Confederate Headquarters

Portici made an idea headquarters for Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston. From here he had a commanding view of the main roads and surrounding countryside. Throughout the day Confederate regiments passed through the Lewis property en route to the front, and Johnston could forward these reinforcements to any part of the field.<br><br>After the battle Portici became a field hospital. Surgeons ministered to the injured of both sides. The wounded filled the plantation outbuildings and covered every floor of the once elegant home.<br><br>Among the Federal wounded taken to Portici was artillery Captain James B. Ricketts, wounded in the thigh. His devoted wife Fanny journeyed through the lines to care for her husband. Her diary provides vivid details of the carnage at Portici:<br><br><i>Downstairs there are some forty men in the various stages of death or recovery. Blood runs on the floor, the smell is dreadful but no language can describe it... I was awake all night, the groans of the dying sounding in my ears. No one can dream of the sickening horrors of this place.</i>