By William “Skip” Deegans
Shown in the photograph is a bridge over Virginia’s Chickahominy River that was hastily-built in 1862 during the Civil War’s Seven Days battle. The bridge was built under the direction of Clairborne Rice (“C.R.”) Mason who was captain of the Pioneer Corps, and he was known as General Stonewall Jackson’s bridge builder. The bridge helped enable the Confederate Army to successfully defend Richmond from Union forces.
Before Mason volunteered to provide his skills to the Confederate Army, he had been a successful railroad contractor who began his career working on one of the first railroads in Virginia that ran from the Chesterfield County coal fields to Richmond and the James River. At the beginning of the Civil War his net worth was estimated at about $1 million dollars (about $30 million in today’s dollars). The Pioneer Corps were sometimes referred to as the black pioneers as Mason used African American laborers who were hired out by their slave owners. They built bridges, repaired roads, and maintained railroad infrastructures that were constantly being destroyed by the Union Army.
After the Civil War, Mason resumed his work as an engineer and railroad contractor and formed the Masons, Gooch, Hoge & Company. He was instrumental in expanding the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad from Virginia to Ohio. Noteworthy are two nearby projects between Covington and White Sulphur Springs: the 4,600 ft. long Lewis tunnel and the massive Jerry’s Run fill. When Mason died near Staunton in 1885 at 85 years old, The Valley Virginian described him as “…peculiarly a practical man. He had little use for forms and theories. He reached conclusions by a kind of unerring intuition and executed his plans with a celerity and completeness that was almost incredible.”
Mason’s son, Silas, was educated at Virginia Military Institute and Washington & Lee University, joined his father’s company, and settled in Lewisburg. He and his family lived in the Vaughn-Erskine House on North Court Street. The company, now called Mason & Hanger, continues and claims to be the oldest architectural and engineering company in the United States.
Sources: Mason & Hanger, Virginia Department of Transportation, The Valley Virginian, Richmond Dispatch, Rebel Yell by S. C. Gwyne, Greenbrier Independent.
