Slaughter Pen Farm

Slaughter Pen Farm is also the largest private battlefield preservation project in United States history. The project took around 16 years and $12 million in fundraising to save the battlefield from development.

This seemingly peaceful farm was the site of the most infamous and deadliest day of fighting during the Battle of Fredericksburg, and indeed one of the bloodiest of the American Civil War.

The name of the farm derives from the area beyond a single tree that was used as a demarcation point for a killing range used by the Confederate army to trap Union troops in a deadly crossfire.

No physical traces remain of battle, but the stories of the carnage are told through historical markers near the farmhouse, and along the trail that stretches through various areas where ferocious skirmishes took place.

Around 5,000 men died here. Medals of Valor were awarded to five individuals involved in the battle.