1. John McCausland attended the Buffalo Academy in Putnam County, Then he traveled to Harrisonburg, Virginia, studied engineering at the Virginia Military Institute and graduated with first honors in the class of 1857.
10 Facts About John McCausland
1. 2.
In 1858, after a year of further studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, John McCausland became an assistant professor of mathematics at VMI until 1861.
3.
Immediately after Virginia seceded, McCausland recruited an artillery company from Rockbridge County but refused a command, instead recruiting in the Kanawha Valley at General Robert E Lee's request.
4.
On July 16,1861, John McCausland was commissioned as a colonel and placed in command of the 36th Virginia Infantry Regiment.
5.
Under Early's orders, on July 30,1864, John McCausland burned the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, after it failed to pay a $100,000 extortion demand, justifying it as retaliation for the private property destroyed during Hunter's Shenandoah Valley campaign.
6.
John McCausland was paroled in Charleston, West Virginia, on May 22,1865.
7.
John McCausland faced arson charges for the burning of Chambersburg, but was pardoned by President Ulysses S Grant.
8.
John McCausland married Emmett Charlotte Hannah on October 3,1878, and they would have four children: 3 sons and a daughter.
9.
John McCausland is buried in the Smith family cemetery in Henderson, West Virginia.
10.
John McCausland was abandoned in another part of the farm which became the McClintic Wildlife Management Area.