At 408 Hanover St. in Fredericksburg, Va., amid the architectural
wonders – a spiral staircase, classic front porch and fluted Doric columns,
among them – is an eye-grabbing piece of Civil War history. A cannonball rests
among damaged red bricks on an upstairs interior wall, evidence of the December
1862 battle that defines much of the city’s identity.
The piece of ordnance is among the selling points for the 1848 Greek
Revival residence that has an asking price of $1.795 million. The property has
5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths and features 5,400 square feet of space, much of it
preserved and modernized by its current owners. An arbor, fire pit and
rectangular pond provide for extra relaxation outside.
“This home appears to be steeped in history and seems to be very well-kept,”
said Kelley Monahan, director of operations for Historic Fredericksburg Foundation Inc., in an email. “408 Hanover is a beautiful home in a
historic district within a very historic town.”
The 19th century homes on Hanover Street and surrounding
neighborhoods are part of the charm of which Fredericksburg boasts. They are among the
survivors of the bombardment and street fighting that shattered the city during
the Civil War battle and leveled many residences. Yankee troops moved through the street as they made their disastrous assaults on Marye's Heights.
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| Battle damage at Hanover and George streets (Library of Congress) |
“Today, few visible examples of external battle damage survive in
Fredericksburg,” wrote Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park then-chief historian John Hennessy in 2010. “I am aware of
only a few buildings that show it, and then only subtly. It’s a different story
on the interior of buildings in town. Probably dozens still bear scars,
and many owners consciously preserve the evidence of battle.”
Such was the case at 408 Hanover St., which has been sold numerous times
since the Civil War. The current listing by Amy Cherry Taylor and Associates
says the “cannonball room” awaits those ascending the staircase. “Once a
sunporch, it now includes a full bath.” (See cannonball in photo 56 of this gallery).
Confederate shells also hit homes
Hennessy, who has since retired from the National Park Service, says that as many as 100 shells a minute exploded over the town during the Dec. 11,
1862, Union bombardment. Scores of homes were destroyed or heavily damaged.
“Bear in mind that not all these buildings were destroyed by
Union fire,” he wrote in the park’s Mysteries & Conundrums blog said. “The
Confederates fired into town, too, over the next four days; I would estimate
that about one-quarter of the town’s damage came from Confederate guns.”
Hennessy has a deep knowledge of the
city’s history and operates the “Fredericksburg Remembered” website. I asked
him about 408 Hanover St., which he has not visited. (Photo at left of home during 2018 candlelight tour courtesy of HFFI)
“Virtually every house on Hanover had shell damage (much of
it likely caused by Confederate artillery firing at the Federal troops as they
exited town into the bloody plain beyond), and in several houses it still
survives,” he wrote the Picket.
HFFI said it believes the solid-shot cannonball at 408 Hanover came from a Federal gun across the Rappahannock River.
Damage from cannonballs could be extensive and many walls were rebuilt, with the shell placed at the location of
impact. Histories of 408 Hanover St. don’t indicate whether that was the case.
Hennessy told the Picket the house was almost
certainly used as a hospital by the Union army. “Hanover
Street was the main passageway for wounded being carried back into
Fredericksburg. I have several accounts of the use of those houses as hospitals.”
The bombardment caused trauma for luckless residents who
could not get out.
Fanny White, then 10, later wrote: “ I ran out into
the yard, and as I turned toward the cellar steps I beheld what seemed to me
the most brilliant light that I had ever seen….A shell had exploded at the back
of the garden….As I looked, my aunt reached out her arms and pulled me,
quivering with terror, into the cellar….For long hours the only sounds that
greeted our ears were the whizzing and moaning of the shells and the crash of
falling bricks and timber.”
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| The NPS diorama of Hanover Street (Courtesy of John Hennessy) |
Interestingly, the oldest exhibit at Fredericksburg and
Spotsylvania National Military Park -- in the visitor center basement -- is a detailed diorama depicting Hanover
Street during the chaos of battle. The Union army briefly held the town before they were thrown back in a decisive Confederate victory.
“The diorama is derived from the famous photograph showing
some of Peter Goolrick’s ruined rental properties at the junction of Hanover
and George Streets. The detail is amazing, down to addresses being written on
the envelopes strewn in the street,” Hennessy wrote in 2010 on Fredericksburg
Remembered.
Home was part of an early subdivision in town
The residence was built 15 years before the war came to Fredericksburg.
Realtor Amy Cherry Taylor, who represents the couple selling the home,
referred me to the HFFI for further questions on the history of the property. The
foundation provided two reports on 408 Hanover Street, adding rich details of
its story.
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| Marker on 408 Hanover (Courtesy of Historic Fredericksburg Foundation) |
When it researches a home, HFFI delves into ownership over the years and
what changes and renovations have been made.
Anne Catherine Henry purchased lots in that part of Fredericksburg in
the 1850s, one of them developed into the property now on sale. It shares a
wall with an adjoining home, known as the Hurkamp House, at 406 Hanover Street.
Little is known about Henry’s time in the city; her sons fought for the
Confederacy.
A local man acquired the property shortly before the Civil War,
according to one report. He left the house and a few enslaved persons to his
daughter.
“Prompted by ill health (or premonition), Robert W. Carter made a will
in October 1861 that undoubtedly raised eyebrows when it was proved two months
later. He left the two lots and house at 408 Hanover to his daughter Anne Catherine Carter for her lifetime, and he made it plain that he hoped she would
die a spinster.”
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| Alfred Waud illustration in Harper's Weekly shows street fighting (Library of Congress) |
(HFFI said in a candlelight tour script for the home that Anne fled to the countryside during the December 1862 battle.)
The homes on Hanover Street were part of a posh subdivision called Allan Town,
dating to the early 19th century, according to Hennessy. “It included the lots along the 400 block of Hanover Street. But
Allentown never had the identity of, say, Liberty Town -- so few people then or
now view the upper end of Hanover Street as part of a larger subdivision,” he
said.
408 Hanover originally had 12 fireplaces (later trimmed to eight feeding four chimneys).
The house was rented in the years after the Civil War. In
1876, it was rented to two men named Green. In 1892, the house was sold to the
Green family, according to a 2010 article in the Fredericksburg Free Lance Star.
The
Green family lived there for many years, including for a time by Duff Green Jr. and his wife Martha, who were described as gracious hosts.
'Continual restoration and renovation'
The HFFI reports provide extensive detail on major repairs and
renovations to the house made beginning in the 1980s. Two second-floor
bathrooms were added and the basement was renovated, among many other updates.
The home was auctioned in 2014, with the following description:
“An exceptional example of Greek Revival architecture and fine Flemish
brick work, the entirety of the 4,800 square foot home has been completely
restored to include many modern amenities, but still retains all of its period
character. Civil War history literally resides in these walls.”
The cannonball rested at a spot then used as a laundry room.
HFFI reports cite the cannonball, the original spiral staircase and a
photograph that the current owners found that was likely of an enslaved person.
The chandeliers “somehow survived the Civil War.”
The property requires “continual restoration and renovation,” the foundation said.
Its current owners, a retired Marine Corps colonel and his wife, “are always mindful that their stewardship of a historical
property requires that -- above all -- they maintain 408 Hanover’s authenticity
and preserve its distinctive character.”
