Woodlawn

Home of James W. Wood

The frame house across the road is Woodlawn, the home of James Ward Wood, who served as a private in Co. F (originally the Hampshire Riflemen), 7th Virginia Cavalry (CS), from January to August 1864. During this period, the unit fought in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor. In the summer of 1864, it served in the Shenandoah Valley in Gen. Jubal A. Early's army.

When the war began in 1861, James Wood

was fifteen years old; his mother died when he

was twelve. He lived at Woodlawn with his father,

two younger brothers, a grandmother, and a cousin. Wood’s father cultivated 750 out of his 2,250 acres, utilizing the labor of his slaves, two families totaling nine people. They raised cattle, sheep, and hogs and grew wheat, cotton,

and burley tobacco for cigars. As a boy, James Wood learned to ride, shoe horses, repair wagons, and handle firearms—skills that served him well in the cavalry. Confederate cavalrymen owned their own mounts and equipment and frequently (especially late in the war) returned home as

did Wood to acquire fresh horses. Wood also came back here more than once to recuperate from wounds and illnesses.

After the war, he attended Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, and helped found Kappa Alpha Fraternity. He farmed in Missouri for four years and then

returned home, where

he was a farmer and

justice of the peace and

served three terms in

the West Virginia

House of Delegates. He

died in 1926 at Woodlawn and is buried in

Lost City Presbyterian

Church Cemetery.

“4 Feb. 1864. Yankees advance on [Gen. Jubal A.] Early and [Gen.

Thomas L.] Rosser at Moorefield. ... [Rosser] retreated by Harpers

and Early by Mathias’ [and] arrived safely in the valley. The