War Comes to Fairfield - Woodford VA
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 38° 08.890 W 077° 26.419
18S E 286163 N 4225068
War brought profound changes to the Chandler family, Fairfield, and the slaves who toiled on the plantation. Three of Thomas Chandler’s sons enlisted in the Confederate army.
Waymark Code: WM13CM5
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 11/08/2020
Views: 1
War Comes to Fairfield-War brought profound changes to the Chandler family, Fairfield, and the slaves who toiled on the plantation. Three of Thomas Chandler’s sons enlisted in the Confederate army. When the Union army occupied Fredericksburg in 1862 many of Chandler’s slaves seized freedom, leaving the family without its customary workforce.
In December 1862 the Confederates established a major supply depot at Guinea Station, just a few hundred yards from Fairfield’s back door. Camps sprawled across the plantation. Stonewall Jackson himself camped here for a week, declining the Chandler’s offer to stay in the house. Instead he pitched a tent nearby.
By 1863 Chandler had had enough: he sold Fairfield. But before the Chandlers could move away, Fairfield’s most famous visitor would return yet again – this time not to camp but to die. Jackson’s death here propelled the plantation to a fame it had never known.
(caption of picture): Jackson arrived at Fairfield for the last time on May 4, 1863. By then the plantation was a vast camp, crowded with thousands of Union prisoners and Confederate wounded.
LOCATION: Marker is near Woodford, Virginia, in Caroline County. Marker can be reached from Stonewall Jackson Road (Virginia Route 606) near Guinea Station Road (Virginia Route 634). Marker is at or near this postal address: 12019 Stonewall Jackson Road, Woodford VA 22580, United States of America
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