Union XIIth Corps Winter Camp - Stafford VA
N 38° 23.172 W 077° 19.950
18S E 296278 N 4251241
A NY regiment of the Union 12th Corps was encamped in Brooke, VA in the winter of 1862.
Waymark Code: WMB268
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 03/25/2011
Views: 1
In the winter of 1862-63, 140,000 soldiers camped in Stafford County, VA. The NY 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division of the Union Army 12th Corps was encamped near
Aquia Landing
where the railroad ran and a major supply depot was located. It was also in close proximity with three Union redoubts or earthen forts.
Development has come to Brooke where the encampment was located, but the developer, SYG Associates, and the Friends of Stafford Civil War Sites or FSCWS have joined forces to preserve this archaelogical site which still bears the depressions that were dug for the winter huts used during the Civil War. Huts were usually small square pits that were dug in the earth and built with wood, mud, stone, brick and canvas for the roofs. They had small fireplaces for warmth and barely accommodated two men.
At the Sentinel Ridge subdivision, there is a metal sign that bears the Stafford County seal and reads:
UNION XIITH CORPS
WINTER CAMP IN THE WOODS ON THIS HILL ARE THE
REMAINS OF A REGIMENTAL-SIZED
UNION INFANTRY WINTER CAMP. A NEW
YORK REGIMENT OF THE 3RD BRIGADE,
2ND DIVISION, MOST LIKELY OCCUPIED
THIS CAMP. THE REMAINS OF HUT SITES
DUG INTO THE GROUND BY THE CAMP'S
OCCUPANTS REMAIN CLEARLY VISIBLE
AND RUN IN MOST CASES IN LINES
FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE TOP OF THE
HILL. THE SITE WAS PRESERVED BY
SYG ASSOCIATES INC. AND THE FRIENDS
OF STAFFORD CIVIL WAR SITES PRIOR
TO CONSTRUCTION OF THE SENTINEL
RIDGE SUBDIVISION IN 2005. ERECTED BY FSCWS, SYG ASSOCIATES INC. 2006 |
References: