Existing comment:
The Rhythms Return
The Civil War forever altered Ellwood and the lives of its owners and slaves.
After the Civil War, J. Horace Lacy -- drastically reduced in wealth and stripped of his slaves -- gave up his home at Chatham and settled year-round at Ellwood. The familiar rhythms returned, now sustained by paid labor. The earthworks that scarred the woods around the farm served as constant reminders of the war's fury (they still do). The Lacys remained at Ellwood until old age prompted them to move to a small house in Fredericksburg.
In 1907, Ellwood passed to new owners, and for the next 71 years it would be the property of the Willis-Jones family. In 1977, they conveyed Ellwood to the National Park Service.
Because the slaves who worked at Ellwood had no legal names, it is difficult to track their transition into a life of freedom. Some surely stayed in the area -- a few perhaps at Ellwood -- to work as sharecroppers or tenant farmers. We know with certainty the fate of only one. Charles Sprow (or Sprout), a slave of J. Horace Lacy, escaped during the war and joined the Union army, serving in the cavalry. He lived in Fredericksburg until his death in 1926 and is today buried in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery -- one of only twenty African-Americans so honored. |