These woods contain remains of hut sites, chimneys, and defenses from a large Army of the Potomac winter camp. Soldiers of the 11th Corps 1st and 3rd Divisions moved to this area from Belle Plain and Stafford Courthouse in late February and early March 1863. In camps like this throughout Stafford, more than 135,000 soldiers in 8 corps recovered from the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Mud March, and Chancellorsville, and many called these camps their "Valley Forge." New York, Ohio, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Wisconsin units camped in or near this park. More than 3,500 Union soldiers who died and were buried around the Stafford camps were moved to national cemeteries from 1866 to 1870.