St. Paul's Episcopal Church, during Federal occupation, 1862
UPDATE: For those who don’t already know… this posted just a bit earlier than I had planned. Be sure to check-out the reason why I actually started down the trail with this post… showing my personal connections to it, and possibly to the event.
On Feb. 9, 1862, the Rev. Kensey Johns Stewart was arrested by Union officers after failing to offer a prayer for the President during the height of the Civil War. A melee occurred in the sanctuary as the congregation attempted to defend its minister. On that same day, a warning was issued to “females and others,” threatening arrest for offensive remarks and demonstrations—prompted, no doubt, by the actions of several St. Paul’s ladies, including one who is said to have dropped her Prayer Book down from the gallery onto the head of an offending officer.
On June 28, 1862, St. Paul’s was seized and used as a hospital for Federal forces until the spring of 1865. It was at the Appomatox Courthouse, home of a St. Paul’s parishioner, Wilmer McLean, that Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865.
Steam at Harper's Ferry
February 9, 2012
Is this in Old Town? This must have been something to behold on a Sunday!
Robert Moore
February 9, 2012
Yes, this is old town
jgo
February 9, 2012
I give up. Educate me. How is it that someone who lives near the county seat of Appomattox county, just a few miles EESE of Lynchburg (and a ways WWSW of Richmond), is a parishioner of a church a few miles north of Mt. Vernon along the Potomac? (And wasn’t Arlington originally some one guy’s farm/plantation?)
Robert Moore
February 9, 2012
He moved…
At the beginning of the war, he lived near Manassas. Having had the first major battle at his very doorstep, he moved to Appomattox to get away from the war. That plan failed
Anyway, it still amazes me he made the trip to this church from near Manassas.
Robert Moore
February 9, 2012
There’s actually more to this story… the blog post posted earlier than I had planned… and before I wrote about the other part of this story, and my family connection to the church.