Our first adventure at Fredericksburg National Battlefield included taking a walking tour of Marye's Heights, despite being interrupted by a sudden downpour that soaked all of us! Marye's Heights became a focal point for Union forces on December 13, 1862 during the Battle of Fredericksburg. General Ambrose Burnside sent over 30,000 Federal troops to attack the Confederate positions behind the stone wall. Not a single soldier made it to the wall because of the murderous rifle and artillery fire from the heights on the open fields. Thousands were killed or wounded.
The walking tour of Marye's Heights includes a look at numerous stops. The most visible and infamous is the stone wall and sunken road. Some of the stops also include the Innis House and the foundation of the Stephens House. Both of these structures were badly damaged during the fighting. The Stephens House no longer stands but its foundation is still preserved. The Innis House was riddled with bullets and shell fragments. The outer clapboards were replaced by the family but a few bullet holes are still visible. The tour includes other structures on Marye's Heights damaged by the fighting.
A prominent statue on Marye's Heights is the monument to Richard Rowland Kirkland. Kirland, a Confederate soldier in the 2nd South Carolina, is called the Angel of Marye's Heights. During the battle, he filled up several canteens with water, jumped over the wall, and brought it to wounded Union troops lying on the field. This monument stands near a section of the original stone wall. Much of this wall was destroyed after the battle but a small section of it still remains. The damaged portion was restored in the 1930's.
After a small hike up Marye's Heights, we came to the last stop on the walking tour, Fredericksburg National Cemetery. At this point, it started to rain on us. It soon turned into a downpour and we became stuck because we were at a location furthest from the visitor center and our car. We decided to go ahead and make our way through the cemetery. Unfortunately, I did not get a lot of pictures because of the rain. The cemetery contains the graves of over 15,000 U.S. soldiers who died during the action and in another battle five months later on Marye's Heights. Over 80% of the soldiers buried there are unknown.
About the time the rain ended, we headed back to the car to continue our tour of the Fredericksburg Battlefield. The next major stop was Chatham Manor, the site of Union headquarters and the subject of the next post!
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Marye's Heights - Fredericksburg, Virginia
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6 comments:
Hi Rebecca! I should have commented earlier to let you know I was putting you on my blogroll, which I hope is all right with you as well. (It is ok with me if you link to my blog, if you choose to do so :) I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog, and I think it's great you're getting the opportunity to tour all these incredible places. Please keep it up, and I look forward to reading more!
- Claire
Claire,
It's perfectly fine to add me to your blogroll! I was just surprised to find out when I was looking at my stats. I'll definitely add a link to your blog too. I think it's a good one to check out!
Thanks for keeping up with my blog and I hope you continue to enjoy it!
I just added this to my "Historical Travels" blogroll. In a way this puts me to shame; I haven't learned as much history as you clearly have.
Historical Travels,
Thanks for adding me to your blogroll! I will add yours to my links as well. Don't worry about not knowing as much about history as I do. It's taken me a while to learn as much as I know and I still do a lot of research.
hello my name is justin marye i live in colorado and recently my grand parents went to vigina and came back with this news so i looked it up and its kinda hard to beleive that all that happen on my great great great great great grandpaernts land it was amazing so i found this web site so just decided to say somthing.
Justin,
Fredericksburg is quite a place and that's pretty incredible the battle took place on your ancestor's land. Thanks for your comments!
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