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Virginia photo

Rebel troops defending Prospect Heights dug trenches to fight from. They are still visible today.Federal troops actually broke through at the far right end of Lee's line at a place called Prospect Heights. This piece of wood was then a swamp that Lee considered impassable for troops and thus left undefended. Union troops under George Gordon Meade and a general named John Gibbon broke though here for around an hour. Gibbon and Meade sent frantic appeals for more troops to exploit the breakthrough. The Union commander of the reserves refused to send them unless the order came from the commanding general, named Franklin. Gen. Meade rode back and demanded the reinforcements personally from the idiot behind the lines but by then it was too late. The Confederates were able to bring a murderous artillery barrage down on the Union soldiers and they were forced to retreat. It was the only Federal success of the day, however fleeting.Confederate cannon were protected by revetments called The Confederates also had a few modern rifled cannons, such as this Parrott, an British-designed gun that could fire a shell up to three miles with great accuracy.Confederate smooth bore cannon such as this one could fire a projectile up to a mile. Rebel gunners had the field in front of St. Marye's Heights zeroed in and poured murderous fire on Union troops.This quiet residential street in Fredericksburg was once part of a 1,000 foot wide field that led from the Rappahanock River to St. Marye's Heights. There is a slight depression at the far end of the road that existed in 1862. It was called the "swale," and was the only cover for Union troops on that entire field.This is a memorial to a Confederate soldier, Sgt. Kirkland, who left shelter behind the stone wall and carried water to wounded and dying Union soldiers after the battle. Many wounded remained on the field all night after the seventh and last charge of Union troops against St. Marye's Heights. Union soldiers fired on Kirkland until they realized what he was doing. Kirkland was killed later in the war.These are actual minnie ball holes inside the Innis house, the result fire from federal and Confederate guns during the battle.Stevens also owned this house, known for some reason as the Innis house. How it survived the battle intact is nothing short of a miracle.Martha Stevens owned a house in front of the wall at St. Marye's Heights. All that remains now is the foundation stones laid out in the shape of the house. She boasted after the war of having stayed there all during the battle, although there is no way to know that for certain at this late date. What is known is that she had a reputation as an unusual woman in Fredericksburg in 1862. Although records show she had a common law husband, she didn't live with him. Excavations of her well revealed large numbers of liquor and wine bottles, leading Park historians to conclude that she may have run an illegar bar out of her house. They also found large numbers of women's clothes, in different sizes as well as other items that only women would have had, leading some to speculate that she may have operated a brothel, as well.The current wall at St. Marye's Heights is a replica of the original, most of which fell down over the years. National Park Service historians had to go to a quarry in Pennsylvania to find the same type of rock from which the original was made.The Sunken Road would have been quite a prize if Union forces could have seized it. In 1862, it ran all the way to Washington in the north and Ricmond to the south. The Union lost 13,000 casualties trying to take the road on St. Marye's Heights.The Sunken Road, behind the stone wall on Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg. More than 2,000 Confederate soldiers manned this wall that stretched across St. Marye's (pronounced Marie's) Heights. Soldiers fired their muskets at advancing Union troops, then handed them to soldiers behind them, who handed those in the front a loaded musket. Thus the Confederates could keep up a tremendous rate of fire. Both sides in the Civil War had rifled muskets, that were accurate up to 300 yards.This is a view from Lee's command post at midway the length of the Confederate line at Fredericksburg Battlefield. The Confederates had no Engineer Corpsm but they did have troops called "pioneers," whose job was to build fortifications and clear fields of fire. In 1862, they chopped down most of the trees so that Lee could see his lines at Marye's Hill and Prospect Hill. Fort Washngton, on the opposite bank from MT. Vernon. Pierre L'Enfant played a small role in designing the fort in the early 1800s. During the War of 1812, the British landed troops behind the fort. They also sailed ships into the Potomac. The fort commander, haing only 47 men under his command, abandoned it after blowing its ammunition bunkers. After the war he was court martialed and cashiered from the Army for dereliction of duty and destruction of government property. An eagle nesting on one of the river buoys.One of the Marine helicopters that ferry the President of the U.S. Low-flying choppers are a frequent site on the Potomac.The circular floor in the threshing barn.There were mechanical threshers in existence at the time Washington had the threshing barn built. But they had a reputation for frequent mechanixal problems and he distrusted them. The circular barn was his solution. This barn, designed by Washington, was used to thresh wheat, to separate the kernels from the stalks. The wheat was spread on the circular floor inside the barn. horses trampled it and the wheat fell through the spaces between floorboards and was collected, sifted again and bagged. The sheeves are gathered here before being threshed in the barn.Moount Vernon uses interpeters costumed in period clothing and using period farming implements. This young woman, an intern, is a history major from Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania. She is gathering wheat sheeves for threshing in a barn designed by Washington himself.The new Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac. It is the only remaining draw bridge on the Potomac.The Washington mansion seen from the Potomac River. Washington's farm grew to 8,00 acres by 1793. Eventually, his acreage that fronted the river was nearly 10 miles long.Washington had a farm field on the banks of the Potomac River. He gradually switched from growing tobacco to wheat because the tax on wheat was lower.The Washington mansion at Mount Vernon. Washington believed that farmers should always raise seed crops. He believed that a farmer who had to buy seed was incompetent. The practice of raising crops for seed continues today.Seed beds are a part of the farm activity at MT. Vernon. Many heirloom species are still raised for seeds.Washington's original tomb. He didn't like it or its location, on a small hill near the river. Washington's will provided that a new tomb be built at another location on the property after his death.The tomb built for Washington after his death in 1799. Many of members of his extended family are buried here in sites around the tomb.Washington's sarcophagus.Washington had a     The view of Washington D.C. from Arlington House, ancestral home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Lee resigned his commission in the U.S. Army in 1861 and headed south, where he eventually became head of the Army of Virginia. In 1864, Lee's home and grounds were seized by the federal government. The first dead buried at Arlington National Cemetery were Union soldiers killed during the Civil War.The grave of Pierre Charles L'Enfant. A native of France, L'Enfant joined the American Army in 1777 at the age of 23. Trained as an engineer and an architect, L'Enfant served as an engineer under the command of his countryman, the Marquis de Lafayette. Later, he was chosen by Pres. George Washington to design the new federal city that was to be the nation's capital. The city he designed is visible behind his grave marker.This cross was presented to Arlington National Cemetery after WWI by the Canadian government as gift for America's aid during the war.The mast from the battleship Maine, sunk in the harbor at Havana, Cuba, in 1898. It was the precipitating factor in starting the Spanish American War.Changing of the Guard before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWII.Sen. Robert Kennedy is buried at Arlington near his brother, Pres. John F. Kennedy.The Eternal Flame at the gravesite of Pres. John F. Kennedy.The view of Washington, D.C. from the the Kennedy Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.The headstones line up like soldiers standing at attention.A memorial to the 101st. Airborne Division at Arlington National Cemetery