On this ridge, the Union brigade of Brig. Gen. William Hays, supported by artillery, temporarily stopped the Confederate advance across the ground below you. A member of the 12th New Jersey described what happened next: "We were in open sight, . . . — — Map (db m12794) HM
On the morning of May 3, this large, open plateau, known as "Hazel Grove," was the key to the Union position. "Stonewall" Jackson's flank attack the evening before had staggered the Union army but had not seriously damaged it. As the new day . . . — — Map (db m3610) HM
This trail leads to Fairview, a key Union position. The fighting that occurred between here and Fairview on May 3, 1863, was some of the most desperate of the war—exceeding, for the time engaged, both Antietam and Gettysburg. Signs along the . . . — — Map (db m112316) HM
The climactic fighting of the Battle of Chancellorsville took place in the woods and fields around Fairview. Here on the morning of May 3, 1863, Union troops struggled to maintain their position long enough to allow General Hooker time to . . . — — Map (db m3637) HM
The low earthworks opposite are the apex of the final Union line at Chancellorsville. After suffering defeat in the massive fighting on May 3, Hooker's army started digging. The result: a powerful, U-shaped line six miles long supported by 100 . . . — — Map (db m3691) HM
(South Face): On this Spot fell mortally wounded Thomas J. Jackson Lt. Gen. C.S.A. May 2nd 1863 (East Face): There is Jackson standing like a stone wall Bee at Manassas. (North Face): Could I have directed events, I should have chosen for the good . . . — — Map (db m3975) HM
The effort to erect a monument at the site of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's mortal wounding began in February 1887, when Fredericksburg newspaper editor Rufus Merchant founded the Stonewall Jackson Monument Association. On June 13, 1888, a crowd of . . . — — Map (db m3977) HM
About 10 a.m. on May 2, 1863, Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's flanking column approached this then-cleared ridge on the Furnace Road. Union infantrymen perched in trees at Hazel Grove, three-quarters of a mile to the . . . — — Map (db m3585) HM
Near here stood the hospital tent to which the wounded "Stonewall" Jackson was brought during the Battle of Chancellorsville. In that tent his left arm was amputated on May 3, 1863. He died seven days later at Guinea. — — Map (db m3515) HM
Shortly after 8 a.m., May 2, "Stonewall" Jackson's corps marched down the hill behind you and passed Catharine Furnace, bound for the Union Army's right flank. When the Federals spotted Jackson's column, they assumed the Confederates were . . . — — Map (db m3604) HM
Around you is tangible and dramatic evidence of the impact "Stonewall" Jackson's flank attack had on the Union army. The artillery emplacements (lunettes) in front of you were constructed at a fairly leisurely rate on May 1 and 2, 1863. They face . . . — — Map (db m3636) HM
Maj. Gen. Hiram G. Berry's division formed the front of the Union defense north of the Orange Turnpike on the morning of May 3. Although virtually all of Berry's entrenchments have disappeared, this small segment of works on the right marks the . . . — — Map (db m12785) HM
Confederate artillery here supported one of the largest infantry attacks of the Civil War. At dawn "Stonewall" Jackson's corps, now led by J.E.B. Stuart, struck the Union line from the west, in the woods to your left-front. At the same time, . . . — — Map (db m3617) HM
As Union resistance around the Chancellor house dissolved, Robert E. Lee rode into the clearing behind his victorious battalions. Though badly outnumbered, Lee in three days had stopped the initial Union advance, brazenly split his own army to . . . — — Map (db m3818) HM
In 1860, Oscar Bullock and his wife, Catharine, lived in a modest two-and-one-half-story white frame house on this site. With them lived their two infant children and Catharine's 16-year-old brother, David Kyle (who would serve as a guide to . . . — — Map (db m3697) HM
Near this spot was born
Matthew Fontaine 1806 Maury 1873
——
Pathfinder of the Seas
Author of physical geography of the sea
Founder of the science of meteorology
First to conceive the idea of an Atlantic Cable
Under his . . . — — Map (db m3597) HM
These scattered bricks and this shallow depression are all that remain of Matthew Fontaine Maury's birthplace. Maury's parents purchased this house and 103 acres of land from "Lighthorse Harry" Lee, Robert E. Lee's father, in 1797. The future . . . — — Map (db m158851) HM
This short trail leads to the birthplace of Matthew Fontaine Maury, one of America's greatest scientists. By the time of the Civil War, Maury's birthplace was gone, replaced by a simple brick house. Few of the 28,000 Confederate soldiers who . . . — — Map (db m21933) HM
This trail will take you across the swampy headwaters of Ninemile Run, where for three days Confederate skirmishers of General Lafayette McLaws' division sparred with elements of Joseph Hooker's Union army. McLaws' spirited attacks fixed Hooker's . . . — — Map (db m25644) HM
Of his soldiers he was the idol; of his country he was the hope; of war he was the master. Senator John Warwick Daniel When General "Stonewall" Jackson died eight days after being wounded in these woods, shock waves rippled through the . . . — — Map (db m155621) HM
Civil war combat rarely continued after dark, but on the night of May 2, 1863, desperation and fear filled these gloomy woods. At midnight, about 3,000 Union soldiers of Brigadier General David B. Birney's division moved through these woods, intent . . . — — Map (db m112310) HM
In December 1862 the Wellford family fled Fredericksburg to escape the ravages of battle. Five months later war found them again - here, in a commodious brick home that stood in the field in front of you. On April 30, Union troops arrived. "About . . . — — Map (db m3919) HM
After the May 3, 1863, fighting at Chancellorsville, the Confederates gathered up 500 wounded Union soldiers and brought them here to Fairview. For more than a week the helpless men lay in the yard around the house, receiving little medical care, . . . — — Map (db m3640) HM
Union soldiers on the front line probably utilized these rifle pits on May 3-5. Trenches on the other side of the creek possibly served Confederate skirmishers. While the fighting raged near Salem Church, Union Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds believed . . . — — Map (db m12856) HM
3rd Brigade, 1st Div., 12th Corps Held this position from 7 p.m. May 2nd to 9 a.m. May 3rd, 1863. Present for duty 300 Killed 36, Wounded 114 ——— Mustered in Aug. 1861, Mustered out Sept. 1864 Total enrollment 1,101. Killed 172. . . . — — Map (db m159501) HM
Their names are unrecorded, their labors are rarely noted. No images of them survive. But slaves outnumbered Chancellor family members when Frances Chancellor moved into this house in 1861. Likely only a few of the 20 slaves owned by the . . . — — Map (db m5618) HM
The intersection in front of you was the focal point of the Chancellorsville Battlefield. From here roads radiated in five directions. Four of them are visible; the fifth, River Road, lies just beyond the trees to your left. From this . . . — — Map (db m3800) HM
After dark, May 5, 1863, Union soldiers left their trenches and began making their way toward U.S. Ford. A cold rain drenched the soldiers to the skin and turned the woodland roads to mud. At the ford, the Rappahannock River rose five feet in three . . . — — Map (db m12858) HM
Upon reaching Chancellorsville on April 30, 1863, General Joseph Hooker deployed the Army of the Potomac in a defensive perimeter around the intersection. General Henry W. Slocum's Twelfth Corps held the center of the Union line. For three days . . . — — Map (db m21931) HM
The armies fought the Battle of Chancellorsville in the heart of a 70-square-mile region of tangled undergrowth known locally as the Wilderness. This inhospitable terrain added a new dimension of horror to the fighting on May 3. Fires erupted from . . . — — Map (db m5458) HM
“Until near noon on May 3rd, the fighting was severe, when the ammunition of the infantry having been exhausted and repeated calls for more being unanswered, the line was forced to retire to the breast-works. The dead and most of the . . . — — Map (db m79640) HM
On the morning of May 3, Col. Emlen Franklin's Union brigade shifted from south of the Orange Turnpike to this vicinity. Here, they met Pender and Thomas head on. Lt. Col. Jonathan H. Lockwood of the 7th Virginia (Union) remembered what happened . . . — — Map (db m12847) HM
Men of Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock's division manned the earthworks which are located just inside this woodline. Hancock's troops confronted two Confederate divisions advancing from the south (from your right front) and east as well as the . . . — — Map (db m3867) HM
On April 30, 1863, Gen. George G. Meade's Union Fifth Corps advanced along this road toward Chancellorsville. As Meade's troops approached, Confederates on the Bullock Farm briefly resisted them, then disappeared into the woods to spread word of . . . — — Map (db m3690) HM
Just 1.7 miles west, on this road (then the Orange Plank Road), Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded by "friendly fire" about 9:30 P.M. on 2 May 1863 during the Battle of Chancellorsville. Having brilliantly executed a flanking . . . — — Map (db m3513) HM
(Front): George Washington: Statesman Following the Treaty of Paris that guaranteed American independence from Great Britain in 1783, Washington became an influential mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at . . . — — Map (db m14184) HM
(Front): George Washington: Surveyor George Washington loved mathematics, a passion he put to work when he learned to survey land, a useful trade in colonial America. At the age of 15, his first surveying job was to map his brother's . . . — — Map (db m14185) HM
(Front): Historic Kenmore and George Washington's Ferry For George Washington, Fredericksburg was "...the place of my growing infancy." The old town on the Rappahannock River remained his home until he moved permanently to Mt. Vernon . . . — — Map (db m14187) HM
Confronted by overwhelming numbers, Confederate forces fell back from Chancellorsville (three and a half miles in front of you) and established a defensive position here on April 30. General Robert E. Lee instructed Richard H. Anderson, who . . . — — Map (db m7532) HM
"We were digging and fortifying all night."
Charles E. DeNoon, Mahone's Brigade
Civil War earthworks, sometimes referred to as breastworks, were built in a fashion much different than modern military trenches. Soldiers started at . . . — — Map (db m7530) HM
Behind you, on the Orange Turnpike, stood the home of Frances McCarty. In 1860, Frances lived here with three members of her family. She owned 120 acres, three slaves, and scratched out a living as a farmer. Like so many residents of Sptosylvania . . . — — Map (db m7531) HM
Following its defeat at Fredericksburg in December 1862, the Union Army of the Potomac spent the winter in Stafford County. Across the Rappahannock River, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia kept a defensive position that covered a 25-mile . . . — — Map (db m7535) HM
Today, much like it was in the nineteenth century, Spotsylvania County contains very few east-west roads. The few that exist, such as Route 3 before you, are heavily used and follow the same routes as their antebellum predecessors.
The first . . . — — Map (db m7533) HM
Four miles north, on this side road, is the site of an ancient iron furnace established about 1716 by Governor Alexander Spotswood, the first fully equipped iron furnace in the colonies. Iron was hauled along this road to the Rappahannock River for . . . — — Map (db m1659) HM
In November 1862, Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood constructed this fort a half mile northeast on the Rappahannock River in an effort to prevent Union gunboats from ascending the river toward Fredericksburg. Four rifled guns of . . . — — Map (db m4123) HM
December 13, 1862. In these gunpits stood 14 cannon of Walker’s Artillery Battalion, guarding the right of the Confederate line. While the youthful Maj. John Pelham’s light and mobile horse artillery, about a mile to the front, daringly challenged . . . — — Map (db m4087) HM
December 13, 1862. “Lee’s War Horse,” Longstreet, easily beat off repeated attacks against Marye’s Heights to the northward. Meanwhile, here in the Hamilton’s Crossing sector “Stonewall” Jackson had more trouble, but his . . . — — Map (db m4088) HM
December 13, 1862. Here in the Lansdowne Valley Longstreet’s right flank joined with “Stonewall” Jackson’s left. Confederate infantry was deployed on the valley floor and cannon rimmed the hills behind, forming a deep pocket in the . . . — — Map (db m4116) HM
December 13, 1862. Here, on the wood’s edge facing the fields of the Lansdowne Valley, Gen. George Pickett’s 9,000 men, including soldiers from Fredericksburg, held a vital part of Lee’s line. The enemy did not attack Pickett’s Division and the men . . . — — Map (db m4124) HM
December 13, 1862. This is Hamilton's Crossing, the crossing of the Old Mine Road over the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. Since the railroad was threatened from here to Fredericksburg by long range Federal cannon, Hamilton's . . . — — Map (db m8865) HM
December 13, 1862. This highway, the Old Richmond Stage Road, here passes wartime Smithfield, now the Fredericksburg Country Club. Out of the ravine alongside the present golf links (your left front), Meade’s Division emerged to form lines of battle . . . — — Map (db m110493) HM
(Front): George Washington: Soldier George Washington gained his first military experience during the French and Indian Wars where his bravery and leadership made him a hero. When discord between the American colonies and the British . . . — — Map (db m14186) HM
After the Union Army's disastrous events of May 3, 1863, the 124th New York Regiment of Franklin's Brigade, Whipple's Division of Sickles III Corps fell back to this area where the Mineral Springs Road crossed La Roque's Run (to the rear and right). . . . — — Map (db m108310) HM
This landscape, now changed by commercial and residential development, once swarmed with Union soldiers. Forty thousand Northern troops, led by General William B. Franklin, having crossed the Rappahannock River, massed here on the plain south of . . . — — Map (db m3825) HM
While General Robert E. Lee engaged the Union army at Chancellorsville, Confederate Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early confronted a smaller Union force led by Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick at Fredericksburg. On 3 May 1863, Sedgwick overran Early’s lines at . . . — — Map (db m137175) HM
Here Major John Pelham, commanding Stuart’s Horse Artillery, executed a stunning flank attack on advancing Union troops during the Battle of Fredericksburg on 13 December 1862. Reduced to one cannon, the 24-year-old Pelham halted the Federals for . . . — — Map (db m1656) HM
The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had no braver officer than Major John Pelham. Although just 24 years old, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Alabamian had already proven himself on more than half a dozen battlefields in Maryland and Virginia. . . . — — Map (db m3821) HM
Young, handsome, and modest, Major John Pelham was one of the most popular men in the Confederate army. He was also one of its premier artillerists. Time and again the twenty-four-year-old officer had engaged the enemy at close quarters, earning the . . . — — Map (db m19314) HM
Comprised of 47 locks, 20 dams, and 15 miles of canals, the Rappahannock Navigation System struggled from its beginnings. After suffering numerous construction delays due to financial problems, the heyday of canal commerce on the Rappahannock was . . . — — Map (db m16541) HM
As hard as it is to believe, the beautiful and historic landscape you see before you was once on the verge of being bulldozed for an industrial park. It was here, on December 13, 1862, that Union forces nearly broke through Confederate lines and . . . — — Map (db m158779) HM
The months following the Battle of Fredericksburg brought a temporary halt to the fighting in Virginia, but not to the digging. Throughout the winter of 1862-1863 Confederate troops constructed nearly thirty miles of earthworks along the south bank . . . — — Map (db m19315) HM
The old colonial Mineral Springs Road crossed here running about one mile northeast to Tubal (Spotswood's Furnace) and Scott's Dam Ford on the Rappahannock. The road straddled the ridge between La Roque's Run and Mineral Springs Creek. On May 3 thru . . . — — Map (db m126609) HM
Charles Chiswell established the iron-making community of Fredericksville near this point of Douglas Run, a tributary of the North Anna River. The furnace had been in blast for about five years when William Byrd in 1732 toured the site in the . . . — — Map (db m59532) HM
At battle's end, more than 2,000 Union dead lay scattered through the Wilderness. The first major effort to bury the dead came more than a year later, when a Union regiment received orders to proceed to the Wilderness and inter those Union . . . — — Map (db m155886) HM
Here on the morning of May 6, 1864, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his army faced perhaps their greatest crisis. Soon after dawn, hundreds of disorganized Confederates tumbled from the woods to your left, driven by a powerful Union . . . — — Map (db m6058) HM
Once schoolmates, friends, and neighbors, they came here as soldiers from Yorkville, South Carolina; Pen Yan, New York; Clarksville, Virginia; Barre, Vermont; and a hundred other towns, North and South. Their deaths in these woods on May 5 and 6, . . . — — Map (db m155885) HM
These woods saw some of the heaviest fighting of the Battle of the Wilderness. On May 5, then again on May 6, 1864 ragged Union and Confederate battle lines surged back and forth on both sides of the Orange Plank Road. The stalemate here finally . . . — — Map (db m5390) HM
The Wilderness of today looks different than it did in 1864. Then it was a patchwork of second-growth forest. Brush obscured, briars grabbed, and thickets disrupted the battle lines. One solder described the combat here as "bushwhacking...on a . . . — — Map (db m7516) HM
Some of the Civil War's heaviest fighting occurred along the Orange Plank Road on May 5 and 6, 1864. One of two major roads passing through the Wilderness, the Plank Road became a magnet for both armies as they struggled to maneuver through the . . . — — Map (db m155923) HM
It was the most successful day of James Longstreet’s career. He had arrived on the Wilderness battlefield early in the day to find the Confederate army in full retreat and in danger of being destroyed. His troops had prevented disaster. Now, at . . . — — Map (db m5392) HM
When the armies departed the Wilderness, they left behind a disfigured landscape. Trenches twisted like earthen snakes through the woods, and blackened leaves marked the paths of fires. Along the Brock Road, noted one soldier, trees "were scarred . . . — — Map (db m4966) HM
Before the Wilderness, battlefield stalemate meant retreat by one side or the other - a return to the starting point to try again another day. But not here. Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant rendered stalemate in the Wilderness irrelevant. . . . — — Map (db m4967) HM
The Battle of the Wilderness climaxed here in the twilight of May 6, 1864. After a day of seesaw fighting in the woods behind you, the Confederates mounted a final effort to take the Plank Road-Brock Road intersection, 100 yards to your left. . . . — — Map (db m7529) HM
In front of you is the site of Catherine Tapp's house, a 1.5-story log cabin surrounded by a corn crib, orchard, and stable. Union and Confederate forces swept past the dwelling, and at one point a Union shell passed through it. When Lt. Col. . . . — — Map (db m112326) HM
Just after noon on May 5, 1864, Union troops raced toward this intersection. With Confederates from General A.P. Hill's corps sweeping down the Orange Plank Road from the west, blue-clad troops under George W. Getty arrived here just moments before . . . — — Map (db m4969) HM
The Fredericksburg Road, present-day Route 208, was the Army of the Potomac's supply line during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. For two weeks in May 1864, wagons shuttled back and forth along the road between the Union army and its supply . . . — — Map (db m3660) HM
Before dawn on May 12, 1864, 20,000 Union troops of General Winfield Hancock's Second Corps slogged into position at the Brown House, one-half mile to your left, preparatory to making an attack on the Confederate-held Muleshoe Salient. Tired from . . . — — Map (db m52965) HM
Early on May 10, 1864, General Gershom Mott's division of 1,500 Union soldiers arrived on this ground and began constructing earthworks amid the harassing fire of Confederate sharpshooters concealed in the timber, just a few hundred yards away. The . . . — — Map (db m52962) HM
On the ridge ahead of you stood the Chewning house, an important landmark on the Wilderness Battlefield. Sixty-nine-year-old William V. Chewning scratched out a living on this 150-acre farm during the war with the help of his wife Permelia and their . . . — — Map (db m7454) HM
Spotsylvania County
Straddling the fall line, Spotsylvania County was formed from Essex, King William, and King and Queen Counties in 1720. It was named for Alexander Spotswood, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1710 to 1722. The Civil War . . . — — Map (db m3319) HM
On 5 Aug. 1862, two detachments of Union troops left Fredericksburg with the intention of damaging the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Brig. Gen. John Gibbon led a brigade of some 2,000 men down Telegraph Road toward Hanover Junction, while Col. . . . — — Map (db m1718) HM
Massaponax Baptist Church, built in 1859, served a congregation founded in 1788. On 21 May 1864 Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his commanders conferred on pews in the churchyard as the Union army marched from the Spotsylvania Court House battlefield . . . — — Map (db m1719) HM
Two weeks of fighting at Spotsylvania had resulted in a bloody draw. On May 21, 1864, the Army of the Potomac left its trenches outside the village and began moving east and south, hoping to lure the Confederates into the open where it could attack . . . — — Map (db m1726) HM
Lee vs. Grant – The 1864 Campaign
Union troops took this road on May 21, 1864, as they left Spotsylvania and headed toward Guinea Station. One year earlier, “Stonewall” Jackson’s ambulance had used this same road to carry . . . — — Map (db m3707) HM
On 4 May 1863, the ambulance bearing wounded Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson from the Chancellorsville battlefield turned east here en route to Guinea Station, where he died on 10 May. A year later, Union troops of . . . — — Map (db m1717) HM
Here was Newpost, headquarters of Alexander Spotswood (Governor of Virginia, 1710-22), Deputy Postmaster General for the colonies, 1730-39. Spotswood also had an iron furnace here. — — Map (db m1658) HM
Twisting through the woods one hundred yards ahead of you are two well-preserved lines of earthworks constructed by Confederate forces in the winter of 1862-1863. General Robert E. Lee had ordered his troops to build the trenches in anticipation of . . . — — Map (db m19313) HM
This trail leads 0.2 miles to Hamilton’s Crossing on the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Named for Captain George Hamilton whos home, “Forest Hill,” once stood on a nearby knoll. Hamilton’s Crossing marks the . . . — — Map (db m4086) HM
Usually thought of as a Union monument, the large pyramid in front of you was in fact erected by the Confederate Memorial Literary Society. In 1897, the society contacted Virginia railroad executives asking them to erect markers at historically . . . — — Map (db m7977) HM
A mile south is the unmarked grave of Gaspar Tochman (1797-1880), a major in the Polish army who participated in the failed 1830 revolt against Russia. Exiled, in 1837 he immigrated to the United States, where he practiced law, wrote, and lectured. . . . — — Map (db m5456) HM
Nearby stood Penny’s (Penney’s) Tavern, named for Lincefield Penney who purchased the site in 1811. The tavern catered to travelers making their way to the old Spotsylvania courthouse site (1781–1837), located approximately one mile north of . . . — — Map (db m65082) HM
A short distance southeast is the site of the George Arnold House where Bishop Francis Asbury died, March 31, 1816. Asbury, born in England in 1745, came to America in 1771 and labored here until his death. He was ordained one of the first two . . . — — Map (db m1723) HM
Representatives from local African American churches organized the Spotsylvania Sunday School Union in 1905 to secure a secondary school for black children. The Union, led by educator John J. Wright, purchased 158.5 acres here in 1910 and later . . . — — Map (db m148423) HM
The Spotsylvania Sunday School Union (SSSU) was formed in 1905 by 12 African American Baptist churches for the purpose of promoting education past the 7th grade for their children. Initially they helped the growth of the Fredericksburg Normal & . . . — — Map (db m84589) HM
Formerly the John J. Wright Parksite, the renamed Spotsylvania Sunday School Union (SSSU) Parksite is an example of long- standing community partnership and involvement. The parksite comprises 10 acres - a portion of 158.5 acres originally owned by . . . — — Map (db m84591) HM
(West Side): Dedicated to the memory of the gallant 126th Reg't O.V.I. commanded by Colonel Benjamin F. Smith and Lieut. Colonel Aaron W. Ebright 2nd Brigade 3rd Division 6th Army Corps. Army of the Potomac (North Side):Ohio's . . . — — Map (db m10314) HM
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