"I was threatened with being hung with a grapevine"

Map detail of Spotsylvania County, 1863

     During the Civil War, suffering, violence and deprivation were experiences widely shared by many of the citizens of Spotsylvania County. For those families who remained loyal to the United States, there was the added misery of being feared and hated by suspicious neighbors who viewed allegiance to the United States as a threat to their way of life. This is the story of Absalom McGee and his family, who were divided in their loyalties, and pitted one brother against four. (The McGee name was spelled in several different ways in varying documents--Magee, McGhee, McGehee. Absalom's descendants, whom I knew 50 years ago, spelled the family name McGhee. Absalom signed his name "McGee," so that is the spelling that I will use here.)
     Reuben McGee (1798-1881) and his wife, Margaret Sorrell (1801-1882) lived on a farm on the north side of the Orange Turnpike--modern Route 3--at Lick Run. They raised a large family, several of whom lived nearby after they went out on their own. Absalom McGee, born February 1, 1822 did just that. After marrying Frances Wiley in 1844, he lived near his parents on that section of the Turnpike. By the time of the Civil War, Absalom and Frances were living next to Reuben and Margaret on a 104-acre farm. Absalom and Frances's neighbors to the west were the Chancellors of Chancellorsville. The McGees had eight children who survived to adulthood. Their house was a two-story structure painted white, and included a cellar. In the map detail above, their farm is indicated as "A. Magee" in the middle of the image.
     When the war began in 1861, Absalom and his brothers Robert, Sanford and Ebenezer remained loyal to the United States. Brother Reuben cast his lot with the Confederacy. But the four McGee brothers who remained true to the nation of their birth were not passive patriots. They actively did all within their power to assist the Federal government to put down the rebellion. This cost them all dearly, and one of them made the ultimate sacrifice.
     Absalom McGee remained quietly at home until February 1862, when he was arrested by the Confederates for disloyal behavior and imprisoned in Fredericksburg for eight or nine days. Four days after his release he was arrested a second time and imprisoned in the same place. "I bought my way out on both occasions," he later explained. Absalom then remained quietly at home until April 1862, when General Irvin McDowell's troops arrived in Falmouth and briefly occupied Fredericksburg.  Absalom slipped across the Rappahannock River and traveled to Washington, D.C. where he remained until August. He received a pass from Union General James Wadsworth and returned home, and came under the constant scrutiny of suspicious Confederates. He began a long period of frequently hiding in the woods to avoid arrest, or worse.
     Absalom's brothers Ebenezer, Sanford and Robert became scouts for the Union army and they may have helped during Hooker's invasion of Spotsylvania in May 1863. Absalom did not actively scout himself. Instead, he would secretly meet with Union scouts who came to his house in the dead of night and shared intelligence with them, some of which came from his neighbor, Isaac Silver, another Union loyalist and spy. Although the Union army was grateful for the help they were receiving from the McGees, little could be done to protect them from the holocaust that was about to descend upon them.
     A large and well-equipped Union army commanded by General Joseph Hooker invaded Spotsylvania and occupied Chancellorsville on May 1, 1863. Absalom went to Hooker's headquarters and remained there during the ensuing battle, leaving his wife and children at home. Union troops occupied the McGee home and immediately set about transforming it into a hospital. The house's windows and doors were removed, in order to facilitate bringing the wounded inside. The doors were used to carry the wounded from the ambulances inside the house, where they also did duty as "amputating tables." The stair railing was removed in order to make it easier to transport the wounded upstairs. The windows were left in the yard, where they were crushed by the constant arrival of the ambulances.
     The McGees' clothing, draperies, blankets and sheets were torn into strips to make bandages. Frances and her children remained in the cellar, as United States soldiers plundered the meat house, stole corn and fodder and slaughtered livestock for the army's use. Much of the farm's fencing was taken for firewood. The interior of the house came to resemble a human abattoir, and it would be some time before it could be made habitable again. After the battle, Confederate soldiers came to the farm and stole what little food remained.

Castle Thunder (Wikipedia)

     When Hooker's army retreated across the river, Absalom went with them. He asked to be included with a group of Confederate prisoners in order to disguise the fact that he was actually aiding the Federal army. After spending some time in Washington, he returned home. The next day he was arrested by the Confederates and taken to Castle Thunder in Richmond, where he was confined for a month. His wife and some friends in Fredericksburg worked for his release, and he was finally let go after taking an oath not to bear arms against the Confederacy.

Thomas Frazer Chancellor

John Roberts Alrich

     Absalom remained under constant surveillance, and was the victim of threats and abuse by three of his neighbors who were serving in the 9th Virginia Cavalry: Thomas Frazer Chancellor [1], John Roberts Alrich [2] and James Swithin Mason Harrow [3]. "I was threatened with being hung with a grapevine--was told I would not be permitted to live 30 days." The stress on Frances was unbearable. She later testified about Absalom's arrest and imprisonment: "The rebels took Mr. McGee in the night when I had just given birth to a child.They threatened to kill my husband at the time they took him which so excited me that I came very near dying, and my child died in consequence."
      As would be expected, Absalom's aged parents also suffered during the Battle of Chancellorsville, and for months afterwards. Confederate soldiers who camped on their farm in August 1863 found them in a desperate condition: "At the house where we camped I do not believe the old man had a mouthful to eat and his wife had not been out of bed for six months...Our visit was a godsend to the old man and his wife, for we were able to do much for them." [Noel Harrison]
     

Colonel Ulric Dahlgren (Wikipedia)

     In March 1864, Colonel Ulric Dahlgren led a column of cavalry as part of an unsuccessful  raid on Richmond. Dahlgren's men were ambushed and Dahlgren was killed, and his scout Ebenezer McGee was mortally wounded. Confederates found papers on Dahlgren's body which indicated an intention to assassinate Jefferson Davis and the Confederate cabinet and to burn Richmond. By this time, Ebenezer's brothers Sanford and Robert were also serving in the Union army and remained in uniform until the war's end.

Reuben Henry McGee in old age (Ancestry)

     The other McGee brother, Reuben Henry, enlisted in the 30th Virginia Infantry in July 1861. He served until he was paroled at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. After the war, Reuben farmed and worked as a carpenter in Spotsylvania. In 1892, he lost part of a finger of his right hand in an accident while he was a passenger on the PF&P Railroad:

The Free Lance 16 September 1892

     This injury and the debilitating effects of heart disease made it increasingly difficult for Reuben to work and take care of himself. In 1915 he was admitted to the Robert E. Lee Confederate Soldier's Home in Richmond, where he died on March 1, 1922.

Robert E. Lee Confederate Soldiers Home (Wikipedia)

     Two months after the death of Ebenezer McGee, the Union army invaded Spotsylvania again. This time, 500 troopers of the 5th New York Cavalry, commanded by Colonel John Hammond, spent five or six days encamped at Absalom and Frances's farm. While there, they managed to burn what remained of the McGee's fencing, and their horses ate up all the clover in a 30-acre field.

Colonel John Hammond (New York State Military Museum)

     After the war, Absalom was able to rehabilitate his farm over time and make the house livable. Over the years he bought a great deal of property along the corridor of the Orange Turnpike, and he became one of Spotsylvania's more prosperous farmers.
     But there would still be times of adversity. He was seriously hurt in 1871 while hunting wild pigeons. In 1877, his house burned. Absalom rebuilt it.

Fredericksburg Ledger 19 December 1871

     By 1891, Absalom's youngest daughter, Mattie, was teaching school near Chancellorsville:

The Free Lance 6 February 1891

     On November 26, 1891, Mattie married Russell Aylmyr Chewning, a son of Absalom Chewning, who had worked as the chief blacksmith at Catherine Furnace during the Civil War. Mattie and Russell built a house next door to Absalom. Known as "The House of the Seven Gables," the Chewnings raised their five children there. That house is gone now.

Russell and Mattie Chewning and family, about 1912

House of the Seven Gables, 2012

     By the end of the 1800's, two of Absalom's daughters--Harriet and Ella--were still living at his home. In August 1897, these two intrepid women captured a rattlesnake  large enough to attract the attention of the local newspaper:

The Free Lance 12 August 1897

     Frances McGee died at home on February 9, 1902. She was buried in the family cemetery near the house. Nine months later, on November 18, 80-year-old Absalom McGee married neighbor Cicely Timberlake, who was 47 at the time.

The Daily Star18 November 1902

     Absalom McGee died at home on May 7, 1910. He is buried near Frances in the family graveyard.

The Daily Star 7 May 1910

[1] Thomas Frazer Chancellor was a son of Reverend Melzi Chancellor. Thomas was mortally wounded at Gettysburg, where he died July 15, 1863. A short biography of Thomas can be read here.

[2] John Roberts Alrich came to Spotsylvania from New Castle County, Delaware in the 1850's. He lived at the intersection of Old Plank and Catharpin roads at what was then known as "New Store" but has long been known to locals as Johnson's Corner. John was active in local politics after the war and served for a time as county treasurer.

[3] James Swithin Mason Harrow arrested Richard Wesley Bowling for desertion and was fatally shot on September 26, 1864. Bowling was tried for his murder, but I do not know if he was convicted or served time for that crime.


My primary sources of information for this article were:

Harrison, Noel G., "Chancellorsville Battlefield Sites." H.E. Howard, Inc., Lynchburg, VA: 1990.

NARA M2094. Approved case files of claims submitted to the Commissioner of Claims (known as the Southern Claims Commission) from the state of Virginia, 1871-1880.