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SIX MAJOR CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELDS IN VIRGINIA from Jane Ockershausen's Virginia One Day Trip Book “With such noble women at home and such heroic soldiers in the field, we are invincible.” Jefferson Davis “I state my general idea of this war that we have the greater numbers, and the enemy has the greater facility of concentrating forces upon points of collision (because of his interior lines).” Abraham Lincoln
1. Manassas 2. Fredericksburg National Military Park 3. Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Battlefields 4. New Market Battlefield State Historical Park 5. Petersburg National Battlefield 6. Appomattox Court House National Historical Park Build your own Civil War Notebook. Cut and paste any of these key words into the search engine below. Then print the most useful pages to add to the descriptions of Virginia Battlefields Civil War War between the States Robert E. Lee Abraham Lincoln Ulysses S. Grant Manassas Appomattox Court House Richmond Soldiers from the Union and Confederate armies met on the battlefield at Manassas more than twice. Of course, the First and Second Battles of Manassas are the occasions you read about in history books. The opening salvos on July 21, 1861, were the first of the many major battles that would be fought by the Blue and the Gray. The Confederate victory at Second Manassas gave the South the momentum to carry the struggle into the North. Manassas National Battlefield Park has an audio-visual presentation, electric map program and battlefield maps that provide details of the two pivotal battles. You can rent an automobile tour tape for the Second Battle of Manassas. The less well-known meetings are also filled with human interest and historical significance. In the years after the great struggle soldiers from both armies often visited this battlefield. They came to remember fallen comrades, reflect on the battles they survived and perhaps relive the times they could not forget. In the 1920s, before the Manassas battlefield came under the jurisdiction of the federal government, Mr. Adoniram Powell was caretaker. Mr. Powell conducted tours of the battlefield and there were occasions when veterans from both sides joined forces to help him retrace the action. Imagine the difficulty of guiding those who had fought one another and had quite different memories. During one such awkward tour Mr. Powell pointed out the land where, he said, Jeb Stuart had led his First Virginia Cavalry in a sudden and violent attack that broke through the ranks of the New York Fire Zouaves. "T'ain't so!" snorted a grizzled Union veteran. "That ain't the way it was. I was there, and I know." With trepidation because the mood of his mixed audience was unpredictable, Mr. Powell explained that according to the stories he had heard, the resplendent Zouaves retreated. The old warrior proclaimed, "We didn't retreat. We ran like hell." Mr. Powell is long gone, as are the veterans of this bitter struggle, but rangers still provide walking tours of First Manassas on the hilly ground surrounding the visitor center. During the summer months there are special programs highlighting key action during both battles. The Manassas National Battlefield Park Visitor Center is open daily, except Christmas Day. Hours are 8:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., extended to 6:00 P.M. in the summer months. A park entrance fee, payable at the visitor center, allows for park use and activities for seven days. The story of the first peaceful meeting between Union and Confederate soldiers at Manassas is one that is all too frequently overlooked. It was called the National Jubilee of Peace and took place on July 21, 1911, 50 years after the first confrontation. The day began with soldiers of the Blue and the Gray once again lined up facing each other. This time, instead of responding to the order to fire, they slowly closed the gap between the lines and solemnly clasped hands in friendship. The Peace Jubilee continued in town with a speech by President William Howard Taft which, according to a letter by his aide Major Archie Butt, was "a flubdub speech about the Blue and the Gray which brought tears to the eyes of veterans of both sides and smiles to the faces of politicians." At the base of the stone monument, in front of the former Prince William County Courthouse, are cannons and naval anchors (contributed by Assistant Secretary of Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt) to commemorate the Jubilee. The Peace Jubilee Monument is one of the points of interest on the tours (either walking or driving) of Old Town Manassas. There are two museums: the Manassas Museum and Rohr's Museum, adjacent to the late Mayor Edgar Rohr's old-fashioned variety store. The latter houses a collection of antique cars including a custom-made 1933 Rohr sedan, as well as a rare 1905 Paragon. Other cars are a 1917 Detroit Electric and a 1957 Thunderbird. The second floor of Rohr’s Museum has everything from toys and dolls to light bulbs and license plates. Rohr’s Museum is open 2:00 to 5:00 P.M. on summer Sundays and by appointment at other times. To arrange a visit call (703) 368-3000. The Manassas Museum interprets the history of the Northern Virginia Piedmont region with Manassas as the focal point. Exhibits feature prehistoric stone tools, Civil War weapons and uniforms, Victorian furnishings, railroad items and textiles. Two video programs, “A Place of Passages” and the award-winning “A Community at War” tell the story of the region’s development and the effects of the Civil War. Annual events include a series of outdoor living history programs in the summer and a holiday open house in early December. The Manassas Museum, at 9191 Prince William Street, is open 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Tuesday through Sunday. The museum is closed on Mondays, except federal holidays, and Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day and New Year’s Day. For information on special events call (703) 368-1873. Directions: From the Washington Beltway in Virginia take I-66 west to Manassas, Exit 47B. The Manassas National Park Visitor Center is one mile north of exit at 6511 Sudley Road, Route 234. From I-95 south of Alexandria, take Exit 152 to Route 234 into Manassas. This will take you through Old Town Manassas. You can stop at Manassas Visitor Center at 9025 Center Street for additional information and walking and driving tour brochures. Back to the top Back to Free Virginia Guidebook
Fredericksburg National Military Park 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.” 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. Back to the top Back to Free Virginia Guidebook Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Battlefields 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.. Back to the top Back to Free Virginia Guidebook New Market Battlefield State Historical Park The Battle of New Market is remembered as the first and only time in history that the entire student of an American college marched into battle. The 257 brave cadets from the Virginia Military Institute joined General John Breckinridge’s troops. Some say that the older, battle-worn regulars of Breckinridge's command jeered as the young cadets joined the Confederate force at New Market in their newly issued uniforms. By the end of the battle, they had changed their tune and ended the day with loud cheers for the youngsters from VMI, who helped them win the last Confederate victory in the Shenandoah Valley. By what set of circumstances did these fifteen- to seventeen-year-old boys get involved in actual combat? Lee and the Army of Virginia were bogged down at Spotsylvania Court House by Grant's Army of the Potomac. In an effort to gain control of the crucial Shenandoah Valley area, which not only provided wheat and livestock to provision the Confederate army, but also gave the Southern forces a line of invasion into the north, Federal military plans called for Major General Sigel, former German minister of war, to take seven thousand men and capture Staunton, Virginia. To thwart the Northern plans, the South called on a latecomer to the Confederate cause, General John Breckinridge. He was a senator from Kentucky when that state seceded and had made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1860. He was also the youngest vice-president, serving with James Buchanan when only thirty-five. Breckinridge waited until October 1861 to join the Confederate army, but he quickly made up for lost time. By 1864, he had seen service in more states than any other Confederate officer. When Breckinridge gathered his force at Staunton, forty-five hundred Confederates were outnumbered by the Northern forces. To equalize the ranks, Breckinridge ordered the cadets of the Virginia Military Institute from their classrooms. After marching for four days through constant and sometimes torrential rain, the 257 students joined the seasoned ranks. Early on May 15, 1864, the Battle of New Market commenced. The Confederate forces were on Shirley's Hill, and the Federal line on Bushong's Hill. To attack the Federal position, the long grey line, strung out so it would seem a more substantial force, had to advance up an open slope in the face of heavy artillery fire. Breckinridge himself led the assault. The Confederates won the first round with the courageous assistance of Woodson's Missouri Rangers, a crack, sixty-five-man company that, at the cost of sixty casualties, picked off the Federal gunners. As the Confederate army prepared for the counterattack, it was obvious that they were short of men. The center of the line was weak, and there were no replacements, only the VMI cadets. When one of Breckinridge's staff, Major Charles Semple, advised putting in the cadets, General Breckinridge responded, "No, Charley, this will not do, they are only children and I cannot expose them to such fire as our center will receive." But time ran out, and it was the cadets or almost certain defeat. So asking God to forgive him, Breckinridge ordered the young boys into the center. The cadets positioned themselves out in front of the line, along a fence by the Bushong farmhouse. Their actions along this line helped repulse Sigel's counterattack, meaning ultimate Confederate victory. A poignant footnote to this tale was added by the incessant rain. It created a virtual quagmire of the Bushong farm, which has come to be called "The Field of Lost Shoes;" the mud literally sucked off soldier's shoes as they tried to make their way through under lethal fire. Though not a major battle in terms of the outcome of the Civil War, New Market is a battle that is not forgotten. It was the last Confederate victory in the Shenandoah Valley, and it was the first and only time the entire student body of an American college not only marched into battle, but also helped win the day. The events of the May 15 battle are brought vividly to life at the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park’s Hall of Valor Civil War Museum. As visitors peruse the letters written by cadets both before and after the battle to their parents and see their young faces in the photographs, the cadets become individuals with whom we all can identify. A penciled note from Cadet Merritt to his father reads: “Dear pa, I write you a few lines to let you know that I was wounded. I was in the battle here yesterday...” Cadet Merritt was one of forty-seven cadets wounded during the battle. There is a life-size portrait of Thomas Garland Jefferson, seventeen-year old cousin of President Thomas Jefferson, who died from a fatal chest wound. The short film, New Market---A Field of Honor, is particularly poignant as it follows the cadets from classroom to conflict. Each May 15, the entire corps of VMI in Lexington (see selection) calls the roll of the ten cadets killed at the Battle of New Market; it is indeed moving. But this is certainly not a Southern museum. Both sides of the Civil War conflict are presented, as is the entire war from beginning to end, with photo murals and maps. The museum has a second film that focuses on Stonewall Jackson and the Valley Campaign, so highly regarded by military strategists. It gives the amateur historian an idea of what made this campaign noteworthy. But this million dollar museum is just part of the 280-acre park. Also of interest is the Bushong Farm, which has been restored to provide a complete picture of a typical farm of the Civil War period. Nine dependencies of this nineteenth-century farm have also been reconstructed. A park walking tour traces the path of the VMI cadets. A battery of Civil War cannons still stands on top of Bushong's Hill. Each year on the Sunday prior to May 15, the Battle of New Market is re-enacted. New Market Battlefield State Historical Park is open daily 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., and is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Admission is charged. Bushong Farm House is open from mid-June to Labor Day. Directions: Take Washington Beltway Exit 9 (I-66) to Route 81. New Market Battlefield State Historical Park is on Route 81, one mile from the New Market Exit, 264. From the exit turn onto Route 211 west and then make an immediate right onto Route 305, the George Collins Parkway. Travel to the end of the parkway, 1.5 miles to reach New Market Battlefield State Historical Park. Back to the top Back to Free Virginia Guidebook
Petersburg National Battlefield Serving as the industrial and transportation hub of the Confederacy, Petersburg became a victim of its own success. Because of its commercial and strategic importance to the South, Grant felt "The key to taking Richmond is Petersburg." After failing with the direct assault approach at Cold Harbor in June of 1864, the Union army turned south to Petersburg. Their confidence undermined by the series of confrontations with Southern troops at Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, the Federal commanders did not press their assault. They also realized that a frontal assault on a well-constructed fortification was suicidal. This lapse gave Lee an opportunity to move his army to Petersburg from the Richmond area. It also led to the longest siege in American history---no other American city has ever suffered through an ordeal of this length (see Siege Museum selection). Just maintaining the armies in the field was the largest military operation of the nineteenth century. At one point, there were more than a hundred thousand men in the Army of the Potomac. At the Petersburg National Battlefield Visitor Center, there is a seventeen-minute map presentation every half-hour that details events during the long siege, highlighting the battle in June of 1864, when Grant tried to break through the Confederate defense, and the climactic Confederate offensive in April 1865. A short walk from the visitor center leads to a Confederate battery that fell into Union hands during the first day of the opening battle. It was here that a seventeen thousand-pound Union mortar called the "Dictator" fired two hundred-pound shells toward the city only two-and-a-half-miles away. Stops 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 are near Confederate forts built to protect Petersburg. They were areas of bitter fighting during the struggle to gain control of this Confederate stronghold. Stops 5,6, and 7 were part of the Union siege line. In fact Stop 5, Fort Stedman, was the last objective Lee attempted to seize. Realizing that the Northern stranglehold was growing even tighter as the railroad links with Petersburg were broken, Lee decided to attack Grant at Fort Stedman, hoping to force a Union shift to the eastern sector of the siege line, which would ease the pressure on the last Confederate railroad supply link into Petersburg. For a brief time, it looked as though Lee would succeed, but a strong Federal counterattack doomed the offensive. Grant, seeing victory at last, ordered General Sheridan to attack seventeen miles west of Petersburg at Five Forks on April 1.Union victory here opened the way to cut the last supply line into the city and forced Lee to withdraw the next day. Indeed Lee would not have had the chance to evacuate his army were it not for the gallant stand of the 450 men left to hold back the Federal advance at Fort Gregg. It was 450 against 5,000, but they bought enough time for Confederate reinforcements to arrive. It would end for Lee seven days later at Appomattox. Fort Gregg is one of eleven forts on the sixteen-mile drive of the siege line that begins at the Crater. The Crater is one of the most unusual strategic battle approaches employed during the Civil War, and it almost worked. The Battle of the Crater came in the early days of the siege, and the idea behind it was ingenious, although not unique. Grant had tunneled under the enemy position a year earlier at Vicksburg. Pennsylvania coal miners dug a tunnel under the Confederate line. Four tons of gunpowder were placed in the tunnel and literally exploded beneath the unsuspecting Southerners. When the explosion went off on July 30, 1864, it caused a crater 170 feet long, 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The idea was for an assault division from the Ninth Corps to lead the charge penetrating the Confederate position through the gap left by the explosive, with the entire Ninth Army Corps to follow. Union concern, however, that the black division that was trained to carry out the mission might all be lost thereby leading to accusations that the Federal command was trying deliberately to kill black soldiers, prompted them to substitute an unprepared division for this all-important assault. Some Federal soldiers poured into the crater instead of going around the gap left by the explosion until they created a bottleneck and became perfect targets for the Southern troops to pick-off. The Union lost over four thousand men, the South, fifteen hundred. They also lost the chance to end the siege. The Crater was the greatest manmade explosion to occur before World War I. One final point of interest at Petersburg National Battlefield is Stop 3, Meade Station, where a three-fourths mile loop trail leads to this important stop on the U.S. Military Railroad. During the siege, five hundred thousand tons of supplies were shipped on this line, providing the Army of the Potomac with food and uniforms to endure the coldest weather this area had experienced in years. Southern troops were not so fortunate, as the Union cut the city's vital supply link, railroad line by railroad line. The Meade Station Trail has interpretive markers to explain the role of the railroad in the siege of Petersburg. Maps of this walking tour and of the extended battlefield siege line drive are available at the visitor center. During the summer months, visitors also can find the times for various artillery firing demonstrations and other living-history programs at the park. The men fire the twelve-pounder Napoleon field gun according to standard Civil War drill. Visitors should cover their ears, as the Napoleon makes a mighty noise. The twelve-pound balls fired from this gun can travel for one mile. Petersburg National Battlefield is open daily, except major holidays. An admission fee is charged. Directions: Take Washington Beltway Exit 4 (I-95) south to Petersburg. Proceed east on Route 36 towards Hopewell. Turn left on Wythe Street and continue for two miles to the entrance to Petersburg National Battlefield. Back to the top Back to Free Virginia Guidebook
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park In 1861 Wilmer McLean, merchant and sugar importer, lived with his family along a stream near a sleepy Virginia community. The town was Manassas Junction, the stream was Bull Run, and the first battle of the War Between the States was fought there. General Beauregard used McLean's home as his headquarters. Town folks say that a Yankee cannonball went through the McLean's outside kitchen during the general’s stay spoiling his dinner. A year later the armies of the North and South clashed once more on the hills and fields around McLean's home. He decided Manassas wasn't safe and moved his family to Appomattox Court House, an obscure county seat in the central Piedmont region. It is one of the ironies of history that the war which began in Wilmer McLean's front yard ended in his parlor! There are 27 restored or reconstructed buildings at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. Your first stop should be the visitor center where a 15-minute chronological slide program will acquaint you with the dramatic events from April 1 through 12, 1865, leading up to the final surrender. A second program, Honor Answers Honor, uses first person accounts to recapture the emotions felt by those on both sides of the surrender field. After this slide program you'll walk the quiet country lanes to the area where the stacking of arms ceremony took place. Imagine the emotions of the battle-weary Confederates as they marched between the Union soldiers and discovered that their former enemies were presenting arms. When you tour the Clover Hill Tavern you'll see some of the paroles printed for the surrendering army. The presses had to turn out 28,231 passes for the Confederates who laid down their arms. At the reconstructed McLean House you'll learn that only a few of the furnishings are original. Not only did the surrender take place in Wilmer McLean's parlor, but Federal officers took some of his furniture when they left. Some purchased pieces and others, it is said, stole them; all wanted souvenirs of Lee's surrender to Grant. The stacking of arms ceremony was ironically on the fourth anniversary of its opening salvo. The surrender of the infantry of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia took place on April 12, 1865, exactly four years to the day after Fort Sumter was fired on by Confederate batteries. Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is open daily from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and the birthdays of George Washington and Martin Luther King. There is a visitor admission fee for those 17 and older. Informative programs are given during the summer months. Directions: From I-95 in the Richmond area, take Route 360 west to Jetersville, then Route 307 to Route 460. Go west on Route 460 to Appomattox. Take Route 24 east for three miles to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park on the right. Back to the top Back to Free Virginia Guidebook
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