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A Toast to a Prominent Political Son of Edinburg 

By Dan Harshman

We are now the proud owners of a set of 6 ruby red wine glasses that are known to have belonged to Harrison Holt Riddleberger.

Riddleberger, who went on to be a United States Senator, was born in a home on Edinburg’s Main Street in 1843 to Madison Riddleberger and Susan Shryock Riddleberger. 

The family’s home was the future site of the Hugh Saum Hardware Store which was removed in the 1990s to make room for Shentel’s Customer Service Building. The History of Edinburg tells us that the old Riddleberger house was a stagecoach stop as well as a favorite place for all of the neighborhood children to play. The home’s porch was used as the “patting” place when they played “Hot Toddyum”; the game was a variation of Hide and Seek. When the person searching would find someone that was hiding they would race to the Riddleberger house. The first one there would pat the porch shouting “Hot Toddyum”, declaring that they were home safe.

Mr. Riddleberger served in the cavalry during the Civil War, much of the time as a scout in the Valley. He was captured twice during the War and returned to his home of Edinburg when the War ended. In 1867 he married Emma Belew, also from Edinburg and the daughter of Dr. Peter and Elizabeth Belew. After a brief time as an Edinburg merchant, he began publishing one of the earliest newspapers in Edinburg, The Tenth Legion Banner with B. F. Murray while studying law on the side.

He eventually moved to Woodstock to practice law and was elected Commonwealth Attorney for Shenandoah County. He was later elected as a Readjuster to the state legislature. Mr. Riddleberger was the representative from Shenandoah County to the Virginia House of Delegates from 1871 until 1875. He went on to represent Page and Shenandoah County in the Virginia Senate from 1879 to 1882 and was this area’s United States Senator from 1883 until 1889.

Local history includes a number of colorful stories about the Honorable H. H. Riddleberger. According to one, he was the instigator of a group of citizens angry about a barbed wire fence installed along the Valley Pike by the railroad. An article about the incident reported that the fence stretched from a mile north of Woodstock to where the late Mark Wunder lived. I’m not exactly sure where that might be; but Riddleberger’s group paid it a visit one night armed with axes and wire cutters, cutting and stacking the wire fence along the road. While this obviously couldn’t have gone unnoticed; the report said that no investigation followed the incident. 

Another newspaper article described the details of Senator Riddleberger’s arrest and ultimate jail break. The Senator was angry about the outcome of a Trial when a jury found his client, who was being tried for larceny, insane. His displeasure with the verdict led him to writing a sign that said, “Verdict, Bill Jones not guilty but insane; jury insane, lawyers insane, court insane in the main”. He then paid a boy $2 to haul Jones through town displaying his sign for all to see. 

This must have caused quite a commotion with the noise disturbing other court proceedings to the point that the Commonwealth Attorney at the time asked the Judge to issue an order for the Senator to appear before the presiding Judge and explain why he shouldn’t be fined and imprisoned for ridiculing the judge and jury as well as disturbing the court proceedings.

The Senator appeared before the court at five o’clock that afternoon to defend himself. Riddleberger proceeded to tell the Judge that he had no jurisdiction in the case, which the Judge assured him that he did; and told the Senator to sit down so the evidence could be presented. The Senator refused to sit down and the Judge fined him $25. Riddleberger then defied the court again and said, “This court shall not send me to jail”.

That probably wasn’t something you should ever say to a Judge. The Judge told the sheriff to take the Senator to jail for five days. The Senator wasn’t done making questionable statements and said he would like to see the man who could put him to jail. So the sheriff arrested him and locked him up despite the Senator’s protests.

Evidently the Senator had a lot of friends willing to come to his rescue. At 2 o’clock in the morning a mob of around one hundred men, thought to be from Edinburg, scaled the walls of the jail-yard and broke the Senator out with ladders. It was reported that the jailer only provided a slight resistance to the jail break.

Although he lived in Woodstock where he continued to practice law, his roots in Edinburg remained strong. In 1886, Senator Riddleberger was the keynote speaker at the dedication of the Statue of Hope monument in Cedarwood Cemetery just down the Valley Pike from the Edinburg Mill. He was joined by a crowd of 5,000 people. 

Little did he know at that time that 4 years later he would be laid to rest within the shadow of that very monument? The Senator passed away on January 24, 1890 and is buried on the inner circle of Cedarwood Cemetery where he can view the Statue of Hope for eternity. Please join me in raising a glass to toast the man and his home town of Edinburg.