Five months after the Battle of Fredericksburg the Union army finally captured Marye's Heights. On May 5, 1863, General John Sedgwick's Sixth Corps streamed out of Fredericksburg to attack this ridge. Twice Confederates on the Sunken Road repulsed the assaults, but on the third try Sedgwick's men triumphed. Charging up a ravine 500 yards to your left-front, the victorious Union soldiers swept across this plateau, capturing eight cannon, including two guns of Captain William W. Parker's battery, located here.
From Fredericksburg, Sedgwick headed west to assist the main Union army, fighting at Chancellorsville. He never made it. Four miles west of here, Confederate troops blocked his path at Salem Church. Unable to break through their line, Sedgwick retreated across the Rappahannock River at Scott's Ford.
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