November 16, 2009, Monday
Fredericksburg was founded in 1728 but there was a fort here in 1676 already. It is located in a valley by the Rappahannock River, which led to it becoming a prosperous port. George Washington lived here. During the Civil War Fredericksburg and the surrounding area were the scene of four violent battles. It was a strategic location between Richmond,Virginia, then the capitol of the Confederacy, and Washington, D.C. The town changed hands between Union and Confederate forces seven times! It is estimated that 65,000 Union and 40,000 Confederate soldiers died in these battles.
There is so much history here that you cannot see it all. We chose to drive to the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center. On the way we passed a farmer's stand where we bought some apples and little new potatoes the sales woman highly recommended. They have really tasty apples on the East Coast.
In the Visitor center we saw an informative video of the battle on December 13,1862 -the first battle. The Ranger also was very knowledgeable. The Confederates led by Robert E. Lee were fighting from the hill Marye's Heights with cannons and their soldiers were hiding behind a stonewall along the Sunken Road. The Union soldiers led by Ambrose E. Burnside did not have much to hide behind. They were coming from the river and walked up towards Marye's Heights side by side. They were shot down quickly. They piled up the dead bodies so that they could hide behind this pile.
One touching story was about a 19 year old Confederate soldier Kirkland. He crossed over to the wounded Union soldiers and offered his water to them. The soldiers noticed this and would not shoot in his direction. He later died in 1863 - one hundred years before I was born! There is a statue of him offering his water at the end of the Sunken Road.
We walked along the Sunken Road and saw the rock wall that protected the Confederates. There was one building behind the wall and you could see a bullet hole in the wall. Jalil was most impressed with the Kirkland story.
On Marye's Heights is Fredericksburg National Cemetery. More than 80% of the soldiers are unknown. Some of the stones are marked with a number, which means that there are that many bodies buried in that grave. No Confederate soldiers are buried here.
After this serious history lesson, we continued to Williamsburg, where we found lodging at Quality Suites for $73. We had a spacious room with two queen sized beds with an L shaped sitting area, two TV's, microwave oven, refrigerator, sink and CD player. And laundry facilities which is more unusual. Breakfast was included with a cook asking how we wanted our eggs cooked. There were only five rooms rented in this huge place. The second morning there was no cook but a basket with boiled eggs. We cooked out own dinner that night - what I do not remember.
