Lake Currents – 10/04/13

Learn About 1863 Battle of Brandy Station

by Craig Rains, President, Civil War Study Group Inc.

 

The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia streamed into Culpeper County after its Civil War victory at Chancellorsville in May 1863, and Gen. Robert E. Lee’s troops massed around Culpeper preparing to carry the war into Pennsylvania. They planned to capture horses, equipment, and food and could also threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, thereby possibly encouraging the growing peace movement in the North.

 

Instead, the Federal cavalry surprised the Confederates on June 9, resulting in the largest cavalry battle ever fought on American soil and temporarily interrupting

Lee’s plans. At the start of the battle, Union and Confederate horsemen numbered about 11,000 and 9,500 men, respectively.

 

Joe Rokus will bring this event to life with a presentation on what is now known as the Battle of Brandy Station at the regular meeting of the Civil War Study Group (CWSG) on Friday, October 25. The meeting at the Woods Center begins at 10:30 AM and is free and open to the public.

 

In addition to covering the battle itself and the nearby Graffiti House, Rokus will discuss several soldiers who fought in that battle and who are ancestors of current Lake of the Woods residents.

 

The CWSG meeting at the Woods Center is open to anyone with an interest in the Civil War, especially in the activity in and around Lake of the Woods and eastern Orange County. For more information, go to www.civilwarstudygroup.org or contact Civil War Study Group, Inc. Chairman Pete Rainey at 972-9291, or email pete1304@ comcast.net.

 

Lake Currents – 09/06/13

Tickets Getting Scarce for Mine Run Campaign Presentation

by Craig Rains, President, Civil War Study Group, Inc.

 

Only a limited number of tickets remain for the annual luncheon of the Civil War Study Group, Inc., at Lake of the Woods on Friday, September 27. Featured speaker, Garry Adelman, Civil War Trust director of history and education, will be discussing “Payne’s Farm: Forgotten Battle, Pristine Battlefield.”

 

The battle at Payne’s Farm was held about five miles west of what is now Lake of the Woods, and Federal troops moved through this area to and from the battlefield. It was part of the Mine Run Campaign, fought toward the end of 1863. Adelman has been involved in making the Payne’s Farm battlefield accessible to the public for several years.  There are now 1.5 miles of walking trails and 11 interpretive panels in place. Adelman says the site is one of the few Civil War battlefields that remains almost exactly as it was when fought upon 150 years ago.

 

The September 27 luncheon will be held in the LOW Clubhouse at Noon, preceded by a cash bar at 11 AM.  Reservations are required and must be received by September 13. Tickets are $25 each. Make checks payable to “CWSGI” and mail to CWSGI, PO Box 1204, Locust Grove, VA.  Please indicate each person’s lunch choice of chicken or salmon.

 

For more information, contact CWSGI Chairman Pete Rainey at 972-9291 or email pete1304@comcast.net.

 

Lake Currents – 08/23/13

Historian Garry Adelman to Speak About OC’s 1863 Battle at Payne’s Farm

by Craig Rains, President, Civil War Study Group

 

The Civil War Study Group (CWSG) at Lake of the Woods is bringing nationally known historian Garry Adelman to speak at its annual luncheon on Friday, September 27.   His topic will be “Payne’s Farm: Forgotten Battle, Pristine Battlefield.”

 

The event will be held at the Lake of the Woods Clubhouse and is open to the public.  Reservations are required. Adelman, who is the Civil War Trust’s director of history and education, has been involved in developing the Payne’s Farm battlefield for several years.

 

The battle at Payne’s Farm is one of several skirmishes and battles fought in the six-day Mine Run Campaign in November and December 1863. Generals Robert E. Lee and George Meade clashed near Locust Grove, only a few miles west of LOW. The Federal troops finally disengaged, moving through and around LOW as they headed back to fords crossing the Rapidan River.

 

Local resident, Bill “the Farmer” Meadows sold the 685-acre tract to the Civil War Trust and Piedmont Environmental Council in 2003 for $1.4 million, considerably less than its appraised value at the time.

 

In 2011, Adelman led a team in researching the battle on the pristine farmland and developed a 1.5 mile walking trail that includes 11 interpretive panels.  Local civil war enthusiasts helped clear the trails.  Payne’s Farm battlefield was the scene of the heaviest casualties of the Mine Run Campaign. That campaign is the only action in the war that took place entirely in Orange County.

 

Garry Adelman is a graduate of Michigan State University and Shippensburg University of Penn. He is the author, co-author or editor of more than 40 Civil War books, and articles.  He is vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography. He was a chief consultant for and appeared in the History Channel’s 2011 Emmy-Awardwinning documentary, Gettysburg.

 

The CWSG luncheon will be held in the LOW Clubhouse at Noon, preceded by a cash bar at 11 AM. Tickets ordered by August 31 are $22.50 each, then $25 afterwards, with a deadline of September 23.  Reservations are limited.  Make checks payable to “CWSG and mail to CWSG, PO Box 1204, Locust Grove, VA 22508. Please indicate lunch choice of chicken or salmon.

 

For more information, contact CWSG Chair Pete Rainey at 972-9291 or email pete1304@comcast.net.

 

Lake Currents – 08/09/13

Battle of the Wilderness Armament is Study Group’s Topic

by Dwight Mottet, Director, Civil War Study Group, Inc.

 

The 160,000 soldiers who fought in and around Lake of the Woods and Eastern Orange County during the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864 may have had access to as many as 25 versions of handguns and long arms. Various types of artillery sent cannonballs across and into LOW.

 

The Civil War Study Group (CWSG) will learn about some of these weapons when Craig Rains presents “Armament in the Battle of the Wilderness” at its regular meeting at 10:30 AM, Friday, August 23, in the Woods Center.

 

The Civil War hastened improvements in weapons, some of which had remained unchanged since the Revolutionary War. Rains will discuss some of these weapons and relate soldiers’ stories about them in the Wilderness. One newly designed weapon was beginning to be used more and more by Federal troops and was said by some to “spell the death knell of the Confederacy.” One Pennsylvania regiment erroneously received a shipment of these guns that was intended for another regiment and valued them so much that it refused to give them up.

 

 

Rains will recount “The Great Cannon Battle” on Saunders Field that almost caused a battle within the battle between two Confederate regiments.

 

The CWSG meeting at the Woods Center is open to anyone with an interest in the Civil War, especially in the activity in and around Lake of the Woods and Eastern Orange County. For more information, contact Study Group Chairman Pete Rainey at 972-9291,

or email pete1304@comcast.net.

 

Lake Currents – 07/12/13

Preservation of Historic Family Letters

by Craig Rains, President, Civil War Study Group, Inc.

 

Do you have treasured family letters or documents stored away in your attic, gathering dust, or slowly, deteriorating from the humidity and temperature? If so, you should attend the July 26 meeting of LOW’s Civil War Study Group.

 

The guest speaker will be Lou Price, who, along with her husband, Skip, owns Village Frameworks & Gallery in Culpeper. Lou will discuss how to preserve, frame, and display letters, photos or other historic objects using modern techniques, papers, mats, and glass. She will show a letter written by her great-grand aunt that describes the hard times endured by local citizens as the fighting of the Battle of the Wilderness came right through their yards.

 

Although Lou thought the letter unique family history, she said she never realized how much interest such a letter written 150 years ago would create among Civil War buffs.

 

Civil War Study Group Chairman Pete Rainey will unveil a rare document from the 1863 Mine Run Campaign that has been preserved by the Prices and will be displayed in the LOW Clubhouse.

 

The couple has operated Village Frameworks & Gallery in Culpeper for 23 years and become expert in preserving historic papers, letters, and documents.  Their reputation in preservation has spread and through the years many LOW residents have had their Civil War artwork preserved and framed there. 

 

The CWSG meeting will be held at 10:30 AM on Friday, July 26, at the Woods

Center. It is open to anyone with an interest in the Civil War, especially in the activity in and around Lake of the Woods and eastern Orange County during the May 1864 Battle of the Wilderness. For more information, contact Civil War Study Group President Craig Rains at 972-2844, or email craig.rains@att.net.

 

Lake Currents – 06/14/13

 “Walking in their Footsteps” a New Look at 1864 Battlefield Troop Routes

by Craig Rains, Board Member, Civil War Study Group, Inc.

 

For those of us who live in Lake of the Woods, the Battle of the Wilderness in May, 1864, was fought literally in our own backyards. Bob Johnson has lived here for six years and spent much of that time documenting key roads and trails used in troop movements for that three-day battle.

 

He has created an in-depth research project, “Walking in their Footsteps: Wilderness Battlefield,” and will present his findings to the LOW Civil War Study Group at its meeting at 10:30 AM, June 28, at the Woods Center.

 

“My documents are not just another viewpoint,” he says. “Instead, I wanted to create a complete and accurate documented guide for visitors to use as they walk throughout the battlefield.” Johnson’s work included collaboration with long-time

Wilderness Battlefield experts Paul Alderman and Dorse Counts, along with 21st-century tools such as the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS).

 

His expansive amount of material is posted on his personal web site

www.bjohn913.com. In addition to covering the battlefield’s National Park Service walking trails, he provides visitors with fresh and unique looks at the Culpeper Mine Road, Parker Store Road, and the unfinished railroad bed, all of which figured prominently in the battle. The website’s maps, photographs, and graphics will provide the basis for Johnson’s CWSG presentation.

 

The meeting is open to all residents of LOW. For more information, contact Study Group Chairman Pete Rainey at 972-9291 or pete1304@comcast.net.

 

Lake Currents – 06/14/13

 

 

Lake Currents – 05/31/13

LOW CWSG HonorsWilderness Battle Casualties

by Craig Rains, Board of Directors, Civil War Study Group, Inc.

 

On May 5, the Civil War Study Group at LOW held a ceremony to remember those from both North and South who were killed or missing in action in the Orange County side of the Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-7, 1864. At the 150th anniversary of the battle, the LOW group and guests gathered to lay a wreath at Saunders Field on Hill-Ewell Drive at its intersection with Route 20.

 

Peter Rainey led the event and was assisted by Bill Wilson of LOW, along with Weston Thomas, grandson of LOW resident Bob Johnson. The memorial was concluded with the firing of a cannon by Andy Jackson, who lives on Route 20 near the battlefield.

 

At the ceremony, Rainey noted the official records indicated that “over 2,000 soldiers were killed during the battle, and that many were buried in shallow graves. About a third remained unburied in the woods.” After the battle the two armies quickly moved away from the Wilderness to wards Spotsylvania Court House, leaving the dead.

 

Rainey said a U.S. Army regiment returned the following year to bury the remains in mass graves as “unknowns but not unhonored.” One of two such cemeteries at the Wilderness battlefield was erected near the site of this month’s CWSG memorial wreath ceremony.   The 60-foot-square plot was enclosed by a whitewashed fence and marked with a hand-painted sign as “Wilderness National Cemetery No. 1.”

 

In July 1865, the government authorized the Fredericksburg National Cemetery and the remains from the Federal Wilderness cemeteries were re-interred there. In 1866, the Ladies Memorial Association of Fredericksburg was formed to care for the Confederate soldiers’ graves on the area’s battlefields. The following year, it established Confederate cemeteries in Fredericksburg and at Spotsylvania Court House, where the Wilderness remains were re-interred. The National Park Service says some remains from both sides were never recovered and remain buried on the battlefields today.

 

CWSG was formed in 2010 primarily to research and present historical events and actions that took place during the Battle of the Wilderness in Orange County and around what is today’s Lake of the Woods. The next meeting of the Civil War Study Group is at 10:30 AM, Friday, June 28, at the Woods Center. Meetings are open to the public.

 

 

Lake Currents – 04/19/13

150th Anniversary at Chancellorsville

by Joe Rokus, Board Member, Civil War Study Group, Inc.

 

The Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park will be holding a series of special events May 1-10 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Chancellorsville and needs volunteers to assist with them. As a result of the expected record number of visitors to the battlefield, the Civil War Study Group (CWSG) at Lake of the Woods has volunteered to provide help in event parking, directing visitors, and other duties.

 

CWSG is encouraging any Lake of the Woods residents, to pitch in by volunteering a few hours of their time. No knowledge of the history of the Civil War or the Battle of Chancellorsville is required to be part of these educational and historic once-in-a-lifetime events.

 

See event brochure at www.nps.gov/frsp/upload/Chancellorsville-150-Booklet.pdf.  For more information or to volunteer, please contact Joe Rokus at 972-6386 or via email at rokus@comcast.net

 

Lake Currents – 04/19/13

Chancellorsville Battle Impacted Three Local Lives

by Craig Rains, Board Member, Civil War Study Group, Inc.

 

Two local authors will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Chancellorsville by sharing stories of three area residents and the impact the battle had on their lives at the Civil War Study Group meeting at 10:30 AM on Friday, April 26, at the Woods Center.

 

Dr. Pete Rainey will discuss two of his ancestors, Private John R. Spotswood, Jr. of the 9th Virginia Cavalry, and his father, J. R. Spotswood, who, during the War, lived at “Orange Grove,” the family home which was located at the present site of Spotswood Park on Lakeview Parkway. He will also discuss John Samuel Apperson, who was born near what today is Confederate Drive in LOW’s Section 6. Apperson was a hospital steward in the Stonewall Brigade on the night Jackson had his arm amputated near Wilderness Tavern.

 

Josef W. Rokus will present the story of David Kyle of Spotsylvania County, a private in the 9th Virginia Cavalry, who was asked by General “Stonewall” Jackson to serve as his guide on the night of May 3, 1863. A short time later, Kyle was riding with Jackson when the general was shot by his own men just a few yards from what is today the Chancellorsville Visitor Center. After the War, Kyle settled at Brandy Station and is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper.

 

The meeting is open to all residents of LOW. For more information, contact the Civil War Study Group, Inc., through President Pete Rainey at 972-9291 or at pete1304@comcast.net.

 

In addition, the Civil War Study Group, Inc. is hosting a tournament at the LOW golf course on May 24 to raise funds for its educational projects focusing on area history, with an emphasis on the Civil War. Funds from previous CWSGI golf tournaments have underwritten a Civil War relics display cabinet at the LOW Clubhouse and three interpretive panels detailing events that occurred inside LOW during the Battle of the Wilderness. Those interested in participating in the golf tournament may contact Bill Wilson, tournament director, at 972-1824 or at wrosserw@comcast.net.

 

Lake Currents – 04/05/13

Wilderness Memorial Golf Tournament Set for May 24

by Craig Rains, Member, CWSGI Memorial Golf Tournament

 

The Civil War Study Group, Inc. (CWSGI) is hosting the third annual Battle of the Wilderness Memorial Golf Tournament at Lake of the Woods Golf Course on Friday, May 24. Funds from golf registrations and tournament sponsorships will be used to support CWSGI’s on-going programs that bring attention to the May 1864 Battle of the Wilderness that was fought in and around Lake of the Woods.

 

Bill Wilson, CWSGI tournament director, said the format will be Two-Person Scramble Match Play, with each foursome consisting of two Confederate team members and two Union team members. The team that wins a hole gets one point, and the total team points combined at the end of the tournament determine the winning side.

 

A number of prizes and gifts will be given away in drawings following the tournament, and a raffle for donated items will be held. CWSGI is seeking corporate sponsorships of $100 and $250, as well as donations for the drawings and raffles.

 

Player fees are $50 per person, with $25 of that amount being a tax-deductible donation to CWSGI, which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Green fees and

 

Photo by Joe Rokus

Bill Wilson, Director of the Memorial Golf Tournament and Southern Belle hostess, Betsy Wilson, greeted golfers at last year’s tournament.

 

Player fees are $50 per person, with $25 of that amount being a tax-deductible donation to CWSGI, which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Green fees and carts are included.   For a registration form to play or to become a sponsor, contact Bill Wilson at 972-1824 or email him at wrosserw@comcast.net.

 

Wilson said funds from previous tournaments have been used to create and install three interpretive panels that depict events inside Lake of the Woods during the battle. In addition, funds went toward the display cabinet that now holds Civil War artifacts on exhibit in the LOW Clubhouse. He said additional projects are being planned to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Wilderness next spring.

 

The Civil War Study Group was formed in 2010 primarily to research and present the historical events and actions that took place during the Battle of the Wilderness, especially in and around what is today’s Lake of the Woods area. The group meets at the Woods Center, 104 Fairway Drive, at 10:30 AM on the fourth Friday of each month, except May, November, and December.

 

Lake Currents – 02/22/13

Civil War Study Group to Assist in Wilderness Park Day Clean Up

by Dwight Mottet, Board Member, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield

 

The Civil War Study Group (CWSG) at Lake of the Woods will partner with Friends of Wilderness Battlefield (FoWB) in the 13th annual Park Day on Saturday, April 6, to provide cleanup and refurbishing efforts at Wilderness Battlefield. More than 100 historic sites nation-wide are participating in this event.  Park Day is sponsored by the Civil War Trust and History, formerly The History Channel.

FoWB in overall partnership with the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, is overseeing Park Day activities at four battlefields: Chancellorsville, Mine Run, Spotsylvania Court House and Wilderness. CWSG will join with FoWB on the Wilderness Battlefield. Everyone in Lake of the Woods is invited to participate on Park Day, an annual, hands-on preservation event to take on maintenance projects large and small at Civil War battlefields and historic sites.

 

Projects on the Wilderness Battlefield include roadside trash pick up, monument refurbishing, leaf and debris cleanup, painting of cannons and historical markers and replacing park boundary markers.

 

Volunteers will meet at 8:30 AM at the Exhibit Shelter at Saunders Field on Route 20. They should wear comfortable clothes and bring work gloves. Tools and supplies will be provided, along with snacks and beverages. CWSG will have a display set up at the registration desk to explain the group’s purpose and to show its activities in LOW. Early-bird registrants will receive a free commemorative Park Day T-shirt if they register by February 28. Register by calling 972-1305 or fill out the online registration form in the Park Day section of the FoWB web site: http://www.fowb.org.

 

For more information, email parkdayregistration@fowb.org.

 

Lake Currents – 02/08/13

 “The Most Awful Time I Ever Saw in My Life” ... Here in the LOW Area?

by Craig Rains, Civil War Study Group

 

It was right after the Battle of the Wilderness when Private Richard Allen of the 13th Virginia Infantry wrote to his mother, “This is the most awful time I ever saw in my life.”

 

What did the soldiers on both sides think about our LOW neighborhood when they spent three days here in May 1864?  It was the Battle of the Wilderness, and it was not a happy time for any of the 160,000 men who swarmed through this part of Virginia, including thousands who marched, camped, or fought across the Lake of the Woods area.

 

The soldiers’ thoughts and memories as they recounted them in letters to their mothers and wives will be the focus of a presentation sponsored by the LOW Civil War Study Group (CWSG) on Friday, February 22, at 10:30 AM. The meeting at the Woods Center, 104 Fairway Drive, is free and open to the public. In the presentation, Civil War historian Craig Rains will share letters written home, bits of individual memories and trivia from soldiers who fought here.

 

“It is one thing to read books about the units and their maneuvers and to study maps with little arrows on them,” Rains said, “but the thoughts the soldiers wrote home about while they went through the daily grind, witnessing the horror and humor of the time, bring the war closer to us 149 years later.”

 

Rains retired to LOW from Arkansas 11 years ago. He was chairman of the board of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.  He currently is on the board of directors of the Civil War Study Group, Inc. He served six years on the board of Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and was one of six recipients named 2011 Battlefield Preservationists of the Year by the Civil War Trust.  He had several ancestors in the war, including two who fought at the Battle of the Wilderness, and had great-grandfathers in both blue and gray.

 

The Civil War Study Group was founded in 2010 to preserve and promote the history of the Civil War in Orange County, with an emphasis on the Battle of the Wilderness fought May 5-7, 1864. A part of that battle was fought over what is now Lake of the Woods. Included is a portion of Confederate General John Gordon’s famous “flank attack” and the location of a large Federal VI Army Corps field hospital.

 

Last year, CWSG installed three interpretive panels that describe 1864 battle actions within LOW. In November, the organization donated to the Lake of the Woods Association a custom-built relics cabinet displaying more than 100 Civil War artifacts, many found in the LOW area. The cabinet and artifacts are a permanent exhibit in the LOW clubhouse.

 

For more information contact Craig Rains at 972-2844 or crains@ymail.com.