth Norfolk andSuffolk employed a log foundation laid at right angles beneath the surface of the swamp. Still in use over 160 years later, Mahone'scorduroy design withstands the immense tonnages of moderncoal trains. He was also responsible for engineering and building the famous 52-mile-longtangent track betweenSuffolk andPetersburg. With no curves, it is a major modernNorfolk Southern rail traffic artery.
In 1854, Mahone surveyed and laid out with streets and lots ofOcean View City, a new resort town fronting on theChesapeake Bay inNorfolk County.[11] With the advent of electricstreetcars in the late 19th century, anamusement park was developed there, and aboardwalk was built along the adjacentbeach area. Most of Mahone's street plan is still in use in the 21st century as Ocean View, now a section of the City of Norfolk is redeveloped.
Mahone was also asurveyor for the Norfolk and South Air Line Railroad on theEastern Shore of Virginia.[11]
On February 8, 1855, Mahone marriedOtelia Butler (1835–1911), the daughter of the late Dr.Robert Butler fromSmithfield, who had been State Treasurer of theCommonwealth of Virginia from 1846 until he died in 1853.[12] Her mother was Butler's second wife, Otelia Voinard Butler (1803–1855), originally fromPetersburg.[7]
Young Otelia Butler is said to have been a cultured lady. She and William settled in Norfolk, where they lived most of the years before the Civil War. They had 13 children, but only three survived to adulthood, two sons,William Jr. andRobert, and a daughter, also namedOtelia. From 1862 to 1868, the family resided inClarksville, Virginia at theJudge Henry Wood Jr. House.[13]
The Mahone family escaped theyellow fever epidemic that broke out in the summer of 1855 and killed almost a third of the populations of Norfolk andPortsmouth by fleeing the city and staying with his mother 50 miles away in Jerusalem (now known asCourtland) in ruralSouthampton County. However, because the epidemic decimated the Norfolk area, with financial consequences as well, work on the new railroad to Petersburg almost came to a standstill.
Ever frugal, Mahone and hismentor, Dr. Mallory, nevertheless pushed the project to completion in 1858, and Mahone was named its president a short time later. Popular legend claimed Otelia and William Mahone traveled along the newly completed railroad, naming stations fromIvanhoe and other books she was reading written by SirWalter Scott. From his historical Scottish novels, she chose the place names ofWindsor,Waverly, andWakefield. She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name ofIvor, a small Southampton County town. When they reached a location where they could not agree,Disputanta was created.
As the political differences betweenNorthern andSouthern United States factions escalated in the second half of the 19th century, Mahone favored southern states'secession. During theAmerican Civil War, he was active in the conflict even before he became an officer in the Confederate Army. Early in the war, in 1861, hisNorfolk and Petersburg Railroad was especially valuable to the Confederacy and transported ordnance to the Norfolk area, where it was used during the Confederate occupation. By the war's end, most of what was left of the railroad was under U.S. control.
After Virginia declared secession from the United States in April 1861, Mahone was still a civilian and not yet in the Confederate Army. Still, working in coordination withWalter Gwynn, he orchestrated the ruse and capture of theGosport Shipyard. He bluffed U.S. Army troops into abandoning the shipyard in Portsmouth by running a single passenger train into Norfolk with great noise and whistle-blowing, then much more quietly sending it back west and then returning the same train, creating the illusion of large numbers of arriving troops to the U.S. soldiers listening in Portsmouth across theElizabeth River (and just barely out of sight). The ruse worked, and not a single Confederate soldier was lost as the U.S. authorities abandoned the area and retreated toFort Monroe acrossHampton Roads. After this, Mahone accepted a commission aslieutenant colonel and latercolonel of the6th Virginia Infantry Regiment, and remained in Norfolk, which was now under the command ofBenjamin Huger. Mahone was subsequently promoted tobrigadier general on November 16, 1861, and commanded the Confederate's Norfolk district until its evacuation the following year.
In May 1862, after Confederate forces fled Norfolk during thePeninsula Campaign, Mahone aided in the construction of the defenses of Richmond on theJames River aroundDrewry's Bluff.[14] A short time later, he led his brigade at theBattle of Seven Pines,[14] and theBattle of Malvern Hill. After the defense of Richmond, Mahone's brigade was assigned from Huger's division to the division ofRichard H. Anderson and fought at theSecond Battle of Bull Run, where Mahone was shot in the chest while leading his brigade in a charge across Chinn Ridge. Short (5 feet 6 inches (168 cm)) and weighing only 100 pounds (45 kg), he was nicknamed "Little Billy". As one of his soldiers put it, "He was every inch a soldier, though there were not many inches of him." Otelia Mahone worked in Richmond as a nurse when Virginia GovernorJohn Letcher sent word that Mahone had been injured at Second Bull Run, but had only received a "flesh wound". She is said to have replied, "Now I know it is serious for William has no flesh whatsoever." The wound was not life-threatening, but Mahone missed theMaryland Campaign the following month. After two months of recovery, he returned to command, not seeing any significant action at theBattle of Fredericksburg. Mahone used his considerable political skills to lobby for a promotion to major general during the winter of 1862–63. Although several of his fellow officers in theArmy of Northern Virginia agreed, Robert E. Lee argued that there was no available position for a major general just then, and Mahone would have to wait until one opened up.
Mahone's brigade was one of the portions of theFirst Corps that remained with the main army for theBattle of Chancellorsville. After Lee reorganized the army in May 1863, Mahone ended up in the newly createdThird Corps ofA. P. Hill. At theBattle of Gettysburg, Mahone's brigade was mostly unengaged and suffered only a handful of casualties the entire battle. Mahone was supposed to participate in the attack on Cemetery Ridge on July 2, but against orders, held his brigade back. DuringPickett's Charge the following day, Mahone's brigade was assigned to protect artillery batteries and was uninvolved in the main fighting. Mahone's official report for the battle was only 100 words long and gave little insight into his actions on July 2. However, he told fellow brigadierCarnot Posey that division commanderRichard H. Anderson had ordered him to stay put. Despite his failure to move his command into action, Mahone suffered no punishment due to his seniority and the fact that he would ultimately become one of a handful of officers in the Army of Northern Virginia to lead a brigade for an entire year's duration.
Although his wound atManassas had not been severe, Mahone experienced acutedyspepsia all of his life. A cow and chickens accompanied him during the war to provide dairy products. Otelia and their children moved to Petersburg to be near him during the war's final campaign in 1864-65 as Grant moved againstPetersburg, seeking to sever the rail lines supplying the Confederate capital of Richmond.
During theBattle of the Wilderness, Mahone's soldiers accidentally woundedJames Longstreet. Richard Anderson was appointed to corps command. Mahone took command of Anderson's division, which he led for the remainder of the war, starting at theBattle of Spotsylvania Court House. He became widely regarded as the hero of theBattle of the Crater on July 30, 1864. There, U.S. Army coal miners tunneled under the Confederate line. They blew it up in a massive explosion, killing and wounding many Confederates and breaching a critical point in the defense line around Petersburg. Nevertheless, Mahone rallied the remaining nearby Confederate forces, repelling the attack, and the U.S. soldiers lost their initial advantage. Having begun as an innovative tactic, the Battle of the Crater became a terrible loss for the United States. Mahone's quick and effective action was a rare cause for celebration by the occupants of Petersburg, embattled citizens, and weary troops alike. On July 30, he was promoted to major general.[15]
However, in early April 1865, Grant's strategy at Petersburg eventually succeeded in severing the last rail line from the southern states to supply Petersburg (and hence Richmond). At theBattle of Sailor's Creek on April 6,Lee exclaimed in front of Mahone, "My God, has the army dissolved?" to which he replied, "No, General, here are troops ready to do their duty." Touched by the loyalty of his men, Lee told Mahone, "Yes, there are still some true men left ... Will you please keep those people back?"[16] Mahone was also with Lee at thesurrender at Appomattox Court House three days later.
After the war, Lee advised his generals to return to work rebuilding the southern states' economies. William Mahone did just that and became the driving force in the linkage of N&P,South Side Railroad, and theVirginia and Tennessee Railroad. He was president of all three by the end of 1867.[17] During the post-warReconstruction period, he worked diligently lobbying the Virginia General Assembly to gain the legislation necessary to form theAtlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad (AM&O), a new line comprising the three railroads he headed, extending 408 miles from Norfolk toBristol, Virginia, in 1870.[18] This conflicted with the expansion of theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad from Baltimore and Alexandria, Virginia. The Mahones were colorful characters: the letters A, M & O were said to stand for "All Mine and Otelia's".[7] They lived in Lynchburg, Virginia, during this time, but moved back to Petersburg in 1872.
ThePanic of 1873 put the A, M & O into conflict with its bondholders in England and Scotland. After several years of operating underreceiverships, Mahone's relationship with the creditors soured, and an alternate receiver, Henry Fink, was appointed to oversee the A, M & O's finances. Mahone still worked to regain control. His role as a railroad builder ended in 1881, when Philadelphia-based interests outbid him and purchased the A, M & O at auction, renaming itNorfolk and Western (N&W).
Before the Civil War, theVirginia Board of Public Works had invested state funds in a substantial portion of the stock of the A, M & O's predecessor railroads. Although he lost control of the railroad, as a significant political leader in Virginia, Mahone was able to arrange for a portion of the state's proceeds of the sale to be directed to help found a school to prepare teachers to help educate black children and formerly enslaved people near his home at Petersburg, where he had earlier been mayor. The Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute eventually expanded to becomeVirginia State University, with Virginia nativeJohn Mercer Langston returning from Ohio to become its first president. Mahone also directed some funds to help found the predecessor of today'sCentral State Hospital inDinwiddie County, also near Petersburg. Mahone personally retained his ownership of land investments which were linked to the N&W's development of the richcoal fields of western Virginia and southernWest Virginia, contributing to his rank as one of Virginia's wealthiest men at his death, according to his biographer, author Nelson Blake.
Mahone was active in Virginia's economic and political life for almost 30 years, beginning amid the Civil War when he was elected to the Virginia General Assembly as a delegate from Norfolk in 1863. He later served as mayor of Petersburg. After his unsuccessful bid for governor in 1877, he became the leader of theReadjuster Party, a coalition ofDemocrats,Republicans, andAfrican-Americans seeking a reduction in Virginia's prewar debt, and an appropriate allocation made to the former portion of the state that constituted the newState of West Virginia.[19] In 1881, Mahone led the successful effort to elect the readjuster candidateWilliam E. Cameron as the next governor, and he became aUnited States Senator.[20]
The Readjuster Party did more than refinance the Commonwealth's debts. The party invested heavily in schools, especially for African Americans, and appointed African American teachers for such schools. The party increased funding for what is nowVirginia Tech and established its black counterpart,Virginia State. The Readjuster Party abolished thepoll tax and the publicwhipping post. Because of expanded voting,Danville elected a black-majority town council and hired an unprecedented integrated police force.[21]
With the Senate split 37–37 between Republicans and Democrats, Mahone and another third-party candidate willing to caucus with the latter had political influence. Under Senate rules,Vice President of the United StatesChester A. Arthur, a Republican, would cast any tie-breaking votes. Mahone bargained for significant concessions before he decided to caucus. Despite being a first-year senator, he became chair of the influentialAgriculture Committee. He gained control over Virginia's federal patronage from PresidentJames A. Garfield and by the right to select both the Senate's Secretary and Sergeant at Arms.[22]
However, Mahone still faced opposition from theConservative Party of Virginia, which aligned with the Democrats and grew even more powerful after the 1884 election, when DemocratGrover Cleveland was elected president (with its patronage perks). Mahone maintained his Republican Party affiliation, leading Virginia delegations to theRepublican National Conventions of 1884 and 1888. However, he lost his Senate seat to Conservative DemocratJohn W. Daniel in 1886.[23]
In1889, Mahone ran for governor on a Republican ticket but lost to DemocratPhilip W. McKinney.[24] It was to be 80 more years before Virginia sent another non-Democrat to the Governor's Mansion (RepublicanA. Linwood Holton Jr., in 1969).
Although out of office, Mahone continued to stay involved in Virginia-related politics until he suffered a catastrophicstroke inWashington, D.C., in the fall of 1895. He died a week later, at 68. His widow, Otelia, lived in Petersburg until her death in 1911.
Although Mahone was not to live to see the outcome, Virginia and West Virginia disputed the new state's share of the Virginia government's debt for several decades. The issue was finally settled in 1915 when theUnited States Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia $12,393,929.50 (~$277 million in 2024). The final installment of this sum was paid off in 1939.
He was interred in the family mausoleum inBlandford Cemetery inPetersburg, Virginia.[25] His widow was interred alongside him. His well-known monogram identifies the mausoleum, an initial "M" centered on a star inside a shield.
Their first home in Petersburg, originally occupied by John Dodson, Petersburg's mayor in 1851–2, was on South Sycamore Street. That structure is now part of the Petersburg Public Library. In 1874, they acquired and greatly enlarged a home on South Market Street, their primary residence after that.Virginia State University, which he helped found as anormal school, is a major community presence nearby.
A large portion ofU.S. Highway 460 in eastern Virginia (betweenPetersburg andSuffolk) parallels the 52-mile (84 km) tangent railroad tracks that Mahone had engineered, passing through some of the towns that the two are believed to have named. Several road sections are labeled "General Mahone Boulevard" and "General Mahone Highway" in his honor. TheRoute 35 overpass ofRoute 58 in his nativeSouthampton County, Virginia is named "The General William Mahone Memorial Bridge".
A monument to Mahone's Brigade is on theGettysburg Battlefield.
The site of theBattle of the Crater is a major feature of theNational Park Service'sPetersburg National Battlefield Park. In 1927, theUnited Daughters of the Confederacy erected an imposing monument to his memory. It stands on the preserved Crater Battlefield, a short distance from the Crater itself. The monument states:
To the memory of William Mahone, Major General, CSA, a distinguished Confederate Commander, whose valor and strategy at the Battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864, won for himself and his gallant brigade undying fame.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Virginia 1889 | Vacant Title next held by Patrick H. McCaull |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 1) from Virginia March 4, 1881 – March 4, 1887 Served alongside:John W. Johnston,Harrison H. Riddleberger | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
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| Class 2 | ||
| Public Buildings (1838–1857) | | |
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| Public Buildings and Grounds (1857–1947) | ||
| Public Works (1947–1977) | ||
| Environment and Public Works (1977–present) | ||
| Nullifier | |
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| Know Nothing | |
| Free Soil | |
| Union | |
| Liberal Republican | |
| Readjuster | |
| Populist | |
| Silver or Silver Republican | |
| Nonpartisan League | |
| Farmer–Labor | |
| Other | |
| Independents | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
