Early to Bed...
Biscuits to Rise...
By Elizabeth T. Greer
Hospitality… History… Intrigue: The Grove of Rocky Mount
In April of 1865, 148 years ago,
biscuits were cooking in the oven
in a small brick building tended
by a plantation cook, a servant
whose house was just yards away
from the main house. The Grove, a
Greek Revival house, was built in
downtown Rocky Mount in 1854 by
Jubal Anderson Early’s brother-in-
law, John Stafford Hale.The wealthy
owner of a tobacco factory, 250
slaves, and the Iron Furnace,
Hale had built The Grove
for his new (second) wife,
Margaret Ingles Saunders,
of the Bleak Hill Saunders
family.
The clop-clop-clop of
hooves echoed in the still
spring day, as cavalry in blue
uniforms made their way
down the road to the house.
They were looking for
Confederate General Early,
a brave and rough man who
had saved Lynchburg from
Union General Hunter’s
raid to burn and destroy
the river city. They were
looking for meat, for silver,
and one of the bravest of
the Rebels. The War was
over, but someone was
missing. Someone had
not surrendered, and this
someone never would.
Hale family history says that a
Hale child hid behind the skirts of
the cook, who tossed the biscuits in
the air in her fright, and watched as
the Union soldiers searched in vain.
The elusive Hale silver was hidden
in the well, and is now safely kept in
a Hale home in Richmond.
The Jubal A. Early Preservation
Trust says:
In 1864 Lee placed Early in charge
of an independent army to operate in
the Valley of Virginia to divert Union
troops from Lee’s army at Richmond
and Petersburg. Early defended
Lynchburg, then chased Union Major
General David Hunter to Hanging
Rock where he sent Hunter scurrying
back to West Virginia. From there
Early proceeded down the Valley to
the very gates of Washington where he
‘
scared the hell out of Lincoln.’
With an army of only 14,000 at
its peak, and even that subsequently
riddled by attrition and suffering a
lack of supplies, Early tied
up an army of 40 to 60,000.
Finally he was overwhelmed
at Waynesboro less than six
weeks before Lee’s surrender
at Appomattox. His remnant
army numbered only about
1,400
against a Union cavalry
of 10,000. His diversion,
however, had succeeded; it is
estimated his actions prolonged
the end of the war by at least
six to nine months. Early
headed home, having been
relieved of his command just
ten days before Lee’s surrender
at Appomattox.
Jubal
Early
never
surrendered. Federal troops
scoured Franklin County
looking for him as he moved
from place to place. Hiding at
his old homeplace, he was able
to slip by a Union encampment
nearby and escape south to
voluntary exile inMexico and Canada
before being pardoned in 1868 by
President Andrew Johnson. Early
The Grove of Rocky Mount
The Living Room
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