Sept. 4, Fredericksburg Battlefield

September 4

We toured Fredericksburg by trolley and had a nice lunch on the Rappahannock River.  Quaint town with so much history at every turn. We visited the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor center at the foot of  Marye's Heights, and next to the Sunken Road.  On December 11, 1862, Union troops bombarded the town of Fredericksburg from Stafford Heights, then crossed the Rappahannock River on pontoon bridges to confront Robert E. Lee's confederates holding fortified high ground to the west.  On Dec. 13, Ambrose Burnside's Union troops launched a two-pronged attack.  Waves of Union attackers struggled against the powerful confederate defenses on Marye's Heights and in the Sunken Road.  The result was a resounding confederate victory that left the fields around Fredericksburg blanketed with Union dead and wounded.

Historic Fredericksburg

 

Old Court House

 

 

Worn stone bench in front of an 18th century building...if only it could talk!!

 

View from our restaurant of the Railroad bridge crossing the Rappahhanock River.

 

Sunken Road at Marye's Hill

 

 

 

While the Civil War entailed immense destruction and tragedy, it did not always engender hate.  After two days following the battle at the Sunken Road, Union soldiers caught between the lines, cried out for water.  Sergeant Richard Kirkland of the 2^nd South Carolina Volunteers tried to help.  Filling several canteens with water, the young Confederate stepped over the stone wall to care for wounded enemies.  When Union soldiers understood Kirkland’s purpose, they ceased firing at him and cheered.  He is known as the “Angel of Marye’s  Heights”.  He died in battle at Chickamauga, Georgia, in September 1863.

 

 

 Here on the night of May 1, 1863, Robert Lee and Stonewall Jackson met to plan the

battle of Chancellorsville.

 

 

The base of the Catherine Furnace stack is all that remains of this Civil War period iron making facility.  Jackson's troops passed here during their march around Hooker's army.

 

On this ground were fought some of the most fierce, and costly clashes this nation has ever witnessed.  The siege of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville’s deadly artillery fire, the tangled brush of the Wilderness, and the fierce, hand to hand combat at Spotsylvania Courthouse, resulted in more than 100,000 casualties which were sustained by Union and confederate forces. "Stonewall" Jackson lost his life here when he was shot at night by friendly fire.  Many of the scars of war remain.  Today, these preserved battlegrounds are silent. It was a erie feeling to walk the grounds were Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and General U. S. Grant fought. Eventually the cost of these battles would be too much for the South to bear.  The world will long remember the historic importance of this place. 

After touring many battlefields today it was nice to see nature at work!