Chatham Manor - Fredericksburg National Battlefield

After our walking tour of Marye's Heights, my parents and I jumped back into our car to explore the other parts of the Fredericksburg Battlefield. We crossed the Rappahannock River and stopped at Chatham Manor. During the battle, this Georgian plantation house served as the headquarters for Edwin V. Sumner, commander of the Right Grand Division of the Union army. It also served as a Union field hospital and more than 130 Union soliders who died at Chatham were buried on the grounds.

Chatham Manor was built by William Fitzhugh beginning in 1768 and became the center of a large plantation. George Washington visited Chatham in those early years. Then at the time of the Civil War, the house was owned by James Lacy. Lacy was a slaveholder who sympathized with the South and left to serve as a staff officer in the Confederate army. His wife and children stayed there until they were forced to leave by arriving Union troops. General Irvin McDowell brought 20,000 Federal troops to Fredericksburg in April 1862 to repair railroads and build bridges.

A few months later in November 1862, General Ambrose Burnside brought the Army of the Potomac to Fredericksburg. The soldiers used pontoon bridges to cross the river below Chatham in December, seized the city, and took heavy casualties assaulting the high ground held by the Confederates. Union artillery shelled Confederate troops from the bluffs nearby. Chatham also served a role in the Battle of Chancellorsville a few months later, with General John Gibbon leading a division across the Rappahannock again and driving the Confederates off Marye's Heights.

The Civil War left Chatham Manor desolate and destroyed. Blood stains covered the floor and graffiti marked the walls. The lawn had become a graveyard and the surrounding forest had been cut down. When the Lacy's returned, they were forced to sell it. It remained rundown until the 1920's when the owners restored it and made significant changes. Several important and famous figures visited Chatham over the years, including Robert E. Lee, Walt Whitman, and Clara Barton. President Abraham Lincoln also visited Chatham in 1862 to meet with General McDowell.

When we arrived at Chatham, we went to the house and were greeted by a park ranger. He led us to a room to watch a short video on the history of Chatham. He told us that the room we were in was the same room George Washington stayed in as a guest and was also used for surgeries during the Civil War. We then went around to the front of the house to see the beautiful view of Fredericksburg and the river. Also on the grounds was a replica of a pontoon bridge. We then headed out to our next destination on the battlefield, Prospect Hill.

Links to Learn More:

• More photos of Chatham and Fredericksburg
• Chatham Manor - NPS