We began at Chatham Manor, a stately house perched high atop a steep hill and boasting a lovely panoramic view of the Rappahannock River below, as well as the city beyond its far banks. Belonging to a Southern slaveholder who left to fight for the Confederacy, the property was overtaken and occupied by Union forces in 1862. With Lee's troops across the water in Fredericksburg, General Ambrose Burnside opted to wait for the arrival of pontoon boats to assist in moving his men and equipment to the other side....even though one of his own officers reported how he'd observed the river being safely and quickly forded by some local farmers and their livestock. Because of his refusal to act, the Northern army then had to spend the Winter camped out on the grounds, presumably taking the extra time to strategize and plan for their eventual campaign.Things went poorly in the Spring, however, when they finally got around to engaging. Our resident history teacher described it as "the Union version of Pickett's charge", with wave after wave of soldiers fruitlessly attempting to attack the strong Confederate position on higher ground. So to sum up: one more lousy showing based on monumentally bad decision-making by a commander of the Army of the Potomac...who was then removed by Lincoln (probably in disgust, at this point. And who could blame him, really? In case you haven't caught it yet, the repeating motif here is that it's honestly a miracle the Union ever prevailed....)
From there, we explored the battlefield itself, along with the inevitable cemetery--both tucked unobtrusively into a quiet corner of modern-day Fredericksburg. And then it was back into the cars to mosey 90 minutes or so to our final stop of the entire weekend hullabaloo: Petersburg, Virginia. As we approached the Visitor's Center, for the first time on this trip I realized with a jolt...I recognized nothing! Somehow, having managed to visit all of the surrounding historically significant locales (Chancellorsville, the Wilderness--heck, I even stopped by the place where they buried Stonewall Jackson's ARM, for crying out loud. And you should believe me, 'cuz I couldn't even make that up if I tried...) I'd just...missed this one. It's a mystery, I tell ya...Anyway, this meant that I got brand new information, which was super-cool. And what I learned was: Petersburg was a gateway to Richmond, the Confederacy's capital, and also seated on multiple rail lines that the Union wanted to wrest from the South's control. However...in an all-too-familiar refrain...another Union general's dithering ("Baldy" Smith, as ignominious a name as I've ever heard)...and actually disobeying orders (From Ulysses S. Grant. Seriously, would YOU defy this dude? I'm thinking No. Damn. Way.)...prevented what could have been a decisive Northern victory that ended the war (yet again), but instead led to a grueling almost-11-month siege instead.
This included the Battle of the Crater, in which a group of miners from Pennsylvania approached Grant with an idea that involved digging a secret tunnel--finishing up underneath the Confederates' position--and then blowing it up. That part all went according to plan, and the explosion produced a hole 130 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep, killing 352 Confederate soldiers in the process. However, in the ensuing chaos and confusion, Union troops rushed into combat without direction, while the Southerners recovered quickly and rallied a deadly response, dispatching far more of their enemy than they had lost in the blast. (And Burnside was fired. Shocker...) It didn't ultimately matter, since Union forces simply outlasted the Confederacy's battered, depleted resistance to take the city in early April of 1865--and the conclusion came a week later with Grant and Lee's fateful meeting at Appomattox Courthouse to finalize the official surrender.Whew! At this point, my head was FULL of facts and figures and...whatnot, y'all. It had been an educational, enjoyable, enlightening 3-days of live-action school, and I was W-I-P-E-D. But wait, I had to stay awake for 2 more hours of driving homeward--assisted by caffeinated beverages, I'm not ashamed to say. And I think it's a safe bet that after 800+ miles behind the wheel over a long weekend I'm staying put for a while! At least until I figure out what's next...stay tuned!
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