Spotsylvania Battlefields

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Spotsylvania Battlefields

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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.

10/30/2026

Despite being only 16 years old when he enlisted in the summer of 1861, Henry Matrau of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry made a fine soldier and advanced from private to captain before he mustered out in July 1865. In a letter to this mother following the Mine Run Campaign he filled her in on some of the things he experienced.

Crossing the Rapidan River and marching “on by-roads through a dense forrest of scrubby pines denominated the Wilderness,” the 6th Wisconsin fell in behind “the 5th Corps wagon train.” A band of Confederate cavalry attacked the wagons and Matrau and his comrades “deployed as skirmishers through the wood” toward the wagons. “There the Rebs were drinking wh***ey, rummaging wagons, cutting mules loose, whipping the teamsters, & raising the devil generally,” Matrau penned. Despite letting loose a volley “that emptied a dozen or twenty saddles and set them running for dear life,” the cavalry had set fire to some of the wagons “loaded with shells that commenced a series of explosions.”

After continuing the march to Robinson’s Tavern, the Confederates fell back across Mine Run “on a range of Heights well fortified.” Matrau was convinced that “To have charged those Heigts with the number of men we had would have been sheer murder & Gen. Meade knew it.” Like many other soldiers, Matrau seemed pleased that “we fell back to our old position.”

Image courtesy of Find A Grave.

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10/29/2026

After his capture at Salem Church and subsequent exchange, the 121st New York’s Capt. Delavan Bates wrote to his father. The captain explained that after other Sixth Corps units stormed Marye’s Heights on May 3, 1863, “we took the front pursuing the retreating foe toward Chancellorsville. . . .” But instead of chasing Confederates, “at Salem Church five miles from Fredericksburgh [we] met a strong detachment of the enemy sent by Lee to reinforce those we had driven from the city and check our advance.”

Bates noted that “We advanced to within 10 rods when they opened one of the deadliest fires I ever saw. We continued advancing however until we reached the church, the rebs giving way from tree to tree. Here we were halted and ordered to commence firing. We done so.” Bates thought it was a fatal pause. They lost momentum. “The minute we stopped the men fell faster and faster until at last the right commenced falling back and then the whole line went like sheep and the rebs after us yelling like devils. I with a good many others from the Division was taken,” Bates penned.

Marched to Spotsylvania and then Guinea Station, they “took the cars” to Richmond and were temporarily lodged in Libby Prison. Soon paroled, they moved on to Petersburg and City Point, then transported by boat to Fort Monroe to await exchange. Bates became colonel of the 30th United States Colored Infantry in the spring of 1864. He was wounded in the face at the Battle of the Crater, receiving the Medal of Honor in 1891. He died in 1918.

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10/28/2026

After being in a heavy skirmish on November 27, 1863, near Robinson’s Tavern, Pvt. Louis Leon, a sharpshooter in the 53rd North Carolina, helped man the skirmish line r***e pits along Mine Run from November 28-December 1.

Early on December 2, Leon and his battalion of sharpshooters moved carefully toward the Federal earthworks, where they thought they saw a section of artillery. Given the order to “Charge!” they “did so with a rebel yell, and as we got upon their breastworks, lo and behold, there were no Yankees, and the cannon we saw were nothing but logs.” Following closely, Leon and his comrades netted “a great many of their sick and stragglers” as prisoners.

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10/27/2026

CVBT released its October 2026 e-newsletter yesterday. If you missed it, it is available at: https://bit.ly/4dVAubc

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/

10/26/2026

This past Saturday CVBT hosted its annual Youth Community Service Day at our Nine Mile Run tract on the Chancellorsville battlefield. We had over 20 students, parents, and adult sponsors from area high schools, along with additional CVBT volunteers, staff, and board members all pitching in to help clear a walking trail in effort to make this May 2-3, 1863, battlefield publicly accessible. A big thank you to all who participated and contributed toward an extremely productive and educational day!

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10/23/2026

From the Washington “Evening Star,” May 17, 1864:
“Our Wounded: A Surgeon returning from Fredericksburg, reports the greatest difficulty in properly caring for the wounded. Indeed, he says if it were not for the Sanitary and Christian Commission, it would be impossible for the wounded to be properly attended to.

The roads leading to Fredericksburg are in a most impassible state, in consequence of recent heavy rains.”

Image of Sanitary Commission workers at Fredericksburg courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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10/22/2026

Some regiments had the good fortune of not to be called upon for battle, or seeing limited roles. Such was the case for Corp. David E. Johnston and his 7th Virginia Infantry. Johnston recalled that at the Battle of Fredericksburg his unit, one of Brig. Gen. James L. Kemper’s regiments, found itself between the fighting at the northern end of the battlefield at Marye’s Heights and that on the southern end. He remembered that on the morning of December 13: “By this time the fog had so lifted that we could see in front far to our right the gleam of a long line of bayonets, though we could not see the men who held the guns. We halted on the break of the heights, where we witnessed the combat between the Federal and Confederate skirmishers of Jackson's command, as well also as the assault by a part of the Federal line of battle against Jackson's men, and the repulse of the Federals.”

Later that afternoon, the 7th Virginia was sent as support toward Marye’s Heights and endured some casualties despite not being formally engaged. Johnston himself received a spent ball wound to the left foot. Johnston was also wounded and captured at Gettysburg. He returned and was captured yet again on April 6, 1865, at Sailor’s Creek, but released on June 28 upon taking the oath of allegiance.

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10/21/2026

Writing to his sister a couple of weeks after the Battle of Chancellorsville, the 90th Pennsylvania Infantry’s Corp. John Stutzman, explained how dangerous it was to endure artillery shelling. As part of the Army of the Potomac’s First Corps, which was positioned along the Rappahannock River south of Fredericksburg, Stutzman and his comrades caught some Confederate fury on May 1, 1863.

“At about 5 o’clock, the rebels commence shelling and throwed about five or six shells and directly one come right at our regiment. Sure enough, it did come. I thought it would come right for our company. It burst in among Company K and killed one and wounded five in the same company. It wounded a sergeant in Company F and one private in C Company. The same shell killed a Lieutenant in the 136th Regiment P. V. and five men besides. It was a 20 lb. shell, and it tears things when it bursts. When it strikes, it counts one and no more. You ought to seen us get out of that.”

20-pound shell image courtesy of The Union Drummer Boy.

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10/20/2026

During the horrific fighting on the evening of May 12, 1864, at Spotsylvania, Lt. Richard Lewis of the Palmetto Sharpshooters received a serious wound to his left wrist and hand. Due to the rain and darkness, he was unable to locate a field hospital in town or find anyone who could tell him where he could receive some treatment. Lewis wrote, “I had to camp all night in the rain around a camp-fire with some men.” After trying to perform his duties, but being unable, Lewis ended up at a hospital in Richmond from where he wrote his mother explaining he hoped “to get off home in a few days.”

Lt. Lewis returned to duty in early September 1864. However, in mid-September he wrote, “I am not able to carry my hand without support as yet, and I am sorry to say have been suffering some inconvenience from it.” If Lewis had not already suffered enough, he was wounded in the left leg on October 7 near Richmond and captured. His wound required an amputation below the left knee and he endured a significant recovery at a hospital at Fort Monroe. While at Fort Monroe, Lewis wrote of his good treatment and that “My wounds on the hand and wrist have healed up but I have no use of my hand yet. My stump is doing very well, but the doctor makes me carry it in a sling yet.”

After returning home, Lewis eventually became a judge. He committed su***de in 1892 at about 50 years old. His obituary noted that, “Continuous suffering and prostration of the nervous system is the supposed cause of his su***de.”

Image of Spotsylvania Courthouse courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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/

10/19/2026

Gilbert Moxley Sorrel remembered years later that while serving as a staff officer for Lt. Gen. James Longstreet at the Battle of the Wilderness, on May 6, 1864, a moment of opportunity arose. Longstreet informed him: “Colonel, there is a fine chance of a great attack by our right. If you will quickly get into those woods, some brigades will be found much scattered from the fight. Collect them and take charge. . . . Hit hard when you start, but don’t start until you have everything ready. I shall be waiting for your gun fire, and be on hand with fresh troops for further advance.”

Longstreet and Sorrel’s efforts flanked the Army of the Potomac’s Second Corps, but its success also helped set the scene for Longstreet’s wounding by his own troops.

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/

Address

1115 A Tyler Street
Fredericksburg, VA
22401

Website

https://www.cvbt.org/spotsylvania

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