Spotsylvania Battlefields

Home
United States
Fredericksburg, VA
Spotsylvania Battlefields

Spotsylvania Battlefields grew from local preservation efforts and continues to support work to save and spotlight the battlefields in this county.

Four major Civil War battles and campaigns happened in Virginia’s Spotsylvania County: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. We are passionate about our local Civil War history and love to share interesting facts about the current preservation and historical facts.

09/07/2026

The 14th North Carolina’s Lt. Pinckney C. Hardie wrote to his sister on May 7, 1863, about the Battle of Chancellorsville. His letter appeared in a newspaper five days later. “It is with feelings of profound gratitude that I write to let you know that I am safe. Thank God I have passed through the ordeal of fire and blood safely,” Hardie opened. After providing a run down of his regiment’s movements, and mentioning Gen. Thomas J. Jackson’s wounding, he penned, “The dead lie thickly strewn in every place. Our loss in killed and wounded was also severe. It was indeed a sad sight to see so many of our brave men strewn around us.”

Lt. Hardie also shared a comrade’s close call experience. “This letter is written on a sheet of paper which was struck by a ball. It was in W[illiam] H. Hood’s knapsack, and after shooting away all his cartridges he laid down with his knapsack in front of him just as a ball struck it and saved his life,” Hardie marveled. He also collected a couple of battlefield souvenirs. “I enclose to you a five cent bill I got on the field, it is the style of all the United States small notes. I [also] have a handsome Federal sword I brought from the field.”

According to his service records, Hardie suffered a wound on July 1, 1863, at Gettysburg and was captured in February 1865 at Petersburg. He returned to Wake County, North Carolina, and lived until 1902.

Post war image of Hardie courtesy of Find A Grave.

Like our Facebook posts? CVBT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity. We exist only because of the generosity of our members and donors. Please consider giving or joining to support our efforts.
https://cvbt.org/support-us/

09/04/2026

Yesterday, with the help of our good friends at Civil War Trails, Inc., CVBT installed three new interpretive wayside markers at its Nine Mile Run tract at 1008 Rensselaer Ct., just off Route 3. These signs help visitors learn about the May 3, 1863, portion of the Battle of Chancellorsville that happened there, and explain CVBT’s ongoing work to preserve land associated with Chancellorsville.

This Phase I interpretive effort is now complete. The gravel pull off area and the wayside signs were funded by a generous grant through The Community Foundation. Phase II will involve constructing a walking trail on the property that will allow visitors to better understand the terrain that the soliders who fought there encountered.

You can help support these types of projects by becoming a CVBT preservation partner member today: https://bit.ly/3Yi3zFm

09/03/2026

Every day, Civil War hallowed ground is lost, but together we can save the battlefields where history happened in Central Virginia. Consider joining CVBT as a preservation partner member or by making a donation today! https://bit.ly/3IHicta

Like our Facebook posts? CVBT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity. We exist only because of the generosity of our members and donors. Please consider giving or joining to support our efforts.
https://cvbt.org/support-us/

09/02/2026

CVBT released its September 2026 "History Wire" e-newsletter yesterday. This month’s post focuses on mistakes at the Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House.

If you missed it, it is available on the CVBT website at: https://bit.ly/4zRK5Jq

If you don’t want to miss future CVBT email newsletters, you can sign up for them at: https://bit.ly/3IElLAr

Like our Facebook posts? CVBT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity. We exist only because of the generosity of our members and donors. Please consider giving or joining to support our efforts.
https://cvbt.org/support-us/

09/01/2026

During fighting near Smith Run on May 4, 1863, as part of the Chancellorsville Campaign, Lt. Henry Handerson, 9th Louisiana Infantry, received a painful wound in the upper shoulder. Initially supposing he was hit with a spent bullet, Handerson eventually found medical help and received the attention he needed.

Lt. Handerson remembered that evening: “The ball had struck me on the back of the large muscles of the neck and shoulder, penetrated the strap of my haversack, and, ranging inward and forward, had lodged in the right side of my neck close upon the carotid artery. Half an inch further would have inevitably ended my military career! Lying down upon the rough operating table, Surg. Love speedily extracted the ball through a small incision, and sewing up the wound, directed me to dress it and the opening in the shoulder with cold water.”

Handerson was captured at the Wilderness on May 5, 1864, and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war. After the conflict he became a doctor and lived until 1918.

CVBT has helped save over 11 acres at the often-overlooked Smith Run battlefield.

Image courtesy of Find A Grave.

Like our Facebook posts? CVBT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity. We exist only because of the generosity of our members and donors. Please consider giving or joining to support our efforts.
https://cvbt.org/support-us/

08/31/2026

In a letter to his parents on May 5, 1863, the 121st New York's Sgt. William Remmel expressed his good fortune in escaping the Battle of Salem Church fought two days earlier: “I did not get a mark, but the bullets whistled pretty close around my head. I expected every minute to be hit, but kind Providence saved me. 8 officers out of 20 were either killed or wounded. 3 of them we know are dead.”

Remmel wrote to his brother Augustus on May 16 about the battle: “The contest was a very severe one. Regiments that had often faced showers of lead and walked up to the enemy, with gleaming bayonets pointed at their own hearts, as if destruction seemed inevitable, declared that the firing during the action eclipsed anything that they ever heard in point of noise and destruction. About every other man in our company was either killed, wounded, or missing. The loss in each of the [regiment’s] companies was in about this same ration.”

Sgt. Remmel was killed on October 19, 1864, at the Battle of Cedar Creek.

Like our Facebook posts? CVBT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity. We exist only because of the generosity of our members and donors. Please consider giving or joining to support our efforts.
https://cvbt.org/support-us/

08/28/2026

The confused and see-saw nature of combat in the Wilderness comes through in the letters, diaries, and journals of the soldiers who fought there. A good example of this comes from William Ray's journal. Ray fought in the 7th Wisconsin Infantry (Iron Brigade). On May 5, 1864, he penned, “They fired at us pretty brisk. We done the same for a while & then charged on them, drove them & kept driving them for a mile or so when they got support & routed us completely. We took many Prisoners while driving them and they took some when they drove us.”

Like our Facebook posts? CVBT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity. We exist only because of the generosity of our members and donors. Please consider giving or joining to support our efforts.
https://cvbt.org/support-us/

08/27/2026

Writing to his wife on May 15, 1864, Lt. Samuel Haynes of the 45th Pennsylvania Infantry (Ninth Corps), included some information about his regiment’s experience at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6. That afternoon their division tangled with Confederates under Maj. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox near the Chewning Farm.

Lt. Haynes explained: “At 2 o'clock on the morning of the 6th our corps moved out to the Wilderness and commencing fighting about noon. The fighting was desperate in the extreme and the loss to the Forty-fifth on that day was 17 killed, 120 wounded, and five missing. Lieutenant [Evan] Goodfellow was killed on the field, and Captain [John] Campbell was shot through the bowels and died two days later. They were both very good men, and I feel their loss very much. Captain [William] Chase was shot through the shoulder. Two or three other officers were wounded slightly. Company G had ten wounded, none mortally.”

Haynes survived the war and returned to Pennsylvania where he worked in lumber and railroads. He died in 1898 at age 64.

Like our Facebook posts? CVBT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity. We exist only because of the generosity of our members and donors. Please consider giving or joining to support our efforts.
https://cvbt.org/support-us/

08/26/2026

Books about campaigns and battles rarely allow readers to see other characteristics of Civil War soldiers than their primary role as combatants. However, their letters and diaries often reveal that they closely observed the world around them and tried to make sense of the war.

Writing to his “Dear Friend” about ten days after Chancellorsville, Lt. Thomas Efford of the 40th Virgina Infantry compared what he saw around him the day that he was writing to the recent battle: “Spring with its warm sun is clothing the woods in their dress of green foliage and beneath our feet the flowers are springing—& amid the boughs of the trees the little birds are chirping merrily—Contrasts pleasantly with the few days that have passed—when the air was filled with the hissing bombs and whistling of bullets—and the echoes were disturbed from their slumber by the thunder of artillery—& the green carpeted earth made red with the blood of murdered heroes.”

Lt. Efford’s service records indicate that he received a wound in the fall of 1864 that required the amputation of one of his legs and resulted in his death on October 12.

Like our Facebook posts? CVBT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity. We exist only because of the generosity of our members and donors. Please consider giving or joining to support our efforts.
https://cvbt.org/support-us/

08/25/2026

Registration is open for this fantastic presentation and tour combination event on November 1, 2026, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. A copy of the book is free with your paid admission. Seats are limited! Reserve your spot today to learn about the famous 20th Maine's experience at Fredericksburg. https://bit.ly/4fXCFer

Address

1115 A Tyler Street
Fredericksburg, VA
22401

Website

https://www.cvbt.org/spotsylvania

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Spotsylvania Battlefields posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Spotsylvania Battlefields:

Want your organization to be the top-listed Government Service in Fredericksburg?