A Family Divided

A Family Divided. . , Riverview , The Confederate army occupied Bowling Green in mid-September 1861. The commander of the Confederate forces in Bowling Green was General Simon Bolivar Buckner who, before the war, had been a good friend of Edward Henry Hobson. Prevailing upon that friendship, the Hobsons asked Buckner not to disturb the construction of the home., Buckner agreed not to destroy the unfinished house but Confederate troops did confiscate the property. The partially finished basement level of the house was covered with planks and used to store ammunition for the fortifications surrounding Bowling Green. Confederate troops also constructed an earthwork mounting four cannons on the hill near the house., After Confederate troops abandoned Bowling Green, Union troops made use of the earthwork. The Hobson family reclaimed their property after the war and the house, named Riverview, was completed in 1872., Atwood Gaines Hobson and his wife, Julia VanMeter Hobson, began building this house in 1857. It was unfinished when the Civil War began in 1861 and the Hobson and VanMeter families found themselves supporting opposing sides in the conflict., The Hobson family staunchly upheld the Union cause. Atwood and his brother, Edward Henry, were officers in the Union Army, as were Atwood and Julia's sons, William and Jonathan. Julia VanMeter Hobson and her family, however, were sympathetic to the Southern cause. Both of Julia's brothers, William and Charles, are said to have assisted the Confederates in destroying the bridges and the L&N trestle over the Big Barren River in mid-February 1862. The VanMeter brothers and their families left Bowling Green with the retreat of the Confederate Army in mid-February 1862., (caption) , Ammunition depots, such as the one at Riverview, were less secure than magazines, where ammunition was stored underground. The depot above was in Washington, D.C. . This historical marker was erected by John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail. It is in Bowling Green in Warren County Kentucky