First known as the Marye House for John Lawrence Marye, who purchased the property in 1824, Brompton, as it was later named, figured prominently in both of the Civil War battles of Fredericksburg. The house was constructed ca. 1818 but may include core elements of an earlier house that date to the first half of the 18th century. Brompton was enlarged and remodeled during Marye’s long tenure into an imposing Roman Revival dwelling with a flat-roofed Ionic portico. The steep hill known as Marye’s Heights, which the house dominates, was famously twice the scene of fierce combat. On December 13, 1862 Confederates repulsed heavy Union assaults, with the latter suffering many casualties along the Sunken Road below the heights. The second battle of Fredericksburg was fought almost entirely on Marye’s Heights. On May 3, 1863, Union Gen. John Sedgwick seized the heights from Gen. Jubal Early. The pedimented roof of Brompton was added during the repair of war damage. Brompton has gone on to become the official residence of the president of the University of Mary Washington.