Alexander Pendleton and John Rodgers Meigs
DRIVING TOUR # 4
This appendix is meant to bring attention to two additional driving tour stops of interest. Due to their remote locations, they are not included in the main driving tours. The stops address the death of an officer from each army, Alexander “Sandie” Pendleton and John Rodgers Meigs.
John R. Meigs was born on February 9, 1842, in Washington D.C. to Montgomery and Louisa Meigs. His father was an engineer in the U.S. Army and John spent much of his childhood traveling from one post to the next. Young Meigs was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in September 1859 and graduated first in the Class of 1863. Being at the top of the class, he received a commission as first lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. His first assignment was to oversee the construction of defenses for the city of Baltimore. In July 1863, he transferred to the staff of Brig. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Kelley, the commander of the Department of West Virginia. Meigs served briefly with Kelley before transferring to the staff of Brig. Gen. William Averell. On November 6, 1863, Meigs fought at the battle of Droop Mountain and, that December, participated in the Salem Raid. In the spring and summer of 1864, Meigs fought at New Market, Piedmont, and Lynchburg. When Phil Sheridan took command of the Middle Military Division, Meigs became its chief engineer. For his actions at Third Winchester and Fisher’s Hill, Meigs was brevetted to captain and major, respectively.
Lt. John R. Meigs (WRHS)
On October 3, 1864, while leading a surveying party near the town of Dayton, Meigs ran into a group of Confederates. In the ensuring firefight, Meigs was killed. His body was removed and taken to rest in the new military burying ground on Robert E. Lee’s estate, Arlington. Earlier that year, Meigs’ father, now the quartermaster general for the entire Federal army, recommended using the estate as a cemetery. Today, Arlington National Cemetery is America’s most hallowed ground.
Today, a lonely monument stands atop a knoll near the location where Meigs was killed. To reach the Meigs Monument in Dayton, take Route 42 south from Harrisonburg. Proceed approximately 3.4 miles. Turn left onto Meigs Lane. There is a pull off on the opposite side of the road. Be careful parking your car, as the monument is situated within an industrial park. The monument is just up the knoll from the Civil War Trails sign.
GPS Coordinates: 38° N 25.433’, W 78° 55.309’
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Alexander Swift “Sandie” Pendleton was born in Alexandria, Virginia, on September 28, 1840, to William Nelson and Anzelotte Elizabeth Pendleton. He spent most of his childhood in Maryland until his father, an Episcopal minister, accepted the ministerial position at Grace Church in Lexington, Virginia. “Sandie” graduated from Washington College in 1857 and was studying for a graduate degree at the University of Virginia when the Civil War broke out. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the Provisional Army of Virginia, the young Pendleton marched off to Harper’s Ferry (his father would serve as a brigadier general in the Confederate artillery). An old acquaintance from Lexington, Thomas J. Jackson, soon to become immortalized as “Stonewall,” was in charge at Harper’s Ferry, and he requested Sandie to be his ordinance officer. Pendleton showed a dedication to the Southern cause that rivaled that of his chief, and his skill as a staff officer impressed Jackson, who directed inquiries to him because “if Pendleton does not know, no one does!”
Col. Alexander Swift “Sandie” Pendleton (CM)
Pendleton became Jackson’s chief of staff and served with him until Jackson’s death on May 10, 1863, following the battle of Chancellorsville. He continued his service on the staff of Jackson’s successor, Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell. When Lt. Gen. Jubal Early assumed command of the Second Corps in May 1864, he named Pendleton his chief of staff and promoted him to lieutenant colonel.
After the Confederate defeat at Fisher’s Hill, Pendleton was active in trying to organize the chaos of the retreating Southern army. Along with Generals Gordon, Ramseur, and Pegram, Pendleton helped organize a rearguard on a hill near the town of Mount Prospect, approximately 10 miles from Fisher’s Hill. There in the darkness, eerily similar to the conditions around Chancellorsville a year earlier that had led to Jackson’s wounding, the Federals bumped into the hastily organized Confederate line. The two sides exchanged several volleys until darkness enveloped the area and ended the fighting. Yet, the dying would continue. One of the shots fired by a Union soldier struck Sandie in the abdomen—a type of wound that was almost always fatal. Dr. Hunter McGuire, the chief medical officer of the Second Corps, administered what aid he could. Pendleton lingered until the next day, but that evening he died of his wounds in the nearby town of Woodstock. Pendleton passed away several days shy of his 24th birthday. He left behind a wife of 10 months, Kate, who was pregnant with their first child.
When passing through Lexington the following month, Reverend Dr. D. L. Dabney, who had also served on Jackson’s staff, remarked to Pendleton’s widow that he felt immune to grief as he had lost so many friends during the war. When told of Sandie’s death, Dabney was astonished at the “amount of sorrow I felt.” Another staff officer, Henry Kyd Douglas, wrote “his loss is universally felt … . I shall miss him every day, for he was the warmest friend I had in the army.” Pendleton was initially buried in Woodstock. A month later, his remains were moved to Lexington and laid to rest near the remains of his former commanding officer.
The monuments marking the location of Meigs’ mortal wounding (left) and Pendleton’s (right) (DD/PG)
A monument stands near the location of the house Pendleton was taken to after receiving his mortal wound, although the house itself no longer stands. To reach the site, take I-81 south to exit 283 and then proceed on Route 42 east toward Woodstock and the Valley Pike (Route 11). Turn left onto Route 11 and take the Valley Pike north into Woodstock. Take a left on West Spring Street and then a right onto South Muhlenberg Street. The monument will be on your left near the Woodstock United Methodist Church.
GPS coordinates: N 38° 88.150’, W 78° 50.767’
The home Stonewall Jackson had used in Winchester as an office during the winter of 1861 and the spring of 1862, just prior to his famed Valley Campaign, belonged to Lt. Col. Lewis Tilghman Moore of the 31st Virginia Infantry. In 1960, with financial assistance from Moore’s descendant, actress Mary Tyler Moore, the building opened as a museum. It claims to have “the largest collection of Jackson memorabilia and also personal objects from members of his staff.” (CM)