Dowdall's Tavern

 

Dowdall's Tavern, April 1866

     During the Battle of Chancellorsville, Dowdall's Tavern was located directly in the path of the charging Confederates of General Thomas J. Jackson's Second Corps as they ambushed Union troops on May 2, 1863. Were it not for that fact, several generations of historians would not have written about this place, and it would have long ago faded into obscurity. 

    

Detail of 1820 map of Spotsylvania County

        What became known as Dowdall's tavern was originally the property of the Gatewood family, who owned a tavern there as early as 1792. It was located on the south side of the Orange Turnpike (today's Route 3) just east of modern Wilderness Baptist Church. The map detail above shows the location of the tavern of Henry Gatewood. By the 1820s it was one of three taverns within a short distance on this stretch of road, the other two being Chancellorsville to the east and Wilderness Tavern to the west (which does not appear on this map).

New Store

     Henry Gatewood's relative, Bernard Gatewood, owned a house called "New Store" to the east of the tavern. It was located at the intersection of modern Old Plank and Catharpin roads (known to many locals as "Johnson's corner"). The building known as Dowdall's Tavern was somewhat modified by the time it was photographed in 1866, but it was originally similar in design to New Store.

     After Henry Gatewood died in 1822, his tavern property changed hands a couple of times before it was sold by Cornelius and Mary Guard to Dr. Peter Bowen Dowdall in 1848.

     Dr. Dowdall was born in Fauquier County about 1805 and was educated as a physician. On December 22, 1836 he married a widow, Caroline Kirk Hall, of Rockingham County.

Staunton Spectator, 29 December 1836

     Peter and Caroline Dowdall had only two children that we know of--Elizabeth Mary, who died young, and Theodore (1845-1878).

 

Staunton Spectator, 11 November 1841

     For reasons lost to history, by the mid 1840s Dr. Dowdall decided to sell his farm in Rockingham County and his property in Harrisonburg. Once he accomplished this, he was ready to buy the former Gatewood property in Spotsylvania.

Staunton Spectator, 2 October 1845

     When the Dowdall family arrived at their new home on the Orange Turnpike, it was a 331-acre farm with a tavern associated with it. Dr. Dowdall practiced medicine and, with the help of five slaves, did some farming. 

Richmond Enquirer, 3 October 1854

     By 1854, Dr. Dowdall once again seemed dissatisfied with his circumstances and, as he had done in Rockingham County, he offered his property for sale. Ultimately, he chose not to do so. That may have been because he saw opportunities in the significant changes occurring at Chancellorsville.

     After it was sold out of the Chancellor family in the early 1840s, Chancellorsville changed hands several times, and continued to change owners for many years to come. In 1854, then owner James Petigrew Chartters (husband of Susan Phillips Chancellor) sold Chancellorsville to John C. Pettus. An 1851 graduate of the University of Virginia, Pettus was a pedagogue who would teach at a number of schools in his lifetime. He began with a school he started at Chancellorsville, which he had renamed Chesney Wold.

Fredericksburg News, 21 July 1856

     In order to have time to devote to his new school, Pettus gave up the post office and tavern operations at Chancellorsville. Dr. Dowdall lost little time in making the most of these opportunities.

Richmond Daily Dispatch, 9 May 1856

Richmond Daily Dispatch, 1 August 1856

     It is quite likely that Dr. Dowdall took this action in order to secure the financial future of his wife and son. That same year he wrote his will, which began "I, P. Bowen Dowdall being feeble in body & sound in mind feeling the necessity of arranging of my worldly affairs,  have made the following disposition of my property..."

The will of Peter Bowen Dowdall

     These steps taken by Dr. Dowdall proved to be providential. While visiting his aunt in Fauquier County, he died of a stroke on May 3, 1857.

Alexandria Gazette, 19 May 1857

     Fredericksburg attorney John Lawrence Marye, the executor of Dr. Dowdall's estate, sold his property on the Turnpike to Lorman Chancellor in December 1857. Lorman, in turn, sold it to his brother, Dr. James Edgar Chancellor. It was used as the home of their older brother, Reverend Melzi Sanford Chancellor.

Reverend Melzi Sanford Chancellor and family, April 1866

     Prior to moving to Dowdall's, Reverend Chancellor and his family lived at nearby Hazel Grove. He was the pastor at  Wilderness Baptist Church, as well as a number of other Baptist Churches in the area. In the map detail shown below, the Dowdall's site is indicated as "M.S. Chancellor."

1863 map detail of Spotsylvania County

     Reverend Chancellor was devoted to the Confederate cause, and his three oldest sons served in the 9th Virginia Cavalry. By 1863, he had already been arrested by Federal authorities at least one time. So when the United States army arrived in Spotsylvania County on April 30, 1863, he was ready for them.

 

Dowdall's Tavern, 1863 (Painting by Robert Knox Sneden)

     As the Army of the Potomac began to fortify its positions around Chancellorsville,  General Oliver Otis Howard, commander of the Union XI Corps, was given the responsibility of defending the army's right flank. Howard made the Chancellor home his headquarters. Unfortunately for him and the men he led, he did not take the necessary precautions to defend his right flank, a lapse in judgment fully exploited by Stonewall Jackson.

Union troops near Dowdall's Tavern, 2 May 1863 (Drawing by Alfred Waud)

     After spending much of the day leading his men on a wearying march to get around the Union army's right flank, General Jackson deployed his men in the woods west of Wilderness Baptist Church. Their unexpected appearance fell like a hammer blow on the terrified Union troops nearby, many of whom were making preparations for their supper. These panic-stricken soldiers in blue fled east toward the relative safety of the fortified positions around Chancellorsville. The irresistible onslaught of the Confederates swept their astonished foes toward Dowdall's. Some of these men begged Reverend Chancellor to save them. He was only too happy to oblige, and he led a number of them into his house. He opened a trap door that led to the cellar and directed the Union soldiers to climb down. After they were safe under the house, he secured the trap door and later turned over 30 prisoners to the Confederates. 

     In 1869, the old Dowdall's Tavern was destroyed in a fire. Reverend Chancellor built a new home, which he called "Chancellor's Retreat," behind Wilderness Baptist Church. 

The "new Dowdall's Tavern"

     After the Civil War, the house shown in the photograph above was built at, or near, the location of Dowdall's Tavern on the Orange Turnpike. I am told that this house, which has been modified and moved back from Route 3, still stands.