Virginia Department of Historic Resources DHR ID: 088-0139 Architectural Survey Form Other DHR ID: 088-5183, 088-5229, 111-0147-0099 Property Information Property Names Property Evaluation Status Name Explanation Name Current Name Ellwood Historic Ellwood Federal Det. Of Eligibility Historic Lacy House This Property is associated with the Fredericksburg and Historic Wilderness Plantation Spotsylvania County Battlefields National Military Park. Property Addresses Current - 36380 Constitution Highway Route 20 County/Independent City(s): Orange (County), Spotsylvania (County) Incorporated Town(s): No Data Zip Code(s): 22508, 22553 Magisterial District(s): No Data Tax Parcel(s): No Data USGS Quad(s): CHANCELLORSVILLE Additional Property Information Architecture Setting: Rural Acreage: 188 Site Description: 1937: Located 15 miles west of Fredericksburg and 1 mile south of Wilderness, on Virginia Route #20. The place is part in Orange, and part in Spotsylvania County - the house being in Spotsylvania. 1978: Ellwood is located in Spotsylvania County. It is situated about 18 miles west of the City cf Fredericksburg and about three- eighths of a mile south southwest of the intersection of Virginia State Routes 3 and 20. 2003 PIF: Ellwood rests on a knoll overlooking the Wilderness Run valley. Huge trees grace its lawn, an old catalpa of which was there during the Civil War. The present public approach to the house is from the west, but the old carriage entrance is visible to the east. A path through the garden area and across a narrow, cultivated field leads to the cemetery (see 088-5229), where sixteen family members are buried, as well as General "Stonewall" Jackson's amputated arm. The only other historic structure on site is a small stone building masoned in the 1930's by a slave descendant. It was originally built as a farm office but now houses a fire suppression system for the house. Archaeological scans have been done to reveal dense areas. Actual sample excavation was done when the modern kitchen was removed, as well as at sites of various dependencies. The ice house site has not been explored. There are conjectured locations of slave quarters. 2013: Outbuildings: Granary, Brooder House, Garage, Farm Office. November 2014: The Ellwood Plantation located near the eastern edge of the Wilderness Battlefield, just south of Constitution Highway, encompasses 188 acres of the late-eighteenth-century plantation. It is within the Wilderness Battlefield, the furthest west unit of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields National Military Park Historic District, located approximately 17 miles west of Fredericksburg in an unincorporated area that lies in Orange and Spotsylvania counties. It consists of rolling farmland, some of which is still cultivated, separated from Constitution Highway by forest. Wilderness Run forms the southeast and south boundary, and private inholdings are adjacent to the site on the west and on the southeast bank of Wilderness Run. Many historically open views and spaces have been lost to successional-growth forest, but the core landscape remains relatively open. The domestic and agricultural grounds include pastures, a terrace surrounding the main house (the only extant Civil War-era building), and a small family cemetery. Post-and-rail and worm fences mark historic and current divisions throughout the property, and some historic fence lines are discernible from vegetative growth. Large, sprawling, deciduous trees dot the lawn around the house. Surveyor Assessment: 1937: This house is built on land granted by George II, of England, to the Jones family, and was built by William Jones. Date of the beginning of the house (not known) was finished about 1780. He is said to have used Hessian prisoners of war to work on this house - especially the cornices, which are like those of Kenmore. The bricks were made at Germanna. Owners were as follows: William Jones; then it passed to his daughter, who married Major Lacy. It was the property of the Lacys at the time of the War Between the States. Hugh E. Willis bought it from the Lacy heirs in 1907. It passed to his sister, Mrs. Leo T. Jones, in 1932. In 1824 Lafayette was entertained here. In 1864 Meade used this house as Headquarters. Grant and Warren both stayed here. It was also used as a hospital for Union soldiers. But the most interesting thing to us of the South, is, that Stonewall Jackson's arm is buried here. The inscription reads: Jackson's Arm. May 5, 1863. See Virginia Historical Magazine, spring 1936, for more information. April 30, 2016 Page: 1 of 8 Virginia Department of Historic Resources DHR ID: 088-0139 Architectural Survey Form Other DHR ID: 088-5183, 088-5229, 111-0147-0099 1978: Ellwood was built about 1781 by William Jones, a well-to-do planter. The owner's friends and guests included "Light Horse Harry" Lee, President James Madison, and, reputedly, the Marquis de Lafayette. During the Civil War, Ellwood was the summer home of J. Horace Lacy; Lacy's other home is also of wartime significance. It is Chatham, which is also found in the park. Throughout the Battle of the Wilderness, in early May of 1864, Ellwood served as headquarters for Federal Major General Gouverneur Kemble Warren. The supreme Southern commander, Lieutenant General U. S. Grant, made his headquarters about two hundred fifty yards northwest of Ellwood. He and Major General George Gordan Meade may have spent some time during the battle at Ellwood. After the fight, wounded found refuge in the building. 2003 PIF: From its construction in the latter part of the 18th century until the first decade of the 20th century, Ellwood was the home of a single family, William Jones and his daughter, Betty Churchill Jones Lacy. Early visitors to Ellwood included the Marquis de Lafayette, James Madison, James Monroe, and Lighthorse Harry Lee. Ellwood was a Confederate Hospital during the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville and for the six months following. General Robert E. Lee visited the wounded there. General "Stonewall" Jackson's arm was amputated at nearby Wilderness Tavern and buried in the Ellwood cemetery by his chaplain, Beverley Tucker Lacy (brother of Ellwood's owner, J. Horace Lacy). During the Battle of the Wilderness in May of 1864, Ellwood served as Headquarters for Army of the Potomac Fifth Corps general, Gouvemeur K. Warren. In 1921, Marine General Smedley Butler brought his expeditionary forces from Quantico to conduct a mock battle in the Wilderness. President Harding's review of the troops took place in front of Ellwood. 2007: The property is renowned as the final resting place of Confederate Army General Stonewall Jackson's wounded, amputated limb. The appendage is buried in Ellwood's family cemetery (DHR ID #088-5229). But the rest of the farm, straddling the Orange and Spotsylvania county lines off Route 20, has a rich history. The centerpiece is Ellwood Manor, built in the 1790s. It was used by the Union and Confederate armies in different years of the Civil War, as both a hospital and strategy center. The Marquis de Lafayette, a Revolutionary War hero, stopped here for breakfast in 1825 on his way to Fredericksburg. The property was sold to the National Park Service in the 1970s, and apart from a few changes, Ellwood Manor looks much as it did when it was built. During the summer, the home is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and weekends during the fall and winter. Volunteers from Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield give 30-minute tours. The group assists the National Park Service by mowing Ellwood's large lawn, landscaping, organizing events and giving tours. Gordon Jones, a former obstetrician in Fredericksburg, lived there as a child, and his parents, Leo and Blanche Jones, lived in Ellwood. They turned Ellwood over to the Park Service in the 1970s. 2010: About a mile to the southwest of the Wilderness Tavern site sits the Ellwood estate (NR #WI0235b). The modest braced-frame Georgian style house is still standing on the property. Both the Wilderness Tavern and the Ellwood house were built upon the same 5,000 acre estate owned by William Jones who had by 1799 become one of the largest slave owners in Spotsylvania County. At that time Jones was documented as having 29 slaves in his possession. The memoirs of Jones’ daughter indicate the standing structure was constructed in 1781 to replace an earlier house that had burned down at the onset of the Revolutionary War (Basalik et al.1985). The property had several dependencies including barns, cabins, and unidentified structures which may have been slave quarters. Other support buildings which would have been present by the time of the Civil War include a smokehouse, a dairy, a kitchen and oven, a springhouse, an ice house and probably a barn. By the time of the Civil War, William’s daughter Betty Churchill Jones and her husband J. Horace Lacy were using Elwood as a summer home (Chatham being their full-time residence). Lacy himself was a prominent member of Fredericksburg society. (See Chatham property discussion for more on Lacy.) Union troops moved past the home as they advanced east towards Chancellorsville after crossing the Rapidan at Germanna Ford. During the Battle of Chancellorsville and for many months after the house served as a Confederate field hospital. In early May of 1864, prior to the onset of the Battle of Wilderness, Ellwood changed from a Confederate field base and hospital to a Union one. On the night before the battle began, the Third Division, V Corps, commanded by General Samuel Crawford, encamped at and around Ellwood. The following morning Ellwood became the Federal Headquarters for General Gouverneur K. Warren and General Ambrose E. Burnside during the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6, 1864).