Editing Fredericksburg, Virginia (section)

===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 north–south 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 11–15, 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&nbsp;– 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.