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Little Forest Baptist Church’s founding members met in homes or under a persimmon tree.  Led by Pastor Uriah Johnson, they finally built their first church in 1905.  In 1959 that building was demolished to make a road later renamed Interstate 95.  Some church members met at a nearby Hills Texaco Station, but feared losing their…

On October 28, 1922, the Union Bell Church was organized. What started out as a lodge hall is now the driveway of the church. Gradually, the church members added rooms such as the dining hall. During the decade of 1978-1988 the building was bricked and a stained-glass window was added over the front door. The…

The Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church was organized in 1868, just three years after the end of the Civil War, by the Reverend York Johnson. Johnson, previously enslaved, and twenty-seven others separated from the White Oak Primitive Baptist Church. Originally it was called the Bethlehem Church of Colored Members. The Reverend Johnson, assisted by The Freedmen’s…

One of the best “Come Retribution”-related documents is one of the so-called “Gilmer-Campbell” maps. The principal actors were Maj. Gen. Jeremy Gilmer, chief of the Confederate Engineers Bureau; Captain A. H. Campbell, chief topographic engineer in the bureau and topographic engineer for Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia; and Lieutenant B. Lewis Blackford, topographic engineer. Their…

Colonel John Mosby’s raid near Belle Plain in Stafford on May 9, 1864, was an attack on a Federal wagon train. Federal withdrawal from Warrenton in late April and lack of use of the Orange and Alexandria rail line created opportunities for rear area raids toward Bealeton and Culpeper and the Union logistics base at…

An account by Private (later Lt.) Eustace Conway Moncure, 9th Virginia Cavalry, in May-June 1864 shows the extent of individual “secret service” or scouting and spying: General Hampton told me to return at once and go to Fredericksburg to ascertain if any reinforcements had marched in that direction or if there were any approaching. I…

Desperate measures taken in the “‘Come Retribution’ Campaign” were weighed down by the South’s inherent strategic weaknesses and human errors, not to overlook concrete Union actions. These caused the Southern plans to mostly fail. Fortunately for America’s future, the Confederate efforts were “too little, too late.” The grand strategic plans were simply beyond the capabilities…

This modern view across the Potomac River from “Richland” shows the Maryland shore.   In the background is the area to which Confederate diplomat Dunlop and his wife were headed via the “Secret Line.” This also demonstrates what the river watcher, “Mr. Williams,” described in Eustace Conway Moncure’s “secret service.” memoir.  This was the northernmost portion…

The home “Richland” in Widewater is the place referred to in Julia Whiting’s letter.  The letter documents it was used at least once as a  Confederate Secret Service safe house as late as July, 1864.

Beginning in the summer of 1864, a series of events took place which pointed to a concerted effort by the Confederacy to end the war by convincing the Northern population that it was unwinnable — thus achieving victory or a negotiated peace. A combination of “Black Flag” actions and fortuitous, related activities (mostly political) combined…

In the spring of 1864, General U.S. Grant set all of the Federal armies in the Eastern Theater in motion. His headquarters was with Meade’s Army of the Potomac. Along with the independent IX Army Corps (Burnside), that army attacked in a series of battles, engagements and skirmishes, including those at the Wilderness (May 5-7,…

Depleted militarily and with resources eroding rapidly, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had faced their own “Valley Forge” during the winter of 1863-1864. The Federal Army of the Potomac, having achieved little during the Bristow and Mine Run campaigns in late 1863, but in a superior position strategically, spent the winter in the Culpeper area…