The Fredericksburg Road, present-day Route 208, served as the Army of the Potomac's supply line during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. For two weeks in May 1864, wagons traveled back and forth along the road between the Union army and its supply base at Belle Plains on the Potomac River. Thousands of Confederate prisoners and wounded Union soldiers went to the rear along this road. As the Union army continued south toward Richmond, it shifted its supply base from Belle Plains to Port Royal and abandoned the Fredericksburg Road about 21 May.