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Falmouth has a long history of “damaging floods”. Our historian, Jerrilynn Eby compiled this list of floods that have occurred between 1738 and 1972. There have been 18 major floods in 234 years averages 1 damaging flood every 13 years. That, of course, isn’t counting the many floods that covered River Road with water during…

General Daniel Ruggles: General: Your dispatch, of the 24th instant, requesting to know the policy and orders by which you are governed, is at hand. You will act on the defensive. Station your troops at suitable points to command the railroad; write and give assurance of protection to the inhabitants on the rivers; cause your…

During the Great Depression many young men had difficulty finding jobs. As part of the New Deal legislation proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created. It was a public work relief program for unemployed men age 18-24. The program provided unskilled manual labor related to the conservation and development…

On May 31, 1861, Stafford saw the first engagement of the Civil War between the U.S. Navy and the shore batteries of the Confederacy at Aquia Landing.  Prior to that date, the Confederates believed that Union forces might attack via the Potomac, and if they got control of Aquia Landing they could take over the…

Anne E. Moncure (1895-1984)—the daughter of Robert Ambler Moncure (1864-1923) and Agnes Waller (1864-1951) of Stafford. “Miss Anne E.” began her teaching career in 1921 at what is now the office of the Stafford County School Board. Her first class of first graders contained 65 children from age 6 to teenagers. Over the years she…

Walker Peyton Conway (1805-1884)— was the son of John Moncure Conway (1779-1864) and Catherine Storke Peyton (1786-1865). 1832-33 Walker represented Stafford in the Virginia House of Delegates. 1832-1861 he was a justice for Stafford and for much of that time served as presiding justice. Highly regarded for his integrity, Walker was often called upon to…

Dr. Thaddeus Constantine Montague (1838-1906)—was born in Middlesex County, Virginia. In 1859 he graduated from the Medical College of Virginia and entered Confederate service in May 1861. He served with Generals Floyd and Albert Sidney Johnston in Kentucky and Tennessee during the campaigns of 1862. Following this he was made surgeon-in-charge of Emory and Henry…

A band of mineral-bearing rock runs diagonally through Stafford from central Prince William County through the Garrisonville area, through Hartwood, and into Spotsylvania County. This band of rock contains deposits of graphite, sulfur, iron, pyrite, copper, gold, and silver and provided iron for the foundries at Accokeek and Falmouth. For years, gold was mined and…

Union sailors of the Potomac Flotilla soon found out that they had to increase searching using shallow draft vessels and foot patrols.  They searched tributaries for clandestine Confederates and their concealed vessels.

Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley (Smithsonian Institution – Smithsonian) Near the December 1861, Civil War balloon reconnaissance site, the Widewater flight experiments of Samuel Pierpont Langley took place at the turn of the 20th Century. As one writer expressed it, “Kitty Hawk gets the glory, but credit Stafford County with an assist.” A 1966 article adds…

An interesting court document reveals Stafford community intentions to assist Confederate soldiers’ families: The Stafford County Court, on May 15, 1861, ordered a committee of three “judicious Citizens of the county” from each Magisterial district “whose duty it shall be to ascertain and supply the pressing wants of families of such citizens of said County…

Some came by boat and others by train. From the 1870s until the Great Depression, Stafford’s Potomac River and Aquia Creek shorelines were destinations for wealthy men in search of good hunting venues. Historically, the creeks and rivers had always provided food for those who lived near them. The waters teemed with fish, crabs, and…