history in our backyard: stafford civil war park

History in OurBackyard

We all know of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park where the Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse occurred. But there is a site in Stafford County known as the Stafford Civil War Park located at 400 Mount Hope Church Road (State Route 608). Here units of the Federal army rested after their defeat in December of 1862 in the Battle of Fredericksburg and later the infamous January 1863 Mud March. This period has since been called the Union Army's Valley Forge by soldiers' letters home and historians. Thanks to the efforts spearheaded by VMI alumnus and retired Air Force Colonel Glenn Trimmer and assisted by Stafford's own "Sage of White Oak" D. P. Newton, this 41-acre park came to fruition.

The Stafford Civil War Park tells the story of the Army of the Potomac ' s winter encampment in 1863. The new commander, General Joseph Hooker, rebuilt the Army's fighting spirit while camped in Stafford. After the Mud March many units returned to their old camps in Stafford County. Morale was low and disease and desertions were high. General Hooker wanted to guard against any attack by Robert E. Lee on the vast supply depot at Aquia Landing at the terminus of the Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac (RF&P) Railroad. The RF&P ran through Brooke as it does today. This particular site, about a quarter of a mile from Brooke, Virginia, was chosen to guard that depot.

In the park, you will find the reconstruction of three gun batteries and fortifications with reproduction cannon, two blockhouse sites for protection during a period of bombardment, hut sites, a reconstructed hut, three miles of trails and a picnic area with a pavilion for relaxation. There are five stops with parking, monumentation and signage describing each site. There are the remains of corduroy roads which once carried Union troops, wagons and artillery.

Located along Accokeek Creek, the park opened to the public in April of 2013. The earthworks for the batteries are well preserved, and these as well as other notables have interpretive panels. At General Hooker's direction, the XI Corps of General Oliver O. Howard moved its camp to this site along the heights overlooking Accokeek Creek. The First and Third Divisions of Howard's Corps camped at this location in late February and early March of 1863. They had moved from their previous camps at Belle Plain and Stafford Courthouse. These troops were among the 135,000 Union soldiers in Stafford County that winter.

These camps were abandoned in June 1863 when the units marched north to Pennsylvania to counter General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia move resulting in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Tour Stop #1 Orientation and Winter Camp: Shows the actual ruins of the huts built by the Union soldiers, some with the original stone fireplaces placed there by the occupants. The hut sites are the remains of the holes over which logs and tents were placed for shelter during the winter.

Tour Stop #2: Battery #1; Potomac Church Road and Daniel Bridge Tour Stop #3: Picnic Area and Sandstone Quarry

Tour Stop #4: Battery #2 and Hiking Trail

Tour Stop #5: Battery #3 and Corduroy Road

The entire site is preserved by a conservation easement to the Land Trust of Virginia.

Stafford Civil War park

By Paul t. scott

Paul Scott is a member of the Board of Directors of Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, Inc. The mission of CVBT is to preserve land connected with the Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. For more information, see www.cvbt.org.

Stafford Civil War Park 400 Mount Hope CHurch, State Rt 608 Open 8a-8 8p tourstaffordva.com

The Central Rappahannock Heritage Center is a non-profit, all-volunteer archives whose mission is to preserve historically valuable material ofthe region and make it available to the public for research

900 Barton St #111, Fredericksburg, VA www.crhcarchives.org contact@crhcarchives.org 540-373-3704

Volunteers Wecome! Contact us about donating collections of documents and photographs