29.

9/5:155

burg

Battlefields

Wt/

m
I

Official National

Park Handbook

Fredericksburg
Battlefields
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial
National Military Park
Virginia

Produced by the
Division of Publications

Harpers Ferry Center

National Park Service
U.S.

Department of the

Interior

Washington, D.C.

National Park Handbooks are published to support the National Park Service's management programs and to promote understanding and enjoyment of the more than 370 National Park System sites that represent important examples of our country's natural and cultural inheritance. Each handbook is intended to be informative reading and a useful guide before, during, and after a park visit. They are sold at parks and can be purchased by mail from the Superintendent of

Documents, U.S. Government Printing

ington,

Office, Wash-

DC 20402-9325. This

is

handbook

155.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fredericksburg Battlefields: Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park, Virginia/produced by the Division of Publications, National Park Service. cm. (Official national park handbook; 155) p. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-912627-67-0

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County BattleMemorial National Military Park (Va.) Guidebooks. 2. Fredericksburg (Va.), Battle of, 1862. 3. Chancellorsville (Va.), Battle of, 1863. 4. Wilderness, Battle of the, Va., 1864. 5. Spotsylvania Court House, Battle of, Va., 1864. 1. United States/National Park Service. Division of Publications. II. Series: Handbook (United States National Park Service. Division of Publica1.

fields

tions); 155.

E474.85 .F855 1999

973.7'3dc21

99-33071

CIP

Background: Wadsworth's Division in action along the Old Plank Road during the Battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864. From a sketch by Alfred R. Waud.

Contents

Parti

Why War Came This Way

By A. Wilson Greene Cockpit of the Civil War
7

Part 2

Where A Hundred Thousand

By A. Wilson Greene

Fell

16

Fredericksburg, 1862 19 Chancellorsville, 1863 37 The Wilderness and Spotsylvania, 1864

51

Part 3

The

Battlefields

Today 68
74
80 84

Fredericksburg Battlefield Old Salem Church 79

Chancellorsville Battlefield

The Wilderness

Battlefield

Spotsylvania Battlefield 86 Stonewall Jackson Shrine 91 Battlefield Preservation 92

For Further Reading Index 94

93

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Cockpit of the

Civil

War

Fredericksburg, Va.,
tains

still re-

Geography has always influenced the patterns of

tory. In early civilizations,

his-

much of its

Civil

War

the proximity of fresh water

character.

The front lawn of

Chatham on Stafford Heights

affords a fine view of the
city's

modern

skyline.

Previous pages: Artillery at

Hazel Grove.
Next pages: Germanna Ford, northwest of Fredericksburg, where elements of the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River in May 1864 to begin Grant's Overland Campaign. For a view of the ford during the crossing, see
page
50.

and arable soil determined the location of settlements. Transportation routes linking town sites gave rise to new population centers, and the availability of natural resources dictated where and how well people lived. In warfare, geography also helps to decide where and how battles are fought, and how often civilians suffer and
soldiers die.

Between 1862 and 1864, the American Civil War landed with relentless fury upon Fredericksburg, Virginia, and its surrounding countryside. Few Southerners foresaw the terrible price their region would pay for their decision to leave the Union. Nowhere would this tally be more appalling than in the gracious old
town on the Rappahannock River.

Look at any antique Virginia map and you can get an insight into Fredericksburg's 18th-century origins and its fatal destiny in the 1860s. The Old Dominion's early cities owed their existence to tidal streams. English colonists utilized these watery highways to push inland from their Tidewater toeholds. By the mid- 18th century, 100 years before the Civil War, substantial communities flourished at the heads of navigation of
Virginia's principal rivers. Fredericksburg

was to the Rappahannock what Petersburg was to the Appomattox, Richmond to the James, and Alexandria (and later,

Washington) to the Potomac: the commercial link between the farms and markets of the west and the
shipping lanes of the world.

During the generations bounding the Revolution, Fredericksburg's prosperity and growth rivaled that of
any Southern metropolis. Sailing vessels plied the Rappahannock carrying the bounty of central Virginia downstream and returning with manufactured goods demanded by an expanding population. Elegant brick houses lined tree-shaded streets trod by the likes of Hugh Mercer, James Monroe, and sundry members of the Washington family. George had a house built for

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The commander of the Fredericksburg Artillery,

Edward
}

A. Marye, lived in his family house atop Marye's Heights

before the war. During the Battle of Fredericksburg, however, his battery was posted four miles south of here. The Marye House, known then

mother on Charles Street, his brother Charles later became the city's leading tavern, and his sister Betty resided at Kenmore, a beautiful country estate near the outskirts of town. When General Lafayette returned to the United States in 1824, he supposedly claimed to be more at home in Fredericksburg than anywhere else in America. As if to prove his
his

owned what

and now as Brompton,

rently serves as the

cur-

point, the

French hero stayed nearly a week.

home of the president of Mary Washington College.

By

1860, Fredericksburg counted 5,020 inhabitants.

Yet the city's heyday had already passed. Deeper-draft ships found the Rappahannock too confining, and river
traffic declined.

City fathers, suspicious of new technol-

key not only to future transportation but to commercial growth. While crop-laden wagons toiled toward Fredericksburg over muddy roads (in some places improved by wooden planks), Alexandria, Richmond, and Petersburg connected their docks with the west by rail, thus siphoning away a portion of Fredericksburg's natural commerce. The city had not died, to be sure, but on the eve of civil war, it assumed the posture of a grand dame, dignified by age and habit but in slow
ogy, realized too late that the railroad held the
eclipse.

Fredericksburg's antebellum politics reflected senti-

ments
tual

in

most of Virginia

east of the Blue Ridge.

crisis

citizens

deplored the sectional

and trusted

in

The mu-

dependence and conservative instincts to blunt North and South. The city's economy cherished its trade with Baltimore and Philadelphia as
agitation both

well as

its

local slave-based agriculture. Thus, self-inter-

render most area residents thoroughly Southern in outlook but inclined toward preservation of the Union. When Confederate forces in South Carolina forced the surrender of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in April 1861, inducing President Abraham Lincoln to
est joined tradition to
call for militia to

suppress rebellion in the

Deep

South,

Virginians could

no longer straddle the

sectional fence.

The

citizens of Fredericksburg joined their neighbors throughout the slaveholding portions of the Commonwealth and embraced secession. After Virginia formally joined the Confederacy in May, Richmond became its new capital city, with Fredericksburg lying midway between it and Washington, the Federal capital. The capture of Richmond haunted Union strategic doctrine just as surely as the city's survival dominated Confederate military think-

11

ing. The direct line

from Washington south led 50 miles

flowed

straight to Fredericksburg. Astride that path

Where much of the Civil War was fought. Fredericksburg's

location between the contending capitals and astride major

Rappahannock River and its major tributary, the Rapidan. To Northern generals, these rivers were thorny obstacles. To Southern commanders, they were
the
as

transportation routes

made

military activity here almost a

moats to a

castle.

foregone conclusion.

The Rappahannock runs deepest and widest from Fredericksburg downstream toward the Chesapeake Bay. Above the city, where the Rapidan flows into the Rappahannock, the rivers could be negotiated during
low water at fords, eliminating the need for bridges. But these fords led to a 70-square-mile tract of dense, scrubby woods known locally as the Wilderness. Timber had been cut here, west of Fredericksburg, to feed a charcoal-hungry iron industry. What grew up in place of these trees was a jungle of natural "barbed wire" that could hamper an invading army and neutralize the advantage of superior strength and firepower. The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad offered a reliable supply line to the south for Confederates defending Fredericksburg, and to the north for Federals trying to move through the city. Important highways like the Telegraph Road, linking Washington with Richmond, and the Orange Turnpike and Plank Road, leading west through the Wilderness to the rich Virginia Piedmont, completed Fredericksburg's profile as a communications hub. Armies, like cities, cannot exist in a vacuum. These transportation
corridors funneled the fighting men to Fredericksburg with a stubborn inevitability. The Civil War's first year brushed the Rappahannock Valley only lightly. Sons of farmers, merchants, doctors, and mechanics rushed from their homes to form regiments that tramped through Fredericksburg streets and along the region's highways, determined to teach the Yankees a quick lesson in martial prowess and establish Southern independence in the process. If by wintertime the Federals had not been driven back across the Potomac, they at least had been restricted to northern Virginia where the Battle of Manassas (Bull Run to Northerners) had momentarily stifled their shouts of "On to Richmond!" That situation changed dramatically in the spring of 1862, when Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan ferried his Army of the Potomac to the tip of the Peninsula between the York and James rivers and began to march it directly northwest toward the Southern capi-

12

Eastern Theater of
1861-1865

War
Gettysburg

PENNSYLVANIA

ac River
"9

Hagerstown

MARYLAND
Sharpsburg
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Washington, D.C.
Alexandria

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Market
Fisher's

Thornton

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Warrenton
Luray

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Station

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Rappahannock

Station

Brandy Station
Swift

Run Gap

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ort

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Cedar Mountain
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Republic

the WILDERNESS
Chancellorsville

Orange
Brown's Gap
Imont

FREDERICKSBURG
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Salem Church

Court House!

Neck

Spotsylvania

Court
Jarman's

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Guinea
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The Andrew A. Humphreys monument in Fredericksburg

National Cemetery honors
the sacrifices

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate troops had no choice but to abandon their Manassas defenses and
tal.

made by

the
in the

Third Division, Fifth Corps,

Army of the Potomac,

Battle

of Fredericksburg. Humphreys's division made the last major assault against

the

Sunken Road on Decem-

ber 13, 1862. In dedicating the monument in 1908, former newspaper editor Alexander K. McClure said that it and others like it "no longer stand as monuments for tri-

umph for either the Blue

the Gray, but are accepted

or by

and South
the
soldiery.

every veteran of the North as monuments to

heroism of our American

hustle south to resist the new threat. In a twinkling, Fredericksburg found itself exposed and vulnerable. Union army corps quickly exploited that vulnerability. Federal troops spanned the Rappahannock with temporary pontoon bridges (retreating Confederates having burned the permanent ones) and took up residence in the unhappy town. The war thus arrived in Fredericksburg bloodlessly. The Federal campaign on the Peninsula ultimately failed as Johnston's (and then Gen. Robert E. Lee's) Army of Northern Virginia halted and drove McClellan back. Southern commanders then seized the initiative and shifted the hostilities back to Manassas and eventually across the Potomac. Their offensive (along with McClellan's reputation and career) foundered in September along the banks of Antietam Creek near the village of Sharpsburg, Maryland. In the autumn the armies drifted back into Virginia. For the next 18 months, with but brief interruption, Fredericksburg would be caught in the expanding vortex of war. Countless books have been written attempting to relate what happened when America went to war with itself. Some are better than others, but no words, no map, no picture can match the incomparable feeling derived from treading the ground where great events transpired of actually being there. To share the physical world of those who came to Fredericksburg more than a century ago willing to give their "last full measure of devotion" is a powerful link to our roots in a modern society that grows ever more rootless. The battles fought here Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House are recorded in the blood of more than 100,000 Americans. The peaceful woods and fields of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park preserve their story for those who seek to find it.

15

*BHBSm

**-*#

Fredericksburg, 1862

This view of Fredericksburg

and

the

Rappahannock

River,

just received

taken during the Civil War,

shows the stone piers of the railroad bridge destroyed by

retreating Confederates in April 1862. The three steeples on the horizon still dominate
the city's skyline today.

Previous pages: Concealed behind the stone wall along the Sunken Road at the base of Marye's Heights, Confederate soldiers

from Thomas

R. R. Cobb's, Joseph B. Kershaw's, and John R. Cooke's

brigades repulsed thousands of attacking Federals during the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg.

Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan read the orders he had from Washington with careful composure. Looking up slowly, he spoke without revealing his bitter disappointment: "Well Burnside, I turn the command over to you." With these words, the charismatic, overcautious leader of the Union's most famous fighting force exited the military stage, yielding to a new man with a different vision of the war. When Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside inherited the Army of the Potomac on November 7, 1862, its 120,000 men occupied camps near Warrenton, Virginia. Within two days, the 38-year-old Indiana native proposed abandoning McClellan's sluggish southwesterly advance in favor of a 40-mile dash across country to Fredericksburg. Such a maneuver would position the Federal army on the direct road to Richmond, the Confederate capital, as well as secure a safe supply line to Washington. President Lincoln approved Burnside's initiative but advised him to march quickly. Burnside took the President at his word and launched his army toward Fredericksburg on November 15. The bewhiskered

commander (whose

facial hair inspired the

term "side-

burns") also altered the army's organization by partitioning it into thirds that he styled "grand divisions." The blueclad veterans covered the miles at a brisk pace, and on November 17 the lead units arrived opposite Fredericksburg on Stafford Heights. Burnside's swift march placed Gen. Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia at a perilous disadvantage. Lee had boldly divided his 78,000 men, leaving part of them with Lt. Gen. Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley while sending the rest with Lt. Gen. James Longstreet to face the Federals directly. Lee had not anticipated Burnside's shift to Fredericksburg and now neither wing was in position to defend the old city. The Federals could not move south, however, without first crossing the Rappahannock River, the largest
19

of several river barriers that flowed astride their path to Richmond. Because the civilian bridges had been de-

stroyed earlier in the war, Burnside sent for pontoon equipment. combination of miscommunication, inef-

ficient

army bureaucracy, and poor weather delayed the arrival of the floating bridges, and when they finally arrived on November 25, so had the Army of Northern

Virginia.

Burnside's strategy depended upon an unopposed Rappahannock. Consequently, his plan had foundered before a gun had been fired. Nevertheless, the country demanded action. Winter weather
crossing of the

would soon render Virginia's highways impassable and end serious campaigning until spring. The Union commander had no choice but to search for a new way to outwit Lee and satisfy the public's desire for victory.
Maj. Gen.

Ambrose

E.

Burnthe

side compiled a checkered military record.

war,

During

he rose rapidly through the ranks. His performance at the Battle of Antietam, though harshly criticized by General
McClellan, led directly to the

When Longstreet's corps appeared at Fredericksburg on November 19, Lee ordered it to occupy a range of hills behind the town, extending from the
Rappahannock on its left to marshy Massaponax Creek on its right. When Jackson's men arrived more than two weeks later, Lee dispatched them as far as 20 miles downriver. The Confederate army thus guarded a long stretch of the Rappahannock, unsure of where
the Federals might attempt a crossing.

command of the Army of the

Potomac. Burnside had not sought that command, protesting that he was not competent to lead such a large force. His handling of the Fredericksburg campaign confirmed
that assessment.

Burnside harbored the same uncertainties. After an agonizing deliberation, he finally decided to build bridges at two places opposite the city and near the mouth of Deep Run, a mile downstream. The Union commander knew that Jackson's corps could not assist Longstreet in opposing a river passage near town. Thus Burnside's superior forces would encounter only half of Lee's soldiers. Once across the river, the Federals would strike Longstreet's overmatched defenders, outflank Jackson, and send the whole Confederate army
reeling toward

Richmond.

Burnside's lieutenants doubted the practicality of their chief's plan. "There were not two opinions among
the subordinate officers as to the rashness of the

undertaking," wrote one corps commander. Nevertheless, in the foggy pre-dawn hours of December 11,

Union engineers

crept to the riverbank

and began

lay-

ing the pontoons. Skilled

workmen

of the 50th

New

York Engineer Regiment had pushed the upstream spans more than halfway to the right bank when the sharp crack of musketry erupted from the riverfront houses and yards of Fredericksburg.
20

These shots came from a brigade of Mississippians under Brig. Gen. William Barksdale, whose job was to delay any Federal attempt to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg. "Nine distinct and desperate attempts were made to complete the bridge [s]," reported a Confederate officer, "but every one was attended by such heavy loss from our fire that the efforts were
abandoned...." Burnside now turned to his artillery chief, Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt, and ordered him to blast Fredericksburg into submission with some 150 guns trained on the city from Stafford Heights. Such a barrage would surely dislodge the Confederate infantry and permit completion of the bridges. Shortly after noon, Hunt gave the signal to commence fire. "Rapidly the huge guns vomited forth their terrible shot and shell into every corner and thoroughfare" of Fredericksburg,
for nearly two hours, during which time 8,000 projectiles rained destruction on Fredericksburg. Then the grand cannonade ceased, the Federal gunners confident their barrage had silenced Confederate opposition. Once again the engineers ventured warily to the ends of their unfinished

Gen. Robert E. Lee led the

remembered an eyewitness. The bombardment continued

Army of Northern
all

Virginia in

and around Fredericksburg. He had regretted McClellan's removal, remarking to one of

of the
battles fought in

Suddenly impossibly muzzles flashed again from the rubble-strewn streets and more pontoniers tumbled into the cold waters of the Rappahannock. Burnside now authorized volunteers to ferry themselves across the river in the clumsy pontoon boats and drive the Confederates out. Men from Michigan, Massachusetts, and New York scrambled aboard the scows, frantically pulling at oars to navigate the hazardous 400
bridges.

"We always understood each other so well. I fear they may continue to make these changes till they find someone whom I don 't understand."
his officers:

Once on shore, the Federals charged Barksdale 's marksmen who, despite orders to fall back, fiercely contested each block in a rare example of street fighting during the Civil War. After dusk the brave Mississippians finally withdrew to their main line, the bridge-builders completed their work, and the Army of the Potomac entered Fredericksburg. December 12 dawned cold and foggy. Burnside began pouring reinforcements into the city but made no effort to organize an attack. Instead, the Northerners squandered the day looting and vandalizing homes and shops. Connecticut chaplain remembered seeing soldiers "break down the doors to rooms of fine houses, enter, shatter the looking-glasses with the blow of the ax, [and] knock the vases and lamps off the mantelfeet to the opposite side.

21

Bridging the

Rappahannock
but resistance at the bridges directly opposite the city delayed Burnside's plans for an entire day. Nine times the 50th New York Engineers, depicted below in Dale Galtion,
(far right),

Moving an army across a river the presence of an enemy is one of the most dangerous situations confronting a commanding general. That was the
in

who commanded
companies trying and who

one

of the

to lay the bridges

was

task
early

Ambrose Burnside faced

on the
frigid

seriously wounded in the process, called it "simple murder." Frustrated at his engi-

morning of

lon's painting,
finish

attempted to

neers' inability to complete

December 11,1 862, when he

sent his engineer brigade under Brig. Gen. Daniel P. Woodbury (middle right) to lay pontoon bridges across the Rappahannock River. The bridges south of Fredericksburg were completed with little opposi-

the bridges, and each time Brig. Gen. William Barksdale's Mississippians, posted behind walls and fences and in the cellars of houses along the west bank of the river, drove them back with heavy losses. Capt. Wesley Brainerd

the bridges, Burnside ordered

his chief of artillery, Brig.

Henry
lay

Gen. Hunt (near right), to down a massed artillery

J.

barrage that lasted nearly two hours and damaged or destroyed many of the city's fine old houses but which failed to

Sg

WM?/M

dislodge Barksdale's Confederates. Only after Michigan,

HARPEKS^ WEEKLY

New

York,

and Massachusetts

crossed the river in pontoon boats under cover of protective Federal fire were the sharpshooters driven out and a bridgehead established,
infantry

allowing the engineers to complete the bridges. Harpers

Weekly featured an engraving Union troops storming ashore on the front page of its
of

December 27, 1862,

issue.

U*<**S

piece with a careless swing..

at

A cavalry man sat down

drove his saber through the polished keys, then knocked off the top [and] tore out the strings...." Lee, on the other hand, utilized the time by recalling
half of Jackson's corps from its isolated posts downstream. Following a personal reconnaissance during the afternoon, Stonewall sent word to the rest of his

a fine rosewood piano... [and]

troops to march that night to the point of danger

city. Forced by political considerations to bring on a battle, Burnside's own needless delay on December 12 lengthened the odds against a favorable outcome once the fighting started.

closer to the

The Battle of Fredericksburg unfolded in a natural amphitheater bounded on the east by the Rappahannock River and on the west by a line of hills fortified
by Lee.

When

Jackson's

men

arrived from

down-

stream, Longstreet sidled his corps to the north, de-

fending roughly five miles of Lee's front. He mounted guns at strong points such as Taylor's Hill, Marye's Heights, Howison Hill, and Telegraph (later Lee) Hill, the Confederate command post. Longstreet's five divisions of infantry supported his artillery at the base of the slopes. Below Marye's Heights a Georgia brigade under Brig. Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb stood along a 600-yard portion of the Telegraph Road, the main thoroughfare to Richmond. The road had been cut into the hillside, giving it a sunken appearance. Stone retaining walls paralleling the shoulders transformed this peaceful stretch of country wagon road into a ready-made
trench.

Along

with earning well-deserved reputations as an eccentric

Jackson's end of the line possessed less inherent

and a

stern discipli-

narian, Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson (top) forged a part-

nership with Lee that carried

the Confederacy to
tary peak. "I
its

mili-

do not know
him," wrote

how

to replace

Lee after Jackson s death, and no one ever did. The man who came closest was burly Lt. Gen. James Longstreet (above), who had fought in nearly every campaign of the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee called him "my old war
horse.

command post at Prospect Hill rose only 65 feet above the surrounding plain. He compensated for the weak terrain by stacking his four divisions one behind the other to a depth of nearly a mile. Any Union offensive against Lee's seven-mile line would, by necessity, have to cross an exposed stretch of land in the teeth of a deadly artillery crossfire before reaching the Confederate infantry. Burnside issued his attack orders early on the morning of December 13. They called for an assault against Jackson's corps by Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin's Left Grand Division, to be followed by an advance against Marye's Heights by Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner's Right Grand Division. The army commander
strength. His

24

Battle of Fredericksburg

BURNSIDE
Phillips

Hous

Burnside's Headquarters

Upper pontoon

FREDERICKSBURG \\fv*** f cNv > * VV *Lacy HoUe

Marye

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December
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1862
Green areas represent areas of dense vegetation.
1

Confederate troop position

Federal troop position

Mile

Chatham (The Lacy House)

climbed the stone steps leading from terrace to terrace and reached the longneglected grounds and the [Lacy House]. It was entirely deserted. The doors were wide open, or broken from their hinges, the windows smashed, the floors covered with rubbish, and the walls with the names of soldiers and
"I

lorn appearance sharply contrasted with the pristine Geor-

gian mansion that had looked out over Fredericksburg from Stafford Heights for nearly a century. Built in 1768-71 by

prominent Virginian William

Fitzhugh
British
(left)

and named

for

regiments...." As this 1865 description attests, the Civil

statesman William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham, the elegant brick house stood at the center of a plantation that at

one time contained

nearly

War had been hard on Chatham, then known as the Lacy House after its owner, James
Horace Lacy
(far right). Its fc

1,300 acres. Fitzhugh entertained hundreds of guests

here, including his friend

George Washington. Lacy ac-

quired Chatham in 1857, but left four years later to join the Confederate army. In April
1862, Union troops occupied Fredericksburg and Maj. Gen.
Irvin

served as a Union headquar-

McDowell selected Chathis headquarters,

ham as

evicting Lacy's wife

and

chil-

dren and transforming the

house

into

military facility.

Abraham

Lincoln

was among

and telegraph communications center. A hospital was also established here to treat casualties from the battle. Clara Barton and poet Walt Whitman assisted the surgeons with hundreds of wounded soldiers packed into the house. Lacy sold Chatham shortly after the
ters

McDowell's guests, making

war and subsequent owners

gradually whittled down the plantation to a small estate.

Chatham the only structure known to have been visited by both the first and sixteenth
presidents. During the Freder-

icksburg Campaign,

Chatham

Wealthy industrialist John Lee Pratt donated Chatham to the National Park Service in 1975.

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The

Civil

War was fought

be-

used tentative, ambiguous language in

his directives,

fore the advent of news photography, and pictorial representations of battle actions came from newspaper engravings derived from battlefield sketches supplied by "special

reflecting either a lack of confidence in his plan or a

misunderstanding of his opponent's posture

both.

perhaps

Burnside had reinforced Franklin's sector that morning to a strength of some 60,000 men. Franklin, a
engineer but cautious combatant, placed the and conservative interpretation on Burnside's ill-phrased instructions. He designated Maj. Gen. Meade's division just 3,800 troops to George spearhead his attack. Meade's men, Pennsylvanians all, moved out in the misty half-light about 8:30 a.m. and headed straight for Jackson's line, not quite one mile distant. Suddenly, artillery fire exploded to the left and rear of Meade's lines. Maj. John Pelham had valiantly moved two small guns into position along the Richmond Stage Road perpendicular to Meade's axis of march. The 24-yearold Alabamian ignored orders from Maj. Gen. James Ewell Brown ("Jeb") Stuart to disengage and continued to disrupt the Federal formations for almost an hour. General Lee, watching the action from Telegraph Hill, remarked, "It is glorious to see such courage in one so young." When Pelham exhausted his ammunition and withdrew, Meade resumed his approach. Jackson patiently allowed the Federals to close to within 500 yards of the wooded elevation where a 14-gun battery lay hidden in the trees. As the Pennsylvanians drew near to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad north of Hamilton's Crossing, Stonewall's concealed artillery ripped gaping holes in Meade's ranks. The beleaguered Federals sought protection behind wrinkles of ground
brilliant

accompanying the Some of the work of these "specials, " whose main objective was to enlighten the public about the true nature of the war, is shown here and on pages 2-3, 46, 59, and 60. These
artists"

armies.

most

literal

drawings were made during the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Top: Soldiers from the 7th Michigan and 19th Massachusetts infantry regiments establish a beachhead on the west

bank of the Rappahannock

River at Fredericksburg on

December 11, is unknown.

1862.

The

artist

Center: Troops from Col. C. Hawkins's brigade of Sumner's Right Grand Division cross the Rappahannock via the middle pontoon bridge on December 11, 1862. In the background are the burning houses of Fredericksburg and the remains of the railroad bridge. This sketch was made by Alfred R. Waud, hired by Harper's Weekly in early 1862.

Rush

Waud accompanied the Army

of the Potomac on most of its campaigns, including all of the
battles

around Fredericksburg.

in the

Bottom: Union troops attack the Confederate works on

Marye's Heights. This drawing, part of a panoramic view of
the battlefield,

to Jackson's cannoneers. duel raged for an hour, killing so many draft animals that the Southerners called their position "dead horse hill." When one Union shot specfull-scale artillery

open fields. Union guns responded

Alfred R.
steeple in

was made by Waud from a church Fredericksburg on

of December 13. Brompton, the Marye family home, sits on the ridge at the upper right.
the afternoon

exploded a Confederate ammunition wagon, let loose a spontaneous Yankee cheer. Meade, seizing the moment, ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge. Meade's soldiers focused on a triangular point of woods that jutted toward them across the railroad as
tacularly

the crouching Federal infantry

When they reached these trees they learned, to their delight, that no Southerners defended them. In fact, Jackson had
the point of reference for their assault.

29

allowed a 600-yard gap to exist along his front and Meade's troops had accidentally discovered it. The Federals pushed through the boggy forest and hit a brigade of South Carolinians who at first mistook them for retreating Confederates. Their commander, Brig. Gen. Maxcy Gregg, paid for this error when a fatal bullet hit his spine. Meade's men rolled forward and gained the crest of the heights deep within Jackson's defenses.

Jackson, who had learned of the crisis in his front from one of Gregg's officers, calmly directed his vast reserves to move forward and restore the line. The Southerners raised the "Rebel Yell" and slammed into the exhausted and outnumbered Pennsylvanians. "The action was close-handed and men fell like leaves in autumn," remembered one Federal. "It seems miraculous that any of us escaped at all."
Jackson's counterattack drove
est,

Meade

out of the for-

and through the fields to the Richmond Stage Road. Union artillery eventually arrested the Confederate momentum. A Federal probe along the Lansdowne Road in the late afternoon and an aborted Confederate offensive at dusk ended the fighting on the south end of the field.
across the railroad,

Burnside waited anxiously at his headquarters in the house on Stafford Heights for news of Franklin's offensive. According to the Union plan, the advance through Fredericksburg toward Marye's Heights would not commence until the Left Grand Division began rolling up Jackson's corps. By late morning, however, the despairing Federal commander discarded his uncertain strategy and ordered Sumner's grand diviPhillips

Maj. Gen. George G. Meade (top), future commander of

the

sion to attack.
als their

Army

the Battle

of the Potomac. At of Fredericksburg,

in the Left B.

In several ways, Marye's Heights offered the Federmost promising target. Not only did this sector
lie

he led a division

of Lee's defenses
icksburg, but the

closest to the shelter of Frederless steeply

Grand Division commanded

by Maj. Gen. William
Franklin (above).

ground rose
hills.

here than on
soldiers

the surrounding
to leave the

Nevertheless,

Union

had

Opposite page: The 114th Pennsylvania Infantry, wearing the flamboyant Zouave uniforms patterned after French colonial troops from North Africa, helps repulse Jackson's counterattack against Meade's division

descend into a valley bisected by a water-filled canal ditch, and ascend an open slope of 400 yards to reach the base of the heights. Artillery atop Marye's Heights and nearby elevations would thoroughly blanket the Federal approach. "A chicken could not live on that field when we open on it," one Confederate cannoneer boasted. Sumner's first assault began at noon and set the patcity,

below Prospect

Hill.

tern for a ghastly series of attacks that continued, one

30

i&s

>*\#
The
Few
Irish

Brigade at Fredericksburg, 1862

army
e>

units in either

ceeded the fame

early in

of the Un-

Organize^ 1862 and composed of five regiments from New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, the Irish Brigade formed a part of Brig. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's division of Sumion's Irish Brigade.

Second Corps. Its leader, Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, was a feisty Irish revner's
Brig.

olutionary

whose men

distin-

guished themselves on

many

m
7
/

/ i

''

fields,

perhaps nowhere more

ments having not yet

To compensate for

arrived.

mowed down

their

charging
regret.

bravely than at Fredericksburg in the attack on the Sunken

that, sol-

kinsmen with but

little

diers placed sprigs of box-

The Irishmen came

within

100

Road, depicted here in Don Troiani's painting. Only the 28th Massachusetts carried distinctive green flag into the battle that day, replacement
banners, for the other regi-

wood
13,

in their

kepis to signify

their ancestry.

On December
1

it:

between 12:30 and

p.m.,

yards of the stone wall before the murderous fire drove them to the ground. A few intrepid
individuals
closer,

approached even where their bullet-torn bodies lay on the frozen earth go bragh" ("Ireland forever!") and bore down on their invisifor nearly 48 hours. At day's ble foes behind the stone wall end, General Meagher count^ in the Sunken Road. Ironically^/ ed 545 casualties, close to 50 many Confederates shared li percent of his men.
the brigade surged out of Fredericksburg shouting "Erin
,

v,

z^m
'a

v--,.

after another, until dark.

As soon

as the Northerners

marched out of Fredericksburg, Longstreet's artillery wreaked havoc on the crisp blue formations. The Federals then

nal ditch, which

encountered a deadly bottleneck at the cawas spanned by partially destroyed

bridges at only three places.

Once

across this obstacle,

the attackers established shallow battle lines under cover of a slight bluff that shielded them from Confederate eyes.

Ma). Gen. Edwin V. Sumner, approaching his 66th birthday,

was

the oldest general officer

in the

Army

of the Potomac

and

the oldest active corps

commander serving in the Civil War. Sumner made his headquarters at Chatham (the
Lacy House) during
tle

the Bat-

of Fredericksburg.

Orders then rang out for the final advance. The ground beyond the canal ditch contained a few buildings and fences, but from a military perspective it provided virtually no protection. Dozens of Confederate cannon immediately reopened on the easy targets and when the Federals had traversed about half the remaining distance, a line of rifle fire erupted from the Sunken Road, decimating the Northerners. Survivors found refuge behind a small swale in the ground or retreated back to the canal ditch valley. Quickly a new Federal brigade burst toward Marye's Heights and the "terrible stone wall," then another, and another, until three entire divisions had hurled themselves at the Confederate position. In one hour, the Army of the Potomac lost nearly 4,000 men; but the madness continued. Although General Cobb suffered a mortal wound early in the action, the Southern line remained firm. A South Carolina brigade joined North Carolinians in reinforcing Cobb's men in the Sunken Road. Confederate infantry stood four ranks deep, maintaining a
ceaseless musketry while gray-clad artillerists fired over
their heads.
Still

the

Union

units kept

on coming. "We came

for-

ward

though breasting a storm of rain and sleet, our faces and bodies being only half-turned to the storm, our shoulders shrugged," remembered one Federal. "Everybody from the smallest drummer boy on up seemed to be shouting to the full extent of his capacity," recalled another. But each blue wave crested short of the goal. Not a single Union soldier laid his hand on
as

the stone wall.

Lee, from his lofty perch on Telegraph

Hill,

watched

Longstreet's almost casual destruction of Burnside's

divisions as Jackson's counterattack repulsed Meade. Turning toward Longstreet, the Confederate commander remarked soberly, "It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it."

34

Burnside ordered Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's Center

Grand Division

to join the attack in the afternoon.

^^mm~

Late in the day, troops from the Fifth Corps moved forward. Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys led his division through the human debris of the previous asof Humphreys's soldiers shook off wellmeaning hands that clutched at them to prevent their advance. Part of one brigade sustained its momentum until it drew within 25 yards of the stone wall. There it,
saults.

rn^sk
,;

w wfk
*

Some

il$

j^ ^M
^^

^^k.

too,

melted away.
final

The
C.

Union

effort

began

after sunset. Col.

Rush

Hawkins's brigade, the fifteenth Federal brigade to charge the Sunken Road that day, enjoyed no more success than its predecessors. Darkness shrouded the battlefield and at last the guns fell silent. The hideous cries of the wounded, "weird, unearthly, terrible to hear and bear," echoed through the night. Burnside planned to renew the assaults on December 14, but his subordinates talked him out of this suicidal scheme. During the night of December 15-16, Burnside skillfully withdrew his army to Stafford Heights, dismantling his bridges behind him. Thus the Fredericksburg Campaign ended. Grim arithmetic tells only a part of the Fredericksburg story. Lee suffered 5,300 casualties but inflicted more than twice that many losses on his opponent. Of the 12,600 Federal soldiers killed, wounded, or missing,
almost two-thirds fell in front of the stone wall. Despite winning in the most overwhelming tactical sense, however, the Battle of Fredericksburg proved to be a hollow victory for the Confederates. The limitless resources of the North soon replaced Burnside's losses in manpower and materiel. Lee, on the other hand, found it difficult to replenish either missing soldiers or needed supplies. The Battle of Fredericksburg, although profoundly discouraging to Union soldiers and the Northern populace, made no decisive impact on the war. Instead, it merely postponed the next "On to Richmond" campaign until the spring.

Brig. Gen.

Thomas

R. R.

Cobb

(top)

was

killed while defend-

ing the stone wall at the base ofMarye's Heights. He and his brigade were under the command of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws (above), whose division occupied a sector of
the Confederate line that included Telegraph Hill, Marye's Heights, and the Sunken Road.

35

Chancellorsville, 1863

Gens. Robert E.

Lee and

Stonewall Jackson conferred for the final time on the morning of May 2, 1863. Everett B. D. Julio's romanticized depiction

of that fateful

Last Meeting of

event, The Lee and

Jackson, which he painted in 1869, became one of the most

popular and enduring of all Confederate images.

the locomotive chugged to a halt at a little depot during a drenching downpour, a Confederate officer eagerly scanned the cars for two passengers who meant more to him than anyone else on earth. The legendary Stonewall Jackson, renowned as the quintessential grim warrior, revealed his gentler nature on April 20, 1863, as he greeted his beloved wife Anna and saw his infant daughter Julia for the first time. Together they passed the next nine days in a nearby house enjoying the only domestic contentment the family would ever share. In less than three weeks, Jackson would be dead. The campaign that resulted in Jackson's death is, paradoxically, remembered as Lee's greatest victory. It emerged from the backwash of the Battle of Fredericksburg. That Federal debacle prompted a change of command in the Army of the Potomac. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, a 48-year-old Massachusetts native reputed to possess high courage and low morals, had replaced Burnside in January. Within weeks, Hooker's able administrative skills restored the health and morale of his troops, whom he proudly proclaimed "the finest army on the planet." The new commander crafted a brilliant plan for the spring that he expected would at least compel Lee to abandon his Fredericksburg entrenchments. It might even prove fatal to the Army of Northern Virginia. First Hooker would detach his cavalry, 10,000 strong, on a flying raid toward Richmond to sever Lee's communications with the Confederate capital. Then he would send most of his infantry 30 miles upstream to cross the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers beyond the Confederate defenses, and sweep east against Lee's left flank. The rest of the Army of the Potomac would cross the river at Fredericksburg and menace the Confederate front. "My plans are perfect," boasted Hooker "and when I start to carry them out, may God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none." The condition of the Confederate army lent credence to Hooker's boast. In February, Lee detached his

As

37

James Longstreet, with two strong and supplies in southeastern Virginia. The Southern commander cherished the offensive but could not hope to move north without Longstreet. In the meantime, Lee's 60,000 veterans at Fredericksburg would guard their long river line
stalwart lieutenant,
divisions to gather food

against 130,000 well-equipped Federals.

three days

Hooker began his campaign on April 27 and within some 40,000 Federals had splashed through

the upriver fords, their presence detected by Confederate cavalry. On April 29, a sizable Union force led by Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's Sixth Corps erected pontoon bridges below Fredericksburg and moved to Lee's side of the river. With both wings of the Army of the Potomac across the Rappahannock, Lee faced a serious dilemma. Conventional military wisdom dictated that the un-

Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker combined vast ambition with considerable military talent, but failed miserably during

one chance at army command. Although his nickname,

his

Army of Northern Virginia withdraw south and avoid Hooker's trap. Lee opted instead to meet the Federal challenge head-on. Correctly deducder-strength
ing that Hooker's primary threat lay to the west, he as-

"Fighting Joe, " originated with a telegrapher's garbled report, Hooker earned just renown as a combat leader.

man

signed 12,000 troops under Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early to the old Fredericksburg entrenchments. The bal-

ance of the army he turned westward toward the tangled Wilderness to confront Hooker's flanking column.
taining 50,000

By mid-afternoon of April 30, that column, now conmen and more than 100 artillery pieces,

arrived at the most important road junction in the

Wilderness.
lorsville

large brick tavern

named Chancel-

dominated this intersection of the Orange Turnpike with the Orange Plank, Ely's Ford, and River roads. So far the Federals had encountered virtually no opposition. Moreover, they could now press eastward, break clear of the Wilderness, and seize Banks's Ford downstream, thus significantly shortening the distance between their two wings. Hooker, however, decided to halt at Chancellorsville and await the arrival of additional

Union

troops. This fateful decision disheartened

the Federal officers

far sustained.

on the

scene,

urgency of maintaining the

who recognized the momentum they had thus

Hooker
burg

Stonewall Jackson, gladly seizing the initiative that needlessly surrendered, left the Fredericks-

lines at 3 a.m. on May 1 and arrived at Zoan Church five hours later. There he found portions of two Confederate infantry divisions, Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson's and Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws's, forti-

38

prominent ridge covering the Turnpike and the Plank Road. Although his corps had not yet appeared, Jackson ordered Anderson and McLaws to drop their
fying a
shovels, pick

up

their rifles,

and attack the Federals.

Jackson's audacity dictated the shape of the Battle

of Chancellorsville. When

Hooker at last authorized an

morning of May 1, his on the Turnpike and the Plank Road collided with Stonewall's outgunned but aggressive brigades. Union front-line commanders had not expected this kind of resistance. They sent anxious messages to Hooker, who quickly ordered his generals to fall back to the Wilderness and assume a defensive posture. The Federal columns on the River Road had marched almost to Banks's Ford without seeing an enemy soldier. They returned to Chancellorsville fuming, fully realizing the opportunity that had slipped through their fineastward
troops

movement

late in the

Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch

gers.

commanded
Corps

the

Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch, senior corps commander and an advocate of an offensive strategy, shared his fellow officers' disappointment with "Fighting Joe's" decision to abandon the army's advanced position. Late in the day, as the Union infantry threw up entrenchments encircling Hooker's Chancellorsville headquar-

at the battles

Union Second of Freder-

icksburg and Chancellorsville. After Hooker's wounding on May 3, as the officer next in
seniority,

he briefly assumed

Couch expressed that regret to his superior. "It is Couch," Hooker reassured him, "I have got Lee just where I want him; he must fight me on my own
ters,
all right,

army. Following the battle, Couch requested a transfer, wishing no u longer to serve under Fight" ing Joe. He never returned to the Army of the Potomac.

command of the whole

ground."

Couch could barely

his
ful

own lips that the

believe his ears. "To hear from advantages gained by the successmarches of his lieutenants were to culminate in

fighting a defensive battle in that nest of thickets

was

too much, and

lief

retired

from

his

presence with the be-

that my commanding general was a whipped man." Hooker's confidence had faded to caution, but whether he was "whipped" depended upon Lee and Jackson. Those two officers reined up along the Plank

Road at its intersection with a byway called the Furnace Road on the evening of May 1. Transforming discarded Federal cracker boxes into camp stools, the
generals examined their options.

Confederate scouts verified the Federals' strong

positions extending

from the Rappahannock River, around Chancellorsville, to the high, open ground at Hazel Grove. This was bad news. The Southern army
could not afford a costly frontal attack against prefortifications.

pared

39

and others developed the Union right flank was "in the air," unprotected by any natural or artificial obstacle. From that moment, the generals thought of nothing but how to gain access to Hooker's vulnerable flank.
Fortunately, Jeb Stuart
thrilling intelligence that the

Jackson consulted with staff officers familiar with the area, dispatched aides to explore the roads to the west,

and

tried to snatch a

few hours'

rest at the chilly

bivouac.

Before dawn, Lee and Jackson studied a hastily drawn map and decided to undertake one of the biggest gambles in American military history. Jackson's corps, about 30,000 troops, would follow a series of country roads and woods paths to reach the Union right. Lee, with the remaining 14,000 infantry, would occupy a position more than three miles long and diMaj. Gen. Oliver O.

Howard

vert Hooker's attention during Jackson's dangerous

trek.

commanded

the

enth Corps at

Union Elevthe Battle of

Chancellorsville. Neither he nor the bulk of his men behaved like cowards during

erals with his full strength while

Once in position, Stonewall would smash the FedLee cooperated how-

Jackson's flank attack, but the

heavy immigrant composition of the corps made them easy

targets for criticism. After the

war, Howard administered the Freedmen's Bureau, a federal agency designed to assist for-

mer slaves

in the South.

ever he could. Counting Early's contingent at FrederArmy of Northern Virginia would thus be fractured into three pieces, any one of which might be subject to rout or annihilation if the Yankees resumed the offensive. Jackson led his column past the bivouac early on the morning of May 2. After conferring briefly with Lee, he trotted down the Furnace Road, the fire of battle kindled in his eyes. After about a mile, as the Confederates traversed a small clearing, Union scouts perched in treetops at Hazel Grove spotted the marchers. The Federals lobbed artillery shells at Jackson's men and notified Hooker of the enemy movement. Hooker wondered for a time whether Jackson's maneuver might be an effort to reach his right flank. He advised the area commander, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, to be on the lookout for an attack from the west. As the morning progressed, however, the Union chief began to believe that Lee was actually withdrawing the course of events Hooker most preferred. Worries about his right disappeared. Instead, he ordered Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles's Third Corps to harass the tail end of Lee's "retreating" army.
icksburg, the

Sickles

probed cautiously from Hazel Grove toward

a local iron manufactory called Catharine Furnace. In mid-afternoon the Federals overwhelmed Jackson's rear guard beyond the furnace along the cut of an unfinished railroad, capturing nearly an entire Georgia

40

Battles of Chancellorsville

and Salem Church

May 3-4, 1863

Confederate troop position _
.

Green areas represent areas of dense vegetation.

2 Kilometers

Federal troop position

2 Miles

regiment.

The

action at Catharine Furnace, however,

some 20,000 Union soldiers onto the scene, thus effectively isolating Howard's Eleventh
eventually attracted

Corps on the right with no nearby support. Meanwhile the bulk of Jackson's column snaked its way along obscure trails barely wide enough to accom-

modate four men

Hooker's
ing
faith in a

abreast. Stonewall contributed to

Confederate retreat by twice turn-

Ambrose Powell Hill commanded Jackson corps for

's

short time after Jackson was

wounded

at Chancellorsville.

When Lee

reorganized the

away from the Union line first at Catharine Furnace, then again at the Brock Road. After making the desired impression, Jackson's force ducked under the Wilderness canopy and continued its march toward Howard's insensible soldiers. Acting upon a personal reconnaissance in company with one of Stuart's brigade commanders, Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, Jackson kept his column northbound on the Brock Road to the Orange Turnpike, where the Confederates would at last be beyond the Union right. The exhausting march, which traversed more than 12 miles, ended about 3 p.m. with Stonewall's warriors
deploying into battle lines astride the turnpike. Jackson, however, did not authorize an attack for some two hours, providing 11 of his 15 brigades time to take position in the silent forest. When finally formed, the Confederate front measured nearly two miles across.

Army

of Northern Virginia

following Jackson's death, the

fiery Hill

was promoted to and put in charge of the newly created

lieutenant general

Third Corps. After the Battle

of the Wilderness, he became

ill

and relinquished

his

com-

mand

to Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early at Spotsylvania Court House.

Although individual Northern officers and men warned of Jackson's approach, Eleventh Corps headquarters dismissed their reports as exaggerations from
frightened alarmists or cowards. Hooker's shortage of

hampered the Federals' ability to penetrate the Wilderness and uncover the Confederate presence with certainty. Only two small regiments and half a New York battery faced west in the direction of Jackcavalry
son's corps.

Suddenly, a bugle rang out in the afternoon shadows. Bugles everywhere echoed the notes up and down the line. As waves of sweat-soaked soldiers rolled forward, the high defiance of the Rebel Yell pierced the gloomy woods. Jackson's Corps erupted from the trees and sent the astonished Federals reeling. "Along the road it was pandemonium," recalled a Massachusetts soldier, "and on the side of the road it was chaos." Many of Howard's men fought bravely, but the overmatched Federals occupied an untenable position. The screaming gray legions overwhelmed each Union stand and eventually drove the Eleventh Corps completely

from the
42

field.

Chancellorsville
Despite the
"ville" in its

name, Chancellorsville was not a town or rural hamlet but a 2 /-story brick house (seen here in a modern paint1

he confined the Chancellors to a rear bedroom and then, as the fighting intensified, to the cellar. On May 3, during a fierce arApril 30, 1863,
tillery

our eyes as
the dim

we came

light of that

out of base-

ing) at

the intersection of the

bombardment, Hooker

Orange Turnpike and Orange Plank, Ely's Ford, and River roads. It was built by George Chancellor about 1815 (a brick wing was added later) as a roadside inn, and for four decades it served the com-

was

painfully

wounded when

a Confederate artillery shell fired from a cannon at Hazel Grove struck a porch pillar against which he was leaning. Shortly thereafter,

ment beggars description. The woods around the house were a sheet of fire, the air was filled with shot and shell, horses were running, rearing, and screaming, the men, a

mass of confusion, moaning, cursing, and praying. They were bringing the wounded
out of the house, as
it

the
fire

was

house, which
field

Orange Turnpike
of the battle, the

mercial traffic rolling over the to and from

was also a hospital, was set on

seek

on

fire in

several places....

by

artillery projectiles, forc-

Fredericksburg. At the time

ing those inside to

safety.

house was owned by George Guest, but he rented it to Frances Chancellor and her family. When Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker made it his headquarters on

Chancellor, 1 years old at the time, later

Sue

described what she saw as she and her family were escorted from their burning home: "The sight that met

Slowly we picked our way over the bleeding bodies of the dead and wounded.... At the last look our old home was completely enveloped in flames." Today, a few scattered foundation remnants
are
all

that survive of this

once-prominent landmark.

43

The Mortal Wounding

Stonewall Jackson's wounding by the mistaken fire of his own troops (right) resulted from the general's habitual practice of scouting ahead of his lines. Early in the evening of May 2, 1863, when the soldiers of the 18th North Carolina Infantry heard the clatter of horses approaching their position in the inky blackness a mile west of Chancellorsville, they assumed the riders were Federal cavalry. Eight-

of Stonewall

Jackson
foot,

Jackson as he returned from

his reconnaissance, but to the

then by stretcher, and

finally in

an ambulance. Early

North Carolinians the number

must have seemed greater. few nervous Tarheels fired

shots
riders,
in

the direction of the

prompting one of

Stonewall's staff to cry out, "Cease firing! You are firing

into

your

own men!"

Balls

een staff officers and couriers in two groups accompanied

struck Jackson in the right hand and left arm, and killed or disabled some others before the firing was stopped. Aides struggled to remove the general from the field, first on

the next morning, doctors amputated Jackson's shattered limb at a temporary hospital at Wilderness Tavern. When a visitor to the general's tent expressed regret at the loss of his arm, the pious Jackson replied that the wisdom of his Heavenly Father should never be questioned. He later referred to his

wounding as "one of the great blessings of my life," but it proved a tragedy for the Confederacy.

This bullet-torn notebook was carried by Capt. James Keith Boswell, Stonewall Jackson's

same

chief engineer, killed in the volley that wounded the

general.
Left: Jackson's death

was made

in

mask Richmond by

Frederick Volck two days after the general succumbed to

pnuemonia on May 10.

at

Guinea Station

44

45

SfK.w*?

%2?

*1 $**>

ftl#?T*

ft**

;.>#S-

..

.-/;; >.;,
?

^-'

"

'mm

"

The field

artists

who worked

for the leading purveyors of illustrated journalism, Harp-

Weekly and Frank LesIllustrated Newspaper, experienced the war first hand and portrayed land battles and armies on the march with a realism and an immediacy that photography could
er's
lie's

Sunset and the inevitable intermingling of Jackson's brigades compelled Stonewall reluctantly to call a halt to the advance about 7:15 p.m. He summoned Maj. Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill's division to the front and,
typically,

determined to renew

his attack despite the

maneuver between Hooker and his escape routes across the rivers and then, with Lee's help, to grind the Army of the Potomac into
darkness. Jackson

hoped

to

not capture. These drawings, by two of the war's leading

pictorial reporters,

oblivion.

were

made

during the Chancellorsville campaign.

Top:

Edwin Forbes made

this

sketch for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. It shows

Hooker's columns advancing in orderly ranks along the

bank of the Rappahannock River on their way to Kelly's Ford on April 30, 1863. A member of the 5th New York Zouaves, seen in
north
the left foreground, called the

march "a very trying one.

Center: In this sketch for Harper's Weekly, Alfred R.

While Hill's brigades solidified their position, Jackson rode ahead of his men to reconnoiter. When he attempted to return, a North Carolina regiment mistook him and his small party for Union cavalry and fired at them. Jackson tottered in his saddle, suffering from three wounds. Shortly thereafter a Federal shell exploded near Hill, incapacitating him, and command of the corps devolved upon Stuart. The cavalryman wisely canceled Stonewall's plans for a night attack. Despite his misfortune on May 2, Hooker still held the advantage at Chancellorsville. He received reinforcements during the night, and the Third Corps was moved back from Catharine Furnace to reoccupy Hazel Grove. Sickles' troops thus divided the Confederates into separate wings controlled by Stuart and Lee. Hooker, if he chose, could defeat each fraction of
his

Waud shows Hooker and his

staff

watching units of the

outmanned enemy in detail. The Confederate commanders understood the need

Army of the Potomac

ville,

as they concentrate at Chancellorsthe Chancellor family

to

home,

oppose the Confed-

erate attack

on

the Federal

position at the strategic junc-

of the Orange Turnpike Ford Road. The house was Hooker's headtion

and

Ely's

and Stuart prepared an allout assault against the Third Corps at dawn. Hooker made it easy for him. As the Southerners approached the far crest of Hazel Grove, they observed Sickles' men retiring in an orderly fashion. Hooker had directed that his troops surrender the key ground and fall back to Fairview, an elevated clearing closer to Chanto connect their divisions,
cellorsville.

quarters

and a

hospital dur-

ing the battle. It later burned.

Stuart immediately exploited the opportunity by

Bottom: Under a darkening late afternoon sky, Alfred R. Waud sketched soldiers of Couch's Second Corps moving up to cover Howard's corps fleeing from Jackson 's fierce May 2 onslaught. A Union soldier later remarked, "May I never be witness to another such scene!"

on Hazel Grove. Combined with along the Plank Road, the gunners at Hazel Grove pounded Fairview with a spectacular bombardment. The Federals responded with 40 pieces of their own and soon the Wilderness trembled under the deafening roar of the dueling cannon. The bloodiest fighting of the battle occurred between 6:30 and 9:30 a.m. on May 3. Stuart launched brigade after brigade against entrenched Union lines
placing 30 cannon
artillery located

on both

sides of the

in the tangled

Plank Road. Troops lost their way underbrush and the woods caught fire
47

from the explosion of

a horrible fate.

shells,

exposing the wounded to

The seesaw
as,

fighting

one by one, Union

began to favor the Southerners artillery pieces dropped out of

the contest. Hooker failed to resupply his cannoneers with ammunition or shift sufficient infantry reserves to

A Confederate projectile abetted this mental paralysis when it struck a pillar at Federal headquarters, throwing the Union commander violently to the ground. The impact stunned Hooker, physically removing him from a battle in which he had not materially been engaged for nearly 48 hours. Before relinquishing partial authority to Couch, the Union comcritical areas.

mander

instructed the

army

to

assume a prepared:

position in the rear, protecting the bridgehead across

the Rappahannock.
Brig. Gen.

Cadmus M. Wilcox

Stuart pressed forward,

first

to Fairview

and then

demonstrated judgment and courage on May 3, 1863, when he opposed Union Gen. John Sedgwick's advance toward Salem Church. Promoted to

against the remaining Federal units at Chancellorsville.

Lee's wing advanced simultaneously from the south' and east. The bluecoats receded at last and thousands of powder-smeared Confederates poured into the
clearing around the burning Chancellorsville mansion.

major general
burg, Wilcox

after Gettys-

commanded a

at the Wilderness

division of Lee's Third Corps and Spotsyl-

vania Court House.

Lee emerged from the smoke and elicited a long, unbroken cheer from the gray multitudes who recognized him as the architect of their improbable victory.

Confederate

staff officer,

watching the unbridled

expression of so

much admiration, reverence, and love,

thought that, "it must have been from such a scene that

men

in ancient times rose to the dignity of gods."

The Southern commander wasted little time on reflection. He prepared to pursue Hooker and seal the
success achieved since dawn. A courier bearing news from Fredericksburg, however, shattered Lee's plans. Sedgwick had driven Early's contingent from Marye's Heights and now threatened the Confederate rear. That changed everything. Lee assigned Stuart to watch Hooker's host and sent McLaws eastward to deal with the Sixth Corps menace. Sedgwick, slowed by a single Alabama brigade retreating stubbornly from Fredericksburg, came to grips with McLaws's Confederates four miles west of town at Salem Church. The Federals swept into the churchyard but a powerful counterattack drove them back and ended the day's combat. The next day Lee shoved Sedgwick's troops across the Rappahannock at Banks's Ford and once again focused on the main Union army
in the Wilderness.

48

Hooker, however, had seen enough. Over the objecmost of his corps commanders, he ordered a withdrawal across the river. The Federals conducted their retreat under cover of darkness and arrived back in Stafford County on May 6. Ironically, this decision may have been Hooker's most serious blunder of the campaign. Lee's impending assault on May 6 might have failed and completely reversed the outcome of
tions of

u
r^ j
~

the battle.

i
K

Confederate leadership during the Chancellorsville

Campaign may represent the

Civil

finest generalship of the

fades

War, but the luster of "Lee's greatest victory" upon examination of the battle's tangible results.

71
i..'''->

Potomac had not been so thoroughly defeated when one stops to consider that some 40,000 Federals had done no fighting whatsoever. Although Hooker suffered more than 17,000 casualIn truth, the

Army

of the

h"**

Ma]. Gen. James Ewell

Stuart led Lee's cavalry

ties,

those losses accounted for only

13%

of his total

Brown from

amounted to 22% of army, men difficult to replace. Of course, the loss of Jackson, who died on May 10, created a vacancy that could never be filled. Finally, Lee's triumph at Chancellorsville imbued him with the belief that his army was invincible. He convinced the Richmond government to endorse his proposed offensive into Pennsylvania. Within six weeks, the Army of Northern Virginia confidently emstrength. Lee's 13,000 casualties
his

June 1862

until his

mortal

wounding May

11, 1864, at

the Battle of Yellow Tavern, north of Richmond. At Chan-

he and his troopprevented the Federals from discovering Jackson 's flank march. Lee called Stuart "the eyes of the army."
cellorsville,

ers

barked on a journey northward that would end small Pennsylvania town named Gettysburg.

at a

49

The Wilderness and

Spotsylvania, 1864

Timothy

O 'Sullivan,

believed to

be the only photographer traveling with the Army of the Poto-

mac

at the time,

photographed

troops of Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's Sixth Corps crossing the

Rapidan River
Ford, Virginia,

at

Germanna
the afternoon

on

of May
high
river,

4,

1864. Sitting

on a

Near dawn on May 4, 1864, the leading division of the Army of the Potomac reached Germanna Ford, 18 miles west of Fredericksburg. The spring campaign was under way and it superficially mirrored the strategic situation prior to the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. A numerically superior Union force, wellsupplied, in good spirits, and led by a new commander,
south toward the Confederate capital. There, however, the similarities ended. Ulysses S. Grant now directed the Army of the PoMeade technitomac, although Maj. Gen. George cally retained the same authority over it that he had inherited from Hooker just before the Battle of Gettysburg. Grant carried the new rank of lieutenant general and bore responsibility for all Federal armies. He told Meade, "Lee's army will be your objective. Where he goes, there you will go also." The Confederates likewise entered the 1864 campaign brimming with optimism and anxious to avenge their defeat at Gettysburg. As usual, the 62,000-man Army of Northern Virginia found itself vastly outgunned and scrambling for supplies, but based on past experience, these handicaps posed little concern. Confederate generalship in the post- Jackson era created more serious problems. Lee had elevated both Lt. Gens. Ambrose P. Hill and Richard S. Ewell to corps command following Stonewall's death, but neither officer performed particularly well. Only Longstreet provided Lee with experienced leadership at the highest

bank
Col.

that overlooked the

moved

Theodore Lyman of Meade's Maj. Gen. George stajf watched the soldiers tramp across the pontoon bridges and mused in his diary: "How strange it would be if each man who was destined to fall in the campaign had some large badge on [to signify his fate]. "Almost half of the men he saw that day would have worn such a badge.

army
army

level.

Grant also reorganized

his forces, consolidating the

and Sixth, by Maj. Gens. Winfield Scott Hancock, Gouverneur K. Warren, and John Sedgwick. Burnside's independent Ninth Corps raised the total Union complement to 118,000 men. The Federals began to cross the Rapidan River on May 4. Lee easily spotted the Federal movement from
into three corps, the Second, Fifth,

commanded

respectively

his signal stations.

He

immediately ordered

his forces

51

"

march east and strike their opponents in the familand forbidding Wilderness, where Grant's superior numbers would be neutralized by the inhospitable terrain. Ewell moved via the Orange Turnpike and Hill utilized the parallel Orange Plank Road. Longstreet's corps faced a longer trek, so Lee advised Ewell and Hill to avoid a general engagement until Longstreet
to
iar

Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant changed the complexion of the Civil War in 1864. For the first time, he worked out plans for coordinated advances by Northern armies on several fronts to squeeze the Confed-

could join them. Grant, although anxious to confront Lee at the earliest favorable opportunity, preferred not to fight in the green hell of the Wilderness. On the morning of May 5, he directed his columns to push southeast through the tangled jungle and into open ground. He received word, however, that an unidentified body of Confederates approaching from the west on the turnpike threatened the security of his advance. Warren dispatched a division to investigate the report. The "unidentified" Confederates, of course, were Ewell's entire Second Corps. About noon, Warren's lead regiments discovered Ewell's position on the west

eracy into submission. staff officer described the 42-yearold general-in-chief as having only three facial expressions: "deep -thought; extreme determination; and great simplicity and calmness.

edge of a clearing called Saunders Field and received an ungracious greeting. "The very moment we appeared," testified an officer in the 140th New York, "[they] gave us a volley at long range, but evidently with very deliberate aim, and with serious effect." The Battle of the Wilderness was on. Warren hustled additional troops toward Saunders Field from his headquarters at Ellwood, a house belonging to James Horace Lacy, owner of Chatham. The
Federals attacked on a front more than a mile wide, overlapping both ends of the clearing. The fighting ebbed and flowed, often dissolving into isolated combat between small units confused by the bewildering

One participant called it "bushwhacking on a grand scale." By nightfall a deadly stalemate had settled over the turnpike. Three miles south along the Plank Road, another
forest.

battle raged, unrelated to the action

on Ewell's

front.

Two divisions from A. P. Hill's Third Corps pressed east

toward the primary north-south avenue through the Wilderness: the Brock Road. If they seized this intersection quickly, they would isolate Hancock's corps, south of the Plank Road, from the rest of the Union army. Grant recognized the peril and hurried one of
Sedgwick's divisions to the vital crossroads. These Northerners arrived in the nick of time and later, in cooperation with Hancock, began to drive

52

May

6,

1864
Confederate troop position
Federal troop position

Green areas represent areas of dense vegetation.

North

Kilometer
1

Mile

"Lee to the Rear"

"Go back, General Lee, go back. We won't go forward unless you go back." These words, shouted by members of the Texas Brigade on the morning of May 6, 1864, characterize
rian calls

the Orange Plank Road during the second day of the Battle of the Wilderness. Gen. Robert E. Lee, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's First Corps, had

in time to check the Federal advance was the Texas Brigade led by Brig. Gen. John

what a modern histo"one of the most

of

been
of
Lt.

trying to rally

elements Gen. Ambrose P. Hill's

notable the war

the

human episodes
in Virginia." in

The

inci-

dent occurred

a clearing on
along

Third Corps falling back in the face of an early morning Federal attack. Among the first of

Gregg. As the brigade formed up in the Tapp field prior to launching a counterattack against the Northerners, Lee rode among the regiments shouting encouragement and.^

Widow Tapp farm

Longstreet's unitsjto arrivf

y
M
-0^^\
1

'

at one point, offering to lead them personally (portrayed

here
ing).

in

Don

Troiani's paint-

Several soldiers im-

plored Lee to go back, and the cry "General Lee to the rear!" rang throughout the brigade. A private, believed to be Leonard Grace Gee of the 5th

and Brock roads. Today, at the eastern edge of the Widow

Tapp

Field,

a monument marks

Texas Regiment, grasped

Lee's bridle and turned Travelto the rear as the brigade surged forward and drove the Federal troops back toward their entrenchments near the junction of the Orange Plank
ler

the area where the Texas Brigade struck the Union lines north of the Plank Road. Near-

by depressions may be Confederate grave sites.

A
i/:

%fe

%Jk

overmatched brigades west through the forest. Fortunately for the Confederates, darkness closed the fighting for the day. Lee expected Longstreet's First Corps to relieve Hill on the Plank Road that night. Hill, anticipating Longstreet's arrival, refused to redeploy his exhausted
Hill's

troops to meet renewed attacks in the morning. This

miscalculation nearly proved disastrous to the

Army of

Northern Virginia. For a variety of reasons, Longstreet had fallen hours behind schedule. Consequently, Hancock's 5 a.m. offensive
Hill's

on

May

6 pitted 23,000 Federals against only

f%
Lt.

divisions, and overwhelmed them. The last-ditch opposition to Hancock's surging masses came from a single line of Southern artillery posted on the western edge of the Widow Tapp Farm. The gun-

unprepared

Gen. Richard

S.

Ewell, a

ners,

however, could not survive long unsupported by

native of Georgetown in the District of Columbia, com-

infantry.

Lee faced a

crisis.

manded
the

the

Second Corps of

Just then a ragged line of soldiers

forest to the west.

emerged from the

Army

of Northern Vir-

pop-eyed, and long beaked, with a piping voice that seems to fit his appearance as a strange, unlovely bird, " Ewell never lived up
ginia. "Bald,

"What brigade is this?" inquired Lee. "The Texas brigade!" came the response. Lee knew the only Texans in his army belonged to the First Corps. Longstreet had arrived! Lee attempted to lead the brigade against the Federals, but was quickly dissuaded from pursuing such a rash idea. Then the Texans, along with troops from Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, charged and halted Hancock's advance. Longstreet took this opportunity to snatch the initiative. Utilizing

promise of brilliance. His troops fought along the Orange Turnpike at the Wilderness and defended the "Mule Shoe" salient at Spotto his

sylvania.

the bed of the unfinished railroad same corridor on which Sickles had captured

(the

the

Georgians at Chancellorsville), four Confederate brigades crept astride the Union left flank. The Southerners poured through the woods, rolling up Hancock's unwary troops "like a wet blanket." Union Gen. James Wadsworth fell mortally wounded and the Federals streamed back toward the Brock Road. Longstreet trotted eastward on the Plank Road in the wake of this splendid achievement, intent upon pursuing the shaken Federals and delivering a knockout blow before they had a chance to reform. Then shots rang out. Longstreet reeled in his saddle, the victim of an errant volley fired by Confederate troops not five miles from where Jackson had met the same improbable fate the year before. Unlike Stonewall, Longstreet would survive his wound, but the incident arrested the Confederate initiative. few hours later, Lee personally directed a

56


resumption of the offensive and briefly managed to puncture the Federal lines along the Brock Road. Hancock, however, drove the Southerners back and maintained his position by the narrowest of margins. Fighting along the turnpike on May 6 had also been vicious, if indecisive. Late in the day, Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon of Georgia received permission to assault Grant's unprotected right flank. Gordon's troops struck near sunset, capturing two Union generals and routing the Federals. The attack began too late to exploit Gordon's success, however, and Grant reformed his battered brigades in the darkness. Both armies expected more combat on May 7, but neither side initiated hostilities. Fires blazed through the forest, sending hot, acrid smoke roiling into the air and searing the wounded trapped between the lines a fitting conclusion to a grisly engagement. The Battle of the Wilderness marked another tactical Confederate victory. Grant watched both of his flanks crumble on May 6 and during the two days lost almost twice as many soldiers as Lee (about 18,000 to 10,000). It was a situation that veterans of the Army of the Potomac knew only too well. Under similar circumstances previous commanders had sent the army packing across the nearest river to safety. Now, they

Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson experienced the finest day of his long military career on May 8, 1864. His troops won the race to Spotsylvania Court

House and repulsed repeated

Union
attacks, thus setting the

stage for two weeks of bloody

combat.

wondered, would their new commander do the same? The answer came late on May 7 when the general-inchief, riding at the head of his army, reached a lonely
junction in the Wilderness.

left

turn would signal

withdrawal toward the fords of the Rapidan and Rappahannock. To the right lay the highway to Richmond via Spotsylvania Court House. Grant headed right. The soldiers cheered. There would be no turning back. Veterans of Warren's Fifth Corps considered the night march of May 7-8 one of their worst military experiences. "The column would start, march probably one hundred yards, then halt, and just as the men were about to lie down, would start again, repeating this over and over...." In addition, Fitzhugh Lee and his gray troopers harassed them along the route. The southern cavalry felled trees in the roadway, gobbled up stragglers,

and orchestrated scores of

little

ambushes

in the

dark.

While this drama unfolded on the Brock Road, Maj. Gen. Richard Anderson led a Confederate column on a parallel route not far to the west. Anderson had assumed command of Longstreet's corps on May 7 and
57

was ordered to have his troops at Spotsylvania Court House before dawn on the 8th. Lee had correctly deduced that the tiny county seat would be Grant's next objective because whoever controlled the Spotsylvania crossroads would enjoy the inside track to Richmond. Anderson tried to find a bivouac where his men could rest for a few hours before their grueling march
south.

Soldiers
Battle
it

to

fair,

who fought in the of the Wilderness found be a very disorganized afwith both armies becom-

ing hopelessly entangled in the thick underbrush and scrub

timber.

A Pennsylvania infant-

ryman

When

he discovered that the

fiery

Wilderness
in

called it the "awfullest brush, briars, grapevine, etc., I

offered no practical campsites, he put his

command

motion without

sleep, a fateful decision that saved Spotsylvania for the Confederates. Warren continued his advance and early on the morning of May 8 spied an open plateau in his front known locally as Laurel Hill. The Federals saw only

was ever in. " Newspaper artists found the terrain just as confusing as the soldiers and were never able to sketch more than
isolated sections

of the

battle.

pesky cavalry, defending the ridge no match for infantry in a daylight fight. Warren ordered an attack. The Maryland Brigade led the Union charge west of the Brock Road, sweeping over the rolling fields with a cheer. As the troops approached to within 50 yards of the Confederate position, they were hit by artillery and rifle fire that dropped them where they stood. This was not dismounted cavalry, but the lead units of Anderson's corps. The Confederates had won the race to
their nocturnal nemesis, Fitzhugh Lee's

Top: Joseph Becker, a special artist for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, was experiencing combat for the first time and stayed close to Grant

and
a

his staff.

On May 5, from

near the general's headquarters, Becker sketched the final elements of the Army of
hill

the Potomac crossing the Rapidan to join the fight raging in the tangled morass of

the Wilderness. This

is

the en-

graving

made from

his sketch.

Spotsylvania.

The armies flowed onto the battlefield the rest of the

day, extending corresponding lines of earthworks east

Center: Frank Leslie's

artist

Edwin Forbes witnessed some

of the fighting of Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's Sixth Corps near the junction of the Orange Plank and Brock roads. Here he shows part of the Federal
battle line firing a volley against unseen Confederates somewhere in the tangled

and west of the Brock Road. Ewell's corps filed in on Anderson's right and built their entrenchments in the dark to conform with elevated terrain along their front. First light revealed that Ewell's soldiers had concocted a huge salient, or bulge, in the Confederate line, point-

The men "Mule Shoe" because of its shape, but it boded trouble. Salients could be fired into and attacked not only in front but from both sides, and as a
ing north in the direction of the Federals.
called
it

the

woodlands beyond.
Bottom: Harper's Weekly
ist

art-

rule officers liked to avoid them. Lee, however, opted

Alfred R. Waud made this sketch of the dramatic efforts

to retain the position trusting that his cannoneers

of soldiers rescuing wounded

could keep the Mule Shoe safe enough. Grant probed both of Lee's flanks on May 9 and 10 to no avail. About 6 p.m. on the 10th, a 24-year-old colonel named Emory Upton formed 12 hand-picked regiments along a little woods road opposite the heart of the Confederate defenses. Upton had received permission earlier in the day to assail the west face of the Mule Shoe using imaginative tactics designed to penetrate the salient, then exploit the breakthrough. The

men from burning woods on

the Wilderness battlefield

on

May

Scores of helpless soldiers from both sides met a

6.

ghastly fate as fires started by exploding artillery shells engulfed them before they could

be saved by their comrades.

58

y:.::

J82*
I

aSa*t&
:**?*>

jl

S2s
**Z%~?

IPP A-

IfcV

>

^nc

JllM ff^
rf

*>s

"=V

fe
tf*-

^^-/^-^%>:

V^ X \Av ^

By 1864 combat artists

like

Alfred Waud and Edwin Forbes had become familiar

figures on the battlefields and in the camps of the Army of the Potomac. In fact, as one

Federals crept to the edge of the woods 200 yards from the Confederate line, then burst into the open field

newspaper item pointed

out,

Waud
eral

"is

as well

throughout the

known camp as Gen-

Grant himself."

He and

Forbes provided some of the most notable illustrations of

Grant's Overland Campaign, including these from the Battle of Spotsylvania Court

House.
Top: Grant's decision to push on to Spotsylvania after the stalemate in the Wilderness brought a roar of approval

from

his weary soldiers. Edwin Forbes, who was on the road when Grant and his staff passed through his columns

on the night of May 7, 1864, sketched the men welcoming their chief with cheers and shouts of triumph.
Center:

On May

9 Maj. Gen.

John Sedgwick was superintending the placement of these guns of Capt. William H. McCartney's First Massachusetts Battery near the Brock Road
shooter's bullet hit

when a Confederate sharphim just below the left eye, killing him

instantly. Waud sketched the scene after the general's body

had been removed.

Bottom: "The toughest fight
yet" was

how Alfred Waud

described the battle for the

"Bloody Angle" on

May

12,

1864. In this sketch, he

shows the men of Hancock's Second Corps just after they had captured the salient hunkered down behind an embankment
that

waiting for the counterattack would drive them out.

with a yell. After overrunning a startled brigade of Georgians, Upton's men seized three guns, a reserve line of works, and almost reached the McCoull House in the center of the Mule Shoe before the Confederates recovered. Southern artillery at the top of the salient stymied Upton's expected support, and a counterattack eventually shoved the Federals back to their starting points. But the boyish colonel's temporary success gave Grant an idea. If 12 regiments could break the Mule Shoe, what might two corps accomplish? Grant found out on May 12, a day remembered by soldiers from both sides as one of the darkest of the entire war. "I never expect to be fully believed when I tell of the horrors of Spotsylvania," wrote a Federal of his ghastly experience. "The battle of Thursday was one of the bloodiest that ever dyed God's footstool with human gore," echoed a North Carolinian. The Confederates set the stage for this waking nightmare on the evening of May 11, when they removed their artillery from the Mule Shoe under the mistaken impression that Grant had quit Spotsylvania. In truth, Hancock's corps spent the rainy night sloshing into position to launch a massive stroke against the top of the salient. That attack began about dawn and succeeded in capturing most of the Mule Shoe and many of its defenders. Ironically, the sheer magnitude of Hancock's victory retarded his progress. Nearly 20,000 of his soldiers milled about the surrendered entrenchments gathering prizes, escorting captives to the rear, and generally losing their organization and drive. This delay provided Lee the opportunity he needed. The Confederate commander directed his counteroffensive from near the McCoull House. Again Lee attempted to personally lead his troops against the Federals. This time the colorful Georgian, John Gordon, persuaded him to go back before plunging ahead himself. One by one, additional brigades joined Gordon, and by 9:30 a.m. they managed to restore all but a few hundred yards of the original Southern line. The Union Sixth Corps, commanded by Brig. Gen. Horatio Wright since Sedgwick's death on May 9, now joined the fray, and for the next 18 hours the most vicious and horrifying close-quarters combat ever wit-

61


nessed on the continent spilled the lifeblood of numerous Americans. The fighting focused on a slight bend in the works west of the apex, known to history as the "Bloody Angle." shallow valley sliced close to the Confederate line at this point, providing crucial shelter for swarms of

Union assailants. An appalling tactical pattern developed here throughout the day. Federals would leave
the cover of the forest, cross the lane leading to the Landrum House, and take refuge in the swale. From
there they maintained a constant
rifle fire

and made

periodic lunges onto the works at the Bloody Angle.

Georgia-born John B. Gordon was one of the Confederacy's most aggressive commanders. Lee called him "one of the best. " Though lacking

any formal military training, this 32-year-old former lawyer had such a natural aptitude for military matters that

Two Southern brigades, one from Mississippi and one from South Carolina, bore the brunt of these attacks. They fought behind elaborate log barricades four feet high enhanced by perpendicular traverse walls at 20-foot intervals. The Confederate works resembled three-sided roofless log cabins and their design explains the miraculous endurance of their occupants that and the heroic desperation of half-crazed men whose world consisted of a tiny log pen filled with rain water and slippery with the mangled remains of comrades and enemies.
The equally intrepid attackers varied their efforts to capture the Angle with an occasional innovation. section of Union artillery advanced to practically point-blank range, blasting the works, until all of its horses and all but three of its cannoneers had fallen. The men of a Michigan regiment crawled on their stomachs along the outside of the trenches until, at a signal, they leapt over the logs and into a profitless melee with the Rebels. More often the assaults defied precise definition. The battle assumed an unspeakable character all its own, unrelated to strategy and tactics or even victory and defeat. "The horseshoe was a boiling, bubbling and hissing cauldron of death," wrote a Union officer. "Clubbed muskets, and bayonets were the modes of

he was able

to inspire his

men

His attack on the Union right flank at the

to great deeds.

Wilderness and his gallant defense of the Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania brought him

promotion

to

major

general.

fighting for those

who had used up their cartridges, and

demonic hordes

frenzy

seemed

to possess the yelling,

on

either side."

into the night. Finally about 4 a.m.

This organized insanity continued past sunset and on May 13, whis-

pered orders reached the front directing the battlenumbed defenders to fall back to a new position at the base of the Mule Shoe. When the Federals cautiously approached the quiet trenches at dawn, they found the
62

Battle of Spotsylvania

Court House

Todd's Tavern

May

12,

1864
Green areas represent areas of dense vegetation.

LEE

Confederate troop position

Federal troop position

North

Kilometer
1

Mile

Battle at the Bloody Angle

Fighting at the "Mule
salient

Shoe"
1864,

began May

1 2,

trenches thought the footfalls of Hancock's 20,000 men

with Union troops overwhelming Confederate defenders at the East Angle the salient tip. Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock (far right) led the

sounded

like "falling water."

Mi

When

the Northerners burst over the works, Maj. Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson's

Union Second Corps from its camp sites a half mile north of the salient across rolling woods and fields in the foggy half-light of early dawn. The Confederates behind the

division briefly engaged them ir/short-range combat. Johnson (left) carried

d cane, the
in

result

of

ay/ounded

foot

suff/red

1862,

an/ now he

brandished it above his head as a weapon. The Federals

ing portion of the line that

came to be known

aptly as

subdued Johnson and Brig. Gen. George H. Steuart and marched them to
eventually

the "Bloody Angle." A Union fficer called it "the most desperate engagement in the history of

Hancock's headquarters as
prisoners of war. This famous painting by Thure de Thul;

modern

warfare."

And

a Confederate commander agreed: "There is no parallel

to this fight
this
in

strup captures one of many assaults against the salient

the history of
I

war not any that know

of firearms."

on May 1 2. Hand-to hand fighting raged/ror 20 hours along a odrv

recorded since the introduc-

Bloody Angle inhabited only by those who could not withdraw. "They were lying literally in heaps, hideous to look at. The writhing of the wounded and dying who lay beneath the dead bodies moved the whole
mass...."

is

This remarkable photograph one of a series taken by Timothy O' Sullivan through

the

window on

the

second

floor of Massaponax Church,

Virginia,
after the Battle

Completion of Lee's last line rendered control of the salient meaningless. Grant shifted his army to its left during days of heavy downpours, searching for a weak spot in the Confederate line. On May 18 he sent Hancock back to the Mule Shoe, hoping to catch the enemy by surprise. The Southerners were not fooled, however, and by mid-morning Grant canceled the effort. Clearly, the Federals could not gain an advantage at Spotsylvania, and Grant broke the impasse on May 20 by detaching Hancock's corps on a march south toward Guinea Station. The rest of the Union army followed on the 21st. Lee had no choice but to react to Grant's initiative by maneuvering his army between the Federals and Richmond. Losses during the two weeks at Spotsylvania added 18,000 names to Union casualty lists, 10,000 to Confedthough, suffered a disproportionate attrithe highest levels of his command structure. Finding replacements for private soldiers was hard enough; developing a new officer cadre proved impossible. The essence of Lee's incomparable martial machine disappeared in the woods and fields of Spotsylvania County, and the Army of Northern Virginia never regained its historic efficiency. Grant, however, played no callous game of human arithmetic at Spotsylvania. He sought a decisive battlefield victory that Lee's tenacious, skillful generalship denied him. But in the end, the Federals' constant hammering against the dwindling resources of their gallant opponents, a process begun in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania and continued at the North Anna River, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, would finally drive the
tion
erate. Lee,

on May 21, 1864, of Spotsylva-

nia Court House.

O 'Sullivan

caught General Grant leaning over General Meade 's right shoulder to study a newly finished topographical map and plot the next step of a long

campaign that would lead to Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and,

ultimately,

Appomattox Court

House.

among

Confederacy into oblivion.

66

**

XI

The

Battlefields

Today
u
\

'safe*

WW,
\sPr^

.ww

*f

^%^y

"There is a charm in footing slow Across a silent plain Where patriot battle has been fought

Where glory had

the

gain"

John Keats, the English poet, wrote this verse long before people began touring American Civil War batindeed, before our Civil War had even tlefields occurred. Yet his observation holds true today. The op-

The 15th

New Jersey

Volun-

teer infantry

was one of
1864 Battle of

scores of regiments that participated in the

portunity to experience the courage, sacrifice, and

inspiration that
is

the legacy of the

men

in blue

and

gray awaits every history enthusiast in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, especially
those amenable to "footing slow."
Visitors should explore the park on their own terms. The complete park auto tour includes the most important sites on all four battlefields and traverses some 70 miles. Each battlefield tells its own unique story. You need not see them all in one day; in fact, we recommend that you don't try to do so. Instead, take time to study the roadside exhibits, sample one of the many interpretive trails, or attend a program conducted by

Spotsylvania Court House. This monument, erected by the regiment's survivors in 1909, stands at the Bloody Angle on the Spotsylvania
battlefield.

Next pages: Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National

Military Park consists of

seven units in Spotsylvania, Orange, Stafford, and Caro-

and the City of Fredericksburg. Check at visitor centers or park headquarters for current boundary inline counties

formation.

park historians.

Whether you have two hours or two days to spend in

we recommend beginning at the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center on Business U.S. 1 (Lafayette Boulevard) at the foot of Marye's Heights in Fredericksburg. Museum displays and an audio-visual program introduce the story of the Civil War in central
the park,

Walking tours of the Sunken Road and Fredericksburg National Cemetery begin here. The Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center is also the starting point of a self-guided driving tour of the
Virginia.
battlefields.

available to assist

Maps, brochures, and cassette tapes are you in following the tour.

The

Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center, 10

miles west of Fredericksburg

exhibits

on Va. 3, also contains and a slide presentation. Park historians are on duty at both visitor centers to help you plan a rewarding visit. Exhibit shelters at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House provide orientation to those battlefields. Four historic buildings Ellwood, Old Salem Church, Chatham, and Stonewall Jackson Shrine are staffed on varying schedules throughout the year.

71

>

Fredericksburg and\^potsylvania National Militar^Park

ilderness Battlefield Exhibit Shelter Saunders Field

%\
.

(616)

Wilderness / Tavern site

Chancell6rsville*%To)
(613

/#
,<?

AT
3J

Battlefield Visitor Center

Start of

^^Ajnn

Chancellorsv

Higgerson

Farm

5^
V

Jackson's Flank Attack ATTaCK

Wilderness

\<|
f

Church
~~

^'"fc.,^^

Brock Road- &

Plank Road
Intersection

Burton Farm

(?!/

Drive/

Fairview

Battle of the

<\

Wilderness
May
5-6,

Orange^

Grove

^^
| bISou

1864

^ \\-Ewell Drh,
X

Chewning Farm Widow Tapp Farm

Battle o^fx^ Chancellorsville

April

27-May

6,

1863

?^
iVe

ato,ad

trace

cw

North

3 Kilometers

3 M/es

%
%.
^Hil\ Avenue

ALMOUTH

RE
Battle of

QfE

RICKS BURG
Confederate Cemetery

Chatham

JMNiamStreet
'

Salem Church
-P'ank

^^
r

Exit

T30"

R0ari

May

3-4,

1863
Old

Fredericksburg
Battlefield iaTem Visitor Center Sunken Road/ Church _ StoneWall

Lee

Hillf

.Exhibit

inished Civil

War

\
1620)

.Marye's Heights eights (land Monument

Howison f Shelter
Hill

x
'\\&

Innis

House
,638
Start of Federal Attack

(9^
Ham:

National Cemetery J
1

iRoad

jrnard':
3

site

Federal

CiL

.Breakthrough

ie e Drive

^s^
^628^

Prospect

Mine R Og0

Battle of

Battle of
26

Spotsylvania

Fredericksburg Jericksbi
December
11-13, 1862

"cmS/

Court House
C

May 8-21, 1864

site

^06.'nax Creek

oody
jingle

u LandriSn House
\

&

DrJ East Angle

"V^McCoUtl
nT^site

us

'1\

jf

Spotsylvania Confederate
1

+ Cemetery

Courthouse
Spotsylvania' )

SPOTSYLVANIA
.//

County

Museum

Stonewall

Jackson/

5UINEA
^738)
,606)
.-o

Hopewell Church

Mudd

THORNBURG
Exit

^O-

Stonewall Jacks

Fredericksburg Battlefield
Kirkland Monument Sgt. Richard R. Kirkland fought with the 2nd South Carolina Infantry behind the stone
wall at Fredericksburg.
risk

At

the

of his own life, the 19year-old Kirkland crossed the

stone wall to give water and comfort to wounded Federals

between the lines. His selfless deeds on the day after the battle earned him the sobriquet, "The Angel of Mary e's

The monument, loSunken Road near the visitor center, commemorates Sergeant KirkHeights. "

cated along the

land's humanity.

alia

&$rlLmwmmm*mw

Sunken Road and Stone Wall The sunken road was once part of the main high-

way
In

to

Richmond.

wjkwWy

mm

^y^Aa

It

sur-

^H

vives today as a city street.

December

1862, Confed-

erate soldiers were

jammed

several ranks deep along

the road

and halted every

against them. A portion of the original stone wall still lines the shoulder beneath the manicured
attack

made

BJjjjp

^5!
'<r

lawns on Mary e's Heights.

Park historians lead tours along the Sunken Road during the summer.

'

__

.
.

_:

74

Chatham sits atop Stafford Heights across the Rappahannock River from historic Fredericksburg. Exhibits inside this 18th-century Georgian mansion relate its early history as well as its role as a
headquarters, hospital,
artillery

and and communications

center during the Civil War. Today Chatham also serves as administrative headquarters

for the park.

Innis

House

This small

frame dwelling and a similar

house that stood adjacent to it belonged to Martha Stephens during the Battle of Fredericksburg. It is the only wartime structure
the
is

still

intact

on

Sunken Road. The

interior

pockmarked

with bullet

holes.
ice
its

The National Park Servhas restored the house to

Civil

War appearance.
75

Fredericksburg Battlefield
Fredericksburg National Cemetery More than 15,000 Union soldiers are buried here,

most of them unknown. The War Department established

the national cemetery in July

1865 and reinterred the Federal

dead from their battlefield graves. The cemetery is located on Marye's Heights, the Confederate position that proved so
Ironically,

impregnable during the battle. some of the men

who now

rest here

died trying

to capture this

ground on
1862.

December 13,

Howison
ates

Hill The Confederbrought two huge 30-

pounder Parrott rifles (like the one on the left) to Fredericksburg from the Richmond defenses. The one placed here
exploded
burst,

after the 54th round.

The big gun on Lee

Hill also
in-

but miraculously

jured neither Lee, Longstreet, nor the Confederate artillerists standing nearby.

76

"

Lee
used

Hill Gen.
this

knoll then known as Telegraph Hill as his com-

Robert E. Lee

mand post during

the Battle

of Fredericksburg. Stonewall Jackson, James Longstreet, and other Confederate officers reported here and sometimes watched the fighting with their chief. It was here that Lee remarked: "It is well
that

war

is

so terrible-we

should grow too fond of it. The guns exhibited here today are similar to those that were here in 1862.

Federal Breakthrough The area where Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's division temporarily broke through Stonewall Jackson 's defenses on the

morning of December 13 is marked by this stone pyramid. The Federals overran

Gen. Maxcy Gregg's South Carolina brigade and mortally wounded Gregg himself while he was attempting to rally his men. Confederate reinforcements drove Meade's troops out of the woods and back across the plain.
Brig.

Prospect Hill Stonewall Jackson used this modest eminence at the southern end of the Fredericksburg battlefield

gun

14as his command post. battery here blasted the

Federals before their break-

through and during their retreat. The remains of the nu-

merous fortifications

that

protected these guns are scattered across the knoll. foot-

path leads to Hamilton 's Crossing, the extreme right flank of the main Confederate line during the Battle of
Fredericksburg.

11

r
r:

Old Salem Church

The Baptists of Spotsylvania County erected Salem Church (opposite page) in 1844 and
continued to worship here, except during the war years, for more than a century. Before the Civil War, Salem 's congregation numbered almost a hundred parishioners,

who occupied plain, straightbacked wooden pews on the

main floor or in the galleries overhead. The south gallery was reserved exclusively for
slaves,

who used a separate entrance to the building. During the battle on May 3, 1863, Confederate sharpshooters

were posted in the upper galon the north side of the church and
lery

down a deadly fire when

laid

the Federals be-

gan

their assaults.

The Twenty-third New Jersey Volunteers were among the Union troops
that

came under ConfedToday

erate fire that day.

a monument (right) stands on the ground they occupied. In 1961 the National Park Service accepted Old Salem Church as a gift and later restored the
exterior to
its

Civil

War

appearance. self-guiding trail around the

church describes
battlefield,

its

his-

tory as a refugee center,

and

hospital

in

1862 and 1863.

The

serenity

of Old Salem 's

in

spartan interior (top) belies

the chaos

of that day

1863

when it was packed with wounded and dying soldiers.

Its

exterior walls are

still

pockmarked from Federal

bullets fired at Confederates

posted

in the

upper windows.

Chancellorsville Battlefield
Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center stands about 10 miles west of Fredericksburg just north of Va. 3 near the spot where Stonewall Jackson received his mortal wound. The visitor center contains an audiovisual program, exhibits, and various publications

about the

battle.

Driving

tours of the Chancellorsville Battlefield begin here, as does

a loop hiking
ing,

trail.

The build-

open

daily, is accessible
disabilities.

for visitors with

Chancellorsville Inn Site Archeologists uncovered the foundation of the Chancellorsville Inn in 1976. This expansive brick home and inn dominated a large clearing in the Wilderness along the Orange Turnpike and served as the focal point and namesake for the battle. Chancellorsville
3,

Inn burned on
the site

May

1863.

A postwar structure
was also de-

built

on

stroyed by fire in the 1920's.

Lee-Jackson Bivouac Here the night of May 1, 1863, in the pines near the intersection of the Orange Plank and Furnace roads, Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson met to plan the Battle of Chancellorsville, one of the most daringly conceived engagements of the war. The next morning, Jackson conferred with Lee

on

for the final time as his infantry column passed this point en route to attack the Union
right flank. It

was
his

the last
lieu-

time Lee
tenant.

saw

famous

80

Catharine Furnace Remains The base of the stack is all that is left of this Civil War-period iron-making facility and scene of sharp fighting during the Battle of Chancellorsville. Stonewall Jackson 's troops passed here during their flank march around Hooker's army on May 2. The furnace had been abandoned before the war began but was opened again for the manufacture of Confederate munitions. It supplied the Confederacy until
1864,

when Union

cavalry led
it.

by Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer destroyed

Jackson Trail Ford Modern gravel roads follow the route used by Jackson's corps during its May 2 flank march. This branch of Poplar Run
crossing the roadway re-

freshed

erates that

many thirsty Confedwarm spring day.

81

Chancellorsville Battlefield
Fairview and Hazel Grove Federal artillery in the clearing at Fairview (right) dueled with Confederate cannon at Hazel Grove (opposite page)

morning of May 3, Overwhelmed by fire from three sides and running low on ammunition, the Union gunners and their infantry
on
the

1863.

support withdrew first to nearby Chancellorsville and then to Hooker's final line.

Today a trail leads from HaGrove to Fairview, crossing the ground where the fiercest combat of the battle
zel

occurred.

Chancellor Family Cemetery

Members of the Chancellor

clan lived on various farmsteads throughout Spotsylva-

nia County. This cemetery near Fairview contains many

of the family 's graves.

82

$$m

;'

The Wilderness

Battlefield

Saunders Field The Battle of the Wilderness began here on

1864, when Federal troops of Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's Fifth Corps clashed with Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ew ell's Confederates. The fighting swirled across this clearing for two days until a Confederate attack drove the Federals back late on May 6.

May 5,

Wilderness Tavern After his

wounding
in

at Chancellorsville

May 1863,

Stonewall Jack-

son was brought to a field hospital here where his shattered left arm was amputated. This was also the staging area for Warren's Fifth Corps prior
to battling Ewell's corps in

Saunders Field. A lone chimney is all that remains of this old landmark along the

Orange Turnpike. The original highway survives as a private farm road branching from the eastbound lanes of
Va.

3 next

to the tavern ruins.

84

Ellwood James Horace Lacy

owned this house as well as Chatham during the Civil War. The building dates from the 1 790s and served as a headquarters for Union Gens. Gouverneur K. Warren and Ambrose E. Burnside during
the Battle

of the Wilderness.

Stonewall Jackson 's amputated left arm, brought here after the general was mortally wounded at Chancellorsville, is buried in the Ellwood family cemetery.

Widow Tapp Farm

clearing

This

marks the high-water point of the Union assault on

1864. Confederate troops from James Longstreet's corps charged across this field and helped rescue Lee's army from potential disaster. This field was also the scene of the famous "Lee to the rear" incident (see pages
54-55), in
erate

May 6,

which the Confed-

commander attempted

personally to lead an attack against Federal troops.

tersection

Brock Road-Plank Road InThe fighting along the Plank Road focused on
this intersection,

crosses
tion at

where it Brock Road. Union

5,

in-

fantry occupied this intersec-

noon on May

just

before Confederate troops arrived. Traces of Federal entrenchments west of Brock Road indicate where Grant's soldiers turned back deter-

mined Confederate assaults on May 5 and 6, 1864. Jackson's column had marched
through
ing
its

this

crossroads durthe

famous flank march

previous May.

85

Spotsylvania Battlefield
Spotsylvania Battlefield Exhibit Shelter is the place to begin your driving tour of this battlefield. Displays here will help you understand the 14-day Battle of Spotsylvania and its role in Grant's 1864

Overland Campaign. Nearby the site where the beloved commander of the Federal Sixth Corps, Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, was killed by a
is

sharpshooter's bullet on May 9, 1864. The seven-mile Spotsylvania Battlefield History Trail starts here as well.

Laurel Hill Confederate earthworks still remain where Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson 's corps won the race to Spotsylvania. The opening engagement of the battle took place here at Laurel Hill, where dismounted Confederate cavalrymen held their ground against thousands of Federals until Confederate infantry could arrive. A small

Union monument commemoof the Maryland Brigade on the morning of May 8, 1864.
rates the assault

Upton's Road Late on the afternoon of May 10, 1864, 24-year-old Col. Emory Upton led 5,000 Federals along this

narrow woods path to attack the northwest face of the "Mule Shoe" salient (opposite page). The Northerners broke through the Confederate line and advanced almost to the McCoull House (see page 88) before being driven back. Upton 's assault earned him a promotion to brigadier general "for gallant and meritorious services" and inspired Grant's massive offensive two
days
later.

86

Spotsylvania Battlefield
East Angle Here at the apex of the "Mule Shoe, " on the morning of May 12, 1864, Union troops captured two
generals

and nearly 3,000

soldiers.

B^fci
b*!u^
fpBPfrTi
nr-.-.
,

'

i3 SpEll
it^l
^fi J u? a9B^i'"wl

Confederate

;t

^^4

**

"~-"

McCoull House

Site These

stones outline the foundation of a small frame structure that stood in the center of the

Confederate salient and served as headquarters for Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson.

Heavy fighting swept around the house on May 10, 12, and
18, 1864.

Lee's Final Line While the

combat raged at the Bloody Angle on May 12, Confederate engineers

tion

under the direcof Maj. Gen. Martin L.

Smith,

who had

laid out the

defenses ofVicksburg, Miss.,

worked feverishly to complete a new line of works at the base of the "Mule Shoe. " On May 18, 1864, Confederate troops drove back a Federal assault against this line. These remarkable trenches survive in excellent condition and are accessible along the Spotsylvania Battlefield History Trail.

88

Harrison House Site Virginia cavalryman Edgar W. Harrison could not have predicted that
his out-of-the-way farm

would

be the scene of a major battle. Confederate corps commander Richard Ewell used the Harrison House as his headquarters

and from here on May

12,

1864, the Southerners funneled reinforcements toward the top of their shattered salient. Only
the ruins

of the house

still exist.

Landrum House Site This and one other stone chimney are all that remain of the Landrum House. Like silent sentinels, they bear mute testimony to the fighting on May 12, 1864. The house served as headquarters
for Maj. Gen. Winfield
cock,
S.

Han-

who

directed the attacks

The battle began at 4:30 a.m. and continued almost until dawn the following day. Federal artillery on the high ground around the house supported the attack.
against the salient.

Spotsylvania Confederate Cemetery The Spotsylvania Memorial Association established this cemetery in 1866. It contains the remains of some 570 Confederate soldiers. larger Confederate cemetery is

located

on Washington Avenue

in Fredericksburg.

89

HP

J'

IBB BBB

III III III

III

IHIIHIIIHIItlUIHttl

"

Stonewall Jackson Shrine

The Stonewall Jackson Shrine
plantation office building where General Jackson spent the final six days of his life. It was one of several outbuildings on Thomas C. Chandler's 740-acre planta(left) is the

tion

named

"Fairfield. "

He

the office primarily for storage and one of his

had used

sons once practiced medicine

there, but,

when

the

by May 4, 1863, ambulance carrying

Jackson arrived, the building was unoccupied. Chandler offered the general the use of the main house (which burned
after the Civil War), but the doctors and staff officers chose the quiet and private outbuilding as the best place for Jackson to rest until he could be moved to Rich-

sometime

mond.
The Chandlers prepared the using the same bed frame and one of the same

room

blankets (above right) exhibThey also added a clock (right) with the hope
ited today.

that it would make the room more homelike and cheerful.

In the photograph, the hands of the clock are stopped at 3:15, the time of Jackson's death from pneumonia on the afternoon of May 10, 1863. His last words were: "Let us cross over the river, and rest

under the shade of the

trees.

The National Park Service has augmented the items used during Jackson's stay with other period pieces and some reproductions to recreate the scene of those tragic last days of his life.

91

Battlefield Preservation
Just after the war, a French
ties

has grown four times

nobleman who came

ica to fight for the
fully

to

Amer-

faster than that of Virginia as

Union wistsuggested that the government should put a fence

x!

a whole. This growth has generally occurred with few, if any, land-use safeguards to
protect the area's
battlefields
Civil

Road and Orange Turnpike, land speculators are on the verge of capturing most of the remaining farmland along those roads the same ones
on which Stonewall Jackson mounted his renowned flank attack and turned the tide at Chancellorsville. Working as individuals and as members
of preservation organizations,

3 state of Virit

War

ginia

and preserve

as a vast

national cemetery. Instead, the scene of the war's decisive

one

of the

campaigns has become most intensely dein

veloped spots

the country.

a military imperative in 1862-1864 contributed to postwar societal and economic momentum that turned northern Virginia into a populous community early in
tors that created

and landmarks. Increasingly, new houses are being built in fields where thousands fought and died. Grocery stores, gas stations, and parking lots are taking the place of landmarks such as Salem Church (the brick building above and to the right of center in the photograph below), now so strangled by traffic and shopping centers
that the National Park Service

alarmed citizens have begun

in recent years the difficult task of protecting surviving Civil War sites. Their gratify-

ing

achieved against a backdrop of inexorably marching devel-

opment
will

that, left
all

unchecked,

the 20th century. Since 1970, the population of Fredericksburg and surrounding coun-

no longer opens

it

regularly to

eliminate

preservation

the public. Farther west, along the famous Orange Plank

opportunities within a few

years' time.

For Further Reading

literature on the Civil War exceeds that of any other era of American history. Campaign studies, biographies, and personal narratives continue to find their way into print in astonishing numbers. The following titles represent a sample of the best works on the Civil War in the Fredericksburg area. The bibliographies in these books will lead armchair generals to a wealth of additional material and suggest the limitless bounds of Civil War reading and

The volume of

of the Fredericksburg Campaign.

editor, The Wilderness Campaign. Chapel University of North Carolina Press, 1997. delightfully informative book of essays on the Battle of the Wilderness. editor, The Spotsylvania Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997. Eight prominent historians analyze different aspects of the campaign. Grant, Ulysses S., Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. 2 vols. New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. No historian has ever presented Grant's life better than the general did himself. Volume 2 describes his 1864 Virginia campaigns. Johnson, Robert U., and Clarence C. Buel, editors., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 vols. New York: The Century Company, 1884,

Hill:

research.

Agassiz,

George

R., editor,

quarters, 1863-1865: Letters

Meade's Headof Colonel Theodore

Lyman. Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1922. (Reprinted 1994 in a paperback edition by the University of Nebraska Press.) This collection of letters written by a Union staff officer
provides a vivid perspective of the Army of the Potomac at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania

88.

Volumes 2 and 3 of

this rich collection of

Court House. Alexander, E. Porter, Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander. Edited by Gary Gallagher. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Artillery officer Alexander observed the workings of Lee's army with unusual candor and precision. This is among the best of all Confederate memoirs. Bigelow, John, Jr., The Campaign of Chancel-

articles written

by participants include chapters

of local interest. Matter, William D., If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988. The first

and Tactical Study. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1910. Perhaps the best American campaign study ever written. Foote, Shelby, The Civil War: A Narrative. 3 vols. New York: Random House, 1958-74. The
lorsville:A Strategic

best of several multi-volume histories of the

Civil War. Volumes 2 and 3 include the campaigns around Fredericksburg. Freeman, Douglas Southall, Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command. 3 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1942-1944. The classic

study of the
last

Army

of Northern Virginia.

The

two volumes
,

treat the Fredericksburg battles.

Biography. 4 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934-35. Freeman's Lee is arguably the finest American biography ever produced. Volumes 2 and 3 cover Fredericksburg's four campaigns. Gallagher, Gary, editor, Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. Eight essays by leading historians offer valuable insights into Jackson's wounding and other topics related to
R. E. Lee:

thorough analysis of the action around Spotsylvania Court House. O'Reilly, Frank, "Stonewall" Jackson at Fredericksburg: The Battle of Prospect Hill. Lynchburg, Va.: H. E. Howard, Inc., 1993. The first detailed study of the fighting on the southern end of the Fredericksburg battlefield. Rhea, Gordon C, The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994. The classic work on the first confrontation between Lee and Grant. The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 712, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997. masterful study of the vicious first week of fighting outside of Spotsylvania Court House that reached its climax at the Bloody Angle. Robertson, James I., Jr., Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. New York: Macmillan Publishing USA, 1997. This comprehensive biography of Lee's greatest general delves beyond the military aspects of Jackson's life to explore the man behind the legend. Sears, Stephen W, Chancellorsville. Boston:
,

Houghton

Mifflin

Company,

1996.

A fresh and

entertaining battle study that reevaluates

the Chancellorsville Campaign.

The Fredericksburg Campaign: Decision of the Rappahannock. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995. Essays by noted historians describe various facets
,

editor,

Joseph Hooker and other Union commanders. Whan, Vorin E., Jr., Fiasco at Fredericksburg. University Park: Pennsylvania State University
Press, 1961. This excellent study of Fredericks-

burg treats only the Union side of the campaign.

93

Index
Numbers
in italics refer to
illustrations,

Deep Run 20
or
Early, Jubal

Hill,

Ambrose Powell

42, 47,
of,

photographs, maps.

51, 52, 54, 56;

wounding

47

A.

38, 40, 42,

48

Hooker, Joseph

35, 37, 38, 39,

East Angle. See "Mule Shoe"

40, 42, 43, 46, 47, 49, 51, 81, 82;

Alabama troops
57, 58, 86

48, 56

salient

Anderson, Richard H. 38-39,

Ellwood52,S5
Ely's

Ford Road

38, 43,

47

"Angel of Marye's Heights." See Kirkland, Richard R. Arkansas troops 56

Banks's Ford 38, 39, 48 Barksdale, William 21, 22, 23 Barton, Clara 27 Battle of the Bloody Angle, The, (Thulstrup), 64-65 Battlefield Preservation 92 Becker, Joseph 58

Ewell, RichardS. 51, 52, 56, 58, 84, 89; description of, 56
"Fairfield." See Stonewall Jackson Shrine Fairview 47, 48, 82 Fitzhugh, William 26

wounding of, 43, 48 Howard, Oliver O. 40, 42, 47 Howison Hill 24, 76 Humphreys, Andrew A. 15, 35; monument, 14, 15 Hunt, Henry J. 21, 22, 23
Innis
Irish

House 75
Brigade 32-33

Forbes, Edwin 47, 58, 61 Fort Sumter 11 Frank Leslie's Illustrated

Newspaper 47, 58
Franklin, William B. 24, 29, 30

Jackson, Thomas J. "Stonewall" 19, 20, 24, 29, 30, 34, 36, 37,38,39,47,56,77,80,81; family of, 37; flank march of,
40-42, 49, 85, 92;

Bloody Angle
of, 60, 61,

62, 71; battle

wounding

64-65, 66, 88. See

salient

Fredericksburg, Va. 6,7,11,

and death
of,

of, 42, 44, 45, 47, 49,

also

"Mule-Shoe"

12,78,19,20,38,40,43,48,
51, 75, 76, 80, 89, 92; battle of,
11, 15, 24-35, 25, 28, 32-33, 51,

Boswell, James Keith 44 Brainerd, Wesley 22, 23

Brock Road
58,61,55

42, 52, 55, 56, 57,

74-77;

bombardment

of, 21,

Brompton (Marye House)

10,11,28,29
Burnside,
85

22-23; looting of, 21, 24 Fredericksburg Artillery 11

death mask 44 Jackson Trail Ford 81 James River 7, 12 Johnson, Edward "Allegheny"
51, 80, 84, 85, 91;

Ambrose E.

19, 20,

21, 22, 24, 29, 30, 34, 35, 37, 51,

Catharine Furnace 40, 42, 47,

81

Center Grand Division. See Hooker, Joseph

Chancellor, Frances 43 Chancellor, George 43 Chancellor, Sue 43

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park 15, 68-91; map, 72-73 Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center 71 Fredericksburg National Cemetery 14, 15, 71, 76 Freedmen's Bureau 40 Furnace Road 39, 40, 80

64, 88 Johnston, Joseph E. 15 Julio, Everett B.D. 37

Ford 47 Kershaw, Joseph B. 16-17, 19 Kirkland, Richard R. 74 Kirkland Monument 74

Kelly's

Chancellor Family Cemetery 82

Chancellorsville 38, 39, 40, 43,
46, 47, 48, 82, 84, 85; battle of,

Gee, Leonard Groce 55 Georgia troops 24, 40, 56, 61 Germanna Ford 7, 8-9, 50, 51 Gordon, John B. 57, 61, 62
Grant, Ulysses S. 7, 51, 52, 57,58,60,61,66,67,85,86; described, 52 Gregg, John 54 Gregg, Maxcy 30, 77 Guest, George 43 Guinea Station 44, 66

Lacy, James Horace 26, 27, 52, 85 Lacy House. See Chatham;

Ellwood

Landrum House 62, 89 Lansdowne Road 30 Last Meeting of Lee and

Jackson, The (Julio) 36 Laurel Hill 58, 86 Lee, Fitzhugh 42, 57, 58 Lee, Robert E. cover, 15, 19,
21, 24, 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 54,

15,38-49,42,46,51,56,80-83
Chancellorsville Battlefield
Visitor Center 71,80 Chancellorsville Inn 80. See also Chancellorsville

Chandler, Thomas C. 91

Chatham
75,85

6, 7,

26-27, 34, 71,

Cobb, Thomas R. R. 16-17, 19, 24, 35; mortal wounding

of, 34,

35

Cooke, John R. 19 Couch, Darius N. 39, 47, 48 Custer, George Armstrong

81

Hamilton's Crossing 29, 77 Hancock, Winfield S. 32-33, 51,52,56,57,61,64,65,66,89 Harper's Weekly 23, 29, 47, 58 Harrison House 89 Hawkins, Rush C. 28, 29, 35 Hazel Grove 4-5, 7, 39, 40, 43, 47,82,53

54-55,55,56,57,58,61,62,66, 76,77,80,85, Lee Hill 77. See also Telegraph Hill Lee-Jackson Bivouac 80 "Lee to the Rear" 54-55, 85 Lee's Final Line 88 Left Grand Division. See Franklin, William B. Lincoln, Abraham 11, 19, 27

94

Longstreet, James 19, 20, 24,

34,38,51,52,54,57,76,77,85; wounding of, 56

Pennsylvania troops 29-30; 114th Infantry, 30, 31. See

also Irish Brigade.

Sumner, Edwin V.
32-33,34

24, 25, 30,

Lyman, Theodore 51
Marye, Edward A. 11 Marye's Heights 11, 19,24,25, 29,30,34,35,48,71,74,76, back cover Maryland Brigade 58, 86 Massachusetts troops 21, 23,
42; 1st Artillery Battery, 60, 61; 19th Infantry, 28, 29; 28th

Petersburg, Va.
Phillips

7,

11

Sunken Road 15,76 77,19, 24,33,34,35,71,74,75

Taylor's Hill 24, Telegraph Hill 24, 29, 34, 35,

House 30
15, 20-21,

Pontoon bridges

22-23,25,25,29,34,35,38, 50,51 Potomac, Army of the 7,12, 15,19,20,21,30,34,37,38, 39,47,49,51,57,58 Pratt, John Lee 27 Prospect Hill 24, 30, 77

76,77 Telegraph Road 12 Texas troops: 5th Infantry, 55; Texas Brigade, 54-55, 56 Thulstrup, Thure de 65

Infantry, 32-33. See also Irish

Brigade

Rapidan River
15,

7, 8-9, 12, 37,

Upton, Emory 58, 61, 86 Upton's Road 58, 56

Volck, Frederick 44

Massaponax Church 66 McClellan, George B. 12,

19, 20, 21

50,51,57,58,59

Rappahannock River

7, 11,

McCIure, Alexander K. 15

McCoullHouse61,86,55
McDowell, Irvin 27 McLaws, Lafayette 35, 38
48
39,
34,

Meade, George G. 29 -30,

51, 67, 77; characterized, 30

12,15,75,19,20,21,22,24, 29, 37, 38, 39, 47, 48, 49, 57 Richmond, Va. 7, 11, 12, 19, 20,24,37,44,49,57,58,74,76 Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad 12, 29 Richmond Stage Road 29, 30 Right Grand Division. See

Wadsworth, James 2-3, 56 Warren, Gouverneur K. 51,

52, 57, 58, 84, 85

Warrenton, Va. 19 Washington, George 7, 26 Washington, D.C. 12, 19 Waud, Alfred R. 2, 29, 47, 58,
61

Meagher, Thomas Francis 3233

Sumner, Edwin
River

V.

Road

38,

39

Michigan troops 21, 7th Infantry, 28, 29

62

23, 62;

Whitman, Walt 27 Widow Tapp Farm

55

54, 55, 56,

Mississippi troops 21, 22, 23,

"Mule Shoe"
also

salient 56, 58,

Salem Church. See Old Salem Church Saunders Field 52, 84 Sedgwick, John 38, 48, 50, 51,
death of, 60, 61, 86 Sickles, Daniel E. 40, 47, 56 Smith, Martin L. 88 South Carolina troops 30, 34, 56, 62, 77, 2nd Infantry, 74 Spotsylvania Battlefield Exhibit Shelter 71, 56 Spotsylvania Battlefield History Trail 86, 88 Spotsylvania Confederate
52, 58, 59;
;

Wilcox, Cadmus M. 48 Wilderness, Va. 12, 38, 39, 42,

47, 48, 52, 57, 58, 62, 80; battle

61,62,64,66,86,57,58. See

of the, cover, 15, 42, 52-57, 53,

59, 84-85

"Bloody Angle"
15th In-

New Jersey troops:

fantry, 70, 71;

23rd Infantry, 79

Wilderness Tavern 44, 84 Woodbury, Daniel P. 22, 23 Wright, Horatio G. 61

New York troops 21, 23, 42;

50th Engineers, 20-21,22-23; 140th Infantry, 52. See also
Irish

York River 12

Brigade
34, 47,

Zoan Church 38
Zouaves. See Pennsylvania
troops: 114th Infantry

North Carolina troops

61; 18th Infantry,

44

Cemetery 89
Spotsylvania Court House, Va. 42, 48, 57, 58; battle of 15, 56,61-66,63,71,86-89 Stafford Heights 7, 19, 21, 26, 30, 35, 75 Stephens, Martha 75 Steuart, George H. 65 Stone Wall. See Sunken

Northern Virginia, Army of 15,19,20,21,24,37,38,40,42, 49,51,56

Old Salem Church

79, 92; battle of,

48, 71, 78,

79

Orange Plank Road 12, 38, 39,43,47,52,54,55,56,58,80, 55,92 Orange Turnpike 12, 38, 39, 42, 43, 47, 52, 56, 80, 84, 92 O'Sullivan, Timothy 51, 66
Pelham, John 29

Road.
Stonewall Jackson Shrine 71, 90,91 Stuart, James Ewell Brown

"Jeb" 29, 40, 42, 47, wounding of, 49

48, 49;

* GPO:

1998432-905/60005

Printed on recycled paper 2000.

95

National Park Service

Picture Sources of the photogr restricted against con*,, LC-Library of Congress: ]\ Loyal Legion of the Unites NPS-National Park Servic

Some

Knt?UTifefc

Front cover

Don Troiani; 2-3

LC; 4-5 Kevii

Pfanz; 8-9 Willi Lanza; 13 NPS; 14 NPS/Don Pfanz; 16-17 1 of the Civil War; 18 NA; 20 NA; 21 Museum ot the Confederacy, Richmond. Va.; 22-23 Gallon Historical Art, Gettysburg, Pa.; 23 newspaper NPS, Hunt LC, Woodbury Mass. MOLLUS/United States Army Military History Institute, Brainerd William Evans Hencken; 24 Jackson Valentine Museum. Richmond, Va.. Longstreet NPS; ?^ NPS- lf\ Fitrhuoh

NPS/Don

NPS; 26-27 Chatham LC; 27 Lacv NP5 NPS, Franklin LC; 31 NPS/1 33 Don Troiani; 34 LC; 35 Cobb Museur acy, Richmond, Va., McLaws LC; 3i eracy, Richmond, Va.; 38 Mass. MOLLUS/United States Army Military History Institute; 39 LC; 40 LC; 41 NPS: 42 NPS: 43 NPS/Sidney King; <" mond, Va., notebook Jriign impact ^notograpny; 45 tfattles and Leaders of the Civil War; 46 LC; 48 Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, 49 Valentine Museum. Richmond. Va.; 50 LC; 52 NPS; 53 NPS; 54-55 Don Troiani: 55 LC; 56 LC; 57 LC; 59 top NPS, center & botto t r- fini 64 Johnson NA, Hancork T C:
i

Regiment,

New York; I
NPS;

NPS/Don
torn

Pfanz; 72-73 Pfanz; 76 top

Chris E. Heisey; 75 top NPS/1

NPS/Don

NPS/American

Battlefield Protection

Program, bottom NPS/Don Pfanz; 77 top Jack Olson Photography, center William B. Folsom Photoj NPS/American Battlefield Protection Program: 78 National Geographic Society; 79 NPS/Doi NPS/Patricia Lanza, center Jack uison rj NPS/Don Pfanz, bottom NPS/Patricia Lanza, oz. iup iNro/i^un Pfanz. bottom Nati rio~w c~^t. c^ xtdc/t- Pfanz: 84 top Chi.. Gray Magazine; 85 top & center NPS/American Battlefield Protection Program, bottom NPS/Patricia Lanza; 86 ton & bottom NPS/Patricia Lanza, center NPS/Don Pfa: Don Pfanz; 88 top & center NPS/Don Pfanz, bottom Dave Roth/Blue & Gray Magazine; 89. 90. 91 NPS/Patricia Lanza: 92 NPS: back cover Brown Universitv Librarv. Providence. R.I.
'

U.S.

Department of the

Interior
Clemson
University

3 1604 013 934 692

the Department or the Interior is to proand provide access to our Nation's natural and cultural heritage and honor our trust responsibilities to ;erves unimpan tribes. The National Park Ser the natural and cultural resources anu vaiues ui me National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The National Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this countrv and the world.

The mission of
tect

Acknowledgements The National Park Service thanks

all those persons who the preparation and production of this handbook possible. Special thanks to the staff of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, especially Donald C. Pfanz and Robert K. Krick. Within the Division of Publications, staff members who contributed to the handbook

made

were Raymond Baker, editor; Susan Barkus, production designer; Melissa Cronyn, art director; and Nancy Morbeck Haack, cartographer. Joanna Morrison, Sharpsburg, Md.,
provided nroduction assistance.

A. Wilson Greene, who wrote the text for Parts 1 and 2, is executive director of Pamplin Historical Park, Petersburg, Virginia, and a former president of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, now The Civil War Preservation Trust. He is the author of Whatever You Resolve to Be: Essays on Stonewall Jackson and coauthor of the National Geographic Guide to the Civil War National Battlefield Parks.

Front cover: Detail from "Lee's Texans: Battle of the Wilderness, May 6," by Don Troiani. Courtesy Historical Art Prints, Ltd., Southbury, Connecticut. ""*r: Regiments of Brig. Gen. Nathan Kimball's brigade itati me assault on Marye's Heights on December 13, 1862. From a contemporary lithograph. Courtesy Anne S. K. Brown
Military Collection,

Brown

University Library, Providence,

Rhode

Island.

Fredericksburg
Battlefields
***

;***&

raj

Fredericksburg
izes the battles

and Spotsylvania National Military Park memorialof Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness,
Civil

and Spotsylvania Court Housefour major engagements of the

other area of comparable size in North America has witnessed such heavy and continuous fighting. Here, within a radius of 17 miles, occurred more than 100,000 American casualties in battles involving strategy and tactics beyond the understanding of the average soldier. The park, its quiet, peaceful woods and fields now dotted with cannons and monuments, preserves and interprets some of the scenes of those battles.

Wan No