Central Virginia Battlefield Trust

The Tomb of Washington’s Mother & The Civil War

By Sarah Kay Bierle · Originally published February 2021 · p. 29

During 1862, some Civil War soldiers near Fredericksburg, Va., went out of their way to protect the grave and memorial of Mary Washington. They honored her as the mother of the first president and the Washington legacy as an ideal that both sides wanted reflected in their causes. Both Union and Confederate war-culture evoked the spirit of Washington, tracing their convictions to the Virginian Father of the Country. “But go, George, fulfill the high destinies which Heaven appears to have intended for you for; go, my son, and may that Heaven’s and a mother’s blessing be with you always.” So reads the quote, possibly apocryphal, as Mary Ball Washington encouraged her son, George Washington, to accept the highest executive office for the first time in United States history. Stories about mothers of famous men often abound, creating powerful points for memory and inspiration. Mrs. Washington became a local heroine to the small city of Fredericksburg, and after her death and into the Civil War era, soldiers and civilians felt inspired to protect her final resting place even as conflict erupted in the surrounding area. Mary Washington died in 1789, just a few months after her son, George, became president. She resided in Fredericksburg for some time prior to her passing and was buried on her daughter and son-in-law’s estate, Kenmore. Mrs. Washington had previously specified the location of her grave near a large boulder shaded by large trees where she had often liked to walk. The first monument at her grave was placed by the orders of George Washington, but as the decades passed, over-zealous Americans wanting pieces of history chipped away the original memorial. Beginning in 1826, a new movement started to erect another memorial at Mrs. Washington’s grave; President Andrew Jackson dedicated the cornerstone in 1833. Time passed, money ran low, and by the time of the Civil War, the ambitious graveside monument stood only partially completed. Still, the local community was aware of its history and the burial of that Virginian mother and, as Civil War armies lined the banks of the Rappahannock, word spread about Mrs. Washington’s half-finished monument and burial spot. In “My Story of Fredericksburg” published in Volume 54 of Cosmopolitan, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain recalled a Dec. 11, 1862, incident he witnessed on the Stafford side of the Rappahannock River, looking across to the historic city of Fredericksburg. I may present an incident of this bombardment which impressed me at the time, and has stood vividly in memory ever since. I was near one of our upper batteries—I think Benjamin’s of the 2d Regular—observing the effect of the fire, when a staff officer of Sumner’s rode up and, pointing across, bent low in his saddle and said with softened voice, “Captain, do you see that white shaft over yonder in the green field above those houses?” “I do, sir,” was the reply. “That is the tomb of Washington’s mother,” joined the staff officer. “Let your guns spare that!” “They will, sir!” was the answer, as if the guns themselves knew. I turned away, thoughtful of many things. If Chamberlain’s story stands true, then Union artillerymen tried to avoid targeting the grave site during the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg. However, infantry of both sides moved through the land around Kenmore, Mrs. Washington’s grave, and the civilian cemetery a little further to the south. At one point, Confederate skirmishers sent a request to the artillerymen on Marye’s Heights to shell the cemetery and the rest of the area in an attempt to dislodge Union troops gathering there. One Mississippian soldier later recalled, “The request to shell the grave of the mother of the ‘Father of His Country’ was refused, but they consented to fire a few shots into the cemetery. Soon a great noise of bursting marble was heard and double results were obtained, as a fragment of marble was as good for killing purposes as a shell. Many a Yank doubtless had this inscription on his tomb, ‘Killed by a tombstone that broke loose at Fredericksburg.” Spared the worst of the destruction, Mary Washington’s unfinished monument also served as a local point of interest during the War for soldiers and civilians alike. Miss Elizabeth Alsop wrote in her diary on July 30, 1864: “Capt. Gregory has been to Fredericksburg…. The last evening he was to spend in F— I promised to walk with him to

Mary Washington’s grave with the memorial dedicated in 1894. the Monument; but as I had much to do all day-did not see him until long after dinner, then I told him I was tired & wished he would excuse me from walking. He was unwilling, so of-course I went. We paid a short visit at Cousin John’s, then went to the Monument, walked about in the semitary [cemetery] sometime, & finally took seats in the main walk.” Alsop’s entry reflects other walks to the gravesite taken by civilians and soldiers alike to look at the unfinished monument and ponder the life of Mrs. Washington and her influence on her first son. After the Civil War, several groups formed to raise money to complete a memorial at Mrs. Washington’s grave; the new monument, the one standing today, was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland in 1894. Through the years, the Garden Club of Virginia has helped maintain the land and walkways around the grave site. Though Mrs. Washington’s life paralleled the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods, her memory was part of Fredericksburg’s history, including the Civil War years. Most often, the topics of Civil War and preservation are linked to saving pieces of history connected to the war, but as these details from Fredericksburg, suggest there was an interest among the soldiers themselves to preserve tangible pieces or places connected to the nation’s founding. Mrs. Washington inspired respect for her role in raising the patriot who became the first president, and whether it was redirecting artillery fire, mentioning her grave as a landmark in battle notes, or taking a stroll to the historic site, her grave was a place of remembrance, memory, and reflection as Americans grappled with what it really meant to live in the nation her son had helped to found. Sarah Kay Bierle serves on staff at Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. CVBT is dedicated to preserve hallowed ground at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. To learn more about this grassroots preservation non-profit, please visit: www.cvbt.org