Lee's Headquarters

Half a mile west, at the Rogers farm called Middle Hill, Gen. Robert E. Lee kept his headquarters from Dec. 1863 to May 1864. His Army of Northern Virginia, in winter camp, guarded the south side of the Rapidan River from the vicinity of Liberty Mills in Somerset east to Morton's Ford. While Lee strove to reinforce and resupply his depleted ranks, across the river in Culpeper County Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade trained and strengthened the Army of the Potomac for the spring campaign. On 4 May 1864, the Wilderness campaign began anew.