Confederate graves @ SPRING HILL CEMETERY (Lynchburg, VA)

Ajouté : 2026-05-06

[00:00:04][music] [music] >> What's up, guys? Chris VA Travels here in Lynchburg, Virginia. And I'm about to visit Spring Hill Cemetery. Yeah, old cemetery that goes back to 1852. And there's the entrance right there.

[00:00:24]And right here, visitor center.

[00:00:27]Take a quick peek inside.

[00:00:29]The uh fancy ionic columns.

[00:00:34]And probably had some statues in there at one time.

[00:00:40]You can also hop on their website if you want to look up any names.

[00:00:45]They've got a really good map of the cemetery. Oh, yeah. So, Jubal Early is going to be probably the most noted burial.

[00:00:54]There he is, nicknamed the bad old [clears throat] man.

[00:01:02]Okay, so some uh real quick information.

[00:01:05]Some noted generals, Thomas Munford, James Dearing, and again, Jubal Early.

[00:01:13]Uh in his late later years.

[00:01:15]It looks like Early had troops on the grounds during the Battle of Lynchburg.

[00:01:19]And again, organized 1852.

[00:01:27]Nice statue right here.

[00:01:30]Fortitude.

[00:01:32]It's got a pigeon or a dove on her shoulder.

[00:01:38]Oh.

[00:01:39]Kindliness.

[00:01:44]And what is this one?

[00:01:47]Vision.

[00:01:48]She's looking to the sky.

[00:01:51]I don't know her eyes might be closed. I can't tell.

[00:01:54]Yeah, and I found several notable graves.

[00:01:57]Printed out this map. It's pretty well organized.

[00:02:00]Broken into sections.

[00:02:02]So, section 105.

[00:02:06]Over here, section 104.

[00:02:09]And there's going to be an old football player named Bullet Dudley buried in this section.

[00:02:16]Okay, first grave, William McGarvey Dudley or Bill Bullet Dudley, and Hall of Fame football player. Played the NFL for nine seasons. He was a halfback, tailback, and played defensive positions. And played for the Steelers, Lions, and Redskins. Okay, so after his football career, he got involved in the insurance industry and politics, uh serving as a Virginia delegate from 1966 until 1975. Oh, and right next to him, Carter Glass Jr. and Carter Glass the third. We're going to get to Carter Glass himself in just a bit. He was a Virginia senator.

[00:02:46]Yeah, I decided to hop into my Jeep and drive.

[00:02:49]Next section is a little ways up.

[00:02:52]And you'll see this is called Spring Hill Cemetery for a reason.

[00:02:56]Um I'm looking for section V.

[00:03:00]Oh, so Jubal Early's right here. I guess maybe I'll just hop out and uh check this one out. All right, so here he is, Jubal Early.

[00:03:08]Nice obelisk.

[00:03:11]On this little kind of hill right here.

[00:03:15]Cool sword.

[00:03:18]As always, you got the iron cross down there.

[00:03:22]And Jubal Anderson Early, born in Franklin County, Rocky Mount to be exact. Born back in 1816. And of course, went to West Point.

[00:03:31]Yeah, he was involved in the Seminole Wars, Mexican Wars.

[00:03:37]I mean, walk around, see if there's anything. Uh Yeah, nothing on the side.

[00:03:44]But yeah, here you go.

[00:03:46]Grave of Jubal Early right here. Watts.

[00:03:50]And this might be the tallest obelisk in the cemetery.

[00:03:58]Richard Thomas Watts.

[00:04:01]Uh died here in Lynchburg.

[00:04:04]Okay, so I'll let you read. Adjutant, White's Battalion, Virginia Cavalry.

[00:04:09]Hm.

[00:04:13]Grave side of that Carter Glass I had mentioned earlier.

[00:04:17]And that's a serious uh I don't even know if I call it obelisk, more of a monolith.

[00:04:22]>> [laughter] >> Okay, so there's his name down there.

[00:04:28]Hm. Yeah, not much else written on here.

[00:04:32]But uh as I said, a congressman and senator.

[00:04:37]Uh needs a power washing, but okay, yeah, just another simple kind of obelisk.

[00:04:43]No dates, no write-up, no epitaph.

[00:04:50]Uh I'll let you know he was Secretary of the Treasury under Woodrow Wilson. He was also a newspaper editor uh earlier in his career.

[00:05:00]And you'll see we're kind of in a hot spot. Lots of large obelisks back here, top of the hill.

[00:05:07]Lots of uh big magnolias.

[00:05:11]But yeah, well, it's the grave of Carter Glass. This one really stands out.

[00:05:17]Okay, I think that's the back of it right here.

[00:05:23]Big old B on top, but yeah, grave of Captain Charles Minor Blackford. Oh, he was born in Fredericksburg.

[00:05:29]Uh died here in Lynchburg. Uh Captain, Company B, uh Virginia Cavalry.

[00:05:34]Judge Advocate, Longstreet's Corps. Son of William and Mary Blackford.

[00:05:42]Uh here's the son, Raleigh, right here.

[00:05:49]Found a child's grave over here, Duval Wilson.

[00:05:53]Got the angel looking down sadly.

[00:05:56]But yeah, infant son of James and Alice Hancock.

[00:06:00]Uh born 1893, died 1894.

[00:06:05]So, another son of James and Alice Hancock that died young, James Ammon.

[00:06:10]And didn't even make it to 14. 1879 until 1893.

[00:06:17]But nice tombstone.

[00:06:20]Got the Corinthian columns with the acanthus leaves.

[00:06:24]Right there's initials.

[00:06:32]All right, since I'm right here on this hot spot, I'll just show these off. And that says Jackson in the stone at the bottom of the cross.

[00:06:41]And this one right here, I don't know who this is, but James Gilliam.

[00:06:46]And wife, Jessie.

[00:06:48]Jessie Johnson.

[00:06:52]Uh Lee family right here.

[00:06:55]No relation to Robert E. Lee that I know of, but uh the Appersons right here.

[00:07:05]Pretty nice. Bench on each side.

[00:07:14]And uh Ferguson over here with a tall obelisk.

[00:07:27]All right. I see a Confederate flag, so let me see who this is.

[00:07:34]Yeah, pretty weathered headstone.

[00:07:36]But it born 1830, died 1900. I found him on Find a Grave, but no real write-up.

[00:07:48]>> [music] >> Uh Taylor over here.

[00:08:13]Yeah, a lot of times these generals are a little bit easier to find. They'll have normally larger obelisks.

[00:08:21]Or they're from notable families, and they'll have kind of a separate lot with several family members with the same last name buried around them.

[00:08:29]But yeah, not with Munford.

[00:08:33]Yeah, he's going to take a minute. So, this stood out from far away, the plaque on the side of this. And it looks like that might be the remains of a Confederate flag. Oh, so Ruth Early.

[00:08:47]Okay, so dedicated to the memory of Ruth Harrison Early, founder, Old Dominion Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy.

[00:08:55]Hm.

[00:08:57]Six terms as president.

[00:09:00]Family of Samuel Henry Early.

[00:09:03]So, would he maybe be a a brother?

[00:09:06]Let me look him up. All right, so Jubal's brother right here.

[00:09:10]And doesn't say that he served in the war.

[00:09:14]Uh maybe he went down a different path.

[00:09:15]He would have been a little bit older when the war started. Okay, and at his feet, their father, Colonel Joab Early.

[00:09:22]Born 1791.

[00:09:34]And uh yeah, first names beginning in the letter J run through the family.

[00:09:42]All right, so Halley Early right there.

[00:09:45]Ruth Early.

[00:09:47]All right, so another Jubal right here.

[00:09:49]Born 1865?

[00:09:53]Maybe.

[00:10:00]>> All right, so I see a Confederate flag back there.

[00:10:03]I'll make my way over there in a bit, but yeah, first I'm on the mission to find Mumford.

[00:10:10]And I know he's buried near the road, so I'm kind of walking a circle around the section.

[00:10:17]But you'll see this is a really nice cemetery.

[00:10:21]And designed to kind of look like a park and gardens.

[00:10:26]It was designed by a noted landscape architect John And yeah, he designed Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

[00:10:39]All right, so scroll style right here.

[00:10:41]I'll just check this out.

[00:10:47]Okay, found him. Brigadier General Thomas Taylor Mumford.

[00:10:51]Brigadier General second Virginia. Oh, spelled cavalry wrong.

[00:10:57]Cavalry.

[00:10:59]So he joined the Confederacy in May of '61.

[00:11:02]Much of his fighting took place in the Shenandoah Valley.

[00:11:07]So some highlights during the summer of '62, he led a charge at the second battle of Bull Run.

[00:11:12]Led a strong defense at Crampton's Gap during the Antietam campaign and took part in the Battle of Brandy Station during the Gettysburg campaign. His father George Wythe Munford is buried over at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.

[00:11:25]Bishop John Early.

[00:11:29]Died here in Lynchburg, born Bedford County back in 1786.

[00:11:38]And obviously at his age he didn't serve in the Civil War, but I see the Confederate flags, the Confederate country flags all around.

[00:11:48]But Methodist preacher, 19 years a bishop.

[00:11:53]I stopped off. I saw the Confederate cross down here in the grave of Robert H. Coleman.

[00:12:02]Pretty big headstone.

[00:12:03]But I I couldn't find him on Find a Grave. I didn't search too hard. I'm sure he's in there. But you'll see his of age 1843.

[00:12:11]And his wife Mary Elizabeth Moses.

[00:12:17]Got Augustine Cross.

[00:12:19]Died at the Battle of Seven Pines.

[00:12:24]Oh, born 1844, so he just turned 18. Oh, wow.

[00:12:30]Yeah.

[00:12:32]Right here, it looks like it'd be his father. And you see he was a Mason.

[00:12:37]A. W. Cross.

[00:12:41]All right, so Adeline and Lizzie over here.

[00:12:45]We have a War of 1812 veteran right here, James Garland.

[00:12:51]Born 1792.

[00:12:54]Oh, wow. So made it to 93 years old.

[00:12:58]Good for him.

[00:13:01]And it doesn't say what battles he served in, but he was an attorney and then was a Virginia delegate as well.

[00:13:09]Got kind of a big one over here, James Griffin Dearing.

[00:13:15]Born 1840.

[00:13:17]Died April 22nd, 1865. Let me look that up.

[00:13:23]But of course went to West Point.

[00:13:26]Wife Roxana and she was a widow for 61 years.

[00:13:31]And all right, so you can read if you want. Yeah, okay, so he went to West Point.

[00:13:35]Uh, tendered his services to join the Confederacy at his 24th year. So his grandchildren down here, Frank Patterson Christian.

[00:13:46]Harrison Christian.

[00:13:48]And it looks like there are footstones down here. It's kind of unique.

[00:13:53]But J. D.

[00:13:59]And then R. D.

[00:14:05]Had kind of a dramatic death on April 6th, 1865 during the Confederate retreat to Appomattox. He encountered Federals at High Bridge. He rode to the front of his brigade where he engaged in a pistol duel with Union Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Read. Read died instantly.

[00:14:20]Dearing was shot, fell mortally wounded.

[00:14:22]Wow, this is a couple days before the war ended. Uh, lingered on for a couple weeks where he died at a hospital here here in Lynchburg.

[00:14:31]Frank Christian. All right, so that's his son-in-law, judge of Corporation Court here in Lynchburg.

[00:14:38]Hm, special Court of Appeals.

[00:14:42]George Merrell, born to a prominent family here in Lynchburg.

[00:14:46]Uh, moved to Athens, Tennessee. And this is kind of interesting, he became national treasurer of the Cherokee Nation. Wow, okay. And then uh, became a planter down in Louisiana.

[00:15:07]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Hey, check this style. This one is pretty unique.

[00:15:27]William Abner Stewart.

[00:15:29]And you'll see born July 25th and it looks like 1843 right here, but when you go to Find a Grave, it says 1848.

[00:15:39]And when you look at his siblings, yeah, it looks like he would probably be born in 1848 because his sister 1847.

[00:15:46]Yeah, and then a couple sisters after that, so And he was a member of Shoemaker's Virginia Horse Artillery. Mortally wounded again December 5th, 1862 on the Rappahannock River below Port Royal in a duel with Yankee gunboats.

[00:16:02]Wow, that's pretty crazy if he really was 14.

[00:16:05]And right next to his father, Reverend James Clopton. And I saw he died 1864, but it wasn't in the Civil War.

[00:16:15]Found the grave of a 1920s stage actor, Anderson Lawler.

[00:16:20]Entered the motion picture business in 1929.

[00:16:24]And appeared in over 35 films. Wow. Last film appearance was in 1939.

[00:16:30]Hm, found him on IMDb.

[00:16:33]Yeah, I guess he was only 57 when he died, but he's appeared in classics such as Somewhere in the Night, Accidents Will Happen, Torch Blaine, Chinatown. All right, it's going to wrap it up for Spring Hill. If you come out here, bring some bug spray.

[00:16:48]I did my best.

[00:16:50]Uh, the flat headstones on the ground are kind of hard to find, but I think I got most of the big ones.

[00:16:56]I found Jubal Early, so But yeah, I'm going to hit the road, guys. As always, a like and subscribe.

[00:17:01]See you on the next one. [music]