As many of you know I’m a history freak. Especially American History, and even though I consider myself fairly educated in these periods I’m always amazed and fascinated when I visit a historical site. Even with today’s technology and ability to see pictures and video’s of places, there is no replacement for being there. The one thing that pictures can’t replace is topography. The feel of ground, the hills and valleys where you can stand and see and imagine what went on. In every place I’ve visited from Vicksburg to to Appomattox to Monticello, this has been true. These places take on a feeling of walking on sacred ground and are more than just a place to see. Sunday I retraced my steps back to Yorktown, Bob and I had visited the town itself but had missed the battlefield since it was late in the day. After Bob left for home Sunday morning, I decided to ride south and cross the bridge at Yorktown over to Glouster VA then up to Fredricksburg ,York town, a short ride of 11 miles from Williamsburg. As I got near York town, I decided to detour and ride around the battlefield and then visit the visitor’s center. Standing on the earthworks where the British stood and seeing the view really did solidify understanding of what went on there. The desperation Cornwallis must have felt of being bottlenecked by French and American troops, with very little chance of escape due to the French Navy's blockade. The old saying being more true than we want to think. The Revolutionary War was stared in the North, Fought in the South and Won by the French. Here's a 360 of the British Fortifactions. and another cannon still Riding from Yorktown to across the bridge to Glouster then up VA-17 north was a pleasure. Being Sunday morning the traffic was light with most church parking lots filled. I’m a lover of historical markers, those signs along the road that show what happened at a place. Problem in Virginia is the are literally 100 ft apart lining the highway in some areas. It would be impossible to see all of them and I was
mildly saddened that I couldn’t stop and see them, but I pressed on. Getting to Fredericksburg shortly after noon, I stopped at the Battlefield Visitors Center. Fredericksburg, a place of some of the bloodiest fighting in the Civil War with several battlefields close by was high on my left of places to see. Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville and “The Wilderness” were all only a few miles apart. At the Fredericksburg site, I walked the “Sunken Road” on Marye’s Hights where Confederate Soldiers held off thousands of Union Soldiers that were sent by Gen Burnsides like cattle into a slaughterhouse. Again I got the feeling of being in a special place something I’ve often felts while touring these types of sites. Here are a few shots from Fredericksburg Battlefield.: The fisrt two are from "Sunken Road" where Confederate forces held off Union infantry. Though the confederates were outnumbered by the Union Forces, major tactical mistakes by General Burnside allowed Robert E Lee's forces to hold them off at Marye's Heights. The third of the graves of Union soldiers who lost their lives as Burnside affraid of a counter attack by Lee's forces, continued to send the men into a meat grinder. Thousands of men in Blue were sacrificed.
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AuthorTim Stubbe AKA Archives
June 2013
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