The Battle of Chancellorsville began here amid the homes of families living along the Orange Turnpike. On the morning of May 1, Ann Lewis, whose house stood on the rise in front, found Union cavalrymen lounging in her yard. After seeing masses of Confederate troops approaching from the east, she called a Union trooper into her house to look at the rebels, then retreated to her cellar just as the shooting started. Union soldiers took cover behind the house, and a spirited firefight followed. With so many battles fought nearby, civilians of Spotsylvania County bore a disproportionate burden of devastation and destruction. James H. Leitch, whose home lay in the middle of the battlefield, recalled that the enemy tore down some of the fencing, took corn from the crib and ten bushels of ground wheat, and that troops used fencing from the side opposite the Yankees as fuel.