A short distance south are the ruins of Barboursville, built, 1814-1822, by James Barbour partly after plans made by Jefferson. It was burned, December 25, 1884. James Barbour, buried here, was governor of Virginia, 1812-1815, United States Senator, . . . — — Map (db m30179) HM
The ruins of Barboursville, the home of James Barbour (1775-1842) are just to the south. The house was designed by Thomas Jefferson and completed ca. 1822. Barbour, who owned about 5,000 acres here, was governor of Virginia (1812-1814), U.S. senator . . . — — Map (db m170664) HM
Here at Barboursville lie the ruins of the family
home of James Barbour, Virginia's governor
during the War of 1812. As commander of
Virginia's militia forces, Barbour planned, organized, and directed the defense of Virginia
from January until . . . — — Map (db m89899) HM
Near here was the church of James Waddel, the blind Presbyterian preacher. Waddel, who had been a minister in the Northern Neck and elsewhere, came here about 1785 and died here in 1805. William Wirt, stopping in 1803 to hear a sermon, was impressed . . . — — Map (db m4766) HM
Thomas Sumter was born on 14 Aug. 1734 in this region. Sumter, a member of the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War, moved to South Carolina in 1765. He served as a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army (1776–1778); in June . . . — — Map (db m17501) HM
Built by Nathaniel Gordon, 1787. Visited by Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Philip and James Barbour, Clark, Rives, Randolph, Wirt, Waddell, and other celebrities of Revolutionary, post-Revolutionary, and Confederate War periods. Lafayette . . . — — Map (db m4794) HM
January 1, 1840 celebrated the arrival of the Louisa Railroad to Gordonsville. The introduction of rail service contributed to the growth and vitality of the town as a prime rail junction. The two railroads that formed the junction were the . . . — — Map (db m8162) HM
In memory of the soldiers, both Confederate and Union, who died here at the Exchange Hotel used during the Civil War as the General Receiving Hospital, Gordonsville, VA, 1861 - 1865 — — Map (db m25545) HM WM
This rural historic district encompasses 50 square miles of the Piedmont. Native Americans lived here for more than 12,000 years before settlers of European descent, drawn to the fertile soil, arrived early in the 1700s. Several notable houses, . . . — — Map (db m117220) HM
Here was born Zachary Taylor, twelfth President of the United States, November 24, 1784. Taylor, commanding an American Army, won the notable Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico, 1847. — — Map (db m30181) HM
Has erected this tablet as a tribute of respect to some seven hundred Confederate soldiers mainly from North Carolina and Georgia who laid down their lives for the cause they loved and lost their names are perished. May their memory be imperishable! — — Map (db m4791) HM WM
Once a thriving Tavern during the 1840's and then a Railroad Grand Hotel during the 1860's, this building was later transformed to become the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital during the Civil War. 70,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were treated . . . — — Map (db m170667) HM
On This Site Stood a Union 6th Corps Field Hospital On Spotswood's Farm were 4 Medical Wagons, 14 Six-Mule Wagons, 24 Tents, 3 Medical Officers and 34 Attendants, in addition to about 15 Ambulances and 80 Men from the Corp's Ambulance Company. . . . — — Map (db m64981) HM
1st NC Cavalry and Ewell's lead infantry regiments fought Sedgwick's three divisions throughout Lake of the Woods Golf Course. Regiments from Nine States in Lake of the Woods May 5, 1864 Union Infantry Maine 5th, 6th, 7th New Jersey 1st, 2nd, 3rd, . . . — — Map (db m65281) HM
Spotswood park is dedicated to Captain John Spotswood born circa 1748, grandson of Royal Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia. Captain John Spotswood, soldier of the American Revolution, served honorably as a member of the Continental . . . — — Map (db m19159) HM
We honor those who remained in these woods long after the battle ended on May 7, 1864.
“Hundreds of graves on these battlefields are without any marks whatever to distinguish them, and so covered with foliage that the visitor will be unable . . . — — Map (db m171625) HM
Before Sunset on May 6, 1864 From this site, you would have seen Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon quietly assembled ten regiments between here and the woods, across the lake, at Madison Cir. In those woods, Union Brig. Gen. T. Seymour had . . . — — Map (db m65280) HM
This is the story of Orange GroveYou are standing on land that was owned by the same family for over 200 years, from colonial days to the beginning of Lake of the Woods.
Alexander Spotswood, Lt. Gov. of the Colony of Virginia 1710 - 1722, . . . — — Map (db m19156) HM
Alexander Dandridge SpottswoodHe spelled his name with two t's, known "as a gentleman of the old school," he referred back to the spelling of the name his ancestors used in Scotland, Spottiswoode. 1836 - Born in the house at Orange Grove on . . . — — Map (db m19071) HM
• In 2012, local historians recorded 15 field stones in rows that resembled the manner in which graves were marked in colonial and antebellum days before permanent granite headstones became popular.
• In 2013, they used Ground Penetrating Radar . . . — — Map (db m103240) HM
Alfred Apperson was born in 1806. He married Malinda Jones in 1816 and managed a plantation until he had saved enough money to purchase 120 acres of farm land in 1846. That land would become part of Lake of the Woods 120 years later. Alfred and . . . — — Map (db m103268) HM
The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-7, 1864 resulted in almost 29,000 Union and Confederate casualties. Both armies attempted to find and bury the dead, but moved on before completing the process. Over the next few years, many dead were disinterred . . . — — Map (db m103276) HM WM
The arrival of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Confederate Second Corps here along the Orange Turnpike on the morning of May 5 challenged the Union march through the Wilderness. At midday more than 6,000 troops of the Union Fifth Corps moved forward on . . . — — Map (db m155685) HM
The arrival of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s Second Corps here along the Orange Turnpike on the morning of May 5 challenged the Union march through the Wilderness. The Federals responded with a massive attack. At midday more than 12,000 Federal . . . — — Map (db m155684) HM
Here, in the Jones family cemetery, lie the remains of “Stonewall” Jackson’s left arm. The Confederate general lost the limb during the Battle of Chancellorsville, where he was mistakenly shot by his own troops. Surgeons removed the . . . — — Map (db m157352) HM
Here, in the Jones family cemetery, lie the remains of “Stonewall” Jackson’s left arm. The Confederate general lost the limb during the Battle of Chancellorsville, where he was mistakenly shot by his own troops. Surgeons removed the . . . — — Map (db m157417) HM
You are now standing in what was commonly referred to as "the yard," that part of the plantation where many of the slaves lived and did their daily chores. Depending on the time of year, you might have seen slaves here boiling soiled laundry in a . . . — — Map (db m179566) HM
As one of the few large open areas in the Wilderness, the broad fields north and east of Ellwood assumed instant importance during the battle here. While fighting raged a miles to the west, the fields around Ellwood filled with artillery and . . . — — Map (db m12947) HM
As one of the few large open areas in the Wilderness, the broad fields north and east of Ellwood assumed instant importance during the battle here. While fighting raged a miles to the west, the fields around Ellwood filled with artillery and . . . — — Map (db m179916) HM
On the morning of May 6, General A.P. Hill stretched his battle lines across the Chewning farm, closing a dangerous gap in the Confederate line. Before Hill's troops arrived, a Union regiment broke into the clearing from the east, startling the . . . — — Map (db m19162) HM
"Then I came to Germanna. This famous town consists of Col. Spotswood's enchanted castle on one side of the street, and a baker's dozen of ruinous tenements on the other, where so many German families had dwelt some years ago." . . . — — Map (db m171395) HM
At the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House, Grant would not only struggle against Lee’s army, but also against the conservative, sometimes timid, methods of the Union Army of the Potomac. George G. Meade, commander of that . . . — — Map (db m6026) HM
The National Park Service acquired Ellwood in 1977. Since then, archeologists have conducted three studies of the site: test excavations around the base of the house (1978) and in the cellar (1979), and a geophysical survey of the grounds (1984). . . . — — Map (db m12948) HM
Here May 5, 6, 1864, 70,000 Confederates under Lee defeated 120,000 Federals under Grant. Confederate loss 11,500. Federal 18,000. This battle, fought with conspicuous bravery, in a Wilderness on fire, will take it’s place among the great battles of . . . — — Map (db m6007) HM
The Armies The Army of the Potomac Throughout the winter of 1863-1864, the armies rested and refitted on opposite sides of the Rapidan River. The ranks of the Union army swelled with thousands of new draftees and recruits - soldiers whose . . . — — Map (db m155689) HM
Ewell's Corps, the left wing of Lee's Army, moving down this road from Orange, came into conflict near here with Warren's Corps of Grant's Army, May 5, 1864. The fight moved to and fro until Ewell finally drove Warren back and entrenched here. Late . . . — — Map (db m5450) HM
The Battle of the Wilderness On May 5, 1864, Lee moved swiftly eastward through Orange County and struck the Federals along two roads - the Orange Plank Road and the Orange Turnpike. Two bloody, largely separate battles exploded. They would . . . — — Map (db m7392) HM
Collision of Giants By 1864 the war had become not just a clash of armies, but of ideas. To be resolved on the fields of Virginia and Georgia that year was not only the fate of the Union, but also the fate of Southern society. The armies on both . . . — — Map (db m6077) HM
Culpeper County. Area 384 Square Miles. Formed in 1748 from Orange and named for Lord Culpeper, Governor of Virginia, 1680-1683. The Battle of Cedar Mountain, 1862, was fought in this county.
Orange County. Area 359 . . . — — Map (db m4322) HM
“The house stands on Wilderness Run, in a lonely place about half a mile south of the Culpeper plank road; it is a good-sized farmhouse, built of wood, square, with two porticos and painted a dove color. From the apex of the roof a . . . — — Map (db m6121) HM
Today only the main house remains, but Ellwood once stood at the center of a plantation that sprawled across 5,000 acres—one of the largest in the region. Outbuildings stood clustered around the main house: a kitchen, smokehouse, dairy, barns, and . . . — — Map (db m179567) HM
"Men, there is no use denying it, but three-quarters of you are to be left in that marsh with your toes turned up; but remember the Fourteenth never quailed yet, and I'll shoot the first man who does it now." Lt. Col. Samuel Moore to the men . . . — — Map (db m116470) HM
Confederate General Leroy A. Stafford of Louisiana fell mortally wounded in this vicinity during the afternoon fighting. General Ewell, however, continued to reinforce this line, extending it farther to the north, your left. When the Federals . . . — — Map (db m7382) HM
"The regiment melted away like snow. Men disappeared as if the earth had swallowed them." -Captain Porter Parley 140th New York Infantry Shortly after noon on May 5, the battleline of the 140th New York burst from the woods to your right-rear . . . — — Map (db m6022) HM
"In order to supply that part [of the frontier] which was to have been covered by the Tuscarora, I have placed here a number of Protestant Germans, built them a fort, and finished it with two pieces of cannon and some ammunition, . . . — — Map (db m193348) HM
The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc., known as the Germanna Foundation, was organized in 1956 by a group of descendants from the original Germanna colonies who had taken great interest in their Germanna genealogy and . . . — — Map (db m171396) HM
“My total loss at the Wilderness was 1,250 killed and wounded. The burial parties from two divisions reported interring over 1,100 of the enemy. The third, and largest made no report. When we moved probably one-third or more were still . . . — — Map (db m171624) HM
Here Governor Alexander Spotswood established a colony of Germans in 1714. At that time the Rapidan River was the frontier of Virginia. On August 29, 1716, Spotswood left from this place with the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe on his exploring . . . — — Map (db m171387) HM
In March 1864, President Abraham Lincoln placed Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in charge of the Union’s overall military effort. Grant’s strategy was simple: attack the Confederates simultaneously on all fronts, overwhelming them by sheer force of numbers. . . . — — Map (db m3587) HM
When the 1864 Overland Campaign started, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia held the upper fords of the Rapidan River, blocking the Union army's route to Richmond. Rather than attack Lee head on, Grant chose to cross here at Germanna . . . — — Map (db m3588) HM
At dawn on May 4, 1864, the 3rd Indiana Cavalry splashed across the river here at Germanna Ford and scattered the handful of Confederate pickets to secure the passage. Upon engineers quickly threw down two pontoon bridges and the army began . . . — — Map (db m171388) HM
Germanna Ford, a natural crossing of the Rapidan River, has made this area an important transportation corridor for centuries. A ferry and road were established here in the 1720s. During the Civil War, portions of the Union Army of the Potomac moved . . . — — Map (db m171385) HM
One of the principal crossings of the Rapidan River from colonial times. Here a part of the Army of the Potomac crossed the river, April 30, 1863, preceding the Battle of Chancellorsville. Here a part of Meade’s army crossed on the way to Mine Run, . . . — — Map (db m116528) HM
In honor of Giuseppe Oddenino, Italian immigrant & Civil War Veteran, 5th Regt. N.Y. Heavy Artillery, whose artwork adorns the Hebron Lutheran Church and whose son Louis married Mary Delph, a Germanna descendant. — — Map (db m171398) HM
In this field and its surrounding woods fell nearly one-third of the men killed or wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. The two-mile Gordon Flank Attack Trail tracks the Battle of the Wilderness in all its horrible forms: the open-field Union . . . — — Map (db m7378) HM
Union reinforcements rushed to the sound of fighting as twilight turned to darkness in these gloomy woods. The Confederates lost direction and momentum in the smoky gloaming, and eventually the firing died away. Gordon's attack had achieved only a . . . — — Map (db m7389) HM
The right flank of the Union line rested here in the early evening of May 6. Two Union brigades occupied this area with the benefit of neither strong works nor substantial artillery support. Suddenly, the Rebel yell echoed through the forest. North . . . — — Map (db m7388) HM
This short trail leads to "Grant's Knoll." For three days Gen. Ulysses S. Grant made his headquarters here, issuing orders that would determine the fate of armies and men. President Abraham Lincoln had recently appointed Grant general-in-chief over . . . — — Map (db m7403) HM
President Abraham Lincoln placed Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in charge of the Union's overall strategy in March 1864. The new commander brought fresh energy to the Federal war effort, and developed a strategy whereby Union armies would . . . — — Map (db m171416) HM
On May 5, 1864, this knoll was bordered by a second growth of scraggly pines and scrub oak. From here Grant and Meade could see little of the battle. Instead, they relied on subordinates to keep them apprised of the situation at the front. In the . . . — — Map (db m6024) HM
On the morning of May 6, Confederate General John B. Gordon occupied the far Confederate left, in this vicinity, with his brigade of Georgians. Gordon reconnoitered to his left and front and discovered the Union right flank to be vulnerable to an . . . — — Map (db m7384) HM
The fighting in the Wilderness centered on two thoroughfares: the Orange Turnpike and the Orange Plank Road. Between them yawned a gaping void of dense trees and brush, broken only by a few fields and the track of the Parker's Store Road, still . . . — — Map (db m19164) HM
Amidst numbing cold and stinging rain, in late 1863 Union General George G. Meade and his Army of the Potomac attempted a year-end stroke against Robert E. Lee. This effort climaxed along Mine Run, two miles in front of you. Since . . . — — Map (db m173937) HM
Meade, advancing south from the Rapidan River to attack Lee, found him in an entrenched position here on November 28, 1863. Heavy skirmishing went on until December 1. Then Meade, thinking Lee's lines too strong to assault, retired across the . . . — — Map (db m162667) HM
Union Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River on 26 Nov. 1863 in a last effort to strike Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia before winter. The next day, fighting erupted near here at . . . — — Map (db m162668) HM
On the morning of May 6, the main focus of the battle shifted more than two miles south, to the Orange Plank Road. Here, north of the Orange Turnpike, both armies planned early morning attacks as diversions to prevent the enemy from detaching more . . . — — Map (db m7383) HM
Orange County. Formed from Spotsylvania County in 1734, Orange County, a pastoral Piedmont county, was probably named in honor of William IV, the Dutch prince of Orange, who married Anne, the Princess Royal, daughter of George II of England, . . . — — Map (db m159382) HM
Near here stood ancient Robinson's Tavern. Here Meade wished to concentrate his army in the Mine Run Campaign, November 1863, but one corps, coming up late, disarranged his plans. Here Ewell, moving east from Orange in the Wilderness Campaign, . . . — — Map (db m126046) HM
"The last crop of the old field had been corn and among its stubble that day were sown the seeds of glory." Morris Schaff, USA Staff Tucked away in the Wilderness's trackless forest were several small clearings, where families with names . . . — — Map (db m155690) HM
Here at Germanna in 1714 the first permanent German Reformed Congregation in America located with their pastor, Rev. Henry Hager. They were a colony of thirteen families from Nassau Siegen Germany who were welcomed to Virginia by Governor . . . — — Map (db m171401) HM
John Spotswood
1724 - 1758
Married Mary Dandridge in 1745
Son of Lt. Gov.
Alexander Spotswood
1676 - 1740
and his wife
Lady Anne Butler Brayne
1686 - Circa 1751
Father of General
Alexander Spotswood
Oct. 16, 1746 - Dec. . . . — — Map (db m171406) HM
Crisis at the Crossroads Crises followed one after another on May 5. No sooner had Grant and Meade learned about Ewell's approach on the Orange Turnpike than they discovered General A.P. Hill's corps moving up the Orange Plank road. If Hill . . . — — Map (db m7394) HM
Home of Colonial Governor Alexander Spotswood
and formerly the site of
Fort Germanna, 1714
Archaeological excavation by
Mary Washington College,
Center for Historic Preservation — — Map (db m64139) HM
“We gained a slight rise in the land behind an old worm fence. The enemy had fallen back under cover of a piece of woods well in our front. Soon they came out in splendid battle array, with waving banners, and charged our position. It was a . . . — — Map (db m43165) HM
“We soon struck the Yankee skirmishers and drove them back through the woods to an open field, where we ran into French’s entire corps and into about the hottest place that could be imagined.” — Capt. William B. Colston, 2nd . . . — — Map (db m43167) HM
“Several efforts were made to charge the hostile line, but as these attempts were made by single brigades, without proper deliberation and without co-operation on the part of the other forces to the right and left, they naturally resulted in . . . — — Map (db m43168) HM
“In the fight of Johnson’s Division on last Friday I was under as warm a musketry fire as I have experienced for a good while—certainly worse than I have been in since Sharpsburg.” — Lt. Col. Alexander S. “Sandie” Pendleton, CSA
“One . . . — — Map (db m43170) HM
“There was a sudden commotion in the train ahead and several of the ambulances turned and came back in confusion. General [George H.] Steuart promptly ordered them back to their places, faced the brigade into line to the left and deployed . . . — — Map (db m116476) HM
“Gen. [Edward] Johnson … cheered us on to the fight with ‘Hurrah for North Carolina, go it North Carolina—give it to them boys!’ … The Federals were as thick as black birds in our front.” — Capt. Thomas Boone, 1st . . . — — Map (db m116478) HM
“[It was] … as warm a contest as this regiment was ever engaged in. … It seemed as if the enemy was throwing minie-balls upon us by the bucket-full, when the battle got fairly under way.” — Member of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry, CSA . . . — — Map (db m116530) HM
“The ground in my front for about 500 yards was thickly wooded and brushy, and beyond that was a cleared field owned by a man named Payne.”—Gen. Edward Johnson, CSA
“On account of the density of the undergrowth in the woods and the . . . — — Map (db m181505) HM
On no American battlefield did the landscape do more to intensify the horror of combat. One soldier called the Wilderness "a wild, weird, region... [a] dense and trackless forest." For decades loggers had cut and re-cut these forests to fuel nearby . . . — — Map (db m155691) HM
In the campaign of 1781, the Marquis de Lafayette marched through the Wilderness to rendezvous with Brig. Gen. "Mad Anthony" Wayne. On 3 June 1781, Lafayette's army camped to the south of the Wilderness Bridge across Wilderness Run from Ellwood. The . . . — — Map (db m25877) HM
The May 5 fighting in Saunders Field was waxing hot when Captain George B. Winslow received orders to rush two guns of Battery D, 1st New York Artillery, to the front to support Union attacks here. Dashing down the turnpike at a trot, Winslow's men . . . — — Map (db m155692) HM
Confederate troops commanded by General Richard S. Ewell arrived on this ridge line on the morning of May 5. Ordered by General Lee not to initiate a battle, Ewell placed 10,000 men along this high ground on either side of the Orange Turnpike . . . — — Map (db m155698) HM
Dick Ewell was raring for a fight. When a subordinate approached him early on May 5, 1864, and asked Ewell about his orders, the balding, pop-eyed general piped up cheerily: "... Just the orders I like - to go right down the [turnpike] and strike . . . — — Map (db m72886) HM
The road trace in front of you is the Culpeper Mine Road, typical of the woods trails that composed the primitive transportation network in the Wilderness. Even a path like this possessed military significance, and Confederate troops from the famous . . . — — Map (db m7380) HM
In front of you are the remains of trenches manned by the Union army on May 5-6, 1864. When Gordon attacked these works from the north, your left, the Federals abandoned them and fell back to a new position one mile to your front and right. The . . . — — Map (db m7391) HM
Stalemate Two days of bitter fighting had left the bleak Wilderness landscape charred and smoking from fire. Corpses littered the contested ground, now scarred by miles of earth-and-log entrenchments. Unwilling to attack Lee's strong position, . . . — — Map (db m7397) HM
Before you are the fields of the Higgerson Farm, one of only a few major clearings on the Wilderness Battlefield. On the afternoon of May 5, Union troops swept across this open space, bound for bewildering combat in the thickets to the north and . . . — — Map (db m155696) HM
Twenty German families from the Upper Rhine Valley mostly Lutherans settled near this site in 1717, and were promptly followed by others some of them, indebted to Governor Spotswood for money he had advanced for their passage discharged the debt . . . — — Map (db m171400) HM
“The promptness with which this unexpected attack was met and repulsed reflects great credit upon General Johnson and the officers and men of his division.” — Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA
“The delay in the movements of the Third Corps, . . . — — Map (db m42085) HM
“The brave officers and men of this division, attacked by a greatly superior force from an admirable position, turned upon him and drove him from the field, which he left strewn with arms, artillery and infantry ammunition, his dead and . . . — — Map (db m42089) HM
Marker Front: The Wilderness of today looks little like the tangled landscape soldiers found here in 1864. For decades before the war, loggers had cut and recut these forests to fuel nearby iron furnaces, leaving behind an impenetrable . . . — — Map (db m59518) HM
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