Researchers Learning More About Rural Plains Battle Site
By Scott C. Boyd
(January 2009 Civil War News)

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — An unpublished Civil War-era sketch of the Shelton House at Rural Plains and the journal of a Union officer headquartered there during the Battle of Totopotomoy Creek (Bethesda Church) are highlights of National Park Service (NPS) research of the property.

Rural Plains is a 124-acre tract on Studley Road in Hanover County that includes an 18th-century house and the battlefield. It was acquired in 2006 from the late William R. Shelton Jr. through a foundation set up by local developer Andy Shield to honor Shelton’s wish that after his death the property be conveyed to the NPS.

Shelton was the last of nine generations who owned the land since the late 1600s. (See July 2006 story in the news archive at www.civilwarnews.com.)

“The Shelton house is one of the premier structures in all Hanover County,” said David Ruth, Superintendent of the Richmond National Battlefield, which incorporated Rural Plains as its 13th unit in 2006.

He called the house and grounds “a fascinating piece of history that nobody has written about,” noting that his historians and archeologists are the first to compile the history of this “dramatic site.”

Fiery patriot (“Give me liberty, or give me death!”) Patrick Henry married his first wife, Mary Shelton, in her family’s home at Rural Plains in 1754.

By the Civil War, the plantation had 1,000 acres and slaves who worked fields of tobacco, corn and wheat. Not much happened there early in the war. Confederate Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry passed within two miles during his ride around Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s army in the Peninsula Campaign June 12-15, 1862.

The significant Civil War action occurred May 28-30, 1864, during Grant’s Overland Campaign. After the fight at the North Anna River and before the bloodbath at Cold Harbor, opposing forces clashed briefly at Totopotomoy Creek as Union Lt. Gen. U.S. Grant continued his push south and east around Gen. Robert E. Lee’s forces.

Union Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow’s division of Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock’s Second Corps crossed the creek and briefly took the first line of Confederate entrenchments held by Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge’s division, but were stopped after that.

Ruth said Hancock made his headquarters at Shelton House and Union artillery was set up nearby. A signal station on top of the house drew much Confederate fire, despite owner Col. Edwin Shelton’s plea to Breckinridge to not bombard it.

“You can still see to this day where artillery rounds smashed through the rafters,” Ruth said.

Park historian Robert E.L. Krick found an unpublished sketch of the house while doing research in Washington, D.C. The drawing, by Harper’s Weekly artist Alfred Waud, showed details, including “the house, the slave cabins, the fences around the house, the trees – even naming the types of trees.”

Ruth said the sketch provided the basis for the scope of work that was developed for a recent archeological project. “Because we had that sketch, we were able to really define where the archeology was going to be taking place,” he noted.

The work began Oct. 20 and concluded at the end of November. The techniques used included shovel tests, trowel work and magnetometers. A report on the completed work is being prepared.

One feature of Waud’s sketch was validated by the digging. “In the process, we found evidence of that fence that appears in Alfred Waud’s sketch,” Ruth said.

The discovery of Waud’s sketch didn’t solve all the mysteries about Shelton House, though. One thing that is still unknown is what kind of roof the house had. Supervisory Park Ranger Mike Andrus, who oversees interpretation at the Richmond park units, showed this writer how the drawing is rather vague and – excuse the pun – sketchy about the roof’s composition.

Excavation adjacent to the house walls gave researchers a little better idea of construction details.

Ruth said the search in the area where the slave quarters were located turned up a “heavy concentration of domestic kind of artifacts, such things as broken pipe stems, glass and ceramic shards and rusted nails and bricks.”

Everything found will be added to the NPS collection. “How they’ll be used in the future is a good question, but archeological exhibits are always very informative for visitors. I wouldn’t rule out the fact that hopefully some portion of it will go on display eventually,” he said.

The magnetometer was used to search for the Union artillery emplacement earthworks near the house that Andrus said were plowed over after the war. “Preliminary reports show they were successful there in finding the earthwork,” Ruth said.

NPS researchers also studied the journal of Union officer Robert Stoddart Robertson of the 93rd New York Infantry, who was on the staff of Col. Nelson A. Miles, Barlow’s First Brigade commander.

“He left incredible details of his experiences from the moment he arrived there at the house on May 30 until his wounding,” Ruth said. Robertson’s memoirs were published in 1895.

In addition, the Shelton family left a virtual time capsule of documents that the NPS is beginning to inventory. Ruth and Krick found an attic trunk of documents that date from the 18th century through the mid-19th century.

“These were donated for research. They are the treasure trove of being able to put together the story of the Shelton family, of the plantation, of the Civil War story as well,” said Ruth.

The men also were able to conduct an extended interview with William Shelton. He told them about furniture in the house and

later the park was able to put some funding together and purchase some of it, including two pieces there when Patrick Henry was married.

Krick also went through the house and gathered all the books that belonged to Col. Edwin Shelton, “putting together his entire library from what we could find,” said Ruth.

“It sets up our ability ultimately to go ahead and make one incredible experience for visitors who come inside the house and see it just as it was.”

One big question is when Rural Plains will be fully open to the public. It is open now to pedestrians. There is no on-site parking and the driveway is chained. Studley Road in front of the property is a narrow two-lane thoroughfare, lacking any shoulders or place to pull off.

Ruth said his goal is to secure funding, public or private, as quickly as he can to build a temporary parking lot that would open the land, not the house, to visitors.

Park staff would develop a series of interpretive signs and brochures telling the story of Rural Plains and the Battle of Totopotomoy Creek and give visitors a way to explore the site. “We already have a trail system there, using historic roads,” Ruth said.

In the meantime, Rural Plains opens for two free public events each year. Visitors park at a nearby elementary school and take a shuttle bus to the battlefield.

A Battle of Totopotomoy Creek Tour will be given July 8 at 7 p.m. Over the Sept. 12, 13 Living History Weekend the first floor of the Shelton House will be open. Interpreters will portray Hancock and his staff who were headquartered there during the battle.

For information about the events call Mike Andrus at (804) 226-1987 ext. 30.