Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park
Site of an important Civil War military base and hospital, and of key battles in 1862, 1863, and 1864
Site Details
Pin location is approximate.
1013 Lafayette Blvd
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
Family Friendly?
Yes
Visitors Per Year
1,500,000
- The Fredericksburg Visitors’ Center has an excellent 20-minute introductory movie running on a loop. Unlike many larger battlefields, it is easy to take in at a glance the tactical advantages of the Confederate artillery on Marye’s Heights and their defensive infantry line at the sunken road behind a wall. The viewer can understand the horrible odds the attacking Union forces faced in advancing uphill with no cover. This illustrates the horrendous nature of 19th century warfare.
- The center has half a dozen rooms with informative, balanced, and child-friendly photos, artifacts, paintings, and panels on the Battle of Fredericksburg and surrounding events. Particularly helpful are the photographs and writings of men, women, and children, north and south, free and slave, who lived in Fredericksburg before and after the battle. Also on display is a tube containing 10,000 bullets—the number fired in just one minute of battle.
- Guided tours are available, and staff members were well informed and friendly.
- There is an easy walking trail around the battlefield itself; completing the trail takes half an hour and is accessible to most people. Visitors can see the Innis House, which still stands and is peppered with bullet and shrapnel holes, as well as the cemeteries marking the Union graves. Only about one-third of the Union dead were identified.
The battle and the Civil War are the focus of the tours and exhibits, and the important issues of slavery and the impact of the war on civilians are well covered. The exhibits, photos, and writings offer varying perspectives, from men, women, and children; north and south; officers and soldiers; free people and enslaved. The exhibits and tours at Fredericksburg are balanced, historically accurate, and do justice to the events of the time.
There is no evident attempt to inject activism or ideology into the exhibits. The site aims to present the facts, as well as perspectives of various people from the time, without judgment or revisionism.
The site is family-friendly and has exhibits that are informative for children, who will particularly enjoy the walk around the park. The horrors of war, and death of young men in the thousands, is made very clear and might be hard for young children to see without an adult to explain.
Fredericksburg, in December 1862, was the location of an important battle during the Civil War. The Southern victory, as well as the damage to the town by Northern troops, encouraged the Confederacy to fight on. The Northern loss, at great cost, may have spurred President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation a few weeks later, to clarify what the war was about. The battle also taught some hard military lessons to commanders on both sides and was a step towards Lincoln appointing General U.S. Grant as commander a year later. The battles of Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania followed approximately a year later. Fredericksburg was used as a base and hospital site for all those battles.
Owned By: National Park Service
Operated By: National Park Service
Government Funded: Yes
Did you know?
There are still houses standing that have bullet holes and damage from shells exploding that you can see outside and even inside, through the windows. This is a great live history lesson.
Recommended Reading
- A Worse Place than Hell: How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation by John Matteson
Reviewed By
Simon Hankinson
Senior Research Fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation
The opinions expressed above are those of the Reviewer who is providing a good-faith historical assessment to educate the public. Reasonable opinions can vary, and the Reviewer’s opinion is not necessarily the opinion of The Heritage Foundation or its affiliates.