On December 11, 1862, from the north side of the Rappahannock River in Stafford County, the 7th Michigan Infantry led an amphibious assault against Fredericksburg’s tenacious Confederate defenders. The mid-day attack across the river dislodged Confederate sharpshooters, gave the Union army a foothold on the opposite bank, and allowed Union engineers to complete the vital pontoon bridges needed to carry the rest of the Army of the Potomac safely across the water. The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought two days later. After the battle, the defeated Union army set up winter quarters at Falmouth, where three companies of the 7th Michigan quartered inside Union Church, a landmark since its construction around 1819. Private Edward Wise of Calhoun County, Michigan, etched his name on one of the church walls: “7 M Edward Wise Co I.” In the spring of 1863, as the Army of the Potomac marched toward Chancellorsville, Company B of the 7th Michigan remained at Union Church and on picket duty in Falmouth along the river. A secret submarine telegraph was discovered at the Conway House below; concealed under the river, it was used to pass messages about troop movements and other military information to Confederates in Fredericksburg. Union Church also served as a Union hospital at various times during the war, and after being abandoned in 1935, the structure suffered severely from a major storm in 1950.