Ellwood

Ellwood was a typical Virginia farm whose 1790s dwelling stood on Wilderness Run overlooking rolling farmland planted in corn, wheat, and clover, with outbuildings such as a kitchen, smokehouse, and dairy around the house and cabins for as many as one hundred slaves scattered north and west of the main building. The Civil War shattered its routine: in May 1863 the Confederate army established a hospital in the building, seven months later Union soldiers looted the house, and in May 1864 Northern and Southern soldiers fought a deadly struggle little more than a mile away, turning the once quiet farm overnight into a bustling military encampment.

Virginia · United States