Battle of Fredericksburg • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • Armies
Hamilton’s Crossing and its historical markers are at the end of walking trail about .2 mile from Stop Six of the Fredericksburg Battlefield Auto Tour. The markers are at the site of a Civil War station on the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad. The station was important when the Federal army occupied the opposite bank of the Rappahannock because it was the furthest that trains could come from Richmond before coming under fire from Union heavy artillery on the bluffs across the river. Although this was an important supply terminal for Lee’s army with a number of buildings, it was never photographed.
Text from the marker:
Fredericksburg Campaign
December 13, 1862. This is Hamilton’s Crossing, the crossing of the Old Mine Road over the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad. Since the railroad was threatened from here to Fredericksburg by long range Federal cannon, Hamilton’s Crossing became the railhead in the winter of 1862-63. A Confederate village of supply tents and sheds grew up at this point. Jackson’s reserves lay around the mine road during the battle of 1862, and from this area his corps marched towards Chancellorsville on April 30 1863.
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
Location of the markers
The markers at Hamilton crossing is at the end of Lee’s Drive Extended, a 0.2 mile lane which can be reached from Mine Road (County Road 636). Or, Hamilton Crossing can be reached by a 0.3 mile walking trail from Stop 8.