Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Brandy Station Battlefield -- A Personal Tour, June 2013

First a map so we have our bearings



This is what a typical stop to hear the history looked like
The tour was led by three historians that are expert on the battle:
 Clark "Bud" Hall, Mike Block, and Eric Wittenberg 

In this photo, we are looking towards Beverly's Ford where 
Buford's Union cavalry crossed the Rappahannock. 

The photo below shows the view towards the 
Cunningham Farm.  This area was once owned by someone 
from California who wanted to build a Grand Prix racetrack 
there.  His lawyer was not as good a the Civil War Trusts' lawyer.

The first tree line in the background is the Hazel River.
Further in the distance, the tree line is the Rappahannock River.
The Hazel flows into the Rappahannock to the right.

Looks like J.E.B. Stuart showed up in person!

My son James checking out one of the
horses for the cavalry demonstration.

James' photo actually made the Fredericksburg
Newspaper article on this tour here.  After noting
that the boy in the photo was my son James, they
actually updated the photo with James' name!

The treeline is the first stonewall where
Rooney Lee's Confederate cavalry fought
before falling back to Fleetwood Hill.

More cavalry demonstration


These photos are looking towards the direction Gregg's
and Kilpatrick's cavalry over Fleetwood Hill towards
Jeb Stuart's Headquarters.  The "MacMansion" in
the second photo and it's land will be sold to the trust.
The house will be torn down as it does not belong on a battlefield.


The view from the front porch of the Rose Hill House

The house was General Judson Kilpatrick's headquarters
during the battle.  In the first photo below, Kilpatrick is 
standing with his left foot on the bottom step of the porch.
In the next photo, James does his Kilpatrick imitation.

James climbing the tree at the back of Rose Hill. A
lawsuit waiting to happen.  I had to help him down. I
believe the older gentleman is one of the three 
generations of Stuarts that participated in the tour.



The view from the back of Rose Hill.  The mountain
on the right is Cedar Mountain where Stonewall Jackson
fought on his way to the Second Battle of Manassas. 

My videos of the cavalry demonstration:


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