During the Civil War, Cleavers and Amanda Chisholm's Hanover Tavern sheltered both armies and refugees fleeing the war's destruction. Hard fighting just outside town on May 27, 1862 caused several hundred casualties, and two weeks later Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's troopers clashed here with Union pickets during his ride around the Union army. Later that summer, nearly 8,000 Confederate soldiers with their horses, tents, and battle flags filled the tiny village as they recovered from intense fighting around Richmond. Cleavers Chisholm, a Unionist, refused Stuart's request to take charge of Union prisoners, cared for a wounded Union soldier, and after the war petitioned the U.S. government for reimbursement for his loyalty. His wife Amanda was described as more pragmatic, while two of their sons fought with many other Hanoverians in the 15th Virginia Infantry of the Confederacy. The war repeatedly burst into daily life, as refugee Margaret Wight wrote in her diary that on June 26, 1863, about 2,000 Union cavalry arrived suddenly, throwing the household into commotion as valuables were hidden. The next summer, as the armies sparred and maneuvered around Richmond, they stripped the county of resources, and Wight described the tavern as sad and lonely.
