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==History== At the time of European encounter, the indigenous inhabitants of the area that became Fredericksburg were a [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]-speaking tribe called the [[Manahoac]]. English colonists recorded the name of the Manahoac village there as ''Mahaskahod''.<ref name=swanton>{{citation| last=Swanton| first=John R.| title=The Indian Tribes of North America| publisher=Smithsonian Institution| year=1952| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtHI5pkJOGMC| isbn=0-8063-1730-2| pages=61β62| oclc= 52230544}}</ref> Siouan tribes occupied much of the area of the Piedmont. The Tidewater areas of the coastal plain had primarily [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking tribes making up the [[Powhatan Confederacy]]. ===Colonial=== Located on the [[Rappahannock River]] near the head of navigation at the [[Atlantic Seaboard fall line|fall line]], Fredericksburg developed as the frontier of [[Colony of Virginia|colonial Virginia]] shifted west from the [[Atlantic coastal plain|coastal plain]] into the Piedmont. The land on which the city was founded was part of a tract patented in 1671. The [[Virginia General Assembly]] established a fort on the Rappahannock in 1676, just downriver of the present-day city. In 1714, Lieutenant Governor [[Alexander Spotswood]] sponsored a German settlement called [[Germanna]] on the [[Rapidan River]], a tributary of the Rappahannock upstream from the future site of the city. In 1716, he led an [[Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition|exploratory expedition]] westward over the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]]. As interest in the frontier grew, the colonial assembly formed [[Spotsylvania County, Virginia|Spotsylvania County]] in 1720, named after Royal Lieutenant Governor [[Alexander Spotswood]]. In 1728, Fredericksburg was declared a port for the county, of which it was then a part. Named for [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]],<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n120 131]}}</ref> son of King [[George II of Great Britain|George II]], the colonial town named its streets after the members of the royal family. The county court was moved to Fredericksburg in 1732. Hence, the community served as [[county seat]] until 1780. The court was then moved to [[Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia]] β closer to the geographical center of Spotsylvania County. In 1781, Fredericksburg was incorporated as a [[town#Virginia|town]] with its own court, council, and mayor. It received its charter as an independent city in 1879 and under Virginia law, was separated from Spotsylvania County. The city adopted its present city manager/council form of government in 1911. The city has close associations with [[George Washington]], whose family in 1738 moved to [[Ferry Farm]] in [[Stafford County, Virginia|Stafford County]] near the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg. Washington's mother, [[Mary Ball Washington|Mary]], later moved to the city, and his sister [[Elizabeth Washington Lewis|Betty]] lived at [[Kenmore (Fredericksburg, Virginia)|Kenmore]], a plantation house then outside the city. Several citizens played active roles during the [[American Revolution]] (1763β1781). For example, a number of locals signed the Leedstown Resolves, which formed an association to protest the Stamp Act in the 1760s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Leedstown Resolves (also known as the Westmoreland Resolves) |date=February 27, 1766 |work=Road to Revolution: Northern Neck Roads and Waterways |department=Part of a lesson plan |url=https://edspace.american.edu/menokin/wp-content/uploads/sites/125/2015/04/Leedstown-Resolves.pdf |publisher=The Menokin Foundation |access-date=January 24, 2019 |via=American University EdSpace |archive-date=January 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125183146/https://edspace.american.edu/menokin/wp-content/uploads/sites/125/2015/04/Leedstown-Resolves.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the 1770s, [[Fielding Lewis]], owner of Kenmore Plantation and brother-in-law to [[George Washington]], also operated an arms factory for the Continental Army. Other significant early residents include the Revolutionary War generals [[Hugh Mercer]] and [[George Weedon]], naval war hero [[John Paul Jones]], and future U.S. president [[James Monroe]]. Thomas Jefferson wrote the [[Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom]] in Fredericksburg.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cas.umw.edu/cprd/jefferson-lecture-on-religious-freedom/ |title=Jefferson Lecture on Religious Freedom |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2017 |website=[[University of Mary Washington]] |access-date=August 21, 2024 |quote=In January of 1777, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Thomas Jefferson met with a small group to draft what would become the Bill to Establish Religious Freedom in Virginia.}}</ref> ===19th century=== [[File:Fredericksburg1862.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Fredericksburg, Virginia, March 1863. View from across the [[Rappahannock River]]. To the right is the steeple of [[Fredericksburg Baptist Church]], and toward the center is the tower of St. George's Church. To the left are two mill buildings in the manufacturing district.]] [[File:Fredericksburg Rail Bridge 2017.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The [[RF&P Subdivision]] rail bridge over the Rappahannock River in 2017]] During the 19th century, mills continued to be developed along the Rappahannock River, which provided water power. There were mills for grinding flour, processing and weaving cotton, and other manufacturing. Fredericksburg sought to maintain its sphere of trade, but with limited success. It promoted the development of a [[canal]] on the Rappahannock and construction of a [[Toll road|turnpike]] and [[plank road]] to bind the interior country to the market town. By 1837, a northβsouth railroad, which became the [[Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad]], linked the town to Richmond, the state capital. A much-needed railroad joining the town to the West's arming region was not finished until after the Civil War. During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Fredericksburg was strategically important because of its port location midway between [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] and Richmond, the opposing capitals of the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] and the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. During the [[Battle of Fredericksburg]] from December 11β15, 1862, the town sustained significant damage from bombardment and [[looting]] by the Union forces. During that engagement, nearly 10,000 enslaved people left area plantations and city households to gain freedom by crossing the Rappahannock River to Stafford County and join the Union lines, part of a movement by enslaved people throughout the South in wartime.<ref name="trail">[http://rrhthistory.umwblogs.org/trail-of-freedom/#comment-11452 "Trail of Freedom"], Rappahannock River Heritage Trail, University of Mary Washington blog</ref> John Washington, a literate enslaved person who shortly crossed to freedom, wrote later about people watching the approach of Union troops across the river from Fredericksburg: "No one could be seen on the street but the colored people. and every one of them seemed to be in the best of humors."<!--Keep punctuation as is/this is in the original version, as published by David W. Blight in ''A Slave No More'' (2008)--><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/books/05grimes.html "Freedom Just Ahead: The War Within the Civil War"], ''New York Times'', December 5, 2007; accessed November 2, 2017</ref> The [[Second Battle of Fredericksburg]] was fought in and around the town on May 3, 1863, in connection with the [[Battle of Chancellorsville|Chancellorsville]] campaign (April 27, 1863 β May 6, 1863). The battles of [[Battle of the Wilderness|the Wilderness]] and [[Battle of Spotsylvania Court House|Spotsylvania Court House]] were fought nearby in May 1864. The Washington Woolen Mill, a large three-story building, was converted to use as a hospital during the war. After the war, Fredericksburg recovered its former position as a center of local trade and slowly grew beyond its prewar boundaries. Neither the city of Fredericksburg nor the surrounding counties reached the 1860 level of population again until well into the 20th century. After the war, many freedmen moved to Richmond and [[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]], where there had been established free black communities before the war, and there was more work. ===20th century to present=== In the early 20th century, as the [[Jim Crow]] era continued in the South, there was widespread population movement. Many African-Americans left rural areas of the South for work and other opportunities in industrial cities of the North and Midwest in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]]. Some settled in Washington, D.C., where there were more opportunities, or further north. War-related buildup at defense facilities for [[World War II]] added to the area's population in the 1940s. The 1960s brought renewed growth and development, fueled by the construction of [[Interstate 95]], which eased commuting and trade. By the 1970s, the city and the area had become a bedroom community for jobs in [[Northern Virginia]] and [[Washington, D.C.]] Headquarters agencies, [[lobbyists]], [[consultants]], defense and [[government contractors]], and a range of other businesses were part of the regional economy influenced by the [[U.S. government]]. The city also benefited from its relative proximity to four military installations: the [[United States Marine Corps]]' [[Marine Corps Base Quantico|Quantico Base]], the [[U.S. Army]]'s [[Fort Belvoir]], the [[U.S. Navy]]'s [[Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division|Dahlgren Surface Weapons Base]], and the [[Virginia National Guard]]'s [[Fort A.P. Hill]]. The [[University of Mary Washington]] was founded in Fredericksburg in 1908 as the ''State Normal and Industrial School for Women'', to train white women for teaching K-12 and industrial skills. Adopting the name of Mary Washington College in 1938, the college was for many years associated with the [[University of Virginia]] (then limited to white men) as a women's [[liberal arts college]]. The college officially desegregated in 1964. The college became independent of the [[University of Virginia]] and began to accept men in 1970. In 2004, the college changed its name from Mary Washington College to the University of Mary Washington. Two additional campuses for graduate and professional studies and education and research are located in [[Stafford County, Virginia|Stafford County]] and in [[King George County, Virginia|King George County]], respectively. Musician [[Link Wray]] invented the [[power chord]] of modern rock guitar in Fredericksburg in 1958 during an improvisation of the instrumental piece [[Rumble (instrumental)|"Rumble"]], a single subsequently released by Wray & His Ray Men.<ref>{{Cite news| first=Richard |last=Harrington |title=Prophet of the Rock Guitar |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/21/AR2005112101625.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=November 22, 2005 |access-date=October 24, 2008}}</ref> This innovation became widely used by rock guitarists. In the early 21st century, the local music scene includes a wide variety of genres. A commuter rail line β the [[Virginia Railway Express]] β was established in the 1980s, providing passage to Washington, D.C. and other cities north of Fredericksburg. The city has become the regional healthcare center for the area. Retail, real estate, and other commercial growth exploded in the early 21st century, eventually slowing during the [[Great Recession]] beginning in 2007. Hispanic growth skyrocketed from 2011 to 2020, with Chancellor Green in nearby Spotsylvania County becoming a local enclave.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
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