Confederate Headquarters

Portici served as the headquarters of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, whose position there gave him a commanding view of the main roads and surrounding countryside as Confederate regiments passed through the Lewis property on their way to the front and he directed reinforcements to different parts of the field. After the battle, Portici became a field hospital where surgeons cared for wounded men from both sides, with the injured filling the plantation outbuildings and covering every floor of the house. Among the Federal wounded brought there was artillery Captain James B. Ricketts, wounded in the thigh, and his wife Fanny crossed through the lines to care for him. Her diary recalled some forty men downstairs in various stages of death or recovery, blood running on the floor, a dreadful smell, a night spent hearing the groans of the dying, and the sickening horrors of the place.

Sudley, Virginia · United States