Arrive at the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center where you will learn the significance of this region and its overall impacts on the War’s outcome.  See a film depicting the actions that took place in and around Fredericksburg.  Museum exhibits portray a soldier’s life during the war, including camp life, religious life, food, medicine, amusements, uniforms and equipment, transportation, communications, and the impact of war on civilians.  Also, as park staff is available, opt for a short guided walk along the Sunken Road.  Here confederate troops, securely positioned behind the famous stone wall, dispatched more than 8,000 Union soldiers during the Battle of Fredericksburg.  The walk includes dwellings standing during the battle, a monument to the humanitarian acts of a Confederate soldier, and the National Cemetery where 15,000 Union soldiers are buried.

Additional option: Slaughter Pen Farm, the main Union attack at Fredericksburg crossed this field to attack “Stonewall” Jackson’s Corps located on the high ground in the background.  About 4,500 casualties occurred on this 216.44 acres. Five men won the Medal of Honor for their actions on this field.  After a very competitive fight, Jackson’s men repulsed the Union attackers.

Stafford Civil War Park is the site of 1863 winter encampments and fortifications of the Union Army’s 11th Corps, 1st and 3rd Divisions, following the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg.  Many of the soldiers referred to the site and that winter, then and afterwards, as their “Valley Forge.”  Over 3,500 soldiers died throughout Stafford County during that winter.  Situated on 41 acres, park visitors can see and learn about Civil War era battery and winter hut site remains, a corduroy road, a late 18th and early 19th-century sandstone quarry, and remnants of the 1660’s Potomac Church Road bed.

End of Day 1 – Spend the night in one of many hotels in the region.  Dinner options are endless and can be found on the Where to Eat page of FXBG.com.

Visit the Spotsylvania County Museum, now located at Chancellorsville 1st Day on Plank Road.  Learn about the early history of Spotsylvania County and interesting details about civilians during the Civil War and the struggles they faced with armies encamped around them for 3 years.  See artifacts from local contributors or schedule a time to visit the resource library for genealogy research.  The county historical collections are also located on site and are available to researchers by appointment.

Wilderness Battlefield – This cataclysmic battle marks the beginning of Lee vs. Grant – 1864 Overland Campaign as the two generals pitted med, equipment and strategy to decide the fate of the nation.

In route to the Spotsylvania Courthouse Battlefield, see Todd’s Tavern, scene of a May 1864 calvary battle during the Union advance to the Courthouse.  This is as Civil War Trails Site with interpretive signage.

Next, visit the Spotsylvania Courthouse Battlefield, scene of some of the most intense hand-to-hand combat of the Civil War.  The warring armies struggled over land forever after called the “Bloody Angle” for more than 20 hours.  Displays and exhibits illustrate repeated Federal attempts to break the Confederate fortifications around Spotsylvania Courthouse.

Time allowing, visit the Courthouse Historic District, which sits at an intersection controlling the most direct route to Richmond.  See Zion Methodist Church, a Spotsylvania landmark, and Massaponax Church, where Federal commanders, Grant and Meade, met to coordinate the army’s move and where soldier’s left still-preserved graffiti on church walls. Visitors can read interpretive Civil War Trails signs at both sites.  (Bus tours can arrange entrance into the church with advance notice.)

Conclude your Civil War Battlefield Tour with a visit to Jackson’s Death Site.  After Jackson’s wounding at Chancellorsville, he was brought to “Fairfield”, a slave holding plantation, where he lingered eight days before he died.  Learn how the story of Jackson’s death became central to the Lost Cause ideology and the perpetuation of a false narrative of the war put froth by former Confederates.  This false narrative sought to overlook Jackson’s own history of enslaving seven people during his lifetime and instead exaggerate his merits in order to solidify him as a Confederate martyr.