Molly Tynes's Ride

To the north stood Rocky Dell, the home of Samuel Tynes. In July 1863, during the Civil War, Union Col. John T. Toland led a mounted expedition from West Virginia to destroy the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad at Wytheville. The Federals camped nearby on 17 July. According to legend, when Tynes discovered their objective he sent his 26-year-old daughter Mary “Molly” Elizabeth Tynes to alert the town's defenders. Tradition holds that she rode all night, a distance of some forty miles. Confederate reinforcements arrived in time to stiffen resistance, and the Federals inflicted relatively little damage; Toland himself was killed in the fight.