Fredericksburg VA Area I

Left the beautiful Shenandoah Valley and traveled first west to New Market VA where the Corps of Cadets from VMI all fell-out to engage the Union army, something VMI is very proud of as the only military school to do this.

Then I headed east to the Fredericksburg area to see four important Civil War battlefields. Along the way I saw one of those yellow highway signs with a deer silhouette warning of possible deer crossing; well this deer crossing sign had a sub-sign stating that it applied for the next 0.42 miles. They must be some wildlife managers in this area to have it down to the hundredth of a mile.

I stopped briefly at the Wilderness National Military Park and after talking with a Ranger, at his suggestion, I moved on to Chancellorsville National Military Park where they had a Visitors Center and video and museum to mold all the Parks and battles together and I took a walking tour with a Ranger. Chancellorsville is where General “Stonewall” Jackson was shot by his own men, lost his arm because of the wound and later died.

Not far from the Chancellorsville battlefield is the Ellwood house, Ellwood is very close to where a year later the Wilderness battle would be fought. After Jackson was shot during Chancellorsville he was evacuated to a field hospital near Ellwood and that is where his arm was amputated. Jackson’s arm was buried in the family cemetery of Ellwood.

I don’t know about you but I was getting confused by dates of what I had seen so I made a list to put things back in place for me:
4/12-13/1861 Fort Sumter
9/17/1862 Antietam
4/27 -5/5/1863 Chancellorsville
7/1-3/1863 Gettysburg
MAR 1864 Grant takes command of all Union armies
5/5-6/1864 Battle of The Wilderness [this was the first Grant/Lee battle]
5/8-21/1864 Spotsylvania Court House
Petersburg
4/9/1865 Appomattox Court House

I am staying at a big KOA campground that seemed to be in the exact location for all the moving around the area I want to do so I made a reservation and was told I was lucky to get in because this is the week of the Boy Scout National Jamboree and they were pretty full. When I checked in and was talking I found out that lots of scouts, some entire troops are coming here to save the $3,000.00 per scout it would cost to go camp at the Jamboree, they can’t participate in all of the activities and events but the save $3K a head.