Confederate Brigadier General Cobb

Confederate General Cobb

During the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate Brigadier General Cobb was mortally wounded on December 13, 1862 on Sunken Road. He suffered an injury in the thigh severing his femoral artery and bled to death shortly thereafter. It was originally reported that the injury was from a Union artillery shell that burst inside the Stephens house on Sunken Road that runs along the base of Marye’s Heights. However, later accounts by a few Confederate veterans of the battle claim he was shot by one of his own soldiers.

Fredericksburg Gallery

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Historic Fredericksburg, Virginia Photo Gallery

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Battle of Fredericksburg

Shortly after Union General Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac, he launched an attack on Fredericksburg.  Moving his army of 120,000 across the Rappahannock River, his plan was to seize Marye’s Heights, a hill to the west of the city.  Below the hill were a sunken road and stone wall.  Union forces assaulted Marye’s Heights 14 times, coming within 25 yards of the wall.  On December 15, Burnside ended the campaign and retreated back north across the river.  Total Estimated Casualties: 17,929 (United States 13,353; Confederate States 4,576)

George Rogers Clark Plaque

 Washington Avenue, Fredericksburg, Virginia

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK
1752-1818

IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE VALOR AND THE
STRATEGIC VICTORIES OF GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK
SON OF OLD VIRGINIA.
THE PAUL REVERE CHAPTER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION, OF MUNCIE, INDIANA.

DEVOTE THIS TABLET
——

NO HERO OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION SERVED WITH
MORE SACRIFICE, FORTITUDE AND DAUNTLESS COURAGE,
AND NO HERO HAS ACCOMPLISHED GREATER VICTORIES
AGAINST GREATER ODDS.
THE OLD NORTH-WEST OWES
IT’S FREEDOM FROM THE BRITISH TYRANNY TO THIS
DISTINGUISHED PATRIOT AND SOLDIER.

——
DEDICATED AT FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA.
APRIL, 1929.

Fredericksburg Area Visitor Centers

The Fredericksburg Visitor Center
706 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia
540-373-1776 ♦ 1-800-678-4748

The Fredericksburg Visitor Center, circa 1815, is located in the Historic District of downtown Fredericksburg.  The center is open 9:00 AM-5:00 PM daily.

Fall Hill Mansion

E-498B Fall Hill

“On the heights one mile to the west, the home of the Thorntons from about 1736. Francis Thornton 2nd was a justice, a Burgess 1744-45, and Lieut. -Colonel of his Majesty’s militia for Spotsylvania County. He and two of his brothers married three Gregory sisters, first cousins of George Washington. “Fall Hill” is still (1950) owned and occupied by direct Thornton descendants.” Note: The home remained in the Thornton family until 1999.

Mary Washington House

1200 Charles Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia

This was the home of Mary Ball Washington.  The home was purchased for her by her son, George Washington in 1772.  She moved to this house when she was 64 and spent her last 17 years living here.  The home has many of her favored possession.  The boxwood she planted still grows here.

The one-and-half-story house and the kitchen behind the home are the original structures.

The Sentry Box

133 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia

“The Sentry Box, used in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War , as an outpost from which to watch for the approach of enemy ships on the Rappahannock.  Between the houses can be seen the Washington Farm, where George Washington was raised to manhood.” 

Fredericksburg National Cemetery

Lafayette Boulevard, Fredericksburg, Virginia

The Fredericksburg National Cemetery is located on Willis Hill which is part of historic Marye’s Heights in Fredericksburg.
Approximately 20,000 soldiers died in this region during the Civil War, their remains scattered throughout the countryside in shallow, often unmarked, graves.  In 1865 Congress established Fredericksburg National Cemetery as a final resting place for Union soldiers who died on battlefields.  Confederate soldiers were buried in cemeteries located at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Court House.
Work on Fredericksburg National Cemetery commenced in 1866 and was completed in 1869.  Veterans erected two major monuments here in the late 19^th century, and the remains of 300 veterans of later wars were interred before 1945, when the cemetery closed to new burials.  Of the 15,300 men buried here, the identities of fewer than 3,000 are known.

Rounded granite headstones mark the graves of identified Union soldiers. The graves of unknown soldiers are marked by a small square stone bearing two numbers.  The number identifies the plot, the bottom number indicates the number of soldiers buried in the plot.

The above postcard shows an early 1900s view of the cemetery entrance. (See the back of the card postmarked June 5, 1911.)  The monument on the left is the Butterfield Monument erected to honor the valor of the Fifth Army Corps.

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Fredericksburg National Cemetery Gallery

Indian Punch Bowl

Riverside Drive, Fredericksburg, Virginia

This old stone basin is said to have been used by the Indians during hunting festivals as a punch bowl. Found by Major Francis Thornton (1682-1758) on his plantation, it was inscribed by Thornton in 1720.

Related:
Historic Old Mill District