Charlottesville during the Civil War

As part of the American South, Charlottesville, Albemarle County and the University of Virginia were all affected by the Civil War between the Union and the Confederacy. However, most of the area was largely spared the brunt of conflict. Charlottesville has parks dedicated to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Some buildings in Scottsville were used as Confederate hospitals.

Key sites

• Rio Hill
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Timeline

• March 3, 1865: Major General Philip H. Sheridan's Union Army of the Shenandoah entered Charlottesville to destroy railroad facilities as the 3rd Cavalry Division led by Brevet Major General George A. Custer arrived from Waynesboro. Mayor Christopher H. Fowler, other local officials, and University of Virginia professors Socrates Maupin and John B. Minor and Rector Thomas L. Preston met Custer, just east of here. Fowler surrendered the town, and the professors asked that the university be protected, "for it would always be a national asset." Custer agreed and posted guards during the three-day occupation. The University suffered little damage, unlike the Virginia Military Institute, which had been burned in June 1864.
• March 6, 1865: Union soldiers crossed the James River at Scottsville on their way to join General Ulysses Grant at Petersburg. They destroyed canal locks and buildings.

Sesquicentennial

A group of historians, tourists and history buffs are currently planning the region's approach to the 150th anniversary of the civil war.