If you are interested in the other three Digital History seminar projects you can visit their sites as well.
James Farmer Project
This group focused on the life and achievements of James Farmer, Civil Rights activist and late Professor at the University of Mary Washington. They capture the essence of this empowering man through quotations, video, an extensive biography, and countless photographs.
The Alumni Project
This group spent their time interviewing various alumni of the University of Mary Washington. They produced an outstanding site where you can add your own biography if you are an alumn. They also have an extensive timeline of the school’s history, which is particularly suitable given that the University is currently celebrating its centennial year (1908-2008).
James Monroe Project
Last, but not least, is the James Monroe Group. They created two separate sites, one for the James Monroe Papers and the other was a creation all their own, and can be found here. The second site focuses on Monroe’s trip to France and what business he undertook during that portion of his life.
We would like to thank everyone who helped us make this project a reality. First of all, thank you to all of our guest lecturers and various technological help from Patrick Gosetti-Murrayjohn, Jerry Slezak, Jim Groom, Professor Tim O’Donnell, and Dr. Dan Preston. A very special thanks to our favorite University of Mary Washington Reference Librarian, Jack Bales, for putting up with the five of us asking for research help, and actually finding even the most obscure Markers. Very special thanks as well to Frank O’Reilly, an Historian for the National Park Service and expert on the Fredericksburg Campaign, for loaning us books that proved invaluable for the research of many markers.
Also, thank you to all the sites that have acknowledged our work and allowed us to link to them: J. J. Pratts and Dawn Bowen at the Historical Marker Database; Randy Jones at the Department of Historic Resources; and the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. And last but not least, thank you Professor McClurken for going out on a limb and teaching a practical seminar that we won’t soon forget.
Sincerely,
Amy, Elle, Jennifer, Shannon, & Whitney
Historical Marker Group
Digital History Seminar, Spring 2008
Historical Marker Text
On 19 May 1864 Confederate forces commanded by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell attacked Brig. Gen. Robert O. Tyler’s heavy artillery division on the Union right flank near the Harris farm, Bloomsbury, about one-quarter mile northwest. Newly arrived from the forts protecting Washington, D.C., the inexperienced “heavies” fought as infantry and stubbornly held their ground. At dark Ewell withdrew, ending the last major engagement of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. The Confederates suffered 900 casualties at the Harris farm, the Federals about 1,500. Two days later, the Union army marched to the North Anna River as Grant maneuvered south toward Richmond. [1993]
Continue reading ‘Engagement At Harris Farm (Bloomsbury) EM-2′
Historical Marker Text
Unable to defeat the Confederates at Spotsylvania Court House, on 21 May 1864 Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered the Army of the Potomac to march toward Bowling Green. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s Ninth Corps brought up the rear. Grant ordered Burnside to pursue the Confederates down Telegraph Road (present day U.S. Rte. 1), while the rest of the army struck at Robert E. Lee’s troops from the east. Burnside encountered a small entrenched Confederate force at the Po River here at Stanard’s Mill. Uncertain of the enemy’s strength, he did not attempt to force a crossing, but instead reversed course, following the rest of the army to Guinea Station. [2002]
Continue reading ‘Stanard’s Mill E-35′
Historical Marker Text
Spotsylvania County Z-156
Straddling the fall line, Spotsylvania County was formed from Essex, King William, and King and Queen Counties in 1720. It was named for Alexander Spotswood, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1710 to 1722. The Civil War battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania were fought in this county. The county seat is Spotsylvania. [2003]
Caroline County Z-156
Caroline County was formed from Essex, King and Queen, and King William Counties in 1728. It was named for Caroline of Anspach, consort of King George II. Revolutionary War General George Rogers Clark (1752-1818) and William Clark (1770-1838) of the Lewis and Clark Expedition lived here in their early youth. The county seat is Bowling Green and the current county courthouse was erected in the 1830s to replace one that previously stood nearby. [2003]
Note: The marker Z-156 has Spotsylvania County on one face and Caroline County on the other. It stands on Rt. 1, near Marye Rd, and is a more recent and updated version of the similar Spotsylvania County/Caroline County marker, Z-149, which is located many miles to the northeast, on Rt. 2, near Rt. 17.
Continue reading ‘Spotsylvania County/Caroline County Z-149 Z-156′
Historical Marker Text
James Leonard Farmer was born in Texas on 12 Jan. 1920. In 1942, he and other Civil Rights leaders founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Chicago. CORE used Gandhi-inspired tactics of nonviolent civil disobedience to protest discriminatory practices against blacks. Under Farmer’s leadership, in the spring of 1961, CORE organized “Freedom Riders” to desegregate interstate transportation in the Deep South. He was an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (1969-1970). Farmer taught at Mary Washington College (1985-1999) and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. Farmer died on 9 July 1999. His house stands east of here. [2000]
Continue reading ‘James Farmer, Civil Rights Leader E-113′
Historical Marker Text
Mud Tavern E-32 Mud Tavern was the old name of this place. Six miles east, at Guinea Station, Stonewall Jackson died, May 10, 1863. In the campaign of 1864, Ewell’s and Longstreet’s corps of Lee’s army, coming from Spotsylvania Courthouse, here turned south, May 21, 1864. Lee fell back to the North Anna River as Grant swung around to the east.
Continue reading ‘Mud Tavern E-32′
Historical Marker Text
Jerrell’s Mill E-31. Here, on May 9, 1864, Sheridan was attacked by Wickham’s cavalry. Nearby, on May 22, 1864, Warren’s (Fifth) Corps, moving to the North Anna, fought Rosser’s cavalry. [1937]
Continue reading ‘Jerrell’s Mill E-31′
Historical Marker Text
A mile south is the unmarked grave of Gaspar Tochman (1797-1880), a major in the Polish army who participated in the failed 1830 revolt against Russia. Exiled, in 1837 he immigrated to the United States, where he practiced law, wrote, and lectured. During the Civil War he recruited the Polish Brigade (14th and 15th Louisiana regiments) of Jackson’s Corps. A colonel in the Confederate army, he sought unsuccessfully the rank of brigadier general. Tochman settled here in 1866 and served as the European agent for the Virginia Board of Immigration. [1992]
Continue reading ‘Gaspar Tochman JJ-25′
Historical Marker Text
The Virginia General Assembly authorized the construction of a fort built nearby along the Rappahannock River in 1676. It served as a defensive fortification for settlers of European descent on the frontier when periodic conflicts occurred between Virginia Indians and settlers. Maj. Lawrence Smith commanded the fort. Smith had patented 6,300 acres of property with Robert Taliaferro in the region in 1666. Smith later obtained more land nearby. The fort was abandoned about 1682, when the General Assembly ordered the dismantling of many of these structures. [2004]
Continue reading ‘Colonial Fort E-46′
Historical Marker Text
The Washington family moved to a plantation here in 1738 when George Washington was six years old. Along with his three brothers and sister, young Washington spent most of his early life here, where, according to popular fable, he cut down his father’s cherry tree and uttered the immortal words, “I cannot tell a lie.” His father, Augustine, died here in 1743, leaving the property to him. His mother, Mary Ball Washington, lived here until 1772 when she moved to a house in Fredericksburg that Washington bought for her. [1997]
Continue reading ‘George Washington’s Childhood Home J-61′
Historical Marker Text
On 5 Aug. 1862, two detachments of Union troops left Fredericksburg with the intention of damaging the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Brig. Gen. John Gibbon led a brigade of some 2,000 men down Telegraph Road toward Hanover Junction, while Col. Lysander Cutler led a smaller force to Frederick’s Hall via Spotsylvania Court House. Near Thornburg, Gibbon encountered Confederate cavalry and turned back. Cutler avoided the Confederates, however, and destroyed two miles of track before returning to Fredericksburg on 8 Aug. The Confederates quickly repaired the damage. [2002]
Continue reading ‘Federal Raid E-33′
Historical Marker Text
After four days of probing attacks, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered a frontal assault against the Confederate lines at Spotsylvania Court House on 12 May 1864. The focal point of the attack was the Muleshoe Salient, an outward bulge in the Confederate line. While the II and IV Corps struck the head of the salient, resulting in the struggle for the “Bloody Angle,” Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s IX Corps assaulted the Muleshoe’s eastern face, known as Heth’s Salient, located nearby. Confederate defenders, ensconced behind log works, repulsed the early morning attacks and at 2 p.m. counterattacked through this area. During more than 20 hours of fighting the Federals lost some 9,000 killed, wounded, and captured. The Confederates lost an estimated 8,000 casualties. [2004]
Continue reading ‘Heth’s Salient Battle Site E-127′
Historical Marker Text
Nearby to the northwest is the childhood home of renowned abolitionist, writer, and lecturer Moncure Daniel Conway (1832-1907). In 1838 his family moved into this Federal-style house. Conway graduated from Dickinson College in 1849 and Harvard Divinity School in 1854 and became outspoken in the abolitionist movement. During the Civil War, Conway lived in Cincinnati, Ohio and traveled east in 1862 to lead his family’s slaves to freedom in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Conway moved to London in 1863 and spent a number of years abroad, writing for English and American periodicals. He also wrote biographies of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Thomas Paine. Conway died in Paris on 15 Nov. 1907. [2004]
Continue reading ‘Moncure Daniel Conway N-36′
Historical Marker Text
Nearby stood Penny’s (Penney’s) Tavern, named for Lincefield Penney who purchased the site in 1811. The tavern catered to travelers making their way to old Spotsylvania Courthouse site (1781-1837), located approximately one mile north of the tavern site across the Po River. After the Court House burned in 1837 and was moved to its present location, business greatly declined. By 1840 the property was sold to Mansfield Wigglesworth who operated a tavern there called Wigglesworth Tavern. The tavern was closed by the outbreak of the Civil War. The intersection where the tavern once stood was known as Penny’s Crossroads into the twentieth century.
Continue reading ‘Penny’s Tavern E-129′
