A Little Bit of Nature ... A Little Bit of History from Jordan's Point - Lexington, Virginia

A bit of history about Jordan's Point area in Lexington, Virginia:

On June 5, 1864 Union General David Hunter defeated Maj. Gen. William E. "Grumble" Jones at the Battle of Piedmont. He moved up the Valley (southward) to Lexington, Virginia where he burned the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) on June 11th and his troops freely looted civilian property of all kinds along the way. Henrietta Lee, a relative of Robert E. Lee whose house was burned by the Union troops, wrote a letter addressing Hunter, promising that the "curses of thousands, the scorn of the manly and upright and the hatred of the true and honorable, will follow you and yours through all time, and brand your name infamy." Lexington was particularly hard hit. In addition to the burning of VMI, Hunter's men plundered a number of private homes and the library of Washington College(now Washington and Lee). Hunter ordered the home of former Governor John Letcher burned, reporting afterwards that it was in retaliation for its absent owner's having issued "a violent and inflammatory proclamation ... inciting the population of the country to rise and wage guerrilla warfare on my troops." (excerpt from Wikipedia article)

Hunter was the author of Report of the Military Services of Gen. David Hunter, U.S.A., during the War of the Rebellion, published in 1873.

I will be posting about VMI and Washington and Lee University in upcoming posts.