Changing Roads on Prospect Hill (Part 2)

I’m taking a slight detour from my initial investigation of the Changing Roads on Prospect Hill. In my last blog, I described the creation of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. While doing the research, I discovered the existence of maps made by the Commission used in the park’s creation, two of which are included in this blog. On these maps, I found the Military Road which was included in the Union assault directive. My interest was piqued, so I decided to investigate further.

William Willis Blackford was the engineer on Major General JEB Stuart’s staff. During the battle he carried messages for Stuart, conducted scouting missions and observed the battle from various vantage points. In early January 1863, Blackford, interestingly a Fredericksburg native, accompanied by his brother Charles, made a topographical map of the entire battlefield. Note the web of roads through the woods. Some were previous farming roads, two of which were noted as having gates, others were new or newly improved roads. All supported movement of Confederate troops. Confederate units are in red, Union units in blue.

Looking at period maps, the terrain between Prospect Hill and Deep Run to the north was crossed a network of trails/roads constructed by local landowners. In the wooded areas, some of these may have been logging trails. One of these owners, Mr. Arthur Bernard, of Mannsfield Plantation, appears to have placed gates on two of his roads about half a mile (805 meters) west beyond his slave cabins, restricting access. These roads/trails, created by landowners, generally ran east-west from the flat fields then up into the wooded hills.

This is the same map seen above, but clearer to read. M.B. McClellan, author of the 1885 book of which this map is a part, had been an important member of Stuart’s staff. Because the book was about Stuart, this version of the map differentiates cavalry (yellow) locations.
Captain W.W. Blackford met with each brigade commander after the battle to compile his map. As the cavalry engineer, Blackford emphasized the road network on his map. The brigades of Gregg, Thomas and Pender did not have time to entrench prior to the battle due to their late arrival, rather they simply bivouacked along the military road, waiting to be called to support the front-line elements of Major General A.P. Hill’s division. Map key by Division: 5 = Hood, 6 = AP Hill, 7 = Taliaferro, 8 = Early, 9 = DH Hill.

When Lieutenant General (LG) James Longstreet’s First Corps initially deployed in early December 1862, he placed Major General (MG) John Bell Hood’s division on his southern flank, as far as Hamilton’s Crossing. During their brief occupation of this location, MG Hood’s troops improved logging trails that ran north south along his front line in order to ease movement of men and supplies. The line ran approximately along the 120-foot (35 meter) contour line or skirted uphill around streams. In other places, MG Hood simply made use of existing roads to facilitate movement of his troops. This is the ‘Military Road’ often referred to in various official reports. As MG Ambrose E. Burnside’s Federal army began to concentrate on the river crossing and subsequent attack, General Robert E. Lee summoned LG Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson’s Second Corps. These units took over the southern two miles of the 7-mile Confederate defensive line. MG Hood was moved north as LG Longstreet consolidated his defensive line. LG Jackson formed a defense in depth approach for his sector.

This map, created by Benjamin Lewis Blackford, was published by C.M. Braxton in 1866. Captain Braxton was a member of the Fredericksburg Artillery battery. B.L. Blackford, a Confederate engineer, was stationed in Wilmington, North Carolina for most of the war. After the war, Braxton became the city engineer for Fredericksburg. Prospect Hill, here called Jackson’s Hill, is on the upper right end of the Confederate line. The batteries of Carpenter, Braxton and Wooden are found just below ‘General Gibbon’ in the upper left along the railroad track. The web of roads and trails within Jackson’s Corps area are easy to make out on this map. These generally comport with those noted by W.W. Blackford.

LG Jackson placed MG Ambrose P. Hill’s division in his front line, generally along the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac (RF&P) railroad and the new military road. This was backed up by Brigadier General (BG) William B. Taliaferro’s division and BG Jubal Early’s division in the second line. He placed MG Daniel H. Hill’s division in reserve along Mine Road. MG JEB Stuart’s Cavalry division covered LG Jackson’s right flank.

Jedediah Hotchkiss, a civilian mapmaker for ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, arrived in Fredericksburg after the battle. Hotchkiss only noted one of the military roads on his map. Interestingly, he includes a gate on the road that passed by Bernard’s slave cabins, perhaps following consultation with W.W. Blackford. The orientation of the military road is misaligned. While it begins at Prospect Hill on the right, where Walker’s artillery battalion was located, it should have terminated at the left edge of the map in the tree line instead of on Deep Run. Refer to the other maps for comparison.

A contraband or runaway slave informed MG Burnside of the existence of a military road up on Prospect Hill. MG Burnside passed this information on to MG John Reynolds. MG Reynolds concept of operation then took this into account. His formal report of the battle said in part, “…[T]he column of Meade, advancing in fine order … was directed into the point of wood which extended this side of the railroad, with instructions, when they carried the crest and road which ran along it in their front, to move the First Brigade along the road, the Second Brigade to advance and hold the road, while the Third moved across the open field, to support the First in carrying the extreme point of the ridge” (Emphasis added). 

Cartographer Wilbur S. Nye, worked for Edward J. Stackpole, historian and publisher of Civil War Times Illustrated. This map documents the position of Union and Confederate units at the start of the battle on December 13, 1862. Nye notes the military road, plus ‘Bernard’s road’ that went from Mannsfield Plantation on the Rappahannock River, past the slave cabins, terminating on Mine Road.

The official reports of Generals AP Hill, Lane, Thomas make specific reference to the lateral running military road.

AP Hill says; “…Along the military road-a new road running in rear of my front line from right to left, cut by Major-General Hood-were posted my reserves, consisting of the remainder of Brockenbrough’s brigade [Fortieth and Fifty-fifth Virginia], as a support to (Lieutenant Colonel Reuben L.) Walker’s batteries, Gregg’s brigade crossing the interval between Archer and Lane, and Thomas’ brigade the interval between Lane and Pender.” (Emphasis added). 

This United States Geological Survey map was surveyed in 1931. It documented Confederate entrenchments which were built between December 1862 and June 1863, when Confederate forces departed for Gettysburg. While it shows a road network, it does not include the military road that provided lateral communication across the Confederate defensive line. I labeled ‘Remnants of Farming Roads’, which run generally east to west (top to bottom). The military road would have run right to left generally along the red earthworks from Prospect Hill to the left side of the map. Two of the Farm roads on the left side match up with those on W.W. Blackford’s maps, which were noted as having gates.

BG James H. Lane reported; …“At 6.30 o’clock on the morning of the 12th, we left our bivouac and took the position assigned us on the railroad, my right being about 250 yards to the left of the small piece of woods beyond the track, and my left resting on a dirt road (Arthur Bernard’s road to the slave cabins) which crosses the railroad near the point where it makes a bend…. I rode to the right of General Archer’s brigade, which was posted in the woods some 400 yards from the railroad, and informed Colonel [Peter] Turney, who was at that time commanding, that there was an opening between us of about 600 yards. I also informedGeneral (Maxcy) Gregg of this opening, his command, which was to have been my support, being on the military road opposite this opening and some 500 or 600 yards from the railroad” (Emphasis added). 

The map was surveyed and drawn by Maj. J.E. Weyss, assisted by F. Theilkuhl, J. Strasser & G. Thompson. It was published under BG Nathan Michler’s name in the OR Atlas on Plate XXXIII, Map 1. It is a detailed map of the environs of Fredericksburg, giving Union entrenchments in blue and Confederate entrenchments in red, roads, “Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad,” street plan of Fredericksburg and Falmouth, houses, fences, names of residents in rural areas, vegetation, and drainage. In the area of my study, it does not note the military road. It only notes the farm road running from Mannsfield, past the slave cabins to Mine Road, not the web of roads plotted by others.

The military road enabled lateral movement for the Confederate units and provided a logical gathering point as Jackson’s Corps assembled. Later, following their counterattack that drove Meade’s division out, the military road served as the location for Confederate reorganization and assembly.

This Official map accompanied the report of the Battle Fields Memorial Commission of 1928. Its purpose was to recommend the property to be purchased and the alignment of the park road, today known as Lee Drive. The commission’s mandate was to identify the earthworks and gun emplacements for inclusion in the park. Some, but not all the military or landowner roads were also included. Many of these have disappeared or were purposely obliterated to keep the visiting public traveling on along Lee drive. The then current landowners, i.e., Vance and Warden, among others, are noted on this map. Most of the earthworks seen on this section of the map were constructed AFTER the battle, during the winter of 1862/3, in case the Federal army should attack again. Prospect Hill and Hamilton’s Crossing are located near the bottom center of the map.

My next blog (Part 3) will, as promised, take a deeper look at the military road located on the back side of Prospect Hill and how it was associated with Walker’s artillery emplacements.

Source:

Books.

McElfresh, Earl S., Maps and Mapmakers of the Civil War, New York, Harry N. Abrams Publisher, 1999, P 105.

O’Reilly, Francis Augustin, The Fredericksburg Campaign, Winter War on the Rappahannock, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2003. p 142, fn 39.

————, The Fredericksburg Campaign, “Stonewall” Jackson at Fredericksburg, The Battle of Prospect Hill, December 13, 1862, Lynchburg, H.E. Howard, 1993. P 39, fn 18.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 128 vols. (Washington D.C., 1890-1901. Series 1. http://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records.

No. 208. Report of Major General John F. Reynolds, U. S. Army, commanding First Army Corps, pp 453-4.

No. 243. Report of Major General George G. Meade, U. S. Army, commanding Third Division, pp 510-512.

No. 308. Report of Major General Ambrose P. Hill, C. S. Army, commanding A. P. Hill’s division. P 645.

No. 312. Report of Brigadier General Edward L. Thomas, C. S. Army, commanding Third [Thomas’] Brigade. P 653.

No. 313. Report of Brigadier General James H. Lane, C. S. Army, commanding Fourth [Lane’s] Brigade. pp 653-4.

Periodicals.

Civil War Times Illustrated, December 1965.

Maps.

Battle Fields Memorial Commission 1928 Master Topo Map, FRSP Fredericksburg Map File.

Battle Fields Memorial Commission 1928 Map, FRSP Fredericksburg Map File.

USGS Topo Map, Fredericksburg, and Vicinity, showing Battlefields, surveyed 1931. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3884f.cw0556000

Map of the battle field of Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862, drawn by Blackford, B. L. (Benjamin Lewis), https://www.loc.gov/resource/glva01.lva00049?r=0.549,0.454,0.157,0.099

Sketch of the battle of Fredericksburg, Dezember [i.e. December] 13th, 1862 | Library of Congress (loc.gov), drawn by Blackford, W. W. (William Willis).

The life and campaigns of Major-General J. E. B. Stuart: commander of the cavalry of the Army of northern Virginia, McClellan, H. B. (Henry Brainerd), 1840-1904, (following page 160), drawn by Blackford, W. W. (William Willis).

RG77_CWMF_G131-1 – The Unwritten Record (archives.gov), Hotchkiss final rg77_cwmf_g131-2. Drawn by Jedidiah Hotchkiss.

Civil War Times Illustrated, Battle of Fredericksburg, drawn by Wilbur S. Nye.

Michler-Weyss 1867 Map of the Battle of Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg. [Dec. 1862] – Copy 1 | Library of Congress (loc.gov)

Fredericksburg, OR Atlas Plate XXXIII, Map 1. War of the Rebellion: Atlas Plates 1-60 | eHISTORY (osu.edu)