Beleaguered Town

In 1862, Union soldiers and officers looking upon Fredericksburg from this spot saw many of the same landmarks visible today. The skyline of this peaceful river town, with a population of 5,000 in 1860, was dominated by the three steeples of City Hall and the Episcopal and Baptist churches. The Rappahannock River, a source of power, a transportation artery, and a military obstacle in the 1800s, flowed past on its journey from the Blue Ridge to the Chesapeake Bay. West of Fredericksburg rose Marye’s Heights, where Robert E. Lee placed his gray-clad forces to meet the Union army on the battlefield Burnside had chosen. After reckless and unsuccessful assaults at the base of those heights on December 13, many hundreds of soldiers from both sides never saw another earthly vista again.

Fredericksburg, Virginia · United States