Sandusky

Union Gen. David Hunter’s army reached the outskirts of Lynchburg on June 17, 1864, despite delays from engagements with Gen. John McCausland’s Confederate cavalry. That evening Hunter established his headquarters at Sandusky, knowing Confederate reinforcements were arriving but remaining confident he could fulfill Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s orders to capture Lynchburg. In Sandusky’s parlor that night, Hunter and his commanders planned an assault on Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early’s defenses. On the morning of June 18, Union forces attacked Early’s lines with little success along the Lynchburg-Salem Turnpike, at Fort McCausland on Early’s right, and along Fishing Creek on Early’s left. Federal artillery bombarded the Confederate center, but in the afternoon Early surprised Hunter with an assault west of the turnpike, and the resulting confusion led Hunter to pause. After returning to Sandusky that evening, he ordered a retreat that took place during the night. Charles Johnson built Sandusky about 1808 and named it for the Ohio Indian camp where he had once been held prisoner. The house was among the first in the area to display elegant details of refined Federal architecture. Hunter’s staff members there included future presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley.

Lynchburg, Virginia · United States