The Shadow
Author Mike Rucker stands at the entrance to Coleman Tunnel in the Griffith area of Alleghany County. Rucker has written a new book titled “Bridge Burner,” which chronicles the exploits of Dr. William Parks Rucker, a resident of Covington who was said to be the second-most hated man in Virginia behind only Abraham Lincoln during the first year of the Civil War. (Photo Courtesy Mike Rucker)
Author Mike Rucker stands at the entrance to Coleman Tunnel in the Griffith area of Alleghany County. Rucker has written a new book titled “Bridge Burner,” which chronicles the exploits of Dr. William Parks Rucker, a resident of Covington who was said to be the second-most hated man in Virginia behind only Abraham Lincoln during the first year of the Civil War. (Photo Courtesy Mike Rucker)
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Said to be the second most hated person in Virginia during the first year of the American Civil War, Dr. William Parks Rucker lived in Covington and was arrested for murder in 1861.
He is credited with orchestrating the burning of the Virginia Central Railroad bridge over the Cow-pasture River which was near today’s Nicelytown on Route 42 at Coleman Tunnel in the Griffith area.
He also claimed to be the leading force in the burning of the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad’s New River Bridge at Central Depot, today’s Radford.
Dr. Rucker’s life and exploits are chronicled in a book just published, “Bridge Burner,” written by Michael P. Rucker, a former Virginia resident who currently lives in Peoria, Ill. The 292 page hardback book is published by Quarrier Press in Charleston, W. Va.
The author is a distant relative of Dr. Rucker going back to Dr. Rucker’s great grandfather for the connection.
Michale Rucker’s style is entertaining and the book contains considerable information on Dr. Rucker and his activities in the Coving-ton area during and before the Civil War.
Dr. Rucker settled in Lewisburg, W. Va. following the war where he became a practicing attorney who defended Edward Shue in the famous Greenbrier ghost case, the only murder trial in the United States where the testimony of a ghost was submitted as evidence.
The book includes a wealth of information on activities in the Covington area during the Cowpasture River bridge burning and the battle of Cloyds Mountain.
Activities in Greenbrier County during the war are also included.
The book is the result of eight years of research by the author who gives much credit to Rick Armstrong of Hot Springs, president of the Bath County Historical Society, who provided Rucker with “the entire file of material he had collected.”
Armstrong, who has published several books on the Civil War, was planning to write a book about Dr. Rucker. Armstrong had been collecting material for several years from a number of sources. “His assistance was invaluable,” Rucker wrote in his Acknowledgements.
Also receiving credit for assistance were Shelly Dudley Mongols of Low Moor for maps and information concerning Covington and Clifton Forge; Inna Henderson of the Alleghany Highlands Genealogical Society for information on the area and joining Rucker for several tours; William C. Siple and Beuford Bush of Clifton Forge who were the author’s guides to the Cowpasture River Bridge and the Coleman Tunnel; and James Talbert, archivist of the Greenbrier Historical Society in Lewisburg, W. Va.
In the book’s Preface, the author says of Dr. Rucker, “Dr. William Parks Rucker was a slave holder who became a fierce Union partisan.
“Every person he came into contact with either liked him to a fault, or hated his guts. During the early phases of the war, he managed to make himself the second most hated man in the Commonwealth of Virginia, topped only by Abraham Lincoln.”
Michael Rucker became interested in Dr. Rucker when as a child, he often heard the family refer to that individual as the family’s “black sheep.”
In Lewisburg “Dr. Rucker was known as a local character, and scoundrel.”
Dr. Rucker was born in Lynchburg in 1831 and attended Union Valley Seminary, today Hollins University, and was a student at the University of Virginia. He received a medical degree at Philadelphia’s Jefferson Medical College in 1855.
He settled in Covington in 1856 and began a medical practice. He also purchased a house and opened a general store.
He purchased the Pence/Steele Tavern at Island Ford which was a stagecoach relay stop between Longdale’s Armentrout/King Tavern and Callaghan’s Tavern at Callaghan. The land also included a saw mill, tan yard and 460 acres of land.
Dr. Rucker learned the local geography through his traveling for his medical practice and as an agent of the state to take inventory for tax purposes. This information would become important when the Civil War started. He was also president of the Covington and Lexington Turnpike Company.
He and his wife were slave owners but Rucker refused to side with the Confederacy. In June or July of 1861, he was forced to appear before a military tribunal in the Covington courthouse where he was told he must pledge his support to the Confederate government.
He refused to do so and left the courthouse and went to the post office where he expected to mail a letter listing pro confederate postmasters in the area. The postmaster refused to accept the letter so Rucker left to go home.
He was met by a hostile crowd of over 20 residents and an argument began.
Michael Joice (or Joyce) accused Rucker of being a traitor. The exchange of words continued until Joice swung a club at Rucker who responded by plunging a Bowie knife into his opponent several times.
The crowd carried Rucker and Joice into Burke’s Hotel which was located next to the Rosedale Bridge over the Jackson River and was forced to attend to the wounds. Nevertheless, Joice died the next day and Rucker was arraigned in Alleghany County Court Aug. 19, 1861.
Following a trial, the court dismissed the charges saying Rucker acted in self defense.
Rucker remained in Covington until February of 1862 when he moved his family to Summersville in Nicholas County, W. Va.
By the start of the Civil War, the Virginia Central Railroad had track operating to Jackson River Station at Selma. Salt from what is now West Virginia, was transported there and taken by train to eastern Virginia.
In May of 1862 Col. George Crook was ordered to capture provisions of Confederate General Henry Heth at Buchanan.
Rucker was enlisted to accompany Crook because of his knowledge of the area.
During the raid, the Union military burned the Burke Hotel in Covington, took horses and cattle as well as food and grain and arrested many individuals.
The depot was captured and on May 18 the Cowpasture River Bridge was burned.
The bridge was located where the Virginia Central Railroad emerged from Coleman’s Tunnel. No longer used, the tunnel is still at the site. The bridge was rebuilt in 1864.
Rucker returned to Nicholas County on May 21.
At the November session of Alleghany County Circuit Court, Rucker was arraigned for treason, for compelling citizens to take an oath to uphold the federal government, for burning the railroad bridge, for taking horses and wagons, for carrying off slaves and for the death of Michael Joice in April of 1861.
In July, Confederate troops entered Summersville and captured Rucker. This began a long saga of Rucker being held prisoner for 15 months in 10 jails while the Confederate government and state government argued who had jurisdiction and refused to have him exchanged as a prisoner of war to Union authorities.
With help, Rucker finally escaped and joined the Union Army. He claims he was instrumental in the burning of the New River Bridge.
When the war ended, he located in Lewisburg and became an attorney. He died there on Jan. 3, 1905.
Michael Rucker has chronicled Dr. Rucker’s life bringing many details of Covington and Alleghany County incidents during the war to light.
His book is available from the Alleghany Historical Society at the C&O depot on Maple Avenue in Covington for $29.95.
The depot is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 1-5 p. m. and Saturday and Sunday, 2-4 p. m.
The author plans to attend the annual James River Battleax Festival in Lynchburg in June. Inna Henderson of the Alleghany Highlands Genealogical Society is tentatively planning a book signing in Covington June 18.
Michael Rucker is a native of Virginia and attended high school in Fredericksburg and graduated from Virginia Tech. He joined Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill., and traveled extensively for the company.
He is the author of a series of 18 children’s books concerning a small machine, Terry the Tractor. He was named an “Illinois State Author” for his Terry the Tractor series.
Mike and his wife, Harriet, have been married for 45 years and have a son and three granddaughters.
