The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia

by S. J. Quinn

On the south side—Georgia, Florida, Alabama.

The monument stands on a mound about five feet high, and is five feet and six inches high without the statue. With the statue it is twenty feet in height. On the west side, cut in the granite, are muskets; on the south side, a castle with battlements; on the north side, sabres; on the east side, cannon and the inscription “To the Confederate Dead.” On each corner of the monument is a column of red granite, with gray granite plynth and base. The corner-stone was laid on the 4th of June, 1874, by Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4, A. F. & A. M., Grand Master Wm. H. Lambert presiding, and was completed and unveiled on Memorial Day, June 9, 1884. The statue of a Confederate soldier, at dress parade, which crowns the apex, is of bronze, and was manufactured by the Monumental Bridge Company, of Bridgeport, Conn. It was ordered through Mr. George T. Downing and placed in position by him.

THE NATIONAL CEMETERY.

The National Cemetery, in which were gathered and interred the Union soldiers who died in camp and were killed in the various battles in and around Fredericksburg, was commenced in 1865, soon after the close of the war. It is located on Willis’s Hill, about half a mile south of the town. It is on the range of hills known in the war histories and correspondents as Marye’s Heights, which overlooks the beautiful valley of the Rappahannock and affords a fine view of Fredericksburg and the surrounding country. It afforded a splendid location for the Confederate artillery at both battles of Fredericksburg, which did such fearful execution as the Union troops were advancing on General Lee’s position.

The remains of the Union soldiers were taken from their temporary graves and conveyed to the cemetery by a “burial corps,” consisting of a large detail of Federal soldiers and a few veterans employed by the superintendent. The work was continued for three or four years, and it was thought that all the dead had been cared for, but even now remains of soldiers are sometimes found in different places and turned over to the superintendent for interment. The Fredericksburg cemetery is not the largest in area in the United States, but it has a larger number of interments in it than any other in the country. Up to the present time the interments number 15,294, of these 2,496 are known and their names, regiments and State are registered in a book in the superintendent’s office, and 12,798 are unknown. The superintendent of the cemetery is Major M. M. Jefferys, and under his management it is kept in good condition.

The superintendent has a “lodge” or residence near the cemetery gate, constructed of stone. It is made of the stone taken from the historical stone wall, behind which the Confederates were stationed when they successfully resisted the many gallant charges of General Hancock’s men on the 13th of December, 1862. Several years ago the government constructed a Macadamized road from the railroad depot to the cemetery, making it a pleasant drive to that “city of the dead,” and it is visited by numbers of persons, both citizens and strangers. In 1901 Gen. Daniel Butterfield erected a beautiful monument in the cemetery to the valor of the Fifth Army Corps, which he commanded, at a cost of $11,000.

MAURY CAMP OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS.

The Confederate veterans of Fredericksburg and surrounding country organized themselves into a camp in 1883. It was one of the first camps of the kind organized in the State and had quite a large membership. It was called Maury Camp in honor of General Dabney Herndon Maury, a native of Fredericksburg, who rose to the rank of major-general in the Confederate army, and distinguished himself as a skillful commander as well as for conspicuous gallantry on many fields of battle during the Civil war.

Maury Camp flourished for several years, having at one time in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty members. At first it was independent and separate from any other camp, but upon the organization of R. E. Lee Camp, of Richmond, which obtained a charter from the General Assembly of Virginia, thereby giving it authority over other camps, Maury Camp obtained a charter from that organization, and holds its authority under that charter at present.

For some cause in late years the camp has not been prosperous; on the contrary, it has merely maintained its organization. Many of the members withdrew their membership or allowed their names to be dropped from the rolls, while those who still retain their membership, with a few exceptions, exhibit but little interest in the affairs of the camp. Notwithstanding its decline, however, it has done much good in the past in assisting needy Confederate veterans, besides they have relieved the necessities of the widows and orphans of veterans, and have decently buried their old comrades who have died in destitution. The camp has had for commanders at different periods Colonel Robert S. Chew, Judge John T. Goolrick, Capt. Daniel M. Lee, Thomas F. Proctor, Geo. Shepherd and Capt. S. J. Quinn. At present Prof. A. B. Bowering is the commander and the camp seems to be taking on new life.