The Civil War - 1861-1865

The Civil War - 1843-1865
By 1833, the Washington farmhouse was a ruin and the plantation had become a more modest endeavor run by a succession of absentee owners using either overseers or tenants. By 1850, Winter Bray had constructed a new farmhouse for the overseer at Ferry Farm. In 1861, it was still a going concern with the farmhouse valued at $400. The farm depended on slave labor and listed horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs as assets.

Generals Lee and Burnside
The principal generals in the Battle of Fredericksburg ~
Gen. Robert E. Lee (left) and Gen. Ambrose Burnside (right).
Images courtesy Library of Congress.

Soldiers firing towards Fredericksburg from the farm
The Civil War arrives at Ferry Farm ~ In 1852, Ferry Farm’s owner, Winter Bray, had died and left the farm to his underage sons. Their mother remarried and her new husband, John Trible, assumed control of the operation until the boys came of age. Trible was operating the farm using an overseer when Union troops arrived in Stafford County in April, 1862. Drawing by Alfred R. Waud, 1862. Image courtesy Library of Congress.

The Bray House structures ~ Excavation has uncovered two structures associated with the Bray farm—the dwelling house and a separate kitchen. A twentieth-century icehouse destroyed much of the dwelling’s remnants, but its stone lined cellar survived largely intact. The ephemeral nature of the kitchen resulted in the recovery of only two architectural elements—the chimney base and an associated hearth.

House Cellar ~ The cellar measures 17 ft east to west, and 10 ft north to south. Made primarily of dry-laid fieldstone, the Bray cellar features a dirt floor and crudely dressed stone walls. A narrow entrance permitted access into the cellar from the outside. The cellar was filled with architectural material including bricks, mortar, stones, and plaster covered with graffiti, as well as several Civil War-related finds.

Kitchen
Kitchen ~ The kitchen’s only surviving architectural elements are its brick chimney base and an associated hearth. The kitchen either sat on piers or was constructed using logs, leaving behind little architectural evidence. Large quantities of plaster that originally lined the fireplace, fell into the hearth.

Battlefield Painting ~ Ferry Farm is one of the best-documented landscapes associated with the Battle of Fredericksburg. Renowned battlefield photographers and illustrators captured the view of Fredericksburg from the farm. Alfred Waud, a frontline artist working for Harper’s Weekly, produced several sketches of Ferry Farm. Photographers working for Matthew Brady also took photos of the farm before and after the battle. Lithograph of the Battle of Fredericksburg by Kurz & Allison, 1888. Image courtesy Library of Congress.

Photograph of Fredericksburg from the east bank of the Rappahannock ~ The Battle of Fredericksburg marked the shift from the federal policy of conciliation where troops carefully protected civilian interests, to a "hard war" in which secessionists were punished. Ferry Farm is an excellent illustration of this change in war policies. From April to August of 1862, Union soldiers occupied Fredericksburg with troops camping at Ferry Farm. At first, the farm owner’s interests were protected while the overseer went about his business undisturbed. By November 1862, hard war had replaced conciliation with catastrophic consequences. The farmhouse and its outbuildings were torn down, fences removed, and crops and livestock carried off. Ferry Farm was quickly transformed into a desolate, barren landscape. Photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1840-1882. Image courtesy Library of Congress.

New York Buttons ~ The Union Soldiers came from various units including those from New York, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. These men were not only aware of the association between Washington and Ferry Farm, but also noted the irony that the farm that produced the "father of our country" was now the setting for the ripping apart of the country.

Inkwell
Soldier's Inkwell~ Troops left behind three types of readily identifiable items: battle-related objects, including bullets and exploded artillery shells; personal items, such as tobacco pipes and ink bottles; and gear from their uniforms including buttons, medallions, and letters used on caps.

Distribution of horseshoe nails
Horseshoe nails artifact distribution ~ One artifact that was found clustered in just a single area was horseshoe nails. Most of the nails found are unused—dropped by the blacksmith during the process of shoeing horses. This blacksmith was likely associated with the first Union occupation of Ferry Farm.