VA-E78 Massaponax Baptist Church

Marker text: MASSAPONAX BAPTIST CHURCH

Massaponax Baptist Church, built in 1859, served a congregation founded in 1788. On 21 May 1864 Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his commanders conferred on pews in the churchyard as the Union army marched from the Spotsylvania Court House battlefield to North Anna River. Photographer Timothy O'Sullivan hauled his heavy stereo camera to the balcony of the church and recorded this conference in a unique series of candid images showing a war council in progress.

Department of Historic Resources, 1991