Heroes, then and now

“Fallen hero saved ‘many lives,’ ” was the headline in yesterday’s (July 19th) Bluefield Daily Telegraph. That hero was LCpl. Juston Thacker, a Princeton, W.Va. Marine, killed in Afghanistan three weeks ago. Reporter Barbara Hawkins led the story with words written by the platoon commander to the fallen hero’s mother: “LCpl. Juston Thacker is a hero.” A second letter told why: her son and two other Marines had come across an enemy force waiting to ambush another U.S. military group. If not for the prompt action of the three to “disrupt a planned enemy attack,” a lot of lives would have been lost.

With one word, the commander gave Thacker the highest honor possible. That word wasn’t “hero.” It was “is.” “Is” means that Thacker’s bravery transcends his death; “is” means he is a hero forever.

People around Southwest Virginia and border West Virginia towns do remember and honor their heroes.

One hundred and forty-one 141 years ago to the day, July 19, 1863, an enemy force of 1,000 came over East River Mountain, retreating from Wytheville where a young Tazewell woman had foiled its plans for a surprise attack.

“That woman was Molly Tynes,” said Dr. Terry Mullins, Tazewell County teacher and historian. The retreat brought them from Wytheville, through Bland County, to Cove Creek, and over the mountain, to Pin Hook, he said. “That was Bluefield, Virginia’s name at that time.”

But three days before, the Union cavalry had been on the offensive 20 miles to the west at Jeffersonville, now the town of Tazewell. William Pendleton, author of “Pendleton’s History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia,” was a young boy at the time and wrote about the cavalry sweeping in rapidly from the north on the 16th, while they were eating breakfast: “Suddenly two Yankee cavalrymen rode on to the porch and picked up our guns; and the house was then completely surrounded by troopers.”

The house, known as Ben Bolt, belonged to Captain William E. Peery. The Union cavalry led by Brevet Brigadier General John Toland and second-in-command Lt. Colonel Powell took over the house and grounds for a one-night stand. That’s because their battle plan for Wytheville was one of surprise. They would cross the rugged mountains, capture the town, destroy the railroad, the lead mines, and then go quickly to Saltville to take control of the salt mines. They didn’t have time to linger in Tazewell.

But they did have time to discuss strategy. Some time that day a Tynes family member must have overheard them. The Tynes lived nearby at their home called “Rocky Dell,” about two miles out of town in Gratton, said Mullins. Time was of the essence; someone had to ride across the mountain wilderness to warn the people in the approaching army’s path and the residents of Wytheville.

That job fell to Molly, an unlikely heroine. Louise Leslie in her book “Tazewell” writes that Molly was a city girl, who spent much of her life in Lynchburg, Va., and was educated at Hollins College, but came back to Tazewell to live with her parents, who would have been too old to make the dangerous trip.

While there is no written account of the journey, Tynes’ descendants have put together the story from oral tradition and facts.

Molly rode 53 miles from her home in Gratton, up to Burke’s Garden, through it, down the other side of the mountain, through Ceres, and up Big Walker Mountain, said Mullins. She rode at night, warning everyone along the way, “The Yankees are coming! The Yankees are coming!” Many had time to hide their livestock and horses in caves, to get rid of their firearms, and to hide themselves. But the Union force didn’t have time to destroy or steal too much: they had a mission to accomplish. A mission that failed, because of this young girl, riding in front of them, alarming the countryside of imminent attack.

When Toland and Powell reached Wytheville, they were the surprised ones. In the first hour Toland was shot through the heart and Powell went down wounded. The David and Goliath battle lasted an hour, according to Pendleton. One hundred Confederate soldiers along with some hardy Wytheville residents demoralized the larger force that was without its two leaders. When the cavalry finally broke through to destroy the railroad, they failed. Fearing that an approaching train carried Confederate reinforcements, they fled back toward West Virginia. That’s what brought them to Pin Hook around July 19, 1863. Their mission that day was to get out of Virginia.

What happened to Molly Tynes? Historians say that her brave deed was quiet for a while. She went on to marry a West Virginia man, but along the way, her story came out. Over the years she has been honored for her courage. Mullins said that John Milton Newton of Rocky Gap wrote a ballad, “The Thrilling Ride of Molly Tynes,” calling the heroine “A Virginia maiden whose career / Would rival that of Paul Revere.”

A Virginia historical marker stands on the roadside near Rocky Dell. In 1968, a monument was erected on her grave at the Jeffersonville Cemetery in Tazewell. But the most fitting honor was the “Molly Tynes Ride” held on July 17 for many years. “I remember seeing hundreds of riders,” said Mullins. “They would start at the stockyards, ride up to Burke’s Garden, and then on to Wytheville.”

This past spring at Crab Orchard Museum there was another re-enactment to honor the Tazewell heroine, said Mullins. For the annual Civil War Days celebration, 16-year-old Laura Kerr of Springville “impersonated Molly,” said Mullins. In period costume, “she was excellent in recounting Molly’s expedition over the mountains.”

Area people don’t forget those who risk their lives for others. LCpl. Thacker is now a part of this elite group.