Tom Perry's Website Of Patrick County Virginia History
"In the beginning, all America was Virginia"-- William Byrd II
Virginia’s Greatest Athlete
A horse named Somethingroyal
gave birth for the fourteenth time on March 30, 1970 at the Meadow Stable in
Caroline County near Doswell, Virginia, between Richmond and Fredericksburg on
land that Confederate and Union Armies fought over during the Civil War. Sired
by Bold Ruler, the foal had three white feet, was chestnut in color and named
Secretariat.
In 1972, he came in fourth in
his first race, but won five of seven starts. He crossed the finish line first
in the Champagne Stakes but was disqualified and awarded second. The horse won
almost half a million dollars and was named Horse of the Year unanimously. He
was sold to a breeding syndicate for a record $6.08 million dollars.
As a three year old in 1973,
he won nine of twelve races entered, set or tied the track record at six of
them, set the world record in two races and won over $800,000. He was the first
horse to win the triple crown of racing in twenty-five years. At the Kentucky
Derby, he ran each of the five-quarter miles faster than the one before. At the
Preakness Stakes, he won setting a new track record and at the Belmont Stakes he
won by 31 lengths and sat a new world record for the distance of 2:24 for 1 ½
miles.
As a sire, Secretariat is more
famous for his daughters such as Risen Star, who won the Preakness and Belmont
in 1988 and 1986 Horse of the Year, Lady’s Secret. His great-grandson, Storm
Bird, set the record for the highest stud fee of $500,000 in 2002 and is
considered the most valuable stallion in the world.
Secretariat was known for his
playful nature. His biographer, William Nach, noted several stories such as the
time he took a broom to sweep out his own stall and taking a reporters notepad
out of his hand.
At the age of 19, he came down
with laminitis, a painful condition of the hooves, and was put down on October
3, 1989 and buried at Claiborne Farms in Kentucky. At the autopsy for the horse,
they found that his heart was naturally two times the normal size. The big red
horse truly had a big heart.
ESPN recently had released a poll of the top athletes of the twentieth century and there he was 35th and the only non-human. Thirty years ago this summer, I was twelve years old loved to watch the red horse with three white hooves and a checker board pattern of blue and white on his colors. Secretariat was the greatest athlete ever born in Virginia and was as my hero.
History Links In Southwest Virginia
Henry County Virginia History Bassett Historical Center My Henry CountyVirginia Center For Civil War Studies
Virginia Museum of Transportation
History Museum of Western Virginia
Wilderness Road Regional Museum
Historic Sandusky in Lynchburg
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Fincastle Rifles Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp #1326
Last Capital of the Confederacy
Virginia History Links
Virginia Center For Digital History
Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Association For The Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
Covered Bridge Society of Virginia
Virginia 1790 and 1800 Tax Lists
Historic Garden Week in Virginia
Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Pocahontas State Park
Jamestown
Jamestown National Historic Site
Crandall Shifflett’s Virtual Jamestown
Patrick Henry
"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" Speech
Patrick Henry Places in Virginia
Colonial and Antebellum
Colonial National Historic Park (Yorktown/Jamestown)
First Woman President?
Officially, the United States of America has never had a female as Commander-In-Chief, but our southwest Virginia neighbors in Wytheville might disagree. An exhibit in the Boyd Museum tells the story of Wytheville native, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, the woman many believe was the first woman President of the United States.
The twenty-eighth President of the United States was born in Staunton, Virginia. His father, a pastor, moved his family to my mother’s hometown of Augusta, Georgia. Thomas Woodrow Wilson became a noted historian, professor and later President of Princeton University and Governor of New Jersey Elected President of the United States in 1912, Wilson defeated Theodore Roosevelt and the sitting President William Howard Taft. Wilson’s first wife, Edith Louise Axson Wilson died in 1914 right as World War One broke out in Europe.
Edith Bolling was born in October 1872 in Wytheville, Virginia in what is today above a hotdog restaurant and an antique store. Her father, a local judge, held up court to be present for her birth. She said that she came into the world making men wait. The 5’ 9" brunette married Norman Galt in 1895, but he died in 1908. She spent many years touring the world and living a very independent life before meeting Woodrow Wilson in 1915.
Courting the Widow Galt became an obsession for President Wilson. He took her on long car rides in the Virginia countryside and proposed after three months. Edith and Woodrow were married in December 1915. Wilson kept the United States out of Word War One until after reelection in 1916. Eventually the U. S. entered the war. Wilson proposed a peace plan called the 14 Points and traveled to France to attend the peace conference.
Woodrow Wilson returned home and suffered a stroke in October 1919 while campaigning for a League of Nations similar to today’s United Nations. The Senate had to ratify the Treaty of Versailles and eventually rejected it much to Wilson chagrin. Edith controlled access to him only bringing up matters to him that were "important" and when to bring them up. It was six weeks before he left his bed. There was no mention of the stroke to anyone. The doctors cooperated with the cover up
Warren Harding succeeded Wilson to the Presidency, but Wilson outlived him dying in 1924. Edith lived until 1961 devoted to the memory of her husband and very partisan in her politics. They are buried together at the National Cathedral in Washington D. C. and their post white house home is open to visitors.
In 1967, the twenty-fifth amendment was added to the United States Constitution, which specifies in detail what should happen in the event of Presidential disability. A new book, Edith and Woodrow by Phyllis L. Levin, takes Mrs. Wilson to task for her actions when her husband was stricken with a stroke. Levin contends that Mrs. Wilson kept the League of Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations from being formed, resulting in World War Two and other horrible events of history. A recent documentary on PBS on Woodrow Wilson takes a somewhat different view of Mrs. Wilson along with a new book by Wilson scholar John Milton Cooper Breaking The Heart of The World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations.
History is never a simple statement of facts, but a blending of different voices that show the various shades that are the past of our nation. Virginians point to pride about the men who served this nation as President and at least in Wytheville we might to rethink the number of people from the Old Dominion who served. We should look with empathy at Edith Wilson and the position she found herself in 1919 with a war recovering from war and a husband fighting for his life.
Click Here To Learn More About Mrs. Wilson
Virginia Presidents and Soldiers
George Washington’s Mount Vernon
George Washington’s Ferry Farm
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
James Monroe’s Ash Lawn/Highland
Harrison’s Birthplace Berkeley
Virginia’s Civil War Battlefields
Appomattox Courthouse National Park
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County National Military Park
Manassas National Battlefield Park
Petersburg National Battlefield Park
Richmond National Battlefield Park
Lee’s Retreat to Appomattox Trail
Staunton River Battlefield State Park
Sailors Creek Battlefield State Park
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Historic District
New Market Battlefield State Park
Civil War Preservation
Central Virginia Battlefield Trust
Trevilian Station Battlefield Trust
Cedar Creek Battlefield Preservation
Brandy Station Battlefield Foundation
American Battlefield Protection Program
Civil War Related Sites
Stratford Hall (Lee’s Birthplace)
Stonewall Jackson House in Lexington
War Between The States Heritage Sites
Virginia Division United Daughters of the Confederacy
Virginia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans
