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Stafford officials celebrate county's role in the Civil War and slaves' route to freedom Date published: 2/2/2011
BY JONAS BEALS Even casual Civil War enthusiasts know Fredericksburg as a battle scene of tremendous bloodshed and destruction. Far fewer are aware that the city--and Stafford County--represented freedom to thousands of slaves during the war. One Union construction engineer who worked on the railroad route between Fredericksburg and Aquia Landing in Stafford estimated that 10,000 self-emancipated slaves walked into Union Army lines and traveled north to Washington between May 1 and Sept. 1, 1862--months before President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In fact, Aquia Landing had been a point of departure for brave slaves seeking freedom for decades before the Civil War. Some of those individual stories are illuminated by new markers that have been installed at Aquia Landing, now a county park at the confluence of Aquia Creek and the Potomac River. The markers were dedicated yesterday by National Park Service historian Noel Harrison. The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place at Aquia Landing but was moved to the county Board of Supervisors' chambers because of the threat of bad weather. "It is a remarkable set of signs for a remarkable place," Harrison said. From 1842 to 1872, Aquia Landing was the key stop on the main route between Richmond and Washington, D.C. It was where travelers and goods made the transition from Potomac River steamship to train. The Union Army used it for the same purpose during the war. Slaves used it to escape to the North, especially once the Union lines pushed far enough south that escape was as close as crossing the Rappahannock River. Now Aquia Landing is recognized as the "Gateway to Freedom," the key junction on the Trail to Freedom, a regional project designed to focus attention on the area's role in the story of emancipation. "For a long time, Civil War history didn't mean anything to me," said Frank White, a Stafford native and a member of the committee that designated the site. "A story like this would have never been mentioned 50 years ago." Aquia Landing has only recently become a subject of intense research-- by professional and amateur historians--for its role in slavery and emancipation.
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 2/2/2011
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