William Beavers was appointed a lieutenant in the 42nd Regiment of the Virginia Militia on July 21, 1794. The 42nd Regiment was composed of men from the southern half of Pittsylvania County, while the 101st Regiment included men from the northern part of the county. Beavers rose through the ranks by becoming captain in 1798 and major in 1809. Because of his high rank, it is likely that the monthly muster was held on his property. He owned a 785-acre tract just east of the town of Danville, which was established in 1793. Beavers’ Mill was located on the part of the land, which formerly belonged to his mother-in-law Anne McDaniel. We can imagine the old Revolutionary soldiers and new recruits hanging around the mill to chat and tell war stories. Beavers became an officer just over a decade after the British surrendered at Yorktown.

We found evidence of the military presence at the mill site. In a close examination of the clay from down near the bedrock below the recovered wheel, there were two English-made military uniform buttons. Both, found only a few feet from each other, were very plain on the front, but had curved inscriptions around where the shank had broken off. Probably a slightly overweight visitor put a little too much stress on the buttons. One used the English spelling of Colour: “Standard Colour Treble Gilt.” The other button has really in fancy old English script “Best Strong Stan’d” (standard) impressed around the back. These buttons are from the period 1800 to 1830.

The War of 1812 is sometimes called the Second War for Independence from England. There seem to be few records of the service of Pittsylvania County soldiers in that war, but we have found several references that shed light on Beavers’ Mill site. Capt. Thomas Ragsdale’s widow filed a brier on April 2, 1878 in which she stared that her husband was “a captain in the regiment under Lt. Co. Edward Jones drafted at Beavers in Pittsylvania County, Va.” Reports indicate that Capt. Ragsdale served from January 4, 1814 until April 11, 1814. He traveled 250 miles and his length of service was 98 days. Another soldier signing up on the Beavers’ property was John Bundrant, who was “put in Capt. Ragsdale’s company of militia.” He enlisted on January 14, 1814, the same day as his company commander, and was discharged on March 28, 1814 at Norfolk, Virginia. He was a substitute for Thomas Stacey. In October of 1814, Thomas Sutherlin was appointed constable in the First Battalion of the 42nd Regiment in the place of John Sutherlin who had been “called into the military service of the U.S.” The Sutherlins owned a large tract of land between the Beavers’ Mill Tract and the Dan River. Their home place was between Sandy Creek and Sandy River where the Piedmont Mall is now located.

On April 23, 1861, early in the Civil War conflict, Maj. William Beavers’ grandson Jeduthan Carter Beavers entered the Confederate army in Company B of the 18th Virginia Regiment. He was described in military records as being 25 years old, a farmer, 5’ 9” tall, with blue eyes, and with light hair and complexion. On November 5, 1861, Jeduthan secured John J. Adkins as his substitute. Adkins was admitted to Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond where he died of typhoid fever on May 18, 1862.

No mention is made of Jeduthan being a miller. Had the mill been operating properly, Jeduthan probably could have been exempted from military service. Flour and corn meal was needed to supply the Confederate army. The mill seems to have been plagued with financial and mechanical difficulties. We know from archaeological evidence that the mill burned at least twice. Tax records in the courthouse have the mill building assessed at $1,800 from 1820 until 1841. In 1857 and continuing through 1869, the building is appraised at $1,200. It appears that one fire occurred in 1841 or 1842 and the mill was rebuilt smaller than the original. A lawsuit involving a large debt to Richard Yarbrough dated, in part back to December 25, 1842. Yarbrough was a master carpenter whose largest local project was the rebuilding to the wooden Main Street Bridge shortly after the 1802 bridge washed away in the flood of 1850. It looks as if Yarbrough may have finished the job on Christmas Eve and presented the large bill to Jeduthan’s father Edwin Rush Beavers on Christmas day.Juduthan’s father Edwin R. Beavers inherited Maj. William Beavers’ mill on Banister River near Chatham when his father died in 1822. When his half brother William Beavers Junior died in 1828, Edwin came to the mill on Sandy Creek. Tax records list he and his mother as mill owners. When his mother died in 1851, he and his brother John Fontaine were to share equally in their mother’s estate. Edwin chose the more valuable Sandy Creek Mill and his brother took the Beaver’s Tavern tract and Banister River Mill. According to court testimony, Edwin Beaver’s financial problems dated from 1837. A great financial “panic” during 1837 drove many banks out of business and disrupted the economy of the whole country. Edwin’s brother John stated that Edwin was “utterly insolvent” from the year 1851. This is the year that his mother died and he took over the operation and management of the mill. In 1867, Jeduthan stated that his father’s papers were “hopelessly tangled” and that he had been paralyzed and his memory almost completely destroyed more than sixteen years ago (1851). His health was bad for the entire 30-year period. Jeduthan was appointed Trustee for his father’s affairs in 1858, but he never recovered from the heavy debt.

Wheels of justice turn slowly. Part of the Beavers 785-acre tract was sold on 23August 1860 for $510.00 to George W. Yarbrough, Richard’s son. George Yarbrough later owned and operated the Dan Valley Mills on the north side of Dan River in Danville. The auction took place in the old Thomas D. Neal’s tobacco warehouse (noted as the site where tobacco auctioning began) across from the courthouse on Patton Street. Although Yarbrough appears to have paid for the property, he did not get title to the land much later in 1885 when the case was dismissed. All the original participants were dead by this time. At the same sale in 1861, Jeduthan Beavers bought the personal property (slaves) at the price of $1,101,00. This turned out to be a bad decision. For only half what he paid for these slaves who would be set free in a few years, he could have bought the land.

Although two children had died, in 1868 the Court ordered the 565-acre tract to be divided into six parts for the six children of Edwin R. Beavers. By 1871, Jeduthan was declared bankrupt and his part of the land was sold. In the final decree of the case of Richard Yarbrough vs. Edwin R. Beavers is the statement: “It appears to the Court that since the abolition of slavery, the object of the suit cannot be effected. Dismissed.” From 1842 until 1885 and the lawyers and judges didn’t remember what the case was all about. There is no record as to whether the lawyers got all their pay for forty-three years of hard work.

Written by Danny Ricketts