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From the Halls of Montezuma To the Shores of Tripoli: Presley Neville O’Bannon and the Marine Corps Sword
8 August 2012
Editors Note: This post originally appeared in the Virginiana section of Virginia Memory.
The United States Marine Corps abounds with tradition and history. An important aspect of this history and tradition revolves around Presley Neville O’Bannon and the Marine Corps sword. Over two hundred years ago, O’Bannon, a Virginian born in Fauquier County, became the first American to raise the United States’ flag over foreign soil.
Promoted to 1st lieutenant in the Marine Corps, O’Bannon was assigned to the USS Argus in the Mediterranean during the war against Tripoli, one of the Barbary States on the north coast of Africa. Described by author Joseph Wheelan as “America’s First War on Terror,” the Tripolitan War sought an end to the exorbitant tributes of the Pasha of Tripoli, Yusuf Karamanli. William Eaton, navy agent to the Barbary Regencies, devised a plan to depose the Pasha by forming an alliance with Yusuf’s exiled brother Hamet. Eaton led an army consisting of Lieutenant O’Bannon and seven U. S. Marines from the Argus, along with an assortment of Tripolitans, Arabs, and European mercenaries. This army marched 520 miles across the Desert of Barca from Alexandria to attack the city of Derna, Tripoli’s eastern provincial capital. On 27 April 1805, a combined land and sea attack supported by the USS Argus, Nautilus, and Hornet, commenced against Derna. Later called the … read more »
The Tri-State Gang in Richmond: Murder and Robbery in the Great Depression
10 July 2012
Tomorrow historian Selden Richardson will speak at the Library of Virginia on his new book, The Tri-State Gang in Richmond: Murder and Robbery in the Great Depression. Here is a brief description of the book from the publisher:
“The 1930s was a tough decade, one made even tougher by Prohibition. During this lawless time in American history, a group of criminals called the Tri-State Gang emerged from Philadelphia and spread their operations south, through Baltimore to Richmond, wreaking bloody havoc and brutally eliminating those who knew too much about their heists. Once termed the “Dillingers of the East,” Robert Mais and Walter Legenza led their men and molls on a violent journey of robberies, murders, and escapes up and down the East Coast.”
Richardson, a former archivist at the Library of Virginia, will recount the story of this whirlwind of crime and how it finally reached its climax in Richmond. The talk, part of the “Books on Broad” series, is free. Light refreshments (wine and cheese) will be served (5:30–6:15 pm), followed by author talk (6:15–7:15 pm), and book signing (7:15–7:30 pm). His book can be purchased through The Virginia Shop at the Library of Virginia.
Selden made extensive use of the records at the Library of Virginia. The gallery accompanying this post consists of some examples from our local, state, and … read more »
I Scream, You Scream, We All Steal Ice Cream!
20 June 2012
On the afternoon of 18 April 1924, an Imperial Ice Cream Company truck got stuck in the mud on the road between Winchester and Front Royal. The driver left the truck to telephone the company’s Winchester plant for help to get the truck out of the mud. When the driver returned ten minutes later, he saw that a “gang of convicts, in charge of a guard, had climbed on the truck and stolen from it five quarts of brick ice cream and ten dozen Chocolate Coated Ice Cream bars” worth $6.50. The guard told the driver that “he couldn’t do anything with the convicts, as they were in for stealing at the time.” Or so A.W. Warne, Manager of the Virginia Division, claimed in two letters to Major R.M. Youell, Virginia Penitentiary Superintendent. Outraged, Warne demanded an investigation and financial restitution. He added that “it seems to me a deplorable state of affairs when a guard in charge of a gang of convicts does not have enough control over the convicts, or himself, to prevent the stealing” of ice cream. A subsequent investigation by Penitentiary officials tells a completely different story.
A week after the alleged incident, Superintendent Youell ordered J.W. Johnson, the officer in charge of State Convict Road Force Camp 29, to investigate. Johnson’s reply on 29 April 1924 reported that the driver … read more »
Reason to Believe: Quantico and the Evacuation of Stafford County
25 April 2012
On 5 October 1942, the United States District Court in Norfolk, at the request of the Navy, condemned 50,000 acres of land in Fauquier, Prince William and Stafford counties in order to enlarge the Marine base at Quantico. Two days later 650 families learned that they would have to vacate their property within 20 to 60 days! I learned of this story when I processed the records of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, Division of History.
In September 1942, the Virginia Conservation Commission’s Division of History and Archaeology, under the direction of Dr. Hamilton J. Eckenrode, began a war records collection program. Unable to continue the Division of History’s historical marker program because of wartime rationing, Eckenrode sought to “record the history of the Old Dominion’s war effort while the history is still fresh in the making, rather than wait until after the war when the events and details would be more obscured.” The Conservation Commission began a correspondence program in which a non-salaried correspondent from each locality sent reports about local war activities and local effects of and reactions to the war.
![Stafford War History, May and June [1943] by Mary B. Thompson, Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, History Division, Series II. Virginia War History Project, Box 78, Folder 11, Accession 24806b, State Records Collection, Library of Virginia. (page one of three)](http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/wp-content/blogs.dir/5/files/quantico/12_1141_008.jpg "Stafford War History, May and June [1943] by Mary B. Thompson, Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, History Division, Series II. Virginia War History Project, Box 78, Folder 11, Accession 24806b, State Records Collection, Library of Virginia. (page one of three)")
![Stafford War History, May and June [1943] by Mary B. Thompson,Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, History Division, Series II. Virginia War History Project, Box 78, Folder 11, Accession 24806b, State Records Collection, Library of Virginia. (page two of three)](http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/wp-content/blogs.dir/5/files/quantico/12_1141_009.jpg "Stafford War History, May and June [1943] by Mary B. Thompson,Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, History Division, Series II. Virginia War History Project, Box 78, Folder 11, Accession 24806b, State Records Collection, Library of Virginia. (page two of three)")
![Stafford War History, May and June [1943] by Mary B. Thompson,Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, History Division, Series II. Virginia War History Project, Box 78, Folder 11, Accession 24806b, State Records Collection, Library of Virginia. (page three of three)](http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/wp-content/blogs.dir/5/files/quantico/12_1141_010.jpg "Stafford War History, May and June [1943] by Mary B. Thompson,Virginia Department of Conservation and Development, History Division, Series II. Virginia War History Project, Box 78, Folder 11, Accession 24806b, State Records Collection, Library of Virginia. (page three of three)")
In March 1943, Mrs. Mary B. Thompson of Stafford County submitted to the Commission the “Story of Stafford Evacuation” by Elizabeth Russell Powers. Approximately 350 families lived in the 30,000 acres of condemned land in Stafford County. Powers described … read more »
We Remember: Virginia Tech Five Years Later
16 April 2012
Five years ago, Seung Hui Cho killed 32 people and injured at least 17 others before turning the gun on himself. The 16 April 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech is the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in United States history. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, I created a web archive collection, Tragedy at Virginia Tech, in order to capture the Commonwealth’s “on-line” response. Included in the collection are the websites of Virginia Tech, the Office of the Governor, and the Virginia Tech Review Panel. I remember creating the collection because of the “historic” nature of the shooting. I confess that I initially viewed that day’s events with the emotional detachment of an archivist/historian. But what made it “historic?” The number of people killed? The 32 people who died that day are not numbers – they had names, families, hopes and dreams – a future. The biographies captured in the Tragedy at Virginia Tech collection quickly shattered my impassiveness. What I saw as “historic” in 2007 is an ever present tragedy for the families who lost their loved ones. It is a wound that time cannot heal.
I was reminded of this when I began processing the e-mail records of Governor Tim Kaine’s administration. The Kaine administration transferred to the Library of Virginia approximately 1.3 million e-mail messages from 215 … read more »
Mug Shot Monday Special Edition: Floyd and Claude Allen
14 March 2012
Welcome to Mug Shot Monday Special Edition. This is the final post focusing on records at the Library of Virginia related to the “Hillsville Massacre.”
In March 1913, Floyd Allen and his son Claude were executed for the 14 March 1912 murder of Commonwealth’s Attorney William Foster. The Allens’ case had gone through many twists and turns since the shootout in the Carroll County courthouse the previous March. The trials of Floyd Allen, Claude Allen, Friel Allen, Sidna Allen, Wesley Edwards, and Sidna Edwards took place in Wytheville from April to December 1912. The prosecution’s strategy was to prove the courthouse shooting was a premeditated conspiracy in order to make each defendant equally liable for the murders. On 18 May 1912, Floyd Allen was found guilty of the first degree murder of Commonwealth’s Attorney Foster. The prosecution’s strategy failed in the trial of Claude Allen. He was convicted of the second degree murder of Judge Thornton Massie because the prosecution failed to prove a conspiracy. Claude Allen then was tried twice for the murder of Foster. The first trial resulted in a hung jury. In the second trial, Allen was convicted of first degree murder. Floyd and Claude Allen were sentenced to die in the electric chair at the Virginia Penitentiary on 22 November 1912.
The execution did not happen in November. In order to … read more »
Also posted in Mug Shot Monday
Tags: capital punishment, Carroll County (Va.), Claude Allen, clemency, execution files, Floyd Allen, Governor William Hodges Mann, Hillsville (Va.), Inmate photographs, murder, Secretary of the Commonwealth, state records, Virginia Dept. of Corrections, Virginia State Penitentiary
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Tags: capital punishment, Carroll County (Va.), Claude Allen, clemency, execution files, Floyd Allen, Governor William Hodges Mann, Hillsville (Va.), Inmate photographs, murder, Secretary of the Commonwealth, state records, Virginia Dept. of Corrections, Virginia State Penitentiary
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Mug Shot Monday Special Edition: Wesley Edwards, No. 11218
13 March 2012
Welcome to Mug Shot Monday Special Edition. This is the fifth post focusing on records at the Library of Virginia related to the “Hillsville Massacre.”
In December 1912 in the Wythe County Circuit Court, Wesley Edwards, nephew of Floyd Allen, was sentenced to 27 years in the Virginia Penitentiary for two counts of first degree murder and one count of second degree murder for his involvement in the Carroll County shootout. Edwards was admitted to the penitentiary on 14 December 1912. An anonymous fellow prisoner, writing in the 27 April 1922 issue of the inmate-run penitentiary newspaper, The Beacon, shared his observations of Wesley Edwards:
“The first day I was in prison I ran into Wesley Edwards on the steps of the Industrial Department and started a conversation with him. As soon as I told him where I was from, he at once extended his hand, with a smile, and said he was glad to see someone from near his old home, though he was sorry to see me in trouble. I in turn extended my sympathy to him. My thoughts of him were many, the chief one being how strange it seemed that this tall, blue-eyed, young fellow could be so jovial and so interested in his work. He was even then in a hurry, had saw-dust in his hair and on
Mug Shot Monday Special Edition: Sidna Allen, No. 11217
12 March 2012
Welcome to Mug Shot Monday Special Edition. This is the fourth post focusing on records at the Library of Virginia related to the “Hillsville Massacre.”
In December 1912 in the Wythe County Circuit Court, Sidna Allen, brother of Floyd Allen, was sentenced to 35 years in the Virginia Penitentiary for the crimes of first, second and third degree murder. Allen was admitted to the penitentiary on 14 December 1912. An anonymous fellow prisoner, writing in the 27 April 1922 issue of the inmate-run penitentiary newspaper, The Beacon, shared his observations of Sidna Allen:
“I at last had an opportunity to go through the carpenter shop where I saw Sidna Allen…I stopped and watched him for a while at his work, before I went over and talked with him. He was working with as much zeal as any man who owned and operated a manufacturing plant. His hair was a silvery gray, though tinted with the yellow saw-dust, and his face pale, though it had the illuminated appearance of a pure Christian man….After talking with him a little while I found that the expression on his face was only revealing the man as he was; a true Christian man. Sunday morning and any time he had a spare, you could see him sitting around reading the Bible and enjoying the words he was daily
Mug Shot Monday Special Edition: Sidna Edwards, No. 10995
9 March 2012
Welcome to Mug Shot Monday Special Edition. This is the third post focusing on records at the Library of Virginia related to the “Hillsville Massacre.”
In August 1912 in the Wythe County Circuit Court, Sidna Edwards, nephew of Floyd Allen, plead guilty to second-degree murder for his involvement in the Carroll County shootout. He was sentenced to 15 years in the Virginia Penitentiary and admitted on 18 September 1912. By all accounts Edwards was a model prisoner. The 27 April 1922 issue of The Beacon, the inmate-run penitentiary newspaper, contained this observation of Sidna Edwards by a fellow prisoner:
“[I] noticed a stalwart looking man standing on the prison hospital steps. He had a young, though sad looking face, his hair was beginning to silver and his general expression showed much pain and worry for a young man of his seeming age. I remarked to another prisoner that the big, young fellow seemed rather under the weather. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘that is Sidna Edwards. He has rheumatism and has been in the hospital a long time, although not confined to bed. He has the duty of nursing the other patients.’ To describe him takes only a few words, he has one of the most gentle, accommodating, kind and truthful dispositions that I have ever met in any man. He is generally liked and
Mug Shot Monday Special Edition: Friel Allen, No. 10994
8 March 2012
Welcome to Mug Shot Monday Special Edition. This is the second post focusing on records at the Library of Virginia related to the “Hillsville Massacre.”
In August 1912 in the Wythe County Circuit Court, Friel Allen, son of Jasper “Jack” Allen and nephew of Floyd Allen, was convicted of second degree murder in the death of William McDonald Foster, Carroll County Commonwealth’s Attorney. Allen was sentenced to 18 years in the Virginia Penitentiary and admitted to the penitentiary on 18 September 1912. By all accounts Allen was a model prisoner. An anonymous fellow prisoner, writing in the 27 April 1922 issue of the inmate-run penitentiary newspaper, The Beacon, shared his observations of Friel Allen:
“I had noticed a well-dressed young man passing through the yard of the prison, and on asking who he was I got this reply: ‘that is the Superintendent’s Chauffeur, Friel Allen.’ I immediately remarked that he was only a boy, that if he had been here ten years and looked that now, he must have been only a kid when he was sent here. I ventured up for a talk with him, expecting a sad answer, but not so, he sprang a friendly joke on me right away and began to kid me, showing his youth and good spirits. Our association from then on became more intimate, especially evenings.
