Caroline County Virginia Attractions and Historic Sites

This is the Brockenbrough and Peyton House (c. 1761) In the historic town of Port Royal. John Wilkes Booth was brought to this home in the Town of Port Royal while avoiding capture by Union soldiers searching for him after assassinating President Lincoln on April 14, 1865 at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D. C. just 5 days after the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
During this conspiracy, David Herold attempted to murder Secretary of War Edward Stanton while George Atzerodt was assigned to kill Vice-President Andrew Johnson. But Atzerodt lost his nerve while getting drunk in a Washington, D. C. saloon. This caused only Booth and Herold to immediately flee the city causing the largest manhunt in the history of the United States.
On April 25, 1865, the 16th Union Cavalry Regiment were in Port Conway in King George County on the north side of the Rappahannock River. While at this small port town William Rollins and his wife Bettie Rollins were interrogated about the whereabouts of the conspirators. They informed the detectives with the National Detective Police they observed two men matching the description of Booth and Herold crossing the river into Port Royal the previous Monday with Willie Jett. The Rollins informed them if they wanted to find Willie Jett he would probably be at the Star Hotel in Bowling Green. The search party was informed Willie Jett was courting Izora Gouldman (1847-1929), the daughter of Henry Gouldman, the owner of the Star Hotel in Bowling Green.
When the conspirators reached Port Royal they were turned away by Sarah Jane Peyton. They were then refused lodging at the Catlett House across the street. Mrs. Elizabeth Catlett suggested the tobacco farm of Richard H. Garrett, half-way to the town of Bowling Green, would be the best place for them to hide. The women were questioned about this encounter by Lieutenant Edward Paul Doherty (1840-1897) who commanded the local search for Booth and Herold. Lieutenant Doherty then gave the information to government detectives Luther B. Baker and Everton J. Conger who ware assigned to accompany Lieutenant Doherty during the search. During questioning she also informed the search party that she recognized one of the Confederates with the conspirators as Confederate Private William S. Jett. He was known as a member of the 9th Virginia Cavalry (Mosby’s Rangers) before General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia.
The tobacco farm of Richard H. Garrett was immediately searched. Although Booth and Herold were at the farm, they were not discovered hiding in the barn inside a pile of hay. Lieutenant Doherty’s search party then followed the lead given to them at Port Conway, and traveled south toward the town of Bowling Green. Shortly after midnight on April 26th, Lieutenant Doherty and members of the 16th Union Cavalry Regiment surrounded the Star Hotel and found Willie Jett, shoved a Colt pistol in his face and ordered him to talk. Willie Jett then led them back to the Garrett Farm which in present day is in the median of Highway 301.
Secretary of War ordered that the conspirators be captured alive and interrogated to confirm the depth of the assassination of President Lincoln. When Lieutenant Doherty’s search party surrounded the barn on Garrett’s Farm, David Herold surrendered willingly and was tied to a locust tree as John Wilkes Booth informed the Union cavalry troops he would not be taken alive. Sergeant Thomas P. “Boston” Corbett claims he observed John Wilkes Booth, through a crack in the barn wall, point a carbine at him. At this point he fired in self defense striking John Wilkes Booth in the back of his head severing his spine. He died approximately 2-3 hours later. Sergeant Corbett was immediately arrested for violating orders. Secretary Stanton had the charges dropped stating, “The rebel is dead. The patriot lives.”
For the capture of the conspirators, Lieutenant Doherty received a $5,250 cash reward, and promotion to the rank of captain. Sergeant Corbett received a $1,653.84 cash reward. Sergeant Corbett departed military service and became an assistant doorkeeper for the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka. During the opening prayer of the legislature, Thomas P. “Boston” Corbett brandished a pistol at house members. He was arrested and confined to the Topeka Asylum for the Insane. He escaped on May 26, 1888 and it is believed he died on September 1, 1894 in the Great Hinckley Fire in Pine County, Minnesota.

This is Riverview (c. 1846) on the south bank of the Rappahannock River in the historic town of Port Royal, Virginia. On December 4, 1862, Riverview was damaged by Union gunboats supporting the Fredericksburg Campaign of General Ambrose Burnside. The gunboats entered the Rappahannock River and fired on Port Royal. During the attack the Riverview House was struck several times. John Bernard Lightfoot moved his family to the Townfield House and kept the Lightfoot children in the cellar until the attack was finished. The next morning they evacuated Port Royal until the completion of the Battle of Fredericksburg. The Army of the Potomac returned to Port Royal from May through June 1864 as the wharves became a supply depot for the Army of the Potomac during Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign.
On April 24, 1865 Harriet Lightfoot was with her daughter Maria Evelyn Lightfoot Kennon when they noticed a landing party arrive during darkness at the Riverview wharf. After observing John Wilkes Booth and David Edgar Herold exit the Rappahannock River ferry, Harriet Lightfoot asked John Wilkes Booth if they wanted shelter at Riverview. John Wilkes Booth declined and continued toward the streets of Port Royal where he attempted to obtain lodging at the Peyton House and Catlett House. He was directed to the tobacco farm of William H. Garrett where the manhunt for the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln would terminate when elements of the 16th Union Cavalry Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Edward Paul Doherty captured the conspirators.
John Bernard Lightfoot (December 24, 1814 – July 10, 1888) bequeathed Riverview to John Bernard Lightfoot Jr. and it was purchased at auction by Lewis Lightfoot, brother of the deceased. Riverview was then purchased in 1896 by Captain Sallie Tompkins, otherwise known as the “Nurse of the Confederacy”. She has the distinction of being the only commissioned female officer during the Civil War. She founded a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, funding the treatment of Confederate soldiers from her personal wealth. She is credited with understanding the importance of maintaining a clean hospital which saved the lives of hundreds of wounded soldiers. Captain Sallie Tompkins lived at Riverview until 1905. She was the cousin of Harriet Ann Field Lightfoot.

Caroline County (Ladysmith) was once the home of George Rogers Clark, Revolutionary War hero, and William Clark of the famed Lewis and Clark Exploratory Expedition of the Northwest Territory from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. In 1803, President Jefferson secured the Louisiana Purchase from France, and appointed Meriwether Lewis to follow the Missouri River westward and find waterways which would connect to the Pacific Northwest. President Jefferson thought if the U.S. commanded trade routes which connected the Pacific Ocean to established trade points on the Mississippi River, the U.S. would eliminate the existence of Spain, France, and England from North America. Other goals of the expedition were to claim the Northwest and Oregon Territories for the United States before European nations. President Jefferson also wanted to declare U.S. sovereignty over Indian tribes living along the Missouri River. While also evaluating the economic potential of the land, the expedition took 28 months to complete, and covered 8,000 miles.

This is the 1929 Virginia Conservation & Development Commission historical marker #E-23 titled ‘LEE and GRANT’ is just north of the North Anna River on Jefferson Davis Highway (U. S. Route 1) in Caroline County. It outlines the Battle of North Anna during the Overland Campaign of Union General Grant’s march to Richmond with the Army of the Potomac. The marker reads:
“Lee and Grant faced each other on the North Anna, May 23-26, 1864. Union forces crossed here and four miles to the west but found they could not dislodge Lee’s center, which rested on the stream. Grant then turned east to Cold Harbor.”

The Virginia Sports Complex is 3 miles off of Rogers Clark Boulevard (Route 207) and I-95 exit 104 (Carmel Church). It is 30 miles north of Richmond and 25 miles south of Fredericksburg.

The Lake Land’Or community has 2 lakes which have beaches and support boating and fishing. Lake Land’Or (87 acres) is shown here.

Lake Caroline covers 277 acres and is over 2 miles long with a depth averaging 15 feet, and 32 feet at its deepest point. It has 10 miles of shoreline and is fed by several natural sources.