Raider’s kin has peaceful visit to Salem
SALEM – A nephew of the Civil War general who led an attack on Salem came to town last week, and met up with a nephew of a man who lost his life fighting those troops.
Ralph Rhodes of Churchville, Pa., visited the Salem Museum on Oct. 20 to do some research . Rhodes is the great, great-grandson of the sister of Civil War Gen. William Averell.
Ralph Rhodes, right, a great, great-nephew of Civil War Gen. William Averell, in photo he is holding, meets Frank Chapman of Salem, great-nephew of Capt. Thomas Chapman, the only Salem soldier to die in Averell's raid on Salem.
The Union general is known for planning the attack on the Salem railroad in Salem in order to prevent supplies entering and leaving Virginia and Tennessee. Salem troops stabilized the area but they were unable to prevent the takeover by Gen. Averell’s troops.
Captain Thomas Chapman, a Roanoke College graduate, led the defense against the Union troops and was the only Salemite killed in the raid.
At the museum, Rhodes met Frank Chapman, the great-grandson of Capt. Chapman’s brother. Chapman is a current board member of the Salem Museum and Salem Historical Society.
The University of Virginia graduate who retired from what was Chapman, Taney, Painter and Logan, an insurance company now known as Trustpoint, knew some details about the death of his ancestor. He came prepared with a family tree to show how he was related.
Rhodes graduated from Denison University in Ohio and is a retired 20th century history teacher at Council Rock High School in Newtown, Pa. When he retired in 2005 he began researching his family, with Gen. Averell proving the most interesting, he said, but added he was always interested in history.
“We often sat at their [Rhodes’ grandparents] knee with yellow legal pads…writing everything down,” he said. He explained that may have had an impact on why he became an avid lover of history.
Since beginning research on Averell in 2005, Rhodes has compiled a large amount of information on not just Averell’s military career but other aspects of his life as well. He is in the process of visiting several significant places to Averell’s life.
Rhodes obviously has a great amount of pride in his ancestor, whom he described as “a very interesting character.”
Jen Giannini
