8/30/15 - Toano, VA

Today we drove to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Parks.  There are four battlefields here and we drove through all of them.  The Battle of Fredericksburg, The Battle of Chancellorsville, The Battle of Salem Church, The Battle of the Wilderness, and The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.  At the Fredericksburg battlefield one of the interior walls of a house that was caught in the crossfire was riddled with bullet holes.  Salem Church also had a lot of bullet holes in the bricks.  At the Battle of the Wilderness Stonewall Jackson was shot by friendly fire and his arm was amputated.  It was buried in the cemetery after being saved from the pile of appendages that we to be burned.  He was then taken to a home nearby where he died.  There were monuments at the Battle of the Wilderness for the Texas Brigade.  In this battle the Texans moved General Lee to a rear position so that he would not be exposed to Union fire.  In the battle they lost over 800 soldiers but protected the Confederate right flank.