The closest encounter occurred in June 1864 when Union major general Philip H. Recognizing its importance, the Union army made several failed attempts to capture Gordonsville and thereby cut off the Confederate military and supply line. Hill, and Wade Hampton all bivouacked in the town at various times throughout the war. Most prominent, Confederate generals Robert E. As the war progressed, Gordonsville emerged as a central holding station for Confederate detachments as well as the main army. Beauregard prior to the First Battle of Manassas (1861). Johnston combined forces with General Pierre G. Confederates also took advantage of the connecting lines to transport troops quickly from the Shenandoah Valley to the northern Virginia front, as when General Joseph E. Produce and goods from the Shenandoah Valley flowed out along the rail lines. The area continued to prosper, and in 1854 the Orange and Alexandria Railroad completed its own line into the town giving Gordonsville, and by extension the Confederate capital at Richmond, access to agricultural goods from the Shenandoah Valley.Īs the front lines of the war began to solidify across northern Virginia, Gordonsville became a town of vast strategic importance. In 1839, Virginia’s General Assembly approved a plan to extend the Virginia Central Railroad to the town, linking it to the state capital. Because of its prime location, Gordonsville soon became a trade center for the surrounding plantations and countryside. Originally consisting of little more than a tavern, this small village was a popular stopping place for such prominent men as George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and Henry Clay. Named in 1787 for Nathaniel Gordon, Gordonsville began as a small way station for travelers on the main road known as the “Fredericksburg Great Road” connecting to the city of Charlottesville from the west and Richmond to the east.

Civil war hospital gordonsville va