Re-enactors Andrew Dankmeyer of Frederick, Md. (top), and Russell Seibert of Williamsport, Md., take a sledding break in between events.

Civil War re-enactor Travis Taggart of Rockville plays taps following a ceremony yesterday observing the 143rd anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Warren Clark (left) of Newport News and other Civil War re-enactors demonstrate infantry tactics to spectators on Saturday. The living-history interpreters were on hand during activities honoring the 143rd anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Fredericksburg resident Anne Rowe was the keynote speaker at a ceremony yesterday marking the 143rd anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg. She is the first woman ever to speak at the event.

Anne W. Rowe of Fredericksburg presents the civilian point of view during events to commemorate the 143rd anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg

Date published: 12/12/2005

By CATHY DYSON

Women who lived through the bombardment of Fredericksburg during the Civil War didn't have time to dwell on their hatred for the "Yankees" who invaded their streets and burned their homes.

They were too busy trying to put their lives back together.

"They put the bitterness behind them," said Anne W. Rowe of Fredericksburg. "There was so much to do."

A year after the war ended, Fredericksburg women began planning for the proper burial of their Confederate dead, she said. They later completed a memorial to George Washington's mother, built a hospital named for her and saved several historical buildings.

"There was a lot that needed doing, and many needed help," Rowe said. "They all knew what suffering was."

Rowe was the keynote speaker yesterday during the commemoration of the 143rd anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg.

The longtime city resident and wife of Free Lance-Star publisher Josiah P. Rowe III was the first woman ever to speak at the event.

She talked about lots of women who came before her, including several of her ancestors. She shared their stories and memories, drawn from unpublished diaries and letters.

"They speak across the years," she said. "We have accounts of the horrors of the battle in the December weather, but we have reminiscences that show how life went on."

Rowe's remarks were a mix of history and Fredericksburg-area genealogy, as well as a tale of love and romance in the midst of death and suffering.

She referred to a diary written by Matilda Hamilton, a Spotsylvania County woman who was in her mid-40s during the war.

Hamilton wrote on Dec. 23, 1862, about "the graves of our poor soldiers. Twenty-eight lie buried on our lawn, three just outside our grass yard."

Yet, in her next sentence, she was encouraging a male caller to visit some of the "young and pretty girls" at Belvoir. That was a home in Spotsylvania where several families found refuge during the shelling of the city.

"Ten days after the battle, and she's matchmaking," Rowe said.

One of the matches worked.

Rowe's great-grandparents met and fell in love while treating the wounded at Belvoir.

Date published: 12/12/2005