Ellwood Manor

You will likely be hearing a lot about Ellwood Manor, located in the Wilderness Battlefield, on this blog as I am pleased to announce that I have been accepted by the Friends of Wilderness Battlefield (who manages the house for the NPS), as am historic house guide.  I am still in the training phase and it will be a few more weeks before I will be leading tours, but I am very excited and decided to post a few pictures to give you an incentive to come and visit the house!

Built in the 1790s, Ellwood Manor was owned by only two families before it became a museum.

During the Civil War, Ellwood was the home of the Lacy family, J.Horace Lacy's brother, Beverly Tucker, was General Jackson's chaplain.

Betty Churchill Jones was an heiress, when she married J. Horace she brought all the money into the marriage and Ellwood.  The Lacys also purchased Chatham, which is on Stafford Heights overlooking Fredericksburg, which was built by her family, Ellwood and Chatham where not the only property the couple owned, they also had a plantation in Louisiana. The Lacy family lived at Ellwood during the summer and moved to Chatham for the winter.

During the Battle of the Wilderness, Ellwood served as General G. K. Warren's headquarters. The flag is a reproduction of his 5th Corps, the original is now in West Point, New York.

General Warren set up his headquarters in the parlor of Ellwood, it was in this room that the general was overheard lowering the casualties figures for the first day of battle.

Image depicting Generals Grant and Meade confronting General Warren at Ellwood.

 Reproduction trucks in the main hallway. The names are actually members of General Warren's staff.

Period reproduction wallpaper. It is unclear what the Lacy's had in their hallway, but wealthy families of the era would have had wallpaper.

No visit to Ellwood is complete without visiting Stonewall Jackson's arm.  Following the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's left arm, Reverend Lacy took the arm to his brother's plantation and had it buried in the family plot.

Marker placed in 1903 to commemorate the burial on Jackson's arm. It is not the actual place where the arm is, as several attempts have been made to find the arm at the marker location.

The arm is in the cemetery. When Lacy buried the arm it was buried with three Confederate officers. The officers were latter sent to their homes, but the arm remained. Following Jackson's death, Mary Anna Jackson was asked if she wanted the arm to be returned. She declined because the arm had received a Christian burial.

The arm is resting with about 15 members of the Lacy family.

So there you have it, a very interesting site who saw a lot of remarkable people and events.  I am looking forward to being able to give tours soon.