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William Mahone

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures

              William Mahone
   Born December 1, 1826
        Southampton County, Virginia, USA
   Died October 8, 1895
        Washington, D.C.

   William Mahone ( December 1, 1826 – October 8, 1895), of Southampton
   County, Virginia, was a civil engineer, teacher, soldier, railroad
   executive, and a member of the Virginia General Assembly and U.S.
   Congress.

   As a civil engineer, he helped build Virginia's roads and railroads in
   the antebellum and postbellum ( Reconstruction) periods of the 19th
   century.

   During the American Civil War, as a leader eventually attaining the
   rank of major general of the Confederate States Army, Mahone is best
   known for turning the tide of the Battle of the Crater against the
   Union advance during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864.

   Mahone became a political leader in Virginia, led the Readjuster Party,
   and helped obtain funding, in 1881, for a teacher's school that later
   grew to become Virginia State University. Small of stature, he was
   nicknamed "Little Billy".

Childhood, education

   William Mahone was born in Monroe in Southampton County, Virginia, to
   Fielding Jordan Mahone and Martha (née Drew) Mahone. The little town of
   Monroe was on the banks of the Nottoway River about eight miles south
   of Jerusalem (now Courtland), the county seat. Fielding Mahone ran a
   store at Monroe and owned considerable farmland. In 1840, the family
   moved to Jerusalem, where Fielding Mahone ran a tavern. There, the
   freckled-faced youth of Irish-American heritage gained a reputation for
   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 math from his father. For
   a short time, he transported the U. S. Mail by horseback from his
   hometown to Hicksford, now Emporia. He was awarded a spot as a state
   cadet at the recently opened Virginia Military Institute in Lexington,
   Virginia, and graduated with a degree as a civil engineer in the Class
   of 1847.

Civil engineer, railroad builder, family

   Mahone worked as a teacher at Rappahannock Academy in Caroline County,
   Virginia beginning in 1848, but was actively seeking an entry into
   civil engineering. He did some work helping locate the Orange and
   Alexandria Railroad, an 88-mile line between Gordonsville, Virginia,
   and the City of Alexandria. Having performed well with the new
   railroad, was hired to build a plank road between Fredericksburg and
   Gordonsville.

   In 1853, he was hired by Dr. Francis Mallory of Norfolk, as chief
   engineer to build the new Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad (N&P).
   Mahone's innovative 12 mile-long roadbed through the Great Dismal Swamp
   between South Norfolk and Suffolk employed a log foundation laid at
   right angles beneath the surface of the swamp. Still in use 150 years
   later, Mahone's corduroy design withstands immense tonnages of modern
   coal traffic. He was also responsible for engineering and building the
   famous 52 mile-long tangent track between Suffolk and Petersburg. With
   no curves, it is a major artery of modern Norfolk Southern rail
   traffic.

   In 1854, Mahone surveyed and laid out with streets and lots of Ocean
   View City, a new resort town fronting on the Chesapeake Bay in Norfolk
   County. With the advent of electric streetcars in the late 19th
   century, an amusement park was developed there and a boardwalk was
   built along the adjacent beach 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.

   In 1855, Mahone married Otelia Butler (1835 – 1911), the daughter of
   the late Dr. Robert Butler from Smithfield. Young Otelia is said to
   have been a cultured lady. She and William settled in Norfolk, where
   they lived for most of the years before the Civil War. They had 13
   children, but only 3 survived to adulthood, two sons, William Jr. and
   Robert, and a daughter, also named Otelia.

   The Mahone family escaped the yellow fever epidemic that broke out in
   the summer of 1855 and killed almost a third of the populations of
   Norfolk and Portsmouth by staying with his mother some distance away in
   Courtland. However, the decimated citizenry of Norfolk had difficulty
   in meeting financial obligations, and work on their new railroad to
   Petersburg almost came to a standstill. Ever frugal, Mahone and his
   mentor Dr. Mallory nevertheless pushed the project to completion.

   Popular legend has it that Otelia and William Mahone traveled along the
   newly completed railroad naming stations from Ivanhoe and other books
   she was reading written by Sir Walter Scott. From his historical
   Scottish novels, she chose the place names of Windsor, Waverly, and
   Wakefield. She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name of Ivor,
   a small Southampton County town. When they reached a location where
   they could not agree, it is said that the name Disputanta was created.
   The Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was completed in 1858, and Mahone
   was named its president a short time later.

   According to some records, in 1860, Mahone owned 7 slaves, all black: 3
   male (ages 13, 4, 2), 4 female (ages 45, 24, 11, 1). Nevertheless,
   during the Civil War and after, he showed an empathy for African
   American soldiers and former slaves that was atypical for the times,
   and worked diligently for their fair treatment and education.

"Little Billy": Hero of the Battle of the Crater

   William Mahone
   Enlarge
   William Mahone

   As the political differences between Northern and Southern factions
   escalated in the second half of the 19th century, Mahone was in favour
   of secession of the southern states. During the American Civil War, he
   was active in the actual conflict even before he became an officer in
   the Confederate Army. Early in the War, in 1861, his Norfolk 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 end of the war, most of what was left of
   the railroad was in Federal hands.

   After Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, Mahone helped
   bluff the Federal troops into abandoning the Gosport 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 again, creating the illusion of
   large numbers of arriving troops to the Federals listening in
   Portsmouth across the Elizabeth River (and just barely out of sight).
   The ruse worked, and not a single Confederate soldier was lost as the
   Union authorities abandoned the area, and retreated to Fort Monroe
   across Hampton Roads. After this, Mahone accepted a commission as
   Lieutenant Colonel and later Colonel of the 6th Virginia Infantry
   Regiment in the Confederate Army. He commanded the Confederate's
   Norfolk district until its evacuation. He was promoted to brigadier
   general in November 1861.

   In May 1862, after the evacuation of Norfolk by Southern forces during
   the Peninsula Campaign, he aided in the construction of the defenses of
   Richmond on the James River around Drewry's Bluff. A short time later,
   he led his brigade at the Battle of Seven Pines and the Battle of
   Malvern Hill. He also fought at Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg,
   Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court
   House.

   William Mahone was widely regarded as the hero of the Battle of the
   Crater on July 30, 1864, during the Siege of Petersburg of 1864–65.
   Former Pennsylvania coal miners in the Union army tunneled under the
   Confederate line and blew it up in a massive explosion, killing and
   wounding many Confederates and breaching a key point in the defense
   line around Petersburg. However, they lost their initial advantage and
   Mahone rallied the remaining Confederate forces nearby, repelling the
   attack. After beginning as an innovative initiative, the Crater scheme
   turned into a terrible loss for the Union leaders. He was promoted to a
   major general as a result, and was with Robert E. Lee and the Army of
   Northern Virginia for the surrender at Appomattox Court House in April
   1865.

   Small of stature, 5 foot 5 or 6 inches, and weighing only 100 lb (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 was working in Richmond as a nurse, when Virginia
   Governor John 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."
   Otelia and their children moved to Petersburg to be near him during the
   final campaign of the War in 1864-65.

Atlantic, Mississippi, and Ohio Railroad

   After the war, Lee advised his generals to go back to work rebuilding
   the Southern economy. William Mahone did just that, and became the
   driving force in the linkage of N&P, South Side Railroad, and the
   Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. He was president of all three by the
   end of 1867. During the post-war Reconstruction period, he worked
   diligently lobbying the Virginia General Assembly to gain the
   legislation necessary to form the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad
   (AM&O), a new line comprised of the three railroads he headed,
   extending 408 miles from Norfolk to Bristol, Virginia, in 1870. The
   Mahones were colorful characters: the letters A, M & O were said to
   stand for "All Mine and Otelia's". They lived in Lynchburg, Virginia,
   during this time, but moved back to Petersburg in 1872.

   The Financial Panic of 1873 put the A,M & O into conflict with its
   bondholders in England and Scotland. After several years of operating
   under receiverships, Mahone's role as a railroad builder ended, in
   1881, when Philapdelphia-based interests outbid him and purchased the
   A,M & O, renaming it Norfolk and Western. Although he lost control of
   the railroad, Mahone was able to arrange for a portion of the State's
   proceeds of the sale to help found a school to prepare teachers to help
   educate black children and former slaves. The Virginia Normal and
   Collegiate Institute near Petersburg was forerunner of Virginia State
   College, which expanded to become Virginia State University. He also
   retained personal ownership of investments linked to the N&W's
   development of the rich coal fields of western Virginia and southern
   West Virginia, contributing to his rank as one of Virginia's wealthiest
   men at his death, according to his biographer, author Nelson Blake.

Virginia politics: Readjuster Party, U.S. Senate

   William Mahone was active in the economic and political life of
   Virginia after the Civil War for almost 30 years. He was elected to the
   Virginia General Assembly as a Delegate from Norfolk in 1863 (during
   the Civil War). He served as mayor of Petersburg. After his
   unsuccessful bid for governor in 1877, he became the leader of the
   Readjuster Party, a coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and
   African-Americans seeking a reduction in Virginia's prewar debt, and an
   appropriate allocation made to the former portion of the state that
   constituted the new State of West Virginia. Mahone led the successful
   effort to elect the Readjuster candidate William E. Cameron as the next
   governor, and he himself was elected to served as a Senator in the U.S.
   Congress from 1881 to 1887, when he lost his seat to Democrat John W.
   Daniel. Once he was seated in Congress, Mahone became affiliated with
   the Republican Party, and led Virginia delegations to the Republican
   National Conventions of 1884 and 1888. In 1889, he ran for governor on
   a Republican ticket, but lost to Democrat Philip W. McKinney. It was to
   be 80 more years before Virginia sent another non-Democrat to the
   Governor's Mansion (Republican A. Linwood Holton Jr. in 1969). Although
   out of office, the seemingly tireless Mahone continued to stay involved
   in Virginia-related politics until he suffered a catastrophic stroke in
   Washington, D.C., in the fall of 1895. He died a week later, aged 68.

   Although Mahone was not to live to see the outcome, for several
   decades, Virginia and West Virginia disputed the new state's share of
   the Virginian government's debt. The issue was finally settled in 1915,
   when the United States Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia owed
   Virginia $12,393,929.50. The final installment of this sum was paid off
   in 1939.

Heritage

   Mahone mausoleum at Blandford Cemetery, identified by its "M" insignia.
   Enlarge
   Mahone mausoleum at Blandford Cemetery, identified by its "M" insignia.

   William Mahone was interred in the family mausoleum in Blandford
   Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia. His widow, Otelia, lived until 1911,
   and was interred alongside him. Due to the political controversies that
   colored his later life, this hero of the Confederacy is not identified
   on his family mausoleum by anything more than his initial, "M".

   Otelia and William Mahone's first home in Petersburg, originally
   occupied by John Dodson, Petersburg's mayor in 1851-2, was on South
   Sycamore St.:it now serves as part of the Petersburg Public Library. In
   1874, they acquired and greatly enlarged a home on South Market St. and
   it was their primary residence thereafter. Virginia State University,
   which he helped found as a normal school, is a major community presence
   nearby.

   A large portion of U.S. Highway 460 in eastern Virginia (between
   Petersburg and Suffolk) parallels the 52-mile tangent railroad tracks
   that Mahone had engineered, passing through some of the towns he and
   Otelia are believed to have named. Several sections of the road are
   labeled "General Mahone Boulevard" and "General Mahone Highway" in his
   honour. A monument to Mahone's Brigade is located on the Gettysburg
   Battlefield.

   The site of the Battle of the Crater is a major feature of the National
   Park Service's Petersburg National Battlefield Park. In 1927, the
   United 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, CSS, 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."

Trivia

     * Mahone did not have a middle name as someone has stated. Beginning
       with the Mahone immigration from Ireland, he was the third
       individual to be called William Mahone. Primary sources prove that
       the General's name was William Mahone. These records include his
       two Bibles, VMI Diploma, Marriage license, and Confederate Army
       commissions; also, secondary records, eg. Nelson Blake's biography
       of General Mahone, confirm the name. Likewise, the General's first
       born son was William Mahone (Jr. added later), no middle name.

     * Mahone was a civilian, and not yet in the Confederate Army, when he
       orchestrated the ruse and capture of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in
       1861.

     * Mahone suffered from acute dyspepsia all of his life. During the
       American Civil War, a cow and chickens accompanied him in order to
       provide dairy products.

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