Since we only
had a few miles to travel to our next campground, we figured we could take a
look at the actual Spotsylvania Courthouse, and also go on a driving tour of
the one battlefield we’d missed the previous day. The Wilderness battle was
another bloody affair where General U.S. Grant’s and General Robert E. Lee’s
armies fought a chaotic engagement in thick undergrowth and forest. Apparently,
the visibility was so poor that many times the soldiers had no idea what (or
whom) they were firing at.
When we
turned onto the first exhibit road, we saw a sign informing us there was a
‘living history’ event going on. This happened to be at the Ellwood House,
which was built in 1772 and was site of the Union Army headquarters during the
Wilderness battle.
To my great
surprise (and, joy) when we walked up to the house, I was standing face-to-face
with none other than General U.S. Grant himself. He was standing there in his
field uniform and smoking one of his famous cigars. I had Karen play the role
of Matthew Brady and take a photo of the general and me having an historical
discussion.
There were
also some Confederate soldier re-enactors camped in period tents and dressed in
clothing of the time. They had spent the past couple of nights camped out at
the location as part of their occasional historical outings.
Inside the
Ellwood House, Karen ran into several women dressed in historical costumes
sitting in a circle crocheting. She engaged a couple of them in conversation
and got some helpful hints on how to improve her own technique.
Several years
ago, I was visiting Alison in Peoria, IL and was fortunate enough to behold the
purloined wooden leg of General Santa Anna, who was surprised by a contingent
of Illinois National Guardsmen and ran (hopped?) off without his leg during the
Mexican War. It is now housed in the National Guard Armory in Peoria.
With that
memory still in mind, it was hard to resist the opportunity to learn more about
another lost limb. It turns out that the Ellwood House is the place where
Stonewall Jackson’s amputated left arm is buried (the rest of him now rests in
Lexington, VA). Jackson was wounded in Chancellorsville, taken to a place not
far from Ellwood for the amputation, and then sent to Guinea Station. In the
meantime, his amputated arm was recovered (by his personal chaplain) from a
pile of other severed limbs and brought to Ellwood for a proper burial.
Late in the
day, we arrived at Rocky Branch Campground near Lake Anna and met up with
Stephanie and Stephen. We hit a local cider brewery and then went back for BBQ
at the camp. The weather is definitely heating up and the humidity is very
high. For the first time since we were in Arizona (Day 2), we had to run the
A/C all night long.
Next: Pontoon
Boat on the Lake
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