In 1863, more than 135,000 Union Army of the Potomac soldiers established winter camps throughout Stafford County, creating the largest encampment of any army during the Civil War. Many soldiers compared their conditions to Valley Forge, and that winter the army reached its lowest point after the Battle of Fredericksburg and the disastrous Mud March, with hundreds deserting each night. By late April 1863, under new leadership, the army regained confidence and improved its organization, food, weaponry, and training. Even after its defeat at Chancellorsville and return to Stafford in early May, morale remained strong, and by June 12, 1863, the army moved north toward Gettysburg. More than 3,500 Union soldiers were left buried in Stafford after dying that winter from disease, exposure, accidents, and other causes, while local residents, outnumbered 15 to 1, endured farms turned into camps, homes used as headquarters or hospitals, and woodlands consumed by thousands of campfires. This area preserves more than 41 acres once camped on, traversed, and fortified by elements of the Union Army of the Potomac's 11th Corps, 1st and 3rd Divisions, including remains of a winter camp, soldier-built or improved roads, a pre-Civil War bridge, an early Stafford quarry, and three large earthen artillery batteries built to defend the area.