Indian Mound Cemetery is a cemetery located along the

Northwestern Turnpike The Northwestern Turnpike is a historic road in West Virginia (Virginia at the time the road was created), important for being historically one of the major roads crossing the Appalachians, financed by the Virginia Board of Public Works in the 183 ...

( U.S. Route 50) on a promontory of the "Yellow Banks" overlooking the

South Branch Potomac River The South Branch Potomac River has its headwaters in northwestern Highland County, Virginia near Hightown along the eastern edge of the Allegheny Front. After a river distance of ,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolu ...

and

Mill Creek Mountain Mill Creek Mountain is a continuous mountain ridge that runs northeast through Hampshire and Hardy counties in the Eastern Panhandle region of the U.S. state of West Virginia. Rising to its greatest elevation of at High Knob, Mill Creek is a fo ...

Romney, West Virginia Romney is a town in and the county seat of Hampshire County, West Virginia, Hampshire County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,722 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History Established by consecutive acts of the V ...

, United States. The cemetery is centered on a Hopewellian

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...

, known as the Romney Indian Mound. Indian Mound Cemetery is also the site of

Fort Pearsall Fort Pearsall was an early frontier fort constructed in 1756 in Romney, West Virginia (then known as Pearsall's Flats, Virginia) to protect local settlers in the South Branch Potomac River valley against Native American raids. The area around pr ...

, the Confederate Memorial, Parsons Bell Tower, and reinterments from Romney's Old Presbyterian Cemetery. The cemetery is currently owned and maintained by the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. Indian Mound Cemetery is the burial site of two governors of West Virginia, a United States House Representative, a

United States Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...

, an owner of the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, and descendants of the family of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

. Days before the 150th anniversary of the Confederate Monument's dedication was to be observed, it was vandalized. The vandalism read "reparations now", and was done using black spray paint. The damage to the monument has since been repaired.

History

Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2005 09 16 02

Romney Indian Mound

Physical description

The Romney Indian mound is a

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

that measures in height and approximately in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

, according to the site marker. Since this marker was erected, further research indicates the mound has been opened at some point in the past. It is the largest of the remaining mounds discovered in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

Eastern Panhandle The Eastern Panhandle is the eastern of the two panhandles in the U.S. state of West Virginia; the other is the Northern Panhandle. It is a small stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia. Some sources ...

. The Romney Indian Mound is representative of thousands of small Middle and

Late Woodland In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...

burial mounds that occurred throughout much of eastern North America. Throughout its history, the Romney Indian Mound has traditionally been covered in

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

trees, of which several remain as of 2010.

Origins

The Romney Indian Mound was constructed at what was once the crossroads of the Shawnee Trail, running north and south, and the east-west Indian Road (later the

and U.S. Route 50) leading to the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

. The original owner of the mound, David Gibson, gave the site to the city of Romney on the condition that the mound would not be disturbed. For this reason, the city has never allowed the mound to be excavated. The

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

suggests the Romney Indian Mound possibly dates from between 500 and 1000 CE given the ages of similar mounds it excavated in the Eastern Panhandle. The mound was likely constructed by peoples of the Hopewell culture, who resided within West Virginia between 500 BC and 1,000 CE. The Romney Indian Mound is perhaps the only accessible mound east of the

that has been preserved. This is mostly due in part to both its location high above the flood plain of the South Branch Potomac River and that it was never plowed over.

Indian Mound Cemetery Company and Association

Several years prior to the onset of the

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

, Romney's Old Presbyterian Cemetery at Gravel Lane and High Street had become full and the city of Romney sought to procure a larger tract for a new spacious cemetery. Indian Mound Cemetery was incorporated by an act of 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 ...

around 1859. The land was conveyed to the Indian Mound Cemetery Company by David Gibson on May 31, 1860. The land conveyed by Gibson had previously been a tract of his nearby

Sycamore Dale Sycamore Dale (also known as the Gibson-Wirgman-Williams House) is a 19th-century Greek Revival plantation house overlooking the South Branch Potomac River southwest of Romney, West Virginia. Sycamore Dale is one of several historic estates al ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

. The cemetery's original design consisted of two plats: the higher plat around the Romney Indian Mound and the lower plat above Sulphur Spring Run reserved for the burials of African Americans. The latter separated from Indian Mound Cemetery and became known as the Mount Pisgah Benevolence Cemetery, which is currently maintained by the Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church. On May 22, 1869, a meeting was held at the Hampshire County Courthouse to elect a board of directors of the Indian Mound Cemetery Company. The company operated the cemetery until it was incorporated by the state of West Virginia on August 25, 1925, as the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. The association has been administered by a self-perpetuating board of directors since 1925. On October 6, 1925, an additional five acres to the north were purchased by the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. from Hiram C. and Katie Feidner Cooper.

American Civil War

Confederate Memorial Romney WV 2015 06 08 01

Battle of Romney

Due to its strategic location on a bluff commanding views of the

, the Romney Covered Bridge, and the Northwestern Turnpike for half a mile, Indian Mound Cemetery was an important lookout position during the

. On October 22, 1861,

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

General Scott ordered General

Benjamin Franklin Kelley Benjamin Franklin Kelley (April 10, 1807 – July 16, 1891) was an American soldier who served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in several military campaigns in West Virginia and ...

to concentrate his forces at New Creek (now known as Keyser) and attack and capture Romney. Kelley left New Creek early on the morning of October 27 and the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

at Romney began preparations for his arrival. The Confederates planted a twelve-pound rifle cannon and a mountain howitzer in Indian Mound Cemetery ready to fire at the lead of the Union Army column as it emerged from

Mechanicsburg Gap Mechanicsburg Gap (also known as Mill Creek Gap) is a water gap through Mill Creek Mountain in Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Mechanicsburg Gap allows for the passage of the Northwestern Turnpike ( U.S. Route 50/West Virgi ...

. The Union forces drove in and advanced to Indian Mound Cemetery where the Confederate forces made a stand and opened fire on the Federals with the twelve-pound rifle cannon and the mountain howitzer. A severe cannonade took place between the

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

of both the Union and Confederate forces for an hour.

Burials

Also during the

, Indian Mound Cemetery was used as a burial ground by both

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

armies. The majority of soldiers killed in the vicinity of Romney were buried in blankets in the cemetery, many whose names are unknown. Captain Richard Ashby, the brother of Confederate General

Turner Ashby Turner Ashby Jr. (October 23, 1828 – June 6, 1862) was an American officer. He was a Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War. In his youth, he organized an informal cavalry company known as the Mountain Rangers, which beca ...

, was interred with all the honors of war under a giant

oak tree An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

on July 4, 1861, in Indian Mound Cemetery shortly after his death at nearby Washington Bottom Farm on July 3 from wounds received in a skirmish on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Turner Ashby attended his brother's funeral at Indian Mound Cemetery where his behavior was described in Edward A. Pollard's ''Southern History of the War'' as touching: Ashby's body was removed from the cemetery to Stonewall Cemetery in

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the most north western independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester wit ...

, in October 1862 where it was reinterred next to Ashby's brother General Turner Ashby. Their grave is marked "The Brothers Ashby."

Confederate Memorial

The Confederate Memorial was erected by local ladies in honor of Hampshire County's Confederate dead and dedicated in Indian Mound Cemetery on September 26, 1867. It is considered one of the oldest, if not the first, permanent memorials to Confederate dead in the United States.

Notable interments

Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2015 06 08 24

Stephen Ailes Stephen Ailes (May 25, 1912 – June 30, 2001) was a prominent member of the District of Columbia Bar and a partner in the firm of Steptoe & Johnson. He served as the United States Under Secretary of the Army from February 9, 1961, to January 28, ...

(1912–2001),

* William Armstrong (1782–1865), United States House Representative from

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 ar ...

* John Rinehart Blue (1905–1965), West Virginia House Delegate from Hampshire County * William C. Clayton (1831–1915), West Virginia State Senator * Edna Brady Cornwell (1868–1958), First Lady of West Virginia * John Jacob Cornwell (1867–1953), 15th

Governor of West Virginia A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

* Marshall S. Cornwell (1871–1898), newspaper editor and publisher, poet, and author * William B. Cornwell (1864–1926),

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

* John Collins Covell (1823–1887), Principal of the

West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind The West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (WVSDB) were established by an Act of the Legislature on March 3, 1870. The School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind offer comprehensive educational programs for hearing impaired and vi ...

* Dr. William Henry Foote (1794–1869),

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

clergyman and historian *

Henry Bell Gilkeson Henry Bell Gilkeson (June 6, 1850 – September 29, 1921) was an American lawyer, politician, school administrator, and banker in West Virginia. Gilkeson was born in Moorefield, Virginia (now West Virginia), the eldest child of a dry good ...

(1850–1921), West Virginia State Senator,

West Virginia House of Delegates The West Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the West Virginia Legislature. Only three states—Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia—refer to their lower house as the House of Delegates. Organization Regular sessions begin with ...

member, Principal of the

, and Superintendent of Hampshire County Schools * John Jeremiah Jacob (1757–1839), first ordained

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

minister in Hampshire County * John Jeremiah Jacob (1829–1893), 4th Governor of West Virginia * Howard Hille Johnson (1846–1913), founder of and educator at the

* James Sloan Kuykendall (1878–1928), West Virginia House Delegate *

George Preston Marshall George Preston Marshall (October 11, 1896 – August 9, 1969) was an American businessman best known for founding the Washington Commanders, an American football franchise belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He founded the team as ...

(1896–1969), owner and president of the

* Gilbert Proctor Miller (1866–1927),

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...

ist; founder of Hampshire County's fruit industry * Alexander W. Monroe (1817–1905), Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates and

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

* George William Washington (1809–1876),

gentleman farmer In the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, a gentleman farmer is a landowner who has a farm (gentleman's farm) as part of his estate and who farms mainly for pleasure rather than for profit or sustenance. The Collins English Diction ...

and

diarist A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal d ...

Christian Streit White Christian Streit White (March 10, 1839 – January 28, 1917) was an American military officer, lawyer, court clerk, pisciculturist, and politician in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. During the American Civil War, White served ...

(1839–1917), Clerk of Court for Hampshire County * John Baker White (1868–1944), Military officer and West Virginia Board of Control member * Robert White (1876–1935), Prosecuting Attorney for Hampshire County and West Virginia State Senator * Joshua Soule Zimmerman (1874–1962), West Virginia House Delegate, Hampshire County

Prosecuting Attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

, and

ist

Image gallery

File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 02.JPG, Iron fence at the entrance File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 04.JPG, Entrance gate and Parsons Bell Tower File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 05.JPG, Parsons Bell Tower File:Parsons Bell Tower Romney WV 2005 08 21 01.jpg, Parsons Bell Tower File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 06.JPG, Caretaker's residence File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2005 09 16 03.jpg, Romney Indian Mound File:IndianMoundCemetery1942RomneyWV.jpg, Indian Mound Cemetery and U.S. Route 50 in 1942 File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2015 06 08 34.JPG, Unknown Confederate graves, decorated for Confederate Memorial Day File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2005 09 16 04.jpg, Gravestones at Indian Mound Cemetery File:Confederate Memorial Romney WV 2010 04 25 02.jpg, Confederate Memorial File:Confederate Memorial Romney WV 2005 08 21 02.jpg, Confederate Memorial detail File:Fort Pearsall Marker Romney WV 2005 09 16 01.jpg, Old Fort Pearsall historical marker File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 11.JPG, New Fort Pearsall historical marker File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 14.JPG, Washington family plot File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 20.JPG, Grave of Gilbert Proctor Miller, founder of Hampshire County's fruit industry File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 13.JPG, View of Mill Creek Mountain and the South Branch Potomac River File:Harmison family marker.jpg, Harmison family marker

References

External links

Indian Mound Cemetery Inventory

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Indian Mound Cemetery 1859 establishments in Virginia American Civil War sites in West Virginia Archaeological sites in West Virginia Cemeteries in West Virginia Confederate States of America cemeteries Hampshire County, West Virginia, in the American Civil War Hopewellian peoples Mounds in West Virginia Northwestern Turnpike Protected areas of Hampshire County, West Virginia Romney, West Virginia Rural cemeteries