Civil War re-enactors depict the Virginia Guard encamped at Montpelier, the home of President James Madison. THE MONTPELIER FOUNDATION

Re-enactors, special tour guide to depict Confederate troops' 1863-64 winter stay at presidential estate in Orange County

Date published: 7/26/2008

By CLINT SCHEMMER

MONTPELIER, the Orange County home of James Madison, is a place rich with stories about fascinating people and events in American history.

The beautiful estate is famed as the home of the nation's fourth president and, in more recent times, of horse breeder Marion duPont Scott, its last private owner. Much less well known is the significant role that the property played during the Civil War.

But Montpelier's steward, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is illuminating that part of its past with special tours next weekend of one place the Army of Northern Virginia called home during the winter of 1863-64, when Orange County was headquarters for Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces.

Next Friday through Sunday, visitors can see where hundreds of Lee's troops spent the winter before the Battle of the Wilderness. North and South suffered 30,000 casualties in that 1864 fight, the first eastern engagement in which Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant took command.

Three brigades led by Confederate Gen. Cadmus Wilcox camped that winter on Montpelier's grounds. Montpelier's archaeologists funded by the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program have located seven regimental camps there. Two weeks ago, word came that The Montpelier Foundation will receive a $35,000 Park Service grant to study other camps.

Gen. Samuel McGowan's South Carolina Brigade occupied one camp preserved on Montpelier's 2,650 acres, laying out 50-man streets, each with a company officer positioned at its head, and building log huts with stone hearths where the men took refuge from the chill.

CAMP WELL-PRESERVED

Since the South Carolinians pulled out on May 4, 1864, their 5-acre camp site has been nearly untouched. Montpelier's archaeologists have excavated four of its hut sites, which are featured as part of a three-quarter-mile interpretive trail. Guided tours of the site are available only four times a year.

Blair will relate some of the stories of the Orange County camps. She is the author of "Tragedy at Montpelier: The Untold Story of Ten Confederate Deserters" and "The Essential Civil War: A Handbook of Battles, Armies, Navies and Commanders."

Her first book tells of 10 Confederate soldiers who had fought valiantly at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, then chose to leave their comrades and head home. Captured and taken prisoner, they were returned to their division, where their punishment--death by firing squad--was carried out in front of their comrades on Montpelier's grounds.

Blair's second volume, published in 2006, is an easy-to-use guide to the conflict, arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

What: Re-enactments, tours of the Confederate campsites Where: Montpelier, on State Route 20, four miles west of the town of Orange When: Friday through Sunday, Aug. 1-3. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.: Re-enactors set up camp in the morning; displays and activities in camp. Saturday, 9 a.m.: company drills, camp displays; 11 a.m: dress parade; 1 p.m.: Montpelier guide Jayne Blair leads tour of winter campsites; 2:30 p.m.: skirmish drill; 4 p.m.: bayonet drill. Sunday, 9 a.m.: camps open to public; 10 a.m.: dress parade; 10:30-11:30 a.m.: company drills; 1 p.m.: Blair leads tour. Details: 540/672-2728, montpelier.org; admission: $14 per adult, $7 per child ages 6-14, younger children free, $7 for National Trust members

Date published: 7/26/2008