Sign #2 Hampton Cole

Hampton Cole

Navigating an Unjust System

Hampton Cole was born in 1831 in Prince William County as the free black son of Sallie and Richard Cole.¹ In 1855, he began making payments on 16 acres in the Bull Run Mountains to William Roach, a white enslaver.² He married Lydia Pinn, who is noted as being of “Indian descent” in the 1860 census.³ During the Civil War, he worked as a laborer for the Confederacy and lived on a farm near the site of the 2nd Battle of Manassas. His name appears on several early renditions of the battle map.^{4, 5}

Unfortunately, Hampton’s wife and 5-year-old son fell ill with Typhoid fever and did not recover, passing away in 1864.⁶ Hampton Cole returned to his homestead in the Bull Run Mountains to find Andrew Fenton, a white man, squatting in his house. After being threatened by Fenton, Hampton Cole reported the situation to the Provost Marshal in Brentsville.⁷ While there is a record of the complaint and motion to address it, Hampton Cole had to ultimately relocate to start new life.

Hampton Cole went on to marry four more times within Fauquier and Prince William County and fathered a few more children before dying between 1901 and 1910.⁸

He never fully paid off the 16 acres in the Bull Run Mountains. In 1877, the land was reabsorbed into the larger land tract, which was purchased by A. D. Smith.⁹

From 1880 on, Cole’s cleared land would be quarried and homesteaded by the (Alfred) Robinsons; the stone foundation of the home Moses and Kate Robinson lived in can still be seen today.¹⁰ They may have even used the same foundations Hampton Cole used for his home. Hampton’s story is one of perseverance in bad situations through an unjust system. Resourceful and resilient, he embodied the spirit of what living in the Bull Run Mountains requires and constructs in all its denizens.

Footnotes

1. The National Archives in Washington, DC; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Prince William, Virginia; Roll: 970; Page: 117b Retrieved from Ancestry.com 10.18.2025. [https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8054/records/15451817] ↩︎
2. Prince William County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1804 -1951. Alexander S Grigsby v. EXR OF William Roach ETC (Grigsby vs Roach), 153_1887_027.Local Government Records Collection, Prince William County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. ↩︎
3. The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: North East Revenue District, Fauquier, Virginia; Roll: M653_1344; Page: 62; Family History Library Film: 805344 Retrieved from Ancestry.com on 10.18.2025. [https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7667/images/4297373_00067] ↩︎
4. Map of Battle-Grounds of August 28th, 29th, and 30th, 1862 in the vicinity of Groveton, Prince William County, Virginia, No. 3, G.K. Warren, War Department. Office of the Chief of Engineers. Created 1878. Retrieved 10.18.2025. [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/221161383] ↩︎
5. US, Confederate Citizens File, 1861-1865” Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, compiled 1874 – 1899, documenting the period 1861 – 1865, National Archives Identification Number: 2133274, M346, Retrieved from Fold3.com on 11.01.2025. [https://www.fold3.com/file/30512240] ↩︎
6. Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA, USA; Virginia Deaths and Burials, Within the District of William B Merchant Commissioner of the Revenue for the county of Prince William in the year ending the 31^st of December, year 1864. 1853-1912. Retrieved from Ancestry.com 10.30.2025. [https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62152/images/62152_i870363-00378] ↩︎
7. Provost Marshal correspondence about Hampton Cole’s Squatter, 1865. [Nobles County Historical Society Archives] ↩︎
8. 2^nd Marriage in 1866 to Delina Stewart (Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages, 1785-1940 Retrieved from Ancestry.com 10.30.2025. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60214/records/1863759
   Hampton in Gainesville in 1870 (Year: 1870; Census Place: Gainesville, Prince William, Virginia; Roll: M593_1673; Page: 409A) https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7163/records/39312976
   3^rd Marriage in 1870 to Mary Frances Hall (Spencer)  Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages, 1785-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2014 Retrieved from Ancestry.com 10.30.2025. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60214/records/2875150
   2 more children: 1880; Census Place: Manassas, Prince William, Virginia; Roll: 1385; Page: 30b; Enumeration District: 124 Retrieved from Ancestry.com 10.30.2025. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6742/records/12486402
   4^th marriage in 1893 to Nancy Thomas Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages, 1785-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2014 Retrieved from Ancestry.com 10.30.2025. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60214/records/3923348
   5^th marriage in 1901 to Elizabeth Lambert Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages, 1785-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2014 Retrieved from Ancestry.com 10.30.2025. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60214/records/1745709 ↩︎
9. Smith Tract Deed Plat 1877, Prince William County Deed Records Book 31 pg 173. ↩︎
10. Deed, AD Smith and Gerorge Davis, 1904, Prince William County Deed Records Book 53 pg 70
    Deed Moses & Decator Robinson and Elizabath & Howard Edwards, 1915, Prince William County Deed Records Book 70 pg 287. ↩︎

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