The Willis Hill Buildings
In December 1862 Confederate artillery on this hill rained shot and shell on attacking Union soldiers advancing out of Fredericksburg. Next to the guns was a small brick building, one of three that then occupied this part of the heights. "The little brick house, which was white at the beginning of the battle, was perfectly red with bullet-marks at its close," wrote one Confederate. "There was an odd cooking-stove in front of the house. The balls striking it kept up a perpetual 'bing, bing,' equalling the varied notes of a hand-organ."
This 1864 photograph, taken from about this spot, shows the Willis Hill buildings in ruins - wrecked by Union artillery during the fighting here. Confederate earthworks, now gone, creased the heights.
Marker is on Sunken Road 0.1 miles north of Lafayette Boulevard (Virginia Highway 1), on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
