Burnt To The Ground

John B Magruder

Hampton, Virginia was burned August 7th 1861 by Confederate Colonel John Bankhead Magruder.


Hampton, Virginia fell under the control of Union Brigadier General Benjamin Franklin Butler July 3rd 1861, but troops were called to protect Washington DC following the Union loss at First Bull Run. So they abandoned the town.

Reading an article in the New York Tribune, Confederate Colonel John Bankhead Magruder learned that Butler had planned to use the town as a place to house escaped slaves. Magruder ordered the town burned. Confederate Captain Jefferson Curle Phillips, a resident of Hampton carried out the order on August 7th 1861 along members of the local militia. They notified citizens that the town would be destroyed, and shortly had the whole place aflame. Only a few buildings survived, including the burnt walls of St John’s Church. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the town was nothing but, “a forest of blear-sided chimneys and brick houses tottering and the wind, scorched trees and heaps of smoldering ruins…. A more desolate sight cannot be imagined.”

The First Battle

Only eight weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter on June 10th 1861 the first battle fought in Virginia, Big Bethel Church was fought.


The first Civil War battle in Virginia had Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler’s troops coming together from Newport News and Hampton toward Little and Big Bethel where there were Confederate outposts. Falling back from Little Bethel the Confederates commanded by Colonel John Bankhead Magruder, went into entrenchments near Big Bethel Church behind the Brick Kiln Creek. Butler sent Union troops under the command of Brigadier General Ebenezer W Pierce at dawn on June 10th 1861 to attack the Confederate front, they were forced back after coming under heavy artillery fire. Farther downstream the Union 5th New York Zouaves hit the Confederate left flank, but were also repulsed. The Union forces retreated from the field, going back to Newport News and Hampton. Confederate forces saw only 8 casualties. The Union side saw looses of 76 men.

Governor and Confederate Soldier

The ninth Governor of Texas, Francis Richard Lubbock was born on October 16th 1815 in South Carolina. He held the office during the Civil War.

Francis Richard Lubbock was born in Beaufort South Carolina, October 16th 1815, the oldest son of Dr Henry Thomas Willis and Susan Ann [Saltus] Lubbock. He moved to Texas in 1836, and was the Comptroller of the Republic of Texas under President Sam Houston. Lubbock a Democrat, was elected in 1857 to the office of Texas Lieutenant Governor, but was not reelected to the office. In 1861 with Texas joining the Confederacy Lubbock was elected Governor. He strongly supported the Confederate draft, including drafting aliens living in Texas. Lubbock made attempts to keep trade with Mexico open and established a foundry and percussion cap factory.

Lubbock’s term as Governor ended in 1863, and he joined the Confederate Army. He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel, serving under Major General John Bankhead Magruder. In August 1864 he was made the aide-de-camp for Jefferson Davis, whom he evacuated Richmond Virginia with at the end of the war. After being caught in Georgia by Union troops, he served eight months in solitary confinement in Fort Delaware.

After being paroled Lubbock returned to Texas, where he became a business man in the Houston and Galveston areas. He also served as the Texas State Treasure from 1878 to 1891, and on the Texas Board of Pardons under Governor James Hogg until he was eighty. Lubbock died in June 22nd 1905 in Austin Texas.