The War Years

— Lee vs. Grant — The 1864 Campaign —

Ashland in 1860 was a quiet, charming village. Its 150 residents lived in cottages on tree-lined streets. A fashionable hotel, a notable racecourse, and a famous mineral springs resort made Ashland a social center. Then came war.

In the summer of 1861, hundreds of volunteers from acrossVirginia camped at the racecourse where they received their first military instruction During 1862, homes and churches filled with battle casualties; more than 400 soldiers died in these makeshift hospitals. Union raiders frequently ripped up railroad track and burned nearby bridges.

In May 1863, the funeral train carrying Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's body stopped here on its way to Richmond. A year later, part of Lee's weary army marched southward along these tracks. One veteran recalled that they "marchedin such deep silence that a man with his eyes shut would only have known that anyone was on the road by the occasional rattle of a canteen." Places like the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and North Anna lay behind them. Totopotomoy Creek,Cold Harbor, Petersburg and ten more months of war lay ahead.

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Show me all markers in:  Ashland, VA  |  Hanover County  |  23005  |  Virginia  |  United States of America

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