Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Fredericksburg to the Valley of Virginia. |
Dates of Creation |
November 1893 |
Scope & Content |
George S. Bernard spoke to the R. E. Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans, in Richmond on November 3, 1893, about his experiences during the Gettysburg Campaign. His talk was published in the newspaper. Bernard used his wartime diary and notebooks as source material for the talk. After the Battle of Chancellorsville, Mahone's Brigade made camp at Salem Church, and then marched to Fredericksburg to relieve Barksdale's brigade. After a week, the regiment was ordered to the Orange Plank Road to begin a lengthy march. Quoting the diary, Bernard began his story on June 15, 1863 with the march from Fredericksburg to the Valley of Virginia. The regiment was ordered to assemble at Marye's Hill [Marye's Heights], from whence they marched along the Plank Road to meet the rest of their brigade. The whole brigade then began an eight-mile march. The next day, while on the march to Germanna Ford on the Rapidan River, many men fell from severe heat. They passed graves of men and carcasses of dead horses left from the battle of Chancellorsville. On June 17th, they were at Culpeper Court House where Bernard and his friends visited relatives, and heard rumors that General Ewell had captured Winchester. Each man carried three-days rations in his haversack when they resumed the march. The next day they marched toward Gaines Cross Roads in severe heat. They eventually arrived near the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, eight miles from Front Royal. Then, quoting his notebook regarding the same time period, Bernard stated that Company E of the 12th Virginia Infantry did picket duty along the river bank at Fredericksburg until ordered to move toward Northern Virginia. On the march, they passed Salem Church and Zoar Church (or Chancellorsville), two battlefields on which his regiment had fought. The next day, the march covered seventeen miles. Because of the warm weather, there was much straggling in the brigade. On June17th, during their march, stragglers lined the roadside due to the extreme heat; some stragglers died from sunstroke.The division went into bivouac on the Hazel River. The site was on a steep hill and it was still very hot. |
Year Range from |
1893 |
Creator |
Bernard, George S. |
Year Range to |
1893 |
Subjects |
Address ( Oration ) Army Artillery (Weaponry) Batteries (Weaponry) Battle Battlefields Battles Bivouack Brigade Camp Civil War Civil war battles Commissary Commissary wagons Company Comrades Confederate soldiers Confederate veterans Court houses Courthouses Depots Diary Enemy Fires Foot bridges Fords (Stream crossings) Graves Haversack Headquarters, Military Heat Horses Hot weather Line of battle Lines (military) March, Military Men Musicians Muster News Newspapers Note book Odors Oil cloth Orders Picket duty Picket pits Picket post Pickets (Guards) Pontoon bridges Position (military) Post, (military) Prisoners Private, military rank Rain Ranks, military Rations Rear guard Regiments Relatives Rendezvous Rivers Roll (muster) Shots Soldiers Speech Staff officer Stragglers Streets Sunstroke Teamsters Thunderstorms Towns and cities Trains Trick Troops Valleys Villages Wagons Weather |
Search Terms |
12th Virginia Infantry 6th Virginia Infantry Bernard House Blue Ridge Mountains Bray's Hill Chancellorsville, Virginia Civil War Confederacy, the Confederate Confederate Army Confederate Infantry Confederate Veterans Culpeper C. [Court] H. [House] Culpeper Plank Road Dutch Corps Falmouth, Virginia Federal Flint Hill Fredericksburg, Virginia Front Royal, Virginia Gaines Cross Roads, Virginia Gaines X Roads, Virginia Germanna Ford Gettysburg Campaign Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Harper's Ferry, West Virginia Hazel River Mahone's Brigade Marye's Hill Maryland Northern Virginia Orange Plank Road Orange Turnpike Pennsylvania Petersburg Riflemen Petersburg, Virginia Plank Road Rapidan, [River] Rappahannock County Rappahannock River Richmond, Virginia Salem Church Sixth Virginia Infantry Stevensburg, [Virginia] Twelfth Virginia Infantry Union Army Valley, [Shenandoah] Vicksburg, Mississippi War Between the States War Talks of Confederate Veterans Wilderness, The Winchester, Virginia Zoar Church [Chancellorsville, Virginia] |
People |
Anderson, [Richard H.] Barksdale, [William A.] Bernard, Geo. S. Bernard, George S. Davis, Dick [Richard Beale] Ewell, Richard Stoddert Grant, [Ulysses S.] Harrison, Heartwell Jackson, [Thomas J.] Johnson, [Joseph E.] Keiley, [Anthony M.] Lee, Robert Edward Mahone, William Manson, [Joseph Richard] Nash, [James E.] Pagaud, Thad [Thadeus] Wilson, [Charles Wesley] |
Event |
Civil War |
Collection |
George S. Bernard Collection |
Imagefile |
023\200975009.JPG |
Number of images |
2 |
Object Name |
Letter |
Object ID |
2009.75.009 |
Extent of Description |
2 pages, size 20 1/2" x 8" |