Brentmoor Spilman-Mosby House - Warrenton VA - U.S. Civil War Sites on Waymarking.com

Brentmoor-Spilman-Mosby House

Judge Edward M. Spilman of the Fauquier County Circuit Court constructed this house in 1859-61. James Keith, who served in the Black Horse Cavalry and later became president of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, acquired it in 1869.

John Singleton Mosby bought the house from Keith in 1875. Mosby gained fame during the Civil War for his daring exploits behind Union lines. His Partisan Rangers (43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry) used guerilla tactics - swift, nighttime attacks and daylight raids against trains and wagon trains - to challenge Union control of Northern Virginia. Mosby estimated that his 800 men kept 30,000 Union soldiers away from the front lines. He practiced law here after the war. When his wife, Pauline Clarke Mosby, died after giving birth in 1876, he sold his home in 1877 to Eppa Hunton. Mosby and his family are buried in the Warrenton Cemetery.

Hunton, a lawyer and member of the Virginia secession convention, was elected colonel of the 8th Virginia Infantry, then promoted to brigadier general after Gettysburg. He served with distinction at 1st Manassas, Gaines's Mill, and Glendale, and his brigade played a prominent role at Wilderness, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. He was captured at Sayler's Creek on April 6, 1865. Hunton moved to Warrenton after the war and practiced law. He served four terms as U.S. congressman, 1873-1881, and three years as a U.S. senator, 1892-1895. He was the only Southern member of the Electoral Commission that decided the disputed 1876 Hayes-Tilden presidential election. Hunton owned Brentmoor until 1902.

(Sidebar): Architect Andrew Jackson Downing considered the Italian Villa style a "simple, rational, convenient, and economic dwelling for the southern part of the Union." In his book, The Architecture of Country Homes (1850), Downing offered a design resembling Brentmoor, now considered a classic example of the Italian Villa style.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/22/2023 Don.Morfe visited it