Rappahannock Station

Rappahannock Station. A Rare Night Attack at the River. , The hamlet of Mill View, present-day Remington, became known as Rappahannock Station to the Civil War armies which campaigned in this area. Here the vital Orange and Alexandria railroad (to your left) crossed the Rappahannock River just behind the low hills you are facing, near a grist mill. This stretch of the Rappahannock frequently was used as a strategic line of defense by the opposing armies., The most significant action here occurred Nov. 7, 1863, when Gen. George Meade’s Union Army of the Potomac launched a rare night attack resulting in a stunning tactical victory and the capture of more than 1,600 troops of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Only 400 Confederates escaped the disaster, many by swimming the frigid waters of the Rappahannock. Lee’s staff officer, Walter H. Taylor, summarized the affair at Rappahannock Station as “the saddest chapter in the history of this army.” Little did he know at the time that this would be the Army of Northern Virginia’s last defense of the upper Rappahannock River for the remainder of the war. Federal forces established major camps near the river and the railroad., On Nov. 23, 1863, repairs on the 572-foot-long bridge were completed and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad was again in service. Two days later, Col. John S. Mosby told Gen. J.E.B. Stuart that the railway guards now stood in sight of each other and attacks on that line were not advisable. In the same memo Mosby reported that since Nov. 5, his men had stolen more than 100 horses and mules, six wagons and captured 75 Yanks, all without losing a man., (Photo Captions) , The winter encampment of the 50th New York Engineers at Rappahannock Station in March 1864., Refugees following the Union Army retreat in August, 1862, ford the Rappahannock River at Mill View. The grist mill and railroad bridge are in the background., The Rappahannock River Bridge at Mill View, August 1862., All photographs courtesy Fort Ward Museum