Kemper's Grave

Orange County, VA
Marker No. F-17

Marker Text: A mile south is the grave of James Lawson Kemper, who led his brigade of Virginia troops in Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, and fell desperately wounded. He became a major-general in 1864. Kemper was governor of Virginia, 1874-1878.

Location: On Route 15, north of Orange, near Rapidan River bridge, near Orange/Madison County line. Marker is grouped with marker Z-12 (Madison/Orange County). Erected by the Virginia Conservation Commission in 1948.

  My last post was about the residence of Confederate General James L. Kemper in Madison, VA who commanded a brigade of Gen. George E. Pickett's division during Pickett's Charge on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Kemper though seriously wounded survived his wounds.

  After 1882, Kemper moved to this area of Orange County, VA, just across the county line from Madison County, VA.  By 1858 Kemper was a brigadier general in the Virginia Militia. He also served three terms as a Virginia legislator, rising to become the Speaker of the House of Delegates at the start of the Civil War and the chairman of the Military Affairs Committee, where he was a strong advocate of state military preparedness.

Photo taken looking south on Route 15.  Road in the background on the right is the road leading to Kemper’s grave, but is on private property.  Click any photo to enlarge.

  After the start of the Civil War, Kemper served as a brigadier general in the Provisional Army of Virginia, and then a colonel in the Confederate States Army, commanding the 7th Virginia Infantry starting in May 1862. His regiment was assigned to A.P. Hill's brigade in James Longstreet's division of the Army of the Potomac from June 1861 to March 1862. He saw his first action at the First Battle of Bull Run or First Manassas.

Dr. William Fleming

City of Staunton, VA
Marker No. A-64

Marker Text: Physician, soldier, and statesman, Dr. William Fleming (1728-1795) studied medicine in his native Scotland before practicing in Staunton from 1763 to 1768. His home stood at the crossing of New Street and Lewis Creek. Dr. Fleming's career included periods as commander of the Botetourt Regiment, Commissioner for Kentucky, member of the Continental Congress, delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention, and Acting Governor when the Virginia General Assembly met in Staunton in June, 1781.

Location:  At the intersection of Routes 250 & 11 (Greenville Avenue and South New Street next to a City of Staunton parking lot. Erected by the Department of Conservation and Historic Resources in 1987.

  Colonel William Fleming was a physician, soldier, statesman, and planter who briefly served as acting Governor of Virginia during the American Revolutionary War. Fleming was born in Jedburgh, Scotland in 1728, to Leonard and Dorthea Fleming. He studied medicine and trained as a physician at the University of Edinburgh and then entered the Royal Navy, serving as a surgeon's mate. While in the service, he was captured and imprisoned by the Spanish. After his release, he resigned from the navy and decided to emigrate to Virginia in the early 1750's.

Photo taken with Greenville Avenue in the background along with the Stonewall Jackson Hotel.  Click any photo to enlarge.

  William Fleming arrived in Virginia in time to participate in several engagements of the French and Indian War as a surgeon. He was a lieutenant on the 1756 Sandy Creek expedition. Then he was appointed ensign in George Washington’s First Virginia Regiment and served as a surgeon in the Forbes expedition and in the Anglo-Cherokee War. He served in two more campaigns in 1758 and was then made a captain and stationed in Staunton in 1760.

  During his time stationed in Staunton he apparently met and married Israel Christian’s daughter, Anne, in 1763. Israel Christian was a prominent Augusta County citizen, a House of Burgesses member and an Irish immigrant. After marrying Anne Christian, they settled here in Staunton in a house located near the approximate site of this marker, which is where Lewis Creek meets New Street. Fleming resumed his medical career by setting up a doctor’s office and performing surgery in Staunton.

Cherry Grove Estate

Marker No. A-47
Rockbridge County, VA

Marker Text: Here was born James McDowell, Governor of Virginia, 1843-46.

Location: On U.S. Route 11 (North Lee Highway) in the south bound lane, south of Fairfield, VA. Erected by the Conservation & Development Commission in 1928.

  About 0.7 of a mile to the north are earlier posts about the McDowell family and this marker is the birthplace of James McDowell. (see Red House and the McDowell Family and McDowell's Grave) James McDowell was a cousin of Dr. Ephraim McDowell. Their fathers were brothers, Samuel and James McDowell. While Samuel McDowell moved his family to Kentucky where they made their mark on a new nation. James McDowell remained in Rockbridge County to develop these communities.

  James McDowell was born here at Cherry Grove Estate on October, 11 1795. McDowell was the third child of Colonel James and Sarah Preston McDowell. He attended a classical school at Greenville, Virginia, a private school at Brownsburg, VA, Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia, and Yale College. He graduated from Princeton College in 1817 and studied law. He was admitted to the bar, but never practiced law. McDowell married Susan Preston, daughter of General Francis Preston & Sarah B. Campbell, and had nine children. McDowell was the brother-in-law of Senator Thomas Hart Benton, a Senator and a Representative from Missouri from 1821 to 1851.

Knights of the Golden Horseshoe - 1934 Marker

Marker No. D-10
Rockingham County, VA

Marker Text: Here, it is believed, Governor Alexander Spotswood and his party crossed the mountains into the Shenandoah Valley, September 5, 1716. This expedition paved the way for the settlement of the west, on the return east, Spotswood gave his companions small golden horseshoes because their shoeless horses had to be shod for the mountain journey.

Location: Marker no longer exists and was replaced by a newer, updated marker in 2004 with the same identification number and the new marker is on the spot of the original 1934 marker pictured here. Originally erected by the Conservation & Development Commission in 1934.

This is the only photo from a distance of the 1934 marker that I have.  It was oriented facing the road unlike the current marker.

  One of my earliest photos of state historical markers that I still have is a photo of the earlier marker erected in 1934, before it was replaced. I ran across a couple of digital photos of this earlier marker when I was looking through some of my old photo CD's. The new marker was yesterday's post and can be seen at Knights of the Golden Horseshoe – 2004 Marker.  Many markers are replaced with newer versions in order to provide more accurate and reliable information or may be updated when the marker needs replaced due to damage to the original.

Knights of the Golden Horseshoe - 2004 Marker

Marker D-10
Rockingham County, VA

Marker Text: On 5 Sept. 1716, in this region, it is believed, Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood and his party of government officials, gentry, Native Americans, soldiers, and servants crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Shenandoah Valley. Their adventure into Virginia's western lands began at Germanna late in Aug. and ended when they returned there on 10 Sept. According to legend, Spotswood gave his companions small golden horseshoes on their return and the group became known as the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. The journey has been fictionalized and mythologized in literature since the 19th century.

Location: On U.S. Route 33 (Spotswood Trail) near the intersection with the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park just outside the Swift Run entrance to the Skyline Drive at the crest of the hill. Erected by the Department of Historic Resources in 2004, this marker replaces an earlier marker erected in 1934.

Photo on the right is looking west toward the valley and Route 33 and the entrance station to Shenandoah National at Swift Run Gap is on the right in the background.

  The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition took place in 1716 in the British Colony of Virginia. It is a frequently recounted event in the History of Virginia.  According to existing records on September 5, 1716, Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood and his party of government officials is believed to have reached a point near the location of this marker, the top ridge of the Blue Ridge mountains at Swift Run Gap (elevation 2,365 feet) to have their first look of the Shenandoah Valley.

Bigler Graves, Mercer Co., PA

Marker Text: Jacob and Susan Bigler, parents of two governors, are buried here. Their son William was Governor of Pennsylvania, 1852-55; and their son John, Governor of California, 1852-56.

Location: On PA Route 58, Southeast of Greenville, PA.

Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1946. Dedicated on 11/12/1946

   One reason that I began my interest in historical road markers was the rich history and amazing facts that often lie below the surface of the information found on these markers. Frequently, a person will discover another fascinating story within another. A case in point is the Bigler Graves marker located on PA Route 58 in Mercer Co., Pennsylvania just south of Greenville. Countless people drive by this marker without noticing the simple historical information on this marker. Nowadays people are not too much interested in the simple graves of a seemingly obscure couple. This marker is located in front of an old cemetery dating back to the early years of Mercer Co. PA.

   Jacob Bigler moved his large family to Mercer County about 1822 and five years later died leaving his wife, Susan with ten children to support alone. Susan Bigler lived until 1854 and at the time of her death her son William was governor of Pennsylvania and another son, John was governor of California.

   When Mrs. Bigler died her obituary stated, “She was a strict member of the Presbyterian Church, and died in the fullest confidence of the Christian...” When, “Mr. Bigler died, leaving her in that wild unsettled region, with ten children dependent upon her alone for support. She maintained them all, maintained them in knowledge, and impressed upon their minds lessons usefulness to guide them safely and with honor through subsequent life. During the 28 years of her widowhood, she resided upon the same old farm, about nine miles from Mercer, on which she died.”

   Susan Bigler's son William moved to Clearfield, PA and made his fortune in the timber business and from 1841 to 1847 served in the Pennsylvania State Senate. In 1851 he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania and served from Jan. 20, 1852 until Jan. 16, 1855. He later was elected to serve as Pennsylvania's U.S. Senator from 1856 to 1861. He worked with others during these years attempting to develop a compromise with the southern states in hopes of avoiding the coming Civil War. After his political life, he became the president of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad.

   William's older brother, John Bigler decided to go west during California's gold rush by driving an ox team west. John Bigler became know for his bravery in aiding the sick and burying the dead in Sacramento during a cholera epidemic, though it nearly killed him. John Bigler served as California's Third Governor from 1852-1856 and was the first governor to successfully complete an entire term and the first to win re-election. A couple of legends are connected with Governor Bigler. In 1852, State Senator James W. Denver and U.S. Representative and Alta California publisher Edward C. Gilbert rowed out to Angel Island to settle a dispute over Gilbert's attacks against Governor John Bigler on the field of honor. Only Denver returned alive. Also, while governor in 1854, it is said that Bigler rescued the portrait of George Washington from the Senate Chamber during a fire, the portrait still hangs in the Senate Chambers, today. The 1854, California legislature honored Governor Bigler by naming the state's largest lake after him. In 1870, Bigler Lake was renamed “Lake Tahoe.”