Hanover Tavern

I’m looking forward to visiting the Hanover Tavern located in Hanover County, VA and the surrounding area on tomorrow for the Civil War Battle Bus Tour . In the late 1980s, while living in Richmond, VA, I visited the tavern on several occasions to attend their dinner theater. Little did I know that many years later, my genealogy research would lead me back to the tavern and to the Hanover Courthouse District where it is located.

About Hanover Tavern




I do not have any ancestors that I know of who lived in Hanover County, but it is my research of James A. Fields (1844-1903) and his family that has led me back to Hanover County. The Fields family escaped from slavery in the Hanover Courthouse/Tavern area to Fort Monroe in Hampton, VA during the Civil War.

Mr. Fields and members of his family went on to become educated through Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, now Hanover Courthouse District , and excelled professionally in careers in law and education. There is a historic house in my community where Mr. Fields lived. ( Click here for more about the James A. Fields House)

My afternoon visit to the tavern for the " Civil War Battle Bus Tour " will include a scrumptious buffet lunch, civil war exhibit, lecture by Michael Hardy, author “Battle of Hanover Courthouse: Turning Point of the Peninsula Campaign, May 27, 1862,” and a guided bus tour.

The Fields family was living in the Hanover Courthouse/Tavern area during time of the battle and George Washington Fields (1854-1932), a younger brother of James A. Fields, wrote in his unpublished autobiography “Come On Children” about their lives during slavery and various battles and skirmishes which occurred in the courthouse/tavern area. My main objective in attending this tour is to gain knowledge about the geography of the courthouse/tavern area as well as its activities during the Civil War.

How I Discovered My Adopted USCT Soldier Madison Lewis

This is continuation from the blog posting on "My Adopted USCT Soldier."

I first learned about Madison Lewis after reading the unpublished autobiography* of his brother-in-law George Washington Fields (1854-1932). In this narrative entitled Come on Children, George Fields writes about his life as a slave in Hanover County, VA and his family’s escape to Hampton, VA in March 1863. Other time periods in George Fields’ life through adulthood are also included in this autobiography. The first time that Madison Lewis is mentioned in this narrative is when Fields writes about the day his family escaped from slavery in Hanover County, VA to Hampton, VA. This escape occurred in late March 1863 according to Fields, and arrived at Old Point Comfort in Hampton, VA in early April. Early that morning on the day of the escape, a skirmish between Confederate and Union soldiers occurred at the Hanover County Virginia Courthouse . After the Union army’s victory in this skirmish, numerous slaves in the area escaped to Union lines and onward to freedom.

*Note: A typed copy of “Come on Children” is housed in the Sis. Evans collection of the Hampton History Museum. Based on the typist notes in this manuscript, this copy was typed from another draft of this autobiography. I have not yet located the original of this autobiography.

My focus of this research project is James A. Fields, but through searching his life, I have veered off into other research directions of his kinfolks such as his brother George Washington Fields, his mother Martha Fields, and now his brother-in-law, Madison Lewis.

Through an internet research on Ancestry.com a few weeks ago, I discovered that Madison Lewis was a United States Colored Troop soldier. This has been an extremely exciting journey into military and Civil War era research and I still can’t believe that I’m even interested in this type of research.

To Be Continued. . . Part 2

My Adopted USCT Soldier

Just like I never imagined becoming interested in researching the Civil War, I definitely had no interest in researching soldiers, regiments, and stuff like that. Read more about The Origins of My Civil War Research Interest.

Researching Others

I learned years ago from researching my own family to research others associated with the focus person or family. Those others may be kinfolks, neighbors, or friends. My research of James A. Fields began this interest in studying the Civil War era, but researching others in his family has taken me into whole new unintended direction.

United States Colored Troops

Much of what I know about the United States Colored Troops (USCT) comes from my friend and fellow genealogist, Angela Walton Raji. I communicate with her regularly through email and participation in the chats of the Afrigeneas website. One of Angela's genealogical passions is the USCT'S and every time I tell her that I’m going to visit a cemetery, she always says “Look for USCTs!” So far, I have not discovered any USCTs in the cemeteries I have visited.

Afrigeneas Chats

Angela and a few other Afrigeneas chatters have discovered several USCT ancestors and other African American kin who served in the American Civil War. "Adopt a USCT," Angela said to those of us in the chat who have not found a USCT ancestor. At the time of this conversation, I was contemplating starting a new blog focusing on my ancestors who were alive during the Civil War. I was also actively engaged in researching the Fields family who were former slaves who had escaped from slavery during the Civil War. At the time of this chat, I really was not interested in researching a USCT or anything military related. I’ll leave that type of research to Angela and others, I thought as this conversation was going on during one the Afrigeneas chat. Angela is so passionate about USCTs that she launched a new blog on January 1st of this year and in her first posting, she writes about her reasons for starting this blog, The USCT Chronicle --150 Years Later Getting the Story Right!.

My Adopted USCT Soldier

On another occasion, I did say to the chat group that if I found a USCT through my research of James A. Fields, then I would adopt him. Shortly after I make this declaration, I discovered a USCT named Madison Lewis who was a brother in law of James A. Fields and since that time (last weekend), I have been consumed with researching the military career and regiment of Madison Lewis who was born into slavery around 1835 in Spotsylvania County, VA . In March 1863, he escaped from slavery in Hanover County, VA with the mother and some of the siblings of James A. Fields. They arrived to Fort Monroe in early April 1863 and later that year in December, Madison Lewis enlisted in Company B of the 1st Regiment USCT Calvary which was organized at Camp Hamilton near Fort Monroe, VA and the campus of Hampton University.

To Be Continued . . .