Meade Pyramid

Lurking behind an active railway, and across a heavily overgrown field, it’s easy to miss this rough-hewn granite pyramid, 23 feet tall, with a 30 square foot base, in the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The pyramid was originally built to mark the location of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s former headquarters, and to commemorate the soldiers who died there. However, markers placed in more recent years note it as the spot where Union soldiers under General George Meade broke through Jackson's lines on the Fredericksburg battlefield.

It was erected in 1897 by the Confederate Memorial Literary Society after they contacted and received approval and support from the president of the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. John Rice, an employee of the R. F. & P. Railroad, was tasked with visiting the much larger pyramidal Confederate  monument located in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery to take measurements, in order to create a scaled down version.

Placing the monument adjacent to the  tracks near Prospect Hill assured maximum visibility to the most geographically diverse audience, at a time when railroads were the primary method of travel.

Trains of yesterday made it easy for passengers to take in the pyramid while chugging past at a slow to moderate pace. Most present-day viewers of the pyramid arrive via car, and view it from Lee Drive in the military park, although rail travelers can still catch a momentary glimpse as their trains whiz past at a contemporary pace.