Battle of the Wilderness • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The display is in the entrance to the Battle of the WIlderness Exhibit Shelter at Tour Stop Two. The Dark, Close Wood orientation marker is on the reverse side of the display.
The Battlefield Becomes A Park
The four battlefields located in Fredericksburg and neighboring counties comprise the bloodiest ground in all of North America. Yet early efforts to create a national military park at Fredericksburg went down to defeat in Congress. That changed in 1921 when General Smedley D. Butler brought 4,200 Marines to the Wilderness Battlefield. For five days the soldiers took part in what one newspaper called “the most gigantic mimic war and maneuvers ever staged by the U.S. Marine Corps.”
President Warren G. Harding attended the exercise and spent two days visiting with the troops. The event attracted national attention and renewed cries for the creation of a national military park. This time Congress responded favorably. On February 13, 1927, it established Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Today this is one of the largest military parks in the world, encompassing four battlefields where more than 100,000 Americans fell.
Caption from the inset photos:
Upper photo: A 1921 military exercise brought together soldiers of different generations.Here Confederate veteran John Goolrick (right) chats with President Harding (left) while General Smedley Butler looks on.
Lower Photo: Veterans, like these men of the 114th Pennsylvania, led early efforts to establish a military park here. In 1899 the group traveled to Chancellorsville to dedicate a monument to their regiment.
Caption from the main photo at bottom:
A blimp hovers over Ellwood, visible on the right of this 1921 image. Smoke from a military exercise blankets the fields beyond the house.
Location of the marker
The marrker is inside the entrance to the Wilderness Battlefield Exhibit Shelter at Tour Stop Two. (38°19’02.8″N 77°45’23.9″W)
(go to the Stop 2 page)
(go to the Battlefield Auto Tour page)