Chuck Lawliss Read online

  A Ballantine Book

  Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group

  Copyright © 1998 by Chuck Lawliss

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  http://www.randomhouse.com

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-96013

  eISBN: 978-0-307-75772-2

  v3.1

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Introduction

  How to Use This Book

  THE NORTH AND THE BORDER STATES

  New Hampshire

  Ohio

  Kentucky

  Delaware

  Washington, DC

  Maryland

  Pennsylvania

  West Virginia

  THE SOUTH

  Virginia

  North Carolina

  South Carolina

  Tennessee

  Georgia

  Alabama

  Mississippi

  Louisiana

  Arkansas

  Missouri

  About the Author

  Introduction

  People were visiting Civil War battlefields even before the Civil War was over. Almost before the smoke cleared at Manassas, people were walking around Henry House Hill and peeping in the window of the Stone House. It was the same at Gettysburg. Men and women came to walk the battlefield and see Little Round Top and Devil’s Den and the “little clump of trees” where Pickett’s Charge was thrown back. People are curious, but it is more than that. They want a sense of what it was like to be part of a great event, to be part of history.

  Interest in the Civil War still grows. It is greater now than it was in the 1960s when we celebrated the centennial, greater than it was ten years ago, and it is a good bet it will be still greater in another ten years. The Civil War shaped the America we know today.

  The war also greatly affected the people who fought in it. The great Supreme Court justice and Civil War captain Oliver Wendell Holmes put it best: “We have shared the incommunicable experience of war. We have felt, we still feel, the passion of life to its top … in our youth our hearts were touched with fire.” If a century after the fact, we can’t be touched by that fire, we can at least feel its warmth.

  One way to enrich and intensify our Civil War experience is to stay at an inn that was connected to the war, an inn owned and operated by people who love their place and its link to the past. Staying in such a place can add a new dimension to your trip. For a moment you brush up against history. It’s a nice feeling.

  This book brings together Civil War sites and the inns that are connected to them in some way. This will allow your experience of one to enhance your experience of the other. When you’re exploring the Shenandoah Valley, for instance, stay for a night at the house in Charles Town, West Virginia, where Grant and Sheridan met to plan Sheridan’s Valley campaign. At Antietam, stay at the farmhouse on the battlefield where Longstreet made his headquarters. Wouldn’t you know Jefferson Davis better if you stayed at the Mississippi plantation where he spent his youth? Wouldn’t a visit to a great plantation let you experience the life that has gone with the wind?

  When I am traveling to gather information and take photographs for a book or an article on the Civil War, I make a point of staying at inns. Innkeepers are a great source of information. They know what’s around, how to get there, and whom I should talk to when I arrive. Furthermore, when traveling by yourself it’s a pleasure to chat with your hosts at the end of a long day.

  How to Use This Book

  All but a handful of the inns described in this book were visited by the author, and the others were visited by his friends. Although the inns range from the rustic to the manorial and from inexpensive to very expensive, all are recommended.

  To avoid disappointment there are a few things to remember. One, make reservations. Inns are small and their guest rooms fill up fast, particularly in season (summer in the North, spring and fall in the South).

  Two, if you have special requirements, discuss them with the innkeeper when you make your reservation. This is particularly important if you are traveling with someone who requires a wheelchair. Also, many inns have restrictions on pets and young children.

  All inns provide breakfast to their guests, and the majority provide a full breakfast; only the exceptions are noted in the individual listings.

  Inn rates change. For this reason a simple code is used instead of the rate quoted when this book was being prepared:

  $$$: Expensive

  $$: Moderate

  $: Inexpensive

  NEW HAMPSHIRE

  The Chase House

  The Chase House

  Cornish, New Hampshire

  The war was costing the Union $2.5 million a day by 1863, a price that would total more than $6 billion before it was over. The man responsible for that money was Salmon Chase, a former Ohio governor with no financial background who competed with Lincoln for the Republican presidential candidacy. When Chase lost, Lincoln appointed him secretary of the treasury.

  Lincoln valued Chase’s competence and the political savvy that enabled him to get finance bills through Congress. But their friendship ended when Lincoln learned Chase had secretly agreed to run against him in 1864. However, Lincoln later appointed him chief justice of the Supreme Court, a position he held until his death in 1873.

  Chase was born in this Federal-style house, in what is now the dining room, in 1808.

  The Chase House has been restored and now is a handsome inn, located on the Connecticut River and shaded by stately trees. The furnishings are elegant and the full breakfast served up by innkeeper Barbara Lewis prepares guests for a morning of sightseeing.

  Address: Rte. 12A, Cornish, NH 03745; tel: 603-675-5391.

  Accommodations: Six double rooms, four with private baths, and two rooms with shared bath.

  Amenities: Air-conditioning, off-street parking, canoeing, hiking, and cross-country skiing on trails on the property.

  Rates: $$-$$$. Visa, MasterCard, and personal checks.

  Restrictions: No children under twelve, no pets, no smoking.

  OHIO

  The Sherman House

  Lancaster, Ohio

  Charles Sherman, a young Connecticut lawyer, came to Lancaster in 1810, moved his family into this small frame house, and established a law practice. His son, William Tecumseh Sherman, was born in 1820.

  Nine years later, Charles died, leaving his widow with eleven children. A neighbor, Thomas Ewing, offered to take the “smartest” of the boys: William. “I was taken by Mr. Ewing and put on a par with his own children,” he later recalled.

  Ewing was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1830, and later held several cabinet posts. In 1836 he secured “Cump,” as the boy was called, an appointment to West Point.

  In 1850, Sherman married his guardian’s daughter, Ellen Ewing, who would bear him eight children. He resigned from the army in 1853 and was involved in banking and real estate. He found his niche when he became superintendent of a military academy in Louisiana, where he stayed until the state seceded. Sherman returned to the army in 1861 and went on to fame.

  The house today has an 1816 addition, which contains Judge Ewing’s study and the family parlor. On the second floor is a re-creation of Sherman’s field tent with war artifacts and family memorabilia.

  The Sherman House, 137 E. Main St., Lancaster, OH 43130, is open April through mid-December, Tuesday-Sunday, 1:00-4:00. Open by appointment at other times. Admission is $2.50 for
adults, $1 for children six to seventeen. For information phone 740-654-9923.

  Shaw’s Inn

  Lancaster, Ohio

  Picture a tree-shaded square in a midwestern town with a gazebo where a brass band plays concerts on soft summer nights. Add a charming inn and a good restaurant and you have Shaw’s in Lancaster, Ohio, the boyhood home of William T. Sherman, the Union general who made “Marching Through Georgia” his tune.

  The inn, owned by Bruce and Nancy Cork, has been a landmark here since the early 1800s, greeting such distinguished guests as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. The story goes that Rudolph Pitcher, a previous owner, lost the tavern in a poker game. The restaurant, built in 1939 on the site of the original, merits three stars from the Mobil Guide and high marks from the Zagat Survey.

  The Sherman House is only a half-block away and a Georgian mansion is just across the street. General Sherman’s birthday, February 8, is an event at Shaw’s, and guests and neighbors enjoy attending the festivities in period costumes.

  Address: 123 N. Broad St., Lancaster, OH 43130; tel: 614-654-1842 or 800-654-2477; fax: 614-654-7032.

  Accommodations: Fifteen double rooms and seven suites, all with private baths.

  Amenities: Air-conditioning, off-street parking; rooms have phones, cable TV, hair dryers, suites have whirlpool baths.

  Rates: $$-$$$. Visa, MasterCard, and personal checks.

  Restrictions: No pets.

  KENTUCKY

  Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill

  Perryville Battlefield

  Perryville, Kentucky

  Confederate General Braxton Bragg invaded Kentucky in the fall of 1862, and Union General Don Carlos Buell moved east from Louisville to prevent him from joining up with General Kirby Smith and his army from across the Mississippi. There was a drought, both armies were seeking water, and neither side knew how close it was to the other. They blundered into each other here, at Doctor’s Creek, on October 8.

  The leading column, commanded by Union Brigadier General Philip Sheridan, first skirmished near the creek; then Bragg, unaware that he was outnumbered three to one, struck the Union left. He was repelled, but Buell’s reluctance to press the attack cost him an important victory. Half of his army took no part in the battle, and Bragg got away unmolested. The battle cost 4,211 Federal and 3,396 Confederate casualties.

  By the end of the month, both armies were back in Tennessee, where Buell was soon replaced by William Rosecrans. Perryville was the last battle in Kentucky, the Confederacy’s last serious attempt to gain control of the state. All three Confederate invasions that fall had foundered—Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price at Corinth, Mississippi, Robert E. Lee in Maryland, and now Bragg in Kentucky.

  The Perryville Battlefield State Shrine is reached from the Bluegrass Pkwy. by taking Exit 59, then going twenty-four miles south on U.S. 127 through Harrodsburg to Danville. Then take the 127/150 bypass, go right (west) on U.S. 150, drive nine miles to Perryville, and go north on KY 1920 to the battlefield. The 250-acre park looks much as it did at the time of the battle. Still standing are the Crawford House, Bragg’s headquarters, and the Bottom House, the center of some of the heaviest fighting. A large map of the battle is in the small museum at the Visitor Center. Open April through October, 9:00-5:00, and other times by appointment. The battle is reenacted annually on the weekend closest to October 8. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children. For information phone 606-332-8631.

  The whole town of Perryville (population 815), a National Register district, looks much as it did when the battle was fought nearby. For information phone 606-332-1862.

  Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill

  Harrodsburg, Kentucky

  Shaker Village, once the home of a religious community, was located on a turnpike that was used by both Union and Confederate troops throughout the war, particularly during the 1862 Kentucky campaign. The Shakers were Unionists and abolitionists, but their pacifism kept them out of the conflict. They were hospitable to both armies as they marched through the village, and nursed the wounded after the Battle of Perryville. Shaker Village, which was founded in 1805, has been restored and twenty-seven original buildings are open. Guests stay in “family houses” and the meetinghouse. In the Shaker tradition, the rooms are simple but comfortable and charming. Meals are prepared from Shaker recipes and served at the Trustee’s House, where the leaders of the village once conducted the necessary business with the outside world. A few days at Shaker Village is a serene experience in a hectic world.

  Address: 3501 Lexington Rd., Harrodsburg, KY 40330; tel: 606-734-5411.

  Accommodations: Eighty-one guest rooms, including some suites, in historic buildings and small houses, all with private baths.

  Amenities: Air-conditioning, off-street parking, lectures, exhibitions of Shaker crafts, tours, shops, riverboat excursions from April through October. Dining room for lunch and dinner.

  Rates: $$. Visa, MasterCard, personal checks, and cash. Restrictions: No pets, restricted smoking.

  DELAWARE

  Armitage Inn

  Fort Delaware

  Delaware City, Delaware

  Fort Delaware was constructed on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River to be part of a mid-nineteenth-century coastal defense network of forts. In 1861 the War Department determined that it would be an ideal site for political prisoners, and Confederate officers and enlisted men.

  Often as many as 12,500 prisoners were in residence, many living in wooden barracks outside the fort walls. Although the fort was surrounded by a moat, a number of prisoners escaped by swimming to shore, where they were given aid by Southern sympathizers.

  The damp, insect-infested terrain fostered epidemics, and some 2,700 prisoners perished. Most of them are buried just across the river in what is now a national cemetery. A museum in the fort houses scale models of the fort and Civil War relics.

  The Delafort, an 88-passenger ferryboat, takes visitors to the fort from the last weekend in April to the last weekend in September, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, 10:00-6:00. It also runs from mid-June to Labor Day, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 10:00-6:00. The ride costs $6 for adults, $4 for children two to twelve. For information phone 302-834-7941.

  Armitage Inn

  New Castle, Delaware

  Built in 1732, the Armitage Inn is beautifully situated on the banks of the river in New Castle’s Battery Park, a few steps away from the spot where William Penn first set foot in the New World.

  From the steps of this historic inn, you can see Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River, where upward of 33,000 Confederates were imprisoned.

  There are five handsomely decorated guest rooms, three on the second floor, two on the third. All are sumptuously decorated, and those in the rear have a view of the river. On the ground floor, guests may relax in the parlor, the library, or on a screened porch overlooking a walled garden.

  Address: 2 The Strand, New Castle, DE 19720; tel: 302-328-6618; fax: 302-324-1163.

  Accommodations: Five guest rooms, all with private baths, three with whirlpool tubs.

  Amenities: Air-conditioning, off-street parking; rooms have phones, cable TV, feather beds. Restaurants and antiques shops in walking distance.

  Rates: $$$. All major credit cards and personal checks.

  Restrictions: No children under twelve, no pets, no smoking.

  WASHINGTON, DC

  Willard Inter-Continental

  Washington, DC

  The Willard isn’t what comes to mind when someone says historic inn. The grande dame of Washington now is a luxury hotel offering guests every amenity, but at heart she is one of the great historic inns, albeit one that is twelve stories high and has grown and prospered with the times.

  Abraham Lincoln, his family, and several aides stayed here before his inaugural, and his bill for $773.75 is on display in the lobby today. Indeed, every president from Franklin Pierce to Bill Clinton has stayed here on the eve of his nomination. Throughout the wa
r, the Willard was the center for Union generals (Grant stayed here four times) and politicians; in fact, the word “lobbyist” was coined to describe the office-seekers who hung around the Willard lobby hoping to buttonhole influential politicians. Julia Ward Howe was a guest here when she wrote the words to “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

  While covering the war for The Atlantic Monthly, Nathaniel Hawthorne described the Willard: “This hotel, in fact, may be much more justly called the center of Washington and the Union than either the Capitol, the White House or the State Department … you exchange nods with governors of sovereign states; you elbow illustrious men, and tread on the toes of generals; you hear statesmen and orators speaking in their familiar tones. You are mixed up with office seekers, wire pullers, inventors, artists, poets, prosers … until identity is lost among them.”

  Address: 1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 20004, two blocks east of the White House; tel: 202-628-9100; fax: 202-637-7326.

  Accommodations: 340 first-class rooms, including thirty-eight suites.

  Amenities: All rooms are furnished in Queen Anne style. Oversized bathroom with a phone, hair dryer, and television speaker. Concierge. Restaurants include the elegant Willard Room. Shop ping. Exercise room. Famous Peacock Alley runs the length of the hotel, connecting Pennsylvania Avenue and F Street.

  Rates: $$$. All credit cards accepted.

  Restrictions: Some restrictions on pets.

  Morrison-Clark Inn

  Washington, DC

  In 1864 two of Washington’s leading families built homes side by side, just northwest of fashionable Massachusetts Avenue, near Mount Vernon Square. Today, these Victorian houses are the heart of a distinctive historic inn. Daniel L. Morrison made a fortune selling flour and feed to the government during the war; Reuben B. Clark, Washington’s jail commissioner, became wealthy through land investments. The Morrison house was purchased in 1923 by the Women’s Army and Navy League and converted into an inexpensive place for enlisted men to stay while visiting Washington. Later the facility was expanded to include the Clark home. Traditionally, first ladies presided over the club. When it opened in 1923, Grace Coolidge headed the receiving line.