Mary Washington College - Battlefield Yearbook (Fredericksburg, VA)

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THE WASH Opening Campus — 9

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ven though we go to school here there is much we may not know about this historic town called Fredericksburg. George Washington m knew Fredericksburg well, as did three quarters of a million Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War. Washington knew this place from a boyhood spent playing in its streets, exploring its bustling waterfront, and (legend has it) trying out tils axe on a local cherry tree. Years later he came here frequently to visit his mother, IVIary, at the home he bought for her on Charles Street. Others who figured prominently in the nation ' s early history came as well : Captain John Smith in 1608, tour- ing the king ' s new colony; Thomas Jefferson and other patriots, to shape the ideals of the American Revolu- tion; James Monroe, to practice law on the way to be- coming our country ' s fifth president. But Fredericksburg ' s role in history doesn ' t end with the beginning of our nation. From 1862 to 1864 the town ' s name was on the lips of all Americans as Union and Confederate armies turned Fredericksburg and the surrounding countryside into a battleground. — courtesy of Fredericksburg Department of Tourism. posite page: Monument to arv. Mother of Washington. j »ve: Office of James Monroe, Attorney at law. left: Kenmore, the 18th century home of Betty and Fielding Lewis. Opening Fredericl sburg — 11