Civil War in Lynchburg

Prisoner-of-War Camp

This was the site of a Confederate training camp and Union prisoner-of-war camp during the Civil War. Before Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, the population of Lynchburg doubled

with the influx of soldiers from

other parts of the ...

Lynchburg and Salem Turnpike

The Lynchburg and Salem Turnpike Co. was incorporated in 1818 to build a turnpike from Lynchburg west to Salem. The road reached Liberty (now Bedford) in 1828 and was completed to Salem in 1836. In Bedford County, covered bridges spanned ...

Lynchburg

In 1757 John Lynch opened a ferry here; in 1765 a church was built. In 1786 Lynchburg was established by act of Assembly; in 1791 the first tobacco warehouse was built. Lynchburg was incorporated as a town in 1805. In ...

Lynchburg Defenses

During the Civil War, a line of trenches and

fortified artillery positions extending past

here were built late in 1863 to defend Lynchburg against attack from the north. Brig.

Gen. Francis T. Nicholls was responsible for

ensuring that the local militia, invalids, and

convalescents properly ...

Lynchburg History

Main and Fifth Streets

Fifth Street was known as Ferry Road early in the 1800s. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Douglas Southall Freeman was born nearby in 1886. By the mid-20th century, thirty African American-owned businesses lined Fifth Street, the center of black ...

Lynchburg History

Court Street and Monument Terrace

This area became known as Court House Hill when the first courthouse was built here in 1813. The district contains a variety of architectural styles and notable churches, as well as the city’s 1855 Old Court ...

Lynchburg History

Commerce Street and Horseford Road

Horseford Road is named for the nearby ford that Virginia Indians and early settlers used to cross the James River. During the 19th century, this area was home to tobacco factories, flour mills, and iron foundries. ...

Lynchburg History

Church and Ninth Streets

Monument Terrace, completed in 1925, links Church Street with Court Street via 132 steps and 10 landings. The bronze statue, The Listening Post, created by Charles Keck, commemorates Lynchburg’s World War I dead. Several other memorials have ...

Lynchburg History

Court Street and Monument Terrace

This area became known as Court House Hill when the first courthouse was built here in 1813. The district contains a variety of architectural styles and notable churches, as well as the city’s 1855 Old Court ...

Lynchburg Confederate Soldiers Monument

(front)

1861—1865

Our Confederate Soldiers

(rear)

Erected by the

Daughters of the Confederacy

of

Lynchburg, Virginia

in 1899,

to commemorate the heroism

of our Confederate Soldiers

(side)

Kirk Wood Otey Chapter U.D.C.

(side)

Old Dominion Chapter U.D.C.

Marker is at the intersection of Court Street and Ninth Street, on the right when traveling west on ...