This weekend kicked off the commemoration of the Battle of Fredericksburg, 150 years later. The National Park Service held their main event on Sunday, but special events will be continuing through next weekend. The actual anniversary is on Thursday December 13th. Burnside's Army of the Potomac lost nearly 13,000 men during their futile assaults against Lee's entrenched positions on Marye's Heights. They also temporarily broke through Lee's lines at the Slaughter Pen Farm against Prospect Hill, but without proper supports, only added to the total casualty count. By comparison, Lee lost about 5,000 men. This past weekend the park held living encampments, special tours, battle reenactments and keynote speakers in memory of the men who lost their lives during the Union disaster that was Fredericksburg.
For more information on the battle of Fredericksburg please click on the link below:
Fredericksburg
The Civil War Preservation Trust also just released a wonderful new panoramic tour of the Fredericksburg Battlefield on their website, so if you cannot make it to anniversary events this is a great way to see the field and understand the people and events in the Fredericksburg Campaign.
CWPT Fredericksburg Tour
The following link is the 150th Anniversary schedule for anyone that might have the opportunity to get to Fredericksburg before the end of the commemoration.
Schedule
Photos from this weekend:
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Fredericksburg National Cemetery with over 15,000 interments and less than 3,000 of them identified |
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Procession down the Sunken Road for the Wreath laying on the Kirkland Monument |
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Remembering not just the slaughter, but the acts of charity during the battle |
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Confederate reenactors tramp up towards Marye's Heights to demonstrate the attacks |
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Innis House from Marye's Heights with the Sunken Road |
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Kirkland Monument with Brompton on the Hill |
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Interior of the Innis House, still with visible damage from December 13, 1862 |
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Exterior of the Innis House |
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