Question of the Week: 8/1-8/7/22
With the ECW Symposium coming up this weekend in Central Virginia, near Fredericksburg and in Spotsylvania County…
What are your favorite, unique Civil War sites to visit around the Fredericksburg area? (Or within a 20 mile radius of Fredericksburg!)
I am pleased that Mine Run has received recent attention in scholarship and preservation. Chris Mackowski’s book, the You Tube lectures by Ted Savas on discovery and preservation, and the American Battlefield Trust/Civil War Trails’ creation of an interpretive trail have restored this interesting battlefield and inspired interest in its associated campaign.
1. The Pelham Monument at Kelly’s Ford
2. The intersection of the Orange Plank Road and the Brock Road.
Jackson’s Flank March Trail – Chancellorsville
At the risk of being cliched, my favorite place near Fredericksburg is Slaughter Pen Farm. I know we are going there on Sunday, but for so many reasons that site represents everything I find memorable in Civil War battlefields and their preservation.
Having that property be protected preserved the integrity of the surrounding preserved property.
The $245 million purchase showed that, when properly motivated, the Civil War community could do great things.
Access to the site allows a very different kind of interpretation that was possible only from the Confederate side of the battlefield before.
As with the Gettysburg Third Day Charge ground, walking the Slaughter Pen Farm ground shows that, smooth and featureless as the site may appear from the highway, there actually are dips and hollows where it was possible for Union soldiers to slip out of sight, catch their breath, have a drink of water and move forward again.
You didn’t ask us for our favorite Fredericksburg restaurant. There are so many great places to eat.
The remnants of the earthworks located right on the property of Stevenson Ridge. We took a short walking tour of them last year and they are a real hidden treasure.
The catawba trees at Chatham Manor.
The Gordon Flank Attack trail.
Downtown FredericksBurg. Stayed in a Bed and Breakfast with exposed beams charred by the fire resulting from the artillery bombardment of the town before the anphibious assault before the battle.
The Longstreet wounding location in the Wilderness.
The widow Tapp field whete the ANV almost was seriously wounded but for the arrival of Longstreet ‘s Texans.
The Burton Farm