This was our first full day in Fredericksburg, Virginia. A number of Civil War battles occurred here and in the close surroundings. We spent the whole day visiting National Battlefields and listening to ranger talks. First was the Fredericksburg battlefield. This happened in December of 1862. It was a resounding Union defeat. Because of SNAFUs on the Union side getting pontoon bridge components shipped in, the attack was delayed because the Union army couldn't cross the Rappahannock River. That left plenty of time for General Lee to bring in troops and to prepare excellent defenses on the heights overlooking the town.

Our second stop was at Chancellorsville. In May of 1863 General Lee divided his outnumbered forces and pulled off a flanking move on the Union right which led to a decisive defeat for the Union army. Unfortunately, General Stonewall Jackson was wounded by friendly fire and died a week later. That was a bad blow to the CSA army.

The final two battlefields were the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse, both of which occurred in May of 1864. These battles were the first time that Grant and Lee met on the battlefield. It was also the start of the Overland Campaign during which Grant initiated a long series of flanking movements in the direction of Richmond forcing Lee to keep moving to protect his capital. This ultimately led to the Siege of Petersburg. It was there in late March of 1865 that Lee was forced to retreat and a week later resulted in the surrender of Lee's army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. We visited Petersburg a couple years ago.

The final stop of the day was the Stonewall Jackson Shrine in Woodford, Virginia. This is a building that served as an office for the Fairfield plantation and was where Jackson was taken after he was wounded. He died of pneumonia.

Today's photo is of the Innis house which is at the Fredericksburg battlefield. This structure survived the battle. So many structures didn't survive the battle. It is very interesting to see one that did. Although the bullet holes on the outside of the house were repaired after the battle, some on the inside were not repaired and were covered with wall paper. When that paper was removed the holes were revealed and were left for visitors to see. It is interesting that you could see the trajectory of the bullets as they passed through the wall.