OC Historical Society: First 15 Years of Scouting in Gordonsville

The earliest known photo of Gordonsville Troop No. 1 Scouts (James B. Jones, at left), ca. 1921. (Photo courtesy Mary Jones)

After its founding in early 1910, Boy Scout movement quickly spread to the urban centers of Virginia’s Commonwealth (e.g., Staunton-1911; Richmond-1913; Charlottesville-1914; and Petersburg-1914). Likewise, Scouting in the rural towns and counties of Virginia also quickly developed a strong foothold within a few years of the establishment of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Gordonsville was one of these small towns (with a 1910 population of 564) located near the junction of Orange and Louisa Counties in the central Virginia Piedmont.

Boy Scouting in Gordonsville is believed to have begun with the Rev. William Hudson Cumpston, the pastor of Christ Episcopal Church (1914-1917) and founding scoutmaster of Gordonsville Troop No. 1 (now known as Troop 12). Prior to his coming to Gordonsville, Cumpston graduated from the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria in June 1911 with a divinity degree. After his ordination, the Rev. Cumpston served as rector of the Episcopal church in Harper’s Ferry, W.Va. until early 1914. By April 1914, he was assigned to Christ Episcopal Church in Gordonsville. The Rev. Cumpston was reported in a May 1915 issue of Scouting magazine (Vol. 3, No. 2: May 15, 1915) as having been re-registered as a scoutmaster. This indicates that his scoutmaster’s commission was originally issued the previous year, in spring or early summer of 1914, probably soon after he arrived in Gordonsville. The only scout known to have been in the unit during this early period was James Bernard Jones, who is reported to have been a scout in 1914. He later went on to graduate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) and remained active in Scouting into adulthood.

The documentary record is silent on Gordonsville Troop No. 1 for the next few years, but a notable highlight of 1916 was the head-to-head first-aid competition against Orange Troop No. 1 at the Orange County Fair on Oct.26. The competition was designed to demonstrate each unit’s ability in rendering first-aid for bleeding, fractures and fainting, as well as a number of bandaging techniques. The November 3, 1916, edition of the Orange Observer newspaper reported that the competition ended in a draw, with the Orange troop winning the bandaging component and the Gordonsville troop winning the first-aid portion of the competition. Each unit won a prize of $5.00. Unfortunately no list of competitors from either troop survives. A rematch was set for the 1917 Orange County Fair, but the rematch was not held as the Gordonsville troop failed to attend. The troop may have been in a state of disorganization for a time after the departure of Scoutmaster Rev. Cumpston in mid-1917.

After leaving Christ church in Gordonsville, the Rev. Cumpston moved to nearby Fredericksburg and was the rector at St. George’s Episcopal church by May 1917. We learn from the March 15, 1918 issue of Scouting magazine that the Rev. Cumpston served as the Scout Commissioner for the nascent Fredericksburg council in 1918. This council, about 50 miles east of Gordonsville, was formed in the spring of 1915 with N.B. Strother as its first Scout Commissioner. Later in 1918, Cumpston joined the Army YMCA and served as a civilian religious director among the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe. He returned from his European posting with the YMCA on March 30, 1919. By July 1919, Cumpston had been reassigned to St. James Episcopal church in Accomack County, Va. It is unclear if he continued as a scoutmaster on Virginia’s eastern shore.

After the departure of the Rev. Cumpston, Troop No. 1 apparently became affiliated with Gordonsville Presbyterian Church and its pastor, the Rev. Leander McCormick Williams (although the troop was still officially chartered by a group of Gordonsville citizens, a common practice during the early years of the Scouting movement). The Rev. Williams was the second scoutmaster of Gordonsville Troop No. 1, and he served as pastor of Gordonsville Presbyterian Church from 1918 until 1925; he also was a mason in the Gordonsville lodge. A native of Augusta County, the Rev. Williams also served the Scottsville and Madison Presbyterian churches as pastor. Williams died rather suddenly on Nov. 16, 1925, in Gordonsville.

The August 1, 1918 issue of the Culpeper Exponent reported that the Gordonsville Boy Scout troop participated in the Orange County Red Cross Day at the Piedmont Assembly Grounds outside Gordonsville. The unit demonstrated first-aid techniques along with the troops from Louisa and Orange. The June 26, 1919, issue of Scouting magazine indicates that the Rev. Williams received an official commission as a scoutmaster from BSA Headquarters in New York City on June 14, 1919 after he had taken up leadership of Gordonsville Presbyterian Church. It was under the leadership of Scoutmaster Williams that Gordonsville Troop No. 1 was dealt a harsh blow — the death of scout Robert Williams, the scoutmaster’s son, in 1920. Scoutmaster Williams is presumed to have remained the leader of the troop until his premature death in 1925.

In 1926, the unit underwent a change in leadership and reorganization, but contained at least 20 members. The troop was then led by Scoutmaster Rev. Robert Lee Fruit, pastor of Gordonsville Methodist Church. Assistant Scoutmasters William Walker, Virgil Jones, and the Rev. Robert A. Cooper (pastor of Gordonsville Christian Church), served under the Rev. Fruit. It appears that the Rev. Fruit was not able to devote sufficient time to the troop and served as the scoutmaster for only a year until the unit rechartered in 1927 under the jurisdiction of the newly incorporated Lewis and Clark Area Council. W. W. Thomasson, editor of the Orange County News newspaper, was Gordonsville’s representative to the Lewis and Clark Area Council, and the Rev. C. A. Langston was elected a vice-president of the council. According to the July 17, 1927, edition of The Times–Dispatch of Richmond, the Gordonsville troop embarked upon a two-week summer encampment in nearby Madison County. Assistant Scoutmasters Virgil Jones and William Walker accompanied the scouts on the trip.

Scoutmaster Prof. J. Thomas Walker (1950). (Photo Credit: Orange County Historical Society)

In November 1927, Gordonsville Troop No. 1 came under the leadership of Scoutmaster Prof. J. Thomas Walker, a highly regarded 30-year-old educator and principal in Gordonsville. Later he would become principal of Orange High School and the athletics coach. Walker had a very successful term as scoutmaster, and served until the fall of 1930. John Wade Jones served several years as assistant scoutmaster beginning in November 1927 as well. Assistant Scoutmaster Jones, 18 years old at the time that he was appointed, was a former First Class scout who originally joined the Gordonsville troop in 1924. Asst. Scoutmaster Jones joined Asst. Scoutmasters William Walker and the Rev. R. A. Cooper who were already registered in the unit. The troop committee consisted of the Rev. R. L. Fruit (chairman and former scoutmaster), Dr. H. S. Willis (Gordonsville veterinarian), Alonzo L. Jones (railroad engineer), and the Rev. E. T. Cox.

The first surviving complete roster of troop members is from mid-1927 and includes the following names of 25 scouts: Thomas Davis, Maurice Dibble, Banks Harris, Goodloe and William May, Irvin McKenny, Meredith Payne, W. Goodwin Richards, John R. Ruffner, Joseph and Reginald Thacker, Lynwood Utz, Robin Yager, James Byrd, W.T. Chaffin, Oscar Fitzhugh, Thomas Goode, Orville Murphy, Bradley Mayhugh, Huston Stanley, Nelson Fitzhugh, Francis Thomasson, John W. Jones, James Wilhoit and Wallace Allen. From July 4 – 16, the troop conducted its own summer encampment with 18 scouts attending, but no other details nor the location could be determined for the event.

Less than a year later, Gordonsville Troop No. 1 held a court-of-honor, presided over by the Rev. C.A. Langston representing the Lewis and Clark Area Council, and presented a number of awards to the troop’s scouts. The Feb. 23, 1928, issue of the Orange County News reported Joe Stratton and Walker Payne were made Tenderfoot Scouts. Thomas Goode, Robin Yager, and Tom Davis were awarded their First Class ranks, and several scouts were awarded a large number of merit badges.

The March 29, 1928, edition of the Orange County News reported that four scouts promoted at the troop court-of-honor were conferred the highest ranks that had yet been awarded in the troop. Nelson Fitzhugh, Oscar Fitzhugh, William May, and Bradley Mayhugh were presented with the Star rank (2 ranks below Eagle Scout). According to an article appearing in the July 19, 1928, issue of the Orange County News, Scouts from Gordonsville attended the Lewis and Clark Area Council summer camp at the newly formed Camp Sacajawea near Syria in Madison County.

The next complete roster dates from late-1928 and includes the following 25 scouts: George Allman, James Byrd, W. Tifton Chaffin, Thomas Davis, Maurice Dibble, Nelson and Oscar Fitzhugh, Thomas Goode, Banks Harris, William May, Bradley Mayhugh, Orville Murphy, Meredith Payne, Walker W. Payne, Goodwin Richards, John Ruffner, Houston Stanley, Joe H. Stratton, Jr., Joe Thacker, Francis Thomasson, Robin Yager, Elbert Dulaney, and Henry, Conway, and Frederick Fitzhugh. Several of these scouts had reached the upper ranks of First Class, Star, and Life indicating that they had been in the troop for a number of years before 1928. At recharter time in November 1928, the Rev. E. T. Cox became chairman of the troop committee. Dr. Willis and Alonzo L. Jones remained on the committee as well, but the Rev. Fruit severed all official ties to the unit.

The Feb. 14, 1929, issue of the Orange County News reported that the troop held a father-son banquet in conjunction with the anniversary week of Boy Scouting at Blount’s Cafe in Gordonsville. Several other special events were also held during the ensuing week by the troop, including a special church service led by Rev. E. T. Cox (troop committee chairman and pastor of the Gordonsville Baptist church) at the Gordonsville Christian church. It was during the anniversary celebration that Scoutmaster the Rev. Frank Riley of Orange Troop No. 1 described that former Scoutmaster Cumpston had been instrumental in helping him organize the Orange troop after he took over as scoutmaster in mid-1916. Another highlight of the 1929 anniversary was a short pilgrimage taken by the troop to the grave of U.S. President James Madison at his home at Montpelier.

As early as Spring 1929, the local community officially recognized the importance of sustaining the Boy Scout movement in Gordonsville. According to an article in the March 17, 1929, edition of The Times Dispatch, the Gordonsville Minute Men were organized that year with the express purpose of boosting the membership and operations of several civic organizations including the Boy Scouts. Asst. Scoutmaster R. A. Cooper was elected president of the Minute Men. During the summer of 1929, 10 Gordonsville Scouts attended the summer camp held by the troop in August. In October 1929, Melvin R. Johnson Jr. was appointed assistant scoutmaster of the troop. The Rev. A. C. Tucker and W. A. Powell, a railroad agent, were added to the troop committee, replacing Dr. Willis.

By the fall of 1930, the Rev. R. A. Cooper had been made scoutmaster, assisted by Asst. Scoutmasters Melvin Johnson and Curtis Fitzhugh. The troop committee then consisted of Prof. J. Thomas Walker (chairman), the Rev. E. T. Cox, and the Rev. A. C. Tucker, pastor of Christ Episcopal Church. The Orange County News reported on Sept. 25, 1930, that the unit provided community service during the annual joint convention of Confederate Veterans and the Sons of Confederate Veterans at Orange in mid-September. In addition to their place in the parade procession through the streets of Orange, the Scouts from Gordonsville spent the day assisting elderly veterans navigate the streets through the large crowds of spectators to their destinations and to their departing trains.

In August 1931, Gordonsville Boy Scout, Nelson Fitzhugh (ultimately attaining the rank of Life Scout), put his lifesaving skills to the test. While at the Riverview Beach along the Rapidan River near Liberty Mills, Fitzhugh saved a young woman from drowning in the river, proving his heroism. The Aug. 22, 1931, edition of The Times Dispatch of Richmond reported that Fitzhugh saved Mae Herndon from drowning. The report continued that Herndon was in deep water and went under multiple times. Fitzhugh carried her to shore and administered artificial respiration to revive her. Herndon recovered from the near-death experience. Fitzhugh had been a member of Gordonsville Troop No. 1 since October 1923, and in 1930 was the senior patrol leader. Fitzhugh still has relatives living in Gordonsville today.

Although the brief history of Boy Scouting in Gordonsville presented in this essay is incomplete and contains noticeable gaps, it is obvious that Scouting in this community extends back to 1914 – 1915. The early record of Scouting here also contains a vibrant roster of some of the town’s most notable family names; and the exploits made and the honors gained in the name of youth and character development should be a source of pride for those associated with the movement in bygone days. Scouting remains strong in Gordonsville today, and continues to engage and develop youth into the best versions of themselves, as it has been doing here for well over 100 years.

- Ray Ezell, President, Orange County Historical Society

The Orange County Historical Society is located at 130 Caroline St. in the Town of Orange. To learn more, visit www.orangecovahist.org.