Fast Action By CWPT Saves Historic
Family Home At Trevilian Battlefield
By Kathryn Jorgensen
(September 2008 Civil War News)

LOUSIA, Va. — The prospects for the Trevilian family home near the Trevilian Station Battlefield greatly improved when the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) recently acted quickly to buy it.

Thanks to its $74,000 purchase, CWPT kept the house from being sold at a foreclosure auction and the historic building will eventually be restored and open to the public.

The rescue story began in mid-May when Gerald W. Harlow, president of the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation (TSBF), notified CWPT that the Charles Goodall Trevilian House was scheduled for auction sale.

The house at 57 Danne Rd. sits on 1.42 acres at Trevilian Station near where the original depot was burned, says Harlow. “It was zoned commercial and could have been razed and then anything could have been built.”

“If CWPT did not act quickly, the historic Trevilian House would be sold to the highest bidder and likely lost to commercial development,” said CWPT spokesman Jim Campi.

They moved quickly and over the weekend negotiated with the lender and owners to buy the house and keep it off the auction block.

“We cannot thank CWPT enough for stepping in and saving the Trevilian House from possible destruction or at the least being unavailable for generations,” said Harlow. “Working with CWPT to get this done in just three days was nothing short of miraculous.”

The groups have cooperated in the past and CWPT members have helped save 1,455 acres at Trevilian Station.

The June 11-12, 1864, Battle of Trevilian Station was the largest all-cavalry battle of the war. Confederates under Maj. Gens. Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee caught up with Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan and two divisions of cavalry that were sent from Cold Harbor on a diversionary raid toward Charlottesville to destroy portions of the Virginia Central Railroad as they went. After two days of fighting Sheridan abandoned the raid.

A 1979 Central Virginian newspaper story about the Trevilian House included a photo that showed a mirror through which a bullet was shot during the battle. A strip of metal from the top to bottom of the frame covered the hole.

A child was sick in bed with typhoid fever at the time. Gen. George Custer had a surgeon verify the illness and then made his headquarters on the front porch of the house so it would be quieter for her.

Another newspaper photo of the house showed a small building next door where residents cast their votes at a window. A separate building behind the house contained the kitchen and dining room.

Charles Goodall Trevilian was described as a wealthy landowner and merchant at Trevilians. The railroad station and the post office were named for him.

Steam trains carrying Confederate troops often stopped at Trevilians to take on water. Young women, including Charles Trevilian’s daughters, boarded the trains and passed out flowers with attached notes of appreciation and well wishes. As a result many soldiers wrote and visited the Trevilian family.