Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NATIONAL MILITARY PARK Virginia Shortly before noon, Gen. Edwin Sumner's McClellan's failure to advance against mander of the Army of the Potomac, defeated van of Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Confederate wing began attacking Marye's Heights. Ar­ either of the separated wings of the Confed­ Lee at Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3. corps on the Orange Turnpike. Warren Fredericksburg and tillery atop the hill, and Longstreet's infan­ erate army caused his replacement. His suc­ Casualties: In the battle of Chancellors­ attacked and was repulsed. To the south, try at the base behind a stone wall along the cessor, Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, who ville, the Federals lost 17,278 men out of Gen. A. P. Hill's Confederate corps on the Sunken Road, shattered wave after wave of Spotsylvania assumed command on November 9, 1862, 133,868; the Confederates, 12,821 out of Orange Plank Road met Gen. George W. the Federal battlelines. Burnside wasted the presented to President Lincoln a plan which 60,892. Getty's Federal division which had rushed involved a rapid movement on Fredericks­ steadfast courage of his troops in piecemeal forward to secure the vital intersection of NATIONAL MILITARY PARK burg, thence a march southward against Rich­ frontal assaults against an impregnable posi­ Battle of the Wilderness the Plank and Brock roads. Gen. Winfield mond, his army to be supplied from Potomac tion. During the night of December 15-16, From Gettysburg Lee returned to Virginia, S. Hancock's Corps, reinforcing Getty, held River bases east of Fredericksburg. he retreated over the Rappahannock and put cautiously followed by Meade. After the the area against heavy Confederate attack. his army in winter quarters. Scene of four major battles of the Civil War indecisive campaigns of Bristoe Station and Battle of Fredericksburg Casulties (killed, wounded, and miss­ Mine Run, both armies settled into winter At dawn, May 6, Hancock attacked, forc­ Burnside's vanguard arrived on Stafford ing): The Federals lost 12,653 out of quarters, facing each other across the Rapi- ing Hill westward through the forest. Lee's the main barriers to Federal invasion. Thus, This park memoralizes the Battles of Fred­ Heights across the Rappahannock from Fred­ 142,551; the Confederates, 5,309 out of dan, an upper tributary of the Rappahannock. other corps, Longstreet's, had not yet come ericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, early in the war, Fredericksburg occupied a 91,760. up. Just as all seemed lost, Longstreet ar­ ericksburg on November 17. A delay in ar­ Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, assigned the su­ and Spotsylvania Court House—four major position of great military importance. rived to stop the Federal push. A Confed­ rival of the pontoon bridges, however, pre­ preme command of all Federal forces in engagements of the Civil War. No other Battle of Chancellorsville erate counterattack and turning movement vented a crossing at that time. By Novem­ March 1864, developed a coordinated strat­ area of comparable size on the American con­ Early Progress of the War flung the Federals back to the Brock Road, ber 30, his army occupied Stafford County, Gen. Joseph E. Hooker superseded Burn­ egy of simultaneous assault against the entire tinent has witnessed such heavy and continu­ Three Federal thrusts against Richmond but the wounding of General Longstreet by but the delay had enabled Lee to concentrate side, January 1863. Hooker reorganized the Confederacy. He set up headquarters at ous fighting. On the fields of Fredericks­ occurred before the Battle of Fredericksburg. his own flankers disorganized the operation. on the heights to the west and southwest of demoralized army and resumed offensive The Sunken Road at the foot of Marye's Heights. (Wartime photograph.) Culpeper with Meade's army and prepared, burg and Chancellorsville, Confederate arms The first, led by Gen. Irvin McDowell, met Confederate charges against the Brock Road Fredericksburg. operations on April 27 with a well-conceived personally, to take the field against Lee's won signal success, but at the Wilderness and defeat at First Manassas (Bull Run), July 21, trenches failed. Later on, the Confederates Early on the morning of December 11, strategic plan. He proposed to leave a hold­ Army of Northern Virginia. Spotsylvania Court House a determined 1861. The second, Gen. George B. McClel- ing force under Gen. John Sedgwick opposite the original plan of cutting between Hooker outflanked the Federal right on the Turnpike under cover of fog, the Federals began laying Confederate chieftain detached a division On May 4, Meade's Army of the Potomac Union army began the final drive that sealed lan's Peninsula Campaign, failed at the east­ Lee's front in the Fredericksburg vicinity, sector, achieving only partial success. pontoon bridges at two points opposite Fred­ under Gen. Jubal Early to hold the Freder­ and the river and instead attacked the center crossed the Rapidan, cutting between Lee and the doom of the Southern cause. ern gates of Richmond, May-July 1862. ericksburg and at a point about a mile south. while his attack column marched up the river icksburg Heights and took the bulk of his of his realinement. Jackson's troops, tem­ Richmond. Not caught napping, Lee deter­ Grant broke the stalemate by sidestepping In the West, Federal strategy was directed The third, under Gen. John Pope, was re­ The upper crossings were hotly contested. to cross and turn eastward against Lee's rear. troops westward to meet Hooker's turning porarily led by the cavalryman Gen. J. E. B. mined to strike the Federal columns in the leftward to get between Lee and Richmond. toward control of the Mississippi River and pulsed in Second Manassas, August 28-30, Federal artillery, though devastating the Lee foresaw his adversary's purpose. The column concentrated around Chancellors­ Stuart, struck eastward, and Longstreet's Wilderness, the dense forest west of Fred­ Whatever the cost, Grant would take no the strategic railheads; in the East, to the 1862. town, failed to drive off Confederate sharp­ ville, a country estate 10 miles from Freder­ men, personally directed by Lee, lashed out ericksburg. backward step. blockage of the Southern coast and the cap­ Gen. Robert E. Lee then took his victorious shooters. Finally, picked troops ferried icksburg. The sudden shift threw Hooker northwestward. The converging Confed­ Gen. A. E. Burnside. About 8 a. m. on May 5, Gen. Gouverneur ture of Richmond, capital of the Confed­ Confederate army into the North, only to be over, effected a landing, and captured the city off balance. He dropped the initiative and erates drove Hooker toward the river. K. Warren's Federal Corps encountered the Casualties: In the Battle of the Wilderness, eracy, about 100 miles south of Washington, turned back by McClellan at Sharpsburg, after sharp street fighting. On December assumed a defensive position, his left wing At noon Lee heard that Early had lost the the National Capital. Md., along Antietam Creek, September 17, 12, both sides massed for the coming battle. extending securely northeastward to the Rap­ Fredericksburg Heights. Leaving Stuart to Directly in the path of invasion from the 1862. Again in Virginia, leaving Gen. T. J. Burnside hoped to dislodge the entrenched pahannock. His right, however, stretching occupy Hooker, he moved part of his army Gen. G. G. Meade. Gen. J, E. Hooker. Gen. U. S. Grant. north lay Fredericksburg, situated at the falls (Stonewall) Jackson's Corps near Winches­ Confederate right near Hamilton's Railroad westward along the Orange Turnpike, did eastward to meet the oncoming Sedgwick, of the Rappahannock River, midway between ter, Lee moved with Gen. James Longstreet's Crossing, south of the town, and their left not rest on any natural obstacle. defeating that Union detachment at Salem Washington and Richmond. Here was to Corps to Culpeper Court House. McClellan center at Marye's Heights, just west of the On May 2, in a daring move, Lee again Church, 4 miles west of Fredericksburg, May be found the shortest route to Richmond gathered his army around Warrenton, across town. About 9 a. m. on December 13, Gen. divided his forces. He sent Jackson by 4-5. Sedgwick, the Rappahannock at his along a good railroad, and here an advance the Rappahannock River from Culpeper John Reynolds' Corps opened the attack roundabout woodland trails to strike Hook­ back, escaped over Banks' Ford. Lee then would provide a protecting cover for Wash­ County and some 40 miles northwest of against Jackson's position in the Hamilton's er's right and sever Union communications. countermarched his weary troops to find that ington. The Rappahannock offered one of Fredericksburg. Crossing sector. Despite heavy artillery fire, Although Hooker's right wing was routed, Hooker had retired across the Rappahannock Gen. George G. Meade's Division managed darkness fell before the Confederates could atU. S.Ford. to penetrate the Confederate line and seemed complete their victory. While reconnoiter- Confident of further victory, Lee now The National Park System, of which this area is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, about to spearhead a Union victory, but ing about 9 p. m., Jackson was accidentally launched his second invasion of the North, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and inspiration of its people. Jackson's reserves forced his withdrawal in wounded by the fire of his own men, who but this time without the services of the irre­ the mid-afternoon. mistook his party for a Federal patrol. placeable Jackson, who had died at Guinea On May 3, the Confederates abandoned Station, May 10. Meade, the new com­ gun pits, as well as such important historic sites as the Sunken Road, Marye's Heights, Hamilton's Crossing, Jackson Trail, Jack­ Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania son Shrine, and the Bloody Angle.