sold or given away 4,520 acres of the inheritance. In 1816, a commission of three men, including William’s son Robert Stanard, sold the remaining acreage. Despite the legal progression of land ownership, the village previously owned and heavily developed by William Stanard remains named after him and is the only legally recognized town in Greene County. For reasons of distance from legal proceedings and a fear of the more dense slave population in lower Orange County, attempts began in 1819 to separate the “Upper District” from the “Lower District” in Orange. Finally in 1838, Senator Thomas Davis successfully passed “An Act Forming a New County out of the County of Orange.” The new county was given the name of Nathanael Greene who gained fame in the Revolutionary War as second-in-command to General George Washington, and Stanardsville was chosen to be the County seat. The Civil War Numerous men from Greene County dutifully participated in the French and Indian Wars (at least fi ve men), the Revolutionary War (57 men), the War of 1812 (at least three men), World War I (36 men, three casualties), World War II (531 soldiers, nine casualties), the Korean War (38 soldiers, two casualties), and the Vietnamese War (44 soldiers, one casualty). However, the fi rst time that any military action happened in Greene County and the confl ict with the highest casualty rate for Greene County was the bloody American Civil War. There were eleven offi cers and at least 94 enlisted soldiers who joined the Confederate Army. Of those men seven were killed, eleven died during the war (is it assumed they died mainly from disease and infection), thirty were wounded and fourteen others were captured. Full two-thirds of the known soldiers were casualties. It is unknown and certainly undocumented if any men from Greene County decided to fi ght for the Union Army. The Deserters of Hensley Hollow The fi rst Civil War excursions into Greene County involved the efforts of General Stonewall Jackson to capture a band of Confederate deserters of supposedly 200-500 men hiding in the mountains. The men were on the Western side of the mountains in Hensley Hollow, inside Rockingham County lines. The fi rst search conducted by company F, Twelfth Cavalry, and led by Captain Harry Gilmor, gave up after two or three days of fruitless effort in what must have been very strange and diffi cult terrain. The second attempt made by two companies and led by Greene native Captain Lynn B McMullan and Captain Naderbush was successful in a way. Forty-eight men were driven over mountains into Greene County and captured. The enormous difference between the original estimates of 200-500 men and the 48 captured was never explained. While this was a minor incident during the war, it must have provided considerable excitement for the mountain people. Sickness and War In February of 1862, 8,500 Confederate soldiers led by General Richard S. Ewell made two camps in Greene County to protect Swift Run Gap and to be prepared to join General Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. During the short period that they were camped in eastern Greene County, some of Ewell’s men contracted an unknown disease (probably typhoid fever). The sick were treated in the basement of the Stanardsville Methodist Church and other available buildings by local women who served as nurses. In spite of their assistance, over 30 men died of the disease and were buried somewhere near the Shiloh Baptist Church. No one has been able to fi nd the exact grave sites. The Battle of Stanardsville In 1864, the Union armies planned and carried out a diversionary drive through Greene County to Charlottesville where they hoped to disrupt Confederate communications, destroy bridges and mills, and generally divert Confederate attention from the important action at Richmond. Union General George Custer was in charge of 1,500 soldiers who stopped in Stanardsville on March 1, 1864, long enough to destroy the Confederate Supply Depot there and plunder public buildings, all the while holding the men of Stanardsville hostage. Custer’s troops went on their merry way south but met a small Confederate force stationed at Rio Hill which forced the Union forces into retreat. Union and Confederate forces were in sporadic contact until the Union forces attempted to cross the Rapidan River into Madison County. On that spot was a skirmish now called the “Battle of Stanardsville”. Following the relatively brief battle, Custer continued his retreat having accomplished his mission. The Shenandoah National Park In the late 1920’s and into the 1930’s the Commonwealth of Virginia used the power of eminent domain to acquire land for donation to the federal government in order to create Shenandoah National Park. From 1081 individual tracts of land, over 500 families and individuals were displaced from their homes so that the park could be established. The Blue Ridge Heritage Project will acknowledge and honor the people whose sacrifi ces made it possible for us to have the Shenandoah National Park to enjoy today and into the future. Greene County, Virginia is a fast-growing gateway between dynamic Northern Virginia and Charlottesville, a Money Magazine “100 best places to live.” Greene County is a county located in central Virginia in the eastern United States that was established in 1838. Its county seat is Stanardsville. Centered at the crossroads between two major highways, U.S. 29 and U.S. 33, Greene County is only 100 miles southwest of Washington, DC, 20 miles north of downtown Charlottesville and 78 miles northwest of Virginia’s capital city, Richmond. Greene is also close to interstates 64 and 81, and is only four miles from the Charlottesville- Albemarle Airport. Greene County is 157 square miles of land area with over 19,000 inhabitants. It was founded in 1838 and currently has a 3.4% growth rate. www.greenecoc.org/ 5
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