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Please join us on Saturday, May 25, as we honor those Civil War soldiers who gave their lives on the Chancellorsville and Wilderness Battlefields.   The program will be held on the grounds of the historic structure Ellwood, which served as a hospital for Confederate casualties during the Battle of Chancellorsville and then one year later was the scene of Federal headquarters operations during the Battle of the Wilderness.

The program will begin at 2:00 PM with the presentation of the “Colors” by the Lake of the Woods Veterans Club. An invocation will follow. Park Supervisory Historian Greg Mertz will then give a talk reflecting on the legacy of Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. Jackson’s arm was amputated at a nearby field hospital and was then interred in the Ellwood family cemetery. The program will conclude with a tribute to the soldiers who were buried on the Wilderness Battlefield and later moved to local cemeteries. The Daughters of the Confederacy will place symbolic flowers to honor the dead from both Union and Confederate Armies. The program will end with the playing of taps.

The program will last about one hour, which will allow visitors time to journey downtown for the illuminations at the National and Confederate Cemeteries that night.

Ellwood will be open from 10:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. and Friends of Wilderness Battlefield volunteer interpreters will be available to talk with visitors and answer questions.

Event is free and open to the public.