Page News & Courier
Heritage and Heraldry
The other residents of the Ruffner house - the Chapman family
Article of July 19, 2001
What a great lead to a ghost story . . . but that’s not what this is about. In fact, the house, already so incredibly rich in history, can also claim a link to a pair of brothers who shared close company with the “Gray Ghost.”
Though they were not born in the house, the Ruffner place was the boyhood home of both Mosby’s second in command, and one of the his company commanders.
A native of Madison County, William Allen Chapman was a grandson of Brevet Maj. Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines, (Gaines is clearly a subject worthy of a series of articles).
William married Elizabeth Forrer, daughter of Samuel and Catherine F. Ebersole Forrer, in Page County in 1837. It was around this time that the Forrer family owned the “Willow Grove” farm and mill. Almost exactly nine months from the date of their marriage, William and Elizabeth’s first child, Samuel Forrer Chapman was born. William Henry Chapman would follow in 1840, then Edmund Gaines in 1842.
Shortly after, Chapman purchased the first tract at the Ruffner place. Six years later Chapman purchased a second tract, including the farm and large brick mansion. The births of at least three daughters and four sons would follow while in residence at the former Ruffner residence.
Of the sons, only three served in the Civil War – Samuel, William and Edmund.
By the opening of the war, Samuel had attended Columbia University and was listed as a minister. Enlisting first in Co. B, 17th Virginia Infantry, Samuel transferred to serve with his brother William in the Dixie Artillery in October 1861. Elected to lieutenant, Sam continued service with the Dixie Artillery until it was disbanded in October 1862. He was among the list of young lieutenants recommended for another battery, though his destiny would remain closely tied to that of his brother William.
Edmund had started the war with the Page Volunteers of Co. K, 10th Virginia Infantry. Transferring to the command of his brothers in May 1862, Edmund served with the Dixie Artillery until the unit was disbanded in October 1862, and subsequently served with the Purcell Artillery, was promoted to corporal and likely closed the war with the organization.
William’s military star shone the brightest of all. A student at the University of Virginia at the opening of the war, he enlisted in the Southern Guards – a group of students from U.Va. Chapman returned home after Governor John Letcher urged the guards to return to their homes and “help organize and drill companies for the defense of the state.”
On arriving in Page, young William began drilling the Page Volunteers and Page Grays. Chapman declined an opportunity to serve as an officer in the Grays with hopes of forming an artillery battery of his own. An opportunity arose when John Kaylor Booton organized the Dixie Artillery at Honeyville. By June 1861, Chapman was mustering as a lieutenant. With Booton’s decision to serve as a member of the Virginia State Legislature in October, Chapman was voted to captain.
Little did he know that in almost exactly one year, the battery, short of horses and equipment, would be disbanded. Stationed as the enrolling officer in Fauquier County in February 1863, Chapman found an opportunity for assignment to John S. Mosby’s command, later the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry. By the spring of 1863,the brothers Chapman, both Samuel and William, were together again in action at Miskel’s Farm with Mosby’s command.
The exploits of the “Fighting Chapmans” were extensive and well recorded and some of the men that followed them, especially in Company C, hailed from Page County. Not only did the brothers find plenty of action under Mosby during the war, but also brides from the heart of Mosby country.
More to follow . . .
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