An incident of special interest was the activity of Sally Tompkins of Gloucester who was eventually commissioned by President Jefferson Davis as a Captain in the Confederate Army. She had charge of Robertson Hospital located in Richmond after she had previously used her own money and efforts to get this hospital established because of the urgent need for a hospital in the Richmond area. She influenced Judge Robertson to lend his house as a hospital headquarters. Later, after the government of the Confederacy assumed control of all the hospitals in the Confederacy, President Davis appointed an army officer as a director for each one. Recognizing the conscientious efforts of Sally Tompkins in establishing this hospital at Richmond, President Davis commissioned her as Captain, the only woman to be commissioned by the Confederate government.
At the end of the war, Virginia was in a devastated condition: private property as well as public property had in many cases been completely destroyed by fire or by ammunition. Practically all the livestock had been carried away. Family members had been decreased in number, and disease and starvation conditions were common throughout the state. Politically, economically, geographically, historically and socially, the South had been affected: Virginia, in the heart of the most severe battleground area, seemed to base its existence for the future upon the "survival of the fittest" theory.
The Reconstruction Period and Its Aftermath
Returning Virginia soldiers found some houses completely destroyed and large sections of land completely laid to waste. With little, if any, livestock left and with farm tools missing, the serious problem of reconstruction and rehabilitation can be easily understood. Railroad tracks and bridges had been demolished; transportation facilities in some areas were almost non-existent. Even fences, so important to livestock raising, had been entirely demolished in most instances. So hopeless did a recovery appear to many Virginians that a few men proposed migration to Mexico rather than to start anew with such poor living conditions.
General Robert E. Lee still showed his leadership qualities when he beseeched several Virginians, including Matthew Fontaine Maury, the brilliant marine cartographer, not to abandon Virginia when the state needed all her sons so badly. Maury was so impressed by the plea of Robert E. Lee that he rejected offers of employment from foreign countries which were familiar with his broad, oceanographic knowledge. Instead, he accepted the chairmanship of the Meteorology Department of the Virginia Military Institute. Robert E. Lee, himself, had been offered various employment opportunities but the honor which he deemed the highest of all was the position offered to him as President of Washington College at Lexington. Lee's financial gain from this position was to be a sum of $1500 per year plus a house and a garden. He humbly accepted the position and was allowed to keep his faithful horse, "Traveler," with him in a stable built adjacent to the President's house. From September 1865 until October 1870, Robert E. Lee served as President of Washington College.
Lee had two objectives which he hoped personally to achieve: (1) the lessening of the hatred which then existed between the North and the South so that all Americans might work together in unity for peace and progress, and (2) the education of youth in such a manner as to make them capable of living as successful citizens of the United States. With his deep idealism, Lee was also a practical man. When he recognized the interest of many young men in writing, editing and publishing newspapers, he included a course in journalism at Washington College. This was the first college journalism class offered in the United States. He was also responsible for the origin of the honor system whereby a student is on his personal honor to refrain from cheating and is also honor-bound to report any individual seen violating such code; this system is now used in numerous institutions of learning. Many of the current attributes of this college are traceable to the administration of Robert E. Lee. In 1871, the name of the college was changed to Washington and Lee University in honor of two Virginians who made numerous contributions to American culture.
After the war had ended, a most unusual situation existed in Virginia. The "Restored Government" under Governor Francis Harrison Pierpont claimed to be the official government of Virginia although he and his cohorts were responsible for dividing the State of Virginia and actually had set up an illegal Unionist Virginia government at Wheeling. President Lincoln, however, had at one time stated that "The government that took Virginia out of the Union is the government that should bring her back." He suggested that the present Governor of Virginia at that time, William Smith, should be present to ratify such procedure. However, U. S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton persuaded Lincoln to withdraw this offer. Lincoln's untimely death on April 14, 1865, when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theater in Washington, was a real blow to the South in general because he was much more conciliatory toward the South than the majority members of the Congress who were radical about their military victory over the South. It is interesting to note that, fifteen days later, John Wilkes Booth was shot to death in a burning barn on the Garrett Farm near Port Royal, Virginia. On May 9, 1865, President Andrew Johnson officially recognized the "Restored Government" of Virginia, which had relocated in Alexandria, and also recognized Pierpont as the Provisional Governor.
On June 15, 1865, a Freedman's Bureau headed by General Orlando Brown was established in Virginia. The Bureau was supported by the United States Government and had charge of the interests, aid, protection and guidance of the Negroes. This bureau distributed food rations and clothing to the Negroes and provided educational opportunities for them. Originally founded to help newly freed Negroes, the Freedmen's Bureau soon became overshadowed with political activities and severe radicalism with strong racial prejudices resulted.