Figure of the Week

Henry G. Chesley was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia the son of William S. Chesley (1815-1860) and Mary Ann Ferneyhough (c.1818-1853).  At the outset of the War Between the States, he joined the Fredericksburg  Artillery, also known as Braxton’s Battery.  According to his obituary, “He enlisted at its origin, served in it throughout the bloody conflict, and was at Appomattox Courthouse at the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee…Mr. Chesley is credited with having ires that gun which history says killed General [John] Reynolds of the Union forces, when he came out with his staff to reconnoiter the position.”  In 1869, Henry G. Chesley was overseer of the road “from the lower ford on the Potomac run, to Claiborne’s run in place of James E. Berry who has removed from the neighborhood.”  He was one of the Free Bridge Commissioners from at least 1884 to 1887 during which time he served as treasurer.  Henry G. Chesley later owned what is now known as Potomac Run Farm near the landfill in Stafford County, Virginia.  He married Mary Susan Ferneyhough (1845-1913).