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Union fortifications in Stafford could be opened to the public Date published: 1/26/2010
BY JONAS BEALS On a remote hilltop in Stafford County, a person can feel both disconnected from the workaday world and fully plugged into a history that most people know nothing about. For now, the Civil War site is closed to the public, but a local preservation group hopes to change that soon. "Fortification 2" sits on a ridge that overlooks the modest Accokeek Creek valley. Almost 150 years ago, Union soldiers used that vantage point to protect supply lines and soldiers from Confederate attacks that never came. The earthwork is impressive in its own right--a steep horseshoe-shaped berm surrounding a pit that might have been the foundation of a blockhouse. The view, looking northwest, is a stunning panorama of central Stafford that looks just as strategically important today as it must have during the Civil War. But "Fortification 2" is only one link in a chain of protection that surrounded the Union army in Stafford. Countless other sites have likely been destroyed by development over the years. But on 25 acres of landfill property off Eskimo Hill Road owned by the Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board, there are three such fortifications along with pristine trace roads, campsites and rifle pits. That acreage has been set aside by the county, and the Friends of Stafford Civil War Sites hopes to make it accessible and open to the public for the Civil War sesquicentennial that runs from 2011-2015. "The magic in that place is the variety of things that are there and how they fit together to help tell a story, said John Hennessy, chief historian of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. "It's very uncommon, and in this part of the world, it's almost unheard of." Yankees in Stafford In 1862, the Civil War came to Stafford County. It stayed there for more than six months as the Army of The Potomac marched on Fredericksburg, set up camp to regroup through the winter of 1863 and hit the Confederates at Chancellorsville that May.
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 1/26/2010
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