Existing comment:
During the battle, this would have mostly been open terrain all the way to downtown.
Five months after the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Union army finally captured Marye's Heights. On May 3, 1863, General John Sedgwick's Sixth Corps streamed out of Fredericksburg to attack this ridge. Twice, Confederates in the Sunken Road repulsed the assailants, but on the third try, Sedgwick's men triumphed. Charging up a ravine 500 yards away from here, the victorious Union soldiers swept across this plateau, capturing eight cannon, including two guns of Captain William W. Parker's battery.
From Fredericksburg, Sedgwick headed west to assist the main Union army, fighting at Chancellorsville. He never made it. Four miles west of here, Confederate troops blocked his path at Salem Church. Unable to break through their line, Sedgwick retreated across the Rappahannock River at Scott's Ford. |