Civil War buffs who Fredericksburg National Military Park are fascinated by battle strategy,  but most travelers are held enthralled by individual stories of heroism and tragedy.  Fredericksburg is rich in stories about individuals who transcended the ordinary, it was a place "where uncommon valor was commonplace." The Confederates on Marye’s Heights mowed down the Union troops as they advanced column after column in a futile attempt to take the hill.  By the end of the Battle of Fredericksburg more than 12,000 Union men lay dead or wounded.  The plight of the wounded so moved Sergeant Richard Kirkland, a Confederate from South Carolina, that he asked his commanding officer, General Joseph Kershaw, for permission to carry water to the Union wounded lying in agony near his position.  Permission was granted, but he was not allowed to carry a flag of truce and he was warned that Federal troops were apt to fire at him as soon as he climbed over the wall.  Although bullets started flying, cheers soon filled the air as Kirkland ministered to the wounded.  Today you can see the Kirkland Monument honoring the soldier who became known as the “Angel of Marye’s Heights.”  A statue (picture above) was erected in his honor at the Military Park.

         Four major battles were fought around Fredericksburg because of its strategic position between Washington and Richmond. In December 1862, the Battle of Fredericksburg resulted in a Union debacle.  In May 1863, Lee's great victory at Chancellorsville was marred by a volley fired by his own men that eventually cost Stonewall Jackson his life.  In May 1864, the Battle of the Wilderness proved costly to both sides, and it was followed by the fearsome two-week battle of Spotsylvania Court House which encompassed the single most terrible 24 hours of the war.

Fredericksburg was first drawn into the war in April 1862 when the town was occupied for four months by Union troops.  Betty Maury recorded in her diary: "Their flags are everywhere, over foundry, bank, bridges, stores, stretched in lines across the streets, tacked on trees, stuck on soldier's guns, tied to horns of oxen."  When Federal troops arrived they conducted a house-by-house search for weapons and confiscated five swords at the Maury house.  The Federal troops left a path of destruction in their wake: bayoneted paintings, wrecked furniture and broken china and crystal. 

Residents were almost entirely Confederate supporters, and so in December 1862 when sentries were anxiously watching the Rappahannock River for signs of an imminent Union attack, they weren't surprised to hear a woman's voice calling a warning across the river.  "Yankees cooking big ration! March tomorrow!" The Confederates had retreated just a short distance outside the town and entrenched themselves in a seven-mile line.  The crucial half-mile of their line was behind a protective stone wall.

To gain an overview of the battle, stop at the Fredericksburg National Park Service Visitor Center. It provides a slide show, exhibits and a self-guided battlefield tour map for Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania.  There is also a visitor center at Chancellorsville.

Before leaving Fredericksburg be sure to visit Chatham.  This gracious 18th-century Georgian mansion paid a high price for its choice location overlooking the Rappahannock River. The house was a front-line headquarters for Union General Edwin V. Sumner and others.  Chatham was also a field hospital, served by Clara Barton, known as the "Angel of the Battlefield."  Walt Whitman, one of America's most revered poets, also worked in the hospital.

Chatham is also noteworthy because it is the only home still standing where both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are known to have been entertained.  Local enthusiasts claim that George Washington wrote in a letter to William Fitzhugh, "I have put my legs oftener under your mahogany at Chatham than anywhere else in the world, and have enjoyed your good dinners, good wine and good company more than any other."  The builder of Chatham, William Fitzhugh, achieved such a reputation for hospitality he was exhausted by a steady stream of guests. He finally sold Chatham and moved to a smaller house in Alexandria, now known as the Boyhood Home of Robert E. Lee (see selection), where he could more readily restrict his social calendar.

You can tour Chatham and see several rooms of museum exhibits.  The gardens have been restored and from the river overlook there is a panoramic view of Fredericksburg.   Chatham and the Fredericksburg Visitor Center are open at no charge daily from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.

Directions:  From I-95 take the Fredericksburg exit.  Take Route 3 east into town.  Turn right on Littepage Street and right again on Lafayette Boulevard to reach the Fredericksburg Visitor Center.  Chatham is two miles from the visitor center, off  Route 218, east of the Rappahannock River.