On a recent trip I had about an hour to spend near the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County, Virginia. Having been to the battlefield many times there were still a few areas that I either hadn‘t visited yet or wanted better pictures of. I moved quickly and was able to get to three sites that were only a few minutes apart.

Dr. Charles Urquhart, Jr.’s grave

Most people who visit the Germanna Fort Visitor Center at 2062 Germanna Highway in Locust Grove are there to see the museum, library, memorial garden, or to walk down to the Rapidan River. But today I was going there to find a grave in a little known family cemetery. Doctor Charles Urquhart, Jr. was born in Germanna around 1800. His father operated the Spotswood Mill, a general store, and was postmaster. Charles moved to Caroline County from Germanna in 1821 and served as a physician in Port Royal for many years before the war began. Early in the morning on April 26, 1865, a Union cavalryman awoke him from sleep and directed him to come with him to the farm of Richard H. Garrett six miles away. The person he was called to the farm to see was John Wilkes Booth. Booth by this point had been shot and was unconscious and the doctor was asked to examine him and give his prognosis. After doing so, he concluded that the wound was mortal, and Booth would not survive more than an hour. He pronounced Booth dead about 30 minutes later. Dr. Urquhart never wrote about the incident. A little over a year later on a visit to see his sister-in-law in Culpepper, he had a stroke and lost the ability to speak. He was able to write and asked to be buried alongside his mother and father in the family burial ground in Germanna before he died on July 7, 1866. Over the years the Urquhart family cemetery was slowly covered by overgrowth and the victim of vandalism. Around 1960, the Germanna Foundation acquired the land where the cemetery was located. A foot stone present on his grave reads “He Now Reposes By The Side of His Mother. His Ashes Will Mingle With His Kindred, Whilst The Sod Which He Trod In His Infancy Covers His Remains.” After parking I took the path to the left around the visitor center toward the Memorial Garden in the left of the two images below, walking through the center of the covered structure I took the path straight ahead, shown on the right.

The trail is shown below, shortly after entering it I saw that it was the Orange Trail.

After a short walk there was a path to the left and a sign on the ground to the cemetery.

The cemetery is surrounded on three sides by a low stone wall. There are no headstones. In the back corner on the right there is a stone in the ground marking the grave of Dr. Urquhart.

The stone is shown below.

The Alexander “Wilderness” Chapel (on Brigadier’s Way- 38.3230908. -77.7301494)

The Wilderness Chapel which once stood near the Orange Turnpike not far from the modern day Germanna Highway was built in 1880 by James Horace Lacy of Ellwood and named for Reverend Archibald Alexander (1772-1851), a prominent Presbyterian minister. The initial service held there on July 18, 1880, was led by Reverend James Power Smith. Smith was as an aide on the staff of General “Stonewall” Jackson during the war. A cemetery was established there four years later when J.H. Lacy’s son William died at the age of 29. The chapel fell into ruin in 1970. Only the foundation of the church, and the cemetery remain today. The Alexander Chapel was a prominent landmark for early battlefield visitors. According to the June 1995 issue of Blue and Gray Magazine “General Warren’s staffman, Morris Schaff, indicated that during the Battle of the Wilderness an artillery park had been located at the site of the chapel.” The images of the chapel shown below are from the Spotsylvania Memory Facebook page.

I believe this structure was part of the church. Although there is a sign there, the wording has long since worn off.

There were stones embedded around it that appeared to be part of the cornerstones of a foundation.

The picture below was taken from the end of the cemetery looking out over the whole field, which would have been used as a Union artillery park.

The Real Site of Grant’s Headquarters Knoll? (Tour Stop #1 Wilderness Driving Tour- 38.3222957, -77.7338357)

According to the June 1995 issue of Blue and Gray Magazine “The headquarters knoll is about 250 yards from the historical marker. There is no trail to the site, but it is relatively easy to find. As you face the historical marker, look to the right for an opening in the brush leading into the woods. Walk straight ahead, be careful not to stray across the park boundary on the right, and when you reach the top of the knoll, you will be at the site of the command post. Foliage permitting, Ellwood can be seen from here.” I started out walking into the forest to the right of the headquarters sign. After an initial dip in the ground there was a slow gradual ascent to the top of a hill which I believe is the area referred to in the Blue and Gray Magazine. I was moving west, parallel to the Orange Turnpike. The tree canopy here kept the ground level mostly free from vegetation.

At the top of the hill, in the next two images, is the area I believe the Blue and Gray Magazine was referring to. It was about 250 yards from the sign. Anyone know if this is really true, the sign where I entered the woods seems to indicate that the headquarters knoll was located where the sign is located?