Marye's Heights

Marye's Heights. Fredericksburg: Timeless.. , In May 1864, a photographer exposed this image of the Marye's Heights battleground. He set up his camera in front of "Federal Hill," the large white house approximately 300 yards to your left rear. On December 13, 1862, thousands of Union soldiers caught a glimpse of this panoramic view as assault columns hurried past Federal Hill toward Marye's Heights. The December attacks failed disastrously, but this area witnessed further action on May 3, 1863, when a Union attack overran the Heights, during the Chancellorsville campaign., Streets and houses now cover the plain where thousands of Union soldiers died, but components of the Civil War landscape remain. Hanover Street, on your immediate left, follows its wartime course. The canal ditch that bisected the avenue of attack is now a flume, covered by Kenmore Avenue, while the abrupt bluff that sheltered Union regiments, as they formed for their attacks, remains visible across the street. Many of the houses identified in this photo survived the war and are still occupied by Fredericksburg families.