Since colonial times Fredericksburg was one of the chief river ports for the Shenandoah Valley, along with Alexandria and Richmond.  The Rappahannock River made this an irresistible military target during the Civil War and the town changed hands seven times (see Fredericksburg National Military Park selection). The town was also a target because of the presence of the railroad and the various wagon roads that crossed through Fredericksburg. Within 15 miles of this transportation hub, you will find the greatest concentration of preserved battlefields in the state:Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania.  In a two year period, the Union and Confederate armies, together totaling nearly 200,000 men, battled four times near Fredericksburg.

West of Fredericksburg at the Battle of Chancellorsville  in May 1863, General Lee won a great victory but lost an irreplaceable officer when General “Stonewall” Jackson was accidently shot by his own men during a lull in the fighting.

Lee’s victory was a triumph of boldness over numbers, determination over vacillation; he had the courage to take enormous risks based on his information regarding the enemy’s position and intentions.  It wasn’t that General Joseph Hooker didn’t come up with a good plan.  He did; he had to, as he was very much aware that he was replacing General Burnside, who made such a poor showing at Fredericksburg.  So Hooker was determined to beat Lee.  After reorganizing the 120,000 Union troops during the winter camp he was ready.  “My plans are perfect,” said Hooker.  “May God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none.”

Hooker attempted to hold Lee’s force at Fredericksburg while simultaneously moving around Lee’s left side with a large segment of his army.  He succeeded, but Lee didn’t do the expected and withdraw or surrender, instead he attacked.

As Hooker moved to attack Lee’s left flank with 75,000 men, Lee left only 10,000 men under General Jubal Early’s command in Fredericksburg and moved the larger 45,000 man force toward Chancellorsville.  When Hooker met the advance troops he fell back to Chancellorsville and dug in rather than attacking the inferior force.  In so doing he buried his hopes of victory over Lee.

Lee arrived and met with General Jackson at what is now Auto Stop 7 on the battlefield tour to devise a bold and daring maneuver.  The plan was to divide Lee’s already vastly outnumbered force in two, one segment would hold the line where Hooker was dug in, while Jackson with 30,000 men would march around the Union force and envelope its right flank.  This surprise move was enormously effective, and 1 ½ miles of the federal line caved in.  It was at this time that the fates ceased smiling on the Confederates.  Jackson, who had ridden out in front of his own line to reconnoiter the federal position in order to plan that night’s offensive, was hit three times---fired on by his own men as he returned. 

Devastated, the southern troops could not even stop to mourn their commander.  Intelligence was received regarding an attack that forced General Early to evacuate the heights behind Fredericksburg.  Lee left J.E.B. Stuart in command of Jackson’s corps and took 20,000 men east to defeat Sedgwick, who threatened his rear.

The entire story of this tragic Confederate victory is told at the Chancellorsville Visitor Center.  A short film covers the May 1-4, 1863 battle.   Maps available at the center highlight stops on the auto route.  At the onset of the battle, Hooker lost his nerve and he dug in, abandoning the offensive to Lee. One stop is the Chancellorsville Inn where Hooker made his headquarters.  While Hooker was leaning against one of the inn’s porch pillars on May 3, he was wounded during a shelling by falling masonry.  Part of this tour is the 12-mile route Jackson followed as he encircled Hooker’s flank.

As a footnote to the battle stop at the small frame office building at Guinea Station.  After being shot, Jackson was taken to Wilderness Tavern where his arm was amputated.  He was then moved to the white clapboard office building of Fairfield, the Chandler Plantation.  He contracted pneumonia and died on Sunday, May 10, 1863.  His last words were, “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”  The building where he died is now part of the Stonewall Jackson Shrine.

In May 1864 the Army of the Potomac under General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant started south again.  He adopted an approach similar to Hooker’s, attempting to turn Lee’s right flank.  On May 4, the Union army entered the Wilderness.  Here the opposing armies engaged in “bushwhacking on a grand scale,” to quote one old veteran.

In this overgrown terrain armies could not maintain regular lines and some soldiers either were shot by their own men or discovered, to their eternal regret, that they were completely surrounded by the enemy.  A further problem produced by the heavy but dry vegetation was fire---muzzle flashes set the tinder ablaze and it raged out of control impartially killing wounded Union and Confederate who could not escape the deadly inferno.

Losses in the two-day Wilderness fighting were 18,000 Union men shot or burned and an estimated 8,000 to 12,000 Confederates.  Lee could no longer accept that many casualties, as he had only half as many men as General Grant.  So this marked the end of the aggressive Confederate charges that had turned the tide at numerous battles before this, including previous years encounter at Chancellorsville. 

The Battle of the Wilderness ended when General Grant began pulling out his men on May 7.  The Army of the Potomac had withdrawn from every encounter with Lee. As the lead column reached the intersection that would indicate either retreat or a continued battle, the men raised a cheer to Grant when they realized they were heading farther south to engage Lee’s force once again. The Wilderness Battlefield has a self-guided auto route with interpretive road signs.  Only a portion of the battlefield survives, but some trenches are visible from the road.

When Grant’s soldiers cheered as they left the overgrown Wilderness to engage Lee farther south, they did not envision the encounter at Spotsylvania Court House.  For orientation to this brutal two-week stalemate that cost approximately 30,000 lives, stop at the Spotsylvania Exhibit Center.  A walking tour takes in the ground over which the heaviest fighting took place at the center of Lee’s line where it jutted into the Union position.  At this point, called the “Bloody Angle,” assault after assault was launched.  Fighting was hand-to-hand, with soldiers firing at point blank range, clubbing and bayoneting each other in savage frenzy.  Spotsylvania’s tragic distinction is that the Bloody Angle climax was the single most terrible 24 hours of the war. One marker on the trail indicates where a 22-inch oak tree was cut down by a barrage of rifle bullets.  Along the auto route, houses are indicated that were used as headquarters by the opposing sides.  After almost two weeks, Grant decided to shift to a more southern position.  On May 21 he started in the direction of Richmond area and another deadly conflict ten days later at Cold Harbor. 

There are two additional points of interest at Spotsylvania.  The present court house stands on the location of the earlier structure that was badly damaged during the war.  In the small brick Old Berea Church, also badly damaged during the fighting, and now the Spotsylvania County Museum, you can see relics from the battlefield.  Nearby is a Confederate cemetery.

Directions: From I-95 in the Fredericksburg area take Route 3 west to Chancellorsville.  For the Jackson Shrine take the Thornburg exit off I-95 and proceed east on Route 606.  For the Wilderness Battlefield auto-route, take Route 3 off I-95 at Fredericksburg, and turn left on Route 20 for the beginning of the auto route.  For Spotsylvania, from Route 3, turn left and head south on Route 613, Brock Road and travel just over 13 miles to the exhibit shelter at the battlefield area.