The View From Belle Grove

Finished in 1797, the Federal-style manor house known as "Belle Grove" was the home of President James Madison's brother-in-law, American Revolutionary War veteran Isaac Hite, Jr. The mansion and property ended up serving as Union headquarters during the battle and saw some of the heaviest fighting and movements across its fields on October 19, 1864. This view from the home's front porch looks toward the distant Signal Knob on Massanutten Mountain. Before the battle, General John B. Gordon and the mapmaker Jedediah Hotchkiss used the natural observatory of the knob to locate the Union camps along Cedar Creek and the North Fork Shenandoah River.