Belmont

Artistic Environs

Expectation can tax the creative.  Consider the chef who wants to have friends over for a potluck supper, the novelist who wants to dash-off a quick note or the artist who wants to create a comfortable home.  All must cope with the busman's holiday syndrome that never permits them to be off duty. 

It's nice to report that Belmont, the home of American artist Gari Melchers, does not disappoint. Belmont combines the beauty of nature with the beauty of the artist's creations.  A long promenade of boxwoods and century-old trees leads down to the banks of the Rappahannock River from a lovely old white frame house, with colonnaded porches on the first and second floors.  Built sometime between 1790 and 1800, the house was enlarged in 1843.  Gari Melchers lived here from 1916 to 1932, the last 16 years of his life.  Melchers filled his home with his own work and art that he and his wife collected while in Europe.  His one structural addition was a cheerful sun porch.

Gari Melchers's father was a sculptor who came to America from Germany.  He is remembered today primarily for his wooden cigar-store Indians.  Young Gari studied in his father's drawing classes, then traveled to Dusseldorf, Germany and Paris, France to continue his art education.  Before moving to Belmont Melchers and his wife, Corinne, spent a great deal of time in Europe.  He had studios in Paris, France; Egmond, Holland and Weimar, Germany.

At Belmont, old family pieces mix with European antiques to form a stylish but comfortable home.  An 18th-century desk from Holland has four secret compartments so well hidden that the guides have trouble remembering their locations.  Oriental carpets, English Regency slipper chairs and Victorian bedroom furniture vie for attention with American antiques acquired in Fredericksburg.

Both Gari and his wife painted.  There are many family portraits.  Gari painted his mother when he was 24 and his father ten years later.  Melchers also did a self-portrait.  In the dining room there is a portrait of Mrs. Melchers and her brother.  The work of both Melcherses and European artists like

 Frans Synders and Berthe Morizot  mix harmoniously at Belmont.

After a guided tour of the house you're invited to walk down the path to Melcher's stone studio.  More than 50 of his paintings fill the studio walls.  The brush, paint and palettes create the illusion that the artist is only momentarily missing.  Belmont has the largest repository of Melcher's paintings in the world.  The collection includes 1,600 items.

Belmont is open March through November from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday through Saturday and 1:00 to 5:00 P.M. on Sunday.  From December through February hours are 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Monday through Saturday and 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. on Sunday.

Art lovers will want to include a stop at The Silversmith House located on the banks of the Rappahannock River at the foot of George Street in Fredericksburg.  The house, built around 1785 by silversmith and jeweler James Brown, is architecturally little-altered.  It is now used as exhibition and studio space by the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts.  There is free admission Tuesday through Sunday from NOON to 4:00 P.M.  For information on exhibits call (540) 373-5646.

Directions:  From I-95 near Fredericksburg, take the Falmouth-Warrenton exit.  Follow Route 17 east toward Falmouth for 1 1/4 mile to Washington Street and turn right to Belmont. 

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Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Battlefields

Unacceptable Losses

Since colonial times Fredericksburg was one of the chief river ports for the Shenandoah Valley, along with Alexandria and Richmond.  The Rappahannock River made this an irresistible military target during the Civil War and the town changed hands seven times (see Fredericksburg National Military Park selection). The town was also a target because of the presence of the railroad and the various wagon roads that crossed through Fredericksburg. Within 15 miles of this transportation hub, you will find the greatest concentration of preserved battlefields in the state:Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania.  In a two year period, the Union and Confederate armies, together totaling nearly 200,000 men, battled four times near Fredericksburg.

West of Fredericksburg at the Battle of Chancellorsville  in May 1863, General Lee won a great victory but lost an irreplaceable officer when General “Stonewall” Jackson was accidently shot by his own men during a lull in the fighting.

Lee’s victory was a triumph of boldness over numbers, determination over vacillation; he had the courage to take enormous risks based on his information regarding the enemy’s position and intentions.  It wasn’t that General Joseph Hooker didn’t come up with a good plan.  He did; he had to, as he was very much aware that he was replacing General Burnside, who made such a poor showing at Fredericksburg.  So Hooker was determined to beat Lee.  After reorganizing the 120,000 Union troops during the winter camp he was ready.  “My plans are perfect,” said Hooker.  “May God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none.”

Hooker attempted to hold Lee’s force at Fredericksburg while simultaneously moving around Lee’s left side with a large segment of his army.  He succeeded, but Lee didn’t do the expected and withdraw or surrender, instead he attacked.

As Hooker moved to attack Lee’s left flank with 75,000 men, Lee left only 10,000 men under General Jubal Early’s command in Fredericksburg and moved the larger 45,000 man force toward Chancellorsville.  When Hooker met the advance troops he fell back to Chancellorsville and dug in rather than attacking the inferior force.  In so doing he buried his hopes of victory over Lee.

Lee arrived and met with General Jackson at what is now Auto Stop 7 on the battlefield tour to devise a bold and daring maneuver.  The plan was to divide Lee’s already vastly outnumbered force in two, one segment would hold the line where Hooker was dug in, while Jackson with 30,000 men would march around the Union force and envelope its right flank.  This surprise move was enormously effective, and 1 ½ miles of the federal line caved in.  It was at this time that the fates ceased smiling on the Confederates.  Jackson, who had ridden out in front of his own line to reconnoiter the federal position in order to plan that night’s offensive, was hit three times---fired on by his own men as he returned. 

Devastated, the southern troops could not even stop to mourn their commander.  Intelligence was received regarding an attack that forced General Early to evacuate the heights behind Fredericksburg.  Lee left J.E.B. Stuart in command of Jackson’s corps and took 20,000 men east to defeat Sedgwick, who threatened his rear.

The entire story of this tragic Confederate victory is told at the Chancellorsville Visitor Center.  A short film covers the May 1-4, 1863 battle.   Maps available at the center highlight stops on the auto route.  At the onset of the battle, Hooker lost his nerve and he dug in, abandoning the offensive to Lee. One stop is the Chancellorsville Inn where Hooker made his headquarters.  While Hooker was leaning against one of the inn’s porch pillars on May 3, he was wounded during a shelling by falling masonry.  Part of this tour is the 12-mile route Jackson followed as he encircled Hooker’s flank.

As a footnote to the battle stop at the small frame office building at Guinea Station.  After being shot, Jackson was taken to Wilderness Tavern where his arm was amputated.  He was then moved to the white clapboard office building of Fairfield, the Chandler Plantation.  He contracted pneumonia and died on Sunday, May 10, 1863.  His last words were, “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”  The building where he died is now part of the Stonewall Jackson Shrine.

In May 1864 the Army of the Potomac under General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant started south again.  He adopted an approach similar to Hooker’s, attempting to turn Lee’s right flank.  On May 4, the Union army entered the Wilderness.  Here the opposing armies engaged in “bushwhacking on a grand scale,” to quote one old veteran.

In this overgrown terrain armies could not maintain regular lines and some soldiers either were shot by their own men or discovered, to their eternal regret, that they were completely surrounded by the enemy.  A further problem produced by the heavy but dry vegetation was fire---muzzle flashes set the tinder ablaze and it raged out of control impartially killing wounded Union and Confederate who could not escape the deadly inferno.

Losses in the two-day Wilderness fighting were 18,000 Union men shot or burned and an estimated 8,000 to 12,000 Confederates.  Lee could no longer accept that many casualties, as he had only half as many men as General Grant.  So this marked the end of the aggressive Confederate charges that had turned the tide at numerous battles before this, including previous years encounter at Chancellorsville. 

The Battle of the Wilderness ended when General Grant began pulling out his men on May 7.  The Army of the Potomac had withdrawn from every encounter with Lee. As the lead column reached the intersection that would indicate either retreat or a continued battle, the men raised a cheer to Grant when they realized they were heading farther south to engage Lee’s force once again. The Wilderness Battlefield has a self-guided auto route with interpretive road signs.  Only a portion of the battlefield survives, but some trenches are visible from the road.

When Grant’s soldiers cheered as they left the overgrown Wilderness to engage Lee farther south, they did not envision the encounter at Spotsylvania Court House.  For orientation to this brutal two-week stalemate that cost approximately 30,000 lives, stop at the Spotsylvania Exhibit Center.  A walking tour takes in the ground over which the heaviest fighting took place at the center of Lee’s line where it jutted into the Union position.  At this point, called the “Bloody Angle,” assault after assault was launched.  Fighting was hand-to-hand, with soldiers firing at point blank range, clubbing and bayoneting each other in savage frenzy.  Spotsylvania’s tragic distinction is that the Bloody Angle climax was the single most terrible 24 hours of the war. One marker on the trail indicates where a 22-inch oak tree was cut down by a barrage of rifle bullets.  Along the auto route, houses are indicated that were used as headquarters by the opposing sides.  After almost two weeks, Grant decided to shift to a more southern position.  On May 21 he started in the direction of Richmond area and another deadly conflict ten days later at Cold Harbor. 

There are two additional points of interest at Spotsylvania.  The present court house stands on the location of the earlier structure that was badly damaged during the war.  In the small brick Old Berea Church, also badly damaged during the fighting, and now the Spotsylvania County Museum, you can see relics from the battlefield.  Nearby is a Confederate cemetery.

Directions: From I-95 in the Fredericksburg area take Route 3 west to Chancellorsville.  For the Jackson Shrine take the Thornburg exit off I-95 and proceed east on Route 606.  For the Wilderness Battlefield auto-route, take Route 3 off I-95 at Fredericksburg, and turn left on Route 20 for the beginning of the auto route.  For Spotsylvania, from Route 3, turn left and head south on Route 613, Brock Road and travel just over 13 miles to the exhibit shelter at the battlefield area.

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Fredericksburg  National Military Park

Ministering Angels

Civil War buffs who Fredericksburg National Military Park are fascinated by battle strategy,  but most travelers are held enthralled by individual stories of heroism and tragedy.  Fredericksburg is rich in stories about individuals who transcended the ordinary, it was a place "where uncommon valor was commonplace." The Confederates on Marye’s Heights mowed down the Union troops as they advanced column after column in a futile attempt to take the hill.  By the end of the Battle of Fredericksburg more than 12,000 Union men lay dead or wounded.  The plight of the wounded so moved Sergeant Richard Kirkland, a Confederate from South Carolina, that he asked his commanding officer, General Joseph Kershaw, for permission to carry water to the Union wounded lying in agony near his position.  Permission was granted, but he was not allowed to carry a flag of truce and he was warned that Federal troops were apt to fire at him as soon as he climbed over the wall.  Although bullets started flying, cheers soon filled the air as Kirkland ministered to the wounded.  Today you can see the Kirkland Monument honoring the soldier who became known as the “Angel of Marye’s Heights.”

Four major battles were fought around Fredericksburg because of its strategic position between Washington and Richmond. In December 1862, the Battle of Fredericksburg resulted in a Union debacle.  In May 1863, Lee's great victory at Chancellorsville was marred by a volley fired by his own men that eventually cost Stonewall Jackson his life.  In May 1864, the Battle of the Wilderness proved costly to both sides, and it was followed by the fearsome two-week battle of Spotsylvania Court House which encompassed the single most terrible 24 hours of the war.

Fredericksburg was first drawn into the war in April 1862 when the town was occupied for four months by Union troops.  Betty Maury recorded in her diary: "Their flags are everywhere, over foundry, bank, bridges, stores, stretched in lines across the streets, tacked on trees, stuck on soldier's guns, tied to horns of oxen."  When Federal troops arrived they conducted a house-by-house search for weapons and confiscated five swords at the Maury house.  The Federal troops left a path of destruction in their wake: bayoneted paintings, wrecked furniture and broken china and crystal. 

Residents were almost entirely Confederate supporters, and so in December 1862 when sentries were anxiously watching the Rappahannock River for signs of an imminent Union attack, they weren't surprised to hear a woman's voice calling a warning across the river.  "Yankees cooking big ration! March tomorrow!" The Confederates had retreated just a short distance outside the town and entrenched themselves in a seven-mile line.  The crucial half-mile of their line was behind a protective stone wall.

To gain an overview of the battle, stop at the Fredericksburg National Park Service Visitor Center. It provides a slide show, exhibits and a self-guided battlefield tour map for Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania.  There is also a visitor center at Chancellorsville.

Before leaving Fredericksburg be sure to visit Chatham.  This gracious 18th-century Georgian mansion paid a high price for its choice location overlooking the Rappahannock River. The house was a front-line headquarters for Union General Edwin V. Sumner and others.  Chatham was also a field hospital, served by Clara Barton, known as the "Angel of the Battlefield."  Walt Whitman, one of America's most revered poets, also worked in the hospital.

Chatham is also noteworthy because it is the only home still standing where both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are known to have been entertained.  Local enthusiasts claim that George Washington wrote in a letter to William Fitzhugh, "I have put my legs oftener under your mahogany at Chatham than anywhere else in the world, and have enjoyed your good dinners, good wine and good company more than any other."  The builder of Chatham, William Fitzhugh, achieved such a reputation for hospitality he was exhausted by a steady stream of guests. He finally sold Chatham and moved to a smaller house in Alexandria, now known as the Boyhood Home of Robert E. Lee (see selection), where he could more readily restrict his social calendar.

You can tour Chatham and see several rooms of museum exhibits.  The gardens have been restored and from the river overlook there is a panoramic view of Fredericksburg.   Chatham and the Fredericksburg Visitor Center are open at no charge daily from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.

Directions:  From I-95 take the Fredericksburg exit.  Take Route 3 east into town.  Turn right on Littepage Street and right again on Lafayette Boulevard to reach the Fredericksburg Visitor Center.  Chatham is two miles from the visitor center, off  Route 218, east of the Rappahannock River.

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Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop and Rising Sun Tavern

Both Mixed a Mean Brew

Combine business and pleasure 18th-century style when you visit Fredericksburg.  On Caroline Street, you will find the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop and the Rising Sun Tavern, social centers of town during the colonial period.

The apothecary shop looks as it did the day in 1776 when Mercer left Fredericksburg to serve in the Continental army.  Mercer, a brigadier general, was killed at the Battle of Princeton. His shop, though filled with few original items, does authentically reflect the colonial practice of both diagnosing ailments and preparing medications. (Of note: General George S. Patton of World War II fame was Huge Mercer’s great, great, great grandson.)

Dr. Mercer obtained his medical degree in Scotland at the University of Aberdeen.  He served as assistant surgeon to the Army of the Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, and provided medical assistance at the Battle of Culloden.  Mercer's support for a losing cause forced his emigration to Philadelphia in 1746.  Later when he moved to Fredericksburg, he entered into practice with Dr. Ewen Clements.  They placed the following ad in an issue of the Virginia Gazette in 1771: "...This day became Partners in the Practice of Physick and Surgery, and have opened Shop on Main Street, furnished with a large assortment of Drugs and Medicines just imported from London."

Dr. Mercer had become friends with several Virginians while serving in the French and Indian War.  One of his closest friends was George Washington.  Since Washington's mother, sister and brother lived in Fredericksburg (see Kenmore Plantation and Mary Washington House selection), the two men were able to maintain close ties.  It is likely that many Virginia patriots gathered with these two experienced soldiers in the candle-lit office library to discuss British intransigence.

The Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop at 1020 Caroline Street is open daily 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.  A nominal admission is charged.

Just down the street at 1304 Caroline Street is another popular meeting spot, the Rising Sun Tavern.  Built in 1760 for Charles Washington, George's younger brother, it was his home and not a tavern.  Later in the century it became a tavern, where entertainment was provided by traveling players.  Balls and many meetings took place as well.  The tavern also served as the stage coach stop and Post Office.

Visitors to Rising Sun Tavern see the original tavern;  although it has been extensively restored and refurnished, it has never been structurally altered.  It is a simple colonial story-and-a-half-frame house that looks more residential than commercial.  The hand-beveled clapboard, steep gabled roof and narrow dormer windows look quite homey.

During renovations the original bar railing was found.  This has made it possible to rebuild the bar to its 18th-century specifications.  The tap room has an impressive collection of English and American pewter.  There are also gaming tables reflecting the sporting nature of the tavern.

Guided tours of the Rising Sun Tavern are given daily April through November from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.  From December through March hours are 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. The tavern is closed on major holidays. Admission is charged.

James Mercer, a lawyer who moved to Fredericksburg in 1768, was also a friend of the Washington family.  He wrote the will of Mary Ball Washington (George’s mother) in 1788.  Mercer purchased ten lots in a new part of Fredericksburg created by Fielding Lewis (the husband of George Washington’s sister, see Kenmore selection).

Mercer called his small gambrel-roofed house, St. James House, in rememberance of the Dublin, Ireland street where his family’s home was located.  Mercer was politically active, serving in 1779 as one of Virginia’s delegates to the Continental Congress and ending his career by serving as a judge on the Virginia Court of Appeals. 

The house, filled with elegant English and American antiques as well as outstanding 18th-century porcelain and glass, is now owned by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.  It is open during Historic Garden Week and the first week in October, and other times by appointment; call (540) 373-0776.

Directions:  From I-95 take the Fredericksburg exit, Route 3.  Take Route 3 to William Street, then follow the blue visitor signs and turn right on Princess Ann Street.  Then turn left on Caroline Street.  Continue following blue signs to the Fredericksburg Visitor Center on Caroline Street.  You can obtain maps and brochures on all the city attractions.   St. James House is at 1300 Charles Street.

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Kenmore Plantation and Gardens and Mary Washington House

All in the Family

Like mother, like daughter.  If Mary Ball Washington and her daughter Betty Washington Lewis were not completely alike, they were at least very similar.  Both were widowed, both lived in Fredericksburg and both had households supported in part, if not entirely, by George Washington. 

Betty's husband Fielding Lewis was a wealthy landowner, businessman, court justice and member of the House of Burgesses.  Lewis spared no expense building a luxurious Georgian mansion shortly after marrying Betty in 1750.  Kenmore was one of the earliest colonial mansions to have plastered rather than paneled walls.  The ornate plasterwork on walls and ceilings is considered the finest example of the art in the United States.  The drawing room ceiling is a masterpiece and deservedly was included in Helen Comstock's 100 Most Beautiful Rooms in America (now unfortunately out of print).

It is well that Fielding Lewis did not wait to build his bride a home; his efforts to support the Continental army bankrupted him.  He used his substantial fortune to found the Fredericksburg Gunnery which manufactured and repaired munitions for the army.  He also outfitted ships.  His death just two months after Yorktown gave him no opportunity to recoup his losses, thus it fell to Betty’s brother George to help support her household.

The furnishings you see on your tour match the inventory taken after Colonel Lewis's death in December 1781, with additional items reflecting the belongings sold after Betty's death in 1797.  One family piece is Betty's portrait in the dining room.  She looked like her brother.  According to one account, "It was a matter of frolic to throw a cloak around her and, placing a military hat on her head, such was her amazing resemblance that battalions would have presented arms..."

The path to the kitchen leads through the 18th-century formal boxwood gardens; spend some time exploring this recreated haven with its flanking gazeboes.  The brick path once led to Mary Washington's House just two blocks away.  It is said that when Lafayette visited Fredericksburg he, too, used this garden path, and came upon the commander-in-chief's mother working in her boxwood garden in her apron.

George purchased this town house for his mother on September 18, 1772.  As he explained to his friend Benjamin Harrison, "Before I left Virginia (to make her more comfortable and free from care) I did at her request, but at my own expense, purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own choosing) in Fredericksburg that she might be near my sister Lewis, her own daughter..."  Although she suggested the move Mary Washington often complained of the city noises and water.  According to local legend, she sent a slave back to Ferry Farm, her former rural residence, each day for fresh well water.

This was not the only complaint she made.  She repeatedly upbraided George for his neglect. While Washington was struggling with Congress to obtain funds for the Continental Army, his mother was petitioning the Virginia Legislature for a pension to offset the stinginess of her son.  Embarrassed at this news, he responded that she "had an ample income of her own" and that further he had provided funds for her whenever they were requested.  He was careful, however, to note them in the debit side of his detailed ledgers.  In the midst of the staggering deprivations of the Valley Forge winter encampment, Washington's mother wrote to him, "I would be much obliged to you to send me four pounds cash for corn...I have never lived so poor in my life..." 

Like Kenmore, the town house is furnished to reflect items in the wills of Augustine and Mary Washington.  Eighteenth-century pieces fill the rooms; only a few, like the looking glass, engravings and Book of Meditations, belonged to Mary Washington.

Mary Ball Washington lived for the last 17 years of her life in this house.  She died four months after George Washington's inauguration on August 25, 1789.  At her request she is buried on land that was once part of Kenmore near Mediation Rock.