Existing comment:
Caroline County Courthouse: Union troops filled the roads to Richmond:
On May 21, 1864, Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's Second Corps passed through Bowling Green. Union soldiers broke into stores, looted homes, and freed prisoners from jail. Documents from the ransacked courthouse littered the streets.
A few bold souls ventured outside to hurt epithets at their tormentors. "Are you going to Richmond?" cried one woman. "You'll all lay your bones in the ground before you get sight of it!"
To help restore order, a young Union captain named Chapman posted guards. Invited for a hot meal by the owner of the nearby Star Hotel, Capt. Chapman would remember Bowling Green with fondness. In 1906, he wrote to Caroline County Clerk Ned Coghill that it was so kind to take an enemy in and feed him.
"War is terrible anyway," Coghill replied, "but war between brothers is the worst of all. Thank God we are at peace! I was also a soldier in that war, and surrendered with General Lee at Appomattox. I have a warm spot in my heart for the old soldiers of both sides." |