Audio
Chatham Audio Walking Tour, #6, Civil War Soldier's Grave
Transcript
The grave in front of you, marked with a slate stone, belongs to an unknown U.S. soldier who died during the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. At this stop, learn about the ways that war reshaped Chatham’s landscape. What steps did our nation take to recover and rebuild? Discover what life was like at Chatham during the first decade after the Civil War.
Despite the efforts of Doctor Dyer’s team of surgeons and aides, over one hundred U.S. soldiers treated at Chatham’s field hospital did not survive their wounds. These soldiers were buried here on the terraces in December 1862. After the war, the U.S. Burial Corps traveled through the area and reinterred the remains of U.S. soldiers to the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. However, the Burial Corps did not locate every grave on the battlefield. Three soldiers’ graves remain on the grounds today, including the grave here in front of you. The two other graves are located to the left and right, hidden from view by the tree lines on each side.
Wartime burials were among the list of changes that Betty Lacy noted when her family returned to Chatham in 1865. According to Betty, the grounds were a “wilderness of weeds,” and the main house was in disarray. While Chatham Plantation did suffer damage from its wartime use, the property fared much better than homes and businesses on the other side of the river. Despite Betty’s complaints, the Lacys retained enough of their wealth to pay for Chatham’s repair.
The most notable change at Chatham in the postwar period was the end of slavery. Two formerly enslaved families, the Grays and the Armsteads, continued to live and work at Chatham in the war’s aftermath. Whereas the Lacys retained their wealth and status, formerly enslaved people at Chatham struggled to gain independence and security in the postwar South. The 13th Amendment did not provide Black Americans with access to suffrage, property rights, or equal protection under the law. In many ways, life at Chatham continued to be defined by a struggle for equality, even after the abolition of slavery.
During the 1870s, Horace Lacy revamped his goals for a political career, giving speeches at local events and eventually running for office himself. He also provided support for local politicians who voted against equal rights for Black Americans. In 1874, Lacy ran for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. A local newspaper referred to him as the “White man’s candidate” and encouraged supporters of white supremacy to vote for him. Lacy won the election and served one term in the state government. During his short-lived political career, Lacy used his influence and wealth to keep Black Americans second-class citizens.
Horace Lacy did not only direct his energy toward state politics. Alongside his wife, he became involved in local initiatives to memorialize the Confederacy. Betty served as the vice president of the Ladies’ Memorial Association of Fredericksburg and helped create two Confederate cemeteries in the area. Horace traveled across the country raising money for the organization. Through these efforts, the Lacys contributed to the creation of the Lost Cause narrative, an interpretation of the Civil War created by former Confederates that denies slavery as the war’s cause and celebrates the Confederacy’s ideals.
In 1872, the Lacys sold Chatham and moved to Ellwood, their home in nearby Orange County. During the Lacy family’s final years at Chatham, they struggled to maintain the lifestyle familiar to them before the Civil War. Using their influence and wealth, they sought to limit the rights of newly freed people and keep the memory of the Confederacy alive. Continue to the garden to learn about how Chatham’s physical and social landscape continued to evolve after the Lacys’ departure.
The next stop on the tour is the is the Chatham garden. Facing toward the main house, continue straight through the gate to your front. After entering through the gate, turn left at the first opening in the brick wall to enter the garden. Once in the garden, follow the slate path toward the main house and stop in front of the ramp.
Description
In the first ten years after the Civil War, life at Chatham changed dramatically. The Lacys returned to Chatham after four years of war. How did they adjust to life during Reconstruction? What obstacles did formerly enslaved people face as they navigated life outside of the bounds of slavery for the first time?
Credit
NPS
Copyright and Usage Info