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Special Event

Event

Overland Campaign 160th at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NMP

Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park

Fee:

Free.

Repeating Event

Days:

Every day

Dates:

May 03, 2024 to May 05, 2024

Time:

10:00 AM

Duration:

7 hours

Type of Event

Guided Tour
Hike
Other
Talk

Anniversary programs will take place May 3 to May 5, 2024.

Description

SAVE THE DATE! 160th Anniversary of the Overland Campaign

A detailed schedule of events will be published in March 2024.

In May 2024 we will commemorate the 160th anniversary of the beginning of the Overland Campaign from May 3 to May 5, 2024. All programs will be free and open to the public.

The anniversary will feature a special virtual talk featuring historian Drew Gilpin Faust on the evening of May 3, 2024. Dr. Faust is a professor, former president of Harvard, and the author of six books including This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. This talk will draw on Dr. Faust’s vast expertise in Civil War memory and her examination of American cultural change around death in the Civil War, highlighting the scale of casualties suffered in the spring of 1864.

Anniversary programming from May 3-5, 2024 will included opportunities for people of all ages and interests to explore, discover, and reflect on these events that shaped us into who we are today.

  • On Friday, May 3 remember the Battle of the Wilderness with day-long programming at Ellwood, two battlefield hikes, and the virtual talk with Dr. Faust in the evening.

  • Saturday, May 4 join park staff for a day of family and community programming centered around the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House at the Bloody Angle. Programs will include pop-up tents, children’s activities, two battlefield hikes, and an evening talk.

  • On Sunday, May 5 we will be wrapping up the weekend with a hike on the Spotsylvania Battlefield in the morning and a tour of the hospitals of Fredericksburg in the afternoon.

In addition to the anniversary weekend, other May programming will focus on the 160th anniversary. Join us on May 11, 2024 for a quieter, more reflective day at the Bloody Angle. On May 18, the 2024 History at Sunset programs will kick-off with a program at the Spotsylvania Battlefield.


More information

Reservation or Registration: No

Image Gallery

A canon in a field surrounded by blooming dogwood trees.
A canon in a field surrounded by blooming dogwood trees.
The first clash of the Overland Campaign happened at Saunders Field on the Wilderness Battlefield.
Buddy Secor
Tags: civil war overland campaign anniversary overland160 civilwar160