Local Civil War History near King George, Virginia
Port Royal, Virginia
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Stratford Hall Plantation
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Area BattlefieldsManassas National Battlefield Park
"highlights two battles fought near a little stream called Bull Run. The first battle in the summer of 1861 is considered the first major battle of the war and was a decisive Confederate victory. The second battle fought a little more than a year later on basically the same ground, was another Confederate win and was the springboard to Robert E. Lee's invasion of Maryland in 1862." The Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park "highlights the Battle of Fredericksburg fought in December 1862, Nearly 100,000 men fell within a few miles of the Colonial town of Fredericksburg. The Battle of Chancellorsville (May 1863) and the Battles of The Wilderness and Spotsylvania (spring 1864)." "Two major Union campaigns came close to capturing the Confederate capital in Richmond during the war. Richmond National Battlefield Park highlights the Seven Days Battle, including Gaines' Mill, which ended the first attempt in the summer of 1862, and Cold Harbor, the bloody battlefield that blunted General Ulysses S. Grant's effort to break through to the city in 1864." Petersburg National Battlefield "is devoted to the nearly 10-month siege Petersburg endured in 1864 and 1865. Highlighted in the main unit is the famous "crater" created by an underground explosion that blew up part of the Confederate line in the summer of 1864. Another park unit at City Point (Hopewell) explores the vast Union supply base high above the confluence of the James and Appomattox Rivers and Grant's headquarters during the siege. Another unit west of the city covers Five Forks, site of a critical Union breakthrough on April 1, 1865." Appomattox Court House and National Historical Park "recreates the atmosphere for one of the most dramatic events of the war: Lee's surrender of his famous Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865. Visit the McLean House where the surrender was negotiated and stroll through the restored and recreated village where the war in Virginia was ended.". |