Existing comment:
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 1790's 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. |