Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania

Wednesday, May 20

Day 43

We visited the nearby Fredericksburg visitor's center and they kindly opened about 20 minutes early to help us. Wow, that was nice. We were glad we did as we really had no idea how to approach the several Battlefields in the area. We were directed to Fredericksburg Battlefield first where the National Park Service has a visitor center.

We watched a movie which explained how the region was devastated by the war not just in soldier loss of life but by the occupation of the area for many months. Everything was used up, trees, food, crops and homes destroyed. The people were forced out, many to never return. There were several horrifically bloody battles in this region. We stood on the ground where thousands marched straight into gunfire.

The Union troops crossed the river down below to march into battle up this hill where
the Confederates had established walls and  the obvious geographical advantage

There are 15,000 Union soldiers buried here in a National Cemetery. The Confederate soldiers were buried in a different location. Most of the Union soldiers buried were unidentified and several bodies placed in one grave. This battle took place 2 weeks before the Emancipation Proclamation came out and Lincoln was heavily criticized for the loss of life that took place here. The Confederate army was the victor in this battle by holding the high ground.

The top number is the number of the grave, the bottom number means
there are 5 unidentified Union soldiers buried

 Later in the war there were 3 other battles fought very near here. We visited the Spotsylvania Court House Battleground, again where thousands were killed with really no gain in ground. They fought in hand to hand combat.  Grant was trying to get the Courthouse and then take control of Richmond. What was accomplished was the continuous loss of life in which the Confederacy could not recover. The Union had more available troops but lost thousands. The Spotsylvania Battlefield was hallowed undeveloped ground that we were able to drive and walk.

The girl scouts come every year on Memorial Day to light 15,000 luminarias for the Union soldiers, while another group does the same at the Confederate cemetery.

We drove to Wheaton, Maryland to our next ATC hosts home. They were delightful and interesting people!  We went out for dinner at a great local Thai restaurant and then settled in for a big day in Baltimore. We explored all sorts of public transportation but the journey home after the game sounded complicated so by the end of the evening we settled on driving.