Landon House

Landon House was occupied by Northern and Southern troops during the war, and was the site of a ball hosted by J.E.B. Stuart in September 1862.

Landon House was reportedly constructed in 1754 as a silk mill – in Fredericksburg, Virginia, along the banks of the Rappahannock River. It was moved to its present location in 1846 by Reverend R.H. Phillips, who then turned it into the Shirley Female Seminary by 1850. During the mid-1850s it became the Landon Military Institute, but by the end of the 1850s was once more a girls’ school, the Landon Female Academy. After the Confederate Army invaded Maryland in September 1862, General Longstreet’s soldiers stayed in the house and on the grounds.  Many of them inscribed their names and units, as well as derisive comments about the North, on the walls of the house. On September 8th, 1862, Landon House was the site of General J.E.B. Stuart’s “Sabers and Roses” ball.  The dance was the idea of several young ladies from the area, and the amiable Stuart agreed that it would give his men a respite from the stresses of military life. Unfortunately, the festivities were marred by a nearby skirmish between a Federal patrol and a Southern outpost. Though the fight was quickly over, the ball ended as the casualties were brought back to Landon, to be nursed by the female attendees.

A little over a week later, on September 16th, Union troops used the recently vacated building as a resting place on their pursuit of the Confederates.  Seeing the Southern soldiers’ graffiti, the Union soldiers added their own names, cartoons, and commentaries on the South.  (The graffiti is still present on the walls of the house.)  After the war, Landon was bought by Colonel Luke Tiernan Brien, a chief of staff to J.E.B. Stuart during the war. It is now privately owned, and occasionally used for special events.