VA-W156 James Edward Hanger

Marker text: JAMES EDWARD HANGER

Born near Churchville on 25 Feb. 1843, Hanger joined the Churchville Cavalry at Phillipi, W. Va., on 2 June 1861, where the next morning he was wounded. The resulting amputation on his leg was probably the first of the Civil War. He convalesced at his parents' house, which stood nearby. Within three months he had invented the first artifical limb modeled on the human leg and hinged at the knee. Hange contructed factories in Staunton and Richmond, and after WWI he built other in France and England. On 15 June 1919 he died and was buried in Washington, D.C., his home since 1906.

Department of Historic Resources, 1996