Last updated: January 26, 2025
Place
Civil War Soldier's Grave
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
The unknown stone on the middle terrace marks the location of an unknown United States soldier’s grave. During the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, over 12,500 Union soldiers became casualties. Some wounded soldiers were treated at Chatham, which Union troops used as a field hospital. Despite the efforts of hospital director Doctor J. Franklin Dyer and his team of surgeons and aides, over one hundred soldiers treated at Chatham’s hospital did not survive their wounds. These soldiers were buried here on the terraces in December 1862.
After the war, the U.S. Burial Corps traveled through the area and reinterred the remains of Union soldiers to the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. However, the Burial Corps did not locate every grave on the battlefield. The Pratts, the last owners of Chatham, found three more soldiers’ graves while doing construction on the terraces in the 1950s. The bodies were exhumed and reinterred on the middle terrace. John Pratt purchased headstones to mark the graves. The two other graves are located to the left and right, hidden from view by the tree lines on each side.
After the war, the U.S. Burial Corps traveled through the area and reinterred the remains of Union soldiers to the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. However, the Burial Corps did not locate every grave on the battlefield. The Pratts, the last owners of Chatham, found three more soldiers’ graves while doing construction on the terraces in the 1950s. The bodies were exhumed and reinterred on the middle terrace. John Pratt purchased headstones to mark the graves. The two other graves are located to the left and right, hidden from view by the tree lines on each side.