The Civil War in Stevensburg

The Civil War in Stevensburg. Entertainment and Music. Music, reading and letter writing were all important pastimes for Civil War soldiers throughout their military service, and winter encampments offered extra time for these activities. While many soldiers kept to those pastimes, the town had a reputation for gambling, cockfighting, and horseracing. Stevensburg was a well-known crossroads in the years before the war, and Culpeper County became a stopping point once again in 1863 for the Union's Army of the Potomac. Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick and his 3rd Division Cavalry regularly held horse races on the property of Rose Hill during the 1863-1864 winter encampment. A former camp for wagon teams transporting goods, known as Wicket Bottom, earned its name from the gambling that took place there., Bands continued to form or re-enlist throughout the winter, filling the military streets with music. It was crucial to the success of each army to re-enlist soldiers during the winter months, and bands were an important part of that effort. The sounds of camps were dramatically altered through their presence - amidst the chatter, wagons, and everyday noise, instruments provided familiar sounds of home and life beyond the battlefield., Some regiments sent members to acquire new instruments while in winter quarters, and soldiers often traveled to neighboring camps to listen to regimental brass bands. There was a makeshift outdoor amphitheater on Hansbrough's Ridge and many documents refer to soldiers singing in camp. In some cases, popular songs like Home, Sweet Home and Auld Lang Syne were banned for causing homesickness. Meanwhile, military songs drove practice drills during the long winter and provided inspiration for patriotism on both sides. On May 4, 1864, regimental bands alerted both armies armies that the winter encampment had ended and the Overland Campaign had begun., Sidebar: , Taverns were important in Stevensburg and its surroundings. Willis Madden, a free man of both African and European ancestry, owned one of the county's most popular taverns which he opened in 1835 east of Hansbrough's Ridge. His mother, Sarah Madden, was indentured to James Madison's father and lived in Stevensburg after the completion of her indenture. Willis Madden and his family ran a blacksmith shop, a general store, and a camping site at the tavern. During the winter of 1863-1864, the Union army destroyed all of Madden's outbuldings, cleared the land of timber, and slaughtered his livestock. The tavern closed and Madden was compensated $879 in 1873 for the destruction of his property, only a third of its value.