The Daily Dispatch: April 19, 1861., [Electronic resource]

Damage by the storm.

‘ Rawley W. Dowaman, Esq., of this county, had his mill-dam entirely washed away last week by the flood. His loss, in consequence, is from $500 to $700.

The heavy rains that have recently fallen have been terribly destructive to all parts of the country — making frightful chasms in the earth, completely sweeping off fences, heavy bridges and railroad tracks, besides doing a vast deal of damage in many other ways.

Mr. James Roberts, the contractor for carrying the mail from Warrenton to Homeland, in Culpeper, had his horse drowned in the Rappahannock river, on Saturday last, which had risen to an extraordinary height, owing to the heavy fall of rain on the afternoon and night previous. He narrowly escaped with his own life.

’ The Woodstock Tenth Legion says: ‘ This region has been visited with heavy rains for several successive days, and the consequence is, that the rivers and creeks are higher than they have been for several years. Both branches of the Shenandoah have overflowed their banks, and considerable loss has been sustained by the farmers living on the rivers, Fendes have been swept away in many instances, and the soil washed away where it had been plowed; and, in addition to this, the crops of grain on the lower bottoms have been more or less damaged. The pressure was almost equal, to the memorable flood of 1853.

’