Confederate Memorial Chapel

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Confederate Memorial Chapel and the E.E. Lee Camp

near Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

The R. E. Lee Camp No. 1 was founded by Confederate veterans in April of 1883, with the purpose of taking care of homeless, wounded, and destitute Confederate Veterans. A 36 Acre Tract of Land was purchased for a place to care for the Veterans with shelter and medical care. In December of 1884, the R. E. Lee Camp Soldiers' Home in Richmond opened for needy Confederate veterans.

The Pelham or "Confederate War Memorial Chapel" was erected May 8th, 1887 in memory of all of the Confederate war dead, with the Chapel becoming a meeting place and worship center for the veterans who resided at the camp. The Confederate veterans themselves, many of them disabled and impoverished, funded the construction. The Artillery Veteran's Associations of Richmond raised money for the beautiful stained-glass Windows featuring memorials to the dead of the units. CSA Major Marion J. Dimmock Sr., a famed Virginia architect, designed the gothic revival structure, and Joseph F. Wingfield, was the contractor who built it. Many of the Veterans Themselves helped with the labor and efforts, using timber from the oak grove on the grounds of the camp.

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