4 battlefields, plus more.

Today, I visited Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville, and Wilderness Battlefields.  “What about the plus more?” you ask.  I’ll come back to that.  I will talk about these briefly, along with a pic or two, but not in the same order I visited them, shown above.

First, Fredericksburg.  This battle was fought in December 1862, about two months after the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, and a few weeks before it would take effect.  It was an embarrasingly lopsided defeat for the Union side; as in about 13,000 casualties for the Army of the Potomac, and a little over 5,000 for the Army of Northern Virginia (and I have read one source that claimed that about a thousand of those for the Southern army had just gone home for Christmas without telling anyone, and then came back).  The battlefield is hard to really show, because the town has grown by about 10 times since the war, but here are a couple pictures.

Top two are of Marye’s Heights, where Confederate artillery was posted.  The third shows a portion of the stone wall and sunken road, which made a ready-built entrenchment for the Confederate infantry.  The last two show a statue, and the plaque that commemorates Richard Kirkland, a member of Lee’s army, who, the day after the fighting, took pity on the Union soldiers lying wounded on the field and brought them water.

Next, Chancellorsville.  Frequently called Lee’s masterpiece, because he defeated a Union army more than twice the size of his own, by dividing his army again and again to meet the needs of the moment.  However, it cost him dearly.  Stonewall Jackson, whom Lee would call his Right Arm, was wounded, had his left arm amputated, then died of pneumonia about a week later.  This loss was irreparable to the South.

The first two pictures are an attempt to show you what the Wilderness (the area where the Battles of Chancellorsville and the Wilderness took place) looks like.  In the second picture, there is a road about maybe 50 feet away.  You can see it, barely, but it disappears pretty quick.  And it’s a busy road too, but if you get more that about that 50 feet away, you can’t see them anymore.  My understanding though, is that in 1863, it was more tangled and overgrown than it is now.  The last picture is a monument to Stonewall Jackson, approximately in the area where he was wounded.

Now for the plus.  I visited the place that they took Stonewall Jackson after he was wounded.  Here is a picture of the room he was resting in when he died.

The clock, the floor, the blanket, and the bed frame are original.  Jackson died on May 10th, a Sunday.  He said that he had always wanted to die on Sunday, and his final words were, “Let us cross over the river, and rest in the shade of the trees.”

Next, The Wilderness.  The first battle after U.S. Grant has been appointed Commander of the armies.  I won’t show any pictures on this one, because the area looks the same as Chancellorsville, and I’ve probably bored you enough with the history lesson.  So to wrap it up, after the Wilderness came Spotsylvania.

This is a picture of the entrenchments at Spotsylvania, first how they look after about 150 years, and an example of how the looked during the battle.  This battle lasted about 13 years, with heavy fighting on about half of the days, and 1 day saw fighting that lasted 20 hours, and was essentially hand-to-hand combat.

Alright, that’s enough.  It was a busy day, but a good one.  I honestly could have spent a day at any 1 of those battlefields, but I just don’t have time.  Maybe another year I can find a way to do these battlefields justice.  Someday.  Happy Road-Tripping!

Author: ramblingsofawanderingman

I'm a man who feels more at home driving down the road on an adventure than almost anywhere else. View all posts by ramblingsofawanderingman