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Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and even into the early twentieth century, grist mills were centers of social life where nearly everyone gathered to do business, share information, and visit. Bellfair Mills was for many years the hub of the northern Stafford community that surrounded it, functioning as a mill, post office, store, meeting…

Deploying to South Carolina, the 54th Massachusetts fought at James Island and Fort Wagner.  Shaw was killed leading his regiment to fame and glory. He was buried with his men in a common grave and they were together memorialized in a famous Boston monument. Shaw Monument in Boston, Massachusetts

Surgeon Jonathan Letterman, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, is shown here with his staff. Their efforts, begun at Antietam and emphasizing evacuation, represented the beginnings of modern military medicine.

In the early 1770s, Stafford County prospered due to its agricultural production as well as its mining. By the 1860s, there is documentation about farming in the census. There were 1,022 heads of households. Four hundred and one (401) heads of households were enslavers. Ninety-two (92) heads of households (23% of the total heads of…

A surgeon’s sword was a non-functional symbol of rank and position.  The sword was worn on ceremonial occasions only.  The initials MS on the sword stood for Medical Service.  The same sword was used for paymasters but they had the initials PD which stood for Paymaster’s Department.

Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve Crow’s Nest is a nearly 4,000 acre peninsula in Stafford County, Virginia. It got its name from a three-masted schooner, The Crow, which was anchored there in the mid-1800s. The peninsula is roughly bounded by Accokeek Creek to the north, Potomac Creek to the South (just as they feed into…

At the end of reforms and reorganization, General Hooker invited President Lincoln to return to Stafford to review “the finest army on the planet.”  Following Mary Todd Lincoln’s advice, the president made an extended visit which allowed him to review the units and make as many personal encounters with the soldiers as possible.  That visit…

An examination of the population growth in Stafford in the ten-year increments of national censuses is always useful. Notice the population in 1860, prior to the Civil War. The departure of over 2,000 former enslaved persons and destitute whites between 1860 and 1870 represents Stafford’s single greatest population decline. The fourteen censuses from 1870 to…

The Board of Supervisors is the governing body of the county. The seven-member Board is elected for four-year terms. Board members are elected from seven single member districts. Elections are held as a part of the Virginia general election in November of odd numbered years. The Board, as the legislative body, is responsible for enacting…

This photo was taken April 17, 1863 — one week after President Lincoln returned from his Stafford visit to the Army of the Potomac. His bond with the soldiers, forged in hospital visits and grand reviews, became solid and permanent. It paid enormous dividends in the election of 1864 and for many decades afterward. Most…

While the automobile was developed in the very early 20th century, the lack of paved roads delayed its arrival in many areas of the country. The first “roads” were cut through Stafford’s forests in the 1600s, but these were little more than trails wide enough to walk on or ride a horse over. As more…

At the end of his April 4-10, 1863 visit to the Army of the Potomac in Stafford, Lincoln sat in the headquarters’ tent of Major General Oliver Otis Howard, commanding the XI Army Corps. Looking up, Lincoln saw the first verse of the 23rd Psalm written on a board.  Howard, known as “The Christian General”…