Tour of the Fredericksburg Battlefield

The Fredericksburg Battlefield is situated midway between Washington, D.C. and Richmond. It was the place where four very important battles of the Civil War were fought. The total number of casualties that occurred in the Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Chancerllorsville, and Spotsylvania Court House battles amounted to about 110,000.

A tour of the Fredericksburg Battlefield promises a most enlightening experience of the Civil War, and it will give you a better idea of what happened during the battles of Fredericksburg. The entire tour takes about 8 hours, and it covers some of the most important places in the battlefield.

The first stop of the tour is the Fredericksburg Area Museum. This museum has a large collection of photos, documents, and artifacts that are related to the Civil War, and they clearly show how the war affected the lives of the inhabitants of Fredericksburg. Some of the displays, like family treasures of the civilians, are particularly interesting, as they relate the kind of misery that the people of the city were experiencing during the war.

The next stop is the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center where you can watch a film that shows what happened during the battles. There is also a museum that is filled with exhibits of uniforms, equipment, camp life, entertainment, medical supplies, transportation, and other things that were part of the life of a soldier during the Civil War. If you want, you can also take a guided tour on Sunken Road where there is a stone wall that acted as a barrier of defense for the Confederate soldiers. Other interesting things to see at Sunken Road are a monument that honors a Confederate soldier for his humanitarian deeds and a cemetery where about 15,000 soldiers of the Union army were buried.

After the visitor center, the tour will make a stop at the Chatham mansion. This mansion was a headquarters for the Union army during the Civil War, and it was the place where Walt Whitman and Clara Burton joined the doctors to give treatment to hundreds of wounded Union soldiers. The White Oak Museum is the next stop. Here, you will find lots of interesting artifacts that were found on the battlefields, including weapons, supplies, uniform pieces, and other things that were lost or discarded when the soldiers were fighting in Fredericksburg. There are also replicas of huts that were used by soldiers during winter.

The tour moves on to George Washington's Ferry Farm. This is the place where George Washington grew up. By the Rappahannock River, there is a ferry landing where the Union army constructed pontoon bridges to help them cross the river when they were on their way to Fredericksburg. A lot of artifacts from the Civil War were discovered by archaeologists at the ferry farm.

The final stop of the tour is Kenmore. This place was established by Betty Washington, sister of George Washington, in the year 1775. It was also the place where a lot of fighting took place during the Civil War. The Confederates secured the place first, but they were attacked by Union soldiers from the east. After that, the Potomacs got control of the house, but the Confederates fired at them from the west. There is also an optional driving tour that will take you to other interesting attractions, such as Marye's Heights and Prospect Hill, two places where much fighting took place. You can also visit General Robert Lee's command on Lee Hill, where you can get a wonderful view of the city of Fredericksburg.

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