by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian
After the formation of the Stonewall Jackson Council (later renamed the Stonewall Jackson Area Council, and now the Virginia Headwaters Council) in January 1927, the need arose for the council to provide its own long-term summer camp. In 1927, the SJC was invited to use Camp Powhatan, the Roanoke Council summer camp, at Natural Bridge, Virginia, located some 50-miles from Staunton. The council’s camping committee gladly accepted this offer.
The following year in 1928, the SJC made plans to offer its own summer camp which was officially designated “Camp Stonewall” (sometimes referred to as Camp Stonewall Jackson), established about two miles south of Deerfield, Virginia, on the Calfpasture (Cowpasture) River. However, the camp was located here for only one summer. The next year in 1929, Camp Stonewall was moved to about four miles south of Lexington to a site two miles from Rte 11 on Buffalo Creek. It opened for its first session on July 10th. William B. Yeager, a student at Hampden-Sydney College, returned as waterfront director. He was a native of Covington and a 5-year Red Cross lifesaving instructor. James Barker, an Eagle Scout from Bristol, Tennessee, was the handicraft director (a position he would return to for several more years). Barker had previously been a staffer at Camp Osceola of the Bristol Council. At Camp Stonewall, he supervised the campfire programs and taught Indian Lore merit badge. It’s likely that SJC Executive Fix had met Barker during the time he was on the staff of Camp Osceola before relocating to Staunton. Wayne Lee Foltz of VMI directed hiking and color guards/ceremonies for the summer encampment. Foltz in 1932 served as the advertising manager of the VMI student newspaper, The Cadet. Roland Flint, who earned his Eagle at Camp Stonewall in 1928 and member of Clifton Forge Troop No. 1, directed KP (kitchen police) activities, and the camp cook was Thomas J. Tunley, a black man from Staunton and veteran of World War I, who had also cooked for the Lexington Sunday School camp prior to Camp Stonewall.
Tunley enlisted in the US Army’s 10th Cavalry Regiment in October 1913 and served as a wagoneer along the border with Mexico during WWI and also in the Philippine Islands with the 9th Cavalry Regiment from 1919 until August 1922. Tunley’s prowess in the kitchen was highly regarded amongst the scouts who attended camp. Other counselors and tent leaders were drawn from older scouts who attended the camp, and the camp was conducted for four sessions from early July through August.
According to an article in the June 22, 1929, edition of Staunton’s, The News Leader, Council Executive J.W. Fix stated that the goal of the camp was to have no rules, and that if each scout lived up to the Scout Oath and Law, no rules would be necessary (what a novel approach…). While the Harrisonburg Daily News Record on July 12, 1929, reported that the camp was held under the auspices of the SJC camping committee composed of; chairman Hugh B. Sproul (Staunton), John R. Payne (Clifton Forge), Ben Moomaw (Covington), L.W. McKinley (Buena Vista), W.W. Ackerly (Lexington), E.L. Fletcher (Harrisonburg), and Leo Mehler (Waynesboro); Scoutmaster Garland Huddleston (Clifton Forge) was the chairman of the court of honor that presided over advancements at the end of each session of camp.
The July 12, 1929, Harrisonburg Daily News Record reported that a total of 28 scouts attended the first session of the camp. The Harrisonburg Daily News Record, on July 15, 1929, described that camp followed a strict schedule; reveille sounded at 7 a.m. and was followed by breakfast and then tent inspections. Afterward there was instruction in swimming and scoutcraft, followed by lunch at 12:30 p.m. After lunch the afternoon was taken up with additional swimming and scoutcraft instruction until 6 p.m. when supper was served. At 8 p.m. daily a campfire program was held, and afterward, each tent leader held devotions for his tent mates. Taps closed out each day’s activities.
According to the July 20, 1929, edition of The News Leader, a court of honor was held at the end of the first session and several scouts received rank advancements and merit badges including; Jethro Manley, Gordon Cleveland, Kenneth Knoor, Billy Brand, and Maxwell Whitlock. Another feature of session no. 1 was a forestry presentation by T.W. McKinley, head forester from Buena Vista. At the end of the first session, Buford Bunch of Clifton Forge Troop No. 2 was elected best all-around camper, and Billy Thomas, also of Clifton Forge Troop No. 2, was elected camp goat.
A Harrisonburg Daily News Record article from July 31, 1929, reported that a total of 56 scouts attended the second session of Camp Stonewall, and the scouts were conveyed on a pilgrimage to the graves of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee University and Lee’s lieutenant, Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, at the Virginia Military Institute. A swimming exhibition, supervised by waterfront director William Yeager, was put on by the scouts for a crowd of approximately 170 spectators from the council including Staunton, Clifton Forge, Dayton, Covington, and Harrisonburg. An archery contest was also held under the supervision of James Barker.
During the second session, Troop No. 1 of Dayton sent all of its 18 scouts to camp. Henry Ecker of Lexington Troop No. 1 was elected best all-around camper; while Henry Blatt of Harrisonburg Troop No. 1 was elected the camp goat. The court of honor during this session presented a number of rank advancements and merit badges to scouts including McKelden Smith and Jethro Manly of Staunton.
A reported total of 53 scouts attended the third session of camp. It was common during this era for scouts to spend several concurrent sessions at camp rather than just a single week. During the four weeks of Camp Stonewall, a total of 182 scouts attended the camp. Seven scouts met the requirements for Eagle Scout during the camp including; McKelden Smith (Troop No. 5 in Staunton) and William Brown (Troop No. 1 in Staunton).
According to the August 31, 1929, edition of The News Leader, a 10-ft tall totem pole was carved during the camp and was “covered with the Scout badges carved in the wood and painted in their natural colors.” The Eagle Scout badge surmounted the totem pole with other rank badges in order. It is presumed that the totem pole was planted at the encampment site but fell to eventual decay within a few years when the council failed to continue to utilize this site.
Unfortunately the location of Camp Stonewall could not be identified in the area today. It is unclear if the site served as a campground for any other groups after the SJC abandoned the property in favor of its new permanent camp at Island Ford (Camp Shenandoah). Many Boy Scout councils were in the habit of renting already established camps during this era when few councils owned their own camp properties and facilities. So, continued use of the Camp Stonewall site by another youth organization would not be uncommon.
