William Lee Andrews

     William Lee Andrews was born in Caroline County on 18 January 1827. Before the Civil War he was a member of the local militia, the Sparta Grays, when this reversed image photograph of him was taken. During the war, William served in the 30th Virginia Infantry and the 9th Virginia Cavalry.  His daughter, Myrtle Clyde Andrews, married Irvin Malcom "Mack" Chewning of Mount View in Spotsylvania. W.L. Andrews died in Caroline County on 3 August 1895.
     One of the best images of a Confederate soldier I have seen.
    

Catherine Furnace (National Park Service)

     A couple of years ago I wrote one of my most popular pieces, which described the fighting that took place at Catherine Furnace on 2 May 1863. New information has come to light this week which allows me today to solve one outstanding mystery and to add to what is already known about the foundry and the people associated with it.
     My earlier post described the crucial role of master blacksmith Absalom Herndon Chewning in the foundry's operation, as well as a highly entertaining account of the battle that occurred there during Stonewall Jackson's flank march. For those of you who have not already read it, now would be a good time to click here and enjoy this little known piece of Spotsylvania history. You won't be disappointed, I promise.
     The identity of Sprig Dempsey has remained a mystery until now. Thanks to the investigative talents of two of Spotsylvania's premier genealogists, Wil Bowler and Tom Myers, I can now share with you his name and his story.

1921 pension application of James Thomas Dempsey

     James Thomas Dempsey was born in the Mine Run section of eastern Orange County in June 1845, the son of John L. Dempsey and Susan Nash. In 1875 he married Ann Elizabeth Brown of Culpeper County, where he thereafter lived until his death in 1931.
     Late in life James "Sprig" Dempsey submitted two applications in order to obtain pension benefits as a disabled Confederate veteran. By this time he was suffering from rheumatism and heart disease and was no longer able to work. The first of these applications, dated 21 May 1917, was rejected due to a "misunderstanding of my service; papers being not clear." The second one, dated 23 December 1921 and shown above, provides us with much of what we now know. Dempsey did not enlist in one of the local regiments. Instead, he was detached from service in Richmond to work at Catherine Furnace. This makes me think that perhaps he was conscripted by Confederate authorities in June 1862 (not 1863, as he incorrectly remembers on his application). In any case, he notes that he "served faithfully."
     On his pension application Dempsey listed two comrades who served with him during the war. One, of course, was Absalom Herndon Chewning, with whom we are already familiar. The other was another teenaged boy impressed into laboring at Catherine Furnace, John Lewis Morris.
     John Morris was born in the Indiantown area of Orange County in 1848. He was inducted into the Confederate service in Spotsylvania on 1 September 1864 and worked at Catherine Furnace until December of that year, when he "left to join the regular Confederate army." Whether he was successful in doing so in unclear, as his name does not appear in any regimental roster that I can find. After his death in 1934 his widow filed for pension benefits as well. She cited his service in Company I of the 6th Virginia Cavalry, but I find no record of him there.
     The fact that Sprig Dempsey and John Morris worked together at the Furnace in the autumn of 1864 lets us know that at some point after his capture during the battle of Chancellorsville he had been exchanged. In 1865 Dempsey was "discharged at the close of the war after Lee's surrender and paroled from Fredericksburg."
    

Western Spotsylvania, 1863

     Both Dempsey and Morris mentioned the fact that their commanding officer was Charles Beverly Wellford (1829-1885).
     John Spottswood Wellford, C.B. Wellford's uncle, was responsible for establishing Catherine Furnace. Apparently named for his mother, the former Catherine Yates, the foundry was an integral part of the Fredericksburg Iron and Steel Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1836. The company relied heavily on military contracts, thereby missing a good chance at long term profitability in the pig iron business while prices were high. By the time of J.S. Wellford's death in 1846, the furnace became inactive and ownership passed to his brother Charles Carter Wellford, father of C.B. Wellford.

Charles Carter Wellford (National Park Service)

     In addition to their house in Fredericksburg, the family of C.C. Wellford owned a home in Spotsylvania on modern Jackson Trail East. The nearby furnace which he owned can be seen in the center of the map detail above, just north of the unfinished Fredericksburg & Gordonsville Railroad.
     The coming of the Civil War brought new opportunities to both father and son. Charles Beverly Wellford enlisted as a private in Captain Pollock's Company Virginia Light Artillery. Meanwhile, in 1862 his father signed a contract with the Confederate government to produce 2,000 tons of pig iron at the newly reopened furnace. The determination was made that Private Wellford's talents were better utilized in his father's iron enterprise than with the army. Accordingly, on 4 April 1862 George Minor, Chief of Ordnance and Hydrography, petitioned Secretary of War George W. Randolph to release C.B. Wellford from active service in order to assume new responsibilities at Catherine Furnace (as a civilian Minor was a professional musician and he resumed his avocation after the war).

Petition of George Minor to G.W. Randolph, April 1862

     During the battle of Chancellorsville, at the time that Sprig Dempsey and Absalom Chewning were seeking to escape from Union forces probing the rear of the Confederate column, Charles B. Wellford acted as a guide for General Jackson, taking him through the country lanes leading to Brock Road.
     In 1864 Catherine Furnace was destroyed by Union cavalry commanded by General George Custer. It was rebuilt, however, and continued to produce iron for the Confederacy until 1865.

     A bizarre footnote to the Wellfords' wartime experience occurred during the Federal occupation of Fredericksburg in the weeks following Lee's surrender. From the 7 June 1865 edition of the Fredericksburg Ledger:

     Since my recent post on the life and times of Phenie Tapp, I have received a number of inquiries about the substance of National Park Historian Ralph Happel's interview with Phenie about the battle of the Wilderness. If that interview were still extant, I would have happily included it in my article about Phenie. Unfortunately, according to Eric Mink, historian at the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, neither the text of that interview nor Happel's notes survive. [Please click on images in my blog for enlarged viewing]
     What we do have, however, is the eulogy to Phenie that Ralph Happel wrote for the Free Lance Star when Phenie died in 1944. Since Phenie Tapp was only four years old at the time of the battle on her family's farm, I think that this excellently written piece by Mr. Happel serves as a more than adequate substitute:

Fisticuffs on the courthouse lawn. Late 1800s.

     He was devoted to his family, his church and his community. He played an active role in Spotsylvania politics for many years. The photographic record of his life and that of his family is vast; only a small sample can be shared with you today. Unless otherwise noted, all pictures are from the Colvin Collection. [Please click on the images in my blog for enlarged viewing]

Jesse William Payne

Catherine Hicks Payne and her son Zebulon "Buckshot" Payne

     Thomas Pearson Payne was born in Spotsylvania on 5 August 1852. He was the firstborn child of Jesse William Payne (1821-1881) and Catherine Ann Hicks (1833-1911), arriving seven months after his parents' wedding. Catherine Hicks was a daughter of Spotsylvania farmer and constable Thomas Hicks and the granddaughter of Thomas Hicks, long time Spotsylvania jailor. In the photograph below, Thomas Hicks, Jr. is believed to be standing at far right.






     Before joining the Confederate army, Jesse Payne rented the farm of Neil McCoull, which would become the epicenter of the vicious day-long fight at the Bloody Angle. Jesse lost an eye during the war but otherwise was able to return home safely. Jesse Payne died at age fifty nine while threshing wheat on the farm of his father in law.

Rebecca Catherine Lohr

     Thomas Payne married Rebecca Catherine Lohr of Madison County on 20 September 1872. Like his father, Thomas rented the McCoull farm where his seven children were born:

Frank Payne

- Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Payne (1873-1957) operated a saw mill near his home on Catharpin Road and was chief forest warden of Spotsylvania County for twenty seven years. He married my great aunt Lottie Kent in 1928.

Frederick Linwood Payne

Fred Payne at the McCoull house. About 1900.

Freemond Clifton Payne

- Fred Payne and his twin brother Freemond were born in 1875 and each lived into his nineties. We used to see them sitting out in the yard together on Catharpin Road in the 1960s.

Fred Payne, Charles Talley and Annie Rebecca Payne

- Annie Rebecca Payne (1878-1949) married Spotsylvania farmer Charles Talley in 1899 and had five children with him.

Nettie Payne

Merle Chilton Strickler

- Anzonetta "Nettie" Payne (1880-1961) married John Moncure Chilton in 1910. Their only child, Merle, taught school in Spotsylvania for 32 years and is fondly remembered by many of us.

Bessie Lee Payne

Fred Payne and John Calvin Jennings (right)

- Bessie Lee Payne (1882-1973) married John Calvin Jennings in 1901. Bessie was the postmistress at Finchville from 1908 until 1914, when the post office was discontinued and its operations were moved to Screamersville.

Ashby Payne

Ashby and Bessie Payne

- Ashby Payne (1885-1942) was the second husband of Ruby Ray Kent, whom he married in 1926. Ashby and Ruby lived near the intersection of Catharpin and Stewart Roads. Ashby is remembered for his fiddle playing at local dances and for providing liquid refreshment as well. He died after being kicked by a horse in the barn.
    

Spotsylvania Court House. Late 1800s.

     Thomas Pearson Payne served for a number of years as deputy commissioner of revenue for the St. George's district. In the group portrait above, he is seated second from left. There were apparently whisperings of voting irregularities during his tenure, but I have found no mention of it in the local newspapers of the time. Thomas was also elected as a delegate to the state Democratic convention in 1899:

Daily Star 1 September 1899

     Payne's long run as deputy commissioner of revenue ended in 1911 when he was defeated by Irvin Chandler Clore by fifty eight votes. Afterwards Thomas Payne served as county assessor. Clore went on to serve twelve years as deputy commissioner of revenue, twelve years as county treasurer and finally as a trial justice until his death in 1944.

Irvin Chandler Clore (courtesy of Wil Bowler)

     Thomas and Rebecca Payne became friends with Pennsylvania native John Okie and his family, who would come down to hunt with the Paynes in Spotsylvania. The following photographs were taken about 1900, possibly during the same outing. The Ferneyhough place mentioned in the photographs had once been the home of John B. Ferneyhough, located on Catharpin Road near Old Plank Road on the site of today's Sawhill subdivision:

Thomas Pearson Payne

Payne family at the Ferneyhough place

Ashby, Zebulon and Thomas Pearson Payne

Thomas Payne's dogs near Chancellorsville

     Thomas Payne's hunting dogs can be seen both in the photo taken at Ferneyhough's as well as on Old Plank Road within sight of Chancellorsville.
     Over the years Thomas acquired a number of parcels of land in Spotsylvania, including the places where his sons built their houses. He bought land for himself on the corner of Cartharpin and Piney Branch Roads on the Ni River, where he built his house. He called his home Hazelfield.

Paynes at home

     A good many of the Payne family photos were taken at Hazelfield. This rare interior picture made about 1905 shows Thomas strumming his banjo. In front his granddaughter Rubye is held by her Aunt Nettie, with her mother Emma Payne seated at right. Behind them are Rebecca, Ashby, Frank and Thomas.

Nettie Payne Chilton and Thomas Payne at the well at Hazelfield

Thomas, Rebecca, Frank, Nettie and Ashby

     Thomas Payne was a lifelong member of Goshen Baptist Church, where he was superintendent of the Sunday school.

Goshen Baptist Church

     So what the heck are those two fellows fighting about in the photograph at the top of today's post? Thomas Payne (right) and his brother James used to put on mock boxing exhibitions to entertain the crowds of people gathered there when court was in session.
     Thomas Pearson Payne died at home on 17 April 1934, having outlived Rebecca by eight years. He and Rebecca and all of their children are buried in the Confederate Cemetery in Spotsylvania.

Thomas and Rhoda posing for the camera

Section hands of the PF&P Railroad (DC)

     For sixty one years the train used to make daily runs between Fredericksburg and Orange Court House. Near the end of the checkered history of this now long abandoned railway there occurred a devastating accident in Spotsylvania which made the front page of the Free Lance Star eighty six years ago. Thanks to Dena Cooper, fellow researcher and a friend of Spotsylvania Memory, this dimly remembered tragedy can now be shared with a modern audience. Photographs from her family's collection which appear in today's post are designated '(DC)'. All images in my blog may be clicked on for enlarged viewing.

Route of the PF&P Railroad, 1894 (Wikipedia)

     In 1852 the city fathers of Fredericksburg, fearing the cumulative financial impact of the failure of the Rappahannock Canal and the sad state of the Orange Turnpike and Plank Road, hatched a plan to construct a railroad linking Fredericksburg with Gordonsville. The following year the Fredericksburg & Gordonsville Railroad Company was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly and surveyors were at work by fall of 1853.

Gold bond of the FO&C Railroad (Scripophily.net)

     Soon thereafter this ambitious plan was scaled back to a thirty eight mile track that would extend from Fredericksburg to Orange Court House. By 1861 much of the grading work to Parker's store in western Spotsylvania was complete. But the Civil War obliged the Fredericksburg & Gordonsville Railroad to stop work. On Civil War era maps, and in the memories of soldiers who fought at the battles of Chancellorsville and the Wilderness, this nascent rail bed would be forever known as "the unfinished railroad."
     In June 1866 civil engineer Carter Moore Braxton, who had been an officer in the Fredericksburg artillery and husband of famed diarist Fannie Page Hume, was elected president of the F&G Railroad. Fifteen miles of standard gauge track had been laid by 1872, but the F&G went bankrupt. A new company, the Fredericksburg, Orange & Charlottesville Railroad, was formed to complete the project. They sold bonds, like the one shown above, in an attempt to raise sufficient capital to see the job through.
     Despite the inauspicious beginnings of this still unfinished railroad, its construction was a boon to the local economy. Building the road provided employment to a small army of surveyors, engineers and laborers. The manufacture of the rails, ties, fencing stock and bridge material also kept local foundries and saw mills humming. One beneficiary of this railroad boomlet was my great grandfather, George Washington Estes Row. Another group profiting from all this activity were local attorneys, as lawsuits relating to ongoing financial difficulties filled the docket of the Circuit Court.

Chugging past T.S. Jones's store near Mine Run, Orange County

     Inevitably, the Fredericksburg, Orange and Charlottesville Railroad went bankrupt in 1876. The company's charter was returned to the original incorporators, the F&G Railroad. The directors immediately transferred title to the Royal Land Development Company, which changed the standard gauge (4' 8" between rails) to narrow gauge (3' between rails) to save on construction costs. Royal purchased two engines, four flat cars, four box cars and two passenger cars from the Centennial Fairgrounds in Philadelphia.

Freight receipt of the PF&P Railroad, 1883

     That same year the company was renamed the Potomac, Fredericksburg & Piedmont Railroad and would be known by that name for more than fifty years. The first trip on the newly completed road was made from Fredericksburg to Orange Court House on 26 February 1877. A mere twenty five years had elapsed from conception to completion.
    Soon the PF&P railroad would be wryly referred to as the "Poor Folks & Preachers Railroad," reflecting both its clientele and its hand-to-mouth existence. There is the apocryphal story of a fellow who wished to get to Orange one day. Exasperated by a long and futile wait for the train to show up, he set off on foot, following the track to his intended destination. At long last the train slowly crept up behind him. As it slowly passed by, the engineer asked him if he wished to get on. "No thanks," he replied. "I'm in a hurry."

PF&P ticket, 1927

     The railroad always struggled financially and in 1925 the company decided to abandon the road. A small group of investors bought it and changed the name to the Orange & Fredericksburg Railway. They, too, soon went under and a year later the company was reorganized as the Virginia Central Railway. The increasing popularity of the automobile and the wasting effects of the Great Depression proved to be too much, however, and the railroad permanently ceased operating in 1938.

William Andrew Williamson (DC)

William A. Williamson, wearing a straw boater, far left

     William Andrew "Willie" Williamson and his brothers worked for the railroad. Three of them can be seen in the photograph at the top of today's post. Standing on the front of the engine, center, is Stephen Davis Williamson (1886-1965). Standing on the engine at far right is Reuben Franklin Williamson (b. 1885). And standing by the track at far right is Hugh Meredith Williamson (b. 1882).

Charles and Lucy Williamson (DC)

     Willie Williamson (born in Spotsylvania on 25 May 1881) and his brothers and sister were the children of Charles Allen Williamson and Lucy Jane Parker. Charles was born in Prince Edward County in 1851 and spent his early years in Manchester. In September 1878 he married Lucy Parker of Spotsylvania, a daughter of John Franklin Parker and Annie Haney, who owned the general store and post office on Brock Road known as Brockville, a stop on the PF&P Railroad. Annie Parker ran the post office for years.

Registry receipt written at Brockville, 1885

     Frank and Annie's daughter in law, Wilhelmina Hirth Parker, succeeded Annie as postmistress there and held that job until 1942. Wilhelmina's son Grafton Parker was postmaster until 1956.
  

Mary Wallace (DC)

     Willie Williamson married seventeen year old Mary Elizabeth Wallace in May 1914. Mary was the oldest daughter of Spotsylvania farmer Festus Wallace and his wife Margaret Jane Owens. Mary's sisters married two of Willie's brothers. Leah married Samuel Estes Williamson and Mattie Merle married Stephen Davis Williamson.

Festus and Margaret Wallace (DC)

     Willie and his brothers were hard working men. In addition to working on the family farm near Brockville, they also worked for the railroad. By 1910 Willie, Stephen, Samuel & Hugh were working as car loaders for the PF&P. During the 1920s all of the Williamson brothers worked as section hands on the railroad. Their draft registration forms submitted in 1917 give some indication of the physical stresses and dangers of their work. Reuben reported a broken hand and breastbone; Sam had an afflicted arm and shoulder; Willie said he had a weak constitution; and Hugh suffered from rheumatism attacks.
     Just how dangerous work on the railroad could be was demonstrated on the morning of 20 April 1928. With sudden violence the life of Willie Williamson came to an abrupt end and five others, including his brother Stephen, sustained severe and even life threatening injuries. This sad incident was the lead story in that afternoon's edition of the Free Lance Star.

The Free Lance Star, 20 April 1928 (DC)

ONE DEAD, 5 HURT IN RAIL ACCIDENT

William Williamson Dies in Crash of Motor Cars on Virginia Central. Another unconscious.

OTHERS IN HOSPITAL

     One man was killed and five injured in varying degrees, one perhaps fatally, when a motor car on the Virginia Central railroad crashed into the lever-car preceeding it when the latter jumped the tracks fifteen miles west of Fredericksburg this morning shortly after 8 o'clock.
     William Williamson, 40 years old, of Brock Road, was killed outright in the accident. Moses Jones, of Chancellor, received a fracture of the skull and had not fully recovered consciousness this afternoon at 2 o'clock; H.D. Craig, Chancellor, was badly hurt about his shoulders and hips; Steve Williamson, of Brock Road, a brother of the dead man, received serious injuries to his left leg; William Powell, of Chancellor, had his right knee cap badly fractured, and W.M. Lane, of Chancellor, foreman of this group of workmen, was severely injured about the back. Five other men, whose names could not be learned, jumped at the moment of the crash and were not hurt.
  
Injured Rushed Here

     The injured men were rushed to the Mary Washington Hospital as soon as possible after the accident where they were given emergency treatment by Drs. S. L. Scott, J.N. Barney and T.W. Dew. After the first treatments more thorough examinations were given the injured. All of them, with the exception of Jones, probably will recover, physicians stated today. Jones has a dangerous fracture and his condition is bordering on the critical though he has a very good fighting chance for life. Physicians stated today that they were unable to operate on him because of his weakened condition.
     Attempts to obtain an exact detailed account of the accident failed this morning when members of the administrative force at the Virginia Central railroad offices here said they had not received any official account of the accident and that the did not know the names of all those on the car. The injured men could not be interviewed and none of those who escaped injury could be located in town.

Cars Jammed Together

     From unofficial sources, however, it was learned that the accident happened just beyond the fifteen mile post, half way between Brock Road and Parkers Station. The men, in charge of foreman Lane, were proceeding west on two cars, a lever car attached to and preceding a motor car which was pushing it. The lever on the old type car was not being used but the car merely was in service to provide sufficient room for the gang of workmen.
     The two cars, it was said, had picked up members of the force at various points along the route and were traveling at a nominal rate of speed when the accident happened. Just what caused the accident is not known, but it may have been due to defective or spreading rails, although this had not been absolutely ascertained this afternoon.

Lever Car Jumps Rails

     Something, however, caused the lever car to leave the rails and immediately that wheels caught on the ties or in the gravel between them, its acceleration was sharply reduced and the motor car crashed heavily into the rear of the car in front. The two cars buckled, it is said, and Williamson was thrown off, falling directly under the motor car which crushed down on him. He was killed instantly.
     The other men were thrown off the colliding cars at different angles and in different ways. The injured men were picked up and placed on the side of the road by fellow workmen.
     As soon as possible after the accident the injured were rushed to the local hospital where they received treatment.
     Due to the distance at which the accident happened it was nearly 11 o'clock before the men reached the local institution.

Survived by family

     Williamson, who was killed in the accident, is survived by his wife and three children, all of whom reside in the Chancellor neighborhood. Williamson's wife was notified of the accident and arrived before the body was removed. Wives of some of the injured men came immediately to the local hospital after hearing of the accident.
     Spotsylvania County authorities will hold an inquest and probably an investigation of the causes of the accident.

 
     Details in today's post about the history of the railroad come from Robert Hodges' article, The Narrow Gauge Railroad, which can be found at LibraryPoint, the website of the Central Rapphannock Regional Library.
     A special thank you is also in order to Spotsylvania researcher and genealogist Wil Bowler, who provided background information on some of the families mentioned today.

PF&P engine and tender (Courtesy of CRHC)

Frances Kent. Richmond, early 1900s

     Despite the fact that she had only a grade school education acquired in Spotsylvania in the early 1890s, my grandmother had  a life long love of history, literature and poetry that transcended her modest upbringing. Even into old age she enjoyed reading such heavy tomes as Winston Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples. I remember her ability to quote reams of poetry she learned by heart as a young girl, and as a lad I would sit by her rocking chair, transfixed by her ability to still recall without difficulty the poems she had learned seventy years earlier.
     One of the poems she used to recite (and also my mother, who had learned it from my grandmother, complete with her inflections and dramatic phrasing) was Little Orphan Annie, written by James Whitcomb Riley in 1885. The Annie of whom Riley wrote was a real child, Mary Alice Smith, who lived in the Riley household.
     For my modern readers, who will not be able to appreciate the terrifying effect the recitation of this poem by my grandmother and mother had on me at a very tender age, I present this poetic artifact from a bygone era. Read it alone in a dark room by candle light. If you dare.

Newlyweds: John and Lucy Pulliam, 1861 (CH)

     Every so often I am privileged to come across a collection of photographs relating to one of Spotsylvania's historic families. Such a stroke of good fortune occurred earlier this year when Pulliam family researcher Craig Harnden began to post these photographs to his family tree on Ancestry. With Craig's kind permission, I am able to share with you today this very rare look at the Pulliam family. Pictures from Craig Harnden's archive that appear in today's post are designated with '(CH)'. All images in my blog may be clicked on for enlarged viewing.

Western Spotsylvania County, 1863

     Named for his grandfather, John Duerson Pulliam was born in Spotsylvania on 3 November 1840 to Richard H. Pulliam and Rebecca Duerson. The Pulliam farm can be seen in the lower left portion of the map detail shown above. Richard Pulliam's sister Eliza's farm lay just to the north. To the northeast was Greenfield ("Mrs. Rowe"), my family's ancestral home.
    John D. Pulliam graduated from the University of Virginia in 1859. Like many young men in Virginia of that time who wished to practice medicine, he then attended the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He graduated in 1861, having written his thesis on the topic of digestion.
     The year 1861 would prove to be the most significant in the life of young Dr. Pulliam for two other reasons as well. On 15 July he enlisted in Company E of the Ninth Virginia Cavalry, my great grandfather's old regiment. Also serving with John were his brother Thomas Coleman Pulliam and his cousin Thomas Richard Pulliam, whose self-indulgent life and violent death have recently been featured in this blog. Click here to read what has become the most popular article ever published on Spotsylvania Memory.

Lucy Noel Jerrell, age 17 (CH)

     The most momentous event in the life of John Pulliam in 1861 was his marriage to eighteen year old Lucy Noel Jerrell on 4 December. Lucy was born in July 1843 to John C. Jerrell and Mary Cropp. The Jerrells lived southeast of Spotsylvania Court House, where her father operated a grist mill and ran a store.
     Dr. John Pulliam survived his year in the Confederate cavalry, managing to avoid injury, sickness or capture. He returned home to Spotsylvania, where he began his fifty year medical practice. Unfortunately for John and everyone he knew, the Civil War that they had so avidly wished for would soon be on their very doorsteps.

John C. Jerrell (CH)

     Among the first to suffer were John Jerrell and his second wife, Ann Marshall. On 5 November 1862 their home, mill and store house were ransacked by Federal troops. In the Confederate archives is the long list of the Jerrells' property that was stolen or destroyed that day by Union soldiers who "laid violent hands on his goods and wares." Among other things, the Jerrells lost ten slaves, a double barreled shotgun, 100 pounds of coffee, and 110 pounds of nails; English, French, Latin, Greek, law and medical books; percussion caps, quinine and other medicines. Without a doubt the most intriguing object stolen that day was a set of obstetrical instruments. As if that were not enough, the Jerrells suffered further indignity that winter when Confederate troops camping on their property burned 1,900 fence rails for fuel.
     A year and a half later John and Lucy Pulliam would have their own violent encounter with Union troops swarming through their neighborhood during the battle of the Wilderness. The experience of the Pulliams was included in the historic letter written by Maria Dobyns of neighboring Oakley plantation: The yankees even tore off the plaster off Dr. Pulliam's cellar, thinking something had been hid, took money off his and Lucie's clothes, together with everything else.

The Pulliam family, 1876 (CH)

     This family portrait made in 1876 shows John and Lucy Pulliam with their five oldest children (Ivy would arrive in 1877 and the youngest, Flavia, was born in 1883). The oldest daughter, Mary Etta, is at far left. She married John F. Lewis in 1880 and had three children with him before dying in 1886 at the age of 23. Standing at John's shoulder is Justinian, who also practiced medicine until his untimely death in 1891. Standing between her parents is Lucy Noel Pulliam, who married Dr. Charles Dudley Simmons. In John's lap is Alma, who married Dr. Frank P. Dickinson, whose family owned "Mercer Hall" in Spotsylvania. Warner moved to Augusta County where he lived near his sisters Ivy and Flavia for a time before dying during the influenza epidemic in 1918.
     Other photos from the Pulliam album:

Dr. Justinian Pulliam (CH)

Alma Pulliam (CH)

Flavia Pulliam (CH)

Ivy Pulliam  (CH)

     As a physician, John Pulliam touched the lives of many during his long career, including my own family.

Estate expenses of Nancy Estes Row

     Dr. Pulliam treated my great great grandmother, Nancy Estes Row, during her final illness in January 1873. The Rows were able to recoup some of his $12.50 fee when he bought several items at her estate sale.

Virginia Herald 6 May 1875

     By the 1870s John had begun to dip his toe into local politics. In 1875 he was elected as a delegate from the Livingston district for the Conservative Party's convention. Also elected from the Livingston district was Dr. Thomas W. Finney, who had served with John in the Ninth Cavalry. In 1860, while still a medical student, Finney lived with John Pulliam's family. Years later both doctors would be lauded for their heroic efforts during an epidemic in Spotsylvania:

The Free Lance 15 July 1887

     John Pulliam was elected a justice of the peace and served on the Spotsylvania  Board of Health 1909-1912. In 1910 he was elected president of the Spotsylvania chapter of the Farmer's Alliance. The only setback I have spotted in his multifaceted career occurred in 1884, when his nomination as superintendent of Spotsylvania County schools was rejected by the Virginia Senate.

Spotsylvania Court House, about 1900

     In the photograph above, Dr. John D. Pulliam is sitting with the political elite of Spotsylvania County. He is seated front and center, fourth from the right.

    

Dr. John Duerson Pulliam (CH)

     For many years John and Lucy Pulliam lived on a 160 acre farm near Peake's Crossroads, later known as Belmont.

Lucy Pulliam (CH)

Daily Star 29 May 1905

     Lucy Pulliam died of a stroke while entertaining friends at her home in 1905. John continued to live in their old home for a time, but sold it for $4,200 in 1909. He then moved in with his nephew Richard Graves and his family.

John Pulliam at White Hall, 1906 (CH)

     By about 1912 Dr. Pulliam had mostly retired from medicine, although he still would treat special cases. The last of these occurred in January 1914 when he traveled to Richmond to attend a sick nephew. While there he contracted a bad cold, which developed into pneumonia. He died on 15 January 1914.

John Pulliam (CH)

Richmond Times Dispatch 17 January 1914

    

Display at the Chancellorsville Museum, National Park Service

     Last week, while in Virginia doing some research and making headway on my upcoming book, I finally had the opportunity to visit the Park Service's  recently updated contact station at Chancellorsville. I was interested in seeing several of their exhibits, including this one. Please click on the images in my blog for enlarged viewing.
     This particular exhibit speaks to the exodus of slaves from the Spotsylvania region while Union troops were nearby. Among those enslaved people who escaped to freedom were a number from Greenfield plantation in western Spotsylvania. Their flight to freedom in 1862 was documented by my great great grandmother, Nancy Estes Row, in this list of runaways written in her own hand:

List of runaway slaves from Greenfield

     My great great grandmother had the foresight to include the last names of those "servants," which made it possible to discover the fates of three of these people, whose story appears here. The story of another Greenfield slave, Ellen Upshur, who had been given as a present to a relative in 1857, can be read here.

Annette Houston Harlow with her son, Finley

     Today I am showcasing the colorization talent of graphic artist and friend of Spotsylvania Memory, Deborah Humphries. Beginning with the original image shown below (provided by Elizabeth Robinson), Deborah was able to bring to life my cousin Annette and her young son, Finley Houston Harlow, in late 1913 or early 1914.






     Annette Willson Houston (1878-1960) was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, the daughter of Finley and Grace Alexander Houston. Finley Houston, one of the leading citizens of Lexington in his day, has been the topic of a previous post, which can be read here.

     In September 1905, Annette married Washington & Lee graduate, Benjamin Franklin Harlow, Jr. (1873-1961). Ben Harlow's father was an attorney, Civil War veteran and publisher of the Greenbrier Independent in Lewisburg, West Virginia. Ben and Annette were married at 'Clifton,' her family's home near Lexington, Virginia. In the family portrait taken on the day of their wedding, Ben and Annette are standing at far right, their eyes turned to the camera lens. Her parents are seated, her sister Mary stands at center, and sister Bruce and her husband William Emrys Davis stand at left:






     After they were married, Annette and Ben moved to Roswell, New Mexico, where Ben worked in the printing business until early 1917. Ben also taught Latin at the New Mexico Military Academy, whose superintendent was Annette's cousin, James William Willson.

     Once the Harlows came back to Lexington, Virginia, Ben became the publisher of the Lexington Gazette. After his retirement, he was succeeded by his son Finley, who held that position until his death in 1972.

John P. Kale, about 1846 (Polk County Memorial Museum)

     The story of John Kale has its beginnings in the Alps of Switzerland, where John's father, Anthony Kale, was born about 1790 in Chur, the capital of the canton Graubunden. A candy maker by trade, Anthony made his way from landlocked Switzerland to a port city in western Europe. Once there, he boarded a sailing ship and crossed the Atlantic. Whether he came alone or with relatives, at what city in America did he arrive, and exactly what year he undertook that perilous journey are questions that have remained unanswered.
     However, by some time after 1810 Anthony Kale was living in Fredericksburg, Virginia. His name first appears in the written record on April 10, 1816, when his marriage to Catherine Estes was announced in The Virginia Herald. Catherine Estes was one of ten children born to Richard and Catherine Carlton Estes of Greenfield, a plantation in western Spotsylvania County.
     Anthony Kale owned property at 706-708 Caroline Street; those buildings survive today as the Fredericksburg Visitor Center and Beck's Antiques. At No. 706 Kale ran a confectionery and grocery, and his family lived on the floors over his store. The seven children of Catherine and Anthony were born there. The youngest of their three sons, John, arrived in 1824. (More can be read about the Kales here).

706-708 Caroline Street

     Little is known of John's early life, other than he apparently received a good education, given the early success he enjoyed in the newly minted Republic of Texas. In 1846, the 22-year-old John left Fredericksburg and went west.

Letter of John Kale, February 1847

     On February 19, 1847, John wrote a letter from Liberty, Texas to his uncle Absalom Row of Spotsylvania. He began by mentioning how much sickness there was out there, from which he was not immune: "I have not been well two weeks at a time since July last." John was teaching school then, but in the sparsely settled section northeast of modern Houston, there was not much money to be made in that profession. John made some observations on recent elections in Virginia and then indulged in a wistful look back at the life he had left behind in Virginia: "You cannot imagine what it is to me to hear from you all every one and all things about home are ten times dearer to me than they ever were before. Your fine healthy faces would be a show in this part of the world, and little George I no doubt remembers how the squirrel's tail was played about his nose." The little George he referred to was my great grandfather, George Washington Estes Row.

George Washington Estes Row (1843-1883)

     By 1850, John Kale was living in the tiny town of Livingston, Polk County, where he was clerk of court. He was one of the earliest American settlers in that area and over the years enjoyed success as clerk, town merchant and farmer.
     John married Mary Winifred Hicks in Polk County on August 10, 1852. Their marriage was short-lived and tragic. Their first child, a daughter, died at birth in 1853. Their son suffered the same fate in 1854. Mary Kale died two weeks after the death of her son on September 6. All three are buried near her parents in the Abell Cemetery in Liberty, Texas.
     By 1860, with an aggregate wealth of $56,000, John Kale was one of the wealthiest men in Polk County. But that statistic does not tell the whole story. After the death of his wife and children, John was in a mental where he could not be left alone. He moved to Denton, Texas to stay for a time with his brother, Richard. For the 1860 census taken in Polk County, his occupation is given as "undefinable," because he was living in Denton at the time.
     John enlisted as a private in Company K of the 5th Texas Infantry on August 24, 1861. Now 37 years old, he was considered an old man by some of his fellow recruits. The 5th Infantry was part of the famed Texas Brigade, commanded by General John Bell Hood. Within two months of his enlistment, the  5th Texas was transported to Virginia, where it encamped on Neabsco Creek near Dumfries. Here, the older and more experienced John worked as a nurse in the General Hospital.
     John fought with his regiment during the Seven Days Battles near Richmond in 1862. The Texas Brigade, along with Longstreet's Corps, then marched west toward Culpeper in order to link up with Stonewall Jackson's troops and confront the army of General John Pope.
     On August 26, 1862, John Kale was put on picket duty, along with future Texas judge John W. Stevens and Nathan Oates. This episode was recounted in a book written by Judge Stevens 40 years later: Reminiscences of the Civil War, Hillsboro Mirror Print: Hillsboro, Texas, 1902, 51-52:

     "Kale was about 45 years old [actually, he was just 38] and a little hard of hearing, we three were carried down by an officer and posted in thirty or forty steps of the enemy's line, in high corn. The mud was awful, the air was quite cool after nightfall...Our orders were if the enemy attempted to advance, to wait until they were in twenty feet, then fire into them and fall back, we were not to speak above a whisper. We were so close to the enemy that we could hear their feet pop in the mud as they moved around in line. We could hear, all night, the low rumbling sound of their voices in suppressed tones as they conversed.
     "Kale, poor fellow, could not hear as well as myself and Nath, which was a great discomfort to him, and us as well. The slight breeze that came through the corn, sawing the blades against one another, made a noise very much like a man slipping up on us. Kale, every few minutes would insist that the rascals--as he called them--were coming and at times we could hardly restrain him from raising his gun to fire."

     Four days later, John Kale was shot during the battle of Second Manassas. He was taken to the Receiving and Wayside Hospital (General Hospital No. 9) in Richmond, where he remained for two months. He was then transferred to Hospital No. 21. From there he was transferred to "private quarters October 29, 1862, having furnished a substitute."
     Not much else is known of John Kale's activities during the Civil War. In a letter written by his sister Kate in July 1864, we learn that John and his brother Richard (who had begun the war as a trooper with the 15th Texas Cavalry) were "now in the same company. John is in the commissary department. He says the State [Texas] is full of refugees and everything is high. Sugar is not to be had at any price."
     The war now over, John returned to Polk County. Although his wealth was now less than half of what it had been before the war, he was still better off than most of his neighbors. He opened a dry goods store in Livingston. On March 21, 1867 he married a 30 year old widowed school teacher, Isabelle Wallace Sharp.
     Isabelle, or "Belle" as everyone knew her, had been the second wife of John F. Sharp, who had died during the war. Belle was raising John Sharp's son by his first marriage, John, Jr. Belle came from a distinguished Delaware family. Her grandfather, Caesar Augustus Rodney, had served in the House of Representatives and had been Attorney General of the United States.
     John and Belle had four children together. The first, Iola Rodney, died in 1871 at age three. Annie Rose was born about 1869, Louise "Lutie" was born in 1870 and Katherine "Kate" Carlton (named for her grandmother) in 1872. On May 15, 1873, Belle Kale died while giving birth to her fifth child, who also died.

Anna Rose Wallace Vaughan (courtesy of Felicia Gourdin)

     After Belle died, John Kale made the decision to send his three surviving daughters to live with Belle's sister, Anna Rose Wallace Vaughan, in Yalobusha, Mississippi. Anna Vaughan, a widow with four daughters of her own, taught school there.  In the photograph below, Anna is seen with her daughters and the younger Kale girls who are identified by the numbers: 1-Lutie, 2-Kate, 3-Annie Rose.

Courtesy of Polk County Memorial Museum

     In 1880, John Kale was living alone and farming. For a man who had been twice married and the father of eight children, it must have been lonely. He was still close to his adopted son, John F. Sharp, Jr., who acted as guardian for the daughters of John Kale after his death on February 14, 1886 at the age of 62.

     As John Kales' daughters became old enough, they were enrolled in the Ward Seminary for Young Ladies (modern Ward-Belmont College) in Nashville, Tennessee. There, on Christmas Eve 1887, Annie Rose Kale was killed in a dormitory fire.

Kate Kale (Courtesy of Polk County Memorial Museum)

     Kate Kale married Kentucky banking executive James Florian Cox in 1892. They never had children. In 1910 James left Kate for the much younger Virginia Lee Harris of New Orleans.

The Daily Star 28 February 1894

     Lutie Kale married lumber wholesaler Edward Lewis Edwards in 1894. Their wedding announcement made the social page of the Fredericksburg papers. She and Edward settled in Dayton, Ohio and had one daughter. After her divorce, Kate moved to Dayton to be near her sister. Lutie died in 1922, Kate in 1926. They are buried at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum in Dayton.


    

Oakley

     Three years ago I wrote an article describing the dramatic events that occurred at Oakley, the farm of Leroy Wonderful Dobyns, during the battle of the Wilderness. Based on a letter written by Leroy's daughter, Maria, to my great grand aunt, Nannie Row, this remains one of my more popular pieces, as Maria describes in cinematic detail the level of suffering and violence experienced by one family on the the periphery of the major fighting that took place in Spotsylvania in May 1864.
      One of the actors in that drama was Major William B. Darlington of the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry, who was shot off his horse near the Dobyns' house. Major Darlington was taken to the nearby home of William Shelton Buchanan, where his leg was amputated by Dr. Taylor,  the surgeon of General Wade Hampton. He survived his ordeal, and after the war  was appointed postmaster of West Chester, Pennsylvania.
     Recently it was brought to my attention that Malcom Johnstone, executive director of the West Chester Business Improvement District, wrote an article on the history of the West Chester post office, in which he cited Spotsylvania Memory's article. His piece can be read here.
     It is always satisfying when events from the past can be utilized to amplify our understanding of the present.

The Collis Zouaves at the Jackson monument, May 1899

     Unlike their first visit to Chancellorsville in May 1863, the Collis Zouaves received a friendly welcome when they came to the Fredericksburg area 36 years later for the dedication of their monument at the Chancellorsville battlefield.

Charles H.T. Collis, left (LOC)

   

     Charles Henry Tucker Collis (1838-1902) was an Irish immigrant who arrived in America in 1853 and began his law practice in Philadelphia in 1859. Soon after hostilities commenced between the United States and those in rebellion in the South, Collis was authorized to organize a regiment of volunteers, the 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who called themselves the "Zouaves D'Afrique." Like a number of other regiments of the time, the 114th Pennsylvania adopted the stylish uniforms of the zouaves, French light infantry units which served in North Africa in the mid-19th century. These uniforms typically sported fezzes or turbans, short colorful jackets and billowy trousers.

Members of Company H, Collis Zouaves at Petersburg, August 1864 (LOC)

     The 114th Pennsylvania distinguished itself in a number of engagements during the Civil War. Colonel Collis was particularly noteworthy during the battle of Fredericksburg, and was belatedly awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1893. In May 1863, the Zouaves were positioned near the Chancellor house and took very heavy casualties during the battle, losing three officers and 35 enlisted men. Colonel Collis, suffering either from malaria or typhoid fever, had to be carried from the field on a stretcher when he could no longer stand.

114th Pennsylvania at Germantown (LOC)

     In early May, 1899, several surviving members of the Zouaves, including Charles Collis, came to Spotsylvania for the dedication of the monument commemorating the names of their 38 comrades who had fallen at Chancellorsville. I have not seen it, but I believe this monument is on the south side of Route 3 just east of the NPS Visitor's Center.
     Collis and his fellow veterans were accompanied by members of the Chancellorsville Battlefield Park Association, with Vespasian Chancellor acting as their guide. Vespasian showed them around the local battlefields and posed with them for a picture taken at Stonewall Jackson's monument. I am pretty sure that is Vespasian leaning against the tree at far right.

Vespasian Chancellor (Photo taken by Tom Myers at the NPS Visitors Center)

     Vespasian's grandfather, George Edwards Chancellor, was the original owner of the grand house known to history as Chancellorsville. It was built as a wedding gift for him and his wife, Ann Lyon, by her mother's step-brother, wealthy Baltimore merchant William Lorman. During the Civil War, Vespasian Chancellor served in Company E of the 9th Virginia Cavalry, and was for a time attached to the headquarters of J.E.B. Stuart as a scout. In 1893, he married his cousin, Sue Chancellor, who (with members of her family and others) had been made prisoner in her own home, Chancellorsville, during the time that General Hooker made it his headquarters.
     Charles Collis appreciated the warmth and kindness he received while in Spotsylvania, as mentioned in this article which appeared in the May 11, 1899 edition of The Free Lance:



    

Bloody Angle, Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield

     Soon after the Civil War's fighting came to an end, hundreds of men with the First Veteran Volunteers came to Spotsylvania on a mission quite different from that of the tens of thousands of soldiers, both North and South, who had fought here. These Volunteers were charged with the responsibility of locating the remains of United States soldiers in the Spotsylvania region, and re-interring them in what is now known as the Fredericksburg National Cemetery.
     While going about their grim task near the McCoull house at what history remembers as the Bloody Angle, a sign was crafted from one of the  thousands of headboards that were made by the Volunteers and was affixed to a bullet-scarred tree. Written on it was part of a stanza from a poem written years earlier by Theodore O'Hara to commemorate the dead of the Mexican War:

     On Fame's Eternal Camping Ground
     Their silent tents are spread
     And glory guards, with solemn round
     The bivouac of the dead.

On August 25, 1866, George Washington Estes Row, a Spotsylvania native who had fought with the 9th and 6th Virginia Cavalries during the Civil War, rode down Brock Road from his house to this place, and stood at the very tree pictured above. He carried with him a small memorandum book which he had captured in 1864 from a trooper of the 5th New York Cavalry. With his pencil, he wrote the words from that head board:



     During a recent visit to Spotsylvania, I met my friend, historian John Cummings, at Bloody Angle. John brought with him a replica he had made of the head board, made of old pine and of the exact dimensions of the one in the picture above. John situated me at the location of where that tree once stood 149 years ago, and took a picture of me from the perspective of where my great-grandfather stood when he copied the words of that famous poem.

Chancellor High School, about 1920

     In June 2005, a reunion was held by the surviving students of Spotsylvania's first high school. In commemoration of that event, 90-year-old Orene Dickinson Todd (whose name has previously appeared in Spotsylvania Memory in this intriguing post) wrote a detailed history of the school. Her research is the basis for much of what appears here today.

Orene Dickinson, 1933 (Ancestry.com)

     On August 12, 1912, two acres at the intersection of modern Andora Drive and Old Plank Road were purchased from Benjamin Polglaise for $200. This money was raised by a group of civic-minded citizens, since there were no public funds available. Additional money was then committed to the construction of a four-room building, which accommodated the elementary grades and two years of high school. And so was born Chancellor High School, the first to exist in Spotsylvania.
     Within five years, the school had doubled in size to eight rooms, four on each side of a wide center corridor. Two additional years of high school instruction were made available, and the first class of seniors who benefited from all four years graduated in 1919. The senior class that year consisted of Mollie Orrock, Inez White and Winnie Mason Winn. Mollie taught at Chancellor Elementary school for more than 40 years (I was privileged to be one of her students).

Mollie Orrock (Ancestry.com)

     In 1925, a second building was erected to accommodate the growing number of elementary school students. This building remained in use until the new Chancellor Elementary School was built on Route 3 in 1939.
     For many years, most of the children got to school by walking or on horseback, some of them from as far as four miles away. A shed was provided to stable the horses. In the late 1920s, "converted farm trucks, equipped with long benches and roll-up curtains, came into usage. They were driven by older high school boys and financed by parents whose children were passengers."
     During the 28 years of its existence, there were nine principals at Chancellor. They were:

Viola Spitzer (1912-1914)
Lillian Todd (1915-1917)
Virginia Isabel Willis (1918-1920)
Katie Gill (1921)
Elmer Grant Barnum (1922-1924)
M.A. Waldrop (1925)
Elmer Grant Barnum (1926-1931)
Mildred Starnes (1932-1936)
Nora Crickenberger (1937-1939)
Emma Frances Baker (1940)

     Shown in the picture at the top of today's post is principal Virginia Isabel Willis with her students. She was a graduate of Mary Washington College. In 1920 she married Hansford Herndon Rowe, a noted veterinarian and a son of Josiah Porter Rowe, who served as mayor of Fredericksburg 1912-1920. Dr. Rowe died tragically in Richmond in 1945, when a shotgun he was carrying in his car fell over and discharged its load into his chest.

Virginia Isabel Willis (Ancestry.com)

     Also shown in the group picture above is Mildred Barnum, who attended Mary Washington College. Mildred taught math at Chancellor. During the 1930s, she wrote a number of surveys of the historic properties of the Spotsylvania area for the Works Progress Administration.

Mildred Barnum (Ancestry.com)

     Mildred was the daughter of Reverend Elmer Grant Barnum, Chancellor's longest serving principal. Reverend Barnum was a graduate of the University of Rochester and the Rochester Theological Seminary, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He and his family came to Virginia in 1909 and he served as minister at the following Baptist churches: Eley's Ford, Wilderness, Flat Run, Zoan, Salem and Goshen.

Reverend Elmer Grant Barnum

     During the existence of the school, approximately 200 students graduated. The last graduating class consisted of 11 students. The valedictorian was my aunt, Nancy Humphries.

Nancy Humphries

     On August 18, 1940, the Chancellor school property was sold to Allen Thayer Crawford, who renovated the elementary school into a house for himself. The first dollar I ever earned, which I still have, was made by cutting Mr. Crawford's grass more than 50 years ago. His younger daughter, Marion, and her husband Tom Thorburn, were instrumental in establishing dial-up service for the Fredericksburg & Wilderness Telephone Company.
     The original Chancellor school building changed hands several times over the years, and ultimately became the Chancellor Community Center in 1968. Ten years later it was donated to Spotsylvania County.

Chancellor basketball team, 1935

Tabernacle Methodist Church, early 1950s (TUMC)

     In writing this history of Tabernacle Methodist Church, I have relied in large part on an excellent monograph published by the church, Tabernacle United Methodist Church History: September 1842-September 1984. I am also featuring here three photographs from the church's collection, as well as several portraits of pastors who have served Tabernacle during its long history. These portraits are included in another publication of the church, Timeline of Preachers, which is available under the Church History tab on Tabernacle's website. Images included in today's article from the church's collection are designated with (TUMC).
     Tabernacle had its beginnings in Spotsylvania near Mott's Run in the early 1840s. It is not known with certainty whether its early meetings were held in a church building or in the homes of its founders. Among these early members were Alpheus Jett and the Hilldrup family.

John Wesley Hilldrup (TUMC)

     Robert Taylor Hilldrup (1792-1872) of Caroline County moved with his family to Spotsylvania in 1842. Among his children was the aptly named John Wesley Hilldrup, born in 1840. The Hilldrups were devoted members of Tabernacle, and young John perhaps most of all. John Hilldrup is believed to have been one of Tabernacle's earliest preachers. In 1857, 17-year-old John was licensed as an exhorter by the Quarterly Conference of the Spotsylvania Circuit. In 1861, he was licensed to preach by the Quarterly Conference of the King George Circuit.
     On May 22, 1861, John enlisted in Company K of the 30th Virginia Infantry. In September of the following year, during fighting near Dunker Church at the battle of Antietam, Private Hilldrup was shot, the ball passing through his side and embedding itself in his lung. Believing he had little chance of surviving his wound, the regimental surgeon decided to leave John behind as the Confederate army retreated, entrusting his care to Union doctors. However, John did not die that day. On September 27, 1862, he was paroled by the provost marshal and was allowed to return home. After a long convalescence, he rejoined his regiment, first serving as an aide in the medical department and later taking up his musket once again. During his service with the 30th Infantry, John availed himself of many opportunities to minister to his fellow soldiers and to hone his preaching skills. He was surrendered at Appomattox by General Robert E. Lee on April 9, 1865. Over the next 30 years, Reverend Hilldrup served as a minister in a number of Methodist circuits in Virginia. He died in Scottsville in 1895, still carrying the Minie ball within his lung.

Map detail of Spotsylvania, 1863 (National Archives)

     On September 25, 1852, Tabernacle bought a tract of land at the intersection of Gordon and modern Harrison Roads, just south of today's Mount Hope Baptist Church. Here Tabernacle's members built the church that would serve them for the next 12 years or so. By 1855, there were 27 members on the church's rolls, including the Jett, Hilldrup, Parker, Dunivant, Lewis, McGee, Bowling and Orrock families. In the map detail shown above, Tabernacle would have been located near the center of the image, near where "Zion Ch." is indicated.

Stonewall Jackson's last map (National Park Service)

     In the archives of the National Park Service is an artifact that gives to Tabernacle a permanent place in Civil War history. The map shown above was drawn by General Thomas Jonathan Jackson (his initials appear in the lower left of the image) as he planned his storied flank march that would rout the Union army during the battle of Chancellorsville. A fascinating history of this map, written by Park historians John Hennessy and Beth Parnicza, can be read here.
     During the Civil War, Tabernacle was utilized as a hospital. After the church was used to house smallpox patients, it was believed that it was no longer safe to hold services there. The decision was made to burn the little white church. For the next few years, the congregation met in a barn during the summer, and in the homes of Robert Hilldrup and John G. Miller during the winter.

Oliver Eastburn (Rich Morrison)

     Until 1951, when it became a station church, Tabernacle was a member of the Spotsylvania Circuit. The early pastors who rode these circuits served as many as five to seven churches at a time. This meant that worship services, christenings and sacraments were held only during those Sundays when an ordained minister was present. However, Sunday school was held on a regular basis. Tabernacle's first Sunday school superintendent was Oliver Eastburn (1824-1903).
     A native of New Castle, Deleware, Oliver moved his family to Spotsylvania in 1866. He bought a farm on Hazel Run owned by a Mrs. Marlberger. Known as "Hazelwood" during the 19th century, this property has been better known for the past 100 years as "Hazelwild." The Eastburns were Quakers, who were a rarity in Spotsylvania 150 years ago. At Tabernacle the Eastburns found their spiritual home, and they and their descendants have been bastions of the church ever since.

John G. and Wilhelmina Miller (Central Rappahannock Heritage Center, Jerry Brent Collection)

     John G. Miller (1820-1903) and his wife Wilhelmina were German immigrants who came to America and settled in Wayne County, Michigan, where their two children were born. Frederick Theodore Miller (1843-1928) was one of the first (if not the first) photographers to open a studio in Fredericksburg. His sister, Rosa (1848-1926), never married and was devoted to Tabernacle her entire life. For many years, she taught Sunday school and was the church organist. One of Tabernacle's service organizations, the Rosa Miller Circle, was organized in 1959.
     By the early 1850s, the Millers had come to Spotsylvania, where they bought a farm on the south side of modern Old Plank Road just west of Andora Drive. In 1868, the Millers gave their blessing to the building of a new Tabernacle Church on their property. A picture of that church appears at the beginning of this post. It is said that during the construction of the new church, Rosa Miller carried in her apron stones for the foundation. As was the custom at the time, the church was built with two front entrances.
     Two of the builders of the church were Albert Jackson McCarty (1833-1883) and George Bundy. When the church was re-roofed about 1900 by Albert's son, Frank McCarty, and David Doggett, the names of Albert McCarty and George Bundy were found inscribed on one of the beams. During the Civil War, Albert served in the 30th Virginia Infantry. While he was away, George Bundy, a free black, lived as a caretaker on McCarty's farm on modern Route 3.

Miller deed, page 1 (Central Rappahannock Heritage Center)

Miller deed, page 2 (Central Rappahannock Heritage Center)

Miller deed, page 3 (Central Rappahannock Heritage Center)

     On November 14, 1870, John G. and Wilhelmina Miller deeded the new church to the trustees of the church: Meredith Marmaduke, Alfred Poole, Robert McCracken Harris, and John M. Smith (the long time surveyor for Spotsylvania County). The deed stipulated that Tabernacle would retain legal ownership of the property and building as long as it was used as a "House or place of worship."
     The Sunday school continued to be a focus of Tabernacle's mission. In 1878 there were 46 members on the rolls. That same year Oliver Eastburn reported that there were 69 members enrolled in the Sunday school. "Pastor S.O. Harris wrote: "We have no uniform system of lessons, but instruct the scholars as circumstances best admit. Great interest is manifested in this school and it is well attended by young and old. It closed for the winter due to weather, but not until after a Christmas entertainment which interested parents and children."

John Thomas Payne (TUMC)

     Until 1883, the non-local pastors who served Tabernacle - most of whom were single - stayed as guests in the homes of parishioners. That year, Tabernacle built its first parsonage during the ministry of John Thomas Payne. Reverend Payne went on to become principal of Bowling Green Seminary and then Gordonsville Seminary. He then returned to his calling as a church pastor. In 1918, he retired upon hearing the news of his son's death while serving in France during World War I. Reverend Payne never recovered from the shock, and died on December 23, 1918.

Joseph Patrick Henry Crismond

     One of the most colorful and well-liked of Tabernacle's ministers was Joseph Patrick Henry Crismond, who served 1873-74. Crismond was later elected clerk of court of Spotsylvania (as would be his son and grandson), and held that office 1883-1903. His life as a politician was not without controversy, a story that can be read here.
     The Children's Day Celebration in the Sunday school was first held in 1897. The program was described in detail in the June 15, 1897 edition of the Daily Star:



    

     Oliver Eastburn served a second term as superintendent of the Sunday school 1896-99. In the archives of Hazelwild, there is a Methodist hymnal published in 1897 that could possibly have belonged to Oliver:

(Rich Morrison)

    

(Rich Morrison)

(Rich Morrison)

     Sarah Eastburn (1841-1914) was a niece of Oliver Eastburn. In 1867, she married James T. Morrison. Their four children - Ida, Adlowe, Abbie and Bessie- were each devoted to Tabernacle, and their children would make substantial contributions both to the life of the church and to the community. One of Tabernacle's service organizations, the S.E. Morrison Circle, was named in honor of Sarah.

William Evan Thomas (TUMC)

     Ida Morrison (1868-1911) married Pennsylvania native Thomas Evan Thomas in Spotsylvania in August 1890. Their first son, William Evan, born in 1894, was granted a license to exhort in 1907. William graduated from Randolph-Macon College and Emory College in Georgia. As of 1984, he and John Wesley Hilldrup were the only two Methodist ministers to come from Tabernacle. Reverend Thomas died in Winchester, Virginia on May 1, 1947, just five days before he was to receive an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Randolph-Macon.
     Adlowe Morrison (1870-1950) served as Sunday school superintendent in 1900, taking the place of his great-uncle, Oliver Eastburn.
   

Mungo William Thorburn (Ancestry)

     Abbie Morrison (1872-1958) became the third wife of Scottish immigrant Mungo William Thorburn (1857-1940) in May 1904. They lived on a large farm a half mile west of Tabernacle, at the intersection of Old Plank and Catharpin Roads. Mungo and Abbie had three sons - James, Thomas and George.

Tom and Marion Thorburn

     Tom Thorburn married Marion Crawford, daughter of Allen Thayer Crawford and the former Alice Monroe, in April 1939. In 1940, A.T. Crawford bought the property adjacent to Tabernacle, which included the former Chancellor High School and Elementary School buildings. He renovated the latter into his residence. In 1956, Mr. Crawford offered to straighten the boundary between his land and the parsonage, thereby giving to Tabernacle more land behind the parsonage and the church building. Mr. Crawford served as Sunday school superintendent 1926-1930. (I still have the first dollar I ever earned, for cutting Mr. Crawford's grass in 1963).
     For many years Marion conducted the choir and played the organ. Tom Thorburn served as Sunday school superintendent in the 1930s and 1950s. Tom and Marion also served their community as two of the principal stockholders of the Fredericksburg & Wilderness Telephone Company, one of whose founders was Tom's father.
     The fourth child of Sarah and James T. Morrison was Bessie (1876-1942), who married Alonzo Pemberton in 1899. Their son, Alonzo, Jr. (known to everyone as "Bill" Pemberton), served as Sunday school superintendent in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. He was also a principal in the F&W Telephone Company with his cousin, Tom Thorburn.

Tom Thorburn (left) and Bill Pemberton

     Over the years, a number of improvements were made at Tabernacle. In 1880, $110 was raised to purchase the church's first organ. About 1918, the plaster was replaced with wall board, a metal ceiling was installed and large windows were added. The entry doors were moved to the center of the church, creating a single aisle. A vestibule and a rounded altar and pulpit were added. Two wood burning stoves were installed. Church services were held at Chancellor High School while these renovations were underway. A new parsonage was built in 1953.
     When my parents were married by Reverend Lee Roy Brown in 1952, this is how the interior of the old church looked:



     The following year, I was one of the last babies baptized at the old church, and my father joined Tabernacle:




     In 1953, a 14-member committee was appointed by Reverend Earle William Fike. The following year, the Board of Missions granted Tabernacle $5,000 to assist in building a new church. On April 1, 1954, the Board of Church Extensions approved the construction plans. On May 2, a secret ballot was taken on the question of whether the new church should be built. Of 126 members voting, 125 voted in favor, and one member was opposed.
  

Reverend Earle Fike (TUMC)

      Reverend Fike was appointed supervisor of Tabernacle's building project. It was decided that the new church could be built for $35,000 (the final number would be closer to $45,000). A contract was let to Jett Brothers Contractors, and excavation work began on June 23, 1954. During the construction, Reverend Fike acted both as supervisor and architect, and further savings were realized by the fact that many members donated their labor. A decision was made to add the educational wing and social hall at this time, as it would be more expensive to add the addition at a later time.

Tabernacle under construction (TUMC)

     On April 17, 1955, the Reverend James W. Smith, pastor of Fredericksburg Methodist Church, was guest speaker at the cornerstone laying service for the new Tabernacle Methodist Church. A number of articles were placed beneath the cornerstone, including a history of the church by the historical committee, a copy of the morning service and the Free Lance-Star article describing the event.

Laying the cornerstone, April 17, 1955 (TUMC)

Free Lance-Star, April 15, 1955

     Homecoming and consecration services were held on July 24, 1955:



    


     The old white church built in 1868 continued to stand for another dozen years. When I was a boy, it was used by the local Boy Scout troop. In April 1967, the congregation voted to dismantle the 100 year old church.
     Ten years later, on May 5, 1977, construction began on a new educational wing. The new addition was completed within a year and consecration services were held on May 18, 1978.


     Mentioned here are a few members, most of whom I remember from my youth, and their contributions to the church:

Orville Cleophas Zechiel

     O.C. Zechiel, with his wife, Hazel, and their adopted daughter, Helen, came to Spotsylvania about 1915 and bought the farm adjacent to Zoan Church. Mr. Zechiel raised beef cattle and was one of the owners of the W-Z Market in Fredericksburg. On April 15, 1917, he organized an Epworth League consisting of 19 persons. Hazel Zechiel kept the farm after his death in 1950, and we lived across the road from her. She was a lovely person. My memory of that time can be found here.

Camille Leota Scales

     Camille Scales taught 6th grade at Chancellor Elementary School for many years. In 1944, Tabernacle's first Vacation Bible School was held under her direction. She still wore that fox to church in the 1960s.

Mary Mason (Ancestry)

     Mary Mason taught school in Fredericksburg and lived on her family's farm on Route 3 at the site of today's Spotsylvania Town Centre. Mary was active with the Methodist Youth Fellowship and was the first president of the Young People's Missionary Society.

Reverend William Ernest Pollard (TUMC)

     Reverend Ernest Pollard served at Tabernacle for three years. His wife taught my sister and me to play piano, and their younger son became my best friend. Reverend Pollard helped me through my confirmation class and baptized me as a member in April 1963.

Shady Grove Methodist Church, 1934

     For almost 200 years, Shady Grove Methodist Church has served a devoted membership in western Spotsylvania County, including four generations of my own family. The precise dates and circumstances of its origin remain shrouded by the mists of time, but here we will begin with what is known.

Western Spotsylvania County, 1863

     The original site of the church was located about a half mile southwest of its present location, on a two-acre lot given to Shady Grove by the will of William Powell, who died in 1829. Twelve years later, William's widow, Ann Powell (1775-1848), deeded two acres to the trustees of the church in lieu of the land previously given by her husband. The first trustees of the church, to whom Ann Powell gave her land, were Alfred Poole, Benjamin Walker, George Powell, John P. Williams, Benjamin Spindle, John S. Spindle and Bernhard Kube. An additional acre was given by a Mr. Graham, to provide sufficient space for a cemetery.
     In the 1863 map detail of Spotsylvania shown above, Shady Grove Church can be seen at the bottom of the image. Since 1841, the church has been located on modern West Catharpin Road near its intersection with modern Robert E. Lee Drive.. Across Catharpin Road, the map shows the farm of William Buchanan [1]. Mr. Buchanan bought this property in 1825 from William Brent, who operated a tavern there. William Buchanan named his farm "Shady Grove," and the church adopted the name. The Buchanans still lived on this property until at least the 1940s.


         
     Services were originally held in a log structure that was moved to the Whitehall Gold Mine when the second church was built prior to the Civil War. This log building was later moved to a location on Catharpin Road, where it was still standing as late as 1908. During the earliest days of Shady Grove's existence, camp meetings were held at the church site. Log huts were built for the campers on the rear of the property, behind where the cemetery is now located. A log kitchen with a grill was also constructed. Religious services were held under a brush arbor. This was made by setting posts in the ground, connecting them at the top with poles and piling brush on top for a roof.
     Shady Grove Church survived the violence of the Civil War, but not for long. In early 1866, it was destroyed by fire one Sunday after services had been held and members had already returned to their homes.
     During the years when there was no church building, Shady Grove's congregation met during the summer months at an arbor at the old camp meeting site. During the winters, the people met at the homes of various members. A school house built on the property of Alfred Poole (seen on the map above just northwest of William Buchanan's farm) and called "Poole's Gate," served as a meeting house until a new church could be built. The church's Sunday school began in this building, with Alfred Poole as its first superintendent.

Reverend Richard Monroe Chandler (Tabernacle United Methodist Church)

     Rebuilding the church took a very long time, primarily due to the economic devastation visited upon the region during the Civil War. In 1876, new impetus for rebuilding the church came from the leadership of Reverend Richard Monroe Chandler (1846-1923), who had served in Company C of the 9th Virginia Cavalry during the war. Even with Chandler's encouragement, however, construction proceeded at a slow pace. Reverend Chandler sought to hasten completion by announcing that he would hold services in the new church on a certain Sunday. When he arrived that day, the unfinished church was still boarded up. So, the minister and a few early-arriving members pulled down the boards, with which they fashioned a few crude benches, and services were thus held. Ultimately, windows and doors were added, and money was raised by means of entertainments and oyster suppers to plaster the walls.

George Washington Estes Row (image restored and colorized by Deborah Humphries)

     One such evening's affair at Shady Grove was described in a letter written on October 26, 1879 by my great-grandfather, George Washington Estes Row (1843-1883). The letter was written to his wife, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Houston Row, who at the time was under a doctor's care for neuralgia in Rockbridge County:

     "Abby [2] and I went over last night to the soiree at Shady Grove, had music on organ and vocal rendered by Misses Miller [3], Higgins, Landrum [4], Alrich [5] and other ladies. Gents Alrich [6], Eastburn, Morrison & Crocker, also a lecture on love by Mr. [Reverend S.O.] Harris the preacher. Refreshments, etc. I don't know what amt. was realized. Not over a hundred or so, I don't think. We got back after 12 and I assure you we were properly cold. Saw Miss Huldah & Bill Hawkins, Robbie Scott [7] & Meg Alsop [8]."

Bible class notes of George W.E. Row

     Although he never became a confirmed member of Shady Grove, George W.E. Row served during the last years of his life as superintendent of the Sunday school and as teacher of the men's Bible class. Shortly before his death, the men of the church presented to him a moustache cup, pictured below, as a token of their appreciation.

Moustache cup of George W.E. Row

     During the summers, revival meetings were held at Shady Grove Sunday through Friday. On Saturdays, the converts would be baptized. During these all-day meetings, people looked forward to the noon hour, when table cloths were spread under the shade of the trees and members enjoyed such delicacies as fried chicken, Virginia hams and pies.

Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Houston Row

     As a young girl, George Row's future wife, Lizzie Houston Row, was raised in New Providence Presbyterian Church in Rockbridge County by her devout parents. After marrying George in 1875, she accompanied him to his home in Spotsylvania, where she became a member of nearby Shady Grove Methodist Church. She continued to be a faithful member there until her death in 1928. In 1899, Lizzie Row was sorely tested by twin tragedies, which occurred with days of each other. On June 3, her mother died in Rockbridge County. Lizzie traveled there to attend the funeral and to spend time with her brothers and other relatives. While there, she received news that her oldest son, twenty-one-year-old Houston Row, had fallen ill at their home in Spotsylvania. Elizabeth raced back to care for Houston, who died of pneumonia on June 12, 1899.

Reverend Charles Henry Williams (Tabernacle United Methodist Church)

     Four months after Houston's death, Lizzie received from Pastor C.H. Williams a letter of stunning insensitivity:

"Spotsylvania, Va.,
Oct. 21, 1899.
Dear Sister Rowe:
     Your note I read with great appreciation. I am pleased to know that any of my sermons have been of help to you.
     We extend to you our heartfelt thanks for the dollar which you sent the baby; I will remember you to brother Thomas.
     Houston partly promised to give me 50 cts. on the missionary collection. I expected him to give it to me the 3rd Sunday in June. But he did not get there that day, he was in another world that day. Would you object to paying the 50 cts.? And I would like for you and Mabel [Lizzie's daughter] each to give me 25 cts. additional. I would not ask you for this amt. $1.00 but for the fact that I am very much behind in the collection at Shady Grove this year. And I am so anxious for the church to pay out in full this my last year. May God bless you and yours abundantly is the wish & prayer of your retiring pastor.
C.H. Williams"

     My great-grandmother, who had by now lost her husband and two of her three sons, was not pleased with the tone and substance of Reverend Williams' letter. Her reply must have cut Williams to the quick (at least I hope so):

     "Here is the 50 cents you say 'Houston partly promised to pay you for missions' but was 'in another world that day.'
     The mission board could give you credit for being an urgent collector."

Reverend George Henry Ray (Tabernacle United Methodist Church)

     By the turn of the century, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the church building erected in 1876 was no longer adequate to Shady Grove's larger and more prosperous membership. The 1876 church was small and poorly built. At one time, the top of the church spread apart and had to be drawn together and braced with iron rods.
     Starting construction in 1907, Shady Grove's members built a new church (which still stands today) directly in front of the old one. The new church was built under the leadership of Reverend George Henry Ray (1832-1911). During the Civil War, Ray had served as chaplain of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry 1861-62.
     The new church was 55 feet long and 32 feet wide. "The pulpit is of highly polished walnut and the carpet is rich and looks costly. The whole building is in keeping with the prosperity of the people [9]."
     Dedication ceremonies for the new building were held on August 16, 1908. Officers of the church present for the dedication were: John Hicks, Pelham G. Finney, Arthur Alsop, Bowie Cordon Dickinson, W.R. Hicks, Montreville Poole (son of Alfred Poole), Rosser Harris, Wesley Wright,  James Hicks and A.H. Kellar.
     On the day the new church was dedicated, visitors came from as far away as Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Only a fraction of the crowd could squeeze inside the church to hear the service. By request, a hymn was sung by Arthur Hancock Crismond [10]. The dedication sermon was preached by Reverend James Cannon, Jr., president of the Blackstone Female Institute [11].

James Cannon, Jr. (Wikipedia)

     The protracted meetings which followed the dedication continued until the following Thursday. There were six professions of religion, the first of which was by 12-year-old Susie M. Harris, daughter of Leonidas and Alethia Bartleson Harris.

Rosebud Missionary Society, 1908

     The photograph above, dated 1908, may very well have been taken during the dedication ceremonies at Shady Grove. Founded in 1879 by Reverend Thomas H. Campbell, and named for his daughter, the Rosebud Missionary Society operated under the auspices of the Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Chapters of the organization existed for decades throughout the state. Shown in the picture above are seven young women of Shady Grove, each holding her rosebud. From left to right, they were (with their married names in parentheses): Lillian Kellar (Pulliam),  Agnes Hicks (Howard), (Ruth Kent Payne), Eva Bartleson (Pierson), Grace Bartleson (Kent), Lula Bartleson (Sothron), and Alice Hicks (Jones).

Missionary Centenary pledge

     In 1917, Lizzie Row's son Horace married Fannie Kent. Horace and Fannie Row remained active at Shady Grove all their lives, as did their son, George, whose children also were members of Shady Grove. Despite the kerfuffle between Lizzie Row and Pastor Williams, the Rows continued to support the missionary work of the church, as shown above.



     In 1939, the year he died, Horace Row served as a trustee of the church. William Wirt Buchanan, whose grandfather established the Shady Grove farm in 1825, was also a trustee (and his wife Goldie was the organist). Horace Row's son George was a junior steward and second vice president of the Epworth League. My grandmother was secretary of the Women's Missionary Society.

Shady Grove, 1968.

Notes:

[1] William Buchanan's house was the scene of a dramatic episode during the battle of the Wilderness, which can be read here.
[2] Absalom Alpheus Row (1868-1931), oldest son of George Washington Estes Row.
[3] Rosa Miller, the regular organist at Tabernacle Methodist Church. She was invited to play at other churches in the area as well.
[4] Annie Landram (1856-1938).
[5] Mary Ella Alrich (1857-1944), daughter of John Roberts Alrich and Jane Frazer Alrich.
[6] Samuel Wessel Alrich (1854-1927), who married Annie Landram just two weeks after this event at Shady Grove.
[7] Robert Scott (c. 1830-c. 1880), one of the most mysteriously intriguing figures in Spotsylvania at the time.
[8] Margaret Ann Alsop (1852-1924), who married Joseph Brock Trigg in 1881.
[9] "Dedication of Shady Grove,"Daily Star August 25, 1908.
[10] Arthur Crismond was the son of former Spotsylvania clerk of court Joseph Patrick Henry Crismond. Arthur himself served as clerk of court 1912-1940, and his son Cary succeeded him as clerk and served until 1975.
[11] Reverend Cannon was active in the temperance movement and was superintendent of the Virginia State Anti-Saloon League. He was one of the many driving forces that ensured passage of the 18th Amendment, which mandated national prohibition.


Sources:
"Shady Grove M.E. Church, Spotsylvania County, Va." Monograph printed by the church in 1939. William Lee Kent was acknowledge as one of the primary sources of information.

Barnum, Mildred. "Shady Grove Farm," W.P.A. Historical Inventory Project, November 16, 1936.

"SPOTSYLVANIA: Shady Grove Church. Interesting History of Former Structures On This Ground."
Daily Star August 19, 1908.

"Dedicating Shady Grove."Daily Star August 25, 1908.

     This month, the Orange County Historical Society is publishing my new book,  No Matter What Befalls Me: Virginia Families at War and Peace.
 
     The book is a compilation of 25 historical essays and includes dozens of rare photos and other images, two maps, a foreword, an introduction and a comprehensive index.

     A press release was recently distributed by the Society, which provides important information about me and the book:






For information about how to order the book, please visit the Orange County Historical Society's website

Please check out the book's Facebook page for news and updates.

Lorman Chancellor, seated at right, with brothers Melzi and James

     Andrew Lorman married Mary Longwill of Cecil County, Maryland, about 1763. Their son, William, was born in 1764. The Lorman family settled in Falmouth, Virginia, where Andrew worked as an artisan at Hunter's Forge, which produced everyday iron implements as well as weapons and other supplies for the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Andrew died in Falmouth in 1773.
     Five years later, in 1778, the widowed Mary Lorman married James Lyon of Falmouth. Young William Lorman did not get along with his father-in-law, and in due course he left Virginia and moved to Baltimore, Maryland. One wonders if James Lyon ever had occasion to regret the rift with his stepson, given that William became one of Baltimore's leading citizens and amassed a considerable fortune.
     Among William Lorman's many achievements was his election to the original board of directors of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He also became president of the Bank of Baltimore. William married Mary Fulford and they had one son, Andrew, born in 1795.
     Meanwhile, James and Mary Lyon had one daughter, Ann, born in Falmouth in 1783. Ann married Richard Pound, formerly of Culpeper County, and they lived at Fairview in western Spotsylvania County. Richard and Ann Pound had four daughters: Francis Longwill, Margaret Lyon, Elizabeth Richard and Mary Ann.
     After Richard Pound's death in 1812, Ann Lyon Pound's half-brother, William Lorman, acquired Fairview and what would later become Chancellorsville through the satisfaction of a deed of trust in 1813. He retained ownership of this 854-acre tract until he transferred title to Ann and her children by pocket deed in 1839, which was not recorded until 1842.
     Ann Lyon Pound married George Edward Chancellor in 1814. As a wedding present, William Lorman built for them the commodious house known to history as Chancellorsville. Located on the Orange Turnpike just east of Fairview, Chancellorsville was home to the extended Chancellor family, their white employees and their slaves. It's location on the Turnpike at the hub of Old Plank Road, the road to Ely's ford and the River Road to Fredericksburg gave it strategic importance during the battle fought there in 1863.

Chancellorsville (Library of Congress)

     This depiction of Chancellorsville was made from memory in the mid-1870s by Fredericksburg photographer Frederick Theodore Miller, the son of German immigrants who were crucial in the development of Tabernacle Methodist Church.
     Lorman Chancellor was born in this house in January 1817. After the death of his father, he served as postmaster at Chancellorsville 1837-1843, and as assistant marshal was the U. S. census taker for the eastern district of Spotsylvania in 1850. Lorman studied law and was a practicing attorney in Spotsylvania by the time he married Margaret Elizabeth Smith, of Middleburg, Virginia, on September 6, 1847. They made their home at Woodlawn, the large farm located near Chancellorsville.
     Lorman and Margaret had nine children together, only three of whom survived until adulthood. The deaths of some of these unfortunate children were reported in local newspapers, and it is instructive to read these accounts here, if only to remind ourselves that in the mid-nineteenth century being educated, wealthy and socially prominent--as the Chancellors certainly were--provided no protection from illnesses that today would be either treatable or preventable. Their very first child died the year after she was born:

Fredericksburg News, 26 October 1849

     The next two Chancellor children, Clarence Smith and Hugh Mercer, shared a fate similar to that of little Florence, when they died within days of each other in early spring of 1853. This undated newspaper clipping comes from the archive of Chancellor descendant George Harrison Sanford King and can be found at the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center. The horrifying complication of "cancrum oris," suffered by Hugh, is Latin for "cancer of the mouth" and refers to what I believe we know today as flesh-eating bacteria:








          Elizabeth Pembroke, the fourth child of Lorman and Margaret, was likely their only living child when they moved from from Spotsylvania to Middleburg by the late 1850s. Lorman placed this advertisement in the January 11, 1858 edition of the Alexandria Gazette:


     It did not take Lorman long to establish himself as a man of prominence in Middleburg. He set up his law practice there and was elected mayor, a position he held throughout the Civil War. The 1860 census indicates that he was quite well to do for that time, enjoying an aggregate wealth of $43,300. The Chancellors lived in this house, which still stands at the corner of South Jay and Washington Streets. Here were born Lorman and Margaret's only two sons who survived childhood: Sanford Carroll (1860-1905) and Arthur Bernard (1864-1931). Both became successful attorneys.

Lorman Chancellor house (Google)

     On August 3, 1858, the Alexandria Gazette reported that Lorman had been elected captain of the local militia unit, the 132nd Virginia. Lorman was still captain of the 132nd when the Civil War began in April 1861. In July, Governor John Letcher made him colonel and ordered Lorman's men and other militia units "of all counties north of the James River and east of the Blue Ridge",  to march to Manassass and rendezvous with General Bearegard. The 132nd Virginia did as instructed, but arrived too late to see action during the Battle of Manassas.
     On February 27, 1862, Union Colonel John W. Geary (later General Geary, who at some time during the war arrested Lorman's brother, Reverend Melzi Sanford Chancellor of Spotsylvania) invaded Loudoun County. A week later, Confederate General D. H. Hill was ordered to abandon Loudoun and transfer his troops to Richmond to help fight off General George McClellan, who had landed a massive army in the Virginia Peninsula with the intention of taking the Confederate capital, Richmond. The remaining Confederates in Loudoun County retreated southward to escape Geary's advance.
     Among those in a column south of Middleburg fleeing toward White Plains was James E. McCabe, who was acting as overseer of a group of slaves who had been building fortifications near Middleburg. McCabe's responsibility was to move these slaves far enough away so that they could not be liberated by the approaching Federals. Also in retreat with this column was Colonel Lorman Chancellor and his 132nd Militia, as well as a group of men who had been conscripted and were none too happy to be in their situation. McCabe reached White Plains first, and locked up the laborers in his charge in a building that could be easily guarded. When Colonel Chancellor arrived, he demanded that McCabe remove the slaves in order that Chancellor could lock up his untrustworthy draftees instead. McCabe refused, and Lorman hit him with the hilt of his sword. McCabe thereupon drew his pistol and fired at Lorman and inflicted a slight flesh wound. The surlier elements under Lorman's command refused to help him and in fact were cheering for McCabe.
     Lorman returned to Middleburg to recover, and he was arrested by Federal authorities on March 28, 1862. On that date he signed a parole as a prisoner of war, in which he agreed "not to bear arms against the United States or to assist its enemies...until regularly exchanged."

Parole of Lorman Chancellor, March 1862

     On March 9, 1863, General John Mosby had dinner at Lorman's house just prior to embarking on a lightning raid on a Federal encampment at Fairfax Court House. Mosby and his partisans managed to slip past the large numbers of Union troops there and Mosby himself found young Union General Edwin Stoughton asleep in his bed. He awoke Stoughton with a slap on his rump with the flat of his sword and placed him under arrest. In addition to the hapless general, Mosby's men also captured a number of Union soldiers and horses.
     A month later, on April 4, Lorman Chancellor was identified as a member of Mosby's Rangers and was arrested at his home and taken to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC. He was paroled several days later, and on April 17 was among a group of prisoners taken by Captain R. W. Healy of the 58th Illinois Volunteers to City Point, Virginia, where they were released.
     Some of Middleburg's residents pleaded with Mayor Chancellor to disassociate himself from John Mosby, fearing that by assisting the partisans the town faced the possibility of being burned by the Federal army in retribution. Lorman refused to disavow General Mosby and Middleburg survived the war.
     After the Civil War, Lorman resumed his law practice, but like many in those early post-war years he was financially embarrassed and was obliged to declare bankruptcy. He and Margaret took in her mother and several other Smith relatives as boarders to make ends meet. Fortunately for Lorman, his wealthy Baltimore cousin, Andrew Lorman, died and left him the tidy sum of $72,000, according to the January 22, 1872 edition of the Alexandria Gazette.
     Margaret Smith Chancellor died on November 8, 1883. In his later years, Lorman spent time in Baltimore where he lived with his daughter, Elizabeth Pembroke Annan. Despite his advancing years, he still had enough energy to take long trips by carriage. On July 21, 1893, the Roanoke Times reported that Lorman and two of his nephews drove a horse-drawn phaeton from Baltimore to Fredericksburg, stopping at his old house in Middleburg along the way.
     Lorman Chancellor died February 9, 1894 at his daughter's house in Baltimore. His obituary, which appeared four days later in The Free Lance, is part of the George Harrison Sanford Collection at the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center in Fredericksburg.

Obituary of Lorman Chancellor

Among the sources for this article are:

Happel, Ralph. The Chancellors of Chancellorsville, published in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 71, no. 3 (July 1963).

Chamberlain, Taylor M. and Souders, John M. Between Reb and Yank: A Civil War History of Northern Loudoun County, Virginia. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Jefferson, NC: 2011.


    
  

Melzi Chancellor, at left, with his brothers

     Although I can no longer remember the source, I once read that his unusual first name was the idea of his mother. Shortly before his birth, she read a book whose main character was named "Melzi." There was something euphoniously exotic about that name to her, and she gave it to her first child by her second husband.
     Melzi Sanford Chancellor was born at Fairview farm in western Spotsylvania County on June 29, 1815. At that time, a grand house was being built on the Orange Turnpike (modern Route 3) at its intersection with Old Plank and River Roads. This house, built on an 854-acre tract owned by Melzi's wealthy step-uncle, William Lorman of Baltimore, was a wedding gift for his parents, George and Ann Lyon Pound Chancellor. (For a brief history of the Lorman-Chancellor connection, click here). This place is known to history as Chancellorsville, and it served for many years as a tavern, inn and post office as well as home to the Chancellors.

Chancellorsville (Library of Congress)

     By the time he was 19 years old, Melzi was working for William Lorman in Baltimore.  While there, young Melzi made a profession of his religion and was soon thereafter ordained as a minister at Wilderness Baptist Church. During his long career, Reverend Chancellor served at a number of area churches, including Wilderness, Piney Branch, Mine Road, Salem, Goshen, Craig's, Ely's Ford and New Hope.
     In addition to his work as a Baptist minister, Melzi was also the first postmaster appointed for Chancellorsville after his father's death in 1836. He was elected to several terms as a deputy commissioner of revenue in Spotsylvania. In a political advertisement written in 1852, Melzi subtly reminded voters that he had a large family to care for and needed the money:

Fredericksburg News, March 12, 1852

Reverend Chancellor was also a farmer and the owner of 7 slaves, according to the 1860 census.
     On November 24, 1837, 22-year-old Melzi Chancellor married his first wife, Lucy Fox Frazer, in Baltimore. [1] They had 10 children together, born over a period of 21 years, 1838-1859.
     In 1857, Melzi bought Dowdall's Tavern, located on the Orange Turnpike opposite Wilderness Church, as a home for his family.

Dowdall's Tavern (Library of Congress)

     Former Union soldier Robert Knox Sneden created hundreds of maps and other images from the Civil War, most of which are now at the Virginia Historical Society. Included is this depiction of Dowdall's Tavern:

Dowdall's Tavern (Virginia Historical Society)

     Like all the Chancellors of Spotsylvania County, Melzi was a southern patriot and a devoted adherent to the Confederacy. Three of his sons enlisted in the Confederate service during the Civil War. Vespasian, the oldest, served for a time in the 30th Virginia Infantry, and later fought with the 9th Virginia Cavalry. His brothers, George Edward and Thomas Frazer, also rode with the 9th cavalry.

Western Spotsylvania County, 1863

     The map detail above shows the locations of Fairview, Chancellorsville, Melzi's house at Dowdall's Tavern and Wilderness Church just west across the Orange Turnpike.
   

Wilderness Church (Library of Congress)

     By April 30, 1863, a large Federal army commanded by General Joseph Hooker had concentrated at Chancellorsville. The Union line extended west toward Wilderness Church. This sector was occupied by the XI Corps, commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard. Howard established his headquarters at Melzi's home. Unfortunately for him and his men, no provision was made to protect his exposed right flank.
     One of Howard's division commanders, General John White Geary (who was elected governor of Pennsylvania after the war), had a confrontation with Reverend Chancellor "for a supposed indignity offered him." Geary ordered Melzi's arrest. Union General Henry Slocum interceded on Melzi's behalf and effected his release. In 1862, Melzi's brother Lorman had his own encounter with then Colonel Geary, which can be read here.
     On May 2, troops commanded by General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson executed a long march to reach Howard's vulnerable right flank. Late that afternoon, they fell upon these unsuspecting soldiers, who were too shocked to offer much resistance and they began retreating east toward Hooker's defenses at Chancellorsville. Some came running up to Melzi's house, and they pleaded with him to give them a place to hide. "He directed them to a cellar, over which was a trap door. When they were all in, he shut the door down, and the Confederate troops came up in a short time and captured thirty of them." (The Free Lance, February 22, 1895)
     Late that night, General Jackson was accidentally shot by his own men while reconnoitering the area in preparation for a renewed attack. He was carried out of the woods and placed in an ambulance and taken first to Dowdall's Tavern, where he was met by his surgeon, Dr. McGuire. From there he was taken to the hospital set up near Wilderness Run, where his left arm was amputated.
     The following year, Melzi was arrested by Federal authorities again. This time he spent six months imprisoned as a citizen-hostage at Fort Delaware.

Fort Delaware (Library of Congress)

     After his release, Melzi resumed his ministerial duties. Dowdall's Tavern burned in 1869. Melzi built another home for his family behind Wilderness Church. This place was called Chancellor's Retreat and can be seen in the two photographs below:

Wilderness Church and Chancellor's Retreat, 1882 (CRHC)

Chancellor's Retreat at right, Orange Turnpike in foreground, 1884 (National Park Service)

     Alexander Lorman, for whose father Melzi worked as a young man, died in 1872. The wealthy Mr. Lorman left a generous legacy for his Chancellor kinsman, and Melzi was among those who benefited. He received a life estate in an inheritance of $50,000, a portion of which he shared with the churches in his charge.

Obituary of Lucy Chancellor (CRHC)

     By the early 1880s, Melzi retired from the ministry, and he and Lucy moved to Fredericksburg, where they lived at 406 George Street. Lucy died there on September 3, 1884. Her obituary from The Fredericksburg Star, above, comes from the collection of George Harrison Sanford King's papers at the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center.
     On October 19, 1886, Melzi married Bettie W. Caldwell in a ceremony held at the E Street Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Bettie had been born and raised in Fredericksburg, where she taught school for many years. She later taught some of Melzi and Lucy's children. Bettie's sister, Mary, kept a diary of events in Fredericksburg during the Civil War. National Park Service historian John Hennessy wrote an interesting article about Mary which can be read here.

Chancellor-Caldwell marriage license (Ancestry)

     Reverend Melzi Chancellor died at home on February 20, 1895. He is buried with his family at the Chancellorsville cemetery.

The Free Lance, February 22, 1895

     Bettie Chancellor outlived her husband by 16 years. She is buried in the Fredericksburg Cemetery.

The Daily Star, March 30, 1911

[1] Lucy Frazer's brother and sister are worth noting here. John Thomas Frazer married Melzi's cousin, Mary Elizabeth Chancellor. Lucy's sister, Mary Elizabeth Frazer, was the second wife of Thomas Coleman Chandler. Thomas and Mary owned a large farm in Caroline County where, in May 1863, General Stonewall Jackson was brought after the amputation of his arm. He died in a building used as the Chandler's office on May 10. Thomas Chandler's first wife, Clementina Alsop, was fortunate to be the daughter of Samuel Alsop, Jr., who built Oakley for them as a wedding present in 1826.

Susan Margaret Chancellor (Rich Morrison)

     When she was 16 years old, she witnessed the destruction of Chancellorsville,  the former home of her grandparents, during the epic battle that took place there in May 1863. Almost 60 years later, she shared her recollection of those times with a local historian [1], which was then published in The Confederate Veteran in 1921.
     Susan Margaret Chancellor was the youngest of 11 children who were raised at "Forest Hall," a large farm on the Rappahannock River near the United States Ford, arriving on February 19, 1847. The two maps below show the location of that farm. In the second map, the Chancellor farm is shown as "Major Fitzhugh."

Northwestern Spotsylvania County, 1863 (National Archives)

Site of Forest Hall, 1863 (National Archives)

     Sue Chancellor's parents were Sanford Chancellor (1791-1860) and Frances "Fannie" Longwill Pound (1803-1892). Fannie's mother, Ann Lyon Pound Chancellor, was married to Sanford's brother, George Chancellor, for whom Chancellorsville was named. This connection made Ann Chancellor both his sister-in-law and mother-in-law.
     A remarkable photograph of the Chancellors taken at "Forest Hall" about 1858 shows Fannie and Sanford Chancellor standing in the doorway of their house. The little girl sitting at the bottom of the steps is Sue Chancellor. Sue gave the original of this photograph to her nephew, Fredericksburg genealogist George Harrison Sanford King. The version shown here is part of the archive of the National Park Service, which generously shared it with me.

The Chancellors of "Forest Hall," about 1858. (National Park Service)

     During the War of 1812, Sanford Chancellor served on the staff of General William Madison, brother of the future president of the United States. For the remainder of his life, Sanford was often referred to as "Major Chancellor."
     Sanford Chancellor served his community as a school commissioner, justice of the peace, sheriff of Spotsylvania County, and postmaster at Chancellorsville during the last year of his brother George's life, 1835-1836.
     Sanford and Fannie Pound were married in Spotsylvania on January 7, 1823. Their first two sons,  William Cooper (on March 9) and John Andrew (on September 28), died in 1838. Their obituaries are part of the George Harrison Sanford King archive at the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center:

William Cooper Chancellor (CRHC)

John Andrew Chancellor (CRHC)

     In the early years of their marriage, Sanford and Fannie lived at New Store, located in Spotsylvania County southeast of Chancellorsville. They built "Forest Hall" about 1840, where their youngest four children were born.
     In addition to his work in the public sphere, Sanford was also a man of enterprise. His farm employed the labor of 29 slaves (according to the 1850 census) and included a bark mill, which ground up sumac and other plant material and was shipped down the Rappahannock to the tannery in Fredericksburg. Sanford was an investor in the Rappahannock Canal, which extended up the Rapphannock from Fredericksburg to his property. Once that project was complete, the engineers who built the dam presented this tea service as a gift to Sanford and Fannie Chancellor:

Chancellor tea service (Ancestry)

The canal remained in active use until the 1850s. Sanford was also an officer in the United States Gold Mining Company, located just west of his home and for which the United States Ford was named.
     In February 1854, a slave belonging to Sanford was murdered by a slave belonging to William T. J. Richards. An inquest was held, and a vivid account of that tragic incident, based on the coroner's report, can be read here.
      Sanford Chancellor died of pulmonary disease at his home on February 25, 1860. Fannie sold "Forest Hall" to Norman Richard Fitzhugh [2]. Together with her 7 unmarried children--Mary Edwards, Ann Elizabeth, Jane Hall, Frances "Fannie" Douglas, Penelope "Abbie" Abbett, George Sanford and Sue--Fannie moved to Chancellorsville, her mother's house. When Ann Chancellor died in December 1860, Fannie became the mistress of Chancellorsville.

Chancellorsville (Virginia Historical Society)

     The following spring brought with it Virginia's secession from the United States and the onset of hostilities between north and south. Fannie's oldest surviving son, Dr. Charles William Chancellor, joined the Confederate cause and served in several positions during the Civil War. These included regimental surgeon of the 19th Virginia Infantry, surgeon at Division No. 2 of the Charlottesville General Hospital (where his cousin, Dr. James Edgar Chancellor, was chief surgeon) and as chief medical officer in General George Pickett's brigade [3].
     After the battle of Fredericksburg, Sue Chancellor remembered that Confederate troops under the command of Generals Carnot Posey and William Mahone were encamped near Chancellorsville to guard the vulnerable fords across the Rappahannock. Fannie Chancellor cooked meals for the private soldiers, who enjoyed the company of Sue and her sisters, who played the piano and sang songs for these young men. In return, they taught Sue's sisters to play cards, which met with Fannie's disapproval. A South Carolina trooper in Hampton's Legion, Thomas Lamar Stark, took a fancy to Sue and gave to her as a present a white lamb. Sue named her new pet "Lamar." [4]
     In addition to the kindnesses she showed to the enlisted men, Fannie Chancellor entertained Generals Posey and Mahone, as well as Lafayette McLaws, Richard Anderson and J. E. B. Stuart, a personal favorite of the Chancellor family ("He was so nice and had always a pleasant word for everyone").
     During the winter of 1862-1863, Fannie took in several refugees after the battle of Fredericksburg: Murray and Sally Ennis Thornton Forbes and their married daughter, the wife of Dr. John R. Taylor of "Fall Hill," their younger daughter Kate, Kate's enslaved "mammy" Aunt Nancy, and a driver who saw to their horse and carriage. [5]
       Mr. and Mrs. Forbes and their daughter Mrs. Taylor left Chancellorsville on April 29 to attend to business in Fredericksburg, leaving behind their young daughter Kate and their slave Aunt Nancy. In their attempt to return to Chancellorsville, they were caught up in the chaos of the second Battle of Fredericksburg. It would be another two years before they saw Kate again. 
      That evening, Generals Anderson, Posey and Stuart, together with their aides, were enjoying dinner at Chancellorsville when a courier galloped into the yard. He brought word that the Union army, commanded by General Joseph Hooker, was crossing the Rappahannock River at United States Ford. "Immediately all was confusion. Hastily the generals bade us goodbye, but General Stuart, always so charming, took time to say to my sister: 'Thank you, Miss Fannie, for the good supper; and as it is always my custom to fee the waitress, take this from me as a little remembrance.' And he gave her a tiny gold dollar. I have it yet, one of my most cherished possessions."
     The Chancellor women put on all the clothes they could. Some of Fannie's daughters secured items from the treasured tea service in their hoop skirts. Meat was hidden beneath one of the front steps of the house. Union troops arrived shortly thereafter and informed the Chancellors that their house was to become the headquarters for General Hooker. The Chancellors and their guests were herded into one room, where they slept on pallets. Union staff officers comfortably occupied the rest of the house.
     "General Hooker did not come until the next day. He paid no attention to my mother, but walked in and gave his orders...We were joined by our neighbors, who fled or were brought to Chancellorsville house for refuge, until their were sixteen women and children in that room. From the windows we could see couriers coming and going and knew that the troops were cutting down trees and throwing up breastworks. I know that they were pretty well satisfied with their position and were confident of victory."

Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863 (Virginia Historical Society)

     By Saturday, May 2, 1863, the frightened civilians trapped inside the Chancellorsville house could hear the sound of gunfire growing nearer. Hooker ordered that these unfortunate people be taken to the basement. By now the house was filled with wounded men, and the doctors began their grisly work. The sitting room was set up as an operating room and the piano was used as an "amputating table." Union surgeons allowed Fannie to care for two wounded Confederates who had been brought to the house.
     The 16 civilians at the Chancellor house were brought out of the basement and placed back into the room they had occupied earlier. "It was late in the day when the awful time began. Cannonading on all sides and such shrieks and groans, such commotion of all kinds! We thought we were frightened before, but this was beyond everything and kept up until after dark."
     The following morning, May 3, the women and children were taken back to the basement. "Passing through the upper porch I saw how the chairs were riddled with bullets and the shattered columns which had fallen and injured General Hooker. O the horror of that day! The piles of legs and arms outside the sitting room window and the rows and rows of dead bodies covered with canvas!"

General Joseph Dickinson (Library of Congress)

     The Chancellors and their companions were in the the basement for a short time when General Joseph Dickinson, assistant adjutant general to General Hooker, came downstairs and ordered everyone out. "'The house is on fire, but I will see that you are protected and carried to a place of safety.' Cannons were booming in every direction and missiles of death were flying as this terrified band of women and children came stumbling out of the cellar."

Chancellorsville as it looked in 1865 (Library of Congress)

     "The woods around the house were a sheet of fire--the air was filled with shot and shell, horses were running, rearing, screaming, the men a mass of confusion, moaning, cursing and praying... Slowly we picked our way over the bleeding bodies of the dead and wounded, Gen. Dickinson riding ahead, my mother with her hand on his knee, I clinging close to her and the others following behind..."
     This little band of sufferers made its way up to the United States Ford. One of Sue's sisters, who had been ill, had a hemorrhage from her lungs. General Dickinson ordered a Union trooper to dismount and put her on the horse and then walked behind her to hold her on. They encountered one of General Dickinson's superiors, who admonished him about not being at his post: "[Dickinson] drew himself up proudly and said, 'If here is not the post of duty, looking after the safety of these helpless women and children, then I don't know what you call duty.'"
     Once at the ford, they crossed over the pontoon bridge assembled several days earlier and stepped on the Stafford side of the bank. Here Sue's ailing sister fainted and was laid out on the grass. A Union drummer boy named Thacker brought her a lemon and some ice, and bound her head with a clean bandanna. An ambulance was found, and in it were placed Sue, her sister, Fannie Chancellor, her brother George and Kate Forbes. The rest of the refugees had to walk.
     They finally reached the home of John Hunt at the Eagle Gold Mine in Stafford County, which was within the Federal lines. Here the Chancellors and their companions remained under guard for 10 days. Sue's sisters were very cool to their guards at first, "but after a while they relaxed an relieved the irksomeness of our confinement by talking, playing cards, music, etc., and I even think there were some flirtations going on."
     General Dickinson managed to get a message to Sue's brother, Dr. Charles W. Chancellor, and inform him of his family's safety. In turn, Dickinson was able to bring to Fannie her son's grateful reply. At last, Fannie and her children were granted their freedom. There were placed in ambulances and taken to the United States Ford, where they were met by Sue's sister Julia, the widow of Thomas Rogers Chartters, who had died in August 1862. The Chancellors were taken to the Chartter's farm in Stafford, "Cherry Grove."
     That autumn, Fannie Chancellor took her children to Charlottesville, where Sanford's cousin, Dr. James Edgar Chancellor, worked as chief surgeon of the general hospital. James had gotten Fannie a job as matron at the Midway and Delevan hospitals there. She brought fresh food and other comforts to the sick and wounded, and was assisted by her daughters Frances "Fannie" Douglas and Penelope "Abbie" Abbett. Sue attended school in Charlottesville, and two of her sisters obtained teaching positions in the Shenandoah Valley.
     Work in the hospitals was a ghastly experience for all concerned, and was fraught with many dangers in an era when the acceptance of the germ theory of disease was many years in the future. Fannie and Abbie Chancellor died of typhoid fever within days of each other in August 1864. They are buried in the University of Virginia Cemetery and Columbarium.

Obituary of Penelope Abbett Chancellor (CRHC)

     Fannie and Sue Chancellor remained in Charlottesville for the remainder of the war, when they returned to Spotsylvania. In 1870 they were living at "Clifton" in the household of James Petigrew Chartters, brother of Julia's late husband Thomas. James' wife, Susan Philips Chancellor, was a cousin of Sanford.
     In 1872, Fannie's wealthy uncle, Andrew Lorman of Baltimore, died and left his Chancellor relations a sizable inheritance. With her share of that money, Fannie was able to buy "Oak Grove," a Spotsylvania farm just west of Fredericksburg. Here she lived out her remaining years.
     In 1876, Sue Chancellor and some friends and relatives boarded the train in Fredericksburg to make the trip to Philadelphia to attend the Centennial Exposition. "The name Chancellor caught the ear of a distinguished looking gentleman seated near and presently he came up, asking if we were the Chancellors of Chancellorsville. When he found out that we were, he said..."and I am General Hooker. [6] Of course we were surprised, but we invited him to join our party. He shared our bountiful luncheon and we had a very pleasant day--a contrast to the three days we spent in the same house with him thirteen years before. We never saw him again, but for years we had visits from soldiers north and south, who remembered "the ladies of Chancellorsville."
     Most notable among these visitors was Joseph Dickinson, who corresponded with Fannie Chancellor in the years since their first encounter, and he made a point to visit her whenever he was in the area. In fact, Dickinson served on the Chancellorsville Battlefield Commission with Sue's cousin, Vespasian Chancellor. When Francis Longwill Pound Chancellor died at "Oak Grove" on July 9, 1892, Joseph Dickinson attended her funeral.

Vespasian Chancellor (National Park Service)

     The following year, on March 9, 1893, Susan Margaret Chancellor married her cousin, Vespasian Chancellor, at the 5th Baptist Church in Washington, DC.

Marriage license of Sue and Vespasian Chancellor (Ancestry)

Fifth Baptist Church, Washington, DC (Library of Congress)

     Sue and Vespasian made their home at 300 Main (modern Caroline) Street in Fredericksburg. Vespasian died April 28, 1908. Sue continued to live there until near the very end of her life.

Sue Chancellor (Ancestry)

     By 1935, Sue was living in the household of Fredericksburg grocer Pelham Gray Finney. On December 17, 1935, she "stumped her toe," fell and broke her hip. She was taken to Mary Washington Hospital, where attending physician Dr. Earle R. Ware ordered x-rays. Sue never recovered and died in the hospital on December 28, 1935. Her funeral was held at Fredericksburg Baptist Church. Dr. Ware was one of her honorary pallbearers. She is buried in the Chancellor family cemetery in Spotsylvania.

Notes:


[1] Vivian Minor Fleming (1844-1930) served in the 2nd Virginia Artillery during the Civil War, was injured in an accident and after his recovery served in the 1st Engineer Battalion. He was known for writing a number of books about the war. He was also one of the original owners of the Eagle Shoe Company in Fredericksburg. His wife was an organizer of the Kenmore Association, which in 1925 raised money to purchase Kenmore from its owner, E. G. "Peck" Heflin, who had plans to develop the property. Kenmore was thereby saved for future generations.

[2] Norman Richard Fitzhugh (1831-1915) served as assistant adjutant general to General J. E. B. Stuart during the Civil War.

[3] Dr. Charles William Chancellor (1832-1915) was a man of high accomplishment. He was educated at Georgetown College, the University of Virginia Medical School and the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. After the war he served as dean of the Medical School of Washington University until 1875. He then became secretary of the Maryland State Board of Health, In 1893, he was appointed by President Grover Cleveland to serve as U. S. Consul at Havre, France, where he stayed for four years.

[4] Thomas Lamar Stark (1843-1883) served in Company I, 2nd South Carolina Cavalry. He was captured on May 4, 1863 and imprisoned at the Old Capitol Prison and then Fort Delaware. He returned to his regiment after his parole. He was wounded on July 7, 1864. He survived the war and died in Columbia, South Carolina.

[5] A son of Murray and Sally Forbes, Lieutenant James Fitzgerald Forbes, was mortally wounded by the same volley that cost Stonewall Jackson his left arm on May 2, 1863.

[6] In October 1876, Joseph Hooker and his literary executor, Samuel P. Bates, visited the battlefields of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. On their ride out to Chancellorsville, they were accompanied by Sue's cousin, Fredericksburg merchant George Edward Chancellor.


Sources:
Chancellor, Sue, "Recollections of Chancellorsville,"The Confederate Veteran, vol. XXIX, No. 6., Nashville, Tennessee, June 1921.

Happel, Ralph, "The Chancellors of Chancellorsville,"The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 71, no. 3 (July 1963)

King, George Harrison Sanford, "The Chancellor Family,"Genealogies of Virginia Families. William and Mary Quarterly Magazine, vol. 1, Adams-Clopton. Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc.: Baltimore, MD, 1982.