An Examination of the Virginia Flood of 1870'S Aftermath and Relief Effo

James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Masters Theses, 2010-2019 The Graduate School 2015 "Ruin and desolation scarcely paralleled" : An examination of The Virginia Flood of 1870’s aftermath and relief efforts Paula Fielding Green James Madison University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019 Part of the Other History Commons, Public History Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Green, Paula Fielding, ""Ruin and desolation scarcely paralleled" : An examination of The Virginia Flood of 1870’s aftermath and relief efforts" (2015). Masters Theses, 2010-2019. 70. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/70 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses, 2010-2019 by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Ruin and Desolation Scarcely Paralleled” An Examination of the Virginia Flood of 1870’s Aftermath and Relief Efforts Paula Fielding Green Weddle A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History December 2015 FACULTY COMMITTEE: Committee Chair: Dr. David Dillard Committee Members/ Readers: Dr. Evan Friss Dr. Raymond Hyser Dr. Carole Nash Dedication Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, Bertram W. Kite, Sr., whose stories sparked my interest in history and laid the groundwork for this research. ii Acknowledgements There are so many people who have helped and guided me over the course of this project and exhibited immense patience while I worked on this research. I first want to thank my thesis committee for their insightful comments and suggestions. Dr. Dillard has been a wonderful source of encouragement and knowledge. His direction has kept this work from pursuing many rabbit holes and tangents that were interesting but may have distracted from the larger argument. His good natured attitude and unvarnished candor has made it a joy to work with him. Dr. Friss and Dr. Hyser have provided great comments and suggestions for shaping this thesis and have been a pleasure to work with. I’d especially like to thank Dr. Friss for his insight into the website component. Finally, I’d like to thank Dr. Carole Nash who suggested an array of helpful sources and always provides wise advice. It has been wonderful to work with her on this endeavor especially since she was also my mentor during my undergraduate years in the Anthropology Department. This work required a lot of on-site research with primary sources. For their gracious work providing materials, I would like to extent a thank you to the staff at the Library of Virginia, Virginia Historical Society, Valentine Museum, University of Virginia’s Special Collections, Warren Heritage Society, Page County Clerk’s Office and the Warren County Clerk’s Office. I’d also like to thank JMU’s Library staff, particularly Patricia Hardesty and the Interlibrary Loan department. Additionally, since my work required an abundance of microfilm research, I would like to thank the ILL staff at the Library of Virginia and University of Virginia for generously loaning JMU their microfilm collections. iii My classmates were an absolutely amazing group of people who shared this journey and went out of their way to welcome me into the class as one of their cohorts. I have received an amazing amount of encouragement and support from all of them, but would like to also thank a few specific individuals. I’d like to extend a big thank you to Megan Sullivan and Xavier Macy for helping me to study for my comprehensive exams. I’d also like to thank Xavier for being a constant source of encouragement and an all- around amazing colleague. Throughout this endeavor my workgroup has shown an abundance of support through words of encouragement and accommodating time off for classes and research. My supervisor, Mikki Butcher, has been an amazing person to work with and a wonderful friend who always offered words of support. April Beckler is the most amazing person to share an office with. She always knows what to say to bring me back to reality and keep me from being so hard on myself. Ginny Schneider, Laura Montanez, and Ashley Kreis have all been wonderful people to work with who always offered words of support and helped share my daily workload when I was out of the office. My student assistants Rosemarie McGinty, Rebecca McCallister, and Troy Lovelace were all a part of his journey at different times. They are three of the best people I could ever hope to meet and never failed to brighten my day with their presence alone. I want to extend a special thank you to Carolyn Kyger & Thomas Green for being amazing parents who always encouraged my love of history through trips to historic sites, weekends wandering antique stores, long talks about artifacts and historic events, and even allowing me to perform my first “archaeological dig” the garden after a family trip to Tredegar Iron Works when I was in elementary school. They laid the beginning iv groundwork for this research by instilling the importance of history through their daily actions and love. Finally, this work would not have been possible without the care and support of my friends and family who have not given up on me even when I disappeared into thesis research-land. My husband, parents, brothers, in-laws, and friends have been amazingly patient while I sequestered myself away for weekends of research and writing. I can’t thank them enough for all of the support, encouragement, understanding, and caring gestures that have nurtured my life for the past two years. Though all were patient and caring, I need to extend a special thank you to my husband Billy, who graciously allowed me to pursue this dream while putting our lives on hold for three and a half years of classes and graduate school time. Words will never be enough to express my appreciation for his generous actions and understanding for all of the times that I babbled on about flood damage, environmental history, and material culture for the past several years. Thank you for being my sounding board, grammarian, husband, and friend. v Preface In 1996, as a fifteen year old, I moved to Page County, Virginia. During my first week of 10th grade at a new high school, I witnessed virtually everything in the county shut down for a few days in the wake of Hurricane Fran. I can still remember the sound of the beating rain on the tin roof outside of my window. At that point in time, I could not envision how those days would shape my life in the future. In a way it sealed my fate as a future graduate of Page County High, instead of the respective Dinwiddie County High to which I longed to return. In turn, those few days also shaped my later decision to go to JMU and pursue Archaeology and Art History. However, most related to this thesis, it gave my grandfather, Bertram Kite Sr., the opportunity to talk about the Flood of 1870. This was the first of many historical discussions and the beginning of an academic bond between us. At the time, I listened with interest to the story, but didn’t give it much additional thought. A few years ago, something sparked my curiosity and I decided to see if there was anything on the flood in the Page News and Courier from 1870. I was absolutely blown away by an eloquent piece describing the plight of people in the Shenandoah Valley. The comparison to the hard war that they had endured grabbed my attention and made me want to know more about how they rebuilt their lives without the benefit of insurance and social aid programs. I was also fascinated by the fact that a flood that I had always associated only with Page County was much larger in scale, but nothing has been devoted to its scholarship. I was not yet in the Masters of History program and after much thought decided to pursue the study of History, not only to grow as a person, but also to learn the correct historical methods for research and delving into this story. vi The more I dug, the more attached I became to individual stories which I wanted to tell using correct methodologies and historiographic approaches. In the process, I became interested in environmental history, disaster scholarship, socio-economic inequality, and how these themes often overlap. This work has been a difficult journey, fraught with sleepless nights and sequestered writing time, but it has been a work of love - for both my Grandfather, who would have been so interested and for all those whose voices were silenced by the floodwaters. I hope this research is a useful contribution to the historiographical record that helps to illuminate the lasting impact of the Virginia Flood of 1870. vii Table of Contents Dedication……………………………………………………………………….…...ii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….…iii Preface……………………………………………………………………………….iv List of Figures…………………………………………………..….………….…….ix Abstract ……………………………………………………………………..……….x Introduction……………………………………………………………………..........1 I. A Massive Storm, Immediate Aftermath, and Historical Context………………..11 The Storm…………………………………………………………..……......11 Staunton, VA to Georgetown, MD………………...……………..………....18 Lexington to Richmond....……………………………………..…………….39 II. Soliciting Donations: Relief & the Brief Attempt to Help the Sufferers………...64 Statewide Relief - The VA Legislative Relief Committee…………………..69 Lynchburg

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