Chapter One
CHAPTER ONE: Wartime Burials Photos Colonel John R. Brooke led the 1862 burial details that interred the Union dead at Marye’s Heights. * * * This map, drawn by George C. Anderson of the Fifty-Third Pennsylvania, shows the location of two long burial trenches created by Brooke’s burial on the plain in front of […]
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Where Valor Proudly Sleeps: A History of Fredericksburg National Cemeteryby Donald C. Pfanz “Engaging the Civil War” SeriesSouthern Illinois University Press,2018 Click here for ordering information Many books discuss in great detail what happened during Civil War battles. This is one of the few that investigate what happened to the remains of those who made […]
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CHAPTER TWO: Postwar Burials in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania Court House Photos The First United States Veteran Volunteers scoured the Wilderness for Union remains in June 1865. Unburied skeletons, like these, were interred in one of two cemeteries established on the battlefield. * * * Wilderness National Cemetery No. 1 stood in […]
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CHAPTER THREE: A Call to Action Photos Private Frederick H. Kronenberger of the Second New Jersey Volunteers was shot in the knees on May 12, 1864, while on picket duty at Spotsylvania Court House. He was taken back to Fredericksburg, where he died on May 22. Kronenberger may have been one of the 328 soldiers buried […]
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CHAPTER FOUR: The Creation of Fredericksburg National Cemetery Photos · Additional Resources Photos Brig. Gen. Thomas Meagher led the Irish Brigade at the Battle of Fredericksburg. * * * These two images together show a cross-section of the national cemetery at its northern end. The “Stone Wall,” in the left image, runs along the […]
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CHAPTER FIVE: Toward a More Permanent Cemetery Photos · Additional Resources Photos Over time many of Fredericksburg’s markers have become soiled, such as this headstone of Charles Alsop and the block marking the grave of four unidentified soldiers buried in plot #4073. * * * These memorials on the graves of unknown soldiers are […]
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CHAPTER SIX: The Superintendent’s Lodge and Other Buildings Photos · Additional Resources Photos Like most national cemeteries in the country, Fredericksburg’s superintendent’s lodge closely follows a design put forward by architect Edward Clark. Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs approved Clark’s plans in 1871. * * * This photograph of the lodge was taken ca. 1883. […]
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CHAPTER SEVEN: Refinements Additional Photos The cemetery’s third flagstaff stood from 1878 to 1905. Although shorter and less attractive than its predecessors, it proved durable. * * * With construction of the Humphreys Monument in 1908, the flagstaff was moved to a new location at the brow of the hill adjacent to the carriageway. […]
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CHAPTER EIGHT: Cemetery Employees Additional Photos Andrew Birdsall (shown here later in life) and his family (bottom) lived in the cemetery from 1883 to 1892. Birdsall and his wife, Julia (middle), are buried there. * * * One of the Birdsall girls * * * Andrew Birdsall’s calling card while he was […]
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