Editor’s note: In the 160 years since the American Civil War nearly ripped the nation in two, many of the people who fought its battles have been all but forgotten. Some, however, owing to the magnitude of their deeds or the considerable legacies they left behind, continue to be discussed and studied to this day. While many may justifiably condemn the actions of those who fought in defense of the Confederate cause, historian Paul Mitchell has found a particularly fascinating subject in Rev. Frank Stringfellow, a Confederate spy who, after the war, entered the ministry and spent the rest of his life spreading the word of God and working on behalf of marginalized people.
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A young Emma Smith was reportedly only 4'11." Her older sister Eliza married Frank's older brother Robert. Her father James Green was a wealthy, successful hotel owner and furniture manufacturer in Alexandria. Mrs. Emma Stringfelow may have helped tutor area schoolchildren in the little schoolhouse adjacent the rectory in Subletts.
The Rectory where the Stringfellows resided was on Norwood property. This photo was taken in 1895. The Stringfellows arrived in Powhatan with 9-year-old Ida, 6-year-old Alice Lee, 4-year-old Martin, and Jane, not yet one. Their son Stuart died at age 3 three years earlier. Frank Jr. was born in 1881 while the Stringfellows occupied the rectory. John was born in 1883, a year after they moved away.

