The illustration ‘Gwin’s Island, from Cricket Hill’ was published in Allen C. Redwood’s article “Some Landmarks of Old Virginia,” The Harper’s Monthly, July 1878, pp. 161-170.
Not a single battle took place in Mathews County but Union forces raided the farms, mills, and storehouses to feed their troops.
“Windmills were typical of coastal areas [and tidemills] also satisfied the need for power to turn working parts in mostly flat areas like Mathews …. Mathews’s old mills have been captured in numerous early photographs and in drawings that illustrate records in the circuit clerk’s office …. Mathews had as many as 10 windmills, which were attractive directional markers for travelers.”
— Sara E. Lewis. Mathews County (Images of America). Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2007, pp. 36-37.
History and Progress, Mathews County, Virginia. Gloucester, VA, Mathews County Historical Society, Inc., 1988.
David D. Ryan. Gwynn’s Island, Virginia. Richmond,VA: The Dietz Press, 2004.
1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 