Our normal method of visiting such illustrious
battlefields as these, is to go directly to the Battlefield
Park, see what's available at the visitors' center, and drive off to see the "actual killing fields" and
whatever monuments might have been erected. For me somehow, when
we do it that way, it seems very easy to separate the bloody
fighting and killing into a "nice neat little area"
involving only solders. Well, this time we did things a little
differently. We stopped by the visitors' center to see what was
available in the town. The ladies at the visitors' center told
us that there were several ways of seeing the town. We could see
the town by trolley, or by a horse-
drawn carriage, or on foot.
They also mentioned several museums in the area worth seeing. One
of which was Fredericksburg Area Museum. We were given two
brochures with walking tours in them, complete with descriptions
on what occurred at each point. For some reason the descriptions
accompanied by walking along the actual streets where the battles occurred brought the horrors that war inflicted on the civilians
home to me very strongly. As one soldier 
described the scene after
a battle on Dec 12th 1862, "Furniture of all sorts is strewn
along the streets....Every namable household utensil or article
of furniture, stoves, crockery and glass-ware, pots, kettles and
tins, are scattered, and smashed and thrown everywhere, indoors
and out, as if there had fallen a shower of them in the midst of
a mighty whirlwind." Being a woman I could just picture this
kind of devastation to my home and the effect it would have on me
and my family. For some reason it made the war more personal than
just reading numbers on a page. As we continued on our tour of
the city we came upon the Fredericksburg Area Museum. We stopped
by for a tour and was met by Mary Dellinger, Curator of
Collections. She allowed us to photograph her next to one of her
favorite exhibits in the museum, a handsome tall case clock that
testifies to the skill and talent of the local craftsmen. One of
my favorite displays (as usual) was an old
fashioned plug-in
switchboard. Ever since I was a little girl I always wanted to
run one of these things. As a result I became a 911 operator and
ran a phone with a large bank of lines, but alas, was a bit too
late to operate any of this type of phone
equipment. Another room in the museum had a picture of Robert
"King" Carter. Carter's nickname of "King"
was apt: because at the time of his death in 1732, he controlled
over 300,000 acres on the north side of the Rappahannock River.
If you would like to read more information about "King"
Carter check our story on
Carter's 
Grove
Mansion. Another of the displays showed various paraphernalia from the Mary Washington (George Washington's
Mother) Hospital. From what I saw the hospitals today could take
a lesson from this operation. The hospital's motto was: There
Should Be No Debt Incurred. From the very beginning, the Mary
Washington Hospital Association ran the hospital
debt-free. Their fundraising activities showed how
a little creativity, coupled with the generosity of the local
community, raised thousands of dollars for the fledgling hospital. The money raised by the Hospital Association was used to
meet a variety of needs. Money was needed to purchase the land,
construct the building and pay the hospital's staff. In addition,
funds were also used to pay the bills of patients who could not
afford medical care. Helping the needy was very important to the
first hospital board, who insisted on giving
help without
pauperizing. Over the last 100 years, care of indigent patients
has been a significant item in the total expense of operating the
hospital, providing millions of 
dollars to those in our community
who need medical care but are unable to pay. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop
and have dinner in Fredricksburg as we had to meet
friends back at our trailer.
After leaving Fredericksburg
that day, I really felt that I had gotten a much closer look at
the Civil War and some of the devastation it had inflicted on the
civilians caught in the middle between two warring armies. All
total the casualties for the battles that were waged within a 17
mile radius of Fredericksburg totaled 100,000 Americans. Some of
them Southeners, some of them Northeners and some of them simply
civilians who were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the
wrong time.
*** THE END ***
Good Luck! Have
Fun! and Stay Safe!
Laura
