Battle of Fredericksburg • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • Armies
The “Lee Drive: The Confederate Line” and “Lee’s Headquarters” orientation markers are next to the parking area at Stop Three of the Fredericksburg Battlefield Auto Tour. (see map below)
The “Lee Drive: The Confederate Line” (on left) and “Lee’s Headquarters” (on right) orientation markers are next to the steep foot trail leading to the Lee’s Hill exhibits.
“Lee Drive: The Confederate Line” orientation marker
Text from the marker:
Lee Drive:
The Confederate Line
Lee Drive, the battlefield tour road, runs along five miles of the Confederate line. Along the way you will see the remains of trenches built by Lee’s men, a Confederate artillery position on Howison Hill, and the spot where Union troops briefly penetrated “Stonewall” Jackson’s line. Trails to the site of Bernard’s slave cabins and Hamilton’s Crossing provide opportunities to explore the battlefield on foot.
Lee’s line extended nearly eight miles, from his left on the Rappahannock River above Fredericksburg to his right at Massaponax Creek, four miles south of you (to your left). Between those two points, his troops constructed miles of formidable earthworks. Some were in place at the time of the battle; most were built shortly thereafter. Virtually all survive.
From the caption below the main photo:
Lee Drive receives heavy use by cyclists and pedestrians. lease take your time and share the road.
From the captions to the photos along the bottom, left to right:
Prospect Hill
Meade Pyramid
Union Breakthrough
Bernard’s Cabins
Lee’s Headquarters orientation marker
Text from the marker:
Lee’s Headquarters
The hill in front of you, once called Telegraph Hill but now known as Lee’s Hill, served as General Robert E. Lee’s headquarters during the Battle of Fredericksburg. Throughout the afternoon of December 13, 1862, Lee and his generals watched uneasily as the Union army repeatedly attacked Southern troops in the Sunken Road. The Federal infantry became easy targets for Confederate artillery atop this hill and Howison Hill (a quarter mile to your left). The Union attacks failed.
The grandeur of the struggle stirred Lee, and here he uttered one of his most famous quotes, “It is well that war is so terrible, or we would grow too fond of it.” Still, the victory at Fredericksburg little satisfied Lee – the Union army escaped damaged but intact. The enemy “suffered heavily,” he later wrote his wife, “…but it did not go far enough.” Lee’s relentless efforts to destroy the Union army would continue.
This trail leads to Lee’s command post. Although only about .25 mile long, the trail is steep. Allow 45 minutes for the roundtrip hike.
Location of the markers
The markers are next to the parking area and the beginning of the steep foot trail to the top of the hill. (38°17’08.3″N 77°28’30.1″W)