Culpeper Court House
1863–64 Winter Encampment
During the winter of 1863-64, Federal officers quartered in many of Culpeper’s homes. The surrounding landscape was dotted with tents and huts for ten square miles as nearly 100,000 soldiers encamped. Gen. U.S. Grant, commander of all Federal armies, is said to have taken a daily walk to purchase cigars at a pharmacy located in what had been the boyhood home of Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill. Before dawn on May 4, 1864, the Federal soldiers broke camp and marched for Germanna Ford,
10 miles ahead of you. This marked the last time substantial military activity occurred in the Town of Culpeper. The troops had embarked upon the last grand campaign of the war. Ironically, it was also the first campaign between the war’s premier generals: the battles of Lee vs. Grant were soon to get underway with the first confrontation at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5-6.
Marker is at the intersection of South Commerce Street and East Davis Street, on the left when traveling south on South Commerce Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
