1_ On a sunny November day, members of the Shawsville community dedicated a grave marker to Thomas Lewis, who, at 22, died, with his opponent, John McHenry in an 1808 duel that ultimately outlawed the practice in Virginia.
Thomas Lewis was just 22 when he was killed where he stood in the catastrophic and senseless duel—the first, and probably the last to use rifles—in Christiansburg in the spring of 1808. His opponent, John McHenry, died the next day and dueling was outlawed in Virginia.
Lewis, a grandson of illustrious Revolutionary War hero and Shawsville resident General Andrew Lewis, was buried at the Madison Cemetery (Thomas’ mother was a Madison) behind the Shawsville School.
An prominent local family, but last spring the caretaker of the Madison Cemetery, Danny Sisson, pointed out to the Meadowbrook Museum, a bastion of local history, that Lewis was buried in an unmarked grave.
“The Museum felt that since this was a historic site within our community that funding a marker would be a worthwhile project,” Mary Hawley, president of the Meadowbrook Museum.
More than twice enough money for the marker was raised in a very short period of time. On Sunday, Nov. 11, about 25 people gathered at the cemetery to mark the grave.
State Senator David Suetterlein (19th district) spoke at the event.
“It was a nice day—a little chill in the air, but not uncomfortable. The marker was ordered on-line with free shipping at a total cost of $300,” Hawley said.
The gravestone, thought to be granite, is carved with the epitaph: “Thomas Lewis, Esq.; Grandson of General Andrew Lewis; Killed May 9, 1808, Christiansburg Virginia; Lewis-McHenry Duel Age 22 years.”
“We at the museum decided on what it should say and there was a template provided at the company website,” Hawley said.
It is thought that John McHenry is buried in the Craig Cemetery in Christiansburg, and it’s unclear why there is no marker for Lewis.
“Fragmentary, incomplete and conflicting information is a routine,” Jim Glanville, local historian, wrote in a News Messenger column last year about graves in Craig Cemetery.
The Meadowbrook Museum is a dynamo in helping the community raise funds and attention to local history, most recently raising funds to replace the roadside marker on Rt. 11 for the historically important 1796 house Fotheringay in Elliston.
Funds remaining from the overflow raised for the Lewis marker will contribute to the Fotheringay marker scheduled to be replaced in the spring.
The US Archives site houses an incomplete list of graves at the Madison Cemetery at: files.usgwarchives.net/va/montgomery/cemeteries/madison.txt.
