Central Virginia & the 1864 Campaign
Fredericksburg
The Fredericksburg Visitors Center
Marye's Heights
"Martha Stevens' Well
Water from this well refreshed the wounded and soothed the dying in December 1862. It quenched the thirst of both the Confederates in the Sunken Road and the Union wounded to whom Sgt. Richard Kirland of South Carolina brought relief at the risk of his life. The well house is a modern reconstruction of the original wooden structure."
"The foundation outlined before you marks the wartime home of Edward and Martha Stephens. On December 13, 1862, the house was caught in the vortex of Union attacks against the Sunken Road. Confederate sharpshooters fired from the house's windows and roof. The Union artillery shell that killed Confederate General Thomas Cobb passed through the house before exploding. Legend holds that Martha Stephens, unlike most local residents, remained in her house throughout the battle. She purportedly made repeated, dangerous trips to her well and tore strips from her own garments to bind the wounds of the fallen. Mrs. Stephens lived until 1888; she is buried in the plot beyond the house site. The house survived the battle, but was destroyed by fire in 1913."
"IN MEMORIUM
RICHARD ROWLAND KIRKLAND
CO. G. 2ND SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS
C.S.A.
At the risk of his life, this American soldier of sublime compassion brought water to his wounded foes at Fredericksburg. The fighting men on both sides of the line called him "The Angel of Marye's Heights"."
Felix DeWeldon, who also produced the famous Iwo Jima Memorial near Washington, D.C., crafted this monument with painstaking accuracy.
"December 13, 1862. Four deep here in the Sunken Road the Confederate infantry protected by this stone retaining wall, fired volley after volley into the oncoming Union battle lines. About 50 yards of the original stone wall is all that remains of a 600-yard stretch along the east (town) side of the road, which not one Federal soldier reached. Brompton (the Marye house), the white pillared mansion of the Marye family, now overlooks rows of dwellings where once lay ranks of Union dead and wounded in the open wintry fields."
The Stone Wall and the Sunken Road
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