2012 Re-enactment of the pontoon crossing, with assistance from the Bowling Green-based 189th Engineer Company, 276th Engineer Battalion. The Rappahannock is quite a bit wider than it looks here. (photo by Jean Huets)A Civil War pontoon at Chatham House. I think four men could walk it side by side. (Photo by Jean Huets)Fredericksburg pontoons, 1862 (Collection of Library of Congress)Original section of the stone wall below Maryse Heights. (photo by Jean Huets)View of Fredericksburg from the National Cemetery - Maryse Heights. In December 1863, the view would have been of a cold, muddy field, not buildings and probably not trees. The Heights are not very high. In moments when the smoke cleared, the Confederates up here would have seen clearly the fearsome toll that they and their comrades behind the stone wall were exacting from the Union soldiers below. (photo by Jean Huets)This "Virginia ditch fence" at "Slaughter Pen" farm was "much steeper, deeper and wider" in the Civil War era, according to the NPS sign on site. (photo by Jean Huets) An outbuilding at "Slaughter Pen" farm. Way past Civil War, yet it has a wrecked kind of beauty. The anguished fields grow food once more; a farm family builds anew for a new time; their structures in turn slump back to earth. I hope the NPS doesn't demolish these layers of history. (photo by Jean Huets)
Your excellent writing takes me back in time. The Fall Line’s Fault, fascinating stuff. Great photos!
Thanks, Becky! Hope all your projects are going well.