Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park | |
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Location | Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburg counties, U.S. |
Nearest city | Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S. |
Coordinates | 38°17′35″N77°28′09″W / 38.29306°N 77.46917°W |
Area | 8,405 acres (34.01 km2) [1] |
Established | February 14, 1927 [2] |
Visitors | 534,636(in 2005) |
Governing body | National Park Service |
Website | Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park |
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park | |
Area | 4,601.1 acres (1,862 ha) |
NRHP reference No. | 66000046 [3] |
VLR No. | 111-0147 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
Designated VLR | January 16, 1973 [4] |
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park is a unit of the National Park Service in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and elsewhere in Spotsylvania County, commemorating four major battles in the American Civil War: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania.
Failed attempt by General Ambrose Burnside to cross the Rappahannock and take the Confederate capital Richmond. Delayed arrival of the pontoons had given Robert E. Lee time to fortify the high ground, and the result was a one-sided massacre. Visitor center staffed by Park Service rangers.
A bold gamble by Robert E. Lee, dividing his forces and sending Stonewall Jackson on a flanking attack, which took the enemy totally by surprise, causing the Union commander General Joseph Hooker to lose his nerve and call retreat. Visitor center staffed by Park Service rangers.
Robert E. Lee's first battle against Grant, whose advantage in artillery could not be used in the dense forest. Casualties were high on both sides, and the battle is classed as a draw. Grant withdrew, but only in order to force another battle in more open country. Exhibit shelters, staffed on a seasonal basis.
Key crossroads which Grant hoped to occupy, to keep his army between Lee and the Confederate capital Richmond. Lee was able to take this position just ahead of Grant. Heavy rain had dampened the gunpowder, leading to intense hand-to-hand fighting. Exhibit shelters, staffed on a seasonal basis.
The park also preserves four historic buildings associated with the battles: Chatham Manor, Salem Church, Ellwood Manor, and the house where Stonewall Jackson died. The ruins of the Chancellor family mansion are included. Chatham Manor in Stafford County is open daily. All sites are free.
The park was established as Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park on February 14, 1927, and transferred from the War Department August 10, 1933. The lengthy name remains its official designation—75 letters, the longest name of any unit in the national park system. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The park includes 8374 acres (33.89 km2), of which 7369 acres (30 km2) are owned by the Federal government. Over 500,000 people visit the battlefield each year.
Fredericksburg National Cemetery was created by act of Congress, in July 1865 after reunification of the states, to honor the Federal soldiers who died in local battles or from disease. The cemetery was placed on Marye's Heights, a Confederate stronghold during the Battle of Fredericksburg. There are a total of 15,243 Civil War interments, of those, only 2,473 were identified. [5]
Graves of soldiers, known and unknown, are distinguished by their markers. Identified soldiers are buried in individual graves, marked by a rounded headstone inscribed with the soldier's name and state. Unknown soldiers were buried in mass graves, the headstones marking these plots contain two numbers. The first, upper, number identifies the plot while the second, lower, number identifies the number of soldiers buried in that plot. [5]
Approximately 100 20th-century soldiers are buried in the cemetery; in some cases, their spouses were buried next to them. The cemetery allowed new burials until 1945. [6] Willis Cemetery, a separate cemetery on Marye's Heights, was established to serve local needs and predates the Civil War. This cemetery is distinguished from the Civil War burials by its brick wall. The Willis home, which burned down before the outbreak of war, was separated by a gap in the ridge from the Marye's family home, Brompton. Previously known as Willis Hill, the name Marye's Heights was applied to the whole of the ridge as the battle was covered by the national press in 1863. [5]
Located near the 127th Pennsylvania Volunteer Monument, and throughout the cemetery, are plaques containing verses from Theodore O'Hara's 1847 poem "The Bivouac of the Dead". [5] O'Hara wrote the poem to commemorate American dead at the Battle of Buena Vista, fought during the Mexican–American War. [7] The first two octaves, and the first half of the eleventh octave are displayed in the cemetery:
The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last Tattoo;
No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents to spread,
And glory guards, with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead.No rumor of the foe's advance
Now swells upon the wind;
Nor troubled thought at midnight haunts
Of loved ones left behind;
No vision of the morrow's strife
The warrior's dreams alarms;
No braying horn or screaming fife
At dawn shall call to arms.Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead,
Dear as the blood ye gave,
No impious footstep here shall treadThe herbage of your grave.
The following monuments and memorials are located in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery: [5]
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee included futile frontal attacks by the Union army on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders along the Sunken Wall on the heights behind the city. It is remembered as one of the most one-sided battles of the war, with Union casualties more than twice as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates. A visitor to the battlefield described the battle as a "butchery" to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
Spotsylvania County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is a suburb approximately 60 miles (90km) south of D.C. It is a part of the Northern Virginia region and the D.C. area. As of 2024, Spotsylvania County is the 14th most populated county in Virginia with 149,588 residences. Its county seat is Spotsylvania.
Fredericksburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. It is 48 miles (77 km) south of Washington, D.C., and 53 miles (85 km) north of Richmond. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg with neighboring Spotsylvania County for statistical purposes.
Falmouth is a census-designated place (CDP) in Stafford County, Virginia, United States. Situated on the north bank of the Rappahannock River at the falls, the community is north of and opposite the city of Fredericksburg. Recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place (CDP), Falmouth's population was 4,956 as of the 2020 census.
Chancellorsville is a historic site and unincorporated community in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, United States, about ten miles west of Fredericksburg. The name of the locale derives from the mid-19th century inn operated by the family of George Chancellor at the intersection of the Orange Turnpike and Orange Plank Road. The Battle of Chancellorsville occurred there during the American Civil War in May 1863, and the Battle of the Wilderness was fought nearby in May 1864. During the 1863 battle, Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded by friendly fire, dying eight days later on May 10, 1863, from pneumonia.
The George Washington Birthplace National Monument is a national monument in Westmoreland County, Virginia, at the confluence of Popes Creek and the Potomac River. It commemorates the birthplace location of George Washington, a Founding Father and the first President of the United States, who was born here on February 22, 1732. Washington lived at the residence until age three and later returned to live there as a teenager.
Germanna Community College (GCC) is a community college in Virginia with campuses in Locust Grove, Fredericksburg, Stafford and Culpeper. Founded in 1970, it takes its name from Germanna, a settlement founded by Governor Alexander Spotswood for a group of German miners by the Rapidan River at what is now Germanna Ford.
The Second Battle of Fredericksburg, also known as the Second Battle of Marye's Heights, took place on May 3, 1863, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, as part of the Chancellorsville Campaign of the American Civil War.
The Battle of Salem Church, and the Battle of Banks' Ford took place on May 3 and 4 respectively, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, as part of the Chancellorsville Campaign of the American Civil War.
Chatham Manor is a Georgian-style mansion home completed in 1771 by farmer and statesman William Fitzhugh, after about three years of construction, on the Rappahannock River in Stafford County, Virginia, opposite Fredericksburg. It was for more than a century the center of a large, thriving plantation and the only private residence in the United States to be visited by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Antietam National Battlefield is a National Park Service-protected area along Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Washington County, northwestern Maryland. It commemorates the American Civil War Battle of Antietam that occurred on September 17, 1862.
Locust Grove is an unincorporated community in eastern Orange County, Virginia, United States. Its ZIP code is 22508, the population of the ZIP Code Tabulation Area was 7,605 at the time of the 2000 census and increased by 60% to 12,696 by the 2010 census, making it the largest population center within the county. While Locust Grove has historically been centered on the intersection of State Routes 20 and 611, most of the current population and commercial activity is located along the State Route 3 corridor, several miles to the east. It is named after the Black Locust trees common to the area.
State Route 218 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs 30.00 miles (48.28 km) from U.S. Route 1 and US 17 Business in Falmouth east to SR 205 in Tetotum. SR 218 connects suburban communities in Stafford County east of Fredericksburg with rural areas in northern and eastern King George County.
Kenmore, also known as Kenmore Plantation, is a plantation house at 1201 Washington Avenue in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Built in the 1770s, it was the home of Fielding and Elizabeth Washington Lewis and is the only surviving structure from the 1,300-acre (530 ha) Kenmore plantation.
Aquia Church is a historic church and congregation at 2938 Richmond Highway in Stafford, Virginia, USA. It is an Episcopal congregation founded in 1711, that meets in an architecturally exceptional Georgian brick building that was built in the 1750s. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991 for its architectural importance. It maintains an active congregation with a variety of programs and outreach to the community.
Chancellor is an unincorporated community in Spotsylvania County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. Originally named Screamersville, the community was established as a railroad whistle stop west of Fredericksburg. The name was changed to Chancellor around 1927 by agreement of the railroad and the local community.
Chatham Heights is an unincorporated community in Stafford County, in the U.S. state of Virginia.
John Lawrence Marye Jr., was a Virginia lawyer, plantation owner, Confederate soldier and politician. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates during the American Civil War, and upon the legislature's election of Lt. Gov. John F. Lewis as one of Virginia's U.S. Senators following the Commonwealth's readmission to the Union, was elected the tenth Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (1870-1874) and as such presided over the Virginia Senate. Marye also represented Spotsylvania County in both the Virginia Secession Convention and the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868, when he was a leading opponent of Congressional Reconstruction.
Ellwood Manor is the Georgian-style home completed c. 1790 by William Jones, formerly in Spotsylvania County, Virginia but now in Orange County, Virginia. For more than a century, it was the center of a large, thriving plantation not far from the Chancellorsville crossroads on the Plank Road between Fredericksburg and Orange, Virginia which is now Virginia State Route 3. Not long before the American Civil War, J. Horace Lacy married William Jones' younger daughter and inherited both Ellwood and Chatham Manor.
The 61st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.