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 (it is 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 County 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.
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