Rappahannock Station 2010

The last couple of days I have been walking and driving around the Rappahannock Station Battlefield (the November 7, 1863 fight) in preparation for a tour I intend to lead in late July.

It is amazing how much of the fields survived. All of the entrenchments and redoubts are gone, long gone. In the history of the 20th Maine Infantry, they note that the regiment camped on the site of the two forts and knocked them down so they could build their cabins.

But the fields where the Louisianans and North Carolinian's stood remains. You can see the curve of the hills and imagine those young men standing there as the Federals came forward in the twilight of November 7, 1863.

Much of the property is owned by Fauquier County, and is intended to be a park. Other portions of the land is owned by developer. Maybe that will change someday soon.

As I drove though the area, I was also able to identify the positions where Federal and Confederate artillery were placed, and where the Yankees sat in the early afternoon and readied themselves for what was to come.

Some has been saved, much more can be.