Battle of Yorktown

10. Secretary Nelson's House

Yorktown, VA

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Secretary Thomas Nelson was the younger son of Thomas, "Scotch Tom," Nelson. The plaque at the Secretary Thomas Nelson site reads that the home was built in 1725, but since "Scotch Tom" gave the land to his son around 1744 and no buildings are recorded as being on the land at the time, it is more likely that the mansion was built sometime after 1744. The home was a substantial, two-story dormered structure, with a double-hipped roof and four massive chimneys. According to the Marquis de Chastellux, who was with Rochambeau during the siege of 1781, "Secretary Nelson lived at York, where he had built a very handsome house, from which neither European taste nor luxury was excluded; a chimney-piece and some bass reliefs of very fine marble, exquisitely sculptured, were particularly admired. . . . [The house] was built on an eminence, near the most important fortifications, and in the most agreeable situation in town . . . it soon drew the attention of our bombardiers and cannoniers and was almost entirely destroyed."There were four dependency buildings on the grounds, as well as gardens that extended toward the river. This substantial mansion became the headquarters of Lord Cornwallis and other British officers leading up to the siege of Yorktown, but its position near the fortifications made it an easy target, so Cornwallis soon left the home. Secretary Thomas Nelson was getting along in age when the British first rode into town. He was in the house when the siege started. The home was bombarded in October 1781, and his butler was killed while serving dinner. On October 10th, Secretary Nelson left the house under a truce flag. He was escorted by his three sons, all of whom were officers under General Washington, through the American lines. His home was destroyed during the siege. The ruins stood well into the nineteenth century, but were badly deteriorated. Artist Benjamin Latrobe created a color sketch of the Secretary Nelson House around 1796, showing the extent of the damage the allied artillery inflicted on the house during the siege. A French traveler described it as "pierced in every direction with cannon shot and bomb shells." The Association of the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) branch was established in Yorktown in 1921, and they soon expressed an interest in saving the Secretary Thomas Nelson home site. In 1924 the director of the APVA wrote a letter of thanks to Mr. John F. Braun, the landowner, for uncovering the foundation and placing a sign at the site at his own expense. In 1928 the Virginia State Highway Department laid out plans to build through the old foundations. The APVA appealed to the APVA General Association, to the Governor, and to various Congressmen urging them to preserve the site. Commissioner H. G. Shirley of the Highway Department suggested the APVA Branch try to acquire the site themselves. In 1928 the Branch received the site as a donation, including the land five feet outside the foundation. A concrete cap was placed on top of the old foundation to help safeguard it from weather as well as from souvenir collectors. On May 6, 1933, a tablet was dedicated to the Secretary Thomas Nelson home. The marker reads, "Foundations of the Home of THOMAS NELSON,President of the Council andSecretary of Stateof the Colony of Virginia Erected in 1725,First headquarters of Lord Cornwallis,It was Destroyed DuringThe Siege of Yorktownin 1781Preserved and Marked by the Yorktown BranchAssociation for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, 1930."