Charles Sweeney Cabin
Encyclopedia
The Charles Sweeney Cabin is a structure within the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
. It was registered in the National Park Service
's database of Official Structures on June 26, 1989.
, the person that popularized the five-string American
banjo
. In the 1840s the Sweeney clan lived on the stagecoach road northeast of Clover Hill, the name of the village now known as the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. John Sweeney, a wheelwright
and Charles' brother, lived in the old family home on the north bank of the Appomattox river
with his wife and four children. When Joel was not touring the country entertaining he would stay at John's cabin. Just up the road the four children of John's, being nephews and nieces of Charles, could see their uncle's small cabin. Charles lived in the tiny cabin with his wife and two remaining children. Charles Sweeney's older son Robert, a left-handed fiddle player, lived in even a smaller cabin with his wife and baby daughter downhill from John. Charles Sweeney was born in 1794 as was his wife, Mary.
's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant
. There is some evidence, in the form of a circa 1930 post card, which indicates that General Fitzhugh Lee
and his staff stayed in this house the night before the Surrender. It was originally built between 1830 and 1840 by Charles Sweeney, altered between 1940 and 1950, and restored in 1988 and 1994.
consists of a "hall" or keeping room, that was the main room of the cabin. It served as an assortment of various rooms when needed; consisting of a living room, dining room, kitchen, workroom and bedroom. Cooking was done in a fireplace that was set to one end of the large room.
A rough, crudely quoin
ed, fieldstone chimney extends to the second floor and above with brick. There are windows on the north, south and east sides. The south and east sides have single four-paneled doors. The interior of the cabin is in good condition. The roof is made of oak shakes
, square-butted, and is supported at the eaves by a box cornice
. The ends are covered with scribed
end boards.
The one-room interior of the Charles Sweeney Cabin has a loft accessible in the northwest corner by a dog-leg stairway. The stairway has many of its original baluster
s. It also has original trim on the stringer
s, the structural member of the stairway that supports the treads and risers. The square newel
and rail are formed from one piece of an oak branch. There is a small closet under the staircase that has its original four-paneled door with concave, quarter-circle corners on the raised panels.
All the inside of the "hall" room exposed to the eye is whitewash
ed. The door and window surrounds suggest the cabin was intended to be, but never was, plastered. The east side has a four-paneled door which is flanked by 6/6 double hanging sash window
s. The east side has a single centered four-panel door on the main floor that opens directly into the multi-purpose keeping room. Above is a six-light (eight foot by twelve inch) casement. The north side has a single 6/6 double hanging window. Hewn oak L-formed corner posts and knee braces alternate with the secondary members made of pine.
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
The Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of original and reconstructed nineteenth century buildings. It was signed into law August 3, 1935. The village was made a national monument in 1940 and a national historical park in 1954...
. It was registered in the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
's database of Official Structures on June 26, 1989.
History
Charles Sweeney was the cousin of Joel SweeneyJoel Sweeney
Joel Walker Sweeney , also known as Joe Sweeney, was a musician and early blackface minstrel performer. Born to a farming family in Buckingham County, Virginia, he claimed to have learned to play the banjo from local African-Americans and is the earliest documented white banjo player...
, the person that popularized the five-string American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
. In the 1840s the Sweeney clan lived on the stagecoach road northeast of Clover Hill, the name of the village now known as the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. John Sweeney, a wheelwright
Wheelwright
A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker...
and Charles' brother, lived in the old family home on the north bank of the Appomattox river
Appomattox River
The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately long, in central and eastern Virginia in the United States, named for the Appomattocs Indian tribe who lived along its lower banks in the 17th century...
with his wife and four children. When Joel was not touring the country entertaining he would stay at John's cabin. Just up the road the four children of John's, being nephews and nieces of Charles, could see their uncle's small cabin. Charles lived in the tiny cabin with his wife and two remaining children. Charles Sweeney's older son Robert, a left-handed fiddle player, lived in even a smaller cabin with his wife and baby daughter downhill from John. Charles Sweeney was born in 1794 as was his wife, Mary.
Historical significance
The National Park Service states the Charles Sweeney Cabin is meaningful by virtue of its association with the site of General Robert E. LeeRobert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
. There is some evidence, in the form of a circa 1930 post card, which indicates that General Fitzhugh Lee
Fitzhugh Lee
Fitzhugh Lee , nephew of Robert E. Lee, was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish-American War.-Early life:...
and his staff stayed in this house the night before the Surrender. It was originally built between 1830 and 1840 by Charles Sweeney, altered between 1940 and 1950, and restored in 1988 and 1994.
Description
The Charles Sweeney Cabin is a single-story one-room structure with a loft. It is about twenty feet wide by about eighteen feet deep. The cabin is a post and beam hall house set on dry-laid fieldstone pier foundation, typical of what was in rural Virginia in the nineteenth century. The hall houseHall (concept)
The meanings attributed to the word hall have varied over the centuries, as social practices have changed. The word derives from the Old Teutonic , where it is associated with the idea of covering or concealing...
consists of a "hall" or keeping room, that was the main room of the cabin. It served as an assortment of various rooms when needed; consisting of a living room, dining room, kitchen, workroom and bedroom. Cooking was done in a fireplace that was set to one end of the large room.
A rough, crudely quoin
Quoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
ed, fieldstone chimney extends to the second floor and above with brick. There are windows on the north, south and east sides. The south and east sides have single four-paneled doors. The interior of the cabin is in good condition. The roof is made of oak shakes
Shake (shingle)
A shake is a basic wooden shingle that is made from split logs. Shakes have traditionally been used for roofing and siding applications around the world. Higher grade shakes are typically used for roofing purposes, while the lower grades are used for siding purposes...
, square-butted, and is supported at the eaves by a box cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
. The ends are covered with scribed
Coping (joinery)
Coping or scribing is the woodworking technique of shaping the end of a moulding or frame component to neatly fit the contours of an abutting member...
end boards.
The one-room interior of the Charles Sweeney Cabin has a loft accessible in the northwest corner by a dog-leg stairway. The stairway has many of its original baluster
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
s. It also has original trim on the stringer
Stringer
Stringer may refer to:* Stringer , a type of freelance journalism* Stringer * Stringer , or longeron, a strip of wood or metal to which the skin of an aircraft is fastened...
s, the structural member of the stairway that supports the treads and risers. The square newel
Newel
A newel, also called a central pole, is an upright post that supports the handrail of a stair banister. In stairs having straight flights it is the principal post at the foot of the staircase, but it can also be used for the intermediate posts on landings and at the top of a staircase...
and rail are formed from one piece of an oak branch. There is a small closet under the staircase that has its original four-paneled door with concave, quarter-circle corners on the raised panels.
All the inside of the "hall" room exposed to the eye is whitewash
Whitewash
Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a very low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime and chalk . Various other additives are also used...
ed. The door and window surrounds suggest the cabin was intended to be, but never was, plastered. The east side has a four-paneled door which is flanked by 6/6 double hanging sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s. The east side has a single centered four-panel door on the main floor that opens directly into the multi-purpose keeping room. Above is a six-light (eight foot by twelve inch) casement. The north side has a single 6/6 double hanging window. Hewn oak L-formed corner posts and knee braces alternate with the secondary members made of pine.
Sources
- Bradford, Ned, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Plume, 1989
- Catton, Bruce, A Stillness at Appomattox, Doubleday 1953, Library of Congress # 53-9982, ISBN 0-385-04451-8
- Catton, Bruce, This Hallowed Ground, Doubleday 1953, Library of Congress # 56-5960
- Davis, Burke, The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts, Wings Books, 1960 & 1982, ISBN 0-5173715-1-0
- Davis, Burke, To Appomattox - Nine April Days, 1865, Eastern Acorn Press, 1992, ISBN 0-9159921-7-5
- Farrar, Stuart McDearmon, Historical Notes of Appomattox County, Virginia, self published by Farrar, 1989, Original from the University of Virginia
- Featherston, Nathaniel Ragland, Appomattox County History and Genealogy, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1998, ISBN 0-8063476-0-0
- Gutek, Patricia, Plantations and Outdoor Museums in America's Historic South, University of South Carolina Press, 1996, ISBN 1-5700307-1-5
- Hosmer, Charles Bridgham, Preservation Comes of Age: From Williamsburg to the National Trust, 1926-1949, Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States by the University Press of Virginia, 1981
- Howard, Blair et al., The Virginia Handbook, Hunter Publishing, Inc, 2005, ISBN 1-5884351-2-1
- Kaiser, Harvey H., The National Park Architecture Sourcebook, Princeton Architectural Press, 2008, ISBN 1-5689874-2-0
- Kennedy, Frances H., The Civil War Battlefield Guide, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990, ISBN 0-395522-8-2X
- Korn, Jerry et al., The Civil War, Pursuit to Appomattox, The Last Battles, Time-Life Books, 1987, ISBN 0-8094478-8-6
- Marvel, William, A Place Called Appomattox, UNC Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8078256-8-9
- Marvel, William, Lee's Last Retreat, UNC Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8078570-3-3
- McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford University Press, 1988,
- National Park Service, Appomattox Court House: Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Virginia, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 2002, ISBN 0-9126277-0-0
- Tidwell, William A., April '65: Confederate Covert Action in the American Civil War, Kent State University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8733851-5-2
- Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, 1952
- Weigley, Russel F., A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History, 1861-1865, Indiana University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-2533373-8-0