Union Army Ninth Corps

Union Army Ninth Corps. . , In the winter of 1862-1863, following the Battle of Fredericksburg, Colonel Edward Harland’s Union brigade camped on this site. Six infantry regiments comprised the brigade: the 4th Rhode Island and the 8th, 11th, 15th, 16th and 21st Connecticut. The brigade had been held in reserve at Fredericksburg and took just 40 casualties there, many from Union artillery shells that exploded prematurely overhead. It suffered far greater losses here from the hardships of camp’s exposure and disease., “Little Whim”, the Wallace’s house, served as General Burn’s headquarters, and was located adjacent to Colonel Harland’s encampments. The small valley east of the house became known to locals as Burnside’s Bottom, and later as Lipstick Valley. Much of Rt. 218 was a corduroy road, constructed of logs laid next to each other, 6” of brush laid on that and then topped with 6” of dirt. The railroad track used to be on what is now Cool Springs Road where the Falmouth Station was located, President Lincoln’s arrival point in April 1863. Between Nov. 1862 and May 1863, 100,000 to 130,000 Federal troops camped in wooden huts in Stafford after the Union defeat at Fredericksburg.