Edward Carrington Marshall (January 13, 1805 – February 8, 1882) was a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

farmer, planter, businessman, and politician. He represented Fauquier County in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

1834-1838 and became president of the

Manassas Gap Railroad The Manassas Gap Railroad (MGRR) ran from Mount Jackson, Virginia, to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad's Manassas Junction, which later became the city of Manassas, Virginia. Chartered by the Virginia General Assembly in 1850, the MGRR was a na ...

Early life

The youngest son of Chief Justice

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

and his wife, the former Mary Willis Ambler (both families being among the

First Families of Virginia First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsbur ...

), Edward Carrington Marshall was born in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

. His first and middle names reflect

Edward Carrington Edward Carrington (February 11, 1748 – October 28, 1810) was an American soldier and statesman from Virginia. During the American Revolutionary War he became a lieutenant colonel of artillery in the Continental Army. He distinguished himself a ...

, husband of John Marshall's sister. Like his brothers Thomas Marshall (1784-1835), John Marshall (1798-1833) and

James Keith Marshall James Keith Marshall (February 13, 1800 – December 2, 1862) was a Virginia planter and politician. He served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, including after Virginia declared its secession during the American Civil War. Early ...

(1800-1862), Edward Carrington Marshall attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

. However, he was the only one of them to actually graduate (in 1826), and he outlived all his siblings. On February 12, 1829, he married Rebecca Courtenay Peyton (1810 - 1888). They had seven children who survived them. Their son James K. Marshall (1839 - 1863), a Confederate officer, died at the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the ...

Career

As did his brothers, Edward Marshall farmed using enslaved labor. In a will drafted in 1827, his father gave the recent Harvard graduate Fauquier county land and "all my slaves and property of every description on the said lands"; a revised will in 1831 indicated the slaves had been transferred to E.C. Marshall, although the land would not pass until the Chief Justice died. Thus, E.C. Marshall owned 34 slaves in Fauquier County in 1850, and 38 slaves in Fauquier County's Southwest Revenue District in 1860. Meanwhile this Marshall served as Fauquier County's delegate in the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...

1836-1838, alongside Elias Edmunds in 1836-37 and alongside Edward Digges in 1838; the pair succeeded William R. Smith and Absalom Hickerson (who served one session) and was succeeded by Elias Edmonds and Josiah Tidball (who also served only a single session). Various Marshall family members had held one of the county's two seats in the House of Delegates for most of the decade. His elder brother Thomas Marshall had won election several times (1830 until his death in 1835), and his younger brother James K. Marshall would twice win election (serving 1839-41). Two prewar riding accidents restricted this Marshall's mobility and caused him to use a cane or various contrivances-—the 1836 accident injured his ankle severely and the second accident caused 13 years of confinement, although E.C. Marshall was determined to remain active and traveled 6 miles to church to teach Sunday School. Marshall envisioned linking the farms of the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridg ...

and his Piedmont region at the Manassas Gap with the port cities of

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

and

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. Marshall became the president of the

, which obtained a charter from the Virginia General Assembly in 1850. That year Marshall also sold the home constructed for him and his new wife after their wedding ("Carrington") and moved to a farm about a mile away in Markham near the new line). The railway would link

Strasburg, Virginia Strasburg is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States, which was founded in 1761 by Peter Stover. It is the largest town by population in the county and is known for its grassroots art culture, pottery, antiques, and American Civil W ...

to Tudor Hall (a/k/a Manassas Junction, later renamed

Manassas, Virginia Manassas (), formerly Manassas Junction, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The population was 42,772 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Prince William County, although the two are separate jurisdi ...

), where it joined with the

Orange and Alexandria Railroad The Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) was a railroad in Virginia, United States. Chartered in 1848, it eventually extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville, with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg. The road played a crucial rol ...

(O&A), which thus linked the Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley farmers to the ports of

and Washington, D.C. as well as

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. Construction began, and by 1854 the line extended from

Mount Jackson, Virginia Mount Jackson is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,994 at the 2010 census. For highway travelers passing by, Mount Jackson is easily identified from I-81 exit 273 by the water tower painted as a basket of ...

to Manassas. Towns also grew on the route, including

Markham, Fauquier County, Virginia Markham is a small, unincorporated community in Fauquier County, Virginia, along State Route 55 and off Interstate 66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It runs from an interchange w ...

near Marshall's home. To reduce lease payments to the O&A, the MGRR began raising funds to construct an alternate line between

Gainesville, Virginia Gainesville is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 17,287 in the 2020 census. History Gainesville was once a changing point for stagecoach horses on the Fauquier & Alexa ...

and Alexandria. However, opposition of some landowners delayed construction, until the

Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...

made financing difficult. During

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, Confederate troops embarked in Delaplane to the

First Battle of Manassas The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

. Portions of the unfinished MGRR Independent Line also served as earthworks for Confederate troops at the

Second Battle of Manassas The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of the Northern Virginia Campaign waged by Confederat ...

. Both armies used the railroad to transport troops as well as supplies. Sections of the line were destroyed many times; none of its rolling stock survived the war. Furthermore, his son James Keith Marshall, an 1860 VMI graduate, was commissioned a Confederate officer and died at the

. In 1867, Marshall sold the remaining Manassas Gap Railroad assets to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, which completed and rebuilt it before being absorbed into the

Richmond and Danville Railroad The Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D) Company was a railroad that operated independently from 1847 until 1894, first in the U.S. state of Virginia, and later on of track in nine states. Chartered on March 9, 1847, the railroad completed its ...

. After his death (and the railroad's bankruptcy after the

Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...

), it was absorbed into the Southern Railway, a multi-state system of over 3,000 miles. Meanwhile, Marshall secured a place in the Pension Office in Washington D.C. during the administrations of Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes. He had built a new home, "Innis", in 1871-1872, and his family continued farming, and he visited during breaks from Washington, as well as also assisted in the nearby school run by his friend Dr. Jacquelin Ambler.

Death and legacy

Marshall died at home, Innis, in 1882, and was buried in the cemetery of Leeds Episcopal Church. Some of his correspondence is archived at the Virginia Historical Society and the University of Virginia archive. Both Carrington and Innis survive today, and since 2007 have been designated contributing buildings in the John Marshall Leeds Manor Rural Historic District.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Edward Carrington 1805 births 1882 deaths Harvard University alumni Politicians from Richmond, Virginia People from Fauquier County, Virginia 19th-century American railroad executives Businesspeople from Richmond, Virginia Members of the Virginia House of Delegates 19th-century American politicians