Battle of the Wilderness • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The marker is at Ellwood, the Lacy family home near Tour Stop One. The marker is behind the house at the entry from the parking area. The Lacy family also owned Chatham, across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg.
The marker is at the entrance to the grounds from the parking lot
From the marker:
Ellwood
“The house stands on Wilderness Run, in a lonely place about half a mile south of the Culpeper plank road; it is a good-sized farmhouse, built of wood, square, with two porticos and painted a dove color. From the apex of the roof a hospital flag still flutters in the cold November wind.”
– George M. Neese, Chew’s Virginia Battery November 11, 1863
Ellwood was a typical Virginia farm. The 1790s dwelling looked out over rolling farmland planted in corn, wheat, and clover. Outbuildings, including a kitchen, smokehouse, and dairy, surrounded the house. As many as one hundred slaves, their cabins scattered north and west of the main building, provided the farm with most of its labor.
The Civil War shattered Ellwood’s dull routine. In May 1863, the Confederate army established a hospital in the building, and seven months later Union soldiers looted the house. Worse was yet to come. In May 1864, Northern and Southern soldiers engaged in a deadly struggle little more than a mile from Ellwood. Overnight the once quiet farm became a bustling military encampment.
From the caption to the portrait photo:
J.Horace Lacey in 1848 after marrying William Jones’ youngest daughter, Betty. Civil War maps identify Ellwood as the Lacy House.
From the caption to the main photo:
Ellwood and many of its dependencies appear in this 1866 photograph taken from Wilderness Tavern.
(go to the main Ellwood page)