Existing comment:
A Family Shattered:
"My forefathers fought for my liberty, and I would be an unworthy descendant if I did not fight for the liberty of my children."
-- John W. Patterson to his wife, Almira, January 7, 1863
The battles around Fredericksburg did more than obliterate lives. They shattered families. Each of the 15,000 deaths on these battlefields stimulated an emotional, financial, and often physical battle for survival on farms and in towns hundreds of miles from Spotsylvania County. Death on the battlefield often meant destitution at home.
This is one such story -- the story of Colonel John W. and Almira Wendt Patterson. |