- (December 2006) FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - Braehead, the home where Robert E. Lee took breakfast on Dec. 13, 1862, the day of the battle of Fredericksburg, has been purchased by the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (CVBT).

The $995,000 acquisition, made in late September, marks the first time that the 10-year-old nonprofit has bought a historic home.

"It was a quick thing," said CVBT President Mike Stevens. "We were told it was on the market and that there was already interest in it." The handsome brick structure sits on 19 wooded acres off Lee Drive, just south of Lee Hill at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.

"We didn't want to lose that ground or lose that house" to development, Stevens explained. "It's a witness house. There's blood on the floor" from its use as a Union field hospital during the battle, along with soldier graffiti on a plaster wall and a bullet hole near the door.

CVBT does not plan to keep Braehead, however. Stevens said the group will place easements on the property to prevent any development or "inappropriate" changes to the house, and then resell it.

"The ideal would be to sell it to the park, but they don't have any money," Stevens said. Braehead lies within the park boundary.

The seller, a retired emergency-room physician, was pleased that the property will be preserved, Stevens said, and he gave the nonprofit 18 months to come up with the money. The funds could be provided by the next purchaser, depending on how quickly CVBT comes up with a new owner.

Braehead was built in 1859 by John Howison, who owned 600 acres. Howison's Mill stood three-fifths of a mile to the north on Hazel Run. Standing on the east slope of Telegraph Hill (now Lee Hill), not visible from Union lines, Braehead was a stopping-place for both civilians and Confederate soldiers traveling to and from Fredericksburg. Two of Howison's sons joined the Fredericksburg Artilllery; both died in the war.

Stevens acknowledged that the house will not be accessible to the public. Passersby on Lee Drive may catch a glimpse of Braehead from the driveway, but it is largely hidden from view. "But who knows?" Stevens said. "Someday maybe the Park Service will own it" and open it to the public.

Stevens believes there are several items of furniture still in the house from the wartime period. "We're looking at keeping those in the house" through the terms of the easement.

CVBT has protected about 500 acres on the four Fredericksburg-area battlefields, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Chancellorsville.

"We've been blessed by hidden hands and silent voices," Stevens said of the group's quiet but effective fundraising. At present they are preparing to launch a campaign to raise $1 million as the group's pledge toward purchase of the $12 million Slaughter Pen Farm at the Wilderness battlefield.

Stevens said CVBT boasts between 700 and 800 members, "every one of them committed to preserving hallowed ground - and now a hallowed house."

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