Existing comment:
Chancellorsville:
In 1816, an innkeeper named George Chancellor announced that his "large and commodious" roadside inn, named Chancellorsville, was open for business. By the 1860's, the inn had gone out of operation, as central Virginia became a vast battleground. Headquarters for Federal General Joseph Hooker were in the building as he directed the Northern army during the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. During the climactic day of that fight, May 3, Hooker was stunned and temporarily disabled when a Confederate shell shattered the white porch column against which he was leaning, throwing him painfully to the ground. Shortly thereafter, Confederate troops swamped into the clearing around Chancellorsville from three sides and sealed the triumph in what has been called General Robert E. Lee's greatest victory. When Lee rode into the area, a dramatic impromptu tribute unfolded: "One long, unbroken cheer, in which the feeble cry of those who lay helpless on the earth, blended with the strong voices of those who still fought, rose high above the roar of battle, and hailed the presence of the victorious chief."
In the spring of 1863, Chancellorsville was the home of Mrs. Sanford Chancellor and seven of her children. The old inn hosted a steady flow of Southern military men as soldiers and officers from Lee's army stopped to pay their compliments to Mrs. Chancellor's six unmarried daughters. As late as April 29, Generals J.E.B. Stuart, Richard Anderson, William Mahone, and Carnot Posey enjoyed the hospitality of the house while discussing ways to thwart the imminent Union advance.
The tide of battle crested around Chancellorsville on May 3 and Confederate artillery fire forced the Federals, who used the building as army headquarters, to fall back closer to the river. Col. Joseph Dickinson of General Hooker's staff remembered the civilians huddled in the basement and ushered them to safety behind the Union lines as a hail of shot and shell destroyed the dwellings in their wake. Chancellorsville, which had been built in four segments before the war, was partially rebuilt in 1870 but this reconstruction burned in 1927. Archeologists located the foundations of the ante-bellum structure in 1976. |